Stormy Weather Gallery

HTC G2 with Nice and Elegant Look-myluxphone

HTC Windows Mobile smartphone as a leader in the cottage has been the object of their imitation. Today, this Touch G200, it is a masterpiece from the hands of the cottage. This Touch G200 has fuselage design with cream color scheme, kind and elegant look, especially for girls to use.

Although the same for smart phones, but HTC G2 Touch G200 is slightly different system with Windows Mobile 6.1, compared with Google Android system, Windows Mobile system is more mature, third-party software is also more abundant.

This Touch G200 is equipped with a 3.0-inch WQVGA (240 400) screen, the screen display clearly detailed, color saturation and reduction is high. Processor side by Hass K3 360MHz CPU, can be over clocked to 460MHz, 128M RAM/256M ROM, supports WIFI / EDGE high-speed Internet access, and there are FM radio, should appreciate that Touch G200 retains the traditional five-way navigation key, although small but very useful, also in line with our usual habits. The HTC Battery is also durable.

As with Hass K3 Touch G200 processor, hard decoding with Screen, so with their own players to play 30bpf/s for 640 480 MP4 high-definition video, and no dropped frames card screen phenomenon, the whole process was very smooth, and As the player Core Player not been optimized, so play the MP4 Screen VGA frame will be out phenomenon, but is able to smoothly play AVI video. The color between G1 HTC and HTC G2 is different. Test Conclusion: Play MP4 video for playback with their own Media Player, AVI format video is better results with Core Player.

HTC T3333 Touch2 Brown Mobile gives you all the options you ever need to stay in touch with your work and social life. Corporate and personal email set up has been made as easy as inputting your email address and password. Live Messenger for chatting and Face book for tending to your social network are just a tap away. The HTC T3333 Touch2 Brown Mobile touts of a 7.11cm touch screen and a 3.2 mega pixel camera. It is comfortable to fit in hands; the smart phone incorporates the upgraded Touch Flo user interface with several features. The interface includes 11 color icons and a weather clock to view local time and weather. The HTC T3333 Touch2 Brown Mobile device supports 3.5G and equips an internal GPS antenna that supports navigation solutions like Google Maps. HTC T3333 Touch2 Brown Mobile Opera Mobile and IE Mobile enable users to experience desktop style viewing of Web pages. With the Zoom Bar, users can simply swipe their fingers over the web page or a photo to get a clear magnified view.

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Article source from http://www.myluxphone.com/blog/?p=1201

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New Zealand’s Climate and Weather Patterns

The weather in New Zealand is often like the country’s landscape: dramatic, wild and unpredictable. For such a small country, New Zealand has an incredibly varied climate, and there can be major differences in the weather. New Zealand’s climate creates some diverse landscapes as well, ranging from almost tropical conditions in the north to snowy glaciers in the south.

Just like neighboring Australia, the seasons are the reverse of those in the northern hemisphere, when it is winter in the United States and Europe; it is summer in New Zealand, The reverse is true as well. Summer temperatures can be as high as 104F degrees; winter temperatures can plunge to 14F degrees. Also, like Australians, New Zealanders also tend to take their main summer holiday between the middle of December and the end of January, something to consider when planning a trip.

Most visitors to New Zealand notice the similarities with England – the country was once a British colony, after all. One of the biggest similarities is the weather – just like the UK, New Zealand has what is called a maritime climate. The weather is influenced by the sea, no place in the country is more than 79 miles from the sea, and it can also be very transient. The differences in temperature tend to be more pronounced on the South Island.

Similar to England, New Zealand experiences its fair share of rain, although many rain showers are over quickly. On both of the islands, the west side tends to be wetter as the country’s interior mountains block the moisture laden winds that blow in from the Tasman Sea. On average, the wettest part of the country is the southern part of the South Island and winter tends to be the wettest month.

One of the wettest places in the country is the area around Milford Sound, the area averages around 23 feet of rain per year and the record rainfall in one day was 9 inches. Milford Sound is actually a fjord, a narrow inlet, surrounded by steep mountains rising up from the sea and is considered to be one of the most spectacular places in a country that is not short on dramatic scenery.

