Apprentice lawyers: Social tariffs: Human right to beg: Pussy pulse prosthetic: Suck my shoes: Crisp and expensive: and BIG Wombats.

Still chucking it dahn at the Castle this morn, loads of atmospheric movement and the liquid metal in the gauge is curled up in the bulb shivering.

I see that three core Cable reckons that we need more pilots and lawyers

And has funded 4,230 placements in the second round of the £25m higher apprenticeships initiative.

According to the “Business Secretary” they would help sectors tackle skills shortages and boost participation by under-represented groups like women.

Employers such as British Airways, Siemens, Price Waterhouse Cooper, Unilever and the UK Space Agency are involved in the scheme.

Participants are able to pursue degree-level study while getting paid.

Allegedly it is estimated that between now and 2030 European airlines will need to recruit 92,500 new pilots, 96,300 engineers and him/her upstairs knows how many Lawyers and accountants.

So why aren’t British Airways, Siemens, Price Waterhouse Cooper, Unilever and the UK Space Agency paying the bleedin bill instead of us?

And the Piss Poor Policies Millionaires Club Coalition

Is issuing “guidance” to Water companies in England and Wales to allow them to charge lower prices for the poorest customers.

It seems that Ministers want to see "social tariffs" based on ability to pay, as part of a broader drive to reduce utility bills.

An estimated 2.4 million households have trouble paying their water bills, which cost an average of £376 a year.

Water companies will be asked to select the customers who are most at risk and offer them a discount.

They are currently bound by regulator Ofwat's licensing conditions which means they cannot cut bills without contravening the law.

Deputy Prime Monster what’s his name said: "If you're struggling to make ends meet, not paying for essential utilities isn't an option but it can mean making tough choices elsewhere; like sacrificing healthy meals for the family or new school books.

"We've already announced tough new measures to see gas and electric bills fall by up to £100 a year. This will see struggling families save more.

And the but is- BBC environment analyst Roger Harrabin said it was not yet clear whether companies would be compelled to reduce tariffs but it might suit some firms to do so.

He said reducing the charges for the poorest would take some of the political heat over raising bills for others to pay for the infrastructure that is needed to ensure areas avoid repeatedly lurching into emergency measures to combat drought.

So we have foreign owners of our water who purchased the companies for sod all, get their product for free, use delivery systems that already existed and pay their bosses millions in salaries and bonuses “thinking” about reducing prices for the poorest...Hmmm, still we are all in this together...

Right a bit to Strasbourg

Allegedly Blighty may give millions more pounds to the controversial European Court of Human Rights, despite the Government’s promise to rein it in.

The Strasbourg court is asking countries to give it extra money in an attempt to deal with a backlog of 150,000 cases.

We already pay £20million a year to the Council of Europe, which is responsible for the court, but the PPPMCC is considering increasing this sum,

The request for more money has come just two months after ministers claimed to have secured lasting reform of the court at a summit in Brighton.

An estimated 800million people across the continent have the right to bring cases to the ECHR if they feel their basic rights have been breached by their governments.

As a result, there is now a backlog of more than 150,000 cases still waiting to be looked at, many involving Eastern European countries that have failed to tackle earlier breaches.

The Foreign Office declined to comment on whether or not Britain would contribute to the new fund.

A spokesman said: "We support the setting up of this fund, but have not made any decision on whether we will contribute to it. At present the UK is one of the five major contributors to the Council of Europe, contributing 12 per cent of its annual budget, which includes the Court."

If they do cough up I think I will apply to the ECHR for a ruling....

East oodles of metric miles

In the land where radiation has had no effect whatsoever, Nico Nico Douga has invented a pussy tail that wags when it detects excitement in its user. Made from a robotic arm covered in fur that is connected to a pulse sensor using an AVR microcontroller, which is attached to a clothespin that will be clipped on the owner’s earlobe, the users pulse rate is translated into tail wags. As the owner’s BPM rate goes higher, the tail moves more rapidly.

