All posts by Keith

I’m a controversialist and catalyst, quietly enabling others to develop by providing different ideas and views of the world. Born in London in the early 1950s and initially trained as a research chemist I retired as a senior project manager after 35 years in the IT industry. Retirement is about community give-back and finding some equilibrium. Founder and Honorary Secretary of the Anthony Powell Society. Chairman of my GP's patient group.
amusements

Counters

Each month this year we’re bringing you a post under the general title “Things that Count in [Number]” where [Number] will be the month. And naturally each month’s post will contain the [Number] of items (so just one for January, up to 12 for December).

For our purposes the definition of counting includes things which either come in groups of [Number] (eg. four suits in a pack of playing cards) or things which count in [Number] (eg. decimal coinage counting in tens).

Things which Count in Ten …

  1. Green bottles
  2. Anything metric
  3. Commandments
  4. Lords a-leaping
  5. Bowling pins
  6. Provinces of Canada
  7. Legs on a crab
  8. Countdown to launch
  9. Plagues of Egypt
  10. Grave precepts of Zen Buddhism
environment, history, links, medical, natural history, science

Monthly Links

Here goes then with this month’s selection of links to items you may have missed the first time round, and probably shouldn’t have done!

Science, Technology & Natural World

Cheeky monkeys! Apparently squirrels eavesdrop on birds’ chatter to find out if there’s a security alert.

After which it isn’t surprising that squirrels’ cousins, the rats, love games, giggle and jump for joy.

Insects deserve much more respect than they get; without them we’d not be here! [LONG READ]

One insect group deserving of greater respect, and admiration, are the wasps. Not just the annoying “yellow jackets”, there’s a whole diversity of species and they’re brilliant predators.

On the other hand we all like butterflies, and this has been an especially good year, especially for Painted Ladies.

Health & Medicine

Research has shown definitively that babies born by Caesarean have different gut bacteria compared with vaginal births. Why does this surprise anyone?

Statistical analysis shows that 26 September is the busiest day for births (at least in the UK) at about 10% above the average. Yes, you guessed it: it’s all down to Christmas and New Year shagging.

Sexuality

The world’s first Vagina Museum opens in November at London’s Camden Lock. Aim: to educate and raise awareness of vaginal and vulval health and fight stigmas.

Environment

Apparently the fish stock calculations were way off and North Sea cod should not have been labelled as sustainable.

What practical things can you do to combat climate change? One thing we seldom consider is to plant your own trees.

Art & Literature

After 119 years the Wallace Collection in London is to start lending out its artworks. Under the terms by which they were established they thought they couldn’t do this, but now they think they can.

History, Archaeology & Anthropology

Archaeologists have uncovered over 250 Neanderthal footprints, many of children, in northern France. They promise to throw some light on Neanderthal lifestyle.

Again, I’m not sure why this is surprising, but there is now evidence to suggest that the first people in the Americas came by sea.

Archaeologists are also now suggesting that prehistoric babies were fed animal milk from pottery bottles.

Coming more up to date, English Heritage are concerned that damp is putting many ancient murals, especially church wall paintings, at risk.

A piece of what is thought to be Elizabeth I’s lost dress is to go on display at Hampton Court.

In Scotland there is a plan to establish a national witches’ memorial.

London

While Britain’s parliamentarians are letting off quantities of hot air, the Houses of Parliament are threatening to collapse on their heads. [LONG READ]

One of our favourite London bloggers, Diamond Geezer, takes a random walk from Oxford Circus.

Food & Drink

No part of the pig is ever wasted. Now chefs are beginning to sign up to fin-to-gill eating – cooking fish without discarding anything.

Lifestyle & Personal Development

A pair of (American) researchers are suggesting every couple should have eight intense discussions to cement and develop their relationship. When you read their book, although they are deep discussions, it is the usual structured common sense – but something many will not easily do without a prompt.

It has apparently now been confirmed that there are benefits to being left-handed.

