Lost in the NHS: Paint your asteroid: Nazi Raccoons: Flash-ah-ah: Bog standard goalie: and Tobler-one piece short.

Lots of lack of warm, not a lumen of solar activity, loads of atmospheric movement and little skywater at the Castle this morn, been a bit busy; my Crimbo pressy to me arrived yestermorn-a nice new windows 7 (I can’t be bothered with the new touchy feely 7+1) laptop with stuff like a dual core processor, 8gbs of ram, 16” hi-def  led screen, 320gbs hard drive, DVD re-writer, an sd card slot, usb 3 thingies, hi-def do-da TV attachment, tea maker, oven and grill.

The transfer from the old one went surprisingly well and all my bits have been installed almost to my satisfaction, the only bugbear is that the knobs and whistles on the keyboard are in different places which makes typing a bit time consuming, but I will persevere.

 

All over badly run Blighty

It seems that more than 5,000 confidential patient records are being lost by the NHS every day, official statistics showed that at least 1.8 million sensitive papers went missing throughout the health service in just 12 months.

Among the breaches included data security records dumped in public bins and electronic records found for sale on an internet auction site.

Other security lapses involved details of terminally ill patients being faxed to the wrong number, patient records being stolen and posted on to the internet and unsecured laptops being stolen from homes of staff members.

The Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, has levied fines totalling almost £1 million on NHS bodies over the past six months; among those fined include Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Foundation (£325,000 over 69,000 patient records) and Belfast Health and Social Care Trust (£225,000 over 100,000 confidential paper records) and Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (£90,000 over 59 records).

The worst breach involved a CD containing 1.6 million patient records, including personal details, belonging to Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT.

The CD was lost when a filing cabinet went missing during an office move. The trust was not fined, but signed an undertaking with the ICO not to repeat the error.

Nick Pickles, of privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, told the newspaper

"There is a real risk that if the NHS doesn't sort out how it looks after patients' details people will stop sharing information with their doctor and that could be extremely dangerous for care."

 

No shit-wonder if he is related to Eric?

 

Over to the left where it is a bit windy

Sung Wook Paek, an MIT graduate student who won the 2012 Move an Asteroid Technical Paper Competition, sponsored by the United Nations' Space Generation Advisory Council reckons that the answer to the asteroid threat is to fire two volleys of paintballs at the space rock.

And for his test scenario, he focused on asteroid Apophis which was the biggest extraterrestrial threat to Earth. In 2004, initial observations suggested an uncomfortably high statistical probability that it may hit Earth in 2029. Fortunately for us, by 2006 further observations refined the asteroid's orbit and a 2029 impact could be ruled out. But there's another impact possibility in 2036, albeit a very, very small one.

By Paek's reckoning, around five tons of white paint powder could be encased in pellets and, through two separate volleys, the majority of Apophis' surface can be covered which will change the asteroids path (release the first volley of paintballs. It would then wait for the asteroid to spin on its axis 180 degrees and release a second volley. The entire surface would then be covered by a thin layer of paint approximately five-micrometers thick, as light from the sun hits an object, a minuscule amount of pressure is applied -- each individual photon exerts a small amount of momentum to the object's surface. If the object is dark (i.e. if the object's albedo is low), more photons are absorbed; if it's light (i.e. the albedo is high), more photons are reflected. By changing the albedo of an asteroid like Apophis, it's theoretically possible to change how sunlight interacts with it. The greater the brightness, the greater the reflected light, the greater number of photons reflected, the greater the solar radiation pressure.)

And twenty years or so later the asteroid is no longer a threat.

 
I do like a barmy scientist...

 

Back totally buggered up Europe

It seems that Adolf may have the last laugh; Raccoons introduced by the Nazis have officially occupied Germany after experts admitted they are there to stay.

The German Hunting Federation says the animals, introduced by Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering, will never be ousted.

It follows a spate of complaints by householders of racoons breaking into houses in search of food and shelter in the cold weather.

Federation spokesman Danaiel Hoffman said: "The raccoon is firmly established in Germany, this has to be accepted."

