Saturday 22 September 2012

Hairy future: Quack, quack: Lake Labynkyr monster: Peeing in public: Boiling without bubbles: and Skinny the fat cat.


Oodles of solar stuff, vast amounts of lack of warm, not even a threat of wet stuff and even less atmospheric movement at the Castle this morn.

The butler has been out collecting fat, carbon neutral teenagers for the furnace, the garden is still in need of a middling fettle and the Honda is dustier than the dustiest thing you could think of.

And the interweb thingy doesn’t like the cold...

 


Could be on shelves in two years, scientists are already talking with pharmaceutical firms about making the product, which would work by stopping the effects of a single guilty enzyme.
US-based dermatologists announced earlier this year that they had found that an enzyme, called prostaglandin D2 (PGD2), instructed follicles to stop producing hair.
They identified it by screening 250 genes implicated in hair loss.
George Cotsarelis, head of dermatology at Pennsylvania University, said the one responsible for levels of PGD2 played “the major role”.
He said he was now talking with several drugs firms about creating the anti-baldness product.
About four in five men will experience some degree of baldness by the age of 70. In bald patches follicles are still making hairs, but less well than before. The hairs get shorter and shorter until they are either barely visible or do not even break the skin’s surface.
 

And about bloody time...

 


Cocaine - and other drugs like morphine - were routinely used in remedies for coughs, colds and toothaches as a cure-all magic ingredient in the Victorian era.
Long before the drugs were criminalised - and prior to the regulation of both medicine and advertising - the substances were frequently touted as effective treatments for illnesses as serious as cancer and liver disease.
All the products were once readily available over the counter and millions rushed to snap them up around the world in the late 1800s.
One advert for Ozone paper urges buyers to ignite its special paper and inhale the smoke to cure their asthma and bronchitis.
While Dr Seth Arnold’s Cough Killer’s campaign showed a young girl clutching a puppy - but contained high levels of Morphine.
Another ad dating back to 1885 advertised its 'instantaneous cure' for toothache - using cocaine.


How times have changed-or not....

 


Locals call it the Devil. They say it lifts up boats and wails when it attacks. Now underwater sonar shows they might be telling the truth.
Lake Labynkyr is located 5000 kilometres east of Moscow. It is 60 kilometres away from town of Oymyakon – the coldest place on earth. But while every other lake in the area becomes an ice-skating rink in winter - this lake does not freeze over. Ever.
It also has no plant life.
Associate Professor of Biogeography Lyudmila Emeliyanova told The Siberian Times that on her mission to Lake Labynkyr in remote Siberia she recorded 'several seriously big underwater objects' with sonar readings.
So convinced is she that there is something down there that she has called for a new scientific mission to solve the mystery of the monster.
"It was our fourth or fifth day at the lake when our echo sounding device registered a huge object in the water under our boat," Ms Emeliyanova told The Times.
"The object was very dense, of homogeneous structure, surely not a fish nor a shoal of fish, and it was above the bottom. I was very surprised but not scared and not shocked, after all we did not see this animal we only registered a strange object in the water. But I can clearly say - at the moment, as a scientist, I cannot offer you any explanation of what this object might be."

That’s helpful...

 
 

A New York hotel has become famous - for its toilet windows which enable people outside to see guests 'doing their business'.
Restroom users at the Boom Boom Room club on the 18th floor of the The Standard Hotel are completely visible from the street below.
The 10-foot, floor-to-ceiling windows give users fantastic views of the Manhattan skyline - but the visibility works both ways, reports the New York Daily News.
 

Nasty...

 

 

“Scientists” have come up with a way to boil water without making bubbles based on the on the Leidenfrost effect
To stabilize a Leidenfrost vapour film and prevent bubbling during boiling, Patankar collaborated with Ivan U. Vakarelski of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia. Vakarelski led the experiments and Patankar provided the theory. The collaboration also included Derek Chan, professor of mathematics and statistics from the University of Melbourne in Australia.
In their experiments, the stabilization of the Leidenfrost vapour film was achieved by making the surface of tiny steel spheres very water-repellent. The spheres were sprayed with a commercially available hydrophobic coating — essentially self-assembled nanoparticles — combined with other water-hating chemicals to achieve the right amount of roughness and water repellence. At the correct length scale this coating created a surface texture full of tiny peaks and valleys.
When the steel spheres were heated to 400 degrees Celsius and dropped into room temperature water, water vapours formed in the valleys of the textured surface, creating a stable Leidenfrost vapour film that did not collapse once the spheres cooled to the temperature of boiling water. In the experiments, researchers completely avoided the bubbly phase of boiling. …

 
That’ll come in handy in the kitchen...

