The Snow Queens Crown

So the very first snow of the season finally fell this week covering the streets in sparkles and sending Hubby's car all over the road.  I have officially said goodbye to the sun and the few remaining summery things found in my chest of drawers and will be spending from now until May wrapped up in my snow suit a fluffy boots.

My outfit looks just like this, honest.

Snow marks the start of runny noses, sore bums from icy falls and hat hair thanks to the ever loved woolly hat.  It also however marks the start of the Christmas season with its many Crimbo parties, friends reunions and (for some) church going all of which should be done with something a bit fancier than a deer stalker or a beanie and so I give a little inspiration for all the snow queens out there.

This is a snowball right?

In other news Aka Tombo Millinery was featured in the P&J newspaper today so all you in the North East (of Scotland) go grab yourself a copy.

Lest We Forget

I do not know your name 
I do not know your name, but I know you died 
I do not know from where you came, but I know you died 
 
Your uniform, branch of service, it matters not to me 
Whether Volunteer or Conscript, or how it came to be 
That politicians' failures, or some power-mad ambition 
Brought you too soon to your death, in the name of any nation 

You saw, you felt, you knew full well, as friend and foe were taken 
By bloody death, that your life too, was forfeit and forsaken 
Yet on you went and fought and died, in your close and private hell 
For Mate or Pal or Regiment and memories never to tell 

It was for each other, through shot and shell, the madness you endured 
Side by side, through wound and pain, and comradeship assured 
No family ties, or bloodline link, could match that bond of friend 
Who shared the horror and kept on going, at last until the end 

We cannot know, we were not there, it's beyond our comprehension 
To know the toll that battle brings, of resolute intention 
To carry on, day by day, for all you loved and hoped for 
To live in peace a happy life, away from bloody war 

For far too many, no long life ahead, free of struggle and pain and the gun 
And we must remember the price that was paid, by each and every one 
Regardless of views, opinions aside, no matter how each of us sees it 
They were there and I cannot forget, even though I did not live it 

I do not know your name, but I know you died 
I do not know from where you came, but I know you died. 

Kenny Martin 
© 2003 

In Remembrance

Inventions

My computer is broken.  I could try and explain what is wrong with it but that would mean I know what is wrong.  It keeps turning itself off randomly and refusing to turn on again. For someone who runs a shop online a computer is a pretty essential tool so I sent hubby off to a man he found locally who could fix the computer.  He returned a little later looking rather shell shocked to explain that the shop was actually the guys living room table in a very dodgy part of town.  This computer fix it man had told him that the air in Sapporo is dry in Autumn causing a build up of static in the computer and the solution...turn it off and back on again.  Suffice to say this did not fix the computer but Hubby outright refuses to go back to fix it guy so I am now speaking kind words of encouragement to the computer willing it to stay on long enough to catch up on all I have missed.

Hat, bag and shoes, a perfect tech savvy ensemble.

This however got me thinking about how little I know about technology which seems ridiculous considering I live in the apparent 'Land of Technology' and so I decided to do a little research.

Turns out Japan is great at taking ideas to the extreme and making things a hell of a lot better but not so good at coming up with the ideas in the first place.  In fact Japan's most successful invention is.....Instant cup noodles invented by Mr Ando Momofuku.

Only joking, Japan has invented some pretty important stuff like...

The Floppy Disk, invented by Yoshiro Nakamatsu

The CD invented by Sony and Phillips

The first high speed train

Which gets extra points for the cute hats the train attendants wear

And of course the Walkman invented by Sony

But to be honest I expected a lot more like transformers and x-ray eyes.  On telling hubby about my disappointment at the lack of cool Japanese inventions he quipped "well what have the Scots invented?". 

 Oh the fool.  

One quick visit to Wikipedia confirmed what I have thought since childhood.  Scotland invented the world!  Well ok not the world but pretty much all the cool stuff in it including...

The Telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell

The television invented by John Logie Baird

The Pedal Bicycle invented by Kirkpatrick Macmillan and Thomas McCall

Radar invented by Robert Watson Watt

ATM machines invented by James Goodfellow

(I have no idea how I would relate any of this to hats if it wasn't for Lady Gaga)

The adhesive postage stamp invented by James Chalmers

Criminal fingerprinting invented by Henry Foulds

Dolly the sheep the first cloned mammal, The Roslin Institute

The Scots even invented time! well universal standard time invented by Sir Sandford Fleming

and God!!!! or the God particle aka Higgs Boson discovered by Peter Higgs

as well as a whole load of stuff that couldn't be represented through funny hats such as penicillin  insulin, the fridge, MRI body scanners, ultrasound scanners... the list goes on.

Should we take from this that the Scots have great technological minds and the rest of the world should be worshipping our brogue clad feet...possibly.  Does it mean I know how to fix my computer? Nope :(