Sunday 5th February 2012

It snowed all last night!

A few more shots of our trip to London. Nosher sports his new miniature travelling wallet.

Saturday 4th February 2012

We were down in The Smoke to fetch Nosher and bring him back here as he was off travelling the world with a bag and a camera. Not a coat or a jumper in sight.

While we were there in London of course we did a few things.

The M n M store was pretty funky.

Piccadilly Circus 

At the south western side of the Circus, moved after World War II from its original position in the centre, stands the Shaftesbury Monument Memorial Fountain, erected in 1892-1893 to commemorate the philanthropic works of Lord Shaftesbury, who was a famous Victorian politician and philanthropist.

The monument is topped by Alfred Gilbert’s winged nude statue of an archer, sometimes referred to as The Angel of Christian Charity and popularly known as Eros after the mythical Greek god of love. The statue has become a London icon: a graphical illustration of it is used as the symbol of the Evening Standard newspaper and appears on its masthead.

The use of a nude figure on a public monument was controversial at the time of its construction, but it was generally well received by the public. The Magazine of Art described it as “…a striking contrast to the dull ugliness of the generality of our street sculpture, … a work which, while beautifying one of our hitherto desolate open spaces, should do much towards the elevation of public taste in the direction of decorative sculpture, and serve freedom for the metropolis from any further additions of the old order of monumental monstrosities.”

The statue was the first in the world to be cast in aluminium and is set on a bronze fountain, which itself inspired the marine motifs that Gilbert carved on the statue.

The statue is generally believed to depict Eros but was intended to be an image of his twin brother, Anteros.

The sculptor Alfred Gilbert had already sculpted a statue of Anteros and, when commissioned for the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, chose to reproduce the same subject, who, as “The God of Selfless Love” was deemed to represent the philanthropic 7th Earl of Shaftesbury suitably. Gilbert described Anteros as portraying “reflective and mature love, as opposed to Eros or Cupid, the frivolous tyrant.” The model for the sculpture was Gilbert’s studio assistant, a 16-year-old Italian, Angelo Colarossi (born 1875).

Where Eros originally pointed his bow is the subject of two urban myths. The first is that the archer is aiming upShaftesbury Avenue. Sometimes, the story goes that this was a visual pun to commemorate the great philanthropist. If the archer were to release his arrow, its shaft would bury itself inShaftesbury Avenue. The other is that the arrow is pointing to the Earl’s country seat in Wimborne Saint Giles,Dorset. However, the 1896 photographs (on this page) of the circus taken only three years after the statue’s erection clearly shows the arrow pointing in a different direction, down Lower Regent Street aptly towards Parliament. This is proven by the position relative to the statue ofShaftesbury Avenue, the London Pavilion and the Criterion Theatre.

When the memorial was unveiled, there were numerous complaints. Some felt it was sited in a vulgar part of town (the theatre district), and others felt that it was too sensual as a memorial for a famously sober and respectable Earl. Some of the objections were tempered by renaming the statue as The Angel of Christian Charity[citation needed], which was the nearest approximation that could be invented in Christian terms for the role Anteros played in the Greek pantheon. However, the name never became widely known, and the original name came back, erroneously under the shortened form Eros, signifying the god of sensual love; quite inappropriate to commemorate the Earl, but just right to signify the carnal neighbourhood of London, into which Soho had developed.

Piccadilly Circus connects to Piccadilly, a thoroughfare whose name first appeared in 1626 as Pickadilly Hall,

named after a house belonging to one Robert Baker,

a tailor famous for selling piccadills, or piccadillies, a term used for various kinds of collars.

Old Fart loves Tin Tin

Tintin is a young Belgian reporter who becomes involved in dangerous cases in which he takes heroic action to save the day. Almost every adventure features Tintin hard at work in his investigative journalism, but seldom is he seen actually turning in a story. He is a young man of neutral attitudes and boy scout ideals; in this respect, he represents the everyman.

