22.6.12 Racing to Dress

Pictures of huge, ridiculous, expensive ladies hats and some horse racing. Up until now that has been the sole extent and imprint on my life that Royal Ascot has made. Today as I trudged from Ascot station to my car the other end of Ascot high street, after a long day working in London, just as Ladies Day ended and people flocked in the opposite direction, it was having a profoundly different impact on my life. By the time the second drunk moron careered into me I was fuming and ready for an argument. Having made it back to my car without having run into any serious altercations, I felt inclined to find out exactly how Ascot became Royal and what exactly was the required dress code. The latter I hear a lot of murmuring around every year and given that the women wondering past me looked as though some of them hadn’t paid any notice to a formal code, I wanted to see exactly what was required.

The Royal links date back to the 1700s where Queen Anne founded the race course and commissioned the first ever race – “Her Majesties Plate” for which the prize was a huge 100 guineas. Up until 1945 the Royal 4-day meet was the only racing that took place and as of a 1913 Parliamentary Act, the racing has since been controlled by a specified Ascot Authority. Every year the Queen attends the week’s events along with various other Royals. Across the now 5 day event over 300,000 people attend with more than £3m worth of prize money on offer for the trainers and jockeys.

In regards to dress code, this changes based on which of the three enclosures you have a ticket for: The Royal Enclosure; The Grandstand; or The Silver Ring…

The Royal Enclosure:

Ladies
Ladies are kindly reminded that formal day wear is a requirement in the Royal Enclosure, defined as follows:
§ Dresses and skirts should be of modest length defined as falling just above the knee or longer
§ Dresses and tops should have straps of one inch or greater
§ Jackets and pashminas may be worn but dresses and tops underneath should still comply with the Royal Enclosure dress code
§ Trouser suits are welcome. They should be of full length and of matching material and colour
§ Hats should be worn; a headpiece which has a base of 4 inches (10cm) or more in diameter is acceptable as an alternative to a hat.
Ladies are kindly asked to note the following:
§ Strapless, off the shoulder, halter neck, spaghetti straps and dresses with a strap of less than one inch (2.5cm) are not permitted
§ Midriffs must be covered
§ Fascinators are no longer permitted in the Royal Enclosure; neither are headpieces which do not have a base covering a sufficient area of the head (4 inches / 10cm).

Gentlemen
Gentlemen are kindly reminded that it is a requirement to wear either black or grey morning dress which must include:
§ A waistcoat and tie (no cravats)
§ A black or grey top hat
§ Black shoes.
A gentleman may remove his top hat within a restaurant, a private box, a private club or that facility’s terrace, balcony or garden. Hats may also be removed within any enclosed external seating area within the Royal Enclosure Garden.
The customisation of top hats (with, for example, coloured ribbons or bands) is not permitted in the Royal Enclosure.

The Grandstand:

Ladies
Ladies within the main Grandstand enclosure are encouraged to dress in a manner as befits a formal occasion.
Ladies are kindly asked to take particular note of the following:
§ A hat, headpiece or fascinator should be worn at all times
§ Strapless or sheer strap dresses and tops are not permitted
§ Trousers must be full length and worn with a top that adheres to the guidelines above (i.e. strapless or sheer strap tops are not permitted)
§ Jackets and pashminas may be worn but dresses and tops underneath should still comply with the Grandstand Admission dress code
§ Midriffs must be covered
§ Shorts are not permitted.

Gentlemen
Gentlemen are required to wear a suit with a shirt and tie.

The Silver Ring
Whilst we encourage racegoers to wear smart clothes no formal dress code applies except that bare chests are not permitted at any time.

Given that next year I would like to be one of the drunken masses staggering towards the races and fighting my way home from work, it looks like I’ll have to dig out something suitably smart. Maybe I’ll even get the chance to get my large head fitted for a top hat.
DC

21.6.12 Taking Solace in the Solstice

It’s that time of year again that the Met Office affectionately calls ‘Summer’. Although in recent years it seems to be somewhat more of a token gesture of a term than any specific commitment to a particular average of forecast. Sure, my hay fever is here so I know the pollen count has risen sufficiently for the term to apply, but the warm weather is intermittent at best. Now we seem to more frequently see the sun in April that we do in the months of June, July and August. All of this leads me to frequently question exactly what I’m getting when someone mentions the summer solstice.

