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, current affairs, medical, science

You May Have Missed …

Another in our series highlighting articles you may have missed …
Unfortunately top billing this week has to go to Prime Minister David Cameron’s desire to impose a “porn block” on every internet connection. Needless to say the internet has been awash with people decrying the scheme as unworkable censorship. Some has been the usual squealing about anything we don’t like but much has been sensible commentary on the abhorrence of censorship and the practicalities of why the system won’t work. Those of you who know me, and who follow here, will be able to guess my view. Here is a selection of articles:
Original news item from the Independent: David Cameron cracks down on online pornography with ‘porn block’ option
The anotherangryvoice blog shouts against David Cameron’s “national wank register” although the article is more rational and practical than that sounds.
Meanwhile in measured fashion New Statesman asks 10 questions about Cameron’s ‘war on porn’
While in PC Pro the smaller ISPs are resisting.
Another blogger maintains the proposed UK porn filter is a threat, not a safeguard.
Milena Popova looks at the proposals from the perspective of an abuse survivor.
Finally there is the inevitable e-petition on the government website: Do Not Force ISP Filtering of Pornography and Other Content. At the time of writing it has just over 25,000 signatures. Whether you agree or not I’d urge everyone to sign as 100,000 should ensure a parliamentary debate, which is about the best we can do in exercising our full democratic power.
Now let’s return to the usual rather more amusing and esoteric fare.
Big ears! Yes ears (and noses) really do grow as we age.
Here’s an interesting, if slightly contentious, article on why we should fight back against those who are determined to kill off obesity. Yes, we know there may be risks (for some) in obesity but moral blackmail isn’t the answer and quality of life does matter.
At last an explanation for all those tales of werewolves. Apparently sleep quality declines around the full moon.
Still on things medically orientated, scientists are increasingly demonstrating that there are links between faulty body clocks and mental illness although it should be stressed that a correlation doesn’t prove causation.
Well who would have guessed? Bottlenose dolphins use names to identify each other. Wolves too it seems. You mean all animals don’t? I bet they do; just because we can’t understand what name our cat or dog calls itself!
A couple of writers for Practical Fishkeeping magazine go snorkelling in an English river and are surprised by the amazing biodiversity.
Oh dear, here we go again … More sleight of hand in the finance industry. Nationwide Building Society is working out how to issue shares and remain mutual. Ho hum …
Meanwhile some fun … I love it when eccentric, guerilla ideas take off. Apparently campaigners have planted cannabis seeds all over a German town and the authorities are struggling to keep up with destroying the resulting sudden growth.
More fun, but more seriously … apparently the Tory party’s plans to claw back EU powers have been thrown into disarray after an official study describes the London-Brussels balance as ‘broadly appropriate’. As usual though, I bet they ignore their advisers.
And now for a true British eccentric. Obituary for the 7th Marquis of Anglesey, historian of the British Cavalry, who died last week.


And on British eccentricities, here is a series of photographs of Britain’s listed historic signal boxes.
Finally one close to my heart. Biologist Rob Dunn investigates the roamings of his cat, and despite her age gets a surprise.
More anon …

words

Word: Kleptocracy

Kleptocracy
A ruling body or order of thieves.
A government by thieves; a nation ruled by this kind of government.
Hence a government characterized by rampant greed and corruption.
[See also politics, from the words “poly” meaning “many”, and “ticks” meaning “blood-sucking parasites.”]


The first use recorded by the OED is in 1819 although regular use does seem to appear until the late-1960s.

natural history

National Marine Week

National Marine Week isn’t so much a week as a fortnight as it runs from Saturday 27 July right through to Sunday 11 August.

The UK’s marine areas are home to a number of amazing and unexpected creatures like dolphins and basking sharks as well as corals and all manner of shellfish. Organised by The Wildlife Trusts National Marine Week is intended to celebrate these marvellous animals and encourage us to go out and explore our local seashores.



If you’ve ever wanted to watch puffins, spy on bathing grey seals or see dolphins then this is your opportunity. You can also learn more about sea plants and beaches. There are a range of activities on offer, including remarkable rock pool rambles and marine treasure hunts for every member of the family.

As always there is much more information over on the National Marine week website at www.wildlifetrusts.org/living-seas/get-involved/national-marine-week.

topographical

Eyemouth Herring Queen Festival

Saturday 27 July to Saturday 3 August sees the annual Eyemouth Herring Queen Festival.

Eyemouth is a small town in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders just 8 miles north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. It gets its name from the Eye Water flowing into the North Sea, and the natural harbour, formed by the river mouth, has been used as far back as the 1200s and probably much further.



The festival, which celebrates the town’s fishing heritage, is a week long fête built around the crowning of the 69th Herring Queen. There is the usual wide range of events from a procession with pipe bands through sandcastle building and pie eating to the Service of the Sea.

There’s lots more information on the festival website at www.eyemouthherringqueen.org.uk.

environment

Love Parks Week

Love Parks Week runs during the usual extended week of 27 July to 4 August.

