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.

Advent 18

An Advent Calendar : Art I liked this Year


Samuel Scott; The Thames and the Tower of London; 1771

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Advent 17

An Advent Calendar : Art I liked this Year


Kazuo Kasai; Green

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Advent 16

An Advent Calendar : Art I liked this Year


Taiyo Matsumoto; Sunny

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Advent 15

An Advent Calendar : Art I liked this Year


Vermeer; The Little Street

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Words: Marriage Settlement

Last evening I came across some words I’d not encountered before. This is not surprising as they are all anthropological in usage, and I’m not an anthropologist. Neither is our society one to which, in general, they apply. So a little investigation was needed for me to bring you four new words …
Uxorilocal
Applied to or denoting residence after marriage in the area of the wife’s home, community, tribe or family.
Derived from the Latin ūxor, wife. the recorded first usage is in 1936.
This is very similar to …
Matrilocal
1. Designating or relating to a custom of marriage by which the married couple settles in the wife’s home or community.
2. (In zoology) Of or relating to the tendency of males to leave their natal group and reside in or mate with females of a different group.

The first recorded usage is in 1906.


And contrast with …
Virilocal
Pertaining to or designating a woman’s residence after marriage with the husband’s family or tribe.
Derived from the Latin virī-lis, virile. First usage in 1948.
Which again is effectively cognate with …
Patrilocal
Designating or relating to a custom of marriage by which the married couple settles in the husband’s home or community.
First usage again in 1906.

Advent 14

An Advent Calendar : Art I liked this Year


JMW Turner; Norham Castle

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Advent 13

An Advent Calendar : Art I liked this Year


John de Critz the Elder; Sir Francis Walsingham

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Advent 12

An Advent Calendar : Art I liked this Year


Rembrandt; Recumbent Lion

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Advent 11

An Advent Calendar : Art I liked this Year


Tani Bunchō; Earthly Paradise in Wuling

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Ten Things

For this month’s Ten Things we have our annual “best of” round-up from our Auction Amusements posts.
Ten Odd Things I’ve seen Auctioned this Year

  1. A vintage hand held fire extinguisher
  2. Over 600 used golf balls
  3. A pair of vintage dog nut crackers
  4. A pair of musket shot recovered from the ‘Invincible’ (1744-1758), with certificate of authenticity
  5. A Christmas tree made from pipe cleaners
  6. A stuffed and mounted pike in glazed wooden case
  7. A WW2 USN portable bomb hoist MkVII
  8. A fuel gauge housing from a DH4 Liberty bi-plane, silver-plated as a photograph frame
  9. Ten vintage leather baseball gloves dating from the 1930’s onwards
  10. A large solid block of beeswax