Today was the Royal Wedding of Prince William with Catherine Middleton.
IT was a solemn, very public and yet personal event that was seen by circa two billion people worldwide on television, our family included.
Afterwards, we joined the Hall End Barbecue which continued till the early evening, in response to - the wedding.
The evening news continued with - the wedding and the post wedding parties.
The reviews of tomorrow's newspapers dealt almost solely with - the wedding.
Finally at midnight, Miss T. and I sat down to enjoy a film that was - not about the wedding.
The time was also used to produce a children's photo story of - Monty Bear and the Easter Egg - which made no mention of the wedding at all..
Showing posts with label celebration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label celebration. Show all posts
Friday, 29 April 2011
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Tomahawks, tornadoes and the inadvisability of shooting into the air
After a week of continuous activity and little sleep, lassitude descended this Sunday, resulting in an indolent day watching the imposition of the Libyan no-fly zone by the French, British and United States and other allies under UN Special Resolution 1973.
As the reports on the BBC News channel cycled through a limited set of facts, my curiosity was aroused about the missiles and jet aeroplanes used.
Missiles
The inadvisability of shooting into the air
The other recurrent image upon our television screens was the celebratory firing of guns into the air. A contemplation on the ubiquity of earthly gravity rapidly leads one to the inevitable conclusion that what goes up, must also come down. Indeed the likelihood of fatal injury from such a falling bullet lies at 32%, which is five-fold higher than being intentionally fired upon in the conventional way, due to the near vertical descent of the impacting missile at high speed, often upon the skull.
My thoughts then migrated to the possible distance that the bullet might travel in such instances and I naively perused the internet for a simple answer. Alas, the Wikipedia article on External Ballistics rapidly dispelled this misconception as the number of factors that need to be taken into consideration include:
As the reports on the BBC News channel cycled through a limited set of facts, my curiosity was aroused about the missiles and jet aeroplanes used.
Missiles
- 124 Tomahawk missiles were fired by U.S. and British forces against at least 20 Libyan targets around Tripoli and Misrata. The missile has been in service in a variety of forms and capabilities since 1983.
- France: Dassault Rafale; a twin engined multi-role jet fighter aircraft that was introduced in 2000
- United Kingdom:
- Panavia Tornado GR4. The Tornado first entered service in 1979, the current GR4s are presumably from the Mid-Life Upgrade, seeing first service in 1998.
- Eurofighter Typhoon. Maiden flight in 1994.
- United States of America:
- Northrup Grumman B-2 Spirit (also known as the Stealth Bomber). Originally designed for the 1980s. Only 20 aircraft exist.
- Air Force F-15 Eagle. A twin engined tactical fighter who's first version flew in 1972 and with current models expected to be in service till 2025.
- Air Force F-16. Entered operational service in 1980.
- Navy Boeing EA-18G Growler. A carrier based aircraft with electronic warfare capability.
- Marine AV-8B Harrier. produced from 1969 onwards, the last re-manufactured Harrier was delivered in 2003.
The inadvisability of shooting into the air
The other recurrent image upon our television screens was the celebratory firing of guns into the air. A contemplation on the ubiquity of earthly gravity rapidly leads one to the inevitable conclusion that what goes up, must also come down. Indeed the likelihood of fatal injury from such a falling bullet lies at 32%, which is five-fold higher than being intentionally fired upon in the conventional way, due to the near vertical descent of the impacting missile at high speed, often upon the skull.
My thoughts then migrated to the possible distance that the bullet might travel in such instances and I naively perused the internet for a simple answer. Alas, the Wikipedia article on External Ballistics rapidly dispelled this misconception as the number of factors that need to be taken into consideration include:
- Bullet Drop
- Drag resistance
- Wind
- Vertical angles
- Ambient Air density
- Gyroscopic drift
- Magnus effect
- Coriolis drift
- Poisson effect
- Lateral jump
- Lateral throw-off
Saturday, 19 March 2011
A cross-cultural anniversary celebration
Today, Mrs T and I attended the joyous Silver Anniversary celebration of Dr & Mrs O in one of the Cambridge colleges. It was remarkable for bridging two faiths and two cultures.
The journey thither was graced by the avenue of flowering cherry trees, buds bursting into bloom in the sudden warmth of the day after the bitter cold of the past week. It reminded me of Sei Shonagons Pillow Book entry from over a millennium ago:
"It is a great pleasure to break off a long, beautiful branch from a cherry tree and to arrange it in a large vase. What a delightful task it is to perform when a visitor nearby is conversing!"
The anniversary celebration began with a Service of Blessing in the College chapel, officiated in tandem by both a Catholic priest and a Lutheran minister. They alternated in good humour and also between Hymns and lessons in English and German. Indeed, for one hymn, "Ich Lobe Meinen Gott", we first sang in German and then in English, whilst for the last "Now thank we all our God", the congregation was directed to sing in their preferred tongue, the result being counter-intuitively more musical than cacophonous.
Following the postlude, we migrated to a college meeting room. The full moon loomed large upon us during the procession, this being the first Perigee Moon for twenty years, thus presenting a face some fourteen percent larger than when viewed during the lunar apogee.
Circulating amongst the cosmopolitan guests, conversation ranged from experience with the test firings of the Arianne rocket engines to the development of novel beverages. Time passed quickly in pleasant diversion.
Strolling back to our automobile, we looked up again at the swollen moon as it illuminated the contrails of six jet aircraft coming from several locations into one formation. Their diminishing roar suggested at a continued voyage together, perhaps to the new conflict in Libya.
The journey thither was graced by the avenue of flowering cherry trees, buds bursting into bloom in the sudden warmth of the day after the bitter cold of the past week. It reminded me of Sei Shonagons Pillow Book entry from over a millennium ago:
"It is a great pleasure to break off a long, beautiful branch from a cherry tree and to arrange it in a large vase. What a delightful task it is to perform when a visitor nearby is conversing!"
The anniversary celebration began with a Service of Blessing in the College chapel, officiated in tandem by both a Catholic priest and a Lutheran minister. They alternated in good humour and also between Hymns and lessons in English and German. Indeed, for one hymn, "Ich Lobe Meinen Gott", we first sang in German and then in English, whilst for the last "Now thank we all our God", the congregation was directed to sing in their preferred tongue, the result being counter-intuitively more musical than cacophonous.
Following the postlude, we migrated to a college meeting room. The full moon loomed large upon us during the procession, this being the first Perigee Moon for twenty years, thus presenting a face some fourteen percent larger than when viewed during the lunar apogee.
Circulating amongst the cosmopolitan guests, conversation ranged from experience with the test firings of the Arianne rocket engines to the development of novel beverages. Time passed quickly in pleasant diversion.
Strolling back to our automobile, we looked up again at the swollen moon as it illuminated the contrails of six jet aircraft coming from several locations into one formation. Their diminishing roar suggested at a continued voyage together, perhaps to the new conflict in Libya.
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