Monday 18 May 2015
Gig Reviews: They Might Be Giants
It looked I wasn't going to get to go to this one. I didn't feel like going alone and the one person I knew who liked them was in Canada on the day. My usual concert buddy I drag to things I want to see was away too. Then my brother asked me if I wanted to go with him. Hurrah! I had no idea he liked them. So off we went, looking forward to a night of glorious weirdness. The opening act were really enjoyable. A fun band from Northern Ireland called the Wonder Villains. I'm so sick of opening acts you could sleep through, so they were a nice surprise. The first thing the band did when they got on stage was to rearrange the audience. We were on the upper level in seats, but the people on the lower floor were seated nicely at little lables. They Might Be Giants were having none of that. They got everyone to stand up and come up to the front. Yeah! That's how you get a party started! And I saw people mving aside to let a wheelchair user through to the front. Made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. So the band were just as wacky as expected and put on a great show. They didn't do a few of my favourites though, like Experimental Film. Ah well. The highlight was definitely Istanbul. And Marty Beller stayed behind at the end to sign tickets. I love it when people do that. Good show.
Friday 15 May 2015
A Short History of Nearly Everything: Measuring a Meridian
"If you had to select the least convivial scientific field trip of all time, you could certainly do worse than the French royal Academy of Sciences' Peruvian expedition of 1735. Led by a hydrologist named Pierre Bouguer and a soldier-mathematician named Charles Marie de la Condamine, it was a party of scientists and andvetures and who travelled to Peru with the purpose of triangulating distances through the Andes.
At the time people had lately become infected with a powerful desire to understand the Earth - to determine how old it was, and how massive, where it hung in space, and how it had come to be. The French party's goal was to help settle the question of the circumference of the planet by measuring the length of one degree of meridian (or one-360th of the distance around the planet) along a line reaching from Yarouqui, near Quito, to just beyond Cuenca in what is now Ecuador, a distance of about 320 kilometres.
Almost at once things began to go wrong, sometimes spectacularly so. In Quito, the visitors somehow provoked the locals and were chased out of town by a mob armed with stones. Soon after the expedition's doctor was murdered in a misunderstanding over a woman. The botanist became derranged. Otheres died of fevers and falls. The third most senior member of the party, a man named Jean Godin, ran off with a thirteen-year-old girl and could not be induced to return.
At one point the group had to suspend work for eight months while La Condamine rode off to Lima to sort out a problem with their permits. Eventually he and Bouguer stopped speaking and refused to work together. Everywhere the dwindling party went it was met with the deepest suspicions from officals who found it difficult to believe that a group of French scientists would travel halfway around the world to measure the world. That made no sense at all. Two and a half centuries later, it still seems a reasonable question. Why didn't the French make their measurements in France and save themselves the all the bother and discomfort of their Andean adventures?
The answer lies partly with the fact that eighteenth century scientists, the French in particular, seldom did things simply if an absurdly demanding alternative was available, and partly with a practical problem problem that had arisen with the English astronomer Edmond Halley many years before - long before Bouguer and la Condamine dreamed of going to South America, much less had a reason for doing so.
(...)
They chose the Andes because they needed to measure near the equator, to determine if there really was a difference in sphericity there, and because they reasoned that mountains would give them good sightlines. In fact, the mountains of Peru were so contantly lost in coud that the team often had to wait weeks for an hour's clear surverying. On top of that, they had selected one of the most nearly impossible terrains on Earth. Peruvians refer to their landscape as muy accidentado - "much accidented" - and this it most certainly is. Not only did the French have to scale some of the world's most challenging mountains - mountains that defeated even their mules - but to reach the mountains they had to ford wild rivers, hack their way through jungles, and cross miles of high, stony, desert, nearly all of it uncharted and far from any source of suppplies. But Bouguer and La Condamine were nothing if not tenacious, and they stuck to the task for nine and a half long, grim, sun-blistered years. Shortly before concluding the project, word reached them that a second French team, taking measurements in northern Scandinavia (and facing notable discomforts of their own, from squelching bogs to dangerous ice floes), had found that a degree was in fact longer near the poles, as Newton had promised. The Earth was 43 kilometres stouter when measured equatorially than when measured from top to bottom around the poles.
Bouguer and La Condamine thus had spent nearly a decade working towards a result they didn't wish to find only to learn now that they weren't even the first to find it. Listlessly they completed their survery, which confirmed that the first French team was correct. Then, still not speaking, they returned to the coast and took separate ships home."
