SUNDERLAND U3A
march 2010
no: 20
EDITOR
Marion Whyte
marion@whyte.me.uk
EDITORIAL TEAM
Elsie Denham
Vacancy
Sunderland University of the Third Age: A member of the Third Age Trust
Sunderland U3A
Fulwell Methodist
Dovedale Road
Sunderland
MEETING:
3rd Wednesday of each month at 1.30 for 2.00pm
MEMBERSHIP:
members@sunderlandu3a.co.uk
0191 549 0984
Printed By:
City Print
Civic Centre
Sunderland SR2 7DN
0191 561 1091
CONTENTS
FROM THE EDITORS
REGULARS
From the Editorial Team
From the Chair & Future speakers
Groups’ News
Exploring Architecture 3b: Decorated Gothic
1000 Novels Everyone Must Read
Dates for Your Diary
People We Should Know 3: Mary Anning
Who’s Who & Contact Us and Groups at a Glance
2
3
4
9
20
43
45
47
FEATURES
Maundy Money
The Mathematics of a Nursery Rhyme
The Long Good-Bye: 3
8
12
13
ART& ARCHITECTURE
“Labour Pains” – Michelangelo’s Poem
Nature’s Rejects -The Castrati
16
17
BOOKS
The Magic of Roald Dhal
What Lewis Carroll Taught Us
19
20
HEALTH MATTERS
No Link Between Mobile Phones & Brain Tumours
Drinking Coffee will Not Sober You Up
Arrhythmia Awareness – Know Your Pulse
23
24
25
NEWs TO US
Manifesto – Scrap Default Retirement Age
Reducing Alzheimer’s Risk
27
27
SCIENCE
Raspberry Milky Way
A Tern Around the World
Spin, Dance, Jump, Repeat
Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
28
29
30
30
Dear Friends
We hope you all had a good Christmas
break with lots of fun and feasting;
we hope you noticed that our efforts to
ensure a white Christmas succeeded i.e.
we put an article in the December Mag.
saying that these were a thing of the past
(& if you believe that you’ll believe
anything!). Certainly, we all enjoyed our
U3A Christmas party: the food was
abundant
and
the
school
choir
entertaining. So here we are in March,
having survived the seemingly endless ice
and snow and cold and looking forward to
Easter and better weather.
Our magazine aims to provide something for everyone: from articles to make you think
(read about the castrati, p17), information on serious health issues (find out how to know
your pulse rate, p 25), ideas for your spring reading list (p 19) and things to do (p 44) to
oddities to make you smile (some wonderful high quality insults on p 9!). Once again,
thanks to everyone who has contributed items, and if you haven't yet done so, please
see what you can do. A short description of an interesting place, a recommendation of a
book or film, or anything which has caught your attention, please share them with the rest
of us. If you think there is anything you would like to see in the magazine, please tell us.
And can anyone provide a photograph which suitable for the summer edition in June?
As spring approaches most of us feel more active, so do look at the varied programme
our groups offer and try something new.
Best wishes
Marion & Elsie
TRAVEL
Yet Another U3A Meeting
Travel Inn England
Happy Packing – Happy Holiday
31
32
33
FOOD
Ignore Expiration Dates
Catch of the Freezer
Watch Your ORACs
Easter Food Traditions
Easter Recipes
35
36
37
38
40
1
2
FROM THE CHAIR
GROUPS’ NEWS
Hello Everyone
AMATEUR ARTISTS
Our group continues to meet twice a month and it
has been lovely to see some new faces turning up –
although we love all the old ones too!
I expect everyone is as sick of this weather as I am. It seems that as soon as the green
shoots of the bulbs start to show, they are covered in snow. They say this is the worst
winter for 30 years and I can well believe it. Fortunately it does not appear to be affecting
attendance at U3A meetings. I think everyone enjoyed February’s speaker, Rebecca
Elsey, who brought us some of her collection and talked about ‘Collectors’ Items from a
Bygone Age’. Rebecca asked that her speaker’s fee be donated to charity and so I sent
off a cheque to the Sunderland Alzheimer’s Society for £30. (Our Christmas Celebration
combined with the proceeds of card sales by the Art Group resulted in a donation of
£161.) I have received thanks for both cheques.
There wasn’t a lot of support expressed for a Whist Group but we will soon be asking for
expressions of interest in the possibility of Tai Chi, Ten Pin Bowling, Carpet Bowls and
Textiles Groups.
Warnings
I often receive e mails about viruses and scams. Sometimes these are genuine but
sometimes they are out of date or hoaxes. The best thing to do before forwarding them
on is to check them out by visiting the website www.snopes.com which will tell you their
status and also alerts you to the most recent problems. I have had problems with e mails
purporting to come from the delivery company DHL which are infected with viruses.
Fortunately my security system has dealt with them. If you have a computer you need
good security but you do not have to pay a fortune for it. Several firms, including the one
that I use, will give you a free security package.
Something else that I have been alerted to is criminals ringing people up saying that they
are fraud investigators from leading banks and building societies. They will have a lot of
information about you and your card but what they want is the security number on the
back of your card. A legitimate fraud investigator would not ask for that number!
Starry Night: Vincent Van Gogh
Rest assured you don’t need to be a Van Gogh to
join in – far from it. Meetings are very informal and
friendly and you can try your hand at any kind of
medium or style. Help is on hand from our Group
Leaders should you need it (as I do) and we try to
get involved in activities outside of the normal
meetings, such as exhibitions of work and possibly
outdoor meetings if any nice whether ever decides
to grace us with its presence.
Marion, one of our leaders, has not been too well
lately so we send you our best wishes Marion and hope that by the time we all read this
you are much improved.
Meetings are on the second and fourth Monday of each month at Monkwearmouth
Railway Museum. Meet at 10.15am. DS
Marion Miller
Josie Thompson
0191 548 1009
0191 534 2702
CARD MAKING
Come along to join us or just to try it out; we meet on the 4 th
Monday of each month, 10.00am at my home. Remember – Easter
is coming!
Reminder
Pat Devenport
The April meeting is also our AGM & as well, your subscriptions (£10) are due then and
need to be paid promptly. If you have decided not to renew please let Lilian know so that
places can be given to those on the waiting list.
0191 536 2365
Regards
COMPUTER & DIGITAL SUPPORT
Judith Ayles
Sunderland U3A and Wearside U3A computer groups have merged .
. . apparently successfully!
Chair Sunderland U3A
April 21st [AGM] Robert Moon
‘Nicholas and Alexandra’
May 19th
Morris Anglin
‘Heart Research’
The combined group meet from 10:30 to 12:00 approx, first and third
Tuesdays at Amble House, Lakeside (Near Hunter’s Lodge, Gilley
Law area). The common interest at present is digital photography
and image manipulation, but other aspects of computer use can be
covered if requested.
June 16th
Derek Hutchinson
‘Voyage across the North Sea Part 2’
Alan Denham
FUTURE SPEAKERS
0191 521 2760
3
4
GEOLOGY GROUP
of decoration & upkeep. It made us determined to go & see it for ourselves.
In February we had a “Snowdrops at Mount Pleasant” visit followed by a delicious tea at
Wynyard Hall. Mount Grace is fascinating, showing the
difference in the way of life of the Carthusians as opposed to
the e.g. Benedictines of Durham. We were particularly
astonished at the size of the cloister
230ft x 270 ft – this
size because of the size of the so-called cells of an individual
monk, each cell having a hall with its hatchway where the lay
servants would place the food so that the monk wasn’t
interrupted in his devotions), living room (with large fire),
study, bedroom, upstairs workroom, garden on 3 sides,
covered “cloister” and their own personal outside privy
(reached by the covered “cloister” so that one didn’t get,
inconveniently wet) – some of us have lived in smaller flats!
Together with its carpets of snowdrops – unforgettable and
well worth a re-visit, perhaps on a slightly warmer day!
The Geology Group meets on the third Friday of each month,
either for an outing in summer or at the Bangladeshi Centre in
Tatham St during the rest of the year. No scientific knowledge is
needed, just an interest in the world around us. Meetings in the
Bangladeshi Centre start at 2 p.m. and the programme for the
next few months is as follows:Friday 19th March
– A talk by Alan Denham on the mass
extinction of the dinosaurs.
Friday 16th April - Talk – A Geological look at Buildings, with
slides of churches, castles, cathedrals and who knows what else.
Friday 21st May
- Fossils - What exactly are they and how
are they formed. There will an opportunity to handle them and
look at them through microscopes rather than simply stare at them through glass cases
in museums.
John Baty
Barbara Vaughan
0191 522 6462
0191 529 5334
We were fortunate at Wynyard Hall, not only for the quality of its tea but also that we
were allowed to see rooms not open that day such as the ballroom and the chapel. We
agreed with Pevsner that it is a nineteenth century jewel.
I am sorry to have to tell you that, for personal reasons I am giving up not only “Looking
at Buildings” but my involvement with U3A. You have been very kind in expressing your
appreciation of our programme of talks and visits and I have loved organising and going
to see so much of our amazing heritage with you. The trip to Suffolk has been organised
and will go ahead with the kindly offered support of Elsie Denham but the rest of the
proposed programme will need to be taken over by one of you – volunteers wanted.
LOOKING @ ART
In January we visited The Gallery at Northumbria University
to view the exhibition ”100 Portraits by Jane Brown” which
were photographs commissioned by The Observer
newspaper spanning many years. One of the staff gave us
an introductory talk before leaving us to browse.
Marion Whyte
019 0
In February we were welcomed at the Sunderland Museum
and Winter Gardens by a staff member who took us on a
guided tour of a major exhibition from the British Museum
called “China: Journey to the East” This was very colourful
and interesting and several of our group intend to visit again.
[This exhibition runs until May 9th at Sunderland Museum.
Eds]
Our March 18th programme is a visit by around 20 members
to The Biscuit Factory at Newcastle, always a popular
location.
Sheila Humby
Rose Marshall
0191 548 2259
0191 528 1468
0191 584 2480
MUSIC APPRECIATION
Earthenware roof tile
in the form of Guan
Yu riding his horse.
Made in North East
China between 1490
and 1620.
As ever, the willingness of our members to think of musical topics
for us to enjoy, is greatly appreciated, but this is definitely not a
condition for joining the Group! As I've said before, we need
Listeners as well as Compilers - but it's surprising how the
imagination starts working once you get the hang of it! Subjects for
the next three months are:March 26th
In January we had a very interesting talk by architect Dennis Jones about Brancepath
Castle and how it has changed from a mediaeval castle to a country house with a
fascinating series of slides showing the castle in its many guises and different standards
5
presented by Susan Quayle
April 23rd
" The Development of Harmony"
presented by Joyce Hoseason (yes,
members, these two have been reversed due to unavoidable circumstances)
May 28th
LOOKING AT BUILDINGS
" Debussy"
" Charles' Choice"
Presented by Charles Slater
Joyce Hoseason
0191 548 6041
6
READING GROUP
FEATURES
We met in December to discuss “When the Tide comes in” by local
authors Anthony Major and Tula Tew which was self published.
MAUNDY MONEY
Our January discussion was “The Angels Game” by Carlos Ruis
Zaphon which was a prequel to “Shadow of the Wind”; both books
have been in the best seller’s list and take place in Barcelona.
This ceremony has evolved
over the centuries and today
bears little relationship to the
original rites to which it owes
its origins. A fundamental
aspect of the original Maundy
service was the washing of the
feet of the poor, which has its
origins in Jesus' washing of
the feet of the disciples at the
last
supper.
In
early
ceremonies, senior clergymen
would wash the feet of lower
clergy,
while
in
other
ceremonies,
the
washing
would be done by someone
higher up the hierarchical order.
February’s choice was “The White Tiger” by Aravind Adiga which won
the Booker Prize in 2008 and gave an insight into life in India.
In March we discussed “The Dare” by John Boyne, this was a quick
read volume in large print, short, but gave us a lot to talk about.
At present we are reading “The Quiet American” by Graham Green and will meet to
discuss this on Tuesday 6th April.
Many thanks to all members who have braved the ice and snow to attend our meetings.
Rose Marshall
0191 528 1468
TRAVEL GROUP
The Maundy ceremony has
been known in England since about AD.600, but there is some disagreement among
scholars as to first recorded instance of the Maundy ceremony. King Edward II (1307–
1327) is often cited as the first English monarch to have actively taken part in the
ceremony, although no dates are given. The first recorded occasion when the sovereign
distributed alms at a Maundy service was in 1210, when King John (1199–1216) donated
garments, forks, food, and other gifts to the poor of Knaresborough, Yorkshire. King
Edward III (1327–1377) is also said to have washed feet and given gifts including money
to the poor; the practice continued regularly, with the participation of the monarch, until
1698.
Twenty members who went on the Turkey and Tinsel break in December to the Lake
District expressed their delight and enjoyment of this holiday where we stayed at a
beautiful hotel with excellent food. In fact, they enjoyed it so much they have expressed a
desire to go back again - we will see!
