Two giants of the industrial age are to appear on a redesigned Bank of England £50 note. Scottish engineer James Watt and his business partner Matthew Boulton, from Birmingham, developed the steam engine. Bank of England governor Mervyn King said their 18th Century innovations were essential in driving Britain's Industrial Revolution. It is the first time two portraits have appeared together on the note. An image of the Queen appears on the other side. Inventor and mechanical engineer James Watt was born in Greenock in 1736 and carried out some of his first experiments with steam power in Glasgow. His partnership with Matthew Boulton, who owned the Soho Foundry in Birmingham, gave him access to the latest metal working techniques.
The resulting Boulton and Watt engine proved far more efficient than previous designs, and was soon being used in coal mines and cotton factories. The new banknote, to be launched in 18 months, includes an image of a steam engine and the Soho factory. Mervyn King said: "So many of the advantages society now enjoys are due in large part to the vital role of engineering and the brilliance and foresight of people such as Boulton and Watt, whose development and refinement of steam engines gave an incredible boost to the efficiency of industry." He added: "The unique and rare opportunity that the bank has through its banknotes to acknowledge and promote awareness of our nation's heritage of artistic, social and scientific endeavour is an honour for us. "The bank's choice of Boulton and Watt, a reminder of the invaluable contribution from engineering and the entrepreneurial spirit to the advancement of society, I think, well reflects this." The new note will circulate initially in tandem with the existing £50 note featuring the first Bank of England governor Sir John Houblon, but the older note will gradually be withdrawn. | |||
30.5.09
Steam giants on new £50 banknote
29.5.09
10 things we didn't know last week
Snippets from the week's news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience.
1. Beer mat collectors are called tegestologists.
More details
2. A train that arrives 10 minutes late can still be officially "on time".
More details
3. The word "Laodicean" means to be indifferent in matters of politics or religion.
More details
4. Sounds have shapes.
More details
5. People can overdose on chewing gum.
More details (Telegraph)
6. Only one in 10 people with Tourette Syndrome swears.
More details
7. Just two people know the recipe for Irn Bru.
More details
8. Stabbing in the buttocks has its own verb in Roman dialect.
More details
9. Places with slow or non-existent broadband are called "notspots".
More details
10. The world's longest recorded marriage is 86 years.
More details (Daily Mirror)
Download Junkie
| Highlights This Week Include: | |
 | |
 | Sandboxie 3.38 |
 | Active@ ISO Burner 2.0 Freeware Create CDs and DVDs from an ISO file 28 May 2009 |
 | CCleaner 2.20 Freeware Personal information & task manager 28 May 2009 |
 | Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (32-bit) Freeware Official download of the latest Vista service pack 28 May 2009 |
 | Ashampoo Burning Studio 9.03 Trial Software Comprehensive & powerful disc burning suite 27 May 2009 |
 | Norton Utilities 1.0 Trial Software All you need to optimise & boost your PC 26 May 2009 |
 | Similarity 0.8.2 Freeware Find & remove duplicate music tracks 26 May 2009 |
 | GFI Backup 2009 Home Edition Freeware Backup & restore your most important files 26 May 2009 |
 | Google Chrome 2 Freeware Take a look at this exciting new web browser 25 May 2009 |
 | Recuva 1.27.419 Freeware Salvage & recover deleted files 22 May 2009 |
Software Recommendation | ||
 | ||
Read more about Transmute... |
Seven million 'use illegal files'
Around seven million people in the UK are involved in illegal downloads, costing the economy tens of billions of pounds, government advisors say. Researchers found 1.3m people using one file-sharing network on one weekday and estimated that over a year they had free access to material worth £120bn. The Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (SABIP) warned it may be hard to change attitudes. The government says work must be done internationally to tackle the problem. Intellectual Property Minister David Lammy said the report put into context the impact illegal downloads had on copyright industries and the UK economy as a whole. But he added: "This is not an issue confined by national boundaries and I am sure that other [EU] member states and their copyright industries will find this report of use in the development of policy." HAVE YOUR SAY Many people do not even realise that what they are doing is illegal Ralph Cook, Barking, UK An alliance of nine UK bodies representing the creative industries recently joined trades unions in calling on the government to force internet service providers to cut off persistent illegal file-sharers. They said more than half of net traffic in the UK was illegal content. Copyright confusion Internet service providers say it is not their job to police the web. The latest report for the SABIP, said the new generation of broadband access at 50Mbps could deliver 200 MP3 files in five minutes, a DVD in three and the complete digitised works of Charles Dickens in less than 10. It said the seven million people who access files illegally could not all be students and that many of them were uncertain about what was illegal. The fact that so much on the internet is free only added to the confusion, it said. Dame Lynne Brindley, SABIP Board member, said: "This report gives us some baseline evidence from which we can develop a clear research strategy to support policy development in this fast moving area." | |
28.5.09
UK 'must build more rail lines'
Britain's railways may need to double their capacity in the next 30 years to cope with the demand from passengers, according to train operators. In a joint report with infrastructure owner Network Rail, they say long-term plans must be made within five years. New lines will need to be built, rather than just adding extra trains, it says. A new high-speed London to Scotland line and the electrification of the Great Western and Midland main lines are among the options it suggests. These moves would take the pressure off the West Coast Mainline, which operators predict will be full by 2010. Up to three times as many passengers could be travelling on the railways by 2020, according to the report. The BBC's transport correspondent Tom Symonds said the report was "a concerted effort by the train companies and Network Rail to think about the long-term future of the railways". He said that if the predictions prove to be true: "The railways will have to be available all week round, despite the pressure of engineering work, and severe delays should be a thing of the past." | |
Cuckoo's call becomes rarer in UK
The cuckoo - known for its springtime song - has joined a "red list" of the UK's most threatened bird species.
The lapwing, yellow wagtail and herring gull are also deemed to be urgently in need of conservation action.
In the latest assessment of the UK's bird population, the number red-listed has risen by 5% since 2002, to more than one in five.
The RSPB said the growing number of charismatic, widespread and familiar birds now on the list was "scandalous".
RSPB conservation director Mark Avery said the "most shocking" decline was that of summer-visiting birds, like the cuckoo, which has seen numbers fall by 37% in the last 15 years.
Experts are not yet certain why migrant birds are in decline in the UK.
 |  When we know what to do, and there are funds to do it, we can improve the fortunes of birds  Andy Clements, British Trust for Ornithology |
The number of red-listed species has risen to 52 (21%) out of 246 birds assessed, which is up from 40 species (16%) when the last assessment was done in 2002.
Most birds on the red list have seen their range or populations decline by more than half in recent years, or have undergone historical declines since 1800, from which they have not fully recovered.
The house sparrow, starling and song thrush are among the once-common British birds now on the list.
Some 21 red-listed bird species are summer visitors, most of which spend the winter in sub-Saharan Africa.
Missing song
In the latest assessment, there was good news for the bullfinch, quail, reed bunting, Scottish crossbill, stone curlew and woodlark - which were all downgraded from the red list to "amber".
They had either increased their populations or range - mainly as a result of improvements in management of farmland for the stone curlew, and heathland for the woodlark - or more had been discovered about their numbers, as with the Scottish crossbill.
The assessment results will be published in the June edition of British Birds.
Andy Clements, director of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), said: "A gap all of us will notice is the lack of the cuckoo's familiar song. Their decline is emblematic of downward trends in many long-distance migrants from Africa."
 Farmland bird the lapwing is also at risk |
He said BTO and its partners were working on research to try to understand why migrant birds are in decline.
"As this report shows, when we know what to do, and there are funds to do it, we can improve the fortunes of birds such as stone curlew and woodlark."
Although the cause of the cuckoo's decline is not known, a number of theories have been discussed, said the RSPB's Grahame Madge.
Research will look at whether there are problems with habitat, either in the UK or in Africa, or on their migration route, he said.
The species relies heavily on hairy moth caterpillars for food and, with many species of butterfly and moth are also suffering declines, a diminishing food supply could be having an impact.
In addition, with cuckoos laying their eggs in other birds nests, there may be issues with their key hosts, such as the meadow pipit and dunnock, being in decline.
While no link to climate change has been proved, there are concerns that, with European temperatures rising, migratory birds are losing their ecological advantage over birds which over-winter in Europe.
The addition of five species to the red list - Temminck's stint, ruff, whimbrel, redwing and fieldfare - which are at the southern edge of their spread in the British Isles, could suggest a shift in range brought on by a changing climate.
Seabirds join list
For the first time, two winter visitors, the dunlin and the scaup, have been added to the red list because of declines in their wintering populations.
Rich Hearn, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust's head of species monitoring, said their inclusion highlighted an "increasingly widespread phenomenon of climate change-driven shifts in distribution".
Three seabirds have also joined the red list, the Balearic shearwater, which is at a higher risk of global extinction than the giant panda; the Arctic skua, the only bird to go straight from the low-concern "green list" straight to red; and the herring gull.
The assessment, Birds of Conservation Concern 3, is compiled by a group of organisations including the BTO, Countryside Council for Wales, Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Natural England, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, RSPB, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.
Ofcom prepares Olympics airwaves
Regulator Ofcom is looking at the best way to provide new spectrum in London during the 2012 Olympics.
Demands on the airwaves will be huge as thousands of wireless devices will be used during the games to serve athletes, officials and broadcasters.
Ofcom is considering temporarily borrowing spectrum from public sector bodies such as the Ministry of Defence.
It believes that it can set aside a sufficient amount of spectrum without having a major impact on current users.
Wireless mics
Other options include using existing civil spectrum more efficiently and using license-exempt spectrum for activities that require low power such as operating remote-controlled cameras.
Wireless devices will be crucial to the smooth running of the games.
Private mobile radios will make sure that the London Organising Committee and athletes can keep in touch at the 36 games venues across the UK.
Such radios will be vital for communicating from land to sea during the sailing events at Portland Harbour.
Wireless microphones will be used for the opening and closing ceremonies and by broadcasters for commentary and interviews with athletes.
Wireless cameras will be used by broadcasters, including airborne coverage for events such as the marathons.
Wi-fi hotspots will be made available for spectators.
The Olympics will serve 14,500 athletes, 20,000 broadcasters in 200 countries and transmit to 5bn viewers globally.
Ofcom is set to consult on the best way to provide spectrum for the Olympics until August. A full plan will be published by the end of the year.
New rate for music digital stream
Music collection society PRS has unveiled a new pricing plan it hopes may entice YouTube and Pandora back to the UK market.
From 1 July, firms will have to pay 0.085p for each track streamed, down from the previous rate of 0.22p.
PRS for Music says the new plan will "enable the digital market to grow".
Earlier this year, YouTube started removing premium music videos to UK users after failing to reach a new licensing agreement with the PRS.
Companies wishing to play or stream music over the internet are legally obliged to pay royalties to songwriters and performers. However, many companies said the old rate was prohibitive.
The radio streaming service Pandora ended its UK stream at the start of 2008 and YouTube announced in March 2009 that it was removing all premium music videos to UK users after failing to reach a new licensing agreement with the PRS.
 It remains to be seen if the new rate will entice Pandora back to the UK |
The PRS, which distributes royalties to songwriters, collected a record £117 million in the first three months of 2009.
