Nudists don’t take their clothes off, we get dressed when we have to!
June Quiz Questions
Each month we’re posing five pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As before, they’re not difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so hopefully you’ll learn something new, as well as having a bit of fun.
Art
- What year did Vincent Van Gogh die?
- What Renaissance artist is buried in Rome’s Pantheon?
- Who painted the famous artwork Guernica?
- Who painted the famous artwork The Birth of Venus?
- Which US artist died in a car crash in August 1956, aged 44?
Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.
June 1924
Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.
3. Died. Franz Kafka, Austrian author (b. 1883)
5. Ernst Alexanderson sends the first facsimile across the Atlantic Ocean, which goes to his father in Sweden
8. George Mallory and Andrew Irvine are last seen “going strong for the top” of Mount Everest by teammate Noel Odell at 12:50pm; the two mountaineers are never seen alive again
12. Born. George HW Bush, 41st President of the United States (d. 2018)
Unblogged May
Being things I didn’t otherwise write about this month.
| Wed 1 | What miserable May Day. It should be sunny and warm, as befits the bonfires of Beltane welcoming the return of the sun. Instead of which it was somewhat chilly, dull and threatening rain all day. And it looks pretty wet for at least the next week. At this rate we’re in for a long, cold, wet summer. Gawdelpus! |
| Thu 2 | There are times when the cats drive you demented. Because N was at the hospital this evening, I was left to feed said animals. I go downstairs to feed them (and me!) a bit before 19:00. Rosie soon appears, which was not a surprise. I feed her a treat of very unposh chicken catfood; she eats heartily through 3/4 of her food and goes out. The other two are absent, despite having been called three times. Ten minutes later Tilly appears. I feed her the usual small portion; she condescends to lick the gravy off the food, as is her usual way, and goes out. While I’m eating my food Tilly comes back and has two goes, five minutes apart, at polishing Rosie’s bowl. By now Rosie has probably finished off Tilly’s food. As I write (about 20:30) Boy Cat is still dozing on the cushion behind my right shoulder; he’s not moved, so hasn’t been fed. We’ll get starving kitten mode in about an hour’s time. |
| Fri 3 | So you think you’re going to have a quiet day, and everything conspires to ensure you have a continual succession of stupidities to unravel. |
| Sat 4 | What a lovely bright, sunny Spring day with barely a breathe of breeze. It wasn’t unpleasant in the garden even at teatime, although the ground is still absolutely sodden. |
| Sun 5 | My phalaenopsis orchids haven’t done so well this year. I’m down to four plants. One hasn’t shown any sign of flowering and the miniature one has two flowers which are trying to hide in the pot. The other two have just three flowers. They’re some years old now and they’ve not been getting as much attention, water and feed with everything else going on. I’ll have to see if I can rejuvenate them over the summer. |
| Mon 6 | Bank holiday Monday, and it’s as dismal as Monday can be. Nothing going on and its been raining most of the day. Even the cats have been lying low all day. I ended up doing literary society work all afternoon as the web developers and the Secretary were working and emailing me. But I did manage to get my haircut in between it all. |
| Tue 7 | Don’t you just love hospitals. N had an appointment this morning with her consultant, although it was admittedly only an “in case needed”. Can they cancel it in good time? Nooooo! They call just after 08:30 this morning to cancel it. Fortunately we’d not left home, although we had got up at crack of sparrows to be ready in time and booked a taxi. The up side was that I got a clear day to get things done, including the monthly household finances which took forever! |
| Wed 8 | What a lovely sunny, warm Spring day – as was yesterday. It’s so warm we’ve had all the windows open all day, and even sat out in the sun for a while after lunch. And that was good because we spotted the first swift of the year. Only one, but it’s good that we have any at all now; 40 years ago the sky was full of them. |
| Thu 9 | Another lovely warm sunny Spring day. And it brings the smelly barbeque-wallahs out. Barbeques (known locally as crematoriums) are bad enough on their own, but why do these people have to use noxious firelighters or the like to start them? Were they never Boy Scouts? No sooner does that stop, than some neighbour starts up a petrol mower – like you need a petrol mower for a garden this size! – followed by a hedge trimmer. |
| Fri 10 | A couple of days ago I clocked up my 150th Postcrossing card received. Here are numbers 101-150 up on the corkboard before I file them and start the board again. I’m averaging a card every three days, so at this rate I should get to 200 before Christmas. |