Many visitors claim that Milford Sound is actually at its most dramatic in the rain, when the many waterfalls swell and cascade down the cliffs, and throw dramatic plumes of spray into the air. The area takes on an almost mysterious quality, and if it looks vaguely familiar, several scenes for the recent “Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy were filmed here. Even on clear days, the weather in the area tends to be unpredictable.

However, New Zealand’s forecast does not always include rain. New Zealanders enjoy their summer, which lasts from around the beginning of December to the end of February. In many towns and villages, the arrival of summer means an abundance of outdoor festivals and events, popular summer events include the Auckland Regatta, the Wellington Carnival and the spectacular New Zealand Air Games.

Summer also brings an increase in visitors arriving to enjoy the so-called extreme sports that New Zealand has become known for: white water rafting, jet boating, caving and mountaineering. Also included is most extreme of extreme sports: bungee jumping. The capital of extreme sports is Queenstown, which enjoys an average summer temperature of around 72F degrees.

One aspect that many visitors to New Zealand notice is the clarity of the air. Because of the relatively small amount of industry and the constant exposure to winds, the skies are often bright and clear, which are perfect for photography. New Zealand has long been recognized for its environmental efforts, it was the first country to declare itself a nuclear-free zone and to ban nuclear powered ships from its waters.

The most extreme weather in New Zealand occurs in the Southern Alps, the line of mountains that straddles the South Island. In this area, snow, heavy rain or strong winds can occur virtually any time of the year. Temperatures can fall quickly and rain and melting snow can quickly cause rivers and streams to flood. If you are visiting the Alps, you should anticipate a change in weather before the day is over.

New Zealanders love to ski and the country is one of the biggest ski destinations in the southern hemisphere. Ski resorts generally open in June, although the best conditions can usually be found from July to early September. Some ski resorts stay open into October, including Whakapapa, the country’s biggest and most crowded resort.

So, if you are planning a trip to this remote and beautiful country, plan for several kinds of weather, from rain to sun and strong wind. As they say in some parts of the country – if you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes.

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Look on the bright side, parks urge forecasters

Although the overcast start to the summer break has failed to dampen holidaymakers’ spirits, a major holiday parks group has pleaded with forecasters to stop talking down the weather.

Park Holidays UK says that gloomy weather maps on which a single large symbol is placed over an entire region often give a false picture of local reality.

According to director Tony Clish, seaside locations – where all of his group’s parks are based – are often brighter and clearer than inland.

Yet they still get tarnished with a rain or cloud symbol that might apply only to higher ground.

This month, said Tony, Park Holidays UK is playing host to tens of thousands of holidaymakers – almost 25 percent more than last summer, thanks to the boom in British “staycations”.

But there are still some last-minute waverers, he comments, and it would be a pity if they decided to beat a retreat overseas because of the forecasters’ pessimism.

“Recently, for example, there have been long periods of glorious warm sunshine on our holiday parks in Devon – despite the previous day’s weather outlook painting a very different picture.

“We’re not asking forecasters to bend the truth, but just to be more careful with their phrasing.

“For example, they could say that while inland areas may have showers, coastal areas are expected to be largely dry with blue skies for the most part,” said Tony.

“We’d also urge forecaster to resist negative off-the-cuff remarks about the weather as these too can put people off, and don’t always tie-in with holidaymakers’ experiences,” he added.

Bookings have shown no signs of slowing since the start of the school holidays, said Tony, suggesting that many families have still yet to make up their mind about this summer.

Although some of the group’s parks now had “no vacancies” notices posted for the whole of August, said Tony, it had decided to release extra weeks on other centres to cater for demand.

Seven-night family stays at Park Holidays UK (www.parkholidaysuk.com) currently cost from around £300.

“We’re absolutely thrilled with the massive upswing in UK holidays this year, not least because Britain’s multi-billion pound tourism industry is benefiting many different businesses,” said Tony.

