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.
personal, ramblings

Diaries

As I do every year I have been hunting for a diary for next year.

And before you say anything, no it isn’t too early! I already have a number of dates fixed through to the end of next year, with the need to fix further dates looming.

And as every year I am almost unable to find what I want, which is:

  • Slim diary (ie. approx 15cm x 8cms – big enough to write in; small enough to carry)
  • just a full 12 months, ie. January to December
  • portrait format
  • week to a view
  • week beginning on a Monday
  • page layout preferably: left page: Monday-Friday, right page: Saturday/Sunday/notes. But I will accept Monday-Thursday vs Friday-Sunday/notes.
  • no rules within the days
  • decent page design/use of fonts
  • online illustration of the page layout
  • available to buy online (to get a choice)
  • not out-of-the-way expensive; no I’m not paying upwards of £20!

So something very like this:

I do not want/need:

  • a hard, case-bound, leather or other fancy cover (but can compromise here)
  • something that starts in mid-year, like for the academic year
  • pretty decoration, Disney characters, etc. on the cover
  • ruled pages or appointment times
  • artwork interleaved with the diary pages
  • excess pages of front-matter and back-matter (eg. world maps, public holidays in every country, conversion tables, travel information) although a next year planner and a handful of pages for notes is useful
  • elastic or magnetic closure
  • integrated pen/pencil

As every year what I want is almost as scarce as hen’s teeth – certainly amongst the more quality offerings. In fact they are even more scarce this year then before.

I have only ever seen two examples of my preferred page layout: one last year (expensive, bulky and inappropriate for me) and another this year (full of annoying, irrelevant, twee cartoons). Why can no-one do a Monday-Friday vs. Saturday/Sunday/notes layout? I know not everyone has their weekend on Saturday/Sunday, but many people still do and it seems to me this would be a logical layout.

So who provides what?
Own brand (eg. Ryman, WH Smith) products almost invariably have ruled pages and/or wrong page layout.
Organisations (eg. RHS, National Trust, charities). Usually have hard covers. Contents are interspersed with images which (a) get in the way and (b) increase size/weight. Often expensive too.
Tallon (who appear to make most of the cheap offerings). Cheap and insubstantial – at least when I last handled one. Poor, clunky, design.
Collins. Hardly ever provide illustrations of the page layout, and when they do the pages are inevitably ruled. Often too many extraneous information pages.
Letts. Used to be good but are less so in recent years. They provide increasingly few illustrations of contents. And increasingly few unruled options. Again, often too many extraneous information pages. And to cap it all this year they seem to have decided that the week begins on Sunday (in contravention of the ISO date standard).
Moleskine. I like Moleskine notebooks and always carry one. But their diaries fail. I tried one a few years back and found they’re too chunky when you have a notebook as well. They’re the wrong size (for me), now always seem to be ruled, and are on the more expensive side.
Caspari. They’re American and less easily found here, but from experience of the last few years they’re definitely good quality. They do a range with plain-ish (“snakeskin” pattern) soft-ish covers and another range with case-bound floral design covers (actually quite attractive). But do they illustrate the interior? No, never. I’ve used them for the last several years and I know they’ve been what I want; but having been caught out by Letts’ “Sunday start” I want to check the page layout. I had to email them to ask and (to my surprise) got a response within a day showing exactly what I want. They also use quality cream paper.

So I went and ordered a Caspari diary via Amazon, though there are other online suppliers.

Am I being picky? Yes. But I don’t see why I should have to use something I find uncomfortable and is not what I want. Nor do I see why I should buy something where I can’t see the layout; why can suppliers not provide images – it’s not difficult or expensive?

So what’s wrong with using your smartphone as your diary? I don’t find this comfortable. I’ve tried it on many occasions over the years, starting with a Palm Pilot. I still don’t find it comfortable and I have always had problems getting it to sync successfully with my PC-based diary (which is actually my master diary). A paper and pencil diary, as my mobile copy, works best for me.

So more time wasted again this year hunting what I want.

Well there it is. That’s my experience. As with all such things YMMV.

amusements, memes, personal, pleasures

100 Days of Haiku, Episode 11

Here’s this week’s update on my 100 Days of Haiku challenge. Struggling for inspiration again some days this week, partly due to this f***ing cold which won’t go away.

Monday 9 September
Tandem, bike and trike,
penny-farthing, bone-shaker:
velocipedes all.

Tuesday 10 September
Absent mindedly
daily haiku forgotten.
Recovering now.

Wednesday 11 September
Sorting cutlery:
steel forks, and silver fish knives,
cake slice and crumb tray.

Thursday 12 September
Peach, grey, silver-gilt;
pale azure blue up beyond.
September sunset.