 

Readers and critics have described Tintin as a well-rounded yet open-ended, intelligent and imaginative character, noting that his rather neutral personality—sometimes labelled as bland—permits a balanced reflection of the evil, folly and foolhardiness which surrounds him. His boy-scout ideals, which represent Hergé’s own, are never compromised by the character, and his status allows the reader to assume his position within the story, rather than merely following the adventures of a strong protagonist. Tintin’s iconic representation enhances this aspect, with Scott McCloud noting that it “allows readers to mask themselves in a character and safely enter a sensually stimulating world.”

 

Snowy (Milou in the original version), a white fox terrier, is Tintin’s four-legged companion. The bond between Snowy and Tintin is very deep as they have saved each other from perilous situations many times. Snowy frequently “speaks” to the reader through his thoughts (often displaying a dry sense of humour), which are supposedly not heard by the human characters in the story. Snowy has nearly let Tintin down on occasion, particularly when distracted by a bone.

Victorian Seven Dials

Situated at the northern extremity of St. Martin’s-lane, having the Broker-row for its eastern, and Monmouth-street for its western boundaries, in longitude nothing, and lat. 0º 5′, is a singular conformation of country, radiating from a common centre and an illuminated clock, known – from the number of its rays – as “Seven Dials.” These rays are formed by several habitations built of burnt bricks and mortar in regular rows, or streets, all diverging from the above-named apex.

The geology of this district is peculiar. The superficial strata consist of granite rhomboids placed closely together, the whole forming a compact surface, or carriage-way. On each side is a smoother formation of flags, which, from their worn appearance, are supposed to be those which “braved a thousand years.”
In the department of Natural History, Seven Dials is peculiarly productive. Dogs, cats, and a great variety of insects, together with donkeys, abound. The last are used for conveying from one part of the district to another the vegetable productions which form a large article of import from Covent Garden-market. The indigenous vegetation consists of boxes of mignonette, picturesquely laid out on the window-sills; together with large quantities of mustard and cress, cleverly grown upon flannel in exposed situations. Cabbage-leaves are thickly sown in every gutter.

The trade of Seven Dials is extensive, it being the entrepôt for glass bottles, rags, old iron, left-off clothing, and second-hand toothbrushes. An enlarged commerce is also carried on in lollypops, and other sweet articles affecting the Colonial sugar-markets.
But the most important feature of the country is that presented by its inhabitants – a brave and affable race, whose manners and customs are more worthy of observation than emulation. The ladies are peculiarly easy in their deportment. This trait is doubtlessly imparted to them by the free intercourse which has taken place from the earliest ages between the Seven-dialers and foreign immigrants. The Irish particularly abound in every direction of the dials, and have introduced many of their national customs, especially the use of whisky and the shillelah, in the employment of both which the hospitable natives are highly proficient.

Amongst so enlightened a people it may be expected that education has made rapid progress: and such is the case; the younger branches have a celebrity all over the kingdom for their proficiency in marbles, and boxing is nowhere so scientifically or so frequently practised. But it is the literature of Seven-dials which gives it a proud pre-eminence over the surrounding districts. Within its precincts are situated two printing and publishing establishments of a high character. The balladography daily issuing from Messrs. Pitt and Catnach’s toy and marble warehouses finds an immediate circulation throughout the neighbourhood, and also forms a considerable article of export to St. Giles’s, and other colonies.

The government of Seven Dials is conducted upon republican principles, except when interfered with by the New Police. The basis of its social economy is community of goods, that is to say, whenever property is so situated as to be abstracted without the owner’s knowledge.

Charles Dickens

The stranger who finds himself in the Dials for the first time

at the entrance of Seven obscure passages,

uncertain which to take,

will see enough around him to keep his curiosity awake

for no inconsiderable time.

W S Gilbert

Hearts just as pure and fair

May beat in Belgrave Square

As in the lowly air of Seven Dials.

My My we do get about and do stuff.

