tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37243769486366270842024-03-19T10:27:01.792+00:00Science mattersBobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.comBlogger3969125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-73011208522551072632024-03-18T07:37:00.000+00:002024-03-18T07:37:00.139+00:00Endo dont cogn disson<p>Years ago, when we lived in England we were tickled listening to a commonplace report on the BBC. It was about the non-Pitman shorthand used by ?orthopedic surgeons? to record patient injuries and treatment. "<i>lvd scr from kn to hp</i>" [livid scar from knee to hip] was absorbed into family lore; along with scenes (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRTpwyNGT6w"><i>of course he's the F*king Farmer</i></a>) from Withnail and I and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhQbZkAlCjM">baguettes</a> from Beineix's Diva. </p><p>I was reminded of this because we have, perforce [retirement], enrolled with a new dentist. Word to the wise: choose a dentist at least 20 years younger than you are: having them die on you is extremely inconvenient. Dentistry has moved on tremendously in my 60+ years of tooth care. No anaesthetics in the early 60s; the drills <a href="https://bluejayblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/26/some-dental-handpieces-i-have-known/">turned by wire drive-trains</a>. When you change dentist for a younger model, it's like skipping 30 years of technological improvement. The new dentist has a screen on the ceiling to entertain clients as he digs into their buccal cavity. There is a whole new set of acronyms and jargon to wash over the mind as he dictates his assessments to the dental tech. There is presumably enough detail that the status can be recorded and recalled in six months' time. Half a year being the standard time-counting unit in dentistry.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCEUFMqYZB3jlfwSQGHXuBLONNpj9BydnIs2jrlbR5Xsn_-qqsVdLYprmwYs0ejnl7dLLaW33iTj2H68LhhIz9AEB6YoolCJtaJdLDboMe9gNN13Z60hp_89mlRILBNVrCcAMwlFwY9pzvCNcJznjRXksinb2YucznzCCeGaHB6RTNlkgq-V7ngmjw9uCf/s187/RootCanal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="187" data-original-width="127" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCEUFMqYZB3jlfwSQGHXuBLONNpj9BydnIs2jrlbR5Xsn_-qqsVdLYprmwYs0ejnl7dLLaW33iTj2H68LhhIz9AEB6YoolCJtaJdLDboMe9gNN13Z60hp_89mlRILBNVrCcAMwlFwY9pzvCNcJznjRXksinb2YucznzCCeGaHB6RTNlkgq-V7ngmjw9uCf/s1600/RootCanal.jpg" width="127" /></a></div>Initial visit in August 2023 allowed introductions to be made and there was time to do one bit of remedial work on lower left six: the front-most molar. There is a crack which extended an undetermined depth into the roots and which <i>may</i> burst asunder at any moment. New Dentist (N.D.) tidied up the long-existing, multiply-patched cavity with that new-fangled UV-setting ceramic filler but added some bondo glue into the mortar in a probably vain attempt to keep the two side of the crack in contact. "<i>That will do for now, come back in 6 months and we'll see how/if anything has shifted</i>". In Feb 2024, 183 days later, I was back in the chair having another X-ray to monitor progress. "<i>that tooth probably needs a crown to hold the two sides together</i>; <i>it would be better to sort out the foundations first - because doing a root-canal job <u>through</u> a crown is no laughing matter; I'm going to refer you to the Endodontist down the street</i>". <p></p><p>According, a month later I had an early-day appt with the said Endodontist. Once upon a time, a dentist was a strong fellow with pliers; now the profession is fragmented into sub-specialties. "Dentists" do filling above the gum-line; "Endodonts" plumb the depths. Dental surgeons <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2017/08/i-am-become-dumb.html">do extractions</a>, bone and gum work. </p><p>I got into a 'discussion' with the Endodental Tech about where to park. If I parked on the street, I was likely to run out of time and get a hefty ticket. whereas if I parked somewhere else then I'd get the full three hours of a typical Endo-session <u>and</u> <b><span style="color: #38761d;">save €2</span></b>. I explained that 5 years ago, I'd really have engaged with that sort of tightwad penny-pinching but since retirement my business model was much more <i>support the economy</i> and <i>can't take it with you</i>. </p><p>The cognitive dissonance came in when the Endoboss outlined the likely course-and-cost of treatment. </p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>a referrer's referral to an Endodontist in another town who owned a 3-D Xray machine [€180]</li><li>3-D informed re-scrutiny of the path of the, rather occluded, root canals [€100]</li><ul><li>these machines are the latest thing and only available in Ireland for the last tuthree years; the pictures are really informative <br /></li></ul><li>three hours drilling down the 3 roots of the one tooth [€900 if progress straight-forward, more if the procedure required two sessions]</li><ul><li>cleaning, bleaching and filling the drilled cavity [€0 - fitted as standard]<br /></li></ul><li>returning to my above-gum dentist for the crown [€X indeterminate amount]</li></ul><p>All this delivered with a grating, hand-wringing apology for how much it was all going to cost . . . with no certainty that the outcome would be a long term solution to the goddam crack in my aged molar. The cost sounded reasonable considering how we're <a href="https://www.metafilter.com/202916/They-dont-make-them-like-they-used-to#8535162">in the market for a new sofa</a>. But it was super-weird, while on the same dental couch, to be haggling over €2 with one member of the Endo-practice and €2,000 with another.</p><p><b><span style="color: #a64d79;">The alternative</span></b>: hope that there are no stones in the lentils and keep using the existing kludge on lower left six until its rift rifts and <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2019/04/lighter-by-3g-and-150.html">then have it taken out</a> [€180]. Apart from the money, getting a crown or a dental implant is a different matter for an ould chap in his 70th year compared to our 20-, 30- and 40-something offspring. <br /></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-56679522494262972822024-03-17T07:41:00.082+00:002024-03-17T07:41:00.136+00:00St Patrick's Day 2024<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3IYTp9MgHmWygMSxM_kWrLBGYPPfGX51y86nmZPzGQWWnYcBurS7cmu9T2nmIGuXxTOU7t63A1B_VU6yN-er4rmQIUP0u4sOhlndE1a06mnknhB-EyAXKgspOuy6pt-OmQZlfz3Grqu2JUp0Khix-JwNmY8bklJZDkmYjqOIFC_uJGPKoLq08zkdcoE4H/s150/StPatrisck.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="129" data-original-width="150" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3IYTp9MgHmWygMSxM_kWrLBGYPPfGX51y86nmZPzGQWWnYcBurS7cmu9T2nmIGuXxTOU7t63A1B_VU6yN-er4rmQIUP0u4sOhlndE1a06mnknhB-EyAXKgspOuy6pt-OmQZlfz3Grqu2JUp0Khix-JwNmY8bklJZDkmYjqOIFC_uJGPKoLq08zkdcoE4H/s1600/StPatrisck.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>Lá Feile Padraig, I hope you have your feet up.<br /><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.rte.ie/culture/2024/0311/1436148-a-journey-through-the-folklore-of-wexford/">Folklore of Wexford</a>, Michael Fortune's new book. <br /></li><li>Intermittently <a href="https://www.metafilter.com/202830/How-do-Dudes-Pee#8532515">hilarious MeFi thread</a> about urinals and urinators. </li><ul><li>autopilot's <a href="https://www.metafilter.com/202830/How-do-Dudes-Pee#8532517">A'dam A'dvice</a></li></ul><li>David
Baddiel and Sayeeda Warsi <a href="https://www.playpodcast.net/podcast/a-muslim-a-jew-go-there/">Go There</a>: new podcast on racism, politics</li><ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4iUhBCXDQk">Warsi interview</a> by James LBC O'Brien</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipigziMMg1k">ditto</a> on The Rest of Politics</li></ul><li>Marion Keyes and Tara Flynn also <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09zgv36/episodes/downloads">in discussion about problems</a><br /></li><li>The Food Chain on <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct4v84">Dinner Ladies</a></li><li>Inside <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypyAsMIcyJE">The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct</a></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrUwT_t9Fn8">Abandonned garden centre</a>: we welcome our bramble overlords</li><li>(P)ERNOCTA(TED) - Nigel "Kiwi" Richards <a href="https://defector.com/scrabbles-best-player-knows-no-limits">new scrabble record</a></li><ul><li>too long? 8min <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_thJZuSuV8E">YT summary</a></li></ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awHDeGxBqhQ">Spring tide</a> floods in West England.</li><li>1930s <span style="color: #ffa400;"><b>Fiesta</b></span> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bAmtEqL0HPs">plate is fizzzy</a> we eat off <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2020/09/golden-wheat.html">these plates</a><br /></li></ul>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-81584906937449786052024-03-15T07:12:00.186+00:002024-03-16T09:50:45.826+00:00Nemeton<p><b>Nemeton</b> <i>n</i>. (pl. Nemata). An holy place, sacred in ancient Celtic religion - groves, standing stones, ringstones. Related toponyms are scattered across Europe<br /></p><p>I fell into science by accident at the age of 17. IF a <a href="http://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2013/05/who-is-this-bob-then.html">particular conversation</a> hadn't happened, and I hadn't found my <a href="http://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2013/06/taking-bell-through.html">biology teacher's jokes</a> funny, THEN I'd now be a retired media wonk living in London in a £million house which I bought for buttons in the 70s. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Kvu6Kgp88">I regret nothing</a>! A lifetime in science cannot but infect practioners with sciencism: a <i><b>belief</b></i> that everything which matters is (exclusively) discovered through science. Jakers, just look at the top of the page: <span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>Science Matters</b></span>! It's bollix, of course: <a href="http://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/search?q=%22science+is+a+way+of+knowing%22">Science is A way of knowing</a>: and has nothing on offer to comfort the dying, the power of song, or the drive of snog. One aspect of privileging evidence, the rational, and data is that I read, almost exclusively, non-fiction. <i>As if</i> histories were less full of lies than stories.</p>
<p>After I romped through <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2024/03/fiction.html">Charlie Stross's parallel universe adventure</a>, I set myself to read <b><span style="color: #b45f06;">The Wren Hunt</span></b> by Mary Watson. It is a coming of age tale set in an Ireland peppered with Thin Places [<a href="http://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2023/09/moths-on-pillow.html">bloboprev</a>] where <span style="color: #8e7cc3;"><i><b>the spirit world</b></i></span> leaks through into a recognisable post-Tiger island with taxis, ringtones and tattoos. Librarians tend to shelve it in the Young Adult section. Cripes, YA must have quite the tolerance for the hum of violence - I blame The Hunger Games. </p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXfHg8p9mOwUTcsJYMNpkpW0f_SKgEEoHazeFOiailRxLOkEN8hDaS4HGfUXqu48m82CAPlph1P-Di75wWRwLx-pgWGJX4sHQ83Jku0P4CLyX4fPDcAe32d339nyOhN21NiX4xKKEemVU1Lsn9CUb5zKb3i7bdPxS2N8FpF2jLGrqY8qLorqA74n78jylT/s321/HolySceagh.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="257" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXfHg8p9mOwUTcsJYMNpkpW0f_SKgEEoHazeFOiailRxLOkEN8hDaS4HGfUXqu48m82CAPlph1P-Di75wWRwLx-pgWGJX4sHQ83Jku0P4CLyX4fPDcAe32d339nyOhN21NiX4xKKEemVU1Lsn9CUb5zKb3i7bdPxS2N8FpF2jLGrqY8qLorqA74n78jylT/s320/HolySceagh.jpg" width="256" /></a></div>'twas a long way from Ireland that Mary Watson was r'ared, but <a href="http://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2015/12/out-of-africa.html">like my dear dead MiL</a> she escaped from Africa and now lives in an Irish-speaking household near Galway where NUIG / UCG is the intellectual heart of the Gaeltacht. You may be sure that the Irish equivalent of Icelandic <a href="http://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2024/02/sprakkar.html">Sprakkar</a> - obscure words from the Canon which have specific powerful meaning - surface in coffee-break chatter in NUIG. Watson, as accomplished word-worker, owns these words and makes them drive the story. New to me: bláithín brídeog brithemain draoithe géineolaíocht nemeton quinquetra ré-órga triquetra tuanacul. <p></p><p>The central thread in The Wren Hunt is the Othering of a community which is different from, and opposed to, the people by whom Wren, the protagonist, was raised. It is, like obvs, <b><i>a known thing</i></b> that these Others are the <span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc;"> black hats </span>. Wren's people are a) oppressed b) not going down without a fight. The fights are both real - fists and blunt force trauma - and metaphysical - dolls, sacred groves, potions. The magic allows us to suspend our disbelief that a bunch of Wren's people can paraphernalia up and troop off the woods for sunset rituals without the plain people of the townland [neither black hats nor white] knowing their business. (My policy when we blew-in to a rural midlands community 25+ years ago, was to give curious neighbours rather more information than they could reasonably ask for: partly to inhibit them from making monsters of us down the pub). But that's okay - it's fiction.<br /></p><p>Without being intrusively didactic, the message that comes through this book is that you can <i>to your own self be true</i>, and that is more important than tribal loyalty: as a young adult you can / may / shd invent yourself. Celtic are not always right; Rangers play the same game to the same rules; they can't be <u>all</u> wrong. And, not to put too fine a point on it, exogamy is okay: <i>The Others</i> bring different stuff to the table - often challenging, but <i>mmmmm</i> so tasty. No more spoilers! If you know any YA [girls?] leave this book on their bedside table. They'll get more out of it than the ineffably boring Inter.Cert. Biology textbook.<br /></p><p></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-8926232789579258152024-03-13T07:47:00.000+00:002024-03-13T07:47:00.138+00:00Family life <p>A recent RTE <a href="https://www.rte.ie/culture/2024/0129/1429290-book-club-did-ye-hear-mammy-died-by-seamas-oreilly/">book club drive was pushing</a> Séamas O'Reilly's memoir <b><span style="color: #38761d;">Did Ye Hear Mammy Died</span></b>? to the front again - it was first published in 2021. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/06/1080809363/did-ye-hear-mammy-died-is-a-grief-memoir-that-shuns-sentimentality">NPR reviews</a>. I was surprised to find that the ratio of copies : reserves was favorable (214 : 42) on the Irish Library system and so ordered up a dead tree copy for myself. The book was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jul/25/your-mammy-was-a-flower-seamas-oreilly-recalls-losing-his-mother-aged-five">favorably reviewed</a> by the Guardian when it came out - as it should: O'Reilly is a regular columnist for The <strike>Sunday Guardian</strike> Observer. I hope sales get a boost, but with so many copies in libraries across the country that may not happen. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp-k0GSdIjy2hPpePwwHpEu5RhY8_EOVaQtNFP7kCHNE0cyniXQqvgrkO-ZNIfSBhBeKeUhMP4FB1jJE1s74f06Y2JSj8nRlDvuishJERZciISXEw2L_Z1hpymg83JXf_D8VLZ6Stt-gFa6u3a5pPKpGb8CgP45S4Sk5Mc883j-yrUpQPiecOXD6Q8OqJv/s420/OReillyFamily1991.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp-k0GSdIjy2hPpePwwHpEu5RhY8_EOVaQtNFP7kCHNE0cyniXQqvgrkO-ZNIfSBhBeKeUhMP4FB1jJE1s74f06Y2JSj8nRlDvuishJERZciISXEw2L_Z1hpymg83JXf_D8VLZ6Stt-gFa6u3a5pPKpGb8CgP45S4Sk5Mc883j-yrUpQPiecOXD6Q8OqJv/s16000/OReillyFamily1991.jpg" /></a></div><p>As young Séamas was not quite 6 y.o. when the event of the title unfolded, he recognises that his trauma was less <i>legs-from-under-him</i> than for his older siblings, let alone his widowed father. So it's okay to play it for larfs against the back-ground of grief. Then again, whatever the hierarchy of grief, there were several months as a pre-teen that he was reduced to a barely functioning wreck by anxiety and insomnia. That was (miraculously) driven into a corner by an impromptu session of lively lovely Mammy related anecdotes visited upon the tween child by three of her friends who heard he was in the same hospital as they were.<br /></p><p>Siblings? Well, yes, there were eleven (11) all told: the youngest barely out of nappies, the oldest almost old enough to vote, when Mrs O'Reilly died from metastatic breast cancer in 1992. They behaved a herd but each had their own stand-out individuality. "<i><span style="color: #38761d;"><b>This could also have been a contributor to the frequent, horrible bouts of car-sickness which beset several of us, most especially Fionnuala and Dearbhaile, both so inclined to vomiting on road-trips that travelling with them was as precarious as cycling through a mine-field carrying a large, open vat of parmesan soup in your lap</b></span></i>". My original post title was Normal Family Life but this paragraph only includes 2/3 (Mammy died; N = 11) of the data dissing 'Normal'. The other abnormal aspect of O'Reilly life in the 80s and 90s is that a small length of The Border [between RoI and NI] was their garden fence a few miles South of Derry.</p><p>They lived a short distance down a bohereen from the 'main' road from Derry to Lifford and Ballybofey. One fine day the customs post next door was blown up and chunks of the debris rained down in their back garden. Normalizing The Troubles is only really addressed in the penultimate chapter of the book. This is how it goes: <b><u>Chapter 12 Notable Explosions, 1988 - 2005</u></b>. After Daddy had his leg cut off . . . </p><p>That's an example of dark Nordie humour. A few pages later it is revealed that Daddy was a late-diagnosed diabetic who peripheral circulation was fritzed by the disease. Daddy's leg was amputated to get ahead of the gangrene rather than, as implied, to tidy things up after his foot had been blown off in a terrorist outrage. Much hilarity was generated for the O'Reilly children when well-meaning visitors put their <b><i>foot</i></b> in it with an unfortunate turn of phrase. This memoir is littered with authentic voice turns of phrase which may be clichés in Derry but had me laughing out loud. You may do likewise. If you can't get the book, then I guess that authentic voice can be found in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/the-seamas-o-reilly-column">his journalism</a>.</p><p>A brief cw: Mammy and Daddy O'Reilly were committed Catholics, not only regular Mass-goers but also fulfilling several key roles in the Catholic community. Mr O'Reilly collects priests like my friend Viv collects lesbians. He knows more priests, in Derry, Ireland and Wolrdwide, than I know, like, scientists. Several of these men have walk on parts in this memoir always doing good; although one is outed as an O'Reilly house-breaker [in a predictably <i>play-it-for-larfs</i> way]. But of the scandals and cover-ups which shook the church to its foundations over the last 25 years - not a word. That's fine; plenty pages on that elsewhere. </p><p>Like, fr'inst, <b>A Guest at the Feast</b> by Colm Tóibín <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/nov/29/a-guest-at-the-feast-by-colm-toibin-review-words-never-fail-him">review</a> which I returned to Borrowbox a fortnight ago. This is a collection of his published essays including his <span style="color: #ffa400;">sp</span><span style="color: red;">len</span><span style="color: #ffa400;">di</span><span style="color: #ff00fe;">fer</span><span style="color: #800180;">ous</span> LRB exposé of Rome <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v32/n16/colm-toibin/among-the-flutterers">Among the Flutterers</a>: <i><b><span style="color: #a64d79;">A few years later, on Easter Sunday, as I wandered around the inside of St Peter’s in Rome after Mass, I noticed vast numbers of bishops and cardinals, all in their regalia. Since the sun was shining, some of them had the most beautiful seminarians or young priests standing behind them holding yellow umbrellas over their heads. It was a sight for sore eyes</span></b></i>.<br /></p><p></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-50936945079937523372024-03-11T07:04:00.266+00:002024-03-11T07:04:00.131+00:00Pot pies and fishcakes<p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibDCCfbpgP95bCNx4zTMST52QtCaxl566SBIB7nF-8V8Q9pxd7_mp8MmPPrkUaHz1_tbJIbsdXNNUQtDkMX43P2nVXpKg-DSnmWY0FNeCg7BarML-_OLtKGWxjkASoj-xn__UEpNFPGdoeaMi2mtSnWrA7uDVmDXguHbdzhwP4mjpRq2rk-Cpt6uzfjzFg/s280/ChickTarragonPie.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="148" data-original-width="280" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibDCCfbpgP95bCNx4zTMST52QtCaxl566SBIB7nF-8V8Q9pxd7_mp8MmPPrkUaHz1_tbJIbsdXNNUQtDkMX43P2nVXpKg-DSnmWY0FNeCg7BarML-_OLtKGWxjkASoj-xn__UEpNFPGdoeaMi2mtSnWrA7uDVmDXguHbdzhwP4mjpRq2rk-Cpt6uzfjzFg/s1600/ChickTarragonPie.jpg" width="280" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">IF</span></span> I only food-shop in ALDIDL, which is more or less true, <span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">THEN</span> I'm not
going to develop craves for PopTarts or instant Boeuf Wellington.
