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…
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!
LINKS
Just three links with this post, these two related stories from Patheos:
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.
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…
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:
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
I hope you have enjoyed this post and will be encouraged to share it.
As well as my title piece I have some links, and few photographs to share. I am producing a post specifically about travel because I have always enjoyed travelling and also because in honour of a forthcoming visit to the UK one of my favourite bloggers, Autism Mom
THOMAS ON TRAVEL
PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND SUTCLIFFE’S FIRST LAW
Not only do I not drive, I knew long before I was of an age to drive that I would never do so, so all travelling that i do under my own steam is done on public transport. Since I am now 40, my experience of public transport is long, and because I am British it is also not entirely happy!
The second part of my title refers to a law I have coined for travelling by public transport which reads as follows:
Sutcliffe’s First Law of Travelling by Public Transport – If you allow time for things to go wrong they won’t but if you don’t they will.
The practical application of this somewhat cynical ‘law’ is that when planning a journey where you need to be at your destination by a certain time you should work out the particular bus or train you need to catch and then aim for the one before to allow for mishaps.
These pictures of an RAF rescue helicopter were taken through the window of an X8 bus on the way home from work…
IN TRANSIT
When in transit I either seek to enjoy the scenery (if I am not familiar with the route) or to read a book (if I am)
Another reason that travel is much on my mind at the moment is that my local bus station, which I use frequently is in the process of being refurbished. Here are a couple of pictures…
I have a good haul of photographs from today, and some interesting links to share with you, as well as the main story…
ELECTRODES AND FLICKERING IMAGES
Being signed up to the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge’s email alerts I get a lot of details of studies into Autistic Spectrum Conditions for which they need volunteers and being passionate about reducing the ignorance about Autistic Spectrum Conditions that continues to bedevil our world I nearly always agree to take part.
This particular project was to do with responses to visual stimulation and required me to visit Cambridge. My appointment had been arranged for 11AM today, carefully avoiding any clash with work commitments…
GETTING THERE
The train journey from King’s Lynn to Cambridge takes almost exactly an hour, which given that they leave King’s Lynn just before the hour strikes meant that I had to be on the 8:57AM. Arriving at the station in King’s Lynn in very good time, and purchasing my ticket without undue difficulty I was able to take some photos at the recently restored station…
This blackbird clearly isn’t conversant with passenger safety advice!
The train approaching.This map is inside the train doors – I took the pic en route to finding a seat.
The train journey was uneventful and (mirabile dictu) ran exactly according to schedule. Although it is far from straightforward to get good photos through a train window one or two of my attempts are worth sharing…
Ely CathedralBoats at ElyAt Cambridge, witnessing a service run by Abellio arriving (almost certainly late given their reputation)The operating company that runs service between London and King’s Lynn – no connection to the Great Northern Railway of old which ran services out of London Euston.
From the station, it was a walk through past the bus stops and on to Brooklands Avenue, which goes straight through to Trumpington Road, picking up some more photos en route…
Cambridge and its environs are served by an excellent local bus system.
AT THE AUTISM RESEARCH CENTRE
Having dallied sufficiently that I would not be crazily early I rang on the doorbell of Douglas House 15 minutes in advance of my appointment time, signed in as requested and waited. It turned out the researcher who should have been conducting the experiments was not around that day, so someone else took charge of me. The preliminaries (paperwork) attended to, it was time to set me up for the tests. This involved me donning an electrode cap (effectively a swimming hat with points for attaching electrodes), each electrode point being filled with a conducting gel before the electrodes could be attached, and then the electrodes being attached. A second set of electrodes were attached around the eyes . The purpose of this get up was to monitor electrical activity in my brain while I responded to various visual stimuli.
Everything, be it lines or proper pictures, was flickering so that I only got fleeting glimpses. There was one set of exercises that involved proper pictures, one that involved viewing arrows and then clicking a button as soon as white box appeared on the screen, and several involving flickering lines.
At the end I was quite relieved when the wires were all detached and I was able to wash the gel (which is water soluble) out of my hair and take my leave.
