Friday, 6 November 2009
Ooops!
I forgot to post a hiatus message - sorry! On holiday from work at the minute and being kept busy and away from a computer but expect normal service to resume next week!
Sunday, 25 October 2009
News Post Week 4
Here it is, bit shorter than the last two weeks but then again I've already explained why.
- The Decline of Language
A professor of Linguistics has released a book about the birth and death of languages. It reveals that every year around 25 languages die out and this is most likely due to the effect of certain languages being commonly used. It also focuses on how some languages that would die out have been brought back from the brink by the efforts of individuals and governments.
Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427311.800-vive-la-difference-of-languages.html
- Augmented Reality to Increase Safety
An augmented reality system has been developed to allow people to see around corners and through walls. It is hoped that it can be applied to cars in the future allowing drivers to see around corners and therefore avoid accidents.
Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18036-augmented-reality-system-lets-you-see-through-walls.html
- Moon Tube
The first lava tube has been discovered on the surface of the moon and has given hope that it might be used as an area to build an outpost to allow for exploration.
Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18030-found-first-skylight-on-the-moon.html
- HIV Vaccine Caution
The results of the trial in Thailand for a HIV vaccine are in and after some analysis it appears that the results aren’t as amazing as they would appear, in fact the data is quite uninspiring as two of the analysis of data are not statistically significant with the final analysis, the only one to be released before publication, was only just statistically significant. One researcher says that the results could just be due to chance.
Link: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091021/full/news.2009.1035.html
- Drug Counteracts the Effect of Sleep Deprivation
Sleep deprivation has been known to have a negative effect on memory however a drug has been made which can prevent this from occurring. It has been tested on mice recently but has proved to have some side effects. It is hoped that the drugs could become more targeted.
Link: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091021/full/news.2009.1036.html
- Sneaky Spiders
Research has shown that males that sneak onto a female’s web and have sex with her after she has been courted by another male can avoid being eaten.
Link: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091021/full/news.2009.1020.html
- Colourless Coral Causes Calamity
Due to the increasing temperature and acidity of the sea coral is being bleached. Not only can bleaching of coral lead to death but also it means that more colourful fish will loose their camouflage leading to more predation.
Link: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091021/full/news.2009.1023.html
- Morrissey Collapses
Former Smiths frontman has collapsed onstage and was taken to hospital with breathing difficulties.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8324492.stm
- Guardian Website Hacked
The Guardian jobs website has been hacked but it has been announced that the site is now secure. Anyone involved has been contacted.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8324630.stm
- BNP Gets Further Rejection
After the news in the week that the queen is urging other royals to reject the BNP the former Arch Bishop of Canterbury Lord Carey is urging Christians to stand together to reject them also. This comes after Griffin, the BNP leader, has said he represents Christian Britain.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8324455.stm
- Sydney Picnic
Harbour Bridge, one of Sydney’s architectural icons was closed so that it may be carpeted with grass to allow for a day of picnics as part of a month long food festival.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8324527.stm
- Drink-Drive Chair to be Auctioned
A customised lounge chair will be auctioned off by police in Minnesota as the owner (a 62 year old) had crashed it whilst drunk. As you could probably guess the customisation is that it can be driven!
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8323997.stm
- Football Team Killed
The bodies of a kidnapped Columbian football team have thought to have been found. All 10 suffered gunshot wounds. At the moment authorities are still trying to identify the people as the members of the football team but some local newspapers have been stating it as fact.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8324496.stm
- Lloyd Webber has Cancer
The famous composer has been diagnosed with prostate cancer but his spokesman states that it’s in the early stages and he is currently undergoing treatment.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8324689.stm
- Irish Sports Star Comes Out
Donal Og Cusack is a goalkeeper for the Cork hurling team and has recently announced that he’s gay. Being from a conservative country, with a conservative family and being well known in a masculine sport must have made it difficult but well done to him!
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8324347.stm
- The Decline of Language
A professor of Linguistics has released a book about the birth and death of languages. It reveals that every year around 25 languages die out and this is most likely due to the effect of certain languages being commonly used. It also focuses on how some languages that would die out have been brought back from the brink by the efforts of individuals and governments.
Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427311.800-vive-la-difference-of-languages.html
- Augmented Reality to Increase Safety
An augmented reality system has been developed to allow people to see around corners and through walls. It is hoped that it can be applied to cars in the future allowing drivers to see around corners and therefore avoid accidents.
Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18036-augmented-reality-system-lets-you-see-through-walls.html
- Moon Tube
The first lava tube has been discovered on the surface of the moon and has given hope that it might be used as an area to build an outpost to allow for exploration.
Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18030-found-first-skylight-on-the-moon.html
- HIV Vaccine Caution
The results of the trial in Thailand for a HIV vaccine are in and after some analysis it appears that the results aren’t as amazing as they would appear, in fact the data is quite uninspiring as two of the analysis of data are not statistically significant with the final analysis, the only one to be released before publication, was only just statistically significant. One researcher says that the results could just be due to chance.
Link: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091021/full/news.2009.1035.html
- Drug Counteracts the Effect of Sleep Deprivation
Sleep deprivation has been known to have a negative effect on memory however a drug has been made which can prevent this from occurring. It has been tested on mice recently but has proved to have some side effects. It is hoped that the drugs could become more targeted.
Link: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091021/full/news.2009.1036.html
- Sneaky Spiders
Research has shown that males that sneak onto a female’s web and have sex with her after she has been courted by another male can avoid being eaten.
Link: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091021/full/news.2009.1020.html
- Colourless Coral Causes Calamity
Due to the increasing temperature and acidity of the sea coral is being bleached. Not only can bleaching of coral lead to death but also it means that more colourful fish will loose their camouflage leading to more predation.
Link: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091021/full/news.2009.1023.html
- Morrissey Collapses
Former Smiths frontman has collapsed onstage and was taken to hospital with breathing difficulties.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8324492.stm
- Guardian Website Hacked
The Guardian jobs website has been hacked but it has been announced that the site is now secure. Anyone involved has been contacted.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8324630.stm
- BNP Gets Further Rejection
After the news in the week that the queen is urging other royals to reject the BNP the former Arch Bishop of Canterbury Lord Carey is urging Christians to stand together to reject them also. This comes after Griffin, the BNP leader, has said he represents Christian Britain.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8324455.stm
- Sydney Picnic
Harbour Bridge, one of Sydney’s architectural icons was closed so that it may be carpeted with grass to allow for a day of picnics as part of a month long food festival.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8324527.stm
- Drink-Drive Chair to be Auctioned
A customised lounge chair will be auctioned off by police in Minnesota as the owner (a 62 year old) had crashed it whilst drunk. As you could probably guess the customisation is that it can be driven!
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8323997.stm
- Football Team Killed
The bodies of a kidnapped Columbian football team have thought to have been found. All 10 suffered gunshot wounds. At the moment authorities are still trying to identify the people as the members of the football team but some local newspapers have been stating it as fact.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8324496.stm
- Lloyd Webber has Cancer
The famous composer has been diagnosed with prostate cancer but his spokesman states that it’s in the early stages and he is currently undergoing treatment.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8324689.stm
- Irish Sports Star Comes Out
Donal Og Cusack is a goalkeeper for the Cork hurling team and has recently announced that he’s gay. Being from a conservative country, with a conservative family and being well known in a masculine sport must have made it difficult but well done to him!
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8324347.stm
Saturday, 24 October 2009
Gossip Friday Week 3
Yet again this is a late Gossip Post, this also relates to why the Wednesday post was quite short. We (my family) have noticed that our dog has been losing quite a bit of weight and her eyes have been going white at the centre, after the initial panic we got an appointment on Wednesday for Thursday night and found that she had diabetes. We spent Thursday night discussing our options and have decided to put her on insulin treatment and try to take care of her the best we can even after she becomes blind. We went to the vets again last night to learn how to inject her and as such I had no time to write up the post yesterday.
As I've been up since 6 this morning however I've managed to put together the post due yesterday, I hope this makes the grade!
- Unnecessary Sequel of the Week – Mamma Mia 2
Amanda Seyfried one of the stars of the first Mamma Mia movie has stirred speculation of a sequel being made. Nothing definite yet but you never know.
Link: http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-23-mamma-mia-here-we-go-again
- Timberlake’s Daily Crazy
Justin Timberlake had to get a restraining order on a fan who broke into the grounds of his house and refused to leave, she was arrested a short while later.
Link: http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-23-jt-gets-a-restraining-order
- The Never-Ending Story
Katie Price and Peter Andre are still whinging about their marriage. Katie says the marriage was a sham, Peter says that he wants to talk to Katie privately but she’ll just tell everyone their business. Yawn!
Link: http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-23-jordan-katie-price-likes-to-hear-herself-talk-just-keeps-on-doing-it
- When Will the Penny Drop?
Madonna, not learning her lesson about virtually destroying every movie she’s been in, is writing and will be directing a movie. It will be based around the story of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson and Guy Ritchie has even been offering her help.
Link: http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-23-madonna-to-write-direct-and-possibly-star-in-film
- Pamela Anderson in Debt
After the renovation of her Malibu home she has revealed that she’s got over a $1 million debt. Currently she’s being sued by construction companies and living in a trailer park, classy! She’ll be appearing in pantomime around Christmas over here and she may appear on one of our reality TV shows.
Link: http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-23-pam-anderson-opens-up-about-her-massive-debt
- Posh Wedding
Victoria Beckham’s little sister is getting married and Victoria has offered £50,000 to cover the costs even though the fiancé wants to pay for everything himself. I wonder who’ll win?
Link: http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-23-victoria-beckham-wants-to-pay-for-little-sisters-wedding
- More Katie Price Oddness
For her book launch she got her boyfriend and three other men to dress up as her. Have to admit that this is a better way of getting publicity that selling any intimate details of your private life.
Link: http://msnukentertainment.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!3C09FD3E7B34CEFB!43839.entry
- French and Fry
Dawn French and Stephen Fry topped a popularity poll asking which celebrity we’d like to spend our time with. Have to say that I’d agree with either of these choices, they’re both great!
Link: http://msnukentertainment.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!3C09FD3E7B34CEFB!43751.entry
- Reject Factor
Leona Lewis, previous winner of X Factor, was attacked during a book signing. It turns out the culprit was an auditionee for a series of the show and didn’t get past the first round; he launched his attack after becoming jealous of her fame.
Link: http://msnukentertainment.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!3C09FD3E7B34CEFB!43739.entry
- Jackson Portrait to be Auctioned
A Painting of Michael Jackson as made by Andy Warhol will be put up for auction on 10th November in New York.
Link: http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/celebrity/photogalleries/article.aspx?cp-documentid=150428140
- Middle Aged Men Behaving Badly
Neil Morrissey, one of the stars of the show Men Behaving Badly, has said that he’d be interested in bringing the show back. Co-star Martin Clunes has also spoken about it.
Link: http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/tv/news/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=150420886
- Wild Wild West
Kanye West has been given 50 hours community service after fighting with photographers last year and damaging equipment. Classy as always Kanye…
Link: http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/music/news/nme/article.aspx?cp-documentid=150426476
- Even Celebs Have Controlling Parents
Mr. Spears has apparently taken over his daughter’s life to try and clean up her image. Sources say she has become isolated and people around her are afraid that they’ll get replaced on his command.
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a183422/spears-father-leaves-star-isolated.html
- Another Celeb Restraining Order
LiLo threatened her father recently with a restraining order but he has sent a letter into the American magazine In Touch that has been published. The quotes are completely cringe-worthy and I couldn’t stand to repeat them.
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a183283/lohans-dad-publishes-letter-in-magazine.html
- Original Sugababe Line-Up Doesn’t Look Likely
Keisha has denied all rumours that there were plans for the original line-up of Sugababes to reunite. Anyone else glad?
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a183388/keisha-rules-out-sugababes-reunion.html
- Harris Not Happy
Calvin Harris is REALLY not happy that GMTV wouldn’t let him perform his latest song on their show. From the looks of the quotes he’s having a bit of a sulk. Come on Calvin, cheer up, I like your song and really dislike GMTV too!
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a183372/calvin-harris-furious-over-gmtv-snub.html
- Whedon Not Fussed
After Dollhouse returned with its lowest ratings yet it will be put on hiatus in November. The rest of the episodes will be shown back to back in December. He has said that he isn’t as depressed as everyone else about it. Still haven’t seen Dollhouse yet – is it any good?
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/s63/dollhouse/news/a183437/whedon-prepared-for-dollhouse-break.html
- Hart’s Career Resurfaces
Melissa Joan Hart, star of Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina the Teenage Witch will be making a come back in a new ABC family comedy. At this stage she’ll only be in the pilot but she’s hoping that it’ll be made into a series. I for one have my fingers crossed, I loved her shows, but the photo used of her doesn’t look to good, not aging well.
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/news/a183341/melissa-joan-hart-discusses-new-tv-role.html
- Poor Fearne
I feel really sorry for Fearne Cotton right now; TV critics have stated that she’s famous for doing nothing. How dare they! She’s a popular radio 1 DJ and has hosted quite a few TV shows for a number of years now. Though I’m not really a fan I do think that she deserves some credit for the amount of work she does.
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a183303/fearne-cotton-slams-tv-critics.html
- X-box Say No to Blu-Ray
Microsoft has said that they will not be adding a Blu-ray drives to the X-box 360.
