What You May have Missed — Science Edition

27 August 2012 Keith

Here’s a science-y edition of our occasional collections of links to articles you may have missed. They’re mostly not deep science, so they shouldn’t tax the brains of you arty types! In no particular order …

It can’t be so people can make pathetic jokes about their intelligence, so just why is it that so many women go blonde? Ah, of course, it’s all to make Miley Cyrus look so much sexier! 😉

An English major turned science writer is amongst those defending the teaching of algebra in school. It’s part of our cultural heritage.

Does your cat pester for food? If so it might need a psychologist. It would be beastly to deny the creature such a pleasure.

Oooo-eeerrr missus! Insect sting fetishes?! I don’t think so, thanks.

So is (human) virgin birth a reality? Despite lots of looking it seems the answer is still probably not. Some interesting stories though.

Here are two aspects, both from Scientific American, of some recent work on consciouslness. First of all the question of whether self-awareness requires a complex brain. And secondly, scientists are suggesting that octopi are conscious, by which they seem to mean they’re able to think.

And finally one for the medievalists out there … A guy called Rob Colautti has created an evolutionary history of dragons. Definitely gets my vote for cool link of the week!

personal, pleasures

Reasons to be Grateful: 41

26 August 2012 Keith

Experiment, week 41.

What a strange week. Apart from going to Norfolk to visit my aged mother on Monday it has been a fairly uneventful week, so I’m not quite sure why it’s been quite so strange.

But anyway the experiment continues … so here are five things which have made me happy or for which I’m grateful this week.

Shipdham. On the way back from visiting my mother we detoured via the Norfolk village of Shipdham with its rather interesting church. As I wrote about it here, I’ll say no more now.
Feeling Human. Somewhere around Thursday I suddenly came to the realisation that I was beginning to feel human, almost normal, rather than my usual morose, grumpy and depressive self. I have no clue where it came from, or why. It was a most strange feeling. It hasn’t entirely gone away, but it isn’t entirely here now either. I’d be quite happy if it came back, though.
Plums. It’s the season for decent English plums. I love good plums and especially Victorias. On Monday we bought some large plums in Roy’s (again see here) of a variety called Jubilee. They looked and tasted like large Victorias. On Friday we bought some actual Victorias in Waitrose. Both were excellent, although to be honest the Jubilee were maybe the better if only for being more succulent.
Click the images for larger views on Flickr
Hollyhocks. Also on Monday there were some wonderful hollyhocks in the village of Bawburgh where we had lunch. I’ve noticed this glorious show before, many growing not in the gardens but on the verges. The photos above are just a couple of a whole range of colours from pure white to deep maroon.
Home-Grown Chillies. As I have for the last several years I’m growing my own chillies again on the study windowsill. Up to now I’ve always grown 3 or 4 different varieties. The large Scotch Bonnet type never seem to do well for me — I have just a couple of fruit ripening — they probably need it consistently hotter and brighter. But I have a tiny purple-turning-red variety called “Explosive Ember” which is prolific. They are hot and I usually dry them for winter use. But my favourite is “Hot Lemon” (the ones in the photo above are from my 2010 crop). They are 2-3 inches long and when ripe a bright lemon yellow. They too are hot with, when fresh, a delightful succulent, almost citrus-y taste as well. They go well in salads, and they look just stunning. Today I picked the second flush — only seven fruit, but there are already at least as many more to come and the plants are still flowering. It’s a travesty not to eat these fresh, but next year I might succumb and plant only these — they are that good.

current affairs, nudism, ramblings

Nudity Stupidity

26 August 2012 Keith

So we have two, rather different, men in the news this week for appearing nude. Prince Harry for playing strip pool at a party and Stephen Gough, the Naked Rambler, incarcerated again in Scotland for walking nude down the street. Neither has done anything overtly illegal (Gough is convicted of breach of the peace, although frankly from what I’ve read I don’t see how) but both are being punished. Both might reasonably stand accused of stupidity, given what they know; but stupidity alone isn’t illegal.

Uneasy bedfellows?!
Heresy Corner has a scathing summation of the issues. On Prince Harry:

And if a 28 year old man takes his clothes off in the company of other consenting adults, who cares?

It’s only a naked body. We’ve all got one of those. If you’re a distinguished actor you may well have displayed it to all the world in the name of art. This is the 21st century.