Steve Purdham, head of the music streaming service We7, told BBC News he welcomed the new charges.
"It's brilliant. Not so much the rates but the realisation by the PRS that things have to change in the digital world.
27.5.09
Falklands ship to leave service
The last remaining operational warship that took part in the Falklands conflict is to be decommissioned later.
HMS Exeter's 29-year career will end at a ceremony at Portsmouth Naval Base after clocking up 892,811 nautical miles on operations around the world.
Falklands veterans and 10 of its former commanding officers will be among more than 300 guests.
During the ceremony, the Type 42 destroyer's white ensign will be lowered for the last time.
A traditional decommissioning cake will be cut and representatives of the ship's affiliate organisations, including Exeter City Council, will also be present.
Destroyers replaced
The Portsmouth-based ship was launched in 1978 and entered service in September 1980 after being built by Swan Hunter Shipbuilders on the River Tyne.
During the Falklands conflict, it destroyed four Argentine aircraft - two Skyhawks and two reconnaissance planes.
The vessel had been sent to the region from the Caribbean to replace HMS Sheffield, the first major British vessel to be sunk during the conflict.
It also saw service in the Gulf War of 1991 and in 2005 took part in the International Fleet Review to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.
Ageing Type 42 destroyers, like HMS Exeter, are being replaced by the Navy with Type 45 Daring class warships.
The first of the class, HMS Daring, arrived in Portsmouth in January and the second, HMS Dauntless, is due to arrive next year.
Most of HMS Exeter's company have already been transferred to other posts, including to HMS Daring and HMS Dauntless.
26.5.09
10 things we didn't know last week
Snippets from the week's news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience.
1. Franco had one testicle.
More details
2. That condition is called monorchism.
More details
3. Only 26 people a day, on average, used Yangyang International airport in South Korea last year.
More details
4. Excessive cola-drinking can cause paralysis.
More details
5. 29% of women have never used the internet, but only 20% of men.
More details
6. Seven Speakers of the House of Commons were beheaded prior to 1560.
More details (Guardian)
7. Britain had animal welfare laws before it had child welfare laws.
More details
8. Child protection used to be enforced by uniformed NSPCC inspectors, known as "cruelty men".
More details
9. Pringles are potato crisps after all.
More details
10. The man who was the voice of Mickey Mouse was married to the woman who did Minnie's.
More details
Museum fees 'could make comeback'
Free entrance to museums may become a thing of the past as the recession and funding cuts bite, according to the head of The Art Fund.
David Barrie, who campaigned to have charges scrapped in 2001, said it would be "a disastrous backward step" if charges were reintroduced.
Admissions are continuing to rise as visitors seek low cost attractions.
A spokesman for the Department of Culture denied there were any plans to scrap free museum entrances.
'Utmost dismay'
"Free admission to national museums and galleries is the cornerstone of this government's cultural policy," he said.
"We cannot imagine circumstances where entry admission charges would be introduced again."
| Millions of people have benefitted from it David Barrie, The Art Fund |
In 2007, the government pledged to guarantee free access to national museums and galleries until at least 2011.
Mr Barrie, director of the artistic charity, said a move back to charging museum fees would be "heartbreaking" and he viewed it with the "utmost dismay".
"I think it's unquestionably been one of the most helpful developments in government cultural policy in recent decades. Millions of people have benefitted from it," he added.
New research conducted by the Art Fund has found that museum and gallery admissions have risen by 12% in the past six months as holidaymakers choose to stay in the UK.
It also revealed that two-thirds of the 300 cultural institutions questioned have been dealt budget cuts, while private donations have fallen and Lottery funding has been hit by the 2012 Olympics.
The charity concluded that healthy visitor figures would not be enough to offset the pressure to reintroduce entrance fees, which were scrapped eight years ago and led to a surge in admissions.
Last orders for beer mat maker?
As another lorry empties its cargo of logs, German Miles waves to the driver, then brings his gaze back to the freshly felled tree trunks piling up in front of him.
"It's amazing to think," he says, "just this morning that wood was standing in the forest behind us, but that in a few days it'll probably be in coaster, in a bar, for drinking beer."
Having worked at the Katz Group since 1975, Mr Miles, who began as a printer and is now production manager, has had plenty of time to get used to the idea.
But to the outsider it is hard to grasp that this quiet corner of the Black Forest in South West Germany is home to the world's biggest producer of the humble beer mat.
The small pieces of cardboard - usually covered in the logo of a brewery or beer brand - are familiar to anyone who has spent a bit of time in pubs and bars, especially in the UK and mainland Europe.
 The logs come form trees grown in sustainable forests close to the factory |
Drinkers flip them, spin them, tear them and scrawl phone numbers on them, while a small dedicated group of enthusiasts (called tegestologists, though others have less kind epithets) collect them.
In Ireland - where beer mat use is the world's highest at more than 50 per person per year - the familiar brands they contain, such as Guinness and Jameson whiskey, mean that tourists pocket them as a souvenir.
Advertising tool
With the steady flow of trucks and the whirr of machinery in the background, nothing seems amiss at the group's main factory.
Except that these are days shrouded with uncertainty, with the firm's beer mat making business having gone into administration.
| BEER MAT FACTS  The first wood pulp beer mat was made in 1892 by Robert Sputh of Dresden They came to the UK in 1920, produced by the Watneys brewery, advertising its pale ale Leo Pisker of Austria, has collected more than 150,000 different beer mats from 192 countries Dean Gould of Felixstowe holds a host of beer mat world records including most flipped off a table, a bottle, a chin, and while blindfolded Sources: British Beermat Collectors Society / Guinness Book of Records / Record Holders Republic  |
It is difficult to see how this could happen at a company that has a 75% share of the estimated 5.5 billion beer mats - or coasters as they are known in the US and Australia - made globally last year.
Indeed, the Weisenbach factory alone - which takes in the logs and turns them to pulp before producing lightweight, highly absorbent board which it prints, cuts and packages - can make more than 12 million of what they call in Germany, Bierdeckel, every day.
But while they may have a fond place in people's hearts, ultimately the beer mat is just another advertising tool.
And the economic climate "has not helped" Katz's position, says group chief executive Garry Hobson, citing trends in the brewing and pub industries as denting demand.
Declining beer sales, as people opt to drink at home, have led to fewer orders while the closure of pubs (especially in the UK where some estimates put the rate of demise at five a day) mean there are fewer venues for beer mats to be used.
And the trends among brewers to merge and create even bigger global giants (for example SAB and Miller, the Heineken, Carlsberg and Scottish & Newcastle agreement and Budweiser's deal with Anheuser-Busch) have seen a fall in overall advertising spending, Mr Hobson says.
"A few years ago there were 10 main brewers worldwide, but the round after round of consolidation there are just five.
 These are nervous times for workers in Weisenbach |
"And even though the most dramatic deals have now been done, we have felt the impact of the shake-ups in the companies and of the people who would see the beer mat as part of their advertising."
Anxiety
These challenges, plus problems getting access to cash and some needs to "restructure" have left the firm desperately trying to find new investors.
Orders are still coming in and being met, with Katz's administrators confident it can be rescued as a going concern.
And at its sales commercial offices in the UK and Belgium, which are not subject to the administration proceedings, it is, the firm says, "business as usual".
But around the Weisenbach factory floor - from the wood pulping room to the printing section - the 150 staff seem anxious about the future.
Katz has another factory in Grosschirma, near Dresden, and the potential for any new investors wanting to cut costs cannot be ignored, says Mr Hobson, a Yorkshireman, who has made this pocket of Germany, close to the spa town of Baden-Baden, his home.
 German Miles has seen vast technological changes at the company |
The group already have a number of small sidelines - though one of them, the manufacture of branded ashtrays in the UK, fell by the wayside a few years back after laws limiting tobacco advertising were introduced, followed by the smoking ban.
However those "mock wood" circular discs found in a packets of supermarket-bought Camembert are made here, as are the thin sheets of board found at the back of some wardrobes.
But the firm needs to look at revitalising its main business, says Mr Hobson, who insists the beer mat is "undervalued" by both existing and potential customers.
Innovation
While the product is perhaps more associated with the smell of stale ale, the corridor leading to his office - the walls of which are lined with products made for brands from China to the Czech Republic - has a hint of the aroma of fresh wood shavings and sawdust.
|  A marketing tool can only be used if the end user has an affinity with it, and there's no doubt people have an affinity with the beer mat Garry Hobson Group chief executive Katz Group |
Picking up the dice from the a chrome-plated Yatzee set on his desk, he rolls them before reaching for a display book of the firm's latest coasters.
This is beermat 2.0 - the coaster that seems way too fancy to stack up and flip in a vain effort to impress girls.
There is shiny foil, ("to give a product a premium feel"), labels to peel off, wipe-clean coasters and mats which change appearance when rubbed against a hot hand or cold pint.
Another, aimed at football fans, has incorporated face paint in the colours of the German flag.
Logos are not just for continental lagers and spirits, but feature the Real Madrid football team, a mobile phone company and the Belgian version of the Pepperami.
And it seems the days of simply having square or round cardboard are over, with mats shaped as hands, trophies and footballs.
Student memories
Traditionalists may scoff, but Mr Hobson sees broadening the beer mat's reach as the way to tackle some of the industry's woes.
"A marketing tool can only be used if the end user has an affinity with it, and there's no doubt people have an affinity with the beer mat," he says.
 The beer mats are for markets across the globe |
"They pick it up, they play with it, they may not know they are doing it. They create games with it and they remember it. It's a part of the drinking culture."
A beer mat flipping competition at a trade event had been a big hit with brewers and marketers, who were taken "back to their student days", he adds.
With the well documented problems in the drinks trade, winning business from other industries is an essential part of a recovery plan, Mr Hobson says.
In the US, for example, where the firm has two businesses in New York state and Tennessee (both use the board made in Germany, though neither are subject to the administration proceedings) about 50% of its printing is for restaurants - which are using the mats to advertise special deals.
"People understand the product. They use it as an unobtrusive way of advertising and from the person in the bar's point of view, they see it as something that's always there," Mr Hobson says.
"But the perception of the coaster and the way it is used is quite traditional. Our responsibility, as market leaders is to bring innovation."
21.5.09
How to fit 300 DVDs on one disc
A new optical recording method could pave the way for data discs with 300 times the storage capacity of standard DVDs, Nature journal reports.
The researchers say this could see a whopping 1.6 terabytes of information fit on a DVD-sized disc.
They describe their method as "five-dimensional" optical recording and say it could be commercialised.
The technique employs nanometre-scale particles of gold as a recording medium.
Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia have exploited the particular properties of these gold "nano-rods" by manipulating the light pointed at them.
The team members described what they did as adding three "dimensions" to the two spatial dimensions that DVD and CD discs already have.
They say they were able to introduce a spectral - or colour - dimension and a polarisation dimension, as well as recording information in 10 layers of the nano-rod films, adding a third spatial dimension.
The scientists used the nanoparticles to record information in a range of different colour wavelengths on the same physical disc location. This is a major improvement over traditional DVDs, which are recorded in a single colour wavelength with a laser.
Also, the amount of incoming laser light absorbed by the nanoparticles depends on its polarisation. This allowed the researchers to record different layers of information at different angles.