Shock, Horror, Humour

And finally, it’s time for this year’s Ig Nobel prizes. Amongst this year’s winners is a study of French postmen’s testicles.

More next month.

amusements, arts, memes, personal, pleasures, thoughts

100 Days of Haiku, Episode 13

Now for the next instalment of our 100 Days of Haiku challenge.

Monday 23 September
Product of the cow
set between slices of bread.
Steak sandwich heaven.

Tuesday 24 September
Lazing along day.
No hurry, no rush, no stress.
Yet all is complete.

Wednesday 25 September
Gaze on a blank screen;
myriads of unborn words
at my fingertips.

Thursday 26 September
Pretty hairy pubes
wafting aroma aloft:
enticement to fuck.

Friday 27 September
Out of their depth the
bullies bully more, louder.
Government crisis.

Saturday 28 September
A painted lady:
pretty summer butterfly
or a pretty tart?

Sunday 29 September
Meaty piggy ribs:
marinade, oven barbecue.
Much yummy, Mummy.

Here’s the tally of progress by week:

Week Haiku
Written
1 16
2 28
3 33
4 26
5 26
6 27
7 28
8 24
Week Haiku
Written
9 28
10 18
11 26
12 22
13 27
14  
15  
Total 302


Next instalment, next Sunday.

medical, sexuality, words

Sense is Coming

At last people are beginning to wake up to what I’ve been saying for many years: we would all be healthier (mentally and physically) if we were OK with talking about body parts, bodily functions and sexuality.

In a Guardian article last week Nicola Heath says Our collective reluctance to say “vagina” shrouds women’s bodies – and their sexuality – in shame. The article goes on to say:

How are women supposed to talk about their health or sexuality if the anatomically correct words used to describe their body parts are taboo?
… … …
A 2015 survey in the UK revealed that 66% of women aged 18 to 24 avoided going to the doctor to talk about gynaecological issues altogether.
… … …
[Doctors] have to spend valuable consultation time trying to get [women] to specify which bit of their genitalia they are [actually] talking about.
… … …
Our unwillingness to correctly label female anatomy contributes to other problems, including a “pleasure gap” that sees men’s sexual needs prioritised over women’s.
… … …
[T]eachers admitted they were willing to say the word “penis” and talk about male masturbation, but none were comfortable talking about vaginas and female pleasure in the same way.
… … …
It’s also essential for kids to know how to talk about their bodies. Sexual health educators argue that teaching children anatomically correct terms for their body parts – genitals included – helps reduce shame and gives them the language they need …
… … …
So, familiarise yourself with the correct terms for the human body’s reproductive bits … After all, knowledge is power.

And actually also because this is in everyone’s interest.

environment, science

Fukushima Redux

The mess following the meltdown of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in 2011 continues – and will do for decades!

The latest concern, see for example the Guardian of 16 September, is that the power company Tepco wants to discharge a million or more tons of contaminated water into the sea.

Currently, just over one million tonnes of contaminated water is held in almost 1,000 tanks at Fukushima Daiichi, but [Tepco] will run out of space by the summer of 2022.
… … …
Tepco … removes highly radioactive substances, such as strontium and caesium, from the water but the system is unable to filter out tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that coastal nuclear plants commonly dump along with water into the ocean … water in [the] tanks still contain[s] contaminants beside tritium.

What the other contaminants are we are not told.

Contaminated water tanks at Fukushima

Having spent the last eight years trying to rebuild their almost destroyed industry, needless to say the Fukushima fishermen are opposed to the idea.

Understandably this is a problem. Tritium does occur naturally, although at incredibly low levels. So given that its half-life is a little over 12 years, depending on the initial concentration of tritium the water will reduce in radioactivity and toxicity relatively quickly (a few decades) and could eventually be discharged safely.

On the other hand contaminated groundwater is still being recovered and stored at the rate of around 100 tonnes a day. And that’s likely faster than water can be released following the tritium decay.

While the decay products of tritium cannot penetrate skin it can be a concern if ingested in the form of tritiated water (water molecules containing a tritium in place of one of the hydrogens). And of course marine life swims in the would be contaminated water.

