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

I know I had seen some pics on the interwebs where folks had found stores of nuts in various equipment boxes or inside walls and such. So I thought I'd try to find one of these pics by Googling "squirrel stores nuts in". Google suggested the next word to be "dog"!?

So I clicked.

http://youtu.be/HTPOSdyA7Uo

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/14/courageous-thinking-labour-education-jeremy-corbyn?CMP=fb_gu

The anty Corbyin campaing is amazing and ridiculous.

The funny thing is that the same kind of epithets used for Berni Sanders or Podemos are used for Corbyn. Communist, socialist, maoist, radical left....are used to label any policy intended for the common benefit , when laws seek the well being of the whole society.

This is brilliant.

Rival fans of football team Steaua Bucharest sabotaged the fans' 'Tifo' during their big Champions League match last night. Fans held up coloured cards to display a massive mosaic supporting their team, but instead it praised their rivals Dinamo Bucharest. Some rival fans had posed as contractors to substitute the cards before the game.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/16/steaua-bucharest-dinamo-display-sabotaged?CMP=share_btn_tw

Seriously cunning!

What's a "tifo"? Is that the name for those flip card designs?

It's a generic word for crowd art, as far as I understand. I don't know the specific word for those crowd card mosaics. Having said that, I do have a blue plastic bag beside me which was used in the 2015 Wembley final between Liverpool and Manchester City, but the detailed instructions it prints on one side for the fan ("... please hold up your bag, plain side facing the pitch ...") just describes it as a "dramatic visual show".

And no, I've no idea how I ended up in possession of this plastic bag. I don't even support those teams.

OK...

I was curious to its origin. Apparently it's an Italian word, but it's not used in Italy for the same thing.


From that W*k* site:

___________
Tifo... is the Italian word for the phenomenon of supporting a sport team. In some countries (but not in Italy) it is mostly used as a name for any choreography displayed by fans in the stands of an arena or stadium in connection with a sport event, mostly as part of an association football match.
____________

That's fascinating. Tifo's primary meaning is typhus. It was used in the phrase 'fare il tifo per...' to mean 'to be a fan of', in the sense of 'having a fever for...'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-37100676

Egypt state TV orders female hosts to lose weight

The UK government and press are always very keen to boast about how the UK "leads the world" in cutting-edge science. Occasionally, it's nice to read a story which gives a clearer picture of our capabilities.

The UK has a network of magnetometers which measure geomagnetic activity. It uses these to predict when the aurora borealis (Northern Lights) will occur, and alerts are sent out for those who wish to see them.

A red alert was sent out this week, but there followed a swift cancellation, after they realised that the spike in readings was caused by a guy at Lancaster University mowing the lawns:

http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/aurorawatchuk/2016/08/23/red-alert-cancelled/

Technology giant Apple is moving its London operations into a new HQ at Battersea Power Station, London:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-37497807

Most people outside the UK would know this building from the Pink Floyd "Animals" album cover.

The whole area has been derelict for decades, with most planning schemes (including an indoor theme park) falling by the wayside over the years. It's now being redeveloped for offices and unaffordable housing by a £9 billion investment from the Far East.

The art deco power station, designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, doesn't look like the album cover today. Its four iconic chimneys are being demolished and rebuilt (only one is visible currently). There's a short video on this page which gives you an idea of what it looks like. Pink Floyd fans may find this distressing:

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/revealed-apple-to-create-stunning-new-hq-at-battersea-power-station-a3356201.html

It looks nothing like it did when I was there in 1985.

http://goo.gl/photos/zNF4RfT1YHiiJcc16

And the neighborhood has changed a bit as well.

http://goo.gl/photos/jKeb2Xhpd6V7KZfm9
http://goo.gl/photos/XKUDdZcP6ZFo1jyj6
http://goo.gl/photos/BbAutLxgpeBMcKeb6

Two lions have escaped and are prowling around the zoo grounds in Leipzig.

http://www.standard.co.uk/Front/panic-sparked-as-two-lions-escape-from-enclosure-at-leipzig-zoo-a3356996.html

I followed the link to read about the escaped lions, but the web page is one of those thats so full of other rubbish it slowed down my browser. Those kind of web pages seem to be more interested at gathering ad revenue than providing info. They achieve nothing though apart from shooting themselves in the foot, as its impossible to stay on the page for very long.

True. Sorry about that. I have subsequently read that they had to shoot one of the lions. Such beautiful creatures.

Damn it.

So Rosetta is going to crash into 67P in a grand finale - sending out pictures as it hurtles to its doom. It was decided not to leave it dormant until the comet comes back -

"It's like one of those 60s rock bands; we don't want to have a rubbish comeback tour. We'd rather go out now in true rock'n'roll style."


http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37511861

I haven't been following the mission very closely, but after my trip to ESA some years ago, I do take an interest from time to time.

Here's my journal about the day we went to ESA. F56786?thread=8293955

They were talking about this on BBC's Breakfast this morning. Apparently Rosetta will be moving at walking speed when it hits the comet. In the words of the reporter, a "controlled crunch" rather than a crash.

Last week's rumours, but we should know more this week: Twitter is up for sale, and the potential buyers include Microsoft and Disney:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-m-a-walt-disney-idUSKCN11W29I

No mention of Not Panicking Limited making a bid, but maybe they're keeping their cards close to their chest.


So, how would a Disney-owned Twitter operate, do you imagine?