Victory Mk1: No Swiss go juice: Calamita Cosmica: Onion committees: Aurora Blightyalis: and the Kuching cat museum.

Damp, drear and dodgy at the Castle this morn, I vandalised the mock orange with my new axe to try and separate it into smaller pieces so that I could move it-total failure-over to plan C.

Washed the Honda yestermorn-hence the weather today

And his Maj has discovered the joy of...........the magic red dot.

Orf the islands in the channel

There is a cunning plan in progress to raise the remains of the first HMS Victory nearly 300 years after it sank.

The vessel, predecessor of Nelson's famous flagship, went down in a storm off the Channel Islands in 1744, taking more than 1,000 soldiers to their deaths.

Along with a bronze cannon collection, some believe the ship was carrying a large quantity of gold coins from Lisbon to Britain, which would now be worth a reported £500 million.

And that’s the “cunning” part of it.

Dahn ‘ere in the sarf

One of the main oil refineries to London and the South East has been closed by its Swiss owner, raising the prospect of fuel shortages on the capital's forecourts.

Fuel sales from the Coryton refinery in Essex were stopped on Monday with "immediate effect" by Petroplus as the company's shares were suspended from trading on the Swiss market because of a dispute with creditors.

Coryton is a leading supplier of fuel to London and the South East, processing 220,000 barrels of crude a day and the indefinite closure of the refinery threatens major disruption to the region's petrol stations.

It matters not; most of us in the “prosperous” part of bollixed up Blighty can’t afford go juice anymore...

Over to the place where the demented El Papa resides

There lies Calamita Cosmica’ (Cosmic Magnet in English) a 28 meter long sculpture of a human skeleton created by Italian artist Gino De Dominicis and is on display at the Museo Nazionale della Arti del XXI Secolo – MAXXI museum of contemporary art in Rome, Italy. Except for the strange long nose, is a perfect scaled model of the human skeleton.

It toured Europe for a number of years visiting places such as Versailles, Naples, and Milan. The Giant was first unveiled in 1990 at Centre National d’Art Contemporain in Grenoble, France.

In 1996 it moved to the courtyard of the Palace of Capodimonte, Naples. In 2005 it was at display at Mole Vanvitelliana, Ancona, Italy - the home town of the artist. In early 2007 it moved to Palazzo Reale at Milan and after few months it landed in Versailles at 'Parterre d'Eau', in front of the facade of the Versailles Chateau.

In 2008 it was at display at Musée des Arts Contemporains, Hornu, Belgium. After the display in Belgium it was moved to Rome, where it currently resides.

Dem bones.....

According to the Flailing Sail

Interacting within a group – such as taking part in jury deliberations or mingling at a cocktail party - can lower your intelligence, with women being particularly susceptible, according to researchers.

Scientists at Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate how the brain processes information about social status in small groups and how perceptions of that status affect expressions of cognitive capacity.

In other words, whether ‘feeling’ less intelligent than others can affect your decision-making.

When volunteers in a group were told how the others performed, it lowered their problem-solving abilities.

When placed in small groups and ranking their performance on cognitive tasks against their peers, and broadcasting those rankings to them, there were dramatic drops in the ability of some study subjects to solve problems. The social feedback had a significant effect.’

So committee meetings do make you dim-which explains the Piss Poor Policies coming out of the sinking palace of Westminster.

North of the border

Much of Scotland got a view of the Northern Lights on Sunday night, with green and purple colours visible across the sky.

The Northern Lights, known properly as the Aurora Borealis, are caused by charged particles colliding with the earth's upper atmosphere. These particles cause a change in atoms of the upper atmosphere which release light as they return to their normal state.

The aurora can take a variety of colours, depending on which atoms are involved, although green is the colour most commonly seen as this is associated with oxygen atoms.

The northern lights are normally only visible further north as the particles are attracted to the magnetic pole.

However, on Sunday the phenomenon was visible across much of Scotland on account of a solar flare which resulted in a far greater amount of the particles hitting the earth.

What a load of Borealis...

And finally:

A snatch of Pussy

East lots and lots of leagues there lay the Kuching Cat Museum which houses 2,000 different artefacts, ranging from a mummified Egyptian cat to strange cat headstones.

For centuries, Southeast Asia has had a history with cats, documented in great detail at the Cat Museum. Interestingly enough, Kuching actually means cat, making the location of the museum all the more apt. Besides stuffed cats, porcelain cats and gigantic fang doorways, the museum also recounts bizarre superstitions around the animal, like nearly drowning a cat in order to bring rain.

They also have the only stuffed specimen of Felis Badia, the rarest cat in the world.

