Words About Things

Had a lovely weekend which always seems to make Monday morning that bit more difficult. We decided to go camping in Devon at the last minute but unfortunately everybody north of Bristol had also had this idea so we had no luck finding a campsite with a vacant pitch. Instead we headed off in the car in search of a sunny beach eventually finding ourselves at Lyme Regis.

The town is best known for its fossils, 10 minutes digging in the cliffs that line one end of the bay are likely to result in at least one new type of Dinosaur being found. The beach was very busy but we eventually found a quiet spot and enjoyed the sunshine.

On the way home we drove behind a great retro looking VW split-screen van in powder blue. I never seem to notice these in the winter but come summer they are all over the place. I bet used van sales go up massively in the sunny months.

There is something strangely tiring about sitting on the beach all day (or maybe it was traipsing through town in search of suncream) and I was in bed by 10pm a shade pinker and a lot more relaxed

Usain Bolt set a new world record for the 100 meters in Berlin yesterday, leaving his competitors behind after an uncharacteristically good start. Bolt once again shocked the world by beating his former 100 meter world record by a record amount, he cruised over the line in 9.58 seconds shaving 0.16 seconds off the time set at last years Olympics in Beijing.

Nobody has ever beaten the record by such a large amount in one race and even Bolt seemed surprised at what he had achieved. His nearest rival Tyson Gay put in a personal best record at 9.71 seconds making him the fastest American ever and yet he seemed to finish two steps behind Usain.

Bolt did not celebrate until after crossing the finishing line this time but seemed relaxed before the race, playing to the cameras and working the crowd. Even after two false starts he remained calm and started well.

Bolt has said that he believes he could go as quick as 9.4 seconds although he says that might be the limit. “I could go 9.4 but I think the world stops at 9.4.” The 200 meter final takes place today Thursday and it seems unlikely that anyone could beat Usain Bolt.

See the race in HD here.

A recent study of  avian specimens in Australia has found that various species are becoming smaller over time. The research, which was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, shows that successive generations of birds have smaller wingspans.

Birds which live in warmer regions around the equator tend to be smaller than their counterparts in cooler regions. This helps the birds to conserve heat but now it appears that climate change has begun to have an effect on wingspans. As temperatures rise the average size of birds, such as the fairy-wren, is reducing.

“We show for the first time that the size of birds have changed geographically with rising temperatures. Birds of a size once found near Brisbane now occur near Sydney – seven degrees further south… Our study is important because it shows a generalized response to some major environmental change over the last 100 years, probably global warming.”

Dr Janet Gardner, of the Australian National University in Canberra

More details here.