Seasonal Nostalgia

A few days before Christmas I bought some mince pies from Emerson and West's, one of Market Harborough's most charming institutions, and I noticed some glace fruit, something I hadn't seen for years. When I was a child we often had that at Christmas so I bought a box. The fruit was rather blander than I recalled, but still an agreeable reminder of past treats.

MisMeasuring Energy

When discussing  devices for storing electricity people sometimes try to measure the capacity in megawatts.

A watt measures power, not energy so it would be better to say something like megawatt hours, or megawatt days, though even that is strange.

The units of power are energy/time. A watt = 1 joule per second. Domestic power is usually measured in kilowatt hours.

A kilowatt hour = 1000 joules per second for an hour, involving both division by time and multiplication by time.

Removing both the seconds and the hours we have 1 unit = 3.6*10⁶ joules

People who dislike number can just call it a 'unit'. Those who like precision can avoid the redundant use of units of time.

Timely Flowers

My Christmas Cactus is fully in flower for Christmas. It usually flowers at some time in the Winter, but I don't recall it ever before being so precisely on time.

Recognising Culinary Vulgarity

I recently bought a mince pie in the cafe of a department store. It was not at all like the mince pies mother used to make. The pastry was unpleasantly sweet and crumbly, but, much worse, the mincemeat tasted strongly of vinegar. When considering buying mincemeat or mince pies, check the list of  ingredients. Vinegar is rarely mentioned by name, but if  present it will appear as 'acetic acid'. Mother's mincemeat contained lemon juice, but never vinegar.

I consider that the contents of their mincemeat is a good test of purveyors of cakes and pastries. Shun the vulgar organisations that add vinegar.

Double Jasmine

I have two jasmines, one producing white flowers in the Summer and Autumn, and the other bearing yellow flowers in Winter. They were planted in the same large container and share a trellis where their shoots are twined together. This year, on the shortest day of the year, they are both in flower, the last of the white flowers coexisting with the first flush of yellow.

Don't forget the Periodic Table

A BBC news programme referring to the mining of cobalt suggested that cobalt is one of the rare earths.

 It is not!

For a link to a useful program follow this link

 

My Sixteenth General Election

There have been sixteen General Elections in which I've been eligible to vote, and I've voted in every one.

Since moving to the present house nearly five years ago I've voted eight times for one thing or another, three times in General Elections, twice in District Council elections, once each in a European election, a County Council election and in the European referendum.

I've only once missed an election, that was a County Council bye election in Lincolnshire, held while I was away on holiday. In those days being on holiday was not a valid ground for having a postal vote, but as the contest was between two independents I didn't know, and neither of whom produced an election address it would have been hard for me to choose.

Maternal Instinct Awry

I'm puzzled by a story of a four year old boy who mother placed him on the floor of an Accident and Emergency Unit, photographed him in that position, placed the picture in the public domain, and then deplored the consequent publicity.

I gather mother and child had a very long wait for attention, but it would have been kinder to sit the lad on her knee and cuddle him, and find another way to protest.

Ought I to be Delighted?

I now have a Conservative MEP!

In the recent elections to the European Assembly the East Midlands elected five MEPs,  three  of the Brexit Party, one Liberal Democrat and one Labour.

A few days ago Annunziata Rees-Mogg, who had headed the Brexit list, left Brexit for the Conservatives. Perhaps the Brexit folk chose her for her name rather than for her reliability. 

Neglected Leaders

Examining election addresses from local candidates I noticed that neither the Conservative nor the Labour candidate made any mention of their respective party leaders.

The Liberal Democrat candidate was pictured with his party leader, but pictures the other two showed them with local worthies.

Seasonal ChillCome Late.

Today, for the first time since the previous Winter, I wore my Winter overcoat. Usually I bring that garment out of storage considerably earlier in the Autumn.

Pernicious Delays

The media frequently tell us about misdemeanors and acts of maladministration that are only investigated many years after they were first reported.

Complaints about maternity services in Shrewsbury seem to have been made at least eight years ago, but the problems have still not been completely addressed.

