history, medical, pleasures, quotes, science, thoughts, topographical

Quotes of the Week

Somehow I’m not writing this week, probably because I’ve spent a lot of time with my head in family history research. But here is this weeks strange set of bedfellows.

First I’ve been reading a 1923 book about my home town and discovered that even Cromwell’s officials in 1650 could write estate agent-ese …

The Presence Chamber. One very large, spacious delightful Room called the Kinge’s Presence Chamber, being wainscotted round with carved wainscott of good oak, coullered of a liver color, and richly guilded with gold, with antique pictures over the same ; the ceiling full of guilded pendants hanging down, setting forth the roome with great splendour […] Also a very fair, large chimny piece of black and white marble, with four pilasters of the same stone […]
[Government Survey of Theobalds Palace, 1650 quoted in Percy Charles Archer, Historic Cheshunt]


This really is what it’s thought Theobalds Palace looked like!
And from the same volume this delight …

For, if those enemies to all good endeavours, Danger, Difficulty, Impossibility, Detraction, Contempt, Scorne, Derision, yea, and Desperate Despight, could have prevailed by their accursed and malevolent interposition either before, at the beginning, in the very birth of proceeding, or in the least stolne advantage of the whole prosecution; this Worke of so great worth had never bin accomplished.
[John Stow, Survey of London, quoted in Percy Charles Archer, Historic Cheshunt]

And now for some things much more of our time …

Face to face advice on the internet.
[BBC TV London News, 11/07/2011]

Be especially sure to wipe your children down. Children are just about the grimiest thing in the world.
[Rob Dunn at Scientific American Blogs]

Boris Johnson knows even less about geology than he does about geography. Undercutting Ealing with a tunnel means my constituents, and his electoral voters, will fall into the ground. London’s transport system is built on clay, it would cost more money to tunnel through that than if we replaced HS2 with sedan chairs and walked people to Birmingham.
[Ealing North MP, Steve Pound, on Mayor Boris Johnson’s idea of tunnelling HS2 rail under outer London]

memes, words

Word of the Week

Cullet.
Crushed, broken or refuse glass with which the crucibles are replenished.

According to the OED the name is formed as an extension of “Collet. The neck or portion of glass left on the end of the blowing-iron after the removal of the finished article” to include all refuse and broken glass melted over again to make inferior glass.

amusements, personal

Listography – Ice Cream

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It’s summer! Well at least that’s the theory. And in acknowledgement of summer this week’s listography is to pick out top five favourite ice creams (or ice lollies). Hmmm. I’m not a great ice cream eater, however …

Magnum Ecuador Dark. I like Magnums, all of them. But this dark chocolate is especially good.

Real Strawberry Ice Cream. It has to be real strawberry, with chunks of fruit in it, as made by a number of the small local firms and often available at the seaside.

Rowntree’s Fruit Pastille Lollies. Definitely the best of the ice lollies currently available.

Double Ripple Ice Cream. This is one I remember from my childhood in the ’60s, which probably isn’t available now. Made by Wall’s and available only as a brick, it was normal vanilla ice cream with a ripple of two red flavourings: one was obviously raspberry, but I don’t remember if the other was strawberry or cherry. And I don’t think it was available for very long; maybe only one summer as a trial.

Top Quality Chocolate Ice Cream. It really has to be good quality chocolate and quality ice cream; I especially like Beechdean Double Chocolate as sold by Waitrose.

books, history, memes, personal, science

Ten Things – July

Number 7 in my monthly series of “Ten Things” for 2011. Each month I list one thing from each of ten categories which will remain the same for each month of 2011. So at the end of the year you have ten lists of twelve things about me.

  1. Something I Like: Beer
  2. Something I Won’t Do: Parachute
  3. Something I Want To Do: Visit Scilly Isles
  4. A Blog I Like: Not Exactly Rocket Science
  5. A Book I Like: Diary of Samuel Pepys
  6. Some Music I Like: Amanda Palmer, Map of Tasmania
  7. A Food I Like: Cheese
  8. A Food or Drink I Dislike: Tapioca
  9. A Word I Like: Numpty
  10. A Quote I Like: It will pass, sir, like other days in the army. [Anthony Powell]
pleasures, science

Catprints

I got asked a really interesting question on Facebook earlier: I wonder whether every cats’ paw print is unique?

Well is it? Naively one might think that every animal would have unique wrinkles to their skin, but … do they?

It appears that no-one really knows for certain. But grubbing around with Google I have discovered:

The nose print of a dog is as unique as a fingerprint, and your dog can be positively identified the same way. Reference.

It is known that gorillas and other primates do have fingerprints, of special interest however, is that our closest relative, the chimpanzee does not. Koala bears also have fingerprints. Individual fingerprints appear to be restricted to humans and gorillas. Reference.