The researchers thus refer to the approach as 5-D recording. Previous research has demonstrated recording techniques based on colour or polarisation, but this is the first work that shows the integration of both.
As a result, the scientists say they have achieved unprecedented data density.
| It's not just elegant - there are a lot of experiments that are elegant - it's relatively straightforward Tom Milster University of Arizona |
Their approach used 10-layer stacks composed of thin glass plates as the recording medium. If scaled up to a DVD-sized disk, the team would be able to record 1.6 terabytes - that is, 1,600 gigabytes - or over 300 times the quantity stored on a standard DVD.
Significant improvements could be made by thinning the spacer layers and using more than two polarisation angles - pushing the limits to 10 terabytes per disc and beyond, the researchers say.
Bit by bit
Recent efforts based on holography have shown that up to 500 Gb could potentially be stored on standard DVD-sized disks.
Holographic methods take all of the information to be recorded and encode it in the form of a graph showing how often certain frequencies arise in it.
That means that the recording process is a complex, all-at-once, all-or-nothing approach that would be difficult to implement on an industrial scale.
By contrast, 5-D recording is "bit-by-bit", like current CD and DVD writing processes in that each piece of information is read sequentially.
That is likely to mean that recording and read speeds would be comparatively slow, but the approach would be easier to integrate with existing technology.
"The optical system to record and read 5-D is very similar to the current DVD system," says James Chon, a co-author on the research.
"Therefore, industrial scale production of the compact system is possible."
 DVD surfaces now are "2-D": just the position on the disc matters |
Now that the method has been demonstrated in custom-made multi-layer stacks, the team is working in conjunction with Samsung to develop a drive that can record and read onto a DVD-sized disc.
Dr Chon says that the material cost of a disc would be less than $0.05 (£0.03), but there are a number of advantages in moving to silver nano-rods that would bring that cost down by a factor of 100.
For optical data storage expert Tom Milster, at the University of Arizona, the beauty of the approach is in its simplicity.
"It's not just elegant - there are a lot of experiments that are elegant - it's relatively straightforward," he told BBC News.
For the moment, Dr Milster says, the equipment needed to write the data would make a commercial system expensive. However, that has not stopped the development of optical storage solutions in the past.
"For example, a Blu-ray player is not an easy system to realise; they've got some wonderful optics in there," Dr Milster said. "People thought that would be pretty difficult to do, but others managed to do it."
16.5.09
Eurovision News
Norway's baby-faced fiddler wins Eurovision 2009... (and the UK didn't do too badly either)
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:52 PM on 16th May 2009
Norway has won the 54th Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Russian city of Moscow.
With a score of 387 singer and violinist Alexander Rybak beat 24 other contestants and broke the record for the most points awarded during the competition with his folk-inspired song Fairytale.
The 23-year-old ethnic Belarussian, who grew up outside of Oslo, had been a pre-tournament favourite. This is the third time Norway has won the competition.
Iceland came in second with 218 points and Azerbaijan third with a score of 207.
Jade Ewen, representing the UK with an Andrew Lloyd Webber song, came in fifth position - a signficant improvement on last year's bottom-of-the-league rating.
For the first time, voting in the final was split between televoting and panels of musical experts, designed to reduce the controversial 'neighbourly' voting practice.
Winner: Norway's entry Alexander Rybak
Tonight's result for the UK demonstrates a shift the contest's voting process, meaning for the first time in years tonight's acts were judged on musical merit.
It could mark an end to the controversial practice of tactical voting which has blighted the competition in recent years.
Finalists from 25 countries performed an array of songs in the musical bonanza that is one of the most watched annual television events on the continent.
Flames licked the stage's periphery and vast electronic screens blazed stunning backdrops in a spectacular show, which featured cheesy, high-energy pop and tear-jerking ballads.
In a Eurovision first, crew members of the International Space Station gave the command to start telephone voting in a video message from the orbiting science laboratory.
What a Teese: Burlesque star Dita bolsters Germany's bog-standard entry with a raunchy striptease
More than 100million viewers are thought to have tuned in for the annual glitz, glamour - and occasional talent - that is Eurovision 2009.
This year was the first without Eurovision legend Terry Wogan, who quit after last year's contest.
But Graham Norton valiantly tried to inject some of the sarcasm and wit Wogan was famous for.
Introducing opening act Cirque du Soleil, Norton said: 'I didn't realise Janette Krankie was performing'.
And when introducing Albania's entry he quipped: 'The bad news it you're about to watch Albania. She's only 17 so please bear that in mind. Where was her mother? Why didn't she step in a say no?'
Among the highlights was a steamy striptease routine from burlesque star Dita Von Teese, who performed as part of Germany's entry, receiving a riotous reaction from the audience.
Flying the flag for the UK: Jade Ewen performs on stage under the watchful eye of Andrew Lloyd Webber
But not even skin-tight silver trousers and a bizarre tap dance routine from German singer Alex Swings Oscar Sings could hide the notes he missed in his performance.
Apart from a minor collision with a violinist's elbow, the UK's Jade Ewen dazzled on stage with Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Azerbaijan's offering, Always from from AySel & Aras, received a standing ovation while Iceland's Yohanna, Malta's Chiara and Sweden's Malena Ernman were met with raptuous applause.
Romania's performance sparked speculation that the foxy lead singer could have been lip-syncing.
As the scantily-clad women performed, a lone figure was seen in the shadows.
This speculation was fueled by Norton who revealed competition rules state all performers must be present on stage, but that the rules said nothing about whether others could mime.
Albania's singer was aged just 17... and was accompanied by a dancer masked in sequins
Unsurprisingly, the contest featured its share of strange performances.
France's entry, a heavily made up Patricia Kaas, wailed her way through a truly forgettable number made only slightly more interesting with a strange, writhing dance routine at the end.
Greece's answer to Ricky Martin pranced on stage in a white, skin-tight suit, with over-enthusiastic dance moves to match his high-energy Euro pop number.
Dressed in what looked like a net curtain and performing in front of a giant image of herself as a old woman, Russia's Anastasia Prikhodko was a last-minute addition to the contest. Norton revealed her father is a billionaire.
Belly-dancing Beyonce: Turkey came in fourth place
A Bosnian Boyzone-style group didn't amaze with their drum-led performance. But if viewers thought Denmark's offering also sounded remarkably like the Irish pop band, it's not surprising as Ronan Keating was one of the song's writers.
Russia is trying to capitalize on the prestigious event to showcase the nation's hospitality and growing role in modern society, but those efforts were undermined several hours earlier when riot police attacked gay pride rallies in the capital.
Gay rights activists sought to use the international competition to draw attention to what they call widespread discrimination against homosexuals in Russia. No injuries were reported.
Dima Bilan, who won the 2008 competition held in Serbia, performed his victorious 'Believe' R&B-style song before the competition kicked off with the Lithuanian entry - a piano ballad featuring various pyrotechnics.
Russia's entry was a last-minute addition. Oh, and her dad's a billionaire
The winner of tonight's competition is picked by a combination of telephone voting and official juries from national broadcasters in the 42 competing nations.
Norway's entry, an upbeat emotional ditty penned and performed by Belarusian-born Alexander Rybak, was strongly tipped to snatch the Eurovision crown from Russia.
Britain, which has traditionally fared well in the contest, has struggled in recent years. But a campaign of musical diplomacy by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who composed the country's offering, may have boosted British chances and has won the country unlikely support from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Bookmakers also were giving highly favorable odds to Greece, which was pinning its hopes on an elaborately choreographed stage performance involving a giant flashing treadmill.
Romania dazzled. But was the real star of this song hidden in the shadows?
Israel made an appeal for peace and harmony with 'There Must Be Another Way', sung in Arabic, Hebrew and English by Arab-Jewish duo Noa and Mira.
Russia, which earned the right to host this year's event with Bilan's victory, was pinning its hopes on 'Mamo', an overwrought ballad composed by a Georgian songwriter and partially performed in Ukrainian by a Ukrainian-born artist Anastasia Prikhodko.
Operatic: Sweden's performer tried - and sometimes failed - to hit several octaves
Some contestants had tried to use the competition as a venue for settling international scores.
Two months ago, the pop group Stephane and 3G from Georgia vowed to perform 'We Don't Wanna Put In', a frenzied disco song that took a rhythmic rapier thrust at Putin.
The group pulled out when organizers warned that politically charged songs would not be permitted, including one referring to last year's Russia-Georgia war.
Georgia responded by organizing its own state-supported songfest this weekend, Alter/Vision, drawing groups from 10 countries, including Russia. Stephane and 3G were to perform at the festival in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, and young Georgians sang the 'Put In' lyrics on the streets as it got under way Friday evening.
Writhing: France's performer launched into a bizarre dance routine
Moscow authorities have worked hard to turn the Eurovision contest to display Russia's hospitality and prestige, splashing out 24 million euros ($32.5 million) on the show and a week-long series of decadent parties.
But the climate of goodwill was shattered in the hours ahead of the competition, when riot police broke up several gay rights demonstrations in Moscow.
Eurovision enjoys considerable support from the gay community, and Russian activists hoped to take advantage of the event to draw international attention to what they describe as rampant homophobia in the country.
Police hauled away around 40 demonstrators, including Britain-based activist Peter Tatchell and American activist Andy Thayer of Chicago, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network.
'Today's arrests go against the principles of Eurovision, which are about peace, harmony, cooperation and unity between all the peoples in Europe,' Tatchell said after being released by police.
Israel's message of peace, sung in Arabic, Hebrew and English
Norway voted Eurovision winners
Norway has emerged as the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Russian capital, Moscow.
Singer and violinist Alexander Rybak, 23, smashed the record for the most points awarded during the competition.
Iceland came second in the vote, followed by Azerbaijan which took the third place.
The UK's Jade Ewen, singing an Andrew Lloyd Webber song, ended in fifth position - a marked improvement on last year's finish at the foot of the table.
For the first time, voting in the final was split between televoting and panels of musical experts, which was supposed to reduce the incidence of predictable and neighbourly votes.
A total of 42 countries voted on the 25 songs, with Norway scoring a record 387 points.
Jade performs UK's eurovision song
Alexander Rybak, who was born in the former Soviet Union, is a well-known musician in Norway.
A classically-trained violinist and pianist, he wrote his country's winning entry, Fairytale.
The previous biggest points haul was scored by Finland's Lordi with Hard Rock Hallelujah in Greece in 2006.
No country suffered the indignity of receiving "nul points" this year but Finland finished in last place.
Denmark's entry - Brinck singing Believe Again - was written by Boyzone's Ronan Keating and was performed in the Irish singer's style.
Germany's act featured US cabaret artist Dita von Teese, who used to be married to rock star Marilyn Manson.
Her costume was slightly more demure that her outfit at the dress rehearsal after she was reportedly told to cover up by the European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision, because it was unsuitable for a family audience.
Graham Norton was making his debut as commentator for the BBC, replacing Sir Terry Wogan, who bowed out last year.
'Greatest talents'
Speaking in the Russian capital, Norton revealed that he had spoken to his predecessor, who commentated on every Eurovision final from 1980.
 Iceland Yohanna came in a closely-fought second place |
"Terry rang me to wish me good luck," said the TV presenter. "He advised me to resist having a drink until the fifth song," he added.
