You can observe a lot just by watching.
[Yogi Berra]
All posts by Keith
September
We’re beginning every month this year with a haiku (or a longer poem made of haiku) relevant to the month.
Evening Exercise
Spider’s exercise
Abseiling down silken threads
Moonlight casts shadows
[Jan Allison]
All the poems can be found online at http://www.haikupoemsandpoets.com.
Monthly Links
It’s been quiet round here recently. Nevertheless we’ve been collecting our usual list of links to items you missed the first time. And this month we have an edition packed with some good (long) reads …
Science, Technology, Natural World
Astronomer Martin Rees looks at how we’ve discovered that the universe is much bigger and weirder than anyone thought … [£££] [LONG READ]
… or as our favourite theoretical physicist, Katie Mack, points out: space is big and our planet a tiny porthole, looking over a cosmic sea.
Whoops! We didn’t see it coming and it nearly got us. [£££]
Flat Earthers’ “science” may be wrong, but they aren’t entirely stupid.
Now to more mundane matters … here are two articles, one from the Conversation the other from the Guardian, on how vets identified Coronavirus in a cat.
A few weeks back, when the weather was nicely tropical, Diamond Geezer took a look at the technical definition of a heatwave – and it isn’t as simple as you might think.
apparently the only animal that can photosynthesise.
The Somali Sengi (a species of elephant shrew) is a really cool critter: it mates for life, can race around at 30km/h and sucks up ants with its trunk-like nose – and having been thought extinct ecologists have recently rediscovered it in Djibouti.
Health, Medicine
A view from inside the NHS on what it was like trying to cope with a sudden deluge of Covid-19 patients. [LONG READ]
Covid-19 is here for the long haul: here’s how scientists predict the pandemic might play out over the next months and years.
Ed Yong looks at the totally non-intuitive complexity of the immune system, and why trying to understand it is so important. [LONG READ]
Here’s one doctor who avoids soap (except for hand-washing) and says we’re showering all wrong.
[TRIGGER WARNING] Unlike in animals, we know that around 25% of all pregnancies end in an early miscarriage, but do we really understand why? [£££] [LONG READ]
Then again, we’ve only just discovered that human sperm swim differently than we thought they did.
Social Sciences, Business, Law
For two decades scientists and officials played pandemic war games, but they didn’t factor in the effects of a Donald Trump. [LONG READ]
Be concerned; be very concerned. A lawyer looks at the government’s current review of Judicial Review.
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
Pace Richard Dawkins, it is suggested that humans aren’t inherently selfish, but hardwired to work together. (Until the ship gets overcrowded that is.)
The origins of modern humans get more complex with every new twist of DNA analysed. I have to ask whether we’re actually sure that Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, Denisovans, H. erectus (and maybe others) aren’t actually just one species with some very well-defined sub-species. [LONG READ]
Archaeologists believe they’ve found the source of Stonehenge’s giant sarsen stones.
It turns out that our medieval friends had a thing about sex with demons. [LONG READ]
And now to almost modern demons of a different kind. Here’s an old article about a potentially huge explosion lurking in a wreck off the Kent coast. [LONG READ]
London
Archaeologists have uncovered the lost medieval Great Sacristy of Westminster Abbey.
The history and workings of the Port of London in Tudor times. [LONG READ]
On the dissolution of London’s monasteries.
And another piece from The History of London on the building of Regents Canal.
A short history of the London Hackney Coach and the Horse Cab.
Food, Drink
At long last someone is waking up to the ideas that dieting per se doesn’t work and that we all have different food and metabolic requirements.
Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
There’s a Zoroastrian centre not far from here, so I’ve always wondered what they’re about. Here’s a look into the very closed world of a strange religion. [LONG READ]
Here are nine common myths about naturism which are totally wrong.
Postcrossing has been around for a while. It’s an interesting idea involving swapping postcards with unknown people around the world as a way of building global friendship.
Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!
And finally … Only the Japanese could invent a public toilet with transparent walls. They’re quite pretty really.
Monthly Quotes
Our monthly collection of recently encountered quotes …
We as humans are built to ignore big problems.
[Katie Mack at https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/space-the-nation-katie-mack-the-mansplainer-slayer-on-getting-science-right]
It’s very hard to just tell someone, “This is a thing” and have that change their mind … just presenting facts, just throwing facts in people’s faces does not change their minds.
[Katie Mack at https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/space-the-nation-katie-mack-the-mansplainer-slayer-on-getting-science-right]
Almost all of ordinary matter (99.9999999% of it) is empty space. If you took out all of the space in our atoms, the entire human race (all 7 billion of us) would fit into the volume of a sugar cube.
