January 19, 2010

Top Stories –
Virginia shootings –
Eight adults have been shot and killed by a lone gunman in the US state of Virginia. Police say seven bodies were found at one home, while an eighth shooting victim was found at the side of the road and died on the way to hospital. Officers say they have surrounded a suspect in woodland just outside the central town of Appomattox.

Take your tablets –
“Tens of millions” of tablet computers will be sold in 2010, according to technology analysts at Deloitte. A report says keyboard and mouse-free devices are likely to be a top trend among consumers and describes tablets as “the Goldilocks of devices (not too big, not too small)”.
HP_Tablet_PCHP Tablet PC

Top Video –
Baby by Justin Bieber

Released today – the rest is history.

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July 1, 2015

Top News Stories –

Katy Perry plans to buy former convent scuppered by nuns –
Katy Perry’s plans to buy a former convent in Los Angeles are being held up by a group of nuns. The sisters, who used to live on the site in the San Gabriel Mountains, say they’ve already sold it to a local restaurateur, Dana Hollister. But the local archbishop says the convent isn’t theirs to sell and has started legal action to stop it. Perry, the daughter of two Pentecostal preachers, reportedly met with the nuns in May to plead her case. “I found Katy Perry and I found her videos and… if it’s all right to say, I wasn’t happy with any of it,” Sister Rita Callanan told the Los Angeles Times. [BBC Newsbeat]
Katy-PerryKaty Perry

Hottest July day ever recorded in UK –
The UK has seen the hottest July day on record, with temperatures hitting 36.7C (98F). The Met Office said the reading had been registered at Heathrow – breaking the previous record set in 2006. 38.5C (101.3F) is the hottest temperature ever recorded in the UK in Faversham, Kent in August 2003. A level 3 “heatwave action” heat-health alert has been declared for all parts of England. [BBC] See Top Twitter Trends

Billy Joel Bests Elton John, Sets New Record at MSG –
Billy Joel set a record for most performances by a single artist at Madison Square Garden with his 65th show Wednesday night, besting Elton John. “I didn’t know I’d be here 65 times, amazing,” Joel said. “I want to thank you very much for making this possible.” A banner rose to the top of the stage in honor of Joel’s 65th show. Actor-comedian Kevin James came onstage to help the veteran musician celebrate. [Elton] John, 68, previously had the MSG record with 64 performances. Joel sang John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” as yellow lights beamed from the stage.
Billy-JoelBilly Joel

Video of the Day –

Steve Jobs – Official Trailer

List of the Day –

Billy Joel studio albums

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1 #BuyCoolForTheSummerOniTunes #LiesIveToldMyParents #hottestdayoftheyear
2 #hottestdayoftheyear #CanadaDay #InternationalJokeDay
3 #LiesIveToldMyParents #InternationalJokeDay 1st of July
4 #BienvenidoJulio #AddGoatRuinAQuote #AddGoatRuinAQuote
5 #الوليد_بن_طلا�… #AskPOTUS #CanadaDay
6 #MasterChefBR Anthony Davis Sir Nicholas Winton
7 #CanadaDay Kevin Love #BuyCoolForTheSummerOniTunes
8 #AddGoatRuinAQuote Dukes of Hazzard Debbie Harry
9 SASUKE Aminu Heathrow
10 Tiembla Chile #BuyCoolForTheSummerOniTunes #USAGER

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September 28, 2015

Top News Stories –

‘Supermoon’ coincides with lunar eclipse –
People around the world have observed a rare celestial event, as a lunar eclipse coincided with a so-called “supermoon”. A supermoon occurs when the Moon is in the closest part of its orbit to Earth, meaning it appears larger in the sky. The eclipse – which made the Moon appear red – has been visible in North America, South America, West Africa and Western Europe. This phenomenon was last observed in 1982 and will not be back before 2033. [BBC]
Supermoon The supermoon on September 28, 2015