And Magnus Wessel, head of conservation at Friends of the Earth Germany, agreed: "Limiting their numbers is pretty much all that can be done."

Raccoons, which German pest controllers say now number in the millions, often choose to live under houses as they feel safe from predators and can steal food from bins.

As the cold conditions hit, a couple arrived back from holiday to find one of the animals had climbed down the chimney and eaten all the food in their cupboards in Spessart, Hesse.

A raccoon chased off a cat after breaking in through its flap, eating a packet of biscuits and ripping up a cushion for a nest at a home in Kaiserslautern.

Goering ordered the release of a breeding pair of raccoons when he was the Third Reich's chief forester in 1934, to give hunters something to shoot.

More got out in 1945 when an Allied bomb hit a farm where they were being reared for their pelts.

 

Nearly as bad as a right wing lunatic trying to wipe out half of the European population...

 

Over a bit to where there are no builders, plumbers or decorators

 

Police in hot pursuit of a speeding cyclist in Poland were shocked when they finally caught up with him riding completely naked and wearing his pants on his head.

Traffic police moved to arrest the rider after he set off a speed camera in Bialy Bor, northern Poland.

The cyclist, Piotr Chmielewski - then fully clothed - had been flagged for exceeding the 30mph (48km/h) speed limit in place.

But by the time traffic police had caught up with the cyclist they found him completely naked apart from his underwear, which he was wearing on his head.

Local police spokesman Waldemar Lada said: 'He was fined twice - once for speeding and again for indecent exposure.'

 

Wonder if alcohol had anything to do with it?

 

East to the land where radiation hasn’t done any damage-ever

 

The Japanese have come up with the latest sports accessory. The Super Great Toiler Keeper is part mechanical loo and part goalie, able to take on the country’s soccer elite.

The toilet uses motion-detecting cameras to calculate the flight of the ball, pivot on its axis, and fire a small ball from the bowl to parry the incoming soccer ball.

The toilet goalie is the unlikely result of two Japanese companies with similar names and vastly different products, joining forces.

Toilet maker Toto and sports lottery agent Toto pitched their collaboration as an environmentally friendly project.

 

Flushed with success?

 

And finally: 

From the land where chocolate is mountain shaped

 

Toblerone chocolate has been named and shamed with an award for dodgy goods and services for claiming its 400-gram bar has 16 serves when there are only 15 segments.

According to the 7th annual Shonky awards "We measured the actual number of mountains in the bars versus the recommended or serving size written on the packet,'' Choice spokesperson Ingrid Just said of Toblerone.

Other goods and services deemed sneaky and unscrupulous by Choice include so-called Nano technology aimed at protecting iPhones, The Samsung SW70SP 7kg front loader washing machine, Ticketek and Ticketmaster, Cabcharge, homeopathy treatments for restless and irritable kids, and travel services.


Don't you just hate that-should be a law against it...

 

That’s it: I’m orf to get some cheap wood for the furnace

 

And today’s thought:

Just can’t be bothered with the politics of it.

 

 

Angus

He’s a poet-not: Back to basics: Virtual ID: Dead meat restaurant: All you can’t eat: 7 Election: and a Fishy tale.

Not much lack of cold, even less solar activity, a definite dearth of atmospheric movement and oodles of ex skywater at the Castle this morn.

Just returned from the stale bread, gruel and his Maj’s food run dahn Tesco, well every little helps considering their financial situation. 

Did even more coloured stuff application yesterday, I am knackered, today’s daily Dei decorating tip-pay someone else to do it....

 

And according to the Guardian

 

And Michael Gove, the education secretary reckons that primary school children should learn and recite poetry by heart as part of broader changes to the curriculum.

And to start them orf:

 

There was a young lady from Ealing

Who had a peculiar feeling

....

And:

There once was an MP called Hunt

Who was a really  daft.....

 

Today’s lesson is to finish orf the above limericks without using rude words...

 

All over our dear old NHS

 

Apparently patients are being treated so Piss Poorly because they are wrongly viewed by doctors and nurses as simply "medical conditions" to be dealt with rather than individual people.

