Month: June 2015

A Sharing Post

INTRODUCTION

Although I have been out and about today, and have some good pictures which will feature somewhere, this post is going to be almost entirely given over sharing stuff from other people, as I have some fantastic links and a couple of decent infographics.

VOX POLITICAL AND A VERY IMPORTANT FOI REQUEST

There are a number of links in this subsection, which relates to a long running campaign by Mike Sivier of Vox Political. As well as some stuff from Mike himself, I have a link to a piece about the MP for Newcastle, who has weighed in on our side, and a very important blog post from Jayne Linney which I have already shared with my twitter followers. I hope you will visit all the links below:

1)The Petition – please sign and or share.

2)Vox Political first post – on Downing Street and the deleted emails

3)Vox Political 2nd Post – on DWP continuing dishonesty.

4)Newcastle MP weighs in our side.

5)Jayne Linney blog post “Truth Seekers“.

AUTISM

Two excellent pieces in this section, firstly one of the finest explanations of Asperger’s Syndrome (my particular form of autism) that I have so far come across, courtesy of Durham Regional Autism Services. The second link in this section is to an old favourite, Autism Mom, and her latest post on visiting these shores with the Navigator.

THE ABI LONGFELLOW CASE

Two links here, a Mirror article and a petition:

1)Read the latest article about this case.

2)View, sign and share the petition.

THE LAST FEW LINKS

I have three more links to share with you. First, courtesy of Take Part Daily, a story about the method used by inhabitants of one tiny island to tackle illegal fishing in their protected waters. Second, a piece in the Independent about the disgraceful treatment of Raif Badawi. The links section began with Mike Sivier, and we finish by coming full circle, to his piece about Tories deeming it clever to back Corbyn for Labour Leader.

INFOGRAPHICS

First up in this section is a graphic representation of TTIP…

TTIP

My other infographic, saved on my computer as “Sprawl-mart” concerns a certain US Supermarket and tax havens where it has shell companies but no stores…

Sprawl-mart

ANOTHER EVENT AT KING’S LYNN LIBRARY

Details of an upcoming event at my local library in pictorial form…

The front of the library.
The front of the library.
The event poster.
The event poster.
A combined picture.
A combined picture.

SOME PHOTOS FROM TODAY AND A CLOSING STATEMENT

I hope that you have enjoyed this post, and that you will be encouraged to share it. I finish with a selection of today’s pictures…

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Special Post: Alperton

INTRODUCTION

Welcome the latest installment in my series “London Station by Station” I hope you will enjoy this post and be inspired to share it.

ALPERTON: A MINOR STATION WITH A MAJOR QUIRK

Alperton was originally opened in 1903 as a District Line station, but since October 1933 has been served only by the Piccadilly line. The transfer of services on this branch occurred in two phases as shown in the following extract from the Diagrammatic History…

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Of course, typically, this important paragraph straddles a fold on the map, as you can see.

A legacy of the period of joint service is that all stations on this branch have platforms of a compromise height between that of tube and surface stock.

We come now the the sole reason for this very brief post – the quirk referred to in the title. Escalators can be found all over London Underground, but those at Alperton are there for an unusual reason on this network: to carry passengers up from street level to the platforms.

A couple of pics to finish…

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The Diagrammatic History
The Diagrammatic History

Photography and Scanning

INTRODUCTION

I do not have a lot of links or infographics to share, but my title piece will be accompanied by plenty of pictures. I hope that you all enjoy this post and will be inspired to sahre it.

NEAR MIRACULOUS CATCH UP OPERATION

Because of all the fuss over the Great Charity Centenary Auction work for James and Sons own June auction was somewaht delayed. However, unlikely as it seemed only a few days ago, the catalogue for this auction will be back from the printers by the end of Thursday, and we should be up online at the-saleroom by not long after that as well.

I was working with the scanner and the camera all day today. An example of scanner work is this collection of militaria (nine lots in total, which I show as the original scan, and then the individual images I extracted from it…

Lot 267
Lot 267
Lot 279
Lot 279
Lot 285
Lot 285
Lot 286
Lot 286
Lot 295
Lot 295

296

Lot 305
Lot 305
The original nine lot scan.
The original nine lot scan.
Lot 269
Lot 269
Lot 272
Lot 272

Another set of images that I used the scanner for were these very old coins…

755 756 757 758 759 760

Also, as mentioned, I took photographs of a wide variety of items, some of which are below…

40 181 274 425 425a 681 682 687 688 688a 688b

This image of a set of gold proof coins from Jersey was obtained with the scanner.
This image of a set of gold proof coins from Jersey was obtained with the scanner.

