No aid for U-Turn Cam: Big ball for Armageddon: How to assault your TV: Great wall Wallies: and Thames town.

Quite a lot of solar activity, not a jot of atmospheric movement and a dribble of lack of cold stuff at the Castle this morn, I am hoping to do a bit of vandalism on the garden and try to stop his Maj from kidnapping frogs.

And the interweb thingy seems to have gorn tits up-again.

Up in the place where the big sporty thing is going on

U-Turn Cam fielded a pre-recorded question from an emotional cancer patient who demanded an explanation for why the UK's spends £11bn a year on international when the cost of treatment could not be met by her local authority.

The caller, whose name was given as Anna from Finchley, told shit for brains Dave that her local health authority is "begging charities for money" in order to pay for the drugs she requires.

According to knob head Cameron “One thing we've done over the last couple of years is invest in vaccines and immunisations for children in the poorest countries in the world.”

"That act alone has probably saved the lives of about 3million children.”

"We are having a tough time at the moment but we must keep promises to the poorest countries in the world."

The Prime Monster then said that health service funding had been increased and initiatives to help cancer sufferers afford new treatments had been put in place.

And like all the other piss poor policies it’s not working is it....

Eat to the land where most of the gold gongs are going

To cope with the expected Armageddon Chinese inventor Yang Zongfu has built himself a 13ft diameter spherical Ark complete with room for three people a year's worth of food and water, three weeks worth of oxygen when sealed, and 75 airbags.

To test his gyroscopic savior sphere — which took two years and $1.5 million Yuan (approximately $236,000) — the inventor claims he slammed it with motor vehicles at speeds of 60 miles per hour (the would-be wasteland warriors inside barely noticed, he says).

And then he boarded Noah's Ark and launched himself down a 164-foot slope emerging triumphant and unharmed, his mouth bloody from a "seatbelt cut."

 

What a load of old spherical dangly bits....

West to the land where a gallon isn’t

Seth Horvitz ordered a nice new TV, a Westinghouse 39-inch LCD, for about $320 from a third-party electronics seller on Amazon.

On Tuesday evening, a large, oblong box arrived at his doorstep via UPS Ground.

“When I saw some metal parts inside the box, I thought, ‘Maybe this is a TV stand or mount or something,’” Horvitz said in a phone interview with Wired.

“When I realized it was an assault rifle, it was pure shock and disbelief.”

Not being one to want a personal “shock and awe” arsenal of his own, Horvitz contacted the D.C. police. They immediately confiscated the box, which contained a semi-automatic Sig Sauer 716 patrol rifle. The police informed Horvitz that the gun was illegal in the District of Columbia.

More bang for your Bucks?

Back to the land of old stuff

A massive section of the centuries-old Great Wall of China has collapsed after bungling workmen in northern China dug up a city square in front of it.

Tons of bricks and rubble crashed down from the 100ft section of the ancient wall running through Zhangjiakou, in Hebei province, in the early hours of the morning.

Locals say the collapse happened after weeks of torrential rain combined with major road works in front of the wall's foundations.

"There is an investigation into the causes of the collapse. A number of things may have contributed, including the building work," said one city official.

"But we have a conservation and rebuilding plan and it is already underway," they added.

Good job it wasn’t a new one....

And finally:

Still in the place where copies are king

Thames Town, in Shanghai, is a replica of small English town complete with everything you might expect, except the people.

The buildings of Thames Town copy the real ones in England so closely that complaints have been filed by English pub owners, and this genuine British look was exactly what was supposed to draw people to this place.

Only, like many other ambitious and expensive Chinese projects, Thames Town failed to impress a lot of people and is now virtually a ghost town in Shanghai, the city that drive’s China’s economy.

Located near the last stop of Line 9, Thames Town opened its gates in 2006, as part of Shanghai’s One City Nine Towns project, as a satellite settlement designed to house around 10,000 people in low-rise apartments and classic English houses. As the name suggests, it was supposed to be a piece of London right in China, complete with cobbled streets, red telephone booths, street names like Oxford or Queen, a Gothic cathedral, and of course, a fake Thames river.

Thames Town really looks English, but with all the money invested in marketing, the place never really took off. Except for a handful of people who actually live there and the visitors who come to take their picture taken with the English surroundings, Thames Town is a ghost town.
After Shanghai Hengde priced the villas and houses at between $600,000 and $750,000 for 307 – 377 square meters, there weren’t very many takers. Apartments are a little cheaper, but at $750.

That’s nearly as expensive as the real thing…

That’s it: I’m orf to catch some smog

And today’s thought:

Too much information Olympics

 

Angus

Poor old Blighty

Warm and windy at the Castle this morn, just got back from Tesco on the stale bread, gruel and pussy food run and I am a bit miffed.

Over the weekend they have introduced the “give us a quid or you can’t have a trolley” policy, which is OKish but: they didn’t tell anyone and I didn’t have a quid in change so I had to stagger round with a basket and two of their “small green bags” to get my shopping.

And I suppose that the old guy who collects all the trolleys is now unemployed.

And just to make me feel better a couple of ditties.

