nufc1892 blog on Absolute Radio

Tandem cyclists turned away from McDonald's drive-through

nufc1892 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:11:00 +0100

Tom Halsall and Mark Dixon, both 17, were warned the restaurant would be liable if they were hit by a car.

Staff refused to serve them when they joined the vehicle queue to save time.

The friends had cycled five miles from Chorley, Lancashire, and stopped at McDonald's on Churchill Way, Leyland, Lancashire, for a drink.

Tom said: "We just decided to try our luck at the drive-through because it was quite busy inside, but were told 'sorry, we can't serve you'.

"I wasn't best pleased and asked to see the manager. He came out and explained the reason – that if a car came round the corner and hit us they weren't insured.

"I tried to persuade him, but he didn't budge.

"I'm not pleased with the whole service and I don't think it's justified.

"Anyone doing the speed limit in the drive-through would have time to brake.

"Mark was annoyed because he had been doing most of the pedalling and wanted his drink.

"I use the tandem if it is a sunny day instead of wasting petrol in my car. It helps the environment – but we are rewarded by being turned away from McDonald's!"

Restaurant manager Rachel Hilliker said: "I have said to all my staff that I'd rather we didn't serve pedestrians and cyclists at the drive-through window for their own protection.

"It's a general health and safety policy in case they are hit by cars.

"But to be honest if I'd have been working that shift, I would have probably served them, but advised them it was at their own risk.

"After 11pm, we only open the drive-through and in my opinion is somebody wants to be served at the window they do so at their own risk. Common sense should prevail."

Woman dials 999 to report missing hamster

nufc1892 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:25:00 +0100

A woman dialled 999 to say her hamster had escaped from its cage, police said, as they asked the public to only use the service for genuine emergencies.

South Yorkshire Police said eight out of 10 of the emergency calls made to its Sheffield control room did not require urgent attention.

In one example, they said a woman told the operator: "It's my hamster. It's got out of its cage. It's gone into the bathroom and down into the floorboards."

The call handler says "Your hamster?" and the woman continues: "Is there any chance anyone could come and help me get it out?"

In another call, a man is heard to ask for help because a swarm of wasps has landed in his garden.

Superintendent Rob Odell said the force received around 15,000 non-emergency calls to the 999 service a month.

He said his operators have even taken calls from people who have run out of credit on their mobile phones.

"Every second counts in saving someone's life, preventing injury or catching a criminal," said Supt Odell.

"You never know when it could be you in desperate need of help and the last thing you need is to lose vital seconds or minutes because someone has called 999 to order a taxi."

The 999 service should be used only if a life is at risk or someone is being physically threatened, if a crime is in progress and the offenders are still nearby or if a road accident is causing an ongoing danger.

Nothing wrong?

nufc1892 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:33:00 +0100

Rabbit-obsessed US woman found in hotel room with a dozen bunnies An Oregon (well yes) woman obsessed with rabbits has been returned to prison after police found her in a hotel room with more than a dozen bunnies.

Miriam Sakewitz, 47, violated her probation by having the rabbits, Judge Gayle Nachtigal, of the Washington County Circuit court ruled on Thursday. The judge sentenced Sakewitz to 90 days in the county jail.

Police arrested Sakewitz on June 16 after she called a maintenance worker to her room in the Portland suburb of Tigard to fix a broken television set. The worker saw and smelled the rabbits, some of them hopping freely around the house.

The woman's legal problems began in 2006, when police found more than 150 rabbits in her home and dozens more bunny bodies in freezers. She was arrested on accusations of animal neglect. After pleading no contest, she was placed on five years' probation, with the condition that she stay away from rabbits.

Jim Wolf, a spokesman for Tigard Police, said Washington County animal control officers removed eight adult rabbits, five young ones and a dead one from the hotel room in the latest incident.

Bob Severe, a Washington County probation officer, said Sakewitz had undergone a court-ordered mental evaluation but that no treatment had been recommended.

My name and address are available via PM.

Scots 'using chip fat instead of sun cream'

nufc1892 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:47:00 +0100

Scots are risking skin cancer by using chip fat, moisturiser and baby oil instead of protective cream, researchers claim.