Jade Ewan was chosen to represent the UK through a TV talent contest, with the winning song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Diane Warren.
Her fifth place was a highlight for the UK, which has had a dismal record in recent years, with 2008's entry, Andy Abraham, finishing last with 14 points.
It was the second time in five years the UK had finished at the bottom, with Jemini's 2003 effort famously scoring "nul points".
10 things we didn't know last week
Snippets from the week's news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience.
1. Sending nude images via a mobile phone is called "sexting".
More details
2. Miss Universe must remain single for a year.
More details
3. The Odeon cinema chains are named after their British founder Oscar Deutsch, and the acronym stands for Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation.
More details (Daily Mail)
4. Use of the word "carbuncle" to describe a building was first made in the 19th Century to describe Buckingham Palace.
More details (Times)
5. We are born violent.
More details
6. And a tribe in Bolivia has a festival of violence to settle disputes.
More details
7. Joanna Lumley was sounded out by Labour to run as London Mayor in 2000.
More details (Times)
8. Plants can water themselves.
More details
9. Emotionally intelligent women orgasm more.
More details
10. Some petals have velcro-like surfaces.
More details
Eurovision acts poised for final
The grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Moscow later, with 25 countries aiming for glory.
The UK will be represented by Jade Ewen, who is singing Andrew Lloyd Webber's song It's My Time.
Norway's singer and violinist Alexander Rybak is the bookmakers' favourite to win, closely followed by Greece, Turkey, Azerbaijan and the UK.
Graham Norton will make his debut as commentator for the BBC, replacing Sir Terry Wogan, who bowed out last year.
Jade Ewen prepares for Eurovision
'Greatest talents'
Speaking in the Russian capital, Norton revealed that he had spoken to his predecessor, who commentated on every Eurovision final from 1980.
"Terry rang me to wish me good luck," said the TV presenter. "He advised me to resist having a drink until the fifth song," he added.
| EUROVISION FAVOURITES  Norway - 4/5 Greece - 11/2 Azerbaijan - 12/1 Turkey (pictured) - 12/1 United Kingdom - 12/1 Source: Ladbrokes |
Andrew Lloyd Webber, who will play the piano for Ewen during her performance, said: "I really do believe that Jade is one of the greatest talents I have had the privilege of working with."
He has downplayed the UK's chances of winning, but bookmakers and song contest pundits are confident that the country's last place in 2008 will not be repeated.
The UK will be among five countries who pre-qualified for the final and whose acts have not yet been seen.
France - represented by renowned singer Patricia Kaas, Spain and host nation Russia are among them.
Germany's entry features US cabaret artist Dita Von Teese, who used to be married to rock star Marilyn Manson.
Other countries faring well in the odds include Malta, whose representative Chiara has competed in two previous occasions.
For the first time, voting in the final will be split between televoting and panels of musical experts, which is thought may reduce the incidence of predictable and neighbourly votes.
The panels are expected to look for song quality and musical performance over dance routines and props.
Coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest in the UK begins at 2000 BST on BBC One.
13.5.09
Armfield receives World Cup medal
BBC broadcaster Jimmy Armfield will receive a World Cup winner's medal 43 years after England won the trophy. The former Blackpool and England defender was one of the 11 reserves who did not play in the 4-2 win over West Germany at Wembley in 1966. "It's nice to get it but I can't say it's something that's been bothering me all these years," said the 73-year-old. Before the 1974 World Cup only players who started in the final received a medal, but Fifa has changed the rules. Fifa also revealed that 14 additional medals would be made for each of the winning teams from 1930 to 1970.
Armfield was capped 43 times by England and also managed Bolton and Leeds. More recently Armfield has worked as a football analyst for the BBC. He captained England 15 times and won the last of his caps against Finland two weeks before the start of the 1966 finals. "If you didn't play in the final, whether through injury or not getting selected, you didn't get a medal - it was as simple as that," said Armfield. "But these days everybody gets a medal, the kit man, the bus driver, they all get one. "And I think that's why this has happened. It's not as if anyone has been pressuring Fifa to have it done, it is just being brought into line with how it is nowadays." | |||
Google unveils 'smarter search'
Web giant Google has unveiled new products that it says will push search in a new direction.
Google is using so-called semantic web technology to leverage the underlying data on websites to enhance results.
"The race in search is far from over and innovation and continued improvement is absolutely pivotal," said Google's Marissa Mayer.
Google said it could not afford to rest on its laurels in the quest to build the perfect search engine.
Google has over 63% of the US market compared with rival Yahoo, on 20%.
"I've said this many times but search is still in its infancy. Our engineers are worried about what is the next big thing in search and how are they going to find it," said Ms Mayer, who is the vice-president of search products and user experience.
She said that last year Google had released more than 360 products and in the first quarter of this year it had been 120. Ms Mayer added that this was proof that "Google gets better all the time".
Google has in the past said that despite its lead in the marketplace, users were "one click away" from switching to other alternatives.
Vanessa Fox of SearchEngineLand told the BBC that Google's ability to constantly innovate gave them a leading edge.
"Google is saying: 'We have to provide for all searchers and do things at scale.' It means they have to launch all sorts of features while some companies can concentrate on just one thing. The key thing behind why they are still ahead is because they are able to innovate at such a pace," said Ms Fox.
Rich snippets
During the Searchology event at Google's Mountain View headquarters, Ms Mayer and her team showcased four new products that she said would give users a "different way to look at the web".
 Google Squared is still experimental and far from perfect said the company |
Rich Snippets are search results that return more information in every listing.
For example, users looking for reviews of a new restaurant might get a "rich snippet" of average review scores, number of reviews and the restaurant's price range.
"This is a step toward making the whole internet smarter," said Google product manager Kavi Goel.
Rich snippets use the metadata from web pages, such as address information, calendar information and semantic web mark-up specifications, called Resource Description Frameworks.
The use of these so-called microformats allows the search engine to better understand the meaning of data and to employ it more intelligently.
Google can understand the relationship between different sets of data, and so can pull the correct address listing of a shop without that information having to be specifically tied together.
Google Squared
One of the more experimental products was called Google Squared, which will go public in the next month or so. It takes information from the web and displays it in a spreadsheet in "split seconds", something Ms Mayer said would normally take someone half a day to do.
During the demonstration, a query for "small dog" was typed into the search box. Seconds later a table popped up showing photographs of various dogs, their origin, weight and height in a clear and simple layout.
While Ms Mayer described this product as "transformative", she would only hint at the specific techniques that Google uses to drive this feature.
"I think we can open the kimono a little bit without talking about the computer science behind it.
"What they are basically doing is looking for structures on the web that seem to imply facts. Like something 'is' something.
"Different tables, different structures, and then corroborating the evidence around whether or not something is a fact by looking at whether that fact occurs across pages.
"This is all in the secret sauce of what we are doing and it takes an incredible amount of compute power to create those squares," said Ms Mayer.
'Refine, filter and view'
Google Search Options is a tool that is aimed at letting users "slice and dice" results so they can manipulate the information and get what they want faster.
 Search options is a "tool belt" giving new ways to interact with search |
They come into play after a normal web search and allow users to drill down into the results by offering an option for different genres like product reviews, forum posts or videos. Other choices include recently added blogs, images, timelines and so on.
Ms Mayer said this new feature should help people who struggled with the "vexing" problem of exactly what query they should type into the search box.
It is meant to give users the opportunity to "refine, filter and view results in a different way".
'Skymap'
A final feature had Ms Mayer "reaching for the stars" with an app for mobile phones using the Android operating system.
 Google said it is still working on finding keys but can find the stars |
"For a long time here at Google we joked could we actually find physical things like keys and now with the power and technology of Android, coupled with search, you can see we are starting to find some physical things like stars," said Ms Mayer.
Skymap displays the constellations. By using the smart phone's GPS capability, it offers the user a dynamic star map that knows where they are standing and which way they are pointing
The feature came about as a result of Google's 20% time, which allows engineers to spend one-fifth of their time working on pet projects.
The app is now available on the Android app market.
"Clearly Google is still pushing the envelope with all these new additions," said Rob Hof, Silicon Valley editor of Business Week.
"They are certainly continuing to improve daily. Whether it makes a difference and will stave off the competition, I don't know. But they are not standing still."
Ms Mayer said keeping the user happy was at the heart of everything they did.
"There is a shoe company called Stuart Weitzman and their slogan is 'a little obsessed with shoes'.
"Google is a little more than obsessed with search," confessed Ms Mayer.
Earwigs 'sniff out' best babies
Earwig mothers sniff out their "best" offspring and lavish them with care, according to new research.
The insects pick up odours from their clutch of "nymphs" and adjust their maternal behaviour in response.
When they pick up a chemical signal from healthy, well-fed youngsters, they spend more time nursing them, at the expense of their hungrier babies.
The study, which is the first to show this behaviour in insects, is published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Earwig parenting, it seems, is about favouritism; the standard of care drops dramatically when mums pick up the chemical signals from hungry, unhealthy nymphs.
In these cases, the adults invest less time and effort in feeding.
The researchers, who expected to see the opposite result, suggest that this could be "because the insects look for signals of quality instead of need".
"These insects have a clutch of 30-60 offspring, and there is lots of mortality," explained lead researcher Flore Mas from the Zoological Institute at the University of Basel, Switzerland.
"So there is no point investing (resources) in offspring that are already in bad shape."
While communication via chemicals is common in social insects, this study is the first to show exactly how they have evolved to employ it in parenting.
Survival of the fattest
The team that carried out the study explained "begging signals" were well recognised in the avian world - hungry chicks opened their mouths widely and made specific sounds that were recognised by their parents to mean "feed me".
 The dyed food could be seen in the abdomens of the insects |
"So we expected to see the opposite of what we found here," said Ms Mas.
Her team tested this signalling by exposing earwig mothers to odours from well-fed and poorly-fed nymphs, and comparing their reactions.
"We made a chemical extraction using the nymphs," Ms Mas explained. "They were divided into two groups - one group was given lots of food and one very little food."
These two experimental groups of nymphs were then killed and dipped in solvent to extract the hydrocarbon chemicals from their bodies.
The researchers then used these chemicals to make miniature sensory chambers - pieces of nymph-scented filter paper placed in dishes.
Earwig mums, who were still feeding nests of their own young, were then put into these dishes.
"They were presented with the chemical extracts, or to a control solvent, for 30 minutes, and were then allowed to forage in a dish of food for an hour before being returned to their nests," Ms Mas said.
The insects feed their young by regurgitating what they eat. By dyeing the food with green colouring, the team was able to see the food in the abdomens of the transparent baby bugs.
Weighing the dish after the mothers' foraging trips also gave them an accurate measure of how much effort the insects were putting into their foraging expeditions.
Gary Blomquist, professor of biochemistry from the University of Nevada, started investigating the role of "insect hydrocarbons" more than four decades ago.
He explained that the chemicals were involved in many forms of communication, including gender recognition, dominance and fertility cues.
He told BBC News: "It does not surprise me that an additional function, that of offspring quality affecting maternal care, has been determined for [these] hydrocarbons."
