27/09/2008 by admin.

Earth’s most ancient rocks, with an age of £4.8bn, have been found on the shores of Hudson Bay.   The sample of ‘Greenstone’ is estimated to be 250m years older than any previously identified.  The stone may reveal evidence of the earliest life on Earth.  The Professor of Geology leading the study said, “The rock contains a very special chemical signature - one that can be found in very, very old rocks only.  Nobody has found that signal anywhere else on Earth. Everyone is so excited!”  As Rev. North asked in out story, ‘What do these stones mean?” Lets take a closer look at the image of the Greenstone. 

Notice the X at the heart of the stone?  Is the really a poser,”Do we have the X-factor?” as explored in our story? A signal that we need to adjust our way of life to live in balance with the natural world. Perhaps Bill Dan has the answer…

Bill is a performance artist who has been wowing crowds in San Fransisco Bay with his amazing designs involving resting different sized rocks on top of each other.  His gravity defying work has led many to refuse to believe he doesn’t use glue or some other trickery.  If you’re watching Bill, we believe in the magic of the stones.

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

Let’s consult the Rolling Stones for advice on what humanity needs to do to avoid eviction from planet earth.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ8xM83fMhU&feature=related

Meanwhile Yves Rossy has succeeded in his quest to make the first single jetpack flight across the English Channel. It took him just 10 minutes to fly across the 23 mile stretch of water. History is littered with man’s attempts to fly like a bird and now someone has achieved that dream.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzrKlEtxTx4

Posted in Q74 Do you like puzzles?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q65 Have you ever wished you could fly?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »

17/09/2008 by admin.

A rare upside down rainbow has appeared in the skies above Cambridgeshire.  The arc was formed by sunlight bouncing of ice crystals high in the atmosphere.  It appeared in the sky for just the briefest of moments but was caught on camera by a local astronomer, Dr Jacqueline Mitton.  Dr Mitton, who has a doctorate in astrophysics from Cambridge University, said, ”I’m 60 and I’ve never seen anything like this before.”  Seen against a setting sun, the dazzling sight was accompanied by a phenomenon known as ’sun-dogs’ , which are gleaming spots on a halo around the sun.  The Dr added, “It was just an amazing combination of events that happened at the same time.”

Arc rainbows are rarely seen outside of the polar regions. What’s interesting about the location is that the Royston Cave is on the Herts/Cambs border! Our readers will know of the significance of the cave in our story.  Beyond that, our curiosity is simple - first, our story begins against a setting sun; second, Charles Lamb’s journal recalls how he observed 3 rainbows simultaneously at a time when Malachi emerged from beneath the centre of the arc; and, third the sun-dog event is strange, given that  our Samoyed, Malachi is the messenger! 

Let’s celebrate with a song…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A2Jt4WOxN8

As if to herald the rainbow, the famous hourly Greenwich time ‘pips’ on BBC radio stations were a little late this morning!  The delay was unprecedented and put down to a computer error. Listen in…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7621996.stm

Meanwhile, across town, the artist Damien Hirst has donated a a pair of his heart-shaped butterfly paintings to two London children’s charities, amounting to a £1.4m gift. 

It represents a slice of the record-breaking £111m raised from auction of his work at Sotherby’s.  The amount is ten times the amount raised by a previous auction dedicated to one artist.  His famous animal corpses in tanks were the best sellers. One, the Golden Calf, went for £10.3m.

So, what does this mean for us? Well - the heart is the most obvious link, but beyond that we’re interested in the 111 or Nelson.  Readers may recall Malachi’s reference to the supposed misfortunate number, related to the admiral’s downfall.

Posted in Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »

10/09/2008 by admin.

Scientists have switched on the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland in the hope of shedding light on one of the fundamental questions in physics, ‘What is mass?’ 

The current favoured model involves a particle dubbed as ‘The God Particle’.  The enormous experiment is designed to throw light on this - to understand how Nature works - and on the mysterious ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy’ that makes up the large majority of the Universe.

The LHC is the biggest and most complex machine in history, taking 13 years to construct at a cost of 5bn.  The experiment involves sending two beams in opposite directions  - revolving about a huge circle of magnetic tubes. Dr Shears a particle physicist from the University of Liverpool said, “We will be looking at what the Universe was made of billionths of a second after the Big Bang.”

The project has not been without its critics with some fearing the formation of a black hole that might swallow the Earth!  We’re not merchants of doom but it’s curious that the experiment is taking place within the proximity of Lake Lucerne - the source of inspiration for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstien.

Scientists clearly hope that the LHC experiment will live long in the memory. Perhaps they’ll adopt an iconic song to remind them of the day, for a study using Beatles music has been set up which catologues 3,000 recollections of Beatles related memories.   For a long time people have noticed that music is a great way to remember events from the past.  See www.magicalmemorytour.com for details.

Our Beatles choice to make the launch of the LHC is ‘Revolution’ … It’s going to be alright!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87yq372R4Ts

Posted in Q49 Do you ever think about the old days?, Q79 Have you ever looked into the shadows?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q29 Could you live without machines?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst? | No Comments »

30/06/2008 by admin.

Another crop circle highly relevant to ‘The Haymakers Survey’ has appeared in Wiltshire.  Amazingly, we have a circle in the design of a diamond! What’s more, within the diamond are three circles which magnify parts of the diamond.  This is highly curious given Sarah’s detective work with her magnifying glass ahead of the mysterious re-enactment of the Beatles song, Lucy in the sky with diamond!

