I Dream of Utopia

It has been suggested in the high-rise, densely populated cities of the near future that there is the potential to generate energy from rain falling on the rooves of these tall building. It is shown from first principles, by means of a simple calculation using some basic equations in physics, that this is not an economically feasible concept. Some suggestions will be made to correct the British government’s erroneous assumptions when it comes to governing energy strategy through its Electricity Market Reform policies. It does not seem feasible to me to produce electricity from rainfall on a city. The first thought that came to my mind when this idea was suggested is that water is generally pumped to the top of high buildings and held in storage tanks to be available for when it is needed to be used - in order to maintain satisfactory water pressure. The second thought that I had was that there would not be a significant enough amount of water falling on a building’s roof to gener...

It was fascinating to learn about the Guqin (pronounced gu-chin) and Pipa instruments from the masterful virtuoso player Dr Cheng Yu recently at her lecture-recital at the MEAA. The Pippa is a plucked string instrument, similar to a lute, where there are several strings strung across a pear-shaped wooden body of the instrument. The strings are plucked with the nails but in modern times players prefer to use 'plastic nails' to play the instrument which allows them to use all their fingers individually to play several strings simultaneously. The beautiful sound ha a kind of folksy quality to it that conjured up an image of the infamous Woodstock music festival of 1969 to me - although that is from far before my time! The Guqin is another string instrument with the strings on a long board which is rested on the table and plucked with both hands. There are seven strings which it uses to produce a most wonderful sound. The Guqin produced sounds typical of China, to my ear...

Sex should not be merely a question of whether a person innocently says yes or no but more of a societal thing. Let's be honest, who really cares about some bimbo's opinion, or even some highly-educated British man's opinion. Rape is about politics. I think it is ridiculous to assume someone would care about whether you consented. Rather other people's opinion is what seems to count. I think consent is when a woman abuses you. If a woman calls you “gay” or “a virgin” that should count as consent to sex as it is “incitement to sexual intercourse”. If someone treats you properly and says no to sex and can give a rational enough explanation for the decision that might stand up in court? It's probably safe to assume that someone isn't interested [in sex] if you haven't already had sex with that someone and they enjoyed it.

The message of Jesus Christ to me is to chose to live life to the full and remember what God has done for us. That Jesus kept going beyond death emphasises to me the sincerity of the Lord's Prayer when we pray for our daily bread - Epiousios in the original manuscript, as Dr Alan Garrow told us on his final sermon at Bath Abbey where we are praying for security in our lives - he came back from the dead to save us and forgave us even though we sinners executed him on the cross, without valid justification. The Bible gives us the grounding or foundation to really live life to the full and the most important point about being a Christian is being fully alive. Treating people well with the aspiration of living eternally in Heaven, being guided by the Holy Spirit. Giving thanks to Jesus Christ for giving us the Grace to live our lives guided by the Holy Spirit and for all the progress we have made so far toward the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. We remember what Jesus Christ has done...

Sir John Herschel William Herschel Society 35 th Annual Lecture Saturday 14th March 2015 at Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institute Notes taken by William Gaskell Lecture given by Allan Chapman MA DPhil DSc DUniv FRAS Dr Allan Chapman became William Herschel Society 2 nd President after Sir Patrick Moore Introduction by Dr Peter Ford William Herschel, astronomer and musician, discovered the planet Uranus in Bath on 13th March 1781. The discovery was made at William Herschel’s house in Bath at 19 New King Street. This house was saved from demolition and was instead converted to the William Herschel Museum in Bath in 1981 and this lecture was inaugurated at that time to honour this discovery. Who was John Herschel? John Herschel was The Leading Natural Philosopher of his day in Europe and the world. He was fluent in French and German as well as English and well-travelled in Europe. He is a philosopher as the term “scientist” was only coined in 1840. He was...

Notes Ancient Armenian Civilization and the Celtic Connection Lecture given by Ara Kikorian At BRLSI on 9 th March 2015 What is Culture? ·          Somethings, material and linguistic,  that a group of people have in common Armenia in the Bible ·          Mount Ararat, the resting place of Noah’s Ark after the flood in the Book of Genesis ·          2 Kings also mentions Armenia ·          Hayk is founder of Armenia according to Armenians o    Descendant of Japheth, a son of Noah ·          Armenia is Haykestan in Armenian o    Stan being a Persian derived word for country Some important dates in Armenian History: ·          405 BC   Armenian Alphabet created ·    ...

Economic Sustainability in Heritage Management Skills sharing workshop 6th March 2015, M Shed, Bristol, UK Notes by William Gaskell, Volunteer at Museum of East Asian Art (MEAA), Bath Info about MEAA: 6-7000 visitors per year 4 full time staff, 4 part time staff In order to approach funding background work needed: ·          Report on museum data to use as evidence when approaching funding opportunities o    Photographs o    Diary of how time/man hours are spent ·          Compare experiences with other museums o    Use benchmarks/standard indices Example of target groups of visitors: ·          Metro culturals – arty types ·          Experience seekers – looking for things to do ·          Commuterland [teenage] culture buf...