Although the gel feels cold when it first makes contact with you, and when all the electrodes are fitted to it the cap weighs quite a bit I feel that this set of experiments are no great imposition. If you are 18 or over, have an Autistic Spectrum Condition, feel that you could undergo this and are able to get to Cambridge you could send an email to: Sarah Kaarina Crockford” <skc48@medschl.cam.ac.uk>
GETTING BACK
A combination of the fact that I finished at the Autism Research Centre at 12:15 and that I wasted no time getting back to the station meant that I was able to catch the 12:35 train back to King’s Lynn, and was sat down to a late lunch at 2PM. A last couple of photos…
As well as my title piece I have a variety of links, some infographics and some photos of my own to share…
SUMMER ARRIVES
We are enjoying the best weather of the year so far – yesterday was an authentic shorts and t-shirt day and today looks like following suit. On Saturday, which was prevented from rivalling yesterday only by persistent strong winds, Leicestershire played a one-day match (50 overs per side) against New Zealand. When New Zealand were 153-5 it looked like being a decent contest, but then Grant Elliott and Luke Ronchi smashed extremely rapid centuries to boost to the total to a daunting 374-5. Leicestershire were never in the hunt, and in the end only just got the margin of defeat down below 200 runs.
Yesterday, Leicestershire were straight back in action, against Surrey in the county championship, and although the turn around was not so dramatic, they again let a good start get away from them, as Tom Curran swiped 60 from number 9 in the order for Surrey. Leciestershire regained some of the ground they had surrendered when, Surrey having finally been dismissed, their openers then saw things through to the close without mishap.
INFOGRAPHICS
The first infographic (of a total of four) that I choose to share is this one on domestic violence:
Infographics two and three both concern the case of Stephanie Bottrill, just one of the idiotic delusional sociopath’s (IDS for short) many victims…
To end this little section a bit of humour concerning the Republicans…
LINKS
My first link is to a story from the Newark Advertiser featuring yet another example of DWP cruelty.
My next link comes with a couple of pictures, and is brought to you courtesy of Cosmos Up and features the Hubble telescope.
My next link is to a blog I have only just come across which looks both interesting and important, by someone called Eve Thomas – the post that caught my attention being this one.
That is all my general links, but I also have a couple that I have given their own subsection, which relate to…
AUTISM
The first of the two links in this section is a blog that I had not previously come across, mylifemyautism, run by Dr Marquis Grant who I came across on twitter.
From a new find to an old favourite, my final link is to this post from Autism Mom.
PHOTOGRAPHS AND CLOSING STATEMENT
Just before ending this post with some pictures, I thank everyone who has read this post, hope you have all enjoyed it and that you will be encouraged to share it. The first two pictures relate to a Cosmos Up story concerning the possibility of microbial life on Mars, while the rest are mine, all taken yesterday…
As well as my title piece, I have a few links to share. I also have some good pictures, so it will not all be text.
UPDATE ON THE GREAT CENTENARY CHARITY AUCTION
The Great Centenary Charity Auction takes place on June 28th, and after two hard days at the silo in Syderstone where stcok for this auction is currently being stored and an intense day of editing at my desk on Fakenham (today), virtually all the images are ready. Given the situation we were in not very long ago (the Irishman in the joke about directions would definitely have been saying that he wouldn’t start from there – and he would have been 100% justified!) this is little short of miraculous.
The VC in the pictures below has a particularly interesting history – it was stripped from the person to whom it had been awarded when he was convicted of several serious criminal offences…
As a very keen bridge player, this twin pack of cards naturally appealed…
My last set of pictures is of lot 537…
LINKS
Just a few links for you this time. Firstly, from the Visit Norfolk website, a very interesting piece about our region’s 1,000,000 year history of human habitation.
Cosmos Up, regulars in this links section have two interesting offerings today:
My first piece in this section comes courtesy of Patheos, and just before highlighting the link I wish (as someone who is a very strong supporter of theirs) to criticise them for publishing under their banner a piece by Russell Shaw in which he has the nerve to claim the American Christians are being persecuted. The piece to which I include a link concerns the use in science classrooms in Louisiana of a book that has no place there.
My next three pieces are linked, both being concerned with countering environmental damage:
A devastating comparison of the difference between actual inflation and rail fare inflation since 1994.This is our feature image.
DISABILITY, MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES AND AUTISM
This is my final set of links, starting with this piece from Jayne Linney. Huffington Post, a regular source of good stuff, provide this piece from Laura Roche. Although I am not an ebay user, and therefore not able to take direct action, I was of course thoroughly disgusted to come across this from Vox Political about disability hate products being sold via that site, and I urge those of you who do use ebay to complain loud and clear as VP suggest. This blogpost from Natalie Leal provides some shocking detail about deaths related to DWP sanctions. Finally, to end this section, a post from Autism Mom, which features Alan Turing.
