I know I’m a bit late in reporting this but The Bookseller Magazine has announced its shortlist for the 31st Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year of the strangest book titles published this year.
The shortlisted titles are:
* Baboon Metaphysics by Dorothy Dorothy L Cheney and Robert M Seyfarth (University of Chicago Press)
* Curbside Consultation of the Colon by Brooks D Cash (SLACK Incorporated)
* The Large Sieve and its Applications by Emmanuel Kowalski (Cambridge University Press)
* Strip and Knit with Style by Mark Hordyszynski (C&T)
* Techniques for Corrosion Monitoring by Lietai Yang (Woodhead)
* The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais by Professor Philip M Parker (Icon Group International) click here for an earlier post on this literary titan
The winner will be chosen by an internet vote at the Bookseller website and will be announced on 27 March. The winner will join such august company as High Performance Stiffened Structures, Bombproof Your Horse, Lesbian Sadomasochism Safety Manual and last year’s winner If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start with Your Legs
Horace Bent, from the magazine said: "In this, the 31st year of the prestigious award, never have I found it so problematic to pick a shortlist of just six. Given the economic gloom, I would not have blamed publishers if they'd decided to slash their lists. But it gives me great pleasure to report that diversity lives!"
Sales Analyst at The Bookseller, Philip Stone said: "We received a huge number of entries this year and the debate was furious as to which would be included on the shortlist. Six seems such a cruelly low number given titles such as Excrement in the Late Middle Ages and All Dogs Have ADHD were rejected. We also had to exclude a few titles because they were published before 2008including Monumental Beginnings: Archaeology of the N4 Sligo Inner Relief Road.
I await the outcome with bated breath.
02 March 2009
Catholic priest guilty of participating in Rwanda genocide
Media attention on the Catholic Church has been concentrated on Richard “I’m-not-anti- Semitic-but-for-me-PJ-means-Perish-Judah-and not-pyjamas” Williamson the news of Father Emmanuel Rukundo has been sentenced to 25 years in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda passed by with little comment.
Rukundo, a military chaplain, was accused of orchestrating the killing of ethnic minority Tutsis in 1994 and was convicted by three judges for "genocide, murder as a crime against humanity and extermination as a crime". The tribunal, found that on at least four occasions in April and May 1994, Rukundo played an integral role in kidnapping and killing Tutsi refugees who sought shelter in a seminary. He was present as soldiers in the Rwandan armed forces abducted and killed a woman in 1994 and was guilty of sexually assaulting another woman.
Rukundo was arrested in Geneva in 2001 before being transferred to a UN detention facility. The court said the time he had spent in remand would be included as part of his sentence.
It goes without saying that Rukundo is a disgrace to the priesthood (What am I saying? he’s a piece of human excrement). I hope his sentence passes as slowly and as miserably as possible, preferably as a prison bitch. As for Williamson I hope He gets the clap off that vile Nazi Hag Michele Renouf
Rukundo, a military chaplain, was accused of orchestrating the killing of ethnic minority Tutsis in 1994 and was convicted by three judges for "genocide, murder as a crime against humanity and extermination as a crime". The tribunal, found that on at least four occasions in April and May 1994, Rukundo played an integral role in kidnapping and killing Tutsi refugees who sought shelter in a seminary. He was present as soldiers in the Rwandan armed forces abducted and killed a woman in 1994 and was guilty of sexually assaulting another woman.
Rukundo was arrested in Geneva in 2001 before being transferred to a UN detention facility. The court said the time he had spent in remand would be included as part of his sentence.
It goes without saying that Rukundo is a disgrace to the priesthood (What am I saying? he’s a piece of human excrement). I hope his sentence passes as slowly and as miserably as possible, preferably as a prison bitch. As for Williamson I hope He gets the clap off that vile Nazi Hag Michele Renouf
01 March 2009
Azam Ali and Ofra Haza songs
Azam Ali with Niyaz performing Allahi Allah in Los Angeles
The late, great Ofra Haza performing Kaddish in Montreux
A whistling Orangutan and speech therapy parrots
The Torygraph has been a useful source of blog fodder for An Beal Bocht recently. This trend seems set to continue with news from the National Zoo in Washington that Bonnie, a 32 year old Orangutan, has taught herself to whistle.
Bonnie’s keeper, Erin Stromberg, said: “I think what makes it significant is that you can train apes to whistle, but no one trained her to do it. She decided to do it on her own,"
The zoo said that Bonnie taught herself by listening zoo keepers who whistle while they work. She is also thought to have taught another orangutan called Indah to whistle too.
Mr Stromberg helped researchers study her behaviour for a paper published in Primates by whistling basic patterns to see whether Bonnie could copy them. They found that her behaviour disproves the argument that orangutans have no control over their vocalisations and their sounds are purely involuntary responses to stimuli such as predators.
Here is Bonnie in action. She may not be a virtuoso whistler but she’s already better than me!
Meanwhile there is a recent report on the amazing recovery of American firefighter Brian Wilson, who was seriously injured in a traffic accident and never expected to be able to speak beyond the level of a two year old.
