Month: April 2018

Hear Today Extension

Friday the 13th might be unlucky for some but for Mrs Physics and family it has been a great day as we welcome Nelson Alves Correia who is on a 9 day exchange thanks to Science on Stage and the Royal Society.

We are extending our Hear Today Gone Tomorrow project to the EU. We’ve a lot of readings still to take in school here, but hopefully a bit of friendly rivalry will spur on the students.

After Nelson had left home at 22:00 on 12th April he finally got to Lockerbie at 14:45 on 13th April, so after a cuppa and a briefing we did a couple of hearing tests and checked his audiometer had arrived in school.

First we say a big welcome and then we can have an interesting Scottish welcome, and maybe go on a haggis shoot before we get down to a great exchange. We’ve already travelled the world discussing the history of our two nations.  (Hence the featured image, which I’d never seen before). I think we’re in for a great week.

The Cantino planisphere, completed by an unknown Portuguese cartographer in 1502, is one of the most precious cartographic documents of all times. It depicts the world, as it became known to the Europeans after the great exploration voyages at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century to the Americas, Africa and India. It is now kept in the Biblioteca Universitaria Estense, Modena, Italy

Both Nelson and Mrs Physics like to explore, whether it is the world of Science or in general and I hope that you realize the importance of finding out about the world around you and further afield. It certainly adds to life.

Nelson, bem vindo ao Reino Unido. Nós todos esperamos que você tenha um tempo fantástico na Escócia e que este seja o começo de uma longa colaboração

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Boating season 2018

It’s mid April, over half way through the holidays and finally we’ve got aboard Mostly Harmless. Bless her, despite a rotten winter it looks like the shower is the only thing to come off badly. So we can’t leave the water pump on. The weather is cold, wet and very windy. Mr and Mrs Physics look like they’re in for a tough night and neither have their boating legs yet. Boating legs are when you can walk across a tipping boat without feeling sick and land legs are when you can sit on a land-based loo and not feel that the world is swimming around you. After 7 years as boat owners boating legs normally arrive pretty quickly but not today, as it’s April and the last boating was a rubbish September.

Mrs Physics has given up being on the SQA AH team and marking to go boating this year. Unfortunately this coincided with Scottish Canals closing the Forth and Clyde canal at Twechar and Bonnybridge so no access to the Falkirk wheel, Edinburgh or the Kelpies. It looks like Mostly Harmless might be heading back down South for a proper boating experience.

View from the window 21:30

Update Mr Physics is running the engine and the shower is worse than first thought. It’s never been right since it was taken off the back of a lorry and into the River Carron.

No kingfisher sightings but the gooseander looked good. We’ve also got the newly painted Antonine and Campbell Christie who are also stuck this side of the bridges.

At least the relaxing is taking hold. Pictures will be added when it’s light and the decks have been cleared of algae.

winter growth
view from the bank

Come on Scottish Canals, the Scottish Government and the engineers, if you want to charge boating licence fees similar to England we expect to be able to get boating.

Maybe the Scottish Government and Scottish Canals can check out the SQA Higher Engineering Science folio pieces. This year they’ve had to construct a bridge over a canal as their folio piece. Scary how that’s a bit of déjà vu.  I bet several of them have a suitable solution- ask them.

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Icons

That seems an appropriate title for Easter Sunday. Happy Easter to you all. Lying in bed very cold, it reminds me of the Easter camps under canvas that I attended at Flagg in the Peak District: the difference is I’m indoors, but it doesn’t feel like it, it’s baltic- student accommodation, it makes you tough.

Last night I attended my first Jewish Seder and an interesting night it was too. Thanks to all who made me feel welcome.

So Mrsphysics had this idea that she wanted a homepage icon for the website to reduce the space taken up by the menus. Though keen to do it herself she felt she ought to give employment to poor students and hence commissioned the daughter. I think you’ll agree she made a good job of the boat home.

So then came the question of uploading it and adding it to the menu. This was the bit I thought I could do myself but that was the tricky bit. As I’m on WordPress.com we are not given access to the CSS code, so after consulting the internet and having a play we

A) downloaded the menu image app.

B)  uploaded the icon

C) spent 45 mins adjusting the icon size

D) filled in the appropriate boxes.

Daughter by this time was on a roll and converted the About me and subject homepages to icons. I think daughter has done a grand job and I’m delighted. I think that was cheap for the price. I think dinner will be on me!

Happy Easter and remember “Great oaks from little acorns grow.”

Have an idea, run with it and see where it takes you.

Addendum

Well daughter has really inspired me. If she can do something why can’t I? I’ve spent the afternoon updating some of her icons to more glamorous pictures. This has involved me having a go with GIMP (I don’t think this is very intuitive) and finding pictures and altering things. I hope you like the new headers and daughter- thank you! 

Well this is another example of Mrs Physics having an idea and spending far too long on it. Strange thing to do to relax, but I am now quite chilled.

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