For the discussion of news articles and current events.
Drat - I missed it, it was 14th October. A celebration of the world's first computer programmer. This is someone who needs way more attention in the real world. I keep forgetting she was Lord Byron's daughter, and I'm glad her predilection was...
Well, the time is finally here, tomorrow Scotland gets to choose its future. Does it stay with the Union, as it has been for the last 300 years or so and head towards something akin to Home Rule or does it take the step of independence splitting the...
It appears that the geneal standard of numeracy in the UK has been falling year on year. Whether that is due to poor teaching or a rise in a range of electronic gadgets to do sums for you, it seems that at least a third of adults over the age of 18...
Something that we haven't had for about forty years is a good debate on Europe. Last time, it was about joining up to the European Trade agreement and since then a lot has changed. There has been the Euro, closer political integration and a general...
The ongoing trial for the murder of Meredith Kercher is about to start again with an appeal against the quashing of the guilty verdict for Amanda Knox and Rafael Sollecito. Chances are that any trail will be done in absentia, as I cannot see the...
While travelling in Central London on the Tube, you get to hear all sorts of reasons as to why trains are running late from the serious ones of ill people, to the wrong kind of snow in the tunnels causing problems. They have managed to come up...
At some point in the future it appears that the UK will start to use plastic, or rather polymer, banknotes instead of the paper ones that we currently use. They will be introduced in 2016 with the new £5 with Winston Churchill and will be...
Today a fairly historic declaration has been made, allowing the Scots to have a referendum saying whether they want in or out of the UK. There were several options being considered by both sides, and from it, there is no second question about...
A clever team from Britain has come up with a novel way of preventing Global Warming by mimicing volcanoes. The idea is to launch a giant balloon in to the upper atmosphere that can release millions of tiny chemical particles which can then float...
Well, it looks as though both parties have taken each other over the fiscal cliff and not signed through any spending plans for the US Government forcing it to send all non-essential personnel on unpaid leave. Yet again, the sticking point was...
Crystal Palace was a wonder of British Engineering which stood atop a large hill in London until it burned down in a great fire in 1936. it was the largest construction of its kind of iron and glass at the time it was built for the Great Exhibition....
A group of British scientists sent a balloon 27km up into the sky to see what they could find and it came back bearing micro-organisms that they are claiming could only have come from outer space. There claim goes on to say that there is no known...
Someone has come up with a handy guide to translating what the British say into what they actually mean and not exactly what your foreign ears may hear. Story here Anyone got any of their own. I would add "I'm not happy with this.".
It's been over a year since this happened and the verdict has finally been given. Not surprisingly there has been outrage from some parts of the community and cheers from other parts. Actually, I think given the nature of what happened, there was...
If you ever wondered what 135,000 people camping in a set of fields looked like. I wonder at what point, they will run out of room.
60 years ago, Mount Everest was conquered for the first time by Hilary and Tenzing. Since then it has been climbed by lots of people and currently there is a waiting list of people all trying to get to the top. It's become one of those bucket...
Virgin's very own space ship underwent its first rocket test today which went successfully. nhJ3lJpss6o Should only be a few years before it starts full flights into space.
If they launch, do you expect them to be put down immediately and how do you think China will respond? I know we have B-52s and B-2s and Carriers in the area. I know we have that country mapped out to the square inch. Is Kim Jong Un...
From time to time, I weep for my fellow humans. For their complete lack of basic human comprehension, their stupidity, their ignorant railing against the world. This is one of those times. North Dakota Senate passed its personhood bill, which...
I mean seriously, it was apparently 4 miles of course, and it looks like it's no farther than an easy swim from shore. WTF happened? I hate to speculate unfairly, but I wonder if whoever was in charge of navigating last night was drunk or...
Bradford in England has its own caped crusader, although not perhaps the Bruce Wayne, that was expected. Batman wandered into the police station with someone he had apprehended and handed hmi across to the police with thei wntire incident being...
Apparently Lance Armstrong is going to appear in a no-holds barred show of Oprah Winfrey, discussing everything and anything. This will either be a massive mea culpa about his drug taking went massively out of hand, how it wasn't his fault and...
This has happened just down the road from my usual office. I'm not there today, but if I had been I would probably have been getting in at the same time as the crash occurred. It's a really built up area, so for only two people confirmed dead is...
Gerry Anderson, creator of Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlett, and many other excellent TV shows, has died aged 83. He introduced many British kids to sci-fi with puppets that had a better range of acting skills than several Hollywood actors I could...
So it's Romney/Ryan v. Obama/Biden. My money's on the latter, but it'll definitely be closer than four years ago.
