Submitted by Captain Black on
"He had set his sights a little higher - at least in terms of altitude - and dreamed of going to space after replying to a notice board advert. Nasa was expanding its space exploration plans and needed scientists."
"According to the Home Office, he will "receive threat briefings to inform the UK's approach to preventing illegal migration"."
"But a few months into the course, at Houston's Johnson Space Centre, the former Cardiff High School pupil realised flying fast planes wasn't for him.
In August 1968, less than a year before man walked on the moon, he decided to leave the space agency."
""That includes working proactively at source before people set off on dangerous and unnecessary journeys."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65468422
"... like making a parachute out of thin sacks and jumping out of the bedroom window."
21 Comments
'Mysterious Business'
Submitted by Captain Black on
"Interestingly, she said the fact she sold nothing else held her back from charging more. All on its own, any price rise would stick out like, well, one of her bigger spears. I trust the Harvard Business School knows of this strange pricing phenomenon."
"When modern and ancient collide, you expect a discordant note to be struck. Today, our political system has little sympathy for artists."
https://www.gazetteherald.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/23557436.night-sk...
"The website said it was important to make sure "you’re looking at the planets and not the stars"."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/65765327
'Sentient Life'
Submitted by Captain Black on
"She could have said that more than 500,000 of the people who came to the UK last year did so at the government’s invitation. To do the jobs the Brits won’t."
"“It’s just really exciting and surprising,” said Daniel Gammons, a senior environmental scientist in California’s department of fish and wildlife."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/05/wolverine-seen-second-ti...
"Male wolverines walk through huge territories – easily several hundred square kilometers – and this winter’s heavy snowfall in the west may have created “habitat bridges” for the wolverine, Gammons said. The animal could have traveled from the Rocky and Cascade mountain ranges, or from as far away as ..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PgdZDXg0z0
'The Year of the Coast'
Submitted by Captain Black on
"Alfred Wainwright’s original 1973 St Bees to Robin Hood’s Bay route uses a network of public footpaths, permissive paths and access land to cross villages and the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors national parks."
https://www.thisisthecoast.co.uk/news/local-news/natural-england-condemn...
"You don’t need to be snappy, although the longer this goes on and it winds you up, the more likely it is you will blurt out something less controlled."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lFxGBB4UGU
https://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/about-us/press-office/press-releases
"A good, brisk walk may not enable her to talk quite as much."
'Get off the Ground'
Submitted by Captain Qahn on
"As nations commit to lowering emissions, the Queensland government wants to establish itself as a world leader in critical mineral exports to feed the global metals hunger."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5Xfch1oERc
""The near tripling of top end royalties makes Queensland the highest coal taxing regime in the world," he told the audience."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-26/citizen-science-ai-uncover-myster...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1TNLU-ydLA
"To be frank, it was an accident,” says the study’s lead author, Prof Jun Yao. “We were actually interested in making a simple sensor for humidity in the air. But for whatever reason, the student who was working on that forgot to plug in the power.”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/02/orkney-could-leave-uk-fo...
'Peckem & Packam'
Submitted by Captain Qahn on
"“Giraffe translocations are extremely complex and risky operations,” said Fennessy. The feasibility study for this project started more than two years ago, she added."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/10/fear-motivating-chri...
"Young women have taken to calling these sorts of jobs – as in, jobs that are undemanding but well enough paid, with little personal passion involved – “lazy girl jobs”. Mostly the term refers to menial office jobs as opposed to the service industry: people on computers, sending a few emails and taking home a comfortable salary."
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/jul/09/dance-grief-rave-di...
"“I don’t have to talk to people, only come to the office twice a week.” “Me at my lazy girl job that lets me do whatever the heck I want as long as I answer emails and keep everything clean.”"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBWtEvGlTbk
“Moving giraffe is no easy task, particularly when it involves such a long distance and crossing an international border. Giraffe are fully awake during the entire process and not sedated at all. No drugs were involved. The giraffe were mainly standing during the trip,” she said."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP-4WhA24NE
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/07/native-giraffes-retu...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6sHWQcCUsQ
Fact Checking...
