Seahorse carrousel

Civic roundabout....the pointy-up bit of Newcastle Civic Centre, with double decker seahorses....but if you didn't have a pair of binoculars or a zoom lens you'd never have guessed! 

ScienceFest

REMINDER.....Newcastle ScienceFest is on the near horizon. Most of the events are free but you need to book tickets. Check out what's on here

BBC SciFi season

I'm a bit late with this one, the season's already started (but still available on "listen again", so I'm going to be dipping in over the weekend!) Loads of good stuff on Radios 3, 4 and 7, the season runs until 13th March

Link to programme details

View from a vice chancellors window

Went on a student site visit yesterday (more details and another picture on the BlipFoto journal) and this is the stunning view from the new vice chancellors office. It'll be lovely when it's finished....apparently!

The Social Whirl

Spotted in the local rag...click the image to biggify

What we wore.....mainly for the ladies!

Assuming you get past the presenter (rest easy, his lack-lustre presentation skills aren't omnipresent), you'll find a cornucopia of delights at the BBC Archive where they ...

" bring you this unusual collection of programmes which reveal what it took to be stylish through over 250 years of British history. Included here is the first colour series made by the BBC. Pre-dating colour TV by a decade, this is the first time it has been available to view as it was intended. It also features some surprising live models. Witness the gradual democratisation of fashion through the ages and see how clothes began to throw off the shackles of class from the 1960s onwards."

Facebook....what's that then?....Anne?

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible

For one reason or another wor::site has been sadly neglected recently, with not even a kitten playing with wool or a potters wheel to keep you amused (but, if you must, you can watch both here, together with another couple of classics). Rest assured, frivolities will be resumed asap!

Today's also ran...

....on the Blipfoto journal....light wasn't right, nor the angle, but I still like it. Magnet and Andrews Houses, Gallowgate. Built in the 1930's for the General Electric Company as company offices with shops on the ground floor. Made special by a series of terracotta panels depicting heroic scenes of (scantily-clad, iron-jawed) men working in the power industry. Click on the image for the bigger version.

Old census report

Trying out a new file storage website called Docuter, upload as many and as-big-as-you-like documents (200 file types currently supported) then embed them on a webpage/blog. The only file I had sitting on my desktop was the 1901 Northumberland Census Report (can't remember where I got it from, I really ought to keep better notes), so that's what you're getting!

What a combination!

The complete Beatles back catalogue on the ukulele....nah, just can't be beaten! Once a week, new track, guest artists, listen or download, background essay...apparently they should be finished in time for the next Olympics.

Add this blog to your favourites!

Then when you've mastered those sphinter muscles....

....can I suggest taking up the gentle art of wrestling....

Mr Liederman strikes again.....with a multitude of tips for fending off surprise attacks from burly muggers in "The Science of Wrestling" Get it while it's hot on Scribd (ie until someone tells me to remove it , I'm not sure it's out of copyright!)

Fitness is fun

Shake out those leotards, it's time to fight the flab!
Found at Schadenfreudian Therapy where there's a download link for the whole, fun-packed, sphincter-clenching LP.


But just in case you're not convinced, let's listen to the intro track...

Celebrating pedal-powered gas canisters

I'm going for the "no comment" option. Click the image to enlarge

Concrete evidence.....

....of what was seen as cutting edge in UK architecture the year I was born. Yours too for that matter.....probably. The complete archives of Concrete Quarterly from 1947 available for download here in pdf format

Further confessions of a font addict....

A couple of links for the similarly afflicted

Create a font using your own handwriting....assuming you have a printer and scanner available. Download the template, print it, fill in the characters you want to create, scan and upload...and a couple of minutes later your font is available to download and install....very nice....oh, and did I mention it's free?

Link to YourFonts

Now, how about using a bit less ink? Download and install this free font, use it as your default, and save on your printing bills. Added bonus, you're doing your bit for the planet!

"After Dutch holey cheese, there is now a Dutch font with holes as well"
Ecofont

Mind the gap

In brief, the tragic consequences of promiscuously holding hands with a dubious gent in first class after a night 'on the toon'....I'm sure there's a lesson to be learned there, so ladies consider yourselves warned! From the front cover of the Illustrated Police News, Saturday September 9th 1871.

Health and Fitness

Muscle Building

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Other Illustrations vintage

Found it!....."Muscle Building" by Mr Liederman (see post for Friday Jan 30th)....read at your peril!

Teetering......

Another one of those "physics games", balance the given bits on the pole....it only went to prove that I've got not one iota!

Play Perfect Balance

Going down!

Explore the oceans with Google Earth. Just launched (sorry!) a couple of days ago. You can...

• Dive beneath the surface and visit the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench
• Explore the ocean with top marine experts including National Geographic and BBC
• Learn about ocean observations, climate change, and endangered species
• Discover new places including surf, dive, and travel hot spots and shipwrecks

You'll need to download Google Earth v5 from here, but then forget the snorkel and flippers!

Play time....

Easy on the eye point-and-clickery
Play Treasure Box

Clever stuff

Get educated at Academic Earth

Looking up

A couple of free downloads for looking at the night sky.....if the clouds clear!

"Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go."

Download page

"The free space simulation that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions. Celestia runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X"

Celestia homepage

Documentaries online

Watch lots online here

Niche market listening

The History of the Common Cold Unit

34 interviews conducted between 1994 and 1997 by Dr David Tyrrell, recording the memories of those that worked at The Common Cold Unit at Salisbury from 1957 until its closure in 1990

....warned you it was niche listening!

Link