Thursday, Jul. 27, 2017 - 22:05

The Norwegian Aquaculture Centre (Norwegian: Norsk Havbrukssenter) is a visitor and development centre for modern fish farming in Norway. The centre is located to Toft in Brønnøy and cooperate with several companies in fish farming and related businesses. The centre started operating in 2008. The centre runs a demonstration fish farm with access from land. The site includes a modern feeding platform, automated feeding system, control room, under water cameras, salmon cages, cod cages and a little aquarium. The centre is open to the public, visitors are kindergartens, schools, tourists, local people and people in the fish farming industry.

My Mum messaged me at about eight a.m. to ask me what was the name of the Marilyn Manson tune she had in her head which starts with thumping and screaming. I narrowed it down in the end to 'In the Valley of the Shadow of Death', but it made me wonder how many people's Mums make enquiries of that ilk on a chilly Thursday morning in July?

Reed beds are natural habitats found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions, and estuaries. Reed beds are part of a succession from young reeds colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground. As reed beds age, they build up a considerable litter layer that eventually rises above the water level and that ultimately provides opportunities for scrub or woodland invasion. Artificial reed beds are used to remove pollutants from grey water

I noted that Stewart Lee is playing at my local theatre on February, and my immediate thought was 'Ooh, I like him, I might get tickets and go and see him again'. That said, though I did enjoy when I went to the selfsame theatre to see the selfsame comedian a year or two ago, and though I have a lot of admiration for his wit, I'm on reflection not wholly convinced that I enjoyed going to see him when I did (May 2015) because as excellent as he is, I didn't laugh a lot and much of the second half was uncomfortable (deliberately) and it was not quite as I hoped. I'll have a think about it and decide in a wee while.

Long Dong Silver (born April 20, 1960), is a retired porn star. Famed for the apparent size of his penis (reputedly 24 inches / 65 centimetres), he appeared in several pornographic movies in the UK and US during the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, photographer Jay Myrdal has revealed that although Silver "..was immensely endowed...a good nine or ten inches.." the penis featured in his porn shoots was faked.

I have not mentioned work because if I did so, it would be a repetition of the uninteresting moaning I have done in this diary frequently this last two months. I treated myself to ham sandwiches for breakfast as I was somewhat hungry when I woke. I'm just shy of three quarts of the way through Mr Oskar's Big Boat.

Oh, and in the cricket a rain-affected first day ended with England 171/4 and Cook 82*. Joe Root fell to a really good catch behind with Philander's quickness/bounce also impressive. Frequently rain-interrupted, as I said, hence it was difficult to put a proper performance together.

No. I'm done. Don't have the energy for it this evening.

Scotland 1-0 Spain.
Could Scotland do Portugal a favour and take points off Spain? Could Scotland do the unexpected and beat Spain handsomely and therefore squeeze through themselves? It looked unlikely following a first half hour where Spain had had almost eighty percent of the possession - but then again that's what happened when they lost to England. Despite a few corners, the navy-clad lassies were struggling to make opportunities where they could fire on goal. Three before the break however, the Scots took the lead - a long ball saw the keeper caught in no-mans land and the onrushing Caroline Weir run in on goal to beat (just) the defender on the line. We've seen quite a few mistakes by GKs this week whereas in the first two sets of fixtures they generally gave a pretty good account of themselves - the pressure telling, concentration tiring? The referee chose to book the Scots keeper for handling outside the box - usually a red card offence, unless the official figured a lesser chance of intent and a greater chance of mistake/error because it's women's football? Scotland pushed for a second, Spain pushed for an equaliser, the woodwork was thumped on more than one occasion. An integer number of times, in fact. As much as those in navy banged on the door, the Spanish eventually held out - despite a battling performance/result the Scots needed one more goal. Spain play Austria in the quarters.

England 2-1 Portugal.
In the slightly odd situation following last night's results of maybe wanting England to do poorly and to finish second in the group thereby avoiding France. Also, a half of the draw containing France, Netherlands and Sweden maybe is harder to progress from than one containing Denmark and Austria alongside Germany. Mark Sampson made ten changes with all this in mind, only Millie Bright retaining her place. Six gone, England ahead when keeper Morais cleared straight at Duggan's back and the Scouse lass controlled the ball and lifted it into the net. Portugal equalised however after fifteen, hesitant defending led to Silva getting to the by-line and feeding Carolina Mendes to soil the tournament clean sheets - there was a foul in the build-up but England should've played to the whistle. They were poor for much of the half and weren't clicking really, but no changes in the personnel at the break. Two into the second, a scrappy second from England with Nikita Parris barracking through and getting a couple of lucky bounces off challenging defenders before poking past Morais. England were looking better, back to how they'd opened the game, the match was pretty unilateral, a late moment of nerve where Chamberlain finished, but they held on and were effective.