"Ten residents might call It."
'Peck & Sights'
Submitted by Captain Qahn on
"The great reboot train chugs on to the next station, picking up the most unlikely passengers on the way..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da7BYWyvwO8
"The next Liaison Group Forum meeting will be held at Littlebeck Village Hall on Monday July 31 (11am)."
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jul/13/quantum-leap-review...
'Trail-blazers'
Submitted by Captain Qahn on
"To one side sheep milled nervously, trying to decide what to do about me. On the other side a small noticeboard indicated this was the path used by partisans to guide refugees across the Pyrénées in the second world war . There was an immediate thrill of connection; I was walking in their brave footsteps. I set off up the path as the sheep scattered."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdVjVtpr55M
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/jul/16/you-are-not-lost-th...
'Your Interlocutor'
Submitted by Captain Qalypso on
"It’s a lot to ask of someone, to be charmed and charming, interesting and interested, yet with the insight to sense when it’s time to pipe down.
It’s not that I have anyone I would call a friend who bores me; if anything, the opposite is true. But that presents its own challenges. If the subject matter is interesting, it requires attention. And if there is too much of it, that gets tiring."
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/20/councils-issue-record-nu...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwhgJddXi9Y
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/19/chatty-friend-shut...
'When removing those who also selected ‘yes’ the recommendation was ... no.'
'Ballot Papers'
Submitted by Captain Colombo on
"The S shape is like a suspension bridge, holding thousands of cars aloft by a gossamer thread: it evenly distributes the load across the spine."
https://askyourcouncil.uk/understanding-your-council/parish-meetings-and...
"A poll may be demanded before the conclusion of a parish meeting on any question arising at the meeting; but no poll shall be taken unless either the person presiding at the meeting consents or the poll is demanded by not less than ten, or one-third, of the local government electors present at the meeting, whichever is the less."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZiNtbgm9oM
"Principal Councils have the power to make a community governance review at any time for all or part of their district. It is envisaged that such reviews will occur at intervals of between 10 and 15 years and will take into account population changes, the need for well-defined boundaries and the wishes of local inhabitants. Reviews may also be triggered by a petition of local government electors for an area. A petition is deemed valid where it is signed by a sufficient proportion of the electorate (ranging from 50% in an area with less than 500 electors to 10% in one with more than 2500)."
https://towncouncillor.com/6026/circumstances-parish-councillor-removed-...
"The problem with a Parish Poll is that it is always expensive (between £5k and £8k) and the cost comes out of the precept. So, it is a double-edged sword. And, yes, if a vacancy is then caused, it may end up being filled by co-option unless you can get ten electors to request an election (there is a time frame within which this has to be done), in which case you can have an election ... just be ready to stand!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hgVihWjK2c
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/aug/06/good-posture-back-pain-h...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr0vuvEyrtE
https://darknessbelow.co.uk/other-blogs/
Grrr...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pw7PndHSu4
Fag Packet Stuff
Submitted by Captain Qahn on
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/03/gypsy-traveller-li...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4plB-eSyz8
"You must register to vote if you’re asked to do so and you meet the conditions for registering, for example you’re 16 or over and you’re British or a national of an EU or Commonwealth country."
"The full version of the register can only be used for:
You can find out more about the difference between the open register and the electoral register."
"It now states that the self-assessment phone service is closed until 4 September 2023"
Sounds like a Plan....;-0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT27fQrtzjs
Thou must not ramp up the Rhetoric.
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/aug/13/sunday-with-nigella-lawson-...
'The Potter Verse'
Submitted by Captain Colombo on
"A funding bid to redevelop Harrogate's convention centre failed because it lacked "evidence and rationale" as to how it would increase business, according to a feedback report.
Harrogate Borough Council applied for £20m from the government's Levelling Up Fund towards the proposed £49m project.Details of why the bid was rejected were contained in a government report. North Yorkshire Council, which now owns the venue, will decide later this year if it will proceed with the scheme."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-66429136
"Who will play Dumbledore, Hagrid and Voldemort in the new Harry Potter TV series?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6KYAVn8ons
https://www.thisisthecoast.co.uk/news/local-news/major-restoration-proje...