A LINK AND AN INFOGRAPHIC

I am treating these together, asthere is only one fo each. The link is to one of Vox Political’s recent offerings. The blog post ends with the feature image, this infographic courtesy of Jon Swindon..

HRights

Special Post: Hainault

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest post in my “London Station by Station” series. These posts do not contain anything other than the title piece, and any links and pictures relate exclusively to that theme, as is not the case with my regular posts.

A BELGIAN PROVINCE AND AN OUTPOST OF LONDON UNDERGROUND

Hainault was important duchy in what is now Belgium in 14th century, although the modern province has subsequently lost the l and is now called Hainaut. The connection to this country dates from that same period, when Phillippa of Hainault, daughter of the then duke married Edward III. For more on this, I have a link to a short academic article.

As with the rest of the eastern end of the Central line, Hainault was originally served by the Great Eastern Railway before being transferred to London Underground in 1948. Hainault gives it name to the Hainault Loop, which the following extract from the diagrammatic history shows…

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For many years, Hainault was a terminus station, with the northern segment of the loop being run by a shuttle service, but nowadays trains taking the loop run all the way round it to Woodford.

At one time the southern part of the Hainault loop was going to form an eastern extension to a planned Chelsea-Hackney line, but that line never got beyond the planning stage, and I have not heard it mentioned in the last couple of decades. This 1994 speculative map from Ken Garland’s “Mr Beck’s Underground Map” shows the plan along with one or two other plans of the time, some of which did come to fruition (though by no means all)…

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As for the place itself, the only point of interest as that there is a country park, which would probably provide a decent walk if you were so minded.

I hope that you have enjoyed this post and that you will be encouraged to share it, and I leave you with one last picture…

The Diagrammatic History
The Diagrammatic History

Operation Catch Up

INTRODUCTION

As well as my title piece I have some photos which connect to that and some cracking links to share with you. Read, enjoy and please share…

OPERATION CATCH UP

The combination of two auctions happening in the space of four days and a degree of failure on the organsiation front has made things somewhat hectic of late. However, after a full day imaging for our June auction today, I believe that we will be able to give our online viewers a week to look at the items that will be going under the hammer, which did not look likely at one point. Today’s imaging has been very varied, including some lovely Hornby toys (Hornby for the uninitiated are THE name when it comes to railway themed toys and models). There were also some decent stamp lots and some interesting militaria. To end this section here are some pictorial highlights…

277 277a 283 283a 294 503 503a 506 506a 512 512a 519 594 594a 596 596a 600 618 622 623 623a 623b 641 658 658a 664 665 685 764 764a 767 767a 794

LINKS

Here as promised are those links, starting with a fistful on the subject of…

RELIGION

My first three links are all related to the same organisation:

1)Atheist Republic home

2)Atheist Republic blogs

3)Atheist Republic’s brief explanation of atheism.

Patheos, so often a source of good material have done it again, this time with a piece about Christian extremist opposition to higher education.

A CHANCE TO BRING A VILE CRIMINAL TO JUSTICE

A single link, being given a subsection to itself. This is a petition being run by Avaaz to ensure that the South African government does the right thing and takes the opportunity to arrest and incarcerate former Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir

SCIENCE AND MUSIC

An unusual juxtaposition, but both my science related pieces are concerned with planets, and there is a very well known piece of music called The Planets, so I considered it acceptable on this occasion. The music related link is to a piece by Charlotte Hoather about Madama Butterfly, in a production of which she will soon be appearing. My two planets themed pieces both come from Cosmos Up:

1)Juxtaposition of Jupiter and Venus

2)A possible preponderance of Neptune sized planets in our galaxy.

A FINAL SELECTION

Three more links, starting with this from Jayne Linney.

Stop Homophobia have collected some superb responses to hate mail.

Last but most definitely not least is this piece from network autism about gender dysphoria and autism.

Special Post: Euston and Euston Square

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest installment in my series “London Station by Station“. I am treating these two together because they are so close to one another that it makes no sense to split them up.

EUSTON AND EUSTON SQUARE

Euston Square, served nowadays by the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines is one of the 1863 originals, and as with Baker Street has been restored to look as it would have done when first opened. The City and South London Railway station at Euston was opened on May 12th 1907 and the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway on June 22nd 1907. These two together are now the Northern line, and occupy four platforms here – although widely separated – to change between the two branches you would be well advised to continue northwards to Camden Town where the interchange is cross-platform. The Victoria line station opened on December 1st 1968.

