And the results were:

We came 16th on the Orange course, which feels good when we were very much feeling our way.

I really enjoyed it and want to do more.

Posted via email from grasuth

Gordon Brown today warned that the world is on the brink of a “catastrophic” future of killer heatwaves, floods and droughts unless governments speed up negotiations on climate change before vital talks in Copenhagen in December.

This applies to the US as much as anyone, he said, adding that “there is no plan B”, and that agreement cannot be deferred beyond the UN-sponsored Copenhagen conference.

Posted via web from grasuth

http://grasuth.com is now my personal blog. Was having some hassles
working out the right voice for gravyland being a family blog for us,
and well, just want to write my own stuff.

http://grasuth.blogspot.com is where I dump writing exercises and
creative writing. Really, the audience for that one is me.

http://calculators.posterous.com is where I collect examples of web
calculators and visualizations. Mostly calculators, though.

and

http://co2.posterous.com is where I put relevant CO2 measurement and
savings links and thoughts.

These last two are really more link lists than blogs per se, however,
I will feel free to add longer pieces to either of them if warranted.

And there are the existing ones:

http://gravyland.net — our family blog and my old blog archives from way back

And for business there’s the company blog:

http://nodestone.com

Feels like too many, but I guess the posterous ones are pretty
lightweight anyway.

Posted via email from grasuth

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world’s leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama’s appeal that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.”

It makes perfect sense. Read this press release.

Posted via web from grasuth

This Saturday 12th of September we are having a belated UK 40th for Lib (me). Yay! Taken a lot to get back on the social organising horse. Don’t know how people find the time and energy to do it often… but really looking forward to playing with folk.

Join us

for an evening of sleuthing and merriment.

Saturday 12 September

A belated 40th birthday party for Libby.

Our journey starts at

London Road train station (eastbound platform)

at 19:30 hours.

(We will be wearing dark glasses in case you don’t recognise us.)

Bring your puzzler, notebook and pencil.

Briefing begins here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage.

First clue and codeword to follow after RSVP.

Binoculars or spy cameras welcome.

All martial arts accepted.

Dress code: sexy spies & spooks, circa any era

- eclectic and eccentric as you fancy

Check out the splendid cryptic crossword created by Julia Dunlop (a nodestone blog-school graduate). Commission your own via www.juliadunlop.co.uk. Great for engagement & participation, education, special events, fun… Many thanks to a very clever lady.
Let’s see if anyone can get an answer or two (leave them in comments section) or crack the whole thing. Hint: most answers relate to the party (ie. spies, me etc). Bit of an ego trip or what!

If you aren’t coming and like the sound of this kind of thing, get in touch and let me know. There is a fun day out in London on 4 October for another of the fab Vanessae Green Producations – Treasure Hunt. We are putting a team together if you want to be in it.

Plus other fun stuff coming up. Time to start enjoying life a bit more me thinks!

“When one stands before a hive of bees, one should say quite solemnly to oneself: ‘By way of the hive, the whole cosmos enters man and makes him strong and able’. Rudolf Steiner

Nothing so genteel from this piece, inspired largely by the rough diamond Donny Davy (my dear Dad) and the questioning nature / wisdom of children, as conveyed by The Little Prince.

My New Friend & Bees

Thought it was up on my old old writing page, but alas. We surely need to do some maintenance work on all our sites. Been publishing creative, personal and biz stuff since mid-90s, so you get that… sigh. Anyone know a good social media consultant who can sort me out?

Never forget dear Pete Morris calling his website “a hungry elephant in the backroom demanding to be fed.”

