We Are in Stage Two of the EU-UK Divorce "It's Your Fault!". CETC Garden Party

CETC Garden Party in Lee Gardens and Hall at Wolfson College

We have moved on from stage one of the UK-EU divorce "We will do our best to work together to reach the best agreement for both of us. We are now entering stage two - the increasingly irritated "It's unfair and its your fault that we can't get the agreement that I want!".

This months negotiations on Brexit between the EU and the UK ended with little progress. Apparently the UK's fluffy position papers coyly saying "We're going to leave this marriage but will still want to have a relationship with all the benefits but under our control" has not convinced the EU negotiators. Michel Barnier talked of wanting real negotiations but finding that the UK's position is "nostalgic and unrealistic".

David Davis was equally irritated at the EU insistence on the three issues it needs resolved before moving on (EU citizen rights, Irish relations, outstanding debts). “It’s fair to say across the piece we have a very different legal stance. I think we have succeeded in building mutual understanding, but it is also clear that there are still significant differences to be bridged.” Flexibility and imagination was needed.

Telling was the comment by Barnier that he feels that the UK thinks it can legally simply absolve itself of paying for any commitments - and he asked, how was that supposed to help in building trust for the next stage of the negotiations?

The grand omission from the UK side is any figures or suggestions re the expected Brexit bill. Whilst the reality is that something will have to be paid, it is political suicide for the UK side to mention paying out billions of pounds - the electorate will not be very happy.

President Trump has promised that he will "probably" donate $1 million to victims of Harvey. The current situation is still in the first stages of response after the flooding. The grim task of visiting all the homes affected by flooding as they become more accessible again is likely to raise the official death toll over the coming weeks. Across India, Bengal and Bangladesh, there have been an estimated 1200 deaths due to the severe monsoon flooding there.

Jane and I took up our roles as the CETC reception for the CETC Garden Party this evening. This was after a drive at rush hour, through a torrential shower, followed by a full rainbow. The event was at Wolfson College with over 50 guests and Cambridge's Daniel Zeichner MP as the invited speaker. Good conversation and food in the Lee Hall and garden of the College.

Floods of Rain, Threatened flood of Missiles. Family History and Microsccopy

Aulacodiscus kittonii Phase contrast, 400x mag

It rained today, perhaps in sympathy with tropical storm Harvey, which has returned now to drench Louisiana, and with the horrendous Monsoon floods that have killed over a thousand people in Mumbai and Bangladesh.

The other thing promised to rain down upon the world is missiles from North Korea. Despite further condemnation from the UN and the countries bordering the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Kim Jong-un vows to send more missiles.

President Trump has said that the US has been paying blackmail money to North Korea for long enough, indicating that there might be action. Top military aides in the US however state that diplomacy is always still an option.

Prime Minister May is currently in Japan lending her voice to criticism of the last missile launch over Japan yesterday and offering support to Japan. However Japan is not exactly pleased with the current situation with Brexit. All those years investing in business in the UK as a gateway to Europe. It is a bit of a dilemma, with Japan already conducting trade talks with the EU and close to an agreement. 'Negotiate a successful trade agreement with a trade block of 27 nations - and then go through the process all over again with the UK, separately when we leave'.

My microscopy evening was disrupted by a family history research session with L & S. We spent several hours linked by phone as we attempted to decipher the German Sitterlin calligraphy on an old German official family tree. With some degree of success! Returned to finish off photographing two samples under the microscope and creating image focus stacks such as the one here.

North Korean ICBM over Japan. Raisin Bread and Sourdough Rye Success

Sourdough mixed rye bread

North Korean missile flies over Japan, generating alarm overnight. The regime is ratcheting up the pressure, apparently to bring the US to the negotiating table. In reality, it has just heightened tension and greater risk of a backlash. Both the Japanese and the US have missile defence systems which were not used.

According to an ArsTechnica article, This could in part be due to the fact that if they missed taking the passing missile out, they would look weaker. Because of the height and the tremendous speeds of the intercontinental ballistic missile (15,000 to 20,000 kph, the fasted jets 'only' reach 4,000 kmh), there is only a short time window of a couple of minutes to try and hit a missile passing over. You have the most time to prepare when the missile is attacked from its target, but there is still a risk that it will not work. Apparently, developing anti-ballistic missile systems is more expensive than designing the missiles they target (Wikipedia).

President Trump and First Lady Melania visited parts of Texas to assess the situation and avoid a presidential mishandling. They did not visit Houston as the presidential security measures would have detracted from the continuing rescue and emergency service actions still going on. Over a metre of rain has fallen, another 30 cm may fall and the flooding is compounded because two dams have to release water into the Buffalo Bayou, which goes through the city.

It is not just people, but wildlife which is being displaced. Alligators naturally live in the area, however, the colder flood waters are likely to slow them down. Snakes are good swimmers and are likely to come to higher ground, where most of the houses are. Large mammals such as deer might also follow. Experts advise to simply leave them alone, as more harm to humans comes when interfering with animals. Probably most likely to cause harm are the floating islands of fire-ants, invaders to the US. Jane came across a video on Facebook from Houston, where an exhausted bird of prey took refuge from the storm in a car, was cared for and then passed on to an animal refuge centre.

Apart from working, I started different breads in the morning. The first was a raisin loaf, following one of Ulli's recipes from his online cookbook. It uses a bread-yeast based dough, incorporating extra sugar, eggs, butter, grated lemon rind and soaked raisins.

The second was a 50% rye loaf. After the success of the previous one, I wanted to go one step further and use sourdough Camilla without adding extra yeast. I used 145 g of Camilla sourdough, 150 g mixed strong white flour and strong wholemeal flour, 250 g of rye flour, 10 g salt, a desert spoonful of honey, 200 g  warm water. It gave an initially very dense dough. The first rise took about 4 hours. The second rise took three hours. I prepared a cob rather than a loaf, scoring it deeply almost into quarters, and checked how it rose at intervals. It was baked at 220 degC for about 25 minutes until it had a dark crust and then 180 degC for another 20 minutes.

Rye-wheat sourdough, 2 hours into second rise

 Camilla is a dry Levito Madre type sourdough culture that I started and now maintain in the fridge and feed every week. Its base is 50:50 strong white flour:strong wholemeal flour, uses only 45 ml water per 100 g flour, 1% salt and occasionally a bit of honey. It does not smell the house out like previous more liquid sourdough cultures I tried to get going in the past. Camilla grows slowly and happily in its glass in the fridge.

