the walker library

A clutch of fossilized dinosaur eggs

A field surgeon’s kit from the American Civil War

A first edition Encyclopedia Britannica, published in 1768

A French map from 1692 that depicts California as an island

A full skeleton of a juvenile raptor (about the size of a cat) - 45 million years old

A globe of the Moon signed by 10 of the 12 astronauts to have walked on its surface

An Egyptian wooden sarcophagus (approx. 1800 BC)

An original backup of the first artificial space satellite, Sputnik

First image of the eye of a fly through a microscope, published in Hooke’s Micrographia (circa 1666)

Flag flown to the Moon and back on Apollo 11

Hand-painted illustration of Noah’s Ark from the Nuremburg Chronicles, the first illustrated history book (circa 1493)

I've written about The Walker Library before, but l am so envious of the contents, that l am going to do so again.  If l was a multi millionaire, the contents feature the sort of stuff l would collect, and l also love the way it is displayed. I'm pissed off l don't live near its location in Stamford, Connecticut, as l would love to visit the place (school trips are welcome), but they would have to frisk me properly, otherwise some of the items might be leaving with me attached to my jam covered sticky fingers. As far as l am aware, this is the resulting accumulation fired by Jay Walker's imagination, curiosity (and money). If l still had a cat, l would go and boot it in frustration.
More about the library and it's contents here.

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peru women to be probed for six months

According to the BBC, Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid, the two UK women who have pleaded guilty of trying to smuggle cocaine out of Peru, may face a 'six month probe'. I don't know if that is a punishment or a reward.
More on the story here.

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david cameron on the young

I've just heard our great perspex faced leader David Cameron on the radio from the Conservative Conference adopting his sincere and trustworthy voice, while going on about the under 25's and trying to help them (with their unique brand of  'Caring Conservatism'). They want the under 25's to be 'Earning or Learning', which sounds plausible enough, until you realise what the Tories are really bothered about is cutting the benefits of youngsters who are not in education or work (that will be the out of work and poorly educated ones methinks). All this would be laughable if it wasn't so depressing.
The two faced bunch of bastards.

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dandie fashions advert from the 1960's

This is one of the reasons the 1960's were so great, as you would be hard pressed to find a clothes store that had an advert like this nowadays.  This is from Dandie fashions in the Kings Road, Chelsea, and l would count myself as a Potential Film Star, Rock and Roller, Acid Head and Speedfreak.. I have also dressed in drag (which Englishman hasn't?) and l act like a Queen sometimes, so that's close enough for another. It's a shame the shop is not still in business, as l would be welcomed with open arms.

And on a related note, here's a couple of Dandies (by Harry Clarke)

And of course...The Kinks




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my new wife

 

One of my birthday presents from The Robinsons (the piss taking bastards).  It looked a lot better on the box, but beggers can't be choosers.  All it needs now is a wig and a wedding ring, and l'm sorted

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dont drink and drive - take lsd poster

A poster (and sentiment) close to my heart.  If good acid was freely available (stay off the brown acid), l would certainly drink less.

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the kinks and counterfest at stockton

I'm back at long last!  I've been off work (holidays) for the last couple of weeks, but l'll stick to a few small updates.
One of the nights out was at the Counterfest day in Stockton, where 15 of us went up in a minibus from Catterick (full of Wags), but only 14 came back. The missing person was me, as l stayed out later and went back to the Robinsons abode, because l could cadge a lift back with them the next day as they were coming through to Catterick to visit family.
Robbo had earlier come through to Stockton to meet us all, but we lost him at the end, as (it turned out) he went to see Elvis' second set, and l (and others) headed to see The Kinks.
It was a good evening out, lots of drink was consumed, loads of laughs were had, and The Clash, Oasis, and The Kinks tributes were my favourites.
There was an ongoing argument with Lammy because l said the Kinks had loads of top songs, as he stated they only had about 5. He was proven wrong watching them (and dancing!!), as one top tune followed another, but at least he admitted he was sadly mistaken at the end.
Me? Wrong?  Perish the thought!!
I couldn't find decent videos of the Kounterfeit Kinks, so l've pasted some of the real stuff.  Enjoy!!

