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.
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Another Ketchup

Despite being a holiday period there seem to have been quite a few interesting news stories around in the last week or so. Here are a few you may have missed.

It seems we should be supporting the real Chrsitmas trees as they are especially good at absorbing “greenhouse gasses”.

Here are two amusing and competing theories about the relationship between Santa and his elves.

Next we have an interesting, curious and perfectly serious item about the amazing powers of earthworms to refine rare metals. Very strange.

For astronomy fans it looks as if 2013 might be an interesting year with not one but two bright comets predicted to be visible, even possibly during daylight. Definitely a couple of gigs not to be missed. Watch this space for more details as the year goes on.

Who would have thought that the chilly seas off Scotland would have the world’s largest reef of a rare shellfish.

Are you a werewolf? No, thought not. But there are a very small number of people in the world with a very rare genetic mutation that really do make them look like one.

More research on the causes of earworms, and how to kill them off.

How do you spot randomness? Well first you need to know what it looks like, and it isn’t like you think it is!

What makes chocolate so chocolate-y? An interesting diversion into the key components of chocolate and how it is refined.


And finally a copy of an old “sex manual” attributed to Aristotle, and which was banned in the UK for 200 years, is to be auctioned later this month.

More anon!

words

Word : Chota Peg

Chota Peg

According to the Online Encyclopaedia:
“A miniature jug used for individual servings of alcohol, dating from British colonial India at the end of the 19th century. Chota is the Hindi word for ‘small measure’.”

Samosapedia, “the definitive guide to South Asian lingo”, gives it slightly differently:
“A standard pitcher/tankard was marked by wooden nails called pegs or pins in 17th/18th century Great Britain and a ‘peg’ usually marked an individual quantity of drink. This measure was later adopted to make individual whiskey/brandy containers during the Raj that measured about 2 ounces (about 60ml). A Chota Peg was half the size, about an ounce or 30ml.”

Hence by derivation chota peg became British Army slang for an alcoholic drink, especially whiskey or brandy and soda, or gin and tonic.

quotes

Quotes

Happy New Year to all our readers. Here’s hoping your 2013 is better than 2012!

I thought we’d start the new year with a few quotes encountered over the holidays.

[E]ven in these reduced days the British crown retains technical sovereignty over a number of desolate penguin colonies.
[The Heresiarch at Heresy Corner]

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
[George Bernard Shaw]

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
[George Orwell]

To have doubted one’s own first principles is the mark of a civilized man.
[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr]

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.
[Philip K Dick; How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later, 1978]

Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.
[Mark Twain]

And now on a lighter note …

Even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky.
[Fran Lebowitz, quoted in Jane Brook, Kitchen Wit, Quips and Quotes for Cooks and Food Lovers]

And finally perhaps the best advice for the new year …

Yield to temptation. It may not pass your way again.
[Robert A Heinlein]

amusements

Amusements of the Year

OK, so here are a few of the miscellaneous things I’ve spotted during 2012 and which stand out …

Best Name of the Year
Captain Lintorn Highett
Telegraph obituary

Neologism of the Year
Transmedia content strategy
slideshare.net, 13 January
No I don’t know what it means either!

Recipe of the Year
Chocolate-covered Bacon on a Stick
As perpetrated by Wikipedia

Book Title of the Year
Louise Rennison, Withering Tights

TV Programme of the Year
Pointless Celebrities, BBC

Which just about says it all, really!

personal, pleasures

Reasons to be Grateful: 59

So that was Christmas was it? Didn’t feel much like it to me but then I was all out of kilter having not been well — I just lost the rhythm of everything. But I’m OK now (I hope) and the second course of antibiotics has meant I did actually enjoy doing nothing over Christmas. So here is my selection of five things which have made me happy or grateful during this, week 59, the penultimate week, of the experiment.

  1. Sparrowhawk. I think it was on Christmas Eve I was looking out of the study window when all of a sudden every bird in the garden disappeared into cover. Followed in a flash by the appearance over my head of a female sparrowhawk, which alighted in the apple tree. It didn’t get lunch, but sat there for 2-3 minutes looking to see if there was any unwary meal around. I see the sparrowhawk in the garden a handful of times a year, but only once have I seen a kill. They are such fine birds that I always feel privileged when one appears.

