Pancake Day! We served up pancakes today (Tesco's ready made) at the Community Cafe, with organic lemons to squeeze and sugar. Since neither Jane or I had a chance to eat one, we made our own in the evening. Naturally, mine tasted better than the bought ones!
Pancakes are traditionally eaten on Shrove Tuesday, the last Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, when the church's shriving bell would call you to come and be shriven of your sins. The Romans ate sweet pancakes and there is a recipe for them in a cookery book from 1439. With human's inevitable ability to make a show, pancake throwing or flipping must have originated almost at the same time with a later mention here:
"And every man and maide doe take their turne, And tosse their Pancakes up for feare they burne." (Pasquil's Palin, 1619).
But why simply toss a pancake when you can use it for a pancake race. In 1445 a woman of Olney in Buckinghamshire heard the shriving bell calling her to church ring while she was making pancakes and so ran to the church in her apron, still clutching her frying pan. Now the annual race of local housewives is famous world wide. There is a requirement to wear a hat or scarf and an apron, toss the pancake three times and for the winner to be kissed by the Bellringer. This is surely an event waiting for gender, sexual and religious emancipation.
Inevitably, any physical activity decays into football, much as radioactive compounds decay to lead. A number of towns have retained or revived the tradition of Shrove Tuesday or Mob Football. Another essay in itself.
UK News dominated by the Coroner's report on the Tunisian beach attack last year, criticising the deliberately delayed (cowardly) response by the security services. Brexit featured only in minor articles.
As the conservative harrumphing, disapproval, disdain and belittlement of John Major and his cautionary comments on the risks of Brexit faded, George Osborne, former Chancellor of the Exchequer argued to business leaders, that the UK could not rely on new trade deals beyond Europe after Brexit. Brexit without an EU deal would be "the biggest act of protectionism in British history". Boris Johnson responded that the UK could be "ever-more European and ever-more internationalist" at the same time.
But the world awaits with bated breath, President Trump's first address to Congress, on this Tuesday evening in the US, Wednesday for us in the UK.
Tuesday 28 February 2017
Monday 27 February 2017
As John Major Strikes, is Trump Planning War?
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| Orangettes |
Yesterday's bread was rising a bit more actively than expected, so that by 2am, I put it in the fridge till the morning. It did bake well today and, on slicing for lunch, had a good closer, moist texture.
I finished editing the videos by about 3am, but was then kept awake by stomach cramps until having a bite to eat. Copying the raw and the edited video files to memory sticks took till the early afternoon. At last, covering letters written, they and memory the sticks went out in the post today as promised last week.
Job done, I tried tempering some plain chocolate and dipping the orangette strips. Once the chocolate had set with the hoped for snap, a taste test. Wow! it was the combination of the bitter sugary, slightly crunchy strips plus initially hard and then melt-in-the-mouth chocolate suddenly made the sweet work. I've had to put them out of sight for today.
Tempering chocolate is a process where chocolate is first melted and then cooled to a specific temperature which promotes the formation of lots of small cocoa butter crystals, then is heated slightly again before use. This gives tempered chocolate its snap and silky appearance on setting. One method listed here https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/how-temper-chocolate.
Former PM John Major came out of the shadows for a broadside at the Brexiteers, during a speech at Chatham House. It should be noted that he accepted that the people had spoken in the referendum. However, he decried the shouting down of the remainers since and the over-optimistic bullish attitude of the current government. John Major said he was giving a reality check that Brexit was not going to be an easy negotiation, also that a hard Brexit with a shift to an aggressive market, could mean the loss of the NHS and Scotland. Misleading the public again about the realities of Brexit would in the long run lead to an even greater disconnect between politicians and the public.
I particularly liked this quote from his speech:
"Negotiations are all about “give” and “take”. We know what the Brexiteers wish to take: yet we hear nothing about what our country may have to give in return. If anyone genuinely believes that Europe will concede all we wish for – and exact no price for doing so – then they are extraordinarily naïve."
Full text of his speech published in the Mirror: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/john-majors-incendiary-speech-branding-9929258.
President Trump outlines a major element in his plan to curb government spending, by increasing the military budget by 10%, as "“We have to start winning wars again.."! Is he thinking of starting one? Perhaps against Iran or North korea? The $54bn raise in the military budget to over $600bn, should assist with that. Currently US military spending is practically 3x the spending of China ($215bn in 2015) and about 9x that of Russia ($66bn in 2015).
All these happenings still being supplanted by the Oscar Best Film Award fiasco in the news!
Sunday 26 February 2017
UK Deporting Grandmother, and Marine Argonauts
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| Jeanne Villepreux-Power, photographed in 1861 by André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri |
Camilla sourdough taken out of fridge to feed. Half of the starter used for a new loaf around lunchtime. Allowed to rise till about 7pm, knocked back and then put in bread tin, covered with a bit of oil and cling-film. Hopefully, it will not climb our of the tin overnight.
Catching up with the news in this weeks New Scientist, particularly interested in two stories.
One, the nine viruses of the possible apocalypse. These were Lassa Fever, Nipah, Rift Valley Fever, SARS, MERS and related coronaviruses, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, Chikungunya, Zika, "Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome' and A. N. Others that may unexpectedly arise. The worrying thing is that there is little defence against viruses, apart from vaccines - which are not available in the mass required for epidemics. We were very fortunate that the rapidly evolving/mutating Ebola was contained at the time.
The other story was about Jeanne Villepreux-Power, who became a naturalist when moving to Sicily. She is famous for discovering that the shelled octopus species from the group of the Argonauts made their own shells. Where the scientific debate at the time (1830s) was whether these octupuses made their own shells or scavenged them, Jeanne saw that no-one had actually done any experiments or observation. She invented the aquarium as part of her work, though others have been credited in the past. patiently studying an argonaut with a damaged shell, she saw it repair the shell using secretions from two of its arms. (Wikipedia & New Scientist No. 3114)
Tomorrows Telegraph to have an article that Theresa May is set to announce the end of free movement for new EU migrants when she formally starts Brexit negotiations.
A sign of the compassionate way in which immigration issues will be dealt with can be seen in the story of a Grandmother. Originally from Singapore, Irene Clennell lived in Scotland with her British Husband for 27 years, having two children. Yesterday, she was deported at short notice without the chance to pack clothes, only GBP12 in her pocket and no-where to stay when she arrives back in Singapore. More details here http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/grandmother-irene-clennell-deported-uk-27-years_uk_58b3509fe4b0780bac2a517e.
Saturday 25 February 2017
Orangettes, Ryanair Jets and Trump Rejects (Dinner Invitation)
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| Orangettes |
A working weekend, continuing with the video editing. For light relief, thought I would try to make orangettes. Now, not only the orange peels but the whole house is suffused with the overpowering scent of anise, with a hint of cinnamon and possibly cardamon. Just got to hope that the peels will crystallise overnight.
Still reading the Sherlock Holmes stories, Today, 'The Beryl Coronet', which led me to ask, what exactly is Beryl? Pure clear Beryl is made of beryllium aluminium cyclosilicate with the chemical formula Be3Al2(SiO3)6. However, additional minerals in small quantities can impart colours such as green, blue, yellow, red. Green is more familiar as the precious stone, emerald, with blue being aquamarine.
The unexpected surprise was to find that the German word for spectacles, Brille, actually comes from Beryl. In the 13th century, when glasses were first made, glass was still not clear enough to use, so clear quarz and beryl was used for lenses. Spectacles were therefore known as Berille or Berillen, which later simplified into Brille.
Ryanair is setting a deadline of February 2018 re getting a decision from the Government re Brexit and the ability to fly unhindered in EU space. Currently UK airlines have an 'open skies' agreement with the US and with the rest of the EU, which will fall with Brexit. According to the Express
The 'open skies' agreement is regulated by the ECJ (European Court of Justice), and Prime Minister May wants to be unfettered by the ECJ as part of Brexit.
According to The Guardian, "Every reasonably-sized company in the flourishing financial technology sector – involving e-lending, money transfers and the banking markets – is now actively looking at moving staff and investment out of the country because of the uncertainty caused by Brexit..."
Trump obviously expecting to be working hard in the coming months as he is missing the White house Correspondents' Association Dinner, which, as far as I can tell, isn't scheduled till April 29, 2017. Last years dinner included steak with honey and orange-infused shrimp. i still have some syrup left over from the orangettes - does aniseed and cardamon go with shrimp?
