Transit of Venus at the Isle fo Grain
Chris Murphy
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
1:40 PM
Around 100 prople gather on Isle of Grain beach this morning
Nearly 100 people turned out early this morning to catch the glimpse of a once-in-a-lifetime astrological marvel – the transit of Venus, were thwarted by the bad weather.
This is where the planet can be clearly seen passing between the Earth and the Sun, in a a sort of miniature eclipse.
The group of strgazers gathered on the beach at the Isle of Grain hoping to witness the celestial event which happens just twice a century - the sighting will not be for another 105 years.
The Mid-Kent Astronomical Society said it would have been a spectacular sight, had the clouds partly a little earlier.
It said more than 80 people from right across the South-East of England and London, arrived with them to watch.
It was organised by MKAS with the backing of Grain Parish Council and the local residents, many of whom joined in.
Some observers brought their own solar-protected telescopes and binoculars while others viewed through telescopes provided by society members and special solar viewers provided by MKAS.
The society said unfortunately the clouds didn’t part until the transit had finished, but everybody was treated to views of the Moon while waiting for the Sun to make an appearance.
Once the clouds did separate and the Sun shone through, everyone managed to get some magnificent views of sunspots and even ‘prominences’ through Bob Tollervey’s telescope which was equipped with a highly specialised hydrogen-alpha filter.
Prominences are huge explosions on the Sun’s surface.
To help compensate for the lack of a perfectly clear view, bacon butties and cups of tea were provided by MKAS member Sarah Watson and her daughter Faye.
Organiser Bob Tollervey said: “Seeing everyone, including families with younger children, enjoying themselves and learning about astronomy, really made all the hard work worthwhile.
“Many astronomers were on hand to explain all about the transit and later to explain the sunspots and even craters that were clearly visible on the Moon. Unfortunately the British weather did not play ball but everyone went away happy.
“Don’t forget that there will be a transit of Mercury which is the only other planet to transit the Sun, on May 9, 2016, starting around 12.12pm and ending around 7.42pm. MKAS will be ready and waiting to welcome everyone again.”
Source: www.kentnews.co.uk
Kent City Council Bans Medical Marijuana Collective Gardens; As Promised, Steve Sarich and Cannabis Action Coalition File Lawsuit - Seattle Weekly (blog)
As predicted by Sensible Washington, the Kent City Council voted last night to ban medical marijuana collective gardens within the city by a vote of 4-3. The now-passed ordinance declares that medical marijuana collective gardens "are not appropriate for any zoning designation within the city."
Kent's ordinance points out that marijuana remains a Schedule I controlled substance under the federal Controlled Substance Act, noting that any collective gardens the city allowed would be in violation of federal law. The Kent Reporter reports that two such gardens currently operate in Kent, and lawyers for each plan to file a lawsuit against the city in an attempt to stay open.
"There are certain things we want in the City of Kent and other things we don't," said Kent City Council member Billy Boyce, chair of the Public Safety committee, prior to last night's vote. Boyce, who voted in favor of the ban along with council members Dana Ralph, Les Thomas and Deborah Ranniger, told Seattle Weekly earlier this week that after an extended period of time spent learning about current state and federal marijuana laws, and extensive time spent discussing the situation with members of the Kent City Council, he decided to support the ban.
The vote to prohibit medical marijuana collective gardens in Kent came despite a large showing of medical marijuana supporters that arrived at Kent City Hall in a last-ditch effort to persuade the council against taking the action. It didn't work. Organized in part by Sensible Washington, an active pro-pot group that has taken strong issue with Kent's collective garden banning ordinance, the sizable outpouring of medical marijuana supporters were left disappointed but not without a plan of recourse, according to Anthony Martinelli, a Sensible Washington steering committee member and its communications co-director.
"The four who voted in favor of the ban have shown themselves to be another group of out-of-touch, power hungry politicians," says Martinelli. "This is not an issue that we will forget, and we believe strongly that going forward organized action must be taken to remove elected officials who stand against the will of their constituents."
