personal

My 2018 in Summary

Traditionally at this time I look back at a summary of my achievements and engagement (or, more accurately the lack of it) over the past year.

As I said last year at this time, it’s been a strange year with a huge amount of work and depression which just hasn’t lifted even during the summer months. But I have somehow managed to function most of the time, although a few things got binned along the way, which overall means I don’t feel I’ve achieved anything much – although as Noreen will point out that’s measured against my exacting standards. So here’s the summary …

At the beginning of the year I posted 10 Things I’m Trying To Do in 2018. The results are in and amazingly I’ve done pretty well this year.

  1. Handover AP Soc Hon. Sec. role – DONE; although I’m still involved in the Society in a non-executive role
  2. AP Oxford conference – DONE; and this was a huge success
  3. Work to improve knees and back – DONE; knees are doing well; and physio/massage/acupuncture is improving the back
  4. Reduce waste/rubbish/clutter and recycle more – DONE
  5. Have a 2 week holiday – FAIL; AGAIN!
  6. Do something not done before – DONE; citizen science counting wasps; had a golden eagle sit on my hand; had acupuncture
  7. Go somewhere not been before – DONE; Horniman Museum; Broughton Castle
  8. Visit the Horniman Museum – DONE
  9. Walk across London’s Millennium Bridge – FAIL
  10. Prove my family history back to Tudor time – DONE; if I believe what I’ve found then I have the Nowers line back to ca. 1520

Wow! That’s a surprising 8/10.

Looking at the year through the usual 25 questions is a bit of a mixed bag though.

1. What did you do that you’d never done before?
a. Counted wasps as part of a citizen science project.
b. Had golden eagle on my hand.
c. Had acupuncture.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I made an Old Year Resolution: Not to make any New Year Resolutions.

3. What would you like to have in 2019 that you lacked in 2018?
Health, wealth and wisdom.

4. What dates from 2018 will remain etched upon your memory?
a. Sunday 2 September: Visit to Broughton Castle.
b. Sunday 23 December: the day the oven door shattered.

5. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Apart from the usual trivial stuff, there was ‘flu, a nasty yeast infection, and of course depression.

6. What was the best thing you bought?
Tom to do the decorating.

7. Where did most of your money go?
a. Refurbishing parts of the house.
b. Oh and, of course, tax.

8. What did you get really, really excited about?
Nothing really; I don’t do excitement, just like I don’t do panic and crisis.

9. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a. happier or sadder? – about the same despite the depression.
b. thinner or fatter? – about the same.
c. richer or poorer? – about the same; possibly very slightly richer.

10. What do you wish you’d done more of?
a. Sitting in the sun in the garden.
b. Family history.
c. Photography.

11. What do you wish you’d done less of?
AP Society & PPG work.

12. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Running the Anthony Powell Society conference, and then retiring as the Society’s Secretary.

13. What was your biggest failure?
Not kicking the depression into touch.

14. How many one-night stands?
None – even if I had the energy, who would want to?

15. What was your favourite TV program?
Yet again, I’ve watched hardly any TV all year – it is such a load of garbage. So yet again the pick has to be the RI Christmas Lectures.

16. What was the best book you read?
There is nothing truly outstanding amongst the little I have read this year.

17. What did you want and get?
New carpets (how sad is that!)

18. What did you want and not get?
a. A big lottery win.
b. Restored libido.

19. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
a. Less work.
b. Not having depression.
c. Decluttered house.

20. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2018?
Non-existent.

21. What kept you sane?
Nothing – there is no hope.

22. Who did you miss?
My mother.

23. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2018:
We’re all doomed.

24. A quote or song lyric that sums up your year:
“I have always believed that I was slightly saner than most people. Then again, most insane people think this.”
[Truman Capote]

25. Your hopes for 2019
A government with the courage to cancel Brexit.

Overall Result: REQUIRES IMPROVEMENT

But enough of me. How was your 2018? And what are your hopes for 2019?

amusements

Counters

Each month this year we’re bringing you a post under the general title “Things that Count in [Number]” where [Number] will be the month. And naturally each month’s post will contain the [Number] of items (so just one for January, up to 12 for December).

For our purposes the definition of counting includes things which either come in groups of [Number] (eg. four suits in a pack of playing cards) or things which count in [Number] (eg. decimal coinage counting in tens).

Here we go then with …

A Thing which Counts in One …

  1. The Man in the Moon
environment, history, links, medical, science

Monthly Links

So here we are for our last post of 2018, and this month’s links to items you may have missed before. As usual we’ll start with the scientific and get easier as we go along – so hang in there!

