It may not be a living, breathing robot, but UK researchers have created something pretty close. Robotics experts has developed a soft robot capable of consuming organic material for energy, effectively creating a machine which digests living things. The hope is that such self-sustaining robo-scavengers could be used to mop up contaminated water or algal blooms, which choke out life.Using a soft polymer membrane as a 'mouth', the machine filters its aquatic surroundings – a water bath with added biomatter – to gain the energy it needs.
But unlike the stomach or digestive tract of living organisms, the mechanical imitator relies on a microbial fuel cell packed with bacteria which break down organic matter.
These microbes break liberate the chemical energy stored in the biomatter, which is transformed into electrical energy which the robot can use.
The clever design imitates the symbiotic relationships which have helped living things to dominate the planet over billions of years.
Once the matter is used up, it is excreted out the other end and the robot moves on.
Sunday, 6 November 2016
Baby blues - information and support
Feeling emotional or low after birth is very common. The majority of new mothers experience the ‘baby blues’. Find out what it is, signs and symptoms and how long it lasts.
This article covers:
What are the 'baby blues'?
What causes baby blues?
Common baby blues symptoms
How long does the baby blues last?
What can be done to help
Further information
What are the 'baby blues'?
What causes baby blues?
Common baby blues symptoms
How long does the baby blues last?
What can be done to help
Further information
What are the baby blues?
During the first week after giving birth, some mums may find themselves feeling weepy and irritable. This is called the ‘baby blues’ and it is experienced by many mums after giving birth.
What causes the baby blues?
The baby blues are thought to be linked to the changes in chemical and hormone levels two to four days after giving birth. Suddenly, your body has some major adjustments to make. Levels of certain hormones that were required during pregnancy drop rapidly, while others that promote the bonding process and trigger the start of milk production rise. These rapid changes can leave you feeling confused.-read more
The Mistress of Mayfair: Men, Money and the Marriage of Doris Delevingne by Lyndsy Spence
The plot could have been inspired by Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies, but unlike Waugh's novel – which parodies the era of the ‘Bright Young Things’ – The Mistress of Mayfair is a real-life story of scandal, greed, corruption and promiscuity at the heart of 1920s and ’30s high society, focusing on the wily, willful socialite Doris Delevingne and her doomed relationship with the gossip columnist Valentine Browne, Viscount Castlerosse.Marrying each other in pursuit of the finer things in life, their unlikely union was tempestuous from the off, rocked by affairs (with a whole host of society figures, including Cecil Beaton, Diana Mitford and Winston Churchill, amongst others) on both sides, and degenerated into one of London’s bitterest, and most talked about, divorce battles. In this compelling new book, Lyndsy Spence follows the rise and fall of their relationship, exploring their decadent society lives in revelatory detail and offering new insight into some of the mid twentieth century’s most prominent figures.
stop the trade of stuffed tigers
Rare Isabelline shrike spotted in Britain on its annual migration from the Far East
The Isabelline shrike spotted near South Shields, South Tyneside, over the weekend should have been on its annual migration from China or Mongolia to North Africa.
The bird came to rest on land managed by the National Trust north of Souter Lighthouse.
Assistant ranger Dougie Holden, a keen birdwatcher, said: “We get a lot of migratory birds flying over the lighthouse, but I didn't expect to see the shrike - it was a dream come true.read more
please support Special_Olympics
Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and competitions to more than 5.3 million athletes and Unified Sports partners in nearly 170 countries.
Special Olympics competitions are held every day, all around the world—including local, national and regional competitions, adding up to more than 108,000 events a year. Like the International Paralympic Committee, the Special Olympics organization is recognized by the International Olympic Committee; however, unlike the Paralympic Games, Special Olympics World Games are not held in the same year or in conjunction with the Olympic Games.
These competitions include the Special Olympics World Games, which alternate between summer and winter games. Special Olympics World Games are held every two years. The most recent World Summer Games were the Special Olympics World Summer Games, held in Los Angeles, California (The largest event in LA since the 1984 Olympic Games), from July 25, 2015 to August 2, 2015 and for the first time were part of ESPN daily coverage.
