arts, books, history, personal

Noreen Marshall, Her Book

After something like 2 years in gestation Noreen’s book, Dictionary of Children’s Clothes, finally appears in early-October. Here’s what the V&A’s blurb for the book says:

Over the last 300 years, children’s clothing has witnessed a gradual shift from dressing children to adult requirements, in multiple layers and formal styles, to the booming designer childrenswear market of today. This accessible and well-illustrated dictionary features over 300 garments, from air-raid suits to zouave jackets, with specially commissioned photographs from the world’s largest and most diverse collection at the V&A Museum of Childhood. A fully illustrated timeline and introduction offer an at-a-glance understanding of the changes in children’s fashions and a rich selection of line drawings and illustrations from sewing and knitting patterns, to catalogues, dolls, fashion plates, photographs, paintings and children’s fiction put the garments in context. Noreen Marshall is Curator of the Dress, Doll and Childcare Collections at the V&A Museum of Childhood. She has worked on a number of V&A exhibitions, including Stile Liberty, Jolly Hockey Sticks, The Pack Age, and a series of Christmas exhibitions.

Despite having been married to Noreen for most of the 30-odd years she’s worked at the Museum of Childhood, I have seen relatively little of this book during its birth traumas; it’s been a closely guarded secret. Until now, that is! I have now seen an early-released copy and, as can be seen from the dust-jacket (above), it’s a sumptuous volume illustrated with specially commissioned colour photographs on every page of the dictionary section. As well as the dictionary there is an extended essay by way of introduction, a 300-year timeline and several appendixes which enhance the main content. The book isn’t cheaply produced, something which is reflected in the cover price of £30, but this is excellent value considering the quality and the work which has gone into the production.

This book is a real treasure for anyone interested in costume or childhood. It may be pre-ordered from Amazon UK or from the V&A Online Shop.

Dictionary of Children’s Clothes, 1700 to the Present, by Noreen Marshall, is published on 06 October by the Victoria & Albert Museum at £30; ISBN 9781851775477.

arts, memes, photography, pleasures

Alternate Meme


Alternate Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

1. black.sky, 2. Blue Ocean, 3. Glass House Mountains, 4. Sun Moon Venus Mercury, 5. Perseid Meteor Night Shoot • Milky-way and 2 Meteors, 6. Vanilla Sky, 7. swimming to the Moks, 8. China Beach Sunrise, 9. Find a bird, 10. Spooky, Flying Space-Cat, 11. a good wine, 12. Luna and the Evening Star

This is for the alternative meme made available for anyone who doesn’t have a car and so didn’t want to do this week’s main meme. Many of us have of course chosen to do both! I deceided to do this with two extra rules: (a) the pictures must come from the first two pages of results and (b) each would be a skyscape. The latter was surprisingly easy; number 10 being the biggest challenge. Enjoy!

The Questions & Answers:
You’re given 2 words and choose the word that you associate with the most … your first thought:
1. black / white
2. ocean / river
3. desert / mountains
4. sun / moon
5. day / night
6. chocolate / vanilla
7. swim / ski
8. beach / pool
9. birds / butterflies
10. cat / dog
11. wine / beer
12. even / odd

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

amusements, memes, photography, pleasures, thoughts

Car Meme


Car Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

1. white and blue 68, 2. The Magic Flying Carpet, 3. Blue Heron Rayon Metallic (Blue Violet), 4. Supersonic Doubledek, 5. campus, early morning, snow, 6. frogish robot drives monster truck, 7. Tandem Flight into the Night, 8. tourist 4018, 9. IHC Hospital thru Main Rotor, 10. MGA through a river, 11. White Pegasus, 12. Spread your wings and fly away…

As I don’t drive (I never have and probably now never will) a slightly wacky, fantasy-esque, contribution this week. 🙂

The Questions & Answers:
1. What make or model was your first car? Pale blue Alfa Romeo Formula 1, circa 1960
2. What would be your dream vehicle? Magic carpet
3. What is your favorite color for a car? Metallic blue
4. What is your favorite speed to drive? Supersonic
5. Where is the stupidest place you’ve ever parked your car? In the village of War Drobe
6. Stick or Automatic? Robot-drive
7. What has been your favorite vehicle that you’ve owned? Tandem
8. How old were you when you got your drivers license? 4018
9. What is your favorite feature on a car/vehicle? Rotor blades
10. You’re going on a road trip – what vehicle would you rent if anything was available for you? MGA; and yes they did exist, quite some while before the much more famous MGB
11. Does your car have a name, if so what is it? Pegasus, unless you can think of a better name for a magic carpet!!
12. What one feature is a deal breaker in buying a car, ie: if the car doesn’t have it you won’t buy it? Wings; to go with the rotor-blades of course!

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

beliefs, thoughts

Ten Commandments

I recently came across ten commandments suggested by Osho, aka. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Indian “Holy Man” of many Rolls-Royces. Although he professed to be against any kind of commandment, “just for fun” he set out the following:

1. Never obey anyone’s command unless it is coming from within you also.
2. There is no God other than life itself.
3. Truth is within you, do not search for it elsewhere.
4. Love is prayer.
5. To become a nothingness is the door to truth. Nothingness itself is the means, the goal and attainment.
6. Life is now and here.
7. Live wakefully.
8. Do not swim – float.
9. Die each moment so that you can be new each moment.
10. Do not search. That which is, is. Stop and see.

