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Call from Phil yesterday, and a nice long chat.  He told me about the Valery Gergiev symphony concert held yesterday, or rather, the day before, in the bombed-out government buildings in Tskhinvali, in tribute to the victims of the Georgian bombardment of Tskhinvali on August 8th.  Which, if Phil had not alerted me to, I would have known nothing about, from the scandalously disinformative Western media.  So I Googled it, and YouTubed it, and there it was:  Magnificent, noble pathos; utterly heart-breaking.  

Speaking of which (hearts), the Dick Cheney's coronary apparatus has been in the news lately. Last Wednesday the D. C. was admitted to and released from hospital because he'd been experiencing a recurrence of "Atrial Fibrillation, an abnormal rhythm involving the upper chambers of the heart."  Much to reflect on, right there.  "All hearts flutter from time to time. These arrhythmias are generally harmless and may have no discernible cause at all.  But those diagnosed with atrial fibrillation have hearts who upper chambers beat irregularly and too rapidly....Cheney, who has had four heart attacks dating back to age 37, was given electric-shock treatment to get his heart back on track."