 
And finally:
 


Skinny the cat isn’t and all 41 pounds of her needs a home.
A Dallas-area animal shelter has cared for the 5-year-old orange tabby since getting a call about a stray in a yard about a week ago.
Kim Chapin with Richardson Animal Services said Friday that Skinny's "very sweet" - and the largest cat she's seen in 21 years with the shelter.
Not surprising. U.S. government growth charts show Skinny weighs about as much as the average 4-year-old child.
Chapin says Skinny appears healthy except for being overweight and likely having diabetes. Blood tests have been ordered.
Chapin says somebody apparently had been caring for the cat but officials aren't sure who owned the huge kitty. 


 
And today’s thought:
You are not as bleedin sorry as we are...
 
Angus

 

Friday 21 September 2012

It’s Irisin for me: Flying the flag for free: GPS says-Eat: Foxy shoes: Procambarus clarkia nipping nuts in Hampstead: Und ein Deutscher Potato Head.


Coolish, dryish, calmish and cloudyish at the Castle this morn, have a touch of the falling dahn and lying in vomit thingy but if I keep taking the pills I am as “normal” as I am ever going to be.


 

Apparently a new drug that could provide new treatment for a range of obesity related disorders without a need to hit the gym has been developed by scientists.
Researchers claim to have created the pill, which they claim provides all the same benefits of exercising without the exertion.
They claim that a hormone naturally found in muscle cells that triggers the calorie-burning benefits of exercise, may have potential as an obesity-fighting drug.
The newly identified hormone, called Irisin, increases in the body during exercise, boosting energy expenditure and controlling blood glucose levels.
Medical experts from Harvard Medical School said the new hormone could lead to treatments for obesity, diabetes and even cancer as well as other disorders in which exercise may benefit weaker patients.
But doctors warned that the pill should not be used to replace exercising.
 

Always a bleedin snag....

 

Wants to make it easier for people to fly flags following the success of the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics and Paralympics Games.
Planning regulations which require express consent for flag flying will be scrapped in England from October 12. Currently, securing the permission costs as much as £335.
Rules on the number, size and siting of flags in all areas away from sensitive sites such as national parks or areas of outstanding natural beauty are also being relaxed.
The rules will apply to a wide range of flags, including national and international flags, the Armed Forces Day and some military flags, the Rainbow Pride flag, and those associated to sports clubs or award schemes.
Separate regulations restricting the use of certain flags, such as those linked to HM Armed Forces, will stay in place however.
 

That’ll help the economy...

 

The York Press reports that the Swiss chocolate company Nestle has decided to embed a GPS device into the wrapper of some KitKat, 4 Finger, KitKat Chunky, Aero Peppermint Medium and Yorkie Milkbars in an attempt to reward men for eating their products.
The campaign is casually titled “We Will Find You,” and will award a 10,000 GBP prize to the six lucky winners who happen to find a tracking device embedded into their chocolate wrappers.
The GPS device is activated by a special strip that will be pulled when customers open the package and a team of Nestle employees will be dispatched within 24 hours to reward the winner with their prize.
 

Now that WILL help the economy...

 

Foxes are being blamed for ruining thousands of pounds worth of cabaret dancers' designer shoes.
Bosses claim the animals ran wild backstage at night in the new temporary Crazy Horse venue on London's South Bank.
Producer Nick Zuppar said the foxes seemed to have specifically targeted expensive Louboutin shoes, gnawing the heels and biting off straps.
The costume team was trying to repair some of the £1,000-a-pair shoes but several were completely destroyed.
Mr Zuppar said: "We have four foxes on site and can do nothing to stop them running wild. We arrived in the morning to find shoes all over the stage.
 