| Sat 11 | After nearly 45 years of marriage it still turns up surprises. Apparently N may be offered afternoon sessions at the hospital, rather than the current three evenings a week. This would actually be more convenient. But what surprised me most was her comment that what she misses is eating together every evening, and she fells this is especially important. While I agree, I hadn’t realised quite how important it has become. |
| Sun 12 | Three or four days ago we had an odd rose in flower. By today we have a garden full of roses; suddenly they are almost all in flower. From one lone dog rose climbing the silver birch we have a tree full of small single wild roses, and a rambler smothered in apricot blooms. |
| Mon 13 | Monday is always hard – and even harder when it follows a Sunday. |
| Tue 14 | Something must have happened today, but if it did it completely passed me by. Spent the day with brain in jelly. |
| Wed 15 | Comes the gardener for the second time in a week, after a hiatus of about a month – due to a combination of N’s situation and the wet weather. Lots done, including a soap wash of one of the apple trees to get rid of the woolly aphid. Six hours later and the tree is already looking 300% better. |
| Thu 16 | There’s this first portrait of the King. And it has stirred controversy, as portraits of the monarch always seem to. Some like it; many don’t with comments like “how good that he’s covered in the blood of the slaves/soldiers”, or “why is he battling through menstrual blood?”. Perversely I do like it; it’s shocking at first, but as a portrait it is pretty accurate and it does seem to capture the man – a man of many parts. Yes the red shocks initially, but for me it works and it’s better than the usual dull portraiture. |
| Fri 17 | How’s this for stupid? We order supermarket groceries online every week and they’re fulfilled from a fulfilment centre down the road. The range is restricted compared with what’s in the stores, which is very annoying. I can also order from the same supermarket a small top-up order for immediate delivery by UberEats from the nearest store. Understandably this range is also restricted compared with what I could get by going to the store. But there are things I can buy via UberEats that I can’t get via an online order. Like today I was able to get via UberEats: English asparagus, a common-or-garden pickle, and a small cucumber, none of which the fulfilment centre stock. |
| Sat 18 | This morning we had a really good meeting of the doctors’ patient group. A good turnout of 9 patients, plus the Practice Manager. Everyone was friendly, positive and contributed. And N gave an informal talk about her recent medical experiences, which was well received. Meetings like this do restore one’s faith in humanity a bit. |
| Sun 19 | Just after lunch N refilled the bird feeders. For the rest of the afternoon the garden has been ringing with the squawks of the parakeets. Their chatter is continual, even if there is only one! It’s basically just contact calls – after all they are only budgerigars on steroids! I love having them around, but they are noisy! |
| Mon 20 | The garden is absolutely awash with roses – and not all are even in flower yet! I wondered aloud to N how many thousand (and yes, I mean thousand) rose flowers we had. These photos are just a tiny fraction of the total, especially as the silver birch has not only the Buff Beauty but is a shower of dog rose right to the top.   |
| Tue 21 | What a dismal day. Definitely feeling slow and dopey today. And it’s been raining steadily since late morning. |
| Wed 22 | OK, so we get a General Election on 4 July. Prepare then for six weeks of disinformation and misinformation (ie. lies and make-believe) from all sides. Trust none of them – remember they’re politicians and they’re fighting for their seat on the gravy train! As for the prediction of a Labour landslide? Personally I doubt it. Despite what the polls say, Joe Public will chicken out. He and she will vote for whoever they think is going to put money in their pocket, get rid of immigrants, and claw back our sovereignty: and that may well not be Labour. There will also be a lot of tactical voting. Given that Labour are currently about 10-1 on to have an overall majority, I reckon 11-2 against for a hung parliament, or the same odds for a Tory majority, are good bets. My best guess? A Conservative overall majority of 6 seats. It’ll be interesting – if you can stomach it. I’m not sure I can. |
| Thu 23 | While we’re eating our evening meal, the Marmalade cat from next door appeared having caught a wood pigeon – still fluttering desperately to get away. But no luck, she sat gripping it firmly by the throat until dead. She then proceeded to eat it over the course of at least 45 minutes. One of the local alpha males happened along and thought he was going to get a share: not a chance, he was soon disabused and gave up. She was last seen still manfully chomping away at her pigeon. It’ll be interesting to see how much is left in the morning; my betting is that unless she takes the remains away they’ll be removed by the foxes. |
