Autism Related Meeting in Norwich

An account of an autism related meeting in Norwich, loads of links, some quality dragon pictures, some infographics and some other pictures.

INTRODUCTION

Although this post is based around my attending a meeting to do with Autism at the Charing Cross Centre in Norwich I have lots of other stuff to share as well, in the form of photos, infographics from various sources and a plentiful supply of links.

THE MEETING

The purpose of the meeting was to contribute towards a wide scale report on improving Mental Health services across the board. The speaker, who has been travelling around the country listening to ideas from people emphasized that one of the things his report would contain was a statement that it must be shared with contributors.

One of the (many) disastrous things that has been happening over the last few years has been a removal of investment from preventative care in favour of crisis management.

One of the commissioners for the Norfolk and Suffolk PCT actually told the manager of Asperger East Anglia that she should tell staff “to stop working with people after three months”, which demonstrates a scandalous lack of understanding of Autistic Spectrum Conditions.

As the only person in attendance to be actually autistic rather than either a professional working in the field or a parent/ carer of someone with an Autistic Spectrum Condition I made several contributions.

The final report should be complete by the start of October, and if we have not heard anything by the start of November we have been given a green light to contact Jane Sayer at the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.

HERE BE DRAGONS: A PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE

I have already dedicated a whole blog post to the dragons that can be seen in and around Norwich at the moment, but yesterday I was in parts of Norwich not covered in that post, so I have some more dragons for you…

The first four pictures are of McFly, who sits just outside the City Hall
The first four pictures are of McFly, who sits just outside the City Hall

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An educational dragon "The rise and demise of the dinosaurs"
An educational dragon “The rise and demise of the dinosaurs”

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This is Mr Wing, who resides just outside The Forum
This is Mr Wing, who resides just outside The Forum

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"Dragofly", one of two full size dragons (plus a clutch of babies) to be found inside The Forum
“Dragofly”, one of two full size dragons (plus a clutch of babies) to be found inside The Forum

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Luda, the other dragon to found inside the forum.
Luda, the other dragon to found inside the forum.

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GoGo King Tut, the Egyptian dragon
GoGo King Tut, the Egyptian dragon

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Norwich Twilight, looking out over the marketplace.
Norwich Twilight, looking out over the marketplace.
Morgan, in one of the streets that feeds into the marketplace.
Morgan, in one of the streets that feeds into the marketplace.

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"Eye Spy Cecil", near Castle Mall.
“Eye Spy Cecil”, near Castle Mall.

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Skipper, in the arcade.
Skipper, in the arcade.

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Double Decker, Castle Meadow.
Double Decker, Castle Meadow.

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I did not get this one's name, but s/he guards the castle itself
I did not get this one’s name, but s/he guards the castle itself

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LINKS

My first two links are both related and come courtesy of Dr Marquis Grant. They are both to do with a survey for autistic people:

1)A blog post advertising the survey

2)A link to the survey itself

THREE IMPORTANT PETITIONS

.Firstly, two links relating to the campaign to get Jason Rezaians released:

1)The current state of play according to petition hosts change.org

2)An article about this campaign in the Washington Post.

A petition that I have referred to several times previously in this blog is Fiona Paddon’s petition calling on the NHS to provide free tests from Group B Strep, which now has over 180,000 signatures. The next step is to pile on the pressure bby writing to MPs, to which end I have two links for you…

1)The site for locating MPs to write to.

2)A short cut for those of you who are like me) in Mr Bellingham’s constituency.

Finally in this subsection, a petition calling for the mayor of London to get dangerous lorries off the roads (so far this year lorries are responsible for the deaths of eight cyclists in the capital).

BLOGS AND BLOG POSTS

In this subsection are links to the some of the best blogs and blogposts I have found recently…

First up, Caroline Lucas standing up for the welfare state.

Next, the website and blog of one of my recent twitter followers, Mr Nobody:

1)Website

2)Blog

A recent wordpress acquaintance is fargaregardsanna whose offerings include this on the work of Max Tegmark.