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the david heaton resignation

Once again, something in the news seems to make no sense to me, and appears to be so obviously wrong. According to the BBC website, David Heaton, (a tax advisor) was secretly filmed in a sting giving advice on how to avoid paying tax.  It seems he knows what he is talking about, as members of the audience had paid £1,000 each for the knowledge.
Two months later, he was subsequently hired by the government to advise HM Revenue and Customs on tax avoidance, but because of the Panorama / Private Eye sting, has resigned.
Now there are two ways of looking at this. If  he already worked for the government beforehand (I can't be bothered checking), he was caught bang to rights, and should have been sacked, not given the option to resign.
On the other hand, if he didn't work for them, and was explaining how to exploit loopholes (which, lets face it, most rich people do anyway), then he would be an ideal person to advise HMRC, rather like getting an ex burglar to advise on house security, as he obviously knows how to look for tax avoidance schemes.
If anything, the sting proves his past makes him more ideal for the job, as he knows what he is on about.
Either way, the poor will still pay a larger percent of their income to the taxman, while the rich will hire accountants to prevent them wasting their money on such naive altruistic concepts.
Cynical? Me?
Pah!

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compassionate conservatism - now it's the post office

Next up, the Post Office is to be sold off.
Nothing surprises me any more.  There will be bugger all left to sell soon, but by then the pockets will be full, their friends taken care of, the troughs will have been emptied, and they will (hopefully) be booted out of power. Not that it will bother most of them too much, as they would have set themselves up in high paid advisory roles with their buddies firms. You scratch my back, l'll scratch yours.
Bastards.

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heart screenings available

I don't know if they are just targeting me, or if everybody is getting sent them, but l got this leaflet through the door the other day, offering heart screenings in a nearby village.
Cheeky sods, l'm indestructible now, plus l noticed it was about £150 to get screened.
I'd rather keel over dead than hand my money over to these scaremongers gits (possibly my famous last words!).

Nearly forgot - On a related note, l always assumed that when someone has a heart attack as a result of a blocked artery, all the arteries were cleaned and opened out afterwards, but it turns out they have an emergency angiogram and then only  stent the affected one.  Now to a common everyday idiot like me,that makes no sense.  After all, if a persons lifestyle has caused the artery to become blocked, surely all of them will also be at some stage of being narrowed, so to me, it would make sense to check and sort them out as well.
It turns out, what seems so bleeding obvious is now being implemented after recent tests at The Golden Jubilee National Hospital, which were actually halted before completion as the results were so overwhelmingly one sided and positive.  Prof Colin Berry, heart specialist at the Golden Jubilee and the University of Glasgow, said: "They were some of the most striking results for a treatment that I have ever seen. The results of this trial really challenge clinical practice.".
Obviously the treatment would cost more, but in the long term it would surely be cost effective, as the hospitals would only have to deal with later problems anyway. Naturally some heart specialists want longer tests, but they are all blithering idiots (or may have a hidden agenda)
I'm still amazed it wasn't performed as a regular procedure in the past, and as l have always said (to the annoyance of everybody, l should be in charge of everything.  Street wise and intelligent - what a lethal combination!

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voyager 1 has buggered off and left us

So, NASA have agreed that Voyager 1 has now gone and entered interstellar space, which is an amazing accomplishment when you think that it was built using 1960's and 70's technology.
The above photograph was taken by Voyager in 1990, and it shows the Earth, a long way in the distance. Since then, we are a lot further away, and in another 40,000 years Voyager will be closer to star AC+79 3888 than our own sun (and the star is heading towards us faster than we are going towards it!). To state that space is vast is somewhat of an understatement.

