Midweek Mirth

A little example of irony that bought a smile to my lips, on a grey and cloudy Wednesday afternoon.

 

Footie bonding

My Son is home from University at the moment and yesterday evening we spent a pleasant couple of hours together getting excited about the football! It's quite unusual that we watch things on TV together these days, partly because he's hardly ever here but mostly because, as with most teenager-parent combo's, the viewing tastes run pretty counter to each other. My Wife and I will quite happily consume a decent crime thriller box set but our kids are much happier watching Made in Chelsea (etc..) you can't fight it. 

Anyway, we actually both got completely absorbed by the France - Switzerland game last night, and saw it all the way through to the final kick (which decided the game) thrilling stuff, and it's nice to see the underdogs win for a change. I wonder what the England - Germany match will throw up tonight, I bet it won't be as exciting as the games yesterday, anyway I won't be watching with the boy tonight as he's off with some mates watching it in a pub garden in London, as he should be at his age, lucky bugger!

 

Doorway to heaven

On one of the circular routes I walk at lunchtime there's a long tree lined gravel path, it's a great relief to walk down there on really sunny days as it's shady for around a kilometer (unfortunately not much use for most of the Summer so far!) I noticed today that on quite a few of the trees people had nailed little wooden doorways and painted them bright colours. I guess this is for young kids to look at and imagine that the little doorways lead to fairies houses or Narnia or similar? I can certainly appreciate the need to keep youngsters occupied and amused while filling lock-down time on long walks! 

It's interesting that a lot of the doors looked like they were painted by the kids themselves? You would have thought that this would kinda defeat the object, i.e. blowing the cover of the fairy story? But, perhaps I'm missing the bigger picture here by thinking too rationally about it, who knows. Anyway, the luck of the fairies must have rubbed off on me today, 8km walked in 70 minutes and not a drop of rain, it's been quite a few days since that happened!

Dench Jesus?

After the harrowing story from Canada yesterday I thought something a little lighter was needed today! Anyway, have you ever wondered why most of the statues of Jesus (at least in the West) are of some white bloke that's amazingly ripped? I didn't realise that first century Palestinians had such good access to indoor weight training equipment! I assume it must have been indoors as the guy has no hint of a sun tan or brown skin, which you'd expect for someone native to the Middle East? Anyway, I reckon Jesus would have gone to a CrossFit gym, that would make sense; but in any case he certainly seems to have nailed his fitness and diet regime :) .. 

 

Oh Canada..

Well, this is a disturbing picture! A protest in Saskatoon, Canada resulted in red paint being daubed on the doors of the Roman Catholic cathedral there. The reason for the protest is the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves containing (mostly) children at the former Marieval Indian Residential School which operated between 1899 and 1997. It was one of more than 130 compulsory boarding schools funded by the Canadian government and run by religious authorities with the aim of assimilating indigenous youth, it's estimated that around 6,000 children died while attending these schools, due in large part to the squalid health conditions inside. The kids were often not allowed to speak their own native language, and many were mistreated and abused, one survivor labelled these institutions as "pedophile playgrounds". 215 children's remains were found earlier in the year at a similar school in Kamloops. Predictably the church are yet to issue a formal apology and indigenous leaders are expecting more gruesome discoveries. It's almost like a law of Physics, when zealous, proselytizing religions are aligned with state power, particularly in an attempt to assimilate a subjugated population, it almost always ends up with unmarked graves! When will we ever learn.

 

One question..

So, I guess everyone has seen the Hancock video by now? It's a little bit creepy if you ask me, perhaps I just can't quite get over the fact that it takes a sex scandal to remove a tory minister while 50,000 people can die unnecessarily from tardy bad decisions and indecision no one seems to give a monkeys. I do have one important question though, having watched the footage it seems to me that at the very beginning there is obvious camera shake, how on earth could this be footage from a hand-held device when the angle is from above? According to reports the events happened inside his office, so, to get these pictures someone would have had to have been camping out in the roof of the office, totally bizarre!

 

West Coast Friday

Tried a new Siren beer in town last night (Friday), called "Test of Time" it's a West Coast IPA made with pale malts and tons of American hops. It was sweet resinous and piney with classic "C" hop flavours and a decent bitter finish, very nice indeed! (and such a pretty can!)