Quality green spaces are essential to healthy, happy communities. And Love Parks Week celebrates and showcases just this as well as campaigning for continual reinvestment in green space.



And of course summer is the perfect time to visit your local green spaces and remember what it’s like to breathe outside of a city-fuelled environment and recall the heady days of childhood! Even better is that such visits can reduce illnesses — apparently a walk in the park every day reduces the likelihood of heart attacks, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

The Love Parks Week website lists over 400 events taking place across the UK — everything from sports days and picnics to brass bands and Shakespeare — so there should be something happening near you.

amusements

Five Questions, Series 4 #2

OK so here goes with my answer to the second of our fourth series of questions. Ready? … Go …


Question 2: Why are manhole covers round?
I’m so surprised at even having to be asked this, as I would have thought the answer was obvious: as a safeguard against square aliens, of course.
I mean what other possible reason could there be? It isn’t as if they’re really easier to make than heptagonal covers, is it? Nor easier than square ones.
And it can’t be that a round cover would use less material than a polygonal one, can it. That would just be silly! How could any right-minded person think such a thing?
No the only possible answer is that they’re to guard against square alien invaders …

See what I mean?

books

Book Review

wonder1Marian Bantjes
I Wonder
(Thames & Hudson; 2010)
This is an odd book which I bought almost on impulse having seen it mentioned somewhere. It is so odd, and for me so unreadable, I merely skipped over large sections of it.
According to the cover blurb Bantjes is a “world-renowned typographic illustrator” who clearly also does some writing, journalism and graphic design. If this is an advertisement for either her writing or her design work then I fear the lady is doomed to failure, for the book is written and designed by her to be totally unreadable.
The chapters, which are really only extended blog posts, are mostly quirky in content, although the opening chapter on “Wonder” is quite an interesting excursion into something to which we give very little thought. And the final chapter about her mother’s scribbling pads-cum-notebooks, around which she ran her life, is a curious and poignant insight into how a clearly intelligent but quixotic mind can work. And how such a system can also help ameliorate the vicissitudes of dementia.

wonder2

But the rest of it I found unreadable. Party because the chapters and subjects didn’t work for me. But mainly because the design is so intrusive that it submerges the text into illegible incomprehensibility — as the above illustration I think amply demonstrates, despite the small size.
This is a shame as I suspect there are nuggets of gold amongst the words. But they’re so well hidden that I couldn’t face mining them. It is also a shame as a great deal of thought has clearly gone into the book which is rather well produced, even if I personally dislike the feel of the glossy coffee-table book paper.
So overall, this was a massive disappointment. And I hate disappointments.

beliefs, current affairs, freedom of speech, nudism, personal

The Pornography of David Cameron

So David Cameron is intent on restricting internet access to anything which he deems might in someone’s eyes be pornographic.
This is so prattish and dangerous it makes me angry on just so many levels.
Just who does DC think he is to tell other people what to think, say and look at? How dare he impose his (apparent) morality on anyone else? Imposing one’s morality on someone else is frankly … well … immoral!
This is government censorship. Given that freedom of speech and belief is enshrined in international law, that probably means the UK would be in violation of international law.
A freedom which exists only when it is in accord with your views, is no freedom at all.

f6b79-a 0e033-b

These two images are perfectly legal, and must remain perfectly legal. If you don’t want to see them, don’t look. If you don’t want your kids to see them, take responsibility yourself for looking out for what your kids view.
The proposals are impractical and pretty much unenforceable. Any law which is unenforceable is (a) bad law and (b) a waste of time. It is impractical because of the complexity of the internet and the fact that everyone is not dependent on just one service provider but many.
What is even more worrying is that there is absolutely no evidence to back up the necessity for this. On the lack of evidence see, for example, here, here, here and here.
It’s about time that we let people make up their own minds and take responsibility for their own actions — ie. develop their own sense of morals and responsibility. We’re becoming a nation of the molly-coddled; people who have to have everything done for them; who are unable to think for themselves or cope for themselves; people who cannot cope with adversity. People cannot be protected by outside agencies from all dangers and risks — that way lies a mixture of amorality (because people won’t have to think) and a police state. In the words of Thomas S Monson (Pathways To Perfection):

When we treat people merely as they are, they will remain as they are. When we treat them as if they were what they should be, they will become what they should be.

Goethe says the same:

If we take people only as they are, then we make them worse; if we treat them as if they were what they should be, then we bring them to where they can be brought.

Or looking at it another way, in the words of the great Spanish ‘cellist Pablo Casals:

Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If he listens to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most. It is not complicated but it takes courage.

If we want people to be responsible, then we have to treat them as if they are responsible.
Finally, as I’ve said many times before (for example here and especially here) sexuality and nudity need to be normalised, not marginalised and criminalised. Only by doing so are we likely to drastically improve the nation’s overall health and well-being.
It is time to be a leader, not a cow-herd with an electric cattle-prod!
[PS. No of course rape, violence and child abuse are not acceptable; no-one is saying they are! But blanket censorship is not going to get rid of them; it will just drive them further underground and into the hands of the criminal fraternity.]