As has been previously reported on Daily Weekly, Sensible Washington is also leading an effort this election season to pass a city-level initiative making marijuana crimes Kent's lowest law-enforcement priority, and also prohibit the city from cooperating with federal law enforcement in these matters.
Martinelli points out that Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke, who he describes as a strong supporter of the ban, is up for reelection this year. Martinelli says Sensible Washington "would strongly back any opposition [to Cooke] who would respect state law and their constituents."
I've reached out to Cooke for comment. When she responds I will update this post accordingly.
"The actions taken by the majority of this council shows a severe lack of compassion, a blatant disregard for the will of their constituents, and a lack of understanding of how to improve the safety of their community," says Martinelli. "The black market is cheering the passage of this ban."
Steve Sarich of the recently-launched Cannabis Action Coalition was in Kent last night to personally serve the Kent City Council with papers suing the city after it voted to ban collective gardens - an action he adamantly says violates existing state medical marijuana laws. The Cannabis Action Coalition lawsuit seeks to overturn the ban.
Sarich says the Cannabis Action Coalition was created to aggressively defend patients' right to medical marijuana, and plans to play offense instead of defense when it comes to protecting those rights - as demonstrated by last night's action in Kent. He says future targets of Cannabis Action Coalition legal action may include Pasco and Clark County.
"They whine that the state law is muddy and unclear," says Sarich of cities like Kent that have enacted moratoriums or passed similar ordinances. "The law is pretty clear, and is crystal clear when it comes to collective gardens. ... I challenge you to find anything in the state law that gives cities the right to regulate collective gardens [as Kent now has]."
"All we're doing is enforcing state law."
As far as the lawsuit filed yesterday against the City of Kent goes, Sarich says "the next move is up to them." If the council reverses its ban on medical marijuana collective gardens he'll be happy to drop the lawsuit. If not, Sarich is eager to head to court.
"If they really want to go to court, we're ready," says Sarich. "The only thing these people are going to listen to is money going out of their bank account."
Watch Sarich's short speech in front of the Kent City Council last night below:
Find the Cannabis Action Coalition's lawsuit on the next page ...
Source: blogs.seattleweekly.com
Sussex skies light up as the Jubilee beacons blaze - The Argus.co.uk
Sussex skies light up as the Jubilee beacons blaze
10:06am Wednesday 6th June 2012 in News By Bill Gardner
Night skies glowed as dozens of Jubilee beacons were set ablaze across Sussex.
Thousands of people flocked to watch the fires on Monday night which formed part of a ‘chain of light’ to celebrate 60 years of the Queen’s reign.
In Brighton and Hove, a trio of fiery beacons were lit in Rottingdean, on Hove promenade and on Brighton seafront.
The fires were lit by the mayor of Brighton and Hove, Bill Randall, council leader Jason Kitcat and the Royal British Legion.
Near the Palace Pier, crowds danced to music from brass band Fanfara and steel band Euphoria.
Dozens of other fires were lit across the county.
In East Hoathly, a 30ft wooden sculpture of Britannia complete with trident, shield and helmet was set ablaze. Sculptor Keith Pettit took three weeks and three lorry loads of scrap wood to make the female warrior before it was burned to the ground.
The beacon at Shoreham Fort took a while to get going despite the efforts of East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton.
After the event, Mr Loughton joked on social networking website Twitter: “We got the beacon alight eventually – aided by a Calor Gas blowtorch – but it was worth it.”
In Bognor, a Royal British Legion brass band played as a beacon was lit on the Place St Maur. Sky lanterns were released into the sky along with 60 helium dove balloons.
Scouts and Guides led the celebrations in Littlehampton with a colourful procession along the seafront led by a marching band.
Afterwards the mayor of Littlehampton, Coun Emma Neno, lit the flame, helped by the winner of a children’s fancy dress contest held in Mewsbrook Park.
