Category Archives: personal

memes, personal, photography

Favourites Meme the Second – for Relaxation


Favourites Meme the Second, originally uploaded by kcm76.

I am so drained this evening after a non-stop, battering day at work that I just cannot get to do anything! Sorry to those who are waiting for emails or literary society work from me; it just cannot be did this evening. I can’t even concentrate on writing a decent weblog post! So I decided to do a second version of this week’s Flickr meme, only this time containing some of my favourites from amongst my own photos. Looking at my Flickr Photostream it contains an awful lot of crap, but amongst it the odd gem. These aren’t necessarily my best shots (anyway who is to say what is best, you or me? — your best is my rubbish) but are the first dozen I picked that I like. So have an evening off and enjoy! Now I shall go and read.

Oh and just for the record these shots span some 20+ years. #9 is the earliest; taken I think in the mid to late 80s (and obviously on film); #10 is the most recent taken just a 3-4 of weeks ago.

1. Apothecary’s Rose
2. Tabby Tiger
3. Red Shoveller Duck
4. Iris 3
5. Double Departure from Alexisbad (3)
6. Warbrook House (Rear)
7. French Lavender 2
8. Deep Pink Cyclamen
9. Floss Cat
10. Camellia
11. Armco Sundown
12. Early Morning December 2

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

amusements, medical, personal, science, thoughts

All-Weather Spectacles

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The Feedback column in New Scientist recently asked its readers

to describe your own Wallace-and-Gromit-style invention in no more than 100 words. Many of you focused on just one important aspect of the Wallace and Gromit canon: reading through your entries, it has been a revelation to us how many productive uses cheese – especially Wensleydale – can be put to. Knitting, mice running on treadmills and modified bicycles also figured in many of your inventions.

However of the five published winners, this was my favourite:

As well as having reactive lenses, these spectacles have a built-in rain sensor that activates lens wipers in wet conditions. There is also a light detector, which will switch on lights in the spectacle arms when it is dark, to help you see. In strong sunlight, a nose shield will automatically be unfurled to prevent unsightly sunburn on the nose. In extreme cold, the frame of the spectacles will heat up to help keep your face warm. The spectacles are powered by a small wind turbine attached to each arm. Stylish yet practical.

It was the small wind turbines that finally finished me off!

Maybe that’s because I went to the opticians this week for a new pair of specs, during which I discovered the new “must have” frames … they come with magnetic “clip-on” polarizing sunglasses. Magnetic? Where does magnetism come in? Well rather than clipping on to the specs with what one might term “adapted paperclips” they are held on by small magnets. On the sides of the shades (where the hinge would normally be) there is a small magnet. On the equivalent place on the frames, integrated into the hinge, is another small magnet. An instant docking mechanism. So simple when one thinks about it, and yet it apparently hasn’t been tried before; no doubt someone will tell me they’ve been around for years but I’ve never seen, or been offered, them before. OK, they’re not cheap, but in the overall scheme of things they aren’t expensive either especially when one considers that my lenses cost a week’s wages. Eeeekk!

food+drink, medical, memes, music, nudism, personal, photography, science, sexuality
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Katyboo posted this meme the other day, and as she didn’t tag people, preferring us to elect or not, I’ll take the bait. Well it’s better than doing whatever it is I’m supposed to be doing.

The rules of the meme are: Respond and rework. Answer questions on your own blog. Replace one question. Add one question. Then tag eight people.

What are your current obsessions? Depression. I don’t know why I’m so depressed at the moment (I’ll blame work, it’s as good a scapegoat as any, but it almost certainly isn’t the only factor) but it is taking over and stopping me doing things.

Which item from your wardrobe do you wear most often? The Emperor’s new suit. Nudity and getting fresh, cooling, air to the body is actually good for you; it stops you getting all sticky and sweaty in places you don’t want to. I do wear a pair of shorts or jeans (more if I need to) during the week, if only so I can get to the front door quickly. Otherwise I follow the maxim “Nude when possible, clothed when necessary”.

