Farewell and Abuses of Power

First off, after Jordi handed in his Diplomarbeit on Tuesday, this morning saw (speaking theoretically - nobody was up at this time anyway) him leave off for Valencia (or was it Austria...?) in his fully-laden car. Around about now he should be crossing the border into Spain. We wish him all the best in his future occupation (anyone interested in golf course apartments?).

Yesterday saw Olga get a year older. Not that you would notice it (phew, that addition saved my bacon). Celebrations were held at Quartier Mayence (although the promised dancing on tables didn't happen...). So in case you forgot, you could still get away with wishing her a belated happy birthday today.

Talking about birthdays, both Nick from home, and Julio from Malaga had their's last week, so here's wishing them all the best.

Now onto the news.
After the revelation that a train driver of Japan's Bullet Train fell asleep whilst travelling at 300 km an hour, a pilot of said country decided that he could beat that, and did so twice whilst piloting a 767 Jumbo. Makes you just feel really safe whilst up in the sky, doesn't it.

Talking about planes, on my way back from Stansted on Wednesday I had an interesting flight. Firstly, due to the fog at the aiport, we were delayed on the runway 40 minutes, constantly starting and stopping the engines. Then when we finally got into the air we had so many bumps that the seatbelt sign only went off for 5 minutes in total. Apart from that, lightning hitting the wing outside my window just made me feel all relaxed when we landed. No really.

Anyone thinking that Berlusconi already has too much power in his country must be really sweating now that a new media law allowing him to control more of the media himself has just been passed. Will this (did someone say dictatorship?) ever end?

Shocking news, as photos have been released of US soldiers abusing their prisoners in Iraq, stripping them naked and wiring their genitals up to an electricity supply. If this is what they are trying to show the inhabitants of the country they have to look forward to with the new regime, no wonder they are having problems controlling the place.
A couple of things are to note here. Firstly, that the soldiers have apparently been asking their superiors for rules and regulations regarding PoWs, but have so far been denied them. So we're getting men who are trained to kill to look after the needs of prisoners - first mistake. Secondly, that even if they didn't have rules of the Geneva Convention to hand, surely they must have realised that torturing the prisoners and videoing it as well wouldn't be anywhere on that list. I'm only guessing, but wouldn't a bit of good old Common Sense be required here. Please, just a bit. Maybe we should start writing a list of things that are generally considered bad to do to people in your trust, and send it to the troops. Even better, considering they are representing a good upstanding god-fearing nation, maybe the Ten Commandments would be appropriate.

Now we all know that in England talking about one's feelings is not the done thing. We seem to get embarrassed, go red in the face, and try to change the subject. However, a new law coming into force this week stops children from being able to kiss. Gone are those days of snogging behind the bike sheds, fumblings at the school disco, and spin-the-bottle then.

As of midnight tonight, the European Union becomes 10 countries larger. Well, to be precise, nine-and-a-half. As Cyprus is half Greek, half Turkish, only the former half becomes a part of the EU. That will give customs controllers a headache then, stopping free trade between two parts of the same country.

Well, that's about it for now, time to relax again.

Stay Cool

Missing Post and Dangerous Loads

I have been wondering for a while now why it is I haven't received any letters through the post, until I read about a German postman taking packets and selling the artefacts on eBay. What he might want with lots of postcards saying how the weather in Spain is lovely, I don't know, but maybe that's why I haven't got any for a while...

Having heard about the rail cash in North Korea, my attention wasn't immediately drawn, as crashes happen all over the world, and I didn't know anyone there. However, reports out from Red Cross stating the number of people killed don't give the full picture, until you read about how many houses were flattened (1850) and how many seriously damaged (6350). Then the scale of this blast begins to dawn. It was huge. Over six thousand houses seriously damaged, allowing for about three people in an average house (I have no idea what the actual statistics for this country are) that means about twenty thousand people living nearby were affected !

What else is new...a night out was organised yesterday, whereby we met up at the Uni and had a few drinks, but the Mainzer Kolleg Bar was shut, Kultur Cafe had one person dancing in it (well, I say dancing, more a type of square movement of the feet to a three tempo) and the Studihaus was overfull. So we ended up in the Inter II bar, where it seemed it was a male-only night. Highlight of the evening of course, was Jordi telling a particularly annoying guy to wipe non-existant dirt from his mouth.

