Fondant Potatoes

I am always on the lookout for new ways (well to me) of cooking potatoes. This is a brilliant recipe.

Ingredients

• 4 good potatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, just a bit smashed
• 2 or 3 of sprigs of thyme
• 150g (5oz) butter
• 75ml (3fl oz) chicken stock (you can use vegetable stock to make this recipe vegetarian)
• Sea salt flakes and black pepper

Method

1. Peel the potatoes, cut a flat top and bottom on your spud. Cut out a round of potato with a pastry cutter. Cut off the sharp corners to make a nice barrel shape.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat until it starts to foam. Place the potatoes in the pan and cook for about 5-6 minutes until golden on the bottom. When done turn over the potato and cook for the same time again.
3. Add the stock. Put in the crushed garlic clove and thyme sprigs, watch out for this exploding everywhere. Season well.
4. Cover and simmer gently until the potato is cooked. Keep warm.

Best European Country to Live in

I. from time to time look at a web site called International Living. Each year it produces a league table of the best countries to live in throughout the World. Here is an edited version (It only contains European countries). Spain is 12th with the UK 20th. The last country in the whole world – Somalia!

Country	Score
France	82
Switzerland	81
Germany	81
Luxembourg	78
Belgium	78
Italy	77
Netherlands	77
Austria	77
Liechtenstein	76
Malta	76
Denmark	76
Spain	76
Finland	75
Hungary	74
Portugal	73
Lithuania	73
Andorra	73
Czech Republic	73
United Kingdom	73

The Euro? A good idea?

It seemed strange to me when I first heard the idea that there would be a universal currency in Europe. I knew that there were weak currencies (the Lira) and strong currencies in Europe (the Deutschmark), and that the weaker ones, were having a difficult time in competing in the global marketplace.

In that sense, the Euro would give those countries a more viable currency with which to do business. That said, I was always suspicious that in times of trouble, like right now, for example, that those weaker economies would drag on the common currency and that the cracks in Europe's economic unity would begin to show.


In my opinion, the Euro was always intended to boost the weaker economies in Europe by giving them the same currency as the stronger ones. However, I see the opposite as happening right now, that the weak European economies are sending ripples through the stronger EU members and that both are now hamstrung by the currency that they share.
It worked out well enough when times are good. It allowed a much easier sale of goods across borders and probably helped smooth some inflation for weaker countries. However, now the economies of Europe are slow each country has its own separate needs, the Euro is an anchor around all their necks.
The individual nations are now unable to fix their own problems with currency manipulations to ease interest rates and adjust deflation/inflation. Maybe that is why the UK decided to keep the pound.


I believe the Euro can't last. There are too many interests to maintain a uniform currency.

Double-Dip Recession

I hear and read the phrase Double Dip recession, yet no one has ever explained what it it means. So I looked it up. Its simple.
When gross domestic product (GDP) growth slides back to negative after a quarter or two of positive growth. A double-dip recession refers to a recession followed by a short-lived recovery, followed by another recession.
The causes for a double-dip recession vary but often include a slowdown in the demand for goods and services because of layoffs and spending cutbacks from the previous downturn.

Spain getting ‘over’ debt problems?

European Central Bank Governing Council said recently that Spain seems to be on track to meet its 2010 budget deficit reduction targets, but highlighted some risks he sees for its 2011 spending plans.Recent budget data point to the achievement of objectives for 2010, at least for the central government.
Spain is under intense pressure from the European Union and financial markets to slash a budget deficit that breached 11% of gross domestic product in 2009. It has pledged to reduce it to 9.3% of GDP in 2010. The 2011 budget the government sent to parliament last week calls for a 7.9% cut in spending, to cut the deficit next year to the target of 6% of GDP.
However, the cost in unemployment has been high. The number of unemployed people in Spain reached over four million in September. There were 48,102 more 'newly unemployed' compared to August, out of a total of 4.17 million.
The plan may be working, but, to coin a phrase, the Labour isn’t.

Most Expensive Barbie

My daughters played with Barbie dolls, but, never could we have afforded this on!




A custom-designed Barbie wearing a necklace featuring a one-carat pink diamond, made the doll the world's most expensive Barbie when it went on the auction block last week.
Christie's in New York sold the Barbie, created by international fine jewellery designer, Stefano Canturi, for $200,000.  All proceeds will benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Weather in Spain 18th October – 24th October 2010

Monday: Sunny but the cold wind kept temperatures down. Temp of 20C. Cool overnight with a temp of 14C.
Tuesday: Again sunny but a cold wind giving a temp of 19C. Overnight temp of 12C. 
Wednesday: Warm and Sunny as the cool wind has gone. Temp of 22C. Cooler overnight with a temp of 18C.
Thursday: Warm and Sunny. Temp of 21C. Cool overnight with a temp of 15C.
Friday: Cloudy with Sunny Intervals. Temp of 20C. Overnight a temp of 16C.
Saturday: Overcast all day with a temp to 19C. Overnight temp of 15C.
Sunday: A warm and sunny day . Temp of 23C. Overnight temp of 19C.

PIGS keep gobbling Euros

Two little PIGS went (back) to market (partly) last month, but the other two stayed firmly at home.

