A brief review of Stephen Hurrell’s “Dinosaurs and the Expanding Earth” accompanied by a few pictures.
INTRODUCTION
This is a book review, of a book that I have just read which has the title I have used as the title of the post. This is a standalone post with no links or unrelated pictures.
A SMALL BOOK THAT PACKS A GIANT PUNCH
The book that gave it’s title to this post is by Stephen Hurrell and it seeks to provide an explanation for the giant size of the dinosaurs.
The Front Cover
Hurrell’s theory, argued very persuasively is that the Earth was smaller and hence gravity was less in the distant past. Many different sets of data fit with his argument – including the fact that in every era since the extinction of the dinosaurs the biggest land animals have been progressively smaller. The super-giant land mammals of 35-40 million years ago for example grew much larger than their counterparts today. A graphic illustration of the size difference between the largets dinosaurs and today’s largest land animals is this…
The illustration of the difference between his theory of earth formation and the standard version (constant size earth) is shown in this graphic…
I found the book thoroughly fascinating and absorbing and would heartily recommend it to anyone, and conclude this very brief post by passing on another recommendation of a book that I share Mr Hurrell,s opinion of, Robert Bakker’s “The Dinosaur Heresies”…
An account, complete with a fine haul of photos, of a walk around King’s Lynn. This is followed by some important links and some interesting infographics. Please share widely.
INTRODUCTION
Being up bright and early this morning and noting the sunny weather I headed off for a walk. The body of this post is devoted to sharing the best sights from that walk. After that I have some links and infographics to share. I hope you enjoy this post and will be encouraged to share it.
THE WALK
My first ports of call were…
THE TUESDAY MARKET PLACE AND ST NICHOLAS CHAPEL
These places looked very fine in the sun. The extensive restoration work on the chapel is now nearly complete.
From there I headed to…
BAWSEY DRAIN
This is a far more significant waterway than that name may suggest, and was rewarded with a clutch of fine pictures in that section of the walk…
Watching and waiting in the undergrowth…
I left Bawsey drain part way along it’s length to head towards the Great Ouse by means of a nice route that I know, but I am briefly going to diverge from strict geographical recounting for a subsection on…
BUTTERFLIES
The butterflies were out in force, but it is always difficult to photograph them due to their speed. Nevertheless, I did get some good pics to share…
This was the last butterfly I got, while walking through Hardings PitsThis was the first butterfly pic I got today.The only non-animal flyer I got today – a helicopter (Helico- = spiral, pteron = wing)This one had its wings folded.
ARRIVING AT THE GREAT OUSE
Just a few pics here, but it was a delight to see the river at very high tide…
My next set of pictures are themed around a small but (to me) very significant little landmark which I have dubbed…
CORMORANT PLATFORM
The very high tide meant that most of the structure was submerged, and the presence of boats and the river and West Lynn Church on the far bank also contributed to a great set of pictures…
A brilliant piece of photobombing by the flying gull!Multiple species of bird coexisting peacefully.The platform and a boat.
The church contributing to the scene.
Two cormorants took wing in my direction.
Not all of the boats i saw on the river were there for leisure purposes – there was also a…
RESEARCH VESSEL
Four pics showing the boat and website details…
From here all that was left was…
THE HOME STRETCH
The pictures I took in these final few minutes are very varied…
One last boat pic.The Custom House.Looking north from the Lower Purfleet.An adult moorhen in the Upper PurfleetThe smallest baby moorhen I have ever seen.
We have reached the end of my walk, but I do hope some of you stay for the…
LINKS
I have a shed load of important links to share, starting with some on…
Although it was a universally revered lion whose demise sparked this activity they are not the only species targeted by noxious individuals, and my next link is to a take part petition on behalf of the elephant.
Finally in this subsection, from Mark Avery comes a story about hen harriers which was written in response to a piece in the Telegraph that was shockingly inaccurate even by the “standards” of that detestable rag.
I mentioned this yesterday, and the story has moved on since then. My source today is Socialist Worker with a piece giving great detail, including the fact that the museum which got planning permission on false pretences did not open yesterday as planned – let us hope that in it’s current incarnation as a musuem dedicated to Jack the Ripper it never does open its doors. here are the two links:
An account of the last few days, with some excellent pictures, some important links and a great infographic courtesy of Dr Lisa Sulsenti.
INTRODUCTION
My last blog post was about my cousin Olivia’s wedding on Saturday. This post tells of Sunday, Monday and today, with plenty of pictures. Also, I have some links and infographics to share. Talking of sharing, I hope that some of you will choose to share this post as well.
