31 July: JK Rowling

It's JK Rowling's birthday today. She was born in 1965 so I guess it's the big 5-0 for her. Here are 10 JK Rowling quotes.

1. It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.
2. It is our choices... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
3. Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.
4. Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain.
5. The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and must therefore be treated with great caution.
6. Death is just life's next big adventure.
7. If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.
8. Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?
9. People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.
10. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.

July 30th: Vanuatu Independence Day

The island nation of Vanuatu celebrates Independence Day today - so here are some facts about Vanuatu.

1. Vanuatu gained independence in 1980, from two countries. It had been jointly administered in a unique arrangement by France and the United Kingdom, called the British-French Condominium. The native population, the Melanesians, were not allowed to become citizens of either governing nation.
2. The previous name of Vanuatu was The New Hebrides, a name coined by Captain James Cook in 1774. The name Vanuatu, adopted on independence, means 'Land Eternal'.
3. Vanuatu is a Y-shaped archipelago consisting of about 82 islands of volcanic origin, 65 of which are inhabited. The largest island is Espiritu Santo, a name derived from the name given to the entire archipelago by Portuguese navigator Fernandes de Queirós, who arrived there in 1606. He named it Austrialia del Espiritu Santo. or "The Southern Land of the Holy Spirit", thinking that he had arrived in Australia.
4. The capital is Port Vila, on Efate - this island was named after Lord Sandwich.
5. The official languages are English, French and Bislama. Bislama is a form of pidgin language which combines English words with the grammatical structures of indigenous languages. Bislama evolved when many of the islanders were enslaved and set to work on plantations in Australia and Fiji, and allowed speakers of different regional languages to understand each other.
6. The predominant religion is Christianity but the region has evolved some quite unique religions and cults of its own. The ancient cultures worshipped the spirits of ancestors, or Natmasses, which dwelt in stones, and Keraperamun, a god associated with Mount Tukosmera. From the latter, and from US servicemen who visited during World War II, a mythical figure called "John Frum" evolved. This name may have been a corruption of "John From" as in "John From America". Indeed, he is often depicted as a US serviceman - sometimes black and sometimes white, reflecting the presence of men from both races in the US forces. A cult grew up around him as the people believed that he promised them modern goods, or cargo, if they rejected all aspects of European society including money and Christianity. When the Americans left at the end of the war, people built symbolic landing strips in the hope they would come back and bring more stuff. The cult still has its own political party, which opposed independence and still believes that John Frum, like Jesus, will one day return. On the Island of Tanna, there was a legend about a pale-skinned son of a mountain spirit who ventured across the seas to look for a powerful wife. When Queen Elizabeth II, an unarguably powerful woman, visited the island with her new husband, Prince Philip, some islanders decided that Prince Philip was this mountain god, and so there is a cult there that worships Prince Philip.
7. A tradition in Vanuatu is sand drawing, where artists draw symmetrical geometric patterns in sand, ash or clay, with one finger.
8. The gold Y shape in the Flag represents the shape of the archipelago, and specifically, the spread of the Christian gospel through the nation. The Green represents the richness of the islands, the red symbolises the blood of wild boars (a symbol of wealth) and men, and the Black the ni-Vanuatu people. The emblem is a boar's tusk with two crossed cycad branches inside. The branches have 39 leaves, representing the 39 members of Parliament.
9. The national dish is ‘lap – lap’, a type of vegetable porridge cooked in coconut milk. It can be either savoury or sweet.
10. Tourism is important to the economy of Vanuatu. It is a magnet for scuba divers because of its Coral reefs and also the wreck of the luxury cruise liner and converted troop carrier SS President Coolidge on Espiritu Santo island. Sunk during the Second World War, it is one of the largest shipwrecks in the world that is accessible for recreational diving. More recently, the reality TV shows Survivor and Celebrity Survivor, were filmed there.

July 29th: Lasagna Day

It's Lasagna Day - so here are 10 things you might not know about the tasty Italian dish:

1. A well-known Italian dish, but the word "Lasagne" is thought to come from the Greek language, a word for the type of pot it was cooked in. Some scholars believe it comes from the Greek word for a chamber pot.
2. The different spellings, Lasagne or Lasagna that you may see on a menu are actually the singular and plural forms of the word. "Lasagna" means one sheet of the pasta, whereas "Lasagne" means several.
3. A dish similar to lasagne was eaten in ancient Rome.
4. The first recipe for lasagne in an English cookbook appeared in the 14th century. The book was called The Forme of Cury and the dish was called "Loseyn". However, this recipe did not include Tomatoes, since they were not introduced in Europe until after 1492.
5. Traditionally, the first modern lasagne recipes originated in Naples. The first recipe appeared in a book called Liber de Coquina (the book of cookery).
6. The pasta in lasagne is traditionally made from semolina (durum wheat).
7. The dish is made by interleaving layers of pasta with layers of sauce, made with ragù, bechamel, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. The recipe can include ricotta or mozzarella Cheese, tomato sauce, various meats (e.g., ground beef, pork or chicken), miscellaneous vegetables (e.g., Spinach, zucchini, Mushrooms) and it can be flavoured with Wine, Garlic, Onion, and oregano. It is oven-baked.
8. In the Seinfeld episode, "The Butter Shave," Elaine gives the nickname "Vegetable Lasagna" to the passenger next to her on a plane.
9. Lasagna is the favourite food of the cartoon character Garfield.
10. "Lasagna" is also a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic - a parody of "La Bamba" by Ritchie Valens and Los Lobos. Originally, Yankovic intended to record the song in Italian but realised that only people who could understand Italian would get the jokes, so he recorded it in English with a bad Italian accent.

