Christmas catch-up

Boxing Day is drawing to a close. Went into town this afternoon to have a look round the two shops that were open. Bleugh. Never go to a sale. It's a non-descript day weather wise, grey and dull. Watched Pirates of the Caribbean on BBC1 and couldn't see what the fuss was about. Wafer thin story, soporific sword fights, for goodness' sakes, I've seen better pirate movies than that. Give me Hornblower or Captain Bligh any time, thankyou.

I have just gone through the 118 alerts (pertaining to about 35 journals, and including comments) that crowded my inbox over the past two days. I hope everybody had a nice Christmas, although I was sorry to read of at least one disaster. At least someone had the big question popped to her - congratulations, Nelishia.

Made in China

Anybody noticed how much of our consumer stuff is made in China these days? And how little is actually manufactured in Europe - cannot speak for the USA. Many small companies were squeezed out of business over the past years by producers in countries like China, where workers were paid very low wages.

This does have an implication. The day may come that China holds the monopoly of manufacture, and could use that as a leverage tool. You see the same happening in countries surrounding Russia, that are depending on its gas exports. The balance has shifted to China in fair trading, and by fair economics. We are beginning to see the first stages of this leverage.

Because of the increased income out of exports, standards of living are beginning to rise in China. Workers demand higher wages, seeing on their new TV's what we are enjoying here in the West - so prices of consumer goods will rise too, in our shops. Bearing in mind that there is no real competition left - maybe I'm wrong - this spiral could have serious consequences a number of years down the line. China is a giant.
It is beginning to wake up.

Technorati Tags: china, economics, west

Saddam Hussein

The appeal lodged by the former Iraqi dictator's legal defense team against his death sentence has been rejected. Saddam Hussein is now to be hanged within 30 days. There is an outside chance that the sentence could be overturned by the president, but the trial judge has stated that it cannot be commuted.

Dramatic as though this may seem, Saddam Hussein has been reduced to little more than a footnote in current proceedings in his country. His supporters will probably transported into a frenzy of rage, but the situation in Iraq is now so chaotic that this won't make much of an impact.

Saddam Hussein was a monstrous leader, whose invasion of Kuwait in 1990 gave the American forces an opportunity to remove him from power. They did not do so for diplomatic considerations. Thirteen years down the line, the pretext of 'weapons of mass destruction' was used to invade Iraq and depose its president. The pretext was hollow and unfounded - Saddam had got rid of his nasties some time before, realising he was in a stranglehold.

The balance of power in the region has now shifted firmly towards Iran, Iraq's eastern neighbour. Although its president, Mahmoud Ahmedinajad, has made some pretty outrageous statements, I have him down as a very shrewd player. His own wings were clipped in recent elections, which saw several hard-line politicians removed from power. Ahmedinajad is a highly educated individual, who hides his intellect behind rhetoric and populist speeching. Beware.

Technorati Tags: saddam, hussein, iraq, iran, ahmedinajad

Website updated

I have updated two pages of my website on AOL - the frontpage and the images page. Have a look, hope you enjoy.

Toot Tone - seen this one before?

Earthquake - Taiwan

Taiwan was shaken by an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale today at 12.26 GMT (1½ hours before this post), a rather larger event (by a factor of about 7,000) than the one at Dumfries I referred to in a previous post. A 1 metre high tsunami is thought to be heading for the Philippines, although no formal tsunami warning has been issued. There are no reports at present of damage or casualties in Taiwan.

Map courtesy BBC

Earthquake

An earthquake has shaken southwestern Scotland this morning at twenty to eleven. The tremor registered at 3.5 on the Richter scale, the largest quake in the UK this year. Although a small tremor on a global scale, the event shook walls and houses and left people in a short-lived state of alarm. No damage or injuries are reported from the district of Dumfries and Galloway. The tremor is thought to have centered on the town of Dumfries, pictured left (image courtesy BBC), although it was felt as far away as Lockerbie, 10 miles to the east. Below is shown the seismogram from Edinburgh (courtesy British Geological Survey).

Boxing Day

Right, having survived the good food day that is December 25th, I am now ready to switch the calendar over to Boxing Day. Only one shop will be open in Stornoway tomorrow, and that's Woolworths. Everyone else will be able to sleep off their excesses. Those far to the west of me, hope you're having a great time finishing off Christmas Day.

See you all tomorrow.

Webcam

As regular readers know, I have a webcam, which has been running since December 14th, 2005. Since then, it has attracted 36,000 viewers. This means I've had an average of 100 viewers every day. 76% come from the USA and the UK. Googling brings me a fair number of visitors, as does my parallel blog Arnish Lighthouse on the BBC.

Hosting a website from your own computer means you need a have wide bandwidth window, as it can easily eat up up to 20 GB in a month, as I've found out to my cost. Using www.camstreams.com means that they host, and only pull the stream from your webcam when it's needed. Little plug for them, I know, but they provide a good service.


Technorati Tags: webcam, camstreams, stornoway

Christmas Day

I promise to give a full account of today's proceedings, but at the moment I'm too full up. Just a heads-up to advise everybody not to overdulge (oh, yeah, sure) and have a good time.


Note on picture: That's Christmas pudding you're seeing in the bowls, and it's that dark because the picture was taken at 4pm.

Merry Christmas

Whilst watching the Watch Night service from Rosslyn Chapel in Glasgow, the midnight hour came and went, so it's here.

Merry Christmas all!

Hurricane update - 24 December

Tropical cyclone Bondo has intensified again and is now blowing winds of 130 mph around its centre, with gusts topping 160 mph. The cyclone's centre is now located 25 miles off the Malagasy coast, which means the highest windspeeds are impacting the country's coast. Bondo will continue to raze the northwestern coast of Madagascar, and is not expected to weaken significantly until Tuesday.

Once again, the Malagasy news media are not up to date with their warnings, and I'm dreading the news reports.


Technorati Tags: bondo, hurricane, cyclone, tropical

Gun safety

Yesterday, a domestic servant was injured in a hotel in Bonar Bridge, Sutherland (north of Inverness) because a gun went off accidentally in a room above the dining room in which she was at work. The owner of the shotgun had been cleaning the firearm when it discharged. The bullet penetrated the floor and ceiling, hitting the cleaner.

I have been tought firearms safety, and when you are going to work on a gun, you first of all remove all ammunition from the weapon. Then, just in case, you point the gun away from people and (if inside) point it into a corner of the room.

The man whose gun went off has vowed never to shoot again. He's strongly advised to stick with that. I will not easily forget an encounter on the Corrour Estate in central Scotland 5 years ago, when I was stopped by a group of deerstalkers in an all terrain vehicle. Their guns pointed straight in my face, not intentionally as a threat, whilst they asked me where I was going. I was on a public right of way, and I advised them accordingly. I should have told them to point their guns away from me as well.


Technorati Tags: gun, safety, injury, weapon, firearm

Christmas Crush

Just back from my Christmas shopping (doesn't take long in my case), in a packed town centre. Long queues at the butchers' (not required), the bookshop (had to buy papers). Woolworths' was a nightmare, with kids flitting in and out of aisles and a shop assistant with a bad cold. It's a non-descript day weatherwise, although I gather the fog may be lifting down south. In Woolies, the Boxing Day sales items were hidden (badly) behind black plastic, and they'll be about the only shop open on Boxing Day.

Well, I wish everybody good luck with their Christmas preparations, a Merry Christmas, stay safe and all the rest of it.