 

Spiffing….

And still in the land of the rising mushroom cloud

Paionia Furyokuki’s doormat is like a vacuum cleaner for your shoes. As your body weight depresses the knobs on the surface, suction from the air pump pulls away dirt on the bottom of your shoes. They’re on sale in Japan for $6,250.

I think I prefer my old coconut mat...

Back in wet, wet, wet Blighty and Norf of the border

Rugby reporter Bill Lothian wanted a packet of crisps to munch with his pint and was charged £1.35 for the privilege at the Golf Tavern in Bruntsfield, Edinburgh.

But apparently that isn’t expensive, at some city bars it will cost you £1.50, although elsewhere in the Capital, standard bags of crisps including Walkers and Golden Wonder could be purchased for just 60p. Charlie Russell, owner of Bennets Bar in Tollcross, where bags of Walkers are available for 70p, said: “We sell our crisps for the same price you could buy them down the shop – we’re not looking to make a profit on them.

 You pays your money and nips in Tesco on the way home...

 

And finally: 

Dahn Unda

In the outback in Queensland scientists have discovered what could be up to 50 Diprotodon skeletons dating back 100,000 and 200,000 years.

Lead scientist on the dig, Scott Hocknall from the Queensland Museum in Brisbane, said one of the specimens, called Kenny, was one of the largest Diprotodon he had ever seen.

Kenny's jawbone alone is 70cm (28 inches) long.

Pigeon-toed and with a backward-facing pouch large enough to carry an adult human, Mr Hocknull likened a Diprotodon to "a cross between a wombat and a bear but the size of a rhinoceros".

The mega-wombats could weigh up to 2.3 tonnes

The discovery could hold important clues on how the mega-wombats lived and what caused them to die out.

They probably went extinct because they kept falling through the ceilings of pre historic bungalow dwellers...

That’s it: I’m orf to mix up some magnetic emulsions

And today’s thought:

Does my bum look big in this Olympics

Angus

Summer bummer: Bishops taking the piss: Extras at Poundland: Spiritual strippers: and Old Fart hangs about.

Chucking it dahn at the Castle this morn, still summer was nice yesterday; I managed to fettle the garden-lawn, hedges, borders and the hanging baskets and pots.

A few pics of:

What is.

What will be

And

What was.

along with some fluffy stuff

And his Maj deciding whether he wants to ambush someone or take up tightrope walking.

Up in the unelected part of the leaning tower of Westminster (no not the commons, the other bit)

Apparently some Bishops are claiming up to £27,000 a year in fixed-rate allowances to attend sessions of the House of Lords on top of their travel costs.

Under current regulations peers are given the choice of three daily rates to cover their hotel and living expenses in London – £300, £150 or nothing. However they do not have to provide receipts and can also claim travel expenses.

From October 2010 to November 2011:

The Bishop of Chester attended the House on 97 days, claiming £27,600 in attendance allowances and £7,309 in travel expenses.

The Bishop of Liverpool attended on 60 days, claiming £15,600 for attendance and £4,220 in expenses.

Other significant claimers included the Bishop of Exeter (£11,550), the Bishop of Leicester (£8,850) and the Bishop of Wakefield (£10,650).

But a number of bishops regularly attended the House but did not claim any attendance allowances at all. The Bishop of Birmingham attended the House of Lords on 22 occasions but claimed no money. The Archbishop of York attended on 16 occasions and claimed nothing. The Archbishop of Canterbury also made no charge. However, the Archbishop of London claimed £3,750 for attending the Lords on 24 occasions.

Bishops live rent-free in their diocese, and to cover additional costs of running their historic homes they can draw upon allowances covered by the Church Commissioners, who manage the Church's £5 billion property and shares portfolio.

They are provided with official cars for travelling around their diocese, and can claim for entertaining guests, minor repairs to their homes, heating and lighting, gardeners and cleaners.

