Wings Over Scotland

Hi chipmonkey.

For me, it’s too much hassle in a short time between getting home from work and 7pm, to try to get the video projector and sound gear out of my flat, into the two seater and set up in the Inn, on a Friday.

For the last Invergowrie get-together (on a Saturday), I took the stuff to the Inn in the afternoon, then back home to be picked up by Pete to get back there for our steak pie, before the evening commenced.

I just wouldn’t be able to provide the entertainment gear AND have my steak pie on a Friday. Insufficient time…

Onnyhoo, I’ve just been speaking to Pete and he can’t make the 14th due to a previous commitment. He also said it would be better to avoid St Valentine’s Day, because people (couples) usually have something arranged. Now, we need Pete at the get-together, coz he provides the badges!

So, the question to be answered…
Do we have it on a Friday, the 13th for example, with no music/videos, or have it on Saturday 21st, or 28th, with music/videos?

Answers on the back of a virtual postcard to:-
off-topic,
Wings Over Scotland,
Cyberworld.

Friday 13th, Night of the Living Deid, and we all dress up as Slabbers. (Bags me Jackie Baillie.)

Brian Dtt 12.27am
I kind of asked for that one, didn’t I? It did make me laugh out loud, though.

Re Inverwotsit:
The 14th would be no good for me; I have to keep my husband sweet or he might stop cooking my tea every night. I would be happy with the 21st or the 28th. Don’t want to go for the 13th if it’s going to be a hassle for people.

Betty Boop – Thanks for that link, I really liked that song, but I doubt if my mother had the single, as we were living in deepest Nigeria at the time and she had three children under the age of three and was expecting me (as she once said, “I was pregnant, as usual”). Simon and Garfunkel, the New Seekers and the Archies were the closest we got to pop music (it’s okay, we quite liked them).

(What on earth were you doing still up at 3 o’clock in the morning? Even I’m in bed by then!)

@Paula Rose
I wish. Youth is wasted on the young.

Ian
They’re not fake tits, they’re real.

@Natasha –

!!! 😉

Right I’m claiming it. The title of the first to play a George Michael live performance on Off Topic.

It’s mine all mine 🙂

It’s not what you would think though as the sentiment is right. Originally by Stevie Wonder.

link to youtube.com

That was for you Betty 🙂

And Jim don’t want to fall out with any more Wingers 🙂

kick UKIP out of Kent game

games.usvsth3m.com/kick-ukip-out-of-kent/

my best kick so far is 13.93 miles and I have only kicked him twice, could do with a Murphy game like this

try again now on 16.04 miles

link to games.usvsth3m.com

21 Feb is looking good for me.

Where’s the after party party?

Yep, me too.

So we are expected to come up with something even more imaginative for the after party party?

Right peeps, I’m gonna start compiling a list of reprobrates for ‘WOI 2′, which will be regularly updated. (Helps with the badge manufacture.)

Alex Clark (Thepnr)
Natasha
Brian Doonthetoon
Pete The Camera
Chipmonkey
Quentin Quyayle
X_Sticks
Cearc
Whahz jynin’ the perty, an’ thah’, iye?

@Alex –

Do you have enough space for two big fake tits?

(If not I could bring my two-tit, sorry, two-man tent…)

Me Me Me

@ The perfect new romantic, can I have the four-poster again?

Let’s go back to physics @ Glasgow –

This time, it’s about the speed of light:

—
Scientists have long known that the speed of light can be slowed slightly as it travels through materials such as water or glass. However, it has generally been thought impossible for particles of light, known as photons, to be slowed as they travel through free space, unimpeded by interactions with any materials.

In a new paper published in Science Express today (Friday 23 January), researchers from the University of Glasgow and Heriot-Watt University describe how they have managed to slow photons in free space for the first time. They have demonstrated that applying a mask to an optical beam to give photons a spatial structure can reduce their speed.

The team compare a beam of light, containing many photons, to a team of cyclists who share the work by taking it in turns to cycle at the front. Although the group travels along the road as a unit, the speed of individual cyclists can vary as they swap position.

