Manhattan attack. 5000 extra Brexit Bureaucrats. Witches, Ghouls and Vampires

Yet another idiot has hired a van and used it as a crude weapon, this time cyclists and pedestrians in Manhattan. do date 8 people have died, the attacker was shot  in the abdomen, arrested and taken to hospital. The rolling news on all channels is full of the incident. It is thought that this is a lone wolf attacker - investigations will tell.

So far this year, there have been 1,046 terrorist attacks, with 6,548 fatalities as can be seen on the map here:
http://storymaps.esri.com/stories/terrorist-attacks/?year=2017

On the Brexit front, the government has revealed that it is seeking to hire at least 5000 more staff to help deal with tax and customs issues relating to Brexit. It also stated that the budget allocated to help deal with Brexit is now estimated to be half a billion pounds. What is however disturbing is, that there are 58 studies into the impact of Brexit on most areas of the economy in the UK - and that these are currently not being made available to MPs.

The BBC news site had a day of Brexit news, striving to always have the balance of pros and cons.

Halloween was an enjoyable event this evening. The pumpkins went out just before 5pm as it got dark and were lit until about half past eight. My cookies were branded as snake steaks to anyone trick or treating at the door and seemed to go down well. About fifty children came over the three hours, the vast majority in a variety of costumes. I was up and down like a yo-yo.

There were some great costumes, from the knee high witch who couldn't reach the door bell and timidly knocked on the door  and lisping 'trick or treat', to the collection of zombies, including a zombie footballer. The most shocking was a hairy werewolf which did actually make me jump. Sartorially, the vampires tended to be the best dressed, some with really fine waistcoats or dresses.

Best laugh of the day was the following conversation.

A vampire girl and prom queen arrive trick or treating.
" I'm afraid I've run out of rats" I said, reaching for the biscuit tin.
"That's alright, I'm a vegetarian." replied the vampire politely.
Bringing the home made biscuits into view, I announced "But I can offer you these snake steaks!
"Oooooh goody! replied the vegetarian vampire and took one.

Mueller Starts Clearing the Swamp. Record CO2 High. Preparations for Halloween

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is beginning to clear the swamp, with the the first charges against Paul Manafort and an associate made. They are accused for money laundering, among other things, but before Mr Manafort became campaign manager for President Trump. Sordid details of tens of millions of then Pro Russian Ukrainian Government's money flowing through dubious channels to Manafort.

The main focus is however on smaller fry turned witness, George Papadopoulos. He lied to the FBI during earlier interviews but now reveals details of contacts with Russian officials, who offered 'dirt' on Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaigns.  There has been talk that he has been more than cooperative and may be actively assisting the FBI with their inquiry.

Mysogeny and sexual misdemeanors are in the news on both sides of the Pond, with both US actors and UK politicians coming under the spotlight for inappropriate behavior and worse. The issuing of charges against the fired Catalonian President Carles Puigdemont for rebellion, has led to him quietly slipping away to Belgium, where he might be seeking asylum. The Central Spanish government is increasing its control in Catalonia.

This has somewhat obscured Brexit news. For example, due to the now urgent nature of the negotiations, you will be relieved to hear that talks are ongoing about when to table the next set of talks. Brexiteers and Nigel Farage are up in arms because three senior UK Remainers, Kenneth Clarke, Nick Clegg and Lord Adonis visited EU Negotiator Michel Barnier. Apparently when asked by the BBC whether he had travelled to Brussels to stop Brexit, Nick Clegg replied, "If only it were that easy! We're here just to get a better understanding of what's going on in the talks."

Sadly, today is also the day that it was announced that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere had risen to an all time high, the highest level for 800,000 years.

Spent the day catching up with emails and designing a calendar. In the evening, prepared two pumpkins for tomorrow and baked biscuits. I'd hoped for eyeballs, but they look more like fatty mini steaks, so I'll brand them as snake or rat cutlets.

Halloween is really a strange beast when you think about it. It originates from All Hallows' Eve, the evening before a christian celebration of All Saints' Day. By the 19th century in Ireland and Scotland, the celebration of Halloween was widely distributed as a celebration more linked to an older celtic one, Samhain, with the carving of lanterns from beets, turnips and latterly pumpkins. It spread through the UK and then over to the US. Then it found resonance back in Europe, especially where there were pumpkin growers! Commercialisation has had it's own impact, in promoting ever more elaborate costumes, masks and theatrical makeup, as well as sweets especially for the event.

However, there is something endearing about the fact that there is a day in the year where more and more children will dress up, knock on the doors of strangers and freely accept sweets, even if their parents are standing in the background, just in case.

Mr Trump is Angry. Other Angry People. Cake (or Chocolate)

Mr Trump is ANGRY. Mr Trump has tweeted a lot about how Angry he is this morning. Mr Mueller is investigating Mr Trump's activities.  Mr Mueller wants to know if Mr Trump or his friends had help from Mr Putin or Russia to get elected. Mr Mueller expects someone to be charged on Monday. Mr Trump has found out that Mrs Clinton and friends paid for the initial investigation. Mr Trumps's friends want Mrs Clinton investigated. Democrats are Angry. Republicans are Angry.

Mr Trump also likes Oil and Coal. Some people are worried that Mr Trump likes oil and coal more than Sacred Sites and Dinosaurs. Mr Trump wants to shrink two National Monuments to allow drilling and mining. The Navajo Nation are Angry. Navajo Nation think the Bears Ears National Monument is Sacred and will try to protect it. The Grand Staircase National Monument is an important archaeological site. Lots of new dinosaur species were found there. There is also a lot of coal under under the Grand Staircase. Mining could damage the site. Archaeologists are Angry.

Other people who are Angry are: Meteorologists, Climate Change Deniers, North Korea, Brexiteers, Remainers, EU citizens in the UK, UK citizens in the EU, Victims of Sexism, Mysogeny & Racism, some Religions and many other Nations, Heathrow Airport Security Officials.

The whole world seems to be more Angry this year.

Jane and Chris are not Angry. Chris and Jane went for a walk and had tea and cake. Driving home, Chris saw a sign that said "The answer to everything is cake". Chris thinks cake is a good answer in many situations. So is chocolate.

Catalonia Direct Rule. Mueller Charges. Scorpions, Mites and Beetles

Feather Mite from Sparrow

Catalonia's Government has been dissolved, difrect rule and police force have been taken over by the Spanish Government and new elections been declared for 21st December. The Spanish President has said that the sacked Catalonian President is still eligible to run for election. The gamble for the Spanish government is that there is a slight majority at present of Catalonians who want to remain part of Spain.

According to CNN, a federal grand jury in Washington approved the first charges on Friday, of the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. Anyone charged could be taken into custody as early as Monday. The report has apparently been confirmed by several sources according to Fox News but remain a minor news item at the moment.

Brexit irony of the day: Belfast and Derry, Dundee, Milton Keynes, Leeds and Nottingham are submitting their final bids for European capital of culture 2023.

I have a perennial problem when trying to find the village hall at the small Suffolk village of Bradfield St George. As per usual, I got lost when reaching the village and had to ask for directions. However, a slightly late arrival did not detract from an enjoyable day at the Eastern Counties Microscopy Study Meeting, at which I also gave a short presentation on the Quekett Spotted Wing Drosophila Survey on iNaturalist.org.