My Books

As well as this blog, I also write fiction and have published two novels (Death and Faxes and Glastonbury Swan) and a collection of short stories (Jigsaw). If you like ghost stories, crime stories, a bit of romance and anything slightly bizarre you might enjoy them. 

Further details on my books page

28th July: Independence Day, Peru

It's Peru's Independence Day today so here are 10 things you didn't know about Peru.

1. Peru is home to the highest sand dune in the world (Cerro Blanco measures 3,860 feet (1,176 meters) from the base to the summit), the world's highest navigable lake (Lake Titicaca) and the deepest canyon (Cotahuasi Canyon which is at 3,535 meters (11,597 feet) deep – twice as deep as the Grand Canyon).
2. The first human occupation in the Americas was in Peru - the sacred City of Caral-Supe which dates back 5000 years. Later, it was home to the Incas, who for a while had an empire bigger than the Romans. They used a complex system of knots called quipus for writing, and were the only ancient culture in the world to define constellations of darkness as well as light. They also built Machu Picchu, a world heritage site, modern wonder of the world and probably the country's biggest tourist attraction.
3. The famous Nazca lines are also in Peru, a series of glyphs of animals and people, only visible from the air, which has led to speculation that they may have been landing sites for aliens.
4. The Incas referred to themselves as Quechua, which was also the language they spoke. Quechua is still an official language of Peru today along with Spanish and Aymara. The one Quechua word English speakers have adopted is charqui, meaning dried llama meat, which is the root of the word “jerky.”
5. On the subject of food, a traditional dish in Peru is "cuy" or guinea pig, which is often on the menu in restaurants. Also, in the Peruvian town of La Quebrada, there used to be an annual festival called La Festival del Gastronómico del Gato (Gastronomic Festival of the Cat), where it was perfectly acceptable to eat Cats, in commemoration of the early Spanish settlers who ate cats because they had nothing else to eat.
6. Peru was the first place to domesticate the Potato, about 8,000 years ago, and it spread across the world from there. 3,000 different types of potato are grown in Peru. There is a saying there, “Soy mas Peruano que la papa” (I am more Peruvian than the potato). There are also 55 different types of corn grown there in a variety of different colours including purple and black; and Peru is the largest exporter of Asparagus in the world.
7. Peru is the only country that has place names beginning with a double-Q (for example, Qquea, Qquecquerisca and Qquero.)
8. In Peru, a traditional New Year's Eve gift to give your family and friends is Yellow underpants, which are said to bring good luck.
9. Peru's national drink is the Pisco Sour, made from Pisco brandy, Lemons, sugar water, egg whites, ice and finished with bitters. The word pisco means “bird” in Quechua.
10. It's great for bird spotting - Peru holds the world records for the maximum number of birds sighted in one place (650) and the greatest number seen in a single day (361) in its national reserves and parks.

My Books

As well as this blog, I also write fiction and have published two novels (Death and Faxes and Glastonbury Swan) and a collection of short stories (Jigsaw). If you like ghost stories, crime stories, a bit of romance and anything slightly bizarre you might enjoy them. 

Further details on my books page

27th July: Day of the Blackberry

According to the French Revolutionary calendar, today is the day of the Blackberry (That's the fruit, not the mobile phone thingy.) Here are 10 things you might not know about blackberries.

