Sharing the best stuff I have found on the internet lately, and some of my own pictures.
INTRODUCTION
No – I’m not getting into financial writing! This title refers to the fact that this post is largely devoted to sharing interesting stuff I have found recently, with some pictures, mainly from work.
The “Make Votes Matter” campaign have launched a thunderclap as the latest stage of their efforts to get the antiquated and defective FPTP system under which British general elections are fought.
SEA WORLD PETITION
Another long standing campaign entering a new phase. The new development is a map to which you can add your presence:
The two links posted on my website (here and here)
To check out the tool (I caught it out once – when although it correctly had me change at Stockwell to the Victoria line for a journey between Tooting Bec and Great Portland Street it then had me change at King;’s Cross to the Circle/ Hammersmith and City/ Metropolitan, instead of alighting at Warren Street, strolling round the corner to Euston Square and travelling one stop west – a net gain of three stops with little time difference in the interchanges) click the screenshot below:
OTHER LINKS
These are individual links that defy any sort of grouping:
David Hencke provides a sensible analysis of the recent court decision re Brexit – this has provoked some truly appalling press coverage, with the Daily Heil being in full ‘hurrah for the blackshirts’ mode, and the newspaper that is not sold on Merseyside not far behind in the awfulness stakes.
As already stated, most of my pictures are from work on Thursday and yesterday.
Lot 1 in James and Sons auction that will take place on November 30th.
Lot 154Lot 293
Lot 596Finishing appropriately given the nature of the post with an image of a pin badge that I spotted on twitter. The design is a phylogenetic tree btw.
Musical Keys, Cricket, Photography and some links.
INTRODUCTION
The title of this post refers to Saturday’s Musical Keys session at the Scout Hut on Beulah Street (a place that by now is almost as familiar to me as my own humble abode such is the number of events I have attended there). I also have plenty of other stuff to share.
MUSICAL KEYS
Having missed the previous Musical Keys session because I was attending the “Marxism and Nature” Day Schoolin London (well done to the International Socialism Journal team, you organised a great event) I was anticipating this session more eagerly than usual. Then came the news that the branch chair would probably not be able to attend as her son was playing up, which meant that I would be the sole NAS West Norfolk committee member present.
THE WALK THERE
I decided to go via Bawsey Drain (there was no decision to make as regards the mode of transport although it is a longish walk) and I was able to take some pictures along the way.
Another splendid tree (to see lots of tree pics visit Anna’s blog and look at some of the recent posts there)
The outside of the scout hut.This section of path has recently been resurfaced.
THE SESSION ITSELF
I was specifically requested to take pictures during this session by John and Kirsten, who run the sessions for Musical Keys. Therefore I have lots of pictures. The session began with the focus exclusively on a kind of wooden drum, shaped like a three dimensional capital T, which had been cunningly wired up to a computer.
How this wooden instrument was wired up to a computer.
Later in the session people were encouraged to try other instruments – two electronic keyboards were available and both were used, I sampled an acoustic guitar and also an electric bass guitar, and a single drum was available for most of the session, with the full set (which tends to drown out everything else) in action for the last few minutes.
The keyboards being played.A stand alone drum
The range of guitars.A couple of close-ups of the particular acoustic guitar that I played.
The full drum set ready for actionThe drum set in use.Kirsten (one of the two people who run the sessions) playing an acoustic guitar.
SOME FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE BANGLADESH – ENGLAND SERIES
The result of the second match in this two match series, which I celebrated here, was splendid not just for Bangladesh, but also for cricket as a whole. England now head for a five match series in India, where they can confidently expect every pitch to be turning from minute one of every match (and can have no complaints given the number of times they have had sub-continental teams play on green seamers at places such as Durham and Leeds early in the English season). Frankly having seen how England have handled spin friendly conditions in Bangladesh, India should probably reckon that any series outcome other than 5-0 to them is a disappointment.
England this series have been exposed in several areas:
Top order batting – in four completed innings the top five contributed only three individual scores above 50 between them, one a piece for Joe Root, Moeen Ali and Ben Duckett. Cook’s 39 in his final innings of the series was his best effort, while Ballance failed badly in all four innings, being out to a particularly gruesome shot in the final one.
Spin bowling – of the four front-line spinners played by England in this series (Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Zafar Ansari and Gareth Batty) none produced a really convincing performance overall, although Moeen Ali took five wickets during Bangladesh’s collapse from 170-1 to 220 all out in the first innings at Dhaka and Rashid 4-52 in second innings of that same match. England, in a spin dominated series, were saved from complete embarrassment by Ben Stokes who captured 11 wickets at 10.09 to be their joint leading wicket taker, as well as being their leading run scorer.
