Slashdot Mirror

It turns out that space tastes like raspberries and not Tang or freeze-dried ice cream as one might suspect. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy were searching for evidence of amino acids in space when they found ethyl formate, the chemical used in to make raspberry flavoring. The astronomers used the IRAM telescope in Spain to analyze electromagnetic radiation emitted by a hot and dense region of Sagittarius B2 that surrounds a newborn star. Astronomer Arnaud Belloche said, "It [ethyl formate] does happen to give raspberries their flavour, but there are many other molecules that are needed to make space raspberries."

Since it went so smashingly the first time, a cruise line will mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic with a cruise that will follow the ship's original route. The Balmoral, operated by Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, whose parent company Harland and Wolff built the Titanic, will set sail early April, 2012, but you can start booking your seat now. The cruise will carry 1,309 passengers — the same number that sailed on the fateful voyage — on the same route as the Titanic, leaving Southmapton in early April 2012 before docking at the Irish port of Cobh (formerly Queenstown), where the Titanic made its final call on April 11, 1912. The cruise will continue to tempt fate and irony by following the route of the Titanic and, on April 14, it will arrive at the exact location the vessel sank some 100 years before, where there will be a special memorial ceremony between 11:40pm (when the ship hit the iceberg) and 2:20am on April 15 (when the ship sank).

A man who had a 30ft dung-firing ballista on his land to deter intruders has been burgled after police told him that it would be illegal for him to use it. Joe Weston-Webb, a former traveling showman who also owns a human cannon and an "exploding coffin," decided to use the siege weapon to scare off intruders after a series of break-ins and an arson attack last year. He fixed the old ballista and equipped it to fire bags of chicken droppings at intruders if an alarm was triggered. Nottinghamshire Police put an end to his defense plan when they told him that using the giant catapult would be illegal as it did not constitute "reasonable force." Burglars broke into his workshop this week and stole or damaged £10,000 worth of goods and equipment. "It is ridiculous that we are in this situation now in which we can't defend ourselves," Joe said. I don't want to live in a world where an honest, hard-working man can't use a classical Roman weapon of mass destruction to defend himself.

John Hunt, an atheist, has won the right to have his baptism removed from Church of England records after arguing that he was too young to give his consent to the ceremony. John was baptised at the age of five months but by the time he was eleven the oppressive nature of elementary school, and the inherit unfairness that comes along with picking soccer teams had convinced him that there was no god. After the church told him that his baptism could not be deleted because it is a matter of historical record, John secured a "de-baptism" certificate produced by the National Secular Society (NSS), rejecting "superstitions" or the idea of original sin. The certificate reads: "I reject all its creeds and other such superstitions in particular the perfidious belief that any baby needs to be cleansed of original sin." This week the church finally agreed to remove the record saying the entry would be "corrected."

The Narrative Fallacy sends along a piece from the Telegraph on efforts by Goldman Sachs to silence a blogger who is posting commentary critical of the bank. "Goldman Sachs has instructed Wall Street law firm Chadbourne & Parke to pursue blogger Mike Morgan, warning him in a recent cease-and-desist letter that he may face legal action if he does not close down his website goldmansachs666.com. According to the C&D letter, dated April 8, the bank is rattled because the site 'violates several of Goldman Sachs' intellectual property rights' and also 'implies a relationship' with the bank itself. Morgan claims he has followed all legal requirements to own and operate the website and that the header of the site clearly states that the content has not been approved by the bank. In a post entitled Goldman Sachs vs Mike Morgan, the blogger predicts that the fight will probably end up in court. He went through a similar battle with US home builder Lennar a few years ago after he set up a website to collect information on what he alleged was shoddy workmanship in its homes. 'Since I went through this with Lennar, I've had advice from some of the best intellectual property lawyers, and I know exactly what I can and can't do. We're not going to back down from this.'"