In the meantime, Amol Rajan, BBC Media Editor, writes that so far, President Trump has actually been a great boost to the media, with CNN having a good 2016 and the New York times seeing an upsurge in people paying for news.
Friday 24 February 2017
Brexit Conference and Trump's Slippery Slope to McCarthyism?
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| Artwork on wall of Guild Hall |
Key concerns were insecurity for current EU nationals in UK, who make up 50% of the staff and 25% of the doctors in the healthcare system in our region and the impact on the University. With EU universities now beginning to appear more attractive than the UK, which is viewed as increasingly hostile, there has already been a 7% decline in student applications for Cambridge University, which is still better than the 14% drop in the rest of the UK. There were late talks by Julian Huppert, Daniel Zeichner MP and a Lord, whose name I didn't catch.
The overall consensus was, yes, the people had spoken, yes, article 50 was going to be invoked. This did not stop us from raising real issues and concerns that would affect Cambridge.
I was down to act as moderator for one of the round-table discussions, on business. Due to the lower than expected number of delegates, I first teamed up with fellow moderator from another table, American postgrad Colby, and then Joined up with Esther and 'Elise'. Now having a full table with additional delegates, our discussions bounced actively back and forth for about 100 minutes.
The key points we agreed on were that:
- Whilst currently the Pharmaceuticals and hi-tech sectors were likely to ride out the Brexit storm, there was considerable uncertainty. Particularly about what could be the tipping point that would initiate these companies leaving the UK in the longer term.
- The raising of tariffs and trade barriers could only have a negative effect, in raising prices on foods, fuel and raw materials for manufacturing.
- There was a real risk of the disparity between the poorer regions outside of Cambridge and the Cambridge bubble would grow.
President Trump went to town against the media, as 'Enemy of the People" and railed at the use of unnamed leaks from his administration that provide negative news. The situation appeared to escalate at today's routine press briefing with Sean Spicer, which was changed at short notice into a gaggle. This was not unusual in itself. What was, was the selection of which media could enter and which not. Tellingly, it was the more critical media, including CNN and the BBC reporters, The Guardian, New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Politico and BuzzFeed , whilst the more right sympathetic Breitbart and Fox news were permitted in.
Reporters from The Associated Press, Time magazine and USA Today boycotted the meeting and and the White House Correspondents Association protested strongly about how the press briefing was handled.
Is Trump really on the path to McCarthyism? Well, judging by the definitions on Wikipedia and Dictionary.com, yes:
"McCarthyism
1. the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, especially of pro-Communist activity, in many instances unsupported by proof or based on slight, doubtful, or irrelevant evidence.
2. the practice of making unfair allegations or using unfair investigative techniques, especially in order to restrict dissent or political criticism."
Thursday 23 February 2017
Doris Day and 3D Printing
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| 3D printed miniature heads, artwork by S Zillayali, from Wikipedia |
Storm Doris swept into Cambridgeshire today, whipping our Christmas tree over and breaking it's pot. But perhaps the most gripping thing was watching the dilapidated section of a neighbours fence. At the start of the morning, a large plastic ball could be seen through the gaping gap at the bottom of the fence. The fence panel itself was held precariously in place by a rubber cycle tie fixed to a tree and braving the gusty wind. The ball however, was gradually being pressed into the gap, looking not unlike the vernix covered head of a baby slowly emerging from the womb. We would return to the window over a couple of hours as the ball inched its way through the gap. Finally, it popped out an the ball rolled freely in our garden.
This was trivial, as we sat safe in the comfort of our home whilst the wind whistled and buffeted the house. The storm wreaked across the county (as opposed to reeked havoc as reported by the Cambridge news, after all, it was blowing away from the sewage works), resulting in overblown lorries and accidents leading to the closure of the M11 Northbound and causing significant delays south.
Bit miffed that the same storm has been named 'Thomas' in Germany, where it also caused significant damage.
Like many, I couldn't help linking the storm Doris to Doris Day, who many remember for her bubbly and vibrant presence in films partnering with many of the male Hollywood leads, from Howard Keel, Clark Gable, Rock Hudson to Cary Grant. She is still alive and active, now concentrating on supporting animal welfare, including Republicans.
Jane and I were off this evening to the monthly Cambridge Enterprise and Technology Club (CETC) event with four speakers talking about the current cutting edge in 3D printing. Tim Minshall of the Institute for Manufacturing reminded us of the gloriously inaccurate but very illustrative graph of the Hype Cycle by the IT research and advisory firm Gartner. It describes the development of exciting new technologies, beginning with 'The Peak of Inflated Expectations', followed by 'The Trough of Disillusionment'. Then comes the gradual climb up 'The Slope of Enlightenment' to then reach 'The Plateau of Productivity'! Whilst the bubble is bursting for 3D printing hype, it could well be skipping the trough of depression, with Rolls Royce using 3D printing in the new models with more than 10, 000 3D printed components built in.
There was also TTPs Matthias Ediger demonstrating their innovative proprietary inkjet nozzle, which shot out liquid jets by vibration rather than pressure, followed by Vaiva Kalnikaite with nu-food, unusual tastes printed in clumps of flavoured blobs. Yes, this will be the next fashionable accessory, supplanting the pod coffee machines.
There was a statistically insignificant decline of 49,000 in the level of immigration to the UK, with much speculation but lack of clarity whether any changes are due to the Brexit decision or not. What is statistically significant is the dramatic increase in number of EU citizens in the UK having gained either citizenship or permanent residency, up by 50%. This reflects the underlying insecurity that I've certainly seen in friends and colleagues. News reports tending towards the potential negative impact of fewer immigrants, with one telling comment by interviewee, asked why British unemployed could not fill posts by immigrants if they left, "With so many vacancies available, there aren't enough of them"
Mexicans politely tell Tillerson that they are 'irritated', the White house apparently asking the security agencies for retrospective evidence that would support President Trump's travel ban. I'd been wondering why we have not heard much from Congress. apparently they are all on recess and instead there are 'Town Halls', where some are venting their anger at current policies to republicans.
There was also TTPs Matthias Ediger demonstrating their innovative proprietary inkjet nozzle, which shot out liquid jets by vibration rather than pressure, followed by Vaiva Kalnikaite with nu-food, unusual tastes printed in clumps of flavoured blobs. Yes, this will be the next fashionable accessory, supplanting the pod coffee machines.
There was a statistically insignificant decline of 49,000 in the level of immigration to the UK, with much speculation but lack of clarity whether any changes are due to the Brexit decision or not. What is statistically significant is the dramatic increase in number of EU citizens in the UK having gained either citizenship or permanent residency, up by 50%. This reflects the underlying insecurity that I've certainly seen in friends and colleagues. News reports tending towards the potential negative impact of fewer immigrants, with one telling comment by interviewee, asked why British unemployed could not fill posts by immigrants if they left, "With so many vacancies available, there aren't enough of them"
Mexicans politely tell Tillerson that they are 'irritated', the White house apparently asking the security agencies for retrospective evidence that would support President Trump's travel ban. I'd been wondering why we have not heard much from Congress. apparently they are all on recess and instead there are 'Town Halls', where some are venting their anger at current policies to republicans.
Wednesday 22 February 2017
Bouncing raindrops and White House Plumbing ensures Trump's Reign
Oh what a miserable day outside. Through sheer perversity, today's weather front created a narrow but long ribbon of rain that continued to dump its load on Milton for most of the day.
If you photograph raindrops in puddles, you can catch a glimpse of a rebounding drop leaping back out. This is dependent on the speed of the falling drop, its size and the depth of the water it is falling into. This photo is of a puddle in our street. Experiments by others with ink drops show that the rebounding drop contains some of the original falling drop.
After a phone call from Carel Sartory, outgoing chair of the QMC, wrote a quick guide for QMC members who wanted to film talks at regional meetings. Picked up Jane from Waterbeach station in the continuing deluge. This meant I didn't get back to video editing till the late afternoon and into the evening.
Brexit news limited to a local TV article on the falling pound making it more difficult to attract itinerant workers from Europe for the fields of East Anglia. UK news instead dominated by two items: The sentencing of Ian Stewart for the cold blooded murder of his author fiance Helen Bailey ; and the controversy over the million pound payout to Guantanamo Bay detainee Jamal al-Harith, to prevent him from revealing information on the British security services, who went on to blow himself up as an IS suicide bomber in Iraq.