I know its old news but I just like the picture-quite a lot...

  


Authorities have been forced to issue a new warning following reports that an invasive breed of crayfish has swamped the open-air pools on Hampstead Heath and begun nipping swimmers in intimate places (the crayfish not the authorities).
Apparently the culprits are Red Swamp Crayfish, a non-native species known for their aggressive behaviour and long claws. First spotted in the north London Park around 20 years ago, they are now multiplying at such a rate that around 5,000 of them are said to be colonising the ponds.
Doug Slade, chairman of the Hampstead Heath Anglers Association, said one of his members reported catching 180 of the crayfish in one hour.
“They just breed and breed and breed - they eat all the fish in the ponds and there is nothing we can do to stop them.
Peter McCafferty, 43, a regular visitor to the ponds, said: “I have been seeing more and more crayfish being pulled out of the ponds and I am very wary of them.
“I’ve had a couple of nips on my toes in the past few months, usually when I stop for a rest and tread water. But some people have been nipped in altogether more sensitive places, which doesn’t bear thinking about.”
A fellow swimmer said he had been nipped on the bottom. “I suppose I was lucky really - if the crayfish had decided to attack from the other side I would have been in a lot more pain,” he said.
“From now on I’m wearing my trunks.”

 Oh dear, what a shame...
 

 And finally:
 

 
A potato head made a right mash up of trying to steal 13 tons of spuds from a farm trailer when he forgot to close the back door.
The potato pincher opportunistically jumped behind the wheel of an unattended tractor and tried to flee from before pickers had had the chance to secure the mass of potatoes.
The Numpty eventually fled empty handed when the trailer overturned near the farm in Essleben, Germany, bursting one of the tractor's rear tyres causing it to crash into an electricity pylon.
 

Had his chips then....
 

 

And today’s thought:
It’s OK I’ve taken my Irisin...
 

 

Angus

 

Thursday 20 September 2012

CHunt does a U-Turn: Doomed Boomers: Tied in Le Knot: Sawdust planes: There’s an APP for that: and In a galaxy far-far away.


More than a bit of lack of warm, no solar stuff from dawn’s crack and not even a promise of skywater at the Castle this morn.
Had a day orf yesterday, decided to catch up on some sleep and managed to get fourteen hours, his Maj wasn’t very happy and in revenge decided to sit on top of my bladder at two of the am.
 
 
And I discovered that my £145.50 TV viewing ransom to Auntie will not even result in a paper license until 2016.
According to “them” “It would be wasteful to send you a new license and the same payment plan each year, so instead the TV license and payment plan below will cover you until 2016”


 And the expiry date on the License?-30th September 2013....

 Wankers; still at least my £145.50 will permit me to watch the news and Dr Who, and not watch, that stupid dancing thing, Eastenders, Snog, marry avoid and all the other Piss Poor programmes vomited out over the digital airways....

 

 
According to the Independent Jeremy CHunt has ordered a fresh political assessment of controversial plans to shut hospital casualty units as one of his first acts as Health Secretary.
Under the plans for north-west London, the number of casualty departments would be reduced from nine to five.
Ealing Hospital, Chase Farm in Enfield, King George in Ilford, St Helier in Sutton, Hammersmith, Central Middlesex and Charing Cross emergency Depts. are at risk.
His move will raise hopes of a reprieve for a number of accident and emergency departments threatened with closure as NHS Trusts cast around for savings.

Yippee!

But apparently his plans have “alarmed” many doctors and hospital managers who argue that merging A&E units into larger, better staffed departments saves lives and frees up money to improve patient care in other areas.

Boo!

 
So one of the Piss Poor Policies Millionaires Club Coalition finally does something right and the no mates medics and mangers want their A&Es to close because it will save them money, work and will give them more time to get out on the golf course.

 Who is in charge of our Elf service?