Captaincy – Alastair Cook had an even poorer series in this respect than he did with the bat. Whenever the spinners were bowling they had right from the word go fielders at deep long off and at deep point – meaning that singles were always easily obtainable. These field setting seem horribly like covering the bad ball (of which it must be said there were far too many from all of England’s spinners).
I am going to finish this section with individual player ratings for all those used by England (the player of the series on either side was Mehedi of Bangladesh btw).
Alastair Cook (C): a poor series with the bat and a poorer one as captain. Rating 3/10.
Ben Duckett: looked unconvincing in his first three innings, but redeemed himself to an extent in the fourth – his approach in that innings got Bangladesh on the back foot. His dismissal straight after tea in that innings was the trigger for Bangladesh’s greatest ever session in the field in test cricket. Rating 5/10
Joe Root: a gritty 50 in the first innings at Dhaka when no one else offered serious resistance until the partnership between Rashid and Woakes was his only major contribution with the bat. Rating 5/10
Gary Ballance: after his first three innings of this series I commented that he was not batting long enough to know what sort of form he was in. His fourth innings was equally brief, but the shot with which it ended was truly dreadful. Rating 0/10
Moeen Ali: a useful 50 in Chittagong, and wickets in both games. However as an off-spinner he was comprehensively outclassed by 19 year old Mehedi on the other side. Rating 7/10
Ben Stokes: England’s player of the series, his 85 at Chittagong was England’s highest individual score of the series, he was the teams overall leading run scorer and joint leading wicket taker (this latter in a series were quick bowlers were mainly bystanders). Without his efforts this series would certainly have been 2-0 to Bangladesh. Rating 9/10
Jonny Bairstow (WK): A competent series with gloves in difficult conditions and a fifty in the first match. Rating 6/10
Zafar Ansari: his selection in place of fellow Surrey man Batty for the second match of the series gave England a more varied bowling attack, and he picked up a couple of wickets. He failed to contribute with the bat. Rating 4/10
Chris Woakes: significant contributions with the bat in both matches, though his bowling was not of much significance in this series. Rating 5/10
Adil Rashid: A useful batting effort in the first innings at Dhaka, when he and Woakes rescued their supposed betters and gave England a lead, his bowling in favourable conditions was disappointing. Rating 5/10
Stuart Broad: Bowled well at Chittagong, was rested for Dhaka. Rating 5/10
Gareth Batty: His selection for this tour at the age of 39 and after a 12 year hiatus in his international career was a major indictment of English spin bowling, and he contributed little in the one match he played, at Chittagong. Rating 2/10
Stephen Finn: Came in for Stuart Broad at Dhaka, and his only contribution of note was to become the answer to the quiz question “whose dismissal gave Bangladesh their first ever test victory against England?” Rating 1/10
FAWKES IN THE WALKS
This has historically been a very successful event and I hope it will be so again. However, as an autistic person who reacts badly to sudden loud noises, I would also like to say that fireworks should be restricted to official displays of this sort.
My next and penultimate link is to Anna’s effort to get people to post about tree walks. To view her most recent post on the subject click on the screenshot below.
My final link is to a book review on my London transport themed website – click the screenshot below to visit it.
A brief account of James and Sons’ October auction with some photographs.
INTRODUCTION
James and Sons’ October Auction took place in the Erpingham Room in the Maids Head Hotel, Norwich on Wednesday. Lots 1-450 were fairly normal James and Sons auction fare, and then lots 451 onwards were a lifetime collection of posters. Thus the plan was to have a break after lot 450.
A DIFFICULT START
We started the day with the internet not working properly. We were able to connect using Wifi, but our card reader requires a cable connection to function properly. Nevertheless, the auction got underway on time, and there were some notable successes early in the auction, especially the militaria.
THE POSTERS
As well as imaging pretty well all of the posters I had described most of them, so it was with interest but little expectation that following a short lunch break that I awaited the outcome of this part of the sale. A few posters sold well, but the majority did not. Slightly frustratingly in the circumstances with so much not finding buyers all four of the railway themed posters I had been considering went way beyond my price range. Here are the fab four in question:
Lot 729 – I had not particularly expected to get this one given that it was laminated and clearly old.Lot 737, which I used as the centrepiece for a post about the Museum of London on my website (this one), this being where the Lord Mayor’s carriage is displayed when not in use – again this was not a great hope.Lot 763, an advert for one-day travelcards – this was the one that I had reckoned I was most likely to get.The double sided laminated poster that was lot 764 also sold for much more than I could have afforded.