Record number of guns found in U.S. airport searches –
U.S. airport security agents discovered a record 67 firearms in luggage passengers intended to carry on to airplanes during one week in September, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Of the 67 firearms found during the week ended Sept. 17, 56 were loaded and 26 had a round in the chamber, the TSA reported. The tally set a new weekly record. The prior record was 65 firearms found during a week in May 2013, TSA said. Nationwide, TSA officers have found more than 2,000 firearms at airport security checkpoints so far this year. [Reuters]

Martian salt streaks ‘painted by liquid water’ –
Scientists think they can now tie dark streaks seen on the surface of Mars to periodic flows of liquid water. Data from a Nasa satellite shows the features, which appear on slopes, to be associated with salt deposits. Crucially, such salts could alter the freezing and vaporisation points of water in Mars’s sparse air, keeping it in a fluid state long enough to move. Luju Ojha and colleagues report the findings in the journal Nature Geoscience. There are implications for the existence of life on the planet today, because any liquid water raises the possibility that microbes could also be present. And for future astronauts on Mars, the identification of water supplies near the surface would make it easier for them to “live off the land”. [BBC]
Kaiser_GulliesKaiser Gullies

Mount Everest to be declared off-limits to inexperienced climbers, says Nepal –
Nepalese officials say they will introduce regulations banning inexperienced climbers from attempting Mount Everest in an attempt to improve safety and maintain the “glory” of the summit. Permits to climb Everest will only be given to those who can prove they have already scaled mountains that are higher than 6,500 metres, officials said. Disabled, old and very young people also face bans. The permits cost thousands of dollars and are a key source of revenue for Nepal. It is unclear how the demand for “proof of competence” might be enforced. [Guardian] An earthquake hit the region on May 12, 2015 killing 18 climbers and guides on the mountain.

Video of the Day –

PilotPriest | The Last Goodbye from FatCat Films on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

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1 #FelizLunes August Alsina #mondaymotivation
2 #2YearsOfLarryMarried #mondaymotivation #SuperBloodMoon
3 #SuperBloodMoon George Zimmerman Ronnie Pickering
4 Marte #MarsAnnouncement Ben Arfa
5 スーパームーン Arctic #AddBirdsToASong
6 #KatyPerryNoRockInRio #2YearsOfLarryMarried Redcar
7 #وش_بتقول_لزوج�… #facebookdown Jack Grealish
8 아육대 #DuragHistoryWeek #wakeupjames
9 #ALDUBThisMustBeLove #Ask5SOSVevo #labconf15
10 #QuieroUnMundoDonde Grace Jones Arctic

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November 26, 2015

Top News Stories –

Pirate needs 200,000 video views to avoid being sued –
A convicted software pirate has been handed an unusual punishment. The man, named only as Jakub F, will be spared having to pay hefty damages – as long as a film denouncing piracy he was made to produce gets 200,000 views.
He came to the out-of-court settlement with a host of firms whose software he pirated after being convicted by a Czech court. In return, they agreed not to sue him. The 30-year-old was also given a three-year suspended sentence. The criminal court decided that any financial penalty would have to be decided either in civil proceedings or out of court. The firms, which included Microsoft, HBO Europe, Sony Music and Twentieth Century Fox, estimated that the financial damage amounted to thousands of pounds, with Microsoft alone valuing its losses at 5.7m Czech Crowns (£148,000). [BBC] The video had received over 212,000 views by today. See Video of the Day

Asteroid mining made legal after passing of ‘historic’ space bill in US –
Business opportunities in space could soon be about to open up for adventurous entrepreneurs after US Congress signed off on a bill to legalise space mining. While some websites are already offering investors the chance to step onto the intergalactic property ladder with a plot on the moon from £16.75, asteroid mining is predicted to become a trillion-dollar industry over the next few decades. Private companies in the US can now legally extract materials from the moon, asteroids and other celestial bodies after a commercial space act was approved by Congress. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