The summer solstice refers to the exact time/point when the planet’s (Earth’s) semi-axis tilt is most facing the star it orbits (The Sun), thus maximising daylight. In the Northern Hemisphere this usually falls 20th-22nd of June whereas in the Southern Hemisphere it is more closely aligned to Christmas time (BBQ on the beach for Christmas anyone?). The official summer solstice this year was sure as the title of this post, 20th June at 23:09 GMT. As previously mentioned this event also makes it the longest day of the year (in terms of daylight), with London’s sun rising at 4:42am and setting at 9:21pm, which certainly explains exactly why I’ve been waking up so early.

Let’s be fair, 16 ½ hours of daylight is quite the innings but the Met Office never quite promised that we’d get even half that with actual sunshine. Better put my bikini away.

DC

20.6.12 808s and Mistakes

I must admit I’m not the coolest cat on the street (even that expression is horrifically uncool, I’m well aware.) I’m not the first up on all the latest trends, I’m not incredibly stylised when it comes to fashion, and I certainly struggle with cool slang or verbiage. I put this last aspect down to my want to expand my vocab full of words that are actually in the English dictionary.

Never is this misunderstanding of slang or popular references more apparent than in the music world, specifically when it relates to my love of mainstream hip hop. To use a much sampled quote “no one knows what it means. It’s provocative. It gets the people going.” This, i feel, is particularly accurate. I’m not alone in this ignorance, but I may well be the only person will got admit to it.

This ignorance reared its head whilst listening to popular culture parody, Zane Lowe. As he ran down a recent dubstep track, he tumbled out that the track had everything, choppy warbled bass and 808s. And there it was, ‘808s’. I have no idea what that is or to what it refers and it appears often in music and pop culture: Booming bass and 808s. 808s and heartbreaks. So it only seems right to find out exactly what is.

It turns out the answer is as simple as you’d imagine. The expression 808s comes from the Roland TR-808, which was one of the very first drum loop machines! Roland created it and sold it at an incredibly competitive and affordable price, as a result it’s use became widespread despite it not being the best sounding drum machine. Due to its wide use during the growth of hip hop, it has become an iconic reference and has reportedly been used on more hit records than any other drum machine.

Despite not sounding like an actual drum kit, it has been used by such famous artists as: Dr Dre, Orbital, The Prodigy, Marvin Gaye and Ice Cube. Interestingly, 808 is also the penal code for disturbing the peace in the US, which surely can’t be a coincidence.

Now I know just what an 808 is, I feel just that little bit more young and street. Oh…. I ruined it again didn’t I?

DC

19.6.12 AAA – Abraham Assassination Anonymous

Throughout the course of the near six months that this blog has been running it has become apparent that there is one truth above all others: Popular culture has fed us with snippets of information, the headlines of major events if you will, leaving us with very little information on the how’s and why’s of social and cultural events.

This was true of the Tiananman Square post, the Peasant’s Revolt post and the Renaissance post, all demonstrating my 4,000ft, headline view of major world events. Never is this more apparent than the assassination of an American icon…. No not that one (JFK), I know a little about that… Instead I’m talking about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. This incidentally came about via an obscure Family Guy reference which really goes to show how pervasive it’s reference is in American pop culture and again, my knowledge of the event is little more than the American President got shot.

Abraham Lincoln was American President from early 1861 until his untimely death in early 1865. The reasons why Lincoln’s Presidency was so memorable and important within the history of the USA is largely found in the Civil War that lasted the majority of his two terms in power. The war between the Confederates of the South and the Republicans in essence boiled down to the southern states’ desire to be independent from the rest of the country, whilst Lincoln wanted the states to remain one entity united. One of the key initiators for the war was when, in September 1982, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves and thus leaving a lot of the land owners in the Southern states’ plantations without workers.