“All we’d ask is that forecasters remember that part of Britain’s charm is our mixed weather, and that micro-climates often exist in coastal regions.

“If one symbol doesn’t tell the whole story, we say keep it in the box!” he added.

ends

More press information from Tony Clish on 01424 751185 or PR consultant Jon Boston on 01768 895225 (jon@jjbpr.co.uk)

The Emergence of Electronics in the History of the Computer

The history of the computer inevitably includes the development of electronics, we look at the explosive (!) growth of electronics in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

If anything could be said in favor of war, it may be that it speeds up the development of technology. Of course much of that technology is employed in killing people and destroying infrastructure, but there are also things which could be considered beneficial.

Electronics was around in the early part of the 20th Century, wireless, or radio, was in its infancy at the time of the first world war. Radio broadcasting came into prominence in the ’20s and 30′s, Television started in the ’30′s.

The second world war, from 1939 in Europe, and a couple of years later involving the USA, ended in 1945. Radar (Radio Aid To Detection And Ranging) was developed from early experiments, just prior to the war, in Britain and Germany. There was rapid development in the field, and, by the end of the war, Radar was being used in several fields.

Aircraft Navigation – Using ground transmitters in sets of 3, widely spaced, to give an aircraft using a receiver a method of pinpointing its position. This is a similar system to that used in gps today, substituting satellites for the ground stations.

Targeting – A beam was transmitted from a Radar station in England so that it intercepted a target in Germany. An aircraft could fly along the beam, guided by signals, dots or dashes, if it strayed off the beam, left or right. Known as flying on the beam.

Interception – a series of ground stations around the South-East coast of England, feeding into a central control room, where their tracks could be displayed, significantly assisted in the Battle of Britain (1940).

Airborne Interception (AI) – Developed towards the end of the war, used a Tranceiver (transmitter/receiver) in a night fighter to find a target in the dark, or bad weather, and track it to within firing range.

Beacon – A tranceiver was located at the end of a runway so that ground staff could guide a returning aircraft to land in bad weather, this became more and more sophisticated, developing into GCA or Ground Controlled Approach.

Shipping – radar equipped vessels could track other vessels in darkness or fog, whether peacefully or aggressively.

Many other sytems were developed or initiated in that 6 year period. Knowledge of electronics, and what it could be used for vastly increased. In parallel with the development of radar, other fields of electronics were also advancing, under pressure from the requirement to improve the technology.

Long range guns on ships or in the field needed to be aimed accurately. The calculations required in ballistics to aim a gun so that you can hit the target, or aim a V2 rocket so that it hits London from continental Europe, are phenomenal.

This, then was the scene at the end of the war. We knew how to tackle large calculations with speed, and we had developed a new concept in electronics, Pulse Technology. This is so called because radar uses short pulses of high energy, for two main reasons.

1. The pulses can be coded. For example, in the Navigation example we looked at, 3 ground stations transmit a signal whose source needs to be identified. One transmitter could transmit a series of single pulses spaced say 10 milliseconds. A second could transmit a pair of pulses at 10 millisecond spacing, and the third 3 pulses. A chart would tell the navigator where the pulse sets were transmitted from, and the distances obtained from the radar set used to locate the position on the chart.

2. The power, or strength, of the signal. A continuous radio signal, like a radio broadcast, takes a given amount of power. However, a 1 millisecond pulse every 10 milliseconds, uses only one tenth of the power, on average. So a radar transmitter can have a much greater range for the same power. This is is especially important in a primary (transmit and receive) radar system, where we must detect the reflection of the signal we transmit. Likewise a secondary (receive) radar system, for example the navigation system above, will have a bigger range.

Next we will look at how early computers were now possible due to these developments.

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Emergency Preparedness – Our plans

“There is a portent of stormy weather ahead.” — Gordon B. Hinckley, 1998.  With recent years filled with hurricanes, ice storms, tornadoes, and more, the Prophet’s words take on added significance.

