Kevin's Watch

Can you believe that The British Museum of natural History are replacing 'Dippy the Dinosaur' as the 'central exhibhit' in their Main Hall with a Blue Whale.

This [ok, cast of a real] fosilised skeleton has greeted [and inspired] children and adults to the museum for the last 109 years [he was unveiled on 12th May 1905] and is a wonderful reminder of the unbroken thread of scientific advance that has so transformed our lives. Newton said "If I have seen further than others it is by standing on the shoulders of giants"; The Natural History Museum's Diplodocus replica in my view qualifies as such a giant.

The article I read said the replica Diplodocus skeleton was only put in the entrance hallway in the 1970s. For most of the 20th Century they had some fake elephants there.

I like the decision, myself. The blue whale skeleton is huge, an impressive sight - and it's also genuine, a 100% complete specimen.

I think peter tests us with his erudite humor.
Children and adults standing on the shoulders of a giant -

A Darwin quote might be more in line with the changing shape of bones.

“We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities... still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.”
― Charles Darwin

I wish I could acknowledge the 'erudite humor' you speak of Vizidor but alas......

Yes Murrin - my apologies, I misread the NHM page. Dippy was indeed displayed in the 'reptile house' prior to his position in the Great Hall [with a break in the basement during the war to protect him from the bombs]; perhaps my imagination was coloured by the fact that he was definitely there during my college days in London when I spent many a happy afternoon in his company and that seems like 109 years ago.

[....erudite humor.....Mmmm.]

There's a great whale skeleton on the upper floor of the library/museum in Perth in Western Australia. It's about the size of the entire floor, which doesn't have a high ceiling, so when the elevator doors open and you walk about you're pretty much looking straight into the open mouth of a whale skeleton and you can see that the bones of its fluke almost touch the far wall.

Poor Ed Milliband seems to have almost a 'will to loose' in this years forthcoming election. A disasterous week last week in which he was savaged by a monnaco based tax exile for being a '1970's' anachronism and lambasted by a multi-millionaire business man who would have most to loose if as proposed he were to reintroduce the 'disasterous' 50p tax bracket. Ed just does not seem to get it. He has a disafected populace who are increasingly at the end of their tether in seeing the country run to the bennefit of big business instead of anything else, a huge disenfranchised chunk of voters at the base of society who are ready to give his 'dinossaur' ideas the chance that they deserve to reverse the calamitous trends of the last thirty years and a populist movement across Europe ready to embrace 'new thinking' in the face of the failure of 'austerity' to right the continents ills - and yet he cannot put these things together in the form of popular support that will lead to votes. Still he courts the favour of the established political dogma by trying to convince the Mandarins that Labour will not mean 'bad for business' when instead he should speak directly to the people and say "I see you; I hear you; I will sort it out!" When last did a politician have the courage to do this - and mean it! The first one that does will get my vote.

I kind of feel it's the opposite here in the US where there's a President in office who seems to be the first one for quite some time who is actually interested in advancing the interests of a wider part of the population and addressing some of the failings of the current health system; yet has not really done so.

There are two problems though - the President isn't chosen by popular vote, so he does not have the support of a majority of government to push things through; and secondly, everything he does is a watered down version of what he could be doing if he really wanted to fix problems.

Why I said it's opposite is that there is an opposition party in the wings that will do to the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society what the Tories did to the same people in the UK, and they will probably be voted into office because Obama has been seen to be ineffective rather than see through the things that everyone expected of him.

You just can't trust politicians.

--A

Avatar wrote:You just can't trust politicians.

--A

Ain't that the truth!

Any more, it appears than the new top of the range Samsung voice controlled TV you just bought to impress the neighbours [who the hell needs a TV you can talk to - use the remote like everyone else you silly buggers ]. Samsung [we are told in the press] have issued a warning against holding any kind of a private conversation in front of their new product because it can .....err.... be listened to by person or persons unknown elswhere than in your front room - like Big Brother tv's sort of. Now isn't that clever!

peter wrote:Any more, it appears than the new top of the range Samsung voice controlled TV you just bought to impress the neighbours [who the hell needs a TV you can talk to - use the remote like everyone else you silly buggers ]. Samsung [we are told in the press] have issued a warning against holding any kind of a private conversation in front of their new product because it can .....err.... be listened to by person or persons unknown elswhere than in your front room - like Big Brother tv's sort of. Now isn't that clever!