Friday 13 September
Doubt, lies and bullshit,
uncertainty, confusion.
All have gone cuckoo.

Saturday 14 September
Azure, semé of
cloudlets argent, a chief or.
Flyer’s escutcheon.

Sunday 15 September
Black and white Rosie
cat’s getting rather podgy;
much like the humans.

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  
13  
14  
15  


Next instalment, next Sunday.

current affairs

And they still don’t get it!

Why can no-one get their heads round what is actually the position on Brexit?

This from an article in yesterday’s Guardian:

… the UK leaving without a deal on 31 October. In practice, this can only happen if the EU turns down the UK’s request for an article 50 extension or Johnson breaks the law by ignoring parliament.

So far, so good. But then in the next sentence on the government’s publicity campaign:

… UK’s October no deal exit, as well as being factually incorrect (as it addresses an event which cannot now occur) …

Which directly contradicts the previous statement.

In fact the first statement is the correct one, as outlined in the Law & Lawyers blog. Following the last minute action in Parliament which resulted in the European Union (Withdrawal) (No 2) Act 2019 there are three situations which (legally) can now occur:

  1. EU agrees extension to 31 January 2020: PM must accept
  2. EU agrees extension to a date other than 31 January 2020: PM must accept
  3. EU refuses an extension: the Act does not address this situation; thus by operation of EU law, the UK would leave without a deal on 31 October 2019.

So the first statement in the Guardian article is the correct one. There are two instances when the UK will leave the EU on 31 October with no deal:

  1. if the EU decline a further extension, or
  2. the UK government break the law (as enshrined in the European Union (Withdrawal) (No 2) Act 2019) and fail to request an extension.

And yet people now believe that leaving with no-deal on 31 October is not now possible.

Logic? What logic?

personal, ramblings

Ten Things, September

This year our Ten Things series is focusing on each month in turn. The Ten Things may include facts about the month, momentous events that happened, personal things, and any other idiocy I feel like – just because I can. So here are …

Ten Things about September

  1. Her and my wedding anniversary
  2. Also my late parents wedding anniversary a few days before
  3. Pagan festival of Mabon celebrates the Autumn Equinox
  4. Michaelmas, or the Feast of St Michael & All Angels
  5. My late mother-in-law’s birthday
  6. Meteorological Autumn starts on 1st
  7. Nothing happened in the UK between 3 and 13 September 1752 ‘cos that’s when the UK changed from the old Julian calendar to our current Gregorian calendar
  8. Mop (or Hiring) Fairs occurred during September
  9. Abbot’s Bromley Horn Dance (above) takes place on the Monday after 4 September
  10. Great Fire of London 1666
personal

40 Years Ago

2 Comments

Saturday 8 September was a lovely, warm, sunny day – as early September often is. That afternoon, at St Peter’s, Acton Green, Noreen and I were married.

L-R: Victor (Best Man), Maeve (Chief L-in-W), me, Noreen, Meg (L-in-W), Jilly (L-in-W)

The wedding was fairly low-key and quiet; unlike many of today’s extravaganzas: neither Noreen’s mother, nor my parents had much money, and we had none. It was sufficiently low key that we walked to church, early-19th century style – we lived only a couple of hundred yards round the corner – and had the small reception (lots of food, lots of wine; no band/disco) in the church hall.

Although we had known each other for 3-4 years, we’d not met regularly before the previous October when we started going out. We got engaged at New Year, moved into a flat together in the May … and here we were getting married “in under a year”. The omens can’t have been good, especially as we had a fairly rocky first couple of years: both trying to build careers, living in a fairly depressing rented flat, and “negotiating the rules of engagement”.

But here we are 40 years on. Still married; older, maybe wiser, better off; but not as healthy (who is at nearly 70?). To commemorate the day I’ve posted 40 Marriage Quotations on the website.

To this day we have no idea how we’ve achieved it! Every year we look at each other and ask “How did we do it?”. And we still don’t have an answer. Probably we never will. Which could well be why we’re still together 40 years on.

Many and more!

amusements, personal, pleasures

100 Days of Haiku, Episode 10

Here’s this week’s update on my 100 Days of Haiku challenge. It’s been quite a challenge again this week.

Monday 2 September
Moist misty mornings
with wind-blown wafts of wood smoke.
Autumn’s ambiance.

Tuesday 3 September
Today will be tough,
I’m struggling to get going.
Alarm clock strikes back.

Wednesday 4 September
Sanshin and sitar,
bagpipe and digeridoo:
music makers all.

Thursday 5 September
Cough, cough, bugger off,
stop me coughing up my lungs.
Intercostal hurts.

Friday 6 September
Brain and body strike
for better working conditions
without cold abuse.

Saturday 7 September
The Apparition,
head tucked under her arm,
walks abroad for ever.

