Big silver bird: Dead seas: Lambo Numpty: T up your phone: Wired for sun: and Thar’s gold in the Big Apple.

Usual again at the Castle this morn-dull, damp, dingy and decidedly cool, the study is overflowing with broken things, and his Majesty is chilling out.

 

I see that Old fart Ken Clarke has done a Coalition U-Turn over the prison discount whatnot, and it appears that you only have a 50/50 chance of surviving a fire if you have smoke alarms.

Boeing have built a big silver bird,  The 747-8 is the largest plane ever built by the US aerospace giant, which makes it an ideal people-mover on a grand scale.

The "dash-eight", as they call the plane, flew straight into an order-flurry that saw it clock up some $5.4bn (£3.3bn) worth of deals at list price during the first day of the Paris air show.

With 17 fresh orders for the 747-8 Intercontinental, Boeing has pulled in 50 firm and five conditional orders for the passenger version, in addition to some 70 orders for the 747-8 windowless freighter.

 Let’s hope it is more reliable than the Airbus A380.

According to “experts”

A preliminary report from an international panel of marine experts said that the condition of the world's seas was worsening more quickly than had been predicted.

The scientists, gathered for a workshop at Oxford University, warned that entire ecosystems, such as coral reefs, could be lost in a generation.

Already fish stocks are collapsing, leading to a risk of rising food prices and even starvation in some parts of the world.

The experts blamed the increased amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for pushing up ocean temperatures, boosting algae so there is less oxygen and increasing acidity of the water.

The conditions are similar to every previous mass extinction event in the Earth's history.

 Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.....

East to the land of  many, many people

A Chinese man who transformed his old Nissan car into an eye-catching Lamborghini had it confiscated by police on its maiden voyage.

Liu Yuandong, of Kunming, in southwest China's Yunnan province, spent more than £8,000 on the transformation.

But he was pulled over by the police within minutes of taking the 'sports car' for its first spin around the cities streets.

Police spokesman Pu Weiping said: "His car is not registered, and should not be driven on the road.

"It appears to have been rather roughly put together and we were concerned it wouldn't meet health and safety standards."

The car is currently being held by local traffic officers who will decide whether or not to return it to Liu after a thorough inspection. 

That’s the problem when you copy something-always a flaw, in this case the Numpty behind the wheel.

Up in Glastonbury

A prototype T-shirt has been designed to power mobiles while festival-goers watch bands in action.

Users can plug their phone in to the shirt, which uses noise-responsive technology, for a quick top-up charge whenever they need it.

Mobile phone giant Orange will be conducting live testing of the device on site at the festival this weekend to see which acts and beats are the "best to charge to" around the Spirit of 71 stage.

Tony Andrews, co-producer of the Spirit of 71, said it could provide "a real solution to mobile phone charging" while on the go.

"Sound vibrations, particularly bass frequencies, will create enough shaking to produce electricity from a material as simple as piezoelectric film," he said.

How does that song by the Move go? I’m just sitting charging mobiles in the rain....

Over to the later York

A New York woman has launched a lawsuit because she says her bikini was too hot.

Robin Corrente, 50, claims the underwire in her black swimsuit top heated to the scorching point when she was sunbathing in 32 C weather in August 2008, causing third-degree burns and blistering after about an hour in the sun.

Corrente reportedly sought medical attention and doctors removed a piece of flesh about the "size of a dime" from her right breast.

She's filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court against Swimwear Anywhere, manufacturer of the Coco Reef bikini. 

Sun? I have heard of it, but apparently it is banned from Blighty.

 And finally: 

An unemployed jewellery setter has taken to combing the streets of New York with a pair of tweezers to cash in on dropped gems and gold.

Raffi Stepanian, 43, has begun crawling around the New York 'Diamond District' on his hands and knees, plucking jewels and fragments of precious metals from between the slabs.

Armed with a pair of tweezers, Mr Stepanian, an unemployed diamond setter from Queens, claims to have collected $1,010 (£623) worth in the past fortnight.

His haul so far has included chips of diamonds and rubies, bits of platinum and gold fragments from watches, earrings and necklaces.

He has sold most of his discoveries to metal refiners or diamond sellers, while keeping some gold with a view to melting it down for future use.  

Should have kept quiet about it....

 That’s it: I’m orf to add a new nose to the Honda. 

And today’s thought: A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kickboxing.

 Angus