I’ve written about the Byker Viaduct before, including as recently as July, but I’ve just found this brilliant video about its construction:

I’ve long understood that it was notable for the sections being glued together, but I couldn’t quite visualise what that meant: it turns out it simply means spreading glue, by hand, on the two surfaces and spreading them together. Remarkable!

I also didn’t know that the arches in the supports were designed to allow sections of the viaduct to pass under them as part of the construction process, which is a very neat solution.

A couple of years ago, I took part in some Northumbria University research about the underpasses in Newcastle… by which I mean I filled in a survey.

It made me reflect on a few things, not least the fact that I use several underpasses daily, and rarely did so before I moved to Newcastle. It also made me realise that underpasses where the exit isn’t visible from the entrance seem inherently less pleasant.

It turns out from one of the resultant papers that some of this research was about ‘sensory criminology,’ a concept that was entirely new to me but really quite fascinating. Jordan Reeve, who often posts videos about the urban landscape of Newcastle, has made a video exploring the findings with Ian Cook, one of the authors:

I walk past these lovely gates outside Charlotte’s Butchery fairly often, and every time, I’m reminded of this video which I first posted eighteen years ago (with the image quality you’d expect):

I’ve mentioned Mozart in the Jungle on here before. It’s a wonderful Amazon Prime comedy-drama about passion, professionalism and music. Inspired by Blair Tindall’s autobiography of the same name, the show follows both the appointment of a new conductor to the New York Symphony Orchestra and the travails of a young oboist trying to break into the orchestral big league.

It stars Gael García Bernal and Lola Kirke who both give performances of a lifetime alongside an all-star ensemble. It is creative and imaginative to the point of being a bit nuts sometimes. What other show would have Lang Lang on as a guest star and feature his piano performance with the sound replaced by Daft Punk? And yet, this made for one of the most memorable scenes in four seasons. And the third season featured the most beautiful cinematography of Venice I have ever seen. And, of course, the whole series features fantastic orchestration spanning all kinds of music.

Mozart in the Jungle is a completely brilliant show. And yet, Amazon has decided to cancel it. I really hope someone else picks it up.

I don’t often post videos on here these days, but this one I really enjoyed. First Officer Jeff Skiles of the flight that ended up in the Hudson, and healthcare safety expert Terry Fairbanks lecture on what healthcare can learn from airline safety.

I’m celebrating tonight, as this letter arrived today to inform me that I’ve passed my Part B exam, and so earned membership of the Faculty of Public Health.

This is both scary and exciting on a couple of fronts: firstly, I’ve passed all the exams I need to pass to become a consultant in public health; secondly, for the first time since I was nine years old (the current age of my oldest nephew), I’ve no exams planned in the next twelve months. Or at all, for that matter.

It surely won’t be long until I end up like this:

[flashvideo filename=”http://sjhoward.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/lisaclip.flv” ratio=”4:3″ /]

I tweeted about this video yesterday: it looks cool (yet simultaneously disgusting), but raises more questions than it answers. Why the freaky focus on a “human-free” environment? How is there an “autonomy of over 90 pizzas” from four buttons? Why no sauce in the middle of the pizza? Why the skimpy outfit? What’s with the killer heels? And, most puzzlingly: what’s going on with her hair?

Depressingly, this does already have a UK distributor… so look out for it, no doubt in a budget hotel near you soon…!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIwrgAnx6Q8

I tweeted a link to this video yesterday… but I liked it so much that I thought I’d post it here too. I defy anyone to watch past 1:36 without cracking a smile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UhYUVtDAWI

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