Friday, 30 November 2012

Ethical vacuum: Poor Old Farts: Bacon face: Sex in a Swiss box: Rubbish Wi-Fi: and Loop Quantum Cosmology.


Mammoth amounts of lack of warm, multitudes of layers of scrapey-scrapey stuff, minimal amounts of skywater and not a sign of Dawn’s crack at the Castle this morn.

Didn’t post yestermorn, had an early Tooth Doctor’s appointment after the stale bread, gruel and his Maj’s food run dahn Tesco, I won’t go into details but suffice it to say that spitting up blood isn’t one of my favourite pastimes.

 


The publication of naked pictures of Prince Harry and the Duchess of Cambridge shows that the "Blogosphere" is an “ethical vacuum”, and that while people will not assume that what they read on the internet is “trustworthy”, they expect newspapers to be a “quality product”.
At the inquiry, newspapers argued that stricter regulation of the press would be meaningless without greater controls of the internet.
“The press, on the other hand, does claim to operate by and adhere to an ethical code of conduct. Newspapers, through whichever medium they are delivered, purport to offer a quality product in all senses of the term.”
“In contrast, the internet does not function on that basis at all. People will not assume that what they read on the internet is trustworthy or that it carries any particular assurance or accuracy; it need be no more than one person’s view.”
 

Isn’t that what free speech is all about?

 

People over the age of 50 are “sleepwalking” into a pension crisis by over-estimating how well-off they will be in retirement.
A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) found that a third of people aged between 52 and 64 have no idea what their workplace pension income will be in retirement.
It also found that six in ten people over the age of 50 who are still in work have not yet thought about how many years of retirement they might need to finance.
The NAPF said the findings mean that millions of workers will be poorer than they think when they stop working.
The study found that women in their 50s believe they will live until they are 84, when their life expectancy is 88. Men, meanwhile, predict they will live until 83 when their life expectancy is 85.
The report found that on average people in so-called defined contribution workplace pension schemes aged between 50 and 64 would need to see their pot make investment returns of 77 per cent to reach the income they expect in retirement. The average UK pension fund makes annual returns of just 4.3 per cent.
 

So where has all the money gorn-oh yes the Bankers pissed it all away gambling on the markets....and the “government” let them.

 


A bacon-scented shaving cream has hit the market, so men can carry the smell of fried pork with them wherever they go.Its makers, J&D's Foods, claim it will make users 'smell and feel like a champion'.

However one customer who tested the lotion at Earl's Cuts in Seattle, Washington, sounded a little unsure about the meaty aroma, telling The Seattle Insider 'I feel like I'm in a skillet'

The new product, which launched yesterday, is described as 'high end' and 'luxurious' and the U.S. brand adds that men should use it after a hot shower or before an 'important date'.
Justin Esch and Dave Lefkow, the men behind J&D's Food, have only created 2,500 jars of their $14.95. Bacon Shaving Cream.
Apparently Mr Lefkow said: 'This is something that every bacon loving male needs. You’re going to smell good, you’re feeling good and you're probably going to taste good.'
While Mr Esch, who also had a hand in creating the strange toiletry item, explained: 'Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and bacon is the best part of breakfast. Why not smell like it and be the best?'



Oh joy......wonder if they do one that smells of money?

 


The Swiss city of Zurich is to open drive-in sex boxes in an attempt to rid the town of street prostitution.
Zurich council has approved a plan to build the boxes, which will, it hopes, provide a discreet location for prostitutes and their clients to conduct business when they open in August next year.
Located in an industrial area of the city, the row of garage-like boxes will have roofs and walls for privacy, and easy access for cars. The council estimates that around 30 prostitutes will meet clients at the site of the boxes, and use the drive-in slots on a first-come-first-served basis.
The prostitutes who use the sex boxes will also have to take out medical insurance and buy a £26 licence in order to ply their trade. On top of that they will also have to feed five Swiss francs, about £3.30, into a roadside ticket machine each night when they clock on.
 

Traffic jam sex?

 
 
Aberdeen is set to spearhead a refuse revolution by installing hi-tech litter bins in the city centre – which will also provide free Wi-Fi access for visitors to the area.
• Bins will use Wi-Fi technology to alert refuse department when they are full
• Wi-Fi hotspots will also be used to distribute tourist information advice
The City Council, in partnership with the Aberdeen Inspired initiative, is planning to spend almost £250,000 by ordering 60 “Big Belly Bins” for key locations around the city centre.
The solar powered bins are fitted with waste compactors, ensuring they need emptied less often than standard designs. The bins also use wireless technology to alert authorities when they are full and the electronics used to issue the alerts will also allow the bins to act as Wi-Fi hotspots, providing visitors with up to date guides to the city and its sights, shops and restaurants.
The £246,500 cost of the project is to be shared by the city council and Aberdeen Inspired, the banner under which the Aberdeen BID (Business Improvement District) is operating.
Susan Bree, chief executive of Aberdeen Inspired, said: “We want Aberdeen to be at the forefront when it comes to technology and the Big Belly Bins are just one of the examples of the initiatives we are pressing ahead with.
“The additional feature of providing Wi-Fi access is also a major bonus, all part of our wider aim to increase footfall in the city centre and make Aberdeen more attractive to visitors.”


Ever been to Aberdeen? I have........once........

 
And finally:
 

 
Using techniques from an area of modern physics called loop quantum cosmology, developed at Penn State, the scientists at Penn State University have extended analyses that include quantum physics farther back in time than ever before — all the way to the beginning. The new paradigm of loop quantum origins shows, for the first time, that the large-scale structures we now see in the universe evolved from fundamental fluctuations in the essential quantum nature of “space-time,” which existed even at the very beginning of the universe over 14 billion years ago. The achievement also provides new opportunities for testing competing theories of modern cosmology against breakthrough observations expected from next-generation telescope

Allegedly the new paradigm provides a conceptual and mathematical framework for describing the exotic “quantum-mechanical geometry of space-time” in the very early universe. The paradigm shows that, during this early era, the universe was compressed to such unimaginable densities that its behaviour was ruled not by the classical physics of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, but by an even more fundamental theory that also incorporates the strange dynamics of quantum mechanics. The density of matter was huge then — 1094 grams per cubic centimetre, as compared with the density of an atomic nucleus today, which is only 1014 grams. In this bizarre quantum-mechanical environment — where one can speak only of probabilities of events rather than certainties — physical properties naturally would be vastly different from the way we experience them today. Among these differences, Ashtekar said, are the concept of “time,” as well as the changing dynamics of various systems over time as they experience the fabric of quantum geometry itself.

 

So now you know.....

 


 

And today’s thought:
Not in my back passage
 

 

Angus

2 comments:

A K Haart said...

they expect newspapers to be a “quality product”.

That'll be why they keep losing readers. I knew it must be something to do with quality, but I'm not a judge so I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Angus Dei said...

Nor me AK, one thing did occur to me though:

Leveson said:

"People will not assume that what they read on the internet is trustworthy or that it carries any particular assurance or accuracy; it need be no more than one person’s view.”


As is his report...