Yummy Wakame

UK Environment Agency names and shames
The UK’s worst polluters

Repeat offenders: United Utilities, Anglian Water Services Ltd, Thames Water Utilities Ltd, BP Oil (UK) Ltd, TotalFinaElf, 3C Waste Ltd, Tesco Stores Ltd (all top offenders in 2001 too)

Barbara Young, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, commented: “Courts are getting tougher on environmental offenders – but fines are still small change for big business. The Environment Agency is leading the world in developing new and inventive ways to help encourage environmental-sound behaviour by big business.

We have introduced risk-based charging, linking licence fees to environmental performance. We assess the risks of an industrial site and the company’s management and control of those risks. The good guys are recognised for their hard work while the poor performers are penalised through the publication of their prosecution records as well as higher operating charges. Signs suggest that it’s starting to work.”

(In an interview on the news last night she said they are also conidering jail terms for offenders.)

Here’s the BBC News report

This is really cute – make your own DFILM cartoon.
(thanks graham)

What’s in your name?
(found by tins)

Really useful info: HOW TO CLEAN, CLEANSE, CHARGE, ACTIVATE AND PROGRAM YOUR CRYSTAL – By Karen Ryan

“To prepare your crystal for healing, first clean the crystal physically of any mud, oils, sand or other debris. Then using a cleansing technique, be sure any negative energies are removed from the crystal so that you do not transfer residual energies onto yourself or your client. For maximum healing effects, charging crystals will ensure the crystal is ready electromagnetically and saturated with ultraviolet light which energizes each crystal. To “wake-up” your crystal, you may need to activate it into its role and mission.. And finally, program your crystal to direct the energy for a specific outcome or for support during a healing session.”

(I found another slightly different method on this site. Chose whichever suits you best.)

Also see Crystal Healing Tips – These are really easy. I especially love crystal dreaming and crystal baths.

Brain Profiler – which side of your brain do you use the most?
(found on quinparker.com)

My results:
Auditory : 43%
Visual : 56%
Left : 42%
Right : 57%

Wow – have a look at this weird Japanese shadow effect movie I found on the Chapel. Amazing!

Samorost – an adventure Flash game.
If you get stuck, the hint for the first level in the comments.
(found by Rob)

ToOhEyWoRlD must have searched Google for some pretty strange stuff to directly stumble upon Nostril Exhales
A site with stories, video and photo galleries dedicated to smoke being exhaled through the nostrils. It looks innocently kinky. Could this be a fetish I havent yet heard about? Someone fill me in!

Bsti found AlleyCat.org
Beautiful feral cat and kitten photos!! Includes an FAQ on what to do if youve found a stray or feral cat.

“As the foremost experts on feral cats, Alley Cat Allies promotes nonlethal control for feral and stray cats with trap-neuter-return (TNR) programs that effectively reduce their population by sterilization – not euthanasia.”

Morgui, a robot constructed at the University of Reading has been rated so scary, he has been banned from interacting with anyone aged under 18. This disembodied stull with big blue eyes and 5 senses (visual, audio, radar, infrared and ultrasonic) is able to follow people around the room and watch how they respond to him.

“We’ve not had a robot head before,” said Prof Warwick. “It’s sort of scaryish, but in a fun way. Kids like this sort of thing. Of course, some of them we expected to be a little bit scared, others not, and we wanted to see how they responded.”

In Europe, Japan and the US, researchers have been looking for robots that will respond “naturally” to humans. It therefore follows that the robots must also study how humans respond to them.
(Guardian Unlimited article via chapel perilous)

Amazing Maze Maker
Auto-generates any maze for you in the shape of a heart, christmas tree or rectangular.
(found on geisha asobi)

BigWhaleOnALorry.com
This is your chance to take part in the world’s first inland whale hunt. The only whale hunt in history that aims to bring a dead whale back to life.

Help save the tree octopus from extinction!
Yup its an octupus that lives in trees!! Totally amazing!!!
(good stuff like this can always be found on chapel perilous)

Thin plastic bags have been banned in South Africa.
Thin disposable plastic bags are carelessly discarded every day all over the world, causing apart from unsightly litter, major environmental issues and the deaths of millions of animals that get trapped by them. Unseen consequences like the Leatherback turtles which are dying after mistaking plastic bags floating in the sea for jellyfish.

Now there are very hefty fines and jail terms for companies that produce thin plastic bags, and customers can choose now whether they want to buy thick plastic bags or use their own when they shop.

The non-profit company set up to handle this issue will use the levies charged on plastic bags to employ people to collect, re-use and recycle bags. Clever!

