Arthur C Clarke

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

It's no wonder.....

MJ was so messed up. With 'friends' like this.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roRcIoO1iQY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO3GnIkfa6c

Bye George..

One year ago the world said goodbye to one of my favorite wits - George Carlin. With his comedy, satire & wordplay he consistently opened my mind to new ways of thinking.

Youtube video of George: Click here


Great blog here about him: Click here

High Anxiety

Great line from the movie:

Mel Brookes as Dr. Richard Thorndyke 'What's your sign?'

Madeline Kahn as Victoria Brisbane 'I'm sorry....it's unlisted.'


Only wish I could remember to use it when needed...

Unbelievable

Today at 2:30pm I found a grey heron trapped, with a broken wing, behind a light fixture at work. The bird was laying flat on it's side and suffering from having been there all day in the sun - maybe longer if it had become trapped yesterday. I managed to get him (or her) out without much difficulty, avoiding being speared by its razor sharp beak and called security to get them to call out someone to take the bird to be helped. In the meantime we did manage to get it to drink some water

They tried to call the Regent's Park rangers - but found the rangers had turned off their phones. They then managed to contact the RSPCA - who said they would be there 'sometime before 7.'

I left work near 5pm and at that time they still had not come - I did make sure the bird had some more water, but I didn't think it would survive until he could be picked up. I called security after I got home - near 7 and they had taken it and it was still alive.

I can remember back in '78 calling the RSPCA in Kings Lynn to come to the rescue of an abandoned seal pup in Hunstanton - a 45 mile distance - that took the rescuer 15 min to cover. The seal survived, even tho it was given little chance of doing so - I hope the heron now has a chance. Shame that it had to suffer so long waiting for rescue.

UPDATE: The RSPCA did not take the heron away alive - instead they injected it and put it to sleep, before removing it.

Fortune Strikes

Well, sort of... on Tuesday @ 6:59 pm, the London Underground went on strike... sort of. After riding in to work on the #113 bus Wednesday, I found out that my normal Tube route - the Nortnern Line was operating as normal, except for a few station closures. Warren Street - my closest- being one. This meant that I needed to walk to the Camden Station through Regents Park. Not a bad trade off tho, as I didn't have to dodge the heavy foot traffic on Marylebone.

This took me around the Inner Circle, past St John's Lodge and the near hidden (private looking) entrance to it's park. I decided to explore. What a gem of a garden! Beautiful, secluded and quiet.



There are well kept plant beds with many separate garden
'rooms', each with their own theme - including an ornamental vegetable bed. The best thing I noticed though was the lack of crowds that I find in the main Regents Park gardens. Most of the rooms were empty and those that did have people only had 1 or 2 sitting quietly reading or as in one case - napping on a bench.
And no - he wasn't a transient.






With several works of art - bronzes - gorgeous plant combinations and a long landscape vista to St Johns Lodge, this garden has just joined the Chelsea Physic Garden & Hampstead Heath as one of my favorite places to visit in London.

The RAF Museum - Henden

Only 15 - 20 minutes away from here by bus from Edgware, free admission, so I thought why not go. It's not very large, but is packed with planes from canvas gliders to Cold War jets. Along with the many RAF aircraft there were several American & German planes from WW2. Maybe a bit too packed, but that's normal for air museums. It's a good place to visit for 2/3 hours - maybe longer if your a real aviation anorak. I have only 2 points, there weren't many support vehicles & I feel they are just as important as the aircraft, though I suppose not as glamorous.

The other point - bring in your own soft drinks, as the 330ml cans of Pepsi I purchased cost £1.2o - each.

On religion & it's hypocrasy

Just a short musing - When I was growing up, my dad was adamant that there were no such things as ghosts - then he would preach his Sunday sermons about the need to believe in the 'holy trinity of the Father, Son & The Holy Ghost.

No wonder I was confused.

Recent movies

Week before last I saw the new 'Star Trek' movie at the Empire in Leicester Square. Loved the movie, but this isn't a review of the show, instead it's a review of the theatre.

It's a large theatre, with re- served, reclining seating and generally comfortable, except there isn't quite enough distance between rows. Things were fine until someone set in front of me and the back of their chair slammed painfully into my knees. As I also couldn't see well over their head, I asked the attendant if I could move to a more vacant area. I was allowed to do so and so most everything was fine. The only other issue I had was that there were 25 minutes of advertisements before finally getting to the film.



Yesterday I saw 'Coraline' at the Odeon in Camden. Entering the seating area was dodgy as it was very dark going up several steps, requiring me to feel my way along. Once I found my way to my seat, I dis- covered their chairs were stiff, straight and uncomfortable. The commercials at the beginning were thankfully not long (10 minutes total), but were very loud - twice as loud as the movie itself.
(Photo not from the Odeon)