Now why does that sound familiar?

Solar fireworks set to follow sun blast

A WAVE of violent space weather has begun rolling over the Earth after a huge explosion on the sun.

Scientists say the wave of supercharged gas should buffet the natural magnetic shield protecting the Earth, possibly sparking spectacular displays of the auroras known as the northern and southern lights.

Several things here strike a bell, ring a chord (or something)

Extraterrestrials strafe Bosnian with meteorites

'I have no doubt I am being targeted by aliens'

By Lester Haines •

Posted in Bootnotes, 20th July 2010 09:01 GMT

A Bosnian man whose house has been hit six times by meteorites has come to the conclusion he's done something to hack off ET, the Telegraph reports.

Radivoje Lajic, 50, from the village of Gornji Lajici, near Prijedor in northern Bosnia, has suffered half a dozen strikes since November 2007

Alright already - I've got the message.

Tropical Storm Alex forms in Caribbean

The above headline, or variations thereof, has been sent to me by 59 people - and counting.

Please, no more, oh the tribulations of fame!

Great idea?

I thought I would get in touch with Scholastic publishers and see if they were interested in the educational potential of my blog (you're right, yet another school project! English/IT/Social networking!) and I was intending to suggest that this could be linked to The Stone Summons, which after all tells about living in three different countries.

But first of all it was a mire trying to find out how to make contact, then of course, it was impossible to find out who to contact, well there are addresses there, but if I write a letter and send it by the postman, it won't fit into the requirements of the project.

I have been able to document the steps I have taken, include some links about different, what is the phrase, top honchos (?) Barbara Marcus, Lisa Holton and Dick Robinson and to articles more or less related to my subject.

None the less, I a feeling a bit of a failure at the moments.

Stellar explosion sends shrapnel our way

AN EXCESS of high-energy particles hitting Earth may be shrapnel from a stellar explosion 800 light years away.

After analysing the distribution of around 4.3 billion muons detected between June 2007 and March 2008, the IceCube team has found a small but clear excess of cosmic rays coming from the direction of the constellation Vela, hinting that the relatively close Vela supernova remnant may be responsible - but maybe not! It may be, is quite likely to be, detritus from our own cosmic adventure! See above!

Ball lightning is all in the mind

Article here

Physicists in Austria say they have solved the conundrum of "ball lightning", mysterious glowing spherical apparitions which baffled boffins have struggled to explain for centuries.

According to Austrian physicists there is in fact no such thing as ball lightning in reality. Rather, powerful magnetic fields created by ordinary lightning affect the brains of humans nearby so that they see things which aren't there.

I respectfully beg to differ, having had my own ball lightning experience!

See Sorry, really busy! , 3rd paragraph.

Kids under 13 aren't allowed on Facebook, but that hasn't stopped many of them from joining

Not that it's a hobby horse, or anything, am just waiting until August.

But I thought this was quite weird. Togetherville, a social network for kids ages 6 to 10, hopes to lure them into a more age-appropriate setting. It's free to join, and kids' accounts must be created by their parents using their own Facebook logins

Since the point is they can't join Facebook until they are 13, why isn't it for people aged 6 - 12?

I bet, unlike Facebook, you won't find the 11 and 12 year olds lying about their ages in order to register, could be wrong though!

Cabbages & Kings

(And just in case you're wondering, Sandy, you are the 'Kings' bit, obviously!)

Just came across a neat visitor counter - of course, I have been using Cluster Maps for some years now, so feel a loyalty to them, but I also like Flag Counter's display.

And Sandy has accepted my apology (or rather, she says she was only teasing.)

And Barney says a blog is no place for personal communications, I'm not sure why not; never mind, come August I can emote on Facebook - not!

My Yiayia says it is hanging out your dirty linen in public - and we don't do that, after all, as all my class mates know, following my paper on Greek festivals, we Greeks celebrate Clean Monday. (Καθαρή Δευτέρα)

Humble apologies, Sandy

My friend Sandy, who lives in Tasmania, is deeply insulted. She says when she emailed me to say she had found a stone just like Karaghiozi I didn't believe her, and what is more I wrote that in this very blog! See Weirder & more weirder

Yet when Cressida sent me a photo of what she had found, I obviously believed her. (Amazing! Incroyable! Απίστευτο! Невероятный!) Well, Cressida and I have been in the same class since we were both 8, and I have met her several times at school get togethers, so I was sure she wasn't spamming me. (Hope I am not going to get egg on my face, Cress?)

And, in my defence (I think) I later blogged that I did believe! (Twin stones?)

Friends, Sandy? (Did it in purple, just for you)

Amazing! Incroyable! Απίστευτο! Невероятный!

A class-mate from England, Cressida, has sent me this photo; she says ever since she read about Karaghiozi (so alright, I did copy Lexie and name my stone!) she is always on the lookout to see if she can find him. (Or Peter) So she was quite amazed to come across this the other day.

If it had been a few months ago, she could maybe have entered it in the competition; I removed the link after the winner was announced but you can still view the entries here.

Hot spots!!!

Everywhere I turn someone is telling me about hotspots! Hotspots in Iceland (light relief) Bill Bryson's A Short History of Practically Everything (βεβαος, there's an awful lot not in there I want to know.) And just now finished a long lesson at school - on hot spots! Well, me, I know about hot spots. And it is much more fun to read it in The Stone Summons ( Buy Now!)

But not me! Well, only on Buzz, and they allow it.

I posted "Incidentally, the reason I can't sign up to Facebook -not yet 13! (Not for any of the reasons suggested by some of my so-called reputable classmates!) So how come I know several other people across the world (including some of the above!) who are signed up who are also not yet 13! Surely they didn't lie!"

Apparently they did.

