Category: Musings

The recycling of plastics.

It is not as straightforward as I thought it was.

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How single-stream recycling works − your choices can make it better

Successful recycling requires some care. Alejandra Villa Loarca/Newsday RM via Getty Images

Alex Jordan, University of Wisconsin-Stout

Every week, millions of Americans toss their recyclables into a single bin, trusting that their plastic bottles, aluminum cans and cardboard boxes will be given a new life.

But what really happens after the truck picks them up?

Single-stream recycling makes participating in recycling easy, but behind the scenes, complex sorting systems and contamination mean a large percentage of that material never gets a second life. Reports in recent years have found 15% to 25% of all the materials picked up from recycle bins ends up in landfills instead.

Plastics are among the biggest challenges. Only about 9% of the plastic generated in the U.S. actually gets recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Some plastic is incinerated to produce energy, but most of the rest ends up in landfills instead.

Photos and arrows show how much of each type of product is recycled.
A breakdown of U.S. recycling by millions of tons shows about two-thirds of all paper and cardboard gets a second life, but only about a third of metal, a quarter of glass and less than 10% of plastics do. Alex Jordan/University of Wisconsin-Stout

So, what makes plastic recycling so difficult? As an engineer whose work focuses on reprocessing plastics, I have been exploring potential solutions.

How does single-stream recycling work?

In cities that use single-stream recycling, consumers put all of their recyclable materials − paper, cardboard, plastic, glass and metal − into a single bin. Once collected, the mixed recyclables are taken to a materials recovery facility, where they are sorted.

First, the mixed recyclables are shredded and crushed into smaller fragments, enabling more effective separation. The mixed fragments pass over rotating screens that remove cardboard and paper, allowing heavier materials, including plastics, metals and glass, to continue along the sorting line.

The basics of a single-stream recycling system in Pennsylvania. Source: Van Dyk Recycling Solutions.

Magnets are used to pick out ferrous metals, such as steel. A magnetic field that produces an electrical current with eddies sends nonferrous metals, such as aluminum, into a separate stream, leaving behind plastics and glass.

The glass fragments are removed from the remaining mix using gravity or vibrating screens.

That leaves plastics as the primary remaining material.

While single-stream recycling is convenient, it has downsides. Contamination, such as food residue, plastic bags and items that can’t be recycled, can degrade the quality of the remaining material, making it more difficult to reuse. That lowers its value.

Having to remove that contamination raises processing costs and can force recovery centers to reject entire batches.

A mound of items send for recycling includes a lot of plastic bags.
Plastic bags, food residue and items that can’t be recycled can contaminate a recycling stream. City of Greenville, N.C./Flickr

Which plastics typically can’t be recycled?

Each recycling program has rules for which items it will and won’t take. You can check which items can and cannot be recycled for your specific program on your municipal page. Often, that means checking the recycling code stamped on the plastic next to the recycling icon.

These are the toughest plastics to recycle and most likely to be excluded in your local recycling program:

  • Symbol 3 – Polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, found in pipes, shower curtains and some food packaging. It may contain harmful additives such as phthalates and heavy metals. PVC also degrades easily, and melting can release toxic fumes during recycling, contaminating other materials and making it unsafe to process in standard recycling facilities.
  • Symbol 4 – Low-density polyethylene, or LDPE, is often used in plastic bags and shrink-wrap. Because it’s flexible and lightweight, it’s prone to getting tangled in sorting machinery at recycling plants.
  • Symbol 6 – Polystyrene, often used in foam cups, takeout containers and packing peanuts. Because it’s lightweight and brittle, it’s difficult to collect and process and easily contaminates recycling streams.

Which plastics to include

That leaves three plastics that can be recycled in many facilities:

However, these aren’t accepted in some facilities for reasons I’ll explain.

Taking apart plastics, bead by bead

Some plastics can be chemically recycled or ground up for reprocessing, but not all plastics play well together.

Simple separation methods, such as placing ground-up plastics in water, can easily remove your soda bottle plastic (PET) from the mixture. The ground-up PET sinks in water due to the plastic’s density. However, HDPE, used in milk jugs, and PP, found in yogurt cups, both float, and they can’t be recycled together. So, more advanced and expensive technology, such as infrared spectroscopy, is often required to separate those two materials.

Once separated, the plastic from your soda bottle can be chemically recycled through a process called solvolysis.

It works like this: Plastic materials are formed from polymers. A polymer is a molecule with many repeating units, called monomers. Picture a pearl necklace. The individual pearls are the repeating monomer units. The string that runs through the pearls is the chemical bond that joins the monomer units together. The entire necklace can then be thought of as a single molecule.

During solvolysis, chemists break down that necklace by cutting the string holding the pearls together until they are individual pearls. Then, they string those pearls together again to create new necklaces.

Other chemical recycling methods, such as pyrolysis and gasification, have drawn environmental and health concerns because the plastic is heated, which can release toxic fumes. But chemical recycling also holds the potential to reduce both plastic waste and the need for new plastics, while generating energy.

The problem of yogurt cups and milk jugs

The other two common types of recycled plastics − items such as yogurt cups (PP) and milk jugs (HDPE) − are like oil and water: Each can be recycled through reprocessing, but they don’t mix.

If polyethylene and polypropylene aren’t completely separated during recycling, the resulting mix can be brittle and generally unusable for creating new products.

Chemists are working on solutions that could increase the quality of recycled plastics through mechanical reprocessing, typically done at separate facilities.

One promising mechanical method for recycling mixed plastics is to incorporate a chemical called a compatibilizer. Compatibilizers contain the chemical structure of multiple different polymers in the same molecule. It’s like how lecithin, commonly found in egg yolks, can help mix oil and water to make mayonnaise − part of the lecithin molecule is in the oil phase and part is in the water phase.

In the case of yogurt cups and milk jugs, recently developed block copolymers are able to produce recycled plastic materials with the flexibility of polyethylene and the strength of polypropylene.

Improving recycling

Research like this can make recycled materials more versatile and valuable and move products closer to a goal of a circular economy without waste.