What’s for dinner? Vegetable Crumble, I think. Well we are trying to be good and reduce our meat intake for the sake of our health and the planet. And Noreen does a mean veggie crumble with mushroom, onion or cheese sauce. Yum, yum!

Last thing you bought? In a shop? Not a clue; I hardly ever got to shops these days. Online? Some scented geraniums.

What are you listening to? The hum of my PC. I can’t take continual background music (let alone talk) these days. I suspect that’s related to the depression.

Do you have a pet and if not, why not? Yes, two cats and lots of fish (both tropical and in the pond). And no, the cats take no interest whatsoever in the fish.

Favourite holiday spots? Dorset and South Devon, by the sea. Well anywhere quiet by the sea really.

Reading right now? My PC screen, stoopid! 🙂

Four words to describe yourself? Fat, grey, snotty, depressed.

Guilty pleasure? Why do pleasures always have to be guilty? Erotica. Yes and I’m unashamed about it. In the words of Jean-Luc Goddard, “Eroticism … is consenting to live.” If no-one ever found anything erotic we’d none of us be here!

Who or what makes you laugh until you’re weak? edartr at Flickr‘s photographs of his hilarious two dogs; see here for example.

First spring thing? Zebedee

Planning to travel to next? Norwich to see my mother. Don’t know when yet, but it should be soon.

Best thing you ate or drank lately? East Green

Do you have any weird phobias? No. There are things I dislike intensely, like maggots, but nothing which turns me into a complete gibbering wreck.

Favourite ever film? As I don’t do films I’ll change this one. My question is: What time is it now, and what time would you like it to be? It’s currently 1150 hrs, and thus fast approaching lunchtime. What time would I like? The time I can drink beer freely again.

Care to share some wisdom? “It’ll pass, Sir, like other days in the Army.”

Favourite song? Pink Floyd, Learning to Fly. Well that’s one of them anyway.

What’s your favourite meal you make without sticking to a recipe? Curry. But then I almost never use a recipe for anything except cake – and I never make cake.

Who would play you in a movie of your life? Who would be stupid enough to even consider it? Maybe Harpo Marx? Actually Woody Allen probably suits my personality better. 🙁

Facebook or Twitter? Other or Neither? For preference neither. I do dabble on Facebook from time to time, mainly as a way of not quite losing touch with people. But as far as I can see Twitter is a complete waste of time and everything else; no-one has yet managed to explain the point to me. The same goes for Second Life and YouTube.

What is your favourite word? What do you mean I’m not allowed that one? It’s a perfectly good Anglo-Saxon word. Oh OK, let’s have something boring then, like corvid.

OK, so here’s the question I’ve added: If you were to have one piece of luck this week, what would it be? To win the lottery so I can afford to retire.

Like Katyboo I don’t like tagging people – although I’m always happy to be tagged – so you can all choose to take part or not. If you do, just leave a message and a link in the comments, please. Enjoy!

memes, natural history, personal, photography

Twelve Old Roses Meme

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Twelve Old Roses Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

Here’s a second version of this week’s Flickr meme : A dozen roses!

As I particularly like old roses I decided to do a second version, with all the pictures taken from the Flickr Roses anciennes – Old garden roses group.

As always these photographs are not mine so please click on individual links below to see each artist/photostream. This mosaic is for a group called My Meme, where each week there is a different theme and normally 12 questions to send you out on a hunt to discover photos to fit your meme. It gives you a chance to see and admire other great photographers’ work out there on Flickr.

1. Variegata di Bologna, 2. Louise Odier, 3. Alister Stella Gray 1894 Noisette, 4. Fantastic Smell, 5. Rosa Gallica Splendens, 6. Variegata di Bologna, 7. abeille sur rosier American Pilar, 8. ghislaine de féligonde, 9. Untitled, 10. Reines des Violettes rose, 11. Mme Legras de St. Germain, Rosa alba-hybrid, 12. Cibles

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

memes, personal

I am Wicked

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Somewhere, I remember not where, earlier today I came across Dante’s Inferno Test. So of course I just had to take the test.

