I live in a very rural region of England. For as long as I can remember "AI" meant "artificial insemination" (a very common procedure for farm livestock and pedigree animals in general). The operator was even known simply as "the AI man."

Now I read my paper and see headlines such as "AI for home application" "New AI breakthrough for the ( Read more... )

Recently my local council has been replacing traditional street lights with modern more efficient LED units. Usually it is simply a matter of changing the lighting unit and retaining the existing lamp post. However in places where there is no vehicle access, a new lamp post (1) has been introduced, though why it could not become the standard for ( Read more... )

During my holiday in September I visited Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset. This is type locality for the Kimmeridgian Stage of the Upper Jurassic, dated approximately 157 to 152 million years old and sandwiched between the Oxfordian Stage below and Tithonian stage above ( Read more... )

At the end of February (just after I returned from Novosibirsk) the UK experienced cold weather from the east. The prevailing direction of UK weather is dominantly from west or south west, relatively warm wet air from the Atlantic; east winds are quite unusual.

The media warned us of the impending doom:


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Yesterday I travelled from Novosibirsk home to Hereford, England. Novosibirsk-Moscow = 4hr 30min; Moscow-London Gatwick = 3hr 30min; Gatwick to Hereford (bus to Oxford, train to Hereford) 6hr 30min . . . . unfortunately I knew very well the UK leg of my travel to/from would be the most complicated, boring, uncomfortable and unpredictable; it ( Read more... )

There are three lighthouse buildings at the southern tip of the "Isle of Portland" Dorset. Only one is functional. This 41m tall lighthouse was built in 1906, its light being 43m above mean high water; the light has an intensity of 635,000 candela and a range of 25 nautical miles (46.3km).

A hazard to navigation, the "Portland Race" is caused ( Read more... )

The iconic Royal National Lifeboat Institute (R.N.L.I.) lifeboat station at Selsey Bill, West Sussex was demolished during June and July 2017 ( Read more... )

Whilst on holiday recently I visited H.M.S. Victory at Portsmouth Dockyard. My parents took me there many, many years ago, I took my son there perhaps 20 years ago. It is a fascinating historic venue, very accessible and with lots of information that members of the public can understand (i.e. not too much "naval/technical jargon")


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Being of the "pre-digital" generation, I have had wrist watch of one make or anther since childhood. I've no memory of my first watch, but in my early teens my Dad gave me his watch, he had recently acquired a new Mu-Du watch (see later).


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During my five month-long visits to China, spending most of my time in very rural areas, I have seen innumerable uses for bamboo. It is a familiar food, large bamboo is used for roof gutters, water pipes, as scaffolding on buildings 10-floors tall, with woven bamboo mats for the builders to walk on. Paper made from bamboo is well known from early ( Read more... )