]]>has anyone tried going to the Moon on Google Earth yet? I've been and it's quite interesting (if you are into that kind of thing). You can get guided tours of the landing sites from the astronauts who went there. To go there you have to download the latest version of Google Earth, which only takes a couple of minutes if you have broadband (it would take several hours on dial up, but Google Earth would not work on dial up anyway, and I suppose that dial up customers are very much in the minority these days).
another new feature on Google Earth is that you can set the current time and watch the light across the globe change as daylight progresses across the time zones.
I've always been interested in the Apollo missions since I was a child, I've always said that if I had a choice between going to a holiday destination of my choice on the Earth every year for the rest of my life, or going to the moon for a few days, I would choose the Moon. Some astronaut's outlook on life changed after they had been there, it was seen as an almost spiritual journey in some ways.
Ps does anyone want to start a discussion on if we actually went to the Moon or if it was all a hoax? What are your thoughts?
]]>Having said all that, the candidates may fall at the first hurdle: the sniff test. If they have got body odour they will not be allowed on the space shuttle because the odour will cause upset to their colleagues in such a confined space.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_8180000/newsid_8180500/8180540.stm
]]>What do you think?
]]>ps see this video of FAST typing ha ha!
]]>My favourite animal was the giraffes, you have to see them in real life and close up to see just how beautiful they are; their coats look like exquisite velvet, they have such serene looks on their faces, and they move around in a very majestic way, as if they have been given lessons at a finishing school on how to walk around gracefully!
Here's a You Tube video (not mine) of some giraffes at Chester Zoo.
]]>Any way, I was watching the recent episode out of politeness for my host, and I realised why I don't like Heartbeat; Firstly I actually found the snippets of 60's music highly irritating, they seem to be using exactly the same formula as when it first came out and sounds very dated; Secondly some of the characters are just plain silly and unbelievable; thirdly the thin plot, unimaginative direction conspire to make the whole thing plod on like a snail; you could probably condense the whole hour into ten minutes if there was any get up and go about it; fourthly the acting is quite wooden. with good actors you almost forget that they are acting, but in Heartbeat it is always obvious that they are acting. Well it is to me anyway. I think at my age I might be becoming a grumpy old man, and will get a slot on that television series of the same name.
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]]>Have also been to Harewood House today, quite a nice place, especially the bird garden.
I especially wanted to see the Stupa there, it a representation of the Buddha's mind. They say that it's good luck to walk around it in a clockwise direction. I walked round it a few times which guarantees that I'll be reborn as a human rather than a slug!
I like walking for several reasons:
1) It gets me away from my home town and I get to see lots of lovely scenery; sometimes I get taken by suprise by what I find or see on walks, it's like dipping into a box of chocolates when you don't know exactly what you are going to get, but you know it's going to be something nice.
2) It's an excellent social activity, meeting friends and making new ones, and I know that I'm not going to come across any one unpleasant because everyone is too busy enjoying the country side to be unpleasant.
3) It's a hobby for me too because I am learning how to read maps and navigate; I went on a navigation course last year and it spurred me on to start to lead walks. The group I am a member of is like a cooperative in that they like people to volunteer to lead walks and I am more than willing to do this to enable me to practice my skills.
ps it's the Oxford Concise Dictionary, and the shortened Encyclopedia Britannica. It's also got an English usage guide, and a large store of quotes from well known people.
]]>I am breaking tradition with Christmas this year in two ways:
firstly I'm having lamb for dinner on Christmas Day. Secondly I'm hopefully having a present free Christmas. In November I was walking through (funnily enough) Woolworths and saw all the toys and other stuff waiting to be sold as presents, and I had a strong feeling that I didn't want to get involved in all the hustle and bustle of deciding what to get and getting involved in all the crowds. Plus the fact I have recently had alot of stress with having my new kitchen fitted. I decided to take the unilateral decision not to buy any presents and asked my friends and family not to give me any.
I must say that I feel I made the right decision, I feel a lightness which comes with not getting involved with hastle. Perhaps next year I will feel more positive about getting presents.
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It might seem a funny thing to say, but I bought some lamb yesterday for tea tonight, and that's what made me think about my high temperature!
]]>For example the recent case of the Rugby player Daniel James aged 23, a gifted player who had a career in front of him, who suffered permanent paralysis from the chest downwards after his spine became collapsed in a scrum. He went to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland to have an assisted suicide, supported by his family, because he didn't want to live a 'second class existence'. There are two things which bother me about this. Firstly his very young age; surely he had alot of time to explore options such as learning to live a meaningul life with his disability, and secondly, it was barely 18 months between the accident and him committing suicide, surely not enough time to give himself chance to come to terms with the tragic accident. Just in passing I know a friend who has been paralyzed from the chest downwards for many years; he used to be a pilot for the RAF before he had a motorbike accident which put an end to all of that. Despite his disability, and having alot of reliance on others, and sometimes being in alot of pain, he is a very confident and happy person. His way of dealing with it was that he is a buddhist and after the accident decided to become a buddhist monk, living in a buddhist community and helping the community to thrive. That is how he channeled his energy into an alternative lifestyle. Surely someone else in a similar situation such as Daniel James, whilst not having a spiritual outlet, needs to fully explore all the options. Perhaps the best solution is a big change in the mental outlook, not to rush and kill oneself.
