Simon Jenkins: "Germany, I apologise for this sickening avalanche of first world war worship"

I certainly don't agree with everything Simon Jenkins says (especially his repeated silly outbursts of anti-wind turbine propaganda), but he gets full marks from me for his excellent WW1 piece in yesterday's Guardian. 

 

 Reminds of "War doesn't determine who's right - only who's left" (Bertrand Russell, allegedly).

Leicester Mercury photo competition: Curves and Lines

Nice photos in the Curves and Lines Leicester Mercury photo competition.

Frost, by Caroline Hart

Any idea where the station clock by Susan Guy is? I don't think it's Leicester station, unless the photo was taken before the recent refurbishment?

Strasse Schloss Ablenkung

Get it? I thought not! :-)

Anyway, the other day one of my 'energy mates' posted this (rather off-topic) comment in an energy forum under the heading Stopping temporary road signs blowing over:

I can't help but notice that temporary road signs blow over because the wrong stabilising solution is applied - they place a single sand bag on the rear horizontal strut only. This does stop the sign blowing over if the wind comes from the rear, but nothing to stop the sign blowing over if the wind comes from the front, which it will do in stormy conditions. The correct place to put the sandbag(s) is on the apex of the sign so that the sandbags weight is equally pressing down on both the front and the rear legs, rather than just the rear. And possibly two is better than one.

Be that as it may, it reminded me of a hilarious 'German' road sign that I spotted during a visit to Bath back in 2003. See below.

At the time I couldn't resist sending the following message to the Bath & North East Somerset Council Tourist Office at tourism@bathnes.gov.uk:

I recently visited Bath ... as part of an Orient Express excursion from
London, and the whole day was fantastic, including the guided tour of Bath.
However, I came across the traffic sign shown [above], which was apparently trying to indicate that the road was closed and that there was a diversion. Unfortunately, the German on that sign is so bad that to call it an embarrassment would be a severe understatement. If you ever require the services of a professional translator, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Pete Seeger RIP

I have to confess that I didn't know a lot about Pete Seeger and his background until I started reading about him, prompted by announcement of his death in today's Guardian.

Interesting Wikipedia entry about Pete Seeger here. Nice Guantanamera YouTube clip here, leading to Joan Baez Guantanamera here. This is getting a little addictive! Interesting Wikipedia entry about Guantanamera here. By the way, looking forward to An Evening with Joan Baez at the Southbank Centre in September.

Alternative to Fracking?

A little while ago a fellow environmental campaigner sent me this thought-provoking and highly topical message:

Just want to clear up something for myself; I won't support fracking but I don't know enough about it (so generally I stay away from discussing it). However, all the renewable energy sources I know of (wind turbines etc.) are to provide electricity...not gas. So is there a renewable equivalent to gas, or is the aim to move away from gas and convert all gas powered equipment to electricity?

I told him that I intend to provide a comprehensive response asap, not least because it will help clear things up in my own mind too! This just a 'holding entry' to indicate that I haven't forgotten...

Meanwhile, see The Renewable Gas Mandate blog entry and plenty of further reading on renewable gas in Jo Abbess' blog.

Birdwatching

Some nice shots of birds on our mega bird feeder in Dropbox album here.

Also see short video clip below. Note adult bird feeding the young.

Fox Hunt (2)

Managed to 'catch' a fox in search of food for a few seconds the other day in the morning. Note that it was in daylight, just after 8am.