According to central bank data, the four countries whose banks have been most dependent on the ECB for liquidity–Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain–still accounted for over 60% of all the ECB funding still in the market in September.

Spanish and Portugese banks cut their dependence by 14% and 20%, respectively. Meanwhile, Greek banks stayed on the drip feed, and Ireland’s, beset by balance sheet problems and ratings downgrades, positively grasped for the bottle. Irish banks now borrow more from the ECB than French, Italian and Austrian banks combined.

That’s bad news for central bankers who are sounding increasingly impatient to have the region’s banks back on a sound footing, so that they can start to raise interest rates if they need to. The ECB has to run a monetary policy for 16 countries, most of which are emerging from recession and starting to look reasonably healthy again.

At the very least, some at the ECB would like to return to their old practice of rationing liquidity and letting banks bid competitively for it, but the data suggests there are still too many banks who would collapse under that kind of pressure.

The ECB had opened the liquidity taps as wide as they would go to keep Europe’s banking sector afloat and off the rocks in 2009. In theory, that could have risked inflation. As it turned out, it has managed to take back all but €40 billion of the excess without causing a panic, and without causing inflation. Inflation may have hit its highest level in nearly two years in September, but at 1.8%, it is still below the ECB’s 2% pain threshold–and it’s expected to fall again next year.

Polaris World

Prices of repossessed apartments in Polaris World have been slashed by as much as 50 percent as banks try to sell assets acquired during the property market collapse.

Polaris World handed over 1,500 properties and land to lenders in May 2009 to cancel 970 million euros of debt. Now the banks, are using hefty discounts and 100 percent mortgage deals to help clear the backlog and get some money back. Spain’s real-estate and construction slump left thousands of vacation properties unsold and their builders facing bankruptcy. The number of homes purchased in Spain by foreigners dropped 78 percent from 2006 through 2009.

The problem with Polaris World Resorts (we did look at them) is as beautiful as the resorts are, they are in the middle of nowhere, they are still in a bit of a wilderness.

Existing home prices in Spain have fallen 22.5 percent since peaking in April 2007. The country now has about 1.4 million unsold homes. The Spanish banks took about 60 billion euros of real estate onto their books as a result of the country’s worst recession in 60 years.

Starting Sept. 30, the central bank enforced tighter rules on how much lenders have to set aside in provisions for the assets, making it more expensive to hold on to them. Hence the sale!

Preferential Voting

I see that the Labour Party used Preferential Voting in their quest to select a New Party Leader.
Preferential Voting method a.ka. as the instant-runoff voting (IRV), or the "alternative vote"  which uses voters' preferences to simulate an elimination runoff election without multiple voting events.
As the votes are tallied, the option with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated. In successive rounds of counting, the next preferred choice still available from each eliminated ballot is transferred to candidates not yet eliminated.
The least preferred option is eliminated in each round of counting until there is a majority winner, with all ballots being considered in every round of counting.
Why then do they then insist upon a First Past The Post voting System in a General Election?

Ig Nobel Prize Winners for 2010

The tongue-in-cheek Ig Nobel awards for "improbable research" have become almost as famous as the real Nobels. The awards are run by the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research. They are supposed to "first make people laugh, and then make them think". Here is a picture of the prize, no money is won (unlike the Nobel Prizes).
All the research, bar some special prizes, is real and published in bona fide academic journals. As part of the fun, the prizes are also handed over by genuine Nobel Laureates.
The full list of winners:
Engineering Prize: Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse (UK) and colleagues for perfecting a method to collect whale snot, using a remote-control helicopter.
Medicine Prize: Simon Rietveld (Netherlands) and colleagues for discovering that symptoms of asthma can be treated with a roller-coaster ride.
Transportation Planning Prize: Toshiyuki Nakagaki (Japan) and colleagues for using slime mould to determine the optimal routes for railroad tracks.
Physics Prize: Lianne Parkin (New Zealand) and colleagues for demonstrating that, on icy footpaths in wintertime, people slip and fall less often if they wear socks on the outside of their shoes.
Peace Prize: Richard Stephens (UK) and colleagues for confirming the widely held belief that swearing relieves pain.
Public health Prize: Manuel Barbeito (US) and colleagues for determining by experiment that microbes cling to bearded scientists.
Economics Prize: Awarded to the executives and directors of Goldman Sachs, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, and Magnetar for creating and promoting new ways to invest money — ways that maximize financial gain and minimize financial risk for the world economy, or for a portion thereof.
Chemistry Prize: Eric Adams (US) and colleagues for disproving the old belief that oil and water don't mix. The research, supported by BP, was published under the title: "Review of Deep Oil Spill Modeling Activity Supported by the Deep Spill JIP and Offshore Operator's Committee".
Management Prize: Alessandro Pluchino (Italy) and colleagues for demonstrating mathematically that organisations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random.
Biology Prize: Libiao Zhang (China) and colleagues for scientifically documenting fellatio in fruit bats.

New Trident? But you have not used the last one we bought you!

