links

Your Interesting Links

Another catch-up on items you may have missed.
Let’s get the most serious one out of the way first. Here’s a collection of snippets and links to all the best, scientifically verified, information on the impacts of the Fukushima disaster. And of course when looked at objectively it isn’t half so bad as most make out.
So what does happen when water freezes in a box so strong it can’t expand? Can you even do this?
Here’s a story about a tube train, some concrete and some sugar. Or how sugar helped remove concrete which had flooded a Victoria Line control room. I never cease to be surprised by the weirdness that is concrete.


We all recognise that birds often fly in a V formation, but we never realise quite how clever they are at doing it.
Shrouded in the mists of time is the story of how London got its name. Surprisingly it seems somewhat clearer how the London Boroughs were named.
We can name colours and things so why do we have so much trouble naming smells?
Archaeologists in Egypt have found another Valley of Kings, and a lost dynasty of Pharaohs.
Two amazing, and interesting, collections of maps from the Washington Post: 40 maps that explain the world and 40 more maps that explain the world.
OK so here’s a little bit of fun: national flags made from the country’s traditional foods. Some look much more edible than others; can anyone really fancy Thailand?
A strange animal as a unit of measure — of everything — in poetry.
Let’s end with a few things medieval …
First up, here’s how medieval people decided whether sex was acceptable or not; and mostly not. Complete with a link to a useful flowchart. Now remember boys and girls: be careful; no fondling; no lewd kisses; no oral sex; no strange positions; only once; and do try not to enjoy it. 🙁
Here’s what the monk thought about the cat that peed on his manuscript. I wonder how much penance the cat had to do?

Is it a deer? Is it a hare? No apparently it’s a kangaroo! Hidden in a Portuguese manuscript in a New York gallery is a 16th century manuscript which could rewrite Australian history. Hmmm … maybe.
And finally some images of an amazing 16th century book which can be read six different ways. My brain hurts just trying to think how you’d bind such a book.
Never say we don’t bring you the best curiosities!

amusements, arts, ramblings

Five Questions, Series 5 #3

So here you go with my answer to question three of the Five Questions in Series 5 that I posed at the beginning of the month.


Question 3: Do stairs go up or down?
Well now there’s a question! It’s a bit like “Is the glass half full or half empty”.
The answer is really either both or neither, depending on one’s philosophical position.
You can look at it as stairs going up to or from something or equally down to or from something.
But do they really?
No, not in my book of logic. Stairs are stationary. It is we who do the going up or down.
mce

So I would submit, m’Lud, that stairs go neither up nor down. They go nowhere. They just are.
Unless of course they’re on the back of a truck (or other conveyance) when they could well be going from place A to place B. But that also may be neither up nor down; or it could be both.
Confused? Yeah, well that’s philosophy and logic, innit!

medical

Oddity of the Week: Faecal Transplant

Faecal transplants (the transfer of beneficial bacteria from the colon of one person into the colon of another) are not an entirely new idea. Their first use in Western medicine dates to 1958, but they have been a part of Chinese medicine since the 4th century. Is there anything the Chinese didn’t invent?
Read more here >>>>

current affairs, sexuality

In Defense of Working Girls

If I believe what I read in (some parts of) the press the authorities seems to be unreasonably waging war on London’s prostitutes, especially in Soho. And no doubt this is going on elsewhere in the UK too.
There was an interesting, and rather worrying, article in yesterday’s Observer under the banner:

Rupert Everett in defence of prostitutes:
‘There is a land grab going on’
The prostitutes of London’s red-light district are being evicted …
Rupert Everett argues … that closing down the brothels
has nothing to do with protecting women

A protest in Soho by sex-workers and representatives from the English Collective of Prostitutes

