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Brighter side of web - June 2007
Blackadder teaches Baldrick advanced Mathematics
So if you add 3 beans and 1 bean how many beans do you have?
Some Beans?
Just in case you haven't seen the clip "does your dog bite" scroll down
"It's been a hard day's night. I should be sleeping like a log.. Peter Sellers as Richard III
Finland
Photo by Andy Sherwood from his recent visit to Finland.
Andy Sherwood is a good cyclist who has twice completed the national 24 hour Time Trial championship.
Recently me and Andy did a 2 up Team Trial and finished a very creditable 3rd in a time of 21.52 (I think)
Lady Margaret Hall Gardens
Good films
The Trial of Jeanne d'Arc Is a fascinating film by R.Bresson. It focuses only on the trial transcript, using the words of Joanne d'Arc and her interrogators.
State of the Union by Frank Capra. I am constantly impressed by the quality of films by Frank Capra. This is an intriguing political film, with a good dose of humour. From the black and white era, it is still as relevant as ever.
Other Links
Thousand Eye Is a blog by Alf from Australia. It is interesting to see how blogs develop. There has been quite a mix of stuff on their. I'm enjoying reading it.
Finding a door in the Gobi desert Ashrita Furman doesn't just break records, there always seems to be a good story to go with them.
Vienna Vegetable Orchestra an orchestra based only on vegetables. FFWd to the end to hear them in full flow
3100 miles is a long way. It's long way to fly. It would be a pretty exhausting drive. If you ran 2 miles a day, every day, you would complete the distance in about 4 years 2 months. This is how far 3100 miles is:
- 118 Marathons
- Paris to London (213 miles) - 14 times
- 7 miles a week for 8 and a half years.
- New York to Los Angeles and then another 500 miles.
The 2007 edition of the Self Transcendence 3100 mile race, recently began in Queens, New York. The runners are likely to complete it in between 43 and 57 days. They will average between 80 and 50 miles a day.
Best wishes to the runners at the start of this extraordinary race !
The race is organised by the Sri Chinmoy MT and has been held every year since 1997. In 1996 the race was 2700 miles.
2007 edition of 3100 Miles at Sri Chinmoy Races
3100 miles in New York at Multidays
In this race the first 3000 miles are the toughest
Sopan's 3100 Race site Sopan is a former finisher of the 3100 mile race
Copper Clappers
Claud Cooper from Cleveland caught my clean Copper clappers caught in the closest...
Only one reason, he's a cleptomaniac.
Living the dream at the top of the Blackpool Tower
I've always fancied being a stand up comedian, but I've always had a few drawbacks:
- Can't remember jokes
- don't like speaking in public
- not very funny
apart from that I think I'm a natural
My feeble attempts at comedy: top reasons not to write another blog post
I enjoyed Jogyata Recount tales from his childhood, at Radio Sri Chinmoy.
His father wanted him to be a concert pianist. But, he didn't get on with his piano teacher. In fact he was so much in awe of her, that when there was an earthquake he continued to play a Chopin interlude, even though his teacher was hiding under the kitchen table. (this was the only time his teacher was impressed with him...)
I think my mother would have liked me to be a good pianist (she herself is a piano teacher), however I never made it past grade 2. I did however, take up the clarinet and became OK. Grade 6 Merit, being the high point. My old neighbour used to complain about me practising (it wasn't as if I practised very much and the houses were detached by about 30 metres of garden.)
Anyway, one day he came out and stared at me, from his garden, for having the audacity to practice at 4pm in the afternoon. This was a real motivation to practise; I think I remember bowing to him at the end of my practise.
I have been avidly reading, Alexander: Hall of the Gods , a new novel by G.M. Masterson.
The first 3 chapters, had me hooked as the plot switched from Egyptian Mummies in Victorian Britain, to Oxford University in the present moment. In the tradition of a good page turner, the book has a good pace. However, the story also hints at greater mysteries and underlying sub currents, which give an added interest. Surprisingly, for a book on Egyptian mysteries it is not without a touch of humour; much of this comes from the diverse collection of characters that become intertwined with each other.
You can purchase a copy of: Hall of the Gods online I would highly recommend it.
