Death of an old handbag: Turbulent Climate change: $1.5 million ribbits: Quantum Entanglement: and Nicked Nutella.

Bucket loads of skywater, barmy amounts of lack of warm, bits and pieces of atmospheric movement and bugger all solar stuff at the Castle this morn, the elbow is still misbehaving, the butler is still gathering fat, carbon neutral teenagers and his Maj has discovered the joy of teleportation (at least I think that is what he does).

 

Apparently the world has stopped turning and there is only one bit of news this morn

 

It seems that some demented old fart has popped her (?) clogs in a rundahn area of the Smoke known as the Ritz Hotel; the octogenarian was once allegedly the first and last female (?) Prime Monster who managed to set the precedent of selling orf all and sundry to fund tax cuts for the rich, she (?) also managed to sell orf many, many council houses and took the money for tax cuts for the rich instead of allowing councils to build replacements, she (?) destroyed heavy industry, the car building sector, coal production, the chuff-chuff network, phone line supplies, water delivery, leccy lines and gas guzzling, using the dosh raised to give tax cuts to the rich.

She (?) put millions on the dole knackered the NHS, and set up the groundwork for the financial debacle which we now enjoy and kept us in the EU (sound familiar).

And apparently she (?) gave the Thatcherites the wonderful moral direction of “take what you want, take it know and sod everyone else” which survives to this day. 

Allegedly she (?) will have a “state funeral” with soldiers and everything which will cost more than a few bob. 

All I can hope for is that Him/Her upstairs will pronounce sentence on the old bag and give her the afterlife she (?) deserves.

 

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS 1925-2013-good fucking riddance....

 

Enough of all this bollocks:

 

High above the big salty thing on the left

Allegedly flights across the North Atlantic could get a lot bumpier in the future if the climate changes as scientists expect.

Planes are already encountering stronger winds, and could now face more turbulence, according to research led from Reading University, UK.

The study, published in Nature Climate Change, suggests that by mid-century passengers will be bounced around more frequently and more strongly.

The zone in the North Atlantic affected by turbulence could also increase.

Reading's Dr Paul Williams said comfort was not the only consideration; there were financial consequences of bumpier airspace as well.

"It's certainly plausible that if flights get diverted more to fly around turbulence rather than through it then the amount of fuel that needs to be burnt will increase," he told BBC News.

"Fuel costs money, which airlines have to pay, and ultimately it could of course be passengers buying their tickets who see the prices go up."

 

Ah the old more atmospheric movement the higher the ticket price ploy.....

 

Left to the Big Apple-ish

Pauli Marinaccio Sr. traces his fear of frogs to a childhood incident in Italy when a man holding bullfrogs chased him away after he'd wandered from the vineyard where his parents worked.

Decades later, he found himself describing his phobia to a jury, calling himself "a prisoner in my own home" after runoff water from a nearby development turned his 40-acre property into wetlands and inundated it with frogs.

"I am petrified. I go home at night and I can't get in my garage because of the frogs," Mr Marinaccio testified in 2009. "They're right in front of the damn door, OK?"

It was part of a seven-year legal fight involving Mr Marinaccio, the town of Clarence in upstate New York, and a developer that, according to The Buffalo News, finally ended last month when the state's highest court ruled that Mr Marinaccio, who was awarded $US1.6 million ($1.54 million) in compensation after the 2009 trial, is not entitled to an additional $250,000 in punitive damages.

You could have moved you twat.....

 

Quantum Entanglement

 

Quantum entanglement is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which the quantum states of two or more objects have to be described with reference to each other, even though the individual objects may be spatially separated.

This leads to correlations between observable physical properties of the systems.

For example, it is possible to prepare two particles in a single quantum state such that when one is observed to be spin-up, the other one will always be observed to be spin-down and vice versa, this despite the fact that it is impossible to predict, according to quantum mechanics, which set of measurements will be observed.

As a result, measurements performed on one system seem to be instantaneously influencing other systems entangled with it.

But quantum entanglement does not enable the transmission of classical information faster than the speed of light. Quantum entanglement has applications in the emerging technologies of quantum computing and quantum cryptography, and has been used to realize quantum teleportation experimentally.

