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

Ten Things, February

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 February

  1. Was originally named after the Roman purification ritual Februa held on 15th.
  2. It is always the shortest month.
  3. Pagans celebrate Imbolc, halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox on 1st.
  4. Whereas Christians have Candlemas on 2nd.
  5. St Valentines Day is, of course, on 14th.
  6. Most years Chinese New Year falls in February; this year it is on Tuesday 5th.
  7. In Anglo-Saxon this is Sol-monath (cake month – sounds good to me!).
  8. Shrove Tuesday & Ash Wednesday fall in February in most years, unless as this year Easter is especially late when they are just in March.
  9. February is the only month which is variable in length, having the extra day every four years (except century years); there are 97 Leap Months every 400 years.
  10. Birthstone: Amethyst
books, sexuality

One Small Step

After an almost infinite number of years the British Library has finally opening its “Private Case” – ie. writing it has considered too obscene for general access – and digitised the 2500 books it contains. The digitised images will be made available online.

But don’t all rush. Although the “Private Case” collection has been accessible to the public through the British Library’s rare books collection since the 1960s, the digitisation means the titles will now be available to a wider audience: by subscription to libraries and higher education institutions, or free at the BL’s reading rooms in London and Yorkshire. So you’ll still have to be a bona fide person to get access. Why, I don’t know as much of the contents are already widely available on the open market.

But let’s rejoice! It is a small step forward for freedom and the removal of prudery.

science, words

Word: Olericulture

Olericulture

The cultivation of edible plants, especially leafy vegetables and herbs.
The branch of horticulture that specializes in the cultivation of edible plants.

The word is a Latin derivative, recorded by the OED as first used in 1886.

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 Two …

  1. Noah’s animals
  2. Lily-white boys
environment, history, medical, science, topographical

Monthly Links

2 Comments

Blimey! It can’t be the end of January already – Christmas was only last week! Well anyway here is the monthly selection of links to items you may have missed, and there’s a lot of it this month.

Science, Technology & Natural World

Why do cats have rasping tongues? It isn’t primarily for cleaning meat off bones as most of the bones a cat would encounter in the wild would be small enough for them to crunch up. No their tongues are ideally suited for keeping their fur properly groomed so it stays waterproof and insulating. And I’ve noticed, from having had quite a few cats, that female cats’ tongues are raspier than males – presumably to better groom their kittens.

The immediate challenges with Artificial Intelligence are not that it may take over but far more philosophical.

Almost three hundred years on a scientist corrects the physiological errors in Gulliver’s Travels

Health & Medicine

So how does ‘flu kill people? Spoiler: It doesn’t.

Haemochromatosis is a genetic disease where the body stores dangerously too much iron, and it’s a bigger problem than was hitherto realised.

There’s a lot of debate over whether cannabis is good or bad for mental health. Jonathan Stea on the Scientific American blog investigates.

A recent study has found that around half of people who think they have a food allergy actually don’t.

In another recent study medics have found that many people with back pain are told to do the exact opposite of what the science says works. [LONG READ]

Most of us get the “winter blues” to some degree, but for some (like me) it is full-blown Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Whether you’re one of the unlucky ones may be related to the colour of your eyes.

As I have always suspected, the need for sunscreen is somewhat over inflated. [LONG READ]

[trigger warning] And finally in this section, it seems that miscarriages could be the result of damaged sperm.

Sexuality

Thoughts on how parents should talk to their children about sex.

On women, desire and why their ability to orgasm is supposedly so mysterious.

Environment

Focusing on how individuals can help limit climate change is very convenient for corporations as it takes then focus off them.

That great British tradition, the lawn, is actually not very environmentally friendly.

Social Sciences, Business, Law

I wasn’t sure where this best fits … Apparently most UK police forces fail to meet fingerprint evidence standards. (That’s not really surprising since there has never been a rigorous scientific study of the evidence as to whether fingerprints are reliable.)

History, Archaeology & Anthropology

Recent DNA studies are fermenting a brouhaha in India over who were the first Indians.

A tumbledown Welsh farmstead (above) has been discovered to be a rare medieval hall house. And now you can stay there.

The worriers are out to tell us that everyday Victorian and Edwardian objects were far too dangerous, although uranium glass certainly isn’t one of them (it is negligibly radioactive).

Once upon a time Britain was protected by some large concrete blocks.

London

Near Great Portland Street underground station, archaeologists have found an almost intact 18th-century ice house.

London’s Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology houses one of the greatest collections of ancient Egyptian and Sudanese archaeology in the world, but it is well hidden.

London’s weather in 2018.

What to London Underground’s service announcements actually mean? Well it depends, and it’s complicated.

Here’s a report of the major mess which Crossrail is in. How does any project manager get here?

Lifestyle & Personal Development

Apparently, and to my surprise, the second-hand book trade is thriving.

Throw it away! Decluttering is actually good for you.

Gesshin Claire Greenwood, one of our favourite zen masters, considers Marie Kondo, Japanese Buddhism and breaking away from tradition.

Is it possible to live without plastic? Pioneer families show how it can be done.

Bicarb, vinegar, lemon juice: how to clean your house, efficiently, the old-fashioned way.

Here are a clutch of everyday objects with features you didn’t know were there, or didn’t know their purpose.

Apparently millennials are burnt-out. You mean every corporate employee isn’t?.

Late nights and erratic sleep patterns produce social jetlag and make you ill.

Of Walls and Squirrels. Our other favourite zen master, Brad Warner, on not sweating the things we can’t control.

