Yummy Wakame

Superbugs found in British chickens

Significant numbers of chickens sold in British shops are infected with antibiotic-resistant “superbugs”. In a survey commissioned by the BBC, more than half of the chickens examined were infected with a form of E. coli that was resistant to at least one antibiotic. The Health Protection Agency scientits also found that 12 chickens, from a total sample of 147, had antibiotic resistant Campylobacter. A third bug, Vancomycin Resistant Enterococco, was found in one in 25 of the samples.

In most cases the the bacteria would be killed off during the cooking process. But if the meat were not cooked thoroughly, the bugs could cause serious illnesses. None of the chickens sampled was organic, and nearly half were reared in Britain. Dr Mike Millar, a microbiologist at St Barts Hospital in London, believes the findings could explain the rise in the number of women whose bladder infections don’t respond to the standard antibiotic treatment. “Potentially this is very worrying,” he told BBC Online.

So… do you want to know all the reasons I don’t each chicken? Are you sure you want to know? more…

The weatherproof Vidstone is available with a 7-, 15- or 22 inch screen and fits into a pre-cut slot on a tombstone or mausoleum. It’s solar-powered “serenity panel” features a slideshow of the deceased accompanied by music.

The BBC’s TV channels could be made available on the internet according to a story on its website. The proposed plan would include a simulcast of BBC One or BBC Two, letting UK viewers see programmes on the web at the same time as they go out on TV. Proposals to make clips available on mobile phones are also being speeded up, director of TV Jana Bennett said following an announcement earlier in the week that a classic episodes of Doctor Who and Red Dwarf are being made available. A player to let viewers watch shows on the internet for a week after they have been broadcast on TV is also in development.

You may or may not realize that I can probably find out where you live, if not by simply typing phonebook:your name & city, then by spending ten or fifteen minutes Googlizing your life.

But what happens when you Google the CEO of Google? Well…

“[Google's PR Director] called back to announce that the company would not speak to any reporter from CNET for a year.”

Read this hilarious article from the New York Times on kicking feet and taking your toys home.

Russia and China have staged joint war games for the first time in their history.

The eight-day excercise, which involved around 10,000 military personnel and large numbers of ships, submarines and aircraft, began in Vladivostok and ended in the Shandong Peninsula. According to Chinese Maj-Gen Peng Guanglian, its purpose was to “frighten the three evil forces of ethnic separatism, religious extremism and international terrorism”.

Read about it in BBC News and check out the photos.

Next: Russia and India to stage anti-terrorist military exercise.

The Cumbrian town of Alston is facing a population crisis as men outnumber women by 10:1. Bachelors have launched an internet campaign at www.villagesincrisis.tk, urging ladies to the “Ibiza of the North” for romance and excitement.

Almost 100 posters advertsing the attractive aspects of their men were posted targetting the major cultural areas in the North of England:

“Are you female and single? Sick of putting up with boring, lazy, ugly, inconsiderate and poor men? Are you looking for some excitement in your life? If you answered yes to any of these questions then the town of Alston Moor is waiting for you.

“The area of Alston offers all the amenities you would expect coupled with the benefits of the country lifestyle and a superb night-life, which lead to one travel critic describing the area as ‘The Ibiza of the North!”

Check out the Personal Ads to get a taste of what’s on offer.

Just doing my bit ;@}

Wired News:

A splinter faction of Flickr photo-sharing community members is threatening a symbolic “mass suicide” to protest closer integration with the website’s new owner, Yahoo.

The portal giant bought Flickr’s developer, Ludicorp, for an undisclosed sum in March and took ownership of the site when it moved from Vancouver, Canada, to Yahoo’s Sunnyvale, California, campus this summer. Now, angered by a new requirement to tie their member profiles with Yahoo accounts, some Flickrites say they plan to kill off their identities before they can be moved into the new family next year.

“If Flickr really forces me to join Yahoo in 2006 in order to still use my account, I will quit 24 hours before the deadline,” wrote Thomas Müller, a Hamburg, Germany-based artist who shows more than 1,400 photos at the site. On Wednesday, Müller created a protest group, Flick Off, that has attracted almost 400 members.

At stake is a new user-profile stipulation that reads: “We will be migrating all independent Flickr accounts to Yahoo’s network in 2006. At that time, if you have not done so already, you will be asked to create a Yahoo ID (or link your account to your Yahoo ID if you already have one) in order to continue using your account.”