Strained Third Phase of Brexit Negotiations. A Walk in Santon Downham

St Mary's Church, Santon Downham

Whilst the UK's David Davis and the EU's Michel Barnier showed smiles at the press conference introducing today's next set of Brexit negotiations, there was an undercurrent of mutual frustration. On the one had the EU wanted the UK to enter into concrete proposals for the Northern Ireland border question, the status of EU and UK citizens, and of course the bill for outstanding commitments. Instead they had wishy washy wishlists with a constant undercurrent of trying to bring in trade negotiation - and a strict and very British avoidance of talking about the money. The UK, on the other hand wanted to bring in trade negotiations as soon as possible (see constant undercurrent in all recent position papers).

British and German trade associations issued a joint statement, urging the negotiators to consider the economic impact and how to minimise the transition to Brexit.

The Japanese will be urging Prime Minister Theresa May to end the 'sense of crisis' over Brexit during her visit this week. With Japanese businesses having used the UK as a base for entry into Europe, they need a continued good relationship between the UK and the EU.

According to today's Guardian article, 'UK Home Office 'cannot be trusted', say EU citizens' rights groups'. Campaign groups across the UK and Europe were strongly upset and perturbed, as I was, by the 100 letters mistakenly sent out last week to EU nationals, ordering them to leave the country. As a result, they wrote to EU negotiators today saying that the Home Office “cannot be trusted” and that both EU citizens living in the UK and UK citizens in the EU should come under the ECJ as there was absolutely no confidence based on current attitudes and policies being developed in the UK.

The Telegraph had quoted yesterday that French sources were looking favourably on beginning to include trade in parallel in the negotiations. Today, this was denied by the French government.

There are already expectations voiced in the media that there will not be any clear decisions arising from this weeks negotiations.

On the last day of the Bank Holiday, we set off to Santon Downham, in the Brecks near Thetford. Everyone else was going to the coast, as judged by the traffic on Google maps, while the woods were cool and there was a river to walk along. The closer we got to the next bridge along the river walk, the more families we encountered, picnicking and paddling in the river. After our own packed lunch on a quiet bench a bit beyond in the forest, Jane took the pedestrian bridge across the river. I went down to the ford, dodged swimmers, inflatables and splashing children and carefully made my way across to meet her on the other side only getting my long legs wet. 

We remembered that in the past, you could get an afternoon tea at the flint clad St Mary's church in Santon Downham. Sadly not anymore, as the lady in the post office explained, there were just not enough volunteers to bake the cakes and man the stand for visitors. We had to make do with a Magnum icecream each from the shop (one mint, one raspberry double), which was doing a good trade. The journey back was delayed by half an hour as bank holiday traffic queued due to an A11 lorry breakdown.

Legalised Drugs to Deaden Brexit Pain? Minimalist Squirrel

Summer on the river

After Labour's announcement yesterday that they would stay in the customs union and abide by EU rules during a Brexit transition period, news today that they are expecting a hit from those Labour members who voted for Brexit. With both parties split to some degree over the Brexit issue, perhaps two new parties will crystallise out - Conbour as pro Brexit and Labcon as Remainers. Suddenly, the Liberal Democrats policy of legalising cannabis makes a lot more sense. We could cope better with all the Brexit confusion if on a legal high.

Much like this years earlier flooding on the Indian subcontinent, hurricane (now storm) Harvey is causing death and destruction for millions in Texas. The grimmest advice was to take to the roofs if affected by flooding and not to go up into the attic, unless you had an axe to hack your way out.

With another sunny day in Milton, we took to our bikes for a short tour up the river Cam and back down through Horningsea.

Walnut by the back door

On our return, we found that we now have a minimalist squirrel. Tucked tidily into a corner by our side door was a walnut. We think that this must be the brainchild of a new black squirrel that has been frequenting our garden. It's brazen, loud and obviously innovative. Now this might just have been a single discarded or lost walnut - but we found a similarly placed walnut, in plain sight, perched on the lid of our waterbutt.

Our current theory is that this is actually quite a bright creature. For generation upon generation, squirrels have hidden their nuts, singly or in caches, in lawns, woods and more recently in flower pots. Other squirrels must know this and therefore look in all the obvious places for signs of  buried nuts. Our squirrel has instead adopted a strategy used in our family for hiding small Easter eggs around the house for Easter egg hunts - placing them in plain sight. Because the eyes and brain do not expect this, you often do not see something that is in direct line of sight. Its a genius and also time saving solution, as no digging is involved. Our fluffy tailed hero has more time for brazen posturing and loud chattering.

Walnut on Water Butt

Labour's Remain Sunrise or Brexit Betrayal?

Sunset or New Dawn?

Well, knock me down with a feather! Labour has announced that they would stay within the Customs union and abide by the EU rules during a transitional period of two to four years. There was also the possibility of staying within the EU could be persuaded to move on immigration and changing freedom of movement rules. Reaction at this time of the night suggests mixed but not unexpected headlines, with the right wing press already baying "Betrayal".

What this does do is create a clear choice between Labour and Conservatives, should it come to a vote. Chief Brexit negotiator David Davis will be starting his negotiations next week with a rather amused EU and reduced credibility. There could also be what the Guardian calls "incendiary" arguments when the Commons debates the European Union (withdrawal) bill at its second reading on the 7th September.

President Donald Trump issued a major disaster declaration as Hurricane Harvey hits Texas. Despite wind speeds decreasing and downgrading the hurricane to Storm force, the stationary storm is due to drown parts of the state. Trumps declaration makes it possible that "Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster."

The Hurricane dominated the news and provided the opportunity for a news dump for less salubrious items. This included POTUS pardoning Arizona ex-sheriff Arpaio, who had been found guilty of criminal contempt in July for disregarding a court order in a racial-profiling case. Arpaio is a controversial figure, accused of police misconduct according to Wikipedia, "including abuse of power; misuse of funds; failure to investigate sex crimes; improper clearance of cases; unlawful enforcement of immigration laws; and election law violations" - and racial-profiling. 

We had a warm humid day, with a bit of tidying up and a visit by Louise. I tried my  hand at making puff pastry and then using it to bake cheese bread sticks.

A bit chewy in places. Next time, I might be tempted to leave out the bread and simply bake some crunchy cheese bits.

Impending Hurricane Harvey and Museum Mammoths

Egyptian Geese on the River Ouse

Whilst President Trumps can ignore global warming, he won't be able to ignore Hurricane Harvey, which is about to hit Texas with strong winds, a possible storm surge and anticipated rainfall up to 900 mm/25 to 35 inches of rain with resultant flooding. Indeed, he has already sent a message of "Good luck" and "Be strong/Be safe" (it was hard to tell over Helicopter noise as he set off for Camp David).

It is the hurricane season and, as an isolated incident, you cannot attribute its effects to global warming. What global warming does do is increase the amount of rain likely to fall on average, increase the likely severity of storms and also increase flood risk as the sea levels are gradually rising. The President was due to visit Texas next week.