And, more tellingly, on Stephen Gough:

Gough has spent most of the past six years in prison since making the mistake of bringing his naked frame north of the border, where a Presbyterian horror of the body lingers despite repeated SNP claims that Scotland is a mature, progressive democracy ready for full independence.
[…]
Gough’s case is simple: “there is nothing about me as a human being that is indecent or alarming or offensive.” He poses no danger to society. He has never physically attacked anyone or interfered with property, nor has he used insulting language: his “crime” is to upset the sensibilities of prudes, of whom there are obviously a large number in Scotland.
[…]
Is nudity “indecent”? Only if you assume, as Anglo-Saxon prudes tend to do, that nudity implies sex. There are other reasons for being naked that have little to do with sex — taking part in a game of strip-billiards, for example.
[…]
It’s hard to escape the view that Gough’s real crime is not so much outraging public decency as refusing to conform. Keeping him upholds the majesty of the law which Gough’s defiance challenges, at a cost to the taxpayer of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

[I would also take issue with the assertion that sex is indecent. Like nudity, sex and sexuality have to be normalised not criminalised and/or marginalised. But let’s leave that aside for now.]

At least there appears to be a tiny amount of common sense appearing in all this. Prince Harry is apparently likely to be punished only by being given a dressing down (pun intended) by his commanding officer (though GOK what it has to do with his CO) and made to donate some of his salary to charity. Meanwhile the Kirkcaldy Sheriff has ordered Gough to undergo psychiatric tests, which might give him a way out of the corner he and Scottish “justice” have painted him into.

Nevertheless, frankly, both cases are ridiculous. We need to come to terms with the fact that nudity is a normal part of the human condition. Get over it! Our princling has done nothing most of us wouldn’t have done; his only crime is his parentage. Gouch is agreed by all to be harmless but eccentric. The former should just be ignored. The latter allowed to go on his way and also ignored.

What is perhaps more important is to ask why people appear so outraged by these cases. I suspect it goes back to what I was writing about yesterday: most people need some outside influence to give them their moral code because they are unable (or unwilling) to think it through for themselves. Once that happens these people are prey to ridiculous, even dangerous, influences: anything from the abhorrence of nudity, through male dominance, to terrorism.

But it isn’t just the traditional religions that are now occupying this morality defining territory. The tabloid media (papers, TV, radio) have become the new religion — the definers of morals — and thus the definers of what people think. Too many people still adhere to the “if it’s in the paper, it must be true” and pause to think no further.

Well it’s time to grow up and start thinking. Time to rise up against the Mrs Grundys of this world.

If it harm none, do as you will.

ramblings, science, thoughts

On Atheism and Science

25 August 2012 Keith

Yesterday I came across two blog posts about atheism, both of which deal with science in different ways. And they got me thinking — or at least starting to think — about the relationship between religion (or lack of it) and science.

Before I go into my thoughts let’s have a look at what, for me, were some of the salient points from the two articles, both of which are worth reading in their entirety.

The first is a post is Atheism Evolves by Maggie Mayhem (yes, the sex positive activist and sex educator):

[I]t’s ridiculous to believe that all life on earth exists to serve humans. I am appalled when I hear this by both the religious and the irreligious.
[…]
The bible does not teach me how my hand works. It doesn’t teach me about how the human hand came to be. It doesn’t teach me why a human hand is physically advantageous for certain tasks nor does it tell me anything about how a human hand was selected for over time.
[…]
Many preachers have been great philosophers, social revolutionaries, and leaders. However … activism and education does not have to include a literal belief in the supernatural to be effective and empowering.
[…]
There is no one to save us from ourselves but ourselves … No one has the divine right to exploit their fellow humans.
[…]
However, atheism and skepticism are movements that have been primarily driven by people with immense privilege because it has taken that much privilege not to be destroyed by others for saying something so counter to what we’ve been taught for as long as we’ve been humans.
[…]
A silly belief does not displace my own. Laws, exclusionary practices, and violent retaliation does displace people.
[…]
Tokenism only serves the privileged, it does not broaden the viewpoints and perspectives. It does not help us better understand ourselves and our world when white men get to decide which marginalized people get to speak. Nothing is accomplished with tokenism.
[…]
Ideas are not physical spaces: you cannot run out of room. One of the greatest things about them is the way they intermingle and breed and create unimaginable combinations.

