Month: April 2016

A Very Important Petition and Imaging for the May Auction

A signpost to a pwtition that should get very biog very quickly, some of the best images from today at work and a couple of links relating the latest blunder by the Goldsmith campaign for London Mayor.

INTRODUCTION

A two part-post, as I was always going to be sharing some images from today, and I have something else that needs to be given prominence…

PETITION: QUALIFICATIONS OF HEALTH PROFESSIONAL FOR PIP/WCA
MEDICAL TO BE OPENLY AVAILABLE

I received a comment on my recent post “Many Things” (I have the commenter’s permission to quote verbatim) that runs as follows:

i started a petition to have open transparency about the Health care professionals that do the WCA a assessment on behalf of the dwp, the reason for this is that are they qualified for the role there doing ie a physiotherapist doing a mental health assessment for bi-polar, ask directly for there qualifications and you will find a wall of hiding behind laws, so to make it easier the petition is about having this in public domain so vunerable adults do not have to go through loops to find out the information and decide whether the person that assessed them is fit for purpose, in light of channel 4 dispatches nothing has changed so this is more important now. can you sign please the link is below https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/126229

This petition struck instantly, and I followed up the link, which revealed the following:

Petition

I have signed this petition, shared on twitter & facebook, and urge everyone to sign and if you are able share it. Please use the link below:

VIEW, SIGN AND SHARE PETITION HERE

MAY IMAGING

Today at work I made a stgart on the imaging for the May auction, and here are some of the highlights for you…

Lot 1 – a vewry ornate photograph album
Lot 3 – not so ornate as lot 1 but on similar lines
Lot 4 – a pretty little item
Lot 4 in its closed state
Once on a time lot 3 was lockable, but this lock is no longer functioning
Lot 6
A close up of the lump of iron pyrites with two figures on top
Lot 7
The trademark from lot 7
Lot 8
Lot 10
The first of two close-ups of this piece
Lot 101
Lot 103
Lot 105, followed by two close-ups of the handle
Lot 107
A close-up of the axe-head segment of lot 107

THE CASE OF MR GOLDSMITH
AND THE SCRAPED BARREL

Mike Sivier at Vox Political set me on to this story, which is typical only worse of the way in which the whole of Mr Goldsmith’s campaign for London Mayor has been run:

  1. Mike’s post, which signposts…
  2. This Guardian piece.

 

Sport and Spring Weather

Cricket, golf and a walk – features lots of pictures.

INTRODUCTION

The county cricket season is underway, and just after midnight our time the first golf major of the year was decided. Additionally the weather today is so pleasant that for the first time in 2016 I am using my ‘outside study area’…

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AN EXTRAORDINARY FINALE

Reaching the point at which Jack Nicklaus among others has said majors really begin – namely the back nine on Sunday, this years US Masters was looking like Jordan Spieth was going to comfortably retain his title, but then he hit trouble, first in small way with bogeys at 10 and 11 (both very difficult holes) and then in a huge way at the 12th. At this tiny but fearsome par 3 Spieth put two balls in the water, clocking up a quadruple bogey 7 and losing the lead for about the first time of the tournament. England’s Danny Willett recorded a 67 to get to the club house at five under for the tournament, and Spieth reached the 17th needing a birdie, birdie finish to tie (barring miracles neither hole offers any chance of an eagle). A bogey at 17 and it was all over, and Willett, the previously unknown Englishman was the champion. The 18th at Augusta is a long par-four, not remotely drivable, and in any case the longest distance from which anyone has holed out to win a tournament is 176 yards by Robert Gamez (the victim of this freak, not for the first or last time in his career was Greg Norman).

A MORNING WALK

Before the cricket started today (day 2 of 4, Nottinghamshire having peen put in by Surrey had run up 445, Surrey had survived two overs without incident) I headed off for a walk.  I was barely started when the first photo presented itself…

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The riverside stretch to Hardings Pits yielded some cracking pics, a good few featuring cormorants…

Cormorant in full flight above the Great Ouse
The mouth of the Nar as it flows into the Great Ouse
West Lynn Church

The parkland stretch of the walk yielded two different types of train and several birds…

Magpie, just before heading back towards town.
This bronze Norwich Union plaque is the only one of its kind I have seen – it is to be spotted near the Catholic Church

The walk back into town, following Bawsey Drain, yielded a wide variety of shots…