  2. Gin. What better Christmas present than not one but two bottles of special gin. The blue one (yes it really is blue, it isn’t just the bottle!) is rather good. Have yet to try the Adnams.
  3. Roger Brun Rosé Champagne. We had a bottle of this delightful very small house Champagne with our Christmas dinner. It really was a delight. A dark rosé, as one would expect from a Pinot Noir. Pretty raspberry-tinted mousse. Dry but not too dry. And with loads of fruit. It came from Nick Dobson Wines, and sadly they don’t have any more; I bought the remaining handful of bottles!
  4. Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. This year’s RI Christmas Lectures (on BBC2 TV) were on chemistry, given by Dr Peter Wothers of the University of Cambridge. He has a reputation as an excellent science communicator, and I see why. As a chemist, I thought the lectures were excellent: just the right mix of information, curiosities and some whiz-bang for the target audience of 11-ish year olds. They reminded me why I found chemistry interesting, and made me realise how much better a chemist I could have been if someone had enthused me with teaching like this when I was 11 or 12. The down side? There were only three lectures; there used to be six; I wanted six! As of writing the lectures are still available on BBC iPlayer.
  5. Orchids. I haven’t written about orchids for a while, but I still have orchids in flower. I now have 10 or 12 plants and have had at least one in flower continuously since last March. In fact I currently have two in flower for the second time this year. And they are nearly all starting new flowering spikes. A windowsill, a weekly-ish soak and feed and they just seem to go on and on.

Next week is the last week of the experiment. And then we have to anaylse the results. Could be interesting. Watch this space!

amusements

Strange Customs & Events

Only in the British Isles** do we seem to have such a range of strange customs sand events. Here’s a selection of some of the odder ones we came across during the year.

World Pea Shooting Championship
Witcham, near Ely, Cambridgeshire
Next being held on 13 July 2013.


Quite a few places hold a Scarecrow Festival, including Langwathby (Cumbria), Harpole (Northants) and Hayling Island (near Portsmouth).

National Giant Vegetable Championships which seem to always be a part of the Royal Bath & West Show at the end of August.

Cow Dung Festival, County Mayo, Ireland
But then there’s a Cow Dung Festival in Switzerland as well!

British Beard and Moustache Championships
Held in Brighton in September 2012.
There are some brilliant pictures here. The 2013 World Championships will be held in Germany.

World Snail Racing Championships
Congham, near King’s Lynn, Norfolk; August 2012


World Stone Skimming Championships
Easdale Island, near Oban, Argyll
Next on 29 September 2013.

World Custard Pie Championships
Marden, Kent; September 2012

** I was going to say England, but then realised there are Irish and Scottish entries in the list.

food+drink

Christmas Leftover Meat Loaf

For those of you still struggling under mountains of leftover turkey (or indeed any meat) I bring salvation. Yesterday I used all our remaining meat to make a large meat loaf (or maybe it’s terrine). You can put almost anything in this as long as it is cookable; so maybe not lettuce, cucumber, salted peanuts or pickles, but pretty much everything else is fair game including olives and cranberry sauce. This is roughly what I did …

Christmas Leftover Meat Loaf
(aka Kitchen Sink Terrine)

You will need:
A quantity of cooked meat; it can be turkey, beef, sausage, bacon, ham — whatever mix you have. Scraps are fine; just remove the bones and gristle.
Some butter and/or olive oil
An egg or two
Some stock and/or a glass of port or brandy
Some garlic
Some mushrooms if available
A good couple of pinches of dried herbs
Salt & pepper
Any other cooked veg, including potatoes
A couple of handfuls of breadcrumbs
Cooked stuffing is fine too

What you do:
Pre-heat the over to about 180C, with the fan if it has one.
Reduce the bread to breadcrumbs (quickest in the food processor)
Finely chop the onion, garlic, mushrooms (and any other raw veg) and sweat it in a frying pan with some butter/oil until the onion is soft and translucent.
Finely chop all the meat, stuffing and cooked veg and mix it together with the herbs, onion mix and breadcrumbs.
Lightly beat the egg(s) and add them along with the stock/liquor and a drizzle of oil. Mix well. It needs to be wetish so it binds together but not soggy.
Tip the mix into a large casserole or cake tin which has been well buttered. Firm it down well.
Put on the lid, or cover with foil, and put in the oven until done (probably 45-75 minutes; raw meat may take a bit longer). If you can be bothered (I never can) you may get a better result using a bain marie.
You can test if it is done by inserting a knife in the middle, leave it there for 5 seconds and if it is scalding when removed the loaf should be done. Do not over cook it or it gets dry.
Remove from the oven and, unless eating it hot, if possible press the loaf with a heavy weight while it cools.
Eat either hot or cold with crusty bread and salad.