Having just mentioned the extraordinary Max Tegmark, this seemed a natural place to mention a book devoted to the strangest aspects of science, which it so happens that I read on the bus to Norwich yesterday.
Having just mentioned the extraordinary Max Tegmark, this seemed a natural place to mention a book devoted to the strangest aspects of science, which it so happens that I read on the bus to Norwich yesterday.

Faraday’s Candle are regular producers of marvellous science and nature related stuff, and this piece on The Arches National Park is comfortably up to their usual high standard.

INFOGRAPHICS

Four infographics to share today. First, by way of Abby Tomlinson on twitter this on abstaining in the face of oppression:

AT on Labour

Next up, this on Austerity:

Austerity

This on energy is probably the most important of the four:

Energy

Finally, this on the Great Gathering for Voting Reform:

GGVR

AFTERWORD AND SOME FINAL PHOTOS

I hope that you enjoy this blog post as much as I have enjoyed creating it, and that some at least of you will be inspired to share it. I finish with some non-dragon related photos from Norwich…

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England Humiliated

An account of England’s spinelessness at Lord’s, some pictures and links.

INTRODUCTION

As well as my title piece I have some photographs and links to share. I hope that you will enjoy this post and be inspired to share it.

A HORROR MATCH

Australia went in to the fourth day of the second ashes test match at Lord’s 362 runs to the good with all their second innings wickets still standing. The plan was obvious – lash up as many more runs as possible during the morning session and leave themselves five sessions to bowl England out. Part 1 of the plan was carried out in exemplary fashion, the eventual second innings tally of 254-2 declared leaving England a purely nominal target of 509.

England’s subsequent ‘effort’ to make a fight of it was so ludicrously inadequate that they failed even to take the match into the final day. A humiliating 103 all out left England beaten by 405 runs (their second largest ashes defeat by a runs margin). The actual extent of England’s failure in this match was even greater than the bald margin of defeat shows – Australia scored 820-10 in their two innings (82.00 per wicket), while England managed 415-20 (20.75 per wicket).

England did win the first match of the series and it is possible to turn things round straight after a huge win – England were monstered in the 4th match of the 2009 series at Headingley and bounced back to win at The Oval in the 5th, while in the 2010-11 series England were thumped at Perth and responded with innings victories in the last two matches of that series at Melbourne and Sydney. Not forgetting of course the 2005 side’s response to a humiliating defeat at Lord’s – 400 on the first day of the second match at Edgbaston and on from there to win the series.

A PICTORIAL INTERLUDE

The pictures in this section come from three different locations, because as well as Sunday lunch in East Rudham, there was an afternoon garden party elsewhere in the village that I also visited…

I have seen swans on the Nar and the Wensum before, but seeing them on the Great Ouse was a first!
I have seen swans on the Nar and the Wensum before, but seeing them on the Great Ouse was a first!

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Yes - a bee caught on camera!
Yes – a bee caught on camera!
Back where we started - with the swans on the Great Ouse.
Back where we started – with the swans on the Great Ouse.

LINKS

My first link is to piece from Tax Research UK about the Labour Party leadership contest, and the bankruptcy of the position taken by The Observer in particular.

My next two links are to two related petitions both organised via change.org:

1)The successful petition to prevent Julien Blanc from coming to this country which is now being used as a jumping off point for…

2)This petition to prevent the misogynist Roosh V from being invited to Canada – please sign and share if you have not already done so!

My final link is to tradeuniongroup.com who have produced an excoriating analysis of Scam-eron’s Trade Union Bill

SOCIAL MEDIA

I hope that some of you will share this post. I was sufficiently inspired by one of the swan pictures that I have edited it to serve as a thank you message – my fourth such picture since I first decided to do something a bit special in that department for use on twitter:

This was my first pictorial thank you message.
This was my first pictorial thank you message.
This was no 2
This was no 2
No 3 was this
No 3 was this
This is number four, making its first public appearance.
This is number four, making its first public appearance.

The main text is Copperplate Gothic Bold, 58pt in the fourth thank you messgae, while the smiley face is a capital J in wingdings, 48pt.