Hurricane update - 23 December

Tropical cyclone Bondo is about to make an unwelcome appearance in northern Madagascar, with winds of 100 mph. My tropical cyclone blog has seen a sudden surge in popularity, with about 30 or 40 visitors each day from all over eastern Africa. Mauritius, Madagascar, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya. I was appalled by the lack of accurate information from Madagascar newsmedia, but I hope that the info on my blog will somehow filter through.

Bondo is likely to be the last cyclone of 2006. Although it was mercifully quiet in the Atlantic, after the dreadful seasons of 2004 and 05, the hurricane season of 2007 is not foreseen to be as quiet again. During the summer of 2006, climatic conditions (El Nino and large sandstorms from the Sahara desert) suppressed the formation of hurricanes in the Atlantic. El Nino is likely to subside during the winter.

Technorati Tags: hurricane, bondo, cyclone, tropical

New widget

My sidebar now shows a random selection of pictures of my FlickR album. You can get your own thingymeloo if you click on the widget. It has my FlickR username adb402004 alongside it. As below:

Tag Generator

For those of you who are interested in generating Technorati Tags (and who are NOT in the USA), have a look at this blog post. This chap has a tag generator, which coughs up the HTML which you can then copy into your journal post - in HTML mode. You can drag the link to the browser (in Firefox). Great!


Technorati Tags: tag, generator

Tagged

I've been tagged by Sugar!

"The Rules:
The player of this game starts with "3 things he/ she would love to get for Christmas" and also has to list "3 things he/ she definitely does not want to get for Christmas".
Then he/she tags 5 friends and list their names.
The ones who get tagged need to write on their blogs about their Christmas wishes, as well as state this rule clearly, then tag 5 more victims.
And the one who tags needs to leave a comment that says "you've been Christmas tagged!" in their comments and tell them to read your blog."

What do I want for Christmas?
I would like
- A White Christmas (fat chance, it's the warmest in the country at the moment LOL)
- An old-fashioned Christmas dinner (might just come true... )
- A laptop computer (hmm, how deep is my purse)

What do I NOT want for Christmas
- Discord around me
- Howling gales
- Disasters in the world

I am tagging: Jeannette (Jottings), Jeannette (Travels), Pam, Lisa and Lori.

Follow up

The single accused in the Ipswich murders case has appeared in court this morning. Stephen Wright, 48, was remanded in custody to return to court on January 2nd. I cannot relay all the rumours surrounding this case for legal reasons.

Tropical cyclone Bondo has collapsed off Madagascar following the onset of unfavourable atmospheric conditions, which sliced it in half. Winds at present are 75 to 90 mph, and Bondo will head southwest, impacting the northwestern coasts of the island over the weekend.

David Irving has returned to the UK, stating that he had been imprisoned for being a historian. A Holocaust survivor appeared on BBC TV this afternoon, stating that Mr Irving made a fool of himself by denying substantiated historical fact. Although David Irving suggested people would read his works on World War II in 200 to 300 years' time, methinks he will be a footnote, and one of the unpleasant ones.

Bird flu is back on the agenda, after thousands of poultry birds died in southern Vietnam. The panic brigade is also back in action, predicting that a flu pandemic could claim anything between 3 and 1,000 million lives. Although bird flu does not transmit between humans, it can be transmitted to humans, and it's only a matter of time before the virus mutates to a transmissible form.

Fog continues to wreak havoc with people's travel plans for Christmas in the UK, with all domestic flights cancelled from Heathrow and a handful of smaller airports like Norwich and Cardiff. Trains are full, as are some of the roads. Here in Lewis, it's been a drizzly day with poor visibility - not due to fog, but as a result of low cloud, associated with the drizzle. Temperatures were once again high, 11C this afternoon.

Wednesday 20/12/06

Cloudy day, but occasional chinks in the clouds let the sun through. Cyclone Bondo is approaching Madagascar, with its news media still not acknowledging its severity. At 2.40pm, the gastanker Sigis Lotta pulls into port. Go into Somerfields for the usual, and to Engebret's for lottery tickets. As the evening progresses, temperatures do not fall but stay at the very high 9C. Winds at the Butt of Lewis touch galeforce. Reykjavik touched +10C today, and by midnight still stands at +7C. Down in England, the dense fog causes no end of problems at Heathrow Airport. All internal flights are cancelled.

Tuesday 19/12/06

Cloud dominates the weather this morning, with occasional light showers. Another suspect is apprehended in the Suffolk murders investigation. The homes of both suspects now in police custody are subjected to a fingertip search. Weather today is cloudy but mild, we're the warmest in the country. Fog shrouds most of England, Scotland and Ireland. I monitor the progress of a category 5 tropical cyclone in the Indian Ocean. Madagascar will get a brush of it, but its newsmedia are behind the times. The Seychelles do mention it. Venture out to Somerfields for food. Mrs B goes to town herself to gather in parts of her Christmas shopping. Supper is another microwaveable curry. Somerfields have changed the packaging, suggesting you cut open the plastic foil covering the food. You have to cut it open using scissors, a guarantee to burn your hand on the steam.

Suffolk murders

Tonight, a major development in the hunt for the murderer(s) of the five Suffolk prostitutes, who were found dead around Ipswich over the last few weeks.

One man, arrested on Monday, aged 37, resident of Trimley St Martin, was released on police bail pending further inquiries. The other man, arrested on Tuesday, aged 48, resident of Ipswich, was charged with murdering the five women. He was officially named as Stephen Wright. In the interests of a fair trial, the Crown Prosecution Service issued a stern reminder to the news media to be cautious in their reporting on the case.

More details from the BBC News website.

Weather update

Quite strong winds, if not gales, here in the northwest today. It's dreich with drizzle and quite warm at 9C / 48F. Fog appears to be receding in the south of England, where it causes all the havoc with the flights. But it isn't gone yet, and neither are the delays. I see people on TV, stuck at airports, wanting to fly to a destination within the UK. Trains, buses, anyone?

Outside the UK, Tropical Cyclone Bondo is heading for northern Madagascar, and the Madagascar Tribune on-line talks about a tropical storm. That means winds up to 60 mph. My dear chaps, it's a 120 mph monster out there. You may get the 60 mph winds on your northern cape, and the northwest of the country will get a grazing of that over the days to come, as Bondo heads down the Mozambique Channel - intensifying as it goes.

Tagging

Now, Joe has told us that the tagbox is supposed to be sitting below the input screen when you write an entry. Not here in the UK, I don't think. Any other British writers with the same problem? I find that HTML such a handful, I mean: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Scotland" rel="tag">Scotland</a> is such a handful to type...

David Irving

This is a 68-year old British national who has been released from prison in Austria after being convicted of denying the Holocaust, a criminal offense in Austria. Irvine is in a detention centre pending his extradition to the UK.

David Irving has maintained his innocence, saying he has been jailed for expressing an opinion. He is controversial to say the least, and representatives of British Jews have stated that he is not welcome in the UK either. Further details in this BBC report.

I have previously stated my abhorrence at any attempts to belittle or deny what happened at the behest of the National Socialist government of Germany between 1933 and 1945, specifically the extermination of the Jewish and other perceived "inferior races". I am disgusted with those who stand up for people like David Irving, saying that his freedom of speech has been restricted. One appeared on BBC TV tonight, saying he was a scholar who would launch an idea into the arena and await the reaction. Scholars, historians, everybody is subject to the law. Controversial is one thing - denying documented fact about the premeditated murder of millions is foul.

