Tea? (Part 1)

[Night Train]

I've been economising by using my thermos flask as a tea pot. One tea bag gives me several mugs of steaming hot tea all afternoon.

 

[Night Train]

I was just about to wash up my mug when the handle broke. It has slashed open the side of my right index finger right on the second joint. It is still bleeding through its second plaster and a whole load of tape.

 

[wafflycat]

Morning!

Hope the blood loss has gone no further NT.

More chauffeuring today.

 

[Amanda P]

Nothing PhD productive at all. My brain is like trying to think through treacle.

Cup of Tea?

Tea is useful for me for thinking, in that if I drink enough, I have to get up and walk to the loo. I frequently have bursts of inspiration on the way there.

The trick, of course, is to hold on to the thought until I get back and can write it down.

I sometimes work at home so that I can pace up and down and talk to myself. For some reason that sort of behaviour attracts odd looks in the office.

Thinking is hard, isn't it? Henry Ford was right: "Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it".

Ah. Kettle's boiled.

 

[Landslide]

Morning all!
A limited amount of biccies (swiped from the hotel) available - orange marmalade, or banana & butterscotch flavours!

 

[postman]

Sat down with a cuppa.Just done the two bathrooms.And it has not done my knee anygood.Lads are out cycling going to rest this knee allday now.

 

[Arch]

Thinking is hard, isn't it? Henry Ford was right: "Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it".

What an excellent line! I shall remember that. (I'm still waiting for an opportunity to use your remark about having slightly more than the average number of legs)

Got a meeting in an hour, to tell my supervisor just why I haven't achieved anything. And then I go into work, where hopefully there will be something administrative for me to do, so I can feel useful.


Tea anyone, while I'm here?

oh! NT, how's the finger?

 

[Amanda P]

"So, Miss Arch, what progress have you made since we last met?"

"Well, professor, I have discovered that I have slightly more than the average number of legs..."

That might work if you were a stats postgrad, probably won't wash in archaeology.

 

[Landslide]

"So, Miss Arch, what progress have you made since we last met?"

"Well, professor, I have discovered that I have slightly more than the average number of legs..."

That might work if you were a stats postgrad, probably won't wash in archaeology.

Might work in archaeology if you knew what the trend was in the average number of legs between say, the middle ages and present day.
My research suggests that we're on an upward trend (Chapman et al, 1975).

 

[Arch]

"So, Miss Arch, what progress have you made since we last met?"

"Well, professor, I have discovered that I have slightly more than the average number of legs..."

That might work if you were a stats postgrad, probably won't wash in archaeology.

Well, my PhD is relying on stats to some extent. Well, to a large extent actually.

Actually, I know Terry would love that idea about more than the average number of legs. I may tell him that to amuse him.

 

[Amanda P]

Will it distract him from your lack of progress?

Speaking of which, we should both stop faffing on here and get back to work.

After tea, of course.

 

[Arch]

Might work in archaeology if you knew what the trend was in the average number of legs between say, the middle ages and present day.
My research suggests that we're on an upward trend (Chapman et al, 1975).

Oh god, a whole new PhD subject!

The main issue I can see straight away is one of definition of circumstances. At what point in life are you measuring number of legs? Birth, living, death? With advances in medicine, an amputee is more likely to survive, whereas in the past losing a leg would have been more likely to cause rapid death. So there may have been fewer living people with less than 2 legs, but just as many dead ones in the end.

Also, there is the question of fractions. The proportion of leg lost in an amputation is probably less nowadays since we have more precise surgery techniques and a greater ability to deal with infection.

Finally, of course, in archaeology, we don't always find all there is to find of a person, if a grave has been disturbed and so on. Not finding a pair of tibia, fibula, metatarsals and tarsals may not mean that the person didn't have a lower leg, it might mean a dog (or JCB) got there first... Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Oh, if only I could put this much thought into my own work!

 

[Arch]

Here's one for our resident bird expert...

I've found a wonderfully macbre skeleton outside. Pigeon, legs and feet intact (with skin on), attached to pelvis and spine. No ribs, no wings, no head. Some scattering of feathers around it. I'm assuming that's a bird of prey's work? (not sure there are many cats or foxes about). The spine is bloody, but looks almost like everything above the pelvis has been peeled off - like you'd strip seeds from a head of grass.

It's next to a building, which might have served as a perch...

 

[Amanda P]

Is the keelbone present? Are there notches out of the keelbone?

If the keelbone is missing, it was probably a fox or badger. If it's present but notched, that suggests peregrine, goshawk or something bigger; they often notch it in the process of tearing out the breast muscle. If there are no notches, probably sparrowhawk (and this seems most likely in the centre of York).

Are there any big flight feathers present? If there are, and they're split, that suggests a bird of prey. If they're chewed or bitten off, mammal.

Birds don't have ribs as such - hence the question about the keelbone.

Of course, it could have been taken by a sparrowhawk and then the remains chewed by a cat or an urban fox. It might have just dropped off its perch in the night (pigeons do that, especially when it's cold) and then the carcass chewed by something.

Now, GET BACK TO WORK!

 

[Landslide]

...Now, GET BACK TO WORK!

You first!