Newsgab

A newspaper report published today names the former judge who will now head the Princess Diana Inquest.

Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss will replace the royal coroner Michael Burgess, who withdrew from the case in July blaming his “heavy and constant” workload, the Times reported.

The inquest into the death of Diana, her companion Dodi al Fayed
and their driver in a 1997 Paris car crash began in 2004.

Butler-Sloss will examine the circumstances surrounding the crash and evidence from an inquiry into their deaths headed by John Stevens, the former head of the Metropolitan Police, the report said.

A French inquiry in 1999 ruled that the princess’s car crashed in a tunnel because her driver, Henri Paul, was drunk and driving too fast.

In spite of or because of that ruling claims, and counter claims have been made regarding her death.

What a heart wrenching moment it was when I read the news about the potential demise of Airfix due to what the Beeb cites as a new generation of children turning their attention to computer games.

I can’t believe it! Every Sunday morning, I’d pop into the paper shop with my Dad and buy a new Airfix toy with my pocket money. I had about 30 of these kits made up and ready to go but not as many as some

I used to love gluing and painting these kits and adding the assortment of stickers and transfers so they (kind of) represented a half-baked, visible likeness of the fighter plane or aircraft carrier detailed on the box.

It looks like I’m not alone either in my wistful view on this great toy. jjarrold on his blog tells us about his memories of building hundred of kits. The English guys also shares my nostalgic views.

Cynics mock and say stars have embraced Africa for publicity.

There is a good chance that they have. For Madonna to have
happened to find a charity in Malawi, when she has had no interest to even visit the continent in the last thirty years, is very probably a publicity stunt.

It does not alter the fact that Africa is a scourge on all consciouses. As Oscar Wilde once said
“Any publicity is better than no publicity”

In real terms Africa as a continent is more isolated and poor than ever.

The latest flood of stars searching for a good cause has prompted a collective groan in the press and among bloggers, as people question their methods and motives.

Aid groups blame the media for creating the cult of celebrity in the first place and arguing that by discouraging stars from adopting good causes they are endangering vulnerable people’s lives.

Not news as such but someone e-mailed me this picture today of a group of men who keep hyenas and baboons as pets (click thumbnail for larger image).

I didn’t have a clue what the story behind the picture was so I thought I’d do a little investigation (a.k.a Googling) to find out a little more info,

A South African photographer Pieter Hugo spent 10 days in Nigeria with 10 men, four baboons, three hyenas, and two rock pythons. He was responsible for taking this photograph of the Baboons and Hyenas during this visit.

Apparently the men catch the hyenas in their burrows when they’re puppies, then drug them over a period of time in order to sedate them. It takes away a bit of the hyena’s edge apparently, which is unfortunate but understandable.

Random stuff sent to me on e-mail today included this slightly interesting note on the worse types of handshakes. So are you a Fingertip Grabber or a Wet Fish? Read on:

The Wet Fish: Hand is clammy and cold. Universally unpopular, and is read by the receiver as a lack of commitment to the encounter.

The Vise: Hand is presented in down position and can stop blood flow to the hand. Reveals a desire to dominate and assume early control.

The Bone Crusher: The most feared of all handshakes, hand is presented in down position and leaves an undelible memory on the recipient’s mind and fingers. A trademark of the overly aggressive person.

The Fingertip Grab: A handshake that missed the mark and the user mistakenly grabs the others fingers. User lacks confidence.

Kate Middleton appears to be making lots of headlines recently. The girlfriend of Prince William seems to be making headlines left right and centre.

Is she hot? Not sure. In some pictures of Kate (Katie) Middleton, she looks pretty hot (perhaps its just the School Girl, College (Ok, drop the perving) University graduation look that does it. The see through pictures of Kate Middleton show some promise and the more casual walking down the street with the wind blowing in here hair is also a half decent look.

Popularity: 4% [?]

I love space related stuff and this photo caught my eye.

This picture made available from NASA this weekend shows the central region of a group of galaxies 300 million light-years away known as Stephan’s Quintet.

The distant galaxy is generating a ’sonic boom’ of cosmic proportions, astronomers have discovered, as one of the galaxies falls towards the others at high speed, ploughing through a cloud of hydrogen gas travelling at 540.6 miles per second - 100 times faster than the speed of sound.

The effect of this is similar to the sonic boom created by a fast jet, according to astonomers at the American space agency Nasa, using the Spitzer space telescope, and their findings are to be published later in March, in the Astrophysical Journal.

Cool

Popularity: 2% [?]

What the hell is the world coming to? This picture taken from video footage broadcast first on Brazilian television and then worldwide showed rescuers using a tree branch to reach the black plastic bag attached to a plank, floating in the lake. (Click links to open associated pictures in new window)

Two men were shown placing the bag on the ground and untying it, where they found the baby inside, wearing a pink dress. One man then scooped her up and ran up a hill, where other people removed the girl’s soaked clothing and wrapped her in a blanket.

“I heard what sounded like a cat,” Jose da Cruz told Globo TV. “Then the noise was increasing and it caught my attention.”

Popularity: 2% [?]

Complete and utter madness.

A 21-year-old American online gaming fan broadcast his suicide on a Bulgarian Internet forum

Named as Mitchell S, the gamer switched on his web cam and swallowed a large amount of motor antifreeze and pills after complaining about family problems and a lack of money, forum administrator Boyan Georgiev told Bulgaria’s BGNES news agency on Wednesday.

Other forum members thought the man nicknamed “Kudjo” was joking even though he rambled for six hours about the effects of the substances and disappeared from view several times.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Time for a little rambling. Theres lots of obscure facts and figures which I’ve had sent over the years so thought I would share some of them for your viewing pleasure.

If any of these facts are wrong, please let me know so I can shoot the sender of said fact, down in flames: Muahahahah

Ok, here goes, enjoy…

A cockroach will live nine days without its head, before it starves to death.

A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

Popularity: 2% [?]