Birmingham Has Now Got Liths
I was pleased to see that Birmingham has now got maps on liths all over the city centre.
It certainly makes finding your way easier and I used a totally different and more interesting route to get to Carluccio’s from Moor Street station.
Now they need decent street and route maps on every bus stop in the city.
How Chemistry Overcame Politics
I sometimes describe myself as an engineer/scientist, despite the fact that I made most of my money by programming computers.
So this morning, this article entitled Thatcher and Hodgkin: How chemistry overcame politics, on the BBC’s web site caught my eye. Here’s the introduction.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Dorothy Hodgkin’s Nobel Prize, a play – The Chemistry Between Them – has been written, looking at her friendship with Margaret Thatcher. Its creator Adam Ganz describes their ongoing mutual respect.
Whether you love or hate Margaret Thatcher, you must read the article about the relationship between two of the most influential British women of the twentieth century. There is this significant paragraph.
It’s a peculiar fact that the UK’s Margaret Thatcher and Germany’s Angela Merkel both studied science at university, yet no male leader of either country has had a science degree.
Is the lack of scientific knowledge amongst world leaders the reason, why the world is in such a mess?
I shall be listening to the play on Radio 4.
As regards the play, I can’t think of a serious play or film, with the exception of The Killing of Sister George and Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?, that has two female leads and no significant male parts.
What Do They Mean By An Organic Pharmacy?
I passed this shop in Hampstead today.
The Organic Pharmacy
But what do they mean by an organic pharmacy?
Does it mean that all products sold, have come from an organic agricultural or horticultural route?
Or does it mean that it only sells organic compounds? This is Wikipedia’s first paragraph.
An organic compound is any member of a large class of gaseous, liquid, or solid chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon. For historical reasons discussed below, a few types of carbon-containing compounds such as carbides, carbonates, simple oxides of carbon (such as CO and CO2), and cyanides are considered inorganic.[1] The distinction between organic and inorganic carbon compounds, while “useful in organizing the vast subject of chemistry… is somewhat arbitrary.
So surely as some important things you buy in a pharmacy like soap are inorganic compounds, if it’s the second definition, you have a problem about what you can buy there. You could certainly buy Vaseline there, as it’s petroleum jelly and petrol is a hydrocarbon, which makes it organic.
I think I’ll march to Boots!
An Interesting Take On Air Miles
I bought two of these little boxes in Waitrose, so I can use them for the second chop, burger, fish or steak, that I have to buy when creating a delicious and nutritious meal for one. My freezer is half full with all this unused food.
The interesting thing is that they were made in New Zealand, so if I put them in the fridge upside down, they might save space as well.
I think it’s the first time, I’ve ever bought anything that was manufactured as opposed to grown in New Zealand.
Was it air-freighted from New Zealand with the lid closed?
If it was, it gives a whole new meaning to the subject of Air Miles!
And also when I opened it for the first time, did it release a whole container full of fresh Antipodean air into my house?
The latter might apply even if it came by sea!
A comedian could generate a whole routine around this simple container.
J And C Reunited In My Kitchen
I needed a few more mugs and just had to buy these when I saw them in Marks and Spencer.
J And C Reunited In My Kitchen
But I did have to buy them on-line, as they seem to be two of the rarer letters.
I’m reminded of a story from my past.
I was working for ICI at Runcorn and I’d designed and built an instrument to measure water in a particular chemical stream. It needed to be fitted and wired into the plant in their Rocksavage works. I was told to arrange the fitting with Charlie Akers, who was the senior electrician on the plant. I turned up one morning at the electrical workshop in the plant and Charlie gave me a tour, which showed me all the dangers and how to do basic things to avoid getting into trouble. To this day, when I’m climbing metal staircases and ladders, I still do it in the way that Charlie showed me, to avoid getting nasty chemicals or dirt on my hands.
Charlie then took me back to their workshop and then proceeded to pull a new white mug out of a box of about a couple of dozen and then with a small brush put my name on it. He then said that now, I’d had no excuse to not come here to have a cup of tea before going on the plant, as no-one wanted any accidents.
It was this attention to detail about Health and Safety that was the reason that Rocksavage Works had at the time, the best accident record in ICI.