Arthropods dominated my interest on the day. It started with marveling at the small live Asian scorpion walking unconcernedly over Robert's hands as he shone a blue light on it, making it fluoresce. Robert had also brought a collection of several different species of stick insects. the females are alwas much larger than the males, which climb onto the female's back to hitch a ride and stay with her, on the basis that "Once I've found my woman, I'll not let her go"!

John had developed an interest in mites, fleas and lice in birds and had prepared a spectacular slide of a feather mite from a sparrow. Feather mites are incredibly species specific and this tiny specimen sported an oversized pair of flattened third legs, which presumably aided the hold on the small bird's feathers.

The other talk of the day was on the different groups of beetles by Tim, who had brought his collection of examples of Coleoptera along to illustrate the talk. He recommended a window trap or 'Flight Intercept Trap' for catching insects, including beetles. The principle is very simple: you have two sheets of perspex interleaved with each other so that they can freely stand on their own in a washing up basin filled with ethylene glycol (antifreeze). the insect comes flying along, hits one of the perspex panes and falls stunned into the liquid trap. I've just found a simpler trap made using a perspex drinks bottle online, which works on the same principle. I might be tempted to have a go.

Catalan UDI and Migraine Headaches

The old Bridge and Chapel at St Ives, Cambridgeshire

The dominating news today is Catalan's declaration of independence earlier today. This was followed by the imposition of direct rule by the Spanish government and the sacking of the Catalan Government. The intention is to work towards new elections late in December. Currently the EU, including the major players such as France, the UK do not recognise the Catalan as an independent region and are treating this as an internal Spanish matter. Europe is on tenterhooks to see how the situation develops and there is a fervent wish that it does not end in violence.

The news has overshadowed the release of secret US documents on the assassination of President Kennedy, though some documents are still withheld. The locally most intriguing item was that there was a call to the Cambridge Evening News, suggesting it get in touch with the US Embassy as there would be major news - 25 minutes before the President was assassinated.

Toast and marmalade breakfast at the taproom this Friday and conversation with Frances, Victor and Janet. Janet, a Reiki practitioner, mentioned that that the technique could help with migraines, if I was interested. A timely co-incidence as I was developing a growing sensitivity to the noise-level of conversation as the group grew and woke up. This presaged an rapidly developing migraine attack and I left early.

Having been a migraine sufferer since the age of 15, the invention of triptans has been a godsend. Consistently suffering on average 12 attacks a month over the past 45 years, it is now a case of ensuring that with the onset of aura and the first pain, that it is not lack of fluids or food causing the headache. This gives an hour or so grace before taking the half tablet with a paracetamol that will kill the onset over a couple of hours. Too little and too much sleep are triggers (as this early start after a late night). Otherwise, decades of trying diets, a range of prophylactic medicines, exercise, relaxation techniques, age etc have left the frequency unaltered. A longstanding member of Migraine Action,  now have a cautious view of any promises of assistance with a chronic condition experienced by up to 1 in 7 of the UK population.

One of the things that I discovered since setting up my own business and meeting the wider real world, is that there is a whole panoply of complementary and alternative philosophies and practitioners that people can turn to. The gamut ranges from the muscle and skeletal manipulators, using massage, osteopathy and chiropractic, to alternative medicines from herbal essences, Aloe vera, and homeopathic dilutions, to energy based treatments from acupuncture to energy healing, including Reiki, to relaxation and meditation. Of these I've tried a couple - and found only the relaxation techniques do offer some relief when stress creeps in.

Do they work for others? Some of them do for some people - it is really a very personal thing. Whilst broadly not for me, I do see  a healing/helping effect for others. Whether close to conventional medicine or absolutely far out, most of the complementary and alternative practitioners are caring people with a genuine interest and time to spend with their patients on a more holistic basis. I believe this is probably the thing that achieves the most positive result. It is something that the splintered medical world cannot provide, with it's financial pressures and maximum 10 minute appointment dedicated to individual symptoms. Caring for a person as a whole has a benefit, even if/or even because as a patient you have to pay for it.

My attack was under control and passed within an hour, aided by the distraction of volunteer work at the Norris, first concentrating on and distracted by a difficult digital challenge, and then helping out at the children's drawing half term activity.

Trump Tackles Painkiller Crisis. Affordable Housing Plans for Milton

With remarkable acuity for a hot topic, President Trump has declared nationwide public health emergency to combat the opioid crisis today.

Painkiller addiction is a very serious topic in the US where 142 people die everyday from painkiller overdoses. Ease of access via generous prescription has exacerbated the problem.

This was not an unconsidered on the spot decision. The president had actually ordered a presidential commission to investigate the issue under the leadership of New Jersey's Republican Gov. Chris Christie. Calling a state of emergency was their recommendation.

The critical question is how and whether it will be funded to actually have a real impact.

A short lunchtime walk turned into a longer than expected stop at the Milton Community Centre to see the proposals for an affordable housing development off Fen Road in Milton.

The benefits of the proposal are 54 units of houses to buy and rent at affordable prices, with the offer targeted at those in Milton first. If not filled, the range extends to the nearby parishes. What's more, being developed by a not for profit housing association, the deal is that if a buyer then later wishes to sell their property to move on, it is sold back to the housing association at the market value. This way affordable housing for the community is not lost.

The disadvantages are that the site will be on a site with likely late Saxon to early mediaeval archaeology, as intimated by test trenches. Critically, the preliminary archaeological investigation strangely avoided investigating an area marked as former Manor ruins on maps from the turn of the 20th century. The developer has promised that a full archaeological investigation would be conducted on the site before construction as a sweetener. The other disadvantage, as a resident off Fen Road, is the initial construction traffic and the increased burden on the road once the development is completed.

Finished with an enjoyable evening at the monthly evening with German speaking friends.

2020 Transitional period and Brexit Deal vote promised. Stunning Blade Runner 2049

Cambridge North Station

When pressed at a parliamentary committee hearing, David Davis thought that the parliamentary vote timing would depend on when the deal with the EU was agreed, and this could be the "59th minute of the 11th hour". Whilst his could potentially mean that the deal was agreed before parliament could vote on it. PM Theresa May clarified in PM Questions that she thought that the proposed deal would occur "in time for Parliament to have the vote we committed to".

EU officials stated that the transition period for the UK would be about 20 months (rather than two years), ending on 31st December 2020, which coincided with the end of the EU’s seven-year budget.

Mosaic artist Richard Morgan dropped by with fellow artist Marie. He is going to run a small demonstration with audience participation, on making a roman mosaic. This will follow a talk I'm giving to the Milton Local History Group in November. We've selected a design that will be practical for the time available.

In the afternoon, Sean joined me to watch Blade Runner 2049 at the Light cinema in Cambridge. Being able to travel from Cambridge North into town and back was a great improvement over battling in by car or bus as the cinema was just a 10 minute walk from the central station. We really enjoyed the film, which took the 2 hours and 45 minutes to develop the story. As well as maintaining a link to the original Blade Runner, the new dystopian future allowed the exploration of concepts of identity and humanity, with several twists and turns. The film deservedly got excellent reviews but is starting to disappear from cinemas faster than expected. Like the original, this is likely to become a classic.