“This comes after many of us have invested so much time and effort; it makes it a chore to do anything except bend over, grab our ankles and smile,” said Dana Smith, a San Francisco-based Flick Off supporter whose photographs rank among Flickr’s most interesting material.

Read the whole article on Wired News…

Backstroke of the West

Thanks Bsti!

SimplySwitch is a free and impartial comparison service that could save you a fortune on your household bills.

You could save £££s by changing to cheaper gas, electricity, credit card, broadband, mortgage and homephone providers. And if you decide to switch they will take care of all the paperwork for you.

They also tell you who the greenest and most competitive renewable energy supplier is in your area.

But how does this help the Big Issue? more…

1. 43% of nurses and 31% of doctors entering the NHS were trained outside the UK – Dept of Health. Hospitals would close without them.
2. The British Hospitality Association has warned that it will have serious problems if it’s unable to employ workers from abroad.
3. Migrants CONTRIBUTE £2.5 BILLION more in taxes and National Insurance than they consume in benefits and public services – Home Office.
4. The construction industry has warned of a 350,000 shortfall in workers. Migrant workers are needed to keep pace with the demand for housing.

~ New Internationalist Magazine

Here are my favourite eligible bachelors frommailorderhusbands.net:

“Jered is my name, serving your needs is my game. Actually rugby is my game. Seeking.. a lady. I like the more natural look, somewhat earthy, but one that cleans up real well. I seem to be attracted to tall women with dark hair, smallish head, elongated torso, with natural finger nails (NO PAINTED HUSSIES!!!). ”
Country: Perth, Australia

“I deal in reality…and the reality is that I’m ready for love. I can chop lots of wood and can even climb a greased pole. I keep in shape by chasing chickens around my back yard. I keep my self clean and take baths weekly. ”
Country: West Virginia, U.S.A.

“My name is Daryl. I am 17, but will be turning 18 in September. I figure by the time we get to know each other I will be legal tender and we can marry. My parents are kicking me out after December and I’d like to meet a woman with a lot of money so we can have fun. I like women between 18-45, but would consider older if we do not have to touch a lot. ”
Country: Wooster Falls, ILL, U.S.A.

Miko found this!

Tennis Canada’s ad featuring Maria Sharapova.

“‘I don’t see the sporting necessity of having Maria Sharapova’s breasts falling out of her top,’ says Prof. Richard Powers, who teaches sports marketing at Canada’s University of Toronto. Yet her breasts are hardly popping out of her top, which is so high as to not even show cleavage. So what’s the fuss? Eagle-eyed viewers can see a little bulge in her tennis dress made by her nipple. Tennis Canada quickly printed a new banner with the offending body detail airbrushed out. Meanwhile,
Sharapova pulled out of the tournament, citing an inflamed muscle — in her chest. (Toronto Star) …And here you thought the U.S.A. was the most hung up nation on the planet.” – This Is True

Unfortunately my happy snaps of our Hadrian’s Wall adventure could never do it justice. I bet you never realised it was quite this beautiful…

Only a truly civilized country would have vending machines for books! Now you can instantly gratify your midnight culture cravings at this 24 hour kiosk and have your book handed to you by a fancy mechanical arm!

Yahoo: “Regardless of whether they fall into the category of high culture or low, all books cost a modest $2.45.”

I would REALLY love to go on this Commando Adventure, and not just to wear the badass gear like night vision goggles, but to be physically pushed to my limits and sneak around undetected in the bush! Ooh I can feel an intense thrill just thinking about it!!

Corpse Bride carries on in the dark, romantic tradition of Tim Burton’s classic films Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas, and hints at necrophilia in the most enchanting way to an enraptured audience of kiddies and adults.

Watch the trailer!

Take your teeth out for a spin with tripleXgoldteeth.com. Chicks dig ‘em!

via caiterwauling

From TheGoodNews newsletter:

The sweat is dripping off her face. The noise from the rock drill is deafening and water droplets are spitting through the air. Her whole body is vibrating and straining as she grasps the drill. Nandipha Nxiweni is a Learner Official at Impala Platinum Mine in Rustenburg. She is training to be a rock engineer and, as part of her training, she has to learn how to do all the other things in the mine as well, including actual manual labour.