“My dog does magic tricks.”
“Really? What breed is he?”
“He’s a labracadabrador.”
[Stolen from Twitter]
All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs.
[Enoch Powell]
Vice, if you gild it lavishly enough, is always attractive … thoughts of the aftermath rarely intrude themselves on such occasions.
[Sidney Felstead]
“Si quis sederet super pellem leonis recedent ab illo emorroides”
If someone sits on a lion’s skin their piles will go away.
[Ortus sanitatis, 1499. “Description of the properties of lions”. Quoted by Katie Birkwood at https://twitter.com/Girlinthe/status/1290593981424902144]
We’ve become incredibly entomologically dumb. We just don’t distinguish the dangerous from the harmless from the helpful. The average kid can probably distinguish more makes of cars or superheroes than insects.
[Jeffrey Lockwood, University of Wyoming]
In Maine, selling weed is illegal but it’s legal to have and use. So there are these guys who run a “psychic” location service and for a fee they will find your lost weed and deliver it to you.
[Twitter]
The best food ever is nonexistent or you will never find it. My reason for this, is that people create new food all the time. Also you have to try every thing that ever existed since the beginning of time. And the reason is that you would have [to] eat things, that you can’t eat, like dark matter. Even if you figured out how to fly around, eating every single quark and lepton you [would] eventually explode because you would contain the whole universe. So, in conclusion don’t try to find the best food in the world because you will explode.
[Anonymous 10-year old asked to write about the best food in the world; quoted on Twitter]
The cult of female modesty is as much part of ““patriarchy” as anything else – it gives men power to shame and demean women … As ever, that modesty cult claims to be in a woman’s own interest.
[Dr Victoria Bateman]
Orange and gold carp.
Living beneath the ice.
Uncaring of the world above,
sustained by the water below.
[Deng Ming-Dao]
There is no greater enemy to dictators than people actually being allowed to vote.
Ten Things: August
This year our Ten Things series, on the tenth of each month, is concentrating on things which are wackier than usual, if not by much. From odd road names to Christmas carols by way of saints and scientists. So here goes with August amusement …
Ten Amusing (but Real) UK Placenames
- Brass Knocker Hill, Claverton, Bath
- Dead Woman’s Bottom, Somerset
- Fanny’s Cross, Devon
- Fishpond Bottom, Dorset (right)
- Fryup, Yorkshire
- Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire
- Berrick Salome, Oxford
- Twatt, Orkney
- Ugley, Essex
- Bell End, Worcester
Horrible Times 13: Day 150
Here we are at day 150 of Covid isolation from the world. FFS that’s five months of house arrest. And as a result what has changed? Absolutely bugger all.
We still have a government which is interested only in lining its own nests, and those of its mates, and who can’t – more likely won’t – see what’s important in the big picture (see my post of a few days ago). So they start loosening things up, to get the economy moving. They want eateries to reopen, and bribe us to use them. Then moan because we’re obese! “Free burgers and free bullying for all.”
No wonder the number of infections goes up and there’s a return to restrictions. Why should we be surprised? Well we shouldn’t, as this is essentially only a re-release of “Brexit Fiasco – the game without rules”. So, yes, let’s not forget we yet have the fallout from Brexit to negotiate over the next 18+ months. Not so much a car crash as a railroad train/road train crash.
At a more personal level things are much the same as well. We are still muddling along; still very much in lockdown. Although we are told we can do things, neither Noreen nor I are at all comfortable with the idea of going out and about, even with masks. Which means procrastination and bone-idleness continue to be the order of the day.
So, a few things (good and not so good) that have happened since my last report on day 125.
| Good | Not So Good |
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So I wonder what happens next? Will I be able to report some welcome improvements in my next report on (maybe) day 200? I must admit doing so would be a great relief! But I won’t put the Champagne on ice just yet.
Quote: Rules
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
[Dalai Lama]
Horrible Times 12: Business doesn’t Matter
I’m thinking, again, about Covid-19 and the overall scheme of things.
What I suspected long long ago is still true.
No-one gets it! Not just the government, but YOU, out there 🠞 🠟 🠜 🠝 🠞
In the overall scheme of things, BUSINESS DOESN’T MATTER!
Yes, that’s right: protecting business, in these troubled times, is NOT the first, or even a high, priority.
What has to be done is to protect, and look after, the people. Get the people through this pandemic. And do that at the expense of almost anything else!
Yes, that’s a draconian – and no doubt unpopular – view. And I make no pretence it will be easy or comfortable.
