Polar Bears and Other Such Things

Over my winter break I went to the highland wildlife park. I saw a polar bear there and got closer than would be safely possible with one in the wild/a town in the Arctic circle. 

The bear who is currently there is called walker and his favourite toys are hard hats like this one

the bear that was there before was called Mercedes and she was a repeat offender in the act of coming into the town of Churchill in Canada where they have a polar bear prison

the prison operates in a three strike rule. if they catch a bear in town they knock it out and take it to their detention building where they are released when winter starts and they can hunt on the ice again.  if a bear is caught a third time they are put down as it means the prison is not working as a deterrent to them entering the human settlement.

Mercedes had been caught a third time in the town and either had to be put down or sent to a zoo. Edinburgh zoo had a lone male at the time and offered to take her as a companion for him.  The car company Mercedes sponsored her travel from Churchill in Canada to Edinburgh in Scotland so her name was changed from "number 39" to Mercedes.

Mercedes stayed in Edinburgh for many years before coming to the highland wildlife park in 2009. The first winter she was there she saw snow for the first time since coming to Scotland and was apparently very confused by it.

Unfortunately Mercedes had to be put down last year because she was in severe pain from arthritis but the other polar bear, walker who joined Mercedes from a zoo in the Netherlands in November 2010 is still up there but many visitors call him Mercedes because they don't know that it's not her.

The wildlife park has other animal such as tigers, wolves (who were displaced by Mercedes), Arctic foxes, wildcats, monkeys, beavers, a capercallie, three types of owl and red pandas (who were sooooo adorable!). 

Polar bears (Ursus Maritimus) are mostly found within the Arctic circle and are the only bears who will actively hunt and kill humans for food. This is one of the reasons they are so dangerous when they come into towns and villages.  People living in areas with polar bears all carry rifles when going anywhere near the edge of town and are completely prepared to shoot a bear.  The reason polar bears are endangered is not as a result of hunting but rather from a loss of habitat as they can only hunt when there is sea ice covering the majority of the Artic Ocean.


You can find out more about the Highland Wildlife Park here and more about polar bears in general here.

I feel really bad for not taking more pictures but the SD card in my camera was completely full up by the time I got round to the tigers.

I got most of my information from these sites:
BBC News article Mercedes death
STV News on the same story
Mercedes' Life story

Some nice pictures can be found at:
Guardian Newspaper website Walker Joining Mercedes
A Flikr users shots of Mercedes first snow

Tumblin Over Pretty Things

I got a Tumblr account!  I'm still going to be using this as my main blog with everything being original content by me.  The tumblr blog I'm going to use for reblogging and the random nonsense tht pops into my head from various sources.

You can find it here.

I probably shouldn't be writing this...

I wanted to get a post in as I have been soreley neglagent in the past few weeks with blogging (I don't know if the blogger spell check is working so plese tell me if there is any mistakes).  The reason for this is I have been buried in assessments and stress for the past four weeks which has made the time horrible. I didn't want to put any posts up here aout that as that's not what this is for!

As it stands I have one last assessment due for tomorrow and then all I need to do is revise for my exams. The most annoying thing about this assessment is that I have been looking forward to playing Skyward Sword since I got it on the release day (I even arranged to borrow my freinds wii so I could play it). I haven't let myself go to colect this wii as I know all I will do is 'just play the first few minutes of it' and I will end up staying up all night playing it trying to get past that one area where the solution is so simple but I can't see it (like what happened in spirit tracks). Right now I've been feeding my Zelda craving by almost constantly litening to the 25th anniversary orchestral CD that I got with the game.

If I do manage get to any lectures on wednesday I don't know how I'm going to be able to take notes.

This means that there's most likeley to be a shortage in posts next month too.

tube scarf

I was asked by a freind recently if I could knit her a scarf if she gave me the wool. She gave me eyelash yarn (see examples here) in three colours a dark to light blue sparkly varigated yarn another verigated yarn in brown and rose with a second strand of really soft stuff and a sparkly candy pink yarn.

Here's a WIP photo as I forgot to take a picture of the yarn before I started knitting

It's knitted on a 10mm circular needle that was 80cm long and I keep meaning to count the number of stitches in each round. Waht really surprised me was how fast this knitted up (but then again I would just keep knitting with the thaught 'I'll just finish the row' when knitting in a circle this is not the best idea).

The scarf is finished and I handed it over today I had a little leftover from my really bad guess work with how moch yarn is needed with casting on and off so I had a little fun with crocheting a loop flower brooch to match the scarf.

if you look really closely then you can see it is a flower not just a big hairy lump

 Knives Chau scarf update-  approx 2.6m

For Imperial mesurments and US or old UK needle and yarn sizing leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

3DS and Zelda

Back in June I got a 3DS and the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time.  Since then I have been playing Ocarina of Time, the 3DS preloaded games, downloaded GBA virtual console games and NES virtual console games I got through the Nintendo ambassador program.

