Is It Just Me...?

Brent Spiner [Lt. Commander Data in Star Trek]


Tory Boy

No time for serious blogging just now; post-vacation "real life" has hit me with a vengeance. However I can't resist this bit of snark. With all the talk of a General Election (or not) in the UK, I've been paying more attention than usual to the characters involved. Now I'm sure this may have been said before but is Tory leader, David Cameron, the doppelgänger of Brent Spiner (the actor who played the sentient synthetic lifeform, Lieutenant Commander Data, in Star Trek: The Next Generation)? Having said that, I'm not sure if an android at the reins of power would be a bad thing.

Friday Music Blogging: Rhassan Roland Kirk

Since my return to reality at the beginning of the week I've been overwhelmed with urgent stuff to do as well as cope with the idiosyncracies of a new computer at work and the usual post-longhaul flight rhinovirus infection. Thus proper blogging will have to take a back seat. In the meantime here's a clip of one of my all time favourite jazz musicians (Rhassan) Roland Kirk playing a signature piece, Serenade to a Cuckoo, on the flute and making use of the overblowing technique which he largely pioneered.


P.S. I should add that I saw Mr. Kirk at Ronnie Scott's Club, London in 1970 and was simply astonished by his technique. Apart from his flute pyrotechniques he also demonstrated how to play three saxophones simultaneously and how to do circular breathing. Jethro Tull do a pretty good tribute to RK here.

Got It (the Grant Not the Disease)!

Well the email inpile was not quite as bad as I'd imagined. One of the messages was a notice for a grant award to study typhus. This seems like a little bit of compensation for spending last year's Thanksgiving holiday slaving over a hot laptop preparing an application that was subsequently rejected like a piece of discarded chewing gum. Devotees of this site may recall (don't feel bad if you didn't: I had to search for the post) that I submitted a modified re-application in June. Well the pain was worth it. Apparently funds will be released in about two weeks so now I'll have to get my arse rear end in gear to get the work done. There's absolutely no breathing space here. Oh well, it's better to be busy...

Hooray!

I'm Back

Sunrise at Aghios Stephanos last week.

Sadly I'm no longer in Greece. Normal service will be resumed as soon as I've dealt with my email inbox (urgh, shudder) found my mobile phone, and adjusted to the inevitable Seattle drizzle....

War Stories: Battle of Britain Remembered

My brief transit through the UK has reminded me that it's the anniversary of one of the most critical battles of World War II. The Battle of Britain was fought in the skies over the South of England throughtout the summer and autumn of 1940. The peak of the battle is generally regarded as ocurring on September 15th -a day in which nearly 300 German aircraft were shot down by the RAF's frighteningly minimal squadrons of Spitfire and Hurricane fighters. The Luftwaffe's losses were unsustainable and the following day their attacks virtually ceased. Operation Sealion, Hitler's plans for the invasion of Britain, were postponed indefinitely. Here's a few photos lest we forget that turbulent time 67 years ago:

A Spitfire squadron scrambles

Heinkel bomber over the Surrey Docks, London

London burning

Vapour trails over St. Paul's Cathedral

Heinkel bomber crash landed at Findon, West Sussex.

Normal Service Will Be Resumed As Soon As Possible

Did I mention that from today I'm off to the Ionian Islands (via London) for a couple of weeks? I did? Fancy that. Anyway in the unlikely event that I'll find myself in a wireless broadband zone, normal blogging will be resumed on or after October 1.

Go Zorba José...

Yassas.

Stairway to Heaven

Unfortunately Mad Dog will not be here.

Damn! On that day I'll be Over the Hills and Far Away. Here, specifically. Clearly a Communications Breakdown.

On This Day: Famous Birthdays

Today the following have birthdays:

1575 - Henry Hudson, English explorer (d. 1611)

1818 - Richard Gatling, American weapons inventor (d. 1903)

1883 - Gus Cannon, American blues singer and jug band leader (d. 1979)

1888 - Maurice Chevalier, French singer and actor (d. 1972)

1913 - Jesse Owens, American athlete, Hitler’s nemesis (d. 1980)

1914 - Desmond Llewelyn, Welsh actor (“Q” in James Bond films) (d. 1999)

1921 - Stanisław Lem, Polish science fiction writer (d. 2006)

1931 - Sir Ian Holm, English actor, genius

1943 - Maria Muldaur, American jazz singer

1944 - Barry White, American singer, inexplicable cult icon (d. 2003)

1951 - Bertie Ahern, Irish politician

1957 - Rachel Ward, Anglo-Australian actress

1972 - Jason Statham, English actor, Olympic diver, Cockney wide boy

1980 - Yao Ming, Chinese basketball player, giant, Apple pitch man

???? - Mad Dog, Eccentric, blogger, geriatric

Ode to a Grecian Urn*

Parthenon, Athens, 1972. Photo taken by Mad Dog in the days when it was permitted to climb all over this priceless site.

"What's a Grecian Urn?"

"They say Prince Philip makes about £359,000 a year from the Civil List"

Drum roll and cymbal crash

Don't expect any sense out of me over the next few days as thoughts of my impending vacation seem to have addled my brain (in an insouciant kind of way).

* With apologies to John Keats.

Happy Anniversary!

Parents "Going Away", September 1947.

This weekend would have been my parents' 60th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately their earthly togetherness was only to be just over three decades. In the 28 years of the marriage that I witnessed, I never heard an argument or angry word. And I took this blessed and wonderful relationship for granted. As they say, it was a hard act to follow...!

Friday Frivolity

The last 5 seconds (be patient) of this clip have got to be the funniest thing I've seen in years.