US similarly relatively quiet, with three items of marginal note. First, Secretary of State Tillerson has not been talking to the media, when usually, the world hangs on daily briefings from the department. Second, The Washington Post has clocked President Trump at 133 false or misleading claims so far in his presidency.
The most amusing story of the day though, is that Trump has passed the landmark 31 days and can no longer be the shortest serving president. William Harry Harrison died after 31 days in post in 1847. To quote 'The Independent',
"Researchers initially thought he died as a direct consequence of getting pneumonia after delivering the longest inauguration address, 8,445 words, in US history in freezing temperatures. However, recent evidence suggests he died after contracting typhoid from the White House’s water supply."
At that time, the White House's drinking water came from a spring that was downstream from a sewage dump just seven blocks away. It has even been conjectured that two other presidents might have also been killed indirectly by the bad water, James K. Polk and Zachary Taylor — all died in office or shortly after leaving office. see http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/mysterious-deaths-3-presidents-linked-white-house-water.
Here is a fascinating article on the history of the White House plumbing from 1989, including such details as the fact that Presidents used to bathe in the Potomac River, with the risk of having their clothes stolen! https://www.plumbingsupply.com/pmwhitehouse.html.
So, the existing POTUS has been spared a similar fate by clean water - a mixed blessing for environmentalists!
Tuesday 21 February 2017
Video Editing; Will US Ban the Welsh?
To get rid of the hot pixels, I created a mask the same size as the video, with black spots the size of the hot pixels. I used it with an overlay trackto make hot spots transparent. The overlay track was then shifted to the right by a few pixels, so that a non-hot-pixel area of the underlying video replaced the offending spot.
I'm using Corel Videostudio x10 pro, which has a good multitrack editor. This has automatic synchronisation of the sound and video tracks, so I could concentrate on building the film track. It took most of the day to almost finish the first film, but it should get faster with the others.
Brexit had a Gallic flavour as French liberal presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron visited Downing Street. Afterward he came out and gave a cheeky offer to UK scientists and banks - 'Come to France!' According to the Telegraph, Oxford Univeristy is contemplating a Campus there, something immediately denied by Oxford University. However, a number of British universities will be considering continuing the tradition of setting up campuses abroad. Meanwhile, the Lords debate on the Brexit Bill is a news sideline.
The apparent agreement, with the US that UK nationals who happen to be Muslims or have a heritage from one of the nine countries banned by Trump, can travel to the US with a valid visa, appears not to not to be a reality. A dapper Welsh teacher, Juhel Miah, was accompanying students on a school trip to New York via Reykjavik in Iceland. He was taken aside for searches and then denied access to the plane and had to fly back, with no explanation and feeling like a criminal. The issue is being taken up by his local council with the American Embassy and to his MP. Perhaps Wales will be added to future US travel bans.
Monday 20 February 2017
Diatoms, Protozoa, Trump AND Brexit debates
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| Campylodiscus (250x) and Surirella (1000x) using Phase A contrast |
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| Campylodiscus in brightfield (stack of 80 photos) amd Surirella in boundary between brightfield and darkfield (stack of 3 photos) |
Up uncharacteristically early to meet a GP appointment booked online last Friday. The bruised foot was stlll assuming various shades of purple, green and orange and the ankle continued to hurt at the time of making the appointment. By today, the bruising was much reduced, the foot not swelling as much and the pain reduced. I was in and out with a minimum of fuss and the reassurance that I'd not broken anything.
Caught up with emails and admin in readiness for doing some project work tomorrow whist Jane was on the long train journey cross country to visit her mother.
This evening, had another bash at photographing the diatoms Surirella and Campylodiscus on prepared slides (not by me) using different lighting conditions. Diatoms are a type of algae, single celled plants that are common as phytoplankton in seas as well as colonising any piece of water from puddle to lake to river. They are are a favourite subject of microscopists because they produce delicately sculpted and patterned glass shells and are yet less than one tenth of a millimeter long. Surirella is oval and relatively flat in one plane. Campylodiscus is disc shaped, but like a bent coin. Different lighting techniques give dramatically different appearances. Not sure how or whether I will take them further for Cambridge Open Studios.
The House of Lords has begun debating the Brexit Bill but the main news so far is that Prime Minister May sat in to watch proceedings - or attempt intimidation, depending on the reporter. More interestingly, there has been a debate on whether Trump should have a state visit to the UK after 300,000 petitioners supported his visit but 1.8 million argued against. Protesters were voluble outside as the arguments continued within. There were interesting quotes coming out of the debate (Trump has the intellect of a protozoan; President behaving like a petulant child etc.) but this was just a symbolic debate, the government is not changing its position. Interestingly, a YouGov poll found that the majority of British people do want the state visit to go ahead and whilst overall, there was an objection to the US immigration ban, a significant minority would welcome a similar ban in the UK.
President Trump has made his choice for National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General Herbert Raymond McMaster, generally believed to be quite a rational choice. US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis is in Iraq persuading the Iraqis that POTUS is not going to take over their oil, as US and UK provide support for Iragi mission to retake western Mosul.
Sunday 19 February 2017
Enjoyable Dinner and Trumped Swedes?
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| Bitter Orange Truffle dusted with Cacao powder, before cutting into cubes |
I tackled focus stacking the diatom photos taken yesterday, trying out the BBC Spanish language learning site, 'Vida Loca' inbetween. Not sure if the photos are any good this time, but at least I can placate a frying-pan bearing Spanish woman when cornered on a balcony with 'Soy amigo de Teresa!'
The highlight of the day was dinner hosted by Heidi Lichterman and LvS, with Deanna and Martin Tyson joining us. The three course meal was a tour de force by Heidi's culinary skills, with many ingredients harvested from her garden and chickens. This included lovingly collected saffron, by emasculating individual crocus flowers over a season and carefully drying the harvested stamens, used to flavour our soup first course. The venison joint was not personally culled by Heidi but tasted delicious all the same with the raspberry vinegar. I also really loved the two vegetable sides, a cooked cabbage dish beautifully presented in leaves and a cooked salad of wild rice, baby kale, mushrooms, nuts, chestnuts and plum. Fortunately, there was still space to enjoy the homemade apple pie and ultra-smooth vanilla ice-cream. Our truffles were a full stop with the coffees at the end.
It was LvS who summarised the evening by remarking on the wide range of topics covered before, during and after the meal. The conversation started with recent Banksy work, swirled around politics, sanity, megalomania, and other Trumpisms; travelled back in time to the McArthy area, which had directly affected Heidi's family and saw the dangerous similarities to the present day. We shook our heads at the irrational progress of Brexit; pondered the different generational impact of social media; and debated the merits and emotional impact of handwriting and calligraphy.
Yet it was only as we were about to leave that we heard of a real personal achievement by one of the round. Martin Tyson had recently successfully completed a half marathon in just over 2h!
Re Trump generated fake news, minor story on his mentioning a terrorist event that happened yesterday in Sweden, much to the consternation of the Swedes themselves, who asked 'What event?'
Brexit bill to be discussed in the Upper house in the coming week with initial shots being fired by Lord Mandelson, warning that May may expect some push back.
Saturday 18 February 2017
Burning Calories and Trump's Fake News on Fake News
Here's a link if any one else wants to contribute towards Mind as part of Karen's Great Wall of China Challenge: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Karen-Williams-trek-china
Slept in after the excitement of yesterday and to kill off a developing migraine. Louise had arrived last night for a visit and we took the opportunity to photograph some of her new work in readiness for our shared Cambridge Open Studios.
After lunch, Jane and Louise hit the fabric shops in Ely whilst I used the afternoon to take pictures of diatoms Surirella gemma and Campylodiscus using phase A contrast for processing tomorrow.
Took Louise back to St Neots, where S had cooked us a welcome cottage pie. Louise also finally got her Christmas chocolate pudding, which went down well with chocolate ice cream. We watched the video of Get Smart together. Aware that I had been sitting around all day, I enjoyed the film from S's exercise bike, clocking 28 kilometers and allegedly burning 430 kcalories during the 1h 45m of the video. The one advantage of an indoor cycle machine is the total absence of wind, though you can set the pedal resistance.