According to the Royal College of Physicians medical staff frequently have such little time to deal with them, that patients' full medical and emotional needs are not met.

Patients are also being left in a high state of anxiety because staff do not talk to them enough.

The institution has joined forces with the Royal College of Nursing to publish new guidance today, urging hospitals to give the morning ward round the priority it deserves.

 

Not bad, it’s only taken them 60 bleedin years to realise that....still it’s not as if they are being paid to do their jobs...

 

And staying on the Piss Poor theme

Some gormless knobhead in the Millionaires Club Coalition sideboard has come up with a spiffing cunning plan.

A national identity scheme which will allow people to use their mobile phones and social media profiles as official identification documents for accessing public services.

Want a tax credit, fishing license or a passport?

Choose from a list of familiar on-line logins from social media sites, banks and supermarkets to prove who you are.

Once you have logged in correctly by computer or mobile phone, the site will send a message to the government agency authenticating that user’s identity.

The system will be trialled when the Department of Work & Pensions starts the early roll out of the Universal Credit scheme, a radical overhaul of the benefits system, in April.

Users who access the Government’s online one-stop-shop of public services will be asked to identify themselves by choosing one organisation from a selection of logos. (This feature is called a “Nascar screen”, in reference to the logo-filled livery of the famous American racing cars.)

 

Splendid; what could possibly go wrong?

 

Left a lot to fried chicken land

An eastern Kentucky health inspector says he has shut down a restaurant after finding Roadkill in its kitchen.

Paul Lawson told WYMT-TV that he went to inspect the Red Flower Chinese Restaurant in Williamsburg after customers complained to the health department that it appeared employees had brought in a dead animal. Lawson said he immediately shut the place down.

Lawson said the restaurant owner's son apparently picked a dead deer up from a roadside and brought it to the eatery. Lawson said the owner reported he didn't plan to serve the animal to customers; he planned to feed it to his family.

The inspector said the owner wasn't aware of health regulations, and will not face any fines.

He said the restaurant can reopen if it passes another health inspection.

Num, num...

 

 Back in bulky Blighty

 

And dahn to the sarf coast, friends George Dalmon and Andy Miles have been banned from an all-you-can-eat restaurant - for eating too much.

For two years, ex-rugby player George Dalmon and his friend Andy Miles helped themselves to five bowls of stir-fry each during their regular sessions at the Mongolian barbecue.

But now the ‘greedy’ pair has been banned – because the manager feared for his business.

They were called ‘a couple of pigs’ and told never to return to the Gobi in Brighton.

The manager, who did not want to be named, said: ‘Basically, they just come in and pig out.

‘We have put up with them for two years but I’ve had enough.

The restaurant invites customers to create their own dishes from the buffet.

The chef cooks it and diners are invited to go up ‘as many times as you wish’ for £12.

The manager said the voracious eaters stuck to water, they never ordered drinks and never paid the optional service charge.

He added: ‘We are not a charity, we’re a business. It’s our restaurant and we can tell people not to come back if we don’t want them to.’

 

Still all publicity is good publicity-isn’t it?

 

Back in the home of Presidents and the land of 7/Eleven

You go into a 7/Eleven, you buy coffee, and you choose a blue cup or a red cup.

7-Eleven tallies the results, and correctly predicts the US election. It's called 7-Election and it's worked since 2000.

The blue cup is for Democrats and the red cup for Republicans. In 2000 and 2004 more red cups were chosen by coffee drinkers and George W Bush won those elections.

In 2008, the groundswell of public opinion swayed towards blue-tinged java and Barack Obama won the election.

The current stock take across the states participating in 7-Election has Obama getting up 60-40.

Maybe we should try that here-using loo rolls...

 

 And finally:

 

Over to the place where all the politicians reside

Apparently a Thurston County, Wash., man says he managed to shoot himself in the head with a .22-caliber rifle while fishing for salmon.

A sheriff's report says the man told deputies he fired a shot into the Deschutes River on Sunday afternoon but the bullet ricocheted off a rock and hit him in the temple. When he scratched the spot with his finger, he says the bullet fell out of his head and into the river.