(Emphasis in the original)

Before we go on, just think for a moment about those comments on privilege and on ideas.

… … …

Powerful aren’t they?!

OK, so now for the second article, Why Science Can’t Replace Religion by Keith Kloor on the scientific Discover Blogs.

[O]ur brains and bodies contain an awful lot of spiritual wiring … you can’t simply dismiss the psychological and cultural importance of religion. For much of our history, religion has deeply influenced all aspects of life, from how we cope with death and random disaster to what moral codes we abide by. That science should (or could) eliminate all this with a rationalist cleansing of civilization, as a vocal group of orthodox atheists have suggested, is highly improbable.
[…]
[S]ome people, no matter their background, are prone to experience a more spiritual, as opposed to rational, connection to the universe … certain needs unique to the human condition cannot be satisfied by science alone. Scientists who prefer a strictly rationalist lens have a hard time accepting this.
[…]
Absolutism is one of the uglier traits of religion that still pervades too many corners of the Earth today, breeding intolerance and normalizing abhorrent actions. But a response that indicts all religion as a stain on humanity is equally absolutist.

More rather powerful arguments, which strident atheists like Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers would do well to heed.

And it was reading this second article hot on the heels of the first which got me thinking. Actually thinking about this muddled interface between science and religion and the way the two so often seem to be unable to coexist.

What I realised was that there seem to be two strands to all religious belief, and these do seem to be to encompass all religions, not just Christianity. The two strands of belief are:
(a) how and why the world (universe) came into being, and
(b) the importance and imposition of a moral code.
Some believers seem to me to need to embrace one or other strand; some, although I surmise down at the deepest level a minority, clearly need both.

And it is in these two strands that the conflict with science arises because in fact these two strands have different roots, viz.
(a) has a root in science (of some form), whereas
(b) has its root in thought and intellect (philosophy, if you prefer).

Now I need religion for neither strand: science does indeed satisfy (to the extent satisfaction is possible by any means) the first and I have the intellect to be able to handle the latter myself.

The problem is that many people conflate and muddle the two strands and hence become completely, though unknowingly, confused. For science — whatever it’s underlying belief: creationist or evolutionist — cannot ipso facto produce morals; it is merely explanatory. And equally philosophy alone cannot produce technical explanations; observation and experiment (ie. science) are also required.

Consequently it is not unreasonable that some scientists need a spiritual dimension/belief to give them a moral/cultural grounding. Equally it is reasonable that (some) theologians and philosophers need science to help them make sense of the universe.

Lucky is the man who can derive both strands from a single belief system, whether that is a religion or science. OK, I happen to believe that the religious viewpoint is erroneous, but then I am lucky enough to be able to derive both strands without religion. Not everyone is so lucky, and perhaps we should be more sympathetic to that. Is it moral of us to deny a “crippled man” a crutch, whether physical or mental?

Now I’m conscious that this is likely not a fully enough developed train of thought, being as it was scribbled down in five minutes at 11pm last night. But the fact that there are these two, seemingly unrecognised, strands does (at least for me) explain some of the confusion about how some scientists can need religion (spirituality if you prefer) and how the religious/spiritual may need science.

Anyone want to expand on this?

history, pleasures

Of Flowers, Sheep and Churches

22 August 2012 Keith

Last Monday we spent the day in Norfolk. The main purpose was to visit my mother, but we also managed to fit in an hour or so of being tourists.

As normal we left home about 7.30am and we had a really clear run up to Norwich. By the time we arrived the sun was burning off the overnight cloud and the day was working up to be another scorcher.

Having spent a quick 20 minutes with mother, really just to see what if any bits of shopping she needed, we scooted off to Bowthorpe: take some stuff to the good charity shop there and a quick wander round Roy’s, the local supermarket.

