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‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ is a novel by Ernest Hemingway which went onto be made into a film in 1943. Starring Ingrid Bergman, Gary Cooper, Akim Tamiroff, and Katina Paxinou, I am sure all the actors must have a copy of the film on their sdhc cards. Hemingway actually chose Bergman and Cooper for the roles they played in the film adaptation of his book.

Published in 1940, ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ told the story of Robert Jordan, an American youth who fought during the Spanish Civil War with the International Brigades who were attached to a Republican guerrilla group. Jordan was a dynamiter and the book climaxes on his special assignment to blow up a bridge during an attack on Segovia, one of the cities that saw the most fighting during the Spanish Civil War. Alongside ‘The Sun Also Rises’, ‘The Old Man and the Sea’, and ‘A Farewell to Arms’, Hemingway’s biographer, Jeffrey Meyers lists ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ as one of his best works.

An LED transformer is a small box consisting of wires. Its job is to regulate the flow of current going to the LED bulbs. Since the power of our homes is alternating current (AC) and LED bulbs use direct current (DC), the LED transformer will typically convert 120 volts of AC (the standard amount in homes) to 12-24 volts of DC. The way that the LED transformer achieves this is through coils of wires within it. One set of wires will take electricity in and the other will distribute the converted electricity to the LED bulbs. There are several types of transformers but most LED transformers are magnetic. This is the safest and most sure type of LED transformer.

When choosing an LED transformer, you must look at the maximum wattage that it will hold. For example, if you have ten 4-watt LED bulbs, you will need an LED transformer which can hold at least 40 watts. In general, it is always better to get a transformer which is above your load. This way, you can be sure you aren’t overloading your LED bulbs and that you can add more bulbs in the future if you want.

The first question when buying astroscopes is whether you want a reflector or a refractor. Reflector astroscopes are the original type of telescope made by Galileo. They use a system of mirrors to cause light to bounce off of the objects viewed and then magnify it through a lens. A refractor astroscope has a different design. It utilizes a system of convex lenses to make light go through the main lens where the light is then focused at the eyepiece. You can tell the difference between reflectors and refractors just by the design. A reflector astroscope is going to be short and wide. It will also always have its eyepiece in the middle. A refractor astroscope is long and skinny with its eyepiece towards the back.

The benefit of opting for reflector astroscopes is that they are much cheaper to make then refractors. Because of this, you can pay more money for a higher magnification lens or wider aperture. Reflectors tend to be better for viewing dim objects, such as a galaxy or nebula. For a first astroscope, a 4.5 inch reflector astroscope is adequate. Refractor astroscopes are more expensive but are more adept for viewing objects like the moon or a planet. A 60 mm refractor is adequate as a starter astroscope. It is best to find a friend who has both types of astroscopes and take a look through both before you make your purchase. This way, you will know what to expect from your astroscope and which celestial bodies are clearest.

Mexican police have recently discovered 15 bodies stacked in a petrol station in the state of Michoacan. All of the bodies showed signs of torture and sadly, three youths were amongst the pile of dead. Beside the bodies, threatening messages were left which indicates that the murders were most likely a settling of score between rival gangs. The state of Michoacan is located between two cartels, the La Familia cartel and the offshoot of the gang, the Knights Templar. Thus the state has become the centre of the two cartels violent battles.

Mexican police report that the victims has all sustained bullet wounds to their heads. Due to the breakup of La Familia Michoacana, the state of Michoacan has seen a startling rise in violence of late. The Knights Templar, which split off from La Familia, has assumed many of La Familia’s operations, now running much of the drug production and trafficking in Mexico. I bet they could afford a lot of uhrens.

Monopoly was one of my favourite board games growing up. I used to drive my parents mad asking them to play it with me, but they never wanted to because it takes so long to play!

We got given a new set for Christmas, it's the modern Limited Edition one 'The Here And Now' and it has more modern locations like the London Eye, The Millennium Dome and Wembley Stadium.

It's fun having the new locations and the new little figures to play with, but the money is so confusing now! Instead of having 1s up to 500 notes, it's 10,000 notes up to 500 million notes. It was really confusing, I kept paying people millions instead of thousands, no wonder I was so rubbish at it this time, I'm usually good!

I like the digital Monopoly games I have on my r4 ds and my iPad, but for the board game I'm going to stay true to the classic original!

Photo: Mike_fleming (Flickr)