1. Technically, they are not berries. They are an aggregate fruit, composed of small drupelets.
2. There are over 375 species of blackberry.
3. The plants are food to many different animals. Some caterpillars, and grazing mammals like deer eat the leaves. Many small mammals and birds eat the berries, not to mention humans, who have been eating them for thousands of years.
4. Blackberries aren't the only human food a blackberry shrub can produce - you can also get blackberry Honey, which is medium to dark with a fruity taste.
5. Blackberries are good for you - they are rich in dietary fibre, and vitamins C and K. The seeds contain oil rich in omega-3 and protein. There is a school of thought that says eating dark coloured foods in general is good because the chemicals that give them the dark colour include antioxidants.
6. The country that produces the most blackberries in the world is Mexico. Most of the crop is exported to North America and Europe.
7. They are related to raspberries but are not the same. Aside from the colour, a way to tell which you've picked is to note whether the core of the fruit comes away with the fruit or not. If it doesn't, you're got a raspberry. If it does, it's a blackberry.
8. In the western US, they use the term "caneberry" to refer to both blackberries and raspberries.
9. The plants are very dependent on Bees to pollinate the flowers and produce the fruit. Even a small change in conditions, such as a rainy day or a day too hot for bees to work after early morning, can reduce the quality of the fruit.
10. Folklore in the United Kingdom says that blackberries should not be picked after Old Michaelmas Day (11 October) as the devil will have made them unfit to eat, by stepping, spitting, or fouling on them. There is science behind this as the fruit can become infected by moulds in wetter and cooler weather, which would make them unpleasant to eat and possibly even toxic.

26th July: Netherlands Independence Day

Today is the Netherlands Independence Day, so here are 10 things you might not know about the country.

1. First of all, Netherlands, rather than the often used "Holland" is the correct name for the country. Strictly speaking, Holland is a region of the Netherlands rather than the country as a whole.
2. The country is known for being flat, and low (hence the name Netherlands). About half the country is less than 1 metre above sea level, and the highest point, Vaalserberg, is only 323 meters above sea level. This makes the Netherlands at high risk of being flooded, which is why there are so many dikes and Windmills there. Windmills weren't just for grinding grain, but were pumping stations for irrigation. There are still 1180 windmills in the Netherlands - there used to be many more.
3. Conversely, the Dutch people are the tallest in the world. The average height is 184 cm for men and 170 cm for women. Some scientists have suggested this is because they eat a lot of dairy produce - and they can, because the Dutch have the lowest incidence of lactose intolerance in the world at only 1%.
4. The Netherlands has more Bicycles than people. People tend to own two or three bicycles each, making a total of about 18 million.
5. The Netherlands is responsible for the colour of Carrots. Up until the 16th century, carrots were white, Yellow, Black, purple or red - any colour but orange, in fact. Orange is the national colour of the Netherlands in honour of the House of Orange, who led the Dutch Revolt against Spain and later became the Dutch Royal family. It's thought that Dutch farmers selectively bred carrots in the 16th century in order to produce the orange ones we know today.
6. Despite being such a sign of patriotism, the colour orange does not appear on the Dutch Flag, which is red, white and blue. The flag of the Netherlands dates from 1572 and is the oldest tricolour flag. The national anthem, Wilhelmus, is the oldest in the world. It was used from 1568, although it was only officially adopted in 1932.
7. 75% of the world's flower bulb production comes from Netherlands (although Tulips were originally native to Turkey) and 70% of the world's bacon. It is the largest exporter of Cheese in the world, and they also export a lot of Beer, especially to the USA.
8. Things invented in the Netherlands include the microscope, the Telescope, pendulum clock, the mercury thermometer, the audio tape, the video tape, the Compact Disk, the CD-ROM, and gin, which was originally called "jenever", and was used for medicinal purposes in the 16th century.
9. It is Europe's most densely populated large country (ie with a population of over a million - so Monaco doesn't count) and the third in the world, with 493 inhabitants per square km. Only Bangladesh and Taiwan have a higher density of population.
10. The Dutch were pioneers in the world of business. The Dutch East India Company was the first truly multinational company in the world, and was the first to issue stocks in 1602. Hence the Netherlands has the oldest stock exchange in the world, dating from the same year.

My Books

As well as this blog, I also write fiction and have published two novels (Death and Faxes and Glastonbury Swan) and a collection of short stories (Jigsaw). If you like ghost stories, crime stories, a bit of romance and anything slightly bizarre you might enjoy them. 

Further details on my books page

25th July: Louis Bleriot's flight

This date in 1909 saw Louis Blériot's historic flight across the English Channel.

