I have three orchids which I keep in my bathroom. Each one was a 'rescue' from the store as they had finished flowering and no-one wanted them. They were put in the mark down section and left. I guess if no-one bought them then they would have been composted. I am a sucker for the under dog!
I had no idea if these plants would flower again but I have been rewarded with flowers every year. I don't do anything special and I had never kept orchids before. My ethos if a plant is not doing well is to move it or check the watering and feeding. My orchids are flourishing so I must be doing something right!
This type is a phaleonopsis orchid and I love the contrast between the pure white of the petals and the bright colourful centre. In the background you can see another bud which is yet to open. I took this picture the other day. The sun was catching the flower and being me, I just had to take a photo.
I like to spend my spare time wisely. I work full-time and am studying for my Masters Degree so time for myself is precious. Whenever possible I like to get out and about and visit places but I also have a couple of interests. One of them is working with a small independent film company called Spearhead Films who are based in South Wales. So far they have completed two feature films and they have recently signed their second feature film, 'Pax Imperium, War on Terror', with a distributor. This is not bad going for a small self-financed film company!
I used to work in theatre as a lighting technician and stage manager, and now I work as a project manager so I have bought these skills to Spearhead Films. I basically work for them as a Production Assistant and I am also training with their camera to actually shoot footage. This is quite a challenge and is quite different from still photography. There is also a world of new language to get to grips with (pun intended!). Anyway, 'Pax' is being taken to the Cannes Film Festival by the distributor and a new trailer has been put together for the occassion which you can watch below.
Anyway, let me tell you a bit about their latest film. Pax Imperium, War on Terror portrays a futuristic dystopian society and the rebels that fight against that system. The story is set in a fictional metropolis and centres on the capture and interrogation of the prime suspect in a high profile murder case. The story centres on a man who awakes in a car park with no memory of whom he is or what has happened to him. He must piece together whatever information he can to make sense of what is going on. Meanwhile, the security forces in the shape of the ATU (Anti Terrorist Unit), are trying to solve the murder of a leading media mogul linked to state propaganda. The directors specifically chose a topic that was 'of it's time' with the Western World in a state of war against terrorism and the possible infringement of civil liberties at home - just look at Blair's nanny state for example. They have attempted to tackle the motivation of those who fight against authority, the struggle faced by security personnel and the ongoing fight to uncover who in this time of crisis, the enemy really is. The film was shot and put together in just over 6 months with a budget of a mere £20,000. This meant that many of the people working on the film give their time freely. The actors and the crew were mostly locally based in South Wales and England.
Fingers crossed that the film does well at Cannes! Have a look and let me know what you think as the directors always welcome honest feedback.
I have a pet Triffid. For those of you who haven't heard of these they arelarge carniverous plants which featured in the book, 'Day of the Triffids' by John Wyndham. When I was a kid the BBC did a television adaptation of it that scared the bejeezus out of me.
Basically it is a story about how these large carniverous plants break free (yep, they move) and attack humans as society crumbles after a meteor shower leaves the majority of the population blind. So it might seem weird that I have one on my kitchen windowsill. Well, actually it's an Amaryllis but it is a large plant and the flower does kinda look like a Triffid so that is what I have dubbed it.
My Triffid was a Christmas gift from my mother about five years ago and it has bloomed every year. It grows a long stem and then four blooms of the most beautiful orange burst open. It really brightened up my kitchen while it was in flower, especially this time of the year while we are waiting for spring to sprung.
I took the picture below when I came home from work the other day. The sun was streaming in through the window and I just had to get my camera. Enjoy!
I’ve been thinking…which is a dangerous occupation I know. A friend of mine recently had some exam results coming and wanted to know is she had passed or failed. They were available online but she didn’t want to look Similarly, a colleague of mine was recently sat looking at his pay slip which remained sealed on his desk. I asked him what he was doing and apparently he was owed some back pay but dreaded opening the envelope in case they had got it wrong, again. It seems like procrastination but this got me thinking as I said…
This reminds me of Schrödinger's cat which is a famous illustration of the principle in quantum theory of superposition. Simply put, Schrödinger hypothesised that by observing something we could see (the cat) we could draw conclusions about things we couldn’t see. The cat serves to demonstrate the apparent conflict between what quantum theory tells us is true about the nature and behaviour of matter on the microscopic level and what we observe to be true about the nature and behaviour of matter on the macroscopic level. The experiment goes like this: Place a living cat into a box (easier said than done!), along with a vial of hydrocyanic acid and a very small amount of a radioactive substance. If even a single atom of the substance decays, the vial will be broken and the cat will be poisoned. From outside the box, the observer cannot know whether or not an atom of the substance has decayed, and consequently, cannot know whether the vial has been broken, the hydrocyanic acid released, and the cat killed. Since we cannot know, the cat is both dead and alive according to quantum law, in a superposition of states. It is only when we open the box and observe a cheesed off kitty or a motionless one that the superposition is lost, and the cat becomes one or the other (dead or alive). This situation is sometimes called the observer's paradox: the observation affects the outcome, so that it can never be known what the outcome would have been if it were not observed. So, from this I was thinking: Whatever had happened to Schrödinger to make him dislike cats so much and is this why some people like to leave their mail unopened (virtual or paper)? To my friend then, the non-opening of mail is not procrastination, it is rather a test of quantum physics. As long as the envelope remains sealed then the exam results (or pay or anything else) is in a state of superposition, it is only when it is opened that my friend passed her exam and my colleague discovered that his pay was wrong…again. This of course assumes that the exam result has not been decided until the envelope has been opened rather than when it was marked, as the point of observation is only when the envelope has been breached.
Now I’m more of a ‘rip the Elastoplast off quickly’ kind of person. I would rather know than wonder, as knowing means I can move on, celebrate or do something about it if I don’t like what I find. I have no control over the marking of my exams but I do have control over what I write down in the exam, so to me it’s a done deal once I hand that paper in. Sometimes I know I have done okay, other times I’m not so sure but I do know that my result depends on what I have written (and perhaps the mood of the examiner when he marks it!). And as I said to my colleague, the fact that his pay was wrong again was practically a certainty though!
Today is Pancake Day in the UK otherwise known as Shrove Tuesday, which is the day before Ash Wednesday and therefore the day before Lent begins. In other parts of the world—for example, in historically Catholic and French-speaking parts of the US and elsewhere—this day is called Mardi Gras.
The reason that pancakes are traditionally eaten is that the 40 days of Lent form a period of fasting, during which only the plainest foodstuffs may be eaten. Therefore, rich ingredients such as eggs, milk, sugar and flour are eaten immediately prior to the commencement of the fast. Pancakes and doughnuts were a great way of using up these things prior to fasting. The word shrove is a past tense of the English verb "shrive," which means to confess and therefore Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the shriving (confession) that took place immediately before Lent.
All over the UK people will be eating pancakes to mark this day before giving up something for Lent. I like my pancakes with lemon juice and sugar and I promise faithfully that I will then give them up for Lent. They are just too yummy!
