Those of you living around the UK’s airports are enjoying a rare and prolonged peace and there’s more to come.
Freysteinn Sigmundsson, a volcanologist at the University of Iceland, and Carolina Pagli, a geophysicist at the University of Leeds in England, believe that the pressure created by ice caps on land keeps rocks from forming magma, even if they’re hot enough. That pressure is real. Iceland’s biggest ice cap has lost 10 percent of its volume since 1890 and the surrounding land is rising by almost an inch a year. Sigmundsson and Pagli estimate those changes have created a 1.4km3 sea of magma under the ground. Matthew Cordell, UN Dispatch.
So we can expect more volcanic eruptions and more disruptions to air travel – an unexpected side effect of global warming – I’m sure there are many others. I should add that the experts don’t believe this to be the case in the eruption of Eyjafjallajökulls.
Two Britons were jailed in Dubai today after losing their appeal against a conviction for kissing in a restaurant.
Ayman Najafi, 24, and Charlotte Lewis, 25, were arrested in November and accused of kissing, touching each other intimately and consuming alcohol. The pair – who are not a couple – insist they merely kissed each other on the cheek as a greeting.
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In 2008, a British couple narrowly escaped jail in Dubai after being found guilty of engaging in drunken sexual activity out of wedlock and in public. This year, a British couple who shared a Dubai hotel room produced a marriage certificate to escape trial for having sex out of wedlock. Adam Gabbatt, The Guardian.
Having sex in a hotel room, kissing in public – criminal offences – why on earth would anyone wish to visit such a country? It’s not as if it has great historical significance – from what I can see it’s but a Disney land for the rich.
Search by town, city or attraction on Free Parking Space and it’ll show you where you can park for free or if it can’t find a free space it’ll tell you the cheapest – well that’s the idea but it is in beta at the moment so results are patchy. The system relies on people reporting the spaces they find – as Martin Lewis writes:
Would you really be happy to tell Joe public about your secret parking slot? Still, one to watch in future. Martin Lewis.
If you’re looking for a space in London use Park-up instead.
Dictionary 6 in 1 with Camera Function is no ordinary dictionary; it transforms your Nintendo DSi into a unique language tool. Enter a word by hand, or simply snap a photo of it, to receive an instant translation. Nintendo.
Just take a photo of a word – sounds brilliant – still I wonder how well it works – we’ve only got a DS which hasn’t a camera so I can’t try it out – I’ve looked for some reviews but nothing doing yet.
Looking for something different for you next holiday?
The Atlas Obscura is a collaborative project with the goal of cataloguing all of the singular, eccentric, bizarre, fantastical, and strange out-of-the-way places that get left out of traditional travel guidebooks and are ignored by the average tourist. If you’re looking for miniature cities, glass flowers, books bound in human skin, gigantic flaming holes in the ground, phallological museums, bone churches, balancing pagodas, or homes built entirely out of paper, the Atlas Obscura is where you’ll find them. Atlas Obscura.
Still I don’t expect anyone in their right minds rushing to Downtown Hotel, Dawson City, Yukon, Canada to try their Sourtoe Cocktail.
Established in 1973, the Sourtoe Cocktail has become a Dawson City tradition. The original rules were that the toe must be placed in a beer glass full of champagne, and that the toe must touch the drinker’s lips during the consumption of the alcohol before he or she can claim to be a true Sourtoer. The rules have changed in the past twenty-seven years. The Sourtoe can be had with any drink now (even ones that aren’t alcoholic), but one rule remains the same. The drinker’s lips must touch the toe. “You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow– But the lips have gotta touch the toe.”
The Sourtoes are actual human toes that have been dehydrated and preserved in salt. Swallowing one is not suggested. Sourtoe Cocktail Club.
There’s no mention of sourtoe in Dawson City’s Wikipedia entry – to be honest it’s probably and elaborate hoax and I’ve no intention of travelling to Dawson to check.
But then again you never know – here’s a YouTube Video
Google have made tentative steps into the world of travel with the launch of Google City Tours. The site generates suggested itineraries for thousands of destinations around the world, and allows users to customise their schedules according to how many days they are visiting, and what they want to see. Benji Lanyado, The Guardian.
Currently it’s a Labs project which means there’s plenty of work needed but it’s simple to use and as others have stated the best thing is
The way it uses Google Maps to figure out which locations are closest to each other. Rather than simply present a list of places Google thinks you might want to check out, the site will logically order them according to where they’re located, minimizing the travel time between each. Jason Kincaid, Tech Crunch.
It does take much imagination to see where this is going with Google linking City Tours to a raft of useful information such as concert and sports listings. Keep an eye on City Tours it has great potential.
I love Brittany but fancy somewhere different next year, I don’t like the beaches and especially not the crowds in the South of France although the food is fantastic and I’d recommend anybody to visit Chez Philippe in Marseillan. So it’s with interest I read Rupert Wright’s article on the French Lakes of Haute-Savoie I’m tempted to stay in Annecy next year.
This morning BBC Radio 4 reports that The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said of the above Ryanair advert.
“We considered that her appearance and pose, in conjunction with the heading ‘Hottest’, appeared to link teenage girls with sexually provocative behaviour and was irresponsible and likely to cause serious or widespread offence”.
The ASA told Ryanair to withdraw the advert and ensure its future promotions complied with the advertising code.
However, the airline said the model’s clothing reflected what was currently fashionable among young women.
I don’t know what school allows its children to wear these types of clothes; I suspect it’s only in the minds of the executives that run Ryanair. The airline goes on to say.
“It is remarkable that a picture of a fully-clothed model is now claimed to cause ‘serious or widespread offence’, when many of the UK’s leading daily newspapers regularly run pictures of topless or partially-dressed females without causing any serious or widespread offence,” said Peter Sherrard, head of communications for the airline.
Sherrard shouldn’t judge us by the types of papers he appears to read, The Sun and Daily Star. Ryanair finally resorts to abuse.
“This isn’t advertising regulation, it is simply censorship. This bunch of unelected self-appointed dimwits are clearly incapable of fairly and impartially ruling on advertising. Mr Sherrard added that Ryanair believed the advert was not irresponsible nor offensive and would therefore “not be withdrawing this ad” and would “not provide the ASA with any of the undertakings they seek”.
As far as I can see Ryanair have completely lost, the plot if the can’t see what’s wrong. We should all think twice before flying Ryanair.
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