Police in Norfolk, England already have tracking units, The Automatic Vehicle Location System, installed in their cars that allow a control room to track their exact locations. Later this year a similar system will be attached to individual police radios to allow controllers to monitor the position of every frontline officer. Combined with equipment that can pinpoint the locations of 999 callers, the system will allow the force to home in on "shouts" to within yards. The system also lets operators filter a map showing the location of its vehicles and constables to reveal only those with the skills needed for a specific incident, like the closest officer with silver bullets during a werewolf attack.

If injecting the most toxic protein known to man into your face is just out of your price range, you may have a cheaper alternative. Many people are turning to cheap viper venom to smooth out those wrinkles and giving the boot to Botox. Tests show that twice-daily application of the viper cream for four weeks may reduce the appearance of wrinkles by 52 per cent and gives the user a dc14 poison touch attack.

Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of South Park, were given a very special gift by US marines: a signed photo of Saddam Hussein. During his captivity, the marines forced Saddam to repeatedly watch the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut, which shows him as the boyfriend of Satan. Stone said, "We're very proud of our signed Saddam picture and what it means. It's one of our biggest highlights."

Azaril writes "The British home office had an embarrassing incident this morning, when it was discovered that a link to the new legislation on data retention actually linked to a Japanese porn site. Apparently, the home office forgot to renew the domain name, and didn't change the link when it was bought by a Japanese company. This of course comes after the news that the home secretary claimed pornographic films on her expense account."

An anonymous reader writes "Reacting to allegedly fraudulent election procedures, students are storming the presidency and parliament of the small eastern European country of Moldova. It is reported that they used Twitter to organize. Currently twitter and blogs are being used to spread word of what is happening since all national news websites have been blocked. If the 1989 Romanian revolution was the first to be televised, is this the first to be led by twitter and social networks?" Jamie points out this interesting presentation (from March 2008) by Ethan Zuckerman about the realities of online activism, including how governments try to constrain it.

An anonymous reader writes with a snippet from the Telegraph: "A European Union directive, which Britain was instrumental in devising, comes into force which will require all internet service providers to retain information on email traffic, visits to web sites and telephone calls made over the internet, for 12 months."

Hugh Pickens writes "Six volunteers have climbed into a small metal capsule in Moscow as part of a three-month experiment meant to simulate a voyage to Mars. The crew — a German engineer, a French airline pilot, and four Russians — will spend the next 105 days living in a minimally furnished facility erected in a hangar on the outskirts of the Russian capital. The German said, 'I think we are going to learn a lot about each other.' A cosmonaut-in-training who will lead the mission was quoted: 'On the inside, we will have a lack of incoming information, so it's the science of sensory deprivation.' A similar experiment in Moscow virtually collapsed when a multinational team of men and women were allowed to drink alcohol on the eve of the millennium, and simmering tensions between Russian and non-Russian volunteers exploded in a fight for the affections of a female Canadian scientist. Only men are involved this time, and no alcohol. Scientists will keep a constant vigil on the team via cameras erected in each of the facility's three modules. Those who survive more than 100 days will earn a $20,000 reward. The current project is a warm-up for a much more ambitious experiment, scheduled for December, which will see another group of volunteers spending over 500 days in the same conditions. With current technology it is estimated that a return trip to Mars will take at least 18 months." The amazing thing is that 5,600 people applied to be part of the experiment.

Hugh Pickens writes "The International Space Station, once a place where astronauts would share food and facilities, is said to be embroiled in a Cold War-like stand-off after a Russian cosmonaut complained he is no longer allowed to use a US toilet or the US gym machine. Gennady Padalka, a veteran Russian cosmonaut, says that space officials from Russia, the United States and other countries now require cosmonauts and astronauts to eat their own food and follow stringent rules on access to other facilities, including lavatories. Padalka, who will be the station's next commander, says the arguments date back to 2003, when Russia started charging other space agencies for the resources used by their astronauts and other partners in space station responded in kind. 'Cosmonauts are above the ongoing squabble, no matter what officials decide,' says Padalka. 'We are grown-up, well-educated and good-mannered people and can use our own brains to create normal relationship. It's politicians and bureaucrats who can't reach agreement, not us, cosmonauts and astronauts.' While sharing food in the past helped the crew feel like a team, the new rules oblige Russian cosmonauts and US astronauts to eat their own food. 'They also recommend us to only use national toilets,' says Padalka. 'What is going on has an adverse effect on our work.'"

