Everything's Not Lost!

I'm 15 years married today. That's pretty good going by modern standards, I do believe. What's more we've never once threatened to kill each other, and that has to count for something right? I'm not a big fan of overblown romantic gestures, and neither is she, or at least she's practical enough to realise that we can't afford them, so there's no extravagant presents or massive bouquets. If there was I'd probably be right under the spotlight. In certain quarters, such items are a sure sign of hidden guilt. This is such a quarter!

I'm still loving the new series of Lost, loads of questions stacking up once more, such as why is Kate pretending to be Aaron's mother? What therefore happened to Claire? Why did Jack say that there were only 8 survivors of the flight? and why are they called the Oceanic 6? We already know that Jack, Kate, Hurley, Said and Ben make it back, and so who is the other island escapee?

I'm trying to find some smaller hills for this weekend. After last week's Force 10 bashing at the top of the Buck, I'm starting to think that it's still just a little too seasonal for hills of that height, so the plan is to stick to the smaller ones until the weather improves. The challenge is to find smaller hills that sre still worth scaling, because if you can practically drive to the top, then there's hardly any point pulling on the hiking boots is there? I'll find such a hill though, don't you worry!

Under the Microscope!

Funny thing happened today. I'm not giving away too much detail, but in an overheard conversation, I overheard mention of the fact that no-one had ever seen an electron. It went further... electrons were just too small to see, but atoms could be seen. Then, tonight I'm having a quick scan through the first few pages of Digg, and I read the headline "Scientists view electrons for first time"! How spooky is that? It's not like it's every day you hear people talk about electrons unless that's part of your job, and it's not part of my job. Well, maybe slightly, but not to such an extent that I even need to say the word "electron"!

I did read another much more disturbing article on Digg last week about a report that the Pentagon had commissioned on climate change. Allegedly, the results suggested that the World, and it's over-burgeoning population might be on it's knees by 2020. It suggested that the UK would be as cold as Siberia, sea-levels would rise dramatically, resource shortages would escalate, and that countries would use nuclear weapons to defend their precious resources, in what was termed "a resource war"! That paints a pretty gloomy picture. Of course they could be wrong, and they better be wrong, because I'm not a fan of the cold and I live in the Northern extremities of the UK.

It gets to the point though, where all these scare stories just wash over you. We've heard it all... pork gives you cancer, vegetables are filled with pesticides, and radiation from Chernobyl, as are the animals grazing on the irradiated pastures. Wine is good for you, no it's bad, wait, some wine might be good. Tap water is filled with fluoride and stuff that makes it shiny, but gives you Alzheimers. On the other hand, bottled water contains chemicals from the bottle's plastic which will give you cancer. Let's face it, there's nothing safe to eat or drink, so you may as well eat, drink and be merry!

When the Time Is Right!

Well, today went alright. I've only been finding my feet really. Tomorrow will be my first time out in front of class. Nothing massively difficult, but actually fairly new to me believe it or not. That's right, I don't know everything already. I know most, but not all. The fact is, parts of this will be difficult, other parts will be fairly straight-forward (I hope). My principal concern is, that when the time comes, I'll land with the right class, the right lesson, and the right amount of luck. Lady luck had smiled on me so far through this course. Just once more, that's all I ask!

If you're reading this and you haven't read any of my previous posts, then it won't make a whole lot of sense. I'm complex you see, and I didn't land where I am now overnight. It's taken 4 years of graft, and I'm still not quite done. But soon I will be, then I can start reaping the rewards that my dedication and perseverance so surely entitle me to.

I really wish it was Summer, or even Easter. I need a break! I want to have the time to read a few books. What's more, I really need to do some archiving... badly! I just haven't had the time, and stuff is accumulating with speed. The trouble with even thinking about archiving is (touch wood) that usually when I think about it seriously, that's when I get a hard-drive crash. So, I've just unthought it again. This conversation never took place, you never saw me, right?

Ark Drum Of the Lemba!

A researcher "Tudor Parfitt" reckons that the Ark of the Covenant was actually a drum filled with some substance akin to modern day gunpowder, and that it wound up in Zimbabwe after being carried into Africa by the Lemba. The original Ark-drum thing was allegedly destroyed by an expolsion, but the remnants were used to build a replica, which now resides in the Harare Museum of Human Science in Zimbabwe.

Now there are parts of this story which make sense and others which fall short. Mr.Parfitt was the man who traced the genetic relationship between the Lemba and the Judaic Temple Priests, proving their assertion that they were a lost tribe of Israel. The association of the Ark with trumpets, King Solomon dancing in it's presence, and the drums beating around the walls of Jericho, add circumstancial anecdotal evidence. But could a drum really have had the powers ascribed to the Ark in the Old Testament?

