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Monthly Archives: April 2019

Read more about the article Rocket Brigade to the rescue!
Rocket Brigade's wagon at Newcastle, May 11, 1938

Rocket Brigade to the rescue!

George William Manby was one of those people who just can't stop inventing things. When he was just a kid, back in the 1770s, he made his own little rocket and used it to fire a line over a church near his home. I'm not sure what the church authorities had to say, but Manby never lost his enthusiasm for rockets. V0003810 George William Manby. Lithograph by [W. J. C] after Sir T. L Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org George William Manby. Lithograph by [W. J. C] after Sir T. Lawrence. Published: -…

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Read more about the article The mystery in the mine: lizard tracks deep below Catherine Hill Bay.
Lizard tracks on the ceiling of Wallarah Colliery, May 1979. Photo by Brian R. Andrews

The mystery in the mine: lizard tracks deep below Catherine Hill Bay.

MILLIONS of years ago, apparently, a large lizard or similar creature was taking a walk on some soft ground. Its feet sank into the mud, and it backed away. The ground hardened, preserving the tracks, which were later filled in with a different type of mud. The ground eventually turned into rock, and other layers formed on top, pressing those layers and the tracks of the creature deep below the surface of the earth. Deep underground at Wallarah Colliery in 1979. Photo used with permission of Brian R. Andrews. In 1979, miners working the coal seam…

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Read more about the article There’s more to life than books, you know, but not much more . . .

There’s more to life than books, you know, but not much more . . .

When I heard Morissey sing those lines, "There's more to life than books you know, but not much more" (they are in The Smiths song Handsome Devil) I felt I might have found a motto for my life. Because I'm a fiend for books and always have been. When I visit somebody for the first time I can't help myself. My eyes are drawn almost against my will to their bookshelves, as if I can make some kind of assessment of their character by what I see there. I dream about browsing in bookshops. I read…

Continue ReadingThere’s more to life than books, you know, but not much more . . .
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