She is part of the new Women in Mining programme implemented by Implats in response to the mining charter. The charter stipulates that all mines should have a 10 percent representation of women in mining by 2009. The Women in Mining project was only implemented in June 2004 and already Implats have got over 300 women working underground. According to Johanna Tau, the Transformation Manager at Impala Platinum, Rustenburg, they aim not only to achieve the targets but to do better than the targets. “Only good can be achieved by the amalgamation of men and women into the mining environment. They complement and bring out the best in each other.”

However, what first needs to be understood is the difference between women in mining and women at the mine. Women have been working at mines for years, mostly in admin and secretarial positions. The targets stipulated by the charter in those fields have already been met, or are very close to being realised. The target set for women in mining is much more difficult. It requires the women to be put into positions equivalent to the men, in other words to do the manual labour associated with mining. more…

Megabus.com was started in 2003 as part of an initiative to increase tourism to London by offering super cheap bus tickets to and from London. They operate from over 30 major locations in the UK, from as South as Plymouth all the way to Inverness in Scotland.

In September Nathan and I need to make three journeys into London within one week and I was beginning to worry about how much this was going to cost by train – they’re so expensive! Then I remembered megabus!! They have an extremely easy to use website where you can choose your journeys and pay through WorldPay or by phone. It costs from £1 a ticket in the South to just £16 from Scotland. They charge an additional 50p booking fee (not per ticket, per booking). I also scored 2 free tickets!!

Yes! Megabus.com is offering 100,000 free seats on its services to and from London. The seats are available on Monday to Thursday journeys from 12 September until 12 December.

I’m not the only person who loves megabus. They have fans all over the UK! Check out this megabus.com fan site, “THE BIGGEST, BEST & MOST IN-DEPTH MEGABUS GROUP ON THE INTERNET”.

“The New York Times says that Pluto should be downgraded to the status of a random ice ball. Sorry guys, that ain’t gonna happen. It comes up over and over at astronomical and planetary science gatherings, and the consensus is that once a celestial body has reached planetary status, it gets to keep it.” – 101 365

But mostly, it’s a photoblog.

Hotornot.com is a fine site that allows you to judge other people based on their looks – which typically boils down to a lossy jpeg of them half-drunk. I realize this is not that cool, but rate a few people and pay attention to the “Last checked their score XXX minutes ago:”

Now think about what that means.

Is attending church seriously biting into your Sunday morning hangover time? Do you find yourself increasingly having to patch the knees of your trousers due to excessive kneeling before your Golden Calf? Have you had to expand your trailer to a “double-wide” because of all of the fat Buddha statues? Well no fear, there’s a new religion in town, one which requires little to no rules and best of all, is free.*

more…

You’ll be itching to use it!
(Windows Media Player – high bandwidth streaming)

I nearly wet myself laughing!

Found on Chapel Perilous

A German man has been arrested after a marriage guidance counsellor advised him to run around naked shouting at trees.

Dieter Braun (43) from Recklinghausen said the stress release technique had worked perfectly until he was arrested. He told police that venting his anger on the trees had stopped him shouting at his wife. “If I didn’t go to the woods and scream at the trees then my marriage would probably be over,” he said. He said that taking his clothes off at the same time made him feel more relaxed. “For me it’s a type of relaxation therapy. Feeling the breeze on my naked skin really calms me down.”

But local police said other visitors to the forest did not find his behaviour relaxing and have now charged him with causing a public nuisance.
~ iAfrica.com

Soyjoy:

An air-vent problem at one animal-testing lab has pointed to a disturbing problem with the industry as a whole. More than 500 mice died horrible suffocating deaths when a ventilator failed in 90-degree heat. Unless told otherwise, we can assume some if not most of these mice were current test subjects, meaning those tests are now ruined, meaning many more mice will have suffered and died for absolutely nothing. “Unfortunately, they had to be sacrificed,” said the Wyeth spokesman. Yep, sacrificed to your company’s incompetence. Sacrificed to your apathy. Note that Wyeth didn’t even admit to the fiasco until asked by a reporter, tipped off by animal rights activists.

But the bigger news is in this shrug-it-off quote from the “private laboratory accreditation group” that’s supposed to be monitoring conditions in animal-test labs: “I would not say this kind of thing happens frequently, but it does happen,” said John H. Miller. Oh, does it? “He declined to disclose other cases, citing confidentiality agreements with member labs, but did say Wyeth’s reported number of deaths was not unusual.” Oh really? So 500 animals needlessly dying from simple human errors is common in this industry – as is, obviously the lack of true concern or accountability among the people responsible. Apparently the only unusual thing here is the public finding out about it. Shameful.
~ posted by vegance