Helios, Greek god of the sun. Apparently he noticed my rantings about February the First and - Hay Pesto*! - we get a nice sunny day.
Given that it's already February and we've not had a sniff of snow, I wonder if we'll see any at all this year of 2014? No snow. I wonder why -
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| "Aliens are subverting your reality, Conrad. It's the only reason that makes sense." |
More Fun With The Elements
Today we have the element Tin, whose chemical symbol is of course Sn, after the Latin "Stannum". Nobody knows where Stannum comes from. All very mysterious. Anyway, tin. Used to line the inners of steel cans due to it's low toxicity, hence "tin cans".
If you want an element with an explicable, reducible and recognisable name, then why say hello to - Francium, symbol Fr. Named after - France. No surprise there. Say hello also to - Americium, symbol Am. named after - America. Say hello also to Germanium, symbol Ge, named after - Sweden. No, only joking, it's indeed named after Germany. Then we have Polonium, symbol Po, so named by it's discoverer (Marie Curie) in order to publicize the partition of Poland between the Hohenzollern, Hapsburg and Romanov empires.
Let us finish with Helium, symbol He, named after Helios - sounds familiar? - because it was detected in spectroscopic studies of the Sun.
| Helios. Thank heavens for stratgically-placed cotton sheet underwear! |
Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge
The boys from Bolton Atlantic Challenge made landfall in Antigua in the small hours of Sunday morning our time. What did this event look like?
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| Bunch of piratical desperadoes, if you ask me ... |
If you get splashed at the bus-stop on the way to work, remember these lads put up with perpetual wetness, being capsized, losing their auto-helm and so having to steer by hand, having a seat break and so only able to row singly instead of in pairs, monsoon weather, shortage of electricity because it was generated by solar power, and having a sore arse all the time whilst rowing. Suddenly the trip to the office doesn't seem so bad, eh? Check it out at:
http://www.taliskerwhiskyatlanticchallenge.com/news-centre/
Edna The Domesticated Wolf Day Four
Yes, the appealing little rascal is worming her ways into the affections of the family. She seems clever, almost toooo clever - discovering a way out of her crate yesterday that us Foolish Humans had missed.
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| Lulling us all into a false sense of security ... |
My Bodum
'What is a "Bodum"? ' I hear you cry. Essential equipment for all tea snobs:
| What mine looked like. WHEN IT WAS ALL IN ONE PIECE! Ahem. Thank you |
This teapot is - obviously! - made of glass. This means you can see what strength your tea is. The metal filter keeps all the leaf detritus out of your cup, and the wonderfully ergonomically-efficient spout allows you to pour from a distance of up to 2 feet, if you practice frequently.
Alas, our local Border Terrier pup was dancing about in the kitchen this morning - she danced right up to Beej the tomcat, who is a fearful coward, causing him to spring atop the worktop where lived my Bodum.
You can guess the rest - it's round, so it rolls easily, and Beej knocked it onto the floor, where it's delicate glass nature proved unequal to the task.
| "Oh sh1t. I've annoyed the Boss. Time to stay outside for 5 weeks." |
Once Upon A Time
I remain unsure how you can sit on an immaterial concept like time, but that's how the phrase goes.
Conrad's readers may remember his boldly deciding to arrange and sort his books in size order, and also that he declared this would take days since he would - obviously! - end up reading said books.
Well, kind of. The thing that distracted me today were short stories I'd written years ago - decades ago in some cases. There was a series of tales about a police officer about 20 years into the future; several Doctor Who fan-fictions written before that concept and the internet existed; a background to explain how superheroes suddenly start arriving in the mid 21st Century; and a faux-guide on how to report sightings of hostile aliens to UNIT, which looked frightfully official:
HOSTILE SIGHTING COMMAND PROTOCOL
PHASE ONE
Stage One: Receipt of Unconditional/Unconfirmed/Provisional sighting from Non-Registered Source. For definition of "hostile" see Appendix A ...
...Stage Three
Political
UNITED KINGDOM
Home Secretary: Inform that "under the terms of Clause 127 of the Emergency War Powers Act (Amended) 1968, he/she is required to declare a state of martial law in the following Borough/Town/City/County/Region within one hour of this notification. Should he/she fail to do so, automatic assent will be assumed."
Quite! There are several pages of this thing, which looks quite convincing. Heaven forfend it should ever get out into the wide world.
Oh, and here an example of Conrad's handwriting at least twenty years ago:
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| Thin and spidery, just the way I like it. |
I should probably type this up lest it be lost forever. Which some might say would be a very good thing!
So - Tanks?
No. Not today. But in the spirit of "Hostile Sighting Command Protocol", here's Fylingdales BMEWS
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| Ballistic Missile Early Warning Station |
Nicknamed - obviously! - the Golfballs.
* Obviously. If it wasn't first, it would be second. Or last. Not first.
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