However, improving recycling also requires better recycling habits.

You can help the recycling process by taking a few minutes to wash off food waste, avoiding putting plastic bags in your recycling bin and, importantly, paying attention to what can and cannot be recycled in your area.

Alex Jordan, Associate Professor of Plastics Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Stout

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Can we all learn to be better at recycling in the face of so much world ‘news’!

Improving equality

An extremely powerful new essay from George Monbiot.

While this post from G. Monbiot is about politics, I think it goes far beyond that. Hence my reason for republishing this essay, with George Monbiot’s permission. When I will die is not known but surely I will in the next ten years or so. I really want to leave this world seeing everything improving, from the lessening of the change in our climate, to a reduction in world fighting, to a greater equality for all.

Please, please be wrong, Mr. Monbiot.

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The Urge to Destroy

Posted on14th April 2025

It’s a cast-iron relationship: the more unequal a society becomes, the better the far right does. Here’s why. 

By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian  13th April 2025

“He’s really gone and done it this time. Now everyone can see what a disaster he is.” How many times have we heard this about Donald Trump? And how many times has it been proved wrong? Well, maybe this time he really has overstepped. After all, his clowning around with tariffs, sparking trade wars, then suddenly reversing his position, could provoke a global recession, perhaps even a depression. Surely his supporters will disown him? But I’m not banking on it, and this is why.

Already, Trump has waged war on everything that builds prosperity and wellbeing: democracy, healthy ecosystems, education, healthcare, science, the arts. Yet, amid the wreckage, and despite some slippage, his approval ratings still hold between 43 and 48%: far higher than those of many other leaders. Why? I believe part of the answer lies in a fundamental aspect of our humanity: the urge to destroy that from which you feel excluded.

This urge, I think, is crucial to understanding politics. Yet hardly anyone seems to recognise it. Hardly anyone, that is, except the far right, who see it all too well.

In many parts of the world, and the US in particular, inequality has risen sharply since the late 1970s. (The UK tracks this trend.) The world’s billionaires became $2tn richer last year, while the number of people living below the global poverty line is more or less unchanged since 1990.

There is strong evidence of a causal association between growing inequality and the rise of populist authoritarian movements. A paper in the Journal of European Public Policy found that a one-unit rise in the Gini coefficient (a standard measure of inequality) increases support for demagogues by 1%.

Why might this be? There are various, related explanations: feelings of marginalisation, status anxiety and social threat, insecurity triggering an authoritarian reflex and a loss of trust in other social groups. At the root of some of these explanations, I feel, is something deeply embedded in the human psyche: if you can’t get even, get mean.

In the US, a high proportion of the population is excluded from many of the benefits I’ve listed. Science might lead to medical breakthroughs, but not, perhaps, for people who can’t afford health insurance. A university education might open doors, but only if you’re prepared to carry tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Art and theatre and music improve our lives: good for those who can buy the tickets. So do national parks, but only if you can afford to visit them.

Democracy, we are told, allows people a voice in politics. But only, it seems, if they have a few million to give to a political party. As the political scientist Prof Martin Gilens notes in his book Affluence and Influence: “Under most circumstances, the preferences of the vast majority of Americans appear to have essentially no impact on which policies the government does or doesn’t adopt.” GDP growth was strong under Joe Biden, but as the economics professor Jason Furman points out: “From 2019 to 2023, inflation-adjusted household income fell, and the poverty rate rose.” GDP and social improvement are no longer connected.

All those good things? Sorry, they’re not for you. If you feel an urge to tear it all down, to burn the whole stinking, hypocritical, exclusive system to the ground, Trump is your man. Or so he claims. In reality his entire performance is both a distraction from and an accelerant of spiralling inequality. He can hardly lose: the more he exacerbates inequality, the more he triggers an urge for revenge against his scapegoats: immigrants, trans people, scientists, teachers, China.

But such killer clowns can’t pull this off by themselves. Their most effective recruiters are centrist parties paralysed in the face of economic power. In hock to rich funders, terrified of the billionaire media, for decades they have been unable even to name the problem, let alone address it. Hence the spectacular uselessness of the Democrats’ response to Trump. As the US journalist Hamilton Nolan remarks: “One party is out to kill, and the other is waiting for its leaders to die.”

In the UK, Labour, like the Democrats, has long assured itself that it doesn’t matter how wide economic disparities are, as long as the poorest are raised up. Now it has abandoned even that caveat: we can cut benefits, so long as GDP grows. But it does matter. It matters very much. A vast array of evidence, brought together in 2009 in The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett and updated in 2024, shows that inequality exerts a massive influence on social, economic, environmental and political outcomes, regardless of people’s absolute positions.

If there is a such a thing as Starmerism, it collapses in the face of a paper published by the political scientists Leonardo Baccini and Thomas Sattler last year, which finds that austerity increases support for the radical right in economically vulnerable regions. (My emboldening. PH) Austerity, they found, is the key variable: without it, less-educated people are no more likely to vote for rightwing demagogues than highly educated people are. In other words, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are busily handing their core constituencies to Nigel Farage.

Of course, they deny they’re imposing austerity, using a technical definition that means nothing to those on the sharp end. Austerity is what the poor experience, while they must watch the rich and upper middle classes, under a Labour government, enjoy ever greater abundance.

Starmer and his minions suggest there’s nothing they can do: wealthy people are already taxed to the max. As private jets and helicopters cross the skies, anyone can see this is nonsense. Of all the remarkable things I stumbled across while researching this column, the following is perhaps the most jaw-dropping. On the most recent (2022) figures, once benefits have been paid, the Gini coefficient for gross income in the UK scarcely differs from the Gini coefficient for post-tax income. In other words, the gap between the rich and the poor is rougly the same after taxes are levied, suggesting that taxation has no further significant effect on income distribution. How could this possibly be true, when the rich pay higher rates of income tax? It’s because the poor surrender a much higher proportion of their income in sales taxes, such as VAT. So much for no further options. So much for Labour “realism”.