At the time people had lately become infected with a powerful desire to understand the Earth - to determine how old it was, and how massive, where it hung in space, and how it had come to be. The French party's goal was to help settle the question of the circumference of the planet by measuring the length of one degree of meridian (or one-360th of the distance around the planet) along a line reaching from Yarouqui, near Quito, to just beyond Cuenca in what is now Ecuador, a distance of about 320 kilometres.
Almost at once things began to go wrong, sometimes spectacularly so. In Quito, the visitors somehow provoked the locals and were chased out of town by a mob armed with stones. Soon after the expedition's doctor was murdered in a misunderstanding over a woman. The botanist became derranged. Otheres died of fevers and falls. The third most senior member of the party, a man named Jean Godin, ran off with a thirteen-year-old girl and could not be induced to return.
At one point the group had to suspend work for eight months while La Condamine rode off to Lima to sort out a problem with their permits. Eventually he and Bouguer stopped speaking and refused to work together. Everywhere the dwindling party went it was met with the deepest suspicions from officals who found it difficult to believe that a group of French scientists would travel halfway around the world to measure the world. That made no sense at all. Two and a half centuries later, it still seems a reasonable question. Why didn't the French make their measurements in France and save themselves the all the bother and discomfort of their Andean adventures?
The answer lies partly with the fact that eighteenth century scientists, the French in particular, seldom did things simply if an absurdly demanding alternative was available, and partly with a practical problem problem that had arisen with the English astronomer Edmond Halley many years before - long before Bouguer and la Condamine dreamed of going to South America, much less had a reason for doing so.
(...)
They chose the Andes because they needed to measure near the equator, to determine if there really was a difference in sphericity there, and because they reasoned that mountains would give them good sightlines. In fact, the mountains of Peru were so contantly lost in coud that the team often had to wait weeks for an hour's clear surverying. On top of that, they had selected one of the most nearly impossible terrains on Earth. Peruvians refer to their landscape as muy accidentado - "much accidented" - and this it most certainly is. Not only did the French have to scale some of the world's most challenging mountains - mountains that defeated even their mules - but to reach the mountains they had to ford wild rivers, hack their way through jungles, and cross miles of high, stony, desert, nearly all of it uncharted and far from any source of suppplies. But Bouguer and La Condamine were nothing if not tenacious, and they stuck to the task for nine and a half long, grim, sun-blistered years. Shortly before concluding the project, word reached them that a second French team, taking measurements in northern Scandinavia (and facing notable discomforts of their own, from squelching bogs to dangerous ice floes), had found that a degree was in fact longer near the poles, as Newton had promised. The Earth was 43 kilometres stouter when measured equatorially than when measured from top to bottom around the poles.
Bouguer and La Condamine thus had spent nearly a decade working towards a result they didn't wish to find only to learn now that they weren't even the first to find it. Listlessly they completed their survery, which confirmed that the first French team was correct. Then, still not speaking, they returned to the coast and took separate ships home."
Book Reviews: Going Solo
This is another autobiography by Roald Dahl. This one is about his time in the air force after leaving school. It's obviously a story about courage, but it's also one about exotic adventures in a far-off land, but mostly it's just about a young man trying to find his way in the world. It's also about how much surviving a battle is down to chance. Very harrowing. The number of near death experiences in this is...quite an eye-opener. I enjoyed this one much more than Boy. Again though, some thing that comes through very strongly is the strong relationship between Roald Dahl and his mother. The ending, where Roald Dahl is shipped home due to injuries and is reunited with his mother moved me to tears. Perhaps my favorite bit though, is the description of the people he met on the way out to Africa. It reminds me so much of my life in an expat community.
“What I remember so clearly about the voyage is the
extraordinary behaviour of my fellow passengers. I had never before encountered that peculiar
breed of Englishman who spends his whole life working in distant corners of
British territory. Please do not forget
that in the 1930s the British Empire was still very much the British Empire,
and the men and women who kept it going were a race of people that most of you
have never encountered and now you never will.
I consider myself very lucky to have caught a glimpse of this rare
species while it still roamed the forests and foot-hills of the Earth, for
today, it is totally extinct. More
English than the English, more Scottish than the Scots, they were the craziest
bunch of humans I shall ever meet. For
one thing, they spoke a language of their own.