An anonymous reader writes "A woman in Bushton, Wilts, has been told by the Performing Rights Society (PRS for Music) that she needs to pay an annual fee in order to play classical music from the radio to the horses in her stable, something that she has been doing for the past 20 years. The PRS claims that it's not about the horses — rather, it's about her staff of over two people, which puts Mrs. Greenway in the same category as shops, bars and cafes. 'The staff are not bothered whether they have the radio on or not, in fact they don't particularly like my music and turn if off when I'm not around,' said Mrs. Greenway, 62. 'Especially on windy days I try to play it — it gives [the horses] a nice quiet atmosphere, you can only exercise one horse at a time so it helps the others to stay calm. We are right next to the RAF Lyneham air base so it dulls the noise from the aircraft as well.'"

For $7, Lujan Zoo, in Argentina, will let you play with lions and tigers and bears! Oh my! Tourists who have never watched a lion, bear, or tiger catch and kill prey on TV can ride, wrestle and pet them. Animal protection charity The Born Free Foundation has condemned the zoo and issued a statement to urge tourists not to visit the zoo. CEO Will Travers said, "Based on what I have seen displayed on the Lujan Zoo website, I am fearful that a terrible accident is going to happen."

Ponca City, We love you writes "According to a new study, people who played fighting games on their PCs became up to a 58 percent better at perceiving fine contrast differences, an important aspect of eyesight. The breakthrough is significant because it was previously thought that the ability to notice even very small changes in shades of grey against a uniform background could not be improved. Contrast sensitivity is the primary limiting factor in how well one sees. Volunteers in the study played intensively for 50 hours over nine weeks with either Unreal Tournament 2004 and Call of Duty 2, and the results were compared with another group who played The Sims 2, which is richly visual but does not require as much hand-eye coordination. The improvements lasted for months after game play stopped. The new finding suggests action video games could be used as training devices as a useful complement to eye-correction techniques, since gaming may teach the brain's visual cortex to make better use of the information it receives."

"The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais," by Professor Philip M Parker, won The Diagram Prize for oddest book title of the year. "Baboon Metaphysics," by Dorothy L Cheney and Robert M Seyfarth took second, and "Curbside Consultation of the Colon" by Brooks D Cash came in third. Past winners include such gems as: "Bombproof Your Horse," "People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves To Unsuspecting Bystanders And What To Do About It," and the classic "How to S**t In The Woods: An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art." Strangely absent from the running this year was the thought-provoking "Everything is really wet, even dry stuff."

A quick-thinking Thai fireman dressed up as Spider-Man to coax a frightened autistic eight-year-old from a balcony. The boy, who was scared on his first day at school, walked out on to the third-floor ledge and refused to come inside. His mother mentioned her son's love of superheroes, and fireman Sonchai Yoosabai hurried back to the station and made a quick change into a Spider-Man costume. Mr Somchai said he keeps the Spider-Man costume and an outfit of Japanese television character Ultraman at the station in order to liven up school fire drills. "I told him Spider-Man is here to rescue you, no monsters are going to attack you and I told him to walk slowly towards me as running could be dangerous," Mr Somchai told local television.

Bomb disposal teams were called in and a nearby pub evacuated after water company engineers mistook a Monty Python film prop for a hand grenade. After nearly an hour of examination by bomb experts, they counted to three. No more. No less. Three was the number they counted, and the number they counted was three. Four they did not count, nor two, except to proceed to three. Five was right out. Once the number three had been reached, being the third number, they declared that the grenade was actually a copy of the "Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch" used in the film Monty Python And The Holy Grail. A police spokeswoman confirmed that the device was a toy and that it had been no danger to the public.

