Happy Christmas

Tracking Santa

Cut and paste the following link to find out where Santa is...
http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.html

Dubai has changed

Golf for beginners

Learn to teach... or teach to learn?

In need of sleep

Picture of twins

Alright geezer

The Great Pyramid Of Cheops is the largest of the three Pyramids of Giza, is commonly known as the Great Pyramid of Giza, and stands at 481 feet high. It is thought to have been completed in 2570BC, 2000 years before the other six wonders of the world, and has outlasted all six by a further 1500 years. It also towers above its tallest rivals in this respect, the Colossus of Rhodes (110ft) and the Lighthouse of Alexandria (380ft). Its height is the equivalent of 55 storeys and being of over 100m tall, it is still officially classified as a skyscraper and as such is part of a surprisingly small group of buildings in this category. It stood as the tallest building in the world for over 4 millenia until finally beaten by the Minster of Strasbourg in 1439, which was built about 6ft higher deliberately to exceed it. However, it's height is not the most impressive thing about it. The pyramid is constructed of limestone and granite blocks each weighing between 2 and 4 tons, giving it a total weight of 7 million tons. The acuracy of construction is almost beyond belief - the pyramid is a perfect square to within a quarter of an inch of its 775ft sides, which are orientated exactly along the north/south and east/west axis even though the compass had not yet been invented.

Inside the pyramid there are two main chambers, both of which were looted long before archeologists discovered them. In the King's chamber there is a light shaft which points exactly to Orion's belt. This is thought to be because the Egyptians believed the Pharaoh's spirt would take the form of one of the stars, and wanted it to be an important one. One of the galleries (smaller chambers) in the pyramid has an intricate roof of blocks so precisely laid that it is said you could not get a piece of paper between any one of them. Little is known about the Pharaoh Cheops himself as there are few incriptions in the pyramid that have been discovered, and it was one of the first pyramids to be built. In 2002 a robot climbed a tiny long passage which was discovered and drilled a small hole in the door at the end, but only found another closed door behind it.

Other frankly astonishing facts about the great pyramid:

- The pyramid's four walls each measure 9131 inches, for a total of 36524 inches. Modern science tells us that the length of a solar year is 365.24 days. Coincidence? Could be.

- With a circle, circumfrence = 2 x pi x radius. Therefore pi = circumfrence /(2 x radius). As above, the pyramid has a 'circumfrence' of 36524 inches. It's height is 5812.98 inches. 36524 /(2 x 5812.98) = 3.14159, which is pi exactly to five decimal places. Coincidence? Hmmm.

- Today the average land height above sea level (with the Himalayas being the highest and Miami being the lowest) has been calculated using satelites. It just happens to be 5813 inches. Heard that number before? It's the exact height of the pyramid.

- The Pyramid is located at the exact center of the Earth's land mass. That is, its East-West axis corresponds to the longest land parallel across the Earth, passing through Africa, Asia, and America. Similarly, the longest land meridian on Earth, through Asia, Africa, Europa, and Antarctica, also passes right through the Pyramid.

So, either those Egyptians discovered America before Columbus or they were very good at guesswork. Also, the Ancient Greeks are credited with discovering pi as 22/7 (3.142) in about 600BC but it was not until 300BC that Archimedes is credited with discovering pi to 5 decimal places. Remember that by the time of the Ancient Greeks the Egyptians were already ancient history. Did the Egyptians already know such an exact value of pi?

All these coincidences have lead to many theories about previous life on earth having been more inteligent than us. It's something to think about anyway...

With grateful thanks

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them.

Innocent cat

Internet still down

Pointless sign

You and me

Useless sign

Problem with computer

Something crashed onto my computer today and the mouse is missing. You may not get any emails from me!

Viral marketing at its best

Good versus Evil

The quirkiness of English

I'm currently reading "The Adventure of English" by Melvyn Bragg, and thought the following was worth copying out. It's part of a verse that shows how words in the English language don't conform to the norm... whatever the norm may be!

We'll begin with a box and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox should be oxen not oxes.
Then one fowl is goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of mouse should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a whole lot of mice,
But the plural of house is houses not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
The cow in a plural may be cows or kine,
But the plural of vow is vows and not vine.
And I speak of foot and you show me your feet,
But I give you a boot... would a pair be called beet?

