May 9, 2015

Top News Stories –

Rogue Russian spacecraft burns up in Earth’s atmosphere –
The Russian space agency says that its out-of-control spacecraft has burnt up as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere. Re-entry was over the Pacific, it said, and only a few fragments were expected to hit the sea. The unmanned cargo ship was launched from Kazakhstan on 28 April, but control was lost soon afterwards. The Progress M-27M was carrying more than three tonnes of supplies to the International Space Station. A Roscosmos spokesman told Reuters that the loss was valued at 2.59 billion roubles ($50.7m; £32.9m). [BBC]
International_Space_Station_after_undocking_of_STS-132The International Space Station

Nigella Lawson: US show The Taste axed by ABC –
Nigella Lawson’s US cookery show The Taste has been axed by TV network ABC after two series, following a dramatic ratings slump. The cooking competition lost more than half its viewers, falling from highs of seven million to less than three million viewers on New Year’s Day. Channel 4 axed the UK version of The Taste last year after just one series. [BBC]
Nigella-Lawson-2012Nigella Lawson

Freddie Flintoff shops his wife for driving off without paying for fuel –
England cricket hero Andrew Flintoff was contacted by police about driving off without paying for fuel – before revealing to the world the culprit was actually his wife. The 37-year-old – known by his nickname Freddie – received a letter from police in Wilmslow, Cheshire, to say someone using his car had left a petrol station without paying. After bailing his wife out by paying the unknown amount, Flintoff then told his 1.6m Twitter followers who was behind the incident, on Monday. Explaining his wife, Rachael, had forgotten to settle the fuel bill while paying for shopping, he even joked that police should “feel free to come round and take her!” [Daily Telegraph] Flintoff won the Australian version of “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here” in March.
Flintoff tweet 1 © @flintoff11 © Flintoff11
Andrew_FlintoffAndrew “Freddie” Flintoff

Video of the Day –

RC Gymkhana – The guys at HPI Racing put their own spin on Ken Block’s Gymkhana 6 using an RC car and a 1/18-scale track.

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August 27, 2015

Top News Stories –

Facebook sets user record as more than 1bn people log on in single day –
Facebook has revealed that more than 1bn people used the site on Monday – the first time the social network has hit the milestone. Mark Zuckerberg, who founded the company in 2004 while studying at Harvard, said he felt “proud” that one-in-seven people on Earth logged on to the website during the day. The 31-year-old wrote in a post on Facebook:

Mark Zuckerberg tweet Mark Zukerberg tweet
Although Mr Zuckerberg did not specify what had caused the rise in the number of users, the website has consistently attracted more followers. Last month Mr Zuckerberg revealed Facebook had 1.49bn monthly active users, up 13pc from a year earlier. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

LEVEL from joe pease on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

The top ten most unexpected words added to the online Oxford dictionary [according to the Daily Telegraph]
1. manspreading (noun): the practice whereby a man, especially one travelling on public transport, adopts a sitting position with his legs wide apart, in such a way as to encroach on an adjacent seat or seat

2. awesomesauce (adjective): extremely good; excellent

3. bants (noun): playfully teasing or mocking remarks exchanged with another person or group; banter

4. fat-shame (verb): cause (someone judged to be fat or overweight) to feel humiliated by making mocking or critical comments about their size

5. Brexit (noun): a term for the potential or hypothetical departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union

6. bruh (noun): a male friend (often used as a form of address)

7. cakeage (noun): a charge made by a restaurant for serving a cake they have not supplied themselves

8. fatberg (noun): a very large mass of solid waste in a sewerage system, consisting especially of congealed fat and personal hygiene products that have been flushed down toilets

9. Grexit (noun): a term for the potential withdrawal of Greece from the eurozone (the economic region formed by those countries in the European Union that use the euro as their national currency)

