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.
natural history, photography

Weekly Photograph

This week I bring you a really poor quality shot, but one for the record. n Saturday lunchtime we had a fox in the garden. This isn’t unheard of, even in daylight, but it isn’t something we see more than about once a year. But on this occasion Mr Reynard hung around for quite a while — maybe 15 minutes — sniffing around the garden and finding the odd tasty morsel which the starlings have missed. So I managed to get a few, not very good, photos. They’re poor partly because I was shooting through the study window, and the window is grimy hence the slight mistiness; but I knew if I opened the window this would be enough to scare the fox away.

fox
Reynard the Fox
Greenford; November 2015

As you can see, Reynard was in pretty good condition — as (s)he should be given the mildness of the weather. What was striking though is the paleness of the coat on the body and the conspicuous black ears and paws.

words

Word: Mandrel

Mandrel
1. A tapered or cylindrical axle or spindle which can be inserted into a hole in a piece of work to support it during machining.
2. A metal bar that serves as a core around which material (usually metal) may be cast, molded, forged, bent, or otherwise shaped.
3. The shaft and bearings on which a tool (as a circular saw) is mounted.
4. A miner’s pick.
According to the OED the word is usually believed to be an alteration of the French mandrin, which has the senses 1 & 2 above. However the French word has not been traced earlier than 1690 and is of obscure origin.

mandrel2

Unless one is a tool-maker or similar craftsman the most likely place most of us will encounter a mandrel is as the stick which a jeweller uses to size rings.

history, links, medical

Your Interesting Links

So here we are again with another round of links to interesting (or amusing) items you may have missed previously. I’ve decided to try splitting the items into sections, starting with the scientific and ending with the more light-hearted.
Science & Medicine
Let’s start off with the most important question ever … Are Cats Domesticated?
I think this next item could well be a top nominee for “research of the year” and maybe even an Ig Nobel. The headline reads: Old Mice Drinking Champagne Three Times A Week Navigate Labyrinths Better.
And so from one of cats’ main prey items to another — birds. It seems that there are some interesting mechanisms underlying the colour of birds’ plumage, and it isn’t all down to pigmentation.
So what do we really know about nutrition? It seems that in really scientific terms the answer is “not a lot” because most of the studies which have been done are of such poor quality. Aaron Carroll takes the studies apart.
It’s a bit late for Halloween now, but here’s a piece on some of the chemistry of blood.
Why do germs spread better in winter, when one would think that the cold weather would kill them off? Scientists are at last unravelling the actuality.
There is no hope. We are all doomed. It seems that the changes in our sense of humour as we age may be the early signs of losing our marbles altogether.
Touching. Some like it, others don’t. And we all have areas where we don’t like to be touched. Research has recently mapped out this awkwardness with being in physical contact with other people.
Excuse the question, but have you had a good shit lately? The chances are that none of us have, as scientists are telling us we’ve been doing it all wrong — at least since the advent of the flush toilet. But I have to ask how this is new news? It is something I’ve known for about 40 years and was based on research then!
Many (maybe all) of us are not a single genetic being; we have some level of chimerism. We likely all contain our mother’s cells; maybe our older siblings’ cells too; and mothers may also contain their children’s foetal cells. But it seems, that at least for mother, this may be a good thing.
And these cases of chimerism come to the fore where paternity tests throw up unexpected results. Oh, and maternity tests!
Anatomical question of the week … Why is the human vagina so big?
Sexuality
One American father has done his kids proud by following the Dutch model of sex advice. And guess what? It’s a model that works.
Social Sciences & Business
Seems the culture of overwork is erroneous and that working fewer hours really would make us more productive. Now why did I fairly strictly control the hours I spent in the office?
Time. We seldom have enough. But where does all your time go? [Long read]
Language
We have countless words for colours and even sounds, but why do most languages have very few words for smells?
History
The Tampon: A History. [Long read]
OK, so it was invented by the Sumerians, but what is Cuneiform anyway?
He was a mathematician, magician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, alchemist and spy; and he lived during the reign of Elizabeth I. Who was he? Yes he was Dr John Dee. London’s Royal College of Physicians is putting on an exhibition about John Dee, from 18 January 2016.


The Dutch have made a truly stunning find. A trunk of over 2500 undelivered 17th century letters, many from ordinary people giving often unrecorded details of everyday life.
Another in IanVisits’s series on “Unbuilt London”; this time how to turn St James’ Park into a giant roundabout.
Coming even further up to date IanVisits (again) takes a trip through the tunnels of London’s mothballed Post Office railway.