We ended our last meeting of the year with a travel quiz, holiday poems and even coffee
and scones - a different and relaxing end to 2009. So far this year we have tried to whet
the appetite for visits to many parts of the world by showing "Wonders of Man's Creation"
e.g. Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu, Pyramids, Great Wall of China and many more fascinating
places. At our next meeting on 25th March, Freda Mason will be speaking on "Croatia"
and showing us some of her slides.
Although the monarch did not participate personally, later ceremonies continued in which
a selection of people were given Maundy money consisting of silver pennies totalling, in
pence, the current age of the monarch. The washing of feet ended after the 1736
ceremony, until it was re-instated in the 2003 ceremony, when it was performed by the
new archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams.
If you feel like joining the group we meet at Monkwearmouth Station Museum on the
fourth Thursday of each month at 10.15 a.m. for a 10.30 a.m. start.
Bob Younger
0191 549 0984
In 1932, King George V agreed to take part personally in the distribution of the Maundy
money. The 1936 set was distributed by King Edward VIII, although the coins bore
George V's effigy. By 1953 it had become normal practice for the monarch to distribute
the Maundy money, a practice which continues to this day.
WALKING
Because of the Christmas holidays we have only managed one walk - a coastal walk
from North Shields to Marsden Grotto on a bright but very cold day and the pub lunch
afterwards was a welcome and fitting reward for our efforts. Lumley Woods is our next
walk on Wednesday 10th March. Why not come and join us.
On the 20th March 2008, the Queen made history by holding the ceremony in St.
Patrick's Church of Ireland cathedral in Armagh, Northern Ireland. During the service the
Queen distributed Maundy money to 82 men and 82 women, representing the number of
years of her age. It was the first time the ceremony had been conducted in Ireland and
only the second time outside England.
The walks take place on the second Wednesday of each month. Please look out for
details at each monthly meeting.
Bob Younger
Today, Maundy recipients are all elderly, and no longer chosen based on poverty but
based on their own religious/charitable work.
0191 549 0984
7
8
8
Presenting “Maundy Money” – with coins from
various years pictured
5
8
6
WHEN INSULTS HAD CLASS
were later filled with stained glass which added a dimension of colour to the available
light in the building.
These glorious insults are from an era before the English language got
boiled down to 4-letter words...
A Member of Parliament to Prime Minister Disraeli: "Sir, you will either
die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease." "That depends,
Sir", said Disraeli, "whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."
"He had delusions of adequacy" - Walter Kerr
"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."Winston Churchill
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain
"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." - Oscar Wilde
"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend... if you have
one." - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill "Cannot possibly attend first night,
will attend second...if there is one."- Winston Churchill, in response.
"He is a self-made man and worships his creator." - John Bright
"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial." -Irvin S. Cobb
"He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others." --Samuel Johnson
"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." - Mae West
"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." - Oscar Wilde
"He has Van Gogh's ear for music." - Billy Wilder
"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it."- Groucho Marx
EXPLORING ARCHITECTURE 3b: Decorated (c.1275−1380)
The Medieval periods saw a rapid growth in monasticism and a number of different
orders were able to exert their influence such as the
Benedictines whose abbeys and churches greatly
outnumbered all others in England.
Many cultures had an influence on Gothic architecture and
the Islamic one can clearly be seen in Spain. In essence,
what separated Gothic from Romanesque was the
widespread replacement of massive masonry and solid
walls with small openings and a style whose main thrust
was to make light all important.
Therefore, the Gothic style when applied to an
ecclesiastical structure emphasizes verticality and light and
this effect was achieved by the introduction of certain
architectural features. One's focus was moved from the
structural parts of the building such as its solid walls, to its
columns, its pointed ribbed vaults and its flying buttresses.
DECORATED GOTHIC STYLE
Sometimes "Decorated" or simply “Dec” this is broken into two periods: the "Geometric"
style (1250-90) and the "Curvilinear" style (1290-1350).
Elements of the Style
The Decorated style was in use between c. 1250 and c. 1350, according to Sir Nikolaus
Pevsner. It was a development of the Early English style of the 13th century, and would
itself develop into the Perpendicular style, which lasted until the middle of the 16th
century. These terms were originally coined by Thomas Rickman in his “Attempt to
Discriminate the Style of Architecture in England” (1812–1815) and are still widely used;
Rickman dated the Decorated period to 1307–1377.
Although stone was still the most popular building medium, certainly for churches and the
houses of the well-to-do, brick made some inroads for the first time since the departure of
the Romans. These bricks were introduced from the Netherlands, where they were quite
popular, and made the strongest impression in East Anglia, due to simple geographic
proximity to the source. Bricks were used almost entirely for secular buildings, and even
then their use was not widespread.
One noticeable facet of secular architecture is the growth of solidly built stone houses of
the new class of prosperous merchant. Though not in the same class as the castlehomes of the great barons, more merchants were rich enough to build in less-perishable
materials, and many of these merchant's houses have survived.
Widespread adoption of the flying buttress to distribute the load of walls and roof
made possible the use of wider, taller windows, and with the increase in size came
a corresponding increase in decorative elements in the window head. More
complex patterns of stone vaulting also meant that walls needed to carry less of the
building's weight and thrust, therefore window openings in walls were free to fulfil more
decorative functions. Decorated architecture is characterized by its window tracery.
The simple geometric shapes of the Early English period gave
way to complex curves; the ogee arch being the most
obvious. The ogee combines a convex and a concave
curve in the same arch. This double-curve is the basis of
most of the curvilinear tracery which became so popular
during the 14th century.
Lincoln Cathedral
Due to the versatility of the pointed arch the structure of Gothic windows evolved from
simple openings to immensely rich and decorative sculptural designs and the windows
9
The major characteristic of a Gothic church is its height, both real and proportional and
the main body of a Gothic church will most often show the nave as considerably taller
than it is wide. In England the proportion is sometimes greater than two to one, and the
tallest example is the Beauvais Cathedral in Northern France which measures 48 m (157'
6") compared with Durham’s 22m (73 ft).
The vaulting of the Early English period became lighter,
and short ribs sprouted from the main ribs to form starshaped patterns that were as much ornamental as
structural. The place where the ribs met became a focal point
for decorative touches such as pendant knobs, grotesque faces, or foliage.
10
Elaborate windows are subdivided by closely-spaced
parallel mullions (vertical bars of stone), usually up to the
level at which the arched top of the window begins. The
mullions then branch out and cross, intersecting to fill
the top part of the window with a mesh of elaborate
patterns called tracery, typically
including trefoils and quatrefoils
(see left – cf. Perpendicular right,
where the mullions go from top to
bottom i.e. the windows in the north
& south transepts respectively of
Durham Cathedral). The style was
geometrical at first and flowing in the later period, owing to the
omission of the circles in the window tracery. This flowing or
flamboyant tracery was introduced in the first quarter of the
14th century and lasted about fifty years. This evolution of
decorated tracery is often used to subdivide the period into an
earlier "Geometric" and later "Curvilinear" period.
Interiors of this period often feature tall columns (often more slender and elegant than
in previous periods) which may support elaborately vaulted roofs. Arches are
generally equilateral, and the mouldings
bolder than in the Early English Period, with less
depth in the hollows and with the fillet (a narrow
flat band) largely used. The ballflower (left)
and a four-leaved flower motif take the place
of the earlier dogtooth. The foliage in
the capitals is less
conventional than in Early English and more flowing and a
wider variety of leaves are used; with ivy, oak, rose, and
vines leading the way. Animals, birds, and human figures are
interspersed with foliage, and all the forms are more natural,
less stiffly formal than Early English [see right]. The diaper
patterns in walls are more varied.
Notable Examples
These can be found in many British churches and cathedrals. Principal examples are
those of the east ends of Lincoln
Cathedral and of Carlisle Cathedral and
DECORATED GOTHIC AT A GLANCE
the west fronts of York Minster and
Lichfield Cathedral. Much of Exeter

Covers the period 1280-1380
Cathedral is built in this style, as is the

Elaborately curved tracery
crossing of Ely Cathedral, (including the

Wider windows, better lighting
famous octagonal lantern, built between

Richly-coloured stained glass
1322–1328 to replace the fallen central

Increased use of bricks
tower), three west bays of the choir and

Naturalistic, curved carvings
the Lady Chapel. In Scotland, Melrose
Abbey was a noteworthy example, though
much of it is now in ruins. MW
11
“AS I WAS GOING TO ST IVES…” The Mathematics of a
Nursery Rhyme
"As I was going to St Ives" is a traditional English
language nursery rhyme which is generally thought to
be a riddle.
The most common modern version is:
As I was going to St Ives
I met a man with seven wives
Each wife had seven sacks
Each sack had seven cats
Each cat had seven kits
Kits, cats, sacks, wives
How many were going to St Ives?
A similar problem appears in the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus (Problem 79) [see below],
dated to around 1650 BC. The earliest known published version of it comes from a
manuscript dated to around 1730 (but it differs in referring to "nine" rather than "seven"
wives). The modern form was first printed around 1825. There are a number of places
called St Ives in England and elsewhere. It is generally thought that the rhyme refers to
St Ives, Cornwall although some people argue it was St Ives, Cambridgeshire as this is
an ancient market town and therefore an equally plausible destination.
All potential answers to this riddle are based on its ambiguity because the riddle only tells
us the group has been "met" on the journey to St. Ives and gives no further information
about its intentions, only those of the narrator. Therefore, it can be assumed the group is
also travelling to St. Ives and has been overtaken by the narrator. The answer in this
case is all are going to St. Ives. [See below for the mathematical answer.]
It can also be assumed, that while going to St. Ives the narrator has met the group as
they are coming from St. Ives; this is the most common assumption, producing the usual
answer of one person going to St. Ives; the narrator.
Alternatively, as it's never established if the group is going to or from St. Ives, they could
be going elsewhere or nowhere at all; perhaps they are just by the road side? This would
still give the answer of one, the narrator; because we know from his narration he is
definitely going to St. Ives.
However, it has been suggested the answer is zero because the question "kits, cats,
sacks, wives how many were going to St. Ives?” excludes the narrator and the man he
met, who has the seven wives and also because it's not been established if the kits, cats,
sacks, wives were ever going to St.Ives. However, again the narrator clearly states he is
going to St. Ives, therefore the answer remains one.
Mathematical answer
The mathematical answer to the total number of people, sacks, and felines involved, is
2,802, calculated as follows:
* Narrator: 1
* The man met: 1
* Wives: 7
12
* Sacks: 49 (7 wives times 7 sacks per wife)
* Adult cats: 343 (49 sacks times 7 cats per sack)
* Kittens: 2,401 (343 cats times 7 kittens per cat)
passed away, a friend mused out loud that my mom's death was surely easier to bear
because I knew it was coming. I almost bit her head off:
Easier to bear compared to what—the time she died of a
heart attack? Instead, I bit my tongue.
Rhind mathematical papyrus
The papyrus is translated & laid out, as follows:
A house inventory:
houses 7
1
2,801
cats
49
2
5,602
mice
343
4
11,204
spelt
2,301 [sic – see below]
hekat
16,807
Total
19,607
Total
19,607
What studies actually say is that I'll begin to "accept" my
mother's death more quickly than I would have in the case
of a sudden loss—possibly because I experienced what
researchers call "anticipatory grief" while she was still alive.
In the meantime, it sucks as much as any other death. You
still feel like you're pacing in the chilly dark outside a house
with lit-up windows, wishing you could go inside. You feel
clueless about the rules of shelter and solace in this new
environment you've been exiled to.
And that is why one afternoon, about three weeks after my mother died, I Googled "grief."
The problem appears to be an illustration of an algorithm for multiplying numbers. The
sequence 7, 7 × 7, 7 × 7 × 7, ..., appears in the right-hand column, and the terms 2,801,
2 × 2,801, 4 × 2,801 appear in the left; the sum on the left is 7 × 2,801 = 19,607, the
same as the sum of the terms on the right. Note that the author of the papyrus
miscalculated the fourth power of 7; it should be 2,401, not 2,301. However, the sum of
the powers (19,607) is correct.
The problem has been paraphrased by modern commentators as a story problem
involving houses, cats, mice, and grain; although in the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus
there is no discussion beyond the bare outline stated above. [The hekat was 1/30 of a
cubic cubit (approximately 4.8 litres)].
This article is to mark the 95th birthday of Martin Gardner one of the world’s best-known
recreational mathematician who has probably introduced more people (especially
children) to the joys of mathematics than anyone in history. You can buy his books on
Amazon.co.uk; the latest is “When You Were a Tadpole and I
Was a Fish”.
P.S. If numbers don’t appeal to you try this:
Toothpick Giraffe Puzzle. Five toothpicks form the giraffe shown
right. Change the position of just one pick and leave the giraffe in
exactly the same form as before. The re-formed animal may alter
its orientation or be mirror reversed but must have its pattern
unchanged [see page 46 for the solution].
THE LONG GOODBYE: 3. "NORMAL" VS. "COMPLICATED"
GRIEF
A death from a long illness is very different from a sudden death. It gives you time to say
goodbye and time to adjust to the idea that the beloved will not be with you anymore.