1. It wasn't done for the sheer pleasure of being the first person to do it - there was Money involved. The Daily Mail had offered a prize of £1,000 to the first person to fly over the Channel, in either direction. The prize money had originally been £500, offered in October 1908 to anyone who performed this feat by the end of the year. When the end of the year came and nobody had done it they doubled the prize and extended the deadline to the end of 1909.
2. Whether it was the extra money or simply because nobody wanted to attempt it in winter, this move aroused more interest. Blériot wasn't the only person who said he would try. There were others: Hubert Latham, who was the bookie's favourite to win; Charles de Lambert, a Russian aristocrat with French ancestry - one of Wilbur Wright's pupils, and Arthur Seymour, an Englishman. De Lambert got as far as establishing a base at Wissant, near Calais, but Seymour did nothing beyond submitting his entry to the Daily Mail.
3. Lord Northcliffe, who had offered the prize money, was hoping Wilbur Wright himself would do it and take the prize. Wilbur did in fact want to have a go, but was advised by his brother Orville, who was recovering from injuries sustained in a crash, not to do it without his help. In the end, both brothers decided that the prize money wasn't worth the effort or the risk.
4. Louis Blériot's day job before he got into flying was making car headlamps. In fact, he had developed the world's first practical headlamp for automobiles and was supplying them to the biggest car manufacturers of the day.
5. Blériot's most serious rival for the prize was Hubert Latham. Latham almost did it, too. On the 19 July he actually took off from Calais and would have won if his plane had not developed engine trouble six miles off the coast of England. He did, however, gain the distinction of being the first pilot to land a plane in the sea.
6. Blériot's historic flight started very early. After several days when it was too windy to make an attempt, the wind began to drop in the evening of 25 July. His friend Alfred Leblanc was too excited to sleep that night and was up at 2am assessing the weather. He woke Blériot, who at first was pessimistic, but soon came to agree that conditions were favourable enough (after he'd had a cup of coffee, maybe). At 4.15 he made a test flight, but since the rules stated the flight had to be made between sunrise and sunset, he had to wait until 4.41, after sunrise, to set off.
7. He didn't really know where he was going. He didn't have a Compass, and it's alleged that before he took off he shouted down from the cockpit, "Where is England?" At first, he simply followed the ship, the destroyer Escopette, which was escorting the flight, and bringing his wife Alice across the Channel. However, he soon overtook the ship and was flying in poor visibility. “for more than 10 minutes I was alone, isolated, lost in the midst of the immense sea, and I did not see anything on the horizon or a single ship”, he said afterwards. When the mist cleared, and he could see England, he found he'd been blown off course and had to change direction.
8. He hadn't exactly figured out where he was going to land. Unlike Latham, he hadn't been to Dover himself to check out possible landing sites. Charles Fontaine, the correspondent from Le Matin, had gone ahead and chosen a spot - so Blériot had to fly along the coast until he could see Fontaine on the ground, waving a French Flag.
9. Blériot flew at around 45 mph (72 km/h) and an altitude of about 250 ft (76 m), and the crossing took 36 minutes and 30 seconds.
10. He landed in Northfall Meadow, near Dover Castle. It was a crash landing as he'd cut the engines at 20m (66 ft). The undercarriage was damaged and one blade of the propeller was shattered, but Blériot was unhurt. Today the spot is marked by a granite outline of the aircraft in the turf.

24th July: Tequila Day

Today is National Tequila Day. Here are 10 facts about tequila.

1. Tequila, similar to many alcoholic drinks, like Champagne or Cognac, can only be produced in the state of Jalisco and limited municipalities in the states of Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit, and Tamaulipas in Mexico.
2. It is made from the blue agave plant, which grows particularly well in the red volcanic soil in the region.
3. The Aztec people made a fermented beverage from the agave plant. Later, the Spanish conquistadors began to distil agave when they ran out of brandy. Around 1600, Don Pedro Sánchez de Tagle, the Marquis of Altamira, began mass-producing tequila at the first factory in Jalisco. Don Cenobio Sauza, founder of Sauza Tequila and Municipal President of the Village of Tequila from 1884–1885, was the first to export tequila to the United States.
4. Planting, tending and harvesting the agave plant hasn't changed much since those days. It's still largely done by hand, by jimadores, who have passed the knowledge of how to tend the plants from generation to generation. The plants have to be regularly trimmed and harvested at exactly the right time.
5. The differences in taste between tequila made from lowland and highland agave plants is noticeable. Plants grown in the highlands yield sweeter and fruitier tequila, while lowland agaves give it an earthier taste.
6. It can be aged in Oak barrels or casks, as well for even more variations in flavour. The barrels may be smoked, or barrels previously used for storing other types of alcoholic drink such as Whiskey or Wine can be used.
7. The idea that tequila must be served with a worm in it is not traditional but rather a marketing gimmick. In fact, putting a worm in the bottle is not allowed by The tequila regulatory council. Finding one which hasn't been put there by a bartender is a bad sign, because the worm is actually a caterpillar of the moth Hypopta agavis which lives on the blue agave plant. An infestation of Hypopta agavis would result in an inferior product.
8. In Mexico, the traditional way to drink tequila is neat, possibly with a side of sangrita—a sweet, sour, and spicy drink made from Orange juice, grenadine (or Tomato juice), and hot chiles. Outside Mexico a shot of tequila is often served with Salt and a slice of Lime. Drinkers are supposed to lick the back of their hands below the index finger and pour on the salt. The salt is licked off, the tequila is drunk, and the fruit slice quickly bitten. This is not, as many people think, a tequila slammer. A tequila slammer is tequila mixed with a carbonated drink.
9. Cocktails made from tequila include the Margarita (tequila, Cointreau, and lime juice), The Matador (tequila, pineapple juice, and lime juice) and the Tequila Sunrise (tequila, orange juice, and grenadine syrup served unmixed in a tall glass. This drink originates from California in the early 1970s).
10. You can make diamonds out of (40% alcohol) tequila. To do that you would have to heat the stuff to over 800 °C (1,400 °F) to break its molecular structure into gaseous hydrogen, carbon, and various simple molecules; then settle it on steel or silicon trays in a thin and pure uniform layer. Before you get too excited, though, the diamonds you'd get are only about a nanometer in size - way too small to make jewellery. They are only useful for putting in computer chips or cutting tools.

