The Future of Computers

Guess who I found on Facebook?

The Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao - he has his own FB profile and I think it is the real deal because of all the official photographs & stuff. I just became a 'supporter'- I am happy with the way he dealt with the Earthquake.

Very different from the Military Junta in Burma who are surely committing crimes against humanity with their actions!

Surfing Hippo endangers itself

Poor Hippo - he's just having some fun. And that may end up costing him his life. I hope the wildlife rangers can think up some solution other than killing the animal.

(Image from Reuters)

A footloose hippopotamus which has been tracked down the South African coast for months has fascinated locals by surfing in the waves. The hippo has repeatedly swum in the breaking waves but was finally captured on film by a local photographer near the east coast holiday town of Ballito yesterday. The creature, which can weigh almost two tons, paddled in the white water and swam as the force carried him forwards.

The hippo, thought to be an adult male, has been moving south since March but is now approaching the outskirts of Durban. Lionel van Schoor, a wildlife ranger from KZN Wildlife, a conservation group in KwaZulu-Natal, warned it might have to be shot dead if it did not turn around because they could not use tranquiliser darts. He said: "This one would drown if we darted him in the water, and if we tried to dart him on the beach, he would run into the water for safety and again drown when the drug takes effect. "If the hippo moves any further south there is huge risk. If he does not retrace his own steps and move back north, there is little hope for him."

Hippos, whose name comes from the Greek for "river horse", have been recorded surfing before but only very rarely. They generally prefer fresh water. (Telegraph)

Toilet in Space Shuttle not working!

Okay ... just the liquid disposal is not working. The solid disposal is still functioning - thank the heavens!! Still ... I wonder if there is a stench in there? Does smell travel in space?

The international space station's lone toilet is broken, leaving the crew with almost nowhere to go. So Nasa may order an in-orbit plumbing service call when space shuttle Discovery visits next week. Until then, the three-man crew will have to make do with a jury-rigged system when they need to urinate.

While one of the crew was using the Russian-made toilet last week, the toilet motor fan stopped working, according to Nasa. Since then, the liquid waste gathering part of the toilet has been working on-and-off. Fortunately, the solid waste collecting part is functioning normally. (Telegraph)

Sky divers balloon leaves without him

By now you must have heard of the poor French skydiver whose attempt to sky dive from the edge of space became a joke because his balloon got away. It is all over the news - I feel so bad for the guy! Here is a video.

A retired French paratrooper’s daring bid to skydive from the edge of space came to a farcical end when the balloon that was to take him almost 25 miles up drifted off without him. After two decades of preparation and $20 million of investment, Michel Fournier, 64, could only look on helplessly as the helium balloon lifted off from North Battleford airport in the Canadian state of Saskatchewan, leaving him stranded on terra firma in his pressurised capsule.

It was the latest dashing of a life-long dream for Mr Fournier, who had planned to perform what has been dubbed Le Grand Saut (The Great Leap) from almost 25 miles up after a two and half hour ascent to the edge of the stratosphere — about four times higher than the cruising altitude of a commercial jet. But his capsule never left the ground after the balloon detached itself while being inflated. (Telegraph)

Dinner in the Sky

I first became aware of this company early last year. I find this a novel concept. They have been spreading to other cities and may soon be coming to one near you.

Now ... I can see the folks eating, I can see the chefs, I can see the pianist. But I cannot see a toilet. If someone has been on one of these dinners, please let me know what happens if nature calls halfway through dinner? Were you given any special instructions before lift off?

Click here for more info: Dinner in the Sky

Chubby Cheeks - the Beauty secret of Jolie & Hepburn

I could not find any photos of either Jolie or Hepburn to post here - everything where their cheeks looked slightly chubby was under copyright. So a photo of Lily will have to do - her cheeks are chubby enough! Click on the link to see Jolie & Hepburn and their chubby cheeks. And yes, I am going to file this under 'Health' because I do hope this is a trend away from the anorexic looks we have been subjected to the last decade or so.

Chubby cheeks are the secret to a youthful appearance and attracting the opposite sex, according to new research. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons claims that fatty deposits underneath the face help to keep people looking young and beautiful.

Scientists hope that the findings, which explain why sudden weight loss can make people look older, will help them develop techniques to halt the signs of aging.

One suggestion is that fatty deposits are injected beneath the skin to plump up cheeks. "From the irresistible urge to pinch the cheeks of infants to our admiration of Hollywood stars like Audrey Hepburn and Angelina Jolie, we've known for a long time that cheeks are vital to what we consider beautiful," said Joel Pessa, a surgeon and co-author of the study in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the society. (Telegraph)

What happens when Galaxies collide?

