Ooh, I sound like Tom Hanks in that film, Apollo 13 [link].
Ah yes, the appalling space missing program. As a Polar Bear, I’m especially aware of the diminishing environment as the human population increases. But as Scotty in Star Trek famously put it, “ye canna change the laws o’ physics”. We, cannot (and when I say we, I mean you humans) continue to add to your population at the current rate [current world population = 7Bn & rising] , encroaching on whats left of our glissading rink and stealing the fish from the back of our fridge…….without consequences. Those consequences being that us Polar Bears will need to travel much further to Iceland or Farmfoods to stock up on Sealburgers and Skuababs… and emm, we might be less cute & cuddly and more hungrier & grumpier when you next bump into us. Grrrr.
You guys’ll be like, “it’s my turn to see the polar bear on the last ever iceberg”, but from a PB perspective it’s more, “hey, who’s turn is it to look sad for the tourists?” or maybe, “who’s turn is it to eat the tourist?”
Funny how the world works…, I started this loosely spacey-themed thread with a view to link environmental issues such as population increases, charity, cycling, Oz, probably food and (obviously) MrsP. (covered most of it, but the cycling’ll need to wait )
I was going to ask, “Should an independent Scotland fund it’s own space programme like NASA, but where the acronym stands for No Accommodation Space Available – a negative statement which, with the simple addition of punctuation immediately reverses polarity to become a more positive – No Accommodation?, Space Available.
(i) To debate how a national programme of house building could;
a) improve/increase housing stock available and house Scotland’s existing population
b) accommodate a skilled quota (eg. like Australia/US) of migrants who could be of benefit to this country. Arktos & Walker are excellent examples of this type of migrant, who between them, pull in valuable revenue at the Highland Wildlife Park outside Kingussie
c) provide employment and distribute economic benefits to the construction industry and ancillary businesses.
Wouldn’t it make sense to prioritise house building ?… obviously not on flood plains or anywhere that might spoil my view, but you get my drift. It makes sense surely, to pay folk to make things (ie. houses that bods can live in) ‘cos at the moment we’re payin’ folks tae sit on their Bright House (pay by 84 instalments) sofas, an’ make nowt.
(ii) on the Bedroom Tax; can I claim tax relief for providing temporary accommodation for homeless benefits claimants? Cousin Clarence (y’know, the Birdseye Bear) has been living in my fridge since his job was axed at the start of the year.
Or, if I write my (this) blog in that room, does that make it an office?, and am I then liable for business rates? …aaarrghh!
. . . anyway, before I stray into a black-hole of political debate, I was going to say that by strange coincidence, Tuesdays’ Courier had a wee article on ‘Scotlands 1st Space Satellite launched today’ (8july14) from Kazakhstan. Maybe in future we’ll get the rocket base on Uist expanded. Spacebase Scotland. , to Benbecula and beyond, etc… however, I think there’s Rockall chance of that happening anytime soon. (memo to self; Babelfish will need a Romulan to Gaelic translation app)
From the newspaper article, UKube-1, sounds like a metaphor for the country. ‘The nanosatellite..blah, blah,….one of the most advanced of it’s kind’ – ie. It’s wee, and it’s clever. UKube-1 is aimed at measuring plasmaspheric* space weather (*ooh, nice word!) probably so that BBC Breakfast’s Carol Kirkwood can advice Klingon/Vogon tourists when it’s going to be ‘Scorchio’ and to slap on the factor 50. UKube-1 is from ClydeSpace in weegie-land (Weegieland: it’s a bit like the LA set in ‘Blade Runner’, but with the Commonwealth Games thrown in) who will probably follow this with SCOT-potential2014… What do you think First Ambassador Salmon of the Scottish Space Federation? ….mmm, nothing(ish) wrong wi’ darien tae dream.
Dreaming….zzzzz, this is generally a nocturnal activity, taking place when it’s dark. The darkness (no, not the band, although I did enjoy the falsetto on ‘I believe in a thing called love’) makes the stars easier to see, although even then, folks see what they want to see.
I’ve often wondered who ‘named’ the constellations?
I mean, I’m very pleased and not in the least surprised that there is a ‘Great Bear’ (Ursa Major) in the …x quadrant (top left of the sky if you’re looking south towards the Lomond Hills – I’ll explain the relevance of this later) although I have to say, you’d have to be Picasso if that looks like a bear to you… oh yeah, and there’s a Little Bear too! Sweeet! 
You’d think it’d be dead easy to join any of the millions of dots of light in any direction to make any animal shape or whatever.
