The New Curiosity Shop

We are delighted to add a new course to our catalogue:

Be Your Own Boss: How to startup your own business

Click on the link to find out more and enrol on the course.

There’s not much more to add except that it is eligible for ILA Scotland funding.

We have just released our second ebook under the ‘Curious About’ Banner. It’s available via Amazon as we speak.

The New Curiosity Shop is opening a new project – epublishing. We are starting with the theme of curiosity, naturally, and we are calling it Curious About. We are looking for writers to help develop a catalogue of short ebooks – to find out more visit:

New Curiosity Books

Noel Chidwick, one of the partners of The New Curiosity Shop has recently published an ebook.

New Myths and Legends of Edinburgh is a collection of tales never before revealed: from the Mysterious Lollipop Man enticing innocent cyclists to their peril, to the enigmatic Professor MacIntyre. There is the Man Who Waited, and the true story of the peculiar rock in Craiglockhart Dell.

It’s available at Amazon for the Kindle and Kindle readers: New Myths and Legends of Edinburgh

What Pi Sounds Like !

You can’t beat a dramatic headline!

The Sun is starting to develop one or two sunspots after a few years of quiet and is producing solar storms to match. There’s one erupting at the moment, and will be making its way towards Earth over the next couple of days. This means we could be in for a display of Northern and Southern Lights – the Auroa Borealis.

If the sky is clear at night, make sure you take a look – we might be in for a good display.

See: Sky and Telescope

Our next start date for courses is Wednesday 2nd March. IF you’d like to enrol, please do so before the 24th February 2011.

We have a choice selection for you, and remember, if you are eligible, some of our courses can be funded through ILA Scotland.

Hope to see you here soon!

We have a demonstration course on the history of the Hot Air Balloon, so what better way to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year than from a one-man balloon over the Clyde Valley.

I’m afraid it isn’t Arthur or myself up there, it’s Graeme Houston, of Scotair. Graeme is also trying to generate interest in his project to build a replica of James Tytler’s balloon. James Tytlyer was the first man in Britain to fly a hot air balloon. To find out more about him, take a look at our demonstration course, The Fire Balloon, available in The Learning Place, The Fire Balloon. When you arrive, follow the instructions to create an account, and join in.

Meanwhile, enjoy Graeme’s message:

Today it was announced that two scientists at Manchester University were awarded the Nobel prize for Physics (see Materials breakthrough wins Nobel). Meanwhile, the Coalition Government are threatening cuts to the very lifeblood of this country, by cutting funding to science research. Such short-sightedness fair takes your breath away. As it says at Science is Vital:

“Investing in research enriches society and helps drive the economy. It led to our preeminent position in the 20th century, and will be vital in meeting the challenges of the 21st century whether they be in energy, medicine, infrastructure, computing, or simply humanity’s primal desire for discovery.”

If you want a simple analogy, if a farmer sells his fields, where does he grow is crops and what does he eat next year?

Of all the threatened cuts, reducing funding to science makes no sense whatsoever.

If you feel the same as me, please go to the Science is Vital website and sign the petition, write to your MP.

Cheers

Noel

We’re rested and ready for action. We’ve got some great courses for you to pick from, and we are just putting the finishing touches to some cracking new ones.

Our virtual doors re-open on the 15th September, so come along and book a place on one of our choice, succulent courses.

Take a look through our course catalogue