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 »

14/11/2009 by admin.

In an exclusive poll for The Times only 41% of the population believe that human activity is responsible for climate change.  The survey makes for uncomfortable reading in the run up to COP 15.  Almost 33% are yet to be convinced by the science, 8% claim its just propoganda and 55 say the world isn’t warming.  One expect suggested that because of the potential consequences - green taxes, lifestyle changes, wind farms etc -people are taking refuge in denial. 

In response to the survey, Ed Miliband the Energy and Climate Change Secretary said, “The overwhelming body of scientific evidence shows us that climate change is man-made and is happening now. We know we still have a way to go in informing people about the threat and that is why we’re pushing our Act on CO2 campaign”.

The poll’s findings come as no surprise to us. We believe there’s a limit to what can be done through conventional means to demonstrate to people the genuine nature of the threat and the role played by humans. It’s why we have taken a very different path - one based on faith and the believe that we are being guided by a higher force - left signs of the need to act not just on carbon emissions but on our relationship with the Earth! This remains our steadyfast belief and is the purpose of the Watch.

We foresaw this and imagine this resistance will continue. It’s why our novel includes a sceptical voice - Bill Darvill - and includes commentary by Ben Whittenbury about human behaviour being ostrich like about the issues - we put our head in the sand!

Posted in Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q53 Do you prefer to keep warm?, Q46 Do you value a good education? | No Comments »

31/10/2009 by admin.

Spider webs encassed in amber discovered in East Sussex by fossil hunters have been confirmed by scientists as being the oldest on record. They date back 140 million years to the Cretaceous period.  Professor Brazier said “the fossil is very rare and is right at the base of the Cretaceous layer.” His studies revealed that the web was created by a spider similar to the modern day orb or web spider.

So, we have a second example in just a few days of a major discovery relating to a web - as if to reaffirm our view that Mother Nature is warning us of the need to preserve the ‘web of life’ in the run up to Copenhagen.  The web of life features distinctly in our novel.

Posted in Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Q60 Have you ever experienced deja vu?, Q47 Do you know your history?, Q46 Do you value a good education? | No Comments »

17/09/2009 by admin.

Page 184 of our novel recalls a discussion in the White Horse pub about Ben’s role as Earth Champion. Our anti-hero, Bill Darvill teases Ben and belittles the threat posed by climate change,

“I don’t get all this fuss about the polar bear. If the ice is melting in the Arctic then why not ship them south to the Antarctic.” In response Jonas Fosbrooke defends Ben saying, “Or to a greatly expanded Museum of Natural History… alongside the Dodo… and the countless others on the endangered list.”

So it comes as no surprise to us that the Museum has expanded - with Prince William opening a new £78m Darwin centre known as the cocoon - housing 17 million insect specimens and 3 million plant specimens. 

The centre also hosts a Climate Change Wall, which educates the public about the subject.  Yet more coincidences to serve as timely reminders on the need to preserve our living planet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNhwLe8hSfQ

Posted in Q49 Do you ever think about the old days?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Q47 Do you know your history?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q36 Should a good life cost the Earth?, Q33 Do you believe in life after death? | No Comments »

14/09/2009 by admin.

Our readers will know all about the intriguing but alarming notes from the future left to us by the Magician in Tomorrow’s World - 2100 to be precise.  How curious then that the BBC Archive website has launched a new section dedicated to its programme ‘Tomorrow’s World’.  The BBC’s flagship science programme began in 1965 and ran for some 40 years.

Here’s the link to the website…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/tomorrowsworld/

Posted in Q47 Do you know your history?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q29 Could you live without machines?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics? | No Comments »

10/09/2009 by admin.

In our novel (page 177) Malachi quotes from a collection of old Nordic poems preserved in the Icelandic medieval manuscript Codex Regius, (Latin for King’s Book). He says, ”They stretched out strings of Gold and fastened them under the Hall of the Moon”. 

Malachi said this after mention of how an invisible magical force holds everything together. Let’s look at this more closely. We believe in Nordic mythology Vidofnir sits glistening like Gold in the tree tops and its around his staff that Icelandics weave their string or thread. It is this thread that is tied to the hall of the moon -its crescent.  It explains how the Earth and the Moon are tied together in orbit - by [unseen] strings of Gold. 

So, with this in mind we’re fascinated that scientists believe they’ve discovered the oldest example of humans making cords. In a cave in Georgia, when looking for pollen they were surprised to accidentally stumble upon microscopic fibres more than 30,000 years old.  A researcher from Harvard University said they are weaven in a way that suggestes a very old princple of making rope or cord, preserved in mud that accumulated over thousands of years. Some of the fibres were coloured using natural plant pigments - were they Gold perhaps?