| Fri 24 | An interesting day. (1) It started off with the supermarket delivery refusing my credit card overnight. It was a new card, activated yesterday, because there was some (small) amount of fraud on the old one. I made the payment payment with another card after almost 30 minutes on the phone on hold. Turns out the block on the card was only released at the start of office hours this morning. Why am I expected to guess this! (2) As predicted, all that’s left of the pigeon from yesterday is some scattered feathers. I might find out when I look at the trail camera what happened. (3) While we were checking off the grocery delivery N looked at the kitchen floor and exclaimed “Why is there a small dead mouse down there?” Sure enough a small dead mouse was indeed trying to hide under the sink. (4) As usual by mid-afternoon I was convinced it was Saturday. |
| Sat 25 | Another nice sunny day spent working. One day I’ll actually manage to see something of the summer. |
| Sun 26 | Unloading this week’s photos from the trail camera, I found a couple of nice shots of one of our foxes. The resolution isn’t brilliant as they were in poor daylight, but said fox looks to be in good condition.  Just look at the cheeky curiosity on that face. You can see why it’s often said that foxes are dogs running on cat software!Oh and there were no good shots to indicate the final removal of the pigeon. |
| Mon 27 | I know I didn’t put my hearing aids in today, but it has been unusually quiet, especially for a bank holiday. I can only think the neighbours know something I don’t. But then it was supposed to rain all day, but it hasn’t; it’s been intermittently sunny, although quite windy. I don’t remember this amount of wind when I was young and playing cricket – I would have noticed, because not being a top rank bowler I would have been bowling into the wind all the time. It has definitely got a lot windier in recent years. Someone must have put the gods on a diet of beans. |
| Tue 28 | After months and months and months of delays and postponements, I finally managed to rearrange our dental check-ups and hygienist appointments. To my amazement we were offered appointments on 1 July, which is only 5 weeks away. So often we have to wait 3 months! |
| Wed 29 | Had some really good Barnsley Lamb Chops this evening. Really juicy, flavourful and tender. They’ve been languishing in the depths of the freezer for ages and we decided the time had come to exhume them. The freezing will have helped with the tenderness – as well as the fact that I made sure not to overcook them. |
| Thu 30 | Amazingly we have a large white Amaryllis with two large flowers – they’re the size of a tea plate. It’s an old bulb that has been kept going on the windowsill, with the occasional drop of water. It throws up the odd few leaves, but we never expect it to flower. And suddenly, there it is in full bloom! |
| Fri 31 | Today has definitely been one of pushing jelly uphill trough treacle. Just about everything seems to have been an irritation, or worse. Well it’s a new month, and a weekend, tomorrow, so onwards and upward. I hope! |
Monthly Links
Behold, this month’s collection of links to items you may have missed. Let’s dive straight in as there’s quite a bit of science-y stuff this month.
Science, Technology, Natural World
Astronomers have been seeking the so-called Planet 9 for decades, but still can’t even agree that it is likely to exist.
Deep within Earth there are two giant mystery blobs. What do we know about them?
We all happily talk about the average this or the average that, but what do we mean by average, and why isn’t it always, well, average?
Now to the animal kingdom …
Many animals, including our pets, have a third eyelid, so why don’t we?
Try to get your head round this … Alan Turing’s pattern-generating mechanism for spots and stripes on animal coats; and how the mechanism is modified. [LONG READ]
Despite their size, gorillas have extremely small penises, and it turns out that the genetic mutations which cause this may also help human male fertility.
Scientists have been investigating the vocalisations of sperm whales for years, and some now think that they may be the elements of a language, with dialects.
A new to Britain exotic jumping spider has been found in Cornwall, and it isn’t the only one.
And on the subject of foreign arrivals, the Guardian has a sensible and thoughtful piece about the invasive Asian Yellow-Legged Hornet (Vespa velutina) which has invaded continental Europe and is trying to get a foothold in the UK. [LONG READ]
Here’s the BBC article which triggered my recent blog post on these hornets.