Irrespective of this very brief background on Lincoln, what I’m really interested in is his assassination. Following the end of the Civil War and the imprisonment/capture of a number of Confederate generals, Lincoln still had a number of enemies. On April 14th 1865, President Lincoln attended a play at Ford’s Theatre that would prove to be his last outing. Following hearing Lincoln speak regarding the right’s for black citizens, John Wilkes Booth (Well known actor/Confederate Spy) was incensed. Having already planned to kidnap the President and hold him to ransom, he changed his mind and plotted his assassination. Following Lincoln’s bodyguard excusing himself, Wilkes Booth leapt behind Lincoln and fired a shot point blank into the back of the President’s head. He then fled to Maryland on the run. There was, however, only so long he could run for and when he was found in a barn in Virginia he was eventually shot and killed.

It’s interesting learning a little bit more about why one of the most famous American Presidents is so renowned and also how his demise came about. As one prayer during his memorial famously stated “Now he belongs to the ages”.

DC

18.6.12 Under Pressure

In all aspects of life from work to sports, we constantly and consistently put individuals and teams under intense scrutiny. As an effect of 24/7 news on sport and politics etc and new micro management and reporting in business, people are more pressured than ever. You only have to look at how much dissection there is of a sports star like Wayne Rooney in the media to understand just how much pressure is piled onto people.

However, that pressure is nothing in comparison with what scientists discovered in the summer of 2011. Today I learnt that they found a worm know as the halicephalobus mephisto. For the purpose of the rest of this post he shall hence forth be refered to as HM as that is quite some name. The HM is a species of nematode that has been found as far under the Earth’s surface as 2.2 miles, by far the furthest down any living multi cell organism has been found. As a result they are resistant to ridiculously high temperatures, need very little oxygen and feed only on bacteria.

The 0.5mm length creatures can withstand the crushing pressure of that depth into the Earth’s crust (There’s the link back to our opening gambit). The HM gains its peculiar name from Mephistopheles meaning “he who loves not the light” for obvious reasons of them being found in the depths of a South African gold mine. Now nicknamed ‘the devil worm’ the HM is an incredible creature. If only Wayne Rooney could withstand the same level of pressure!

DC

17.6.12 A Tip of the International Cap

As we wear on with Euro 2012, it appears that more of my learning’s may well take their cue from the world of international football. As always, this isn’t me trying to bore everyone to death with something that already inhibits every aspect of our current lives but something that caught me today was particularly interesting. During the Germany and Demark clash, German striker Lucas Podolski managed to just about stick home an early chance to put the perennial challengers (and thorn in England’s side) in front. It wasn’t the goal, but rather the commentary that provided me with the subject of today’s learning.

As the ball crossed the line, the commentator noted that Podolski had scored on his 100th cap. Now even if we ignore the fact that Lucas has reached this incredible feet at the tender age of 27, I thought the 100 cap club was a very small and very exclusive club. What’s more I had no idea what the record for most international appearances was. But that was before today.

The record is actually held by an Egyptian gentleman named Ahmed Hassan who, now 37, has been capped for Egypt an incredible 184 times. His first coming back at the end of 1995 and his last in June of this year (a span of over 16 years). In total there are 223 players who have achieved the feet of 100 or more caps for their given country with the first to reach the landmark being Billy Wright of England in 1959. The current Top 10 list looks like:

1. Ahmed Hassan (Egypt, 184 Caps)
2. Mohamed Al-Deayea (Saudi Arabia, 178)
3. Claudio Suarez (Mexico, 178)
4. Hossam Hassan (Egypt, 169)
5. Ivan Hurtado (Ecuador, 167)
6. Vitaljis Astafjevs (Latvia, 167)
7. Adnan Al-Talyani (UAE, 164)
8. Cobi Jones (USA, 164)
9. Samir Al-Jabar (Saudi Arabia, 163)
10. Martin Reim (Estonia, 157)

Quite frankly, I didn’t realise just how many players had reached the mark of 100 caps. I certainly didn’t realise that Egypt had 2 of the top 10 most capped players of all time. This all begs just one further questions, what exactly are they feeding their players in Egypt??

