Slashdot Mirror

Dutch police are employing a new weapon in the battle against hate crimes, the "decoy Jew." Not to be confused with a Jew decoy, the decoy Jew is a police man dressed in Jewish religious garb and not a facsimile composed of wood or clay. From the article: "Lodewijk Asscher, Amsterdam's mayor, has ordered the new decoy strategy to cut the number of verbal and physical attacks on Jews, amid fears that anti-Semitic 'hate crime' is on the rise. 'Jews in at least six Amsterdam neighborhood's often cannot cross the street wearing a skullcap without being insulted, spat at or even attacked,' according to local reports."

Young shoplifters in the UK may soon face a punishment far worse than jail. A new program would force them to work weekends in restaurants or in retail stores. The program is designed to keep the children from having a lasting record, and teach them just how terrible working with the public can be. Not everyone thinks it's a good idea to put the little foxes in the hen house however. From the article: "But local shopkeepers have expressed discomfort with the scheme. Tina Sayer, who works at city center store Planet News, said, 'Everybody deserves a second chance, but you would have to be very careful what position you put them in. I believe that a leopard does not change its spots.' She stressed, 'I know that's cynical but I would not be comfortable with shoplifters having anything to do with cash or with stock.'"

Scientists at the University of Sheffield have recorded the "music" produced by the magnetic field in the outer atmosphere of the sun. They discovered that the huge magnetic loops that coil away from the outer layer of the sun's atmosphere, known as coronal loops, vibrate like strings on a musical instrument or behave like soundwaves traveling through a wind instrument. From the article: "Professor Robertus von Fáy-Siebenbürgen, head of the solar physics research group at Sheffield University, said, 'It was strangely beautiful and exciting to hear these noises for the first time from such a large and powerful source. It is a sort of music as it has harmonics. It is providing us with a new way of learning about the sun and giving us a new insight into the physics that goes on at in the sun's outer layers where temperatures reach millions of degrees.'"

Sussex police are creating a number of iPhone apps for the public, including one to renew your gun license. Unsurprisingly, the plan has some anti-gun groups upset. Lyn Costello, of Mothers Against Murder and Aggression (MAMAA), said, "This isn't suitable, especially in light of what happened in Cumbria. We've got to be extra careful giving gun licenses. We have this attitude that gun murders don't happen very often so it's OK to be lax, but it is not OK and we've got to do everything in our power to stop it happening again. We can't put money before life and if you start to do that we are losing our humanity. It is a really stupid idea.''

Low Ranked Craig writes "Senior space agency scientists believe the Earth will be hit with unprecedented levels of magnetic energy from solar flares after the Sun wakes 'from a deep slumber' sometime around 2013. In a new warning, NASA said the super storm could hit like 'a bolt of lightning' and could cause catastrophic consequences for the world's health, emergency services, and national security — unless precautions are taken. Scientists believe damage could extend to everyday items such as home computers, iPods, and sat navs. 'We know it is coming but we don't know how bad it is going to be,' said Dr. Richard Fisher, the director of NASA's Heliophysics division. 'I believe we're on the threshold of a new era in which space weather can be as influential in our daily lives as ordinary terrestrial weather.' Fisher concludes. 'We take this very seriously indeed.'"

If you try to evict Chinese farmer Yang Youde you better be ready for a lot of attitude and his homemade cannon. Land developers have attempted to confiscate his farm twice, only to be met with homemade rocket blasts. From the article: "'I shot only over their heads to frighten them,' the China Daily quoted him saying of his attacks on demolition workers sent to move him off his land. 'I didn't want to cause any injuries.' The rockets can travel over 100 meters, and exploded with a deafening bang, the official paper added. It did not say if anyone had been injured."

krou writes "Junior students at Higher Lane Primary in Whitefield, Greater Manchester, are in a trial of a system that uses their thumbprints to check out and return books from a library. The thumbprints are 'digitally transformed into electronic codes, which can then be recognized by a computer program.' The system was developed by Microsoft, and is being trialled elsewhere in the country. NO2ID condemned the system, saying it was appalling, and that 'It conditions children to hand over sensitive personal information.' The headmaster has defended the scheme, saying, 'We have researched this scheme thoroughly. It is a biometric recognition system and no image of a fingerprint is ever stored. It is a voluntary system. The thumbprint creates a mathematical template. All parents have been written to and we have told them what the system is all about. From the responses we have had there has been overwhelming support. We hold a lot of information about children because we are a school. This is no different.'"

