Thank you, Maggy, Zoey, and Miss Ann for the pawsome Christmas card!
I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and also a New Year full of miracles
Why, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night
with any one I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet
and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring;
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.
To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.
To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim--the rocks--the motion of the waves--the
ships with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?
-- Walt Whitman
Abbey Christmas
Clammy hands? Trouble sleeping? Counting down the hours until Christmas day? Like many of the library staff, you might be suffering withdrawal from medical history docu-drama and all-round national treasure Downton Abbey. That’s right, folks, medical history. Those of you who’ve managed to tear themselves away from Cousin Matthew’s puppy-dog eyes will surely have noticed the show’s preoccupation with all things sickly. The first series saw Lady Crawley’s miscarriage, Mrs Patmore’s cataract surgery, Bates’ ill-corrected limp and Isobel pressurising Dr Clarkson into performing pericardiocentesis on a dropsy patient. (Editor's note: we're drawing a veil over Mr Pamuk and his untimely ending at the erm, hands, of Lady Mary). But it was in the second series, set during the great war, that the medical storylines really started stacking up, with everything from gas-blindness to the poisons register getting a mention. With nine whole months to survive between Sunday’s Christmas special and the promised third series, Downton addicts will be casting around for something to feed their habit. And what better place to start than the Wellcome library?
Downton’s transformation into a convalescent home is evocatively suggested in two albums of photographs. In the series Lady Sybil trains as a VAD (voluntary aid detachment) nurse to tend to injured servicemen. Our albums come from slightly less privileged stock: Grace Mitchell was the daughter of tenant farmers in Theydon bois, Essex, and worked as a nurse during and after the war, in England and France and at casualty clearing stations in Cologne. Dorothy Waller was from a medical family - her brother Wathen was serving as a Surgeon-Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Both Grace and Dorothy took photographs during their time at the 3rd southern general hospital, which included Oxford town hall and the Oxford examination schools. Pictured is Grace with patients in Oxford.
Downton’s shell-shocked Valet Mr Lang’s condition is brought to life in a 1917 film War Neuroses: Netley Hospital which has been digitized and is available on the Wellcome Film youtube channel. The library also holds a collection of reprints of articles by Charles Samuel Myers, who coined the term “shell-shock” as well as diaries and notes made by Charles McMoran Wilson, when he was a medical officer on the Western front, which led to the publication of his The Anatomy of Courage in 1945.
The series climaxed with a perilous outbreak of Spanish flu, with Lady Grantham, faithful butler Carson, and Lavinia Swire all struck down. The 1918 medical officer of health report for Kingsclere, close to Highclere castle where Downton is filmed, reveals how closely art imitates life - the influenza outbreak there ‘increased with the cold damp September till in October and November it was of alarming frequency causing 31 deaths.’ A further 5 deaths were attributed to the resulting pneumonia, against a total of 122 for the year. A public service film and a documentary with archival footage also record the outbreak.
If all of that’s piqued your interest but you’re still too lethargic to leave the house, why spend some of your Christmas book tokens on one of these:
Dismembering the male: men's bodies, Britain, and the Great War by Joanna Bourke
War, disability and rehabilitation in Britain: "soul of a nation" by Julie Anderson
A war of nerves by Ben Shephard
Spike Island: the memory of a military hospital by Philip Hoare
Women in the war zone by Anne Powell
As for “Patrick Crawley”’s amnesia and Matthew’s miraculously cured paralysis? We’re as stumped on those as you are…
Images:
A neo-Gothic building used as a hospital, with an ambulance in the drive. Watercolour by Walter E. Spradbery, Wellcome images 47357i
Photograph from the album of Grace Mitchell, Wellcome images 675224i
Compiled by Wellcome library staff and written by Jo Maddocks
Glenn Reynolds: The Ever Inflating Higher Education Bubble
Glenn Reynolds talks about The Ever Inflating Higher Education Bubble.
Froot Bat Friday
No treats. It's almost Christmas, The Mom. Don't you think Santa Claws would approve of you being good and giving me treats? I think he would. I see some coal in someMom's future.
Good quote about a problem with public school
Grouping kids by age for instruction makes about as much pedagogical sense as grouping them by height!
– Dr. Deborah Ruf, founder of Educational Options
Hat tip: The Libertarian Homeschooler
Kim Jong-Il's Death - The Korean's Thoughts
If you remember where you were when you heard a piece of news, that's a big news. The Korean was reading a newspaper in his living room back in Korea, when he learned from the front page that Kim Il-Sung died. He was on a conference call at work in New York when someone on the call broke the news that Michael Jackson died. And this time, the Korean was walking up the stairs at a hotel near San Luis Obispo, California, when the Korean Wife read her text messages and said, "Hey, Kim Jong-Il died."
The Korean has not been near a computer for quite some time, but he did voraciously read all the news, from within Korea and without. (4G phone = awesome.) Given the significance of the news, the Korean will devote the next several posts over the next several days on North Korea. Specifically, the posts will discuss the Korean's own thoughts, Mr. Joo Seong-Ha's thoughts, things about North Korea that most commentators are missing right now, and any other North Korean question that the Korean has received in the last few days.
