CONTORTED PASTA

For the last couple of weeks I've been keeping an eye out for aspirin whenever I go shopping. Not, as might be sensible, because it appears that Covid-19 coagulates the blood somehow, and having mild blood-thinners on hand might be a wise precaution. Rather, because salicylic acid also helps keep plant juices flowing, and so extends the life of cut flowers, and might keep my kitchen bouquets fresh a little longer.* But there has been no aspirin. Evidently I am not the only one who has made the anticoagulation connection. South Cambridgeshire is replete with scientists, after all.

Just this afternoon I realised that I have a willow in my garden, and it needs trimming anyway. If I can't get some salicylic acid from a Salix alba then what is this retention of scientific trivia FOR?

*I have some 'dispersible aspirin' from an 'I wonder what this is' phase on a similar errand a few months ago. It turns out it is just aspirin with sodium laureth sulphate added to make it dissolve in water faster. The SLS destroys the plant stems but it means I do have some human-grade aspirin on hand should I need any for, you know, me.

It turns out ...

... When you make really strong coffee, filter it poorly, leave it overnight, reheat it in the morning, forget about it, and reheat it again a few hours later ...

... it tastes just like an ashtray.

So if you want to multitask your morning caffeine boost with practise kissing a smoker, now you know how.

Some beautiful soul has put the whole of Copenhagen up on YouTube:

I love it more than words can say, and the more I learn about filmmaking the more I admire its translation from the stage to the screen. The image quality isn't perfect here but it's the whole thing and at the right aspect ratio so have at it. I only recommend you don't watch if you're tired – it's very talky and takes a certain amount of concentration, so while it returns on its investment, if you're on the edge of sleep it may push you over.

Well I know what I'll be listening to all day, today ...

Oh hey look, someone else has put the KCET version up, which has a crisper image and also the Prerequisite Physics and Historical Epilogue bits if you want that. YouTube has been busy.

OK, Internet, it’s time to set things straight, before the movie comes out and more people get confused. I shall explain through the medium of historical costume.

Les Miserables is not about the French Revolution.

At least, not THE French Revolution. You know, this one:


You may notice that while there are songs about people rising, there are none about Madame Guillotine, and the mob fails to join in the fun. These are Clues.

That revolution, the famous one, the best of times and worst of times, with Marie Antoinette and mobs and à mort les aristos and all that ... that kicked off for real in 1789. That is why the people in this picture:


... are dressed sorta like the people in this picture:


(which, if you’ve escaped American cultural hegemony, is a painting of prominent figures in the American revolution, c.1776-83.)

Notice long waistcoats, knee breeches and leggings, long jackets with buttons down them, frilly collars, and wigs.

The famous painting which people tend to associate with revolutionary France, Liberty Leading the People ...


... commemorates a subsequent revolution in 1830, in which some unhappy people, after years of Napoleon and the monarchy that came after him, got together and said ‘Hey remember that revolution we had? Whatever happened to that?’ and overthrew the king, then replaced the monarchy with … a constitutional monarchy.

BUT THIS ISN’T LES MIS EITHER.

The ‘revolution’ in Les Miserables is the June Rebellion, which happened in 1832, as a result of frustration with the inconclusive results of the 1830 one (and other simmering discontent). That is why the students singing on the barricade ...


... in their high-waisted waistcoats, upturned collars with cravats, short-fronted tailcoats, and full-length trousers, are dressed more like Joseph Smith:


... than George Washington.



Got it? Okay. Let’s have no more French teachers telling their class that Les Miserables was all mixed up with the Bastille and the Reign of Terror, and instead use exciting narrative to explore history we don’t learn about in school. FUN!

This amused me, because Emilia is my favourite Shakespeare character, and she is a hurricane. (Metaphorically.)

Track Emilia as she spins herself futilely to her death in the vast ocean!

How like life.

Ohhhhh it's a good week to be a radio! (or a browser-based radio proxy...)

It's Cabin Pressure: St Petersburg! Which in my opinion is one of the best episodes of any comedy ever. The really exciting thing about it is that The Writer keeps a blog, and posted a 'behind the scenes' of each episode when they initially aired, where he shows his working. And what working! It makes me like the show even more to know that something of such outstanding quality was the result of a lot of thinking and hard work, rather than the effortless divine revelation it feels like. St Petersburg's entry is here; needless to say it is chock-full of spoilers so please listen to the episode first.