KEGWORTH HOTEL AND CONFERENCE CENTRE
While possessed of precisely zero architectural appeal, the Kegworth Hotel and Conference Centre is clean and comfortable…
I have plenty of good pictures from inside the hotel…
This is a 24 hour roman numeral clock – can you spot the deliberate mistake in the numbering?
Detail from the ornamental glasswork at the reception desk.
My bedroom had some pictures as well…
You will note a degree of duplication between the public pictures and those in the rooms!
SUNDAY LUNCH
My cousin Richard and his fiancee Ida are off to her native Sweden soon, and he had the idea of a farewell pub lunch at the Plough in Normanton on Soar. Eventually after a few cancellations, 12 of us were there for this excellent meal, which we ate outside overlooking the river itself, much used by boats and birds…
Richard and Ida
I have lots of splendid pictures from this event, and both the food and drink were magnificent.
Tables overlooking the Soar
The local product – look up Leciester Rugby Club for more on the name.
As well as boats at surface level, a plane flew high over our heads.
HOMEWARD BOUND
I travelled back as a passenger in my aunt’s car, since we live very close together in King’s Lynn. Taking pictures while in transit is not easy, but this one worked…
After helping my aunt to unload her car I walked back to my flat by way of another river on which boat travel is not unknown, the Great Ouse…
DOWN TIME
Knowing the effect that such a busy weekend would have on me I had taken the precaution of booking this week as leave to enable myself to have some quiet time. Last night was a group meeting for KLASS (more on this in a future blog post), but apart from that it has been a very quiet couple of days.
To give you an idea of how vast an eyesore this building is, this photo was taken from a point that is a 20-minute walk from the building itself!
LINKS
I have as usual plenty of links to share with you, starting with…
“A new museum gained planning permission by promising ‘the only dedicated resource in the East End to women’s history’, but has now been unveiled as a venue dedicated to the violent crimes of Jack the Ripper”.
My next story concerns a police officer who is already facing a lawsuit for handcuffing children in a very dangerous way, and should as the story makes clear be suffering more than that (defo a jail term measurable in years for this crime).
Now, a sad blast from the past. Unbelievably Kevin Healey is still suffering impersonation on twitter and still apparently receiving no protection – please either sign and share the petition if you have not already done so or keep on sharing it to apply pressure to twitter.
A personal account of the wedding party for Rob and Olivia Yates, with lots of quality pics. Also, some important links at the end.
INTRODUCTION
I will start with a word of warning: this is going to be a very long post, as there is a lot to talk about and I have some fabulous pictures to share with you. Olivia Croft (now Yates) is a cousin of mine, which is why I was there.
THE PRELIMINARIES
Needing to arrive at Kegworth early enough for those who would be at the ceremony itself to travel on to Loughborough and arrive by 12 meant an early start. I was not at the ceremony and was assigned another task along with my nephew Zachary, which I have already written about in a previous post. After a schemozzle over room bookings, which worked out to my benefit since I ended up with a room to myself (they had messed up, so we got the extra room we needed at no further cost) it was time to deposit our bags in the rooms and make the short walk to the house where the party was taking place, next door to the Kegworth museum.
THE PARTY
Arriving at the venue the first arresting sight was a 1950s vintage Morris…
The Morris in all its gloryA very old style AA badge – this close up shot was gained much later than the shot of the car.
This is the time, before going on to the party itself to introduce my feature image, a montage of some of the many pictures I took through the day…
There was a Pimm’s table for those whose tastes run in that direction, although I ignored that and was then delighted to located cask beer (four kegs, each different). I went for something called Blue Monkey Infinity and it was delicious. There was a barbecue lunch which was excellent. It is now time for a brief diversion to…
THE FISH POND
The fish pond was quite simply magnificent, with a stunning variety of fish and an excellent rock garden…
PUNCH AND JUDY
At 4PM there was a Punch and Judy puppet show. I watched it all and got some good pictures. It seemed to appeal to its target audience, the children, but I was unimpressed to say the least…
OUTDOOR MUSIC
Early on in the day there was some live music outside in the sun, and helped to be the volume not being too ridiculously amped up it was actually quite pleasant from a distance…
THE SPEECHES
The speeches took place in the same area as the Punch and Judy, and with the exception of the opening salvo from Andy, the bride’s stepfather, none were particularly impressive…
The groom, who was also MC for the speeches.
Andy, giving the first speech.
The bride’s sister, flanked by Evie (blonde) and Libby (darker)
The groom’s father making his speech.
The groom’s brother at the mic.
The bride making her speech.
