More from the garden

 

Adventuring Hero Missing, Presumed Dead!

News has been received that the great adventurer, Archibald Furrows, may be missing in action following a fight with a gian crocodile. Eyewitness accounts tell of a viscious fight between Archie and the croc, named "Irwin" by locals, after it was discovered that the Croc was stealing wine and plotting world domination.

These photos, from a tourist nearby, capture the aftermath.











A search of the pool is being conducted, and specialist divers have been called in.

More news as and when...

Sun sea and ... ?

Sand.

Just goes to show how smutty *you* are.

Anyways, I'm off to Monaco on Sunday, by way of my Dad's 60th birthday on Saturday. It's going to make the weekend hectic, but hey, it's a special birthday.

Given I was in Toulouse today, I'm not sure what state I'll be in by the time I get to the beach, mind you.

*waves*

See you on the flip side!

From the garden (2)

 

From the garden (1)

The roses in the corner are doing well now that the green fly have gone.

The brave warrior

With the gorgeous weather at the weekend, I needed a break from digging the garden so went for a walk down to the duck pond. It was the busiest I have seen it (well, it is half term).

There were no sign of the ducklings this week, but the swans were about. Unfortunately only two of the cygnets could be seen with them - I hope nothing has happened to the other two. Since my camera battery decided to give up on me, I still don't have any photos of them.

Anyway, I decided to walk a little farther on than I normally do, and met a couple with a Labrador walking toward me. The pup ran up to me with his tail wagging, but as soon as I crouched down to say hello, he turned tail and ran away. So much for the fearless guard dog.

Unwritten letters

Dear Sirs,

Whilst I have thoroughly enjoyed working my ass off to resolve your problem these last four weeks, I would like to explain why I left after my 35 hours this week and didn't stay later on Friday to complete the work.

(1) There is a reason that people in our group have job titles including words like "composite", "stress", "engineer" and/or "specialist". It's because people in our group ("Engineers") have "specialist" knowledge regarding "composite" materials and how they are "stressed". That means that we do, on occasion, know a little more about the subject than you do. If the situation were reversed, then our group would not be needed.

(2) If you had listened to me 2 years ago, we would not be in this situation and I would not have spent the last few weeks trying to pull your ass out of the hole you have dug for yourself.

(3) When I ask the question "Can you send me all the relevant data", and I receive a stack of data with the comment "That's all we have, honest", I do not then appreciate, six months later, being told whilst on a conference call to suppliers that you have additional data in a document in front of you.

(4) I really don't appreciate, whilst conducting analysis on this new data, your sending an email to the programme in question that drops me in the brown smelly stuff whilst covering your own backside.

(5) I agree with your premise that, since the material in question is made, by several suppliers, from the same constituents and using the same processes, that the end result should be the same. In an ideal world, it would. Please remove your rose-tinted spectacles and get back to reality.

I look forward to sorting out your mess on Monday. In the mean time, I'm off to enjoy my weekend.

Yours,

Indy

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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