Birthday balloon

Posted on November 23, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Earth, Helium, Hydrogen, Oxygen, periodic table, Sun, Thinking, Time, Water, WorldLeave a comment

Helium is the second element in the periodic table, atomic number two. It was first discovered when they measured the spectrum of the Sun. It was found as a line in the spectrum that did not appear to be on Earth.

Balloons like this are filled with this dwindling resource, if I remember correctly it’s from a place in America. I think there is a world shortage.

Helium is the second lightest element, but unlike Hydrogen which is the lightest, it doesn’t react with anything. So Helium stays on its own, it escapes out of our atmosphere. Hydrogen on the other hand reacts with many elements and this results in H2O, water, as two hydrogen atoms link with one oxygen.

Coventry University had a whole series of videos on YouTube that was about the elements if I remember. It was very interesting and they discussed all the elements in the periodic table. It was presented by a professor with mad grey curly hair….

Christmas adverts!

Posted on November 11, 2021November 11, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged christianity, Christmas, Community, consumerism, cop26, Food, Spirits, Thinking, Toys, World4 Comments

Buy this now! You know you want it! Eau de Parfum! Jewellery! Food! A new colour for a hair dryer, a new electric car, toys toys toys.

Everything the consumer wants. Chocolates, biscuits, turkey, wine, spirits with edible gold. Lots of lovely stuff… That most people in the world can’t afford. That they will never have.

Meanwhile at Cop26 deligates have not been able to agree on reducing carbon emissions. Rich countries are not helping poor countries with funding…

This world is selfish. The Christian idea of peace and loving one another doesn’t seem very evident. Will we ever care enough to think of others?

Clocks went back

Posted on October 31, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged changing time, Clocks, Earth, Life, Moon, North, South, Spring, Time, WorldLeave a comment

I forgot to put the clocks back last night. No real problem, it just meant I got an extra hour in bed. What does sadden me is that it’s 5.15pm and its already dark. Sometimes in the winter months it feels like you never see the sun. It hides behind the clouds, keeping its light lost in their faces.

As the year turns in the northern hemisphere the sun sinks further south, rising in an arc that tops at an angle, so consequently there is less daylight. In the southern hemisphere the earth is tipped towards the sun bringing more light to that part of the world.

Celestial mechanics is interesting. The fact that the earth is tipped on its axis is the cause. If the earth was upright all parts would have exactly 12 hours of daylight and night, there would be no seasons. But the angle of the earth would wobble more without the moon. It helps stabilise its orbit around the sun. Look things up, find things out, you might be surprised!

Cop26

Posted on October 29, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Celsius, Climate, cop26, Earth, global warming, Heat, Life, Temperature, Time, World7 Comments

Glasgow is about to host the climate change talks between nations to discuss how to prevent the increase in Earth’s temperature going on average higher than 1.5°C above pre industrial times.

Average means across the whole globe. But some area have been experiencing the rise of temperatures more. For instance a high temperature of over 18°C in Antarctica was recorded this year.

In other places people are trying to live at 50°C, halfway to boiling point. Weather systems are getting more fierce, hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, forest fires, the melting of the permafrost. The extinction of insects and other animals and plants as they fail to survive the hotter conditions is increasingly worrying. The years after 2000 have been the hottest on record.

Let us hope that the politicians come together, stop denying climate change and get organised. Otherwise…. I don’t know.

Fridge Freezer

Posted on September 28, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged breaking, Cold, Family, freezer, Fridge, Frozen, Life, Sad, Thinking, Time, World, Worrying2 Comments

We’ve had a bad couple of months. I’m expecting the fridge freezer to break soon, it keeps filling up with water in the chiller compartment and the freezer gets too cold. Then the bearings in it make loud rattling and creaking noises….

Other things have happened. The cat going missing and being injured, and me pulling my calf muscle. Family and friends have had problems too. The pandemic has hit their incomes. They are working hard against almost impossible conditions. I don’t know what will happen, I just want things to be better for everyone, not just those closest to me.

