WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO VISIT ON YOUR PLANET?

After this morning's open water swim the blood was rushing back towards the skin. I was on my own and swam 417m in 13:28. Highest tide coming in. Northerly wind onto the beach gentle breeze Force 3. Water temperature 8 degC #openwaterswimming #rwsabc #greenock (at The Royal West of Scotland Boat Club)

We saw this in Reykjavik - read the sign and I hope you smile 😊

How do you get through all your emails? I don't

Tonight I am feeling a bit down. I was working on my emails at home when I remembered an important email from a student that needed a reply.  I first had to find the email which took a few minutes.  I then looked out some information.  I couldn't find the exact information I needed but I think I found enough to make a reasonable reply.

The student had written to me about resitting an exam in their home University.  This is a pretty big deal because of the cost involved in travelling from her home country back to Paisley to take a 2 hour exam.  There would probably be some accommodation and meals expenses also.  The email I was responding to had come in on the 9th of December and I was replying on the 17th.  Unfortunately, the 9th of December was beyond the cut off date for making an application to sit the exam outwith the University.  I told her this, gave her some other information and even provided an alternative that might be a better solution.  At that point I was thinking I have done as much as I can.  

I then went to file her email and guess what I found? I found another email from the same student dated 3 October.  I had never even opened this email.  It must have gotten buried before I saw it.  I am now feeling pretty down because had I picked up the first email the ideal solution could maybe have been implemented.

I do wish that this student had pestered me a bit more.  I don't hold it against someone to send a second email if the first hasn't had a response.  In addition, I have my phone and mobile numbers at the bottom of my emails.  Why don't people pick up the phone or text more?

There isn't much more to say. After I finish writing this I have to go an email the student and say I am sorry but I don't think my words are really enough.

Dome City Blog 6 - Ring Park

Something I feel strongly about is that it is important to spend time outside and to have public parks that are easily accessible from the Dome City.  Therefore, I would like to see the Dome City surround by a ring of park land 500m wide.  

This Ring Park would provide parkland with an area of 235 hectares (580 acres).  

To put this into context, in London, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens together are 253 hectares (625 acres) while New York's Central park is 341 hectares (843 acres).  Of course, for the residents of the Dome City, would never be more than 500m horizontally from the Ring Park unlike residents of London and New York who could be much further away from these outstanding green spaces.

Some of the features i would hope to see in the Ring Park are sports fields with modest amounts of spectator seating for football, rugby, cricket, and field hockey.  There should also be some outdoor tennis and basketball courts. Pitches and courts for these sports would also be available within the Dome City but with limited head room due to height restrictions of the levels in the Dome City.  These are the sports I would choose but ultimately it would be for the residents to decide.  

I would expect that we would make allotments available for residents who want them to grow their own fruits, vegetables, herbs and other plants.

There should be a wide range of play parks for children of all ages and I would include a skate park within the Ring Park.

I would hope that there would be a lake where water sports such as swimming and kayaking could take place.

Somewhere in the Ring Park we should have a cemetery.  

Aside - I understand that the largest municipal cemetery in the whole of Europe is in Greenock, the town next to where I live.  It is 31 hectares.  If you are ever in Greenock and have a at a few hours visit this cemetery, it is fascinating - End aside 

Within the Ring Park here should be a range of different habitats such as grasslands, forests and marshes.  These habitats should become a haven for wildlife.

Footpaths and cycle ways would exist to encourage walking and cycling.

These are my initial suggestions and I think that the residents of the Dome City should have a say in what they want from the park.

Joe Heffernan - 8 April 2015

There were dolphins or porpoises off The Esplanade in Greenock last night - or maybe Nessie on holiday 😊

A swim today with Colin and David along The Esplanade in a wetsuit. Swan just over 2km in 57 minutes. Water temperature 9.6 degC. This wetsuit swim was different o my more usual non wetsuit swims. The non wetsuit swims are more exhilirating. A wetsuit swim, because it takes longer, is more meditative and aerobic. Both are nice but in different ways. (at Royal West Amateur Boat Club, Greenock)

Asgard

WELL begun; half done. That proverbor, rather, its obverseencapsulates the problems which have dogged civil nuclear power since its inception. Atomic energy is...

This article from The economist magazine talks about using Thorium as a Nuclear Fuel instead of Uranium.  Thorium has several advantages over Uranium and in the view of the author of this article the most important is the relative resistance to proliferation compared to Uranium.  I learned a few things from this article.  The things I learned was that the US did build a few bombs out of U233 which is the fissile element formed from the fertile Thorium.  I was always a bit unsure as to whether or not any bombs had been built.  The article also confirms my prior understanding that U233 makes a poor nuclear bomb material because of the presence of small amounts of other radioactive isotopes that emit hard gamma radiation that messes up the other mechanisms required for a bomb.

Tonight was the first night of Open Water Swimming at RWSABC. A beautiful evening with sun, clear sky and no wind. We swam in the direction of the Battery Park. The tide was coming in so it was a hard swim out (35 min) but fast (15 min) coming back.😊

Give Nuclear Power Plants cool names

The list below shows the 16 Nuclear Reactors currently operating in the UK.  It was taken from the World Nuclear web site at

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-T-Z/United-Kingdom/

I would urge those naming Nuclear Power Plants in the future, pick cool names for Nuclear Power Plants instead of simply naming them after a location.  Names that come to mind are "Opportunity", "Hope", "Progress", "Our Children's Future", "Reliability" etc.  In fact you could have a competition and ask local children to name the plant. 

In the Iain M. Banks Science Fiction books there are ships capable of faster than light travel controlled by "Minds".  "Minds" are cognitive machine and because they are cognitive they get to name themselves.  There names introduce a bit of whimsy into what often is a very serious business.  A bit like Nuclear Power, a serious business that would benefit from a lighter and more fun image.

A list of the names of the "Minds" appearing in some of Iain M. Banks novels is available at Wikipedia at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_%28The_Culture%29

I think the favourite name there that could be applied to a good Nuclear Power Plant is "Vision Of Hope Surpassed".

In addition, it might be good to hear an opponent of a Nuclear Power Plant saying something along the lines of  "I don't want to see "Our Children's Future" built" or carrying placards the say "No Nukes ! Stop Hope!".  Quite often this is what they really are saying but without being explicit.

The Economist | Land-shackled economies: The paradox of soil via @theeconomist