This blue lobster was caught near the Isle of Man. He is unusual because only one in every two million has is blue. The unusual colouring is caused by a genetic defect that causes the lobster to produce an excessive amount of protein. This particular lobster has been deemed too interesting to eat. The fishermen…
Month: September 2008
Egham: Spam Capital of Britain
According to this article people in who live in Egham receive a more junk emails than anywhere else in the country. On average people in Egham receive 189 junk emails every day compared to 167 in Alton and 116 in Petersfield. What the article fails to explain is why Egham appears to be the spam…
Collins to Drop Some Little Used Words
Collins will drop some little used words from the next edition of its paper dictionary according to this article. The compilers of the dictionary have decided that some words are are rarely used and are rather obscure will need to be dropped from the next edition of the its dictionary in order to make room…
Ads in Space
This is interesting, its a firm that allows companies to produce pictures of their advertising in space. What the company called JP Aerospace does, is launch a billboard into space that contains the advertisers logo and message and then take pictures of it. They use specially constructed balloons to send the billboard 20 miles into…
Screaming Frogs in the House
I have mentioned screaming frogs on my blog before when my cats have caught them. For those who are unfamiliar with them, frogs tend to let out a high pitched scream when cornered by a curious cat. Today Oliver caught a frog and brought it back through the cat flap where he decided to deposit…
Stopping Calls From Telemarketers
We have several phone lines at home, a home line and a business line so perhaps that’s why I seem to spend most of my time trying to get rid of increasingly pushy sales people. I have registered all of our phone lines with the telephone preferences society and although it has reduced the volume…
Fake Pounds Coins: How to Spot Them
According to the Royal Mint there are now around 30 million fake £1 coins in circulation meaning that one in 50 is now counterfeit. The question is, how do spot a fake one? This article should help. It contains this diagram which compares a fake and a real coin. Signs that you have a fake…
Stupid Stunts: David Blaine
Maybe I’m missing the point of the whole exercise but David Blaine’s latest stunt which involves hanging upside down for 60 hours seems a bit dumb. Apparently he has been warned that the stunt could make him go blind because hanging upside down for long periods of time increases blood pressure in the head. There…
Vodka Pipeline
This is quite interesting. Its an article about a smuggling operation that involved a mile long vodka pipeline. Enterprising criminals were using it to pump vodka out of Russia into Estonia to avoid paying tax. Eleven suspects have been charged after an investigation which took four years. The pipeline was eventually discovered when customs officers…
Lots of Spiders
Regular readers will know by now that I hate spiders, so I read this article with horror. Obviously I know that spiders have lots of babies but the article mentions a tarantula at Longleat wildlife park that successfully hatched 95 babies. My first thought was have any those giant spiders I keep finding in my…