Lincoln green: Bitter Dopey: The Bourne Numpty: Light of the street: Sheep racing: and Red planet litter.

Some odd atmospheric conditions at the Castle this morn-lack of cold stuff, no solar activity, lots of damp stuff in the air and not a lot of light stuff.

And I see that U-Turn Cam has decided to spend his money in Majorca rather than Blighty...

Up a bit from dahn ‘ere in ‘Ampshire

Final plans for a £19m refurbishment at Lincoln Castle are to go on show.

Planned work includes a new vault to showcase the Magna Carta, repairs to the castle wall and the restoration of two prison buildings.

The refurbishment has been part-funded by a £12m grant from the Lottery, with the county council providing £5.2m towards the project.

A presentation event showcasing the improvements is being held at The Lawn in Lincoln later.

The county council has made a £1.1m bid for European funding. The rest of the money needed will rely on fundraising efforts.

Chance would be a fine thing...

Up in the Smoke

Apparently Dopey Bercow has hit out at MPs and journalists who have attacked him saying his critics are 'resentful' and 'embittered'.

Sneezy, sleepy, doc, happy, bashful and grumpy’s mate dismissed his many critics in the Commons, including those who accuse him of bias towards Labour, as the "hard right" who are jealous that he is Speaker.

And he said he was "uninterested" in media reports which often suggest he is prone to interrupting debates to deliver unnecessary pronouncements.

Allegedly he is “supremely uninterested as to what is written in many of the newspapers.

"Their utterances are absolutely of no interest to me whatsoever. I’m sorry to disappoint them, but they’re just not important.”


Methinks he protests too much...

Over to the left a lot

Police say a man accidentally shot himself in the buttocks at a Nevada movie theatre during a showing of "The Bourne Legacy."

Police in Sparks, Nev., say the 56-year-old man's injuries are not life-threatening and no others were hurt.

Authorities say the man had a permit to carry a concealed firearm. The man told officers the gun fell from his pocket Tuesday night as he was adjusting himself in the seat and that it discharged when it dropped to the floor.

Ah the old right to bare arse constitution...

Over a bit to Connecticut

Connecticut Light & Power has reimbursed a woman almost $10,500 after acknowledging it billed her for 25 years for the electricity used to power streetlights near her home.

Grace Edwards tells the Hartford Courant she discovered the billing error after a prospective buyer for the house in Cheshire asked for a history of utility charges.

The bills included line items for "9500 Lumen HP Sodium" and "6300 Lumen HP Sodium"—two sodium vapour streetlights.

When she inquired about those charges, Connecticut Light & Power said a developer who previously owned the home had agreed to pay for the streetlights.

The company removed the charges from her bill but initially refused to reimburse Edwards for past charges. She said they relented when the state's Office of Consumer Counsel got involved.

Looking at the Castle Leccy bill I reckon I am paying for most of ‘Ampshire’s outdoor lighting...

Norf of the border

Hundreds of fans lined the streets of Moffat, Dumfriesshire in Scotland to witness the first annual sheep race.

The gang of sheep were ridden by custom made knitted jockeys as they competed in several heats throughout the day.

Members of the public were also able to place £1 bets at the event which was won by the weekend's fastest four legged competitor Lingonberry.

Organiser Thomas MacDonald of Moffat Promotions Group now hopes to turn the event into an annual competition.

'It is a new event for us in Moffat and we believe it is the first in Scotland to be held on public streets,' he told the BBC.

 

Probably better than that big sporty thing dahn in Smoke...

 And finally:

Millions and millions of space units away

Images taken by the Curiosity rover on Mars show a plume of dust, left, which had disappeared when another photo was snapped 45 minutes later. Engineers say the plume indicates the crash-landing of the spacecraft that delivered the rover to the Martian surface. (NASA) – laTimes

Engineers said Friday that the Curiosity rover happened to catch a picture of its own ride crash-landing on Mars.

