Showing posts with label Exploration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exploration. Show all posts
Saturday, 13 April 2019
Monday, 7 January 2019
Thomas Fletcher Waghorn
On the anniversary of his death, to celebrate the memory of Chatham born adventurer Thomas Fletcher Waghorn, 3 Confluence poets walked from his grave in Snodland to his statue in Chatham. Details of where to find his grave are on the find a grave website.
Snodland historical society have some information about him here. He embodied the unconquerable spirit of Kent and we salute him.
Sunday, 15 July 2018
Sunday, 5 June 2016
Tim Peake will be a changed man
Tim Peake's set to return to Earth on 18th June 2016. He's been a terrific ambassador, with frequent messages to the media and especially to schools.
When he returns it will be interesting to see how much of his changed perspective he will be able to share. It goes beyond the scientific ideas, the practical matters of living in such a stressful and noisy environment with the weight of expectation on his shoulders.
Looking back at the planet, what kind of thoughts will he be having about the world he'll be returning to? He's mentioned before how very different space looks without any light pollution. How many people are going to be prepared to listen to his ideas, once he's seen how fragile our little shared ball of of rock is? Oh, to be a fly on the wall during those conversations.
I think that there great capacity for space to help provide some solutions towards the need to secure a clean, sustainable energy source. One example is the space solar power project (SSP). The cost so set it up would seem to be a barrier - but compared to the cost of not exploring it's potential? With the right levels of co-operation this could become a reality. The question is, who is going to take that chance and begin to work together....?
Return date listed on the esa principia mission blog here
When he returns it will be interesting to see how much of his changed perspective he will be able to share. It goes beyond the scientific ideas, the practical matters of living in such a stressful and noisy environment with the weight of expectation on his shoulders.
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| Tim Peake's spacewalk selfie |
Looking back at the planet, what kind of thoughts will he be having about the world he'll be returning to? He's mentioned before how very different space looks without any light pollution. How many people are going to be prepared to listen to his ideas, once he's seen how fragile our little shared ball of of rock is? Oh, to be a fly on the wall during those conversations.
I think that there great capacity for space to help provide some solutions towards the need to secure a clean, sustainable energy source. One example is the space solar power project (SSP). The cost so set it up would seem to be a barrier - but compared to the cost of not exploring it's potential? With the right levels of co-operation this could become a reality. The question is, who is going to take that chance and begin to work together....?
Return date listed on the esa principia mission blog here
Sunday, 15 May 2016
Sunday, 27 March 2016
Sunday, 13 March 2016
Sunday, 28 February 2016
Tuesday, 23 February 2016
Hotel dreams Del Estrocho
Hotel Dreams Del Estrocho
Facing the police flag kicking the sky,
car exhausts trails dividing the square, banditos on the sly
on the 8th floor, facing away from the view,
basking in bright weather, coaches with penguins all taunting you,
with cloud soft forms of what could have been,
all the leopard seals and wildlife and icebergs unseen.
Words formed, above the mute phone,
with intimate touch blazing across the screen,
bald truth reminding you of the obscene
illusion that you are ever alone
image sourced from Morguefile
Facing the police flag kicking the sky,
car exhausts trails dividing the square, banditos on the sly
on the 8th floor, facing away from the view,
basking in bright weather, coaches with penguins all taunting you,
with cloud soft forms of what could have been,
all the leopard seals and wildlife and icebergs unseen.
Words formed, above the mute phone,
with intimate touch blazing across the screen,
bald truth reminding you of the obscene
illusion that you are ever alone
 |
| Image credit: hot black (morguefile) |
Saturday, 30 January 2016
Londonium 2016 - Mindful Writing
boxes blinking bright in
hoarded sunlight, corralled by
black cabs,
diverted the famous grey
flows of metamorphic concrete
layered down.
the Romans river anchored
offshore, the sign of the skyscraper
follows the length of the
high Thames
_____________________________________________________________________________
Mindful writing is the practice of capturing a moment in writing, described by Satya Robyn as a small stone. Satya describes a small stone as a "short piece of writing that precisely captures a fully-engaged moment".
I think the practice is a terrific way of learning to pay attention. A great description of how to do this very simple exercise can be found here.
Picture sourced from Morguefile
hoarded sunlight, corralled by
black cabs,
diverted the famous grey
flows of metamorphic concrete
layered down.
the Romans river anchored
offshore, the sign of the skyscraper
follows the length of the
high Thames
 |
| London |
Mindful writing is the practice of capturing a moment in writing, described by Satya Robyn as a small stone. Satya describes a small stone as a "short piece of writing that precisely captures a fully-engaged moment".
I think the practice is a terrific way of learning to pay attention. A great description of how to do this very simple exercise can be found here.
Picture sourced from Morguefile
Thursday, 21 January 2016
Yes, the planets really are lining up....