Brexit quietly bubbling with EU accusing UK of "magical thinking" and warning not to use Northern Ireland borders as bargaining tool. In the Express and EU expert claims that the EU does not take UK seriously. EU applications for UK citizenship up 80%. 

The sun shone in Cambridgeshire as I cycled again to Longstanton and then took guided bus to St Ives. Ripped my trousers over knee on the bus and managed to buy new extra long trousers, normally a difficult option on UK high streets. Jane came up later to visit Norris Museum, which had another activity day for young children, this time on my favourite subject, Mammoths. Managed to cycle the distance to and from Longstanton in around 40 minutes, an average speed of about 18 to 19 kph (~12 mph).

Immi-Emmi-grating Students, Targeting Inauguration Protesters, Itchy Chiggers

Pound rate down to £1 to Euro 1.08

Migration figures released today show a fall in net migration by 81,000, to 246,000. This is particularly reflected in the ten Eastern and Central European nations, where 62,000 said goodbye to the UK whilst only 26,000 arrived. The fall in the value of the pound, the feeling of uncertainty created by the impending Brexit, and feeling less welcome in the UK no doubt contributed. But there are still more people coming to the UK than leaving.

One Brexiteer myth was however dispelled by UK exit figures. 97% of students who came to the UK on a visa left again after completion of their studies. Rather that the often touted figures of several tens of thousands of students adding to net UK migration every year, the figure was actually only 5,000 and likely to be even less.

An inspirational interlude today was the story of the 16 year old student, Inês Alves, who escaped the Grenfell Tower fire, took her GCSE exams the next day and received top marks in the GCSE results today.

Federal prosecutors in the US have been pursuing protesters at President Trump's inauguration. They have requested access to the details of protesters who registered with the disruptj20.org website hosted by Dreamhost. This was contested and came before Judge Robert Morin of the DC Superior Court. After weeks of deliberations, Dreamhost is not required to hand over the million plus details of people who simply visited the site. The US Attorney's office in DC proposed a revised search warrant to the court, that it is only focused on potential criminal acts associated with the protests, not political views or the lawful activities of peaceful protest. Judge Morin has stated that he will supervise the process, that the authorities have to minimise the number of individuals scrutinised and show how they are distinguishing between innocent users and those planning criminal activity.

Harvest mite larva. photo Alan R Walker

Following a query from my mother, I found myself finding out more about the harvest mite. In the UK and parts of Europe , a microscopic mite, Trombicula autumnalis, can cause an intensely itching rash on humans and animals, known also as chiggers. The adult, eight legged mites actually predate other small insects and other arthropods.

Their six legged larvae, however, have a different food source - animal skin. The 0.2 to 1 mm long larvae wait in grass and wooded areas for an animal or human to brush by. they latch on and rush to find a warm, moist place on the body. There, they inject enzymes into the skin to digest the skin cells, which they then eat. On humans, they rapidly drop off after feeding.

The body begins to react to the microscopic damage and digestion, creating extremely irritating pimples or rashes. the sooner you treat them the better. Cortisone and calomine are supposed to reduce the itching, as is dabbing with alcohol, but apparently days of itching will follow.

Because the mites are so small and are able to penetrate gaps in clothing or between clothing and boots, one of the recommendations for minimising human infection is to wear wellington boots and loose clothing if working or walking in an area known to harbour the mites and spend as little time as possible there (don't sit or lie down). you should then rush back and shower and soap thoroughly and was all worn clothes.

Where control is suggested, this normally involves moving lawns, clearing dead vegetation and allowing air to circulate. This promotes a drier environment, which is less favourable to the mites.

Treating infested areas is a controversial solution. One article, by Piedpiper at http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th5i.htm, suggests that harvest mites are often present in hotspots with clear areas nearby. It recommends putting out squares of black paper across a garden or affected area. These warm up more than the surrounding grass and the mite larvae climb onto them. If you see a lot of pale yellow to red spots, the local area can be treated, minimising the damage to insect and arthropod life in the wider area.

I think my precaution would be to wear either a full biohazard suit or an astronaut' space suite.

UK-ECJ Hoohah, Trump Tirade and the Nuclear Button, Peppermint Chocolate

Successful 50% Rye Bread made with Ulli's Flour

"May's U-Turn", "UK leaving ECJ" shouted the newspapers and media today as the snappily named Enforcement and dispute resolution: a future partnership paper was released today around lunchtime. Leaving the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), abbreviated to ECJ for most of us, was a key plank of Brexit, so the content of this document was scrutinised by Brexiteers and Remainers alike with a fine toothed comb.

I was pleasantly surprised that this was the first substantive position paper, and that it actually spoke common sense.

• If the UK is going to leave the EU (and remember, I don't think it should), it will be governed by its own laws. 
• If the UK wants to retain a close relationship with the EU afterwards, it has the choice of agreeing to follow some of the EU rules and regulations. 
• Depending on the situation, the UK can decide to adopt particular ECJ decisions nationally, to mirror those decisions, or go it alone. 
• When it comes to arbitration, the same holds. 
• Because there may be situations where the EU and UK disagree and neither the ECJ or UK decision can be agreed on, it would be sensible to have an arbitration body. 

Yes, the ECJ may still have an influence - but there will be a deliberate national choice to either allow this or not in particular instances.

Simples! A good negotiating position. What's all the fuss about?

Grim news re the Pound Euro exchange rate as the pound hits a new low and approaches 1:1 parity with the Euro.

Across the Pond, President Trump revels in his Janus faced public comment's keeping him as the centre of attention. Last night saw a rally in Phoenix (apparently against the wishes of the local mayor) at which he launched into a rambling, rousing speech, including a tirade against the 'lying, fake media'. Strewn with misquotes (of himself), self referential in terms of his greatness and that of the crowds he draws, denigrating opponents by inference or directly, it drew critical responses from the BBC and Der Spiegel alike.  There were acerbic comments from the former US Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper - on the Presidents favourite Bogeyman newsagency, CNN.  Clapper denounced Trump's "behavior and divisiveness and complete intellectual, moral and ethical void." and asked "How much longer does the country have to, to borrow a phrase, endure this nightmare?"

For those of us who have been worried about temporary madness resulting in a premature nuclear strike by the President on whosoever he chooses, rest assured. President Nixon was apparently prone to being  prey to drink, prescription drugs and fits of rage. When the North Korean's shot down a US spy plane in 1969, Nixon allegedly became so incensed, he ordered a tactical nuclear strike. Henry Kissinger intervened and persuaded the Joint Chiefs of Staff to wait until the president was sober the next morning. Section 4 of the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution allows for intervention when the president is ill, incapacitated - or presumably temporarily insane.