Muntjac
Ducklings with their mother.
These adorn the Tuesday Market Place

SURREY IN TROUBLE

Having conceded almost 450 by poor bowling, Surrey are now struggling with the bat, at 149-5. Elsewhere, Durham and Somerset are enjoying a low-scoring tussle, while Ben Duckett of Northamptonshire has relieved the Sussex bowlers of 254 (and counting – he’s still there). I shall be doing some prep for my photographic display at the Positive Autism Awareness Conference this Friday once I have published this, which ends with this picture…

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Operation ToryDump Update – we’re winning, keep up the pressure #NameAndShame

The latest from DPAC on the efforts to ensure that Tory scum who voted to cut ESA by £30 per week get booted from positions with charities that support the disabled…

List of Dumped Tory MPs to date

Also ……

for the rest please visit the source: Operation ToryDump Update – we’re winning, keep up the pressure #NameAndShame

Many Things

Some pictures, a mention of a DPAC public meeting in Norwich, some stuff about the London Mayoral Elections, and some autism related stuff.

INTRODUCTION

I have many things to cover in this post and some photographs to share.

KING’S LYNN PICS

The first few pictures I shall be sharing are from earlier in the week, but yesterday morning, with Saturday being treated as Sunday because my mother is travelling to Tonbridge today for an 11-week return to teaching, I went for a walk before going to my aunt’s for the journey to East Rudham, and that is where the rest of the pics in this section com from.

My Brunel £2 coins in their new niche.
This is the last of pre-saturday pics.
A very large earthworm (according to the folks behind “What on Earth Evolved the signle most important animal species on the planet)
An angled shot of Hanse House
Two of the ground-floor windows of Hanse House – the completeness of the blocking of sight through these windows creates suspicion as to what exactly is being done inside this grade 1 listed building.
The upper floor, which juts out over the street.

 DPAC PUBLIC MEETING IN NORWICH

DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts) are holding a public meeting in Norwich on Thursday 21st April. I shall definitely be attending. A jpg of their official poster for this meeting is below:

DPAC Poster

INTERLUDE – EAST RUDHAM

A few things caught my eye while at my parents house for lunch, and here are some pictures from there…

A display on a small ledge above the stairs.
A close up of the blue stone slice
This wall-mounted shell took three attempts before I was happy, starting with this one.
Attempt 2
Attempt 3 – success!
This was taken from an oblique angle, and led later to…
This front-on shot showing the original three things and a couple of others. The two pottery pieces are of the same design as my parent’s regular crockery, although these are purely for display.

THE LONDON MAYORAL ELECTION

Although it is nearly 17 years since I last called the city home, I have been keeping an eye on the London Mayoral Elections (after all, the fact that I run a London transport themed website is evidence that I still retain some interest in the place), and there have been several interesting developments. The full list of candidates looks like this:

London Mayoral Elections List

Of these, seven have done nothing  to merit being taken seriously, namely David Furness, George Galloway, Paul Golding, Lee Harris, Ankit Love, Sophie Walker and Prince Zylinski. Of these seven, I would hope that Furness and Golding finish at the bottom of the heap, and a severe kicking for Mr Galloway would be no bad thing either. Now to move on to the big five:

Candidates

Peter Whittle is as despicable as one would expect a UKIP candidate to be. Caroline Pidgeon has some good ideas but is standing for a party whose credibility is utterly shot after a disastrous five years in cahoots with the Tories. Sadiq Khan, the bookies favourite, also has some good ideas, and a win for him would be a good result. Sian Berry has run by far the best campaign to date, and has lots of good ideas. To borrow some terminology from the great bridge player and writer of the distant past S J Simon, a win for Sian Berry would be the best possible result for this election, while a win for Sadiq Khan would be in the category of a best result possible. I have left to the last Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative Party candidate. He and has team have run a despicable, divisive, negative campaign and deserve to have a disastrous result. I have two links relating to Mr Goldsmith’s failings:

My first is to a New Statesman piece in which a long-standing Conservative Party activist gives a crushing analysis of everything that is wrong about the Goldsmith campaign. The other link is to a Huffington Post piece regarding a spectacularly inadequate performance by Mr Goldsmith when quizzed about the city of which he wants to be mayor. Goldsmith achieved a risible 5 out of 9. When I took the similar quiz that Huffington Post produced to for  people to measure their own performance I managed 8 out of 9, with the one question I got wrong being about a TV program set in London that  have never watched. Those who follow the link and take the quiz are welcome to comment on their own scores.

