Sorry...

but I have been unwell again, in the meantime I have sexed up the links bit. There is some good stuff there

Airline timetables

The world of Airline timetables

Petrol protests

I received a email today from these dudes. It seems the strikes are back on. All power to them!

R2D2

Learn to speak like R2D2

Betting 8/12

This weeks football bet is adouble on Everton to beat Fulham and Liverpool to beat Reading.That should net a nice £5.24 from a £2 stake

Arlington v Highgate

Arlington

Highgate

Valentina Tereshkova

I think you can tell from the report the first woman in space did not enjoy herself, in fact for years the rumour was Valentina was paralysed by fear for the whole mission.

Summary of Valentina Tereshkova’s Debriefing
The launch was excellent, the comunications good, I could hear all the calls from the ground. The G forces were weak, under 5.0. After orbital insertion I could see the earth through the Vzor and the porthole. Through the right porthole I could see the third stage of the rocket. I had no problem with zero-G. In the earth’s shadow I could communicate directly with Yastreb (Bykovskiy in Vostok 5). I saw stars on the night side and mistook the third magnitude star Vega for Venus. When first trying manual orienttion of the spacecraft, I closed the cotton (?) and could feel an explosion on the ejection of the can.
The first attempt at manual orientation was unsuccessful. I was not expecting the instruction from No. 20 (Korolev) to test manual orientation on the 38th orbit. When I tried again on the 45th orbit, I was able to orient the spacecraft for landing within twenty minutes. There was no failure of the orientation system.
The equipment was all right, but I didn’t need the globus or the other instruments. I filmed cities, forests, and rivers. I didn’t complete the biological experiment - I couldn’t reach the equipment. The dosimeter stayed at zero throughout the flight. The hygienic napkins had a bad smochen and were very small. I used them to clean my teeth. Using the color filters I could distinguish the colored bands of the horizon. I could see fires in South America, and cities at night.The light of the moon on the dark side of the earth was lovely. I tried to but could not observe the solar coronoa.
I didn’t release mysefl from the seat on the first day. On the second day I felt a nagging pain on my right shin, which became very disturbing by the third day.
Communications were all right. When first turning on the UHF all I got was static, and the static was always worse in the equatorial regions. I heard Vesna-1 and Vesna-4 well in the southern hemisphere. I had excellent communications with Yastreb on the first orbit, but these faded and by the second day it was no longer possible to talk directly with each other - we had to have our communications relayed through the earth stations.
Zero-G was pleasant, no problems and I enjoyed floating. The bread was awful, too dry, I didn’t eat it. I mainly ate the black bread and tubed onions. The water was cold and refreshing. I threw up once, but it was due to the food and not due to vestibular problems. The environmental control system worked as designed. My mental state was the same as one earth. I took two photometric measurements. Writing was no problem.
The spacecraft started solar orientation for retrofire on the dark side of the earth. I could hear the TDU retrorocket fire. I could feel the G forces against my spine during retrofire. The service module jettisoned cleanly, with no movement. I took 8 G’s on reentry. Through the porthole I could see glowing flakes flying by from the burning exterior of the capusle. After the G’s subsided there was a lot of smoke and heat in the spacecraft cabin. Ejection came quickly and correctly. After my parachute opened I could see the capusle below. The capusle, seat, and I came down together. It was not possible to control the canopy of my parachute and I landed on my back. People came running and stood by to assist me. The capusle landed about 400 m away. After an hour an aircraft flew over and two parachutists were dropped. After three hours I was able to reach a telephone and called Khrushchev and reported the successful completion of the flight.

Hope

Ship of Fools

This site nearly drove me mad, be careful. If you go on the discussion boards there are some pretty sharp dudes there who will try their hardest to make you look daft.

CONNECTICUT

Betting Tips 1/12

So near yet so very very far......

Edible Seaweed

Recently I have really been getting into sushi, the nicest thing about it is that it tastes fresh, looks nice and the seaweed is lovely. Now when people think of eating seaweed I can bet most go YUK! But its even a dish here in the UK with the Welsh eating Lava bread, although like Black pudding and jellied eels its a acquired taste.