Revellers in Seaford were treated to a hi-tech laser show at Seaford Head before the traditional beacon was lit by laser from the ancient Martello Tower above Seaford Museum.
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Source: www.theargus.co.uk
Sussex householders missing out on fuel bills support (From The Argus) - The Argus.co.uk
Sussex householders missing out on fuel bills support
5:10pm Tuesday 5th June 2012 in News By Neil Vowles
The number of homeowners receiving government help to keep their heating bills down has fallen dramatically.
The number of residents in the county benefiting from the Warm Front scheme has dropped by 84% over the last four years.
The drop in support comes at a time when there are more than 100,000 people living in fuel poverty in the region, struggling to heat their homes.
Consumer groups say the drop has been exacerbated by less promotion of the scheme by the Government and toughening up eligibility restrictions in a bid to avoid over-subscription. They say as much as a fifth of the scheme’s £143 million budget went unspent last year.
The Government tried to raise awareness of the scheme in February when 675,000 letters were sent out nationwide. However, none landed on doormats in Sussex – with residents in Birmingham, Leeds, Bradford, County Durham and Sheffield given priority.
The Warm Front scheme, which initially launched in 2000, offers grants of up to £6,000 for energy saving improvements, including loft insulation, draught-proofing and hot water tank insulation.
In 2008/9 more than 6,000 homes in Sussex took advantage of the scheme but by 2011/12 this had dropped below 1,000.
In Brighton and Hove 799 homes had Warm Front help in 2008/9 but this had dropped to 159 in 2011/12 while the number of homes in Worthing receiving grants dropped from 558 to 101 over the same period.
In January, Brighton and Hove City Council launched the Warm Homes Healthy People programme to provide support for residents, information on finding help with energy bills and the range of grants available for home insulation.
The three month programme carried out health checks for 139 people, home checks for more than 50 people and training for 200 staff and volunteers.
The Warm Front scheme is set to close in March but there remains an annual budget of more than £100million that could insulate 45,000 homes nationwide.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: “Warm Front is still very much open for business and we are doing all we can to encourage those people eligible to apply for the £100 million that’s up for grabs in grants.
“This includes working closely with local authorities, charities and the energy companies to encourage pensioners and those on low incomes to apply for the help to which they’re entitled.”
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Source: www.theargus.co.uk
The Miley Cyrus engagement: Five other famous women who got engaged young - Washington Post
Hemsworth and Cyrus, soon to be husband and wife. (© Mario Anzuoni / Reuters - REUTERS) As noted earlier today in Celebritology and all over the Internet, Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth are now engaged. The news, perhaps not surprisingly, elicited cynical responses from some Celebritology commenters.
One example of said cynicism, via Mags0829: “Omg. Barf.” Gawker readers were even more, uh, candid in their skepticism. “In hillbilly years, Miley is 45, so this news is much delayed,” wrote Sprockett.
Indeed, Cyrus’s age may be a key reason why some greeted word of this matrimonial union with a loud snort that, by the way, everyone in a cubicle within 30 miles of yours’ can totally hear. The actress best known as Hannah Montana is 19, which is still a little young, by most standards, to enter into an “as long as we both shall live” commitment.
Still, Cyrus is hardly a pioneer in this department. Other famous females have gotten engaged or married at roughly the same age. Here are five examples, none of whom — spoiler alert — found a happy ending with their grooms or grooms-to-be. (On the plus side, all of these women continued to have decent careers and other long-term relationships following their early engagements.)
These less-than-successful pairings are not meant as evidence that Cyrus and Hemsworth can’t make their relationship work. What they do suggest is that after extensive (fine, extensive-ish) online research I couldn’t find an example of a famous person who decided to wed at Cyrus’s age and stayed married. If you dear, cynical readers can think of some, by all means, share them in the comments.