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a183377/microsoft-dismisses-blu-ray-for-360.html
- DSi Slip Up
On a customer support page for the Nintendo DSi the latest function ‘DSi speak’ channel was revealed before the official announcement. Oops.
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a183374/nintendo-inadvertently-reveals-dsi-speak.html
- Magneto No More?
The X-Men film focusing on the origin of Magneto may not be made. It is apparently last on the list to be made and Sir Ian McKellen would not appear.
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/comics/news/a182511/magneto-movie-may-never-be-made.html
So thats the end for today and I'll try to get a post done for tomorrow but it might not appear until Monday for the reasons I've mentioned at the start. Check back again soon!
As I've been up since 6 this morning however I've managed to put together the post due yesterday, I hope this makes the grade!
- Unnecessary Sequel of the Week – Mamma Mia 2
Amanda Seyfried one of the stars of the first Mamma Mia movie has stirred speculation of a sequel being made. Nothing definite yet but you never know.
Link: http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-23-mamma-mia-here-we-go-again
- Timberlake’s Daily Crazy
Justin Timberlake had to get a restraining order on a fan who broke into the grounds of his house and refused to leave, she was arrested a short while later.
Link: http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-23-jt-gets-a-restraining-order
- The Never-Ending Story
Katie Price and Peter Andre are still whinging about their marriage. Katie says the marriage was a sham, Peter says that he wants to talk to Katie privately but she’ll just tell everyone their business. Yawn!
Link: http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-23-jordan-katie-price-likes-to-hear-herself-talk-just-keeps-on-doing-it
- When Will the Penny Drop?
Madonna, not learning her lesson about virtually destroying every movie she’s been in, is writing and will be directing a movie. It will be based around the story of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson and Guy Ritchie has even been offering her help.
Link: http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-23-madonna-to-write-direct-and-possibly-star-in-film
- Pamela Anderson in Debt
After the renovation of her Malibu home she has revealed that she’s got over a $1 million debt. Currently she’s being sued by construction companies and living in a trailer park, classy! She’ll be appearing in pantomime around Christmas over here and she may appear on one of our reality TV shows.
Link: http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-23-pam-anderson-opens-up-about-her-massive-debt
- Posh Wedding
Victoria Beckham’s little sister is getting married and Victoria has offered £50,000 to cover the costs even though the fiancé wants to pay for everything himself. I wonder who’ll win?
Link: http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-23-victoria-beckham-wants-to-pay-for-little-sisters-wedding
- More Katie Price Oddness
For her book launch she got her boyfriend and three other men to dress up as her. Have to admit that this is a better way of getting publicity that selling any intimate details of your private life.
Link: http://msnukentertainment.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!3C09FD3E7B34CEFB!43839.entry
- French and Fry
Dawn French and Stephen Fry topped a popularity poll asking which celebrity we’d like to spend our time with. Have to say that I’d agree with either of these choices, they’re both great!
Link: http://msnukentertainment.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!3C09FD3E7B34CEFB!43751.entry
- Reject Factor
Leona Lewis, previous winner of X Factor, was attacked during a book signing. It turns out the culprit was an auditionee for a series of the show and didn’t get past the first round; he launched his attack after becoming jealous of her fame.
Link: http://msnukentertainment.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!3C09FD3E7B34CEFB!43739.entry
- Jackson Portrait to be Auctioned
A Painting of Michael Jackson as made by Andy Warhol will be put up for auction on 10th November in New York.
Link: http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/celebrity/photogalleries/article.aspx?cp-documentid=150428140
- Middle Aged Men Behaving Badly
Neil Morrissey, one of the stars of the show Men Behaving Badly, has said that he’d be interested in bringing the show back. Co-star Martin Clunes has also spoken about it.
Link: http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/tv/news/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=150420886
- Wild Wild West
Kanye West has been given 50 hours community service after fighting with photographers last year and damaging equipment. Classy as always Kanye…
Link: http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/music/news/nme/article.aspx?cp-documentid=150426476
- Even Celebs Have Controlling Parents
Mr. Spears has apparently taken over his daughter’s life to try and clean up her image. Sources say she has become isolated and people around her are afraid that they’ll get replaced on his command.
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a183422/spears-father-leaves-star-isolated.html
- Another Celeb Restraining Order
LiLo threatened her father recently with a restraining order but he has sent a letter into the American magazine In Touch that has been published. The quotes are completely cringe-worthy and I couldn’t stand to repeat them.
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a183283/lohans-dad-publishes-letter-in-magazine.html
- Original Sugababe Line-Up Doesn’t Look Likely
Keisha has denied all rumours that there were plans for the original line-up of Sugababes to reunite. Anyone else glad?
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a183388/keisha-rules-out-sugababes-reunion.html
- Harris Not Happy
Calvin Harris is REALLY not happy that GMTV wouldn’t let him perform his latest song on their show. From the looks of the quotes he’s having a bit of a sulk. Come on Calvin, cheer up, I like your song and really dislike GMTV too!
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a183372/calvin-harris-furious-over-gmtv-snub.html
- Whedon Not Fussed
After Dollhouse returned with its lowest ratings yet it will be put on hiatus in November. The rest of the episodes will be shown back to back in December. He has said that he isn’t as depressed as everyone else about it. Still haven’t seen Dollhouse yet – is it any good?
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/s63/dollhouse/news/a183437/whedon-prepared-for-dollhouse-break.html
- Hart’s Career Resurfaces
Melissa Joan Hart, star of Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina the Teenage Witch will be making a come back in a new ABC family comedy. At this stage she’ll only be in the pilot but she’s hoping that it’ll be made into a series. I for one have my fingers crossed, I loved her shows, but the photo used of her doesn’t look to good, not aging well.
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/news/a183341/melissa-joan-hart-discusses-new-tv-role.html
- Poor Fearne
I feel really sorry for Fearne Cotton right now; TV critics have stated that she’s famous for doing nothing. How dare they! She’s a popular radio 1 DJ and has hosted quite a few TV shows for a number of years now. Though I’m not really a fan I do think that she deserves some credit for the amount of work she does.
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a183303/fearne-cotton-slams-tv-critics.html
- X-box Say No to Blu-Ray
Microsoft has said that they will not be adding a Blu-ray drives to the X-box 360.
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a183377/microsoft-dismisses-blu-ray-for-360.html
- DSi Slip Up
On a customer support page for the Nintendo DSi the latest function ‘DSi speak’ channel was revealed before the official announcement. Oops.
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a183374/nintendo-inadvertently-reveals-dsi-speak.html
- Magneto No More?
The X-Men film focusing on the origin of Magneto may not be made. It is apparently last on the list to be made and Sir Ian McKellen would not appear.
Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/comics/news/a182511/magneto-movie-may-never-be-made.html
So thats the end for today and I'll try to get a post done for tomorrow but it might not appear until Monday for the reasons I've mentioned at the start. Check back again soon!
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Short Review Post
It’s a short post this week I’m afraid, however to make up for it here is a review for the new Rihanna song released yesterday and a short internet cartoon to keep you occupied.
Rihanna – Russian Roulette
The PR machine churned out another odd idea yesterday, as Rihanna’s album is released on 23rd November the song had to be played at exactly 11:23 am in America meaning 4:23 pm here. Worked well though, a lot of people have been talking about it; anyway time for a review….but first a detour….
So has anyone else heard the rumour about a lyric in her song referring to her ex Chris Brown? On Radio 1 today they did ask the people who handle publicity for Rihanna but they declined to comment. Anyone have an opinion about this?
The opening to the song has a great 80’s feel to it. As the song continues the slow beat and melodic vocals fit together really well. Though usually not a fan of her music in general I do quite like this song and in my opinion is probably her best song yet.
Enjoyment rating: 4 stars, altogether great but not really what I like.
Internet distraction – The Cheese Family
Short cartoon from the makers of Weebl and Bob set around a family of cheeses. The style is like that of a children’s book whilst the plot is more like that of an awful soap. Sometimes sweary, funny throughout and features Brian Blessed so of course it’s worth a watch.
Link: http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/The+Cheese+Family/
Time spent: Couple of minutes.
Distraction rating: 3.5 stars, worth a watch, quite funny, but it might not be to everyone’s taste.
Work distraction: NSFW.
Rihanna – Russian Roulette
The PR machine churned out another odd idea yesterday, as Rihanna’s album is released on 23rd November the song had to be played at exactly 11:23 am in America meaning 4:23 pm here. Worked well though, a lot of people have been talking about it; anyway time for a review….but first a detour….
So has anyone else heard the rumour about a lyric in her song referring to her ex Chris Brown? On Radio 1 today they did ask the people who handle publicity for Rihanna but they declined to comment. Anyone have an opinion about this?
The opening to the song has a great 80’s feel to it. As the song continues the slow beat and melodic vocals fit together really well. Though usually not a fan of her music in general I do quite like this song and in my opinion is probably her best song yet.
Enjoyment rating: 4 stars, altogether great but not really what I like.
Internet distraction – The Cheese Family
Short cartoon from the makers of Weebl and Bob set around a family of cheeses. The style is like that of a children’s book whilst the plot is more like that of an awful soap. Sometimes sweary, funny throughout and features Brian Blessed so of course it’s worth a watch.
Link: http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/The+Cheese+Family/
Time spent: Couple of minutes.
Distraction rating: 3.5 stars, worth a watch, quite funny, but it might not be to everyone’s taste.
Work distraction: NSFW.
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Sunday News Post
- Placebo Effect has Origin in Spinal Cord
Research has indicated that the Placebo Effect’s ability to deaden pain can be traced back to the spine.
Researchers scanned the spinal cords (using fMRI) of volunteers whilst carrying out a routine of applying painful heat to one arm before rubbing on a cream, which the subjects were made to believe, was a painkilling salve. The results were that the pain cells in the spine weren’t activated.
Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17993-placebo-effect-caught-in-the-act-in-spinal-nerves.html
- Lunar Lunacy – Who Owns the Moon?
Not long ago you’ll all remember that America used a satellite to see the amount of water resources on the moon by crashing into it.
If we were to be able to ‘harvest’ resources from the moon who would control it?
The UN Lunar Treaty, which was established in 1990, has never been signed meaning that it will most likely be left up to colonisation.
Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427306.000-the-moon-belongs-to-no-one--yet.html
- Personal Big Brother
A new type of camera has been developed by Microsoft. The camera is worn like a pendant and is able to take a picture every 30 seconds if needed.
Photos are taken using a light sensor or a heat sensor meaning that they are triggered when a person enters a new environment or are approached by another person.
With a 1-gigabyte memory a total of 30,000 photos can be stored.
The original purpose was for research into various dementias and has been shown to improve a person’s ability to recall events much better than without.
So far only 500 have been made however a deal has been made with Vicon to put the camera into large-scale production.
Another use has also been suggested however; in comparison to the serious suggestion one Microsoft researcher has been using the camera to create a ‘lifeblog’ where the pictures taken can tell a story of a person’s day.
Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17992-new-camera-promises-to-capture-your-whole-life.html
- Insulin Minus the Injection (Kind Of)
An Israeli firm have been making use of detoxified stinging cells from Sea anemones and jellyfish.
The cells themselves are added to a cream that is mixed with whatever substance is wanted to be introduced into the body. The cells, when rubbed into the skin, extend into needles but due to the size they are completely painless. As about 1/3 of the cells should point into the skin when the cream is applied.
Currently a version of the cream which uses lidocaine (a painkiller) is in phase II trials in the US, as well as this research with mice is allowing for the possibility that insulin may be provided painlessly into the body.
Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17985-sea-anemone-stings-make-a-hypodermic-skin-cream.html
- Metamaterials Allow For Portable Black Hole
Metamaterials are materials that allow for the bending of light. A new ‘black hole’ (I use inverted commas as it doesn’t use gravity like in a classic black hole but affects the magnetic and electric fields of passing light) has been created using metamaterial circles or rings that cause light to bend towards the centre and then get converted into heat.
Currently the ‘holes’ can only suck up microwave ‘light’ but it is thought that by the end of the year it would be possible to create a ‘hole’ that could take in visible light and therefore have promising applications inside of solar cells.
Link: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091015/full/news.2009.1007.html
- Sex Smells
Using fruitflies it has been proven that certain chemicals are produced to indicate who should mate with whom. By knocking out cells that produce hydrocarbons on the surface on the flies (that act as pheromones) it could be seen that no matter what gender or type of fly they were they would vigorously try to mate with each other. By reintroducing certain hydrocarbons they could tell what chemicals caused what effects. One hydrocarbon showed how males identified other males to stop same sex mating whilst another made sure that different species didn’t try to interbreed.
Link: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091014/full/news.2009.1000.html
- The Impenetrable Barrier Penetrated
The blood-brain barrier has long been thought to be completely impenetrable however how would that allow for diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis that are autoimmune diseases that affect the central nervous system.
Previously it has been proven that immune cells have been present in the brain by histological studies but never before has the process of how they enter been seen. Researchers in Germany watched in real time as immune cells known as T cells entered the central nervous system of rats causing diseases to manifest.
One thing that can be taken away from this is that the previously imagined method on how immune cells could cross over isn’t right and that a new method of migration has been suggested after watching the video.
Link: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091014/full/news.2009.1003.html
- Red Sky at Night
On 13th October a rare sight occurred in the skies of the Netherlands at around 7pm, a fireball streaked across the evening sky before exploding high in the atmosphere generating a sonic boom and a low rumble which caused many windows to rattle.
Pictures can be found if you follow the link.
Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091015-fireball-explodes-netherlands-germany-picture.html
- What Killed the Dinosaurs? Another Clue Emerges.
It was previously suggested that a large asteroid that collided with the Earth around the Mexico area had caused the dinosaur extinction however an even larger crater was discovered on the western coast of India which shows a greater impact occurred around 600,000 years after the Mexican collision.
The Shiva crater (as it has been named) shows indications that the impact caused the ground to be vaporised allowing the magma underneath to become exposed and thereby exacerbate the already occurring volcanic activity.
It is thought that volcanic emissions from the Indian volcanoes are what partially contributed to the dinosaur extinction.
Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091016-asteroid-impact-india-dinosaurs.html
- Site to Become Sacred Once More
Ayers Rock or Uluru is an Australian landmark but before European settlers arrived there the Aboriginals thought of Uluru as a sacred place. Though Aborigines have asked people not to climb or take photos of the sacred site their wishes have been disregarded for a long time. Presently talks are underway to make sure that tourists would not be able to climb the site anymore. From the sounds of it this wouldn’t be purely out of reasons of respect its also due to the number of people who’ve died trying to climb it as well as the mess produced by tourists due to the lack of bins and toilets.
Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091016-australia-uluru-video-ap.html
- Moon Still Holds Many Secrets
Due to the lack of atmosphere around the moon it is affected by solar winds. Solar winds are compromised of charged particles such as protons.
It has been suggested that the bombardment of the moon by solar winds is what generates the water that can be found there.
Another surprise that has been discovered along with this is that one in 5 protons is reflected or bounced from the surface where as it was previously thought that all particles would be absorbed by the soil.
When a bounce occurs the proton interacts with the ground and becomes a neutral hydrogen atom allowing it now to be affected by electromagnetic forces, also with the miniscule effect that gravity has on the moon it could easily escape.
In the future it is hoped that a map could be created to show where the solar winds interact with the moon the most.
Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091016-moon-water-sun-bounce.html
- Invisible Ribbon Stuns Scientists
A ribbon has been spotted at the edge of the solar system, well kind of; the twist is that no-one can see it!
The edge of the solar system is protected by a structure called the heliosphere which is the protective limit generated by solar winds spreading from the sun in all directions.
When gases from outside of the solar system slip in they meet the charged particles of the solar winds producing Energetic Neutral Atoms. A satellite monitoring the ENAs had noticed a collection of ENAs creating a ribbon in one section near the edge of the system.
The ribbon itself suggests that ENAs can be generated at higher concentrations at certain points of the heliosphere more than others thought at the moment there is no definite reason why. One suggestion has been that the Milky Way has a magnetic field that causes more ENAs to be made whenever it interacts with the heliosphere.
Though there is no explanation as of yet the latest news is that another map of the area is being taken and indicates that the shape of the ribbon is changing.
I love the sound of this, it sounds (at a stretch) like a scaled up version of the aurora.
Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091015-edge-solar-system-ribbon-ibex.html
- Rumble Down Under(ground)
Has anyone else seen the video of the Tube worker shouting in an elderly man’s face? Did you even hear about it? If not here are the details…
After getting his arm stuck in a door an elderly gentleman approached on of the staff to say what had happened. The member of staff in question hurled abuse at the man to get him to stand behind the yellow line and when asked why he had to swear he went on another rant finishing by saying that the man should be thrown under a train.
Nice to know that as prices for all public transport seems to rise the way the public is treated stays at a constant level of awfulness (or rather just gets worse).
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8310436.stm
- Atlantis Discovered?
Though the Atlantis legend has existed for a long time a site, which was discovered in 1967, could be the inspiration for the story.
Pavlopetri is the world’s oldest submerged town and with the latest technology artefacts and structures dating back up to 5.000 years are being uncovered. They even claim to have an almost complete town plan!
It appears with the town being deserted around 1,100 years ago and never being reused after due to submersion it has been excellently preserved and so research shall be carried out until a paper is published on the town in 2014.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/8311246.stm
- The Coldest Place in the Solar System
The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) has been cooled to deep space temperatures ahead of the restart in late November. At –273oC the temperature is just above absolute zero. The reason for the extreme temperature is that the magnets used can only have superconducting properties at such lows.
Collisions have been scheduled for December but with delays its more likely that they’ll occur in January of next year. This is also affected by the decision that there will be a hiatus over Christmas and New Year whilst workers contracts are re-negotiated.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8309875.stm
- Weird Science
BBC news has an article on Sci-Fi science and whether there could be any possibility that it may come true in the future.
Firstly it tackles the topic of time travel by stating that currently there isn’t any theory to rule out the possibility of time travel and that it may be possible to use wormholes to travel through time but as of yet the matter needed to keep it open we don’t have.
The second topic, wireless electricity, has already been proven possible and so far there is a clamour for private companies to provide the service and products, its obviously going to be a great money making tool.
Next is antimatter, which again has already been proven, but there would be no way to make a financial gain as it would be too difficult to produce.
Last topic is teleportation, this one’s a bit tricky, so far it has got to a point where quantum information can be transported to one photon to another due to entanglement. The problem with this is that with quantum teleportation only transfers information and not matter. After this the experiment has also been tried on atoms.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8310420.stm
- The 4th Plinth
After 100 days it has ended, the piece of art which sees members of the public getting an hour in which they can do what they want (within reason) on the 4th Plinth in Trafalgar Square.
So now, is this art or is it something else?
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8306553.stm
- Genius at 2
A boy aged 2 ½ has been accepted into MENSA when testers have decided that his IQ is the equivalent to that of Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein. Instead of the usual 20-word vocabulary an average 2 year old has he instead had a 600-word vocab!
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/8303880.stm
- I Hope That Was Covered by the Insurance!
A couple in Hull got a shock when 4lb (1.8kg) chunk of metal crashed into their house from above. After initial inspection by the RAF, who must look into matters involving falling objects to make sure that they aren’t to blame, it was thought that the metal had fallen from space.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/8309245.stm
- MPs Yet Again Waste Time Whinging About Something Unimportant
Sorry for the long title, I wanted to express my rage using Caps. Lock. Now then, Strangers’ Café has seating areas for MPs only (which is cordoned off) and another section for staff and public. The less used MPs only section apparently is taking up space that could be used for the public and after the café has expanded the section for the public MPs have been in a rage trying to get it reversed to get their obviously precious seating returned to them.
I think that MPs shouldn’t get private seating at all, let them queue like the rest of us for our lunches, they could even phone in their order and collect it when they arrive like other businesses do. Obviously MPs are so privileged with their claims, expenses and perks that they no longer care about the public and are only out to look after themselves, the sooner they have to have a set wage ONLY the better for everyone, then at least the people who do the job would be doing it for the right reasons.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8309003.stm
- Facebook Fiend
One journalist details how she tried to escape the clutches of Facebook only to be dragged back into the fold within a few days. The article isn’t marvellously interesting but can be quite funny.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8299362.stm
- Mothers Web of Lies
A mother has collected around £130,000 in disability benefits after having her child to appear as the sickest child in Britain. She made her son appear to have cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, dysphagia, food allergies and diabetes. Though perfectly healthy he was forced to use a wheelchair with oxygen cylinders, he had unnecessary operations and had a feeding tube installed. The mother also managed to wrangle a free motability car, celebrity meetings and free holidays courtesy of charity organisations.
Her deceit was realised after her son was noticed eating food instead of using his tube and suffered no allergic reaction, playing football and diving even though he was supposed to be wheelchair bound and finally her claim that she had been raped to avoid an appointment at hospital where the doctors would have found that her son didn’t have diabetes. She had been adding glucose to his samples to make it appear he had the disease.
The mother faces multiple charges, a psychiatric report and up to 3 ½ years in prison.
Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6878582.ece
- BOGOF over?
The end of BOGOF for food is nigh. After the idea that these offers contribute towards the amount of food wasted a year. The linked article runs through the opinions of the writer as to how this has come about.
Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6878512.ece
- Suicides Plague France Telecom
A series of 25 suicides have occurred within the France Telecom company. The recent spate of copycat deaths have thought to have been blamed on the company restructure due to global recession.
Link: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/France-Telecom-Suicides-Engineer-Hangs-Himself-In-Brittany-To-Become-25th-Death-At-Company/Article/200910315407224?lpos=Business_Third_Home_Page_Article_Teaser_Region__1&lid=ARTICLE_15407224_France_Telecom_Suicides%3A_Engineer_Hangs_Himself_In_Brittany_To_Become_25th_Death_At_Company
Research has indicated that the Placebo Effect’s ability to deaden pain can be traced back to the spine.
Researchers scanned the spinal cords (using fMRI) of volunteers whilst carrying out a routine of applying painful heat to one arm before rubbing on a cream, which the subjects were made to believe, was a painkilling salve. The results were that the pain cells in the spine weren’t activated.
Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17993-placebo-effect-caught-in-the-act-in-spinal-nerves.html
- Lunar Lunacy – Who Owns the Moon?
Not long ago you’ll all remember that America used a satellite to see the amount of water resources on the moon by crashing into it.
If we were to be able to ‘harvest’ resources from the moon who would control it?
The UN Lunar Treaty, which was established in 1990, has never been signed meaning that it will most likely be left up to colonisation.
Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427306.000-the-moon-belongs-to-no-one--yet.html
- Personal Big Brother
A new type of camera has been developed by Microsoft. The camera is worn like a pendant and is able to take a picture every 30 seconds if needed.
Photos are taken using a light sensor or a heat sensor meaning that they are triggered when a person enters a new environment or are approached by another person.
With a 1-gigabyte memory a total of 30,000 photos can be stored.
The original purpose was for research into various dementias and has been shown to improve a person’s ability to recall events much better than without.
So far only 500 have been made however a deal has been made with Vicon to put the camera into large-scale production.
Another use has also been suggested however; in comparison to the serious suggestion one Microsoft researcher has been using the camera to create a ‘lifeblog’ where the pictures taken can tell a story of a person’s day.
Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17992-new-camera-promises-to-capture-your-whole-life.html
- Insulin Minus the Injection (Kind Of)
An Israeli firm have been making use of detoxified stinging cells from Sea anemones and jellyfish.
The cells themselves are added to a cream that is mixed with whatever substance is wanted to be introduced into the body. The cells, when rubbed into the skin, extend into needles but due to the size they are completely painless. As about 1/3 of the cells should point into the skin when the cream is applied.
Currently a version of the cream which uses lidocaine (a painkiller) is in phase II trials in the US, as well as this research with mice is allowing for the possibility that insulin may be provided painlessly into the body.
Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17985-sea-anemone-stings-make-a-hypodermic-skin-cream.html
- Metamaterials Allow For Portable Black Hole
Metamaterials are materials that allow for the bending of light. A new ‘black hole’ (I use inverted commas as it doesn’t use gravity like in a classic black hole but affects the magnetic and electric fields of passing light) has been created using metamaterial circles or rings that cause light to bend towards the centre and then get converted into heat.
Currently the ‘holes’ can only suck up microwave ‘light’ but it is thought that by the end of the year it would be possible to create a ‘hole’ that could take in visible light and therefore have promising applications inside of solar cells.
Link: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091015/full/news.2009.1007.html
- Sex Smells
Using fruitflies it has been proven that certain chemicals are produced to indicate who should mate with whom. By knocking out cells that produce hydrocarbons on the surface on the flies (that act as pheromones) it could be seen that no matter what gender or type of fly they were they would vigorously try to mate with each other. By reintroducing certain hydrocarbons they could tell what chemicals caused what effects. One hydrocarbon showed how males identified other males to stop same sex mating whilst another made sure that different species didn’t try to interbreed.
Link: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091014/full/news.2009.1000.html
- The Impenetrable Barrier Penetrated
The blood-brain barrier has long been thought to be completely impenetrable however how would that allow for diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis that are autoimmune diseases that affect the central nervous system.
Previously it has been proven that immune cells have been present in the brain by histological studies but never before has the process of how they enter been seen. Researchers in Germany watched in real time as immune cells known as T cells entered the central nervous system of rats causing diseases to manifest.
One thing that can be taken away from this is that the previously imagined method on how immune cells could cross over isn’t right and that a new method of migration has been suggested after watching the video.
Link: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091014/full/news.2009.1003.html
- Red Sky at Night
On 13th October a rare sight occurred in the skies of the Netherlands at around 7pm, a fireball streaked across the evening sky before exploding high in the atmosphere generating a sonic boom and a low rumble which caused many windows to rattle.
Pictures can be found if you follow the link.
Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091015-fireball-explodes-netherlands-germany-picture.html
- What Killed the Dinosaurs? Another Clue Emerges.
It was previously suggested that a large asteroid that collided with the Earth around the Mexico area had caused the dinosaur extinction however an even larger crater was discovered on the western coast of India which shows a greater impact occurred around 600,000 years after the Mexican collision.
The Shiva crater (as it has been named) shows indications that the impact caused the ground to be vaporised allowing the magma underneath to become exposed and thereby exacerbate the already occurring volcanic activity.
It is thought that volcanic emissions from the Indian volcanoes are what partially contributed to the dinosaur extinction.
Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091016-asteroid-impact-india-dinosaurs.html
- Site to Become Sacred Once More
Ayers Rock or Uluru is an Australian landmark but before European settlers arrived there the Aboriginals thought of Uluru as a sacred place. Though Aborigines have asked people not to climb or take photos of the sacred site their wishes have been disregarded for a long time. Presently talks are underway to make sure that tourists would not be able to climb the site anymore. From the sounds of it this wouldn’t be purely out of reasons of respect its also due to the number of people who’ve died trying to climb it as well as the mess produced by tourists due to the lack of bins and toilets.
Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091016-australia-uluru-video-ap.html
- Moon Still Holds Many Secrets
Due to the lack of atmosphere around the moon it is affected by solar winds. Solar winds are compromised of charged particles such as protons.
It has been suggested that the bombardment of the moon by solar winds is what generates the water that can be found there.
Another surprise that has been discovered along with this is that one in 5 protons is reflected or bounced from the surface where as it was previously thought that all particles would be absorbed by the soil.
When a bounce occurs the proton interacts with the ground and becomes a neutral hydrogen atom allowing it now to be affected by electromagnetic forces, also with the miniscule effect that gravity has on the moon it could easily escape.
In the future it is hoped that a map could be created to show where the solar winds interact with the moon the most.
Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091016-moon-water-sun-bounce.html
- Invisible Ribbon Stuns Scientists
A ribbon has been spotted at the edge of the solar system, well kind of; the twist is that no-one can see it!
The edge of the solar system is protected by a structure called the heliosphere which is the protective limit generated by solar winds spreading from the sun in all directions.
When gases from outside of the solar system slip in they meet the charged particles of the solar winds producing Energetic Neutral Atoms. A satellite monitoring the ENAs had noticed a collection of ENAs creating a ribbon in one section near the edge of the system.
The ribbon itself suggests that ENAs can be generated at higher concentrations at certain points of the heliosphere more than others thought at the moment there is no definite reason why. One suggestion has been that the Milky Way has a magnetic field that causes more ENAs to be made whenever it interacts with the heliosphere.
Though there is no explanation as of yet the latest news is that another map of the area is being taken and indicates that the shape of the ribbon is changing.
I love the sound of this, it sounds (at a stretch) like a scaled up version of the aurora.
Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091015-edge-solar-system-ribbon-ibex.html
- Rumble Down Under(ground)
Has anyone else seen the video of the Tube worker shouting in an elderly man’s face? Did you even hear about it? If not here are the details…
After getting his arm stuck in a door an elderly gentleman approached on of the staff to say what had happened. The member of staff in question hurled abuse at the man to get him to stand behind the yellow line and when asked why he had to swear he went on another rant finishing by saying that the man should be thrown under a train.
Nice to know that as prices for all public transport seems to rise the way the public is treated stays at a constant level of awfulness (or rather just gets worse).
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8310436.stm
- Atlantis Discovered?
Though the Atlantis legend has existed for a long time a site, which was discovered in 1967, could be the inspiration for the story.
Pavlopetri is the world’s oldest submerged town and with the latest technology artefacts and structures dating back up to 5.000 years are being uncovered. They even claim to have an almost complete town plan!
It appears with the town being deserted around 1,100 years ago and never being reused after due to submersion it has been excellently preserved and so research shall be carried out until a paper is published on the town in 2014.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/8311246.stm
- The Coldest Place in the Solar System
The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) has been cooled to deep space temperatures ahead of the restart in late November. At –273oC the temperature is just above absolute zero. The reason for the extreme temperature is that the magnets used can only have superconducting properties at such lows.
Collisions have been scheduled for December but with delays its more likely that they’ll occur in January of next year. This is also affected by the decision that there will be a hiatus over Christmas and New Year whilst workers contracts are re-negotiated.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8309875.stm
- Weird Science
BBC news has an article on Sci-Fi science and whether there could be any possibility that it may come true in the future.
Firstly it tackles the topic of time travel by stating that currently there isn’t any theory to rule out the possibility of time travel and that it may be possible to use wormholes to travel through time but as of yet the matter needed to keep it open we don’t have.
The second topic, wireless electricity, has already been proven possible and so far there is a clamour for private companies to provide the service and products, its obviously going to be a great money making tool.
Next is antimatter, which again has already been proven, but there would be no way to make a financial gain as it would be too difficult to produce.
Last topic is teleportation, this one’s a bit tricky, so far it has got to a point where quantum information can be transported to one photon to another due to entanglement. The problem with this is that with quantum teleportation only transfers information and not matter. After this the experiment has also been tried on atoms.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8310420.stm
- The 4th Plinth
After 100 days it has ended, the piece of art which sees members of the public getting an hour in which they can do what they want (within reason) on the 4th Plinth in Trafalgar Square.
So now, is this art or is it something else?
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8306553.stm
- Genius at 2
A boy aged 2 ½ has been accepted into MENSA when testers have decided that his IQ is the equivalent to that of Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein. Instead of the usual 20-word vocabulary an average 2 year old has he instead had a 600-word vocab!
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/8303880.stm
- I Hope That Was Covered by the Insurance!
A couple in Hull got a shock when 4lb (1.8kg) chunk of metal crashed into their house from above. After initial inspection by the RAF, who must look into matters involving falling objects to make sure that they aren’t to blame, it was thought that the metal had fallen from space.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/8309245.stm
- MPs Yet Again Waste Time Whinging About Something Unimportant
Sorry for the long title, I wanted to express my rage using Caps. Lock. Now then, Strangers’ Café has seating areas for MPs only (which is cordoned off) and another section for staff and public. The less used MPs only section apparently is taking up space that could be used for the public and after the café has expanded the section for the public MPs have been in a rage trying to get it reversed to get their obviously precious seating returned to them.
I think that MPs shouldn’t get private seating at all, let them queue like the rest of us for our lunches, they could even phone in their order and collect it when they arrive like other businesses do. Obviously MPs are so privileged with their claims, expenses and perks that they no longer care about the public and are only out to look after themselves, the sooner they have to have a set wage ONLY the better for everyone, then at least the people who do the job would be doing it for the right reasons.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8309003.stm
- Facebook Fiend
One journalist details how she tried to escape the clutches of Facebook only to be dragged back into the fold within a few days. The article isn’t marvellously interesting but can be quite funny.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8299362.stm
- Mothers Web of Lies
A mother has collected around £130,000 in disability benefits after having her child to appear as the sickest child in Britain. She made her son appear to have cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, dysphagia, food allergies and diabetes. Though perfectly healthy he was forced to use a wheelchair with oxygen cylinders, he had unnecessary operations and had a feeding tube installed. The mother also managed to wrangle a free motability car, celebrity meetings and free holidays courtesy of charity organisations.
Her deceit was realised after her son was noticed eating food instead of using his tube and suffered no allergic reaction, playing football and diving even though he was supposed to be wheelchair bound and finally her claim that she had been raped to avoid an appointment at hospital where the doctors would have found that her son didn’t have diabetes. She had been adding glucose to his samples to make it appear he had the disease.
The mother faces multiple charges, a psychiatric report and up to 3 ½ years in prison.
Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6878582.ece
- BOGOF over?
The end of BOGOF for food is nigh. After the idea that these offers contribute towards the amount of food wasted a year. The linked article runs through the opinions of the writer as to how this has come about.
Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6878512.ece
- Suicides Plague France Telecom
A series of 25 suicides have occurred within the France Telecom company. The recent spate of copycat deaths have thought to have been blamed on the company restructure due to global recession.
Link: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/France-Telecom-Suicides-Engineer-Hangs-Himself-In-Brittany-To-Become-25th-Death-At-Company/Article/200910315407224?lpos=Business_Third_Home_Page_Article_Teaser_Region__1&lid=ARTICLE_15407224_France_Telecom_Suicides%3A_Engineer_Hangs_Himself_In_Brittany_To_Become_25th_Death_At_Company
Saturday, 17 October 2009
Gossip Friday (On Saturday)
As mentioned on Wednesday there was a leaving party at work and by the time I got home it was too late to get todays post done on time. Instead I've got (I hope) a good selection of gossip stories from the usual online sources.
- Lindsay Lohan Rehab Drama
It looks like LiLo has managed to get another year probation meaning that she’s free to make as many Amy Winehouse impressions as she wishes. According to what Perez calls ‘an insider’ at the court she was “dishevelled and strung-out with blood shot eyes and an alarmingly skinny frame” and let her lawyer do all the talking.
Her father Michael wasn’t happy, and quite rightly so, that his daughter got out of trouble once again and decided to, quite wrongly so, talk to the press about it. He believes that the judge should have sent her to rehab…I’m sure we all think the same on that point.
Link:
http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-16-michael-lohan-thinks-judge-should-have-sent-lindsay-to-rehab
- X-men Move Updates
Bryan Singer has been in discussions to return.
Wolverine 2 should hopefully be better than the first as it actually IS the first. The plot for the second film was supposed to be the plot for the first film but got shelved as Tom Rothman decided that the first film should be that (waste of time – I stand by my opinion) origin story.
X-men: First Class will be funny and out of this world much like the recently released comics apparently but will not be a kiddie film just like the darker Harry Potter films. I really hope this doesn’t get screwed up but I’m finding it difficult to see what they’re trying to do just from this. Maybe it’ll just end up like an extended episode of Smallville or Merlin?
Ryan Renolds should be returning as Deadpool to the film of the same name.
Link:
http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-16-x-men-are-coming-lots-of-them
- Desperate Housewives Get Soapy
It appears that Desperate Housewives is going to use a plot that Emmerdale used a few years ago; a plane is going to crash into Wysteria Lane.
The surprise twist to this is that there may be a possibility that it will be an Oceanic Airlines flight courtesy of Lost. No deal as of yet but it looks very likely.
Link:
http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-16-oceanic-flight-815-crashes-on-wisteria-lane
- Nic Cage Follow Up #1
Just to bring you up to speed Nic Cage owes around $6 million dollars. Now he’s suing his former business manager for causing him financial ruin. Personally I feel no sympathy for either of them, the business manager should have been more responsible and Cage himself should really be keeping an eye on his money and taxes even if he hires someone to do it for him.
Link:
http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-16-nicolas-cages-business-manager-to-blame-for-financial-woes
- Nic Cage Follow Up #2
Does anyone fancy an $8 million (£4 million) Castle in Bath? Cage is putting it up for sale near Christmas to use the money to pay off his tax debt. If he’s that desperate I’ll put in an offer of £10!
Link:
- Diddy Disaster
On showing off his new band Dirty Money he was throwing fake $100 dollar notes into the crowd. Not really interesting you say? Turns out there were real notes in there too causing a frenzy to get it all.
Unfortunately for Ego Diddy whilst throwing his wads of cash into the crowd he also accidentally hurled his $20,000 ring too! After this he insisted that 160 of the audience members be frisked by security to try and get it back.
To be brutally honest if he’s going to start a greed driven piranha pond of fans then what else would he expect if something that valuable gets thrown in too, with the amount of money he drags in he really should have just let it slide and not accost his fans.
Link:
http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-16-mo-mo-problems
- Betty Beds the Boss?
Creator of Ugly Betty has previously stated that at no point Betty and her boss Daniel will ever be a couple however it seems that he is now back-tracking on the issue, he has said:
"At this point, I actually know what's going to happen. I thought I knew when I made that quote, but you re-evaluate and reassess. What I said before may or may not still be true."
Now for something a bit more definite…
*Spoiler Alert* - scroll ahead now to the next topic
Betty will be caught in a love triangle between Matt and a mysterious third character.
Also Betty will be getting just a bit more fashionable.
*End Spoiler*
Link:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/s65/ugly-betty/news/a182385/horta-betty-daniel-may-become-couple.html
- Gatelygate
The death of former Boyzone member Stephen Gately has been a shock to many but as per usual with the death of a celebrity there always has to be that one distasteful person to say something hugely inappropriate. In the hot seat for this celebrity death is the Daily Mail’s Jan Moir.
She managed to not pay attention to facts, insult lgbt people and put it all out there at a spectacularly bad time, the day before his funeral.
Her slur against him and all lgbt individuals has led to the press watchdog receiving many complaints, Facebook and Twitter have been set ablaze with responses and even the National Treasure Stephen Fry waded into the debate with this: “I gather a repulsive nobody writing in a paper no-one of any decency would be seen dead with has written something loathsome and inhumane.”
Sorry Moir, you’ve committed career suicide.
Link:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a182344/twitter-outrage-over-gately-smear.html
- Simpsons Competition
Do you want to create a character to appear in the Simpsons next to Chris Martin of Coldplay? Fancy a trip to LA? Well a competition is occurring as a thank you to Simpsons fans on the website.
The winning character will appear in an early 2010 episode.
Entries can be submitted online from yesterday (16th) until the 24th.
Good Luck!
Link:
http://tv.uk.msn.com/news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=150275478
- Lindsay Lohan Rehab Drama
It looks like LiLo has managed to get another year probation meaning that she’s free to make as many Amy Winehouse impressions as she wishes. According to what Perez calls ‘an insider’ at the court she was “dishevelled and strung-out with blood shot eyes and an alarmingly skinny frame” and let her lawyer do all the talking.
Her father Michael wasn’t happy, and quite rightly so, that his daughter got out of trouble once again and decided to, quite wrongly so, talk to the press about it. He believes that the judge should have sent her to rehab…I’m sure we all think the same on that point.
Link:
http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-16-michael-lohan-thinks-judge-should-have-sent-lindsay-to-rehab
- X-men Move Updates
Bryan Singer has been in discussions to return.
Wolverine 2 should hopefully be better than the first as it actually IS the first. The plot for the second film was supposed to be the plot for the first film but got shelved as Tom Rothman decided that the first film should be that (waste of time – I stand by my opinion) origin story.