Climbing incident

For the third time this winter season, the area of Coire an t-Sneachda in the Cairngorm Mountains has been the scene of a mountaineering incident. Two women were seriously injured following a fall whilst climbing. The Cairngorm Mountain Rescue team located the women after they called for help on a mobile phone. A search-and-rescue helicopter airlifted them to hospital in Inverness.

Fog

Picture taken 18 July 2006

Large areas of the UK are currently plagued by thick fog. Temperatures there have not crept above 5C today, with a few exceptions. Strangely enough, the far north and northwest by contrast have been very mild. Stornoway's maximum is +9C, and Lerwick is currently reading +10C. Bear in mind that darkness fell about 2 hours ago.

Meanwhile, the fog in England has severely disrupted flights in and out of Heathrow. Planes can land and take off in fog, but the frequency is decreased. Fog poses obvious hazards for road users as well. Common sense dictates the following advice for driving in dense fog, taken from the Thinksafety website, run by the Department of Transport

• Watch out for fog - it drifts rapidly and is often patchy.
• In foggy conditions, drive very slowly using dipped headlights.
• Use fog-lights if visibility is seriously reduced, but remember to switch them off when visibility improves.
• Don't hang on to the tail-lights of the vehicle in front. This gives you a false sense of security and means you may be driving too close.
• Don't speed up suddenly, even if it seems to be clearing. You can suddenly find yourself back in thick fog.

Suffolk murders

This morning, an inquest was opened and adjourned into the deaths of 4 out of the 5 women murdered around Ipswich. The coroner stated that the police investigation was developing rapidly. He extended his sympathies to family and friends of the deceased.

Police have been granted leave to continue to hold in custody the two men arrested on Monday and Tuesday on suspicion of the five murders, Tom Stephens and Stephen Wright. Yesterday saw high activity from forensic teams around both men's houses.

Anyone who thinks they may hold information is still encourage to contact Suffolk Police. Those wanting accurate updates should check the BBC News website.

Hurricane update - 20 December

Tropical cyclone Bondo is now approaching maximum intensity as it approaches the northern tip of Madagascar. Current sustained maximum windspeeds are 150 mph, gusting to 185 mph, which will increase further to 160 mph sustained and 190 mph gusts near the eye of the storm. Below picture is a classical image of a tropical cyclone, and this first cyclone of the Indian Ocean season immediately shoots it as a category 5.


The trajectory, as projected on Google Earth, showed Bondo passing within 100 miles of the northern cape of the island of Madagascar. Although the winds will not be the main problem, rain will be. Bondo will veer around the northern cape and pass over the Comoros Islands (another area of concern) before running down the Mozambique Channel.

Caroling through J-land

To participate: 
1) Make an entry titled "Caroling Through J-Land" with these same instructions so others can play along. (you can copy & paste)
2) Visit as many journals as you can and look for their entry titled "Caroling Through J-Land". Leave the title of your favorite carol, along with your name and link to your journal for other carolers.
3) Spread the word so we all can meet new friends and spread some Christmas cheer!
4) Caroling ends this Sunday night at midnight to give everyone plenty of time to make the rounds.
Happy Caroling and Merry Christmas! 

My favorite carol is : How a Rose, ever blooming

Tags: caroling thru j-land

Beta no more

Joe, the Journalseditor, has advised us NOT to use the beta.-prefix for any journal URL anymore. Up to yesterday, you could get a preview of any upgrades by prefixing your journal URL with beta., but this is no longer possible.

Please adjust your URLs, also when commenting.

There is supposed to be something for adding tags without typing a whole sea of HTML, but it doesn't show on my entry-form. Awaiting update from Joe. Further info in this entry.

Delivery charges

Here in the islands, we are charged extra for delivering items just because we live in an island. Fair enough for large things (more than 25 kg / 55 lb in weight), but not so for anything lighter than that.

The Royal Mail will carry items up to 25 kg at a flat rate, related to weight and dimensions, irrespective of destination. Why companies have to charge us through the nose, or refuse to deliver in these islands is beyond me.

Five Members of Parliament are currently raising this problem, with a view of hopefully putting a stop to it. It's ridiculous.

Bondo

This is a very rapid update on tropical cyclone Bondo, which leaves me concerned. This system is forecast to pass 80 miles to the north of Madagascar, with winds of 160 mph, gusting to 190 mph.

I have just researched the Madagascar news media, which appear to be blissfully unaware of this severe cyclone. As matters stand at present, Madagascar can expect tropical storm force winds and heavy rain, as of tomorrow.

To the north, the Seychelles also stand to get a swipe of Bondo, in the shape of 50 mph winds, correctly forecast on the Seychelles weather service website.

Upgrade R10

This appears to be running into problems. For the time being, I suggest you omit the beta. prefix from a journal's URL. Journals CANNOT be viewed (at the moment) with a beta-prefix. Have reported it to Journalseditor and Stephanie.

Hurricane update - 19 December

Tropical cyclone Bondo is now barrelling down the Indian Ocean with winds of 90 knots (100 mph), 900 miles east of the northern tip of Madagascar. It will intensify further, with winds topping 105 knots, 120 mph, tomorrow. By which time Bondo will be passing close to the northern tip of Madagascar.

All detailed information on this cyclone is in French (which I understand), but below map shows what's going on. The group of islands close to the northern cape appears to be in particular danger, as is the archipelago of the Comoros. Bondo will weaken after passing Madagascar, but is still expected to pack hurricane force winds.

Monday 18/12/06

Awake to a brilliant dawn, with the mainland hills very clear - even the Lochalsh hills, south of Applecross, can be discerned just left of the Arnish Lighthouse. The Storr and Trotternish hills on Skye peep out above the hills on the Arnish Peninsula. The sun rises at 9.11 am, and 4 minutes later it appears above Holm Point. We're having the sun for 6 hours 23 minutes. At 10 o'clock, Suffolk Police announce they have arrested a man for questioning on suspicion of murdering the 5 prostitutes killed around Ipswich. During the morning, high cloud moves across from the west, but does not cover the sky. Manage to entice mrs B's nephew to drive us round to Arnish, just for a wee spin. Ice covers puddles, and it's very cold, only just above freezing. The snowclad hills on the mainland stand out clearly. Can't get over the arrested man down in Suffolk, who gave a rambling, 30 minute interview to the BBC and was also featured on the frontpage of the Sunday Mirror yesterday. Supper is chicken jalfrezi curry, out of the microwave. Spend the evening watching garbage TV by a large fire. Now, I never realised there was that much difference in quality regarding coal. One variety burns well - in a fire that's already going. The other variety gets the fire started. There is a cheap way of making firelighters: old newspapers. Roll up three sheets of newsprint, from the corners, into rolls of half an inch thick. Bend these sticks into pretzels.

Sunday 17/12/06

Starting off fairly sunny, but cloud takes over through the afternoon. Our guest has his cooked breakfast at 9.30; I have mine a wee bit later. No further news on the missing diver (post script: he turned up safe and well on board his ship). Another tropical depression develops in the Pacific. Go out for a walk at 3.15, to the Coastguard Station and round to the Battery. Large numbers of starlings congregate on the radio relay mast and the telephone wires. Go on down Miller Road and to Sandwick Cemetery. A man tends to a grave there as I walk up the hill to the top of Oliver's Brae. This 'brae' is characterized by the two huge mansions (picture below taken on 30 January 2006).