DC

16.6.12 Mad About Shoe

“I said, hey, I put some new shoes on; And everybody’s smiling, it’s so inviting” – New Shoes – Paolo Nutini

Shoes are an amazing thing. For some girls they are a reason to live (and some guys too), for some people they love just one pair but they always wear them. Irrespective, people end up with a strange attachment to shoes, from a single pair to an entire collection. It was this love of shoes that saw me spending a lovely Saturday day making my way over to the Tower Bridge area of London, more specifically the Design Museum. Because, you see, the Design Museum is currently home to a unique exhibition celebrating 20 years of famed shoe designer Christian Louboutin.

For those of you not familiar with Mr Louboutin’s work, you have almost certainly either seen it or heard about it, maybe without even knowing it. Their signature or trademark that makes them instantly recognisable: a red-lacquered sole. The high end shoes create the business revenue of over $250m selling around 600,000 pairs of these unique shoes. But he wasn’t always designing his own line, he’s worked for Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent as well as taking a hiatus in 1989 to work as a landscape gardener. He finally set up on his own in 1991, with a store in Paris where the company is still headquartered. Their increased celebrity interest has seen them voted as the Most Prestigious Women’s Shoes (2007/2008/2009) by the Luxury Brand Status Index.

Mr Louboutin is seen as a strong reason why stilettos have come back into fashion in the last 2 or 3 decades, and some of his work looking at eroticism and lacquering has provided trends within the shoe design world. His iconic anchorage, the red sole, has seen him embroiled in a 2011 law suit with former employer YSL, with Christian claiming that they were infringing on his trademark. Ultimately he lost the case as the judge reason that to restrict other designers from using a red sole was to provide Louboutin with an unfair advantage, ruling out a colour palette from others.

I don’t think I’ll ever quite get my head around just how much women are prepared to spend on their shoe collection. I like pretty shoes as much as the next person but when your most valued customer (Danielle Steel) owns over 6,000 pairs and has purchased over 80 in one go, it’s really time to question your life priorities.

DC

15.6.12 Kings vs Queens

The country has descended into it usual furore that accompanies every major national football tournament and try as it might, this blog cannot fight the wave of momentum. Although the furore is a little more subdued this year as even the most patriotic of English fans would have to admit that the team is somewhat less glamorous than usual but I guess that worked for the Greeks so hope springs eternal. Today’s game is England vs Sweden and with that comes England’s odd traditional struggle to beat a middle of the road team. This blog is not a forum, however, for recounting things I already knew about a sport that already garners too much media coverage. Instead, I found it interesting when some more intellectual media coverage pointed out that this matchup sees constitutional monarchy vs constitutional monarchy, an interesting sub plot but one that has no actual bearing on the result.

Sweden has been a monarchy since pretty much prehistoric times (that’s a long time) with the first record of a King being Eric the Victorious around 970. The lineage carries through to the modern day which has seen King Carl XVI Gustaf reign since 1973. Originally the Swedish monarchy took the form of an elective monarchy, or one where a monarch is appointed based on an election, and didn’t move to a hereditary monarchy until the 16th century. In modern times the monarchy is regulated and controlled by the Instrument of Government 1974 which avoids anything getting too messy.

Much like our monarchy, the King is officially Head of State and technically has control/final say over the military etc but in actuality the monarch realistically holds a ceremonial role. He does, however, get a nice silver throne with some tassely bits on it and gets to reside in The Royal Palace in Stockholm similar to Buckingham Palace. In a very medieval and ostentatious sounding way, the heir elect to the thrown is known as the Crown Prince or Princess of Sweden – The current heiress elect is HRH Crown Princess Victoria (Duchess of Vastergotland). In the same vein that Prince Phillip is not King in the United Kingdom, should there be a Queen on the throne, their spouse will not inherit the title of King.

Today I learnt that, regally at least, Sweden and England share a lot in common – They could even both be ruled by a Victoria, misfortune and sadness permitting. If our summer keeps going the way it is, we may also share the same average yearly temperature too!