On the baking/cooking front, I've been quite pleased with a 50% rye flour loaf baked on Monday, using flour sent by Ulli in Germany. Today, I had a go at making some chocolate and flavouring it with peppermint oil which Jane had kindly purchased. I used 60 g cocoa butter, 80 g cocoa nibs, 15 g maple syrup, and 15g caster sugar finely ground with 30g of dried milk powder. i started of adding just a few drops of peppermint oil, tasting at regular intervals. Eventually I added about 1/4 of a teaspoon of the peppermint. The final set chocolate had a delicate peppermint flavour.

Looking at the Sun, Cancelled Mining Health Study, EU-UK Laws

Looking at 2015 partial eclipse in Milton

 According to IFL Science, yesterday's eclipse was followed by a Google search surge in terms involving looking at sun and related comments, like "My eyes really hurt after looking at sun". Despite all the warnings, as ever, the message did not get through to some, including President Trump - until someone handed him a viewer.

Looking directly at the sun can cause temporary eye damage (retinopathy), Ironically, it is during an eclipse that damage may be more likely as your pupil widens as the eclipse progresses and you are tempted to watch longer. There is a relevant article here.

But apparently temporary blindness was not the cause of President Trump changing his opinion on military intervention in Afghanistan from being against it to reluctantly planning to increase it. Sitting behind the President's desk was the deciding factor. Reporters were wondering if this was a more presidential response, based on his expert advisers.

What was not in the mainstream news was another domestic decision. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine issued a statement yesterday, that "the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement informed the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that it should cease all work on a study of the potential health risks for people living near surface coal mine sites in Central Appalachia." The US Departments funding of projects over $100,000 was being reviewed. Imminent planned public meetings will still be permitted to go ahead. According to The Independent, "The White House has proposed slashing the interior department’s budget by 13 per cent, or $1.6bn, including 4,000 staff positions. The academy was going to conduct the $1m study over a two-year period." Is this a reflection of the pro-coal Trump policy?

The UK has released another Position paper today on Brexit, the "Providing a crossborder civil judicial cooperation framework". My summary of the paper is:

• We currently have deep existing judicial agreements (civil & commercial, family, EU civil and family matters, other international arrangements like the Hague Convention - OK, its complicated)
• Contracts and agreements initiated before Brexit will continue under existing laws
• We will reach an agreement with the EU on the best way to keep our close relationship that is not the current position but gives us all the benefits.
• After Brexit, the new system will be used.

Again, we want to have our cake and eat it.

It was Community Cafe day today which occupies most of the day. In the evening, watched the animation film Kubo with Jane. Very good.

Eclipse, Silenced Bongs, Brexit Positions, and Surrogacy Book

Today people looked up to see momentous events. In the US, it was a total eclipse of the sun than ran from west to east across the whole country. Millions traveled to see the phenomenon.

In the UK, hundreds travelled to London, to look up at a clock and listen to the last chimes of Big Ben as the tower falls silent for four years.

President Trump has now disbanded his climate change advisory committee. The committee is supposed to give its assessment every four years and it has submitted the Climate Science Special Report, a key part for the assessment, to President Trump for his review. Despite the administration's skepticism  about the human impact of climate change, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a statement that “this action does not impact the completion of the Fourth National Climate Assessment, which remains a key priority.”

By the end of the day, the UK Government issued two new position papers. The first was Confidentiality and Access to Papers. It appears to reflect the governments concern that information it has shared with the EU to date could be released upon Brexit and asks - please could we agree to keep our secrets secret afterwards?

The second is the Continuity in the Availability of Goods for the EU and the UK. Boiled down, this basically says - we have a good and very important trading relationship. Could we please agree to apply the past rules to products and services initiated before Brexit and could we please look forward to having practically the same benefits after we leave?

I met up with Author Manuela O'Reilly, author of the most recent book published under Milton Contact Ltd, called 'Whose Tummy was I in?' It is a board book, beautifully illustrated by the author. The story is about a fox couple who cannot have their own children and are looking for a mother who could help. Born out of the author's own experience of only being able to have children through surrogacy, the story aims to help the young children of other surrogate families understand how they came into the world, through the help of another mother. We had the official handover of the archival copies for registration.

In the afternoon, produced a Hall End picture demonstrating how an eclipse really works.

£135bn Brexit Benefit? Ramsey Museum and Abbey Kitchen Gardens

Display in Chemists Shop at the Ramsey Rural Museum

The UK could benefit by £135 bn if it goes over to free trade, according to a pre-release of new report by the group 'Economists for Free Trade' (EFT), called 'From Project Fear to Project Prosperity'. Interestingly, their summary is written referring to themselves in the third person (Illeism), though it's spokesperson is Professor Patrick Minford, a macroeconomist and long time Eurosceptic based at the Univeristy of Cardiff. The group was previously known as 'Economists for Brexit' and they continue to advocate the benefits of free trade, without restrictions.

Economist Monique Ebell from the National Institute of Social and Economic Research (NIESR) responded. The NIESR is Britain's oldest independent economic research institute and think-tank. She said that Prof Minford "ignores decades of evidence on how trade actually works".

As previously with such economic arguments, it comes down to who in the  UK will suffer job loss and exposure to increased competition, depending on how we Brexit.

The US and South Korea will start their annual joint military exercise tomorrow. North Korea has already issued dire warnings that "reckless behavior driving the situation into the uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war." and that nowhere in the US can "dodge the merciless strike."

With the promise of a reasonably dry afternoon, Jane and I set off for Ramsey (Cambridgeshire, not Ramsey's cafe, Northern Ireland, which my old SatNav helpfully tried to direct me to). We visited the Ramsey Rural Museum (http://ramseyruralmuseum.co.uk/), which fortunately had a free entry to coincide with Ramsey's 40's Weekend, taking place nearby. We lunched at the cafe and wandered around the many displays in buildings scattered over the site, with the refrain of 1940's songs sung by a competent duo, as a musical backdrop. 

We were also told that the Ramsey Abbey Walled Kitchen Garden (http://www.ramseywalledgarden.org/) was also open and a short walk from the museum and well worth a visit. We spent another happy hour wandering around the gardens, taking photographs and chatting to the volunteers. We left with a punnet of damsons.

As we left after a last tea at the Museum cafe, there was a growing roar. At its crescendo a low flying spitfire drew a couple of loops around the museum and 40's Weekend before rapidly ascending and disappearing into the horizon.

The days pictures are here: https://goo.gl/photos/bE9CPUQDfMZv4FRq6

Fidget Spinner Speed and How to Make Yours Spin Longer

Using Camera to measure spin speed - at 1/200s exposure = 17.78 rotations per second

I finally succumbed to the inner child, curious about the fidget spinner, and bought two different models at a St Ives market stall, one for a £1 and the other for £3 (allegedly better quality and being "Sold for 13 quid in Cambridge, metal bearings, will run for several minutes". One's pretty and the other's shiny. Both spin smoothly and the £3 on does run for almost 4 minutes. After the novelty wore off, curiosity set in.