Sunday 8 September
Tree vital for life:
climate change regulator,
balancing carbon.

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  
12  
13  
14  
15  


Next instalment, next Sunday.

environment

Can You Grow Your Own Forest?

Earlier this week there was an article in the Guardian Grow your own forest: how to plant trees to help save the planet.

According to some scientists, forest restoration is the number one strategy for stopping global warming. So what should we be doing? Here’s the TL;DR précis:

Tree planting has mind-blowing potential to tackle climate crisis … Billions more trees … could remove two-thirds of all the carbon dioxide created by human activity. Forest restoration is a top climate change solution.
…
While a global programme might take 100 years to be fully effective, along the way it would reduce the consequences of the climate crisis – protecting soil from erosion, reducing risk of flooding and providing habitat for a vast range of other plants and animals.
…
UK tree-planting initiatives include the Northern Forest, which will be made up of 25m trees, spanning the north of England from Liverpool to Hull … But we need to do much, much more … While there are more than 3 trillion trees in the world, that number is estimated to have fallen by 46% since the dawn of human civilisation … Amazon rainforest continues to be lost by the equivalent of three football fields every minute.
…
How many trees should we be planting? UK needs to increase its woodland from 13% of land area to 17% (the European average is around 35%) … planting 30,000 hectares annually … Tree planting rates in the UK in the past decade or so have been the lowest for a generation; we are miles off where we should be.
…
Can people planting trees in their garden make much of a dent? One individual tree might not make a difference [to climate, though it will to the local wildlife] but if 10m people put one tree in, that would … planting a tree in the right place is a good thing to do.
…
What should we be planting and where? Species need to be chosen carefully to ensure they grow well … and fit into the existing ecosystem … other landscapes – such as grasslands and peatlands … must be protected and here it might not be appropriate to plant trees.
…
Can we just plant trees in our gardens? You don’t need permission, but you do need to think about what species will grow where you live, and also how big it could get. It’s no use planting an oak tree two feet outside your back door … Smaller species include apple trees or rowan … and aftercare is absolutely vital for young and newly planted trees.
…
What if we don’t have gardens? Can we plant trees anywhere? You can’t plant on waste ground or in your local park without permission from the landowner – that could well be the local council … but maybe approach places like school or hospital grounds.
…
How else can we help? Support international organisations that promote the rights of indigenous people, whose land stores nearly a quarter of the carbon stored in tropical forests, and who are best placed to protect forested areas by monitoring illegal logging.
…
Many products we wouldn’t even think of contribute to the problem. Ask questions … Ask the supermarkets where the palm oil in their products comes from, or the soya feed used to farm their meat … Ask the person responsible for your pension fund how much deforestation its investments are causing. Even if they don’t know the answer, you’ve put it on their radar.
…
Support the rewilding forest restoration schemes.

And don’t get complacent. Keep going. One tree at a time if need be.

If you cannot do anything else consider supporting the Woodland Trust (in the UK; I’m sure there’ll be an equivalent organisation in your country); they offer a range of tree donation and sponsorship initiatives as well as tree packs for schools and other organisations.

Oh and there’s a bonus, as I know from experience: planting trees in your garden is a good way to piss off your neighbours, especially if (like mine) they think their garden should be nothing but a barren putting green. When we moved into the house 35+ years ago, there were two trees: a pear and an apple. Since then we have crammed almost 20 trees (plus lots of shrubs) into our suburban garden, and removed only two (the pear which died, and one which was really in a very wrong place). And we keep looking to see how to get more in!

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 Nine …

  1. Ladies dancing
  2. Cats’ lives
  3. Worlds in Norse mythology
  4. Members of the Fellowship of the Ring
  5. Innings in a baseball game
  6. Muses in Greek mythology
  7. Circles of Hell
  8. Lights on a Hanukkah Menorah
  9. Orders of Angels in Christian mythology
amusements, personal, pleasures

100 Days of Haiku, Episode 9

Here’s this week’s update on my 100 Days of Haiku challenge.

Monday 26 August
In postprandial
balmy twilight, sitting out.
But where are the bats?

Tuesday 27 August
Chattering, London
Historians, enjoying
yearly lunch party.

Wednesday 28 August
Girls in skimpy shorts,
pelmet skirts, crop tops, no tops.
It’s what summer’s for.

Thursday 29 August
Government holding
democracy to ransom.
Civil war looms large.

Friday 30 August
Thick of head and brain,
full of snot and sore of throat.
Cauldron of head cold.

Saturday 31 August
Disturbed by dreams.
Why such poor sleep when unwell?
Better sleep tonight?

Sunday 1 September
Wakefulness falters.
An afternoon nap beckons.
Much better after.