At the same time, it prompts some of the more philosophically oriented discussions concerning quantum theory.

The correlations predicted by quantum mechanics, and observed in experiment; reject the principle of local realism, which is that information about the state of a system should only be mediated by interactions in its immediate surroundings.

Different views of what is actually occurring in the process of quantum entanglement can be related to different interpretations of quantum mechanics.

 

So now you know.....

So that’s how his Maj does it.....

 

And finally:

 

East a bit to the land of Germanic stuff

Police in Germany are on the lookout for some thieves who made off with 5.5 tonnes of Nutella.

The jars of chocolate-y spread were in a parked trailer in the centre of the town of Bad Hersfeld, the U.K. Express said, citing a report Monday from German news agency dpa

The haul, taken some time over the weekend, is valued at approximately 15,000 Euros.

Police aren't sure how many culprits they are looking for, but it is believed the same thieves stole a truckload of Red Bull from the same location a few weeks ago, and then about $40,000 worth of coffee two weeks ago.

 

They are obviously going to open a breakfast bar....

 

That’s it: I’m orf to find out how we live

 

And today’s thought:

 

 

Angus

Climate Aid: Vandals cancel Crimbo: Bangers and Crimbo: Brain puzzle: Nyasasaurus parringtoni: and driving Dogs.

A whimsical layer of white fluffy stuff, a whatnot of atmospheric movement and nary a glimmer of solar stuff at the Castle this morn, the butler is running out of fat, carbon neutral teenagers to feed to the furnace and his Maj is in the study clinging to the radiator.

 

 

And as we all sit here clenching our sphincters in anticipation of the “Autumn Statement”

It turns out that the Piss Poor Policies Millionaires Club Coalition has managed to find £2 billion squids to give to foreign projects including wind turbines in Africa and greener cattle farming in Colombia.

Allegedly the inhabitants of every Castle in backward Blighty will “contribute” £70 to schemes to tackle climate change in developing countries before March 2015, under plans championed by Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary.

At a United Nations climate change talks in Doha, Qatar shit for brains Davey gave details of £150 million in new projects as part of Britain’s £1.8 billion in “climate aid” for poorer countries within three years – the equivalent of £70 per household.

Mr Davey said the money should be spent because “climate change is a global threat and with every passing year, the nature and the extent of that threat grows clearer”.

 

Apparently what’s his name-the Deputy Prime Monster hailed the cash as “fantastic news”.

 

Oh fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck---ing hell.

 

Still in Elfandsafety Blighted Blighty

 

Up Norfish in Stanley Durham a nice eight foot metal Crimbo tree with thousands of twinkly blue lights was taken dahn because it was running on 240 volts, Durham County Councillor Carl Marshall, who helped organise the festival, said: 'The tree was metal and covered in LEDs.

'If anyone was to open up a junction box or was messing about with it then there was good risk that they would not just get a little shock.

'It would be a fatality.

 

Just like every lamp post in the land then....

 

Still in the up bit of our white and freezing democracy

A butcher has created a festive dinner – all in one sausage.

James Taylor, 32, and his wife Heather have created Santa’s Grills, which includes sprouts, bacon, chestnuts and sausage meat.

And the sausages, which cost £8 a kilo, have been a hit with customers at their market stall, Bobbys Bangers, in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

“They’re going like hotcakes,” James said. “We’re selling around 2,500 sausages a week.”

He has even made a mince pie banger: “They’re sweet, but a nice change from the norm,” he added.

 

That’s me sorted for Crimbo then.....

 

West to the home of allergies and the land of leaks

Aundrea Aragon had complained for months about her runny nose was horrified to find out that fluid was leaking from her brain.

Several doctors had reassured Aundrea Aragon from Tucson, Arizona, that the clear liquid was simply caused by allergies.

"I was scared to death and desperate," the 35-year-old mother said. "I knew it could not be allergies. The fluid would come out like a puddle."

The steroids and antibiotics she was prescribed had no effect.

"I was walking around with toilet paper shoved up my nose and changing it every ten minutes," Mrs Aragon recalled.