US and UK Infighting Empowered President Xi Jinping. Knockers-up in Cambridge

Having your cake and eating it

With Prime Minister Theresa May's message to the Commons, that she was confident that an agreement on trade could be reached within before the onset of the transition period of two years, things might appear more optimistic after her return from the Brussels summit. However, some business executives are getting more concerned at the PM's statement that the details of any transitional arrangements with the European Union may not be known until a broader trade deal has been agreed.

The PM had intimated that the ball was back in the EU's court, Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, stated “It is in fact up to London how this will end -- with a good deal, no deal or no Brexit.” 

Michel Barnier, Chief Negotiator for the EU, warned today that Britain could only expect a trade deal little better than the one the EU struck with Canada. Even that would take years longer to negotiate than the couple of years promised by the government. 

As to a no deal, Barnier said: “We do not want it at all, but we do not exclude any option. Such a scenario would cause us problems, and much larger [ones] in the UK." He went on to give examples, including sudden problems in importing nuclear material for hospital treatments and the possible temporary halt of flights to and from the UK as is leaves the single EU sky agreement.

University chancellors were outraged by an apparently innocuous letter by pro Brexit Tory Whip Chris Heaton, writing in his capacity as an MP. It politely asked for information on lecturers teaching European Affairs and Brexit in particular, and links to their online syllabuses. Written on House of Commons headed paper, it was seen as the first step of a McCarthyist witch-hunt for those who might speak against the current dogma of Brexit.

Another US Senator, Republican Jeff Flake, has also joined Bob Corker as not seeking re-election and suddenly finding himself able to comment rather differently, and unfavourably on his President. For example"Utterly untruthful... Indecency of our discourse and the coarseness of our leadership... Flagrant disregard for truth and decency, the reckless provocations, most often for the pettiest and most personal reasons..."

What is most critical for the White House is that the loss of support from these two Senators eats into the very small Republican majority in the Senate. However, there is already a fierce battle to gain more Trump supporting senators at the next elections.

The political infighting weakening both the US and UK government is contrasted by Chinese President Xi Jinping who has consolidated his power by enshrining his philosophy into the Chinese Constitution. He is the first to do so since Chairman Mao. He also wants Chine to be the World Leader politically and militarily.

At least we could still have our cake and eat it at the Milton Community Cafe. Coffee, lemon drizzle and a fruit cake. Chatting to a sprightly 87 year old, I learnt that her father was a guard on the LNER Railways. She still remembers the Knocker-up coming round to wake her father early in the morning when he was on duty. Both the LNER and the Post Office employed knocker-ups in Cambridge to ensure employees got to work on time. Apparently the practice continued up to the early 1950's in some sectors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knocker-up).

Trump's Wall - Megalithic Tapestry?

No two year deal unless trade agreement reached beforehand. May begged for help from Europe? Juncker say's not. MEPs point out that UK plan to register EU nationals in transition period illegal unless UK citizens registered too. Perhaps another way to introduce national ID cards? President Trump still receiving flack over his call to the widow of La David Johnson.

Large Barrier at Hunstanton Keeps Sea at Bay

In the absence of real BrexiTrump news, I searched for information on the 8 demonstration walls built for Trump's megabarrier between Mexico and the US. The Mail ran an article on this at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5007127/Border-wall-prototypes-competition-fulfill-Trump.html. Built by six companies at a cost between $320,000 to $486,411 each at the US taxpayer's expense, one of the criteria was, that they looked aesthetically pleasing from the US side. The other criteria were: to stand between 18 and 30 feet high and be able to withstand at least an hour of punishment from a sledgehammer, pickaxe, torch, chisel or battery-operated tools.

Whilst President Trump wants the Mexican government to pay for the wall, it will initially be paid for by - Americans. With so much blank canvas, here is actually a great opportunity to offset the cost by offering it up for art on a monumental scale. On the US side, it could be a tapestry depicting the great history of the US, culminating in the rise of the 45th President. There would probably even be enough room for portraits of everyone who voted for him - this could be chargeable to recoup part of the initial cost. It would equally benefit Mexico, which could decorate its side in a similar manner. Leaders of many different cultures and nations have had monuments and facades decorated with their achievements. This wall would outstrip them all - bigly!

Set plans for own outstanding work. Went off for an hour to photograph author's picture content for book in production, came back four hours later. A10 a potential killer with constant stream of blinding headlights as I was driving counter to traffic streaming out of Cambridge at rush hour.

Thornbury and Fox views on Brexit No-Deal. Bread, Jam and Marmalade.

Setting strawberry jam, orange & lemon marmalade. Today's loaf 

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said today, on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, that the conflicts within the Tory party were causing an intransigence in the Brexit negotiations that could lead to us leaving the EU without a deal. In contrast, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox seemed fairly sanguine on ITV said a failure to agree a deal was "not exactly a nightmare scenario". Five major business groups have set a letter to Brexit Secretary David Davis urging him to get a Brexit transition deal mirroring the current status, otherwise British jobs and investment would be lost. Good news in that Spain has said that UK citizens can stay after Brexit with-out disruption.

President Trump has had some words of support from President Carter whilst Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer offers $10 million or more on a TV advertising campaign calling for President Donald Trump's impeachment.

At last a quiet day. Went for a walk, baked a loaf, made some orange and lemon marmalade and also retried setting an older strawberry jam by adding a bit more pectin and sugar, reheating and pouring in jars again. The new sugar refractometer was useful  for estimating how much sugar needed to be added to bring sugar concentration up to 50%.

Non-Brexit Headlines. Tripods and Sugar Refractometer. Spermaceti

Growing sugar crystal - stereopair for cross-eye viewing

Main news of the day is everything but Brexit. Brian has been lashing the west coast of Britain and Ireland. After the Catalan referendum without the consent of the Spanish national government, the Catalans may come under direct rule. Thousands protesting in Barcelona. President Trump says he is minded to allow the release of files on the assassination of President John F Kennedy, which are coming up for review. The WHO announces that it is going to appoint President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe as a goodwill ambassador. Then, after a global outcry, the WHO suggests that it may reconsider.

"Repeat after me: I will not buy any more microscopes at the meeting", said Jane, and I duly agreed last night. The admonishing rang silently in my ears as I arrived at the Microscopium, the annual selling/buying event of the Quekett Microscopical Society. I duly avoided buying one or more of the many different second hand microscopes available there. However, I did find two camera tripods and a monopod, which will partially replace one or more of the damaged ones that I have. The monopod will be a useful accessory as lighter to carry whilst still providing stability for photography under difficult conditions. I found an all metal analogue Bellingham and Stanley, 0-28% sugar  refractometer, which has already proved useful in determining that an individual shop bought mandarin had a sugar content of 12%, whilst one of our garden apples only had 8% sugar. More applications will no doubt arise.

Looking through some of the microscope slides on sale, I came across an old (late 19th/early 20th Century) one labelled 'Spermaceti: Warm the slide gently and the crystals will reform as it cools'.

