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Monday 14 March 2011

Is it the end of the month yet?

The reason for the title is down to the fact that I have two brilliant events to look forward to, the first is this month’s astronomy club, our chairman will giving a talk on Earth impact, woo hoo! A subject that is a favourite of mine as it ties in with two of my past times, Astronomy and palaeontology. I’m really looking forward to hearing what Drew has to say, he’s a great speaker and I’ve enjoyed all the talks he’s given. The astronomy club is blessed because we have a wide range of members, from the absolute beginner through to consulate professionals; Sir Patrick’s a member you know. As a result we also have some great speakers, other than Drew I won’t express any favourites on here, but I’m sure that a certain chap will know that I also look forward to hearing him prattle on speak. I’m having trouble putting my next talk together, if I haven’t got a decent foundation laid down for it by the end of June I think I may change the topic, after all November is a long way off so it’s not like I don’t have time, he says half way through March!

I’m also hoping for good weather for the 25th, firstly so that I can get some observing done, through Dave’s scope with my Meade and also because a sterling chap called Jason has bought a bit of a beast and I want a clear sky for him so that he can show off his new toy to the other members.

Then on the 28th we go off to Cranbrook astronomy group to meet a chap called Piers Sellers, I’m very excited about this because the man in question is a bona fide NASA astronaut. I’ve never met someone who’s been in space before so this one’s special.

Now for a bit of a moan, here we are in a bit of a financial crisis. We’re all having to tighten our belts and give up a few cakes luxuries. So does the BBC really need to spend a god awful amount of money sending Dr Brian Cox to a desert in the middle nowhere to blow bubbles in order to explain how all the stuff in the universe gets made? The sequence would have worked just as well if he’d filmed it on the beach at Camber Sands and he wouldn’t have needed to hire a Mustang to drive to the desert, he could have gone on the train.

I can understand with wildlife programs, we don’t get Outer-Mongolian tree Frogs in England, but do we really need the creation of everything explained by a bloke blowing bubbles in the middle of the Navajama Desert? I bet if Dr Brian Cox had to fund the working holiday from his own pocket he would have suggested filming in Bognor. Don’t get me wrong, I like his program, I like anything to do with the exploration of space and time, I even enjoy the mudslinging rows that Horizon usually descends into, but does it need to be done at the expense of the license payer? If they can film The Sky at Night in Selsy surely they can film a bubble blowing boffin in Brighton!

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sympathies to the thousands of victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

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