* * *
When the Arab Spring happened, many North Korean observers were eager to extend the analogy to North Korea. In most cases, the analogies failed. North Korea is more isolated, more benighted and more tightly controlled than any of the Arab countries. Even the most repressive Arab dictatorship that fell -- that is, Libya under Qaddafi -- may well be a liberal democracy compared to North Korea.
However, there is one crucial lesson from the Arab Spring that does apply to North Korea. The lesson is this: an apparently stable dictatorship may fall suddenly, unpredictably and uncontrollably. Previous to the Arab Spring, there appeared to be no hope for democracy in Arab nations. For decades, despite constant oppression that appeared intolerable for outside observers, Arab nations persisted in dictatorship. Very smart people -- for example, influential Harvard professor Samuel Huntington -- believed that Islamic cultural traditions prevented Arab nations from having a democracy. And they looked like geniuses, until they did not.
The same applies to North Korea. Freedom's lack of progress in North Korea has frustrated many observers into falsely believing that North Koreans are too brainwashed and the Kim Dynasty too strong. Not so. Looking back, there were many signs that the Arab Spring was imminent -- we just did not know what to look for. Similarly, there are many signs that the fall of North Korea is not far away. You just have to know what to look for. And with Kim Jong-Il's death, there are even more signs that North Korea is not for much longer.
What are those signs? Here are five examples:
- North Korea is trying out a collective rule for the first time in history. Throughout its existence, North Korea has always been led by a single ruler. Now, for the first time in its history, North Korea is being ruled by a committee. A rule by committee always contains within it a seed for an internal struggle. The seed is especially likely to germinate if a crucial actor within it -- that is, Kim Jong-Un -- is too inexperienced to maneuver adroitly.
- Deification of Kim Jong-Un is not working. Ever since Kim Jong-Un surfaced into public awareness, the reports from North Korea have been unanimous: North Korean people do not respect him. Kim Jong-Un was born out of wedlock, by Kim Jong-Il's mistress who was a Korean-Japanese dancer. Kim Jong-Un is only 28 years old. North Koreans quietly deride the attempts at Kim Jong-Un's deification. In fact, failure of charismatic leadership in North Korea began with Kim Jong-Il, who made up for his lack of charisma with political oppression far more brutal than Kim Il-Sung's. At the third generation, the charismatic capital of the Kim family dynasty is now completely empty. Even at the elite level, the relationship between Kim Jong-Un and the elites is transactional rather than personal or ideological.
- Vast majority of North Koreans does not depend on the regime for their livelihood. Since the 1990s, North Korea has ceased to be a communist economy with collective production and distribution. Instead, as far as economy is concerned, North Korea is deeply capitalistic. People's livelihood depends on the market, not on the rations handed by the Labor Party. Kim Jong-Il regime correctly saw this, and attempted to reverse this trend by closing the markets and engaging in a currency reform. The currency reform was an unmitigated disaster, and the markets reopened in just three months. At this point, North Korea can never return to being a communist economy. And greater the market forces are, the weaker the forces of the regime.
- North Korea is more porous than ever. It is, of course, true that North Korea is severely isolated. But the isolation must not be overstated. Because of the factor (3) above, North Korea now has a group of people at the top of the economic ladder who actually enjoy a semi-decent living standards. There are more than 800,000 cell phones operating in North Korea now, and that is before we begin counting the Chinese phones in North Korea that can be used to call South Korea directly. Young people in Pyongyang openly flaunt their iPads. South Korean pop culture, which has captured the imagination of the world, has also hit North Korea. The pirated DVD sets of the latest Korean dramas are widely available in North Korea. Further, there are more North Korean defectors than ever living in South Korea -- 20,000 of them, representing practically every major city in North Korea. Because border patrols can be easily bribed, these defectors regularly communicate with the families back in North Korea via telephone or letters. All this means that ordinary North Koreans have absolutely no illusions about the failure of their own country to provide for them.
- North Korean economy is weaker than ever. The price of rice in North Korea nearly doubled in the last two years, although there is no indication that the living standards in North Korea improved twofold as well. Although rice is harvested in autumn, the price has not fallen in the recent months. Last time this happened in the 1990s, North Korea went through a mass starvation in which a million people starved to death. North Koreans remember this, and likely will not wait to starve this time.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
Photo-Finish Friday -- Christmas In Belize
This photo was taken a few winters ago when my Charmer and I were living in Belize. Man, I miss that weather! 
Leah J. Utas is the force behind Photo-Finish Friday.
Hope everyone has the greatest of holidays!
Another variation on Bye Bye Miss American Pie
I'm always impressed by people who can craft words like this:
Tiffany & Co. to the rescue
For the first time in years, our Christmas shopping was done with a week to spare. Fortunately we did the bulk of it on the Internet. While I have the enviable reputation of repeatedly getting the parking place closest to the door of any mall the day before Christmas, it doesn't help fight the crowds inside stampeding for the last wrong sized ugly sweater or the last scented Christmas candle that smells more like a Bethlehem stable than a pine tree.
As I cruised the Internet this afternoon, I found most of the online stores where I shopped have switched from, "Order now and get delivery by Christmas," to "Order your gift card online and have it in time for Christmas." In other words, if you haven't bought it yet, there is no way you will have it by Christmas. Sorry guys.
