If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. - Antoine de Saint Exupery
THE ROAD OF DREAMS AND PASSION
That's the description of the process of science that came from the Romanian-born psychologist Serge Moscovici. He painted a picture of science as a journey of exploration for us all.
'Science has become involved in this adventure, our adventure, in order to renew everything it touches and warm all that it penetrates,' he said. At each turn of the road, he continued, we hear from science 'the voice of rebirth and beginning'.
'That is why the great discoveries are not revealed on a deathbed like that of Copernicus, but offered like Kepler's on the road of dreams and passion.'
And for the main theme of the 20th Festival we're taking the role of science as a process of exploration and adventure. we'll have speakers from several countries, including some of the world's leading science communicators.
Thursday 29 July: We are now posting up the programme onto the website and hope to have the first draft completed there and ready for viewing by mid-afternoon today.
BERE AND BEER AND BANNOCKS - AND CRAB AND CHEESE
Our other main theme this year is food and drink, with opportunities to try out various traditional food and new products at a number of Festival events. A range of factors, from economics to health, are opening up new markets for regional food, and Orkney is to the fore in all aspects, from research to retailing.
FULL STEAM AHEAD!
The comeback of steam will be one of our subjects in this year's Festival. Steam engines, steam ships, steam cars - we'll have an evening of talks and films on the latest developments, showing how steam is coming to the fore again for clean, energy-efficient operation.
The evening is being organised by Orkney Vintage Club, with support from Old Glory, Britain's best-selling steam and vintage magazine.
And to mark the occasion, Little Dragon will celebrate her 150th birthday by turning out the following afternoon on Broad Street with green fuel - she'll run on coppiced willow fuel provided by Orkney College's Agronomy Institute.
You can find more details on our News page. We'll have more updates in the days ahead.
GET YOUR TICKETS ONLINE!
We're one of the oldest science festivals in the world, Orkney being one of the first communities anywhere to follow the pioneering initiative of the city of Edinburgh in 1989.
This year we are bringing in a new system of making Festival tickets available online. There will still be the opportunity to get them through the Tourist Office, but in addition the option will be available to purchase online through this site.
This has come about through our contacts with an innovative Moray-based company, e-availability, whose online bookings systems are used throughout the UK – for everything from doctors' appointments and holiday bookings through to cabin crew accommodation reservations and Belgian chocolate making events. Today (Saturday 10 July) at 12 noon we're giving away 20 free LecturePasses (worth £32 each) to 20 people aged under 20. All you have to do is email us at science@orkney.org with your name, address and date of birth. We're doing this on a first come, first served basis, and we're starting to open email at 12 noon exactly. We'll post up details of the winners on the Tickets page of the site, as they come in.
Thursday 29: We've found that the science@orkney.org email is for some reason running slow, so if you haven't yet had a response from us, it would be good if you could re-send on howie.firth@gmail.com
The online booking system is just about ready to go into operation - we will have an update shortly.
Other initiatives to mark the occasion include our promised discussion forum. We've tried out various systems and are now about to opt for a new one which will be in place early next week. Meanwhile we have one topic on the existing forum, which we'll move to the new one when it goes into action. We will follow up with further topics, including the boundaries of science helping communities make use of high-tech, and the factors that produce particular features of food and drink.
There is also a selection of photographs from last year by Selena Kuzman in our Gallery section. And Bill Leslie, who provided astronomy talks and workshops, has photos on his blogspot.
CONTACTING US
Our email address has changed, following the closure of the orkney.com server. We liked our science@orkney address, and Orknet have come to our rescue, providing us with one that is very close to our previous one: we are now science@orkney.org
NORTH RONALDSAY NIGHT SKY PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION
We've had a very good response to the competition, with some excellent entries. The judges are working through them now.
The sight of a really dark sky, free from light pollution, with the stars blazing out, is a great experience, and there are so many possible pictures that could be entered - the moon, the sun at dawn or sunset, the Northern Lights.
Dark skies are becoming recognised as a precious asset. 'Were Galileo alive today, and using his original equipment, he would not be able to discern the rings of Saturn - unless, that is, he was working in one of the few places on Earth that have remained dart enough.'
That's from a recent issue of New Scientist, in a feature listing some 'exotic, mysterious and fascinating locations' - and among them are the very few dark sky parks in the world. That's how valuable and unique dark skies are. Details of the competition are in our Astronomy section, and we'll announce the winning entries at the Festival.
THREE WINNERS FOR PREVIOUS COMPETITION
We asked about the Covenanters on the Crown, wrecked on Deerness in 1679,who were taken prisoner at the Battle of Bothwell Brig. The Deerness minister Rev. Harald Mooney was a man of deep learning, and his father was also a distinguished Orkney scholar - John Mooney. And the Deerness schoolmaster who wrote Flora Orcadensis was Magnus Spence.
These facts have won three website visitors a prize of World Heritage stamps from the Post Office.
The winners are Hazel Malpas, Geoff Needham from Santa Barbara, and Annie Manson.
Generate your own wave energy, recycle a bottle into a flower, make your own porridge, create an electronic friend – there's fun for all ages at Orkney International Science Festival's Family Day.