The tale came to light although the man went home and refused to tell his girlfriend how he had been injured. After he left again, she called 911. When deputies pulled over the man's pickup truck, he told them what happened.

The man was treated at an area hospital and released. The Olympian newspaper says the man was not cited for any violations.

Apart from being a dickhead.

 

That’s it: I’m orf to stay away from wetlands

 

And today’s thought:

The Angus Dei view of the world

 

Angus

Universal Knobheads: NHS bollocks: Polish Plonkers: Sarnie barny: Golden bacteria: and Grilled dog.

Not much vertical movement on the lack of cold liquid metal gauge, no sign of solar activity, even less atmospheric movement and after oodles of skywater during the dark thing, not a jot of wet stuff.

 

 

Spent a while yestermorn putting coloured stuff on the loo walls and ceiling with my new “super duper” paint pad thingy:

According to the blurb on the box-

“It paints ceilings effortlessly”-only if there is someone on the other end of the handle.

“Uses less paint”-true

Does not splatter-true, it just deposits great globs of coloured stuff on the floor.

Cuts in to “awkward to reach corners”-Nah, not unless said corners are perfectly square (which none of mine are).

Another problem was that the pad thingy kept falling out of the holder and like a slice of buttered bread always lands wet side dahn, and putting it back in was more that a bit messy.

Great for doing the walls, as long as you don’t use it on the corners (keep a brush handy for those), and put dahn a dust sheet, and don’t forget to put your wellies on.

Another hint-do not use “non drip” coloured stuff-use the old fashioned runny paint-it works much better.

 

But what I did found out was that it was perfect for painting doors, if you can keep the pad in the holder you can paint both sides of a door in abaht ten minutes, and it gives a nice smooth finish with no brush marks.

 

More hints from Angus the decorator over the next few days...

 

Apparently Clone “Bs” Reddites have caught the Blueites syndrome

Liam (soon to be the ex shadow Work and Pensions Secretary) Byrne, said cuts to the welfare budget would have to be found because Labour would inherit a "dog's breakfast". Ed Balls, the shadow Chancellor, would look at every element of spending, he said and suggested that a Miliband government could target universal benefits such as the winter fuel allowance and free bus passes for pensioners.

Mr Byrne said: "There's been a balance in the welfare state between universal benefits and targeted benefits. And I'm afraid that as part of Ed's [Balls] zero-based review, that balance has got to be looked at (including “universal benefits” for old farts).

But “The Labour leadership” slapped down Liam’s faux pas; a senior source rapidly disowned the comments. He said: "You should be in no doubt as to our commitment to universal benefits. We believe it gives everyone a stake in the welfare state."

The issue of scrapping means-testing universal benefits paid to older people is highly sensitive – not least because of the number of over-65s who vote.

 

You bet your arse knobhead...

 

And according to “research”

Hospitals are failing to come clean over mistakes that result in serious harm to patients, for fear of being sued.

Some patients or their families are waiting over a year before being given any formal explanation of what led to a “serious incident”, researchers at Imperial College London have found. Some are never told.

They discovered that “fear of litigation” and “worry of being accused of malpractice” are among the most important reasons why NHS trusts are failing to hold open disclosure meetings with patients or their families.

A fifth of trusts only hold such meetings in a minority of cases, according to the research, which was based on an online survey sent to almost 400 patient safety managers. Only 209 responded.

In addition, two-thirds of trusts said they typically held the first of these meetings more than three months after the internal investigation had finished. Trust investigations often take months (or years, or in some cases decades) to complete.

While nine out of 10 trusts had a “board-approved” policy on open disclosure and awareness was high, the researchers concluded that “progress is slow and that some trusts have simply failed to recognise the importance of this issue”.

Although trusts are meant to tell patients or their families what led to a serious incident, there is no legal requirement for them to do so.

Peter Walsh, chief executive of the charity Action Against Medical Accidents said: “This report underlines the desperate need for a statutory requirement for a duty of candour.”