President Trump holds a rally in Florida that is very popular with his supporters, reiterating his policy promises re immigration, combating crime and protecting US businesses and jobs. He also slams the media again re the 'fake news'that they are spreading about him. These continued attempts to de-legitimise the media are quite worrying and quite frankly hypocritical, considering that his messages about the state of the nation, the danger from immigrants, and the absence of vetting prior to permission to live in the US are blatantly fake news themselves when you reference fact checking sites. Similar attacks and diminution of the free press have been seen in increasingly autocratic regimes, such as Russia and Turkey.
Yet, interestingly, the media Trump is most critical of, were not the main media that voters were accessing. Fox news dominated as an information source in 2016 (19% of voters), though primarily for Trump supporters (40% of Trump supporters). CNN came second at 13% of all voters, 18% of Clinton voters. Source information here: http://www.journalism.org/2017/01/18/trump-clinton-voters-divided-in-their-main-source-for-election-news/. Facebook featured as the third largest source of information at around 8% in both camps.
But even the generally more Trump/Republican biased Fox News viewed his press conference last Thursday with a pinch of salt regarding some of his claims and gave credit to justified reporting in other media.
The impact of social media is increasingly under the spotlight, with 78% of US population having a social media profile (https://www.statista.com/statistics/273476/percentage-of-us-population-with-a-social-network-profile/). Back in October 2016, the proportion of visits to social media sites in the US was 42% Facebook, 25% YouTube and 5% Twitter (https://www.statista.com/statistics/265773/market-share-of-the-most-popular-social-media-websites-in-the-us/).
My impression is that, seeing as the majority of US citizens receive their news through conventional media, the impact of Twitter and Facebook is actually through retelling selective elements of their content in TV, radio and newspapers.
Friday 17 February 2017
Monty Bear's Day Out as Blair Remains
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| Monty at the Fashion Show |
Today was Monty's day. Monty is a lovable teddy that I won around 2005 in a naming competition and he is part of the Thomas household. I invoted him along on my networking day as there was a special treat in store for him at the end of the day.
Having a teddy bear with you changes things. There's the sudden hidden smile when people see him peeking out of your bag as you wait for the bus, the fascination by the young girl who travels with her Mother to St Ives every week, and the unfazedness of the driver when I claim Monty is under Ticket age.
There was a bit of window shopping and seeing the sights of St Ives before entering the Taproom for the A14 Networking. Chocolate came his way from Karen, where normally it would be accumulating in the other direction and people were happy to be photographed with him.
Later at the Norris Museum, Monty met up with Ali's teddy, inbetween looking on as I worked on the map sites and then it was on to Huntingdon.
Monty took to travelling by bus like a duck to water. The Guided Busway's B service is mainly double-deckers, so we made a beeline for the top floor and the front seats. Here we shared the elevated view as we travelled between the two towns and then wound around the tortuous route through the Oxmoor estate till we reached the bus station.
I think going to Wetherspoons was the first time Monty had been to a pub. Initially, he was quite reserved, but after the food and drinks came, he loosened up a bit and Paula in particular took him to her heart. I had an appointment with Joan, to do an interview for her with Tony over in Ramsay. Her dog took an immediate liking for Monty and ran off with him to play. After a short while, Monty politely extricated himself and from there on stayed out of reach on the table as the interview progressed.
At any other networking Friday, we would then have made our way home, however, Monty's starring role was to come. I'd volunteered to be a male fashion model with four others from the A14 Network, significantly outnumbered by female models. This was a cancer charity event organised by Karen and Janet Williams (unrelated). I'd never modelled before, and to my knowledge, neither had Monty. By appearing together on the catwalk, we gave each other the confidence to show of those pyjamas I was wearing!
The evening went well, with the male models distinguishing themselves particularly, I felt, through sheer style, maturity and charisma, with only minor lapses by Paul. Monty and I watched the remaining ladies and children strut their stuff on the catwalk after we had changed back into our everyday clothes.
The after-show shopping frenzy and cheerful socialising led to Monty meeting another bear in high spirits. Eventually it was time to leave and say goodbye.
Overall, Monty's outing was a success and we returned home, tired and happy.
Trump continues to play to his crowd in the US, again deflecting from serious political issues by labeling the serious press as 'Enemies of the People'.
Over here in the UK, Tony Blair re-enters, stage centre left. He is throwing his weight behind Open Britain and actively taking up the cause of the EU remainers. Immediate outcry from the brexiteers, government ministers and some of Labour, decrying his re-entry into British politics as a reviled figure of the past.
Blair seems unperturbed, stating that he is free to express his opinions.
But some are pointing out that whilst you might dislike the messenger, some parts of the message are relevant and deserve to be raised. His words resonated with the Liberals and with the SNP.
The niggling worry is, will Blair's involvement work for or against those trying to maintain a rational counter to the headlong rush into Brexit. The current situation is so febrile and polarised, rational facts take a lesser status than issues of personality, perception and opinion.
Headaches for me and for Trump
Waking up with a migraine is a mixed bag. At least you are already in bed to try and sleep it off, but if it's well established it can be too late to respond and you are stuck with it. I took the tablets but this one lingered till early evening, not fully incapacitating, but a constant companion. At least work was distracting.
"Migraine is the third most common disease in the world (behind dental caries and tension-type headache) with an estimated global prevalence of 14.7% (that’s around 1 in 7 people)" (Migraine Trust https://www.migrainetrust.org). I suffer from chronic migraine, which affects approximately 2% of the world population. The fact that there are 190,000 migraine attacks every day in the UK is cold comfort.
Mind you, President Trump has his own headaches, and he spent a good 76 minutes berating the main culprits - the press at a press conference called at short notice. He did so in good humour, and with a spattering of indifference to the issues with Russia, anger at the leaks in his own administration which are apparently the media's fault, support for his incoming, existing and outgoing team and Melania, He also contributed his own fake news, such as his government running like a well oiled machine,
that he had the biggest Electoral College win since Ronald Reagan (Clinton, Bush Senior and Obama all did better), Hilary Clinton giving 20% of America's Uranium to Russia (Russia bought a majority stake in a Canadian Company that accounts for about 20 percent of U.S. uranium production capacity,this is NOT 20 percent of existing uranium. It could also be argued that Russia had been giving the US uranium, as the United States and Russia have exchanged enriched and raw uranium for years.
But this evening/night, the most striking personal impression from news in the US, UK and Germany is, that his often rambling speech was not as impactful as others - we are becoming inured to Trump. A Spiegel article downgrades him from not being able to be a President to not even being able to be a dictator, and worrying more about the chaos if he goes.
Perhaps tomorrow's papers will prove me wrong.
Perhaps the one unintended consequence is - the amount of material he will be providing to satirists around the world. Saturday Night Live will have a field day.
At least my bread and rolls came out well from the oven just after midnight. Headache gone, now bright eyed and bushy tailed, I just hope I can get ot sleep
Wednesday 15 February 2017
Two state solutions for creating colours but not for Trump
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| Creating your own rainbows |
After the final edit of a second edition, went to discuss an artist client's website in development. Lots of rearranging the pictures on the site. I was caught out by not finding password for site till checking with Jane - why do our minds go blank at critical periods?!
Fortunately, I got back in time to spend an enjoyable afternoon with a student wanting to learn photography through the microscope. We started off with a butterfly wing with top lighting from simple macro photography to using the low power stereomicroscope to a high power compound light microscope. We finished photographing hair from different sources, culminating in the colour effects that could be achieved with polarisation filters.
Apart from pigments, many natural subjects create beautiful colour effects by reflecting light and interference - the sheen of iridescent butterfly wings and peacock tail feathers being two examples. CDs and DVDs are everyday examples of rainbow colours created by very fine gratings (see picture). Soap bubbles are good examples of colours created by interference, but there was another more permanent example that you could make at home, iridescent paper! A number of sites describe the technique of which the following worked best for me this evening (see picture):
- Pour some cold water into a tray
- Immerse a strip of black card or paper under the water, with a bit sticking out for you to hold.
- Let one or two drops of clear nail varnish drip onto the water.
- Quickly lift out the paper, which is coated with a very thin film.
- Blot the paper and allow to dry
- You will have an iridescent coating on the paper!
Was interested to read today that a lost essay by Churchill has been found, where he was open to the idea of alien life on other planets. Churchill was apparently interested in and a supporter of science. With Trump returning Churchill's bust to his Oval Office, we shall surely soon see POTUS shift in direction towards science and a fact based approach to key issues, such as climate change.
