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.
history, links, science, sexuality, topographical

Your Interesting Links

Slightly later than planned, and hence slightly longer than usual, here is my monthly list of articles you might have missed before …
Science & Medicine
Kazakhstan is a treasure trove of naturally wild and flavourful apple varieties.
Welcome the tiny ingestible origami robot which can be used for repairing wounds.


Ocean scientists have been using message in a bottle techniques for over 100 years, and they still are.
One mouse, two mouse, three mouse … Can cats count mice?
And still on felines … can a cat have an existential crisis? Spoiler: yes. [Long read]
Ear wax is very strange and mysterious stuff. [Long read]
Sexuality
OK, girls, so does the ‘G-Spot’ actually exist?
Do humans actually send out airborne aphrodisiac pheromones to attract potential mates? Erm … dunno.
Social Sciences & Business
On the social and design engineering of high heels. [Long read]
How many friends do you have? Are they really your friends?
Alain de Botton on why you will marry the wrong person. And there’s not much you can do about it!
Language
What’s it like learning to talk all over again? Learning Chinese as an adult.
Art & Literature
From mega-libraries down to nano-libraries … here’s the story of London’s smallest library.

Wow! The whole of Samuel Pepys’ Diary is now online.
History
It seems that Ice Age Europe wasn’t populated by who we thought.
The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge have discovered that one of their Ancient Egyptian coffins holds them youngest known mummified foetus.
Ancient toilets can tell us a lot about the lifestyle of their users, and it seems the flush toilet goes further back than we thought. [Long read]
The colour of monastic habits was much more fraught with controversy than one might suspect.
A plague on all your houses. New research suggests that the Black Death was even more devastating than we thought.
Ianvisits reviews the exhibition of the lost library of the Tudor magician John Dee.
Slowly coming more up to date, here’s a look at the background and organisation of the Gunpowder Plot.
An unsuspected mass grave in Durham is though to hold the remains of prisoners from the Battle of Dunbar.
Investigations into a 1661 document awarding £20 to Major Smith.
Lady Antonia Fraser on the sexy and scandalous truth about Versailles and the new BBC series about the same.
How old is that London house? Is it Georgian Or Victorian?

London was devastated during World War 2. The recently published LCC bomb damage maps reveal all. It’s a magnificent volume!
There have been lots of weird and wonderful proposals for building in London which have come to naught. Here are some, arranged by Underground station.
Food & Drink
How to tell real Parmigiano Reggiano from imposters. Science now has a way.
People
So here are two pieces about the forensic mysteries of identifying unknown bodies.
First the mystery of Saddleworth Moor: who was the man they’ve nicknamed Neil Dovestone?
And in the US, just as here in the UK, the identification of nameless bodies can take years before the mysteries are solved.
Shock, Horror, Humour
So here’s a little quiz to end with … What is London’s longest tunnel? It’s OK, I got it wrong too.
More next month.

amusements, ramblings

Oddity of the Week: The Chap Olympiad

The Chap Olympiad returns to London’s Bedford Square this summer on Saturday 16 July.
For the last several years “the Chap Olympiad has provided track, field and bar events for the floppy of hair, the rakish of trilby and the elegant of trouser” in “celebration of Britain’s sporting ineptitude: sensational cravats take precedence over sweaty lycra; more points are awarded for maintaining immaculate trouser creases than crossing the finishing line“.


Events include Umbrella Jousting (above), the Well Dressage Event, Beach Volleybowler, and Gentlemen’s Club Golf (below).

The Chap Olympiad, which opens with the ceremonial lighting of the Olympic Pipe, “is a gathering place for the most eccentrically dressed sportsmen and sportswomen of the nation“. And despite the name the Olympiad is by no means restricted to those of the male gender.
More information, pictures and tickets at www.thechapolympiad.com.

current affairs, ramblings

More Brexit: 8 EU Myths

An update to the theme on the EU referendum …
There’s a graphic floating around the intertubes containing, more or less, the following text which refutes 8 of the top myths about the EU.
It is partisan — but then so is everything! — as it is published by the European Parliamentary Labour Party despite appearing on a Leeds University website.
Items 4 & 6 could be debated as I’ve not checked the data — though I’ve no good reason, other than a general mistrust, to disbelieve it. I doubted item 3 and did check the numbers; it turns out to be correct. The other 5 points also appear to be fairly accurate.
So here are 8 EU myths busted …

