Not too long ago, I received an email from a friend who passed along a forwarded message from a new WordPress user about how to go about starting up a blog and promoting it. Interestingly enough, this friend mentioned my name to this person (which is totally fine with me; I was surprised–in a good way–and honored).
Well, eager to help and share, I typed up what could be considered a small e-book in response, and emailed it back. My friend asked me if I would consider making a blog post out of my reply; the funny part is, I had already copy-pasted the email I sent into a separate file, to do exactly that: share it with others.
I meant to share it on my one-year anniversary of blogging, but I had forgotten, and lined up several other posts for publishing. Then I got to thinking howit might be…
This is a collection of interesting things I have seen on the internet recently. They are grouped broadly in three categories, the second of which includes a few pictures I took today.
POLITICS
I start this section with an important open letter from Make Votes Matter. Below is a screenshot of the beginning of the letter. This is formatted as a link so that you can add your name to the open letter should you wish to:
My only link in this section, which forms a natural segue to the nature section, is to a thunderclap organised by Team4Nature and tagged #VoteForHopeVoteForChange. Below is a screenshot which also functions as a link:
NATURE
I am going to start this section with another thunderclap, before sharing a couple of recent posts from Anna that caught my attention and finally ending this section with some of my own photographs.
THUNDERCLAP: 30 DAYS WILD
This one has been launched by The Wildlife Trusts and the screenshot below links to it:
ANNA’S POSTS
The first of the two recent posts from Anna that I am sharing is titled “Which Future Do You Wanna Give The Next Generation?“. This post contains both Swedish and English text, and is in particular focused on the campaign to Save Trosa Nature. Here is Anna’s picture from that post:
The second post from Anna is titled “Old Tjikko” and starts by introducing us to the world’s oldest tree (9,500 years old since you ask). It concludes with a marvellous tree infographic which is reproduced below:
Time now for some…
PHOTOGRAPHS
These were all taken today…
Other than moving the tree pic to the top of the pile (see the end of the previous section for clarification) these are in the order in which they were taken (tree pic was no 6 originally).
This one is a bit blurry because it was taken very quickly.
I end this post with yet another reference to the rainbow coloured infinity symbol that Laina at thesilentwaveblog introduced me and many others to. The version below is an envisaged centrepiece for the front cover of the 2018 Calendar (see this post for more on my calendars) and features my name in white text incorporated into the symbol and the addresses of this blog and my London transport themed website in each loop:
A whistle-stop tour of some railway themed cigarette cards.
INTRODUCTION
This post is dedicated to the last of four lots that fell my way at James and Sons’ April auction (all exceedingly cheap – uncontested minimum bids in each case), lot 1186 which was a stout booklet of railway themed cigarette cards. This set dates from 1938.
PAGE BY PAGE THROUGH THE BOOK
I have organised these images showing pictures first and then the text on the reverse for each page, except for a couple where I forgot to photograph the text.
SOME CLOSE UPS
I also took some close ups of particular cards that caught my fancy.
CLOSE UP 1: LONDON UNDERGROUND STOCK
This prototype was not adopted on a large scale – the 1938 stock that came into service just after these cards were produced did not have the frontage that this stock did (I travelled on 1938 stock in my childhood, since the last specimens were only withdrawn from service in 1985, and even after that a few were used to run services on the Isle of Wight Railway). My estimate from the picture is that this particular train was somewhere near Southgate when it was photographed. There is a carriage of 1938 stock on display in the London Transport Museum, Covent Garden.
CLOSE UP 2: A LONDON UNDERGROUND SIGNAL ROOM
Even in 1938 most signals on London Underground were automatically triggered by trains, but there is human input as well…
CLOSE UP 3: TWO TRAINS IN ONE
The sheer quirkiness of this appealed to me:
CLOSE UP 4: THE FFESTINIOG RAILWAY
This relates to my previous post. You will notice that the spelling on the cards is ‘Festiniog’. This is a reflection of anti-Welsh prejudice at the time (the Ff beginning is a Welsh language formation). For the low-down on today’s Ffestiniog Railway please visit their website.