Nice to see that the Lords help those who help themselves-to our money....

Over to the place that spawned Edward Woodward

Staff at a Poundland shop in Croydon resealed packets of biscuits with Sellotape and put them back on sale after they were gnawed by mice.

Food inspectors found mouse urine and droppings inside boxes of chocolates on shop shelves, with the contents showing the rodents' teeth marks.

Inside the shop, packets of food had been chewed open and the contents spilled on to shelves littered with mouse droppings.

Prosecutor David McNeill told Croydon magistrates: 'Food that had been gnawed, instead of being disposed of, was resealed with Sellotape and put on sale.

'A dead mouse was also found under one of the shelves and it was obvious the shelves had not been cleaned for some time.’

The bargain shop was fined £24,000 after it admitted a string of food hygiene offences.

The store manager was not disciplined by Poundland but is now assisted by a second manager. The shop is now selling food again.


Without the extras I hope...

Left a whimsy to Welsh Wales

Allegedly “Psychic” Karl Lang told women to strip naked to increase their spiritual powers and send him naked pictures of themselves as it would boost their psychic powers.

He managed to persuade two women to strip naked at séances to enhance their spiritual powers, a court heard yesterday.

The women in their 20s wanted to contact dead relatives and it was alleged Lang, 49, told them they “had to be naked as the spirits are naked”.

It was also claimed that Lang told them to send him naked pictures of themselves and to carry out sexual acts as it would boost their psychic powers.

His first alleged victim, 27, told the jury she wanted to contact her father, who died 10 years ago.

But at their sessions she claimed Lang told her he was the “reincarnation of Jesus Christ”

Prosecutor Matthew Roberts told the jury: “It was a cruel trick. He was a sexual fraudster and he conned them.”

Lang, of Newport denies 12 charges of causing women to engage in sexual activity without consent.

The trial continues

If he was really psychic he would have seen the prosecution coming.....

And finally:

Left more than a fairway and up a bit

Rescue crews found a 53-year-old man hanging upside-down by one leg about 25 to 30 feet up in a tree next to the old Ice Park site on Phillips Field Road. The man, who the news release did not name, was conscious, alert and uninjured.

The department used its 100-foot platform/ladder truck to bring him down, according to the news release.

Assistant Fire Chief Ernie Misewicz said in an email to the News-Miner that the man was probably upside down for 10 to 15 minutes before rescue crews arrived and an additional 10 minutes during the rescue.

Misewicz said the man said he climbed the tree because “it was something he wanted to do” and that it was for exercise.

The man told rescue workers that he climbed the tree wearing foot spikes and a belly belt, like those used by linemen climbing power poles. He said he had climbed the tree and decided to lean back to rest.


Daft old twat...

That’s it: I’m orf to update me swipe keyboard

And today’s thought:

And they said sport was good for you Olympics

By the way-don’t get ill today...

Angus

Piss Poor Policies Crowd sourcing: No jobs for old farts: Fake Banker: Fly me to the Moon: Cool dogs: and pluck a duck-or five thousand.

‘Tis warm, sunny, calm and dry at the Castle this morn, been dahn to Tesco on the second stale bread, gruel and his Maj’s food run of the week.

Monday his Whiskas meat selection in jelly cost £3.45 a box, this morn it was £2.00 per box...no wonder I am so confused....

And his Maj has discovered the joy of ambush from above-top of the wardrobe/up the tree...

The Piss Poor Policies Millionaires Club Coalition

Has come up with yet another shit for brains load of old bollocks; they want us to send in our thoughts on “Gov” policy to develop new policy ideas.

Apparently ministers would ask people to suggest problems that the Government could try to solve before ideas were put out to formal consultation.

One idea involved “getting wide public input by ‘crowd sourcing’ questions to shape the definition of the problem, not just consulting on the solutions”.

Sir Bob Kerslake, the head of the Home Civil Service, said: "The default being that we develop policy in an open way with those who are more affected by the policy and collaborate in a more collaborative way." 

