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

Oh no, not again!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/may/23/iceland-volcano-ash-uk-tuesday

Ol'muvv'er earth is having a right giggle

Seagrasses and their associated ecosystems heading for extinction:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/13441738

save the seagrass, kill the manatees

Stop road deaths - drive on the pavement ...

Greece to start selling domestic assets to ease debts

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13503535

Bung 'em £50 and we can make the elgin marbles fiasco go away

Father of Big Society does a runner:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13529808

I find this disturbing

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/may/24/abortion-sexual-health-coalition

Not even a people as bizarre as the Japanese can stand Russell Brand

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/13499897

An accident that was a pain in the a*s

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13537084

"Mr McCormack confided that the air was gradually escaping his body in the way that air usually does."

Shall *we* ban Danish bacon in a tit-for-tat?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13536479

We could always subject them to that dreadful antipodean 'Vegemite' That'll larn (sic) em!

I'm with you Mags! I hate going into a supermarket and seeing loads and loads of Danish bacon and only a few packs of British stuff.

When I started reading this I thought but by the time I finished I thought beyond words and I wish I was doing this (instead of steampunky electrolytically etched bits of stainless steel that everybody seems to like so much more than I do).

'I have developed a process for “cloning” fragments of ice-core samples taken from million-year-old glaciers. We make thin, tapered plastic containers, each about two square feet, and fill them with ultrapurified water. Even at –40 degrees [Fahrenheit], this supercooled water remains liquid because it lacks a seed to trigger the process of crystallizing into ice. When you drop in a small fragment of ancient ice, it provides that seed: the water instantly organizes itself to mimic the prehistoric pattern.'

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=material-poet

"A SCHOOLGIRL has won the right to use an iPod while sitting exams - after claiming she can concentrate only while listening to her favourite music. The girl won the unprecedented concession after threatening legal action against her school and examination authorities."

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/technology/edinburgh-school-backs-down-to-allow-ipod-with-music-into-exam/story-e6frep1o-1226062232888

Hope the spoilt wee brat fails spectacularly.

In universities 'kids' can get away with more in that you used to only get mitigating circumsatnces in exams if family died but my ate has seen 'kids' get extra marks due the 'distress' of animals dying..wittle Hammy Hamster etc...

Scary stuff

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/may/27/far-right-attacks-rise

Arts Centre could take 15 years to restore

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-earthquake/5062459/Arts-Centre-could-take-15-years-to-restore

>The Arts Centre in Christchurch is a collection of fine Gothic Revival buildings, formerly used by the Canterbury University College (now the University of Canterbury) and two of the city's secondary schools. Construction on the buildings for the Canterbury University College, which later became the University of Canterbury, began with the building of the Clock Tower block. This building, which opened in 1877 and was designed by Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort, was the first building in New Zealand to be designed specifically for a university.<
http://www.historic.org.nz/TheRegister/RegisterSearch/RegisterResults.aspx?RID=7301 [scroll down]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/27/mladic-health-assessed-extradition-hearing

"Doctors in Serbia are assessing the health of genocide suspect Ratko Mladic before he can resume his appearance at an extradition hearing which is expected to transfer him to a war crimes tribunal in The Hague."

You know, it's amazing how many of the people who are put on trial at the Hague that are old and ill...I think it's terrible of the place to victimise these old infirm people...old people aren't a threat to anyone are they...