The view from Oliver's Brae now incorporates the snowcapped Harris hills. Carry on down Seaforth Road, where a number of cats skulk around their front doors. One is particularly friendly, and I remember it from a late night foray (at 1 a.m.) along Seaforth Road, on a mission to see the midnight gloaming back in May. Other felines seen along Seaview Terrace, and the black cat along Newton Street. Mrs B has her grandchildren in, who are using the bathing facilities, as their own are being done up. Dinner is browned minced meat & onions, mashed potatoes and runner beans. Temperature has sunk to freezing by 6pm, but is back up to 6C at 10pm.

Happy Hanukkah!

Before I forget

Happy Hanukkah!

Picture courtesy Jewish Mag.com

J-land subjects

First of all, thanks everybody that checked up on Penny (Firestormkids04). I flagged this up in red print because someone up my street died of carbonmonoxide poisoning last March, and in the initial stages you get a headache and feel sleepy. Good to hear everything seems to be in order now.

Now, Stephanie has told us that upgrade R10 is going into 'production' tomorrow between 4 and 6 AM EST, that is 9 and 11 AM British time. Expect delays and outages during those hours, and hopefully none afterwards. The previous roll-out was a bit of a disaster, but Steph advises us that it's now all hunkydory. Judging by the usual comments that announcements like this have elicited in the past, I'll add: seeing is believing. Sorry, Stephanie.

That's all for this entry, I'm slightly square-eyed after watching car-crash TV all evening and roasting in front of a huge coalfire. Fortunately, there aren't that many alerts to go through, which is actually backed up by Technorati. I would suggest all to sign up to this (totally free). It's simple and painless, and makes your blog that little bit more prominent on the web. I use it to aggregate the 113 J-land journals that I keep an eye on. It shows you who links to your journals, and it sometimes coughs up a surprise or two.

Sunny Monday

Try again. Today was the first fully sunny day in ages. After looking at wind and rain for weeks and weeks on end, this was a pleasant surprise. When I put on the diary entry, later today or tomorrow, you'll see the pictures. Starting at a stunning dawn, leading up to sunset at 9.11 a.m. For now, I'm including a video of a drive through the centre of Stornoway this afternoon, showing that traffic can be 'heavy' here as well! OK, it was the speedramps LOL.

Nature's forces

I have now learned through various people in J-land that the body of one of the mountaineers, missing on Mt Hood in Oregon state, has been found near the summit. I would like to pass my sympathies to those left behind.

Here in Scotland, there have been (to my knowledge) at least two fatalities on the mountains this winter, and they are nowhere near as high as in the Rockies. But we're at latitude 57 N, so at 4,000 feet things can get very arctic.

Climbers and walkers should only attempt a climb or ramble if properly kitted out and sufficiently experienced, which includes being prepared for anything nature may see fit to throw. At the end of the day, Nature is infinitely more powerful than any of us, and if you are serious at your sport, you'll acknowledge that.

However, even the best prepared, kitted out and fittest may still find themselves in conditions that can get the better of you. It is something that will be at the back of your mind, and may well have been with the climbers on Mt Hood. Although it's a hollow cliche, at least he died doing what he loved to do.

Upload the right video first

Found I uploaded the wrong video just now (dork), but this one is just as interesting. Starlings on the wires and radiomast at the Battery Powerstation. It's more for the audio. Took this yesterday afternoon around sunset.

Hurricane update - 18 December

After making all this fuss over a possible typhoon hitting the Philippines, the system that the Joint Typhoon Warning Center had earmarked is now dissipating. Phew, say the Philippinos.

Cue next system, this time in the Indian Ocean. Tropical cyclone Bondo has formed east of northern Madagascar, which will be impacted on Thursday. There is no wind forecast for that day, but methinks it'll be around the 55 knots mark, some 60 mph. Will keep an eye open.

Urgent appeal

Just going through the overnight alerts from my American friends, and found an alarming one from Firestormkids04 who reported going down with carbon monoxide poisoning. It sent her to hospital (lucky!!!) and killed 4 birds. Is there anybody in a position to check by phone or directly whether they are OK, and whether the cause of the carbon monoxide poisoning has been eliminated?

PLEASE!

Missing diver - FOUND

The man who went missing off the dive support vessel Pelican in the early hours of Saturday morning has been found behind a bulkhead in a storeroom on the ship. It appears that he has been there for the last 42 hours. Aberdeen Coastguard has requested a helicopter to scramble and the BP Jigsaw helicopter will be evacuating the man from the ship sometime shortly after 12.30 am. Aberdeen Coastguard Watch Manager George Downie says: We are absolutely amazed and delighted that this man has been found. A very thorough search of the vessel was made several times over by the crew and there was no sign of him. The doctor onboard the vessel has examined him and found that he is suffering from a broken leg. He has been stabilised and has been given appropriate medication. The man will be taken by the helicopter to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

BREAKING NEWS

Police have arrested a suspect in the murder of five women in Suffolk. He was taken into custody at 7.20 this morning in the village of Trimley, near Felixstowe, southeast of Ipswich.

Sunday's Pictures

Just to give you an idea of the images of today. I went out for a walk round to the Battery and Sandwick Cemetery this afternoon at sunset (3.30 pm). The starlings were flocking around their roosts, and when returning along Seaforth Road, at least 4 cats were skulking around frontdoors. One was VERY friendly, others didn't budge at the sound of my creditable cat imitations. The last picture, of the distant Harris hills under snow, didn't come out properly due to the low light and their distance (30 miles). Hope you can 'sort of' make it out.

Hurricane update - 17 December

December 17th, and still hurricanes about? Well, it's a typhoon actually, and it's in its embryonic stages. For the moment, Trami is a tropical depression, some 400 miles west of Guam. It is making for the Philippines, which will have to swallow its 5th typhoon in recent weeks. Current forecasts, very long-range so not too reliable, suggest winds of 75 knots, that's 85 mph when the centre of the typhoon makes landfall in northern Luzon Island on Thursday. The below image shows Trami at 15.56 GMT (that's 10.56 EST or 23.56 local time). This image will be automatically updated.

Please pass word around - the Philippine weather agency is off-line today.

Lost diver

Police have flown to the dive-support vessel Pelican, from which a 35-year old crewman was lost, presumed gone overboard yesterday. The man, Christopher McGonigle, from Northern Ireland was last seen at 3 am yesterday. He was employed by company SUBSEA7 as an operator for a Remotely Operated Vehicle or ROV.

Mr McGonigle's cabin has been searched and his 92 crewmates interviewed. The Coastguard have expressed extreme concern, as he has now been missing for 30 hours in waters which have a low temperature.

The below image, showing the Pelican, is courtesy BBC

Church noticeboards

These notices were in church bulletins or were announced in church services:


Ø Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at St. Martin's Church. Please use the large double doors at the side entrance.

Ø The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.

Ø The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water." The sermon tonight "Searching for Jesus."

Ø Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King.

Ø Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house.  Don't forget your husbands.

Ø The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.

Ø Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love   Say "Hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you.

Ø Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.

Ø  Miss Charlene Mason sang "I will not pass this way again," giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

Ø For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

Ø Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

Ø Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more
transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Father Jack's sermons.

Ø The Priest will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing "Break Forth Into Joy."