Although I have to report that LIDL's trim little frozen beef-and-stilton or
mushroom&tarragon pies are <i>wel lekker</i>. They are also <i>Deluxe</i> and €3.00 the pair. That's €7.50/kg, which is not potato prices, not even block-cheddar prices, but cheaper than chips.<br /><p></p><p>As I say, these things are tasty and make the centre piece of a supper with, say, green beans and boiled spuds. The reason they taste okay is because food engineers have been working into the night lurrying in the umami and mouth feel. Mainly ensuring that the pastry is crispy when the interior gloop is piping hot. Ingredients are hard to find on the interweb, so I'll here get them into the public domain.</p><p>30% mushrooms, <b>wheat</b> flour (WHEAT flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamine), water, vegetable oils (palm, rapeseed), water, salt, emulsifier, mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids, fried onions (onions, sunflower oil), whipping cream (<b>Milk</b>), white wine (<b>sulphites</b>), mushroom stock (concentrated vegetable juices (mushroom, onion), salt, rapeseed oil, water, mushroom powder, sugar, cornflour), modified maizer starch, garlic purée, yeast extract powder blend (yeast extract, salt), whey powder (<b>Milk</b>), chives, salt, 0.1% <span style="color: #38761d;"><b>tarragon</b></span>, thyme, dried glucose syrup, <b>Milk</b> proteins, colour: <span style="color: #e69138;"><b>carotenes</b></span>.<br /></p><p>Antient YT foodie Graham Jenkinson <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Ncp9n7ck99g">agrees</a>!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHfj3wmACU1YZ8eWEVUWR13NRuN56iMG7mNeaSc_85W7qGvj8uyHUWyKN2AIQLFbaBYe_Lb9DTK2-lEFkxCps1mqsWbxEHGWKMoiu67HuBUsSW6lluayuNIoSowvUzg54YkJpl3ytfJxCrywaOSw0Dz-y9LROAav32d6WnYjWyQaUaTUCFtVziXEwZRglF/s359/SalmonFishcakesAldi.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="204" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHfj3wmACU1YZ8eWEVUWR13NRuN56iMG7mNeaSc_85W7qGvj8uyHUWyKN2AIQLFbaBYe_Lb9DTK2-lEFkxCps1mqsWbxEHGWKMoiu67HuBUsSW6lluayuNIoSowvUzg54YkJpl3ytfJxCrywaOSw0Dz-y9LROAav32d6WnYjWyQaUaTUCFtVziXEwZRglF/s320/SalmonFishcakesAldi.jpg" width="182" /></a></div><p>Fishcakes? To give parity of esteem to Aldi, a shout-out for their {cod | haddock | salmon} fishcakes on special (<strike>€2.49</strike> €1.49 the pair = 270g) at the end of February. I couldn't find them in B'town but picked some up the following Monday in Carlow. Like the pot-pies, these are fine in a multiple ingredient sort of way; they look a lot better cooked than in their soggy breadcrumb chilled counter state.</p><p>Multiple ingredients? yup:</p>
<p>
ATLANTIC SALMON (<i>Salmo salar</i>) (38%) (<b>Fish</b>), potato, wheat flour (<b>Wheat</b> flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamine), water, rapeseed oil, white sauce [double cream (<b>Milk</b>), water, salt, lemon juice concentrate, fish stock (water, potato flakes, concentrated fish extract (<b>Fish</b> extract, salt), salt, cod powder (<b>Fish</b>), lemon juice concentrate, onion powder, anchovy purée (anchovies (<b>Fish</b>), salt, sunflower oil)], cornflour, onion powder, ground white pepper], dill, extra virgin olive oil, maize starch, yeast, paprika, apple cider vinegar, salt, sugar, <b>Wheat</b> gluten, black pepper. </p><p><span style="color: #ffa400;"><b>DYED SMOKED HADDOCK</b></span> (Haddock (<i>Melanogrammus aeglefinus</i>) (28%) (<b>Fish</b>), salt, colours: curcumin, paprika extract), potato, Wheat flour (<b>Wheat</b> flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamine), HADDOCK (<i>Melanogrammus aeglefinus</i>) (10%) (<b>Fish</b>), water, rapeseed oil, potato flake, double cream (<b>Milk</b>), Cheddar cheese (<b>Milk</b>), whole milk (<b>Milk</b>), chives, extra virgin olive oil, maize starch, salt, yeast, paprika, apple cider vinegar, sugar, <b>Wheat</b> gluten,
fish stock (<b>Fish</b> stock, salt, maltodextrin, yeast extract, onion powder, celeriac (<b>Celery</b>), rapeseed oil, leek powder, carrot powder, white pepper, bay), Dijon mustard (water, ground <b>Mustard</b> seeds, spirit vinegar, salt), concentrated lemon juice, cornflour, onion powder, black pepper.</p><p>I like that the food engineers at Aldi have deferred to actual cooks in the experimental kitchen, the tasty bits in these two products are quite different: haddock calls for celery, salmon for dill - who knew? And of course I am impressed that they have Latin-named the species - except in the case of cod powder and anchovies. God know and who cares about what goes into "cod powder", presumably it's what's left after all the fillets have been taken away and has been rejected in the fish goujon factories. Anchovies otoh are interesting taxonomically because there are several species in the genus <i>Engraulis</i>. I reckon that nobody who eats cheap fish-cakes would notice if Aldi replaced <i>E. encrasicolus</i> [euro-anchovy] with <i>E. anchoita</i> [Argentine a.] or <i>E. japonicus</i> if those stocks are more robust this year.<br /></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-566382661577919402024-03-10T07:35:00.134+00:002024-03-10T07:35:00.136+00:00Do not pass Go <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN8CAmEZUBpoIoZZBXzrO309A9j4wuJer6xSZW04KblL0aaikSqpjegaGxVxYySILsoAIy9-iE80JVfcHAa9Nfs24xoxFfa6DNvizTqZcGMmsi2u2dj6FOgdoX7YqNESZwOBbJh8eOVEQ0tMnuWoE5kE8OWQHlA0KfBUy0-3pxStfkqQ_gio0zA3xMqoUc/s450/AmazonPrimeNotNextDayDelivery.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN8CAmEZUBpoIoZZBXzrO309A9j4wuJer6xSZW04KblL0aaikSqpjegaGxVxYySILsoAIy9-iE80JVfcHAa9Nfs24xoxFfa6DNvizTqZcGMmsi2u2dj6FOgdoX7YqNESZwOBbJh8eOVEQ0tMnuWoE5kE8OWQHlA0KfBUy0-3pxStfkqQ_gio0zA3xMqoUc/s16000/AmazonPrimeNotNextDayDelivery.jpg" /></a></div>Notnext day delivery with Amazon Prime (Donner Pass I-80 CA last weekend)<br /><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Langwidge <br /></li><ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae913QSPsAk">Québécois</a> primer</li><ul><li><i>lâche pas la patate</i> = don’t give up <br /></li></ul><li>We-all just missed Seachtain na Gaeilge: <a href="https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22363300/">barnyard Irish</a>. </li><li><a href="https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/0302/1390567-slang-words-gaeilge-raimeis-cabog-mo-leir-slog-poncanach-damanta/">Handy Ir slang</a><br /></li></ul><li> <span></span><span style="color: #3d85c6;">≋≋<span></span>≋≋</span></li><ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4PILyGjpgw">Donner Pass Blizzard</a> (high-speed solid water) last weekend </li><ul><li>After snow aftermath <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL9ectO13gA">pulling out the 18-wheelers</a> near Truckee CA<br /></li></ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXEhZ3-zzkk">Cadgwith Cove Cornwall</a> co-op fishing</li><li>Ruf<u>ford</u>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DX819En1Wo">the hidden depths</a>. </li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96zoauephck">Dredging Gloucester Dock </a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSYL0MHMwog">Hyper-KamiokaNDE</a> a 260m litre tank for catching neutrinos</li><li><a href="https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsBritain/EnglandKent_Oxney01_Full.htm">Inning the R. Rother</a> - polders in Kent</li><li>Float your boat? <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kf6KSVcqBI">Woolwich Ferry</a><br /></li></ul><li><a href="https://www.young-enterprise.org.uk/teachers-hub/financial-education/resources-hub/financial-education-textbook/">Your Money Matters</a> author Martin Lewis <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-tc0riEbUU">shames MPs</a> about FinEd for 12 mins</li><li><a href="https://www.ourlittlehiker.com/mount-leinster-county-high-point-wexford-carlow/">Lugging the toddler</a> to all 32 Irish County High Points. Twofer [WX+CW] at Mt Leinster</li><li>Old farmers <a href="https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2024/0306/1436200-solar-panels-farming/">incentivized to go solar</a>.</li><ul><li>Jonas "Polio" Salk "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erHXKP386Nk">Could you patent the sun?</a>"</li></ul><li><a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-make-soap">making soap</a> (with tea is an option) without getting caustic burns on the kitchen ceiling</li><li><a href="https://blog.mollywhite.net/become-a-wikipedian-transcript/">Molly White affirms</a> that you can, so, edit Wikipedia.</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA7W1MmQH58">The Dons win</a>! . . . for once. John "vlogbros" Green is delirah.<br /></li></ul>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-29033986279252586992024-03-08T10:40:00.003+00:002024-03-08T10:40:00.134+00:00Fiction<p>One way I try to keep my life simple is by reducing choice. <br /></p><p>In my Borrowbox universe, I'm overwhelmed by all the books that are there for my reading pleasure, so I <a href="http://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2021/04/six-degrees-of-confusion_0503024616.html">only browse the non-fiction</a> section - and obvs leaning to science in that bin. That limits things to reality, rather than some infinite universes model of space and time. I confess to feeling a little smug about this adhesion to Truth, if not beauty. But I recognise that science has very little useful to say about the human condition or inter-personal relationships. Nevertheless, someone needs to shake me to insist "<b><i>Read This Novel!</i></b>". On foot of such orders, I read with advantage <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2023/02/small-towns-like-these.html">Small Things Like These</a> and <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2021/04/apocalypse-then.html">Station Eleven</a>. More recently, I took on board that one of my binfo pals is married to a successful YA author AND that one of my MeFi para-pals is <a href="http://www.antipope.org/charlie/">Charlie Stross</a> the prolific Britse SF writer.</p><p>Trouble with <i>prolific</i> is that it gives me choice-collywobbles. Stross is about 60 years old and sixty books published. In mid-Feb, feeling that I had to put my toe in Strosswater ,I found that only one earbook was immediately available. No choice? Obliged to plunge! Accordingly, I loaded up <span style="background-color: #444444; color: red;"><b> Empire Games </b></span> which is the first book in the third trilogy of his 9 volume Merchant Princes series. It is rather good: not dissimilar, in its post-Apocalyptic vibe, to Station Eleven. There is also resonance with Iain M. Banks [<a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2013/06/iain-m-banks-gone-dang.html">obitribute</a> from 10 years ago] insofar as they both write loosely connected stories embedded in a coherent Universe which is quite different from ours.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh1ORDK2qqfGDmHX6LFK5_X3JtQMsmqu2xInypj9nj4YoNzIS0KsL8s8oGYhh9LFKnjc0os2WJYrFB6ISdbXR-xQgd8pm789cMsHYFpgplKnF9jxRMu38FO16iCK7a516wMrOG1L1_NTDMuOAz-dbcrehhh2PHpnEFV_1oqQSMH8rP4urTIUCpMN8BMsuM/s189/SteamTrain.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="189" data-original-width="146" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh1ORDK2qqfGDmHX6LFK5_X3JtQMsmqu2xInypj9nj4YoNzIS0KsL8s8oGYhh9LFKnjc0os2WJYrFB6ISdbXR-xQgd8pm789cMsHYFpgplKnF9jxRMu38FO16iCK7a516wMrOG1L1_NTDMuOAz-dbcrehhh2PHpnEFV_1oqQSMH8rP4urTIUCpMN8BMsuM/s1600/SteamTrain.jpg" width="146" /></a></div>The Merchant Princes new-normal is that the Earth hosts a large number of parallel universes which through accident and happenstance have gorn all <i><b><span style="color: #7f6000;">two-roads diverged in a yellow wood</span></b></i> on us. We/they only know about the para-historical timelines [tech term] because some people develop the ability to shift among them. We may be thankful that these spacetime travellers are able to bring their immediate baggage, including clothes, [Schwarznegger, we're <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2013/06/iain-m-banks-gone-dang.html">looking-not-looking at you</a>] with them as they jaunt [tech term] to the same place in a different universe. If that can be achieved, then ideas, tech and <i>stuff</i> can be transported in a way analagous to horizontal transfer of genes between species. As with horizontal transfer this can confer a benefit on the recipients - without causing a loss at the donor end. So it's not a zero-sum game - notwithstanding the possibility of unintended consequences and <i>careful what you wish for</i>. <p></p><p>I liked Empire Games so much that I've put a Borrowbox lien on <span style="background-color: red;"> <b>Dark State</b> </span>, the next book in the series. I guess that's a recommendation, from me to you. PS sorry late launch today - made a PM/AM rookie error on the scheduler.<br /></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-40801959767553014712024-03-06T07:35:00.066+00:002024-03-06T07:35:00.147+00:00Le droit du sol<p><i>Le droit du sol, comme le droit du sang ou la naturalisation, constitue un moyen d'accéder à la nationalité française. Il permet à un enfant né en France de parents étrangers de se voir attribuer la nationalité française à ses 18 ans, de façon automatique.</i></p><p>Transl: Right by place of birth, like right by descent or naturalisation, is a means of acquiring French nationality. It allows children born in France to foreign parents to automatically acquire French nationality when they turn 18. </p><p>This used to be the norm until recently: it was desirable to acquire citizens to a) replace the scourging losses of infant mortality b) be productive workers b) do their national service in the army c) pay taxes to support pensioners . . . and all the other drains on the exchequer. My pal Pepe did a two year post-doc in Edinburgh in the 1970s and one of his boys was born during that time so had dual UK and Spanish citizenship. In 1983, the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-born-uk">Brits tightened up their citizenship regs</a>, so that you could only claim your British passport if one of your parents was, in their turn British.</p><p>In Ireland the story has been <i>dynamic</i> since the foundation of the state. In 1999, as part of the pragmatics of the Good Friday Agreement, and the passing of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution [94% approval rating!], all people born on the 32 county island of Ireland were entitled to a Green passport. With the turn of the century certain pols started raising a boogey-man of heavily pregnant Nigerians delivering their baby in the National Maternity Hospital and so acquiring at least a right to remain. That loophole was closed in 2004 by 27th "racist" Amendment to the Constitution [79% approval rating!] limiting citizenship to infants born to already Irish parent(s) - like the post-1983 Brits.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNkPknoZ5zMfdPdYrNIZY3E317kCuVghiTaJVsZM-upDn812zP3EtG6TJR9AANCd7zc53UqcUf73pewfKEoarIAXvCMn0MA7xbR9GMDd1VS7l3nOQYx8WFAfTqaf6Zl4oV5Xd2PgWKgKl_V31mnLQ2xzM2XL1w2NMF8m2VXWX7wFnYnTSOYAM-wah7ztI-/s306/Comoros&Mayotte.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="306" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNkPknoZ5zMfdPdYrNIZY3E317kCuVghiTaJVsZM-upDn812zP3EtG6TJR9AANCd7zc53UqcUf73pewfKEoarIAXvCMn0MA7xbR9GMDd1VS7l3nOQYx8WFAfTqaf6Zl4oV5Xd2PgWKgKl_V31mnLQ2xzM2XL1w2NMF8m2VXWX7wFnYnTSOYAM-wah7ztI-/s1600/Comoros&Mayotte.jpg" width="306" /></a></div>Mayotte is in the news in France over <i>le droit du sol</i>, because, like St. Pierre et Miquelon [<a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2017/07/making-money-from-science.html">whc prev</a>], and Réunion [<a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/search?q=R%C3%A9union">prev</a>] these archipelagos are <i lang="fr">départements et régions d'outre-mer</i><span lang="fr"> with the same rights, privs and representation in Paris as <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/France_d%C3%A9partementale.svg">metropolitan departments</a> like Lot-et-Garrone, Seine-maritime, Marne <i>etc</i>. x95. <br /></span><p></p><p>Through the 1960s France had been divesting itself of her African colonies starting with Algeria after the disastrous civil war which formed the back-drop in The Day of The Jackal. 1 million pied-noirs re-patriated themselves to metropolitan France after 1962. The tiny Comoros islands halfway between Mozambique and Madagascar were comparatively late to the independence table but a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_Comorian_independence_referendum">plebicite was carried out</a> in December 1974 which yielded a peculiar result. The 3 Northern islands of the archipelago voted overwhelmingly for independence asap while Mayotte voted <i>au contraire</i>:<br /></p><p> </p><table border="1" style="width: 50%;">