COUNTY WICKLOW

Betting tips

As a new FREE service I will be casting my eye over the weekends British football matches and will dispense my hot tips. I have already won £6 from a £3 stake today and thought it might be fun to share them. Just promise me you won't bet the rent money on them (I am not that good!)

1. Harrogate to beat Mansfield 9/2 win single

A single this. Harrogate have nothing to lose, are at home and its on National TV

2. Spurs to draw with Birmingham 11/4 win single

Both are in the same part of the table and city have a new manager.

We shall see

In the meantime why not enoy some hardcore crochet action?

The raising of Lazarus

In keeping with the "from Death to Life theme" I thought I would post something about the raising of Lazarus., noted as the only time that Jesus wept. For some John 11-35 is one of the most beautiful moments in the bible, for others its the answer to the pub quiz question "which is the shortest verse in the bible"?

Everyday sayings that come from the bible

The beat goes on.....

Sorry but in the last few days I have been laid low by appendicitis. Sadly I still stuck with the little beggar as it wasn't serious enough to take out. Still the stay in Rotherham Hospital was more than satisfactory. I am amazed that for a reasonable sized place like Rotherham should have such a large and busy hospital?

Still I am getting better, I really want this blog to take off and for people to enjoy it so expect more posts soon

LIVE STRONG!

Soviet Calculators/ Nuclear waste II

Check out these clunky monsters. You can almost smell the burnt dust as you fire them up.

And talking of fire, after yesterdays Nuclear waste post it occured that maybe something like the image above would do the job of warning future generations of the danger (though obviously without the writing)

Nuclear Waste

Here's a thorny problem. Some Nuclear Waste is dangerous for up to 1000000 years. How would you design warning signs so future humans don't do something stupid? Here is one take on the problem. As far as I can see its near enough impossible, though the ideas of showing pictures of humans in distress is a good one. Here is what the Americans are doing at Yucca Mountain though if you did this wouldn't it become some sort of tourist attraction?

Goldfish

I have just had the lovely job of cleaning out the Goldfish. I must be doing something right as its still alive. Is there a yukkier job though?

Teletext

Before the Internet you only had teletext. Something which has not improved as nowadays teletext through a freeview box seems a whole lot slower.

What the flippin hell was that!

Get involved in the intense world of Cryptozoology.

True story- When my brother was little my parents lived in a little cottage in Godalming. He used to put in the garden in his pushchair for some fresh air. One say my mum came out to find "big cat" footprints in the soil around him. The police said do not put him outside again.

Whats that in the Distance?

It doesnt seem right that you can see Wales from Ireland?

Esperanto

Learn a new language!Its really important with Esperanto to know that J is pronounced Y. Then it stats to make sense!

Musical Instruments

If you had asked what a Cordophone was before I visited this site I couldn't have told you!

The 1916 Blitz

The 1916 Blitz!

The Bahai's

This may be the worlds quickest growing independent religion. Things are so much easier on the web. When I was looking into them 10 years or so ago all there was a dusty book in the library

Lutterworth

If you are travelling on the M1 can I recommend a visit to Lutterworth? Its just off Junc 20 and provides all the facilities of a Service Station but without the eye watering prices. Car parking is a very reasonable 20p for 2 hours. There are all the usual shops and facilities. It really is a treasure of a town. Even the chippy is a little gem, not sure about the "cheese jack" though, is it a local thing?

Lutterworth is fiercely pround of its famous adopted son, Frank Whittle, inventor of the Jet engine. There is a belting mock up of the Gloster E28 on the roundabout outside town, plus a unusual bust in the town centre.

Go on...go and poke Moto in the eye

Portraits

Go on find a portrait of your hero. Mine would be any astronaut

Going Underground

This is a very popular site that has really come to my attention. It is full of kickass pictures of abandodned buildings, especially the insides. The mental hospitals are the creepiest

28 days later

R101

The R101 memorial, still lovingly maintained in Cardington, Bedfordshire

Golems

I remember these in Dungeons and Dragons! Sad case that I am

Fireworks

I didn't even know there was a fireworks museum

Aberfan

Lest we forget the tragedy at Aberfan

The Beatles

Ladies and Gentlemen........THE BEATLES

All hail the great leader!