Surgeons at the University of Arizona eventually noticed two small cracks in the back of her sphenoid sinus, which were caused by cerebral pressure.

Using an endoscopic procedure, doctors were able to avoid invasive surgery and fix the condition with a minimal recovery period.

They used tissue from her nose and belly to repair the cracks.

 

I wondered what that grey stuff was last time I sneezed....

 

Back in the bowels of London's Natural History Museum

“They” have apparently discovered the first dinosaur to have walked the Earth, a mysterious fossil specimen that has been in the museum's collection for decades has now been identified as most likely coming from a dinosaur that lived about 245 million years ago - 10 to 15 million years earlier than any previously discovered examples.

It has been named Nyasasaurus parringtoni after southern Africa's Lake Nyasa, now called Lake Malawi, and Cambridge University's Rex Parrington, who collected the specimen at a site near the lake in the 1930s.

The creature was about the size of a Labrador dog.

That’ll help the economy....

 

And finally:

 

Dahn Unda and right a bit

 

A New Zealand animal welfare group has spent eight weeks teaching three of its shelter dogs to drive.

The Auckland SPCA says it wanted to show how intelligent dogs were to encourage more people to adopt them.

Three dogs were chosen from a group of seven and given daily training exercises to familiarise themselves with the mechanics of driving.

After just eight weeks Porter, Monty and Ginny were put behind the wheels of an adapted Mini Cooper and reportedly managed to put it in gear, accelerate and steer.

So far, the dogs have been driving with the help of an assistant inside the car, but their next challenge is to drive solo on live television.

Auckland SPCA Chief Christine Kalin said: "They will hop in, start the car, put it into gear, and use the accelerator.

"It's an off-road raceway track and at all times we have a remote capacity to stop the car should we need to."

Ms Kalin described the three pooches as "highly adoptable", adding: "They are very intelligent, but they aren't any more special than any of the other SPCA dogs.

"Our dream would be throughout our major cities and across Australasia will be people will be proud of owning a rescue dog."

 

That can steal your car.....

 

That’s it: I’m orf to press the red button

 

And today’s thought:

Think I prefer cold weather

 

Angus

Cold cuts: Car crash: Bulls’ Bollocks Beer: Parsnip poser: 'Pegomastax africanus': and Funny Honey.

Massive movements of atmosphere, bucketfuls of sky water, beneath contempt amounts of lack of warm and not a ray of solar stuff at the Castle this morn. 

Still putting coloured stuff on the walls and things (mainly the floors), still haven’t got the butler to fire up the furnace, and still watching the garden disintegrate “under the wevver”.

 

Staying on the meteorological thingy

Apparently scientists dahn on the sarf pole do-da are not happy snowpersons, a row has broken out over the fate of one of the country's most distinguished scientific organisations, the British Antarctic Survey. The 60-year-old outfit, whose achievements have included the discovery of the hole in the ozone layer, is to be merged with the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton as part of a cost-saving exercise.

The merger – which would create a Centre for Ocean and Polar Science based in Southampton – has been proposed to satisfy government demands for major cuts to be made in the budget of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), which funds the BAS. Science minister David Willetts wants a 10% cut in NERC expenditure and a 45% reduction in its capital spending by 2015. Polar research, which is costly, has been chosen to take a major hit.

But the downgrade threat has outraged scientists and politicians who say it will seriously weaken Britain's scientific reputation and its ability to carry out climate research.

 

Oh dear what a shame; I do climate research for free-just read the first sentence of this piss poor blog every day...

 

And all across traffic jam Blighty

 

 

A “Government advisor” has come up with a cunning plan to make the wevver better. Buyers of gas-guzzling sports cars and other large-engine vehicles would face a new purchase tax of up to £23,000.

Even the price of some small cars would rise by more than £1,500 in exchange for the abolition of annual Vehicle Excise Duty payments.

But buyers of new small efficient cars would get a government subsidy of up to £750, under the proposed rules, which are being promoted by the Liberal Democrats.

The proposals for vehicle taxation come as the Treasury considers the best way to reform or replace VED to respond to the increasing fuel efficiency of modern cars.

