Category: General

All Things Must Come to an End.

All things must come to an end. This cliché is a point that keeps raising itself in the back of my head. All things must come to an end. I’m in San Francisco, again, and none too pleased about it.

The Kyoto portion of my holiday did not go especially well. I arrived, but a bit late. What was to be seen was a decent sunset. The hotel itself was acceptable, but not spectacular. The quality of the customer service was excellent, though a bit cool. Instead of simply giving me a key they gave the key to an employee who carried my luggage to my room, prepared a cup of tea for me, and personally showed me how to operate all technological equipment in the room. The particular assistant I was given had a German surname, leading me to speak to her alternating in German and Japanese with some English thrown in.  It was only when I had finished that she admitted that she could only speak English and Japanese — her father being an American-born great-grandson of a Swiss German immigrant.

The second, complete, day was supposed to hold the promise. Alas, the weather conspired against me. Continue reading “All Things Must Come to an End.”

This is brilliant…..

After I graduated, my first real job was as a research solid state chemist. For this work, we often had to have specialist apparatus made from glass or silica. We had a team of glass blowers available in the Glass Workshop who were simply the best. They could make anything you wanted. I strongly suspect they could have made one of these if asked…… Continue reading “This is brilliant…..”

Panaceas and placebos are not PC

British patriots among us will recall that Lady Sarah Ferguson boasted of using royal jelly (by mouth) to facilitate conception, while even today a North Korean mother of triplets sings the praises of honey potions prescribed for her by the late, lamented Kim Jong-Il – akshully very ill by all acccounts.

But unmoved by these historically reliable accounts of the power of patent medicines, canny Chinese bosses plan to ban all such products from being promoted as ‘miraculous’. In fact China’s State Food and Drug Administration will outlaw words it classes as “vulgar or linked with superstition, such as: sex, God, immortal,” from the names of health products”.

Which strikes me as a bit harsh. I mean the Chinese seem to believe in the power of feng shui, tai chi and i ching, not to mention the application of needles in unmentionable places – so what’s so dangerous about ginseng, horny goat weed and a few enchanted pills from the local quack?

Remember, Confucius he say, “A little bit of what you fancy always does you good, innit?”

Transitions

I woke up early on my second full day in Korea. My old friend had arranged for me to be guided through Seoul by two of her old friends, both Korean men in their mid-20s. One, like me, is a Korean history graduate student. The other holds a degree in kinesiology and is a certified swim-instructor. Due to my inability to read signs clearly written in the Roman alphabet I was 15 minutes behind schedule, having travelled north instead of south and only realising it 4 stops later.

After a few hours of discussions on topics ranging from Korean history to the universal commonalities of prehistoric implements we went to have lunch. For those who do not know, I am quite fond of Korean food. Nabchae bokum, octopus in a red chilli sauce, is my absolute favourite dish.  The two called around to find the best restaurant serving that and my favourite new alcoholic beverage, makgeolli. The Nabchae bokum really was excellent, and fresh. After receiving the order the cook went to the octopus tank and took out three mid-sized and lively octopi killing and cleaning it just before chopping it up to cook with the sauce and spring onions. The lunch was incredible. It’s difficult to describe the sensation one gets from eating a fresh, properly-prepared Korean meal. Whatever it is, it is magical. They refused to let me pay, or even contribute. My attempt was met with insulted looks and a brusque refusal. Continue reading “Transitions”

Sickness Benefit: assessment by computer!

The flowers are irrelevant but thought they’d brighten up the site.

Now I know that I have been foolish in the extreme, but boredom with The Telegraph, forced me to peruse the Guardian. Yes, I know, I should have known better, but I did discover this article here.

Since the reform of the Sickness Benefit system, whereby the medical profession were not deemed suitable to assess the fitness or otherwise of claimants, this has now been computerised with a points system in place. Continue reading “Sickness Benefit: assessment by computer!”

The Etymological Compendium – By William Pulleyn

One of the problems that have arisen out of the ubiquity of such internet tools as Google and Wikipedia is our increasing tendency to rely on them for answers to our questions. I am sure we have all had experience of quoting a definition from these sources, only to be disproved subsequently. In any event, when looking for the origins and definitions, I frequently revert to Google Books. Here one can sometimes find definitions that pre-exist the internet era. It is not always a guarantee that such definitions are likely to be any more accurate than those posted by enthusiastic amateurs on Wikipedia or Wiktionary, but they do often provide an interesting alternative.

One such book is this The Etymological Compendium –  By William Pulleyn. Written in 1830 it provides all sorts of explanations of the origins of words, customs and inventions. Continue reading “The Etymological Compendium – By William Pulleyn”