21/12/2008 by admin.

Our readers will be aware of the significance of the X Factor poser in our narration. Well, the saga continues for the winner of this year’s contest Alexandra Burke now tops the pop tree with her powerful cover version of the song, Hallelujah.  The version has two fewer verses than the original and includes a key change.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=wAaw6VWpk4A

Alexandra’s closely followed in the charts by a more sombre but much acclaimed version by Jeff Buckley, first released in 1984.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=AratTMGrHaQ

It;s the first time in 51 years that the same song has occupied the top two positions in the UK pop charts - and the first time ever at Christmas.

A remarkable trinity of the song’s presence in the Top 40 is completed by Leonard Cohen’s original version, released in 1984.

We wonder whether the trilogy represents Art, Love and Nature?  Is it a call to arms from God - afterall the Hebrew meaning of the word Hallelujah is a request for a congreation to join in praise (of a divine force’s influence on The Haymaker’s Survey)?

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q52 Do you believe in miracles?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion?, Q33 Do you believe in life after death?, 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 »

12/09/2008 by admin.

A study by York University’s Centre for Sustainability has found that residents in East Hertfordshire have the largest carbon footprint out of all regions in the UK! The study claims that those living in the district are responsible for 14.68 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.  The Chair of the local environmental scrutiny committee, said, “It doesn’t surprise me. We’re a very large, rural district.  A lot of people need cars and a lot of people have very large houses, which would also contribute to the carbon footprint.” The data was collected in 2001, yet has taken a long time to analyse. Here’s a map of the area…

The findings are really curious given our story takes place in the area! Was this deliberate? Did some unseen force have an insight to the challenges which led them to reveal the magic of ‘The Haymakers Survey’ to us? Even the name of the study - Censa - is linked to our survey since Charles Lamb’s journal includes a lenghty debate on the role of the Census.  Can you keep an open mind? Are there extraordinary things inside ourselves?

Maybe its also due to 10,000 years of local history…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOp8FMrRGhQ

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q62a Is life logical?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q46 Do you value a good education? | 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 »

01/09/2008 by admin.

Last month was the greyest August on record - and one of the wettest ever.  Britain had just 105.5 hours of sunshine, compared to the August average of 165.1 hours.  This was put down to a temporary shift in the Gulf Stream, and a cooling current in the Pacific known as La Nina. 

Curious that this should happen - might it be the impact of the mysterious Lady in Grey in our story?

Posted in Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q10 Have you ever seen a ghost? | No Comments »

23/08/2008 by admin.

Scientists are confident that the ‘La Nina’ effect in the Pacific Ocean will probably lead to the coolest year globally since 2000.  Even so, 2008 looks set to be the 10th warmnest year on record since 1850, and scientists predict that the warming trend will recommence when the effect fades. La Nina translates to ’Little Girl’, which might readily be interpreted as Sarah Whittenbury in action!

Posted in Q53 Do you prefer to keep warm?, Q46 Do you value a good education? | No Comments »

04/06/2008 by admin.

As we mark the 41st anniversary of the celebrated The Beatles, Sgt Pepper album, an endangered elephant beetle named Billy has become a member of the lonely hearts club band.  Billy, who is about the size of a hamster, was discovered by fruit importers in London after a 3,000 mile stowaway journey from Costa Rica.  The beetle is being cared for by Linton Zoo in Cambridgeshire, but is now exhibiting mating signals. The zoo has issued an SOS for a mate - but time is running our for our fine specimen, as the endangered breed normally lives just 4 months. All he needs is love!

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?id=319776

Meanwhile, there’s been a heated debate on the BBC’s Apprentice programme about the use of the apostrophe.  In a challenge centred on greetings cards, the contestents on Sir Alan Sugar’s show struggled on where the apostrophe should go in National Singles’ Day.  There was a three hour debate on the subject, which led to a phone call to the British Library.  See the video clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L9J2B4y4Fg

Interesting all this given Caleb’s views [footnote 15] about triviality and how it can stand in the way of genuine progress.

Posted in Q59 Do you like surprises?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q48 Have you ever played solitaire?, Q46 Do you value a good education? | No Comments »

07/04/2008 by admin.

