January 3, 2016

Top News Stories –

Paul McKenna: I chose my wife by Excel spreadsheet –
Paul McKenna, the hypnotist and self-help guru, has disclosed that he decided who to marry by using an Excel spreadsheet. The 52-year-old revealed the software – normally used by accountants and office administrators – helped him to choose his wife-to-be, his long-time personal assistant Kate Davey. McKenna, who is worth around £40m, said a friend had pointed out that although he had dated a “lot of beautiful women”, he “didn’t actually like them”. He was encouraged to “make an Excel spreadsheet” to find out who he loved – and it turned out to be Kate, who has worked with him for 20 years. The pair revealed their feelings to each other three years ago and are now engaged to be married. [Daily Telegraph]
Paul_McKennaPaul McKenna

Video of the Day –

Infinity Room – [TIEE] from Refik Anadol on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

100 Things we didn’t know last year – by the BBC (67-100)

67. MI5 erroneously suspected novelist Doris Lessing of running a brothel.

Find out more (Independent)

68. US Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders released a spoken-word folk album in 1987.

Find out more (Dangerous Minds)

69. It is possible to have orgasms in your left foot.

Find out more (New York magazine)

70. The formula for the perfect poohstick is PP = A x I x Cd.

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71. Silk can be made from the solidified saliva of a clam.

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72. Gorillas have individual tastes in music.

Find out more (Discover Magazine Blogs)

73. The simpler and more repetitive a song’s lyrics, the more likely it is to reach number one in the Billboard Hot 100, debut in the top 40 and climb the chart more rapidly.

Find out more (Psychology Today)

74. The producer who was Gordon the Gopher’s puppeteer ended up as the BBC’s head of editorial standards.

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75. Bill Cosby was the first choice to play Sam Malone in Cheers, ahead of Ted Danson.

Find out more (Hollywood Reporter)

76. In their spare time, US fighter pilots play a mash-up of pool and rugby called crud.

Find out more (New York Times)

77. Scots have 421 words for snow.

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78. Lies are more convincing when the person telling them needs to urinate.

Find out more (Daily Telegraph)

79. Spotify’s shuffle is not truly random but sprinkles different genres evenly across a playlist and alternates songs by the same artist.

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80. The English composer Benjamin Britten wrote a national anthem for Malaysia, only for it to be rejected in favour of a cabaret tune.

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81. Elephants almost never get cancer.

Find out more (Nature News)

82. Actor Brian Blessed says that he delivered a baby in a park, bit through the umbilical cord and then licked the infant’s face clean.

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83. People who like their coffee black are more likely to be psychopaths.

Find out more (Huffington Post)

84. American toddlers shoot one person a week on average.

Find out more (Washington Post)

85. Biff Tannen’s older self, as portrayed in Back to the Future Part II, was based on Donald Trump.

Find out more (Daily Beast)

86. The US used to relocate beavers by parachuting them out of planes.

Find out more (Mashable)

87. Dancing to Gangnam Style could raise people’s pain thresholds.

Find out more (Wired)

88. Pregnancies conceived in December have the best chance of success.

Find out more (Netmums)

89. Men with beards have a greater tendency to hold sexist attitudes than their clean-shaven counterparts.

Find out more (Mental Floss)

90. Footballers have worse teeth than the general population.

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91. It’s possible to hallucinate a foreign accent.

Find out more (Brain Decoder)

92. Victoria’s Secret Bombshell perfume is almost as good at repelling mosquitoes as commercial insect sprays containing Deet.

Find out more (Daily Beast)

93. Germaine Greer wrote a 30,000-word love letter to Martin Amis in 1976.

Find out more (the Guardian)

94. You’re So Vain definitely is about Warren Beatty (and two other men).

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95. A 17th Century scientist planned to paint the bubonic plague on to hats to create a biological weapon.

