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.