Category Archives: personal

memes, personal, photography

Flasher


Flasher, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s self-portrait: 52 Weeks 53/52 (2009 week 09). Finally back to where we started at the end of February. This is also my February self-portrait for the Flickr 12 months group.

Self-portrait taken in the mirror using flash.

It seems treacherous but this will be the last weekly self-portrait. I’m glad I did this, but I have struggled at times to be at all creative enough given the amount of time I don’t have to spare. However I will be taking a monthly self-portrait, and I may return to weekly someday.

books, memes, personal, photography, science

Memories Meme


Memories Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s Flickr Photo Meme is about Memories. As usual here are the questions and my answers:

1. What is a special memory of childhood? Hot summer days camping at nudist club; I would have been about 10; in consequence I’ve never been uncomfortable with my body or anyone else’s
2. A memorable romance with? Faith, when I was a postgraduate; I was 23. she was 32; she taught me a lot
3. What was the most memorable gift you have ever received? My first camera, a Halina, has to be up there near the top; I don’t recall exactly when I was given it but I must have been about 12 or 13; look where it has gotten me!
4. What place have you visited that had a memory attached to it? Rye, East Sussex; I remember it from camping with my parents when I was 4 or 5 and have been back numerous times in recent years with Noreen
5. What was a memorable occasion that you recently attended? Almost any meeting of the Anthony Powell Society; this trip to the Widmerpool area of Nottinghamshire was an interesting day!
6. What was the most memorable toy you ever had? My teddy bear and black cat, both of which I still have, must be very near the top of the list
7. Who is the most memorable teacher you ever had? There were many, but Bob Goss and Derek Beadle, who taught me Chemistry and Physics, respectively, in the 6th form were probably the stars
8. Do you have a special collection that is memorable? My Memories, of course! I’m not really one for collecting personal mementos
9. What is your most cherished memento? Noreen, for lots of reasons and not just because she married me!
10. What trophy, ribbon, award, certificate are you most proud of that serves as a memory of an important event? My PhD, not just for the academic stuff but for all the formative extracurricula things too
11. It would be wonderful if all memories were good, but some aren’t; is there a bad memory that you carry with you? Breaking up with my first fiancée, Jill, at the start of our second year as undergraduates; I nearly failed my Part I exams as a result
12. What is your favourite summer memory? Playing Cricket, not that I was ever any good

1. Mother & Son, 2. FAITH: Earth element focal art bead pendant/necklace 1, 3. Halina 35X, 4. Rye, 5. AP Soc Members at Wysall, 6. Little Black Cat, 7. is there a shark behind me? …is that a yes?, 8. memories collage, 9. Noreen, 10. Student Life, 11. Jack and Jill went up the hill, 12. Playing Cricket

As always these are not my photos (except numbers 1, 5, 6, 9 which are mine) so please follow the links to enjoy the work of the photographers who did take them!

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

amusements, arts, personal, photography

Rusty, the Danish Bacon Hound


Rusty, the Danish Bacon Hound, originally uploaded by kcm76.

Ladies and Gentlemen! Let me present, at no expense to this august establishment, Rusty, the Danish Bacon Hound.
We must apologise for the state of his coat, he’s in need of a good hose down as he’s clearly been grubbing around the pig pens.
(Made from thin white card after a design by David C Mills.)

[Later] Noreen thinks he should be called Streaky rather than Rusty, this also being a characteristic of the coats of Danish Bacon Hounds.

memes, personal, photography

Valentine's Meme


Valentine’s Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s Flickr Photo Meme is, quite naturally, about Valentine’s Day. As usual here are the questions and my answers:

1. Type in Valentine’s Day and pick your favourite picture!
2. How old were you when you fell in love for the first time? I’m guessing about 11.
3. How many times have you been in love? Properly in love, maybe 3?
4. What is the most romantic moment you’ve experienced? The first time Noreen and I had sex
5. What is your favourite love song? Monteverdi 1610 Vespers. How’s that for eccentricity?
6. What movie has your favourite love scene? Nah, I only do stills; don’t get all this video stuff!
7. Where is the most romantic location/destination in the world? Anywhere, it doesn’t matter where; it’s the other person and the ambience that counts
8. What gift do you think is the most romantic? ,b>Oneself, surely
9. Which do you prefer – Chocolates or Flowers? ,b>Always flowers; I’m not supposed to have chocolates
10. What is the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for you? Say “Yes”
11. Who do you think is the most romantic leading lady or man on film, TV or stage? The young Bo Derek
12. Most romantic book you’ve ever read? Any truly old book will do; books are almost as magic as cats!