Cricket, Aeroplanes and Music

A brief account of the state of play in the current test match, an account of the fly by and two concerts tthat were part of the 65th King’s Lynn Festival, some cool links and some impressive and imortant infographics.

INTRODUCTION

As well as my subject matter as indicated above including photographs, I also have some links and infographics to share with you.

ENGLAND STRUGGLING AT LORDS

Yesterday was the third days play in the second test match between England and Australia at Lords. It was England’s least bad day of the match so far, but they were so far adrift going into it that they needed rather more than a decent day. Australia at 108-0 in their second innings lead by 362 and the obvious plan for them is to lash up as many runs as they can in the morning session and then leave England a mountain of Olympus Mons proportions to climb in the final five sessions of the game.

A FLY BY AT VERY CLOSE RANGE

My outside space was an ideal position from which to view the advertised fly by happening as part of the King’s Lynn festival. It was on the aeroplane’s third pass that I was finally able to get some pictures (six in total)…

All the publicity about this event referred to a spitfire, but apparently, according to some who have already seen my pictures on twitter it is actually a Dakota.
All the publicity about this event referred to a spitfire, but apparently, according to some who have already seen my pictures on twitter it is actually a Dakota.

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TWO CLASSICAL CONCERTS

Once the day’s action had finished in the cricket it was off to King’s Lynn Minster for the first of two concerts taking place yesterday evening. There was a blanket ban on photography at the event, so I have few pictures…

Some detail about the first concert.
Some detail about the first concert.
The one internal pic I got before being told about the no photography rule.
The one internal pic I got before being told about the no photography rule.

This concert was splendid. The Vivaldi and Manfredini pieces were particularly impressive, while the Vejvanovsky was a splendid introduction to a composer that few of us had previously heard of. The lead violinist, Bojan Cicic by name, proved to be a quite superb performer.

At the end of this concert we just had time to visit my aunt’s house before the start of the second concert, a violin and harpsichord duet playing works by Telemann (the most prolific of all composers), Buxtehude and J S Bach (who as young man walked 200 miles each way for the privelege of witnessing Buxtehude in action – no recordings in them thar days!).

This mini concert was every bit as good as the first one had been – no evening of two halves this time. I got some photographs of the Minster’s light show (one of several dotted around the town)…

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LINKS

My first two links both come courtesy of Vox Political:

1)The Lords earning their £400 per day.

2)Continuing to heap pressure on the government re death toll after fit for work tests.

My next three links concern a 38 Degrees petition on the subject of fracking:

1)The petition itself

2)The link to share on facebook

3)The link to share on twitter

My next link is by way of a shout out to my most recent follower on aspiblog, and takes to you to their site, luckyottershaven.

My last two links relate to electoral reform and segue nicely into the the infographics:

1)The original petition

2)The Thunderclap, to which you can still add your voice for about another eight hours.

INFOGRAPHICS

Voting Reform

My next infographic is a reminder of what things were like before trade unions existed:

BTU

The third and final infographic I am sharing in this post is about housing today and comes by way of London mayoral candidate Tessa Jowell…

HH

EPILOGUE

I hope that you have enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed creating it and that some of you will be inspired to share it!

Imaging and Press Releases

An account of the last couple of days work at James and Sons, with the latest on Fiona Paddon’s petition about Group B Strep, a link to a Mike Sivier piece and a final coin pic.

INTRODUCTION

I have had a couple of richly varied days at work, and the body of this post will be covering some of that variation. I also have some links to share.

TWO RICHLY VARIED DAYS

THE JULY AUCTION

James and Sons’ auction for July is now ready to go, and a full catalogue can be viewed online. Here are some of the more recent images…

These four pics are of lot 66
These four pics are of lot 66

66a 66b 66c

Two images for lot 434
Two images for lot 434

434a

Two images for lot 436
Two images for lot 436

436a 436b

PRESS RELEASES AND BULK EMAILS

I have put out an email to everyone who bought online at The Great Centenary Charity Auction and have created draft press releases for collector’s fairs at Stowmarket, Diss and Newmarket. As these have not been approved yet I will share only a couple of composite images I created in connection with this…

This one, which went out with the bulk email is a combined pic of lots 2 and 76
This one, which went out with the bulk email is a combined pic of lots 2 and 76
This one combines 5 different items, all new in stock - note that the arrow/ axeheads are obsidian which is a much less common material for such than flint.
This one combines 5 different items, all new in stock – note that the arrow/ axeheads are obsidian which is a much less common material for such than flint.

