Turn your sound up and click 'play'!

As Sam Gamgee once said, "Well, I'm back!"



Made it! And Fricka! No Cozy yet, nor Sparky but it's early days. Left 'little' Fricka at the ice edge, not so little now, actually a bit of a 'fat cow' really. She is sure gonna break some poor penguin's heart one day when she finally makes it back to dry, cold, sometimes slushy land in three years time!

I actually got back a few days ago but I've been catching up on MG's proxy blog, checking out the threads, trying to pick up the pieces, and putting everything back the way I want it :) Honestly, leave these people for two minutes and they take over! I've been doing a few other things as well but they're personal so........:) God, I love hormones! Especially testosterone! ;)

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not carping, but MG didn't do a single bloody thing I asked him to do! No posts that I'd done before I left, no little stories, he couldn't even be bothered to find me some Gary Glitter; I had to do that myself yesterday! No new penguin drorin'. Oh, but he had time to change MY blog! Oh well, at least he did one thing! There isn't a huge three month gap in the posts :)

It's weird isn't it? I go away for three months and the global economy goes even further into meltdown. Connection? MG is right, in three months time, the Matabele Jumbo Bead is going to be the world's new reserve currency.

Now I'm only a penguin (without pockets or wallets) but even I can see pouring good money after bad in the hope of rescuing a few fools who don't deserve to be rescued is sheer madness. And the numbers? It's said that there's 13 TRILLION dollars of toxic debt out there and another 83 TRILLION dollars of derivatives out there whose status on the toxic scale of 'OK' to 'penury and bankrupcy' has yet to be determined. Does it not beggar belief? Oh, and what about the raging inflation that will ensue when everyone realises that there's not enough 'script' to go around and governments start printing money to maintain a thin veneer of prosperity. And the currency devaluations. And the soaring interest rates? Yes, if you're not careful you are going to lurch from one kind of destructive crisis to another.

So let's all buy into Matabele Jumbo Beads now and hedge our bets! In Britain, everyone's getting into Horse Chestnut Tree Leaves. Abundant and in strong supply. If it carries on the way it's going they could supplant the euro as well as the pound. I'm thinking more snow right now, in just as abundant supply down here and worth per fist/flipperful as much as the dollar or the pound will be in three months time! Although you can only use it down here, otherwise it melts and your assets just disappear down the drain. So what's new? Maybe the Zimbabwean dollar will stage a comeback!

Oh well, back to the grindstone. I have an egg to make. Oh alright, Fricka and I have an egg to make but I get to do all the work! So it's more exotic sex :) Exotic? Think about it. It isn't every day you get to make love in the snow! Doggy style! :)

There were two atoms strolling down the street and one turns to the other and says, "Bollocks, I have just lost an electron!" "Are you sure?" queries the other. "Yes, I'm positive!"

f(x) walks into a bar and asks for a burger and a beer. "Sorry," says the barman "we don't cater for functions."

A neutron walks into a bar and orders a beer. "How much is that?" the neutron asks. The barman's reply? "For you, sir, no charge."

See, you can even tell scientific jokes! Who says physicists don't have a sense of humour?

I'll leave you with something, parts of which do make my eyes water........... for emotional reasons, I hasten to add. A stooping peregrine falcon (in between the boring bits) and, please stay right to the end. The estimated terminal velocity, discounting air resistance, of a an object of the mass of a peregrine falcon is around 250/260mph!



PS At the end of the dive, ie just before the strike, as it decelerates to a speed where the strike isn't going to break its feet or legs, it's estimated the bird is 'pulling' 10G. YOU get 'red-eye' at 6-7G and black out at 8-9G. Amazing thing, evolution, ay? Especially when you remember that a bird's bones are composed primarily of air. They are not solid like your bones.

Another little interesting thing. The nostrils face into the airflow as the bird dives and it has no way to close them. So how comes the air doesn't rush down into its lungs and 'over-inflate' them? Well (so the theory goes) they have these little rods in the middle of each nostril, one in each, all falcons do. These create turbulence at the opening and the faster the bird goes, the more turbulence is created. At high speeds, there is so much turbulence that it prevents air from entering the nostril. Like I say, amazing thing, evolution!

PPS Catch the partial 'barrel rolls' at the beginning and the end of the film - 'barrel rolls' are 360 degree rolls about the axis of flight and are used to orientate about the 'target'. 'Top Gun' without the macho technology!

These birds are simply awesome, the best!

Except for us!