illusions

the adventures of a reluctant pink dot. This is a rather interesting illusion. The appearance of the green dots can be explained by the exhaustion of the cone cells of the eye after prolonged exposure to a single colour, which produces the appearance of its complementary colour. But I'm not sure why the pink dots eventually disappear and you end up seeing just a single moving green dot.

irrelevant?

CNN.com - Prince Charles interview - Oct 30, 2005 Anyone who highlights the issues of climate change, industrialisation, the environment, etc., is relevant, no matter if they're the heir to the throne or anyone else. Prince Charles has been saying this sort of thing for some years now, even before it was generally accepted. He may be in a rather strange position, being part of an institution that's widely seen as irrelevant to modern life, but he's in the media spotlight, so if he can draw people's attention to these issues, that's great. Also he has done some good stuff with the Prince's Trust and his other charities. In a way it's good that he is not the King, because if he was, he'd probably have to be a lot more neutral (look what happened to Edward VIII after he spoke out about the plight of the miners in South Wales). And I think his views on architecture are spot-on.

retro experience

At the weekend we went to the Re-enactors' Market, a splendid place for obtaining stylish historical gear at very reasonable prices. I bought a lovely 17th century coat from the Historical Costume Company and various other bits and pieces, including a bronze pendant of Odin riding on Sleipnir in this design. On the way back we went to the Rollright Stones, and also visited the Whispering Knights and the King Stone. It was very sad to see the paint splashes on the stones, but I suppose they can't remove them without further damaging the rare lichens that grow there. We had an interesting feeling by the King Stone, that there was a line of energy between it and the small ring of stones at the top of the hill (presumably part of the long barrow of which the King Stone was originally the portal stone).

I never said that...

Things You'll Never Hear a Pagan Say... (Cardiff University Pagan Society) Very very funny. Warning: Pagan in-jokes.

petition for OpenDocument

OpenDocument Petition: "OpenDocument for an Open Future"

OpenDocument is a format that would allow Microsoft Office documents to be shared with other office software. Microsoft have said that they will support it in the next version of Office if there is enough customer demand. So if you want Office documents that are interchangeable with other software, please sign the petition.

Black Romans

Septimius Severus and other Black Romans.
Not very many people seem to realise that one of the Roman Emperors was Black - Septimius Severus, who was one of the four ruling Roman Emperors to come to Britain (they were Claudius, Septimius Severus, Constantius Chlorus, who died at York, and Constantine, his son, who was declared emperor at York). Hadrian came to Britain but wasn't emperor at the time. You never see depictions of Black Romans. There were also Syrians, and people from all over the Roman Empire. There's a brilliant book which emphasises this: The Emperor's Babe by Bernadine Evaristo.

forgotten geniuses

Black Scientists and Inventors

How come we've never heard of any of these people? Not only did they invent a lot of really useful stuff, they did it against huge odds created by slavery and segregation.

See also: UK Black History Month site, especially the article about Mark Dean, computer scientist and architect of the PC.

goodbye Rosa Parks

BBC News: US civil rights icon Parks dies
The story of Rosa Parks is one of those heartening tales that makes you realise that a single individual can make a difference - it is possible for one person to be the catalyst that starts the avalanche. She deserves to be remembered.

Rosa Parks, the black woman whose 1955 protest action in Alabama marked the start of the modern US civil rights movement, has died at the age of 92.

Mrs Parks' refusal to give up her seat to a white man on a bus prompted a mass black boycott of buses, organised by Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr.

trip to York

Arrived in York on Friday night after a nightmare train journey (though we met some really nice people on the train), and discovered an excellent Chinese restaurant, the Happy Valley on Goodramgate that serves traditional Chinese food. I had squid in Hoi Sin sauce and Nick had chicken in Hoi Sin sauce. Our sleep was disturbed by mad women screeching and shouting on the stairs from 4 to 6 am. Grr.