Spermaceti is a waxy substance found in large quantities (up to 19000 litres) in an organ in the head of sperm whales. It was a prized product in the 19th and early 20th Centuries and the focus of whale hunting. The large, pure wax ester crystals that could be obtained from spermaceti were used in everyday objects from cosmetics to candles as it was without taste or smell. The unit of light,   Candlepower, was defined in the United Kingdom Act of Parliament Metropolitan Gas Act 1860 and adopted at the International Electrotechnical Conference of 1883. It was based on the light produced by a pure spermaceti candle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spermaceti).

Thankfully, we have moved on to try and save whales rather than slaughter them. Jojoba esters are a modern plant based equivalent in terms of properties for the same uses. In fact, in 2010, the International Jojoba Export Council actively confirmed its support for maximum and permanent restrictions on trade and use of whale derived products.

Mixed Messages on May' Brussels visit. Roman Rings and Planting Churches.

Four different perspectives of the same diatom Aulacodiscus

Kaleidoscopic news of Theresa's meeting in Brussels as alternative universes appear to overlap. In Germany,

Der Spiegel titled their article 'Nice try' for Mrs May, whilst pointing out that there was in effect no change. Also noteworthy that the two year transition proposed by the Prime Minister in Florence and accepted as given in the UK was still only 'an interesing idea' for Chancellor Merkel. Presenting the 20 billion Euros to be paid by the UK to the EU during the transition period as an offer was seen as bare-faced cheek, as this would have to be paid for the extended membership anyway, rather than being a new offer. The best interpretation was that there was no new material of substance but the atmosphere had been improved.

CNN believed Merkel had given the signal that the EU was ready to talk about trade negotiations, as progress had been made in the Brexit negotiations.

The BBC confirmed that there was a warmer response from the EU leaders, mixed with a wish to send her back with a 'win' that will enable her to strike a deal by December. However, the underlying message was that she had still not done enough to move negotiations to the next stage.

The Guardian reported that French President Emmanuel Macron regard the 'No deal' scenario proposed by hard-line Brexiteers as a bluff in an attempt to influence the negotiations and soften the EU's stance. a hard Brexit had not featured in any discussions amongst the 27. He obviously has absolutely no idea that a significant proportion of Brits actually see no deal as a real option.

The Daily Mail spoke of a plucky Theresa May telling EU leaders bluntly that she would not be pushed much further. Then "Brussels takes just 90 SECONDS to knock back Theresa". But later on, the article did acknowledge that there had been a more conciliatory tone, with Donald Tusk stating that statements of deadlock were exaggerated.

I had to do a search in Fox news to find info relating to the summit, coming up with "Ireland's leader is praising British Prime Minister Theresa May for a constructive attitude on Brexit talks but says "we're a long way" from getting to the next step."

President Trump's tweet on the UK "Just out report: "United Kingdom crime rises 13% annually amid spread of Radical Islamic terror." Not good, we must keep America safe!" Not well received here. Ed Miliband‏ responded in a tweet: "Spreading lies about your own country: sad. Spreading lies about others: sadder. What an absolute moron". (I did try to find relevant comments on Brussels/Brexit).

My day a little less controversial, more filled with interesting conversation at the A14 for breakfast (scrambled egg on toast). Jonathan Roth had brought in his medal and certificate for completing the Cambridge to Norwich charity bike ride. Travelling on minor road's the promised 70 mile journey turned out to be more like 80. Followed with a fascinating conversation with Les Howard on faith, giving back to society and 'planting churches', a phrase I had not come across before.

Fellow volunteer Rodney made the mistake of asking if I could help with photographing one of the new Norris displays. We spent the rest of the day recording an iron age coin, Norman ring with inscription and an ancient British amber chain used to hold/decorate a garment, to name a few. One Roman ring stone actually linked to the earlier conversation at the A14. It had a short text with a ChiRho (☧) sign engraved on it - a sign used by early Roman Christians, and presumably dated after the religion had been adopted by Constantine I in AD 312.

Busy Brexit Brussels for May and Corbyn. Growing Crystals. Premature Babies Better Bonding

Dog louse Tichodectes canis. Panorama from a PMS slide

It's a vocal day for different groups and perspectives on Brexit. Prime Minister Theresa May made a trip to Brussels to call for more dynamics in the Brexit negotiations in a dinner speech to the other EU leaders. The leaders will be locking themselves away tomorrow to talk about their plans for trade with the UK after Brexit whilst also reminding that the UK needs to move a bit more on due payments before it leaves. Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn meets with Michel Barnier and the head of the EU parliament in Brussels, to put forward the rational leftist view of how he would handle Brexit as Prime Minister. Brexiteers wrote an open letter to May, suggesting that she should walk away now from the EU negotiation if they refused to move, and prepare for adopting WTO trade rules now in the remaining period.

I spent three enjoyable hours at the local agricultural college running two fun microscopy sessions. The students who came did so in addition to their normal courses. Because the groups were small with three to four students per session, it was a more relaxed and collaborative affair. Rather than being prescriptive, I'd given them a series of challenges from which they could choose an activity. In addition to looking at different animal hairs and growing crystals under polarised light, most of them took photos and videos with their smartphones. This was a bit of a challenge as the smartphones had to be held accurately above an eyepiece to get a good picture. The images will be entered for a competition to choose and celebrate the best. They could also form part of a display.

Hardly back, Jane and I set off again to the Allia Centre for the CETC seminar on 'Non-Invasive Diagnostics' where we help register the guests and get the three speakers set up. I thought we'd sorted out the technology with the ever helpful Allia staff - but still had a few minor glitches. That did not detract from the excellent talks.

PhD student Oliver Bonner from Cambridge University's Department of Engineering presented his solution for Neonatal Intensive Care Units. The babies, often premature, are wired up with ECG, temperature and blood oxygen monitors. This is often intimidating to the parents when they want to hold their babies, with all the cables getting in the way. 'Skin time', i.e. close contact with baby, has a clear benefit with positive outcomes for these babies, so nurses too want the parents to have greater contact. Oliver is developing sensors that can wirelessly transmit the info from on the baby to the necessary recorder. It seems an obvious solution, but no one else had tried it and there are challenges, such as how to attache the sensor to the very delicate skin of a neonate, what radio frequencies to use, how to ensure reliability. The prototypes are still in development as Oliver works to finish his PhD.

A Bigly Bad Press Day. May's EU Citizen Promise. Samsung Forced Start Solution.

Section of a human tooth 

President Trump is having a bigly bad day.  Trying to do the right thing, he puts foot in mouth again with a well meant but unfortunate remark to a grieving widow about her dead husband, Sgt. La David Johnson who was killed in Niger: "He knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt." Whether true or not, trying to counter the criticism has left him only digging himself deeper into a hole and arousing this plea from Karen Meredith, Gold Star and Military Families coordinator for VoteVets.

"Mr. Trump, stop. Please, just stop. This is not about you, it is about them. It is about all of us who lost our loved ones in war. For once in your life, please stop making everything about you. For once in your life, at least pretend to know what empathy is. For once in your life, at least try to care about other people and their feelings."

At least his unpopularity has  peaked and been roughly level at 55% for the past 80 days (popularity around 40 % according to https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/). At times it must seem, as he looks out of the safety of the Oval Office, as if vultures are constantly circling the White House with hyena packs sniffing outside the door.

