Stratford and along the Avon

In one of those odd little bits of symmetry i like to fill my life with i spent my first proper day (as in not a weekend or bank holiday) unemployed (or between jobs shall we say) in Stratford-upon-Avon.

It was to Stratford i went just before i found out my services were no longer needed at the uni. So the Bard's town bookends 2 months of uncertainty and secrecy.  Stratford is my go-to-town when i need a diversion and while it is still cold there are signs of Spring with boats a-plenty on the Avon. You can see my photos here.

Building then painting

Project 042, a model of HMS Suffolk, is going well. Construction was completed earlier today and now some basic painting has begun. I suspect painting may take quite a bit longer than building, especially when i paint the main hull. Its looking good though, apart from the masts which are a bit wonky and looks like the ship has been in a battle with the Bismarck!

The end of a chapter

I thought this year would be fairly uneventful, plough on at work as usual and get most of my dissertation out of the way before the deadline next January but life is seldom totally predictable. On Thursday i left my employer of 12 years and now will be (for the next few months at least) a full time student!

It was sad to leave my colleagues (who gave me a lovely send-off) and the university (where i also studied for 5 years) but life goes on. Now i can concentrate on my studies for a while but also take stock and decide where i want to go next in life. For 18 years i have worked in web development, maybe its time for a change, or work for myself. Lets have a good think anyway.

Project 042

Its still cold but i'm fed up waiting for the Winter to end, the 2013 model making season is off to a proper start with construction of Project 042 HMS Suffolk commencing. It is my first ship kit since i restarted model building a few years ago though i did quite a few in the past, unlike most of my plane models i think i still have some of my old ships somewhere...

Was it a comet and not an asteroid that finished the Dinosaurs?

Scientists examining the amount of rare metals released by the impact that caused the Chicxulub crater in Mexico (which scientists believe is where the object that hit the Earth to spark the mass extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous took place) now think that the Earth was hit by a smaller object than an asteroid but one traveling at a higher velocity, a comet in other words.

This is because the amount of debris deposited is less than would be expected if a larger asteroid struck the Earth. The object that hit the Earth is calculated to would need to be 5km in diameter to result in the rare metals like iridium detected however the size of the crater would indicate a much larger object, unless it was traveling fast. Other scientists say that it might not be possible to say conclusively from the metals detected and their displacement may not have been uniform.

However the strength of the impact was sufficient to send huge amounts of dust into the atmosphere and cause the "Nuclear Winter" that killed off the Dinosaurs and many other creatures, 70% of all species.

Living memory, second-hand memory and American Civil War pensions

One historical concept i find fascinating is that of "living memory", by this i mean historical events that were witnessed (either first or second hand) by people still living. While very recent events have millions of living witnesses all historical events eventually pass from living memory as people who were alive during these events die off.

World War 1 for example will soon pass from living memory. It is not thought any soldiers who fought in the conflict are still alive since the passing of veterans like Harry Patch, there will still be some civilians who were alive during the war who will have memories of the times (even if they were no where near any actual fighting). Even the youngest of these (say someone who was 5 or 6 in 1918) will be over 100 nowadays.

Second-hand memory can persist for longer. By this i mean memories being passed on by first-hand witnesses to their descendants (orally face to face). In some ways this retains a living link to events that passed from living memory many years before. Interestingly the American Civil War even though it ended in 1865 is still in second-hand memory after news of a couple of children of veterans still being alive and still receiving a war pension.

The last veteran of the war died in 1956 though many veterans did marry much younger women and the last widow did not die until 2003. It is likely these surviving children were the result of older veterans marrying young women (which was not uncommon in the early 20th century). How much these 2 survivors can remember of what their fathers may have told them about the war is unknown, it is reported that both are of poor health and very old, but they remain a living link to a war that passed from living memory half a century ago.