Perhaps we should investigate the training and selection of administrative staff, and also their employment contracts. Is it too hard to dismiss people ?

A reward for Antiquity

Last Saturday the butcher gave me a 10% discount for being ancient. While I doubted if  I deserved it, I didn't refuse - that would have been rude!!

A Floriforous November

Although we are now half way through November, there are still many flowers in the garden. Jasmine (white ordinary jasmine, not yet yellow Winter jasmine), campanula, gaillardia, fuchsia, zonal pelargoniums, dahlias, feverfew, cyclamen, and several others whose names escape me.  Five weeks tomorrow will be the shortest day so I hope for a Winter shorter than usual.

Election Weather

Will the weather affect the election result?

I think there may have been a tendency for good weather to favour the government, and bad weather the opposition. The Conservative's rather undeserved victory in 1959 followed the 'Indian Summer' of that October.

  Perhaps Mr.Johnson will be washed away by this Autumn's rain.

Quick Service

On Tuesday I went to the local post office to renew my passport. I supplied quite a small quantity of  information, surrendered my old passport and paid £90-90. (I wonder if the odd 90p buys food for the Home Office cat). Today, only three days later, my new passport arrived in the post.

My one regret is that, unlike the old one, this passport does not mention the European Union.

A Perverse Choice of Units

Earlier today a news broadcast included the claim that Britain has reserves of shale gas amounting to about thirteen billion cubic feet. That measurement is in several respects perverse.

The foot is an obsolete measure of length, and volume is an inconvenient measure for a quantity of gas.The volume of a gas depends on temperature and pressure, varying greatly with even quite modest changes in either, so any specification of volume should include a statement of temperature and pressure. The default values are 10⁵ pascals regarded as standard atmospheric pressure, and 0 degrees C, though it is unlikely that natural gas would be stored under those conditions.

Mass would be a more illuminating measure. A foot is about 0.3 metres so a cubic foot is about 27 litres, The molecular weight of methane is about 16 and gram molecular volume at standard temperature and pressure is about 22.4 litres, so a cubic foot of gas would contain about:
30*16/22.4 grams = about 21.4 grams.

For 13 billion cubic feet, multiply by 13 billion, and divide by a million to convert grams to tonnes, giving: 21.4*13000 = roughly 279 000 tonnes, not such a lot!

Forgotten Treasures

From time to time I go round the house, exploring each room in turn , looking in every cupboard, drawer and box to see what's in it. Each time I find something useful or interesting that I'd forgotten.

I'm in the middle of such an exploration now, and have already found my collection of spare shoe laces, and an old address book I stopped using about 40 years ago. The latter contains names I'd completely forgotten, including someone said to have died while laughing at the television news.

Unwelcome Plastic Bags

We are often bidden to avoid using plastic bags, and to pay for any we do use, yet plastic bags from charities often come through the letter box uninvited. We are bidden to fill them with unwanted clothing, but I guess that the great majority are just thrown away.

We are charged 5p for even small and very flimsy plastic bags for shopping. The charity bags are both larger and made of thicker material. I guess they use around 20 times as much material as the small supermarket bags. I suggest charities are charged one pound for every univited plastic bag they push through our letter boxes.

Charitable Parasites

Every week or two someone delivers a large plastic bag in which I'm bidden to put unwanted clothes. As I wear clothes until they disintegrate I never have a contribution, but I do note the large number of rather specialised charities begging for my discarded rags.

I think they are over specialised. There are many charities each devoted to a particular form of cancer. Finding out how to deal with cancer requires detailed knowledge of the genome and the immune system, so general research into those subjects should help the treatment of any form of cancer. Segregating researchers into separate compartments is likely to produce a wasteful duplication of efforts. It will also increase the number of administrators and publicists, the bureaucrats running the charities without making any direct contribution to the well being of those the charities are supposed to help.

Expensive String

I've just paid £3-95 for a pair of quite ordinary shoelaces.

