Category Archives: science

natural history, personal, pleasures, science

Death on the Ranch

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Well not really on the ranch, more in the fish pond. This very hot, humid and airless weather has taken a toll on my pond fish. Over the last 3 days I’ve lost 8 fish, most of them koi carp. None of then were of any great monetary value, but of course as with any “pet” they are of sentimental value. And we are not talking small fish here; we’re talking koi the size of a damn good salmon!


These were my fish last year; the three big ones in the centre of the picture are amongst those I’ve lost in the last few days. The golden orange one was almost 25 years old and one of my very first pond fish.

Coldwater fish do not like this weather. It is well known that water gets starved of oxygen in warm, sticky, stormy weather. This last few days has been especially bad; I don’t remember anything so hot and humid for many years. and of course it hits the largest fish hardest. They have a larger body mass to support, and their body mass to gill are ratio must be higher than in smaller fish. So the big fish get hit first. But then I do also partly blame myself as my pond maintenance has probably not been up to scratch recently.

It’s a timely reminder not just of the fragility of life but of the old adage about fishkeeping: We are not fishkeepers, we are water keepers.

Fortunately it has been noticeably cooler today, and the forecast is for it to get cooler through the weekend and for rain from Sunday; both of which will help.

current affairs, medical, science, words

Pandemic

Following on from my post of yesterday, it seems that WHO really are bowing to political pressure and redefining pandemic to take account of virulence as well as geographical spread. As an academic, Vincent Racaniello, author of the Virology Blog, is typically scathing:

WHO redefining pandemic is absurd. Pandemic is an epidemiological definition that has nothing to do with virulence […] Although pandemic is most frequently associated with influenza virus, other infectious agents may cause worldwide epidemics […] WHO should leave textbook writing to others. To paraphrase Andre Lwoff, a pandemic is a pandemic. The word implies nothing about virulence – and has little to do with politics.

As a fully paid-up pedant (and erstwhile academic) I entirely agree.

current affairs, medical, quotes, science

Pandemic or Not?

Revere over at Effect Measure, has been writing a lot recently about the so-calle “Swine Flu” outbreak; not suprising as the editors are public health practitioners. A post the other day caught my eye; it explored when is a pandemic not a pandemic. Basically Revere explores the position with the current Influenza A/H1N1 outbreak and touches on some of the posturing going on by governments, WHO etc. to avoid declaring this a pandemic.

Yes, all very well; this is what we would surely expect of politicians. What struck me though was this wonderful paragraph:

The argument boils down to this. We shouldn’t call a pandemic a pandemic, because people might misunderstand that this means it’s a pandemic. And then they would do things like panic, like UK officials are doing now when the prospect is broached we are having a pandemic. And since even the considerable wiggle room of the current definition of a pandemic is insufficient to avoid calling this one a pandemic, please provide us with some more wiggle room by adding severity to the mix, so we can then argue about whether the pandemic is severe enough to be a pandemic.

The original post isn’t technical and it isn’t long but it does highlight the way in which governments etc. use as much (and more) wriggle room as is available in their own interests. Politics was ever thus!

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!

current affairs, medical, science

Mexican Swine 'Flu Hysteria

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Simon Jenkins is right on the money. Writing in last Wednesday’s Guardian he lays into all the doomsayers jumping on the “swine ‘flu” bandwagon. Just the headline says it all:

Swine flu? A panic stoked in order to posture and spend
Despite the hysteria, the risk to Britons’ health is tiny – but that news won’t sell papers or drugs, or justify the WHO’s budget

As that suggests Jenkins is highly critical of governments; medics and scientists (who, let’s face it, advise governments and have careers to nurture); the WHO; and the pharmaceutical manufacturers (who have big profits to make). He starts with a full-on rapier thrust at government:

Appropriately panicked, on Monday ministers plunged into their Cobra bunker beneath Whitehall to prepare for the worst. Had Tony Blair been about they would have worn germ warfare suits. British government is barking mad.

But he also says:

We appear to have lost all ability to judge risk. The cause may lie in the national curriculum, the decline of “news” or the rise of blogs and concomitant, unmediated hysteria, but people seem helpless in navigating the gulf that separates public information from their daily round. They cannot set a statistic in context. They cannot relate bad news from Mexico to the risk that inevitably surrounds their lives.

And then even more tellingly …

Meanwhile a real pestilence, MRSA and C difficile, was taking hold in hospitals. It was suppressed by the medical profession because it appeared that they themselves might be to blame. These diseases have played a role in thousands of deaths

[…]

MRSA and C difficile are not like swine flu, an opportunity for public figures to scare and posture and spend money. They are diseases for which the government is to blame.

It seems to me the real diseases underlying all this appear to be vested interests and public hysteria.

You can read Simon Jenkins’s full article here.

medical, science

No this isn't a Pandemic

Jilly over at jillysheep isn’t panicking about the current H1N1 ‘flu scare. She asks “Is this really a pandemic?” Quite rightly she concludes it isn’t a pandemic. I’m interested in (and follow) emerging diseases and their epidemiology (in an amateur way) and I agree with Jilly; here is my (slightly edited) succinct comment to her posting:

No this isn’t a pandemic. In my view (and I hope I’m right) it isn’t even dangerous. As usual it is being hyped up by the media and the politicians are playing to the gallery. Look guys, it’s ‘flu! It doesn’t even appear to be an especially dangerous ‘flu. Sure ‘flu can be nasty and it does kill a few people; it always did; it always will. Yes this will spread. Yes, technically, it may become a pandemic, but IMO not one to worry about. H5N1 Avian ‘flu is potentially more worrysome as it appears to have a higher CFR (fatality rate); SARS similarly. And as for the idea that this ‘flu could be contained in Mexico, well forget it; it never could (just as Avian ‘flu and SARS could never be contained). By the time anyone realised it was around the genie was out of the lamp, however quick they had been, given modern mobility and air travel. This has been around in Mexico since, it seems, mid-March, so the genie was out of the bottle a month before anyone knew (or at least admitted). Look at that month and then ask how dangerous this is. I rest my case!

I don’t relish the thought of having ‘flu, especially as I’m one of those supposed to be at most risk (I’m diabetic) and so get a ‘flu jab every year. And the ‘flu jab to date probably offers me no protection against this Influenza A/H1N1 strain. Next year’s vaccine could include protection against this strain, but only if the scientists get a move on as production of next winter’s vaccine will already have started. Even in spite of this I’m not panicking.

Come on guys, get a life! Is this really all we have to worry about?

amusements, science, sexuality, thoughts

Zen Mischievous Moments #150

I offer you two snippets from the ‘Feedback’ column in this week’s New Scientist:

The entirely flat cotton bed sheet that [Reader A] bought from the department store House of Fraser came with a label telling him to wash it inside out.

[Reader B] from Edinburgh in the UK reports on a pack of condoms bought at the supermarket Sainsbury’s which had a security label stating: “Please remove prior to putting in the microwave.” [Reader B] is worried that he might have dozed off and missed a crucial part of his sex education classes at school.