IMPORTANT UPCOMING EVENTS

This Friday, April 15th, is the day of NAS West Norfolk’s Positive Autism Awareness Conference, at which I shall be presenting a photographic display. Thursday April 21st as already mentioned is when the DPAC public meeting in Norwich takes place. Wednesday April 27th is James and Sons April auction, for which a full catalogue can be viewed online. On Saturday April 30th I will be attending a training session at the National Autistic Society’s London HQ. This is base closed to Angel station, and therefore within walking distance of King’s Cross, as the map with which I finish this post demonstrates.

NAS

 

A Varied Day at James and Sons

An account of today at James and Sons, featuring the construction of a press release, a bonus explanation of the origin of the phrase ‘bent as a nine-bob note’, and at the end a couple of important links.

INTRODUCTION

I have some old images to share, some new images to share, and a press release to talk about. Additionally I have a couple of important links that I will be sharing at the end of this post.

THE CREATION OF A PRESS RELEASE

There are several stages involved in creating press releases/ bulk emails. Stage 1 is working out what to cover, which in this case involved two aspects:

  1. The success of the March 30th and 31st auction, with large numbers of internet bidders, and…
  2. Advertising the April auction, complete with a link to the online catalogue listing.

Each of the foregoing for maximum effect needed to be accompanied by an appropriate image. Hence:

IMAGE SELECTION

For the March image I was looking for something that had sold for well above estimate, and would look good in an email. Thus my attention focussed on lot 720, which I recalled as being both interesting visually and spectacularly successful in the auction room. Thus I needed to view the full image gallery and select from within that…

This full image is too busy for use in an email
This image showing the coins and ingot in their natural alignment looked good
I could have used this but decided against it
The obverses on their own are not very interesting – it is the reverses that are distinctive
It was close a call for this one.
The ingot on it’s own could not be used, but there were possibilities involving it…

I decided, given the shape of image I was looking for to combine the shot of the four coins and the ingot and the close-up of the ingot into a composite image (I considered the four reverses on their own, but wanted both parts of the image to have the same colour background).

720-pr

The composite I created for the occasion.

For the image to accompany the text advertising the April auction the task was easier – I went for the front cover item for very obvious reasons.

35

Incidentally the above denomination of banknote provides the origin for the phrase “bent as a nine-bob note” – ‘bob’ was a colloquialism for a shilling, and as shown above, a ‘ten-bob’ note was kosher while a ‘nine-bob note’ would absolutely not have been.

ASSEMBLING A MAILING LIST

Coming up with the text for the press release is a straight-forward task, and assembling a mailing list is a simple matter of noting which categories of items are prominent in the upcoming auction, selecting the appropriate lists from the database and combining them into one big list. In this instance there were almost 400 names on the final list. As a security measure (and a guard against people hitting the ‘reply to all’ button) I am the designated recipient of the emails (my James and Sons email address, not my personal one) and the true recipients are bcc’d. Thus, given that our system can handle approximately 100 people being bcc’d at a time, this one involved sending the email four times.

THE FINAL PRESS RELEASE

I have a jpg of the final press release, and also a link that will enable you to view the document in its original word format.

INTERNET INTEREST SPARKS JAMES AUCTION SUCCESSpr

SOME LATE ARRIVALS

In addition to the above, some work on the database and some fetching and carrying there were also a few items that had been catalogued but had not previously been in our possession so still needed imaging…

This ‘claymore’ type sword is an absolute monster – stood vertically it reaches my shoulder!

A COUPLE OF LINKS

First up, courtesy of WEIT comes a horror story about a secular blogger being hacked to death in Bangladesh.

Finally, to end this post on an upbeat note, a story from the New Statesman by way of Prides Purge about how badly the Tory campaign for London Mayor has come off the rails (attentive followers of this blog  and my London transport themed website, www.londontu.be, will know that if I had a vote in that election I would be using it on Sian Berry’s behalf, but whoever ends up benefitting – most likely Sadiq Khan – bad news for Tories is good news for me!)

 

Putting the April Auction to Bed

A brief account of today at work and a plug for the Green Party manifesto in the upcoming London mayoral elections.

INTRODUCTION

As well as details from today at work I have something else to share which will be revealed later.