A quarter of underage children have social networking profiles

By OUT-LAW.COM • Get more from this author

Posted in Law, 29th March 2010 15:07 GMT

One in four underage children have profiles on social networking sites, according to research by media regulator Ofcom. The survey found that 25 per cent of eight to 12-year-olds surveyed have a social networking profile.

Children under 13 are not allowed to have a profile on the major platforms, including Facebook, Bebo and MySpace, under those sites' terms of use.

Weird weather fascinates me.

Just came across this really interesting (though somewhat old, in the scheme of things) article on weird weather, has some good photos too, so I thought I'd share it.

http://www.firstscience.com/home/articles/earth/weird-weather-page-1-1_1265.html

See especially the Water spout photo on page 4 (being socially responsible about copyright, and not reproducing it!) "The same goes for much larger waterspouts over the sea. These are huge vortices of seawater spiralling up into stormy clouds above, and you can see why ancient mariners talked about monsters from the deep."

This relates to our experiences in The Stone Summons ( Buy Now!)

I see 'Bang Goes the Theory' is back, but they're still not interested! (Who'd believe we get the BBC, way out here.)

More on weird weather! And see The Stone Summons

The Stone Summons - Chapter 3. Lexie

The Stone Summons - - - Buy Now!

• The following are from The Metro, London. (Thanks Stefan)
• In the first century, Pliny The Elder wrote about storms of frogs and fish – and there have been reports of weird weather ever since.
• In 1871, Bath was hit by a downpour of unknown creatures covered in a ‘glutinous jelly’.
• Hundreds of dead sand eels rained on Sunderland during a thunderstorm in 1918.
• In 1940, a tornado in Russia dropped coins dating from the 16th century.
• Golf balls showered down on the Punta Gorda region of Florida in 1969.
• In 2007, large clumps of tangled worms rained on the US state of Louisiana.
• Tadpoles, fish and the occasional frog fell in Japan’s Ishikawa region in 2009.

Experiment!

"ASANAY ayssay atthay itsway "appyscray" Arsmay overray, Iritspay

- ichwhay ashay entspay ixsay earsyay owlingpray ethay ochreway

ildernessway ofway ethay edray anetplay - aymay inallyfay ebay

uffedstay. Oggedbay inway away andsay aptray, ethay achinemay

isway unableway otay alignway itsway olarsay anelspay

orrectlycay orfay ethay omingcay Artianmay interway, eaningmay

atthay itway illway obablypray expireway omfray ethay oldcay."

Thanks - Lifehacker!

They have practically done my latest IT project for me, or at least given me a good start! In a blog called "Which Social Network Is Right For You?" (or alternatively, "Which Social Network Is Right For Me?") they compare the various features of Google Buzz, Twitter, and Facebook, including privacy, use and management, access/openess, and mobile experience.

Incidentally, the reason I can't sign up to Facebook -not yet 13! (Not for any of the reasons suggesrted by some of my so-called reputable classmates!) So how come I know several other people across the world (including some of the above!) who are signed up who are also not yet 13! Surely they didn't lie!

Turned down again!

Here we go! School IT project on Social Networking. I suggested I should use our school as a case study, as it must qualify as social networking, but I was turned down, with derision, if I may say so. So now I am doing a comparison with Buzz and Facebook. Am going to post this to Facebook, and also on my blog (herewith!)

Fell at the first hurdle, well, second actually. Did the Buzz entry straight forward and immediate, tried to sign up to Facebook and was told I was ineligible! Guess why?

Beachcombing.....

Came across this on the beach and it started me wondering. For a start, it would have been more serendipitous if it had been St Valentine's Day, but where did it come from? Has it washed ashore from somewhere across the Mediterranean, has it fallen from a bride's bouquet, or been thrown overboard in remembrance or mourning. Was it yours?

Fire in the sky - the Aurora Borealis

from News.com - Australia

I've had a revelation!

As one does, Lexie said when I was relaying the information to her (relaying, rather than telling, texting, emailing, for good reason!) We (school) were having a debate on global warming / climate change, man made or not and I had to be for, which rather annoyed me. And lots of the research I did bore out my own feelings, rather than those I had to convey in the debate.

I was rather proud of myself, well, on two counts really. I managed to turn it around to say that we shouldn't castigate ourselves for having caused it (because we obviously haven't, climate change has been going on for aeons; I would have loved to go to a frost fair on the Thames, but they only occurred during a mini ice age. There were vineyards in England in the Middle Ages - see how useful research is) po, po, po - to get back to what I was saying. We shouldn't castigate ourselves, but that is no reason why we shouldn't aim for a green footprint, conserve water, energy etc. where possible. Loipon, that was the first count, and the second count was, well, maybe I blinded them with science (it's seems to be a common occurrence!) but I won the debate! Well done me!

Well, that wasn't the revelation, the revelation was, in the light of reports like this "NEW evidence has cast doubt on claims that the world’s ice-caps are melting, it has emerged. Satellite data shows that concerns over the levels of sea ice may have been premature. It was feared that the polar caps were vanishing because of the effects of global warming. But figures from the respected US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that almost all the “lost” ice has come back. Ice levels which had shrunk from 13million sq km in January 2007 to just four million in October, are almost back to their original levels. Figures show that there is nearly a third more ice in Antarctica than is usual for the time of year. The data flies in the face of many current thinkers and will be seized on by climate change sceptics who deny that the world is undergoing global warming." [The Express] and many more like it.

Could it be perhaps, that the summons stones effect in slowing the earth spinning, not only slowed time but also affected the speed of climate change. Makes sense to me.

Oh yeah! Summons Stone not nuclear!

Only nukes can stop planetsmash asteroids, say US boffins

Nix on the 'world free of nuclear weapons', Mr President

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/25/only_nukes_can_stop_asteroids/

Deja vu for Sandy in Tasmania - New Year's Day sky spectacular!