The auction done, it was time to load the van back up. This task accomplished I was able to go my own way (the van would be unloaded the following morning, so I would not be needed in Fakenham). I had just enough time before the last bus I could catch home using my dayrider plus to make a trip to the library worthwhile. I got home 13 hours after setting out.
THE FINAL VERDICT
Fortunately enough good things happened during lots 1-450 to more than cover the disappointing outcome of the poster sale, and it was overall a very good sale.
In my previous post here I indicated that there would be a number of new posts appearing on my London Transport themed website. I now provide links to them.
A post prompted in part by Mike Sivier’s excellent open letter to Angela Eagle and in part by having a few other things to share – enjoy.
INTRODUCTION
This post is a bit of a pot-pourri, although one of the links and the open letter are related.
THE OPEN LETTER AND RELATED LINK
The author of this open letter is Mike Sivier of Vox Political, on whose blog I found it. Here is the open letter in full, followed by a link to the blog post in which I found it:
Dear Ms Eagle,
As a Labour voter of many years’ standing, and a member of the party for the last six, I am writing to express my outrage at your comments following the vandalism of the Wallasey party office.
We can agree that the damage to the window – like any crime – is unacceptable. However:
How dare you claim that it was carried out by a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, “in his name”? Do you have any evidence? Do the police already know who did it? I think not – otherwise we would no doubt have heard about it.
In fact, Mr Corbyn has made it abundantly clear – many times over the past few weeks, that he finds such behaviour abhorrent and wants members of the party to discuss their differences in a cordial manner. This leads me to my second point:
How dare you try to pontificate to the rest of the party about “bullying”, after the behaviour you have forced Mr Corbyn to endure, together with the other 170+ PLP rebels?
Look at the behaviour that has occurred in YOUR name:
Months of secret plotting against Mr Corbyn after he won the Labour leadership last year;
The intention to mislead the public into thinking the Labour ‘coup’ was prompted by Mr Corbyn’s performance in the EU referendum when it had been pre-planned over many months;
The co-ordinated, on-the-hour resignations of shadow cabinet members throughout June 26 in an effort to BULLY Mr Corbyn out of the Labour leadership;
The purchase of a web domain entitled ‘Angela4Leader’ the day before those resignations;
The hasty and unconstitutional calling and passing of a vote of ‘no confidence’ in Mr Corbyn in another attempt to BULLY him out of office;
(It has been implied that some, or indeed many, Labour MPs were BULLIED into supporting that vote)
The attempted BULLYING of Mr Corbyn himself at a Parliamentary Labour Party meeting;
The many letters by your fellow Labour MPs, trying to BULLY Mr Corbyn into resigning; and
The fabricated smear stories intended to undermine Mr Corbyn’s support among members and, again, BULLY him into resigning – including your claim today about this broken office window.
If you are serious in your claim that bullying “has absolutely no place in politics in the UK and it needs to end”, then perhaps the best way to start would be by ending your own challenge to Mr Corbyn’s leadership, submitting yourself to the mercy of your constituents who are holding a ‘no confidence’ vote on your conduct later this month, and considering your own future in politics.
I have just put up a new post on my London Transport themed website centred on the Institute of Education.
SOME NEW PHOTOS
Just a few photos that I have not previously shared:
A work colleague who knows of my interest in railwayana gave me this badge. By the way, this union was one of those amalgamated to form the Rail and Maritime Transport workers union (RMT).Moorhen with two chicks, upper Purfleet, King’s LynnI saw this near Lynn Sport on Sunday
I finally have a replacement battery for my laptop, which all being well will make posting a lot easier than it has been recently while I have been dependent on library computers.
MARXISM 2016
My last post but one told everyone that I was off to Marxism 2016. I arrived back yesterday evening, and I have a lot of material to share from that fabulous event, so a number of posts about the experience will be appearing in the not too distant future both here and on my London transport themed website www.londontu.be.
A COOL LINK
I found this gem, about us reaching Jupiter, on whyevolutionistrue and am sharing it here both because it is superb stuff and because I am accompanying the share with a sample image, thereby saving this post from being text only. To view the full post click here.
An account of the finish of the Nottinghamshire vs Surrey game in the county championship, some quality photos and some important links.
INTRODUCTION
As well as an account of a classic finish in the county championship match between Surrey and Notts I have some photos and a few links to share.
