Butterflies

When thinking of a butterfly most people imagine small delicate creatures with amazing wing colours and patterns. In Britain for instance, there is the Peacock butterfly recognisable by the ‘blue eyes’ on its wings and it is found in gardens, woodlands, parks and coastal areas. The Red Admiral is a big, beautiful butterfly which migrates from North Africa and Continental Europe to British shores over the summer. Another migrant butterfly to Britain is the Painted Lady which flies in from the desert edges of North Africa and the Middle East and can be found in any part of this country.

Butterflies usually live on a liquid diet of nectar which they access from deep within flowers using a long tongue called a proboscis. The buddleia shrub is especially favoured by butterflies and for that reason it is sometimes called the ‘butterfly plant’. Butterflies will also eat ripened or rotting fruit which is turning into liquid making it easier for them to access. There is also the suspicion that rotting fruit such as apples or pears may be turning into alcohol and the butterflies appear to enjoy a few pints in the sunshine - just like humans in the beer garden on a sunny day!

Although some butterfly larvae are carnivorous, they stop this behaviour upon reaching adulthood and begin to eat nectar. However, there are some butterflies that have an almost dark secret where their dietary habits are concerned. These butterflies do not eat nectar for food but are in fact carnivorous and predate on carrion.

In southern England, there is a carnivorous butterfly called the Purple Emperor which feeds on rotting animal flesh primarily in woodland areas. It appears that because of its carnivorous nature, groups of people in July each year, the butterfly equivalents of birdwatching ‘twitchers’, can be found wandering around woodlands leaving out rotting fish, rotting meat, animal corpses and even faeces as bait for the Purple Emperor. According to some Purple Emperor chasers, urine-soaked fox dung is the favourite food bait to photograph this elusive butterfly.

Image of a Purple Emperor butterfly (BBC, 2015)

The Purple Emperor spends much of its time 250 feet up in the oak forest canopy where it defends its space aggressively, even attacking birds if they get too near which is not standard butterfly behaviour! Getting them to ground level can be tricky hence the foul smelling and probably foul-tasting food traps to lure them there. Unfortunately, the Purple Emperor only survives each summer from July to the end of August. However, numbers seem to be rising in part due to conservation efforts particularly in the Southwest of Britain to preserve this stunning butterfly.

In South America there is a butterfly family called the Riodinid which contains around 1300 different types of butterfly. These butterflies are also known as ‘metalmarks’ due to small metal looking marks on their wings. The adult Riodinid butterfly feeds on flowers, mineral deposits in damp sand and mud “puddings” but its favourite food seems to be rotting carrion. In a field study in Ecuador, rotting carrion placed in food traps was the most frequently recorded food source for the Riodinid butterflies. Other types of food bait were used but were not eaten as much as the rotting carrion.

Image of Dyson’s Swordtail (Rhetus dysonii, Riodinid) from Ecuador

It may be that by diversifying its food sources and diet these types of carrion-eating butterflies are more capable of adapting to changing environmental conditions thereby giving their species a better chance of survival in tough times than other non-meat-eating butterflies. The Riodinid is a very successful species and this success may be in no small part to its varied dietary habits.

Another butterfly deemed to be carnivorous is the Harvester butterfly of North America. Some argue that the Harvester is carnivorous at the larvae stage only where it eats hairy aphids. Others indicate it eats hairy aphids as an adult as well. However, the adult Harvester butterfly seems to be from another planet with its alien looking eyes and its larvae seems to possess the face of a monkey as the images below suggest. Either way, the Harvester butterfly is widely considered to be the only carnivorous butterfly in North America.

Images of Harvester Butterfly pupae with ‘face’ and Harvester Butterfly with 'almost ‘alien’ eyes

So, the next time you are in a garden or a park or in the woods, whenever you see a butterfly, just remember, some of those beautiful nectar eating creatures have cousins who eat decaying meat for a living.

Butterfly

Butterfly, butterfly, why do
you flutter by butterfly?
Why don’t you rest
a while, spread your wings,
cool down and let things
wander by.
Open your beauty and smile
in the joy of just being, sitting
there, seeing the day unfold,
bright, brash, bold
in summer’s garden.
Have a sweet drink of nectar
from the buddleia, cornflower
or the aromatic Rambling
Rector rose.
Then rested, refreshed
you can be on your way to
whatever fun and adventures
life conjures up on this
lovely, warm, sunny day.

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment as they are always welcome.

Dermot.

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Journal

What is a journal? Well, a journal can be a number of different things depending on what it is to be used for. For example, a journal can be an academic article for publication, it can be a type of personal writing document or a personal reflection tool used when in education or training environments.

In academia, journals are periodicals that publish original research on specific topics such as political science or nursing, critical analysis documents and some may also be peer-reviewed articles. However, peer-reviewed articles and journals used to be the “gold standard” in publication but this is not now necessarily the case now due to some peer-reviews being subject to biases that favour/disfavour research topics, institutions or demographic groups. This means impartiality and validity are at risk thereby negating the content and reputation of this type of journal/article.