Some researchers have found that it is "easier" to experience a death if you know for at
least six months that your loved one is terminally ill. But this fact is like orders of infinity:
there in theory, hard to detect in practice. On my birthday, a month after my mother
13
The clinical literature on grief is extensive. Much of it reinforces what even the newish
mourner has already begun to realise: Grief isn't rational; it isn't linear; it is experienced in
waves. Joan Didion talks about this in The Year of Magical Thinking, her remarkable
memoir about losing her husband while her daughter was ill: "Virtually everyone who has
ever experienced grief mentions this phenomenon of waves," she writes. She quotes a
1944 description by Michael Lindemann, then chief of psychiatry at Massachusetts
General Hospital. He defines grief as:
“sensations of somatic distress occurring in waves lasting from twenty minutes to
an hour at a time, a feeling of tightness in the throat, choking with shortness of
breath, need for sighing, and an empty feeling in the abdomen, lack of muscular
power, and an intensive subjective distress described as tension or mental pain.”
Intensive subjective distress. Yes, exactly: That was the objective description I was
looking for. The experience is, as Lindemann notes, brutally physiological: It literally
takes your breath away. This is also what makes grief so hard to communicate to anyone
who hasn't experienced it.
One thing I learned is that researchers believe there are two kinds of grief: "normal grief"
and "complicated grief" (which is also called "prolonged grief"). Normal grief is a term for
the feeling most bereaved people experience, which peaks within the first six months and
then begins to dissipate. ("Complicated grief" does not—and evidence suggests that
many parents who lose children are experiencing something more like complicated grief.)
Calling grief "normal" makes it sound mundane, but, as one researcher underscored to
me, its symptoms are extreme. They include insomnia or other sleep disorders, difficulty
breathing, auditory or visual hallucinations, appetite problems, and dryness of mouth.
Now I have to rely on dictionaries to ascertain whether tranquillity has one L or two. My
Googling helped explain this new trouble with orthography: Some studies have
suggested that mourning takes a toll on cognitive function. And I am still in a stage of
fairly profound grief. I can say this with confidence because I have affirmation from a tool
called "The Texas Revised Inventory of Grief"—one of the tests psychiatrists use to
measure psychological distress among the bereaved. Designed for use after time has
gone by, this test suggested that, yes, I was very, very sad. (To its list of statements like
"I still get upset when I think about the person who died," I answered, "Completely
True"—the most extreme answer on a scale of one to five, with five being "Completely
False.")
14
Mainly, I realised, I wanted to know if there was any empirical evidence supporting the
infamous "five stages of grief." Mention that you had a death in the family, and a stranger
will perk up his ears and start chattering about the five stages. But I was not feeling the
stages. Not the way I was supposed to. The notion was popularised by Elisabeth KüblerRoss in her famous 1969 study On Death and Dying. By writing openly about how the
dying felt, Kübler-Ross helped demystify the experience of death and made the case that
the dying deserved to know—in fact, often wanted to know—that they were terminal. She
also exposed the anger and avoidance that patients, family members, and doctors often
felt in the face of death. And she posited that, according to what she had seen, for both
the dying and their families, grieving took the form of five emotional stages: denial, anger,
bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
Of course, like so many other ideas popularised in the 1970s, the five stages turned out
to be more complex than initially thought. There is little empirical evidence suggesting
that we actually experience capital-letter Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and
Acceptance in simple sequence. In On Grief and Grieving, published years later, KüblerRoss insists she never meant to suggest the stages were sequential. But if you read On
Death and Dying—as I just did—you'll find that this is slightly disingenuous. Researchers
at Yale recently conducted an extensive study of bereavement and found that KüblerRoss' stages were more like states. While people did experience those emotions, the
dominant feeling they experienced after a death was yearning or pining.
Yearning is definitely what I feel. I keep thinking of a night, 13 years ago, when I took a
late flight to Dublin, where I was going to live for six months. This would be the longest
time I had ever been away from home. I woke up disoriented in my seat at 1 a.m. to see
a spectacular display of the aurora borealis. I had never seen anything like it. The
twisting lights in the sky seemed to evoke a presence, a living force. I felt a sudden,
acute desire to turn around and go back—not just to my worried parents back in
Brooklyn, but deep into my childhood, into my mother's arms holding me on those late
nights when we would drive home from dinner at a neighbour’s house in Maine, and she
would sing a lullaby and tell me to put my head on her soft, warm shoulder. And I would
sleep.
Meghan O'Rourke, Washington Post
HAIKU ERROR MESSAGES
Bear these in mind next time your computer is giving you trouble In Japan, they have replaced the impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft error messages
with their own Japanese Haiku poetry, each only 17 syllables i.e. five syllables in the first
line, seven in the second, and five in the third...
Your file was that big?
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone. ☺
Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that. ☺
ARTS & ARCHITECTURE
LABOUR PAINS: Michelangelo's
parturition of the Sistine Chapel.
poem
awkward
Michelangelo (1475-1564) himself provides a refreshing dose of reality. A gifted poet as
well as a sculptor and painter, he wrote energetically about despair, detailing with relish
the unpleasant side of his work on the famous ceiling. The poem, in Italian, is an
extended (or "tailed") sonnet, with a coda of six lines appended to the standard 14. The
translation I like best is by the American poet Gail Mazur. Her lines are musical but
informal, with a brio conveying that the Italian artist knew well enough that he and his
work were great—but that he enjoyed vigorously lamenting his discomfort, pain, and
inadequacy to the task. No wonder his artistic ideas are bizarre and no good, says
Michelangelo: They must come through the medium of his body, that "crooked blowpipe"
(Mazur's version of "cerbottana torta"). Great artist, great depression, great imaginative
expression of it. This is a vibrant, comic, but heartfelt account of the artist's work:
Michelangelo: To Giovanni da Pistoia
"When the Author Was Painting the Vault of the Sistine Chapel"1509
I've already grown a goitre from this torture,
hunched up here like a cat in Lombardy
(or anywhere else where the stagnant water's poison).
My stomach's squashed under my chin, my beard's
pointing at heaven, my brain's crushed in a casket,
my breast twists like a harpy's. My brush,
above me all the time, dribbles paint
so my face makes a fine floor for droppings!
My haunches are grinding into my guts,
my poor ass strains to work as a counterweight,
every gesture I make is blind and aimless.
My skin hangs loose below me, my spine's
all knotted from folding over itself.
I'm bent taut as a Syrian bow.
My painting is dead.
15
the
After a certain point, reverence can become
automatic. Our admiration for great works of art
can get a bit reflexive, then synthetic, then can
harden into a pious coating that repels real
attention. Michelangelo's painted ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel in the Vatican might be an example
of such automatic reverence. Sometimes, a fresh
look or a hosing-down is helpful—if only by
restoring the meaning of "work" to the phrase "work
of art."
Because I'm stuck like this, my thoughts
are crazy, perfidious tripe:
anyone shoots badly through a crooked blowpipe.
A crash reduces
Your expensive computer
To a simple stone. ☺
about
16
Defend it for me, Giovanni, protect my honour.
I am not in the right place—I am not a painter.
He is "not a painter"! The hint of rhyme between "honour" and "painter" in Mazur's
translation gives some suggestion of a clinching couplet. (The rhyme—onore/pittore—is
much more distinct in the Italian original.) Although Michelangelo may, in part, have
intended "I am really a sculptor—not a painter," despair is certainly there in his selfdescription. I like to imagine his friend Giovanni laughing out loud at his final "nè io
pittore," as we—anyone who has had a hard time at work on a demanding project well
worth doing—can add our own exclamation of astonishment, rue, and amusement.
Robert Pinsky: Washington Post
NATURE'S REJECTS: The Music of the Castrati
It's not the pyrotechnic pieces sung by castrati
that are the most difficult, the beautiful sad arias
are the hardest to listen to or sing, because we
are moved almost to tears.
From the 16th to the 19th centuries, tens of
thousands of male children were castrated before
puberty to preserve their high voices and then
subjected to a brutal and relentless programme of
vocal training. The first instruction, wrote an
observer, "was inseparable from the whip." As in
all eras of musical education, the result was a few
idolized stars like the celebrated Farinelli; a steady
supply of well-trained singers for church, court,
and opera; and myriad also-rans and nobodies. In this case, particularly tragic nobodies.
These nobodies sang for pennies in the streets, turned to prostitution for male customers,
and sooner or later disappeared into the oblivion of the outcast. A great many ended up
suicides. As for the public, mingled with their admiration for the famous castrati was
disgust and scorn. Names for them included "geldings, eunuchs, capons … nature's
rejects, nullities of known creation." To have gone under the knife, never by your own
choice, meant only one career path. By law and by custom you were forbidden to take
Church orders or serve in government or military. Needless to say, you never had a
family. As a castrato you were a singer, or you were nothing.
The tradition rose from an unholy trinity of religion, money, and art. The church forbade
women to sing in services. There was a standing ban, enforced primarily in the Papal
States, on teaching women to sing professionally at all. Church choirs were staffed by
boys, castrati, and adult tenors and basses. Meanwhile, in secular life, the greatest
castrati, their virtuosity almost superhuman and their voices uniquely beautiful, were
superstars of the opera stage and concert hall. As both singers and sexual toys, they
were favourites of royalty and clergy, enjoying oceans of applause and cries of "Evviva il
coltellino!" ("Long live the little knife!"). The presence of castrati in church music helped
attract fans to services. On the opera stage, they played virile heroes and fiery heroines,
competing for fame with the female divas of the day.
If you're into decadence, transgression, "the other"—all those post-modern shibboleths—
17
this is your kind of music history. A fan wrote, after watching a beautiful teenage castrato
in a female role: "He was enclosed in a carefully-made corset and looked like a nymph …
his breast was as beautiful as any woman's … one felt quite madly amorous of him." In
his Mémoires, Casanova reported an intricate orgy that could have come from Sade:
"There were seven or eight girls, all of them pretty, three or four castratos … and five or
six abbés. … A castrato and a girl … proposed to strip … lie on their backs … with their
faces covered. They challenged us all to guess which was which."
The driving force, naturally, was money. The best singers were recruited by churches,
courts, and opera houses all over Europe. It was not just the riches and fame heaped on
the most famous. If you were part of a poor family—mainly in Italy but here and there
around Europe—and you had a son with a glimmer of musical talent, it was off to the
chop shop. As a young chorister, Joseph Haydn narrowly escaped it. Barbers in Naples
hung a sign: "Boys castrated cheap here." In Naples alone in the 18th century, some
4,000 a year were victims. A historian of the time wrote, "Most castratos come from the
Neapolitan factory, where poverty and the unfortunate lure of profit make people cruel
enough to mutilate children in this way." We will not dwell on the horror of a young child
brought unsuspecting to a nameless place, screaming as he is held down for the
operation, the wound cauterized with hot iron.
We must note the appalling hypocrisy in all of this: on pain of
death, the church forbade boys to be castrated, even as
thousands of the uncountable numbers subjected to the
operation were employed by the church. There was a
standing fiction that they were all victims of an unfortunate
accident in their youth. The last well-known castrato,
Alessandro Moreschi (right), nicknamed "the angel of Rome,"
sang in the Sistine Chapel and died in 1922. He made
recordings in the early years of the century, when he was
past his prime, showing at least an echo of the singular and
disquieting vocal quality that was celebrated for 300 years.
Cruelty, grotesquerie, and beauty: There's another unholy
trinity. The vocal and physical beauty of the younger singers
matched their incomparable virtuosity. Their voices were
unlike either that of a boy or that of a woman, in some ways
richer than either. Since they started in childhood, they had years more time to polish
their craft, compared with normal singers, who usually do not develop fully until their 20s.
Most composers of the 17th and 18th centuries wrote for them. Handel's best-known
opera, Giulio Cesare, was originally written for the castrato Senesino in the title role.
Mozart wrote several major castrato roles in his operas and jokingly, in iambic tetrameter,
called his friend Vincenzo dal Prato "mio molto amato castrato dal Prato."
Most of this music passed from history with the passing of the little knife. The Romantic
period, when church rules relaxed and female divas took over the stage, turned away
from castrati as a bizarre relic of the past, but the Papal States hung on. At least one
writer of the 19th century regretted their passing: "Although it is a triumph for morals that
humanity is no longer subject to this shameless castration, for art it is a misfortune to be
deprived of the magnificent voices." So ended a tradition sanctioned by church and
public, incomparably glorious and incomparably sick.
Jan Swafford: Washington Post
18
BOOKS
SUNDERLAND VOLUNTEER FIRE BRIGADE: KATHLEEN GILL
This book was published in paperback on March 1st.
Comedy
1000 NOVELS EVERYONE
MUST READ: The Definitive
List Part 2 (The Guardian)
The Bottle Factory Outing by Beryl
Bainbridge
Just William by Richmal Crompton
Changing Places by David Lodge
The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh
Do you have a copy and would you provide a review? Eds.
