Pathway across the sea

The Corona Beach Garbage Hotel is made of recycled waste collected from European beaches

A NEW hotel has opened in the heart of Madrid proudly declaring that it's completely rubbish.

More of a wooden shack than a five-star establishment, the walls of the Beach Garbage Hotel are strewn with detritus dragged up by the tide, recovered from landfills or snapped up at flea markets.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/travel/world/rubbish-hotel-opens-in-heart-of-madrid/story-e6frfqai-1225991806719#ixzz1Bgki8Aax

Photo full of memories - Alex

Short Sharp Science: Speeding star creates bird-like space sculpture - check photo in article

Wow! This brings it all back, what a great feeling. But oh,Karaghiozi, where are you now? (This > is my photo from my Facebook page, if you want to be my friend!)

Runes

So There! [Alex again]

Betelgeuse 'not likely to explode in 2012'

Cold water poured on twin sun dreams
"...................

That story is helping fuel internet rumors and doomsday theories by confounding the impending supernova with the Mayan calendar's conclusion in 2012 - which some believe is a prediction of the end of the world.

But there's no reason to think Betelgeuse will blow in 2012, Mr Plait explained, or even this millennium................"

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/betelgeuse-not-likely-to-explode-in-2012/story-fn5fsgyc-1225992757166#ixzz1BzUtBpQz

Flotsam & jetsam!

There's a simple mnemonic that helps distinguish flotsam from jetsam. Flotsam (or floatsome) are those items which are floating as a consequence of the action of the sea. Jetsam are those which have been jettisoned by a ship's crew (although that may float too of course).

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/flotsam-and-jetsam.html

Pier remains

Hi, this is Alex! (Excuse me Lexie, while I post to MY blog!)

The English newspaper The Telegraph today has a report I first read four days ago, I thought about blogging it then because it is within my sphere of interest - but first I checked it out on the web. I could find nothing of substance that validated it, so left it, Is The Telegraph guilty of sloppy reporting? Even if the journalist is a better researcher than me, he hasn't cited any validating sources, so is still being irresponsible in my opinion.

It will be interesting to see if this story escalates.

"'Second sun' on its way
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/827553

The Earth could find itself with a 'second sun' for a period of weeks later this year when one of the night sky's most luminous stars explodes, scientists have claimed."

Trawler coming into harbour!

A baby 'Scream'

See here for the orginal

apparently Andy Warhol did his own version too

and you can see Little Scream's big brother from our competition - here.

Just sitting there!

View through a 'brick'!

Hollow sort of brick (lots of them around) presumably from the pier and I used it to take the photo of the pier, putting the camera lens up to the hole (with some difficulty, trying to juggle camera and brick)

My favourite!

This is the pinky grey stone I mentioned earlier, I have seen much bigger bits than this.

Stone

It looks like a parcel wrapped around with string.

(I've found the rocks always look better in situ when they are still wet form the sea; often when they dry out what attracted me is lost.

Beachcombing rewards

Went down to the beach today despite the bitterly cold wind; not another soul in sight and what did I espy, unbelievably, just alying on the pebbles, but a £5 note!

It was far too cold to take a photo ( and anyway, the note might have blown away by the time I had extracted my camera from my pocket.) I honestly looked around for an owner, but as before, no one else was braving the biting wind.

I am just hoping that I don't now get a lot of claimants, as Alex did when he found the koumboloi. See Judgement of Solomon

Still a lot of this all over the beach; the first piece I saw was like a large brick, with a runnel in it, and the pinky streak you can see in the ones above. At first I didn't know what it was, well I still don't really, but I think it must come from the pier, because there's so mcuh of it. It is a creamy yellow, with a pink streak, and very light.

Smiley Face!

See other examples at HERE.

Treasure?

I found this stone, or half stone on the beach and it seemed obvious that it had had a crystalline structure of some sort in the cavity. You may be able to see the glitter from remaining glitter.

I assumed the sea had broken it, and spent some time looking around for the other half. Then I looked for similar stones - I found one easily enough, and cracked it open easily - but alas, there was no treasure inside.

I was telling a friend's father about it later, and he suggested that there had been human intervention. I hope to spend more time looking and seeing if I can find my own treasure.

New Year Resolution

Well, yes - obviously I know it isn't New Year yet, but I feel bad about letting Alex and all you others down - so am going to try and do better!

These are more pier finds, as well as shells and a stone. There is hardly a day on the beach when I don't come back with a stone or pebble that has fascinated me. There's grey quartzy type of stone, with pink in it (okay, I never claimed to be a geologist) and stones with lovely brown, black and orange colours, they look abit like some Australian Aborigine painings I have seen - but the colurs are best before the stones dry out.

I have acouple of its of charred timber, one of them has a bolt in it, and two bits of metal lacework in the second picture are bits of melted metal.

Oh, and I hope you all had a Very Happy Christmas - Καλά Χριστούγεννα

I know - it's been ages!

Yes, I do have my camera back, and I will try to find time to document my earlier finds, but for the last few days it has been a bit difficult to beachcomb! See above, taken today.

And for those of a romantic turn of mind: (Very Dickensian, which is quite appropriate, as he had two aunts in Hastings, and spent some time staying with them.

Well! That didn't work did it?

Tried blogging the photo from Picasa but desn't seem to have worked, so, hopefully, herewith!

So quick & simple - and done.

As you might be able to guess, I haven't got my camera back yet!