krou passes along word from Telegraph.co.uk that researchers from Chandigarh's Punjab University claim that they have proven mobile phones could explain Colony Collapse Disorder. "They set up a controlled experiment in Punjab earlier this year comparing the behavior and productivity of bees in two hives — one fitted with two mobile telephones which were powered on for two 15-minute sessions per day for three months. The other had dummy models installed. After three months the researchers recorded a dramatic decline in the size of the hive fitted with the mobile phone, a significant reduction in the number of eggs laid by the queen bee. The bees also stopped producing honey. The queen bee in the 'mobile' hive produced fewer than half of those created by her counterpart in the normal hive. They also found a dramatic decline in the number of worker bees returning to the hive after collecting pollen." We've talked about the honeybee problem before. Today's article quotes a British bee specialist who dismisses talk of cellphone radiation having anything to do with the problem.

The Bulgarian mobile phone company Mobitel has discontinued the number 0888 888 888 because everybody who has had it has died. The number's first owner, Vladimir Grashnov, died of cancer. Then Bulgarian mafia boss Konstantin Dimitrov was killed by an assassin. Finally, cocaine trafficker Konstantin Dishliev took over the number. He was shot outside an Indian restaurant. From the article: "Since then, the number is understood to have been dormant while police maintained an open file on Dishliev's killing and his smuggling ring. Now phone bosses are said to have suspended the number for good. Callers now get a recorded message saying the phone is 'outside network coverage.' A Mobitel spokesman would only say, 'We have no comment to make. We won't discuss individual numbers.'"

kokoko1 submits this snippet from The Telegraph, which reports that Facebook isn't alone — now YouTube, too, is being censored in Pakistan. "The blocking of YouTube comes a day after a Pakistani court blocked Facebook amid a growing row over a competition on the social networking website to design cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad." Update: 05/20 18:58 GMT by T : According to an anonymous reader, Wikipedia and Flickr are out, too.
Update: 05/21 12:11 GMT by KD : And now add Twitter to the blocked list. This post claims that more than 1,000 sites are being blocked in Pakistan.

Italian prosecutors believe that thousands of small, lower-end pizza shops in Naples may be using wood from coffins dug up in the local cemetery to cook their pizzas. From the article: "'A gang might have set up a market for coffins sold to hard-hearted owners of bakeries and pizzerias looking to save money on wood,' Il Giornale said. According to tradition, Neapolitan pizza should be cooked in a stone oven with an oak-wood fire."

40-year-old Paul Hutton has lost his license for three years after driving an electric Barbie car while intoxicated. Hutton was found to be twice the legal limit while he was recklessly driving the bright pink vehicle with a top speed of 4mph. "You have to be a contortionist to get in, and then you can't get out. I was very surprised to get done for drink-driving but I was a twit to say the least. It is designed for three-to-five-year-olds. Originally it was a pink Barbie car but I put bigger wheels on it but it's not fast. I'm not unhappy with my punishment, just a little bit surprised," he said.

An anonymous reader writes "The US has sent a team of nuclear physicists to help BP plug the 'catastrophic' flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from its leaking Deepwater Horizon well, as the Obama administration becomes frustrated with the oil giant's inability to control the situation. The five-man team — which includes a man who helped develop the first hydrogen bomb in the 1950s — is the brainchild of Steven Chu, President Obama's Energy Secretary." Let's hope this doesn't mean they actually try the nuclear option. In other offshore drilling news, reader mygoditsfullofdoom informs us that a Venezuelan gas rig has sunk in the Caribbean (with no loss of life). This one is being laid at the feet of Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA, which hasn't exactly been regarded as uber-competent "after President Hugo Chavez fired half the company's managers and senior engineers following a 2002 strike."

analysethis writes "In the UK last month the author/compiler of the well-known-in-Internet-circles 'terrorist handbook' pleaded guilty to seven counts of collecting information that could have been used to prepare or commit acts of terrorism, with a maximum jail term of 10 years. Today the first people caught with downloaded copies have been put behind bars — a white-supremacist father and son pairing getting 10 and two years respectively, convicted of three counts of possessing material useful for acts of terror. How many will be emptying their recycle bins after this conviction? As of writing, the book is still freely available on Amazon.com to buy." Note: it seems that there's some overlapping nomenclature at play. Terrance Brown, the man who pleaded guilty to terror charges last month, is said to have been distributing a CD set including among other things extracts from Al-Qaeda manuals. His "cookbook" differs then from William Powell's 1971 book by a similar title, though (confusingly enough) the linked Wikipedia article implies that the father-and-son pair arrested possessed a copy of the Powell book as well; its text may well have been among the materials that Brown distributed.