X-men: First Class will be funny and out of this world much like the recently released comics apparently but will not be a kiddie film just like the darker Harry Potter films. I really hope this doesn’t get screwed up but I’m finding it difficult to see what they’re trying to do just from this. Maybe it’ll just end up like an extended episode of Smallville or Merlin?
Ryan Renolds should be returning as Deadpool to the film of the same name.
Link:
http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-16-x-men-are-coming-lots-of-them
- Desperate Housewives Get Soapy
It appears that Desperate Housewives is going to use a plot that Emmerdale used a few years ago; a plane is going to crash into Wysteria Lane.
The surprise twist to this is that there may be a possibility that it will be an Oceanic Airlines flight courtesy of Lost. No deal as of yet but it looks very likely.
Link:
http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-16-oceanic-flight-815-crashes-on-wisteria-lane
- Nic Cage Follow Up #1
Just to bring you up to speed Nic Cage owes around $6 million dollars. Now he’s suing his former business manager for causing him financial ruin. Personally I feel no sympathy for either of them, the business manager should have been more responsible and Cage himself should really be keeping an eye on his money and taxes even if he hires someone to do it for him.
Link:
http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-16-nicolas-cages-business-manager-to-blame-for-financial-woes
- Nic Cage Follow Up #2
Does anyone fancy an $8 million (£4 million) Castle in Bath? Cage is putting it up for sale near Christmas to use the money to pay off his tax debt. If he’s that desperate I’ll put in an offer of £10!
Link:
- Diddy Disaster
On showing off his new band Dirty Money he was throwing fake $100 dollar notes into the crowd. Not really interesting you say? Turns out there were real notes in there too causing a frenzy to get it all.
Unfortunately for Ego Diddy whilst throwing his wads of cash into the crowd he also accidentally hurled his $20,000 ring too! After this he insisted that 160 of the audience members be frisked by security to try and get it back.
To be brutally honest if he’s going to start a greed driven piranha pond of fans then what else would he expect if something that valuable gets thrown in too, with the amount of money he drags in he really should have just let it slide and not accost his fans.
Link:
http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-16-mo-mo-problems
- Betty Beds the Boss?
Creator of Ugly Betty has previously stated that at no point Betty and her boss Daniel will ever be a couple however it seems that he is now back-tracking on the issue, he has said:
"At this point, I actually know what's going to happen. I thought I knew when I made that quote, but you re-evaluate and reassess. What I said before may or may not still be true."
Now for something a bit more definite…
*Spoiler Alert* - scroll ahead now to the next topic
Betty will be caught in a love triangle between Matt and a mysterious third character.
Also Betty will be getting just a bit more fashionable.
*End Spoiler*
Link:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/s65/ugly-betty/news/a182385/horta-betty-daniel-may-become-couple.html
- Gatelygate
The death of former Boyzone member Stephen Gately has been a shock to many but as per usual with the death of a celebrity there always has to be that one distasteful person to say something hugely inappropriate. In the hot seat for this celebrity death is the Daily Mail’s Jan Moir.
She managed to not pay attention to facts, insult lgbt people and put it all out there at a spectacularly bad time, the day before his funeral.
Her slur against him and all lgbt individuals has led to the press watchdog receiving many complaints, Facebook and Twitter have been set ablaze with responses and even the National Treasure Stephen Fry waded into the debate with this: “I gather a repulsive nobody writing in a paper no-one of any decency would be seen dead with has written something loathsome and inhumane.”
Sorry Moir, you’ve committed career suicide.
Link:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a182344/twitter-outrage-over-gately-smear.html
- Simpsons Competition
Do you want to create a character to appear in the Simpsons next to Chris Martin of Coldplay? Fancy a trip to LA? Well a competition is occurring as a thank you to Simpsons fans on the website.
The winning character will appear in an early 2010 episode.
Entries can be submitted online from yesterday (16th) until the 24th.
Good Luck!
Link:
http://tv.uk.msn.com/news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=150275478
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Review Wednesday No. 2
This post is a little late in the day but as per usual I’ve got a reason for that; it was all in the name of research! I’ll continue with this in my first review…
- Ugly Betty Season 1 Box Set
I rented out last Friday the Ugly Betty S. 1 Box Set thinking it would be a good idea to rewatch and try to get myself up to speed and after finishing all of the episodes I’m glad I did.
For those of you who don’t yet know about this series (though you’d have to be a complete recluse to have never heard of it) it follows the at first clumsy, desperate and determined Betty Suarez as she attempts to get her foot in the door to pursue her dream of one day owning her own magazine. After a few unsuccessful attempts (which aren’t seen) she tries Meade publications and after an initial turn down is recruited to be the assistant to the new Editor-in-Chief of Mode, a high-class fashion magazine, Daniel Meade.
As the series progresses we see Betty develop into a more confident person trying to balance out her personal and professional life as well as delving into the, at times, murky depths of the lives of the people around her.
The show itself is fast paced; constantly shifting between people and places so trying to watch episodes back to back can become tiring. If possible it would be best to try to rent the box set for at least a couple of weeks or just buy it.
I don’t want to give any spoilers here for the series so I’ll keep this as cryptic as possible but the whole series is worth watching to see the cliffhangers and the moving final scene.
Overall I found the series a thrill to watch once again as the storylines never grow old however my only complaint would be that sometimes it feels unnecessary for other characters to shoe-horn Betty into a conversation where she really wouldn’t have been needed to emphasise a point.
Entertainment rating: 4 and ½ stars!!!!
- Internet Distraction: Sign of the Times 2009
So another distraction review, I hope you’re not too busy! This time I’ve been checking out the hilarious photo galleries from the Times website where readers have sent in pictures of odd signs. It might sound like a weak idea but I guarantee that you’ll be amused for at least a lunch break just by flicking through.
Link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/travel_images/article6814134.ece
Run time: Depends on how fast you flick through.
Distraction rating: 3 out of 5
Work distraction: Fine for work.
- Internet Distractions: Diarrhea
After hearing about a TV show abroad which teaches some very odd English phrases I noticed that Weebl’s Stuff has a remix of it to a beat. Quite funny, a bit distasteful at times though but the man’s face near the end of the loop just has me in stitches every time.
Link:
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/Diarrhea/
Run time: Less than 1 minute
Distraction rating: 2 out of 5, funny but not hilarious
Work distraction: NSFW mostly due to the topic itself.
- Internet Distraction: Unreckoned
I have a confession to make before I start this review, this review is of a friend’s work so it may seem like I’m plugging the link but I feel that it is worth a review regardless and you’re all free to agree or disagree with what I say.
Before I review this I have two warnings. Firstly this is a review of a collection of fanfiction so if you don’t like it then you’re free to skip over this. Secondly the fanfiction is slash so if you’re not interested or don’t like romance between two men then you really should skip ahead now, you really won’t like this.
So Unreckoned is a collection of Fanfic based on the TV series Smallville. It is written by a fan that didn’t like the way that the show was heading and so rewrote it how she wanted whilst trying to keep within some of the show’s boundaries. The fiction itself is well written with very few mistakes whilst the story, pacing and characterisation are fantastic.
As to the mention of slash it does start off as a ‘will they won’t they’ romance but the writing does get quite steamy a lot later down the line.
Currently the series is on hiatus and it is as of yet undecided whether or not it will be continued but for now there is a lot to read.
Link:
http://community.livejournal.com/unreckoned/
Run time: Days can be spent reading through the whole collection
Distraction rating: 4 out of 5 for excellent characterisation and interaction
Work distraction: Safe at first but as I’ve said before it will get steamy.
So that’s the end to this weeks Review Wednesday, see you all on Friday! (Which again might be a late post but this time it should be because a colleague is leaving work and we’re having a party)
- Ugly Betty Season 1 Box Set
I rented out last Friday the Ugly Betty S. 1 Box Set thinking it would be a good idea to rewatch and try to get myself up to speed and after finishing all of the episodes I’m glad I did.
For those of you who don’t yet know about this series (though you’d have to be a complete recluse to have never heard of it) it follows the at first clumsy, desperate and determined Betty Suarez as she attempts to get her foot in the door to pursue her dream of one day owning her own magazine. After a few unsuccessful attempts (which aren’t seen) she tries Meade publications and after an initial turn down is recruited to be the assistant to the new Editor-in-Chief of Mode, a high-class fashion magazine, Daniel Meade.
As the series progresses we see Betty develop into a more confident person trying to balance out her personal and professional life as well as delving into the, at times, murky depths of the lives of the people around her.
The show itself is fast paced; constantly shifting between people and places so trying to watch episodes back to back can become tiring. If possible it would be best to try to rent the box set for at least a couple of weeks or just buy it.
I don’t want to give any spoilers here for the series so I’ll keep this as cryptic as possible but the whole series is worth watching to see the cliffhangers and the moving final scene.
Overall I found the series a thrill to watch once again as the storylines never grow old however my only complaint would be that sometimes it feels unnecessary for other characters to shoe-horn Betty into a conversation where she really wouldn’t have been needed to emphasise a point.
Entertainment rating: 4 and ½ stars!!!!
- Internet Distraction: Sign of the Times 2009
So another distraction review, I hope you’re not too busy! This time I’ve been checking out the hilarious photo galleries from the Times website where readers have sent in pictures of odd signs. It might sound like a weak idea but I guarantee that you’ll be amused for at least a lunch break just by flicking through.
Link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/travel_images/article6814134.ece
Run time: Depends on how fast you flick through.
Distraction rating: 3 out of 5
Work distraction: Fine for work.
- Internet Distractions: Diarrhea
After hearing about a TV show abroad which teaches some very odd English phrases I noticed that Weebl’s Stuff has a remix of it to a beat. Quite funny, a bit distasteful at times though but the man’s face near the end of the loop just has me in stitches every time.
Link:
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/Diarrhea/
Run time: Less than 1 minute
Distraction rating: 2 out of 5, funny but not hilarious
Work distraction: NSFW mostly due to the topic itself.
- Internet Distraction: Unreckoned
I have a confession to make before I start this review, this review is of a friend’s work so it may seem like I’m plugging the link but I feel that it is worth a review regardless and you’re all free to agree or disagree with what I say.
Before I review this I have two warnings. Firstly this is a review of a collection of fanfiction so if you don’t like it then you’re free to skip over this. Secondly the fanfiction is slash so if you’re not interested or don’t like romance between two men then you really should skip ahead now, you really won’t like this.
So Unreckoned is a collection of Fanfic based on the TV series Smallville. It is written by a fan that didn’t like the way that the show was heading and so rewrote it how she wanted whilst trying to keep within some of the show’s boundaries. The fiction itself is well written with very few mistakes whilst the story, pacing and characterisation are fantastic.
As to the mention of slash it does start off as a ‘will they won’t they’ romance but the writing does get quite steamy a lot later down the line.
Currently the series is on hiatus and it is as of yet undecided whether or not it will be continued but for now there is a lot to read.
Link:
http://community.livejournal.com/unreckoned/
Run time: Days can be spent reading through the whole collection
Distraction rating: 4 out of 5 for excellent characterisation and interaction
Work distraction: Safe at first but as I’ve said before it will get steamy.
So that’s the end to this weeks Review Wednesday, see you all on Friday! (Which again might be a late post but this time it should be because a colleague is leaving work and we’re having a party)
Sunday, 11 October 2009
News Sunday: The BIG Post
So this Sunday I've got a lot of stories and I don't think Blogspot or Twitter would be very pleased if I posted them all out separately so here they are:
- Beauty and Brains: a Gorgeous Result with Interesting Potential:
Scientists at HAARP (the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) in Alaska have been using radio waves to study the ionosphere and magnetic field of the Earth but with a massive power increase at the facility they’ve managed to surprise even themselves.
Previous experiments have generated small patches of light in the sky similar to the natural aurora phenomenon but when power was increased they generated a ‘bullseye’ symbol in the sky.
In an article for Nature Mike Kosch, who is the chair of Experimental Space Science at Lancaster University, stated that “The novelty is not seeing the aurora — it's the fact that we can actually create enough high-energy electrons to form plasma…It shows something completely different and new that we hadn't expected. We didn't know we could do that from a radio array on the ground.”
Personally I would love to see an occasional advertisement glowing from the sky every now and then, however, apart from the publicity potential Nature also states that there could be other uses such as reflecting submarine communications or using the plasma to reflect radio transmissions around the world without loosing power.
If you want to read the article in full on the Nature website here’s the link:
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091002/full/news.2009.975.html
- Top Gear Airship Fiasco:
Anyone else excited about the next series of Top Gear? After the latest unfortunate incident I know I can’t wait.
One of the presenters, James May, was filming a segment for the show involving a caravan being attached to an airship and being flown across Cambridgeshire. Though it was meant to land on a cricket pitch it was blown off course due to strong winds and ended up downing in a field.
May himself was unhurt and no information was given about the incident with a spokeswoman for the show stating that “Viewers will have to wait until the next series to find out what happens.”
Full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8283798.stm
- Fat Fad – Simpsons to be Television Role Models:
In a scheme to reduce obesity in the UK the government is to sponsor the cartoon for 3 months.
Though at first glance they may not seem to have a healthy lifestyle (specifically Homer who is obese and even once tried to gain weight in an attempt to work from home) it has been decided that they represent healthy eating somehow.
The sponsoring advertisement will be created by Aardman Animations who should be using models representing the characters eating junk food, which gets replaced with more healthy alternatives.