The group formation can make it difficult to define a single velocity for all cyclists, and the same applies to light. A single pulse of light contains many photons, and scientists know that light pulses are characterised by a number of different velocities.

The team’s experiment was configured like a time trial race, with two photons released simultaneously across identical distances towards a defined finish line.
The researchers found that one photon reached the finish line as predicted, but the structured photon which had been reshaped by the mask arrived later, meaning it was travelling more slowly in free space. Over a distance of one metre, the team measured a slowing of up to 20 wavelengths, many times greater than the measurement precision.

The work demonstrates that, after passing the light beam through a mask, photons move more slowly through space. Crucially, this is very different to the slowing effect of passing light through a medium such as glass or water, where the light is only slowed during the time it is passing through the material – it returns to the speed of light after it comes out the other side. The effect of passing the light through the mask is to limit the top speed at which the photons can travel.

The work was carried out by a team from the University of Glasgow’s Optics Group, led by Professor Miles Padgett, working with theoretical physicists led by Stephen Barnett, and in partnership with Daniele Faccio from Heriot-Watt University.

Co-lead author Jacquiline Romero said: “We’ve achieved this slowing effect with some subtle but widely-known optical principles. This finding shows unambiguously that the propagation of light can be slowed below the commonly accepted figure of 299,792,458 metres per second, even when travelling in air or vacuum.

Professor Padgett added: “It might seem surprising that light can be made to travel more slowly like this, but the effect has a solid theoretical foundation and we’re confident that our observations are correct.

“The results give us a new way to think about the properties of light and we’re keen to continue exploring the potential of this discovery in future applications. We expect that the effect will be applicable to any wave theory, so a similar slowing could well be created in sound waves, for example.”

The team’s paper, titled ‘Spatially Structured Photons that Travel in Free Space Slower than the Speed of Light’, is published in Science Express, which provides electronic publication of selected papers in advance of print in the journal Science.

So – if I was the wasp wing and doing a dance and the photons travelling to me were masked, then those viewing the image of me would see me dancing before I did.

@Paula Rose –

Kudos! A surprisingly poetic but accurate summary!

Here’s the current list of names for WOI 2.

Alex Clark (Thepnr)

Natasha

Brian Doonthetoon

Hanii Puppy (my son)

Pete The Camera

Chipmonkey

Quentin Quayle

X_Sticks

Cearc

Cactus

Paula Rose

Remember, if you intend coming along, let us know, because you won’t get a personalised ‘WOI 2″ badge if you don’t tell us!

We don’t make badges on the off chance that someone will turn up…

I’m fearing Tartan Tory is still grieving…

Ian Brotherhood – are you coming, mammaries or no mammaries?

Thanks Thepnr.

Aussi ou est les lovely wee Jock Scott and the gorgeous hunky ronnie anderson?

Again, very interesting AuldA. Wonder what is going on there?

Sounds like they have managed to invoked some kind of extra (previously unknown) interaction with the modern ether (Higgs field?).

@Cmg –
Yep, fairly dazzling. They claim their discovery is backed by a solid theoretical background. Are you aware what they are referring to?

More news, this time on totally different tangent:

Sex differences in academic achievement are not related to political, economic or social equality

New research has revealed that girls lead boys in educational achievement in 70% of countries, regardless of levels of national gender equality.

Even in countries where women’s liberties are severely restricted, girls are shown to be outperforming boys in mathematics, reading and science literacy subjects by age 15.

The research, conducted by psychologists at the universities of Glasgow and Missouri, looked at the educational achievement levels of 1.5 million 15 year olds from around the world using Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data taken between 2000 and 2010.

The findings, which are published in the journal ‘Intelligence’, show that countries with high levels of social, political and economic equality still experience gender differences in academic achievement. Paradoxically, some of the countries known for relatively low gender equality ratings, such as Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates are those where the educational achievement gap is relatively large, in favour of girls.

When considering combined achievements in mathematics, reading and science, boys fall behind in 70% of countries, whereas there are only three countries/regions (4% of those included in the survey) where boys outperform girls (namely Colombia, Costa Rica, and the Indian state Himachal Pradesh). The United Kingdom and United States belonged to the countries where no (statistically significant) sex difference in combined achievement was found.

