Pevensie Chronicle

Very Large Telescope

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:46:23 +0000

The Very Large Telescope (VLT) is made up four separate optical telescopes (the Antu telescope, the Kueyen telescope, the Melipal telescope, and the Yepun telescope) organized in an array formation, built and operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) at the Paranal Observatory on Cerro Paranal, a 2,635 m high mountain in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Each telescope has an 8.2 m aperture. The array is complemented by four movable Auxiliary Telescope (ATs) of 1.8 m aperture. Working together in interferometric mode, the telescopes can achieve an angular resolution of around 1 milliarcsecond, meaning it could distinguish the gap between the headlights of a car located on the Moon.

(Interferometer: an array of telescopes or mirror segments acting together to probe structures with higher resolution by means of interferometry)

4/12 - Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:39:40 +0000

4/12 - Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

Argh.. Kesal.. Pulang dari kantor, dapetin rumah kosong, gelap gulita, makan siang gak disentuh, gak...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:15:28 +0000

Argh.. Kesal.. Pulang dari kantor, dapetin rumah kosong, gelap gulita, makan siang gak disentuh, gak pulak dimasukin dalam kulkas biar agak awet. Ckckck..

Tsavo Man-Eaters

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 03:47:11 +0000

Tsavo Man-Eaters were a pair of notorious man-eating lions responsible for the deaths of a number of construction workers on the Kenya-Uganda Railway, from March through December 1898.

In March 1898 the British started building a railway bridge over the Tsavo River in Kenya. The project was led by Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson. During the next nine months of construction, two maneless male Tsavo lions stalked the campsite, dragging Indian workers from their tents at night and devouring them. Crews tried to scare off the lions and built campfires and bomas of thorn fences around their camp for protection to keep the maneaters out, to no avail. The lions crawled through the thorn fences. After the new attacks, hundreds of workers fled from Tsavo, halting construction on the bridge. Patterson set traps and tried several times to ambush the lions at night from a tree. After repeated unsuccessful endeavors, he shot the first lion on December 9, 1898. Three weeks later, the second lion was found and killed. The first lion killed measured nine feet, eight inches (3 m) from nose to tip of tail. It took eight men to carry the carcass back to camp. The construction crew returned and completed the bridge in February 1899. The exact number of people killed by the lions is unclear. Over the course of his life, Patterson gave several figures, once claiming that there were 135 victims.

Patterson writes in his account that he wounded the first lion with one bullet from a Martini-Enfield chambered in .303 caliber. This shot struck the lion in the hindquarters, but it escaped. Later, it returned at night and began stalking Patterson as he tried to hunt it. He shot it with a .303 Lee Enfield several times, tracked it the next morning, and found it dead. The second lion was shot five times with a .303 Lee Enfield, but it got up and charged him in severely crippled condition, whereupon he shot it three more times with the Martini-Henry carbine, twice in the chest, and once in the head, which killed it. He claimed it died gnawing on a fallen tree branch, still trying to reach him.

After 25 years as Patterson’s floor rugs, the lions’ skins were sold to the Chicago Field Museum in 1924 for a sum of $5,000. The lions’ skins arrived at the museum in very poor condition. The lions were then reconstructed and are not on permanent display along with the original skulls.

Patterson’s accounts were published in his 1907 book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo.

Folk Rock

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 10:29:07 +0000

Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and United Kingdom around the mid-1960s. The genre was pioneered by the Los Angeles band The Byrds, who began playing traditional folk music and Bob Dylan penned material with rock instrumentation, in a style heavily influenced by The Beatles and other British bands. The term “folk rock” was itself first coined by the US music press to describe The Byrds’ music in June 1965, the same month that the band’s debut album was issued. The release of The Byrds’ cover version of Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” and its subsequent commercial success initiated the folk rock explosion of the mid-1960s. Dylan himself was also influential on the genre, particularly his recordings with an electric rock band on the Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde albums. Dylan’s July 25, 1965 appearance at the Newport Folk Festival with an electric backing band is also considered a pivotal moment in the development of folk rock.

Photo

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 05:50:28 +0000

3/12 - Edensor by Andrea Hirata

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 13:40:56 +0000

3/12 - Edensor by Andrea Hirata

East End of London

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 02:39:13 +0000

The East End of London, known locally as the East End, is the area of London, England, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames, although it is not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries. Use of the term in a pejorative sense began in the late 19th century, as the expansion of the population of London led to extreme overcrowding throughout the area and a concentration of poor people and immigrants in the East End. These problems were exacerbated with the construction of St. Katherine Docks (1827) and the central London railway termini (1840-1875) that caused the clearance of former slums and rookeries, with many of the displaced people moving into the East End. Over the course of a century, the East End become synonymous with poverty, overcrowding, disease and criminality.

