Tuesday, 02 March 2021
John S writes: The cold weather earlier in the month didn't put people off entering Round 6 of iSpysolation. Apologies for the delay, but entries continued to flood in through Monday, and the judging panel (that's me!) decided to be flexible about late entries!We had 9 entries, and 6 of these (Peter F, Peter H, Sue H, Team Julia, Team Selway and John J) managed to get all 12 photos, so it was a nail-biting contest that had to be decided on the number of rides that were needed to get the 12 pictures, and the bonus points.
In a penalty shoot-out, based on getting all the clues on just 4 rides, and a pun-tastic photo of 'The Codfather', plus bonus information about the mind-altering properties of snowdrops, I can announce that the winner for the second time is Team Julia.
Several of you used the sundial at Haslingfield, which I have stood near at the start of rides many times but had never noticed before.
As in other rounds, there was a lot of interesting additional information provided along with the entries:For example Chris and Ruth provided this information about the Sundial Picnic Bench at Melbourn:
The giant Kirkstone slate Sundial Picnic Bench is the last of three arty concept pieces designed and built by Fowler and Co for TTP at Melbourn Science Park. The sundial's six-metre high spruce gnomon was installed with guidance from a passing scientist who helped align it accurately with true north. The heavy baulks, or benches, made from solid douglas fir seat up to 24 in normal times. I like the fact that lunchtime is designated from 11am to 1pm, very civilised. The time correction between "sun time" and "clock time" is enabled by the addition of the Equation of Time curve with its characteristic twin peaks. At this time of year the sun is slow by about 12 minutes.
Julia tells us this about snowdrops:
Not only are the white flowers of the snowdrop a sight to behold, its bulb contains the alkaloid galantamine – approved for use in the management of Alzheimer's disease in over 70 countries worldwide, including the UK.
Extract of snowdrop was noted by the ancient Greeks for its powerful mind-altering effects. Historically, the first evidence for the mind-affecting properties of galantamine come from Homer's Odyssey, where, some scholars argue, Homer describes Odysseus using the snowdrop to clear his mind of Circe's bewitchment.
The alkaloid galantamine was first extracted from the snowdrop in the early 1950s after a Bulgarian pharmacologist saw remote villagers rubbing their forehead with the plant leaves and bulbs. Galantamine is a competitive, reversible, acetylcholinesterase inhibitor that increases brain acetylcholine, a chemical of great importance in cerebral function.
It is now largely used as a memory improvement supplement for sufferers of Alzheimer's disease and mild dementia.
There are further possible medicinal uses for the snowdrop. Galantamine has been used in the treatment of traumatic injuries to the nervous system and also as an emmenagogue, which stimulates or increases menstrual flow and so can induce an abortion in the early stages of pregnancy. Lectin from snowdrops – Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA) – is being studied with regard to its potential activity against HIV.
on a yellow hydrant the top figure is the diameter of the pipe in millimetres and the bottom figure is the distance from the post in metres.
I had often seen these numbers, but never considered what they meant.
'The Codfather' was the most popular fish and chip shop, closely followed by "Barry's Plaice". One member didn't have to cycle very far to find the weather vane – they found they already had one in their garden when they got back from a ride!It's great that people are continuing to support the challenge. It's meant to be a bit of fun, but surely everyone should now be inspired to aim for maximum points to topple Team Julia from winning for a third time!
Happy scavenging! John S