DC

14.6.12 An Un-Peasant Event

“I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly.” Michel de Montaigne

Peasants are an often repressed group throughout history, having neither the money nor the power to sway opinion or force political discourse, that is unless they gather critical mass. Time and time again the lowest classes have proven an uncanny ability to, despite the obstacles placed in their path, rise up and take a stand, relying on strength in numbers.

Today this time honoured tradition was again forced to the forefront of my mind and has become my learning for the day. On this date all the way back in 1381 a famous event in the history of peasantry occurred in England. You see during Medieval Times, peasants were repressed and had very little choice about it. Any uprisings were difficult to pull off and the punishments for disobedience was severe. However, in June 1381 a group of peasants from Kent and Essex had finally had enough and marched to London to make their displeasure known.

They had become tired of the enforced Poll Tax that had resulted from a long war with France, they had to work on church land for free (thus neglecting their own land) and many were scared that they were about to lose the freedom that the Black Death had afforded them. Villagers from the Essex area had refused to pay their poll tax and had twice refused to bend to enforcement sent by the Crown. Wat Tyler emerged as their chief and lead the march on London. Along the way the peasants burnt down and ruined tax records of the towns and villages they passed further reinforcing their message.

On June 14th the King, Richard II, met the band of peasants at Mile End and offered them everything that they had asked for. Some accepted this and returned to their villages but some further rebelled and murdered both the Archbishop and the Treasurer forcing Richard II to worry for his life. When he met the hoard of 20,000 again the next day at the city’s walls, Wat Tyler stepped forward under the banner of truce to speak to the King. Words were exchanged that have never been confirmed but Tyler, who was unarmed, was killed by the King. This death lead to fear and panic amongst the peasants whom, after further guarantees from the King, fled back to their villages.

In the long term Richard did not keep any of the promises that he had made claiming that as he had been threatened, none of them stood up in the law. Although he removed the Pole Tax he did install all peasants back under the ownership of the lords of the manor. In the long run, this actually worked out for the peasants, the labour shortage meant that they could demand more money from their Lords and thus had a better life than before. Today I learnt that sometimes, when the underprivileged stand up for themselves in numbers, it really does make a difference.

DC

13.6.12 The Dawn of Civilisation (II)

Computer games are a funny thing. I used to play quite a lot of computers games in my youth (I still play a little PS3) but this will come as no surprise following my admittance regarding my former love of professional wrestling. From playing Pro Evolutions soccer in our 6th Form common room (and dominating the competition with my current housemate Dave) to large Olympic game competitions around the Wilson’s house, I was games mad. But as with all things, they have a shelf life and some games came and went and eventually so did the time and love of gaming. This isn’t the case though for all individuals.

This guy has been playing the same game of the city building franchise Civilisation II for 10 years!! Just let that set in for a second…….. 10 YEARS!! He has returned to the same game time and time again as his city and world rise and fall and changes. We’ll take a look at what his version of the world looks like but first a little about the game.

Civilisation II was released in 1996 and has become an icon of gaming history, it was even ranked 3rd in IGN.com’s 100 greatest video games. Users take turn to build a city through the years, collecting resources and money as decades and eras pass with the goal of becoming the only remaining race. The series of games has sold more than 8million copies, a quite phenomenal amount given we aren’t talking a big budget cinematic affair like the Modern Warfare series. In terms of this one individuals alternate reality, he describes it as “a hellish nightmare of suffering and devastation” , There are 3 super nations left in the year 3991 AD and there are limited resources following multiple nuclear wars. Scary stuff, hey? He goes on to describe some of the events:

– The Ice Caps have melted 20 times (nuclear war)
– There are no big cities as 90% of the worlds peak population has died through war
– The Celts, The Vikings and, surprise surprise, the Americans are the only nations left.
– War has been ongoing for 1700 years with various peace treaties being signed and then ignored
– The only remaining governments are two theocracies and a communist state – Democracy doesn’t exist
– The military scenario is at a logger head, as more die, more are just moved to the front.

So there’s the world in under 2000 years time. Pretty scary and the worst part is, couldn’t you just imagine it happening? Today I learnt that some people never give up on gaming and have incredible willpower. I also learnt that the world could end up being a pretty bleak place if we let it.

DC