Category Archives: memes

amusements, memes, personal, photography

Listography : Gadgets

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Gotta get a gadget? OK. That’s easy ‘cos Kate’s Listography this week is all about gadgets. Our top five gadgets ever. So here goes …

Washing Machine. Now there are two types of washing machine: the clothes washer and the dish washer. Both fulfil essentially the same function on different commodities. So I’m going to cheat and choose both!

PC. Well I couldn’t do above 10% of what I currently do without one. How did anyone run a society, let alone a business, using only a pen, a typewriter and a Roneo machine?

Digital Camera. I like looking at things and trying to make pictures. But I cannot draw for toffee and anyway it takes too long. So I’m glad I learnt photography when young. And then someone invented the digital camera so I don’t have to do all that tedious darkroom work.

Spectacles. I’ve worn specs since I was about 14. That’s nearly 50 years (eeek!). They’re a part of me and I mostly don’t even know I’m wearing them — only true specs wearers will understand the surrealism of trying to wipe your eye only to find you’re still wearing your glasses. And I’d be as blind as a at without them.


Biro and Automatic Clutch Pencil. Again I’m going to lump these two together as essential writing implements. I hated the old “dip in the ink-pot pens” as I always ended up with ink everywhere. Fountain pens weren’t a lot better. I can’t abide blunt pencils but could never sharpen a pencil properly, even with a pencil sharpener and certainly not with a penknife. Good biros and good clutch pencils (I use the Sanford/Papermate PhD range which are so comfortable), while they may not have done a lot for handwriting, have made life so much more amenable. Three cheers for László Bíró and the inventors of the automatic pencil (Tokuji Hayakawa and Charles R Keeran).

So there you have it: seven gadgets for the price of five!

Oh! But wait! I’ve forgotten the most important gadget of all … a wife. 🙂

beliefs, food+drink, memes, natural history

Listography – Random

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Yet again I’ve not done Kate’s Listography for a few weeks, in part because she has used several weeks of Listography space running a Top 5 Toys for Christmas survey for which I wasn’t eligible (‘cos her rule said “parents only”).

But this week we’re back to normal and I’ll let Kate herself introduce this week’s exam:

This week’s Listography is simple but with a very wide scope — Top 5 Random Things I Like.

Just one word of warning though – random is not ‘I like chocolate’ — that’s just not going to cut it round here. However ‘I like chocolate sauce with my chips’ is getting a bit warmer.

So, in the hope that my choices are whacky enough, here we go …

  1. Wasps. They generally get a bad rap, and I would agree can be annoying. But they are superb creatures and wonderful predators. Without them we’d be knee deep in creepy crawlies.
  2. Plane Crashes. Not because I like seeing people hurt or killed. Of course I don’t and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. No, my interest is forensic and analytical: I like to try to see if I can work out guess what happened and why. Think of it as a giant puzzle game.
  3. Curry with Avocado, Banana and Mayonnaise on the Side. Yep it works really well. Chopped avocado and chopped banana. Mayonnaise instead of yoghurt dressing (although I like that too). It’s a nice combination of flavours and contrasts of hot and cooling.
  4. Latin Liturgy. Despite not being at all religious — indeed I’m anti-religious — I do find that proper Tridentine Latin Mass does something to me. Well it is a spell, isn’t it?!
  5. Deep-fried Haggis. Yep again this works wonderfully well. I first met it 40 years ago when a student: the chip shop nearest the university in York used to sell it. Sausage-sized haggis, thickly battered and deep fried. And bloody good it was too especially on a cold winter’s night after a few pints. Sadly I don’t recall seeing anyone doing it since. And anyone want to try deep fried black pudding — I reckon that would be good too.

So there you are. I’m sure I have more interesting “random likes” than this but they escape me for now. Anyone care to add to the list?

memes, personal, photography

[45/52] Scouts

[45/52] Scouts
Click the image for a larger version.

Week 45 entry for 52 weeks challenge.

No time for any decent photography this week, so we’ve dug deep into the archives again.

This is from about 1964/5. I’m the urchin in the poncy white gloves leading the SE Hertfordshire District Scouts St George’s Day Parade. Although I have Patrol Leader’s stripes I can’t be more than 14 as I’m not wearing glasses.

Those were the days when shorts were mandatory, even for Scout Masters, although thank heaven we didn’t have to try to maintain those old style hats.

Photograph, probably by my father, taken at Turnford, Cheshunt, outside the then Rochford’s Sports Ground. The road is what was then the main A10 to Cambridge (it’s been bypassed now and is the A1170).

food+drink, memes, music, personal, quotes, science

Ten Things – November

Number 11 in my monthly series of “Ten Things” for 2011. Each month I list one thing from each of ten categories which will remain the same for each month of 2011. So at the end of the year you have ten lists of twelve things about me.

  1. Something I Like: Beaujolais Nouveau (This year’s is supposed to be even better than last year’s which was superb; and it’ll be here in a few days time!)
  2. Something I Won’t Do: Plumbing
  3. Something I Want To Do: Visit Norway & Sweden
  4. A Blog I Like: Cocktail Party Physics
  5. A Book I Like: Douglas Adams, Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
  6. Some Music I Like: Handel, Messiah
  7. A Food I Like: Pizza
  8. A Food or Drink I Dislike: Sweet Potatoes
  9. A Word I Like: Mendicant
  10. A Quote I Like: The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose. [JBS Haldane]