For more information on this check the link.
Link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6860247.ece
- Holey Site – Bluehenge, the Missing Neighbour:
Researchers have found a series of holes in the ground that they believe had monoliths of the blue hued dolerite stones that it was made of.
It is believed to have been constructed at a similar time and in a similar style to the still standing Stonehenge and is connected to the site by a pathway known as the “Avenue”.
More details about the site are to be released in February of next year.
Full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/8288567.stm
- Next – the Look for Doctor Number 11:
I must admit to being a big fan of Doctor Who, especially with David Tennant as the current Doctor. It will be sad when he leaves as I’m sure many of you will agree and possibly like many others it will be uncertain as to whether I’ll be able to accept Matt Smith as the new Doctor.
I really hope however his acting is better than the new signature outfit they’ve put him in. See the picture and read the views in the link.
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8160710.stm
- Manipulated Marking? A Level Results Plagued by Rigging Accusations:
With the thought that a record number of students were to apply for university positions and the increasing number of passes for 27 years along with other factors it seems strange that instead of another predicted increase there has been a noticeable decrease of passes in all subjects.
At the moment any evidence gathered is only anecdotal however and all official bodies involved with marking are denying any wrongdoing.
Link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6860175.ece
- Find Friends (and Burglars) on Facebook:
Upon returning to his home to find it burgled he noticed that his computer had been used. Upon touching it the website Facebook was loaded with the name of the individual who had broken in. Police obviously were quick to arrest the culprit.
Link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/6257729/Burglar-arrested-after-logging-onto-Facebook-during-break-in.html
- Drunk, Disorderly and the Dead – Priest Ruins Funeral:
A priest is accused of being so drunk he needed to support himself using an altar and being inappropriate with a female mourner.
Link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sweden/6258966/Priest-accused-of-being-drunk-during-funeral.html
- Powerful Persuasion – the Portable Pain-Generator:
Development is continuing for a beam weapon capable of producing a burning sensation without actually causing damage.
At present safety is a major concern with trying to identify the minimum threshold to use, which would allow the weapon to work whilst still causing no damage. One concern would be damage to the eye as it is a beam weapon however the issue is being addressed by having the weapon affect the skin but not the cornea and being at a wavelength that shall not penetrate the retina.
Currently there is a similar large-scale weapon called the ‘Active Denial System’ that can disperse a crowd by producing a 2-metre wide microwave beam causing a heating sensation within a group.
Full story:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427286.100-portable-pain-weapon-may-end-up-in-police-hands.html
- Simulated Suicide – How Computers are Being Used to Tackle Group Suicide:
A computer model was made to study the social influences that lead to copycat suicides and have discovered some results that not everyone will find surprising.
Apparently people commit suicide in clusters as it is a ‘learned trait’ from friends or it may be that suicidal people would tend to hang around together.
Another factor is the mass reporting of celebrity suicides, which could encourage others to take their own life.
For more on this and to see which social factors such as age/ethnic origin/gender affect suicides check out the main article.
Link:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17889-copycat-suicides-fuelled-by-media-reports.html
- Zombie Attack – Where Will You Be Safe?!
Because we all know that everybody needs a zombie plan physicist Davide Cassi has finally proved where the safest place to be is. The result: the mall! (Shopping Centre for us Brits)
The research shows that the more complex the hideout the less likely that a random ‘walker’ (in reality this would refer to any organism that would prey on any passing human but for as it is so perfectly fitting the idea of a zombie has been used) would be able to pick off the person hiding in it. This means that if there isn’t any malls handy just pick a complicated building with lots of corridors such as a school, university or office block.
See you after the invasion; I’m using this as an excuse to shop.
Full story:
http://current.com/items/91075875_physics-proves-the-mall-is-the-best-zombie-hideout-after-all.htm
- The Return of the Bride? Tarantino Speculates on Kill Bill Vol. 3:
Though he isn’t interested right now he does think that he’d be ready to start on it in a couple of years time but there would have to be a ten year gap between vol. 2 and vol. 3.
He’d like for the character to have 10 years of setting up a home with her daughter and settling down before its time for her to start fighting again.
Here is the link to the article and a video though to understand the video it seems like you’re going to need to know at least some (I hope this is the right language) Italian.
Link:
http://current.com/items/91076764_tarantino-promises-kill-bill-vol-3.htm
- Fishy Ideas from Nissan:
Nissan, the Japanese car manufacturer, have developed a robotic school of fish that use lasers to allow them to not crash into one another. They are hoping to use this behaviour to develop their crash avoidance systems. I however just want a group of them for fun and let them loose at work!
Full Story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8286500.stm
- Sunken Cities – Las Vegas:
The BBC news article about the slums underneath Las Vegas shocked me; I didn’t know such places existed! The article itself takes us on a short tour of a couple of locations and introduces us to a couple of residents there and how they make they survive. In a way it reminds me of a darker version of Neil Gaiman’s book Neverwhere for obvious reasons. I suggest you check the full story out.
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8239319.stm
- Urban Reclamation – New York:
Another BBC news article this time focusing on New York’s latest park. Want to guess where it is? I’ll give you a hint; it’s above ground and runs between the Manhattan landscape.
If you haven’t guessed it yet I’m talking about a railway line! After being abandoned 20 years ago the talks about demolishment were put on hold due to a group being formed by an old rail worker who wished to save it. The group have since been developing it into a lush park with walkway that would allow users to get a different view of the city.
The whole thing should be completed in the next year or two if you fancy a visit but for now why not check out the full article to find out more?
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8287091.stm
- In Our Sights – Tailor Made Vision:
The newest surgical fad to appear in the world is tailor made laser eye surgery offering an individual to be able to see the world however they want to.
The defence of this is that it would allow lorry drivers to be able to see further at night or allow office workers to be able to read screens more clearly.
Though an interesting idea I do think it’s a waste of money.
Link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6859483.ece
- Do You Want Art With That?
In a move that has shocked many McDonalds will be opening a restaurant and café in the entrance to the world famous Louvre museum.
Link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6259044/McDonalds-restaurants-to-open-at-the-Louvre.html
- Stephan Gately Dead
Boyzone singer Stephan Gately died this morning during his sleep whilst on Holiday in Majorca.
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8301627.stm
- Oasis Over
Liam Gallagher from Oasis has confirmed that the band has officially ended after Noel left in August.
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8297283.stm
- Do Ask, Do Tell?
After a disappointing start to Obama’s presidency for LGBT persons regarding marriage and the military he has finally said that he will end the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (but without a set timeframe).
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8301120.stm
- A Delayed Funeral
After 160 years the writer Edgar Allan Poe will receive a funeral service to mark 200 years since his birth. At his 1849 funeral hardly anyone appeared, his tombstone was destroyed and one of his enemies wrote his obituary.
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8301128.stm
- It Was Acceptable in the 80s
It has been discovered that glaciers have been storing pollution that had settled there before there was a ban put on potentially harmful chemicals. Due to the melting of the glaciers the pollution may once again be released into the environment.
Link:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17956-melting-glaciers-bring-1980s-pollution-revival.html
- Beauty and Brains: a Gorgeous Result with Interesting Potential:
Scientists at HAARP (the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) in Alaska have been using radio waves to study the ionosphere and magnetic field of the Earth but with a massive power increase at the facility they’ve managed to surprise even themselves.
Previous experiments have generated small patches of light in the sky similar to the natural aurora phenomenon but when power was increased they generated a ‘bullseye’ symbol in the sky.
In an article for Nature Mike Kosch, who is the chair of Experimental Space Science at Lancaster University, stated that “The novelty is not seeing the aurora — it's the fact that we can actually create enough high-energy electrons to form plasma…It shows something completely different and new that we hadn't expected. We didn't know we could do that from a radio array on the ground.”
Personally I would love to see an occasional advertisement glowing from the sky every now and then, however, apart from the publicity potential Nature also states that there could be other uses such as reflecting submarine communications or using the plasma to reflect radio transmissions around the world without loosing power.
If you want to read the article in full on the Nature website here’s the link:
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091002/full/news.2009.975.html
- Top Gear Airship Fiasco:
Anyone else excited about the next series of Top Gear? After the latest unfortunate incident I know I can’t wait.
One of the presenters, James May, was filming a segment for the show involving a caravan being attached to an airship and being flown across Cambridgeshire. Though it was meant to land on a cricket pitch it was blown off course due to strong winds and ended up downing in a field.
May himself was unhurt and no information was given about the incident with a spokeswoman for the show stating that “Viewers will have to wait until the next series to find out what happens.”
Full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8283798.stm
- Fat Fad – Simpsons to be Television Role Models:
In a scheme to reduce obesity in the UK the government is to sponsor the cartoon for 3 months.
Though at first glance they may not seem to have a healthy lifestyle (specifically Homer who is obese and even once tried to gain weight in an attempt to work from home) it has been decided that they represent healthy eating somehow.
The sponsoring advertisement will be created by Aardman Animations who should be using models representing the characters eating junk food, which gets replaced with more healthy alternatives.
For more information on this check the link.
Link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6860247.ece
- Holey Site – Bluehenge, the Missing Neighbour:
Researchers have found a series of holes in the ground that they believe had monoliths of the blue hued dolerite stones that it was made of.
It is believed to have been constructed at a similar time and in a similar style to the still standing Stonehenge and is connected to the site by a pathway known as the “Avenue”.
More details about the site are to be released in February of next year.
Full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/8288567.stm
- Next – the Look for Doctor Number 11:
I must admit to being a big fan of Doctor Who, especially with David Tennant as the current Doctor. It will be sad when he leaves as I’m sure many of you will agree and possibly like many others it will be uncertain as to whether I’ll be able to accept Matt Smith as the new Doctor.
I really hope however his acting is better than the new signature outfit they’ve put him in. See the picture and read the views in the link.
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8160710.stm
- Manipulated Marking? A Level Results Plagued by Rigging Accusations:
With the thought that a record number of students were to apply for university positions and the increasing number of passes for 27 years along with other factors it seems strange that instead of another predicted increase there has been a noticeable decrease of passes in all subjects.
At the moment any evidence gathered is only anecdotal however and all official bodies involved with marking are denying any wrongdoing.
Link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6860175.ece
- Find Friends (and Burglars) on Facebook:
Upon returning to his home to find it burgled he noticed that his computer had been used. Upon touching it the website Facebook was loaded with the name of the individual who had broken in. Police obviously were quick to arrest the culprit.
Link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/6257729/Burglar-arrested-after-logging-onto-Facebook-during-break-in.html
- Drunk, Disorderly and the Dead – Priest Ruins Funeral:
A priest is accused of being so drunk he needed to support himself using an altar and being inappropriate with a female mourner.
Link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sweden/6258966/Priest-accused-of-being-drunk-during-funeral.html
- Powerful Persuasion – the Portable Pain-Generator:
Development is continuing for a beam weapon capable of producing a burning sensation without actually causing damage.
At present safety is a major concern with trying to identify the minimum threshold to use, which would allow the weapon to work whilst still causing no damage. One concern would be damage to the eye as it is a beam weapon however the issue is being addressed by having the weapon affect the skin but not the cornea and being at a wavelength that shall not penetrate the retina.
Currently there is a similar large-scale weapon called the ‘Active Denial System’ that can disperse a crowd by producing a 2-metre wide microwave beam causing a heating sensation within a group.
Full story:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427286.100-portable-pain-weapon-may-end-up-in-police-hands.html
- Simulated Suicide – How Computers are Being Used to Tackle Group Suicide:
A computer model was made to study the social influences that lead to copycat suicides and have discovered some results that not everyone will find surprising.
Apparently people commit suicide in clusters as it is a ‘learned trait’ from friends or it may be that suicidal people would tend to hang around together.
Another factor is the mass reporting of celebrity suicides, which could encourage others to take their own life.
For more on this and to see which social factors such as age/ethnic origin/gender affect suicides check out the main article.
Link:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17889-copycat-suicides-fuelled-by-media-reports.html
- Zombie Attack – Where Will You Be Safe?!
Because we all know that everybody needs a zombie plan physicist Davide Cassi has finally proved where the safest place to be is. The result: the mall! (Shopping Centre for us Brits)
The research shows that the more complex the hideout the less likely that a random ‘walker’ (in reality this would refer to any organism that would prey on any passing human but for as it is so perfectly fitting the idea of a zombie has been used) would be able to pick off the person hiding in it. This means that if there isn’t any malls handy just pick a complicated building with lots of corridors such as a school, university or office block.
See you after the invasion; I’m using this as an excuse to shop.
Full story:
http://current.com/items/91075875_physics-proves-the-mall-is-the-best-zombie-hideout-after-all.htm
- The Return of the Bride? Tarantino Speculates on Kill Bill Vol. 3:
Though he isn’t interested right now he does think that he’d be ready to start on it in a couple of years time but there would have to be a ten year gap between vol. 2 and vol. 3.
He’d like for the character to have 10 years of setting up a home with her daughter and settling down before its time for her to start fighting again.
Here is the link to the article and a video though to understand the video it seems like you’re going to need to know at least some (I hope this is the right language) Italian.
Link:
http://current.com/items/91076764_tarantino-promises-kill-bill-vol-3.htm
- Fishy Ideas from Nissan:
Nissan, the Japanese car manufacturer, have developed a robotic school of fish that use lasers to allow them to not crash into one another. They are hoping to use this behaviour to develop their crash avoidance systems. I however just want a group of them for fun and let them loose at work!