 

Wedding pork

It was our 22nd wedding anniversary yesterday so I splashed out and treated the missus to a slap up lunch at a posh restaurant in Bray, Berkshire owned by celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal. The food was delicious (helped by the fact that we haven't eaten out for ages!) I had pork belly which was cooked to perfection, it came with a Chinese style sweet glaze on a bed of pearl barley in garlic cream, and a lovely sauce made with wheat beer. As is typical in these kinds of places we got a little freebee to round off the meal (a couple of choux pastry donuts with a cream filling, a nice touch.

 

Boots blag..

Apparently our local Boots branch was broken into last night (true story) and the perfume cabinet raided! The police are on the scene now, I wonder if it's the counter terrorist team? Anyway, I'll be looking out for a full report on Channel 5 later this evening to see if the coppers have picked up the scent, lets hope the culprits feel the long Armani of the law soon or there'll be a right stink in the council meeting next week!

 

Friday Smirk

The ever excellent J&M pointing out the obviously hypocritical nature of a (fictional) hypocrite..

 

Pious-Pic of the Week

Not quite sure what's going on here but it seems to be a medieval bloke with no pants on pulling faces at the camera, perhaps a portent of the regrettable lad's night out selfie? 

 

Control

 

I see that mobile phone company EE is to re-introduce roaming charges for UK citizens when they make calls while in the EU, for companies that do business in the EU and send people over there this will mean significantly increased costs! Oh well, I guess this is what "taking back control" looks like, unfortunately, it's the multinational companies that are taking back control (to rip us off) and not ordinary people trying to earn a living! I can't wait to hear the moans and groans of the gammon brigade when they face hundreds of pounds of mobile phone bill because their kids used the internet by the pool in Spain, no doubt it will be someone else's fault. What a bunch of numptys we are..

Deja vu

I seem to remember we've been here before, at least twice in the last 16 months... and all because Bojo wanted to do some pointless "Potemkin village" marketing event in India.. you have to ask, will we ever learn? The answer is written into this chart, i.e. apparently not..

 

Spooky kid

From a distance this looks completely weird and dangerous, i.e. for a little kid to be alone by the side of the road like this! Alternatively, it's like one of those spooky horror movie scenes of a lone figure staring into the void where you really don't want to catch it's eye.. (I see dead people etc.!). 

Clearly need to get a bit closer to see what's going on!

Ah, ok, my mistake.. 

 

For the avoidance of doubt..

In a recent blog post, artist and feminist Jess de Wahls stated her opinion that Human beings can't "change sex" in the context that, in her view, a man cannot simple self-ID into womanhood and if they could then the single-sex protections of the 2010 equality act becomes completely null and void. It's a fair point, and certainly something that should be a topic of reasoned discussion among those who have an interest in equality and gender rights  (which, frankly, should be all of us!). Science (according to established definitions) backs up Wahl's view. Human Beings born with a certain set of gametes (i.e. either male or female) cannot change them, this determines biological sex, although it is possible (vanishingly rarely) for someone to have extra chromosomes (intersex), this is not the same as being transgender or non-binary however. Sex (not gender identity) is a protected characteristic under the law.

Unfortunately the Royal Academy took exception to this (perfectly reasonable) blog post and (heavily influenced by activists on social-media) labelled the artist a "transphobe". Not only did the RA slur the name of this artist, they banned the sale of her work in their outlets and so in one unilateral stroke of the twitter blade they damaged her reputation and denied her a living. In this matter the RA has acted as policeman, jury, judge and torch bearing mob, a McCarthyistic feast. Fortunately, in what many see as a test case for free-speech, the RA has back-tracked on it's initial claims and actions. An apology has been issued (see image above) and common sense has hopefully prevailed (although I suspect the backlash against the RA also has had a lot to do with it). 

For those people who claim not to understand what all the fuss is about over the backlash against "woke" or that being "anti-woke" is just cover for a bunch of racists then please read this story and digest it well. It's this kind of "progressive orthodoxy" that is under the spotlight here, to transgress is to commit an eternal sin. You will never be allowed to achieve redemption. Nor to even begin to seek it. You are a witch that must be burned. This kind of "woke" is just another intolerant religion with its own tribal dogmas and blasphemy laws. Reject it.