SDÍLENÍM TO ZAČALO, SDÍLENÍM TO MŮŽE SKONČIT

Top Twitter Trends –

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1 #ImThankfulFor #ImThankfulFor Happy Thanksgiving
2 Can Dündar Happy Thanksgiving #ImThankfulFor
3 あなたのツイッタ��… #MacysParade #NationalCakeDay
4 #NoMeCabeEsoDe #ImNotGoingToBedBecause Eagles of Death Metal
5 #اوصف_مجتمعك_ب�… #BringBackMST3K #pizero
6 #ALDUB19thWeeksary #ARIAs BBC Three
7 #Empire #TurkeyTrot #PAKvENG
8 Nilson Eagles #WWENXT
9 Niall Holland Jason Kidd #INDvSA
10 #MeReSobranLasGanasDe Chip Kelly #VampsAlbumOutTomorrow

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January 1, 2016

Top News Stories –

Rat on a plane: Air India flight returns to Mumbai after rodent spotted on board –
An Air India plane flying to London was forced to return to Mumbai after passengers spotted a rat on board, the airline said on Thursday. Though the rat was not found, the pilot returned to Mumbai on Wednesday keeping passenger safety in mind, Air India said in a statement. Passengers were later flown by a separate aircraft to London. The aircraft would be fumigated and checked before it is returned to service. Maintenance workers would have to make sure that the rat did not damage equipment or chew any wires and the plane is certified to be rodent-free, an airline official said. [Daily Telegraph]

China’s new two-child policy law takes effect –
Married couples in China will from Friday (Jan 1) be allowed to have two children, after concerns over an ageing population and shrinking workforce ushered in an end to the country’s controversial one-child policy. The change, which was announced in October by the ruling Communist Party, takes effect from Jan 1, 2016, Beijing’s official Xinhua news agency reported over the weekend. The “one-child policy”, instituted in the late 1970s, restricted most couples to only a single offspring through a system of fines for violators and even forced abortions. For years, authorities argued that it was a key contributor to China’s economic boom and had prevented 400 million births. [Channel News Asia]

Video of the Day –

Philips Presents: The Longest Night from T Brand Studio on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

100 Things we didn’t know last year – by the BBC (1-33)

1. It costs £300 to operate on a constipated goldfish.

Find out more

2. Traditionally, police horses in England’s Thames Valley force can be called Odin, Thor or Hercules, but not Brian.

Find out more

3. Barack Obama calls David Cameron “bro”.

Find out more (Time)

4. The first sports bra was made from two jockstraps.

Find out more

5. One in 10 of Britain’s train carriages still flush toilet waste straight on to the railway tracks.

Find out more

6. Jamaica, Colombia and Saint Lucia are the only countries in the world where a woman is more likely to be a boss than a man.

Find out more (Washington Post)

7. You don’t have to speak French to become French-language Scrabble world champion.

Find out more

8. Kolo Toure, the Ivory Coast and Liverpool defender, hasn’t touched his own dog for seven years.

Find out more (Metro)

9. An egg can be unboiled.

Find out more (Metro)

10. There are four different ways to pronounce diplodocus, and the way children say it is probably more technically correct than the academics’ preferred option.

Find out more

11. A 51-year-old software engineer named Bryan Henderson has edited Wikipedia 47,000 times to remove the ungrammatical term “comprised of”.

Find out more (Backchannel)

12. Buzz Aldrin claimed $33.31 in travel expenses connected to his trip to the moon.

Find out more (Daily Telegraph)

13. Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond once played a ghost in a Bollywood soap opera.

Find out more (Buzzfeed)

14. “Let us turn ours into a country of mushrooms by making mushroom cultivation scientific, intensive and industrialised!” is an official slogan of North Korea.

Find out more

15. Roughly 56% of average monthly earnings in Malawi are spent on mobile phone charges, compared with about 0.11% in Macau, China.

