In the News

[mr_e]

Well Mike, I've not been for the nine years I've been in Manchester, so it doesn't seem an unreasonable timescale.

Having said that, a zoo trip would be cool. Count me in, we just need to find a suitable weekend... I'm mostly free, unless my sister actually decides to do something for her 25th, and whenever Fez is playing Retro (anyone else coming to that? Should be good).

[Mike]

Fair play mr_e. I was just surprised that is all. I would have thought you were due a visit some time soon!

Angelina Jolie is not going to return for the new Tomb Raider film. That is a shame but I wonder if it will be the making for an unknown actress. The actress Megan Fox has been touted as the replacement. She was last seen (as far as I know) in Transformers.

[Mike]

BBC have reported that a new independent study has concluded that 'Selfish Adults damage childhood'. The main thrust is that the excessive pursuit of success is damaging children, now I sort of agree that anything excessive could be damaging. However, it seems to be implying that we should return to a society where the man works and the woman stays at home to rear children and attributes female 'economic independence' on the increased number of family break ups and trauma of children.

I don't quite understand what they are proposing. Reduce economic activity and have the little woman at home, repressed and unable to escape a misearble existance? Very strange and backward seeming study.

The only thing I would add is the shame that we are now so dependent on both parents working that is has removed the choice to stay at home to look after children without struggling to pay bills, mortgages etc.

[Mike]

HMS Victory has been discovered in the English Channel. The ship was supposed to have been lost due to the poor navigation of Admiral Sir John Balchin around the Canary Islands. However, it was found much further away (100km or so). 2 bronze cannons have so far been recovered with a further 26 being expected to be found making it the largest collection of Georgian cannons in the world. As a better bonus the British Government is expecting the searchers to find over £1billion in gold bullion. The four tonnes of gold used to have a market value of £400,000 Stirling, it has now been valued at £125million in weight and over £1billion at market rates.

Hopefully the Government will negotiate a good finders fee and place the rest of the bullion in the Bank of England to shore up their 'credit line'.

[Mike]

Car Manufacturers who have just been bailed out to the tune of £2.3billion have put their prices up. . . . nice one gents. I am not looking to buy a new car at the moment but it does seem very stupid idea with sales down 21% in December 08. I know the falling pound exchange rate has pushed the costs up but that is only a small part of the system!

[Mike]

Edinburgh University has developed a method of making computer chips that may be the start of developing manufactured systems to help people recover from severe nerve damage. The nerves were able to grow along delicate patterns of the surface of the chip, I guess that the idea is for the chip to bypass damaged areas and connect back into the natural nerve system.

[mr_e]

I'm actually quite excited about the nerve-cell growth article, although it's early days yet. The difference in quality of life things like that can make is phenomenal.

[Claire]

'Selfish Adults damage childhood'.

no shit

[Mike]

French Navy sunk by computer virus or Computer hackers sink French battleship. . . . quite serious but pretty funny. You can imagine the person who introduced that to the system being severely told off by their superior officers.

[Mike]

The Joys of Sex is a slightly funny narrative on the history of Sex Education video's from school! I did not watch the vid as I am at work but still it has the potential for showing a zeitgeist.

[BarcelonAl]

Charlie Brooker isn't over-enamoured with the new Walkers Crips flavours.

[Mike]

Chrysler and GM seek more monies from the US government. Personally I would suggest that you let one of the companies go bust and save the other two. That way the other two could pick up some more market share and need less aid. If the car industry is not equiped to survive problem times such as this then it needs to contract.

I would suggest that the manufacturer with the best environmental portfolio of vehicles is saved. Harsh but realistic and I would feel very sorry for those people who worked for the manufacturer but what can be done?!

[Mike]

Teachers Union demands a 10% pay increase and states that an economic downturn should not be an excuse for a low pay increase each year.

Are they blinking mad?! People through out the country are loosing their jobs and being forced to live on the Job Seekers Allowance and they want a 10% pay increase?! Everyone should expect their pay to stagnate unless they are getting promotions or the company is doing extra-ordinarily well and it SHOULD be linked to the government's ability to pay the salaries in future.

[Mike]

Overclocked Orange an uber, water cooled PC that is amazing for games. Honestly though. I don't think that it compares with my nice aluminium box.

[Mike]

RBS posts a massive loss of £24.1 billion. It's a mind boggling amount of money! On another note the iphone predictive text has RBS in is auto correct database which was nice. It dealt with the capitalisation nicely for me!