Don’t think that you live in an area where natural disasters could strike?  Emergencies can and do occur to anyone, wherever they live, whatever their circumstances.  My family had to leave our home within seconds when we learned that our neighbor’s home repair resulted in a gas leak.  Unfortunately, we were not prepared for our forced and hasty departure and left with nothing.

More than any specific item, we needed a plan.  After that experience, my husband and I came up with a two-fold plan:  staying where we are (at home) and evacuation.

Both depend upon having the proper supplies. The first plan involves our home storage system.  The second depends upon an easily transportable 72 hour kit.  After experimenting with several methods, we decided backpacks were the most practical.

Below is a partial list of what we’ve included in our kits:

1.   Shelter.  A lightweight tent serves the purpose.  Remember to pack some blankets as well.

2.   Food and water.  Concentrate on high-energy foods. Include a can opener, and don’t forget pet food if you have a pet.  Two liter soda bottles make handy containers for water.

3.   Clothing.  Think warm, protective clothing.  Layers work well. Be sure to have comfortable walking shoes.  Waterproof ponchos and boots are a good idea.  (Check the sizes of the clothes you’ve packed to accommodate a growing family. Children can change several sizes within a year.)

4.   Hygiene items, sanitation.  The travel size shampoos, soaps, and hand creams we all collect from hotel stays are ideal. Wet-wipes can make do when bathing or showering is not available.  For sanitation needs, bring heavy duty plastic, bags for waste disposal.

5.   Medications.

6.   Special needs.  Do you have an infant in your home?  Diapers are a necessity.

7.   Cash.  In times of emergency, credit cards and checks will likely not be accepted.  Gather enough cash in small bills and change for thirty days.

8.   Fuel.  Keep your gas tank as full as possible.  A camp stove with the appropriate fuel is great for outside cooking and can be used inside as well.  When an ice storm took out our power for two days, we used our camp stove for cooking.

9.   First-aid.  Include the basics such as a good book on first- aid, bandages, aspirin, foot pads, sunscreen, etc.

10.  Miscellaneous–batteries, lantern, cell phone, radio, important papers–identification, birth certificates, medical records.

For more ideas, check out the website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at www.providentliving.org.

Go about your preparations in wisdom and order.  Don’t go out and buy without a plan in place.  Above all, don’t go into debt for these items.  Just as in purchasing food storage, make a list, buy what you need on sale, then rotate.

“If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.”  (Doctrine & Covenants, 38:30)

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English Crop Circles – The History From 1115 AD

My name is Paul Hussey and I was born in Portsmouth, England in 1961, the same day as my older brother but a year later. As a fan of English History I thought readers may be interested in the history of English Crop Circles. Excuding some of the Modern day hoaxes many of the modern day Crop Circles have been seen to form below a bright light. One of the earliest writings on Crop Circles was In 1115 A.D., the Bishop of Winchester wrote of corn flattened by ‘magical storms’.

 

One late summer’s day in 1678, an English farmer and a poor mower were arguing over the cost of harvesting the farmer’s oat field. Incensed at the mower’s proposed price, the farmer swore that the Devil himself should harvest the crop and stomped off. That night, a strange, bright glow lit up the field and, the next morning, the farmer returned to find round circles where the crop had been ‘neatly mowed by the Devil, or some infernal spirit’. Each crop stalk had apparently been placed with such ‘exactness that it would have taken above an age for any man to perform what he did in that one night’. The event frightened the farmer enough that he subsequently decided to abandon any attempt at harvesting the strange circle.

 

This description from a woodcut known as the “Mowing Devil or ‘Strange News out of Hartford-shire’” is now widely regarding as the first explicit report of a crop circle. Similar accounts have ‘cropped up’ throughout history leading credence to theories that the crop circle phenomenon is much more than a modern-day fad. While crop circles can occur in any weather, original theories on crop circle formation relate to swirling vortices of ionised air or some other type of natural process similar to ball lighting. Several scientific journals of the nineteenth-century also include references to storms and flattened circles. Another account from 1871 near Plummer’s Hill, in High Wycombe, Bucks, describes two disc-shaped objects with flashing lights hovering over a site where the very next day a circle of bent, flattened grasses was discovered.