AUGUST IMAGING

I have already imaged some lots for our August auction (takes place on the 26th of that month). Although there is little so far that is truly eye-catching, I have som pictures that are worth sharing…

This is lot 319 in the August sale.
This is lot 319 in the August sale.
These four ornamental plates constitute lot 328
These four ornamental plates constitute lot 328
Lot 310
Lot 310

LINKS

My first two links are related, both being connected with Fiona Paddon’s change.org petition “Provide tests for Group B Strep to prevent any more avoidable deaths of newborn babies”:

1) The current state of the petition

2) An article about the petition, courtesy of Huffington Post

My other link is to a piece by Mike Sivier on Vox Political about Labour’s stance on welfare.

AFTERWORD AND FINAL IMAGE

I hope that you have all enjoyed this post and that some at least of you will be encouraged to share it. Also do check out my twitter feed and of course enjoy my closing image…

I spotted that this £2 coin was a special one and took a picture of it before using it for it's appointed purpose. The only problem given that it commemorates 150 years of London Underground (2013 was the anniversary year) is that the train is obviously of deep-level tube stock - a train of "surface" stock would have been more appropriate.
I spotted that this £2 coin was a special one and took a picture of it before using it for it’s appointed purpose. The only problem given that it commemorates 150 years of London Underground (2013 was the anniversary year) is that the train is obviously of deep-level tube stock – a train of “surface” stock would have been more appropriate.

A Trumpet Blast for the King’s Lynn Festival

An account of a concert at King’s Lynn Corn Exchange featuring Crispian Steele-Perkins, some links and some infographics.

INTRODUCTION

Having put up three new posts about my experiences at Marxism 2015 today I decided a variation was called for, and fortunately, especially given the links and infographics I also intend to share I have the perfect change of tempo ready…

AN EVENING OF TWO HALVES

King’s Lynn’s historic corn exchange (see pics below) was last night the scene for a classical concert featuring that master of trumpet playing, Crispian Steele-Perkins.

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The first half of the evening, with Steele-Perkins the centre of attention was magnificent. I have only a few pics because there is a no photographs during the performance rule which I obeyed to the letter…

The auditorium
The auditorium
A close up of the stage.
A close up of the stage.

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The tools of Steele-Perkins' trade - a coach horn (the same length of brass as an army bugle but dead straight rather than curved), a late 18th century trumpet, and smallest a 19th century trumpet.
The tools of Steele-Perkins’ trade – a coach horn (the same length of brass as an army bugle but dead straight rather than curved), a late 18th century trumpet, and smallest a 19th century trumpet.

Although I enjoyed the story behind the coach horn, and hearing said instrument played in the Mozart piece, the highlight of the entire event for me was the Haydn Trumpet Concerto, one of the greatest pieces ever composed for the instrument, and played quite magnificently.

In the second half there was no Steele-Perkins, and the quality was much less – there was one piece where one could not tell if it had been played well or badly so undistinguished was it.

LINKS

There are so many links to be shared that I have split them into subsections, starting with…

PETITIONS

The first petition I am sharing is the one calling for statistics on benefit-related deaths to be revealed. I have two links connected with this:

1)The Petition

2)A Huffington Post article connected to the above.

My second petition is the one on change.org calling for automatic Group B Strep tests to reduce deaths of newborn babies.

My next offering is this from those who want to keep the National Gallery from being privatised.

Last and in the chief place in this subsection is the petition calling for clemency for William Underwood.

A SOUPCON OF SCIENCE

I shall lead into this little section with a piece showing just how low SeaWorld are prepared to stoop in their battle against those who dare oppose cruelty to Orcas.

Phuketbirdwatching introduced me a species of bird I had ot previously seen in this, their latest offering.

My next link is to a piece about the discovery of a new particle, the pentaquark.