Academic journals are written for specific research groups, specialists or disciplines and are generally not meant for wider publication and readership. That is not to say these types of research journals are not in the public domain, but this will depend on the topics being disseminated through journal publication. 

Journals are supposed to be to be platforms to explore the latest research, discussion or discourse in a particular field or discipline. In essence, journals are supposed to be the apex of academic inquiry and research in a given discipline. However, journals can also have a personal element such as a reflective journal which can be used as part of a training portfolio. These types of journals allow the trainee to identify how they feel, what they learn, their experiences during the training and the successes or failures of the training course. Reflective journals are essential parts of degrees such as nursing, counselling and sports therapy as ways in which the students can identify their development, feelings and experiences as they proceed through the degree.

Image of Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle for a Reflective Journal

In many ways, a journal of this type is a kind of diary where the writer/student writes about themselves, how they learn, what they learn, their personal reflections and identify their own experiences and learning on a journey or training programme. A personal reflection journal can also highlight some issues for the writer. For instance, there may be a fear of self-disclosure as this type of journal requires the writer to reflect on their own feelings, thoughts, emotions and memories.

Self-reflection involves self-confrontation, and people may not want to rekindle or face memories, times and incidents which they find unsettling. These types of journals may lead to unpleasant personal home truths or acknowledge painful experiences which have been buried. In turn, this can then lead to anxiety issues as going into the past and one’s subconscious can be a debilitating experience depending on the memories that appear.

Conversely, the reflective journal can also be a journey of self-discovery which ultimately leads to personal reconciliation with the past and a consequent catharsis and liberation from the emotional shackles of that past. In essence, a journal can be used as form of personal therapy known as writing therapy where the writer can express ideas and thoughts that they may not be able to verbally articulate to themselves or others.

Image of a junk journal

Another form of journal is that of the junk journal. In essence, a junk journal is made up of materials that may normally be thrown in the bin, hence the name junk journal. These types of journals can include items of personal interest such as old newspaper articles, drawings, pieces of artwork, leaflets or even old pictures. Indeed, junk journals can be places where artwork of all types can be included whether self-painted or downloaded from the internet. Old maps, letters (if anyone writes them anymore), Christmas cards or birthday cards can be included in a junk journal. In short, anything of personal interest can be in such a journal and it can be as creative as the author wants. In fact, it could be a reflective junk journal which expresses the author’s thoughts, feelings, experiences and emotions through creative junk. In essence, a journal can be in any format and on any topic you want. It’s up to you.

Journal Time

Journal, Journal, is there a kernel
of truth in all that I have written?

Did I tell you about the times
that I was smitten, that I fancied
her, her and her, that I shied
away too timid to say or
do anything?

Did I tell you of the heartaches,
heartbreaks of going wild
about a lover, a song, some
misplaced sense of injustice
or someone doing wrong?

Then again, was I only fooling myself
when I should have known better,
followed my heart to the letter
but there you go, what did I know
then or now?

So, tell me Journal, Journal is there a
kernel of truth in what has been written?
Was it a journey of revelatory reflection
or an exercise in cynical self-deception?

Thanks for reading, Dermot.

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Slugs

Slugs. The word conjures up images of slime, plants being devoured and all round negativity. People with allotments and gardens may view them as the “enemy” as they can reduce plant or vegetable leaves to stalks and seem to be especially partial to gorging on Hostas. Indeed, certain slugs cause an estimated £8 million worth of damage to agricultural crops each year. The three types which inflict the most damage are the grey field slug, the garden slug and the keel slug. Consequently, they have acquired a bad boy reputation.

image of slug damage to a Hosta (Gardeners Path, 2023)

Slugs are from the Gastropod family which derives from Greek meaning “stomach foot”. In essence, this means that the slug’s foot is on its belly which it uses to move around. To ease its movement, slugs produce a mucus which acts as a lubricant when out and about. The mucus trail is also a navigation aid to help them return to their home tunnel.

There are around 40 species of slug in Britain and only a few can be classed as pests. These gastropods play a vital role in breaking down rotting vegetation and are essential composters. They will eat leaves, flowers, lichens and decaying plant material. Some slugs like Shelled slugs (Testacella) eat mainly worms and sometimes dead slugs while the Leopard slug (Limax Maximus) eats fungi, lichens and live slugs.

image of Leopard Slugs, Limax Maximus (Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, 2016)

Traps containing beer, milk and grape juice are also good at controlling slug numbers. They can also be picked up and taken somewhere else or placed in a compost heap so they can munch their way through that rather than crops or flower beds.

Try and entice some hedgehogs into the garden as they will happily devour all the gastropods they find. Before a hedgehog eats a slug, it first scrapes off the slime as this doesn’t taste too good which seems fair enough. It’s probably best not to use slug pellets in the garden as they contain a poison which seeps into the food chain and kills many animals including the hedgehog.