Oh, it was meant to be a secret, but I think people are finding out now, that Javi (Saverio to you and me) has arrived for the weekend. Expect a drink in his honour.

Don't let the weather get you down

Naked Sushi and Multilingual Virii

China has shut down a restaurant offering sushi served up on the nearly-naked bodies of young women. Obviously there was some concern about the hygiene of the girls, although one has to wonder if the use of chopsticks to eat from the bodies maybe considered as torture.

We've all heard of surgery to make our bodies look younger. Now you can also be operated on to make you sound younger too. Why men need to pay for that is a mystery, when all they have to do is forget a special date and let their girlfriends kick them where it hurts, and they can talk with a high pitch for free.

As the next version of the current series of computer virii, Netsky-X is special. Other varients have used newer improved tactics to make the recipients open the infected attachments, but this latest one has gone one step further. It now supports a variety of languages. Yes, the author of X has been visiting the online translator service of Babelfish to make foreign recipients feel more at home when being infected. Expect version Y to come out in Zulu and infect the nomadic tribes of southern africa...

For lovers of all things mafiosi, alleged leaders of the mafia are in court for following the film Donnie Brasco and killing the members that let the FBI agent into their family. If you haven't got a clue what I'm talking about, read the article and watch the film.

The weather's hot, the girls are taking off their clothing, could it be summer? Then again, maybe I should try to stop daydreaming :)

Keep cool

Hello

Mainz is filling up again as new students arrive for the start of the new semester. One of note is Andrea who arrived at the weekend from Barranquilla. Let's hope she gets used to the German way of life soon, and fills out all those forms...

Not new, but Albe and Paolo have come to visit us in Mainz for the next five days, flying from Sardinia, where Albe has been fattened up by the family of Paolo (not sure if they were planning on roasting him afterwards...)

Now to the news. Gravitational effects are being tested with a launch today of a plastic sheet and some balls. No seriously. A lot of thought and preperation has gone into making the balls the nearest to perfect spheres, with the plastic sheet being taken from a trampoline. Ok, that last bit was made up.

In the UK a woman is seeking divorce because her husband has been taking Viagra and she can't control him. It's a good job they don't live on a farm, is all I can say.

Onto Latin America. Whilst most of the news is focusing on the kidnappings in Iraq, the thousands happening a year in Mexico are not being noticed. The BBC has a report on one of the kidnap negotiators. Maybe with this in the media, some more people might take notice and try to help stop it.

The 'hand of God' is being given a second meaning at the moment, with Diego Maradona relying on it whilst in hospital with various problems including with his breathing and high blood pressure. I recommend following the link to see his life through pictures.

And now to Colombia where the leader of the paramilitary group AUC, Carlos Castano has gone into hiding after an attempt on his life from, apparently, other paramilitaries not content with him negotiating with the authorities. Of course, when it's your own men out to get you, it becomes very difficult to find a safe place to hide. Maybe this could finally allow the disarming process to advance and hopefully end up with there being no more paramilitaries. With 'just' the Farc and Eln to contend with, maybe a solution to this civil war that has lasted over 40 years will become easier to achieve. Here's hoping.

For those of you who love sculptures, or even for those that don't, in Harbin, a city in northern China, they are having a snow and ice festival. Many intricate sculptures and even houses are built with ice and snow, and the pictures on this site are amazing. Another place to put on the holiday list to visit...

On closing, in case you hadn't heard, Spain announced that it will now bring home it's troops from Iraq, thus following the wishes of its people. Let's hope that other leaders might take the hint and also listen to the people that elected them...

Peace

Expensive Phonenumber and Disappearing Countries

Some people just have too much money, and some just want more. The most expensive telephone number has just been bought for equivalent of 1.1 million dollars. Okay, so the number sounds like the word rich repeated, but surely he would have been richer if he hadn't bought the number in the first place.

Did you know that the US could wipe out another country on a whim? But I bet you didn't know that they had done just that. Namely, Libya has been wiped out (well, it's internet presence anyway) by some unknown reason. So mysterious is it, that nobody has been found that could shed light to the situation.

Spurred on by an article at TheRegister using an online asteriod guide to see what would a normal person off the street would notice if an asteroid hit a town nearby, I thought I'd do the same thing for this city from where I am writing this post, Mainz, to be exact. Purely in the name of research, of course. The results will follow shortly.