The photograph captured a pyramid-shaped blotch on the horizon the same photo taken 45 minutes later with the same cameras showed the same view of the Martian landscape, but no blotch.

Trust human kind, spend billions on a fruitless expedition to another planet and then all we do is litter the place....

 

That’s it: I’m orf to change my mobile provider

And today’s thought:

Dahn Unda smoking law

Angus

A plot to exhume: Terror tots: Eating farts: Dutch Mars: Google goggles: and the Shanzai Lamborghini.

Cloudy, coldish and calm at the Castle this morn, did a bit of fettling in the garden between showers yestermorn and then gathered yet another load for the “recycling centre”.

From the Smoke to up Norf

Allegedly thousands of graves will be dug up and moved to make way for the new high-speed rail line between London and Birmingham.

The HS2 rail line is expected to run straight through old cemeteries in London and Birmingham. It is estimated that the remains of about 50,000 people could be affected.

Under the plans, the Curzon Street terminal would be built on Park Street in Digbeth, Birmingham, a 19th Century graveyard.

And St James Gardens, a consecrated former church burial ground in Euston, central London, will also need to be dug up. 

Strict rules apply to the exhumation of bodies. In England and Wales, the Ministry of Justice first has to grant a licence for their removal, it then has to gain planning permission and adhere to rules set out by organisations such as English Heritage and the church. Because of the age of most of the burial grounds this tends to be the Church of England.

Reburial must also take place - usually in other nearby cemeteries.

The graves in question date back at least 100 years, though many are much older. In some cases, they are unmarked by headstones and any living relatives are no longer contactable.

 

You are not even safe from this lot when you are dead and buried, think I’ll be cremated.

All over banjaxed Blighty

According to the Piss Poor Policies Millionaires Club Coalition’s behaviour tsar Charlie Taylor a growing number of primary school children are too violent and disruptive to be in school.

Apparently there is a group of children showing very extreme behaviour, very difficult, challenging, violent behaviour - often quite young children. There is an increase in those kind of children.”

They would often resort to kicking or biting fellow pupils in the classroom, MPs on the Commons select committee for education were told...

Mr Taylor’s comments follow claims from head teachers’ leaders that children often arrive at primary school — lacking in personal skills and ill-equipped to communicate with their fellow pupils.

They have put the blame on parents who fail to communicate with them - and allow them to remain in front of computer screens or TVs for the most part of the day.

The PPPMCC’s “solution” is that parents should be docked benefit payments if they failed to pay fines levied upon them as a result of their children truanting.

And it doesn’t help Kiddlies behaviour when one’s parents leave one behind in a pub.....

East to the land that invented everything (almost)

Researchers at Zhongda Hospital at Southeast University in Nanjing have come up with a cunning plan to lower blood pressure-“eating farts”.

An experiment was done at Johns Hopkins University in which the smell of flatus, which comes from hydrogen sulphide, effectively controlled the blood pressure of mice.

Yuyu Yao, an associate professor at Southeast University, said that it has not yet been tested on human beings. A working dosage could be a problem because of the size difference between humans and mice.

The gas could have side effects on other parts of the body, he added.

I think Yuyu has been sniffing something else.........

Back to below sea level in Europe

Dutch space company Mars One has unveiled their secret plan to have humans living (and dying) on the red planet by 2023. According to their video which hit YouTube today, the first four-person team will take seven years to reach their destination, with additional crews heading off every two years after that to live out their remaining days establishing a permanent settlement.

 While this sounds like the plot of a science fiction film, the project and the company behind it seem legitimate, having apparently been endorsed by Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Prof. Dr. Gerard 't Hooft. Oddly, "Big Brother" co-creator Paul Römer is also an ambassador of the project.

Too much wacky baccy methinks...

Left to the home of street view and the land of search engines

Google has unveiled its latest invention – a pair of high-tech glasses which can video everything you see.