SURREY’S UNAVAILING FIGHT BACK
Thanks to Kumar Sangakkara and Arun Harinath in their second innings Surrey came into the final day with half a chance of completing a Lazarus like come back. Surrey’s second innings ended on the stroke of lunch with them having built a lead of 168 – just enough that things might get interesting…
Opener Greg Smith played a solid innings for Notts, but when he was out the score was 152-7 and an upset was definitely possible. However, nos 8 and 9, with a pair of genuine tail-enders to follow saw through the danger to get Notts home by three wickets. There was no play anywhere else in the country.
PHOTOS
Owing to the nature of the day (cricket in the middle thereof), I took two walks, one in the morning and one in the evening and I have pictures from both to share…
Shot through the window of a bus yesterday.All Saints ChurchThe side of All Saints Church – note the checkerboard panel.
These butterflies were enjoying the sun and the dandelions near Old Boal Quay
This pic and the next have gone down well with my twitter followers.
These three shots of the Brunel £2 set demarcate morning and evening pics.
A new page on my London transport themed website, called “Attractions” and
The introductory postto what will be a series based on the disabledgo piece.
My remaining links also belong together, constituting
THREE MORE REASONS FOR LONDONERS TO
VOTE FOR SIAN BERRY IN THE MAYORAL ELECTIONS
Sian Berry has been running the best campaign of all the contenders for London Mayor by the proverbial country mile, and today she has responded as a potential decision maker to not one or even two but three change.org petitions that I have signed. I have links below to the pages that show her very detailed and very positive responses to all three.
Thirdly and finally is a call addressed by the creator of the petition to Zac Goldsmith and Sadiq Khan, but today answered by Sian, to protect independent shop owners in the capital.
An account of today at James and Sons, featuring the construction of a press release, a bonus explanation of the origin of the phrase ‘bent as a nine-bob note’, and at the end a couple of important links.
INTRODUCTION
I have some old images to share, some new images to share, and a press release to talk about. Additionally I have a couple of important links that I will be sharing at the end of this post.
THE CREATION OF A PRESS RELEASE
There are several stages involved in creating press releases/ bulk emails. Stage 1 is working out what to cover, which in this case involved two aspects:
The success of the March 30th and 31st auction, with large numbers of internet bidders, and…
Each of the foregoing for maximum effect needed to be accompanied by an appropriate image. Hence:
IMAGE SELECTION
For the March image I was looking for something that had sold for well above estimate, and would look good in an email. Thus my attention focussed on lot 720, which I recalled as being both interesting visually and spectacularly successful in the auction room. Thus I needed to view the full image gallery and select from within that…
This full image is too busy for use in an email
This image showing the coins and ingot in their natural alignment looked good
I could have used this but decided against it
The obverses on their own are not very interesting – it is the reverses that are distinctive
It was close a call for this one.
The ingot on it’s own could not be used, but there were possibilities involving it…
I decided, given the shape of image I was looking for to combine the shot of the four coins and the ingot and the close-up of the ingot into a composite image (I considered the four reverses on their own, but wanted both parts of the image to have the same colour background).
The composite I created for the occasion.
For the image to accompany the text advertising the April auction the task was easier – I went for the front cover item for very obvious reasons.
Incidentally the above denomination of banknote provides the origin for the phrase “bent as a nine-bob note” – ‘bob’ was a colloquialism for a shilling, and as shown above, a ‘ten-bob’ note was kosher while a ‘nine-bob note’ would absolutely not have been.
ASSEMBLING A MAILING LIST
Coming up with the text for the press release is a straight-forward task, and assembling a mailing list is a simple matter of noting which categories of items are prominent in the upcoming auction, selecting the appropriate lists from the database and combining them into one big list. In this instance there were almost 400 names on the final list. As a security measure (and a guard against people hitting the ‘reply to all’ button) I am the designated recipient of the emails (my James and Sons email address, not my personal one) and the true recipients are bcc’d. Thus, given that our system can handle approximately 100 people being bcc’d at a time, this one involved sending the email four times.
THE FINAL PRESS RELEASE
I have a jpg of the final press release, and also a link that will enable you to view the document in its original word format.
In addition to the above, some work on the database and some fetching and carrying there were also a few items that had been catalogued but had not previously been in our possession so still needed imaging…
This ‘claymore’ type sword is an absolute monster – stood vertically it reaches my shoulder!
Finally, to end this post on an upbeat note, a story from the New Statesmanby way of Prides Purgeabout how badly the Tory campaign for London Mayor has come off the rails(attentive followers of this blog and my London transport themed website, www.londontu.be, will know that if I had a vote in that election I would be using it on Sian Berry’s behalf, but whoever ends up benefitting – most likely Sadiq Khan – bad news for Tories is good news for me!)
A mixed bag of a post, featuring autism, public transport, cricket and photography among others.