THE MAGIC OF ROALD DAHL
Crime
"Fairy tales have always got to have something a bit scary
for children - as long as you make them laugh as well" Roald Dahl
Children are unapologetically honest. If a child is on the bus, and
sees some unfortunate soul ranting, swearing, and hitting his
head against the window, rather than pretending not to notice
and gazing out the window, a child will stare openly and ask, in a
voice that will impossibly carry to every ear on the bus, “Mummy,
What is wrong with that man?" A child will be unabashedly
fascinated.
It is this honesty and curiosity which Roald Dahl recognised in
children when he wrote for them. Which is not to say that his gift for the grotesque
discounted the magic and the wonder of childhood. The worlds Dahl created were
populated by friendly giants, oversized talking insects, dedicated fathers, and beloved
grandmothers. And, of course, the world’s most amazing chocolate factory. Dahl’s books
were as full of excitement and joy as any, and just enough impossible, wonderful events
to satisfy any child’s craving for enchantment.
What made Roald Dahl so unusual as a children’s author was his
apparent relish of horrid, nasty, and unpleasant things that would
make one’s toes curl. In The Witches, the grandmamma not only
smokes filthy, black cigars and drinks alcohol, but has a missing
thumb, the absence of which Dahl hints at darkly throughout the
book (no word on whether the amputation was Der Struwwelpeter
related). In The BFG, the giant in question is friendly, but his
compatriots snatch children from their beds as snacks in the dead
of night. In James and the Giant Peach, not only were James’
parents eaten by a rhinoceros, but his two aunts, charged with his
care, beat him, and abuse him horribly.
And in true Dahl fashion, the aunts, rather than being turned in to social services, were
run over and killed by the giant peach; squashed flat in their own garden. Their demise is
later suitably celebrated with a song by James' new insect friends.
Roald Dahl died in 1990, so we shall regrettably hear no more from him. During his life,
he did write books aimed at adults—the details of his childhood and early adulthood (in
Boy: Tales of Childhood and Going Solo), and a great many short stories. As a child, I
remember savouring his books and appreciating their candour so much. To this day, I still
enjoy his children’s books as much as, if not more than, his more adult writing.
Beth Carswell: Abebooks (online)
19
The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony
Berkeley
Dead Lagoon by Michael Dibdin
Bones and Silence by Reginald Hill
The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
Family & Self
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald
Durrell
Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel
Proust
The History of Mr Polly by HG Wells
Love
Sci Fi & Fantasy
Love for Lydia by HE Bates
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by
Milan Kundera
The Graduate by Charles Webb
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le
Guin
The Sword in the Stone by TH White
State of the Nation
War & Travel
Clayhanger by Arnold Bennett
The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes
The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West
Death of a Hero by Richard Aldington
The Siege of Krishnapur by JG Farrell
The Naked and the Dead by Norman
Mailer
Slaughter-House Five by Kurt Vonnegut
WHAT LEWIS CARROLL TAUGHT US
Mystery of Lewis Carroll by Jenny Woolf)
(Book
Toward the end of his life, in 1896, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
(also known as Lewis Carroll) published a survey of his
professional work as an Oxford mathematician. Symbolic Logic
set out to clarify the confusion he saw at work among the
academic logicians of his day. Logic emerges, in this volume, as
something of a game: rule-governed, yet arbitrary. It is not the
dry purview of the pedant, but the imaginative landscape of a
creative mind. Indeed, the book concludes, logicians often think
of things like the cupola of a proposition "almost as if it were a
living, conscious entity, capable of declaring for itself what it
chose to mean." But Dodgson warns that we should not simply
"submit" to the "sovereign will and pleasure" of these terms.
Instead, "any writer of a book is fully authorized in attaching any
meaning he likes to any word of phrase he intends to use."
20
Review:
The
Readers familiar with the works of Lewis Carroll will see much in these few sentences to
remind them of the strangely logical and always symbolic world of Alice in Wonderland
and Through the Looking-Glass, where concepts become weirdly animated. Think of the
caprice of the Red Queen, at whose sovereign will and pleasure knaves and servants
bow and scrape. And the avowal that a writer should attach any meaning to a word or
phrase sounds straight out of the mouths of any of the mad and maddening poets of
these books. Recall Humpty Dumpty, who after explicating the poem "Jabberwocky,"
announces: "When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor
less."
What meaning can we find in Lewis Carroll's life? His children's books have been, almost
since the moment of their publication, cornerstones of bedtime reading and classroom
performance. His photographs of Alice Liddell and her friends still stand as brilliant
testimonies to the taste, the sentiment, and perhaps the sexuality of mid-Victorian
England. Are they evidence of portraiture or paedophilia? Can we make a meaning for
them, or should we seek to recover what their maker intended in their poses?
Much critical scholarship on Carroll and his literary peers has focused on the
biographical. Jenny Woolf's new book, The Mystery of Lewis Carroll, sticks to this
tradition. Her goal is to find the "real man" behind the literary feints, the professional
facades, and the puzzling photographs. Biographical details are invoked to explain
creative choices. Woolf links, for example, the quiet, melancholy affect of Through the
Looking-Glass (as opposed to the brisk mania of Alice in
Wonderland) to the death of Carroll's father. She draws on
reminiscences of the elderly survivors of the Liddell circle to
illuminate the life of Charles and Alice 70 years earlier.
Sometimes this method unearths some curious facts. For
example, Woolf makes much of the notion that "Carroll
seems to have had an obsession with the number 42." It is
everywhere in his books, the answer to strange puzzles
and to the enigma of age (the Red Queen has been
calculated to have been exactly 37,044 days old, the same
age as the White Queen, giving a total of 74,088 days,
which is 42 x 42 x 42). Woolf makes that point that here, as
in so much of Carroll's writing, he resorts to numerical
patterns to impose a deeper meaning on the seeming
randomness of life. But after three pages of numerical
puzzling, we never learn why it was "42" that so obsessed
him.
I would not claim that all of Carroll's photographs are icons of perversity or that his
relationship to the girls of the Liddell circle knowingly crossed the norms of 19th-century
acceptability. Carroll was no J.M. Barrie. But his photographs and fiction are nuanced
responses to a range of social habits and personal predilections. "Carroll," Woolf states,
"was fascinated by the visual world." Yes, but it was a visual world always filtered through
the camera's lens or through the looking glass. It was all more than "fun." Carroll saw the
world as made up of performers and performances. There was a powerful theatricality to
everything he did, very much in step with the Victorian fascination with dress-up and
display, and with the ever-changing body beneath the disguises.
Little wonder that the great art form of the period was caricature: a blend of political and
social satire, mannerist exaggeration, and subversive wit. Carroll's contemporary Edward
21
Lear was one of the great caricaturists of the century. So was Carroll's illustrator John
Tenniel). In passing, Woolf notes that late in life, Carroll drifted into "self-caricature." But
instead of pursuing this line of insight, she tries to resolve the extremes of the life and
work into domesticated eccentricity. Her tone throughout speaks down to what may well
have been intended as a young-adult reader. "Carroll was dramatic, creative and
emotional, but none of these qualities were particularly admired in Victorian middle-class
society, and he did not choose to express them much in public."
In fact, a key to Carroll's elusive identity and his art was his recognition that all life
involves role-playing. His literary fictions and his photographs capture the drama of
protean self-presentation so central to 19th-century experience. The Red Queen's court
is as much a theatre as Victoria's. Alice is on stage as much as a Savoyard ingénue.
Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass are peppered with performers, reciting their
poems or their stories. Indeed, the Caterpillar's command for Alice to recite, "You are old,
Father William," comes off as a fickle play-director's call for an audience piece—only to
decide he's made a casting mistake: "That is not said right. … It is wrong from beginning
to end."
Look once again at Carroll's photographs: Alice
Liddell as a seductive beggar maid (right); dressed up
like "a Dane"; Reginald Southey with his arm around
a human skeleton; the girls in Chinese dress (all of
them, and more, finely reproduced in Woolf's book).
These are the tableaux of Victorian melodrama,
images on stage-sets of the imagination—now fixed,
but ever susceptible to change. Like the photographs
of Carroll's contemporary Julia Margaret Cameron,
who dressed up famous friends and local neighbours
in Arthurian garb, they are essays in impersonation.
They call to mind, too, the work of the now-forgotten
Mary Cowden Clarke, whose then-popular The
Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines (first printed in
1851) imagined Ophelia and Rosalind, and a host of
others, growing up before their appearance in
Shakespeare's plays.
It is precisely this sense of the self as artifice that
locates Carroll at the heart of his Victorian society—the idea not just that we all play roles
in life, but also that the characters of an imagined fiction could have lived before their
stage entrances. In the end, it may be better not to try to reconcile the different sides of
Dodson's life but instead to see "Lewis Carroll" as a persona in a drama, played and
scripted by an Oxford don. The mystery of Lewis Carroll is really nothing less than the
mystery of the Victorians themselves: their piety set side-by-side with parody; their
domesticity shading their deviance; their decorum left at the stage door. Alice herself
would have an afterlife in theatre (a musical Alice in Wonderland opened in 1886, and
there have been countless plays, films, and television adaptations). To think freshly about
Carroll and his work, we would do well to watch how he celebrates the disparate and the
dramatic and to recognize, more than a century after his death that his work continues to
teach us the rules of the game of choosing what we mean, without losing our heads.
Seth Lerer: Washington Post
22
HEALTH MATTERS
STUDY FINDS
PHONES
NO
for how a mobile phone might cause cancer.
BRAIN
TUMOR
LINK
WITH
MOBILE
Because of the high prevalence of mobile phone exposure in this population and
worldwide, longer follow-up of time trends in brain tumour incidence rates are warranted.
Maggie Fox: Washington Post
A very large, 30-year study of just about everyone in
Scandinavia shows no link between cell phone use and
brain tumours, researchers report. Even though mobile
telephone use soared in the 1990s and afterward, brain
tumours did not become any more common during this
time, the researchers reported in the Journal of the
National Cancer Institute.
Some activist groups and a few researchers have raised
concerns about a link between cell phones and several
kinds of cancer, including brain tumours, although years
of research have failed to establish a connection with no
clear change detected in the long-term time trends in the
incidence of brain tumours from 1998 to 2003 in any
subgroup.
Annual incidence rates of two types of brain tumour were
analyzed -- glioma and meningioma -- among adults aged 20 to 79 from Denmark,
Finland, Norway, and Sweden from 1974 to 2003. These countries all have good cancer
registries that keep a tally of known cancer cases. This represented virtually the entire
adult population of 16 million people, and over the 30 years, nearly 60,000 patients were
diagnosed with brain tumours.
In Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, the use of mobile phones increased sharply
in the mid-1990s; thus, time trends in brain tumour incidence after 1998 may provide
information about possible tumour risks associated with mobile phone use say
researchers. They did see a small, steady increase in brain tumours, but it started in
1974, long before cell phones existed. From 1974 to 2003, the incidence rate of glioma
increased by 0.5 percent per year among men and by 0.2 percent per year among
women; incidence of meningioma tumours rose by 0.8 percent a year among men, and
rose by 3.8 percent a year among women starting in the mid-1990s. But this was mostly
among women over the age of 60, who were already among those most likely to have
brain tumours, researchers noted.
In addition, it became easier to diagnose these tumours because of better types of brain
scans. Overall, there was no significant pattern, they said and there was no change in
incidence trends were observed from 1998 to 2003 (hat would have been when tumours
would start showing up, assuming it took five to 10 years for one to develop).
It is possible that it takes longer than 10 years for tumours caused by mobile phones to
turn up, that the tumours are too rare in this group to show a useful trend, or that there
are trends but in subgroups too small to be measured in the study; It is just as possible
that cell phones do not cause brain tumours, they add.
Most scientific studies show no association between cell phone use and brain tumours
and researchers trying to find a connection have failed to find any biological explanation
23
DRINKING COFFEE 'WILL NOT SOBER YOU UP' WHEN DRUNK
Coffee can cloud your judgement when you've drunk alcohol, tests found. Reaching for a
mug of coffee may be the worst thing you can to do to try to sober up, a study suggests.
Research on mice indicates the drink may
make you feel that you are coming to your
senses - but it is only an illusion. In fact, it
makes it harder for people to realise they
are under the influence of alcohol.
The study, by Temple University in
Philadelphia, appears in the journal
Behavioural
Neuroscience.
Lead
researcher Dr Thomas Gould said: "The
myth about coffee's sobering powers is
particularly important to debunk because
the co-use of caffeine and alcohol could
actually lead to poor decisions with
disastrous outcomes. "People who feel tired and intoxicated after consuming alcohol may
be more likely to acknowledge that they are drunk.
Despite the appeal of being able to stay up all night and drink, all evidence points to
serious risks associated with caffeine-alcohol combinations. Conversely, people who
have consumed both alcohol and caffeine may feel awake and competent enough to
handle potentially-harmful situations, such as driving while intoxicated or placing
themselves in dangerous social situations.