If they worked in East Africa, their sentences were sprinkled with
Swahili words, and if they lived in India then all manner of dialects
were intermingled. As well as this,
there was a whole vocabulary of much-used words that seemed to be universal
among all these people. An evening
drink, for example, was always a sundowner.
A drink at any other time was a chota peg. One’s wife was the memsahib. To have a look at something was to have a
shufti. And from that one,
interestingly enough, RAF/Middle East slang for a reconnaissance plane in the
last war was a shufti kite. Something
of poor quality was shenzi. Supper was
tiffin and so on and so forth. The
empire builders’ jargon would have filled a dictionary. All in all, it was rather wonderful for me,
a conventional young lad from the suburbs, to be thrust suddenly into the
middle of this pack of sinewy sunburnt gophers and their bright bony little wives,
and what I liked best of all about them was their eccentricities.
It would seem that when
the British live for years in a foul and sweaty climate among foreign
people they maintain their sanity by allowing themselves to go slightly
dotty. They cultivate bizarre habits
that would never be tolerated back home, whereas in far-away Africa or in Ceylon or in India or in the federated Malay
states they could do as they liked. On
the SS Mantola just about everybody had his or her own particular maggot in the
brain, and for me it was like watching a kind of non-stop pantomime throughout
the entire voyage.”
Saturday 9 May 2015
Songs: Doesn't Remind Me
I'm not quite sure why I like this so much. I usually like things that are a bit bolder. Still, this is good. And is a surprisingly good karaoke song.
Gig Reviews: Josh Ritter
Given everything you know about my musical tastes, it may surprise you to know that one of my favourite singers ever is a country singer called Josh Ritter. I've been to see him a couple of times, most recently in Glasgow. It was an odd sort of gig for me, as it was seated. Haven't been to many of those. It's a whole different experience. Calmer, more comfortable, but not as much energy, and so much further from the stage. The first time I saw him he created absolute magic on the stage. He was mesmerising. So so powerful. This wasn't quite up to that standard. Maybe it was the seatedness that did it. Or perhaps that he didn't do a lot of my favourite songs. He did do Lillian, Egypt though. Hurrah! Still a good show and I'm glad I went. The venue was lovely too. The Old Fruitmarket. I'd never been there before and it was quite lovely. All fairy lights, and still with the old storefront signs up.
Monday 4 May 2015
Book Reviews: Boy
This is Roald Dahl's own account of his childhood. It describes his time at school, his friends and their escapades, his family and long summer holidays in Norway. I enjoyed re-reading it, but somehow I wanted more from it. I wanted the autobiography of one of the most brilliantly creative and imaginative and disgusting children's writers to be full of weird occurences, colourful characters and wacky adventures. Instead it mostly seems to consist of being miserable at school. There are a few nasty medical procedures described as well, reminding us how recently we didn't have things such as anaesthetics. It's not a very happy book. What does come through is what a great woman Roald Dahl's mother was and what a great influence she had on him and how strong their relationship was. She sounded like a very strong and brave lady. And his descriptions of Norway make you desperate to go and spend long summer days exploring the fjords alone to your heat's content.
Sunday 19 April 2015
Songs: Crazy Bitch
This one is rude and naughty and oh so catchy. And also, you know, the band name is a pun. Everyone likes puns!
Show Reviews: Cabaret
For years my only knowledge of Cabaret came from the weird Lisa Minelli film which I didn't really like. Then I saw half of it in the theatre volunteering for the Red Cross, and I really enjoyed what I saw. It was happier and less weird and perverted than the film. So when it came back to Edinburgh I was eager to go and see it properly. I'm very glad I did. It was great! It's set in Berlin at the outbreak of World War II and features a host of colourful characters. Most of the action centres around a Cabaret where Sally, the female protagonist, is a performer. She was very ably played by Siobhan Dillon whose warm performance made me totally fall in love with her. The real star of the show, though, is the narrator, with masses of stage presence, plenty of quirks and great songs, played by - wait for it - Will Young! I remember him as a pretty wet singer off Pop Idol, not a creative and powerful performer. The title song was very well done too. I'd only ever heard it sung as a joyful, confident song, but in this production it was done more timidly, and a little manically. A more fragile performance, which I think was much more appropriate, considering that Sally has just had an abortion when she sang it. The real power of the show though, comes towards the end, with the rise of Nazism and the lives of the charactes being torn apart. I cried my eyes out. Well worth seeing!