STOP PRESS: The Asian Yellow-Legged Hornet has now been discovered in a southern state of USA (Georgia to be precise)!
Still with wasps … It seems that many parasitic wasps have tamed viruses so they can use them to help subdue their prey. [LONG READ]
From hornets to their forest home … there’s a theory that trees are social and communicate with each other across the “wood wide web” of fungal filaments. But it is only a theory and some are arguing it is fantasy. [LONG READ]
Treat with extreme care … Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is quite a pretty American Spring flower. But don’t go messing with it as the roots contain a blood red alkaloid, sanguinarine, which will shut down and kill any cells it comes in contact with, and more.
We all contain vestiges of our evolutionary past like goose bumps, extra nipples and the ability to waggle our ears. [££££]
Which brings us to several items about Neanderthals …
So what is the difference between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens? We interbred so there can’t be a lot, right?
There’s still debate about Neanderthals ability to talk.
Some aspects of our health seem to depend on DNA we inherited from Neanderthals.
And most weirdly, apparently the Neanderthal Y chromosome (which codes for male) has been lost, suggesting that human/Neanderthal hybrid males were infertile (in some form).
Health, Medicine
So is the menopause like puberty in reverse? Well, yes, and then again no. [LONG READ]
Most of us guzzle diet drinks and other low calorie goodies, but research is now indicating that the sweeteners are actually harmful to our gut and its microbes.
Archaeological research is now suggesting that (red) squirrels were instrumental is spreading leprosy and transmitting it to humans.
Sexuality
What is the art of lasting sexual connections?
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
One astrophysicist has been exploring the connection between the Milk Way and Nut, the ancient Egyptian Sky Goddess.
There’s a rare and very strange, apparently Roman, object (below) which was found at Norton Disney, Lincolnshire. The trouble is no-one knows what it is, or was used for, and there are a number of theories.
A 1,700-year-old Roman shipwreck found on the coast at Mallorca was loaded with fish sauce when it sank.
We know there was a thriving, early medieval Norse colony in Greenland, but why did it suddenly vanish in the 13th century?
On fake medieval devices for torture and sex.
So what was going on in London during the English Civil War (January 1642 to April 1646). [LONG READ]
London
Specifically now to modern London … London’s Royal Parks have their own plant nursery in the middle of Hyde Park, and IanVisits went to look.
Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
Bhutan, the Dragon Kingdom, strictly limits visitors in order to protect its environment and heritage. But what is it like when you do go there?
Kate Lister asks how you know when you’re in love, and when you’re falling out of it. [££££]
A growing number of women are choosing to not have children. Here some tell what that’s like.
And finally on one of my hobbyhorses … the need to normalise and desexualise nudity if we are to achieve a well balanced society.
What Happened in 1224?
Here’s our next instalment of things that happened in ..24 years of yore.
Notable Events in 1224
Spring. Falkes de Bréauté, English high sheriff and a rival of Henry III, refuses to relinquish his castles and starts a rebellion. Cardinal Stephen Langton and forces under Hubert de Burgh deal with Falkes and the castles are handed over. Falkes is found guilty of 16 counts of Wrongful Disseisin; both he and his brother William are excommunicated by Langton.
June-August. The garrison at Bedford Castle, belonging to Falkes de Bréauté, refuses to surrender to Henry III. The castle is badly damaged and surrenders when the keep is undermined. The garrison who surrendered the castle are all hanged by order of the king. Falkes is allowed to leave the country but forfeits all his possessions.
Asian Hornet Warning
People in the UK, and especially the South-East, are asked to be especially alert for the presence of yellow-legged Asian Hornets (Vespa velutina), following a record number of sightings last year.
These hornets are invasive and a major predator of honeybees. They’re slightly smaller than our native European Hornet (Vespa crabo) but about twice the size of a common wasp or honeybee (see below). Over the last decade or so they’ve spread across mainland Europe from an original accidental introduction in the south of France.
