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.
quotes

Monthly Quotes

Another month goes by and we arrive at another edition of our quotes (amusing or enlightening) recently encountered. As usual in no particular order …

What is needed is something in which [we] can all believe irrespective of religion, which in most cases, dare I say it, is a façade. We need something else, and that something is ethics. Goodness, kindness, love, honesty.
[Nicholas Winton]

In this sentence, “-ough” is pronounced nine different ways:
A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed, houghed, and hiccoughed.

Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event.
[Oscar Wilde]

In 2019 Volgograd electrical engineer Pavel Konnov decided that … the [Voynich Manuscript] describes [a] … rite which protected women from sexual violence by vampires.

If you know the wave function of the universe, why aren’t you rich?
[Murray Gell-Mann]

I didn’t know what I was doing. I was like a man fighting bees.
[Charles Portis, True Grit]

Truth-tellers are not always palatable. There is a preference for candy bars.
[Gwendolyn Brooks, poet (1917-2000)]

Solitude is for me a fount of healing which makes my life worth living. Talking is often a torment for me, and I need many days of silence to recover from the futility of words.
[Carl Jung]

Conventionality is not morality. Self righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last.
[Charlotte Bronte’s preface to the 2nd edition of Jane Eyre]

The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me.
[Meister Eckhart]

… the acceptance of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution as a means of accounting for the development of species. This was linked to the spectacular industrial and technological developments of the period [Victorians] to produce a cult of progress in which the old and primitive were automatically devalued and despised.
[Ronald Hutton, “Under the Spell of the Druids”, History Today, 13 June 2019]

The British took democracy to other countries, but we can’t even abide by it or believe in it ourselves.
[Quoted in the Guardian, 15 June 2019]

beliefs, nudism, personal

Nudity (again)

I came across an interesting post on the Naked Wanderings blog. It is overtly about the influences nudism has on our (intimate) relationships, but I found it interesting because it also throws some light on why many people find nudity (and thus nudism/naturism) so scary and taboo. Here’s the cut down version:

[N]udism has a positive influence on both our physical and mental health.
. . .
But how does nudism effect relationships?
. . .
[Apparently] the divorce rate among nudist couples is a lot lower than among textiles . . . are nudist couples sharing different values than textiles which are more likely to keep them together?
. . .
The level of trust in our relationship is high enough that we wouldn’t be threatened knowing that our partner was spending time naked among other nudies.
. . .
[But] in many relationships, trust is often linked with an inevitable idea of not letting the fox into the hen house . . . We want our partner to be sexy as hell when we go out together but we wonder why they have to look so fancy when they will spend a night with friends. We know that a couple of her well placed hip movements in that dress can make a guy go crazy or that with his three day beard in combination with that certain shirt he’ll have girls hanging on his lips. Imagine what it would be like if everyone was naked.
. . .
If we allow our partner to be seen naked and to see others in their purest form, have we conquered jealousy? [Maybe.] It’s all about the intention.
. . .
For us, it seems unimaginable not to see our partner nude at least a couple of times a day, but we would probably be surprised if we knew for how many people it has been weeks, months, sometimes even years since they last saw their partner’s naked body.
. . .
According to [one] poll . . . 40% of the interviewees preferred to only have sex when the lights are out . . . because then you avoid getting caught up in thoughts about your physical appearance . . . If you have any intention to spend at least some part of your life with this person, you still feel that you have to hide your own body?
. . .
[T]here is no hiding, we see each other naked so often that . . . we became aware of our bodies and we accept how we and our partner looks . . . nudity still gets us excited, but it depends on the situation. 
. . .
We get the question about how to convince your partner into nudism . . . Propose that they give it a try. Only once, in a secure and not very crowded place.
. . .
[W]e are completely okay with others who prefer to wear clothes. We are not saying that our lifestyle is the only right one.

If even half of this is true, then I find it a very sad reflection on the state of our minds, and the prudish control which has been exerted on us for generations – this is nothing new. A lot of it can certainly be laid at the door of Western religions and the patriarchy; although there are doubtless other influences too.

Isn’t it time we accepted that we’re basically all the same. We all know what’s under your t-shirt and jeans; my t-shirt and jeans.

