Bubbles at the Water Cooler – The Good, The Bad and The Sad News

by | Mar 30, 2015 | water cooler

“Terry Pratchett 2005”. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Ever have one of those weeks where you’re just ‘blah’. A friend of mine explained it as ‘when your spirit is disconnected from your body and your physical being bumps into walls and stuff’. This is a pretty apt description if you think about it – if your spirit is in residence of course.  Another apt expression is ‘blowing bubbles’.

This was my week last week and this week too, so I’ve put on my Pollyanna pants and divided the weeks up as per the title.

The Sad was that I read that Terry Pratchett, genius, had died. If you’re not sure who Terry Pratchett was (perhaps you were lost on The Outer Rim) take a peek at 50 of his best quotes.

The Bad News, for greedy bookworms like me, is that despite an incredibly prolific career, with Sir Pratchett writing more than 70 novels, there won’t be any more from this prolific author.

The Good News – (isn’t it grand that there’s always a spot of good news?) – is that I can read each and every single one of those 70 novels again and again and again – in fact – I already have, numerous times over the years since I was first introduced to them.

You may have noticed that I called him Sir Terry Pratchett. That’s because Pratchett was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book marketed for children.

If you haven’t yet discovered any of his work, I heartily recommend that you do. You’ll find his bibliography here.

If you want me in the next few weeks, you’ll find me at the water cooler, clutching my *signed copy of ‘Mort’ (fitting, that); making the water bubble in the bottle and reading sections aloud.

Thank you, dear Sir, you will be missed.

*The signed copy, interestingly, was thanks to afore-mentioned friend, who, as a birthday surprise, took me to a fabulous fantasy book store to have my book signed by Terry Pratchett.

 

Beware the Ides of March

by | Mar 11, 2015 | water cooler

March actually isn’t an unlucky or ‘bad’ month at all. It’s just that peskily prolific Shakespeare whose line it is that’s responsible for the month’s bad reputation.

We’ve all heard the saying, ‘Beware the Ides of March.’ The actual quote is from Shakespeare’s tragedy Julius Caesar (1599). The warning is uttered by a soothsayer who is letting Roman leader Julius Caesar know that his life is in danger and he should probably stay home and be careful when March 15th, the Ides of March, rolls around.

That said, the quote does reflect actual history because on March 15th, 44 BC, Julius Caesar was violently murdered, stabbed 23 times by a mob of senators who were led by his protégés and supposed ‘friends’ Cassius and Brutus.

Moving swiftly on from all that gore, there’s actually some cracker things that have occurred in the March month. Here’s a soupçon:

2 March 1969 – Concorde, the Anglo-French supersonic airline, roared into the skies on its maiden flight. The aircraft will travel at twice the speed of sound.

5 March 1936 – The British fighter plane Spitfire made its first test flight from Eastleigh, Southampton. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine the aircraft will enter service with the Royal Air Force in the next two years.

7 March 1876 – The Scottish-born inventor, Alexander Graham Bell, patented the telephone. Look where that got us!

10 March 1886 – Cruft’s Dog Show was held in London for the first time – since 1859 it had been held in Newcastle. More recently the venue has changed to the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.

27 March 1871 – Legalised warfare – England and Scotland played their first rugby international, in Edinburgh; first blood to Scotland. Och aye!

30 March 1856 – The Crimean War between Russia and Europe was brought to an end by the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

Obviously there’s a lot more that happen(ed)s in March, but it seems to be a very fly-ee type of month, what with the Concorde’s maiden flight and the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine powered Spitfire being introduced! I always wanted to fly on the Concorde, but that’s another story entirely.

So, take heart and regale your co-workers this March with your spiffy general and historical trivia knowledge. You’re sure to be the toast of the water cooler circuit.

Water Cooler Wonder – Is There a Difference Between Indigo and Violet?

by | Mar 9, 2015 | Water, water cooler

Here’s some bamboozling info. to bandy about at your next network at the office, home or school (hopefully at school, you’re not networking as yet, but just chatting to your mates) water cooler – just what are indigo and violet and is there any difference between the two?

I blame the rainbow for this particular confusion. (As I type this I imagine a lot of ‘he’ men running (or loping) strongly away to avoid any discussion regarding colours other than ‘Oh, that’s blue’).

It was Sir Isaac Newton who discovered that sunlight falling upon a prism could split into its component colours. This process is known as dispersion. Newton named the component colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

 

Newton, who admitted his eyes were not very critical in distinguishing colours, originally divided the spectrum into five main colours; red, yellow, green, blue and violet. Later he included orange and indigo, giving seven main colours by analogy to the number of notes in a musical scale.  Newton chose to divide the visible spectrum into seven colours out of a belief derived from the beliefs of the ancient Greek sophists, who thought there was a connection between the colours, the musical notes, the known objects in the Solar System, and the days of the week. I’ll be elaborating about rainbows, prisms, spectrums in another blog, patience!