A newcomer to the British slug scene is the Ghost Slug (Selenochlamys ysbryda) with ysbryda being Welsh for ‘ghost’. The Ghost slug was first discovered in Caerphilly in Wales in 2008 and is believed to have entered the country through imported soil or plants from its native Ukraine. As such it is classed as a “non-native” species having been introduced by humans.

image of the Ghost Slug, Selenochlamys Ysbryda, (BBC Wales, 2024)

The Ghost slug feeds voraciously on earthworms by sucking them into its mouth like spaghetti where 2000 razor sharp teeth finish the job. The insatiable appetite for earthworms makes this animal a dangerous predator as earthworm activity allows air and water into soil which enables plants and crops to grow and keep the soil in good health.

Currently, Ghost slugs are confined to South Wales and Gloucester and sightings should be reported to wildlife trusts in these areas including a photo, location, map grid reference and the date of the sighting. This information will be helpful in identifying areas where this gastropod breeds to ensure there is no further spread of this very efficient earthworm predator.

So, the next time you are eating spaghetti bolognaise and sucking a spaghetti string into your mouth just remember the Ghost slug eats worms the same way. Thanks for reading the blog and poem and enjoy your spag bol!

   Slugs           Hostas 

                and 

A trail of slime led to the
    scene of the crime and its
        site of devastation. The Hostas
             had no vegetation, their very
                  being was broken, beaten as
                              everything seemed to have
                                 been eaten. All was still and
                                   quiet, the culprits had long
                                since fled into the night, no
                            clues were left as to their
                  whereabouts or which way
           they may have been heading.
       It could have been the rose
    bush, strawberry patch or
 ornamental bedding. But
security will be improved,
  defence strategies reviewed
      and a warning sign put in
          place saying:
             Do not eat the 

                 Hostas.  Get  

                    yourself over 

                         to Costa and 

                            try the  millionaire
                                            shortbread 

                                                         instead.

Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment as they are always appreciated.

Dermot.

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Navigation

Navigation is according to the National Geographic the art and science of determining the position of a ship or plane or other vehicle and guiding it to a specific place. Consequently, navigation requires someone who can work out the vehicle location compared to other locations.

Some methods of navigation have been around for millennia such as the ancient mariners using landmarks or observing the movement of the sun and stars. Minoans who lived on Crete from 3000-1100 BC left records showing they used the stars to navigate.

At sea, mariners use a navigation method known as dead reckoning which uses the course and speed of a ship to determine its position. Piloting can also be used in narrow waterways by using geographical landmarks to determine a ship’s position.

Image of dead reckoning course plot

Navigating on land whether on foot or in a vehicle involves the use of maps, reading the terrain, referring to a compass and landmarks such as hills or buildings to identify location. If you are in a town or city then maps that feature bus routes, train stations and underground stations are also accessed to provide information of location.

Celestial navigation or astronavigation involves the use of the sun, moon, stars, constellations and the horizon using an instrument such as a sextant to calculate position and location when travelling on the open sea which has no landmarks to aid navigation. A navigator needs to be aware of the different stars and constellations in the northern and southern hemispheres. For example, the Southern Cross constellation appears only in the southern hemisphere and the Plough constellation appears only in the northern hemisphere.

Other forms of navigation include the use of a satellite system called global positioning system or GPS. This system is owned and financed by the American government’s Department of Defence but anyone with a GPS receiver can use it. The GPS is a form of radio navigation and provides very accurate location and position information for the GPS receiver. This form of navigation can be used at sea or on land.

Navigation is not confined to travelling on land, sea or air. People navigate their way around their email inbox identifying which emails to answer, which to prioritise and which to ignore and/or delete. Indeed, people now have to navigate their way around websites of all descriptions whether in work or for personal use.

In fact, there are four types of website navigation. The first is the top menu which is the main website navigation bar usually at the head of the website page. The next navigation aid is the footer menu which may have a lot of information or just basic site information.

Image of footer menu navigation aid

The third type is the side bar which is used in ecommerce and information heavy sites such as blogs. The sidebars can be on the left or the right of the screen page. The fourth type of website navigation is called breadcrumbs which are hierarchical that show how pages are nested within each other. Breadcrumbs are good for helping users find their way around within a website of specific interest to them such as online shopping websites.

Indeed, any organisation or business uses navigation to identify issues, plot course corrections and develop new ways of implementing services or products. Governments too, whether local or national, also use navigation tools to find out what voters are thinking regarding policies or voting intentions in a forthcoming election.

These methods can include focus groups, survey research using samples and populations, opinion polls, mail surveys, telephone surveys, interest groups or lobbying and protests such as marches to measure public opinion. From these methods policy documents, laws and manifesto declarations can be identified and implemented.