So where is the problem? Yes, like so many things the problem really is only in your mind, if you allow it to be.

personal, ramblings

Ten Things, June

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 June

  1. June marks the start of meteorological Summer
  2. Dedicated to Juno, Roman goddess of marriage
  3. Magna Carta signed on 15 June 1215
  4. Summer Solstice …
  5. … which is the longest day
  6. Midsummer’s Day is on the Feast of St John Baptist, and not at the Solstice
  7. Well dressing, which is still practised in Derbyshire
  8. Trooping the Colour (above) is part of the Queen’s Official Birthday celebrations
  9. Ratcatchers Day, Hamelin, Germany
  10. Birthstone: Pearl
amusements, personal

Another Meme

Oh dear! It’s time for another meme. This one stolen from David Hallett on Facebook and slightly amended.

  • How old are you: 68
  • Surgeries: 9 – appendectomy, 2x cystoscopy, sinuses & septoplasty, finger nail removal, 2x arthroscopy, 2x knee replacement; all as an adult
  • Tattoos: 0
  • Piercings: 1
  • Broken a bone: no – but have come close a few times
  • Ridden in an ambulance: yes
  • Ridden in a squad car: no
  • Ice skated: no
  • Ridden a motorcycle: no
  • Stayed in hospital: yes
  • Skipped School: no
  • Donated blood: to my shame, no
  • Last text: friend Jean
  • Watched someone die: no; never managed to get there in time
  • Pepsi or Coke: Diet Coke
  • Favourite season: spring/early summer
  • Received a ticket? yes
  • Favourite Colour: yellow, or light green
  • Sunset or sunrise: sunrise
  • Beach or mountains: beach
  • Who will play this with you: probably no-one
  • Cat or dog: always cats
  • Watch someone give birth? no
  • Kids: none
  • Samsung or iPhone: almost anything but Apple
  • Favourite alcohol: Adnams Dry Hopped Lager
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 Six …

  1. Balls in an over in cricket
  2. Legs on an insect
  3. Noble gases
  4. Sides on a cube
  5. Wings on a seraph
  6. Dots in a Braille cell
environment, history, links, medical, science

Monthly Links

OK, so it’s time again for our monthly selection of links to items you may have missed the first time. There’s a lot in this month’s selection so here goes …

Science, Technology & Natural World

The mobile 5G technology is supposed to be the great white wonder but there are fears it could jam weather forecasting satellites (and others?).

Beavers are in the news again. New Scientist ran an article on a secret site in England where beavers control the landscape [£££]. And in Scotland they have been given protected status.

Researchers reckon that (some) wasps are able to reason using logic. If true they would be the first insect known to do so. And in other buzzy news scientists tell us that we really should appreciate wasps.

Health & Medicine

We know we’re all subtly different, but it seems that some of us harbour mysterious variations like extra teeth and extra nipples.

Recent work has suggested that having your appendix removed can make you more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease. The Conversation takes a look and discovers there really is no good evidence one way or the other.

There are medical reasons why some men need to be circumcised, usually in adulthood, but for a few this creates more trauma than beforehand.

Scarleteen is a great Sex Education resource. Here they talk to one woman about her experience of having an abortion. [LONG READ]

Staying on women’s health … Just what does the menopause do to the body? [Includes video]

Sexuality

How one couple rejuvenated their marriage and got out of a “sex rut”.

Environment

New York is banning glass-clad skyscrapers and iconic architect Le Corbusier warned against them. Now it seems academics are also coming to the conclusion that glass skyscrapers are an environmental folly.

So who would have guessed that urban greening can save species, cool warming cities, and make us happy.

Art & Literature

The genius of Leonardo da Vinci came up with ideas for things like helicopters. Some of them aren’t as far-fetched as it seems.

History, Archaeology & Anthropology

A fossilised bone found years ago in a Tibetan cave turns out to be from a Denisovan, showing they were widespread across Asia. Which would account for the fact that Tibetan people carry a genetic mutation from Denisovans which allows them to function at high altitude.

New Scientist tells the story of the Yamnaya who conquered Europe about 5000 years ago in what seems to have been a fairly bloody era. [LONG READ] [£££]

Here we go again … Yet another academic thinks he has uncovered the secret of the Voynich manuscript. I wonder.

Somewhat echoing my sentiments, Oxford Historian Amanda Power sets out a case for not restoring Notre Dame but keeping it as a symbol of our flawed lifestyle(s). Oh and, I believe, as a teaching aid for historians and architects.

London

London is in danger of flooding and the Thames Barrier is coming to the end of its design life. So what can be done?

