Category Archives: personal

beliefs, medical, memes, personal, photography, ramblings, science

4AM


4AM, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s self-portrait: 52 Weeks 39/52 (2008 week 47).

4 AM and I can’t sleep, so I figured I may as well get up for a bit and play.

And as this is week 39 of my 52 weeks “self-portrait a week” I figured I’d do a 13 things as well; so …

13 Things which bore me and which I therefore try to ignore …
1. Richard Dawkins
2. stem cells
3. IVF
4. embryo research
5. climate change
6. Africa
7. elephants
8. whales
9. Lord Winston
10. quantum computing
11. the scientific fetish that life can be only water and carbon based
12. penguins
13. Christianity and Islam

personal, photography

Colour Meme


Colour Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s Flickr Photo Meme …

1. (TB5.) Hope on the Horizon…, 2. Spring Greens 2, 3. lots of things are brown today, 4. blinkie blink blink flowwiee, 5. Okoboji – Grey Cat, 6. the emperor’s new clothes, 7. Canary Yellow ~ Lost one!, 8. Pink Pixies, 9. Clotted Cream, 10. linen grey white cotton, 11. Rosa Knicker, 12. Best tandoori chicken

Questions and Answers:
1. free square – you pick a color to start off your meme with! Old Troll Gold
2. fave colour Spring Greens, but it does depend what it’s for
3. least fave colour Shit Brown
4. colour of your eyes Blinking Blue
5. colour of your hair Steely Grey
6. colour of your car Emperor’s New Clothes; invisible as I don’t have a car!
7. colour of your fave flower Canary Yellow
8. colour you like to wear Pixie Pink
9. colour of your living room walls Clotted Cream
10. colour of your pet Russian Blue and White
11. fave 2 colour combination For flowers, Knicker Pink and White, but it really depends on the context
12. colour of your fave food Tandoori Red

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

beliefs, history, personal, ramblings, topographical

First English Lottery, 1569

1 Comment

My previous posting referred to the first English lottery being held on 11 January 1569, and Jilly asks in a comment if it was sold out, because the tickets, at 10 shillings each, were horrendously expensive.

Well I don’t know if it was sold out, a quick Google hasn’t provided an answer, but having researched a bit more I’m not sure if I would actually call this 1569 effort it a lottery at all! Here’s what Wikipedia says:

Although it is more than likely that the English first experimented with raffles and similar games of chance, the first recorded official lottery was chartered by Queen Elizabeth I, in the year 1566, and was drawn in 1569. This lottery was designed to raise money for the “reparation of the havens and strength of the Realme, and towardes such other publique good workes.” Each ticket holder won a prize, and the total value of the prizes equaled the money raised. Prizes were in the form of silver plate and other valuable commodities. The lottery was promoted by scrolls posted throughout the country showing sketches of the prizes.

Thus, the lottery money received was a loan to the government during the three years that the tickets (‘without any Blankes’) were sold. In later years, the government sold the lottery ticket rights to brokers, who in turn hired agents and runners to sell them. These brokers eventually became the modern day stockbrokers for various commercial ventures.

Most people could not afford the entire cost of a lottery ticket, so the brokers would sell shares in a ticket; this resulted in tickets being issued with a notation such as “Sixteenth” or “Third Class.”

According to measuringworth.com 10 shillings in 1569 would now be worth around £105 if you pro rata using RPI or £1210 if based on average earnings.

Interestingly lottery-results-info.com claims that the first ever lottery with prize money was held in Florence, Italy, in 1530. But as there are (apparently) references to lottery-type activity in The Bible, we’ll probably never know.

But don’t things like this make history fun! Much better than all those Corn Laws, Poor Laws, treasons and bloody battles that were inflicted on us at school!

books, medical, memes, people, personal, science, topographical

My Birth Meme

2 Comments

Jamie over at Duward Discussion has laid down a new meme, so I just have to give it a go!