Tuesday 14 February 2017
On Photography as Flynn Falls on Sword
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| St Ives from the Old Bridge |
I managed to get a good morning's work in before we were off for a lunch with Hugh Hales-Tooke, son of author Ann Hales-Tooke (writing as Ann Petre). Hugh is a photographer, videographer, painter and musician. I liked his early fashion photography, with a puckish, sometimes surreal visual humour, reflected again in his video for Laura Cantrell's 'All The Girls Are Complicated'. A couple of years ago, I shadowed him as he took portraits in St John's College using an old plate camera. A totally different experience of having to make sure subject and location are exactly right because you can only take one or two shots, contrasting with the ability to shoot hundreds of digital photos and pick out one or two.
He had an interesting question, whether it was important for me to have a selection of photographs printed. I do make a selection every year for my July Cambridge Open Studio, but I had to stop and think, rather than respond immediately.
For me, especially with photography through the microscope, the main challenge is in the subject and honing down your gaze to find a scene within a camera frame. It is followed by experimentation and decisions with different lighting and other settings. Then often the final image is a composite of focus stacks and stitched panoramas, involving up to several hundred images. It doesn't work all the time, and when it does, the final image gives a burst of pleasure before you move on to the next challenge.
Yet now, looking back this evening, there are images that stick in my mind and where there is a particular fond recognition when they are seen again, whether in print or on screen.
It was an enjoyable lunch for both Jane and me, and I hope Hugh too. We parted laughing as we went through the typical British multiple extended goodbyes - something I'd just read about in Kate Fox's 'Watching the English' last night.
I dropped Jane off back home and trundled up to St Ives, parking at the Dolphin. The winter sunshine brought out the picturesque nature of the town when seen from the Old Bridge. I spent an hour in M&Co choosing and trying on three sets of clothes for the charity fashion show on Friday and then managed to return home while it was still light, with some Thornton's chocolates.
Last night I had the Brexit shock of my life, when I found myself agreeing with Ryanair's Michael O'Leary, in an interview where he stated that there could be problems with flights between the UK and the remaining EU after Brexit.
Over the Pond, President Trumps security adviser, Michael Flynn fell on his sword after it became public that he had talked to a Russian envoy about the sanctions, before Trump had been elected as president. Interesting that this was not an issue for Trump, who knew about this weeks ago, according to the BBC. It was the leaking of the information and the fact that he had lied to the Vice President Mike Pence.
The news pushed other bad news for Trump into the background, such as the US Office of Government Ethics calling on the White House to investigate adviser Kellyanne Conway for plugging Ivanka Trump products, something I'm sure Trump will take very seriously.
But there was good news for him too. The British Government would not withdraw the invitation for a state visit with the opportunity to meet the Queen and be exposed to hostile crowds, despite the 1.8 million signature petition. A win for the 300,000 who voted for him to come.
Monday 13 February 2017
Bruises, Snowdrops and Welsh Griddle Cakes
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| Welsh griddle cakes, photo Jane Thomas |
Woke up late this morning with a beautiful rash on my torso. Fortunately it was not an itchy hives, but rather the only hint that a mild virus is temporarily coursing through my system. More spectacular, the bruise on my foot had shifted.
On Saturday, I'd banged my right ankle with the wheeled case as I rushed from the tube station to the NHM. It was absolute agony but I could walk without limping. Sunday morning, the ankle was still swollen and there was a noticeable bruise above the bump that is the lower tibia end on the ankle. By the end of the day, the blood from the bruise was migrating downwards. This morning, the bruise was now along the left side of the right foot and colouring impressively into purple. Lovely! According to a quick internet research, i can look forward to the bruise turning green over the next five days, followed by yellow brown and then gradually disappearing. At least the pain and swelling is decreasing.
On Saturday, I'd banged my right ankle with the wheeled case as I rushed from the tube station to the NHM. It was absolute agony but I could walk without limping. Sunday morning, the ankle was still swollen and there was a noticeable bruise above the bump that is the lower tibia end on the ankle. By the end of the day, the blood from the bruise was migrating downwards. This morning, the bruise was now along the left side of the right foot and colouring impressively into purple. Lovely! According to a quick internet research, i can look forward to the bruise turning green over the next five days, followed by yellow brown and then gradually disappearing. At least the pain and swelling is decreasing.
Ulli phoned today still battling with trying to recover his website that had been hacked - including the security backups. There was the revelation that, instead of your content being easily accessible as it had been in ye olde html, it is now stored elsewhere, on other hidden servers. He is not a happy man.
Jane and I were beguiled by the winter sunshine and wandered over to North Lodge to see the snowdrops, taking our cameras with us. A bitterly cold wind was whistling across from the fields and rattling the flowers intermittently so that you had to guess the time to press the camera shutter. I had a single snowdrop picture that survived the culling of the numerous shots afterwards.
It used to be thought that snowdrops were a UK native, as they are in large parts of Europe. It is now believed to be an introduced and naturalised species, possibly from as late as the early sixteenth century. Rare new varieties are sought after and one of our Authors, Bill Clark, former warden at Wandlebury, discovered a new gold variety there which was later named Wendy's gold in honour of his wife. It has now been multiplied and is available from a range of of horticultural suppliers.
It used to be thought that snowdrops were a UK native, as they are in large parts of Europe. It is now believed to be an introduced and naturalised species, possibly from as late as the early sixteenth century. Rare new varieties are sought after and one of our Authors, Bill Clark, former warden at Wandlebury, discovered a new gold variety there which was later named Wendy's gold in honour of his wife. It has now been multiplied and is available from a range of of horticultural suppliers.
We needed something more warming than just a cup of tea when we came back. Homemade crumpets would have taken too long as they use yeast, so we made Welsh griddle cakes for the first time instead. Still warm from the frying pan (used as a substitute for a gridle), buttered and spread with plum jam or quince jelly, they tasted great. Welsh griddle cakes became popular in the 19th century, possibly because they were a simple and pocket sized treat for agricultural workers or miners in Wales. Originally made without baking powder, till it was introduced in 1843 and the current recipe was developed.
Justin Trudeau, Canadian Prime Minister visits President Trump in the US and uses polite assertion of the Canadian view on immigration, distinct from the US, though they would not dream of telling Trump how he should rule America.
Interesting story of an US Born NASA scientist being stopped at re-entry to US and asked to unlock his confidential JPL phone so the data could be copied, before being allowed back in. See http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/13/us/citizen-nasa-engineer-detained-at-border-trnd/index.html. The Council on American Islamic Relations reports increased scrutiny of American-Muslims' social media accounts and contents of their mobile phones since Trump's ban, which has since been blocked in court.
Interesting story of an US Born NASA scientist being stopped at re-entry to US and asked to unlock his confidential JPL phone so the data could be copied, before being allowed back in. See http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/13/us/citizen-nasa-engineer-detained-at-border-trnd/index.html. The Council on American Islamic Relations reports increased scrutiny of American-Muslims' social media accounts and contents of their mobile phones since Trump's ban, which has since been blocked in court.
In the UK, the NHS crisis has now been itself trumped in the news by an undercover Panorama program that revealed drugs rife and prisoners more in control than the Prison Service. Brexit rumblings continue in the EU with statements on EU solidarity during the negotiations with the UK.
Sunday 12 February 2017
Filming in Bedford
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| Rabbit hair under crossed popolars from yesterday's Quekett Workshop |
We had a very diverse group of 5 speakers, three women and two men. They ranged from a vivacious American who filled the room with her personality, to a PR woman from Scotland who emanated an inner calm with warmth showing through. She came to my rescue with a pecan pastry at the end of the afternoon, when I needed the sugar. Our compare found himself doing two introductions (a long one and a short one) for a number of the speakers.
You will notice that I did not mention the content of the speeches. That is because my full attention was on the screen of the Panasonic camcorder, doing the head and shoulder shots and trying to keep the speakers in frame when they moved across the stage. The strategy is to keep the camera still as the person moves out of view, then quickly move the camera until they appear in frame and then stay still again. The wide angle views taken with a second camera can be used to fill in gaps or large body movements with whole body shots.