Rising numbers of senior politicians are seeking to introduce changes to the proposed EU Withdrawal bill. They want to ring-fence the possible Henry VIII powers and perhaps include a statement or two that would effectively prevent a hard Brexit. Discussions on the bill planned for this week have been quietly postponed till November. However, softer mood music comes wafting across the Channel . There is talk in the Guardian that at the meeting of leaders of the other 26 EU nations later this week they will talk up her efforts, whilst still refusing to widen the Brexit negotiations to include trade until there is further progress. In turn, Theresa May used Facebook to promise to make it as easy as possible for EU citizens to remain in the UK after Brexit. 

With Jane's text warning of traffic problems, I decided to cycle the 5 miles for my dental check up in town. Apparently I will have to sacrifice a molar. The ride in was deceptively easy on what seemed to be a wind-still day. I had to cycle back in a lower gear as there was just enough of a breeze to make the return journey seem a couple of miles longer.

Today's successes were finally completing the Bulletin, to go to the printer's tomorrow, and finding out how to force start a Samsung tablet so that a special person can read this blog on it tomorrow! See solution 1 here http://www.samsung.com/hk_en/support/skp/faq/1079486. Thanks heavens we did not have to go for a factory reset.

Trump's Ban Banned. Hard Brexit Disagreement. Home School Microscopy

Cornflower seed

President Trump's most recent travel ban was supposed to come in effect tomorrow but has again been halted by Judge Watson from Hawaii on the bases that it "plainly discriminates based on nationality." There was an immediate rebuke from the White House who will be contesting the judgement.

The OECD warned "no deal" would see investment in the UK seize up, the pound hit new lows and the UK's credit rating cut. At Parliament, David Davis reiterated that the UK needed to plan for a hard Brexit in order to be credible in negotiations. His cabinet colleague Amber Rudd calls Brexit without a deal 'unthinkable'. Bank of England's Mark Carney thinks that inflation will continue to rise above 3%, a consequence of the drop in the value of the pound, and he reckons that the effect will continue for a couple of years. Boris ebulliently declared it would all be fine.

Took some low power stereo microscopes and compound microscopes to a home schooling science group. The age range was from about 5 to mid teens and the leaders had also organised some other activities, using magnifiers, playing with different prisms and, one I thought was very innovative, writing or painting on rice grains or noodles. These would then be put into small bottles filled with oil and a small air bubble. When this was tilted, the roundness of the bottle would magnify the rice grain. If the bubble was in view, it would act like a concave lens and shrink the grain.

There was no pressure for the children to come to the microscopes, the were there to be used. A significant proportion of the children, from all age ranges, looked at the available samples from butterfly wings, sand and seeds to a head-louse and pond sample. Some flicked through quickly, others made their own hole punched slides with salt or animal hair and sellotape and took their time. Using a Biolam with dark-field, there was buzzing ciliate life (including a stentor) and algae. Ninety minutes flew by as I let them get on with it, being there to help if needed or provide an explanation. Parents were lured in too. It was a very enjoyable middle of the day.

Theresa and Juncker Accelerate. Red Sun and Ophelia's Sting Jet

Ophelia's Red Storm Sun 

Prime Minister Theresa May made a series of phone calls, to Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Emmanuel Macron and Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar. This was in advance of todays trip to Brussels to meet with Jean Claude Juncker over dinner in an attempt to push for movement on Brexit. The result of the talks was an agreed statement, “The prime minister and the president of the European commission reviewed the progress made in the article 50 negotiations so far and agreed that these efforts should accelerate over the months to come. The working dinner took place in a constructive and friendly atmosphere.” A very ambiguous statement that covers the views of either party without making any concessions.

Woke at 4:30 am and, unable to sleep, started work. Completed the last changes for the cover to the Roman catalogue and sent them off. Then worked for rest of day on Bulletin, including the book review. Now only need to complete cover.

There was an eerie sky over Milton today with light cloud and a definite red tinge to sun and clouds. I took a break to take a series of photographs to try and capture the phenomenon.  Similar red skies and sun have been created in the past by Saharan sand whipped into the high atmosphere and blown across to the UK. This time fine ash from fires raging in North and central Portugal and Galicia in Spain were also carried along by storm Ophelia as it hurtled to hit Ireland. We were just seeing the far outriders of the massive storm.

Storm Ophelia with evidence of building Sting jet. Photo EUMETSAT and Severe Weather Europe site

According to the Met office, a sting jet is a hook like formation in a storm, like a scorpions tail. Rain and snowaccompanying a falling mass of air cool it further generating very high winds (more than 160 kmh or 100 mph) in an area that may be only 30 km across. It was a sting jet that caused the major damage on this day 30 years ago. Similarly, Ireland has been hit by a sting jet from Ophelia. Key facts from Met office website https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/in-depth/1987-great-storm/sting-jet:

• The 'sting in the tail' is produced by a distinct jet of air - the sting jet.
• It starts out three or four kilometres above the ground and descends over three or four hours.
• Snow and rain falling into it evaporates and cools it as it descends, helping to accelerate it to high speeds.
• It can accelerate to more than 100 mph.

Tillerson's NK Interpretation. Grayling's Glowing Agri-Vision. Crokinole Games

Oak (European) leaf underside with galls

North Korea's Kim Jong-un reacts with angry rhetoric to the American Jet fly-over last week and the expected arrival of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its carrier strike group at the Korean Peninsula. Rex Tillerson, strikes a more measured tone than the President in the past. "Those diplomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops," Tillerson said on CNN's "State of the Union.". Am I supposed to be reassured?

Cabinet Minister and Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, took an optimistic view of a hard Brexit and it's impact on agriculture. "What it would mean would be that supermarkets bought more from home, that British farmers grew more and that they bought more from around the world." What he failed to mention is that this takes a while to adapt to. Supermarkets might scramble and succeed in  finding alternative food sources to make up for the cut-off of 70% of incoming agricultural products, mainly from the EU. However, expect tariffs of up to 22% on average, according to
Sainsbury's chairman David Tyler in the Sunday Times.

Furthermore, farmers actually have to plan ahead to choose commercially viable crops to grow  AND THEN GROW THEM. Which, contrary to Mr Grayling's optimism, actually takes months or even a year or more. Mind you, I look forward to the mandarin and lemon orchards in Kent, global warming permitting. It only takes three to six years for the orchard to mature sufficiently to bear fruit.

Modern Crokinole board, photo Alessio Sbarbaro

We, including visiting family, had a good lie-in today. I cooked a roast chicken lunch, followed by Yorkshire puddings with stewed apples for desert. Followed on with an afternoon of conversation and team battles of a gaome known in the family as 'Shove it', which has been in the family for a long time. The game is more commonly know as 'Crokinole' (pronounced Kroh-ki-nole perhaps an derivative or invention of 'Crock-in-hole!').

The earliest known crokinole board was made by craftsman Eckhardt Wettlaufer in 1876 in Perth County, Ontario, Canada, and we wonder if the idea of this game came into the family through a Canadian connection.

We played with either two players on opposite sides of the board or two teams of two on the quarters of the board. The circualr playing area is divided into three circular scoring rings with a central cavity which fits a puck. The inner ring and the central cavity are surrounded by 8 rubber protected nails. Each team has a set of 12 pucks, identified in two team colours. each puck is about an inch in diameter and has slightly concave sides to reduce friction. We wax and polish the board. The aim is to use a finger flick to get as many of our own pucks into high scoring areas. As shots alternate between teams, there is ample opportunity to try and remove opponent pieces whilst trying to score.