<tbody><tr>
<td>Island</td>
<td>For</td>
<td>Against</td>
<td>Turnout</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Anjouan</td>
<td>100%</td>
<td>0.7‰</td>
<td>96%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Gd Comore</td>
<td>100%</td>
<td>0.2‰</td>
<td>94%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mayotte</td>
<td>37%</td>
<td>63%</td>
<td>78%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mohéli</td>
<td>100%</td>
<td>0.8‰</td>
<td>95%</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table><p>You can see how it would piss off the majority if Mayotte was allowed to self-determine itself into staying French. Where would such "balkanisation" [the term used by the Comoros government in waiting] end? What if M. Passable and Mme Hassani in Pangadjou want to embrace their inner French but their neighbours don't? Nobody wants to finish up like <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2013/07/baarle.html">Baarle</a>. Nevertheless, Mayotte was allowed to secede from the union. Subsequent referendums in 2001 (74% Yes) and 2009 (95% Yes) firmed up the support for the belief that <span style="background-color: #999999;"> <span style="color: red;">Mayot</span><span style="color: white;">te is F</span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">rench</span> </span>.</p><p>So here we are. Mayotte is performatively emphatically French like Normandie or Provence and <i>le droit du sol</i> applies. While the government elite of Comoros wants to be an independent nation, many of the plain people of Anjouan fancy a go at the bright lights and opportunities of Paris or Marseille. If they can make the 80km sea crossing to Mayotte they feel they are halfway to the promised land. What to do? The Left want to suck up the anomaly and allow Mayotte to maintain parity of <strike>esteem</strike> droits metropolitan France. The Right want to use this edge case to drive a wedge between old French whose people have always come from France and new French people, born in France but whose parents or grandparents were born abroad - whether previous colonies or not. <i>Of course</i> Old French are white and 'christian' even if they never go to mass; while New French are from Portugal [Paris is the city with the second largest population of ethnic Portuguese!], Papeete, or tend to pray five times a day. <br /></p><p><a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2024/02/20/how-mayotte-became-the-ideological-laboratory-of-the-french-far-right_6542553_7.html">What the actual french have to say</a>.<br /></p><p></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-88997205282956667572024-03-04T07:26:00.035+00:002024-03-04T07:26:00.134+00:00Aggie aggie update<p>Did I tell you about corralling the flock into one of the four 1 hectare fields to make them graze it down? <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-field-over-river.html">I did</a> . . . at length . . . with pictures. The poor sheep had to work their ticket for five weeks between 27Jan24 and 29Feb24. A couple of them had <i>almost</i> eaten their way to freedom through the Sleeping Beauty jungle of briars and furze along the unfenced ditch / dyke / wall / boundary. But I took a saw down and plugged the gap with fresh spiky bushes: "<i>you <u><b>will</b></u> eat the grim looking thatch in the field</i>". We are not yet ready to write it off to rutting deer and badgers.</p><p>After breakfast on Leap Day, we girded our loins, seized our crooks, and opened the temporary gate to the Field Over the River. The sheep were clearly delirah "<i>man, the FOtR is so borrrring</i>" and galloped through the gap, hoping for fresh pasture. We brought them over to the larger of the two Fields Over the Lane. On arrival, the younger members of the flock were quite spring frisky at the prospect of some nice fresh sprouting grass to eat. It took me about an hour of extra outdoor labour to re-patriate: the temp-gate hurdles; the mineral-lick bucket; the buckets for water (whc scrub clean); associated posts and cordage. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzV01m1Xck1hIBhyphenhyphenDHqtyItfS-77I20Tsx9rWkcHAl-RBvDiiSmYwj4PZZqJpyZxxtrcNUBEWNTfajEIaFAbkSHOlhdONouJRjSt3Fp17WP5mNOS5oDG1ofJKM7hSeFfCnGdNZMesbLKINRB9tZxjzedf-pn8L13BGIzKtzSo8CSzjr-nDa8H36hfpOb7Z/s294/Rhubarb200Volcano03Mar24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="294" data-original-width="200" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzV01m1Xck1hIBhyphenhyphenDHqtyItfS-77I20Tsx9rWkcHAl-RBvDiiSmYwj4PZZqJpyZxxtrcNUBEWNTfajEIaFAbkSHOlhdONouJRjSt3Fp17WP5mNOS5oDG1ofJKM7hSeFfCnGdNZMesbLKINRB9tZxjzedf-pn8L13BGIzKtzSo8CSzjr-nDa8H36hfpOb7Z/s1600/Rhubarb200Volcano03Mar24.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Did I mention fresh sprouting grass? Grass is grand for sheep, but a mixed blessing for the areas of the farrrm which are No Go for sheep. NoGo because, like, roses, rhubarb and rocket. That grass is on me to mow. Consulting <a href="https://what3words.com/keenest.bloomers.breed">what3words</a> says that this NoGo haggard is ~50m x ~80m or 40 ares in extent; about half of which is given over to buildings, shrubberies, roses, rhubarb and rocket. I can mow this, I have for 25 years mowed this, I will continue to mow this but the site is on a 1:10 slope, some parts steeper than others. My what3words attention drifted East and I found all 15 <strike>pixels</strike> sheep recorded on GoogleMaps datestamp 2024. Just that info narrows the time frame to 1st-27th Jan 2024, because that's when we moved the flock to the field next-door. The Man at DeptOfAg will know that we were up to quota for sheep for that month. What price privacy?<br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPrns0GbnSZluEiP_1txVuYWVfCoppw52bloqL8PmsVn7QBSf0cROtHqOd8J4-wQrqQ5Zaap2ZxEJ94QiftE0oRDP4QVoVALEs1D4flnIHIetSTQDDRaYwRV9VggDHKAXkXvUYU_g6p2cHbh12Dgm6sEeafI_vcU2VPiD77AtxUSUMQF-s2eufPbV5bD0k/s450/SheepInventoryJan2024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPrns0GbnSZluEiP_1txVuYWVfCoppw52bloqL8PmsVn7QBSf0cROtHqOd8J4-wQrqQ5Zaap2ZxEJ94QiftE0oRDP4QVoVALEs1D4flnIHIetSTQDDRaYwRV9VggDHKAXkXvUYU_g6p2cHbh12Dgm6sEeafI_vcU2VPiD77AtxUSUMQF-s2eufPbV5bD0k/s16000/SheepInventoryJan2024.jpg" /></a></div>Meanwhile back in the haggard, Mon 26Feb24 was bright and breezy, so at tea-time I fuelled up the mower, fired that sucker up and thrashed the <strike>lawn</strike> flat bits in the yard and in front of the polytunnel. This time last year, at that stage, Dau.II (then resident) would have tag-teamed me and finished the job. It's a game of two 25 minute halves. Absent Dau the Mau, I stopped there. It would be toooo bougie if I pegged out pushing a goddam mower up hill at about the same age as my pal Paul Jaffe's heart blew out while pushing-starting
a neighbour's car. I was <span style="color: #990000;"><b>ragin'</b></span> the next day when all-day rain came back putting paid to any grass-mowing. Wot did I expect in Ireland in February?<br /><p></p>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgve2zrwKzF0bLdk9_vB8ZDWldA41430Ozjk1vM7YvGcHo3texn_eI5sw8E94GyZs5UrTqUR6rpjGs4UWivfcSMcOXbbdCWOsM45HxfyobGvHyBcntKjLESY8O98DniVLXcB-jXBLM24lZGLYCxZncftpw09Pnd0CDSuJDsVOWmzaFopkjcOBx73Mn43Agh/s450/LandingStripCessna.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgve2zrwKzF0bLdk9_vB8ZDWldA41430Ozjk1vM7YvGcHo3texn_eI5sw8E94GyZs5UrTqUR6rpjGs4UWivfcSMcOXbbdCWOsM45HxfyobGvHyBcntKjLESY8O98DniVLXcB-jXBLM24lZGLYCxZncftpw09Pnd0CDSuJDsVOWmzaFopkjcOBx73Mn43Agh/s16000/LandingStripCessna.jpg" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The weather was similar on LeapDay, a bit crisper, but sunny enough; although Met Éireann was giving <i>rain later</i>. Having sank back exhausted after sheep shenanigans in the morning, a bowl of soup and a slice of toast at lunchtime revived me enough to finish the mowing. As you see above, you can now land your Cessna 172 on the hill up to the tunnel. There will be scones if we're given 60 minutes notice. As it happened, 10 minutes after I got the mower under shelter it started to rain - so that's a <i>carpe mowem</i> win. And the day after that, St David's Day, we had actual [soggy, unskiable] snow by lunchtime, <a href="https://www.rte.ie/news/weather/2024/0301/1435318-weather-warning/">along with half the country</a>. <br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjViUMGFvU0NGlL2ykryuIt91RgDL-RXm4nxVCTspjaDlbJPbqxS_B3G4sJx2YDT9ixfIaJKangkmjYwGTd6enTPzqIG5XeQns6ZBehW4obcxa-e94i8gfKSuAiNAC1lFLhcLTXj59zziNcSJyYGXhDbf9r1i_R79SZbpV4fQNUqDa-qscq_txyS6LWtkJC/s300/BeansPlanted29Feb24.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="206" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjViUMGFvU0NGlL2ykryuIt91RgDL-RXm4nxVCTspjaDlbJPbqxS_B3G4sJx2YDT9ixfIaJKangkmjYwGTd6enTPzqIG5XeQns6ZBehW4obcxa-e94i8gfKSuAiNAC1lFLhcLTXj59zziNcSJyYGXhDbf9r1i_R79SZbpV4fQNUqDa-qscq_txyS6LWtkJC/s16000/BeansPlanted29Feb24.jpg" /></a></div>Busy Bobby Barfly had a lot on that day, because he also planted 18 beans shucked out of withered brittle bean-pods saved from last year. They'd better take, because we've eaten the rest of our seed corn in that department; I'm not about to, like, <u>buy</u> beans to sow. For the now, I have them in the dark under the sofa, so they won't be short of methane. I'll give each ⌀ 6cm pot 2 tsp water every other day until they show.<br /><p></p><p></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-82597987114213802822024-03-03T07:11:00.170+00:002024-03-03T07:11:00.250+00:00World Wildlife Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUFfUVDBp_tDLIufY-BUzKQkjv4qYbEBq6bubGJIl1T4ZNpQPcWbTxEbFXo3gijLgHkXGVwaCm6PG90r0ax0K0mbrKsdj5rxm6OHLay_BlJSjP2YeenSH8hYmkpN0OHhaY-YEF1e0s1Iv-Z7eY-Ejzcr4siwZy903WrdNF32zicXezwxwXsZSRvZCt5lXW/s311/Clovelly.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="220" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUFfUVDBp_tDLIufY-BUzKQkjv4qYbEBq6bubGJIl1T4ZNpQPcWbTxEbFXo3gijLgHkXGVwaCm6PG90r0ax0K0mbrKsdj5rxm6OHLay_BlJSjP2YeenSH8hYmkpN0OHhaY-YEF1e0s1Iv-Z7eY-Ejzcr4siwZy903WrdNF32zicXezwxwXsZSRvZCt5lXW/s1600/Clovelly.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>It <u>is</u> World Wildlife Day, but I have nothing to say about this. It is <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">not</span></b> <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2015/09/scupper-me-mainbrace-lads.html">Talk Like a Pirate Day</a> but we'll start with a bit of Ahoy Shipmates:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span>🐟</span>≋≋⛵</li>
<ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYPnmxyUlnA">Fishing out of Clovelly</a>, [behold R] N. Devon</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2NN7uoK3EE">Lobsters off Filey</a>, Yorks </li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR7otiXsxkM">Purse-seining</a>, Senegal</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrtbQ5Cshas">Catching some tubes</a> Mullaghmore 2024<br /></li></ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4_cEE7AvAI">Once more with feeling</a>? <br /></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cg-TyfX6U4">Russian choir lifts the roof</a><br /></li>
<li><span>💃</span><span>🕺</span> </li><ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHc2etWXbY8">Boogie-woogie</a></li><li>Riverdance is <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2022/10/something-rotten-in-state-of-dance-mark.html">a bit too Nürnberg</a> for me. Antidote <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elQvSaWoZkE">with teddybears</a></li>
<li>Morris <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G93zyEAYCQ">Devonshire style</a></li></ul><li><a href="https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/0220/1433313-marino-housing-estate-dublin-corporation-1924-garden-suburb/">Marino</a>: centenary of Dublin's aspirational garden suburb </li>
<li><a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146411393">Nice map</a>, medieval Scilly (drowned field systems)</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUL8DSXecX0">Tories spokes close ranks</a> on <strike>Islamophobia</strike> "wrong"</li><li>Arts Block: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQ9smRmG7o">Eric Ravilious at the V&A</a> [<a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2015/08/like-sheep.html">previlious</a> (son James) plagiarism] <br /></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnIW8p-4KTY">Tow trucker gets salty</a> in the snow with know-it-some truck driver</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rwYBNLPRe4">Pick-up-stix</a> 4 tonne edition </li><ul><li>infrastructure: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBXtV0xUcnY">cooking n cleaning</a> for loggers<br /></li></ul><li>An excerpt from "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su6zYV7TE-k&t=860s">Serenade to the Big Bird</a>" by Bert Stiles (1920-1944) read at the <a href="https://www.abmc.gov/Cambridge">Cambridge American Cemetery</a>.<br /></li>
</ul>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-90072186856949365142024-03-02T07:53:00.000+00:002024-03-02T07:53:43.155+00:00Alice Park Stardate 0400-02-03-2024<p>I'm not one to keep you [from <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2024/03/remember-dispossessed.html">yest</a>] on tenterhooks . . . "<i>Well did it snow on the weans last night?</i>"<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6lvqektipQc90S5DCcsVsVyUEbj8l0VWSNauaXqmL0XkUZUgUNETVv1ERPf6OwOjRbWYm2-lYVaFJIk1s24cpMmJINycGxv_wGVFbSbdc5hdMDRgUSMrBR53Ab-oQdHa8PN4tJOi6E78400k3Co8crP_KTAmPKYjzSmf1_yBI9jfq0ncCZPCSxTsGrcEx/s420/AlicePark-0400-02Mar24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="252" data-original-width="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6lvqektipQc90S5DCcsVsVyUEbj8l0VWSNauaXqmL0XkUZUgUNETVv1ERPf6OwOjRbWYm2-lYVaFJIk1s24cpMmJINycGxv_wGVFbSbdc5hdMDRgUSMrBR53Ab-oQdHa8PN4tJOi6E78400k3Co8crP_KTAmPKYjzSmf1_yBI9jfq0ncCZPCSxTsGrcEx/s16000/AlicePark-0400-02Mar24.jpg" /></a></div>Reader, it did. When you're 8 y.o. that counts as <b><i><span style="color: #b45f06;">success</span></i></b>; when you're the 48 y.o. adult i/c, the joy is by proxy. It's more about “<i>O sleep, O gentle sleep, Nature's soft nurse, how have I frightened thee. That thou no more will weigh my eyelids down, And steep my senses in forgetfulness?</i>” Apart from the snow and the winter-dead trees, this still from The Alice Park Sleepover [PG] includes a back-lit reformed axe-murderer [centre] who volunteered as security. All good, so.<br /> <br /><p></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-89150356728497617882024-03-01T07:28:00.268+00:002024-03-01T07:28:00.132+00:00Remember the dispossessed<p>St David's Day! A day for Glamorgan sausages [cheese, <b><span style="color: #38761d;">leeks</span></b>, breadcrumbs]; quiche [ricotta, <b><span style="color: #38761d;">leeks</span></b>, eggs]; <b><span style="color: #38761d;">leek</span></b> and potato soup. While leeks <i>Allium porrum</i> like so many Alliums (onions, garlic, ramsons, shallots) are a cornerstone for cooking as we know it they don't look particularly emblematic. They say that Owain Glyndŵr rode into battle against the English with a leek attached to his helmet - but you can take that with a pinch of salt and pepper. You can see why the herald <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouge_Dragon_Pursuivant">Rouge Dragon Pursuivant</a> might have moved to run daffodils <i>Narcissus pseudonarcissus</i> as substitute in the world of Welsh symbols. Don't eat the daffodils! Although they are in the same family Amaryllidaceae as leeks, daffs are rich in a toxic alkaloid called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycorine">lycorine</a>. Most of the chatter about lycorine poisoning is about dogs; because as we all know, some dogs will scarf down any ould shite in an eye-blink. You'd have to be determined to choke down a lethal dose (~50g?), though, because daffodil bulbs taste <b><i><span style="color: #7f6000;">'orrible</span></i></b>.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwfuhhyphenhyphensWt6OfMMd55LbdGfC1-8CUVUKJWJmB8ZvCBvH4GpQZgyS1ndEJ0LFJWlF-CrEYaHiZHdzlmaiWvtBxhh1SrDH0AlS6n5GMOFsfxhdMDDMkscV7M9ksBZSAzDU_W1vWFY6E7H_JGlikSC0hqAmmwpVNVLyLJvT88c7aXUd_AZR78h-UZojSFA8z_/s258/JulianHouseCash.