On the one hand, the ancient Egyptians also associated musical notes, particularly those of trumpets, with magical powers, but I'm not sure about drums. And, Moses had just departed from Egypt when he received the Ark. Maybe he had it with him already, taken from Pharaoh. That would definitely explain the Pharaoh's burning desire to catch him. The Ark may well have been a prized possession of the Egyptian elite. We'll never know.

Perhaps the drum was merely associated with the Ark, perhaps beating time as the Ark passed around Jericho, and in time became the Ark to a tribe that had ancestors present at the occasion. Maybe the real Ark is still waiting to be found, or maybe it has been found, crated and stored in a huge warehouse someplace where nobody will ever look!

Back Of Beyond!

The Buck!

Took this shot on the way back. A view of the Buck from the Cabrach. Doesn't look nearly as big as it actually is from here.

Thought this was a nice idea for a photo, looking along the fenceline with Ben Rinnes in the distance.

What appears to be a pictish symbol stone with 3 fishes swimming around each other, and some other symbols. Nobody knows what these stones represented, but it could have been a boundary marker. Interestingly, the present day boundary between Moray and Aberdeenshire, runs right across the top of the hill!

View from the top towards the Cairngorns.

This was a hard one! The virtual bog at the bottom had to be negotiated twice, but at the top of the hill, the wind was so strong it was almost impossible to stand. I've never experienced anything like it before. I only managed to get some photos off because I found shelter behind the rocks on the summit. What an adventure!

The Missing Dollar Bill Mystery!

Things are beginning to take shape. I might have a job lined up for next year. It's not definite yet, but it's definitely very promising. If I can keep my head down and keep my nose clean, I'll be in with a great chance, that's for sure. I for one will be glad to have a pay-packet again after 4 years of study. I say pay-packet, but it'll be a payment transfer probably. I guess pay-packets are a thing of the past. I can remember when I got my pay-packet on a Thursday, and having to mix it with the drunks at the bus stop wasn't fun at all. Especially when they started hassling me for money... "You've been paid today right, it's Thursday, everybody gets paid on a Thursday!" Of course I denied it. They'd probably have robbed me for it otherwise.

Anyway, thoughts turn to buying a house, not likely similar to the one in the photo. I'll probably opt for something more traditional to be honest. Old on the outside, Sci-fi on the inside. That's my ideal house, and with huge rooms, which you don't usually get in an old house. You see what a contradiction I am. Anyway, probably won't need a house unless I have to move, and I'm hoping not to have to move, but I might upgrade anyway.

I was hoping to climb a hill called "The Buck" this weekend, but the weather is damn awful right now. Yes American citizens, you read correctly, it's called "The Buck". I don't know where the name came from, but I'm sure it wasn't because an American tourist lost a dollar bill up there and nobody ever found it. We don't get many American tourists up here anyway, because they haven't found out about the place yet. In case you're wondering, we have some of the best beaches, hills, forests, castles and scenery in the whole of Scotland, and you don't even know about it! Scotland's best kept secret! Sssshhhh!

A Flight Of Books!

Came across this today, a staircase cum bookcase that anyone would be proud to have in their house. It helps if you have time to read, and if you happen to have a life of leisure. Unfortunately for me, I haven't been able to find hardly anytime to read of late. My Uni course is all consuming, and even more so the periods while on school placement. There's no respite! And, even Summer when it eventually comes will offer very little in the way of down-time, as it looks like I might have to seek employment until around the time when the schools go back.

My love of a good book is no secret in these parts. I'm sure I've mentioned it several times in the past. I won't read just any old rubbish though. It has to leave me thinking, or at least take me on some sort of journey. I have no time for disposable fiction, books need to have longevity. A good book is the one I can come back to in 5 or 10 years, and enjoy it all over again. The trouble with this sort of attitude to books, is; I never throw them away. I just accumulate them, and they accumulate dust, or sit in boxes in the attic waiting for retrieval. I know that I've got some good books up there, and as I can't remember which ones, that's good! I can read them again soon, if I ever have the time.

So, it's back to school on Monday for another 4 week block of teacher training. However, I'm in a different school this time, and the circumstances are also very different. I won't go into details just yet, no doubt I'll have plenty to post about in due course. This placement is followed up by another even harder assessment than the last one. Then it's a group presentation in front of half the Uni, followed by another school placement just to round the year off. It's been tough and it's not over yet. Probably a third of the students on the course have dropped out, and soon others will be getting kicked out, while even more will fall. It's not for the faint-hearted, that's for sure!

