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Competition bristles for Beard of the Year shortlist

Posted in Beards on November 8, 2018 by telescoper

After reaching the dizzying heights of Beard of Winter 2018 earlier this year, I now find I am on the long list for Beard of the Year.

The competition is stiff, but my beard is soft and velvety with an almost lemony freshness.

You can vote here!

kmflett's avatarKmflett's Blog

Beard Liberation Front

Media Release 8th November

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Competition bristles for Beard of the Year 2018 shortlist

Shanjei

The Beard Liberation Front the informal network of beard wearers, has revealed the longlist for the 2018 Beard of the Year Award.

There is a public poll to determine the top ten beard wearers who will go through to the final Beard of the Year poll which opens on 1st December with the winner announced on 28th December.

The campaigners say that the longlist comprises those whose beard has had a positive impact in the public eye during the year rather than the style or the length of the beard

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, obviously views will vary as to whether a particular beard wearer has had a positive public impact during 2018 which is why we select a diverse range of hirsute public…

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The Parnell Connection

Posted in Beards, Biographical, History with tags , , , , on April 19, 2018 by telescoper

Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891)

Taking a short breather and a cup of coffee in between this morning’s lecture and a forthcoming computer lab session I thought I’d do a quick post following on from a comment on yesterday’s post about an O-level History paper.

I was an undergraduate student at Magdalene College, Cambridge, which just happens to be where 19th century Irish nationalist politician Charles Stewart Parnell (above) studied, although I hasten to add that we weren’t contemporaries. There is an annual Parnell Lecture at Magdalene in his honour; an annual Coles lecture is yet to be established. Parnell is widely remembered here in Ireland too, not least in place names: there is , for example, a handsome Georgian square in Dublin named after him.

Parnell was one of the most charismatic, capable and influential Parliamentarians of his era, and led the Irish Parliamentary Party at the forefront of moves for Home Rule for Ireland. He also had a splendid beard. His career was cut short by scandal in the form of an adulterous relationship with Kitty (Katherine) O’Shea, whom her husband divorced in 1889 naming Parnell in the case, and whom he married after the divorce. (Kitty, that is, not her husband.) They were not to enjoy life together for long, however, as Parnell died in 1891 of pneumonia in the arms of his wife in 1891 at their home in Brighton (Hove, actually).

 

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A Good Day

Posted in Beards, Biographical, Football with tags , , , , , , on February 11, 2018 by telescoper

It’s been a good day. First of all I was officially presented with the Beard of Winter 2018 Award by the inestimable Keith Flett (right):

The picture was taken (by Megan Davies) outside The Small Bar in Cardiff after a celebratory tipple.

After that it was down to Cardiff Bay, where the Wales Millennium Centre was resplendent in the winter sunshine for an excellent afternoon performance of Tosca (which I’ll review more fully tomorrow):

And if that wasn’t enough, I emerged from the Opera to find that Newcastle Utd had beaten Manchester Utd in the Premiership, a game I had expected them to lose…

So yes, it’s been a good day..

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Hirsute cosmologist Peter Coles beards broadcaster James O’Brien to win Beard of Winter vote

Posted in Beards, The Universe and Stuff on January 30, 2018 by telescoper

Wow. Fame at last!

 

kmflett's avatarKmflett's Blog

Beard Liberation Front

PRESS RELEASE 30th January

Contact Keith Flett     07803 167266

Hirsute cosmologist Peter Coles beards broadcaster James O’Brien to win Beard of Winter vote

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that leading hirsute cosmologist Peter Coles has bearded broadcaster James O’Brien to win the Beard of Winter poll.

Mr Coles, of Cardiff University and Maynooth University in Ireland was previously a contender for Beard of the Year in 2014.

The Beard of Winter is the first of four seasonal awards that lead to the Beard of the Year Award in December 2018.

It focuses both on fuller organic beards, suitable for winter weather but also on beards that have made an early New Year impact in the public eye.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Peter Coles has one of the most distinguished of scientific beards. Clearly his victory was in the stars but…

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Hirsute cosmologist Peter Coles joins Beard of Winter poll after ‘write-in’ votes

Posted in Beards, Biographical on January 22, 2018 by telescoper

I see that, despite popular demand, Keith Flett, on behalf of the Beard Liberation Front, has at the last minute decided to give me another chance to fail to win a beard award. I’m currently in second place in the poll as it enters its final week…

kmflett's avatarKmflett's Blog

Beard Liberation Front

PRESS RELEASE 20th January

Contact Keith Flett      07803 167266

Hirsute cosmologist Peter Coles joins Beard of Winter poll after ‘write-in’ votes

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that leading hirsute cosmologist Peter Coles has joined the Beard of Winter poll after write-in votes for him broke the threshold of 1% of the total poll

Mr Coles, based at Cardiff University and also at Maynooth in Ireland was a contender for Beard of the Year in 2014.

The Beard of Winter is the first of four seasonal awards that lead to the Beard of the Year Award in December 2018.

It focuses both on fuller organic beards, suitable for winter weather but also on beards that have made an early New Year impact in the public eye.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Peter Coles has one of the most distinguished of scientific…

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Hair from Bayeux

Posted in Beards, History with tags , , , , on January 18, 2018 by telescoper

Since the Bayeux Tapestry (which, being stitched rather than woven, is an embroidery rather than a tapestry) is in the news I thought I’d share some important information about the insight this article gives us into 11th century hairstyles.

