Category Archives: history

amusements, environment, history, links, medical, science

Monthly Links

Once more unto the breach, dear comrades, to bring you this month’s selection of links to items you may have missed the first time round. And an e-glass of e-ale to anyone who can knit the links into a coat of mail!

Science, Technology, Natural World

Let’s begin with another look at why wasps are so annoying, but yet so useful.

Oh and for anyone wanting to scare their visitors, you can buy a roughly five times life-size model of an Asian Giant Hornet (aka. “murder hornet”).

If you never understood why mathematics is so fascinating, take a look at odd perfect numbers. [LONG READ]

And changing topic again, scientists think they’ve found phosphine gas in Venus’ upper atmosphere, and say this could be a sign of life (albeit microbial life). Meanwhile Derek Lowe explains about phosphine but remains somewhat sceptical of the latest results.

Health, Medicine

The logistics around distribution of any vaccine (well any drug really) are complex, especially when one gets into the realm of Cold Chain Distribution.

But then we need to keep our feet in the real world as no vaccine will work by magic and return us to normality.

Girls: have you ever needed to pee standing up and envied us men our flexible hose? If so, the Shewee may be your friend.

Environment

Rewilding as an environment improvement method is taking time to get going, but not if one maverick Devon farmer has anything to do with it.

Social Sciences, Business, Law

So who thinks Scottish bank notes are legal tender in England? Spoiler: they aren’t! And what is legal tender anyway?

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

There’s some new archaeology at Pompeii which is uncovering more of its past.

Medieval sermons were one of the most effective and wide-reaching forms of propaganda, but that only works if they are in the vernacular. [LONG READ]

The people of medieval Europe were devoted to their dogs. [LONG READ]

Transport until the early part of the 20th century was largely dependent on the horse: either being ridden or pulling a wagon of some description. Here’s a look at horse transport in Victorian times.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Oliver Burkeman, writing his last regular column for the Guardian, talks about his eight secrets for a fulfilled life.

If you’re dreading a long, dark winter lockdown, then maybe the Norwegians have something for you.

So what does your cat mean by “miaow”? A Japanese vet is apparently earning a fortune telling people what their cats are saying. Personally I thought we had a fairly good idea!

Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!

Magawa, an African giant pouched rat, has been awarded a gold medal for his work detecting landmines in Cambodia. I must say he’s a rather handsome animal, and well deserving of his apparently upcoming retirement.

And finally, what is the connexion between frozen shit and narcissists’ eyebrows? Yes, of course, it’s this year’s Ig Nobel prizes.

arts, history, links, medical, science

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.

Really tiny, but really cute: Leaf Sheep,
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.

arts, history, links, medical, natural history, science

Monthly Interesting Links

Once again we come to our monthly collection of links to items you missed the first time round and which you’ll find interesting. This month we have a well packed collection (lots of science and lots of history), so it’s straight in the deep end.

Science, Technology, Natural World

Astronomers still think there’s a large planet out beyond Pluto, so of course they’re still hunting for it (artist’s impression above).

So when you have this new vaccine how are you going to package it? Pharmaceutical Chemist Derek Lowe takes a look.

Many plants have stingers (think, stinging nettles), and it seems they have achieved optimal pointiness. [£££]

Oh dear! It seems likely the world’s smallest dinosaur is a lizard. [£££]

Ornithologists are revealing the long-distance travels and longevity of British birds.

Scientists still don’t know how birds navigate, though it is likely magnetic and they’re narrowing down the options.

30 years ago Red Kites were reintroduced to the Chilterns to the west of London, and this has proven to be a huge conservation success. (I’m 30 miles east of the release area, and in suburban London, and I now regularly see Red Kites over this area.)

Where have all our swifts gone? Are they on the Grand Tour?

There’s a growing realisation that old paintings can provide valuable information about agriculture both livestock and arable. [£££]

Here’s a brief look at the chemistry of cat allergies, catnip and cat pee.

Health, Medicine

How on Earth do you do surgery in the weightlessness of space without having bits of body floating around?

I find this hard to believe, but seemingly damaged human lungs can be revived for transplant by connecting them to a pig. [£££]

Researchers are worried that a new swine flu identified in China has pandemic potential.

Researchers are also looking at the potential for using magic mushrooms to help ex-soldiers overcome trauma.