CyDharttha writes with news that the Mac version of Steam went live today, along with Mac versions of Portal, Team Fortress 2, and many other games. Valve plans to make more games available every Wednesday. Several publications are also reporting that a Linux version of Steam has been confirmed, and is expected within the next few months. Quoting Phoronix: "Found already within the Steam store are Linux-native games like Unreal Tournament 2004, World of Goo, and titles from id Software such as Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Doom 3. Now that the Source Engine is officially supported on Linux, some Source-based games will be coming over too. Will we finally see Unreal Tournament 3 surface on Linux too? Only time will tell, but it is something we speculated back in 2008. Postal III is also being released this year atop the Source Engine and it will be offering up a native client. We have confirmed that Valve's latest and popular titles like Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, and Team Fortress 2 are among the first of the Steam Linux titles, similar to the Mac OS X support. The released Linux client should be available by the end of summer."

Hugh Pickens sends in coverage in the Telegraph of a joint NASA-ESA experimental mission, to launch around 2020. It involves three spacecraft orbiting the Sun, separated by 3 million miles, each with a payload of two lasers and a 4.6-cm cube of gold-platinum alloy. The point of it all is to look for gravitational waves. The mission is called LISA, a reasonably non-strained acronym for Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. The Telegraph makes a point of LISA being the largest experiment ever constructed (in terms of its dimensions). Neither that newspaper nor the project page at NASA mentions how much the experiment will cost, but it's almost certainly an order of magnitude or more above the $66 million estimated for a gravitational wave detector the size of the galaxy, which we discussed last fall.

andylim writes "According to the Telegraph, the BlackBerry was first predicted more than a century ago, by Nikola Tesla, the electrical engineer. Seth Porges, Popular Mechanics' current technology editor, disclosed Tesla's prediction at a presentation, titled '108 Years of Futurism,' to industry figures recently in New York. Recombu.com has published the original Popular Mechanics article in which Tesla predicts a mobile phone revolution."

Do you love to hear crying babies but wish you could somehow mix in some Sumo wrestler with each wail? Then the annual Naki Sumo (crying baby contest) in Japan might be for you. From the article: "Eager mothers bring the babies to the event where Sumo wrestlers and high priests are on hand to coax babies into a maddened state of wailing. The event, which marks the high point of spring, is held each year at the Sensoji Temple in Tokyo. The baby to cry loudest and longest wins the contest. The competition is also intended to generate good health for the babies. This year Sumo wrestlers coaxed 80 babies, all less than a year old, to cry.

A new kind of speed camera that uses satellites to measure average speed over long distances is being tested in Britain. The "Speedspike" system combines plate reading technology with a global positioning satellite receiver to calculate average speed between any two points in the area being monitored. From the article: "Details of the trials are contained in a House of Commons report. The company said in its evidence that the cameras enabled 'number plate capture in all weather conditions, 24 hours a day.' It also referred to the system's 'low cost' and ease of installation." I can't wait to see the episode of MythBusters where they try to avoid getting a speeding ticket from a satellite.

New York anthropology professor Philip Haseley wants young people to get the best education possible, and part of that education, he says, should be about UFOs. Haseley thinks universities should offer classes on UFOs and other unexplained phenomena from space. "[A sighting] happens to millions of people [around the world]. It's about time we looked into this as a worthy area of study. It's important that the whole subject be brought out in the open and investigated," he said. I want to believe the truth is out there in 500 words or less.