Rag-and-bone man leaves 300 BC Gold Cup to Grandson

I love stories like this! Does it not want to make you go up to your attic and look through everything again? Just in case it is not all junk? :-)

The grandson of a rag and bone man who acquired a small metal cup is in line for a windfall after discovering it is a pure gold vessel dating back to the third or fourth century BC.The piece could be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The 5½ in cup, believed to be from the Achaemenid empire, has two female faces looking in opposite directions, their foreheads decorated with a snake motif.

Experts were baffled by the piece, but laboratory analysis of the gold put it in the third or fourth century BC and that it had been painstakingly crafted from one piece of gold. The Achaemenid empire was based around Persia, but at its height stretched from Iran to Libya. It was wiped out by Alexander the Great in 330BC. (Telegraph)

Ban Cluster Bombs

Help ban cluster bombs.

Sign the Avaaz Petition!

Cluster bombs are one of the most dangerous weapons of today. The majority of their victims are civilians, affecting millions worldwide. They have absolutely no place in a conflict situation.

This week governments have gathered together in Dublin to outlaw this dangerous weapon. This is a historic meeting of the international community. Some governments are trying to undermine and weaken the treaty with loopholes and exceptions. They are trying to position the arms trade over the importance of lives of people like me.

Rich governments don't always listen to victims, but they will listen to you -- their citizens. Please send a strong message to your government now that calls for a treaty with no exception, no loopholes, and no delays.

Twins seperated at birth meet after 28 years

Just like something from a day time soap! Or a Bollywood film!! The twins are separated at birth and then meet by chance after many years. I hope this ends well with millions of dollars being paid out by the hospital.

Spanish twins who were separated at birth due to a hospital mix-up have met by chance 28 years later. The two Spanish women, who have yet to reveal their identities, were born in a hospital in Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, where one of them was switched by mistake with the baby of another family. Two of the three women involved in the mix-up have grown up in a family that was not their own.

One of the twins has now instructed a lawyer to sue the hospital."It happened by chance," he said. "The friend was working in a shopping centre. The other twin came in one day to buy clothes. The sales assistant tried to greet her with a kiss thinking that she was her friend, but the customer refused. "The surprised sales assistant then called her friend who assured her that she had not been in to the shop." When the other twin came back to the shop a few days later, a meeting was arranged between the two sisters. (Telegraph)

Right to Die card

A controversial new "right to die" card is being offered to the public in the UK that allows anyone to refuse treatment in a medical emergency. Who carries it, and why?



It's a morbid question, but one that many of us have pondered at least once. If I hadn't just escaped that dreadful accident, where would I be now? Would I rather be dead than depend on others to keep me alive? A new card seeks to address that very question. Available in pubs, banks, libraries, GP surgeries, even some churches, the Advanced Decision to Refuse Treatment (ADRT) card sits snugly in a wallet or purse and instructs a doctor to withhold treatment should the carrier lose the capacity to make decisions, because of an accident or illness.

Dubbed the "right-to-die card", it's being seen by some as a short-cut to euthanasia. But its backers say it is a practical way of implementing the Mental Capacity Act, which came into force in 2007. The act allows adults to draw up "advance directives" stating what sort of treatment they don't want should they lose capacity. They build on the principle of "living wills" but, crucially, mean that doctors are legally bound to abide by a patient's wish to refuse life-sustaining treatment. (Paula Dear, BBC)

New underwater wine storage technique

This is most interesting. I will have to make a note in a RL diary somewhere (not my Google calendar because wired things change so fast I am sure I won't be using the same calendar for a couple of decades) to check 20 years later how the wine is different because it was stored underwater.

French winegrowers have submerged 276 bottles of local drink deep in an artificial lake and will keep them there for decades to see how they differ from bottles stored above ground for the same period. A dozen frogmen placed the bottles of Arbois wine, kept in wire crates, 60 metres below the surface among the ruins of a sunken 12th century abbey in Vouglans, in the Jura region of eastern France.

Built by monks of the order of Saint Bruno, the Chartreuse de Vaucluse was submerged in 1968, when France's electricity operator, EDF, created a huge dam and France's third largest lake. Every 20 years, a crate of 24 bottles will brought to the surface to test how the wine has changed, in parallel with the normally conserved bottles, according to domain Henri Maire, which organised the operation. (Telegraph)

7 Dwarves of Menopause

OMG! Another baby put up for sale!

I simply cannot believe it! Another couple, this time in Canada put their 7-day old baby up for sale on Craigslist. Are these people like sheep? Following what someone did without thought to the ramifications of what they are doing?

A couple has been arrested in what Canadian police said on Tuesday was an apparent offer to sell a seven-day-old baby girl on Craigslist for C$10,000 ($10,100). A woman who saw the offer on the popular website alerted police who tracked down the 23-year-old mother and 26-year-old father using a cell phone number that was listed in the advertisement.

