A couple of important petitions, a couple of interesting links and some photographs taken in and around King’s Lynn – enjoy!
INTRODUCTION
I have two important petitions to share with you, a couple of other links and some new photos to share.
RENATIONALISE THE RAILWAYS!
For my first offering I turn to the campaign group We Own It, and their petition calling for Britain’s railways to be publicly owned and controlled. Click on the screenshot below to visit and sign this petition.
AN ANTI-FRACKING PETITION
The latest area to be targeted by fracking companies is Derbyshire. Click on the image below to visit and sign the petition against this:
PHOTOGRAPHS 1:
A COUPLE OF LINKS
Autism Mom’s most recent post is entitled “Words My Son Can Use” and is a very interesting read.
Welfare Weekly have produced a list of the 10 worst excuses produced by employers caught failing to pay the minimum wage which you can read here.
PHOTOGRAPHS 2
We finish with a few more pictures, these ones taken this morning:
I received a copy of Robert Harris’ latest work, Conclave, as a Christmas present from my sister. I included mention of Robert Harris in the post I created to mark myfifth anniversary as a blogger, the title of which was borrowed from the second volume of his trilogy about Marcus Tullius Cicero. I also mentioned the possibility of reviewing Imperatorm the third volume in the Cicero trilogy, in a couple of other posts but did not actually do so (it is a splendid finale to the trilogy btw).
A BOOK ABOUT CHOOSING A NEW POPE?
The whole of Conclave is devoted to telling the story of the election of a new pope. The scene is set with the announcement of the death of the old pope. To be elected a two-thirds majority, and it often takes several votes for a front runner to emerge. This being a novel, there are of course some extra twists. Four people in total are front runners at various stages of the process but do not win. Two of these people have their chances spoilt when details of past transgressions are revealed to the assembled cardinals, a third makes a speech which effectively rules him out and the fourth is hoping someone else gets elected. At the end a newly appointed cardinal who had gained one vote in the first ballot is elected at the eighth ballot (while I do not know of anyone in real life winning after getting only one vote in the first ballot, Cardinal Wojtila got very few votes in the first ballot of the second Conclave of 1978).
The winner then has to accept the office and choose a papal name. In this case he goes for Innocent, a papal name that has been used 13 times before but not in the last three centuries. There is of course a vast range of possible papal names – very few of those previously used would be unacceptable, while a choice of a previously unused name could also work. There are two papal names I do not see being claimed any time soon however: Pius XIII because of the character of Pius XII, and Peter II because of the sheer hubris involved in choosing that name (although Steve Berry in The Third Secret has someone choose the name Peter II, and yes that person does then come to a sticky end).
Although all the action takes place within the confines of the world’s smallest independent country, the book never flags or lacks interest. An excellent novel and one I heartily recommend.
The front cover.A map of the are within which the action takes place.
Mainly photographs – a drone that my nephew was given for Christmas and some pictures from a walk I took in the winter sun today. Read, enjoy and please share!
INTRODUCTION
I am having a quiet day today, having spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the company of various family members. Earlier today there was blue sky and bright sun over King’s Lynn, so I went for a walk.
THE STAR GIFT OF YESTERDAY
Although most of the presents given out yesterday seemed to go down very well there was no doubt as to which was the best received – a drone that was given to my nephew. Here are some photos from yesterday…
My cousin and his Swedish girlfriend came bearing gifts – this crispbread is exceedingly good.A piece of stained glass at my aunt’s house.The side view of my parents new burner.Front on picture of the same.The remaining pictures all feature this drone…
A WINTER WALK
I walked along the riverbank as far as Hardings Pits and then back into town by way of the parkland…
The Custom HouseTwo pictures of the bright but very low sun reflecting off the river.
West Lynn Church.Moorhens in and around the NarThe South GateThe Red Mount Chapel from a distance.
On Sunday Anna put up a post showing some winter pictures from Sweden. Now I am putting up a couple of winter pictures from here in Norfolk.
PICTURES
Here are the pictures…
A spider web highlighted by droplets of water.Moss growing on the wall the bounds my outside area.Detail from King’s Lynn library.Not bad for £4 plus commission! These last two pictures are of my most recent railway themed acquisition.
My 1,000th post on aspiblog, a typically eclectic mix of stuff – read, enjoy and please share!
INTRODUCTION
As the title suggests this post contains a variety of different elements. There is another reason for choosing this title which will be revealed later.
MUMBAI MASSACRE
With two scheduled days to go the 4th India vs England Test Match in Mumbai seemed to be headed for a high-scoring draw, but two things happened thereafter – India got right away, pushing their first innings total up to 631, and then England fell in a heap in their second innings – all out 195, beaten by an innings and 36.
