Photo Hunt - Party

The theme for this week's Photo Hunt is party. The problem is that it's ben ages since I went to one. The last one was for my mum and dad's golden wedding anniversary. Their parish priest made it extra special by presenting him with a benemerenti medal. Sadly those photos are stuck on a broken external HDD. Ah well so it's going to have to be something insect related instead. Our garden in June and July is a magnet for insects. It sometimes feels like it's a party and and most of the phylum arthropoda is invited!

Hover fly

Bumble bee

The ever present crab spider

Dragonfly

And finally a couple of lily beetles in the process of creating more lily beetles

A fitting tribute to Ted

Not to Ted the cat but to Father Ted star Dermot Morgan. It was ten years ago yesterday that Morgan died a heart attack suffered at his home in Richmond, Surrey. He He was three days short of his 46th birthday. Yesterday, a foundation in his name was launched to provide bursaries for emerging comedy writers. Appropriately, it was announced on the back of a milk-float -- central to an unforgettable 'Father Ted' episode 'Speed 3' -- at Eyre Square in Galway.

A graduate of University College Dublin Morgan spend two years as a teacher before leaving the profession in 1976 to pursue comedy. In 1979, he got his big break from Mike Murphy as a hurley-wielding GAA fanatic on 'The Live Mike'. His alter-ego of Fr Trendy was soon born and he appeared as the religiously hip young curate for the next four years.

His career slumped in the mid-1980s, but in 1986 he recorded a surprise Christmas number one hit with 'Thank you very much, Mr Eastwood', parodying boxer Barry McGuigan and manager Barney Eastwood. Three years later he set up his own company, Cue Productions, which produced 'Scrap Saturday' for RTE Radio. But in 1991 the show was suddenly cancelled by RTE and Dermot Morgan was both angry and frustrated at the decision.

Father Ted appeared on TV in 1995. He had just completed his third season of the show when he died. He was honoured with a posthumous award at the BAFTAs in 1999. The first fundraising event for the Dermot Morgan Bursary, An Evening Without Dermot Morgan, will be held in Dublin on June 9.

Father Ted is in my view second only to Black Adder as the funniest sitcom ever to appear on TV. This of course gives me an excuse for a few clips (as if I ever needed an excuse). Enjoy!

Ted and Dougal escape from Ireland's largest lingerie department




Dougal describes the Beast of Craggy Island



Mrs Doyle ruins Ted's breakfast

The dreaded leap day

29 February is a day to strike fear into the hearts of men, it being the day when women can propose. I took to my bed with the duvet over my head (although that may also be due to a chest infection making me feel like crap) but the not-wife assured me that she had not proposed on any of the leap days since we first met in 1981 and she had no intention of breaking with that tradition....

Ted

This week's entry for Friday Ark and Carnival of the Cats.

Opening the Book of Life

I was delighted to see that the Encyclopaedia of Life has just been unveiled . So far it contains just 30,000 pages but the aim is to create an enormous online database that catalogues every one of the planet’s 1.8 million species.

The Encyclopaedia of Life (EOL) - described as the "ultimate field guide" - is to encompass all six kingdoms of life, and even viruses - which many researchers do not consider to be living organisms. Those behind the sprawling database say it could help scientists assess the impact of climate change on animals and plants. It may also help foster strategies for slowing the spread of invasive species and allow the spread of disease to be tracked. Another stated aim is to raise consciousness of biodiversity at a time when our planet is said to be in the midst of a sixth mass extinction.

The immense amount of information in the encyclopaedia is being drawn from a variety of sources, including several existing specialist databases such as AmphibiaWeb and FishBase.

"The thing that makes the encyclopaedia possible now, when it would not have been possible five years ago, is that there are many online resources that have been developed which we can draw upon," said Dr James Edwards, executive director of the Encyclopaedia of Life. "Secondly, information technology has reached a point where you can pool bits of information from different sources and present them in the way that, for example, Google News does... we're using the same kind of approach. If someone were to sit down and start writing, from scratch, an encyclopaedia of life, it would take them about 100 years to complete. But we think we'll be able to do it in one-tenth of that time," explained Dr Edwards.

The project began in spring 2007. The encyclopaedia now has placeholder pages for one million species, of which 30,000 have been populated with detailed information. There are also about a dozen highly developed multimedia pages giving a taster of what to expect in time from the EOL. All 1.8 million entries are due to be complete by 2017.

"On every page, there is information provided by the World Conservation Union on [a species'] status, showing if it is threatened, endangered or extinct," said Dr Edwards, "We think it is important to serve information on organisms that are doing okay, but also those that have been recently extinct."

The encyclopaedia’s creators also aim to get information online as soon as possible when new species are identified.

The project will solicit the help of users to submit photos and information for assessment by an authentication team. Although the idea of a catalogue of life has been around for some time, this particular version can trace its origins to an article written in 1993 by the celebrated Harvard University biologist Edward O Wilson. In it he argued that the biological sciences needed the equivalent of a "Moon shot". In 2006, Wilson wrote a letter to the Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation outlining his idea, which helped secure preliminary funding for the project.

I think I’ll be accessing this site quite often. Let’s see... Grey Seal, Leopard Seal, Harbour Seal, Baikal Seal, Harp Seal, Spotted Seal... Elephant se... Hmm I’m not sure I should open up a seventh seal! Seriously this is a brilliant idea. Although there’s plenty of utter crap on the internet (this blog included) the Encyclopaedia of Life will be just the sort of resource that makes it worthwhile.

The tears of Comrade Duch

I have already posted twice about Comrade Duch (aka Kang Guek Eav or, Kang Khek Ieu. Click here and here for my earlier posts) , who is standing trial for his role in the Khmer Rouge regime. Duch himself played a major part in this atrocity as head of Tuol Sleng prison – only Twelve out of over 20,000 souls who entered the prison came out alive. Only four of these are still alive today.

Two days ago he was taken back to the Killing Fields where between one and two million Cambodians were butchered and buried in mass graves between 1975 and 1979. "It was emotional, of course, and very quiet," said Reach Sambath, a spokesman for the tribunal that is hearing Duch’s case "Everyone was very quiet."

The best-known site of mass graves, littered with bones and pieces of ripped clothing, is Choeung Ek, about 10 miles south of Phnom Penh. Duch, a born-again Christian, was taken there in a heavily guarded convoy with up to 80 tribunal staff, judges, lawyers and four witnesses who served as Khmer Rouge guards at Tuol Sleng."The four witnesses explained what had happened in front of the accused, Duch," said Mr Sambath, who said he was not permitted to reveal details of the testimony. "He also explained what had happened there as well. Everything was recorded."

After the testimony had been given Duch broke down, first as he passed a tree bearing a sign that said babies' heads were smashed against its trunk, and second, as he made his way back to his car and stopped at a Buddhist stupa that contains the skulls of more than 8,000 of the Khmer Rouge's victims. "He kneeled on the ground and paid his respects and prayed for the souls of those who were killed," said Mr Sambath. "He cried ... When he got to the car he also paid his respects to the skulls behind the glass. He also knelt on the ground and prayed."

I don’t know whether his contrition is sincere or not. Personally I hope it is as his certain inevitable punishment will be more meaningful than if he had continued to justify his behaviour. It is scant comfort to the victims of such a monstrous regime

The trial of Duch is scheduled to begin in July.

Leviathan’s big brother

Last year Norwegian scientists unearthed a fossilised Pliosaur on the arctic island of Spitsbergen. It was not until earlier this week that the bones of the 150 million year old specimen were fully assembled. It turns out that it is the largest marine reptile known to science, a full 20% larger than the previous biggest marine reptile - a pliosaur from Australia called Kronosaurus.

Nicknamed "The Monster", the immense creature would have measured 15m (50ft) from nose to tail. Dr Jorn Hurum, from the University of Oslo Natural History Museum, said "We have carried out a search of the literature, so we now know that we have the biggest pliosaur. It's not just arm-waving anymore. The flipper is 3m long with very few parts missing. On Monday, we assembled all the bones in our basement and we amazed ourselves - we had never seen it together before."

Pliosaurs were a short-necked form of plesiosaur, a group of extinct reptiles that lived in the world's oceans during the age of the dinosaurs. A pliosaur's body was tear drop-shaped with two sets of powerful flippers which it used to propel itself through the water. "These animals were awesomely powerful predators," said palaeontologist Richard Forrest. "If you compare the skull of a large pliosaur to a crocodile, it is very clear it is much better built for biting... by comparison with a crocodile, you have something like three or four times the cross-sectional space for muscles. So you have much bigger, more powerful muscles and huge, robust jaws. A large pliosaur was big enough to pick up a small car in its jaws and bite it in half."

"There are a few isolated bones of huge pliosaurs already known but this is the first find of a significant portion of a whole skeleton of such a giant," said Angela Milner, associate keeper of palaeontology at London's Natural History Museum "It will undoubtedly add much to our knowledge of these top marine predators. Pliosaurs were reptiles and they were almost certainly not warm-blooded so this discovery is also a good demonstration of plate tectonics and ancient climates"One hundred and fifty million years ago, Svalbard was not so near the North Pole, there was no ice cap and the climate was much warmer than it is today."

