02/02/2010 by admin.

Our regulars will know of the significance in Charles Lamb’s journal of white/albino animals and the role of hearts in illustrating the value of Love, Art and Nature.  Well, surprise surprise there’s a white whale in Polar land China that has been trained to blow heart shaped bubbles.  Interesting…

Here’s a video of the whales blowing bubbles and doing other tricks…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCAUleX5h8A

But there’s a dark side to this. Should such majestic creatures be confined to a tank for human entertainment? You decide!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGkZSiENKIA&feature=related

Posted in Q77 Do you get bored easily?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q71 Is there something missing in your life?, Q17 Can you speak another language?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q.8 Do you crave a better life? | No Comments »

24/11/2009 by admin.

150 years ago Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species was published.  At the time its publication was controversial yet today its seen as the foundation of evolutionary biology.  It presents evidence that the diversity of life on Earth arose through a branching pattern of evolution - termed Natural Selection.

Today also marks the 35th anniversary of the discovery of a 3.2 million years old skeleton of a hominid named ‘Lucy’ (Amharic).  Lucy also has a second name (Dinkenesh) which means ‘You are beautiful’ or ‘You are wonderful’.  The fossilised skeleton was discovered by Tom Gray and Don Johanson from Texas in a small gully near the Awash River in Ethiopia.   That evening everyone in the expedition set up camp by the discovery and celebrated by playing loudly and repeatedly a taped recording of the Beatles song, ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ afterwhich she was named - and we all know the significance of the Beatles in providing inspiration for The Haymakers Survey. 

The Lucy fossil is currently part of a six year US regional tour: Lucy’s Legacy:  History of Treasures from Ethiopia.   The tour is designed to raise awareness of human orgins. It began in September 2007 and included a film titled Lucy’s Cradle: The Birth of Wonder.  Lucy has been in New York City since this June.

Let’s wrap all this up! In our story the fossil like remain’s of a human like figure ‘Lucy’ is found connected to a ‘Web of Life’. Simples! We interpret the anniversaries and Lucy’s US tour as a clear indication that humanity is at risk if we countine to disrespect Mother Nature and put the diversity of life in jeopardy.

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q47 Do you know your history?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q22 Do you love our Earth?, Q17 Can you speak another language? | No Comments »

14/09/2009 by admin.

A Red Panda has escaped from London Zoo to hide up a tree in Regent’s Park. The rare animal was spotted at 03:00am by a local cameraman Martin Ellerbeck.  Zoo-keepers were unable to coax the creature down so resorted to using a tranquilizer.  An inquiry will be held into how the animal escaped.

Our take on this is simple: RED ALERT for action to preserve Mother Nature! Where’s our evidence? Its another example of an escaped animal to feature on our Watch; the creature was first seen at three - a number key to our project; and he escaped to Regent’s Park - our novel includes several mentions of the antics of the Prince Regent. To cap everything, the Panda’s name was Peter - in our novel we have a cameo appearance from Sir Peter Scott - founder of the WWF and designer of the orginal WWF panda logo. Do the panda’s antics amount to a life imitating art moment?

The Red Panda is also known as a FireFox so here’s a suitable emergency response…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGDq1aXRwls&feature=related

Posted in Q56 Do you believe rules are there to be broken?, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q51 Have you ever taken part in a protest?, Q34 Have you ever restored something?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted?, Q17 Can you speak another language?, Q21 Have you ever hugged a tree?, Q.8 Do you crave a better life? | No Comments »

07/09/2009 by admin.

LORD MAY ‘GOD HELP US’ 

Lord May, president of the British Association of Science, has suggested that the world [humanity] may have to turn to God to save itself from climate change. On the eve of the association’s national conference, the government’s former chief scientist warned that no country was prepared to take the lead on the issues and a supernatural ’punisher’ was needed to ensure the rules of co-operation were not broken. 

He said that in the past a belief in a god, or gods, that punish the unrighteous may have been part of the mechanism of evolution that maintains co-operation in a dog-eat-dog world. He also believes religious leaders should be doing more to persuade people to combat climate change.