As you know the Bayeux Tapestry Embroidery concerns the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings between the Saxons (who originated in what is now a part of Germany) led by Harold Godwinson (who had relatives from Denmark and Sweden) and the Normans (who lived at the time in what is now France, but who came originally from Scandinavia).

Most chronicles of this episode leave out the important matter of the hair of the protagonists, and I feel that it is important to correct this imbalance here.

Throughout the Bayeux Untapestry, the Saxons are shown with splendid handlebar moustaches, exemplified by Harold Godwinson himself:

This style of facial hair was obviously de rigueur among Saxons. The Normans on the other hand appeared to be clean-shaven, not only on their front of their heads but also on the back:

This style of coiffure looks like it must have been somewhat difficult to maintain, but during the Battle of Hastings would mostly have been hidden under helmets.

With a decisive advantage in facial hair one wonders how the Saxons managed to lose the battle, but I can’t help thinking the outcome would have been different had they had proper beards.

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Toby Young excluded from Beard of Winter shortlist

Posted in Beards, Politics on January 4, 2018 by telescoper

The campaign against Toby Young gathers strength…..

kmflett's avatarKmflett's Blog

Beard Liberation Front

Media Release

4th January

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Toby Young excluded from Beard of Winter shortlist

The Beard Liberation Front the informal network of beard wearers has said that self-styled ‘right-wing maverick’ Toby Young has been excluded from the Beard of Winter shortlist due to be unveiled on 14th January.

The campaigners say that the BLF has investigated whether Young has faced pogonophobic discrimination, after New Year criticisms of his appointment as an official Universities regulator.

The finding was that, on the contrary, Toby Young, and particularly his social media presence, has brought the hirsute into disrepute

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, the coveted Beard of Winter Award, the first of four seasonal Awards, invariably has a diverse shortlist, for example Prince Harry is certain to feature, but Toby Young is a beard too far.

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Doubt expressed over accuracy of measurement of the ‘Beard-Second’

Posted in Beards, Science Politics with tags , , , on September 4, 2017 by telescoper

As a practising scientist I too am concerned about the reliability of the definition of the `Beard Second’. In addition to the intrinsic variability from one individual to another (including genetic influences) many external environmental factors affect beard growth, so any definition must include conditions such as temperature, pressure, sunlight levels and whether or not the beard is supplied with nutrients. In any case the term `average’ usually applies to the arithmetic mean, whereas the quoted text seems to imply the median.

My advice to the Beard Liberation Front is to refer this matter to the National Measurement and Regulation Office for review but along with most government offices nowadays it only seems interested in issues that directly affect the ability of businesses to profit rather than safeguarding the accuracy and reproducibility of scientific matters of direct interest to the public, such as the rate of beard growth.

In the longer term, however, I believe the only way to establish a reliable standard for the `beard second’ is through an extensive research programme. A detailed proposal is in preparation to UK Research and Innovation, as it seems an appropriate topic for an interdisciplinary award.

kmflett's avatarKmflett's Blog

Beard Liberation Front

press release 3rd September contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Doubt expressed over accuracy of measurement of the ‘Beard-Second’

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has expressed doubt over the accuracy of the unit of measurement known as the ‘Beard-Second’.

The ‘Beard-Second’ is designed to measure how quickly in time a beard grows.

According to Wiki:

The beard-second is a unit of length inspired by the light-year, but applicable to extremely short distances such as those in integrated circuits. The beard-second is defined as the length an average beard grows in one second. Kemp Bennett Kolb defines the distance as exactly 100 angstroms (10 nanometers). as does Nordling and Österman’s Physics Handbook. However, Google Calculator supports the beard-second for unit conversions using the value 5 nm.

The beard-second establishes a related unit of time, the beard-inch which is 29.4 days (or 58.8 days…

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Cat and Beard

Posted in Beards, History on August 12, 2017 by telescoper

No time for a proper post today so here’s a picture of a Victorian lighthouse keeper and his cat.

beard

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The Beard and Hat-Trick Test

Posted in Beards, Cricket with tags , , , on July 31, 2017 by telescoper

I’ve just arrived where I shall be for the next two weeks (of which more anon), but I couldn’t resist noting today’s remarkable finale of the Third Test between England and South Africa, which ended with Moeen Ali taking the last three wickets in consecutive balls. A hat-trick, no less. Quite a spectacular ending for the 100th Test Match played at the Oval.

I was so excited by Moeen’s performance that I tweeted about it and ended up on the BBC website with this analysis:

Fame at last!

The `inimitable Keith Flett’ didn’t need any encouragement from me to write a blog post pointing out that Moeen is the first England player with a beard ever to take a Test hat-trick.

Incidentally, there were quite a few comments on social media about the timing of Joe Root’s declaration, mainly arguing that he’d waited too long. I certainly wouldn’t have declared unless and until England had a lead of 450+, so thought he got it about right. More importantly, his team won with plenty of time to spare.

It’s been a truly topsy-turvy series so far, with England thumping South Africa at Lord’s and the Oval, but losing heavily at Trent Bridge in between. I wonder what will happen in the final test, at Old Trafford?

Probably it will rain…

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