Art, Literature, Language

Where are the bones of Hans Holbein? Jonathan Jones went looking, but we still don’t know. [LONG READ]

An astronomer has finally(?) pinpointed the exact date and time of Vermeer’s “View of Delft” (above).

The British Library has acquired an important archive of Mervyn Peake‘s original illustrations, preliminary drawings and unpublished early works (example below).

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Archaeologists have uncovered stone tools which they believe show that humans occupied the Americas around 33,000 years ago – that’s over 10,000 years earlier than previously thought.

Work on the UK’s HS2 rail link has unearthed the skeleton of a possible iron age murder victim.

Drinking games have a long history. Michael Fontaine, in History Today, takes a look.

So how old is the Cerne Abbas Giant (right)? New archaeological thinking by the National Trust suggests it is not prehistoric.

Our favourite medieval historian, Dr Eleanor Janega, takes a look at colonialism, imperialism, and the perils of ignoring medieval history. [LONG READ]

Going Medieval also take a brief look at the medieval obsession with the Moon.

A look at the symbolism of the medieval haircut. Scissors or sword, Sir?

Coming closer to our time, apparently Georgian London was a haven for sexual diseases.

Even closer to home, a look at what happened on the morning of the first nuclear test in 1945. [LONG READ]

And almost up to date, the purrrplexing story of the British Museum cats.

ARCHI is a UK archaeological site containing old maps (largely Victorian, it seems) which you can overlay on the current map to see what was there before we were.

London

Here are two pieces from the History of London on the area to the east of the Tower of London. First, the St Katherine’s area, and second the development of the area around Stepney.

Going Medieval (again) introduces us to the magnificent Agas Map of London (it’s detailed and zoomable!) as well as the lfe of medieval and early modern cities. [LONG READ]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

And finally for this month … Dungeness is one of my favourite places and the late Derek Jarman’s cottage and garden (thankfully saved for the nation) is an absolute delight (below). Now there’s an exhibition about Jarman’s garden at the Garden Museum in London.

environment, history, links, medical, natural history, science

Monthly Links

Here are our links to items you may have missed in the last month. There’s a lot this month, so let’s dive in.

Incidentally [£££] indicates the article may be behind a paywall, although most of these sites do offer a limited number of free articles so don’t ignore them.

Science, Technology, Natural World

First off, here’s an old article from New Scientist in which Roger Penrose asks What is Reality? [£££]

However there’s a warning that we should beware of Theories of Everything. [£££]

Meanwhile scientists have calculated the most likely number of alien civilisations we could contact. [Spoiler: it isn’t 42.]

Maybe the search for extraterrestrial life is why the Americans are embarking on another round of major upgrades to their U-2 spy plane. [£££]

But back to Earth … Researchers have used camera traps to complete a thorough survey of the inhabitants of African rainforest.

Surprisingly in this day and age we still don’t fully understand where eels come from. [£££]

Ecologists have tracked the astonishing migration of one particular European Cuckoo.

Equally astonishing, scientists have managed to record and translate the sounds made by honeybee queens.

After which we shouldn’t really be surprised that crows are aware of different human languages.

Health, Medicine

So out of the crow’s nest and into the fire … What you always thought you knew about why males are the taller sex is probably wrong.

It seems there is growing evidence that we should be taking seriously the potential of psychedelic drugs to treat depression. Well I’d certainly be up for trying it.

Tick-borne Lyme Disease can develop into a debilitating chronic condition. [£££] [LONG READ]

Have you ever wondered how medical students are trained to do those intimate examinations?

Environment

There’s a movement to establish fast-growing mini-forests to help fight the climate crisis.

Barn Owls are one of our most iconic species, and the good news is that they’re growing in numbers thnks to human help.

Here’s just one example of the huge amount of rarer elements in old computers which we need to recycle.

We’re used to places like Iceland using geothermal energy, but now there’s a plan to heat some UK homes using warm water from flooded mines.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Archaeologists have found clues to the earliest known bow-and-arrow hunting outside Africa.

DNA from the 5,200-year-old Newgrange passage tomb in Ireland hints at ancient royal incest.

And DNA is also being used to provide clues about the origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

On health and safety in the ancient world – or maybe the lack of it!

Religious iconography always was about marketing and PR.