Tuesday 24th January 2012

Life On Venus

The Soviet Union’s landing probe, Venus-13, detected the presence of several objects resembling living organisms, on the surface of the planet Venus in 1982, according to research published in the current issue of Solar System Research.

The photographs taken by the Russian probe show objects resembling a “disk”, a “black flap” and a “scorpion”, according to Leonid Ksanfomaliti of the Space Research Institute of Russia’s Academy of Sciences who analyzed the pictures and published the findings. All the objects appear to have changed their locations in different photographs, indicating there was a possibility they were living beings. They “emerge, fluctuate and disappear,” explained Ksanfomaliti in his research.

A Russian probe found living beings on Venus!

This is actually the second time that a Russian probe has found life on Venus.  In 1982, several objects resembling living beings were detected on photographs taken by a Russian landing probe on a Venus mission.

Leonid Ksanfomaliti of the Space Research Institute of Russia’sAcademyofSciencespublished a research that analysed the photographs from the Venus mission made by a Soviet landing probe, Venus-13, in 1982.

The photographs feature several objects, which Ksanfomaliti said, resembled a “disk”, a “black flap” and a “scorpion”.

All of them “emerge, fluctuate and disappear”, the scientist said, referring to their changing location on different photographs and traces on the ground.

“What if we forget about the current theories about the non-existence of life on Venus, let’s boldly suggest that the objects’ morphological features would allow us to say that they are living,” the magazine quoted Ksanfomaliti as saying.

Now, the Russians once again have proof of life on Venus, where the ground temperature is 464 degrees Celsius.

How is it possible for life to survived in that atmosphere?

“These are special beings that have adapted to their atmosphere.   They are definitely alive, and thriving,” said Russian scientist Boris Zveneko.

A Russian rocket successfully launched the Venus Express spacecraft in 2011 for the European Space Agency, ESA, the first probe designed to study Venus in years.

Soyuz FG-Fregat booster, carrying the Venus-Express, blasted off on March 9, 2011, ain Baikonur Cosmodrome.

It reached Venus last week and… discovered life.

“We have once again proven that the Russian space program is far superior to the Americans, who no longer even care about space,” said Vladmir Putin.  “Russians will conquer Venus, Mars and all the planets.  Americans will conquer nothing.  They are done in space.”

The Russians promise to release photos of the beings in the next three months after they have been “cleared” by Putin.

“What if we forget about the current theories about the non-existence of life on Venus, let’s boldly suggest that the objects’ morphological features would allow us to say that they are living,” he adds.The quest to discover life in outer space has been a never-ending one for scientists. The planet Mars is generally considered the most promising field for such endeavours.

Venus, the second planet from the sun, is equally usually least considered during such discussions, particularly since the atmosphere consists mostly of carbon dioxide and no data suggesting life ever existed has been found. In addition, the planet’s extremely hot temperatures further supports belief life could not have existed on its surface.

An article published in the Solar System Research magazine reported Several objects resembling living beings were detected on photos made by a Russian landing probe in 1982 during a Venus mission.

Leonid Ksanfomaliti of the Space Research Institute of Russia’sAcademyofSciencespublished research that analyzed the photos from the Venus mission made by a Soviet landing probe, Venus-13, in 1982.

The photos feature several objects, which Ksanfomaliti said, resembled “a disk,” “a black flap” and “a scorpion.” All of them “emerge, fluctuate and disappear,” the scientist said, referring to their changing location on different photos and traces on the ground.

“What if we forget about the current theories about the nonexistence of life on Venus, let’s boldly suggest that the objects’ morphological features would allow us to say that they are living,” Solar System Research quoted Ksanfomaliti as saying.

No data proving the existence of life on Venus, where the ground temperature is 464 degrees Celsius (867 degrees Fahrenheit), has ever been found.

A slide show of the photos in question has been put together by Life’s Little Mysteries. While some of Ksanfomaliti’s claims of Venusian life revolve around difficult-to-discern blurs in the photographers, the most provocative images depict an object that does look a bit like a terrestrial crustacean of some sort.