This is what you do:
Go to The Birthday Calculator, This Day in History and/or Google and enter your date of birth to find all sorts of interesting things about what was happening when you were born.
Now tell us about some of these interesting things.
Then, if you wish, tag a few of your friends to do the same.
And post a comment to this post so we know who’s followed the meme.

OK so here goes for me!

Birthday: Thursday 11 January 1951, 1250 PM GMT in University College Hospital, London. My mother has told me that I was 2 weeks early. This means I was conceived in the early days of May 1950.

Astrological Sign: Capricorn

Birthstone: Garnet; said to be a power stone
Alternative Birthstones: Emerald, Rose Quartz.
(Interestingly I’m not so keen on Emeralds, but I love Rose Quartz)

Fortune Cookie: There is no limit to love’s forbearance, to its trust, its hope, its power to endure.

Chinese Year: Tiger

Native American Zodiac Sign: Goose
Plant: Bramble

I share my birthday with: Golfer Ben Crenshaw (b. 1952) and Anthony Powell’s younger son John (b. 1946)

Lucky Day: Saturday
Lucky Number: 8
Ruling Planets: Saturn & Uranus

Birth Tree: Fir Tree, the Mysterious. Extraordinary taste, dignity, cultivated airs, loves anything beautiful, moody, stubborn, tends to egoism but cares for those close to it, rather modest, very ambitious, talented, industrious uncontent lover, many friends, many foes, very reliable.

Lunar Phase: waxing crescent

The day I was born:
There appear to have been no major world events, births or deaths.
Arsenal beat Carlisle United 4-1 away in an FA Cup replay.
London Algebra Colloquium met to discuss “Non-Archimedian Normed Spaces”

On this day in other years:
1973. Britain’s Open University awards its first degrees
1946. Enver Hoxha proclaims the People’s Republic of Albania
1922. First use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient
1864. London’s Charing Cross station opened
1787. William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus
1569. The first national lottery is held in England; 40,000 lots, at 10 shillings each, go on sale at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London

Top Song of 1951: Mockin’ Bird Hill by Les Paul & Mary Ford

All in all it seems to have been a fairy dull day, so I guess I fit in well.

books, memes, personal, photography, pleasures, topographical

Twice the Meme!


Twice the Meme!, originally uploaded by kcm76.

1. Cat Help Needed! Ajuda Felina Urgente!, 2. New Banksy Rat Mural in New York, 3. Bat, 4. Air raid Beano, 5. December 1931 Country Life Magazine Christmas edition, 6. Punch 1957, 7. Icy Waterfall in the Harz Mountains – Germany, 8. Dartmouth Christmas, 9. Calm water at Buttermere, 10. Adnams “The Bitter” (Cask), 11. beaujolais nouveau, 12. All true tea lovers like their tea strong……, 13. Gandalf the Grey, 14. “The Satanic Verses”, 15. Evelyn Vaugh, “Decline and Fall”, 16. We ♥ Norway, 17. Not of this Earth – The Bubbling Sulfur Pools of Iceland, 18. japan, 19. 69/365- Words are worthless when you’re laying in my bed, 20. 49 pigeonholes, 21. day 76: pebble-dashed sky, 22. Holy Water at St. John the Russian’s Church, 23. James Turrell, 24. Jabez Rounds House

Questions and Answers, with something about why I chose each sequence:

This week we’re going to do 8 rows of 3!

1. Three animals
Cat, Rat, Bat; because they rhyme

2. Three magazines
Beano, Country Life, Punch; I remember them all from my childhood

3. Three holiday destinations
Harz Mountains, Dartmouth, Buttermere; I’ve been to all three and would like to go there again

4. Three drinks
Adnams beer, Beaujolais Nouveau, Tea; three of my favourites

5, Three novels
Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkein), Satanic Verses (Salman Rushdie), Decline and Fall (Evelyn Waugh); three of many that I can’t read

6. Three countries
Norway, Iceland, Japan; I’d love to visit them all but I won’t because I object to their stance on whaling

7. Three numbers
69, 49, 76; number of houses I’ve lived in

8. Three names
John, James, Jabez; three of my great-grandfathers
[Later] Actually four of my great-grandfathers; two were called James!

