November 26, 2015

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Angelina Jolie: Ed Miliband’s mansion tax ‘could put me off’ buying home in UK –

Angelina Jolie said she would like to move to England but Labour’s proposed mansion tax could put her off. The actress addressed rumours that she was looking at properties around London and had recently viewed a £25 million Marylebone penthouse close to the Chiltern Firehouse restaurant. But Jolie hinted that Ed Miliband’s plan to levy a tax on people who own houses worth more than two million pounds could discourage her from buying a British home. The actress told Channel 4 News: “I’m quite responsible about money” and that the tax “could put me off” moving to the UK. [Daily Telegraph]
Angelina_JolieAngelina Jolie

Peruvian man gets married to tree for second time on ‘green tour’ –
A Peruvian man has married a tree for the second time in a bid to raise awareness about man-made environmental problems around the world. Serial tree-hugger Richard Torres tied the knot in front of a small crowd at a national park in Bogota, Colombia. After the symbolic ceremony, involving the placing of fruit offerings at the base of the tree, the environmental activist called for rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces to plant trees instead of starting war. The actor also called for Colombians to care more their green surroundings and promised to keep spreading the message in other Latin America countries. Mr Torres married his first tree bride in Argentina in 2013. [Daily Telegraph]

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Snooze Time from Ivan Barge on Vimeo.

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November 27, 2014

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Cricketer Phillip Hughes dies –
Australian batsman Phillip Hughes has died 2 days after being struck by a ball at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Hughes was making a fine case for his Test recall, unbeaten on his old home ground at the SCG on 63 when he missed an attempted hook at Sean Abbott and was hit on an area of his lower head and neck which was unprotected by his helmet as he swivelled. He fell to the ground, and was rushed to hospital where he never regained consciousness. [Daily Telegraph]
Phil_Hughes Phillip Hughes in 2010

Twitter misrepresents the real world, computer scientists warn –
Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook should not be used to gauge human behaviour or trends because they are too biased, scientists have warned. Increasingly, social researchers and media organisations use sites to glean information about public views and interests. But computer scientists at McGill University in Montreal and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh warn that the data omits the opinion of large portions of the population who are either under-represented, or who choose not to engage in social media. [Daily Telegraph]

Sheep flock to Eiffel Tower as French farmers cry wolf –
French farmers flocked to the Eiffel Tower on Thursday, sheep in tow, to express their frustration over increasing attacks by wolves which some say have been “overprotected” by the government. Sheep lazily grazed at the foot of the French capital’s most famous monument as the farmers gathered under grey skies to demand an effective plan to stop the wolf attacks. “Today farmers, tomorrow unemployed,” read one banner, while one of the protesters dressed as a wolf carried around a lamb. [Daily Telegraph]
Tour_EiffelThe Eiffel Tower

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Introducing Carrot from Carrot on Vimeo.

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November 28, 2014

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Canberra Christmas lights set world record –
A Christmas lights display in the Australian capital, Canberra, has set a new world record. Almost 1.2 million LED lights on 120km (75 miles) of cables have been strung in the shape of three interconnected giant, wrapped Christmas presents. Guinness World Records confirmed it was the largest-ever LED image display. The display in the Petrie Plaza mall was the result of months of planning by Canberra lawyer David Richards and a team of volunteers. [BBC] See Video of the day

Sony’s latest wearable is a watch made of electronic paper –
The Wall Street Journal has uncovered Sony’s clandestine involvement in a smartwatch project. Under the name Fashion Entertainment (FES), the company has thrown an electronic paper watch into the wearable product scrum. All credit to Sony, the watch itself is very slick looking. It overcomes many of the problems existing smartwatches on the market present – namely that they are overly bulky and have naff battery lives. Electronic paper, which is famously used in ebook readers to provide them with long-lasting battery, should ensure that this device can keep running for weeks on a single charge, rather than just a day or two. Sony secretly put the watch on a crowdfunding site in September, not taking ownership of the product until this week. The device surpassed its 2 million yen goal (£108,000), raising 3.5 million yen (£188,000) in total. [Wired.com]
Sony paper watch

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October 12, 2015

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Queen’s advisers strip Jeremy Corbyn of ‘Right Honourable’ title after Privy Council snub –
The Queen’s advisers told Parliament to strip Jeremy Corbyn of his “Right Honourable” status after Number 10 wrongly implied the Labour leader had joined the Privy Council, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. Mr Corbyn was described on Parliament’s website as “Right Honourable”, which denotes membership of the centuries-old Privy Council, until late last week. The Labour leader was also described as a “Right Honourable Gentleman” by Prime Minister David Cameron when they faced each other in the Commons last month, days after he was voted in as Labour leader. However, after Mr Corbyn failed to attend the first meeting of the Privy Council since the summer holidays with the Queen last Thursday, the “Rt Hon” title was removed from Mr Corbyn’s page on Parliament’s website. [Daily Telegraph]

Swedish police called on a beard club because they were mistaken for Isil –
The police in Sweden were shocked to receive a call from a passer-by that alerted them to a possible Isil warrior group, north of the city Jönköping. When they arrived, they “had a good laugh” – the group mistaken for Isil was actually a beard club called the Bearded Villians. They had stopped in the area in order to take a photo together, posing with a sign which, from a distance, could be mistaken for the Isil flag. [Daily Telegraph]

Bearded-Villains
Bearded Villains

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Apollo Missions from harrisonicus on Vimeo.

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November 26, 2015

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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]

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SDÍLENÍM TO ZAČALO, SDÍLENÍM TO MŮŽE SKONČIT

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