Farewell, Maestro

Luciano Pavarotti, 1935-2007

Well its "addio" to unlucky Luciano Pavarotti who sang his last aria yesterday after a losing the battle with pancreatic cancer. While he was known for his classic operatic deliveries and performances with fellow tenors, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo he was also happy with cross-cultural mixes and appeared with all kinds of popular music celebrities including James Brown, Queen (yay!) and the Spice Girls (yes, really). Goodbye, Maestro, we'll miss you sorely.

Reading Material

Mad Dog is having a rematch with James Joyce in the next month.

Ohara has asked me what I'm going to read on my imminent Grecian vacation. This is a good question. One of the delights in my adult years has been selecting a number of books to consume on holiday. My life being what it is these days, this is the only time I get to do any serious reading. So here's my selection:

1) Ulysses
James Joyce
Joyce, you bastard, you won't defeat me this time.

2) Journal of a Plague Year
Daniel Defoe
What else for a microbiologist?

3) Cracking the Emperor's Codes
Michael Smith
I love this nerdy, military code cracking stuff.

4) McCarthy's Bar
Pete McCarthy
Apparently hilarious Irish travelogue -I'm intensely curious about my parents' country.

5) Blindness
José Saramago
I've got to have one serious offering from a Nobel Laureate.

6) The 4 Hour Work Week
Timothy Ferriss
Retirement planning of sorts; shameless NY Times best seller pulp filler.

So that's my top six. A mix of fiction and non-fiction, humour and gravity, intellectually challenging (not difficult these days) and lightweight as well as another epic battle with Ulysses (what better place than Greece for this?). And absolutely no bloody Dan Brown or JK Rowling.

PS Yesterday a friend loaned me Issai Chozanshi's classic The Demon's Sermon on the Martial Arts. I'll try to sneak that one in too.

Exhausted

Damn! A week's gone by without a post. I've even got few drafts ready to upload but haven't been able to summon the energy. The past few months have been physically and emotionally exhausting and I'm absolutely knackered. A lot has been going on at work (good but demanding), there's been a pile of legal/administrative stuff to do at the end of the Big Personal Project (tedious and a bit ugly) and just about every electro-mechanical device I own has failed (expensive and irritating). In addition my lovely fluffy cat has twice burst her stitches following recovery from a nasty operation. I feel like I'm walking around wearing lead diver's boots while at the same time waving the white flag. Never mind, in two weeks I'll be here:


Corfu, Greece. Photo taken by Mad Dog, 1972.

No email and no phone for 14 days. Just a lot of books to read and a gentle existence. I can't wait...

Wallpaper

Railway viaduct, Co. Durham.

Once in awhile I get pangs of nostalgia for scenery like this. Quintessential England. Sigh...

Summer of Love 1

There seems to be a musical leitmotif going on around here at the moment. Probably something to do with all the stuff I keep hearing about the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love. Was it really all that remarkable or is my retroscopic vision bathed in a rosy glow of nostalgia? Well here's what was in the UK Top Ten charts in August 1967:

1. The Beatles: All You Need Is Love
2. Scott McKenzie: San Francisco (Flowers In Your Hair)
3. Dave Davies: Death Of A Clown
4. Vikki Carr: It Must Be Him*
5. The Monkees: Alternate Title (aka Randy Scouse Git)
6. Tom Jones: I'll Never Fall In Love Again
7. The Turtles: She'd Rather Be With Me*
8. Stevie Wonder: I Was Made To Love Her
9. Pink Floyd: See Emily Play
10. Procol Harum: A Whiter Shade Of Pale

Remarkable? It was bloody amazing...!

* My apologies to Vikki Carr and The Turtles but I couldn't find suitable video clips.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy blogiversary to me.

Three years and 346 posts.

Who'd a thunk it...?

Twinkle Twinkle Super Star

Brian May on the Roof of Buckingham Palace Plays for the Queen.

Well congratulations to Brian May of Queen who sucessfully defended his PhD dissertation in astronomy yesterday, 36 years after abandoning it for a career in music. As I always told my graduate students, the key to success in science is tenacity. Now a word of advice. Bri, it's been 29 years since you, Freddie and the boys had me standing on my seat at Wembley Stadium and I've been a fan since the early 70s, but don't you think that permed hairdo is a little bit passe and unseemly for a 60 year old man?

PS I wonder if you're going to do a postdoc now...?

Many Happy Returns

Inexplicably my 8-year-old daughter turned 23 today.

Happy Birthday, Olivia!

Friday Music Blogging: Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia

What with one thing and another there has been a preponderence of musical themes in my posts recently. Even so, I'm unapolgetic for today's offering of one of my favourite contemporary jazz groups, Barabara Thompson's Paraphernalia. I've been attending their concerts since the late 1970's and we seem to have grown up together. This clip is BT's signature song, Little Annie-oo, which I was delighted to find on YouTube a few days ago. The late, great, Ronnie Scott is the compere who makes the introductions in his own inimitable way.

So What Were You Doing When...?

Elvis Aaron Presley, January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977.

Bloody hell, has it been 30 years? Where did they go? I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when John Peel announced that “…the BBC has received an unconfirmed report that Elvis Presley has died…”. I was living in Wembley, North London and sharing a flat with an old pal from undergraduate days (Colin Watters, where are you now?). In the daytime I was exactly six weeks into my first professional job; the rest of the time I fully engaged in the tedious task of writing up my PhD. And thus it was in the evening of Tuesday 16th August 1977 when I was labouring away on the introduction of “The immune response of the dogfish, Scyliorhinus canicula L” that the news was delivered.

So where were YOU and what were you doing?

Out of Town

Today I'm off to the smogbound hellhole that is Orange County in Southern California to discuss a collaboration. Blogging is thus on hold until after I'm back from Mickey Mouse land on Friday...

The Wild Rove(r)

With this news all I want to do is sing "...no nay never, no nay never no more..."

Friday Music Blogging: Curved Air

Darryl Way of Curved Air absolutely shreds his violin, Hendrix style, in this rendition of Vivaldi. And how we love analog synthesizers. One of my all time favourite 70's prog rock bands.