The current defence review has come about because of the Austerity measures needed to cut the Sovereign debt of the country. Cause and effect.
One of the decisions to be made is about Trident. Do we extend its lifespan or replace it? Those seem to be the options, but what about keep them as they are. Why replace or upgrade them? They have not been used. They are not out of date (no star wars system has yet been developed that can stop them!). The replacement costs will go to America not the UK and they are still good until 2024 (that is 14 years away).
To me this is a no brainer.
We have no enemies that we can use these missiles on. Russia is our friend, China may become a threat but the current Tridents are more than enough to hold the status quo.
Each Trident missile has a range of up to 7,500 miles (12,000km) and is accurate to within a few feet. Their destructive power is estimated as the equivalent of eight Hiroshimas.
The UK deploys 16 Trident missiles on each of its four Vanguard-class submarines, of which one is on patrol at all times. The fleet is based at Faslane in Scotland.
More than enough fire power!
In my opinion we don’t need another.This ones still ok! 20 billion saved! 

Not the performance I wanted!

I am sure as sure can be that nobody from Liverpool FC management or players follows this blog. More is the pity as yesterday I requested a ‘good shift’ and a ‘performance’. What did I and the rest of the fans get…. Sweet FA!
There are in my mind players yesterday who should never put on a Liverpool shirt:

• Kyrgiakos – always looking to foul, out of position most of the time and slow.
• Konchesky – journeyman player. Only there cos he has a left foot. Can’t cross the ball.
• Lucas – Can’t pass, can’t shoot, can’t defend
• Maxi – mini effort, mini involvement, just a mini player
• Babel – jury is in. Can’t play to the required standard.
• Ngog – see Babel

Other players need  to boost their play

• Meireles – lightweight in the tackle
• Cole – needs to step up. Maybe only good in a good team. no fight
• Aurelio – needs to be fit

As for the Manager, saying that we had a good game is a blatant lie! Liverpool fans know a performance when they see one! Looked out of his depth on the line. Has a plan A, no plan B. Jury is out, but, it don’t look good!
What can we do before January transfer window? Play the youngsters (not all at the same time). Spearing, Kelly, Shelvey, Ince, Wilson and others cannot be worse and may be better. At least we will know!

Weather

Weather in Spain 11th October – 17th October 2010

Monday: Sunny with a few clouds around. Coldish wind kept temp down to 23C. Cool overnight with light showers and a temp of 17C.

Tuesday: A warm and sunny day becoming overcast in late afternoon. Daily temp of 26C. Overnight rain with a temp of 18C. 

Wednesday: Overcast start but sunny later in the afternoon. Temp of 22C. Cool overnight with a temp of 18C.

Thursday: Warm and Sunny day. Temp of 25C. Overnight temp of 22C.

Friday: Overcast start with sunny periods later. Cool wind keeping the temp down to 21C. Overnight temp of 18C.

Saturday: Sunny and warm with a temp to 25C. Overnight temp of 20C.

Sunday: Warm and sunny. Temp down to 22C. Overnight temp of 17C.

A good shift and a good win required.

In the last two weeks, since Black(pool) Sunday, we have had a good rest, we have had the new owners legal saga and now its time to play again.

What we need from the players is a good shift, a good work rate and a passing game with no, repeat no, mistakes.


The players are ‘supposed’ to be affected by the ownership issues and its affecting their playing. I don’t go for this. The club is solvent, the support is still massive and behind the team, the players are still being paid each week, they are still being fed, watered and closeted. Nothing should be affecting them. Nothing.

Lets see a good performance and a win. For two reasons. It’s a local derby, so local pride is at stake. And if we are to get out of the relegation zone we must beat the others that are there. And Everton are one of them.
The players should remember, that They Never Walk Alone, we the supporters walk with them. Win, Lose or draw. Performance good or bad!

Cheats never prosper

I wrote in this blog on the 25th July 2010 of my admiration of the riders of the Tour de France. Now nearly 3 months later my admiration and love for he Tour is waning fast.

In this year's Tour, in which the Spanish rider Contador finished just 39 seconds ahead of Andy Schleck, the Spaniard broke a sacred tradition in professional cycling when he took advantage of the Luxembourger's chain derailment to attack him on a crucial climb. Contador eventually apologized, but the nasty tactic deepened suspicions that the Spaniard would stoop to nothing to wear the yellow jersey.

Now we find that he has failed a drug test taken during the Tour. The test proved positive for the banned drug Clenbuterol.  Clenbuterol acts like an amphetamine - raising heart rate, temperature and blood pressure. Bodybuilders use clenbuterol to burn fat.

Contador is maintaining that his food was spiked, that he ingested the drug accidentally on July 21, 2010, the second rest day of the 2010 Tour.

I rest my case.

Shares in Liverpool?

I have written much about Liverpool ownership in the past weeks and I apologise to an extent. It means a lot to me and it sooths my spirit to write my thoughts in this blog. My only hope of any kind of ownership is through ShareLiverpoolFC.

Here is there latest update (via an email) on progress to date….