And surprise, surprise! I am so wicked that I am banished to the Sixth Level of Hell – The City of Dis! Excellent! Just think of all the interesting people I’ll meet there.

Here is how I matched up against all the levels (though GOK why this might be of interest):

Level Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers) Very Low
Level 1 – Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) High
Level 2 (Lustful) Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous) High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) Low
Level 6 – The City of Dis (Heretics) Extreme
Level 7 (Violent) High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) Moderate
Level 9 – Cocytus (Treacherous) Low

Truly scary, if realistic!

Take the Dante’s Divine Comedy Inferno Test

memes, personal, photography

I Say, You Think Meme


I Say, You Think Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s Flickr meme is I say … You think.

These photos are not mine . . . so please click on individual links below to see each artist/photostream. This mosaic is for a group called My Meme, where each week there is a different theme and normally 12 questions to send you out on a hunt to discover photos to fit your meme. It gives you a chance to see and admire other great photographers’ work out there on Flickr.

As always here are the questions and my answers:

1. Clochemerle … Pissoir
2. Marmite … Toast
3. Green fields … Dog & Stick Farming
4. Umbrella … Edouard Manet, “Le dejeuner sur l’herbe” (no, I don’t get my logic either!)
5. Smoked Nuts … “Round the Horne”
6. Erotica … Pubic hair
7. Zebra … Moiré patterns
8. Po … Don Camillo
9. Caravan … “Cunning Stunts”
10. The Good Old Days … Formerly known as “these trying times”
11. The Queen … “Fat Bottomed Girls” (and yes, I know the rock band are just “Queen”)
12. Clangers … Blue String Pudding

1. Amsterdam Pissoir, 2. Toast art mosaic, 3. Man and his dogs, 4. Lunch on the grass, by Edouard Manet, 5. Jules and Sandy, Musee d’Orsay, Paris, 6. Black and pink…, 7. church & moire, 8. Don Camillo lascia il paese, 9. caravan1975, 10. SunDay’s last SunRays, 11. Very red…, 12. the blue string

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

memes, music, personal, thoughts

My Pink Life

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I stole this meme from Lucy Fishwife; for which we give thanks!

All you have to do is pick a (musical) artist and using ONLY SONG TITLES from only that artist, answer the questions below. Then tag anyone you like.

OK so I choose Pink Floyd.

1. Are you a male or female: Bring the Boys Back Home

2. Describe yourself: Scarecrow

3. How do you feel about yourself: Learning to Fly

4. Describe your parents: Us and Them

5. Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriends: Young Lust

6. Describe your current boy/girl situation: Shine on You Crazy Diamond

7. Describe your current location: Up the Khyber

8. Describe where you want to be: Dark Side of the Moon

9. Your best friend(s) is/are: Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict

10. Your favourite colour is: Jugband Blues

11. You know that: Eclipse

12. If your life was a television show what would it be called: The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party

13. What is life to you: A Saucerful of Secrets

14. What is the best advice you have to give: Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk

And I tag: Noreen, Jilly, Katy, Misty, Antonia. Enjoy!

memes, personal, photography

12 Things on My Desk, Reprise


12 Things on My Desk, Reprise, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s Flickr meme is 12 Things on Your Desk .

These photos are not mine so please click on individual links below to see each artist/photostream. This mosaic is for a group called My Meme, where each week there is a different theme and normally 12 questions to send you out on a hunt to discover photos to fit your meme. It gives you a chance to see and admire other great photographers’ work out there on Flickr.

