Stoke Croft Documentaries

The community in Stokes Croft, Bristol, has mobilised in the last 12 months, faced with the prospect of redevelopment which threatens it's unique character and atmosphere.

Having lived here in Bristol on and off for 13 years now, I can testify myself to the magical qualities of the area which spring not only from it's rich social history but also the diversity of it's population, and find myself agreeing with the People's Republic of Stokes Croft, who write:

It is precisely because Stokes Croft has been neglected, that people of all backgrounds and circumstance have learned to co-exist in an enclave of tolerance that few from outside this magical area can begin to understand...

PRSC is at the forefront of the movement in the area, and in the first of these 2 video, the founder Chris Chalkley, talks about how it all began and the street art, which has increasinly become a feature of Stoke's Croft.




In the second film below, produced by the Bristol-based video magazine, Five on One, you can see how the community is responding to the threat of closure of some of the Stokes Croft's most iconic venues.



Five on One, have a whole set on films on their You Tube page, including some nice footage from inside the Jamaica Street Art Studios and an extremely feature on Bristol Parkour.

Why was the Cyclone in Burma so Deadly?

The horrendous death toll in Burma suddenly seems a bit more understandable when you see these images from NASA...

National Geographic asks Why was the Cyclone so Deadly?

Forecasters began tracking the cyclone April 28 as it first headed toward India. As projected, the storm took a sharp turn eastward. But it didn't follow the typical cyclone track, which leads to Bangladesh or Myanmar's mountainous northwest.

Instead, the cyclone swept into the low-lying Irrawaddy River Delta in central Myanmar. The result was the worst disaster ever in the impoverished country.

It was the first time such an intense storm is known to have hit the delta, said Jeff Masters, co-founder and director of meteorology at the San Francisco-based Web site Weather Underground.

He called it "one of those once-in-every-500-years kind of things."

"The easterly component of the path is unusual," Masters said. "It tracked right over the most vulnerable part of the country, where most of the people live."

No Limits

Without fins or an exposure suit, William Trubrudge free dives "The Arch" which is situated at a depth of 58 metres in the Blue Hole, Dahab...



As little as 20 years ago scientists were convinced that humans could not survive without special equipment beyond a depth of 50 metres. Now, with the assistance of a recently discovered physiological process called blood shift, so-called "No Limits" free divers plunge to depths of over 200 metres.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-diving

Numberwang!

In case you haven't heard about the game that's sweeping the nation:

The Spy Who Was "Plane Stupid"

My good friend, Graham and the aviation protest group 'Plane Stupid', have been in the news again since uncovering a mole in their midst.

The Mole, apparently, made a number of basic errors including:

• Wearing expensive designer clothes (which he attempted to disguise by wearing a Palestinian scarf to give some environmental credibility)
• Turning up to meetings consistently early
• Demonstrating an unusual eagerness to reap mayhem on British airport infrastructure by suggesting the grandest and most aggressive schemes
• Allowing information on planned activities to be published almost immediately in the press

You can read more at Ecoworldly, and Graham also has an article in The Guardian.

Wipeout HD

For the Wipeout lovers in the family.

Say anything, ask anything, post anything

So I'm allowed to say anything, ask anything, post anything? Am I? This is quite exciting. I don't think my writing skills are nearly as beautiful as you regular composers and neither am i computer technified enough to add video clips and all that but none the less I shall enjoy this.

So here are a few of my thoughts....

Had a lovely weekend. Caleb was really good, which is the main thing. Tom (Bettany) is such a wondeful host that I feel like I've had a little holiday away from the daily, dailyness of all that my life is at the moment. Not that I want to complain about that daily, dailyness - I quite like it actually.

So I'm wondering why Jake wants Alex to have God parents - or the secular version at least? What does it mean? What will they do? I'm don't really get God parents either, so this really surprises me.

My next thought/question again goes to you Jake. Its something I've been pondering on for a little while and perhaps if I had had the opportunity would have been brave enough to ask you in person... will you tell me about your experiences that led you to decide to become a Christian when you were a little boy. I'm sure I can remember you practising your testimony for when you got baptised and you saying something about being on the toilet? And will you tell me, when it was, how it was, that you decided that you actually weren't one really. I feel like it's never been talked about, why is that? is it because I've just not asked or is it a bit of a taboo subject?