R.O.U.S.

It would appear that the R.O.U.S. really does exist. Bristol Zoo has two specimens from the Guilder Fire Swamp. These are the only two in captivity outside of Guilder, and have been at the zoo for a couple of years.

 

Info for Dil

From www.aero-news.net this morning.

 

Discovery To Begin Trek To Launch Pad Friday Morning

 

NASA Reports Everything On Track For July Launch
NASA engineers worked Thursday in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center on last minute details in preparation for the space shuttle Discovery's rollout to the launchpad. The combined launch vehicle is scheduled to being the eight-hour, 4.2-mile trip to pad 39B at 0200 EDT Friday morning.

 

It's huge. Huge," KSC spokeswoman Tracy Young told Florida Today. "Rolling the shuttle out to the launch pad is a major milestone in returning the shuttle to flight."

 

Just one week ago, Discovery was moved into the VAB to be mated to its redesigned external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters. That work was done over last weekend, with the last few days spent checking systems interface checks and inspections for leaks.

 

On Wednesday, the canister containing Discovery's cargo for its scheduled July mission to the International Space Station was moved to the launch pad (below.) The pod contains over two tons of supplies bound for the ISS, inside the Italian-made Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics module; as well as spare parts for the orbiter and the station.

 

Also contained in the cargo pod are intentionally damaged sample sections of the shuttle's ceramic-tile heat shield. NASA hopes there will be enough time during the shuttle mission for a third spacewalk to test repair techniques that could be used if portions of the shuttle's heat shield are damaged during launch, as they were during the 2002 launch of Columbia. That damage resulted in the loss of the orbiter during reentry.

 

The window for Discovery's next launch runs from July 1-19. NASA reports everything is on track for a July 1 launch, with several "spare" days built into the schedule between now and then in the event any unexpected issues crop up.

 

Even if all goes to plan, NASA engineers won't have very much time to relax after Discovery moves to the launch pad. That's because the external fuel tank for Atlantis will soon be on its way to Florida, in anticipation of the August 28 launch of that orbiter.

 

Repairs made to the ISS during Discovery's flight are expected to allow the crew of Atlantis to resume construction on the half-assembled station.

A380 visit to UK

As I may have mentioned, the A380 is making her debut to the UK today at midday.

If interested, the live feed for the landing at Heathrow can be seen on the BBC site following the link at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4990780.stm

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True story.

The elevator I was in yesterday were made by a company called Schindler.

So that would make them Schindler's Lifts.

For Emano

Books, books and books, oh my!

A local pub where I have spent a great deal of time over the last few months has an amazing array of books spread around it. Every window sill, several ancient cupboards and shelves are home to hundreds of books. Among them are the occasional copy of Reader's Digest, or Royal horticultural Society periodical from the last twenty years or so. However most are books from (what I have seen) pre-1970 with some from around the turn of the previous century. All the books are, naturally, covered in dust and the odd cobweb or dead spider.

All those forgotten books. Authors whose names mean nothing to me. Wonderful sounding titles like "Encyclopaedia of Article Ideas", containing, yep, ideas to inspire writers of articles. "A house called Creepers". "Portrait of a man with red hair". Books which could, for all I know, be the only copy still around.

A pencilled scrawl in the flyleaf might indicate that the book was given as a gift to someone in 1956. One wonders who the giver and receiver might have been; was the book the equivalent of The Da Vinci Code, and selected as the book of the week? Perhaps the book was the result of hours spent in every book shop in town to find the right gift.

I have to speculate the value of such a collection. In monetary terms, perhaps a great deal, perhaps nothing at all. From a literary point of view, this could be the dregs of work that have been resigned to never see the light of day again.

But how much history is captured within the pages, or have been seen by the books themselves?

Librarything

Dana, Sky...thanks. Thanks a lot. I really needed another excuse to sit at the computer.

Only kidding ;)

My fledgling library can be seen here.

I'm still adding books to it - it's scary just how many I seem to have here.

Oh, and to those adding books, a neat trick I found to speed up adding new books, saving you time typing in search terms etc is to create txt files of your ISBN numbers. Save, then you can upload the list.

Once entered into the system, it will take a while to locate the information for each book, but it's faster than going through them one at a time!

Geeky

Since I seem to have an ineptitude with Java, my thanks to Dana for getting the Random Quotes working at last.

Liberty and the Harlequins

Last year I was wandering around the art gallery at the local mall, and spotted a picture by Joy Kirton-Smith, a UK contempory artist. However, as a limited edition print there was very little I could do about it at the time.

Time passed, and on receiving this year's bonus thought once again about the picture.

Deciding where it was going to go was an issue - it's not small, especially with the frame - and I realised it was not going to either fit, or go with the other contents in my lounge. I realised that the only wall for it was in the bedroom, and ironically, the duvet set matches perfectly with the colours. So I took a deep breath and went back to buy it. Luckily, the one on display at the gallery was the last one the company had - there are only 150 copies - but it was available.

Given the investment, I wanted it to be perfect so the picture went back to be re-framed (you get a choice from a range of frames at no extra charge) which took a couple of weeks.

Yesterday, the picture was ready for collection. Not only did it (just about) fit, but it looks great in place.

International Starwars Day!

You may not be aware that today is International StarWars day.

 

May the 4th be with you!

 

I'll get my coat...

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds

I've been a fan of the 1970's musical album "The War of the Worlds" that has, it seems, developed an almost cult status over the last 30 years. When I heard of a live version being performed, I initially thought it was going to be an orchestra performing it, as has been done before.

However, I was surprised to hear that Jeff Wayne himself had put together a touring live stage version. I immediately booked my tickets...

The concert itself was amazing. As well as the band and the 30-odd piece orchestra conducted by Jeff Wayne, Justin Haywood reprised his original role of the singing voice of the Journalist.
David Essex was, alas, too old to play the young artillery man who has the Plan, but was replaced by someone who more than did credit to the role. Finally, Russell Watson played the doomed Parson Nathaniel. The live cast was supported by a back drop projection of live action and CGI film, along with a 50ft high Martian fighting machine, along with a dazzling array of lights and other special effects.

Oh, and as for the Journalist, originally played by Richard Burton, his role was played by... Richard Burton.

Using a double and some technical jiggerypokery, Richard Burton's moving face was projected onto a floating head above the stage, to light up and perform his lines through. Eerie doesn't begin to cover it.

All in all, a wonderful performance. The music was just as good as ever, and to hear "Forever Autumn" performed live by Justin, with suitable graphics in the back ground was great.

A good night out! Now, when was the DVD coming out...