Sunday 31 May 2009

Now I Know We All Have Hobbies,

fishing, photography, stamp collecting, etc, etc, all quite harmless, but I do feel a little uneasy when a female former St. Lucie County firefighter starts to collect body parts she finds at a crash scene, whilst at a RTA on Interstate 95 she felt compelled to take a mans severed foot from the scene, the judge sentenced her to 6 months, She was charged with a misdemeanor because authorities couldn't determine the monetary value of the foot, as with all body part thefts there was a reason, she took the remains to help train her cadaver dog, well I suppose they have got to be trained, so does this mean that all severed limbs are kept by the dog squad?

It Gets Worse And Worse,

I have not made many comments about the sleaze that has gripped our UK MP's I try to keep our blog a little light hearted and politics free, but when I read this I just could not believe it! a MP claimed back a £5.00 donation in a Battle of Britain memorial service, it is particularly embarrassing because Mr Cook, above, is an official supporter of the campaign to commemorate Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park, who commanded 11 Group Fighter Command, RAF, during the Battle of Britain, a handwritten note attached to the claim by way of a receipt stated: "Battle of Britain church service, Sunday 17.09.06. £5 contribution to offertory on behalf of Frank Cook MP." Mr Cook told Sky News: "I have no recollection of the claim. I've got to accept that what they say is accurate." yes, well, do I believe that? no wait, of course I believe it he is a politician he can not lie! and how about this for being a cheap skate, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Charles Kennedy, above, bought 2 teddy bears as a gifts from the gift shop at the House of Commons, and then claimed the money back! he must think the world of kids! but seriously for a moment, we have had our MP's claiming for duck islands, helicopter pads, moat clearance amongst others, will some one please tell me how I can get on the claim train?

Saturday And All's Well!

well not quite, I had nearly run out of vitamin pills, so it was off to Fascino in Pattaya North to buy some more, in the event I only bought 60 days supply, as at 360 baht I thought they were expensive, the ones I normally use from one of the health shops in the UK in comparison are 1,200 baht, but that is for 500 days supply, so when I am back in the UK off to Beckenham High Street! if you go to the site look up Beckenham Place Park, that is where I have my apartment in the UK or look here,
then to Friendship to get the chicken, pork, bread and salad for the afternoon, but I spotted this bike in the car park, it looks quite neat but I have not got a clue who made it,
and some fresh fruit, but down the road aways to the front of the permanent market on Pattaya Tai,
now in season prices are down,
one of Diana's favorites, custard apples,
the deal is done!
cold fresh coconuts in ice water, if you get a little dry,
dragon fruit,
then it was upstairs for the afternoon/evening, but then the heavens opened up!
for quite some time I thought only Mr. Tony and myself would be here,
but then a wet Big Jim arrived, he had been waiting for the rain to stop, and it did, till he was half way here!
Mark was next to arrive,
and then Michael and Lily called in, although they live in Hong Kong they keep a small place in Thailand, he works for a company called CompTIA, and specialises in information technology, a long time resident of Hong Kong he regaled us all with stories of our former colony,
Richard, Beth and James also called in, satay anyone?
Mr. Tony had brought along a selection of cold cuts, with ritz crackers they were very nice to!
one that did not get away!
the food is severed, well done to the ladies for looking after us!
all tuck in,
Mr. Tony was his usual self!
all to soon it was time to go, Booie called in to pick Mr. Tony up and we all said our goodbyes, another lovely evening was had by all, and we all learned so much more about Hong Kong, see you next week, "Cheers!"

Saturday 30 May 2009

'Vital' Missing Part Delays British Airways 747,

the flight to Mexico City eventually took off after a 25 minuet delay, luckily a replacement 'vital' part was found, but what was it? a part for the engine, wings, wheels, kitchen, boilers maybe, I am really getting into this, electrics, avionics or hydraulics, no none of these, it was a clip in ashtray that was missing from a toilet door! as the minutes ticked by, and the ashtray could not be found, the captain eventually ordered ground crew to 'go and rob one' from another plane - or take off a whole door if necessary, a spokesman for BA insisted last night that the flight had had to be delayed because all planes in Europe are required by law to have ashtrays, 'We apologise to customers for the inconvenience but their safety is always our overriding priority.' yes those Boeing 747's are really unsafe when just 1 ashtray is missing! by the way, smoking has been banned on all British Airways flights for more than a decade, however, the Civil Aviation Authority, which regulates the UK aviation industry, said: 'The air navigation orders are a bit like the highway code, 'There's only a small section about smoking and one of the rules is that it's banned, there's nothing in there at all about ashtrays' and BA wonders why I for one would rather walk than use BA!

Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday To You,

and whose is it? why Big Ben's! on the 31st. May, the lift was invented in 1850, but was still too new in 1859 for the clock we know as Big Ben to include such an amenity, the 13.5-ton copper and tin bell which – as every nerdy child knows – is Big Ben, not St Stephen’s Clock Tower which houses it, the “bong” measures 118 decibels, Big Ben’s appeal is intriguing, it is the biggest chiming clock tower in the world, but in terms of size it is easily beaten, the clock face on the top of the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool is bigger, worldwide, it looks like a wrist-watch compared to the clock on the Abraj Al Bait Towers in Mecca whose face, when finished, will measure 80 metres to Big Ben’s puny 6.9 metres, a few Big Ben Facts, The clock started keeping time on May 31 1859; the bells began ringing on July 11. Each face is lit by 27 low-energy, radio-controlled bulbs. The “Westminster” chimes were copied from Great St Mary’s in Cambridge. St Stephen’s Clock Tower was built without scaffolding, from the inside out. Tunnelling for the Jubilee line left the tower leaning 220mm (8.66 in) to the North-West, all together now, one more chours of Happy Birthday! British and Proud of it!