But, Professor Blomquist added that when he started working in this area, no one could have predicted the large number of different and important roles that insect hydrocarbons would have in communication.
Malta returns to Eurovision final
Eurovision veteran Chiara has steered Malta to their first final since 2006, as 10 countries qualified for Saturday's show in Moscow.
The singer, who finished 3rd in 1998 and was runner-up in 2005, went through along with Sweden, Armenia, Iceland, Portugal and Israel.
Turkey, Finland, Romania and Bosnia-Hercegovina also made the final, out of 18 countries in the first qualifier.
Another 10 countries will go through to the final from Thursday's semi-final.
Favourable
Some of the favourites for the title, including Norway, Greece and Azerbaijan, will be in the starting line-up for the second qualifying contest.
| TUESDAY'S QUALIFIERS  Israel Malta Bosnia-Hercegovina (pictured) Iceland Sweden Portugal Finland Romania Turkey Armenia |
The eight countries which have now exited the competition are Montenegro, Czech Republic, Belgium, Andorra, Belarus, Switzerland, FYR Macedonia and Bulgaria.
Andorra have now failed to make the final in their six attempts since entering the fray in 2004, while Belgium were last seen in the main competition five years ago.
Last night's qualifiers - aside from Malta - all made the final in Belgrade last year.
After the results had been announced, the 10 successful entries were placed in the main draw.
The UK's Jade Ewen, who is performing 23rd in the running order, will have Romania before her and be followed by Finland.
Their uptempo songs are seen to provide favourable context for Ewen's theatrical ballad.
Israel, who went through to the final with their peace song performed by Jewish and Arab Israeli duo Noa and Mira Awad, drew second position in Saturday's main show.
No song has won the contest from that starting position.
12.5.09
Egyptian court 'bans porn sites'
A court in Cairo has issued a ruling that bans pornographic websites in Egypt, state news agency Mena reports. The Administrative Court in Cairo has ordered the government to block the "venomous and vile" sites in response to a case filed by a Muslim lawyer. Nizar Ghorab had argued that the "electronic dens of vice" were destroying Egyptian social values. The Ministry of Communications, which regulates internet providers in Egypt, says it has not heard of the decision. "Letting these websites [operate] ruins moral values," AFP news agency quoted the court ruling as saying. "Freedoms of expression and public rights should be restricted by maintaining the fundamentals of religion, morality and patriotism." 'Victory over vice' The lawyer welcomed the decision as a "victory over vice and corruption". "Thank God we won. Now the government should stop these electronic dens of vice immediately," said Mr Ghorab, who filed the suit on his own initiative. The decision can be appealed in a higher court, but would put the government in the awkward position of being seen to defend pornography, he added. Unlike some other Middle Eastern countries, Egypt generally does not restrict access to the internet. There are an estimated 12 million Egyptian internet users, the largest in the Arab world. | |
£2.5m price for repossessed home
A Palladian mansion in Fife which was repossessed is on the market for £2.5m. 17th-century Melville House near the village of Monimail has 11 bedrooms, seven reception rooms, stables, a cricket pitch and a tennis court. The stately home was built in 1697 for the 1st Earl of Melville, who was Secretary of State for Scotland. It was originally put on the market in 2003 for £4.5m but it failed to sell for that amount and when the owner ran out of money it was repossessed. Wartime role Melville House has had few private owners. Built by James Smith, for centuries it remained in the hands of the Melville family. During World War II, it was requisitioned by the Army and turned into a hospital. According to some reports, it was also used as a training base for a secret auxiliary unit. After the war many of the furnishings were removed or sold. The Melville State Bed was given to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 1949. The mansion was then turned into a private school for children with special needs for almost 50 years.
Towards the end of the 20th Century, a private investor bought the house for £1m. It was restored but only a few years later the owner ran out of money and it was put back on the market with the asking price of £4.5m. It failed to sell and was repossessed by the lender, a South African bank. It is said to be the most expensive repossessed property in Britain. The sale is now being handled by Knight Frank who are looking for offers of £2.5m for the estate. That is a 40% drop on the original price but so far Melville House has failed to find a buyer. Knight Frank said that property prices in Scotland like elsewhere in the UK are suffering, with prices falling by 15-20 %. John Coleman from the property group said: "Some houses, particularly bigger houses, will see further falls in order to get them sold within a specific period of time." | ||
Huge Bolivian glacier disappears
| By James Painter Latin America analyst |
Scientists in Bolivia say that one of the country's most famous glaciers has almost disappeared as a result of climate change.
The Chacaltaya glacier, 5,300m (17,400 ft) up in the Andes, used to be the world's highest ski run.
But it has been reduced to just a few small pieces of ice.
Many Bolivians on the highland plains, and in two cities, depend on the melting of the glaciers for their water supply during the dry season.
The team of Bolivian scientists started measuring the Chacaltaya glacier in the 1990s. Not long ago they were predicting that it would survive until 2015.
But now it seems, the glacier has melted at a much faster rate than they expected.
Photos taken in the last two weeks show that all that is left of the majestic glacier, which is thought to be 18,000 years old, are a few lumps of ice near the top.
Just 20 years ago skiers from all round the world would travel to Chacaltaya to say they had skied down the world's highest ski run.
Water fears
But Edson Ramirez, a scientist who has studied the region for years, says the significance of the melting glaciers goes way beyond tourism.
As well as those living on the highland plains, two of Bolivia's main cities, La Paz and El Alto, rely on the Andean glaciers for an important part of their drinking water.
The World Bank warned earlier this year that many of the Andes' tropical glaciers will disappear within 20 years.
This, the bank said, would both threaten the water supplies of nearly 80 million people living in the region, and jeopardise the future generation of hydropower.
Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru depend on that power for about half their electricity.
Mr Ramirez and his team are planning to hold a special ceremony this month to honour the loss of Chacaltaya. It is as if someone had died, he says.
Peer turns fire on BBC presenter
| Labour peer Lord Foulkes and BBC presenter Carrie Gracie clash over expenses and salaries A Labour peer turned on a BBC presenter demanding to know how much she was paid during a live interview on MP expenses. Lord Foulkes clashed with Carrie Gracie on the BBC News Channel after she asked if MPs who had abused their expenses should pay the money back. He accused the media of ignoring the good work MPs did and demanded to know how much she was paid. Told it was £92,000 a year, he said she was being paid "nearly twice as much an MP - to come on and talk nonsense". He added that BBC presenters such as John Humphrys and Jeremy Paxman were paid hundreds of thousands of pounds "to come on TV and sneer at democracy and undermine democracy. The vast majority of MPs are being undermined by you." Lord Foulkes was appearing on the BBC News channel to defend Commons Speaker Michael Martin's role in the ongoing row about MPs' expenses. He said there were "far more important things going on in the world" - but became agitated when Ms Gracie asked why Mr Martin had tried to block the publication of expenses. "The intention always has been to publish this. Perhaps one of these days you'll do a thing about how much the BBC is being paid. We're paying hundreds of thousands of pounds for presenters who come on three days a week." Ms Gracie tried to ask another question and apologised for interrupting, prompting the Labour peer to tell her: "You're not at all sorry to interrupt me - every time an MP comes on you constantly harass them. How much are you being paid?" Lord Foulkes, a former Scotland Office minster, is the only member of the House of Lords to also sit in the Scottish Parliament. He stood down as an MP in 2005. | |
Blue diamond fetches record price
A rare blue diamond has sold for a record 10.5 million Swiss francs ($9.5m; £6.2m) at auction in Geneva.
It weighs 7.03 carats, is smaller than a penny piece, and is one of only a handful of blue diamonds in existence.
The anonymous phone bidder has yet to name the gem, mounted on a platinum ring, auctioneers Sotheby's said.
The diamond was found in Cullinan mine in South Africa last year, and its clarity was graded as flawless - the highest designation.
Auctioneer David Bennett said: "It is a new world record price for a blue diamond."
It had a pre-sale catalogue estimate of 6.8 million to 10 million francs, excluding commission.
'Beyond beautiful'
The hammer price excluding commission was 9.3 million francs.
The scarcity of the gems is in part down to the fact so few places in the world mine for blue diamonds.
Mr Bennett said: "For people who are looking to buy something that nobody else has, or somebody who wants something that is beyond beautiful, a blue diamond is going to be very difficult to find, so when they appear on the market, you have to have a go."
Sotheby's David Bennett speaking in April 2009: 'It is exceptionally beautiful and rare'
The stones get their colour when the chemical boron is present during formation.
In May 2008 a 3.73 carat diamond was sold by Sotheby's at auction for nearly $5m (£3.4m) setting the world record price per carat for any gemstone at auction.
11.5.09
Taxis and buses face automatic speed limiting
Thousands of taxis, buses and council vehicles could be fitted with devices that prevent them from exceeding the speed limit.
The technology — known as Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) — is being tested by Transport for London in a trial starting this summer on all roads inside the M25.
Drivers of vehicles with ISA will be able to select an option that prevents them from accelerating over the limit. The vehicle will also automatically slow down if the driver fails to reduce his speed when he passes a sign marking a lower limit.
The device uses satellite tracking and a digital road map to detect the local speed limit.
In addition to the automatic mode, the device has an advisory setting in which the driver is simply informed of the limit and told whether he is complying. A “smiley face” appears on the unit if the driver is obeying the limit. It frowns if he goes too fast.
The technology is likely to be offered for sale next year to private motorists. Those with six or nine penalty points might choose to have it installed to avoid an automatic six-month driving ban for receiving 12 points within three years.
Transport for London (TfL), which will today announce a six-month trial of ISA, estimates that, if two thirds of London drivers used the devices, the number of road casualties in the capital could be reduced by 10 per cent.
The improvement in road safety could reduce congestion, a quarter of which is caused by collisions. Vehicles obeying the limit would also consume less fuel and be less polluting.
Even if only a fraction of vehicles were equipped with ISA, they would have a widespread effect on traffic speed because other drivers would have to slow down behind them. However, some motoring groups have voiced concern that ISA-equipped vehicles would result in a rise in dangerous overtaking.
TfL’s trial will include a London bus, a licensed taxi and 20 cars driven by road engineers, traffic managers and highway inspectors. If the trial demonstrates clear safety and environmental benefits, bus companies and taxi operators could either be obliged to equip their vehicles with ISA or be given incentives to do so.
Results of the trial will be published in the spring, when the technology will be made available to other organisations.
Southwark Council has expressed an interest in fitting ISA to more than 300 of its vehicles.
Chris Lines, head of TfL’s road safety unit, said: “This innovative technology could help any driver in London avoid the unnecessary penalties of creeping over the speed limit and at the same time will save lives.
“We know the technology works and now we want to know how drivers in all types of vehicles respond to it. ISA is intended as a road safety device, but if Londoners embrace this technology we may well see additional benefits, including reduced congestion as a result of collisions and reduced vehicle emissions as drivers adopt a smoother driving style.”
Jeff Hook, executive member for the environment at Southwark Council, said: “This technology could revolutionise the way we keep our roads safer in Southwark.”
Andrew Howard, head of road safety at the AA, said: “Drivers are divided in their views of intelligent speed adaptation. Some hate it, some want it. Many have questions that will be answered only by trials like those being carried out by TfL.”