London is full of statues. Diamond Geezer looks at a selection of royal ones.

In North London there is a botanical garden that’s home to a variety of bits of London no-one else wanted. It sounds worth a visit.

We all know about the ravens at the Tower of London, but now they have their first raven chicks for 30 years.

Lifestyle & Personal Development

One Guardian journalist took a lot of tests to try to find out if she was being poisoned by modern life.

So you really need five reasons to be naked in your garden! OK, here they are.

Food & Drink

Finally, one to gladden the hearts of many of my friends … Belgian monks have resurrected a 220-year-old beer after deciphering the recipe. And they’re brewing it!

More goodies next month! Cheers! Hic!

words

Word: Plagate

Plagate

1. Having plagæ, or irregular elongated colour spots.
2. Having a stripe or stripes.

According to the OED the derivation is post-classical Latin use of classical Latin plāga blow, stroke, wound, gash, or a parallel formation, with the first English use being in 1890.

amusements, quotes

Quotes

A monthly round-up of recently encountered quotes, interesting and amusing …

Hospitals are a dominion of streets and mapped lines. Their psychogeography filled up with each body that has passed through them. How many people have slept in this bed? A commonwealth of wards, a confederacy of the sick. Anyone who presents themself for care, cure or examination must accept the role of patient, which requires them to give up something: freedom/free will/free movement.
[Sinéad Gleeson, Constellations: Reflections From Life]

There was an old woman from Slough
Who developed a terrible cough
So she drank half a pint
Of warm honey and mint
But sadly she didn’t pull through.
[unknown]

Me: What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Dad: Never whistle with a mouth full of custard.
[Annie Morris on Twitter]

When I’m good I’m very, very good, but when I’m bad, I’m better.
[Mae West]

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.
[Richard Feynman]

There are two types of genius. Ordinary geniuses do great things, but they leave you room to believe that you could do the same if only you worked hard enough. Then there are magicians, and you can have no idea how they do it. Feynman was a magician.
[Hans Bethe on Richard Feynman]

First, what bothers me isn’t just that people said 5-HTTLPR [a gene, thought to have a role in depression] mattered and it didn’t. It’s that we built whole imaginary edifices, whole castles in the air on top of this idea of 5-HTTLPR mattering. We “figured out” how 5-HTTLPR exerted its effects, what parts of the brain it was active in, what sorts of things it interacted with, how its effects were enhanced or suppressed by the effects of other imaginary depression genes. This isn’t just an explorer coming back from the Orient and claiming there are unicorns there. It’s the explorer describing the life cycle of unicorns, what unicorns eat, all the different subspecies of unicorn, which cuts of unicorn meat are tastiest, and a blow-by-blow account of a wrestling match between unicorns and Bigfoot.
[Quoted by Derek Lowe at https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2019/05/10/there-is-no-depression-gene]

The police officer who puts their life on the line with no superpowers, no X-Ray vision, no super-strength, no ability to fly, and no invulnerability to bullets, reveals far greater virtue than Superman – who is only a mere superhero.
[Eliezer Yudkowsky]

I love this waterway [Regent’s Canal]. I’d like to have a private barge, and float down it waving to the tarts.
[X Trapnel in Anthony Powell’s, Books Do Furnish A Room]

There once was a man from Nantucket,
who, tired of life
inside a lewd limerick,

moved out
and set up home
in a piece of free verse,

situated
just on the outskirts
of Chepstow.
[Brian Bilston]

There was a young harpist called Niamh,
who would wear her heart on her sliamh.
But then she plucked Sean
(he played the French hean).
They married before New Year’s Iamh.
[Brian Bilston]

Don’t ever let a recipe tell you how much garlic to put in. You measure that with your heart.
[unknown]

Women are angels. And when someone breaks our wings, we simply continue to fly. On a broomstick. We’re flexible like that.
[unknown]

More next month.

natural history, words

Word: Mollipilose

Mollipilose

Having a fur or plumage that is soft or fine; fleecy, fluffy, downy.


Barn Owl (Tyto alba). If you’ve ever met a Barn Owl up close
you’ll understand why I choose this to illustrate
mollipilose: their feathers are just unbelievably soft,
which is why they are so silent in flight.

A surprisingly late first usage in 1890 which is derived from the Latin mollis, soft + pilus, hair.

H/T @HaggardHawks