A guide to the diverse accents of the UK
"Capital of Yorkshire, is York" "much better than the imitation in America"
One hobby of mine, is finding out the Google searches that people use to come to your site. This was actually searched in the internal search box:
"I think it should be a law that if you ever get sucked up into a tornado, whatever you can grab with your hands while you're swirling around up there, you get to keep"
I say who would argue against such a law?
including Mrs Richard's, The Ministry of Silly Walks, Spam,
The Great Pyramid's have long been a source of interest, inspiration and fascination. Built in ancient Egypt, long before the advent of so called "civilisation", the Pyramids are testament to a monumental architectural achievement. Yet, I have always felt the Great Pyramids and Sphinx to be more than just one of the great physical wonders of the world.
I remember once reading a spellbinding account of one Paul Brunton's secret exploration into the inner sanctum of the Great Pyramid. Paul Brunton, who was a disciple of Ramana Maharshi, felt that the inner sanctum of the Great Pyramid was a place of spiritual initiation. His story can be read in his book "A Search in Secret Egypt"
Anyway, the question of "Who built the Great Pyramids" has long vexed scholars alike. Recent evidence suggests the Sphinx and The Great Pyramids were built long before the mainstream belief of 4th Century BC.
See article: Who built the Great Pyramids? at Hall of the Gods.
Related interest
Hungarian Rhapsody
Shardul sent me a link to the legendary Victor Borge at You Tube. There is a clip in his post about Grafton Street
Victor Borge - Great Pianist, immortal entertainer
click more: for more Victor Borge
Last week I received a spiritual name from my Guru, Sri Chinmoy. My new name is Tejvan. The name embodies the qualities of enthusiasm, dynamism and self giving.
I have a new hosting company which allows unlimited domains, so I will have Tejvan.co.uk. I'm not sure what I will be doing at the site. I will continue to update this site, because it has a reasonable traffic rate.
Another new site for the upcoming 3100 mile Race
A few weeks ago, I asked a question to Darren Rowse at Problogger Should I change Blog Platforms?
Since I asked that question I decided to just set up new blogs. The advantages of setting up new blogs are:
- Get the best domain name.
- Enables specialisation (people will probably take advice about blogs more seriously if it's not in between a Monty Python Spam Sketch
- Enables you to choose the best blogging software. in this case wordpress.
Netwriting is my blog about blogging, seo and things like increasing productivity on the internet.
I also have several blogger blogs, (e.g. mortgage blog which I want to change. Blogger blogs on FTP just don't have enough flexibility.
If England was what England seems, An’ not the England of our dreams, But only putty, brass, an’ paint, ’Ow quick we’d drop ’er! But she ain’t!
Rudyard Kipling
A quick mention for: Dear England a blog by an old friend Matt Fullerty from LMH.
Interestingly there is a site dedicated to HP Brown Sauce
"You don't love HP Sauce because it is beautiful, is beautiful because you love it."
On the subject of novels, we are all eagerly awaiting, with barely concealed excitement, anticipation and interest, the imminent arrival of the soon to be very famous novel "Hall of the Gods" - stay tuned for more info...
"Neither a lender nor borrower be."
- Hamlet (Act I, Scene III) - Polonius to his son Laertes
So said the bard, William Shakespeare. However, such advice seems rather quaint in modern society. In the UK alone personal debt of clients seen by the CCCS averages over £33,000 per person. [1]
It is perhaps ironic that increased levels of economic growth and prosperity have also led to increased levels of personal debt.
There are various reasons why debt has increased.
- Increased willingness of banks to lend money
- Higher expectations of personal living standards.
- Change in social trends and perceptions about debt.
Debt is not necessarily a bad thing. For example, without going into debt, very few people would be able to buy a house. Credit cards can be helpful if they are used in the right way. They give flexibility and can prevent going overdrawn at the bank. If you are careful you can get all the benefits of credit cards, without paying any of the high interest charges.
However, an increasing number of people find themselves in a situation of very high levels of unsecured personal debt.
Here is some Top 10 tips for Reducing and Eliminating Debt
If you credit card debt is very high, it may be worth considering a debt settlement plan. It is not to be undertaken lightly, however, it can be helpful for reducing very high levels of debt.
[1] UK debt twice european average at BBC
[2] UK debt frontline - £53,000 in debt How one woman suffered nervousbreakdown, but considers herself one of the lucky ones. BBC article