Lets take a trip to North Korea!

While I am here there will be no posts for a week as I am on my Hols :)

Footie map

This makes interesting reading. It reminds me of a map I had as a kid. I really really fancy going to a match at the moment.

Auto beatnik poem

Auto-Beatnik Poem No. 41:

Insects

All children are small and crusty
And all pale, blind, humble waters are cleaning,
An insect, dumb and torrid, comes of the daddyo
How is an insect into this fur?Computer,

Glendale, California, 1960

Candyiosis

Candyiosis !

Trade Unions

I am a bit of a trade unionist at heart. If you have a trade union in the workplace you know you are going to be treated fairly and as long as the Union dont go over the top everything is in balance and everyone is happy.

If you are not in a trade union and you have a problem at work you can get in touch with these people.

• Acas
• TUC
• GMB

or if you want to go nuclear

• The Wobblies

Jabberwacky 2

This is a bit of a development from the post a few days ago about Jabberwacky. There is also a rather foxy lady called Joan who will talk to you. It really is very good and no stranger than talking to somebody a bit eccentric. Dont bother getting her to take her top off though :)

Tar tunnel

Wonder what it smells like?

Jabberwacky

If you are ever lonely this will keep you company. Sometimes the conversations you have with it are no weirder than one in real life.

Cheese

I remember these Cheesy records! They used to give them away as prizes at fairgrounds.

Mass Observation

I found these today. They are photos taken of everyday 1930's life in Bolton by the Mass Observation project. I particulary like the pictures of Kids Graffiti. It seems warming that somebody took the time to record these things

Pete Conrad

I am not here tomorrow as I am taking the Kids to Luton, however here is a picture of Astronaut Pete Conrad to tide you over. One of my all time heroes.

Woodhead Glossop Manchester

For a cheap trip out I thought I would drive the kids across the Pennines to Manchester

I filled up with Petrol in my home town of Rotherham, aimed the car up the M1 and drove over the atmospheric Woodhead Pass and parked up at Glossop station. This town has a frontier feel to it, with its back to the peak district it can only face westwards.

I bought a ticket to Manchester, an all time bargin at £3.90 (with family railcard) and settled down to enjoy the trip. There was a huge, and I mean huge viaduct at the first station, Dinting which felt like we were flying over the town. then we ended up at Hattersley, home of the Moors Murderers. I have to say that this part of the world seems cursed with more than its fair share of serial killers as further along the line in Newton for Hyde was the home of Dr Harold Shipman. Still we made it through unscathed, which was a good thing as the next station, with the beautiful name of Flowery field is the anti social capital of Manchester. Guide Bridge was next, home of Dan Dare creator Frank Hampson. We are now in the sky blue part of the city, with the City of Manchester stadium on the Horizon with the surprisingly huge sculpture "B of Bang" right next to it. Onwards through some very down at heel parts of town, including the very scruffy Ashbury (like Port Vale it isnt a real place) and the very forlorn station of Ardwick which only has one passenger a day. And thence to Piccadilly. (Hint if you ever arrive in Manchester by train the trams are free in the city centre).

On the way back over the Woodhead I was amazed how far Barnsley council penetrated westwards. High on the bleak moors there was a sign welcoming us there. I also decided that, after being raged by a idiot on the M1, that I hate driving.

Far far away

I am not here tomorrow as i have to drive to Luton to pick up my kids for the weekend.

Luton, its not really all that bad. In fact I spent some very happy times there. Its sort of "London Lite" if you see what i mean

Even the trains achieve near tube like regularity

Well I liked living there anyway.

Ossie Garvin part 2

Ossie Garvin the true story!

Ossie Garvin

Ossie Garvin

Who was he? Was he a Hllingdon councillor or was he a construction worker who died building the roundabout that bears his name?

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?grid2map?X=511250&Y=180750&zoom=1

Whatever he was he was probably going to have a tram stop named after him,then he would be on every tube map in existence. Sadly it seems the project could be cancelled.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/Map_21.pdf

I think thats pretty cool.

FS