Four Spanish teenagers sent a camera-operated weather balloon into the stratosphere. The boys built the electronic sensor components from scratch. Gerard Marull Paretas, Sergi Saballs Vila, Marta Gasull Morcillo and Jaume Puigmiquel Casamort attached a £56 camera to a heavy duty £43 latex balloon, and sent their science project 20-miles above the Earth. Team leader Gerard Marull, 18, said, "We were overwhelmed at our results, especially the photographs, to send our handmade craft to the edge of space is incredible."

chareverie writes "The Prime Minister of the UK is being urged to impose high taxes on violent video games in an effort to reduce the number of knife-related crime. The request comes from Richard Taylor, who argues that young people 'feel that the law has no control over them. They just feel that they can go on the streets and do whatever they like.' He doesn't have a definitive number on how much to tax on the offensive video games, but says that they should be 'very high.' Rap music is also voiced to be a concern due to the alleged negativity and language. Taylor's son, Damilola Taylor, was killed in November 2000 at the age of 10 by knife stabbing."

Richard Rothwell writes with news that Jack Straw, Britain's Justice Secretary, has made public plans to drop provisions from the Coroners and Justice Bill which would have allowed the government to take information gathered for one purpose and use it for any other purpose. "A spokesman for Mr Straw said the 'strength of feeling' against the plans had persuaded him to rethink. The proposals will be dropped entirely from the Coroners and Justice Bill, and a new attempt will be made to reach a consensus on introducing a scaled-back version at an unspecified stage in the future." After defending the government's intentions, Straw bowed to pressure from a variety of groups and individuals who presented objections to the bill.

After three years of research, including examining 503 pieces of fluff from his own belly button, Georg Steinhauser has discovered a type of body hair that traps stray pieces of lint and draws them into the navel. Dr Steinhauser's observations showed that "small pieces of fluff first form in the hair and then end up in the navel at the end of the day." Chemical analysis revealed the pieces of fluff were not just made up of cotton from clothing. Wrapped up in the lint were also flecks of dead skin, fat, sweat and dust. Unfortunately, further study has failed to yield a hair or fiber that would give Dr. Steinhauser the last three years of his life back.

After a tragic accident 14 years ago, doctors said Brian Wilson would spend the rest of his life in bed, and would never talk again. The two birds he had kept as pets since a child had other ideas. Brian has been taught to speak again by the parrots. "Two birds taught me to talk again," he said. "I had such a bad head injury I was never supposed to talk any more than a two-year-old. Then all of a sudden, a word popped out, then two, then more." Mr. Wilson's recovery has amazed doctors, and his only difficulties now appear to be his excessive need to be reassured that he is a "pretty bird," and his cracker diet.

Elliott's Hardware store offered George W. Bush a position as a greeter in an open letter in a Dallas newspaper last month. Bush walked in the store on Saturday and said, "I'm looking for a job." Andrea Bond, a manager at the store, said president Bush spent about an hour with his secret service security detail shopping and talking to customers during the surprise visit. Despite having a lot of free time, the former president turned the job down. I'm sure W would make a great hardware store employee as long as Karl Rove worked in the aisle next to him.

bossanovalithium writes to tell us that details are emerging about the theft of a top secret prototype mobile device stolen from an executive's pocket. Time to start watching eBay. "There are fears that leaks regarding the features and early bugs in the software could mar the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 which the company hopes will give it the edge over the iPhone and the new Google Android operating system. The new product includes support for touch-screen technology similar to that found on the Apple iPhone. Among the features offered in the new service unveiled by Microsoft's chief executive, Steve Ballmer, on Tuesday, is a version of Windows Marketplace for Mobiles, which is set to compete with the popular Apple's App Store and provide easy ways to download music and products to mobiles. "

A dictionary has been created to help kids who are all balled up trying to figure out what some dappers are saying in their bull sessions. The authors thought the idea of a dictionary of this sort was the bee's knees, and made another while they were at it so the old timers could understand the young birds too. Nigel Hare-Scot, big cheese at Home & Capital advisers, said: "There is a vast array of guides on youth street slang to assist older people in bridging the generational gap, but nothing on the market to aid teenagers understand the language of pensioners." I say he's all wet.