Find out more (New Scientist)

96. The Churchill household spent around £1,160 each year on wine, £104,400 in today’s money.

Find out more (the Economist)

97. A cow’s flatulence could fill a 55-gallon (250-litre) bag with methane in one day.

Find out more (Grist)

98. It would cost £11,602.25 to send a letter to Mars from the UK.

Find out more (Daily Mirror)

99. Text messages that end with a full stop are seen to be less sincere than those that don’t.

Find out more (Wired UK)

100. Employees who say they love following the rules are the ones who are most likely to be fired for breaking them.

Find out more (New York Magazine)

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December 27, 2016

Top News Stories –

Carrie Fisher, Star Wars actress, dies aged 60 –
US actress Carrie Fisher, best known for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars series, has died aged 60, days after suffering a cardiac arrest. Fisher was taken ill on a flight from London to LA on Friday and was taken to hospital when the plane landed. But a family statement said with “deep sadness” she died on Tuesday morning. As well as starring in other films such as The Blues Brothers and When Harry Met Sally, Fisher also wrote four novels and three memoirs. The daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher made her film debut opposite Warren Beatty in 1975’s Shampoo. But far greater fame was to follow when she played Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, a role she reprised in last year’s reboot The Force Awakens. She endured a difficult private life, and has often discussed her years of mental illness and drug addiction. [BBC]
carrie_fisher_mark_hamill__harrison_fordFisher with fellow Star Wars actors Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford, July 2015

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Science and technology
  • The cheetah faces extinction after it is discovered that only 7,100 specimens are left alive in the wild as a result of a sudden crash in population. (BBC)

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February 26, 2017

Top News Stories –

Oscars mistake: Moonlight wins best picture after announcement mix-up –
Moonlight has won best picture at the Oscars – but only after Faye Dunaway initially said La La Land had won. Warren Beatty was handed the previous winner’s envelope, containing a card saying “Emma Stone, La La Land”, resulting in the error. The team from La La Land was in the middle of its acceptance speeches when the mistake was discovered. Stone said backstage afterwards: “Is that the craziest Oscar moment of all time? Cool! It’s going to be history.” PriceWaterhouseCooper, the accountancy firm responsible for counting the ballots, said in a statement: “We sincerely apologise to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for best picture. “The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred.” [BBC]

Video of the Day –

La La Land as directed by David Lynch – Trailer Mix

List of the Day –

Winners of the 89th Academy Awards [BBC]

Best picture

  • Winner: Moonlight
  • Arrival
  • Fences
  • Hacksaw Ridge
  • Hell or High Water
  • Hidden Figures
  • La La Land
  • Lion
  • Manchester by the Sea

Best actress

  • Winner: Emma Stone – La La Land
  • Isabelle Huppert – Elle
  • Ruth Negga – Loving
  • Natalie Portman – Jackie
  • Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins

Best actor

  • Winner: Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
  • Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge
  • Ryan Gosling – La La Land
  • Viggo Mortensen – Captain Fantastic
  • Denzel Washington – Fences

Best supporting actress

  • Winner: Viola Davis – Fences
  • Naomie Harris – Moonlight
  • Nicole Kidman – Lion
  • Octavia Spencer – Hidden Figures
  • Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea

Best supporting actor

  • Winner: Mahershala Ali – Moonlight
  • Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water
  • Lucas Hedges – Manchester by the Sea
  • Dev Patel – Lion
  • Michael Shannon – Nocturnal Animals

Best director

  • Winner: La La Land – Damien Chazelle
  • Arrival – Denis Villeneuve
  • Hacksaw Ridge – Mel Gibson
  • Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan
  • Moonlight – Barry Jenkins

Best original screenplay

  • Winner: Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan
  • 20th Century Women – Mike Mills
  • Hell or High Water – Taylor Sheridan
  • La La Land – Damien Chazelle
  • The Lobster – Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou

Best adapted screenplay

  • Winner: Moonlight – Barry Jenkins and Alvin McCraney
  • Arrival – Eric Heisserer
  • Fences – August Wilson
  • Hidden Figures – Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi
  • Lion – Luke Davies

Best original score

  • Winner: La La Land – Justin Hurwitz
  • Jackie – Mica Levi
  • Lion – Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka
  • Moonlight – Nicholas Britell
  • Passengers – Thomas Newton

