Bleedin cold, bothersome amounts of white fluffy/scrapey,
scrapey stuff, not even a flatulent amount of atmospheric movement and less
solar stuff than you could shake a bikini line at, at the Castle this morn, his
Maj is keeping well away from the windows and the butler is feeding fat, carbon
neutral teenagers into the furnace faster than the GDP is falling.
The EU has struck back, apparently the European Commission
announced legal action against the UK Government for failing to honour an EU
leaders' agreement in February 2011 to "complete" the internal energy
market by transposing EU electricity and gas directives into UK law by March 3
2011.
Despite two warnings Britain has still failed to comply with
two measures designed to open up energy competition for the benefit of the
European energy sector and its consumers.
The Commission said it was now asking the European Court of
Justice in Luxembourg to impose daily fines of 148.177 euro (£125,000) for each
of the two directives which have only been partially transposed into domestic
law.
That’ll help us decide....
Allegedly the Russian Defence Ministry is attempting to
clampdown on homosexuality with a new handbook that recommends recruits and
contractors be checked for genital tattoos, like the image of a “face” on the
recruit’s penis.
The Russian newspaper Izvestia on Thursday published details
about how recruits would be given a thorough examination and face questioning
about their sexual history.
Signs of “promiscuity” could indicate mental instability,
addictive personality and suicidal tendencies, according to the documents.
“The reasons for tattooing may indicate a low cultural and
educational level,” according a machine translation of the handbook provided by
Google. “If set to the impact of external incentives, such as persuasion,
direct coercion, it will be evidence of compliance of young men, his tendency
to obey the will of another.”
The “knowledge of symbols tattoos help the officer the best
way to organize work with a specific person. Particular attention should be
paid to the tattoos on the face, on the genitals, buttocks. They can testify
not only about certain personal settings, and possible sexual deviation.”
After the examination, authorities hope to determine if the
recruit has a “tendency to perversion,” meaning homosexuality.
Does Eton allow tattoos?
Stretching for over three miles along the white sandy beach
on Germany's Baltic Sea island of Ruegen lies the world’s biggest hotel with
10,000 bedrooms all facing the sea. But for 70 years since it was built, no
holiday maker has ever stayed there. This is hotel Prora, a massive building
complex built between 1936 and 1939 by the Nazis as part of their
"Strength through Joy" ("Kraft durch Freude," KdF)
programme. The aim was to provide leisure activities for German workers and
spread Nazi propaganda. Locals call Prora the Colossus because of its
monumental structure.
Prora lies on an extensive bay between the Sassnitz and Binz
regions, known as the Prorer Wiek, on the narrow heath (the Prora) which
separates the lagoon of the Großer Jasmunder Bodden from the Baltic Sea. The complex
consists of eight identical buildings that extend over a length of 4.5
kilometres and are roughly 150 metres from the beach. A workforce of 9,000 took
three years to build it, starting in 1936, and the Nazis had long-term plans for
four identical resorts, all with cinema, festival halls, swimming pools and a
jetty where Strength Through Joy cruise ships would dock.
Not a lot of happiness there, maybe Ex Nazi El Papa could
buy it as a summer retreat.
Fifteen thousand crocodiles are on the loose
after escaping from a farm hit by flooding.
Residents have been
warned to stay indoors as wildlife experts try to capture the man-eating
beasts.
One was spotted on
a school rugby pitch and others have been found trapped in branches of trees
after the flood waters fell.
The alarm was
raised when all 15,000 Nile crocs at the Rakwena farm in South Africa’s Limpopo
province fled their pens which had been opened on Sunday to stop flood water
crushing them.
They have since
been spotted all over.
Farm boss Zane
Langman said he has recaptured “a few thousand” of the reptiles in the dense
bush around the property.
But he added: “More
than half are still missing.”
Nile crocs can grow
up to 16ft and reach speeds of 8mph when running and 22mph swimming.
Commercial
crocodile farms breed the animals for their skin, which is used to make belts,
shoes and bags.
There is also a
small market for the meat but most often it is fed to other crocs, as they are
cannibalistic.
Langman, who said
it is easier to recapture the beasts at night as their eyes shine red in the
dark, also told how he went to rescue friends in a flood-hit house.
“You wonder the
whole time if you’ll make it there. When we reached the people, the crocodiles
were swimming around them. Praise the Lord, the family was all alive.”
Fuck that......
A team of
scientists has created a real-life miniature "tractor beam" - as
featured in the Star Trek series - in a development which may lead to more
efficient medical testing.
The microscopic
beam - created by scientists from Scotland and the Czech Republic - allows a
source of light to attract objects.
Light manipulation
techniques have existed since the 1970s, but researchers say the experiment is
the first instance of a beam being used to draw objects towards light.
Researchers from
the University of
St Andrews and the Institute of Scientific Instruments (ISI) in the Czech Republic say development of the beam may be an aid to
medical testing, such as in the examination of blood samples.
Normally, when
matter and light interact, a solid object is pushed by the light and carried
away in a stream of photons.
However, in recent
years, researchers have realised that there is a space of parameters when this
force reverses.
The scientists have
now demonstrated the first experimental realisation of the concept.
Professor Pavel
Zemanek of the ISI said: "The whole team have spent a number of years
investigating various configurations of particles delivery by light.
"I am proud
our results were recognised in this very competitive environment and I am
looking forward to new experiments and applications. It is a very exciting
time."
Dr Oto Brzobohaty,
also of the ISI, said: "These methods are opening new opportunities for
fundamental phonics as well as applications for life-sciences."
Spiffing, I have my own tractor beam; snag is all I can
attract is tractors....
And finally:
Capital FM newsreader Laura Safe is the one making headlines
rather than breaking them after she strolls straight into a canal in Birmingham
while engrossed in a text to her boyfriend.
CCTV cameras in the Mailbox shopping district of Birmingham
recorded the moment a radio newsreader walked straight into a freezing cold
canal while composing a text to her boyfriend.
Laura Safe, who works for Capital FM's breakfast show in the
city, can be seen texting as she walks down a flight of steps, unaware of the
canal side a few feet in front of her. Seconds later a splash reveals she has
fallen in, and she briefly flails around in the freezing cold water.
Ms Safe was pulled to safety moments later by a passer-by,
with her health if not her pride fully intact.
News reading Numpty
That’s it: I’m
orf to have a row about Quantum theory
And today’s thought:
It's the tractor beam bones; she's checking out my tattoos
Angus