But technicians and photography experts familiar with the unmanned Soviet missions to Venus in the 1970s and 1980s say all of the seeming anomalies in the photos can be explained.

Ted Stryck, a photo editor works with images generated by the Soviet space program, told Life’s Little Mysteries that the blur identified by Ksanfomaliti as a scorpion-like organism is really just an artifact contained “in some particularly bad versions of the images” and is “not in the original data.”

The “crab” that the scientist claims changed its location in different photos is really a pair of camera lens caps that were designed to break off the probe upon landing, according to Mars Space Flight Facility research technician Jonathon Hill, who also spoke with the site. Since Venera 13 possessed two cameras and two breakaway lens covers, they may appear to have moved location but are in fact two separate objects.

Those half-circle-shaped lens covers actually caused a pretty big problem on another Venus mission, Hill told Life’s Little Mysteries. A lens cap belonging to a camera on the Venera 14 probe, which landed near to the Venera 13, popped off and landed in the precise spot where another spring-loaded device was supposed to touch the planet’s surface to make measurements. Instead, the second probe wound up measuring properties of the lens cover to the consternation of Soviet scientists.

Meanwhile, photos from the Venera 14 probe show a lens cap in roughly the same position relative to the spacecraft as the object near Venera 13 that Ksanfomaliti claims is a living creature.

“If those objects were already on the surface of Venus, what are the chances that Venera 13 and 14, which landed nearly 1,000 kilometers apart, would both land inches away from the only ones in sight and they would be in the same positions relative to the spacecraft,” Hill said. “It makes much more sense that it’s a piece of the lander designed to break off during the deployment of one of the scientific instruments.”

According to the Russian scientists the movement of this disc prove there is life on Venus?

ALf has been looking at these images in detail over the past few days and it appears to him that the object in question is the remains of something that has broken off the main Russian ship as it touched down on the surface. It does not move but the lens of the Russian spacecraft give it the illusion of movement due to the rotation of the Russian spacecrafts reflective casing. And the angle in which the light strikes its surface.

Also its obvious that this image was not taken from the same spot.

Thursday 5th January 2012

We met with Yung Un in Henley and he gave OLD FART his Christmas presents.

Wednesday January 4th 2012

An unidentified flying object that appears to have its own cloud has been filmed hovering over the town of Trekhgorny, Russia. The sighting, which was filmed by three separate people on December 23, features a silver object in the centre of a cloudy orb, travelling at some speed. Some reports claim the object was an alien craft using the “cloud” as camouflage. There are suggestions it is simply a conventional aircraft – although no explanation has been given for the surrounding cloud. Others believe it is related to the failed Russian Meridian satellite launch. Trekhgorny is located in the Chelyabinsk region near Russia’s border with Khazakstan. Its main industry is the production of nuclear reactors. The area is a UFO hot spot with numerous sightings reported each year. A ‘live alien’ clip, also reportedly filmed in Trekhgorny, did the rounds recently too.

A video featuring two glowing lights zipping across a foggy Scottish sky is promising to have UFO sighting groups into a lather.The footage was reportedly recorded on a dashboard-mounted camera on a Scottish mountain rescue vehicle on 1st January, and features the orbs appearing just as an oncoming vehicle passes the camera.Some critics claim the lights are simply lens flare from the oncoming car reflected in the camera.But others note the “creepy” lights are unevenly spaced and don’t correspond with the position of the vehicle.It’s also unlikely any aircraft would have been flying in such dense fog….which begs the question, what is it?

Wednesday 28th December 2011

Are Aliens On The Moon? Scientists Want YOU To Join The Search.

American scientists want to enlist online volunteers to identify signs of alien life in moon images collected by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).

Physicists Paul Davies and Robert Wagner of Arizona State University believe there may be signs of extra terrestrial life in the form of messages, scientific instruments, waste or evidence of mining that could be spotted by human telescopes and orbiting spacecraft.