How fast can I spin my spinner?

To measure how fast I could spin my spinner, I picked up my SLR camera. You can set many cameras to take pictures at a fixed shutter speed. I set my spinners running on the table and played around photographing them at anything from 1/500 s to 1/10 s. At 1/100 s I could see a motion blur from the shiny parts of the spinner on my photos, taken immediately after setting the fidget spinning. Initially, this the motion blur was about 1/6 of a circle. 

Therefore in 1 second, the spinner would spin 100 x 1/6 revolutions

This equals (100/6) revolutions per second

which is 16.67 rps or about 1000 revs per minute!

Playing with both spinners at the same table, the speeds they could reach were very similar. I had to glue white spots onto the £1 spinner to measure this accurately.

This was interesting. Both spinners were accelerated to the same speed but the £1 stopped after about one minute, whilst the £3 spin for about 3 minutes.

I moved to the kitchen and set up the camera to 

1. Get the best strike of the spinner for maximum speed. This turned out to be: hold spinner centre with one hand to table and sharply strike a glancing blow on a spinner projection with a forefinger, the swing coming from the arm.
2. Measure the decay speed of the two spinners over time.

From the above graph you can see that I could now reach initial speeds on both spinners of 24 rps, or 1,440 rpm. The £1 spinner (1 in the chart) would now spin up to just under 2 minutes from this starting speed. The £3 spinner (2 in the chart) could spin for nearly 4 minutes. The spinners would lose  just over half their speed in the first quarter of their run time (down to 10rps), then halve that speed again to about 5 rps by half their run time and then coast to a stop. Their decaying speed approximated the shapes of inverse square curve.

Increasing run time

My maximum speeds and run times were pretty consistent for each spinner. I wondered how else I could get them to spin longer. I could not do much about the bearing friction. Perhaps I could change the effect of braking by the air?

I tried placing a transparent round tub over a spinning fidget. The reasoning being, the fidget would start the air in the tub spinning with it. This would reduce the drag. Repeated experiments showed that on average, I could extend the run time of the £1 fidget by up to 20 seconds and that of the £3 fidget to 30 seconds or longer. The video below shows a typical result of the same spinner out in the open on the table and under a plastic tub. The unexpected benefit of the video are the different visual patterns created as the spinners slow down, in relation to the video shutter, working at 60 frames per second.

There was some BrexiTrump news today. In Boston, a planned far right demonstration was swamped by a largely peaceful counter demonstration. All 17 members of White House arts panel resigned in protest after his reaction to Charlottesville, issuing a dramatically scathing letter reproduced here https://www.scribd.com/document/356620864/Members-of-the-President-s-Commission-on-Arts-Humanities-resignation-letter-to-President-Trump. The President and First Lady would also be the first for a long time to miss the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors evening.

Two Reports that No Brexit Deal is a Good/Bad Thing

Jungle House at Oakington by the Guided Busway

The shockwaves of yesterdays killer van attack in Barcelona were compounded by a further attack on the coast. There was also a knife attack in Turku in Finland. In Spain, it is possible that this was all part of a larger group planning a more serious attack, but were prompted to alternative action when there was an explosion in the house they were thought to be plotting.

Two alternative reports on the impact and benefits of different Brexit scenarios were published today. The Institute of Economic Affairs went with the title "'No deal' with EU on trade post Brexit does not mean disaster for the UK" (https://iea.org.uk/publications/a-trade-policy-for-a-brexited-britain/). The Institute for Government went with the more serious "Frictionless trade? What Brexit means for cross-border trade in goods" (https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/5704%20IFG%20-%20Frictionless%20Trade%20Web.pdf).

I don't think they differ much in thinking that there would be negative consequences for business without tarif free trade with the EU. Brutally summarised, the difference between the two report is, that the IEA thinks that if no barrier free trade can be agreed with the EU, then leaving and trading on WTO terms is worth the pain for the benefit of cheaper imports from other sources.

President Trump has fired his Alt -right tending chief strategist Steve Bannon. He may still be very influential on the Trump administration.

With the prospect of a bright but windy day, I set out to cycle to Longstanton and catch the guided bus to St Ives from there. Google maps said it was a 9.3 km journey. My odometer measured 12 km. I felt that I'd earned the bacon sandwich when I reached the Taproom.

Volunteering at the Norris involved sitting in and helping with the children's activities. There were Roman board games, Ludo and Snakes and Ladders. The favourite for visitors was colouring-in flying models of butterflies, birds, pterosaurs and planes. A number of parents were actually back for a second week, in response to children's demands - and because it was such a child friendly environment and activity during the summer holiday.

The cycle ride back from Longstanton was delayed until one of the unexpected afternoon showers had just passed. It was a race back home to avoid being hit by the next major shower.

Killer cars, Controversial Statues, Static Migraine

Statues - Good or Bad?

Another car/van attack on crowds, this time in Barcelona, with 13 killed and scores injured. Three men were in the white van that drove for half a mile through crowds in the pedestrianised Las Ramblas. arrests have been made but the news is still confusing, with tourists told to continue hiding in Museums as the search goes on for the perpetrators.

President Trump is still receiving flack for missing the point about the difference between the divisive, discriminatory Nazi & white supremacists and the protestors against them.

Instead, he shifted the focus to the statues used by the far right as their justification for demonstration.

Echoes of an older conflict reverberate in the US, with statues of Confederate leaders like General Robert E Lee forming the focus from the alt right and on the opposing side, human and black rights campaigners.

The ugly legacy of the slave trade and apartheid/racism is also present in UK statues of Cecil Rhodes and successful businessmen of the 18th/19th century.

Should statues of a different time and morals be removed, perhaps to museums, or do they serve as reminders of different attitudes and ethics being preferred today? That's a debate to be had. It is not a justification for race hate and division.

I had a gentle day today, having woken up with pre-migraine/migraine - erratic images flitting though my waking dreams and disconnected thoughts on waking. I was conscious but unable to move, not because my limbs would not work, I simply lacked the volition to connect thought to action. Eventually managed to get up to take tablets and then returned to bed till midday. The lassitude and exhaustion gradually decreasing throughout the afternoon. I took time to create another 'Unusual Occurrence at Hall End' photograph, the first for several months.

Ireland-Brexit Position Paper. Business Abandons Trump

Box of gift chocolates before mass defection by contents

The Northern Ireland Position paper by the government seemed to say the following: 'The UK and Ireland have special arrangements and agreements predating the the UK joining the EU. These include the Common Travel Agreement. So we could have free travel for all Irish, North and South when the UK leaves the EU. This would leave difficulties in terms of travel of EU citizens and of course goods. The UK wants to have an unrestricted Border as any restrictions could re-ignite the old problems of division. So , there is this wonderful idea which would solve all this once we leave the Customs Union, that novel solution of a unique EU UK negotiated Customs union

 - see our previous paper from yesterday'. You can see the position paper here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/northern-ireland-and-ireland-a-position-paper.