The Medievals had notions about the ideal shape of women which curiously don’t coincide with our modern ideals. [LONG READ]

But then the Medievals lived in a world without police, and it wasn’t quite a brutal as one might think.

Archaeologists think they’ve found London’s earliest theatre, the Red Lion.

If we thought Medievals had odd ideas, then Enlightened Man (in 17th and 18th centuries) was in many ways stranger; shaving and periwigs were the least of it. [LONG READ]

London

On the first few hundred years of Westminster Abbey. [LONG READ]

From Tudor times Protestants have been intermittently persecuted in mainland Europe, and escaped to Britain. Here’s a piece on the history of the Huguenots in London. [LONG READ]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Is it OK for your kids to see you naked? Here’s an uptight American article which nonetheless concludes it is OK, as we all know.

history, links, medical, science

Monthly Links

And so at the end of another month we come to our regular collection of links to items you may have missed …

Science, Technology, Natural World

Extraterrestrials. What is believable, and how would we know? [£££££]

Meanwhile on this earth we have Vespa mandarinia, the Asian Giant Hornet, aka. the “Murder Hornet”. But just how dangerous is it? TL;DR: Very if you’re a honeybee.

I never cease to like the (small) variety of wasps in this country and what they get up to.

Still with the hymenoptera, the humble bumblebee has a clever trick to get plants to flower.

Health, Medicine

When is a llama not a llama? When it’s a unicorn!

So why is it that clinical trials of (new) drugs are so complicated and expensive? [LONG READ]

For a long, long time sunshine has been seen as having healing powers.

Researchers, almost accidentally, have found a microbe which completely stops the malaria parasite.

[TRIGGER WARNING] Having had four miscarriages, journalist Jennie Agg wanted to understand why it happened and why it is never talked about. [LONG READ]

Sexuality

Dr Eleanor Janega has some sexual fun over on Going Medieval. Here she is on:
•  No Nut November [LONG READ]
•  Dildos and Penance
•  “Alpha Men” and poorly disguised misogyny

Social Sciences, Business, Law

Have you ever wondered how the heights on Low Bridge signs are calculated? Diamond Geezer investigates.

Art, Literature, Language

Dutch researchers have been trying to extract the secrets from Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring”

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Mexico has too many mammoths – or at least bits of mammoths.

OK, so here’s another series from Going Medieval:
•  On chronicles versus journalism, and ruling versus governing.
•  On the King’s two bodies and modern myth making.
•  On the Lusty Month of May.

London

Diamond Geezer (again) discovers the interesting history of his local Tesco supermarket. What’s the history of your local supermarket’s site? Three near me: the iconic Hoover building, an old cinema and the site of a former gasworks!

And one more from Diamond Geezer … this time he’s been finding out the correct names for the different parts of a London bus stop.

Food, Drink

Apparently coconut oil isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Colour me surprised! [£££££]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

And finally … Pity the poor curators who are having to spend lockdown in places like Hampton Court Palace!

food+drink, history, links, science

Monthly Links

Yet once more a month has passed and we come to my collection of links to items you may have missed and didn’t want to.

Science, Technology, Natural World

If we found extraterrestrials, why should we expect them to look like anything we know?

Rather surprisingly many genes are not necessary for survival, and some species have lost quite a few.

Plants have unexpected ways to communicate, problem solve and socialise – indeed a whole secret life!

Blue Tits in Germany are dying and no-one knows quite why.

What’s in an Antarctic lake? Travel down a borehole Lake Whillans.

We live on a planet. But just what is a planet?

With clearer skies and time on our hands, here are a few tips about stargazing from your backyard.

Environment

A speculative drill in Cornwall for a souyrce of lithium has uncovered a potentially important copper deposit.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

The earliest known skull of Homo erectus has been found in South Africa.

Melting ice on a Viking-era mountain pass in Norway is revealing some spectacular artefacts.

In another story of ice, this time in the Alps, it seems that the record of lead pollution may reflect the murder of Thomas Beckett.

The mystery of the medieval sweating sickness.

Renaissance Europe was beset with paranoia about the pox leading to the rapid spread of guilt, scapegoats and wonder-cures.

And a bit more up to date, there has long been a puzzle over the early April sunrise shining through Brunel’s Box Tunnel near Bath.

Food, Drink

When do we need to adhere to expiry dates and when can they be flexed?

