h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Co-op stores to take Lads' mags off the shelves if they don't cover up the front page with modesty bags:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23486027

"An industry body said the titles showed the 'diverse interests of young men'".

Diverse? One thing on their mind, I'd say

Why stop with "Lads Mags", why not include the visible images of advertising that suggest if you buy A you will be super attractive to "bimboesque gorgeous gals" whilst super respected and revered by your Laddish friends and colleagues.

Well, I am. Aren't you?

"The Brigade said that in the past its crews have been called to a man whose penis was stuck in a toaster, "

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/fifty-shades-hotter-london-fire-brigade-blames-mummy-porn-for-rising-number-of-handcuff-incidents-8736578.html

What? How? Why? In the name of Bod, why?

2legs?????

Was it a pop-up?

I liked this:-

http://damnxd.org/view.php?fid=1020

FB

A shoo-in for the Ignobel Prize.

Chinese scientists grow teeth from urine:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23492425

There is a lot of things one can get from urine. Phosphorus was discovered in the 17th century through the boiling down of urine, which was found to glow in the dark.

Spanish train crash with the death of 79 passengers. I am wondering whether staff cut backs contributed to the accident. The driver was called up by work managers it seems and he had to deal with their enquiry which involved him unfolding and examining a map. While that was happening the train quickly approached the bend and he applied the breaks too late:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23507348

That faux Facetwit link from FB was kinda kool.
Toward the end I was waiting for the US to say
'All your bass are us!'

~jwf~

<>

Good news if you drink Fosters

Bradley Manning convicted to over a hundred years imprisonment for espionage. Some of the BBC comments:

2.DeadMike
Exposing crimes shouldn't be a crime.

17.Ed80
I thought the Nuremberg trails were quite specific; 'I was just following orders' is no excuse for committing or covering up crimes against humanity
If he had information showing the mass murder of civilians, not disclosing it made him as guilty as the murderers
No country should be allowed in the UN unless they sign up to the International Criminal Court. Put the murderers on trial

64.wideangle
Robert Bales massacred 17 unarmed Afghan civilians. Frank Wuterich led a squad who killed 20+ unarmed Iraqi men, women, and children in their homes.
Guards in Abu Ghraib tortured and sexually assaulted prisoners.
Soldiers urinated on enemy corpses and uploaded videos to YouTube.
Yet Manning, who simply revealed others' crimes, will get locked up for the rest of his life?
That makes perfect sense.

68.G_K___
In a country where trained, paid killers are often - obscenely - referred to as "heroes", Bradley Manning is a real American hero.
This trial strips away the facade of decency from the american state, whose moral turpitude he laid bare.
I saw the leaked video of them shooting that little girl. In any decent country, the perpetrators would be facing a 100 year sentence - not the whistleblower.

Maybe Obama should return his Nobel Peace Prize?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23506213

The Americans learnt their lessons during the Vietnam War not to allow the cameramen & the press free access to war zones. It was during the Vietnam War that the US Military came up with the following new lexicon:

Search & Destroy mission (killing the enemy)
Friendly fire (killing own soldiers)
Escalate (= worsened)
Pacification (=destruction of villages)
Inoperative combat personnel (= dead soldiers)
Air Support (= bombing)

{Bradley Manning convicted to over a hundred years imprisonment}

About time too. Anyone who tells blue jokes on the Northern club circuit deserves it.

The Bradley Manning case is a little complicated to say the least.

To start with, and this is *very* important to remember, it was a military court. This wasn't a civilian court with the standard laws, but one run by the military with their laws.

Now, to them what he did was possibly one of the worst things he could have. He betrayed them. Not just once, but again and again. I think it's only the media surrounding the case that's made him not get convicted of abetting the enemy as the death penalty would really throw the cat among the pigeons.

Could have been worse. He broke an oath. Robb Stark saw his pregnant wife stabbed to death, his mother's throat slit and was shot with crossbows before being stabbed through the heart for breaking an oath.

Bradley Manning hasn't been sentenced yet.

In more serious news, today is a day for celebration - http://www.annsummers.com/page/sex-toy-infographic?cm_mmc=PPC-_-google-_-generic-_-national+orgasm+day&OVMTC=Exact&site=&creative=27203070873&OVKEY=national%20orgasm%20day&adpos=1t1&device=c&gclid=CPbXzYCS2bgCFWOWtAodnzAAVw

Another piece from APoD (movie, not self-starting, 27 seconds) :

130 Years of Earth Surface Temperatures
>> Global climate change is of more than passing interest -- it is linked to global weather severity and coastal sea water levels.<<
Quite dramatic, even allowing for
>> the temperature on Earth has increased by nearly one degree Celsius over the past 130 years, and many of the warmest years on record have occurred only recently.<<

The link to Rod's NASA APod.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130731.html

What a great light show!


~jwf~