The achievement disparity between boys and girls is most in evidence at the lowest levels of achievement. The gap however closes, and is sometimes reversed, among the very highest achievers in more economically developed countries.

Researchers claim that these findings show that policy makers need to look beyond setting targets for gender equality as a way of reducing gender gaps in school achievement.

Dr Gijsbert Stoet, Reader in Psychology at the University of Glasgow, who led the study, said: “The results of this study show that a commitment towards gender equality on its own is not enough to close the achievement gaps in global education.

“At the moment we see that, with the exception of high-achievers, boys have poorer educational outcomes than girls around the world, independent of social equality indicators. What’s more is that this gap in not reducing. If policy makers are seriously concerned about gender equality in education, this ought to be their top priority. That it is not is probably fuelled by a lack of public understanding of the distribution of skills which we have highlighted in this and previous studies. For example, listening to many news stories in the media, one can easily get the idea that girls around the world are falling behind boys, in particular in countries with known gender inequality. The reality is quite different in the many countries participating in PISA, which many may find surprising.

“Of course we understand that there are many reasons beyond education attainment to strive for gender equality within societies that are not measured in this study. Although it is vital that we promote gender equality in schools we also need to make sure that we’re doing more to understand why these gaps, especially the poor achievement of boys, in educational attainment persist and what other policies we can develop to close them.”

Researchers believe that PISA scores may also help define why fewer girls, despite being educationally stronger than boys at 15 years, go on to study STEM subject at university.

@Briandoonthetoon
@Alex Clark

Awwwww… bucket of tears!

I’ve just been doing a wee catch-up and find that WOI is not on Saturday, 21st Feb.

Now, our social diary is deid most of the year, apart from all the political stuff, but, February has filled up this year. Only have the weekend of 14th free. Already having to miss out on an event I was involved in organising and on 21st we shall be sitting listening to the Australian Pink Floyd in the SECC when I would rather be whoopin’ it up in Invergowrie! APF had better be b****y brilliant.

So, apologies Brian et al, the Troon contingent won’t be able to make it to our fav city (Is Invergowrie considered a suburb?!!!)

Any chance Pete can make a couple of WOI 2 “Wish we were there” badges? 🙂

Still greetin’ :-((

@ Bdtt

Apologies re my post on WOI. I meant to say it is “now” on 21st February.

Still greetin’, but, hope ye awe hae a guid nicht. 🙂

@Betty Boop

Sorry you will miss the Invergowrie 2 bash, still Aussie Floyd is worth seeing, it would take flying Pigs to get me to miss them, having seen quite a few of the Floyd tributes they were by far the best

@ Betty Poop – do you mean that you are being paid so much to see a tribute band that you have chosen to forgo a Wingie Partie?

@ Pete the camera

Thanks and hope APF is worth it.

@ Paula

I am not a party pooper! Honestly, I am being made to go, forced into the melee that will undoubtedly be peopled by aged rockers, all long hair (grey)and more wrinkles than bloodhounds, trying to re-capture lost yoof! An evening of Invergowrie delight has been hijacked by a prior engagement, a present for my other half from the family.

It just so happens we are missing another bash on the same night. I don’t recall ever having to forego so much on one night!!! :-((

An’ I’m still greetin’ buckets.

Can’t help it – just get all emotional when I’m not going to see lovely Wingie ones.

Ian Brotherhood – I don’t understand 24ac in Monday’s crossword. I’ve seen the answer in Tuesday’s National and I’m still none the wiser. Explanation please!

Thepnr/Alex Clark – is there room for one more at your house? I don’t take up much space.

AuldA honey – let’s swap photons!

@Thepnr
Thank you! 🙂

@Natasha –

‘Have another glower around, see portable organ’

Another word for ‘glower’ is ‘glare’.

‘Glare’, around, could be ‘regal’ which is ‘A portable organ equipped only with small reed pipes, popular from the 15th century and recently revived for modern performances.’

Pure tortuous by the way, intit? 🙂

Hi Ian.

Your ‘regal’ answer reinforces my intention to ignore crosswords.