Find out more

16. Quentin Tarantino still records films from TV on VHS cassettes.

Find out more (Independent)

17. Lollipop men and ladies who “high five” pedestrians may be breaching official protocol.

Find out more

18. Squid can fly – but they tend to do it under cover of darkness.

Find out more

19. It’s possible to trick the brain into thinking it can hear Mariah Carey sing All I Want For Christmas Is You.

Find out more (New Scientist)

20. King Arthur may have been Glaswegian.

Find out more (The National)

21. A man-sized lobster lived 480 million years ago.

Find out more

22. At Hotel Football, run by ex-Manchester United players, Gary Neville is represented in the bathroom by blackcurrant-extract shampoo while brother Phil is a bar of soap.

Find out more (Financial Times)

23. Vicars and priests have the highest job satisfaction of all UK workers.

Find out more

24. Narwhals’ long tusks – an exaggerated front tooth used for courtship – are super-sensitive.

Find out more

25. There is only one concert grand piano in Gaza.

Find out more

26. Boston in Lincolnshire is one of the most neurotic places in Great Britain while Orkney is one of the least.

Find out more

27. Michael Jackson made a series of prank calls to Russell Crowe.

Find out more (Guardian)

28. Breaking Bad is the show people most often lie about having watched.

Find out more (Radio Times)

29. The UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency does not permit the wearing of colanders on heads in driving licence photos, even for religious reasons.

Find out more (Daily Mirror)

30. People who swear have larger vocabularies.

Find out more (Toronto Sun)

31. The Queen likes to have her pre-lunch gin and Dubonnet in front of BBC Two’s The Daily Politics.

Find out more (Daily Mail

32. In September 1944 the New York Times explained pizza to its readers and included a rare use of its plural “pizze” – there was an earlier article but it only mentioned pizza in passing.

Find out more (New York Times)

33. There is little international trade in onions – about 90% are consumed in their country of origin.

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8 #НОЧЬШЕРЛОКА #outbackbowl #Hootenanny
9 #1şeydiyeceğim #2015TweepAwards #ResolutionsFor2016
10 #2016IsZaynsYear Tel Aviv Entered 2016

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April 21, 2016

Top News Stories –

Prince Dies at 57: Iconic Musical Genius Found Dead in Paisley Park –
Prince died today  at age 57 at his Paisley Park home and studio in Minneapolis, his publicist confirmed to the Associated Press. TMZ first reported the news. According to a press release sent from the Carver County Sheriff’s Department this afternoon, deputies arrived at Paisley Park at 9:43 a.m. and found Prince unresponsive in the elevator. After CPR attempts were unsuccessful, he was pronounced dead at 10:07 a.m. The cause of death has not yet been determined, and Carver County with assistance from Hennepin County Sheriffs and the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office are investigating. Prince was hospitalized last week after his plane for was forced to make an emergency landing in Moline, Ill. Released a few hours later, a rep told TMZ that he had been battling a bad case of the flu. One of the most iconic musicians in music history, Prince’s extensive career grew out of the music scene of his native Minneapolis, where he lived his entire life. His 1978 debut album For You and self-titled second LP, released in October 1979, kicked off an incredibly prolific run of albums that included 1999, Purple Rain, Around The World In A Day, Sign O The Times and Batman, among others, throughout the 1980s at a clip of nearly one per year, evolving with each release. [Billboard]
Prince_at_CoachellaPrince in 2008

Queen’s 90th birthday: Beacons lit amid UK celebrations –
The Queen has lit the first of more than 900 beacons lighting up across the UK and overseas as part of her 90th birthday celebrations. Prince Philip, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall then joined the monarch at a private dinner in Windsor Castle. Earlier, cheering crowds lined the streets in Windsor as the Queen took part in a walkabout. At the lighting of the beacon in Windsor, the Prince of Wales, referring to his mother, said: “I find it very hard to believe that you’ve reached your 90th year and I suddenly realised the other day that I have known you since you were 22 years old. “But this, ladies and gentleman, is a very special occasion and this beacon that her majesty is about to light will also represent – as it lights other beacons across the nation – the love and affection with which you are held throughout this country and the Commonwealth. [BBC]
Queen_Elizabeth_II_March_2015