If you like in the northern hemisphere, you're in for a treat (if you get up early enough)
Five of our local planets will be visible to the naked sky and will align (zig zaggy) across the dawn sky. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter will be simultaneously visible to the naked eye for the first time since 2004. Details here
The planets will be visible between 20 January 2016 - 20 February 2016, though word is the best view is likely to be in the early morning of February 5
The picture, courtesy of NASA, was taken as part of the Cassini mission to investigate Saturn in-depth. The gallery of Venus pictures is available here.
And because writers love a good planetary alignment why not check out the Sci-Fi tropes page here for a good list of all the awful things that happen in stories when the planets align. If you dare...!
Five of our local planets will be visible to the naked sky and will align (zig zaggy) across the dawn sky. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter will be simultaneously visible to the naked eye for the first time since 2004. Details here
The planets will be visible between 20 January 2016 - 20 February 2016, though word is the best view is likely to be in the early morning of February 5
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| View of Venus from the orbit of Saturn, picture credit: NASA |
And because writers love a good planetary alignment why not check out the Sci-Fi tropes page here for a good list of all the awful things that happen in stories when the planets align. If you dare...!
Sunday, 30 November 2014
Ursula Le Guin - my hero
Ursula Le Guin was recently awarded the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. I think it's safe to say that her acceptance speech has ruffled a few feathers
"I think hard times are coming when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now and can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies. We will need writers who can remember freedom. Poets, visionaries—the realists of a larger reality."
Ursula K. Le Guin, 65th National Book Awards. Nov 19, 2014.
What is the point of speculative fiction? Why bother writing for a genre still viewed with some disdain? It has long been dismissed as ray guns and ponies, After all, as with other heretics isn't it easier to label and ignore challenging ideas than to listen and engage with them? Other genres, called more "realistic" do still tell stories from a particular viewpoint after all, and speculative fiction is a reminder that this viewpoint is only one of many and can be challenged.
Speculative fictions can be used to challenge orthodoxy of thought, can challenge a narrative that makes people so fearful of their neighbours that they will consider them to be less than human. Speculative fiction can show the possible mirror or progression of that thought, a dystopian world, or an alternative vision of what could be. Given the multiplicity of speculative fiction writers specifically addressing questions of gender, race, economy and class fictions can question everything we think we know about the way our world is shaped. And then, after reading and maybe having your own views challenged, there is the possibility of meeting others who might think the same way. Ursula went on to say
"We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable – but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words".
Her words were brave, delivered in a roomful of publishers and powerful people, especially in the economy that we now inhabit. The full speech, far better to hear from Ursula herself, is available on the National Book Foundation website http://www.nationalbook.org/amerletters_2014_uleguin.html#.VHsO1zGsW1
"I think hard times are coming when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now and can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies. We will need writers who can remember freedom. Poets, visionaries—the realists of a larger reality."
Ursula K. Le Guin, 65th National Book Awards. Nov 19, 2014.
Speculative fictions can be used to challenge orthodoxy of thought, can challenge a narrative that makes people so fearful of their neighbours that they will consider them to be less than human. Speculative fiction can show the possible mirror or progression of that thought, a dystopian world, or an alternative vision of what could be. Given the multiplicity of speculative fiction writers specifically addressing questions of gender, race, economy and class fictions can question everything we think we know about the way our world is shaped. And then, after reading and maybe having your own views challenged, there is the possibility of meeting others who might think the same way. Ursula went on to say
"We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable – but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words".
Her words were brave, delivered in a roomful of publishers and powerful people, especially in the economy that we now inhabit. The full speech, far better to hear from Ursula herself, is available on the National Book Foundation website http://www.nationalbook.org/amerletters_2014_uleguin.html#.VHsO1zGsW1
Sunday, 5 October 2014
Monday, 5 May 2014
Whitstable May Day Celebrations 2014
We do something a certain way once and then twice and them before we know it we have developed a habit. These habits go, to paraphrase the Talmud, from the lightness of a spider's web to the strength of a cable.
Tristan Gooley The Natural Explorer: Understanding Your Landscape
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| Dead Horse Morris in Whitstable high street Image credit: SM Jenkin |
So after reading the chapter about customs and habits, I decided to brush away the cobwebs, avoid the engineering works into Rochester, and try something new. I visited the May Day celebrations in Whitstable, revived back in 1976 and running yearly ever since. It was a fantastic day with Morris sides dancing and parading in the sunshine from the library to the harbour, through the high street to the castle. They escorted Jack-in-the-green, Robin Hood and maid Marion, the hobby horse (oss) and a bear.
What is the deal with the bear - is it related to the straw bear? The straw bear has been described as a personification of the winter, but is that all there is to it?
The Oyster Morris Jack-in-the-green can be viewed courtesy of the company of the green men. Some information about British Traditional events can be found in the: Calendar Customs
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