The first link below is a news article about Daniel James, the second is a link about Dignitas.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/7675745.stm
]]>I watched the most recent episode of Wallander on BBC; I was a bit skeptical, thinking that it was yet another detective/cop program, so how could it add to anything that's gone before. My first impression of watching it was that it was very low key, very slow, and Wallander (Kenneth Branagh) seemed to have his mind on other things rather than his job; he seemed a little wishy washy at times and I felt like putting him in a paper bag and shaking him up a bit to get a bit of pizzaz. The thing is that we are so used to fast paced cop dramas where everything happens within half an hour. The pace did pick up a bit in the last half an hour. After that I watched a programme called 'Who is Wallander' - a documentary about the character, i wanted to get some more insight into what he was all about. Apparently Kurt Wallander (pronounced with a 'V' or a 'W', depending on who was talking in the documentary) is quite big in Sweden, he is a character created by crime author Henning Mankell, who portrays him as a normal sort of guy who has weaknesses, including getting emotionally involved in cases and being visibly scared by some of the dangerous situations he finds himself in. He is also sensitive, but with the occasional outburst of temper. That is the appeal of his character.
With this insight I decided to watch another episode late last night on BBC4; I was suprised to find that this one was in Swedish with English subtitles, and Kurt Wallander was played by another actor, Krister Henriksson. Wallander has made it big on the screen in Sweden long before the recent English adaptation. According to Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallander_(TV_series) the character in the books likes to listen to opera in his car or at home. In the English adaptation they dropped this trait because the film makers decided that he would be too much like Inspector Morse with whom the public here are already very familiar with. I enjoyed the Swedish version more than the English one for several reasons. First is that I thought Henriksson http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0377631/ came across better in that he portrayed the essential character without being wishy washy; it seems that Kenneth Branagh has slightly over egged the pudding when it comes to acting introverted and sensitive; Secondly, although reading subtitles can be hard work as you have to keep switching your eyes to the bottom of the screen to keep up with the dialogue, I rather enjoyed listening to the Swedish voices, and it gave more realism, as it is based in Sweden after all! All in all I would recommend any Crime fiction lovers to watch this in its English or Swedish format, especially if you like lots of gruesome murders.
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]]>So in my last post I have put tags such as Ben Elton, plus the title words of three of his books; so if someone is searching the internet for any info or comments or reviews on his books, my blog is more likely to come up. However I realise that my last blog is perhaps not the perfect blog because it mixes up several subjects and the comments about Ben Elton appear later on. Sticking to the subject in hand would make my blog more readable by someone who is looking for specific information. So, the more people read your comments and find them interesting, the better your blog can be, if that is what you want. On the other hand, you might not give a stuff about how many people read your blogs, you might just want to do it as a kind of release, to let off steam, or just ramble on about things.
]]>I know it's nice to have friends in cyberspace, but over the past few (well more than a few) months, I've been going through a phase of going out as much as possible, I really don't like spending much time in the house as I live on my own. However the problem with being out of the house so much is that no work gets done, and I have fallen further and further behind with house work and basic maintenance, like trimming the bushes in the front garden which now resembles a forest. I'm going to have to do something about it because when people visit your house, the front garden creates the first and lasting impression. Recently though I have started running out of steam going out alot, and I find myself spending some more time in the house. I used to read alot of books when I was young, but have realised that I haven't read a decent book in years, and decided to get back into it. I went to Borders yesterday, and it was a difficult choice to know exactly what I would like. I thought I might get a true crime book because I have always been interested in forensic science and how crimes are solved, but I knew that I wouldn't be in the mood to read gory stuff. I decided to get something funny, thought provoking and clever, and got three books by Ben Elton; Dead Famous, Popcorn and Chart Throb. The first and last book are satires on the Big Brother kind of show, and talent shows like the X Factor, so they are quite contemporary.
I'll let you know what I think to them after I have read some!
]]>I'm going to a Buddhist monastery in Scotland this weekend. It's called Samye Ling and is close to the Scottish border. Here is the link to it's gallery of photos on their website.
http://www.samyeling.org/index.php?module=Mediashare&func=view&aid=24
It's the oldest Buddhist monastery in Europe and the temple is beautiful inside. Calling it a monastery may be a little misleading though because that conjures up images of cloistered meditators cut off from the outside world, and no one is allowed a look in. However it is open to visitors most of the year, and runs courses throughout the year for beginners and experienced meditators. I have been a few times, either just to visit and absorb the atmosphere, or to do a course such as how to practice meditation on a daily basis. The last time I went there were quite a few visitors from the Newcastle area; they were from a photography club and had gone to take photographs of the centre, that shows how well known and popular it is.
]]>I been going to the gym for a while now, and it's doing me alot of good. I mainly concentrate on the cardiovascular and go on the weights machines at the end just to tone up things a bit. There's a machine that tones up your calf muscles and I like using that because I do alot of walking and stronger calf muscles will help me to walk better without getting tired out. I like the cross trainer best because it excercises both legs and arms and shoulders. The hardest one I find is the Stairmaster, which is essentially a never ending stair case; it's like walking up the biggest block of flats you have ever seen!
]]>I know that I haven't blogged for quite a long time, I haven't been very well over the past few weeks, I have had some ups and downs but am feeling better recently. Never underestimate the power of positive thought such as positive affirmations, but you need to apply these before your state of mind gets to the stage where you cannot apply these things. Looking on the positive side I have nearly finished my plumbing course. I have got an exam this evening which is the last one, and then a practical assignment next week which involves stripping a bathroom out along with the pipework, and then putting it all back together from scratch. I will then be looking for another course to do to occupy my time, and to take my mind off things. I don't fancy anything to do with construction, because it is too blokey bloke. I fancy doing a health and beauty course, because there will be plenty of nice women to talk to.
I have also joined a gym on off peak membership, it only costs me £22 per month, and the only time I can't use it is first thing in the morning and in the evenings on week days, but I will be able to attend regularly because I work part time, and would be able to go during the day on Mondays and Wednesdays, and weekends of course. Keeping fit is helping alot to make me feel better, and I am also meditation every morning which is good for the mind too. So things are looking up.
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