A couple of years ago, when I went over SELCHP, one of the guides had noticed me climbing some metal stairs and asked if I’d ever worked in plants like that.
After all I’ve been through, Charlie’s lesson is still imprinted in my brain.
Should I Put A Camera In My Bathroom?
My bath, which is on the ground floor, takes about thirteen minutes to fill and usually I time it by the clock on the BBC Breakfast News.
I’ve had the odd overfilling problem, but normally it’s spot on!
I did think about putting a camera there so I could watch it fill from upstairs, where I normally sit, whilst it was filling.
But such a camera, might make guests think, I had a dark side!
On the other hand, it would certainly make filling a bath easier, but it wouldn’t be as good as the self-filling bath, I proposed earlier.
I wonder whether and if so where I can get an Internet enabled load cell?
It would be wonderful to click a button on my computer screen and then a few minutes later be told that my bath was full.
January 2015 Update – As the television is now working properly and I generally have a bath during BBC Breakfast, I now have a reliable clock in my bathroom.
Islington Has Got A Smart New Post Office
When I came here in 2010, Islington had two Post Offices on Upper Street; an old traditional one by St. Mary’s Church and a rather dodgy structure on the forecourt of Highbury and Islington station.
Both are now gone and a smart new one has opened in a double-fronted shop opposite the Town Hall.
Islington Has Got A Smart New Post Office
Peering through the window, it would appear to have all the latest automatic machines to send letters and parcels to Oblivion and everywhere else. According to Livy, Oblivion is defined as the Limia River in Spain.
Boom Or Bust In Ilford?
I like this article about the effect of Crossrail on Ilford, when it opens in 2018, from the Ilford Recorder.
I think generally the article thinks the new line will have a positive effect on the area.
One thing the article ignores is the Essex Effect. Give the county an opportunity and it will take the fullest advantage of what has been given.
This Is Not The Way To Fight The IS Threat To Britain
This report on the BBC about the Islamic State threat to the UK worries me. Here’s the first bit.
Islamic State militants could grow strong enough to target people on the streets of Britain unless action is taken, David Cameron has warned.
The PM, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, said a “humanitarian response” to IS was not enough and a “firm security response” was needed.
It comes as Church leaders expressed concern that the UK had no “coherent” approach to tackling Islamic extremism.
By saying they are a threat so strongly, David Cameron is actually encouraging those disaffected young men, who want their five minutes of fame to do something that we’ll all regret.
We must find a way to channel this aggression that some young Muslim men feel into more worthwhile areas.
In the nineteen seventies and eighties, there was a lot of trouble in areas like Bristol, Brixton and Toxteth. I wonder how many of those, who might have thought about rioting are now pillars of society?
The solution will not be a simple one. But I can’t help feeling that better schools and transport infrastructure are two areas to start, as this gives us more of the better educated we need and allows them to travel to the jobs that are available.
We should also open up opportunities for Muslim women to become full members of society, whether the men like it or not. In fact you could argue that intelligent Muslim young women are one of the problems, as they are rejecting these idiot men and effectively giving them more reason to join the Islamic State.
Clamping down hard, as the Israelis have shown in Gaza, will just make matters worse.
Was Jerry’s Junk Poisoning Me?
This afternoon the cause of the temperature rise I noticed here, has hopefully been resolved.
Richard from RC Electrics has removed the old transformers from the roof and replaced them with modern units.
Have you ever seen junk like this? They were running really hot and all the Bakelite cases were in bits.
I asked if there were any health hazards with what I thought was Bakelite and I found this page. It says this.
Bakelite is made in a process that uses Phenol and formaldehyde both of which are toxic. Bakelite is safe to handle, but may deteriorate over time releasing the toxins in small quantities.
Only time will tell, if there is any improvement in the air in this house.
But after sitting here with the windows closed and the lights off for half-an-hour, the temperature has stabilised at 24.6°C, as opposed to 25.3°C last time. The difference is accounted for by different temperatures outside and the updated roof. I’ve now switched the lights on and we’ll see what happens.
After half-an-hour it’s risen to 24.7°C with a humidity of 44%. Three hours later it was 24.1°C and 43%.
The Anonymous Widower 