You Say Goodbye and I Say Hello

In the interests of keeping this site fresh and clutter free I've been reviewing the links. So...

Goodbye
Sane Scientist
Sorry old chap but one post in four months is not blogging and in anycase that piece you wrote on cats was a bit off. I'll reinstate you if you start writing again.

Chestnut Tree
Site taken down.

Kung Fu Monkey
Great title but content a little dull for my tastes. Nothing about Kung Fu, needless to say.


Hello
Wasting Words
A very charismatic and interesting site.I'm not sure what it's all about, though but I'm intrigued.

Nobody's Friend
Arty, cryptic and curiously engaging.

This latest sort-out leaves me with a net loss of one in my links. I'd like to keep numbers up if possible but so many of these weblogs fizzle. Or become dull or sometimes nasty. There are quite a few on my watch list but none are particularly compelling (I've just spent 30 minutes going through them). If anyone would like to nominate candidates for linkage please let me know.

Foot and Mouth

Historic landmark article by Mad Dog Senior.

This is a strange tale of the influences of nature and nurture on a career. It's a bit longer than my usual offering but bear with me.

When I was a lad I tried very hard to suppress any interest in biology. I didn’t study it in secondary school pretending it was too “girly” and immersed myself in physics and chemistry instead. My interest lay in aeronautical engineering and as a teenager I did indeed show some talent in this area. To this day I’m immensely proud of the plaque in my study that proclaims I was Woking & District Model Aero Club Junior Champion, 1965. I really thought I was destined for a career in this field and who knows, I may have been the best airframe designer that Boeing or Airbus never had. But somewhere along the way things changed. The reason for my denial of interest in matters biological was that my Father was a professional microbiologist. My earliest recollections were of stories he would relate of plagues and pestes and vaccines. Thus I picked up some very advanced knowledge of these topics by osmosis. Yet like most adolescents, I didn’t value these facts and denied any interest in this area simply because it was “what Dad did” and I didn’t want to seem terminally unimaginative and follow the same path.

Well somewhere along the way things changed. I became quite obsessively interested in biology while attending Guildford Tech and later went off to university where I decided to study microbiology –for reasons I can’t really explain the aeronautical stuff had become too abstract and mathematical and fell by the wayside. Subsequently (and rather to my surprise) I found that a PhD followed in which I immersed myself in immunology. One thing led to another in my postdoctoral career and I came to grips with various nasty pathogens as well as many facets of the immune system and it was quite a logical step for me to study vaccines. One particular aspect of this field is the use of adjuvants: substances that stimulate the immune system to make bigger and better responses. And as you may have guessed I ended up working on adjuvants for a one and a half decades and published quite a lot on the topic.

Fast forward to 1997. The London medical school at which I was then employed had finally got “The Internet” (several years after everyone else in the academic sphere had access to the virtual world –but that’s another story). Even in those pre-Google days I was marveling at the power of search engines. PubMed, the oracle of the medical publishing fraternity was a notable fascination. After I’d done the obligatory ego-surfing looking up my own name I cast around for other key words to search. So I plugged in my Father’s name and initials. At this stage I should point out that by this time Dear Dad was long departed. Sadly he passed away just as I was finishing my PhD two decades earlier thus depriving me of the possibility of having professional level conversations with him as a scientific equal. I had a vague idea of his work in a government animal health lab but I didn’t know what he actually did, thus looking up his publications on Medline would be very enlightening. We’ll I didn’t realise how enlightening this would be. As his publications popped onto the screen I almost fell off my chair. A paper from 1969 (see above) indicated that not only had I followed him into biology, microbiology, vaccines and adjuvants but he was using a class of the latter compounds (saponins) that I had made the focus of my own research. At the time of this occurrence I was of the view that the use of saponins as adjuvants was an invention of the 1980s* and I had never heard Dad speak of such things. In sum, believe this is a wonderfully example the power of genetic predisposition or aptitude and environmental conditioning working syngerstically to chart one’s career pathway through life, despite strong adolescent protestations.

Oh and the bigger picture of this story? Well the combined use of two different classes of adjuvant, namely alum and saponin, was a very advanced concept in 1969, even though Dad and Dr Hyslop didn’t know all the effects it would have on the immune system. However this alum-saponin mix is still the formulation used in some of the presently available Foot & Mouth Disease vaccines. So with the current outbreak in the UK, let’s not have the ridiculous governmental dithering we witnessed in 2001 and get going with “firebreak vaccination” and control this damn disease as soon as possible…!!

*As I later discovered there's nothing new under the sun: the use of saponins as vaccine adjuvants was first described in the 1920s.

Michelangelo Antonioni

Blow Up, 1966

It's been a bad few days for film makers with the departure of Bergman yesterday and now Michelangelo Antonioni. I havn't seen one of his films for years. They were certainly intriguing although I wasn't convinced that his rambling, somewhat controversial style was the stuff of genius. Nevertheless the world will be a lesser place without him. Now let's hope I don't have to write anymore about dead people this week.

Ingmar Bergman

The Seventh Seal, 1957.

Well it's "Adjö" to Ingmar Bergman, film maker, multiple Oscar winner and genius who departed for the great sound stage in the sky earlier today. Those dark Scandinavian flicks are peerless and will be much missed.

Points of Clarification (Hopefully)

Mad Dog's Weaponry

Sorry my last post may have been a little cryptic. Several people have asked what I was up to. Well the photo was supposed to show me "duelling with a light sabre". These devices were an amusing and completely functionless giveaway by a large pharmaceutical company. Despite the lack of practical use, confrerence attendees were snapping these things up by the truckload, including your humble author. Sad how a little flashing blue light thingy can have adults scrambling to grab samples like sharks in a feeding frenzy.