Friday 3 April 2015
Film Reviews: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
This is a film I love for many reasons. Firstly because it's so unusual. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. It's about a man (Doctor Parnassus) who is a thousand years old and immortal. He travels around with a rag-tag bunch of companions in their caravan/travelling show. He's made a bet with the devil. He needs to win souls by his daughter's 16th birthday, or she'll belong to the devil. He has to get people to step through a magic mirror powered by his trance. Once inside people are brought face to face with their own imaginations. They then have to make a choice. The problem is poeple always seem to make the wrong choice and give their souls to the devil instead. Until they rescue a mysterious stranger who they find hanging under a bridge. He turns their fortunes around and helps them to win the bet.
The second reason I love it is the casting. It's got so many of my heros in it! As well as the wonderful Heath Ledger and ever-fabulous Johnny Depp, it also features Paloma Faith and the great Tom Waits. Who knew they could act?? Tom Waits is a fabulous devil. Lily Cole puts in a great performance as the doctor's daughter,Verne Troyer (of the Mini Me fame) is excellent, as is Christopher Plummer as Parnassus himself. As Heath Ledger's last film I also feel a big emotional connection with it. He died half way through filming. Instead of giving up, Terry Gilliam (the director) got in three other actors to replace him. Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell. All three of them were great pals of Heath's and wanted to help. They came up with the genius idea of giving Heath a different face every time he entered the Imaginarium. The rejigged the story so that they didn't need to get many more shots, and for those they still needed they put an actor in a mask so you couldn't tell it wasn't Heath. The whole thing is very neatly done and if you didn't know the story you'd never think one of the leads had died half way through filming. I think it's a beautiful tribute to him. He was wonderful.
Finally I love it because of the director. Even if Terry Gilliam wasn't a brilliant director he'd still be one of my heros because of his Monty Python connection. I always loved his hilarious, wacky animations in the show, as well as his performances. They were so imaginative! Well, that amazing Gilliam imagination is well and truly on show in this, both inside the imaginarium and out. Look at this! Look at it! Look!
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I just love it. It's such a refreshing break from all the comic book films, sci-fi prequels and remakes. I'd love to know what it looks like inside his head. Well worth a watch if you want something strange and beautiful.
The second reason I love it is the casting. It's got so many of my heros in it! As well as the wonderful Heath Ledger and ever-fabulous Johnny Depp, it also features Paloma Faith and the great Tom Waits. Who knew they could act?? Tom Waits is a fabulous devil. Lily Cole puts in a great performance as the doctor's daughter,Verne Troyer (of the Mini Me fame) is excellent, as is Christopher Plummer as Parnassus himself. As Heath Ledger's last film I also feel a big emotional connection with it. He died half way through filming. Instead of giving up, Terry Gilliam (the director) got in three other actors to replace him. Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell. All three of them were great pals of Heath's and wanted to help. They came up with the genius idea of giving Heath a different face every time he entered the Imaginarium. The rejigged the story so that they didn't need to get many more shots, and for those they still needed they put an actor in a mask so you couldn't tell it wasn't Heath. The whole thing is very neatly done and if you didn't know the story you'd never think one of the leads had died half way through filming. I think it's a beautiful tribute to him. He was wonderful.
Finally I love it because of the director. Even if Terry Gilliam wasn't a brilliant director he'd still be one of my heros because of his Monty Python connection. I always loved his hilarious, wacky animations in the show, as well as his performances. They were so imaginative! Well, that amazing Gilliam imagination is well and truly on show in this, both inside the imaginarium and out. Look at this! Look at it! Look!
I just love it. It's such a refreshing break from all the comic book films, sci-fi prequels and remakes. I'd love to know what it looks like inside his head. Well worth a watch if you want something strange and beautiful.
Sunday 29 March 2015
Songs: The Flower Duet
This is from the opera Lakmé, by Delibes. No, I haven't seen it, I, like most other people know it from its frequent appearance in adverts. I think it's just beautiful.
Sunday 22 March 2015
Photography: Northern Ireland, Day 1
Some pictures from my Northern Ireland trip a couple of years ago. Once again, using HDR to pretend the light was interesting. the first couple are of these are Belfast, and the rest were taken in Portstewart, a tiny town on the Causeway Coast. Enjoy!
Saturday 7 March 2015
Songs: Moustache
This was France's entry for Eurovision last year. I totally loved it! It was fun and silly and was about a really important issue in the modern world: men who can't grow moustaches. I really can't understand why it did so badly. It's brilliant!