TfL said that it had no plans to insist on the device being fitted to any vehicle and hoped that drivers would agree to do so voluntarily
Jet-pack stuntman makes speed bid
| Eric Scott makes a training run at Knockhill racing circuit An American stuntman claims to have completed the fastest ever jet-pack flight, at Knockhill racing circuit. Eric Scott, 46, from Denver, managed about 43mph on Friday and has now been clocked by adjudicators from Fife police doing 54mph, in strong winds. Mr Scott hopes his latest flight will be recognised as a record but officials at Guinness World Records are still considering his application. He will make a third attempt at the Scottish motor show on Sunday. Eric Scott flew across the Royal Gorge in southern Colorado On his last visit to Scotland in July 2008, Scott completed a jet-pack flight, fuelled by hydrogen peroxide, from the roof of Glasgow's City Chambers to the other side of George Square. In November 2008 he became the first man to fly across the Royal Gorge canyon in Colorado, USA, powered by a jet-pack. He told BBC Scotland he must have been close to 80mph during that flight but it was not officially measured. Mr Scott has made an application to the Guinness Book of World Records to officially include his latest speed attempt as a record. No decision has yet been made. The MotorFair Scottish motor show takes place against a backdrop of gloom in the British motor industry. Last month the 2010 British International motor show was cancelled when car makers said they could not commit to the biennial event due to the impact of the recession on their businesses. | |
Villagers want brighter outlook
A small Highland community has attacked the BBC over "inaccurate" weather forecasts, which it says is putting off tourists and threatening livelihoods.
Villagers claim Carrbridge, which is situated in the Cairngorms National Park near Aviemore and protected by mountains, has its own weather system.
They argue the BBC's localised weather service overlooks the area's micro-climate and instead defers to Aviemore.
The BBC said it was confident it was using the best source of forecast data.
Danny Fullerton, who runs the Landmark forest adventure park, raised the matter with the BBC.
"If you look at the five-day forecast, it can change every day - even on the day it can change ," he said.
"You'd be as well waiting to the actual day and sticking your head out the window."
| Even today it's forecast as rain, and yes it's cloudy but there's been really beautiful spells Andrew Kirk Local businessman |
It is not just the accuracy that residents are unhappy with, they also want to see a change in terminology.
Mr Fullerton said: "Quite often the terminology used is 'showers', which to me implies wet and rain, when in actual case it is 'mainly dry'.
"It may not seem much, but that can mean visitors decide to go elsewhere."
Mr Fullerton is backed by Carrbridge's business community.
Andrew Kirk, chairman of the local business association, who runs Cairns Hotel, described it as the BBC's "glass half empty" approach.
"It's infuriating," he said. "Even today it's forecast as rain, and yes it's cloudy but there's been really beautiful spells.
"Tourists are turning to the web more, using laptops and mobiles, and they're being put off by the weather forecast.
"Weather can be different between Carrbridge and Aviemore which is only seven miles away.
"There are different conditions in both places, yet the BBC gives the impression of giving a localised forecast, when it's actually referring to Aviemore weather."
Audience feedback
Residents said tourism was the lifeblood of Carrbridge - a village of about 250 homes.
People come for the scenery, wildlife, outdoor activities and the many festivals held throughout the year, including the annual competition to find the world's best porridge maker.
The BBC said in a statement: "Our aim at BBC Weather is to present the forecast as clearly as possible and to increase the speed and frequency with which we can update it.
"We are confident we are using the best source of forecast data, which we obtain from the Met Office.
"However, the nature of our climate is such there are times when the weather behaves in unpredictable ways.
"Our terminology aims to be as clear as possible and we constantly review it following our audience comments and feedback."
Dylan is in chart seventh heaven
Bob Dylan has topped the UK album chart for the seventh time in his career, nearly 40 years since his last number one LP.
Together Through Life is the folk music legend's 33rd studio album, according to the Official Charts Company.
He last topped the UK chart with New Morning in 1970. His first, in 1964, was The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.
Dylan now holds a record, previously held by Tom Jones, for the longest gap between solo number one albums.
New record
Jones' 1999 comeback, Reload, topped the UK chart more than 31 years after Delilah reached the top in 1968.
Together Through Life was recorded late last year and is Dylan's first studio album since 2006 and is his 53rd album, including compilations and soundtracks.
| UK TOP FIVE ALBUMS 1. Together Through Life - Bob Dylan 2. Music For The People - The Enemy 3. The Fame - Lady GaGa 4. I Am Sasha Fierce - Beyonce 5. It's Not Me, It's You - Lily Allen Source: Official Charts Company |
The album chart's other highest new entry was The Enemy's second album, Music For The People, which went straight in at number two.
That is one place down from their 2007 album We'll Live and Die in These Towns.
The Fame, the debut album by New Yorker Lady Gaga, fell two places to number three.
In the singles chart, Tinchy Stryder's Number 1 claims the top spot for the second week running.
Newcomer La Roux remains at number two with In For The Kill and the highest new entry was Tiny Dancer (Hold Me Closer), a collaboration between UK hip-hop artists Ironik and Chipmunk and Sir Elton John, which went in at number three.
Tinchy Stryder stays top of chart
Grime vocalist Tinchy Stryder and pop band N-Dubz remain top of the UK singles chart for the third week with their collaboration, Number One.
It is the first time a single called Number 1 has reached the top spot.
Meanwhile, in the album charts Bob Dylan held onto the top spot for a second week with his album Together Through Life.
His last chart topper was New Morning, released in October 1970, which went to number one that November.
Together Through Life is Dylan's seventh UK number one, his 33rd studio album and his 53rd album, including compilations and soundtracks.
Elsewhere in the charts Lady Gaga's The Fame moved up a spot to number two while Lilly Allen's It's Not Me It's You charted in third.
Ciara's record Fantasy Ride debuted in ninth place, followed by the only other new release in the top 10, which was Yusuf's Roadsinger.
La Roux remained in second place in the singles chart, compiled by the Official Charts Company, with their song In For The Kill.
At number three was Tiny Dancer (Hold Me Closer) - a collaboration between Ironik, Chipmunk and Sir Elton John.
Scottish dance DJ Calvin Harris, who appeared at Radio 1's Big Weekend on Saturday, was in fourth place with I'm Not Alone, which is the first single from his second album.
Waltons writer Furia dies aged 79
Prolific screen and TV writer John Furia Jr, who penned shows including Bonanza, The Waltons and Hawaii Five-O has died aged 79. Furia - a long time advocate for Hollywood writers - was once president of the Writers Guild of America West. The organisation's current president, Patric M Verrone said confirmed his death in a statement. "John's character and dignity touched and influenced generations of writers," he said. "For those of us who relied on his knowledge and his counsel, John was more than an eminence grise, he was pure eminence." Furia was also a founding chairman of University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television Writing Division. He also worked as a professor there teaching screen and TV writing. Born in 1929, Furia started his career singing with dance bands in New York City. He then moved to California where he worked for major studios and networks, earning himself a reputation as one of Hollywood's most productive dramatists. | |
World's most daunting parking job
| PLANCK SPACE TELESCOPE  Planck will need three correction manoeuvres in total Planck will survey the famous Cosmic Microwave Background This ancient light's origins date to 380,000 years after the Big Bang It informs scientists about the age, shape and evolution of the cosmos Planck's measurements will be finer than any previous satellite |
It must feel a little like the attendant outside a hotel who is given the keys to a supercar and is asked to go and park it.
The excitement is almost overwhelming but so too is the fear of scratching the gleaming mega-motor.
The mission controllers who will oversee the delivery of Europe's Herschel and Planck telescopes to their science observation positions in space are very conscious of the responsibility that rests with them.
The combined value of these two European Space Agency (Esa) programmes is 1.9bn euros (£1.7bn; $2.5bn). More than that, the effort put into the missions by some scientists and engineers stretches back over 20 years.
Satellites do not have wing mirrors, but if they did… well, you get the picture.
"It's not a bad analogy; these are very complex and very expensive pieces of equipment," says Chris Watson, the spacecraft operations manager (SOM) whose team is responsible for Planck.
"You're very aware that there are a lot of scientists out there who are waiting on what we do," concurs Micha Schmidt, the Herschel SOM.
The telescopes will be hurled into space atop an Ariane 5 launcher from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana on Thursday.
The powered portion of the flight lasts about 26 minutes, before the observatories are ejected from the upper-stage of the rocket. Herschel is first out; Planck follows shortly after.
It will be about 10 minutes before they are picked up by the ground station and contact is established.
It is at that moment that the "keys" are passed to the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, and the big parking job begins.
 Herschel and Planck take many weeks to get to their observation stations Gravity conditions at L2 allow for cheap (in fuel terms) orbital corrections Environmental conditions (heat & radiation) are more stable than at Earth L2 takes its name from its discoverer, Joseph-Louis Lagrange (1736-1813) |
"The spacecraft become active at separation and it's a pre-programmed list of commands that is run through," explains Mr Schmidt, who says Herschel should already have begun to orientate itself and started to activate sub-systems by the time the ground link is made.
"The first thing we send to the spacecraft is a test command. It's a connection test; it doesn't do anything apart from verify that we can command it."
The early days of the mission, known as LEOP (Launch and Early Operations Phase), are spent in a dedicated room at ESOC. It is there that controllers will tick off a long list of health-checks as the satellites cruise away from Earth.
The destination for both telescopes is a remarkable position in space known as the second Lagrangian point (L2).
It is one of five gravitational "sweet-spots" around the Sun-Earth system where satellites can maintain station by making relatively few orbital corrections.
| HERSCHEL SPACE TELESCOPE  The Herschel concept has been in development for over 20 years The observatory is tuned to see the Universe in the infrared Its 3.5m diameter mirror will be the largest ever flown in space Herschel can probe clouds of gas and dust to see stars being born It will investigate how galaxies have evolved through time |
L2 is some 1.5 million km from Earth on its "night side". The observatories will circle this point, keeping the Earth and our star in a near-straight line.
Currently, only one spacecraft inhabits L2: the US space agency's WMAP probe (which is making observations on which Planck hopes to build).
In the years ahead, however, many more astronomical spacecraft will choose to sit at this location because of the very stable conditions it enjoys.
It does not experience, for example, the big swings in temperature and light endured by space telescopes positioned much closer to Earth. That is very important for Herschel and Planck which will both be investigating aspects of the "cold Universe".
"You can maintain a good geometry - the Earth and Sun are always in the same direction," says Martin Hechler who has helped to design the mission path out to L2.
"This is a very nice way of shielding. In previous missions in Earth orbit, you lost a lot of the mission time because you could not observe when the Earth itself was shining in the telescope.
"At L2, you look out [into space], and as you move around the Sun, you see 360 degrees in the galactic frame; so you can look in all directions in one year."
Dr Hechler and his mission analysis group are breaking new ground for Esa. The agency has never sent a spacecraft to L2 before and the knowledge gained will be invaluable for future missions.
But it is not simply a case of pointing a rocket and sitting back.
As good as Ariane is, a series of orbital corrections will be required to nudge Herschel and Planck into precisely the right paths to take up their parking positions.
Both spacecraft will fire their thrusters on Day 2 of the mission. Herschel will have another correction, probably around day four. Planck will need three manoeuvres in total to put it in a much tighter "hover" about L2.