What I did learn today was, that there are more border crossings between the UK and Ireland that there are crossings between the EU and the East of Europe (275 crossings v 137).

The feeling is growing that a decision by the EU on progress with the existing negotiations on EU and UK citizen rights, the UK and Ireland  border and outstanding payments by the UK, could be delayed till December.

President Trump's business Manufacturing Council began to fall apart when the heads of 3M, Campbell Soup, Johnson & Johnson, and United Technologies announced their resignations on Wednesday following the earlier head of Merck. This was in response to Trump's Trump Tower press briefing yesterday, where he was interpreted as defending the Alt right, Nazis and KKK. As a result, the President disbanded the two existing business councils, before more damage was done by further resignations. POTUS seems to be the centre of ire for his own party and US business. Unusually, the two Presidents Bush also roundly condemned a divided US and race hate by right wing organisations.

It was almost a shame to be working on what was a sunny day. In the evening, I decided to go out on a longer test ride on my repaired bicycle.I sped down Fen Road to the River Cam and then continued south, looking for the new path from the river to the new Cambridge North Station. There were numerous rowing eights on the river with their trainers keeping pace on shore on bicycles , shouting instructions and encouragement. The turn off from the River was further south than I expected, almost in Chesterton. Then it was the ride back home along the new cycle path, then across the Jane Coston Bridge to Milton and home. A round trip of 7.5 km, which took 25 minutes. I need to build up a bit more stamina.

As I end the day, the weather front has finally reached Milton and rain is drumming on the windows.

Fantasy of Exit Customs Union, Mimic CU, New CU

White Horse Dinner

Looking at the 'UK Future customs arrangements: a future partnership paper', my first reaction was one of disbelief. It summarises something like this: The UK will leave the EU Customs Union. However, to make a transition easier for business, we will maintain the principles of a the EU Customs Union, but with the right to negotiate trade deals. Then, to maximise the benefits for the UK and the EU in a new trade relationship, we will negotiate a new customs union, which is like the old one but allowing us, the UK, to negotiate new trade deals and under our own laws, not the EU laws. you can check out the full report here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-customs-arrangements-a-future-partnership-paper.

Superficially, this appears reassuring to UK business. Advocates of a soft Brexit see it as a vindication of their argument for transition.

The problem is - the EU negotiators and also other EU press already sees this as a fantasy of having your cake and eating it.  The Brexiteer right in the UK sees this as not leaving he EU.

I see this very cynically, as a strategic Hard Brexit move. This is a proposal that is designed to fail, whilst providing the opportunity to put the blame on the EU for rejecting our 'reasonable' argument. Thus sidelining soft Brexiteers and allowing a transition to immediate WTO rules, no matter what the cost.

Don't underestimate the determination of conviction right wing politicians.

President Trump reveals his true feelings by returning to his 'equal blame'argument in response to the violence and deaths at Charlottesville. This occurred in a press conference he held today at the Trump Tower. 

We met up with a long standing family friend in Cambridge for a tea in the Michaelhouse Cafe. We returned to Milton together, awaiting her partner, before going on to the White Horse for an excellent evening meal and conversation.

Trump Condemns Racists. UK Seeks Customs Union After Leaving Customs Union

Practicing being grumpy for old age

President Trump has cut short his holiday to give a Big  press conference. At the event, he finally spoke out against the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis and White Supremacist violence. What he did not do, was take questions, the normal situation in a Press conference. The media are now analysing the consequences of the late statement - and the fact that no questioning occurred (and had not occurred since February apparently).

There has been an airing of a government proposal to be released tomorrow, that the UK could ask Brussels to establish a "temporary customs union" after it leaves the EU in March 2019. This would retain free trade with Europe for a transition period, whilst the UK would seek to initiate trade talks with other countries. It will be interesting to see how the EU negotiating position responds.

I spent the afternoon with an author, giving feedback on their first manuscript draft. A very enjoyable and constructive meeting.

Ivanka hits the right note. Advice on Brexit. Garden Visit

Chris Meets Diana at Anglesey Abbey

Whilst the President was equivocal about the abhorrent nature of events at Charlottesville, at least his daughter Ivanka was not, stating "There should be no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis. We must all come together as Americans - and be one country UNITED."

Portugal's former EU minister, Bruno Maçães, speaking to the Express newspaper had some advice for the Brexit negotiators in the UK. Get down to technicalities and show that Brexit has negative consequences for the EU if not tackled in advance.

The advice from the Financial Times is, by contrast, "Pro-European Brits should put their heart into stopping Brexit rather than campaigning for a soft one." The argument is that even a soft Brexit will be an economically damaging one.

Meanwhile, we wait for the first UK governmental position paper, clarifying plans for a new UK-Irish relationship.

Jane and I drove over to Anglesey Abbey for a light lunch and a walk around the grounds. The roses were still in bloom and the Dahlia Grden was beginning to reach its peak with an artist's palette of colours in large flower heads.

I got back my bicycle today, repaired and tuned, Hooray!

Sadly, saw no meteors from the Perseus shower tonight, looking through gaps in the light cloud.

ConFerment, Car Terrorist in US, Valerian and Glass Books

Egyptian Geese on the Ouse from yesterday's A14 outing

Saturday 12th August: In the Prime minister's absence, the Conservative party continues to ferment. News bubbles that emerged late today were that Philip Hammond and Liam Fox, soft and hard Breiteers, had issued a joint statement that there would be a transitional arrangement after the UK left the EU, but that this would be of a fixed duration. Amber Rudd, a former remainer and Jacob Rees-Mogg, definitely a hard Brexiteer, have both hinted that they might possibly, in the of course highly unlikely and unwanted event that Theresa May stepped down, consider standing as candidates for Prime Minister.

Armageddon has been temporarily postponed in the news, by the death of a protester in Charlestone, Virginia, USA. Things had been ugly during the day when a planned protest march by Alt Right, Ku Klux Klan and Nazi sympathisers was surrounded by anti fascist demonstrators and erupted into a brawl. It was after the demonstrations, broken up by the police, that a car suddenly drove into the crowd killing one person and injuring others. The President took to the TV in a break from his golfing holiday to make a statement, sounding unconvincing and looking as if reading from a script, condemning violence on all sides. The word that stick in my mind was his use of 'egregious'. After Trump's recently more basic vocabulary, there was a reminder of his previous, more articulate language prior to his presidency. Even if he did not write the speech, he did not stumble over the word.

What he did not do, was describe the act of driving a car into a crowd of anti-right demonstrators a terrorist act, and this caused outcry and disquiet in the media.