She sent me this link, and said it sent chills down her spine and she wished she still had her Summons stone!

http://tools.themercury.com.au/photo-gallery/photo_gallery_popup.php?splash=1&category_id=6155

My friend sent me this photo of a fishing boat decorated for Christmas, quite unaware that as part of a school wide project we have all been researching and writing about Christmas traditions and customs in our own countries. (And before the thought police get busy - most countries of other faiths have Christian communities and hence Christmas traditions have grown up around them.)

Anyway, the significance as far as Greece is concerned can be gleaned from this article (one of many I explored, please note, concerned tutors!)

ekathimerini.com | Boat vs tree: A conflict of Christmas cultures ...

15 Dec 2004 ... A Christmas tree (left) and a Christmas boat, part of an old Greek custom, are seen in this picture taken in a central square in ...

The Summons Stone still putting the stars to flight?

Clusters are streaming at up to 1000 kilometres per second towards one particular part of the cosmos (The Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol 686, p L49).

1400 clusters are part of the flow, and it continues to around 3 billion light years from Earth, a sizeable fraction of the distance to the edge of the observable universe (arxiv.org/abs/0910.4958).

The dark flow appears to have been caused shortly after the big bang (that's what they think!) by something no longer in the observable universe.

Scientists say one explanation for the flow would be the gravity of a huge concentration of matter, but this is very unlikely. Not sure how big they mean, but I reckon the comet we decimated has probably collected to itself a lot of space debris and may well constitute a huge concentration.

Can't help hoping that our stones have somehow returned to this earth - or maybe the Lightbringers have garnered them, ready to use again - for us?

Waves!

Grigor,a Russian schoolmate, just told me on Facebook I was wrong about the seventh wave. (Also blogged here - Today's Find (Actually it was the day before I started the new blog, but I wanted to be dramatic.)

He had been to an art exhibition in St. Petersburg of this painter (of whom I have to confess, I have never heard) called Aivazovsky. There was a painting called the Ninth Wave and on the notes it said " In nautical lore, the ninth wave is the deadliest."

So I decided to do a bit of online exploring and found this painter has also done a painting called "Tenth Wave" (At the moment I am finding it difficult to see the difference between them, but perhaps they are a series?)

And then I came across Sir Thomas Browne's Vulgar Errors VII.xvii: - Of some others No. 2. " That fluctus Decumanus, or the tenth wave is greater and more dangerous then any other, some no doubt will be offended if we deny; and hereby we shall seem to contradict antiquity........ "and he goes on "Which notwithstanding is evidently false; nor can it be made out by observation either upon the shore or the Ocean, as we have with diligence explored in both. And surely in vain we expect a regularity in the waves of the Sea, or in the particular motions thereof..."

So no answers - another one for Bang goes the Theory to ignore?

Message in a bottle

Well, the Big Bang people seem to be a blowout (or a bleve, as Lexie might say!) I'm disappointed that they are apparently so lacking in initiative, or whatever it takes to get them interested.

Lexie has moved to Hastings and she has just told me that this morning, on the beach (having followed my example and taken up beachcombing) she found a bottle with a note inside.

She took it home and it took her some time to extract the note, which said "If you read this, smile!" So she smiled! But she says she thinks it was probably thrown into the sea from near where she picked it up, so not madly exciting. She will recommit it to the deep at high tide tomorrow, she says. The other somewhat bizarre aspect is that the bottle, a bottled water by 'belu' says all profits go to clean water projects, and we don't feel that throwing bottles into the sea really supports this idea. Still, it is glass.

Bibs & Bobs

• I have removed the link to the competition that I ran a while ago, but you can still view the entries here.

• No response from the Bang goes the Theory Team- myabe if you come across this you might like to prompt them as well, see what happens. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bang/

Bang goes the Theory! BBC

I am about to ask the BBC programme Bang goes the Theory to see if they can test my hypothesis. Of course, we know it works - see Epilogue links above!

Maths Plays a Part - excerpts

………………………………….“That’s all very well” Alex complained, as Artemis sank gracefully back onto a rock, “but you still haven’t really explained what and how we are to be the answer too.”

“Grammar, dear boy, grammar. Though I suppose that in the modern form of Greek in which you are used to conversing, it is parsed correctly. The essence of the matter is this. The Darksiders have enmeshed a comet, which draws off power from the vortices, from evil doers and evil thinkers. At a point when Earth and Mars are in conjunction, which I believe I mentioned before, the power of the comet will be at such a point that its magnetic fields and the magnetic fields of the earth will clash, causing the earth to implode. If the linear alignment is right, Mars will receive the energy output, and once again a big bang will have made a planet habitable.”

“And we are supposed to stop that!” Sandy almost wailed, as Lexie said “Big Bang? It sounds a bit weak to call it a big bang, something of such significance. Bleve, that sounds better. Sorry, my Mother works at the Fire Service College, so I know some funny words, although I admit I’m not sure what you are describing really is a bleve.”

Alex was drawing with a stick in the sand. “What do you know, my maths lessons are actually of some use. All that mugging up on speed, velocity, angles, immoveable objects and irresistible force.” He beamed at them.

“Alex, we’re delighted for you” Lexie said, sounding, Sandy thought, not unlike Artemis “but maths is not my strong point and you’ve lost me.” She glanced at Artemis, who didn’t look in the least lost. She looked, it occurred to Lexie, smug.

“I think I’ve got it right “Alex said slowly “I’ve got the theory, anyway and that’s a start. If we can use a force from the earth, here” he pointed to his drawings in the sand, “and send it up against this comet, it should slow the spinning of the earth, irresistible force meets immovable object. I assume the comet is immoveable, you said they had enmeshed it?” He looked at Artemis.