Hugh Pickens writes "The Telegraph reports that James and John Parr were both arrested after watches worth £10,000 were stolen from a shopping center. Police found blood on a piece of glass at the scene of the crime and traced it back to the 25-year-old identical twins through DNA tests. But James and John both denied the theft and, because they have identical DNA, it has been impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt which twin is responsible. 'The police told us that they knew it was one of us, but we both denied it,' says James. 'I definitely know I didn't do anything wrong. I was watching my daughter that night.' Now the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has concluded that it cannot prove beyond reasonable doubt who was responsible. 'Unless further evidence becomes available, we are unable to authorize any charge at this time,' says CPS spokesman Rob Pett. 'This is certainly not something that we regularly encounter.' Identical twins have hindered police investigations a number of times since the advent of DNA testing. In Malaysia last year, a man suspected of drug-smuggling and sentenced to death was released when the court could not prove whether it was he or his twin brother who committed the crime."

A Swedish prisoner has been accused of deliberately farting near guards in a protest against his incarceration. The problem is so severe that he was served with an official warning that future flatulent conduct towards prison guards will be punished. I guess prisoners never attack guards with homemade weapons in Sweden. From the article: "Anders Eriksson, the prison's warden, realized that the inmate's repeated episodes of flatulence were 'a series of concerted attacks' on staff. 'I have worked within the prisons and probation service since 1986 and I have never experienced a situation where behavior of this sort has led to punishment,' he told Sweden's Metro newspaper."

Hugh Pickens writes "The Telegraph reports that a flaw in the way emergency response software was set up to handle Category A responses in Great Britain may have cost hundreds of lives over the past ten years. Most ambulance services use an international computerized system designed in America and in the US version, a fall of more than 6 feet receives the maximum priority response. However, the government committee which governs its use in Great Britain decided that such cases should be deemed less urgent, and excluded from an eight minute category A target response time. If a call involved a fall of more than 6 feet it was designated a lower priority 'category B response' despite the presence of life-threatening conditions which were supposed to receive the most urgent category A response. The flaw came to light after Bonnie Mason, 58, fell 12 feet down the stairs and died from a head injury after emergency controllers in Suffolk failed to identify her situation as 'life-threatening.'"

Hugh Pickens writes "The Telegraph reports that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is about to announce that within a year everyone in Great Britain will be given a personalized webpage for accessing Government services as part of a plan to save billions of pounds by putting all public services online. The move could see the closure of job centers and physical offices dealing with tax, vehicle licensing, passports and housing benefits within 10 years as services are offered through a single digital gateway. [This] 'saves time for people and it saves money for the Government — the processing of a piece of paper and mailing it back costs many times more than it costs to process something electronically,' says Tim Berners-Lee, an advisor to the Prime Minister. However, the proposals are coming under fire from union leaders who complain that thousands of public sector workers would be made jobless and pointed to the Government's poor record of handling personal data. 'Cutting public services is not only bad for the public who use services but also the economy as we are pushing people who provide valuable services on the dole,' says one union leader."

Artist Nina Maria Kleivan knows that there is nothing more adorable than a baby dictator. That's why she decided to dress her 1-year-old daughter Faustina as some of the world's most infamous despots. The list of precious little monsters includes: Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Saddam Hussein, Ayatollah Khomeini, Chairman Mao, Idi Amin, Augusto Pinochet, and Slobodan Milosevic. Faustina is so cute as Idi Amin that she is in danger of eating her own cheeks up.

You might think a raccoon that has been smashed flat by a car is disgusting, but aspiring fashion designer James Faulkner thinks it would make a wonderful hat. Faulkner's makes hats from the feather and fur of animals that have been killed on roads. Most of his hats are made of foxes, magpies, rabbits, wood pigeons, pheasants, mallards, crows and peacocks. Faulkner says, "It sounds very sinister, but I find it very satisfying to make something beautiful from something gruesome. It started when my friend wanted to buy a hat for her wedding. Without thinking, I said I'd make one, then I instantly panicked, but one day I was walking along the road and I spotted a magpie in quite a sorry state. I knew that my friend's dress was black and white so I thought it could work. I picked it up using a plastic bag and later used the wing feathers to make the hat. It sounds awful, but I cut off the wings with an axe."

A South African prostitute known only as "Kylie" has decided she's not going to take her firing lying down. She has gone to court, claiming she was unfairly released from her job at a massage parlor. The problem for Kylie is that prostitution is illegal in South Africa so the judge at the labour appeals court has expressed his doubts about the legality of a person engaged in illegal activity challenging a dismissal. "When dismissed you are made to stop with something criminal... but then you say 'please protect me from someone who is stopping me from doing something criminal' — it doesn't makes sense to me," Judge President Raymond Zondo said.