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="84" data-original-width="258" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwfuhhyphenhyphensWt6OfMMd55LbdGfC1-8CUVUKJWJmB8ZvCBvH4GpQZgyS1ndEJ0LFJWlF-CrEYaHiZHdzlmaiWvtBxhh1SrDH0AlS6n5GMOFsfxhdMDDMkscV7M9ksBZSAzDU_W1vWFY6E7H_JGlikSC0hqAmmwpVNVLyLJvT88c7aXUd_AZR78h-UZojSFA8z_/s1600/JulianHouseCash.jpg" width="258" /></a></div>But we're not here today to purge you with emetics. Some other things are going down as well. Tonight, <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/search?q=julian+house">not for the first time</a>, some of our family in England are going to be rough-sleeping in Alice Park, at the Eastern end of the City of Bath. They are, as before, raisin' money to support <a href="https://julianhouse.enthuse.com/cf/the-big-bath-sleep-out">Julian House</a> a local charity helping the homeless. They say <i><b>Charity begins at home</b></i>, but for the youngest generation in our family, it begins at homeless. They set a modest target £10K for the whole Bath Sleep Out and £200 for Team <i>Bring Your Mittens</i> but TBYM surged through that within hours of launch [snapshot R]. No real surprise there, because their network is top-heavy with Richie Rich types. <p></p><p>But it's not really about the money, is it? Families start early and (un)consciously transmitting their values and aspirations to the children. For a disconcerting number of families we know, one key thread is about performative manners: <br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>"don't hold your knife like a pen", </li><li>"say <i>thank you</i> to granny"</li><li>"share your stuff with your little brother"</li><li>"don't speak with your mouth full"</li><li>"leave the seat <i>down</i>" </li></ul><p>so many rules, so much baggage, not all of it good. But I think the Sleep Out is a good place to start. </p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>it's habit forming after 7 or 8 years of <i>being there</i><br /></li><li>it has been proselytised to sweep up young friends-and-relations</li><li>it's one device-free night</li><li>it's fairly uncomfortable</li><li>it's not really dangerous</li><li>soaking the rich rellies is no harm</li><li>the dispossessed are the ultimate beneficiaries.</li></ul><p>I'm <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2017/03/carpenters-wanted.html">not usually in favour</a> of performative charity events, although I <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2023/10/walking-for-others.html">participated in one</a> years before they were commonplace. But there are no air-miles involved in schlepping a sleeping-bag and some card-board sheets down to Alice Park with a sack-truck for the 1km (mostly downhill) journey to the venue. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7i6GtbPKDg0mG25yPvpQwCRQPSSYyeizXQFAbTY85kQ5pI4gRhybP6o6jg5e3NGDjbjr6swDj2dEXRNKO1BIyTF1o-wQkuYKx9T9vaY_LdtLC92ru-ZMJQkZFKglulxlHmPY7qh91hUR-irtt9_mYPm0oZN5HR96h6XMGuTE7frAWuHfGRoxhiKi87Yff/s420/MittensPrepared.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7i6GtbPKDg0mG25yPvpQwCRQPSSYyeizXQFAbTY85kQ5pI4gRhybP6o6jg5e3NGDjbjr6swDj2dEXRNKO1BIyTF1o-wQkuYKx9T9vaY_LdtLC92ru-ZMJQkZFKglulxlHmPY7qh91hUR-irtt9_mYPm0oZN5HR96h6XMGuTE7frAWuHfGRoxhiKi87Yff/s16000/MittensPrepared.jpg" /></a></div><i><b>Prior planning prevents poor performance</b></i>! In among the hi-jinks and star-gazing, the kids involved will spare a thought for the poor bloody infantry who do this every night because Western democracies privilege capital over people. I believe there are plans for a hot breakfast al fresco with, or probably without, Glamorgan sausages.<br /><p></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-40690390077419605622024-02-28T07:06:00.000+00:002024-02-28T07:06:00.125+00:00What is family? <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghfcaxc5GX4tQ9dRB19vyhCiVyjaxjEGrbzhXhNgEd7u2CCV2Al3-dMgZBdqCpYcYUhWlzVD828Cm9xxDKDr8azoE5JpE4E9O1Ujqi5JVtaCEqxEFQuoM3_-iSzKVBBAM8qyHLb4r0gBccu32x1QoVubbSrgccy3gLQMasa0ao1E2qspaw3x58E103kxdT/s250/Eamin&SineadDev.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="196" data-original-width="250" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghfcaxc5GX4tQ9dRB19vyhCiVyjaxjEGrbzhXhNgEd7u2CCV2Al3-dMgZBdqCpYcYUhWlzVD828Cm9xxDKDr8azoE5JpE4E9O1Ujqi5JVtaCEqxEFQuoM3_-iSzKVBBAM8qyHLb4r0gBccu32x1QoVubbSrgccy3gLQMasa0ao1E2qspaw3x58E103kxdT/s1600/Eamin&SineadDev.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><p>In 1936, Éamon de Valera sat down with his wife <strike>Jane O'Flanagan</strike> Sinéad Ní Fhlannagáin of 26 years [together L] and conjured up a vision for Ireland as a New 1937 Constitution which would sever the final apron strings attaching the 26 counties to the United Kingdom. It's an interesting document because it sees certain 'truths' to be self-evident, which a majority of the citizenry today would give at least a bit of side-eye: "special position" of the Catholic Church <i>Really</i>? But it was also pragmatic and did its best to be culturally inclusive. The reason Home Education was explicitly allowed in Article 42 was to not frighten the Protestant horses so much that they sent their middle-class chaps to boarding school in England . . . and they never came back to fill the ranks of the professions. In other ways Éamon and Sinéad endorsed frankly unhinged fantasies where what Ireland <i>should</i> be [comely maidens dancing at the cross-roads etc.] was at considerable odds with what Ireland actually be like [Angela's Ashes etc.]. </p><p>In 1972, "special position" of the Catholic Church was put aside but we still have <a href="https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/cons/en/html#article44">Article 44</a>: "<i>The State acknowledges that the homage of public worship is due to
Almighty God. It shall hold His Name in reverence, and shall respect and
honour religion</i>". Only one god, though, and check the pronouns. <br /></p><p></p><p>We're due to have another referendum on 8th March 2024 to unpack some more of Éamon and Sinéad's 1930s certainties and replace their words with something that acknowledges 2020s realities in the state we inhabit. This year its Article 41 and its ideas about the family. The Family is Top Dog in É&S's Ireland: they decide on the children's <a href="https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/cons/en/html#article42">education in Article 42</a>, for example. The State just ponies up the resources for this to happen "<i>provide other educational facilities or institutions with due regard, however, for the rights of parents</i>". But the Family in the Ideal Ireland was 1 man married to 1 woman with innumerable children. Well we've dealt with part of that by <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2015/05/free-gays.html"><strike>freeing the Gays</strike></a> legalizing same-sex marriage in 2015. But there are so many edge cases yet. Families without children, families with only one parent, multi-generational households, co-habiting BFFs. </p><p>So <b>the First Q</b> on the referendum is asking whether we want to add "<i>The State recognises the Family, <b>whether founded on marriage or on other durable relationships</b>, yada yada</i>". WTF? The <b>durable relationships</b> are neither defined, nor designated. Senior lawyers are gleefully rubbing their wigs together contemplating years of litigation to bed this woolly aspiration into case law. But I guess at least it opens the door to other models of families than were dreamed of in 1937. Tá, so? <u>Married</u> families are still given Top Dog status, though "<i>The State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of Marriage,</i> <s>on which the Family is founded,</s> <i>and to protect it against attack</i>.” Some are more equal than others.</p><p>The second Q attempts to deal with one of the most egregious anachronisms left in the Constitution. Sinéad never had to go to work because, even when he was in gaol or fund-raising in the USA, there was enough money to allow her to deliver 7 children in 12 years, then feed them, clothe them, and teach them manners without having to take in someone else's laundry to make it possible. This part of the referendum seeks to delete</p><p><i>Article 41.2.1 “In particular, the State recognises that by her life
within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the
common good cannot be achieved.”<br />Article 41.2.2 “The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that
mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour
to the neglect of their duties in the home.”</i></p>
<p>Hey hey bring it On! Only dinosaurs (<i>TyrannoPatriarchus rex</i> etc.) want to keep women <b><span style="color: #e06666;">bacon</span></b>-and-<span style="color: #38761d;"><b>cabbaging</b></span> in the kitchen or <span style="color: #990000;"><b>reddening</b></span> the front doorstep or changing <b><span style="color: #bf9000;">diapers</span></b> when they could be out fuelling the economy or fulfilling their dreams or inspiring us all to <i>Citius, Altius, Fortius.</i> But, the government has decided to simplify the É&S vision of bosom-in-the-floral-pinnie to "one who cares" and replace 41.2.1 & 41.2.2 with this ghastly kludge:</p><p>“<i>The State recognises that the provision of care, by members of a family
to one another by reason of the bonds that exist among them, gives to
Society a support without which the common good cannot be achieved, and
shall strive to support such provision.</i>”</p><p>Much steam has been blown off about the retreat from <i><u>endeavour</u> to ensure</i> to <i><u>strive</u> to support</i> but that's moot, because, since 1937, to the nearest whole number, zero money has been allocated to offset the reality of <i>mothers being obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour outside then home</i>. Unless you count child benefit at €140 / month / child - that's just over €4.50 a day. The average family roof-over-head payments [not incl heat, food, transport, clothing, insurance fripperies] are currently €1,000 /month. </p><p>And nobody troubled to ask those in need of care [not all of whom are inarticulate blobs to be patronized] what they wanted out of the process. Indeed, The Beloved had to bug out of a referendum-explainer zoom-call convened by The Carers of Ireland. Too many people moaning on about the crappy, ambiguous language that finished up on the ballot paper rather than making peace with the artificial <span style="color: blue;"><b>Nil</b></span> / <b><span style="color: magenta;">Tá</span></b> binary and deciding how to vote.<br /></p><p>Farming Bund the ICMSA won't be buying a pig-in-a-poke but seek clarity on "Durable relationships" in the context of farm succession. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5GvEzmUujQ&pp=ygUbVUtTQyBndXNldCB2IGd1ZXN0IGVzdG9wcGVs">Guest v Guest</a> dragged the issue to the UK Supreme Court [<a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2024/02/los-supremos.html">prev</a>].<br /></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-29863113342553330652024-02-26T07:46:00.024+00:002024-02-26T07:46:00.126+00:00Stats Blip<p>I've no idea how many people read The Blob on the regular. To the nearest whole number per post, zero readers make a comment. Blogger/blogspot, the barely supported platform which hosts The Blob pretends to gather data on traffic and make these available to owners / clients but these stats are frankly, in two words, in credible. Take last year: I can believe that me and a couple of hundred yous are having 7½ mins of daily fun . . . but not that '000s of, like, people tuned in during Aug and Sep and then drifted off back to titktok. I figure it must be scraper bots:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAFcl0uWRkpwNkq1zyFHvgxV5Gmxw3bCPtusEBCx7dv-SSvkQbc0MQ7VmGCZqX7vGMy47d_KysE9OAL6IXy-pU0lFuht1hEYv9NTOJYKqFjiNewhrnF-9xe2E-Yxyh6HSJvH0jMwb88CdgmulKh-FIzW1aHerQd6c0zs_N5x3Dt6qnG1nYP1G5g6lnSyuw/s400/BlobPVs2023.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="118" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAFcl0uWRkpwNkq1zyFHvgxV5Gmxw3bCPtusEBCx7dv-SSvkQbc0MQ7VmGCZqX7vGMy47d_KysE9OAL6IXy-pU0lFuht1hEYv9NTOJYKqFjiNewhrnF-9xe2E-Yxyh6HSJvH0jMwb88CdgmulKh-FIzW1aHerQd6c0zs_N5x3Dt6qnG1nYP1G5g6lnSyuw/s16000/BlobPVs2023.jpg" /></a></div><p>Heck, I don't have many legs to stand on in complaining about Blogspot comms. The Blob pays €0 = nothing for the privilege of over-sharing.</p><p>Comment-bots are an intermittent thing. "Nadia Adams" and "Anna Greens" recently left a flurry of nine (9!) urgent comments on <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2024/01/jocelyn-isweeps-past.html">a Blob about Storm Jocelyn</a>. </p><p><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Thank you for sharing such an engaging story, and I'm looking forward to more captivating content from your blog! <b><span style="color: #783f04;">foodhub discount code</span></b><br />I absolutely loved your post about Jocelyn's iSweeps past – it's always fascinating to learn about unique experiences and journeys. Your storytelling truly captivated me. <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">revel promo code</span></b><br />On another note, have you checked out the <b><span style="color: #783f04;">foodhub discount code</span></b>? It's an excellent way to discover incredible deals and savings on various products. It might be a handy resource for your readers who want to make the most out of their budgets while exploring new experiences.<br />I just finished reading your fascinating post on Jocelyn and her remarkable past. It's always inspiring to learn about the journeys and achievements of individuals. <b><span style="color: #783f04;">foodhub discount code</span></b><br />"I just had to drop by and say thank you for your consistently well-researched and thought-provoking blog posts. Your ability to tackle complex subjects with clarity and depth is truly impressive. It's evident that you take great care in delivering reliable content to your readers."<br /><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b>planet fitness coupons</b></span><br />"Your blog is a treasure trove of wisdom, and I find myself returning to it time and again. The meticulous research, coupled with your engaging writing style, makes your content not just informative but also enjoyable to read. Thank you for consistently delivering excellence!"<br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>midjourney promo code 2024</b></span><br />It's always inspiring to learn about the journeys and achievements of individuals. I just finished reading your fascinating post on Jocelyn and her remarkable past. <b><span style="color: #783f04;">soy sauce coupon</span></b><br />It's always inspiring to learn about the journeys and achievements of individuals. I just finished reading your fascinating post on Jocelyn and her remarkable past. <b><span style="color: #e69138;">wizz discount club</span></b><br />I morally appreciate for sharing your unique perspective, and I'm eagerly awaiting your next blog post.<br /><b><span style="color: #e69138;">wizz discount club</span></b></span></p><p></p><p>These intrusions appear in my Social Gmailbox, so I know they're there; but are rare enough that I can carefully delete them one-by-one. You're on your own if you want to follow Anna and Nadia to an emporium of cheap revels, soy sauce and wizz.<br /></p><p>The other thing I've been freeloading on for many years (longer than Blogspot, that's for sure) is Anu Garg's AWAD feed. A-Word-A-Day has been delivering M-F what it says on the tin <i><b>for 30 years</b></i>! In addition, he sends out a digest of accumulated comments every weekend. The traffic is not entirely one way: occasionally I'll have something to say by return and very occasionally these comments finish up in the AWAD digest which gets send out to ~350,000 subscribers. In 2015, <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2015/09/lagniappe.html">I won a prize</a> for comment-of-the-week. Last week of Jan'24, the AWAD theme was eponyms; and readers were invited to submit their own favorites of that genre. The Blob has had rather a lot to say on the subject and I clipped some of my copy and sent that in. Thus</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Chisholm</b>, noun. A billion<sup>3</sup> = 10<sup>27</sup> = the number of “<i>Prochlorococcus</i>”, the
world’s most abundant organism, in the ocean. Named for <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2016/10/prochlorococcus.html&source=gmail&ust=1706545963555000&usg=AOvVaw1qt9laenARuXBqHhSap5Q0" href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2016/10/prochlorococcus.html" target="_blank">Penny Chisholm</a>,
their
discoverer. Sometimes called a Chisillion to match billion, trillion
...”There are about seven chisillion cells in an adult human body.”</li><li>
