thoughts

Five Questions, Series 4 #4

OK, OK … I know … I’ve not finished answering series 4 of “Five Questions”. And no, I hadn’t forgotten! Here’s the answer to question four.


Question 4: Is it even possible to create a Utopia?
Well surprisingly, yes it is possible; but it is possible only ever in your mind, because as novelist Chuck Palahniuk observes:

The unreal is more powerful than the real, because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. Because it’s only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. Stone crumbles. Wood rots. People, well, they die. But things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on.


Moreover there is human nature to contend with. If one were able to create whatever your notion of Utopia is, two things will apply:
(a) It would not be anyone else’s idea of Utopia. My Utopia is not your Utopia, and vice versa. We all have different ideas of perfection. So there would be an immediate disagreement (or worse), which by its very existence would destroy Utopia.
(b) No sooner had Utopia been created than you would think of something else you’d like, or which it should/shouldn’t contain and have to start over (or at least change things around) … ad infinitum.
So yes, Utopia is possible, but only as an individual mental concept.

amusements

Something for the Weekend

Apologies for the hiatus over the last week or so; I’ve been frantically trying to catch up on lots of the things which were too urgent to be ignored any longer. September is going to be very busy, but I’ll try to keep up with posting here.
Meanwhile here’s an old Garfield for weekend amusement.

Click on the image for a larger view
garfield-1

photography

Weekly Photograph

OK, so here’s another recent shot for this week’s photograph. We have a rampant passion flower just outside out back door which produces some glorious flowers. This is from a couple of weeks ago.

Click the image for larger views on Flickr
Passion Flower
Passion Flower
Greenford, August 2013

amusements

More Auction Oddities

Another selection of oddities, curiosities and amusements from the catalogue of a recent sale at our local auction rooms.


An unusual Dunhill silver plated lighter, incorporating a small compact with mirror, a 1939 school vice-captain badge, six pickle forks, an Ideal cork remover and a set of wine coasters.
Just the thing to set up your teenage daughter at Benenden!
A collection of old London Transport bus tickets, ABC of London Transport booklets, Titans of the Track, 1946, other railway books, and a box containing coastal maps, a quantity of Hearts football programmes, and a small number of 45 rpm records, etc.
2 cartons containing an old First Field Dressing, 1941, pocket watches, cigarette lighters, corkscrews, old record needles, a saucy flip book, brushes, an old photograph, paper cuttings and magazines, and a tin of old coins incl. silver and copper, mainly British
Basically all the toot that was left after we removed the naughty magazine from under the bed.
Two 2nd World War tin helmets, canvas kit bags, a red fez with black tassels, a Smiths Sectric clock in bakelite case, a pair of Dollond 20×60 binoculars in leather case, an old Pilot radio in wooden case, Brown & Sharpe micrometer calliper, old boxed razor blades, cut throat razors, Richter drawing set in case, etc.
And this was what was left in the attic.
A large Korean frame containing modelled masks: Yangban Tal, Gaksi Tal, Jung Tal, Chorergi Tal, Imae Tal, Halmi Tal, Backjong Tal, Bune Tal and Senobi Tal, and a framed ‘King Diadem Ornaments’ Paekche, National Treasure No. 154.
… various interesting items incl. Christmas decorations in a small leather case, various items of treen incl. trinket boxes, carved animals, plaques, etc., a cuckoo clock, pictures and prints, 2 old dolls, sewing equipment, cutlery, old tins, a Contessa Nettel camera with leather case, brown leather collar box, etc.
More treasures from the attic.
A Wade Tetleys cookie jar, Wade Andy Capp figure, 3 Homepride Flour graders, a Wade Christmas tea pot in the form of a Christmas tree, 4 small Wade dishes, Wade ashtrays, Milky Way money box, Tom and Jerry mug, etc.
I know this stuff is collectable, but why????
An interesting group of ethnographic materials incl. an Indonesian mask, another mask, Tibetan wood bowl, 3 pottery oil lamps, stone axe, etc.
A late 19th century Ceylonese porcupine quill box, the interior inscribed Matara
Is that a box made of porcupine quills, or one for storing them?
A comprehensive collection of early silk Mandarin’s clothing comprising navy silk trousers with blue waistband, a black silk jacket with blue and gold trimmed sleeves, appliqué decoration, black satin hem and three gilt metal buttons, a pair of purple silk leggings with ties, a navy silk pleated skirt on blue waistband, two cream cotton jackets, cream silk trousers and another pair in crepe, a pair of cotton socks and two floral embroidered hair bands with ties.
A selection of old rakes, spades, garden forks, a lawn edger, also a vacuum cleaner and Black & Decker strimmer and a garden umbrella, etc.
Ah, and now we have what was left in the garden shed!
201

An extensive collection of dragons, some including coloured crystals, over four shelves, prints, stands, etc.
I’m just astonished at what it appears to be worth trying to sell!

words

Word: Baculum

Baculm
The os penis, a bone found in the penis of many placental mammals. It is absent in humans, but present in primates such as the gorilla and chimpanzee. The bone aids sexual intercourse by maintaining sufficient stiffness during sexual penetration. It is also suggested that certain shapes may assist in the removal of a rival’s sperm from the female vagina.
The female equivalent is the os clitoridis, a bone in the clitoris.