The Monster was excavated in August 2007 and taken to the Natural History Museum in Oslo. Team members had to remove hundreds of tonnes of rock by hand in high winds, fog, rain, freezing temperatures and with the constant threat of attack by polar bears. They recovered the animal's snout, some teeth, much of the neck and back, the shoulder girdle and a nearly complete flipper. Unfortunately, there was a small river running through where the head lay, so much of the skull had been washed away. A preliminary analysis of the bones suggests this beast belongs to a previously unknown species.

Carve their name with pride.... in lard

All of Scotland will be proud to hear of a group of catering students from Adam Smith College in Kirkcaldy swept the boards in a contest to carve statues out of fat. 11 students took away prizes in the competition at Hotelympia, a trade fair for the hospitality industry, in London. The gold trophy winner carved an 18in model of Mickey Mouse. While the silver medallist created a statue of two horses with a rider on one of the animals. Another creation was a sculpture of Ozzy Osborne (above).

Winning student Leanne Sword said: "I wasn't expecting it. I was expecting to get something but I never thought for a minute that I'd get the gold." Her fat Mickey Mouse took three months to create. "I'd say the belt was the most difficult [part] and possibly the ears, just to get them right and the same size."

Catering lecturer Tom Pratt travelled to the event with his students and has been overjoyed by their success. "These fat sculptures would be placed on a buffet table in high class hotels. They would be put onto shop windows to grab people's attention, in butchers shop's windows, places like that. It shows the skill of the chefs who create these things."

To be honest it’s not a medium I would ever have thought of. Then again if Chris Ofili can use elephant dung then fair play to them!

WW - Dandelion

Well okay, a heavily manipulated picture of a dandelion

If abstrat dandelions are not to your taste here's a Hebe which is in full bloom at the moment. This week's entry for the Tuesday and Wednesday edition of Wordless Wednesday.

Another outing for a much loved joke

I'm too tired to do a post that requires me to tax my brain so why not wheel out my all time favourite Irishman joke. I love it for the sting in its tail:

In the days before the Celtic tiger was even a cub an Irishman came to London looking for work. He went to a building site where the Foreman told him that he could have a job if he could answer this one simple question, namely:

"What is the difference between a girder and a joist"

The Irishman looked the foreman in the face and said:

"That's simple. Girder wrote Faust and Joist wrote Ulysses"

Ayethangyou!

Meet the new Castro, not very different to the old Castro?

It was no big surprise that Fidel’s younger brother Raúl Castro has been named as Cuba’s President.

In his acceptance speech Raul acknowledged that Cuba faced problems and he spoke of the need for economic reform he declared that he would consult his ailing brother on all important decisions. “I accept the responsibility I have been given with the conviction I have repeated often: there is only one Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel is Fidel and we all know it well.” The National Assembly, appointed hardliner José Ramón Machado Ventura as Raul’s Castro’s deputy. Moderniser Carlos Lage, 56, had been tipped for the post.

Raúl was responsible for the execution hundreds of opponents after his brother’s defeat of the Batista regime in 1959. He has a reputation for being more politically repressive than his brother. He is more pragmatic on economic matters and is said to admire China’s model of economic reform while retaining strict political control. He is also said to be an efficient manager and good delegator - “Fidel is the political brother. Raúl is the practical one,” said his niece Alina Fernández who lives in Miami.

Raul Castro inherits a run-down country which a crumbling infrastructure. How he governs in practice remains to be seen. The indications are a bit more economic liberalism but no improvement in human rights. An improvement in US-Cuban relationships is unlikely.

Monsieur Gaddafi? I’ll be the son of a (top) gun

Colonel Muammar Gadaffi has just left Paris after a five-day visit. He even pitched a tent, err pitched his Bedouin tent in the grounds of a Paris hotel not far from the Elysée Palace. Whether he was a welcome guest or a pain in the arse he had a sort of last laugh on the French who were reminded of the possibility that their recent guest is the son of a French war hero.

According to a legend circulating in Vezzani, Corsica, Gadaffi’s father was Albert Preziosi, who in 1941 was stationed in the Libyan desert. While he was there, the story goes, he had an affair with a local woman who gave birth to a son – Gadaffi. Preziosi was shot down and killed over Russia in 1943. As a member of the famous Normandy-Nieman squadron, he has been celebrated in Vezzani ever since. Vezzani’s mayor, Jean-Pierre Pagni, is convinced. “Nothing contradicts it,” he said, pointing to a framed photograph of the aviator, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Gadaffi as a young man.

Gadaffi’s origins have always been mysterious. The Italian occupation of Libya destroyed all records. Officially, he was born in 1942 into a bedouin family. Last week a magazine, digging into the French air force archives, uncovered an exchange of letters between senior officers about Gadaffi’s alleged paternity. It showed that in 1999 General Silvestre de Sacy concluded that the Corsican connection was untrue. In 1941-2, Preziosi was based 400 miles from Gadaffi’s birthplace. Besides, war was a serious business when “personnel would not have been distracted by the presence of women”.

The only way to settle the mystery is with a DNA test ... .

This is probably just a legend and I can’t imagine Gadaffi submitting to a DNA test. Hold on! “personnel would not have been distracted by the presence of women”. Hmm... I won’t say it!

Mugabe smears Makoni

Robert Mugabe yesterday smeared presidential candidate Simba Makoni by labelling him a "prostitute". Former finance minister had declared himself a candidate two weeks ago

“I have compared him to a prostitute,” he said , referring to Mr Makoni’s willingness to appeal to disenchanted members of the ruling ZANU(PF) party, as well as members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. “A prostitute could have stood (as a presidential candidate). He is saying, I have so many boyfriends, some in the MDC, some in ZANU(PF), so I can go for nomination (as a candidate). But a prostitute could have done better, because she has clients.” He and his interviewer on state television doubled up with laughter (ah the joys of an independent media).

Mr Makoni, 57 is one of the longest surviving senior members of Mr Mugabe’s party but he is not tainted with the corruption and brutality of nearly all the rest, He declared that he was standing against Mr Mugabe because of his “failure of leadership”. Mr Makoni’s decision has caused major upsets within ZANU(PF) triggering unprecedented signs of rebelliousness. Most of his officials feel the distress of blackouts, water cuts, streets flowing with sewage and the worst inflation in the world as much as other Zimbabweans.

Mr Makoni signalled the start of his election campaign by grinning boyishly in a full-page advertisement in a critical weekly newspaper, with the motto, “Simba for the people!” Godfrey Chanetsa, his spokesman, said he had tried to insert the same advertisement in the state-controlled stable of weeklies and dailies, but was told they were “fully booked”. Mr Mugabe’s “prostitute” slur came in a numbing hour-long interview - the first of two - on state television to mark his 84th birthday on Thursday. There were scores of advertisements inserted by bankrupt government agencies in the government-controlled radio, television and press. The main daily newspaper, the Herald, had two birthday supplements that lauded Mr Mugabe as “the collective consciousness of revolutionaries the world over”, and praised his “visionary leadership”. Each hourly news bulletin was preceded by a version of “Happy Birthday”, composed for the occasion.

I daresay Mugabe’s already got the stuffed ballot boxes on standby...

Go Dustin!

Dustin the Turkey has been chosen to represent Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade in May. He won Eurosong 2008 with his song 'Irelande Douze Pointe'.

Dustin will now compete in the first Eurovision semi-final on Tuesday 20 May. If successful he will appear in the final on Saturday 24 May. Bookmakers William Hill have installed Dustin the Turkey as the 10-1 favourite to win Eurovision.

The company's spokesman, Tony Kenny, said: "These days you have to be either from the old Eastern Bloc or have a great gimmick to win Eurovision - and a singing turkey will possibly be one of the most bizarre things that a Eurovision audience will ever see. He'll go to Belgrade on a wing and a prayer and, fingers crossed, he'll ruffle a few feathers when he gets there,"

Here's the song -

GO Dustin. He'll be getting my vote!

Sold American

The Kinkster performing Sold American with Bob Dylan. From Kinky's album of the same name

Lucky Number

Lucky Number. The last I heard of her was providing backing vocals on the Hawkwind song Angela Android and on their re-recording of Spirit of the Age in 2005.

Robyn Hitchcock - It sounds great when you're dead

As seen on Later with Jools Holland earlier this month

Photo Hunt - Wood

The theme for this week's Photo Hunt is wood so here (for once!) I've chosen some subjects that are wood (and not just an excuse for a cat or a flower photo...)

This is a Black Poplar taken at the Chase nature reserve in Dagenham near where I live. Balck Poplars were once a common sight in England but became very rare. There are six Black Poplars at the Chase
This is St Andrews in the Essex village of Greensted. It is remarkable for being the oldest surviving wooden structure in Europe.

The oldest wooden part of the church (the nave) dates back to the time of the Norman conquest. The steeple is 17th Century

Jabba the Uzbek increases his stake in Arsenal

Red and White Holdings, the investment firm co-owned by Alisher Usmanov (tireless advocate for the oppressed, friend of small animals everywhere, winner of Mister Universe seven years in succession) has increased its stake in Arsenal football club to 24%.

Not a major news item but I daresay he remains about as popular as a Big Mac at a Vegan convention across a large chunk of the blogosphere....

Inflation passes the 100,000% mark in Zimbabwe

The official rate of inflation in Zimbabwe gone past the 100,000% barrier, according the the state central statistical office. The nation with the next worst inflation is Iraq with a rate of around 60%. In a brief statement, the statistics office said inflation rose to 100,580% in January, up from 66,212% in December. The new official figure is below the rate calculated by independent analysts - approximately 150,000%.