This was the reason for so few posts back then despite being on my summer break.

I got the first two Zelda games free with the ambassador programme and they are really difficult!

In the original game I cannot actually get to the first dungeon without being killed by moblins.  In Zelda II I am stuck in an overworld battle. I continually die before reviving back in the middle of this battle only to die again and I can't even run away from the monsters as I would normally do in other Zelda games. I am a little sick of how easy it is for the enemies to kill me in these SNES games.

The streetpass games are really addictive and I just competed the second run of streetpass quest yesterday and collected the final hat for my streetpass mii.  the other streetpass game is the puzzle collection game. I have unlocked all the images and I am almost finished the metroid picture. (EDIT I haven't really unlocked them all but I think I just have one to go)

There are a few free downloads available from the e-shop the three that I have are pokedex 3D, Nintendo Video and Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (released for the 25 year anniversary). I paid to get Legend of Zelda Link's awakening DX before any of the ambassador announcements were made.

 

With the four Zelda games that are currently stored on the system memory and with my Ocarina 3d cartridge plus the fact I have just recently preordered Skyward sword limited edition has made me think I'm a little bit of a Zelda geek despite being pretty bad at it (I have never completed a Zelda game even though I have gotten very close).

The only thing I'm not happy about is that the red 3DS was brought out after the price had dropped and I wasn't able to buy it at the time I got mine (which is blue)

One of the missing photos has reappeared!

I found this picture lurking on my camera as I was looking through my photos yesterday.  It's one of the ones that was taken when I was in London to see Gackt.

There were several of these in Tube stations

I really am a geek o(^v^)o

I'm still looking for feedback on the last post about what to do for D-con. Come on people I know you can do it. You can comment here or on the facebook link.

Please consult with your dentist before continuing with this post

When it comes to making accessories for Lolita outfits my favourite is sweet. Gothic is a difficult to get right and I sometimes find Classic styles a little bland to make but sweet gives me licence to encrust whatever I am making with as many buttons, ribbons and such things as I like.

For example this head bow I knitted to go with my milanoo skirt:

cavity inducing isn't it?

I have two fat quarters of different pink fabrics that may be turnd into acessories yet o(^v^)o
Head bow knitting pattern from Innocent World in the english G&LB.

Part book reveiw part nefarious plot

I've been kind of busy recently but in the down time I've been really bored so I got this book today.

They are all really small projects and worked in DK so they shouldn't take very long or take up much space if I'm knitting on the go.  Another reason for getting it is to leave around various places just to see peoples reaction on seeing a slice of pizza, a burger or some sushi sitting where they wouldn't expect it.

The projects include: Burgers, Sandwiches, Pizza slices, Bacon, Fried eggs, Pitta breads, Hot dogs, Sushi, Ice creams, Cupcakes and several types of pies.  Most of the projects are knitted in parts which makes it very easy to transfer bits between projects (such as knitting the bun for the burger but putting bacon, egg or chips into it rather than the meat).

I haven't made anything out of it yet but it only a matter of time before I do just wait. Keep checking back and you may find pictures of weird coloured foods (like a purple and pastel blue burger) when I can't be bothered finding the right colours.

I got the book in Waterstones for £4.99 and it can also be found on Amazon.

Koi-Koi anyone?

I have a set of hanafuda cards from Nintendo.  They came with a set of instructions for the game Koi-Koi and now I really want to play a game with someone.

Nintendo originally started as a company manufacturing hanafuda cards in 1889 which seems so far from what most people associate with Nintendo now.  Hanafuda (flower cards) cards are divided into twelve sets of four each representing a month with a different flower.  The images on each card are different so almost none of them exactly match.

I got my set through the points exchange with club Nintendo and they had specially redesigned sixteen if the cards replacing the traditional designs with Mario characters such as...

Mario, Yoshi, Luigi (and Waluigi) and Lakitu

Blooper, Paragoomba, Donkey Kong and Boo

Toadies, Piranha Plant, Wario and Peach with Toad

Koopa, Bowser and the club Nintendo logo

Koi-koi is played by trying to obtain sets of cards usually the four cards to make a whole month or other sets like the "five lights" or "moon viewing" where you can either end the round there or call koi-koi if you think you can collect another set before your opponent to earn more points. In each game there are twelve rounds and the person with the most points  at the end of the twelve rounds wins.

So... anybody up for a game?

Milanoo Order!

