Why would I patch it through the stereo? Because these tiny (read: 'tinny') little speakers built into this 30-inch flat screen TV I'm using as a monitor just can't produce the kind of sound that nice music usually provides. If I have it switched into TV mode, and I'm watching some old horseshit-and-gunpowder western, yes, it's OK - but not for listening to good jazz or Cole Porter or George Gershwin, or Pink Floyd, or..... well, you get the idea.
Here's another nice wallpaper from my collection... Why do I have the feeling that King Tutankhamun would have loved this? His personal chalice was made as a representation of a lotus very much like this, and the hieroglyphs around its rim, in addition to listing his names, also had a delightful wish or perhaps it was a prayer, which went: "May you live millions of millions of years, you who love Thebes, sitting with your face to the north wind, your two eyes beholding happiness."
A little context here: the hieroglyphs for millions of millions of years were usually understood to mean 'eternity' or 'forever'; Thebes in those days was the center of their culture and learning; the north wind was the 'good' wind bringing the cooling breezes from the Mediterranean - the 'red wind' (sandstorms) came from the other direction; and the last part is fairly obvious. So here's how it would be understood by an educated Egyptian of 3,500 years ago:-
May you live Forever,
loving Enlightenment,
overcoming Adversity,
and enjoying Happiness.
And I hope he is - wherever he may be. And it really is a lovely wish....
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