Why isn’t there a Porcus Centauri for example? Can you imagine Jean-Luc Pigard or Captain Link Hogthrob instructing the navigation officer / helmsman to “set the controls for the heart of the sow (lar system) to paraphrase Pig Floyd in Pigsars amimated film ‘Journey to the Centre of the Pork (which, as most intelligent life-forms in the Universe know, rhymes with FORK, and not ROARKE)
As well as Astronomy, Bears know a thing or three about Astrology and at the moment we’re apparently under the influence of the zodiac sign of Cancer (♋) …mmm MkII Zodiacs were quite stylish although a PA Cresta probably still edges the vote – oh sorry, a wee bit rambling there.
Cancer (June21 – July22) 
why is it a crab? as you can see, crabs (well .. some of them) can look cute. On the other claw though, cancer touches (or nips) so many lives so that most of us will have some experience of it, either ourselves or someone we know / love. Which is why this bear was very impressed, having witnessed the stubborn determination and refusal to concede defeat to this disease by folks at events over the past weekend. We (Mrs.P an’ me) went tae Embra on Friday, to celebrate the 25th Wedding Anniversary of 2 very good friends of mine (they’re good enough to almost be bears) Rather than give any traditional silver presents (which just sit in drawers gathering dust normally), the guests contributed over £700 to donate to two cancer related charities MylomaUK and the Marie Curie Cancer Care who are both engaged in valuable research and providing patient care. Well done everyone.
On Sunday, while attempting to have a long lie in bed with Mrs.P, we were roused (08.56 am… on a Sunday!) by some loud-mouthed woman on a loudspeaker in the park next to us playing thumping music. Oh well, might as well get up, says I, any thoughts of romantickyness being bludgeoned by the dance beat. Grrrr….
Mrs.P wis about to stomp off an’ give the woman a piece of her mind, but I wasn’t sure she could afford it.
Looking out the window, not quite as big as a sea, more like a pond, or a big puddle of Peppa Pig pink people populated the park, parading and promenading profusely, prolifically even. (alliteration is key to the imagery here) Ah, the Race For Life, I’d forgotten that wiz on. Out of curiosity, we ventured down to the periphery of the phemale*-only pandemonium [*sorry, I just had to put in some more P’s], only to get suckered in (they sneakily tempted us with free food…whit chance did we have?) to help give out medals, water & cake to the runners, walkers who did the 5K/10K circuit raising money for Cancer Research. Congratulations ladies, well done. Take the rest of the day off.
You know how it is when a tune gets stuck in your head. For some strange reason ‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road’ lodged itself when we were watching the participants, like a big pink caterpillar follow the grey tarmac path round the park. ‘ follow the grey tarmac path, follow..’ which was quite funny ‘cos the (almost bear) friends mentioned earlier, are jetting off to Oz next week for a holiday. The lengths folk’ll go to tae avoid Munchkins and the Selfish Witch of the South.
There’s lots of space in Oz.
I mentioned the Lomond Hills earlier. A long, long time ago, when Mrs.P an’ me first got together in Auchtermuchty, we’d walk back home, from the pub where she worked, under the star-filled skies. Having lived in the big city, where the street light glare obscured the night sky, Mrs.P had never seen so many stars. (I resisted mentioning films like ‘The Great Escape’, or ‘Love Actually’ or ‘It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World’ which has a fair few A-listers including Mickey Rooney who was at one time married to Judy Garland who ‘starred’ in the ‘Wizard of Oz’. Neat or wot?). Anyway, not being a bear to let grass grow, when I could cover it with concrete, I spotted an opportunity to impress. Having edjamacated her on the type of cheese that the moon is made of, she then asked, what’s that? – pointing to a very bright twinkle in the Southern sky over Area51, or Glenrothes as we call it. Mmmm…., says I,” if that’s the eh.. moon, then mmm,… that must be the BertStar !”
Genius.
Of all the names to randomly choose, I’d no idea that Bert was her favourite…. ‘cos it was her late stepfathers name. Oh yeah, while we’re talkin’ about families, I’m sure I saw Mrs.P’s mum in Total Recall – next time you see it, watch out for her in the scene when Arnie arrives in Mars.
Anyway, Mrs.P wiz mightily impressed.
In her eyes, I think I’m right up there as The Great Bear (I know, sometimes I can be too modest)
Speaking of heavenly bodies… here’s a picture of Mrs P in’t Bath . . . .
Oi Clarence!, . . .it’s your turn to fetch me a cold beer, an’ my turn for the TV remote.
Paul R Bear 