World’s longest insect

This is for real

A stick insect, recently discovered in Borneo, which is about 1 metre in length, if you include the antennae, is the world’s longest insect.

Tea time in Shizuoka

Framed!

The new season’s green tea is now available in Shizuoka, the main growing area in Japan.

And what a great photo, taken by my friend dragonlife.

You can see the full story on the Shizuoka gourmet blog.

Sun 2

The power here is too huge to measure

This is another great photo of the sun from NASA.

Using solar power must be the answer.

Sun

This photo is from NASA

Haven’t seen much of the thing in this photo recently. At the moment it is being photographed by a special NASA explorer, and photos like this one are able to provide a new view of our energy source.

By the way it would take about 1 million Earths to fill the sun.

Pyramids, view from above

Where's the Spinx?

This is a 1943 photo of the Pyramids of Giza, just outside Cairo, Egypt.

It shows that they really were built in the sands of the Sahara Desert.

Pink Sea Cucumber

This cucumber is no vegetable

This is an animal, found in the ocean near the Celebes Islands of Indonesia.

Lombok sunset

Bali in the distance

Sunset is my favourite time of day.

This is a sunset seen from Lombok Island in Indonesia. The island across the sea is Bali and the mountain is Mt Agung.

Volcano in Iceland

The ash comes straight out of the ice

A volcano in a glacier in Iceland has closed many airports in North Europe.

The ash from the volcano contains sand, small rocks and also glass particles which could easily cause damage to aircraft engines.

White Hart

It's a wonderful sight

A picture of a white deer, or a white hart, taken on the slopes of Mt Fuji in Japan. It is truly a wonderful sight.

Giraffes are tall

This is not Africa

This picture is from a safari park in Japan on the side of Mt Fuji.

Brasilia

50th anniversary

On April 21st 1960 the city of Brasilia was finished. It took three years to build this new city, and it immediately became the capital of Brazil. It is now a World Heritage site.

Space Shuttle Discovery Launch

Lift-off

Yesterday the space shuttle Discovery was launched and one of the people on board is a Japanese housewife, Naoko Yamazaki. I hope she is an inspiration to many of my students.

Golden sunset, Golden Gate

The Golden Gate bridge, San Francisco

Sunset is my favourite time of the day, and the Golden Gate, which you can just see in the distance, is one of my favourite bridges; what a great combination.

Sahara clouds

Like giant snowflakes

Even though it rarely rains in the Sahara Desert there are sometimes clouds, lots of small, wispy clouds, which form an amazing layer over the sand dunes.