Ed Vogue's World

I have always been impressed by those people who decide to take on the amazing endurance challenges that the world can present. Take for instance James Cracknell and Ben Fogle who rowed across the Atlantic. 2,937 miles in a tiny boat. Whilst 1000 miles from land they were hit by a huge wave that capsized their boat. After a few very scary moments the boat was righted although many of the equipment needed to survive had been lost. But they kept going, reasoning that rescue was too far away to help them. No way out, no way to get off and they didn't want to. Through determination and resilience and hard times they made it. The journey was hard but it was worth it in the end. This kind of adventure is both inspiring and perhaps foolhardy. To put your life in so much peril with little chance of help if the worst should happen is perhaps a little crazy. But that is the adventure and adventures must be worth having as people do them all the time. http://space-facts.com/wp-

In 1979 the director Ridley Scott released one of the most iconic science fiction horror films ever, introducing monsters with acid for blood and the tendency to pupate inside a human body. The film was of course Alien and was the beginning of a number of sequels and recently a prequel. http://static.fearzone.com/content/images/large/large-1626.jpg The tagline for this film was memorable; ' In space no one can hear you scream'. This relates to the fact that sound needs to travel through some kind of medium. Space being a near vacuum lacks particles which are required to transfer the longitudinal waves. Most people will probably remember their school physics lesson where a ringing electric bell is placed inside a large bell jar. As the air is removed from the glass jar the ringing of the bell gets quieter and quieter. This demonstration is quite effective. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce7AMJdq0Gw However, up until now no one as actually tested this idea

For Christmas in 1982 I received a piece of technology that slightly changed my life. It was a cassette player with a record feature. I remember it as grey/silver with big buttons on the front, a handle and a counter that had a reset button. It looked something like this.... http://cdn.dipity.com/uploads/events/2d3184e0727744ab4c83cb1950d75444_1M.png For the same Christmas I received a new album on cassette, Prince Charming by Adam and the Ants. This album had been released the month before and was pretty popular. I was nine, just a bit younger than my eldest. I listened to that album over and over again, turning down the volume when the song S.E.X. started to play. With an 80's theme day a few weeks hence I am thinking that dressing up as a new romantic popstar like Adam Ant might be fun, so I dug out the old album. Obviously I don't have it on cassette anymore but it is electronically stored on my phone and bluetoothed through my car stereo it took me back th

Just over the last few days there seems to be a new buzz phrase that is turning up in the news. The phrase 'inappropriate behaviour'. This has Ben used in the context of a senior priest and also a chairperson of a political party.   I of course will not name names or point the finger, it is not my place, I don't have any of the facts about the two cases except what I have heard on the news and therefore it would be inappropriate. Although I should point out that both parties have strongly denied any accusations.   As a casual observer, what I find interesting is that in both of these cases involve inappropriate behaviour over 20 years ago. Is it just a strange coincidence that both stories broke at the same time? Why have these allegations been made now?   As the story goes along more and more details are emerging with different people defending what they did or did not know.   I'm sure that enquiries will be started to investigate the 'indirect

I can't really wait for the weather to warm up. It's nearly spring and with that month I get a little bit of an itch to exercise. If I scratch that itch straight away my sometimes slightly obsessive nature will latch on to it and enable a little bit of success. A few years ago this is exactly what happened. I started running and within a few months I was running at least four times a week and at least 5km each run, working up to 10 miles. But then the dark, cold weather came and with a few weeks of snowy, icy weather my fitness waned and so did my resolve. Then, being the middle age codger that I am, every time I attempted to restart I found niggles here and there and my excuses were rife. http://www.st-michaels-ce45.lancsngfl.ac.uk/images/library/300px-Cycling_(road)_pictogram.svg Well, this weekend I decided on some new exercise. My bike is serviced and running nicely. All twenty four gears engage and disengage perfectly, the tyres are inflated to 60psi and in