<b>Hopkins Ratio</b>, noun. The amount by which office space was/is
diminished for female faculty members. Named for <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://theglasshammer.com/2011/05/science-and-engineering-an-equal-playing-field-for-women/&source=gmail&ust=1706545963555000&usg=AOvVaw1TK8aHeS1NuXG0Sp7ZLI_f" href="https://theglasshammer.com/2011/05/science-and-engineering-an-equal-playing-field-for-women/" target="_blank">Nancy Hopkins</a>
who documented the discrepancy at MIT in the 1990s. “The Hopkins Ratio is
just one example of pervasive, insidious, unconscious sexism”.</li><li>
Finally, <b>Gabriela</b>, a heartwarming and inspiring <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2018/11/as-good-as-curie.html&source=gmail&ust=1706545963555000&usg=AOvVaw20q99Nip__whpYhxpbX87K" href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2018/11/as-good-as-curie.html" target="_blank">story</a>
of a
teenager who, despite coming from a “vocational school” and an immigrant
background, discovered that she was as good as anyone else in the room
... indeed, on the planet.</li></ul><p>2 out of those 3 links are Blob-cites and there was (at last, a pageview spike has a rational explanation) a blip in Blob-views:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvMz-66-sFzPkLraOCpeCTtW7LzLJAI5UwSSo0-3uIQyiyF6rIDL7Egek2j75L0cHRz5po06ywlKA1O3oKqz4XQce0my2FwKuGaQYiBf8pmseEz29KQSz7-rxt_mGf4iJp8Tay3aNj2V5nEfhmRLJR2qTT_7hUFmw8pNLEGiD984VymB-0p42od1k08QIj/s400/BlobStatsLateJan2024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="36" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvMz-66-sFzPkLraOCpeCTtW7LzLJAI5UwSSo0-3uIQyiyF6rIDL7Egek2j75L0cHRz5po06ywlKA1O3oKqz4XQce0my2FwKuGaQYiBf8pmseEz29KQSz7-rxt_mGf4iJp8Tay3aNj2V5nEfhmRLJR2qTT_7hUFmw8pNLEGiD984VymB-0p42od1k08QIj/s16000/BlobStatsLateJan2024.jpg" /></a></div>It looks like the excess views were almost exclusively focused on my posts about Penny and Gabriela. I hope that will have been edutaining for those who clicked through; but suspect that many will have felt blatted by TMI and gone back to TikTok.<br />BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-76093537602019985822024-02-25T07:23:00.068+00:002024-02-25T07:23:00.129+00:00Nus 25 Bef 2024 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7IIT456aTiEnTXSM3lpFy7D8nbGh8iJZqriRCb-o5bs9wGTohyUhdkc8as-ZGK6A3cFhkd8lhA8DGZK6p_QfCx1GfibiqcCsML1zMf7r76-B_ikQpT_bnZqImi9kU_iFfjxauoSzSwkhdVzlSBF_TPkPEcOykk0nifk73FCFhsMbK8TTyDcOlMp-Ru93M/s260/ValentianRossiFossi.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="260" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7IIT456aTiEnTXSM3lpFy7D8nbGh8iJZqriRCb-o5bs9wGTohyUhdkc8as-ZGK6A3cFhkd8lhA8DGZK6p_QfCx1GfibiqcCsML1zMf7r76-B_ikQpT_bnZqImi9kU_iFfjxauoSzSwkhdVzlSBF_TPkPEcOykk0nifk73FCFhsMbK8TTyDcOlMp-Ru93M/s1600/ValentianRossiFossi.jpg" width="260" /></a></div>May I present . . .<br /><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Roisín Murphy laments <a href="https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/living/2024/0217/1432715-roisin-murphy-on-why-we-need-to-protect-small-retail-in-ireland/">the passing of cluttery shops</a></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DCmcvD0CdKg">Clove-hitch</a>; the farmer's friend <br /></li><li>Autoshenanigans clocks <a href="https://youtu.be/PCLDpyPxb8Q?t=274">the receding Suffolk coastline</a> S of Lowestoft</li><ul><li>Erosion prev: <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2023/12/slip-sliding-away.html">Norfolk</a> -- <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-connibeg-fourteen.html">S. Wexford</a></li></ul><li>Before Napier's logs there was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9WY_HZUK8Q">Jost Bürgi</a></li><li><a href="https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/0216/1432576-tridentinosaurus-ancient-alpine-reptile-fossil-forgery/">Fake fossil</a> exposed by Valentina Rossi [R] at UCC </li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbSmcqWdl9o">Felling out an ash tree</a> with axe and cross-cut.</li><li><a href="https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/parkinsons/">Outclimbing Parkinson's</a></li><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/feb/20/everybody-looks-after-each-other-fifty-years-of-the-commune-that-began-with-a-guardian-ad">Old Hall</a> - living together </li><li><a href="https://www.rte.ie/news/2024/0220/1433454-ukraine-war-protest/">Pensioners against Putin</a>, Dublin chapter. <br /></li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/country-ireland-lynch-seamus-b329b1102/">Seamus Lynch</a> RSA <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0wx7cn93uk">busts a truck tach faker</a> on the M50</li><li>Gardiner Bros can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pXS5fP0iVFk">dance</a></li><ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEXcsxK1itc">Cloned</a></li></ul><li><a href="https://www.rte.ie/thisisart/blog/shangarry-potters">Making hand-made pots</a> at Shanagarry.<br /></li></ul>gf<br />BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-19851540576261792362024-02-23T07:15:00.239+00:002024-02-23T07:15:00.132+00:00Bath Publishing <p>I've surprised myself by not actually getting Blobercised about the shameful gaslighting and ruination of local Post Office managers across the water. Not until January-too-late did I find a hook in the <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2024/01/tis-icl-wind.html">coincidence of ICL on the periphery</a> of my own life. I guess the itch of my indignation was eased by posts across on Metafilter <a href="https://www.metafilter.com/201959/The-Post-Office-Fujitsu-Horizon-scandal">2023</a> - <a href="https://www.metafilter.com/189692/Fully-and-robustly-tested-and-meets-the-banking-industry-standards">2020</a>. Sometimes Metafilter comments are <a href="https://www.metafilter.com/189692/Fully-and-robustly-tested-and-meets-the-banking-industry-standards#8028572">from people who actually know</a> what they are talking about. That something is rotten in the state of POmark has been known since at least 2009 when <a href="https://www.private-eye.co.uk/special-reports/justice-lost-in-the-post">Private Eye started flagging it</a> [7 page 9,000 word PDF] on the regular. But corporate and politcal and main-stream journalistic inertia allowed each egregious case to get washed away without any song-and-dance.</p><p>One of the White Hats in this sorry tale is Nick Wallis, who (in 2010!) was a local radio talk-show host who started to talk to Sub-Postmanagers about the ruination of their lives <a href="https://www.postofficescandal.uk/">and blog about it</a>. He published a book about his, and their journey, for the Christmas market in . . . 2021. The title couldn't be more explicit: <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">The Great Post Office Scandal: The fight to expose a multimillion pound IT disaster which put innocent people in jail</span></b>. If you want a 1 hour exec summary <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS_mNWGwHnQ">Wallis was interviewed</a> by James "LBC" O'Brien [whom <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2021/03/how-to-be-better_01301786958.html">bloboprev</a>] on the latter's Full Disclosure channel. Hislop at Private Eye and Wallis are extremely magnanimous about someone else (ITV docudrama on the telly over Christmas 2023) removing the final chip from the dams of inertia and obfuscation and release a national tsunami of outrage.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMKa35UccJktHAGkzZ4QWkfnaAiOPs_5kOACwnOYi4ercyuPEnXWVxiygRiGZTzARqa8LirJghlZ7OAxQus6A6qAtqEXqslKSU3Sh7rkh1S-7IKM1OxkiTQVyJOvH30AFAm-5vOTBXn9KBZhnfiFCUy0aKYpYp9tdCj3fjvuv6oYFoQogjeKRaUeGDg059/s266/BathPublishing.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="150" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMKa35UccJktHAGkzZ4QWkfnaAiOPs_5kOACwnOYi4ercyuPEnXWVxiygRiGZTzARqa8LirJghlZ7OAxQus6A6qAtqEXqslKSU3Sh7rkh1S-7IKM1OxkiTQVyJOvH30AFAm-5vOTBXn9KBZhnfiFCUy0aKYpYp9tdCj3fjvuv6oYFoQogjeKRaUeGDg059/s1600/BathPublishing.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>For my money, the worst actors, the <b>Blackest</b> Hats are worn by any and all the high profile pols and journos who are talking large <u>now</u> having been too busy to care about injustice for . . . get this . . . 25 years: since the first prosecutions of PO employees started happening through perjury, gaslighting and the perverse incentives of corporate bonuses.
<p>Anyway, I was googling around Nick Wallis after hearing his book getting a glowing rec from Rory Stewart on his TRIP podcast. And came across <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-68093364">The people who published</a> The Great Post Office Scandal who are <a href="https://bathpublishing.com/">Bath Publishing</a>. They were a micro WFH company with a niche market in legal text-books: "Employment Tribunal Remedies Handbook" - "Contamination, Pollution & the Planning Process: A Practitioner's Guide" that sort of thing. Wallis was hawking his book about and had it rejected 9 times by risk-averse publishers. But Bath Publishing took an Entrepreneurial plunge on it. I hope they, and Wallis, make a lorra money. I also found a card, an envelope and a stamp and sent them a <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56159/this-is-just-to-say">This is Just to Say</a> [whc <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2021/03/sunday-in-suez.html">bloboprev</a>] tribute:</p>
<pre>You have published for which we wish you
the plum you were probably champagne delicious
going bad in risking not too sweet
the postbox a court case and so cold
</pre><p></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-27384001712516624222024-02-21T07:11:00.001+00:002024-02-22T07:15:28.020+00:00Sprakkar<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwxxfpFWg1bYRyeUWJLKvK9qx8Dj7qbdwQs66LY1RCygimmFwZXoeyFvp3R2aiPUM1jVT0j2PzTTMBUBXL9dp72qiPhedjWrOUOErkfZHg1myH40nbAxP81QblNkOSICAdlH6iZRy3CWSEA0XHUrM3EGP5bSMLbEzg0jdL_CKwdqjosQSg1PQi5BbOvRcl/s386/CapnD%C3%B3ra.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="262" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwxxfpFWg1bYRyeUWJLKvK9qx8Dj7qbdwQs66LY1RCygimmFwZXoeyFvp3R2aiPUM1jVT0j2PzTTMBUBXL9dp72qiPhedjWrOUOErkfZHg1myH40nbAxP81QblNkOSICAdlH6iZRy3CWSEA0XHUrM3EGP5bSMLbEzg0jdL_CKwdqjosQSg1PQi5BbOvRcl/s320/CapnD%C3%B3ra.jpg" width="217" /></a></div>Because of <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2024/01/form-un-function.html">a comment</a> by Icelandophile Professor Batty, and subsequent to-fro, I've gone deep on Eliza Reid, who will cease being Forsetafrú = First Lady this summer after two terms. I've been reading her <b>The Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland’s Extraordinary Women and How They Are Changing the World</b> (1922). It's a deep dive into Europe's most equal society through the voices of not-men who have shaped and benefitted from that playing field - still bumpy but <i>A Lot</i> flatter than, say, Ireland's - let alone Iranland! <p></p><p>Reid, who grew up in rural Ontario, apparently met her Icelandic husband Guðni Jóhannesson on a blind-date . . . in Oxford, when they were both there as students. He came home and soon landed a faculty position in University of Iceland. He's a 20thC historian who had articulate and sensible things to say about The Cod Wars with UK and the Banking Collapse. When the long-term President <u>finally</u> retired in 2016 then fans-friends-and-relations urged Guðni to run for the office and he won the election quite convincingly. His bookish, entrepreneurial wife thus became First Lady and a reluctant fashion-icon - she didn't stop shopping in charity shops just because she had to attend state banquets around the World. She also famously penned an OpEd for the NYT basically saying "<i>ég er ekki handtaska mannsins míns</i>" = <span class="HwtZe" lang="en"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">I am not my husband's handbag. In other words, the partner of the powerful [man] may be the power behind the throne and is, for sure, not a decorative cipher.<br /></span></span></span></p><p>The book is Reid's homage to the women of her adopted country; and she carried out her research at farms, quaysides, C-suites and saunas. One of her informants shared an obscure word which appears six times in the eddas: <b>Sprakki</b> = an extraordinary woman; <i>plural</i> <b>Sprakkar</b>. It became a shoo-in to incorporate the word into the title of her book. Contrary to Reid's assertions in some of her many interviews and pieces-to-camera, Icelandic is not the only European language to have a respectful, slightly frightening, noun describing any class of woman. Irish has <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2014/02/imbolc.html">cailleach</a> for starters. <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2023/07/phallusies.html">Jenni Nuttall has logged a long list</a> of ♀-pejoratives in English. None of which I'll repeat here because there's quite enough slaggin' of women when they don't conform to door-mat.<br /></p><p><b>Sprakkar</b> has an essay about Cap'n <a href="https://grapevine.is/mag/interview/2023/09/08/the-islanders-captain-dora-at-sea-and-ashore/">Dóra Unnarsdóttir</a>, [R - be very afraid] a fish-whisperer who conjures cod from the wild Atlantic. She sat her Ship Captain's exam in 2012 filling the sea-boots of her father and grandfather before her. She suffered through a period of ribbing by the other fishermen, but that was replaced by respeck when she reliably reached her quotas quicker than they did . . . and slagged back when they teased her.</p><p></p><p>In the corridors of power, one force is the <a href="https://fka.is">FKA</a> Félag Kvenna í Atvinnulífinu (Association of Women Business Leaders). Which is still smaller than it should be. But one of Reid's informants shared that, a fortnight after the FKA had named her Business Woman of the Year, her company had <i>finally</i> made her EVP. Corporations can be shamed by irony?<br /></p><p>As it happens <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2013/08/vigdis-finnbogadottir.html">The Blob has tribbed</a> Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, the first elected female head of state. That Sprakki ᛋᛒᚱᛅᚴᚴᛁ was elected in 1980 and was re-elected as President 3 subsequent times. Setting a precedent for what women could do and what a whole country could do about gender equality. That election was the cake that had been baking for five years since the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34602822">1975 Women's Work Stoppage</a>, which forced everyone to see that changing diapers, gutting fish, telling at banks, typing letters was a) not much fun b) essential. Men referred to that day later as L o n g Friday.<br /></p><p>You may not have the dedication to read through Secrets of the Sprakkar but you can catch a flavour of Eliza Reid's voice in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ0L9oqiqIA">06 May 2022 talk</a> at Seattle's National Nordic Museum or <span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" style="color: #131313;">on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiK2B-YbgCI">09 May 2023</a> at the Montclair Literary Festiva</span></span>l. It is a significant meta-point that on these two different occasions she is thriftily <i><b>wearing the same dress</b></i> - HeadOfState WAGs please copy. Natch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEwcHT1eM9k">she done a TEDx</a>: in whc she TMIs the initial blind-date. And look out for Eliza Reid's <a href="https://grapevine.is/news/2023/11/15/eliza-reid-announces-new-murder-mystery-book/">new murder-mystery</a>. And Iceland still means <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/search?q=Grindav%C3%ADk">Grindavík</a> in my sources of anxiety.</p><p>I mentioned at the top that The President of Iceland is stepping down this Summer and elections are set for the Spring. What next for the retiring head of state? Here is one possibility: hooking up with his twin brother separated at birth to do a two-hander called <b>Some Geezer fed my Geyser</b>: an investigation into the state of Icelandic gastronomy presented by Guðni Rosenthal and Phil Jóhannesson:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgohcOVw2Bvq4-ubAClXs7Q4hYEtdS9lOvphESpbn-xb5ZFawtXrUOs9jkbHpzhbX4kfLExMiTyshwJ73SiVznhkwjb46KSC9KnkbNc34yUlRtK6M862KfRVPtuAani09LJqR0gHed9vddMLb6foK0EQbrr8hKF7BKlKPUVniJIN6cv4moMyhmj9ltX7UgU/s400/Gu%C3%B0niRosenthal.