23rd July: Annie Oakley Day

Today is Annie Oakley Day. Not sure why as it's not her birthday or the day she died; but here are 10 facts about Annie Oakley.

1. Her real name was Phoebe Ann Mosey.
2. By the age of eight, she was trapping and shooting to support her widowed mother and siblings. She would sell game to shopkeepers and hotels, and by the time she was fifteen she had paid off her mother's mortgage.
3. A travelling show marksman named Frank E. Butler placed a $100 bet ($2,148 today) with a hotel owner that he could beat any local fancy shooter. The hotel owner set up a shooting contest between Butler and Annie. The last opponent Butler had been expecting was a five foot tall, fifteen year old girl. They were pretty evenly matched - it was on the 25th shot that Annie beat him and he lost the bet. Butler had no hard feelings towards her - far from it. A year later, he married her and they were married for over 50 years, until she died.
4. Her stage name of Oakley is believed to have been taken from the area in which the couple lived.
5. The couple joined the Buffalo Bill show in 1885. The following year, another sharpshooting woman called Lillian Smith joined the show. She was eleven years younger than Annie; and they became rivals rather than friends. It's thought Annie started lying about her age when the younger woman started getting as much press coverage as she did. Annie left the show for two years, returning after Smith had left.
6. Annie toured Europe and performed for heads of state, including Queen Victoria. German Kaiser Wilhelm II was so impressed by her marksmanship that he asked her to shoot the ashes off a cigarette he was smoking. She did so, and it led to an oft quoted remark that had she shot the Kaiser instead she could have prevented the first world war. After the outbreak of World War I, Oakley wrote to the Kaiser requesting a second shot. He didn't reply.
7. Oakley was an early campaigner for women to serve in the US military. She wrote to President William McKinley in 1898, offering the government the services of a company of 50 'lady sharpshooters' who would provide their own arms and ammunition should the USA go to war with Spain. Her offer wasn't accepted, although that particular war never happened.
8. She also strongly believed that every woman should learn how to use a gun, for both exercise and self-defence. She taught about 15,000 women to shoot, and said, "I would like to see every woman know how to handle guns as naturally as they know how to handle babies."
9. Oakley's most famous trick was her ability to repeatedly split a Playing card, edge-on, and put several more holes in it before it could touch the ground, while using a .22 caliber rifle, at 90 feet (27 m).
10. After a serious train accident in 1901, she turned to stage acting. The play she appeared in was written especially for her and was called The Western Girl.

22 July: Maple Syrup Day

Today is Maple Syrup Day. 10 things you might not know about maple syrup:

1. Maple syrup is made from the sap of three of the thirteen species of maple tree native to Canada: sugar maple, red maple, or black maple. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter. In the spring, this is converted to sugar which rises in the sap.
2. Maple syrup was first collected and used by the indigenous peoples of North America. We don't know how it began but according to legend, it was the Squirrels that taught the men how to make it. Native American tribes would celebrate the Sugar Moon, the first full moon of spring, with Maple Dances, and would use maple syrup or sugar in cooking the way we use salt.
3. When the sap comes out of the tree, it looks just like water. To turn it into syrup it must be boiled to evaporate the water. The Native Americans used to drop hot cooking stones into the buckets or alternatively, leave it outside overnight and simply remove the ice in the morning. These days it is boiled at a temperature of 4.1 °C (7.4 °F) over the boiling point of water. It takes roughly 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.
4. There is a relatively short window for harvesting the sap in spring. When the weather starts to get warmer, and the tree starts budding, the syrup doesn't taste so nice, possibly because of amino acids.
5. 75% of the world's maple syrup is produced in Quebec, Canada. When scientists discovered a new compound that is produced during the syrup production process, they called it quebecol. The US state of Vermont produces about 5.5% of the world's supply. The sugar maple is Vermont's state tree.
6. Maple syrup is graded according to colour and taste. The lighter the golden or amber colour, the milder the taste. The earlier in the season the sap is harvested, the lighter the colour of the syrup.
7. If your maple syrup goes mouldy (it never lasts long enough in my house for this to happen!) they say you need not bin it. Scoop off the mould and and heat it up to 180 degrees F. This will kill any remaining Bacteria and once it's cooled, it's fine to eat.
8. A maple tree has to be about 40 years old before it can be tapped for maple syrup.
9. Maple syrup is mostly sugar, of course, but 100g also contains just under half your daily recommended intake of Zinc and well over 100% of your daily manganese intake.
10. Abolitionists before and during the US Civil War used maple syrup instead of the cane sugar which was produced by slaves.