Spirit of Shankly-ShareLiverpoolFC welcomes the likely end of Hicks and Gillett’s ownership of LFC, regardless of the current attempts to prolong this process.
At this stage we remain open minded about any new ownership regime.
However our long held view that supporter ownership is right for Liverpool Football Club remains unaltered. The aspiration amongst supporters to become part of the ownership of LFC by investing our own money and to have our interests represented in the running of the club, still very much exists.
Recent experience has demonstrated that meaningful fan representation through democratic supporter ownership is the only fail-safe way that we can ensure that a reoccurrence of recent events never happens again. This requires supporter ownership through a direct equity shareholding in LFC, in partnership with new owners, giving the supporters real and meaningful representation. This is also the best way that the club can rebuild its relationship with tens of thousands of disenfranchised fans who want the opportunity to invest in their club’s future.
We will all be delighted to see the back of Hicks & Gillett, but at one level we are back where we were in 2007. At that time, supporters welcomed the new owners with open arms. This time, we are better informed and this time, tens of thousands of Liverpool’s supporters have demonstrated their willingness and ability to invest their own money in the Club. This time, there is an opportunity to create a unique partnership between supporters and new owners to everyone’s benefit.
We continue to pursue these goals and look forward to engaging with new owners to ensure that they fully understand the benefits of supporter ownership to the club, the wider community and themselves as owners.

Irish Banking Crisis

The one thing to be said for the Irish Banking crisis is that it puts our troubles into perspective. The Irish taxpayer support for the banks in Ireland amounts to a staggering 30 per cent of GDP; The UK’s is 6 per cent of GDP. (Can’t find out what Spain’s is : which is a bit worrying!)

The low interest rates, set by the European central bank and designed for the needs of the big European economies (i.e Germany), provided the funds for the Irish property market, which has since collapsed.

Granted, Britain is outside the euro, and we can set interest rates for the needs of our own economy. It will be some time before we join the Euro, providing the Euro survives.

Quietly into the Night

And so the media show goes on. Hicks (and Gillett), but mostly Hicks, continue the game in the law courts.
An injunction gained in Texas (the home of Hicks) has stopped any sale of LFC.
Not only have they stopped any sale, claiming that the club is worth many hundred of millions more than is being offered (which planet are they on?), but claiming a billion pounds (!!!!) in damages.
I said earlier in this blog that they wont go quietly. I was, so unfortunately, correct. The next time they can go is 25th October when the court case in Texas is heard.

In the meantime I can see RBS calling in the loan and LFC will be deducted 9 points. Maybe its a small price to pay for Hicks and Gillett to go – screaming out the door.

The Stig

Now that the hoot and the holler about the unmasking of the StIg, I thought that I would put my two pennies worth in.
The presenters, The producer and even the BBC have made a lot of money from Top Gear and the ‘invention’ of the Stig. So why can’t the man who plays the Stig get his ‘pay day’?
The acrimony surrounding the naming of the Stig has done nobody any favours and the vitriol from Jeremy Clarkson in any column he wrote was totally unwarranted.
Get another Stig and get over it. all of you!

Chancers and Charlatans

Not so long ago we had Kenny Huang ‘taking over Liverpool FC’ now we have a Peter Lim wanting to own my Club.

Huang was supposed to own all kinds of sporting teams, basketball, baseball etc., as well as being on the board of The Bank of China. None of which proved true, he was always not quite there. In more cases than one. But got his moment in the spotlight and lots of hits on the Internet!

Now Lim has come onto the stage under the super trooper (its a big spotlight). He claims his bid was best, it was, but a week late – no coincidence that it was on the morning of the court case (maximum publicity!). At the selection time, whether we like it or not, the LFC management team selected more Yanks.

Now Lim is in the spotlight claiming all sorts of things. Will he be another Huang, I think so. He will disappear when its time to put money on the table.

At least the new Yanks are quieter!

Liverpool FC Sponsers: A good deal?

Pity poor Standard Chartered the investment bank that sponsors Liverpool FC. At the time, the deal set a new benchmark for top-flight football sponsorships and success seemed assured.
A year later, and the deal is looking like a disaster: The club is engaged in a civil war with American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett; the team crashed out of the League Cup to lowly Northampton Town and have struggled in the Premiership this season. Technically, Standard Chartered have hitched their flag to a club that’s fighting relegation to the second rung of English professional football (although that fate remains unlikely).
Worse, fans have started selling protest shirts with “Standards Corrupted” on the chest and the bank’s logo — two intertwined ropes — represented as snakes.

None of this is Standard Chartered’s fault, of course; it’s merely the sponsor.

Archery

There I was watching the Commonwealth games when the archery came on.

This is a picture of the type of bows used in the Archery contest.
It bears no resemblance to any bow I have ever seen and absolutely no resemblance to the bows used by English Archers.
 
This is a bow used by the Archers at Agincourt. Its more like the one I imagined Olympic archers used, How wrong was !?
In the Olympics you get 4 minutes to shoot 6 arrows. At Agincourt you would have to put in more effort unless you wanted a French sword where the sun don’t shine!