A survey found that unhealthy sunbathing habits are to blame for Scots having the highest risk of contracting skin cancer in the UK.

One in five polled admitted to 'binge tanning', and a quarter said they used sun lotions with lower than recommended protection.

Four out of 10 Scots also admitted experimenting with their own sun lotions, such as cooking oils and moisturiser.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, which carried out the survey, urged sun bathers to invest in high-factor lotions.

Laura Wilson, a spokeswoman, said: "This is a serious issue. I am worried that people still think the warnings about the sun do not apply to them. In Scotland we have higher rates of melanoma than in Australia.

"Scots tend to think they do not need to use sun creams at home but people must respect the sun at all times and make sure they use a recommended sun protection cream."

The YouGov survey of more than 1,000 people in Scotland found that four out of 10 had experienced blistered or peeling skin after spending too long in the sun.

The RPSGB urged Scots to seek sun protection advice from their local pharmacy.

The spokeswoman said: "They are in an ideal position to give advice on how to prevent sun damage, make sure people get the right protection for their skin and know when and how to apply the right amount safely.

"They can also advise on aftercare treatments if people are suffering from sunburn."

The society advises applying cream with a minimum sun protection factor of 15, staying in the shade during the hottest part of the day between 11am and 3pm, and wearing a wide-brimmed hat and sun glasses with UV protection.

Shared computers are 'breeding grounds for germs'

nufc1892 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:54:00 +0100

Shared computers are "breeding grounds for germs" and hot-desking in the office can cause workers to become ill, research shows.

While the world remains on alert over the spread of swine flu, a new study reveals that internet cafés and shared office PCs are hot beds for bacteria.

In fact, keyboards used by several people may contain five times the number of microorganisms as those used by just one person.

Researchers warn that the risk of infection was high if the equipment was not thoroughly cleaned.

In tests, almost half of the keyboards harboured the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus which, although usually harmless when it is on the skin, can lead to serious infections if it enters the body.

Swabs showed it was present on only one-fifth of single-use keyboards, said scientists at the Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.

The findings, published in this month's edition of the American Journal of Infection Control, were made after tests on computers on campus.

One of the report's authors, Professor Enzo Palombo, said: "High use, multiple user internet cafés and computer labs are potential hot spots for harbouring microorganisms.

"Given that computers are not routinely disinfected, the potential for transmitting disease is great. Organisations need to be more rigorous in keeping shared equipment clean.

"Keyboards and other hand contact areas such as a computer mouse should be regularly cleaned and disinfected, especially for multiple-user workstations."

Rare copy of United States Declaration of Independence found in Kew

nufc1892 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:30:00 +0100

A rare and extremely valuable copy of the United States Declaration of Independence has been discovered in Britain.

The document, which is in perfect condition, is believed to be one of only 200 ever printed and was found among files at the National Archives in Kew in Richmond, Surrey.

Stumbled upon by an American antiquarian bookseller carrying out research, the Dunlap print of the declaration was printed on July 4, 1776 and brings the total of known surviving copies worldwide to 26.

The last discovery of a Dunlap print was at a flea market in 1989, and it sold at auction in 2000 for 8.14 million US dollars.

Dunlaps were the first official printings of the Declaration of Independence and were named after John Dunlap, the printer whose name is given at the bottom of each copy.

This manuscript was hidden among correspondence from American colonists that had been intercepted by the British in the 18th century.

The finding of the poster-size document brings the number of copies held at the National Archives to three, and despite its value, Mel Hide, a spokeswoman from the National Archives said they will not be selling the print.

She said: "We will protect and preserve this copy. It is unlikely to go on display because we already have one on show at the Archive's museum."

But she did not rule out a trip across the Atlantic Ocean for the manuscript.

"The Americans are very excited by it. We do often loan out our key documents and I'm sure if an American institution wanted to borrow it, we would consider lending it to them."

Edward Hampshire, the diplomatic and colonial specialist at the National Archives, said: "This is an incredibly exciting find. The Declaration of Independence is effectively America's birth certificate, making it one of the seminal documents in world history.