So why do we need six hundred odd useless members in the leaning tower of Westminster then....

Here’s one problem they might like to take a look at

According to The Policy Exchange think-tank older workers are more likely to suffer long-term unemployment than younger ones.

To test employers’ attitudes to jobseekers’ age, the researchers sent applications for over 1,200 bar jobs and personal assistant positions, one from a 51-year-old and one from a 25-year-old.

According to a Policy Exchange report, the responses to the otherwise identical applications showed a “huge bias “against the older worker.

The 25 year-old received more than twice as many positive responses to applications for bar jobs. The younger applicant was half again as likely to succeed seeking personal assistant posts.

There are around 8.3 million people aged between 50 and 65 in employment, making up around a quarter of the entire UK workforce.

Around 440,000 older workers were unemployed at the end of 2011, and 43 per cent of them had been without a job for more than a year. By contrast, 35 per cent of unemployed 25-49 year olds were long-term jobless.

Of those workers currently unemployed, only 40 per cent of those aged over 50 can expect to return to work in the next 12 months, the report found. That compares to over 60 per cent for those aged under 25.

 

And according to the PPPMCC old age begins at 54, whereas ‘yoof’ ends at 32.

 That’s me buggered then....the next step is for all old farts to have their expiry date tattooed on their foreheads.

East to the place that staged the last Olympics

Rice trader Lin Chunping invented a U.S. bank and claimed he bought it.

State media reported that he had taken over Delaware-based Atlantic Bank. The acquisition brought him praise: His hometown gave him a prestigious political appointment and state media called his business experience "legendary."

But like a lot of WBanker he was a lying git, Chinese reporters could not locate an Atlantic Bank or a bank registration by Lin in Delaware.

He's under arrest for an unrelated fraud and has been forced to give up his municipal-level appointment to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the government's top advisory body.

Oh dear what a shame...

Back in dear old Blighty-almost

Isle of Man-based Excalibur Almaz is offering seats to adventurers willing to go the extra mile on a historic journey to the Moon.

The first 500,000-mile round-trip in a converted Soviet-era space station could take place as early as 2015.

Art Dula, founder and chief executive has acquired two Soviet “Almaz” space stations, designed for orbital spying operations. Thrusters attached to the stations will convert them to long-distance spaceships.

Four re-entry capsules, or re-usable return vehicles (RRVs), will ferry three people at a time to the orbiting space station and return them to Earth.

All the space vehicles – the cost of which is confidential – are housed in hangers on the Isle of Man. One of the RRVs is currently being exhibited outside the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre in Westminster, London.

 

Pink Floyd will be chuffed....

East a bit to the stiletto of Europe

As it is so hot in the place where ruins excel an Italian ice cream maker has come up with Gelato for dogs, containing no milk, eggs or sugar, which are harmful to woofers and comes in vanilla, rice and yogurt flavours at the cost of a mere 2 Euros or abaht 5p in British at today’s exchange rate...

Barking cool...

 And finally: 

East even further than Europe to the fake place

A farmer caused chaos when he walked his ducks almost 1.5km (1 mile) from his farm to a pond in a quest for food.

The mini migration was timed to avoid rush hour but commuters could not help but get caught up in the parade.

At one point, several scooters were marooned in a sea of brown but the ducks’ feathers remained unruffled

Farmer Hong – who was armed with just a (very) long stick and a few assistants – managed to make the journey without losing a single duck en route to the water.

He regularly undertakes the perilous journey in the booming coastal city of Taizhou, in China’s Zhejiang province, about 305km (190 miles) south of Shanghai.

Wonder how much orange sauce you would need for that lot.....

 That’s it: I’m orf to probe stuff that may not exist

And today’s thought:

Brazilian at Wimbledon

Angus

The milk of Millionaire kindness: £9.5 billion for the IMF: Catmum and robin: the Orbital Test Vehicle 2 comes home: and tea can bugger up men.