Science, Technology & Natural World

Forty-one years ago (that’s 1977) NASA launched the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes to investigate the outer planets. Voyager 1 left the solar system and entered interstellar space some six years ago. And it has now been confirmed that Voyager 2 passed the same landmark on 5 November 2018. Amazingly both probes are still alive and beaming information back to us using their tiny 20w transmitters, although their plutonium power sources will eventually run out and the probes will be dead on arrival at a nearby star in about 40,000 years time. What an incredible achievement! It is feats like this that make me proud to be a scientist.

We know earthquakes mostly happen along the boundaries of tectonic plates. But not all do; some happen far from plate boundaries. Seismologists are now beginning to think that (some of) these “remote” earthquakes may be caused by rivers moving huge amounts of material over the millennia.

Benjamin Franklin is well known for many things, one of them being his experiments with kites and lightning which led to his development of the lightning conductor. But he had another great electrical discovery to his credit: turkey tenderisation – in the process of which he nearly killed himself.

I wonder if anyone can tell us what glitter is, and how it’s made?

Apparently the Leaning Tower of Pisa is leaning a little less.

Wasps. And why we might miss them.

Where grows the mistletoe?

Health & Medicine

1918 saw the destructive Influenza Pandemic. What progress has been made since then?

Meanwhile we have few clues about Disease X, the next pandemic to hit London – as one surely will sooner or later.

Researchers reckon they’ve discovered a genetic cause that links erectile dysfunction and Type-2 diabetes.

Are you shitting comfortably? Actually, probably not. [LONG READ]

So why are more boys born than girls – especially when there are more adult women than men?

Sexuality

The Going Medieval blog dissects the very idea of No Nut November. [LONG READ]

Environment

The Guardian suggests 24 ways in which we can embrace an anti-capitalist life in a capitalist world.

And then here are four actions would help tackle the global plastic crisis.

History, Archaeology & Anthropology

Researchers reckon they’ve found stone tools which suggest that human ancestors spread into north Africa much earlier than previously thought.

Analysis of various records has highlighted London’s murder hotspots.

Meanwhile in the River Thames there is the mystery of the skeleton still wearing his thigh boots.

When and where were the first traffic lights? Answer: Parliament Square in 1868 – long before the motor car.

Lifestyle & Personal Development

Some thoughts on how to be a better spouse from Scientific American.

And finally for this year …

Since 1904, King William’s College on the Isle of Man has set an annual general knowledge test. In the past pupils sat the test twice: once unseen on the day before the Christmas holidays, and again when they returned to school in the New Year, after spending the holiday researching the answers. The test (now voluntary) is highly difficult, a common score being just two correct answers from the 180 questions, with best scores of 40 to 50 for the unseen test. The quiz has been published in the Guardian since 1951 – and you can find the 2018 test in the Guardian or on the King William’s College website. Good luck!

That’s all for this year, so here’s wishing everyone a peaceful and successful 2019. The Kindly Ones permitting we’ll be back after the fireworks.

amusements

2018 Amusements

2018 has not been a vintage year for amusements, unless you’re one of those people who find the whole current political shambles, both here and in the US, hilarious. Well it is hilarious in the sense that you have to laugh otherwise you’d go mad. Anyway here are this year’s sparce pickings.

Product of the Year
Leaving aside all Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop crap, there really is only one contender this year:

Organite Holy Hand Grenade Cone

Headline of the Year
A lot of contenders in this category, here are some of the best:

Plonker of the Year
There can be only one winner here: The Prime Minister, Rt Hon. Theresa May MP.

Auction Item of the Year
As I remarked the other day, it hasn’t been a vintage year for items at our local auction house, but this year’s two winners are:

    A carved wood rocking pig ride-on toy

    A Husky fridge in the shape of a football

Personal Name of the Year
This year’s best names are squarely in the realm of “nominative determinism”; we have two winners:

    Dr Gerard Clover, Head of Plant Health, RHS (Guardian; 2 March 2018)

    Tanya Ferry, Port of London Authority (BBC News, 15 March 2018)

Organisation Name of the Year
An easy winner here:

Animal of the Year
Two winners here:

    Red Handfish (below), which propels itself by walking along the sea floor.

    Roraima Bush Toad, a small amphibian that, in the face of danger, curls itself into a ball and rolls away.

Colour of the Year
There was really only one contender in this category:

    Goose Turd Green

Marketing Bollocks of the Year
We love marketing bollocks! You do have to wonder what some people are on. But then isn’t everything marketing bollocks? This year we spotted:

Superb value lifestyle apartments

which was the advertising slogan on an office block not far from us which is being rebuilt into flats.

And finally we come to …

Do what?
Follow the link and just try to make sense of this blog post, because it beats me …

Funaday Ritual (Unraveling)

And that’s all for this 2018 edition. We’ll be on the lookout for brilliance again next year; contributions are always welcome.

arts, memes

Advent Calendar 24

An Advent Calendar : Artistic Eroticism

Note: this image is not mine and may be copyright the original photographer/artist;
please click on the image for further information and a larger view

amusements

Auction Me!

