July 2008 Archives

About the Faroe Islands

Ólavsøka is a national holiday that commemorates the death of Saint Olaf and actually starts in the evening of the previous day. It also marks the opening of the Faroese Parliament.

The Faroes economy still relies a great deal on fishing which, in common with much of Europe, is having a difficult time with poor fish stocks. The oil and gas finds in the North Sea have provided some extra employment and the government has tried to attract new investment via information technology work.

Tourism also provides another source of income with visitors coming to experience the breathtaking beauty of the islands.

This month the postings are all connected with the national days of different countries. The usual 'two-articles-per-week' continues until the school holiday starts but with dates adjusted to fit the country selected. The flag images are from the World Flag Database and this is the final post for the month.

About Egypt

The 17^th of July is called Revolution Day and celebrates the anniversary of the 1952 Revolution led by a group of army officers including Gamal Abdel Nasser.

For many people, Egypt is associated with the pyramids and the Great Sphinx of Giza. The technologies and construction techniques that were employed to create such massive structures still fascinate us even in our own era when tall buildings dominate most cities around the world.

Egypt is also well-known as a result of one of the earliest formal writing systems - heiroglyphics - which date back to around 4000 BCE.

This month the postings are all connected with the national days of different countries. The usual 'two-articles-per-week' continues until the school holiday starts but with dates adjusted to fit the country selected. The flag images are from the World Flag Database and the next post is on Tuesday, July 29^th.

About Iraq

During the so-called Dark Ages of Europe there were many enlightened scholars in the Arab world during what is often referred to as the Islamic Golden Age. One such man was Ibn al-Haytham born in Basra which is now part of Iraq. Interested in many different scientific disciplines he is often regarded as the "father of modern optics" and a pioneer of the scientific method. His theories and experiments laid the basis for such things as the laser light shows seen in the picture below.

This month the postings are all connected with the national days of different countries. The usual 'two-articles-per-week' continues until the school holiday starts but with dates adjusted to fit the country selected. The flag images are from the World Flag Database and the next post is on Wednesday, July 23^rd.

About France

France has been at the forefront of many scientific and technological developments - it is usually thought that the 'metric system' was pioneered there though this is not striclty true. A better example would be the widespread use of nuclear power for electricity generation - they claim to produce over 99% of their domestic needs this way and have extensive plans to design, build and sell more powerful stations (such as the one shown in the picture below) over the coming years.

Additional :
This has proved to be a very timely post with Prime Minister Gordon Brown (and the Government) speaking today about nuclear power in the UK - see this Guardian item and a BBC news article.

This month the postings are all connected with the national days of different countries. The usual 'two-articles-per-week' continues until the school holiday starts but with dates adjusted to fit the country selected. The flag images are from the World Flag Database and the next post is on Thursday, July 17^th.

About Mongolia

The 11^th of July is the start of Naadam, a traditional festival of "three manly games" that lasts for three days. It also commemorates the day in 1921 that Damdiny Sühbaatar finally drove out White Russian and Chinese occupiers to make Mongolia an independent state.

The long and proud history of Mongolia includes both conquering and being conquered in almost equal measure. As a result it should not be too surprising to find that there is a Mongolian variant of chess, Shatar, that has been played for a very long time. The pieces (some shown in the picture below) are not the same as conventional chess pieces and their allowed movements are different too. At this site you can try playing a version of Shatar in a web page.

More about Mongolia here at the official tourism website.

This month the postings are all connected with the national days of different countries. The usual 'two-articles-per-week' continues until the school holiday starts but with dates adjusted to fit the country selected. The flag images are from the World Flag Database and the next post is on Monday, July 14^th.

About the Solomon Islands

With a population of about half a million people scattered over roughly 1,000 islands the Internet has an increasing rôle to play in developing communities. The 'People First' network is one such example. The Solomon Islands SchoolNet project is establishing a distance-learning centre in each local province with satellite broadband links and access to a common set of courses. It is worth noting that - like our own school - they use Moodle to deliver the resources. The picture below shows students at one such centre.

This month the postings are all connected with the national days of different countries. The usual 'two-articles-per-week' continues until the school holiday starts but with dates adjusted to fit the country selected. The flag images are from the World Flag Database and the next post is on Friday, July 11^th.

About the USA

The USA has produced many scientific and technological innovators over the last century or two. For many of us today the Internet represents possibly the most obvious, widely-used and abused example of their inventiveness. The impetus for its development came from the launch of the Russian 'Sputnik' satellite in 1957. One can only wonder if anyone involved at the time had even the slightest idea of where their research and development would lead - as illustrated by the picture below.

This month the postings are all connected with the national days of different countries. The usual 'two-articles-per-week' continues until the school holiday starts but with dates adjusted to fit the country selected. The flag images are from the World Flag Database and the next post is on Monday, July 7^th.

About Canada

The Canadian Space Agency is a major contributor to the International Space Station (ISS) via the Mobile Servicing System (Canadarm and, pictured below, Dextre).

This month the postings are all connected with the national days of different countries. The usual 'two-articles-per-week' continues until the school holiday starts but with dates adjusted to fit the country selected. The flag images are from the World Flag Database and the next post is on Friday, July 4^th.