Well our project is designed to help show a deeper magic to creation - be it through God, the Earth Spirit or some other force - through the many examples on this Watch, including…

EASTER ISLAND: HATS OFF

Archaeologists believe they have solved one ancient mystery surrounding the famous Easter Island statues - the source of their giant red hats!

Researchers, Dr Colin Richards and Dr Sue Hamilton from the University of Manchester and University College London, think the hats were rolled down from an ancient volcano.  They came to the conclusion based on a series of clues on the island. Each hat, weighing several tonnes, was carved from volcanic rock. They were placed on the heads of the famous statues all around the coast of the island.  The researchers are joint directors of the “Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Landscapes of Construction Project”. They will be working on the island over the next five years.

We find the timing of the research and its early findings fascinating, especially as a ceremonial adze (axe head) was found in pristine condition next to the hats.  

Precisely how and why the hats were attached is unknown but the comparisions with the mystical top-hat figure at the heart of our story are striking. Its also intriguing that the axe head was discovered beside the monuments given that Charles Lamb’s journal records how Capt Lewin bought one back to Britain following his transatlantic tour and how he inadvertantly caught Charles’ hand with it at ‘The Haymakers Survey’.

The significance of the links is that Easter Island is infamous for the destruction of the eco-system through one of the worst cases of deforestation ever, potentially to help provide sustenance for an ever increasing population. There’s a clear lesson here, especially given the mysterious man in the top hat who seems to be orchestrating every in our tale.

Posted in Q54 Do you enjoy a bit of a mystery?, Q51a How many people does it take to fill up the Earth?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q52 Do you believe in miracles?, Q47 Do you know your history?, Q17 Can you speak another language?, Q22 Do you love our Earth?, Q35 Do you trust your instincts?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

25/03/2009 by admin.

We have yet another example of mischevious grey squirrel behaviour.  Oonagh Nutt from Moira, County Down has seen her home overrun by our furry friends. They first came into Mrs Nutt’s garden from from an adjoining park about 6 years ago, but 18 months ago they decided to move in to her house - about the time when we began our Whittenbury Watch!  The squirrels have caused serious damage and their behaviour has been unruly to say the least - growling and barking, scratching and chewing!  Mrs Nutt has spent thousands trying to tackle the problem and says the local council have been less than helpful. 

So we have a person with the surname Nutt overrun by malicious grey squirrels - curious this given the role of squirrels and nuts in our tale. Its one of many we’ve seen involving grey squirrels. What are they trying to tell us? Its a most befuddling thing…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDWnuddCf0E

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q17 Can you speak another language?, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst? | No Comments »

23/02/2009 by admin.

A 26 year old Latin scholar is being hailed as a University Challenge genius.  Gail Trimble led her team from Corpus Christi College, Oxford to victory over Manchester University in the grand final of the general knowledge show. 

Miss Trimble’s performance has been judged as remarkable given she scored two-thirds of the 1,200 points accumulated by Corpus Christi College Oxford in the four qualifying rounds leading up to the final.  Even the show’s host, Jeremy Paxman, was stunned by Gail’s vast array of knowledge. 

Yet her stunning performance has attracted an array of comments - some of which were not particularly pleasant, claiming she’s too clever and smug! Quite ridiculous. We say let’s celebrate her achievement - especially as Malachi likes to see Latin in the headlines! What say the Malachi? “Tacta alea est” - ‘The Die is Cast’ (page 39).

Here’s a video carrying some highlights and an interview on the BBC Breakfast Show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCj4wjV-oqM

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q17 Can you speak another language?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | No Comments »

07/01/2009 by admin.

During our watch we’ve seen examples in Nature of delightful markings on animals each linked in some way to our tale, such as heart shapes.  Now we find a Smiley Cephalopod - a squid with wonderful markings etched on his skin pigmentation. The specimen below was collected by the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium where director Mike Schaat managed to capture it on film.