"The first correction for our transfer is a very important milestone in our mission," says Chris Watson. "The longer it takes you to make it, the more fuel it costs. So if you can correct any errors very early, it is relatively cheap in terms of fuel."
 Herschel sits on top of Planck for the ride into orbit, and is first out Planck needs to spin for its mission; Ariane will start up that motion The telescopes need to make path corrections to get out to L2 The graphic shows their pattern on the sky at L2 as viewed from Earth Planck's design requires an Earth aspect of less than 15 degrees |
Good economy will pay dividends later in the mission when fuel is needed to make the regular small tweaks in the telescopes' parking slots.
"L2 is unstable and we'll need to use our thrusters once a month," says Mr Watson. "It's like trying to balance a pen or a stick on your hand - if you can do it precisely enough, you spend very little fuel because you are making tiny corrections."
 Schmidt (near) and Watson (far) work through yet another simulation |
Of course, this all assumes a trouble-free passage. Problems could arise at any moment; and the teams have had to practise for all kinds of eventualities.
In one simulation exercise last month, the Herschel team had to cope with a spacecraft that had a computer failure immediately after being released from the Ariane.
The controllers worked through the issue and recovered the situation only to discover that Herschel was then being bombarded by meteorites. Again, Micha Schmidt and his team had to move swiftly to regain full command of the satellite.
"You said it was like someone saying: 'Here're the keys to a Ferrari, don't scratch it'. Well in the simulation, that is precisely what we do. In real life, we hope these things won't happen; but if they do, we are very well prepared for them."
It will take a little over six weeks to get both telescopes into their final science orbits. The super-satellites can then be handed over to the world's researchers… with the wing mirrors still attached.
8.5.09
10 things we didn't know this time last week
Snippets from the week's news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience.
1. There is a real place called Hicksville.
More details
2. Britain once sent an envoy with a quadruple-barrelled name to Moscow - Admiral Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurley Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax.
More details
3. Sikhs do not have to wear motorcycle crash helmets.
More details (the Guardian)
4. Napoleon wrote chick-lit.
More details (the Guardian)
5. John Prescott's toilet seat broke twice.
More details
6. Tom Hanks watches Loose Women.
More details (Daily Mirror)
7. Youth hostelling was invented in Germany in 1912.
More details
8. The use of the word "rat" as an insult in English goes back at least until the 16th Century.
More details
9. Two main muscles are used for smiling - the zygomatic muscle turns the corner of the lips up and the orbicularis oculi crinkles the corners of the eyes.
More details
10. Birds are actually really rather clever.
More details
7.5.09
6.5.09
Tributes paid to comedian DeLuise
Mel Brooks and Burt Reynolds are among those who have paid tribute to actor and comedian Dom DeLuise, who has died in Los Angeles at the age of 75. Brooks, who directed DeLuise in several films, called him "a big man in every way". "He was big in size and created big laughter and joy," he said. Reynolds, a friend and regular co-star, said he "always made you feel better. There will never be another like him." Carol Burnett, meanwhile, remembered him as "a very special human being". According to his family, DeLuise died in his sleep at a Santa Monica hospital on Monday following a long illness.
He had appeared in scores of films, TV shows and Broadway plays and provided voices for numerous cartoon characters. DeLuise is best known for his roles in such Mel Brooks comedies as Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie and History of the World: Part I. He also made frequent appearances alongside Reynolds in films like The End, The Cannonball Run and Smokey and the Bandit II. In later life he became known for his cooking, authoring two cook books and demonstrating recipes on television. He is survived by his wife, Carol Arthur, and his three actor sons, Peter, Michael and David. 'Born funny' "He was born funny," said DeLuise's agent, Robert Malcolm. "He knew how to charm you and how to make you feel comfortable." His words were echoed by Doris Day, with whom DeLuise worked on 1966 film The Glass Bottom Boat. "I loved him from the moment we met," said the veteran actress, now 87. "Not only did we have the greatest time working together, but I never laughed so hard in my life."
Born in New York City in 1933, Dominick DeLuise got his first taste of acting aged eight when he played the title role of Peter Rabbit in a school play. He went on to graduate from Manhattan's famed School of Performing Arts, though in the years that followed work was hard to come by. He met actress Carol Arthur while working in summer stock in Provincetown, Massachusetts, marrying her soon afterwards. DeLuise went on to win fame on The Dean Martin Show as "Dominick the Great", a magician whose act routinely went wrong. The actor's passion for food saw him battle obesity, his weight reaching 325 lb (147 kg) at one point. His family has not disclosed the cause of his death. Last year, however, he revealed he had been fighting prostate cancer. "I'm still here," he told TV show Entertainment Tonight in December. "I'm 75 and here. I feel very blessed." Memorial services will be private, according to the actor's official website. | ||||
5.5.09
How satellites could 'sail' home
Satellites and spent rocket stages could soon deploy "sails" to guide them back to Earth much faster than they would otherwise fall out of the sky.
With space becoming ever more crowded, there is a need to remove redundant objects that could pose a collision threat to operational missions.
Extending a sail on an old spacecraft would increase drag and pull it into the Earth's atmosphere to burn up.
Major European space firm EADS Astrium says the scheme has great potential.
"It is an interesting solution, especially for the satellite that has no propulsion system at the end of its life," Brice Santerre told BBC News.
Santerre and colleague Max Cerf have been working on the Innovative DEorbiting Aerobrake System (IDEAS).
The concept involves extending booms and sheeting from spacecraft to increase the amount of drag they experience from the residual air molecules still present at altitudes up to even 750km (470 miles)
"The principle of aerobraking is to increase the surface over mass ratio of an orbital object, to accelerate the fall-out by increasing the drag on the system," Mr Santerre said.
"To do that, we need to deploy a very light structure. That's why we chose to use 'gossamer structures'. These are composed of booms and very thin membranes."
 Microscope will investigate the behaviour of free-falling objects |
Astrium has been developing an aerobraking sail concept for the forthcoming French Microscope satellite.
Microscope is a science mission that will investigate the force of gravity and the behaviour of free-falling objects in a test of what has become known as the equivalence principle.
The satellite will take about a year to make its measurements and will then have no further purpose.
Ideally, such a spacecraft would be removed from orbit, especially since it will be circling at an altitude where many important Earth observation satellites also operate.
"Microscope has no propulsion system so it cannot de-orbit by itself. If we were to do nothing, the fall-out duration would be between 50 and 100 years," said Mr Santerre.
By erecting their boom and membrane mechanism, Santerre and Serf believe Microscope could be brought out of the sky in less than 25 years, which meets international orbital junk mitigation guidelines.
Astrium is now investigating how the IDEAS concept could be applied to spent rocket stages.
The company leads the production of Europe's premier launcher, the Ariane 5.
 The concept developed for Microscope would bring it back inside 25 years |
Much of the Ariane's structure - its main core stage and solid boosters - fall rapidly out of the sky at the end of a flight; but the upper-stage is much longer lived in orbit.
Once it has ejected its satellite payload, the stage continues to circle the Earth in a large ellipse, running out to more than 35,000km from the Earth and coming as close as about 250km.
It may take 100 years before an upper-stage falls naturally from the sky.
"Our study shows that if we want to apply the aerobraking concept to an Ariane-class upper-stage then we need a system with booms, or masts, of about 12m and a deployed surface of about 250 sq m.
"This is possible with our current technologies. We need now to check that this is the best solution. We are also thinking whether this type of system can be applied to other launchers as well."
One alternative, of course, is to give the Ariane 5 upper-stage the capability to take a powered dive into the Earth's atmosphere.
 The Ariane 5 upper-stage continues to circle the Earth for decades |
This was done for the first time last year at the end of the launch of the Jules Verne space station freighter. This was considered essential because of the number of manned missions that routinely follow the station's orbit.
Once Jules Verne was released from the rocket, the upper-stage reignited its engine to make a controlled burn-up over the Pacific.
The advantages of de-orbiting in this way are clear, but the extra fuel requirements and complexity of re-ignitable engines add cost to what is already a very expensive endeavour.
Aerobraking sails, on the other hand, are lightweight and extremely simple. Their operation could even be controlled by a pre-set timer, fixed to deploy a certain number of minutes after the end of a flight.
This means that even an upper-stage that is out of control can still be guaranteed to return to Earth in a timely fashion.
Santerre and Serf presented their latest research at the recent European Conference on Space Debris in Darmstadt, Germany.
The meeting closed with a statement from its organisers saying that effective measures to clean up space debris needed to be devised and implemented.
Ancient tsunami 'hit New York'
A huge wave crashed into the New York City region 2,300 years ago, dumping sediment and shells across Long Island and New Jersey and casting wood debris far up the Hudson River.
The scenario, proposed by scientists, is undergoing further examination to verify radiocarbon dates and to rule out other causes of the upheaval.
Sedimentary deposits from more than 20 cores in New York and New Jersey indicate that some sort of violent force swept the Northeast coastal region in 300BC.
| If we're wrong, it was one heck of a storm Steven Goodbred Vanderbilt University |
It may have been a large storm, but evidence is increasingly pointing to a rare Atlantic Ocean tsunami.
Steven Goodbred, an Earth scientist at Vanderbilt University, said large gravel, marine fossils and other unusual deposits found in sediment cores across the area date to 2,300 years ago.
The size and distribution of material would require a high velocity wave and strong currents to move it, he said, and it is unlikely that short bursts produced in a storm would suffice.
"If we're wrong, it was one heck of a storm," said Dr Goodbred.
Landslide or asteroid?
The origin of such a tsunami is also under debate. An undersea landslide is the most likely source, but one research group has proposed that an asteroid impact provided the trigger.
In 300BC, barrier beaches and marsh grass embroidered the coast, and Native Americans walked the shore.
Today, a wave of the proposed size would leave Wall Street and the Long Island Expressway awash with salt water.
 Atlantic tsunamis are rare, but could be triggered by submarine landslides |
An Atlantic tsunami was rare but not inconceivable, said Neal Driscoll, a geologist from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who is not associated with the research. But verifying one that is 2,000 years old is tricky.
Earthquakes, underwater landslides, or a combination of the two were the most frequent Atlantic tsunami triggers, said Professor Driscoll.
The 1929 Grand Banks tsunami, in Newfoundland, which killed more than two-dozen people and snapped many transatlantic cables, was set in motion by a submarine landslide set off by an earthquake.
Dr Goodbred imagines that the New York wave was on the Grand Banks scale - three to four metres high and big enough to leap over the barrier islands; but that it did not reach the magnitude of the 2004 Sumatran tsunami.
The evidence is buried under metres of sediment in New York and New Jersey.
High-speed wave
Dr Goodbred first proposed the link between the layers of unusual debris found in sediment cores and a tsunami while studying shellfish populations in Great South Bay, Long Island.
He extracted many mud cores with incongruous 20cm layers of sand and gravel.
Their age matched that of wood deposits buried in the Hudson riverbed and marine fossils in a New Jersey debris flow in cores gathered by other researchers.
The fist-sized gravel he found in Long Island would require a high velocity of water - well over a metre per second - to land where it did, said Dr Goodbred.