 


 

Only one in six ‘baby boomers’ is retiring in good health, with most succumbing to a range of conditions and diseases including high cholesterol, osteoporosis or cancer, a study has found.
Apparently Government Scientists have discovered that the average baby boomer - referring to those born in the years just after the Second World War - has two medical conditions.
Just over half have high blood pressure, a third are obese, and a quarter have high cholesterol.
A quarter have Type 2 diabetes or ‘pre-diabetes’, meaning they are on the cusp of fully developing the condition.
Almost one in five suffer from a mental health problem, while 12 per cent have chronic lung or throat disease.
Eleven per cent have cancer, the same proportion that has osteoporosis. In addition, 11 per cent have suffered from cardiovascular disease such as a heart attack, stroke or heart failure.
One in six have three or more health problems.
The results are from a study of 2,661 people born in 1946, from every walk of life, whose health has been followed from birth. For this, the latest study, they were assessed between 60 and 64 years of age for 15 conditions.
The study found the origins of poor health in one's 60s could usually be traced back to early middle age. 
 

Interesting-ish, so it has bugger all to do with the NHS, or being a Boomer, but life style which applies to everyone else in berated Blighty...

 


Piles of washing and ironing send Pixie Le Knot round the bend – but she couldn’t be happier.
Britain’s most flexible woman has crafted a career out of her ability to contort into eye-watering positions.
She said: ‘I was always the most flexible child in the class and knew I had a gift as soon as I took up dance and gymnastics as a kid. It’s fun being able to do something other people can’t. But I really don’t know where I got the natural ability from – all my relatives are doctors.’
Ms Le Knot, from Leyton, London, spends several hours every day training her body to cope with the physical demands of contortion before performing up to five live shows a week.
 

I’m saying nothing.....

 

French scientists reckon that passenger jets could be chomping on straw or flying on fuel extracted from sawdust in coming years as the search widens for cleaner alternatives to kerosene.
The "ProBio3" project, started in early July and co-financed by a French government economic stimulus program, aims to use traditional horse-bedding materials to develop a new kind of biofuel that can be used in a 50/50 blend alongside kerosene.
"Tomorrow, planes will fly using agricultural and forest waste," said Carole Molina-Jouve, a professor at Toulouse's National Institute of Applied Sciences (Insa), who is coordinating the ProBio3 project.
Europe consumes around 50 million tonnes of kerosene per year.
 

Why not use all the wood to build ships and scrap the noisy polluting silver birds that are killing the atmosphere?
 


 A young schoolboy left his family with a £2000 credit card bill after using an app on his grandfather’s iPad.
Will Smith, six, unwittingly embarked on the spending spree while playing Monster Island, a popular children’s video game.
The youngster had spent the amount on the special app, which involves children "collecting" and "breeding" their own online creatures.

Players then battle their way through the different levels before they reach the “Dark Monster”.

Will had racked up the bill after accessing his grandfather’s password to iTunes, the Apple music store, where bought virtual food and coins at up to £70 a time.

Mr Smith, of Redcar, North Yorks, said, when he explained the situation to Apple, officials agreed to refund the amount.

But while the family was relieved to discover they were not the victims of fraud, Will was upset when told he could not play the game anymore.

 
Buy him a bleedin Meccano set....

 
And finally:
 


The earliest known confirmed galaxy has been discovered with the help of cosmic lenses formed out of the warped fabric of space and time, researchers say.

This distant, ancient galaxy may have once helped clear out the murky fog that once filled the early universe, scientists added.

Astronomers estimate that the universe began about 13.7 billion years ago during the Big Bang. Recent findings suggest the first galaxies formed less than 500 million years after the universe's birth.

One tool researchers can use to peer at these galaxies are so-called gravitational lenses, magnifying glasses resulting from the warped fabric of reality.

Gravity curves space-time; the greater the mass of an object in space, the stronger its gravitational pull. This, in turn, bends light around it, affecting how telescopes on Earth view it.

The age of this galaxy reveals it formed during the so-called "epoch of reionization" that occurred about 150 million to 800 million years after the Big Bang. This critical but still largely mysterious event occurred when intense ultraviolet radiation cleared the fog of atomic hydrogen that once pervaded the cosmos by ionizing it into its constituent protons and electrons.

 
Well; you learn something new every epoch...

 

 
And today’s thought:
Daily diary of a Boomer.
 