Tales of unusual light beams, even UFO’s, are commonplace around crop circles. While some of these strange lights have been captured on film, perhaps more intriguing are the many oral accounts of crop circle activity from the days before airplanes or secret military technology. Between 1900 and 1910, one woman recalled having seen circles on her grandfather’s land near Tilshead, Salisbury Plain. The wheat was apparently ‘flattened so firmly that it could not lifted without springing back down.’ Some crop circle researchers (know as ‘cereologists’ after the Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres) have even wondered if the famous Salisbury Plain megalith, Stonehenge, was itself built to commemorate the spot where a crop circle once formed.

The area certainly has had its fair share of crop circles in recent years. In 1996, the ‘Julia Set’, a staggering 915 foot long formation with 151 circles, appeared near Stonehenge in broad daylight and within a forty-five minute period. No one had noticed a thing but when news of the miraculous crop circle broke, it attracted over ten thousand visitors within the following weeks.

So what exactly are these crop circles and why are they now such a prominent feature of the English countryside? No one really knows but enough research, however, has been carried out over the last two decades to establish these enigmatic patterns as one of the most awesomeÑand tangibleÑmysteries of our time. Crop circles, also know as agriglyphs and pictograms, have been reported in virtually every country around the globe and in all types of fields, in fact, similar, unexplained patterns have occurred in snow, ice, gravel and even Japanese rice paddies. Since the early 1980′s over ten thousand crop circles have been documented with the vast majority appearing in England. The ‘hot spot’ of crop circle activity happens to be Wiltshire, perhaps because it is the home of ancient sacred sites and mystical monuments such as Stonehenge and Avebury. During the warm summer months, researchers, enthusiasts, even the military, have gathered in the fields of this southern English county to study the intricate and mesmerizing designs of the crop circles. The formations now happen so frequently that special tour buses headed towards the latest crop circle have become a regular sight on the narrow, winding roads of Wiltshire hills.

Researchers are still baffled by what causes crop circle formations. While skeptics try to dismiss them as elaborate hoaxes, crop circles do exhibit a number of unusual characteristics. For one, they are often not simple circles but beautiful geometric patterns. These include crescent shapes, abstract designs, insect forms, vortex swirls like those in seashells or galaxies. Some represent complex examples of fractals, even mathematical theorems. In 1994, a ‘Mayan lunar calendar design’ appeared near the ancient Avebury stone circle. Its gradually changing circles were eerily reminiscent of the phases of our moon. In July of 2004, an exquisite ‘Chakra’ formation occurred in the Vale of Pewsey directly beneath one of the area’s chalk White Horses.

Dowsers, and people particularly sensitive to the earth’s energy levels, often detect unusual readings within crop circles. The patterns seem to fall on or near invisible energy pathways, or known ‘ley lines’ across the country. Interestingly, animals will sometimes avoid crop circles while flocks of birds purposely split up rather than fly directly over a formation. The plants stalks within crop circles are not trampled or crushed, a telltale characteristic of many man-made glyphs, but simply bent, leaving the plant undamaged. Microscopic analysis reveals that the plant’s crystalline structure has been altered. One possible explanation seems to be some sort of intense burst of heat. What causes it, and whether the source is terrestrial or extra-terrestrial remains to be seen. Coincidentally, the few eyewitness accounts of crop circle formations that do exist describe a large ‘ball of fire’ lasting for only a few minutes. By morning, a crop circle has occurred in the exact same location. Shades of the ‘Mowing Devil’ brought up to the present day? Perhaps. One thing is certain… the mystery of the crop circles continues.

I believe that Crop Circles are 80% fraud and 20% real unknown natural causes – unless the reader knows differently.

Please visit my Funny Animal Art Prints Collection @ http://www.fabprints.com

My other website is called Directory of British Icons: http://fabprints.webs.com

To visit the list and links to my other Blogg articles: http://bloggs.resourcez.com

 

The Chinese call England “The Island of Hero’s” which I think sums up what we English are all about.