I remember that in the mid 1950's I bought a new pair of shoes for not much more than that - about £4 10/-

I'm considering using ordinary string in future!

Planning a Family

When I was achild my parents liked to tell me how they'd bought the house we lived in just before they married. I was particularly delighted to hear how, taking possession of the house before there was any furniture, they'd celebrated by eating fish and chips sitting on the floor.

I remember that story when I hear talk of homeless families. If only people woukd plan as my parents did, there'd be no homeless families.

Paying for the BBC

Five years ago I was quite pleased to learn that I no longer needed to pay for a Television license, though I wasn't sure that I deserved the concession. Recently, when I heard that from next Summer I shall have to pay I was quite irritated - it will be one more bill to keep track of, and losing something one has grown used to is annoying and much worse than never having it.

Do we need television licenses at all? Most of the television I watch is financed either by advertising, or through my Virgin Media Subscription.

The BBC news services may be a special case and coud possibly be financed by a governemnt grant, but I think that the great majority of BBC's output is entertainment, and could be financed in the same way that other entertainment is financed.

Solving our Irish Problem

Mr Trump appears to be very upset at not being allowed to buy Greenland. I suggest we offer to sell him Northern Ireland. Then he could deal with the border problem and we'd no longer need to worry about the Backstop.

Harvest

I've just eaten my first home grown tomato of the year - of a heritage variety called Whippersnapper

My tomatoes seem to be ripening a bit later than usual, but now they've started there will be many more to follow.

Feeling diminished.

After years of idleness I've started to bring my web site up to date. Today I uploaded a new garden page  with pictures of the new garden. Looking through the site I realise how much less I do these days than I used to do. If I deleted everything that's out of date my site would be much slimmer than it is.

Alas!!

Puzzling Names for Elusive Entities

I've been reading some theoretical Physics and thought the names of the various quarks most misleading.

Up and Down are the pair that make up most of the matter we usually encounter, but there are also Strange, Charm, Top and Bottom quarks. The names are entirely arbitrary, but four of them misleadingly suggest some geometrical significance..

It would be much better to use names that are clearly arbitrary. I suggest  the names of foods.

Up and Down could be replaced by Bangers and Mash, Strange and Charm by Strawberries and Cream, and Top and Bottom by Haggis and Nips.

If we want to make  a concession to transatlantic tastes we could replace one of  those pairs by Peanut Butter and Jelly.

Innumeracy in High Places.

M. Jacob Rees-Mogg has commanded his minions to use only Imperial units for measurement, and to avoid the word 'equal'.

Imperial measurements may amuse people who enjoy vague chatter about quantities but they are quite unsuitable for calculation. Compare the conversion of litres to cubic centimetres with the conversion of gallons to cubic inches. Anyone asked to make the latter conversion is likely to start by asking 'which gallon?' and to struggle even when that question has been answered

Abandoning the notion of equality would make Mathematics extremely difficult.

I find it even harder to believe in Mr. Rees-Mogg than in the other Westminster Folk.

Westminster Folk

I no longer believe in British Politics.

I don't mean that I don't trust British politicians - I don't but my disbelief is much more profound than that.

I've lived through many governments and political leaders outside government. I've disagreed with most of them about one thing or another, and have disagreed with some of them about almost everything, but until now I never struggled to believe in their existence.

Now public affairs look and sound like a comedy act mostly performed by distinctly mediocre actors.

Perhaps we could call the sit com 'Westminster Folk'

If someone wrote a computer game we might call it 'Confidence and Supply'

Fans

As hot weather arrives, people start to tell of sleepless nights spent surrounded by fans. The fans may be more of a problem than a solution.

Fans consume electrical energy and release it as heat, partly in the mechanism of the fan, and partly in motion of the air. The stream of air generated by a fan quickly dissipates into eddies and soon fades away into random motion of individual molecules, what we usually call 'heat' So a fan is likely to make the room as a whole warmer.