Now back to Mexico where an entire state police force has been sacked and put in jail on corruption charges. That's over 500 policemen. Of course, the probability of them being kept locked up will obviously be affected by the fact that these prisons were controlled by said police force, and therefore any escape routes will be known to all the inmates.

Ok, now for that asteroid impact data:

Assuming the asteroid hit the river Rhine, and we were at Uni (about 2km away), that it has a diamter of 50m, and was made of dense rock, landed at 90 degrees to the surface, and hit water, these are the effects that we would feel:

Energy: 9.38 MegaTons TNT
Crater size: 2.61 km
Visible fireball radius: 0.7 km
Effects of Thermal Radiation: Much of the body suffers second degree burns; Deciduous trees ignite
Richter Scale Magnitude: 5.2
Max wind velocity: 440.1 m/s = 984.5 mph
Sound Intensity: 113 dB (May cause ear pain)
Damage Description:
Multistory wall-bearing buildings will collapse.
Wood frame buildings will almost completely collapse.
Multistory steel-framed office-type buildings will suffer extreme frame distortion, incipient collapse.
Highway truss bridges will collapse.
Highway girder bridges will collapse.
Glass windows will shatter.
Cars and trucks will be largely displaced and grossly distorted and will require rebuilding before use.
Up to 90 percent of trees blown down; remainder stripped of branches and leaves.

So, now you know. To make your own calculations, please visit the site here.

Avoid large craters...

News Roundup

Cycling in to Uni this morning, I came across 6 police vehicles and lots of policemen and women with sticks. Not for hitting people (at least, I hope not) rather searching for something. Interested in what's happened (seeing as so many unusual things have happened here recently) I took a look at the website of the local police force. Although there is nothing there yet about this case, there are a number of things that have already happened this morning around here whilst most of us were tucked up in bed. Just makes you think that policing is a very busy job.

Since the spate of terrorist activities, many governments have seen fit to implement extra controls on people travelling, buying things, even asking for information. The latest case is of the US 'no-fly' lists telling airlines which people they should not allow to fly. Fine, you might think, that's the way to stop people that may want to cause harm to other people. But the creation of these lists is causing many problems, as the system takes general data and uses statistics to produce the lists (and we all know how reliable statistics are). This means that if you happen to have the same name as a suspect, belong to a different religion from the 'norm', work in an industry that might be deemed suspicious (like politics then?), or just went to the same kindergarten as one of the aforementioned, you're likely to find it difficult to travel anywhere in the US. Of course, as I've mentioned a little while ago, the EU and US are trying to form a better 'passenger data exchange' which could mean that we'll soon see the same problems over here.

Something else that has been going on for a while now, is the mysterious killing of 73 animals in the Sao Paolo zoo (Brazil). Still no clues as to who it is, but now that the toll has risen considerably, it is hard to believe that it is an 'alphabet killer' like TheRegister proposed when the killing of animals with consecutive first letters in their names started.

Now that irish smokers have been banned from lighting up in public buildings in Dublin without too much fuss, the chief medical officer of Scotland is calling for a complete ban on smoking throughout Scotland. Of course this move won't affect the many sheep inhabiting the country, but it would be interesting to see this novel country-wide approach in action, maybe causing other countries to consider the move to a more healthier environment in the near future.

Now one for those animal lovers amongst you. Barcelona has voted to ban bullfighting throughout the region. It would be the first abolishment of this traditional sport in the country, and may set a precedent for other forward-thinking regions to do the same. The only thing standing in the way now is that the regional government enacts this ban.

The next article is not for the easily squeamish amongst you. A woman in Mexico gave birth to her child by DIY caesarean. As she was so far from the nearest hospital, and had lost a previous child giving birth naturally, she got hold of a kitchen knife, drank some hard liquor, and cut herself open. Both mother and child survived. I suppose that's one situation where drinking Tequila could be forgiven.

Stay Informed

Condolences

It seems like recently things are getting worse. No sooner have we mourned those of the Madrid blasts, than news reaches me that an old schoolfriend Amir's sister, Nadia died last friday. Thoughts are with him and his family at this hard time.

