personal, photography

Zen Mischief Website Updated

At long last, and after three days solid effort, I’ve completely updated my Zen Mischief website.  And not before time either!  I started the revision over 2 years ago and got as far as completing the design before I was rudely interrupted by work.  Only now have I made the time to complete the job.  Although at the moment the content – essentially a static backup to this weblog – is largely the same, all the text has been revised (some pages more than others), all the links checked, dead links removed and many new ones added, and all the images have been overhauled.  I have ideas for new pages and I hope they will be along over the coming weeks – there’s a lot that gets an airing on this weblog but isn’t covered on the website, an omission I hope to rectify.

science, sexuality, thoughts

We're Unique!

What makes humans special and unique?

Well according to a recent Scientific American article it is very simple …

We masturbate.  A lot.

(Oh, come on, it’s not that shocking!)

But the uniqueness is that no other animal, including our close primate relatives, does.  The theory seems to be, at least in part, that it’s all to do with the ability of our well developed brains to create entirely novel and imaginary picture shows and videos.

I’ll leave it to you to follow the link and read the article.  It’s long, but it’s interesting, especially if you’re a science geek.

books, photography, quotes

Milestones Passed in the Dark

Last night I had a realisation, the way one does, that I must have written quite a few blog posts.  But how many?  Having awoken at stupid o’clock this morning I figured I’d use the time to try to work it out.  Could I even do it?  This weblog has been through at least three different incarnations and the old blogs are no longer online.

Wait!  I have backups.  Do I still have the old files?  No, not on my current PC: well I did trash a lot of old data when I migrated to this machine recently.  So let’s search the archive disks … and …  Lo! we do have the old files, saved in an archive of my PC three before last.  (How sad is that?!)  So I was able to do a count …

“I don’t believe it!”  If I go back to when I started blogging in January 2004 I reckon I’ve written 879 Zen Mischief weblog posts (this will be number 880).  And we can add to this another 134 for the Anthony Powell Society.  That’s a total of 1013 in 6½ years, or three a week.  Not prolific by many blogger’s standards, but prolific enough for me, especially when you add in almost 2000 photos (and that’s just the edited ones!) posted on Flickr since February 2006.

While not everything I write is wholly original (whose writing is?) I’ve covered everything from beer, by way of diversions into naturism, science and Bagpuss, to zen.  Hmmm … not bad!

pleasures, topographical

The Tubes are Alive!

Thanks to Annie Mole’s London Underground blog, I’ve just spotted that Matthew Somerville and friends have used the recently opened up Transport for London API to create an (almost) real time map of all the trains on the London Underground.  The picture above is a horribly fuzzy screen capture from the real-time map. OK so the application it still needs some refinement – as Matthew says there are “some unresolved (a small number of stations are misplaced or missing; inter-station journey times need improvement; occasional trains behave oddly due to duplicate IDs)”.  This latter comment is indeed true as I was amused to see a District Line train hacking across country between Wimbledon and Richmond!

As a proof of concept – no, it’s better than that! – this brilliantly shows what can be done by skilled programmers in just a few hours.  In my book it is already a useful resource for Londoners, and has the potential to become much, much more especially if the DLR and London Overground data is accessible and they can be included.  Let’s hope Matthew and Co are able to continue developing the application.

Now what we need is a complete real-time map of all trains on the rail network – Matthew already has some prototype segments working.  Now that would be interesting.

amusements, beliefs, current affairs, quotes, sexuality, thoughts

Quotes of the Week

Another in our occasional series of quotations encountered during he week which have struck me: because of their zen-ness, their humour, or their verisimilitude.

Although the world’s religions may differ fundamentally from one other in their metaphysical views, when it comes to their teachings on the actual practice of ethics, there is great convergence. All the faith traditions emphasize a virtuous way of being, the purification of the mind from negative thoughts and impulses, the doing of good deeds, and living a meaningful life.
[Dalai Lama]

Don’t forget those irregular verbs like hoggo, piggeri, swini, gruntum.
[pmh {at} cix]

Sex and money: the forked root of evil
[Ross Macdonald, The Drowning Pool]

Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.
[Tom Robbins]

Girls are like pianos. When they’re not upright, they’re grand.
[Benny Hill]

food+drink

Summer Dinner

I write this having just bade “good night” to our dinner guest, the lovely Katyboo. Though I say it myself the food, the company and the conversation was rather good.

Steamed English Asparagus and Jersey Royal Potatoes
dressed with butter and flaked Parmesan

Smoked Chicken, Broad Bean & Pasta Salad
with Tomato, Rocket & Avocado
Served with a Lemon & Garlic Dressing

Alcoholic Summer Fruit Salad with Clotted Cream
(Nectarine, Blueberries & Raspberries marinated in Cherry Brandy)

Coffee & Florentines

Washed down with a couple of bottles of excellent
Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages

All devised and prepared by me. Yes, I am showing off ‘cos I’ve eaten a lot, lot worse in expensive restaurants.  And I don’t think I need eat again for a week! Hic!

Somehow, too, we seem to have magically added another branch to the extended family.  

As Samuel Pepys might have said “A good day.  And so to bed.” 

freedom of speech, medical, people, science, sexuality, thoughts

Obscene …

3 Comments

… and obscene is not a word I use often or lightly, but I am horrified at the story which is circulating of a New York doctor who is reducing the clitorises of young girls in the belief that they are abnormally large. In deference to my blood pressure I shall say no more here but refer you to the story over on The F-Word. If this is even half true the man (yes, a man, of course) is in my view a paedophile and child abuser.

Hat-tip: jillysheep.