The BBC are reporting that a laser has been invented that can concentrate a beam of light that is the equivalent of 100 times the earths current energy production into a single spot. Cool or what? What I hear you say, however, consider that this could be used as a method for a new power source and we are rocking and rolling into a 'free' energy society. The method allows a common atom to be fused at temperatures of 10,000 centigrade which will then reduce their mass and release a huge amount of energy.
The Manchester Evening News is reporting that every car travelling into Manchester City Centre is being snapped and number plate recognised as they travel. The data is then stored for over 5 years. I wonder if they are asking everyone to sign a disclaimer allowing them to store our data? I doubt it.
A library book racks up a late fee of £61,572.00. Now that is impressive. Thankfully the fee is capped at £5.00. Phew, I bet there are some people who wish this was capped on mobile phone contracts.
A pub near where my parents grew up has been closed following a shooting. This is really disturbing to see how violence can really alter perception of an area. I always thought it was a nice place to be!
After a mis post in Cool Websites this has been relocated here, where it belongs.
29,000 Rubber Ducks made a bid for freedom in 1992 and have since voyaged around the globe on international ocean currents. Some have washed up in Scotland, South America, Australia and are now heading towards British Beaches. What a journey!
iTunes has been targeted by a phishing site that is requesting social security numbers, credit card details and mothers maiden name. Do not put your information into this site. You will see that it is not actually part of the iTunes web domain - ie. itunes.com or similar so it is pretty poor attempt. However, it could be annoying if you are not careful.
Manchester United won the European Cup after what must have been a nail biting game with equal footing for most of the match. It is interesting that one slip was all that separated Chelsea from winning after Ronaldo made the first mistake in the penalty shoot out. I am not usually one to watch football but last nights match would be have been nail bitingly good.
BBC Pictures i love the one where Terry is caught in mid slip. Nice timing.
Mike wrote:I am not usually one to watch football but last nights match would be have been nail bitingly good.
Tell me about it! How close can one match get? Awesome performance, especially from the defence in the second half. Well done to all the players and Sir Fergie especially.
Nothing says "romance" like a kidnapped injured woman!
I watched the last few minutes of extra time and the penalties. I must confess that I went all schoolgirl and got a bit excited about the whole thing. Penalty shootouts are tense, even if you don't really care who wins!
Wired have reported that a 16 year old science fair student has managed to isolate two bacteria that naturally decompose plastics. . . . it won him a $10,000 dollar prize and a $20,000 dollar scholar ship. That is quite amazing if you ask me!
That's pretty major, to be honest. I did read that the EU don't mind plastic waste too much, because it's fairly inert and doesn't give off greenhouse gases in landfill. However, this method would, so expect countries to be slow to adopt it unless they're desperate for landfill space.
Edit: I should add that the other problems with plastic are nasty: synthetic estrogen (found in plastic products) is not good when it gets in the food chain.
Wired have some new photographs of Mars at the Northern regions. Its mission? To boldly go and find frozen ice that is suspected to be 4m under the surface at the poles. The discovery of subterranean ice at the poles would indicate that life could have survived on Mars and also would give a method for supporting the water requirements of a live mission to Mars, complete with colonists!
Hum. I wonder if we should ban someone for a certain post that could be described as breaking the peace. . . . well, okay banning seems harsh, lets just delete the post
Texting improves literacy. Discuss. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 998970.ece
the kids on the lacrosse team seem unable to produce an email without text abbreviations. However, they DO respond more frequently than I expected.
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It is a weird one the texting. On the one hand the abbreviations speeds communication and on the other hand it could be more to do with having lots to say and only 150 characters to say it. Ironically it is probably the old boy directors of mobile phone companies that prompted the abbreviations to raise the revenues.