Our day, in contrast, was more positive. Jane had set off to spend the day with Louise at the Quilting Exhibition in Birmingham, involving six hours travel by train and car. I had a bit of a lie in and then took the buses into town, to see the new Luc Besson sci-fi film 'Valerian'. Getting off at the station, I bought a still warm slice of Pizza and wandered over to the bridge to the Light Cinema. At 12:20, there were some others scattered in the screen as I sat down with a packet of sweet popcorn and a coke zero, the latter slightly deficient by the absence of a slice of lemon. What drove me was the fact that 'The Fifth Element' is one of my favourite films, also made by Besson, and his other recent film, Lucy, was also enjoyable. Valerian, did not disappoint in terms of the imagery and settings, I thought the story OK. The lead actors fared well, though probably the weakest part of the film.

Coming back, I noticed that the neighbours boys were tinkering with bicycles. My bike has been gathering cobwebs in the garage for a year or more, with punctures and a slightly buckled rear wheel. It is now in their hands for repairs, under the competent gaze of their father whose garage resembles a bike workshop.

I used the last remaining hours on my own to complete the final 250 pages or so of "The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters" by G W Dahlquist. I bought it on a whim on Amazon for a penny plus postage, having seen it on someone else's bookshelf amongst other sci-fi and fantasy authors that I like. I've been gripped by the Steampunk story and finished the last 60 pages after Jane had come back and gone to bed.

Trump threatens, A14 Boat Trip, Fettucine

This morning, the US North Korea rhetoric continued with President Donald Trump warning on Twitter that "Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!" China's state run Global Times Newspaper stated that China should remain neutral if North Korea attacked the US first, but "If the U.S. and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so."

In surely an ironic twist of fate, today a criminal gang was sentenced for converting a hidden nuclear bunker near Tisbury into a live-in cannabis factory. The inappropriate moral of the tale is, if someone blows up your world, just sit back and blow your mind.

UK Brexit news is subdued background chatter at the moment. The big outrage being the release of the exorbitant travel expenses of Juncker and other EU officials, £500,000 for two months. Other EU related news is the presence of 700,000 eggs or egg products from the Netherlands in the UK containing Fipronil, a flea killer which was not to be used on animals and birds for human consumption.

Today the sun shone on an early rising for the annual A14 Riverboat trip. 25 of us climbed into Chris Morgan's boats and set off upriver under a blue sky. There is a small tradition growing on these trips, - A solitary rude and objectionable boat owner at the Hemingford Lock. Very uncharacteristic as boat trips are by themselves a relaxing activity and the vast majority of fellow travellers are friendly and easy going. Today, I was at the receiving end, whilst getting ready to take a picture on the middle of the path across the lock gates. But I was less affected than I might have been. The reason? The retired canal boat owner had embarrassingly bumped his boat whilst trying to enter the lock, in full view of all the other boat owners. I think that a major part was just letting off steam. It was soon forgotten as we dined on Frank Boddy's excellent Brunch and eventually sailed back as a cheerful crowd.

The photo's from the trip are online here: https://goo.gl/photos/rokpEiFdpbAZ5g977

Back at St Ives, I went to the Norris and spent the rest of the afternoon helping out at the Friday play activities as groups of parents and young children came in waves.

This evening, Jane was cooking a lamb mince sauce, which inspired me to take out the first of eight different packets of flour from Ulli that had arrived yesterday or the day before as an unexpected package. I used the Italian Pasta/Pizza flour to make egg pasta according to my Pasta cookery book. It took a bit longer than expected included the surprise of a double yolker in one of the two eggs I used. I eventually cut fettucine strips (4mm width). Half was boiled briefly to go with the mince sauce, the reminder is currently air drying in the kitchen.

1945-Truman-Tinian-Hiroshima-Nagasaki-Guam-Trump-2017

Hiroshima after August 1945

In August, 72 years ago, fire and fury as no man had seen before destroyed Hiroshima, by the first ever atom bomb and then by the immediate firestorm that followed, ordered by President Truman. The second, a plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki,  followed 3 days later. Since then, there has been a lot of rhetoric, the Cuban missile crisis and the Cold War. But no atomic weapon has been used in anger since. Following on from yesterday's slanging match, North Korea has stated that it is planning to send four missiles to splash down in the sea around the US military and tourist island of Guam later in the month. President Trump's response, that fury might not have been statement enough, that NK should be very nervous "Things will happen to them...", and not ruling out  a pre-emptive strike. The world watches, concerned, yet strangely not taking this too seriously.

It is an irony the the first atomic bombs began their plane journey from another of the Mariana islands, Tinian, just north east of Guam, in this month 72 years ago, and now Guam waits to see if it is bombed.

Belligerent Trump and Jong-un. Brexit Trivia Day

Norwich RC Cathedral

Woke up this morning to find the World still intact. Admittedly, the media were excited that North Korea's Kim Jong-un response to the clear warning from President yesterday was a threat to attack Guam, the island with a major US military base.

Guam is a 30km long island best found using google maps, or by drawing a line vertically south from Hokaido, Japan and another line horizontally and eastwards from Mindoro in the Philippines. Search for a small spot in the Philippine Sea where the lines cross, that is Guam.

The most recent response from America to the renewed threat came from a slightly more subtle US Defense Secretary James Mattis who recommended that North Korea "cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and destruction of its people".

So the ball is back in Kim's court.

It therefore seems appropriate to show the picture of the inside of Norwich Roman Catholic Cathedral, as the world holds its breath and prays WWIII is not in the offing.

It's Brexit trivia time in the news today. The Pound's fall to only €1.06 hardly stirs interest. Apparently the dastardly EU bought Margaret Thatchers old London HQ at 32 Smith Square back in 2010 and this is likely to be the EU's bastion after Brexit, cocking a snook at the Conservatives. The Daily Telegraph reveals another low trick by the EU during the negotiations last month - there was no water in the room. However the UK had their own paranoia, not permitting the use of digital watches that could be used for leaks and David Davis's electronic notes being in a case that was a Faraday cage to prevent French hacking. David's former aide James Chapman has been active on Twitter, showing unpatriotic anti-brexit sentiment by asking key government ministers difficult questions, like

"Hello @chrisgraylingmp - can you confirm airlines won't be able to sell 80% of flights from next March? How are bilateral deals coming?"

The most pointed was a tweet aimed at Boris Johnson:

"Let’s be honest, if we had an effective electoral law leading Brexiteers would now be in jail. #wheresmy350maweekboris."

To cap it all, he suggested that it was time for a new party, the Democrats.

In contrast, my day was dull and only distinguished by the torrential rain drumming on the roof and windows.