Zimbabwe, a former regional breadbasket, is facing acute shortages of food, hard currency, gasoline and most basic goods in an economic meltdown blamed on disruptions in the agriculture-based economy after the seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial farms began in 2000, accompanied by political violence and turmoil. Economic hardship is a key issue in national elections scheduled for March 29. Inflation, food shortages and the crumbling of power, water, sanitation, roads, phones and communications and other utilities have fuelled deep divisions in the ruling Zanu-PF party.

Gross domestic product in Zimbabwe fell from about $200 in 1996 to about $9 a head last year.

Nice one Mugabe

I'm pleasantly plump lard boy!

This is TC (one of my sister's cats) who has an "I'm fat and don't give a stuff" attitude to life in general. This week's entry for Friday Ark and Carnival of the Cats.

Ladder-proof tights? Oh Brave New World!

A research team has created an elastic substance that can mend itself for up to a week after being broken thanks to its arrangement of molecules. Such a material will have have many applications of course - increasing the durability of artificial bones, the production of unbreakable glass and unchippable paint. Perhaps the greatest application of all will be tights that repair themselves after laddering.

“I think it will have all sorts of uses,” said Professor Ludwik Leibler, one of the researchers behind the invention. “It’s just a matter of using your imagination. We have only just begun to think of what can be done with it. Stockings are a very good idea. It could be used in glass vases so they don’t break when your children knock them over - it could make the glass bouncy.” Professor Leibler and his colleagues at the Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution in Paris are convinced that it has potential for use in a wide range of applications. They are most hopeful of adapting the technology in medicine, where self-healing properties would be invaluable for artificial bone and cartilage.

The technology could also be applied to paint and other coatings, saving householders and car owners the expense of repairing chips and nicks. Its use in pipes would make plumbing repairs easier, perhaps sealing leaks before they became serious. The substance, which has taken five years to develop, is ready for commercial use, Professor Leibler says. This is expected to be in plastics.

The material mimics the elastic qualities of rubber but with the advantage of having “sticky ends” when a break occurs. The substance has small molecules arranged in a network that stretch but will return to its original shape. Once the broken ends are pushed together they start healing because the molecular make-up is such that the surfaces have lifelike attributes and seek to form bridges.

The research team reported their invention of the “supramolecular rubber” in the journal Nature. “These materials can be easily processed, reused and recycled. Their unique self-repairing properties, the simplicity of their synthesis, their availability from renewable resources and the low cost of raw ingredients bode well for future applications.”

They added that the material behaved like a rubber but “exhibits unique self-healing properties: when a sample is broken or cut into pieces and the pieces are brought into contact together for some time at room temperature (20C, 68F) they self-heal without the need to heat or press strongly. The process of breaking and healing can be repeated many times.”

The maximum time the ends can be left before it becomes impossible for them to repair themselves reduces as temperatures rise. At 23C they can be left for more than a week but at 40C the time falls to 48 hours. The longer the surfaces are left to fuse, the stronger the repair, but even after 15 minutes of bonding the material could still be stretched to three times its normal length before snapping.

I have a one word comment – Wow!

Major disease outbreaks have become more common around the globe in the past 40 years, according to a major investigation into emerging infections. Zoononses (diseases which can be transmitted from animals to humans) are an increasing threat to human health, while many infections have now become resistant to antibiotics. Tropical regions are likely to become a future hotspot for new diseases.

Researchers from the Zoological Society of London, the Wildlife Trust and Columbia University analysed databases of outbreaks and found 335 cases of emerging diseases between 1940 and 2004. Of these, 60.3% were infections which also affected animals, and 71.8% were known to have triggered disease in humans after spreading from wildlife. The research, published in Nature, identifies "hotspots" where new diseases are expected to come from wildlife, driven by the proximity of dense human populations and high levels of biodiversity.

The global pattern of diseases was closely linked to regions with high rainfall and biodiversity, alongside rapid growth in the human population. Europe and North America have experienced high numbers of outbreaks, but much of that is because those regions have invested heavily in detecting early signs of disease. Other countries, scientists fear, are less able to spot new diseases as they arise.

More diseases emerged in the 1980s than any other decade, according to the study. This was likely to be because of the emergence of HIV, which put vast numbers of people at risk of contracting other diseases. The great majority of outbreaks were triggered by bacteria and viruses, with 20% caused by antibiotic-resistant microbes.

Dr Kate Jones, of the zoological society, said areas of rich biodiversity harboured pools of pathogens, which were readily able to spread. "Humans are impacting on these areas and developing them, coming into contact with wildlife through bush meat, farming, domestication of animals. We're increasing our human impact on these areas and exposing ourselves to potential pathogens." Preserving wildlife-rich areas could help to protect people from new diseases, in the same way that conservation ensures cleaner water supplies and so on...

There doesn’t seem to be much greatly new in the findings of this research: I doubt anyone would be surprised to read that there had been an increase in outbreaks of new diseases, or that there are disease hotspots. On the other hand it is useful to have the obvious thrust under our noses.....

Swans - Love will tear us apart

Gira, Jarboe et al covering Joy Division

Beelzebufo!

WW FOLLOWS

A 70-million-year-old fossil of a giant frog has been discovered in unearthed in Madagascar. According to its discoverers it would have weighed about 4kg (9lb). Amusingly, the fossil has been nicknamed Beelzebufo or "frog from hell".

Details of the discovery are reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). A team from University College London (UCL) and Stony Brook University, New York, said the frog would have had a body length of about 40cm (16 inches), and was among the largest of its kind to be found.

"A relative of today's horned toads, it would have been the size of a slightly squashed beach-ball, with short legs and a big mouth," explained co-author Susan Evans, from UCL's Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. If it shared the aggressive temperament and 'sit-and-wait' ambush tactics of horned toads, it would have been a formidable predator on small animals. Its diet would most likely have consisted of insects and small vertebrates like lizards, but it's not impossible that Beelzebufo might even have munched on hatchling or juvenile dinosaurs."

The researchers added that the discovery of the fossil supported the theory that Madagascar and the Indian and South American land masses could have been linked until the Late Cretaceous Period (75-65 million years ago). "Our discovery of a frog strikingly different from today's Madagascan frogs, and akin to the horned toads previously considered endemic to South America, lends weight to the controversial model," Professor Evans explained.

WW - Narcissus

This week's entry for the Tuesday and Wednesday edition of Wordless Wednesday.

Castro resigns

BBC Breakfast News has just reported that Fidel Castro has resigned as Cuban president. There aren't any other details at present

A song for Snoopy Doggy Dog?

A Very Silent Night was a Christmas number one in New Zealand and raised nearly £9,000 for the country's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. However, none of the people who bought the record would hear a thing as the CD was recorded at a frequency inaudible to humans but audible to dogs

The makers hope it will be a worldwide hit.

Minutes of silence? Infinitely preferable to Britney Spears in my view...

Charlatans tarnish a celebration of big bottoms

A national dance craze in Ivory Coast has spawned a black market in treatments claiming to increase one's bottom size. The dance was inspired by a hit song by DJ Mix and DJ Eloh's Bobaraba, which means "big bottom" in the local Djoula language. It is a song guaranteed to fill any Ivorian dance with people shaking their booties.

While the dance has been embraced by both sexes, DJ Mix says it was inspired by women. "We made it as a tribute to women, because African women are defined by the shape of their bottoms," he says. "Move your bottom, jump, you see, it's alive."

Kady Meite, one of his dancers, says the song is a message for women."There are women today with large bottoms who are embarrassed, so it's to say don't be ashamed - be comfortable," she says.

The message seems to have been taken on board - so much so that some women are now going in search of a "bobaraba". In the sprawling Adjame market just north of the city centre in Abidjan, women sell "bottom enhancers". "You need to inject this liquid into your bottom once a day," says a market trader, showing a vial of coloured liquid labelled "Vitamin B12". If you do not like the sound of injections, the same amount of money will also get you a small tub of cream. There is no description of what the product contains or how to apply it; just the words "Big bottoms and big breasts", and two illustrating pictures.

Most women preferred to avoid the treatments. "Me? I prefer to be natural so you can know your true value. It's best not to use these medicines. It's not good - it's actually very dangerous," one said. Another woman was happy with what came naturally. "I do the bobaraba because I already have a big bum. When I dance, everyone looks at me."

As far as I am concerned I am all for the shaking of booties, be they big or be they small!. There’s no need to enhance them at all!

A listed privy

Why should I be remotely interested that a small oak weather boarded structure in Benenden, Kent is set to de declared a Grade II listed building this week? The weather boarded structure in question located close to an attractive Georgian farmhouse happens to be a toilet.

The official report by English Heritage for the Department of Culture declares it "a rare surviving example of a late 18th century privy, even rarer because it is a three-seater”

"It is the most glorious little building," its proud owner said. "It faces towards the evening sun, and it is the most delightful place to sit in the evening with a glass of wine and the door open, and just be peaceful and think." The owner adds that that it is no longer in practical use, though she suspects it was in until the 1960s.

The privy is believed to date from 1775, when the main house was rebuilt after a fire. Although dozens of privies have been listed, most are Victorian. Three-seaters are very rare.

A three-seater toilet? I suppose in those days families were far more communal, sharing duties and also sharing necessities... I wonde if it’s safe to say that the family that lays cable together stays together?