For instance, the purchase price of 1.25 litre petrol Ford Fiesta would rise from £9,084 today to £10,734. By contrast, a 1.6 litre diesel model of the same car would become cheaper, falling from £11,845 to £11,495.

Vehicles that currently have similar prices would diverge sharply under the new rules, Mr Leunig suggests. For example, he cites Ford and Chrysler people-carriers, currently both on sale for around £28,000.

Under the new scheme, the Chrysler would be £3950 more expensive than the Ford, because it has much higher emissions.

The biggest up-front subsidy of £750 would be applied to cars including the Toyota Yaris.

While the most-polluting cars would attract very large tariffs, with some Aston Martin models facing a new sales charge of £23,050.

Around 150 luxury models -- with total annual sales of around 5400 cars --would face a first registration fee of £10,000 or more, the report estimates.

 

The plan is put forward today in a think-tank paper written by Tim Leunig, who has recently been appointed a special adviser to the Government.

 

Bugger! I have been saving my pennies to buy a new Asbo Martin...should be able to get it in abaht two hundred and fifty years....

 

Left to the home of the six pack and the land of steaks

A US brewery which announced it was making beer out of bull testicles as an April Fool's Day stunt has now done it for real.

The Wynkoop Brewing Company, in Denver, Colorado, has named its creation Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout.

Head brewer Andy Brown said: "Yes, the beer was inspired by our April Fools spoof video this spring, in which we claimed to have released a beer made with bull testicles.

"When we sent out the press release and the video link last April, we heard from brewers and beer writers who thought the beer was for real and loved the idea.

"So we've turned our joke into a reality. We've been making ballsy beer for the past few years. And this is great proof of that."

Mr Brown described the beer as an "assertive foreign-style stout, slightly viscous, with a deep brown colour".

Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout, named after the local name for fried bull's testicles - a delicacy in Colorado, goes on sale at the brewery's pub in Denver on 8 October.

"It has equally deep flavours of chocolate syrup, Kahlua, and espresso, along with a palpable level of alcohol and a savoury umami-like note. It finishes dry and roasted with a fast-fading hop bite," he added.

 

Glad I don’t drink.

 

Back in bemused Blighty

Allegedly a survey has unearthed that one in five of us think that parsnips grow on trees.

According to the research, a worrying number of British grown-ups did not know that the root vegetable is grown underground.

Other figures dug up include 20% of adults who think that melons come from the ground.

And one in 20 believe they can find a Granny Smith in the potato aisle of a supermarket

To mark Potato Week, experts have now simplified how the veg is listed on shelves with signs stating “Fluffy”, “Salad” and “Smooth” so shoppers can select the right kind for their meals.

It comes as the poll of 2,000 Brits found half pick the wrong potato to roast.

More than a third can’t boil spuds without them crumbling or losing their shape and over a quarter ends up with lumpy mash.

Ms Evans added: “To get great results you need to pick the right type of potato.

 

Ye gods! Are we really that thick? Maybe the picture will educate the 20%.

 

Right a fair way and dahn more than a whimsy

 

A new species of puny dinosaur has been confirmed by researchers at the University of Chicago.

It has been named 'Pegomastax africanus' meaning 'thick jaw from Africa'.

The creature is so small it has taken decades to identity. The discovery was originally made in 1983 from a specimen found in a slab of red rock found in southern Africa in the 1960s.

Its size made Mr Sereno think whether "anyone else might spot the creature hiding among the lab drawers".

Pegomastax measures less than two feet (61cm) long and weighed less than a house cat.

It has been described as a cross between a bird, a porcupine and a vampire because of its fangs and blunt beak.

The creature belongs to a class of small herbivores called heterodontosaurus and lived around 200 million years ago.

 

Who’s not a pretty boy then...

 

And finally:

 

Over Le canal anglais

Bees at a cluster of apiaries in north-eastern France have been producing honey in mysterious shades of blue and green, alarming their keepers who now believe residue from containers of M&M's candy processed at a nearby biogas plant is the cause.

Since August, beekeepers around the town of Ribeauville in the region of Alsace have seen bees returning to their hives carrying unidentified colourful substances that have turned their honey unnatural shades.