“It’s dangerous to assume, it makes an ass out of you and me, get it?” Sandy declared. You took the stick from Alex’s hand and in her turn, demonstrated in the sand.

“No, I think we can, must assume, that the comet has been fixed in its present location by the Darksiders. If it was following its own trajectory it would be impossible to use it as a storehouse or to ensure that the mathematics of the, erm, what was it Lexie, the bleve are functional.”

“But the comet will still be there” complained Sandy “they’ll be able to start all over again, collecting power, speeding up the earth. And we might be dead by then, who’ll there be to stop it next time?”

“No, Sandy,” Alex explained “because, and this isn’t Maths, it is something I read, might have been on that Vortex theory website, we’re going to be altering the physical states, the magnetic fields and the forces. The comet will probably be attracted to another planet, or even the sun, and will be taken out of earth’s orbit.”

Lexie sounded doubtful “I’m not sure that ‘probably will be attracted etc. is really very reassuring. Don’t we need to be able to guarantee that this can’t happen again?”……………………………………………….

……………………………………………………..

Before Artemis could answer Alex broke in excitedly “See Sandy, you worked that out. Mind you, I did too. But what I thought” he started drawing in the sand again, “near where I live there’s something called a hotspot. Its something I think the Darksiders use to help them. A couple of times I think they’ve used this particular one to scare me. Anyway, my brother told me about them. Sometimes, when they erupt, like a volcano, or an earthquake, they create waterspouts, which are a sort of tornado, a vortex,” He drew a vortex, spinning, in the sand. “I thought maybe, if we could, we could summon up vortices, each of us, and project them towards the comet. The spinning effect will increase the power, or the force, which will help in slowing down the spin of the earth.”

………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………

“Meanwhile, to get back to what Alex was saying” Lexie changed the subject “what happens if we slow the earth down too much….”

“We’ll all fall off” Sandy suggested.

“No, I guess what I mean is, how do we tell when we’ve got it right, how to get it right?”

”There must be a Lighbringer who can work out how long we need to hold it in place for it to have the right effect. Of course, they will have to do it at the time, because I don’t think there is a way for us to calculate exactly how much force we can produce.”

“I’m sure there’s more than one amongst the pantheon who can work out the answers to both those questions. I just hope they all come up with the same answer.”

“The thing is” Alex clearly hadn’t finished, “the things is, I found a map of the world on which someone had plotted suspected hotspots. You probably wont believe this, I know I thought I had spots in front of my eyes” Alex eyed them to make sure they had appreciated his joke “there are three hotspots in conjunction, the one I’ve already mentioned, one off Tasmania’s south coast…”

“Tasmania may not look very big on the map” interrupted Sandy, “but it is roughly the same size as England and I can’t see . . “

“Look” Alex drew what looked like an apple in the sand “this is Tasmania, sort of, and the hotspot I’m talking about is about here. There is another one…”

“No,” said Sandy, “that looks like it could even be about where I live, off Surf Beach even.”

“That’s the thing “Alex said “I bet it is. If all this is meant to be, it would be, wouldn’t it.”

“Err,” Lexie ventured, “I don’t want to spoil things, but I don’t live anywhere near the sea.”

“I know” Alex agreed “that’s been puzzling me. The hotspot off England is near a place called, oh what was it, I had a mnemonic for it, ‘as things go’, asthings…”

“Hastings?” Lexie was amazed.

“Yes, Hastings, that’s it.”

“My Gran lives in Hastings” said a confounded Lexie.

“Then that has to be it. Look, look at the trajectory.” He drew again in the sand.

“That’s fine” objected Lexie “if the comet happens to be sitting there” she pointed to the apex of the three lines” but what if it is over here!” Pointing again.

“But it won’t be, will it?” said Alex firmly, “not if it’s meant to be.”

http://marijsak.googlepages.com/thestonesummons

The Stone Summons (ID #1063661)
http://www.lulu.com/content/1063661

Climate change could change Earth's tilt BUT otoh, Changes in Earth's Tilt Control When Glacial Cycles End

"And climate change can also affect the Earth's spin. Previously, Landerer and colleagues showed that global warming would cause Earth's mass to be redistributed towards higher latitudes. Since that pulls mass closer to the planet's spin axis, it causes the planet to rotate faster..." New Scientist

Changes in Earth's Tilt Control When Glacial Cycles End - Tilt is a 100,000-year Planetary Pacemaker [from Nature]

and then of course,

there is the effect of interfering with the earth's rate of spin as I well know (Please! - Παρακαλώ!)

http://marijsak.googlepages.com/thestonesummons

The Stone Summons (ID #1063661)
http://www.lulu.com/content/1063661

The Winner!

1st

Guido Fawkes, Malaga, Spain

[We chose this one as the winner because it turned the competition on it's head. Here it is the stone itself that is being summoned, rather than doing the summoning.]

New entries!

Sorry, I've fallen a bit behind on this - and I still have more to do.  If you wanted to see the entries full-size, sort of, you could have a look here

I really like Nemo and the cat, I wouldn't have understood the Dr. Who one, but luckily it came with a lengthy explanation.

Stone faces galore!

This wasn't supposed to be a competition for stone faces, per se!

But see today's (above in slide show) from Spain for a slightly different take and I really like both the Malaysian and Norwegian entries - see if you can work out which is which!

In case you can't see it, details on entering the Competuition can be found HERE!

Aussie Competition entry

Do watchfor this one in the slideshow above. I am almost tempted to post it here because I think it might be my favourite so far!

It uses a stone, but almost it looks as if it could be a koala - meant or coincidence?

Competition Update

I've removed the competiton entries I'd posted here, and put them into a slide show - see above.

So I will just acknowledge that Barney was the first to enter. People haven't on the whole, made a clear indication of their origin, so you can try and match them up from the following list (no prizes for this!)