In their paper published online in the journal Acta Astronautica, the pair wrote: “Although there is only a tiny probability that alien technology would have left traces on the moon in the form of an artefact or surface modification of lunar features, this location has the virtue of being close, and of preserving traces for an immense duration.

“If it costs little to scan data for signs of intelligent manipulation, little is lost in doing so, even though the probability of detecting alien technology at work may be exceedingly low.”

The paper adds: “Alien civilizations may have sent probes to our region of the galaxy. Any mission to the solar system would probably have occurred a very long time ago.

“The lunar environment could preserve artefacts for millions of years.”

The LRO has been taking pictures of the moon’s surface since 2009, with more than 340,000 images collected so far

According to Davies and Wagner, it would be impossible for one team to examine the ever-growing number of images, hence their suggestion to involve amateur enthusiasts in what they claim would make “an excellent educational project”.

They also suggest building computer software that could recognise irregularities on the moon’s surface.

The proposals would complement other hunts for alien life, including the Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), which uses data from radiotelescopes.

Tuesday 27th December 2011

Yung Un came over with Jordy Pordy and we all went to Pizza hut including Old Bag.

Sunday 25th December 2011

ALf departed Christmas eve to render his vast knowledge of the galaxy systems to disperse the cloud of gas abundant in the environs of the planet Sesbrillbahziut .

ALf returned as fast as he had left to celebrate Christmas with the Earth people and his now firmly established friends and family.

ALf dropped Uppy off at the north pole to help Santa entertain the Cheeky Girls after his hard night delivering gifts.

Wednesday 21st December 2011

Once again NASA has announced Two new planets. They are the most Earth-like ever seen – but hot as hell!

The newly discovered exoplanets are the first ever detected outside the solar system that are Earth’s size or smaller.

The newly discovered planets, Kepler-20 f and Kepler-20 e,

Astronomers have spotted the two smallest, most Earth-like planets to be discovered outside our solar system. They are orbiting a star called Kepler-20 almost 1,000 light years away in the constellation Lyra. Reaching the two newly-discovered planets would take the fastest spacecraft more than 4m years.

The planets, Kepler-20 e and Kepler-20 f, are 1.03 and 0.87 times the diameter of Earth respectively. The previous record holder for the smallest planet found outside the solar system, Kepler-10 b, has a diameter 1.42 times that of Earth.

Kepler-20 e.

“The first of these planets has a diameter just 3% larger than the Earth, which makes it the closest object in terms of size in the known universe,” said Dr François Fressin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who led the team of researchers that found the planets. “The second one is 13% smaller than the Earth. With a diameter around 7,000 miles, which is also smaller than Venus, it is in fact the smallest planetary body ever discovered in orbit of another sun-like star. Most importantly, it is the first time we cross the Earth-size threshold. In other words, it is the first time that humanity has been able to detect a planet of Earth’s size or smaller around another sun.”

The results, which come from observations by Nasa’s Kepler space telescope, are published in Nature on Tuesday. The telescope, launched in March 2009, watches more than 150,000 stars for signs of orbiting planets.

The researchers believe that the inner planet, Kepler-20 e, orbits its sun every six days. It should be entirely rocky, made from an Earth-like blend of silicates and iron. The outer planet, Kepler-20 f, which orbits once every 20 days, is bigger and could have developed an atmosphere made of water vapour, according to Fressin. Surface temperatures of around 700C and 400C respectively would almost certainly rule out life on either planet. “We are unable to say what their exact composition is. The planets are likely too hot to harbour life as we know it. However, it is very likely that Kepler-20 f migrated inwards from an outer orbit, and could have been a habitable planet,” said Fressin.

The planets were found by watching for objects periodically passing in front of the Kepler-20 star. As a planet transits, the starlight reaching Earth drops, so measuring the size of this effect can tell astronomers the size of the planet. “In the case of Kepler-20 e and 20 f, we were able to detect a periodic decrease in starlight smaller than 0.01% that occurred every six days for Kepler-20e and another periodic decrease that occurred every 20 days, for around two years. From these signals, we could determine the planet sizes and their orbital distance,” said Fressin.