Oh wait a minute, the cutoff for ordering online and delivery by Christmas from Tiffany & Co. is 3:00 p.m., December 23, and they don't even charge for shipping. So, gentlemen there is still time to avoid the traffic, shop at one of the most prestigious stores in the world, and have your gift delivered for free in time for Christmas. She'll say, "Oh honey you shouldn't have," while you'll be thinking, "You're right I shouldn't have, but at least it was free delivery."
The Hobbit - waiting another year
Our family greatly enjoyed the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Peter Jackson will be releasing The Hobbit next year. It will be a long twelve months:
The Ron Paul Portfolio
As reported by the Wall Street Journal:Most members of Congress, like many Americans, hold some real estate, a few bonds or bond mutual funds, some individual stocks and a bundle of stock funds. Give or take a few percentage points, a typical Congressional portfolio might have 10% in cash, 10% in bonds or bond funds, 20% in real estate, and 60% in stocks or stock funds.
But Ron Paul’s portfolio isn’t merely different. It’s shockingly different.
Yes, about 21% of Rep. Paul’s holdings are in real estate and roughly 14% in cash. But he owns no bonds or bond funds and has only 0.1% in stock funds. Furthermore, the stock funds that Rep. Paul does own are all “short,” or make bets against, U.S. stocks. One is a “double inverse” fund that, on a daily basis, goes up twice as much as its stock benchmark goes down.
The remainder of Rep. Paul’s portfolio – fully 64% of his assets – is entirely in gold and silver mining stocks....
At our request, William Bernstein, an investment manager at Efficient Portfolio Advisors in Eastford, Conn., reviewed Rep. Paul’s portfolio as set out in the annual disclosure statement. Mr. Bernstein says he has never seen such an extreme bet on economic catastrophe. ”This portfolio is a half-step away from a cellar-full of canned goods and nine-millimeter rounds,” he says.
A different Top Ten
Trust coffee drinkin' Jesus to put the whole end of year top ten thing into perspective.
Hat tip to the disciple.
Click the pic for a better look.
Jury Nulification - in the New York Times
Paul Butler has a nice column in the New York Times: Jurors Need to Know That They Can Say No. He starts with:
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IF you are ever on a jury in a marijuana case, I recommend that you vote “not guilty” — even if you think the defendant actually smoked pot, or sold it to another consenting adult. As a juror, you have this power under the Bill of Rights; if you exercise it, you become part of a proud tradition of American jurors who helped make our laws fairer.
The information I have just provided — about a constitutional doctrine called “jury nullification” — is absolutely true. But if federal prosecutors in New York get their way, telling the truth to potential jurors could result in a six-month prison sentence.
Earlier this year, prosecutors charged Julian P. Heicklen, a retired chemistry professor, with jury tampering because he stood outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan providing information about jury nullification to passers-by. Given that I have been recommending nullification for nonviolent drug cases since 1995 — in such forums as The Yale Law Journal, “60 Minutes” and YouTube — I guess I, too, have committed a crime.
The prosecutors who charged Mr. Heicklen said that “advocacy of jury nullification, directed as it is to jurors, would be both criminal and without constitutional protections no matter where it occurred.” The prosecutors in this case are wrong. The First Amendment exists to protect speech like this — honest information that the government prefers citizens not know.
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As members of a jury we have the responsibility to listen to the evidence and make a decision on if the defendent is guilty of the crime. But we also have a responsibility to decide if the law is a good law. This jury can nullify the law. Paul Butler explains how over time judges have tried to discourage citizens from realizing this.
Hat tip: The Libertarian Homeschooler
Forthcoming attractions
January 1st in the archives is a time not only for new resolutions and new projects, but for new raw material: at the start of each year, a batch of material that has been closed for Data Protection reasons is opened for readers to work upon. The precise contents of this year's batch, of course, are still secret for a little over a week. We can, however, give at least the bare-bones information from the archive catalogue about these forthcoming attractions. They include:
The full list is as follows. Only a little while to go....
MS.8155; Christo P. Popoff; 1957; letter to Dr. C. Allen of the Seamen's Hospital, Greenwich, London. Popoff writes about a case of schizophrenia and enquires about the effectiveness of Largactil in stabilising patients suffering from this condition.
PP/CMW/D.9/1; Moran's Notes; 1950-1951.
PP/CMW/D.13/2; 1951 Recommendations; 1951.
PP/CMW/D.13/2/1; London Teaching Hospitals and Regions 'For meetings, 7/2/52 & 6/3/52'; 1951.
PP/CMW/D.13/2/2; Index to 1951 recommendations; 1951.
PP/CMW/D.13/3; 'Notes 1951'; 1951.
PP/CMW/D.13/3/1; Birmingham I, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle; 1951.
PP/CMW/D.13/3/2; Wales, Leeds, Sheffield; 1951.
PP/CMW/D.13/3/3; North East, North West Metropolitan Region; 1951.
PP/CMW/D.13/3/4; South East, South West Metropolitan Region; 1951.
PP/CMW/D.13/3/5; Specialities, London Regions and Teaching Hospitals; 1951.
PP/DWW/F/1; Adult Clinical material; 1920s; A few cases of adult patients found in a small concertina file of predominantly child patient notes from the 1920s (now in PP/DWW/E.2/1) and separated out here.
PP/HUN/C/1/23; Cysticercosis; 1932-1943.
SA/BMF/A.2/109; Hacker, Henry Pollard; 1927.
