AT LONG LAST

The whole idea of this blog is to record my birding efforts over 2011.  However, I'm not getting out and about as much as I would like.  Take today for instance; I had to go to a bank to aarange some house insurance and after that my plan was to go around Mount Street rec and do some birding on the way back home.  Having sorted the insurance I went for a pint in the Blue Bear and then made my way to the rec.  By the time I got there I was freezing cold.  I then realised that  by going up Abbey Street and down Meadow Road I had entered the rec with the sun full in my face ... opps.  Anyway, I did get to see a few birds and added long tailed tit, and dunnock to my year list.  There never seems to be much there over a short time so what I really want to do is to go down on my scooter as I did today, but then spend an hour or so sitting around in there to see what comes through over a longer period.  Anyway, enough of birding today.

Dorktown Council does listen to the tax payers here, even if it does take years and years.  Well, eventually they have managed to make Bracebridge Street and one way street with traffic entering from off Queens Road.  There's no indication as to when it will take effect though, the sooner the better for me.  Now all they need to do is to sort out the parking.  I had a short walk this evening to the bottom of the street and the pathway was blocked yet again by two cars, one in front of the chemist garage doors and one half on and one off the path right behind it,  The result is a small gap where a wlaker can get but no scooters or people pushing prams/pushchairs.

Do you have idea as to how the internet came about?  Like me you probably thjought it all started in Dept of Defence across the pond in Yankydoddledandyland.  Well, we all seem to be wrong, as this missive from my mate Bill claims ...

How the Internet started:-

A revelation with an Incredibly Big Message (IBM):

Well, you might have thought that you knew how the Internet started, but here's the TRUE story ....

In ancient Israel , it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot.

And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg.
Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham, her husband: "Why dost thou travel so far from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever leaving thy tent?"

And Abraham did look at her - as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said: "How, dear?"

And Dot replied: "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price.

And the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success.
Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having to move from his tent.

To prevent neighbouring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew. It was called Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures - Hebrew To The People (HTTP)

But this success did arouse envy. A man named Maccabia did secrete himself inside Abraham's drum and began to siphon off some of Abraham's business. But he was soon discovered, arrested and prosecuted - for insider trading.

And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung.

They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land.

And indeed did insist on drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates' drumheads and drumsticks.

And Dot did say: "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others."

And Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel , or eBay as it came to be known. He said: "We need a name that reflects what we are."

And Dot replied: "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators."
"YAHOO," said Abraham.
And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.

Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside. It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE)

And that is how it all began.

Me with the kids a couple of weeks ago.