 

No surprise there then, after spending three and a half years trying to squeeze the truth out of Grimly Dark Hospital regarding “Ms” death, and failing miserably my advice is-forget the “complaints procedure” just sue the buggers, and most importantly-refer the no mates medics to the GMC, because if enough people do that eventually even the Piss Poor medical regulator will have to act despite the old boy’s club and covering each other’s arse.

 

Right a bit to the land where everyone is over here

Polish police have released a photo fit of the prime suspect in a bank robbery - complete with his ski mask disguise.

The image - released after a £10,000 bureau de change hold up in Gronowo - shows only the suspect's brown eyes.

And then detectives accidentally released the name of their sole witness, who had only agreed to speak to them if he could remain anonymous.

"We haven't excelled ourselves this time," admitted police spokesman Tomasz Stawarski.

 No shit...

 

West a lot to the home of food and the land of bad tempers

 

A western Nebraska man is accused of assaulting his wife with a sandwich.

The Scottsbluff Star-Herald says 50-year-old Larry Spurling, of Melbeta, is charged with disturbing the peace. According to the arrest affidavit, Spurling's wife called 911 late Sunday and reported he pushed her down during an argument and rubbed a sandwich in her face.

The newspaper says court documents don't detail the ingredients, but a deputy found several pieces of lunchmeat on the carpet outside a bedroom and some pieces of bread in the bedroom.

Ah the old luncheon meat assault ploy.

 

Allegedly researchers have discovered a bacterium’s ability to withstand incredible amounts of toxicity is the key to creating 24-karat gold.

 

“Microbial alchemy is what we’re doing – transforming gold from something that has no value into a solid, precious metal that’s valuable,” said Kazem Kashefi, assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics.

He and Adam Brown, associate professor of electronic art and intermedia, found the metal-tolerant bacteria Cupriavidus metallidurans can grow on massive concentrations of gold chloride – or liquid gold, a toxic chemical compound found in nature.

In fact, the bacteria are at least 25 times stronger than previously reported among scientists, the researchers determined in their art installation, “The Great Work of the Metal Lover,” which uses a combination of biotechnology, art and alchemy to turn liquid gold into 24-karat gold. The artwork contains a portable laboratory made of 24-karat gold-plated hardware, a glass bioreactor and the bacteria, a combination that produces gold in front of an audience.

Brown and Kashefi fed the bacteria unprecedented amounts of gold chloride, mimicking the process they believe happens in nature. In about a week, the bacteria transformed the toxins and produced a gold nugget. 

I did that this morning, or maybe it was the curry I had last night...

 

And finally:

 

Back over to the left

 

The East Providence Animal Control Centre is looking for the owner of a dog that survived being inadvertently transported about 11 miles from the Taunton area in the grille of a Toyota sedan.

According to William Muggle, animal control supervisor in East Providence, the driver of the Toyota was travelling about 50 mph on Route 44 near Segregansett Country Club on Sept. 20 when the dog — a white female, believed to be a poodle-mix — ran into the road.

Muggle said the driver then hit the brakes, and after not seeing the dog anywhere in the roadway, continued along Route 44 into Rhode Island believing he had not struck the dog with his vehicle.

Upon coming to a stoplight in East Providence, the driver was alerted to the dog being wedged in the front of his car by another driver on the road.

Expelius?

 

That’s it: I’m orf to hand back some Quasar gasses

 

And today’s thought:

I knew FirstGroup had their figures wrong

 

Angus

CHunt does a U-Turn: Doomed Boomers: Tied in Le Knot: Sawdust planes: There’s an APP for that: and In a galaxy far-far away.

More than a bit of lack of warm, no solar stuff from dawn’s crack and not even a promise of skywater at the Castle this morn.

Had a day orf yesterday, decided to catch up on some sleep and managed to get fourteen hours, his Maj wasn’t very happy and in revenge decided to sit on top of my bladder at two of the am.

 

 

And I discovered that my £145.50 TV viewing ransom to Auntie will not even result in a paper license until 2016.

According to “them” “It would be wasteful to send you a new license and the same payment plan each year, so instead the TV license and payment plan below will cover you until 2016”

 And the expiry date on the License?-30^th September 2013....

