Plan Jettisoned

According to the BBC (which yet again was the only news organization with decent footage of an event, i looked for somewhere else just to vary my sources) Jetpack Man, Yves Rossy, has failed in his bid to cross from Africa to Europe, over the Straight of Gibraltar, with a jetpack strapped to his back. Great interview afterwards, where he let's us know (unintentionally) he's not just a dreamer, he's a poet, or at least that's how his stilted English comes across with a French accent.

Tiring Environmental Crusade

An article on the BBC writes the EU Commission is to bring in standard labeling on car tires across the EU. Similar to the labels Europeans will be familiar with on consumer electronics, with A (green) to G (red) labeling. The labels assess safety, noise but also interestingly fuel consumption. The article states changing tired would be like taking 1.3 million cars of the road in Europe. Whilst it's brilliant steps are being made to help consumers choose better products (that can really help the environment), it's depressing that it has taken so long to happen. All of the above qualities would be desirable even if we weren't facing catastrophic climate change. I read a good article about that somewhere, will try and find it, but it basically asked why, if many of the things that we need to do to fight climate change are in themselves desirable (energy efficiency), is it not already happening. Basically, humans have limited information, many companies have little competition and so don't have incentives to become more efficient, and the issue of low hanging fruit, that companies will choose the easiest ways to increase revenue/lower costs first and that many energy efficiency projects take time to show yields. Will try and find article. In the mean time, use Ecofont!

Grandma pulling Gs

The BBC writes that Indian President Pratibha Patil, aged 74, has taken a ride in one of the country's jet fighters. Besides the fact she is apparently the oldest women to fly in a jet fighter, so claim Indian officials, I liked her quotes. Seemingly unable to avoid sounding like a grandma: "I was familiarised with the manoeuvring of the aircraft which has a very sophisticated way of handling it". Yes it is a jet fighter.

I did it for Science, again.

I'm becoming a fan, here's some more I Did it for Science I liked:
Remote-Control Panties*
Pornstar Office Christmas Party**
Being Gay for the Night

Previously, I posted some other stories I like here.

*To elaborate a little on this one, it was amazing. The women wore vibrating panties which react to noise around the women, increasing the vibration with greater noise. Thus: "Waiting on the platform, I didn't even have to look out at the tracks to know the train was coming — I could feel it from blocks away. It was like being clairvoyant; my vagina could predict the future."
**"As with all Christmas parties, different elements seemed to cling together. The north side of the room was occupied by hitters, slappers, spankers and people being tied up and generally bothered. On the south side were those whose primary concern seemed to be how much of their limbs they could fit into another human being."

Now you CIA it, now you don't.

The BBC writes the CIA, as part of the increasingly infamous MK-ULTRA (see the new film "Men Who Stare at Goats"), hired a magician to teach their operatives tricks of the trade. The book that came out of this, clearly named in a time before PR consciousness ("The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception"), teaches operatives how to spike someone's drink whilst lighting a cigarette, tie your shoe laces to send messages and so on. It's worth mentioning the MK-ULTRA programme, about which more and more is coming to light, is at times both humorous and disturbing. Humorous when you consider the CIA seriously attempted psychic abilities as plausible, disturbing when you consider they used men at brothels to test the effect of LSD (without the subjects permission or knowledge), in one cases giving a man LSD for 79 days (again, without his knowledge or informing him what was happening to him).

Empty Words

I like the idea of Ecofont, a group that has released their own environmentally font, called Ecofont, which reduces the amount of ink needed to print a document by about 20%. The idea being to save money and the environment. The font "works" because it is made up of tiny circles, giving the letters a solid look but with less ink. I actually quite like how the font looks. I intend to start using it, and you should to!

Moose Loose by Lake Hus

A man in Sweden has been cleared of murdering his wife after it emerged a moose had actually been the guilty party, explains the BBC. The man had found his wife dead by their lake side home and immediately been arrested on suspicion of murder and then held for ten days. He was released when moose fur and saliva were found on her body. It is believed the moose may have been drunk on fermenting apples. One thing though. How exactly did the police think he did the crime? Presumably she had been charged with antlers and bitten. I imagine the antlers did the fatal damaged. I kind of imagine antler impalement leaves a mark. A bit different than say a bullet wound or stab wound. If the police did think he did the crime, imagine what they thought of him. I picture the interegration. "Listen you sick fuck, we know what you did, you charged her with a dead moose didn't you?"

