Aima Indigo

The lady above is one Aima Indigo, a model operating out of London. I am featuring her photo because
a) She is an attractive lady, and
b) She is the first woman I have ever seen who is made more attractive by tattooing, rather than (as is usual) the reverse.

J.D. Beresford

I awoke yesterday morning with a name running through my head: J.D. Beresford.

Now, I frequently bring names and words back with me from dreamland. Sometimes they remain in memory long enough for me to Google them, just out of curiosity. Normally I draw a blank - but not with J.D.!
He turns out to have been a fantasy/SF writer who died in 1947. he was an influence upon (among others) Olaf Stapleton. And, as far as I can recall, I have never read anything by or about him in my life.
Odd.

Autumn approaching

Daybreak: the view from my window, veiled in misty rain. Over the last few days autumn has come into its own. There is a cold snap to the morning air, and the wind is fixed from the North. Does this herald a winter as cold as the last? Perhaps not. All the same, the signs from the Southern Hemisphere's winter (now retreating) are not good.

Stormy weather

I snapped the burgeoning storm clouds above at around 6.00 pm yesterday. What the picture doesn't convey is the speed with which the thunderheads were growing. The whole sky seemed to broil like a witches' cauldron. Within an hour we were treated to a violent electrical storm - the first this year. Impressive!

Dogs having fun

In the centre of Wolverhampton town are a set of what used to be called 'dancing waters'  - fountains programmed to spurt in a variety of entertaining sequences. The local toddlers love these fountains,  running to and fro among them and shrieking with delight when they get showered with water. Well, it turns out that little humans aren't the only creatures that get a kick out of them - I snapped this picture of a couple of dogs behaving in exactly the same fashion.

Morning rainbow

Early on a dark, damp morning ... suddenly, the rays of the rising sun create a rainbow over the dingy rooftops of Wolverhampton. Taken from the window of my flat.

Quackademia number 3: 10 strange courses

This post could be subtitled "How to Find Employment for Lecturers"
I lifted it from the Independent website, where it appears as one of those time-wasting 'slide shows'.

The lecturer of Zombie Studies is Arnold Blumberg. He wrote a book on zombie movies so is quite the expert on the topic, allowing students to watch classic zombie films and read zombie comics as part of the course.

In 2000, there was a big media backlash to Professor Ellis Cashmore introducing a module where students could study David Beckham at Staffordshire University. Football Culture is still a module within Sport, Media and Culture and the lecturer has since defended its inclusion, pointing out that Film Studies was once an absurd concept to employers.(Note to the Prof: it still is)

Known as one of the more traditional universities, Durham offers a unit in 'Harry Potter and the Age of Illusion' as part of Education Studies. Students can look at topics such as 'Muggles and magic: the escape from the treadmill and the recovery of enchantment' and 'Gryffindor and Slytherin: prejudice and intolerance in the classroom'.

Trekkies everywhere will be beaming at the news that Georgetown University offers a course in 'Philosophy and Star Trek'. Students can attempt to get their most pressing questions answered such as 'Is time travel possible?' and 'Could we go back and kill our grandmothers?'.

If you've got a penchant for all things phallic then Occidental College is the place to study. They offer a course entitled 'The Phallus' which allows students to look at everything from 'The whiteness of the phallus' to the 'lesbian phallus'.

A masters course in 'Psychology of Exceptional Human Experiences' allows students to look at Ghostbusters. The lecturer, Tony Lawrence, said back in 2006 "I went to see Ghostbusters when I was a kid and I thought that would be a great job. Of course the reality is a bit different, but that's when I became interested. We don't tell students what to believe but we help them investigate."

Queen's University Belfast offers an open learning course in 'Feel the Force: How to Train in the Jedi Way' which teaches the real-life psychological techniques behind Jedi mind tricks, as well as examining the wider issues behind the Star Wars universe, like balance, destiny, dualism, fatherhood and fascism.

Embedded within the MA in History at Nottingham University is 'The Robin Hood Studies Pathway'. Students can 'learn about the tales and ballads of one of England's most enduring medieval heroes.' They'll also get the chance to undertake an extended research project on a related work

Alfred University in New York offers "Maple Syrup - The Real Thing" as an honours seminar. The class looks into the profession of making maple syrup and how little has changed the production process.

The University of Glasgow offers students the unique opportunity of a fully-funded doctoral studentship on the 'History of Lace Knitting in Shetland'. On completion, the student will be registered as a postgraduate at Glasgow University and will benefit from the extensive doctoral training programme provided for all research students.

Nothing changes.

Who said that? Cameron or Clegg? Neither. It was a quote (from 55 BC) by Marcus Tullius Cicero.
We don't seem to learn, do we?

Designer DDT

Meow Meow, Spice, NRG-1 - the stream of designer drugs flowing from the laboratories of China seems (and probably is) endless. It seems to me, though, that the oriental chemists are missing out on a more lucrative (and genuinely needed) product.
I'm talking about DDT. The wonder drug, which eliminated malaria in the USA and Europe, was banned after claims were made (in Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring) that it could accumulate in the food chain and pose major ecological problems. Although the scare was debunked, it led to a world-wide ban on the use of the substance that is believed to have caused up to 30,000,000 unnecessary malaria deaths in the third world. The developed world hasn't lost much sleep over these (mostly infant) casualties, but things may be changing.
Bedbugs are back! The nasty little parasites are gaining a foothold in America and Europe. For the first time first-world commentators are calling for the return of DDT, but there is no sign of a change in the law yet.
In the meantime, the door of opportunity  has opened for China. Just give us something that is sufficiently similar enough to DDT to do the job, and different enough to evade the legal restrictions. You'll make a fortune!