The bill for Hurricane Katrina is estimated at $40.4 billion !

Finally managed to get on to the SURNAME PROFILER site. This has a series of maps which show the distribution of surnames. It has been so busy for the last few weeks due to lots of interest and publicity that it has been difficult to get access to the servers. It was also featured in an article today in the Times (21/01/06)

This is a map to show the distribution of people called Parkinson.

Whale trapped in the Thames sadly died on the way back down towards the estuary.

Freezing weather in Russia. A particularly cold mass of air takes temperatures to minus 30 degrees Celsius.

Some good sets of images on the BBC site at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4635222.stm and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4627080.stm

Some interesting, as well as rather bad, effects of the extreme cold have been reported:

• People are dying of exposure and many more require treatment for frostbite

• Monkeys at a zoo near Moscow are apparently being given wine three times a day to protect against the cold

• Boats have been frozen into harbours and ports

• Cash point machines have frozen

• Schoolchildren have had to stay at home (hurray!)

• Trolley car cables have snapped in the cold

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060118/sc_afp/russiaweathercold - Yahoo News article

The cold weather is now moving into Scandinavia. Wonder whether we will get a taste of it.

A great article in the Times about the Japanese exam season and the link with food. January is the Japanese exam season. Small chewy sweets called Hi-Lemon are a favourite, as they have a name which sounds lucky. Kit Kat is another popular sweet due to their name.

Another good article by Simon Barnes on watching the pink-footed geese which gather in their tens of thousands at Snettisham each year. One of the great things about living where I do is seeing the geese flying over each morning and evening between October and February. The path seems to vary from day to day - perhaps due to tidal variations and the variations in the length of the day. Some days we get just a few skeins, but every now and again we get the full monty: thousand of geese, which can be heard approaching well before they come into view. It is one of the natural wonders of the country...

Interesting article relating to the falling birthrate in many European countries... http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,,1695850,00.html is a link to the online version of the article.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4656946.stm - just done the big RSPB Garden Birdwatch with my daughter: less birds seen than last year

http://timeticker.com/ - a tip off via Ollie Bray's blog - very nice for teaching timezones

FEBRUARY

Lots of stories in the news regarding the water shortages in the UK, and the impending drought measures which we can look forward to in 2006 if there is no substantial increase in rainfall between now and the summer. South East England, and Kent in particular, has very low water levels in boreholes and reservoirs.

There is, according to a recent article in 'The Guardian', "less water available per person in Surrey than in Saudi Arabia" and the region is officially classed as 'semi-arid'.  There has been below average rainfall for 13 of the past 14 months. In April, the plants are going to be starting to use soilwater once again. People in the SE use 25% more water than in other areas too, due to them flushing the loo, bathing and cleaning the car more than other areas. So where are there plans to build 300 000 more homes ? Kent and Essex of course...

BBC4 Climate Change season: a chance to download a computer model.

2000 people buried by huge mudslide on an island in the southern Philippines

Get ready for the worst drought in 75 years. (The Guardian, 24/02/06)

Report from American Association of Science that Katrina hit the old the hardest - two thirds of all those who died were over 60.

Story on campaign to switch road signs to kilometres. This would apparently cost £80 million

Very interesting article in the Guardian, which suggests that we have just 10 years to save the high street. Large supermarkets are set to remove local convenience stores, and the suggestion in some reports is that once the competition has been removed, prices will then start to rise. Could they really have that in mind ? You decide...

MARCH

Work has overtaken the completion of this month again...

Some useful articles relating to the continuing spread of CLONE TOWNS: latest issue is if HMV are able to purchase Ottakars (they already own Waterstones...)

Environmental changes are threatening to wipe out Europe's butterflies, 7 out of 10 UK species are in decline (The Guardian, 16/03/06)

Climate change will also see major changes in British gardens too, reckons the Observer. Olives will replace roses, lawns may disappear as they soak up large quantities of water: gravel and decking may replace them. Parts of the UK are experiencing their worst winter drought in 100 years, and it is important that techniques are used to reduce water consumption. (The Observer, 19/03/06)

APRIL

Yet again, I haven't posted here as often as I would have liked.

100th anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake, and the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl incident both taking place this month.

Interesting article on front page of 'The Independent': we pay 99p for a bag of salad, which means gallons of precious water have been used in the producing country.

MAY / JUNE

Papers are full of stories relating to the possibility of water shortages later this year, and the various measures being put in place by water companies.

Also eruption of Mt. Merapi continuing.

Some interesting stories relating to population too. Story in 'The Times' explaining that in the year to November 2005, Japan's population shrank by nearly 9000. The average birth rate is only 1.29 babies per woman: one of the lowest in the world.

Major earthquake in Indonesia, very close to Mt. Merapi, just before dawn - the importance of timing shown again:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5025528.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5025738.stm

Bad weather has also been a problem for the survivors of the 6.3 magnitude quake.

Interesting story in 'The Guardian' on plans to build a major road: the M3 over the Hill of Tara. Unbelievable...

 JULY

HEATWAVE

This has been the story of the month so far - the continuing record-breaking heat !!

Lots of impacts mentioned in the news:

• A massive demand in electricity due to use of fans (I've had mine on every night for the last 10 days) and air conditioning - this has increased the cost of electricity at a time when many power stations are out of commission as they are undergoing summer maintenance schedule

Interesting article on the latest NATIONAL STATISTICS report. 5000 people were asked to fill in how they spent their day, and the average timings include the following interesting details: