No **** Sherlock! Rumour has it that this fine chap may have put in a brief appearance at school at some point during his childhood.
He has a point. I'm sure if the sun went out (now there's a scary image for a non-scientist) our climate might be subtly different. Some christians have suggested that the combination of vernal equinox, supermoon and solar eclipse presage the beginning end of the world (doncha just love them? A recent survey of Yanks gave 40% expecting the end of the world before 2050, ffs!). Perhaps the sun will go out later. I'll keep an eye on Twitter in case it happens after it's gone dark. I do so hope the sun rises tomorrow. Vin
That was a typical UK celestial event wasn't it..? I think Pink Floyd had an album title that was nail-on-head. Hopefully one or two people in the UK had clear skies. You wouldn't bet on it though. Later today will be a Supermoon, that is, the Moon is at perigee, so will appear larger than usual in the sky. Plus, we've finally ditched Winter, because today is the Spring Equinox. You'd think the clocks would go forward this weekend, yes..? Oh no. Not until the last weekend in March [next weekend]. Boring. Tides should be interesting today, especially on the River Severn.
Clocks going forward should happen in mid February They go back in the last week of October, so about eight weeks before the shortest day. So they should go forward eight weeks after the shortest day. That's one of the reasons why winter feels like it drags on forever. More to the point, they should be put forward an hour permanently. Evening light is worth much more than morning light. It'd save road deaths and CO2 emissions but when LighterLater tried to get it through Parliament, two Scottish MP's talked it out of time. Severn bore tomorrow is a five star event: http://www.severn-bore.co.uk/2015_times.html Vin
Totally and utterly agree. In fact, I've signed the various Lighter Later petitions and exchanged correspondence with my local MP on the subject. On the subject of the winter dragging on forever; there is a thermal lag to the climate, which means that the temperatures don't correspond to the amount of of light in the sky, but follow on several weeks later, but it is absolutely no reason for extending the time before the clocks go forward. And they should stay forward, as you say. David Cameron blew it for Lighter Later though. All they asked was that the clocks should stay forward. He went for eventually having Britain on Euro time, which meant being at BST in the Winter and BST+1 in the Summer. Very nice, but too big a stretch for those dour Scottish MPs. Severn bore tomorrow is going to be a bit spectacular. Makes me wish I still did things on the water.
Well, my MP, the delightful "Dr" Alan Whitehead (Doctorate in Political Science, no less) was quoted in The Echo and in other local media saying he supported Lighter Later. However on that Friday afternoon, having had the publicity for saying he supported the proposal, he wasn't in the Commons, helping to make sure that there weren't enough MPs to force a vote and allowing it to be talked out. And people think politicians are cynical... Vin
Oh dear..! And I believe Alan Whitehead to be one of the better ones too. My local MP is Caroline Nokes [Cons], for pete's sake. Due to boundary changes my area of north Southampton is tied with Romsey. Saying that, she was very loud in her support for Lighter Later and against the Forestry sell-off, which I agreed with.
I always liked the Arthur C Clarke short story, the 9 billion names of god. At the end, the stars just quietly start going out, one by one. That would be something to see until ours did the same. The yanks are ace in the way so many of them worry about the world ending, its like a whole nation full of village idiots
I'd forgotten that one... great story. At least the Apocalypsotosspots are in good company: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_predicted_for_apocalyptic_events You'd have thought they would have realised that they are going to look pretty foolish shortly. Unless they're right, in which case, who will care? The Jehova's Sodding Witnesses (Sorry if that offends but that's the only way I'm prepared to refer to them) have real form. As a spin-off from the Second Adventists (they broke up over musical differences) they have predicted the end in 1873, 1874, 1875, 1878, 1914, 1920 and..well.. pretty much every few years. Cunningly, they changed their claims to Jesus having already returned "invisibly" (no laughing at the back, that is NOT a joke). And they STILL come and knock on my door on a regular basis and expect me to take them seriously. Armegaddon outa here! Vin
And don't forget that God planted dinosaur bones to test our faith in creation. Not sure I'd want to follow a metaphysical being who laid traps.
A few years ago they knocked on my door; three of them. One was a black man with a deep Jamaican accent. I asked him if he was from Jamaica to which he replied in the positive. At that time, I had my business where I was inporting Caribbean sauces from my wife's Jamaican family. I opened up my garage and started to talk to him about my wife's family and the sauces and seasonings we were selling. The point of my little story here? Well I answered the door to The Jevoah's Witnesses and while they wanted to sell me their story of Jesus .... and I sold them a jar of my Jamaican Jerk Seasoning
On Newsnight they just played in the background that song Make My Dreams, which I remember someone posted on here a couple of years back when I said I was in love with a girl from work. And hearing it made me miss that feeling of being in love with someone, it's a nice feeling. Until they reject you, but up until them it is a nice feeling. Sorry for the soppy post, I blame the vodka for making me sentimental
