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, personal

Five Questions, Series 10

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It’s around six months since we had a round of Five Questions. So here’s a new series, Series 10, of five variously daft and thought provoking questions. Yes they range from the interesting to the downright crazy.

★★★★★

The five questions for Series 10 are:

  1. What is the nature of the universe? Does it function by itself or would it degenerate into chaos without some kind of intelligent control?
  2. What determines the fate of each individual?
  3. Do illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?
  4. Why don’t sheep shrink when it rains?
  5. How would you describe yourself in three words?


As last time, I will post answers on a regular basis, because I’ve drafted them all already and they’re lined up ready to go – although I may rewrite them along the way!
As always you’re invited to join in – I’d like it if you did! You can either answer the questions, as I answer them, by posting in the comments or by posting your answers on your own blog (in which case just leave a comment here so we can find your words of wisdom). Of course you can also leave comments violently disagreeing with me – that’s good too as long as you’re not abusive.
The answer to Question 1 should appear in a few days time and then they’ll be every few days through to the end of the month.
Enjoy!

amusements

Auction Odities

We’ve not had a collection of oddities from our local auction house recently as the sales over the summer have been relatively ordinary. But I’ve kept the best from the last two which together with the current sale make an impressive selection of lots, both weird and wonderful. My heart sinks when I read “An interesting lot …”, “A charming …”, “A spectacular …” or “etc.” in a description! And so much just provokes the reaction “Why?”.
As usual each of these items is a single lot and the text exactly as in the auction catalogue.
A calendar illustration in watercolour for the month of August, featuring a ghillie and his laird atop a white fell pony, in the round
Eleven 20th century oils, mainly unframed, including a woman on a bench signed Kamen, two studies of naked men, a small portrait, Anthony and Cleopatra signed Jack Leslie, etc.; together with a framed woodcut, two unframed watercolours, and a reproduction print of an erotic female in two parts
A large chunk of amethyst crystal, decoratively mounted with miniature metal figures of miners, a donkey, and a ladder


A charming brass-framed glazed miniature display cabinet, containing six Volkstedt porcelain figures of gambolling cherubs …
A rare fuel gauge housing from a DH4 Liberty bi-plane, now silver-plated as a photograph frame …
Three decorative wooden cars, a collection of religious items including crosses and figurines, Egyptian figurines, decorative tray, a small quantity of brassware, a stein etc.
A large wicker hamper, a Moet & Chandon top hat ice bucket plus another similar, a Sundridge fishing rod, a red vintage telephone, a wind up gramophone to be restored, a table top spinning wheel and a violin etc.
Ten vintage leather baseball gloves dating from the 1930’s onwards
A large ornate didgeridoo
A wooden inlaid fire screen, a pair of mounted buffalo horns and an oval shaped bevelled glass mirror
Four decorative vintage gnomes – two modelled as planters
A turn of the century mounted servants bell board and a WW2 gas mask
A large solid block of beeswax
Two heavy duty camera cases, two garden ornaments of a hare and a frog, a silver plated photograph frame and golf balls
Miscellanea, including a tambourine, draughtsman’s set, Victorian jigsaw puzzle, Mauchline ware box, anniversary clock, two smoothing irons, dominoes, etc.
Five decorative scatter cushions and three angel doll candle holders
A spectacular modern Indian silver sculpture of Michael Jackson, standing with arms raised on hexagonal base inscribed with his name and dates “1958-2009” picked out in gold, the underside inscribed “Commissioned by Hobd/Ref 0912002/Made in India/House of Billa Dhand/T999”, height 54 cm, presumed 999 pure, approximately 125 ozt, with fitted box
A collection of 21 African carved wood masks in various sizes, together with a pottery seated figure in pre-Columbian style
Three cameras comprising a Zeiss Ikon Cronos, a Kodak Kodan and a Kodak Brownie, an Italian red glazed table lamp and ashtray, a WW1 riding crop, two copper and brass horns, a Picqout ware tea service on tray, an Imari bowl, a metal and leather chess set and board, an AA car badge, a quantity of books and a vintage tape recorder etc.
Two Victorian ladies’ writing [sic] crops, one with gilt-metal dog-head finial, the other silver-mounted
Two large African carved wood figures, one in apparently European clothing, the head indented to form a bowl … the other of a woman with baby
A pair of Yoruba carved wood fertility stools, 39 cm high, and two pairs of Ibeje figures, 35 and 26 cm, the smaller with bead and fibre clothing
A late Victorian Derby porcelain yellow-ground jar gilt with foliage, together with two painted miniature birds, probably in bone with wood stands, and a plastic kangaroo
A magnificent Japanese carved bone sword of impressive size, decorated overall with warriors and formal ornament, Meiji period, 132 cm long
Four 19th Century heavy copper frying pans and a heavy copper saucepan by Smiths Matthews, Bloomsbury, a roll of bits, a 19th Century winder, a quantity of vintage tools including a spoke shave, a canal art watering can and a quantity of new French door handles
Six western cowboy hats including two black felt by Resistol and MHT, two tan suede by Romero and The Outback Hat, and two straw