Maybe Malachi’s quote also suggests we are risking upsetting the natural balance of things! That things are hanging by a thread - in the Antarctic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_k2Vbhza9o

Posted in Q80 Have you ever searched for buried treasure?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q41 Do you like surprises?, Q.3 Do you have a good imagination? | No Comments »

09/09/2009 by admin.

Our readers will know that our adventure opens with the appearance of the ghostly ‘Lady in Grey’ following the peal of five bells from a distant church at Widford Hertfordshire - as an announcement to help grab our attention we believe.

Deeply curious then that on this symbolic date, the oldest circle of bells in the Christian world have been lovingly restored and rehung at St Lawrence’s Church in Ipswich, Suffolk.  They date from 1450 and would have been heard by Cardinal Wolsey as a boy.  Restoration project organiser, Dr John Blatchley, anticipates word of the restoration will spread around the world.  The bells were returned to the tower of the church for the first time in 25 years. 

The five bells will carry an amazing medieval ring - a sound to warm the hearts. 

http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content/eveningstar/news/story.aspx?brand=ESTOnline&category=News&tBrand=ESTOnline&tCategory=xDefault&itemid=IPED10%20Sep%202009%2007%3A58%3A52%3A177

More details on the bells and their triumphant return can be found at…

http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/stlawrenceipswich.htm

Posted in Q58 Do things happen for a reason?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q35 Do you trust your instincts?, Q34 Have you ever restored something?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | No Comments »

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 »

22/07/2009 by admin.

Some 2 billion people across Asia have experienced the longest total eclipse of the sun in the 21st century. 

(Source: Lutfar Rahman Nirjhar - www.nirjhar.com )

The eclipse lasted 6.6 minutes and took place at 3.00am Greenwich meantime.  The exceptional duration was because the moon was just 3 hours away from its closest point to Earth in its orbit.  The length of the eclipse will not be surpassed until 30 years into the next century.  The clipse was the second of three to take place in a one month peiod. It was an amazing awe inspiring spectacle falling as it does within our 3 year Watch and taking place so close to the 40th anniversary of the first Apollo Lunar landing.  The moon is subject to much mythology and superstition in cultures the world over.  A full moon features prominiently in our tale at several key moments; at points of discovery and understanding.

The eclipse has also given scientists an opportunity to learn more about the sun.  For example, solar scientist Lucie Green, from University College London was aboard an Amercian cruise ship heading for the Japanese island of Iwo Jima to examine the waves in the corona. Well done Lucie! 

Jupiter also receives a mention in the novel - so its rather odd that almost to the day an amateur astronomer reported the discovery of a mysterious scar the size of the Earth near the pole of the gas giant. It has caught NASA scientists by surprise with an early conclusion that the planet was hit by a comet or asteroid. Such an event last took place 15 years ago when Shoemaker 59 crashed into the orb.  News of the impact has stunned the astronmy world. Jupiter also has its share of mythology with the Roman God Jupiter being in charge of cosmic justice. In Rome, in the courts of law people used to swear ‘By Jove’ to witness the oath. 

Posted in Q70 Do you like to look at the stars?, Q79 Have you ever looked into the shadows?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q54 Do you enjoy a bit of a mystery?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q14 Do you believe your stars?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q41 Do you like surprises?, Q11 Do you believe in justice? | No Comments »

17/07/2009 by admin.

Following Ben’s sighting of the runaway horseman and the ghostly lady in grey, our novel includes discussion on the exploits of highwaymen in Hertfordshire folklore, including the notorious Sixteen-String Jack - a character mentioned by Charles Lamb in his journal. 

Curious then that a photo E-fit of the infamous highwayman Dick Turpin has been released by North Yorkshire Police some 270 years since he was sent to the gallows for murder, robbery and cattle rustling. 

York Castle are displaying a wanted poster based on the E-fit drawn from descriptions from the 18th century.  Dick Turpin is legendary for riding 200 miles from London to York on his beloved Black Bess! Maybe he was the ghost rider Ben saw - all will be revealed!

Here’s the opening music to the TV series Dick Turpin. It reminds Ben of his ghostly encounter. You can read about his experience in our novel extract.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GrOcTAKboE&feature=related

Posted in Q80 Have you ever searched for buried treasure?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q78 Do you want to be part of the picture?, Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q46 Do you value a good education?, Q10 Have you ever seen a ghost? | No Comments »