SA/BMF/A.2/110; Winton, Frank Robert; 1927.
SA/BMF/A.2/111; Wooldridge, Walter Reginald; 1927.
SA/BMF/A.2/112; Morgan, Walter Thomas James; 1927.
SA/BMF/A.2/113; Eggleton, Philip; 1927.
SA/BMF/A.2/114; Marrian, Guy Frederick; 1927.
SA/BMF/A.2/115; Fee, Archibald Roderick; 1927.
SA/BRA/C.1/3/2; Brain Research Association response to the 1979 Protection of Animals (Scientific Purposes) Bill and the 1979 Laboratory Animals Protection Bill (Includes papers from the Committee for the Reform of Animal Experimentation, The Physiological Society, the Research Defence Society, The Royal Society, and the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare); 1980-1981.
SA/QNI/J.3/35; The Queen's Roll: 8301-8550; Oct 1926-Jul 1927.
SA/QNI/J.4/1; The Queen's Roll on cards; 1907-1927; 3055-8499.
Image: 19th century wood engraving from the Wellcome Library's Iconographic Collections.
Reminder - send in a post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling
Note: Please send your submissions to the carnival via email!
Blog Carnvial is partially broken. It is accepting submissions, but not forwarding them. It would be easier if you just submitted your post directly via email. Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.
Thanks.
Please send in a post about homeschooling for the next Carnival of Homeschooling.
Next week's carnival will be held at Corn and Oil.
Next week's carnival will be held at Corn and Oil.
This will be the 3132th edition.
As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Merry Christmas!
The Wellcome Library closes today for the festive period at 6pm and re-opens at 10am on Tuesday 3rd January 2012.
We would just like to take this opportunity to wish all Library readers and followers of the Library Blog, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Image: A snowballing scene with boys playing in the snow. On the reverse of the picture is an advertisement for Onnen's German Fever and Ague Mixture. 1890s (EPH 348)
Growing Season
I am a little behind on the gardening front but was a little surprised to see the daffodils and spring bulbs coming through and still my summer lobelia is flowering.
I will have to take my laptop to the Dr's as I am still having problems receiving comments.
Frequent flyers
If it could collect air miles, then some of the material inthe Wellcome Library would have a pretty impressive stash of them by now. In 2011, Library material travelled a totalof 10,168 miles on its way to and from various different loans to museumsaround the world.
Countries lent to include The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland,Germany (on quite a few occasions), France, the Czech Republic and Canada, aswell as numerous loans within London and the UK. All of these exhibitions have been temporary,lasting on average around 6 months, and the number of items lent has variedbetween 1 and 12. Click on the map belowfor more details:
It’s not just the collections that are well travelled – we send acourier for most of our loans, and Library staff have notched up an impressive 19,928miles this year in round trips carrying out this important role.
So what exactly is involved in lending the Library’scollections? It all starts with aninitial request from the borrowing institution, giving details of theexhibition and what they would like to borrow. Our Conservation department then assess the item(s) to ascertain if theyare robust enough for loan, and what, if any, work needs doing to them in orderto make them safe for travel and display. After final approval from the Library’s Senior Management Team, therethen follows lengthy discussion between the Library’s Exhibition Liaison andthe borrower regarding display and security conditions, any costs involved,transport etc.
Couriering has already been mentioned, and this is the area oflending that many find most interesting. It can seem quite glamorous , and it’s true that it certainly beats aday in the office, but it can also be very tiring with early starts and manyhours of travelling. Professional arthandlers are always used to transport loans,and their preferred method of transport within Europe is usually by truck. Therefore, if accompanying a loan to adestination in Europe, the courier will travel in the truck, spending manyhours, sometimes even days, on the road. If travelling by air, it is necessary to arrive at the airport hours inadvance of the flight in order to witness the crate containing the loan beingloaded up. This involves going behindthe scenes to the cargo shed at the airport, donning a high-vis jacket andhaving your wits about you in order to avoid the many forklift trucks andlorries that work in these areas.
Once the courier reaches their destination with the loan safely intow, they must witness it being unloaded and securely stored into the borrowinginstitution’s premises, and then they will usually return the following day toinstall the item(s). Installationinvolves witnessing the loan being unpacked, condition checking it to ensure ithasn’t been damaged en route, and then supervising its placing in the displaycase or hanging on the wall. Dependingon the number of items being lent, and how complicated they are to install,this process can take anything from an hour to a couple of days. Then it’s back to the UK, with a de-brief onthe trip when the courier returns to work. The whole process then takes place again, but in reverse, when it istime for the loan to be returned.
With requests already received from various museums in the USA,Spain and UK, 2012 looks set to be another busy year for the loan of Wellcome Library material.
Author: Rowan De Saulles
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up
This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Holy Spirit-led Homeschooling.
This is Jamerill's first time hosting the carnival. She has a lovely set of thoughtful quotes about family and homeschooling. For example:
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"The way you help heal the world is you start with your own family."
~ Mother Teresa
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Enjoy!
Goshen Hole
At one time, I used to read detective stories by the handful. Then, somewhere along the line, my interest waned. But there were two modern detectives I kept going back to: Parker's Spenser and Dundee's Hannibal. I could always count on these two standbys to deliver what I'd come to love from the hardboiled school built by Chandler, Hammett, and Macdonald.
