Sunnyish, clearish, calmish and coldish at the Castle this
morn, bit late (again) because the interweb thingy went tits up (again), I
think it is the router which isn’t....routing...
But the delay did give me time to potter round the grounds
and snap the things that are blooming.
Some blue stuff (with a touch of pink stuff)
Some white stuff
More blue stuff
More white stuff
Some strawberry stuff
And his blurry Maj waiting to play with one of his sticks
Energy Minister Charles Hendry has it seems reverted to his
days as a fag at Rugby school by sitting on his senior colleague Ed Davey's lap.
Old habits die hard...
Iceland is using Facebook to rewrite its constitution:
citizens can use the social network to make their own suggestions, engage in
online debates, or follow the proceedings in real-time.
Two thirds of Iceland’s population (approximately 320,000)
is on Facebook, so the constitutional council’s weekly meetings are broadcast
live not only on the council’s website, but on the social network as well. “It
is possible to register through other means, but most of the discussion takes
place via Facebook,” Berghildur Bernhardsdottir, spokeswoman for the
constitutional review project, told the Associated
Press. “The sort of argumentative and negative discussion that has been
common on Icelandic blogs and news sites, especially since the economic
collapse, has been almost entirely absent.”
The comprehensive review of the constitution is being
carried out with the direct participation of the Icelandic people. The Internet
component is the most direct route for most Icelanders to have their say:
members of the public must provide their names and addresses, and can then
submit online recommendations, which are approved by local staff to avoid
Internet heckling. The ideas are then passed on to the council, and are open
for discussion online.
Piss Poor Policies Millionaires Club coalition take note....
The men of the Zaraniq tribe, on the west coast of Yemen,
have a truly unique tradition – they jump over a row of camels just like modern
daredevils jump over cars.
Famous throughout Yemen for their speed, strength and
courage, the members of the Zaraniq tribe are the world’s only professional
camel jumpers. Taking running starts, jumpers try to sail over as many camels
as possible, before tumbling to the ground. During camel jumping events, the
one who leaps over the highest number of camels is considered the winner. “This
is what we do,” says Bhayder Mohammed Yusef Qubaisi, one of the champions of
the Tihama-al-Yemen, a desert plain, on the coast of the Red Sea.
When I read “Camel jumping” I thought-well they don’t have
any sheep....
Culinary ‘genius’ Stef of The Cupcake Project saw that two
of the great joys of the human experience, sausage and cupcakes, need not be
separate. Her cupcakewurst consists of cupcake batter poured into hog sausage
casings (pig intestines), then baked.
Num, num......not....
And finally:
A sturgeon weighing more than half a ton has been caught fishermen
in northeast China.
The 617kg Kaluga fish was caught on Tuesday in Heilongjiang
River, at Tongjiang, a city that borders Russia in northeast China.
The Kaluga is a large predatory sturgeon only found in the
Heilongjiang River basin. Chen Lin, the fisherman who caught the fish said it
was the biggest he had ever seen. Chen, along with fellow fishermen, sent the
fish to a local sturgeon breeding station.
According to breeders, the sturgeon is a female and is
currently carrying about 1.2 million eggs. Staff at the station will collect
the roe and implement artificial insemination. The fish fry will be released
into the Heilongjiang River.
Kaluga fish are believed to have existed for 130 million
years and are claimed to be the largest freshwater fish in the world. The fish
is listed as critically endangered, having been fished to near extinction for
its valuable roe.
Which thankfully are not boiled in piss...
And today’s thought:
Sheep jumping
Angus