I’ve written about Roy’s before. They started as boat chandlers in Wroxham, on the Broads. As I recall about 40 years ago they bought the Wroxham Post Office and General Store and expanded to become Roy’s of Wroxham. They now have a small chain of supermarkets serving the local communities; they are still family owned. Their philosophy is to stock the basics and whatever they can get cheap — everything is cheap — and if it’s local so much the better. True to their origins they sell everything from frozen food to paint, insect spray to shoes. Apart from the staples you can never be sure that if you buy something there today they’ll have it next week. It is a cross between Lidl, a pound shop and a market stall — they don’t describe themselves as “the world’s largest village store” for nothing! The downside is that their fruit, salad and meat isn’t always top quality, but there are definite bargains (like our favourite packs of bacon pieces) if you shop carefully.

After Roy’s it was off for pub lunch at the excellent King’s Head at Bawburgh. We were early and by now it was hot, so it was cold soft drinks all round. It was even too hot for fish and chips or beef suet pudding! So we all settled for the most excellent Ploughman’s Lunch: craft cheese, home-cured smoked ham, home-made pork pie, granary bread, tomato, pickled onion and home-made piccalilli. It was good, wholesome and tasty; none of your plastic packet food here. It was so good we none of us wanted a pudding!

Click the images for larger views on Flickr

I stopped in Bawburgh to photograph a few of the magnificent hollyhocks growing outside some of the cottages. Then on the way back to see mother for the afternoon we stopped and gathered some flowers for her to paint and a small bundle of stray corn: we found wheat, naturalised oats and naturalised barley in the field margins.

The time saved early in the day allowed us to leave mother slightly early and take advantage of the good weather with a diversion on the way home. Much as we like the section of the A11 from Norwich, by way of Thetford and Eleveden, to Mildenhall it is nice to see something different. So we followed the A47 round to Dereham, then the A1075 through Watton, rejoining the A11 near Thetford.

This was a deliberate ploy to go through the lovely village of Shipdham — literally “settlement of the sheep”, which tells you where its wealth came from — where we stopped for an ice cream and a look at the church.

All Saints, Shipdham is a rather interesting church. It clearly has Norman origins and lots of later developments, finally having been “tidied up” by the Victorians. On top of the originally 13th century tower there is a two-tier, 17th century cupola of wood covered with lead. There is a nave (totally Victorianised) and a north aisle which still has it’s early roof beams. Strangely the church has two fonts: it’s own 14th century one and a Norman font rescued from Ovington which they now use in preference to their own. It is a small delight.

Shipdham is also interesting because it was clearly quite prosperous in medieval, Tudor and Stuart times. Hence the surprisingly imposing church with a neat walled, picture-book churchyard. The village also had its own brickworks for several hundred years up until around 1820. So as well as the ubiquitous Norfolk flint there are still a number of examples of the local small, pale red bricks as can be seen in the church wall above.

If you’re going that way, Shipdham is definitely worth a quick stop.

photography

Gallery : Sky

22 August 2012 Keith 2 Comments

This week over at Tara’s Gallery we’re being asked for photographs of sky.

Now there are boring, dull, flat grey skies and boring, wall-to-wall clear blue skies. But just about anything else is interesting: clouds, stars, the moon, sunset, sunrise, rainbows … the list is almost endless.

So here is a small selection of mine from across the years.

Click the images for larger versions on Flickr

Trees at dusk, taken one late winter evening as I left work

January sunrise seen through the birch tree in our garden

“Armco Sundown”, sunset on the A11 in Norfolk taken from the passenger seat
of the car one late February

This could be almost anywhere in England on a hot summer’s day; it’s actually in Norfolk, again taken from the passenger seat of the car

words

Word : Heterodox

22 August 2012 Keith

Heterodox

1. Not in accordance with established doctrines or opinions, or those generally recognized as right or ‘orthodox’.

2. Holding opinions not in accord with some acknowledged standard.

3. An opinion not in accord with that which is generally accepted as true or correct.

quotes

Quotes

20 August 2012 Keith

Another selection of recently encountered quotes which have amused on enlightened me.

