Ciarán Ryan notebook

Rebel barons demanded a charter of liberties to protect England from King John’s behaviour. The rule of law - a power higher than the sovereign.

Signed on (a now unmarked island) in 1215.

She rode along the highwire

Below, in the canyon, the crowd began to roar

She’d built her bicycle

Out of frozen fishfingers

And now they were beginning to thaw

No personality of your own?

Buy a Pete Doherty hat!

Put it on immediately

And that will be that.

BBC 1 documentary - George Melly’s Last Stand - Feb 2008.

“Moving, unexpectedly funny and completely frank documentary about the last months of the larger-than-life jazz singer and writer George Melly.”

He and his son sang a song (an old 78)

“Ain’t it grand when you’re bloomin well dead”

Lyrics include

“Last night I dreamt I was bloomin well dead

I turned to myself and I bloomin well said

Look at the missus - got a new hat on -

ain’t it grand to be bloomin well dead

We come from dust and to dust we go, they say

So don’t chuck a brick - it may be your auntie May”

regal no.G21422, by the Barmy Brothers (Fred Douglas & ?)

Spray toxins into the atmosphere from your factory’s chimneys and they will be filtered out eventually by the lungs of the public.

Servant economy?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2006/mar/16/thisweekssciencequestions.environment

neen.org

http://freenetproject.org/whatis.html

london-underground.blogspot.com

http://www.openlibrary.org/

http://www.worldwar2database.com/html/japansurrender.htm

Alfred Benjamin Finnigan, soldier: born London 18 September 1896; married 1933 Mary Elliott (died 1995); died Carmarthen 11 May 2005.

Somme veteran - His death at the age of 108 leaves only 12 British survivors of the Great War.

In his training in Hyde Park, he was bitten on the chin by a horse: this was to be his only wound during the war.

the mud and horror of Passchendaele, which he described as “hell with the lid off”.

Having married in 1933, he returned to London to work in a large firm of accountants until he retired in 1961. When he married, Finnigan made a conscious decision that he would have no children: “I was not prepared to produce cannon fodder for the Army, nor fodder for industry.”

obit by Max Arthur

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/alfred-finnigan-498137.html

Philippe Starck - 1998/1999 - classic lemon squeezer - Juicy Salif.

Moral transformation through design? And mail order.

Also designed Asahi Beer Hall - Tokyo

A good object says Starck: “renders its service with grace”

Dr Skud is his bestselling fly-swatter.

http://www.philippe-starck.com/

American architect who said Form follows function

Independent, The (London), Sep 17, 1999 by Steve Connor

Scientists have developed a light bulb made from a new material called gallium nitride that lasts 100 times longer than those now in use. It should make regular bulb replacements unnecessary.

The everlasting light bulb is being tried out at two sets of traffic lights - on the M32 near Bristol and in Marsham Street, central London’ - to see if it is suitable for the millions of red, amber and green lights.

Was it a success?

Lots of literary styles. America’s first post-modernist novel. The journey of a black American man - from poverty and college to jazz and riots.

Joseph Juran, pioneer of quality control, dies at age 103 - New York

“As a result, Dr. Juran’s observation of the “vital few and trivial many”, the principle that 20 percent of something always are responsible for 80 percent of the results, became known as Pareto’s Principle or the 80/20 Rule. You can read his own description of the events in the Juran Institute article titled Juran’s Non-Pareto Principle.”

Joseph M. Juran, a pioneer of quality management whose “Quality Control Handbook” revolutionized how companies around the world made and sold products.

Also: In fact, in pure productivity terms, most of the working day is a waste of time, according the workplace quality guru Joseph Juran. His Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states 80% of what we produce derives from 20% of our activity.

http://management.about.com/cs/generalmanagement/a/Pareto081202.htm

The brown lemurs of Madagascar excrete seeds that are more than half an inch wide. Tree species rely on the lemurs to disperse their seeds.

It’s a piece of research by Jorg Ganzhorn - German Primate Centre at Hamburg University - reported by Conservation Biology - 1999.

So in areas of Madagascar without the lemurs - the forest is struggling to regenerate.

It’s a demonstration of the impact the loss of one species can have, says Jorg.

BBC 2 - 1999
Benedict Allen went to Brazil’s Xingu National Park. North of the country - last bit of rainforest. He was searching for the truth about Colonel Fawcett, his son Jack and and Jack’s friend - Raleigh Rimell. They disappeared in 1925 - they were searching for a lost city of gold - as mentioned in a manuscript. Were they killed after offending an Indian tribe (after slapping a native child)?

Sep 25 1999 - Fawcett’s family were reported to be angry about this film. They dispute Allen’s theory - say he may have been looking in wrong place. They still hold Fawcett’s letters - he hid his real reason for the journey - and say the BBC did not call them. BBC said they could not be reached. Daughter Joan and granddaughter Rolette de Montet-Guerin.

Apparently Fawcett was disillusioned by Great War and influenced by Theosophical society - he felt convinced that the key to ancient religious mysteries were held deep inside the Amazon Jungle.

They obscured their tracks?

Fawcett believed he would never return from his mysterious rendezvous?

Family believe that Fawcett lived in Jungle for many years? Were not killed?

Kalapalos elders deny the killing.

See also:

Lost City of Z

Five years later family allowed access to letters?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/mar/21/research.brazil