Cosmetics: Manifesto
I love perfumes. I smell them all at the airport, looking for new ones I haven't tried yet. But at the same time I'm very fussy about which ones I buy. I know what I like on me, and that's not that many of them. I'd been looking for a new one for a good couple of years before I found this. It's by Yves Saint-Laurent and it's just awesome. It's bold without being overpowering, sophisticated, not overly girly girly and has loads of staying power. I love it!
Saturday 28 February 2015
Songs: Moi Je Joue
Well, it's news to me that Brigitte Bardot could sing, but here it is. A sexy, playful song for your Sunday:
Show Reviews: Rigoletto
As far as I'm concerned, the best way to see opera is outdoors, in the Roman arena in Verona. As well as being guarantied a great show, it's also a really lovely atmosphere. Imagine a warm Italian summer night, a magnificent stage, and you sitting on the ancient fossil-strewn stone steps, still warm from the sun. People are drinking beer, eating sandwiches and relaxing. My friend said he wasn't sure if he was at an opera or a football match. The stage might be far away, but everthing is Big, so there's plenty to look at, a huge cast, magnificent costumes.... We saw Rigoletto, which was one I hadn't seen before. It was very enjoybale, and of course has the very famous La Donna e Mobile, which everyone will recognise when they hear it.
Stage of Rigoletto
This one is actually Aida, but I think it shows what I'm trying to get across
Saturday 21 February 2015
Songs: Here's to Us
I love this! It's fiesty and angsty and well, sometimes I just feel the need to say here's to us too.
TV Reviews: Legend of Korra, Season 1
Being a massive fan of the original Avatar series I was very curious as to what the makers would do with this. You might say Korra had a lot to live up to. Well, it didn't disappoint. It's set after Aang's death and Korra is the new avatar. From the very first episode Korra establishes itself as its own show. It's clearly still part of the Last Airbender world, but it's not just a continuation of a old story. It's a very different show and Korra is a very different avatar to Aang. While Aang is happy-go-lucky and gentle and deeply spiritual, Korra is hot-tempered, fiesty and prone to action. While the majority of The Last Airbender was about Aang trying to master all four elements, and hiding the fact that he's the avatar, Legend of Korra opens with Korra having already mastered three as a child and telling everyone she's the avatar. Korra's world is more modern than Aang's, with pro-bending being a thing and the industrial revolution being well established, and more political. Elected officials matter more, and being the avatar seems to count for less. Korra is manipulated and used. The whole structure of the series is different too. Instead of Korra being on a journey and meeting a host of quirky characters, almost the whole series is set in Republic City where Korra is staying. There's also a tension between benders and ordinary people that just wasn't present in the last series.
Having said that it's a very different show, there are plenty of nods to the Last Airbender, such as meeting the descendents of Aang, Katara and Toph, and flashbacks to Aang's youth. And there are some elements that have stayed the same, such as the avatar having a helpful big furry friend. In this case her name is Naga and she's a polar bear-dog. I NEED a polar bear-dog! Big and fierce like a polar bear, but loyal like a dog. And rideable too! A goofy male comic relief character also appears in the form of Bolin, a sweet, poverty-stricken pro bender who is infatuated with Korra. Anyone who cares about the world will also be happy to see the air-benders are doing ok. After being reduced to one (Aang) in the Last Airbender, they're now starting to recover. Aang and Katara's son Tenzin has four children who are all air benders. So although air benders are still very rare, they're not gone yet!
As with the Last Airbender, it's the characters that make the show so appealing. Korra's calm, dignified air bending teacher, Tenzin, his hilarious children, sweet, funny Bolin, awesome Naga and evil Amon are all unforgettable. And as for this storyline, it's tense and full of intrigue and betrayal, with a healthy dose of teenage angst thrown in as well. Benders are being captured by rebels and having their bending taken away. In the end Korra herself has her bending taken. For a few tense minutes you wonder if the series is going to go for a very bold decision. Having an avatar who can't bend. But she gets it back quickly. Perhaps a little too quickly in fact. It feels like a bit of a deus ex machina. And the final episode where Amon is finally defeated is....emotional. So emotional. I won't ruin it for you. Watch it!