1. E’ville Con 2009 logo, 2. Eleven, 3. everyone needs to draw a skull or maybe 3, 4. Angel Wars 3: Choosing sides, 5. Monteverdi Vespers of 1610, 6. Two Months On Flickr…Thank You, 7. Anywhere, 8. ugly_dolls, 9. There are always flowers, 10. She Said Yes To A Single Yellow Rose, 11. bo derek96, 12. Old Books [2]

As always these are not my photos so please follow the links to enjoy the work of the photographers who did take them!

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

personal, science

Research, 35 Years On

Thirty-five years ago I was a postgraduate student at the University of East Anglia and in the middle of the research for my doctorate. In simple terms I was looking at how metal-compounds interact to quench light-driven chemical and physical processes in organic compounds; this was done using pulses of laser light which typically lasted millionths of a second (a technique called laser flash photolysis). The technique was already well characterised and the metal-induced photochemical quenching already of industrial importance in developing additives to make plastics more light stable – after all one doesn’t want buckets or sinks which fall apart after a short while as happened in the chemistry labs at University of York when I was an undergraduate there. In our research we were extending the work to try to better understand the physics of the systems at a quantum energy level, and (as my supervisor memorably expressed it) fill in one piece of the jigsaw puzzle which is photosynthesis – the chemical and physical processes by which plants turn water, carbon dioxide and light into energy, sugars, proteins and oxygen; the veritable bedrock of life. It was but a very tiny piece of a massive jigsaw puzzle and to this day I still do not understand how it earned me a doctorate!

This was at the time when Lord Porter (then Professor Sir George Porter) who won a Nobel prize for the invention of flash-photolysis was at the Royal Institution and was just beginning to develop systems using picosecond lasers which we thought at the time was mind-blowing. (A picosecond is one million-millionth of a second, so around a million time shorter than the equipment I was using).

Thirty-five years on scientists are now on the threshold of putting in the very last pieces of that jigsaw. This at least is the way I read today’s BBC News item which describes scientists watching the reacting electrons in the molecules using a similar photolysis technique but with laser pulses lasting just 100 femtoseconds, that’s one ten-thousandth of a billionth of a second (or ten thousand million times shorter than an average camera flash). I’m not so much gobsmacked at the rate of technological innovation – one has almost come to expect that – but more that not only has this been done but that it is possible to achieve such incredibly fast pulses of light AND use them to watch chemical reactions in such real-time detail. It is something we dreamt of doing but never imagined would become a reality. For me this is much more gobsmacking science than any piece of cosmology or particle accelerator physics.

memes, personal, photography

People in Your Life Meme


People in Your Life Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s Flickr Photo Meme is the first names of people in your life. So as usual here are the questions and my answers

1. Spouse’s name. Noreen, and yes that is her in the photo taken with an ultra-wide angle lens at short range.
2. Mother’s name. Dora
3. Father’s name: Bob
4. Brother / sister’s name: to quote Peter Cook “Tragically I was an only twin”
5. Pet’s name: The cats: Harry and Sally, no not our choices!
6. Best friend’s name: Suzy
7. Childhood friend’s name: Derek
8. Person who has most influenced you: that has to be Victor, but only by a short head from Faith and Barry & Julia
9. Neighbour’s name: Zaina, a luscious Lebanese beauty queen
10. Grandmother’s name: Flo; that’s my mother’s mother
11. Grandfather’s name: Alf; my mother’s father who I never knew as he died 2 years before I was born
12. Your name: Keith, but I have yet to understand why!

As always these are not my photos (with the exception of ) so please follow the links to enjoy the work of the photographers who did take them!

1. Madam Noreen, 2. Dora was my co-pilot (04/2005), 3. Bob Staake – Toy Designs, 4. tragically i was an only twin, 5. PB120027-1, 6. Shy Suzy, 7. Derek, 8. Victor Bagging, 9. zaina, 10. say ah (iris ‘larry and flo’), 11. Alf Leila Wa Leila, 12. Keith Haring by Annie Leibovitz New York City 1986

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.