The one thing that can stop the rise of the far right is the one thing mainstream parties are currently not prepared to deliver: greater equality. The rich should be taxed more, and the revenue used to improve the lives of the poor. However frantically centrist parties avoid the issue, there is no other way.

www.monbiot.com

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George writes about Britain but my judgement is that this issue is not limited to that country; I suspect it is a far wider problem. Did you know that Finland is the world’s happiest country?

An extract of that article: “Finland has been ranked as the world’s happiest country for the eighth successive year, with experts citing access to nature and a strong welfare system as factors.

It came ahead of three other Nordic countries in this year’s UN-sponsored World Happiness Report, while Latin America’s Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10 for the first time.

Both the UK and the US slipped down the list to 23rd and 24th respectively – the lowest-ever position for the latter.”

A guide to staying fulfilled in later life.

This article in The Conversation spoke to me!

So it is the 1st April and, here in Oregon, we had over half-an-inch of rain yesterday; Spring hasn’t yet arrived!

I’m at the age where I think much more about dying than I used to, say, ten years ago. Frankly, I’m not ready to go yet!

So when I saw this article from The Conversation I wanted to share it with you.

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Want to stay healthier and fulfilled later in life? Try volunteering

New volunteers get trained in Lexington, Ky., to help out at CASA of Lexington in April 2023. AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel

Cal J. Halvorsen, Washington University in St. Louis and Seoyoun Kim, University of Michigan

As gerontologists – social scientists who study aging populations – we envision a future in which older people leave a doctor’s visit with a prescription to go volunteer for something.

Does that sound far-fetched? There’s scientific research backing it up.

Good for your health

While spending more than a dozen years researching what happens when older adults volunteer with nonprofits, including churches, we’ve found that volunteers consider themselves to be in better health than their peers who don’t. In addition, their blood pressure is lower, and they appear to be aging more slowly than other people of the same age.

Other researchers have found that volunteering is associated with a lower risk of having a heart attack.

The mental health benefits are just as striking.

Volunteering is tied to having fewer symptoms of depression and being more satisfied with your life. It often brings an instant boost in mood – along with a deeper sense of meaning and purpose.

Even engaging in what’s known as “informal helping” – lending a hand to friends, neighbors or community members in need, without getting paid or participating in an organized program – can help you in similar ways.

There are also health benefits for those who start volunteering much earlier in life.

Children and teens who volunteer tend to have better health and lower levels of anxiety and fewer behavioral problems than those who don’t volunteer.

Changing demographics

The number of U.S. adults at least 62 years old – the earliest age at which you can claim Social Security retirement benefits – has grown by nearly 35 million since 2000, while the number of children and teens under 18 has fallen by nearly 1.5 million. There are now about 76 million Americans over 62 and 71 million under 18.

This change has been gradual. Following a long-term demographic shift, record numbers of Americans are reaching retirement age.

Benefits for society and the economy

The benefits of volunteering aren’t just for the volunteers themselves.

The total value of the hours of unpaid work volunteers put in totals an estimated US$170 billion each year, according to AmeriCorps, the federal agency focused on national and community service.

And participating in community service programs can lead to better job prospects for volunteers, that same agency has found.

AmeriCorps Seniors, which focuses on engaging volunteers ages 55 and older, runs programs that offer major benefits to their communities. These include the Foster Grandparent program, which connects older adult mentors to children, and the Senior Companion program, which connects volunteers to older adults seeking some help to continue living independently in their own homes.

A current AmeriCorps Seniors pilot program is helping adults 55 and up, who can have more trouble landing new jobs than younger people, gain new job skills through their community service.

People of all ages can get together through volunteering. Some organizations intentionally encourage this kind of intergenerational cooperation, including CoGenerate and Generations United.

Rebuilding communities

Researchers have also found that volunteering may increase trust within a community, especially when it brings together people from different backgrounds.

It can strengthen “social cohesion,” a term researchers use to describe how much people bond and help each other, and reduce prejudice.

Volunteers’ views on social issues may change through their work, too: More than 4 in 5 adults over 55 who tutored public school students to strengthen their reading skills in the national Experience Corps program, for example, stated that their views on public education evolved as a result. Those volunteers expressed more support for public education and said they’d be more likely to vote in favor of spending on schools.

An American pastime

Our findings are backed by science, but they also have roots in American history.

Alexis de Tocqueville – a French philosopher and diplomat who arrived in the United States in 1831 to study the new nation’s penal system – was so impressed by the scale of volunteering in the U.S. that he wrote about it in his 1835 book “Democracy in America.”

Tocqueville observed that “Americans of all ages, all conditions, all minds” were likely to unite in many kinds of groups or associations.

More recently, former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has said that volunteering can strengthen communities, and that “community is a powerful source of life satisfaction and life expectancy.”

If you aren’t volunteering today, here are a few ideas to help you begin.

Start small. Try joining an organization or association in your community, taking part in neighborhood cleanups or volunteering at your local senior center, animal shelter or museum. Love gardening? You can take care of local parks, conservation areas, community gardens and more.

Once you’re ready for a bigger commitment, consider becoming a mentor through programs such as OASIS Intergenerational Tutoring or Big Brothers Big Sisters.

And consider a more extensive level of commitment to organizations or causes you care deeply about. This might include joining a nonprofit board of directors, volunteering more hours, or taking on a volunteer leadership role.

At a time when trust is eroding and divisions seem insurmountable, volunteering offers something rare: an evidence-backed way to reconnect with communities, institutions and each other.

Reach out to your favorite nonprofit, visit Volunteer.gov or VolunteerMatch.org, or connect with a nonprofit resource center, a regional United Way or a community foundation to find volunteer opportunities near you.

Cal J. Halvorsen, Associate Professor of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis and Seoyoun Kim, Associate adjunct of Sociology, University of Michigan

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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The challenge is I no longer have a driver’s license. Plus Jean has Parkinson’s Disease. But if there is a way to overcome these obstacles and doing some volunteering then that would be a very positive way ahead.