 

Midweek Mirth

Yep, after 15 months of 24/7 habitation our house has definitely got this tee shirt!

 

Belgian Best

Had one of these on Friday evening. It's a new (for me) beer from Sussex brewers Burning Sky called "Recusant" (a person who refuses to submit to an authority or to comply with a regulation) and was an absolute revelation! The beer is advertised as "Belgian" in style meaning that it's a pale ale made with Belgian yeast which imparts a very "funky" and ester rich flavour to the beer. In this particular case the brewers had also used Brettanomyces Bruxellensis which is a bacteria that imparts a spicy, leathery barn-yard vibe into the mix. Then to top this unusual combination they hopped the beer with Austrian Styrian Goldings giving even more spice and a resinous background. Sounds like a dogs breakfast, and certainly not "compliant" with the usual norms, but in fact was stunning! A delicious drink with a real depth and breadth of tastes starting off like a really good best bitter on the nose then quickly transitioning to a classic Belgian pale (like Duvel) and finishing dry and clean a little like a modern IPA. This is a seasonal beer meaning that Burning Sky only make it once a year; must snag myself a couple more cans of this before they're all gone! I bet it improves with age, and could well top my beer of the year chart so far!

 

Mid Year

It's that time of the year again. Those that are inclined to hug stones and trees do and the rest of us simply ponder the fact that from this point onwards the nights start to draw in because of the inexorable movements of planetary bodies in our solar system, and get depressed. As if to mark the occasion the British weather delivered one of the coldest June evenings (around here at least) in the last 10 years; we almost put the central heating back on!

 

Wet Weekend..

So, it's Monday again (sigh).. We spent a rather soggy weekend running around doing odd jobs with a little socializing on the side. I went for a walk into town on Friday, around lunchtime, and it absolutely lashed down, I should have worn swimming trunks as the roads around here had turned into little rivers! Then on Saturday we decided to meet up with friends in the next door town so we walked to the train station and hopped one stop to the next conurbation up the line. Relaxed for a pleasant couple of hours chatting and supping beers in a local bar then had a curry in a restaurant next door, it was all good except when we'd finished at around 10pm and needed to walk back to the station it was lashing down again, you could say it literally put a dampener on the evening! Anyway, luckily, I did have the foresight to take a big brolly so we only got wet from the ankles down! On Sunday it was pretty much the same story, after a nice roast chicken dinner (Fathers day treat) we managed to slip out for an hour in between downpours for a walk in the (now thoroughly swampy) countryside, classic British Summertime weather I suppose..

 

Gooseberry heaven..

Had a couple of Burning Sky (Sussex) ales this evening while making supper, both good but this one was superb. Featuring Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand it smelt like pink grapefruit and lychee on the nose, but tasted like a mix of pale ale and a good Pouilly Fume! Gooseberries, cut grass and white flowers etc., a beautiful showcase for these hops! I could drink this all night and not get tired of it, wonderful depth of flavour that changes as the beer warms up. Great work Burning Sky!

 

Normality Resumed

Looks like I'll be taking my umbrella with me on my walk this lunchtime. Very seldom do you see 100% chance of rain on the forecast, I guess after a brief hint of Summer over the last ten days or so, this week we're back to normal! 😩

 

Friday Smirk

Jesus and Mo highlighting the problem that many people in religious cultures seem to have with being "offended" and often that it's simply a cover for wanting to silence opposing views and opinions.

 

Midweek Mirth

I came across this little beauty on the interwebs the other day, plagiarized without shame here...

 

Tuesday Titter

Amazing stuff yeast, so small and simple and yet so useful to us..

 

Grand Architecture

As I mentioned in the previous post, we spent a nice weekend in Brighton with some friends. Since we haven't had a proper holiday for ages I splashed out a bit and we stayed in the Grand Brighton Hotel (famous for the IRA bombing back in 1984) on the front. It was lush. Built in 1864 it's a lovely old building with lots of Victorian features (like ornate cast Iron railings and ceiling supports etc.) but renovated to have all mod-cons too. In the photo above you can see the central staircase leading up to the rooms, v. impressive. Our room was nice with a splendid view of the beach and the pier(s) and the weather held up it's end of the bargain, wall to wall sunshine. 