More of my father's stories

I have recently finished reading Nemesis, Max Hastings’s account of the final year of the war against Japan. It’s well written and definitely worth reading. One anecdote stuck particularly in my mind: USAAF B29s attacking Japan would often hit thermals bouncing the aircraft about. On one aircraft the thermals loose the toilet which emptied on a crewmember. Thereafter he became known as Pisspot Smith.

This reminds me of two of my father’s wartime stories. One occurred when he was on stand down near Basra before onward posting to Burma. For a short while he was assigned as a navigator on a C-47 Dakota. On a couple of occasions they had to fly a particularly unpleasant officer on inspection visits to Indian Army Service Corps deports in the region. He must have been particularly offensive for dad and his crewmates to wait until the officer went to use the aircraft’s chemical toilet before encountering “thermals” - at least that’s what they told their commanding officer, who accepted their explanation.

My dad is friends with a fellow Pathfinder, “Chappy” who served as a flight engineer in 582 Squadron which flew Lancasters. Over one target his Lancaster was coned – caught by several searchlight beams. A coned aircraft was usually dead meat unless urgent evasive action is taken (and usually still was). It was standard procedure to dive to gain speed then turn violently to escape the beam. The pilot did this and luckily the plane survived. During the escape Chappy was thrown to the floor and felt a hard, painful blow to his head. He then felt what he thought was blood trickling down his face. A crew member checking whether he was seriously wounded noticed that the liquid was not blood but urine. What happened was that the pilot’s urine bottle had come loose and hit Chappy. For a while he was known as “Pisshead”.

It was particularly amusing to hear Chappy’s wife tell the story at a Pathfinder Day at RAF Wyton a couple of years ago.

UDI

As expected Kosovo's parliament has endorsed a declaration of independence from Serbia. The declaration, read by Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, said Kosovo would be a democratic country that respected the rights of all ethnic communities. The US and a number of EU countries are expected to recognise Kosovo. Serbia's PM denounced the US for helping create a "false state". Russia, called for an urgent UN Security Council meeting.

The declaration was approved with a show of hands. No-one opposed it - Kosovo's 10 Serbian MPs had boycotted the assembly session in protest at the declaration.
"We have waited for this day for a very long time," Mr Thaci told parliament before reading the text, paying tribute to those who had died on the road to independence. From today, he said, Kosovo was "proud, independent and free. The independence of Kosovo marks the end of the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia."

Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica blamed the US which he said was "ready to violate the international order for its own military interests. Today, this policy of force thinks that it has triumphed by establishing a false state.... Kosovo is Serbia,"

While the US, UK and most EU states are expected to recognise Kosovo, Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia will not follow suit In the case of Cyprus the decision is presumably based on fears that the Turksih republic of North Cyprus will be granted international recognition. Romania’s opposition may have a lot to do with a change in the status of Transnitria, a breakaway state from its neighbour Moldova.

Whatever happens next, I hope to god it’s peaceful. I still fear we will see more bloodshed in the Balkans though.

Kosovo independence imminent

According to the BBC celebrations have begun in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, in anticipation of a expected declaration of independence sometime today. Thousands of Kosovars have been dancing in the streets, setting off fireworks and waving Albanian flags. A few minutes ago Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has requested an emergency session of parliament to discuss a declaration of independence from Serbia. Mr Thaci said parliament was to meet at 1100 GMT to discuss the motion - as well as a new set of state symbols. Independence is supported by the US the UK and several EU countries but (unsurprisingly, given that is it a province of the nation) it is bitterly opposed by Serbia and also by Russia

In the flashpoint town of Mitrovica, in northern Kosovo, Nato peacekeeping troops have laid concrete and razor-wire barriers to separate Serbs from Albanians. Lieutenant-General Xavier de Marnhac, the French commander of the Nato peacekeepers, said his troops would react swiftly to any provocation from the Albanian or Serbian side of the divided town. Local and UN police, as well as the Nato troops, are maintaining a high profile to reassure all the citizens of Kosovo that they have nothing to fear. On Saturday, the EU approved sending a police and justice mission to Kosovo. The 2,000-strong mission, known as Eulex, will begin deploying from next week and is expected to take over from the United Nations by early June. It is tasked with helping to prevent human rights abuses and ensure that Kosovo's fragile institutions are free from political interference.

Serbia has threatened to use diplomatic and economic measures against Kosovo, though it has ruled out using force. Russia's foreign ministry has indicated that Western recognition of an independent Kosovo could have implications for the Georgian breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. (presumably it will also have consequences for the Moldovan breakaway state of Transnitria.)

A UN plan for Kosovo drawn up by special envoy Martti Ahtisaari, an experienced Finnish diplomat and politician, would give Kosovo independence - but with limits, and under international supervision. It would open the way for Kosovo to join the UN and have its own flag and national anthem - but it would prevent Kosovo from amalgamating with Albania, or having its Serb areas split off and be part of Serbia. Faced with a veto threat from Russia, the UN Security Council has failed to endorse the blueprint.


There seems to be an inevitability to Kosovan independence but despite the best intentions of Nato and the UN, I can’t help but imagine it will be the trigger for more violent conflict in the region: Although Kosovo is overwhelmingly Albanian (see the above map) the northern parts are majority Serb. Will they want to stay in Kosovo? I somehow doubt it. Will the Balkans see a new outbreak of ethnic cleansing and civil war? Will Serbia go to war over the loss of a province. I think both are pretty likely despite the nation's assurance that it will not undertake military action.

I know I am rather pessimistic about world affairs but the recent precedents all point to more bloodshed in the near future. Sometiems I wonder if the not-wife is right when she hopes for an even that will wipe the human race off the face of this planet...

No life on Mars after all?

Mars was too salty to sustain life for much of its history, according to evidence gathered by the NASA Opportunity rover. High concentration of minerals in water on early Mars would have made it inhospitable to even the toughest microbes, a leading Nasa expert says.


Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston, Dr Andrew Knoll, a member of the rover science team he said conditions on Mars in the past four billion years would have been very challenging for life. "It was really salty - in fact, it was salty enough that only a handful of known terrestrial organisms would have a ghost of a chance of surviving there when conditions were at their best," he explained.


Ah well, so no little green men. Perhaps we should settle for little green extremophiles instead?

MP Selection 18th Century style

From Blackadder - possibly the finest sitcom ever made. I wonder if the same application is used for aspirant MPs today....

Photo Hunt - Free

The theme for this week's Photo Hunt is Free. The lesser Celandine, Ranunculus ficaria, is a wild flower that grows in abundance in the garden. Some people would consider it a weed, we consider it an attractive pnat we get for free courtesy of mother nature...

I'm posting my entry early this week as I am out on today and I won't be back until fairly late on Saturday.

Mimi enduring yet another photo

This week's entry for Friday Ark and Carnival of the Cats.

Hamas TV – poisoning the minds of children

A jew-eating rabbit named Assud has become the newest star of a militant Palestinian children's television show after the death of his "brother". The Pioneers of Tomorrow children’s series produced by Palestinian group Hamas and made famous by a Mickey Mouse-looking character declaring jihad on Israel and the US, introduced Assud the Bunny.

Assud - who said in his first episode that he would “get rid of the Jews, Allah willing, and… will eat them up” - replaced his brother, Nahoul the Bee, according to the translation from the Middle East Media Research Institute. In an interview with the program’s host, a young girl purportedly named Saraa Barhoum, Assud talked about martyrdom.

"We are all martyrdom-seekers, are we not, Saraa?” Assud said on the show. Saraa said: “Of course we are. We are all ready to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of our homeland. We will sacrifice our souls and everything we own for the homeland."

According to the program’s plotline, Nahoul died because he could not leave Gaza to seek medical treatment from neighbouring Egypt. Nahoul himself replaced the program’s original star, Farfur the Mouse, who was “killed by an Israeli soldier”.

Again I shake my head in disbelief. That’s not entertainment it’s just plain sick.

Saudi woman faces execution for witchcraft

Human Rights Watch has appealed to Saudi Arabia to halt the execution of a woman convicted of witchcraft. In a letter to King Abdullah, the rights group described the trial and conviction of Fawza Falih as a miscarriage of justice. Ms Falih, an illiterate woman was detained by religious police in 2005 and allegedly beaten and forced to fingerprint a confession that she could not read. Among her accusers was a man who alleged she made him impotent.

Human Rights Watch said that Ms Falih had exhausted all her chances of appealing against her death sentence and she could only now be saved if King Abdullah intervened. The group is asking the Saudi ruler to void Ms Falih's conviction and to bring charges against the religious police who detained her and are alleged to have mistreated her. Its letter to King Abdullah says the woman was tried for the undefined crime of witchcraft and that her conviction was on the basis of the written statements of witnesses who said that she had bewitched them.

Human Rights Watch says the trial failed to meet the safeguards in the Saudi justice system. The confession which the defendant was forced to fingerprint was not even read out to her, the group says. Also Ms Falih and her representatives were not allowed to attend most of the hearings. When an appeal court decided she should not be executed, the law courts imposed the death sentence again, arguing that it would be in the public interest.

What a bloody disgrace. What more can I say?

It being Valentine's Day and all that

what better excuse do I need to wheel out once more the nearest thing that the not-wife and I have to an "our song"

End of an aviation era.