Which brings us to the present day and the current government is preparing to navigate its way around the ongoing unrest in Britain over issues such as legal and illegal immigration, open borders, two tier policing, the integration of communities with conflicting and contradictory belief systems, the axing of winter fuel payments for pensioners, net zero costs and the impending increases in taxes for the people of Britain.

How the Labour government navigates its way around these issues will determine whether it remains in power. The future of Britain as a stable, unified and functioning country is at stake as it could all too easily descend into a balkanised failed state.

Navigating the Alphabet (children’s poem)

To get from A to B to C
I’ll have to take a compass
with me and D to E to F I’ll need
a map but I’ve left it on the
shelf. So from G to H to I I’ll
be guided by the sun in the
sky. From there I’ll travel to
J and K and L so I’d better make
sure I locate a hotel and after a
hearty breakfast it’s off to M and
N and O where I’ll have a much

better route to go. Then on to
P, Q and R and a night spent
reading the stars and off to S
T and U where the cliffs and
the sea provide an amazing
view and onwards to W, X, Y
and Z where after a tiring
day out it’s time for bed. And in
the morning it’s all the way back
to A, B and C for you and me.

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment as they are always appreciated. Dermot.

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Stars

When you look up at the stars they sometimes seem to be within touching distance. This may be due to their familiarity and reliability of always “turning up” in the sky. According to NASA each star has at least one planet rotating around it and some of these may be able to support human life. The planets that could support human life are known as exoplanets and they must be in the “Goldilocks zone” – not too hot, not too cold, just right. 

However, there is an exoplanet called Proxima Centauri b which could sustain human life and is located near the closest star to Earth, the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri which is 4.25 light years away. This is some distance to say the least. To put this into perspective, if such a journey to Proxima Centauri b was conducted using Apollo11 technology it would take 100,000 years to get there. 

False colour image of Proxima Centauri taken from the Hubble Space Telescope 2013.
The bright lines are diffraction spikes.

These days space vehicles are faster and Nasa’s Parker Solar probe has reached speeds of 400,000 miles an hour, which is 0.67% of the speed of light, as it travelled towards orbiting the sun. Even at this speed, it would take 6,300 years to get to Proxima Centauri b, requiring a multi-generational crew.

Such a crew would have to be carefully selected and issues like pregnancy rates, fertility, prevention of inbreeding, illness, collision and accidents among others would need to be considered. An algorithm called Heritage worked out the minimum number of spaceship crew needed for such a journey would be 100 settlers or 50 breeding pairs of males and females to ensure humans made the 6,300 year journey. Once in Proxima Centauri b there is no guarantee it would be habitable for humans so there is an element of risk as there will be no return journey to Earth.

Clearly interstellar travel will require some speedier form of transport if journey times are to be drastically reduced. Fusion rocket spaceships powered by nuclear fusion reactors may reach 10% of the speed of light but would take several thousand years to reach the Proxima Centauri star.

Image of NASA’s Discovery 2 Fusion Rocket concept

Intriguingly, there is an engine called the Helical engine which was proposed by NASA scientist Dr David Burns in 2019. This engine could, in theory, travel at 98% the speed of light at which relativist time dilation would be apparent, thereby making time pass slower for those travelling compared to those not travelling, such as people on Earth.

Travelling to Proxima Centauri using the Helical engine spacecraft would take only seven months whereas for those on Earth the journey would seem to take 4.25 years. However, the Helical engine defies the laws of physics and may never be realised.

The star Proxima Centauri is better observed from Earth’s southern hemisphere. However, if we look at the Orion constellation in Earth’s northern hemisphere, we can see that the interstellar distances involved are even greater. When viewing the Orion constellation it is best to look for Orion’s Belt, the three stars that appear to be in a straight line. From Earth, these three stars seem to be close together, but they are far apart.

For example, Alnitak, on the left-hand side of Orion’s belt is 800 light years away. Alnilam, in the middle of Orion’s Belt is 1300 light years away. Mintaka, on the right-hand side of Orion’s Belt is 900 light years away. Even travelling at the speed of light it would take hundreds of years to reach these stars and it would require multi-generational space craft and space crews to reach them. The same would apply for Betelgeuse at 550 light years away and Rigel at 860 light years away.

Of further difficulty for interstellar space travel is the fact that the universe is expanding. Galaxies are moving further away from each other so that even if we could travel by the speed of light, we would never reach them because they are already too far away. The question as to what the universe is expanding into can be viewed by the analogy of baking a ball of raisin bread dough. As the dough leavens, it expands but the raisins within do not.

In essence, the raisins move further away from each other in all three dimensions. From a single raisin’s point of view, local raisins move away slowly, intermediate ones move quicker and the furthest move fastest of all. The bread mimics the fabric of space and the raisins mimic individual galaxies in an expanding universe.

However, theories as to what the universe is expanding into include that the universe is expanding into a higher dimension which cannot be seen or comprehended. The universe could also be stuck in a black hole of a bigger universe and from which it cannot escape.