Oh and if anyone is curious, the term koshi refers to part of a martial arts technique. It's Japanese for "hip" and means that hip movement should be emphasised in certain forms to increase their power. A good example can be seen here. It's a standard point of correction for any iaido student.

Customer Relations

Mad Dog (L) seeking to improve customer relations by engaging in light sabre/dagger fights with collaborators and clients. Company name has been obscured to save embarrassment and protect the guilty.

I was going to write a jocular post about my adventures at a big scientific conference and laboratory expo last week but have thought better of it. Not everyone might appreciate my sense of humour and some my observations would have been quite barbed. In anycase I don't want to be another "fired blogger" statistic so for now I'm keeping schtoom. Suffice to say that a productive and stimulating time was had by all and I'm looking forward to the next meeting with eager anticipation.

P.S. Before an iaido student points this out, I'm exhibiting poor koshi in the above picture and am working hard to correct this deficit (hopefully my Sensei doesn't read this blog).

Postcards from Southern California

Mad Dog meets another blogger and visits a dojo.

My trip to San Diego last week was an unqualified success (watch for further posts on this topic) and tremendously enjoyable. One of the high spots was meeting a fellow blogger in person. So a big thank you to Uchi Deshi for most generous hospitality as well as the opportunity to partake in some aikido training: I would love to reciprocate if you come to Seattle. It's really funny where this blogging stuff leads to...

Being Serious

Thoughts of sympathy and solidarity go to family and friends in the West of England who are enduring dreadful floods.

Harry Bloody Potter

Harry Potter and Squeeze about to fall down a mineshaft (hopefully).

What is it about Harry Potter? I have absolutely no problem with children forking out £18/$36 for the book or Jo Rowling being the first dollar billionaire for writing fiction. What really gets my goat is adults reading it. Why? It's a children's book for crying out loud. Nearly 10 years ago a friend kindly bought me one of the first in the series: "Harry Potter and the Golden Cow Pat" or something. It was ok but my opinion was that it was mediocrely written fantasy set against a backdrop of romanticized 1950's England. The target reading age is 11 and Tolkien it is not.

I suppose I mostly rail against adults poring over children's literature because it seems to represent a dumbing down of reading skills. There's a wealth of much better written adult literature out there. Like Hemingway or something similar involving alcohol.

I gather there are deaths in the latest Potter iteration and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the whole cast have fallen down a mineshaft and will never darken our bookshelves again.

California Ho!

Tomorrow (Sunday) I'm off to my old stomping grounds in San Diego for a conference. I should be more excited but as usual I've got a million things to do before I leave and my talk is still only 80% ready. In any case I'm looking forward to working on some interesting new collaborations, catching up with old friends, getting together with a fellow blogger (believe it or not I've never met one before) and possibly doing some of this...

Friday Music Blogging: Pentangle

Here's a clip (love YouTube) of the wonderful jazz-folk band, Pentangle, perfoming perhaps their most famous song, Night Flight, which as I recall was the theme music from the 70's BBC TV show "Take Three Girls".

I saw Pentangle several times and their first album (long since knackered and replaced by a prosaic CD) was a very early addition to my collection.

Power

Shigehiro Aoki Sensei (Kyoshi 7th Dan) launches a fearsomely powerful nukitsuke (simultaneous draw and cut) in a demonstration at the recent PNKF iaido seminar in Bellevue, Washington.

Two Cats and Other Trouble

My big cat (Jaguar) has transmission difficulties which are invariably going to be VERY expensive.

My small companion animal cat has a recurrence of a nasty skin tumour (fibrosarcoma) which has a worryingly equivocal prognosis.

My dishwasher has packed up.

I'm way behind on professional and personal corespondence (especially concerning the aftermath of my Big Personal Project).

I have a lecture to write before the end of the week and a million things to do before heading off to a conference in San Diego on Sunday.

To compound matters the temperature in Seattle is predicted to soar to 105°F/40°C later today and we don't have air conditioning at my workplace.

I'm hot, stressed and worried....

The Lesser of Two Evils

I'm really not sure which is worse: the appalling lapses in the Chinese Food & Drug administration or this act of barbarism.

Musings on 07.07.07

Crime scene: the King & Queen public house, Cleveland St., London, W1

Apparently 7/7/7 is a lucky date and members of the public are engaged in all sorts of slightly bizarre antics that they believe will have an auspicious outcome on this once-in-a-century occurrence. Well I've now seen this date in two separate centuries and on neither occasion was it fortuitous. Now I'm not really a TimeLord; the last occasion I lived through a succession of sevens was 7/7/77 (which I know is not quite the same) some 30 years ago.

I can remember the day quite well. It started with Noel Edmonds playing Emerson Lake and Palmer's version of "Fanfare for the Common Man" and crowing that he started the record at precisely seven seconds  into the seventh minute past seven o'clock in the morning. Noel has always been a smug, pretentious, patronising, git. Anyway, shortly thereafter I noticed that I couldn't find my cheque book. I didn't think much about this and proceeded to my new job at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School. I was living in the residential quarters of the Middlesex at the time and the end of the day I returned and had a determined look for the missing cheque book. It was not to be found anywhere but I wasn't particularly worried as even back then cheques were rarely accepted without a guarantee card which I was carrying safely in my wallet. Or was I...? I then rummaged though my wallet and the card was not to be found although all other items, credit card, cash, driving license etc were all there. This was very odd. Had I simply misplaced the items or had something more sinister occurred? And then I had one of those feelings-of-doom moments...