The researchers tested how well adult mice were able to navigate their way round a
maze to avoid unpleasant stimuli, such as bright lights and loud noises. The animals
were given doses of alcohol and caffeine in various combinations, and their performance
on the maze was compared to others who were given a neutral saline solution.
Alcohol made the animals more relaxed, but less able to avoid the unpleasant shocks.
Animals given caffeine were little better at navigating around the maze, but were more
alert and uptight. In combination alcohol and caffeine appeared to produce relatively
alert, relaxed animals that were still incompetent at sidestepping nasty shocks.
The researchers believe that in humans the combination is likely to make people feel that
they are not drunk, when in fact they still are. The doses of caffeine given to the mice
were up to the human equivalent of eight cups of coffee.
Dr Gould said: "The bottom line is that, despite the appeal of being able to stay up all
night and drink, all evidence points to serious risks associated with caffeine-alcohol
combinations." NYT
24
ARRHYTMIA AWARENESS: Know Your Pulse
Your pulse is:
Your heart beat - your heart rate - your heart rhythm
One of the easiest places to feel your pulse is on your wrist, just
below your thumb. You can feel your pulse in other areas,
including the crease of your elbow, in your groin or behind your
knee.
Why & when should you check your pulse?
Being aware of your pulse is important because it may indicate an abnormal heart
rate or rhythm
It is a good idea to try taking your pulse at various points throughout the day (before and
after various activities).
Your pulse rate will change during the day depending on what activity you are doing. This
is normal. To get your baseline pulse and normal rhythm, try taking your resting pulse
when you wake in the morning and before going to bed.
What is a normal pulse?
Between 60 and 100 beats per minute.
However, there are normal reasons why your pulse may be slower or faster. This may be
due to your age, medications, caffeine, level of fitness and any other illness including
heart conditions, stress and anxiety.
When should you seek further advice?

If your pulse seems to be racing some or most of the time and you are
feeling unwell.

If your pulse seems to be slow some or most of the time and you are
feeling unwell.

If your pulse feels irregular (“jumping around”), even if you do not feel
unwell.
Everyone is different and it is difficult to give precise guidelines. Certainly many people
may have pulse rates over 100 beats/min (bpm) and less than 60 bpm. Irregularity is
quite difficult to assess since the normal pulse is a bit irregular, varying with the phase of
respiration. You should see your doctor if you have a persistent heart rate above 120
bpm or below 40 bpm.
More information from:
www.knowyourpulse.org
Arrhythmia Alliance
PO Box 3697
Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire CV37 8YL
Tel: 01789 450 787
Email: info@heartrhythmcharity.org.uk
Website: www.knowyourpulse.org
KNOW YOUR PULSE IN 4 STEPS
1. To assess your resting pulse rate in your wrist, sit down for 5
minutes beforehand. Remember that any stimulants taken before
the reading will affect the rate (such as caffeine or nicotine). You
will need a watch or clock with a second hand.
2. Take off your watch and hold your left or right hand out with your
palm facing up and your elbow slightly bent
3. With your other hand, place your index and middle fingers on
your wrist, at the base of your thumb. Your fingers should sit
between the bone on the edge of your wrist and the stringy tendon
attached to your thumb (as shown in the image). You may need to
move your fingers around a little to find the pulse. Keep firm
pressure on your wrist with your fingers in order to feel your pulse.
4. Count for 30 seconds, and multiply by 2 to get your heart rate in
beats per minute. If your heart rhythm is irregular, you should count
for 1 minute and do not multiply.
RECORD YOUR PULSE HERE
RESULT
DAY
am
ACTIVITY
pm
1
2
3
4
5
Endorsed by
PLEASE REMEMBER THESE ARE GENERAL GUIDELINES AND INDIVIDUAL
SHOULD ALWAYS DISCUSS THEIR CONDITION WITH THEIR OWN DOCTOR.
25
6
7
26
(e.g. after a run)
NEWs TO US
SCIENCE
AGE CONCERN AND HELP THE AGED'S MANIFESTO CALLS FOR SCRAPPING
OF DEFAULT RETIREMENT AGE
RASPBERRY MILKY WAY
Scrapping Default Retirement Age tops Age Concern and Help the Aged’s pre-election
manifesto challenge, as new research shows 100,000 older workers were forced to retire
last year.
The Age Concern and Help the Aged pre-election manifesto is challenging all political
parties to commit to scrapping forced retirement legislation. The call comes as new
research by the Charity shows the use of mandatory retirement ages soared during the
recession, with over 100,000 people forced to retire on or after turning 65. Meanwhile the
countdown to forced retirement is now on for a quarter of a million more workers in their
60s.
The issue tops the bill of key manifesto challenges launched today by Age Concern and
Help the Aged, which include calls for radical reform of care in old age and the re-linking
of the basic state pension to earnings by 2012. The paper, Our Power is Our Number,
covers six critical issues for later life: respect; support; money; health; participation and
ageing around the world.
[Information - In the UK at the moment:
18.1% of the population is over 65. By 2031, nearly a quarter of the UK population (23%)
will be over 65. The boom is expected to slow down and by the year 2051 it is estimated
that only 24% of the UK population will be over 65. The average life expectancy for a
person in the UK is 77.5 years (75 for men and 79.9 for women). Although the UK has no
good measure of healthy life expectancy, preliminary investigations estimate healthy life
expectancy to be approximately 10 years fewer than total life expectancy.
There is no fixed age for when you must retire - you can continue working as long as you
wish. Despite the current gender difference at which you can receive a state pension, the
average retirement age for both men and women in the UK is around 65. The lowest in
the European Union is 59, for Italian women; the highest is 67, for Danish men and
women. Eds]
Astronomers searching for the building blocks of life in
a giant dust cloud at the heart of the Milky Way have
concluded that it tastes vaguely of raspberries because
ethyl formate, which gives raspberries their flavour and
smells of rum, has now been found in deep space.
GREATER PURPOSE IN LIFE ASSOCIATED WITH REDUCED ALZHEIMER'S
RISK – ALZHEIMER’S RESEARCH TRUST COMMENT
Dr Belloche and his colleague Robin Garrod at Cornell University in New York have
collected nearly 4,000 distinct signals from the cloud but have only analysed around half
of these.” So far we have identified around 50 molecules in our survey, and two of those
had not been seen before," said Belloche. The results were presented at the European
Week of Astronomy and Space Science at the University of Hertfordshire.
Researchers at Rush University Medical Center in the US have found that people who
report having greater purpose in their lives appear less likely to develop Alzheimer's
disease. Their findings are published in the March issue of Archives of General
Psychiatry, a JAMA/ Archives journal.
The researchers assessed 951 older adults without dementia and measured their sense
of purpose in life using a series of questions. After an average of four years of follow-up
clinical evaluations, 155 participants had developed Alzheimer's disease.
After controlling for some variables, greater purpose in life was associated with a reduced
risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, as well as a reduced risk of mild cognitive
impairment and a slower rate of cognitive decline.
Specifically, individuals with a high score on the purpose in life measure were
approximately 2.4 times more likely to remain free of Alzheimer's disease than individuals
with the lowest scores.
27
The unanticipated discovery follows years of work by
astronomers who trained their 30m radio telescope on
the enormous ball of dust and gas in the hope of
spotting complex molecules that are vital for life. Finding amino acids in interstellar space
is a Holy Grail for astrobiologists, as this would raise the possibility of life emerging on
other planets after being seeded with the molecules.
In the latest survey, astronomers sifted through thousands of signals from Sagittarius B2,
a vast dust cloud at the centre of our galaxy. While they failed to find evidence for amino
acids, they did find a substance called ethyl formate, the chemical responsible for the
flavour of raspberries.
"It does happen to give raspberries their flavour, but there are many other molecules that
are needed to make space raspberries," Arnaud Belloche, an astronomer at the Max
Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, told the Guardian. Curiously, ethyl formate
has another distinguishing characteristic: it also smells of rum.
The astronomers used the IRAM telescope in Spain to analyse electromagnetic radiation
emitted by a hot and dense region of Sagittarius B2 that surrounds a newborn star.
Radiation from the star is absorbed by molecules floating around in the gas cloud, which
is then re-emitted at different energies depending on the type of molecule. While scouring
their data, the team also found evidence for the lethal chemical propyl cyanide in the
same cloud. The two molecules are the largest yet discovered in deep space.
In 2008, the team came tantalisingly close to finding amino acids in space with the
discovery of a molecule that can be used to make them, called amino acetonitrile. The
latest discoveries have boosted the researchers' morale because the molecules are as
large as the simplest amino acid, glycine. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins
and are widely seen as being critical for complex life to exist anywhere in the universe. "I
wouldn't be surprised if we find an amino acid out there in the coming years," said
Belloche.
Previously, astronomers have detected a variety of large molecules, including alcohols,
acids and chemicals called aldehydes. "The difficulty in searching for complex molecules
is that the best astronomical sources contain so many different molecules that their
'fingerprints' overlap and are difficult to disentangle," Belloche said.
28
The molecules are thought to form when chemicals that already exist on some dust
grains, such as ethanol, link together to make more complex chains.” There is no
apparent limit to the size of molecules that can be formed by this process, so there's
good reason to expect even more complex organic molecules to be there," said Garrod.
Ian Sample: The Guardian
[Isn’t this wonderful and the kind of thing that makes you happy to get up in the mornings!
Eds]
SPIN, DANCE, JUMP, REPEAT! Why don't figure skaters get
dizzy?
Figure skaters competing in the Olympic Games must include
spins in their routines, then move seamlessly from these to other
complex moves—like triple jumps. Why don't they get dizzy and fall
over?
Practice! Coaches generally limit novice figure skaters to just one
or two rotations per spin. Only after months and years of training
do skaters build up to seven or even eight revolutions. (Skaters
must complete eight-revolution spins to secure the highest points.)
They progressively work their way up from the three basic spins
(upright, sit, camel) to complex variations on those such as the
haircutter, the pancake or the doughnut. Although skaters can't rid
themselves entirely of the dizziness sensation, most grow so accustomed to it that they
hardly notice it—and it doesn't negatively affect their routines.
A TERN AROUND THE WORLD
We are all used to miniaturization in our
daily lives — the steady shrinking of the
electronic tools we use, like telephones
and video screens. But what happens
when miniaturization reaches the natural
world?
The best example is new research on the
migratory patterns of the Arctic tern, using
a minute electronic device designed by
engineers at the British Antarctic Survey.
Called a geolocator, the device weighs 1.4
grams, or about 0.05 ounce, and is about
the size of a tiny halogen bulb. Affixed to the tern’s leg, the geolocator measures
variations in light levels as the bird flies — data it compresses and stores, creating a map
of the tern’s movements.
And what a map it is! Ornithologists had guessed at the range of the tern’s migration, but
evidence drawn from geolocators confirms that it is almost certainly the longest of any
species on the planet — about 44,000 miles round trip from breeding sites in Iceland and
Greenland to its wintering sites in the marginal ice near Antarctica.
The long, looping migration, which averages more than 300 miles a day, includes a
month long hiatus in the North Atlantic. There was no single migratory pattern. Some
birds followed the coast of Africa south, while others tracked the eastern edge of South
America. The shape of the route is determined both by the biological richness of the
waters they pass and by global wind patterns.
Our ability to track the movement of Arctic terns does not yet translate into an
understanding of how they map the world for themselves. And for all our increasing ability
to follow the movements of a creature as expeditionary as this, it still takes all our
imagination even to begin to guess what it must be like to have both poles, and the winds
and seas between them, as one’s proper habitation. NYT
YOU’RE RIGHT – DAYS DO PASS FASTER THAN THEY USED TO:
The massive earthquake that struck Chile may have shifted Earth's axis and created
shorter days, scientists at NASA say. The change is negligible, but permanent: Each
day should be 1.26 microseconds shorter, according to preliminary calculations. A
microsecond is one-millionth of a second.
29
Coaches teach their pupils tricks, like staring at a fixed point at the end of the spin—
much like travellers stare at the horizon to stop feeling nauseated. By settling their vision,
figure skaters help their brains adapt faster. Some skaters, especially early in their
careers, do breathing exercises. During training, they might spin as long as they can,
stop to take a deep breath, and then spin again—repeating the pattern until they can
handle multiple rotations.
Skaters also learn to mask dizziness-related imbalance from the judges. There are two
moments in particular when spinning may cause dizziness: at the beginning of the spin,
when the skaters are not yet used to the sensation, and at the end, when they must get
re-acclimated to relative stillness. Skaters often compensate for post-spinning dizziness
by integrating a small dance move into their routines before a jump. This interlude, of
sorts, allows them to regain their balance.
Cecile Dehesdin: Washington Post
REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT WITH 10:10
10:10 is a project to unite every sector of British society behind
one simple idea: that by working together we can achieve a 10%
cut in the UK’s carbon emissions in 2010. It’s easy to feel
powerless in the face of a huge problem like climate change, but
by uniting everyone around achievable action, 10:10 enables
everyone to make a meaningful difference.
The plan is simple: we work together to cut our carbon emissions by 10% in 2010. 10:10
is an idea whose time has come.