The Same Old Story!

I read somewhere today, that some brave people have decided to make futuristic manga comic strips featuring biblical stories. A cited example was David and Goliath, but with robots portraying the pricipal characters instead. I actually quite like the idea, because despite it's quaintness and occasional cliched moralistic tale, the Bible is clearly a good source of material. It's probably provided the back-bone for many a modern book or film. Let's face it, Luke Skywalker and Harry Potter are incarnations of Jesus anyway, maybe with a swipe of Dionysus as well, but that's bye the bye really!

I personally think that the Old Testament has some kernels of truth from pre-history in it. The New Testament might have given us a useful insight into historical happenings in Judaea at that time, if it wasn't for the later removal of every notable historical and political element, by the Roman church. Why don't they write a new bible anyway? Using the Nag Hammadi scrolls and others, I'm sure they could put together something much more relevant. But that something would be well out of line with the traditional scriptures wouldn't it? They'd never stand for that!

My own favourite is Ezekiel! He got up to all sorts. Babylon was obviously the place to be in those days, even though they didn't exactly choose to be there. But if he hadn't been there then he might never have got to travel in a space-ship. Ezekiel probably would have been left out too, had they not been able to interpret events entirely differently to what clearly happened. After all, nobody would have looked at Ezekiel's "visions" as close encounters before the 1950's. It wasn't until then that an explanation was given for such events. Before that people wouldn't have known what to think. Yes, people, especially those of little education, do have a need to be told what's going on, and tend to blindly accept the explanation given, especially from an authority they hold in veneration... like the Church for instance!

That Which Was Lost!

Yes, I finally found the time last night, to catch up on the first two episodes of the new series of "Lost". Here was me thinking there was going to be a significant decline in decent storylines, but that doesn't seem to have been the case. Since the creators decided the show would end with a sixth and final series, and having mapped out their expectations for the remaining shows, things seem to have more cohesion. I like the way that they've introduced new characters at the start of each season, and this season's bunch are the biggest bunch of oddballs yet!

My wife still thinks the whole thing is a figment of Hurley's fevered imagination, combined with some experimental drugs. A while back, we saw the nuthouse he was in before the crash, and he seemed to have quite a few of the other characters sharing the same domicile. If they were all on the same medication, then that might be plausible. My theory that they were all dead seems to be losing ground, but you never know. That would explain new guy Miles, involvement in the "rescue" mission.

I could be insanely busy over the next month, so if I miss the odd post, don't fret. I'm at a crucial juncture in life. I'm almost at the end of a journey, but there are still a few twists in the road to navigate. Ten years ago, I don't think I could have done this, but I've changed. I'm much more self-assured, you might say. Sometimes I even suspect myself of being cocky, and it disgusts me. I try not to, but I work hard and feel I should get some recognition for it occasionally, even if it has to come from myself!

Star Shift!

Lots of star news today, not celebrity type stars, but stars as in solar systems with a Sun (maybe more than one) and some planets orbiting the Sun. What news you say, pray doth tell? Well, firstly and probably as no surprise to anybody, scientists have proclaimed that there are likely millions of solar systems just like ours, with planets similar to ours, which probably have life, not necessarily like ours! Who'd have guessed? I hope you weren't thinking we're all alone in the Universe, because it seems that would be a wrong assumption. I would have told you that anyhow, but would you have listened?

Other news, which ties in with the first news. Apparently Titan, moon of Mars is hugely abundant in natural resources, scientsists have declared. Very fond of declaring things, these scientists. Perhaps there are a specific bunch of scientists who do nothing but make big declarations to the press, while the other scientists do the real scientific work. Anyway, since the Moon and Mars already have lots of natural resources, which the Superpowers are naturally eager to exploit, why not add Titan to the list. In fact, once we've done shafting this planet, why don't we just tear apart the rest of our solar system, then branch out across the galaxy, leaving massive open cast mines all over the place.

To be honest, my Sci-fi idealism suggests that the best course of action would be to build huge self-sustaining space-ships, fill them with "suitable" people, and send them out into the depths of space, to find new planets to inhabit. Meanwhile the rest of us can stay here and either wait for armageddon, massive global flooding, or some pandemic. We would be able to rest safe in the knowledge that humanity had rooted itself elsewhere, and had started to rip the guts out of another planet just like Earth! That started off idealist and ended all realist, my apologies. I'm tainted by the human genome!