Buddhist monks have recycled over one million used bottles to build a temple in Khun Han, Thailand near the Cambodian border. The monks started collecting bottles in 1984 and gathered so many that they decided to use them as a building material. Wat Lan Kuad or 'the Temple of a Million Bottles', is a complex of around 20 buildings, comprising the main temple over a lake, crematorium, prayer rooms, a hall, water tower, tourist bathrooms and several small bungalows raised off the ground which serve as monks quarters, all using bottles. The monks plan on expanding once they have more bottles. Abbot San Kataboonyo says, "The more bottles we get, the more buildings we make."

Ponca City, We love you writes "Jet packs have been around for half a century, but there's always been one problem: they run out of fuel in around 30 seconds. Now a German company has taken the standard jet pack design, run a fat yellow hose out the back, and connected it to a small unmanned boat that houses an engine, pump, and fuel tank and sends pressurized water up the hose, where it's shot out by two nozzles just behind the wearer's shoulders. Called the JetLev-Flyer, the design purportedly can reach a height of 15 meters, a speed of 72 kph, and a range of 300 kilometers based on four hours of flying time. A digital fly-by-wire system is used to control the throttle. Future designs may achieve higher altitudes, higher top speeds, and extended range, and even travel below the water's surface. The American manufacturers claim it is 'amazingly easy to learn and operate' and they're taking orders now at $130,000 each."

Prison chiefs have been criticized for allowing inmates at HMP Erlestoke to borrow books such as Escape by David McMillan , which describes how he broke out of Thailand's "Bangkok Hilton" from the prison library. The catalog of "inappropriate" books also includes Pretty Boy, the story of Roy Shaw, an armed robber who assaulted prison guards while jailed and a book by Tim Carroll about great escapes during World War Two. Strangely, Shiv Making For Dummies, and The Rotation Schedules of Gloucester Prison Guards, didn't make the "questionable" list.

Vandals in three US states have altered the text on electronic road signs, posting notices of "Nazi zombies" and "raptors ahead" instead of legitimate messages detailing traffic problems. The latest prank took place Tuesday in Collinsville, Illinois, and warned "DAILY LANE CLOSURES DUE TO ZOMBIES". Past faux warnings from around the country this week include: "NAZI ZOMBIES! RUN!!!", "RAPTORS AHEAD.", and "ZOMBIES IN AREA! RUN." As you can imagine authorities don't think hacking traffic signs is funny and warn that doing so is against the law punishable by removal of your delicious brain.

bfwebster writes "An article in the Telegraph (UK) raises an interesting question: was the massive (7.9) Sichuan earthquake that wracked China last year and left millions homeless caused by ground stresses following the completion of the Zipingpu dam? As the article notes, 'The 511-ft-high Zipingpu dam holds 315 million tonnes of water and lies just 550 yards from the fault line, and three miles from the epicenter, of the Sichuan earthquake. Now scientists in China and the United States believe the weight of water, and the effect of it penetrating into the rock, could have affected the pressure on the fault line underneath, possibly unleashing a chain of ruptures that led to the quake.'" The Sichuan region is earthquake-prone, but has not seen anything as large as the 7.9-magnitude quake for perhaps millions of years. The Chinese government denies any connection between the dam and the earthquake and seems to be actively obstructing the access of scientists who want to investigate. The article concludes, "There is a history of earthquakes triggered by dams, including several caused by the construction of the Hoover Dam in the US, but none of such a magnitude."

In an attempt to stop prisoners smuggling mobile phones into jail, Britain plans on introducing bottom scanners. Prisoners will have to sit on the scanners (chairs), called Body Orifice Security Scanners, which bleep if their subjects have a phone hidden inside them. The £6,500 chairs are going in 102 jails across Britain, and can also be used to detect drugs and weapons. The chairs are very reasonably priced when you think of the savings on latex gloves, lube, and anti-bacterial soap they provide.