Oodles of the big yellow warmish thing at the Castle this morn, a definite lack of atmospheric movement and not a drop of skywater, just waiting for the other shoe to drop....

U-turn Cam does it again

Not wanting to emulate Thatcher the milk snatcher sour faced Dave has put the kibosh on plans to save £50m by taking free milk away from nursery children.

Allegedly the proposal had been under active consideration by the Department of Health but was now "not happening", the Prime Monster's aides stated firmly – at the very moment one of his lieutenants was defending it on television.

Tosspot...

....and

It seems that the Piss Poor Policies Millionaires Club Coalition

Has rummaged about in their underwear draws and managed to find £9.5 billion to pledge to the IMF.

A total of 37 IMF member countries... have joined this collective effort, demonstrating the broad commitment of the membership to ensure the IMF has access to adequate resources to carry out its mandate in the interests of global financial stability," Ms Lagarde, the IMF chief, said.

China is stumping up $43bn, Germany $54.7bn, France $41.4bn, and Italy $31bn but the big country over to the left is not contributing, despite its huge voting power on the IMF board.

While Washington has insisted Europe has enough resources to resolve its problems itself, it is also clear that the deeply divided Congress is in no mood, given the US economic problems, to contribute rescue funds for others.



Take note U-Turn Cam...

Staying with the land of the pussy and the home of the robin

 

A baby robin is spending some quality time with some friendly cats in south-western Michigan.

MLive.com reports Karin Caston's cats have accepted the bird, named Peeps, since she found it about two weeks ago in her yard in Allegan County's Otsego Township, 35 miles south of Grand Rapids.

The bird lives in a cage, but spends time nestled in the fur of two of Caston's cats or perched on their backs. A third cat lets the bird walk around it. She tells The Associated Press in an email that she first locked up the cats when she started caring for the bird.

The robin also likes to hang out on Karin Caston's finger. She says the bird is expected to be released at an area park.

When it will be big enough for a nice cat lunch…..

Still in the used to be Wild West

The US Air Force's top secret X-37B space plane returned to Earth Saturday after spending 469 days in orbit.

The X-37B, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle 2, or OTV-2, was launched in March 2011 atop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla. It successfully landed early Saturday at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The 29-foot (8m) long, eight-foot (2.4m) wide craft, which is shaped like a small space shuttle, was designed to spend just 270 days in space.

But post-flight assessments by OTV-2's sister vehicle, the OTV-1, which spent 224 days in space in 2010, suggested such a craft could stay in orbit much longer.

"The X-37B's advanced thermal protection and solar power systems, and environmental modelling and range safety technologies are just some of the technologies being tested," McIntyre said. "Each mission helps us continue to advance the state-of-the-art in these areas."

Not that secret then is it.......

And finally:

According to “experts”

 

Men who drink more than seven cups of tea a day were 50% more at risk of developing prostate cancer than those who drank no tea or up to three cups.

Study leader Dr Kashif Shafique, from the Institute of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow said: "Most previous research has shown either no relationship with prostate cancer for black tea or some preventive effect of green tea.

"We don't know whether tea itself is a risk factor or if tea drinkers are generally healthier and live to an older age when prostate cancer is more common anyway."

We found that heavy tea drinkers were more likely not to be overweight, be non-alcohol drinkers and have healthy cholesterol levels Study leader Dr Kashif Shafique

The Scottish researchers tracked the health of more than 6,000 men aged between 21 and 75, over a period of 37 years.

Participants provided information about their tea, coffee and alcohol consumption, smoking habits and general health.

Just under a quarter of the men were heavy tea drinkers. Of these, 6.4% developed prostate cancer during the course of the study.

Those drinking more than seven cups of tea a day were 50% more at risk than those who drank no tea or up to three cups.

I’m orf to have a coffee: I had a “digital prostate inspection” once-it hurts like buggery-literally...