On Saturday during the day the boys in the gang headed over to the Beak brewery in Lewes on the train to pay a visit to their tap room. We wiled away a couple of hours sampling their splendid range of craft ales and also had some street food to keep us going. It's quite a walk out of the town but well worth the visit, the beer quality is amazing! I've waxed lyrical on Beak beers several times before in this blog, they're definitely one of the up and coming firms of the last year or two.

Here you can see Beak's modest brewery, fermenters on the left hand side and a mash tun, kettle and hot liquor tank (HLT) on the back wall, simple enough but boy do they make good use of them. The tap room is nestled beneath the chalk cliffs on the outskirts of the town. Famous for being the site of the worst avalanche disaster in the UK, back in 1836 a build up of snow on the same cliffs collapsed onto a row of cottages below killing eight people, there's even a pub there now called the "Snowdrop Inn" to commemorate the disaster.

On the way back to Brighton we stopped for a refresher in the Evening Star pub by the station, what a wonderful selection of craft beers! I opted for an ice-cold Keller Pils (lager) from Bristol firm Lost and Grounded, just the job after walking in the scorching sun for an hour or so, they even had the proper branded glasses to serve it in, you don't see that too often, shame we couldn't stay for more than one as it was a really nice pub, anyway we had to push on and get ready for dinner, another time perhaps.

Lost and Grounded glassware at the Evening Star pub in Brighton, in the words of the Terminator, I'll be back!

 

Lewes

My wife and I spent a lovely sun filled couple of days in Brighton this weekend with friends and today we hopped over to Lewes (10 miles away) for some lunch. I spotted this sign while walking around, it commemorates leading light of the Enlightenment Thomas Paine who lived in the town in the 18th century I hadn't realised Lewes was such a historical place! There was also a pub called "Rights of Man" which is the title of one of Paine's famous books, I snagged a picture of that too (see below), the pub is owned by Harvey's Brewery another famous historical resident of the town!

 

950

 

Being an "early adopter" of technology I'm the proud owner of a series 1 Apple watch, being a miser I've not upgraded since then under the assertion that version 1 does everything I need and therefore no need to shell out another £350 quid for a series 5 version! The only app I use on the watch is the fitness one, I dutifully measure my calorific output every day and have set an incremental target over the years for the three "rings" which represent exercise, movement and stands, currently I have a target of 30 minutes exercise, 400 calories worth of movement and 12 stands per day. So far my longest run of meeting said targets is standing at a staggering 950 days, meaning I've achieved these targets for 950 days on the trot, such is the pedant that I am! 1000 days is looming at the end of July but I have a serious hurdle to straddle between now and then which is a week away on holiday in the West country! I have some serious craft brewery trips organized and some fabulous restaurant to tick off my list, so am fearful that the exercise targets might go out of the window over the course of a boozy afternoon in the Sun sitting in some Somerset industrial estate or some comfortable eatery... we shall have to see, watch this space, the tension is palpable..

FLICC

I came across this interesting page on the interwebs the other day. It's a summary of FLICC or the 5 main techniques of Science denial, the abbreviation stands for (F)ake Experts, (L)ogical Fallacies, (I)mpossible Expectations, (C)herry Picking and (C)onspiracy Theories. There are obviously other ways of denying science, but I struggled to think of any of the main ones that couldn't be categorized under this scheme. 

One of the common examples I come across is the "false analogy" where someone assumes that because one attribute of something is the same or similar to another then all attributes of those two things are the same. A classic example of this is the assertion that because climate has changed naturally in the past that any change now must also be natural. This, of course, is a logical fallacy and when it pertains to the climate crisis a deeply pernicious and ignorant one. Just because one attribute of an entity is the same as another doesn't mean that all attributes are the same, i.e. just because Hitler and Stalin had a moustache doesn't mean all men who have moustaches are psychopaths.... or does it?** 

**conspiracy theory!

 

Friday Smirk

The J&M strip this week pointing out one of the problems with religion, in that, it promotes tribalism and division in society. Of course, many other things do this as well, including our evolutionary instincts but it's probably a good idea not to add fuel to the fire for most societies, especially in the 21st century when we have apocalyptic weapons at our disposal.

