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First Cheese

March 22, 2021 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

Caveat emptor: today’s musings may suffer from sleep deprivation.

I woke just before first cheese. It was light but overcast, very grey. Dublin Port was handling at least two cargo ships, one leaving, the other arriving. My mind was jumbled. Outgoing stolen cars and animal flesh? Incoming vaccines and fruit pickers? Pigeon toes above the bedroom ceiling scratched me wider awake. I picked up a book but it was too early for the whores who were grabbing fistfuls of jewels in the hallway as they left 738 Keizersgracht. I changed books. It was better to be reading of pancakes whose menu depictions tasted better than the real thing. Probably.

Canon 1D-X | Sigma 150-600 F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | 600 mm | 1/400s | f/7.1 | ISO 1250 | handheld

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Chrome

March 21, 2021 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

JG Ballard was in the news in 1973 for his novel Crash and I had no idea of the controversy the book created. Many considered it to be utterly pornographic. Then I saw the 1996 Cronenberg movie. After which I read the book. But why did I ever read the book? I suppose it’s because I presumed the movie was more extreme than the book. I was horrified even though I classified the movie as urban science fiction. But it was more Alien than Barbarella. Before seeing the movie, I didn’t know there was a word for a car-crash sex fetish. I was intrigued that symphorophiliacs existed at all. Sometimes reality offers things even more strange than a vampire. And since I lived under the flight path to Heathrow at the time, I briefly wondered if there was a word for plane-crash fetishists.

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Plant Brains

March 13, 2021 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

You probably have enough oxygen to realise that conscious thought becomes increasingly difficult as the level of oxygen decreases. You’ve probably always known that brain death happens very rapidly. You may even know that decay starts within 5 minutes of an interruption to the supply of oxygen. In short, you might not know it as hypoxia. Yes, brain hypoxia can cause severe brain damage or death surprisingly quickly.

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International Women’s Day 2021

March 8, 2021 by Simon Robinson 2 Comments

Things repeat if you journal every day for more than a year. This, for example, is my second International Women’s Day. Last year, I wrote of ‘… stories out there about the hordes of women trapped into unrecognised care roles. You know these women. They are your sisters and your daughters for whom these roles are harder to accept than for your wife, mother and grander-mothers.’

Prehistoric Burial Cairn … Tibradden Mountain … on IWD 2009.

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The Price of Meat

March 5, 2021 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

It’s generally agreed that it takes about 10,000 kilocalories per day to feed meat to one person who needs 2,500 kilocalories to survive. You should know this if you are concerned about the well being of the planet. What’s often overlooked in our perception of dietary needs is that the animals we eat need to eat and drink before we do. They need to to consume thousands of calories in order to deliver hundreds to your plate.

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Screensavers and Proteins Part 2

February 27, 2021 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

‘I can type because there are proteins that help me do it.’ That’s what I wrote several days ago. Then I took you on a journey that included workstations, screensavers and medical research. What I didn’t do was explain why I was writing about proteins in the first place. And I never mentioned actin nor myosin.

‘… proteins are a marvel of efficient organization over emotional compromise and social politics.’

Seabirds at sea today:
Golden hour bird in a tranquil northern lee, silhouetted bird amidst gilded chaotic open waters to the south.

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