That’s it: I’m awa’ to upgrade the desktop

And today’s thought:

The evolution of woman Olympics

 

Angus

No time: No fascinators: Cigar ice cream: Bacon Ice cream: and hanging out in Mexico.

Sunnyish, coldish and calmish at the Castle this Monday morn, I had a trip to the coast yesterday where it was Sunnyish, coldish and calmish too, but it was nice to get a few lungfuls of ozone.

Very late today, had oodles of things to do including the stale bread, gruel and his Maj’s food run dahn Tesco where prices are rising faster than the Greek debt, the elbow is betterish, and the garden is still in need of a complete fettle but it is too wet to attack despite the hose pipe ban.

According to “experts”

Time is going to run out, observations of supernovae, or exploding stars, found the movement of light indicated they were moving faster than those nearer to the centre of the universe.

But the scientists claimed the accepted theory of an opposite force to gravity, known as dark energy, was wrong, and said the reality was that the growth of the universe was slowing.

Professor Jose Senovilla, Marc Mars and Raul Vera from the University of the Basque Country and the University of Salamanca said the deceleration of time was so gradual, it was imperceptible to humans.

Their proposal, published in the journal Physical Review D, claimed dark energy does not exist and that time was winding down to the point when it would finally grind to a halt long after the planet ceased to exist.

The slowing down of time will eventually mean everything will appear to take place faster and faster until it eventually disappears.

Not this week then-shame I have so much to do...

And up a bit from dahn ‘ere in ‘Ampshire

Strict new dress codes have been introduced at the Royal Ascot races with fascinators high on the hit-list.

Favoured by Royals and celebrities alike, these little hair pieces have incurred the wrath of officials reacting to claims the standard of dress has declined at their meet.

A particular stipulation is that fascinators are no longer welcome in the royal enclosure where her Maj and other hanger ons watch the races.

"Hats should be worn; a headpiece which has a base of four inches (10 centimetres) or more in diameter is acceptable as an alternative to a hat,'' the rules state.

Women are expected to wear skirts or dresses of "modest length'' falling just above the knee or longer. Men must wear black or grey morning dress with a waistcoat and tie, a black or grey top hat and black shoes.

The rules away from the royal enclosure are less stringent but women must still wear a hat or fascinator, and strapless or sheer-strap tops are barred. Suits and ties are compulsory for men.

A team of specially trained dress code assistants will reportedly be at the entry to help improve the standard of dress with waistcoats, ties, pashminas and other items available for those not quite sartorial enough.

Fuck orf........not a bit "fascinating"...

All over non sunny Blighty

There is a new trend in cold stuff that comes in a cone-beetroot or crab sorbet, sea-salted caramel ice cream, grilled sweet corn ice cream and cigar-smoked caramel, grass, strawberry and hay, parsnip and wasabi or smoked olive oil and black pepper, or if  you have really lost it-breast milk and absinthe.

Think I’ll stick to vanilla....

Left a lot and staying on the less than warm stuff

Burger King that well known US haute cuisine provider is set to launch a summertime menu, featuring a heavy BBQ bias with treats such as Memphis pulled-pork sandwich, Carolina barbecue sandwiches, Texas barbecue sandwiches, frozen lemonade and sweet potato fries.

And to top it orf-vanilla BK soft serve ice cream, chocolate fudge and caramel, garnished with a piece of thick-cut hardwood-smoked bacon for dipping.

Not a vegetarian pud then.....

And finally:

Dahn a whimsy

Dozens of people stripped and cycled naked through the Mexican city of Puebla Saturday to protest risks they face on the road.

"With "now you see me?" painted on their bodies, participants also hoped to promote the benefits of exercise and biking as an environmentally-friendly mode of transportation.

"We want to change things," said Arturo Rivera, one of the riders.

The crowd gathered on one of the busiest streets of Puebla, located 120 kilometres (75 miles) from the capital Mexico City, to start their attention-grabbing stunt.