Apparently the countries credit rating has been downgraded from the top triple A rating to AA+. Shock. Horror. Batten down the economic hatches. I have absolutely no idea what this really means. A credit rating company called Moody seems to have made this decision relating to the stagnation of Britain's economy which although achieving a little blip of progress during the Olympic months has failed to show the progress promised by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor. So should we be concerned? According to Mr Balls we should. According to him this is of great embarrassment to the government. As a member if the general public will it make much difference to me? I really don't know. I read that the markets were expecting it so any effect should be minimal. But who really knows how the markets work? It seems that most countries including America and France have previously been downgraded after Moody got the hump with them. They are still ok. So I'm sure will w

Tuesday was a lovely day. The sun was out the sky was blue and cloudless and it was warm enough to have a picnic in the car with the windows down and to sample the first 99 of the year and then there was today. Today the wind blew from the east, a dry cold Siberian type wind. The temperature failed to get above 2 degrees and with the wind chill it felt below zero. The clouds were dense enough to allow some flakes of snow to fall. Come on spring - this is just too much. To try to ignore this grip that winter still has on the year I retreated to the garage and planted some seeds in the propagator. Of course the propagator has a built in heater. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgHhu87tf1gR2QvpbtUG291uB_xWqBnpMM-WAGoS6OF3aeToeaEPs-jfb8A6QaGTr7jhNwiYqsNfTptT_E78dCItzy8icONWOTmwavp8d54yJQ-ceZucmk_NU7mzP3sfOM83fRcy0b4WMo/s400/080712CarrotSeedlings.jpg My hope is that the little plants will somehow encourage the sun to shine and the temperatures to rise s

Eating out is something that many people do. I guess lunch is probably the meal that is most often eaten out of the house; even if it is a quick sandwich grabbed from a supermarket whilst on a lunch break from a busy day at work. Eating dinner out is more special, usually organised in advance with friends or family. However breakfast is not a meal that the average person eats out. Yes indeed if you are staying in a hotel or bed and breakfast then the first meal of the day is a luxury bonus of that stay. It might be the only time many people eat a full English breakfast nowadays, if you are lucky you might even find some black pudding on the menu. http://www.fullenglishfood.com/big_brit.jpg This morning I did something I don't think I have ever done before. I went out for breakfast with my kids. Not brunch, breakfast. It wasn't anything special, no real occasion. We were just up and out of the house early and purchasing supplies in the local supermarket. So we s

Today involved a trip to a museum. Truth be told it is a museum that I have passed many times but have never really fancied a trip. The theme of the museum has never really inspired me. However, the day out was suggested by my parents and that was good enough for me to pay the entrance fee and take a look. Some of the visit was as I feared, displays of not that interesting stuff. A display of some electrical plugs and sockets does not really create a spark for me; get it spark - ok I'm trying here. Moreover a few of the displays looked a little tired; I even managed to break a couple of things (I fixed them again). But we had some fun. Without naming the museum the theme involved chalk, good old calcium carbonate and is located on an old chalk quarry. As it was half term there were lots of advertised questionably exciting chalk related activities for the children including: playing noughts and crosses using chalk and a chalkboard; getting your hair coloured using chalk

I took a little day trip today to a very touristy destination. It was a remarkably sunny day. A spring day. It could have been a perfect day. But something was missing... It is of course only 19th February and the day was spring-like but the thing that was missing was the season. Most of the tourist attractions were closed. The amusement arcades were half open. The fancy goods shops had their doors stubbornly shut and the freezers of the store advertising the local ice cream were disappointingly empty of cold creamy treats. The sight of a seaside resort out of season can be a little depressing, akin to a wild west ghost town. However, on a day like today those enterprising shopkeepers who battle the bad weather and low customer numbers of the winter are the winners. Thanks to these business men and women if you look hard enough then you can find the amusements, the ice cream and the shops selling novelties and the bonus is that there are no queues, no bustling crowds obs

Christmas Island, so called because it was first 'charted' on Christmas Day 1643, has about 2000 human residents. However it is not the human residents that cause the interest on this little Pacific Island because Christmas Island is famous for its population of crustaceans. These chitin covered critters are the Christmas Island Land Crabs which each year assemble together coming out of their jungle homes and marching in a swarm towards the ocean. Once they reach the sea, they release their eggs into the water and the juvenile crabs hatch and swim for their lives. http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/assets/images/blogposts/8119/christmas-island-red-crab-migration-tree-blog.jpg Sometime later these tiny crabs come back out of the water and head inland. Depending on the tides these little animals can be billions in number, literally making vast swathes of the island pink in colour. When they reach the rainforest they disperse disappearing to grow and mature. Wh

