Monday 29 November 2010

Tranquillity: The sea is black and there are three suns in the s...

Tranquillity: The sea is black and there are three suns in the s...: "Today, 29th November 2010, the sea in Carlingford Lough appeared to be black.Black is bad, I always take the colour of the sea to be indicat..."

The sea is black and there are three suns in the sky.

Today, 29th November 2010, the sea in Carlingford Lough appeared to be black.Black is bad, I always take the colour of the sea to be indicating something about the weather.The sea reflects the sky, the sky is the weather, the weather is coming from the Arctic, and I am remembering an old 'Tomorrow's World'   BBC TV programme  making the case that global warming is accompanied by global cooling. The only  meteorological  thing Ireland has going for it, an island on the same longitude as Newfoundland where the sea freezes over, is the gulf stream. Rostrevor, where I live, similar to parts of the south west coast of Ireland, is known for its mild climate, not today.If we were in Newfoundland the Lough would be frozen over and our children might use skis for getting to school.The gulf stream simply means we don't/shouldn't need snow mobiles, sleighs or winter tyres. So this is how it works- global warming melts the ice cap, this lowers the temperature of the North Atlantic and cools the gulf stream, Ireland ( and England?) freezes over.

   The colours of the sea and sky when there is bad weather on the way is interesting. We all know the saying, 'a red sky in the morning is a shepherd's warning.' This simply means bad weather is coming from the east, the sky is very clear,  accompanied by cold Siberian wind creating the record conditions of cold that we have today in South Down.

     Other things you might look for if you have a mind to: red sky at lunch time in December, always always followed by very severe snow; green sky, what? Yes green sky, the last time there was green sky  a thunder storm of biblical proportions exploded over England; we heard it in Ireland.

     Other bad weather signs observed today that may or may not indicate the severity of the weather- up at Aldergrove airport three suns appeared to be in the sky, we have to presume this is an optical illusion, the ice in the air having a mirror effect, or it is the end of the world, take your pick; and I spotted a lapwing pecking about on the side of the road near Killowen.That lapwing has been seriously blown off course. I hope it doesn't get run over, or frozen, and that its not on it's own.  It may stay here and even produce some offspring, if it's not the end of the world.

Monday 22 November 2010

Tranquillity: Winter Garden

Tranquillity: Winter Garden: "The year dies, the shortest day approaches and the garden is a mess. At least I got some tidying up done a couple of weeks ago so there is a..."

Saturday 20 November 2010

Winter Garden

The year dies, the shortest day approaches and the garden is a mess. At least I got some tidying up done a couple of weeks ago so there is a flower pot full of primulas in bloom. Why are they in bloom? Why was I able to pick a handful of blue berries last week? Why was my aunt still picking strawberries at the end of October in her garden? Why are the winter vegetables the red cabbage, the leeks and the spinach not thriving, yet I will be able to pick enough broad beans tomorrow to include in a rice dish?Is this global warming?


Sunday 14 November 2010

Tranquillity: Good Luck Aung San Suu Kyi.

Tranquillity: Good Luck Aung San Suu Kyi.: " I have just searched 20 hours of twitter posts; there is only one mention of Aung San Suu Kyi's release from 15 years of house arrest i..."

Good Luck Aung San Suu Kyi.

     I have just searched 20 hours of twitter posts; there is only one mention of Aung San Suu Kyi's release from 15 years of house arrest in Burma; a woman who was elected to government there and then incarcerated by the ruling elite who have ran a military dictatorship during that time.I was surprised because whilst most of those I follow are within literary circles, I am linked up to the Irish Times, RTE and the New York Times as well as several local journalists, so I would have expected some recognition of the weighty events in Burma yesterday. Many of the posts over the weekend are about x-factor, football, what to do at the weekend, NY Times: free trade,OK that's alright and you were the only one mentioned events in Burma, then there were one or two mentions of Remembrance Day.On the BBC World  News the item is only 7th on the most watched list after something about Elvis getting drunk and something about James Blunt.
   