Ø  Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

Ø  A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.

Ø At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What Is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.

Ø Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.

Ø Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

Ø Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.

Ø The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.

Ø Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.

Ø The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind.  They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

Ø This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

Ø Ladies Bible Study will be held Thurs. morning at 10 AM  All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.S. is done.

Ø The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.

Ø Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.

Ø The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the church basement Friday at 7 PM.  The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

Ø The Priest unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday: "I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours"

Saturday 16/12/06

Nice morning, if showery, after the overnight low of -2C / 28F. Rose quite late. A diver is missing in the North Sea, 143 miles east of Aberdeen. No further updates. A French fishing vessel comes in for a crew change. That's been going on for nearly a year. They call into port. The old crew goes ashore, and a new one takes over. Brief handover, and 90 minutes later they are off again. The old crew are flown back to France, saving the boat a 1,500 mile roundtrip to its homeport of Lorient. It also saves the company 25% of the normal harbour dues. This discount is awarded if a vessel, coming in to change its crew, manages to do so within 24 hours. Accompanied mrs B to Lewis Crofters to buy potatoes, flowerbulbs and compost.

The prices are ever so slightly dear, if you bother to compare with other stores in town. The bag of compost weighed 20 kg / 45 lb, and was very cumbersome to carry. Had sausage rolls for lunch, after which mrs B received a string of visitors. Her grandson (aged 15) with 2 of his pals. Mrs B's sister called round with her husband. And an old family friend closed proceedings by 6pm. Supper is chicken korma. Lottery: a waste of money. Might as well set light to a £1 banknote (still have them here in Scotland). Hailstones fall down the chimney and hiss in the fire. The windfarms continue to fan the flames of dissent in the island. The Eishken one is as unpopular as the North Lewis one.

Friday 15/12/06

Nice sunny morning, in between the downpours of rain and hail. Great cloudscapes - see pics. Otherwise, not too bad. By 12.45, another heavy shower blots out the lights, and lights have to be lit indoors as the hail clatters down. Showers diminish and the temperature dives towards freezing after dusk. Go to Somerfields for shopping, but need to divert to Engebret's for papers. Pedestrians are not a consideration around the filling station. Supper is chili con carne, for the 2nd time within a week LOL. An apple crumble closes proceedings. Watch a lot of TV through the evening, mostly police chases. A man decided to sleep off his hangover in the middle of a railroad track. No further developments in the Ipswich murders. The night is very cold, temperature by midnight stands at -1C / 30F.

Thursday 14/12/06

The pictures do not require captions, they say it all as far as the weather is concerned. Showers, some with hail, strong winds and very dreich. The ferry is 90 minutes late, and arrives amidst a severe squall at 2.15pm (pictures 6 to 8). An official report is published into the death of Princess Diana in 1997, saying there was definitely not a conspiracy to murder. Diana's lover was Dodi Fayed, also killed in the accident, and his father continues to defend the conspiracy theory. Severe flooding continues to haunt mainland Scotland. The villagers in Milnathort, Perthshire, thought they were safe behind their flood barriers. Nope. A waste of half a million pounds. Kingussie is still under water. In the Trossachs, sheep drown in the flood plains of the river Forth, west of Stirling. Went to the shop in a gale and downpour. Very cold. After lasagna for supper, we suffer a town-wide powercut at 9.30, which lasts for 10 minutes. Having located a torch, I find Mrs B in the backroom. She gets the candles and oillamps out, but by the time every room in the house is lit, the power is back on. Although I am advised the Northern Lights may put in an appearance, nothing is visible.

Wednesday 13/12/06

Pretty awful weather today: persistent rain is replaced by high winds. A galewarning cancels a lot of ferry services, including the afternoon run to Ullapool. The Small Isles ferry went out, intending to call at all four islands, but ended up only visiting Eigg. Sailings to Muck, Rum and Canna were abandoned en-route. Highland Scotland is plagued by flooding. The playground of a school at Kingussie is under several feet of water. When I go into town, at 3.30pm, the wind blows at force 7. The Harvest Caroline comes into port to shelter. Away from the shelter of buildings along South Beach, you do feel the full force of the wind. Buy the latest book by Christina Hall "The Road to Glen Spean", which I discovered in the library last week. Have a nice, long bath at 5.30, then have mrs B's soup with rolls for supper. Down in Ipswich, 5 dead bodies have now been recovered from within a 6 mile radius. They were all local prostitutes. A massive manhunt has been launched as local residents express their horror. All girls, in their 20s, had turned to prostitution to feed their heroin addiction.

Tuesday 12/12/06

Weather remains on a similar footing as of late, with showers, low temperatures and strong winds. The ferries are severely disrupted. Ours sails at 7.15 am, but does not return for its lunchtime call. It departs Ullapool at 4pm, arriving here at 7pm. The North Lewis Windfarm is shrunk from 234 to 181 turbines, still 181 too many. MSP Alistair Morrison disappoints me by coming out in support of this monstrous project. He says a certain number of turbines are required to justify the interconnector to be built. The interconnector is the subsea electricity cable, linking the wind generators to the National Grid. He previously stated that the windfarm would not be built if the local population didn't want it. The island will not benefit much from this project, apart from a few dozen jobs in construction and a handful for maintenance. The few million of revenue for the local council pale into insignificance in comparison to the billions that the operators AMEC stand to make. The BBC gives out a report on how to claim back excessive bank penalty charges.

Monday 11/12/06

A very showery day, and one shower at midday triggers the streetlights. A few accumulations of hail quickly melt. Mrs B heads off into town, whilst I get up to date with weather and hurricane info. I don't show my face out of doors today. Strong winds blow all day. News from Suffolk mentions that several prostitutes have been murdered around the town of Ipswich. Mrs B does all the shopping, being driven around by her nephew. Sweet & sour chicken for supper.

Sunday 10/12/06

A very disturbed night, with strong winds hurling heavy rain against the windows. Windspeeds reach 51 mph between 6 and 7 am, with gusts up to 63 mph. Rain and wind relent through the morning, although it does stay wet throughout the day. Assist in putting up Christmas tree plus lights. Ornaments to be added tomorrow. Daylight is failing by the time the tree stands. News comes through of the death of former Chilean dictator Pinochet, at the age of 91. Good riddance. Supper: Chili con carne with sliced pineapple.

Journalseditor

I'm going to catch up with this past week in my own diary entries, so hold on for 7 alerts LOL.

Did I mention, by the way, that the JournalsEditor is now Joe again - back from being away. However, he asks that we direct any technical problems at Stephanie, as she is our techical person. Joe is also still working on AIM Pages, so he only has limited time.

Guest Editor Picks are being suspended - why don't we all make our own shortlist of 6 favourite blogs? I know we had the VIVI Awards just a month ago, but there are always new bloggers coming on the scene. I'll do ANOTHER entry on that, perhaps tomorrow. It's past 11 o'clock, so I'm past my best. Over the hill and far away, and all that.

Joe has given the HTML for continuous music to play in the background of blogs. Beware: this only works on Internet Explorer. I'm a Firefox user, and am working in blissful silence. In normal English, it doesn't work on Firefox, Opera, Safari or Netscape.

Missing diver

Aberdeen Coastguard is co-ordinating the search for a man who went missing from the dive support vessel Pelican in the early hours of this morning approximately 143 miles east of Aberdeen.

