Interesting New Scientist special supplement (23rd May 2015) on improving one’s sight, “Good looking: 6 surprising ways to improve your eyesight”. The measures suggested, as well as innovative lenses and surgery, include… * Veggies. No, not carrots. “Trials have shown that people in the early stages of the disease [yellow spots in the eyes of […]
Archive for May, 2015
Surprising ways to improve your eyesight
31 May 2015 at 15:18
David Haden
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“Thissen’s a tunky haiver”
A £31,800 Lottery grant… “to enable a group of young people from the Foundation to create a film and online game exploring the history and heritage of the Black Country dialect.”
Hidden Spaces: Subterranean Birmingham
29 May 2015 at 13:41
David Haden
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The Birmingham Post, “Hidden Spaces: Subterranean Birmingham”… “My claims [of a lost tunnel] were dismissed as mere legend — they [said that they] would know if such a tunnel existed nearby. But such local knowledge is only true for surface dwellers: a few days later I was walking through the tunnel with an enterprising Police […]
“And as far off as Birmingham?”
28 May 2015 at 20:44
David Haden
Birmingham, Entertainment, Steampunk
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Conan Doyle Convention in Birmingham on 30th May, £15 tickets still remaining. * Tom Ue, giving a talk on Professor Challenger. * Panel: “Exploring Doyle’s Worlds: Sherlock vs Challenger” (Michael R. Brush, Steve Lockley, Jan Edwards, Tom Ue). * Book Launches: Challenger Unbound (anthology of Challenger adventures), Mycroft & The Necromancer. * Panel: Steampunk vs […]
The rural dimension
A Birmingham Post blogger on “The forgotten rural pieces of the West Midlands”… “A significant rural-urban fringe surrounds “Greater Birmingham” where the wider rural development dimension has been largely forgotten and neglected in policy and decision making.” … “I arranged a seminar with a colleague last week, on the rural West Midlands. This blog highlights […]
National preservation network for endangered sounds
24 May 2015 at 12:59
David Haden
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A new “national preservation network through ten regional centres of archival excellence” to preserve endangered sounds in the UK. Presumably they’ll all be made ‘public domain’, too. Above: recording a cock crow.
The Economist on universal income
23 May 2015 at 14:36
David Haden
Artist(s), Regeneration, Zeitgeist
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The costs of a ‘basic universal income’ are concisely outlined of in the latest edition of The Economist. Too expensive, they fear, at least using the Swiss approach. But at the end of the article they point out that Alaska already gives all its citizens $1,900 a year dividend from its oil fund. So might […]
Crossing the Pennines Heritage Trail
21 May 2015 at 22:03
David Haden
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Crossing the Pennines Heritage Trail. With a mere £50k Lottery grant, an ancient packhorse trail across the Pennines has been documented and reclaimed/refurbished as a public footpath. Beautiful new milestones are to be added with the help of the Milestone Society, and the Grand Opening will be on Saturday 4th July 2015.
Lost Objects: Etruria Industrial Museum series
17 May 2015 at 20:44
David Haden
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Floating Forest
“Floating Forest”, British broadleaf trees treated as if they were wild flower specimens, by London’s Michael Anastassiades.
Milestone Society
The Milestone Society, restoring the nation’s historic milestones, mile posts, and finger posts. The Staffordshire milestones and posts are all done by one man…
Lost in the LEP?
North East Staffordshire no longer part of the Greater Birmingham LEP, it seems. The LEP now begins somewhere around Cannock Chase, at least according to their Chairman today… “First, we need to define exactly what we will say about the Greater Birmingham region – a diverse area that stretches from southern Staffordshire to northern Worcestershire.”
Camila Prada
Camila Prada, a young Stoke-on-Trent ceramics designer, has a new Kickstarter.
Windows 10
Finally, a reason to get Windows 10, maybe… it’ll run Android and iOS apps.