Take Care – We bite

Uncle Sam's interest in Liverpool is no surprise. John W Henry can smell profit. It's all about the brand, all about the potential profitability of the badge.
The Premier League, at the moment, allows anybody to ‘buy in’ and  Liverpool are definitely worth the entry fee. It obvious what Henry is at Anfield for. No way did he have pictures of Ian St John or (Sir) Roger Hunt on his wall. No way did he stand in the boys pen. He knows little of Merseyside life and being a Liverpool supporter.  He smells a profit.
He must remember that any promises he makes must be swiftly met, no ‘spades in the ground’ its a stadium we want. He must distance himself from Hicks and Gillett.  He needs a PR campaign to win the hearts, minds and money of Liverpool supporters.
I personally know many supporters, who for them Liverpool is their life. Following Liverpool is a religion, a reason for living. The Kop will see through any sycophancy. However, Liverpool fans will never greet any new owner with open arms because they have been badly burned once and will will see through any false prophets.
How can they win us over, well, the £300 million valuation is a pointer.  It means that £50m would buy just under 20 per cent. If Share Liverpool can get 100,000 Liverpool fans to write out cheques for £500 each they can guarantee they won't be shafted again. And Henry has some money for a transfer kitty.
Those sums may seem ambitious, but I doubt it (I have my £500 ready). But inviting fans to have some financial input, echoing their emotional investment, would get them ‘on side’.
Henry is not buying Liverpool with the same motives as Roman Abramovich at Chelsea or Sheik Mansour at Manchester City. These billionaires have used their clubs as hugely expensive vanity projects. For Henry it is just another commodity deal. The Premier League or better still RBS (before they exit stage left and don’t ever forget they have made a profit!) must get some guarantees from this American that he has the cash for the takeover, the stadium and squad improvement.
John Henry is buying into an iconic name in Football. But f**k us, the supporters, up and we will bite. Defo!

Weather in Spain 4th October 2010 – 10th October 2010

Monday: Overcast start to the day with sun eventually breaking through. Temp of 27C. Cool overnight with a temp of 19C.

Tuesday: Warm and Sunny. Temp of 28C. Cooler overnight with a temp of 22C. 

Wednesday: Warm and Sunny. Temp of 26C. Cool overnight with a temp of 19C.

Thursday: Overcast start but sunny late with a temp of 24C. Cool overnight with a temp of 18C.

Friday: Warm and sunny with a temp of 24C. Overnight with a temp of 20C.

Saturday: Sunny start but overcast later. Temp high of 26C with rain overnight with a temp of 18C.

Sunday: Overcast start with a sunny day later. Temp of 26C. Overnight temp of 21C.

World Space Week Day 7 - Future Spaceflight

Voyager 1 is our most travelled spacecraft to date, clocking up a mammoth 12 billion km during its incredible journey to the edge of our solar system.

However, this long-haul trip has taken over 30 years to complete. What's more, even at speeds of over 35,000 mph, Voyager will take a further 20,000 years to reach the middle of the Oort Cloud, the hazy swarm of comets that surrounds the solar system.

Proxima Centauri, our nearest star, is twice this distance again. Clearly, if we want to explore further than our celestial doorstep, we must find new modes of space travel. From the feasible to the fantastic, here is a run-down of top transport options...

Future Options

Solar Sails
Made from flimsy, fragile material, they could be the next big thing in space travel. Rather than using the wind to push them along, solar sails are propelled by sunlight. A solar sail is a lightweight panel made from reflective material that acts like the sails of a boat. Rather than using wind, however, the sails are actually propelled by light. Unbelievable as it may seem, the stream of light particles (called photons) emitted from the Sun is strong enough to push a mini-spacecraft right out of the Solar System and beyond into interstellar space.

Ion Engines
Instead of burning chemical fuels, ion engines are electrically charged and work by ejecting positive ions from the back of the rocket, propelling the spacecraft forward. Though the thrust is tiny, the ion engine is extremely efficient, allowing the fuel to last far longer than in conventional rockets. Ion powered spacecraft gradually accelerate to extremely high speeds of 35,000 km per hour or more.

Nuclear Power.
One of the most feasible, yet controversial, methods of space transport. Our current chemical rocket engines produce relatively little power. They have to make use of planetary alignments, or 'launch windows', and use the gravity of other planets to catapult them further into space. Nuclear rockets would be more powerful and wouldn't need to take advantage of these chance planetary pattern. There are two types of possible nuclear rocket which rely on different types of nuclear reactions:

• fission, when atoms are split apart
• and fusion, when they join together.

Antimatter Spacecraft.
Antimatter, the alter-ego of matter, is the most efficient fuel possible, converting 100% of its mass into energy. There is a big problem with using antimatter. It takes more energy to make antiparticles than antiparticles produce when they are destroyed. Because of this, only 10 billionths of a gram is produced globally per year. This paltry amount isn't even enough to heat a cup of coffee, let alone travel to another planet. In addition to this, there's also the tricky problem of storage. How do you contain antimatter when it explodes as soon as it comes in contact with matter?

These technical difficulties mean that we won't be jetting off in antimatter rockets in the foreseeable future. Researchers at NASA's Marshall Flight Centre are hoping that the technology will be ready in 30-40 years time.