Agrivalor, the company operating the biogas plant, said it had tried to address the problem after being notified of it by the beekeepers.

"We discovered the problem at the same time they did. We quickly put in place a procedure to stop it," Philippe Meinrad, co-manager of Agrivalor, told Reuters.

He said the company had cleaned its containers and incoming waste would now be stored in a covered hall.

Mars operates a chocolate factory near Strasbourg, around 100 km (62 miles) away from the affected apiaries.

 

M&M&M&M&M......

 

That’s it: I’m orf to test out Einstein’s theory

 

And today’s thought:

Two pints please landlord

 

Angus

Poor peers; Climate Change (again); Cops gone for a Burton; Boaring Germans; Parody peril; and Sandwell jobsworth.

No sleep again last night, so I passed the time watching the last episode of Morse, QI, Have I got News, and the Buzzcocks which I recorded whenever they were on.

Another cold start to the day, but I have thrown caution to the wind and put the heating on, unlike the House of Lords where it seems that the peers are revolting




Peers have criticised some of the proposed reforms to their expenses - drawn up after claims some were abusing their overnight allowance.

Plans to cut the £174-a-night allowance to £140 but increase daily attendance fees to £200 were debated in the Lords.

One peer described the proposals, which also include ending claims for mortgage interest and first-class travel by spouses, as an "insult".

Peers agreed without a vote to back the plans in principle, but not the detail.

The review into peers' expenses by the Senior Salaries Review Body suggested daily allowances for office costs and food, worth up to £161.50, be replaced by a £200 attendance fee.

However it suggested peers should have to do more to prove their attendance, that mortgage interest claims on second homes be phased out and overnight claims be restricted to rent and running costs.

Like the MPs. If they don’t like it resign.



And:

Surprise, surprise the wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen climate party has run out of good cheer.

Climate change negotiators have been working through the night in Copenhagen to try to rescue plans for a global agreement from collapse.

Heads of state start to appear in the Danish capital later in the day, ahead of a hoped-for signing on Friday.

But several issues remain to be solved ahead of the summit's climax.

Correspondents say suspicions among poor countries that rich ones are ganging up on them - which prompted a walk-out on Monday - remain strong.

Piss up and brewery come to mind.

First up:

Three Cops Fork up

Three policemen have been disciplined after four young women ran amok in a police station, dressing up in officers’ clothing before posting the pictures of themselves on the internet.

Officers struggled to regain control as the four, dressed in short skirts and low-cut tops after a night out, ran around secure areas in Burton upon Trent police station, Staffs, trying on hats, coats and boots.
They posed for pictures draped over squad cars, inside a vehicle and even in the men’s locker room.

When officers ordered the women not to take photographs “for security reasons” they were ignored.

Even when police managed to get the clothes back off them and entice them out of the station with an offer of a lift home, they found some more police jackets inside the vehicle and resumed their game.

The pictures were later posted on Facebook, the social networking site.

The high jinks began in unlikely circumstances: after two of the women were allegedly caught up in a fight involving other women in the town’s Barracuda bar on Dec 5.

Two of them were allegedly hurt in incident and were taken to the police station to be interviewed as victims, while the others went to give witness statements.

When one of them asked to wash some blood off her face, she was shown into a bathroom next to the locker area. She and her friends helped themselves to boots, reflective coats and police caps.

Police repeatedly tried to stop them, but their orders were “not heeded or firmly enforced”, according to an official police account of the incident.

The three officers were “advised about their conduct” and transferred to other parts of the county after an internal inquiry, a statement said.

Makes you proud, doesn’t it.

If you go down to the woods at night

Prepare to be Boared, at least if you live in Darmstadt, south of Frankfurt.

German police have rescued four frozen walkers who called up from a waste container begging to be saved from roving wild boars

they received an emergency call at nearly 3 a.m. Sunday (0200 GMT Sunday; 9 p.m. EDT) from a man who said he and three companions had fled into the container after being surprised by a group of boars during a night time walk in the woods. He said they didn't dare to emerge.