If only we had a wild life sanctuary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXmYdAm9Vjs
I never mentioned Snakes or Fish ponds once...
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/sep/19/tories-risk-political-t...
'Gum Shoes'
Submitted by Captain Colombo on
"“So why is it OK for him to take that role and why is it OK for him to say what he said and everything halts? Why are we taking the voice of one person? Why are we letting one person speak for a community? There are other voices and other opinions. That’s what really irks me: the sudden ‘Oh no, we can’t do this,’ response instead of taking other people’s opinions for the community into consideration.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66359047
"However, one problem with current window technology is that the plastic seals around the edges of double- or triple-glazed units often fail after a few decades - it's not all about the quality of the glass itself."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52chF7DWJcY
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/19/actors-dwarfism-movies-repr...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjswBioSWEI
'Galactic Terms'
Submitted by Captain Colombo on
"The basic version goes like this: there are countless billions of stars in the universe and a decent number of them are orbited by Earth-like planets. Even if you assume the chances of intelligent life spontaneously evolving on one of those planets are very low, and even if those planets are astonishingly far away, the age of the universe and the staggering numbers of planets involved mean there should be at least a few alien societies far more advanced than our own by now, in possession of technology that means they could pop by and say hi."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66599836
"And then, of course, there’s AI – depending on which tech-bro you listen to, the thing that is either going to unlock unimaginable advances in science or turn us all into paste."
https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-accords/index.html
https://www.theguardian.com/science/commentisfree/2023/aug/23/super-inte...
'Anomalous Phenomena'
Submitted by Captain Qahn on
"“It’s the queen of all evidence,” Maussan claimed. “That is, if the DNA is showing us that they are non-human beings and that there is nothing that looks like this in the world, we should take it as such.”"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66804996
The Wednesday meeting with US lawmakers was held behind closed doors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FVoTMOorXA
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/13/my-stories-have-le...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgEfd9fnvu4
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-release-discuss-unidentified-...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckM51xoTC2U
"“A cruise ship in trouble in the national park is obviously a worry. The nearest help is far away, our units are far away, and the weather can be very unfavourable...”"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnIkcB8GObo
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66644709
'Comfort Zones'
Submitted by Captain Black on
"Discovering that antimatter rose in response to gravity, instead of falling would have blown apart what we know about physics.
They've now confirmed for the first time that atoms of antimatter fall downwards. But far from being a scientific dead end this opens the doors to new experiments and theories. Does it fall at the same speed, for example?"
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/sep/28/astronauts-and-cosmonaut...
"They logged 157m miles (253m km) since launching from Kazakhstan last September and circled the world nearly 6,000 times."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66890649
"Some theorists have predicted that antimatter might fall up, though most, notably Albert Einstein in his General theory of Relativity more than a hundred years ago, say it should behave just like matter, and fall downwards.
The researchers at Cern have now confirmed, with the greatest degree of certainty yet, that Einstein was right. But just because antimatter doesn't fall up, it doesn't mean that it falls down at exactly the same rate as matter."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6u33j_T5VQ
"It is about the same amount the average Briton spends on food in a year. If you earn the average UK salary, you would have to work for more than seven weeks to afford a pair of these knickers."
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/sep/27/it-was-like-blade-runner-m...
"For the next steps in the research, the team are upgrading their experiment to make it more sensitive, to see if there is a slight difference in the rate at which antimatter falls."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzk3w5cLxnI
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/sep/27/5600-knickers-are-these-...
Powering Up the North.
'Cultural Identity'
Submitted by Captain Qalypso on
"“There’s a real sense of sadness in the air,” said Helen-Ann Hartley, the bishop of Newcastle, who visited the site on Friday morning. “It reminded me of the rawness of the landscape. It was just heartbreaking and almost unreal to see the tree felled.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_91hNV6vuBY
""You know when your roots are here, everything has been put here: my dogs, my rabbits when I was a kid. Every memory I had as a kid, the football, the games when you were a kid when all the campers came. Happiness, there is no happiness now. Happiness is gone.""