Members of the public feature on TV for many reasons. Perhaps they are innocent bystanders witnessing a newsworthy incident, perhaps they are contestants on a game show, or perhaps locating to a new area and getting help with buying a house. But then there are those unique individuals who feature on which is arguably the weirdest of public participation shows of all. I am talking of course about Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies. Why these people go on this show is really beyond me. They have some illness that is so embarrassing that they have ignored it for years too embarrassed to even visit the doctor or talk to their loved ones. Then suddenly they have bits of their body plastered over prime time TV. Cameras pointing in mostly intimate places and flaps of skin being moved to educate 'in the loosest sense' (sometimes literally) the general viewing public. I've often wondered what it would be like for these people the next day when they return to work. Do they h

I think you have to admire a company that has global success. It means that they are doing something correct. It means that they are producing a product or providing a service that the world wants. However, when a company get successful it gets large and potentially its dominance provides it with an advantage. This is when negative feeling develops and the company often feels a backlash.   Twenty years ago a fast food company had exactly this problem. Groups protested about the dominance of the restaurant chain and pointed to some dubious practices in South America that allegedly was resulting in the deforestation of large areas of rainforest to produce grazing land for the beef stock. Now in 2013 this particular company appears to be very responsible with the sourcing of its products, the way the food is cooked and their transparency about the nutritional values in their food and drink.   Obviously when a company does get large it requires the services of suppliers, trans

The world is full of coincidences. Today just proves that. A meteor about the size of a fridge apparently entered the atmosphere over Russia today travelling at supersonic speeds. As it slowed down in the atmosphere and went subsonic it produced a large sonic boom. It broke up and landed with a large bump in a frozen lake somewhere in the Ural mountain region. The resulting shock waves caused damage to the buildings in the vicinity injuring maybe 900 odd people. According to experts this maybe the largest to hit the Earth in 100 years. A once in a lifetime collision. The coincidence? Well at almost the same moment an unrelated asteroid the size of an Olympic swimming pool was passing close to the Earth within the orbits of some of the planets geostationary satellites. This is a once in 200 year occurrence. Now that is a coincidence.

I've held off writing this particular blog which as it happens has been the correct thing to do. Every time it appears that the weather might be warming winter has tightened its icy grip once more. As the latest snow melted away today revealed beneath it were the first glimmers that winter may at last be coming to end. Snowdrops are now in flower and daffodils are growing quickly, their flower buds beginning to swell tempting us with the prospect of their golden blooms. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/23/Galanthus_nivalis.jpg/220px-Galanthus_nivalis.jpg After the cold wet and dark winter days it will be good to feel the Sun on my face to recharge my batteries. I sincerely hope that the gloom of winter is past. As spring is nearly upon us my thoughts can turn to my allotment where the miracle of nature becomes a reality. Where some simple, but oh so special, seeds planted in the soil grow into a remarkable plants. This is the true beauty of sprin

Roald Dahl wrote that men with beards were not to be trusted and that a beard is not easily cleaned. In the Twits he suggested that a non-bearded person can easily wipe their face when covered in food but not so for a person with a beard. A beard is not always easy to clean, food gets stuck in it, like a cornflake or a mouldy piece of cheese. Well it seems that Mr Dahl's views are starting to become a little outdated. The beard is becoming a real fashion statement. Many of the male winners at the BAFTAs last Sunday night were sporting some kind of facial growth and the beard has been making its presence known more and more over the last year. http://www.moviebrainrot.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/31-blessed-415.jpg Now don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting that their are lots of men walking the Earth with beards as big as that worn by Brian Blessed, no not at all. The beards are often much more subtle, a half goatee or a chinstrap or just some designer stubble.