A police statement Monday says that a patrol found the four shivering in the metal container and escorted them from the scene.

And the Boars? They obviously got bored and went away.

North Butt or is that South Face?

The North Face Apparel Corp. is suing parody company called The South Butt and the teenager who started it.

The lawsuit filed last week in federal court in St. Louis seeks unspecified damages and asks the court to prohibit The South Butt from marketing and selling its parody product line.

The North Face says it does not comment on pending litigation.

The South Butt’s attorney, Albert Watkins, says the company was started by 18-year-old Jimmy Winkelmann to help pay for college. It puts out products with the tag line “Never Stop Relaxing,” a parody of The North Face line, “Never Stop Exploring.”

The parody company sells T-shirts, fleece jackets and sweatshirts on its Web site.

No sense of humour.

And finally:

Ticket to ride

Alfred Turley, a disabled pensioner, was given a parking ticket for not displaying his blue badge - while he was in a council office having it checked.

The 71 year-old great-grandfather from Oldbury, West Midlands, was asked to show his badge at a parking control office in West Bromwich when he tried to void a previous ticket, according to the Express and Star.

Mr Turley, a retired steelworker who walks with crutches due to chronic knee problems, was inside the office for a matter of minutes, but returned to his car to find he had been issued with the £35 penalty notice by a zealous traffic warden.

He immediately went back inside the office to contest the charge, but was told by staff at the office that they were unable to void it, leaving him no choice but to pay the fine.

Mr Turley, a father of four who has been widowed for 23 years, said: “I couldn’t believe it. They asked me to fetch my badge and when I returned I had a ticket.

“I just thought they’d cancel it on the spot when I went back inside.

“But they said there was nothing I could do and I had to pay it.”

Mahboob Hussain of Sandwell Council said: “The gentleman could have parked in a bay where he did not need to display his badge.”

However, he said that the ticket would be voided if Mr Turley appealed.

The December Jobsworth award goes to West Bromwich council.


Angus

AnglishLit

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

Angus Dei politico

The Sunday Section

Is it me or is the world getting odder?

We are not amused

I see that her Maj has the hump over the Paparazzi making ‘intrusions into the private lives of members of the Royal family and their friends’.

Took her long enough didn’t it? Shame they didn’t think about it 12 years ago before Diana died.

And I see that Warwickshire County Council is offering a service allowing “older people” to bring in their old slippers and replace them with a pair, which it claims can cut the risk of falling over.

For a fee of £5, participants receive a fitting session, a new pair of the Velcro fastening slippers, and advice on how to don them and avoid accidents around the home.

However, critics have dismissed the so-called Sloppy Slippers project, which is costing taxpayers £3,500, as a waste of money and "patronising" to people in their 50s and 60s.

The council claims that the initiative, which has been adopted by other local authorities, will save money in the long run because it prevents costly injuries to elderly people.

It has also been disclosed that the firm which makes the special slippers charges local authorities £3 a pair – £2 less than the council demands of people taking up its scheme.

So a nice little profit as well as taking the piss, it seems that at my advanced age I am incapable of donning a pair of slippers safely and need the help of “experts”, it’s a pity that councils can’t come up with a policy to protect “older people” in their care homes

From over the pond I see that Sarah Palin has finally fallen over the edge, that demure hunting, fishing, if it moves shoot it failed presidential candidate thinks that the “United States should rededicate itself to seeking God's will.”, not really thought this out has she? In a multicultural multi religious society, which god would that be then?

And only half of us believe that climate change is “man made”. The ICM survey for The Sunday Telegraph will dismay proponents of "man-made" climate change – including leading scientists and the majority of world governments – as they gather in Copenhagen for the landmark climate summit.
Asked if they backed the main conclusion of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), that humans are largely responsible for modern day rises in temperatures, 52 per cent of voters agreed.

Even Gord has got a view point “People who doubt that human activity contributes to global warming are “flat-earthers” and “anti-science”, Gordon Brown has said.

Great quote from a man that managed to plunge this country into the worst recession since time began and lives in Ga-Ga land.

Is it any wonder? What with all the conflicting so called evidence and the scare mongering it seems that one in two can’t decide.