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

books, memes, natural history, personal, photography, pleasures, science

Animal Meme


Anmimal Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

1. Cat’s eye, 2. Jaguar im Manu Nationalpark in Peru, 3. Steve-O, Which Channel is CNN ?, 4. Eeyore, 5. Not Afraid, 6. Alice Liddell and the Cheshire Cat, 7. Aquarium, 8. Sporting Lucas Terrier – Wandle Peter, 9. Morgana a fada!, 10. Animal skeleton, 11. Little Black Cat, 12. Small Fish from the Amazon

Questions and Answers:
1. What is your favorite animal? Domestic cats
2. Laws have changed, you now can own an exotic or wild animal as a pet. What animal would you own? Jaguar, they’re just slightly more manageable than tigers
3. Some people are cat fanciers and some are canine cuddlers. Which is is for you cats or dogs? Cats, every time; no question; cats are magic
4. What one word best describes your personality? What animal do you associate with that word? Depressive, so it has to be Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh tho’ I’d much rather be Tigger
5. Confess! What animal/insect/reptile/amphibian are you secretly (or not so secretly) afraid of? I don’t do “afraid”; I’m certainly in awe of the big cats; and I hate maggots; but I’m not afraid of anything
6. What was your favorite animal character from a children’s book when you were younger? Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland; I never did work out how to do that gradual disappearing trick. 🙁
7. You’re spending the day at the Zoo, it’s getting close to closing and you’re tired, but you’re definitely not leaving until you see the . . . Aquarium. Hah! Caught you! You thought I was going to say the big cats, but I’ve already seen them. 🙂
8. What kind of pet did you have when you were a kid or do you remember a particularly unusual pet you had? When I was 7 we got a small dog, a Lucas Terrier; but there were always cats at home too.
9. If you were to be reincarnated as an animal, what would you want to be? Why? Domestic cat with me to look after me
10. Animals in films always seem to tug at our heartstrings. What cinematic animal was your hero or a favorite? No animal hero or favourite ‘cos I don’t do films; I never did; it isn’t in my culture
11. If you had a stuffed animal as a child, what was it (extra points if you remember its name)? Little Black Cat and yes here he is, the original, snapshotted (can I say that?) specially for this occasion!
12. National Geographic has hired you to go on a photo shoot anywhere in the world you choose. What animal would you want to showcase in your full-color magazine spread (and where are you traveling to)? Fishes of the River Amazon and while we’re there we’ll have a few jaguars and parrots for good measure

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

books, food+drink, memes, nudism, personal, photography, pleasures, sexuality, thoughts

Happiness Meme


Happiness Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

1. Meet the cat: VIC, 2. Sand Sea Sun – Snorkel!, 3. The meaning of Photography, 4. Happy Nude Recreation Week!!!, 5. my wine and Brad’s beer, 6. My wife’s hairy cunt, 7. 8×6 frosty morning railroad, 8. day one hundred five, 9. Longing for Spring, 10. ordinary pic, but really tasty salad, 11. Reading A Buyer’s Market, 12. Katsuo-ji Temple bells

This week’s question: Just tell us 12 things which make you happy, and a picture for each.

Answers:
1. Cats – because they’re magic
2. Sun, sea and sand
3. Photography – it’s about the only creativity I have
4. Warm sunshine on my skin
5. Beer and wine – two of the essentials of a contented life
6. Noreen, my wife (perhaps I should not say explicitly what I was going to!) and that after almost 30 years of marriage we still have great sex
7. Bright frosty mornings
8. Nudity – it’s normal and it’s comfortable
9. Spring green and blossom on trees
10. Good, tasty, fresh salad
11. Books, especially Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time
12. Bells

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.