THE NAS WEST NORFOLK COMMITTEE CHRISTMAS MEAL
This took place on Thursday at Frankie and Benny’s on the Hardwick Industrial Estate. Here are some pictures…
My chosen mealRachelf (sic!) showing true Christmas spirit.Karan (branch chair) hold aloft her Poldark colouring book.Santa reveals a little secret.A chicken puppet – she owns some real chickens, currently confined to their run because of an avian flu alert.
THE DUKE’S HEAD HOTEL
Those familiar with my 2017 wall mounted calendars will recall that the Duke’s Head Hotel frontage featured as the April picture. Well, since then it has been done up – here are a couple of pictures…
The calendar pictureThe Duke’s Head frontage as it looks today after being redone.
THE PUZZLE IN THE INTRODUCTION
My title for this post “Monday Mixture” is apt given its nature, but I also chose this particular title because both parts thereof begin with the letter M, the Roman numeral for 1,000, and this is my 1,000th post on aspiblog.
LINKS AND CLOSING PICS
My first link is to a petition on avaaz protesting against an Australian plan to put a toxic coal complex next to the Great Barrier Reef. Please click on the image below to sign and share the petition.
My next link, also contained within a picture is to a piece on whyevolutionistrue titled A Photobook of Biological Marvels and My Own Take on Them.
Rachael Swindon’s new blog continues to impress and amuse. Her target in this post, struck in the bullseye as usual for her, is hard right Tory MP for Witham, Priti Patel.
I started this links section with an environment related piece and I end it with another, courtesy of the Guardian, which provides this report of a study detailing how wind power is key to curbing greenhouse emissions – click the image below to read more…
I end this post with some more of my own pictures…
A post built around Dan Green’s “The Periodic Table in Minutes” and an article that brought things even further up to date.
INTRODUCTION
This is a post that has grown from two distinct roots as you will see. At the end I will be sharing some photographs and other links that have caught my eye.
A BOOK AND AN ARTICLE
I spotted a small format book about the periodic table in the library a few days ago, and duly borrowed it (I have also read and enjoyed Hugh Aldersey-Williams’ Periodic Tales). It proved to be an enjoyable and informative read.
While I was still working out how I might work this book and some ideas the occurred to me from my reading of it into a post I came across this article about the approval of names for the four elements which had previously had placeholder names based on the Latin for their number (113, 115, 117 and 118). This leads to my next section…
NAMES FOR ELEMENTS
The four new names are in ascending atomic number order Nihonium (based on the Japanese name for Japan), Moscovium, Tennessine (for the state of Tennessee) and Oganesson (in honour of physicist Yuri Oganessian), this latter further tilting the list of elements named after people in favour of men. Although a few female mythological characters were honoured in earlier times the number of real life females to feature in the periodic table stands at two – Marie Curie with Curium and Lise Meitner with Meitnerium. There was nearly a third – element 102 was subject to vigorous dispute over its discovery between research teams from Sweden and Russia – the Russians were ultimately given credit for discovering it first, but by way of compensation it was given the name Nobelium chosen by the Swedes as opposed to the Russians preferred name of Joliotium (for Irene Joliot-Curie.
This paucity of females having elements named after them got me thinking about ideas for names for future use if more elements (if you have sensible suggestions in this regard please post them in the comments section) and I came with a few ideas:
Hypatium, in honour of the possessor of the last great brain to be nurtured in the Great Library of Alexandria.
Noetherium, for Emmy Noether, mathematical genius.
Angieron for science writer Natalie Angier.
Reichsine for forensic anthropologist and hugely successful novelist Kathy Reichs.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I given you a lot of text, so now here are some pictures…
Three pictures from the lumiere shown on Greyfriars tower.
Christmas lights in Fakenham (three pictures).
LINKS
My first link is to a post by Rob Gorski, who calls himself the Autism Dad. This particular post is about sorting out an issue of one of his sons being bullied.
The text that appears below comes courtesy of Google translate, which I put to work on a piece from Spanish language website www.circuitodeprueba.com – if you can read Spanish, or would just like to see the piece in its original setting click the image that ends this post.
We are in a boom of artificial intelligence for vehicles and electricity as the main fuel, this is when IBM, a legendary computer manufacturer, wants to board the ship and for that he presented OLLI, the means of transport of the future.
Olli is a bus created solely with 3D printers that has automatic driving and is totally electric. In his brain we find the artificial intelligence system IBM Watson IA and its skeleton bears the mark of Local Motors.