While some of the women wore bathing suits, most of the men decided to bare it all as they pedalled through town in the rain.

Seems to go in cycles this nude bicycle riding thing

That’s it: I’m orf to test some black bears

And today’s thought:

Where's the pummice stone Olympics

Angus

Top knob: Sir Solicitor: Big Bang 2: Wooden chopper: and a Fairway to flash.

The big, warm yellow thing is out at the Castle this morn, there is a smidge of atmospheric movement and the liquid metal gauge it tottering on the coldish side.

Day three after having my Periosteal pecked, the elbow is now a nice shade of purple with yellow bits and despite the confidence of my general medic it still hurts-ho hum....

Her Maj’s eldest and dopiest orfspring

Has apparently been awarded the highest rank in all three military services by mummy, tree hugger Charlie is now a Field Marshal, Admiral of the Fleet and Marshal of the Royal Air Force.

 Let’s hope we are never invaded by Dutch Elms....

And staying on those who know the right people

A Government lawyer who controversially gave the green light for Jeremy CHunt to oversee Rupert Murdoch’s bid for control of BSky has been knighted.

Paul Jenkins, the chief executive and permanent secretary of the Treasury Solicitor’s Department since 2006, is made a knight and a member of the Order of the Bath.

A letter from Mr Jenkins was used by Prime Minister David Cameron to defend his conduct over the bid by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation for control of satellite broadcaster BSkyB in 2010 at the Leveson inquiry this week.

Mr Jenkins had agreed Mr CHunt could rule on the deal despite not seeing a private memorandum to Mr Cameron in which Mr CHunt said he backed the Murdoch bid.

However, Mr Cameron quoted a letter from Mr Jenkins that suggested he would not have altered his advice even if he had seen the private memo.

 

Of course he did.....

Apparently we have all been here before

Professor Roger Penrose a leading Oxford University scientist claims to have evidence of stars and galaxies that existed long before the universe as we know it formed.

He reckons that cosmic radiation discovered by one of NASA's telescopes is older than the Big Bang.

The researcher shows that the cosmic radiation background (CMB) formed in concentric circles that had cooled to a temperature of -270C over the 14 billion years since the universe came into being.

Prof Penrose and his colleague Professor Vahe Gurzadyan of the Yerevan State University in Armenia claim to have 12 examples of the circles, some of which have five rings - meaning that the objects had five massive events in their history.

The scientists believe the circles are imprints of violent gravitational forces generated by black holes that existed long before the Big Bang.

The research casts doubt upon the widely-held theory that the universe has continued to expand since the Big Bang and will continue to do so until it ceases to exist.

Prof Penrose says that his research shows that all matter in the universe will eventually be consumed by black holes, leaving only energy behind which will in turn trigger the next Big Bang.

Luckily I only have one ring but Uranus has thirteen.......

Right a bit to the land where people don’t have enough to eat

Istvan Puskas, a motorcycle enthusiast from Hungary took the term “chopper” literally and has spent the last two years chopping his dream ride from black locust wood.

Instead of chromed steel, the handlebars and exhaust pipes are made from cow’s horns, and the amateur bike-maker used deer antlers as decorations.

He used the engine of a small Fiat built in Poland under license from the Italian car maker, fuelled with petrol from a small wooden barrel that serves as a gas tank.

And it works! I just hope he has treated it for woodworm…

 

Left more than a fair way to a fairway

Two Missouri women are accused of showing off more than their putting skills at a south western Illinois golf course.

Madison County Sheriff's Capt. T. Mike Dixon says investigators responded to complaints of lewd behaviour Monday at the Woodlands Golf Course in Foster Township and saw the women displaying their breasts.

Now, authorities in Madison County have charged 45-year-old Shelly Lewis and 43-year-old Alicia Binford of O'Fallon, Mo., with public indecency.