How did it begin? In March 2009 Minister for Climate Change, Ed Miliband attended the
premiere of the climate blockbuster The Age of Stupid and a few days later invited the
film's director to a debate. It was at this session that she introduced the idea of 10:10.
and, aided by publicity from the Guardian and Sun newspapers, the campaign launched
on 1 September 2009 and quickly gained support. Signed up so far are thousands of
30
families and individuals and local authorities, health authorities, schools and colleges,
businesses such as Microsoftt, Royal Mail - even 10 Downing Street.
had died and the date of the funeral was announced, and details were given of the picnic
later that month.
Cutting 10% in one year is a bold target, but for most of us it’s an achievable one, and is
in line with what scientists say we need over the next 18 months. We now know for
certain that unless we act quickly to reduce our use of dirty fossil fuels, humanity will face
terrible problems in the years to come. Politicians have so far failed to do what needs to
be done, so it’s time for ordinary people to step in and show that we’re ready to defend
our children’s futures. It’s now or never for the climate.
Then the game started, fast and furious, I managed quite well with my friend occasionally
digging me to say I had missed a number. I had no luck until I was thinking my way
through 76 (soixante-seize) and someone called a line. My friend then noticed I had had
a line but had not noticed (being too slow). I whispered that it was OK, but the lady
opposite heard and summoned the lady calling the numbers who came over explain that
unfortunately she had given the prize to the other lady. By this time everyone in the hall
knew about the English lady who had just missed out on a prize…especially the person
who had won the prize. Later she came over to insist that I share the prize with her. How
generous, I chose a pack of pasta and a packet of dried potato, and declined the lettuce,
as I would be leaving in a few days.
Those signing up are making it happen. In our homes, in our workplaces, our schools
and our hospitals, our galleries and football clubs and universities in a support network
on the road to becoming a zero-carbon society. It’s easy to feel powerless in the face of a
huge problem like climate change, but by uniting everyone behind immediate, effective
and achievable action, 10:10 enables everyone to make a meaningful difference.
Individuals signing up to 10:10 commit to cut 10% of their emissions in 2010, and are
encouraged to spread the word to everyone they know. Participants receive regular
emails with carbon cutting advice, and get the chance to share their experiences and tips
with other 10:10ers online and in their local area. 10:10 has teamed up with the major
energy companies who’ll help by showing customers how they are doing on their bills.
E.D.
The Lotto prizes are not cash, sometimes a meal in a local restaurant or a bottle of wine
but more usually a fruit or vegetable basket or a box of groceries.
I can report that the members of the U3A branch in Loriol are as welcoming as the
Fulwell group and I look forward to attending another meeting on my return to France.
Pat Devenport
TRAVEL INN ENGLAND!
More details at: http://www.1010uk.org
What better way to spend cold dark winter evenings but thinking about taking advantage
of warm summer evenings, heading
off to the garden of your favourite
country pub with a glass of something
chilled?
TRAVEL
YET ANOTHER U3A MEETING!
However with the British Beer and Pub
Alliance warning that 650 village pubs
could close in the coming year, for
how much longer will you be able to
experience this most English pastime?
According to Wikipedia the Université du Troisième Âge (U3A) started in France at the
Faculty of Social Sciences in Toulouse
in 1973 and I was pleased to find a
branch in Loriol du Comtat where I have
a holiday home.
My French is not good but I noticed one
day that there was a gathering of clubs
outside the Marie (town hall) so went to
find out about the group. Following
much gesticulation I was introduced to
the chairman and secretary and invited
to attend meetings. Unfortunately my
visits have not coincided with many
events but I have managed an afternoon
playing Lotto.
Now a campaign has been launched
by Enjoy England to celebrate the
important role inns and pubs play in
this country's history and culture; and
not just as ‘watering holes’, as these
establishments can often be the hub of the community – especially in isolated rural
areas. Pubs are an integral part of the English way of life, and a great way to discover
more on local history, as well as offering excellent food and drink.
Pat Devenport with Dutch friends Noor and
Eddy Hofman at Loriol du Comtat’s U3A
As I said, my French is not good but I
thought that playing Lotto would give me
the opportunity to improve my understanding of numbers. Luckily I have a Dutch friend
who speaks the language fluently and I met her at the Salle des Fetes (community hall)
beside the Marie and she helped me negotiate the choosing of Lotto cards. Some
members were taking 8 cards but I stuck to 3. After the usual announcements, a member
31
A new website www.innengland.com features a database of pubs around the country
where you not only can search for pubs that serve best food but also by theme, such as
"Most Stunning Views" to "Most Historic, and also tips what to do in the area of pub you
want to visit, like walks, nearby attractions etc. The website also allows you to
recommend your own local - unless, of course you want it to stay the best kept secret!
"Cheers!”
(Pictured - The Old Spot, Dursley, CAMRAs National Pub of the Year 2008) (Mature Times)
32
HAPPY PACKING - HAPPY HOLIDAY!
CANADA FOR BEGINNERS
Have you ever returned from a holiday and realized that half the things you packed you
didn’t use (how about making a note of these in your diary or travel journal for next
time?), there were things you wished you packed and didn’t and there were definitely
things that you thanked your lucky stars that you brought along?
Once Vancouver had won the chance to host the 2010 Winter Olympics,
there were lots of questions people from all over the world posted on an
International Tourism Website. Obviously the answers are a joke; but the
questions were really asked!
Here are some things to pack that
you’ll be glad you did
Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Canada, but I forget its
name. It's a kind of big horse with horns. (USA)
A: It's called a Moose. They are tall and very violent, eating the brains of anyone walking
close to them. You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you
go out walking.
• Hanger top clothes pegs (get them
on the internet) – these are great for
hanging up clothes washed out in the
sink or wet bathing suits.
Q: I have never seen it warm on Canadian TV, so how do the plants grow? (England)
A. We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around and watch them die.
• Mini packs of tissue - don't be
caught “with your pants down” when
you discover many loos don’t provide
toilet paper.
Q: Will I be able to see Polar Bears in the street? (USA)
A: Depends on how much you've been drinking.
Q: I want to walk from Vancouver to Toronto - can I follow the Railroad tracks? (Sweden)
A: Sure, it's only four thousand miles, take lots of water.
• Small bottles of hand sanitizer – you
know it makes sense!
Q: Are there any ATM's (cash machines) in Canada? Can you send me a list of them in
Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Halifax? (England)
A: No, but you'd better bring a few extra furs for trading purposes.
• Zip lock bags in assorted sizes –
use them to hold bread, cheese, nuts,
and fruit from breakfast (ripe bananas
do not make an attractive perfume
except to the kind of bugs you wish
would stay away!), pack your
suitcase items in a compact,
organized way, etc.
Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Canada? (USA)
A: A-fri-ca is the big triangular shaped continent south of Europe. Ca-na-da is that big
country to your North...oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in
Calgary Come naked.
• Use the alarm facility of your mobile
phone if you have one, rather than carrying a travel alarm clock.
Q: Which direction is North in Canada ? (USA )
A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees Contact us when you get here and we'll send
the rest of the directions.
• Coin purse – for every currency you’ll be using as it’s so embarrassing to be thought to
be passing on dud currency!
Q: Can I bring cutlery into Canada ? ( England )
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.
• Sun hat – a must (the hat one of us wears makes her look like an aged and slightly
demented, Winnie the Pooh but she don’t care because she’ll never see those people
again!)
Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? (USA )
A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is...oh forget it. Sure,
the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Vancouver and in Calgary , straight
after the hippo races. Come naked.
• A multiple electrical adapter you can use with the relevant plug – absolutely
EVERYTHING these days needs to be charged!
• Disposable ponchos rather than umbrellas – not elegant but VERY practical
Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Where can I sell it in
Canada? (USA)
A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.
• Rather than taking books, invest in an MP3 player of some description and download
talking books from the internet (Audible.co.uk. is a very good site) – you can follow the
story whilst admiring the view!
Q: Can you tell me the regions in British Columbia where the female population is smaller
than the male population? (Italy)
A: Yes, gay nightclubs.
And finally -
Q: Are there supermarkets in Toronto and is milk available all year round? (Germany)
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of Vegan hunter/gathers. Milk is illegal.
The gaudiest luggage tags you can buy - this is not the time for good taste!
Please let us know of any of your tried and tested travel tips [Eds]
33
Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? (USA)
A: Yes, but you will have to learn it first
34
.FOOD
WISE WORDS!
"If you’re afraid of butter, as many people are nowadays, just put in cream."
Julia Child
IGNORE EXPIRATION DATES: "Best by," "Sell by," and all
those other labels mean very little.
There's a filet mignon in my fridge that expired
four days ago, but it seems OK to me. I take a
hesitant whiff and detect no putrid odour of
rotting flesh, no oozing, fetid cow juice—just
the full-bodied aroma of well-aged meat. A
feast for one; I retrieve my frying pan. This is
not an isolated experiment or a sad symptom
of my radical frugality. With a spirit of teenage
rebellion, I disavow any regard for expiration
dates.
The fact is that expiration dates mean very
little. Food starts to deteriorate from the
moment it's harvested, butchered, or processed, but the rate at which it spoils depends
less on time than on the conditions under which it's stored. Moisture and warmth are
especially detrimental. A package of ground meat, say, will stay fresher longer if placed
near the coldest part of a refrigerator (below 40 degrees Fahrenheit), than next to the
heat-emitting light bulb. Besides expiration dates address quality—optimum freshness—
rather than safety and are extremely conservative. To account for all manner of
consumer, manufacturers imagine how the laziest people with the most undesirable
kitchens might store and handle their food, then test their products based on these
criteria.
With perishables like milk and meat, most responsible consumers (those who refrigerate
their groceries as soon as they get home, for instance) have a three–to-seven-day grace
period after the "Sell by" date has elapsed. As for pre-packaged greens, studies show
that nutrient loss in vegetables is linked to a decline in appearance. When your broccoli
florets yellow or your green beans shrivel, this signals a depletion of vitamins. But if they
haven't lost their looks, ignore the printed date. Pasta and rice will taste fine for a year.
Unopened packs of biscuits are edible for months before the fat oxidizes and they turn
rancid. Pancake and cake mixes have at least six months. Canned items are potentially
the safest foods around and will keep five years or more if stored in a cold pantry. A
researcher recalls a seven-year-old can of chicken chunks he ate. "It tasted just like
chicken," he said.
Not only are expiration dates misleading, but there's no uniformity in their inaccuracy.
Expiration dates are intended to inspire confidence, but they only invest us with a false
sense of security. The reality is that the onus lies with consumers to judge and maintain
the freshness and edibility of their food—by checking for offensive slime, rank smells,
35
and off colours. Perhaps, then, we should do away with dates altogether and have
packages equipped with more instructive guidance on properly storing foods, and on
detecting spoilage. Better yet, we should focus our efforts on what really matters to our
health—not spoilage bacteria, which are fairly docile, but their malevolent counterparts:
disease-causing pathogens like salmonella and Listeria, which infect the food we eat not
because it's old but as a result of unsanitary conditions at factories or elsewhere along
the supply chain. A new system that could somehow prevent the next E. coli outbreak
would be far more useful to consumers than a fairly arbitrary set of labels that merely (try
to) guarantee taste.
Nadia Arumugam: Washington Post
CATCH OF THE FREEZER
Go local. Eat organic. Buy fresh. Those food mantras continue to make waves among
environmentally conscious consumers.
But — as is often the case in these
climate-conscious times — if the
motivation is to truly make our diets more
earth-friendly, then perhaps we need a
new mantra: Buy frozen.
Several years ago a group of scientists
got together in an effort to understand
how to develop sustainable food systems
to feed a planet of nine billion by 2050.
As the focus of our study, we chose
salmon, an important source of protein around the world and a food that is available
nearly anywhere at any time, regardless of season or local supply.
We examined the salmon’s life cycle: how the fish are caught in the wild, what they’re fed
when farmed, how they’re processed and transported and how they’re consumed.
And what did we find in our research? When it comes to salmon, the questions of organic
versus conventional and wild versus farmed matter less than whether the fish is frozen or
fresh. In many cases, fresh salmon has about twice the environmental impact as frozen
salmon.
The reason: Most salmon consumers live far from where the fish was caught or farmed,
and the majority of salmon fillets they buy are fresh and shipped by air, which is the
world’s most carbon-intensive form of travel. Flying fillets from Alaska, British Columbia,
Norway, Scotland or Chile so that 24 hours later they can be served “fresh” in a city adds
an enormous climate burden, one that swamps the potential benefits of organic farming
or sustainable fishing.
Fresh fish is wonderful and healthful, and if it’s driven a reasonable distance to market,
then its relative environmental impact is low. Fortunately for conscientious diners, when
fish is flash-frozen at sea, its taste and quality is practically indistinguishable from fresh.
More important, it can be moved thousands of miles by container ship, rail or even truck
at much lower environmental impact than when air freighted. If seafood-loving Japanese
consumers, who get most of their fish via air shipments, were to switch to 75 percent
frozen salmon, it would have a greater ecological benefit than all of Europe and North
America eating only locally farmed or caught salmon.