Faraday’s Candle can be relied on for good stuff, and their take on Nasa’s recent Pluto fly-by is no exception.

POLITICAL PIECES

First of all, a piece celebrating an event of 100 years ago.

My next piece, on dealing with London’s polluted air, is a must-read.

Huffington Post are back, with this piece which viciously exposes the misogynism and ignorance of UKIP’s Paul Nuttall.

My next two links are both to pieces from Socialist Worker:

1)On the home front, this piece about tube workers.

2)This about Iran.

Finally, chosen because it leads into the next section, this link to what will be my first infographic.

INFOGRAPHICS

EU Principles Mhairi Black quote

It is not often that the S*n apologises, so we should make the most of it when ti does!
It is not often that the S*n apologises, so we should make the most of it when ti does!

AFTERWORD

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

Last Minute Post: One more day to #saveFoP

Drumming up last minute support for petition: https://www.change.org/p/european-parliament-save-the-freedom-of-photography-savefop-europarl-en?recruiter=181177831&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink

A very brief post indeed this – we have one more day to save Photography as we know it. Here is the link, given in full because I have dedicated this whole post to it:

https://www.change.org/p/european-parliament-save-the-freedom-of-photography-savefop-europarl-en?recruiter=181177831&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink

Please share as widely as possible!!

In anticiaption of your support…

TY3

Petitions

Accounts of three petitions at different stages:
1)Provide tests for Group B Strep to prevent any more avoidable deaths of newborn babies, recently launhed via change.org
2)Mind’s petition calling for mental health services to receive a fair share of funding.
3)The successful change.org petition re Protein World’s vile “is your body beach ready?” ads

INTRODUCTION

This is going to be a very brief post, but there is some important information to share, about three petitions that are at different stages of their lives. Highly unusually for this blog there are no pictures.

PETITIONS

1: JUST TAKING OFF

The first of three petitions covered in this post comes from change.org and the title really does say all that needs to be said:

Provide tests for Group B Strep to prevent any more avoidable deaths of newborn babies

2: HAS BEEN DELIVERED TO THE TARGET

This petition, launched by Mind, calling on the government to ensure that mental health services get their fair share of funding, has been delivered to Downing Street bearing over 100,000 signatures. The full story can be read on the Mind website.

3: VICTORIOUS

When Protein World launched a series of ads targeting women with the question “is your body beach ready?”, the counter attack, in the form of a petition, was laucnhed via change.org, and 71,111 signatures later, change has been achieved. Huffington Post, so often a source of good stories, have the full story on this one.

AFTERWORD

I hope you have all enjoyed this post, and will be encouraged to share it. Another post in my special series, “London Station by Station” will be going up in the not too distant future and later this week I hope to put up some posts about Marxism 2015 which I shall be attending.

Twitter Following Approaches 2,500

INTRODUCTION

As well as my title piece, I have some pictures and some links to share, and a small section about the Great Centenary Charity Auction, and some photos. I hope that you enjoy this post enough to share it.

TWITTER FOLLOWING APPROACHES 2,500

My personal twitter following currently stands at 2,496. When I set up my personal twitter account back in late October, after some six months administrating the account of the Great Centenary Charity Auction (@great_auction) I had little idea that it would prove quite so successful.

THE GREAT CENTENARY CHARITY AUCTION

The first Great Centenary Charity Auction, held on June 28th, raised in excess of £20,000. A second is planned for March 2016. It is for this reason that a series of posts are being put out on the official website, www.greatcharity.org advertising successes from the first auction to build for the second. The full series of such posts runs as follows:

1)Lot 101

2)Commando Knife Cuts The Mustard At Auction

3)RFC Uniform Flies High At Auction

4)Another Success Clocked Up At The Great Centenary Charity Auction

5)British War Medal Brings In Big Money At Auction

I have already mentioned the twitter account, and there is also a facebook page, www.facebook.com/GreatAuction which I urge people to like.

A PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE

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TWO FINAL LINKS

Although these form the end of this post, they are very important:

1)A Belfast Telegraph about the shooting a bird of an extremely endangered species that had been adopted by a school.

