Leeds - City of Culture 2023 Leeds was self-declared City of Culture for 2023. I did not get to most of events including the opening concert, which I only found out about after the event. Now less than two months to go, to catch rest still on. We have great cultural attractions in Leeds including many galleries and museums. I only just discovered recently both the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery and The Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery at the University of Leeds.

Ian Heavens (1957-2000) A few months, I have restored on my hosting a copy of the Ian Heavens Memorial Webpage created by someone else shortly after his death in 2000. I wanted to write more myself about him, but I thought I better just post that I have put those pages back online. I got to know Ian online long before I met him in person through Spunk Press. When I did met him in person he introduced me to many others including some who became good friends.

Counties of Great Britain Here is a list of the historic counties listed roughly south to north in groups of each country of Great Britain with some overlaps as some existed at different times: Cornwall Devon Somerset Dorset Wiltshire Hampshire Sussex Surrey Kent Essex Middlesex Hertfordshire Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire Berkshire Gloucestershire Worcestershire Herefordshire Shropshire Staffordshire Warwickshire Leicestershire Rutland Northamptonshire Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire Huntingdonshire Norfolk Suffolk Essex (formerly part of the historic county of Suffolk) Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire Derbyshire Cheshire Lancashire Westmorland (merged with Cumberland and part of North Lancashire to form Cumbria in 1974) Cumberland Northumberland County Durham Monmouthshire Glamorgan Carmarthenshire Pembrokeshire Cardiganshire Montgomeryshire Merionethshire Caernarfonshire Denbighshire Flintshire Anglesey Brecknockshire Radnorshire Dumfriesshire Kirkcudbrightshire Wigtownshire Ayrshire Renfrewshire Lanarkshire Peeblesshire Selkirkshire Roxburghshire Berwickshire East Lothian (Haddingtonshire) Midlothian (Edinburghshire) West Lothian (Linlithgowshire) Fife Stirlingshire Perthshire Angus (Forfarshire) Kincardineshire Aberdeenshire Banffshire Morayshire Nairnshire Ross and Cromarty Inverness-shire Argyllshire Dunbartonshire Stirlingshire Clackmannanshire Kinross-shire Wigtownshire I would ask companies to ensure their IT systems and publicity only use historic county names to describe the areas fully covered by landmark counties, not modern administrative areas or their different geographical and organisational sectors, which should be given other words to avoid confusion.

Crowning of King Charles the Third of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland plus Canada, Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Belize, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu. I watched the coronation on BBC TV, enjoyed the music, the costumes, seeing the Stone of Destiny (and wondering if swapped for fake when kidnapped), and now with HD seeing the graffiti on Coronation Chair.

Origins of Natural Gas “The evolution of Natural Gas is an incredible tale of transformation that stretches back millions of years. It begins with the ancient remains of plants and animals, which were once vibrant and teeming with life under the warm glow of the sun. These organisms, in their prime, were brimming with the life force that was bestowed upon them by the great giver of light, the sun.”

So you have decided to try an alternative to either MS Windows or MacOSX in the form of Linux or GNU/Linux as some say more fully describes the operating system. With so many distributions available, it’s hard to know where to start. There are so many listed on DistroWatch. But here is my take. First of all, I like to think of choosing a GNU/Linux distribution as similar to choosing a sports team to support.

Mixed feeling about the snow “Oh world, how you glisten bright, With snow that blankets all in white, A wondrous sight for all to see, A winter wonderland that’s free. The snowflakes fall, so pure and clean, A beautiful and tranquil scene, The world is hushed, a peaceful place, A moment frozen in time and space. The children laugh, with joy and glee, As they build a snowman, tall and free,

Podcasts for Relaxing Before Bed (as well as out and about on walks) Energy Zero Ambitions Podcast (Demand Reduction) Local Zero Podcast Still To Be Determined Podcast (laid back chatty but informative) Watt Matters Podcast Electrify This! Podcast Energy Efficiency Council Podcast Rewired from Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) Energy Transition Now podcast Titans of Nuclear World Nuclear News podcast DNV Energy Talks Podcast Everything about Hydrogen Podcast How Clean is Hydrogen, Actually?

Home Energy Ratings (EPCs) and Savings The CCC has published a letter on Reform of Domestic EPC Rating Metrics. Find your home’s EPC I think the EPC was really undermined by chaos of cancelling the whole house sellers pack they were originally meant to be part of, so undermine economics & careers of those providing them, having said that elsewhere there are similar problems. There was very listenable discussion of the French equivalent to EPCs on the Zero Ambitions Podcast.

Happy Winter Solstice Today 21st of December has the shortest daylight hours, of the year, in the northern hemisphere. I look forward to the longer days, in meantime good to get out at lunchtime, but probably not enough sun to get enough Vitamin D naturally.