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Having said that it's a very different show, there are plenty of nods to the Last Airbender, such as meeting the descendents of Aang, Katara and Toph, and flashbacks to Aang's youth. And there are some elements that have stayed the same, such as the avatar having a helpful big furry friend. In this case her name is Naga and she's a polar bear-dog. I NEED a polar bear-dog! Big and fierce like a polar bear, but loyal like a dog. And rideable too! A goofy male comic relief character also appears in the form of Bolin, a sweet, poverty-stricken pro bender who is infatuated with Korra. Anyone who cares about the world will also be happy to see the air-benders are doing ok. After being reduced to one (Aang) in the Last Airbender, they're now starting to recover. Aang and Katara's son Tenzin has four children who are all air benders. So although air benders are still very rare, they're not gone yet!
As with the Last Airbender, it's the characters that make the show so appealing. Korra's calm, dignified air bending teacher, Tenzin, his hilarious children, sweet, funny Bolin, awesome Naga and evil Amon are all unforgettable. And as for this storyline, it's tense and full of intrigue and betrayal, with a healthy dose of teenage angst thrown in as well. Benders are being captured by rebels and having their bending taken away. In the end Korra herself has her bending taken. For a few tense minutes you wonder if the series is going to go for a very bold decision. Having an avatar who can't bend. But she gets it back quickly. Perhaps a little too quickly in fact. It feels like a bit of a deus ex machina. And the final episode where Amon is finally defeated is....emotional. So emotional. I won't ruin it for you. Watch it!
Friday 20 February 2015
Thursday 19 February 2015
TV Reviews: The Addams Family
I watched the original Addams family TV series from the 60s. I was very familiar with the 90s film, and the cartoon series, but I'd never seen the original before. It's well-worth a watch! You probably don't need to watch the entire series, because to be honest, the gags are the same in every episode.
The characters all have a certain warmth that they don't have in later encarnations. Morticia and Gomez definitely steal the show! John Astin makes a very funny and incredibly enthusiastic Gomez, and his gymnastics are very impressive! He also did the voice of Gomez in the cartoon series. Just a little bit of trivia that makes me happy. Carolyn Jones's Morticia is warm and refined. Jackie Coogan plays a very goofy Uncle Fester, and Ted Cassidy makes a perfect Lurch. They all lack a lot of the creepiness the family has in more modern versions.
I would say that for special effects, the show definitely suffers compared to the later encarnations. Thing is very obviously just somebody's arm in a box, and the meat eating plant is very obviously fake. The sets are also comparatively much less elaborate and varied. But if you can forgive that, the show does have a lot of old-time charm. A very interesting look at what tv used to be like.
The characters all have a certain warmth that they don't have in later encarnations. Morticia and Gomez definitely steal the show! John Astin makes a very funny and incredibly enthusiastic Gomez, and his gymnastics are very impressive! He also did the voice of Gomez in the cartoon series. Just a little bit of trivia that makes me happy. Carolyn Jones's Morticia is warm and refined. Jackie Coogan plays a very goofy Uncle Fester, and Ted Cassidy makes a perfect Lurch. They all lack a lot of the creepiness the family has in more modern versions.
I would say that for special effects, the show definitely suffers compared to the later encarnations. Thing is very obviously just somebody's arm in a box, and the meat eating plant is very obviously fake. The sets are also comparatively much less elaborate and varied. But if you can forgive that, the show does have a lot of old-time charm. A very interesting look at what tv used to be like.
Saturday 14 February 2015
A Short History of Nearly Everything: Cosmic Background Radiation
"Even the notion of the Big Bang is quite a recent one. The idea had been kicking around since the 1920s when Georges Lemaitre, a Belgian priest-scholar, first tentatively proposed it, but it didn't really become an active notion in cosmology until the mid-1960s, when two young radioastronomers made an extraordinary and inadvertant discovery.
Their names were Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson. In 1965, they were trying to make use of a large communications antenna owned by Bell Laboratories at Holmdel, New Jersey, but they were troubled by a persistent background noise - a steady, steamy hiss that made any experimental work impossible. The noise was unrelenting and unfocused. It came from every point in the sky, day and night, through every season. For a year the young astronomers did everything they could think of to track down and eliminate the noise. They tested every electrical system. They rebuilt instruments, checked circuits, wiggled wires, dusted plugs. They climed into the dish and placed duct tape over every seam and rivet. They climbed back into the dish with brooms and scrubbing brushes and carefully swept it clean of what they referred to in a later paper as "white dielectric material", or what is known more commonly as bird shit. Nothing they tried worked.