"It is likely that only around 200 of these were ever printed, so uncovering a new one nearly 250 years later is extremely rare, especially one in such good condition."

The United States Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire.

Prints made by John Dunlap were delivered to the founders early on the morning of July 5, 1776.

One copy was officially entered into the Congressional Journal and the additional copies were distributed, some by horseback, throughout the colonies to be read aloud to colonists and the militia.

Sears Tower pushes fear of heights to the limit with glass balconies

nufc1892 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:04:00 +0100

The Sears Tower in Chicago, the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere, is offering visitors a new way to push their fear of heights right over the edge.

A set of glass balconies, nicknamed "The Ledge" and suspended from the building's 103rd floor Skydeck, opened on Thursday.

The glass is three layers thick, one-and-a half inches in total, and capable of holding five tons. but it doesn't make them any less scary.

"At first I was kind of afraid but I got used to it," said Adam Kane, 10, a visitor from Alton, Illinois, as clouds drifted past. "Look at all those tiny things that are usually huge."

Sears Tower officials say the inspiration for the balconies came from the hundreds of forehead prints visitors left behind on Skydeck windows every week.

They say some people may experience a floating sensation when stepping into one of four glass boxes that jut out from the indoor observation deck.

"We did studies that showed a 4ft-deep (1.2m) enclosure makes you feel like you're floating since there's only room for one row of people, not two," architect Ross Wimer said.

The enclosures are 10ft (3m) high and 10ft wide.

The popular deck attracts 25,000 visitors on clear days. They each pay $15 (£9) to take a lift up to the 103rd floor of the 110-story office building that opened in 1973.

Architects considered creating an open-air deck, like the one on top of New York's Empire State Building, but the rush of air that would have been created could compromise the skyscraper's mechanical systems, Wimer said.

Other changes are also on the way for the tallest building in the United States. They include its new name of Willis Tower and a $350 million green renovation for the 110-story skyscraper.

Pigeons can tell good art from bad

nufc1892 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:49:00 +0100

Pigeons can tell the difference between a beautiful piece of art and a messy scribble, according to research.

The birds study the colour, pattern and texture of watercolour and pastel paintings and decide whether they are "good" or "bad".

They were able to successfully pick out good paintings when shown a selection of work by school children.

As part of a university study, a school art teacher and 10 other adults classified pupils watercolour and pastel paintings as either "good" or "bad", depending on whetehrthe images were clear and viewers could see the specific characteristics of the subjects in the paintings.

Pigeons from a racing society were placed in a chamber where they could see a computer monitor displaying the children's art.

In the first series of experiments, four pigeons were trained to recognise "good" paintings by being rewarded with food if they pecked at the "good" pictures.

Pecking at "bad" pictures was not rewarded.

They were then presented with a mixture of new and old "good" and "bad" paintings and the researchers noted which paintings they pecked at.

Pigeons consistently pecked at the "good" paintings more often than at the "bad" paintings.

When the paintings' sizes were reduced, the birds discriminated just as well between the two types of paintings.

However, when they were presented with monochrome paintings, they were no longer able to distinguish between the paintings, indicating that they use colour to discriminate.

When the paintings were processed into mosaics, the pigeons also found it difficult to distinguish between the paintings, showing that they also use patterns to make their beauty judgments.

Hiding part of the picture did not affect the pigeons' ability to tell the difference between paintings.

In the second series of experiments, researchers looked at whether pigeons could discriminate between watercolour and pastel paintings.

Eight new pigeons were trained to recognise the texture of paintings - four were trained to peck at watercolour paintings and four were trained to peck at pastel paintings.

As in the previous experiment, when presented with a mixture of new and old paintings, pigeons used both colour and shape cues to accurately discriminate between textures.

Taken together, these experiments suggest that humans and pigeons use similar visual cues to identify "good" paintings and painting texture.

Although there is a considerable difference in humans' and pigeons' brain architectures, they can function in similar ways to make complex visual discriminations.

