From The Telegraph

A schoolgirl who was nine years old when she wrote a self-help guide to cope with her parents’ break-up has secured a publishing deal, her mother has said. Libby Rees, now 10, wrote the 60-page book entitled Help, Hope and Happiness, outlining the strategies she used to cope when her mother and father separated three and a half years ago.

Libby decided to write a list of useful tips for coping with sad situations and then sent off her ideas to various publishers.

The following day, she was contacted by Aultbea Publishing, who arranged for Libby and her mother to fly to Scotland to sign a publishing deal with the Inverness-based firm, which has also commissioned a further two books from the primary school pupil.

Libby’s mother, Kathryn Loughnan, said: “We had been out for a walk in the forest and we had been having a chat. She was just saying that every time she threw a stick for the dog she was throwing away something that irritated her.

“We didn’t really take it seriously at first but she went away, wrote her list and then came back and said she wanted to use the computer. When we got a call from Aultbea I almost couldn’t believe it.”

Charles Faulkner, who runs Aultbea Publishing, said Libby was the youngest author they had signed up so far.

Some of the money raised from the sale of the book will go to children’s charity Save The Children.

Update: Apparently PADI in the new year will require all instructors and Divemasters to have one of these gizmos. And apparently they cost about $30. How may PADI instructors are there in the world? Well thousands for sure.

Seriously with everyone using dive computers do you think anyone would buy this eRDP? Perhaps it can be used for planning surface intervals?

And for the Palm Pilot, their portable dive log. I don’t think there are many Palm Pilots being sold any more though?

In response to the very funny dog and cat joke on Random Reality here. I received the following which is a howl also.
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Lies all lies. They Photoshopped the photo below to show off his abs. The waist belt on the Halcyon BCD is supposed to be high over the waist, not low on the hips.

I’m not big on other BCDs with their extra materials and also the cummerbund. Plus they don’t inspire too much confidence with nylon buckles etc.

BCDs are important. If you don’t have good buoyancy control diving is difficult. I posted previously them it here at the end of the post.
I am considering buying a Halcyon BCD and have found Halcyon to be very responsive to Emails with my many questions. I’ll put the questions and responses below in a day or two.

This is too interesting from the CBC website.
There are so many weird things that evolved under the sea. But I can guarantee no narwhals in Kuwait.

Scientists in the United States have discovered the secret of the narwhal’s long tusk, which they say is something unique in the animal world.

Researchers working in Canadian Arctic with the sea mammal say the tusk is actually a sensory probe delivering information to the animal in a distinctive way.

The narwhal’s tusk, a 1.5-metre-long tooth emerging from the left side of the upper jaw, has long been a source of fascination. It’s spiral nature led to it being marketed for princely sums in medieval Europe as a unicorn’s horn.

In the past the tusk has been judged a weapon, a mating display and a fishing spear.

It turns out, the truth is stranger than the fiction.

Scientists studying the animal in Canada’s Arctic have found that more than 10 million tiny nerve connections tunnel their way from the tusk’s core to its outer surface.

These give the tusk an extremely sensitive surface, capable of detecting changes in water temperature, pressure and particle gradients, scientists say. It also allows the whales to detect water particles characteristic of the fish that constitute their diet.

And when Narwhals display ‘tusking’ behaviour, or rub tusks, they’re likely experiencing a unique sensation, say scientists.

The researchers say there is no other animal with a comparable ability in nature, and certainly no comparable tooth with that kind of functional adaptation.

“Now that we know the sensory capabilities of the tusk, we can design new experiments to describe some of the unique and unexplained behaviours of this elusive and extraordinary whale,” said Martin Nweeia of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine in Boston.

The research into the nature and function of the narwhal’s tooth may also lead dental researchers to develop better materials for tooth restoration in humans, says Nweeia.

The research was partly funded by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The findings were presented Tuesday at the Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in San Diego.

Veerle’s blog - Comments

Updated! New posts below. The problem is from the room I stay in I can’t get at this blog properly to update it. Strange. I’m in Starbucks now doing the updates of saved stuff.

I was at the beach in the Hilton Club this afternoon and the water looks clear. So maybe Thursday’s dive will be awesome. I can hardly wait!

I’m having some issues getting at the site to post and upload images.

But, stay tuned. This weekend there should be a spate of new postings! I’ll backdate them to when they should have been posted if the Internet cooperated.

I was even on the phone to the web provider last night, and they say all is OK based on trace-routing etc. by me.

And there’s a big dive planned for Thursday!

The Becker - Posner blog which I highly recommend is written by two esteeemed gentlemen.

Gary S. Becker is University Professor in the Department of Economics and Sociology, Graduate School of Business The University of Chicago.

Richard A. Posner is a Judge, United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and Senior Lecturer, University of Chicago Law School.

Advertising and Obesity of Children
And Posner’s Comment states some interesting points as well.
Rather than me rephrasing, just read it.

Click here for a full size image.
A phone booth in Salmiya area near the Indian Community School.

Coral Egan

Her album has original writing, original lyrics, not the usual drivel, and she’s got a nice smoothness to her voice. You can see it in amazon.ca but not on amazon.com

There is an interesting article on her here.