Angus

 

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Have you heard the one about the Doctor?: The cost of U-Turns: Ridley road rats: Squealing squaddies: Trillion carat crater: Bedroom car park: and The Salt of the Earth.


The first inkling of solar activity has emerged from Dawn’s crack at the Castle this morn, quite a lot of lack of warm, even less atmospheric movement and a definite dearth of wet stuff.
The garden is in need of a minor fettle, the Honda is in need of a dust and his Maj is in need of a hobby.
 


To the Piss Poor GMC are on the up, according to the Piss Poor GMC report there were 8,781 in 2011 compared to 7,153 in 2010.
The rise is similar to the one the year before and continues a trend which has seen complaints jump by 69% in three years.
But the regulator said there was no evidence to suggest care was getting worse.
Instead, it claimed the rise was down to greater expectations and willingness to complain.
Allegedly nearly 5,000 were closed after an initial assessment, while another 1,537 were deemed not to impair a doctor's ability to practise medicine.
In total, 2,330 were investigated fully - a rise of 13% since 2010.
Only 158 of these have led to doctors being suspended or struck from the medical register with many more ending in warnings or advice being issued.
GPs, psychiatrists and surgeons attracted the highest rates of complaints, while men, and in particular older male doctors, were far more likely to be the subject of complaints than women.
The most complained about topic was the care and treatment given, followed by communication and respect for patients, which both saw large rises in the past year.
 
But the Piss Poor GMC said there was no evidence care was getting worse, pointing out other professions were seeing a rise in complaints too.
 

Oh well that’s alright then, I wonder how many accountants have killed or maimed their “clients”.

 

According to the National Audit Office the Prime Monster’s plans to halve the sentences of criminals who plead guilty has cost an extra £130million.
The Coalition came into power in 2010 pledging to take measures to tackle “the unsustainable rise in the prison population”.
Part of these plans was to release offenders after half their jail terms were served if they pleaded guilty at their trial. The move would have meant that 6,000 fewer offenders were in jail by 2015.
However in June 2011 the Prime Minister axed the plans to let off early offenders who pleaded guilty, and introduced instead watered down proposals that would see only 2,000 few criminals jailed.
In a report the National Audit Office said that this change of policy will cost the National Offender Management Service an extra £130million by 2015 - essentially the cost of housing an extra 4,000 offenders a day.
 

U-Turn Wanker...

 

Rats are being sold to the public alongside other forms of illegal and possibly contaminated forms of meat by a popular food market.
Grasscutter rats imported from Ghana were sold to undercover reporters by six butchers and shops on Ridley Road market in the Dalston area of Hackney, east London, together with blow-torched goat and sheep meat known as "smokies".
After seeing footage of the meat, filmed by the BBC, environmental health expert Paul Povey said: "It's all illegal and hasn't undergone health control, hasn't been inspected and may well be contaminated.
Cane rats are regarded as such a delicacy in Ghana that some farmers now rear them in cages. Smokies, which involve an un skinned sheep carcass being flame-cooked without the spine being removed, are banned in the EU on the grounds of public health and animal welfare, have also been linked to gang crime.
 

Num. num, num, yet another step towards the third world...

 

Terrified German squaddies are refusing to go out on night manoeuvres after being driven wild by a pack of young wolves.
The wolves, believed to be brothers, have been using the trainee soldiers in Munster for stalking practice as the troopers carry out black out exercises.
"They sneak up on you and leap on you without a sound. They try to bite our boots off and then run away," explained one victim.
Soldiers have been reprimanded by trainers for squealing in fright as they're ambushed by the three overgrown cubs, giving away their positions.
An army spokesman said the squaddies had received "words of advice" about how to deal with the wolves.

 
How times have changed...

 
 
According to the Kremlin huge stocks of diamonds in a 62-mile wide asteroid crater in Siberia will last for 3,000 years.
Scientist Nikolai Pokhilenko said: "We are talking about trillions of carats, bigger than all known world reserves."
The Popigai crater above the Arctic Circle has lain untapped because the old Soviet Union put all its efforts into making synthetic gems.

Diamond expert Gennady Nikitin said: "The diamonds can overturn everything and it is not clear what will happen to prices in the market."