Dekortage writes "'Dear Iranian nation, your children have placed the first indigenous satellite into orbit,' announced Iran's President Ahmadinejad yesterday. The satellite, named Omid ('hope'), was launched to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution. Video shown on Iranian television shows a Safir-2 rocket rising into the sky, as a follow-up to a test firing last August."

jamie points out a story in the Telegraph about a project to clone the Pyrenean Ibex (known also as bucardo), a species that went extinct in 2000. Before the last known member of the species died, scientists took tissue samples to begin a project to clone the animal. "Using techniques similar to those used to clone Dolly the sheep, known as nuclear transfer, the researchers were able to transplant DNA from the tissue into eggs taken from domestic goats to create 439 embryos, of which 57 were implanted into surrogate females. " Now, for the first time, one of them has survived the gestation period, living for seven minutes after birth. One of the researchers said, "The delivered kid was genetically identical to the bucardo. In species such as bucardo, cloning is the only possibility to avoid its complete disappearance."

Pilots in the RAF have fired upon unidentified objects without success since the 1980s, according to Nick Pope, who used to run the Ministry of Defence's UFO project. "There was a faction in the MoD who said 'We want to shoot down a UFO and that will resolve the issue one way or another. We know of cases where the order has been given to shoot down - with little effect to the UFO," he says. The MoD refused to comment. While not making the best first impression on our alien visitors, this policy assures that the British won't end up in a cookbook.

A gym in central London is offering its customers a chance to use a set of human dumbbells to exercise with. The five dumbbells wear Lycra catsuits which label their weight and sit on specially adapted machines while shouting words of encouragement. Gymbox owner Richard Hilton said, "A lot of our members felt that lifting metal weights was boring and not especially motivating." If you had to chase your weight, and wrestle it into submission before lifting it, you could get your cardio done too.

Tracey Fox, 42, became so sick of her constantly broken washing machine that she decided to barricade herself against the door and refused to let the repairman out of her home. The grandmother of two said, "I'm not proud of my actions, but I felt there was no other option. It sounds stupid thinking about it now, but it was the final straw." After police were called, the situation was resolved and the company that sold the washer have since offered Tracey and her husband Terry, 44, a new washing machine. It's like I always say, If you have a problem just hold somebody hostage.

Barney, an African Grey Parrot, has learned to use his owner's voice to boss around her other pets. The bird, 10, squawks out orders like "come here" and even offers praise to his favorites such as "good dog." Margaret Sullivan, 65, says the bird's favorite game is calling out to a cat named Shadow. He then praises him when he does as he is told and sits on top of Barney's cage. Her husband says, "It's uncanny. He mimics her perfectly and when the dogs come over to the cage as if they are following his orders. The animals all think he's Margaret when he speaks. He loves ordering them around and commanding them — it's very surprising. He's not frightened or scared of them at all." Sounds like the beginning of a bad horror movie to me. Mimic Master; The last scream you hear will be your own.

Scientists at Washington State University have found that about four in ten of us will laugh at a bad joke, while less than one in 100 will voice displeasure. Researchers believe that we may be amused at being let down by the humor, and that we laugh at how bad a joke can actually be. Dr Nancy Bell made her findings after a team of colleagues told this joke to almost 200 people: "What did the big chimney say to the little chimney? Nothing. Chimneys can't talk." At last I understand how Dane Cook and Carrot Top have careers.

PearsSoap writes "The Telegraph and other sources are pointing out a study on 200 students which has found that a high caffeine intake can cause visual and auditory hallucinations, and can make people think that others are 'out to get them.' The abstract (and full version if you have access) is available. 'The volunteers were questioned about their caffeine intake from products including coffee, tea, energy drinks, chocolate bars and caffeine tablets.'"

A man whose home was so full of trash that he had to build an network of tunnels to get around may have died after getting lost in the maze. Officials think Gordon Stewart, 74, died as a result of dehydration, after becoming unable to find his way out of the network of carrier bags, boxes, old furniture and other junk. Neighbors had become concerned that they had not seen Mr Stewart for several days and raised the alarm. Officials had no comment on the Bog of Eternal Stench or the whereabouts of the Goblin King.

kaufmanmoore writes "UK culture secretary Andy Burnham calls for a website rating system similar to the one used for movies in an interview with the Daily Telegraph. He also calls for censorship of the internet, saying, 'There is content that should just not be available to be viewed.' Other proposals he mentions in his wide-ranging calls for internet regulation are 'family-friendly' services from ISPs, and requiring takedown notices to be enforced within a specific time for sites that host content. Mr. Burnham wants to extend his proposals across the pond and seeks meetings with the Obama administration."