So I was quite excited to see the first new Joe Hannibal novel in four years -- seventh in the series -- has just been released. It is called GOSHEN HOLE and it fits nicely in the top tier of the Hannibal canon.
I like the fact that Joe has relocated to Nebraska, is running a security service, and is driving a Honda Element -- regular guy stuff that always worked well for these books. In GOSHEN, he is asked to investigate the case of a missing woman, and you can bet as he pulls the thread to solve the case there will be a lot of tough guys to stop him.
Lots of action and excellent dialogue as we've come to expect from the talented Mr. Dundee.
GOSHEN HOLE is available at Amazon.
Job Satisfaction
Not a great picture, this is an issue I have been dealing with for some time now, in my capacity as Chair of Conwy Drainage Group. This is a camera shot of the surface water drains in Winllan Ave in Llandudno. In this photo you can see a rock in the drains, which has probably assisted in the flooding of this area. The problem was not helped by cars driving at speed through the water and splashing it against some residents front doors. I hope the next down pour of rain, drains a lot quicker now this restriction has been removed.
That said we have a massive problem with silting in our drainage system in Llandudno and I will be pursuing the relevant agencies to tackle this issue and will be asking them to publish their maintenance schedules in order to tackle silting.
Worth mentioning that this drain had been pressure rodded 3 times up to this point and had quite a quantity of sand removed.
Santa the Creative Director
I hear an agency I once worked for are currently without a creative director.
Rumour has it they're about to lose their senior creative team too.
Perhaps they should hire Santa to run the creative department.
After he's finished his Christmas deliveries obviously.
Pakistan Vs Bangladesh - 2nd Test 2011
Pakistan Vs Bangladesh - 2nd Test 2011
Pakistan Won the Match by 7 wickets.
Pakistan won the series by 2-0.
Player of the Match is Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh).
Player of the series is Younis Khan (Pakistan).
Player of the Match is Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh).
Player of the series is Younis Khan (Pakistan).
Part 1
Part 2
Due to Some Technical fault with video in Daily motion, video is not available. As soon as the video is available it will be uploaded.
Part 3
Stunning catch by Younis Khan
Stunning catch by Younis Khan in test match between Pakistan vs Bangladesh 2011.
Years in the archives
When the Library surveys readers to assess their level of satisfaction with our service, a common comment is to highlight the helpfulness of the staff (a comment for which we are extremely grateful). We’d like to think that this begins with recruiting the right people; but it’s also a result of a stable staff, long-serving Library employees building their experience and skills as time passes, and sharing this knowledge with readers and colleagues. On that note, today we’d like to mark twenty years’ service to the Library by Dr Richard Aspin, the Head of Research and Scholarship.
Richard joined us from Lambeth Palace Library in 1991, arriving in a library very different from today’s. His role initially was as Curator of Western Manuscripts, head of a department of just two people looking after pre-1900 archival material: twentieth-century material was looked after by the then Contemporary Medical Archives Centre. Since that time we have seen the merger of those two bodies into today’s Archives and Manuscripts department; the introduction of a database to make archive catalogues visible and searchable online; the refitting of 183 Euston Road not once but twice; and now, the impending transformation of our reader experience by mass digitisation and the collection of born-digital archives. Throughout these changes, one constant has been Richard’s combination of level-headedness, diplomacy and scholarship worn lightly. We, and our readers, have been the beneficiaries.
Author: Chris Hilton
Why I Wrote Gallows Pole by J.D. Rhoades
Ms. White hosts J.D. Rhoades at Musings of an All Purpose Monkey.
smoked gouda and walnut shortbread
Cheez It's. Just say those two words to me and I swoon. I know they are filled with crap and salt, but I love them. I remember reading an article about a local Boston area chef on how she opened her restaurant, how she did it, where did she get her culinary training from, you know all the usual questions, then at the end they asked her "what are your favorite-can't live without comfort foods?"
Spades, Hearts, Diamonds
A game of cards. Oil painting by Stephen Jenner. Wellcome Library no. 47409iIn England in 1840, Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, Charles Dickens published The Old Curiosity Shop, and a certain E. Estridge passed the time by drawing on playing cards. He (or she, but perhaps more probably he) took a complete pack manufactured by the firm of Hardy & Sons, and doodled contemporary scenes on each of the numbered cards, using the pips (the spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs) as human heads. Each of the royal cards carried a letter or number which together spell out "E. ESTRIDGE 1840".
The complete pack was acquired by the firm of Abbott & Holder from whom the Wellcome Library has acquired three cards, thus adding a new and bizarre species to the variety of genres represented in the Wellcome Library's collections. In the Wellcome Library they have the number 780448i and they can be found in the Wellcome Library catalogue here.
The Two of Spades (left) must be either a meeting or a confrontation between two black figures (since Spades and Clubs are black). Estridge has shown them as two black pugilists exercising the science of boxing. Many books had been published about the science of boxing, including Captain John Godfrey’s A treatise upon the science of defence of 1747 and Thomas Fewtrell’s Boxing reviewed; or, the science of manual defence, displayed on rational principles, London, 1790. And at some stage boxing acquired the sobriquet "the sweet science". The Oxford English Dictionary also gives as the meaning of spade “Slang (orig. U.S.) depreciative and offensive. As a term of contempt or casual reference among white people: a black person, esp. a black man. Formerly (among African Americans): a very dark-skinned black person.” But as the earliest quotation given is American and dates from 1928, it would surely be incorrect to read that meaning into this English drawing.