The game was originally thought to be of Mennonite or Aimish origin as it was popular in their communities. Rather than a game of the devil-like cards, Crokinole was considered a harmless pastime, misleadingly so when you consider the playful viciousness and guile that a flick generates, with considerable schadenfreude when the opponent is knocked off the board. Wikipedia has an entry on the game and it should be easy enough to build by any competent home DIY enthusiast. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crokinole. Game dimensions and rules available here http://crokinole.guru/game-rules/.

Visit to the Fossils Galore Museum in March

Ammonite, colour enhanced

The Chancellor Phillip Hammond and various EU officials continue to raise the ire of hard-line Brexiteers, baying for their blood. President Trump's decisions on Obamacare and the Iran deal are also being picked over. The main news is still about Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein's sexual predation and also the wildfires that are still raging across California. Former hostages in Afghanistan Joshua and Catlin Boyle return safely to Canada with their three children after being rescued by Pakistan.

We made an afternoon trip to March, to visit the Fossils Galore museum. The entrance was a bit misleading as it simply looked like a shop selling fossils and crystals. However, there was much more. Curator Jamie Jordan had just offered to give us a tour once he'd completed a task when a confident and earnest voice piped up 'I can give them a tour of the exhibits'.  The White painted face with black patches belonged to a nine or ten year old who added 'Today, I'm Dalmatian'. She was one of the 30 or more volunteers of all ages who regularly came to this museum to help. We followed the skipping figure to find that the rooms of the large high street house had been filled with displays of fossils from mammoths to ammonites, many from our region.

Jamie took over and showed us one of the prize exhibits, the left hand side of a woolly rhino jaw and part of the skull which, he assured us, still contained remnants of soft tissues in the ear canal. Behind the scenes upstairs, there was a small laboratory where two volunteers were working on cleaning individual fossils. Opening a box of recent acquisitions, we admired the partial tooth of a Mammuthus trogontherii or Steppe Mammoth and I took a picture with a ruler as a future reference to compare with the Norris finds. Also had a chance to inspect a woolly rhino tooth, which had apparently still had remains of plant material caught within it when found.

Perhaps the most interesting thing for me was seeing work being conducted on extracting the bones of a complete Iguanodon from rock recovered from a Surrey quarry. Fossils Galore has a small fishbowl lab where you can see trained volunteers painstakingly removing the rock to reveal the bones of the dinosaur. Remarkable was the find of fossilised tendons with the bones, a rarity. There is still at least five years of work to reveal the full skeleton bones which will then hopefully be reassembled into a final display.

The whole venture is self-financing, using the shop front to generate income and relying on enthusiastic, trained volunteers. A remarkable success in an era where museums are struggling to survive.

Breaking the Nuclear Deal. The Cost of Care Homes

Can't be bothered with the fuss today

Yawn. It was inevitable after the 'Brexit Deadlock' comment by Michel Barnier yesterday that their would be a flurry of activity. Junker made an analogy about ordering a round of drinks at the bar and then walking away without paying - earning snide remarks in the UK. Hammond inadvertently called the EU the 'Enemy' and then retracted. On top of this Labour pointed to the most recent YouGov poll that the majority of people surveyed (47% v 42%) regretted the leave vote. It is still a small difference. However, the same poll showed that 64% v 21% thought the negotiations were going badly.

President Trump refused to continue signing off the Iran nuclear nuclear deal, threatening to withdraw if further concessions were not made, alleging that the Iranians had not been complying with the international agreement. This is despite the fact that his own experts and military, as well as the other international partners in the UN including the EU, the UK and Russia all agree that Iran IS complying with the deal. However, the President has put Iran at the top of his list of enemies of the state after ISIS, and has passed the buck to Congress. They now have the unenviable talks of finding a solution. If international agreements are broken so easily by the US, what is the point for North korea to engage in any negotiations.

Considering that it was Friday 13th, the day started well with bacon butty, tea and conversation at the A14. Talked mainly with Margaret who had a major role in health administration before hitting the salary glass ceiling in a cash strapped public sector.

We got onto talking about the cost for care for the elderly.  I hadn't realised that the cost of care varied across the country. Checking this evening, whilst the average cost of a care home in the UK was about £29,300 per year in 2015. But in the East, the average price was £33,800, whilst in the Midlands it was £26,900. In the North it was as low as 26,300.  The same discrepancy exists for care with nursing. The worrying thing is that on average the costs are rising faster than inflation.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-3349355/Nursing-home-fees-course-reach-70k-YEAR-2035-state-pension-covers-fifth-cost.html

Snapped away happily at the Norris Museum, searching through old newspapers for a new volunteer project. Late afternoon, wandered over to the College of West Anglia to talk over plans for the two 1 h microscopy sessions that I'll be running next week. Bring on the weekend!

Brexit Brick Wall. Undermining Obamacare. Relative Hyperlinks.

Brickwork at Windsor Castle 

The most recent EU-UK Brexit round of talks came to an end today with different perspectives  on both sides. Today's allegory would be the discussions viewed as a debate over a brick wall. Michel Barnier gloomily notes that we still have a wall, that it hasn't moved, and that it is worrysome that dismantling it has not yet started. We don't know how much it's going to cost and who's going to pay for it.

David Davis, on the other hand is a lot more positive. We've made a lot of progress. We've measured the bricks, determined their sizes and have been able to agree on the colour of some of them, but we don't want to actually talk costs until we've seen what is on the other side.

There was one definite outcome - the pound plunged to Euro 1.11 after Barnier said the talks were in deadlock. however it recovered and stood higher at the end of trading than at the beginning, reaching the dizzy heights of Euro 1.12!

President Trump has lost patience with his recalcitrant Republican partners over their inability to remove Obamacare. Today he signed a presidential order expanding the access to cheaper and less comprehensive health insurance. “This will cost the United States government virtually nothing and people will have great, great healthcare,” he said. “And when I say people, I mean by the millions and millions."

Critics worry that with less comprehensive insurance, when illness strikes, or goes on for a prolonged period, patients will find they are not covered or bills rise dramatically.

According to the Guardian, there have been other steps by the Trump administration to derail the ACA. These include cutting the sign-up period for insurance by half; shutting down for maintenance the website people use to sign up for health insurance; slashing funding for outreach; and repeatedly threatening to end subsidies to insurance companies who cover the poor.

We were finalising the Votive Treasures catalogue today. One of the last minute touches was to link some of the key images within the document to the actual image files in a separate folder. Hyperlinking is the obvious solution, but we had to get our head around how to do it properly. we needed the final PDF to use 'relative' hyperlinks.

Relative hyperlinks will work as long as the file from which you are linking and the linked-to file are transferred to the same location on a different computer/DVD/memory stick. Having created the files and burning them to DVD, the disk was tested on a variety of computers and laptops just to be sure. It worked.