Have you ever wanted to secretively spike an entire community's food supply with psychoactive drugs and see what happens? If so, then you should have joined the CIA in 1951. H .P. Albarelli Jr., an investigative journalist, claims that a sudden outbreak of mass insanity and hallucinations in the French town of Pont-Saint-Esprit 50 years ago was part of a CIA experiment with LSD, and not caused by flour contaminated with ergot as had been theorized. The brown bread that is circulating around us is not, specifically, too good. It's suggested that you do stay away from that.

Pickens writes "The Telegraph reports that Apple is developing technology, already being nicknamed the 'iKey,' which will allow users to gain access to their office and unlock their car or front door with a single electronic device like an iPhone. Users would simply have to enter a PIN and wave the device over an electronic pad fitted beside a door to open it. 'The device can communicate with an external device to open a lock. By way of example, the electronic device may be a model of an iPhone,' says the newly released patent application. 'The external device may be any suitable electronic device such as a portable media player, personal data assistant or electronic lock that may be used to access a door, car, house, or other physical area.' The technology behind the invention is known as Near Field Communication; it allows electronic devices to transmit information when in proximity. 'If true, it's a very big deal. As well as opening doors and unlocking your car, it could also turn your iPhone into an electronic wallet and ID card,' says Leander Kahney, a consumer technology expert. 'The trouble is that the technology hasn't gone completely mainstream. If Apple were to adopt the technology, they would likely set the standard, and that would drive widespread adoption as everyone scrambles to make their systems iPhone-friendly.'"

Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that the BBC has yielded to critics of its aggressive expansion, and is planning to make sweeping cuts in spending on its Web site and other digital operations. Members of the Conservative Party, which is expected to make electoral gains at the expense of the governing Labor Party, have called for the BBC to be reined in and last year James Murdoch criticized the BBC for providing 'free news' on the internet, making it 'incredibly hard for private news organizations to ask people to pay for their news.' Mark Thompson, director-general of the BBC, said 'After years of expansion of our services in the UK, we are proposing some reductions.' The BBC is proposing a 25 percent reduction in its spending on the Web, as well as the closure of several digital radio stations and a reduction in outlays on US television shows. The Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union, which represents thousands of workers at the BBC, says that instead of appeasing critics, the proposed cuts could backfire. 'The BBC will not secure the politicians' favor with these proposals and nor will the corporation appease the commercial sector, which will see what the BBC is prepared to sacrifice and will pile on the pressure for more cuts,' says Gerry Morrissey, general secretary of the union."

Hugh Pickens writes "The Telegraph reports that an an 'obsessed' American couple, Josh and Ting Li, have become the first to marry inside one of the technology giant's stores saying "iDo" at the city's Apple store on Fifth Avenue, at 12.01 on Valentine's Day in a ceremony dominated with the company's products and references to them. A video shows that the pair, who met in the Apple store, had their priest, dressed as Steve Jobs, read their vows from their iPhones while the rings were tied to a ribbon wrapped around a first generation iPod. Mrs Ling, dressed in a strapless wedding dress, had her vows written on a card that said 'I love you more than this' followed by a picture of an iPhone. 'We got to know each other because Ting was looking to buy an iPod and I managed to strike up a conversation that way,' says Mr. Ting. 'I used to joke that the Apple Store is my church because I am not religious, and I loved everything Apple.' No word on where the couple honeymooned although some say they may have remained in The Big Apple."

Swiss men with weak hearts don't have to worry about visiting brothels anymore. Prostitutes in Switzerland are being trained to use defibrillators in case their clients give out while they're giving it up. There have been so many heart attacks at brothels in the Lugano area recently that owners say defibrillators, and people trained in their use, are needed. The owner of one sex club said: "Having customers die on us isn't exactly good publicity."

Alton Towers theme park has officially banned a squirrel from riding one of its roller coasters. In addition to loving the rides, the thrill-seeking rodent, nicknamed "Sonic," is also accused of stealing food from workers. Morwenna Angove, sales and marketing director at the Alton Towers resort, said: ''Unfortunately Sonic's behavior is a danger both to our guests and himself and so we're doing all we can to ensure that he stays away from the ride." The company is also considering a ban on crocodiles riding the log flume, and ending its popular porcupine bumper car night.