     Good luck Aung San Suu Kyi, you are going to need it. I hope you have a chance to link up to twitter,set up a facebook page and study news feeds from around the world.You will find that in fifteen years things have changed, celeb is God, the world is bankrupt and it is a very dangerous place for  brave women who raise their heads above the parapet.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11752919

Wednesday 10 November 2010

Tranquillity: Virtual Telepathy

Tranquillity: Virtual Telepathy: "Science fiction often explored the possibility of telepathy.Some in the genre promote the idea that as civilisation becomes more advanced, s..."

Virtual Telepathy

Science fiction often explored the possibility of telepathy.Some in the genre promote the idea that as civilisation becomes more advanced, somehow or other humans will evolve telepathic skills.Even in this day and age there are people who claim to be able to know what someone else is thinking.

We practice telepathy: yes we do. I am sure just about everyone can give you an example of when they were aware of 'something telling them' to go or to do or to act in a particular way, and they can recount the details of the consequences of either acting on this impulse or not.There are times when we just 'know.'

I would argue wanting to know is one of the things that make humans tick, it drives scientific enquiry, it takes us to new places, in the past this instinct caused humans to explore the world, now we want to explore space. It drives literature and the media, we are more hungry than ever for news, celeb gossip, we are constantly online, we now have the ability to communicate across the world, and space, in seconds.

IF THIS IS NOT TELEPATHY TELL ME WHAT IS.

Monday 8 November 2010

Tranquillity: Sore heads seems to be the order of the day.

Tranquillity: Sore heads seems to be the order of the day.: "What a coincidence! I am doing my uni thing and reading my fellow-students blogs and at least three of us are suffering from sore heads. Is ..."

Sore heads seems to be the order of the day.

What a coincidence! I am doing my uni thing and reading my fellow-students blogs and at least three of us are suffering from sore heads. Is it the time of the year? Stress? High blood pressure ( Frankie) is one cause I seem to have an allergy to moulds and fungi so any time I go into an environment with spores of these organisms I have a mighty headache for the following 12 hours.Unfortunately the advised medication of anti-histamines makes me completely non-functioning so I am either eating pain killers or going about the place with a cross look on my face. The associated symptoms of blocked sinus, sore ears,  and sore neck make my posture not unlike that of the hunchback of Notre Dame, and I have black rings under my eyes that a zombie would be proud of.

     I was torn between wondering was I 'sick' and therefore should stay in and feel sorry for myself,  or talk myself into going out into the fresh air. Well I ended up in the fresh air on Saturday morning working in the garden. The runner beans needed taking down and the seed pods collected for next year, there is about fifty pansies to be planted out,  and the plastic summer chairs needed cleaning and putting away for the winter. So after a while I found more and more jobs: clearing the decking, putting all the old empty flower pots in the green house,  and clearing some rubbish out of the shed. I potted up some primulas and a few of the pansies and moved the tubs close into the shed wall to protect them in the winter.I also had arranged for a sweep assisted by his friend Sooty to come and clean the chimney as I would like to light the coal fire during the winter. This also meant the coal bunker had to be cleared out and moved in anticipation of a delivery of coal.I decided to stay out until Sweep arrived, eta 12.30pm and make the lunch when he left. 1.30 pm I was still working outside and the rain was now quite heavy, he still hadn't arrived so I decided to take down half a dozen giant sunflowers and find out if the seed heads were viable and could be used for the birds over the winter.

     He finally rang, lost. The directions I had given him proved to be useless, 'follow the sign for Santa's Cottage' I said. He said 'yeah?' I said 'Yeah, and if you are lucky you will see him walking the reindeer.'  There are  signs for Santa's Cottage at the end of our road, and  he does have a reindeer.

     Final garden job was scattering a bucket of soot over next year's vegetable patch at 2.30 pm  before going in for a shower and lunch. Despite being outside for 4 hours, 1 of those with the rain running through my hair I found out the fresh air made me feel better, no headache, and I was ready to save the world.