US scientists and criminal justice investigators have developed a technique designed to more accurately track and conduct a census of some animals. The research focuses on the fisher, a member of the weasel family and the only carnivore known to develop fingerprints. Reference.

The only reference I can find to cats’ pawprints is this, which sounds like a school project.

But then are human fingerprints actually unique?

It is often assumed, but has never really been proven, that fingerprints are unique, in humans or other animals. The history of this apparently involves an assertion (early in the 20th century, as I recall) that they were unique, this assertion was accepted by a court, and they’ve been pretty much never really been analyzed thoroughly beyond that. (It’s not clear to me how you’d go about proving it anyway, since the pattern of fingerprints for any individual is a function of his environment during gestation (yes, identical twins do have different fingerprints..). So the best you could hope to do is to prove the odds of an interference are vanishingly small. Reference.

Which is worryingly true. Human fingerprints have never been subjected to scientific and forensic scrutiny in the way that DNA profiling has been. This article in The Register summarises a New Scientist report (hidden behind a paywall) of an official report. Conclusion: fingerprints have never been scientifically scrutinised properly.

As for cats … Well in their usual inscrutable way, only they know!

Oh and here’s today’s piece of gratuitous pornography. 🙂

history, personal, topographical

Priceless Records

Grubbing around in family history again this afternoon, I’ve happened upon a couple of absolutely priceless extracts of London parish registers on Ancestry.co.uk.

01 Dec, 4 Elizabeth [1537] — True Bill that, from the said day even until now, John Hardy [… and 34 named others …] have without reasonable excuse neglected to provide themselves with bows and arrows, and neglected to practice archery, in contempt of the statute in this matter provided.

And quite right too. The English archer remained a potent weapon for probably another 50 years by which time the arquebus/musket was taking over as the weapon of choice. So it remained important that all healthy Englishmen were at least competent archers to defend the realm.

Tuesday after the Feast of St Martin ao 10 Edward III [1322], information given to the aforesaid Coroner and Sheriffs that Simon Chaucer lay dead of a death other than his rightful death in the rent of Richard Chaucer, his brother, in the parish of St Mary at Aldermarichirche in the Ward of Cordewanerstrete. Thereupon they proceeded thither, and having summoned good men of that Ward and of the three nearest Wards, viz.: Queenhithe, Brede Strete and Walbroke, they diligently enquired how it happened. The jurors — viz.: William de Chelrythe [… and 25 named others …] — say that on Monday before the Feast of St Luke last passed, the above Simon Chaucer and Robert de Uptone, skinner, were quarrelling after dinner in the High Street opposite the shop of the said Robert in the parish aforesaid, when the said Simon wounded the said Robert on the upper lip; that John, son of the said Robert perceiving this, took up an instrument called “Dorbarre” and therewith struck the said Simon on the hand, side and head and forthwith took refuge in the church of St Mary de Aldermarichirche, whence he secretly made his escape on the following night. Chattels none. They further say that the said Simon lingered until the Tuesday aforesaid when he died at sunrise; that the said Robert was captured, before the holding of the inquest, on suspicion and taken to the house of John de Northhalle, the Sheriff […]

Don’t you just love lay dead of a death other than his rightful death? What more picturesque circumlocution could there be?

medical, nudism, science

Sleep in the Raw

Yesterday I found a potentially useful little site called sleep.com. And yes, it is all about sleep. Being a confirmed nudist what caught my eye was a short item entitled Benefits of Sleeping Naked. Ah-ha! At last we aren’t the only ones to appreciate a lack of nightwear:

Sleeping naked can increase feel-good hormones in the brain, strengthen emotional ties and heighten both desire and intimacy between you and your partner.
…
You don’t have to have a partner to enjoy the benefits of sleeping naked, however. Research shows that sleeping naked:
— Allows the body to relax and rest more peacefully, which can in turn, increase your energy and daytime alertness levels.
— Improves self-confidence.

Yes, indeed. Apart from the occasional sojourn in hospital, I’ve eschewed night attire entirely since I was a student. Yes, that’s right, not even a pair of boxers. I was brought up to wear pyjamas and frankly they were often necessary in an unheated house in the 1950s, although my parents often slept in the nude. But as soon as I left home and had a room of my own (rather than a shared room or lodgings) I threw off my pyjamas, never to look back — it felt better and was a lot more comfortable.

For us sharing a bed and sleeping nude is all part of a good, healthy relationship. As the article says:

Skin contact creates more than just useful hormones — it creates a bond! Increase the sense of bond between you and your partner and feel closer together than ever before. Remember, increased closeness encourages greater sex.

What better excuse could you want?!