Having done 12 of the more unusual things on my desk, I wanted to do something more ordinary, so here are 12 common things from my desk …

1. Box of tissues
2. Big mug of tea
3. Eye drops (come on, you know I’m not going to resist putting pretty girl in!)
4. Papermate PhD ballpoint and pencil (these are the best pens ever; when I found them I bought several and I use these all day, every day)
5. Keyboard and mouse
6. Empty beer bottle; and yes it is a bottle of Adnams East Green, one of the most wonderful beers I’ve ever had
7. Palm TX
8. Coloured paperclips
9. My watch
10. My house keys
11. The Blackberry Pearl wot work provides
12. And the house speaker phone

1. tissue box , 2. my big mug, 3. The night, 4. The best pencil ever, 5. bash on the keyboard, 6. Suffolk beers, 7. Palm TX, 8. paperclips, 9. My Watch, 10. Keys to the Norman Keep, 11. Photo from BlackBerry 8220 Pearl Flip: Faces of LetsTalk.com 🙂, 12. Paint the Office Red

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

memes, personal, photography

12 Things on Your Desk Meme


12 Things on Your Desk Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s Flickr meme is 12 Things on Your Desk .

Except for #10, these photos are not mine . . . please click on individual links below to see each artist/photostream. This mosaic is for a group called My Meme, where each week there is a different theme and normally 12 questions to send you out on a hunt to discover photos to fit your meme. It gives you a chance to see and admire other great photographers’ work out there on Flickr.

So I chose 12 of the less usual things you’ll find on my desk …

1. Bag of corks
2. Cedar cone
3. Dowsing pendulum
4. Pale blue cutting mat (which I actually use as a mouse mat: it’s easier to clean and much more durable)
5. An air duster
6. Pile of unused Hollerith cards
7. Credit card terminal
8. Diet Coke can of bits for metal recycling (ring pulls, old staples, bent paperclips, …)
9. Bottle of isopropanol
10. Sometimes a cat (yes, this is our Harry practising work avoidance on my desk)
11. Several bears
12. Moleskine notebook

1. Holy Corkage Batman!, 2. Cedar cones, 3. Serenity – Amethyst Pendulum, 4. Mosaic Photo Mat, 5. Fairy Duster Glimpse (4 of 4), 6. Weekly Notebook 08.3: Kidrobot (Inside Cover), 7. Gargoyle Conversion, 8. Tin Man, 9. 7760cm wine glass fire, 10. Computer Security, 11. Baby bear ~watches over my desk, 12. Manet Inspired in my Moleskine

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

memes, personal, photography

Things I Hate Meme


Things I Hate Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s Flickr meme is about things I hate.

These photos are not mine . . . please click on individual links below to see each artist/photostream. This mosaic is for a group called My Meme, where each week there is a different theme and normally 12 questions to send you out on a hunt to discover photos to fit your meme. It gives you a chance to see and admire other great photographers’ work out there on Flickr.

As usual here are the questions and answers:
1. An animal you hate. Elephants. Not in the sense that I have a phobia about them but that I am so extremely bored with elephants and Africa that I’ve developed a dislike.
2. A job you had that you hated. IT Sales. I started in IT technical sales; clearly I can do it; but I hated it
3. A person you hate. Richard Dawkins. See #9 below.
4. Your worst date. Ann. Let’s say no more.
5. Your worst holiday. What holiday? Didn’t have many of them as a kid.
6. Weather that you hate (like you hate the cold or you hate thunderstorms). Cold, wet & windy
7. Worst nightmare. That it actually isn’t a nightmare after all
8. A food you hate. Egg custard. One of very few foods I truly hate.
9. An emotion or trait that you hate (eg. prejudice). Censorship, which for me equates with intolerance, bigotry, fundamentalism
10. A movie you hate. Pick any one; they’re all garbage
11. A book you hated. Anything I did at school; let’s start with Dickens, Great Expectations
12. A city you hate. Brixham in Devon. When I went there some years ago it was completely run down, scruffy and full of posing low-life villains on holiday.

1. The Elephant Tree – elephanttree.com, 2. the seat of authority, 3. All Saints, Oxford (Now Lincoln College Library), 4. For My Friend Jo Ann, 5. Artists at Work 1950s, 6. Carnaval in rain – I am cold!!!, 7. ..retromuta-, 8. Steamed Egg Custard, 9. Against Censorship on Flickr, 10. The super pink K, 11. Katie … great expectations for the New Year …, 12. Brixham # Trust me

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.