The computer giant introduced the device at a launch event showing live feeds from the cameras on glasses worn by sky-divers.

As the daredevils jumped out of a blimp flying above San Francisco, attendees at Google's I/O event watched the video footage from their perspective.

They also watched the live stream from cyclists jumping over ramps then riding into the conference room.

The device has a camera to capture fleeting moments and allow others to see the world through your eyes.

It also houses a speaker, microphones as well as a processor and sensors which can give users information on what they are seeing.

For instance, wearers of the glasses could see directions to their destination appear literally before their eyes.

They can also talk to friends over video chat or even buy things online as they walk around.

The company is selling the device, known as Project Glass, for $1,500 - but only to people at its annual three-day conference in San Francisco.

That’ll go dahn well with the Elfandsafety chaps....

And finally:

Right again to the place where copies are king

The latest Lamborghini replica to come out of China is of the Murcielago LP64, and is said to be 99% identical to the original on the outside, while the interior is “only” 70% identical.

A brand new Lamborghini Murcielago LP64 would cost you over $400,000 but this ex Toyota MR2 will only cost you $65,000.

According to the cars maker the reservation period for a Chinese Lamborghini Murcielago LP64 replica is 5 months, and requires an initial deposit of 210,000 Yuan.

The only snag is that it will never be legal on the road because it can’t be registered.

Bit of a waste of time and money then…..

That’s it: I’m orf to celebrate the steam engine

And today’s thought:

Neigh, neigh and thrice neigh Wimbledon

Angus

STATE OR PRIVATE EDUCATION-CHOICE OR NECESSITY?

It appears that quite a lot of parents are applying to local councils to have their children educated in state schools.

BBC NEWS

These are the parents whose children are in Private education but, because of the “Crunch” they can no longer afford to pay the fees, and some private schools are closing due to lack of pupils.

This debate between State and Private Schooling has been bubbling along for many years.

The “reasons” given by the “Private” club have been-private education is better because of the ratio between teacher and pupils, and that they want the best education for their children.

But suddenly the economy has changed their minds and now it seems that “quality” of education is not as important as MONEY.

So it seems that State education is OK if you haven’t got the money but Private education is Ok as long as it doesn’t hit your assets too hard.

Cynical: yes, but it does show the power of money (or lack of it).





‘ALLO JOHN GOT A NEW SHUTTLE?

For sale: used space shuttles

Yes you can now buy a second hand Space Shuttle, Couple of Million miles on the clock, bits tend to fall off, no engines, air con, power steering, built in toilets, space for 12 people, delivery included-£28 Million no offers.

You can buy an engine- For those organizations looking for a piece of the action but financially strapped, NASA offers a lower-priced option: six to 10 decommissioned shuttle engines will also be made available at the low, low price of $400,000 to $800,000 each—plus shipping and handling.

The other snag is that you have to be a U.S. educational institution, federal agency, state or municipality, and have a climate-controlled building to put it in.

Oh well, there goes my Chrissie present.





And keeping with the space theme-BBC NEWS

NASA finds 'missing' Mars mineral –it seems that mars has “Carbonate Minerals”, showing that Mars is not too acidic to live on.

Very interesting, now, if only I had a shuttle I could go and have a look (and yes I know the shuttle is not designed to travel to Mars).

And finally-would you wear an aftershave that smells of Hamburger?

Burger chain markets meat scent


American fast food chain Burger King is marketing a men's fragrance with the scent of meat.

Called Flame, the company says the spray is "the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat".

The scent is on sale in New York for $3.99 (£2.65) and through a website that features a variety of romantic images - but no actual burgers.

Its character the Burger King is also seen reclining almost naked in front of a log fire with whipped cream.


If you are seriously “aroma deprived” and can’t afford this, just stand by the extractor fan outside any Burger King and you will smell of Hamburger for bloody hours.

Angus

http://www.nhsexposedblog.blogspot.com/