Vancouver police said the couple told investigators the offer was a hoax, but were arrested for public mischief with other criminal charges possible as the investigation continues. "There are so many questions here," Constable Tim Fanning told reporters. Police said the advertisement described the baby as "very cute" and "unexpected" and that its parents, who could not afford to care for it, wanted to give it a good home. The child was put in the care of social workers. (Reuters)

Watch people chasing cheese downhill!

Maye next year you can join in too! Perhaps not as famous or as exhilarating as chasing bulls in Pamplona, but this activity has its excitement and its participants from all over the world too.

The wind and rain didn't stop thousands of people watching the annual cheese roll in Gloucestershire, England. Competitors from around the world flocked to Gloucestershire to take part in a sporting event with a difference, the giant cheese roll. As the cheese rolled down the hill, dozens of people ran, slipped and tumbled after it. Paramedics were on the scene to assist the injured and mud-covered competitors.

Cheese rolling is thought to date back centuries. During rationing between 1941 and 1954, the wheel of cheese had to be substituted with a wooden circle containing a token piece of cheese inside. (Reuters)

4 women venture into place thats 'Male Only' since 1060

I'll admit I did not know that there is this place called Mount Athos in Greece that has been off bounds to women since 1060!! Now I wish I did not know because it looks very beautiful and I want to go see it and I can't!

(Image: Google Earth)

Four Moldovan women accidentally breached a ban dating back to 1060 when they were dropped off on the Greek monastic peninsular of Mount Athos. They told police they had sailed from Turkey after paying $6,300 to two Ukrainian people smugglers, but were unaware they were breaking Greek law.

Women are banned from Mount Athos, home to 20 monasteries and considered Orthodox Christianity's spiritual home. Police held the group, and one officer said "they were forgiven" by the monks.

The four women, aged between 27 and 32, and a Moldovan man, aged 41, were discovered by the monks at the weekend. Under Greek law, breaching the ban can lead to a jail sentence. Women - even many female domestic animals - have not been allowed on the mountain since a decree banning women was issued by Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomachos in 1060! (BBC)

Man pardoned 86 years after execution

I am against the death penalty and the following case clearly demonstrates why the death penalty should be abolished everywhere! Can you imagine what was going through the mind of this poor fellow that no one would believe in his innocence? And such a heinous crime too! And someone got away with murder!!

A man hanged in 1922 for the murder and rape of a young girl in the southern Australian city of Melbourne was posthumously pardoned for the crime on Tuesday after new tests found crucial evidence against him was flawed.

Authorities in the Victorian state pardoned Colin Campbell Ross, who was hanged for raping and murdering a 12-year old girl and dumping her body in an alley in 1921. "This really is a tragic case where a miscarriage of justice has resulted in a man being hanged," Victoria's Attorney-General Rob Hulls said on Tuesday. "This pardon is a recognition that there are serious doubts about Mr Ross's conviction for murder."

Australia is a strong opponent of the death penalty, with the last hanging taking place in Melbourne in 1967 when petty criminal Ronald Ryan was executed for his involvement in a prison escape, during which a prison guard was shot dead. Hulls said the case was a warning to anyone who believed Australia should re-introduce the death penalty, which was formally abolished in Victoria in 1975. (Reuters)

Small Fry Giraffe

This adorable baby giraffe is 5ft tall but that is small by giraffes standards. She was born in January of this year and was 2 weeks premature. I want this guy's job!

Most babies who measured 5ft would be considered big - but newborn giraffe Margaret is seen as unusually small for her species. The female Rothschild giraffe was born prematurely at Chester Zoo after mother Fay went into labour two weeks early. Mother and daughter are now doing fine and, thanks to hand-rearing by her keepers, 10-day-old Margaret is now tipping the scales at just over five stone.

Tim Rowlands, team leader of the giraffes section, said: "Margaret is one of the smallest giraffe calves we have ever seen. "Fay isn't the largest of giraffes and Margaret was also early which might go some way to explaining her size.(Sky)

Indian Govt wants to spy on Blackberry messages

.... but the makers of Blackberry have refused to decrypt messages - I like how they insisted that the technology would not allow them to! India is not the only country that does not allow widespread use of the Blackberry because of fears that these devices may be used for terrorism. So if you need to provide an ID card to buy a cycle, what documentation would you need to supply to be able to use a Blackberry?

So, as I see it slowly the Governments (not just the Indian Govt. mind you) are clamping down on our freedoms, finding more ways to keep tabs on us, but it does not seem to be affecting the terrorists in anyway. Last I checked Bin Laden was just fine somewhere and bombs exploding and people dying with fail safe regularity.

The Canadian manufacturer of Blackberry mobile phones has rejected demands by the Indian government that it help decrypt suspicious text messages. The firm, Research in Motion, says its technology does not allow any third party - even the company itself - to read information sent over its network.

The Indian authorities have been reluctant to allow the widespread use of Blackberries in the country. They fear militants and criminals may take advantage of the secure system. A number of other countries around the world have expressed similar fears. (BBC)