 
So diamonds aren’t a girl’s best friend anymore then.....there must be enough carats there to feed the world.

 

A sleeping couple escaped injury after an out-of-control car crashed into their upstairs bedroom.
The couple were in bed at their home in Epsom, Surrey, when the Lexus rounded a bend, mounted a parked Audi, and smashed into the building.
The silver car punched a gaping hole in the first floor of the house, blasting debris across the bedroom and en-suite bathroom.
A number of other cars were also damaged in the incident, and a post-box, road sign and fence were destroyed.
A structural engineer was called to check the property as police investigated the cause of the accident, which happened at around 3am on Sunday.
One neighbour has described how she heard the early-hours crash.
She said: "It sounded like a plane coming out the sky. I think the car flew about 80ft before it came to rest in the side of the house."

 
Bloody Lexus drivers, really, really expensive alarm call...

 
And finally:
 


The Dead Sea is located in the Jordan valley bordering Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west, and about 55 km southeast of Amman. Aside from the being the saltiest lake in the world, it is also Earth's lowest elevation on land. You have to descend 423 meters below sea level to reach its surface and shores. At 377 meters deep, it is also the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. Dead Sea has a salinity level of 33.7%, which is 8.6 times saltier than the ocean. As much as 340 grams of salt is dissolved per litre of water. The extreme salt concentration prevents any kind of macroscopic aquatic life such as fish and plants to flourish here, though minuscule quantities of bacteria and microbial fungi are present. The water of the lake is so dense that it is impossible to sink in the Dead Sea. In fact, a popular fad among visitors is to have their picture taken while reading a newspaper and floating on the surface of the water.

The Dead Sea is fed by the Jordan River but there is no outlet. Salts have accumulated in the basin, sometimes by percolation through the surrounding earth, gradually building up over the centuries. The water contains more than 35 different types of minerals including magnesium, calcium, potassium, bromine, sulphur, and iodine. The odd chemistry results in the appearance of some striking, but transient, salt crystal formations. In shallow lagoons at periodic intervals, these formations are natural works of art: billions of charged atoms in intricate geometrical formations shaped by nature into unique works of crystalline art.

 
Such as:

And the salt mushroom.
 
 

Is it me or is that a bit rude?

 


 

And today’s thought:
This is nice, glad we are in private...
 

 

Angus

Monday 17 September 2012

Time to cut the cuts: Education goes back in time: Speed cam, cams: Road of many colours: Criminal uniforms: Not a load of bull.


A bit of solar stuff, even less white fluffy stuff, not a lot of lack of cold and not even a drop of wet stuff at the Castle this morn.
Another year has passed at the speed of time for this daft old fart; and at the unexpected age of sixty one I only have another five months and nineteen days and I can apply for my bus pass.
As I wandered abaht the bedroom without my shirt on I could have sworn I saw the glint of a telephoto lens in the distance-I must call my lawyers...
And as this Piss Poor blog is still infesting the Blogosphere it seems that pics of the Royal rectum are acceptable while snaps of the minor Royal Norks are a no-no.

Double standards methinks...

 


Allegedly what’s his name has been warned by Liberal Democrat activists that he must not allow George Osborne to impose more welfare cuts in return for securing the party's long-cherished goal of a wealth tax.
The Social Liberal Forum (SLF), which is on the party's left, fears that Mr Clegg, is preparing the ground for a Coalition deal under which the Lib Dems back the Chancellor's plan for £10bn of welfare cuts in return for moves towards a wealth tax such as a levy on homes worth more than £2m.
The SLF will seek to tie U-Turn Cams fag’s hands at the Lib Dems' autumn conference in Brighton, which starts a week today.

 
He should be used to a bit of bondage-after all he did go to public school....

 

Changes to the exam system for 16-year-olds in England will "give parents confidence" in the examinations their children take in the future according to Thingy.
Do-da and Education Secretary Michael Gove are due to unveil the new exam regime.
GCSEs will be ditched in 2015, and replaced with what minister’s claim will be a more rigorous system.Assessment will be based on an O-level style single end-of-year exam.

 
That’s education set back another 25 years then...