Not wanting to only relay bad news, I scoured the press to find something that might cheer people up. Or at least take their minds off things. So for those of you that like 'alternative' cinema, this one in Norway should be right up your street. It's made up of ice, and is a drive-in for snowmobiles - no, really.

And for those of you that regularly use instant messenger services at work in the UK beware that companies are to obliged to record all data sent through them. And for those of you in Spain there's no reason to be smug, as it's more than likely that your company is already recording all conversations (70 percent of companies record, and 63 percent archive, compared to just 20 percent and 9 percent in the UK.

On a final note, Carlitos had to hand in his thesis today, so I'm sure they'll be some celebration in the bar tonight.

As the Monty boys say, "always look on the bright side of life".

Goodbyes

Most importantly, Luca left for Italy and promptly came back with his dad and a car to pick up the rest off his stuff. He has, however, finally left Mainz and I'm sure we'll miss him a lot (let's hope his italian improves over there, seeing as his dad was correcting him the whole time...)
Equally of note, is that Sylvia also left over the weekend, using her parents as the baggage-carriers on the ryanair flight home :) Here's hoping all goes well for her back in sunny Spain.

Now to more general things. NASA has achieved seven times the speed of sound with a new jet that they developed. So next time you want to go to Australia it'll take just 10 mins. Only kidding - it will take more time to rescue the passengers from the water afterwards.

In China, something strange has happened. A woman was driving a BMW which got scratched by a tractor passing by. As the peasant farmer and his wife got out to apologise, the lady revved the car and drove into the crowd that was forming, killing the wife and injuring others. Apparently because of her contacts and conections, she only got a two year sentence for "accidental traffic disturbance". I say no more.

And to show that Bush has a great sense of humour (yes I am being sarcastic), in a dinner for journalists, he showed slides of himself looking under his furniture, and made jokes about not finding weapons of mass destruction there. So now we all know that the war against Iraq was just a joke for him. Equally so for the lives that were lost as a result of this ongoing war.

Well, know that the weather has improved and we've got sunshine and a reasonable temperature, what better way to spend the morning than to go cycling aling the Rhein.

Get tanning

Back in the Box

That is, of my office at the Uni. After spending nearly a week under the sunshine (and strong winds) of England, I arrived back in Germany to a temperature of 5 degrees. Oh, what joy.

Well, apart from seeing the excellent Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham, I didn't really have time to do much sight-seeing, so no great stories to tell or photos to show this time :(

Of course, whilst I was away, some people were celebrating. Namely Fatma (for her birthday) and Luca (for his leaving party). Sometimes I think people organise these things knowing I won't be there...

A warning to all windows users out there, that there are a huge amount of new viruses being created every day, and I'm receiving most of them in my inbox (which, as I've said before, means that somebody who has me in their addressbook has been infected. So get updating those virus scanners. Of particular note is that each new strain seems to be using a different cunning method to entice it's victims. Some purporting to come from microsoft (it never sends out updates by email) others from your local sysadmin (making you think it's actually for you) and others using various vulnerabilities to propagate themselves without any attachment being opened. For the best info on viruses, check the website of an antivirus vendor (eg www.symantec.com or else, read some more info on The Register's Virus section.

To finish on a light note, a lesbian student apparently auctioned her virginity on ebay, getting about 12,000 euros in order to pay her university fees. Just wait til the fees go up - I dread to think how people are going to get hold of the money for them then !!

'til then

Weather Forecast

Snow, snow and more snow. Yes, Mainz has recuperated the days of snow we didn't have last year, by providing them now, mid-march !! As I look out of the window in my office all I can see is a white curtain cutting of the view of...erm...physics buildings, I think (maybe there is a benefit to the snow after all).

On to somewhere with lots of sun, namely Granada in Spain. After being a muslim capital over 200 years ago, it has recently enhanced it's religious tolerism by building a new mosque and allowing tourists to visit, whilst teaching children arabic. Somehow I don't think it can compete with the Alhambra, though.

Some of you may have heard of the new obsession in the US for young people to pledge themselves to being virgins until they get married, and to carry a card around with them saying so (which has received lots of financial support from President Bush recently). Well, according to research just published, those that pledge are just as likely to get STDs as those that don't pledge. Makes you wonder if this is in fact a safety campaign or just a religious message.