But look at it this way … Businesses are expendable. It doesn’t matter if they fail. Businesses can be rebuilt, started afresh, etc. but only if there are people there to do it. There is no point in having a business if there is no-one there to run it or buy from it. And if the people are there then at least a core of businesses will survive. And when all this is over those surviving businesses can grow to fill the new demand, along with new start-ups and resurrections.
Business is secondary to people. No people = No business.
Yes, OK, there are a core of businesses which are essential: specifically utilities (water, electricity, gas, sewerage, rubbish collection), food supply (farm to shop), healthcare (drugs, doctors, hospitals), and transport (haulage, some public transport, fuel).
Beyond that it isn’t important if pubs, restaurants, car manufacture, garden centres, tailors, fashion houses, gunsmiths, jewellers, publishing, and so on, cease. It doesn’t matter if I can’t buy Epsom salt, a mousetrap, or a new camera. All these can, and will, be rebuilt to the extent that the post-pandemic world, and it’s population, needs them and there are people to work them. If there aren’t the people (either as employees or customers) then the business isn’t viable.
Even education (all of it from kindergarten to university) isn’t essential. Yes, we need educated people, because educated people feed business. But missing a year or two won’t be a tragedy, as many who’ve been long-term sick demonstrate. You can catch up on education later. Although again it may not be easy or pretty.
People’s ability to survive has to be supported and protected, first and foremost.
So wake up governments. People first. Then education. And business later.
Jersey Tigers
As any of my readers who follow me on Facebook know, a few days ago I had a beautiful Jersey Tiger Moth (Euplagia quadripunctaria) in the garden; in fact feeding on our buddleia. As my photograph shows, these are very distinctive creatures.
I love seeing them, not just for their beauty but also because they are a success story of something extending its range.
As you might guess from their name they originate (as far as the British are concerned) in the Channel Islands, although their range extends across much of Europe and western Asia.
Until relatively recently the moth was absent from the British Isles. However they are now found along the southern coast of England: first in Devon, then Cornwall. While some moths are likely migrants from the Continent (or Channel Islands), they clearly are now breeding here as they have extended their range to much of southern England and London.
The first one I saw was in Lyme Regis, on the border between Devon and Dorset. It was sitting, bold as brass, on a bedding plant in a park. This was in 2006. Since then I’ve seen an odd specimen most years here in west London, and this year I have a couple of other reports of the moth in the local area. On Twitter there are lots of recent reports of sightings from around southern England; I’ve even seen a mention by one enthusiast with a moth trap who had over 3 dozen trapped one night recently. (Of course I can’t now find that post!) They do seem to be becoming more common and spreading slowly northwards – too much for them all to be migrants.
For the UK they’re a fairly large moth, with a wingspan of 50-65mm. Like most moths they fly largely at night, although they do fly during the day. I spotted the one I photographed because of the movement of its flight. They do also seem to have a habit of resting in the open in rather conspicuous places on leaves, tree trunks etc.; presumably they rely on their warning colouring for protection, if not camouflage.
As well as the bold black and white forewings, their hind wings are a bright reddish-orange. There is though a colour morph with yellow hind wings; and a melanistic form with all black forewings.
Now instinct says that such a boldly coloured moth would be a garden pest, but actually they aren’t. The larvae feed on a wide variety of plants such a nettles, raspberries (OK not so good that one), dandelion, dead-nettle, ground ivy, groundsel, plantain, and more. The larvae are mostly black and (often gingery) brown and hairy. They overwinter as small larvae. The moths are generally on the wing from mid-July to early-September.
What I find interesting is that every image of a Jersey Tiger I’ve ever seen appears to be female. How do you sex a moth? Well with most species the males have frilly antennae to pick up the female’s pheromones – because shagging, y’know! But there are exceptions to the rule and wonder if the Jersey Tiger is one of them.
You would think that something this highly coloured and day-flying would be a butterfly. But no, there are day-flying moths. And there’s an easy way to tell a moth from a butterfly: butterflies have small knobs on the end of their antennae; moths don’t. Again I’ve no doubt there are exceptions, but I don’t off-hand know of one.
Don’t confuse the Jersey Tiger with the Garden Tiger Moth (right) which has more broken, less linear, patterning to the forewings and a brown furry head. The caterpillar of the Garden Tiger is what we always knew as kids as a Woolly Bear. Garden Tigers do seem to have become much less common over the last few decades. There’s also the Scarlet Tiger Moth in UK, but that is even more different, is around earlier in the year, and is quite locally distributed.
As always there is a lot more information on the internet and Wikipedia is as good a place as any to start.
On Cooking and Recipes
A few days ago, over dinner, we were discussing food (as you do) and Noreen happened to comment that I am a good cook. The word “imaginative” was also used. Well, I’m not so sure.
I’m certainly an competent and adequate cook. I can provide a good range of simple main courses (roasts to steak to curry) without having to think about it; as witness the recipes etc. posted here over the years. Similarly I can do some basic starters (including home-made terrine), and simple tarts and pies; plus some outliers such as parmesan biscuits, cantuccini and chutney. I can do variations on all this without the need for a recipe – except for the occasional inspiration and if I (unusually) decide to do anything like cake which needs precision.
However I have no formal training; just what I’ve picked up from my mother, odd friends, Noreen and the occasional cookery book. There are many things which I’m sure I don’t do “the right way”; and there are many things I don’t/won’t do. I don’t do fancy, pretty, cake and patisserie, nor anything “tricky” like soufflé. Yes, I probably could do all these, but they’re things we’re happy to keep for eating out occasions – why go out to eat what you can do easily and as well at home? My method is basically quick, easy and wholesome; and preferably low sugar and salt. In many ways what the French would term “cuisine grand-mère”.
Even as an undergraduate I was an adequate cook. In student residences each of our kitchens had a Baby Belling, so of course I heard lots of myths about what you couldn’t do with one: you can’t do jacket potatoes, or pastry or bread in a Baby Belling. I was confident enough to disprove every one of those myths. Obviously I’ve improved over the ensuing 60-ish years.
However, I am definitely not competent to even consider going on “Masterchef” or “Bake Off”. Nor would I want to. I dislike cooking under pressure; I couldn’t turn out intricate, fancy food at the drop of a hat; I likely don’t do things the approved way; and I hate the pretentiousness of it all.
Even leaving the pressure aside, I wouldn’t want to have to cook for large numbers, nor in a restaurant. I couldn’t turn out the same dish, 27 times every evening, and ensure they’re all exactly the same. That’s not the way I work; variety is built in to my method.
I proved most of this to myself on Sunday evening when we had Salmon en Croûte with sugar-snap peas and tartare sauce; followed by Apricot Frangipane, Peach and Blackberry Tart with cream. OK, so having found a brand we like the Tartare Sauce came from a jar, the puff-pastry was (good, Jus-Rol) commercially produced, likewise the cream.
Starting a 6.30 the salmon and the tarts were in the oven before 7 and we were eating by 7.30. And that included sitting twiddling my thumbs for 15 minutes while Noreen fed the cats. This is what I did …
Salmon en Croûte
I knew we had a (500g) block of puff pastry in the fridge which needed to be used. Some weeks back the supermarket were selling packs of 2 salmon tail fillets at “3 for £10”, so we bought 6 packs, used 2 and put the other 4 in the freezer. One pack was defrosting now. I knew that wrapping the salmon would need no more than half the pastry. And so it was: half the pastry rolled out, wrapped round the two salmon fillets, which were stacked head to tail, and sealed. About 30 minutes in the oven (pre-heated to 220°C/200°C fan/gas mark 7). Sugar-snap peas take 5 minutes in the steamer. No need for potatoes as there’s plenty of carbs in the pastry. And served with a bottle of Crémant de Bourgogne.
Tarts
So how to use the other half of the pastry? I knew we had about ¼ jar of (commercial) apricot compote in the fridge. Thinking this would be too runny just to make “jam tarts” I figured that I could mix it with a roughly equal amount of ground almonds to make a frangipane-like paste. The pastry made 3 (9-10cm) tart cases in a Yorkshire pudding tin. Two of these were filled with the apricot mix. I added half a peach, some freshly-picked blackberries, a sprinkle of flaked almonds, and a tiny sprinkle of sugar to each. (The third tart case was filled with plain blackberries.) Again 20-30 minutes in the oven – in fact they came out at the same time as the salmon, so were still nicely warm when eaten. Served with double cream and a tot of Amaretto. Here’s one, literally just out of the oven …
Noreen’s comment was “I’ve eaten much, much worse in good restaurants”. And for once I was forced to agree: it was simple, quick, and used what was available; and it worked magnificently well. It wasn’t prettily presented, but it was good.
Yes, it could have been improved. I used too much pastry on the salmon. The salmon would have benefited from another veg or two to add some variety. The “frangipane” could have done with a little lift: Noreen suggested a shot of apricot or cherry brandy, I was thinking maybe some almond essence. I shall undoubtedly do both again.
So OK, I concede: maybe I am a good, everyday, cook; with the imagination to do variations. As Noreen often comments: compared with my mariner great-great-grandfather (c.1820-1905) we are living like the gentry. It’s one good thing lockdown has done: we’re actually eating better than we were before (and not putting on weight!). It’s something we can take pleasure in to get us through all the current mess.