Solar plane slowly soaring from Hawaii to California –
A solar plane on an around-the-world journey has reached the point of no return over the Pacific Ocean after departing Hawaii, and now it’s California or bust. The plane was cruising over the cold northern Pacific late Thursday at about 20,000 feet with a nearly-full battery as night descended, according to the website that’s documenting the journey of Solar Impulse 2. After some uncertainty about winds, the plane took off from Hawaii and was on course to land in Mountain View, California, in about three days. The crew that helped it take off was clearing out of its Hawaiian hangar and headed for the mainland for the weekend arrival. Pilot Bertrand Piccard is flying this leg of the journey. [AP]

Video of the Day –

Alone in Paris from Mathieu Stern on Vimeo.

List of the Day –


Prince Discography

Studio albums

Live albums
Remix albums
Compilation albums
The New Power Generation albums
The NPG Orchestra albums
Madhouse albums
  • 8 (1987)
  • 16 (1987)

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Other News Stories –

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Arts and culture
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Disasters and accidents
  • More than 100 are feared dead in an early summer heatwave in India which has forced the closure of schools. (Reuters)
  • At least 24 people are killed, 136 others injured, and eight workers still missing from yesterday’s blast at the major Clorados 3 petrochemical plant of Petroquimica Mexicana de Vinilo. Nineteen people remain hospitalized, with 13 in serious condition. The plant is run by Mexichem under agreement with Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the national petrochemical company, in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico, on the country’s southern Gulf of Mexico coast. Pemex had an earlier fire at the same facility in February 2016 that killed one worker; also that month, an offshore Pemex Gulf platform fire killed two and injured eight.(Reuters) (AP)
  • At least two people are killed after an oceanfront stretch of an elevated bike lane in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, collapses when it was hit by a strong wave. Two other people were rescued alive, while another may be missing. The bike lane was among the projects built in preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympics. No Olympic event will be held on the path. (AP) (AP² via CBS News) (Hindustan Times)
International relations
Law and crime
  • Crime in El Salvador
    • The government of El Salvador unveils and deploys a new heavily armed special forces unit to fight criminal gangs in rural areas of the country. Officials say it will target gang leaders who left the cities because of a government crackdown. (BBC)
  • Six high ranking Pakistan Army officers, including a lieutenant-general and major-general, are sacked by Chief of Army Staff Raheel Sharif amid corruption allegations within the army. Sharif said corruption had to be uprooted to fight terrorism. (BBC)
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August 17, 2016

Top News Stories –

US ready to ‘hand over’ the internet’s naming system –
The US has confirmed it is finally ready to cede power of the internet’s naming system, ending the almost 20-year process to hand over a crucial part of the internet’s governance. The Domain Naming System, DNS, is one of the internet’s most important components. It pairs the easy-to-remember web addresses – like bbc.com – with their relevant servers. Without DNS, you’d only be able to access websites by typing in its IP address, a series of numbers such as “194.66.82.10”. More by circumstance than intention, the US has always had ultimate say over how the DNS is controlled – but not for much longer. It will give up its power fully to Icann – the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers – a non-profit organisation. The terms of the change were agreed upon in 2014, but it wasn’t until now that the US said it was finally satisfied that Icann was ready to make the change. Icann will get the “keys to the kingdom”, as one expert put it, on 1st October 2016. From that date, the US will lose its dominant voice – although Icann will remain in Los Angeles. Icann was created in 1998 to take over the task of assigning web addresses. Until that point, that job was handled by one man – Jon Postel. He was known to many as the “god of the internet”, a nod to his power over the internet, as well as his research work in creating some of the systems that underpin networking. [BBC]
Jon_PostelJon Postel in 2008

Video of the Day –

FURTHER – Seth Shostak from Stuart Langfield on Vimeo.

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Business and economy
  • Cisco announces a cut of 5,500 jobs in their shift from switches to software. (Reuters)
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