Mr Wilson claims that the chatter of pet parrots helped his regain the power of speech. "Two birds taught me to talk again," he said. "I had such a bad head injury I was never supposed to talk any more than a two-year-old." But two of the birds that he had had as pets since he was a child "just kept talking to me and talking to me. Then all of a sudden, a word popped out, then two, then more."
To show his gratitude Mr Wilson has devoted his life to feathered pets whose owners are no longer able or want to keep them. He now shares his home with about 80 brightly plumed exotic birds, from snow-white cockatoos to scarlet or blue and green macaws to African grey parrots. "You wonder why I rescue birds? They helped me to talk again, so now I take care of them," he said.
No witty (or otherwise) comment here
Bonnie’s keeper, Erin Stromberg, said: “I think what makes it significant is that you can train apes to whistle, but no one trained her to do it. She decided to do it on her own,"
The zoo said that Bonnie taught herself by listening zoo keepers who whistle while they work. She is also thought to have taught another orangutan called Indah to whistle too.
Mr Stromberg helped researchers study her behaviour for a paper published in Primates by whistling basic patterns to see whether Bonnie could copy them. They found that her behaviour disproves the argument that orangutans have no control over their vocalisations and their sounds are purely involuntary responses to stimuli such as predators.
Here is Bonnie in action. She may not be a virtuoso whistler but she’s already better than me!
Meanwhile there is a recent report on the amazing recovery of American firefighter Brian Wilson, who was seriously injured in a traffic accident and never expected to be able to speak beyond the level of a two year old.
Mr Wilson claims that the chatter of pet parrots helped his regain the power of speech. "Two birds taught me to talk again," he said. "I had such a bad head injury I was never supposed to talk any more than a two-year-old." But two of the birds that he had had as pets since he was a child "just kept talking to me and talking to me. Then all of a sudden, a word popped out, then two, then more."
To show his gratitude Mr Wilson has devoted his life to feathered pets whose owners are no longer able or want to keep them. He now shares his home with about 80 brightly plumed exotic birds, from snow-white cockatoos to scarlet or blue and green macaws to African grey parrots. "You wonder why I rescue birds? They helped me to talk again, so now I take care of them," he said.
No witty (or otherwise) comment here
28 February 2009
Belly button fluff - A major breakthrough in scientific knowledge
The last time I posted on something from the journal Medical Hypotheses it was the outrageous idea that Down subjects and Oriental population "share several specific attitudes and characteristics" . Mercifully today’s Telegraph reports that a paper Medical Hypotheses truly advances our knowledge. After three years of research Austrian scientist Georg Steinhauser has discovered a type of body hair that traps stray pieces of lint and draws them into the navel.
Dr Steinhauser made his discovery after studying 503 pieces of fluff from his own belly button. Chemical analysis revealed the pieces of fluff were not made up of only cotton from clothing. Wrapped up in the lint were also flecks of dead skin, fat, sweat and dust.
Writing in the journal Medical Hypotheses, he said the scaly structure of the hair enhances the 'abrasion of minuscule fibres from the shirt' and directs the lint towards the belly button. "The hair's scales act like a kind of barbed hooks," he said. "Abdominal hair often seems to grow in concentric circles around the navel."
He also established that shaving one's belly will result in a fluff-free navel - but only until the hairs grow back.
Dr Steinhauser, whose other projects have included monitoring the erosion of his wedding ring, said: "The question of the nature of navel fluff seems to concern more people than one would think at first glance. "We hope we have been able to provide information for doctors when they are next confronted with the simple question of 'why some belly buttons collect so much lint and others do not'."
An earlier, Australian study of samples from 5,000 people concluded the typical carrier of navel fluff to be 'a slightly overweight middle-aged male with a hairy abdomen'. (hmm that's me) Researcher Karl Kruszelnicki said: "The reason it is usually blue is that we mostly wear blue or grey trousers, often jeans, and when these rub against the body, the fibres often end up finding their way to the navel."
I say give Dr Steinhausrer a Nobel Prize now. I doubt any piece of scientific research will ever be as important and ground breaking as this. If the scientific world is not as impressed I am sure that the Vatican will canonise him in quick time. He would be perfect as patron saint of Omphalomancers!
Dr Steinhauser made his discovery after studying 503 pieces of fluff from his own belly button. Chemical analysis revealed the pieces of fluff were not made up of only cotton from clothing. Wrapped up in the lint were also flecks of dead skin, fat, sweat and dust.
Writing in the journal Medical Hypotheses, he said the scaly structure of the hair enhances the 'abrasion of minuscule fibres from the shirt' and directs the lint towards the belly button. "The hair's scales act like a kind of barbed hooks," he said. "Abdominal hair often seems to grow in concentric circles around the navel."
He also established that shaving one's belly will result in a fluff-free navel - but only until the hairs grow back.
Dr Steinhauser, whose other projects have included monitoring the erosion of his wedding ring, said: "The question of the nature of navel fluff seems to concern more people than one would think at first glance. "We hope we have been able to provide information for doctors when they are next confronted with the simple question of 'why some belly buttons collect so much lint and others do not'."