AN INTERLUDE – SOME GENERAL PICS
Before going on to mention the supper and my own departure from the event here are some pictures taken at various times through the day that don’t fit neatly into a particular section…
Each table in the marquee had floral displays on them, one of which featured this sunflower.
A full floral display.My cousin Richard and his fiancee Ida – they will soon be off to her native Sweden.
Ida and Rachel, girlfriend of another of my cousins, Edward
Me and Richard
Serious rain in the early evening.
SUPPER AND TAKING MY LEAVE
Supper was fish (or sausage in my case) and chips, and it was delicious (give what my uncle had apparently paid for the hire of the chip van for the evening so it jolly well ought to have been). While I was eating it in the shelter of the marquee, the evening’s entertainment were warming up, and that was sufficient to persuade me that as it was no longer suitable weather for being outside it was time to return, since there was no way I could cope with that kind of music at that volume and accompanied by strobe lighting at close quarters.
The cake, which I did not get to see being cut.These last two pics are of the evening’s entertainment making their preparations.
I had a fabulous day, and by departing early was able to keep the good memories untarnished. This concludes the main part of this post, but I also have some…
An account of mission mixing photography with family history.
INTRODUCTION
This weekend just gone we were in Kegworth to attend the wedding of a cousin of ours (see future blog posts). A coincidence of the registry office not being big enough to accommodate everyone and a road in Kegworth bearing a rather curious name led to a mission to carry out some research…
THE BACK STORY
Dr Jeffares of Kegworth was sufficiently honoured in his own town that a street was named after him. Dr Jeffares’ Great Great Grandson is my nephew Zachary, present on this side of the world for once (he and his mother live in Indonesia). Since neither Zac nor I were going to be at the ceremony itself, it seemed a good idea to get a picture of him and the street sign that bears his ancestor’s name…
LOCATING IT
Use of google maps turned up all the information necessary to find the road in question, especially as we were booked into the Kegworth Hotel and Conference Centre, which as you will see is very close to the target…
The google street view showing me what I would be looking for.The google map picture showing the location in detail.
THE PHOTOGRAPHS
Given our starting point of the Kegworth Hotel and Conference Centre, it was a very brief matter to locate the Jeffares Close sign. After discovering that I could not get a shot from the same side of the road as the sign I crossed and used the telescopic zoom lens on my Nikon Coolpix P530 to get pictures from long range…
This final pictures is customised for use as a featured image…
Welcome to this latest installment in my series “London Station by Station“. I do hope you will enjoy it and that some of you will be inspired to share it.
BELSIZE PARK
This station opened in 1907 as part of the original section of the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway, which was subsequently amalgamated with the City and South London Railway to form the Northern line. It is located on the Edgware branch, two stops beyond the bifurcation point of Camden Town and one stop south of Hampstead. Like its northerly neighbour it is very deep, and accessible from the street only by lift or staircase. Although it is shown on the maps as offering no interchanges, Gospel Oak on London Overground is walkable should one ever have reason to make such a change.
MURDER ON THE UNDERGROUND
This is the title of a book by 1930s crime writer Mavis Doriel Hay. The murder itself takes place on the stairs mentioned above, and all the action is set around this section of the northern line. Having just read the book I heartily recommend at and am looking forward to reading the other book of hers I have located at one of the libraries I patronise, Murder on the Cherwell, set in another place I have a more than passing acquaintance with, Oxford.
The front cover, showing a 1930s train (that shade of red was known because of its use at that time as “train red”)
A diagram showing the layout of Belsize Park station that appears in the middle of the book.
THE DIAGRAMMATIC HISTORY
Of course, no post in this series would be complete without an extract from London Underground: A Diagrammatic History, and here it is:
A bit about England’s magnificent win at Edgbaston, an infographic about an event being staged by Surrey, some quality links and infographics.
INTRODUCTION
I have some links and infographics as well as my main piece. I hope that you will enjoy this post and be encouraged to share it.
A THUMPING VICTORY
England responded to the battering they took at Lord’s in the best possible way, by storming to a three-day victory at Edgbaston to restore their lead in the series. Australia won by 405 runs at Lords, England by eight wickets here. I reckon this constitutes the most spectacular about turn in fortunes in successive ashes matches since 1965-66 when the teams traded innings victories in the second and third matches of the series.
Particularly welcome was the return to top form of Steven Finn who followed James Anderson’s first innings six-for with six wickets of his own the second. Among the scraps left by these two were enough wickets for Stuart Broad to reach 300 in tests. Ian Bell whose poor form had him in the last chance saloon with the last orders bell being sounded came up with two fifties in the match in front of his home crowd – and given the low scoring nature of the game these were easily worth centuries on a flat one.
