31/10/2011 by admin.

The human population is estimated to have reached 7 billion worldwide. In acknowledgement there were ’celebratory events’ in India and China to mark the birth of the 7th billion person living on Earth right now.

The number of people on the planet has more than doubled over the last 50 years with a further 1 billion people alive now compared to the start of this millenium. It’s a startlingly sharp increase and has provoked some renewed discussion on how many people the planet can sustain.  We all require shelter, food, water and clothing and have aspirations on health care, education and access to material goods and experiences. We are also living longer and advances in health care and technology suggest this trend will continue. Trouble is the more of us there are the more we make demands on the worlds resources and squeeze and exploit the natural world for farming, materials and land for property.

In the modern world more people equals more cars, more CO2, more energy requirements, more desire for goods, more waste and pollution, but more profits for the world’s multi-national companies. There’s also the laudable aim of improving the life of those in developing countries.  Politicians, relegious and other world leaders tinker with the population issue, but the reality is our numbers are out of control and the consequences are stark and worthy of any Halloween horror story.  Climate change will exascerbate the problem of too many people increasing, social unrest, famine, disease, poverty and war. All this whilst the natural world shrinks ever more with bio-diversity seriously threatened and mass extinctions.  

We can’t just leave this to ‘market forces’. World leaders need to grasp the nettle on this issue and fast before we fall fail to the lessons of Easter Island or before Mother Nature strikes back. We know it won’t be easy as its in our genes to want to reproduce and children bring so much joy and every child deserves happiness, health, safety and a successful life. Also, historically the more children we have the greater their chances of achieving maturity.  There are religious and human rights issues to consider too. But ‘business as usual’ on population growth risks an abyss for humanity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuIxDMj3DNA&feature=related

Posted in Q69 Do you put off to tomorrow what you could do today?, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q51a How many people does it take to fill up the Earth?, Q47 Do you know your history?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst?, Q34 Have you ever restored something?, Q36 Should a good life cost the Earth?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »

10/10/2011 by admin.

Big Ben, the most iconic and famous clock tower in the world, is falling down. It has begun to tilt to one side - just like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Surveyers have found the tower is leaning almost half a metre to one side, as it is sinking into the River Thames.  The tilt might now just be visible to the naked eye.

However, our very own Keeper of the Great Clock - Ben Whittenbury - needn’t worry as the decline is thankfully a slow one. Nonetheless it’s a reminder to us all that time may be slipping away to preserve the natural world.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaXw5tweb48&feature=related

Posted in Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q69 Do you put off to tomorrow what you could do today?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »

28/08/2011 by admin.

Yohan Blake has unexpectedly won the 100m final at the 2011 World Athletics Championship.  The Jamacian raced to victory after the defending champion Bolt caused a real shock after being disqualified after an obvious false start.  The triple world record holder and Olympic champion clearly jumped the gun to everyone’s surprise.  

We’ve run several features about the magnificent Usain Bolt and his record breaking exploits because we viewed these as a clear indication of the need for humanity to act with all speed to protect the natural world.  We were sorry to see him disqualified. However, let’s take a closer look at YOHAN BLAKE. 

An anagram is HAY ON BLAKE!  Which is very curious as the mystical artist William Blake had so much to say about the spiritual nature behind The Haymakers Survey.  It was revealed in Charles Lamb’s journal. Is this a game player?

Posted in Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q41 Do you like surprises?, Q16 Have you ever had a psychic experience?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »

15/03/2011 by admin.

The official 2012 Olympics clock in Trafalgar Square has stopped just one day after it was unveiled. The clock is designed to count down by days, hours, minutes and seconds. The digital clock stopped at 500 days and 07:06:56. Officials from Omega are investigating the techincal problems.

The clock has the controversial LDN 2012 logo at its head and we have our own version of the logo. It forms the shape of a large dog - Malachi, the Messenger. 

All most mysterious as early in our novel Ben Whittenbury asks what use is a watch for we need to stop the clocks on the consumption of the world’s finite resources. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_a-eXIoyYA

Posted in Q54 Do you enjoy a bit of a mystery?, Q56 Do you believe rules are there to be broken?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q51 Have you ever taken part in a protest?, Q26 Do you take poetry seriously?, Q.6 Do you believe in fairy tales?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »

06/08/2010 by admin.

We have to get serious I’m afraid.

Amid a record heatwave Moscow is experiencing a blanket of thick smog caused by the worst wildfires in modern history. As the fires burn in peat bogs and forests dense plumes of smoke some 3,000km long can be seen from space. As temperatures remain above 100F the haze and smoke are causing serious health problems. People have resorted to wearing masks to protect themselves. The fires continue to burn across central Russia. The level of C02 in Moscow is more than three times higher than normal.  Red Square is at the heart of Moscow. 

Red is associated with alarm - is this Nature’s way of telling us to STOP!  Well, in our novel (pages 135-137) Julia describes at length her experience under the day of the long and lingering fog. It introduced her to a young Malachi - the messenger - for the very first time. Is this the prelude to climate chaos on an ever increasing scale? Remember too that the Samoyed is native to Russia.

