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Pointing At Stars


caldrail

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Not a nice day. Maybe it isn't raining quite to the extent certain parts of Australia have suffered recently but the wind is blustery and the air damp with rainness. No, not a nice day. As if that suprises me. For a start this is Britain, and we are known internationally for our trademarked lousy climate. On the other hand, it's also a time of astronomical significance and therefore the skies are cloudy so we cannot observe the celestial wonders above.

 

BBC have even started Stargazing Live in which an astronomer and a comedian provide the running commentary to real on-the-spot stargazing. A part of me wonders if Dara O'Brean is only their to make Brian Cox sound interesting, but perhaps I criticise too much. After all, they're getting paid for pointing at the night sky. I just get cold and wet.

 

Since they're professional presenters the skies cleared for them, as the BBC seem to be able to book good weather in advance, but for me the arrival of a meteor storm went unnoticed as I looked out onto a typically dismal winter night. Somewhere above lumps of dirt are plummetting into the atmosphere at thousands upon thousands of miles an hour and making nice pyrotechnic displays as they burn up from the friction of it. And once again, British weather has obscured it. Never mind. Let's be optimistic. I still have a few years left before I die of old age. Maybe I'll get to see a shower or two before my tired old body gives up the wait?

 

Better yet, this is a period of alignment, in which the planets form an orderly queue and cause global devastation by concatenated gravitic influence. Or not, as the case may be. I'm not worried. there's plenty of flu going around, so any space alien invasion is bound to fail. You'd think super intelligent creatures from other worlds would learn that Earth people cannot be defeated. We have the perfect defence. Get your coughs and sniffles now, while stocks last.

 

Moan of the Week

Today is 20% day. For those foreigners who've never encountered the Great British Taxation System, Value Added tax has risen to 20% to pay off the politicians ezpenses. It's a surcharge for all transactions on goods and services, so if I buy a bag of jelly beans, not only does it cost sixty pence, it also costs me another twelve that the government rake off. That I suppose is the advantage that Doctor Who has. His jelly beans are supplied by the BBC, whose budget I also have to pay an unholy sum for every year.

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Please don't knock Auntie, Caldrail. You may remember a sketch from 'Not the Nine O'clock News' where a punter writes in to 'Points of View' stating, "I would gladly sell my house and all its contents to help the BBC". And also, all the hoo-hah resulting from Murdoch's evil spawn making that speech condemming the BBC for not making any money for his Dad?

 

I thought 'Stargazing' was the zenith of what the BBC does right. To risk what would normally be considered a very 'narrow-audience' programme at peak viewing times for 3 nights on the trot, was a very bold move on their part, and yet I have heard nothing but good feedback about it, even from people who have never thought to look up at the night sky before.

 

As for Prof. Cox, I don't think there's a single syllable that man has ever uttered that I haven't agreed with 100%. He is a visionary, and if more people listened to him the world would be a much better place than it is right now. To those who don't know him, his attitude can be summarised thus: " Science = good : Wooly thinking = bad ". What a guy!

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The problem here then is what we define as woolly thinking. Whilst I don't necessarily argue with his pronouncements on things astronomical, I find do find him hopelessly messianic about his presentation. Partly we must blame the producers of the television shows he appears on for that particular style. You obviously like his presentation. I think he sounds like a lay-preacher.

 

As for knocking the BBC, why shouldn't I? I don't have any choice but to pay for it, so the least they could do is show more Top Gear.

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Yes, I know, I'm an addict (the second officially known), but I want more fresh unseen Top Gear. Make the lads work for their money instead of galivanting around the world in beat up old cars (snigger)

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