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

The Swedes have once again celebrated the winter solstice by building a giant straw goat and burning people inside it alive to appease their cruel pagan gods. This Gävle Julbock(Swedish for Devil Christmas Goat) burning is believed to ensure yet another year of good Ikea sales and a steady stream of ABBA songs on the radio stations.

http://www.thelocal.se/20131221/swedens-christmas-goat-torched-yet-again

There's a lot of weird and interesting stories on that last link.
I wandered off for about an hour before it occurred to me I'd
forgotten to leave a string of bread crumbs to find my way back.

The overall impression is that Swedes have just as many weirdoes
and sociopaths as any other society but they haven't lost their
tolerance or sense of humour.

No wonder they always score so high in lists of world's best places.

~jwf~

Tie me kangaroo down, Sport.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25489501

That is the same Rolf Harris aint it?
The story assumes one would know but
on this side o' the pond we only know him
as a singer of catchy Aussie-themed poptunes.
Think I saw him on a Glen Campbell special
a long, long, long time ago.


~jwf~

UK forgives Alan Turing for being gay.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25495315

It only took 61 years.

PP.

Yes jwf, it's the same Rolf Harris.

As for the Alan Turing story: About ing time!

The Turing one raises so many questions. I suppose the most pertinent is whether *all* mathematician war heroes convicted of past crimes which are not only legal these days but the subject of great political point scoring should now receive royal pardons.

Agreed, but it's a start. A very important start.

The story of Alan Turing is deeply tragic. Had he been American, he would have been hailed as a war hero straight after the war ended, his work publicised and rewarded; probably he would have been given a university department and staff to develop the computer (which was his idea to begin with, after all). He would have had the standard rich-and-famous contract, in other words.

Instead his work was kept hushed up, as state secrets -- why? He was dismissed and persecuted. Even by the standards of the time the behaviour of the British government was despicable.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/dec/26/salford-anti-fracking-camp

"Salford anti-fracking camp enjoys local support"

Mince pies and Christmas lunch as residents join protesters in Barton Moss to fight against 'environmental disaster'"


Just in case someone still don´t know about fracking, here´s an article. There´s plenty of info in the webs.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/02/u_s_shale_oil_are_we_headed_to_a_new_era_of_oil_abundance.single.html

This link is focused on fracking in UK.

http://es.scribd.com/doc/55017665/The-Tyndall-Report-on-Fracking

The previous one (slate´s article) gives an idea of the consequences of going up with the current situation about finite, destructive fossil energy ( fracked oil and gas)

With all these fault lines here in NZ...
Shortly after the 'quakes,
Some little talk awhile of Fracking There was -- and then no more of ...

BBC war correspondent loses his glasses on a battlefield while reporting on the conflict in Somalia. He tells a Ugandan army officer, who sends his men back into the battlezone in an armoured personnel carrier to look for them. This vehicle gets hit by a roadside bomb. Amazingly the glasses are found intact and survive the journey back to the UK.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25449475

Michael Schumacher injured - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25545993

Thanks swl. That is news.

~jwf~

Scientists tell us their favourite jokes: 'An electron and a positron walked into a bar…'


http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/29/scientists-favourite-jokes

5 Sky Events This Week: A Cosmic Blooming Flower and a New Year’s Shower

it sounds... let´s say... poetic?

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/12/30/5-sky-events-this-week-a-cosmic-blooming-flower-and-a-new-years-shower/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fb20131230ngnw-spaceve&utm_campaign=Content

No need of telescope to watch some of them.

Duck explodes

http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/asia/story/giant-yellow-duck-explodes-taiwanagain-20131231

Sounds like somebody mighta got a bow and arrow for Hogwatch.

Or maybe the much longed for Daisy Repeating BB gun.



~jwf~

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25573471

Contaminated meat scandal rides again.

This time, Wal-Mart stores in China have found that their donky meat is contaminated with traces of fox.

PP.