On Saturday, after breakfast in a lovely café called the Pantry, we visited Clifford's Tower, a Norman tower on a very large motte mound. This was the site of the massacre of the Jews of York in 1190. They committed mass suicide and set fire to the wooden tower in which they had taken refuge from the ravening mob outside. A few surrendered on the promise of safe conduct and baptism, but the mob killed them anyway. The current stone tower was built as a replacement. Sad story. It was hoying it down with rain, and we got soaked, but went next to the Merchant Adventurers' Hall, a medieval guild hall, a splendid half-timbered place, which still has all the heraldic flags of its guilds. After that we went to York Minster and its crypt. I was again struck by the very Kabbalistic-looking painting of the vision of St Cuthbert on the roof of the small modern chapel at the west end of the Minster. In the afternoon the weather cleared up, so we walked the entire length of the city walls. After that we really needed a sit-down, so we went to the Snicklegate Inn, and thence once more to the Happy Valley Bistro, where Nick had Taiwan sizzling steak and I had Udon noodle soup.

On Sunday, we had breakfast in the Pantry again, then walked along the river to the Yorkshire Museum and its gardens. It was raining again so we didn't spend much time in the gardens. The museum was interesting but there was the usual problem with numbered captions, which made it very tiring to identify all the objects. However they have some really good stuff in there, like the Middleham Jewel, and their Viking and Anglo-Saxon and Roman collections. After that we visited the Treasurer's House, a bizarre confection of styles and periods assembled by an Edwardian gentleman. Then we went to Barley Hall, a reconstructed medieval house. This was great fun as you could dress up in the costumes and play with things. Later we walked to Dick Turpin's grave and then had dinner in the Happy Valley Bistro again. This time we had a Chinese Satay hotpot - a big wok full of hot soup and lots of fresh things to cook in it. Delicious. That's the first time in my life I've ever eaten in the same restaurant three nights running!

Today, Nick went to a work meeting with a colleague, and I went shopping and bought most of my Yule presents in Shared Earth. I also got a really nice bag which was reduced to 2 pounds - what a bargain! The train journey back was better than on the way up.

Microsoft slam ID scheme

Even Microsoft think that the national ID database is a bad idea!

In an article for The Scotsman, Jerry Fishenden, the national technology officer for Microsoft, says the proposal to place "biometrics" - or personal identifiers such as fingerprints - on a central database could perpetuate the "very problem the system was intended to prevent". He says ministers "should not be building systems that allow hackers to mine information so easily".

nowhere to hide

Well, only Denmark, Norway, the United States, the Republic of Ireland and Iceland.

Wikipedia: Countries without compulsory identity cards

Australia ('citizenship certificate'), Austria, Canada ('Certificate of Canadian Citizenship'), Finland, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden (from 1 October 2005), and Switzerland have non-compulsory identity cards.

Denmark, Norway, the United States, the Republic of Ireland and Iceland have no official national identity cards.

innocent in London

Innocent in London - So you think that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear? Wrong, wrong, wrong. David Mery was arrested under the Terrorism Act for having a rucksack and a thick coat (sound familiar?) on one of the coldest days of the year. He is a computer geek, so he has various bits of computer and hardware lying round his flat, which the police found suspicious when they went to search it. Please read this story, it makes chilling reading. Especially if you are a computer geek, as the behavioural profile of a computer geek matches that of a terrorist apparently.

Meanwhile in Dundee, a woman was arrested under the Terrorism Act for walking along a cycle path: Times Online: "Two wheels: good. Two legs: terrorist suspect"

She said: "I was told that the cycle path was for cyclists only, as if walkers and not cyclists were the only ones likely to plant bombs. There are no signs anywhere saying there are to be no pedestrians."

3.3 km

Hurrah! I went to the gym and did 1.3 km on the cross-trainer, another 1 km on the belt-type running machine, and 1km on a rowing machine. And all in half the time it would have taken me to do 1 km in the swimming pool. Cool. And it tells you how many calories you have burnt, which is very motivating. Which means I shall be able to do Bridget Jones style blog posts. Calories consumed: thousands. Calories burnt: 200 (approx). Number of times thought about Mark Darcy (1 - v.g.)