• Canada
• Italy
• Greece
• England
• Wales
• New Zealand

It's interesting how similar some of the entries are - makes it harder to judge. (Hint!)

Competition! Competition! Competition!

Lexie sent me some photos (taken on the Malvern Hills, near where she lives) and it gave me an idea for a new project;  you've probably heard or read of travelling dwarves, whoops, no, wrong word, travelling gnomes, if not see here:
 http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/3859/ 

This is not exactly the same but it made me think of it - my idea is to have a competition along the lines of Lexie's photos below.  Hopefully we'll get  entries from all over the world, and the competition will end when 50 individuals have entered.  You can enter more than once and you will score higher if it is obvious where your photo was taken.  Me and my panel ("one in three and three in one") will judge it.  And no, we can't be part of the competition.

Email emtries to atheothoros@gmail.com 

Hektomori! Also Wow!

Sandy has just pointed out this, and whilst I realise you can all see it when you click on the map, I'd missed it, so maybe you did too.  Iam well impressed, if that doesn't sound pig-headed (that's what Barney called me after I got a distinction for this blog)

Current Country Totals
From 20 Mar 2008 to 23 Jan 2009

United States (US)	224
United Kingdom (GB)	83
Australia (AU)	58
Greece (GR)	37
Canada (CA)	19
France (FR)	12
New Zealand (NZ)	10
Germany (DE)	8
Cyprus (CY)	8
Turkey (TR)	8
India (IN)	7
Europe (EU)	7
Malaysia (MY)	7
Singapore (SG)	7
Netherlands (NL)	6
Switzerland (CH)	6
Italy (IT)	6
Brazil (BR)	4
Thailand (TH)	4
Sweden (SE)	4
Chile (CL)	3
Hungary (HU)	3
Ireland (IE)	3
Spain (ES)	2
Czech Republic (CZ)	2
Finland (FI)	2
Denmark (DK)	2
Poland (PL)	2
Belgium (BE)	2
Korea, Republic of (KR)	2
Japan (JP)	2
Colombia (CO)	2
Indonesia (ID)	2
South Africa (ZA)	2
Pakistan (PK)	2
Philippines (PH)	2
Egypt (EG)	2
French Polynesia (PF)	1
Peru (PE)	1
Mauritius (MU)	1
Reunion (RE)	1
Argentina (AR)	1
Norway (NO)	1
Gibraltar (GI)	1
Mexico (MX)	1
Israel (IL)	1
Qatar (QA)	1
Slovenia (SI)	1
United Arab Emirates (AE)	1
Serbia (RS)	1
Slovakia (SK)	1
Algeria (DZ)	1
Romania (RO)	1

One year on!

I was doing a Google search, because it just seems so incredible, what happened a year ago, and yet no-one seems aware, or even to realise that now the earth doesn't spins so fast, time has slowed. I found this, which amused me, because of headlines last year:

Thousands enjoy brilliant Hastings bonfire
Sussex Express, UK - 18 Oct 2008
The fire was lit by the Mayor on Hastings seafront making it the only bonfire in the UK to have the fire on a beach. Click on the gallery button to view all ...

and here is last year's:

Thousands watch spectacular fireworks display (breathtaking!) – The Hastings Observer, 15th October

Hastings - Thousands of onlookers packed the the seafront on Saturday night to watch the Hastings Week annual fireworks display.
This year’s display, watched by record crowds along The Esplanade, was truly breathtaking – it was as if the sky itself was taking part, with darting lights and what may have been thunder and lightning. The Hastings Meteorological Station says there was no indication of a storm but there was unusual meteorological action.........................................

http://marijsak.googlepages.com/thestonesummons

The Stone Summons (ID #1063661): http://www.lulu.com/content/1063661

Order online Paperback book or download

WOW! Room to read!

This project, my blogging for an IT credit, is over, officially. I received a distinction, but I am disappointed because I didn't reach the 1,000 mark in visitors yet, though if you look at the small map, it looks like many visitors - and I thank you all, especially now I have some from Africa also now. (Yes, I know it is a continent!)

But now our Academy (remember, faithful readers, we are a virtual school, with students and tutors from all across the world, coming together via technology) has started a new project and I am so excited about it the first thing that occurred to me was to put it on my blog!

It is about an organisation called "Room to Read"; the person who set it up has written a book, which is to be one of our set texts this year, but I have already read it because Stefan gave it to me for my birthday in August. It is called "Leaving Microsoft to Change the World", isn't that a groovy (Addendum 1: Barney says 'groovy' is so totally passe - bet he just wants to show off his French!) title but Bill Gates might be a bit miffed (thank you Giagia for that word!), he probably thinks he changed the world already!

Anyway, these people raise money and set up schools and libraries and computer rooms and give girls scholarships, in really poor countries, and I think it is a megaliterous idea. I hoped we might be able to do something for Greec e (we are a very poor country!) but it doesn't seem to be happening here.

But, as I was saying, there's a section called Students helping Students, set up after the Tsunami, and we are to come up with bright ideas to raise money and contribute - so if you have any, please let me know. And you can find out more about the student bit at http://www.roomtoread.org/involvement/shs.html

Seems only Fair!

Having given thanks to my NZ visitors it seems only fair to say the same to my welcome visitors from various areas of Africa - so many thanks.

Lexie has been holidaying in Hastings with her Gran and has sent me a link to some photos - http://picasaweb.google.com/marijsak/Hastings2008?pli=1

Oh Happy Day! Welcome NZ visitor.

A bit over the top, maybe, but I was so pleased when Sandy emailed me to point out that at long last I had a visitor from New Zealand. You can see on the cluster map. Africa (yes, the whole of Africa) still looks disappointingly bare.

Summons stones lost!

