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Sunday 3 July 2016

Edwardian Insects on Film


In 1908 amateur naturalist Percy Smith stunned cinema goers with his surreal film The Acrobatic Fly. Featuring a bluebottle juggling a series of objects, the film became front page news. Now wildlife cameramanCharlie Hamilton-James attempts to recreate this fascinating film.
Along the way, Hamilton-James (helped by Sir David Attenborough, who saw Smith's films as a boy) tells the story of Percy's remarkable career and reveals the genius behind this forgotten pioneer of British film.watch link

judo never too old.

liked this article about a 77 year old brian jones who is still running a martial art class -judo -despite using a walking frame ,peterborough.

St. Peters Fair holsworthy

 The  was founded under 
 the patronage of the church of        
 St.Peters and St.Pauls in the late    
 13th.century.This annual event which  
 takes place on 10th.July and is one of
 the most popular events in the area.  
  Despite the loss of the churches     
 influence on secular life since the   
 industrial revolution,this is one     
 event which originates from the rector
 Thomas Meyrick who proclaimed in 1841 
 the choosing of a fair queen every    
 10th. of July which makes this fair   
 somewhat special.The choosing of the  
 fair queen takes place on the stroke  
 of noon on the 10th.of July.The queen 
 has to be a single woman under the age
 of 30,resident in Holsworthy,most     
 noted for her looks,quietness and     
 attendence of church.The fun fair     
 takes place in the memorial car park.A
 flower show is also held at the church

are you a battle of somme ancestor?

research to mark 100 th anniversary of the frist world war battle of somme says about 11 million britians have an ancestor who fought in this battle that began on july 1 st 1916 .

Saturday 2 July 2016

Amazon fires: Humans make rainforest more flammable

Human disturbances are making the Amazon rainforest more flammable, according to researchers.
This is one of the conclusions of a two-year study of the Brazilian Amazon, which revealed that even protected forest is degraded by human activity.
This activity includes selective logging and forest fragmentation, which increase the likelihood of wildfires.
"Rainforests don't normally burn," said lead researcher Prof Jos Barlow, from the Lancaster Environment Centre. "But human activities are making them much more flammable."read more

ghostman suffers a bout of Nausea and vomiting

Introduction 

Nausea and vomiting in adults isn't usually a sign of anything serious and tends to only last one or two days.
Vomiting is the body’s way of ridding itself of harmful substances from the stomach, or it may be a reaction to something that has irritated the gut.
One of the most common causes of vomiting in adults isgastroenteritis. This is an infection of the gut usually caused by bacteria or a virus, which will normally improve within a few days.
However, vomiting can occasionally be a sign of something more serious, such as appendicitis, so if you are feeling very unwell or are worried about your vomiting, trust your instincts and call your GP.
There is a separate topic on vomiting in children and babies.

When to contact your GP

Contact your GP if:
  • you've been vomiting repeatedly for more than a day or two
  • you're unable to keep down any fluids because you are vomiting repeatedly
  • your vomit is green (this could mean you are bringing up a fluid called bile, which suggests you may have a blockage in your bowel – see below)
  • you have signs of severe dehydration, such as confusion, a rapid heartbeat, sunken eyes and passing little or no urine
  • you've lost a lot of weight since you became ill
  • you experience episodes of vomiting frequently
Your GP may want to investigate the cause of your vomiting or prescribe treatment.
You should also see your GP if you have diabetes and have been vomiting persistently, particularly if you need to take insulin. This is because prolonged vomiting can affect your blood sugar level.-read more

The Battle of the Somme


The_Battle_of_the_Somme_film_image1
The Battle of the Somme started on July 1st 1916. It lasted until November 1916. For many people, the Battle of the Somme was the battle that symbolised the horrors of warfare in World War One; this one battle had a marked effect on overall casualty figures and seemed to epitomise the futility of trench warfare.
For many years those who led the British campaign have received a lot of criticism for the way the Battle of the Somme was fought – especially Douglas Haig. This criticism was based on the appalling casualty figures suffered by the British and the French. By the end of the battle, the British Army had suffered420,000 casualties including nearly 60,000 on the first day alone. The French lost 200,000 men and the Germans nearly 500,000.
Ironically, going over the top at the Somme was the first taste of battle many of these men had, as many were part of “Kitchener’s Volunteer Army” persuaded to volunteer by posters showing Lord Kitchener himself summoning these men to arms to show their patriotism. Some soldiers were really still boys as young as 16, and the majority of men going to battle had no idea what warfare entailed.
So why was the battle fought? For a number of months the French had been taking severe losses at Verdun, east of Paris. To relieve the French, the Allied High Command decided to attack the Germans to the north of Verdun therefore requiring the Germans to move some of their men away from the Verdun battlefield, thus relieving the French. After the war, Sir William Robertson, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, explained what this strategy was:
“Remembering the dissatisfaction by ministers at the end of 1915, because the operations had not come up to their expectations, the General Staff took the precaution to make quite clear beforehand the nature of success which the Somme campaign might yield. The necessity of relieving pressure on the French Army at Verdun remains, and is more urgent than ever. This is, therefore, the first objective to be obtained by the combined British and French offensive. The second objective is to inflict as heavy losses as possible upon the German armies.”
Ironically, the head of the French Army, General Foch, believed that the attack in the Somme would achieve little – this view was shared by some leading British commanders such as General Henry -read more