A search for a suspected man overboard is underway involving 10 vessels and 2 helicopters. George Downie, Watch Manager, Aberdeen Coastguard says:

Visibility is good, but we are very concerned for the welfare of this man. Sea temperatures in the middle of the North Sea will be cold and there is a two metre swell.

Our colleagues at the Norwegian Coastguard are assisting us with communications.
SUBSEA 7 can confirm that a situation has occurred onboard the DSND Pelican.
A full press statement will be released by the company once further details of the incident are known.
Relatives can contact SUBSEA 7 on 01224 625525 for further information.

J-land matters

I am aware I am not an avid commentator at the moment, although I do try to read what everybody writes. At the moment, although it's 12.40am, I've just gone through through 50-odd alerts, which is Friday's harvest.

Please visit Sunny. She is need of some support, as her husband has been diagnosed with cancer. As Sunny has cancer herself, it is a terrible blow.

The beta-release of upgrade R10 caused issues with alerts, so it was reversed. There are also problems with pictures, but visiting pictures.aol.com should show all your piccies that you uploaded to AOL.

HRT and breast cancer

Research has shown that not taking HRT reduces the chance for a woman to develop breast cancer by 7 to 12%. The cancers concerned were hormone-dependent in women aged 50 to 60, the age group most likely to be taking Hormone Replacement Therapy drugs. The improvements were seen after women stopped taking HRT. Some forms of breast cancer progress under the influence of oestrogen (one of the female hormones), and oestrogen is part of many HRT preparations.

The research group stresses that ladies currently taking HRT should not worry. Previous research has shown that there appears to be no link between HRT and breast cancer.

Anyone taking HRT who has concerns should discuss these with their physician.

Casualty

Cairngorm Mountain Rescue report that a man died following a fall in the Coire an t-Sneachda area of the Cairngorm Mountains, south of Inverness. He lost his life in the same area where two climbers perished last month, after being caught out in a severe blizzard. The name of the dead man has not been released, until next of kin are informed.

Looking back on a blonde 2006

January - Took new scarf back to store because it was too tight.

February - Fired from pharmacy job for failing to print labels. Helllloooo!!! Bottles won't fit in typewriter!!

March - Got really excited..... finished jigsaw-puzzle in 6 months. Box said "2-4 years!"

April - Trapped on escalator for hours.....power went out!!!

May - Tried to make Kool-Aid.... .wrong instructions. 8 cups of water won't fit into those little packets!!!

June - Tried to go water skiing.....couldn' t find a lake with a slope.

July - Lost breast stroke swimming competition. ....learned later, the other swimmers cheated, they used their arms!!!

August - Got locked out of my car in rain storm.....car swamped because soft-top was open.

September - The capital of California is "C".....isn' t it???

October - Hate M &M's.....they are so hard to peel.

November - Baked turkey for 4 1/2 days. The instructions said 1 hour per pound and I weigh 108!!!

December - Couldn't call 911....."duh" .....there' s no "eleven" button on the stupid phone!!! What a year!!!

Nice day

Well, apart from a handful of heavy showers with hail, we saw the sun again - until it set at 3.34 pm. It's quite cold, just +1C at the moment. The weekend should be sunny but cold mostly everywhere in the country. Next weekend may see more rain coming in from the Atlantic.

The year 2006 was the warmest year on record - and there's still just over a fortnight left of it. Average temperature in the UK was 10.8C, nearly 2C above average.

Sleeping it off - where?

Picture courtesy BBC
This man is asleep in the middle of a railway track near Epsom, south of London. He had a near-fatal amount of alcohol to drink and decided to wander off a station platform and bed down on the tracks. Only problem is, the third rail (which carries 750V of electricity to the trains) was within 1 foot / 30 cms of his leg. One wrong move would have killed him.

Trains had to be diverted, four railwaylines were affected and the resulting delays cost the company £8,000. The drunken sleeper (sic) was fined £580 for obstructing the railway. He expressed deep remorse for his actions, which he did not remember.

LOOK NORTH

If you have a clear view north, without bright lights or other light pollution, and a clear sky,  there is a chance of northern lights tonight. Check this site.

Missing fisherman - search called off

This is a dreaded phrase which is all too common in fishing communities. I last used it in June on this blog.

FV Unity (R250), picture courtesy BBC

News came through today that a fishing boat, operating out of the Fife area of eastern Scotland, had capsized in the English Channel. The 30 foot FV Unity had overturned in heavy seas off Portland Bill, south of the coastal resort of Weymouth. Two crewmembers went into the water, and managed to get on board a liferaft. The skipper is thought to have been trapped in the wheelhouse and unable to get out . John Bowman, 45, of Anstruther has been hailed as a great entrepreneur. His family are in everybody's thoughts tonight.

Powercut!

Had a power outage tonight, which left us in complete darkness. As in, not seeing a thing. Was watching TV when the lights dimmed and went out. The streets and houses around were all black, streetlights were out, and the lights in the Coastguard Station were dimmed, running obviously on emergency power. The lights in the powerstation were on, and the roar of the generators was soon audible. Mrs B and myself scurred for torches, then lit candles. We first brought light to the guest upstairs, who was in total darkness too.
Ten minutes after power went down it returned, circuit by circuit through Stornoway.

Stay

Received this from my on-line buddy Lily in Miami

It's so touching I had to share it.

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside. "Your son is here," she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened.

Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.

The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.

He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.

Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night. Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse.

While she did what she had to do, he waited. Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.

"Who was that man?" he asked. The nurse was startled,
"He was your father," she answered.
"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in my life."
"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"
"I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn't here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed."

The next time someone needs you ... just be there.

Stay.

Flooding

Central and Highland Scotland is affected by serious flooding today. Reports from the upper Forth Valley, to the east of Stirling, mentions extensive flooding, with lifestock swept away in the raging torrents. Yesterday, the village of Milnathort was overwhelmed by water, in spite of a new flood prevention scheme that had only been in place for 4 months.

The main railway line from Glasgow to the West Highlands is closed tonight. The Inverness to Perth line, through the central Highlands, is also still disrupted following extensive flooding at Kingussie. Yesterday, the A82 Fort William to Inverness road was closed due to a landslip 16 miles north of the Fort.

More rain is forecast for the next few days, although a respite is expected over the weekend. Meanwhile, high winds continue to cause disruption on the ferries. Our ferry was 1½ hours late sailing for Ullapool at 'lunchtime', although it was more like 3pm.

Imagery of the flooding situation can be viewed here.

Princess Diana

On August 31st, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales was killed in a carcrash in Paris. The car she was travelling in was careering through an underpass at speeds exceeding 60 mph, trying to outrun paparazzi. After dealing a glancing blow to another vehicle, never traced afterwards, the Mercedes veered out of control and slammed into a pillar of the underpass. Two of the occupants, the driver (Henri Paul) and the Princess's lover, Dodi Al-Fayed, were killed instantly. Princess Diana died several hours later in hospital. A security agent escaped with serious injuries.

Diana was a hugely popular figure, and in a way a victim of her own success. She was the estranged wife of Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, with whom she had two sons. As is the case with many high-profile figures, newspaper journalists from around Europe and the globe were hounding them every step of the way, trying to get 'that' photograph. It was this intrusion that led to an unexpected change of plans. The driver was called upon, unexpectedly, to drive the vehicle. He had been drinking, and was 2 times over the UK drink drive limit for blood alcohol.