Tesco are taking the piss

And it has lost its appeal

If you don’t have a pound you can stagger around

With a basket instead of some wheels

Sales are down but profits are up

Runneth over does their cup

Price drop they say to go is the way

So why has my shopping gone up

Tesco are taking the piss

There really is something amiss

When I have to spend more to get even less

My wallet is now in distress.

And:

There once was a man called Dave

Who thought he was everyone’s fave

He has many millions but still screws civilians

Or should that be billions or zillions

Now Dave is a man with a mission

A bit like nuclear fission

Go the wrong way and goodbye today

As we all go down in decay

And Dave has a mate called Nick

Who is an obnoxious collude

His nose is so brown he takes it lying down

Os standing up if Dave’s in the mood

Dave wants a big society

And we all should act with propriety

To help each other is Dave’s big idea

But Dave is taking the urea

And as Blighty sinks into the sea

Dave and his mates all agree

That the rich will get richer, the poor will get poorer

But that’s how government works you see

Angus

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

Health and safety gone mad, a couple of tales:

First up; Female police officers told not to wear under wired bras on duty - Telegraph

Female police officers across England and Wales have been told not to wear underwired bras on duty in case the wiring becomes driven into the skin by the force of a bullet.

Although body armour would stop the bullet itself, officers have been warned that the impact could force the underwiring in products like Wonderbras into their bodies.

Julia Roper-Smith, the Sergeants' National Police Women's representative of the Police Federation, gave the warning in the organisation's magazine, called Police.

Miss Roper-Smith, of Derbyshire Police, wrote: "There is no such thing as a bullet proof bra.

"Body armour has to be close fitting and you should wear a bra that does not contain metal objects.

"You should not wear underwired bras as the metal can be driven into the skin causing more damage."

The Home Office has also issued official guidance on what underwear to wear for duty.

The memo reads: "The Home Office Scientific Development Branch have always advised officers that body armour should be close fitting to the body and hard objects such as metal buttons, press studs, badges and the like should never be placed beneath body armour.

I seem to remember posting a blog where a woman’s life was saved by an under wired bra which deflected a bullet; still experience is obviously not as acceptable as advice. http://angusdeionallandsundry.blogspot.com/2009/04/fingers-crossed.html

And the second: Health and safety: police force sells motorbikes Northumbria Police is getting rid of its £200,000 motorcycle fleet over health and safety fears.

The police force decided to sell off all the Honda and BMW bikes after deciding that officers using them were "particularly vulnerable to collision".

The force has been criticised for losing a valuable resource but senior officers have insisted that the move will "maximise officer safety".

One serving officer, who asked not to be named, added: "I guess with all the health and safety red tape surrounding the police service these days their days were always going to be numbered.

"It's a great shame we won't be able to use them any more – cars just aren't the same. Maybe they'll offer us push bikes instead – as long as we can produce our cycling proficiency test certificates, obviously "

So it’s all right for the public to ride these dangerous machines, but not the Police force, I guess protect and serve depends on the HSE.

Here is a story from the Telegraph about greed, families and a lack of the sense of smell.

Florida woman keeps mother's dead body in house for six years A Florida woman has been charged with fraud and theft after she kept her dead mother's body in a bedroom for six years while collecting more than $200,000 in pension benefits, US prosecutors said on Thursday.

Penelope Sharon Jordan of Sebastian, Florida, was charged by a federal grand jury last week with Social Security fraud and theft, the US attorney's office in Miami said.

Police found the decaying body of her mother, Timmie Jordan, on a bed in a spare bedroom at the mother's home in late March, when they were called to investigate a report of nuisance cats.
Miss Jordan, 61, told police that her mother had died in 2003.

Local media reported that Miss Jordan told police that her mother died of old age and she kept the remains because she could not afford burial expenses. An autopsy found no signs of foul play.

Nasty!

Another “what recession” article from the telegraph:Hollywood sign for Kent sparks anger A council has been criticised for planning to spend £12,000 on a giant Hollywood-style white sign in Medway, Kent.

Medway Council wants to spell out the name of its district in huge white letters on the side of a hill.
Recently it spent £2,000 erecting the enormous letter 'E' from MEDWAY to get an idea of what the whole sign will look like.

Medway council has defended the scheme saying it will put Medway on the map. "While people are familiar with the five towns very few outside the south-east know where Medway is," said a spokesman.

Oh yes it wil let the rest of the country know that Medway coucil will waste their counciltax payers money on stupid schemes.

And finally:

Some people never learn-Tory leader David Cameron has bicycle stolen for a second time David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader, has had his bicycle stolen for the second time, this time from right outside his home in west London.

The Tory leader saw his silver and black Scott bike chained to railings at 7.10am but an hour later it was gone, a spokeswoman said.

Mr Cameron borrowed another bicycle from Desmond Swayne, his parliamentary aide, and cycled to Westminster as usual.

The last time his bike was stolen it was outside a supermarket near his home.

All I can say is that I am glad I don’t live where he does; the place is full of criminals.


“Misfortunes do not flourish on one path, they grow everywhere.” American Indian proverb

Angus

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