So no wonder the Fukushima fishing industry is concerned. It’s a circle that is going to be very hard to square.

beliefs, medical, thoughts

On Social Anaesthesia

I’ve long been worried about the trend towards mindfulness and similar “talking therapies”, so it was interesting to see many of my doubts echoed in an article, The Mindfulness Conspiracy by Ronald Purser, published in the Guardian back in June.

It is sold as a force that can help us cope with the ravages of capitalism, but with its inward focus, mindful meditation may be the enemy of activism.

Although the article is a long read (and American), for once I’ll refrain from providing edited snippets. However it did help me to crystallise why it is I find such therapies worrying. I’ll confine myself to my thoughts.

I’ve not only been concerned about mindfulness – and I come from having had some recent exposure to “mindfulness therapy”. I’m also concerned at the efficaciousness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and indeed the new NHS trend for “social prescribing”.

Social prescribing CBT and mindfulness seem to me to be palliatives aimed at enabling people to cope internally and continue to fully participate in the greed economy. They are essentially “social anaesthesia”, to use Purser’s term. They do not help society as a whole sort out its fundamental ethical problems which give rise to the inability to cope in the first place. And that is the thrust of Purser’s article.

But I see the problem as deeper rooted, and emanating from the very causes which create the problems, the greed economy. Because these (mindfulness, CBT, social prescribing) are seen as “essential curses” they are peddled by the medical profession, and others, to consumers (aka. patients) in varying degrees of coercion and bullying. It’s the “we know what’s good for you; your views, desires and wishes don’t matter” attitude. Indeed the same is true of many medical interventions: eat well, exercise more, have bariatric surgery, etc. “Don’t think about it, just do it.”

That’s not to say that all of these aren’t useful interventions for some people, but if they are going to be truly effective they have to be done with the willing cooperation of the patient who understands what the “remedy” is doing and can make a truly informed decision. Only the patient can make that decision, based on the information they have, which includes their mental state and consideration of their quality of life – something the medical profession all too often lose sight of. The patient has to make the best decision they can, with the information they have, at the time; none of us deliberately sets out to make the wrong decision.

Mindfulness and CBT don’t work for me. Nevertheless they can be tremendously useful in allowing some people to calm their mental state and begin to cope with what’s happening around them. But they stop there. They don’t go on to help people understand the underlying problems of broken capitalism and the greed economy, let alone make them able to do something about it by addressing personal morals and understanding, nor society’s ethics. People are made once more into (barely?) functioning consumers, thus perpetuating the underlying problems.

As Purser says, in not quite so many words, mindfulness is a con. Especially compared with true Eastern meditation practices which are a way of life aimed at the individual’s inner self-understanding, realisation and morals; and are not “instant fixes”.

Or to put it another way, in a secular context:
Mindfulness = quickly quieting the mind to cope with society
Meditation = existing in society while deepening the mind over years.

It’s something I have long thought but never before been able to crystallise in my mind.

amusements, memes, personal, pleasures

100 Days of Haiku, Episode 12

We’re nearing the end of my 100 Days of Haiku challenge; just over two weeks to go. I need to get out more to stimulate the inspiration; however I continue to write more than one haiku most days although many are not at all good. Anyway here’s this week’s selection.

Monday 16 September
September Sunday,
warm sunny garden weather.
Neighbours arguing.

Tuesday 17 September
Venerable bears think
haiku writing very odd.
Maybe we all do?

Wednesday 18 September
Hidden in the trees
corvids argue all morning.
Continual din.

Thursday 19 September
Locks looking shaggy.
Long overdue, today we
for the barber’s chop.

Friday 20 September
Feeding together:
jackdaw and rook, corvids both,
across the stubble field.

Saturday 21 September
Blood test and flu jab;
chance meet friend: she’s lost her son.
Life is such sadness.

Sunday 22 September
Boy cat sleeps hard in
dappled sun through chilli plants.
Study as greenhouse.