Next up for the stupidity prize, is a woman who was arrested in Georgia, USA trying to pay with a fake one million dollar note at the supermarket. The fact that notes that high have never even existed, is of course obvious. Assistants were probably first alerted when they saw a woman with five tonnes of carrots in her trolley :)

For those of you who don't already know, D2 Vodafone in Germany have an offer on this month for Call-Ya customers, allowing you to call all D2 and landline numbers every saturday and sunday for just five Euros for the month (to sign up there is a differnet number for contract customers and Call-Ya ones). Of course, the first weekend has already passed, but for those who like to talk (why is everyone looking at me?) this offer is amazing.

Well, as many of the inhabitants of this city are off to Valencia for the Fallas, and some of us are off to the England, we'll just have to see if anything interesting crops up to tell when we all come back.

Wrap up warm

Smelly Neighbours and Gay Sheep

Despite wishing it on my Spanish page, Happy Birthday to Javi who celebrated yesterday. We also celebrated for him here in Mainz as Olgui made two huge lasagnas, Jaume made another exmple of his great tortillas, and I made a loaf of Ciabatta. Along with the obligatory bottle(s) of wine, it was a very well received sunday lunch. Here's hoping that we repeat such events with more frequency.

First up, one for Jordi. Scientists (I suppose we still have to call them that) have researched the minds of gay sheep and deduced that the brains are genetically different from 'normal' heterosexual sheep. Well, now you know.

A 52-year old kenyan bachelor was physically forced to have a wash after 10 years without. For those of us overnighting at Javi and Albe's we could also have used this example on a certain somebody there...(akakakakak).

Oh, and for those tea-drinkers amongst you, new proof has come (from surprise surprise, Italy) that coffee, in particular, expresso is good for you. Good to hear, although personally I still adhere to the beer and ice-cream diet.

Well, that's all folks...

What's Happening

Amongst the many nations that I consider in need of a change of leadership, it's good to see that in Venezuela someone important had the courage to say so. Namely the UN embassador resigned, citing primarily the lack of democracy under the present rule. Let's just hope this, along with the many protests currently going on, can cause a change.

Along the same track is an archbishop from Zimbabwe who is calling for South Africa to cut off electricity supplies to the country so that it's dictator, sorry, leader will have to hold talks with the opposition. Here's hoping...

Back in the UK, a new bus service has started up offering trips from London to Birmingham (3 hours) for one pound. That's one euro and fifty cents to those continentals reading this. Compare that with the nearly two euros it costs to get from Hechtsheim to the Hauptbahnhof in Mainz (20 mins) and you might be left wondering if in fact prices are really expensive in England. Check the Megabus website for more routes.

And on that note, I leave you to have a good weekend (now that it's not snowing and I can actually see the sun, maybe it'll be safe to go for a bike ride..)

Back to the grindstone

Well, after the week-long break in Bologna with a reunion of Mainz Erasmus students, past and present there are many memories to savour. The pasta and pizza (one euro a piece), the placards advertising Intimissimi clothes (well I think it was the clothes they were advertising, despite everyone looking only at the woman) the ladies of the night along the road leading to Albe and Javi's place (made it easy to find in the night coming back from the parties..)

I suppose the only downside to the week was at the final party when Laura's bag was stolen with her mobile phone and driving license in (if anyone knows anything about it, please contact me through this website).

What else has happened? Well, the friday when we returned I went off to the concert of Juanes and surprisingly did not collapse due to exhaustion. Carmen came over to visit Luca for his birthday and went back home this morning. Many other people also celebrated being another year older, so best wishes go out to Jordi, Laura, Lou, and to Javi who celebrates his on the 7th.

Another thing that seems to crop up every day, is that many variants of new viruses are currently in circulation, sending themselves off to eveyone in the address books they find. This has resulted in my inbox filling with over 10 email viruses a day. Luckily they are automatically deleted before they can go any further, but it just shows that you should not open emails from people you don't know, and definitely not open emails with attachments in .exe .pif .src endings. If unsure, email the sender asking what they have sent you. Hopefully I (and millions of others) can then have some calm in the inbox.

Here endeth the lesson

Romance in Italy, Lost in the US

So who forgot it was valentine's day on saturday then? Well, the italians definitely didn't. As one of their inhabitants managed to kiss his girlfriend for 31 hours and 18 minutes, thus winning him enough money to pay for their marriage. I would say that's pretty romantic, wouldn't you?