An extensive investigation, spanning 3 years and headed by former Metropolitan Police Chief Constable Lord Stevens, concluded that the Princess died in a tragic accident, and that there were no credible indications that a conspiracy to murder had been in place. Lord Stevens also reveiled that Diana was not pregnant, not engaged to Dodi Al-Fayed and neither about to become engaged to him.

In a reaction, Dodi Al-Fayed's father Mohammed, the business tycoon who owns the famous London department store Harrods, has refuted the findings of the inquiry. He maintains that the conspiracy to murder was there, and the report is part of the cover-up.

In July 2007, a concert will be held in memory of Princess Diana. Tickets are already sold out.

August 31st, 1997, will be one of those dates where everybody remembers what they were doing upon hearing the news - in this case, that Princess Di had died.

Upgrade R10

Stephanie, our techie, has announced that an upgrade to AOL Journals will be rolled out into BETA tomorrow, Thursday 14th. R10 should be the bees' knees. Check it out in her latest entry.

If you want to see what it looks like, prefix your journal's URL with beta., which in my case turns into beta.journals.aol.co.uk/pharmolo/NorthernTrip

Where there's smoke, there's fire

In Scotland, GP's can prescribe from a list of medicines on their computers. It's called an e-Formulary. When they decide to prescribe a drug, they can enter the name of the medicine and the e-Formulary program will prompt them.

A recent glitch meant that selecting the smoking cessation medicine Zyban led to a prescription being printed for Viagra, the well-known treatment for impotence. Nobody was dispensed Viagra in error, as each prescription for that drug will have been queried by the pharmacist.

Windy Nook

We're having yet another gale here (I'm yawning, is that why it's blowing hard again?) so the ferry is once again tied up, this time here in Stornoway. I would just like to copy this rundown of the progression of cancellations on another route, the Small Isles service out of Mallaig.

[ 1 ] Due to the previous disruptions and enlight of the forecast for tomorrow the LochNevis is going to attempt to call at all four of the islands today. However the weather has deteriorated again so a decision will be made shortly as to how the timetable will operate and as to when the weather is going to be most suitable to make the calls.

[ 2 ] The Lochnevis is on route to Eigg at the moment, we will update regarding calls to the other islands as and when we know.

[ 3 ] The Captain has advised that the calls to Muck and Canna are cancelled for today due to the adverse conditions, a decision will be made regarding continuing to Rum once they have been to Eigg.

[ 4 ] The Lochnevis has now left Eigg and is on route to Rum e.t.a 1300h, they will then be returning to Mallaig e.t.a 1440h.

[ 5 ] The Captain has just advised that the conditions are to poor to continue to Rum and they are returning to Mallaig. e.t.a. 1400h

There will be an update a.s.a.p and for any further info. tel. Mallaig Office. 01687 462403

As per normal, the Met Office has not issued any gale warnings for this part of the world, why the **** should they <growls>.

Acknowledgments

Just to thank Linda (sorry about earlier error) at Footprints in the Sand for this graphic, which I found irresistible.

It's sitting in my sidebar now LOL

Harris Tweed

The world-famous Harris Tweed cloth is made in only one place: the islands of the Outer Hebrides - Barra, Uist, Benbecula, Harris and Lewis. All production processes should take place there. Anything made elsewhere is a fake, and actually a breach of the law. The Harris Tweed Authority makes sure that this is upheld.

There are four places in Lewis where the Tweed is manufactured. After spinning the wool, the yarn is taken to weavers, crofters basically, in the island who hand-weave it on a loom. After that, the rough tweed is taken back to the mill and processed into a finished product. There is/was a mill at Carloway, 16 miles west of Stornoway, which is an independent operator. The mills at Shawbost, 6 miles east of Carloway and at Stornoway are part of one industrial group, the KM Group.

The KM Group, responsible for 95% of all Harris Tweed made, has now been taken over by a Yorkshire textiles company, the John Haggas group. The owner, a spritely 75-year old, was looking for something to do and found the Harris Tweed industry floundering.

He has taken it on as a challenge for his latter years. Until 10 or 15 years ago, there were more than ten operators on the scene. Fierce internecine competition reduced this to two.

Windfarm reduced in size

The proposed windfarm which is being planned in the north and west of the Isle of Lewis has been downsized a bit. Initially, there would have been 234 turbines, each standing 460 feet / 140 metres tall. Now, there will be only 181 turbines, a further reduction from an earlier downsizing to 190.

The above map, in which the distance between Stornoway and the village of Bragar is 18 miles, shows the turbines in the new proposal. The blue dots indicate where 53 turbines will no longer be placed.

In a consultation period, which is the Christmas and New Year holiday, this will be subject to public scrutiny. The windfarm, which is calculated to generate 625 MW of electricity, is mooted as a major boost for the Western Isles' economy. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is a prominent objector, and it has been its input which led to the reduction in size. The massive turbines could kill substantial numbers of birds like golden eagles. The other reason for objection is the fact that the windfarm will wholly be built on peat, which covers the island's interior, and is a protected habitat under European conservation law.

Bank charges: it's payback time!

UK banks users ONLY

Are you in the UK, and being hammered with charges of £30 to £40 each time you go into the red? Even if it's only for a few pennies or pounds? Do you get a similar charge for a cheque that "bounces"?

Well, it's payback time. Apparently, it doesn't cost the bank that amount of money for somebody to address those problems. An unauthorised overdraft costs £4.50, and a cheque returned for insufficient funds £2.50. So, write to your bank and specify each occasion (backed up by bank statements of course) and ask for your money back.

Source: BBC Scotland. The link leads to a detailed plan of action how to claim back your money.

Please forward.

Holocaust

A conference has opened in Tehran, the Iranian capital, the subject matter of which made my jaw drop.

It is to discuss the Holocaust [the pre-meditated murder of 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945], and whether or not it actually took place. The Iranian president, Mahmood Ahmadinejad, has openly questioned whether the Holocaust actually took place. He has organised the event to "test the West's freedom of speech". Attending the conference are a number of speakers from Europe who have been convicted of Holocaust denial (a crime in many European countries) and defamation of the dead. Holding up this hall of infamy on the part of the United States is David Duke, the Ku Klux Klan white supremacist leader.

Counterbalancing is a British rabbi, who is there to sustain the case for the occurrence of the Holocaust. He stated that although he had lived through the Holocaust, it was in no way a justification for the alleged maltreatment of the Palestinians.

Mr Ahmedinajad is a virulent opponent of the state of Israel, and is on record as calling for its destruction.

I have written about the Iranian president before, and in less than glowing terms. As a European, I find it unacceptable for any head of state to deny the Holocaust. However, I'll step over my disgust to try to discover the reasoning behind Mr Ahmadinejad's tirades.

He has recently published a long-winded letter to the American people on his blog, in an entry dated 28 November 2006. When you visit the site, click on [English] to switch over. I have to commend him for allowing comments like "You're an idiot" to appear on the blog.

Looking at the vexed question of Palestine, it's impossible to apportion blame on just the one party. The Palestinians were kicked off their land in 1948, following a 45-year insurrection by militant Jewish groups. In actual fact, it is necessary to go even further back, to the 11th and 12th century Crusades, when European knights would sail across to the Levant to re-occupy the Holy Land.
Palestine was a British protectorate, until 1948, when the State of Israel was proclaimed. It occupied territory, previously held by Palestinian Arabs, both Muslims and Christian-allied faiths. Incoming Jews, escaping the horrors of Nazi occupation in the Europe of the early 1940s kicked resident Palestinians out of home and hearth, to be couped up in 'refugee camps', which remained in situ for decades.