Elizabeth Taylor: Taylor became a bride for the first time at age 18, when she wed Conrad “Nicky” Hilton in 1952. The marriage lasted only nine months. But Taylor remained a believer in love, so much so that she married seven additional times afterwards.
Drew Barrymore: She’s happily married now. But she got engaged for the first time, to Leland Hayward, at age 16. (They never married). She then became a bride for real three years later, when she tied the knot at 19 with bartender Jeremy Thomas. That marriage lasted less than two months.
Winona Ryder: Ryder was just 18 when she got engaged in 1991 to Johnny Depp who, like Hemsworth, was older than his bride-to-be. (Edward Scissorhands was 28 at the time.) They broke off the engagement in 1993.
LeeAnn Rimes: Rimes’s first marriage, to dancer Dean Sheremet, took place in 2002, when the country crooner was 19. The two separated in 2009 and divorced in 2010, paving the way for Rimes to marry current husband Eddie Cibrian.
Kate Hudson: The “Almost Famous” star said “I do” to first husband, Chris Robinson, in 2000, when she was 21 — still young, but at least of legal, drinking-age. Their divorce was finalized in 2007.
Source: www.washingtonpost.com
Hampshire 50-3, Kent | County Championship day one report - The Guardian
The rhododendrons were resplendent, the outfield verdant and occasionally the sun shone but on a day when Kent set out their marquees to celebrate the start of the 100th Tunbridge Wells Cricket Week, the Nevill Ground suffered only frustration.
A flash flood that soaked the royal spa town barely 48 hours ahead of the scheduled start to this four-day clash with Hampshire also helped create a sodden outfield and a crusty-topped pitch that one local likened to a creme brulee. Clearly, they still eat well in these parts.
With damp patches on the pitch and outfield the umpires, Richard Illingworth and Steve Gale, were understandably reticent to start and held five pitch inspections before finally succumbing to the slow hand-clapping that emanated, in the main, from the equally well-watered Camra marquee.
The match officials finally deemed play possible at 4.10pm, by which time the Guardian's former cricket correspondent Matthew Engel was to be found ensconced among the Kentish men in the aforementioned tent from where he watched his first action at this ground since the late 1990s.
Having admitted that he once sub-edited on the News of the World, as a freelance casual of course, Engel ordered up a pint of the aptly-named Red Top for his first and only pint of a frustrating afternoon. Wisely, he had already deemed another local brew, Dartford Wobbler with an ABV of 4.3%, a tad too powerful for a mid-afternoon thirst-quencher.
Yet in the time it took Engel to sup his pint Hampshire were already three down with their top-order struggling to lay bat on ball after Kent had won the toss and inserted them. The wily new-ball pairing of Mark Davies and Charlie Shreck nipped it around at will and caused headaches aplenty during the 63 minutes of play that were possible before the rain arrived again.
Kent's one-time opening bat Michael Carberry followed one from Shreck to edge low to the wicketkeeper Geraint Jones, then, 10 runs on, Bilal Shafayat pushed outside the line of a Mark Davies off-cutter to go leg-before for nine. The visiting captain, Jimmy Adams, followed in near identical fashion with eight against his name when he too played down the wrong line to be lbw to Davies.
The clouds, the drizzle and the covers returned soon after and the faithful trooped home hoping for better weather on the morrow. At least they had not suffered like the crowd for the three-day clash here between Kent and Sussex in 1908, when the game was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
K-Solo Marriage Breaks**Moves Out Of Matrimonial Home - Modern Ghana
Popular producer, Solomon Oyeniyi a.k.a. K solo who has quite done some music production for the likes of Timaya, Clever-J and others allegedly said to have moved out of his matrimonial home, abandons his legal wife, Kikelomo for his mum's home.
According to the information, K Solo marriage to the top business woman, Kike has been going through trouble waters for sometime now. The delectable woman, we learnt, hasn't too comfortable with K Solo's recklessness and insatiable appetite for anything in skirt.