Now another case of, um, dare I say it, stupidity. The border between the US and Canada was shut when a grenade was found in the car of a woman who was lost. What's particularly important to note here is firstly that the woman didn't know the grenade was in the glove compartment of her car (it was her husband's apparently - as everyone needs a grenade for self defense nowadays anyway...). Secondly, that she was on her way from Texas to Vancouver. Not the big city, but a little town (in the state of Washington if I'm not mistaken). You would assume that one would take a map when one's travelling such a distance, and would realise that a big sign saying "Welcome to Canada, Vancouver this way" is probably not talking about a little american town...Never mind.

For those of you who have gone into the centre of Mainz recently, you may have noticed something new. A restaurant has opened up, calling itself "Besitos, tapas bar y mas" which one would normally dismiss without thinking any further, but the fact that it is situated opposite a certain establishment otherwise known as "el loco" warrants a bit of thought as to whether it is just a coincidence...

Well, for those who have exams, I wish success.

Study hard

He's Back

No, it wasn't for partying that I haven't been able to write for a while (see my spanish site where I have been able to write) just for a lack of anything interesting to tell. But that's all changed now.

First up, there's lots of action going on at Jordi's website in the guestbook, just try to keep it clean, lads.
Secondly, the site of Albe and Javi has some new additions, namely some audio files purporting to depict the fate of Jordi so take a look.

Now to the news. For those of you with MS Office 2003, if you have a look at the characters for the font "Bookshelf Symbol 7" you will find some surprises.

Scared of all electrical appliances in your home coming alive and keeping you hostage? Well, that's how the inhabitants of an Italian village are feeling at the moment. So just be careful how you treat your toaster next time.

Oh, and not to let the US of the hook in the posting either, it has been discovered that Chile's representatives to the UN were phonetapped during the run-up to the Iraq war. Hmm...

Don't worry, be happy.

I'm Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Usually associated with criminals escaping prison, this is now my cry as I handed in my thesis/diplomarbeit/good quality toilet paper midday yesterday. Yes, after the toils, troubles and tribulations (I will someday look up the meaning of some of the words I use, honest) I am now free to do what I want. Well, ok, free to look for work is probably more accurate. So, be prepared, as I have spare time on my hands and I'm not afraid to use it !!

Note on the previous virus warning, Novarg is now being named MyDoom virus, is much worse than feared (I received 6 copies in my inbox this morning - don't worry, it get's filtered before I even get near any viruses). It seems to add a stealth element in that it doesn't send itself to government or military emails, however, as it fakes the 'from' field, there are lots of automatic responders falsly claiming to tell innocent parties that they sent a virus, when in fact they just happen to be in the email list of someone who got infected (admins take note).

Well, another day passes by, and another job has to be done.

Keep busy

The Final Countdown

Marking the 125th anniversary of a noteworthy battle, British and Zulu officials gathered to re-enact some of the major battles that took place between them in Southern Africa including the battle for Rorke's Drift, made famous by the film "Zulu" (starring Michael Cane).

As the Chinese new year festivities die down, a new law is passed protecting the rhesus monkey (they are coloured like that, really). Of course, this year is the year of the monkey, so it's quite apt really.

The European Space Agency has released spectacular pictures of the surface of Mars after a successful arrival of it's orbiting probe "Mars Express". Amazing as the pictures may seen, I still have yet to see traces of little green men.

As the EU tries to stop imports from outside of its borders, it manages to win in the UK by forcing CD retailer CDWoW to increase prices of the CDs it imports from asian countries. Read this explanatary article at The Register to find out what this means to us.

Now we all know of the problems with speed cameras, but I bet you never thought that they could be used for breaking records? No? Well you should see how a Peugot 406 managed to clock up 406 mph (653 km/h) on a cheshire road.

After the Beagle virus started causing havoc with systems recently, we have a new virus, discovered today, which seems to be distributing itself extremely rapidly. It's name is Novarg and looks like it's going to have immense effects on systems worldwide, so update your antivirus programs now !!

Practice Safe Surfing

What a match!

Last night saw a 'friendly' game of football between Mainz 05 and Bayern Munich. To say that Mainz played well would be an understatement. They beat the many-times champions 2-1 !!! So well done Mainz !