 


Prince George's County cops announced they are installing new cameras designed to keep a watchful eye on the Maryland counties speed cameras, WTOP reports.
Since April, six speed cameras have been attacked by angry citizens, according to WTOP. One camera was shot at and another burned.
Prince George's County Police Maj. Robert Liberati said he doesn't think people's rage is a result of the cameras, per se.
"The roads are choked; there are lots of drivers on them. I think traffic itself is the cause of frustration [toward speed cameras]," Liberati said. "But, we have a duty to make the roads safe, even if takes a couple extra minutes to get to your destination."
 

Anyone see the flaw in logic?

 

And in the town of Manaus the road became a rainbow when a truck carrying 28,000 pounds of paint tipped over.

 Bet Zippy is excited...
 


Two southeast companies that make U.S. military uniforms are shedding hundreds of jobs, as the government looks to federal inmates for the fatigues.
American Power Source makes military clothing in Fayette, Ala., but its government contract expires in October. Federal Prison Industries – which also operates under the name UNICOR will snag the work, and leave the task to inmates. FPI has the first right of refusal for U.S. Government contracts, under a 1930 federal law.
American Apparel, the Selma, Ala., based military clothing manufacturer closed one of its plants and continues to downsize others due to the loss of some of its contracts to FPI.
According retired Air Force colonel and spokesman Kurt Wilson, the company laid off 255 employees and cut the hours of 190 employees this year alone so private workers end up losing their jobs to prisoners.
 

Has Ken Clarke been in the States recently?

 
And finally: 

 
A County Antrim farmer is celebrating after his pet bull made it into the record books for being the shortest in the world.
Ryan Lavery says that Archie, who is 76cms (30ins) tall, was originally destined to be made into burgers but, after he failed to grow sufficiently by Christmas time, the family decided to keep him as a pet.
Despite being officially named as the shortest bull in the world, and being dwarfed by most of the other animals on the farm, Mr Lavery still says that Archie feels he’s the big man, or short bull, on campus.
Ryan said that he was delighted that Archie, a Dexter bull, had made it into the Guinness Book of Records.
'I knew Archie was small but I never realised he was that small,' he said.

 
Bullocks?
 

 

And today’s thought:
All fur coat and no knickers-royal?

 

Grassy arse to Bernard for the pic

 

Angus

Saturday 15 September 2012

Royal cheeks-allegedly: Bin snooping? True lies: Racist Sarnies: Crèche and curses: Breast washing machine: and the Rose Galaxy.


Plenty of solar activity, even more lack of warm, much less atmospheric movement and nary a whimsy of skywater at the Castle this morn.

In response to overwhelming public demand (thanks AK Haart) you are still going to be subjected to my pointless rambles for a while yet (see yestermorn’s post).

And the interweb thingy seems to be going tits up-spotted the theme yet?
 

It seems that the Royal Norks thingy was legit after all, and being a bit of a breast man I still can’t see what all the fuss is about she doesn’t really have much to boast about, her minor Maj didn’t mind cavorting about in nearly nothing whist at Uni, but what really intrigues me is: What the hell is the tall, thin bald bloke doing in this pic? It isn’t about Norks but if this Piss Poor blog disappears overnight you will know that “they” don’t want snaps of the Royal arse bandied about the Blogosphere.

 
Still it seems that the mob at Buck House have pre-empted the problems by sending the pair out to places that are not very happy with non Muslims, a bit like sending dirty Harry out to Afghanistan after his photo session in Vegas-much less suspect than a car crash....

 