The previous night I'd ended up in one of the medical school's favourite watering holes, the King & Queen pub in Cleveland Street. I can't quite remember the initial social circumstances but I ended up chatting to a very engaging young fellow about life, the universe and everything. He appeared very well educated (he almost certainly was) and claimed to be the son of the Taylor in the then well known Taylor-Woodrow construction partnership. I remember talking to "Mr. Taylor" in an increasingly animated and well-oiled kind of way until closing time whereupon I made my way back to my digs and passed out. However I did remember quite clearly that at one point I'd paid a visit to the toilet and asked "Mr. Taylor" to keep an eye on my wallet (which as you may have guessed contained my cheque book and card). Now I wasn't entirely without neuronal function back in those days and had the presence of mind to call my bank and report a possible loss/theft of the items. I also popped into Tottenham Court Road police station to do the same thing. The bored officer who took the report assured me that theft was extremely unlikely as "these types always make off with the lot sir, cheque book, credit cards, cash, you name it". When I suggested that a con man could buy a lot of time if they didn't resort to such crude tactics the officer merely looked at me with that "just leave it to the professionals sir; Sherlock Holmes you are not" expression. I traipsed out of the cop shop feeling naive and slightly foolish.

I was however vindicated a couple of days later when a gentleman from the National Westminster Bank fraud division phoned and enquired whether I'd been writing cheques at Fortnum & Masons, Harrods and other London up-market retail establishments. I replied I hadn't: I was only a new postdoc, and until a week previously, had been living in grad student austerity. Such places simply weren't on my radar screen. Well the thief went on an amazing shopping spree for three days, stopping only when all the cheques were expended. I think the accumulated bill was about £600 which was a small fortune back then. Fortunately because I'd reported the theft in a timely manner I wasn't liable for a penny. I didn't hear any more of the matter until a couple of months later when I had a call from the Tottenham Court Road plod. They wanted to know if I would be prepared to identify the thief. I agreed and was duly escorted by a pleasant officer to Scotland Yard (disappointingly we didn't go in a police car with sirens wailing but rather prosaically on the tube [subway]). At Scotland Yard I was presented with a large volume of mug shots and told to look through them and see if I could recognise anyone (no line up, unfortunately). I didn't have great expectations but lo and behold on the second page there was "Mr. Taylor". He was even wearing the same suit he had on that evening in the King & Queen. I duly fingered him and asked the officer about Taylor's rap sheet. Hw wouldn't tell me anything other than "He's a very clever bloke, that one..". No kidding, he certainly had me fooled!

Well that was then and this is now. The events of today have been possibly less exciting but more expensive and certainly not lucky. I've just been informed that my car needs major transmission work that comes with a price that will induce nosebleeds. And to add insult to injury my dishwasher has packed up. As Hugh Grant would say, "sodding, buggery, bollocks!". I probably won't make 07.07.2077 but if I do I'm going to lock myself in a concrete bunker and not emerge for the entire day.

George Melly R.I.P.

Let's have a last encore for George Melly, jazz singer, writer and broadcaster who departed for the great stage in the sky earlier today at the age of 80. He was a wonderful, hilarious, entertainer and I saw him on numerous occasions, notably with the excellent John Chilton's Feetwarmers at Ronnie Scott's Club, London. Goodbye, George, we'll miss you...

Independence Day

Happy 4th July everyone and be careful with those fireworks.

Now I'm off to make myself a nice cuppa...

Thirty Years Ago Today

Hard to believe but it's 30 years ago today that I nervously left Plymouth in a battered Citroen 2CV to start my postdoctoral fellowship at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London (now UCL School of Medicine).

My new home was to be the Department of Immunology which was then chaired by the formidable Ivan Roitt whose claims to fame were the discovery of thyroid autoimmunity and the naming of T and B cells. The five years I spent under him were exciting, turbulent, sometimes difficult, but overall highly productive and I learned a great deal. Better still I made firm friendships that endure to this day.

Friday Music Blogging: Deep Purple

Ah, the heady days of the late 60's. Deep Purple were one of the first groups I saw live. I was a student at Guildford Tech and I believe they played Guildford Civic Hall with one of their early line ups, c1968. I've loved them ever since. But how they avoided getting their arses sued off by this piece of shameless plagiarism I'll never know.

P.S. The question of authorship of DP's "Sweet Child in Time" song is really quite curious. For a long time I've been of the view that the band plagiarised "Bombay Calling" by San Francisco-based band It's a Beautiful Day as per my video link above. However since posting earlier today I've done a bit more digging and the story becomes more intriguing. Apparently the song was written by one Vince Wallace 1n 1962 (7 years before DP got their fingers on it) who played briefly with IABD leader David LaFlamme and taught him the song. Wallace claims that LaFlamme stole the song from him and now, 45 years later, is still pretty irked about the matter as you can see here and here (scroll to bottom of page). Talk about a parcel of rogues...

Then and (Almost) Now

Mad Dog at the square of The Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital, June 1994


Mad Dog at the same spot, June 2006: clearly the trees have matured!

Yesterday's post mentioning Barts Hospital induced a few pangs of nostalgia. A year ago to the day I paid a flying visit to my former workplace to attend a conference on avian flu. It was most odd being there as a 'tourist'. Somehow voyeuristic or even slightly surreal. On one coffee break I took the lift (a point of much irritation in the past -remind me to write a few column inches on this) up to my former department -closed since 2003 in a restructuring exercise. The door was locked but I could clearly see through the glass my old office and the lab. It looked the same as the day I left in 2001 and had a Marie Celeste feel. Actually it was quite creepy, even down to the verbina paintwork. Perhaps more accurately it gave the impression of a video game where a doorway, usually back to a previous level, becomes sealed. Definitely a case of life imitating the virtual world...

Sunday Reflections

Sir William Wallace's commemorative plaque at the site of his torture and execution in Smithfield, London, 1305. The plaque is affixed to the wall of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where approximately 700 years later Mad Dog was routinely tortured in meetings concerning the Research Assessment Exercise.