 

Copyright © 2010 Paul Hussey. All Rights Reserved

 

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Use Satellite Internet To Check Weather

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Why do you need a satellite internet connection to check the weather when you can just open a window and stick your hand out to check it? Well, with a website like weather.com, there are a lot of reasons why having a satellite internet broadband connection at home can make things easier for you.

What did people do to check the weather before satellite internet and websites such as weather.com? Each day they took a risk and got dressed in clothes they thought were appropriate, made plans hoping that the weather would cooperate, or opened their window and stuck their head out to see the current temperature and state of weather and made decisions based on that. This obviously worked for thousands of years, but thanks to weather websites, you can be much more informed on today’s weather, weather in upcoming days, and weather information regarding news, travel, garden, outdoor activities, health, driving, and more.

On weather.com you can search for weather in your local area, for example, a specific town in Maryland or Pennsylvania, or anywhere else in the world. You can set a specific area as your default location, making checking the weather easier every time you go to the site. Check the weather for today and the predicted weather for the next 10 days. After that, view average temperatures from previous years. As everyone knows, just because it is raining in the morning does not mean it will rain all day. With hour-by-hour you can view the specific weather predictions right down to each hour, allowing you to better plan your day. View the actual temperature and what temperature it feels like based on other factors, the chance of precipitation, humidity level, and the wind details. Weather.com will also tell you the sunrise and sunset times.

Use weather.com to read news articles based on the weather, such as recent earthquakes, tornados, snowstorms, and more. View maps and videos of storms and natural disasters. Take advantage of their specific categories to plan your events and activities based on the weather, and even customize your weather.com page to fit your specific interests. Under Travel, check flight statuses, read travel tips, and the website’s top destination suggestions for different types of vacations. The Driving section will provide you with traffic reports, scenic drive suggestions, and safety advice. The Health section provides a “beauty forecast” for hair and skin, allergy information, skin protection, air quality, flu and cold information, and fitness and exercise tools. Home and Family is helpful for school day forecasts, pet information, home improvement help, working in the garden, and wedding planning. Whether you are playing a sport or watching one, check out the Sports section for forecasts, game delays, and ski reports. Outdoor activities can be ruined by the weather, so make sure to check the Outdoor Activities section for fishing reports, national park suggestions and information, and advice on outdoor grilling and picnics.

Who would have ever thought that all of this weather related information would be so useful? With a satellite internet connection it will be easier to plan adventures, vacations, hobbies, and sports around the weather. Do not let the weather surprise you. Take advantage of your satellite internet connection to stay updated on the climate.

Betting on Horse Racing at the All Weather Racecourses in the UK

Betting on horse racing has taken on a new shape in the last ten years in the United Kingdom, with more all weather type racing in the calendar. Going against the grain of traditional forms of grass turf racing, such as Ascot and Newmarket.

All weather racecourses are holding more and more racing all the year round.
Unlike the winter jumps season, all weather racing very rarely is taken hostage by poor weather conditions such as frost or snow. When it is, you know it is time to look elsewhere for an investment because the conditions will be so bad that the horses are more likely to want to be anywhere but the racetrack!

Many purists turn there backs on this type of racing. However with more trainers prepared to use these surfaces for campaigns throughout the year and with higher class horses also now specialising on these surfaces. This type of racing is set to go only one way, and that is forward. Many small owners are able to compete at this level and enjoy success, so the demand for this racing for many is high.

As all year round punters look to take advantage of as many situations as possible, these all weather tracks help to give punters betting on horse racing greater choice.
It would take far too much space to go in to great detail about the intricacies of every track, but here we are going to highlight some of the more important things to do and NOT do when betting on horse racing at certain tracks.

Lingfield Park all weather racecourse is a popular all weather track and throughout the racing year, many high class races take place at this venue with all of the top trainers prepared to run their horses here.

Lingfields’ all weather track is renowned for being a fair racing venue, however if you are an each way punter you need to reconsider your betting strategy. On a regular basis it is common to see an entire field bunching up over the last two furlongs and separated by minimal margins. This means often selections can look locked on for a place with a furlong to go, only to be run in to fourth position outside of the money in the dying yards!

