Category: science

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Mysterious Concrete Ring

Last weekend I visited Orford Ness over in Suffolk. What was once a secret military base was sold to the National Trust back in 1993.

I had sailed past the Ness as a child in the 1970s and 1980s, but had never visited there until last weekend.

While I was there I took a bunch of photographs including this one of a mysterious concrete ring in the shingle. 

The information boards implied no one was sure what the purpose was.

Then three days later the BBC News published this news item on their site, Mystery of concrete ring ‘solved after 30 years’.

The purpose and function of a mysterious concrete ring at a former military testing site has been uncovered, the National Trust said. The 50m (164ft) ring at Orford Ness, Suffolk, had baffled staff and volunteers at the coastal nature reserve since the trust acquired the site in 1993. However, it said the mystery was solved after researchers Steve Clifton and Olaf Kirchner discovered the ring was part of a radar known as the R-System – designed to detect nuclear explosions and rocket launches during the Cold War.

Coincidence? Of course it was… Or was it…

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Caracal – Desert Lynx

I am never surprised that you can learn something new. Last week I was at Exmoor Zoo and discovered a large cat, the caracal. I didn’t know such big cats existed.

Caracel

The caracal (Caracal caracal), also known as the desert lynx, is a wild cat widely distributed across Africa, central Asia, and southwest Asia into India. In 2002, the IUCN listed the caracal as Least Concern, as it is widespread and relatively common. The felid is considered threatened in North Africa, and rare in the central Asian republics and India.

You don’t usually see them in zoos in the UK as they are not considered endangered. They are unusual in their appearance with their large ears.

I am no animal expert, nor even have a real interest, but do think I know what most of the big cats are, well I have used Mac OS X for the last few years. Having never heard of the caracal it makes you realise how diverse our planet is and how much there is to learn about it.

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The Solar System is a “Vortex”

Saw a GIF of this on Google+ a few days back, didn’t realise it was from a much longer video.

Makes you think very differently about the solar system. Obviously it isn’t a vortex as we understand it, just it looks like one from this viewpoint.

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Sorry, 1959?

So there I was shopping in Bristol and popped into BHS and I saw this T-shirt.

I’m sorry, but 1959?

Am I living in a parallel universe or what, as I am pretty sure that the moon landing was in 1969!

Oh and is that a space shuttle too?

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Upgraded Curiosity Landing Video

This is not quite the actual video, but a labour of love. Filmmaker Bard Canning took the four frames a second video from NASA and doing some tweaking (well a month’s worth of tweaking) turned it into this high quality video.