My dear friend, Richard.

Richard’s funeral was last Thursday.

Julie, his partner, sent me the Order of Service, held on the 20th, that I have published on LfD today.

Richard Maugham – Order of Service V4Download

(Click on the link to see the complete Order.)

UPDATE: Here is the service, sent to me on Sunday by Julie.

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In Loving Memory and to 

Celebrate the Life of

Richard Julian Maugham

28th October 1946 – 9th February 2025

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Entrance Music – 

Theme from Out of Africa (Flying Scene)

By John Barry

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A very warm welcome as we unite in both love and friendship to say, not just goodbye, but more importantly to pay tribute and to celebrate the life of Richard Julian Maugham.

———————-

Richard was a true character, one of a kind, sociable, funny and a wonderful raconteur who led a varied and interesting life which we will hear more about shortly but even then, we will barely scratch the surface of all he was, but I hope when you leave here this afternoon that you will do so with a real sense of having shared in something special, for a friendly, popular and unique individual.

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Reflection Music

We start today by playing a song from one of Richard’s favourite bands The Eagle’s, please sit back, listen and enjoy – ‘It’s Your World Now’ 

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Eulogy

The word Eulogy refers to a tribute of somebody’s life and it’s a pleasure for me share these words on behalf of Richard’s family and friends.

Richard was welcomed into this world on 28th October 1946 to parents Phylis and Lesley, born in Chiswick he would join his elder sister Vivienne who aged 4 was quizzed if she would prefer a brother or sister, prompting her response ‘I don’t really mind as long as it’s NOT a boy!’

But fortunately, it didn’t matter as Richard and Vivienne forged a wonderful relationship over the years and although not spending a lot of time together early on, Vivienne has such fond memories of cycling together with a picnic to the local swimming pool and also their cycle trips out with their dad too, Vivienne still recalls seeing Richard with his legs pedalling rapidly as he sped across the ground on the popular child’s bike of that era nicknamed the ‘fairycycle’.  

They both appreciated their safe and secure upbringing enjoying quiet Christmas’s together with a few close relatives and even when their paths took them in different directions, they remained good friends with a great rapport and comfortable in each other’s company. Richard was always very fond of his sister but also couldn’t wait for her to get married and leave home so he could inherit her bedroom however after waiting patiently for this happen his plan was scuppered when his grandma moved in instead! This gave Vivienne a little chuckle at the time having been pestered constantly to tie the knot.

Growing up in Twickenham, Richard passed his eleven plus with ease and attended the best Boy’s Grammer School in the area which would certainly hold him in good stead throughout his career, Richard was sharp as a knife, a confident lad and already showing signs of having the gift of the gab plus a real knack of making friends, with some of you here today as his lifelong friends for over 65 years namely Ken and Robin who formed part of the group known as the Young Pretenders, all meeting annually in the summer for the past 30 years and to Richard this was a very important and a valued friendship group that he held with a great deal of affection. 

Richard’s career path would typify his character a hard worker, charming, good with people and a fantastic communicator but the ideal person equipped to give us the best insight into Richard’s background is one of his best friends Tony, who shared these wonderful memories with me about the various sides to Richard having meet him in 1968 when working together in the Olivetti Sales and Management Training Centre in Haslemere. Tony was there to replace Richard or Dick as he was known then and to create a smooth transition within the workplace. But little did anyone know just what an impact this would have on the 2 of them and their future as friends, Tony for the first 3 months or so watched his every move, listened to his advice and even copied his jokes especially as they both shared the same sense of humour! Tony mused that Richard was your true dapper gentlemen, always extremely smartly dressed and often took on the role as Tony’s personal shopper, costing Tony a fortune in the process but it ensured he looked the part too, ready for their many nights out in Guildford or Haslemere and needless to say with that gift of the gab again, his looks and witty personality they had some memorable and extremely fun times through the years, Tony even recalls the time they attended the Cannes Film Festival, staying in a slightly sleazy apartment they nevertheless donned their best evening suits and walked the red carpet, a treasured memory.

This chance meeting at Olivetti really was the start of something very special, even when Richard went off to become a manager in Croydon and his career took him on a different pathway via some office supplies companies, a spell in Oman in the Middle East which certainly left an impression on him and onto roles in the car industry with Audi and VW as part of the Inchcape Group, Tony will forever remember the fond memories of their shared flats, shared holidays, shared clothing  and a shared love of being just little rascals when together, so as you can imagine Tony was beyond proud when Richard asked him to be his Best Man when he married Jane in 1986, returning the compliment when Tony married as well some years later.

But Tony wasn’t the only lifelong friend that Richard would make during his salesmen years, for in 1982, whilst both selling the Commodore ‘PET’, he would encounter a fellow salesman, Paul, meeting in the Petjet, the private small jet owned by Jack Tramiel, the CEO of Commodore, they hit it off immediately while travelling to the Hannover International Fair.

Richard and Paul took the pilots out for dinner that evening which inspired Paul to start gliding and later power flying, Richard flew on many occasions with Paul, as both being members of a private aircraft club, they would often hire a plane to fly to Jersey or Scotland but one memorable flight was their trip to visit Tony, who had recently relocated to South West France, flying to Bergerac airport they stayed a few nights enjoying Tony’s hospitality before flying back home. 

Richard by now had also developed a passion for all things aeronautical, often visiting air shows in later years and was visibly moved to tears whilst witnessing a Spitfire fly past when attending a Remembrance celebration at Seagry near Chippenham, a very special moment for him.

Paul’s friendship with Richard would continue to grow, living in Oregon now, he still recalls that meeting Richard in the way he did gave him a gift that he has treasured forevermore and a cherished relationship that also included meeting The Prince of Wales, this whilst both volunteering for the Prince’s Trust Charity where they helped many young people start their own businesses, one in particular being a gardening venture which Richard being the type of generous person he was duly employed the appreciative couple to work on his own garden, cementing Richard’s thoughtful and helpful approach to others.

