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Richard Walker

Panniers

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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.

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Richard Walker

The Jersey Tiger

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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.

Permalink 1 comment (latest comment by Gill Burrell, Thursday, 17 Aug 2023, 23:53)
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Richard Walker

Susan

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Richard Walker

Squirrel Brains

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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.

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Richard Walker

One Liner à la Tim Vine

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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.”

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Richard Walker

The church at Stackpole

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Richard Walker

A Cambridge Sunset

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Permalink 1 comment (latest comment by Gill Burrell, Sunday, 13 Aug 2023, 12:36)
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Richard Walker

This beautiful rose

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I have had this rambling rose since 2021, and it is gorgeous. If only I could post the scent.



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Richard Walker

When I die

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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.


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Richard Walker

One Liner Down Under

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How do Australians share their disapproval of meringues? Boo.

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Richard Walker

Unusual cloud formation

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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.


Permalink 2 comments (latest comment by Jan Pinfield, Monday, 31 July 2023, 09:37)
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Richard Walker

Dinner for two

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Richard Walker

Levels of Teaching

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The slur ‘Those who can, do; those who can’t teach' seems to have been originated with George Bernard Shaw in his play Man and Superman. Personally I’ve done lots of jobs and I learned something from them all.

Hospital porter
Postman
Off licence
Menswear shop
Die cast foundry
Computer (originally computers were people who did calculations)
Clerical worker (Inland Revenue, motor insurance)
Factory odd jobs
Building materials research

Anyway I digress. At the pub tonight a wiseacre came up with the old ‘Those that can etc.’ and that reminded me that back when IT was first making its way into schools I once had a job where I was teaching people who were going off to teach teachers how to teach IT. 

This reminded me of a little verse:

No teacher I of kids, or smaller fry,
No teacher I of teachers, no, not I.
Mine was the distant aim, the longer reach,
To teach folk how to teach folk how to teach.

(Adapted from A B Ramsay)
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Richard Walker

Disappointment

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I clutched the icy handrail, 

but when I reach the top,

no one was there.


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Richard Walker

What’s the difference between a stoat and a weasel?

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The Woodland Trust says:

“The easiest and most reliable way to tell a stoat (Mustela erminea) from a weasel (Mustela nivalis) is the tail.”

But my dad had a different answer:

A weasel is weasely distinguished,

But a stoat is stoatally different,


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Richard Walker

My hanging basket

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My hanging basket caught in the security light.


Permalink 2 comments (latest comment by Richard Walker, Tuesday, 25 July 2023, 22:22)
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Richard Walker

Daffinition

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Joke definition (AKA a daffinition): History = Greet conservative politician with sound of disapproval

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Richard Walker

Hiding a triangle (solution)

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See 

https://learn1.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/viewpost.php?post=258608

for the problem,.

Solution

Suppose the origins equilateral triangle has sides of length 1. Then its three vertices are each 1 unit from the other two.

If we tried to cover it with two other triangles, then one of them would have to cover two vertices of the original triangle, because there are three vertices distributed between two covering triangles. So at least one of the covering triangles would have to contain points 1 unit apart, so it couldn’t be smaller than the original triangle.




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Richard Walker

Hiding a triangle

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Prove that you can’t hide an equilateral triangle behind two smaller equilateral triangles.
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Richard Walker

Chthonic Head on Lowestoft Beach

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This mysterious bronze sculpture is part of Lowestoft's First Light Festival and has been on the beach for a few weeks. It's not there permanently and will be moved somewhere else before long. We made a special pilgrimage to Lowestoft to see it. About 1.3 m tall, at high tide it's underwater and during the time it's been where it is it has acquired an attractive green patina.


Chthonic means living in or beneath the Earth's surface, or inhabiting the underworld, coming from the Greek χθονός, "of the Earth".


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Richard Walker

Standing Stones

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These stones are at Callanish on Lewis in the Hebrides. They have stayed pretty much as they are now for about 5000 years, although a Visitor's Centre has been added relatively recently. I find them very evocative, they have a sort of timeless quality. The tallest is about 5m by my estimation.

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Richard Walker

Gazanias

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These lovely flowers are Gazanias. I had a couple previously but the hard frost of last winter killed them, and these are replacements. I looked the plant up on Wikipedia and was surprised to find it has become naturalised in many parts of the world, including the UK, and in some places, such as Australia, is a weed.


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Richard Walker

Dad Joke

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What border on a garment sounds like a polite cough? A hem.

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Richard Walker

Early To Bed - A Verse

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Edited by Richard Walker, Saturday, 17 June 2023, 01:05

Now I must leave you all, he said

I must go home, and get to bed.

For I must make an early rise,

And wish not sleepy in my eyes.

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Richard Walker

chicken joke

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Why did the chicken cross the airfield? To get to the other glide.

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