Mammoth amounts of lack of warm, multitudes of layers of
scrapey-scrapey stuff, minimal amounts of skywater and not a sign of Dawn’s
crack at the Castle this morn.
Didn’t post yestermorn, had an early Tooth Doctor’s
appointment after the stale bread, gruel and his Maj’s food run dahn Tesco, I
won’t go into details but suffice it to say that spitting up blood isn’t one of
my favourite pastimes.
The publication of naked pictures of Prince Harry and the
Duchess of Cambridge shows that the "Blogosphere" is an “ethical
vacuum”, and that while people will not assume that what they read on the
internet is “trustworthy”, they expect newspapers to be a “quality product”.
At the inquiry, newspapers argued that stricter regulation
of the press would be meaningless without greater controls of the internet.
“The press, on the other hand, does claim to operate by and
adhere to an ethical code of conduct. Newspapers, through whichever medium they
are delivered, purport to offer a quality product in all senses of the term.”
“In contrast, the internet does not function on that basis
at all. People will not assume that what they read on the internet is
trustworthy or that it carries any particular assurance or accuracy; it need be
no more than one person’s view.”
Isn’t that what free speech is all about?
People over the age of 50 are “sleepwalking” into a pension
crisis by over-estimating how well-off they will be in retirement.
A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and the
National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) found that a third of people aged
between 52 and 64 have no idea what their workplace pension income will be in
retirement.
It also found that six in ten people over the age of 50 who
are still in work have not yet thought about how many years of retirement they
might need to finance.
The NAPF said the findings mean that millions of workers
will be poorer than they think when they stop working.
The study found that women in their 50s believe they will
live until they are 84, when their life expectancy is 88. Men, meanwhile,
predict they will live until 83 when their life expectancy is 85.
The report found that on average people in so-called defined
contribution workplace pension schemes aged between 50 and 64 would need to see
their pot make investment returns of 77 per cent to reach the income they
expect in retirement. The average UK pension fund makes annual returns of just
4.3 per cent.
So where has all the money gorn-oh yes the Bankers pissed it
all away gambling on the markets....and the “government” let them.
A bacon-scented shaving cream has hit the market, so men can
carry the smell of fried pork with them wherever they go.Its makers, J&D's Foods, claim it will make users 'smell
and feel like a champion'.
However one customer who tested the lotion at Earl's Cuts in
Seattle, Washington, sounded a little unsure about the meaty aroma, telling The Seattle Insider 'I feel like I'm in a skillet'
The new product, which launched yesterday, is described as 'high end' and 'luxurious' and the U.S. brand adds that men should use it after a hot shower or before an 'important date'.
Justin Esch and Dave Lefkow, the men behind J&D's Food,
have only created 2,500 jars of their $14.95. Bacon Shaving Cream.
Apparently Mr Lefkow said: 'This is something that every
bacon loving male needs. You’re going to smell good, you’re feeling good and
you're probably going to taste good.'
While Mr Esch, who also had a hand in creating the strange
toiletry item, explained: 'Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and
bacon is the best part of breakfast. Why not smell like it and be the best?'
Oh joy......wonder if they do one that smells of money?
The Swiss city of Zurich is to open drive-in sex boxes in an
attempt to rid the town of street prostitution.
Zurich council has approved a plan to build the boxes, which
will, it hopes, provide a discreet location for prostitutes and their clients
to conduct business when they open in August next year.
Located in an industrial area of the city, the row of
garage-like boxes will have roofs and walls for privacy, and easy access for
cars. The council estimates that around 30 prostitutes will meet clients at the
site of the boxes, and use the drive-in slots on a first-come-first-served
basis.
The prostitutes who use the sex boxes will also have to take
out medical insurance and buy a £26 licence in order to ply their trade. On top
of that they will also have to feed five Swiss francs, about £3.30, into a
roadside ticket machine each night when they clock on.
Traffic jam sex?
Aberdeen is set to
spearhead a refuse revolution by installing hi-tech litter bins in the city
centre – which will also provide free Wi-Fi access for visitors to the area.
• Bins will use Wi-Fi
technology to alert refuse department when they are full
• Wi-Fi hotspots
will also be used to distribute tourist information advice
The City Council,
in partnership with the Aberdeen Inspired initiative, is planning to spend
almost £250,000 by ordering 60 “Big Belly Bins” for key locations around the
city centre.
The solar powered
bins are fitted with waste compactors, ensuring they need emptied less often
than standard designs. The bins also use wireless technology to alert authorities
when they are full and the electronics used to issue the alerts will also allow
the bins to act as Wi-Fi hotspots, providing visitors with up to date guides to
the city and its sights, shops and restaurants.
The £246,500 cost
of the project is to be shared by the city council and Aberdeen Inspired, the
banner under which the Aberdeen BID (Business Improvement District) is
operating.
Susan Bree, chief
executive of Aberdeen Inspired, said: “We want Aberdeen to be at the forefront
when it comes to technology and the Big Belly Bins are just one of the examples
of the initiatives we are pressing ahead with.
“The additional feature of providing Wi-Fi access is also a
major bonus, all part of our wider aim to increase footfall in the city centre
and make Aberdeen more attractive to visitors.”
Ever been to Aberdeen? I have........once........
And finally:
Using techniques from an area of modern physics called loop
quantum cosmology, developed at Penn State, the scientists at Penn State
University have extended analyses that include quantum physics farther back in
time than ever before — all the way to the beginning. The new paradigm of loop
quantum origins shows, for the first time, that the large-scale structures we
now see in the universe evolved from fundamental fluctuations in the essential
quantum nature of “space-time,” which existed even at the very beginning of the
universe over 14 billion years ago. The achievement also provides new
opportunities for testing competing theories of modern cosmology against
breakthrough observations expected from next-generation telescope
Allegedly the new paradigm provides a conceptual and
mathematical framework for describing the exotic “quantum-mechanical geometry
of space-time” in the very early universe. The paradigm shows that, during this
early era, the universe was compressed to such unimaginable densities that its behaviour
was ruled not by the classical physics of Einstein’s general theory of
relativity, but by an even more fundamental theory that also incorporates the
strange dynamics of quantum mechanics. The density of matter was huge then —
1094 grams per cubic centimetre, as compared with the density of an atomic
nucleus today, which is only 1014 grams. In this bizarre quantum-mechanical
environment — where one can speak only of probabilities of events rather than
certainties — physical properties naturally would be vastly different from the
way we experience them today. Among these differences, Ashtekar said, are the
concept of “time,” as well as the changing dynamics of various systems over time
as they experience the fabric of quantum geometry itself.
So now you know.....
And today’s thought:
Not in my back passage
Angus
