September 18th 2014

256px-Scottish_and_British_flags
Scottish referendum takes place –
Scotland independence referendum takes place with the result looking very uncertain. Tennis player Andy Murray used Twitter to back the Yes vote along with actor Sean Connery. Those backing the No vote and wanting Scotland to remain part of the UK include Sir Paul McCartney, Sting, Mick Jagger, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, comedian Eddie Izzard, actresses Helena Bonham-Carter and Dame Judi Dench, Simon Cowell, and Stephen Hawking all of whom signed a letter urging Scotland to stay in the union. The result will be known tomorrow.
Andy-Murray-independence-tweetAndy Murray tweet.

Ig Nobel prizes announced –
The annual Ig Nobel prizes awarded by the Annals of Improbable Research have picked out some classic scientific investigations again. Researchers who measured the slipperiness of banana peels, why pork strips appear to stop nosebleeds, and how reindeer react to humans in polar bear suits were among the winners.
Banane-A-05_cropped
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December 2, 2014

Top News Stories –

(Nasty) Thought for the day –
Professor Stephen Hawking, the British scientist who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has said that efforts to create thinking machines pose a threat to our very existence. The BBC quotes him as saying “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever increasing rate but humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be superseded.”
Stephen_HawkingStephen Hawling

Scarlett gets secretly married –
Scarlett Johansson has revealed that she and her partner Romain Dauriac got married in secret on October 1st 2015 in Philipsburg, western Montana.
Scarlett JohanssonScarlett Johansson

Strike that off the list –
The UK Government has introduced legislation banning sex acts like spanking and caning from online porn videos filmed in the UK. A list of sex acts are now on a list of ‘harmful’ content that has been prohibited and paid-for online porn videos must now stick to the same rules as content produced for sex shop-type videos. (See List of the Day)

Video of the Day –

Scarlett Johansson banned commercial

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April 27, 2015

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Jay Z says Tidal is ‘doing just fine’ with 770k subscribers –
Jay Z is not one for writing a lot of tweets – but he’s just put out a “stream of consciousness” defending his music streaming service, Tidal. Launched last month with some very high profile backers, critics have said that the company has been a bit of a flop, with low subscriber numbers. But Jay Z says: “Tidal is doing just fine. We have over 770,000 subs. We have been in business less than one month. “We are here for the long haul.” Jay Z bought Tidal from a Swedish company, Aspiro, earlier this year, for $56m (£37m). There was a spike in interest when he re-launched it on 30 March but then dropped out of the top 50 for downloaded music apps on the US iTunes store. The company also got rid of its CEO and announced redundancies earlier this month but also said it was looking for new staff. [BBC]
Jay-Z 2011Jay Z

Catch of the day: Fisherman reels in 76lb cod in biggest-ever catch by British angler –
A fisherman is celebrating after catching what is believed to be the largest cod ever caught by a British angler using rod and line. Matthew Lowery, a pharmacist from Newcastle, was on a fishing trip to Norway when the cod weighing 76lb 1oz went for his bait. The 39-year-old spent 10 minutes reeling it up through 40 metres of water before hauling it on board his boat half a mile off the island of Soroya. It was still 27lbs off the world record for a cod caught two years ago by German angler Michael Eisele. [Daily Telegraph]

George Clooney set to run London Marathon 2016 after losing bet –
George Clooney, the Hollywood actor, is poised to run next year’s London Marathon after losing a bet with a celebrity friend. The heart-throb reportedly promised Christy Turlington he would take part in the 2016 race if she finished in under four hours. Miss Turlington, a Calvin Klein model, completed the 26.2-mile course on Sunday for her charity Every Mother Counts in three hours and 45 minutes. Clooney is said to have claimed he will run next year while wearing one of her organisation’s T-shirts. [Daily Telegraph] In March Clooney applied for permission to build a 12-seater home cinema and luxurious swimming pool to his 17th century country estate in Sonning-on-Thames, England.
George_ClooneyGeorge Clooney

Video of the Day –

Antarctica from Kalle Ljung on Vimeo.

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April 12, 2016

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Prof Hawking backs interstellar travel project –
Stephen Hawking is backing a project to send tiny spacecraft to another star system within a generation. They would travel trillions of miles; far further than any previous craft.
A $100m (£70m) research programme to develop the computer chip-sized “starships” was launched by the billionaire Yuri Milner, supported by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. “If we are to survive as a species we must ultimately spread out to the stars,” he said. “Astronomers believe that there is a reasonable chance of an Earth-like planet orbiting one of the stars [in] the Alpha Centauri system. But we will know more in the next two decades from ground based and space based telescopes. “Technological developments in the last two decades and the future make it possible in principle within a generation.” [BBC]
Stephen_Hawking_in_1999Stephen Hawking in 1999

Entertainer and producer David Gest found dead –
Entertainer, producer and reality television star David Gest has died in a London hotel aged 62, a statement from his friend says. Gest, who is a former husband of singer Liza Minnelli, died at the Four Seasons hotel in Canary Wharf. His friend and ex-bodyguard Imad Handi confirmed the news in a statement. American Gest was best known in the UK for his appearances on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! and Celebrity Big Brother. [BBC]

Video of the Day –


ShapeShifter from CHRLX on Vimeo.

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