  1. Most of our laws come from Brussels. Just 13.2% of our laws have anything to do with Brussels according to the House of Commons Library. This figure includes everything that mentions the EU, even if it’s just for ‘passing reference’ or a definition.
  2. European laws are made by unelected bureaucrats. The European Commission only proposes laws. It is the directly elected European Parliament and the Council of the EU (Government Ministers) that debate, amend and ultimately pass European legislation.
  3. Norway and Switzerland enjoy all the benefits despite not being an EU Members. The Norwegians and Swiss must pay into the EU and also abide by EU Trade Regulations — without actually being able to influence any of them. Norwegians make roughly the same per capita contributions to the EU as Britons.
  4. EU migrants are a drain on the economy. EU migrants contribute more to the UK exchequer in taxes than they claim in benefits. Economists at University College London estimate that EU migrants contributed over £20bn to the UK economy between 2001 and 2011.
  5. The EU does nothing to help ordinary people. The EU has ensured safe working hours, introduced higher levels of annual leave and extended parental leave. It was also the EU that established the legal principle that men and women should receive equal pay for equal work.
  6. Our most important markets are China & the USA. The EU is the world’s largest single market. Half of Britain’s exports go there, accounting for some 3.5 million British jobs.** The UK sells more to the Netherlands alone than to the whole of China.
  7. European Court of Human Rights forces its will on UK. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has nothing to do with the EU. It is part of the Council of Europe — an entirely separate institution that was setup by Britain after the Second World War.
  8. The British are different. All EU members states have their different languages, cultures, histories and laws. No one joins the EU to lose their identity. In fact, the EU’s motto is ‘United in Diversity’.

Make of it what you will.
** Though note that there is no suggestion all these jobs would disappear if we left the EU, merely that currently they are focussed on the EU.

environment, photography

Weekly Photograph

This week a photograph from a few weeks ago, taken on a rather hazy (read, polluted) morning on the way into central London on the A40. I was struck by the sheer amount of metalwork adorning the sky as well as the road.

Metalworks A40
Metalworks A40
Acton, London; May 2016
Click the image for a larger view

beliefs, personal, thoughts

Five Questions, Series 8 #1

OK, let’s go. Here’s the answer to the first of my latest round of Five Questions.

★☆☆☆☆

Question 1: Can we understand everything?
No. Not a hope in hell. At least I bloody hope we don’t.
One of the defining features of our species is our ability to make connections. From birth, we can’t help but recognise patterns — and hence we begin to understand how the world works. What goes for us individually applies to our species as well. The history of science is the history of seeing ever deeper connections between apparently unrelated phenomena. And there is no reason to suppose that this won’t continue ad infinitum.
However chimps, smart as they are compared with, say, tortoises, will (we assume) never grasp quantum theory, or even recognise the need for such a theory. And although we are smarter than chimps (at least for some measures of “smarter”), why shouldn’t there be concepts that are too big or too complex for our brains to handle? Even too big/complex for us to be aware of?
So isn’t it just arrogance to think that we will, one day, understand everything? And anyway, isn’t being able to understand everything a frightening prospect? Because then we would know what everyone else was thinking; all the time; about everything from apples to zoophilia. That way madness surely lies.

beliefs, personal, thoughts

Five Questions, Series 8

2 Comments

OMG it is over a year since I started the last round of Five Questions. So at long last I bring you another series.
Here in Series 8 we have a slightly more serious group of questions — although I don’t guarantee entirely serious answers. So without more ado …

★★★★★

The five questions for Series 8 are:

  1. Can we understand everything?
  2. Give me an unpopular opinion you have
  3. Is masturbation a homosexual act?
  4. Would you ever admit to being racist?
  5. If you could write a note to your younger self, what would you say in only two words?


Unlike the last series, I will post answers on a regular basis, because I’ve decided to write the answers up front, probably before this post even goes live! Yes, I know it’s cheating. But so what?
As always you’re all invited to sing along — I’d like it if you all joined in! 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).
The answer to Question 1 should appear in a couple of days time and then they’ll be at roughly weekly intervals.
Enjoy!

amusements, ramblings

Oddity of the Week: Tube Announcements

This week we’re stretching the definition of “oddity” a little more than usual.
Last year Londonist published a couple of selections of amusing announcements London Underground tube train drivers have made over their tannoy systems. Here is a selection of the best …
Sorry for the delay, we are just waiting to clear a drunk dancing topless man from the tunnel.
Would the guy with the piano accordion please put your trousers back on.
Apologies for the delay but we have lost the driver.
We are currently experiencing delays on the Northern line due to a handbag on the line at Bank.
Ladies and gentleman, upon departing the train, may I remind you to take your rubbish with you. Despite the fact that you are in something that is metal, fairly round, filthy and smells, this is a tube train for public transport and not a bin on wheels.
Please do not obstruct the closing doors. Specifically, please do not use your children as a wedge to hold the doors open.


Please keep your kids with you at all times. Even the annoying ones.
Don’t forget to take your children and livestock with you.
Please let passengers off the train before boarding. It’s not the storming of the Bastille you know.
There’s a dog on the line ahead. They’ve sent a manager to rescue it. That’s not going to help.
[10 minutes later]
The dog is now at Plaistow. So it’s making better time than us.
This train is early and is now being delayed so that it is late. I don’t understand this either.
Mind your fingers, mind your toes, watch the doors, they’re gonna close.
I can assure the passenger in the second carriage that it is not raining in the train. Please put your umbrella down.
For those of you alighting here at Willesden Junction, welcome back to paradise.
There are lots more here and here.