21 July: Space shuttles

The final Space Shuttle mission ended on this date in 2011. Here are 10 things you may not know about Space Shuttles:

1. The six shuttles were named after vessels of exploration. The prototype, which never went into space, was called Enterprise, not after any of the US Navy vessels of that name but after the Starship Enterprise. Columbia was named after a U.S. Navy ship launched in 1836 that was one of the first vessels to circle the world; Challenger was named after an American Naval research ship that explored the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in the 1870s. Discovery was named after the two ships that discovered the Hawaiian Islands, looked for a northwest passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and explored southern Alaska and western Canada. Atlantis was named after a science vessel that, from 1930-1966, travelled all around the world on research expeditions. Endeavour, the final one, which was built to replace Challenger, was named by schoolchildren in a contest. If you've ever wondered why an American space ship's name has a British spelling, it's because it was named after a British ship - the one James Cook travelled in when he discovered Australia.
2. Columbia was heavier than the rest of the space shuttles. It was the first spacegoing one, and by the time the rest were built, they had found lighter materials to build them from. It weighed as much, we are told, as 13 African Elephants.
3. The numbering system of missions may appear complicated. The original plan was to number each mission sequentially, but after the first ten, the then-NASA administrator James Beggs, who suffered from triskaidekaphobia (the fear of the number 13) wanted to avoid associations with Apollo 13, so instead, for the next few missions, they used the last digit of the year and a number for the launch site and a letter. After the Challenger disaster (mission STS-51-L) they went back to sequential numbers, starting with STS-26. STS stands for Space Transportation System.
4. In orbit, a shuttle's speed is 17,500 miles per hour, or five miles a second, or nine times faster than a rifle bullet. This means a full orbit of the Earth would take just 90 minutes and every 45 minutes the crew can witness a sunrise or sunset.
5. Only one US President has ever witnessed a Space Shuttle launch in person. Whether or not, despite the fact they no longer fly, this figure could increase to two depends on the result of next year's Presidential election - for the President in question was Bill Clinton, and his wife Hillary, who has announced she is making a bid for President herself, was with him.
6. Altogether a shuttle has more than 2.5 million parts, including almost 230 miles of wiring, more than 1000 valves, over 1400 circuit breakers and 30,000 tiles made of sand: the shuttle's heat shield, or Thermal Protection System, heats up to over 3,000 degrees F, during re-entry while the inside the shuttle, the temperature is maintained at about 70 degrees F. Amazingly, a minute after landing, they will have cooled sufficiently for someone to hold one in their hand.
7. Inspecting the tiles is just a tiny part of the 1.3 million different jobs that needed to be done to get a shuttle ready for launch. This would take 16,000 people 3-4 months of constant work.
8. So a Space Shuttle must have had a pretty powerful flight computer, right? Nope. Actually, you probably have more computing power at home, as an X-Box 360 is over 100 times more powerful. The astronauts actually had to load the programs they needed, ie. lift-off, orbit and landing, into the computer one at a time, removing the previous one. It proved to be a reliable system, which is why it wasn't upgraded. However, there would have been five such computers on board, not to mention laptops belonging to the crew.
9. All space travel is risky, but thanks to the two disasters, statistically, the Space Shuttle is the most dangerous. Fourteen people have lost their lives in Space Shuttle accidents compared to three during the Apollo missions, none during Mercury and Gemini, and four in the Soyuz program. The failure rate for shuttle flights was 1.5%, which would have permanently grounded any other aircraft. Statisticians worked out that the chance of a fatal accident occurring on a Space Shuttle mission was one in 256. The comparable figure for passenger planes is 1 in 12 million.
10. The combined mileage of all five Shuttles is 513.7 million miles (826.7 million km), or 1.3 times the distance between Earth and Jupiter. Each orbiter, except for Challenger, travelled farther than the distance between Earth and the Sun. 