Image of a map of the known universe

It has also been suggested the universe will expand until the galaxies and stars are so far apart there is only darkness left. If the universe expands too quickly it may tear itself apart. The universe may also collapse due to gravitational forces reasserting themselves.

It may be that the universe is expanding into itself. That the universe is all there ever has been, all there is and all there ever will be. In essence, the universe is all the matter, radiation, particles and all the emptiness and nothingness of space and time itself.

From this viewpoint there are no boundaries or spaces to expand into as the universe does not require them as it is expanding into itself and it will expand into itself for all eternity and infinity. So, the next time someone asks you what the universe is expanding into you can say the universe is expanding into itself. Nothing more, nothing less.

To Proxima Centauri

We are travelling, we are
on our way to a new galaxy,
a new dawn, a new day,
past conglomerations of
constellations, old stars
viewed from new perspectives
as we become interstellar
detectives, with curiosity and
resolve we will watch the
new solar systems evolve
before our eyes and record
and collect data for those who
follow us later and follow us
they will to make history and
resolve the mysteries of life
as they unfurl in the
expectations and revelations of
distant stars and different worlds.

Thanks for reading the blog and the poem. Please leave a comment as they are all appreciated.
Dermot Moroney 2024

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The Greatest Dancer

Who is the greatest dancer? There are many candidates for this title such as Fred Astaire who starred in films such as Top Hat and Funny Face. Perhaps we should also include Fred’s dancing partner Ginger Rogers who reportedly said she did all the same moves as Fred only backwards and on high heels. Candidates include Mikhail Baryshnikov, the Russian-American dancer, Michael Jackson, perhaps for his innovative styles including the Moonwalk dance, Isadora Duncan, known as the Mother of Dance and Anna Pavlova, the Russian ballet dancer, who also had a dessert named in her honour when she visited Australia.

There are many other candidates such as Martha Graham, who changed how Americans viewed dancing, Michael Flatley of Riverdance and Lord of the Dance fame, Madonna, one of the biggest selling popstars of all time and the Godfather of Soul James Brown, who was as good a dancer as he was a singer. Then there is Gene Kelly of Singing in the Rain and The Three Musketeers fame who was a major influence when he combined film and dance and invented new dance techniques. His co-star in Dancing in the Rain was Donald O’Connor and was himself a great but perhaps not so well recognised a dancer.

These dancers combined art and dance with athleticism and all invented new dance techniques that took dancing and the concept of dance into new and different directions. Perhaps this is why they are all still influential in their own way, to millions of dancers and fans worldwide.

However, in 1979 the all sister singing group Sister Sledge from Philadelphia, released an album called We Are Family which topped the charts in America. This album meant that Sister Sledge was now a mainstream commercial success at the peak of the disco era. Disco was a subculture dance music that originated in clubs frequented by the gay community, black community and women in New York City, Philadelphia and the northeast of America.

Disco was further popularised by the global success of the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta, as a working-class hardware store salesman who wins a dance competition. The film score was provided by the Bee Gees with an album also called Saturday Night Fever which is one of the biggest selling albums of all time. As a music genre, disco was now a global phenomenon and it is in this era that Sister Sledge released the single He’s The Greatest Dancer.

Image of Studio 54 Moon and Spoon Logo

The producers of the We Are Family album, Nile Rogers and Bernard Andrews, of disco giants Chic fame, wrote the song He’s the Greatest Dancer in 1979 and this was one of the first songs to name drop high end fashion brands with the line “Halston, Gucci, Fiorucci…”. The song is about the nightlife in Studio 54 and of the world’s first male super model Sterling St Jacques who frequented the club on a regular basis.

The song celebrates the dance moves that St Jacques invented and caused a sensation in the hedonistic New York nightclub scene. Famous guests who frequented Studio 54 such as Liza Minelli, Bianca Jagger and Jackie Onassis were mesmerised by his dance techniques. It seems that St Jacques was a dancer who stretched and pushed the concepts and boundaries of dance in the 1970’s disco club scene.

Studio 54 opened in the early part of1977; the year the subculture of disco became mainstream partly due to the film Saturday Night Fever and the Bee Gees soundtrack of the film. Everyone who was anyone went to Studio 54 including Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Elton John, Andy Warhol and his entourage, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson to name a few. These celebrities mixed with ordinary people from New York City as they all enjoyed the drug-soaked hedonism dance scene. Consequently, Studio 54 became the most famous nightclub in the world and was the centre of the disco dance scene in 1970s New York.

The nightclub owners, Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, both of Brooklyn, took their idea for Studio 54 from the 1967 Woodstock music festival. They wanted to replicate the scenario where 400,000 people co-operated in an environment seemingly in peace without laws or police. Maybe, they surmised, laws were actually not needed and so the idea of Studio 54 came into being.