I, 'Mr get cold at any temperature below 21 degC', was kept surprisingly warm by concentration and the adrenaline of recording. In contrast, the audience and speakers were getting progressively colder as the heating had timed out. By the time the room had chilled down to 14 degC, we had to introduce a 15 minute heating break for them to recover. Our American speaker generously shared her video recording and equipment tips with the audience and other speakers to help pass the time.
Arriving back home drained, I transferred the recordings to the PC, before finishing for the day. I think I deserve Monday off.
Tory knives still out for Common's Speaker Bercow, after the news that he had told students that he voted remain in the referendum. He probably has enough supporters to stay in his position.
Donald Trump was entertaining the Japanese Prime Minister when North Korea trialed another missile allegedly capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Apart from initial condemnation, there is no major reaction in US to North Korean missile test today.
Saturday 11 February 2017
Hair Today and Cyber Security
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| Stegosaurus displayed at the Natural History Museum, London, UK |
Workshop at the Natural History Museum; Cyber security.
A trip to London can be a little adventure - as long as its not the daily commute. That's how I felt as I took the train from Waterbeach to spend the day at the Natural History Museum. Whilst the morning was Quekett Microscopical Club committee business, the afternoon involved co-sharing a workshop on animal hairs and feathers with Dennis Fullwood. After a brief introduction, the delegates were let loose and descended on the numerous samples from animals as diverse as peacock and mammoth.
A box of cheap 3d glasses, as used by cinemas, had arrived on Thursday. These were dismantled at the workshop, with the lenses scavenged as convenient polarising filters. Hair glows against a black background if viewed between crossed polars. Thin hairs appear white, medium hairs show a rainbow of colours. The colors are a function of the thickness of the hair and can cover a full spectrum from yellow at the outer borders of the hair through red, green and to blue at the central core. Dennis demonstrated a technique from the late 1800's - making dry cells for mounting samples in air using card, artists PVA and cover slips. amongst his samples were the coronal feathers from a peacock - very small compared to the tail feathers, but equally beautiful.
Book recommendation of the day, prompting a kindle purchase - The Man Who Ate the Zoo: Frank Buckland, forgotten hero of natural history. It will have to wait till I finish the Sherlock Holmes compendium and 'Watching the English'.
Came back happy but tired that the event had gone well.
On Brexit, EU Chief Jean Claude Juncker has apparently said in an interview, that it may be difficult to retain EU unity during Brexit if Britain picks of countries individually for trade negotiations, Security begins to take over news from NHS problems, There is talk of updating cyber security legislation to match the modern world of social media and the internet - and including additional measures against those revealing and disseminating confidential information. This against an apparent backdrop of several thousand hacking attacks per day, some of these being of major concern.
Whilst the Trump ban ban rumbles on, apparently there has been more vigorous activity by the US immigration department in actively deporting immigrants with criminal convictions.
Friday 10 February 2017
The Long Drop and Snowflakes
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| Wilson Bentley - Plate XIX of "Studies among the Snow Crystals" |
Ali Naylor, of the Norris Museum, came out with the surprise fact, that the great grandfather of her friend was the inventor of "The Long Drop" for hanging as a method of execution, William Marwood. Before that, there was the short drop, which caused death by slow asphyxiation unless you had paid for someone to hang onto your feet to speed up the process. It started out with my demonstrating the proposed design of the map pages I was working on - to place names, to Caxton Gibbet, to Ali's recollection. Very logical in retrospect!
Richard, a former policemen, then expanded the conversation to the 220 crimes that were included for capital punishment by the 1820s, from theft whilst blacking the face or wearing a mask, to being in the company of gypsies for over a month. Although over 35,000 death sentences were handed down over a 60 year period up to 1830, 'only' 7000 were actually carried out. After all, we had the colonies to deport them to.
The day was interspersed with occasional light snow flurries. Back home, I chilled a black card on a bag of frozen seawater from Frinton and, during a particularly heavy flurry of snow, managed to capture some of the snowflakes. Mine were aggregates of several flakes, often partially melted together as the air temperature was just around freezing. Unfortunately, conditions were not as ideal as for "Snowflake Bentley" at the turn of the 19th/20th century. He made an art form of photographing snowflakes over an extended period. I tried some photography, using the Nikon with an extension tube . When it snows again, I could be better prepared.
After the Brexit vote in the Commons, the scandal of the halt in accepting more child refugees rumbles on but is now being superseded by the crisis in the NHS. Not good time to fall ill. Across the Pond, the Donald is gnashing teeth and promising the appeal court retribution for the unanimous verdict on not reinstating his travel ban "SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!"
Thursday 9 February 2017
Melancholy Trees and Deceitful Child Refugee U-Turn
Visiting The Place Theatre, Bedford; melancholy trees, Campylodiscus photography and the deceitful U-Turn in willingness to take in child refugees.
The Place Theatre in Bedford was hidden away on the outskirts of Bedford in a residential area. Apparently, it used to be a youth club with a boxing ring, before its transformation into a popular venue for local artists and theatre groups. Graham Frost had hired it for Sunday's Speaker event, where I was to video five speakers giving their talks to an audience invited over Facebook. I was checking the joint out today, to see what I would need at the Weekend. Laura, the site manager told me with delight, that the show had been mentioned on an American TV station as part of the weird and wonderful things that you could do in Bedford, England.
The Place is a lovely little theatre. Behind a curtain that was reminiscent of the Wizard of Oz, was a metal ladder leading up to the lighting control board - a real adventure to climb with my long legs in the confined space. To be on the safe side, I videoed Laura's instructions on how to manage the lights.
The following hour was then spent testing out the lighting, best positions on stage and the three different cameras I had with me. I wanted to use at least two for Sunday's videoing; one for a widescreen shot of the stage floor and the other for close-up head and shoulders of the speaker. I'd also record the sound separately. I was performing a strange sort of repeated dance of going backwards and forwards and side to side as each camera was running, such that when some random visitors popped their heads through the door to the theatre, they thought I was a puppet master on strings.
On my way back, I stopped off at S's place in St Neots for great conversation and, more importantly by then, a toasted pitta bread sandwich and a cup of tea.
Setting off at 3pm, the sky was a leaden grey, silhouetting the branches of solitary trees beautifully in a melancholy way. I therefore turned off several times from the main A14 to try and photograph single trees against the sky. The 25 minute return journey turned into a 70 minute one!
Only just back, I had a student visitor interested in doing a photography project with objects through the microscope. We had a great preliminary conversation and planned to have an afternoon at learning the ropes next week. This prompted me to open the most recent Postal Microscopy Society Box that had arrived a week or so ago. Some of the samples had dried up , being quite ancient. However, there was a beautiful strew of the diatom Campylodiscus. I spent the evening taking over 500 pictures to combine in 9 photostacks for a panorama. I'm currently assembling the fifth stack as I write this blog.
The British government is coming under some stick today for having buried some less favourable news with the Brexit vote yesterday. We had promised to take in 3000 child refugees from France last year, after the closure of the Calais camp, to safeguard them from traffickers and exploitation. Yesterday, the government quietly announced that the program would be finished after a mere 300, 10%, with the explanation that not enough spaces could be found with local councils. Lord Dubs, a former refugee himself when he came over with the Kindertransports during the Nazi purges, railed against this deceitful action, as did the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Wednesday 8 February 2017
Potholes in Roads, Parliament's Brexit, and EU Antipathy Towards Immigration
Potholes in Milton; Pothole avoided by Parliament Brexit vote; and EU nationals negative attitudes to immigration from Muslim countries.
For nearly a week, strange yellow lines have encircled, or rather ensquared the growing number of potholes in our short close. Today the team arrived in two lorries, clad in waterproof high visibility suits, with circular saws and pneumatic drills. It was very impressive to see the flurry of activity as pothole after pothole was squared and filled in. Then, as suddenly as they had come, the team disappeared. It was only when I had to go out on another computing errand that I discovered that the major and most abundant potholes at the entrance to the close were still untouched. Perhaps there will be a revisit to finish of the job tomorrow.
Potholes also featured largely on Paul Stainton's Big Conversation on Radio Cambridgeshire, especially as a major pothole near Huntingdon had caused cars to be damaged and ultimately incapacitated a lorry and therefore caused traffic chaos for a large part of yesterday.
Jane having done the first setting of the history catalogue project, I began reading it in detail and checking both images and text.
