25/08/2009 by admin.

Exactly 400 years ago today the Italian astronomer and philosopher, Galileo Galilei, showed Ventian merchants his new invention - a telescope. When he pointed it skyward the instrument led him to a series of ground-breaking conclusions that was to land him in a whole lot of trouble with conventional thinkers.  The telescope resembled a slim brown stick and was primitive by today’s standards, but it confirmed the idea of the sun as the centre of our planetary system not the Earth. 

In celebration of this and the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, 2009 is also the International Year of Astronomy. So we have two significant anniversaries linked to the Haymakers Survey - one which led to a change in thinking on our place in the Universe… interesting!

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

Posted in Q70 Do you like to look at the stars?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q22 Do you love our Earth?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you? | No Comments »

06/04/2009 by admin.

Tate Britain is rereating an interative exhibition from nearly 40 years ago. When it first showed in 1971 US artist Robert Morris’s ‘Bodyspacemotionthings’ featured cylinders, ramps and weights on chains.  The exhibit closed after just 4 days when audiences went wild, including ‘going wild’ on seesaws.  However, the relaunched exhibits will be much safer as they will have to conform with current health and safety rules.

So, how does all this relate to ‘The Haymakers Survey’? Well, Tate Britain is home to the ‘Haymakers’ painting by George Stubbs which triggered Ben Whittenbury’s pursuit as Nature’s Champion as recorded in our novel.  A novel which includes a scene where Julia and Sarah use a discarded cart as a make-shift seesaw.  On it they discuss the appearance of the ‘Lady in Grey’ who represents the spread of the industrial world over the natural world.  As they swing to and fro Malachi climbs aboard to keep everything in balance - which is what humanity needs to do much better. 

Posted in Q49 Do you ever think about the old days?, Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q37 Do you know how to have fun?, Q.3 Do you have a good imagination?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »

09/01/2009 by admin.

On New Year’s Day, Marc Greenhalgh was out walking in Alkrington Woods, Middleton, when his dog, Jarvis, ran onto the ice to chase ducks.  When the ice broke the dog struggled to get out so Marc plunged into the lake to rescue him.  The scene pictured below could well have been taken direct from Charles Lamb’s journal - when he had to rescue Malachi after he slipped through a frozen lake (page 378 of the story).

Although he was criticised by the authorities for putting his own life in peril, a passer-by who took the photo praised him for his bravery, “A lot of people would say he was idiotic to risk his life for an animal, but I thought he was really brave. If my dog was in danger I’d like him to be there.”

SIRIUS STAR

On November 15 2008, the oil tanker, Sirius Star, was hijacked by Somali pirates, becoming the largest ship ever captured.   The tanker has a capacity of 2 million barrels of crude oil and an overall length of 333 metres.  The cargo is worth some $100m.  The two month stand off ended today as the ship was released after a ransom of $3m was parrachuted on board.  However, the twist in the tale was that five of the pirates drowned with their share of the ransom after their small boat capsized.

Aside from the natural justice against the pirates, the hijack is interesting as Charles Lamb’s journal recalls how he and Mary Shelley speculated on the presence of Sirius the brightest star in the sky.  Here’s the extract from 30 December 1822:

“Together she and I stood after dusk on the terrace overlooking the wilderness garden. On a misty night, only one star broke through to shine in the sky overhead. Confidently dismissing the myth that the star can cause madness, we secretly dedicated the bluish white light of Sirius in the constellation Canis Major to the late Percy Shelley. His light shall not fade!”

Sirius is also know as the Dog Star, which is fascinating given the role of the dog Malachi as our Messenger. 

So, is the whole hijack experience designed to remind us to switch from our dependence on crude oil?

Posted in Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q53 Do you prefer to keep warm?, Q70 Do you like to look at the stars?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q26 Do you take poetry seriously?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics?, Q.2 Are you an art lover?, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst?, Q18 Do you let your heart rule your head?, Q.1 Does your life have a purpose? | No Comments »

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 »