Showcasing some railway themed postcards I have recently acquired and unveiling a personalised roundel.
INTRODUCTION
Hello and welcome to this post which focuses on some postcards I have recently acquired very cheaply at auction.
THE RAILWAY POSTCARDS
I won two lots of railway postcards at James and Sons’ last auction. The first of these lots to end up in my possession was…
LOT 1015: FOUR BLACK AND WHITE CARDS
Three of these cards were of London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) locomotives while the fourth was of a railway station, tentatively identified in the catalogue as Ardley. Further research on my part revealed that the station is in point of fact Ardlui, a tiny dot on the map near the northern end of Loch Lomond. Here are some pictures of the cards:
While I was pleased to acquire these cards, especially at that price, the lot that meant most to me was…
LOT 1017 – TEN COLOUR CARDS
OF THE FFESTINIOG RAILWAY
These cards had a particular resonance because I have travelled on this railway many years ago. It is a very narrow (1 ft 11in) gauge heritage railway which runs to about 40 miles.
Here is a promotional video from the official website of the Ffestiniog Railway:
Before I show the postcards, here is a link to the Wikipedia page for the Ffestiniog Railway.
Now for those postcards, starting with the official image that everyone saw:
Now here are the pictures of these cards taken in my own home:
All ten postcards in one shot.Postcards 1-3Postcards 4-6Postcards 7-10Individual pictures of each postcard…
THE AUTISM ROUNDEL
This is based on an autistic spectrum symbol that I found out about courtesy of Laina at thesilentwaveblog (seethis post for more details). I was thinking about coming up with a suitable logo for my London transport themed website, and considered the possibility of using the rainbow infinity as the disk part of the famous London Underground roundel. If I decide to go with it, this is what my personalised roundel looks like:
Introducing aspiblog followers to a new autism spectrum symbol, with grateful acknowledgement to thesilentwaveblog.
INTRODUCTION
I hope you have noticed a rather dramatic change to the header of this blog! The rest of this post is devoted to explaining the reason that I have adopted that particular header. Before going on into the main body of the post I am going to point out that is this post will be featuring coloured text the distinction between ordinary text and links is the usual in such circumstances – links are underlined and in bold.
INFINITY
Many mathematicians have written about infinity, including Georg Philip Cantor who demonstrated conclusively that not all infinities are equal. As one who has read plenty about infinity and who is autistic the symbol that now forms the header of this blog has a particular resonance…
THE DISCOVERY
This morning when I was going through my emails I came across a reference to a blog post on thesilentwaveblog titled “Autism Spectrum symbol?“. Naturally I read it with some enthusiasm, starting with the explanation of why the puzzle piece is unacceptable (it was chosen by others, not us, and it is associated with a hate group who masquerade as an autism organisation). Then came the symbol itself, a rainbow (or spectrum) coloured infinity symbol, as shown below.
BACKING MY JUDGEMENT
Having been thoroughly impressed by this symbol, and believing it important to walk the walk as well as talking the talk I set about using it as the base for a new header for this blog, and came with putting the name of the blog inside the symbol, one half in each loop, and one half green and the other half red. My new image before I increased its size to the necessary width for a header was this:
I hope this rainbow coloured infinity and customizations of it such as mine for this site blow the tainted puzzle piece right out of the water. I await feedback with interest.
Some of the best science and nature related pieces I have recently come across.