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Hints and tips on how to clean 10 annoying things around your home.

And finally, in our only concession to Coronavirus, here’s our favourite Zen master on dealing with what might happen – or it might not happen.

Be good, and stay safe!

history, links, medical, natural history, science

Monthly Links

In the middle of these interesting times we’re living in, we bring you a diversion by way of our round-up of links to items you may have missed this month. And I promise it is Coronavirus-free.

Science, Technology, Natural World

The Rainfall Rescue Project are looking for (online) volunteers to help transcribe old rainfall records from the handwritten sheets, so they are digitised and useable for in depth research.

We thought we understood it, but rock samples brought back by the Apollo moon missions are reopening debate about how the moon formed. [£££££]

It seems that people who get lost in the wild follow strange but predictable paths. [£££££]

Dust is often not what you think, especially in museums.

A brief look at five dinosaurs which, once upon a time, roamed the British Isles.

The smallest known dinosaur skull has been found in a piece of amber.

Crows understand death, at least death of a fellow crow, but can we work out what they’re actually thinking?

Now, while we’re all in solitary confinement, is a good time to take up birdwatching: there’s a surprising number of birds go past your window and they’re not all sparrows and pigeons.

If they share a vase, daffodils kill other cut flowers. Here’s why.

Health, Medicine

Copper is great at killing off microbes (it’s been used in horticulture and viniculture for centuries) and yet in a medical context the more inert stainless steel is preferred.

A small number of women are born with the rare MRKH Syndrome, where they lack a vagina and possibly other internal reproductive organs.

We all know about tree rings giving information about the growth of the tree, but it seems our teeth also document our life’s stresses.

Environment

A small Japanese village is leading the way into our carbon-neutral future, but it ain’t easy.

The Guardian gives us fifty simple ways to make life greener. [LONG READ]

Social Sciences, Business, Law

Many of us like to belief we have free thought uninfluenced by others; but can we ever be a truly independent thinker?

Art, Literature, Language

Aubrey Beardsley is one of many artists whose has work been suppressed for obscenity, and is the subject of a new exhibition at Tate Britain (assuming museums are ever allowed to reopen). [LONG READ]

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

A new study reports that a supposedly important collection of Dead Sea Scroll fragments are all fakes.

Archaeologists suggest that a collection of bones found in Kent church likely to be of 7th-century saint

Drake’s Island in Plymouth Sound is to be opened up and get its first visitors in 30 years.

London

London blogger Diamond Geezer takes a look at the genesis of London numbered postal districts.

Lifestyle, Personal Development

And finally … Should ladies’ loos provide female urinals, and would they be an answer to the queues for the loos?

Take care, everyone, and stay safe!

arts, environment, history, links, medical, science

Monthly Links

Once more (where is this year going; it’s already the end of February?) we bring you our monthly bumper bundle of links to items you will wish you hadn’t already missed. I’m ignoring Coronavirus per se for the simple reason that everything is moving too fast. Here goes …

Science, Technology, Natural World

One of our favourite physicists introduces the top 10 most important effects in physics.

Here’s an interesting idea about measurement: forget feet and meters there’s as more fundamental measurement for earthlings.

Anyone who is active in science, especially chemistry, will love The Pocket Chemist.

Male-male competition, and sometimes female preferences, have helped fashion the flashiest adornments. [LONG READ]

Health, Medicine

Do drugs deteriorate? Why are their use-by dates important?

Facemasks. Do they actually do any good against flu, coronavirus or pollution?

What can the medical profession do to help your back pain? It seems there’s not a lot in their toolkit which is of much help.

Retinal migraines are rare, but what are they like?

We all have left-right asymmetry (internally), but how do bodies map this out? [LONG READ]

And another biological conundrum … how do body parts grow to the right size? [LONG READ]

Apparently girls are beginning puberty a year earlier than they were 50 years ago.

Sexuality

Katherine Rowland talked to 120 women about their sex lives and desires.

As if we need an excuse, here are five ways to have more sex with your partner.

Here’s a review of Kate Lister’s new book A Curious History of Sex. I found it interesting and amusing. [Disclosure: I helped crowdfund it.]

An interesting look at parenting in a polyamorous relationship. There’s no evidence it’s any worse for children than any other style of relationship.

Meet some of Britain’s sex-positive influencers. [LONG READ]

Environment

Estate owners across UK are queueing up to reintroduce beavers.