An earlier, Australian study of samples from 5,000 people concluded the typical carrier of navel fluff to be 'a slightly overweight middle-aged male with a hairy abdomen'. (hmm that's me) Researcher Karl Kruszelnicki said: "The reason it is usually blue is that we mostly wear blue or grey trousers, often jeans, and when these rub against the body, the fibres often end up finding their way to the navel."
I say give Dr Steinhausrer a Nobel Prize now. I doubt any piece of scientific research will ever be as important and ground breaking as this. If the scientific world is not as impressed I am sure that the Vatican will canonise him in quick time. He would be perfect as patron saint of Omphalomancers!
27 February 2009
Photo Hunt - Thankful
The theme for this week's Photo Hunt is Thankful. I am thankful to my parents who did everything they could to ensure that my sister and I had the opportunities that they never had when young.
25 February 2009
Sex started long before the Beatles
According to today’s Times sex has been around for at least 350 million years. The fossilised remains of a pregnant fish, Incisoscutum ritchiei, have provided the earliest known evidence of copulation and live births in the animal kingdom. Until the evolution of the armoured fish, sex is thought to have been limited to external fertilisation techniques in which sperm and eggs were squirted into the water to mix.
The species, 350-380 million years old, is the same age as another closely related fossilised fish, Materpiscis attenboroughi, which was found last year with a newly born offspring still attached by the umbilical cord.
Researchers said the discovery of two types of fish living at the same time shows copulation among vertebrates was a common means of reproduction some 200 million years earlier than had been thought. “Seen in one fossil, it could have been a one-off. With our new discovery we are beginning to think sex is characteristic,” said Dr Zerina Johanson, of the Natural History Museum in London. “We now have to rethink how animals reproduced way back then. We would have expected before this, that this very primitive fish had an external form of fertilisation. We are having to rethink that now. It’s challenging how we think about reproduction at this early evolutionary stage... Sex started a lot sooner than we thought.”
The embryo found inside I. ritchiei was originally thought to have been the mother fish’s last meal but was reassessed after the discovery of M. attenboroughi. Both species were found in Western Australia’s Gogo formation which is thought to be the remnants of a reef in tropical inland sea.
The two species of copulating animals were examples of placoderms which were a class of fish that had armoured plates on their heads and thorax and dominated the seas during the Devonian. They are the most primitive form of jawed vertebrates yet found and most were predators. Placoderm fossils have been found in Europe, North America, North Africa, Australasia and Antarctica.
Hmm it looks like Philip Larkin was a few million years out when he wrote in his poem Annus Mirabilis that:
Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
(which was rather late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.
Then again he was a poet and not a scientist,,,
The species, 350-380 million years old, is the same age as another closely related fossilised fish, Materpiscis attenboroughi, which was found last year with a newly born offspring still attached by the umbilical cord.
Researchers said the discovery of two types of fish living at the same time shows copulation among vertebrates was a common means of reproduction some 200 million years earlier than had been thought. “Seen in one fossil, it could have been a one-off. With our new discovery we are beginning to think sex is characteristic,” said Dr Zerina Johanson, of the Natural History Museum in London. “We now have to rethink how animals reproduced way back then. We would have expected before this, that this very primitive fish had an external form of fertilisation. We are having to rethink that now. It’s challenging how we think about reproduction at this early evolutionary stage... Sex started a lot sooner than we thought.”
The embryo found inside I. ritchiei was originally thought to have been the mother fish’s last meal but was reassessed after the discovery of M. attenboroughi. Both species were found in Western Australia’s Gogo formation which is thought to be the remnants of a reef in tropical inland sea.
The two species of copulating animals were examples of placoderms which were a class of fish that had armoured plates on their heads and thorax and dominated the seas during the Devonian. They are the most primitive form of jawed vertebrates yet found and most were predators. Placoderm fossils have been found in Europe, North America, North Africa, Australasia and Antarctica.
Hmm it looks like Philip Larkin was a few million years out when he wrote in his poem Annus Mirabilis that:
Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
(which was rather late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.
Then again he was a poet and not a scientist,,,
Her Grief
In the quest for you
I sobbed at the knees of the mount,
at the edge of the sea and the turf.
In the quest for you
I moaned with the wind.
Along eroded face of the routes,
At the crossroad of seasons.
And over a broken window
which made a wooden frame
for the cloudy blues of the skies.
In hope of your image
How long, long, how long,
this frame will remain plain?
Your charm,
was allowing for passage of the breeze
and of love, and also of death
which confided in you
their perpetual insights.
Hence you became a pearl
Immense, enviable and precious:
the treasure which bears, solely,
the entire delight of belonging to the land.
Your name is a sunrise,
shining over the vast front of the skies,
Be hallowed you name!
And we are still rotating nights and days,
By Ahmad Shamloo (Shamlu, Shamlou) for Forough Farrokhzd
From Forough Farrokhzad The Sad Little Fairy
, translated by Maryam Dilmaghani
24 February 2009
WW - figure
Another image from Pere Lachaise. This week's entry for the Tuesday and Wednesday editions of Wordless Wednesday
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