Incidentally John Finnemore (aforementioned writer) did an excellent bit on The Now Show about the Eurozone crisis – it's probably the best explanation of it I've heard yet (and definitely the funniest) though I recommend not listening to it too immediately after Cabin Pressure because if you see Arthur doing it, it would be too distracting. Funny, but distracting. It takes some concentrating but is definitely worth it.

They're rerunning Night Watch, which aside from some disappointing sound design is quite good, and features Carl Prekopp reprising his role as Bewildered Young Pratchett Male (in this case Young Sam).

The Infinite Monkey Cage is back, this time talking about the oceans rather than belittling Mark Gatiss and Ray Bradbury. Good sciencey fun times!

If you're still in the mood for science and comedy with occasional glimpses of Robin Ince, All of the Planet's Wonders is back! Really it's Josie Long's show which is perfectly fine by me; her casual delivery and uninhibited enthusiasm are just great. Also, I dearly want her to do a voice in something animated. But that's tangential.

And finally Front Row features an interview with Sam Mendes about the VERY EXCITING Shakespeare miniseries coming up; unfortunately airing dates are not mentioned, but what they do discuss puts my high hopes on a much more solid foundation. Now it just needs actually to air ... do it, England ...

Artist's impression: it was a dot, with a very much smaller dot.

This is in keeping with my impression of the ice cap on Mars, visible with a telescope in a swing-by a few years ago:


How easy it is to reduce vast cosmic wonder to the mundane ...

The Polar Party had finally left the plateau and were descending the Beardmore Glacier. They missed the ice falls that Teddy had run into, but still had a hard time getting their loaded sledge over the jumble. It was a relief to be experiencing slightly warmer temperatures, but the wind had picked up, so they were still freezing. On top of this, Edgar Evans' condition was going steadily downhill.

Nevertheless, now that they were back amongst mountains after so long on the featureless plateau, there was more science to keep things interesting. On the morning of Feb 8th, they were passing Mt Darwin, and Scott '[s]ent Bowers on, on ski, as Wilson can’t wear his at present. He obtained several specimens, all of much the same type, a close-grained granite rock which weathers red.'

Later that day, after skidding down the slope for a while, they spied a moraine along the base of Mt Buckley, and Scott steered the party towards it.

The moraine was obviously so interesting that when we had advanced some miles and got out of the wind, I decided to camp and spend the rest of the day geologising. It has been extremely interesting. We found ourselves under perpendicular cliffs of Beacon sandstone, weathering rapidly and carrying veritable coal seams. From the last Wilson, with his sharp eyes, has picked several plant impressions, the last a piece of coal with beautifully traced leaves in layers, also some excellently preserved impressions of thick stems, showing cellular structure. In one place we saw the cast of small waves on the sand. To-night Bill has got a specimen of limestone with archeo-cyathus – the trouble is one cannot imagine where the stone comes from; it is evidently rare, as few specimens occur in the moraine. There is a good deal of pure white quartz. Altogether we have had a most interesting afternoon, and the relief of being out of the wind and in a warmer temperature is inexpressible. I hope and trust we shall all buck up again now that the conditions are more favourable.

The special thing about this for us, a hundred years later, is that if you are in London, you can go to the Natural History Museum, find the threshold of the Geology Wing (it's on the entrance end of the building, on the second floor) and see the rocks they collected ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO TODAY:

I've got a poll up on LJ regarding marketing for Winnie the Pooh. I'd like to get as much feedback as possible, so please do your bit! Non-LJ members are still allowed to participate, so you have no reason not to.

As much as I heap glory and praise on Radio 4, most of the handful of things I've heard on the radio which have changed my life have been on the CBC. Even now, if there's something that keeps coming back to me all week, it's probably something that was on the CBC while I was doing my Saturday chores.* Radio 4 is great for Learning About Stuff (and comedy, and drama), and NPR has its bases covered in gratifying the American fixation on the Personal Narrative, but only the CBC, as far as I know, offers New Ways To Think About Things on a regular basis.

One of the best programs for this is Ideas, a weeknightly documentary series which presents shows on anthropology, sociology, ethnology, philosophy, science, interviews with modern 'thinkers' and artists, or even sometimes just evocative sound portraits of a place or time.

This is by no means a stand-out episode but I quite enjoyed listening to it last night, and as usual, have been thinking about it since:

Say No to Happiness - An exploration of the meanings of 'happiness,' whether the pursuit of it makes you a happier person, and its place in the human condition. (Kind of a lame synopsis but it's a complicated subject – if you can come up with a better one, be my guest!)


*If I wake up early enough to get my chores done before DNTO starts, which is less frequently than I'd like to be the case.