What are the effects of total isolation, and can we cope with it?

Veganism is on the rise, but is it the latest piece of cynical marketing, or is it really the future of food. [LONG READ]

To sleep nude or in pyjamas? Which is better for your health?

Food & Drink

Five, allegedly important, genetically modified fruit. Maybe.

Shock, Horror, Humour

And finally … I do love it when the experts get their comeuppance! An apparently ancient Scottish stone circle was built in 1990s by a farmer.

More next month. Be good!

amusements, arts, personal

10 Books I’ve Loved: 10

Before Christmas I was nominated by Graham Page to post, over 10 days, the covers of 10 Books I’ve Loved, no explanation necessary – just the covers.

This is being spread over the five working days of each of two weeks. I don’t usually tag people on memes, and tagging someone every day (as requested) seems too big an imposition, so to compromise I’m nominating these five people to produce their own list: Alden O’Brien, Keeley Schell, Ivan Hutnik, John Monaghan, Ashley Herum. Of course anyone else is welcome to sing along!

Day 10 : Malcolm Bradbury; Rates of Exchange

Later in the year I hope to follow on with other similar themes. I already have Books I Hated / Can’t Read and Books I Found Influential / Formative lined up. There may be others.

current affairs, history, thoughts

Historical Precedent?

I’ve been thinking recently about the UK’s current political mess. I don’t pretend that what follows is necessarily new or entirely original – I’ve certainly seen parts of it elsewhere, see for instance here and here – but I do find it illuminating as well as rather worrying.

It seems to me that the situation we’re in at the moment is a very nice combination of Henry VIII and Charles I. Bear with me …

First there was Henry VIII telling he Pope for f*** off (1532-4), for no reason other than his own vanity; and being excommunicated for his pains (1535). He also managed to ensure he was able to amend, or institute, any law he chose, at any time, with never-ending powers (effectively ignoring Magna Carta).

A hundred years later we have Charles I who thought he could rule by divine right, while ignoring and/or riding roughshod over Parliament. But Parliament was having none of it, thus leading to the Civil War and Interregnum of 1642-1660. Parliament, of course, won. When the Commonwealth fell apart (as such chaos so often does), the Restoration in 1660 brought a country with a more robust form of parliamentary government.

This seems to me to be more than a little like where we are at the moment.

We have a government (executive) who are basically telling the EU to f*** off, with exactly the reaction one would expect from an EU who hold all the cards. The executive are granting themselves Henry VIII powers – the ability to amend large swathes of legislation, as they choose, with no reference to Parliament. And they’re attempting to side-line and/or bully Parliament. Yet again Parliament is having none of it (despite not knowing what they do want) and is fighting back.

Ultimately I suspect Parliament will win (possibly with a little help from the Judiciary), but not before there’s been huge damage inflicted on the country as a whole. Eventually (in maybe 10 or 20 years) the country will hopefully emerge with strengthened parliamentary government and a fully codified and written constitution, although perhaps at the expense of a break-up of the federation.

But it will take many decades for the country to recover economic prosperity, and then only if the plunge into being an under-developed third-world country can be avoided. However I’ll not be here to see it.

It isn’t going to be pretty, or comfortable.

May your god go with you.

amusements, arts, personal

10 Books I’ve Loved: 9

Before Christmas I was nominated by Graham Page to post, over 10 days, the covers of 10 Books I’ve Loved, no explanation necessary – just the covers.

This is being spread over the five working days of each of two weeks. I don’t usually tag people on memes, and tagging someone every day (as requested) seems too big an imposition, so to compromise I’m nominating these five people to produce their own list: Alden O’Brien, Keeley Schell, Ivan Hutnik, John Monaghan, Ashley Herum. Of course anyone else is welcome to sing along!

Day 9 : Nick Catford; Burlington: The Central Government Emergency War Headquarters at Corsham

Later in the year I hope to follow on with other similar themes. I already have Books I Hated / Can’t Read and Books I Found Influential / Formative lined up. There may be others.

amusements, arts, personal

10 Books I’ve Loved: 8

Before Christmas I was nominated by Graham Page to post, over 10 days, the covers of 10 Books I’ve Loved, no explanation necessary – just the covers.

This is being spread over the five working days of each of two weeks. I don’t usually tag people on memes, and tagging someone every day (as requested) seems too big an imposition, so to compromise I’m nominating these five people to produce their own list: Alden O’Brien, Keeley Schell, Ivan Hutnik, John Monaghan, Ashley Herum. Of course anyone else is welcome to sing along!

Day 8 : Gabriel Chevallier; Clochemerle

Later in the year I hope to follow on with other similar themes. I already have Books I Hated / Can’t Read and Books I Found Influential / Formative lined up. There may be others.

amusements, arts, personal

10 Books I’ve Loved: 7

Before Christmas I was nominated by Graham Page to post, over 10 days, the covers of 10 Books I’ve Loved, no explanation necessary – just the covers.

This is being spread over the five working days of each of two weeks. I don’t usually tag people on memes, and tagging someone every day (as requested) seems too big an imposition, so to compromise I’m nominating these five people to produce their own list: Alden O’Brien, Keeley Schell, Ivan Hutnik, John Monaghan, Ashley Herum. Of course anyone else is welcome to sing along!

Day 7 : Latham & Matthews; Diary of Samuel Pepys

Later in the year I hope to follow on with other similar themes. I already have Books I Hated / Can’t Read and Books I Found Influential / Formative lined up. There may be others.