Last weekend I did a Lord of the rings marathon with some friends - in a butt-numbing 12 hour session of hobbits, moody rangers, hot elves, pizza and shandy (beer & lemonade) at a local cinema/brew house. To break up the event there was a trivia competition (I won a prize woo-hoo !) and a Gollum impersonation contest (I came third - the winner was awesome, so I do not begrudge him his trophy). The movies personal favourites of mine (alongside the "Princess Bride" and a couple of other movies), but I have to say the ending of the Return of the King is slow, and sonorously looooooong drawn out and you are glad when finally Frodo sails off to the undying lands with Bilbo, Gandalf and Galadriel and Sam, Merry and Pippin goes back to their life in teh Shire to live happily ever after ...
But that's not how it really ends if you read Tolkien...
Merry (my personal favourite character) and Pippin live unusually long lives and leave the Shire for Rohan to see an old and ailing Eomer on his deathbed. They then travel to Minas Tirith and live out the rest of their days there with Aragorn, and are entombed in the hall of the kings. Aragorn actually lives to be 210 years old (at the beginning of Lord of the Rings in Bree, he's in his eighties), and when he finally dies, he's entombed next to his two hobbit friends. Poor Arwen however, carries on, and eventually heads to Lothlorien and according to Tolkien's notes, she just lies down and dies of a broken heart. Pretty tragic.
Meeting the parents of your new girlfriend/boyfriend at any time is stressful, but when they tell their beloved child that by dating you "there is only death" it really could put a dampener and cast a pall over Thanksgiving and family holidays. Elrond, however, was a little concerned about the slight age gap between Arwen and Aragorn. When Aragorn met Arwen he was twenty and she was nearly 3000 years old. A daunting age gap by any means, especially as 20 year old guys are pretty immature compared to women of the same age, let alone one who is 150 times older than them. As I mentioned above, at the beginning of Lord of the Rings, Aragorn is in his eighties, so he and Arwen had had 60 years of an on-again-off-gain romance before the beginning of the story, that would kicks the antics of "friends" Rachel and Ross to the kerb.
After Aragorn dies, Legolas and Gimli head to the undying lands too. As the elves have largely all gone by then, Legolas builds a boat and the two of them set sail off into the sunset together, towards an eternal bromance across the sea.
And talking of bromances...
Samwise Gamgee doesn't stay in the Shire, despite the last scene of the movie. After Rosie passes away, he too takes a boat with the elves to the undying lands, to follow master Frodo. He leaves the famous book There and Back Again & The Lord of the Rings with his daughter, but sails away to the west to find his old friends and Frodo.... and they live happily forever after ...
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
This is why we can't have nice things...like the ocean
The nice people over at Deep Sea News asked by to do a guest blog for them.
So here is a link: This is why we can't have nice things...like the ocean
It was spawned by an announcement from the US Government and hit on one of my current bugbears - the chronic lack of communication, funding, coordination and organisation in the marine conservation community and the high level of competition.
The fact that I got to sneak in references to Sesame street, Finding Nemo, MC Hammer (and sadly.... Vanilla Ice), and Aliens ... was a bonus.
So here is a link: This is why we can't have nice things...like the ocean
It was spawned by an announcement from the US Government and hit on one of my current bugbears - the chronic lack of communication, funding, coordination and organisation in the marine conservation community and the high level of competition.
The fact that I got to sneak in references to Sesame street, Finding Nemo, MC Hammer (and sadly.... Vanilla Ice), and Aliens ... was a bonus.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Facebook - the therapist for teenage trauma
Shocking as this might seem, I was a very nerdy teenager. Plus I looked very much like Daniel Radcliffe in the worst fashions the 1980s could offer. My high school love life was a morass of nerdy angst, paranoia and neuroses with more near misses and spectacular crashes than all of the Jason Statham Transporter movies added together. But thanks to Facebook I have discovered that I was not actually such a hopeless disaster after all.
Several of my old high school crushes are now on Facebook and I discovered that one of my long-term crushes (and my biggest academic rival/arch nemesis) also had a huge crush on me (and also considered me to be her biggest rival/nemesis too, which also pleases me).
One of my other big crushes (we also had our mutual "first kiss" but what followed was a truly epic crash of Statham-like proportions and a long period of, what I thought was unrequited, longing) won't actually FB friend me because she is now recently married and worried about facebook friending her "first love". I thought my big crush was unrequited and I had been epically dissed - turns out she was super shy, could not bring herself to talk to me after our romantic liaison, and I obviously had a much bigger impact on her life than I had imagined.