The southbound platform on the Bank branch of the Northern line is very wide at this station because when it was opened as the City and South London Railway station there were two tracks either side of an island platform (an arrangement still in evidence at Clapham Common and Clapham North), and the extra width of that platform comes from the reorginastion when this arrangement was deemed unsuitable for such a busy station.

INTRODUCING THE RAILWAY DETECTIVE

Euston was the first of London’s railway terminals to open, serving the London and North Western Railway, and it was on that route that Edward Marston’s greatest creation, The Railway Detective (a.k.a Inspector Robert Colbeck) investigated the case that first earned him that title (and introduced him to his future wife). These stories are set thus far) in the 1850s, before the opening of the Metropolitan Railway in 1863, but I could see Colbeck still being in business when that momentous event occurs. He would undoubtedly embrace the underground railway wholeheartedly, although his colleague Sergeant Leeming would take some persuading of its virtues!

CONCLUSION AND PICS

I hope that you have enjoyed this post and will be inspired to share it. Here are a couple of pictures to finish…

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A close up of the key area
The Diagrammatic History
The Diagrammatic History

Special Post: Hammersmith

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest installment in my series “London Station by Station“. Whereas my regular posts contain links, photographs and sometimes infographics as well as the title piece, these posts contain no links, no infographics and only pictures that relate directly to the matter in hand.

HAMMERSMITH

The colours of the title are those of the modern lines that serve the station. The Hammersmith and City line, in the days when it was the original Metropolitan Railway reached Hammersmith in 1864, although the current station for that line was opened four years later in 1868. From 1877 to 1906 a viaduct diverging from the current line at Goldhawk Road and having a station called Hammersmith Grove Road connected to the District at Ravenscourt Park and thence to Richmond. The District line station at Hammersmith opened in 1874, and it was the original western terminus of the Piccadilly line in 1906.

The station which now serves the District and Piccadilly lines was completely redesigned a few years back, although the track layout remains the same – District line tracks on the outside, Piccadilly line tracks in the centre. Except for occasional services which also stop at Turnham Green, where the Richmond branch of the District diverges from the Ealing branch, Piccadilly trains run non-stop between Hammersmith and Acton Town. Just west of Hammersmith on the District and Piccadilly lines one can see the remains of the viaduct referred to in the opening paragraph.

Hammersmith is home to a major shopping centre (the reason for the redesign mentioned above) and also to the Lyric Theatre, at which I saw several good plays.

Here are a couple of pictures to conclude the post…

The Diagrammatic History
The Diagrammatic History
A close up of the key area for this post.
A close up of the key area for this post.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and I encourage you to share it!

A Dull Grey Saturday

INTRODUCTION

As well as my title piece and accompanying photographs I have some cracking links to share with you.

A DULL GREY SATURDAY

In a classic application of Murphy’s Law today is dull and grey, immediately following several bright sunny work days. Not that unappealing weather meant that there was nothing to photograph – after being dry for some time the fountain in The Walks had water in it and was functioning as it should…

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Just beyond that was a “Trivial Pursuit” type arrangement of flower beds, one half of which I captured for posterity…

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The squirrels were not in the least deterred by filthy grey skies either…

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The ducks and moorhens were enjoying the waters of the upper Millfleet as it flows through the parkland…

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The younger generation were also in evidence out on the water…

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Arriving at the river bank by way of Hardings Pits I took a shot looking towards the town…

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Walking past the anti-flood wall near old Boal Quay I was gratified to spot this blackbird at quite close quarters…

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My last shot was taken at the jetty now in its second summer of service, and hosting a single boat today…

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LINKS

TWO AUTISM RELATED LINKS

I found this shocking story of institutionalized abuse (I can call it nothing else), by way of twitter and I have already made contact with the author and subject of the story, Jennifer Msumba who posted it on her blog Here is an infographic for you…

JRC

My second autism related link concerns Kevin Healey of the National Autistic Society and his continuing effort to get twitter to protect him properly. That perennial source of fine material Huffington Post is running an article by him about cyber-bullying. For some time, Kevin has been running a petition via change,org to put pressure on twitter to do the right thing.