Now, I know that the Lone Star state is not a great fan of Obama, but is the answer really to form your own country and say to hell with the reas of the USA. Apparently, at least 25k people there agree with the sentiment in signing a petition for...
It seems that there is going to be a major set of lawsuits being launched shortly in the UK over the misidentification of someone as being a child molester. Following the Jimmy Saville revelations, it was strongly hinted by several people that...
Edenbridge bonfire society have a great way to celebrate Guy Fawkes' Night by having a celebrity effigy burnt each year. This year, its the turn of Lance Armstrong, after all the doping allegations, mixed up with a Jim'll Fix it Badge following...
Today is the day that Austrian Felix Baumgartner is going to try and break a fairly long standing record by freefalling from 120,000 ft up, about 22-23 miles, and attempting to be the first person to break the sound barrier without being in a...
It seems that Balloons really can do the kind of damage that has been sung about. A child's helium balloon floated and knocked out power to Greece's main flight radar grounding planes until they managed to fix the issue. I never knew they could...
http://photos.cleveland.com/plain-dealer/2012/08/neil_armstrong_first_person_on_1.html American Heritage had a brief article a few years back, a reminiscence by an Ohio man who'd been a Boy Scout working on Aviation merit badge in the early...
This is sad and worrying news. The US Ambassador to Lilbya was killed during an assault on the American Consulate building in Benghazi. The attack is believed to be in retaliation for a anti-Islam film recently produced in the USA, and was...
http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/20/us/colorado-theater-scene/index.html?hpt=hp_t1 For those who'd like to discuss it, as suggested in Orual's big summer movie thread. Yet another example of random, senseless gun violence in this land I love. My...
So, there are seven days left until the first caucus in Iowa state and all of the Candidates are there trying to drum up support. It is the first stop on the long road to win the nomination for the Republican candidate to take on the Democrats...
It looks very much like Microsoft will be closing down Hotmail after many many years. Looks like everyone will be moved across to a new webmail service call, what else, Outlook.com More here I think I've had an account there for well over 10...
It seems that Katie Holmes has come to her Roman Catholic senses and decided that allowing her young daughter to be raised as a Scientologist by Tom Cruise and co is not for her and as such has filed for divorce. Another celebrity breakup would...
It looks as though the fabled God Particle, "The Higgs Boson" has been found by Cern. At least, they are 99.999% certain it is a Higgs Boson. In some ways,if true, this is quite the discovery and will certainly help push our understanding of the...
In 2013, a whole new set of Top Level Domains may be activated sitting alongside TLD's such as .com and .net. This will include such TLD's as .sex and .porn. Google has gone for .google and .youtube, the Beeb has gone for .bbc. Overall there...
One in Five Americans believe the sun revolves around the Earth.At the AAAS meeting in February, scientists warned of increasing attacks on science and scientific research, at a time when the tools of science are ever more needed to cope with an...
Just asking.
The first man on the Moon doesn't give interviews very often, but he did to an Australian accountant, of all people. You can find all four installments here: http://thebottomline.cpaaustralia.com.au/ The last installment includes a nifty...
Good stuff. A bedrock commitment to religious liberty: just one more reason to admire Washington. Article on the exhibit:...
Deliberately in this case. Stuntman Gary Connery in a specially adapted wingsuit dropped from 2400 feet before flying down and landing in a large strip of cardboard boxes. It took about a minute and he reached speeds of 80mph before gliding...
This is the dude's last hurrah. He's 68 next month, which would make him a nearly 70-year-old first term president. So this is the guy's last shot. But, does he have a shot? I think he's a selfish prick for running, frankly. He can't...
Here is a link to the world's largest insect, happily sat on someone's hand and eating a carrot. Link for those not squeamish Unfortunately, it's an endangered species, so it wont be taking over any time soon.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-sci-ancient-mayan-calendar-20120511,0,2590417.story Another calendar nearby comprises 17 baktuns, or 400-year periods, encompassing an additional 4,000 years beyond the 21st century. So what...
Article here. I know that Obama's been pretty tepid with his support for LGBT issues during his presidency, so I'm pretty surprised that he actually came out and said this in an election year.
An Aussie Billionaire has decided to tempt fate by ordering the construction of a cruise ship which will sail from London to New York called the Titanic II. Details on his new hobby here. It does mention it is the first of four ships he is...
Perhaps not quite as important as the USA one, but still an interesting microcosm on that part of Europe. For the first time in ages a left-wing candidate, François Hollande, is leading the race. For the last few years, the right wing has been...
Based off the teachings that a couple are married for a while after the death of one of the pair, Egypt is looking to logically extend the law in a really gross way. As they are married, a husband can have sex with his dead wife for up to six...
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