Strange Views

Monochrome Maniacs

2008-10-13T15:51:00.003+01:00

Another week and another Monochrome Maniacs. Here's my entry for this week.

Monochrome Maniacs is hosted by Aileni over at Loose Ends

Monochrome Maniacs

2008-10-05T20:11:00.007+01:00

Back again, sorry I missed last week, I was away and didn't get back until tuesday. Monochrome Monday has become Monochrome Maniacs and we can post on any day we want to. So here's my entry for this week, I'm posting now while I have the time! Thanks for your comments on my previous posts, much appriciated!

Monochrome Maniacs is hosted by Aileni at Loose Ends.

Monochrome Monday

2008-09-22T18:37:00.005+01:00

Here's my entry for this weeks Monochrome Monday,

another drawing. This one's fresh off the paper, just

drawn this afternoon. Havn't done a drawing like this

in a while, I enjoyed it.

Monochrome Monday is hosted by Aileni over on Loose Ends.

Monochrome Monday

2008-09-15T20:51:00.005+01:00

Monochrome Monday again, though it's nearly Tuesday! Another busy Monday, might start posting on a Sunday night instead.

Somthing a little different this week, I believe that Aileni said that illustrations are permitted, so thats what my entry is this week. I drew this a few years ago, it's not perfect, but I was afraid that if I did any more I'd ruin it.

Monochrome Monday is hosted by Aileni at Loose Ends

Monochrome Monday

2008-09-08T18:47:00.004+01:00

This is my first shot at a "meme", seemed like a good one to start on! Posting a little late in the day, but it's been a busy one. Also I had to dust off the blog, it's not been used in a while!

This picture was taken after the New Year, heavy snowfall left me stranded in the town and I had to walk home, those are my footprints disapearing in to the distance. I must add that the original photo was colour, changed to B&W digitally. I hope thats not cheating!

Technology

2008-04-30T21:50:00.001+01:00

I have two interesting things for you today. Popular Science has reported on robotic jellyfish here and a fascinating breakthrough in computing technology here. I’m too lazy to write about it myself so I’ll let you make your over to take a look.

See Biscuits?

2008-04-14T18:14:00.005+01:00

Feast your eyes on these! Their called Iced Spiced Biscuits, and took center stage for every special occasion when we were younger. I decided to try my hand at making some as it's been some time since I had any. They came out quite well, so I took a photo while they were still there!

April Snow Showers

2008-04-06T21:07:00.003+01:00

It's April, as you are aware. Technically we're only one month away from summer, but it dosen't feel that way.
For the past few days I've been told by many people that snow was expected for the weekend. I didn't think that it would, you'd think by now I would've learned that the weather is a strange thing. When I woke up today it was a lovely, if some what windy, spring day. Afew hours later hail, sleet and snow was lashing at the windows. Guess the forecast was right for once!
But shouldn't we be feeling the effects of the catastophic Global Warming instead of the bitterness of winter? How can you say that the snow drifts experienced all over the USA this past winter were caused by Global Warming? It seems to me that the people who "research" climate change over look winter and wait for the summer flooding to start.
I could go on but I think I'll leave it there. Don't want to say anything that might upset anyone!

Look! In the sky!

2008-03-26T22:06:00.002Z

Start expecting UFO sightings over Miami. Honeywell International's Micro Air Vehicle, or MAV, is a 16 pound, 14 inch wide hovering drone sporting a video camera. If it gets FAA approval, the Miami-Dade Police Department plans to use it in emergency situations as an extra pair of eyes. Head on over to Honeywell Aerospace to see the pint sized aircraft in action. Maybe they can make it bigger and put seats in it. Maybe they all ready have!

Holy Crap! Run for the Hills!

2008-03-19T21:45:00.001Z

I found this a little bit creepy! It's called Bigdog, DARPA's latest technological marvel. It's main use is for carrying large payloads over long distances on any terrain. I hope they don't put guns on it!

One up for Darwin

2008-02-19T20:23:00.002Z

Florida's State Board of Education has voted to use the term "scientific theory of evolution" in its new science standards. Most Creatonists oppose the teaching of evolution in schools or want them to also teach intelligent design. A poll released in June said America is about evenly split over whether evolution is fact, despite decades of overwhelming scientific evidence that it is.
Thank God for that!

Lost in Cloverfield

2008-02-04T20:58:00.000Z

Well it's been awhile since my last post, it's been a busy week!

Went to see the film Cloverfield on friday, I loved it! J J Abrams certainly knows how to get to the audience. It's filmed as if on a camcorder from start to finish, seen from the point of view of a small group of people trying to flee New York during an attack from monsterous, well, monster. And this isn't stand on it's hind legs, spines down it's back, oversized dinosaur monster either. While your given the impression that it came out of the sea, it looks more like somthing from another planet. It's not a long film, being less than an hour and a half, but it's packed with camera shaking action. (don't sit to close to the screen in the cinema, you'll get dizzy if your lucky, sick if your not.)
Alot of the scenes in this movie seem to be taken from news coverage of the 9-11 attack on The World Trade Centre, somthing that helps the pull the audience in to the action. This is film is made the way Spielberg should have made The War of the Worlds, seen through the eyes of a man on the run from uncontrollable disaster. I won't say any more, I'll let you watch it for yourselves!