 Wankers; still at least my £145.50 will permit me to watch the news and Dr Who, and not watch, that stupid dancing thing, Eastenders, Snog, marry avoid and all the other Piss Poor programmes vomited out over the digital airways....

 

Allegedly our new Elf Secretary is about to do a U-Turn

 

According to the Independent Jeremy CHunt has ordered a fresh political assessment of controversial plans to shut hospital casualty units as one of his first acts as Health Secretary.

Under the plans for north-west London, the number of casualty departments would be reduced from nine to five.

Ealing Hospital, Chase Farm in Enfield, King George in Ilford, St Helier in Sutton, Hammersmith, Central Middlesex and Charing Cross emergency Depts. are at risk.

His move will raise hopes of a reprieve for a number of accident and emergency departments threatened with closure as NHS Trusts cast around for savings.

Yippee!

But apparently his plans have “alarmed” many doctors and hospital managers who argue that merging A&E units into larger, better staffed departments saves lives and frees up money to improve patient care in other areas.

Boo!

 

So one of the Piss Poor Policies Millionaires Club Coalition finally does something right and the no mates medics and mangers want their A&Es to close because it will save them money, work and will give them more time to get out on the golf course.

 Who is in charge of our Elf service?

 

And according to “experts”

 

Only one in six ‘baby boomers’ is retiring in good health, with most succumbing to a range of conditions and diseases including high cholesterol, osteoporosis or cancer, a study has found.

Apparently Government Scientists have discovered that the average baby boomer - referring to those born in the years just after the Second World War - has two medical conditions.

Just over half have high blood pressure, a third are obese, and a quarter have high cholesterol.

A quarter have Type 2 diabetes or ‘pre-diabetes’, meaning they are on the cusp of fully developing the condition.

Almost one in five suffer from a mental health problem, while 12 per cent have chronic lung or throat disease.

Eleven per cent have cancer, the same proportion that has osteoporosis. In addition, 11 per cent have suffered from cardiovascular disease such as a heart attack, stroke or heart failure.

One in six have three or more health problems.

The results are from a study of 2,661 people born in 1946, from every walk of life, whose health has been followed from birth. For this, the latest study, they were assessed between 60 and 64 years of age for 15 conditions.

The study found the origins of poor health in one's 60s could usually be traced back to early middle age. 

 

Interesting-ish, so it has bugger all to do with the NHS, or being a Boomer, but life style which applies to everyone else in berated Blighty...

 

Up in the Smoke

Piles of washing and ironing send Pixie Le Knot round the bend – but she couldn’t be happier.

Britain’s most flexible woman has crafted a career out of her ability to contort into eye-watering positions.

She said: ‘I was always the most flexible child in the class and knew I had a gift as soon as I took up dance and gymnastics as a kid. It’s fun being able to do something other people can’t. But I really don’t know where I got the natural ability from – all my relatives are doctors.’

Ms Le Knot, from Leyton, London, spends several hours every day training her body to cope with the physical demands of contortion before performing up to five live shows a week.

 

I’m saying nothing.....

 

Over/ under the channel/chunnel

French scientists reckon that passenger jets could be chomping on straw or flying on fuel extracted from sawdust in coming years as the search widens for cleaner alternatives to kerosene.

The "ProBio3" project, started in early July and co-financed by a French government economic stimulus program, aims to use traditional horse-bedding materials to develop a new kind of biofuel that can be used in a 50/50 blend alongside kerosene.

"Tomorrow, planes will fly using agricultural and forest waste," said Carole Molina-Jouve, a professor at Toulouse's National Institute of Applied Sciences (Insa), who is coordinating the ProBio3 project.

Europe consumes around 50 million tonnes of kerosene per year.

 

Why not use all the wood to build ships and scrap the noisy polluting silver birds that are killing the atmosphere?

 

Somewhere in Apple Blighty

 A young schoolboy left his family with a £2000 credit card bill after using an app on his grandfather’s iPad.

Will Smith, six, unwittingly embarked on the spending spree while playing Monster Island, a popular children’s video game.

