h2g2 - Icy North

Icy North

We have the first slow-worm. Now let's build a lizard.

About Me

Greetings.

I joined h2g2 in 2003. I fled here along with a number of people from the BBC Radio 4 messageboards after many months of technical problems made the site unusable. The others have all long gone, but I stayed, fell in with some very friendly people, and here I am today.

I started writing edited guide entries in 2005. I try to pick subjects which interest me. If I hear a fact and think the world needs to know it, then I might research it, and some of these exercises turn into entries. I'll write about anything, but recurring subjects are mathematics, words and nostalgic food brands.

I've volunteered as a scout and sub-editor, and for a brief period of time was a guide editor (post-BBC, of course). I'd love to do more, but my job in real life simply doesn't give me enough time at the moment. Maybe one day it will.

Most people here would know me from posting to the Askh2g2 forum. Other things I've done include maintaining a list of edited entry citations, sending difficult quizzes to the h2g2 Post, and running the now-defunct Entry of the Month competition.

If you're new to h2g2, then welcome. Please take a while to explore - it's a lot bigger than you think. You'll find an eclectic set of bookmarks below.

wheat #F5DEB3

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lavender #E6E6FA

Discuss this Entry

People have been talking about this Guide Entry. Here are the most recent Conversations:
Icy North, you have today's Quote of the Day! (Last Posting: 2 Weeks Ago)
Subbing Bovril (Last Posting: 2 Weeks Ago)
Wow.. pass the sunglasses!! (Last Posting: Jan 15, 2013)
New qi question (Last Posting: Jan 8, 2013)
Message to Volunteer - Icy North (Last Posting: Dec 22, 2012)
h5ringer to Icy (Last Posting: Nov 22, 2012)
Subbing Hitchhiker Quotations (Last Posting: Nov 19, 2012)
Who Said It First? (Last Posting: Nov 16, 2012)
Weather in Cornwall (Last Posting: Nov 11, 2012)
Citations (Last Posting: Aug 30, 2012)
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Journal Entries

Welcome to this Researcher's Journal. If you'd like to comment on anything they have written here, just click the relevant 'Discuss this Entry' button.

Boris Bus (Last Week)
This morning I missed my normal bus from the station to my office. As I was a bit late, I hopped on one going vaguely in the Holborn direction, then caught another going from there to the office. This second bus journey was my first trip on the Boris Bus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Bus_for_London

Introduced in 2012, this retro-designed London double-decker bus allows you to hop on the footplate at the back, just like buses always used to in days gone by. You can then climb the curved staircase to the top deck. I can't imagine how it got past modern health and safety legislation. It gave me a little frisson of excitement. For a few short minutes I was transported forward in terms of displacement, yet back in time to an On The Buses 1970s sitcom world of clippies in peaked caps.

I've only seen one of these on the road, it's on the 38 service which rins from Victoria Station to Holborn and beyond - handy for the Shakespeare's Head.

Click here to discuss this
(8 replies, Latest reply: Last Week)

Pan Yan Fan? (2 Weeks Ago)
As you may have seen, h2g2 got a mention in The Register this week. I'm proud that they gave a plug to my entry on HP Sauce. It would be interesting to learn how many read this entry as a result of this exposure.

The Guide Editors have kindly featured my Bovril entry on the Front Page today, with a link to HP Sauce and a couple of other food entries. I'm always looking to write some more of these when I get time, as it's the kind of topic that lends itself to an h2g2 entry, and allows a bit of freedom to be quirky.

One of the comments posted on The Register was that we didn't have an entry on the now-departed Pan Yan Pickle. This alternative to Branston Pickle disappeared from the shelves after a factory fire in 2002 destroyed the only copy of the secret formula. I've started researching Pan Yan, and it's got a fascinating history - all will be revealed in due course.

One thing I'd really like to know is what people recall of the taste. Did you eat Pan Yan Pickle? Can you remember what distinguished it from Branston? Please let me know

Click here to discuss this
(11 replies, Latest reply: 2 Weeks Ago)

Shakespeare's Head Uncovered (2 Weeks Ago)
Anyone who's been to an h2g2 London meet over the last few years will remember the venue - the Shakespeare's Head, Holborn - being covered in scaffolding.

Well, this week it all came down, revealing the building, Africa House, in all its architectural glory.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19128895@N02/8691778047/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19128895@N02/8691778277/

It's not just the facade that's been cleaned up, the whole building was gutted and reconstructed to provide some very posh office space - see the brochure:

http://africahousewc2.com/dl/brochure.pdf

Anyone fancy working there? I could be tempted

Click here to discuss this
(4 replies, Latest reply: 2 Weeks Ago)

Snogs in the Key of Life (3 Weeks Ago)
Some typoes inspire creativity. When you type 'thong' instead of 'thing', it can be a bit of an embarrassment, or maybe it provokes gentle ridicule. But we all have a good laugh about it in the end.

Today's typo was to type 'snog' instead of 'song'. It got me wondering how many well-known titles would have an entirely new meaning if their creators had done the same.

Frank Sinatra's 1956 masterpiece 'Snogs for Swinging Lovers' is a case in point. Or what about Elton John's breakthrough hit, 'Your Snog'.

Supertramp's 'Logical Snog' sounds a bit of a passion killer, as does Beautiful South's 'Snog for Whoever', and Blur's 'Snog 2'.