The Three of Diamonds (right) contains three figures: what about two people helping a third? Estridge does that by showing two men carrying an injured person on a stretcher "To Guy’s", i.e. to Guy’s Hospital, then as now in Southwark, near London Bridge. This patient there follows in the tracks of those Southwark residents who had recently been taken to Guy’s and immortalised in the pages of Richard Bright’s Reports of medical cases (1827-1831).
The Ten of Hearts suggests a team game with ten players or a well-ordered ceremony of some sort. Estridge makes it a post-mortem examination (above), conducted by a Georgian surgeon in a wig, in the presence of eight other witnesses. Several other scenes in the pack also show people in Georgian dress, suggesting that Estridge was old enough to recall life from before 1800. His post-mortem examiners are not modern medical coroners of the Thomas Wakley generation, but perhaps members of the old Company of Surgeons, dissecting a body in Surgeons' Hall in the Old Bailey, and living on in folk memory into the reign of Victoria. The subject has certainly given the artist a lot of amusement in turning hearts into heads, with the closed eyes of the deceased contrasted with the staring eyes of the watchers.This is a game changer for higher education
For several years now many colleges and universities have been trying to understand how to take advantage of the internet. Lots of them have been putting content up on the internet, for example making some of their classes available via streaming video.
But few universities have offered any kind of proof that a student has mastered the content.
MIT Will Offer Certificates to Outside Students Who Take Its Online Courses starts with:
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Millions of learners have enjoyed the free lecture videos and other course materials published online through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's OpenCourseWare project. Now MIT plans to release a fresh batch of open online courses—and, for the first time, to offer certificates to outside students who complete them.
The credentials are part of a new, interactive e-learning venture, tentatively called MITx, that is expected to host "a virtual community of millions of learners around the world," the institute will announce on Monday.
Here's how it will work: MITx will give anyone free access to an online-course platform. Users will include students on the MIT campus, but also external learners like high-school seniors and engineering majors at other colleges. They'll watch videos, answer questions, practice exercises, visit online labs, and take quizzes and tests. They'll also connect with others working on the material.
The first course will begin around the spring of 2012. MIT has not yet announced its subject, but the goal is to build a portfolio of high-demand courses—the kind that draw more than 200 people to lecture halls on the campus, in Cambridge, Mass. MIT is investing "millions of dollars" in the project, said L. Rafael Reif, the provost, and the plan is to solicit more from donors and foundations.
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Once top universities start making quality education at internet prices I think average universities are going to have to reevaluate what exactly they are providing, and many average and below average universities are going to see an implosion in enrollment.
Hat tip: Instapundit
Video Song Chikni Chameli of Agneepath - Hrithik Roshan | Katrina Kaif
Watch Chikni Chameli song video of bollywood film Agneepath [Year - 2012] featuring Star Cast in movie Hrithik Roshan,Priyanka Chopra,Sanjay Dutt,Rishi Kapoor,Katrina Kaif
|| Cast and Crew || || Poster / Wallpaper ||
Movie Song Information :-
Song Name : Chikni Chameli
Singer : Shreya Ghoshal
Music Director : Ajay - Atul
Lyricist : Amitabh Bhattacharya
Song Length : 5:03
Music Label : T-Series
Song Video of Chikni Chameli :-
|| View Song Chikni Chameli Lyrics ||
Download Wallpaper :-
Big Question for 2012: The Great Pyramid's Secret Doors
Image: The Great Pyramid of Giza. Credit: Nina/Creative CommonsWill the mystery over the Great Pyramid's secret doors be solved in 2012?
I dare say yes. After almost two decades of failed attempts, chances are now strong that researchers will reveal next year what lies behind the secret doors at the heart of Egypt's most magnificent pyramid.
New revelations on the enduring mystery were already expected this year, following a robot exploration of the
4,500-year-old pharaonic mausoleum.
But unrest in Egypt froze the project at its most promising stage, after it produced the first ever images behind one of the Great Pyramid's mysterious doors.
Now the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), once led by the controversial yet charismatic Zahi Hawass, is slowly returning to granting permits for excavations and archaeological research.
WIDE ANGLE: BIG QUESTIONS FOR 2012
"As with other missions, we have had to resubmit our application to be allowed to continue. We are currently waiting for the various committees to formalise the approval," project mission manager Shaun Whitehead, of the exploration company Scoutek UK, told Discovery News.
"Once we're allowed to continue, I have no doubt that we can complete our work in 2012," he added.
Built for the pharaoh Cheops, also known as Khufu, the Great Pyramid is the last remaining wonder of the ancient world.
SCIENCE CHANNEL VIDEO: Pyramid Fail
The monument is the largest of a family of three pyramids on the Giza plateau, on the outskirts of Cairo, and has long been rumored to have hidden passageways leading to secret chambers.
Archaeologists have long puzzled over the purpose of four narrow shafts deep inside the pyramid since they were first discovered in 1872.
Two shafts, extend from the upper, or "Kings Chamber" exit into open air. But the lower two, one on the south side and one on the north side in the so-called "Queen's Chamber" disappear within the structures, deepening the pyramid mystery.