10. hangry (adjective): bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide USA UK
1 #1dfansaregorgeous #NationalBurgerDay #1dfansaregorgeous
2 Smelly Cat #MakeSexAwkwardIn5Words #MakeSexAwkwardIn5Words
3 #bieberisback Smelly Cat #NationalBurgerDay
4 #MeEncantaQue #jetblackheart #NameTheNextBoyBand
5 #1DayUntilWhatDoYouMean #1dfansaregorgeous #bieberisback
6 #jetblackheart Darryl Dawkins #jetblackheart
7 Derrick Rose #BoringComicBookPlots Smelly Cat
8 #D5ComingSoon Usain Bolt Spitman
9 #لو_قالوا_اختا�… #NameTheNextBoyBand #UCLdraw
10 コミュニケーショ��… #ShesKindaHotEP Kevin Nolan

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September 29, 2015

Top News Stories –

Barack Obama ‘flouted secret service rules’ for Bear Grylls challenge –
Bear Grylls has spoken of how President Obama flouted the protocol of his secret service to take up every challenge thrown at him, when he appeared on the survival guru’s television show last month. The British ex-SAS soldier and television host said Mr Obama’s security team were on tenterhooks, as he and the president spent the day trekking through the Alaskan wilderness filming a special episode of “Running Wild”. “We ended up doing everything and he loved it. Afterwards, I thought I was going to get a special telling off from the secret service guys, but they all laughed and had a good time.” Grylls said he was warned by Mr Obama’s protocol staff that he could not give the president any gifts. But at the end of the filming he gave him his knife and said that the president should keep it “as a last line of defence if anybody ever got through the secret service”. “I had a great email a few days later from his team saying that he absolutely loves the knife and he keeps playing with it! Boys love their toys,” he said. [Daily Telegraph]
Bear-GryllsBear Grylls

Australia: Council seeks cash for kangaroo-proofing –
A drought-affected district in eastern Australia is asking for government help to protect its villages against a “plague” of thirsty kangaroos, it’s reported. The mayor of sparsely populated Barcoo Shire, in the state of Queensland, says hordes of kangaroos are causing concern among local people because they’re coming into residential areas looking for food and water, the Brisbane Times reports. “The sheer numbers, you can drive around and you’ll see a mob of kangaroos and you lose count after 120 or 130, they are in plague proportions,” says Mayor Julie Groves. The council has now applied for federal government funding to pay for about 55km (34 miles) of fencing to keep the animals out of villages, sports parks, cemeteries, and off the local air strip used by the flying doctor. [BBC]

Edward Snowden (@Snowden) joins Twitter –
American whistleblower Edward Snowden has joined Twitter, asking in his first tweet, “Can you hear me now?”. The 32-year-old immediately began following the National Security Agency’s (NSA) official account, the only organisation he has followed so far. Snowden, who is currently living at an undisclosed location in Russia after being granted asylum, links to Freedom of the Press Foundation’s Twitter account in his bio. The bio adds: “I used to work for the government. Now I work for the public.” He gained 100,000 followers within an hour of joining Twitter and has also been given a ‘verified’ blue tick. The former CIA contractor leaked tens of thousands of files from systems at the NSA in 2013 from which the techniques and methods of it and GCHQ were then exposed. He faces charges in the U.S. for leaking details of the once-secret surveillance programs. [Daily Telegraph]
Edward Snowden first tweetEdward Snowden’s first tweet

Video of the Day –

Do It For Mom (Do it for Denmark)

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide USA UK
1 #NationalCoffeeDay #NationalCoffeeDay Log Lady
2 #FelizMartes MacArthur #InternationalCoffeeDay
3 Aaron Rodgers #HappyBirthdayHalsey #AutumnIn3Words
4 #NoTeOdioPero #AutumnIn3Words #WorldHeartDay
5 Ronaldinho #StandWithPP #LondonUpAFilm
6 #الهلال_الاهلي #BLIK #nb2015
7 #MePoneDeMalHumor Ralph Lauren #LeadersSpeech
8 #AutumnIn3Words Derrick Rose Aaron Rodgers
9 #ALDUBTheVoiceWithin Larry Brown #charitytuesday
10 Jim Carrey #BeatLA Callum Wilson

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