The Olli Smart Bus has a capacity of 12 passengers (seated and stopped) and is currently being tested in the city of Washington DC, soon to reach other cities nearby (Miami, Las Vegas) later, specifically later this year, Begin the tests in Denmark.
Some environmental news and some pictures – enjoy.
INTRODUCTION
Having recently shared the latest of Anna’s posts about her campaign to prevent a big new road from being built through an area of outstanding natural beauty I thought a couple of stories showing a more sensible approach were appropriate (and I have some new pictures to share and was looking for something else to put in the post).
HYDROGEN BUSES AND A CLEAN AIR PLAN FOR LONDON
Hydrogen buses are already a feature of the streets of the city of Aberdeen, and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan intends them to be in service in the capital by 2020. Buses are less damagaing than cars anyway because they carry more people, but hydrogen buses have an extra plus point – zeroemissions. To read an excellent article on this theme click the picture below:
A hydrogen powered bus.
Councillor and London Assembly member Caroline Russell has produced a very detailed plan for making London’s streets healthier, backed up with evidence of a successful scheme in Walthanstow. To read the whole document click on the infographic giving details of the Walthamstow success that appears below:
PICTURES
A Brunel £2 received in changeNext to uncirculated coin.The next four pictures show ice on the surface of the lower Purfleet (yes folks, here in the north of the world it is winter)
Some pictures from King’s Lynn – featuring Christmas lights and the Great Ouse.
INTRODUCTION
Here are some of my most recent pictures from in and aroun King’s Lynn.
PICTURES 1: MORE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
When the Christmas lights were first turned on in King’s Lynn I put up this post. Now I have some more Christmas light picturesfor you…
PICTURES 2: THE RIVERBANK
Regular visitors to this blog will know that walking alongside the Great Ouse is something I do a lot of, and I have some good pictures from earlier today when I did just that…
An analysis of my newly acquired collection of beer mats (complete with photos), a unique LNER display and some other stuff.
INTRODUCTION
This post features some stuff I have bought at auctions and some stuff I have been given, and features some links at the end.
BEER MATS
I mentioned in my post about James and Sons’ November auction that I had purchased a box of beer mats. Well I have just finished sorting through them and categorizing them, taking photos along the way.
MACALLAN
There are seven mats that relate to Macallan Scotch Whisky. Macallan are sposnors of one of the world’s most prestigious bridge tournaments as well as purveyors of whisky.
HEINEKEN AND ICE HOCKEY
I have 12 Heineken mats, one circular and 11 athletics track shaped. These latter 11 feature Ice Hockey Heroes – I have a run of numbers 2 through 9 of the original series of 10 and duplicates of numbers 7, 8 and 9.
RANDOM FOREIGN
Five mats referrg to foreign drinks.
COCA COLA AND COMPETITIONS
I have three mats advertsiign coca cola, two of which are duplicates, a schweppes mat and mat advertising a Holsten Pils competition.
The two central mats are duplicates – I have shown different sides of each.
GENERAL SCOTCHES
Four mats advertising scotch whiskies other than Macallan.
PRODUCE OF THE APPLE
Five mats where the focus is on drinks created from apples:
THE IRISH CONTINGENT
I have nine mats featuring products of the Emerald Isle.
The two big Guinness mats are duplicates, as are the three Murphy’s mats.
UNCATEGORIZED
Four mats that I could not think of a category for.
BEER MATS GENERAL
We now come to the best bits of the collection. Starting with nine mats featuring a range of beers from around the country.
The Webster’s mats at the top are duplicates save that they have different heroes on the back, as you will see later…
BEER MATS – EAST ANGLIA
There are ten beer mats in this group, all with a connection to East Anglia.
You have now seen every beer mat in the collection, but I was not quite finished yet…
THOMAS’ TOP THREE
This is an image of my three favourite beer mats.
THE RAILWAY CONNECTION
Some mats that are specifically railway oriented.
The Samuel Whitbread connection is a little tenuous, and I took the opportunity to show the Amy Johnson profile.
THE BUTTONS
One of my colleagues recently gave me some LNER buttons (LNER stood for London and North Eastern Railway), and had previously given me an LNER badge. I also had some other LNBER buttons and an LNER themed postcard from previous purchases, and assembled this into an LNER display.
The three buttons that set me thinking about the display – without using the flashthe same buttons with flashclose up of the locomotive buttonClose up of an LNER buttonButtons, the badge and the postcard mounted ready for display.The top of the display.The bottom fo the displayThe badge.
The display (it is housed in a plastic wallet).
LINKS
I start with some interesting pieces about the byelection that has surely spelt the end of Zac Goldsmith’s political career:
David Hencke, who usually blogs on legal matters offers his take here.
aspiblog 