A Mamod steam-driven Edwardian model fire engine
Two handsome vintage soda siphons one with gold mesh cover, three antique wooden planes, a vintage German mincer, two wood and brass magazine racks and a novelty miniature gramophone
A Novum sewing machine a wood and brass set of scales, a silver plated sugar casket, a Spong mincer and music stand

history, links, medical, natural history, science, sexuality

Your Interesting Links

This month’s large collection of articles encountered which you maybe didn’t want to have missed.
Science & Natural World
First off we must pay our respects to this year’s IgNobel award winners amongst whose investigations were solid and liquid cats, didgeridoos and cheese disgust.
Budburst on many trees is temperature dependent and March temperatures seem to be the key for many. And they’re getting slowly warmer, so budburst is getting earlier.
[Disclosure: I’ve been submitting records to UK phenology research for many years; many more years that the 17 covered by this research. It takes little time and is valuable “citizen science”.]


Another curiosity of British wildlife is that some birds (notably Great Tits, above) are evolving longer beaks as this gives them an advantage at garden bird feeders. Here are two complementary reports, one from the Guardian, the other from the BBC.
Now to chemistry … A look at how poisoners could use clothing as a murder weapon.
The aliens are coming! Well maybe not quite, but there is a mysterious object speeding past the sun which could be visitor from another star system.
Health & Medicine
For those who want a little more of a challenge than normal (it contains some relatively simple maths), here’s a very good article on why vaccination is important in preventing epidemics.
Sepsis is a hidden killer, and one which most people know nothing about because it has so successfully continued flying under our radar.
There’s a small study which suggests that the psychoactive drugs in magic mushrooms “reset” the brains of depressed people. [Do NOT try this at home! The study used very controlled doses in a medical environment.]
And now to some curiosities … First off, and not for the squeamish, an historical report of a man with two penises and two bladders.
Synaesthesia is mind-boggling. The first of our two mentions this month is of a woman who lost her sight due to illness and in regaining it had some terrifying sounding synaesthetic effects.
And to boggle the mind even further, this young lady has a range of different types of synaesthesia (compared with the normal one). I just cannot imagine what this is like!
Sexuality
Two different aspects of a relationship without sex. First there are people who are genuinely asexual: they may have romantic partnerships but have no interest or desire to have sex.
At almost the other extreme there are couples who, while still happy together, just stop having sex.
Social Sciences, Business, Law
Forensic science is coming under increasing scrutiny. Not only has fingerprinting never been scientifically evaluated for its reliability, but DNA is accused of frequent flawed techniques, which can have devastating effects.
Language
Philip Pullman is under fire because his children’s book La Belle Sauvage is littered with swearwords. Emma Byrne in the Guardian suggests this is actually a good thing: most children already know the words and isn’t it better that they learn in a controlled way when they are and are not acceptable?
History, Archaeology & Anthropology
Uncovering the menus for Neolithic man’s feasts: pork and cheese.
The Incas were far better astronomers than previously thought.
The shipwreck which produced the Antikythera mechanism is still turning up interesting artefacts like the bronze arm which suggests there may be a haul of statues waiting to be found – and what may be another piece of the Antikythera mechanism itself.
Why do a number of Scandinavian Viking graves contain burial clothing embroidered with the work “Allah”
But worse is yet to come, for the Vikings may have brought leprosy to this country via their trade in red squirrels.
Coming much more up to date, both sides are now telling the story of the capture and boarding of the German U-boat U-559, which changed WWII by giving the Allies the Germans’ Enigma codes.
So how about a list of the ten best railway stations in Britain, at least according to Simon Jenkins in the Guardian.
London
IanVisits is writing an occasional series on “Unbuilt London”. In an old post he looks at the 1960s plan to replace buses with monorail network. I have a vague memory of this hare-brained scheme.
And here is a really fascinating and detailed map of the London Underground, Overground, DLR, Tramlink & National Rail (small section below). But why does this have to be published by a French company?

Lifestyle & Personal Development
Our favourite Soto Zen master, Brad Warner, reflects on “The Center of All That” the implications of being you, here.
We’re losing our skills. The skills to do everyday chores our parents took for granted, like washing up by hand, changing a mains fuse or sewing on a button.
A brief look at some of what happens behind the doors of a London crematorium.
I wasn’t sure whether to put this next item here or under medicine. According to sleep scientists we are chronically underslept and sleepwalking our way through life. That is a real threat to our health, and it isn’t fixed by a couple of good lie-ins. So what to do about it?
Apparently our culture says that emotional friendships are a female thing and that boys cannot have emotional friendships with their own sex and are discouraged from doing so by the time they hit puberty. And this is forcing a large number of men into loneliness despite the outward appearances. [OK, it’s American, but is UK culture so different?]
People

Back in August Geoff Marshall (no relation)and Vicki Pipe completed their challenge to visit all 2,563 National Rail stations in Great Britain. Here they talk about the experience for the National Railway Museum’s blog.
That’s all folks! Another instalment next month.

amusements, personal

19 random facts about me that may surprise people.