Professor Shigeru Watanabe, from Keio University in Japan, said his work showed pigeons judge beauty in a similar way to humans.

He said: "Artistic endeavours have been long thought to be limited to humans, but this experiment shows that, with training, pigeons are capable of distinguishing between 'good' and 'bad' paintings.

"This research does not deal with advanced artistic judgments, but it shows that pigeons are able to acquire the ability to judge beauty similar to that of humans."

The concept of beauty is based on two properties.

Firstly, humans derive pleasure from viewing aesthetically pleasing art and experience negative emotions from aesthetically unappealing art.

Secondly, we can tell the difference between "good" or beautiful paintings and "bad" or ugly paintings and therefore form a concept of what is aesthetically pleasing.

The study was published in the journal Animal Cognition.

Everyone receives a copy of Animal Cognition. Don't they?

A vet who lost customer's cat enslists sniffer dog help

nufc1892 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:37:00 +0100

As blogged by your smart cat a couple of weeks back. http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/vip/profile/nufc1892/blog/118373/Vet_pays_for_poster_campaign_after_losing_customer_s_cat.html

A vet who paid for 20,000 leaflets to be printed after a customer's beloved cat was lost has now brought in sniffer dogs to track down the missing animal.

Jodie Dawkins took her pet Lionel to the Honeybourne Veterinary Centre in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, with a dislocated hip after he was hit by a car.

But the five-year-old escaped two and a half weeks ago when a duty nurse took him home and put him in her garden shed with his cage unlocked.

Practice partner Paul Adkin paid for 20,000 fliers with Lionel's picture on them, as well as 600 A4 "missing" posters.

Now he has gone a step further and drafted sniffer dogs in to the hunt.

He told the Gloucestershire Echo: "We thought it might give us the edge in our search for Lionel.

"A border collie was let loose in parts of town where we think he is most likely to be, including areas of thick foliage in Hester's Way, where he originally went missing.

"He got very excited at one point and we thought he might have picked up the scent. Although it hasn't led to us finding him yet, we have placed more humane cat traps around that area, and are checking them twice a day."

At the time the cat went missing, Mrs Dawkins, 29, a mental health nurse, said she and her family were outraged by the blunder.

Her five-year-old daughter, Olivia, was "in pieces", she said.

Climate change makes sheep shrink

nufc1892 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:24:00 +0100

Evolution is being turned on its head on a remote British island where climate change has caused a curious case of shrinking sheep, scientists have found.

Survival of the fittest and natural selection usually means that species grow bigger as they evolve but milder weather on the uninhabited islands of the Scottish Outer Hebrides has pushed this process into reverse.

Despite a greater abundance of food, milder winters and longer summers means that the wild Soay sheep of the St Kilda archipelago are shrinking by 3.5 ounces (100g) a year.

Over nearly a quarter of a century the sheep, one of the oldest breeds in the world and already half the size of a normal domestic sheep, have dropped in weight and height by five per cent.

Researchers believe that the hotter weather means that the weaker, smaller lambs that are usually wiped out by harsh winters are surviving – bringing down the average of the 2,000-strong wild flock.

The milder weather is also allowing younger, smaller mothers to have children early, meaning they give birth to smaller offspring.

Professor Coulson suggests that this is because shorter, milder winters, caused by global climate change, mean that lambs do not need to put on as much as weight in the first months of life to survive to their first birthday as they did when winters were colder.

Although Soay sheep, which can live up to 16 years-old and weigh 100lbs (45kgs), get their name from the small outcrop of rock of the same name, they now inhabit other islands in the St Kilda archipelago.

The scientists led by Professor Tim Coulson, from Imperial College London, chose to study the population on the 1,500 acre island of Hirta which has been uninhabited since 1930.

Over 24 years they have studied the relative size of the flock, capturing, marking and measuring them every summer. Their research, published in the journal Science, shows that over the period the average size of the flock has dropped from 66lbs (30kgs) to 61lbs (28kgs).

At the same time, average leg lengths have dropped by just under half an inch.

"In the past, only the big, healthy sheep and large lambs that had piled on weight in their first summer could survive the harsh winters on Hirta," said Prof Coulson.