Don't blame Samsung...game machines and computers started it.

Vraith wrote:

peter wrote:Any more, it appears than the new top of the range Samsung voice controlled TV you just bought to impress the neighbours [who the hell needs a TV you can talk to - use the remote like everyone else you silly buggers ]. Samsung [we are told in the press] have issued a warning against holding any kind of a private conversation in front of their new product because it can .....err.... be listened to by person or persons unknown elswhere than in your front room - like Big Brother tv's sort of. Now isn't that clever!

Don't blame Samsung...game machines and computers started it.

I blame Gene Rodenberry for setting expectations in the first place.

No one's listening to it. They have to put the disclaimer on because the data gets sent to outside servers for the voice recognition, but it's not heard or recorded.

I don't think that's the point Murrin. Somebody could, if they were so inclined.

--A

Just got back from a few days in Prague. Gosh - that has to be one of the most beautifull cities in the world with it's gothic spires and painted roccoco buildings. As you walk aqound the cities separate quaters it's history unfolds from the medieval up to the functionalist and modern. I spent my days meandering, transfixed by the 'frozen music' all around me and my nights eating some of the finest food ever set before me. I love, love, love Prague. Here ends my Bohemian Rhapsody.

Interesting to see the story yesterday about the two 15yo schoolgirls who have apparently dissapeared off to join up with their [also 15yo] mate in Syria [who had some weeks earlier absconded to in order to join ISIS, the fundamentalist Islamic group currently causing a lot of problems in the Middle East]. As with the first girl, the two apparently left the UK via Heathrow on a flight to Turkey and from there made [or are making] their way to Syria.

Having just left and re-entered the UK at Heathrow, and having been subjected to, not exactly a grilling, but a definite questioning as to where I was going/had been and for what purpose, I find it amazing the ease with which these juniors are apparently able to board planes with no parental/adult accompanyment and head off to areas where it is known that recruitment into ragtag forces is ongoing. I mean two muslim girls heading alone into the area where all entrants into the syrian 'field' go; how hard can it be to do the sums and make the telephone call to establish that the trip was 'legit'

I agree with you about Prague.

Prague has always been on my list of places to visit, but didn't get there yet.

Poor old Malcolm Rifkind. The ex-tory grandee, now a humble MP, has been suspended by his party after being secretly filmed offering access and influence in Westminster to Chinese businessmen in return for cash. His response when cornered by the press was that it was "unrealistic" to expect an MP to exist on a salary of £67,000 a year. They never learn do they!

When Natalie Bennett assumed the mantle of Leader of the Green Party from Caroline Lucas in September 2012 she inherited a party better placed than ever before to actually achieve some real influence on UK poitics in the form of elected MP's within the House.

Her first real statement laying out her parties position in the run up to this years general election included a commitment to 'abolishing the monarchy' - an issue so politicaly poisonous and of such little real significance that no leader with a real desire to engage the public's sympathy would touch it with a barge-pole. She has followed this up today with an interview of such egregious ineptness that even she herself has had to concede on 'Twitter' that it was 'excruciating'. Political pundit Owen Jones, a keen advocator of The Greens, has said that supporters can only be devastated to see their best hopes so completely trashesd. I wonder if the words 'fifth columnist' have yet crossed any of their minds?

I rarely follow what goes on in politics in the US, let alone the UK, but it is a shame to see that things are going that badly.

Planning to abolish the Royal Family is not only a huge gamble (I would bet that many of those who really would like to see the Royal Family gone do not vote), but it also has a huge amount of logistical baggage if you really want to make that change.

Quite honestly I just don't see any good leaders at all in the UK right now - they all have some level of ineptness and lack of any real charisma.