Art, Literature, Language

Anglo-Saxon charters and place-names are an often-overlooked source of folklore and popular belief.

A portrait, long thought to be of Louis XIV’s son, turns out to be a late-17th century Lord Mayor of London.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

The records of the High Court of Chivalry (which still exists) reveal quite a lot about the life of 14th cetury soldiers.

The British Library has digitised a 15th century children’s guide to manners: Pyke notte thy nostrellys.

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of the mysterious 14th century Bek’s Chapel, lost at the time of the Civil War.

Four secret societies whch operated in the London’s shadows.

A brief hiostory of the (somewhat disreputable) East India Company.

The vast collection of King George III’s military maps are now available online.

London

A secret passageway has been discovered in the Place of Westminster.

The V&A Museum of Childhood at Bethnal Green is to close in May for two years for a £13m revamp.

Lifestyle, Personal Development

Want to rewire your brain for clearer, calmer thinking? The case for Transcendental Meditation.

And finally … Women share their stories of celebrating their body hair.

We’ll have more next month!

environment, history, links, medical, science, sexuality

Monthly Links

Welcome to thee first of our monthly links for 2020. Here are links to items you may have missed the first time round, but will be glad you’ve now found. We’ve collected a huge number of items this month, so lets get stuck in …

Science, Technology, Natural World

You may well poo-poo astrology (and who should blame you!) but there is an argument that it paved the way for predictive, analytical science.

In the western world we do a lot to mask our body odour. Here’s some of the chemistry behind what we’re trying to mask.

Science’s theoretical models can be complex, however the most successful ones usually aren’t. [££££]

So how is it that some trees life 1000 years, apparently healthily?

Health, Medicine

I know my body temperature is naturally low, but it now seems that human body temperature is generally cooling over time. Two looks at this from New Scientist [££££] and Scientific American [££££]

Six curious facts about our sense of smell.

The whole situation around the new Chinese Coronavirus is moving so fast I’m not going there with blog posts. However here is something about the viruses which cause colds and flu.

While mentioning flu, researchers are now discovering that injecting the flu vaccine into a tumour stimulates the immune system to attack it.

Medics are coming to the opinion that many mental health conditions, from depression to dementia, are caused by inflammation.

The vaginal, uterine, cervical, clitoral, urinary, rectal, and muscular dimensions of the pelvis: the VAGGINA hypothesis.

Which takes us nicely on to …

Sexuality

Apparently almost half of British women have poor sexual health, around three times the rate for men.

Here’s something I didn’t know … One part of this is poor sexual health is that some women have incredibly painful orgasms. It’s not clear if this also affects men.

But men do have sexual problems too: it is thought that around 10% of men have Peyronie’s disease, which causes significant bending of the penis; it’s often painful and prevents sex.

One woman talks about how wanking brought her closer to her husband. [NSFW]

Environment

One UK scientist is suggesting that half the country’s farmland should be transformed into woodlands and natural habitat to fight the climate crisis and restore wildlife.

Following in the footsteps of the Woodland Trust, the National Trust to plant 20 million trees in the UK over the next decade as part of efforts to achieve net zero emissions by 2030.

It’s reported that London’s new year fireworks increased air pollution with a legacy of metal particles. Why is anyone surprised?

York is the latest city (following Bristol and Birmingham) to plan on banning private car journeys from the city centre.

I’ve been saying this for twenty years: the majority of business air travel is unnecessary; there are more environmentally, financially and employee friendly ways of doing business – and they’re just as effective. Why is there no will to grasp this?

Social Sciences, Business, Law

Hansard is the official record of business in the UK’s parliament. Here’s something on how their reporters handle getting to grips with an influx of new MPs.

Art, Literature, Language

OK, so who understands what sodomy actually is, at least according to the medieval world view. [LONG READ]

An Italian art gallery has discovered its stolen Gustav Klimt painting in a wall.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Archaeologists have found the graves of high-status Romans in Somerset.