Global Warming sceptics are rubbing their hands with glee for Briton has experienced a cold spell, bringing snow and ice, bringing the return of winter to the dawn of spring.  The snow follows that which fell on Easter Sunday. “So what’s the big deal?” asked Bill Darvill, especially as the latest predictions are for a cooler year for the Earth in 2008 due to the cold La Nina current in the Pacific. It has contributed to torrential rains in Australia and to some of the coldest temperatures in memory in snow-bound parts of China.  However, The World Meteorological Organization’s secretary-general, Michel Jarraud considers this year’s temperatures would still be way above the average - and we would soon exceed the record year of 1998 because of global warming induced by greenhouse gases.  Let’s see what unfolds.

One of the stars of The Office TV series has opted to buy 5 acres of ancient woodland in Essex, rather than splash out on a classic sportscar.  Mackenzie Crook says he got it for my children, and to keep as a conservation area.  He wanted to make a stand against TV shows that promote a dangerous and misguided attitude about the the human race’s love affair with the car given the current plight of our Earth.   Mackenzie also featured in the Pirates of the Caribbean series of films, playing alongside the actor Will Turner.

Posted in Q53 Do you prefer to keep warm?, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q36 Should a good life cost the Earth?, Q29 Could you live without machines?, Q35 Do you trust your instincts?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | No Comments »

01/04/2008 by admin.

Readers of ‘The Haymakers Survey’ will know all about magic stones and a certain Mr Darvill’s cynism and lack of trust about their true value.  None can deny his curiousity though, which my explain hy his namesake - a Professor  called Tim - is helping to lead a dig within the centre of the mystical world heritage site of Stonehenge.  It’s the first time in 40 years that the circle’s sacred soil was disturbed - back to the time of The Beatles. 

The dig team are especially interested in an inner core of ‘bluestones’ believing they hold the secret to the real purpose of the circle - as a place of healing.

The Chief Executive of English Heritage believes the dig genuinely has a chance of unlocking some of the mystery of Stonehenge.  It’s strange that in its heyday the original stonehenge had 80 bluestones -the exact number of questions in ‘The Haymakers Survey.’  Are you still sceptical Mr Bill Darvill?

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/stonehengeinteractivemap/sites/stonehenge/pics/stonehenge_phase3a.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/stonehengeinteractivemap/sites/stonehenge/05.html&h=208&w=321&sz=53&hl=en&start=6&um=1&tbnid=VXW9iYtwUqgwJM:&tbnh=76&tbnw=118&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstonehenge%2B%2Bblue%2Bstones%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

Posted in Q80 Have you ever searched for buried treasure?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q54 Do you enjoy a bit of a mystery?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

28/03/2008 by admin.

A team of British animators has created a computer-generated model of a human heart so realistic it could transform surgical training. Every vessel and valve has been reproduced with remarkable accuracy.

The animators are following in the footsteps of Leonardo de Vinci, the Renaissance artist, whose depictions of the way the heart valves open and close, the muscles expand and contract and blood flows in and out remain so precise that his drawings influenced the operations are conducted by surgeons.

India’s Virender Sehwag has hit the fastest recorded triple-century in Test cricket history on day three of the first Test againt South Africa in Chennai. Sehwag reached 100 (for Art) before lunch and 200 (for Love) after, before reaching 300 (for Nature) from just 278 balls in the evening session.  he becomes only the third batsman to score 300 twice in Test cricket.  “You have to play your shots and maintain your run rate,” said the batsman, after a magnificent performance.

The oldest known recording of the human voice was aired on BBC Radio 4 and led to the presenter having a fit of giggles.  Apparently the 160 year old recording of Clair de Lune by Debussy was likened to a bee buzzing about in a bottle.  The amusing mishap by Charlotte Green was welcomed by many listeners…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7310000/newsid_7318200/7318249.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws=1

Posted in Q49 Do you ever think about the old days?, Q56 Do you believe rules are there to be broken?, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q42 Do you enjoy drawing?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion?, Q.9 Do you feel in control of your life?, Q37 Do you know how to have fun?, Q.2 Are you an art lover? | No Comments »