An unfortunate injury means that for the fourth match at Trent Bridge England have the unenviable task of attempting to fill an Anderson shaped hole in their squad.
To finish this cricket related section, Surrey are putting on an event to celebrate women’s and girls cricket featuring current England captain Charlotte Edwards, head of ECB women’s cricket Clare Connor and being hosted by Surrey”s Director of women’s cricket Ebony Rainford-Brent…
LINKS
My first set of links follow on from my last blog post and feature more on…
CECIL THE LION
First up an event that will probably remain unique in the history of aspiblog – a link to an article in the Daily Mail
Finally on this particular topic, this from The Age.
SCIENCE
Tonight is the second full moon in July – a rare event called a Blue Moon and best know for the cliche “once in a blue moon”. For a detailed account of the phenomenon check out this piece from discovery.com.
Next, courtesy of livescience come two dinosaur related links:
This post may be considered my personal response to the death of Cecil the lion.
INTRODUCTION
This post can be considered as my response to the tragedy involving Cecil the lion. Before getting into the main body of it I am once again going to share details (as I did in my previous post) of The Art of Autism’s calendar for 2016, currently being sold for $12. Full details can be seen on their own post on the subject, but I offer you this picture as extra inducement…
A picture to show you why as well as wishing to support the activity I am genuinely enthused by this calendar.
ON APPRECIATING NATURE
We are now in the main part of the post, which as well as what I am writing on my account will feature some photographic highlights relating to nature from the last few months, a variety of important links, and leading from here into the rest of the post my first essay in the craft of infographic creation…
CECIL THE LION
Cecil, a 13 year-old lion who jointly controlled his pride with another lion called Jericho, was shot by a wealthy American who had paid $50,000 to have him lured out of the reserve in which he lived. Walter Palmer, the shooter, has a long and bloody history of such activities, including at least one felony conviction involving poaching. Cecil was a huge tourist attraction, and even from the purely monetary angle (not a viewpoint with which I identify) his death has cost far than the $50,000 that was paid to bring it about. Before moving on from this introduction I have a bunch of Cecil related links to share with you:
There seems little doubt that Mr Palmer’s activities, and those activities that were paid for with his blood money were in breach of Zimbabwean law, and as a staunch internationalist I would say that the American government has a duty to ensure that Mr Palmer gets appropriately punished, either by putting him on the next plane to Zimbabwe to be punished in the country where he committed the crime or by arranging for him to be tried, convicted and punished in America.
I would also like to see a blanket ban on “trophy hunting”, enforced with stringent penalties for those who breach it. Also, I have concentrated on the American, rather than the two Zimbabweans involved in the atrocity because it is the American who bears full responsibility – without his money the two Zimbabweans would have had no motive for their nefarious contact – Mr Palmer is guilty on his own account and has made criminals of the other two involved.
SOME PICTORIAL HIGHLIGHTS
This subsection is devoted the only kind of shooting I am interested in performing – that done with my trusty Nikon Coolpix P530. Yes I have recently acquired a set of five obsidian arrowheads – but that was purchased as on object of interest, not with any intention of using them as weapons!
The first two pictures are of an insect that was crawling on the window of an X8 bus in which I happened to be a passenger.
These two robins, enjoying the local park, formed the basis of my second ever pictorial thank you message.This lone robin was by the bandstand in the local park.
A squirrel preparing for the main ascent!
A Moorhen
A swimming gull, reflected back by the smooth water.
A moorhen showing a turn of speedThis one was standing on a submerged logA cormorant – the first of many.
Cormornant showing off its wingspanFully extended.
A cormorant on the structure that I named Cormorant Platform because they make so much use of it.Swans in the parkland off Littleport Street
Bunny enjoying the thick grass.
One of my ornithological alter egos – a magpie.The only time I have ever got a really got shot of one of these white butterflies – they move seriously fast
A cormorant and black backed gull together.
A cormorant in swimming mode.These were the first ducklings I saw in 2015.This crafty duckling had realised that it could use the lily pad as a kind of boat.
These three shots were gold from my point of view – usually if a cormorant is swimming it is looking for food and therefore dives regularly, making it tough to capture on camera.
Gulls in full flight
Mallard drake and moorhen being companionable on the edge of the upper Millfleet.I had seen swans on various rivers, but until July 2015 never on the Great Ouse which is tidal and flows seriously fast.
These birds like marshy land best, but mud flats when the Great Ouse is at low tide are clearly also acceptable to them.The base of my current pictorial thank you message.