But the typo can add another dimension. Elton returned to the theme with the evocative 'Sad Snogs Say So Much'. Roberta Flack sang about a man 'Killing me Softly with his Snog'. Neil Sedaka sang of 'Our Last Snog Together'.

Finally, they can be plain weird: 'The Pushbike Snog' or 'The Banana Boat Snog'. Is anyone up for 'The Smurf Snog', 'The Wombling Snog', or Keith Harris's masterpiece, 'Orville's Snog'?
Click here to discuss this
(16 replies, Latest reply: 3 Weeks Ago)

Rowing in the Office (Mar 22, 2013)
The Management decided the Workforce weren't productive enough, and needed to be motivated. But how should they do it?

Eventually one of the managers had an idea. Why don't we get away from the day job and have a workshop?

What an idea!

The managers went on an outward-bound course to work out ways to make the workforce more productive. In the morning they had lots of fun doing watersports and solving problems involving bridging rivers using telegraph poles and oil drums. They stayed at a fine hotel with wonderful food and a lovely comfy bar. They booked the conference suite with all its plush meeting rooms with whiteboards and flip charts and coffee and biscuits. They did lots of little exercises and icebreakers and group brainstorming sessions.

Eventually one of the managers had an idea: Why don't we make the workforce teams competitive, like we saw in the Olympics?

What an idea!

But which event should they choose to model the workforce on? It had to be something graceful and powerful, something with a clear goal. Something with pureness and simplicity. Eventually one of the managers had an idea. Why don't we model the workforce on the sport of rowing?

What an idea!

They organised a coach trip to Henley-on-Thames to watch some rowing. The event which they liked best was the eights. Each vessel was crewed by eight powerful strong rowers. At the end of the boat sat a small individual, the cox, who shouted instructions to the team through his megaphone, ensuring they all pulled together. As well as this he had his hand on the tiller, and steered the boat on a direct path to the finish line. This vision of man and machine in perfect harmony was imprinted in the minds of all those managers who witnessed it.

Back at the conference suite, they discussed rowing in detail. What did they each like about what they had seen? They split into groups and did some role-playing exercises. Eventually they came together and reported their findings that evening to the Chief Executive.

The rowers, they explained, are analogous to the workforce. Each is given the tools to do his job (i.e. oars). Each is given training. The only thing, however, that provides direction and motivation is the presence of the cox. The cox provides expertise. He knows what to shout and when to shout it. He provides direction to the rower in both a physical and metaphorical sense. Without his presence, all the effort of the rowers, not to mention the tools and training, would be wasted. Clearly the cox is a prized individual that we should all aspire to.

The Chief Executive was impressed. He thanked the team for their analysis and looked forward to seeing their ideas put into practice as soon as possible.

* * *

And that, my friends, is why I am a rower in the boat that is my office. I am blessed to have eight managers with megaphones telling me what to do and steering me in each of their directions.

Click here to discuss this
(12 replies, Latest reply: Mar 23, 2013)

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Most Recent Guide Entries

These are all the Guide Entries this Researcher has created. If you'd like to read them, click on the link, and if you want to talk about them, use the 'Discuss this Entry' button when you get there.

From h2g2: A87793942 Pan Yan Pickle (2 Weeks Ago)
From h2g2: A87791133 Create April Travel Challenge: Border Crossings, Part II (4 Weeks Ago)
From h2g2: A87788777 h2g2 Citations - 2013 (Mar 18, 2013)
From h2g2: A87783079 A Potted History of Bovril [Peer Review version] (Jan 15, 2013)
From h2g2: A87781972 Deathlist 2013 (Jan 1, 2013)
From h2g2: A87781963 Deathlist 2013 Scoreboard (Jan 1, 2013)
From h2g2: A87778732 The Post Looks Back at NaJoPoMo 2012 (Nov 28, 2012)
From h2g2: A87774592 'Hitchhiker' Quotations in the Oxford English Dictionary [Peer Review version] (Oct 21, 2012)
From h2g2: A87763305 New English Words Quiz: Summer 2012 (Jun 26, 2012)
From h2g2: A87762513 Favourite Children's Authors (Jun 18, 2012)

Click here to see more Guide Entries

Most Recent Edited Entries

These are all the Edited Entries to which this Researcher has contributed. They obviously read the Writing Guidelines and submitted their Guide Entries to Peer Review: why don't you too?

From h2g2: A87784302 A Potted History of Bovril (Mar 27, 2013)
From h2g2: A87777328 'Hitchhiker' Quotations in the Oxford English Dictionary (Dec 16, 2012)
From h2g2: A87767536 Favourite Children's Authors (Sep 13, 2012)
From h2g2: A87761587 How to Enjoy Visiting Historical Sites (Jul 1, 2012)
From h2g2: A87730374 Lettuce (Dec 20, 2011)
From h2g2: A87728700 A Cheater's Mince Pies (Dec 12, 2011)
From h2g2: A87725424 Cowes Castle, Isle of Wight, UK (Nov 30, 2011)
From h2g2: A87721941 Writing the Perfect UCAS Personal Statement (Nov 16, 2011)
From h2g2: A87712581 Snobbery and Sculling - John B Kelly's Olympic Gold (Oct 24, 2011)
From h2g2: A87624994 How To Be Antisocial in an Open-Plan Office (Sep 28, 2011)

Click here to see more Edited Entries

Friends List

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