Best original song

  • Winner: La La Land – City of Stars by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
  • La La Land – Audition by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
  • Moana – How Far I’ll Go by Lin-Manuel Miranda
  • Trolls – Can’t Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster
  • Jim: The James Foley Story – The Empty Chair by J Ralph and Sting

Best cinematography

  • Winner: La La Land – Linus Sandgren
  • Arrival – Bradford Young
  • Lion – Greig Fraser
  • Moonlight – James Laxton
  • Silence – Rodrigo Prieto

Best foreign language film

  • Winner: The Salesman – Iran
  • A Man Called Ove – Sweden
  • Land of Mine – Denmark
  • Tanna – Australia
  • Toni Erdmann – Germany

Best costume design

  • Winner: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Colleen Atwood
  • Allied – Joanna Johnston
  • Florence Foster Jenkins – Consolata Boyle
  • Jackie – Madeline Fontaine
  • La La Land – Mary Zophres

Best make-up and hairstyling

  • Winner: Suicide Squad – Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson
  • A Man Called Ove – Eva Von Bahr and Love Larson
  • Star Trek Beyond – Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo

Best documentary feature

  • Winner: OJ: Made in America
  • 13th
  • Fire At Sea
  • I Am Not Your Negro
  • Life, Animated

Best sound editing

  • Winner: Arrival – Sylvain Bellemare
  • Deepwater Horizon – Wylie Stateman and Renee Tondelli
  • Hacksaw Ridge – Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright
  • La La Land – Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
  • Sully – Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman

Best sound mixing

  • Winner: Hacksaw Ridge – Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace
  • 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi – Gary Summers, Jeffrey J Haboush and Mac Ruth
  • Arrival – Bernard Gariepy Strobl and Claude La Haye
  • La La Land – Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A Morrow
  • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson

Best animated short

  • Winner: Piper – Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer
  • Blind Vaysha – Theodore Ushev
  • Borrowed Time – Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj
  • Pear Cider and Cigarettes – Robert Valley and Cara Speller
  • Pearl – Patrick Osborne

Best animated feature

  • Winner: Zootopia
  • Kubo and the Two Strings
  • Moana
  • My Life as a Zucchini
  • The Red Turtle

Best production design

  • Winner: La La Land – David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco
  • Arrival – Patrice Vermette and Paul Hotte
  • Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Stuart Craig and Anna Pinnock
  • Hail, Caesar! – Jess Gonchor and Nancy Haigh
  • Passengers – Guy Hendrix Dyas and Gene Serdena

Best visual effects

  • Winner: The Jungle Book – Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R Jones and Dan Lemmon
  • Deepwater Horizon – Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton
  • Doctor Strange – Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli and Paul Corbould
  • Kubo and the Two Strings – Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff
  • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and Neil Corbould

Best film editing

  • Winner: Hacksaw Ridge – John Gilbert
  • Arrival – Joe Walker
  • Hell or High Water – Jake Roberts
  • La La Land – Tom Cross
  • Moonlight – Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon

Best documentary short

  • Winner: The White Helmets – Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
  • 4.1 Miles – Daphne Matziaraki
  • Extremis – Dan Krauss
  • Joe’s Violin – Kahane Cooperman and Raphaela Neihausen
  • Watani: My Homeland – Marcel Mettelsiefen and Stephen Ellis

Best live action short

  • Winner: Sing – Kristof Deak and Anna Udvardy
  • Ennemis Interieurs – Selim Azzazi
  • La Femme et le TGV – Timo Von Gunten and Giacun Caduff
  • Silent Nights – Aske Bang and Kim Magnusson
  • Timecode – Juanjo Gimenez

Other News Stories –

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Disasters and accidents
  • Millions of residents in the Chilean capital Santiago are left without access to running water after the Maipo River is contaminated by flooding and landslides. At least four people have died in the floods. (BBC)
  • 16 people dead in northern India after a truck carrying villagers to church overturned on a mountain road. (DW)
Politics and elections
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