Disco Diva drag queen Divine and a future US president at Studio 54

As Studio 54’s permissive, over the top culture became known, it attracted the great, the good, the outcasts and the not-so-good. The drugs, sexual hedonism and the anything goes culture of the club was noticed by the authorities of New York City. Inevitably, in 1980 Studio 54 closed it doors after the owners, Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, were jailed for tax evasion. However, in January 2017, President Obama pardoned both men when before he handed over the White House to Donald Trump who, coincidently, frequented the New York nightclub. After the jailing of Rubell and Schrager, the heydays of Studio 54 were no more and the dancing stopped.

So, who is the greatest dancer? That, as they say, is a three-pipe problem.

Addicted to Dance

Feel the heat, pulsating
beat, hypnotise with
those dancing feet,
shake those hips, pout
those lips, advertise a
night of bliss,
get in the groove, go through
the moves, no need to
talk, you’ve nothing to prove,
looking good, like you
should, they’d be like you
if they only could,
the floor’s your scene, you’re
a disco dream, the greatest
dancer the world’s ever seen.

Thanks for reading the blog and my poem and please leave a comment below as they are always appreciated. Dermot Moroney

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Pushing The Envelope

When I first heard the phrase “pushing the envelope” I thought it must have had something to with stationery or the Royal Mail and postal delivery services, such as they are. It then occurred there could be some sinister, criminal intonations and skullduggery of all sorts as well. Images of brown envelopes full of money being pushed across a table or surreptitiously handed to corrupt politicians or public figures came to mind. Scenes from bete noir films such as The Maltese Falcon and Double Indemnity * were also conjured up. However, the etymology of the phrase “pushing the envelope” has a rather different background. (*Note: the phrases in blue are hyperlinks. Click on them to access additional material of interest.)

The phrase “pushing the envelope” originates from “push” to exert oneself to achieve a goal and “envelope” which are the limitations that a technological system can perform to such as an aircraft’s boundaries regarding speed and altitude. So, the phrase “pushing the envelope” means to push the aircraft performance up to and beyond the design capabilities of the aircraft. The physical and psychological limits were also severely tested.

Indeed, the phrase occurred mainly in the aviation test pilot industry and appears to have found its way into popular use with Tom Wolfe’s 1979 book The Right Stuff.  Wolfe’s book explored the origins of America’s space programme in the 1960s particularly NASA’s Project Mercury from the point of view of the test pilots and astronauts who accepted the dangers of pushing the envelope of space flight. The test pilots and astronauts were, in essence, leaving the protective envelope of Earth for a previously unexplored and highly dangerous environment.

In 1961 President Kennedy committed America to put men on the moon and safely return them to Earth by the end of that decade. NASA’s Mercury project led to the Apollo space programme which, in 1969, made Neil Armstrong the first man on the moon who was accompanied by fellow astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin. These two were the first humans to set foot on an alien world. They were also the first human beings to stand on another planet and look back at Earth which must have been strange to say the least. It could be said that Armstrong and Aldrin were pushing the envelope as it had never been pushed before.

Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon, 20th July 1969

There were six missions to the moon in total. The last one took place in December 1972 when Apollo 17 landed making twelve men to complete a walk on an alien world. However, it seems that the near fatal accident on Apollo 13 plus politics and NASA money problems meant the Apollo moon exploration space programme ended with Apollo 17.

For over fifty years lunar exploration has remained little more than a memory. However, in 2017, President Donald Trump and Republican space policy advisers created a plan to send humans back to the moon in 2024/25 and beyond to Mars. The new lunar programme is called Artemis after the ancient Greek Goddess of the Moon and sister to the Sun God Apollo. Perhaps inexplicably, Joe Biden did not cancel the Artemis project when he became President in 2021, given that he cancelled almost all of Donald Trump’s policies.

Artemis 1 rocket launcher 2022

However, there may be geopolitical reasons for not cancelling Artemis such as China and its ambitions to conduct a manned moon landing and build a space station to orbit the moon in the 2030s. This indicates an element of America national prestige which does not want the Chinese to be the first to make a lunar landing and declare the moon to be part of the state of China. In essence, a new space race has begun.

Additionally, people like Elon Musk with his Space X company now work with NASA to reduce costs and share the burden and expense of space exploration. Elon Musk has also created huge public interest in space exploration especially with his stated ambition to go to Mars and create a human base there.

NASA’s Artemis programme is going to send humans back to the moon first, sometime in 2026. The astronauts will be the first humans to visit the moon in over fifty years and will stay on the lunar surface for a week. The Artemis missions have already begun in 2022 with Artemis 1 being an unmanned test flight which flew, orbited and returned from the moon safely.

Sometime in late 2025 Artemis 2 will take astronauts further into space than ever before while in 2026, Artemis 3 will send astronauts back to the moon where they will conduct scientific experiments for a week and then return to Earth. The Artemis programme intends send more people to the moon, to build a space station called Gateway to orbit the moon and eventually use the Moon as a permanent base from which to launch manned missions to Mars and deeper into space.