I would help many people if I could. Love to you all…

Life above 50°

Posted on September 21, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged CO2, Earth, Environment, Heat, life above 50°C, Nature, Planet, Time, wild fires, WorldLeave a comment

Can we survive global warming? As the world joins in a conference about it this November, reports continue about wildfires, carbon dioxide and methane emissions and damage to our natural environment.

Big business still seems to want to expand their production. Buy more stuff… Sell more cars… But using energy and resources is not going to help.

If temperatures go higher the worry is that there will be a runaway greenhouse effect. The result is a degradation of our environment. Water shortages, increased air pollution, damage to the health of not just us, but the whole planet. We are currently using more resources than the planet can provide.

I think humans can be incredibly generous, thoughtful, considerate. We can work together to stop the damage. Not in the future, but now. I do hope we realise that before it’s too late.

Feeding the Maw

Posted on September 14, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Apollo, enterprise, Life, lunar, Maw, Memory, Moon, Neil Armstrong, Sci fi, Star Trek, Thinking, WorldLeave a comment

I just remembered this word ‘Maw’, it sometimes feels like social media is a voracious maw, gulping down tons of information and generating a lot of waste or rubbish alongside useful information.

Take the moon landing for instance. There are people today who think it didn’t happen. Some of those people were not born when it happened.

I remember being allowed to stay up to watch it. The grainy pictures, the slow step of Neil Armstrong off the lander. Later visits where other astronauts drove the lunar rover. And bouncing across the surface and one of them tripping over slowly in the 1/6th gravity of the Moon.

Talking about Maws, I remember a Star Trek episode where a giant world eating machine threatens to engulf the Enterprise. Somehow they defeat the monstrous killer.

So why write about Maws? I guess it’s because I keep blogging here. I feel like I’m feeding an insatiable need. Perhaps what I churn out is rubbish? You decide X

Forest fires.

Posted on August 14, 2021August 14, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Climate change, Earth, Ecosystem, Forest fires, Heat, Life, Overheating, Temperature, Waste, World2 Comments

The world watches as forests burn. In the Amazon, around the Mediterranean. In the North where the temperatures have soared.

We have been told by scientists and young adults alike, but many turn their backs to the truth. Climate crisis deniers are like ancient Nero, fiddling while Rome burned.

We must take action now. Reduce our carbon footprints. Even in small ways we can help. One degree less on the thermostat, walking instead of driving, house insulation and double glazing. Not much in scheme of things, better than nothing. Now we are used to Zoom why not meet on line? Ask the important questions. Do we need the car today, can you replace things when they wear out with second hand, pre loved items. There are so many people on the Earth, let’s be fair, share, and waste less.

Football

Posted on July 11, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged empty streets, European Cup, Football, Games, handmaid's tale, Life, Tense, TV, WorldLeave a comment

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 V 🇮🇹

The finals of the Euros is happening and our town is like a ghost town. I snuck a look on line and currently it’s England 1, Italy 1 in the final of the European Cup.

It’s extra time and it’s hard ignoring it. There were roars and cheers outside over an hour ago, then nothing. How can our lives be invested in such a trivial thing? It feels like a tournament in medieval times, a gladiator contest.

So I’m keeping my head down, watching the catch up episode of the Handmaid’s tale by Margaret Attwood and thinking what a strange world this is.

Setting Moon

Posted on May 19, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Crescent moon, Earth, Eclipse, Moon, Orbit, position of the moon, position of the sun, Sky, Sun, Time, WorldLeave a comment

Seen a couple of nights ago, a blurry setting Moon, chasing the Sun round the sky.

You can tell what angle the Moon is to the Sun because of the angle of the curve on the sunlit side. As the Moon waxes and wanes the position of the Sun can be worked out, full Moon=the Sun is on the other side of the Earth, a sliver of Moon, the Moon is in between the Earth and the Sun. Eclipse? If the Moon Eclipses the Sun it is directly between the other two bodies. If the Moon turns bright red its the Earth getting between the Moon and Sun, its only really then that you can see the curvature of the Moons surface, whichis usually so reflective that it looks bright and flat.

I guess this is the most number of times I’ve written ‘”Moon” in a blog!

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: World