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/plankey-mill-northu...
""We live in an infinite Universe, with infinite stars and planets. And it's been obvious to many of us that we can't be the only intelligent life out there," says Prof Catherine Heymans, Scotland's Astronomer Royal.""
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=129kuDCQtHs
"County Council bosses said they received a complaint in 2020 regarding an unauthorised campsite on Plankey Mill Farm but because it was more than 10 years old it did not require planning permission."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-Ds-FXGGQg
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/30/technology-tamara-kne...
"... the National Trust confirmed that it would remove the tree due to Hadrian's Wall's status as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and UNESCO World Heritage site... altering or adding anything that can damage the archaeology of a UNESCO World Heritage Site is against the law without consent from the Government. The tree is set to be removed by the National Trust, who say they are working with Kieran to find a more appropriate planting spot."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idnJnjV_8rg
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/30/you-cant-put-a-tree-...
"... it’s hard to suspend disbelief and be captivated by a Macbeth if you know the actor playing him has been burning Pride flags in his garden. And is it the job of the National Theatre to employ delinquent far-right-leaning actors in Shakespeare plays in order to keep them out of trouble, like some kind of iambic borstal?"
lol
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/01/save-the-national-...
'Quantative Easing'
Submitted by Captain Qalypso on
"As he prepares for the autumn statement on 22 November. Mr Hunt has already made clear that tax cuts will not be announced in November. However, the increased cost of servicing the country's debt pile further narrows his choices."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/02/the-perfect-joy-of...
"One of my favorite spooky objects can be seen in binoculars or a backyard telescope on autumn evenings... better known as the Owl Cluster"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkwM3GLW8BQ
"The sensors can identify wind gusts and even hear the staccato popping sounds made of laser pulses made by the rover's instruments."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-67012882
A 'Promenade'
Submitted by Captain Qalypso on
"It was acknowledged that unusually high tide conditions or “weather activity” could significantly change the drop height in a short period of time."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yID8Xb7qKM
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68096794
"If you scale it up, it's the equivalent to measuring the change in distance to Alpha Centauri to about the thickness of a piece of paper."
lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvZaYSUBAPU
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/27/a-wolf-killed-the-eu...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqNcyFNMfLM
"Wolf debates are dominated by problems, but what of their benefits? A German study found that deer became 1.5kg heavier after wolves returned."
Well Bless my little cotton socks.. ;-0
https://www.zoo-berlin.de/en
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptfmAY6M6aA
Never, Mind.
'Tate & Lyle'
Submitted by Captain Qahn on
"A favourable election result will not alter the fact they are willing to manipulate situations to suit themselves."
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/feb/20/monolith-review-impressive-...
""The story of it coming from religious belief could put the brand in an exclusionary space, especially if it was to go viral on X or TikTok ... ""
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/feb/20/astronomers-discover-uni...
"“It looks like a gigantic and magnetic storm cell with temperatures of 10,000 degrees Celsius, lightning everywhere and winds blowing so fast they would go around Earth in a second,” Wolf said."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iUeFGPWHz0&ab_channel=CleanedSongs
'Surfacing Material'
Submitted by Captain Qalypso on
"Consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern, it is one of the strongest materials ever made and, for good measure, it is a better conductor of electricity and heat than copper. The prospects for revolutionising technology seemed endless and a new generation of ultra-fast processors and computers was predicted."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/13/revealed-the-artwork-sneak...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN1RYACiXNs
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/apr/13/could-graphene-finally-t...
"“And that means if nothing happens, and we continue as we are doing, silicon devices will consume all the world’s generation of electricity – which is a huge threat to our net zero aspirations."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqgUG_JVzCs
Do not feed the Goldfish.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68839043
'Ground Control'
Submitted by Captain Qalypso on
"“We’re in the era of competition, or the commercial era. The barriers to entry are lower, the costs have fallen, which has opened the doors to a much larger pool of nations,” he said. “It’s the democratisation of space, if you like.”
https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/may/03/were-in-a-new-er...
https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/whats-on-the-record/