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgohcOVw2Bvq4-ubAClXs7Q4hYEtdS9lOvphESpbn-xb5ZFawtXrUOs9jkbHpzhbX4kfLExMiTyshwJ73SiVznhkwjb46KSC9KnkbNc34yUlRtK6M862KfRVPtuAani09LJqR0gHed9vddMLb6foK0EQbrr8hKF7BKlKPUVniJIN6cv4moMyhmj9ltX7UgU/s16000/Gu%C3%B0niRosenthal.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-77175245360994393932024-02-19T09:22:00.000+00:002024-02-19T09:22:00.132+00:00Spirit of Place<p><i>Que vengan los peregrinos</i>! Not everyone who walks to <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2017/11/on-way.html">Canterbury</a>, or <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2022/09/pilgrim-to-pontiff.html">Rome</a>, or <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2022/10/slouching-to-jerusalem.html">Jerusalem</a> is a believer. But such pilgrims are likely to be changed by [getting off the sofa, leaving the daily and] going. It's a bit like <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2013/07/open-university_16.html">people with an OU degree</a>: it's often worth biding a while to talk with those who've been there, done that. My book about <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2013/07/santiago.html">Santiago</a> and the process of pilgrimage remains [<i>ahem!</i>] unpublished. As they say, though: "<i>When the walking stops, the Camino continues</i>".</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqqtEihGEv4Yn2EPETtB2C-5WYZD7du6JzNsw4SPHurylqDL2oKrbIFEnpADJfKCxnS0SPO0OgY10gvfNjBXJHTAxSErmsN9VS5WYb1WnmB7m4LNnoZ9mS_YxE1isvavBQioDl6QoVpLPyrBM6yatguX77jc6TQWdgbCWN6_fQlMBra-HtBQJ6u6nosI8I/s585/FrJohannes.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="255" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqqtEihGEv4Yn2EPETtB2C-5WYZD7du6JzNsw4SPHurylqDL2oKrbIFEnpADJfKCxnS0SPO0OgY10gvfNjBXJHTAxSErmsN9VS5WYb1WnmB7m4LNnoZ9mS_YxE1isvavBQioDl6QoVpLPyrBM6yatguX77jc6TQWdgbCWN6_fQlMBra-HtBQJ6u6nosI8I/s320/FrJohannes.jpg" width="139" /></a></div><p>Over the last tuthree years, I've been sitting on my sofa watching two men, once-and-future-pilgrims, getting physical with, and making their mark upon, the unforgiving terroir of a mountain in Piedmont. It turns out to be quite close to the Franco-Italian borrrder, where we were graciously - miraculously - sustained with <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2013/02/found-soup_24.html">Found Soup</a> in 1978. </p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@MartijnDoolaard">Martijn</a> Doolaard is a graphic designer and film-maker from Amsterdam with two Long-distance bike trips [A'dam-Singapore; Vancouver - Patagonia] behind him. [<a href="https://networthanalysis.com/martijn-doolaard/">TMI</a> about his prev life]</li><li>Fr. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@donjojohannes">Johannes</a> Schwarz is a diocesan Catholic priest from Austria. He walked from home to Santiago as a chap in 1998, then from home to Jerusalem - and back. Fr.J. also has a photographer's eye so, as well as chasuble and pyx, he toted a GoPro along The Way.</li></ul><p></p><p>These two men washed up on different sides of an inaccessible mountain in the Italian Alps. Both chose to restore tumble-down stone buildings clinging to the side of the mountainside by their finger-nails. Both decided to document the process of transformation [internal, external] in the medium in their tool-kit. Both have established successful YouTube channels by doing stuff <b>the hard way</b>. Both were helped to YT-click-fame by the attention of Kirsten Dirksen who takes a film-crew to aspirant sustainability steaders and asks them to explain themselves: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF1jJy1F-8I">Johannes</a> [05 Dec 2021] and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc6Tis5lYwY">Martijn</a> [01 Nov 2021].</p><p>I have a couple of things to say about The Hard Way - informed by 25 years experience of chopping water and hauling wood. We spent the month of July 1996 camping out on our newly acquired property: with hand-tools, two wheel-barrows and a sack-truck. It was fine, we were putting manners on the place while finding trades-folks to do the skilled work. Doran-the-Well lived at the other end of the townland and he came to see how close he could get his drill-rig to the house. Which was not close enough: because the original farm-gate required too tight a turn for his mobile derrick to get in the yard. But, his BiL was Nolan-the-Digger [<a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-little-help-from-digger.html">bloboprev</a>] and he could surely open up <i>that</i> ditch . . . next Saturday, maybe? Not only could the digger move rocks impossible to shift with hand-tools; it also moved a lorra regular dirt and could scart off the bushes from the top of a ditch with a single comprehensive sweep. I didn't stop using a wheel-barrow but I did thereafter book a day from The Digger when heavy lifting was required.</p><p>Me and Johannes agree on the virtues {warms you thrice} of reducing firewood to billets and stacking them <u>by hand</u>. Chain saws are so bloody noisy you can't work away while listening to an ear-book. <b><span style="color: #b45f06;">But</span></b>, it's a good idea to leave felled timber at the cutting site [under rain-cover] for a few breezy months before moving the logs to the firewood processing place nearer the house. Wood gets lighter as the water blows off. Martijn does this, Johannes apparently not. Likewise no sane person will carry building stone up-hill if there's a choice but it's got to be possible to use gravity to help stones downhill that doesn't involve having gravity destroy your knees [as above R].</p><p>And further to the picture: building drystone walls is a doddle if the geochemistry generates parallel flat sides as above. If you have a choice don't settle in granite country, the stones are irregular, lumpy and too hard to shape with a hammer-tock or two. <i>Ask me how I know</i>!?</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx9C0EwMKUSA_LtR7nFj6aiUvh2eIawTHiEt1un9tlJWCwEb7927MuIo4Urri80EKDxGILJ8Km10k70yhwkf-IxPQMOjIuUnPBgRVSt6wfZyngXApAgs5ezgZ2zZmUsMWdYs9urkx5CorThpisCCuKZure2cBau2EWlODuzkbvcEK8rWjPwrRvg3IDQLrK/s182/TumbledSolar.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="182" data-original-width="180" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx9C0EwMKUSA_LtR7nFj6aiUvh2eIawTHiEt1un9tlJWCwEb7927MuIo4Urri80EKDxGILJ8Km10k70yhwkf-IxPQMOjIuUnPBgRVSt6wfZyngXApAgs5ezgZ2zZmUsMWdYs9urkx5CorThpisCCuKZure2cBau2EWlODuzkbvcEK8rWjPwrRvg3IDQLrK/s1600/TumbledSolar.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>Vernacular architecture inhabits a known place and can build on [lit and fig] the lived experience of those who sojourn there. Johannes' gaff faces South and is tucked into the hill. So, like our place, the snow and frost burns away soon after the sun comes up. And he can see the prevailing wind thrashing the trees on the other side of the valley but not feel it. Martijn's place is, rather, exposed to the weather which can be <a href="https://youtu.be/Y1-_uJyAu-I?t=923">darkly destructive</a> [L tumbled solar panels] so high on the ridge. And, for him, the sun rises later and sets earlier so the snow lingers for days or weeks longer. Yet, these two steadings are only 1 km apart.<p></p><p>Like the underlying geology, the local micro-climate may make or break your rural dream homestead. Johannes is very conscious about microclimate for growing plants at the very edge of their ecological tolerance. Man, does he relish late season <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">tomatoes</span></b> and <span style="color: #116600;"><b>salad</b></span>!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis2GAmhb2DhsiJbVMwvGJuXA4L9B03HrqJtofdcgbgsfT_ZZaEw67qGoyf3eGpSz8_nKdkJ4bvaxZ2KEwTteC5vwx4ZkwobRtX26Yui6idyV_dMDLDVxy8y6S41REUzu_lRnKU6r3axU1IeiCJpwGAsc7JxgajUJwp_zFarcuFwDuAiVuzrTh08S-TZ5G3/s337/CasaLacerta.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="270" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis2GAmhb2DhsiJbVMwvGJuXA4L9B03HrqJtofdcgbgsfT_ZZaEw67qGoyf3eGpSz8_nKdkJ4bvaxZ2KEwTteC5vwx4ZkwobRtX26Yui6idyV_dMDLDVxy8y6S41REUzu_lRnKU6r3axU1IeiCJpwGAsc7JxgajUJwp_zFarcuFwDuAiVuzrTh08S-TZ5G3/s320/CasaLacerta.jpg" width="256" /></a></div>But I'm here to recommend Johannes' sub-channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIcePO_eJb28EWIw68kBQMew0vMZydwj1">One Year in the Life of a Part Time Hermit</a> where he runs through 2023 with a 45m episode of every month. Usual fly-on-wall view of projects and general chopping wood, heaving rocks and weeding the veg-beds: gorgeous film of weather, sunsets, birbs and butterflies; minimal voice-over; informative on-screen notes [check the bot tight corner of screen for ID]. He had, or had at one point, left three holes [one shown R] in the render of the sunny side of his hermitage - so that the resident common wall lizards <i>Podarcis muralis</i> could bunk down at night. The Cave of St George for the teeny dragon!<br /><p></p><p>But, as he warns <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-yobABXH3Q">in the short intro</a> to the series, the last ten minutes of each video is a thoughtful under-stated ramble on religion, philosophy, history, science and the meaning of life. Here's part of what he has to say in May: <span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto"><i><span style="color: #38761d;"><b>So let me make this clear. I'm not a guru. I'm not a spiritual master. I'm not a person to aspire to meet or even talk to. You don't need me. You don't need to discern any secrets in my life or take me as an example. I am fundamentally like you – a man, a fallible man, a human. If you find any of the propositions in these videos helpful; if anything that is said rings true – or at least, if any of the questions do, it is not because I'm a source of wisdom</b></span></i>. </span> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU5DUIoZMBk">Jan</a> - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad_1BCtpSL8">Feb</a> - then you're on yer ownio. He's been putting them out at the rate of one episode a week since New Year. <br /></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-78037796287455127792024-02-18T07:13:00.152+00:002024-02-19T19:34:43.877+00:0018Feb24 - a great day<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF9WfHCLsWr5W-bV8NEpF32Ec3fFObAo9iHY_xcre6x93o64F8JrkhVyqhJbcqoVYdpB_G1SKrlCpx9_NNePSXw86hyg_bxIlAQbZKUvSlxvcOXJWyGdz0tD0cWM9sUdXN6VR-BqoxTkvx9HyXLJ8vH_tx_naOy2SBFrSS14OSJa2oFKd7WIgreoKkG9Ld/s289/SkepticalJasonBeerKC.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="285" data-original-width="289" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF9WfHCLsWr5W-bV8NEpF32Ec3fFObAo9iHY_xcre6x93o64F8JrkhVyqhJbcqoVYdpB_G1SKrlCpx9_NNePSXw86hyg_bxIlAQbZKUvSlxvcOXJWyGdz0tD0cWM9sUdXN6VR-BqoxTkvx9HyXLJ8vH_tx_naOy2SBFrSS14OSJa2oFKd7WIgreoKkG9Ld/s1600/SkepticalJasonBeerKC.jpg" width="289" /></a></div>Some then and now; also misc sweepings <br /><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>What would you say you <u><b>do</b></u> here? </li><ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4OvQIGDg4I">Office Space</a> 1999<br /></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh927S2LEvc&t=2920s">Jarnail Singh</a> 2023</li><ul><li>[R Jason "Skeptical" Beer KC] <br /></li></ul></ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt6wn74gmEY">Extreme beachcombing</a> - Forks, WA</li><li>Frederic Raphael - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qi0ZEihSbY">how to be a tighter writer</a></li><li>♬ ♪ ♫ ♩</li><ul><li>Downtown</li><ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv5nd-3BRr4">Petula</a> 1964</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGhoLcsr8GA">Macklemore</a> 2015</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzKL-bQKcgA">Anitta</a> 2018</li></ul></ul><li>Merlin "Mycelium" Sheldrake [<a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2021/12/wood-wide-web.html">prev</a>] talks <span style="color: #7f6000;"><b>mushroom</b></span> to the UK <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84oZ1O2rsJ0">parliamentary STEM</a> committee. Stay for the hilarious <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D84oZ1O2rsJ0%26t%3D886s&source=gmail&ust=1707989044278000&usg=AOvVaw07ZeGrQTuNDr1Ci8WLTJ4r" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84oZ1O2rsJ0&t=886s" target="_blank">bilingual joke at end</a>. He's a <i><b>Fun Guy</b></i> to hang with. <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/event/20606/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/">Full transcript</a>.</li><li>Beautiful <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-4LjLD1i_M">film about fishing</a> and community off the S coast of England.</li><li>BBC: Fr. Mauro's pre-Columbian <a href="https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240214-mappa-mundi-the-greatest-medieval-map-in-the-world">Mappa Mundi 1459</a></li><ul><li>cf. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20190324-the-worlds-oldest-medieval-map">Hereford ~1300</a> <br /></li></ul><li><a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2023/12/travel-unravel.html">In Dec 2023</a> the bots at the dreadful LinkedIn suggested <i>you may like to</i> follow Minster Simon "Short-pants" Harris. <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2017/05/orkambi-health-minister-caves-in.html">I declined</a>. They now sound imperative "<span style="color: #800180;">Bob, <b><u>follow</u></b> Simon Harris, Minister for Further & Higher Education, Research, Innovation & Science: 0 followers</span>". Delighted that his acolyte-count has tumbled from 38K to <i>zero</i>.<br /></li></ul>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-91587933978967438762024-02-16T07:24:00.453+00:002024-02-16T07:24:00.135+00:00The Field over The River<p>Not to be confused with Hemingway's Italian war stories in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Across_the_River_and_into_the_Trees">Across the River and Into the Trees</a>. The FotR of the Post Title is the 1 ha. meadow which runs East from The Ringstone to a cliff surmounted by a stone wall which hangs over the Aughnabrisky River. The name came with the property. One of my loyal readers (I cherish you both!) expressed a liking for my