THE APRIL AUCTION

Last week James and Sons had its March auction, which attracted unprecedented interest among online bidders, with almost 300 registering to bid. The April auction catalogue is available in print and can now be viewed online by clicking here. Today featured an big effort to get the imaging done, with the result that most lots now have their accompanying image or images. Some of the highlights from today’s imaging now follow…

GREEN MANIFESTO FOR
LONDON MAYOR ELECTION LAUNCHED

The Green Party manifesto for the London Mayoral elections in 30 days time is now out, and very impressive it is too. Here are some links for you to follow up:

So, for all my London based readers, vote for Sian Berry in the mayoral elections.

Monday Mishmash

A mixed bag of a post, featuring autism, public transport, cricket and photography among others.

INTRODUCTION

I have many things to share with you today about a variety of subjects. Read on and enjoy!

AUTISM

Earlier today I spotted a link on twitter to something posted on assistiveware called “5 Guidelines to Keep in Mind for Autism Acceptance Month”. I recommend you read it in full, and here to tempt you is guideline 3 in all it’s glory (this was the one the resonated most closely with me, though all 5 are on the money and very important:

3

Nothing about us without us.

It is not uncommon to see human interest stories about autism where parents, teachers, speech therapists, and even the school janitor all share their insights on an autistic person and what autism means for him or her. It often seems that the only person who doesn’t get a word in is the subject of the article! The problem here is that nobody is a mind-reader. I’m sure everyone reading this has experienced your parents making mistakes about your thoughts or opinions. Autism doesn’t change that. 

Not every person with autism will be able to respond to interview questions. However, many who could are simply not asked. Others can speak or write, but struggle to answer questions in real time. For these people, simple accommodations like providing written interview questions ahead of time can make a huge difference!

Another common error is to assume that no autistic person will ever read an article about autism. Writers may say we are “unlike you and me,” or “just like you and me,” but only rarely are we included as part of the “us” that makes up the readership. The truth is, there is nowhere where you can safely assume that none of us are present. Autism is an extremely variable condition, where many different combinations of traits can all lead to the same diagnosis. Whatever your audience is, chances are at least a few of us are already in it.

I conclude this section with a brief mention for another twitter find, who also caught my attention by contributing something about autism, Walsingham Support, which happens to lead neatly on to my next section…

TWO NEW PIECES ON WWW.LONDONTU.BE

I had already decided that I was going to put up a post about Mile End on the website when I saw the tweet from Walsingham Support that piqued my interest in them. I noted their address, and guessed that this was a peg on which I might be able to hang a post about Totteridge & Whetstone, which hunch proved correct. Below are links, each accompanied by a picture, to the posts in question:

  1. Totteridge & Whetstone
    Totteridge & Whetstone
  2. Mile End
    Mile End Station

THE WORLD T20 FINAL

The West Indies completed a double in the World T20, the women having romped past the Aussies to take their title. The men’s match between the West Indies and England was a match of twists and turns, which looked like England had it when the West Indies need 19 from the last over. However, Carlos Brathwaite (Brath-ut if you want to pronounce that surname West Indies fashion) then hit four successive sixes off Ben Stokes to give the West Indies victory. I listened to the early stages of this match at my parent’s house after Sunday lunch, on the first day of the year that it was warm enough to sit outside, and while listening and reading a book (Dawkins’ “The Greatest Show on Earth”) I also took some…

PHOTOGRAPHS

A word of warning to those who suffer peculiar phobias, this set of photographs features ladybirds.

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The first nine pictures were taken in King’s Lynn yesterday morning.

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Sunday pudding – a variation on a classic theme – a rhubarb and custard tart – and it tasted at least as good as it looks in this picture!

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My last picture of the day, back in King’s Lynn

All the Bs (And a Follow Up on Autism Awareness Day)

A follow up to my Autism Awareness post, combined with some new photographs.

INTRODUCTION

The first part of my title refers to the fact that as well as birds I have a bee and some butterflies among my camera captures for the day, while the second refers to the fact that today is Autism Awareness Day and gives a nod in this direction.

MORE ON AUTISM AWARENESS DAY

I have some infographics spotted on the internet to share with you and a few links including an important petition. I will start with the petition, launched on change.org by my friend and fellow NAS West Norfolk committee member Callum Brazzo calling for greater representation of non-verbal autistics on TV and in Employment. Please follow this link to sign and share the petition, and let’s build it big!

My next link is to a splendid article posted on indepedent.co.uk which tallies very closely with my own views on autism.

