News Story of the Day...

From www.aero-news.net

Captain Kirk Decides To Boldly Stay On Ground

Contrary To Song, Shatner Is No Rocketman

We admit this next story has only the thinnest ties to the aerospace community... but it was simply too ironic to pass up.

William Shatner, the 75-year-old actor best known for portraying Captain James T. Kirk on the evergreen "Star Trek" television series, has turned down an offer to fly onboard Virgin Galactic's first suborbital passenger flight in 2008.

Why? He is too scared.

"I'm interested in man's march into the unknown but to vomit in space is not my idea of a good time," said Shatner to the Daily Mail. "Neither is a fiery crash with the vomit hovering over me."

(Note: There are few ways to guarantee your words will be selected for ANN's Quote of the Day feature -- but combining the words "fiery" and "vomit" in the same sentence certainly improves your odds -- Ed.)

"I do want to go up but I need guarantees I'll definitely come back," Shatner added.
That's perfectly understandable... although for a free ticket into space (valued at $215,000), we'd expect the man best known for uttering the phrase "to seek out new life and new civilizations... to boldly go where no one has gone before" to, well, suck it up.

After all... Shatner never faced situations as frightening as Sigourney Weaver, star of the "Alien" movies, did... but she's already booked her space on the flight.

In the end -- and contrary to his oft-maligned rendition of the classic Elton John song -- William Shatner is no "rocketman" after all. But Captain Kirk's reach will still extend into the stars, even if the actor who portrayed him won't.

That's right... Virgin's first spaceship will be called the "Enterprise."

Aeroplanes for Dummies

The big tube with windows is the "fuselage". This is where the people sit.
The big tube has a pointy end, and an end with sticky-outy bits.

The pointy end is the "Nose", also called the "Front". This is where the driver or "pilot" sits.

The big sticky-outy bits are the "wings". These are for storing fuel and hanging the engines from. Oh, and keeping everything in the air.

The sticky-uppy bit at the back is the "VTP". The sticky-outy bits at the back is the "HTP". These help keep everything pointing in the right direction.

The wheel things underneath are the "undercarriage". Although it is possible to land without these, they do make it easier to taxi to the terminal building.

Inside the big blobs hangining under the "wings" are the "Engines". These are important. They keep the pilot cool - watch him start to sweat when they stop going round.

1K Project 2

Very, very cool.

News just in...

I just wanted to update everyone to confirm that nothing whatsoever is happening in Sector 83/9/12.

Nothing at all.

BA halts flights...

Hobbian Shenanigans

Saturday was the Day of the Great Bristol Hobb Meet.

Some argued before the day that it could not possibly be all that Great, as certain Hobblings would be absent. Admittidly we did not have half naked dancing. But we did have ice, drinks, Skits on a sugar rush and dungeons.

After meeting a little earlier than planned, we managed to find somewhere we could eat where we would not scare too many innocent passerbys.

Then, onto the icerink. It didn't take long for us to realise that we were going to need tin foil hats. Luckily I came prepared, as the choc-pot wrappers were soon redesigned...




Skits, on a sugar high depsite not having a choc pot to eat, remained difficult to capture on camera due to her blurring.


Sky, looking bemused.


For those of you who have not seen a choc pot, this is what they look like:


Skits enjoying herself on the ice...


...although Biped was not so sure of herself...


All was going well until the flash from the camera triggered something in Em and she turned into a mindless zombie...


...and tried to attack Sky...


Luckily, there were no casualties.

Retiring from the ice rink (possibly the ugliest building in Bristol) to a nearby pub, we sat and chatted for a bit.

Skits and Biped:


Em taking videos. Or perhaps just photos.


Em and Ash...


And Sky looking bemused...it was noted how Sky and Keppet always seem to pull the same expression when a camera is pointed at them.


After Sky, Ash and Em had run for their train, the remaining Hobblings went off to investigate the ruined church down on the riverside.




The old and the new.

At midnight, on the twelfth of August...

...a huge mass of luminous gas erupted from Mars and sped towards Earth.

Across two hundred million miles of void, invisibly hurtling toward us, came the first of the missiles that were to bring so much calamity to Earth.

Things To Do that have Been Done

Just to show I have kept my promise and can now check off some of the jobs on the To Do list!

Rose in the corner de-headed and pruned back:


Cut back the climber round the front door:


Mint re-potted. Blue rescued it from the original weeding session and planted it. Since it was only 2" tall, we had to put a stake in the ground to mark it, lest we stomp it by mistake. The little fella has now grown considerably, and I have been advised that mint will grow and grow - so put it in a pot. Eventually, we'll move the pot out from the ground and into a terracotta pot somewhere else.


As for the rest of the garden, one of the mini-roses is budding again:


It has about five un-opened buds as well - more photos to follow.

Mini-rose and the other flower. Not sure what it is, but it looks like a child's drawing of what a flower should look like:



And the purple rose is still in bloom. The flowers come out much lighter and then darken over time.

Song of the day

Thanks to Em for putting me onto this song!


One Night Of Passion
The Poodles

My heart is screaming out your name

Night falls, my mind recalls the sound of your heart breathing
Thoughts of your thousand kisses burning on my skin

I feel your desire as the moonlight lingers in the sky
I'm walking trough fire, can't you hear me when I cry

Chorus:
One night of passion, one night of hunger
And my attraction is getting stronger
I need to feel you, I need to hold you
I can't deny 'cause my heart is screaming out your name

My heart is screaming out your name

Tonight I won't be alone, doesn't mean that I'm not lonely
One minute is like an hour until you calm my pain

I feel your desire as the moonlight lingers in the sky
I walking trough fire, can't you hear me when I cry

Chorus

My heart is screaming out your name

Every time you're not around
You're a thought within my mind
Hold me near, never fear
I'm right beside

Chorus

Chorus

More from the garden

The last of the lillies is now in flower, a very pretty white one with three flowers.