Treasury Lords' Brexit. Meddlesome Press. Fraud Epidemic

The Tory party continues its internal battles. Chancellor Philip Hammond, 2nd Lord of the Treasury, told a parliamentary commission today that he was minded not to divert money to soften a hard Brexit unless absolutely necessary. Prime Minister Theresa May, First Lord of the Treasury, stated that of course money would be diverted to planning for the catastrophic event, when asked a planted question in Parliament later. Apparently there was a slight disagreement/heated row at the cabinet meeting. Yet again, the government fiddles whist Brexit looms.

In the meantime, President Trump, irritated with the annoyingly unsycophantic press tweeted  "With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!". Something that Henry II would have sympathised with and perhaps paraphrased as "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome press?"Though Simon Sharma might correct me with the more historically acceptable version "What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and brought up in my household, who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born falsee news". This was originally reported in Latin, which Google Translate gives as "Quid sum miser ignavom fucos pecus, et non enutrivi et exaltavi crimine lese maiestatis in domum, quis eorum dominus sit tam indignas tam contemptim tractari per falsum nuntium humilis primogenitus" (please feel free to send any Latin corrections). Mind you, as a Norman, Henry probably used Norman French (no translation available)!

The real plague of fake news, is online and other fraud. Spent morning on ActionFraud reporting line. Practically everyone I know has probably experienced it, even if its simply that call about your computer, allegedly from Microsoft. Last year's statistics are 3.6 million instances of fraud in the UK plus 2 million misuses of computers. The Chief Inspector of Constabulary for England and Wales, Sir Tom Winsor,  said on BBC Radio 4: "The amount of fraud that is taking place now is probably in epidemic proportions.The police are having to work very, very hard to keep up with even the ones they know about. The capability at police forces is quite skeletal and that needs to change and change a great deal."

Quiet BrexiTrump day. On the Radio and Positive Responses

Mammoth hair at 100x magnification using polarised light

Across the pond, the important debate of the day is President Trumps challenge to his Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson to take an IQ test to see who is the moron. Here the trick question the Prime Minister had to ignore in a radio interview was how she, a previous remain voter, would vote now in a Brexit referendum.

EU negotiators state that they are available 24/7 and that there seems to be an absence of UK negotiators this week.Obviously refuted by UK.

I had an interesting conversation at a meeting in the country park cafe with a potential client. No immediate work but it was fascinating to talk through their challenges and possible routes forward, whether we were involved or not. Part of being a small business is that you constantly learn from others and can in turn offer insights that might be useful.

Received a message from Sue Marchant that our interview would be on today's program at 3 pm. This gave me time to check I could record from the radio in the PC before doing so in earnest. Hmm, I could have spoken slightly louder. at least I didn't come over as a total muppet! As part of the interview, I talked about RAF Witchford and the book we helped Sue Aldridge produce. The program had hardly finished when Sue gave me a call and it was great to catch up with her again. On Facebook, the Mammoth story initiated an invitation to the Fossil Galore Museum in March.

Battled on with setting the Bulletin. At 50 pages of content and pictures. The end is in sight.

US Walruses Endangered. May's Brexit White Papers. Sue Marchant Mammoth Visit

EU - UK Trade talks resume at their usual breakneck speed

Most of the media are focused on President Trump's cryptic comments on 'Wait and See' for Iran and North Korea, or on Senator Senator Bob Corkers frank interview with scathing comments on the President. Hidden amongst this news is that the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) declines to list Pacific walrus and 24 other species as endangered. Despite acknowledging that the walruses, for example, which rely on sea ice, are facing unusual stresses, the FWS said the population was currently stable and could possibly adapt to the changing environment. This is yet another reversal of an Obama decision back in 2011, that the walruses were imperiled by climate change and should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. (The only reason for Pacific walruses not being listed at the time was the agency considering other at-risk animals to be of greater priority.

The Prime Minister made a speech in parliament today, clarifying her position after the talk in Florence. Two white papers were also introduced. They considered both trade and customs arrangements in the transition and Brexit. The documents are mainly aspirational, with little detail, basically reiterating the hope for relatively hassle free trade with Europe, without having to impose complex excise and VAT controls. One solution was to broadly adopt EU principles for trade with the EU and then to clone the existing EU trade deals and conditions with other countries. The Customs white paper was particularly illuminating, and not just because there was an awful lot of white space in the document.  It listed the current benefits of trade with the EU under the current arrangements and contrasted them with excise and VAT on goods from non-EU countries. 

Anticipating both a hard Brexit and delays in the processing of  goods traversing the border to the EU, the aim is to introduce new procedures that allow procession before reaching ports. There is also the mention of coming to a special arrangement with the EU to minimise paperwork and excise/VAT tariffs needed. See the papers here:

• Trade White Paper: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preparing-for-our-future-uk-trade-policy
• Customs Bill White Paper: http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/customs-bill-legislating-for-the-uks-future-customs-vat-and-excise-regimes

With both wings of the Tory party gearing up for Brexit and leadership infighting, Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested that Labour should take over the negotiations for the good of the country. The conservative benches roared with laughter, perhaps missing the point that the rest of the country actually wants better leadership in the negotiations.

Prime Minister Theresa May said the ball was now in the EU's court. The EU responded with, basically, you want to leave and initiated this - the ball's in your court to come up with concrete proposals.

Our day was enlivened by a visit by Sue Marchant from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. We had a good chat on common issues relating to health, parents and the ever chaninging face of broadcasting before getting on with an interview. The main interest was in my fascination with Mammoths and then segued into how we got into publishing books and encouraging people to tell their stories. People's stories was a shared passion. Fascinating how the interview was recorded using an i-phone. Not only was the sound quality good, the video quality was good enough for Sue's program facebook page.

Before we departed, I took another picture of Sue outside for the Album of 'Unusual Occurrences at Hall End'. This was later edited to show her meeting Moth the mammoth.

Wicken Fen. Hazelnut Sourdough Bread. Weight of Water in Clouds and Rain

Apollo 13 medal with flown metal by Moonpans, seen at Quekex

Prime Minister Theresa May still in post and now receiving advice from both wings of the party. One recommendation - sack Boris for being more brexiteering. The other, sack Hammond for being too soft on Brexit. EU- GB negotiations to start again this week.

We went to Wicken Fen today, taking in a new walk that was a relaxing wander through a woodland with a profusion of sloes. One couple was busy harvesting the fruit with an eye to flavouring gin back at home. According to recipes online, the minimum time for steeping the sloes in sugar and gin to achieve a good flavour is 3 months in a dark place.

Enjoyed a tea and coffee cake for me, blueberry cake for Jane before returning home. Baked a mixed loaf of sourdough bread (helped along with a bit of yeast), using 200 g rye flour, 100g  strong white wheat  bread flour, 100 g strong wholemeal wheat flower, 146 g Camilla sourdough,  8 g salt, a small handful of ground hazelnuts, a small handful of whole hazelnuts, a desert spoon of honey and a splash of olive oil. It doubled in 4 hours. Knocked back and left to rise in a round tin for a further 3 h. Also baked some fantastic Yorkshire puddings today for evening meal.

With clouds scurrying to cover the initially blue sky, Jane and I were wondering about humidity, dew points and the amount of moisture in clouds. Checking this evening, it seems that humidity measurements are dependent on air pressure and temperature. Today's temperature of about 15 degC and 1012 air pressure meant that at 1kg of air could hold about 11g of water vapour at 100% humidity. In the tropics, this would rise to about 30g water per kilogram air. At 1 degC, close to freezing, this would only be 4 g water per kg air.