Which has made it even rarer...

That’s it: I’m orf to freeze some Neutrons

And today’s thought:

Angus

TGIF 2

Kirklees Council is in the doo again, this time over a job advert for a new director of organisation development, the job description includes: “The ideal candidate must have "cross-functional experience" and play a "key role in ensuring the effective integration of national, regional and local drivers", the Kirklees Council advert states.

It continues: "The new director of organisation development will face a number of challenges, including making sure: That the diversity of Kirklees is understood by all in the organisation; is valued as a strength but a strength that challenges us to respond to its complex implications; and is reflected in the career structures within the organisation."


Unlike the advert.








Sorry Ladies but it appears that once you reach the age of 30 you are doomed: “Researchers discovered women feel most confident and happy with their love life and body shape shortly before they reach 30.


It is also the period in their life when they enjoy the best sex – but the happiness is relatively shortlived.


Because by the time they have turned 30 they start worrying about growing old and developing grey hair and wrinkles.”


A spokesman for home hair colour brand Clairol Perfect 10, which carried out the study of 4,000 women, said: "Everything in life hits its peak at some point, and nearly reaching your thirties isn't so bad now.


The survey of 25-65 year olds recorded the age at which women were most content in 12 key areas of their life.


According to the results, women are happiest in their career at 29 and most content with their relationships one year later at 30, despite having the best sex at 28.


But all is not lost for the over 30s, as women feel most content with their financial situation at 33 and at ease with their home and family life at 32.


The research found two thirds of women feel they age more quickly than men, and the women polled rated their appearance a measly five out of 10.


It also emerged that 56 per cent of women worry about losing their looks as they get older
But drinking from the fountain of youth doesn't come cheap as the average woman will spend £600 every year, or more than £49 a month, on beauty products in a bid to stay looking young.
The research also found women spend over five days a year on their beauty routine – an average of 22 minutes every day.


Psychologist Corinne Sweet added: "Having a good hair day is essential to success both at work and in love, as many women still feel their hair is their crowning glory.





I have no comment, I value my dangly bits too much!







Still you could always take up metal detecting and find treasure:- A housewife has discovered a 15th-century gold treasure valued at £250,000 with a metal detector.

Mrs Hannaby, 57, from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, made the discovery while out on one of her regular six-hour Sunday detecting walks with her son Michael, a 33 year-old wood carver.
The treasure had been buried four inches below the ground for around 500 years - despite repeated ploughing and previous attempts by the Hannabys to unearth treasure on the same patch of arable field between Ashridge and Great Gaddesden.


"You get a buzz every time you get a signal, but chances are it won't be anything," said Mrs Hannaby, a former pub kitchen worker.


"This time, it popped up all of a sudden," said her son. "You can literally miss things by inches. We couldn't believe it. We always dreamed of finding treasure."


Under the Treasure Act of 1996, finders must report potential treasure such as gold and silver objects more than 300 years old. Finders are offered the market value for their discoveries which museums have first option to buy.


As one of only three of its kind to have survived, the find could be worth even more than £250,000, and its engraving is being compared to that of the Middleham Jewel, which sold at auction for £1.3million in 1986 and was later resold to the Yorkshire Museum for £2.5million.


Sotheby's will auction it in London on July 9.





Then you could afford all that “fountain of youth stuff”.









The mystery of crop circles is exposed it’s all down to stoned Wallabies:- Wallabies are getting "as high as a kite" on opium in Australian poppy fields and flattening crops as they hop round in circles, according to a report.

The marsupials, have been getting into medical opium crops in the southern island state of Tasmania and chewing on the plant's intoxicating heads, state officials said.
"We have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles," state attorney-general Lara Giddings told a parliamentary estimates hearing.

"Then they crash. We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high," local media reported Ms Giddings as saying.

Tasmania is the world's largest producer of legally-grown opium for the pharmaceutical market, with about 500 farms supplying approximately 50 percent of the raw material for morphine and other opiate drugs.

That explains a lot.


And finally:

Live alligator found in bag on train in Norway The 75-centimetre (29.5-inch) caiman reptile, which is on the list of endangered species, was found during a routine baggage control on Sunday on a train travelling from the Swedish city of Gothenburg to Oslo, Norwegian customs inspector Wenche Fredriksen told AFP.

"It was in a ventilation tube inside a bag," she said.
The reptile's owner, a 22-year-old man, said he bought the "pet" in Poland where he was a student and wanted to bring it home to Norway.

The caiman was turned over to veterinary authorities who were to decide its fate.

Maybe he just wanted to make a new suitcase.



Angus

NHS Behind the headlines

Angus Dei politico

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE