rileyuk.co.uk

Submarine Cables are damaged between Europe and Egypt. 3 out of 4 are down and traffic is badly compromised and could have a serious effect on local economies. It will take till 31 December 2008 to repair! The damage sounds very similar to the spooks story not too long ago.

Thought that article sounded familiar: this actually happened earlier on in the year as well (as that article mentions). Most unlucky as well: three out of four cables is pretty severe.

It was very unlucky indeed! The following news articles have no links as I am on my phone but they are on the BBC website.

1) A baby was born with a tumour in it's brain and when the doctors operated they found a fully formed foot. Not odd to find a baby within a baby but not usually as perfectly and fully formed.

2) Russian warships have sailed into Havana Bay in Cuba for the first time in about 40 years. It marks an improved relationship between Cuba and Russia the like has not been seen since the Cold War!

BBC are reporting that Ministers are considering changing their £500 million 0% interest emergency loan fund to a credit agency who are likely to charge between 12.8% and 26.8% interest on emergency aid. This fund is currently used mainly by older people to buy cooking equipment, paying for funerals etc. Interesting way of making the credit crunch even more difficult for people who are struggling.

Slashdot are running a story about a baby that will be born without the Breast Cancer Gene. Now that (in my humble opinion) is a very good way of using Genetic Engineering. I hope that it will not be corrupted to make, made to order babies who are very clever, muscular, with blond hair and blue eyes. I hope that it does not have any unknown side effects because that would be very upsetting for the parents.

Slashdot have reported that a PHD student has published a report online about how you can reduce the power required by the antenna of your phone by replacing the wires with a wireless broadcaster and receiver between board and antenna. Very clever idea and reduces the power required by the antenna by 12 from 38mW to 3.3mW. Innovations like this will really help the power consumption of your mobile devices and the idea is very simple, therefore, very clever!

The "emergency loan" fund has always been a little bit controversial: speak to some Job Centre staff and you'll hear examples of people abusing the system. I can only assume that's why the changes are proposed, and as it's for anyone on income-based benefits there's a lot to be saved if it reduces take-up of loans. It shouldn't affact anyone applying for help with funerals, for reasons I won't go into.

In short, I can never see the proposals going through in their current form. "Political suicide" springs to mind.

The mobile phone thing is really nice. Might be able to extend Mr. Riley's phone's standby time to one month or so!

mr_e wrote:The mobile phone thing is really nice. Might be able to extend Mr. Riley's phone's standby time to one month or so!

I doubt it. He never upgrades his phone just in case he is disappointed with the result. The unfortunate side effect is; no innovation or new technology will be taken advantage of!!

Blind Sight is an article in the Guardian where a blind man was able to unconsciously tap into the information being transmitted from his eyes to negotiate a series of obstacles in a test. Pretty impressive and just goes to show that we are able to see without being aware of it.

Jumbo Hostel is a great idea. You can stay in a hostel in a converted plane! The best rooms are the romantic cockpit area (with private en-suite) and the two person bedrooms in converted engine housing hung from the wings of the plane. Quality idea, I wonder how the plane manufacturer feels about having their expensive kit ripped out of the hull and chucked away. . . .

Zavvi goes into administration! Yikkes, will there be anywhere left on the high street for us to spend ANY money at all?!

merry christmas!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081225/ap_ ... a_shooting

mr_e's tunnel has been discovered between the Blockbuster cash-point and the railway line. Oh well, Better luck next time. I think this is the second tunnelling attempt in the Levenshulme area recently. The other was just down the road in Fallowfield.

Royal Doulton has gone into administration because people just are not buying fine bone china any more. . . .

I've never had the need to buy any Royal Doulton stuff, but it's one of those iconic brands: maybe a little dated, but good quality stuff that would last for ages. Hopefully they can find a buyer.

Has that tunnel article been posted before? The one you link to is from 2007...

Seems like a different tunnel to me. The other one was in Fallowfield! Could be wrong though.

Tidal power system robust enough to survive a UK wave system has been developed by a Welsh engineering firm. The firm believes that this system could be employed to power up to a quarter of UK. Not to shabby!

As an island, I've always wondered why more hasn't been invested into looking into tidal wave systems. I guess there would be issues as to where they could safely be installed (shipping lanes, allowed fishing areas, etc.), but surely there must be a big enough area to use?

In other news, it seems that Morris Dancing could be all but extinct within 20 years as (surprisingly) it's not seen as a cool hobby by the youth of Britain!

So Mike, will you be taking little Riley along to join the local branch/team/colony (whatever they're called)?