Unknown to them, just 50 kilometres away at Princeton University a team of scientists led by Robert Dicke was working on how to find the very thing they were trying so diligently to get rid of. The Princeton researchers were persuing an idea that had been suggested in the 1940s by the Russian-born astrophysicist George Gamow: that if you looked deep enough into space you should find some cosmic background radiation left over from the Big Bang. Gamow calculated that by time it had crossed the the vastness of the cosmos the radiation would reach Earth in the form of microwaves. In a more recent paper he had even suggested an instrument that might do the job: the Bell antenna at Holmdel. Unfortunately, neither Penzias and Wilson, nor any of the Princeton team, had read Gamow's paper.
The noise that Penzias and Wilson were hearing was, of course, the noise that Gamow had postulated. They had found the edge of the universe, or at least the visible part of it, 90 billion trillion miles away. They were "seeing" the first photons - the most ancient light in the universe - though time and distance had converted them to microwaves, just as Gamow had predicted. In his book The Inflationary Universe, Alan Guth provides an analogy that helps to put this finding in perspective. If you think of peering into the depths of the universe as looking down from the hundredth floor of the Empire State Building (with the hundreth floor representing now and the street level representing the moment of the Big Bang), at the time of Wilson and Penzias's discovery the most distant galaxies anyone had ever detected were on about the sixtieth floor and the most distant things - quasars - were on about the twentieth. Penzias and Wilson's findings pushed our aquaintance with the visible universe to within half an inch of the lobby floor.
Still unaware of what caused the noise, Wilson and Penzias phoned Dicke at Princeton and described their problem to him in the hope that he might suggest a solution. Dicke realised at once what the two young men had found. "Well, boys, we've just been scooped," he told his colleagues as he hung up the phone.
Soon afterwards the Astrophysical Journal published two articles: one by Penzias and Wilson describing their experience with the hiss, the other by Dicke's team explaining its nature. Although Penzias and Wilson had not been looking for cosmic background radiation, didn't know what it was when they found it, and hadn't described or interpreted its character in any paper, they received the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics. The Princeton researchers got only sympathy. According to Dennis Overbye in Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos, neither Penzias nor Wilson altogether understood the significance of what they had found until they read about it in the New York Times.
Incidently, disturbance from cosmic background radiation is something we have all experienced. Tune your television to any channel it doesn't receive and about 1 per cent of the dancing static you see is accounted for by this ancient remant of the Big Bang. The next time you complain that there is nothing on, remember that you can always watch the birth of the universe."
Their names were Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson. In 1965, they were trying to make use of a large communications antenna owned by Bell Laboratories at Holmdel, New Jersey, but they were troubled by a persistent background noise - a steady, steamy hiss that made any experimental work impossible. The noise was unrelenting and unfocused. It came from every point in the sky, day and night, through every season. For a year the young astronomers did everything they could think of to track down and eliminate the noise. They tested every electrical system. They rebuilt instruments, checked circuits, wiggled wires, dusted plugs. They climed into the dish and placed duct tape over every seam and rivet. They climbed back into the dish with brooms and scrubbing brushes and carefully swept it clean of what they referred to in a later paper as "white dielectric material", or what is known more commonly as bird shit. Nothing they tried worked.
Unknown to them, just 50 kilometres away at Princeton University a team of scientists led by Robert Dicke was working on how to find the very thing they were trying so diligently to get rid of. The Princeton researchers were persuing an idea that had been suggested in the 1940s by the Russian-born astrophysicist George Gamow: that if you looked deep enough into space you should find some cosmic background radiation left over from the Big Bang. Gamow calculated that by time it had crossed the the vastness of the cosmos the radiation would reach Earth in the form of microwaves. In a more recent paper he had even suggested an instrument that might do the job: the Bell antenna at Holmdel. Unfortunately, neither Penzias and Wilson, nor any of the Princeton team, had read Gamow's paper.
The noise that Penzias and Wilson were hearing was, of course, the noise that Gamow had postulated. They had found the edge of the universe, or at least the visible part of it, 90 billion trillion miles away. They were "seeing" the first photons - the most ancient light in the universe - though time and distance had converted them to microwaves, just as Gamow had predicted. In his book The Inflationary Universe, Alan Guth provides an analogy that helps to put this finding in perspective. If you think of peering into the depths of the universe as looking down from the hundredth floor of the Empire State Building (with the hundreth floor representing now and the street level representing the moment of the Big Bang), at the time of Wilson and Penzias's discovery the most distant galaxies anyone had ever detected were on about the sixtieth floor and the most distant things - quasars - were on about the twentieth. Penzias and Wilson's findings pushed our aquaintance with the visible universe to within half an inch of the lobby floor.
