In the line of duty

We’ve previously mentioned the lunacy of television reporters standing outside Downing Street and courts at 11pm for no reason whatsoever, but sometimes there is a good reason for being out and about. Having a job title like ‘pitchside reporter’ is one of them. You can’t be safely ensconced in the studio with a job title like that can you? “Errr boss I was wondering if you could change my title to ‘nice and warm next to a fire reporter’?”.

Or for this lady maybe “safe and sound at home reporter” might be more for her. You have to feel sorry for them, they’re looking straight down the camera when they should really be concentrating on the action around them.

Still they get paid more than me, stick them by the first fence at the Grand National I say.

Send gift vouchers by text message

A very quick feature for you:Â

Dutch cadeaucode.nl, ….. lets late or lazy gift givers send presents by text message.

How it works: the giver goes to the company’s website, enters the recipient’s phone number and a message, pays by credit card, and a message containing a unique gift code is immediately sent to the recipient.

Source: http://www.springwise.com/

It seems a lot of service providers are moving towards online and SMS delivery, as it’s faster and saves money. Could be a good idea if you only remember a birthday on the day!

Song / Clip of the Day - White and Nerdy by Weird Al Yankovic

Morning Boys and Girls. Well, it’s been a long, but enjoyable weekend (even with a hangover on Sunday), so I thought I would start the week on a positive with a funny new clip from “Weird Al”.

Alfred Matthew Yankovic (born on October 23, 1959), better known as “Weird Al” Yankovic, is a Grammy Award-winning musician, satirist, parodist, accordionist, and television producer. He is known in particular for his humorous songs which make light of popular culture, parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts, or both. His works have earned him three gold and five platinum records in the U.S. His career longevity is notable among contemporary performers, and he had his first Billboard top ten album and single in 2006, nearly three decades into his career.

Who is the fairest of them all?

Who doesn’t like looking at themselves in a mirror? I know I do. So when I’m watching TV I would like to be able to switch it off and have a good look at myself. Luckily they’ve invented this.

Isn’t that pretty?

The launch of Internet Explorer 7

This has been officially launched and at some point in the next few weeks your Windows PC (if you have one) will automatically download the new version and give you the option to install it. I thought I’d write a few notes about it.

There are a lot of toolbar changes which are slightly confusing. It introduces tabs (rather than windows), integrated RSS feeds (you’ll learn to love them), a phishing filter, one button to delete all browsing history, dedicated search box (no having to visit google first, you can just configure this box to use google instead) and printing that actually works.

For a quick overview (and to download manually) go here.

• A superb detailed review of what’s new, worth a read if you have the time
• Making IE7 your own
• The IE7 toolbar
• A range of free MS approved add-ons

Those of you who use Firefox already have some of these features, however it’s going to challenge Firefox’s recent surge in users. A new version of Firefox (2.0) is in beta release and due for full release soon. .

The top 10 advances in science and technology this year

The Ig Nobel awards are an answer to the serious Nobel Prizes. “The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honour the imaginative - and spur people’s interest in science, medicine and technology.” - Marc Abrahams, editor of science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Nature called them “…arguably the highlight of the scientific calendar”. I call them brilliant.

This years winners included:Â

Maths: How many photos must be taken to almost ensure no-one in a group shot has their eyes closed, by Nic Svenson and Piers Barnes.
Ornithology: Why woodpeckers do not get headaches, by Ivan Schwab and the late Philip RA May.
Nutrition: Why dung beetles are fussy eaters, by Wasmia al-Houty and Faten al-Mussalam.
Acoustics: Why the sound of fingernails scraping on blackboards is so annoying, by D Lynn Halpern, Randolph Blake and James Hillenbrand.
Medicine: The Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage, by Francis Fesmire, Majed Odeh, Harry Bassan and Arie Oliven.

Source: BBC

Previous years winners have included:

• Feeding Prozac to clams (Ig Nobel Biology Prize, 1998).
• Whether buttered toast always falls on the buttered side (Ig Nobel Physics Prize, 1996).
• The Possible Pain Experienced during Execution by Different Methods (Ig Nobel Peace Prize, 1997).
• The Relationship among Height, Penile Length, and Foot Size (Ig Nobel Statistics Prize, 1998).
• Training pigeons to discriminate between the paintings of Picasso and those of Monet (Ig Nobel Psychology Prize, 1995).

When this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you’re going to see some serious sh*t

It’s Biff from Back to the Future. His real name is Tom Wilson and he does stand-up comedy. Here he’s singing about questions you always wanted to know the answer to.

Butthead.

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