Misplaced Architecture No 12

Jabba the Hutt's  extended Palace on the desert world Tatooine

His guided tour of the recently completed extensions to Hutt Palace had not gone well and having concluded that  he was more; atmospheric and carbonite than picturesque and limestone,  the gangster Jabba decided to eat his young Jeddi architect.  Perhaps it would look better in moonlight?

Misplaced Architecture No 11

Commander Bond, I suspect we have a mole inside MI6

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the James Bond franchise and the iconic SIS Building, nearly 20 years the London home of British Intelligence, designed by Sir Terry Farrell  (Toot's favourite architect).

PS; Toot and I have now been to see SkyFall and its excellent, Bond back and at his best! We recommend it to you all.

Pasmore, Rothko and Cassini amongst the Rings of Saturn.

I was much impressed with these recent images returned from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. They show the large, orange, hazy hydro-carbon cloaked moon Titan accompanied by the smaller moons Tethys and Dione, all set against the backdrop of Saturn and its ice rings.

I was reminded of the graphic cool of abstract paintings by Victor Pasmore and the drab but intense colour-ways of Mark Rothko,

Credits for images: NASA and the TATE

Aurora Borealis

Images taken with my tripod mounted Canon DSLR in Tromso, Norway, 2011

As the prevalence of sunspots comes close to maximum in the current 11 year solar magnetic activity cycle, the Aurora is being seen in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Northumberland and as far south as Norfolk in England.  After Christmas and if the UK remains snow free, Toot and I may venture North to see if we can view the Aurora once more. In January 2011, we had a marvelous time in Tromso and witnessed the Aurora for the first time.  I understand that for my blog readers in Scandinavia, Canada and Russia seeing the Aurora may be rather common place but for us Brits located in the south of our Islands, the experience is a very rare and awesome treat.

Toot and I have visited Norway and Sweden a number of times and  always enjoyed the hospitality and company of our Scandinavian friends and acquaintances. If you have never been, why not book a holiday right now?  Some of our best memories are of: swimming in Oslo Fjord, seeing a Viking longboat, watching golden eagles quartering the land high in the mountains between Norway and Sweden, hearing Elk grunting as we watched them swim across a lake, waiting for hours by a dam to catch a glimpse of a beaver and swimming and canoeing in ice-cold lakes with our then young children.

Then of course, if you visit between the months of September and March, there is always a chance you will see the Aurora in all its glory

For an Aurora taster see:

 http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronomy/auroramax/connect.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(astronomy)

Misplaced Architecture No 10

The Umpire State Building

In October 2011 we stayed in a hotel, just off Time Square. We really enjoyed New York City and hope to return some day. During our stay, we went to the top of the Empire State Building and enjoyed the views over Manhattan.  Whilst we were queuing to get into the elevator, I was much pleased by the friendly lady who, checked our tickets and looking at my beret,  said  " Gee don't you look dapper in your Tambourine"!

We also visited the viewing platform at the the top of the Rockefeller Centre from which this photo was taken.

Toot and I had a wonderful time in the Big Apple . The City offers the tourist many treasures and the New Yorkers we met were  friendly, open and warm. Toot and I recommend visiting this fine City it is an interesting and surprising place!

Dickie Bird OBE is England's highest profile cricket umpire. Mr Bird is now retired from professional cricket but like the Empire State Building has iconic national status. So I thought I would put them together!

http://www.thedickiebirdfoundation.co.uk/

Dickie Bird OBE International Umpire
Sir Vivian Richards KNH OBE Captain of the West Indies 

Credits: Wikipedia and the Dickie Bird Foundation

Curiosity Rocks

Curiosity commences real science in Gale Crater

The Mars rover 'Curiosity' has completed an analysis of a rock named 'Jake Matijevic' which, it encountered on day 45 of its drive towards the Glenelg Area.  Curiosity's first real science  will be undertaken at Glenelg using its on board rock drill.

The route to Glenelg from Bradbury Landing

The Rock Jake

 
NASA engineers have adjusted the white balance of this image of Jake and exaggerated the colour of the rock to show differences in mineral composition.

The red marks show where Curiosity's Chem Cam Laser was aimed and hit the rock. The circular black and white areas were where the Chem Cam  looked for the pits created by the laser.  The purple circles indicate where the Alpha-Particle X-Ray Spectrometer trained its view whilst obtaining the spectra.