Be warned betting on horses each way at Lingfield is a dangerous game to play.

Southwell racecourse is another fantastic all weather racing venue holding some good racing all year round. Course specialists in some shape or form tend to hold sway here. You will regularly see horses that only ever win at Southwell and do so regularly!

Keeping these course specialists on side when betting on horse racing, or indeed spotting the potential specialists before it is common knowledge. Can lead to healthy gains betting at this venue.

Another all weather circuit heavily used year round is the Woverhampton track. There is a disadvantage generally here being drawn on the inside stalls one and two. The track surface here tends to ride a little deeper than the rest of the surface and the statistics correlate to this. The bias is especially strong over the minimum trip of five furlongs with berths one and two having a poor strike rate.

It is always great on any of these all weather tracks to see C+D (course and distance) next to a runners name. It helps just to highlight that at the right grade, the horse is able to handle the tight bends on some of the tracks and indeed the racing surface itself.

One thing you should consider at any of the venues is the trainers ability to win races at the course. Always check out the trainers strike rate at the track of your potential bet. Statistics do not lie, if a trainer has a strike rate of over twenty percent it is not your reason to wonder why. Just understand that due to the training regimes of differing trainers, some are more apt at readying winners at certain tracks than others.

Getting to know the individual racecourses can take some time, but once learned betting on horse racing at these all weather venues creates more choice. Learning to bet wisely at these courses not only opens up a wider variety of race for the punter but also the ability for betting on horse racing all year round no matter what the weather is doing (within reason!).

Diary of an Ocean Passage

A true ocean passage is the ultimate sailing experience. A passage brings together all the elements of sailing – preparation, planning, boat handling, weather analysis – the ultimate challenge, but also the ultimate in fun.

This diary documents a 1000 nautical mile passage sailed in May 1006 from St Thomas, USVI to Georgetown, Bermuda.

Day One – St Thomas, USVI. Great to be back in the Caribbean! Very sunny and hot, summer here already. Boat check day – lots to do. Bought final few tools on our offshore list, replaced a few small things that built up over the season. Fluids and filters changed on the engine. Time for full boat check. Captain up the mast, everything looks great. Sea berths installed. All major systems A-OK.

Day Two – Completed provisioning list and provisioned boat for trip. Received ocean current charts from our service and plotted the course all the way to Bermuda – faster to sail 30 miles west and pick up favorable current than to follow rhumb line. Got weather forecast from our service and had weather briefing with Captain and crew – looks like favorable winds develop soon. Crew briefing is complete. Final double check of the boat, everything looks good.
15:15: off the dock and to the fuel dock for final topping of fuel and water tanks.
15:35: off the dock and away we go! Wind is light, almost calm and we are motoring but it feels great to be on the way.
18:00: sails up and motor sailing.

Day Three
02:00: late night watch. Wind has picked up as forecast and now under sail power only.
08:20: day is gorgeous. Coffee is made and wind at 12 knots on the beam, boat speed 5.6 knots. Fishing lines in the water and morning sun shots complete with sextant. Sea is flat.
13:00: Captain Alex makes homemade calzones for lunch – fantastic!! Nothing like gourmet food at sea. Fishing lines out of water, no luck today.
17:00: saw freighter on the horizon – first boat we’ve seen out here. Tracked the freighter on radar and practiced radar navigation.

Day Four – 305: miles covered first two days, progress is great. Nice sunny day, sea is such a beautiful blue color. Homemade muffins and fresh coffee for breakfast, might actually gain weight on this trip we’re eating so well.
16:00: getting daily weather briefings, very accurate thus far. Bad weather up north, but won’t affect us.
19:00: pork chops and apple sauce for dinner. Wayne got some great sunset photos!