Sometimes parts of a room may be cooled. If one part of a room is cooler than another a fan could be set to move air from the cooler part of the room to the warmer thus changing the distribution of heat but the cooling effects of a fan usually depends on evaporating water, so a fan blowing air over a moist sweaty body may cool that body. That will only take place while the sweaty body exposes itself  to the output of the fan. Sometimes sweaty bodies leave fans switched in their absence, expecting the room to be cooler when they return. They are likely to be disappointed.

Sorting Out Ireland

Concern about the status of Northern Ireland is the principal impediment to persuading Parliament to approve arrangements for Britain to leave the EU.

I propose a referendum in Northern Ireland to decide whether or not to accept the so called 'back-stop' Were Nothern Ireland to approve its partial separation from the rest of Britain, there would be less reason for the rest of Britain to object.

Confusing Abstraction and reality.

I wince every time I hear someone say something like 'hot temperature' or 'expensive prices'

I suspect there's a name for such confusions, but I can't recall it. Perhaps some reader of this blog will enlighten me.

There is one context in which there's case for calling a price expensive. People who trade in financial futures buy or sell the right to trade in stocks or commodities at a certain price. If the cost of a particular option seems rather high, one might say' that's an expensive price', but so far as I know futures traders never do say that.

Chats with cats

I often talk to the cat, even though she is deaf. Perhaps she can lip read!

In her way she talks back.Sometimes it's clear that she wants something - either food or a door opened, but sometimes I think she's just acknowledging my existence. A meow then signifies something like 'I see you and accept your admiration'.

We humans often struggle to think of something to say in circumstances when saying something is considered polite. It would be so much easier if, instead of having to formulate a vacuous sentence that just appears to say something, we could simply meow.

Breach of Copyright ?

The debate about a newspaper's publication of an ambassador's emails has not so far mentioned copyright. I imagine that copyright belongs to the Foreign Office, so that publication without their permission would be grounds for at least a civil action.

A Challenge to Relativistic Orthodoxy, or Just a Statement of the Obvious?

Several times recently I've heard it asserted in television programmes that:

"It takes five years to grow a five year old oyster"

The only circumstances in which I can imagine someone making an even slightly plausible case for denying that, is in some involved relativistic time paradox, but why oysters rather than clocks, physicists, or cats?

A Homemade Mint Infusion.

Since I revived it by changing its soil, my mint has grown with astounding vigor so I decided to find a use for it.

I took about five stems, stripped off the leaves, washed them, put then in a small teapot and poured boiling water over them. the result was an excellent infusion.

I wonder why I've never done that before.

Strange Devices

Yesterday I visited the National Gas Museum in Leicester. It was awarded the title 'National' because it is the only gas museum in Britain.

There was a remarkable collection of gas powered devices. Most people would expect to see gas lights, gas fires and gas cookers, but there was much else as well.

There were gas refrigerators, one of which still had the label explaining how it works - roughly speaking applying a gas flame to  a solution of ammonia in water drives off ammonia, starting a circulation of ammonia through various tubes and chambers.

There were also gas powered irons, gas hair curlers, a gas waffle iron, and a device that looked like a cooker with an eye level grill, but behind what one took to be the oven door was a refrigerator.

Quite sinister in appearance was the gas hair dryer. It looked like a black helmet on a tall stand. I gathered that the brave individual whose hair was to be dried placed his or her head in the helmet, where there was also some sort of miniature gas fire.

Most exciting for me was the gas powered radio made in 1938, though I gather that did not sell well, so I guess there has never been a gas television set, or a gas computer!

Journalist's Arithmetic

37 - 19 = 20

That was affirmed several times by a BBC announcer reporting on the recent selection of candidates for the post of Conservative leader. One candidate's vote increased from 19 in the first round to 37 in the second and was reported to have increased by 20.

 After giving the figure the announcer paused for thought, repeated the figures 37 and 19 and said. 'that's right 20' so the error was not a momentary aberration.

Shivering in June

Today it was so chilly that I put on gloves when I went out. I don't recall ever before wearing gloves in June.

A Strange Ambition

I'm surprised that so many people are trying to become leader of the Conservative Party.

