Tag: BBC

The universe

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What are you curious about?

Infinity or beyond? The universe is around 13.5 billions of years old. It could continue for billions or trillions of years into a heat death ending. Cooling down and expanding forever. Or it might collapse in a backwards big band and a singularity.

I’m not a scientist but my interest was piqued by watching the BBC TV series “The Sky at Night”, I started watching in the 1960’s when Sir Patrick Moore presented it. I loved the old fashioned animations of how things worked. It was well before the time of CGI or computer animation.

I keep watching the 20 minute show monthly, over the years, finding out about comets, eclipses, meteor showers and meteorites. I still try and catch it all these years later. I’m interested in finding out about dark matter and quantum lensing. I hope the programme continues for years to come.

BBC Radio 4

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What do you listen to while you work?

I’ve listened to BBC Radio 4 for years now. It’s mostly speech except for ptogrammed like Desert Island Discs.

In the 1980’s I heard the serialised version of the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy. And found the answer to life the universe and everything was 42. Then I listened to the Hobbit, and later the Lord of the Rings trilogy with Micheal Horden, Ian Holm and Bill Nighy. I even got the cassette tape version of it.

Other favourites include: I’m Sorry I haven’t a clue, the News Quiz, Dead ringers, the Infinite Monkey Cage, and many others.

I think you can hear a lot of these can be heard on the BBC SOUNDS ap.

Seeing more JWST pictures

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What are you most excited about for the future?

I love images of space, they excite my artistic imagination. I’ve just been watching The Sky at Night, a BBC TV programme about space and astronomy. They had a special programme about the James Webb space telescope as it is the second anniversary of it sending back the first images it took.

JWST has superceeded the Hubble telescope as the foremost in imaging distant stars, nebulae and galaxies. It can see back in time almost to the big bang. And that was 13 billion years ago. It has been able to image data that indicates exo planets, and on a few occasions has actually been able to work out the chemical constituents of their atmospheres through spectroscopy. It has also given us different ways to image our closest neighbours, the planets of the solar system, for example using infra-red filters.

I am really looking forward to seeing new images from JWST, and maybe even trying to paint some of them. X

Woo Who!

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David Tennant is back as the 14th Doctor Who. He’s starring alongside Catherine Tate as, Donna Noble and as usual they try and save the world.

This digital drawing was done in about 2006? I drew it at a website called Sketchfu that no longer exists, I did quite a few portraits on my old wacom tablet. I’ve always been quite proud of this one!

I love that Tennant is back for three special episodes over the next few weeks. It’s made me happy!

Look into my eyes

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I was just watching a programme called ‘Glow up’ about make up artists competing to win a make up artist of the year award. They are all young, enthusiastic people and the work they did was amazing. The first challenge was to create fresh makeup for an advertising campaign. The results were varied between very subtle and very bold. The second challenge was to create a make up which represented the place the contestants came from. One competitor came up with a bee for Manchester on her models nose, and eagles wings using feathers on the models eyebrows.

I’ve never seen this programme before on BBC 1, but I’m glad I did. I have done a small amount of face-palming in the past but this was on an entirely different scale. Really amazing and artistic! My sketch here is nothing in comparison. X

Clear sky

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It’s a clear sky tonight, the clocks go forward in the UK today. I would love to see the Aurora Borealis which has been visible in lower latitudes over the last few nights, while it has stayed stubbornly cloudy here. The information about Auroral displays and asteroids etcetera you could check out a website called https://spaceweather.com

There is also a large asteroid passing between the Earth and the Moon tonight, but as that distance is around 250,000 miles and it’s about 264 meters across there’s no danger. I guess with a clear sky astronomers will be able to watch it.

I always watch the BBC programme ‘The Sky at Night’ every month when it’s on. But they seem to have stopped showing it. More dumbing down? How do you find out information if its not shared.

Winter watch is on

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Winterwatch is an offshoot of Springwatch which is a programme that started on BBC TV several years ago. The presenters have changed over time, but it gives us a view of the British Isles through the seasons.

Winterwatch is lovely, seeing badgers, falcons, water rats, deer, stoats and seabirds amongst other animals gives you an idea of how they live and survive and in some cases thrive during the winter.

The programme explores wildlife and behaviour over a couple of weeks, sampling their lives and how humans affect them. The series is a wonderful reminder of nature. Some of it is filmed live during the evening programmes and also has videos of other animal activity happening at this time of year.

If you want to know more about the natural history of the British Isles during winter you can watch it in the UK on BBC 2, or the BBC I player, or the Facebook page which is called BBC Springwatch. Or bbc.co.uk/winterwatch

What day is it?

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Queen Elizabeth II from the Internet.

It was yesterday? That our queen died. Prince Charles is now King Charles III.

The BBC has been showing wall to wall reports about everything that is happening. I understand why, its TV channels are the face of the establishment. They have to show what’s happening for the sake of history and posterity. But for goodness sake! The same report about the Queen’s life has been shown on the hour at least six times. Rolling news at its worst? I feel sad that she has died, but being reminded constantly is too much, at least try and vary the content. For instance another channel had stories about artists who had created portraits of her, and had interesting anecdotes. The TV stations knew this was inevitable. Stop making a meal of it. How many days will it be before the obsession stops?

Drawing Van Gogh?

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When I look at this I see my mistakes..

I’m watching a drama documentary about Van Gogh. I decided to try and do a quick study of one of the women from ‘the potato eaters’.

The documentary is about Vincent Van Gogh. It is by Alan Yentob and stars Benedict Cumberbatch. It is about Van Gogh’s life and creativity. His mental health and the art he created. It’s a BBC documentary and might be available to see. I’m enjoying it.

Owlish

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I’m watching Spring Watch, a BBC nature programme that is on at this time every year in the UK. Its a pleasure to watch animals and see their lives, to see places in Britain that I may never visit. I can learn about the life cycle of beetles, explore pond life, watch deer that were imported by the Victorians. This time they have discussed ancient oak trees and what lives on them, the release of a seal in Ireland, buzzards and their young, swallow nesting and many other topics. So yes little owl, I’m watching you!