"But now, due to climate change, grass for food is available for more months of the year, and survival conditions are not so challenging – even the slower growing sheep have a chance of making it, and this means smaller individuals are becoming increasingly prevalent in the population."

He said the fact there was more food meant that the populations were booming which in turn was actually reducing the average intake per animal.

"Climate change is overriding what we would expect through natural selection."

He said this may help explain how climate change will affect other remote communities and could explain why fossils of dwarf elephants and rhinos have been found on some remote islands.

Crikey. The Walkman is 30 years old. Sort of dates me a bit, I had an early one. (As soon as the price dropped below £100).

nufc1892 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:24:00 +0100

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/walkman-turns-30-as-sony-struggles-against-mp3-rivals-1728367.html

Pulsating alien sewer creature is worm colony

nufc1892 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:23:00 +0100

Pulsating blobs filmed in a North Carolina sewer which promted claims they were an 'alien' lifeform are found to be worms.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/?bcpid=4464161001&bctid=28294845001

The slimy sacs were filmed clinging to the crevices of a sewer and shying away from the light as a was camera passed along the pipes by construction firm Malphrus Construction.

Footage of the creatures was posted on YouTube leading to speculation that a new alien creature was living in the sewers of Raleigh, North Carolina.

But now biolgists have confirmed the blobs are a colonies of worms coiled together which much longer on camera than they are in real life.

"We were asked by our client to inspect the sewer lines, which were built in 1949," a spokeswoman from Malphrus Construction said.

'Because the sewers are so old there were many infrastructure issues."

The sewer system is private, but it discharges into the public water system.

Ed Buchan, environmental coordinator at the Raleigh Public Utilities Department, confirmed the 'creature' was actually a colony of worms.

The colonies attach themselves to roots that gradually work themselves into weak points in the pipes.

'"They seem to respond to the light from the camera,' he told The Daily Mail. 'That light is pretty hot.'

Other experts claim they are clumps of annelid worms, which normally live in soil and sediment at the bottom and edges of polluted streams.

Where's Geoff and Annabel

nufc1892 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:57:00 +0100

Just kept an eye on the webcam for 30 minutes. No sign of either Geoff, Annabel or even Nelson. Another Absolute Lie. It says on the page On air and webcam Geoff Lloyd.

Fat monkeys put on diet

nufc1892 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:51:00 +0100

A group of monkeys has been put on a diet after constant snacks and treats from visitors saw them tipping the scales at three times their ideal weight.

The Macaca mulatta monkeys were given bread or even leftovers from their meals in their enclosure in Ohama Park, in Sakai, western Japan.

It left about a third of the 50 monkeys kept there overweight, with the group's top five leaders weighing in at 2.4st (15kg).

The heaviest male tipped the scales at 3.6st (22.9kg) .

The average male Macaca mulatta monkey weighs around 1st.

However, the monkeys have managed to shed much of their fat after the zookeepers stopped visitors from feeding them and they are now nearer their 1st target weight.

US flight diverted after naked man refuses to dress

nufc1892 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:15:00 +0100

A US Airways flight was diverted to New Mexico after a passenger removed his clothing mid-flight and refused to get dressed.

Keith Wright of New York disrobed on Tuesday while sitting in his seat in the back of the aircraft on the cross-country flight, said Dan Jiron, a spokesman for the Albuquerque airport. The 50-year-old man refused to co-operate when a flight attendant asked him repeatedly to get dressed. When a flight attendant covered him with a blanket, he threw it off and attacked the attendant.

Police officers among the 148 passengers on Flight 705 from North Carolina to Los Angeles helped to subdue and handcuff Mr Wright before the flight landed.

Mr Wright's family told the FBI that he suffers from bi-polar disorder and had not taken his medication on Tuesday.

His wife, Debra, told the New York Daily News that her husband had left the family home on Tuesday without telling her after spending days without eating or sleeping.

The FBI said Mr Wright had been charged with interfering with flight crew members and attendants.

The aeroplane from North Carolina continued on to Los Angeles after Wright's arrest.