Doctors have reported the first case of someone using the internet while asleep, when a sleeping woman sent emails to people asking them over for drinks and caviar. The 44-year-old woman found out what she had done after a would be guest phoned her about it the next day. While asleep the woman turned on her computer, logged on by typing her username and password then composed and sent three emails. Each mail was in a random mix of upper and lower cases, unformatted and written in strange language. One read: "Come tomorrow and sort this hell hole out. Dinner and drinks, 4.pm,. Bring wine and caviar only." Another said simply, "What the......." If I had known that researchers were interested in unformatted, rambling email I would have let them read my inbox. They could start a whole new school of medicine.

Shaggy, a two-and-a-half-year-old reindeer who lost his horns, is still able to perform shows this year thanks to a wig made of rabbit pelts and the antlers he shed last year. His owner, Trevor Hill, said, "I used his old antlers from last year and a bit of rabbit fur we found that matched up with the colour of his fur. There is a bit of a toupee structure there so it covers up the wire underneath. As far as I know this device is totally unique." This sounds a lot more complicated than just a smudge of dirt on a red nose.

Teachers who mark homework with a red pen could be inflicting psychological damage on their students, according to new Australian guidelines. Teachers are being urged to use less aggressive colors, like the-real-world-is-going-to-eat-you-alive green, and setting-you-up-for-failure blue. Stephen Robertson, the Queensland health minister, defended the new rules, saying that youth suicide was a serious issue. "If mental health professionals determine that as one of a number of strategies teachers should consider, then I'll support them every day of the week," he said. "This is not a matter for ridicule, this is serious."

The world's most expensive Christmas tree has been unveiled in Japan. Currently on display at the Ginza Tanaka jewelery shop in Shinsaibashi, Osaka, the tree is made of 24k gold, decorated with more than 240 jewels including diamonds and pearls, and comes with an estimated value of around £1million. "Economic sentiment is sluggish. But, at least in this store, we want people to feel a gorgeous atmosphere," a store official said. At least they spent their money on a useful gift this year, and nothing gaudy.

Dorian Cox, the 27-year-old guitarist of the indie band The Long Blondes, thought his guitar playing days were over after he suffered a stroke. He now has a glimmer of hope thanks to some neurological physiotherapy which includes a cutting-edge piece of medical technology. The SaeboFlex helps patients by supporting their wrists and helping them grasp and release objects. "It's a fantastic service, it's helping tremendously and I think it can work wonders for me and others — it's almost like a gym for my hand. I know things might never be the same again and nobody can give me a definite answer about whether I'll play guitar again but I'm getting back on track with their help," Mr. Cox said. This thing looks really cool, and I'm sure many people will benefit from it, though I can't help but wonder if they make a model that lets you shoot your fist at an enemy.

cheesethegreat writes "The Royal Society of Chemistry has sharply criticized the 'catastrophically' falling standards for UK school exams in the sciences. The RSC had 1,300 highly achieving students take an exam made up of questions taken from the last 50 years. The students averaged an appalling 15% on 'hard' numerical questions set in the 1960s, but managing much higher marks on the more recent 'soft' non-numerical questions. This latest report has garnered mainstream media attention. The RSC has also created a petition on the UK Prime Minister's official website, calling for urgent intervention to halt the slide, which has garnered over 3,000 signatures. The issue of declining exam standards has been an ongoing concern in the UK, with allegations that exam results have been manipulated by the government to increase pass rates and meet its own targets."

A Colorado judge has come up with a way to ensure noise polluters learn their lesson. He forces them to listen to Barry Manilow. Four times a year, Judge Paul Sacco forces noise ordinance violators to sit in a room and listen to one hour of hits from Barry Manilow and Barney, the purple dinosaur. "These people should have to listen to music they don't like," Mr Sacco said.