Among the fossils and shells sandwiched in the organic black mud of Sandy Hook Bay, New Jersey, Marine Geologist Cecilia McHugh of Queens College, City University of New York, discovered mud balls made from red clay that matched iron-rich sediments found onshore.
The balls form their spherical shape only through vigorous reworking, said Dr McHugh, and they do not form in small storms.
"I didn't think much about it until we dated the deposit and came up with the same date that Steve did on Long Island," she said.
It prompted her to check cores extracted from the upper continental slope 200km offshore.
She discovered a 2,200-year-old layer of sand and mud, on top of sedimentary layers 8,000 to 14,000 years old.
Dr McHugh says such relatively young debris is not found that far out on the slope, and the date is close to that of the New York and New Jersey samples.
Age of a storm
The age and nature of the material make tsunami verification a challenge.
The radiocarbon dates of the debris are accurate to within a century, said Dr Goodbred. But the only evidence that a dramatic event took place thousands of years ago is common coastal debris - wood, sand, shells and rock.
Researchers must discern whether it was strewn by a tsunami or a hurricane, or another large storm, such as a "nor'easter", said Professor Driscoll.
 Unusual layers in sediment cores may be a sign of an ancient tsunami |
"Understanding the origins of these deposits can be difficult," he added.
While tsunamis can occur in any ocean, they are most common in the Pacific and Indian Oceans where continental plates collide.
There, large undersea earthquakes are relatively common.
In the Atlantic, where the plates spread, tsunamis are rare, which means Atlantic tsunamis are not well studied, said Bruce Jaffe, of the United States Geological Survey.
There is little research on tsunami debris in the variety of northeast coastal environments - riverbeds, marine bays - where the New York debris layers were found. There are few modern analogues to compare them with for identification, he said.
"Grand Banks is the only unequivocal tsunami in the Atlantic on the Northeast coast because there were eye-witness accounts and the deposits matched that of other modern tsunamis," said Dr Jaffe.
To rule out the possibility of a severe storm, said Professor Driscoll, tsunami groups should collect more core samples to see whether the distribution of the debris is consistent.
Dr Goodbred said teams were planning to do just that. And this would confirm that the deposits are not quirks of local geology.
'Circumstantial evidence'
The researchers would also repeat carbon dating on cores to verify ages, said Dr Goodbred, but he has a hunch the tsunami theory will win out.
"We're building a case of circumstantial evidence that is getting harder and harder to ignore," he said.
While many geologists say a submarine landslide is the likely trigger of a tsunami, a group led by geologist Dallas Abbot thinks a space impactor may have set off the massive wave.
 Some researchers suspect a space impactor may have been involved |
Her team discovered material in the New Jersey and Hudson River cores dated to 2,300 ago, and believe it to be meteoritic in nature. This includes carbon spherules, shocked minerals, and nanodiamonds, which are produced under extreme pressures and temperatures.
"We didn't find the typical shocked quartz, but that is usual for a water impact," said Dr Abbott, from the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.
She theorised that an asteroid landed in the water off the coast of New York and New Jersey, either creating the wave directly or triggering a submarine landslide. No crater has yet been found.
Many geologists and other scientists remain sceptical of the asteroid evidence so far; but proof of an asteroid impact is not necessary to build the case for a massive wave.
As Dr Goodbred pointed out: "The tsunami story stands on its own without the impact."
Hollywood battling 'DVD copying'
 The movie studios have described RealDVD as "StealDVD" |
Hollywood has locked horns with the technology industry over who will control digital entertainment and how it is watched.
The six big film studios say a program called RealDVD violates copyright.
This week a San Francisco court could decide if DVD users can make personal backups the way people do with audio.
"The consumer should have the same fair use rights to copy DVDs just as they have for the last decade with music," said Bill Hankes of RealDVD.
RealDVD, which is made by RealNetworks, allows DVD owners to make digital copies of their discs onto a computer or laptop hard drive for their own personal use without having to pay extra.
Downloadable versions of many movies are available online, and some studios let users make a digital copy of a movie onto a computer by paying more for an "expanded edition" of a DVD.
Many believe this means the consumer is being made to pay twice.
Kevin Hunt who writes the Electronic Jungle column for the Baltimore Sun said: "For 11 years, since the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) made it illegal to bypass any digital rights management protection system, the movie and music industries have fought a war ostensibly against piracy.
"In reality, it has been a war against the consumer, designed to make people pay more than once for the same song or album or movie."
'Steal DVD'
At the heart of the case the movie studios, represented by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), claim that RealDVD is illegal under the DMCA.
 Figures show the DVD market in the US was worth almost $22bn in 2008 |
The Association said the software bypasses the copy protection built into DVDs meaning that users could copy a DVD and share it around. The studios have described the product as "Steal DVD."
The real fear being expressed is that the technology would enable people to "rent, rip, and return" DVDs.
These are the terms used to describe someone who rents a DVD, copies the content onto a hard drive and returns the movie without ever paying for the unauthorised copy.
"Our objective is to get the illegal choices out of the marketplace and instead focus constructively with the technology community on bringing in more innovative and flexible legal options for consumers to enjoy movies," Greg Goeckner, executive vice president and general counsel, MPAA told the BBC in an e-mail statement.
RealNetworks, which makes RealDVD, claimed that in actual fact the company has enhanced the security of the product.
"We have added an extra layer of security encryption, the same the government uses, to ensure piracy is not a possibility," said RealDVD spokesman Mr Hankes.
A digital version made using RealDVD can only be played on the computer that made the copy.
The DVD Copy Control Association, which is primarily responsible for the copy protection of DVDs and also suing RealNetworks, told the BBC it would not comment until the case is resolved.
"Tension"
RealDVDs' Mr Hankes said he had not been surprised by Hollywood's reaction to the product.
"There has been a tension between Silicon Valley and Hollywood for a long time and this is another example of that.
 The MPAA said the cost of movie piracy is the industry's biggest threat |
"It is not uncommon for content owners to be initially concerned about the manner in which their content will be treated by new technology. That is why we went to talk to the studios before we released the product," said Mr Hankes.
The National Consumers League, a 100-year-old consumer watchdog group, said a survey it conducted in conjunction with RealNetworks showed consumers want choice.
"The entertainment industry would be wise to pay attention to the attitudes and purchase desire of the typical American consumer, who, according to our survey, is very interested in being able to back up his or her collection," said executive director Sally Greenberg.
To some extent the genie is already out of the bottle because there are a number of illegal ways to do what ReadDVD does.
"Consumer behaviour is going to continue regardless of what happens in this court case. The question is can Hollywood and technology get out in front of it so the consumer adopts legitimate behaviour," said Mr Hankes.
Fred Von Lohmann, a senior lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation suggested the picture is not so black and white.
"Hollywood says that without encryption, the DVD market would collapse. I say, the pirates have already won, the software to copy is free and you're still selling DVDs."
"The sky has not fallen," added Mr Von Lohmann.
The case in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California is being heard by Judge Marilyn Patel. She presided over the Napster case and eventually shut down the original peer-to-peer music file-sharing service.
The hearing, which will resume on Thursday, is expected to end this week with closing arguments this Friday or the following week. Most people expect Judge Patel to deliver her decision in a written ruling in the coming weeks.
4.5.09
Chocolate Age Calculator
This is pretty neat.
DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST!
It takes less than a minute.
Work this out as you read.
Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!
This is not one of those waste of time things, it's fun.
1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10)
2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)
3. Add 5
4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator
5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759 ..If you haven't , add 1758.
6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.
You should have a three digit number
The first digit of this was your original number (i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week)..
The next two numbers are
YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)
THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2009) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS.
2.5.09
10 things we didn't know last week
Snippets from the week's news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience.
1. Diamonds can be blue.
More details
2. Birds can dance.
More details
3. You can get a driving licence and credit card in the name of Pudsey Bear, but not a passport.
More details
4. The annual salary for the Poet Laureate is £5,750.
More details
5. Many mosques in Mecca point the wrong way for prayers.
More details
6. Flu vaccines are grown in chicken eggs.
More details
7. An outbreak of swine flu in 1976 killed one person but a vaccine to combat it killed 25.
More details
8. Adults who are sexually attracted to teenagers are called hebophiles.
More details
9. David Attenborough doesn't own any pets.
(Radio 5 Live, Sunday, 16 May)
10. Prince was born with epilepsy.
More details
Eoghan Quigg's debut album as 'the worst ever made'?
There have been many dreadful albums over the years, but according to reviewers a new standard of dreadfulness has been set with the release of X Factor reject Eoghan Quigg's debut.
The 16-year-old, who came third in the hotly contested competition, released his self-titled album two weeks ago. With fans downloading the album for as little as £3.97, it peaked at number 14 in the charts.
But according to The Guardian's Peter Robinson, even this is too high for the 'phenomenally bad' album.
Eoghan Quigg: The debut album of the X Factor finalist has been slated by critics
'It's an objectively bad album, so bad that it would count as a new low for popular culture, were it possible to class it as either culture (its producers barely even approached it as music) or popular,' he wrote.
'It is an album which at once satisfies demand for one Eoghan Quigg album and ensures that there will never ever be demand for a second.'
But is it really fair to call Eoghan's album the 'worst of all time'?
The worst album ever? Eoghan's debut
Surely it can't be worse than Crazy Frog Presents Crazy Hits - an album based on a mobile ring tone. Or even that difficult second album - Crazy Frog Presents More Crazy Hits.
Or what about A Whole New World, the album Katie Price and Peter Andre made famous with their dire live performance on Children In Need.
The glamour model's debut may well have won 62 five star reviews on Amazon, but a closer look leads to doubts about their authenticity.
One typical review is simply entitled 'It cured my cancer', while another adds that 'Thanks to this CD I can now breathe underwater like Kevin Costner in Westworld.'
By contrast Eoghan's album has won him some genuine fans.
His father, Chris, insists: 'Eoghan was an amateur boxer, so he can take the punches.'
And he remains popular in his home of Northern Ireland, responsible for 21.8 per cent of sales, with the album also topping the charts in Ireland.
However, Eoghan's first single has proved less popular than the album.
The track 28,000 Friends debuted at number 96 (2,391 sales) on the singles chart.
1.5.09
Download Junkie
| Highlights This Week Include: | |
| |
 | AVG Anti-Virus 8.5.323 |
 | FBackup 4.1.136 Freeware Quickly backup or restore your important files 30 April 2009 |
 | TuneUp Utilities 2009 v8.0.3100 Trial Software Optimise, tweak & defrag your system 01 May 2009 |
 | Smart Installer Pack 1.0 Freeware Install key software from one download 29 April 2009 |
 | Microsoft Office 2007 SP2 Freeware Update Office 2007 with the latest service pack 29 April 2009 |
| | CCleaner 2.19 Freeware System cleansing & optimisation tool 29 April 2009 |
 | Outpost Firewall Free 2009 Freeware Give your home PC better protection using this free firewall 28 April 2009 |
 | VirtualBox 2.2.2 Freeware Host a virtual operating system 28 April 2009 |
 | StarBurn 12 Freeware Burn data or audio CDs for free 25 April 2009 |
 | Avira AntiVir Personal 9.0.0.394 Freeware Popular free anti-virus client 28 April 2009 |
Posts