The youngster had spent the amount on the special app, which involves children "collecting" and "breeding" their own online creatures.

Players then battle their way through the different levels before they reach the “Dark Monster”.

Will had racked up the bill after accessing his grandfather’s password to iTunes, the Apple music store, where bought virtual food and coins at up to £70 a time.

Mr Smith, of Redcar, North Yorks, said, when he explained the situation to Apple, officials agreed to refund the amount.

But while the family was relieved to discover they were not the victims of fraud, Will was upset when told he could not play the game anymore.

 

Buy him a bleedin Meccano set....

 

And finally:

 

Far-far away and 13.2 billion years ago

The earliest known confirmed galaxy has been discovered with the help of cosmic lenses formed out of the warped fabric of space and time, researchers say.

This distant, ancient galaxy may have once helped clear out the murky fog that once filled the early universe, scientists added.

Astronomers estimate that the universe began about 13.7 billion years ago during the Big Bang. Recent findings suggest the first galaxies formed less than 500 million years after the universe's birth.

One tool researchers can use to peer at these galaxies are so-called gravitational lenses, magnifying glasses resulting from the warped fabric of reality.

Gravity curves space-time; the greater the mass of an object in space, the stronger its gravitational pull. This, in turn, bends light around it, affecting how telescopes on Earth view it.

The age of this galaxy reveals it formed during the so-called "epoch of reionization" that occurred about 150 million to 800 million years after the Big Bang. This critical but still largely mysterious event occurred when intense ultraviolet radiation cleared the fog of atomic hydrogen that once pervaded the cosmos by ionizing it into its constituent protons and electrons.

 

Well; you learn something new every epoch...

 

That’s it: I’m orf to listen to some chillies

 

And today’s thought:

Daily diary of a Boomer.

 

Angus

 

Royal cheeks-allegedly: Bin snooping? True lies: Racist Sarnies: Crèche and curses: Breast washing machine: and the Rose Galaxy.

Plenty of solar activity, even more lack of warm, much less atmospheric movement and nary a whimsy of skywater at the Castle this morn.

In response to overwhelming public demand (thanks AK Haart) you are still going to be subjected to my pointless rambles for a while yet (see yestermorn’s post).

And the interweb thingy seems to be going tits up-spotted the theme yet?

 

It seems that the Royal Norks thingy was legit after all, and being a bit of a breast man I still can’t see what all the fuss is about she doesn’t really have much to boast about, her minor Maj didn’t mind cavorting about in nearly nothing whist at Uni, but what really intrigues me is: What the hell is the tall, thin bald bloke doing in this pic? It isn’t about Norks but if this Piss Poor blog disappears overnight you will know that “they” don’t want snaps of the Royal arse bandied about the Blogosphere.

 

Still it seems that the mob at Buck House have pre-empted the problems by sending the pair out to places that are not very happy with non Muslims, a bit like sending dirty Harry out to Afghanistan after his photo session in Vegas-much less suspect than a car crash....

 

Apparently the Pickles bin police are still poking about in our refuse

Despite the Coalition's promises that councils' powers would be curbed thousands of people are still being fined over their household rubbish.

Ministers have repeatedly promised to stop councils levying fines of up to £1,000 on householders for minor infractions like leaving bins out on the wrong day.

But evidence from a survey using Freedom of Information laws by campaigners suggests that thousands of households are still being fined despite the pledges.

A report by the Manifesto Club, to be published on Monday, found that 88 out of 358 councils across the UK had issued “waste receptacle” fines in 2011/12.

Josie Appleton, director of the Manifesto Club, said: “Bin fines have become a money-making operation, rather than a last resort to deal with real offenders.

Under the current system, councils have the power to issue fixed penalty notices of up to £110, or push for criminal convictions and a fine of up to £1,000.

In one instance, a woman from central London was fined when she threw away one of her company’s bank statements into her household collection.

Sabine Guerry, who lives in Westminster, said she was fined for post relating to her own private company at her home address.

She said: “Westminster Council agents opened and searched my rubbish bag in front of my door, and found one bank statement from my company together with my personal waste.

