As twenty twelve plus one starts orf something very odd is
happening at the Castle this morn-the skywater has evaporated, the atmospheric
movement has dissipated, the liquid metal in the lack of warm gauge has risen a
number or two; and believe it or not but Dawn’s crack is visible for the first
time in more than a couple of weeks.
The sun is out, the sky is blue, there’s not a cloud to
spoil the view but........I bet it doesn’t last long.....
By 2020 the number of 60 to 64 year-olds on jobseekers’
allowance will rise from 19,000 to 39,000 by 2020.
And an additional 75,000 older people will move onto
jobseekers’ allowance, the report said.
The number in the old fart age group receiving incapacity
benefit or employment and support allowance will rise from 280,000 to 375,000.
Allegedly Jobcentres are preparing for a surge in unemployed
older people who will need extra training in how to write CVs, apply for work
online, and deal confidently with employers who they fear “routinely”
discriminate against older workers.
A study by the Department for Work and Pensions predicted
that the number of 60-64 year olds on jobseekers allowance and incapacity
benefits will rise to more than 400,000 by 2020.
The research mapped the impact of the rise in the population
of older people who will be expected to continue working as a result of the
abolition of the default retirement age, changes to benefits, and increases to
the state pension age.
It found that the biggest obstacle the over 60s will face to
finding work is “a lack of modern job search skills”, especially their limited
experience of looking for work online.
Many also have “unrealistic wage expectations”, “outdated
qualifications” and “narrow” views about the types of job they could do.
Happy New Year Boomers.....
Everglades’s
visitors are being offered ‘anti-vulture kits’ to defend against birds with a
taste for car parts.
Over the last few
years, staff members at Everglades National Park have experimented with ways to
scare off flocks of vandals that lurk in parking lots every winter,
sporadically defacing cars, trucks and boat trailers.
They’ve tried
yelling at them, squirting them with water, even dangling dead ones upside down
in trees.
So this winter, the
park is shifting to purely defensive tactics against the big birds, expanding a
program that provides visitors at the most trouble-prone sites loaner
“anti-vulture kits” consisting of blue plastic tarps and bungee cords.
“It’s recognition
on our part that they’re part of the park and we’re the intruders in their
world,” said park wildlife biologist Skip Snow. “The vultures are doing what
comes naturally.”
And there’s me thinking that cars have always been on the Vulture’s must eat list.
Tomasz Paczkowski was trying to prove that men can multitask by doing the ironing while watching
boxing on the box; and failed miserably.
And when the phone rang he picked up the hot iron and put it to his ear, "Trouble was, I got so involved in the boxing that I wasn't really thinking about what I was doing," he said.
"I really don't know how I could make such a silly mistake. But I guess it proves men are not able to multitask as well as many women can."
You think.......
boxing on the box; and failed miserably.
And when the phone rang he picked up the hot iron and put it to his ear, "Trouble was, I got so involved in the boxing that I wasn't really thinking about what I was doing," he said.
"I really don't know how I could make such a silly mistake. But I guess it proves men are not able to multitask as well as many women can."
You think.......
Researchers in
Brazil claim to have found a faster way to age the national drink - zap it with
gamma radiation for a few minutes rather than let it sit in barrels.
This supercharged
version of cachaca, a spirit similar to rum, carries with it no radiation risk,
said Valter Artur of the Nuclear Energy Centre at the University of Sao Paolo.
"Tests have
shown this cachaca can be consumed right after it is irradiated," Mr Artur
was quoted as saying in the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.
So far the
technique has only been used in university labs.
The gamma rays
ionise the cachaca and this speeds up chemical reactions that take place
naturally during the ageing process, he explained.
Yeah right....
Yeah right....
And finally:
Eight-year-old Terfel kept bumping into things and spent most of his time stuck in his basket after being diagnosed with cataracts.
Then owner Judy Godfrey-Brown let a stray cat into her home.
The puss, named Pwditat, walked up to Terfel and led him out
of his basket and into the garden. She has been helping him find his way around
ever since.
Retired civil servant Judy, 57, of Holyhead, North Wales,
said: “I’ve never seen anything like it — most cats and dogs hate each other.
“But Pwditat immediately seemed to know that Terfel is
blind.
“She uses her paws to help guide him. They are glued to each
other and even sleep together now.”
Probably because someone has glued them together......
And today’s thought
See- we can multitask
See- we can multitask
Angus