One of my biggest teenage traumas was, however, my dreadful first date. I arrived at the appointed hour (cunningly pretending to my parents that I was meeting a friend at a book shop) but said date did not arrive. I was stood up on my first ever date! I spent some six hours wondering around the bookshop with my teenage heart crushed into tiny pieces until my parents arrived to pick me up, and take my heartbroken carcass back home, while I pretended that I had a great time. It turns out that she had been forbidden to date boys by her extremely strict and conservative parents, but and had been kept home, but had been too embarrassed and afraid to tell me - in fact very far from the rejection I had thought it was.
Facebook has generally been good to me as far as exes are concerned, my first real love actually invited me to Facebook (although sadly a possessive boyfriend sadly led to her actually leaving facebook altogether), and my exes from long term relationships are good friends with me and we chat a lot - sometimes you just realize you are fundamentally incompatible, but that doesn't stop you from being close friends and caring about each other, once the dust has died down.
But to get back to the topic, I've discovered, thanks to facebook, that I was not such a romantic unloved failure as I thought in my teenage years. I just have a huge attraction to nerdy girls (see my earlier blog on my infatuation with nerd girls), who in their teens were as nervous, shy and neurotic as I. Plus, quite frankly, when it comes to determining whether a girl likes me or not, I am spectacularly blind - she really needs a massive sign in flashing neon above her head for me to pick up the signals. Those teenage nerdettes could have probably been jumping up and down, waving at me and I might not have seen they liked me... So thank you facebook, it may be 30 years too late, but you have greatly bolstered the ego and confidence of my teenage self.
Several of my old high school crushes are now on Facebook and I discovered that one of my long-term crushes (and my biggest academic rival/arch nemesis) also had a huge crush on me (and also considered me to be her biggest rival/nemesis too, which also pleases me).
One of my other big crushes (we also had our mutual "first kiss" but what followed was a truly epic crash of Statham-like proportions and a long period of, what I thought was unrequited, longing) won't actually FB friend me because she is now recently married and worried about facebook friending her "first love". I thought my big crush was unrequited and I had been epically dissed - turns out she was super shy, could not bring herself to talk to me after our romantic liaison, and I obviously had a much bigger impact on her life than I had imagined.
One of my biggest teenage traumas was, however, my dreadful first date. I arrived at the appointed hour (cunningly pretending to my parents that I was meeting a friend at a book shop) but said date did not arrive. I was stood up on my first ever date! I spent some six hours wondering around the bookshop with my teenage heart crushed into tiny pieces until my parents arrived to pick me up, and take my heartbroken carcass back home, while I pretended that I had a great time. It turns out that she had been forbidden to date boys by her extremely strict and conservative parents, but and had been kept home, but had been too embarrassed and afraid to tell me - in fact very far from the rejection I had thought it was.
Facebook has generally been good to me as far as exes are concerned, my first real love actually invited me to Facebook (although sadly a possessive boyfriend sadly led to her actually leaving facebook altogether), and my exes from long term relationships are good friends with me and we chat a lot - sometimes you just realize you are fundamentally incompatible, but that doesn't stop you from being close friends and caring about each other, once the dust has died down.
But to get back to the topic, I've discovered, thanks to facebook, that I was not such a romantic unloved failure as I thought in my teenage years. I just have a huge attraction to nerdy girls (see my earlier blog on my infatuation with nerd girls), who in their teens were as nervous, shy and neurotic as I. Plus, quite frankly, when it comes to determining whether a girl likes me or not, I am spectacularly blind - she really needs a massive sign in flashing neon above her head for me to pick up the signals. Those teenage nerdettes could have probably been jumping up and down, waving at me and I might not have seen they liked me... So thank you facebook, it may be 30 years too late, but you have greatly bolstered the ego and confidence of my teenage self.
How to subtly tell me that you might be interested in me romantically - wear this on your head ...
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Easter musings
As today is Easter, I thought I should write something of a sermon. Now no matter whether you are religious or not (and for the record here my personal religious convictions are exactly that, personal), there does appear that Jesus was a historical person, and although there are no immediate accounts of his saying and teachings, those Greek and Hebrew texts closest to his life time quote him as saying along the lines of ...
we should be considerate and help the poor, the unfortunate, incarcerated and victimized....