Optical Illusion

Golf in the City

I recently spent a fun evening at the Edinburgh Clubhouse - a venue in Fountainbridge where you're able to hire a golf simulator and play at over 50 of the world's best golf courses. So it's possible to play St.Andrews and Pebble Beach on the same day. There are six full-swing simulators (all very high-tech) and it's ideal for those fair-weather golfers who would rather stay indoors when it's raining. Full sets of clubs are provided, there's a well-stocked bar, and you can have a decent meal in their restaurant. The Clubhouse is open 7 days a week - and the hourly hire cost is very reasonable. Everyone was set up with a 10-foot gimme at the pin. Delighted that I was the only one to get a ball down the hole - right on my very last shot. Anyone for tee...? Details on their website at www.clubhouse.co.uk

Financial Times

Another crazy week on the world's financial markets, with the spectre of total collapse of the US economy looming (with a likely domino effect on the rest of the world), unless a deal can be struck in Congress by tomorrow night. The plan is to divert $700bn of mortgage debt into the 'care' of the US Treasury. Blimey! And in the UK, it's just been confirmed tonight that troubled mortgage bank Bradford & Bingley is about to be nationalised - a fate similarly thrust upon Northern Rock a few months ago. Added to all this is the planned takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB. These are indeed interesting Financial Times!

Freaky Friday

Well, who'd have predicted the week we've just had in the financial markets?! Companies filing for bankruptcy protection, companies being taken over, stock markets plummeting all round the world? And then to finish the week off, we've just witnessed the biggest one-day rise ever in the UK stockmarket, with the FTSE100 index going up 8.84%. I don't think we're in the clear yet, and I expect there'll be many more weeks before a sense of normality returns.
We can only wait and see...

And now to London...

The paralympic games have now been brought to a close in Beijing, with the British team finishing 2nd overall in the medals table, beaten only by the Chinese. A fantastic performance. We won a total of 102 medals, of which 42 were gold, 29 were silver and 31 were bronze. Now that the baton has officially been passed to the London 2012 games, there are high hopes that the momentum will continue and that GB will be even more successful in 4 years' time.

Banking on a major deal

After a day of speculation, it's been confirmed that Lloyds TSB is buying HBOS (which owns Halifax and Bank of Scotland) in a deal worth £12.2bn. In ordinary times, the competition watchdogs would not allow the merger to go ahead, as the enlarged group would capture too big a proportion of the UK mortgage and savings market. But these aren't ordinary times. There's plenty of concern north of the border to ensure that jobs remain in Scotland - although it doesn't take too much to realise that the deal will end up leading to many job losses. Let's hope that some of the recent turmoil in financial markets will start to disappear, and that consumers continue to get a good choice of services, products and rates, and therefore don't get a bad result out of the deal.

Got any spare money?

If you have millions of pounds spare at the moment, why not buy Gatwick Airport? BAA have just announced that it's putting the Sussex airport up for sale. Serious bidders only please.

You should be able to read this

Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rgh it pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs psas it on !!

Psas Ti ON !

Nightmare in the Den

Cartoon spotted in the free Metro newspaper. Anyone who is a fan of the BBC programme Dragons' Den should appreciate the sentiment.

Joggers beware

Earlier this week, a jogger was taken to hospital after he was attacked by a kangaroo on the outskirts of Melbourne. The jogger, who hopped between a male and female kangaroo, suffered a head injury and scratches. A Metropolitan Ambulance Service spokeswoman said the victim, aged in his 50s, ran to a nearby house and telephoned for help while the kangaroo hopped away. The man was taken by ambulance to a hospital in a stable condition with a gash on his head and minor claw scratches to his chest, arms and hands. Who says getting fit is good for you?!

Impact of Credit Crunch #5

Impact of Credit Crunch #4

New Appple i-Phone

Impact of Credit Crunch #3

Impact of Credit Crunch #2

Impact of Credit Crunch #1

Does one want fries with that?

Hot day in Windsor

Viewers in the Windsor area were today astonished when the BBC weather forecast showed a predicted daytime temperature of 232 degrees Celsius. Talk about global warming!

Gloom for Zoom

Zoom Airlines, which flies across the Atlantic between the UK and Canada, has suspended all flights and is applying to go into administration. Thousands of passengers due to fly with Zoom have been told to rebook with other carriers. This airline is another victim of the rising cost of fuel. Fortunately, I didn't book my forthcoming trip with them... I'm just hoping that BA are more financially secure!

Unusual statue #5

Charles La Trobe, Melbourne, Australia

Unusual statue #4

Franz Kafka, Prague, Czech Republic

Unusual statue #3

Outside the Bukcheon Museum, Seoul, South Korea

Unusual statue #2

Ernst & Young building, Los Angeles

Unusual statue #1

Magic Tap at 'Aqualand', Cadiz, Spain

Under pressure

I've just been hearing about the Ryanair flight that made an emergency landing in Limoges following an incident where the cabin pressure became faulty. Lots of scared people heading for their holiday in Spain had to struggle in their seats to put on their overhead oxygen masks. Ryanair justify their air crew not telling the passengers what was going on because they too were having to put oxygen masks on and therefore could not speak into the intercom. What a ridiculous excuse! They should have masks that include a microphone so that they can still communicate with their frightened passengers. Hopefully, procedures and equipment will be overhauled. Fortunately, apart from a number of people suffering ear ache, no-one was seriously hurt. Phew!