1 Comment

It’s a long time since we’ve had a selection of the weird and wonderful things which appear at the sales in our local auction house. This is mainly because recent sales have been relatively uninteresting, although the most recent sale contains 200 or more lots of alcohol, mostly whiskey. Nevertheless here is a selection of the “best” lots from the last few months – it’s the variety and odd combinations which are always so interesting. I mean what has a cuckoo clock got to say to a set of assay weights? Yeah, right: cuck-oo!

A collection of jugs including milk and gravy.
[One assumes the milk and gravy were dried on.]

A selection of wooden items including an 18th century ‘character marker’, a pair of oak bookends, a hardwood book shelf, two small picture frames, a round-head wooden mallet, a small wooden chess box, 6 wood carver’s chisels, a printer’s block to print ‘This Lease’, plus slate roofing tile measures and an extending metal toasting fork.

A vintage Society of Arts Blowpipe Apparatus in original pine case, a cased set of draughtsmen’s instruments, two cased sets of precision weights including one by Oertling, a circular box of assay weights also by Oertling, and a cuckoo clock.

A cased and glazed taxidermy fox with a rabbit and another of a barn owl.

A Husky fridge in the shape of a football.

A large interesting lot mainly of stools from the 19th and 20th century including milking, tall stools, long stools and round stools, also a pine clothes airer, a 19th century mahogany commode, a 19th century Pembroke table on turned legs, and three chairs.

A pair of leather and metal driving goggles, old stamped envelopes, and a collection of minutes and menus for the Theodore White Temperance Lodge.

Two letters from Reg Kray, brother of Ronald, one on lined A4 white pad paper with punched holes, the other on two pieces of pink writing paper and a Christmas card along with a Broadmoor Hospital Form 134-1A that relates to opening mail and a Teen and Twenty Disc Club fan letter signed Jimmy Savile, undated.

A large quantity of used golf balls – a dustbin full.

A carved wood rocking pig ride-on toy.

A mounted and glazed taxidermy heron.
[Well you’d look glazed if you’d been stuffed!]

Traditional Scottish gent’s dress including a green tweed jacket, three black jackets with Lynton, Kinloch Anderson and Hector Russell labels, a kilt, two pairs of tartan trousers, waistcoat, ties, belts, two sporrans, skean dhu, pins, etc., also two fur coats and a green satin robe.

A full set of Spice Girls on Tour dolls, boxed and unopened – Baby, Ginger, Sporty, Scary and Posh.

An interesting collection of original military cap badges, a collection of military buttons and an old Lyons coffee tin.

A silver-plated reproduction punch bowl, a decorative metal tea set on tray, a modern model copper and brass diver’s helmet, and a Viner’s canteen containing steel cutlery in two differing patterns.

A quantity of walking sticks, hockey sticks, etc., a leather horse saddle, turned wood handled copper and brass warming pan, a cased singer sewing machine, rolls of wallpaper, a leather belt, etc.

A carton of glamour magazines including Mayfair, Whitehouse, Penthouse, Playboy, etc.

A vintage bagatelle board and a boxed vintage chest expander.

An Olympia cased typewriter plus another, a collection of walking sticks, a vintage tennis racket, a quantity of pots and pans etc. and a prayer rug.

An early 20th century rhinoceros foot tobacco jar with hinged lid, in conserved condition. (Note: this lot is accompanied by a letter from the owner confirming that it originated from his great-great-grandfather, who was posted to Africa.)

An interesting Chinese bronze large lid, possibly Ming dynasty, dodecagonal, cast with characters and the eight trigrams, 38 cm.

A wooden box containing an old collection of large beetles, old military photographs, etc.

Approximately 100 miniature teapots from The Miniature Teapot Collection, with magazines, still as new in cellophane packets.

Motorbike parts, including high quality stainless steel twin exhaust pipes, number plate, sides by Ogg, LC8 engine-part cover, and a quantity of power parts.

A large pair of heavy brass Eastern table lamps, a large pair of carved wooden African busts, two copper and brass kettles, a pair of wall mounted antlers, a pierced copper wall tray, a silver plate and blue glass cruet set and a carved African hardwood stool.

A mid century 8 1/2 ft wooden model of the Queen Mary ship with four red funnels.

Two framed and glazed taxidermy owls, a pair of mounted horns etc.

Maybe 2019 will bring greater amusement.

arts, memes

Advent Calendar 23

An Advent Calendar : Artistic Eroticism


Otto Schoff; Siesta (1920)

Note: this image is not mine and may be copyright the original photographer/artist;
please click on the image for further information and a larger view

arts, memes

Advent Calendar 22

An Advent Calendar : Artistic Eroticism

Note: this image is not mine and may be copyright the original photographer/artist;
please click on the image for further information and a larger view