Working until he was 77 years old, Richard will always be known as a hard worker, a great salesman, a fantastic speaker and presenter who was highly thought off across all his companies he graced but it was never all work and no play for Richard, helped by being a self-confessed petrol head, not only from working in the trade but also from the pure joy he experienced in his leisure pastimes with his passion for cars, watching the Monaco Grand Prix with a friend in the 70’s to his own Ferrari and Formula 3 Race Track Driving Experiences that he absolutely adored were just 2 of his highlights, as well as owning a MGB and Porsche that he loved. 

Approaching his 60’s, Richard would also find love again, introduced by a friend, he met a lovely lady, Julie who subsequently relocated to Wiltshire to be with Richard. They would also go on to purchase a property in South West France to renovate, named Mason DeFrere which was once part of a Friary, used by the monks to study and pray whilst it was also located not far from his friend Tony and his wife Caroline, travelling regularly to France they enjoyed many good times, strolling around the markets and spending quality time as a foursome together. 

Richard and Julie also enjoyed a shared love of music, at times Richard could be moved to tears demonstrating a real sensitive side to him not often seen but he could lose himself to the tunes of The Eagles or Hollies and seeing live music from the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Eric Clapton, Tony Bennett, Simply Red and Billy Joel are particular fond memories for Julie. 

Julie appreciated Richard’s sharp wit which was often fuelled by his love of the radio programme recently chaired by Jack Dee called ‘I’m sorry I haven’t a clue’, he would cry with laughter and often use the one liners himself to entertain his friends, he was an out and out ‘wordsmith’ loving his crosswords and an avid reader of the humorous dictionary ‘Meaning of Liff’ which again would have him in stitches and characterised his sense of humour perfectly.

Richard and Julie relocated to Essex to be closer to her son and grandchildren but Richard’s heart always remained in Wiltshire so a decision was made for him to return and continue to spend time with his friends, he had always professed that his Parkinson diagnosis would not define him but as the time moved on and following a fall, he was very much grateful to his wonderful friends Gillie and Colin who visited every other day and remained by his side as he sadly lost his battle last month.

We have lost a truly respected and loved man who gave so much to so many and lived a full life surrounded by people who cared for him, so we can be comforted in the knowledge that he has left us all with some treasured memories of time spent in his company.  

Thank you, Richard 

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Reflection Music

How we love by Beth Neilson Chapman

We have shared some lovely memories and I have no doubt you will all have you own personal memories from times spent with Richard, we would now like to give you a little time to reflect on those while we listen to a lovely tune by Beth Neilson Chapman

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Poem

I would now like to share a poem chosen by Julie especially for today’s service and dedicated to Richard and his love of aviation – 

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things you have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.

Hov’ring there, I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air ….

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew—

And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

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Tributes

I would now like to invite Ken and Robin to share their tributes to their special friend while we hear in the background a popular song of Richard’s by The Hollies

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Farewell

“We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love…and then we return home.”

Richard, we have heard the impact that you had on so many people. Your character, humour and individuality that were so much a feature of your life will live on in our memories and create a beautiful legacy of love for your family and friends for much longer than the acute desolation we are feeling here today. 

Richard it is with such sadness we say goodbye to you, but we thank you so much for every little gift you have contributed to this life.

But most of all we thank you for your love and for your friendship; your warmth and care, and for your kind and humble heart.

We thank you Richard for everything you were and all that you gave, and may you now forever rest in peace with the certain knowledge that you were, are, and will always be, dearly loved and terribly missed. 

Farewell Richard Farewell

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“Always remember you matter, you’re important and you are loved, and you bring to this world things no one else can.”   

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Exit Music

Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow 

By Fleetwood Mac

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Now a selection of my photos.

Richard and me by the Piper Super Cub, registration R151.

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Richard and Alex, my son, in front of G-BPAS, a TB20, at another air show.

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Jeannie, Richard and Julie.

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R151 taking me and Richard to see Mont Blanc. It was the 25th August, 2006.

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Another view of the same valley; again the 25th August, 2006.

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The final photograph of Richard and me meeting the then Prince of Wales.

Background to the friendship.

(Previously published on LfD.)

I first met Richard Maugham when we were being treated to a private jet flight to the Hannover International Fair in 1982, some 43 years ago. We were both English and I was living in Tollesbury, Essex, near Colchester and Richard living near Ealing, West London.

The common thread was that all the passengers were major sellers of the Commodore ‘PET’.

Richard and I hit it off straight away. Richard was a fellow salesman. I was ex-IBM Office Products Division and Richard was ex-Olivetti.

Both of us also volunteered for the Prince’s Youth Business Trust, a charity headed by Prince of Wales, as he was then, helping young people start their own business.

My tribute to Richard who will always be missed.

My stray into British politics

A riveting talk by Sir John Major.

(Images may be subject to copyright. If I am emailed that I am infringing the copyright of the New Statesman this photograph will be removed.)

Wikipedia speak of Sir John as follows:

Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. He previously held Cabinet positions under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, his last as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1989 to 1990. Major was Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon, formerly Huntingdonshire, from 1979 to 2001. Since stepping down as an MP in 2001, Major has focused on writing and his business, sporting, and charity work, and has occasionally commented on political developments in the role of an elder statesman.

(More of the Wikipedia article is here.)

On yesterday’s World This Weekend the programme was entirely devoted to a speech that John Major gave on February 16th. His theme was: “We are moving into a more dangerous world“

BBC Sounds have a recording of that speech that will stay available for 29 days. That link is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00282l8

I sincerely hope you can listen to it, for I found the talk riveting!

Venus and Valentine’s Day

The role of the planet today!

From that post: Venus, named for the Roman goddess of love, reaches its greatest brilliancy on Valentine’s Day, February 14. Venus is currently blazing, low in the west after sunset, with Saturn below.

Wherever you are, try spotting Venus.

Winter is here!

A lovely guest post from Pratyush S.

Pratyush has been very patient with me. He first contacted me regarding sending in a guest post many months ago. At first I thought it was a spam email and then realised that was a mistake. Then stuff my end got in the way, and so on.