Perhaps this explains why several recent crop circles appear to resemble images seen when looking through a kaleidoscope (see example below) … especially as Sarah had difficulty seeing through her magnifying glass, ‘It’s like looking through a kaleideoscope’ she said (image on the right).

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q40 Can you play a musical instrument?, Q39 Do you believe in magic?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics? | No Comments »

13/06/2008 by admin.

The crop circle season is in full swing. As in 2007, a number of the circles appearing in the UK can readily be matched to the questions in the Survey.  We now have one near the White Horse at Uffington which resembles a lock into which a key might go!  A KEY is clearly of much significance in the story - could it be we now have the opportunity to open the door to the hidden secrets revealed by ‘The Haymakers Survey’? After all, the circle’s structure contains the formation for Pi!

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

20/05/2008 by admin.

A flying fish has set a new world record, travelling through the air for 45 seconds - breaking the previous record by 3 seconds.  The fish was caught on camera by a ferry doing about 30 kilometres per hour.  Here’s the amazing video…

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io3u7diLCfU&feature=related

Odd how Bill Richmond mentioned how he’d seen ‘fish fall from the sky’ during the Blakesware Set’s debate about the potential value of The Haymakers Survey. 

Meanwhile, a park ranger at Central Park, Peterborough, has been adopted by a baby grey squirrel.  The animal has been named Oakley Junior. It formed a bond with Mr Swift after it was abandoned by its family.  Mr Swift said, “I put out my hand and he jumped on. He looked adoringly at me then clamoured all over me.”  Oakley has won the hearts of local staff. Mr Swift joked that he plans to train him to pick up litter, claiming Oakley would e happy with the wages, as they get peanuts!”

Posted in Q65 Have you ever wished you could fly?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | No Comments »

18/04/2008 by admin.

An interactive video art Cyclorama installation on London’s Southbank is capturing panoramic images every 5 seconds for 3 days.  Eleven cameras take digital photos throughout the day. The Memory Project allows a person to reveal historical images on a scream; effectively letting people move to and fro in time within a sealed chamber!  Take a look…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7355753.stm

Posted in Q78 Do you want to be part of the picture?, Q57 Have you ever spied on anyone?, Q37 Do you know how to have fun?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »

06/04/2008 by admin.

Astronomy’s have discovered a solar system with a planetary system much like our own.  They have found two planets that were close matches for Jupiter and Saturn, orbiting a star about half the size of our sun. Dr Dominik from the Royal Astronomical Society says the system is more compact than our own and some 500 light years away. He speculates that its only a matter of time before habitable Earth-like planets are discovered.  Curiously, tin our build up in ‘The Haymakers Survey’to the discovery of Charles Lamb’s journal we speculate about an identical Earth elsewhere in the Universe. Imagine it another you reading these very words somewhere else light years away!

Posted in Q70 Do you like to look at the stars?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q.3 Do you have a good imagination? | No Comments »

12/02/2008 by admin.

Hamsters have become the must-have pet in China, since the Year of the rat began. Pet shop owners say stocks are running low - and prices high - as children clamour for a furry friend.  According to the Chinese media, prices have tripled to about 30 yuan ($4.20, £2.10) per hamster across the country.  In the Year of the Rat, this tiny creature has become the most acceptable rodent, a type of animal that is not everyone’s first-choice pet.  “Rats and mice have a bad image, but hamsters are gentle.  Take a look…

We know all about the magic of hamsters.  So do Xinhua news who say, “You can hold them in your hand and play with them.”  We suggest they buy a plastic ball for them to run around in, just like Dixie!  It’s strange how each of the animals in our adventure are in the headlines just now. 

Take the extremely rare young white stag which has appeared in the Highlands of Scotland! The John Muir Trust, a conservation body, has confirmed the sightings in a secret location of the West Coast.  Sine time immemorial, a white stag has been regarded as a mystical messenger from the afterlife; a creature that chills the blood of kings and commoners alike.  Mrs Lockhart from the trust had the good fortune to witness the stag, describing the animal as ‘ a magnificent ghost-like creature when set aginst the red stags.’  Now, didn’t Lucy claim that a white stag came to Yggdrasil not long after it was planted!

View the animal via this clip… http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7230000/newsid_7238700/7238787.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&news=1&bbcws=1

A Dutch optics engineer named Ralf Ottow claims to have invented the world’s brightest torch, equivalent to 52 million candles with a remarkable reach of 9 miles.  The Maxablaster can light a ship miles out at sea and make clouds glow in the night sky.  The special bulb creates an ultra hot plasma between two closely spaced electrodes inside a gas-filled central chamber. The inventor says, “It’s not a torch to walk your dog with as it’ll probably cook him!” Good job that Ben had a more basic model when he went in search of Malachi that equinox.

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q37 Do you know how to have fun?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted?, Q10 Have you ever seen a ghost? | No Comments »

31/01/2008 by admin.

Chad Netherland, holder of two ice breaking records, has smashed the record for breaking 50 blocks of ice by hand.  It took him just 19.31 seconds! The previous record was 50 seconds!  You can see his attempt here…

http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show/segments/view/breaking-ice/

We find the speed at which the man destroyed the ice amazing and curious given all that’s happening to the Arctic ice.  Perhaps that’s why CHAD NETHERLAND is an anagram of C HAND HEART END, which is of significance to ‘The Haymakers Survey’.

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | No Comments »