I found my stone on the beach, Sandy found hers on the bottom of the sea off the southern Tasmanian coast (well, the D'Entrecasteaux Channel) and Lexie found hers on the top of the Malvern Hills.

And now we have all lost them, well, not lost exactly, but we don't have them anymore.

Please, is you find a stone like this, email me and tell me where and when.

Many, many thanks.

Find out more at

http://marijsak.googlepages.com/thestonesummons

The Stone Summons (ID #1063661): http://www.lulu.com/content/1063661

Order online Paperback book or download

Aurora Australis unleashes southern spectacle – The Mercury, 16 October

Hobart - An explosion on the Sun's surface wowed Tasmanians with a spectacular night sky .

The Aurora Australis, also known as the Southern Lights, was visible from most of the southern half of Tasmania, and it was a truly stunning spectacle.

Astronomer at University of Tasmania Mt Pleasant Observatory at Cambridge, Dr. Kit Saklat, said the lights, which were unusually active, dancing across the night sky, were caused by activity on the Sun that sent gases towards Earth.

"It's basically an explosion on the Sun which throws a cloud of gas outwards. Earth's magnetic field channels it to the north and south poles," he said.

However, some experts have cast doubt on this explanation for the fireworks show, and believe there to be some other cause. At the moment, they are not committing themselves to further explanation.

Find out more at: http://marijsak.googlepages.com/thestonesummons

The Stone Summons (ID #1063661): http://www.lulu.com/content/1063661

Order online Paperback book or download

Thousands watch spectacular fireworks display (breathtaking!) – The Hastings Observer, 15th October

Hastings - Thousands of onlookers packed the the seafront on Saturday night to watch the Hastings Week annual fireworks display.
This year’s display, watched by record crowds along The Esplanade, was truly breathtaking – it was as if the sky itself was taking part, with darting lights and what may have been thunder and lightning. The Hastings Meteorological Station says there was no indication of a storm but there was unusual meteorological action.

One onlooker told The Observer: "It was a fantastic display – surely the best ever. We did wonder if it was the Northern Lights in the sky."

(Our reporter respectfully pointed out that this was unlikely, but to be sure he checked with Hastings Meteorological Station, who confirmed his opinion, but conceded there was definitely some meteorological activity going on, and they had fielded hundreds of phone calls reporting an unusually large waterspout.)

Find out more at http://marijsak.googlepages.com/thestonesummons

The Stone Summons (ID #1063661): http://www.lulu.com/content/1063661

Order online Paperback book or download

Heavenly Firework Display may have been result of activity in Europe's most destructive seismic hotspot. – Kaθημερινη, 16 Οκτωβρίου

Athens - Skies lit up over Southern Greece and the islands, giving rise to the rumour that the Aurora Borealis was once again playing in our skies.

But meteorologist, Christos Nikolaidis, of National Observatory of Athens, Institute of Geodynamics, said that while certainly something unusual was going on, he understood the authorities were awaiting confirmation from The Seismological Laboratory, University of Athens, that in fact the display related to a localised hothouse of seismic activity.

Aurora Borealis is named after the Roman goddess of the dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name. for the north wind, Boreas.

Plutarch gave a description of the northern lights in 467 BC but it may have been a quotation from missing writings of Anaxagoras rather than his own observation: "During seventy days there was an enormous and furious figure in the sky. It was like a flaming cloud, which did not stay at its position but moved windingly and regularly, so that the glowing fragments were flying in all directions and fire was blazing as the comets do. Those fragments came loose during rushing and unexpected movements."

The northern lights occurred one to three times per decade on the horizon of ancient Greece. Altogether dozens of reliable observations of the northern lights are known from the years BC.

There are very few references to the northern lights in the Middle Ages in Europe. Every written text is more or less superstitious and often they are embellished with warlike predictions. The northern lights seen on the 3rd of March, 451 were connected to the historic defeat of Attila at Chalons-sur-Marne, in what is now France.

Often, the blood of martyrs flowing up into the sky was seen in the northern lights. Such was the case when Thomas Becket died in 1177.

Some observations of the aurora borealis in Greece found that the appearances of the phenomenon aurora borealis are not exceptionally rare. These appearances coincide with the years of maximum solar activity and especially 1–2 years after it. Except of two appearances of this phenomenon all the others were observed in Spring and Autumn or near these seasons. The most southerly geographical latitude at which at least hints of the aurora borealis have been observed in Greece is the latitude of 35 N.

For more information on this see
The Stone Summons (ID #1063661): http://www.lulu.com/content/1063661

Order online Paperback book or download

Slideshow Updated!

Heading says it all really, have added some new photos, including one of a sea urchin, under water!

Still no-one has visited from New Zealand, at least, nothing that shows, it is very strange! And no one from the whole continent of Africa.

Haven't had a lot of time lately to add much, such a lot going on, but it will soon be over.

On the other hand, the project (both projects, really) is coming to an end. I would just like to get a visitor from every continent in the world.

If you're reading this and know someone from a country not yet marked on the map of visitors, please email them, and ask them to take a peek. I will record the results here, no matter what else happens. - Σας ευχαριστούμε πάρα πολύ

Sorry, really busy!

Things have been going on, remember on my birthday, my brother Stefan and I saw this tornado. He described it to me and said something about a vortex. I had been meaning to check out this word for ages, because I had heard it earlier. I went online and I found some fascinating sites and information.

Apparently in the US (and in the old USSR) the scientists are experimenting with using weather to fight wars, and change the economy and things like that, really frightening if it is true, but I do know that a lot of what is on the Internet is based on false rumour and conspiracy theories (my brother, lots of our tutors, and my Yiayia, keep on going on about it) so I don't know whether to believe it.