According to Isaac Asimov, “It is customary to list indigo as a color lying between blue and violet, but it has never seemed to me that indigo is worth the dignity of being considered a separate color. To my eyes it seems merely deep blue.”

If a heavyweight like Asimov, possibly the greatest science fiction writer and father of ‘hard science fiction’, has an issue with defining the colour indigo, I’m in pretty great company!

Now that we’ve established that there is a difference, my next dilemma always is – which colour do I prefer? Dark blue-ee indigo or purple shock type violet?

I’d like to say that the answer is simple, but, it isn’t. When it comes to me and colours, I go all weak at the knees and dribble saliva a little. It’s very attractive, of course, but nonetheless true.  As with many a good thing in life, colours undo me – it’s as if when I was just a newt in my Mum’s tum, she swallowed a paint box of colours and all that colour got into her bloodstream and it got passed on to me in all of its Technicolor glory.

So when it comes to indigo or violet, I’ll take both please, with a healthy dollop of blueberry on the side.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main difference between indigo and violet?

The main difference between indigo and violet lies in their position on the colour spectrum. Indigo is traditionally seen as a deep blue, lying between blue and violet, while violet is closer to purple. This distinction is based on Sir Isaac Newton's division of the visible spectrum into seven colours.

Newton's choice to include indigo was influenced by his belief in the connection between colours, musical notes, and other natural phenomena. Despite this, some, like Isaac Asimov, argue that indigo is not distinct enough to be considered separate from blue.

Why did Sir Isaac Newton include indigo in the colour spectrum?

Sir Isaac Newton included indigo in the colour spectrum as part of his belief in the connection between the seven colours and other natural phenomena. He initially identified five main colours but later added orange and indigo to align with the seven musical notes and celestial objects.

Newton's decision was influenced by ancient Greek beliefs, which associated numbers with harmony in nature. Although some, like Isaac Asimov, question the distinctiveness of indigo, Newton's inclusion was more philosophical than purely scientific.

How did Isaac Asimov view the colour indigo?

Isaac Asimov viewed the colour indigo with some scepticism, suggesting it might not deserve recognition as a separate colour. To Asimov, indigo appeared merely as a deep blue rather than a distinct hue between blue and violet on the spectrum.

Asimov's perspective highlights ongoing debates about colour classification, which can be subjective. His opinion reflects the challenges in distinguishing colours that are closely related, such as indigo and blue, especially when personal perception varies.

How did Newton's colour spectrum relate to music?

Newton's colour spectrum was related to music through his belief in a natural harmony between colours and musical notes. He divided the spectrum into seven colours to correspond with the seven notes in a musical scale, reflecting a broader philosophical view of interconnectedness in nature.

This analogy was influenced by ancient Greek thought, which often sought to find patterns and relationships across different domains. Newton's approach illustrates how scientific ideas can be shaped by cultural and philosophical contexts, even in the realm of colour.

Why might some people find it difficult to distinguish between indigo and violet?

Some people might find it difficult to distinguish between indigo and violet due to their close proximity on the colour spectrum. Indigo is often seen as a deep blue, while violet is closer to purple, making the difference subtle to the human eye.

This difficulty is compounded by individual variations in colour perception and the subjective nature of colour naming. As noted by Isaac Asimov, even experts can find it challenging to categorise indigo as a separate colour, suggesting that personal perception plays a significant role in how we see these hues.

Are you barnacles if you like to go camping?

by | Feb 18, 2015 | Water, water cooler

So it started like this … (I’m tempted to say ‘and that’s how the fight started’) … but that wouldn’t be correct. Or true.

It wasn’t a fight. What it was was the seemingly endless discussion about whether to go camping or to not go camping.

Whether camping was simply the best, cheapest way of getting away from it all or just some centuries’ old nomadic instinct from our predecessors which insists that you lug your household around to shivery destinations, I’m not quite sure.

The facts are you get 2 very different camps (ha!) when it comes to camping.

As you may have gathered, I fall into the no-camping-are-you-insane category.

I will relate just one story to you and perhaps you’ll understand why.