Image: Snake camera entering existing hole in first blocking stone. Courtesy of Djedi Team.
Widely believed to be ritual passageways for the dead pharaoh's soul to reach the afterlife, these 8-inch-square shafts remained unexplored until 1993, when German engineer Rudolf Gantenbrink sent a robot through the southern shaft.
After a steady climb of 213 feet from the heart of the pyramid, the robot came to a stop in front of a mysterious limestone slab adorned with two copper pins.
NEWS: Giza Pyramids Align Toward City of Sun God
Nine years later, the southern shaft was explored on live television. As the world held its breath, a tomb-raiding robot pushed a camera through a hole drilled in the copper pinned door -- only to reveal what appeared to be another door.
The following day, the robot was sent through the northern shaft. After crawling for 213 feet and navigating several sharp bends, the robot came to an abrupt halt in front of another limestone slab.
As with the Gantenbrink door, the stone was adorned with two copper pins.
BLOG: The Great Pyramids’ Amazing Non-Mysteries
The current Djedi project, a joint international-Egyptian mission named after the magician whom Khufu consulted when planning the layout of his pyramid, has gone further than anyone has ever been before in the pyramid.
The project began with a exploration of the southern shaft, which ends at the so called "Gantenbrink's door."
A robot, designed by Rob Richardson at the University of Leeds, was able to climb inside the walls of the shaft while carrying a "micro snake" camera that can see around corners.
Unlike previous expeditions, in which camera images were only taken looking straight ahead, the bendy camera was small enough to fit through a small hole in a stone door at the end of the tunnel.
Image: Hieroglyphs written in red paint on the floor of a hidden chamber in Egypt's Great Pyramid. Courtesy of Djedi Team.
This gave researchers a clear view into the chamber beyond -- one that had not been seen by human eyes since the construction of the pyramid. Images of 4,500-year-old hieroglyphs written in red paint began to appear.
According to some scholars, the markings are hieratic numerical signs that record the length of the shaft. The theory has not been confirmed by the researchers.
"Our strategy is to keep an open mind and only draw conclusions when we have completed our work," Whitehead said.
The Djedi team was also able to scrutinize the two puzzling copper pins embedded in the door to the chamber.
NEWS: Pyramid Hieroglyphs Likely Engineering Numbers
Images showed that the back of the pins curve on themselves, possibly suggesting an ornamental purpose.
Equipped with a unique range of tools which also included a miniature "beetle" robot that can fit through a 0.74-inch diameter hole, a coring drill, and a miniaturized ultrasonic device that can tap on walls and listen to the response to help determine the thickness of the stone, the Djedi team was ready to continue the pyramid's exploration last August. But the political turn of events in Egypt halted the project.
Whitehead is confident that the robot will reveal much more once the team is allowed to resume their research.
"The plan is the same as it always was. We will completely survey the shafts leading from the Queens Chamber and look beyond the first and second blocking stones in at least one shaft," Whitehead said.
"Even if we do not look further beyond the blocking stones, accurately mapping the shafts will be a fantastic result and will provide significant clues to determine the purpose of these unique archaeological features," he concluded.
Looking for Geothermal Energy? Google It
The United States may have geothermal resources under its feet capable of producing 10 times the capacity of all coal plants now installed. Want proof? Google it.
A detailed map of geothermal energy potential beneath the U.S. is viewable on Google Earth. It suggests the U.S. could produce approximately three million megawatts of renewable, eco-friendly geothermal energy.
The West has conventionally been the literal hotspot for geothermal energy, and the new map doesn't change that, but it does reveal parts of the eastern two-thirds of the nation that boil over with energy sources.
For example, West Virginia may have as much renewable geothermal heat energy available to rival its famous (and environmentally infamous) coal supply.
BIG PIC: A Coal Mine's Appetite for Mountains
Other areas with geothermal potential are in South Dakota, western Pennsylvania and the rest of the Appalachian trend, northern Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, as well as parts of southeastern Colorado.
The map was created by researchers at Southern Methodist University (SMU), funded by a grant from Google.org. The map was created from nearly 35,000 data points.
BLOG: Geothermal From an Oil Well
“This assessment of geothermal potential will only improve with time,” said Karl Gawell, executive director of the Geothermal Energy Association, and author of a study documenting the SMU research, in a press release.
“Our study assumes that we tap only a small fraction of the available stored heat in the Earth’s crust, and our capabilities to capture that heat are expected to grow substantially as we improve upon the energy conversion and exploitation factors through technological advances and improved techniques,” said Blackwell.
Blackwell will soon present the research to the Geothermal Resources Council.
Geothermal electricity production uses the heat of the Earth's interior to generate power, usually by using steam to drive turbines. New technologies are allowing engineers to tap cooler sources of heat or drill deeper and closer to the hot core of the Earth.
HOW A GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANT WORKS:
1: Hot water reservoir2: Hot water from the Earth
3: Electrical power generation (with generator)
4: The generated electricity is fed into the network
5: Thereafter the rest of the hot water can still be used for heating purposes
6: Thermal energy can be reused
7: Cold water is fed back to the cycle to be reheated by the Earth
'Monkeyana' and the book that never was
As we come to the close of the year, 2011 saw not one but two films concerned with attitudes to our ancestors - Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Project Nim. Fiction, as well as legislation, has a long history of interest in interspecies relations and the Library contains some classic examples, including The Island of Dr Moreau and Tarzan. Many of these works show the influence of Charles Darwin's notion of evolution and importantly its antithesis - devolution or degeneration.