But when I tried to blog some of the information I found out about vortices a couple of days ago, I got hit by a lightning ball! (Well, my PC did) Honestly, and the computer died on me. So I am not blogging about that (please note Artemis, if it was you) but just a few interesting sites I found, which might count towards a science credit - he said hopefully.

Like it says in the Business Week article "There's no shortage of such conspiracy theories on the Internet. Search for "weather warfare" on Google, and you'll get 68,000 hits." [So I just did that search, because this is a 2005 article and I wanted to see how it had grown. If you use the inverted commas to search it as a phrase, you only get 29,200 English hits - but if you just use the terms - 1,940,000 English hits - and a lot less in Greek!]

Κλιματολογικός πόλεμος
Θα ήταν δηλαδή ένα κανονικό Κλιματολογικό Όπλο (Weather Warfare), που θα προκαλούσε απότομη και μεγάλη άνοδο της θερμοκρασίας του πλανήτη μας! ...

New look for ball lightning (September 2003) - News - PhysicsWeb
Ball lightning - a slow-moving ball of light that is occasionally seen at ground level during thunderstorms - has puzzled scientists for centuries. ...physicsweb.org/articles/news/7/9/13 -

Ball lightning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ball lightning is an atmospheric phenomenon, the physical nature of which is still controversial. The term refers to reports of a glowing, floating object ...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning - 69k - 30 Jul 2007

The Vortex Theory (wasn't sure if that one was going to work for reasons mentioned above)

And this one didn't work - www.weatherwars.info but I've looked at it before; you can tell what it was about! I have found a link to at least one of the items, posted elsewhere - The Tsumami Called Katrina

http://www.gaiaguys.net/weatherwar.htm

NASA Funds Weather Modification Technology

WEATHER AS A FORCE MULTIPLIER: OWNING THE WEATHER IN 2025MILITARY APPLICATIONS OF WEATHER MODIFICATION

This site has a lot of other links - http://www.freedomdomain.com/weather.html

Who Controls the Weather? - BusinessWeek
Theories about Russian agents steering Hurricane Katrina may be off base, but research into weather manipulation has been going on for decades

Weather Engineering Over North America

12th Birthday

When I blogged before about my birthday I was still thinking about the other things I found out, and forgot to tell you about my birthday, which was really great. I woke really early and it was already hot. I went for a swim and my Pateras came too. After breakfast at the hotel we met Stefan off the ferry, and there were friends and family all day coming with presents and food and eating all day long.

In the evening we went to the taverna. There was this huge thunderstorm and Stefan and I saw a waterspout, tornado sort of thing out in the middle of the water.

The next day we went beachcombing; it was good fun to do it with Stefan, although I like to do it on my own as well. We found sponges that looked as if they had been ripped from the floor of the ocean, loads of driftwood, mis-shapen glass, bits of china, makes you wonder where it all comes from. No treasure though, or bits of galley or other shipwrecks.

I will try and find time to post some photos - but I don't know when!

Maybe not so amazing!

First, I entitled this blog 'Just so amazing!' but I have been thinking about it and now realise it is not so amazing at all, just part of the greater scheme of things, or whatever.

I was chatting online with two friends (e-friends?) one in Tasmania and one in England, and it turned out that we all share the same birthday and we all turned 12 yesterday. (Ευτυχή γενέθλια σε μας / Happy Birthday to us). But it was even weirder than that. You'll be able to read all about it soon, but not until it is over, and I don't know when that will be.

Name Day, Birthday - all in one

Sorry for the lack of blogging but the fires on the mainland made it seem vainglorious to rabbit on about nothing, or mostly nothing. Thank goodness, and all the foreign firefighters who have helped, as well as our own brave firefighters, it all now seems to be under control. So I think it is alright to blog about tomorrow.

Tomorrow is my name day and tomorrow is my birthday. Stefan is coming, but not Yiayia, she says she can't afford it this year, but is saving up for next. I am so looking forward to tomorrow - I feel all jiggly, so I think I will go for a swim.

It is over two weeks now since I mentioned no New Zealand visitors registering on the map, or anyone from Africa - I had hoped that that would stir some activity, but alas no.

For my birthday I would like some people from New Zealand and some from at least one country in Africa to visit my blog. Please.

New Zealand, New Zealand wherefore art thou?

Just had an email from Sandy. (I've put her subject line in the title.) She says this all started when her Dad's cousin emailed her from New Zealand about the blog.

(That's not quite true - it all started with the stones, really, but it was that email that was responsible for our making contact at that point. Interesting to know how it might have happened, because it would have had to have happened, if I hadn't put the picture on the blog)

Anyway, Sandy emailed me and says she was checking the cluster map and it doesn't show anyone from New Zealand. So he didn't even bother to look at the blog! Just passed it to Sandy as she was 'about the same age'. Yet he played a big part! I've suggested she email him and tell him! Well, some of it anyway, she'll have to be careful.

Meanwhile, it would be nice if someone from New Zealand logged on, please!

And I'm a bit short on visitors from Africa, South Africa, Numibia, Tanzania, Malawi, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Morroco, Tunisia, to mention just a view.

From Sandy (who wasn't flooded)

Floods, landslides hit Tasmania
WILD weather and huge downpours have seen three major valleys flooded in Tasmania, triggering evacuations, car crashes, fires and a dangerous landslide.

Crisis: Tasmanians count losses as floods subside
Damage assessments: Floods ease in Tasmania's northeast
Rivers break: Forty homes evacuated in Tasmania floods
Wild weather: Evacuations as Tasmania flood waters rise

From Lexie (ditto!)

Rail services disrupted
Malvern Gazette, UK - 25 Jul 2007THE torrential rain and floods has had a serious effect on rail services on the line through Malvern, Colwall and Ledbury. Services between Malvern and ...

