The Mighty Pound

The pound is the world's oldest currency still in use. 1 GBP = 100p = 100 GBX = 100 GBp. In the olden days, the pound was divided into Shillings and Pence. This disappeared with decimalization in 1971. Prior to decimalization, 1 pound was 20 shillings, each shilling was 12p (meaning 240 pence to the pound). "3s6d" (Three and Six) meant 3 shillings and sixpence.

A numismatist is a collector of coinage e.g. crowns and guineas. A guinea is a gold coin; the name comes from Guinea where gold was mined.

Murphy's Law and the Analogies of Physics

Murphy's Law is an adage that states: "anything that can go wrong will". It might be used as a muse or sometimes, given a sufficiently long time, an event which is possible will almost surely take place. Sometimes Murphy's Law is used in conjunction with thermodynamics (e.g. Second Law of Thermodynamics) which demands an understanding of the concept of entropy. Entropy is sometimes used in information science to describe the amount of information, for example, in a string of binary digits, but in thermodynamics describes number of ways a system may be rearranged (similar concept) but in the latter case, often taken to mean a measure of disorder. Ice melting is a classic example of entropy increasing.

Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil...

Continuing with the theme of virtual travel, we now visit Northern South America via the isthmus of Panama (an isthmus is a narrow strip of land, connecting two larger areas of land).

Panama is the connecting piece between Central America and Northern South America, famous for the Panama Canal that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Its capital is Panama City. The Spanish used Panama as a launch base to explore and conquer Peru.

The maximum size of ship that can go through the Panama Canal is known as Panamax, many modern ships are too big and are known as post-Panamax vessels.

 The isthmus of Panama (formerly the Isthmus of Darien, an isthmus being a narrow strip of land that connects two larger pieces of land) plugs into Colombia.

Travelling East from Colombia we reach Venezuela (capital Caracas), comprising Highlands, jungle, lakes and a Northern shore facing the Caribbean Sea (named after an Amerindian tribe known as the Caribe). South of Colombia is Ecuador and Peru, South of Venezuela is Brazil. Caracas, Venezuela, has become one of Latin America's economic centres owing to the oil-rich nature of Venezuela.

From the Blue-Waters of Western Australia to Tasmania

We start our journey in the beautiful blue waters of Perth, Western Australia. Australia has about six large regions: Western Australia (which contains Perth), Northern Territory in the North (containing Darwin), South Australia (Adelaide), Queensland (North East), NSW, Victoria (the most densely populated state, named after Queen Victoria and containing Melbourne in SW). Off the Victoria coast is Tasmania, an island and state, whose capital is Hobart (originally founded as a penal colony). It was named after Lord Hobart, the British Colonial Secretary. The Australian flag is blue with the Union Jack in the top left and stars representing the different states. Middlesborough man Captain James Cook is inextricably linked to the history of Australia, being the first European to land on its Eastern shores.

Who were the Plantagenets?

The Plantagenets (aka First House of Anjou) was a house of royals founded by Henry II in the 12th Century. He was the first to use the title "King of England" as opposed to "King of the English" and was born in Le Mans, France (North-Western France). The old town of Le Mans is also known as Cite Plantagenet.

San Francisco Drama

Execution of Justice (1999) is a film about the assassination of George Moscone, Mayor of San Francisco, and Harvey Milk in November 1978. It is based on a play by Emily Mann. The role of Dan White is played by Tim Daly, an Irish-American actor from NYC. The film alludes to the development of Pier 39, a "second Fisherman's Wharf" in San Francisco. After Moscone's assassination, Dianne Feinstein took over as Mayor of San Francisco.

The Sioux Indians and the Dakota Territory

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007) is a story of the Native American Sioux tribe and is set just after the Sioux victory over General Custer at Little Big Horn. The three main characters are Sioux doctor Charles Eastman (real name Ohiyesa), Lakota chief Sitting Bull and Senator Henry Dawes, architect of policies on Indian affairs.