The Douglas DC3 (Better known in the UK as the Dakota) is one of the great aircraft of all time. It first flew in 1935 and have seen extensive military and sicilian service since (my father served briefly on Dakotas during WWII during a stand down in Iraq - between active service in Italyand later action in Burma)

Sadly the Dakota will carry its last passengers in Britain later this year, after EU air safety regulations made it too costly to keep the last two British survivors going. Mike Collett, chairman of Air Atlantique Classic Flight in Coventry,said he was saddened but fitting requirements such as weather radar was not viable financially. Over the next five months the Dakotas will embark upon a final tour of 18 British airports.


The sad thing is that these aircraft are sill perfectly airworthy and will probably be able to soldier on for years yet.

Cranach advert banned on the underground

A nude figure of Venus dressed in nothing but a necklace and a little gauze was intended as the main poster for the Royal Academy's show on the German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder. The 16^th Century artist was noted for his sensuous nudes despite and was a close friend of Martin Luther. However, the design has been thrown out as the poster, which was planned for display in scores of tube stations across London, was about to go to the printers.

"Millions of people travel on the London Underground each day and they have no choice but to view whatever adverts are posted there. We have to take account of the full range of travellers and endeavour not to cause offence in the advertising we display," a spokesman said. London Underground advertising is vetted by a firm called CBS Outdoor, and Venus seems to have fallen foul of the guideline that advertising should not "depict men, women or children in a sexual manner, or display nude or semi-nude figures in an overtly sexual context".

Six years ago the National Portrait Gallery had to create a special, more modest poster for the underground of a 17th century painting by Lely of the Countess of Oxford with one breast bared (above). However, the academy doesn't have a Venus under wraps. "We don't have a version B where she's got her clothes on," a spokeswoman said. "We're just hoping they change their minds and accept her."

Although Venus is nude it does not strike me as being particularly provocative. It certainly is not offensive to me. People will get to see plenty of adverts with far more overt sexual top, middle and bass notes than this painting

Two Trips to the hardware store

SCROLL DOWN FOR WW



Two Ronnies style



Fry & Laurie style

WW - Hellebore

More garden blooms. This week's entry for the Tuesday and Wednesday edition of Wordless Wednesday.

The banality of evil - Cambodia

Kang Khek Ieu was a Khmer Rouge torturer who oversaw the deaths of 17,000 people. An interview with him featured in today’s Independent. If Hannah Arendt had not already coined the phrase banality of evil, someone would surely invent it for this man. Better known by his nom de guerre Duch, Kang Khek Ieu was one of Pol Pot's trusted henchman.

Asked whether he had any moments of uncertainty, any doubts or feelings of rebellion while he set about wiping out his country's entire intellectual class, he answered: "There was a widespread and tacit understanding. I and everyone else who worked in that place knew that anyone who entered had to be psychologically demolished, eliminated by steady work, given no way out. No answer could avoid death. Nobody who came to us had any chance of saving himself. All the prisoners had to be eliminated. We saw enemies, enemies, enemies everywhere. If I had tried to flee, they were holding my family hostage, and my family would have suffered the same fate as the other prisoners. If I had fled or rebelled it would not have helped anyone."

Of the Khmer Rouge’s two million victims, more than 17,000 musicians and dancers, were brought to a former school in the heart of Phnom Penh that had been converted into a torture centre. Only six came out of it alive. Codenamed S-21, the centre was run by Duch, a former maths teacher who had become the head of the regime's secret police. In the former classrooms, over a period of 40 months, Duch oversaw the extermination of the entire Cambodian intellectual class with mathematical rigour.

Confessions were extracted by primitive torture: prisoners were strapped to iron beds, suspended upside down from ropes, threatened with drowning, tormented with knives and pincers, locked in tiny cells. Then, at night, they were taken by lorry to the outskirts of Phnom Penh and killed in the rice fields. The Khmer Rouge were obsessed with killing by night.

Duch, the nickname he assumed when he was young and joined the guerrillas, told me that the torture centre at Tuol Sleng was set up in August 1975, four months after the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh, and began work two months later. "I was given the task of creating it and starting it up, although I never found out why they chose me. Before 1975, when the Khmer Rouge lived in hiding, in the jungle, or in the liberated zones, I was the head of Office 13, I was the chief of police in the special zone bordering on Phnom Penh."

"Every day I had to read and check the confessions. I read from seven in the morning until midnight. And every day, towards three in the afternoon, Professor Son Sen, the minister of defence, summoned me. I had known him since my time as a high school teacher. It was he who had asked me to join the guerrillas. He would ask me how my work was going. Then a messenger would arrive, an envoy, who collected the confessions that were ready and took them to Son Sen. These messengers were the only links between one office and another."

"I obeyed. The work carried on until 7 January 1979, when the Cambodian liberation forces, supported by the Vietnamese, conquered Phnom Penh. There was no escape plan, no pull-out plan " After the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the executioner blended back in among his countrymen, and disappeared, as so many did in the post-war chaos, swallowed up by the void.

Many years later he was converted to Christianity by American missionaries. His true identity was discovered in 1998 and soon afterwards he was arrested. After years of argument between the Cambodian government and the United Nations, the surviving members of the Khmer Rouge hierarchy are finally being brought to justice. They will be tried under a hybrid UN-Cambodian tribunal known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; the pre-trial hearings began in November and are still going on. Pol Pot, is long dead as is the bloodiest of his comrades, Ta Mok, died in 1996. But five senior leaders including Khieu Sampan, the Khmer Rouge president, await trial.

Duch made his first appearance in court in November when his lawyer asked for him to be let out on bail because his "human rights had been violated, even if he was not beaten or tortured". A ripple of ironic laughter ran round the courtroom. The request was rejected.

What more is there to say but hope he his remaining years are long and miserable?

Ireland to choose a turkey for Eurovision?

While it is usual for Eurovision songs to be turkeys no actual turkey has yet performed a song in the competition. However, that may change if the people of Ireland choose Dustin the Turkey to perform Irlande douze points at the final. Sung in a North Dublin accent Dusting urges the contest judges to “give douze points to Ireland, for its lowlands and its highlands, for Terry Wogan's wig and Bono's leather pants. We brought you Guinness and Westlife, 800-years of war and strife, but we all apologise for Riverdance.”

Glove puppet Dustin, who appears on RTE children’s show the Den, has already had several hits in Ireland but his flippant attitude has not gone down well in certain quarters. Frank McNamara, who wrote two of the Irish Republic's seven winners, said that the selection of Dustin by RTE, the state broadcaster, as one of the six acts was “giving two fingers to Irish songwriters”. Shay Healy, who wrote Johnny Logan's Eurovision winner 'What's Another Year?” questioned “how any bunch of grown-ups could come up with this as a solution”.

It looks as if some people take Eurovision too seriously. As far as I’m concerned it’s a great excuse to have some friends around for beer and a bloody good laugh!

Nicholas Winton nominated for Nobel Peace prize

A 98-year old Briton has been nominated for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize. The person in question is Sir Nicholas Winton who in 1939 arranged for the transport of nearly 700 Czechoslovakian Jewish children to the UK

In the spring of 1939, the young Nicholas Winton cancelled a skiing holiday in Switzerland and, at the urging of a friend, went to Prague instead. Nicholas Winton was particularly shocked by the condition of the children: many of them he found living in squalid - and freezing - refugee camps. With a group of others he drew up a list of children whose parents would agree to send them to Britain until the emergency - however long it was to last - was over.

He lobbied the Home Office in London. They said he could bring as many children as he liked, provided he could find foster families for them, and provided they went home when it was safe to do so. He then organised a series of closed trains to take the children from Prague directly to Liverpool Street station in London.

For nearly 50 years Winton lost contact with the children he had brought to Britain, including director Karel Reisz and Labour politician Lord Alfred Dubs. He did not even tell his wife Grete what he had done. It was not until 1988 when she found a scrapbook in their attic, with all the children's photos, names, and letters did she learn the whole story (The scrapbook is now held at Yad Vashem)

By the time his deeds became known there survivors and their descendants numbers over 5,000 "Normally events that happened a long time ago diminish in importance as time goes on," Sir Nicholas has said "This story is the opposite - it keeps on growing, because there are more and more people. They keep breeding, you see!"

Perhaps it is time for a self effacing hero to be awarded this high accolade. He is far more deserving that quite a few previous recipients.

My thanks to Snoopy the Goon for drawing this story to my attention

So I'm an Orwell book then

You're 1984!

by George Orwell

You have this uncanny feeling that you're always being watched. Thus
life has become a bit of a show as you try to portray yourself as much more reputable
than you actually are. All around you, people seem to accept an unending stream of lies
and propaganda without flinching. Your only hope may be a star-crossed love affair, but
pain seems stonger than love. If you have any older brothers, be very wary of
them.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Make of that what you will. Hat tip to fellow Flann O'Brien fan Sean Jeating for this quiz.

Motorhead - Bomber

Another not so guilty pleasure....

But no flu jabs at the tattoo parlour

German scientists claim that tattooing could be the best way to deliver vaccines into the body. In tests undertaken with mice, tattooing was much more effective in provoking a response from the immune system.

Researchers say that the rapidly vibrating tattoo needle could be a useful way of delivering vaccines under the skin instead of insoluble ink. In studies with mice, tattooing a vaccine produced 16 times more antibodies than a simple injection into muscle tissue.