Whoever does become leader is likely to be blamed for a catastrophic departure from the European Union, and may well also preside over the extinction of the party.

Why do that want it ?

The Varieties of Compost

I usually buy special compost for sowing seeds, but this year absent mindedly helped myself to potting compost instead. I mixed it with some sand and vermiculite to improve drainage and sowed my tomato seeds. They grew much better than usual, so I may not bother with a special medium for seedlings in future.

Slowing Down

This morning I timed myself preparing to go out to vote in the District Council elections.

I arose at 6:45. I bathed, dressed, breakfasted, washed up, said 'hello' to the cat and by the time I'd made myself presentable to the world it was 10:15, so it took me three and a half hours to get ready even though I omitted my usual morning check of emails and CIX messages.

I resist a temptation to generalise about the ways of the ancient, but this ancient at least lives slowly:-)

An Annoyingly Tentative Invitation

This morning's post included a poll card for the European Election scheduled for 23 May. Yet there will be no such election in Britain if the Prime Minister can avoid it.

How would we react to an invitation to a wedding between two people who hope to get out of it somehow or other?

Supposing the election doesn't take place, how many people will appear at the polling stations because they don't know about the cancellation, or to protest, or because they want to see how many others turn up for one reason or another?

Questionable Motives

I'm not sure what to make of  children abandoning school to protest about climate change. School is quite a chore for many children so demonstrating about something may be an attractive alternative for many, regardless of what they are demonstrating about.

I'd be more impressed if great numbers of school children abandoned their usual weekend entertainments to demonstrate on a Saturday afternoon.

Overreaction?

The loss of a venerable old building is a sad event, and the threat of such a loss is worrying, but I thought the reaction to the fire in the cathedral of Notre Dame excessive. It seemed reasonable to report the catastrophe while the fire was burning, but there were far too many replays and interviews afterwards.

Mighty ancient buildings make me uneasy. I think how much money would have been levied on people who could hardly afford to feed themselves, and how many builders must have been killed in accidents, just to produce a large building to impress people with the power of whoever had it built.

Money and effort would have been better employed building aqueducts, sewage systems, libraries, or museums, all of which improve the quality of life in one way or another, but a huge church just symbolises the power of priests

.

Puzzled by Food Collections

Here and there one sees containers in which people are bidden to place food for the hungry.

That seems strange to me. Do people contribute odd tins that have long lain neglected in dark corners of their pantries? If so some of the food may be too old to be edible.

On the other hand if people buy tins of food specially to donate them, it would be more useful to contribute money. With money those running food banks could buy whatever was most needed, negotiating lower prices by buying in bulk for a good cause, and they would not have to sort a  miscellany of  battered tins.

Laziness Rewarded

After the clocks changed last Autumn I never got round to changing the time on my mobile phone, so now I don't need to change!!!

Paddling Gently Along the Stream of Time

The loss of an hour's sleep is a shock from which it takes me a while to recover, and if I go to bed an hour early I'll find it hard to get to sleep so I plan to adjust to British Summer Time in installments.

I intend  to be in bed tonight about half an hour earlier than usual by Greenwich Mean Time  and to rise a few minutes later than usual, measured by BST. I hope that by tomorrow evening my internal clock will have reset itself to BST.

Spring has Come - for the Time Being

Today, for the first time this year, I walked into town without an overcoat, rejoicing in the Spring sunshine.

A Fragrant Survivor

My wallflowers are coming into flower very early. I'm especially pleased with a plant that flowered last year, and survived the Winter to flower again. It's about three times the size of the plants I bought last Autumn.

Attached to EU Citizenship

I rather like having a passport in the name of the European Union, and feeling myself a member of an  entity larger than the fading former imperial power that is Britain. I'm upset to think that will soon be taken away from me by an ill considered decision of rather dim individuals living in my vicinity.

I wish it were possible to have dual citizenship, remaining a member of the EU even when Britain is outside it.

Is it Time for a Referendum in Northern Ireland ?