Every single photo in this subsection was bagged within walking distance of my “compact” town centre flat – if you truly appreciate nature you do not have go very far to find glorious sights, and nothing need be harmed.
A FEW NATURE RELATED LINKS
These two links are both to petitions that anyone who takes an interest i nature should sign and share:
To finish the main section of this blog I have another infographic, which gives the same message as the one I opened the section with – the fundamental message of this post…
Finally, to end the post, a link to a new find that came by way of Fargaregardsanna, Harsh Reality, who are offering the opportunity to share a blog post, which I shall by accepting!
An account of James and Sons’ July Auction and its aftermath, with plenty of pictures. Also a mention of a Calendar being sold by The Art of Autism.
INTRODUCTION
This post, with one exception, deals exclusively with yesterday and todat at James and Sons. The exception which I shall deal with now is a link that will be appearing again in this blog. The Art of Autism are selling 2016 calendars for $12 each. If this takes your fancy, more detail is available in their post announcing the offer. I will be doing a more substantial blog post later.
A picture to show you why as well as wishing to support the activity I am genuinely enthused by this calendar.
YESTERDAY: THE AUCTION ITSELF
Being in Norwich, the auction necessitated a seriously early start (certainly ridiculous o’clock, possibly even qualifying as ludicrous o’clock), but being a fairly small auction it finished reasonably early, and I was home only twelve and a half hours after having set off (for a Norwich auction that is not too bad).
There were some spectacular triumphs, some flops and lots of middle of the road sales. Old football programmes fared well, one which was not expected to get more than £10 going for £28. Overall, it was a successful sale, and here are some pictures from yesterday…
This little display section was organised by meThe arrowheads in their new home.Not an auction pic, buth I just had to include the rainbow flag fluttering from Norwich Castle.A close up shot with the cover of the display case removed.The obsidian arrowheads found a good home!
Reoghrnasing these display boxes to better effect.Two gold coins, which sold very well.The whole auction in all it’s glory
TODAY
Most of my day at work today was taken up with making sure I had full and accurate records of all the people who had registered bid online via the-saleroom but I did also get some work done on the August sale, imaging a couple of new lots and locating images in our archive of items that were being given another chance to sell…
These Pevsner’s are in impeccable condition – let’s hope it is second tiem lucky for them.
AFTERWORD
Sharing is a running theme of this blog, and I hope that some of you have enjoyed this post enough to share it with others.
The title section of this post refers to today’s activites at James and Sons, but I also have some important links and quality infographics to share. On the subject of sharing, I hope that some of you are encouraged to share this post.
ADVERTS AND IMAGING
Today was productive, but not as productive as it might have been due to the fact that my efforts on the imaging front were interrupted by the need to send a couple of very basic adverts to the Diss Express and the Bury Free Press respectively about collector’s fair. A copy of one of the ads is below and I will provide links to the original word documents for both…
COLLECTORS FAIR AND AUCTION VALUATION DAY
WEDNEDAY 5TH AUGUST
STOWMARKET FOOTBALL CLUB 10AM TO 3PM
A wide range of coins, stamps, postcards,
banknotes, militaria etc. for sale.
The imaging workload was nicely varied, featuring most kinds of item we sell save for militaria…
COINS
The coin lots I choose to share come in the form of high resolution scans…
STAMPS
The stamps were all in albums and hence required the use of the camera…
EPHEMERA AND TOYS
These items were also done with the camera, and apart from a few football programs I will sharing the full range. The items categorised as toys are actually as you will see collector’s models – not intended to be played with…
This gazeteer is not in great nick but then it is over 250 years old
POSTCARDS
To end the section on today at work, some more scans, this time of postcards…
LINKS
I do not have as many links as sometimes, but they are all very important, starting with…
CECIL THE LION
This is a story about a self-indulgent rich bastard (I make no apologies for the strong language – I do not often resort to it) from Minnesota named Walter James Palmer and an African icon. The circumstances of this particular piece of “trophy hunting” – Mr Palmer apparently has a long history of such activities – have generated it vast international publicity. The lion was decoyed out of the protected area in which it lived by bait, shot with a crossbow and ultimately finished off with a rifle – all so a rich American could indulge his perverted sense of fun. I have two links for further information about the story:
My first infographic comes with a link this article on Discover…
Next, a return to the Telegraph – unlike the story which I am told was big and bold this correction was tiny and in the bottom corner of a page, so I am giving it a bit of extra exposure!
Finally to end this post two excellent infographics relating to the Conservative Party…
puc
aspiblog 