Tomorrow sees the chinese year of the monkey roll in, so all those of you born in 1980, it's your year. So go take your friends out for a meal :)

Now for something quite disturbing, that despite many efforts to stop smoking, especially in children, there is a town in Italy, north of Rome where nearly all the children smoke. And I'm not talking 16 or 18 year-olds, rather 2, 4, 6 year-olds !!! Unbelievable that this wasn't known beforehand !!

Another computer worm is doing it's rounds, so update your antivirus programs now, and check the info on W32.Beagle.A@mm.

A couple more worrying things happening. With people being taken to court, jailed and fined for having child pornography on their computers, or for hacking offenses, it would be serious if some of those arrested were not actually guilty, wouldn't it? Well, very serious it is, in that there is little to stop trojan programs planting evidence on your computer to set you up. Now this has also been turned on it's head, as anyone could claim that a trojan did these deeds, so not only do innocent people get arrested, but guilty people could claim this as their defense. Read more about this here.

Oh, and for those of you who thought that Europe sharing its passenger data with the US could cause no problems, well, here's why you are wrong.

Bye for now

Playing Catch-Up

Before getting stuck into some of the serious news, how about a bit of light-hearted instead? The Ig-nobel awards page gives out awards for people to make us laugh and then to make us think. Examples include "An Analysis of the Forces Required to Drag Sheep over Various Surfaces" and "Documenting the first scientifically recorded case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck". Go on, have a laugh.

Okay, we hear a lot about people taking advantage of modern technology in order to cause mischief. Well, here's a case which goes back to the old radio transmitter. Someone is tapping into the Burger King drive-in restaurant in Michigan and telling customers that they can't have the food because they are too fat. Maybe they're actually health specialists trying to reduce obesity in the US...

A man was recently arrested in Germany for stuffing a newly bought computer with potatoes. Twice. He apparently brought it back to the shop claiming it didn't work, and wanted a replacement. Soon after leaving with the new computer, he returned and said it had the same problem and he wanted his money back. If he had waited a bit longer, at least he could have got some chips out of it...

You would have thought that the strict security measures going on in the US would mean the flights leaving would be some of the safest. Well, a man who flew from Washington DC to London was found to have carried bullets in his coat. I don't see how he could have got through with them though, when for me the metal in my belt sets the alarms off !!

Talking about airports, some US pilots were arrested in Brazil for making obscene gestures at the control point of the airport. Reading the article, it seems like whilst it's quite ok for the US to carry out these procedures on people entering it's country, the citizens don't feel that any other country should have the right to do the same. The bit to note here is when the airline added that the pilot had "not intended to be disrespectful". Since when has sticking the middle finger up at anyone been anything but disrespectful???

Ever wondered why so much junk mail gets through to your email box, despite sometimes implementing a filter? Well, read this report to find out. Brings a new light to things.

Now one for the ladies. I reported a while back on a device that women inserted in order to orgasm at the touch of a button. Having not heard much more on that, I presume there were some doubts on the uncomfortableness of wearing it all day. Well, here comes a new invention to the rescue. The "Slightest Touch" operates with electrodes in the shoes on the ankles. Just drink an electrolytic sports drink 20 mins beforehand and when you press the button, the nerves up your legs are stimulated to such and effect, that you are literally "turned on".
So why do men exist again?

Well, that's it for now, lots to write up, very little time.

Revise well

Mission to Mars, Italians Strike and Sims Safety

After the italian air-traffic-controllers strike on thursday caused chaos at the airports throughout Italy, the other transport unions decided to strike on the friday, thus affecting bus, train and metro services. Makes the UK transport system look like it's successful !!

George Bush has said he wants to put a man on Mars. Assuming of course he knows that it is actually a planet, and not some small town in Europe, I think here is the opportune moment for that well-known saying "If you want it done properly, do it yourself". I bet there's loads of people throughout the world who would like to see him from that sort of distance :)

And just to show that the USA never goes too far, we have the story of a mother in Massachusetts who went into a store and asked about a flight simulator for her ten-year-old son. The assistant called up police and the following day a state trooper was shining a torch through their house window at night.

Mainz is slowly starting to fill up again with the foreigners returning from their home countries to continue studying here, so there should be some more local news coming soon. But in the meantime I would like to wish good luck to all those currently taking exams.

Study hard...