Kepler-20 f. Image: Nature

Previously, scientists have reported the existence of three planets orbiting the Kepler 20 star, known as Kepler-20 b, Kepler-20 c and Kepler-20 d. These have diameters 1.91, 3.07 and 2.75 times that of Earth and orbital periods of 3.7 days, 10.9 days and 77.6 days respectively around their star. Earlier this month astronomers announced the discovery of Kepler-22b, one of the best candidates so far for an Earth-like planet outside our solar system. “This planet is interesting as it is fairly small and at the right location for water to be liquid,” said Fressin. “However, the planet is very likely too large to harbour life as we know it.”

Known planets around the size of Kepler-22 b, around 2.4 Earth diameters, most commonly resemble mini versions of the planetNeptune, the furthest planet from the sun in our solar system. These planets are mostly gaseous, with small rocky cores. “Although we do not know where the exact transition is between rocky planets and gas planets, Kepler-22 b is likely closer toNeptune,” said Fressin.

Once again ALf has informed me that these planets are all well known to him and his race, and at least 99% of the other alien to Earth beings know of these planets as for naming them Kepler 20e and f this is a stupid way of naming planets and should be abolished to Enbrillion the garbage waste planet where ideas are lost in the vacuum of silent thoughts.

This is a rare photograph of ALf’s home planet…….We on Earth have never seen this before so it is a first.  Sitem Ax12 That is the closest name we can make out in relation to English.

It resides in the Galaxy we have named NGC 3314 and consists of two large spiral galaxies which just happen to almost exactly line-up. The foreground spiral is viewed nearly face-on, its pinwheel shape defined by young bright star clusters. But against the glow of the background galaxy, dark swirling lanes of interstellar dust are also seen to echo the face-on spiral’s structure. The dust lanes are surprisingly pervasive, and this remarkable pair of overlapping galaxies is one of a small number of systems in which absorption of visible light can be used to directly explore the distribution of dust in distant spirals. NGC 3314a is about 140 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Hydra.

Alf calls this star cluster  “Hateem”. HOME. ALf attempted to translate the name of his home planet for the first time today and it came to  the name Daaaybr…in..mirx.

Tuesday 20th December 2011

According to news reports Stonehenge and Glastonbury are Britain’s number one and two hotspots for UFO sightings, it has been revealed.

In just five years 27 calls were made to police describing alien events, official figures show.

The alerts include general sightings of UFOs, aliens and one case of alleged “alien possession”.

One caller in the Somerset town home to the famous music festival reported a UFO in their front room, claiming it had made their dog draw pictures on the window.

Others claimed there were saints looking in through their windows, or wanted to pass messages on from our intergalactic neighbours.

In February 2007 one caller rang police to say aliens had taken over their body. This was followed up in July when another caller believed having seen an alien across the road.

In 2008 two callers reported being taken over by aliens and a possible alien assault. In the same year a UFO was seen circling local sight the Tor as well as the town.

A giant mystery object spotted by astronomers near the planet Mercury could be an alien spaceship, UFO hunters claimed today.

The round ‘craft’ is as big as a planet and appeared from nowhere in images captured by a Nasa telescope.

The  Heliospheric Imager-1 telescope was taking pictures of a coronal ejection, a giant eruption, from the sun when the mysterious ‘ship’ turned up in a series of shots.

Papers said it could be a cloaked UFO next to Mercury.

Brian Lagg of the Alien Spotters Club

Said: “It’s cylindrical on either side and has a shape in the middle. It definitely looks like a ship to me, and very obviously, it’s cloaked.”

Nasa has said the object was created because of the way images were processed.

ALf said a cloaked UFO my arse it was a Sulluqinmir female ship dismantling its giant hoarding promoting its holiday homes.

The holiday home venture collapsed on Sulluqinmir due to the sea around the main resort of Sullu evaporating after the lord of Sertbrindor had stayed there for a long weekend and unpleasantly passed water and broke wind at the same time while swimming .