But I’m delighted to publish this today, and should add that Pratyush is based in India!

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Winter is here — When you have a golden retriever at home.

Golden Retrievers are great family dogs with a lovely personality, good intelligence, and adaptability. Golden Retrievers are built for colder climates and have plenty of thick, insulating double coats to keep them warm; however, special considerations should still be taken in winter weather to promote the health, comfort, and happiness of your Golden. Below is a complete guide outlining things to be aware of when looking after Golden Retrievers in winter.

Keep Their Paw Pads Safe From Cold and Salt

Although Golden Retrievers enjoy an outdoor adventure, winter can be tough on the pads of their sensitive paws. Winter storms bring snow and ice, which lead to dry skin, cracking and irritation — not to mention the damage from road salt. When they return from walks, be sure to wash their paws properly to get rid of salt or other chemicals. You can apply a paw balm to protect and moisturize your puppy’s paws, make sure you opt for a non-toxic product. Depending on how cold it gets where you live, you may resort to dog booties for their feet when they go outside.

Change Their Diet with the Seasons

Golden Retrievers are energetic, active dogs, and if they’re out in the cold playing during winter, they might need a boost in energy levels. This additional energy expenditure may require you to make minor adjustments in their calorie intake. Over feeding allows them to gain weight, so, consult your Veterinarian to make any alternate diet plan. And they have free fresh water forever, as well during chills when dehydration is possible.

Keep Them Warm Indoors

Golden Retrievers do have a thick double coat which insulates them against the cold but they still need an indoor space to feel warm and comfortable. Give them a warm bed in a wind-free part of your home. If your floors are tiled or wooden, place a blanket or mat under them when they sleep for additional warmth. Do not shave or trim coats too short in winter, it is their natural protection against the cold.

Limit Bathing During Winter

Now, bathing your Golden Retriever too often in winter will remove the natural oils on your dog’s skin which can cause drying of the skin and irritations. Rather, give them a bath only when needed and use a conditioning dog shampoo that helps restore their skin. If your kitty has a bath, be sure to dry them off well so that they don’t catch a chill. Until they are allowed to roam free, blow them dry using a pet safe hair dryer on low or towel drying set properly.

Monitor Their Time Outdoors

Golden Retrievers love to romp and play in the snow, however too much time spent out in freezing conditions can cause hypothermia or frostbite. Do not leave them outside too long and keep an eye on them for signs that they may be feeling cold like shivering or lifting their feet off the ground. On very cold days, keep them busy with something indoors, puzzle toys or activities.

Regular Grooming is Essential

The thick coat of a Golden Retriever can mat and tangle in winter weather. Grooming is also a great way to keep the insulation quality of their coat intact and helps to avoid skin problems. Groom at least three times a week to minimize loose fur, matting,and spread natural oils. Look for any possible drying or skin irritation and when in doubt contact your vet.

Ensure Proper Exercise

Golden Retrievers are energetic dogs that enjoy getting out, and they still need exercise in the winter. On the flip side — snowy or slick conditions may elevate the risk of injuries. Keep them on a leash so they cannot run onto frozen surfaces and only walk in safe areas. If you cannot take them outdoors for exercise, make opportunities indoors to play– fetch or hide-and-seek can help expend some energy.

Watch for Signs of Illness

Cold climates could contribute to Golden Retrievers developing a cold or respiratory infection. Look out for any coughing, sneezing or lethargy. If you observe unusual behavior or signs of illness, take action and contact your veterinarian. Make sure they are vaccinated against seasonal diseases.

Offer Enrichment and Mental Stimulation

When the weather grows chilly, it can restrain outdoor actions that need to be carried out in the hot sun so exercise for a Golden Retriever should be maintained indoor as well. Keep their mind active with interactive toys, treat-dispensing puzzles or by teaching them new tricks. Physical exercise is very important, especially during the colder season when outdoor playtime becomes scarce, but so does mental stimulation.

Watch Over Older Dogs

For older Golden Retrievers, the cold can aggravate any existing joint problems e.g. arthritis. Keep them a warm, cozy resting space and try orthopedic beds to relieve them of joint problems. Consider discussing with your vet promoting joint health, supplements that help in the cold months or medications.

Conclusion

Taking care of a Golden Retriever in winter is all about comfort, health and happiness. However, though their double coat does provide some protection against the cold, they need you to help them get through winter safely and comfortably. With the right protection for their paws, some diet changes, and keeping them warm and active, your golden retriever can enjoy the winter just like humans. Take good care of them and they will love the winter season as much as you do!

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There is great advice in this guest post and for anyone with Golden Retrievers this post is spot on. To be honest, the advice presented is applicable to all breeds of dogs.

Thank you, Pratyush

This article is so beautiful!

I subscribe to The Dodo and read this article last Wednesday!

This may be Columbia and a long way from where a great number of people live but it is still a most beautiful story.

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Kind Man Living On Streets Adopts Every Stray Dog He Comes Across

“They’re everything to me” 💕

By Ashley Ortiz, Published on Dec 27, 2024.

They say that home is where the heart is, and that couldn’t be more true for a man named Rubén and his pack of rescued dogs.

Despite not having a home of his own, Rubén, who goes by Noé, is dedicated to sharing his space and resources with every homeless dog in his Colombian city. Whether they’ve been left behind at a stop light or abandoned in an apartment, Noé believes in giving each dog he meets a second chance at love.

“They are living beings,” Noé said in an interview with IguanaTV. “They are everything to me.”

Noé’s pack is ever-growing, as he readily collects abandoned dogs of all ages and sizes. While it all started with just one dog, his furry family is now large enough to require a double-decker push cart.

Each dog has their own unique backstory, but they’re all loved by Noé just the same.

“This is Rocky. They left him tied up there at that traffic light,” Noé said. “These two girls are named Ears and Cheeks. I’ve had them since they were little. They were also abandoned.”

Rocky, Ears and Cheeks ride on the top level of the push cart with their siblings, a pit bull named Tyson and a German shepherd named Shakira. Below them, senior pups Tembleque, Parkinson and Morochito happily take in the world around them.