If what Everett writes is correct, and while I cannot verify it I have no reason to disbelieve it, then there appears to be a conspiracy between the law enforcement authorities and the judiciary (backed by business) to vilify and persecute prostitutes in the name of stamping out “trafficking”.
Yes, trafficking cannot be condoned and needs to be clamped down on. But it seems that many “working girls” have not been trafficked, are not involved in trafficking, and are not being controlled by pimps — all of which would be illegal.
Prostitution in itself is not illegal in the UK, and (unlike in some countries) neither is paying for sex. Everything I read indicates that most (not all, but most) “working girls” are doing so from choice and not coercion. Trafficking is illegal, so is “living off immoral earnings” (ie. pimping) and soliciting on the streets.
In my book everyone, female and male, has the right to sell their body for sex if they so wish. And everyone has the right to buy sex. Arguably prostitutes provide valuable services to those (a) wanting something different, (b) who have strange fetishes they couldn’t otherwise fulfil and (c) who might otherwise be/feel disenfranchised in the sexual marketplace. We are all entitled to our sexuality, whatever form that takes, just so long as it is between consenting adults.
Whether you like it or not prostitution is a fact of life and one which, whatever the law says, will not go away. So like many other things we would be wise to recognise this and bring it out in the open where it can be regulated. (If you make it legal you can then regulate and tax it, which surely also has to be good for the economy. See also marijuana.)
We need to normalise sex, prostitution and sex workers. Criminalising them just forces them underground where there is far more danger because then they can (and will) be exploited by the criminal fraternity. Keeping them in the open is actually safer for everyone: prostitutes and punters.
I’ve never used the services of a prostitute, and I can’t imagine I ever will, but I can see no harm in the activity as long as it is not in the grips of the underworld — but sadly that seems to where the authorises want to shove it. Eeejits!

photography

Photograph of the Week

This week, just a little reminder that Spring is on the way despite the current gloomy wet weather we’re having in the UK. No story, just a nice photo.

Click the image for larger views on Flickr
Reed
Reed
Kew Gardens, June 2008

amusements, photography

Buggered Britain #20

Another instalment in our very occasional series documenting some of the underbelly of Britain. Britain which we wouldn’t like visitors to see and which we wish wasn’t there. The trash, abused, decaying, destitute and otherwise buggered parts of our environment. Those parts which symbolise the current economic malaise; parts which, were the country flourishing, wouldn’t be there, would be better cared for, or made less inconvenient.
This magnificent frontage is not far from where I live; I spotted it earlier this week. What you cannot see is that the “stonework” is actually some very badly finished concrete and that the sides of the mini-porch-let are scrofulous wood in the same style as the tympanum. The door is a disgrace and the whole was just set off by the dying Christmas tree and recycling bags & bins. Seldom have I seen such awful construction.

buggered

personal

Five Questions, Series 5 #2

So here I’ll give you an answer to the second of the Five Questions in Series 5 that I posed at the beginning of the month.


Question 2: Describe your fantasy girl.
Oh dear. Whatever I say I’m on a hiding to nothing here, being married (for half a lifetime) as I am! And also knowing that Mrs M will read this.
I suppose I could just hide behind the old response to this question: Come naked, bring beer”! For as Tiffany Madison says in Black and White:

It is assured that men of all ages imagine a woman naked when they first meet.

Which is not entirely true, though I’m sure for many not far from the truth.
But maybe I’d better be a bit more open, although to tell the truth I’m not at all sure I can conjure up an ideal girl. There are just so many variables and so much is down not to looks but to personality and even that simply unknown chemistry.
Mia SolisWhat sort of things to I find attractive physically?
Pale ginger hair and freckles is a good start. Blonde can be good although I’ve noticed over the years I seem to think more generally of brunettes.
Small perky breasts. Yes, really. Unlike most men (or at least what most men will tell you) I have never been one for big tits.
Average (or slightly above) height. I don’t go for very tall girls, or for very long legs — somehow they always seem to be out of proportion.
Slim figure but not thin. I hate the half-starved look.
But possibly more important is personality.
I like my girls intelligent and amusing; they need to share my warped sense of humour and be able to hold a meaningful conversation.
Sharing (at least some) interests makes things work well too.
Good in bed? Well yes, that’s good too.
And of course on top of that there is the indefinable chemistry that some how makes it work, or not. No, I don’t understand it and I don’t think anyone does.
How does this match up with Mrs M?
That, as they say, is for me to know and you to find out. So, no, I’m not going to tell you.
Ultimately the mental can (and, arguably for a successful relationship, should) outweigh physical looks and even practical skills. Besides, as I imply above, I think the whole thing is down to chemistry, which at rock bottom will overpower both the physical and the mental. Why else would we succumb to lust and the erotic? As Jean-Luc Godard allegedly observed:

Eroticism is consenting to live.