The East End developed rapidly during the 19th century. Originally it was an area characterized by villages clustered around the City walls or along the main roads, surrounded by farmland, with marshes and small communities by the River, serving the needs of shipping and the Royal Navy. Until the arrival of formal docks, shipping was required to land its goods in the Pool of London, but industries related to construction, repair, and victualling of ships flourished in the area from Tudor times. The area attracted large numbers of rural people looking for employment. Successive waves of foreign immigration began with Huguenot refugees creating a new extramural suburb in Spitalfields in the 17th century. They were followed by Irish weavers, Ashkenazi Jews and, in the 20th century, Bangladeshis. Many of these immigrants worked in the clothing industry. The abundance of semi and unskilled labour led to low wages and poor conditions throughout the East End. This brought the attentions of social reformers during the mid-18th century and led to the formation of unions and workers associations at the end of the century. The radicalism of the East End contributed to the formation of the Labour Party and demands for the enfranchisement of women.

Official attempts to address the overcrowded housing began at the beginning of the 20th century under the London County Council. World War II devastated much of the East End, with its docks, railways and industry forming a continual target, leading to dispersal of the population to new suburbs, and new housing being built in the 1950s. The closure of the last of the East End docks in the Port of London in 1980 created further challenges and led to attempts at regeneration and the formation of the London Docklands Development Corporation. The Canary Wharf development, improved infrastructure, and the Olympic Park mean that the East End is undergoing further change, but some of its parts continue to contain some of the worst poverty in Britain.

(Taken from: “Encyclopedia”)

Charlie's Literature List

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 07:23:12 +0000

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

2. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

3. A Separate Peace by John Knowles

4. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

6. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

7. On the Road by Jack Kerouac

8. Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs

9. Walden by Henry David Thoreau

10. Hamlet by William Shakespeare

11. The Stranger by Albert Camus

12. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

2/12 - Habibie & Ainun by Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie...

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 14:28:26 +0000

2/12 - Habibie & Ainun by Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie #bookamonth #monthlyreading

"Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stranger."

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 16:04:16 +0000

“Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stranger.”

- Joker

11/12 - The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:26:07 +0000

Written by: Stephen Chbosky.

Standing on the fringe of life… Offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

It is the story of what it’s like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie’s letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates, family dramas, and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, where all you need is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.

Through Charlie, Chbosky has created a deeply affecting novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.

11/17 - The Casual Vacancy

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:25:46 +0000

Written by: J.K. Rowling.

A big novel about a small town.

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils … Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the Parish Council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

11/27 - McFly: Unsaid Things ... Our Story

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 14:38:43 +0000

Written by: Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Harry Judd, Dougie Poynter.

In 2003, Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Harry Judd and Dougie Poynter came together and formed what would become one of the most popular and successful bands in the UK. Just teenagers at the time, they were catapulted into the limelight and had to adapt quickly to their new-found fame —- and everything that came with it. Now, at last, they have decided to tell their story, in full and revealing detail.

Speaking with candour and their trademark humour, Tom, Danny, Harry and Dougie share the stories of both their own lives and that of McFly. They give their personal insights into their contrasting childhoods, the individual paths that led them to the band, the struggles they have each overcome, their love lives and, of course, their music.

Packed with previously untold stories, a lot of laughter and the occasional tear, “Unsaid Things” offers a privileged look into the lives of four guys who started out as bandmates and became best friends. Their unique camaraderie radiates from every page and by the end of the book, you’ll know them almost as well as they know each other.

"Life is what happens to us while we are busy making plans."

Sun, 28 Oct 2012 10:40:30 +0000

“Life is what happens to us while we are busy making plans.”

- John Lennon

My reading list this month, along with Eragon’s last book,...

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:56:11 +0100

My reading list this month, along with Eragon’s last book, Filosofi Kopi, Negeri 5 Menara, Laskar Pelangi, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

"Hari itu aku paham bahwa kepedihan Bodenga yg kusaksikan bertahun-tahun lampau di lapangan basket..."

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 03:24:31 +0100

“Hari itu aku paham bahwa kepedihan Bodenga yg kusaksikan bertahun-tahun lampau di lapangan basket sekolah nasional telah melekat dalam benakku sebagai sebuah trauma, dan hari itu, setelah sekian tahun berlalu, untuk pertama kalinya Bodenga mengunjungiku.”

- Laskar Pelangi (Andrea Hirata)

"The future used to be such an abstract idea, and the dream was enough. But now the future has the..."

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 11:57:42 +0100

“The future used to be such an abstract idea, and the dream was enough. But now the future has the nerve to show up, and it’s expecting us to do something and it’s not interested in giving a lending hand.”

- Kurt Hummel

Laskar Pelangi, a novel by Andrea Hirata

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:30:18 +0100

Laskar Pelangi, a novel by Andrea Hirata

Readers still spellbound by JK Rowling as pre-order sales for her new book for adults tops one...

Sat, 22 Sep 2012 13:06:20 +0100

Readers still spellbound by JK Rowling as pre-order sales for her new book for adults tops one million http://bit.ly/UoTl18