A GOOD NEWS STORY COMBINED WITH A CALL TO ACTION

The petition calling on Playmobil to produce toys that show disabled people in a positive light has succeeded in persuading them, after gaining more than 50,000 signatures. As well as celebrating, the organisers are using this as a springboard for tackling their next target, Lego. To view, sign and share this new petition please follow this link.

SATIRE-DAY

A couple of crackers in this mini-section:

1)Dan Keeling on how the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor.

2)This gem from kittysjones.

OTHER LINKS

The dailyinspirationblog have come up trumps with this piece about Aristotle.

Patheos, who feature regularly in the links section of this blog, are here again, this time with a report on a particularly egregious piece of legislation which will cause the adoption rate in the state of Michigan to plummet.

My next link to share comes courtesy of thepoorsideoflife and concerns new targets for DWP compliance interviews.

My next and penultimate link is to a piece from handandmouse which combines slamming George Osborne with arguing cogently for Jeremy Corbyn to be on the ballot paper for the Labour leadership election.

To end this section here is a link to a piece in the Lynn News about how the town will be celebrating the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta.

PHOTOS AND AN AFTERWORD

AFTERWORD

I hope you have enjoyed this blog post and will be inspired to share it.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are a few random pics that I choose to share…

Window display at the Salvation Army shop in Fakenham.
Window display at the Salvation Army shop in Fakenham.
A close up of one the pieces featured in the first picture.
A close up of one the pieces featured in the first picture.

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More from the Salvation Army shop.
More from the Salvation Army shop.

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Detail from the Majestic Cinema, King's Lynn
Detail from the Majestic Cinema, King’s Lynn

A Hard Day’s Imaging

INTRODUCTION

I have a few links to share with you, but most of the post will be taken up with the title piece.

CATALOGUE FOR GREAT CENTENARY CHARITY AUCTION IN PRINT

The catalogue for the Great Centenary Charity Auction is now available in printed form. For more detail please consult the official post on www.greatcharity.org, which can be viewed here. Just to whet the appetiite further here is a glimps of the cover…

GCCA Catalogue

A HARD DAY’S IMAGING

Having knocked the Great Charity Centenary Auction on the head, today was almost entirely devoted to imaging for James and Sons own June auction. I imaged a wide variety of lots today, and reckoning that pictures speak louder than words, the rest of this section will be images of some the better lots…

This is lot 1 - starting as we would like to continue!
This is lot 1 – starting as we would like to continue!

1a 517 589 626 626a 630 630a 647 647a 647b 777 777a 786 786a 791

LINKS

Just three links with this post, these two related stories from Patheos:

1) Yet another creationist (Ken Ham in this case) makes a fool of himself.

2) Miley Cyrus shows herself to be capable of being sensible.

Our final link is to a piece in The Mirror about the DWP’s continuing effort to avoid revealing just how many people have died as a result of welfare cuts.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and will be inspired to share it.

A Hectic Period

INTRODUCTION

This is going be to what I think of as a ‘standard issue’ blog post – my title piece, a couple of infographics that have caught my eye, some interesting links and a few of my own photographs.

IMAGING, IMAGING AND MORE IMAGING

With James and Sons’ own June auction and the Great Centenary Charity Auction which is being conducted by James and Sons happening within four days of one another I have a heavy load of imaging to get through. The last of the GCCA stuff was done yesterday, and I then got back to imaging for the regular June auction, on which I had made a start before I was commandeered to image the stuff for the GCCA.

At least today, with the GCCA stuff out of the way, I will be working at my usual location the whole day, and should get a lot done.

Towards the end of yesterday I got a few bits of June imaging done, some of which I shall share now…

91 628 632 633 648

LINKS

I am grouping these links by subject matter, because although there are only a few of them, they cover a wide range of topics…

RELIGION

I have two pieces in this section, both courtesy of Patheos:

1)A piece on the Caitlyn Jenner story

2)Much more important than one, a piece introducing my readers to the Freethought Rescue project

SCIENCE

Just the one science link today, to a piece my Marcus Chown about the Cosmic Microwave Background.

LOW PAID JOBS

Two pieces in this section, one from Tax Research UK about social security payments and, following the brook back to the parent lake, the inspiration for the Tax Research UK piece on flipchartfartfairytales.

AUTISM

Just the one piece, but it is an excellent one, and it is feel-good story to end my links section on an upbeat note, courtesy of ramblingsofaspecialmom –  a story about finding the right kind of support.

INFOGRAPHICS AND A CLOSING NOTE

ATomlinson End Austerity Now Tax Dodging

I hope you have enjoyed this post and will be encouraged to share it.