Climate Change Report in Balance Whilst Hope the Whale Hangs in NHM

There is a draft Climate Change report sitting on President Trump's desk, written by scientists from 13 federal agencies. It points out that the most recent decades have been the hottest for the past 1,500 years. You can read the draft 600 plus page report here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/07/climate/document-Draft-of-the-Climate-Science-Special-Report.html

It confirms that thousands of studies, conducted by tens of thousands of scientists, have documented climate changes on land and in the air. “Many lines of evidence demonstrate that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse (heat-trapping) gases, are primarily responsible for recent observed climate change.”

The extreme weather events since 1980 have cost the US $1.1 trillion so far.

With a climate skeptic President, there is currently unease that the final report may not actually make it into the public domain.

The fear is not helped by recently published letters from the early days of the administration, to the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). They apparently instruct staff to avoid the use of the phrase Climate Change and replace it with phrases such as “weather extremes”. However Kaveh Sadeghzadeh, NRCS’s communications director, told The Huffington Post, “these emails, sent in the first days of the new Administration, did not reflect the direction of senior agency leadership.” The NRCS “has not received direction from USDA or the Administration to modify its communications on climate change or any other topic.”

With North Korea remaining strident about it's nuclear deterrent with threats to the US, President Trump broke from his holiday to deliver a similar hard response: make more threats and North Korea would "face fire and fury like the world has never seen".

The possible resultant nuclear winter would be a drastic solution to global warming.

I saw 'Hope' the whale hanging in the main hall in the Natural History Museum in London for the first time today. The impact of a whale descending towards you was ruined for me by the placement of a museum stand right at the point where the public should be standing.

In fact, the more impressive view was from the higher galleries. That said, it was a more than adequate replacement of Dippy the Diplodocus who has gone on a national tour. I tried taking some stereo pictures. It will be interesting to see if they work.

I was there for the Quekett Microscopical Club Gossip meeting, a show and tell, today on botanical slides. I stayed on afterwards for a curry at a nearby restaurant before setting off back home.

US Economy Up. UK Consumer Confidence Down. Wood from the Ohe Ohe Tree

Wood from the Tetraplasandra or Ohe Ohe Tree of Hawaii

Well, it seems as if the US economy is ignoring all the kerfuffle and shenannigans of politics. The Dow index is up, unemployment continues to decline and apparently US exports are rising, though there is still a deficit with China. In the UK, the economy is slowing down as consumers cut back. There are also suggestions that Prime Minister Theresa May and the government may finally reveal some of their ideas for the continuing EU Brexit negotiations. Let's hope it doesn't involve Baldrick's Turnip and "A Cunning Plan" a la Blackadder.

After a fascinating morning catching up with our work plan I settled down to an afternoon of reading a new manuscript. Inbetween, I had the PC combining focus stacks of photos of wood sections that I took last night. The structure of wood under the microscope is characteristic of the tree from whence it came. It can also be very pretty and is often confused by some of being pictures of modern knitting. The most unusual wood in the collection viewed was from the Ohe Ohe or Tetraplasandra tree of Hawai, which can grow to a height of 20 metres and is spread throughout the Hawaiian islands.

UN Sanctions, Finding Drug Cheats and the Hinxton Mill Turbine

Hinxton Mill

Hats off to the US for being able to get China and Russia on board for a unanimous vote for sanctions against North Korea in response to its continued ballistic missile tests. Are we seeing a 'Good Cop - Bad Cop' scenario having been played out with Rex Tillerson and Donald trump in the respective roles? Whether North Korea will listen before it has an ICBM capable of reaching mainland US is another matter.

Some of the media have jumped on to Vince Cable's remarks in his Mail on Sunday article this weekend. Calling the over 65's who believed in Brexit at any cost as "Self declared martyrs" who had "comprehensively shafted the young," as they have "the last word about Brexit, imposing a world view coloured by nostalgia for an imperial past on a younger generation much more comfortable with modern Europe." He also went on to say "To describe such masochism as 'martyrdom' is dangerous. We haven't yet heard about 'Brexit jihadis' but there is an undercurrent of violence in the language which is troubling. We have already had the most fervent of Brexiteers, Nigel Farage, warning of civil unrest if the 'will of the people' is frustrated."

Strong language indeed, which has gleefully been picked up and taken out of context.

The fact that the much anticipated fairy-tale ending of Usain Bolt's sporting career was shattered by Justin Gatlin winning this weekend's 100 m race was met with boos at the 2017 World Athletics Championships. It didn't help that Justin had twice served bans from athletics for testing positive for performance enhancing compounds, testosterone being the last, back in 2006. It made me wonder how you test for a misused compound when the body produces the same hormone naturally.

Testing can be done in two stages, using urine samples. Two naturally produced compounds are isolated from the urine, testosterone and epitestosterone. The ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone is measured using a method called gas chromatography, followed by mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Generally this ratio is less than 4:1. if someone takes testosterone or testosterone precursors, this alters the ration to greater than 4:1.

The sample is then subjected to another test called the Carbon Isotope Ration (CIR). This test is based on the fact that testosterone is a carbon based compound that will contain a natural ratio of two carbon isotopes - the common Carbon 12 and the rarer Carbon 13. This C12/C13 ratio is characteristic for you and influenced by what you eat and where you live. Artificially made testosterone, has a different C12/C13 ratio.

The anti-doping testers look at the C12/C13 ratio in your body's testosterone and epitestosterone. If the C12/C13 ratio in the testosterone is more than 3% different to that in your epitestosterone, it suggests that your have taken performance enhancing synthetic testosterone.

To be sure that this is a real result, the anti-doping testers also check your other urine samples. Nowadays sportspeople are tested so regularly and sometimes at random, that there is a good record of their usual testosterone and other hormone levels.

I gleaned all this information and more from three useful sites and papers:

1. Testosterone, Carbon Isotopes, and Floyd Landis by Derek Lowe http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2006/08/01/testosterone_carbon_isotopes_and_floyd_landis
2. Confounding factors and genetic polymorphism in the evaluation of individual steroid profiling by Tiia Kuuranne et al http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/48/10/848
3. Detection of testosterone administration based on the carbon isotope ratio profiling of endogenous steroids: international reference populations of professional soccer players by E Strahm et al https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2784500/

This afternoon, Jane and I visited Hinxton Mill on one of its open days. This working water mill was restored and is managed by the CambridgePPF volunteers. I was intrigued by the fact that it was not driven by a large waterwheel but rather, by a turbine. By the late 1800's large wooden waterwheels were replaced by the much more efficient water turbines, that could convert up to 90% of water's energy into kinetic energy, driving the mill's main rotating shaft. Whilst flour milling was bening demonstrated, unfortunately, they could not sell milled flour for human consumption - it went off for use as cattle feed instead. The location was suitably idyllic for a walk around. We then made our way back home through Duxford and The Shelfords.