2)An account of how a secular student society in Manchester had its entire website deleted shortly after receiving an ominous communication from Saudi Arabia.

Special Post: Balham

A personal account of Balham Station, with some photographs and a link to an important petition about photography.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest post in my series “London Station by Station“. I hope that you will enjoy this post and be encouraged to hare it.

BAL-HAM: GATEWAY TO THE SOUTH

This is one of the stations designed by Charles Holden and opened in 1926 when the Northern line was extended south to Morden (the southernmost point on the system, a mere 10 miles south of the centre of London – by comparison, Amersham, the most far flung station on the current network is 27 miles out, and Brill, the furthest ever outpost of any line is 51 miles out).

I can provide pictures of both surface buildings and some blurb about the station itself in the form of two photos of stuff in the book Bright Underground Spaces…

The pictures of the surface buildings.
The pictures of the surface buildings.

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I do not usually share extraneous links in this series of posts, but connected with the photographs above is a petition that I signed and shared earlier, and which now has over 200,000 signatures – lets keep building it!

Although there are only five stations south of Balham on the Northern line, it is also a main-line railway station, and connects southwards to a number of destinations via three distinct routes, through Streatham Common, Streatham Hill and Hackbridge.

I made extensive use of Balham at one time, when I lived at Parklands Road and worked in New Malden, and it was easier to take a longer walk than strictly necessary and get a train to Clapham Junction, where I could change to another train for New Malden than to do anything else.

Also, given the the majority of it was through commons, the walk though long was quite a pleasant one.

To finish, as usual I have some map pics…

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The full map, spread out.
The full map, spread out.

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Study Title: Attention and Perception in Autism Spectrum Conditions

A personal account of taking part in a study at the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge,, accompanied by photographs, with some interesting and important links and some more photographs.

INTRODUCTION

The main body of this post is a personal account of my involvement in the study whose title I have used for the whole post, run as so often at the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge. I also have a variety of links and a few photos that are not directly connected with the title piece but which I wish to share. I hope you will all enjoy this post and that you will take the opportunity of sharing it.

ATTENTION AND PERCEPTION IN AUTISM SPECTRUM CONDITIONS

THE PRELIMINARIES

i found out about this study just five days ago, and made contact with the person conducting it. A brief exchange of emails concluded with an arrangement for me to attend at 11AM today. As part of the preparation I had to answer various questions and solve  various puzzles online.

GETTING THERE

An scheduled start of 11AM meant getting the 8:57 from King’s Lynn, and to make sure that I got my travel expenses reimbursed I carefully got a receipt. It was shortly after getting on to the platform that I brought the camera into action for the first time of the day…

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Pictures taken through the windows of moving trains are tough to get right, but these two worked out okay…

"A goods train: the shame of it" Gordon the Big Engine in the Rev W Awdry series
“A goods train: the shame of it” Gordon the Big Engine in the Rev W Awdry series
I could get a clear shot of the whole of Ely Cathedral, but this shows the main tower and the octagonal construction designed by a 14th century Prior known only and uninformatively as Alan of Norwich.
I could not get a clear shot of the whole of Ely Cathedral, but this shows the main tower and the octagonal construction designed by a 14th century Prior known only and uninformatively as Alan of Norwich.

Arriving in Cambridge I decided to take a longer route than usual to the Autism Research Centre, heading towards town as far as this church…

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Turning on to the link road that connects to the town end of Trumpington Road I passed the Scott Polar Research Institute, named in honour of Robert Falcon Scott, one of the most famous runners up in history. Scott also gave his name to an itinerant cricket team some of whose deeds are chronicled in Penguins Stopped Play by Harry Thompson and Rain Men by Marcus Berkmann. Although I could not get a shot of the whole building without crossing to the wrong side of a busy road I did get these shots…

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Next up was the Cambridge University Chemical Laboratory…

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At the very point of turning onto Trumpington Road I passed Hobson’s Conduit…

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This is the first major building on Trumpington Road itself, on the opposite side of ti to me…

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A shot of the water alongside Trumpington Road…