• Assuming the average molecular mass of air is 29, then 29 g of air (1 mole) would fill 22.4 litres. 
• 1kg of air is 34.5 times the volume, 772 litres, or approximately 0.77 cubic metres.
• So, at 100% humidity, the air today would have contained 11 g water per 0.7 cubic metres air

If we simplify things a lot and say that 1 cubic metre contains about 1 kg air and 10g water when saturated then

• For a cube of fog 10 m x 10 m x 10 = 1000 cubic metres: It contains 1000 kg (or 1 ton) of air of which 10 kg are water.
• For a large cloud of 1 km x 1 km x 1 km (1 cubic km or 1,000,000,000 cubic metres): It contains 1,000,000,000 kg air (1 million tons) of which 10 million kg (10,000 tons) are water.

And that is an underestimate.

Of course, not all this water falls as rain, so perhaps we should consider the weight of water that falls on a square kilometre. 

• A precipitation of 1 mm over a square km is equal to 1,000 tons of water
• 10 mm rain over a square km is equal to 10,000 tons of water

Editing my pictures from the Quekex yesterday, a bit disappointed with the photos of both the moon and mars rock fragments. However, the medal I saw commemorating the Apollo 13 mission came out well.

Zeebrugge Brexit Worry. Moon and Mars rock. Museum Crash. Spotting Draconid Meteors

30 minutes of night sky looking for Draconid meteors. Star Wheel, three plane tracks and one clearly visible short meteor track

Prime Minister May is still in post but receives another blow, with Chancellor Merkel and President Macron confirming that there will be no progress on Brexit until the UK's financial offer to the EU is made clear. A hard Brexit will have an impact on the Belgian port of Zeebrugge, which  deals with  64 container ships and ferries carrying goods bound for our markets, entering at Tilbury, Tyne, Sheerness, Southampton and other UK ports. So the chaos could develop on either side of the border with the EU, if tarifs and additional processing time and paperwork slow down transit.

I set off for London at the ungodly hour of 7 am, catching an empty number 2 to Cambridge North and then the train to London, via a change at Cambridge. On the fast train, had a very interesting conversation with Dr Ron Jortner, Managing Director of Masthead Biosciences, whose company provides consultancy and advice to bioscience companies. We had a shared interest in imaging and Ron introduced me to two photon fluorescence microscopy. Fluorescent labelled materials are designed such that they have to be excited by two photons of a long wavelength light, so that they emit a higher energy/smaller wavelength photon. The advantage of the method is that you can actually visualise material that is embedded up to several hundreds of microns within tissue.

I managed to get bench with wall space for my two exhibits on arrival at the Natural History Museum. One was  on the Quekett Spotted Wing Drosophila Survey initiated last year and now going global in iNaturalist. The other was a demonstration of stereoimages. We had visiting experts from Belgium and the Netherlands giving talks supported by some excellent videos of microscopic life. The most interesting exhibits for me were the samples of moon rock and a martian meteorite, as well as a medal commemoration Apollo 13, which contained some trace of the metal from the rocket that had gone around behind the moon and returned to Earth despite an explosion on board. The same exhibitor also had plastic casts of real Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor claws.

Certificates were given for best slide made, for artwork based on microscopy and for photographs through the microscope. I had three images entered and was delighted to receive my certificate.

Coming out of the last lecture of the day and returning to the exhibition area, smartphones began to buzz with messages of concern from friends or relatives back home. The area outside the Natural Mistory Museum Exhibition Road entrance (which we were on) had been cordoned off and cleared. Armed police and ambulances were active outside. Some idiot had driven their car into the crowd outside the museum, injuring 11 people. Although 9 were taken to hospital, the injuries were not life threatening.

The driver of the black minicab that caused the incident had been dragged out of the car and wrestled to the ground till the police came to arrest him. The fast and heavy response was obviously based on past experience, where the tactic of driving into crowds was used a a deliberate terrorist attack of soft targets. By the time we were aware of the incident,a couple of hours after it occurred at around 2:30 pm, the police were beginning to think that it might simply be a traffic accident. However, the tube stations and South Kensington and Gloucester Road were closed and evacuated as a precaution and we could not use the Exhibition Road or the main Cromwell Road entrance to exit. We wandered through the museum to the far end for the Queen's Gate exit. I walked up towards Hyde Park and then along Kensington road towards Kensington tube station. Somewhat optimistically, I caught a bus but got off one stop later as the traffic was practically at a standstill as the police helicopter still circled ahead. I beat the bus to the Kensington station.

Arrived back home 12 hours after having left.

The Draconid meteor shower was expected this weekend. It is know to be very variable, some years providing a spectacular burst of meteors, others it is relatively quiet. We had a clear sky for just over an hour so I set up the the camera to take five second exposures of the night time sky facing North at 6 second intervals. Whilst I let the camera run for over an hour, only the first half hour gave clear pictures as condensation formed on the lens after that. The 300 images were stacked using the freeware Picolay as a trial. The resultant star wheel around the pole star also showed three plane tracks and at least one short meteor trace. Looking at the resultant stack in closer detail, there were two further very faint faint traces. Nothing really spectacular though.

Dawn of Oftrump? Ghostly Scout. 3D Delight.

Stereopair for cross-eyed viewing

The dismantling of health benefits for women in the US continues today, by returning control to employers over possible the access to free birth control, and being able to refuse it on religious grounds. Is this bringing the likelihood of a 'Handmaid's Tale' Oftrump closer?

Prime Minister May is still in post today, despite the rumours of backbenchers trying to gain support for a coup. The bad news continues as a Germany-led group of EU countries, including France, has repeated the position of needing clarity on Britain's long-term financial commitments. Presumably the Northern Ireland question has not been settled either.

On a cold but gloriously sunny day, things did not start too well for me at the A14 network bowling at the St Ivo centre. Balls regularly in the gutter, I only managed to redeem myself in the latter half and claw back to the position of second lowest scoring person. It was a great social event with welcome bacon butties and tea/coffee afterwards.

Walking back to the Norris, I took the route down to the river path and encountered a man locking up the Scout's Copley Centre. As we fell into step and conversation on the route into town, I heard the unusual story of how the Scout centre came to be there. St Ives resident Bob Copley was a respected businessman and also a clairvoyant. He regularly walked the river path, past a neglected area of land that was at times used as a dumping ground or a meeting point for lover's trysts. One day, the founder of the Scout movement, Baden Powell, who had been dead for more than 50 years at the time, appeared on the path before him. He told Bob that the land should be used for the scouts. When Bob got back to work, he made a point of finding out who owned the land and later buying it. Now the Copley Centre stands on the 3 acre site, by the banks of the river Ouse.

At the Norris, finally had a chance to catch up with curator Sarah Russell and show her the stereo-images that I had made in the Museum after refurbishment, before it was open to the public. I'd brought along the Owl viewer from Brian May's London Stereoscopic Company. Her reaction was one of unalloyed, spontaneous delight as she carefully viewed each stereoimage. It made my day!

Back home, completed the preparations for my display for tomorrow's Quekex in London.