"As a good wife who wants the success of her hubby, she has the right to query her hubby whenever he comes back home late, smelling of alcohol. This, in most times, doesn't go down well on him and he keeps on complaining of Kike nagging all the time." An insider told nigeriafilms.com
Kike, as a supplier had some transaction with Nigeria Breweries Limited, she was expected to be paid her money that month and K-Solo came up with some unbearable demands and Kike, we gathered, turned down his proposal claiming that the money she was expecting from her supply was going back into the business. This, we learnt, frustrated K-Solo and he allegedly said to have beaten a hell out of her.
"The following day, he packed his things and moved to his mum house where he permanent keeps his former girlfriend" another source told us.
Source: www.modernghana.com
Sussex dominate Surrey on Day One at Horsham - wscountytimes.co.uk
A rain-affected day of cricket at Horsham well and truly belonged to Sussex as they skittled Surrey out and then ate into their paltry total before play was abandoned.
Sussex seamers James Anyon and Steve Magoffin used the swinging conditions to rip out the heart of their opponent’s batting order, taking four wickets each as Surrey fell to 124 all out in 40.2 overs after being put into bat.
Naved Arif helped himself to the remaining two wickets and the bowlers were helped in no small part by some razor sharp catches in drizzly conditions.
Gareth Batty top scored for Surrey with 32.
Surrey got the early breakthrough they needed with the ball when Ed Joyce was caught behind for eight, but former Horsham player Chris Nash and Luke Wells soon got the Sussex innings going.
The pair put on 69 but straight after lunch Nash was caught by JJ Roy on 38 going for the rope, and just two overs later the heavens opened and play was abandoned with 63 overs played.
Wells - called up in place of the dropped Murray Goodwin - looks in good touch and will resume on 33 alongside skipper Michael Yardy (1 not out), and Sussex will be hoping the rain forecast for tomorrow stays away so they can build a sizable first innings total.
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Print this pageSource: www.wscountytimes.co.uk
West Sussex Invitation League round-up - wscountytimes.co.uk
Paul Osbourne’s half century was in vain as Southwater suffered a second successive defeat in Division 1 of the West Sussex Invitation Cricket League.
Southwater won the toss at Clymping and decided to bowl, and on a difficult wicket the hosts’ 204-8 was a decent total, Gareth Challen top scoring with 63 from 64 balls. For Southwater Danny Humphreys took 6-54 with the ball. In reply number five batsman Osbourne led the fight with a fine 88, but the next highest contribution came from skipper Alex Harding (28) as partners came and went. Harding said: “I couldn’t fault the bowling or fielding really, they had a few partnerships and although their score was good but one we could definitely chase. Paul was brilliant, he came in and gave us a real chance but the wicket is always tricky and a few of us gave our wickets away. It’s disappointing to lose two on the bounce but we’ve got a double header against Crawley Eagles this weekend so hopefully we can bounce back.”
Division 2
West Chiltington & Thakeham 251-6; Eastergate 78
An unbeaten century from Mick Armstrong helped West Chilt go clear at the top of Division 2 with a comfortable 173-run win at home against Eastergate.
The hosts were inserted and hit 250-6 in just 42 overs with Armstrong (103 not out), James Howgate (65) and James Chaloner (37) with the bulk of the runs. In reply, despite a few dropped catches Eastergate were bowled out for under 100 - overseas player Armstrong also taking 3-11 and Chaloner 6-50 again with all the answers. More than half the side were under 25 and all played their part in the field. Acting captain Howgate was clearly delighted. He said: “Although Armstrong and Chaloner will take the headlines again, the youngsters in the side are all keen to learn and we’re planning for the future here. Chilt are already 32 points clear of third placed St Andrews whom they visit this weekend.
Serendib 261-8 dec; Storrington 85
Storrington’s woes with the bat continued as they were skittled out for a sub 100 score in a heavy defeat at Serendib.