Friday And We Are Off Fishing,

we went to the same lake, Charlie's, on the road parallel to Soi Siam Country Club. it was a glorious day, white fluffy clouds in the sky and no rain, just a gentle cool breeze, no sooner had Nick sat down and he was into a fish,
just a small one but a good start,
meanwhile Diana and Maureen had ordered some food,
a small blha yesot, I have spelled it as it sounds, we put it back as it was small and these are just full of fine bones even the big ones which as far as I am concerned makes them a real trial to eat,
a few clouds in the distance, but no rain, this is more like it fish number 2 to Nick and a nice sized one, but not nice to eat,
by now I had caught a small one that was returned, the pressure was on as Diana wanted some tilipias for the bar-b-q on Saturday, but none were biting,
Diana also had a try but today for us no luck, the final score Nick 4 me 1, and none were nice to eat, still the fish all had a good feed with the bait we used!
then it was back to Nick and Maureen's for a chicken casserole, and delicious it was to, Diana on Sunday is going to try cooking fish and chips and next Sunday it is rumored a casserole,
I have not got a clue what this flower is called, but it has come into flower over the past week,
the flowers are quite small, it almost looks like the leaves have changed colour to attract insects,
Diana poses in the pool, it still has a bit of a leak, a lovely day was had by all, for me sitting by a lake with a cold beer and good company is a day to cherish, well now looking forward to Saturday, hopeful a few friends will call round for a drink and a chat, see you then!

A Puzzle For The Weekend,

it is commonly known as Bernoulli's numbers, and is a maths puzzel that dates back some 300 years basicaly, Bernoulli's numbers play an important and quite mysterious role in mathematics and in various places like analysis, number theory and differential topology, they first appeared in Ars Conjectandi, page 97, a famous (and posthumous) treatise published in 1713, by Jakob Bernoulli (1654-1705) when he studied the sums of powers of consecutive integers, the Bernoulli numbers Bn play an important role in several topics of mathematics, these numbers can be defined by the power series where all numbers Bn are zero with odd index n > 1, the even-indexed rational numbers Bn alternate in sign, the first values are

sum of consecutive integer powers, Jakob Bernoulli introduced a sequence of rational numbers, later called Bernoulli numbers, to compute the sum of consecutive integer powers, this formula is given by and so on, well in case you can not work it out all is not lost, an Iraqi-born 16-year-old reportedly has cracked the puzzle, Mohamed Altoumaimi, who immigrated to Sweden six years ago, took only four months to find a formula that explains a sequence of calculations known as the Bernoulli numbers, a code that had stumped some of the best experts in the field, Agence France-Presse reported, Altoumaimi said after his high school teachers were skeptical about his work he contacted professors at Uppsala University, one of Sweden's top institutions, who confirmed his formula was correct and offered him a place at the university, AFP reported, enough of maths, it has given me a headache, and I still can not see the answer!

Ferrari Go Green!

well I guess it had to happen,
2007 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
an electric Ferrari, perish the thought! well not quite, drawings from a patent application have leaked out and more details are known, the Ferrari papers show several variants of four-wheel-drive and hybrid technology, with one pair of wheels (presumably the rear) driven by the engine through a transmission, and the other pair (the front) powered by either an electric motor or a pair of in-wheel motors, both front- and mid-engine layouts are included, I just hope it still has the same amount of grunt!

Friday 29 May 2009

5 Shot, 1 Dead,

Over A Cat! now I know some people love their pets and when a neighbours dog kills the pet cat there is bound to be a little upset, but to shoot the dog to death who killed it and then shoot the 50 year old owner and his 8 year old daughter? over the top or what? but wait it gets worse, sheriff’s deputies came out to investigate, the man who shot the father and daughter began shooting at them, one deputy was hit multiple times and was flown to Carolinas Medical Center for treatment, He is expected to be released Friday, another deputy was hit in the arm, He was treated at a nearby hospital and released, deputies eventually moved in on the shooter, and more shots were fired, resulting in the suspect’s death, Sheriff's officials believe he was struck in the gunfire, the incident took place on Grandin Road near Blue Creek road in an area called Kings Creek, north of Lenoir N.C. I wonder what medication the shooter was on!

One Of Diana's Favorites, Mc.Donald's!

but we nearly did not make it,
just as we were about to leave the heavens opened up,
so we just had to wait it out, but eventually the skies cleared and off we went!
although difficult to see the wind was blowing very stronge, the seas were rough with nice sized waves arriving on the beach,
a cheeseburger for Diana,
and a quarter pounder for me,
fresh fruit on the way home,
by now the roads were drying out,
a gold shop, it must be nice to see your stock going up every day as the price of gold continues to rise, the last time I looked it was 15,200 baht a baht (15.16 grams), if you want a conversion table it is here, on Friday we are meeting Nick, Maureen and Ta-Taa for a afternoons fishing, wish me luck for the one that does not get away!

Red Or Dead!

squirrels in the news again! the message from gamekeeper Paul Parker, "Greys your days are numbered!" he has made it his mission to save the native red squirrel from extinction at the hands of its aggressive grey cousin, in less than two years, the 'conservationist' has culled 22,622 grey squirrels, a rate of about 200 a week, with the help of a £150,000 Government grant the father-of-three, 45, has eradicated the grey invader from many parts of Northumberland and is set to go south to do the same there, it appears that we are eating them in restaurants, I will have to look out for them when I am back in the UK! but the RSPCA has criticised the mass attack as 'ethically questionable', more fat cats scrabbling to keep their well paid jobs, never mind that they, as all farmers know are vermin, (the squirrels not the RSPCA officials! a close call I know but I thought I had better clear that one up)