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Junior ISAurs and the future

June 23, 2018 by Andrew 2 Comments

Which is scarier? Living in a Jurassic world filled with hungry dinosaurs or getting your head into the world of finance? That should be a no-brainer. You shouldn’t fear sorting out your money in the way anyone would worry about a hungry T-rex.

While I contribute to a private pension (can we be confident in their being a public one in twenty or thirty years?) I’m still only just getting sorted out with better savings and investment plans than a mere bank account. If I had had more confidence at a younger age then I would have earned more on interest.

That’s why I like this game from Scottish Friendly. First off, this helps humanise a finance brand (yeah; by making it about dinosaurs – there’s irony) and makes the company more approachable. Secondly, the focus on Junior ISAs. This is a product that parents take out on behalf of their kids, contribute to and then the child takes control when they’re old enough. In other words, it seems to be like a pretty dramatic demonstration of how useful saving money can be to a young person just when they should start thinking about saving their own money.


[Play Dinosaur Keepers]

The game doesn’t need a download and works on my phone. All you need to do is tap on a cooling egg to bring the heat lamp over it and warm it up. The longer you can keep all the eggs warm the better level of ‘Dinosaur Keeper’ you are.

I think it’s a pretty clear message too. To protect what you have now you have to think about the future too.

In Pure Spirit

Which dinosaur keeper level did you manage to achieve? Let us know in the comments below.

The monstrous energy costs of heating Jurrasic World

June 7, 2018 by Andrew Leave a Comment

When there’s a good movie to look forward to big brands, start thinking creatively about their messaging. Step forward E.ON who worked with PhD Physicists Toby Nonnemacher, Clarence Wret, Wilf Shorrock and the Post-Doctorate Physicist Phill Litchfield at the High Energy Physics Department at Imperial College London to think about dinosaurs and technology.

The team worked out that a dinosaur kingdom island done up as Jurrasic World would have an energy bill in the region of £48million. That’s about 30,000 UK homes.

Scott Somerville at E.ON helped explain why the bill would be so high.

With huge 10,000 volt electric fences and an aviary designed to house pterodactyls to name just two of the Dinosaur Kingdom’s unusual features, we suspected the energy needed to power the whole park would be big – possibly equivalent to powering a whole region within the UK.

“But what our figures show is that it’s actually a massive amount! It’s about the same as powering 30,142 average UK households a year – roughly equivalent to powering half the homes in Harrogate – but by adopting modern solutions, the power requirement and costs could be even less.

“For example, by generating electricity using technology like a biomass fuelled Combined Heat and Power station, park owners could turn dinosaur droppings into electricity. Add on other solutions like solar and battery storage then the park could ultimately benefit from a cheaper, sustainable and more reliable source of electricity instead having to deal with a ‘raptor rampage’ every time the generators that power the electric fences goes down.”

There’s some proper research in this piece. For example, running a dinosaur suitable aviaries was based on the amount of energy to keep the Eden Project in Devon going. That’s about 9,500 MkWh per year or £5,006,500. Ouch! If you want to see more of E.ON’s maths and investigation then pop over to their dinosaur kingdom post and have a gander.

Improving Your Own Energy Use

If you’re thinking about changing energy supplier, there are some handy tools out there you might consider using. Energylinx has some, including a free Meter Point Administration Number Checker so you can examine your MPAN as well as a Gas Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN) tool. Lastly, on EnergyLinks is this comparison tool on suppliers.

Fossil Fuels

Readers of In Pure Spirit will now we care about green issues. While we’re thinking about extinct species and energy we’d have to take a look at fossil fuels.

James Anderson, the joint manager of Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, investors who take a long-term view on companies that might change sees a future in alternative energy generation.

…what seems to us to fall into the category of the well-nigh inevitable is that the age of fossil fuels is drawing to an end

In Pure Spirit

Which would you rather have? An island full of dinosaurs – many species brought back from extinction – or free energy for 30,000 homes for a year?

10 of the biggset animals to ever roam the planet

January 29, 2014 by Andrew Leave a Comment

The largest flying insect ever: Meganeuropsis permiana
The largest arthropod ever: Arthropleura
The largest snake ever: Titanoboa
The largest land predator ever: Spinosarurus
The largest cartilaginous fish ever: Carcharodon megalodon
The largest bony fish ever: Leedsichthys problematicus
The largest land mammal ever: Paraceratherium
The largest flying organism ever: Quetzalcoatlus
The largest mammal ever: Blue Whale
The largest land animal ever: Amphicoelias fragillimus

In Pure Spirit

Are you impressed by the size of these creatures? How many of these did you know before watching the video?

Does this video show a Woolly Mammoth in Siberia

February 9, 2012 by Andrew 1 Comment

Siberia is simply huge. The landscape is hard to cross and the weather hostile. It’s no surprise that large portions of the wilderness are yet to be explored or documented.

Could something believed to be instinct actually be alive in Siberia?

The British tabloid, The Sun has got their hands on video which may show a Woolly Mammoth crossing a river.

Is it a Woolly Mammoth though? A bear holding a fish? If you think it looks like a small elephant then stop to wonder what an elephant would be doing in Siberia in the first place.

In Pure Spirit

Do you think this is a Woolly Mammoth or some other previously undiscovered creature crossing a stream? Or is this just a familiar creature in an unfamiliar situation and some poor quality video?

Muriel from the Babycenter: Toy dinosaurs are Satan’s trick

August 11, 2011 by Andrew 2 Comments

This screen grab of a question on the site Baby Center has been doing the rounds on the web. People are scratching their heads. Right wing Christians are scratching their heads in sympathy for the mother’s apparent angst. Everyone else are just scratching their heads.

What do you think?

Twitch asks whether she’s the greatest troll of all time. Back in 2008 she asked whether her children should be allowed to dress up for Halloween or whether that was a Satanic pagan ritual. Satanic and pagan? Good one Muriel.

In Pure Spirit

Is Muriel a real mother who’s really worried about this? Do you you know a real life Muriel?

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