I went camping alongside a river with a boyfriend. It was an impromptu, rash decision fuelled by copious amounts of liquor the day before we ventured out. Due to work constraints, we arrived at the self-designated campsite after dark and parked on the sand at the river’s edge.  Dinner was to be a potjie (or stew) which is traditionally made using water, seasoning, vegetables and a meat, no packet sauces or any other cheats aloud. Slight problem was we had no water. The river water was pretty churny and brown and we weren’t taking any chances. We proceeded to use the red wine we’d brought with us as the liquid base for the potjie. Only problem here was that the intense heat from the cooking fire meant that the liquid burnt off pretty quickly. Suffice to say that we ended up some hours later (the whole idea of a potjie is that it takes hours to cook (the originator of the popular ‘slow cooking’ that’s all the rage nowadays?) with half cooked, half singed meat, crunchy vegetables and no wine. It didn’t help that we were ravenous!

The camping didn’t get much better post dinner either. A friend, who ran river rafting expeditions from where we were camped, decided to creep up on us wearing a ski mask. With the sound of the river rushing by us didn’t hear him until he leapt out from the river bank – all 6ft.2 of him – and screamed at us. The following morning, deciding to depart from our rather ill-fated excursion, we discovered that the van that we’d driven in had sunk down into the soft, damp river sand and was stuck. An hour later armed with much choice language and two planks, we finally managed to extricate ourselves and head off back to civilisation. No-one could have been more relieved than I was.

I have since then had the occasional pleasant camping trip, but whenever the 2 camps set up (ha!) around the water cooler and tales of for and against start up, I’m sure this story has swayed more than a few undecided.   Don’t say you weren’t warned. 

Fidelity Facts of the Feathered (and otherwise) for February

by | Feb 16, 2015 | water cooler

In case you were thinking that fidelity only applies to us humanoids, think again. All of these water loving/living creatures pretty much mate for life:

  • ALBATROSS – Other bird species can boast about their monogamous relationships, but albatross display a unique patience and persistence when it comes to stoking the flames of romance. Young albatrosses learn from older birds how to woo their mates using an elaborate system of preening, pointing, rattling, bowing and other sweet dance moves. After they learn advanced wooing, albatrosses may ‘dance’ with many partners until they find the right one – but once they select that perfect mate, they’re boos for life.
  • BEAVERS – Beavers stay together for the kids. Not only are these loyal creatures faithful to their mates, but they’re also devoted parents. Dads don’t just go off to build dams and whatnot while moms stay at home raising the kits; both male and female beavers take an active hand in bringing up their offspring. And once those kits reach about 2 years of age, they go off to find true love of their own, and the beautiful cycle of monogamous beaver love continues. And, yes, baby beavers are called kits. That in itself is a cuteness overload.
  • FRENCH ANGELFISH – French angelfish make such perfect couples that it would embarrass most humans. Not only do these fish stay with their mates until death, but they spend fully half of their time swimming side by side. Not only that, but when French angelfish couples come together again after time apart, they engage in what’s called “carouseling,” circling round and round each other. When was the last time you and your other half were so happy to see each other that you both literally spun around in the pure bliss of being together?
  • PENGUINS – Penguins are often cited for their monogamy, but as cute as it is to imagine the same pair of penguins waddling around flipper-in-flipper for eternity, the truth is that they are only serially monogamous, which means pairs usually stay together for one breeding season at a time. Exceptions to this are not uncommon, however, and some pairs are known to seek each other out again and again over many seasons. In fact, a particularly devoted couple of Magellanic penguins tracked by scientists have been observed to return to each other every season for 16 years, and are still going strong. Now that’s love.
  • SEAHORSES – If albatross relationships are reminiscent of fairy-tale romance, seahorses might be considered the swingers of the sea. Many seahorse species will bond with a mate, but that bond often lasts only through a single breeding season or until a more attractive female comes along. But, monogamy in this case is useful since it can be hard to find fellow seahorses due to poor swimming skills and low densities. There is evidence that the longer that partners are together, the more successful at breeding they become and the two are able to produce more offspring per brood. One species of seahorse does appear to stick with a single mate for life: the Australian Hippocampus whitei. Practice makes perfect!
  • SWANS – Swans are often used as a symbol of romance. First of all, they do that adorable thing where they crane their heads together, their graceful necks creating a heart shape. It’s perfect for greeting cards. On top of that, swans are famously monogamous. How sweet! They really love each other. But only to a point, it turns out. Newer research shows that ‘divorce’ can sometimes split up longstanding swan couples. Evidence suggests that the reason behind such events is that a couple may find themselves unable to breed with each other any longer. It’s not a fairy tale, but sometimes practical matters trump true love. Happily, swans are mature, and divorced couples may still live closely and cordially with each other, even with their new partners.

So there’ll be no more of using the excuse of ‘animals don’t mate for life’ for a lot of you fidelity challenged – you’d better, in the words of Nat King Cole, ‘Straighten up and fly right, Straighten up and stay right …’ Of course, if none of this applies, you can always amaze and wow your mates at the water cooler with your knowledge or; for huge brownie points, your Valentine? ♥