“These dogs down below are the oldest,” Noé said. “Little Morochito here was left for me while I was sleeping outside of [the store].”

The pups may have heartbreaking pasts, but their sadness has faded since being adopted by Noé. When they’re not actively traveling around the city with their beloved dad, the pack of dogs can usually be found enjoying a fresh meal made by Noé.

“I buy them milk, carrots and oats, and I combine them with ground meat and seeds,” Noé said. “I make them a hearty meal so that they eat well.”

Seeing the pups lap up their meals brings joy to Noé, even when he hasn’t eaten yet.

“They eat first,” Noé said. “My food is less important to me.”

Once the pups have finished eating, Noé usually snacks on an arepa and some coffee before heading off with his pack again. With his dogs by his side, Noé feels a sense of purpose and peace.

“The dogs keep me busy and give me a reason to wake up every day,” Noé said. “They don’t care if I’m bearded, toothless, dirty or clean. They only care that I’m by their side.”

This growing companionship is beyond fulfilling for Noé. Even on his most challenging days, Noé knows he can always lean on his beloved pack of rescued dogs for unconditional support.

“A dog’s love is the best there is,” Noé said.

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The two photographs are presented by INSTAGRAM/@IGUANATV. (And the article is published with the kind permission of The Dodo.)

One can’t do better than repeat that last sentence: “A dog’s love is the best there is,”.

Well said, Rubén!

Critical thinking!

Thinking it through thanks to a recent issue of Skeptical Inquirer.

Melanie Trecer-King is the creator of Thinking is Power and the associate professor of biology at the Massasoit Community College, where she teaches a science course designed to equip her students with essential critical thinking, information literacy, and science literacy skills.

The article was published in the November/December, 2024 issue of the magazine. I believe it is free to share.

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Most people agree that critical thinking is an important skill that should be taught in schools. And most educators think they teach critical thinking. I know I did. After all, I was a science educator, and science is critical thinking. Isn’t it?

For years, I taught general-education biology, a course commonly taken by undergraduates who aren’t science majors. And while I love biology, I grew more and more frustrated with the content. I asked myself: If I had one semester to teach the average student what they need to know about the process of science and critical thinking, what would it look like?

Thankfully, my college allowed me to replace my traditional introductory biology course with a course titled Science for Life, designed to teach critical thinking, information literacy, and science literacy skills (Trecek-King 2022). Since my conversion, I’ve been sharing my new path with anyone who will listen about the value of teaching critical thinking.

Yet conversations with Bertha Vazquez, director of education for the Center for Inquiry, gave me pause. In a recent podcast conversation with the two of us and Daniel Reed (of the West Virginia Skeptics Society), Vazquez was adamant. Educators do teach critical thinking: the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) require students to ask questions, plan and carry out investigations, analyze and interpret data, construct explanations, and engage in arguments from evidence.

As a science communicator, I constantly fight misconceptions around certain terms. Theory and skepticism are prime examples. So imagine my surprise (and embarrassment) when I realized that, as a critical thinking educator, I had overlooked an important first step in critical thinking: defining terms. The irony.

What Is Critical Thinking?

While we can all agree that it’s important to teach critical thinking, there’s not always agreement on what we mean by the term.

In his book Critical Thinking, Jonathan Haber (2020) explains how the concept emerged and some of the ways it’s currently defined. John Dewey, in his 1910 work How We Think, proposed one of the first modern definitions of reflective thinking, describing it as an “active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief” (Dewey 1910, 6).

In his 1941 dissertation, Edward Glaser identified three components of critical thinking: “(1) an attitude of being disposed to consider in a thoughtful way the problems and subjects that come within the range of one’s experiences, (2) knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning, and (3) some skill in applying those methods” (Glaser 1941, 5–6). That same year, Glaser and Goodwin Watson published the Watson-Glaser Tests of Critical Thinking (now the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal), a widely used standardized test for assessing critical thinking skills.

Critical thinking’s “big bang” moment, according to Haber, came in the early 1980s when the state of California (Harmon 1980, 3) mandated that all students in its university system complete a course that teaches “an understanding of the relationship of language to logic, leading to the ability to analyze, criticize and advocate ideas, reason inductively and deductively, and reach factual or judgmental conclusions based on sound inferences drawn from unambiguous statements of knowledge or belief.”

And the Delphi Report (Facione 1990, 2), in which Peter Facione worked with critical thinking experts to create a consensus definition, concludes that critical thinking is a “purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based.”

From these (and many other) definitions, Haber identifies three interconnected parts of critical thinking: knowledge of critical thinking components, such as logic and argumentation; the skills to put the knowledge to use in real-world situations; and the dispositions needed to prioritize critical thinking honestly and ethically.

This problem-solving view of critical thinking forms the basis of many of the current educational standards, including the NGSS and Common Core, which ask students to think deeply within a specific domain. And it is one scientists themselves use when trying to understand issues.

These are worthy educational goals to be sure. However, in my experience teaching general-education biology, I’ve come to realize that this approach is incomplete.

If critical thinking requires deep knowledge, then our ability to analyze topics is limited to areas in which we possess sufficient expertise. Pedagogy that encourages “independent” thinking outside these areas can have the unintended consequence of teaching students to overestimate their abilities. The best minds know they can’t know everything. Even experts rely on other experts and sources.

Additionally, in the classroom, students are provided with reliable content from which to critically analyze. In the “real world,” these guardrails are nonexistent. Not only is misinformation ubiquitous, disinformation purveyors exploit our biases and emotions to manipulate our reasoning.

And finally, we can’t address science misinformation, from evolution to vaccines to climate change, by giving students more content knowledge. We don’t fall for science denial and pseudoscience because we don’t have the facts but because of our emotions, desires, identities, and biases.

I now have a better understanding of what my colleague and friend Andy Norman means when he says that critical thinking suffers from a branding problem.

Yes, And …?