But I was feeling a bit guilty about failing Alex, so I had this great idea to use the webcam on my eeepc.

Couldn't get it quite right (actually was trying to photograph six shells I picked up today!)

It was very stormy yesterday and there was fresh pier debris. I love the beach in a storm - I love the beach. (That's 'full stop')

Hello there!

Hi, I am Alex's solution; my name is Lexie Godbehere and Alex has asked me to take over his blog for a while. He has asked Sandy (Sandy Godbert) too, but she hasn't answered yet.

As is so often the way, my new, birthday camera had to go in to be repaired the same day Alex contacted me. (Lens error!) So you will have to wait for photos but I have collected lots of things!

First shells; I read somewhere on the web that because Hastings is a pebble beach there are no shells. Load of....!

And you may have heard that our pier got a bit burnt; there are loads of bits and pieces all over the beach so I picked up a couple.

Then, of course, there are the pebbles - every day I walk on the beach and every day I pick up pebbles, the shapes, the colours; of course, I do keep hoping I will find something worth lots of money, or of great importance.

I did find a mobile phone, still working and the owner was very pleased to get it back, and I found a pair of Prada sunglasses- well, it said PRADA on the side.

I am aware......

....I have been so caught up in family matters and other things I just haven't had time to blog, let alone beachcomb! I do have an idea in mind, so don't stop taking a quick peek occasionally and I will try and get my idea up and running.

Meanwhile, you might find this interesting (well, I did!) -
http://sites.google.com/site/marijsak/thestonesummons

http://sites.google.com/site/mjsakbiog/biography

Sorrow! My heart hurts for my friends in Hastings

So many friends have told me about the Battle for Hastings Pier, and how hopeful they all were that they could get it reopened - and now it has been burnt down! I am sure it was an accident, but how sad for everyone.

But it must be something about the people of Hastings - they still haven't given up and are hoping that something can be done.

After I heard it on the news I had a look online and here are photos etc.

• Second fire on Hastings Pier this morning
• Hastings Pier arson suspects released on bail
• Giant crane to demolish parts of Hastings Pier tonight
• Council leader says Hastings Pier fire is "devastating"
• VIDEO: Firefighters tackle Hastings Pier blaze
• People warned Hastings Pier is dangerous
• CLICK HERE for links to every Hastings Pier story you need
• VIDEO: Hastings Pier destroyed
• Hastings Pier monitored amid collapse fears
• Hastings Pier kills local wildlife
• Hastings Pier fire leaves dozens of homes without water
• Two arrested over Hastings Pier
• Hastings Pier blaze destroys most of historic structure

Hippo Campus

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/09/hundreds-of-baby-seahorses-cau.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

A record-breaking 918 baby short-snouted seahorses were born at London Zoo's aquarium on Monday and caught on camera.

Famed for their unusual gestation process - whereby the male is equipped with a 'brood pouch' and goes through pregnancy and birth - seahorses are notoriously hard to breed:

http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/newshastings/A-century-of-seahorses-born.6384428.jp

A century of seahorses born at Blue Reef - Hastings
.............more than 100 seahorses were born at the aquarium. The tiny short-snouted seahorses, which are notoriously difficult to rear in captivity, were born as part of a nationwide breeding programme............................

"These babies were born from parents that were rescued after accidentally being caught by fishermen. .....................................

First-Ever Halley Comet Sighting: It Was All Greek

I caught this from the newsfeed at the bottom of the blog.

..........the mention of a comet falling somewhere in the Hellespont region of northern Greece, either in 466 or 467 BC. Hintz and Graham write that records from the time describe how the meteor fell even while a continued to burn in the sky. (It subsequently became a tourist attraction for the next 500 years.) However, most of the subsequent commentary focused on the meteor, giving the appearance of the comet relatively short shrift.

Fast forward to 1705. That's when Englishman Edmond Halley correctly predicted the return of a comet seen in 1682, which returned to pass by the Earth in 1758. Since then, scientists have been able to project backwards the comet's return trips, which typically take place every 75 to 76 years.

Using computer simulations Hintz and Graham suggest that what we now call Halley's comet might have been visible for about 80 days during the summer of 466 BC.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20016110-501465.html

Beachcombers - contributions/corrections welcomed!

strandjutter, موجة طويلة, 比奇科默, tulák - velká příbojová vlna, Pikk ranna-Aal, rantajätkä, 1. vague déferlante - 2. propre à rien - 3. personne qui ramasse des objets sur les plages, Strandgutsammler, frangente, 大波 (Onami), Okeano banga, موج خروشان دریا و اقیانوس, 1. przybrzeżna fala morska - 2. człowiek żyjący z tego, co morze wyrzuca na brzeg, бродяга, 1. ola - 2. raquero - 3. persona inútil, lodosçu, ביטשקאָומער

Strandloopers ahoy

Sounded Dutch or Afrikaans to me. Anyway, I have had an email from the writer of a blog called Finds of a Strandlooper who is interested in beachcombing blogs and if you want to know about the origins of the word, go look on her blog.

She pointed out that my beachcombing has been rather neglected, and it is true that I have been fascinated lately with things to do with weather and cosmic disturbances.

But I am still beachcombing!

Success!

I am now a bona fide Facebook member and I am really pleased with my profile picture. Go take a look - I haven't fixed the security settings yet.

Not again!

So eager to sign up to Facebook now I legally can - I thought! Forgot to take into account the time difference.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, will reply individually in due course.

Happy Birthday to me. Facebook! Here I come

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