CLOSING STATEMENT
I hope that you have all enjoyed this post, and that you have followed up some or all of the links I have shared. I encourage people to share any or all of this post.
As well as my title piece I have some links and pictures (the latter connected with the title piece). Enjoy…
WORKING FOR THE GREAT CENTENARY CHARITY AUCTION
Todat I have been working on some stuff for the Great Centenary Charity Auctioin, the first running of which takes place on June 28th (another auction is planned for March). Most of today’s work was imaging small items, but there was also a poster to create, based on the fact that the Eastern Daily Press gave us almost a whole page in their Monday issue. There was an advert that we did not wish to display in our poster, so I occuipied that space with a picture of Lot 1 and some accompanying text…
Given the size of the newspaper in question this required two scans and then some clever editing to combine them. By the way the chap in red jacket next to the auctioneer is yours truly.The first individual scan.The 2nd scan.
There were some very interesting items to image, including a decorative piece featuring a picture of the Obelisk of Hammurabi (King of Babylon circa 1,700 BCE, creator of a famous code of laws)…
Lot 556 (the ‘Hammurabi’ piece) in fullFocus on the dish itself.An ultra-close up of the inscription.
My remaining links are both connected the same story, somneone who got a work experience placement at Job Centre and has produced a damning expose of the behaviour anbd attitudes of staff there:
This is a blog post of my most frequent type – a title piece, some infographics from various sources, some links and some photographs. Enjoy…
A WET SUNDAY
Although the weather was far from appealing yesterday I did manage to get a decent length walk in en route to my aunt’s house for a birthday meal, and as you will see late there were some good pics to be taken.
The meal was superb, and there was some decent television afterwards.
I got home just in time to catch the final stages of the day’s play in the test match. England are going to need to bat very well to win (and with two days to go a draw is almost out of the question.
INFOGRAPHICS
My first infographic is an important ‘mythbuster’…
The next infographic concerns the requirements that the Tories plan to impose on strike ballots. Bbefore showing it I will say this: I do not think that those who choose not to express an opinion deserve to be taken into account, which is why when talking about the vote gained by the Conservatives at the last election I always refer to the 36.9% of the votes cast that they receive and not the 24% of the electorate that voted for them. Now for the infographic…
My last two infographics are both aimed directly at Mr Cameron…
LINKS
COSMOSOLOGY
Cosmos Up are a very reliable source of interesting material, and today the provide the first two links that I choose to share:
It is no secret that I sign and share a very large number of petitions. This, courtesy of change.org, is a story of a petition that has achieved the desired result, and I am delighted to share the celebration of this success.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I hope that you have all enjoyed this piece, and that you will share it. Here to round it off are some photographs…
This bird is so small that was very difficult to capture it at all.
Not a bad pic of something that is a quarter of a million miles away!
This is a different post from my usual style – there will be no pictures, and just the one link which I feel must be shared and which will feature at the end of the post.
FORTY
It is inevitable when writing about the number 40 that there will be considerable overlap with the detail contained in Derrick Niedermann’s wonderful book Number Freak but I hope that some of the stuff I come with is new. One of the things Niedermann talks about is the use of forty in ancient times to denote ‘a large number’ in which he context he mentions various biblical references and the tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves – which reference particularly appeals as I am the proud owner of both a four volume boxed set of the complete 1,001 nights and a Folio Society edition of the highlights.
SOME OF THE PROPERTIES OF THE NUMBER 40
It can be expressed as the sum of a square and a triangle in two different ways: Two squared added to the eighth triangle number or five squared added to the fifth triangle number (note 8+2 = 10 and 5+5 = 10).
It is both double and quadruple a tetrahedral number (10= 1+3+6 = the sum of the first three triangle numbers and 20 + 1+3+6+10 = the sum of the first four triangle numbers).
It is the sum of the fourth triangle and the fourth pyramid number (10 = 1+2=3+4 and 30 = 1+4+9+16) and it is also thus the sum of third tetrahedral number and the fourth pyramid number.
Another connection of two fours and forty is that four squared plus 4 factorial = 16 + 24 = 40.
WHY THE NUMBER 40?
I have written about the number 40 because today is my 40th birthday and I thought this would be a fun way to commemorate the landmark for followers of my blog.
THAT ONE LINK
I am sharing one link with this post, from Autsim Mom, who will be visiting this country shortly. This post was first published before I had started following that blog and I am delighted to share it now.
aspiblog 