While they are very “new age” what interested me was how different they are from the original Ten Commandments dictated to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21). Although they vary in detail between different Christian and Judaic sects they are in essence:

1. I am the Lord thy God … Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image …
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honour thy father and thy mother
6. Thou shalt not murder.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
10. Thou shalt not covet …

What I find interesting, although maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise, is that the Old Testament version, for all its negativity, is about two things: what to believe and how to live in society. By contrast Rajneesh’s version is all about one’s internal conduct (as a means to attain enlightenment). But what struck me is that although these are two very different sets of “instructions”, and leaving apart structures to about a God-being, both essentially boil down to one thing: “Do as you would be done by” or in Wicca as “An it harm none, do what ye will”. Although with the Rajneesh version one has to interpret this between the lines. Which just supports my view that all religious belief boils down to this one thing: treat others as you would wish them to treat you. And indeed all seven of the major world religions do have such a tenet embedded within them.

By contrast the often though to be religious “smash the infidel” commandment is a purely militaristic and political mindset of “my tribe is better than your tribe” and seldom anything to do with true religion and philosophical belief systems.

arts, photography

Medicated Scan


Medicated Scan, originally uploaded by kcm76.

Just for fun I took the scan I used for this week’s self-portrait and mucked about with it in Photoshop and PaintShop Pro. Result: one sea blue, dis-armed hand.

science

LHC Turned On — Earth Survives

So this morning scientists turned on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. And Earth has survived. Of course it bloody has! The flaming machine hasn’t done anything yet!

As I understand it all the scientists have done so far is to turn on the power and inject the first packet of protons into the collider ring. That was never going to do any damage, even supposing damage is likely.

So what happened to these oh so destructive black holes the naysayers think the LHC will produce? Well before that might happen, the scientists have to get a proton beam circulating in both directions (not just one as they’ve done today); then focus the beams so they collide; and then do it at a high enough energy. That is many weeks, even months, away. This is a gradual process if doing things one step at a time and gradually ramping up the power. To quote CERN’s press release:

Starting up a major new particle accelerator takes much more than flipping a switch. Thousands of individual elements have to work in harmony, timings have to be synchronized to under a billionth of a second, and beams finer than a human hair have to be brought into head-on collision. Today’s success puts a tick next to the first of those steps, and over the next few weeks, as the LHC’s operators gain experience and confidence with the new machine, the machine’s acceleration systems will be brought into play, and the beams will be brought into collision to allow the research programme to begin.

Once colliding beams have been established, there will be a period of measurement and calibration for the LHC’s four major experiments, and new results could start to appear in around a year.

So don’t expect Armageddon for a year or so, and only then if the LHC doesn’t turn out to be a white elephant!

books, history, memes, personal, photography, pleasures, science, thoughts, topographical

09/09/2008 This & That Meme!


This & That Meme!, originally uploaded by kcm76.

1. Anyone for Cricket?, 2. Sooty Oystercatcher, 3. Blue Hyacinth, 4. I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, 5. Oz on bookcase 04212006 003, 6. Hoover Factory Greenford London, 7. DSC_2240, 8. Cunt Examination, 9. giving Katie the best there is and hoping she’ll be gaining back some weight …, 10. Jack and Jill Windmills in Sussex, 11. egg custard (gross), 12. Latin

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste the html into your blog or Flickr stream (the easiest way is to copy the URLs and then head over to the fd’s flickr toys link above and use the mosaic maker).

The Questions & Answers:
1. What was your favorite summertime activity as a kid? Cricket
2. What was your first pet’s name? Sooty
3. What model car did you learn to drive on? I didn’t; yes that’s right, I never have learnt to drive and I don’t want to.
4. What’s your proudest moment as an adult? I’m sorry I haven’t a clue
5. What are your top 3 hobbies (other than photography)? cats, science, books
6. Where do you call home? Greenford
7. Where did you call home at age 11 (or any age)? Waltham Cross
8. What word do you love to say? C**t
9. Where do you go to relax? Lying in the sun
10. Who was your first kiss? Jill
11. Least favorite food? Egg custard
12. Least favorite subject in school? Latin although it’s a close finish with woodwork.

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

amusements, medical, science, sexuality, thoughts

Zen Mischievous Moments #143

Yet another timely contribution from the “Feedback” column in this week’s New Scientist …

Saddle saw

MOST surprising paper title of the week has to be “Cutting off the nose to save the penis”. This article, by Steven Schrader, Michael Breitenstein and Brian Lowe appears in the August issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine. What could it possibly be about? The online journal Physorg.com’s report on the article makes things a little clearer: “No-nose bicycle saddles improve penile sensation and erectile function in bicycling police officers.”

It transpires that the traditional bicycle saddle, with its protruding nose, can cause deleterious health effects such as erectile dysfunction and groin numbness. A study of 90 bicycling police officers before and after using noseless bicycle saddles for six months found “significant improvements in penile tactile sensation” and “significant increases in erectile function”. Irwin Goldstein, editor-in-chief of the journal, found the article so rousing that he wrote an accompanying editorial entitled “The A, B, C’s of The Journal of Sexual Medicine: Awareness, Bicycle Seats, and Choices”.

You wouldn’t believe it if you hadn’t read it here first.