Despite the Coalition's promises that councils' powers would be curbed thousands of people are still being fined over their household rubbish.
Ministers have repeatedly promised to stop councils levying fines of up to £1,000 on householders for minor infractions like leaving bins out on the wrong day.
But evidence from a survey using Freedom of Information laws by campaigners suggests that thousands of households are still being fined despite the pledges.
A report by the Manifesto Club, to be published on Monday, found that 88 out of 358 councils across the UK had issued “waste receptacle” fines in 2011/12.
Josie Appleton, director of the Manifesto Club, said: “Bin fines have become a money-making operation, rather than a last resort to deal with real offenders.
Under the current system, councils have the power to issue fixed penalty notices of up to £110, or push for criminal convictions and a fine of up to £1,000.
In one instance, a woman from central London was fined when she threw away one of her company’s bank statements into her household collection.
Sabine Guerry, who lives in Westminster, said she was fined for post relating to her own private company at her home address.
She said: “Westminster Council agents opened and searched my rubbish bag in front of my door, and found one bank statement from my company together with my personal waste.
“They deduced that this was “commercial” waste, took some pictures, and sent me an £80 fine for illegal commercial littering.
“They said I should have used a dedicated commercial bin bag, labelling who was collecting my rubbish. They seem to be suggesting that I employ somebody separately to take away my company’s bank statement.”
Westminster council said that it "would not fine a resident for simply putting rubbish in a bin", adding: "The only reason we would look through waste is if it has been dumped illegally, and to look for evidence of who dumped it.

 
Ah the old fly tipping ruse.....

 

Anna Soubry, a health minister, has said that the Coalition “screwed up” over its controversial reforms of the NHS according to the Torygraph.
Miss Soubry, a junior health minister, made the frank remark in a private discussion with health service managers about reforms that will give GPs control of £80 billion of health spending.
It is the second outspoken statement Miss Soubry has made since her appointment ten days ago.
Last weekend, she angered some Conservative MPs by suggesting that euthanasia laws are “ridiculous” and should be changed to make it easier for the sick to end their own lives.
In a private question-and-answer session, she was asked about the way the Government had dealt with medical professionals and the Royal Colleges representing them over the reforms.
“We screwed up,” she replied, according to sources at the event.
Many of the colleges initially supported the reforms drawn up by Andrew Lansley, the former health secretary, but gradually withdrew their support.
That helped ensure the Health and Social Care Act had a bruising passage through Parliament and attracted significant public protest.
Some Conservatives fear the reform package has cost their party the public trust over health David Cameron tried to win in opposition.
 

And most of the voters...

 

According to Verenice Gutierrez, principal of Harvey Scott K-8 School Portland, Oregon peanut butter and jelly sandwiches carry racist connotations.
“Take the peanut butter sandwich, a seemingly innocent example a teacher used in a lesson last school year,” “What about Somali or Hispanic students, who might not eat sandwiches?” Gutierrez asked.
“Another way would be to say: ‘Americans eat peanut butter and jelly, do you have anything like that?’
The Tribune noted that the school started the New Year with "intensive staff trainings, frequent staff meetings, classroom observations and other initiatives," to help educators understand their own “white privilege,” in order to "change their teaching practices to boost minority students’ performance."
"Last Wednesday, the first day of the school year for staff, for example, the first item of business for teachers at Scott School was to have a Courageous Conversation — to examine a news article and discuss the 'white privilege' it conveys," the Tribune added.
 

Totally bleedin bonkers and this daft mare is in charge of a school!

 

Peter Capaldi and Alastair Campbell were left embarrassed when their sponsored swear-off for charity was accidentally broadcast to a crèche.
The Thick of It star and the former Downing Street press chief were appearing at a charity day at the headquarters of City trader BGC.
They were talked into the ‘swearathon’ in order to raise money for the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research team, and their diatribes were broadcast across the entire building until organisers realised that they were audible in the children’s crèche downstairs from the trading floor.
Mr Campbell apologised to “the kids and their mums and dads, and anyone else who took offence”.
“Our only defence is that the traders looked in need of a laugh after a day spent trying to humour celebs, and we were raising money for our respective charities,” he added.
Campbell won his swear-off against the Glaswegian actor by managing to cram eleven uses of the f-word into a one-minute speech.

 
Only eleven, fucking useless...

 
 

Comes the circa 1930s breast washer, which is apparently a massage device, which claims to prevent sagging, enlarge small breasts, shrink large breasts, and generally meet all your personal breast-care needs.

Wonder if they did one for chaps...

 And finally:
 


Comes an amazing Hubble bubble pic of the Rose Galaxy known as UGC 1810, it has a disk that is distorted into a rose-like shape by the gravitational tidal pull of the companion galaxy below it, known as UGC 1813.

 

Cool....

 


 
And today’s thought:
That’ll teach her to have her nipples pierced
 
 

 

Angus