The main news item for Brexit today is the momentous decision by Parliament to pass the Brexit Bill, without amendments at the third reading. It now goes on to the House of Lords for consideration. It left behind a satisfied government, and the Labour front bench lost another cabinet member who defied the three line whip. The SNP was bluntly reminded by PC May that they had no say in the decision, as per an earlier court ruling. The finger is on the trigger for Article 50.
Perhaps the most disappointing and shameful thing is that an amendment to the Bill guaranteeing security of residence for EU nationals was voted down by 332 votes to 290. Shamefully, that included our Conservative MP Heidi Allen.
Apart from using his presidential twitter account to support his daughter's business, Trump has been tweeting actively about misrepresentations and other news in the media. One item did however stand out, and that was the Chatham House survey of 10,000 citizens across the EU. It was on whether they thought that all further migration from Muslim countries should be stopped, i.e. similar to Trumps proposed ban. To quote the study:
"Overall, across all 10 of the European countries (surveyed) an average of 55% agreed that all further migration from mainly Muslim countries should be stopped, 25% neither agreed nor disagreed and 20% disagreed.
"Majorities in all but two of the ten states agreed, ranging from 71% in Poland, 65% in Austria, 53% in Germany and 51% in Italy to 47% in the United Kingdom and 41% in Spain. In no country did the percentage that disagreed surpass 32%."
Source: https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/comment/what-do-europeans-think-about-muslim-immigration#sthash.nmt9OBat.dpuf
A sad but realistic reflection of current attitudes in our increasingly intolerant and polarised world.
Tuesday 7 February 2017
Magical beasts, Brexit vote and Guns v. Terrorism
Bowel cancer; 70% Computer illiteracy in UK; magical iron-age coins; Parliament gets to vote on final EU deal; Risk perception terrorism v gun crime.
Yesterday I received some good news in the post, the bowel cancer screen that I had been invited to do had come back clear. Bowel cancer is the second most common cancer in the UK, accounting for 27 deaths for every 100,000 population. That was over 8,566 men in 2014, or 10 % of deaths caused by cancer. Lung cancer kills the most people every year (35,895 deaths in 2014 or 22% of all cancer deaths). I'll be sent another test kit in two years.
This week seems to be computer problem month with four of my, shall we say, mature friends having issues. Three were attacked by a phishing scam via clicking on ads on facebook, one quite serious. Fortunately this was without financial consequences. The other is a very competent computer user for photo cataloging and editing. They had other issues, with folders and competing programs that hijacked how images were opened.
Computing is still confusing for the general user if you have to do anything outside of the things you are familiar with. This is then further compounded by the frequent changes in appearance and program behaviour due to updates and upgrades. According to the Royal Geographical Society, more than 8 million people in the UK are totally offline. Add to these the people who do have difficulties with the technology. That can be up to 70% of the UK population according to the Government Digital Inclusion Strategy in 2014. Apps and tablets have been a great improvement for many, but there is a long way to go.
This evening I introduced Rodney Scarle to the Milton Local History Group. He gave a fascinating talk on Iron Age coins and what they told us about the tribal borderlands in Cambridgeshire. Milton and the east of Cambridge appeared to fall within the influence of the Eceni. Yes Eceni, not Iceni. . How do we know what they called themselves? It is plainly written on their coins. The other big revelation was the importance of shamanistic and other spiritual elements. The British Iron Age tribes started with the original Greek gold Stater coin design of 350 BC, showing Phillip II of Macedon. Over time, they gradually morphed the coin decorations to match their beliefs into hidden faces, the power of three and the importance of magical beasts. Horse, Wolf and Boar abound, with phallic and scatalogical references.
The Commons became quite heated today and was then surprised when the Government apparently gave what many wanted. It was the chance of a parliamentary vote after the completion of negotiations with the EU. Then it turned out that PM May and team had pulled a fast one. Yes, parliament would be able to vote but, either they could agree with the government's final position or the government would reject the plan and revert to World Trade rules.
Speaker John Bercow was the centre of raucous anger from the Conservatives today, because of his suggestion that he was uncomfortable with POTUS speaking to both Chambers of the Houses of Parliament. However, he seems to be weathering the storm, content that he will have the support of the majority of the opposition if challenged. Those complaining about the apparent breach of impartiality might find the Wikipedia entry on the role of the Speaker over the ages interesting. He used to be the mouthpiece for the king/queen and also still has remarkable seniority in the House.
President Trump awaits the deliberation of the court on his travel ban, with a result expected later in the week. In the meantime a list was released of allegedly 78 under-reported terrorist incidents. BBC and other journalists point out the fallacy of the claim, with many of the attacks actually being extensively reported at the time. Furthermore, the list is also amazing for its omissions, for example, attacks of white supremacists against different ethnic groups.
Quartz does a great article on the psychology of why Americans are more scared of terrorists that guns. Interesting comparison:
"According to the New America Foundation, jihadists killed 94 people inside the United States between 2005 and 2015. During that same time period, 301,797 people in the US were shot dead, Politifact reports." (I note that this omitted the 9/11 deaths, 2,996. Even taking this into account the risk is less than 1% of that being shot).
I was particularly struck by the fact that because Americans were put off flying after 9/11, they took to driving instead. According to Gerd Gigerenzer, a German risk specialist, this resulted in an increase of 1,595 more Americans dying in road accidents in the following 12 month period than if they'd flown.
Yesterday I received some good news in the post, the bowel cancer screen that I had been invited to do had come back clear. Bowel cancer is the second most common cancer in the UK, accounting for 27 deaths for every 100,000 population. That was over 8,566 men in 2014, or 10 % of deaths caused by cancer. Lung cancer kills the most people every year (35,895 deaths in 2014 or 22% of all cancer deaths). I'll be sent another test kit in two years.
This week seems to be computer problem month with four of my, shall we say, mature friends having issues. Three were attacked by a phishing scam via clicking on ads on facebook, one quite serious. Fortunately this was without financial consequences. The other is a very competent computer user for photo cataloging and editing. They had other issues, with folders and competing programs that hijacked how images were opened.
Computing is still confusing for the general user if you have to do anything outside of the things you are familiar with. This is then further compounded by the frequent changes in appearance and program behaviour due to updates and upgrades. According to the Royal Geographical Society, more than 8 million people in the UK are totally offline. Add to these the people who do have difficulties with the technology. That can be up to 70% of the UK population according to the Government Digital Inclusion Strategy in 2014. Apps and tablets have been a great improvement for many, but there is a long way to go.
This evening I introduced Rodney Scarle to the Milton Local History Group. He gave a fascinating talk on Iron Age coins and what they told us about the tribal borderlands in Cambridgeshire. Milton and the east of Cambridge appeared to fall within the influence of the Eceni. Yes Eceni, not Iceni. . How do we know what they called themselves? It is plainly written on their coins. The other big revelation was the importance of shamanistic and other spiritual elements. The British Iron Age tribes started with the original Greek gold Stater coin design of 350 BC, showing Phillip II of Macedon. Over time, they gradually morphed the coin decorations to match their beliefs into hidden faces, the power of three and the importance of magical beasts. Horse, Wolf and Boar abound, with phallic and scatalogical references.
The Commons became quite heated today and was then surprised when the Government apparently gave what many wanted. It was the chance of a parliamentary vote after the completion of negotiations with the EU. Then it turned out that PM May and team had pulled a fast one. Yes, parliament would be able to vote but, either they could agree with the government's final position or the government would reject the plan and revert to World Trade rules.
Speaker John Bercow was the centre of raucous anger from the Conservatives today, because of his suggestion that he was uncomfortable with POTUS speaking to both Chambers of the Houses of Parliament. However, he seems to be weathering the storm, content that he will have the support of the majority of the opposition if challenged. Those complaining about the apparent breach of impartiality might find the Wikipedia entry on the role of the Speaker over the ages interesting. He used to be the mouthpiece for the king/queen and also still has remarkable seniority in the House.
President Trump awaits the deliberation of the court on his travel ban, with a result expected later in the week. In the meantime a list was released of allegedly 78 under-reported terrorist incidents. BBC and other journalists point out the fallacy of the claim, with many of the attacks actually being extensively reported at the time. Furthermore, the list is also amazing for its omissions, for example, attacks of white supremacists against different ethnic groups.
Quartz does a great article on the psychology of why Americans are more scared of terrorists that guns. Interesting comparison:
"According to the New America Foundation, jihadists killed 94 people inside the United States between 2005 and 2015. During that same time period, 301,797 people in the US were shot dead, Politifact reports." (I note that this omitted the 9/11 deaths, 2,996. Even taking this into account the risk is less than 1% of that being shot).