Aggie posts. I daresay they were, like me, brought up on the BBC's soap <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Archers">The Archers - an everyday story of country folk</a>. Walter Gabriel, the feckless wurzel <a href="https://groups.google.com/g/uk.media.radio.archers/c/aMGFLy9VK9E">was killed off in 1988</a>, so I no longer had any interest. But read on - it's a coloour supplement with many pics . . .<br /></p><p>Last year was a National Disaster for fodder. Th early Summer was bone dry for weeks and then rain set from July through to Christmas. We run the four biggest fields son a regime of traditional hay-meadow and get a few shillings by holding off cutting the grass until July - after the supposed time of flowering and seed-set among the plants which aren't <i>Lolium perenne</i>, perennial rye-grass. For years, rye-grass (as much as poss) has been Dept Ag policy; so the abrupt volte-face to encourage <u>anything but</u> is 'disconcerting' to regular farmers just trying to make an honest living from their 'umble patrimony. As a large part of their income comes from filling in forms and obeying The Man, being wrong-footed like this is a real [no shoes for the kids] cost.</p><p>We didn't get the grass 'knocked' until October in a brief 4-day window between the relentless rain storms. Knocked, baled and wrapped and plunked in rows at the top of three of the four fields. When all the tractor clanking stopped, I went down to count the bales and was <strike>infuriated</strike> bemused to find the grass in the FotR still standing. The tractor of our neighbour who <i><b><span style="color: #38761d;">has the cutting</span></b></i> these last several years had blown a gasket and he'd subcontracted the cutting to the neighbour who <b><span style="color: #b45f06;">never asks AITA</span></b>. Between the two of them they agreed that, because deer had been rutting in that field it was not fit for sheep fodder and so they'd walked away from the cutting. I've never heard that excuse before but maybe it's about <i>Pasteurellosis</i>?? whc <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2015/06/pasteurellosis.html">Prev</a>. Whatevs, we had a field, partly chewed up by cavorting deer and partly a tufty tussocky mess of standing dead grass. The last of the hay bales went off site only the week before Christmas. But we'd already run our 60-legs + 15-heads of sheep unto that half of the farrrm.<br /></p><p>The Beloved thought it might be a good idea to embrace the <i>Pasteurellosis</i> and/or ignore any nameless fears of two neighbours and corral the flock into the buckety un-mowed field and give the rest of the meadows . . . a rest. Our fully colleged farming consultant-and-mentor from up the Wicklow/Wexford borrrder concurred. Accordingly, at the very end of January, BobTheFarmhand schlepped down the fields; resurrected a six-bar gate from the brambles; druv in two new stakes and tied gate and stakes into the gap in the Northface of the FotR:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyJ1dO3yGrEG9tyfeY_0l_bzNINIutNWHHmn360lnmovnXkF5OLS68ispJ_F7gxTEzNGyFd2EYPhaFPK_tassr41MY0Yk4h2Pm6p6Q4sdwceAWKJFSpAaXcqbiNhMeHMI0nHqj3hk8ST1S79xw-g-0yJXsM_V0_tqMw07eJynUQW5DN67anxtC7aOaf_CE/s400/NorthgateFieldORiver28Jan24.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="189" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyJ1dO3yGrEG9tyfeY_0l_bzNINIutNWHHmn360lnmovnXkF5OLS68ispJ_F7gxTEzNGyFd2EYPhaFPK_tassr41MY0Yk4h2Pm6p6Q4sdwceAWKJFSpAaXcqbiNhMeHMI0nHqj3hk8ST1S79xw-g-0yJXsM_V0_tqMw07eJynUQW5DN67anxtC7aOaf_CE/s16000/NorthgateFieldORiver28Jan24.jpg" /></a></div>. . . said gate's hinge-post had rotted out several years ago and not put back because there had been no reason to prevent sheep wandering at will - until now. The other gap in the walls surrounding that field is at <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2023/06/gnomon.html">The Ringstone</a>. That gap is (12 ft = 3.6 m) wide, so two of our super-handy and multi-purpose 2.0 m sheep-hurdles and two more new stakes sufficed to block it:<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi77IaRUfq9eUaECWtJ8mwzV9-xNiDPosCM4sshImGDmu5VUsXdX66YSzmiBgyaWQPFR8S6Laq1AcRIpCfvxzDh9IS2bDPfkoMNKq_vOFnCnjyS0qc8pxjd9THMTU0ThCNGpCXZz_liaPLst8izrQ6FAkMApJ23W9rsBaDUGYhgW3b9zUlsA2A97t6wj8gS/s400/WestgateFieldORiver.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="217" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi77IaRUfq9eUaECWtJ8mwzV9-xNiDPosCM4sshImGDmu5VUsXdX66YSzmiBgyaWQPFR8S6Laq1AcRIpCfvxzDh9IS2bDPfkoMNKq_vOFnCnjyS0qc8pxjd9THMTU0ThCNGpCXZz_liaPLst8izrQ6FAkMApJ23W9rsBaDUGYhgW3b9zUlsA2A97t6wj8gS/s16000/WestgateFieldORiver.jpg" /></a></div><p>Sorted, so far. It's a bit of a PITA because FotR is the furthest from the house and beyond the reach of a hose. Accordingly I had to lug a couple of water buckets down there. But I don't resent the walk down to visit a tuthree times a day. If it's sunny it's life-affirming; and if it's pissing rain then I usually jog the downhill stretch which is a token touch of <b><span style="color: #990000;">cardio</span></b> - always good for old buffers. Usually, because Ireland, it is <span style="background-color: #999999; color: #666666;"> neither of these extremes </span> but it's good anyway.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-mtDeuBtZCzct9ZoQfwk017Iky91PEGHrXgIfZC9WLpOY3TaqwUhzqFA5kX-sxdtNkupmFNM95okABDURRzzAVaPWt2MkpmKfGRtJD3_DVfF3rFyxV1C-xz3C4mHADimIxXeshrTwmWyafJzZ-W_ey5iOQKSBmdfYMPdIn0cZldbAzCpPsXahwE1PmEJX/s500/CountSheep28Jan24.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="111" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-mtDeuBtZCzct9ZoQfwk017Iky91PEGHrXgIfZC9WLpOY3TaqwUhzqFA5kX-sxdtNkupmFNM95okABDURRzzAVaPWt2MkpmKfGRtJD3_DVfF3rFyxV1C-xz3C4mHADimIxXeshrTwmWyafJzZ-W_ey5iOQKSBmdfYMPdIn0cZldbAzCpPsXahwE1PmEJX/s16000/CountSheep28Jan24.jpg" /></a></div><p>The main task is to count the sheep. This is why starting them all in the same field is a boon. It limits the number of thickets, grykes, fences and bushes which have to be investigated to find the last 1 or 2 members of the flock. Try it counting the white blobs. But sheep don't, in my experience, ignore gates. No sirree, they get up close-and-personal and scrunch up against them - it's <i>The Itch</i>; although we got them dosed for that in November. But 60kg of sheep and resonance can work knots and posts loose until the whole barrier collapses. Two days after installation, therefore, I went down with my saw, felled out a few branches of gorse / whin / furze / <i>Ulex europeaus</i>, and threaded them back through the gate to discourage scratching.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjce2fQPqlJ5zK1BTLbF4A2xxfZelRXvhuHch78yLYLgu1ptDrIOdjE_SP0oeA6MjMDeTRxz128AjA0UXmX5yor3NvQrwYN7NFFCCnaso_2YaXd0VAg72eiVeKQYz_VVbQr6droQLr6dO4SEAhvB3Sz86MpeqLRdij7WVYEfw2xtBPn80iLoeo4p2BtuRu/s400/NorthgateWithFurze30Jan24.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="294" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjce2fQPqlJ5zK1BTLbF4A2xxfZelRXvhuHch78yLYLgu1ptDrIOdjE_SP0oeA6MjMDeTRxz128AjA0UXmX5yor3NvQrwYN7NFFCCnaso_2YaXd0VAg72eiVeKQYz_VVbQr6droQLr6dO4SEAhvB3Sz86MpeqLRdij7WVYEfw2xtBPn80iLoeo4p2BtuRu/s16000/NorthgateWithFurze30Jan24.jpg" /></a></div>The sheep can barely see the gate now, let alone shove it. Although <b><span style="color: #b45f06;">The Red Hill</span></b> looks rather fine in the late afternoon sun, no? <br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLLRQ-YuIN_MRnPbcmELpiZtXa8YkT1OpV5f7EtsK09eveqbqcyfVrSOFpzXRh590-GG4TsmX-OsTeaVFG0XsrhEmkehFaEql1N07pOhTTvihAmxSfMGYUJ34jRBTElTzzKTjpY8kwryWISmRfRZl8QFgKXEe-6mXkU4GEUTm_AXxaerUC1NMgjJG18Tn4/s240/SheepZoom.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="236" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLLRQ-YuIN_MRnPbcmELpiZtXa8YkT1OpV5f7EtsK09eveqbqcyfVrSOFpzXRh590-GG4TsmX-OsTeaVFG0XsrhEmkehFaEql1N07pOhTTvihAmxSfMGYUJ34jRBTElTzzKTjpY8kwryWISmRfRZl8QFgKXEe-6mXkU4GEUTm_AXxaerUC1NMgjJG18Tn4/s1600/SheepZoom.jpg" width="236" /></a></div>Answer-time for sheep-tally. There should be (and are) N = 15. It helps if a) it's IRL and they are shifting about b) it's a better quality photo c) The Hand includes a <i>helpful hint</i> Blow Up of a central detail [R]. There are 3 sheep under the mountain ash - count the arses. Almost half the time I go to count the sheep, I come up with 14 the first time. I then walk slowly towards the leftmost sheep making encouraging sounds - in Latin because that's all that <i>Ovis aries</i> understands. The flock gathers together to face me off or all run away in the same direction. Inevitably the missing sheep will struggle out of whichever bush it was lurking in and gallop, <span style="color: #990000;"><b>all red-faced</b></span>, to join her pals. <p></p><p>It's always a relief when roll-call is complete. The FotR, as well as being furthest from the house, is also about 30m lower down. Loading a dead sheep into the wheel-barrow for the Fallen Animal Guy is hard enough. Whatever the joys of jogging downhill, I'm not sure if I have the puff anymore to push a dead weight of 60kg uphill for 250m. But what kills not fattens, and life is full of small delights, like finding a cluster of green ovals in a corner of a frosty field just after sunrise and thereby deducing where the ewes spent the previous night:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil7qWIJko_44VGCmPTxZV1FDupxA8A8d0i8m7jgPQB9_kBhofrhel0_JAv7D8PZ56B32DkZ8xyM6m3octBOVudW1h3EFHporaD6lS9j7Obg2GS_ZSxsXH4mACDoBKA-FOeTFG4OgHZBJAfzlGdiWG5Sb0RSYECa2ZnLdTfosY-p_KS2TZ_RXDdZfcLNwut/s719/WarmSheepBed30Jjan24.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="719" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil7qWIJko_44VGCmPTxZV1FDupxA8A8d0i8m7jgPQB9_kBhofrhel0_JAv7D8PZ56B32DkZ8xyM6m3octBOVudW1h3EFHporaD6lS9j7Obg2GS_ZSxsXH4mACDoBKA-FOeTFG4OgHZBJAfzlGdiWG5Sb0RSYECa2ZnLdTfosY-p_KS2TZ_RXDdZfcLNwut/s16000/WarmSheepBed30Jjan24.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-1536400075132460742024-02-14T07:19:00.130+00:002024-02-14T07:19:00.131+00:00A very grave man<p style="text-align: center;"><span>"<i>Ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me <b>a grave man</b></i>."</span></p><p><span>Nice one, Mercutio: brave enough to make a joke while dying in the aftermath of a brawl in R&J. I finally got <b><span style="color: #444444;">The Undertaking : life studies from the dismal trade</span></b> (1997) by Thomas Lynch out of the library. It's been on the edge of my awareness for so many years that I was almost convinced that I have already read it. But every book is new when you get as old and vague as me. Lynch is a) <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/10/10/the-deads-favourite-poet">a funeral director</a> / mortician in Smallsville, Michigan b) <a href="https://www.bloodaxebooks.com/ecs/category/thomas-lynch">a Bloodaxe poet</a> c) an essayist in the same bin as Lewis "Lives of the Cell" Thomas [<a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2016/06/medicine-watcher.html">bloboprev</a>]. Lewis Thomas, as a physician, ruminated on matters of interest to doctors in a regular column for the NEJM. Thomas Lynch deals rather with doctor's errors, as some playfully call the dead. It's important to note that undertakers are not defined by their profession anymore than The Blob is defined by "<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: helvetica;"><b>Science Matters</b></span>" it's official title. Lynch's essays go some way beyond a discussion of embalming fluid and satin coffin linings; but the subtitle sets limits to his rambles. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki302ZkKxmI">He's been to Kennys</a> for a reading. One of the threads that stitched Lynch's life together is his relationship with his Lynch rellies back 'home' in Co. Clare: in particular his aunt Nora of <a href="https://www.townlands.ie/clare/moyarta/moyarta/moveen/moveen-west/">Moveen</a> Co Clare.</span></p><p><span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidvqLD_PKI84T5HdYcy3-YFUnCdzVy3T2aOq6ML8kd8b99g2sxcpfnitXrLwLcB3bm_Jg3DRar4QgbBVgfRXCyb2bn37stUKsAfrIwtcd0HK1tkpSL0utuWwTHfB1-WS9jB6I7fd6l7-xhzfKnsmu2jvvt0mo9nmchLpqbF4R0bCGE-tu4AeefsB2Pk2zA/s293/BookingPassage.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="293" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidvqLD_PKI84T5HdYcy3-YFUnCdzVy3T2aOq6ML8kd8b99g2sxcpfnitXrLwLcB3bm_Jg3DRar4QgbBVgfRXCyb2bn37stUKsAfrIwtcd0HK1tkpSL0utuWwTHfB1-WS9jB6I7fd6l7-xhzfKnsmu2jvvt0mo9nmchLpqbF4R0bCGE-tu4AeefsB2Pk2zA/s1600/BookingPassage.jpg" width="293" /></a></div>On his first ever trip to Clare, Nora obliged him to attend the wake of a neighbour. It was before embalming had reached Clare and ". . . <i>there was a terrible odor of gastro-intestinal distress. Beneath the fine linens, Mrs Regan's belly seemed bulbous, almost pregnant, almost growing. Between decades of the rosary, neighbor women shot anxious glaces among one another. Later I heard, in the hushed din of gossip, that Mrs Regan, a light-hearted woman unopposed to parties, had made her dinner the day before on boiled cabbage and onions and ham and later followed with several half-pints of lager at Hickie's in Kilkee. And these forgivable excesses, while they may not have caused her death, were directly responsible for the heavy air inside the room she was waked in</i> . . ." <p></p><p>You may be sure that Tom Lynch looks and acts the part when he's hand-holding the bereft through the logistics of death. But Tom Lynch the poet is sensitive to irony and incongruity in life and it's impossible for him not to find the funny [both funny-hilarious and funny-peculiar] side: as in the excerpt above. Sometimes, for me, a funny off-hand phrase will jar - YMMV. He's not immune to Nobelitis when he has a chapter conflating the ethics and practicality of abortion and assisted suicide. The penultimate chapter riffs on the fact that, though the 1990s Jack Kevorkian was operating his Thanatron to <i>off</i> ~130 folks for a fee in Pontiac, MI just 35km NE of Lynch & Sons Funeral Homes. While Undertakers are in the death trade, it doesn't give them any, let alone any particular, expertise in the termination trade. That whole chapter could really do with a copy editor to marshal Lynch's messy but strongly held ideas on a difficult topic.</p><p>The last chapter (there's an Epilogue also) he returns to useful avuncular advice from a life-time's experience in end of life issues. He cautions against pre-arranging your own funeral for example; arguing " . . . <i>why should an arthritic septuagenarian with blurred vision and some hearing loss be sent to do battle with the undertaker instead of the forty-something heirs apparent with their power suits and web browsers and cellular phones?</i>". And if you negotiate your funeral when you are still that forty-something, what's to guarantee that the bargain struck will still be valid 20 30 40 years later as local undertakers get merged and gobbled by Megacasket Inc.? He notes that heirs have skin in the game w.r.t. the spending of their inheritance. <br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span><i><span style="color: #38761d;"><b>The present moment opens like a gift:<br />The balding month, the grey week, the blue morning,<br />The hour's routine, the minute's passing glance—<br />All seem like godsends now. And what to make of this?<br />At the end the word that comes to him is Thanks.</b></span></i></span></p><p style="text-align: right;"><span>Thomas Lynch. <a href="https://poets.org/poem/refusing-fifty-two-write-sonnets">Refusing at Fifty-Two to Write Sonnets</a> </span></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-91458910155702670402024-02-12T07:15:00.350+00:002024-02-12T07:15:00.127+00:00The Connibeg Fourteen<p><a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2024/02/springtime.html">Yesterday</a>, we linked (Dun Briste 1393) to a sudden, lumpy loss of coast. When the storm abated, the survivors abseiled down the cliff and abandonned their farm forever. Usually it is more insidious: depends on the local geology. It seems worse when more recent, and more countable, people are involved (Guildford Four, Birmingham Six). It <u>is</u> worse when more people are involved. A couple of weeks ago there was [another] <a href="https://www.rte.ie/news/environment/2024/0127/1428874-coastal-erosion/ ">report from RTE</a> about the steady diminution of Wexford as storms sweep away the long sandy beaches for which the county is justifiably famous. This is similar coast-scape, same issues as The Blob <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2023/12/slip-sliding-away.html">was uncovering</a> in Norfolk in December. In each case, a sandy beach being the storm-fronting face of sand-dunes and slumping sand+lumps cliffs. The Connibeg Fourteen are <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@52.1864771,-6.5363089,998m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu">two little crescents of houses</a> [<b><span style="color: #ffa400;">14</span></b> below] on the seaward side of, the engagingly named, Bastardstown, a village between Kilmore Quay and Rosslare Harbour:</p>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK3glLLg67C92IOVeAQTeRohNRgTwkpfZM7czr1pGjR3hvG4_OUg4bjsuK7g5vlNu5XVCMzqbVLVruuB66VxGL24DdSHw712dMTUdxcwAohZmDXxNFBWpRWY6aWcGtSEZLYfr9EmgIR77uP2_JwcZ8Gxbtmv5KxBffVCN-1WGiOK-Nrw_gKnO1_iozgO3i/s400/Connibeg14.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK3glLLg67C92IOVeAQTeRohNRgTwkpfZM7czr1pGjR3hvG4_OUg4bjsuK7g5vlNu5XVCMzqbVLVruuB66VxGL24DdSHw712dMTUdxcwAohZmDXxNFBWpRWY6aWcGtSEZLYfr9EmgIR77uP2_JwcZ8Gxbtmv5KxBffVCN-1WGiOK-Nrw_gKnO1_iozgO3i/s16000/Connibeg14.jpg" /></a></div>You can track the sea's steady progress over the last 200 years by consulting the <a href="https://webapps.geohive.ie/mapviewer/index.html">Geohive resource</a> of Ordnance Survey Ireland recently rebranded as Tailte.ie. In 1995, OSI carried out the first re-survey of the whole state . . . <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2018/02/mapping-ground.html">by aeroplane</a>. The Connibeg cottages are present and correct then, so have given at least 30 years of service to their owners. Between 1829 and 1842, the UK <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2013/05/map-of-nation.html">Ordnance Survey carried out the world's first countrywide mapping project</a> in Ireland. Geohive makes <a href="https://www.tailte.ie/surveying/products/professional-mapping/historical-maps-and-data/">three chain + theodolite + triangulate databases</a> available:<p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>1st survey at 6in to the mile = 1: 10,560 (1829-1842)</li><li>2nd Survey at 25in to the mile = 1:2,534 (1863-1924)</li><li>Revised 6in to the mile = 1: 10,560 (1830s-1930s)</li></ul>