It’s also worth linking this to the curious halo cloud seen over Moscow a few months ago. http://watch.thehaymakerssurvey.com/?s=moscow 

What’s also remarkable is that on page 137 Malachi warns us twice… “I spy with my little eye something beginning with M”  Check out the book or the online version if you doubt us.

Posted in Q53 Do you prefer to keep warm?, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q36 Should a good life cost the Earth?, Q16 Have you ever had a psychic experience?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted?, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »

06/04/2010 by admin.

The rules of the word game Scrabble are being changed for the first time in the game’s history to allow the use of proper nouns. Place names, company names or brands will now count. Mattel hope the change will encourage more younger users. Interesting since the scrabble board helped Sarah - then in her early teens - reveal the anagram magic within ‘The Haymakers Survey’.  Scrabble was invented in 1938 by the American architect Alfred Butts - which is a teasing surname in itself.

Posted in Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q37 Do you know how to have fun?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »

09/11/2009 by admin.

Our readers may recall several mentions in our story to ‘five minutes to twelve’ and the significance of the albatross as a symbolic reminder of hope in a time of environmental challenges.  The 5 to 12 references highlight the Doomsday Clock being moved forward in 2007 by two minutes from 7 to 12 because of the threat posed by climate change.  The clock measures the degree of nuclear, environmental and technological threats to mankind. The closer to midnight the closer to a global disaster.

With all this in mind we have another timely reminder on the need for action as the world awaits the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December. Put bluntly, Dr Cleo Small, an albatross expert speaking on behalf of the RSPB and Birdlife International has warned that an albatross is killed every FIVE minutes by the fishing industry.  The number of albatrosses on South Georgia has slumped by 50% since the 1960s due to fishing habits yet simple solutions are at hand which reduce the risks of the birds becoming tangled in nets. 

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »

09/09/2009 by admin.

Usain Bolt recently set a new sprint record for the 100 and 200 metres, but Sarah the Cheetah has knocked spots of his time. She ran the 100m in 6.13 seconds, breaking the previous record set by a captive mammal in 2001 - and a good 3 seconds faster than the world’s fastest man.  Chasing a toy the cheetah hit 60mph. Cathryn Hilker, set up the trial at Cincinnati Zoo in the US said, “She made three attempts and smashed the record on the second run, so there’s one big cat we should be proud of.” 

Cathryn believes that Sarah’s feat has helped draw attention to the species’ endangered numbers, with the population falling from 100,000 in 1900 to one-tenth that number today, due to lack of habitat.  What can we say: Sarah was fascinated by the recordbreaking cheetah, especially as when playing Solitaire the challenging way - by suit and turning ever third card, but try as she might she couldn’t win.  Still she perserved (page 104) since Julia preached, ”If you succeed against the odds its much more fun.” So, Sarah refused to CHEAT! She believed in herself that she would win. 

May we politely suggest that united we hold the Ace - as Sarah the Cheetah demonstrated - against the odds we need to Rush Save Her Earth!

This is a must Watch…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-za0uk158FE

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q48 Have you ever played solitaire?, Q36 Should a good life cost the Earth?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »

26/08/2009 by admin.

Today Climate Camp 2009 was revealed as Blackheath, a whisker away from Greenwich, London. The venue was chosen as the organisers wanted to camp in clear sight of the London City Skyline. Around 1,000 have set up camp for a peaceful week to help educate, raise awareness, challenge current strategies and explore solutions to the unfolding climate chaos.

Aside from the symbolism, we’re most curious about the chosen venue - Blackheath! One popular but incorrect theory is that the heath’s name derives from its use as a burial ground for the London based victims of the Black Death plague.  It was also associated with the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381.  The Greenwich Prime Meridian - the home of time - runs along the west side of Blackheath! Our readers will be aware that these 3 themes (potential climate change induced disease, a peoples uprising and the Greenwich Meridian) are all features of our novel.

But the creme-de-le-creme is that Caroline Brunswick, married to the Prince Regent, was banished in 1799 to a private residence in Blackheath.  As our novel reveals, the banished queen appeared before Ben Whittenbury and Charles Lamb as part of an extraordinary brief encounter that suggested a royal command from Mother Nature, “Forget me Not!”  Don’t just take our word for it - read the novel and see the truth for yourself!

Posted in Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q51 Have you ever taken part in a protest?, Q36 Should a good life cost the Earth?, Q15 Do you sometimes fear the worst?, Q22 Do you love our Earth?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »

31/05/2009 by admin.

Today we celebrate the 150th anniversary since the Great Clock itself began ticking on 31 May 1859. The name Big Ben applies to the famous bell itself, whose chimes were heard for the first time on 11 July in 1859.  Another significant anniversary - this one linked to time.  Our readers will recall how the bell tolls at the start of our novel to indicate that time is running out to save Mother Nature from the unfortunate repentant Lady in Grey.

Turn the volume down…

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

Posted in Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock? | No Comments »