For example: “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Mtt 24: 34-40)
“But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.” (Mtt 14: 16)
... we should not be hypocritical and he had a poor opinion of those people who proclaimed to be faithful their deeds show them to be not ...
“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.” (Mtt 6:5)
“Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” (Mtt 23:28) .
He clearly wasn't a great fan of capitalism and money at all costs...
“And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.” (J 2: 14-16)
... in fact he was a bit of a commie hippy and extolled the rich giving their wealth to the poor ...
“And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel* to go
through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the
kingdom of God.” (Mtt 19:24)
(*BTW this is an infamous mistranslation - the earliest original texts say rope instead of camel - which makes a lot more sense, but goes to show that the bible is not infallible)
“But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (J 3:17)
... and he was a proponent of universal free healthcare...
“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” (Mtt 9: 35)
He didn't call for violence, in fact called for non-violence+ and diplomacy...
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” (Mtt 5: 9)
(+There are some that argue that the passage in Luke (22:36) where he calls for his disciples to sell their cloaks and buy swords is a call for everyone to buy weapons (as is our God-given second amendment right), but 2 verses later he clearly says that two swords are enough and when his disciples attack a priest's slave (verse 50) he rapidly chastises them and promptly heals the slave (verse 51), which is clearly not the actions of a pro-weapon, pro-aggression person).
He certainly didn't say anything about homosexuality being bad, or protesting about gay marriage, or generally being a hateful bigot. In fact quite the opposite, he said that you should not be judgmental and you should be good to everyone equally.
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." (Mtt 7: 1-2)
"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Mtt 28: 39)
So if Jesus was around now what would he think of the world? Particularly those who claim themselves to be Christian and working in his name, yet argue against free healthcare, welfare, fair treatment and rights of prisoners, who bolster the rich and wealthy to become even more so, while others are close to, and declining into poverty. The level of economic equality in the US is currently greater than the differences between the rich and poor in Regency England - we live in a time of large numbers of poor and a small super wealthy elite to are increasing disenfranchising the less wealthy majority. So what would Jesus do? Seriously... think about it...
But anyway, for those of your that celebrate Easter have a good holiday and don't eat too much chocolate and always remember to always look on the bright side of life...
we should be considerate and help the poor, the unfortunate, incarcerated and victimized....
For example: “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Mtt 24: 34-40)
“But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.” (Mtt 14: 16)
... we should not be hypocritical and he had a poor opinion of those people who proclaimed to be faithful their deeds show them to be not ...
“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.” (Mtt 6:5)
“Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” (Mtt 23:28) .
He clearly wasn't a great fan of capitalism and money at all costs...
“And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.” (J 2: 14-16)
... in fact he was a bit of a commie hippy and extolled the rich giving their wealth to the poor ...
(*BTW this is an infamous mistranslation - the earliest original texts say rope instead of camel - which makes a lot more sense, but goes to show that the bible is not infallible)
“But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (J 3:17)
... and he was a proponent of universal free healthcare...
“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” (Mtt 9: 35)
He didn't call for violence, in fact called for non-violence+ and diplomacy...
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” (Mtt 5: 9)
He certainly didn't say anything about homosexuality being bad, or protesting about gay marriage, or generally being a hateful bigot. In fact quite the opposite, he said that you should not be judgmental and you should be good to everyone equally.
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." (Mtt 7: 1-2)
"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Mtt 28: 39)
So if Jesus was around now what would he think of the world? Particularly those who claim themselves to be Christian and working in his name, yet argue against free healthcare, welfare, fair treatment and rights of prisoners, who bolster the rich and wealthy to become even more so, while others are close to, and declining into poverty. The level of economic equality in the US is currently greater than the differences between the rich and poor in Regency England - we live in a time of large numbers of poor and a small super wealthy elite to are increasing disenfranchising the less wealthy majority. So what would Jesus do? Seriously... think about it...
But anyway, for those of your that celebrate Easter have a good holiday and don't eat too much chocolate and always remember to always look on the bright side of life...
I'm British !
My favourite song of the moment ...
This pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the British ...