Walrus baculum, approximately 22″ (56cm) long

The size and shape of the baculum varies greatly between even closely related species and is often used as an aid in identification of species. But no-one knows why it is absent in humans, and relatively rudimentary in other great apes, compared with many other mammals.
The word is derived from a Latin for a cudgel, sceptre, staff or stick.

personal, photography

Weekly Photograph

Meet Tilly … the latest addition to the household. She arrived last Friday evening. She is about 12 weeks old, the last remaining kitten of one of our neighbour’s two cats’ recent litters. Although they aren’t brilliant pix, these are two of the first photos of her.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
tilly-b

Needless to say Col. Harry H Katt RN(rtd), 86, of Tunbridge Wells is not at all impressed and is manning the barricades with his old Boer War musket and some rather unparliamentary language. Later today he will be auditioning for the next Victor Meldrew series.
Well you can’t blame the poor old by really; it must be the cat equivalent of giving grandfather a random 5-year-old girl to live with him. I’m sure some accommodation will be found in due time, with the assistance of the UN peacekeeping force.

personal

Left Handers Day

Yep, that’s right, left-handers have their own day on Tuesday 13 August. Celebrate your right to be left-handed.
Although I’m right-handed — very right-handed — I can envisage how frustrating it must be if you are naturally left-handed. And I can also see why for many centuries until fairly recently, left-handedness was discouraged if not actually considered evil … although there are advantages to that: my 97-year-old mother is naturally left-handed and it was only when she changed schools at the age of eight that she was made to write right-handed; as a consequence she is now ambidextrous and can also do mirror writing.


Writing left-handed is fine, but what about all those things like scissors that don’t work in the “wrong hand”. So if you’re left-handed and tired of trying to use gadgets and tools made for right handed people then vent your frustration on 13 August! This is your chance to get your own back on your right-handed friends, colleagues and family by designating your personal space as a “lefty zone” where everything must be done left-handed!
Find more information on Left Handers Day on their website at www.lefthandersday.com

links, science

Things You May Have Missed …

Yes, here’s another selection of items you may have missed. There are quite a few science-y things in this edition, although they should all be fairly “accessible”.
Biologist Rob Dunn writes an open letter to high school students about being a scientist. I wish someone had told it to me like this when I was 16 or 17!
Here’s another on what doing synthetic organic chemistry is like. If you aren’t a chemist you can skip the techie bits but do follow the metaphor in paragraphs four and five. This is why I never was a synthetic chemist.
This will totally change your relationship with mozzies! What really does happen when the mosquito bites.
Another from Rob Dunn … So how do you try to work out the number of ants living in New York City? And what might the number be? Fuck, that’s big!
Tardigrades (right) are tiny, even compared with ants. But they are the hardiest critters on the planet — awesomely so!
At last medics are beginning to wake up to the fact that they are over-testing and over-treating us.
Surprise! Shaming people doesn’t work, it just makes them worse. At least for the obese.
Be afraid! Be very afraid! Porn panic is driving us to the state where the only thing left to masturbate to will be the Daily Mail. Eeekkkkk!!
Girls: Got a retracted nipple? Then get the lads on the job! Boys: Might be your lucky day!
On the other hand not all buttons actually do something: the world of placebo buttons.
And on placebos, Nicholas Humphrey has a theory that society at large is built from a myriad of placebos. Yep, it is indeed all bollox. [This may be behind a paywall.]
Crossrail are still digging holes in London and finding all manner of archaeology. The latest is the site of the Bedlam Hospital near Liverpool Street.
And while on the ancient, here are twelve words which have survived only by getting themselves fossilised in idioms never to be seen alone in the wild.


And finally, this week’s most amazing time-waster. Randall Munroe, creator of science and logic comic XKCD has created an animated film entitled “Time” (above). There are several pieces of backstory around this, including one by science blogger Phil Plait on Slate, another on Wired, and one on Randall’s XKCD blog.
Enjoy!