The graph shows the elements (the black-line) that were found in Jake by the Spectrometer. The red-line shows spectra from the calibration rock taken by Curiosity from Earth to Mars. Jake is probably volcanic in origin.  It has quite high levels of Sodium, Aluminium, Silicon and Potassium which are often common in feldspar minerals.  It is is relatively low in iron and magnesium compared with other rocks found elsewhere on Mars. It has very low levels of Zinc and Nickel. The chlorine and Bromine shown are thought to be from surface dust.

Feldspar minerals were also discovered during the Apollo missions to the lunar uplands.

Jake's Spectra

Credits to NASA for the images and information.

I'm Back

I had a dream last night

A big thank you from me to the NHS team at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. My damaged disc has been removed and my vertebra chipped away to allow my spinal chord a bit more room to send messages to my feet.

The surgery was undertaken on Wednesday afternoon and I am home sitting in our living room, writing this at 19.15 on Friday. All surgery and aftercare completely free thanks to the National Health Service!! A top quality service worth fighting for!!

I no longer have pains in my legs and feel remarkably well. May I also thank our family and friends for their support and well wishes. In particular a very big thank you to Jude and Jon for looking after Toot and a huge thank you to Toot for all her love and care.





I must say morphine is a great help when you are in pain but a bit of a trial when you stop taking it.  Last night, about five hours after I refrained from using the morphine pump, my skin started itching and I had a dream worthy of a Pink Floyd album cover.  I prepared the above sketch based upon my experiences, I must say I prefer Raphael to Hieronymus Bosch (although the latter does make exceedingly fine dish-washing machines).

Spinal Tap Part 3

Hereward the Wake

This week and subject to the availability of a hospital bed, I shall be appearing in a matinee performance of 'Look back in Anger' at the Orthopedic Operating Theatre, Norwich.  Mine will be a non speaking part mainly because I will be in the arms of Morpheus courtesy of a NHS Anesthetist   My surgeon will be making sculptural changes to my back which I hope will enable me to resume a number of  more  active outdoor hobbies that I have had to temporarily suspend.

Since January, I have been suffering back pain as the result of a herniated lumbar disc and spinal stenosis.

In lumbar stenosis, the spinal nerve roots in the lower back are compressed and this can lead to symptoms of sciatica (tingling, weakness, or numbness that radiates from the low back and into the buttocks and legs).



The probable causes of my Stenosis are:

• Old damage which occurred in my twenties from playing rugby as a front row forward.
• Aging
• Osteoarthritis
• Vertebrae instability

The surgeon is going to carry out a disc decompression and chip away vertebra bone that is pressing on my spinal chord.  I believe he will use a mallet and chisel, so its just like sculpture really!

I hope to be well and active in the 'Cabine' within a couple of weeks but in the meantime may I wish all blog surfers my best regards!

Credits  for images Wikipedia

Toot Grub

Delicious bread and cakes baked by Toot this month

Light Fantastic

Continuous spectrum from sunlight
trapped on my kitchen wall

Toot has a small glass cristal suspended in our south facing kitchen window.  As light from the sun is dispersed in wavelength (violet - 390nm to far red - 720nm), a number of discrete spectra are created and projected onto the walls and ceiling in our kitchen.

The photons in the spectrum were created during the fusion of hydrogen at the centre of the sun (gamma and X-rays at the core).  Mass is lost during the fusion process and converted to energy in the form of photons (E=mc2). The photons do not move from the centre of the sun to its surface at the speed of light because they scatter off electrons and atomic nuclei. In fact, it is calculated that the diffusion of radiation ensures that the average photon takes some 50,000 years to get from the core to the surface of the sun. By the time the photons get there they are of  benign visible wavelength.

Alice and  a Rainbow (Photo Andy Boon)

Nearly all the information astronomers have about the
nature, composition and relative movement of stars in the Universe is based upon measurements of spectra.

Our  home world  is a more beautiful place and we are only here to appreciated it because of the nature of light. Its light fantastic!

Spray from the stern of the 'Maid of the Mist' Niagara Falls (October 2011)

Double Rainbow over Didcot Power Station (Photo Andy Boon)