<p>The geohive allows fairly easy flipping among the different surveys. Here's the state of playa at the time of the revised survey. It is, at least as far as the coast in concerned, very similar to the 25in:mile survey. It is possible to determine the survey dates for each sheet of the map but not from my sofa. Let's call it 1880.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqsMGUjed3ZkN_U76_IVXTQrS-YKJLn1lq4ELSFT27uG5lIheSuUhGa9itd-cFt3N8dtJGuxIim5EAj2_cMbThThFOIeg9ebVrkRO5cJf3OcOQxaSse3uSm_VEhBDCxIdq7a6q8hO3X2mv5s1efv6LU_qG6TT2EevrMGHxctbbQWAO6vkvLOzwaGQrjBYu/s400/BtownLastEd.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqsMGUjed3ZkN_U76_IVXTQrS-YKJLn1lq4ELSFT27uG5lIheSuUhGa9itd-cFt3N8dtJGuxIim5EAj2_cMbThThFOIeg9ebVrkRO5cJf3OcOQxaSse3uSm_VEhBDCxIdq7a6q8hO3X2mv5s1efv6LU_qG6TT2EevrMGHxctbbQWAO6vkvLOzwaGQrjBYu/s16000/BtownLastEd.jpg" /></a></div>The sea is back a good bit and the land is forward. Note that the area of Bastardstown is 186 acres; 3 rods and 24 perches is extent. About 50 years earlier a) there's a hamlet of a half dozen dwellings down by the beach b) there's an addition 5 acres = 2 hectares of Bastardstown which is not yet allll wet. Like with <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2013/06/ringstone-maps.html">our home place</a> there have been some changes to the field boundaries when comparing these 3 maps but enough remains so that comparison is possible. I doubt if any of my readers will be bothered but, especially for those who live in Ireland, this is proof of research-tool principle which can be applied to a part of the country you know and love. The key point for the current analysis is that the orange line suggests that ~100m of this part of the South Wexford coast has been swept away over the last 200 years.<br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnizXF_2tjkAGt2iU3v5RAeWssqZ4dN_Y-R7H-rgL09W7xOJ3Q3zTsdOreSdPgB6CmmzIfmkxsmZmXB3kPQTHvLTMnI_Qg0lOYPIHs2ogf-GDb0xNKkZf7VVf3X_UcRIjhjqoGnF7NItgjDtSW5SzsMweTLP0gttcL4MY7aqVmcUcjfJayFPclVAWhPHNO/s400/Btown1stEdShorelineNow.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="367" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnizXF_2tjkAGt2iU3v5RAeWssqZ4dN_Y-R7H-rgL09W7xOJ3Q3zTsdOreSdPgB6CmmzIfmkxsmZmXB3kPQTHvLTMnI_Qg0lOYPIHs2ogf-GDb0xNKkZf7VVf3X_UcRIjhjqoGnF7NItgjDtSW5SzsMweTLP0gttcL4MY7aqVmcUcjfJayFPclVAWhPHNO/s16000/Btown1stEdShorelineNow.jpg" /></a></div>Correct me if I'm wrong but there is no national plan for addressing this problem. The road to the Connibeg Fourteen is on its 4th edition. And this iteration is really only possible because someone has armoured the cliff with ripp-rapp in front of the farm to the West of C.14 which allow the access road to jink Southwards on the very edge of the sea. The first cottage is now only 20m from the beach. Today in the 10th anniversary of the 2014 <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-darwinday-storm.html">Darwinday Storm</a> which <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2014/02/not-clearing-up-yet.html">caused damage</a>.<br />Sleep through the next named Met Éireann storm? <b>Don't do this at home, kids!</b><br /><p></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-48934488910156395222024-02-11T07:15:00.114+00:002024-02-11T07:15:00.252+00:00Springtime<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtukKqbxYZA5FwXY_qahJFMfAN8KAnpc6vHKjRFpHRfkPMXk9vnDUWOFXB6Wv_hHjFURcx9bDrcZqgiMw_bSV2lWnY6VVR6NDAiKmbLH549UM6ZIDPxqm-jcU1UVnCa5IJFfMhf0fdvss4u-E82m9Wh-yjhx0xkSqp-We28TPD_BLCuVQ6oGyvWgNPzk2o/s180/ToiletBrush.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="166" data-original-width="180" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtukKqbxYZA5FwXY_qahJFMfAN8KAnpc6vHKjRFpHRfkPMXk9vnDUWOFXB6Wv_hHjFURcx9bDrcZqgiMw_bSV2lWnY6VVR6NDAiKmbLH549UM6ZIDPxqm-jcU1UVnCa5IJFfMhf0fdvss4u-E82m9Wh-yjhx0xkSqp-We28TPD_BLCuVQ6oGyvWgNPzk2o/s1600/ToiletBrush.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><a href="https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/0210/1431147-st-gobnait-february-11th-bees-ballyvourney-cork-inisheer-aran-islands-dun-chaoin-co-kerry/">St. Gobnait's Day</a><br /><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Lenehans joy <a href="https://www.lenehans.ie/innovagoods-cyclean-drill-brush-attachment-set.html">InnovaGoods Cyclean Drill Brush Attachment Set</a> [R] <br /></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOQsFdQifLo">Three-pin Lewis</a> for lifting stone-weights </li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOXvrHeSLzs">Pallet busting</a> for fun and table tops</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0vbW0tTD4Y">Dune Nursery</a> 🎄🎄🎄 in Lancs <br /></li><li><a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240123-the-race-to-build-climate-resilient-coral-reefs">Reef nursery</a></li><li>Direct provision nursery? <a href="https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/living/2024/0208/1430741-lets-match-mums-the-group-matching-mums-in-direct-provision/">Let's match Mums</a></li><ul><li>Our very own black bin bag full of hand-me-down baby-clothes used <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2018/01/mothers-ruin.html">to shuttle between London and Dublin</a> through the late 90s <br /></li></ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP3qxFl_SXs">Hazel catkins</a> - pick (sparingly); roast in oven at 160°C; eat</li><li><a href="https://www.jigsawexplorer.com/puzzles/delightful-spreads-jigsaw-puzzle/">Jigsaw explorer</a> - the new wordle / sudoku / geoguessr</li><li>Dun Briste, Downpatrick, Co Mayo <a href="https://www.northmayo.ie/the-dun-briste-sea-stack-climb/">goes solo 1393</a></li><li><span class="HwtZe" lang="uk"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Geology? <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trpMPbgLNFM">Grindavík update</a> - <b><u>tar</u></b>mac burns, <i>who knew</i>? <br /></span></span></span></li><li><span class="HwtZe" lang="uk"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Ласкаво просимо до Олівії first</span></span></span> <a href="https://www.rte.ie/news/2024/0208/1431210-sherkin-ukranian-baby/">Sherkranian</a></li><li><a href="https://www.geometryofpasta.com/the-ministry">Linguini linguistics</a> </li><li>Great Post Office Scandal UK edition: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffLpeeL7N3g">13m of legal summing up</a>, which may give you a feel for the injustice, the lies, the corporate greed, the perverse incentives and the othering of ordinary folk by two MegaCorps. There are 100s of hours of tribunal footage: if you want to be blithe DO NOT ENTER. <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2024/01/tis-icl-wind.html">ICL(Fujitsu) prev</a>.<br /></li></ul>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-76001039584942164482024-02-09T07:28:00.004+00:002024-02-09T07:28:00.139+00:00Los Supremos<p>I've been quite the fanboy for Brenda "<a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2023/12/women-are-equal-to-everything.html"><i>Women are equal to everything</i></a>" Hale since, as Pres of the UK Supreme Court in 2019, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8iDcM2fwK4">she put a stop to</a> Boris Johnson's unconstitutional Brexit shenanigans . . . while <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-arachnidati.html">wearing a Woolworth's Spider-brooch</a>. Note also that 10 years earlier, as one of the founding cohort of UKSC justices, she had been instrumental is establishing that body as approachable, inclusive, independent, and of the people.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuswEsWd8LF6ldbL4jsC7KbY0M_IYJh4uDmWKfGaO1SAJkKtyeDWe9iO_7tPyLQ0BopjQbORo2W7U9NKxFYBX08Gy8Mq_WmnUc2xtnIKN1UcsZEehSgvRba-u0xelqker0elymiiB_pie3xgtbu9UJTBZoAWhasadi3FQScrkxhgjM293AmOID546rY30U/s200/LordLeggatt.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="187" data-original-width="200" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuswEsWd8LF6ldbL4jsC7KbY0M_IYJh4uDmWKfGaO1SAJkKtyeDWe9iO_7tPyLQ0BopjQbORo2W7U9NKxFYBX08Gy8Mq_WmnUc2xtnIKN1UcsZEehSgvRba-u0xelqker0elymiiB_pie3xgtbu9UJTBZoAWhasadi3FQScrkxhgjM293AmOID546rY30U/s1600/LordLeggatt.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p>One of those accessibility policies had been to create the UKSC YouTube channel and populate it with 6-10 minute summaries of recent decisions. You might think that watching an elderly white bloke in a suit reading from a script [R] would be as exciting as watching 3 guppies cruising in an aquarium. It is true that there are no car-chases [although occasionally an ambulance can be heard in the background]. But I have now watched <b>A Lot</b> of these performances and still find them interesting and informative and only about 1,000 words long. The variety of cases which make it to the top court in the land is fabulously broad. The UKSC only agrees to deliberate on cases referred to them by the Court of Appeal IF they require an upset of established precedent or otherwise seems to have broader applicability than to the peculiar case in question.</p><p>Sometimes there is nobody in the court except the Judges, their functionaries and their cameras. Other times (Prorogation of parliament; Charlie Gard) it's standing room only. <br /></p><p></p><p>This habit of public sharing of legal ruminations has a started a trend of lawyers, rich and poor, giving <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIS-cIr0Xmg">their own summaries and opinions</a>. Some of these cases get a lot of traction; not only in legal circles but also among the chatterati and the press. Use judgment [ho ho] on approach: some of those lawyers, in contrast to the Supremos, really are boring droners. I needed to clear all of these UKSC links out of my pending tray and that means sharing with you-hoo:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HZcXBAhGQw">Fearn v Tate</a>: the right not to be gawped at</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5GvEzmUujQ&pp=ygUbVUtTQyBndXNldCB2IGd1ZXN0IGVzdG9wcGVs">Guest v Guest</a>: proprietary estoppel & great expectations to inherit the farm</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEUYG2SrpOg">Patel v Mirza</a>: yes, swindlers have rights</li><ul><li>despite <a href="https://www.legal500.com/developments/thought-leadership/the-defence-of-illegality-ex-turpi-causa-non-oritur-actio-the-cyprus-approach/">Ex turpi causa non oritur actio</a> <br /></li></ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHX9KyXe32U">Evergreen Marine v Nautical Challenge</a>: who is wrong when ships collide</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7StjICeRZYg">Braganza v BP shipping</a>: suicide at sea</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5xbUt0CDbs">Herculito Maritime v Gunvor International</a>: piracy, general average, ship-owner v cargo-owner</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9RF_33lNJI">Owens v Owens</a>: alimony rates</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0veKYBR6mQ">R v Andrewes</a>: bigging up your CV to get a nice job</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OjLlIAfqCk">In the matter of C</a>: habitual residence of custody kids </li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDSa9JsogaU">Arnold v Britton</a>: exponential service charges in chalet park</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5NcXFwX23Q">Montgomery v Lanark</a>: informed consent</li><ul><li>This one overturns the Bolam Test idea that Doctors know a lot and patients know-nothing</li></ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVKWiuP7-rI">Lee v Ashers</a>: the competing rights in gay cake</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWaW-8t4Nmc">R v Copeland</a>: you can, so, experiment with explosives at home</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9asFuQkKI_M">R & Worcestershire CoCo v SSHSC</a>: where does a sectioned person live?</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5YI52rRwv0">R & Bourgass v Sec State Justice</a>: solitary confinement can be unlawful<br /></li><li><a href=" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU5pKNN82yA">Marouf v Home Office</a>: UK equality laws don't run in Lebanon</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TASZ1f3IGQQ">Zubaydah v Foreign Office etc.</a>: UK law does apply in CIA rendition countries<br /></li></ul>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-42933019354301943112024-02-07T07:50:00.014+00:002024-02-07T07:50:00.167+00:00Debasement<p>Years ago, I wrote about De Basement of the Library at Trinity College Dublin TCD, my ould alma. Anyone with an open mind (and a library card!) could go down 2 floors in the Berkeley Library and browse the latest accessions. That's all the books, acquired under copyright regs, which were too niche to be of use to <b><i>any</i></b> of the current students or faculty. Before being shipped to a warehouse out near the airport, these books served as the repository of <a href="http://blobthescientist.blogspot.ie/2013/04/unexpected-books.html">my weekend random-reading</a>. That's part of the reason my 'mind' was so filled with triv: great for a <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/search?q=pub-quiz">pub-quiz</a>.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEwquxU-1aifEvsRK94zYDlzOCCDPoihYZr-HEbqleulS42EXiJYpsQYYnL1X0pKkGJLl-v0vGVa7SQXhMIPK9budVoKHuNdHgO2Iwwp5P6Q3eFDAhmfJJxm35wLIuxiB4IgzgVlPD8q4tXEjA3u8vYGYgS5occjf4qPcrcNYsjluGH6U1UjY2o4W1FY4u/s238/KellsExperience.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="238" data-original-width="200" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEwquxU-1aifEvsRK94zYDlzOCCDPoihYZr-HEbqleulS42EXiJYpsQYYnL1X0pKkGJLl-v0vGVa7SQXhMIPK9budVoKHuNdHgO2Iwwp5P6Q3eFDAhmfJJxm35wLIuxiB4IgzgVlPD8q4tXEjA3u8vYGYgS5occjf4qPcrcNYsjluGH6U1UjY2o4W1FY4u/s1600/KellsExperience.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>But today, we treat of Debasement: where tawdry meets glitzy and honoured guests are parted from €21.50. I hold up (with tongs) The <a href="https://www.visittrinity.ie/book-of-kells-experience/">Book of Kells Experience</a>. Here's the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzPGkl3tzIg">Introduction</a>, 20 secs of young comely <b><span style="color: #783f04;">diverse</span></b> people, being baffled [as L] by swooping pages of digital uncial; followed by 15 seconds of leaden instruction & <span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> Book Now </span></b></span>. It hasn't gone YT viral yet - maybe try tik-tok? It doesn't always work out when universities try to diversify their income stream - as the <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2024/01/niche-experts.html">cytogenetics testing service</a> damp squib attests.<br /><p></p><p>I know of the existence of this cunning plan because of a front page flag on RTE.ie pushing <a href="https://www.rte.ie/radio/podcasts/22343466-digital-exhibition-showcasing-the-book-of-kells-op/">one of their audio-podcasts</a> aka an advertisement for this commercial venture by TCD. In it "<i>Kate Varley reports on a new digital exhibition showcasing the Book of Kells at Trinity College, Dublin</i>" and gives a platform to the "Visitor Services Manager" and the "Head of Marketing" who are real people with real salaries. TCD hopes that enough €21.50s will come in to cover their salaries and the invoices from all the creatives who made the swoopy virtual world that keeps visitors at arms length from scholarship, a sense of history and quiet contemplation.</p><p>That worked nicely when I took my dear old dead dad to <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2014/12/dying-aint-what-it-used-to-be.html">visit Clonmacnoise 25 years ago</a>. After a 12½ min slide-show with voice-over [<i>here come the vikings, head for the round tower Brother Fursa</i>] and tonking the fibreglass replica-replacement of the High Cross, we were done! My Da was a restless cove: always moving on to the next box to [✓] and rarely pausing to Be in one place. <b><i><span style="color: #990000;">Ragin'</span></i></b>, I would have been except that I'd been to Clonmacnoise before . . .</p><p>When we still lived in England in the late 80s, one Easter we had a vacation week on the Shannon <a href="https://blobthescientist.blogspot.com/2014/11/a-night-in-athlone.html">in a rented cruiser</a>. We left Portumna and headed North, and moored at the little wooden dock below the monastic settlement. We were all alone there, the river-tourist season being in its first chilly week. At day-break, I left my crew in their bunks and walked up from the river. There was nobody asking for [free] tickets and I could fossick about at my leisure. Standing on the wall looking South,I didn't have an epiphany, I didn't see god . . . but I could hear the plash of oars as a couple of drakkar hove round the last bend in the river with the helmsman calling cadence in Norse. Now <b><i>that</i></b> was magic.<br /></p>BobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.com0