36
Is the future full of fish fingers? No. But when it comes to eating seafood from halfway
around the world, we need to get over our fetish for fresh. With the challenges facing the
world’s oceans mounting, buying frozen is a powerful choice that concerned eaters
everywhere can make.
Food
Serving size
Antioxidant capacity
per serving size
Red kidney bean
½ cup dried beans
13259
Blueberry
1 cup
9019
Artichoke hearts
1 cup, cooked
7904
No, we are not asking you to keep an eye on
your pet killer whale (which we know will please
you) but letting you know about the latest in
“watch what you eat”. Now, in addition to
calories, carbohydrate units, GI index, “5 a day”
and whatever else we’ve forgotten, or has
appeared since we went to print, we have the
Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity unit
(ORAC)!
Blackberry
1 cup
7701
Prune
½ cup
7291
Raspberry
1 cup
6058
Strawberry
1 cup
5938
Red Delicious apple
1 apple
5900
Granny Smith apple
1 apple
5381
What are ORAC Units?
Sweet cherry
1 cup
4873
The ORAC, ORAC value, or "ORAC score" is a
method of measuring the antioxidant capacity of
different foods and supplements. It was
developed by scientists at the National Institutes of Health. This unit of measurement for
antioxidants was developed by the US National Institute on Ageing in the National
Institutes of Health (NIH).
Black plum
1 plum
4844
Potato
1, cooked
4649
Plum
1 plum
4118
Gala apple
1 apple
3903
Astrid Scholz: NYT
WATCH YOUR ORACs!
Why bother with them?
Studies by the NIH have shown that the amounts of
antioxidants you maintain in your body is directly
proportional to how long you will live.
While the exact relationship between the ORAC
value of a food and its health benefit has not been
established, it is believed that foods higher on the
ORAC scale will more effectively neutralize free
radicals. According to the free-radical theory of
aging, this will slow the oxidative processes and
free radical damage that can contribute to agerelated degeneration and disease.
How many a day?
Experts suggest that an ORAC score of around 5,000 units per day is necessary to have
a significant effect on blood and tissue antioxidant levels. The oldest living people are
said to consume at least 6,000 per day. But don’t panic and read on ….
You can combine your ORACs with your “5 a day”! Not all fresh produce packs the same
anti-ageing punch so below are some of the higher rated foods and you can see that it is
not too difficult to achieve 5000 units.
Remember that with nearly all vegetables, conventional boiling reduces the ORAC value
significantly, while steaming retains more of the antioxidants.
37
Commercial ORAC supplements – a warning
Recently, a number of health food companies have capitalized on the ORAC rating, with
dozens selling concentrated supplements that they claim to be "the number one ORAC
product". Most of these values have never been published in the scientific literature so
are difficult to evaluate. It is not known whether such values are accurate or how
absorbable and functional these concentrated antioxidants are in the human body.
What now?
There are plenty of ORACs in everyday whole and juiced veggies and fruits not to
mention beans, nuts, spices, grains so perhaps we forget the lists and - guess what have a not only a varied but now also a colourful diet! M.W.
EASTER FOOD TRADITIONS
Originally Easter was called Pascha after the Hebrew word for Passover, the Jewish
festival that happens at this time of year. It was replaced by Easter, a word which is
believed to have evolved from Eostre, the name of the Anglo-Saxon goddess of fertility
and springtime. As in many other European and New World countries, eggs, lamb and
rabbits (signs of fertility and new life) are traditional symbols of Easter in Britain.
Do You Remember Carlin Sunday?
The Sunday before Easter was Carlin Sunday, a custom unique to the north east, and it
38
was said that it celebrated the fortuitous wrecking of a ship on the rocks. The locals were
destitute and near starvation. The vessel was carrying a cargo of maple peas and the
people were saved! As far as we can tell it's a peculiarity of the North, and even then it
may not be the whole of the North - however few people still eat Carlins.
As well as “Maple Peas”, other names for them are Black
Peas, Brown Badgers and Pigeon Peas. The latter is most
common and comes from the fact they're used as pigeon
food. If you can't find them at a deli or health food shop, you
can often find them at a pet shop (we’re not sure if they're
food grade there though!).
In Northumberland the mothers put the Carlins to soak the
night before and then the little brown peas were boiled then
left in their juices to cool and soak. In the evening they were strained and slowly cooked
in butter, sugar and pepper, and in some pubs, a shot of rum! The result was a delicious
feast of luscious peas in thick black gravy, with predictable effects the next morning
Another typical “Geordie” recipe for them is to prepare the Carlins by soaking them
overnight and then boiling them for up to an hour without adding any salt - it's a matter of
taste as to how soft you like your peas (they are tough little things and it's difficult to overboil them). Then they’re fried in a little butter for a few minutes, add some salt and a good
dose of vinegar to the pan, (the cook coughing madly as the vinegar evaporates). They
were served as the "meat" of the Sunday Dinner, but it was also traditional to eat them
out of a paper cone in the style of chips, you could buy them like this in shops and pubs.
Easter Eggs & Hot Cross Buns
The tradition of decorating real eggs for Easter
dates back to the Middle Ages. In 1290 Edward I,
ordered 450 eggs to be covered in gold leaf to be
given as Easter presents. It is thought that the
bright hues used to decorate Easter eggs were
meant to mirror the colours of the reawakening
spring growth. Egg rolling is still done on Penshaw
Hill,
Aside from eggs, the best-known Easter food is
probably the hot cross buns. Dating back to
medieval times, the buns were traditionally eaten on Good Friday, but they are now
popular all around the Easter season. The history of hot cross buns dates far back to the
pre-Christian era. It is thought that they are descendants of the small cakes offered to
Eostre. They may have been marked with a cross even in ancient times, to represent the
four quarters of the moon. In later centuries the church, unable to stamp out ancient
pagan traditions, decided instead to "Christianize" the buns by associating the cross with
that of Jesus. Besides the obvious symbolism of the cross, the shape of the bun was said
to represent the stone that sealed Jesus’ tomb, while the spices were a reminder of those
with which his body was buried. The mystique surrounding these sweet rolls was so great
that a stale hot cross bun was often kept in the house throughout the year to ward off
evil! Sailors even carried them with them to sea as protection against shipwreck.
39
EASTER RECIPES
NIGEL SLATER’S ROAST LAMB
2kg leg of lamb, or shoulder, on the bone
1 sprig Thyme, or rosemary
1-2 whole garlic head, unpeeled
1-2 medium onions, chopped
3-4 tbsp Olive oil
Set the oven at 230C/gas 8. Put the lamb in a roasting pan big enough to allow you to get
some herbs and garlic around the meat. Strip the thyme or rosemary leaves off their
stems--you will need a couple of large sprigs of rosemary or six to eight little sprigs of
thyme--and chop or crush the leaves quite finely.
Stir enough olive oil into them to make a spreadable slush, then crumble in some salt and
crushed black pepper. Massage the seasoned oil all over the meat--you will find there is
something quite pleasurable about this--then cut the whole heads of garlic in half and
tuck them under the lamb with the stems from the herbs.
Roast in the preheated oven for twenty minutes, then turn the heat down to 200C/gas 6
and continue roasting until the fat is golden and crisp and the meat is done as you would
like it. After an hour sprinkle in some chopped onions (crucial to the gravy). Lamb needs
about fifteen minutes per 450g of meat, plus the initial twenty minutes, so for a 2kg roast
you should start checking after the meat has been in the oven for an hour and twenty
minutes. This will give you medium-rare meat, still juicy and quite pink in the middle.
Remove the meat from the oven, discard the garlic and herb twigs (they have served
their purpose but do pull out some of the garlic cloves from their skins first), and leave the
lamb to rest for ten minutes before carving. When you get the lamb out to rest, sprinkle a
light dusting of flour over the onions, let them sizzle for a few seconds over a high heat,
then pour over enough stock, water, or wine to make a thin, oniony gravy. Season, but do
not strain. Serve with Potatoes Boulangere can be cooked in the oven alongside the
lamb but keep an eye on it otherwise use the oven temperatures given (see below).
POTATOES BOULANGERE
Traditionally this recipe was cooked in the village baker's oven slowly overnight, hence its
name. It should have a golden, crisp top over soft, stock-infused potato layers.
1.5 kg potatoes finely sliced
3 onions finely sliced
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
450 ml fresh chicken stock (avoid stock cubes)
25 g butter, finely diced
Heat the oven to Gas 4, 180°C, 350°F. Slice the potatoes thinly with a mandolin for best
results. Place sliced potatoes in cold water, rinse and cover again with water, drain. Turn
out onto a thick tea towel and gently pat away any excess moisture. This is important to
remove the excess starch from the potatoes and it makes the boulangère even more
enjoyable. Butter a shallow oven-proof serving dish. Place a layer of potatoes over the
base, top with a layer of onions and season with salt and pepper. Repeat, until all the
40
vegetables are used. Finish with a neat layer of overlapping potatoes on top. Press down
firmly with the flats of your hands.
Pour in hot stock and dot diced butter over the top. Place in the oven and cook for 1 hour,
then reduce heat to Gas 3, 160°C, 325°F, and cook for 40 minutes more. The potatoes
should be golden on top and soft all the way through. Test by inserting a knife.
Follow with:
HOT CROSS BUN & BUTTER PUDDING: Use sliced & buttered hot cross buns in
your favourite bread & butter recipe and serve with lots of chilled pouring cream.
And for tea:
MARY BERRY’S SIMPLE SIMNEL CAKE
175g/6oz light muscovado sugar
175g/6oz butter, softened
175g/6oz self raising flour
3 large eggs
25g/1oz ground almonds
2 tbsp milk
100g/4oz sultanas
100g/4oz cherries, quartered, washed, and dried
100g/4oz dried apricots, snipped into small pieces
100g/4oz stem ginger, finely chopped
1 tsp mixed spice
2 tsp ground ginger
To serve
450g/1lb golden marzipan
3 tbsp apricot jam
1 egg, beaten
To decorate
flowers such as primroses, narcissi & violets
Brush with beaten egg and glaze under a hot grill for about five minutes, turning the cake
round so it browns evenly, so the marzipan is tinged brown all over. (You can also do this
with a blow torch if preferred)
Use the fresh flowers to decorate the cake
CHAMPAGNE AND A CHICKEN
"Many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese – toasted, mostly"
says the marooned Ben Gunn in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure
Island, and many people have a favourite food.
The 17th century physician William Butler said of the strawberry,
"Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God
never did."
The American writer Edna Ferber thought that "Roast beef, Medium,
is not only a food. It is a philosophy."
In Keats's poem The Eve of St Agnes, as well as "candied apple,
quince, and plum, and gourd", Porphyro sets out for Madeline "jellies
smoother than the creamy curd, And lucent syrups, tinct with cinnamon".
In The New Bath Guide (1766), describing a public breakfast, Christopher Anstey lists
"coffee, tea, chocolate, butter, and toast".
The 19th-century clergyman and wit Sydney Smith told his friend Richard Barham that "If
there is a pure and elevated pleasure in this world it is a roast pheasant with bread
sauce."
Food may be accompanied by wine. In The Lover (1747), Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
writes triumphantly of the moment when, after a long public encounter, privacy is
achieved, "And we meet with champagne and a chicken at last." Elizabeth Knowles: OED
ANNIVERSARIES
Heat oven to 160C/320F/Gas 3.
Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm/8in deep, round cake tin with baking
parchment.
Measure all the cake ingredients into a large mixing bowl and beat well until thoroughly
blended. Place half the mixture into the prepared tin and level the surface.
Take one third of the marzipan and roll into a circle the same size as the cake tin, place
the circle on top of the cake mixture. Spoon the remaining mixture on top of the marzipan
and level the surface. Bake for about one and three-quarter to two hours or until golden
brown and firm in the middle. If toward the end of the cooking time the cake is getting too
brown, loosely cover with a piece of foil. Allow the cake to cool in the tin before turning
onto a cooling rack.
When the cake is cool, brush the top with a little warmed apricot jam. Roll out half the
remaining marzipan to the size of the cake and sit it on the top. Crimp the edges of the
marzipan and make a lattice pattern in the centre of the marzipan using a sharp knife.
Make 11 even sized balls from the remaining marzipan and arrange around the edge.
41
500 years ago (17 May 1510) Death of Sandro Botticelli, Italian artist
350 years ago: (25 May 1660) Charles II crowned at restoration of the
monarchy
200 years ago: (8 June 1810) Robert Schumann, composer, born in
Saxony
170 years ago: (1 May 1840): Introduction of the Penny Black, the first
official adhesive postage stamp
150 years ago (3 Apr 1860): The Pony Express began operating between St. Joseph,
Missouri, and Sacramento, California
100 years ago (21 Apr 1910): Death of Mark Twain
80 years ago (6 Mar 1930): Clarence Birdseye’s first frozen foods went on sale in
Springfield, Massachusetts, in a (successful) marketing test
60 years ago (27 Apr 1950): Apartheid in South Africa. The Group Areas Act was
passed, formally segregating races. (40 years later, 11 Feb 1990, Mandela's release
from prison signalled the end of the apartheid regime).