World Space Week Day 6 - The ISS International Space Station

The International Space Station (ISS) is an internationally developed research facility. In-orbit construction of the station began in 1998 and is scheduled for completion by late 2011. The station is expected to remain in operation until at least 2015, and likely 2020. The ISS can be seen from Earth with the naked eye and is by far the largest artificial satellite that has ever orbited Earth.
The ISS serves as a research laboratory in which crews conduct experiments in biology, chemistry, medicine, physiology and physics. The station provides a unique environment for the testing of the spacecraft systems that will be required for missions to the Moon and Mars. The ISS is operated by crews of six, with the station programme maintaining an uninterrupted human presence in space since the first launch of on 31 October 2000.
The programme is thus approaching the current record for uninterrupted human presence on a space station.
The ISS is a synthesis of several space station projects from  America, Russia, Europe and Japan. Budget constraints led to the merger of these projects into a single multi-national programme. The ISS project began in 1994when the first module of the station, was launched in 1998 by Russia. Assembly continues, as pressurised modules, external trusses, and other components are launched by American and Russian launch vehicles.
As of May 2010, the station consists of fourteen pressurised modules and an extensive integrated truss structures (ITS). Power comes from sixteen solar arrays mounted on the external truss, in addition to four smaller arrays on the Russian modules. The station has an orbit between 278 km (173 mi) and 460 km (286 mi) altitude, and travels at an average speed of 27,743.8 km/h (17,239.2 mph), completing 15.7 orbits per day.
Operated as a joint project between the five participant space agencies, the station's sections are controlled by mission control centres on the ground operated by the NASA, the ESA, the RKA, the JAXA and the CSA.
The ownership and use of the space station is established in intergovernmental treaties and agreements that allow the Russian Federation to retain full ownership of its own modules in the Russian Orbital Segment, with the remainder of the station, allocated between the other international partners.
The cost of the station has been estimated by ESA as €100 billion over 30 years, and, although estimates range from 35 billion dollars to 160 billion dollars, the ISS is believed to be the most expensive object ever constructed.

The Liverpool deal

So what is the deal for Liverpool FC from the Owners of the Boston Red Sox?
According to rampant rumour the deal is valued at £300m which incorporates

• £200m to repay debt owed to the Royal Bank of Scotland
• £40m to cover non-banking liabilities
• £60m in debts relating to the planned development of the proposed new Anfield stadium in Stanley Park.

This leaves no room for the repayment of the loans which Hicks and Gillett made to Liverpool, which stood at £144m on 31 July 2009, the date of the club's last published accounts.

What I can't underrstand is what did this £144m get spent on?
 
So with Hicks and Gillett keen to turn a profit from any sale of their shares in Liverpool, the reality is that they are now set to make a huge loss, making it clear why the Americans are so resistant to the deal and are going to court to stop it!

World Space Week Day 5 - Crawler Transporter

 

These vehicle (there are two) has been used for all the Apollo launches as well as all the shuttle launches and each has covered ‘only’ 1,500 miles in the process.

Transporter Statistics

• Weight: 2,721 metric tons (6 million pounds)
• Length: 40 meters (131 ft) wide, 35 meters (114ft) long
• Miles: 2,526 miles (1,243 miles since 1977)

NASA has 2 crawler-transporters. Each vehicle consists of four double-tracked crawlers, each 3 meters (10 ft) high and 12 meters (41 ft) long. Each of the 8 tracks on a vehicle contains 57 shoes per track and each tread shoe weighs about .9 metric tons (one ton).

The Crawler/Transporter is powered by 16 traction motors powered by four 1,000 kw generators, driven by two 2,750hp diesel engines. Two 750 kw generators, driven by two 1,065 hp diesel engines are used for jacking, steering, lighting, and ventilating.

When they were built, the crawlers were the largest tracked vehicles ever made. (now suppassed by the Bagger 288 excavator). They move the Mobile Launcher Platform into the Vehicle Assembly Building and then to the Launch Pad with the assembled space vehicle. Maximum speed is 1.6km (one mile) per hour loaded, about 3.2 km (2 miles) per hour unloaded. The trip time fully loaded is about 5 hours. The crawler burns 568 liters (150 gallons) of diesel oil per mile.

The top of the orbiter is kept vertical within plus or minus 10 minutes of arc, about the diameter of a basketball during the journey. Leveling systems within the crawler keeps the platform level while negotiating the 5% ramp leading up to the pad surface.

The height of the crawler is 6 meters (20ft) to 8 meters (26 feet) adjustable. The top deck is flat and square, about the size of a baseball infield, 27 meters (90 feet) on a side. Two operator control cabs, one at each end of the chassis, are used to control all crawler systems.

Hungary Toxic spill – The road to Hell

As emergency crews in Hungary work to clean toxic sludge from streets and houses affected by a spill from an alumina plant that killed four people.

The priorities were to seal the breach through which the sludge was leaking, and to protect the waterways. There are concerns that once the sludge dries, there will be a risk of the resulting dust causing lung cancer.

Reminds me of the Chris Rea Song

Well I'm standing by a river
But the water doesn't flow
It boils with every poison you can think of
And I'm underneath the streetlight
But the light of joy I know
Scared beyond belief way down in the shadows
And the perverted fear of violence
Chokes the smile on every face
And common sense is ringing out the bell
This ain't no technological breakdown
Oh no, this is the road to hell

World Space Week Day 4 – The Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle, part of the Space Transportation System (STS), is an American spacecraft operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for orbital human spaceflight missions, operational flights began in 1982. The system is scheduled to be retired from service in 2011 after 134 launches. Major missions have included launching numerous satellites and interplanetary probes, conducting space science experiments, and servicing and construction of space stations.

At launch, the Space Shuttle consists of the shuttle stack which includes a dark orange-colored external tank, two white, slender Solid Rocket Boosters and the Orbiter Vehicle which contains the crew and payload. The Space Shuttle is "stacked" in the Vehicle Assembly Building and the stack mounted on a mobile launch platform held down by four explosive bolts on each SRB which are detonated at launch.