INTRODUCTION
Having started the day with a science related squib I finish it with a full length post concerned with Science and Nature. As this is a post where all the text will be the same colour please not that links are in bold and underlined. Before proceeding here is a list of all of today’s previous posts:
Yes another thunderclap for those of you who are on social media to support. Click on the screenshot below for more…
THE EDEN PROJECT
The Eden Project in Cornwall, of which I have very fond memories, has just added to its laurels by winning VisitEngland’s award for Inclusive Tourism. Thus I have two links, each accompanied by a screenshot to share:
I am indebted to WEIT for this. It is an app that is free to download. For more details please visit the WEIT article on this:
PART 2: SOME FANTASTIC EVOLUTION MEMES
I found these on twitter by way of their creator, whose twitter name is Lord Cropes. Below is the particular meme which caught my attention:
This is just one of 129 memes of this type that he has created, and you can view all of them by way of the website pinkheretic.com. Here is one more to further whet your appetite:
PART THREE: PHOTOGRAPHS
I finish with some of my own photographs:
An adult moorhen and two chicksAdult and two chicks close togetherClose up of a chick
For this piece, probably my penultimate one of the day I shall be sharing some of the best recent political pieces that I have read. Most of these pieces are naturally about the election campaigning that is happening in this country, although I will be starting with one of the exceptions.
HEATHER HASTIE ON FGM
This one has already had a lot of attention, including a mention on the massively followed whyevolutionistrue blog, but it merits every last bit of attention it gets. New Zealand blogger Heather Hastiehas produced a post that is long on facts and short on hysteria which is aimed to tackle those such as HuffPo who seek to deny the connection between Islam and the vile practice of FGM. The post is titled “Making Excuses for Islam and FGM“. Here is a screenshot of the section of the post that relates to Britain:
TWO PICTURES FROM
THE ELECTION TRAIL
This comes to you courtesy of The Canary. The two pictures show Jeremy Corbyn interacting with potential voters and Theresa May talking at carefully selected factory workers who were under instructions to ask no questions and not to talk to the press. I recommend you to visit the post, titled “Two pictures which sum up this general election better than a million words [IMAGES]“.
A TACTICAL VOTING WEBSITE
There has been much talk of tactical voting, and some action, notably from the Greens who are not standing against Rupa Huq in the marginal constituency of Ealing Central & Acton, having received assurances from her on three significant topics. There is a webiste, calledstopthetori.es which you can visit for guidance on who in your area is nmost likely to topple the Tories. Below is a screenshot of the information they have for my own constituency:
VOX POLITICAL IN TWO MOODS
The #Gidiot (real name Gideon George Oliver Osborne) is stepping down as MP for Tatton (he faced a ‘Hamiltonian’ exit – named for Neil Hamilton, turfed out of Tatton in 1997, if he had not). His replacement is no other than Esther McVey, known in certain circles as “Fester McVile”. In a vileness contest Osborne is the bronze medallist of this trio, while the contest between McVey and Hamilton for the top spot on the podium is a close one. I hope that the good folk of Tatton recall precisely how vile their new Tory candidate is and respond the way British voters often do to parachuted in candidates. This horror decision in the north has been matched in the South by Zac Goldsmith being selected as Tory candidate in Richmond. Mike Sivier of Vox Politicalhas produced a detailed piece \about the Tatton decision titled “Tatton Tories have found someone as vile as George Osborne to replace him: Esther McVey“.
Esther McVey: Her return to the media spotlight means I can use this evil-eyed image of her again.
A post sharing some of the best recent stuff about autism from the true experts – autistic people.
INTRODUCTION
As this is an Autism themed post and we are still in the month of April my text will all be in #RedInstead. Links will be in bold and underlined.