Full Story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8286500.stm
- Sunken Cities – Las Vegas:
The BBC news article about the slums underneath Las Vegas shocked me; I didn’t know such places existed! The article itself takes us on a short tour of a couple of locations and introduces us to a couple of residents there and how they make they survive. In a way it reminds me of a darker version of Neil Gaiman’s book Neverwhere for obvious reasons. I suggest you check the full story out.
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8239319.stm
- Urban Reclamation – New York:
Another BBC news article this time focusing on New York’s latest park. Want to guess where it is? I’ll give you a hint; it’s above ground and runs between the Manhattan landscape.
If you haven’t guessed it yet I’m talking about a railway line! After being abandoned 20 years ago the talks about demolishment were put on hold due to a group being formed by an old rail worker who wished to save it. The group have since been developing it into a lush park with walkway that would allow users to get a different view of the city.
The whole thing should be completed in the next year or two if you fancy a visit but for now why not check out the full article to find out more?
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8287091.stm
- In Our Sights – Tailor Made Vision:
The newest surgical fad to appear in the world is tailor made laser eye surgery offering an individual to be able to see the world however they want to.
The defence of this is that it would allow lorry drivers to be able to see further at night or allow office workers to be able to read screens more clearly.
Though an interesting idea I do think it’s a waste of money.
Link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6859483.ece
- Do You Want Art With That?
In a move that has shocked many McDonalds will be opening a restaurant and café in the entrance to the world famous Louvre museum.
Link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6259044/McDonalds-restaurants-to-open-at-the-Louvre.html
- Stephan Gately Dead
Boyzone singer Stephan Gately died this morning during his sleep whilst on Holiday in Majorca.
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8301627.stm
- Oasis Over
Liam Gallagher from Oasis has confirmed that the band has officially ended after Noel left in August.
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8297283.stm
- Do Ask, Do Tell?
After a disappointing start to Obama’s presidency for LGBT persons regarding marriage and the military he has finally said that he will end the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (but without a set timeframe).
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8301120.stm
- A Delayed Funeral
After 160 years the writer Edgar Allan Poe will receive a funeral service to mark 200 years since his birth. At his 1849 funeral hardly anyone appeared, his tombstone was destroyed and one of his enemies wrote his obituary.
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8301128.stm
- It Was Acceptable in the 80s
It has been discovered that glaciers have been storing pollution that had settled there before there was a ban put on potentially harmful chemicals. Due to the melting of the glaciers the pollution may once again be released into the environment.
Link:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17956-melting-glaciers-bring-1980s-pollution-revival.html
Friday, 9 October 2009
The first Gossip Friday!
Now we've reached Friday it's time for the first ever Gossip Friday and I have to say I'm rather nervous! Though in real life I am a well known gossip I wasn't sure whether I could do justice in one post to the huge amount of gossip out there. Hopefully you'll enjoy (if thats the right word) the topics I've assembled for you all today.
South Park Dead Celeb Controversy
South Park causes controversy again by featuring recently deceased celebrities in an episode entitled “I See Dead Celebrities”. The show featured Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, David Carradine and Patrick Swayze. Its probably best I don’t go into details here but if you want to read the full article here’s the link.
http://tv.uk.msn.com/news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=150120761>1=61503
Hoff Hospitalised
The Hoff ended up hospitalised after indulging in one too many, oops!
http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-09-the-hoff-hospitalized-again
Closeted Baseball Player Blogs to the World
So who is this Major League Baseball player? I have to say I’m curious. After spotting a link to Outsports on After Elton I had to check it out. The Outsports Article alone is racy and after reading a couple of the actual blog posts I found it a bit too much but if you want to check it out I’ve got the Outsports link below….BTW if you know who it is or if this could be a fake then get in touch!
http://outsports.com/jocktalkblog/2009/09/23/a-gay-athletes-life-ballplayer-calling-it-quits/
Nic Cage in Huge Debt Crisis
Oh dear, looks like Nicholas Cage is going to end up in the poorhouse! He’s currently trying to sell off some of his property portfolio to pay back all the money he owes to the IRS.
http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-09-blame-your-increased-taxes-on-nic-cage-actor-owes-the-irs-millions
Tori Spelling Takes a Bite Out of Tabloids
Tori Spelling used Twitter to hit back against tabloid accusations that she’s extremely underweight.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a181349/tori-spelling-slams-tabloid-weight-lies.html
Heffner the Musical
Hugh Heffner has had talks about making a movie of his life but now wants to make a Broadway musical version.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a181241/hefner-longs-for-life-story-musical.html
Pin-up Simpson
Just when I thought things couldn’t get any more ridiculous it turns out that Marge Simpson has been selected as the next Playboy cover model….why?
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a181322/marge-simpson-to-pose-for-playboy.html
Fedex in Rent Dodge
Kevin Federline may be in less debt than Cage but still owes a large amount in unpaid rent to the landlord of his old home.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a181239/federline-owes-thousands-in-unpaid-rent.html
Kandy Rain Try Keeping Clothes on
I’m not sure whether you’ll be glad or sad about this but X-Factor contestants Kandy Rain have promised that they won’t be stripping ever again…even if they do wear revealing outfits on the show.
http://tv.uk.msn.com/news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=150120762>1=61503
South Park Dead Celeb Controversy
South Park causes controversy again by featuring recently deceased celebrities in an episode entitled “I See Dead Celebrities”. The show featured Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, David Carradine and Patrick Swayze. Its probably best I don’t go into details here but if you want to read the full article here’s the link.
http://tv.uk.msn.com/news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=150120761>1=61503
Hoff Hospitalised
The Hoff ended up hospitalised after indulging in one too many, oops!
http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-09-the-hoff-hospitalized-again
Closeted Baseball Player Blogs to the World
So who is this Major League Baseball player? I have to say I’m curious. After spotting a link to Outsports on After Elton I had to check it out. The Outsports Article alone is racy and after reading a couple of the actual blog posts I found it a bit too much but if you want to check it out I’ve got the Outsports link below….BTW if you know who it is or if this could be a fake then get in touch!
http://outsports.com/jocktalkblog/2009/09/23/a-gay-athletes-life-ballplayer-calling-it-quits/
Nic Cage in Huge Debt Crisis
Oh dear, looks like Nicholas Cage is going to end up in the poorhouse! He’s currently trying to sell off some of his property portfolio to pay back all the money he owes to the IRS.
http://perezhilton.com/2009-10-09-blame-your-increased-taxes-on-nic-cage-actor-owes-the-irs-millions
Tori Spelling Takes a Bite Out of Tabloids
Tori Spelling used Twitter to hit back against tabloid accusations that she’s extremely underweight.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a181349/tori-spelling-slams-tabloid-weight-lies.html
Heffner the Musical
Hugh Heffner has had talks about making a movie of his life but now wants to make a Broadway musical version.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a181241/hefner-longs-for-life-story-musical.html
Pin-up Simpson
Just when I thought things couldn’t get any more ridiculous it turns out that Marge Simpson has been selected as the next Playboy cover model….why?
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a181322/marge-simpson-to-pose-for-playboy.html
Fedex in Rent Dodge
Kevin Federline may be in less debt than Cage but still owes a large amount in unpaid rent to the landlord of his old home.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a181239/federline-owes-thousands-in-unpaid-rent.html
Kandy Rain Try Keeping Clothes on
I’m not sure whether you’ll be glad or sad about this but X-Factor contestants Kandy Rain have promised that they won’t be stripping ever again…even if they do wear revealing outfits on the show.
http://tv.uk.msn.com/news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=150120762>1=61503
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Review Wednesday Number 1
So the very first review Wednesday of the blog! I almost missed it due to some work issues but hopefully you'll enjoy some of these.
A majority of this weeks reviews will be internet based distractions so feel free to check them out at your leisure.
Lets get started!!!
1)
I promised myself that the honourable first post needed to be dedicated to the phenomenal “Shoes” music video by Kelly (aka. Liam Sullivan).
If you watch the full version you have the fortune (or misfortune) of meeting Kelly and her mad family of which 3 out of 4 characters are played by the same person. A great way to introduce all the characters who, if you continue the series, you’ll get to know quite well.
The start of the music video portion of this appears quite weak but as it progresses the catchy lyrics, oddness and funny scenes get better making this a must watch!
Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCF3ywukQYA&feature=PlayList&p=75668CBD6A342880&index=0 - Shoes (full version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HjIljJd-o0&feature=PlayList&p=75668CBD6A342880&index=17 - Shoes (music video only)
http://www.liamshow.com/videos.html - creator homepage
Run time: 4 minutes (full version) or 2:53 (music video version)
Distraction rating: I’m giving this a 4 ½ out of 5
Work distraction: NSFW unless you use headphones – the swearing might be too much for your boss/colleagues/customers to handle.
2)
For my second attempt at this I’m going for something just a bit longer lasting and for some of you not very enjoyable. [Insert sarcastic sex joke here]
This week I’ll be covering Naruto Central, a resource for online versions of the Naruto anime and manga which are put up a day or two after they’ve been released in Japan and translated into English.
Though anime isn’t for everyone I would recommend giving this a try as it is a great way to see if you like something before going out and buying it. (I have to say that this site was the reason my pay isn’t reaching as far, I really shouldn’t buy so much manga!)
I’m more of a fan of the manga than the anime as though the anime is quite faithful to the original manga the amount of filler episodes and needlessly extended fights/chases in the faithful episodes really does put me off watching at times.
The basic plot (without revealing too much hopefully) is the life of Naruto as he leaves his education behind to become a powerful ninja in a world that has a mix of technology and mysticism. Demons, fights, magic, good vs. evil – all of this and more can be found throughout the series.
Time spent: Days or months depending on how addicted you become.
Distraction rating: This has to be a 3 out of 5 as though the manga is fantastic, the anime is ok apart from the points mentioned above and this might not be to everyone’s taste.
Work distraction: Safe for work though I don’t know how much you’d be able to get done if you get addicted.
Link:
http://www.narutocentral.com/?p=media/manga_chapters
3)
Hopefully you’ll come to notice that I like to provide some variety within my suggestions/reviews (well as much as I can, there are limits) and so for this post I bring you a webcomic!
Shortpacked is designed by David Willis and follows the odd lives of the workers at a store called Shortpacked ruled over by a dictatorial boss known as Galasso. The art initially starts off in black and white but eventually changes to colour, the story itself becomes stranger as it progresses and the style improves greatly.
As well as telling the stories of the regular cast it also delves into some strange asides (again quite geeky) including Transformers and Batman to name but a couple (though they do appear to be the most popular topics).
Again this may not be to everyone’s taste as it is quite geeky but the ‘cast’ itself is quite diverse and they squeeze in an American president so I guess it would count as being somewhat educational whilst still remaining mindnumbingly distraction worthy.
Time spent: Days can be spent here whittling your time away.
Distraction rating: 3 ½ out of 5, not everyone’s as geeky as me.
Work distraction: Safe for work I should imagine. Maybe a few sexual references.
Link:
http://www.shortpacked.com/
4)
If you enjoy computer games or you enjoy an immense amount of sarcasm (or both) then hopefully you’ll enjoy the hilarious video reviews by the infamous Zero Punctuation.
The cartoon style of the whole thing is a great method to get the point across whilst also allowing for some visual gags that just can’t be done in live action.
This one definitely will not be safe for work as there is a rather large amount of swearing and concepts that your employers should not hear/see coming from your computer so its probably best to watch it at home when you are trying to distract from house work.
Zero Punctuation gets updated every Wednesday so be sure to check the next episode out as well as the back catalogue.
Time spent: Minutes per episode, less than a day to get through all together.
Distraction rating: 3 as though its good you can’t watch it at work.
Work distraction: Really NSFW.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation
5)
It’s Blitz, the latest offering from New Yorkers the Yeah Yeah Yeahs brings back some of the rock edge of the first album with the more mellowed out songs of their last album and merges them together with the electronic edge featured throughout.
So far my favourites have to be Heads Will Roll, Dragon Queen and Hysteric but the whole album can be enjoyed from beginning to end without stopping or skipping; a definite must buy album.
Enjoyment rating: A full 5 stars!
6)
Has anyone else ever felt slightly abused like a coffee machine in an office? No? Oh well Shakira, never mind, get back in your closet until the next full moon.
With that out of the way back to the review. Is it bad of me to like this song? Though it is quite cheesy the music itself is quite fun and upbeat and Shakira sounds as good as ever! The lyrics at times aren’t exactly classic worthy but I can think of far worse lyrics out there (yes Cheryl Cole I do mean your awful attempt at a solo song) and she has to get credit for fitting in lycanthropy.
Overall not great but really enjoyable anyway.
Enjoyment rating: 3 1/2 stars.
So there we go, thats the end of the first review Wednesday, now lets just hope I can make the post for Gossip Friday!
A majority of this weeks reviews will be internet based distractions so feel free to check them out at your leisure.
Lets get started!!!
1)
I promised myself that the honourable first post needed to be dedicated to the phenomenal “Shoes” music video by Kelly (aka. Liam Sullivan).
If you watch the full version you have the fortune (or misfortune) of meeting Kelly and her mad family of which 3 out of 4 characters are played by the same person. A great way to introduce all the characters who, if you continue the series, you’ll get to know quite well.
The start of the music video portion of this appears quite weak but as it progresses the catchy lyrics, oddness and funny scenes get better making this a must watch!
Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCF3ywukQYA&feature=PlayList&p=75668CBD6A342880&index=0 - Shoes (full version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HjIljJd-o0&feature=PlayList&p=75668CBD6A342880&index=17 - Shoes (music video only)
http://www.liamshow.com/videos.html - creator homepage
Run time: 4 minutes (full version) or 2:53 (music video version)
Distraction rating: I’m giving this a 4 ½ out of 5
Work distraction: NSFW unless you use headphones – the swearing might be too much for your boss/colleagues/customers to handle.
2)
For my second attempt at this I’m going for something just a bit longer lasting and for some of you not very enjoyable. [Insert sarcastic sex joke here]
This week I’ll be covering Naruto Central, a resource for online versions of the Naruto anime and manga which are put up a day or two after they’ve been released in Japan and translated into English.
Though anime isn’t for everyone I would recommend giving this a try as it is a great way to see if you like something before going out and buying it. (I have to say that this site was the reason my pay isn’t reaching as far, I really shouldn’t buy so much manga!)
I’m more of a fan of the manga than the anime as though the anime is quite faithful to the original manga the amount of filler episodes and needlessly extended fights/chases in the faithful episodes really does put me off watching at times.
The basic plot (without revealing too much hopefully) is the life of Naruto as he leaves his education behind to become a powerful ninja in a world that has a mix of technology and mysticism. Demons, fights, magic, good vs. evil – all of this and more can be found throughout the series.
Time spent: Days or months depending on how addicted you become.
Distraction rating: This has to be a 3 out of 5 as though the manga is fantastic, the anime is ok apart from the points mentioned above and this might not be to everyone’s taste.
Work distraction: Safe for work though I don’t know how much you’d be able to get done if you get addicted.
Link:
http://www.narutocentral.com/?p=media/manga_chapters
3)
Hopefully you’ll come to notice that I like to provide some variety within my suggestions/reviews (well as much as I can, there are limits) and so for this post I bring you a webcomic!
Shortpacked is designed by David Willis and follows the odd lives of the workers at a store called Shortpacked ruled over by a dictatorial boss known as Galasso. The art initially starts off in black and white but eventually changes to colour, the story itself becomes stranger as it progresses and the style improves greatly.
As well as telling the stories of the regular cast it also delves into some strange asides (again quite geeky) including Transformers and Batman to name but a couple (though they do appear to be the most popular topics).
Again this may not be to everyone’s taste as it is quite geeky but the ‘cast’ itself is quite diverse and they squeeze in an American president so I guess it would count as being somewhat educational whilst still remaining mindnumbingly distraction worthy.
Time spent: Days can be spent here whittling your time away.
Distraction rating: 3 ½ out of 5, not everyone’s as geeky as me.
Work distraction: Safe for work I should imagine. Maybe a few sexual references.
Link:
http://www.shortpacked.com/
4)
If you enjoy computer games or you enjoy an immense amount of sarcasm (or both) then hopefully you’ll enjoy the hilarious video reviews by the infamous Zero Punctuation.
The cartoon style of the whole thing is a great method to get the point across whilst also allowing for some visual gags that just can’t be done in live action.
This one definitely will not be safe for work as there is a rather large amount of swearing and concepts that your employers should not hear/see coming from your computer so its probably best to watch it at home when you are trying to distract from house work.
Zero Punctuation gets updated every Wednesday so be sure to check the next episode out as well as the back catalogue.
Time spent: Minutes per episode, less than a day to get through all together.
Distraction rating: 3 as though its good you can’t watch it at work.
Work distraction: Really NSFW.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation
5)
It’s Blitz, the latest offering from New Yorkers the Yeah Yeah Yeahs brings back some of the rock edge of the first album with the more mellowed out songs of their last album and merges them together with the electronic edge featured throughout.
So far my favourites have to be Heads Will Roll, Dragon Queen and Hysteric but the whole album can be enjoyed from beginning to end without stopping or skipping; a definite must buy album.
Enjoyment rating: A full 5 stars!
6)
Has anyone else ever felt slightly abused like a coffee machine in an office? No? Oh well Shakira, never mind, get back in your closet until the next full moon.
With that out of the way back to the review. Is it bad of me to like this song? Though it is quite cheesy the music itself is quite fun and upbeat and Shakira sounds as good as ever! The lyrics at times aren’t exactly classic worthy but I can think of far worse lyrics out there (yes Cheryl Cole I do mean your awful attempt at a solo song) and she has to get credit for fitting in lycanthropy.
Overall not great but really enjoyable anyway.
Enjoyment rating: 3 1/2 stars.
So there we go, thats the end of the first review Wednesday, now lets just hope I can make the post for Gossip Friday!
Sunday, 4 October 2009
Sequels and Sequins – Phantom Part 2:
The sequel to Phantom of the Opera, known as Love Never Dies, will open at the Adelphi Theatre in March 2010. Tickets will go on sale from Thursday.
Link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/6257769/Andrew-Lloyd-Webber-attempts-to-make-history-with-Phantom-of-the-Opera-sequel.html
Link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/6257769/Andrew-Lloyd-Webber-attempts-to-make-history-with-Phantom-of-the-Opera-sequel.html
Mile High Fight Club:
Two pilots left the cockpit and fought in front of passengers in the aisle mid-flight. Both have been suspended and the incident is being investigated.
Link:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Air-India-Launches-Investigation-After-Pilots-Fight-With-Air-Crew-On-Flight-From-UAE-To-Delhi/Article/200910115399091?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_4&lid=ARTICLE_15399091_Air_India_Launches_Investigation_After_Pilots_Fight_With_Air_Crew_On_Flight_From_UAE_To_Delhi
Link:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Air-India-Launches-Investigation-After-Pilots-Fight-With-Air-Crew-On-Flight-From-UAE-To-Delhi/Article/200910115399091?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_4&lid=ARTICLE_15399091_Air_India_Launches_Investigation_After_Pilots_Fight_With_Air_Crew_On_Flight_From_UAE_To_Delhi
Light the Sky at Night – a Study into Noctilucent clouds:
Have you ever noticed a cloud that seems to glow before sunrise or after sunset and wondered why? A recent experiment has attempted to recreate the effects of this by releasing particles of dust and monitoring the effects in an effort to understand the phenomenon.
Though results have been promised in the weeks that followed there is still no word yet.
Full Story:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17822-artificial-cloud-created-at-the-edge-of-space.html
Though results have been promised in the weeks that followed there is still no word yet.
Full Story:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17822-artificial-cloud-created-at-the-edge-of-space.html
A Bit Shellfish – Lobster Theft!
Here’s an unusual story from Scotland, three youths from Scotland were seen to make off with around 30 live lobsters after rowing out to sea and stealing a creel which they discarded after opening it later to remove their prize.
Police are currently investigating but I don’t really see the point, just let them get away with it this time as trying to find them would just waste resources. Why not just make sure that they can’t do it again?
Full Story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8287458.stm
Police are currently investigating but I don’t really see the point, just let them get away with it this time as trying to find them would just waste resources. Why not just make sure that they can’t do it again?
Full Story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8287458.stm
The Other Boyle:
Not Susan or Danny but Frankie. The Scottish stand-up has quit Mock the Week for other commitments but is welcome to return a spokesperson has said.
Full Story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/8287297.stm
Full Story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/8287297.stm
40th Anniversary for Glastonbury – but are Sales too Soon?
As you may or may not know the Glastonbury music festival will be turning 40 next year, I’m sure many people will be excited but is it really necessary to start selling tickets now for an event that won’t happen until June of next year? I still can’t get over Christmas stuff being advertised since August, I feel like I’ve lost a year here!
Anyway if you are one of those eager people wanting to get your tickets to the event ASAP then here’s the link to the registration page (by the way there’s apparently a £50 deposit): http://www.glastonburyregistration.co.uk/registrationsuspended.html
Full Story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8288694.stm
Anyway if you are one of those eager people wanting to get your tickets to the event ASAP then here’s the link to the registration page (by the way there’s apparently a £50 deposit): http://www.glastonburyregistration.co.uk/registrationsuspended.html
Full Story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8288694.stm
Deputy Distraction:
Harriet Harman, deputy leader of the Labour party is apparently going to be quizzed in connection to an accident she had whilst driving.
According to the Times newspaper she hit a parked car in her South London constituency, wound down the window and said to a witness “I’m Harriet Harman — you know where you can get hold of me,” before driving off.
It is also speculated that she had been talking on her mobile phone whilst the accident occurred.
For more information see the full article at the Times website.
Link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6860479.ece
According to the Times newspaper she hit a parked car in her South London constituency, wound down the window and said to a witness “I’m Harriet Harman — you know where you can get hold of me,” before driving off.
It is also speculated that she had been talking on her mobile phone whilst the accident occurred.
For more information see the full article at the Times website.
Link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6860479.ece
Rehabilitation Rockers:
If the Ig Nobels seemed strange to you then this might seem like something from another universe.
Billy Bragg is the head of the UK campaign to teach criminals to play instruments to aid with their rehabilitation. The gist is that it should be a way for the criminals to express their emotions.
Wayne Kramer of MC5 will be heading the US campaign so don’t think that those across the pond will be missing out.
The scheme involves the general public making donations allowing for instruments to be provided for inmates.
Full Story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8286743.stm
Billy Bragg is the head of the UK campaign to teach criminals to play instruments to aid with their rehabilitation. The gist is that it should be a way for the criminals to express their emotions.
Wayne Kramer of MC5 will be heading the US campaign so don’t think that those across the pond will be missing out.
The scheme involves the general public making donations allowing for instruments to be provided for inmates.
Full Story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8286743.stm
The Ig Nobels – Full of Surprises:
It does seem like one massive joke but after looking at some of the awards doesn’t it seem like there might be some practical use in some of the winning research?
The prize for Veterinary Medicine went to Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson who showed that giving cows names increased the yield of milk. Though funny after a discussion with a colleague at work he assured me (in the way that only a person who works on a farm can) that this proved that paying the cows attention meant that they were more relaxed and so produced more milk.
The Peace prize went to Stephan Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg, Michael Thali and Beat Kneubuehl for there research into comparison between the damaged caused to the head from empty and full beer bottles. I can see why people would find this useless but forensically it could contribute towards finding or convicting the right person who made such an attack by looking at the damage caused. This is a long shot I know, but still useful in some way.
The biology one is just strange but let me just put an idea out there for this one. This prize went to Fumiaki Taguchi, Song Guofu and Zhang Guanglei for their research showing that kitchen waste could be reduced up to 90% by bacteria taken from giant Panda faeces. Odd I know but if this process is similar to other decomposition processes wouldn’t a lot of methane be produced? In one respect it would reduce the amount of space rubbish would take up and in another it might be a ‘green’ way to produce a useful gas.
My favourite at the minute (because I love sparkle) has to be the Chemistry prize that went to Javier Morales, Miguel Apatiga and Victor M Castano who produced diamonds from Tequila! This may have no use whatsoever and is probably quite expensive to do but it does combine two of my interests, sparkly things and alcohol!
Another favourite would be the Public Health prize that went to Elena N Bodnar, Raphael C Lee, and Sandra Marijan for the gas mask bra. Though I’m sure it would be handy having two gas masks shoved down your top and it could be life saving in the right environment it would be better to have it less gender specific and for those people who either struggle with bras or just don’t want to strip in public it might be a better idea to just have one that could slip into a bag, or maybe even the bag itself.
Okay, maybe I’m just being an optimist but what does everybody else think? Wonderful or a waste of time?
For the full article follow one of these links:
New Scientist: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17899-best-of-the-ig-nobel-prizes-2009.html
BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8285380.stm
The prize for Veterinary Medicine went to Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson who showed that giving cows names increased the yield of milk. Though funny after a discussion with a colleague at work he assured me (in the way that only a person who works on a farm can) that this proved that paying the cows attention meant that they were more relaxed and so produced more milk.
The Peace prize went to Stephan Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg, Michael Thali and Beat Kneubuehl for there research into comparison between the damaged caused to the head from empty and full beer bottles. I can see why people would find this useless but forensically it could contribute towards finding or convicting the right person who made such an attack by looking at the damage caused. This is a long shot I know, but still useful in some way.
The biology one is just strange but let me just put an idea out there for this one. This prize went to Fumiaki Taguchi, Song Guofu and Zhang Guanglei for their research showing that kitchen waste could be reduced up to 90% by bacteria taken from giant Panda faeces. Odd I know but if this process is similar to other decomposition processes wouldn’t a lot of methane be produced? In one respect it would reduce the amount of space rubbish would take up and in another it might be a ‘green’ way to produce a useful gas.
My favourite at the minute (because I love sparkle) has to be the Chemistry prize that went to Javier Morales, Miguel Apatiga and Victor M Castano who produced diamonds from Tequila! This may have no use whatsoever and is probably quite expensive to do but it does combine two of my interests, sparkly things and alcohol!
Another favourite would be the Public Health prize that went to Elena N Bodnar, Raphael C Lee, and Sandra Marijan for the gas mask bra. Though I’m sure it would be handy having two gas masks shoved down your top and it could be life saving in the right environment it would be better to have it less gender specific and for those people who either struggle with bras or just don’t want to strip in public it might be a better idea to just have one that could slip into a bag, or maybe even the bag itself.
Okay, maybe I’m just being an optimist but what does everybody else think? Wonderful or a waste of time?
For the full article follow one of these links:
New Scientist: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17899-best-of-the-ig-nobel-prizes-2009.html
BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8285380.stm
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