Thistle be a good photo

It was great to have friends Malcolm and Lynne up here in Edinburgh. They were here for the Tattoo, which finished its 3-week run on Saturday evening. We went for a 'Lochs and Mountains' tour on Saturday - the photo was taken by Malcolm up at Glen Coe.

They think it's all over... it is now

The Beijing Olympics have now been brought to a close. Amazingly, the Games turned out to be GB's best performance for a century - with our final gold tally reaching 19, and leaving us 4th in the overall table. 'Host city' status has now been transferred to London, so we now have to spend the next 4 years watching the build-up to 2012. Hope our future Olympians are sufficiently encouraged, trained and motivated so that they too produce a fantastic overall result for Great Britain.

Bad picture editing

Journalists and editors have an array of tools available to them these days to enhance photographs. But they really must be careful!

Suitable cartoon for Sunday

19th Gold

Team GB has managed to secure further gold medals since I last blogged about the Olympics, with the 19th being won yesterday by middleweight boxer James Degale. Adding our 13 silver and 15 bronze to this incredible tally brings the overall total to 47 medals. With only one more day of competition to go, we can be justly proud of our 4th place at the Beijing games. There are murmurings north of the border from certain Scottish politicians that they now want to submit a separate Scottish team at London 2012, and therefore break up the cohesiveness of the GB team. Seems like a bit of a daft idea to me. Why can't the politicians keep politics out of sport?!

Tragedy in Madrid

Just been listening to the news report on the dreadful plane crash in Spain which happened earlier today. It's believed that the majority of the passengers and crew have perished in what is the worst air disaster in Europe for many years. Air travel is deemed to be one of the safest forms of transport, but we must never get complacent. It's the main reason why I get really hacked off with selfish passengers who continue talking while the pre-flight safety demonstrations take place. Yes, we've all probably seen them done many times, but everyone should have the ability to shut up for just a couple of minutes - not only as a courtesy to new travellers, but also so that we all get a regular refresher of what we should do in an emergency. I pray that those who have survived today's plane crash make a speedy recovery, and my thoughts are with the families and friends of those who have died.

Golden wonder

Yet another very successful day at the Olympics. Chris Hoy secured his third cycling gold medal and Victoria Pendleton won the women's version of the sprint. Out on the water, sailor Paul Goodison landed the Laser class. And in athletics, Christine Ohuruogu was victorious at 400m. Team GB's gold medal haul has now reached 16, meaning it's Britain's best Olympic performance for a century. Astounding. The first question is, will we win any more? The second question is who, out of all the success stories at Beijing, will end up winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year?!

More success in Beijing

After a sensational weekend for Team GB at the Olympics, a further gold medal was won today, when the men's cycling pursuit team turned in a world-record performance against the Danes. At the time of writing, the British team are 3rd in the overall medals table, behind China and the USA. Hopefully, we'll still win more - to add to the existing 12 gold, 7 silver and 8 bronze. Whatever happens between now and the Closing Ceremony, the success at Beiging bodes well for 2012, when the Games come to London.

Edinburgh Zoo

Strange things have been going on at Edinburgh Zoo this week. Firstly, the Norwegian military promoted their adopted penguin to Colonel-in-Chief. But perhaps more weird has been the exhibit of humans in cage 44. Don't expect to see them every week. It was just a performance for the Edinburgh Fringe.

Gold standard

Great to wake up this morning with the news that British swimmer Rebecca Adlington has won a second gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. And in world record time too, taking more than 2 seconds off the previous record. Let's hope we manage to get more metalwork over the coming days, and may it encourage more people to take up sport - irrespective of whether they'll end up competing at London 2012.

Having a laugh

Had a great evening last night at the Edinburgh Festival. I went with work colleagues to see Mark Watson's "All the thoughts I've had since I was born" show at the Pleasance. It was a 700-ticket sellout and I'm certain that no-one left disappointed. He built up a great rapport with the audience, especially as he spent the first 10 minutes in the crowd. Mark's humour is very much observational. His story of what happened on one of his train journeys got the biggest reaction. If you want to know why everyone laughed so much, go and get yourself a ticket and pop along and see the show. You won't be disappointed.

A rubbish job

Council officials in Birmingham (UK) have been left rather embarrassed. It seems that 720,000 leaflets issued recently that publicised the achievements of the city's recycling programme included a picture of the city skyline of Birmingham, Alabama. Clearly, someone in their marketing department didn't do a proper check when they sourced the photo. It's reported that they have decided not to re-run the £15k print job - which is a shame, as the old leaflets could surely be added to their recycling success? Oops!