42
50 years ago (22 May 1960): The Great Chilean Earthquake - the most powerful
earthquake ever recorded, measuring 9.5 on the Richter scale, hit southern Chile, killing
between 2,000 and 6,000 people
25 years ago (29 May 1985): 39 football fans crushed to death at the European Cup
Final between Liverpool and Juventus in Brussels
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
20-26 March
10 - 11 Apr
Sat 17 April
Mon 3 May
Sun 23 May
Thur 27 May
Sat 29 May
3 - 6 June
Sat 5 Jun
12-27 June
22-25 June
26 - 27 June
David Hands: Sunderland's Christian History
David Bridge: How Sunderland could have been
SUNDERLAND COMMUNITY LECTURES
Tom Cowie Theatre, Sunderland University at 2pm; free
Wed 5 May
John Grundy: The Media and Heritage
Wed 2 June John Moreels: Nostalgic views of the north
MONDAY STROLLERS
Walking group meeting locally every other Monday for short gentle walks. For details
contact Margaret Ridley on 0191 581 7235 or email mary@prharris.co.uk
EVENTS
12-21 March
13 May
8 July
Newcastle Science Fest at Life Centre, including U3A Science Day
on 17 March: details at www.newcastlesciencefest.co.uk
Northern Lights Film Festival at Tyneside Cinema
Saltwell Park Show, Gateshead; 10am- 4pm; free
Food Festival at Auckland Castle; 10am- 4pm; free
May Day Fair at Bill Quay Farm, Hainingwood Terr, Gateshead
Medieval Fair at Bede's World, Jarrow; 10am-4pm
Herb garden tour & cream tea at Bede's World; £4, advance booking
only 191 489 2106
Local craft fair at Arbeia, South Shields
Beamish Georgian Spring Fair
Sunderland History Fair, Seaburn Centre; free
EAT NewcastleGateshead; food and drink festival
Opera North at Theatre Royal, Newcastle. (La Boheme, Maria
Stuarda, Rusalka) Bookings: 08448 1121 22
Farmers & craft market at Bede's World, Jarrow
REGULAR MEETINGS:
FOSUMS (Friends of Sunderland Museums)
Meetings at Sunderland Museum, third Thursday of each month 7- 9pm; £1 entry fee
Membership enquiries to: David Owens on 07949 613 363
15 Apr
Les Jessop: Origins of Sunderland Museum
20 May
John Kilcoyne: Science is Fun
27 May
Annual Dinner; Peter Weighill: Fire Service Humour
17 June
Geoff Docherty: Rock Music and Major Bands
WEARSIDE FIELD CLUB
Meets at 7.30 pm on the second Tuesday of the month at Fulwell Community Centre,
Chapman Street (£1 entry) plus one Saturday walk/excursion per month (coach fare for
out of area walks). Details from Elsie Denham on 0191 521 2760
Sat 17 Apr
Walk: Ryton to Crawcrook meet Newcastle Railway Station at 10.00am
Tues 11 May Maureen Martin: Durham Cathedral
Sat 22 May
Walk: Sunderland Bridge -meet Durham City Bus station 10.30 am
Tues 8 Jun
George Patterson: Captain John Todd
Sat 12 Jun
Walk: Whitby and Robin Hoods Bay
SUNDERLAND CIVIC SOCIETY
Thurs, 7.15 for 7.30 at the Age Concern Building, Stockton Road
43
NEWCASTLE LIT & PHIL
Programme at http://www.litandphil.org.uk/html Reserve a seat by calling (0191) 232
0192, or emailing library@litandphil.org.uk;
NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY INSIGHTS: free lectures at Herschel Building (near
Haymarket Metro), 5.30pm; free
Thur 22 Apr The Making of Cragside
Tues 27 Apr 1918-20: Living in the shadow of the Great War
Thur 29 Apr Britain and the General Election 2010
Thur 6 May
Ripples from the dark side of the Universe
FRIENDS OF BEDE’S WORLD
Lectures on last Saturday of the month at 12noon; normal entrance charges
27 Mar
Bamburgh Archaeology: Gerry Twomey
24 Apr
Medieval cosmology: James Hannam
BISHOP AUCKLAND MUSIC SOCIETY: at.30pm in the Throne Room of Auckland
Castle. £12; bookings 0191 386 8622 or see www.communigate.co.uk/bams
Fri 23 Apr
O Duo - percussion duo
Fri 14 May
Lorna Lucas (flute) & Daniel Swain (piano)
Fri 11 Jun
Oskemen Piano duet
YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2010 when...
1. You accidentally enter your PIN into the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family
of three.
4. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and
From page 13
family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.
5. Every commercial on television has a web site at the
bottom of the screen
6. Leaving the house without your mobile, which you didn't even have the first 20 or 30
(or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.
8. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.
9. You are too busy to notice that there was no #7 on this list.
10. You actually went back to check that there was indeed no #7 on this list!
44
PEOPLE WE SHOULD KNOW
YOUR PETS’ SECRET THOUGHTS!
MARY ANNING: "THE WORLD'S GREATEST FOSSILIST" (17991847) "SHE SELLS SEASHELLS BY THE SEA SHORE ..."
Excerpts from a Dog’s Diary:
In early 19th century genteel tourists flocked to the Dorset coast, to
admire its scenery and add to their fashionable collections of natural
curiosities. Mary Anning and her family supplemented their income by
recovering fossils from the shore and their fame soon spread.
Collecting was dangerous hard work, involving wading by unstable cliffs
at low tide.
Mary probably had little education, but most of her clients were scholars
and well-educated gentlemen and her surviving correspondence
confirms her detailed knowledge of her finds. One visitor commented
that she was "in the habit of writing and talking with professors and
other clever men on the subject, and they all acknowledge that she
understands more of the science than anyone else in this kingdom".
The most spectacular specimens went to Oxbridge, with famous names such as Adam
Sedgwick and William Buckland using them to develop their ideas about the geological
past. Even the King of Saxony came to Lyme Regis to visit her small shop to discuss
fossils. She made many great finds, including at least 3 complete ichthyosaurs, 2
plesiosaurs and the first British pterodactyl.
How can someone described as 'the greatest fossilist the world ever knew'' be so little
known? The answer lies in Mary Anning's twin disabilities: her lowly social status and,
worse, she was a woman in a man's world. The 19 th century world of scientific
exploration was closed to her. Many scientists of the day could not believe that a young
woman from such a deprived background could posses the knowledge and skills that she
seemed to display. Until recently few of her fossil finds were acknowledged, most of her
famous clients taking the credit for themselves, but recently there has been a move to
identify her work.
She never married and in later years as the interest in fossils declined, ill health forced
her to give up her work on the beaches. However, this brought some belated recognition
from her old clients: she received an annuity from the British Association for the
Advancement of Science in 1838 and the Geological Society made a collection for her.
When she died in 1847 at the age of 47 her obituary appeared in the Journal of the
Geological Society--an organization that did not admit women until 1904. E.D.
CHILE EARTHQUAKE MOVED CITY 10 FEET
The huge, 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Chile late last month didn't just make our days
shorter, it also moved the city of Concepción10 feet to the west. An Ohio State scientist, who
has been taking precise GPS measurements to measure movements of the earth's crust on
Chile since 1993, says the fifth-largest quake on record managed to move Santiago, the
nation's capital, 11 inches west. And even Buenos Aires was affected. The Argentine capital
may be hundreds of miles away, but it moved an inch. Scientists hope to add 50 more GPS
stations soon to better measure changes that will continue to take place as a result of the
massive quake. February’s earthquake could "become one of the, if not the most important,
great earthquakes yet studied," said one scientist.
45
8:00 am - Dog food! My favourite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favourite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favourite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favourite thing!
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favourite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the garden! My favourite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favourite thing!
5:00 pm - Bones! My favourite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favourite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favourite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favourite thing!
Excerpts from a Cat’s Daily Diary:
Day 983 of my captivity...
My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on
fresh meat, while the other inmates and I
are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets.
Although I make my contempt for the
rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must
eat something in order to keep up my
strength
The only thing that keeps me going is my
dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust
them, I once again vomit on the carpet.
Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped
its headless body at their feet. I had hoped
this would strike fear into their hearts,
since it clearly demonstrates what I am
capable of. However, they merely made
condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am. Bastards.
There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary
confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell
the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of 'allergies.' I must
learn what this means and how to use it to my advantage.
Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by
weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the
top of the stairs.
I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives
special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return.
He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him
communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move.
My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe.
For now................
46
WHO’S WHO, CONTACT & FIND US
Chair: Judith Ayles
07985 317 478
GROUPS AT A GLANCE
chairman@sunderlandu3a.co.uk
18 Hunter Close, East Boldon, NE36 0TB
1 Swimming
Vice-chairman: Ann Aldridge
0191 528 0302
Hon. Secretary: Linda Thompson
0191 549 5693
honsec@sunderlandu3a.co.uk
0191 567 8920:
treasurer@sunderlandu3a.co.uk
0191 584 2480
editor@sunderlandu3a.co.uk
12 Lee Street, Sunderland SR6 9BA
Treasurer: Martin Walker
85 Ryhope Rd., Sunderland, SR2 7SZ
Editor: Marion Whyte
49 Fletcher Crescent, Houghton-le-Spring
DH4 4LT
07890 982 569
groups@sunderlandu3a.co.uk
Membership: Lilian Younger
0191 549 0984
members@sunderlandu3a.co.uk
0191 548 8139
speakers@sunderlandu3a.co.uk
103 Dovedale Rd. Sunderland, SR6 8LS
Speakers Sec. : Susan Quayle
53 Ambleside Tce., Sunderland, SR6 8NP
Minnie Cochrane
Norma Robins
Rose Marshall
Bob Younger
Editorial Team:
Elsie Denham
TUESDAY
4
Amble Tower, Lakeside Village
10.30am
2nd Floor, Central Library
Dock Street
Amble Tower, Lakeside Village
2.00pm
10.15am
10.30am
Monkwearmouth Railway Museum
10.30am
TBA each month
TBA each month
Fulwell Methodist, Dovedale Rd
Morning
1.30 for 2pm
Monkwearmouth Railway Museum
Fulwell Methodist
Monkwearmouth Railway Museum
Monkwearmouth Railway Museum
2.00pm
11.00am
10.30am
10.30am
THURSDAY
0191 521 2760
Marion Miller &
Josie Thompson
Pat Devenport
Norma Robins
Alan Denham
0191 548 1009
0191 534 2702
0191 536 2365
0191 416 4498
0191 521 2760
Susan Quayle
John Baty
Linda Thompson
Sheila Humby (queries to)
Sheila Humby &
Rose Marshall
Marion Whyte
Norma Robins
Joyce Hoseason
Elizabeth Robson
Rose Marshall
Mary du Mughn
Bob Younger
Bob Younger
0191 548 8139
0191 522 6462
0191 549 5693
0191 548 2259
0191 548 2259
0191 528 1468
0191 584 2480
0191 416 4498
0191 548 6041
0191 567 1421
0191 528 1468
0191 523 6605
0191 549 0984
0191 549 0984
47
1
2
3
Computer & Digital
Support
Reading
Poetry Appreciation
Computer & Digital
Support
Looking at Buildings
1 ---------------2 Lunch
2 Walking
3 MONTHLY MEETING
4 ----------------
0191 522 0937
0191 416 4498
0191 528 1468
0191 549 0984
GROUP LEADERS
Looking at Buildings
Lunch
Music Appreciation
Poetry Appreciation
Reading
Swimming
Travel
Walking
Amateur Artists
Swimming
Swimming
Card Making
Amateur Artists
Swimming
Raich Carter Centre, Commercial Road, 1.45 for 2.00pm
SR2 8PD
Monkwearmouth Railway Museum
10.15am
Raich Carter Centre
1.45 for 2.00pm
Raich Carter Centre
1.45 for 2.00pm
Leader’s home
10.00am
Monkwearmouth Railway Museum
10.15am
Raich Carter Centre
1.45 for 2.00pm
WEDNESDAY
Committee Members:
Card Making
Cinema
Computer &
Digital Support
Discussion
Geology
History
Keep Mobile
Looking At Art
2
2
3
4
4
4
1
Groups Secretary: Sheila Humby
Amateur Artists
MONDAY (Not Bank Holidays or some school holidays – see notices & web site)
1
2
3
4
Discussion
History
Looking at Art
Travel
FRIDAY
1 Keep Mobile
Fulwell Methodist
10.45am
2 --------------3 Geology
Bangladeshi Centre
2.00pm
3 Keep Mobile
Fulwell Methodist
10.45am
4 Keep Mobile
Fulwell Methodist
10.45am
4 Music Appreciation
Dock Street
10.00am
N.B. Cinema – this group happens on an ad hoc basis – please see notices at monthly meeting
48