Good news to all fans of FOUND Magazine! The book has been printed and PUSSY in Brighton stocks it. They also stock LOST – a carefully collated collection of lost pet posters from around the world. There is one that simply says “TURTLE, FIND HIM”. PUSSY has the stuff!!!

NOW YOU KNOW:
“On a movie set, what do the ‘gaffer’ and the ‘best boy’ do?
The gaffer is the head electrician, who lights the sets for the director of photography. The best boy is the gaffer’s assistant.

Head to your nearest Bedouin wedding feast, where they’ll dish up the largest item on any menu in the world. A roast camel is stuffed with a sheep, which in turn is stuffed with chickens which are stuffed with fish, which are stuffed with eggs.”
(source: Christine van Deemter – FAIRLADY Magazine, South Africa)

Wee! I was interviewed by the Guardian today.
Their staff were working from Brighton Beach doing a piece on wireless networking and blogging in Brighton. They arrived with a bunch of wifi enabled laptops to edit Friday’s G2 supplement from the beach. They were connected through PierToPier . The node is at RipTide gym and the signal is good for about 200 metres around it.

If you cant buy the newspaper, the article without photos is here.

Jane (who knows a lot about this wifi stufff) has pointed out that looseconnection provides 4 wifi spots in Brighton. (One of them is at RikiTiks who’s back faces our lounge window. Maybe I should buy a radio card and bum a bit of high-speed connection off them). I cant wait until Brighton is totally wifi and I can blog or email friends while having lunch in the sun on the lawn outside the office, or in the Pavillion Gardens or anywhere on the beach.

How to get rid of Messenger Service Spam popups

What is it? That annoying Windows system popup advertising products, services and porn every time while you are online. (Note: I am not referring to browser popup ads). Every Windows XP & 2000 PC runs “Messenger” as once of its system services. This is a normal part of the OS that is used for NetSend and system alerts. This problem is not related in any way to Windows Messenger or MSN.

How is it done? Spammer software scans thousands of IP addresses and checks to find PCs that have certain UDP ports open. When the software detects PCs running the “Messenger” service on these ports you get sent the spam and annoying windows popup suddenly appears.

To remove the messenger service: Go to the START menu, select Run… and type in services.msc. Your system services will display. Locate the “Messenger” service and double-click to edit its properties. Under ‘Startup Type’ select Manual or Disabled. Then STOP, APPLY and OKAY. Problem solved. Please note that this will also stop you receiving netsend messages from your network admin or alerts from your PC. If this is an issue for you then you should install a personal firewall to protect your ports from being scanned. I recommend Zone Alarm which works wonders on browser popup ads as well.

CHAUD! CHAUD! L’ESCARGOT!

Tool making crow
In the Brevia section of the 9 August 2002 issue of Science, Weir et al. report a remarkable observation: The toolmaking behavior of New Caledonian crows. In the experiments, a captive female crow, confronted with a task that required a curved tool (retrieving a food-containing bucket from a vertical pipe), spontaneously bent a piece of straight wire into a hooked shape — and then repeated the behavior in nine out of ten subsequent trials.
(spotted on milkandcookies)

Dont believe it? Watch the movie!

Crows are clever. They make great pets.

Rich elite prosper in Zim crisis
While shelves are bare in regular stores, other advertisements offer foodstuffs, cooking oil and even bank note counting machines to help traders in the hyperinflationary economy do their business. Harare economist John Robertson said about ZIM$6000 buys today what ZIM$100 bought in 1995. Black market gasoline, selling for four times the government’s fixed price, keeps traffic moving.

About 80 percent of the population live in poverty and according the UN World Food Programme, nearly half of all Zimbabweans will need food aid this year to avoid mass starvation. The state Central Statistical Office said last month annual inflation reached a record 269 percent and unemployment exceeded 70 percent, driving many unemployed to scavenge for goods to sell or sell furniture and other assets to survive.

A fraction of the rest — perhaps three percent, mostly President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party elite and their business associates — control the hugely profitable black market in goods and hard currency. They are enjoying boom times. Agencies selling limousines and even luxury cosmetics have reported record sales.

Windows RG (Really Good Edition) released.
View the demo. More realistic when viewed in full screen.

YAY! After endless searching I finally found my long lost and cherished cherub friend.
Hello Evan!!!

Beat the human senses quiz
Are your eyes being tricked by your brain? Do you know what a supertaster is? Or how to avoid travel sickness? Put your senses to the test in our Senses Challenge. You could win an MRI scan of your own brain! WOW!
(Found by Quin – winner of the Brighton Virtual Festival 2003 weblog award)

Dad Jokes – because somebody’s got to laugh I guess.