Human Being: A creature that cuts trees to make paper and then writes “save the trees on the same paper”.
[Thoughts of Angel]

The most important lessons I gleaned […] had to do with learning to fail: getting my ass kicked and getting back up, again and again and again, until I mastered a given skill. Why wasn’t I willing to do the same for math?
[Jennifer Ouellette; Make Us Do the Math]

Learning to buckle down and do unpleasant things that don’t come easily to us prepares us for life.
[Jennifer Ouellette; Make Us Do the Math]

Only authoritarian and reactionary politicians benefit from a population for whom abstractions have no meaning. Such a population will be satisfied by sound bites and flag waving and will be placated by bread and circuses while their economy is subverted and their democracy implodes.
[Nick Warner quoted in Jennifer Ouellette; Make Us Do the Math]

Typos are very important to all written form. It gives the reader something to look for so they aren’t distracted by the total lack of content in your writing.
[Randy K Milholland]

Of course I talk to myself … sometimes I need expert advice!
[Thoughts of Angel]

Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.
[Thomas Sowell, Is Reality Optional?, 1993]

The last is sadly truer than many would credit.

personal, pleasures

Reasons to be Grateful: 40

19 August 2012 Keith

Experiment, week 40.

Apologies for the hiatus in postings this week, somehow I’ve managed to be busy, busy, busy. There are a few things happening over the next 2-3 days, but hopefully things can then get back to normal.

Anyway we’re now two-thirds of the way through my experiment. This is week 40 of 60 and so far things are looking fairly positive.

In fact this week has been so busy I’m actually struggling a bit for things out of the ordinary to write about, however here are five things which have made me happy or for which I’m grateful this week.

Sorry Sue, It’s a foodie theme again!

Meeting Katy. On Monday Noreen and I met up with our friend Katy and her three children who were having a break in London. While it was a social meeting we also agreed to go and see the Shakespeare exhibition at the British Museum. Meeting Katy is always a pleasure especially as we usually eat cake and lunch! And the Shakespeare was also a pleasure, especially as it’s aim is to show things about the times in which the plays were written and put some of the great speeches into their contemporary social context. The exhibition is definitely recommended. You can find Katy’s write-up of the exhibition here.
Ciao Bella. Having done the exhibition, had coffee and cake, and let the children run around in Corams Fields for an hour or so, we wandered off for lunch. Katy had spotted a good-looking Italian restaurant, Ciao Bella, next to the Lamb pub in Lamb’s Conduit Street. Despite (or maybe because of) being inhabited by what appeared to be a couple of small groups of Mafiosi, it was excellent. Although we had just a quick, simple and late lunch the food was substantial and good. Definitely one to be added to the list of useful London eateries. Again, you can find Katy’s write-up here.
Doughnut. On Wednesday we spent a depressing chunk of the day in a consultation meeting about changes to our local hospitals. Depressing because of what my father would have called the “poverty of mind” of most of the people there; people who cannot (or will not) understand what is being proposed but oppose it anyway. Afterwards Noreen and I had to fortify ourselves with doughnuts and a cold drink. I’m not a huge fan of the doughnut, if only because they don’t do much for the waistline, but this one went down a real treat after a long, and very hot, ordeal.
Swifts. I like having swifts flying around and I always look forward to their arrival in late-April/early-May from Africa and wish they wouldn’t fly away again so soon at the end of July. But amazingly we still have at least one swift still around; I’ve seen it on each of the last three evenings. This is unusually late (although not unheard of) and especially late for me to see a swift in London.
Pub Meet. Yesterday I hosted the quarterly lunchtime Anthony Powell Society Pub Meet in London. I always enjoy what are informal chats between friends over a beer or two and pub lunch. We never know who will turn up and yesterday we had three people come along totally unexpectedly and enliven the conversations. These conversations cover almost anything but sooner or later always return to some Powellian theme or aspect of life. For a wonder yesterday I managed to get through over three hours in the pub without a drop of alcohol, or sugary drink — just to compensate for Wednesday’s doughnut!

photography

Gallery : Emotion

15 August 2012 Keith 3 Comments

This week over at Tara’s Gallery we’re being asked to come up with photographs showing emotion. That’s not the easiest of challenges, nevertheless here are three I’ve culled from the archives.

Click the images for bigger views on Flickr
This young lady, taken at London Zoo in June 2008, spent quite a long time concentrating hard on the text messages on her phone. Watching the people at the Zoo was as good as seeing the animals!

Here are my former colleagues Steve and Peter concentrating hard on something on Peter’s laptop. Taken in the office way back in February 2008.

This young lady was clearly on her way for a lunchtime liaison with her lover on the slopes below Sacré Cœur in Paris (way back in June 2007). Lip smacking is a reflex reaction in response to sexual interest and anticipation.

Zen Mischief