Tuesday 12th February 2013, Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day. http://www.menumagazine.co.uk/archive/feb11/pancake_lemon_sugar.jpg Pancake Day is one of my favourite days of the year. I guess it holds a few childhood memories of eating the simple but utterly delicious snack. It's quite remarkable that the starchy tasting batter made from eggs, milk and flour can be transformed after just a few minutes in a hot pan into such a delight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WERMGYQBXwc Of course the real treat about pancakes is the variety of delectable fillings that can be placed inside them. The classic is of course lemon and sugar. To this end the shops are full of those plastic lemons that squirt out the juice all over the kitchen work top. Madness. Why not use a delicious fresh lemon? Other favourite sweet fillings include Nutella, Banana with toffee sauce, Maple syrup and for the adults a splash of Grand Marnier. http://robertjhorton.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/jubi

For the first time in 600 years a Pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, has decided to resign. Pope Benedict has been God's Vicar on Earth for the last eight years and although he has worked tirelessly over that time it is probably fair to say that he has not made as much of an impression on the world when compared to his predecessor. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/Holysee-arms-A.svg/220px-Holysee-arms-A.svg.png The Office of Pope derives way back to Saint Peter and during their time the Popes have been responsible for spreading the Christian faith, holding immense power over the kings of Europe during the Middle Ages and recently providing the churches view on the important issues of the day. Recently the Catholic Church has had to deal with some very damaging scandals and a very different world where religion has become less trusted by many and as a weapon by some. It must be very difficult to be a modern day religious leader. It was only

So tonight I'm at home watching the TV, Top Gear in fact. I was watching to see if Jeremy could actually beat a train from London to Milan in a Ford Mustang and then all of a sudden the picture started to break up and then my Sky HD box lost its satellite signal.   I did what you do. I switched off the box and counted for ten seconds then rebooted. The box came back online but there was still no signal. I had to go to plan B. I googled.   Apparently severe weather can affect the Sky. Ok it's snowing but not that bad. I went to have a look at the dish. The snow was blowing right at it and this wet snowy icy mix had built up on the dish. Right at that moment I knew what was needed. I grabbed a step ladder and a brush and stepped out into the blizzard.   I climbed gingerly to the top of the ladder and swept the snow off the dish.   Success it worked again.   Twenty minutes later the signal was lost.   I switched to terrestrial TV. Too cold out there. Post

After battling with the travel gods last night I eventually arrived at London Bridge Underground. I followed the signs to street level and bundled out of the station with the rest of the crowd onto the pavement. I was meeting my friends at a pub on the riverbank apparently close to the station. I had some rudimentary directions; I knew the name of the pub and I had been told that it was left out of the station. It was dark, the buildings were many stories alongside the road, there was rain in the air and a large number of pedestrians. Even worse the underground station had three exits. I didn't know which exit I needed to use and only a vague idea where the pub was. http://notjustagranny.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/p1010022-london-bridge-underground-station1.jpg Now I guess the smart plan would have been to ask for directions, to approach one of the station staff and politely enquire if he or she knew the way to the public house, my chosen destination. Many people might

The Romans had the right idea. They had lots of gods. Gods for everything. If something went wrong or they wanted to prevent a problem some praying to that particular god made it better. I obviously failed to pray to the travel God today. I'm writing this entry today sitting in the waiting room of a station waiting for a train into the big smoke to meet a group of my old friends. Due to the flexibility of their various professions they have been together since lunchtime drinking and eating and catching up. Unfortunately my job doesn't allow me that luxury (although many would assume wrongly that it does). So inevitably I was playing catch up. That was fine. So I wrapped up an important meeting as quickly as I could, jumped in the car, drove out of work straight into a traffic jam. The journey to the train station should have taken just 15mins at most, instead more like 50mins!!! I arrive at the station buy a ticket (at a ridiculous price) and rush to the platform. It ap

The beginning of the month is the time for me to pay my Credit Card bill. It's never very huge because I don't really ever spend very much on it. I logged on to my account on the computer and found to my surprise that my balance was much bigger than I had expected. http://www.yusu.org/uploaded/e/0/0/event-image-3589.jpg Upon further investigation I discovered that I had booked a Hoseasons holiday in Pendle. This came as a great surprise to me as firstly I have never booked a Hoseasons holiday and I say this with great respect to the company and those who holiday with them, I am not likely ever to book a Hoseasons holiday. Secondly I have never felt the urge to visit Pendle. I'm sure that part of Lancashire is very nice, however all I know about it is the famous Witch Trials of 1612 and the suggestion that the area might be haunted. I quickly understood that a third party had somehow gathered enough of my card details to fraudulently use them to buy holidays in L