 

Dog Walkers

I often pass dog walkers on my regular lunchtime strolls, I've noticed that a large proportion of them are carrying little poo bags. It's interesting to observe how said bags are being carried, it probably says something about the nature of the individuals and the constitutions of their beloved pets. Some swing them with gay abandon, I've noticed this a lot when the Sun is out although it looks perilous to me. Others carry them at arms length, like they contain toxic waste, this must get very tedious after a while! On the other hand some seem to swap them from hand to hand almost as if they were hot or perhaps the idea is that there's a 10 second rule or something. Anyway, you can tell I have too much time on my hands but what else is there to do when out for a lunchtime stroll?

 

Midweek Mirth

I notice that TV presenter and president of Humanists UK (Prof. Alice Roberts) is taking some flak on Twitter (not unusually) for stating the bleeding obvious (as many scientists do). Roberts is someone I've followed for a long time, I do enjoy her programs and think that she's someone that is really good at explaining complex things in easily consumable ways. 

Yesterday she posted the following..

The reference is of course to the sequence of things that the God of the Bible (in the book of Genesis) supposedly did to create the universe (i.e. how can plants survive without photosynthesis). Based on what we now know about the laws of Physics and Biology etc. we can see that the order is illogical and that obviously this leads us to conclude that this story is a man-made myth (probably based on previous creation myths) and not literally true. 

The dismissive and often aggressive comments she received show why it's still apparently necessary to point these things out to some people. There are plenty of apologists/literalists in the thread who apparently still cling to these ideas as if they were actually true! Of course people can believe what they like as long as they don't mind it being ridiculed or criticised, but that's the beauty of established science facts, like evolution! We don't need to believe them because they can be SHOWN TO BE TRUE as opposed to ancient Mesopotamian creation or flood myths that can't. 

There are also many people in the thread who think they're taking the high ground by claiming that Roberts is ignorant of religion and therefore shouldn't comment on it! "Stick to your branch of science" is the claim, then again that same book also says "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence."  (1 Timothy 2:12) So I suppose these kinds of distraction techniques should be expected from the usual suspects. When you think about it, this kind of dismissive knee-jerk response reflects the pure arrogance and hypocrisy of believing that you alone already know the biggest secrets of the universe, that your little sect has the correct interpretation of all those ancient stories (as if they were even supposed to be "interpreted"). Ask yourself this, since when have many religious people, of all stripes, declined to comment on societal and scientific matters outside their areas of expertise? (such as abortion, free-speech, stem-cell research, vaccination etc. etc. ) no, I can't think of many either.

It seems what's good for the gander isn't also good for the goose! 

You can see an example of this doublespeak below. 

One has to ask, why is the comment "puerile", it's simply a statement of fact and a perfectly valid scientific question! Clearly an irrational nerve has been struck here suggesting that the complainant feels offended that this particular ancient myth has been called into question, I think we all secretly know why this is (i.e. childhood indoctrination into this particular belief system). 

I do wonder how many less ridiculous comments this post would have accrued if Roberts had questioned the veracity of Thor's hammer?

 

mRNA, beating the odds.

So, evidence and data is slowly dribbling in about the efficacy of the current crop of Coronavirus vaccines. In one of the most up to date papers (see summary here) the conclusion is that the mRNA vaccines (i.e. Pfizer et al) do indeed provide high levels of protection but surprisingly these levels of protection can exceed those acquired through natural infection and recovery. The sentence "Polyclonal antibody responses in vaccinees were robust and comparable to or exceeded those seen after natural infection." in the paper summary, outlines this conclusion, this is an amazing result! A fantastic achievement for a relatively new medical technology (mRNA vaccine) and just goes to show what we can achieve when our species collaborates around common objective goals rather than splintering apart over unfalsifiable nonsense and conspiracy theories. All those anti-vaxxers out there should hang their heads in shame, and perhaps have a little more faith in their fellow Humans rather than self interest or imaginary friends.

 

Passenger famine

Last year I commented on how the car park at the train station local to my office had essentially emptied out because of Covid. I snapped a picture on the first day of lockdown on the 16th March 2020 and again on the 5th of August 2020, noting that the number of cars had gone down rather than up as restrictions eased in between the first and second waves. I snapped the same picture today and I reckon there were even fewer cars than last August. I'm not sure what this means but considering that this car park used to be full to the brim by 9am most weekdays in 2019, it can't be good for the car park owners, or the train service that it supplies with passengers!