Millionaire Karl Rabeder has decided to give away his £3 million fortune because it's made him miserable. "My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing," he said, "Money is counterproductive – it prevents happiness to come." Rabeder plans on selling all of his properties as well, and giving the money to his microcredit charity, which offers small loans to Latin America and builds development aid strategies to self-employed people in El Salvador, Honduras, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Chile.

A Polish newspaper, The Gazeta Olsztynska, has mistakenly reported that Pedobear is one of the mascots of the 2010 Winter Olympics. An image of the notorious internet meme, who loves to love children, was shown alongside genuine Olympic mascots Quatchi, Sumi, Miga and Mukmuk to illustrate a feature about the Games.

bLanark writes with news of a new substance that can be sprayed on for a durable, easy-to-clean film on almost any substance, hard or soft. The liquid glass is essentially pure silicon dioxide, and it goes on in a layer 15 to 30 atoms thick. It is breathable and flexible, but waterproof and resistant to bacterial growth. The patent is held by a German company, Nanopool, which is in discussion with many parties about a wide range of uses: keeping public spaces sanitary, keeping restaurants clean, and keeping cars or trains clean. "The spray forms a water-resistant layer, meaning it can be cleaned using only water. Trials by food-processing companies showed that sterile surfaces covered with a film of liquid glass were equally clean after a rinse with hot water as after their usual treatment with strong bleach."

An anonymous reader writes "The long-awaited Russian stealth fighter, codenamed PAK FA or T-50, has had its first test flight today. This Google translation of a Russian article has a photo of the jet. Production is supposed to begin in 2015; the AP reports that India is helping with development. It's reportedly designed to compete with America's F-22 (first flight: 1997). Relatedly, according to Wikipedia, Japan is planning to fly its own stealth fighter, the ATD-X, which we have previously discussed, in 2011."

It's the tripnaut! writes "The Daily Telegraph has posted an article stating that 'Professor Simon Conway Morris at Cambridge University will tell a conference on alien life that extraterrestrials will most likely have evolved just like earthlings and so resemble us to a degree with heads, limbs and bodies. They also add a cautionary note that 'Unfortunately they will have also evolved our foibles and faults which could make them dangerous if they ever did visit us on Earth."

Hugh Pickens writes "An analysis of papers published in 10,500 academic journals across the world shows that, in terms of academic papers published, China is now second only to the US, and will take first place by 2020. Chinese scientists are increasing their output at a far faster rate than counterparts in rival 'emerging' nations such as India, Russia, and Brazil. The number of peer-reviewed papers published by Chinese researchers rose 64-fold over the past 30 years. 'China is out on its own, far ahead of the pack,' says James Wilsdon, of the Royal Society in London. 'If anything, China's recent research performance has exceeded even the high expectations of four or five years ago.' According to Wilsdon, three main factors are driving Chinese research. First is the government's enormous investment, with funding increases far above the rate of inflation, at all levels of the system from schools to postgraduate research. Second is the organized flow of knowledge from basic science to commercial applications. And third is the efficient and flexible way in which China is tapping the expertise of its extensive scientific diaspora in North America and Europe, tempting back mid-career scientists with deals that allow them to spend part of the year working in the West and part in China." Here's the Financial Times's original article.

krou writes "Amateur astronomer Peter Shah has stunned astronomers around the world with amazing photos of the universe taken from his garden shed. Shah spent £20,000 on the equipment, hooking up a telescope in his shed to his home computer, and the results are being compared to images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. 'Most men like to putter about in their garden shed,' said Shah, 'but mine is a bit more high tech than most. I have fitted it with a sliding roof so I can sit in comfort and look at the heavens. I have a very modest set up, but it just goes to show that a window to the universe is there for all of us – even with the smallest budgets. I had to be patient and take the images over a period of several months because the skies in Britain are often clouded over and you need clear conditions.' His images include the Monkey's head nebula, M33 Pinwheel Galaxy, Andromeda Galaxy and the Flaming Star Nebula, and are being put together for a book."