It occurred to me as I watched a re-run of Braveheart on television last night that Sir William Wallace must be chortling in his grave as yet another Scotsman takes up the mantle of leadership in the UK this week. Now I don't know what it is that troubles me about Gordon Brown as he's certainly been a very astute Chancellor for the past 10 years but somehow he seems to lack something –maybe it’s the chewed fingernails and that 1950’s “out of shape” look that puts me off. On the other hand, dear Tony, who was loaded with charisma and worked on by an army of image consultants, still managed to author the current foreign policy disaster. Oh well, history will be the ultimate judge…

Friday Music Blogging: Blodwyn Pig

I wonder how many of you remember this great little combo? The lead guitarist, Mick Abrahams, was originally with Jethro Tull and played on their first and arguably best album, This Was, but then left the band following "creative differences" with Tull leader, Ian Anderson. The result of this bifurcation was Blodwyn Pig -a tremendous blues band which apart from Mick featured the astonishingly good Jack Lancaster on sax and flute. I saw them at least once at the Gin Mill, Godalming, c1970 and I think again at a festival somewhere but it's all a blur now. The Blodwyns hung around the club/university scene for about five years before fragmenting and were moderately successful. After a 30 year hiatus, I'm glad to say they have recently reformed although I somehow doubt they'll be touring the USA. Mick Abrahams remains the only rockstar with whom I've been in email contact (bless you, Mick). Above is a wonderful clip of the group performing on the BBC's sadly defunct Top of the Pops.

Goal Setting: 101 Things in 1001 Days

I got this idea from Caroline at Dai Kyo Soku Kei. These internet meme things can be a bit corny but I'm generally a sucker for them and in any case I love goal setting exercises. So here are 101 things I'm proposing to do or achieve in the next 1001 days. So according to Time and Date I have until March 15th, 2010 to get through this stuff. Actually the clock started running on Monday when I began to compile the list. You will note that one thing, yoga, is already done (started Monday, the same day as the list). Also items 87-100 are very tangible things but I don't want to put every detail of my personal and financial life on the internet. From time to time I'll publish an update on my progress.


Professional
1) Write book on Vaccines
2) Start a not-for-profit institute
3) Begin research to improve one existing vaccine
4) Get at least one diagnostic to market
5) Start developing an autoimmunity multiplex diagnostic
6) Obtain a new academic affiliation

Domestic and House Restoration
7) Build two car garage
8) Remodel kitchen and master bedroom
9) Remodel basement with additional bathroom and utility area
10) Set up a media room with quality A/V surround sound
11) Complete study decor
12) Paint in and out
13) Replace front lawn with patio
14) Plant ferns as groundcover
15) Install rear deck with Snorkel hot tub
16) Clear out basement
17) Set up a workbench (in basement)
18) Replace glass in all artwork with the UV absorbent kind

Travel
19) Visit Greece in 2007
20) Visit Zanzibar in 2008
21) Visit Hawaii in 2009 (July 22nd ) for total solar eclipse
22) Visit either Machu Picchu or Thailand
23) Plan visit to Loch Ness
24) Go to Victoria, British Columbia with Olivia
25) Go sea kayaking off the San Juan islands
26) Visit at least three new US states (there are 20 on the list)

Automotive
27) Bring Jaguar E type in storage up to Seattle
28) Complete restoration of E type
29) Rebuild Mini Cooper
30) Find sponsors
31) Write article for MC2 Mini magazine
32) Attempt Monte Carlo Historique rally one more time
33) Bring Mini Cooper to USA, sell or commit to another MC rally
34) Compete in one West Coast road rally with daughter
35) Begin (if possible complete) book on classic car restoration
36) Investigate the purchase of a classic convertible

Martial Arts and Related Activities
37) Grade Shodan in aikido
38) Grade Shodan in iaido
39) Obtain a modern shinken for tameshigiri (sword cutting)
40) Obtain a modern shinken (already have antique) for kata only
41) Rewrap and change koshirae on modern shinken
42) Learn tameshigiri
43) Wrap and change koshirae on wakizashi
44) Continue logging training on Funbeat
45) Begin tai chi classes
46) Begin regular gym exercise regime for core strength
47) Start yoga classes

Other Sports
48) Scuba dive to PADI open water diver level
49) Learn to do a cartwheel
50) Learn to ride a horse
51) Learn to shoot a shotgun

Music
52) Have my flute cleaned and serviced
53) Re-start semi-regular flute practice: all major and minor scales
54) Acquire a Fender Rhodes electric piano
55) Make plans for formation of a jazz group

Linguistic
56) Learn conversational Japanese

Computer
57) Make website for friend, Mel
58) Learn to use iMovie for slide shows and movie clips
59) Buy a new Intel core MacBook laptop and load it with Windows
60) Back up my computer properly on hard disk

Other Hobbies
61) Restore an 1849 pocket Colt revolver (family antique)
62) Purchase “Real Flight” r/c flight simulator, install on new Mac and practice
63) Learn to fly a real r/c model airplane
64) Build a semi-scale flying model of a De Havilland Mosquito
65) Go solo in an ultralight

Rampant Materialism
66) Acquire a high quality mechanical watch
67) Acquire an inflatable rubber boat with small outboard motor
68) Acquire a quality digital SLR camera

Reading
69) Complete James Joyce’s Ulysses
70) Complete Daniel Defoe’s Journal of a Plague Year
71) Read at least six other important books (not airport novels)

Blogging
72) Maintain posting on blog
73) Meet a blogger in person
74) Print and self-publish blog (the first 5 years) for family and friends

Spiritual
75) Start sitting/zazen

Personal and Miscellaneous
76) Make digital scans of all family photographs
77) Make digital copies of all Dad’s 8mm cine films
78) Find and frame Dad’s degree certificates
79) Convert all LPs to CD format
80) Convert all CDs onto computer/iPod
81) Check all old floppys and transfer to hard disk
82) Commemorative photograph in boat with Olivia
83) Start plotting a family tree on GenesReunited
85) Send e-cards (with personalized letters) to all of my family and friends this Christmas
86) Throw a large party at my house and invite friends I haven’t seen for years
87-100) 14 personal and private goals not listed here

Penalty
101) Donate $10 to UNICEF for every goal not met

That Was The Week That Was

The past week was a bizarre mix of good and bad. Consider the following:

1) My colleagues and I obtain three grants from various branches of the US government worth a total of $1.6 million over two years (good).