Dr Martin Mueller, one of the researchers behind this work, says that the greater damage to the body caused by the tattoo needle may explain the better immune response. The scientists say that the tattoo needles would never be suitable for preventative vaccines, such as measles, in children as the pain would be too great. But there may well be a role for the technique in the routine vaccination of animals.

Hmm for a moment I had an image of people getting BCG tattooed on their fingers instead of ACAB. Ah well....

Robyn (photo hunt heavy)

This week's entry for Friday Ark and Carnival of the Cats. Also this week's entry for Photo Hunt. The theme is Heavy this week. I wanted to show Robyn on his back showing a vast expanse of fur but would he oblige? What do you think! Why is Robyn a suitable subject for the theme? He is 15lbs (about 6.5kg) and not fat. A gentle giant of a moggy

US WWI veteran dies

The death on Monday of Harry Richard Landis means that there are now just fourteen known and verified WWI veterans left alive.

Landis, who joined the US army in October 1918, was still in training when the war ended. He died aged 108 at a nursing home in Sun City Florida. His death means that there are just two WWI veterans remaining in the USA: Frank Buckles and Canadian John Babcock.

He was the fifth WWI veteran to die this year.

Britain's most invasive insect

The harlequin ladybird ,Harmonia axyridis, is a very recent British resident. Originally from Asia it was first spotted in 2004 in a pub garden in Sible Hedingham, Essex. In just four years it has spread across England and made inroads into Scotland and Wales. By comparison it took the grey squirrel a century to do the same.

The Ladybird’s has been tracked by the Harlequin Ladybird Survey, an online survey overseen by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. Peter Brown, of the centre, said: “It’s the most invasive species in Britain. It is perhaps equalled by the horse chestnut leaf-miner* but nothing else comes close.”

Last month the species was reported in Orkney. So serious is the problem that the ladybird is the subject of a special issue of the journal BioControl. More than 50 scientists from Europe and North America contributed to the journal to share knowledge about its impact.

Because it eats so many aphids, its staple diet, as well as other ladybirds, it has threatened the number of native ladybirds and species, such as lacewings, which also eat aphids. It also threatens aphid numbers. The two-spot and seven-spot ladybirds are particularly threatened. The harlequin ladybird’s voracious appetite for aphids attracted interest in its use as a biological pest control but after it was released in several European countries in the 1980s and 1990s it rapidly became established and spread widely.

*The horse chestnut leaf-miner is an insect first seen in southwest London in 2002. It has spread rapidly and now infests about 20 per cent of horse chestnut trees, causing leaf loss.

The three way embryo

Scientists at Newcastle University Scientists have created an embryo with three separate "parents". The breakthrough could eradicate a whole class of hereditary diseases transmitted through mitochondrial DNA mutations.

The embryos have been created using DNA from a man and two women – Nuclear DNA from an embryo was and placed in to a donor egg from which the original nucleus was removed. The technique is intended to help women with diseases of the mitochondria. Faults in the mitochondrial DNA can cause around 50 known diseases, some of which lead to disability and death. About one person in every 6,500 people is affected by such conditions, which include fatal liver failure, stroke-like episodes, blindness, muscular dystrophy, diabetes and deafness. There is currently no treatment for mitochondrial diseases.

Any baby born through this method would have genetic elements from three people. However it is only nuclear DNA that influences appearance and other characteristics would not come from the woman providing the donor egg. The team currently only have permission to carry out lab experiments so it could not at present be offered as a treatment.

Professor Patrick Chinnery, a member of the Newcastle team, said: "We believe that from this work, and work we have done on other animals that in principle we could develop this technique and offer treatment in the foreseeable future that will give families some hope of avoiding passing these diseases to their children."

Dr Marita Pohlschmidt, of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, which has funded the Newcastle research, was confident it would lead to a badly needed breakthrough in treatment. "Mitochondrial myopathies are a group of complex and severe diseases," she said. "This can make it very difficult for clinicians to provide genetic counselling and give patients an accurate prognosis."

Skeletal Family

Lies

WW - Snowdrop and Crocus

Early blooms. This week's entry for the Tuesday and Wednesday edition of Wordless Wednesday.

A bit of whimsy

Greeen Tambourine - The Lemon Pipers



Flight from Ashiya -Kaleidoscope (no actual video footage, sadly)



Jelly Jungle of Orange Marmalade - Lemon Pipers (again no video footage of the band)

I’m not sure I would have done the same thing

The IRA conducted an extensive bombing campaign (known as the S-Plan ) from January 1939 until February 1940. The worst incident of the campaign took place in Coventry in where an explosion killed five people and injured a further 50 more. According to papers released today the actions of a London toilet attendant may have prevented further bloodshed earlier in on the campaign.

Thomas Hawkett, who worked in a men's lavatory in Oxford Street, spotted a suspicious parcel left behind in a cubicle on the evening of June 24 1939.Believing it to be a bomb, he did not waste time calling the police. Instead he picked it up, dumped it in a bucket of water, and hosed it down, knowing this would render the gelignite charge redundant. He stood over it and watched as the fuse and charge floated to the surface. Police then arrived and took it off his hands.

A string of bombs went off that night in central London causing £1,000 damage and blinding a 17-year-old boy in one eye.

The documents, released by the National Archives in Kew, Surrey, also give an insight into public anger at the IRA campaign. Following the explosions angry mobs surged around the West End looking for those responsible and pinning the blame on a number of innocent parties.One German student, who had run from the scene to alert the press, found himself at the mercy of an angry crowd until a policeman came to his aid.

Hawkett, whose age is not recorded, was later awarded £5 for his "commendable and meritorious conduct".

An iconic image

Last Friday (1 February) was the 40^th anniversary of one of the iconic images of our times. On 1 February 1968, with the Tet offensive in its early stages Eddie Adams photographed South Vietnamese officer General Nguyan Ngoc Loan executing a Vietcong prisoner. I did not realise until today when I saw an item on Daniel Finkelstein’s Comment Central column.

For me (and probably most everyone else – apart, probably, from those who were there at the time), this and the one of Phan Thi Kim Phuc running screaming along a road are the two images that spring to mind when I think of the Vietnam War. For me most it is a dreadful image, a powerful statement of the brutality of war. I must admit I knew very little about the background to the photo. I found Adams’s feelings about the photo interesting and not what I had expected.

According to Horst Fass (who at the time working at the Saigon office of Associated Press). Eddie Adams’s boss Hal Buell reconstructed the events immediately surrounding the event:

"Adams watched as two Vietnamese soldiers pulled a prisoner out of a doorway at the end of the street. The soldiers then pushed and pulled what appeared to be a Viet Cong in a plaid shirt, his arms tied behind his back. They escorted the man toward the spot where Adams and Vo Su (an NBC cameraman) were located.

Eddie Adams said, 'I just followed the three of them as they walked towards us, making an occasional picture. When they were close - maybe five feet away - the soldiers stopped and backed away. I saw a man walk into my camera viewfinder from the left. He took a pistol out of his holster and raised it. I had no idea he would shoot. It was common to hold a pistol to the head of prisoners during questioning. So I prepared to make that picture - the threat, the interrogation. But it didn't happen. The man just pulled a pistol out of his holster, raised it to the VC's head and shot him in the temple. I made a picture at the same time.'

"The prisoner fell to the pavement, blood gushing," Buell wrote, quoting Eddie. "After a few more pictures of the dead man, Adams left."

The shooter was later identified as Lt. Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Loan. Adams said he walked up to him and said, "They killed many of my people, and yours, too" and then just walked away.

South Vietnamese sources said that the executed man had commanded a Viet Cong assassination platoon, which on that day had targeted South Vietnamese National Police officers and their families. The sources claimed that that the man had been captured near the site of a ditch holding as many as thirty-four bound and shot bodies of police and their relatives, some of whom were the families of Loan's deputy. The executed man has been identified as Nguyen Van Lem who may have been a political operative rather than the commander of an assassination platoon.

According to his AP obituary (he died in 2004) Adams felt “so defined -- and haunted -- by the picture that he would not display it at his studio.” He also felt it unfairly maligned Loan, who subsequently moved to the USA "The guy was a hero," according to Adams said. "Sometimes a picture can be misleading because it does not tell the whole story," Adams said in an interview "I don't say what he did was right, but he was fighting a war and he was up against some pretty bad people."

I knew virtually none of this yesterday. It does not make me feel that the photo is a powerful image of the ugly face of war (as if war has a beautiful one) I don’t condone the action of the officer . Should I be surprised by Adams’s view? I don’t kknow. What it does show is that an image can certainly take on a life of its own divorced from its original context.

More on endangered languages

Last month I posted about Guernsey’s efforts to save its indigenous language, Guernésiais and the race to save the Nepalese language Dura. Last month also saw the passing of the last Eyak speaker.

There is another language-related story I’m sure I would have blogged had I not missed it. It was only when the current issue of the Fortean Times arrived a few days ago, did I learn that an indigenous language in southern Mexico is in danger of disappearing because its last two speakers have stopped talking to one another.

According to a BBC report last November two elderly men in the village of Ayapan, Tabasco, have drifted apart. Nevertheless the Mexican Institute for Indigenous Languages is trying to encourage more local people to speak Ayapan Zoque, and hopes the two men will pass the language on to their families. "We hope in a few years to be talking about new speakers of the language," said Dr Nava, head of the Institute.