At the end of last month I placed an order with Milanoo.com and it arrived today!

I got a skirt, a blouse, a pair of shoes, and a hair accessory all for less than £60 from their range of Lolita clothing. They need a good ironing and I need to mess about with the button holes on the shirt but I'll put pictures up of the items as I get them presentble.

The shoes

Hair accessory (it can be removed from the band and used as a brooch too)

Skirt <3

The shirt

The Magnetc Feilds: love songs as they should be

This may not be visually pretty and you may not agree that it is audiably pretty but I really love these two albums by The Magnetic Fields.

i

69 Love Songs

i has fourteen tracks all begginning with the letter i like "I thaught you were my boyfriend" and "Infinitely late at night".  The album is relativly calm untill you start to realise the lyrics and just what they are saying.

69 Love Songs is exactly that, sixty nine love songs spred over three disks containing twenty three tracks each. These are not all about nice happy love and many are about the loss of love, unrequited love or love that never existed.

More info in The Magnetic Fields can be found here and here

As far as I know most songs from these two albums can be found on youtube or possably other music/video sites.

London and Gackt!

This post was going to be full of pictures of anything and everything that I considered interesting while I was in London but my USB decided to maul my photos five minutes after I had deleted them from my camera's SD card *wibble* so no pictures other than the ones I pulled onto my desktop before thinking I could give the SD card a clear out.

Last week my sister, a friend and me went down to London to see Gackt at the HMV Forum.
We got the sleeper train down for the day of the gig and got it back the day after so we had two days and a single night in London. The only problem with this method  is that we couldn't get a bed berths on the train and so we had to get seats... not the best night of sleep ever but at least there are plenty of places to get coffee at Euston station.
Our hotel check in wasn't until 3pm so we had to kill several hours and what better place to do that than Camden! (okay it's a little pricey but still awesome!)
It was kind of surreal wandering around Camden when none of the shops are open and there's almost nobody on the streets and in the markets. The best thing about this was as there was no people about I was able to be as trigger happy as I wanted with my camera in the markets.
These are the ones I saved.

I have no idea what this shop sold but the sign was cool

Can you blame me for this one?

Within a minute of this boat passing through the duckweed had covered the entire surface of the canal again (scary).

We went to Camden for a certain few shops and so our friend could see the place. I wanted to go to Sai Sai. There's always something rather expensive that catches my eye in there and I didn't want to run out of money before I got there (which with my magpie tendencies is a serious issue).  There was an amazing jsk in the sale (it had a hem print and was red need I say more?) but it was too small and it was the only one in the shop so I didn't buy it.  I did however buy a pink, crown shaped handbag.

We then went to our hotel to drop off our bags, get something to eat and get ready for the gig. The doors opened at 7pm so we went to queue around quarter to six. Even with over an hour until the doors opened the line was HUGE it stretched round at least three corners and every time we turned one thinking we were going to see the end we ended up laughing at the length.

I like to think the planter exploded because it couldn't get tickets for Gackt.

There was plenty of time to kill while waiting so we started taking VSPs (very silly pictures) like this one (Unfortunately, the rest have been lost).

I'm a little teapot...

There was no photography while inside the venue but my friend managed to take a really good one during the concert of Gackt on her phone (I got her to bluetooth it to me the next day).

Gackt <3 and Jon <3  (what a pair of posers)

 I was a little confused and angry that it wasn't just Gackt singing at the concert and there was another guy prancing about on stage without any introduction or greeting. I felt a lot less hostile when I got a name for him.
Jon Underdown is an American vocalist from the band fade touring with Gackt for Yellow Fried Chickenz, he  translated Gackt's song "Mind Forest" into English for his last tour and there has even been rumors of him permanently joining GACKTJOB.
There was a girl at the gig who just had to get closer to the front never mind anybody else. this in itself is not very annoying other than the fact there was a six foot something guy helping her in this crusade. I don't know about anyone else but when I go to a concert I go to see the band not hear them while staring at somebodies back. That girl really didn't get that a short, ill-tempered blonde is not the person whose toes are for stepping on. So ever single time her or the guy tried to push pass me I would subtley shove back with just enough force to keep them where they were out of sheer vindiciveness.
The two main things that have stuck in my mind about the gig was the amount of time Gackt and Jon spent posing (while not blinking!) and when they ditched their shirts and ties into the audience before playing Vanilla (with almost fanservice!).

The souvenir haul between the three of us included...