ImNotARealPerson writes "Scientists in Italy are hoping to breed back from extinction the mighty auroch, a bovine species which has been extinct since 1627. The auroch weighed 2,200 pounds (1000kg) and its shoulders stood at 6'6". The beasts once roamed most of Asia and northern Africa. The animal was depicted in cave paintings and Julius Caesar described it as being a little less in size than an elephant. A member of the Consortium for Experimental Biotechnology suggests that 99% of the auroch's DNA can be recreated from genetic material found in surviving bone material. Wikipedia mentions that researchers in Poland are working on the same problem."

Have you ever wanted a stranger dressed in a special all-in-one sleeper suit to warm up your hotel bed before you go to sleep? If you answered yes, Holiday Inns in London and Manchester have the perfect program for you. For a limited time, guests can receive a free, five-minute bed warming session from the hotel's human bed warmers. Holiday Inn spokeswoman Jane Bednall says it's ''like having a giant hot water bottle in your bed." Best job ever.

eldavojohn writes "The Telegraph is reporting that China has begun monitoring 'billions of text messages' in order to increase censorship. However, a People's Daily article claims they only monitor users who have been reported, and only shut down their message service if the complaints are true. Anything considered pornographic will require the user to bring a letter of guarantee to the local public security bureau promising to never again send such messages before service can be reactivated."

kandela writes "The Telegraph is reporting that for a mere $1.99 you can download a new punctuation mark that will revolutionize communication online. The SarcMark, described as 'a dot inside a single spiral line,' is to be used just like a question mark or exclamation mark to indicate sarcasm. And for those worried that this company's unique invention may be shamelessly copied by eager and unscrupulous grammarians – grammarians being the type to quickly adopt new ideas without heed to proper procedure – fear not, the Michigan based company has applied for a patent to protect their invention."

A new plan calls for Chinese residents in council housing estates in the city of Guangzhou to be evicted if they are caught spitting in public or littering. The plan sets up penalty points for residents who break the rules. Spitting in public carries a three-point penalty, littering is on a sliding 5-7 point scale depending on what floor you are on when you litter. Anyone who racks up 20 points will be asked to leave.

Forget tubes, saucers, Flexible Flyers or Ziffy-Whompers: the discerning sledding enthusiast now has an option from Porsche. The £328 sled features an aluminum racing frame, stainless steel runners, and a black imitation leather seat complete with the Porsche logo. A Porsche spokesman said: "The new aluminum sledge with stainless steel runners was created by the Porsche Design Studio. A practical folding mechanism ensures that the sledge is ready to hit the snow in seconds, so nothing stands in the way of winter sledging fun."

The Telegraph is reporting that for the first time an extinct animal has been brought back via cloning. The Pyrenean ibex, a type of mountain goat, was declared officially extinct in 2000, but thanks to preserved skin samples scientists were able to insert that DNA into eggs from domestic goats to clone a female Pyrenean ibex. While the goat didn't survive long due to lung defects this gives scientists hopes that it will be possible to resurrect extinct species from frozen tissue. "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. Just seven of the embryos resulted in pregnancies and only one of the goats finally gave birth to a female bucardo, which died seven minutes later due to breathing difficulties, perhaps due to flaws in the DNA used to create the clone."

Officials on The Isle of Man have learned that the best way to fight crime isn't to take away freedom, it's to take away cigarettes. There has been a 14% drop in crime since the island opened Europe's only completely no smoking prison in August 2008. "It's a standing joke now that when we nick someone we remind them that if they get sent down they'll have to come off the cigarettes — their faces are a picture. It's like they are more scared about giving up smoking than a criminal record and some time in the nick," said a police source.

Ada_Rules writes "Researchers at the Imperial College London have announced development of an alcohol substitute that has many of the same properties as the Synthehol from the series Star Trek, in that one will get a buzz from it but will not end up with a hangover. In addition you will have the option of getting immediately sober if you so desire it. Let's hope this is not the typical vaporware. It is not that I really want a drink of Synthehol, but with its release I assume Romulan Ale won't be far behind."

Chinese Police spent a tense hour in a stand-off with a suicide bomber before it was discovered that the bomber's dynamite was actually sausage. 23-year-old Sing He threatened to blow up a restaurant, all its customers, and himself unless he received the contents of the cash register. The bomb unit called in eventually determined that the device He had was assembled with pork products. "When we saw what he had round his waist we couldn't help laughing. Some of the sausages still had the wrappers on them," said one bomb squad officer. "It must have been terrifying for the customers but those things would only have gone off if you'd kept them past their sell by date."