20th July: Colombia Independence Day

Colombia declared independence from Spain, on this date in 1819. 10 things you might not know about Colombia:

1. It's diverse, in most senses of the word. It rates second in the world for biodiversity, after Brazil, which is ten times bigger. The wildlife here comprises 10% of the animal species on Earth, including over 1,900 species of bird, more than in Europe and North America combined; 2,000 species of marine fish; more endemic species of butterfly than anywhere else and and approximately 7,000 species of beetle. This is probably a direct result of a diversity of habitats. Colombia has 314 types of ecosystem including rainforest, high mountains and desert. It has 58 national parks, as many as the USA, covering 11% of the country. Diversity extends to the population as well, as it includes people descending from the original native inhabitants, Spanish colonists, Africans originally brought to the country as slaves, and 20th-century immigrants from Europe and the Middle East.
2. The capital, Bogotá, is 8,360ft above sea level, making it the highest city in the world with a population of over 3 million.
3. The second city, Medellin, was once the murder capital of the world with 17 murders a day in 1991, although it's nothing like as bad now. While on the subject of crime, Colombia is known for its drug lords. They have been known to do pretty well - one of them, Pablo Escobar, was allegedly so rich that he offered to pay off Colombia's national debt of $10bn.
4. Cuisine is naturally quite diverse, too. A couple of the strangest things Colombians consume are “hormigas culonas”, a type of ant with a large abdomen, fried with salt and sold in the street. Catching them isn't easy and hunters must wear protective clothing to avoid being stung - but a kilo of them is worth a day's wage. The other is hot Chocolate with Cheese in it.
5. Exports include 60% of the world's emeralds and 70% of the cut flowers imported by the US.
6. Colombia is home to a liquid Rainbow. That is the nickname given to the Caño Cristales, sometimes called the most beautiful river in the world, because it is so colourful. From July to November the river bed is Yellow, Green, blue, Black, and red. The red colour is caused by Macarenia clavigera, a type of riverweed.
7. There is a tie for the highest mountain. Pico Cristobal Colon and Pico Simon Bolivar are both 5775 m tall.
8. The national sport is Tejo, a team sport which involves throwing a puck at a target.
9. The Flag consists of three stripes, the top one takes up half the flag and is yellow representing the gold found in the country, or the sunshine, according to some sources, and the other two stripes, taking up a quarter each, are blue (for the sea) and red (for the blood shed in the fight for independence.
10. The tallest palm tree in the world, the Quindio Wax palm, is Colombia's national tree. The national flower is the orchid Cattleya trianae and the national bird is the Andean condor.

19th July: Shark Awareness Day

Today is Shark awareness day - so here are 10 things you didn't know about sharks.

1. Sharks have been around a long time. Sharks as we know them today have been around for 100 million years, while fossils of shark scales have been found which are 420 million years old. There are fossils even older than that, although scientists cannot agree on whether these came from a type of shark, or not. Until the 16th century, sharks were known to mariners as "sea dogs".
2. Shark fossils are mostly scales or teeth. Shark skeletons are made from cartilage, not bone and so will decompose when the shark dies. The teeth don't, and there are a lot of them, as a shark constantly replaces its teeth throughout its life and can produce up to 30,000 of them. The scales, or dermal teeth, which help reduce turbulence around them when swimming and help them swim faster.
3. Sharks are fast. In general, sharks swim at an average speed of 8 kilometres per hour (5.0 mph), but when feeding or attacking, the average shark can reach 19 kilometres per hour (12 mph) or more. The shortfin mako shark, the fastest shark can burst at speeds up to 50 kilometres per hour (31 mph).
4. There are about 500 different species of shark. They vary considerably in size from the small dwarf lanternshark which is only 17 centimetres (6.7 in) in length, to the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), the largest fish in the world, which reaches approximately 12 metres (39 ft). They are related to rays and skates, and some species of shark are thought to be more closely related to rays than to other sharks.
5. Some sharks give birth to live and fully functional young. Some lay eggs like other fish, but in others the eggs hatch while still inside the mother where they are nourished by the egg yolks, fluids secreted by the mother, and often by eating their unborn siblings as well.
6. A shark can detect as little as one part per million of Blood in seawater, but it is chemicals found in the intestines of their prey that is more likely to attract them. They can detect the direction of a scent based on the timing of it reaching each nostril, similar to the way humans detect where a sound is coming from. They also have huge numbers of electroreceptor organs. These help them find prey by detecting the electromagnetic fields that all living things produce, so hiding in the sand at the bottom of the sea to avoid being eaten by a shark is ineffective. It's thought they may use these receptors for navigation as well.
7. Sharks breathe through five to seven gill slits. In order to allow the shark to breathe, Water has to flow continuously over the gills. Some, but not all, species of shark have to be constantly on the move or they will suffocate. Swimming in these species is controlled by the spinal chord and not the brain, so they can sleep and swim at the same time.
8. Sharks are not as dangerous to humans as films like Jaws may have led us to believe. Only four out of the 500 or so species have been known to attack and kill people, and only about 4-5 people die from shark attacks each year. If you have Galeophobia (excessive fear of sharks), be reassured that you are more likely to be struck by Lightning or be killed by a falling coconut (150 deaths per year). You are more likely to be bitten by another human than by a shark. The sharks have much more reason to be afraid of us as we kill 100 million of them a year. In fact, the shark probably doesn't want to eat you. Great whites need a lot of fat in their diet, and typically sample potential prey before killing it. They can tell from one bite whether something will provide the nutrients they need. Humans are not really to their taste, so they would spit you out and go looking for a Seal or something with much more blubber. Still worried? You can avoid being attacked by not wearing shiny jewellery or metal while swimming, and not splashing about too much. And remember that a shark will only attack you if you are wet.
9. Other myths about sharks are that they are solitary hunters, roaming the ocean looking for food. Although some species can and do travel huge distances, most stay in local areas and live in schools, and have a "pecking order" when it comes to feeding. Nor is it true that sharks don't attack people in the middle of the day. As we've seen, they don't attack people that much at all, but if they were going to, it's less likely to be in the middle of the day because people get out of the water to have lunch. The Aztecs believed that attaching a string of chili peppers to a canoe would keep sharks away but there is no evidence that this was effective. There is no scientific evidence to support the myth that sharks are immune to cancer or that shark body parts can treat the disease.
10. There are some ancient myths about sharks, especially in Hawaii where there were said to be beings who could change between shark and human form. Sometimes corpses could be offered to the sea to be transformed into a type of ancestor guardian in the form of a shark. That shark would have markings similar to the clothing the corpse had been dressed in, and would look after the family by warding off danger and driving fish into their nets. The shark god Kamohoali'i is said to have banned sharks from eating people. In Fijian mythology, the shark god Dakuwanga would eat lost souls. The remains of sharks have been found in Aztec temples, so it is believed they were sacrificed to the gods.

