[Пятхъдесят Шест]

A while back when were talking about the BBC's adaptation of Dead Souls, I seemed to have forgot who exactly Micheal Palin is!

However the other night his excellent TV series aired on the Travel Channel called Himalaya made a light go off in my head. Terrific voice for radio I might add.

Surely Himalaya was shown over there too!

[Hip Priest]

Radio Tirana also seems to have gone, at least in terms of an English language broadcast. Even their site is restricted to Albanian and German.

[Hip Priest]

Originally Posted by Пятхъдесят Шест

A while back when were talking about the BBC's adaptation of Dead Souls, I seemed to have forgot who exactly Micheal Palin is!

However the other night his excellent TV series aired on the Travel Channel called Himalaya made a light go off in my head. Terrific voice for radio I might add.

Surely Himalaya was shown over there too!

He's done a load of those series in recent years: Around the World in 80 Days , Full Circle, Pole to Pole and more. He's more popular than ever now.

[Hip Priest]

Solar Flares and Geomagnetic storms have a great deal to do with the propagation of shortwave radio. When this activity is high, radio signals get weakened and interference increases. This is particularly true for shortwave radio, which uses the ionosphere to bounce the radio waves across the globe.

NASA's Solar Weather page (includes 3-day forecast).

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Bookmarked!

This could come in handy.

[Hip Priest]

ON this page at Polskie Radio you can download two especially interesting items:
the first is called 'Krakow: Home of the Bagel', the second concerns the 'Wieliczka salt mine'. The salt mine is a huge underground complex with chapels carved in salt.

I come from a salt-mining county, don't you know. Cheshire folk never created underground chapels, though.

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

I had no idea you were in salt land.

I hail from corn land. But we don't do much else with the corn other than eat it, lots of it.

There is the odd corn maze, and of course the corn heads:

 

[Hip Priest]

The world-famous Lion Salt comes from Cheshire. Northwich in fact, which is a very nice town. There's even a salt museum in Northwich.

In summer there's a maize maze at Brimstage, which is quite close to me.

I like corn, with a bit of butter.

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

The last few stops in the bookstore I've seen a book on the history of salt, and it looks like a good read, but I always find something more interesting. I think Mr. Bush read the book as well. Yes, he reads. (?)....

Also, I got this book for Christmas and think you would enjoy it too:

 

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Its been weeks since I've had a listen. There is a layer of dust on my radio. Shame it is, really.

What have you been hearing Hipster, and what have I missed?

[Hip Priest]

I've had less opportunity to listen in the past few weeks, but whenever I've scanned there's been nothing happening. I'm going to have a go now though.

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

This is in my plans for the night too. If I don't fall asleep before I get the chance.

[Hip Priest]

Radio Bulgaria's Keyword Bulgaria have just been examing the threat posed to Bulgaria's biodiversity by industry and the like. There are substantial proposals to set up protected areas.

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Over in the World Music thread, Pork has shared a gem with everyone.

It is maybe more relevant in this thread:

Originally Posted by porkmarras

Пятхъдесят Шест will particularly love this:
http://shortwavemusic.blogspot.com/

[Hip Priest]

Great stuff. Thanks, Пятхъдесят Шест and porkmarras.

Talking of great stuff, I've just been listening to a German station playing sea shanties.

Now I've got BBC radio's Superbowl coverage on.

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Ah, its too bad the game went pretty sour in the second half. And the rain!

I didn't want to see the Colts win either.

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Some selected thoughts on football (soccer) as inspired by Radio Netherlands report:

Italian youth detained in connection with football riots
Italian police are questioning a 17 year-old youth in connection with the death of a police officer during football riots in the town of Catania on Sicily last week. The teenager and two friends were detained after police studied video recordings made by security cameras in the Catania stadium. All football matches were cancelled last weekend due to the violence. The competition has been resumed, but spectators are only allowed in the four stadiums that meet government security requirements.

Just a snippet of a longer report about the ongoing crisis in Italian football. It has me wondering if there is anything that can save Serie A from shaking its horrendous reputation, that continues to disappoint and shock.

Maybe Europeans don't find this as surprising considering a long history of hooliganism in Sport there, which is not to say things have not changed considerably in the last decade especially in the UK, Germany, and Holland. But from an American perspective, its sort of hard to imagine rioting over and sporting event, save for the few isolated cases (such as LA Lakers fans turning over cars after winning the championship, and last seasons brawl that went into the stands in Detroit.)

What are the chances things can be cleaned up in Serie A, and how long before the league closes down completely? After all, Italy are World Champions...

Also, I could not be more pleased with the US national side once again defeating Mexico on American soil, making it 8 straight, and out scoring them 13-0 in those games. Granted it is just a friendly, but these games against Mexico are not pointless, it means a lot for this region. Excellent turn out for the game too, albeit a pro-Mexico crowd.

The latest slew of friendlies have been entertaining. Did you catch Portugal - Brazil, or Greece - South Korea?

Unfortunate loss for England, but what a goal from Iniesta. How long before McClaren is given the boot?

[Hip Priest]

Cripes. There's such a dearth of English-language programmes tonight that not even Radio China International appear to be broadcasting.

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

That is strange. Especially for RCI. No RTI either?

[Hip Priest]

Nothing. I will check again at half past.

It's half past now.