Arrangements for Ireland seem to be the main obstacle to agreement with the EU. How much would the people of Northern Ireland mind partial separation from Britain in exchange for an open border with the Republic? Northern Ireland did vote to remain in the EU, so there might be a majority there in favour of the so called 'Back-Stop', absolving the rest of us from worrying about it.

Thirsty Plants

I have a lot of plants in pots and have had to start watering them rather early lest they wilt in the warm Winter sunshine.

I'm delighted., especially as I use rainwater collected in various water butts.

Basking in the February Sunshine.

Walking to the shops in the sunshine I felt quite hot, shed my scarf and left my overcoat open.

The daffodils are in full bloom and the cats frolic in the driveway.  It may soon be time to put away my Winter overcoat.

Early Spring ?

I have a daffodil!!

For a week or two daffodil buds have been visible in the garden, but today I noticed a flower fully open.

In my youth daffodils usually didn't flower till April, or sometimes late March. Things are changing !!!

Obsolete ?

A new Telephone directory was delivered today, though for several years it's been called 'The Phone Book' and is much smaller than it used to be. As  I recycled the old one I tried to remember when I last looked up a number in a directory. I couldn't remember but am sure I haven't done so since moving into my present house more than four years ago.

Cumbersome Procedures

Many people are amazed that Mrs. May is still leader of the Conservatives.

One factor is the complicated time consuming process of selecting a new party leader The complication results from the involvement of all party members.

Conservative leaders were at one time elected by MPs, and the process took less than a week. I wish all the  major parties still did things like that. It is in Parliament that government is scrutinised and there that it needs approval for its plans to change laws and levy taxes. Prime Ministers depend of parliamentary approval to survive. Member of parliament observe ministers in action, and they are the ones best placed to assess their suitability for office. With the procedure that made Mrs. Thatcher leader, Mrs. may would have been gone long ago, but to remove her now would leave the country leaderless for months.

Tasty Puddles

Last night there was a fall of moist snow which melted as soon as it reached the ground, leaving little puddles here and there.

Today I noticed the resident cat lapping up a particularly muddy puddle, ignoring the various receptacles of clear water placed here and there for her refreshment.

I've never tasted a puddle. I wonder if I'd enjoy it if I did.

Perhaps gin and tonic may eventually give way to gin and puddle, or even puddle and tonic.

Folding and Cutting: an Intriguing Diversion.

The Economist recently mentioned applications of origami to Mathematics and Engineering.

The inspired a web search that yielded this site that indicates ways of getting interesting shapes by folding paper and then making a single cut. Apparently it is in principle possible to use this method to obtain any shape or set of shapes, provided that the boundaries are made of straight lines. The star is easy, but I had quite a struggle  folding for the swan.

There's also  a course of lectures here.

Malice or Stupidity ?

The greatest obstacle to settling our affairs with the European Union seems to be the special provision for Ireland. To complicate further a tricky problem by entangling it with the affairs of Ireland was always likely to magnify the difficulty

 Were EU negotiators deliberately making things difficult to punish Britain for the perceived impertinence of trying to leave, or were they too stupid to anticipate the problems they were creating?

A Perverse Choice of Units

Recent warnings about sugar consumption have told us how many lumps of sugar we may safely eat in a day. Yet we very rarely use lumps of sugar these days.

Occasionally, at elegant tea parties, people may use the sugar tongs to help themselves to a lump of sugar. I suspect I have a pair of sugar tongs somewhere, but I haven't used them for many years. I've never heard of anyone putting lumps of sugar on their breakfast cereal.

When people add sugar to drinks or to food they are about to consume, they usually use spoons. When cooking we often weigh ingredients. Spoon fulls of various sizes or grams would convey more to most of us than lumps..

Recovery

Reviewing my postings here I notice a sharp fall in their number in 2014, the year I bought the present house and started to renovate it. In every subsequent year the number of postings has increased as work on the house has progressed. I wonder how energetic I shall be online this year, now that work on the house is almost complete.