Readers of our novel will know of the role of a smiley face in helping to spread our message and Ben’s wish to restore a pig farm to former glory - interesting!

RUNAWAY HORSE AT THE MOVIES

An escaped farm horse shocked film-goers when it ran through the automatic doors of Cineworld in Boldon, Sunderland, England. A witness said the horse, one of three to escape from a local farm, was scared by a little girl blowing a raspberry outside of the complex. The animal ran straight for the cinema entrance and took a brief tour of the foyer and a corridor, startling and surprising those inside.  Fortunately, the horse quickly fled and was soon recaptured. Nobody was hurt.  Tim Hamlyn a spokesperson for Cineworld said, “It’s certainly the first time I’ve heard of this happening and I’ve worked in cinemas for six years.”  Perhaps it wanted to see the mati-neigh!

Interesting from our perspective given the role of the runaway horse at sunset on the autumn equinox close to the start of our tale (see Novel extract).  After all, the bizarre incident occurred in Sunderland. Perhaps Mother Nature wants the movie makers to sit up and take notice of our little adventure?

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q78 Do you want to be part of the picture?, Q68 Does the Earth have a spirit?, Q59 Do you like surprises?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q37 Do you know how to have fun?, Q17 Can you speak another language? | No Comments »

19/09/2008 by admin.

Today, BBC Three Counties Radio Beds, Bucks and Herts featured an item about a crop circle at Barton le Clay in Bedfordshire, which was first reported on 14 August.  The radio announcer described the circle as extraordinary and questioned how it could possibly have been made by human hands. Well, the circle is the closest to Noblin Green we’ve witnessed during our watch so we decided to take a closer look.  Here’s a picture of the circle:

Commentators describe it as a ‘key circle’ and focus on the mysterious inner pentagram - a shape which was very important to the Pythagoreons. For us the circle seems to resemble a spider’s web - our fabled Web of Life! 

It’s also curious that the circle was in a field at Barton le Clay, given our ‘treasures in jars of clay!’

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q17 Can you speak another language?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

05/09/2008 by admin.

A parrot named Luna from New Jersey has fooled emergency services into an attempt to rescue a damsel in distress.  Concerned neighbours had called the police after they heard cries of, ‘Help me! Help me!” Police resorted to knocking the front door down, only to find a parrot was reponsible.  The owner wasn’t especially surprised as seven years ago Luna alarmed authorities by mimicking a baby’s cry for hours on end, triggering a visit by child welfare officials fearing an abandoned infant!  This is all very familiar given our story.

Meanwhile, in Kent, England, Leonard an African Grey has been showing off his repetoire of impersonations and moves.  The parrot was missing for about 4 days but has now returned home.  Here he is performing Beethoven’s Fifth and doing Dalek impressions - all features from our story!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7600955.stm

However, Sarah pointed out that this is nothing compared with Einstien’s performance. Now here’s a real superstar…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSDFzg8_Wfg

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q41 Do you like surprises?, Q17 Can you speak another language?, Q.5 Do you believe in fate? | No Comments »

19/08/2008 by admin.

Scientists have discovered that Magpies are able to identify their own reflection in a mirror; the first time that self-recognition has been seen in non-mammal. Dr Helmet Prior from the Geothe University in Franfurt found carried out the tests on 5 hand-reared birds, placing coloured stickers on the birds in places where they could only be seen in the mirror.   The magpies became focused on the stickers and sometimes succeeded in removing them.  What’s curious about the discovery is that Malachi refers to the ode, ‘one for sorrow, two for joy’ early on in our tale. The tune is, of course, synonomous with magpies!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWqXZEngVc8

Dolphins have also been putting on a show off the coast of Australia.  It seems a wild dolphin is teaching other memers of her group to ‘tail-walk’.  Due to illness, one of the group spent a short time in a dolphinarium 20 years ago and may have picked up the trick there. Experts from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society cannot understand why the dolphins are doing it.  Maybe they’re trying to tell us something?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKqutWejmTk&NR=1

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q37 Do you know how to have fun?, Q17 Can you speak another language?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »