For pointing out to Mum and Dad when they get back...

Hey, Kiddums
Upper Hutt City Council Xplorer
You can almost see the plants on the balcony:)
Not certain if Mum and Dad have the bandwidth to check that at home though...

Snarf of the day... and later updates...

Googling on "U Mon" historical data (in case there is something I had missed from the literature).
Reasuringly, my paper which includes some U Mon data comes up 3rd - read the AAVSO article on U Mon ( the first hit, and aimed at an amateur audience) if you want to know what it is and more about it. But I did get a hit for a bulletin of collaborations between High School students and professional institutes. The two on RV Tauri stars were particularly "special", especially the first. I don't think they read the AAVSO info on the subject. The right key words are quoted but the context is a little iffy and the literature review left a little to be desired. In fact they appear to have missunderstood a lot of the astrophysics. Possibly talking to a profesional may have helped, and if they did, possibly they didn't pick the right one. Just didn't quite gel.

And having had the computer freeze such that this couldn't be updated until I came in the next morning...

Go and see Vera Drake. Very good movie. No car chases or multi million dollar special effects. Just good acting and a genuine interest in human beings. Go and see it.

Possum in the tree right by the balcony last night. Perfectly silhouetted shot according to Z. He resisted, but I think itched for a slingshot anyway.

4 cockatoos hanging off the tree outside at present. Several appear to be misjudging the supporting ability of the branches involved.