INTRODUCTION
I have many things to share with you today about a variety of subjects. Read on and enjoy!
AUTISM
Earlier today I spotted a link on twitter to something posted on assistiveware called “5 Guidelines to Keep in Mind for Autism Acceptance Month”. I recommend you read it in full, and here to tempt you is guideline 3 in all it’s glory (this was the one the resonated most closely with me, though all 5 are on the money and very important:
Nothing about us without us.
It is not uncommon to see human interest stories about autism where parents, teachers, speech therapists, and even the school janitor all share their insights on an autistic person and what autism means for him or her. It often seems that the only person who doesn’t get a word in is the subject of the article! The problem here is that nobody is a mind-reader. I’m sure everyone reading this has experienced your parents making mistakes about your thoughts or opinions. Autism doesn’t change that.
Not every person with autism will be able to respond to interview questions. However, many who could are simply not asked. Others can speak or write, but struggle to answer questions in real time. For these people, simple accommodations like providing written interview questions ahead of time can make a huge difference!
Another common error is to assume that no autistic person will ever read an article about autism. Writers may say we are “unlike you and me,” or “just like you and me,” but only rarely are we included as part of the “us” that makes up the readership. The truth is, there is nowhere where you can safely assume that none of us are present. Autism is an extremely variable condition, where many different combinations of traits can all lead to the same diagnosis. Whatever your audience is, chances are at least a few of us are already in it.
I conclude this section with a brief mention for another twitter find, who also caught my attention by contributing something about autism, Walsingham Support, which happens to lead neatly on to my next section…
TWO NEW PIECES ON WWW.LONDONTU.BE
I had already decided that I was going to put up a post about Mile End on the website when I saw the tweet from Walsingham Support that piqued my interest in them. I noted their address, and guessed that this was a peg on which I might be able to hang a post about Totteridge & Whetstone, which hunch proved correct. Below are links, each accompanied by a picture, to the posts in question:
The West Indies completed a double in the World T20, the women having romped past the Aussies to take their title. The men’s match between the West Indies and England was a match of twists and turns, which looked like England had it when the West Indies need 19 from the last over. However, Carlos Brathwaite (Brath-ut if you want to pronounce that surname West Indies fashion) then hit four successive sixes off Ben Stokes to give the West Indies victory. I listened to the early stages of this match at my parent’s house after Sunday lunch, on the first day of the year that it was warm enough to sit outside, and while listening and reading a book (Dawkins’ “The Greatest Show on Earth”) I also took some…
PHOTOGRAPHS
A word of warning to those who suffer peculiar phobias, this set of photographs features ladybirds.
The first nine pictures were taken in King’s Lynn yesterday morning.
Sunday pudding – a variation on a classic theme – a rhubarb and custard tart – and it tasted at least as good as it looks in this picture!
A pot-pourri of a post in which you can read a great story from Paula Peters of DPAC, an account of England’s win in the World T20, find a petition to sign and share and link to the latest post on my website.
INTRODUCTION
I have a few new pictures to share, a few good links to share, a good news story that has already had considerable attention but is so great I just have to share it (it will also be going on my London transport themed website for reasons that will become obvious) and news of today’s game in the World T20.
A GREAT STORY FROM PAULA PETERS
ENGLAND DO IT THE HARD WAY
England lost the toss and were put in by Sri Lanka in today’s all-or-nothing game in the World T20. A magnificent innings by Jos Buttler (66 off 37 balls) boosted England’s total to an adequate 170. It looked even better when Sri Lanka were 25-4 in the sixth over of the reply, but this England team never seem to do things the easy way. With Angelo Matthews blazing away, Sri Lanka got back into the contest and at times looked like they could do it. Then, with 15 needed off the final over, Ben Stokes who had earlier hit the last ball of the England innings for 6 (the only ball he faced as well!) and taken a fine catch, kept a cool head, and remarkably conceded just four off that over to finish with 0-19 from his four overs. Thus England won by four runs, and will face New Zealand in the semi-final, at the same ground and on the same day as the England women take on Australia in their semi-final.
LINKS
Just a couple of links today:
A petition launched by Jo Rust to save King’s Lynn’s Citizens Advice Bureau. Please click here, and sign and share Jo’s petition.
A link to the most recent post on my London transport themed website, which deals with St Albans and St Albans Abbey.
THE PICTURES
Seven (count ’em) boats moored at the jetty today.
Jailbird! Actually of course this is an ordinary fence and it just looks like the bird is behind bars.
This map con be seen outside King’s Lynn train station.These last three pics featured in my St Albans website post
aspiblog 