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I next passed the public entrance to Cambridge Botanic Gardens (the admission price convinced me to go no further than the gates)…

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A little bit further along I passed a locked gate into the same establishment, with some red flowers growing next to it…

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The last shot I got before arriving at the Autism Research Centre was of this dragon fly (or similar), which although quite large was moving exceedingly fast, hence why I got only the one usable shot…

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AT THE AUTISM RESEARCH CENTRE

I arrived at the centre at about 10:40, and did not have to wait too long for Owen Parsons, who was conducting the study, to put in an appearance. After the usual preliminaries of form signing and checking the experiment itself ran in three parts…

MIND YOUR TS AND LS

For this test one had eight seconds in total to view an intermittent display of red and blue letters, most of which were Ls but one of which was a T. The task was to identify which colour the T was and click the appropriate button to record that identification. A wrong identification, or wrong button pressed, or being timed out generated a horrible beep.

IDENTIFYING DUPLICATION

For this part of the process one was required to press the space bar each time the same image was shown twice consecutvely. The images were all of full scenes, but shown at thumbnail size. Again, a misidentification or a failure to identify within the time limit generated a beep. There was then a second part to this section, involving familiarity. One was shown sequences of three images and asked to identify the set that looked more familiar. The pictures were similar in nature and size to those previously shown, but some were definitely new.

WHICH BOX WAS THAT X IN?

For this third and final part of the experiment, there were four boxes in which an X could appear. When it appeared one had to identify the box as follows: X for leftmost, Z for left-centre, N for right-centre, M for rightmost. Thus, the duration of this section of the experiment was spent with the index and middle fingers of each hand poised over the keys in question. There was then a second subsection, involving pattern identification and made more complicated by two factors:

1)Obviously enough, not knowing about this in advance I was not especially looking for a pattern in the first stage of the process.

2)The pattern was not adhered to at all times (about 15% of the time, the X appeared in a box it was not ‘supposed’ to).

All in all, I quite enjoyed performing these tests, and would say that it is a worthwhile study. If you are aged 18-45, have been diagnosed with an Autistic Spectrum Condition and can get to Cambridge, contact Owen Parsons: oep20@cam.ac.uk about taking part in the study.

GETTING BACK

There was a small delay getting back to the main building from the place where the study had been set up as Owen initially came out without his swipe card, during which I snared this shot…

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On my way back to the street I took a shot of the front of the main building…

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I opted for the short route back to the station,along Brooklands Avenue and past the new bus interchange to approach the train station from that angle. I got these shots in the course of that walk…

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I got a couple of shots en route to the platform as well…

A worthy effort to represent all of Britain's railways on one map.
A worthy effort to represent all of Britain’s railways on one map.
A somewhat loose definition of London & the Southeast!
A somewhat loose definition of London & the Southeast!

On my way off the train at King’s Lynn I took the opportunity to capture this plaque on camera…

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LINKS

As regular readers of this blog or those who follow me on twitter will be well aware I regularly sign and share petitions, and my first link is to a piece from Huffington Post detailing the success of one such, concerning the Henry family.

My next link is to Mike Sivier of Vox Political on the subject of a possible Greek default.

Next up is this about the effect of London on social housing.

Then we have this on the origins of turtles.

WELCOME TO A NEW FOLLOWER

The next two links both relate to autism, and indeed to the website of a recent follower of mine:

1)The main website, ambitiousautismambassador

2)A particular impressive post taking on stereotyping.

AN IMPORTANT PETITION

My final link is to a petition on change.org protesting against a planned European law that will mean the end of photography as we know it – PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE!!

A FEW FINAL PICTURES

While my right to do so remains I am sharing these photos…

Stand E, on the occasion I first used it, Tuesday AM
Stand E, on the occasion I first used it, Tuesday AM
The new electronic displays now at every stand.
The new electronic displays now at every stand.
Vancouver and the Custom House
Vancouver and the Custom House
I realised before using it as part of my bus fare that this 50p was of a style I had not previously seen.
I realised before using it as part of my bus fare that this 50p was of a style I had not previously seen.
A close up of the detailed board at Stand E
A close up of the detailed board at Stand E