Notes:
You can also use raw meat but you’ll probably want to either mince it, or pre-cook it.
If you want to make it look pretty you can put a layer of meat slices or hard-boiled egg in the middle, or line the tin with bacon rashers, or decorate the top with juniper berries and bay leaves.

amusements

Headlines of the Year

It seems to be traditional to write something to round off and/or summarise the departing year. And who am I to buck the trend? So here is my pick of wcky headlines seen during 2012.

Plane hit by bus shelter during storm
BBC, 4 January

Amish men jailed over reflective triangle dispute
Telegraph, 12 January

Got PMS? Time to Spot the Snake!
Neurotic Physiology blog, 9 May
One’s heard of trouser snakes, but …

Window of John Fowles says landmark home has become a dump (sic)
Telegraph; 23 March

Microsoft invests in Nook e-books
BBC, 30 April

Wet weather hampers All England squid catching championships
Telegraph, 2 May

Cherie Blair herds goats across London Bridge
Telegraph, 24 June

Forgotten Constables up for sale
BBC, 18 June
I knew the country was hard up, but selling off stray policemen?

Bad weather leads to broccoli crisis
Telegraph, 28 June
Now admit it, you never imagined that a lack of broccoli would constitute a crisis.

Stonehenge upgrade to begin
Telegraph, 6 July
Only 5000 years to get the planning permission!

Parrot in trouble for shouting out taxi bookings
Telegraph, 12 July

TfL denies driverless Tube rain trial on London Underground (sic)
BBC, 18 July

Starlings in danger after numbers plummet 80p per cent (sic)
Telegraph, 20 July

Part of Whitehall shut due to naked man on statue
BBC, 23 November
They’ve since changed that headline.

Enjoy!

amusements, history

Ever More!

There’s a brilliant BBC News item from Boxing Day on the ravens at the Tower of London. They have released the latest recruit “Jubilee” who has spent the last 6 months being acclimatised. A second male bird named “Gripp”, after Charles Dickens’ pet raven, has also been released to prowl the Tower grounds along with “Jubilee”.


It is believed ravens have been living in the Tower of London since at least the time of King Charles II and legend maintains that if they ever leave the tower and the monarchy will crumble — although this may all be Victorian fiction. Allegedly too when Charles II received complaints that the ravens were interfering with the work of the Royal Observatory, he ordered the re-siting of the Observatory to Greenwich rather than remove the ravens.

About the only restraint on the ravens is that they have the flight feathers on one wing clipped to prevent them flying off (they can however fly short distances to perch) and, as I recall, they are caged overnight. Otherwise the ravens are free to roam the tower grounds and do much as they please.

And do the ravens have a good life! As Wikipedia notes, quoting Boria Sax:

The ravens are now treated almost like royalty. Like the Royals, the ravens live in a palace and are waited on by servants. They are kept at public expense, but in return they must show themselves to the public in settings of great splendour. So long as they abide by certain basic rules, neither Royals nor ravens have to do anything extraordinary. If the power in question is political and diplomatic, the Royals now have hardly more than the ravens. But the word “power” here can also mean the aura of glamour and mystery which at times envelops both ravens and monarchs.

This is rather exemplified by another brilliant quite in the BBC News piece from Chris Scaife, the Yeoman Warden Ravenmaster:

“Raven Jubilee is doing very well and has now been trained to come out of his cage and meet all the visitors … But it takes years for the birds to really get to know members of the raven team and for us to get to know them and their idiosyncratic ways.”

He added: “They are the most pampered birds in the country — and one of the most intelligent. They gang up on small children with crisps at the tower — but they don’t like cheese and onion — so they’ll open the packet and dip the crisps in water to get rid of the taste.”

And that’s despite they’re each fed around 8oz of meat a day plus fruit, cheese, eggs and bird biscuit.

What brilliant birds!