The BBC have a story on a parrot in Japan that went missing. Luckily, it is an African Grey Parrot, which are apparently renowned for their comparative intelligence and ability to learn multiple phrases.
Its owner had taught the bird (Yosuke) to recite the name and address of where they lived (amongst other party pieces, like [...]

Long term readers/’real life’ friends will remember that Irina and I used to live in a cottage out in Bourton on the Water, a real picture postcard village in the Cotswolds. At the time, there was no chance of getting ADSL at all, which led to us having two phone lines. One was for normal [...]

The brilliant UK govt. has released information on plans to create a huge database of phone calls and e-mails based in Britain. Quite aside from the civil liberties/govt. intelligence agencies powers angles, the fact that there have been multiple incidents involving lack of data security within the last year have led to many people being [...]

This is definitely one of those cases where it is difficult to tell whether unfolding events are heading towards a better crime-free world, or simply Big Brother worming its way even further into our everyday, law-abiding lives… de Telegraaf (a Dutch newspaper) originally reported this issue, where the police will have access to live video [...]

Just in case you have not come across this well publicized report already, head on over to the BBC’s article detailing how an Australian man was caught by the police and subsequently fined for having alcohol in the car. No, not some USA-like charge of having an open container in a moving vehicle, this driver [...]

My last employer in the UK - EDS (Electronic Data Systems) looks like it may be bought by Hewlett Packard (HP). Given that HP is one of EDS’ biggest customers, this is an interesting move, though I have to admit I don’t quite understand the benefits that HP would reap with such a purchase.

As a [...]

At least those that smoke and live in Japan they are…
The BBC have a report on how Japanese cigarette vending machine companies are coping with a new law. (Did you know you have to be over 20 to buy fags there?!?). Anyway, pretty soon, any companies responsible for selling tobacco products to under age consumers [...]

If so, you may find cracked’s article on ‘The Awful Truth Behind 5 Items Probably On Your Grocery List‘ informative.
Some of the products are reasonably well know for their potential human rights issues, such as Coca Cola as well as Chiquita and Dole bananas, but I’d not heard about the issues Iams pet foods were [...]

No, not a serious piece on the issues mariners face in many areas of Asia and Africa, but instead links to a couple of articles on plans to punish those who download and share copyrighted material by withdrawing their access to the internet.
On one hand, we have the British government considering such plans, whilst members [...]

That would have been a truly shocking story to come across, wouldn’t it. Sadly, that isn’t the case; check here for details.

The Greek government had planned to give unmarried couples better rights, and whilst the Archbishop pictured above has publicly refused to comment on these plans, the synod has proclaimed in a sensationalist manner that [...]

Following on from the previous post, we have another article from the BBC on innovative ways to harvest power from activities people already carry out. This one is all about utilizing a potentially huge source of energy - children. As mothers everywhere will attest, kids can sometimes seem to run around all day, with no [...]

Check out this video from the BBC for a report on how Kazakhstan is aiming to revive its national identity. I have not heard any more news about the President’s aim to have the Kazakh language written with Latin style letters, rather than Cyrillic (???? ???? ??? ??????? :)), though other former Soviet-ruled territories have [...]

I’ve combined the following two news items into one post, as they are quite closely related. Firstly we have news of a dynamo that harvests the potential power we all generate, whenever we walk somewhere.

The principle involved with hybrid cars, where energy that would otherwise be wasted when you brake is recuperated, has been applied [...]

This is an arm wrestling arcade machine. The idea is simple, and definitely existed in English fair grounds for a long time. Put your money in the slot, and then try to impress your friends (or potential girlfriend ) by beating the machine.
Unfortunately, this particular model had to be withdrawn, following three separate incidents [...]

Although flexible silicon circuits have been around for a few years, the next stage has eluded scientists - until now. If you look at a basic circuit, with just some SMCs, such as transistors, resistors, capacitors and so on, then these can mostly be placed on a flexible base already. However, complex, multi-level ICs have [...]

In case you have not already come across this recently, the BBC have an article on the fact that information stored in your computer’s RAM is not lost the moment you turn your PC off. Given that some passwords, and even contents of some documents that are otherwise encrypted (on the hard drive) are stored [...]

What do you get if mix vegetable oil and urine? Well if you’re a top notch team of scientists, you discover an important new form of artificial rubber. You or me would just end up with a disgusting mix. Luckily, the Paris-based researchers know their stuff.
This newly discovered compound has some pretty interesting properties. Namely, [...]

Did you know that you can apparently tell what sort of person you are by the position you sleep in?
Unfortunately (for the purposes of analysis at least), my own natural resting position is a combination of three they mention. In which case, I can apparently be described as having a tough exterior, with a soft [...]

Not the most shocking of post titles, I have to admit, but this occurred near where Mum lives (in fact right where they used to live), so it caught my attention.

The Queen and Prince Philip were attending Swansea’s leisure centre, to re-open it following extensive improvements, and dropped in on St Thomas’s Community Primary School [...]

vs.
Firstly, we have respected Newsnight presenter, Jeremy Paxman, complaining that Marks & Spencer’s normally reliable lines of underwear has seen a marked decline in quality recently. Apparently, ‘Their pants no longer provide adequate support’! He also complained that M&S’ socks were getting holey far too quickly. Now the question is, are Jeremy’s toes [...]