2) Two other grant applications get submitted ahead of the deadline (stressful but amazing that they went in comfortably on time: this is almost a career first for me).

3) The Food & Drug Administration calls to announce an unannounced site visit to my workplace (a biotechnology company) this coming week (stressful; all staff are in hyperactive mode if not blind panic getting ready for this inspection).

4) At iaido, the activity I do for stress relief, my Sensei collapses four feet in front of me with severe chest pain. The "heart attack" turned out to be an aortic aneurysm which is A Very Bad Thing because of its pessimistic prognosis (stressful, sad and depressing).

5) On Wednesday I managed to leave a super-dooper-purchased-in-UK-and-very-expensive saucepan on medium heat all day. I came hope to find a distorted steel skeleton sitting in a puddle of molten aluminium (its construction was complicated and a work of engineering genius) on the range top and the cats were improvising gas masks and not impressed (stressful and annoying but a relief that I didn't burn the house down).

As the song from the old TV show goes "That was the week that was, it's over, let it go..." No problem there. Now roll on Monday...

Dragging On

This little bug(ger) is a type of tick known to spread typhus-like diseases and other nasty infections. Avoid like the plague!

The typhus grant is dragging on and I have less than 48 hours to complete it. I'm making good progress but there's a lot of polishing to do. When this chore is completed I'm going to give serious consideration to a vacation somewhere...

Friday Music Blogging: Remember Renaissance?

Thanks to YouTube I've uneartherd all sorts of hitherto forgotten gems that remind me of my youth and devotion to progressive music as 'twas called at the time. Above is a clip from Renaissance, a tremendous band formed by ex-members of the Yardbirds including Keith Relf, Paul Samwell-Smith and Jim McCarty. Initially Keith Relf's sister Jane was on vocals but she was replaced by the wonderful Annie Haslam whose pristine voice and reputed near five octave range became the band's trademark. I saw them a couple of times in the early 70's including a gig at Shoreditch Teachers' Training College, Egham, Surrey. Those were the days, my friends...

Rallying Again

Bill observing that the tracking is a bit out after PRX 720B's flirtation with a mountain wall back in 2005



The Mini looking a lot better after new body panels, paint and a subframe

After a lot of soul searching Bill Richards and I have decided to have another crack at the Monte Carlo Historique rally so preparations for the 2008 event have started. Our altercation with a wall on the infamous Col de Turini 50Km from Monaco in 2005 left us both with a feeling of "unfinished business". I have gone back and forth as to whether to sell the car and hang up my driving gloves but a winter evening over dinner with Bill and a bottle or two of excellent shiraz persuaded me to have another go. Now, with certain big personal projects behind me I can focus on the event. The clock is running and we have just under eight months finish the rebuild and sort out the logistics. In future posts I'll describe our campaign plan. Hopefully this will be fun: watch this space...

This Day in History 63 Years Ago: D-Day Blogging

June 6th, 1944: The Battle of Normandy

From "A Friend Consigned to Death" in The Iliad by Homer,
translated by Robert Fitzgerald. copyright © 2004 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

"Sleeping so? Thou hast forgotten me,
Akhilleus. Never was I uncared for
in life but am in death. Accord me burial
in all haste: let me pass the gates of Death.
Shades that are images of used-up men
motion me away, will not receive me
among their hosts beyond the river. I wander
about the wide gates and the hall of Death.
Give me your hand. I sorrow.
When thou shalt have allotted me my fire
I will not fare here from the dark again.
As living men we'll no more sit apart
from our companions, making plans. The day
of wrath appointed for me at my birth
engulfed and took me down. Thou too, Akhilleus,
face iron destiny, godlike as thou art,
to die under the wall of highborn Trojans.
One more message, one behest, I leave thee:
not to inter my bones apart from thine
but close together, as we grew together,
in thy family's hall. Menoitios
from Opoeis had brought me, under a cloud,
a boy still, on the day I killed the son
of Lord Amphídamas--though I wished it not-
in childish anger over a game of dice.
Pêleus, master of horse, adopted me
and reared me kindly, naming me your squire.
So may the same urn hide our bones, the one
of gold your gracious mother gave."

I wish to acknowledge Daughters of D-Day for the content of this post.

Typhus Recrudescence

The wretched typhus grant has come back to haunt me. The deadline is next Tuesday so you know what I'm going to be doing over the next week. Blogging will be hit-or-miss depending on my need for displacement activity...

WeakEnd Activity

Mad Dog spent Saturday and Sunday engaged in swordplay

Well a couple of you quite correctly pointed out that the item in my last post was a "tsuba" or the handguard part of a Japanese sword. Actually it's from my own iaito or practice sword (it looks exactly like the real thing except only the point is sharp and believe me this is scary enough). Anyway I've just spent the the entire weekend at one of the most amazing martial arts seminars I've ever witnessed. It was an iaido seminar taught by three esteemed instructors from Japan: Noguichi Sensei (8th Dan) Aoki Sensei (7th Dan) and Suzuki Sensei (6th Dan). In addition from my own dojo there was Murasako Sensei (7th Dan), Konno Sensei (7th Dan) and Seto Sensei (5th Dan). Furthermore there were several other noted Sensei from all over the western United States and numerous yudansha. Quite an astonishing group. The demonstrations were all inspiring and I was trying to absorb facts like a dry sponge and I just hope I can retain a few percent of what I was taught (damn the aging grey matter). Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to limp off to soak myself in a hot bath and swallow a handful of ibuprofen...if I can summon the energy to open the container, that is.