Someone amongst my friends posted this on Facebook the other day, so here’s my take …

  1. Do you make your bed everyday? No.
  2. What’s your favourite​ number? The one that wins me the lottery.
  3. What is your dream job? In my dreams I have many jobs, most of them stupid.
  4. If you could, would you go back to school? No, but I’d love to go back to being a post-graduate and do it properly.
  5. Can you parallel park? No – never could, never will.
  6. A job you had which people would be shocked that you had? Boning sides of bacon.
  7. Do you think aliens are real? Yes, if they exist.
  8. Can you drive a stick shift? No, the only thing I can drive is other people mad.
  9. Guilty pleasure? Yes, please.
  10. Tattoos? Not yet.
  11. Things people do that drive you insane? Not thinking.
  12. Fears? Illness, death and financial insecurity.
  13. Favourite childhood game? Were there any?
  14. Do you talk to yourself? No, only my stupid PC, everyone else answers back.
  15. Do you like doing puzzles? Except for the occasional crossword, no.
  16. Favourite music? Pretty much anything before Bach or late-60s/early-70s. But silence is golden.
  17. Tea or Coffee? Tea. I drink coffee about once a month and always wonder why I bothered.
  18. First thing you remember you wanted to be when you grew up? Scientist.

No I’m not tagging anyone, but join in if you want to.

medical, personal

Final Knees Up

Hopefully this will be a final update on my left knee replacement …
On Wednesday of this week – exactly 6 weeks since surgery – I saw the surgeon of a check-up. It was, as I had hoped, a non-event. He is delighted with my recovery, healing (see photo), and the flex on the knee, and has cleared me for all normal activity. He doesn’t want to see me again unless I have problems and has discharged back into the care of my GP.
As I reported earlier my physio appointment 10 days ago was equally positive. I have another physio appointment next week as we agreed it would be sensible that we meet once we had the surgeon’s update. All being well I suspect will be the last appointment.
Both knees are fine except that they are very stiff and achy – but that’s just the muscles having to rebuild and get accustomed to normal activity again. So now I just need to get the knees walking more and build up the muscles.
I know I’ve had this work done privately (we’re lucky to be able to afford health insurance) but I have to say the care I’ve received has, overall, been absolutely outstanding. The whole hospital is cheerful, friendly and helpful from the consultants right down to the porters and cleaners – everyone has time and a friendly word.
It all looks very much like “job done” and very well done too!

quotes

Quotes

So here we are again with this month’s selection of interesting and amusing quotes.
Visitors should bear in mind that architects can become extremely excited by plasterboard-wrapped columns, structural grids & road markings.
[Olly Wainwright]
The barn-owl turns in the darkness of an oak, and floats forward over fading giraffe-skins of light and shade …
[JA Baker, September]
In the real world, we have to talk about things and find ways to respect each other’s opinion, even when we disagree. A healthy, mutually satisfying relationship involves celebrating the things you love about each other and ignoring, whenever possible, those quirks that you can’t change.
[David J Ley, Ethical Porn for Dicks]
When people tell you to be afraid, in an ambiguous, unclear situation, you need to wonder why they want you to be afraid, and what they intend to do with that fear of yours.
[David J Ley, Ethical Porn for Dicks]
Part of the problem here is that our media thrives on instilling fear and inadequacy in people. They want you to be afraid, to feel anxiety, so that you read their article or watch their television show, all so they can sell you shit via advertisements and commercials. Fear about sex and health are two of their main strategies.
[David J Ley, Ethical Porn for Dicks]
Our freedoms and privileges in a liberal democracy are ultimately guaranteed by the willingness of the state to use violence to protect them … Is an open society that tolerates dissent even possible without its being underwritten by violence?
[Stephen Batchelor quoted at http://hardcorezen.info/the-zen-buddhist-who-advises-trump-about-nukes/5561]
Don’t try to use what you learn from Buddhism to be a better Buddhist; use it to be a better whatever-you-already-are.
[Dalai Lama]
If you want to go bomb somebody, there’s remarkably little discussion about how much it might cost. But when you have a discussion about whether or not we can assist suffering people, then suddenly we become very cost-conscious.
[Andrew J Bacevich, American historian]
The West won the world by applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.
I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grand-children’s time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness. The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.
[Carl Sagan, in 1996]
Parenting to grow our sons’ relational capacities is all about staying in conversation with them over the years to help them see how powerful their capacities for communication and expression are. It’s about getting them to that tipping point whereby they commit to their own voice over the scripted silences of traditional manhood.
[Mark Greene; “Why Do We Murder the Beautiful Friendships of Boys?” at https://medium.com/@remakingmanhood/why-do-we-murder-the-beautiful-friendships-of-boys-3ad722942755]