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As we have entered Spring, we can all start to enjoy the warmer weather, bright colours from flowering flora, and the joy of new life coming into the world. Going for a walk this morning, I began to remember that Spring does have a dangerous side, well, at least it does here in Australia. As I was walking through a park, listening to podcasts and enjoying the scenery, I was suddenly attacked! This attack surprised me, as I have not been attacked in this manner for a number of years, and you rarely see them coming…So what was it that attacked me? It was the Magpie, a natvie Australian bird that
breeds in Spring.

The Australian Magpie (Cracticus tibicen), for a short period of time in Spring, will protect the nest of their young by “Swooping” anyone or anything that approaches the area (Usually a 50-100m radius from the nest). The Magpie will use it sharp beak, and target the head, neck and face of anyone it considers a threat to its young. THis does not make the Magpie an aggressive animal, in fact, most of the year you won’t even notice them around, and they will happily be fed by people (often returning day on day for more food). The Magpie is simply very protective.

So you can identify a Magpie from a distance, and try to avoid them, they are a mostly Black bird, with wite patches over thier body, grow to around 40cm in length, with a 65-85cm wingspan. As you can see from the video, there are many theories on how to deter a Magpie from “swooping”, but the best thing to do would be see them early, and give them a wide berth.

Did you know?

The Mayan Queen IV recently visited Sydney, making it the largest Super Yatch to ever grace these shores. The Super Yacht was docked at White Bay in Balmain Sydney last weekend, and left early in the week.

The Yacht was built in 2008, in Hamburg, Germany by Blohm & Voss (A German shipbuilding and engineering company) and is cuurently owned by Mexican billionaire, Alberto Bailleres (made rich from his companies in Mining, and department stores, amongst others). While the Yacht is the largest to visit Sydney, it is not the worlds largest, in fact, it rates only number 37, with the belonging to Russian rich man, Roman Abramovich.

So now some details about the Yacht :
- 93m Long (1 quarter the length of the largest cruise liner, allure of the Seas)
- 6 stories high
- Cruises at 20 knots
- Room for 16 guests, 24 crew
- Based out of the Cayman Islands
- Weighs ~3900 tons
- Jacuzzi, Outside bar, diving equipment, small fast boat

Did you know?

The Hughes H-4 Hercules, otherwise known as the “Spruce Goose” was a prototype transport aircraft made almost entirely of wood (Birch to be exact). The aircraft (capable of landing and taking off from water) was designed and manufactured with the intent of flying Personnell and Weaponry from the United States to Britain during the Second World War.

The company behind the construction was Hughes Aircraft Company (The ninth biggest Military contractor in the USA), and the man behind the company was Howard Hughes. hughes was born in 1905, and at the age of 18, he inherited the Hughes Tool Company from his father, which at the time was valued at $750,000. Over the next 50 years the company took in in excess of 750 million in profit, and Hiughes expanded out into Casino’s, hotels, and of course,
aircarft.

Hiughes had a real passion for flying, to the point, where he insisted on bieng a test pilot for his own company, Hughes Aircafat, and taking on challenges such as in 1938, when he flew around the world in record time. However, this was not Hughes’ only claim to fame, as he was also famous for producing several hollywood hits such as Hell’s Angels, Scarface and The Outlaw.

Hughes died in 1976 as the richest man in the United States, with an estimated worth of between $1.3 and $2 billion.

Did you know?

HD85512b, Earth 2, New Earth, Super Earth,whatever we decide to name it, we could be moving homes, 36 Light Years form Earth. Though, of course, this is just my Sci-Fi geekdom coming out, but Scientists in Geneva have been discovering planets, that at first glance, appear to be capable of hosting life, due to their orbital pattern around stable stars.

New Technology have enabled us to discover these planets (600 Total, with the 50 recently announced being the most announced in 1 time in history) at an incredible rate. One piece of this technology is the high-precision echelle spectrograph; High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) installed at La Silla Observatory in Chile.

So what is a Super Earth? A Super Earth is a planet outside our Solar System, which has a mass above that of earth, but below the mass of the Solar Systems Gas Giants. HD85512b, one of the Super Earths discovered recently, but could also be hospitable. It is 3.6 times the size of earth, Orbits its star in 60 days, found in the Vela constellation, and is only the second planet outside our solar system that could support life.