The shuttle stack launches vertically, like a conventional rocket, from a mobile launch platform. It lifts off under the power of its two SRBs and the three main engines which are fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen from the external tank. The Space Shuttle has a two stage ascent. The SRBs provide additional thrust during liftoff and first stage flight. About two minutes after liftoff explosive bolts are fired releasing the SRBs which parachute into the ocean to be retrieved for reuse. The shuttle orbiter and external tank continue to ascend on an increasingly horizontal flight path under power from the three main engines. Upon reaching 17,500 mph, necessary for low Earth orbit, the main engines are shut down. The external tank is then jettisoned downward to burn up in the atmosphere.

The orbiter carries a crew of 5 to 7 astronauts and payload. Two crew members, the Commander and Pilot, are sufficient for a minimal flight. A typical payload capacity is about 22,700 kilograms (50,000 lb), but can be raised depending on the choice of launch configuration. The orbiter carries the payload in a large cargo bay with doors that open along the length of its top, a feature which makes the Space Shuttle unique among present spacecraft. This feature made possible the deployment of large satellites such as the Hubble Space Telescope, and also to capture and return large payloads back to Earth.

When the orbiter's space mission is complete it fires its OMS thrusters to drop out of orbit and re-enter the lower atmosphere. In the lower atmosphere and landing phase, it acts as a glider. It then makes a landing on a long runway. The aerodynamic shape is a compromise between the demands of radically different speeds and air pressures during re-entry, subsonic atmospheric flight, and hypersonic flight.

With more than 2.5 million parts, the Space Shuttle has been called the most complex machine yet created by humanity.

Liverpool FC Update

As I predicated on the 4th October the legal wars have started. The LFC board have selected the new owners, but the current owners Hicks and Gillet are going to court as they think the price is too low. They wa\nt £600 million, a extortionate price!

When can we have our club back?

World Space Week Day 3 – Moon Walkers

Twelve people have walked on the Moon. All human landings took place between July 1969 and December 1972, as part of the Apollo program.
Here is the list

Name	Born	Died	Lunar dates
Neil Armstrong	August 5, 1930		July 21, 1969
Buzz Aldrin	January 20, 1930
Pete Conrad	June 2, 1930	July 8, 1999	November 19–20, 1969
Alan Bean	March 15, 1932
Alan Shepard	November 18, 1923	July 21, 1998	February 5–6, 1971
Edgar Mitchell	September 17, 1930
David Scott	June 6, 1932		July 31 – August 2, 1971
James Irwin	March 17, 1930	August 8, 1991
John W. Young	September 24, 1930		April 21–23, 1972
Charles Duke	October 3, 1935
Eugene Cernan	March 14, 1934		December 11–14, 1972
Harrison Schmitt	July 3, 1935

World Space Week Day 2 - Moondust

Nine astronauts who walked on the Moon are still alive, but their clouds of glory have gone dark. Andrew Smith tracks them down in Moondust.

As Smith notes: 'Of over 400 people who have now into space, only 27 have ever left Earth orbit and seen her from the perspective of Deep Space - all American and all between the Christmases of 1968 and 1972.'

In those four wonderful Apollo years, it seemed that the post-war sci-fi visions of Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov would be realised overnight. Then came the Vietnam war's final throes and Watergate. America's mood darkened, its public got bored with the Moon and the final missions were cancelled. 'The best of times for America was also the worst of times,' as Nasa flight director Chris Kraft noted.

Today many people doubt if we even visited the Moon, a piteous state of affairs given the magnitude of the achievement. Worst still, of the 12 men who actually landed three are dead and the rest are ageing all are over 70.

Hence, Smith's mission to seek out the last nine and discover how the decades have treated the only humans to have walked on another world. 'I wondered whether the Moonwalkers had reconciled themselves to being Earthbound; whether they'd made peace with their world or continued to mourn their strangled hopes,' says Smith as he begins his quest.

Of course, it cannot be easy continually answering the same daft question: what's it like to walk on the Moon? The late Pete Conrad (Apollo 12), got round the problem by answering: 'Super! Really enjoyed it!' on every occasion. On the other hand, the level of dysfunction uncovered by Smith is astonishing.

Another startling theme is that Nasa sent men to the Moon on a meagrely-tested tower of high explosives and gave them a navigational computer with less memory than a mobile phone. They were paid $8 a day minus deductions for their free bed on Apollo. Aldrin still has a framed receipt on his wall: 'From Houston to Cape Kennedy, Moon, Pacific Ocean. Amount claimed: $33.31.'

Having created these heroes and used them to glorify America, Nasa paid them a pittance then dumped them, leaving them to struggle with the consequences of their fame and their physical and spiritual achievements. None was properly equipped to deal with his fall to Earth. What, after all, can you do with rest of your life, once you have been to the Moon? Not a lot is the simple answer provided by Smith.

The book is still a wonderful collective biography  of the Apollo programme astronauts. 4 Moons.

World Space Week Day 1

World Space Week is observed annually from October 4 to October 10 as announced by the United Nations General Assembly and has been considered as an International Celebration of Science and Technology.
World Space Week is supported by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs with the assistance of World Space Week Association, an NGO.

