40+ years of friendship after Message in a Bottle

This is a lovely story don't you think?

Penpals meet 40 years after their friendship began via a message in a bottle

See that Star! By Jove!

A few days back on the 17^th July if you happened to be out in the evening you may have noticed a full moon. Nearby you should have been able to see a fairly bright star.

This star is in fact the 4^th brightest object in the night sky. It’s the planet Jupiter, the 5^th ball from the sun. Have you ever wondered that if you look through a pair of binoculars at Jupiter you might be able see the Giant Red Spot? …..

Well you can’t. But it is the largest planet in our solar system and is more than 2.5 times massive than the rest of the solar system planets combined. It has a volume of more than 1,300 times of our planet earth. Scientists have worked out that theoretically it is impossible for the planet to be any larger even if it had more matter because if it did have more matter the gravitational forces would be so huge it would cause the planet to shrink.

Back to that Giant Red Spot… it is the location of a truly massive and powerful storm that has been blowing for at least 180 years. It’s not known exactly when it was formed but scientist consider it to be stable and that it will probably go on blowing for hundreds of years to come. The spot is 2 to 3 times larger in diameter than the earth. If you think storms on earth are bad enough then you should feel sorry for Jovians, especially those who live approximately 22 degrees south of their equator. They have to brace down for that giant storm about every 6 earth days as that is the time it takes for the storm to circumnavigate the planet. They also have to tolerate a whole host of others in between time.

The planet is known to have as many as 63 moons. The first four were discovered by Galileo in 1610. In 1893 a fifth moon was discovered and by 1975 a total of 13 were known. A further 3 were discovered by Voyager 1 in 1979. A 17^th moon was briefly discovered and then lost again in 1975 – how did they manage to lose it? Fortunately, it was found again in 1999 and another 46 tiny moons were discovered through to February 9^th 2003. No more have been identified since. These little moons vary in diameter from 3km to around 9km and are thought to be captured asteroids – When will Jove release them; the poor creatures!

In Europe and the Middle East, over the next few weeks, if you look into the evening sky in a South East direction and you’re lucky enough to have no cloud cover you will the bright star and by Jove you will know a little something about it!

Water, water, water everywhere...

After spending about 21 minutes in the shower this morning...

I stumbled across this article in the news:

Britons spend more time in the shower than any other Europeans - up to 20 minutes EVERY day

I have to say I love my showers, baths, spas and times swimming. Water is a great medium to have in contact with my skin. Very therapeutic.

Richard Pike however gives us a ticking off for such indulgences:

But RSC chief executive Richard Pike was far from impressed at such cleanliness. He warned: 'We have to take on board that water is a precious resource and in the years to come it is going to become increasingly scarce.

"We can save water massively by using less when washing, without compromising hygiene.

"One should be able to shower thoroughly in a couple of minutes. We hear stories of people staying in the shower for half an hour at a time, which is absurd and self-indulgent. They say that it helps them relax.

"If we had a population of five million and not 60 million such self-indulgence might be tolerable.

"But today, with the world facing water shortages, that simply doesn't wash."

Well, what he says doesn't wash with me. Our planet is 75% water even if most of it is salted. The fact that there are nations in drout and countries with inadequate water management and distribution, doesn't mean we should have to conserve every bloody drop that comes out of our taps. Since we are an advanced species I believe we have the brains and know-how to develop technologies that can enable us to manage and distribute sufficient water supplies to every person on the planet. In the course time we will find ways to do so in increasingly more efficient and environmentally friendly ways.

I'll get off my soapbox now... and grab a bar of soap from under it... because I'm off to soak in a nice deep hot bath.

The £64,000 Question

Would £64,000 a year end YOUR money worries?

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Couples asked how much they wish they earned in a year have come up with the £64,000 answer.

--- Phil's comment ---

It is unsurprising to note from this article in the UK's Daily Mail that regardless of the level of income one has; the desire to earn an even bigger income is always there.

Some people call this human greed. It's actually human nature. It's not earning big that's wrong but what you do with it that counts towards what could be wrong or right.

The mistake that everyone makes (myself included) is the belief that earning that bit more will bring more happiness. That belief seems almost inherent in all of us and it's a tricky one to purge out of us.

The wealth study suggests that most people in fact do value their family and health as more important than money. Maybe so, however I consider that is what most people aspire to as noble values but in fact their actions dictate otherwise.