AUTISM ACCEPTANCE
Autism acceptance is about people accepting us for who we are, focussing on the positives and on our abilities, not on our limitations (both perceived and actual, though the former are both much greater and much more important in terms of the effect on us). The Art of Autism recently put up and excellent post about this titled “THIS BEAUTY QUEEN’S MESSAGE IS AUTISM ACCEPTANCE“. I offer this screenshot as a tempter:
ABA THERAPY = CHILD ABUSE
ABA stands for Applied Behaviour Analysis, and is still recommended in certain circles. Those who were subjected to this as children and have subsequently written about it are unanimous in condemning it. It would appear based on this sample that the most frequent outcome of ABA therapy is that an autistic person ends up an autistic person with Post Traumatic Sress Disorder. I link to two very substantial pieces by a former practitioner of ABA who has learned the error of her former ways, with thanks to Rachel Raineywho put me on to these two pieces today. The pieces posted by madasbirdsblog are:
A follow up piece provoked by a response defending ABA, titled “I ABUSED CHILDREN AND SO DO YOU: A RESPONSE TO AN ABA APOLOGIST“. This piece is very long (over 9,000 words) but I recommend you read it in full. My screenshot comes from just after the start of the post, and I hope muy reasons for this choice will be obvious:
A NEW FIND WITH A
GREAT “WHAT IF?” PIECE
This next piece was originally published in May 2016 but is still absolutely relevant. From a blog called autnotand titled “If the world was built for me” it does precisely what you might expect from the title. The screenshot below is from the end of it:
ERIN HUMAN’S ABLEISM SERIES
Regular visitors to this site will know that I have been greatly impressed by Erin Human’sseries of posts focussing on ableism. I am delighted to share with you two new posts in this series:
Another railway themed horse brass. I will be doing a piece connected to this on my London transport themed website eventually. This first picture is formatted as a link to the website of the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre.
Giving an account of James and Sons’ April auction and (in the introduction) setting the scene for the rest of the day’s blogging activity.
INTRODUCTION
This is the first of several full length posts that I am intending to put up today (I have already produced a little squib relating to today’s special Google Doodle) and so before getting into the meat of it I take this opportunity to indicate what you can expect over the course of the rest of today: Science and Nature including an introduction to a fabulous series of memes about evolution, Autism and some political stuff.
THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE AUCTION
This auction was a three-day, 1,500 lot sale, taking place on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. All three days took place at our shop in Fakenham. The first day stuff had to be brought down into the body of the shop on the Friday.
DAY 1: LOTS 1-500
These lots consisted of coins, banknotes, bank related ephemera, coin first-day covers and militaria. This was a successful day, with the coins and the militaria doing particularly well. After consuming my sandwiches I then had to bring the stuff for Day 2 down into the shop ready for viewing in the morning.
DAY 2: LOTS 501-1000
These lots consisted of stamps, postal history and first-day covers. This second day was always likely to be quiet, and indeed it was. However, here are some pictures of lot 856, which I acquired for £4…
The front of lot 856A close up of the six stampsA close up of the big trainThe reverse of the envelopeA c,lose up of the explanation.
The auction stage of the day was followed by the most exhausting heavy lifting of the period – day two stuff back upstairs, day three stuff downstairs.
DAY 3: LOTS 1001-1500
The items under the hammer on day three were postcards, toys, Liebig picture cards, cigarette cards, ephemera, books, vinyls and various miscellaneous items. There was enough of interest going under the hammer to ensure a successful day, and indeed to ensure that the auction overall can be considered a success. This was followed by one last heavy lifting exercise – getting the stuff back upstairs so that the shop looked more like a shop once again. Our next auction, again taking place at our shop will be on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of May. Here are some pictures I took yesterday morning to show what went under the hammer later that day:
This cinema screen sized Charlie’s Angels poster (in the black plastic tube) was lot 1,401 and went unsold.
These Liebig’s were being sold as albums rather than as sheets, and three of the five found buyers.
A post about a special “Google Doodle” honoring the Cassini Spacecraft as it nears a spectacular death.
INTRODUCTION
This morning when I opened up my gmail I noticed an interesting little graphic in the bottom right corner of my screen. I followed up on it, and the results are below…
THE DOODLE
A full size version of the picture is below (formatted as a link to Google’s own piece):
![Two pictures which sum up this general election better than a million words [IMAGES]](https://www.thecanary.co/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/rsz_screen_shot_2017-04-22_at_112140_am-770x470.png)
aspiblog 