Slugs and Snails...

It has been a busy few weeks in work.

The education board has placed a rural youth worker in Garvagh, and we are becoming involved with management meetings. The worker will be detached and working with small groups of 14-25 yearolds in short term projects. It is vital that we are involved, as well as other groups who work with young people in the town, as a contact to send the young people to after the projects have finished. The worker wants to do a project with our older boys, but the boys want me involved, so I will have to tiptoe round that obsticle.

The high school had their prize day, and it is always a pleasure to be invited. We see some of the worst from teh school, sdo it is good to know that thee are some dedicated puples, and to hear what projects the school does offer. Few of the boys we have turned up, which is a pitty.

The 'Let's Talk' (a Question time type programm about Northern Ireland, recorded once a month) studio contacted us to see if we wante dto bring some of our young people to the next recording. It is a good idea, and would give some of our older guys a great experience. I mentioned it to some of our drop-in folk, and one said that it would depend on what the topic was. This is northern ireland, what does he think the topic would be? We will try to get some to go to next months recording.

For the third week in a row I have been to Belfast on Thursday for business (not quite on Ruth's scale of work trips). This weekwas a conference on working with young men. Nothing mind bendingly new, but good networking. (I got talking with someone in the HIV advisery group, and was able to tell within a 100 how many HIV infected people are known in NI. I read a report the week before). As far as young men info went, the point of 'what makes you a man' gave the paradox that in school the 'manly' thing to do is to not work, but later on in life the 'manly' thing to do is to get a good job to provide for your family. It was good fun, and helped inforce thinking.

Local News

The Ballymoney Times is not the greatest Paper in the world, or even Ballymoney, but it really makes me laugh. In last weeks paper, a page three item was an interview with about a UFO sighting in Ballymoney. It happened a few Fridays ago, after closing time and the time of year that kids are letting off fireworks in a carefree attitude. He assures us that he can identify it as agenuine UFO, absolutly no doubt. I have no doubt. If it is ever identified, it will stop being a UFO and become a FO.

X-ray results.

I found out the results of my x-ray this week. I have had a on-off sore finger that will become difficult to move. It had beeen treated by antibiotics, but it comes back. It hasn't flared up in a while, but I went to the doc last month after it flared up again (usually lasting between 30 mins and 3 hours) and he sent me for an x-ray.
My ring finger on my right hand, at the base showed up on the x-ray with a 4 millimetre object, with a similar density to bone. The doc explained that it was either a bit of bone that broke off, or a outside object, such as a slither of metal. My suggestion of a government tracking divice was not considered for long. Too much x-files in my younger days, I think. If it flares up again, it comes out (exciting). I wonder if I can get a copy of the x-ray?

On the subject of fingers...
the Ig nobel prizes are out for this year. These are the scientific studies that make you laugh, then think (not for bad science, just science you wonder why people do). My favourate of this years is the Ig nobel prize for medicine about the 'termination of intractable hiccups with digital rectal massage'. Not something to try in public.

Fun Facts

1. According to Steve Wright in the afternoon 'factoids', squrrels cannot see red. This is one of those 'honest it's true' facts that is probably untrue. Either that or being a Red Squrrel is the lonliest thing in the world, apart from the voices.
2. If a body falls from 1000ft, it will hit the ground in about 8 seconds, or so say a lot of the posters on Peter Davids site. There is a lot of calculation in this (If we set the starting height at x=0 and the initial velocity = o, then the formula is x=-1/2gt^2 where g = 32 ft/s^2. So, at t=20 sec, x = 6400 feet downward. At t=30 sec, x = 14,400 feet.
   Solving for t, we get t = sqrt(-2x/g). So, if the top is x=0 and the bottom is x=-1000, we get t= 7.9. So, it would take about 8 seconds to hit the bottom after being dropped from a height of 1000 feet). Now try to slip that into a comversation tomorrow, without getting strange looks.
3. Now to the Coriolis effect. This is the one where the water goes down the plug hole one way in the northern hemisphere, and the other in the southern hemisphere, as popularised by the Simpsons episode 'Bart vs Austrailia'. It does not work that way. It is a pitty, i did like the idea.
4. The island of Ireland may not have any snakes (no jokes about the polticians please), but we do have a lizard. It is oddly called the common Lizard, as opposed to all the other lizards who don't live here.
5. Back to Squrrels, and this is why game stations are not that bad a hoby for young people, because it could be worse...