Robert Haggart, with 49, was far and away the visitor’s stand-out performer with the next highest score just five. The extras total added ten to Storrington’s score but it still only took them to 85 all out as they fell well short of their host’s 261-8 declared first innings score. Having been asked to bat, both Azam Riyard and Mudalige Sam Burke scored half centuries for the hosts, allowing them to trot off for tea early. James Peake and Alex Barritt both took three wickets apiece for the visitors, but it was with the willow that they really struggled, crashing to a huge 176-run defeat. Skipper Rob Norris, who missed Saturday’s defeat along with several other key players, said: “When you concede 260 runs there’s obviously a few issues in the field but at the moment the real problem is the batting. We’ve posted disappointing scores in our last two games and even when we beat Trinity we lost five wickets for 56, so we’ve probably scored around 230 runs this season for 25 wickets. We always knew we’d have availability issues this week so to fulfill two fixtures at the weekend is a plus but there’s not getting away from the fact that we are struggling. The one exception was Rob Haggart, who at 16 years old opened the batting and fell one short of his first half century. His keeping has also been pretty good but other than that our batsmen need to get their heads down and work harder.”
Horsham Trinity 170-8; St Andrews 171-2
Only captain Angus Cox really performed with the bat as Horsham Trinity went down at home to St Andrews.
Opening the bat Cox made 60, but from there only James Rogers (24) and Rob Bartlett (28) made it beyond 20 as the home innings ended on 170-8 from the 49 overs. In reply St Andrews opener Steve Kingcome hit 67, and the Trinity bowlers struggled to make any real headway as Nick Elkins was 61 not out and Owen Male 26 not out. The visitors reached their target with only two wickets down in the 32nd over, Jack Gold and Angus Cox with the two wickets. The result, Trinity’s second defeat of the season, leaves them in the bottom two of Division 2 in the early standings.
Division 3
Barns Green 188; Broadbridge Heath 190-4
Broadbridge Heath recovered from a below par start with the ball to record an umtimately comfortable win against Barns Green.
Martin Hennock made a swuft start for Barns Green with 51 off 67 balls, but once Fred Bridges (4-28) and Jay Patel (4-43) took the pace off the ball, their spin bowling soon ensured Barns Green were kept down to a managable total.
And with 250 a par score at barns Green, Heath were confident, as Craig Skilton (42) and Neil Charman (59 not out) helped them over the line.
Heath skipper Skilton said: “We recovered well.”
Division 6
West Chiltington & Thakeham II 143; Eastergate II 130
A low scoring game saw a tight affair between West Chilt II and Eastergate II which the visitors just edged.
Eastergate won the toss and asked Chilt to bat. The country boys were soon in trouble and collapsed to 143 all out - former captain Jonathan Denton top scoring with just 28. In reply Eastergate looked to be in total control until captain Stephen Hodgson grabbed the ball. He and Rob Rydon shared nine wickets for just 60 runs to bowl the hosts out 13 runs short. Hodgson, celebrating after his third successive five-wicket haul said: “A few players were missing today but the same result. We’re not getting carried away but I’m happy with our progress so far.” Chilt 2nd XI stay top but as they didn’t pick up maximum points the table remains tight at this early stage. They host Chichester Priory 3rd XI at the Recreation Ground this weekend.
Division 10
Horsham 4th XI 177-8; West Chilt & Thakeham 55
Chilt 3rd XI continue to struggle in Division 10 and remain firmly anchored to the foot of the table.
Despite a good performance with the ball, they collapsed against Horsham 4ths to just 55 all out. Vice captain Cliff Richman was down but not out afterwards. He said: “We knew this year would be a challenge and just getting a side out was our first objective. We’re a mix of the young and the old and many have never played together. We’re confident we’ll get it right soon.” Chilt face West Wittering 2nds at Amberley this weekend.
Chilt’s Sunday side beat Bognor Regis Rebels by one wicket at the Regis Oval in the first game between the sides for several years
Source: www.wscountytimes.co.uk
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