In 1996 (or thereabouts) the new Meteorology building was opened at the University of Reading. The inaugural lecture was given by Ed Lorenz, widely regarded as the father of modern Chaos Theory. In this biography from the National Academy of Sciences, Edward Norton Lorenz, one reads

At one point, in 1961, Ed had wanted to examine one of the solutions in greater detail, so he stopped the computer and typed in the 12 numbers from a row that the computer had printed earlier in the integration. He started the machine again and stepped out for a cup of coffee.

Here are a few of the things I have been watching , while living a somewhat less active life due to current conditions.

In the south of England, this summer has been quite hot, and fig trees (mostly of the Brown Turkey variety) have been giving large crop. In our area there is a large fig tree hanging over the garden wall, and passers-by have been helping themselves to the fruit. I also try to grow figs, but without getting many. I looked at several videos from the USA, but none of them seemed to correspond to the way figs behave in the British Isles.

Travelling by YouTube during the Lockdown

During the lockdown, and not even able to take a bus to the centre of town, I have perforce been getting about more by YouTube.  Here are three of my “discoveries” which I hope will be interesting and pleasing to readers.

Buzz Aldrin

I am always eager to hear about space programmes, and here from the Science Musuem channel is yet another video showing what a nail-biting event was the first Apollo Moon landing.

 

Today we are between what was supposed the be the day Britain left the EU, and Mothering Sunday, more popularly known as Mothers’ Day.

How how to link those two? Well, until recently I used to be a regular at a coffee shop which was also visited by adults with learning difficulties accompanied by their carers, most of whom were African ladies. From which a thought arose in my mind.

Two days ago I came across this article in Science Codex.

Extremist sympathies more likely in white British and UK-born people

which took me to the paper itself:

Extremism and common mental illness: cross-sectional community survey of White British and Pakistani men and women living in England | The British Journal of Psychiatry