If humans had developed from apes could some of us occasionally revert to our primitive former selves? This theme lies behind such titles as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (see previous post) and The Time Machine. More recently, films of the 20th century continued to refer to the idea of reverting to a more bestial type (atavism), including Cat People which I have to confess, is one of my favourite movies. The original, by Jacques Tourneur, features a quote in its opening sequence from 'The Anatomy of Atavism' by Dr L. Judd:
Even as fog continues to lie in the valleys, so does ancient sin cling to the low places, the depressions in the world consciousness.
Alas, any search for this intriguing tome will prove fruitless as it, like Dr Judd, the psychiatrist in the film, never existed. Judd, played by Tom Conway lives on in film history because with his pipe, cigarettes and urbane charm he is a great example of early filmic portrayals of this profession. Here are two film clips: one from Cat People in which Judd archly smokes at a wedding party, and this trailer for the sequel Curse of the Cat People which has a Christmas theme (albeit one with threats of infanticide).
Film fans may appreciate our new e-book Icons of Grief (available to registered readers) which examines the work of Val Lewton, writer of both Cat People and the equally wonderful 'I Walked with a Zombie' (a re-working of Jane Eyre set on a tropical island). Lewton was a Russian emigree and the nephew of Hollywood star Alla Nazimova who allegedly coined the term 'sewing circle' to describe the clandestine affairs of tinsel town's bisexual and lesbian actresses.
For books that do exist concerning current legislation readers can see Marie Fox's chapter 'Legislating Interspecies Embryos' inside our new acquisition The Legal, Medical and Cultural Regulation of the Body. Fox highlights how tricky it is coining the right term to express what many consider a contestable area of research: mixing the cells or gametes of human and non-human animals. Terms like 'chimera' and 'hybrid' are often used by journalists and authors as they sound more dramatic.
Illustrations: Fantasy - human-fish hybrid. Fantasy artwork of swimming chimeras with fish heads with human legs. Credit: Diane Harris, 2002 Wellcome Images B0004399
'Monkeyana' satirical cartoon from Punch, 18 May 1861, p.206 Wellcome Images L0031419
A group of cats dressed as gentry dining in a restaurant. Watercolour. Wellcome Images V0021521
plus size swim wear Devon Goodrington 07 huit underwear
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Tere Jeya Sona (Punjabi Album Breathless) Miss Pooja
Watch Latest new punjabi album song :
Song : Tere Jeya Sona
Artist : Miss Pooja
Album : Breathless
Music on : T-Series
Download Wallpaper :
HD Video Song Phir Se Ud Chala of Rockstar - Ranbir Kapoor | Nargis Fakhri
Watch Full HD Phir Se Ud Chala song video of bollywood film Rockstar [Year - 2011] featuring Star Cast in movie Ranbir Kapoor, Nargis Fakhri,Aditi Rao,Piyush Mishra,Jaideep Ahlawat,Shammi Kapoor
Movie Song Information :-
Song Name : Phir Se Ud Chala
Singer : Mohit Chauhan
Music Director : A.R.Rahman
Lyricist : Irshad Kamil
Song Length : 4:31
Music Label : T-Series
Song Video of Phir Se Ud Chala :-
|| Lyrics of Phir se Ur Chala Song ||
Download Wallpaper :-
Still Traveling, Sorry
Sorry folks, the Korean is back in California with his family and still traveling around Santa Barbara wine country. He will be back with his reaction re: Kim Jong-Il's death and other topics in a couple of days.
Your main enemy is Yourself
Several times following the seminar, and several times the workshops, this question often comes to me to ask. The speaker expressed his views with different answers to essentially the same as "Change your habits". Unfortunately at the moment I have not understood what they are yet, I still feel like a shackled by a very acute sense of laziness.
These days even I have taken to try to understand what harussaya do actually. How do I have to change this habit, and should I continue to maintain a habit that may later be "killed" me?
Finally, the answer is I have to make peace with myself. Why like that? The answer came just like that. Apparently I pamper myself and let the desire to pull himself together.
My self-realization process requires the fairly long time, fighting was the right choice. I need myself a diligent, who I have high integrity, and requires a dedicated myself to the work.
Finally, now slowly but surely it began to materialize, lazy nature which undermines the whole mind almost before I started little by little reduced.
In essence, the actual changes that have a very big role is the beginning of his own, start with a peace and then change from the smallest first.
These days even I have taken to try to understand what harussaya do actually. How do I have to change this habit, and should I continue to maintain a habit that may later be "killed" me?
Finally, the answer is I have to make peace with myself. Why like that? The answer came just like that. Apparently I pamper myself and let the desire to pull himself together.
My self-realization process requires the fairly long time, fighting was the right choice. I need myself a diligent, who I have high integrity, and requires a dedicated myself to the work.
Finally, now slowly but surely it began to materialize, lazy nature which undermines the whole mind almost before I started little by little reduced.
In essence, the actual changes that have a very big role is the beginning of his own, start with a peace and then change from the smallest first.
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