It seems that the Artemis programme will propel humans into becoming deep space travellers and redefine the phrase “pushing the envelope”. I wonder if people will credit President Donald Trump for creating the opportunity for humans to become a space travelling species. Now, that really would be pushing the envelope.

Travellers

Up through the blue, out into the
black, no turning around, no looking
back. Onwards and upwards
for ever and ever, it’s humanity’s
anointed endeavour, to wander the
galaxies, constellations, create new
worlds, civilisations. A desperate
diaspora in search of a brave ever
after. But the urge to travel, to stray
will be too strong for humans to
stay long so the thrill of adventure,
of the unknown may really be
humanity’s true home.

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment as they are always appreciated.

Dermot.

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Blizzard

As we are in the month of December and Christmas is nearly upon us the question of whether we will get a white Christmas begins to loom to the backdrop of Bing Crosby singing White Christmas. This is true for the bookies who stand to make a small fortune from the unfortunates who place a bet every year on whether there will be one.

The definition of a White Christmas according to the Met Office, is for one snowflake to be observed falling anywhere in the UK in the 24 hours of 25th December. For the bet to be claimed snowflakes must be observed falling on the Met Office in London, Buckingham Palace, Aldergrove Airport, Belfast, Aberdeen football club stadium, Edinburgh Castle, the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff and, strangely, Coronation Street, Manchester. However, one bet that never seems to be placed is whether there is going to be a blizzard this winter.

White Christmas sites in Aberdeen and Coronation Street Manchester

The word blizzard seems to have originated in the United States and according to Richard Wild the word blizzard can mean “blow, blast, blister and bluster”. It could also mean a flurry of knockout punches or a volley of musket shots in the American Civil War era. However, the strongest evidence suggests the origins of the word blizzard derives from the Germans who settled the mid-West states such as Virginia and Iowa in and around the 1850s. These German settlers witnessed the violent winter storms brought by north-easterly winds followed by winter depressions and low pressure. They called these violent storms “Der sturm komm blitzartig” meaning “the storm comes lightning like”. Therefore, the move from “blitzartig” to “blizzard” is not too difficult.

The first use of blizzard referring to blinding snowstorm seems to have occurred in the Dakota Republican to describe weather events during the winter of 1867-1868. In some ways America seems to be assaulted by blizzards from the north, tornados from the south, hurricanes from the east and lunatic Democrats destroying the west, but I digress. From here on the use of the word blizzard to describe violent or severe snowstorms just snowballed in America with many more publications using the word. From its American roots the word blizzard was first used in England to describe the snowstorm of March 1891. According to Wild, the first official use of the word blizzard in the United Kingdom occurred in the snow storm of 27th February-1st March 1937. Since then, the word blizzard is used for events such as heavy snow falls, as the word sounds dramatic in news media reports.

image of the Iran blizzard of 1972

Blizzards can be destructive events and throughout history they have wreaked havoc in countries all over the world. The 1972 Iran Blizzardd (photograph above) was the worst in recorded history and caused the deaths of 4,000 people with 26 feet/7.9 metres snow totally covering 200 villages. Beginning on February 3rd, the snow fell for several days and an area around the size of England was entirely buried under snow. Many people went inside their homes to escape the snowfall but they became trapped and froze to death in them.

In America, the Great Blizzard of 1993 (photograph below) began on March 12th 1993, lasted for three days and was noted for its intensity, extent and widely felt impact. At one point the storm stretched from Canada down to Central America but the United States and Cuba bore the brunt of the Great Blizzard. As the storm moved it produced hurricane force winds, storm surges and tornados. Some 40% of the American population bore the brunt of the Great Blizzard which killed around 270 people.

image of the Great Blizzard of 1933 in America

One of the coldest winters in British history occurred in the winter of 1962-1963 known as the Big Freeze. On December 12th -13th snow began to fall across the county and a blizzard blasted south-west England and Wales. The snow kept falling until February 1963 when a 36-hour blizzard in a force 8 gale caused huge snowdrifts across the country. Some of these snowdrifts were twenty feet deep. March 6th 1963, was the first morning for months that there was no frost and a gradual thaw set in to ease the country out of its winter deep freeze.

image of the aftermath of the Big Freeze of 1962-63 in the UK

Blizzards are a weather phenomenon which can leave huge destruction and death in their trail. The aftermath of a blizzard can be quiet, peaceful even and bring a winter beauty all of its own. However, it is unlikely there will be blizzards this Christmas although there may be a smattering of snow in the hills or mountains. Whether there will be a white Christmas is open to debate. Maybe the nearest we will get to a blizzard this winter is Sara Blizzard, the BBC Weather Presenter on North West Tonight informing us of yet another unwhite Christmas. Who knows, Sara might even sing White Christmas if one occurs this year. Or indeed, if one does not occur this year.