My Books

As well as this blog, I also write fiction and have published two novels (Death and Faxes and Glastonbury Swan) and a collection of short stories (Jigsaw). If you like ghost stories, crime stories, a bit of romance and anything slightly bizarre you might enjoy them. 

Further details on my books page

July 18th: Uruguay Constitution Day

Uruguay Constitution Day, celebrating the country's first constitution in 1830. 10 things you might not know about Uruguay:

1. It's quite small. With an area of approximately 176,000 square kilometres (68,000 sq mi), Uruguay is geographically the second-smallest nation in South America after Suriname. The population is 3.3 million, a similar size to Central London. 1.8 million of them live in the capital, Montevideo.
2. Montevideo is the southernmost capital city in the Americas, and the third most southerly in the world (beaten only by Canberra and Wellington).
3. Uruguay is known for its liberal laws and good quality of life. Cannabis was legalised there in 2013, and it was the first country in Latin America to allow same sex civil unions in 2008. Uruguay ranks first in Latin America for democracy, peace, lack of corruption, quality of living, and equally first in South America for press freedom, size of the middle class, prosperity and security. It's regarded as a high income country (top group) by the United Nations, the only one in Latin America. The crime rate is relatively low so it is considered one of the safest countries in South America.
4. Until March 2015, the President was Jose Mujica. The 40th President of Uruguay has been dubbed "the world's poorest President", although it appears that he was not so much poor as preferring a simple life. He refused to live in the Presidential Palace, preferring instead to live on his wife's Chrysanthemum farm, which has one bedroom. He drives a battered VW Beetle; it was alleged that he gave 90% of his salary to charity; and he owns a three-legged dog called Manuel. Mujica was nominated for a Nobel Peace prize for legalising cannabis. A final interesting fact about him is that his secretary, Fabiana Leis, is a famous model.
5. Football is a big thing. Despite its small population, Uruguay exports as many football players as Brazil and Argentina. The first international soccer match outside the British Isles was played between Uruguay and Argentina in Montevideo in July 1902. Also the only two Olympic gold medals Uruguay has ever won were for football, in 1924 and 1928.
6. On a per capita basis, Uruguay contributes more troops to United Nations peacekeeping missions than any other country.
7. Uruguay has the longest National Anthem in the world. Orientales, la Patria o la Tumba (Orientals, the Fatherland or the grave!) is 105 bars long and a full performance takes six minutes. However, generally just the first verse and chorus are sung.
8. There are more Cows than people in Uruguay. Much of the country is grassland, ideal for cattle; so for every human in the country, there are three cows. Even so, Uruguay manages to keep track of them all - it is the only country that keeps track of 100 per cent of its cattle. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, beef is the country's major export and the national dish is Asado, a kind of barbecued beef.
9. The country is named for the Uruguay River, which in turn is thought to come from a local word for "River of the Painted Bird"; or possibly from a river snail called uruguá (Pomella megastoma) that was plentiful there.
10. Uruguay is the only country whose name in English has the same letter three times in its first five.

My Books

As well as this blog, I also write fiction and have published two novels (Death and Faxes and Glastonbury Swan) and a collection of short stories (Jigsaw). If you like ghost stories, crime stories, a bit of romance and anything slightly bizarre you might enjoy them. 

Further details on my books page