Day Five – 01:00: shooting star! Seems so close, difficult to believe.
14:00 freighter nearby, we have nice conversation on the phone and wave as we go by. They seem happy to have a conversation with someone nearby. Freighter is dead in the water and making repairs, we ask them if they want a tow – good laugh for everyone.
18:00: picking up and so is boat speed. Fresh made cornbread with dinner, tastes like home.
23:00: Wind up to 30 knots now and seas 6-8 feet. This boat loves it like this! We’re still sailing flat and making great progress – lots of fun. About 400 miles offshore now. Everyone is catching up reading on off shifts and very relaxed.

Day Six
11:00: much cooler now, we’re definitely out of the tropics. First time put on a long sleeve shirt in days. Clouds coming in and it looks like we may get a little rain later. Still moving good and eating well.
16:00: forecast calls for showers later today as we cross a front. The SSB radio makes the world seem so small. We are still getting daily weather updates and hearing all the other boats around. Hard to believe we are in the middle of the ocean and this connected.
19:00: starting to rain, first bad weather of trip. Radar shows only light showers. Not raining hard, though and wind is steady 15-20 knots.

Day Seven
06:00: still overcast. Wind behind us, out of south and still at 25-30 – we’re flying!!
13:00: Alex bakes chocolate chip cookies, we’re really getting spoiled now!
18:00: wind now out of the west and much lighter, boat speed down to 5 knots, but sky is perfectly clear. Its going to be a pretty night.
23:00: steering due north and using polaris as guide – feels like an old time sailor steering to the north star. Sea is getting flatter and we are close. Should be in Bermuda tomorrow.

Day Eight
10:00: porpoises swimming along boat and many birds around, you can tell land is not far away. Arrived in Bermuda and cleared customs at 15:00. Off to dock. Grilled a steak and had a glass of wine to celebrate! 1000 miles complete and ready for the next leg.

Glastonbury Forecast

Brit-pop legends Blur will play at this years Glastonbury Festival. Michael Easton, founder of the festival, has said that fans could look forward to seeing Blur on stage this summer, but that it had not been officially confirmed as yet. The rumours about Blur playing Glastonbury have been going around since it was announced they were getting back together nine years after their last concert. The comments were made by Michael Easton after Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon performed at the NME awards.

What other artists can the 2009 Glastonbury crowd look forward to seeing on stage? Canadian musician Neil Young was recently announced to co-headline the festival along with already announced American rock and roller Bruce Springsteen in what is shaping up to be a very interesting line-up for this years festival. Festival goers can look forward to an exiting performance from the legends, that Michael Easton described as being ‘better than ever and with a show that tops all former performances’.

Michael Easton also promised that British singer Lily Allen would show up, joking that she was born there, hinting at the fact that Lily Allen’s parents used to go to the festival themselves for many years!

With Blur, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Lilly Allen the line-up is already looking impressive, and the man himself Michael Easton, seems very happy to make this years festival the best one yet, which is no small feat in the history of festival.

”With Neil on the bill we are close to completing our best ever line-up,” Emily Eavis said. She attributes this years success to American rappers Jay Z’s performance last year, which although criticized by some, has made other bands want to play at Glastonbury again.

Among other band that will make their appearance at Glastonbury 2009 is psychedelic rock band Gong, along with Franz Ferdinand and Madness.

Other bands and celebrities from the music world still rumoured to play are: Fat Boy Slim, Beyonce, Jarvis Cocker, Stevie Wonder, Tom Jones, Fleetwood Mac, Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys, Neon Asylum, Squeeze, Scouting for Girls and more.

With Glastonbury’s 2009 already remarkable line-up it will be very interesting to see if any more big names like Madonna, Kanya West or Artic Monkeys will also make it to this years festival.

Fans of the 80′s will be pleased to hear that persistent rumours insist that Depeche Mode are still in consideration, although the band itself issued a denial publicly: “That is a rumour and it’s not true.” Keyboardist Andy Fletcher said. “Unless our management is going behind our backs, as far as we’re concerned that is definitely not on.”

This years Glastonbury festival is shaping up to be one of the best in history, not just in its own history but of all music festivals. It will be very interesting to see which of the rumoured bands eventually finds a spot on the festival flyer! Then all that is left is to once again pray to the Gods for plenty of fine weather!

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