On another note, but still with J J Abrams, Lost is back on RTE 2 tonight. I'm not sure wether to be excited or in dread at the thought of another 16 episode of going in circles, never answering questions and more confusion. It's hard to be excited about it though, after seeing a show like Heroes, Lost pales in comparision. Perhaps Abrams should stick to the films now he's made his name.

The Day After That

2008-01-29T20:17:00.000Z

This is something I found interesting, just one of the many articles I found when I did a Google search. It's taken from here.

As Sun is expected to experience a period of lower activity, the Earth will receive less heat and thus will cool. Earth's climate is determined mainly by the Sun's activity and by the small changes in Earth's orbit. The effects of other factors, such as the greenhouse gases, are small relative to these cosmic events.
A Russian astronomer, Khabibullo Abdusamatov of the Pulkovo Astronomic Observatory in St. Petersburg, reported on Monday that the global warming experienced in the 20th century was mainly caused by an increased solar activity. According to him, this increased solar activity will reach its peak in six of seven years from now, after which the temperatures will start to drop.
Abdusamatov said there will be a massive solar output decline between around 2035 and 2045 which will correspond to a mini Ice Age on Earth.
"Dramatic changes in the Earth's surface temperatures are an ordinary phenomenon, not an anomaly", he said, "and result from variations in the sun's energy output and ultraviolet radiation."
This is also supported by a recent mapping of North American glacial history which has shown that in the last 10 000 years glaciers have gone up and down many times. In other words, there were large climatic variations.
The Northern Hemisphere's most recent cool-down period occurred between 1645 and 1705. Dubbed the Little Ice Age, it left canals in the Netherlands frozen solid and forced people in Greenland to abandon their houses to glaciers.

Blogging and things

2008-01-20T20:49:00.000Z

Ok so blogging is harder than I thought it would be. I can never think of what to say! And it dosn't help when your working all week either. Lazyness plays a factor too. And I had a cold this past week. But what can you do?

I was just on a film website checking up on all the latest releases and the like. They had some pics of the cast of the new Star Trek film, everybodies in it! Looks to be the best one they've done in awhile. There was a review of the film "Cloverfield" and it sounds like the kind of film I'd love! New York getting destroyed including (your going to like this Stephen) the Statue of Libertys head landing in the middle of the city! If you'd like to read what I read, go to http://www.totalfilm.com

Thats all for now.

2008-01-14T14:37:00.001Z

A child's right to know
Apparently, in London twins who were separated at birth got married without realizing they were brother and sister. They had never been told that they were twins and when they met later in life they felt an instant attraction. The marriage was subsequently annulled.
An independent legislator who works at Liverpool's John Moores University, said the siblings' marriage raises the wider issue of the importance of strengthening the rights of children to know the identities of their biological parents, including kids who were born through IVF.
It seems that under British law, only a mother has to be named on a birth certificate. Such certificates also are not required to identify births that result from IVF or to identify the sperm donor.
Also, British law does not require parents to ever tell children that they were the result of donated sperm.
This should be changed so that birth certificates of children born from donated sperm to say that and to identify the genetic father.

It’s better that they know from the start rather than discovering later in life, especially in cases similar to that of the before mentioned twins, who now have to suffer the heartache of a ruined relationship.

Electrical Car

2008-01-13T19:24:00.000Z

This is something I found interesting. Maybe you will too, Aileni! It’s a 240-horsepower, battery-powered sports car that goes from 0 to 60 in about four seconds, has a top speed of around 130mph, and costs a penny per mile to drive, according to Tesla executives. It’s called the Tesla Roadster.

This car has only two gears. First gear goes up to about 65 miles an hour, and second gear takes off after that. There is no reverse gear; to back up, the engine is just run backwards meaning that, in theory, the car could reach its top speed--130 miles an hour--in reverse. When designing the drivetrain, Tesla commissioned a company that specializes in transmissions for Formula One cars.

While it performs like a Ferrari, the Tesla Roadster comes without the high level of emissions and noise of most performance cars. Tesla founder Musk claims that the Tesla Roadster will produce half the carbon dioxide per mile of a hybrid car.

It’s essentially a battery on wheels. Much of the company's design work revolved around developing a lithium-ion battery pack to power the car. The battery cells come from a third-party provider, but Tesla has wrapped it into a battery pack that can deliver energy rapidly for the car's acceleration. This means it can be charged from conventional electricity sockey by using a special cord, although it could take from five hours to a day, said an engineer at the company. To address that problem, the company will install chargers at the homes of owners, which will cut the charging time down to about three hours. They are also working with solar panel companies to install panels at the homes of Tesla Roadster owners to help them power the car.

At $90,000, the two-seat car is too expensive for most consumers. Musk, however, said the company hopes to come out with a four-seat, four-door sub-$50,000 model in about three years. After that, an even cheaper car will emerge.

So far, the company has made two production models. However, it has secured commitments from about 30 people who want to buy one. "The electric sports car will fundamentally change the way we drive," said Tesla CEO Martin Eberhard. Tesla plans to start shipping the Roadster to customers next

New to this area

2008-01-10T22:47:00.000Z

Hello to all who may cast thier eyes upon this blogspot, this is my first post and I havent done alot with this yet, but I plan to post all kinds of things of interest.

See ya real soon!