 

Slow news day

When out for my midday stroll today I came across this little fella. It's a slow worm, I haven't seen one of these in the wild since I was a kid! I remember back in the 70's my dad and I used to walk over the heath near to our house at the time and turn over bits of debris (usually corrugated iron sheets) to uncover these little creatures. I remember taking some home to keep in a shoe box for a little while, we used to feed them with ants eggs harvested from the same places. This specimen was wriggling around on the warm concrete pavement, probably warming up, so I felt obliged to pick it up an put it into the undergrowth out of danger. I must admit, I did experience a moment of anxiety as I couldn't remember if they "bit" or not, fortunately they don't, but they are incredibly slippery and wriggly, it took several attempts! From the look of her tail this one has had a few scrapes in the past, these creatures are notorious for being able to lose their tails to escape predators and then regrow them (the tail should be pointed), they are lizards after all and not snakes, even though they look like the latter!

 

Science and the media

I think this reporter means "non-stupid primates"...

 

Sunday Science Smirk..

Ha ha, like it, solar wind definitely keeps me awake at night... :)

 

Pious-Pic of the Week

Once you see the Cookie Monster, you can't un-see it.. nom, nom, nom..

 

Cool for cats

Made an interesting discovery today! A new craft beer brewery has opened up during lockdown about 3 miles away from my house, in a Berkshire village called Hurst. The firm is called "Crafty Cats" and they make a variety of modern style (American hops) IPA's, pale ales and dark beers, sounded promising! Since it was such a nice day today we decided to take a little drive a couple of miles out to the outskirts of Twyford where there's a vineyard called Stanlake Park, they have a little walled garden and some tables where you can sample their wines, they also stock Crafty Cats beer! I went for their session pale, called "Tail Ale" it was a pleasant American IPA style beer with Mosaic, Simcoe, Cascade and Amarillo hops. Classic grapefruit vibes but with a nice malty core, decent. My wife had a glass of Stanlake's Burgundy style white called "King's Fume", it was a little lacking in body and finish compared to wines from warmer climes (as most English wines are) but the flavours (fruit and gun-smoke/flint) were very good, I could certainly place Chardonnay in the blend and it was oaked well. On our way out I picked up a couple of cans of Crafty Cat's other brews so I'll report back on those later! I do love a bit of lunch-time local wine and beer action on a warm Summers day!

 

Friday Smirk

Usual high quality J&M strip this week; there's a lot to be said for the role of artificial stimulants in the development of religious myths and legends.

 

Thought for Thursday

Have you even pondered the nature of reality, asked yourself what is the nature of consciousness or gazed up at the night sky and marveled at our insignificance in the face of an infinite universe? Well, I doubt most other people have either, but, I was interested to see a new series of science documentaries on BBC2 starting last Sunday. Called "Adventures in Space and Time" they're hosted by that unstoppable marmite of a science presenter Brian Cox (my Wife hates him) and cover various "big questions" on the themes of space and time (I guess the clue is in the name really) Anyway, the first one was quite good I thought, and looked into Cox's past escapades while presenting various space travel programmes on the BBC over the last few years. I particularly loved the shots and technical specifications of the Saturn 5 rocket that took men to the Moon, just unbelievable the scale and engineering involved. Anyway, next week is all about little green men (and whether they might exist etc.) I'll definitely be grabbing a prime spot on the sofa at 9pm this Sunday and tuning in, should be fun.

BTW the photo above illustrates a classic Quantum paradox, it's a rare photo of Schrodinger's cat..

 

The Rat-Race..

Part of my midday walk today took me over a main road; looks like things are getting back to normal in that it was stuffed with traffic! It's quite a shock to see this many cars, vans and trucks in one place after the year that we've had, I was just getting used to things being fairly quiet and civilised! I do wonder where all these people are going at lunchtime mid-week but I guess it's just normal over-populated South-East England doing what it does, in other words, welcome back to the rat-race..

 

Endorphins

At last some floral delights to see on my daily walks. Here's a rather splendid poppy looking piercing against a backdrop of green. I always enjoy this time of year, so much potential and so much colour it refreshes the soul (which is another way of saying boosts endorphins in your brain).