Mexico has a rich diversity of languages with over 350 indigenous languages spoken within its territory. More than 20 of these are under threat of extinction

Life begins at 40... And ends at 44

It would seem that 44 is the worst age of our lives. Data analysis on two million people from 80 countries found a remarkably consistent pattern around the world. 44 is the age when people are most vulnerable to depression the risk of depression was lowest in younger and older people, with the middle-aged years associated with the highest risk for both men and women.

The study, by the University of Warwick and Dartmouth College in the US found that only the US recorded a significant gender difference with unhappiness reached a peaking around the age of 40 for women, and 50 for men. Previous research has suggested that the risk of unhappiness and depression stays relatively constant throughout life.

Researcher Professor Andrew Oswald, an economist at the University of Warwick, said: "It happens to men and women, to single and married people, to rich and poor, and to those with and without children." He said the reason why middle age was a universally vulnerable time was unclear. However, he said: "One possibility is that individuals learn to adapt to their strengths and weaknesses, and in mid-life quell their infeasible aspirations.

Professor Oswald said for the average person, the dip in mental health and happiness comes on slowly, not suddenly in a single year. Only in their 50s do most people emerge from the low period. "But encouragingly, by the time you are 70, if you are still physically fit then on average you are as happy and mentally healthy as a 20-year-old.

Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity Sane, said: "This study raises intriguing questions about the processes that lead to depression in mid-life, as well as indicating what a common experience it is worldwide. "We welcome any scientific contribution to our understanding of this illness, particularly if the research can aid the development of better treatments, both therapeutic and pharmaceutical."

Imagine what effect reading an article which says depression is at its worst at 44 on a 44 year old. It’s just as well I use an electric razor! Roll on March and my 45^th birthday...

Big Bang Update

*Start Copy Here*

You do not have to be tagged to play along. This game is simple and so are the rules.

1. Copy from *Start Copy Here* through *End Copy Here*

2. Add your site(s) to the list. Just be sure to post the "Big Bang" at each site you add.

3. Tag or don’t tag, your choice, however, the more tags you create the longer the list will grow.

4. Let me know your blog’s name and url by leaving me a comment HERE. I will add you to the master list. (If you would like a scroll box code, leave me your email address and I will email it to you.) Scroll Box Example. (I decided not to use the box for the Big Bang for ease of copying.)

5. Come back and copy the master list back to your site, often. This process will allow late-comers to get as much link benefit as the first ones in. Once you are on the master list people who have participated earlier will update their bookmarks and help everyone lower than them out on the list.

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Does the i in iTunes now stand for interstellar ?

The songs of the Beatles have always enjoyed a global appeal. Now one of their songs is to be beamed into the galaxy. Nasa will be broadcasting the song, "Across the Universe", through the transmitters of its deep space communications network on Monday - the 40th anniversary of its recording. The music will be converted into digital data and sent on a 431 light year-journey towards Polaris, the North Star. The event also commemorates the space agency's 50th anniversary. Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, who co-wrote the song with John Lennon, said he was excited by the project. "Well done Nasa," he said. "Send my love to the aliens."

Martin Lewis, a Los Angeles-based former producer of Beatles DVDs who came up with the idea, it would be fun trying to collect the royalties."We don't know if there's life out there, but I'd like to think the US government wouldn't be spending taxpayers' money on this if there was no hope," he said.

This is the first time any music has been transmitted deep into the cosmos. Nasa will encrypt the song and beam it into space from its Madrid transmitter on Monday at the start of a 2.5 quadrillion-mile trip to Polaris, where it will finally arrive in the year 2439.

Hmm I can see the timeline unfurling....

• 4 February 2008. Song encoded and beamed towards Polaris

• 3 February 2439, song arrives at Zarquon 2 in the Polaris system. And is downloaded on to planetary P2P system N’yahpz’tah.

• 4 February 2349 RIAA battle fleet execute 34 teenage Zarquonians for copyright infringement and threaten planetary destruction if there are further infractions.

Photo Hunt - Narrow

The subject for this week's entry for Photo Hunt is Narrow. While there's nothing narrow about a crocus I suppose, it is an example of what is currently in bloom in a narrow north-south facing garden!

Giving endangered uncharismatic minifauna some well needed exposure

Life is hard for endangered species, even if you are a member of the charismatic megafauna club like the tiger or the panda. However, if you are somewhat aesthetically challenged then the level of public interest in your plight plummets. An interesting article in yesterday’s Independent highlighted this issue

A cute baby Loris

Last year on the Zoological Society of London's Edge website, which raises funds for animals on the verge of extinction, visitors could choose to donate cash to any of 10 individual species. Coming top in this endangered beauty pageant was the loris – a small, endearing primate with oversized eyes, like a character straight out of a Disney film. Bottom of the pile was the poor solenodon – a scruffy, ancient mammal which looks like a cut and shut of the animal kingdom.

This month the Zoological Society of London, prompted by news that 85 per cent of amphibians threatened with extinction were receiving almost no conservation, released a top 10 of cosmetically challenged salamanders and frogs. The list aimed to raise awareness of strange but unique creatures often overlooked in favour of the cute and the cuddly. "Traditionally, species have gotten noticed because we're innately attracted to them, like pandas, elephants and gorillas, which means we're more likely to get involved in their conservation," says Dr Jonathan Baillie, a scientist at ZSL. The good news is that ugly is now set to be seriously fashionable in the animal kingdom. "I think we're now in an era where people want to be exposed to things that are different, new and often extreme," Baillie says. There's an appetite for [ugly] creatures."

The ZSL's aim is simple: to get would-be conservationists to overlook the fact that certain creatures have been tapped with the ugly stick and love them instead for their weird and wonderful attributes. "The transformation from ugly to cute can be amazing," says Baillie. "The film Shrek has done that beautifully, where you start with a creature that people think is repellent and by the end of the film they're in love. And that's the process we're going through with some species – we're Shrek-ing them."

The ten creatures on the list are as follows:

Solenodon

Only a mother could love the Solendon?

The solenodon can be traced back to more than 70 million. Time and evolution, however, have done little to improve its looks. There are two types, the Hispaniolan and the Cuban, with the latter being the uglier owing to a pronounced rat-like appearance and scruffy, patchy fur. "The Cuban solenodon looks like a giant dishevelled shrew," says Baillie. "We associate animals that are symmetrical and well-groomed as beautiful. So if something looks dishevelled we might think it has an association with disease."

The solenodon, which feasts on insects and can inject poisonous saliva into its prey, has been considered extinct at various times in the past century and is now classified as endangered. "In terms of ugly animals this one's a hero," says Baillie.

Saiga Antelope

Who needs little green men?

"I would put this in the unusual category. You're not repulsed when you look at it. You think more of Star Wars," says Baillie of the saiga antelope's distinctive swollen proboscis. The antelope's horns, which look like carrots, are highly prized in the medicinal trade. Hunters chase the antelopes in vehicles and either shoot them or run them over. "If they die when they are excited and the blood is pumping then they are worth more. In the past, poachers collected them in thousands," says Baillie.

Found in Kazakhstan, with a sub-population in Mongolia, the saiga antelope population has had an "extreme crash" due to poaching. Cold winters and dry summers in Mongolia have also affected the species – it has now dropped from more than one million to just 50,000 in 10 years and considered critically endangered.

Northern hairy-nosed Wombat

A big, heavy marsupial, the Northern hairy-nosed wombat is critically endangered, with not many more than 100 left, in one fenced-off colony in Queensland, Australia. The largest of all wombat species, it has lost its home to farming and has been threatened by introduced animals such as the dingo. "This wombat has a really blunt head and stocky features," says Baillie. "It looks strange because people won't be familiar with seeing one before. It's got a great name, though."

Mole Cricket

At six centimetres long, it's one of the biggest invertebrates in the UK, and has a velvety head and clawed feet like a mole. The mole cricket spends most of its time underground, coming out at night. They were usually discovered when ploughing fields but the use of fertilisers and pesticides has seen the population plummet dramatically. Buglife reckons the UK population may now be extinct. "It hasn't been confirmed in the wild recently – there have been a few possible records. But the UK contingent has probably gone."

The other members of the list are the Aye-Aye, Giant Salamander, Myers' Surinam Toad, Long-beaked echidna, Phoenix Fly and the Glutinous snail

In Praise of Essex Part 8 – Searching for mountains in God’s own county

Essex is not exactly known for its soaring ice-capped, peaks. Let’s face it in a county where the highest point above sea level is just 480 feet (not quite 150m), local mountaineers are more likely to be found scaling the north face of the molehill.... It seems a little odd, therefore, that Essex has been chosen to host the mountain biking event when the Olympics come to London in 2012.

As I write, mountain bikers are scouring Essex for a suitable venue after the one chosen by organisers of the London Games was deemed too flat. A site inspection team from the International Cycling Federation ruled out the 500-acre Weald Country Park, which they say is not challenging enough for the world’s best riders.

Epping Forest is a possible alternative. London Olympic organisers want to keep the event in Essex. They had previously ruled out the Chilterns for being too far from the Olympic Park in East London. This may be a bit difficult as experts in the sport say that the minimum requirement is for a height difference of about 300 metres from the lowest to the highest point of the course.

Hmm, perhaps some of the billions being spent on the 2012 Olympics may be needed to raise the height of God’s own county....

When goths go commercial

Xmal Deutschland - Dreamhouse. This is from their fourth and final album Devils and their only album in English rather than German. It's a far cry from the marvellous Qual but I still like it.