I like Facebook. I wouldn't say that I was addicted but I do check the 'Newsfeed' a few times a day. Recently though a number of things have changed. Firstly I am getting more and more sponsored links. I guess this is to be expected. Those folks at Facebook have to make some money from what is essentially free for me the consumer. Secondly people are starting to post videos, sharing them from others. To be fair I don't mind these as most are quite amusing and they have kept me entertained. However the last change has really wound me up. The post is always shared from someone else's post. They always am have in excess if 1000 likes and at least 500 comments. They have a picture and instructions. The instructions invite you to like the picture and then comment using a specific word and then something will happen in the picture: perhaps someone's clothes will fall off, perhaps a car will crash, perhaps someone will bungee jump. You know what, I DON' T CARE

I have a theory that at anytime somewhere it the world an episode of the Simpsons will be on television. There can't be many people in the world who can't name Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie, and many will be able to name quite a few other characters too. http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110226070535/simpsons/images/0/04/Simpsons_couch-1-.jpg Since it was first aired in 1989 five hundred and nineteen episodes have been broadcast. When you start to consider this it really is quite amazing. Each episode is 23 minutes long and on average it takes six months to make an episode. This is remarkable. It starts to make you think about those programmes on TV that are still running, episode after episode after episode Here's a few to consider: Panorama 1953-present; Blue Peter 1958-present; Doctor Who 1963-present; Top Gear 1977-present; Casualty 1986-present; This is only a short list and certainly not exhaustive. Casualty is an interesting one.

The title of today's blog is of course a mnemonic for remembering the colours of the rainbow. The Richard of York this rhyme revolves around is King Richard III who was killed at the great Battle of Bosworth Field on 22nd August 1485. He was just 32 years old and was King of England for just two years.   http://static.euronews.com/articles/213296/300x422_richard-iii.jpg After his death he was buried in a Franciscan Friary and his actual burial place was lost over the following 500 years. This Friary eventually became the site of a modern day Leicester City Council car park. Last year during a planned archaeological dig the remains of a skeleton thought to be those of the King were discovered and today it was revealed that DNA testing shows without doubt that that is actually the case. There is a lot of controversy that surrounds the life of Richard III specifically relating to his ward over his brothers two boys when the King died. Richard made a case to become King

The Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London is an amazing place. The building is beautiful, with its bricks of different colours, huge windows and interesting gargoyles shaped like. Actually I'm not sure if they are gargoyles because I believe a gargoyle acts as a water spout to remove water from the roof. It is just as beautiful inside with Dippy the diplodocus dominating the amazing entrance hall and the large sweeping staircase carrying. visitors to the upstairs galleries to reveal all the delights that the natural world has to offer. However, as with all good things there are inevitably cracks and the Natural History Museum suffers, in my opinion, because of its most famous exhibit, the dinosaurs. It is week known for the dinosaurs. Many people, maybe the majority, come to see the dinosaurs. I heard one man call it the dinosaur museum today. Crowds flock to this gallery and it becomes busy, even on a cold February Sunday. So busy in fact that the line moves a

Apparently in medieval times a game that resembles the modern day games of rugby and football was played across our great nation. The first recorded game was played in London in 1170. It did not bear to much resemblance to the game that is played nowadays, although I am sure that any ball boy deliberately holding the ball would be likely to get an arrow through his eye. http://www.artistsharbour.com/catalog/images/products/artist_unknown/futbal_poster.jpg A match would be quickly organised and could last days, deaths were common. It was called football, or foteball, but the rules allowed players to pick up the ball and run with it. The pitches could be miles in length between villages with each village fielding a team. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QekjU1j1RB8   King Edward II banned the game in 1314 because it was distracting the young men from learning the art of archery, an important skill to ensure that the population could be called on to fight. http://us