As the graphic shows, the Asian Hornets are dark coloured, with a broad yellow/orange band across the fourth abdominal section, and yellow lower legs. I’ve only ever seen a mounted display specimen but I was struck by the dark colour. By contrast European Hornets are slightly larger, more likely to be brown rather than black, with much more yellow on their abdomen and dark legs; they look more like an oversized common wasp.
Unless their nest is disturbed, Asian Hornets are not normally aggressive to people. However they are prolific and invasive; which with their ability to predate honeybees and wipe out complete hives, makes them a serious pest. They find beehives and pick off the workers as they come and go; I’ve seen it estimated that a single Asian Hornet can catch and kill 50 honeybees a day! They have few, if any, natural predators in Europe.
If you think you’ve seen one, you must report it via the Asian Hornet Wasp app (available for both Apple and Android smartphones) or online via the UK CEH Non-Native Species Alert website. If possible try to get a photograph of the insect. If you can safely capture the offender so much the better – emphasis on your safety. But please do not go killing any captured insect unless you are very sure you have an Asian Hornet.
Note that these are not the so-called “Murder Hornets”, the Asian Giant Hornet (Vespa mandarinia), which have recently invaded the NW USA. Vespa mandarinia are larger, even more alien-looking, equally as predatory and much more aggressive.
Find more on Vespa velutina at:
Defra Asian Hornet Sightings page
NNSS Alerts page
EU LIFE Programme
Wikipedia.
Monthly Quotes
And it came to pass in this land that the time was accomplished for this month’s periodic collection of quotes.
Why is public nakedness considered sinful or evil? What is so bad about the human body that you have to hide it away from the gaze of others? Why is the slut shaming against naturist women? Is it just because God is a prude? For most of humanity’s history people have gone naked in public all or part of the time. Going naked in the company of others doing the same is a liberating and enjoyable experience. There is nothing intrinsically wrong about the naked body.
[Dr Vian Aziz; https://twitter.com/VIANAZIZFRCOGUK/status/1781845174596886874]
Being in a redwood forest is like going to mass. It’s a genuinely awe inspiring experience that makes so much room in your brain you can’t really contain it all. They’re spaces full of fractured light and dappled spaces, that make you think God might be real after all. There is a strong sense of time out of time.
[Katy Wheatley; https://katywheatley.substack.com/p/road-trip-2]
I do not have ducks. I do not have a row. I have squirrels and they’re at a pagan rave.
[unknown]
Anyone who believes in indefinite growth on a physically finite planet is either mad, or an economist.
[David Attenborough]
A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to take it off you.
[unknown]
Only a few know how much one must know to know how little one knows.
[Werner Heisenberg]
Love is a lot like a backache. It doesn’t show up on X-rays, but you know it’s there.
[George Burns]
To any artist, worthy of the name, all in nature is beautiful, because his (or her) eyes, fearlessly accepting all exterior truth, read there, as in an open book, all the inner truth.
[Auguste Rodin]
It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.
[Leonardo Da Vinci]
The simple act of opening a bottle of wine has brought more happiness to the human race than all the collective governments in the history of earth.
[Jim Harrison]
And malt does more than Milton can to justify God’s ways to man.
[AE Housman]
May Quiz Answers
Here are the answers to this month’s five quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.
General Knowledge
- Which long distance train had its first run in October 1883? Orient Express
- With 158 separate stanzas, which nation is considered to have the longest national anthem in the world? Greece
- Which of the following sauces is NOT traditionally vegan: Hoisin, Worcestershire, Mustard, Wasabi? Worcestershire
- Over 500 million of the Flying Pigeon PA-02 bicycles have been made, many times more than any other bicycle. But what country owns the Flying Pigeon brand? China
- The Goodwin Sands is a large sandbank off the coast of Kent. What game was played there, at low tide, every year until 2003? Cricket
Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2023.
Monthly Self-Portrait, May
We’re staying with the medical for this month’s self-portrait. As long-time readers will know I have Obstructive Sleep Apnoea, which means I can stop breathing when asleep. To counteract this, I have a CPAP machine which pumps air into my airway overnight to keep the airways open. It isn’t invasive, just a nuisance, and it does cramp one’s style somewhat. As you’ll appreciate from the image, us users are sometimes colloquially termed “hoover heads”. This is my usual sleeping attire!
[Click the image for a larger view]