 A vest top with the tour logo on it (not pictured)

A Live in Europe CD for his last tour

A towel (I think it's a hand towel)

the best piece of Gackt's tie (almost got a bit of Jon's too)

an awesome doodle my friend did on one of the tickets

and our tickets themselves

There was several hours of panic when our friend missed the last tube back to the hotel as she stayed to wait for the band to come out so she had to get the bus. I found out in the morning that she had gotten a bus that took her on a hugely winding route from Kentish Town to Waterloo where the hotel was.

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and walked to the Pier beside the London eye. As we had oyster cards we didn't have to stand in the huge que for tickets for the boats from the pier. We got the Thames Clipper down to the Tower of London pier. While we were on the boat we saw cadets of some sort going down the river on launches.

We waved at them and some people on one of the boats waved back which made us far too happy for just that.
After we got off the boat we wandered around outside the Tower but decided that it would be too expensive to go in and so we got lunch from subway and watched a children's outdoor demo by people in medieval clothing.

We got the tube to Piccadilly and went to Tokyo Toys. My sister and I already knew a large amount of what Tokyo Toys sold was fake but as our friend is a huge fan of figmas she was able to identify that all the figmas in there were fakes as well as being sold for hugely inflated prices when compared with the official ones. So nothing in Tokyo Toys is official merchandise but you have to admit they do know how to advertise.

the poor guy we took covert pics of

We hunted for the Japan Center at it's last known location but couldn't find it so set off down Shaftsbury Avenue to find Forbidden Planet. Along Shaftsbury Avenue there was a small cafe selling bubble tea. I had heard about it from Americans and Canadians I've met and seen it in manhwa but I had never tried it and so I dragged the other two into the shop to get some.  It was pretty good (but I'm crazy for peach tea) and slightly strange having the balls of jelly come up the straw every so often.
In forbidden planet I wandered round looking at the figurines, books, and DVDs before going and spending a lower than expected sum at the till.  I got two DVDs (Hetalia) and a manga (Nura: rise of the yokai clan)
We were so close to Covent Garden at this point that we walked along and sat down on some steps and watched the end of a performance and then another guy came on.
At first it seemed like he was doing an impression of Mr Bean but we soon were amazed by him.  he put together a pole that was maybe six or seven metres long and put a flower in one end so that the bloom prevented it from going farther in. He then selected four men from the audience who were around the same height as each other, a bit taller than him and well built. He produced four straps from his case and clipped one end to the flower end of his pole and gave the other ends which ended on a loop to the the four men. He set the pole upright and had the men step into the loops then lean back balancing the forces in each direction and causing the pole to remain upright so long as the base didn't move.
He climbed up and down the pole a little to test the stability of it before pulling a woman from the audience. He then climbed about on the pole striking poses then climbed all the way to the top, retrieved the flower, slid face first down the pole and gave the flower to the woman.

After he had finished the show we decided that it was time to get something to eat.  Our friend had never been to Wagamama so we walked to the one in Leicester square as we were close enough. Wagamama serves huge portions and I can never finish their ramen bowls so this time I ordered a plate of yaki soba and I finished it long before my sister had gotten her ramen down to just broth whereas usually I would still be struggling to finish the noodles by that time.  All three of us very much liked the waiter and spent a large amount of the time trying to read his name tag. We had a couple of false starts reading the name as we were looking for an English name before we realised that it said Endika.

After we left Wagamama we saw a bar near the tube station and our friend fantasised that if we went in there would be the four guys sitting having a drink together despite the fact three of them were not going to be anywhere near the place at that moment in time.

After eating we made our way back to Euston where we got snacks for breackfast on the train.  It was kind of funny trying to find or carriage on the train as it was hugely long and in the wrong order so carriage A was in the middle of the train rather than at the beginning of the train.

And that was the trip to London!
Gackt, Jon, Derek, and Endika we love you guys and you truly made or trip worthwhile.

I'm not a physicist but...

These two T-shirts are pretty awesome.  I got them from my Mum who recently got back from a course for secondary physics teachers in Switzerland at CERN (where the Large Hadron Collider is)

This is the first page of proposal that was presented to CERN for the world wide web (not the Internet that was a military thing) by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 his boss wrote on the proposal:

In December 1990 he had produced the first browser and server and  we all know what that has led to.

The worlds first web address has more information.

This T-shirt has the equations to that explain what we know about particles and forces in the universe.

Th first line describes the forces of electricity, magnetism and strong and weak nuclear forces. The second line describes how these forces act on particles such as quarks and leptons. The third line describes how the Higgs boson allows these particles to obtain their masses from it, and the fourth line allows the Higgs boson to do this.
The sleeve has the CERN logo in it.

I don't understand any of this and was just quoting from the little card that came with it. I just think it looks interesting and if I can sound semi-competent when explaining it there's an immediate boost to my "clever" rating.  Which is always a good thing.