The Jewish state, strongly backed by sponsors in the USA, flourished, but was always on the defensive against its hostile Arab neighbours. Having dealt a few bloody noses to Syria, Jordan and Egypt in 1967 and 1973, the offensive shifted to a guerilla warfare from southern Lebanon and the Gaza strip. Although there is a Palestinian authority, it is in a fatal stranglehold by the Israelis, and will never be able to exercise real power in controlling extremist groups in its midst.

The Iranian president claims to champion the Palestinian cause, and the gross mismanagement of the Palestinian question over the decades has given airtime to extreme thinkers like Mr Ahmadinejad. Causing offense isn't going to help.

Ideally, but perhaps I'm too naive (sigh), you'd expect people to shut up the hotheads, sit around the table and thrash out a solution. I am by nature favourably inclined towards the Israelis, although I clearly see what wrong is at work in the area, and the Israelis carry as much blame as everybody else.

Tags: iran holocaust conference

Call for support

Lu-Anne has recently discovered a lump on her breast, and also is troubled with a wound there. On Thursday, she has to undergo various diagnostic tests. I have asked for support for this lady before, but have no reluctance in doing so again.

Lipstick in School

Ya gotta love this principal.

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington was recently faced with a unique problem.

A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom.

That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.

Every night the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man.

She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night.

To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.

He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it.

Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

There are teachers.... and then there are educators.

Chopping wood

"Hello, is this the Sheriff's Office?"
"Yes. What can I do for you?"
"I'm calling to report 'bout my neighbor Virgil Smith....He' s hidin' marijuana inside his firewood! Don't quite know how he gets it inside them logs, but he's hidin' it there."
"Thank you very much for the call, sir."
The next day, the Sheriff's Deputies descend on Virgil's house. They search the shed where the firewood is kept. Using axes, they bust open every piece of wood, but find no Marijuana.
They sneer at Virgil and leave.

Shortly, the phone rings at Virgil's house.
"Hey, Virgil!  This here's Floyd....did the Sheriff come?"
"Yeah!"
"Did they chop your firewood?"
"Yep!"
"Happy Birthday, buddy!"
(Rednecks know how to git-R-dun).. ..)

Amazingly simple home remedies

1. A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.

2. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives, then you will be afraid to cough.

3. Clumsy? Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.

4. Avoid arguments with the Mrs. about lifting the toilet seat by simply using the sink.

5. For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins.   Remember to use a timer.

6. Have a bad headache? Smash your thumb with a hammer and you will forget about the headache.

Sometimes, we just need to remember what the rules of life really are:  You only need two tools:   WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.

Remember:
Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.

Never pass up an opportunity to go to the bathroom.

If you woke up breathing, congratulations! You get another chance.

And finally, be really nice to your family and friends; you never know when you might need them to empty your bedpan.

Ferry Disruptions

Well, the weather is quite unpleasant today. Winds are at force 7, gusting to force 8, and frequent showers, some of them so heavy that the streetlights come on, batter Stornoway. One hailshower left a 4 inch blanket of ice in the gutters. I was not surprised, as I already hinted yesterday, to learn that this afternoon the ferries are comprehensively off. Our ferry, from Ullapool, has come in just 10 minutes ago, not to go out again until tomorrow.

A rundown of other cancellations:
Berneray - Leverburgh: the 1330 ex Berneray and 1440 ex Leverburgh have been cancelled.

Stornoway/Ullapool service

The 13:45 sailing on 11/12/06 for Stornoway to Ullapool has been cancelled. Ullapool/Stornoway 11/12/06 1715 service cancelled due to adverse weather

Sound of Barra
Due to weather conditions the Chargehand has CANCELLED the 12:30hrs sailing ex Ardmhor and the return 14:10hrs sailing ex Eriskay. The last remaining return sailing on this route is also very doubtful.

UIG / LOCHMADDY & TARBERT
Due to adverse weather conditions the MV Hebrides has cancelled sailings for the rest of the day.

Oban - Colonsay - Oban
Oban to Colonsay and return has been cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. The next sailing will depart Oban on Wednesday 13th December at 1200 hrs as timetabled.

Mallaig-Small Isles service
The 1020h sailing to the Small Isles has been cancelled for today due to adverse weather.

Dead Whale

The carcass of a 43 ft dead sperm whale has washed up on the shore at Burghead, Moray, east of Inverness. As always, it can't be left there. Although large numbers of the inquisitive have come down to have a look, people are advised not to touch the carcass. Over the past 12 months, another dead whale washed up somewhere in Harris. In the end, they decided to transfer it, by low-loader, to the council dump at Bennadrove, just outside Stornoway. I mean, cutting it open is asking for trouble and look what happened in Florence, Lane County, Oregon some 30 or 40 years ago, when they tried to blow up a whale carcass.

Windy corner

Sunny intervals and showers, these frequent and heavy in west, with snow on high ground, mainly above 300m. Strong to gale southwest winds, locally severe gales in northwest, gusts 60mph. Maximum temperature 7 °C.

That is our forecast for tomorrow, Monday. We are NOT subject to a severe weather warning, as gusts do not exceed 70 mph. I am not going to be surprised if our ferry is cancelled tomorrow. The Isle of Lewis ferry will not show its nose out of port in anything above force 7.



Want to know if it's cancelled? Have a look on the Calmac Service Disruption page. Calmac (Caledonian MacBrayne) is our much maligned ferry operator. Should you ever visit these islands, then it'll be their boats you're travelling on.

Pinochet is Dead

General Augusto Pinochet, the former dictator of Chile has died at the age of 91. He came to power in 1973 by military coup. His opponents were executed, forced into exile or disappeared. Mr Pinochet was never called to account over his [alleged] human rights abuses.

He was backed by, amongst others, Margaret Thatcher. After being stripped for his senator-ship for life, which granted him immunity from prosecution, a wrangle over his prosecution was brought to a halt by his death, earlier today.
Picture courtesy CNN

Soggy Sunday

It's pouring with rain, although the gale has eased that was howling through the night. Looking back through the overnight readings, it reached 51 mph at 6 am. And don't I know it, having been woken up by the rain being hurled against the windows.

I'm trying to find rainfall totals, but the warning states 50 to 100 mm, which is 2 to 4 inches, just today. There has already been a lot of rain in recent days and weeks, so wet feet are to be expected in quite a few places.

Over in the Philippines, typhoon Utor is rampaging away from the western coasts, with winds of 125 mph or more. Thousands have fled coastlines nearest the storm centre, adding to the 100,000 that were in evacuation centres following last week's typhoon Durian. Flooding and mudslides are, as always, a major concern.

Notice somebody is watching the webcam, but all they'll see is raindrops on the window. It's not likely to get any better, any time soon.

Weather pictures - early afternoon

The sun and clouds combined to give a breathtaking display again this afternoon, just like yesterday. Can tell you that the forecast for tomorrow and Monday is abysmal. The weatherchart below may not mean much, but let me tell you that a depression with a central pressure of 935 mbar is a monster; if you see lines close together, it means wind. A lot of it. The UK can expect a windy week; I wouldn't be surprised if the ferry was going to be off until Wednesday or thereabouts. Anyone interested in weather charts can access them free of charge from  here, which is also the source of the below map.