Using the above definition(s), I was teaching my biology students how to think critically. For example, I didn’t just ask them to memorize the stages of mitosis but to explore the mutations that could disrupt the cell cycle and lead to cancer. But to what end? If (or when) my former students are touched by cancer, will they remember how proto-oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes can lead to unregulated cell growth? Is that even what they need to know? I argue that, especially for students who aren’t going to be scientists, it’s far more important to teach students how and why the process of science results in reliable knowledge … and how to find it.

My Science for Life course and my Thinking Is Power resource are both based on the same premise. Knowledge may be power, but there’s too much to know. Even more, knowledge is a process; it’s not just what we know but how we know. It’s not just a noun but a verb. When we need reliable knowledge, can we find it and use it to make wiser decisions? And how do we know what information to ignore?

As a science educator, I want my students to understand how the process of science produces knowledge and why it’s reliable. Why aren’t comments such as “it worked for me” or “I know what I saw” sufficient evidence? I’ve come to realize that an essential—and often overlooked—ingredient is why we need science in the first place.

Richard Feynman famously said, “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.” Science is how we correct for this tendency toward self-deception. That’s why I spend the first third of the semester exploring how we come to our beliefs, the limits of our perception and memory, the importance of skepticism, the cognitive biases that can lead our thinking astray, and the logical fallacies we use to convince ourselves (and others) that our conclusions are justified.

Influential voices in the skeptical community played a crucial role in shaping the ingredients of critical thinking I use in Science for Life and Thinking Is Power, which include the following:

  • Being aware of our limitations: Understanding that our perception and memory are flawed, and the biases and heuristics our brains rely on to make fast and easy decisions can lead us astray.
  • Arguing with evidence and logic: Using arguments that are well-structured and supported by evidence. This includes understanding how the different types of arguments work (i.e., deductive, inductive, and abductive) and avoiding logical fallacies.
  • Thinking about our thinking (metacognition): Actively examining and questioning our own thought processes—including the source of our knowledge, assumptions, intuitions, motivations, emotions, and biases—and how they might influence our judgments.
  • Embracing nuance and uncertainty: Avoiding the black-or-white thinking that can lead to oversimplified conclusions and accepting that our knowledge is never perfect or complete.
  • Seeking objectivity: Actively working to counter the limitations that prevent us from accurately understanding the world. This includes seeking diverse perspectives, separating our identity from our beliefs, and prioritizing accuracy over ego.
  • Having curiosity and open-mindedness: Possessing a desire to learn and understand by asking questions and seeking out information, even if it contradicts what we want to believe.
  • Maintaining healthy skepticism: Balancing gullibility and doubt and proportioning our beliefs to the available evidence. And remembering that claims made without evidence can be dismissed without evidence and extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
  • Exhibiting intellectual humility: Recognizing the limitations of our knowledge, being open to the expertise of others, and being willing to change our minds with evidence.

In my experience, giving students this foundation is essential for helping them become better consumers of information and science. Without an awareness that our emotions and existing beliefs can drive our reasoning, search engines and low-quality sources become tools to confirm our biases. And without an understanding of how our identities and worldviews can alter our standards of evidence, pseudoscience and science denial provide cover for what we want or don’t want to believe.

The logic of science’s practices, from carefully controlling experimental variables to making the findings available to other experts for scrutiny and replication, falls into place once students understand the problems it’s addressing. Simply put, science is our shield against self-deception.

Now instead of asking students to think critically about the biology of cancer, I teach them how to evaluate sources to find reliable information, how to recognize pseudoscientific “treatments,” and how their need for hope and answers makes them vulnerable to misinformation.

The Take-Home Message

I have no doubt that most educators teach critical thinking. But for pedagogical and communication purposes, it would be beneficial to clarify what we mean—and just as importantly to ask ourselves what we want our students to learn.

The dominant view of critical thinking in education is problem-solving in specific domains, which is absolutely a valuable skill. However, many skeptics view critical thinking as good thinking in a broader sense. My own teaching shifted toward this latter framework after I realized that problem-solving skills are insufficient without a foundation in better thinking. We may be born with the ability to think, but we must be taught to think well, and our primate brains aren’t adapted to today’s tidal wave of misinformation.

I’m grateful to the skeptical community for challenging my assumptions about critical thinking and my friend Bertha Vazquez for encouraging me to think more deeply about the good work science educators do in their classrooms every day. This article is the result of my attempt to reconcile what critical thinking means to educators and what it means to skeptics, and my hope is that it opens a conversation about how we can better serve our students. Maybe it will even start a critical thinking revolution, especially in science education.

Let the critical thinking revolution begin!

Acknowledgments

My thanks go to those on this brief list of skeptical thinkers/authors who’ve influenced my understanding of critical thinking: James Alcock, Timothy Caulfield, John Cook, Brian Dunning, Julia Galef, Adam Grant, David Robert Grimes, Jon Guy, Harriet Hall, Guy Harrison, Daniel Kahneman, David McRaney, Steven Novella, Carl Sagan, Michael Shermer, and Carol Tavris.

Special thanks to Bertha Vazquez, Daniel Pimentel, Andy Norman, Daniel Reed, and Jon Guy for their helpful feedback on this article.

References

Dewey, John. 1910. How We Think. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company.

Facione, Peter A. 1990. Critical Thinking: A Statement of Expert Consensus for Purposes of Educational Assessment and Instruction—The Delphi Report. Millbrae, CA: California Academic Press.

Glaser, Edward M. 1941. An Experiment in the Development of Critical Thinking. New York, NY: Teachers College, Columbia University.

Haber, Jonathan. 2020. Critical Thinking. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Harmon, Harry. 1980. Executive Order No. 338: General Education-Breadth Requirements. The California State University and Colleges.

Trecek-King, Melanie. 2022. Teach skills, not facts. Skeptical Inquirer 46(1): 39–42.

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I hope others have read this fascinating article and repeat the statement: ‘While we can all agree that it’s important to teach critical thinking, there’s not always agreement on what we mean by the term.’

Whatever, the article was superb.