Why don’t they stop trying to convince us and get off “their” arses and do something about it instead of making all this hot air, which can’t be good for the climate?

Baroness Young seems to think that she has done her job and has decided to step down, She said: ''Having overseen the major task of creating a single regulator for health and social care and pointed it in the right direction, I have decided that it will be for others to take it forward.

''I wish all success to the Commission and its staff and to Dame Jo Williams who has agreed to act as chairman until a successor is appointed. Jo will start to take up the reins in January.''

Or in other words: - As I know f##k all about regulating the NHS I have decided to run away, especially after the Basildon fiasco and take a nice big pay off, leaving others to sort out my mess.

I see another title in the making.

And finally:

Some ‘good news’ UK car sales rose by 57.6% in November compared with a year earlier, industry figures have shown.

There were 158,082 cars registered last month, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said, up from a "weak" November 2008.

So far this year, 1.84 million cars have been sold in the UK, 8.8% lower than at the same point last year.

The SMMT said the continuing impact of the UK government's scrappage scheme was helping to drive car sales.

New car sales have increased year-on-year in each of the past five months.

That should help the environment, I wonder what the carbon footprint is to produce a new car, there is the mining of the iron ore or aluminium, and then the energy to produce the glass and the iron or aluminium, the oil to produce the plastics, the copper for the wiring, the oil and rubber for the tyres, the oil for the seat coverings, the chemicals for the paint, the ceramic for the spark plugs or pre heaters on diesels, the oil for the engine and gearbox, the energy to run the assembly line, and the cost of welding, painting and assembly.

As I said “Is it me or is the world getting odder?”

I am off to make the world a worse place by doing the ironing.


Angus

AnglishLit

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

Angus Dei politico

Blog Action day 2009-Climate Change

As you might have noticed from the above that today is Blog Action Day on Climate Change, so I thought I would put my tuppence worth in.

Normal service will resume later today.

Personally I am a bit confused about ‘Climate Change’ of course the climate is changing it does all the time and has for the last billion years or so, but the cause of Climate Change at the moment is what this post is about I suppose.

There are two diametrically opposite camps re C.C. one is that it is a natural occurrence and the other is that ‘evil humankind’ is causing it.

If it is the first then there is bugger all we can do about it apart from put our head between our legs and kiss our arse goodbye, or grow gills and webbed feet; if it is the latter then what can we do about it?

I will concentrate on the personal side, and ignore the billions of tons/tonnes of pollutants vomited into the atmosphere by industry to feed our “needs”.

If we are the cause is it because of “consumerism” and over population, that one year old 32 inch LCD Tv you have works fine, and is adequate for its purpose, do you need to go out and buy a fifty inch LCD HD Ready Digital TV because the adverts tell you to?

Your one year old mobile phone works perfectly as a phone, and is fit for purpose, do you need to ‘upgrade’ to a newer model that can sing dance, make the tea and wipe your backside because the adverts on your ‘new’ fifty inch LCD HD ready TV tells you to?

Your three year old car works perfectly, and is fit for purpose, and only has 20,000 miles on the clock, do you need to go out and buy this years model because the adverts on your all singing all dancing ‘new’ mobile phone tells you to?

That is what I see as the problem, to much “I want” and “you must have” and not enough “if it aint bust don’t fix it” attitude, of course there are problems with not ‘keeping up with the Joneses”, the stifling of technology that may reduce C.C. the loss of jobs and damage to the economy (too late).

The other problem as I see it is that there are too many people and not enough greenery in the world, each of us produces about 378.332Kg of CO2 per year just from breathing, presuming that the Earth’s population is 6.2 billion that makes 2.459158000Gt in total, add to that our other personal contribution to CO2levels-

USA 5.4 tonnes/person/annum
UK 2.59
China 0.6
India 0.3

That is of course surmising that we are to blame for Climate Change (C.C.), so what we need as far as I can tell is less consumerism, less people, more trees and more C.C. reducing technology.

And the chance of that happening? About as rare as rocking horse shit.

So, put your heads between your knees and......................

Angus

AnglishLit

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

Angus Dei politico