Still unaware of what caused the noise, Wilson and Penzias phoned Dicke at Princeton and described their problem to him in the hope that he might suggest a solution. Dicke realised at once what the two young men had found. "Well, boys, we've just been scooped," he told his colleagues as he hung up the phone.
Soon afterwards the Astrophysical Journal published two articles: one by Penzias and Wilson describing their experience with the hiss, the other by Dicke's team explaining its nature. Although Penzias and Wilson had not been looking for cosmic background radiation, didn't know what it was when they found it, and hadn't described or interpreted its character in any paper, they received the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics. The Princeton researchers got only sympathy. According to Dennis Overbye in Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos, neither Penzias nor Wilson altogether understood the significance of what they had found until they read about it in the New York Times.
Incidently, disturbance from cosmic background radiation is something we have all experienced. Tune your television to any channel it doesn't receive and about 1 per cent of the dancing static you see is accounted for by this ancient remant of the Big Bang. The next time you complain that there is nothing on, remember that you can always watch the birth of the universe."
Friday 13 February 2015
Photography: Berwick-upon-Tweed Beach
Are you going somewhere that's good for photos but the weather is just not on your side? Never fear! Just HDR the crap out of it and pretend the light was interesting! We went to Berwick-upon-Tweed beach because my auntie wanted to go to a honey farm. Us being us, we left too late to go and settled for a trip to the beach instead. These are the best shots:
Sunday 8 February 2015
Songs: They Might Be Giants
You'd like some weird songs, you say? Ok, here are a few from They Might be Giants. An odd little alternative band that's been around since the 80s. They're probably most famous for singing the theme song for Malcolm in the Middle. They're either stark raving bonkers, or high as kites when writing their songs. Some of their lyrics include:
They call me Dr. Worm.
Good morning. how are you? I'm Dr. Worm.
I'm interested in things.
I'm not a real doctor,
But I am a real worm;
I am an actual worm.
I live like a worm.
I like to play the drums.
I think I'm getting good,
But I can handle criticism.
I'll show you what I know,
And you can tell me if you think I'm getting better on the drums.
I'll leave the front un-locked 'cause I can't
Hear the doorbell
Yeah. and then there's:
I'm your only friend
I'm not your only friend
But I'm a little glowing friend
But really I'm not actually your friend
But I am
Glad that's cleared that up then. Here are three fine TMBG examples. One might be more normal than the others:
They call me Dr. Worm.
Good morning. how are you? I'm Dr. Worm.
I'm interested in things.
I'm not a real doctor,
But I am a real worm;
I am an actual worm.
I live like a worm.
I like to play the drums.
I think I'm getting good,
But I can handle criticism.
I'll show you what I know,
And you can tell me if you think I'm getting better on the drums.
I'll leave the front un-locked 'cause I can't
Hear the doorbell
Yeah. and then there's:
I'm your only friend
I'm not your only friend
But I'm a little glowing friend
But really I'm not actually your friend
But I am
Glad that's cleared that up then. Here are three fine TMBG examples. One might be more normal than the others:
Saturday 7 February 2015
Nerdism: Rocket Cup
My work sold cups shaped like rockets! Of course I bought one. My very own rocket cup! I love it!
Saturday 31 January 2015
Making Things: Swain Snapper
An invention by the wonderful Mr. Swain while we were bored at work. Hours of entertainment, both for us and the customers! You will need: two plastic credit cards or similar that you don't want anymore. We used two blank membership passes. Sticky tape, hole puncher, elastic band, scissors. Firstly take the two credit cards and punch a hole in each, in the same position, with the hole puncher. Next, tape the two cards together in such a way that the holes are both on the outside edge.
Then fold the cards together along their taped edged. Cut an elastic band open and thread it through the holes. Secure to the outside edge of the cards with tape. The elastic band must not be pulled tight. There must be some give in it.
Fold the cards the wrong way so the elastic band is tight, then put down on a flat surface and let go. Watch your swain snapper leap into the air! Woo!
Then fold the cards together along their taped edged. Cut an elastic band open and thread it through the holes. Secure to the outside edge of the cards with tape. The elastic band must not be pulled tight. There must be some give in it.
Fold the cards the wrong way so the elastic band is tight, then put down on a flat surface and let go. Watch your swain snapper leap into the air! Woo!
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