Now to a link and an infographic. The link is to the website of the wonderful Anna Kennedy OBE (who will be at our Positive Autism Awareness Conference on April 15th) and the infographic is her Autism Awareness infographic:

AKAW

Another link and infographic pairing, this time to the National Autistic Society’s TMI campaign, raising awareness of sensory issues:

TMI

The bright light at the south-eastern corner of The Wash is me putting myself on this map.

My remaining infographics come without links, and I present them in pairs, first these two general ones:

I finish this section with two warning infographics for our American friends about an organisation who are widely condemned in the autistic community:

A straightforward but devastatingly revealing breakdown of expenditure.
The pie-chart version.

BIRDS, BEES, BUTTERFLIES

In reverse alphabetical order, I start with some butterfly pictures…

A Peacock Buterfly (this was about 200 metres from Bawsey Drain which is known as place where they live). I have already shared this on twitter and my timeline is going crazy with responses.
Bawsey Drain’s information board about wildlife – the only species on it I have never seen there is a coot.
A super close-up of the Peacock Butterfly.

Now we have the bee (yay!)…

The loose pebble behind it gives it scale!

Now for the rest of my pictures, which mainly feature the other B I mentioned, birds…

 

Autism Awareness Day

This is a post created for Autism Awareness Day. Read, enjoy and please share.

INTRODUCTION

Today is Autism Awareness day. Therefore there will be a lot about autism, some from autistic people, some from autism advocates etc. This is my first offering of the day, and I shall start with…

AUTISM AND ME – A TIMELINE

Of course, since I have written about all these things before many of my readers already know a good deal of this. Autism is lifelong, but not always diagnosed as early as it should be (indeed there are still problems in my part of the world with people waiting literally years for a diagnosis). Thus although I am a forty year old autistic person my timeline spans less than ten of those years…

  • Late 2006 – Diagnosed at Cambridge Lifespan Asperger Support Services
  • 2007 became involved with Asperger East Anglia
  • 2007 took part in a research project relating to autism for the first time (I still do so on a regular basis)
  • 2008-9 Worked with Asperger East Anglia full-timers and some local volunteers to establish a support group in King’s Lynn
  • 2011 was appointed group leader of the King’s Lynn support group and coincidental with that launched this blog.
  • 2012 Funding cuts forced the King’s Lynn support group to go it alone, which we did to the best of our abilities
  • 2013 The group had a meeting room at the local football club, though the most significant event of this year for me personally was in April when I got the first paid job I had since being diagnosed (the same job I am still in today).
  • 2014 the King’s Lynn Asperger Support Society as the group was by then known lost its meeting room and made do with meeting where we could. On October 24th of that year I launched a personal twitter account, @aspitweets, which now has just over 3,500 followers.
  • 2015 After months of falling attendances, I finally conceded defeat over KLASS, which when I finally held up my hands had survived on no funding of any kind for 34 months. Subsequently I found out about an awareness event that the West Norfolk branch of the National Autistic Society were holding within walking distance of my home and went along to learn more, joined the group and was subsequently given a place on the committee.
  • 2016 Will be helping to run NAS West Norfolk’s Positive Autism Awareness Conference on April 15th, at which I will also be putting on a photographic display. Also, having attended and enjoyed AutismCon 2016 and given them detailed feedback, my blog post on the subject will be used for publicity purposes for AutismCon 2017, at which I may well get to put on another photographic display.

AUTISM AWARENESS

While increasing autism awareness is a laudable goal, it is insufficient. In an attempt to help explaining my view of where autism awareness fits I have produced a mini flow-chart to which I will append some words of explanation:

Autism

In the UK at least, not many people are actually completely unaware of autism, although their understanding of it and what it means is often limited (sadly in some cases deliberately so). Acceptance, which is the next stage up from understanding is something that far fewer have managed. Inclusion is the final goal, and by inclusion I mean full acceptance of the autistic person complete with foibles, tics, stims et al.

SPECIAL INTERESTS

Something that autistic people are well-known for is having special interests. The word obsession with its negative connotations should be avoided in this context. My own special interests include photography, public transport (see www.londontu.be for more on this) and cricket (watching brief only – I never had any aptitude as a player).

PHOTOGRAPHS TO FINISH

Well done all of you have made to this stage, as a reward here are some pictures which between them relate to two of my listed special interests.

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All but the last two of these pictures are from a walk a took yesterday afternoon.

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I have used this once before, but wanted to include a picture showcasing one of my special interests. This one, showing both reverses and the accompanying info is an example of what the auction image should have looked like.
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Anyone who sees this last picture is a worthy recipient of the message!