News Item
Many towns and villages in Malvern Hills district were severely affected by the worst flooding in living memory over the weekend. ...

Tales From The Flood Front Line Sky News, United Kingdom - 22 Jul 2007
Brian Waite, from Malvern, said: "The volume of water that has come down is quite unbelievable. I have been driving for 45 years and I have never, ...

Residents cling on as the flood turns their town into an island Times Online, UK - 22 Jul 2007
The medieval town, which nestles between the Cotswolds and Malvern Hills and holds an annual Water Festival and Mop Fair, is renowned for its timber-framed, ...

Farmers Face Ruin In Flood Disaster (from Malvern Gazette)
Malvern, Worcestershire, news, sport, what's on, leisure, property, jobs, cars and local information, - All from The Malvern Gazette.

Tasmania's Turn!

You may remember, back in July I blogged this:
Calamity!
England drowns and Greece burns! So far, Tasmania appears to be alright.So is it just coincidence.

And now my friend Sandy has sent me this! (from her local paper, The Mercury)

Warnings of more wild weather
THE Bureau of Meteorology has issued a series of weather alerts for the state, which remain valid until midnight on Saturday. Visit our weather site Pics: Huonville under flood

Flooding brings a tide of woe
FLOODING and high winds cut power and flooded homes and businesses across Tasmania yesterday.

Page turning on history book (Kathimerini)

This item amused me.

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100010_31/07/2007_86310
"Changes to a controversial primary school textbook, whose content had been deemed to give pupils an inaccurate insight into Greek history, are to be made public in the next few days."

Two things, totally unrelated!

I was doing a search for something, and my blog was in the results!

Alex's Beachcomber Blog: April 2007
ekathimerini.com Lack of trust wipes smile from Greeks .... he had more than a million fireworks. Police think he was going to sell the fireworks ready for ...beachcomber-alex.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html - 108k - Supplemental Result
- Cached - Similar pages - Note this

I was just scrolling down, checking, and there it was. this is the first time that has happened, so I was quite pleased. (I was g-talking with Barney, my friend in Canada, and he says I am pathetic! He also keeps suggesting unethical tactics for me to increase traffic to my site - like mentioning Harry Potter! - Happy, Barney? But I am not putting it in the keywords.)

The other thing (and I just realised, they are related, in a way, as they were part of the same research) I came across this quotation:
“combines history with technology, earth with fire and water”.

That is what is going on in our lives at the moment, it seems quite spooky!

Calamity!

England drowns and Greece burns!

So far, Tasmania appears to be alright.

So is it just coincidence.

Was talking about it with Laki (he doesn't know the background, at least, I don't think he does, thought sometimes I wonder) and he says there is no such thing as coincidence.

I find that very frightening; what do you think?

Very Interesting!

• You may (or may not!) remember that I was confused, bemused, but interested, to note that even though I knew I had at least one visitor from Tasmania, it didn't show on the map on my site. [ See here ]
  
• I checked it as late as yesterday, and there was a dot in Western Australia, but not on Tasmania. Today, Tasmania is obliterated by a red dot! And the one in Western Australia has disappeared. None-the-less, I am most pleased.

Of course, you can have a look in the left hand column, and click on it to go to an enlargement, but I am preserving the evidence. (Pity I didn't think to do it before!)

Could be quite interesting?

Turns out my lat post has made me unpopular with my classmates. (virtual!) The head of college saw it and thought it a good idea - so we have a project to create a newswiki (under the collar banner, (Φυσικά!) with similar items for each of our home countries. Of course, there are more than one person from some countries (including from Greece) so we must make it more local, but ensure that national items are included as well.

Please Barney, no more complaining emails, texts, GoogleTalk or FaceBook postings! I've got the message, but it is a fait accompli, so live with it. Same goes for the rest of you Int studs.

My poor country is not in a very good state at the moment!

Greek forest fire close to Athens 29 Jun 07

Heatwave fuels Greek forest fires 28 Jun 07

Tourists flee Greek island fires 12 Jul 07
Hundreds of holidaymakers have been evacuated from hotels on the Greek island of Skiathos to escape raging forest fires.

Rescue operation : Fifteen people were safely rescued early yesterday when the sailing boat they were traveling on ran aground off the island of Aegean island of Patmos, authorities said.

Passengers unharmed after vessel en route to Aegina catches fire : A hydrofoil full of passengers caught fire yesterday...

Fire threatens homes on Skiathos : A fire that broke out on the island of Skiathos yesterday morning ravaged forestland and forced the evacuation...

Strike shuts down the Acropolis for six days : A strike by archaeological site guards will shut down the Acropolis, the country's most visited monument...

See also Link at the bottom of the page!

Two upmanship?

Lexie, another of my Blog friends, has sent me this photo, she says she may not live by the sea, but she does live in the landscape that inspired Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Elgar, Mari J Sak, William Langland (Piers Plowman) and many others.

"C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien used to walk on the Malvern Hills. The story goes that, after drinking in a Malvern pub one winter evening, they were walking home when it started to snow. They saw a lamp post shining out through the snow and Lewis turned to his friends and said "that would make a very nice opening line to a book". And so it did. (Wikipedia)

Lexie (without knowing the above) took the photo below last winter.

One upmanship!

There has been so much going on lately which I can't really write about, so I apologise for not doing anything on the blog. Just thought I would take a moment to mention that through my blog I have made a number of new friends; I was talking to two of them about going out looking for some sea urchins, because I wanted my mitera to prepare them for supper - and I couldn't find any. So one of them, Sandy in Tasmania, has emailed me a photo of a sea urchin shell she found while on a walk on the East Coast of Tasmania. It is interesting, but our shells are a lovely deep purplish blue - and of course, I can't eat the contents of this one. (Sandy, don't bother telling me there were no contents, I do realise!)