(Jail) Song Bird

The BBC writes several men in London have been convicted of using a rap song to intimidate witnesses in a real criminal case (a murder). At the risk of sounding inappropriate, the lyrics actually made me chuckle:
"I can't wait for the snitch to drop, I still show up at his wake just to see him off'"
The two men involved were jailed to 4 years and 2 1/2 for their roles in the crime.

Power Sander

Amazing Ukrainian sand artist Kseniya Simonova in action. She became famous after a clip of her on Ukraine's got Talent (apparently they can do more than vegetable soup and making tragic history) became an internet sensation. I hadn't seen sand art before, the affect is pretty awesome.

The Third Rice

According to that old chesnut, the BBC, copies of Mein Kampf are flying of shelves (or out of street vendors' hands) in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. It looks like many Bangladeshis, seemingly unaware of their position within the new Aryan social order, have taken a shine to Hitler's calling-it-like-it-is, no-nonsense, straight-from-the-hip, plans to capture their country and enslave its entire population to serve greater Germany. I particularly like the quote from BBC that "Last week, Mein Kampf did unusually well because many bought the book to give it away as an Eid present". Happy Eid!

Vanuatu Vacancy

Beyond physical isolation and rising sea levels, Vanuatu is facing a new problem reports news.com.au (yeah, I think that's their name, not just their address). Prime Minister Edward Natapei has lost his parliamentary seat over a paperwork error. After missing three consecutive sessions of parliament with out giving the speaker a note from his mum (OK, a note explaining why), according to Vanuatan law (that most ancient of judicial traditions) he must lose his seat. The prime minister was said to be rushing back to Vanuatu (to hell with icebergs) whilst furious debate has broke out on the island.

Partygate (crash)

So, last Tuesday, as widely reported, a Washington couple decided to gatecrash Obama's reception for the visiting Indian premier Manmohan Singh. After arriving and posing for photos, including with Obama, they then went to have cocktails in the East Wing. It's known at no point were they thrown out, but how they could have had a seat at dinner is bizarre. These things are planed in advance, both for food and wine, but also for who sit next to who. It's obviously not just possible (is it?) to pull up a couple of chairs and share with your neighbour. A later article suggests the secret service is now considering criminal charges. Quite what for it's not clear. Is gatecrashing where you just walk up and say "let me in" illegal?

Beer Boggles (the mind)

A Scottish (where else?) brewery, BrewDog, has released a beer weighing in at 32%, much to the horror of the Alcohol Focus Scotland (whose members no doubt felt like having a drink after hearing this would soon be hitting the streets). According to the BBC BrewDog previously released an 18% beer called "Tokyo", for which they were branded "irresponsible" (I'm not sure because the beer has 18% or for making any association with Japanese drinking culture), so they rather amusingly followed that beer with one called "Nanny State", which is described as a "low alcohol" beer (which by their standards might be 12%). The new beer's name? Tactical Nuclear Penguin, the first two words of which bring to mind some sort of nuclear weapon, whilst the third seems to be there as a non sequitur.

The English Patient

A rather drab article about the firing of a hospital boss in the UK comes alive towards the end when they start to list the problems inspectors found with the hospital. I kid you not:

"

The inspectors saw:

• Floors and curtains stained with blood

• Blood-splattered on trays used to carry equipment

• Badly soiled mattresses in the A&E department with stains soaked through to the foam filling

• Items that should only be used once still in use

• Equipment in the resuscitation room that was past the use-by date

• A children's blood pressure cuff heavily stained with blood

• Suction machines contaminated with fluid inside and out, with what looked like mould growing on the equipment

"

Man Eating Lions Apparently on Diet

The (relatively) famous man eating lions that plagued railway construction in Kenya in the late 1800s may not have been as insatiable as many believed. The Railway Gazette writes analysis of the isotopes found in the fur of the skins shows what the lions were eating (or not) before they died. One probably ate 3.5 humans and the other 8.1. This is somewhat less than the 135 deaths attributed to the lions at the time. If you wish, you can read more on this topic in the delightfully named 'Co-operation and individuality among man-eating lions' by J D Yeakel published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Because it matters.