A new game we’ve been playing – a variation on the old Davy / Juniper family “Padnag”

Polka

A type of sport, a bitlike poker but more aggressive (Bea)

When you tickle a lady in the armpit with your fork (Libby)

Dessert made from chocolate frogs, jelly and ice cream (Gra)

Subpoena

I type of posh sub (Bea)

A type of submarine shaped like a willy (Bea)

The state of mind a man gets into when he buys a sportscar (Gra)

When you wee in the bath and hope no-one sees (Libby)

Muzzy

A type of old fashioned TV program starring Muzzy the fury yellow bear (Bea)

Smell of old socks dipped in chilli sauce (Gra)

Lubber

A way to walk when you are drunk (Bea)

A salad made from lettuce and whale fat (Gra)

A big, fat loving kind of chap (old English) (Libby)

Tendril

The tentacle from an alien, what they use to suck out your brain (Bea)

Octopus legs which sucker onto the eyeballs and poke holes in them (Libby)

Rabbi

The one-eyed rabbit God. (Gra)

A type of serious disease when you turn into a rabbit (Bea)

A small furry rabbit without any teeth (yet) (Libby)

So sit back and enjoy. Brings a tear and a chuckle to mine eye every time. Some shared memories here perhaps?

Looks best on HQ (high quality).

Brighton Naked Bike Ride 2009 from Rosie Sherry on Vimeo.

No point trying to spot our wobbly bits – always something else on that day, so missed it again! Maybe next year. Find out what it’s all about here

A peaceful, imaginative and fun protest against oil dependency and car culture. A celebration of the bicycle and also a celebration of the power and individuality of the human body. A symbol of the vulnerability of the cyclist in traffic. The world’s biggest naked protest: 50+ cities and thousands of riders participate worldwide, including around 2,000 in the UK in 2008.

• I (gra) am slowly working my way to 100 pushups, I’m in week three now, so maybe half way there.
• We spent a fairly quiet Christmas at home this year, with one friend staying over, briskly walking at Stanmer Park and then spending the day with friends for Xmas Dinner then coming back to ours for Desert and Monopoly.  Brighton and Hove Monopoly, nonetheless.   But why is Preston Park where Whitechapel Road used to be, £60.  What?
• Our big Christmas present that came early, is Olive Tapenade Gravy Sutherland the puppy.  Or Olive for short.  She’s a dream most of the time and occasionally a woof-woof-land-shark-pooping-machine.  Just like a baby.  We are back to broken night’s sleep on and off.  She’s a total darling.  Puppy photo below.  She needs a fair bit of exercise, so this gets us out into the winter sunshine a bit, down at the Withdean Puppy Park.
  

• Nodestone (our business) goes from strength… I’m more and more involved with web development CO2-reduction measurement, calculation and reporting, especially when it is online and social.  I need to write more about this and will do over at nodestone over the next few weeks.  The times are changing. CO2 measurement is becoming important, as are the need for all of us to start changing our behaviour to live in a new, low carbon kind of way.
• Bea is having a well-earned holiday for a couple of weeks after breaking up from school the week before Christmas.  Poor kids, they really end up dragging their heels around towards the end of term as the days get shorter and they get more and more tired.  She’s nearly eight!
• Lib’s just had her birthday.  We went to a creative retreat for the weekend with lovely friends.   It was an excellent way to celebrate really.  We danced and sang and painted and watched the sun come up, welcoming it back after the longest night on Dec 20.  We are looking forward to the days getting longer even if it is still cold for a couple of months.

Lots more to say, but that’ll do for now.  Bea and I are off to the Booth museum to sketch skulls and bones.

Here’s the quick summary to keep you all up to date:

• A week in Devon at the family friendly Buddhafields retreat that we go to every year. Camping. Rain, floods and mud.
• A week working with at the Green Man Festival being roadies for the DNA puppet folk and their cabaret tent. Rain, mud, lifting heavy things. Folk music. Excellent. Another week in wellies, so wearing them now feels normal.
• A couple of days with family in Somerset.
• A couple of days back in Brighton doing the washing and trying to get it dry.
• Ten days in France (ah, the weather) in Giverny and canal boating in the Loire.

And after doing all that, it is really nice to be back to normal life. Bea has just started at Junior School, something she’s been excited about all summer.

Please come over and have a look at nodestone.com.

We headed down to the beach in Hove after work today and had a swim and bbq with Simon from the works with his kids and Jay popped down as well. It was a still, warm, beautiful evening,