“They deduced that this was “commercial” waste, took some pictures, and sent me an £80 fine for illegal commercial littering.

“They said I should have used a dedicated commercial bin bag, labelling who was collecting my rubbish. They seem to be suggesting that I employ somebody separately to take away my company’s bank statement.”

Westminster council said that it "would not fine a resident for simply putting rubbish in a bin", adding: "The only reason we would look through waste is if it has been dumped illegally, and to look for evidence of who dumped it.

 

Ah the old fly tipping ruse.....

 

Up in the Smoke

Anna Soubry, a health minister, has said that the Coalition “screwed up” over its controversial reforms of the NHS according to the Torygraph.

Miss Soubry, a junior health minister, made the frank remark in a private discussion with health service managers about reforms that will give GPs control of £80 billion of health spending.

It is the second outspoken statement Miss Soubry has made since her appointment ten days ago.

Last weekend, she angered some Conservative MPs by suggesting that euthanasia laws are “ridiculous” and should be changed to make it easier for the sick to end their own lives.

In a private question-and-answer session, she was asked about the way the Government had dealt with medical professionals and the Royal Colleges representing them over the reforms.

“We screwed up,” she replied, according to sources at the event.

Many of the colleges initially supported the reforms drawn up by Andrew Lansley, the former health secretary, but gradually withdrew their support.

That helped ensure the Health and Social Care Act had a bruising passage through Parliament and attracted significant public protest.

Some Conservatives fear the reform package has cost their party the public trust over health David Cameron tried to win in opposition.

 

And most of the voters...

 

Across the deepening salty thing on the left

According to Verenice Gutierrez, principal of Harvey Scott K-8 School Portland, Oregon peanut butter and jelly sandwiches carry racist connotations.

“Take the peanut butter sandwich, a seemingly innocent example a teacher used in a lesson last school year,” “What about Somali or Hispanic students, who might not eat sandwiches?” Gutierrez asked.

“Another way would be to say: ‘Americans eat peanut butter and jelly, do you have anything like that?’

The Tribune noted that the school started the New Year with "intensive staff trainings, frequent staff meetings, classroom observations and other initiatives," to help educators understand their own “white privilege,” in order to "change their teaching practices to boost minority students’ performance."

"Last Wednesday, the first day of the school year for staff, for example, the first item of business for teachers at Scott School was to have a Courageous Conversation — to examine a news article and discuss the 'white privilege' it conveys," the Tribune added.

 

Totally bleedin bonkers and this daft mare is in charge of a school!

 

Back in f#~^ing Blighty

Peter Capaldi and Alastair Campbell were left embarrassed when their sponsored swear-off for charity was accidentally broadcast to a crèche.

The Thick of It star and the former Downing Street press chief were appearing at a charity day at the headquarters of City trader BGC.

They were talked into the ‘swearathon’ in order to raise money for the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research team, and their diatribes were broadcast across the entire building until organisers realised that they were audible in the children’s crèche downstairs from the trading floor.

Mr Campbell apologised to “the kids and their mums and dads, and anyone else who took offence”.

“Our only defence is that the traders looked in need of a laugh after a day spent trying to humour celebs, and we were raising money for our respective charities,” he added.

Campbell won his swear-off against the Glaswegian actor by managing to cram eleven uses of the f-word into a one-minute speech.

 

Only eleven, fucking useless...

 

Right a smidge and back quite a few chronological units

 

Comes the circa 1930s breast washer, which is apparently a massage device, which claims to prevent sagging, enlarge small breasts, shrink large breasts, and generally meet all your personal breast-care needs.

Wonder if they did one for chaps...

 And finally:

 

From the depths of the Universe

Comes an amazing Hubble bubble pic of the Rose Galaxy known as UGC 1810, it has a disk that is distorted into a rose-like shape by the gravitational tidal pull of the companion galaxy below it, known as UGC 1813.

 

Cool....

 

That’s it: I’m orf to check out the erbium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet injector thingy

 

And today’s thought:

That’ll teach her to have her nipples pierced

 

 

 

Angus