I was particularly struck by the fact that because Americans were put off flying after 9/11, they took to driving instead. According to Gerd Gigerenzer, a German risk specialist, this resulted in an increase of 1,595 more Americans dying in road accidents in the following 12 month period than if they'd flown.
Monday 6 February 2017
Starting conversations, pseudonyms and banning Trump?
Why we English talk about the weather; problems with pseudonyms; Cambridge Open Studios images; Speaker John Bercow averse to Trump.
Why do we English talk about the weather? Not because we are necessarily interested in it but rather, because it is a way to initiate conversation. When a person makes a comment about the weather "Cold today isn't it?" the correct response is generally something in agreement. In fact disagreement can be a faux pax! I was chuckling away last night as I made the mistake of taking a quick peek at Kate Fox's book "Watching the English" and it took till 2pm before I put it down and reluctantly went to bed.
Monday started as a review of work done and work ahead with Jane, and a division of the tasks ahead. It looks like our next author is getting closer to completing her children's book. I'm looking forward to seeing the final manuscript before it goes into print. She did raise an interesting question on whether there was an issue with having one pseudonym as author for two people.
From a publishing perspective there is no problem, as the publisher is the key contact for the book trade. I know who the actual contact is. It is important when you respond to readers, you have to be consistent with your using your nom de plume, to avoid confusion. You also need to: Either have a new account in the authors name; or come to an agreement with your bank to accept payments in that name on the account under your real name.
Following on from the Cambridge Open Studios AGM, I had a visitor this evening who had asked for assistance with uploading the COS Guide entry image online. I'd practiced myself and also added some images to my artists entry portfolio for 2017. Similarly Jane was editing her entry. Fortunately, the guest had actually worked most of it our herself and just needed confirmation. This left more time for conversation on Brexit, Berlin and films.
The Brexit Bill is entering the first voting stage for amendments in the Commons, but currently the only item making the news is that the conservative MPs were dragged out of a party to vote down a suggestion that PM May should update Parliament on the progress of negotiations every two months.
The main news item was the Speaker of the Commons, John Bercow expressing reservations about President Trump being asked to address the two houses. He said:
“We value our relationship with the United States. However, as far as this place is concerned I feel very strongly that our opposition to racism and to sexism and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons.
“Before the imposition of the migrant ban, I would myself have been strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall.
“After the imposition of the migrant ban by President Trump I am even more strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall.”
It even made prime news slot in Der Spiegel in Germany!
Why do we English talk about the weather? Not because we are necessarily interested in it but rather, because it is a way to initiate conversation. When a person makes a comment about the weather "Cold today isn't it?" the correct response is generally something in agreement. In fact disagreement can be a faux pax! I was chuckling away last night as I made the mistake of taking a quick peek at Kate Fox's book "Watching the English" and it took till 2pm before I put it down and reluctantly went to bed.
From a publishing perspective there is no problem, as the publisher is the key contact for the book trade. I know who the actual contact is. It is important when you respond to readers, you have to be consistent with your using your nom de plume, to avoid confusion. You also need to: Either have a new account in the authors name; or come to an agreement with your bank to accept payments in that name on the account under your real name.
Following on from the Cambridge Open Studios AGM, I had a visitor this evening who had asked for assistance with uploading the COS Guide entry image online. I'd practiced myself and also added some images to my artists entry portfolio for 2017. Similarly Jane was editing her entry. Fortunately, the guest had actually worked most of it our herself and just needed confirmation. This left more time for conversation on Brexit, Berlin and films.
The Brexit Bill is entering the first voting stage for amendments in the Commons, but currently the only item making the news is that the conservative MPs were dragged out of a party to vote down a suggestion that PM May should update Parliament on the progress of negotiations every two months.
The main news item was the Speaker of the Commons, John Bercow expressing reservations about President Trump being asked to address the two houses. He said:
“We value our relationship with the United States. However, as far as this place is concerned I feel very strongly that our opposition to racism and to sexism and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons.
“Before the imposition of the migrant ban, I would myself have been strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall.
“After the imposition of the migrant ban by President Trump I am even more strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall.”
It even made prime news slot in Der Spiegel in Germany!
Sunday 5 February 2017
Photographing watercolours, cave art, slow cooking,Trump ban and gagging science
Photographing watercolours; hand prints in stone age caves by women; Slow cooker temperatures; baking bread and cinnamon rolls; Immigration ban saga continues.
This morning helped Jane take photographs of two recent watercolour paintings. We were using natural light from the windows, which presented two problems. The first was the remarkably low light on a gray day. My camera was registering exposures of 1/8th second for f8, 400 ISO. A tripod was essential to get a sharp picture. With a larger picture, the sun-lounge gave a more even lighting from the large windows; we found photos in the lounge had an almost imperceptible light gradient across the photo as the window was much smaller.
The second issue was correct colour reproduction. It is essential to set your camera's white balance for the time and location of your photography. For a compact camera, you have to rely on the presets (sunshine, cloudy day, incandescent or fluorescent lighting. With an SLR, you can either set the white balance using a sheet of white paper. I now use a lens cap with a white opaque filter. you place the camera where your subject is going to be, facing the light , with the special lens cap on, and take a reference picture.
Listening to 'The Museum of Curiosity' on BBC 4 in the shower, came away with a book to buy and a stone age fact from anthropologist Kate Fox. Even before getting dressed, I had ordered 'Watching the English' for my Kindle before I forgot the title. The stone age fact was that about three quarters of the hand-prints accompanying cave paintings were made by women, in the 8 caves studied by Dean Snow of Pennsylvania State University. The gender identification is given by the index and the ring fingers being equal in length. In males, the ring finger is generally markedly longer than the index finger.
Having had a busy Friday and Saturday, I was glad to have a simpler lunch to cook. I'd thawed out the last batch of sausages in Polish sauce from New Year's Eve and sauerkraut with apple and onion, and heated them in the slow cooker for 3h. I then only needed to cook some potatoes and a bit of carrot - Delicious! Playing with my (Heston Blumenthal!) food thermometer, I measured the slow cooker temperature as 70 degC. Checking online, I found a useful temperature reference from, yes, Heston Blumenthal, in The Guardian, Saturday 24th November 2001:
"The important temperatures in the process of meat cookery are as follows: at 40C, proteins in meat start to denature. At 50C, collagen begins to contract. At 55C, collagen starts softening. Between 70C and 75C, the meat no longer holds oxygen and turns grey. At 100C, water in meat begins to evaporate. If meat is cooked at 100C, the pressure caused by the evaporation obliterates the meat, and any juices left in it disappear."
Camilla the sourdough was due for a feeding after 5 days in the fridge, so I also set up a new loaf. This time, I added the sourdough starter to strong white flour, rather than the 50:50 wholemeal to white flour ratio. Added seeds as usual. I also did not add any additional yeast and relied on the natural yeast and bacteria from the sourdough. The first rise was much slower, as expected, taking about 4 hours. It took about 5 further hours to rise in the tin and is only now out of the oven
Finally got round to baking the cinnamon swirls that had been waiting in one of those pastry in a cardboard rolls you can get from the supermarket. The first two were a tasty accompaniment to afternoon tea after we had been out for a walk around the Milton Country Park.
By this morning, the US Justice Department had appealed against Judge James Robart's ruling against President Trump's immigration ban. By the early afternoon, the U.S. federal appeals court declined to immediately reinstate Trump's ban. The matter will be considered in more detail later in the coming week.
After attempting to delegitimise/diminish Judge Robart by using the phrase "a so-called judge" yesterday, Trump again weighs in. This time he tries to shift the blame for the failure of the ban and any future consequences to Robart, in his tweet,
"Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!"
This week's New Scientist continues with the deep concern about science being gagged by the new US administration. The travel ban raises uncertainty for scientist wishing to visit the US, or those with links to the 8 banned countries by birth or nationality, leaving and returning to US. The clamping down on government scientists (ban on communication with media, political vetting of research publications/statements) could also seriously impact on research.
Apparently Canadian science suffered from a similar attitude from 2006 to 2015, where over 2000 fisheries and environmental scientists lost their jobs, arctic research and climate change were under pressure and scientists felt they were leaned on to give the politically correct statements.
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