Now What's This...?

Here's an interesting item: it's part of an instrument I'll be playing with continuously over the weekend. Anybody know what it is? Clue: it's nothing to do with gardening.

Bad News

With Janine at Cardiff University Rag Ball, March 1972.

I have posted previously about a friend from undergraduate days and more latterly a hero of uncommon stature. Janine was an incredibly buoyant, optimistic person whose love for life was totally infectious. Sadly, I had an email from her husband last week so say that she had lost her 15 year battle with breast cancer. Today is her funeral and in a small way I’m paying tribute the passing of one the most sparkly, positive and brave individuals I’ve had the privilege of knowing. She leaves behind husband John, daughters Helen and Claire as well as new grand-daughter Freya Jane; they will all miss her terribly. The absence of her occasional chirpy emails in my inbox will also leave a void. Tonight I will raise a glass in memory of an exceptional person and one of life’s “good guys”.

Don't Say I Didn't Warn You

I've just finished the latest link tidy-up. Here it is in summary:

Hello
Derelict London
Geoffrey Chaucer
Jon Swift
Life of a Lab Rat
LitBrit
Musokai
Puget Sound Aikikai
Ricardiblog
Shakesville
Wiki Leaks

Goodbye
Black Rat
Jaundice James
Mykeru
Ramblings of a Scientist (Dr Jim, it pains me to take you off my site but you haven't blogged since January; if you re-start I'll be delighted to reinstate you)
Shamus O'Drunkahan
Shakespeare's Sister
Sir Findo Gask
Where’s the Ka-Boom (same as for Dr Jim)
Whiskey Bar
Zemblan Grammar

Reconnected
Twenty Major
Pharyngula

Link Purge

I'll be updating my links over the next few days. As before I shall remove hypertext connections to sites that are dead, boring, dead boring, offensive or terminally dull. I will deem a site dead if it's been inactive for three months (unfortunately some of my favourites have gone quiet and I will excise them with regret). Oh, and to redress the balance I shall add a few new ones. TTFN!

More Musical Notes: Going Retro

Mad Dog's latest foray into the world of materialism

To continue the musical leitmotif of the last few days I have to brag about my latest acquisition. I managed to obtain on eBay the little gem pictured above. It's an Italian valve/tube amplifier (definition depends on which side of the Atlantic you live) which I got for an absolute steal of a deal. I've been fancying one of these beauties since I saw one displayed in a hi-fi shop off Marylebone High Street about 10 years ago. So when my faithful Rogers amplifier expired (I paid over a hundred quid for it just 30 years ago and now they tell me it's out of warranty -I don't know what's happening to customer service these days) earlier this year I started searching. I'd almost given up looking for a used item when this one popped up and I secured the auction a week ago. Yesterday it arrived and after making the wiring connections and giving the valves a couple of hours to warm up I then proceeded to play a large part of my CD collection. All I can say is the sound is quite heavenly: very open, warm and detailed. With every album I could hear musical nuances that I hadn't previously noticed. By the end of the evening I had a broad grin fixed on my face. Yay for valves and analogue kit!

Lightweight Friday Blogging

I'm probably the only person in the world who doesn't own an iPod but here are the top ten most played songs (popular category) in my iTunes library.

1. "Light Flight" Pentangle
2. "Sama Amie" Wock
3. "Bourrée" Jethro Tull
4. "Classical Gas" Vanessa-Mae (yes, I know...)
5. "(I don’t want to go to) Chelsea" Elvis Costello
6. "Theme from Harry's Game" Clannad
7. "All Along the Watchtower" Jimi Hendrix
8. "Just a Gigolo" Barbie & The Kens
9. "House of the King" Focus
10. "Tam Lin" Fairport Convention

I'm unrepentant about apparent naffness of some of my choices or the predominance of 60's music. At least there's no Coldplay, Phil Collins or pretentious stadium rock bands.

Jazz and Classical categories to follow...

Life's Rich Pattern

Jaguar steering rack: from the price you'd think it was constructed from 24 carat gold

This week I discovered Murphy's corollary to Occam's Razor. The Good Friar's hypothesis can be paraphrased, more or less as: "All things being equal, the simplest explanation of a phenomenon tends to be the best one". Murphy's addendum, however, states that "In the case of matters automotive, the converse is true". I can certainly attest to the veracity of Murphy. Last Saturday my car's power steering started to groan like a Tottenham Hotspur fan who has just witnessed the team lose 5-4 after being four goals up. "AhHa", I thought, after checking the reservoir and noticing that the fluid level was more than a bit low, "this is probably a leaking high pressure hose; it's unlikely to be the steering rack as they are very well engineered and a defect here is the more complex (not to mention expensive) explanation". The need to top up ("top off" in American) the reservoir after 20 miles seemed to confirm my suspicions. On Sunday afternoon I dropped the car off at the garage and left a detailed message on their voicemail instructing them to replace the leaking hydraulic hose. On Monday I received a call from the service manager who politely told me I was nothing more than a weekend mechanic with the diagnostic insight of a gerbil (OK, OK, he didn't actually say that but his tone was very clear) and the problem did, in fact, lie in the steering rack. So much for the simplest explanation! So, $1800 later the offending part was replaced and I drove home to have a warm milk and a valium. All part of Life's Rich Pattern I suppose...

Backed Up

The blog backup software finally arrived last week after the slowest, most convoluted and nonsensical transaction known in the history of personal consumerism. However I'm pleased to say that the blog is now backed up and if I wish I can print it out in treeware format if I ever want a hardcopy of my memoirs. New posts about life in the kennels will be forthcoming...