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extremely loud and incredibly close - jonathan safran foer and the falling man of 9/11

I got into reading 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' (by Jonathan Safran Foer) just before Channel 4 started showing films and documentaries about 9/11, and didn't realise when l started reading it, that there was any connection to the destruction of The World Trade Centre (but there is).
A young boys father has been killed (guess where and how), and the boy (Oskar Scell) then finds a key that his father had hidden in a vase, and wonders what it will open. As the envelope it was contained in had the word 'Black' written on it, he assumes that must be someone who his father knew, so goes out on a long, long search around New York to try and find them. I really enjoyed the book, as it kept you absorbed and guessing, so I won't give the outcome away, but at the end of the book there are numerous pictures of a man falling from the twin towers, which coincidentally led on nicely to 'The Falling Man' documentary which was broadcast just as l finished the book.

That concerned the identity of the falling man that was originally shown in 'The Morning Call' newspaper in the States, but subsequently seen all around the world.  There were viewpoints on whether the photograph should have been printed, and there was a (you would imagine) impossible search to try and find out who the man was. However, once a couple of suspects had been mooted and family and friends questioned, there was also the consequences of the harm and hurt the families might suffer if the mans identity was confirmed which had to be taken into consideration.  Maybe it is better for all involved not to know, and have him represent other victims, the way that 'The Unknown Soldier' does.  Of course there was the dilemma that some family members who were Catholic and did not want to think their relative had committed suicide, as that was a sin and their soul would 'Go to Hell', which puts another slant on the need to identify the jumper. In the end, the identity was left open, despite some decent evidence, and that was probably for the best.
It must have taken some nerve to jump, but l would rather have done that myself than staying in the building and burning.

As a sidenote, one of the adverts inbetween the programme started with 'Jump into a world of choice...'
How ironic.

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the simpsons say no to drugs

Seeing this poster on drugs would be enough to put you off them for life. It would certainly freak me out. Apparently this is in a Chinese nightclub.

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more new books

It's a good job l am off work at the moment, as these are a few of the books l want to try and get through. They are a mixture of charity shop buys in the top picture, and birthday presents in the second.
I suppose it keeps me out of mischief.

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the strypes - snapshot and wilko johnson dealing with death

This has been on steady rotation throughout the day, and l think it's great!   The Strypes new album (in old money) called 'Snapshot', which is short in length but full of energy and attitude. They certainly copy their influences, but their music, clothes and presentation is spot on.  I wouldn't go as far to say they have the same aggressive attitude as Dr Feelgood (who they sound like the most), but they obviously have time to develop, and Wilko Johnson and John B Sparks (from Dr Feelgood) certainly support them.

This sort of stuff makes me want to be 17 again.  I hope they don't blow it.

Here's The Strypes with Wilko and Sparky (as l call him), doing the Feelgoods 'She Does It Right'.



Here's the Feelgoods doing the original  



And here's Wilko talking about his terminal cancer on Breakfast TV.  I'd like to think l would react the same way to the news of my impending death as he has with his own.  What a genius guitarist and a fine example of a man.  See (or buy) Oil City Confidential for more affirmation.



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the daily mirror action replay flick books

When l was a young whipper snapper we didn't have any computers or video machines, we had to contend ourselves with Daily Mirror Goal Action Replay football flick books, which came out in about 1972/73, and repeated famous goals when the pages were flicked through at a steady (but reasonably fast) rate.
Ah, those lovely innocent days of my youth.
I've just retried the George Best one and a couple of others, and they all work just the same as they did back in the day. Sod new formats, this was ingenious!!
Try goggling flick books nowadays, and l bet the results will make your eyes water.

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the jenni sparks new york map

I was looking at some maps the other day with a view to framing a couple (probably of Manhattan and London), and was reminded of this little beauty by Jenni Sparks.  It's a hand drawn map of Manhattan and can be bought from here.  It's very cleverly done, and it looks great, but l might just go with the normal kind of maps so they both match (I'm sure l might be autistic!).
Then again, l might easily change my mind tomorrow (I'm that kind of guy).

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michael jackson and alfred e newman in mad magazine

What a great and prophetic cover this was. Michael Jackson and Alfred E Newman on the cover of Mad magazine

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