Here’s the tally of progress by week:

Week Haiku
Written
1 16
2 28
3 33
4 26
5 26
6 27
7 28
8 24
Week Haiku
Written
9 28
10 18
11 26
12 22
13  
14  
15  
Total 302


Next instalment, next Sunday.

amusements, current affairs

Passing Thought on Our Time

Just this passing thought on our time (with apologies to the Oldham Tinkers).

At Parliament it used to good,
To see them think of country’s good,
But now the game has changed, tha’ll see,
They can’t talk truthful on TV.

Boris Johnson is a cunt,
Boris Johnson is a cunt,
Eee, aye, addie,
Boris Johnson is a cunt.

quotes

Monthly Quotes

Here’s this month’s collection of amusing and thought-provoking quotes …

[T]he most obvious, and most sensible conclusion is that there is no meaning to anything, no purpose for anything, no salvation, no nothing.  This isn’t at all emotionally pleasing. And so, the materialists say, we want to and reject that reality in favour of more pleasing alternative explanations based in superstition and wishful thinking. The reason for religion, then, is as a coping mechanism, to deal with how brutally pointless everything actually is when we’re honest about it. 
[Brad Warner; http://hardcorezen.info/the-meaning-of-life/6481]

Science is, after all, the deep study of sensory experience. It measures sensory experiences, compares them to other sensory experiences that have been had by other human beings. It correlates the sensory experiences of many humans and says that if many humans report more-or-less the same sensory experience, that sensory experience must therefore be real. But it does all of this in one slice of reality, the realm of sensory experience. 
[Brad Warner; http://hardcorezen.info/the-meaning-of-life/6481]

“Thoroughly conscious ignorance is the prelude to every real advance in science” [James Clerk Maxwell] … And so this is the kind of ignorance that I’m talking about, not the common usage of the word “ignorance”, not stupidity or wilful indifference to fact or logic – you know who I’m talking about. But rather this thoroughly conscious kind of ignorance that can be developed … The big question for me really is we’ve gained some knowledge, what does one do with that knowledge? And the purpose of that knowledge in my opinion is to create better ignorance, if you will. Because there’s low-quality ignorance and high-quality ignorance … science, in my opinion, is the search for better ignorance.
[Stuart Firestein]

Life is full of internal dramas, instantaneous and sensational, played to an audience of one.
[Anthony Powell, At Lady Molly’s]

Earth water fire and air
Met together in a garden fair
Put in a basket bound with skin
If you answer this riddle
You’ll never begin.
[Incredible String Band]

There are two things, to be and to do. Don’t think too much about to do – to be is first. To be peace. To be joy. To be happiness. And then to do joy, to do happiness – on the basis of being.
[Thich Nhat Hanh]

I never married because there was no need. I have three pets at home which answer the same purpose as a husband. I have a dog that growls every morning, a parrot that swears all afternoon, and a cat that comes home late at night.
[Marie Corelli (1855-1924)]

St Paul introduced an entirely novel view of marriage, that it existed primarily to prevent the sin of fornication. It is just as if one were to maintain that the sole reason for baking bread is to prevent people from stealing cake.
[Bertrand Russell]

Under this window in stormy weather
I marry this man and woman together;
Let none but Him who rules the thunder
Put this man and woman asunder.
[Jonathan Swift]

When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kind of dogmas or goals, it’s always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt.
[Robert M Pirsig]

Teenagers are how they are because it was evolutionarily useful. Long term, sticking to the safe and familiar can lead to stagnation and extinction. Having individuals strike out on their own can refresh the gene pool and uncover useful information. Hence, teens reject authority, crave independence, take risks and so on. Far from being a constant annoyance, teenagers may be the reason humanity is as smart and successful as it is.
[Dean Burnett; New Scientist, 14 September 2019]

Yes, but even though they probably certainly know that you probably wouldn’t, they don’t certainly know that, although you probably wouldn’t, there is no probability that you certainly would.
[Yes Minister]