Food & Drink
Those of you who will be roasting a giant sparrow for Christmas dinner might need to get your oven ready now.
There’s coffee, and then there’s the perfect cup of coffee — as explained by a Chemistry teacher.
Shock, Horror, Humour
Having been on the receiving end of one, Harry Mount considers the secret brilliance of Prince Philip’s “gaffes”.
That’s all, folks!

amusements

Oddity of the Week: Serpentfoot

Way away in Chattooga County, Georgia, USA the 82 year old woman who was born Carolyn Marjorie Ann Clay, has filed to change her name. Currently known as Serpentfoot Serpentfoot (according to her driving licence) this wouldn’t be the first time she’s changed her name — or done other weird and outrageous things including stripping nude at a Rome City Commission meeting in protest against them praying at the beginning of meetings.
Unsurprisingly her name change has already been rejected by a judge in Floyd County — despite her claim that it would be shortened to Nofoot Allfoot Serpentfoot. So she has moved to Chattooga County, revised her new name and submitted a new application to the courts there.
And what is that new name? …
Nofoot Allfoot-69-mouth-tail-solids-liquids-gases-animals-vegetable-mineral-all-predators-and-prey-that-consume-and-move-with-feet-fins-wings-wheels-canes-roots-limbs-vines-landslides-dust-wind-water-fire-ice-gravity-vacuums-black-holes-going-over-under-around-and-through-Our-Greater-Self-our-habitat-the-cosmos-of-which-we-are-but-part-and-where-all-life-feeds-upon-other-life-from-the-smallest-atoms-or-bacteria-to-the-great-black-holes-and-dog-eat-dog-and-“Last-Suppers”-where-we-are-what-we-eat-or-consume-and-each-lives-on-in-the-other…∞ Serpentfoot
Read more of this bizarreness in Chattanooga Times Free Press

amusements

Ten Things #23

This month I thought we would return to the humorous for our Ten Things …
Ten Exciting New Paint Shades

  1. Pregnancy Test
  2. Haddock
  3. Vampire
  4. Goblin
  5. Surgical Appliance
  6. Apoplexy
  7. Raw Prawn
  8. Old Troll
  9. Maxwell
  10. Golly
photography

Weekly Photograph

This week it’s time for more pussy porn, so here’s Tilly the Cat again. She hates my printers; they have to be watched ans supervised:
“I must watch this rotten printer. I don’t trust it. It makes funny noises. I’m worried it’s turning into a hoover!”

On Printer Watch
On Printer Watch
Greenford; November 2015

amusements

Thinking Thursday #2 Answer

This week’s Thinking Thursday post asked you to make sense of

11 was a racehorse
12 was 12
1111 race
12112

Well it’s all down to how you read it. How about:

Eleven was a racehorse,
Twelve was one too.
Eleven won one race,
Twelve won one too.

Hat-tip Marcus du Sautoy who provided this in his book Finding Moonshine.

words

Word: Trailbaston

Trailbaston
Originally a class of violent evil-doers in the reign of Edward I, who, as brigands or hired ruffians, bludgeoned, maltreated, and robbed the king’s lieges, during his absence or absorption in foreign wars.
It was also applied to their system of violence, for the suppression of which special justices were instituted in 1304–5. And thence the term was applied to the ordinances issued against said brigands, and to the inquisitions, trials, courts, and justices appointed for their suppression.
So trailbaston was a special type of itinerant judicial commission first created during the reign of Edward I and used many times thereafter during the reigns of Edward II and Edward III, primarily to punish felonies and trespass at the king’s suit.
The declared intention of the trailbaston commissions was to combat increasing levels of violence and public disorder, but an added bonus for the crown was the revenues brought by forfeiture, which was the punishment for conspiracy.
The first trailbaston commissions date back to 1305, when Edward I directed several teams of justices to visit each English county and seek presentments for felonies and certain trespasses. This was extended in late 1305 and revamped and it’s scope widened considerably in 1307.
The term was in living use from 1304 to about 1390 and has survived only as an often misunderstood historical expression.
Trailbaston ultimately derives from the Old French traille, to trail + baston, a stick, club or cudgel; so literally “one who trails or carries a club or cudgel”.