I have always been interested in Space exploration, so this weeks blogs will be mostly abouyt space.
Space when will we go there again?

Weather in Spain 27th September 2010 to 3rd October 2010

Monday: Overcast start to the day with sun eventually breaking through. Temp of 25C. Cool overnight with a temp of 20C.
Tuesday: Rain Showers in the morning but hot and sunny later with a temp of 27C. Overnight with a temp of 23C.
Wednesday: Warm and Sunny. Temp of 26C. Cool overnight with a temp of 22C.
Thursday: Hot and Sunny. Temp of 25C. Cool overnight with a temp of 22C.
Friday: Warm and sunny with a temp of 26C. Overnight with a temp of 23C.
Saturday: Sunny with a temp to 25C. Overnight temp of 20C.
Sunday: Overcast start with a sunny day later. Temp of 27C. Overnight temp of 20C.

Liverpool's future

I wrote in August how I saw the immediate future of Liverpool FC. I was broadly correct, no new owners before end of August 2010 and all the chancers (Kenny Huang lol) getting free publicity. But now October is coming up and RBS want their loan repaid. So what do I think.

Well I cannot see the yanks going away without a fight. Not unfortunatly with any fan but in the courts. RBS do not need the publicity, but do want their money back. On October the 6th the loan is up but no doubt there is, in the contract, a clause giving 'extra time' so lets call that 5 working days. So sometime around the 11th of October Liverpool will be 'owned' by RBS. However, positions are being prepared for a lawsuit. Liverpool FC have already engaged Slaughter and May (Coroporate lawyers of London City) and no doubt RBS and the yanks are getting their 'suits' ready.

This will leave my club in total limbo until 'Me Lord' gets to grip with the ins and outs of the case. If the yanks  lose in the UK they will proberbly go somehow else to sue, the USA, if they can.

I cannot see all this being resolved until mid 2011, so no transfer window activity for LFC this time around. No new owners and the threat of a 9 point deduction for going into administration hanging over us. I know the Premier League have said this wont happen, but, if LFC get into any europen place at the end of the season, the clubs below them could challange this ruling.

I thought charity begins at home

I was amazed and astounded to find that, the British people, pay out £9.1 billion in aid to other countries. And we give China (not Taiwan) but THE China that is the one making money hand over fist £50 million a year!

How can that be when our National debt from figures published in May 2010, was £927.4 billion or 63.7% of National GDP (Source: Office National Statistics).

I know where we can get 9 billion a year!

Solar Power - CIS Building (Manchester)

I found out recently that one of the office buildings I have worked in the CIS office in Manchester had gone to solar power. As part of an overall upgrade of the Grade II listed building, they replaced, in 2005, the existing 40 year old external cladding with a 400ft array of solar panels that produces 180,000 units of green energy.

The 25-storey CIS tower is the one of the tallest buildings in the Manchester area.

It makes my plan to have solar powered water and (maybe) solar powered heating for the pool small beer!

Books read in September

Assegai. Wilbur Smith. Based in Africa before the First World War the story revolves around Leon Courtney, a professional hunter, who guides rich and powerful men on big game safaris. One client is Count Meerbach, a German industrialist whose company builds aircraft and vehicles for the Kaiser's army. Leon is recruited to spy on Meerbach and falls in love with the Counts’ beautiful mistress, Eva Von Wellberg. Leon stumbles on a plot by the Count to raise a rebellion against Britain on the side of Germany amongst the survivors of the Boer War in South Africa. He finds himself left alone to frustrate Von Meerbach's design. A good read. 4 Stars
Hard Girls. Martina Cole. A serial killer of prostitutes is hunted by Kate, the girlfriend of Patrick, ‘the Face’ in criminal parlance. The killer is eventually detected (I guessed correctly) but not before Kate and Patrick fall out big style and most of the dialogue is about them and their feelings. Too much dialogue for my liking. To really understand the books storyline you should have read her previous books involving Kate and Patrick. With a bit of luck this will be the last as they both head of for retirement at the end. A nice read 3 Stars.
The Hanging Garden. Ian Rankin. Another Rebus novel set in Edinburgh, This one involving a gang war with Rebus’s daughter caught up in the war. The novel has Rebus himself, involved in a War Crime, A hit and run on his daughter and the gang war. All coming together in a gripping finale. The novels are getting longer and better as I read my way through the series. Looking forward to the remainder. Excellent and worth 4.5 Stars.

Untold Stories. Alan Bennett. Without doubt one of the best story tellers of this age. I listen again and again to the Talking Heads audio tapes. This book stories about his life is brilliantly observed and written, funny, sad, poignant memoirs of his family and excerpts of his diaries from 1996 – 2004. Matchless, timeless, engaging I was sad when it ended. 5 stars.
Dissolution. C. J. Sansom. I bought this book on a whim and was delighted to find a new author I hope to read much more of. The book itself is a great murder mystery - plenty of twists, without losing its credibility, and simply a superb story. Based around the dissolution of the Catholic Church during Henry VIII reign, it's a great picture of a time of enormous change in England - although I knew the basics of the dissolution of the monasteries, this really brings everything to life, and although there is plenty of detail for those who like their history, it never becomes dry or boring. Quite simply, this is one of the most readable books I've picked up for quite a while. I recommend it. 4 stars.