Live and Learn

When I started the Springboard Reading project, I didn’t really expect it to bear fruit so quickly. About 3 weeks into 2008, I know exponentially more about the Democratic Republic of the Congo. That isn’t hard – in honesty, I didn’t know a lot about it before that anyway. Anyway, today I read this:
A [...]

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Learn something new every day

The Guardian can be very educational. Today for example, I found out that
“Vomiting virus closes hospital wards”.
I didn’t even know that viruses could vomit.

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‘Shut up!’ Spanish king tells Chávez

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2209420,00.html
Juan Carlos, the Spanish monarch, could take no more. He flashed a withering look at the president and uttered five words likely to go down in diplomatic history: “Why don’t you shut up?”
Perhaps he’s forgotten that Venezuela hasn’t been ruled by the Spanish monarchy for almost 200 years?
Chávez complained of disrespect by a hereditary [...]

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Breath of the fresh stuff, breath of the stale…

A little bit of back-bone shown by XL Airways:
‘An important part of the Government’s immigration policy has suffered a serious blow after a leading airline announced it would no longer carry failed asylum-seekers who were being forcibly removed from the United Kingdom.
XL Airways, which has a fleet of 24 aircraft, said it was opposed to [...]

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Just as we were getting used to the Euro…

A new currency has been unveiled for use in space – the Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination (QUID). The QUID will be ready for use for the start of Virgin’s tourist space flights. It has been specially designed for duration in space, and to overcome obstacles that chip and pin, magnetic strips and other means of [...]

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Sowing the wild oats

The world porridge championships have finished in Scotland. The sponsor, Hamlyn’s Oats, must feel a bit aggrieved when the winner made her speech about the most important factor being the choice of oats. The winning oats were sourced from an independent health food shop, rather than Hamlyn’s inferior offerings. Oh well.
Al Beaton from [...]

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X-Files Ireland

The Irish Times has an interesting one today, about the Irish Defence Force’s dossier on UFOs, which has just been released.
In 1947, while many eyes were on the heavens looking for little green men, An Garda Síochána (the Irish cops) maintained a classically cynical Irish approach.
“The pressmen in Killarney like to keep abreast of [...]

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Can you dig it?

Sometimes I wonder about the motivation for crime. Certainly there are social factors – poverty, debt, sometimes the desire to have a certain image. Other times I wonder if the big attraction is purely the buzz that comes when you think you’re getting away with something you shouldn’t.
These thieves must fall into that category.
A gang [...]

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Lord Lucan found?

Has Lord Lucan turned up in New Zealand?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6938131.stm
That must be Shergar he’s holding in his arms in the photo!

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Deer and cows interbreeding

A few months old but still as funny as ever. I urge you all to go here, scroll halfway down and  click on “Deer causing havoc in county Clare”. This is an Irish councillor who is convinced deer and cattle are interbreeding, because the cattle “look very alert”.
Hilarious stuff. The interviewer can’t keep his face [...]

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