'Zat you, Santa Claus?

Merry Christmas to All of You with a not too traditional Christmas song!





Gifts I'm preparin'
For some Christmas sharin'
But I pause because
Hangin' my stockin'
I can hear a knockin'
'Zat you, Santa Claus

Sure is dark out
Ain't the slighest spark out
Pardon my clackin' jaws
Who's there
Who is it
Uh, stoppin' for a visit
'Zat you, Santa Claus

Are you bringin' a present for me
Something pleasantly pleasant for me
That's what I've been waitin' for
Would you mind slippin' it under the door

Four winds are howlin'
Or would that be growlin'
My legs feel like straws
Oh my, my, me, my
Kindly would you reply
'Zat you, Santa Claus
Yeah

Oh hangin' my stockin'
I can hear a knockin'
'Zat you, Santa Claus

Yeah, say now
Hey there, who is it
Stoppin' for a visit
'Zat you, Santa Claus

Whoa there Santa you gave me a scare
Now stop teasin' 'cause I know you're there
We don't believe in no goblins today
But I can't explain why I'm shakin' that way

Well I see old Santa in the keyhole
I'll give to the cause
One peek and I'll try there
Uh-oh there's an eye there
'Zat you, Santa Claus

Please, please
I pity my knees
Say that's you Santa Claus
That's him alright

The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles

This is gonna be weird stuff. The progressive rock band, Jethro Tull, made a song in 1973, titled 'The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles'. This is a strange little story of forest animals trying to help an unfortunate hare to find a pair of lost glasses (the word 'spectacles' means glasses, a fact that the other animals don't seem to know). The whole thing is bizarre, yet funny and fully comprehensible with a solid upper-intermediate knowledge of English (well, apart from a few words that you can easily look up in a dictionary; you can find the whole script under the video box). Try to concentrate on the play on words. The video in the youtube video box is an animated film made for the original piece of music. If you are brave enough to see the really crazy original clip, click here. Enjoy!




Owl loved to rest quietly whilst no one was watching. Sitting on a
fence one day, he was surprised when suddenly a kangaroo ran close
by.
Now this may not seem strange, but when Owl overheard Kangaroo whisper
to no one in particular, ``The hare has lost his spectacles,'' well, he
began to wonder.
Presently, the moon appeared from behind a cloud and there, lying on
the grass was hare. In the stream that flowed by the grass -- a
newt. And sitting astride a twig of a bush -- a bee.
Ostensibly motionless, the hare was trembling with excitement, for
without his spectacles he was completely helpless. Where were his
spectacles? Could someone have stolen them? Had he mislaid them? What
was he to do?
Bee wanted to help, and thinking he had the answer began: ``You
probably ate them thinking they were a carrot.''
``No!'' interrupted Owl, who was wise. ``I have good eye-sight, insight,
and foresight. How could an intelligent hare make such a silly
mistake?'' But all this time, Owl had been sitting on the fence,
scowling!
Kangaroo were hopping mad at this sort of talk. She thought herself
far superior in intelligence to the others. She was their leader;
their guru. She had the answer: ``Hare, you must go in search of the
optician.''
But then she realized that Hare was completely helpless without his
spectacles. And so, Kangaroo loudly proclaimed, ``I can't send Hare in
search of anything!''
``You can guru, you can!'' shouted Newt. ``You can send him with Owl.''
But Owl had gone to sleep. Newt knew too much to be stopped by so
small a problem -- ``You can take him in your pouch.'' But alas, Hare
was much too big to fit into Kangaroo's pouch.
All this time, it had been quite plain to hare that the others knew
nothing about spectacles.
As for all their tempting ideas, well Hare didn't care.
The lost spectacles were his own affair.
And after all, Hare did have a spare a-pair.
A-pair.

Hubble - Looking even deeper

Hubble's Deepest View of the Universe (from here)


I have already written about the Hubble Deep Field in an earlier post. This is a deep visible-light image of the early universe. On 8th December 2009, NASA released an image of an even deeper view of the early universe. The new image, which was taken in near-infrared light, reveals galaxies that were formed 600 million years after the Big Bang. This is the first time we have gained insight into such an early time in the formation of the universe. The light from the distant and expanding galaxies stretches out into the near-infrared wavelengths, this is why this new image can go deeper than the images that were taken in the wavelengths of the visible light.

Read the scientific data and watch the zoomable image together with a short a narrated video here.

While you are busy making other plans

The Braking Puzzle

The new puzzle is short and (hopefully) clear. It goes like this:

A man dressed all in black is walking down a deserted country lane. Suddenly, a large black car without any lights on comes down the road. A few seconds before it would run over the walker, the car brakes with a screech and stops just in time. How does the driver, who is not a psychic, know that there is a man in the road?



And a short trick question (this week's special bonus):

You are running a race. You manage to overtake the runner who is in the second place. At which place are you now in the race?

Think, think:)