07/10/2008 by admin.

The newly launched WATCH TV aired the first episode of ‘Richard and Judy’s New Position’ to be shown weekdays from 8pm.  The husband and wife couple have moved across to the rebranded channel, formerly known as UKTV, from Channel 4.   The pair were renowned for their Book Club and in helping to promote up-and-coming writers. 

 How curious that they should move to the new channel: WATCH! Here’s the series trailer:

http://uktv.co.uk/watch/item/aid/607791/displayVideo/Hi

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q58 Do things happen for a reason? | No Comments »

20/09/2008 by admin.

The Corpus Clock, perhaps the strangest clock in the world has been unveiled by Professor Stephen Hawkins at Cambridge University.   The 24 caret gold-plated £1m mechanism features a giant grasshopper and has 60 slits cut into its face which light up to show the time.

The clock’s creator, Dr John C Taylor says he wants to make time keeping interesting.  He turned the clock inside out so people can literally see the seconds being ‘eaten up’.  he wanted to depict time as a destroyer - to show that once a minute has gone you can’t get it back again!  Let John explain further…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHO1JTNPPOU

Curious this should happen as time is of the essence given the environmental challenges today and in the years ahead.  Some music maestro..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntm1YfehK7U

The final verse is especially relevant to our tale!

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q24 Do you get enough time to yourself?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock?, 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 »

16/08/2008 by admin.

Mystery surrounds the ‘discovery’ of the remains of the legendary ape-like creature Bigfoot by two men in Georgia, US.  Matt Whitton and Matt Dyer claim to have come across the corpse in the North of the state in June. Bigfoot experts have reacted sceptically to the claims, and are refusing to investigate further. Whatever the truth, the timing of the ‘incident’ is curious - perhaps linked to our carbon footprint?

Another annivesary linked to our project - Madonna, the celebrated Queen of Pop, has turned 50!  Since 1983, the highly-talented artist has had a steady stream of hits making her the most successful female popstar of all time. Her hits included True Blue! She has reinvented herself many times, which is a lesson for us all. 

 Our Watch recorded her appearance at the July 07 Earth Live concert, and we find her ’Hey you’ song especially inspirational.  Happy Birthday Madonna - and thank you for all the beautiful music! Here’s one of Ben’s favourites…

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

As if to honour her birthday and Ben’s favourite Madonna song, the sprinter Usain Bolt has set a new world record for the 100 metres.  In the competition’s Blue Ribbon event, he raced like a bolt of lightening, making the line in an amazing 9.69 seconds to claim Olympic gold. He left the rest of the field in his wake.  Given the Frankenstien links in our story, does this mean the human race needs to act in record time on environmental issues?

Posted in Q75 Have you ever put on a show?, Q76 Are you going to take action now to save our world?, Star Question - what happened to the blue ribbon?, Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q55 Do you believe in truth?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q40 Can you play a musical instrument?, Q54 Do you enjoy a bit of a mystery?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | No Comments »

13/08/2008 by admin.

The American swimmer, Michael Phelps has broken the record for Olympic gold medals won by claiming his 10th and 11th of all time.  His speed and technique is simply incredible with his underwater kicking technique compared to a dolphin. 

At only 23, the swimmer could yet claim medals at the 2012 and 2016 events!  Perhaps his most remarkable performance so far has been the 200m freestyle where he claimed his 3rd gold of the games…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/swimming/7555382.stm

Posted in Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion? | 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 »

28/10/2007 by admin.

A bizarre albino Jackdaw has been a regular visitor to a garden in Heather Road, Wewlyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.  Jackdaw’s are usually black and are often associated in myth with a new arrival.  Curiously - an anagram of Heather Road is ‘Do Hear Earth!’ How much more convincing do we need!

This as Gatwick airport’s clocks failed to go back an hour at GMT 2:00 am at the end of British Summer Time.  Caleb was amused that engineers put it down to a technical hitch.  The system was supposed to update automatically but didn’t, delaying flights and causing chaos.  Is this Nature’s way of warning us afresh about the CO2 emissions caused by flying!

More record-breaking in nature - this time its the discovery of the longest-lived animal ever discovered.  An ocean quahog clam dredged up off the coast of Iceland is thought to be over 400 years old!  Scientists calculated its age by counting the number of rings on its shell, commenting, “they are like little tape recorders… interpreting signals.”  Funny that as it seems we’ve been told to listen to our Earth!

Posted in Haymakers: Watch Wonders, Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q52 Do you believe in miracles?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q12 Is our Earth enchanted? | Comments Off

01/10/2007 by admin.

As Big Ben prepares to ring out across London again, after nearly 8 weeks of silence, a minature version - made from Wheat - has been put on display in Leicester Square.  

We find this curious - as a by-product of wheat is straw - it’s the stalks! Straw is the closet cousin to hay there is and it wouldn’t be possible to recreate the clock with hay, so wheat would be the next best thing!  It looks like it says 5 minutes to 12! Another clear message that time is against us?

Meanwhile, another remarkable escape - this time a 2 year child has fallen 30 metres from a bedroom window at flats in Battersea,  London and survived!  The child, suffered just cuts, bruises and a broken leg.  Her father described her survival as ‘a miracle.’  

Russell Byres from Pittsburgh, USA has managed to ’skim’ a stone across water 51 times, shattering the previous world record of 40.  Not a paper boat in sight either! Charles lamb would have been impressed.

Posted in Q43 Do you believe in happy endings?, Q52 Do you believe in miracles?, Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q20 Have your eyes ever deceived you?, Q.7 Have you dreamed of being a champion?, Q.2 Are you an art lover?, Q.4 Have you ever wanted to stop the clock?, Uncategorized | No Comments »

16/08/2007 by admin.

 Another new phenomenon in space! This time it’s a colossal star that’s hurtling through space at extraordinary speeds and leaving a 13 million light year tail in its wake. The behaviour of the star, called Mira, has left scientists baffled as they don’t understand the physics involved.  13 million light years - that’s one huge Galactic footprint! Questions 23 and 70   

In America’s deep-south, things keep self-combusting due to the parched conditions. Question 53  

Scientists claim to have made photons travel faster than the speed of light, something that was supposedly impossible. Traveling faster than light makes the prospect of time travel real, but with bizarre consequences – someone could arrive at a destination before leaving it! Questions 24 and 72

Posted in Q72 Are you a good time keeper?, Q70 Do you like to look at the stars?, Q53 Do you prefer to keep warm?, Q24 Do you get enough time to yourself?, Q23 Do you believe all the laws of physics? | No Comments »