Sara Blizzard presenting the weather

Blizzard

It comes from the North and the East,
a wild, wild raging beast, inflicting its
terrifying power, making everyone cower,
and pray for an end to its unrelenting
whiteout, wipe-out fury.
But the storm’s hostility engenders
a feeling of futility, so people rush to
find a shelter, a fortress to hide
behind, to flee the ice, the snow,
the wind fired hell, scream,
pray, yell, and fall under the
storm’s malevolent spell.
Then it leaves everything peaceful, calm,
still, survivors view the devastation in
a mute stupification, the shovels,
tractors, diggers move the snow, the
ice, the drifts and people take it in
shifts to wonder what the hell happened.

Thanks for reading.

Happy Christmas everyone and all the best for New Year. Dermot

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Terrace

The word terrace has its origins in the 12th Century Old French word terrasse meaning platform built on or supported by a mound of earth. A terrace can be an external raised or open area such as a landscape, adjacent to a building or a flat roof. These can be areas where people gather to relax or enjoy the views.

The word terrace can also be applied to rows of terraced houses which are a form of medium/high density housing mainly associated with working class people who worked in local factories or mines or mills. More recently, terraced housing has become associated with the gentrification of inner-city areas thereby driving house prices and rents up and driving poorer working-class people out.

The word terrace can also refer to terracing whereby graduated level steps are cut into a slope or mountainside to grow crops such as rice or barley. This type of farming appears all over the world and is very effective in decreasing erosion and water runoff for crops such as rice. Some of these terraces have an almost artistic quality to them such as the rice terraces of the Hanni people in Yunnan, China. (See image below).

Terrace earthworks in Yunnan, China

Perhaps the most famous examples of terraces are those located in sports stadiums especially in Britain and Ireland which comprise a series of concrete steps with safety barriers to prevent people from careering down the concrete slopes. Usually, the terraces were behind the goals in football stadiums where people could watch matches at a cheaper cost rather than the more expensive seats along the sides of the football pitch. One club whose terraces went along the side of the pitch was Manchester City’s Maine Road ground with the Kippax Street stand being the terrace where the home supporters gathered.

Terraces were very popular in football grounds in Britain from the 1920s to the 1980s especially with the working class who created the songs and chants which created the atmosphere in the football grounds. However, the terraces also meant that more people could be packed into the ground and thereby make the home club more money.

Unfortunately, there were a number of issues, such as football hooliganism, where gangs would try to take the ‘home end’ which resulted in crowd violence in stadiums and surrounding streets especially during the 1970s and 1980s. As a consequence, football terraces were segregated and divided into pens. The end of terraces came with the Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield in April 1989 where 97 Liverpool fans died during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. This was the highest death toll in British sports history.

The police tried to blame Liverpool fans for the disaster. However, the Taylor Report into the disaster blamed the police and the stadium design with crash barriers hindering fans not helping them. Taylor commented that standing was not “intrinsically unsafe” but believed that all major stadiums in England should now be all-seater venues.

Taylor said that football clubs should not use the excuse of all seater stadia to drive up prices. The Taylor report commented that clubs should do their best to retain their working-class roots and let people of all ages and backgrounds be able to attend games. This plea was forgotten with the advent of the Premier League and Sky television as a new world of football emerged.

Images of Manchester City and Manchester United football stadia

Football grounds in the Premier League are totally different now as they are all seated and private/corporate boxes proliferate as does the cost to hire them for matches. Premier League clubs are awash with television money and can sign players from all over the world paying many of them hundreds of thousands of pounds a week. Many grounds seem to have lost their “atmosphere” on a match day/night. Roy Keane, in a famous/infamous rant, blamed the corporate fans for the lack of atmosphere claiming many were only at the match for the prawn sandwiches and beer.

Another change from the days of the terraces in the Premier League/Sky/satellite television era are the sheer number of games that can be watched at any time. It is now possible to watch a football match all day every day viewing teams you have never heard of in leagues you never knew existed in countries and continents all over the world.

The terraces are long gone though there are attempts to get some safe standing areas in football grounds but whether these will increase or create a better atmosphere during matches remains to be seen. One thing seems certain, there will not be a return to the old-style terraces of the pre-Hillsborough era, which may not be a bad thing.

Thanks for reading and I will leave you with Mitchell and Webb’s take on Sky’s football coverage which, since this clip was first aired, has only increased. Have fun, DM.

F A Cup 3rd Round

It’s 3 o’clock. Saturday. The
teams are out, the crowd scream,
shout, hurl insults all about,
songs burst into the frenzied fray.
Excitement, fear surge around the
ground, the terraces shove,
rush, push to the front and
back, swaying, braying into
mad chanting, ranting at the
referee. Dubious decisions meet
with derision, players protest,
tackles are brutal, grotesque,
everyone gets up with hardly a
rest and hobble on with the
quest. Another goal! Just
one more, then it’s praying,
praying for victory, for history
at the final score. Fans file
into the streets, singing
ringing in victorious ears.

D Moroney 2023

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