Okay goth may not be an appropriate label...

More Mimi

Mimi at her repose... again. This week's entry for Friday Ark and Carnival of the Cats

The Big Bang

I was tagged by http://rnning2wn2.blogspot.com Rhonda to join the Bib Bang World Record meme. Although I think I have a respectable technorati rating (although I was miffed my google PR dropeed from 5 to 4 recently), this could be a great way to increase my ranking further. So who am I to turn my nose up at such an opportunity! The meme instructions are as follows:

1. Copy from *Start Copy Here* through *End Copy Here*
2. Add your site(s) to the list. Just be sure to post at each site you add.
3. Tag or don’t tag, your choice, however, the more tags you create the bigger the list will grow.
4. Let me know your blog’s name and url by leaving me a comment HERE. I will add you to the master list. (If you would like a scroll box code, leave me your email address and I will email it to you.) Scroll Box Example. (I decided not to use the box for the Big Bang for ease of copying.)
5. Come back and copy the master list back to your site, often. This process will allow late-comers to get as much link benefit as the first ones in.

1-Attitude, the Ultimate Power 2-Juliana's Site 3-Rusin Roundup 4-Grow Rich Along With Me 5-Comedy Plus 6-lynda's loft 7-Amel's Realm 8-MAX 9-Speedcat Hollydale 10-Mariuca 11-Complain Complain Complain 12-Mariuca's Perfume Gallery 13-Life Is A Roller Coaster 14-Sugar Queen's Dream 15-First Time Dad 16-Life 17-My Life 18-The Painted Veil 19-My Thoughts 20-DatCurious.com 21-Little Aussie Cynic 22-A Nice Place in the Sun 23-DatMoney.com 24-The Down Side OF Up 25-Ladyjava's Lounge 26-Cat Tales 27-moms.....check nyo 28-Colorado Baby 29-It's a Woman's World 30-ENLIGHTENED BITS 31-My View of "It" 32-My Reviews and Finds Along the Way 33-Our Hep Chat 34-Rantings of a Woman 35-The Callalily Space 36-Mom Knows Everything 37-Hazel 38- Chronicles and Tales Unlimited (RED) 39-From the Mouth of Jabber Jaws 40-Sunny Side Up Foodie & Lifestyle 41-Carmel Corn 42-Daily Stock Picks 43-The Whole New World 44-Wifespeak 45-Slavery Bliss 46-Rooms of My Heart 47-Unpredictable Life 48-My Life, My World 49- At Your Service 50-All About Ebay 51-Everything Amazon 52-Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out 53-My So-Called Site 54-New Wife Blog 55-Tendre Poison 323 56-Nick's Bytes 57-My Scratch Pad 58-Choc Mint Girl 59-Life Is Just Around the Corner... 60-Amori, poseia, art... virtuali by Hanna 61-Maryannaville 62-monaco - monaco's 63-Nyumix's Blog 64-read my mind - my keyboard monologues 65-Shower You Children With Love - The Right Way 66-Secret Agent Mama 67-Pinaymama's Diary 68-Answers to the Questions 69-Work of the Poet 70-A Total Blog 71-My life, my hope, my future 72-NORTE 73-A Window to Our World 74-Life as a Mom 75-FIELD OF DREAMS 76-lisgold 77-See Me for What You 78-Caught in The Stream 79-Pinay Mommy Online - My Home 80-I'm Running To Win Two 81-CRUEL VIRGIN 82-Garden of Moments in Blog 83-So Cute 84-Love Everlasting 85-WeLcOmE To My CriB 86-WELCOM TO PINAYSMILE'S JOURNEY 87-Ice's Icelog 88-Jenny's Wandering Thoughts 89-Hobbies and Such 90-Sweet Paradise 91-Mommy's Gibble Gabbles 92-Rusin Review's 93-My Small World 94-Little Peanut 95-Online Ramblings 96-My Mood My Feeling 97-BLOG it with ALLEN 98-Entertainment World 99-Let's Go Singapore 100-Firelynx 101-Catsy Carpe Diem 102-Every Beat Of My Heart 103-Always Da Fresh Princess 104-Listening.. Learning..Living 105-All About Mars 106-Syii From Afar 107-Some Thoughts I Have 108-From Here and Beyond 109-My Paid To Blog 110-Scholarship Corner 111-Cell Phone Review 112-"Apples of the Eyes" 113-It's All About Play 114-The Luttrull Journey 115-RennyBA's Terella 116-Unchained Melody 117-Out of the Blue 118-The Lure Of the Unknown 119-Maricel's 120-my blog 121-Spiff, the Spaceman 122-Living Well 123-The Dog Log 124-Catnip Corner 125-A Piece of Idea 126-Observations From the Back 40 127-Poetry by The Redneck Gypsy 128-Odd Facts 129-Juliana's Lair 130-My life is murphy's law 131-lisgoldsmemoirs 132-My memories, as time goes by 133-Somewhere over the rainbow 134-Blogging by Sandee 135-Our Journey to this so called life 136-Idaho Daily Photo 137-Memories that Never Fades.. 138-Anything goes 139-Your Caring Angels 140-Little Paces 141-Laketrees 142-PoeARTica 143-fracas 144-Just FraCas 145-Archies Archive 146-Growing Up Together 147-A Woman's Diary 148-Mother's Got A Dot Com 149-Close To You 150-Hot Shit Form Here 151-Astro Galaxy 152-Detector 153-Beauty is in the eye of the beholder 154-My Life is Peachy 155-The Down Side of Up 156-Magical Milestones 157-In Search of Life 158-RebelationsdotNet 159-Jen Jen's Place 160-Mimi Writes... 161-Strange but true 162-Depois de minha viagem 163-Your Perfect Wedding: 164-Make Money Online 165-Primitive Ornies and Bowl Fillers 166-Vegetarian Diet Lifestyle 167-Looking Out For You 168-BENOLSATUEM 169-OtherSide 170-Hacko's Site 171-where was I 172-Making Money Resources 173-text's Site 174-Movie Corner 175-Rahasia Bisnis Internet 176-Online Dating Tips 177-Beauty Kissing Tips 178-Forex Trading Tips 179-Singapore Tour Guide 180-PPC vs PTR 181-Indonesian Film 182-Adsense Success Stories 2008 183-Bali Tour 184-Paypal Indonesia 185-Review Bisnis Internet 186-Blog Daniel Scardua 187-Much of a muchness 188-Gagiers Amazing World 189-Clumsy Mommy 190-Leaotheblogger 191-PBDesigns Reading and Crochet Blog 192-Gagiers Striking Zone 193-DrowseyMonkey 194-Yesterday Today n Tomorrow 195-Auntie Dar's Life 196-Sky Windows... 197-Filippino Life Abroad 198-Leao the Blogger 199-Zoop's Rantings on Life 200-My Journey 201-A Sweet Taste of Life 202-This is a Miracle 203-Lavanderia Virtual 204-COLORADO COWGIRL IN UPSTATE NEW YORK 205-Dating Profile of the Day 206-my wooden robot 207-My World 208-urban : trendy : lifestyle 209-Lucel Juliana's Library 210-Cooking Momster - My Life Journal 211-Anggie & Jeremy boy Online Journal 212-'Doc Doc Doc' 213-Transforming My Life 214-Gratitude Journal 215-Simplydunn.net 216-emila's illustrated blog 217-AZZY'S BLOG-A-ROONIE! 218-MAMABLISS' TREASURED MOMENTS 219-The Sky's the Limit 220-PROJECT HEAVY TRAFFIC 221-just another ordinary story.. 222-Samuel Rolo 223-The end mission! 224-R S S Submissions 225-Laice's Pics 226-Health and Fitness 227-Brainybimbo 228-Journey with WaterLearner 229-Zoop's Rantings on Life (at Blogspot) 230-Dear Me (Ivan) 231-Tour the Tabon Caves 232-Book Calendar 233-Love me. Hate me 234-Everyday health and beauty 235-BLOGANDO & ANDANDO 236-Memoirs.:*CRoSs mY hEARt*:. 237-The Chic Shopaholic 238-CK Go Places 239-Red Empress: Hell Flavored, Taste like Valentine 240-Q|U|E|E|N|B|E|E 241-Le bric a brac de Cherie 242-jaqqq in the blogs 243-Bijoux & Banter 244-When Silence Speaks 245-MadTomatoe's Blogging Tools and Widgets 246-Conceptis addict 247-Madamoiselle 248-My Wooden Robot Blog 249-A Simple Life 250-It's a dog's life 251-A Technocrat's Blog 252-Misty's Words 253-My Dogs Keep Me Sane 254-New England Lighthouse Treasures 255-NoDirectOn (not: NoDirection) 256-Additional BlogLOve 257-I am DZOI 258-Caroland's Breathtaking Adventure 259-Blur Ting 260-Rojoy's Daily Update 261-Down River Drivel 262-Momhood Moments 263-Real World Mom 264-REALWORLDMOMUNPLUGGED'S WEBLOG 265-Lucca D Jiwa 266-AngrianiWorld 267-Marketing•Review 268-sejuk sesangat 269-Everything and then Some..... 270-Gbex...reachingOut 271-Heart of Rachel 272-The working mom / Finding balance... 273-Madamoiselle ver.2 274-Latest Keyword 275-Tanny's Blog 276-Pay to Review 277-

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I won't tag anyone specificialy but if you awe interested in joining in then fill your boots!