Binford and Lewis couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday. Binford's home telephone number has been disconnected. Lewis hasn't returned a message left at her home. Court records don't show if they have an attorney.

Both women are free on bond.

I never found golf that exciting…

That’s it: I’m orf to soak up some CO2 with "metal-organicframework" stuff.

And today’s thought:

Sex on the beach Olympics

Angus

Periosteal pecking: Serious Snooping: Duct tape Numpty: Baptism of bones: and Young and uneducated.

Dull, dim and dodgy at the Castle this morn, just a quickie to test out the elbow (story of my life).

I only had the right elbow done by my general medic because he decided to use a “new” procedure called Periosteal pecking which involves sticking a needle many, many times into the offending bony bendy bit-and it hurt more than quite a lot.

Then he continued to inject the white stuff and I went home to curl up in the four poster zonked out on industrial strength pain killers, which his Maj liked quite a lot because he could stretch out on the duvet and sleep.

The elbow still hurts and has swollen up and turned a nice shade of pink but apparently after three days (tomorrow) it will magically revert to its pre tennis elbow state.....

And I am looking forward to having the left one done (if I can get an appointment)...

Apparently the new snooping powers to be introduced by the Piss Poor Policies Millionaires Club Coalition

Which are only supposed to be used for serious crime and terrorism will be quite useful for Plod to access the phone records of drivers who pose a risk.

According to a certain Mr Creedon the head of Derbyshire Police and spokesman on the issue for the Association of Chief Police Officers, indicated it would also be used in cases such as speeding motorists who text or talk on their phones.

Asked whether that would be proportionate, he said: “If I am driving on the motorway and I see someone on a phone and texting at 80mph that, for me, would pass the test immediately.”

The scheme will cost the taxpayer up to £2.5 billion over the next decade – or £250 million a year.

And costs could increase further if technology advances, the Home Office accepted.

That’s money well spent then.....

Over to the left more than a whimsy

Officials in southern Montana say a Canadian truck driver found that out the hard way when he tried to stop a fuel tank leak with duct tape before going to sleep at a truck stop near Livingston.

The Livingston Enterprise reports a truck stop employee called Park County fire-fighters at about 3 a.m. Thursday to report the leak. Fire Chief Dann Babcox estimates about 100 gallons of diesel fuel leaked from the tractor-trailer onto the ground.

 At today’s prices in the U.S. that is about £240 which would probably have paid for a proper repair.

East to a part of mythical Europe

Allegedly A small handful of bones found in an ancient church in Bulgaria may belong to John the Baptist, the biblical figure said to have baptized Jesus.

The sarcophagus holding the bones was found near a second box bearing the name of St. John and his feast date (also called a holy day) of June 24. Now, new radiocarbon dating of the collagen in one of the bones pegs its age to the early first century, consistent with the New Testament and Jewish histories of John the Baptist's life.

Thomas Higham of the University of Oxford told Live Science "They suggest that the human bone is all from the same person, it's from a male, and it has a very high likelihood of an origin in the Near East," or Middle East where John the Baptist would have lived.

The human bones in the box included a knucklebone, a tooth, part of a cranium, a rib and an ulna, or arm bone.

Err part of the skull?

 And finally on this test post:

 

According to charity Leaf (Linking Environment and Farming)

Fewer than half of young British adults know that butter comes from the milk of a dairy cow and a third do not know eggs come from hens, more than a third of 16 to 23-year-olds (36 per cent) did not know bacon came from pigs and 40 per cent failed to link milk with an image of a cow, with 7 per cent linking it instead to wheat, the poll of 2,000 people “found”.

Allegedly four in ten young adults (43 per cent) considered themselves knowledgeable about foods, the results revealed a “shocking” lack of knowledge about how basic foods were produced and the animals providing the raw materials.

Why am I not surprised...I blame the parents...

 

That’s it: I’m orf to un-knot space

And today’s thought:

“Proper” use for duct tape-bet that hurt when it came orf...

Angus