Here’s a series of long reads from Going Medieval about medieval life …

The most maligned of creatures, since ancient times, the wolf has a central role in mythology. [LONG READ]

Medieval people were nicer to cows than we are now. [LONG READ]

Medieval courtly love was just as full of pick-up artists as other times. [LONG READ]

There’s a subset of society who (erroneously) believe the medieval Church was a shadowy organisation dedicated solely to suppressing knowledge and scientific advancement. [LONG READ]

No medieval people weren’t dirty. Yes, mediaval people bathed – a lot more than we think. They even invented soap! [LONG READ]

It’s interesting what you can find in the sludge of a London medieval cesspit.

Slightly nearer our own time, it seems that Columbus may well have been right in his claims of cannibals in the Caribbean.

Lifestyle, Personal Development

A Utah (think Salt Lake City and Mormons) court convicts a mother of lewd behaviour for bearing her breasts in front of her children. But is being naked around your own kids good for them? Spoiler: yes.

The “power of bad” and the “curse of good”. We’re living in a gilded age but can we defeat negativity?

There is some surprising psychology behind being perpetually late.

Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!

And finally, the United Kingdom wins a Darwin Award for Brexit. Well who would have guessed?!

amusements, environment, history, links, medical, science

Monthly Links

And for the last time in 2019, here’s our monthly round-up of links to items you may have missed.

Science, Technology, Natural World

There are lots of Rose-Ringed Parakeets in London (far from their native home in Northern India). How did they get here? The legend is that they were released by Jimi Hendrix, but they’ve been around a lot longer than that. Two reports on the latest investigation from the BBC and The Oldie.

A fossil forest has been found in New York State, and it is the oldest one known.

Now to one of my favourite subjects: wasps. Just what is the point of wasps?

There’s a new formula for converting your dog’s age into human years. [£££]
But note: it is different for cats.

Health, Medicine

There is a significant resurgence of measles with a number of countries, including the UK, losing their measles-free status.

A very small number of people have a mystery illness which causes a fever every few weeks, but finally the cause has been identified. [£££]

In the stomach, the mind, or the brain? Migraine’s causes and remedies have been debated for 2,000 years. [LONG READ]

Medical science has traditionally neglected women’s health, and still does. Why does medicine have a gender problem?

Environment

Now here’s an idea: reintroduce national service and use the victims to do environmental and conservation work.

How often do you mow your lawn? There’s a good chance the answer is “too often”, because less frequent mowing can help wildlife.

Social Sciences, Business, Law

We’ve heard of environmental rewilding, well now here’s political rewilding: the antidote to our current malaise of the demagogues.

Art, Literature, Language

Japanese artist Masayo Fukuda hand-cuts intricate images from a single sheet of paper.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Here are ten English archaeological finds of the last decade.

Archaeologists do keep pushing the boundaries. In Indonesia they’ve now found the earliest known cave art by modern humans.

And in Greece archaeologists have unearthed gold-lined Mycenaean royal tombs.

2020 is the 850th anniversary of the assassination of Thomas Becket, and it will be a year of commemorative events, culminating in a major exhibition at the British Museum.

Prince Albert is usually blamed for introducing the Christmas tree, but it is likely to be much older than that. One early instance dates from 1419 in Freiburg.

So, apart from the obvious, what went on in a medieval brothel? Well, it often wasn’t pleasant. [LONG READ]

An academic has discovered annotations by Elizabeth I on a document in Lambeth Palace Library.

Religious and secular celebration of Christmas was forbidden by the English Puritan republic, but not entirely successfully. [LONG READ]

London

There’s a very elderly eagle in Croydon.

The Greek god Priapus, protector of gardens, fruit plants, livestock … and male genitals, is an unlikely subject for a statue in the discrete streets of Pimlico.

Food, Drink

Peru, as we all know, is the home of the potato, and they have a potato museum which conserves well over a thousand varieties and could be important in breeding the plants to handle climate change.

Haggis is a traditional Scots food. Or is it? [LONG READ]

Lifestyle, Personal Development

So how do couples stay together long-term? Understanding the other person is trying to do their best is important.

John Horgan in Scientific American investigates whether mysticism can help us solve the mind-body problem.

Naked therapy is a (non-sexual) treatment to help people become more comfortable with their bodies.

How the tattoo became fashionable in Victorian England. [LONG READ]

And, oh dear, it seems the codpiece is back in fashion.

Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!

And finally … In Turkey there’s a bee which builds its nests out of flower petals. and they’re stunningly beautiful.

That’s all for now, folks. The Fates permitting, we’ll be back in January. Meanwhile a happy New Year to everyone!