And 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  
11  
12  
13  
14  
15  


Next instalment, next Sunday.

environment, history, links, medical, natural history, science

Monthly Links

Time flies, probably like a banana, when you’re too busy to notice. So we’ve suddenly arrived at this month’s collection of links to items you missed the first time round – and considering it’s the “silly season” (aren’t they all nowadays?) we’ve got a well packed, and very varied, bag this month.

Science, Technology & Natural World

A lot of what we now consider normal technology has its origins in the Cold War.

We often forget that there are volcanoes under the sea as well as on land, and they can produce huge rafts of pumice.

The universe is weird, and weirder than we can imagine. Look at the night sky and you’re being blasted by all manner of high energy radiation. Now astronomers have found the Crab Nebula emits incredibly high energy gamma rays.

An infographic about the majesty of trees.

For a long, long time the Japanese have looked upon sightings of rare fish as an omen of earthquakes. Now they are being urged not to as there is no evidence to support the belief.

Well who knew? Apparently black squirrels (yes, they are a thing; they’re in the UK and I’ve seen them in Washington DC; they’re rather handsome!) are the result of an interbreeding between grey squirrels and close relatives fox squirrels which produced a faulty gene now being passed down through grey squirrels.

At least one species of ant keeps its nurseries cleaner than we humans keep ours.

Every ten years Painted Lady butterflies undergo a massive population explosion and there are millions of migrants to the UK.

Health & Medicine

A top epidemiologist takes a look at the nightmare which is infectious disease aboard cruise ships.

Anyone, especially older people, on a medley of medication has an increased risk of unintended harm.

How about instead of women suffering through the menopause because they can’t be open about it, we actually fix society’s attitude so there can be open discussion and greater understanding from employers?

A significant minority of women suffer painful sex due to vulvodynia, and all too often it is not taken seriously.

And why we’re on lady bits, here’s an article explaining why the vagina doesn’t need to smell like a bouquet of flowers. And anyone who says otherwise is either indulging in patriarchy or marketing bollocks.

Oh no! We’re still on the same topic! One young lady, a sexual abuse survivor, was scared of having a smear test, but was helped through it by Twitter.

And still more … An interview with Canadian OB/GYN, Dr Jen Gunter, who is on a crusade to tell the truth about women’s health and expose the purveyors of snake oil. And here’s another interview.

And still with Dr Gunter, here’s a long essay adapted from her new book The Vagina Bible: The vulva and the vagina – separating the myth from the medicine. Buy the book; I’m reading it and it is excellent. [LONG READ]

Sexuality

One lady appreciates her pubic hair.

Well from there the only way is up …

Environment

A report in the RSA Journal argues that we need to be building homes not housing and that property should be on a human scale.

On continental Europe, apparently wild boar are being a problem in cities. This article looks at how Barcelona is fighting back. [LONG READ]

Ungardening … how to make your garden a wildlife haven.

Social Sciences, Business, Law

Ten reasons why you should be worried about facial recognition technology.

So how will the world’s major religions cope with the discovery of alien life?

Do you need to be able to address anywhere on Earth? Even the middle of the ocean? You need What3Words, a brilliantly simple idea with an app that has saved lives.

Language

We keep hearing that the English language is going to the dogs. But language always has changed, and always supposedly for the worse. Maybe it’s time to stop worrying about the English language. [LONG READ]

Wherever there is language, people swear, so trying to ban swearing is pointless. Besides there is some evidence that people who swear are more honest.

Art & Literature

How can medievalists get excited about a scrap of parchment? When it contains a fragment of a “vagina monologue”.

Following on from which there is a new translation of the gleefully indecent poems of medieval welsh feminist poet Gwerful Mechain.

We all know about haiku, but there was a ruder equivalent called Senryu. [LONG READ]

You’ve almost certainly heard of Eric Gill, but did you know he had an equally talented younger brother MacDonald “Max” Gill? This is an old review of a long gone exhibition, but serves as an introduction to his work.

History, Archaeology & Anthropology

So who were the mysterious people who preceded the Ancient Egyptians?

Still with Ancient Egypt, an article of the hugely important role of the scribe. [LONG READ]

Archaeologists have found evidence of early fish tapeworm infection at one of Britain’s most important prehistoric sites.

Coming forward several thousand years, metal detectorists have uncovered a huge hoard of important late Saxon and early Norman coins.

Now we enter the modern era! The Victorian introduction of the penny post revolutionised the way we communicate.

Lifestyle & Personal Development

Our favourite Zen master, Brad Warner, on the meaning of life.

And finally … The Victorians (of course!) apparently convinced married couples to sleep in separate twin beds. So how and why did this change?

Phew! There was a lot of that – hopefully something for everybody. More next month.