Opinionated versus science
I had a friend tell me recently I was opinionated. That was
a pretty good evaluation – I have opinions about many things. Or to put it in a
more scientific frame, I have hypotheses about many things. When I was a child
I was one of those children that was always asking “why?” and was easily
frustrated when no one knew, or the answer was punted. If anyone had answered
simply that “it is known” as an excuse for why things were a certain way, that
didn’t make sense to me, it did, and still does drive me crazy. So I’m
constantly wondering and postulating why things are a certain way – especially
when looking at animal or human behavior (which are often pretty much the
same). But although I may have opinions and ideas about a lot of things, those
opinions are easily changed. If I’m shown evidence, or given a good valid
argument, that my opinion is incorrect I will change it <snap> like that.
Sticking to an opinion or an idea despite evidence to the contrary is sadly
very common in the science community. I see so many “scientists” who stubbornly
resist new ideas and studies, especially if it contradicts a paper that they
wrote or concept that they have publicly supported. But adapting to new
evidence is a key criterion of scientists and if drives me crazy when so many
of the conservative scientists stubbornly resist new evidence saying the
contrary data to their opinion is “bad science” – whereas bad science is
exactly what they are doing, refusing to reject a hypothesis that has been
shown to be false.
Where my opinion is less
changeable is with people. Generally, like Mr Darcy “my good opinion once lost is lost forever”. But that has led to
problems sometimes, as Elizabeth Bennet retorts to Darcy "that is a failing indeed!" - as some of my closest friends when I
first met them, I didn’t really like them. Sometimes it was perhaps because
their behavior in some ways was so similar to mine, and I later realized that
we actually had a lot in common and if I had written them off just from first
impressions, I would have lost a couple of really good friends. But, in
general, if someone is spiteful to me, tries to do me down, or betrays my
trust, that’s it, I’m done with them. So you've been warned.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Field trip packing lists for the discerning traveller
On our recent trip to Costa Rica, the students accidentally
got a rather old, dated "suggested packing" list from one of the lecturers that included
items such as: a compass, “shorts for relaxing” – it did stop short of a pith
helmet, personal valet, white tie and tails (in case we go for dinner) and a flag (for claiming new countries discovered).
Because of this I started looking into packing lists for historical
explorers. For example, Peter Fleming, who traveled 3,5000 miles from Peking to Kasmir, suggested:
- old clothes,
- a few books,
- two compasses
- two portable typewriters,
- two pounds of marmalade,
- four tins of cocoa,
- six bottles of brandy,
- one bottle of Worcester sauce,
- one pound of coffee,
- three small packets of chocolate,
- some soap,
- tobacco,
- barley meal and other basic foodstuffs.
I highly support the Worcester sauce – an essential cooking
ingredient. Lord Byron in his expedition to Mount Athos took other essential
supplies including a soda water siphon and a hatbox (because no true gentleman
would go anywhere with a crumpled hat).
Going back further in history, Roman legionaries when travelling to the edges of the empire, in addition to their armor and weapons, would take woolen trousers, 2 pairs of underpants, hobnailed sandals, a scarf, cooking pot, bowl/mess kit, 2 cloaks, a shovel and mallet, a wicker basket, a metal skewer (for kebab night?) and would have to carry two massive wooden stakes, to construct a wooden palisade or fence around their camp.
Our particular field trip to Costa Rica was somewhat female
dominated (75% of our group) and so for them here are some essential items for the female traveler courtesy of Gertrude Bell’s (from her 1913
expedition to “Arabia”):
- Silk dresses
- Parasol
- Silk underwear
- Fur coat
- Silver candlesticks
- A tea service
- 12 hats
Lilias Campbell Davidson in the 1889 book “Hints To Lady
Travellers” additionally suggests
- dark coloured petticoats (to hide dirt)
- an ivory glove stretcher
- a portable bath
The more practical Ms. May French Sheldon packed two loaded
colt revolvers and a Winchester rifle, because it gave her “31 chances to shoot
without having to reload”.
Laurence Durrell, the older brother of famous naturalist and
conservationist Gerald Durrell suggests a pretty minimalist packing list "A
loincloth? One pair of very light long trousers made of any lightweight linen.
(You may find the sun a bit burny). A pair or two of shorts. A couple of old
shirts. A pair of sandals or beach shoes. Nothing else."
Evelyn Waugh is my kind of traveler noting that a good
supply of alcohol is essential to relive boredom and irritation (1935; The Tourist Manual): "With a
glass in his hand, the tourist can gaze out on the streets of Tangier, teeming
with English governesses and retired colonels, and happily imagine himself a
Marco Polo."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)