Mrs. Peel, you're needed...

I'm having a spot of bother with this ruddy Pac-a-Mac...

Robots!

As It Was In The Beginning, Word Without End...

This version with slightly annoying Spanish subtitles is the best I can find of what is possibly one of the finest closing sequences of a TV series.

Alice's Restaurant - The Original 1967 Recording

Macro or micro?

Scientists Stephen Young and Paul Kelly have taken or processed these remarkable images. Stephen specialises in the extremely small. Paul takes the larger, landscape views. As this article in Smithsonianmag discusses, it isn't always as obvious which is which as one might think! The image above, for example could be fields in a countryside of interesting crops. It's actually a dragonfly wing, viewed through an electron microscope.

So, their competition is this. Can you tell which of the following are macro or micro? There are answers at the end.

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Answers:

1. Macro: Lakes surrounded by steep sand dunes in the Gobi Desert in China’s Inner Mongolia (Data downloaded from the European Space Agency. Additional image processing by Stephen Young.)

2. Micro: A polished mineral surface (Imaged and processed by Paul Kelly)

3. Macro: The Matusevich Glacier in East Antarctica (Original image: NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using EO-1 ALI data provided courtesy of the NASA EO-1 team. Additional image processing by Stephen Young.)

4. Macro: Sand dunes in Algeria’s Sahara desert (Landsat Thematic Mapper data downloaded from the Global Land Cover Facility. Image processing by Stephen Young.)

5. Macro: Cumulus clouds over the South Pacific Ocean (Image created by Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC, additional image processing by Stephen Young.)

6. Micro: A rotten human tooth (Imaged and processed by Paul Kelly)

7. Micro: The surface of a snake eggshell (Imaged and processed by Paul Kelly)

8. Micro: The interior of a leopard frog’s small intestine (Imaged and processed by Paul Kelly)

9. Macro: The Ganges-Brahmaptutra river delta in South Asia (Raw data downloaded from the Global Land Cover Facility and processed by Stephen Young)

10. Micro: A polished sample of boron (Imaged and processed by Paul Kelly)

11. Macro: White lines cutting through China’s Gobi Desert (Image downloaded from Satellite Image Corporation and cropped by Stephen Young)

12. Macro: Sea ice forming around Shikotan Island, at the southern end of the Kuril Islands, north of Japan (Image created by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon using data provided by the NASA EO-1 team. Downloaded and cropped from NASA’s Visible Earth website.)

13. Micro: The surface of a leopard frog’s tongue (Imaged and processed by Paul Kelly)

14. Macro: A Landsat thermal image of western Australia (Raw data downloaded from the Global Land Cover Facility and processed by Stephen Young)

15. Macro: A Landsat image from North Africa (Raw data downloaded from the Global Land Cover Facility and processed by Stephen Young)

All the images and answers reproduced from, and acknowledgements to: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/artscience/2013/10/macro-or-micro-test-your-sense-of-scale/#ixzz2iTAditUZ 

Test

Andrew Hill

X Factor UK

X Factor USA

American Idol

Fifty Sheds Of Grey

The novel “Fifty Shades Of Grey” has seduced women – and baffled blokes.

Now, Fifty Sheds Of Grey, offers a treat for the men. The book's author Colin Grey recounts his love encounters at the bottom of the garden. Here are some extracts...

Fifty Sheds Of Grey

We tried various positions – round the back, on the side, up against a wall...but in the end we came to the conclusion the bottom of the garden was the only place for a good shed.

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She knelt before me on the shed floor and tugged gently at first, then harder until finally it came.
I moaned with pleasure. Now for the other boot.

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Ever since she read THAT book, I’ve had to buy all kinds of ropes, chains and shackles.
She still manages to get into the shed, though.

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“Put on this rubber suit and mask,” I instructed, calmly.
“Mmmm, kinky!” she purred.
“Yes,” I said, “You can’t be too careful with all that asbestos in the shed roof.”

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“I’m a very naughty girl,” she said, biting her lip. “I need to be punished.”
So I invited my mum to stay for the weekend.

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“Harder!” she cried, gripping the workbench tightly. “Harder!”
“Okay,” I said. “What’s the gross national product of Nicaragua?”

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I lay back exhausted, gazing happily out of the shed window.
Despite my concerns about my inexperience, my rhubarb had come up a treat.

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“Are you sure you can take the pain?” she demanded, brandishing stilettos.
“I think so,” I gulped. “Here we go, then,” she said, and showed me the receipt.

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“Hurt me!” she begged, raising her skirt as she bent over my workbench.
“Very well,” I replied. “You’ve got fat ankles and no dress sense.”

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“Are you sure you want this?” I asked. “When I’m done, you won’t be able to sit down for weeks.”
She nodded.
“Okay,” I said, putting the three-piece lounge suite on eBay.

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“Punish me!” she cried. “Make me suffer like only a real man can!”
“Very well,” I replied, leaving the toilet seat up.