Opening the mouthwash
Was like a tiny obstacle course.
Designers, are you listening?
Personal Blogs
How Many Triangles?
Monday, 4 Sep 2023, 18:28
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How many triangles can you find in this diagram? I don't just mean ones whose vertices liu on the outer pentagon, I mean all the triangles visble.
How Many Triangles?
Monday, 4 Sep 2023, 18:28
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How many triangles can you find in this diagram? I don't just mean ones whose vertices liu on the outer pentagon, I mean all the triangles visble.
Nominative determinism
Monday, 4 Sep 2023, 12:32
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Edited by Richard Walker, Monday, 4 Sep 2023, 12:35
Nominative determinism is the idea that a person's name might somehow influence their career choice.
The term was popularised in New Scientist magazine in 1994, and was intended humorously. It attracted many examples, such the book The Imperial Animal by Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox and Pole Positions—The Polar Regions and the Future of the Planet, by Daniel Snowman. You can find lots of similar examples in the Wikipedia article here.
There is even an intriguing possibility that is it more than a series on coincidences, that these is really something in it, and it has been seriously discussed by a number of psychologists, although it would be hard I think to0 establish any real effect.
Be that as it may, I have just been reading the history of Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire and in the Wikipedia article about it I came across this advertisement from 1926. Bidwell and Sons auctioneers, eh?
My Awesome Sunflower
Sunday, 3 Sep 2023, 00:27
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Autumn Haiku
Friday, 1 Sep 2023, 20:39
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Edited by Richard Walker, Friday, 1 Sep 2023, 20:40
Autumn's arrived—
Just hearing that
I'm cold already.
Issa
What is the the title of this post?
Tuesday, 29 Aug 2023, 23:32
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With apologies to Raymond Smullyan.
No grapes suffered in the making of this joke
Tuesday, 29 Aug 2023, 23:28
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When you tread on grapes,
They let out a little whine.
But don’t worry,
It’s only sham pain.
Haiku
Tuesday, 29 Aug 2023, 01:12
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Nobody told me
The warp drive was not reversible
Now I’m kinda stuck.
A Scarlet Tiger
Sunday, 27 Aug 2023, 00:06
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My brother photographed this beautiful moth.
Why acorn?
Thursday, 24 Aug 2023, 00:41
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Old English for oak was ek, I think (German is Eiche) but that has mutated into oak in Modern English. The “corn” bit presumably means seed, and so why don’t we call it an Oakcorn?
Try saying it at normal voice level, Oakcorn.
Try whispering it. Is that different?
Why?
At Sandilands
Tuesday, 22 Aug 2023, 22:22
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Edited by Richard Walker, Sunday, 27 Aug 2023, 00:00
Panniers
Saturday, 19 Aug 2023, 00:04
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A few months ago, I bought a mobility scooter designed to go on the road, rather than the pavement. It’s a bit like an electric motorbike except of course it doesn’t go as fast, there’s a limit of 8 mph.
Like many motorbikes, it has a back box, but its capacity is limited. Having literally just bought a baguette I wondered how I could fit my bread and other groceries in.
What I need is panniers I thought; storage baskets that hang on either side of a donkey or a bike; and then it occurred to me, that’s exactly why they are called panniers. It must be connected with French pain = bread. Aha!
So I looked it up in the OED and sure enough, a pannier was a bread basket in old French, and we borrowed the word, into Middle English or maybe before.
The Jersey Tiger
Thursday, 17 Aug 2023, 01:36
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This striking moth has a wide range outside Britain, but historically it was rare here and only found in the Channel Isles (thus the name) and one location in Devon.
However like many species it has been expanding its territory and has now spread north as far as Cambridgeshire, where it popped up in my garden.
This picture of the resting insect doesn't begin to show how spectacular it is in flight; sadly it didn't stay around long enough for us to video it.
Squirrel Brains
Monday, 14 Aug 2023, 00:46
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I love squirrels, seeing them often in my garden, and was fascinated to hear recently that their brains may grow in autumn and shrink again in spring.
The reason for this might be that the task of storing a winter food supply in a way that's easy to find again takes a lot of mental effort, to organise and memorise the cache locations.
Other mammals adapt for winter in significant ways; stoats and mountain hare change the colour of their coats; hedgehogs and bears hibernate. There is also evidence that shrews shrink both body and brain, to survive with shrunken resources.
So the idea about squirrels is plausible, and it's supported by research findings, but of course it's hard to be sure and there is still debate.
There's a good article here about a leading researcher and her liking and fascination with these clever little beasts.
Studies of squirrel brain regeneration may reveal clues about how to slow Alzheimer's disease, because in at least one form, the cells squirrels seem to regenerate are the ones that sufferers appear to be losing? Could mental activity, such as doing puzzles, help? It's often been suggested and there is some evidence in favour, I recall. It's an alluring possibility but no more at this stage.
One Liner à la Tim Vine
Saturday, 12 Aug 2023, 23:30
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Edited by Richard Walker, Saturday, 12 Aug 2023, 23:30
The vegetable show was won by an 85-pound swede. I thought, “That’s a turnip for the books.”
A Cambridge Sunset
Thursday, 10 Aug 2023, 13:10
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This beautiful rose
Wednesday, 9 Aug 2023, 23:20
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I have had this rambling rose since 2021, and it is gorgeous. If only I could post the scent.
When I die
Tuesday, 8 Aug 2023, 19:52
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When I died
Four princesses sat on my grave and cried.
The first was Princess Autumn, whose red tears
Were gentle in their falling.
Next was Princess Winter
Her tears heart-broken white crystal.
Third came Princess Spring
Each flowing blue-skied raindrop a song.
And last Princess Summer
And her tears each a sunbeam, so they were golden on my tomb.
When these four princesses had visited and wept their fill.
My bones at last were put at peace and rest there still.
Red, white, blue and gold
So is eternity foretold.
One Liner Down Under
Monday, 31 Jul 2023, 23:25
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How do Australians share their disapproval of meringues? Boo.
Unusual cloud formation
Sunday, 30 Jul 2023, 20:57
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A friend spotted these unusual clouds. They seem to be cirrus but they look so distinctive that I wondered if they had a special name.
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