The most recent Special Olympics World Winter Games were held in Pyeongchang, South Korea from January 29 to February 5, 2013.[2] At the same time, the first Special Olympics Global Development Summit was held on "Ending the Cycle of Poverty and Exclusion for People with Intellectual Disabilities," gathering government officials, activists and business leaders from around the world [3]
Graz and Schladming, Austria will host the next Special Olympics World Winter Games from March 14–25, 2017.[4]-read more -wiki link
Devon and Cornwall police unusual gifts .
among thank you gifts given to this police force were -kittens,cupcakes,langoustines,all were declared.
World's shortest flight celebrates its millionth passenger
The world’s shortest flight, a tiny hop between two remote British islands, celebrated Monday taking its millionth passenger on the route.
The 2.7km (1.7-mile) flight between Westray and Papa Westray in the Orkney islands, off mainland Scotland’s northeast coast, holds the Guinness World Record as the shortest scheduled service.
The flight, in an eight-seater Britten Norman Islander aircraft, officially takes two minutes but with favourable winds it can be done in 47 seconds.
It is part of a daily service route that leaves Orkney’s main town, Kirkwall, and stops off around the archipelago.read more plus see video on link
At just eight minutes long, this is the world’s shortest international flight
Ever wished you could get to another country in less than 10 minutes?
Well you now can after an Austrian airline announced that it has started the world’s shortest regular flight.
The flight time is only eight minutes and will have you crossing international borders in no time.
Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2016/11/05/at-just-eight-minutes-long-this-is-the-worlds-shortest-flight-6237069/#ixzz4PFxSwIHc
t.n. a news and history .
-sad to see a wrestling company i have watched from the beginning no longer going to be on british television and looks like going the same fate as wcw and only wwe to watch ,i shall miss it .We know that many TNA fans will be disappointed to hear this, but we wanted to let you all know that as of January 2017, Challenge will no longer be the home of TNA in the UK. TNA has been a huge and important part of Challenge’s story over the years and we will treasure some great moments like the British Bootcamp and UK tours. We have been proud to bring UK viewers coverage of TNA and have huge respect for the company and its fans. TNA is packed with great talent and we know they will continue to do great things – we wish them all the best. The history of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling dates back to the early 2002 when it was founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in May 2002 as NWA:Total Nonstop Action (NWA-TNA). It underwent name a name change from NWA-TNA due to a working relationship with the National Wrestling Alliance to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2007 when TNA and the NWA ending their working relationship.
TNA is the second largest professional wrestling company in the United States.[1] It has promoted some of the most successful wrestlers and storylines, and featured some of the most iconic and significant matches and moments in the history of the professional wrestling. TNA currently airs several programs such as Impact Wrestling and TNA Xplosion in more than 20 countries, hosting pay-per-view events yearly including Bound for Glory the company's biggest event of the year.The concept of TNA originated shortly after World Championship Wrestling (WCW) ended in 2001. Bob Ryder, Jeff Jarrett, and Jerry Jarrett went on a fishing trip and contemplated their futures in the sport of wrestling.[2] Only one wrestling product remained on U.S. national television: theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF). Ryder felt[2] that this situation led many television stations to regard wrestling as bad for business; he suggested a company not reliant on television, but rather one going straight to pay-per-view.
The Jarretts found the financial backing they needed, and the company put on its first show on June 19, 2002. That night, however, in a dark match just before they went on the air, a 450 lb wrestler named Cheex hit the ropes with so much force that one of them broke. The estimated repair time was 30–60 minutes, which they did not have because the schedule called for them to go live in a few minutes, whether the ring was ready or not. Backstage, the producers shuffled the schedule so that some non-wrestling segments went first to give the ring crew some more time, but they did not have many of them. The ring crew fixed the rope with the help of Ron and Don Harris, and everyone went live hoping for the best.[2]
Initially, TNA's weekly pay-per-view show operated as the company's main source of revenue, in place of monthly pay-per-view events used by other promotions. These shows started on June 19, 2002, and took place mostly at the Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, nicknamed the TNA Asylum. After 27 months and 111 PPVs, TNA began[3] holding a weekly television show and monthly three-hour pay-per-views. The last weekly PPV took place on September 8, 2004. TNA Xplosion launched on November 27, 2002 as TNA's first regular cable show and featured exclusive matches from the TNA Asylum as well as exclusive interviews with TNA Wrestlers. On November 18, 2004, the show became a recap show of the previous week's Impact! in light of alterations in the taping schedule. Xplosion resumed airing exclusive matches (billed as "Xplosion Xclusives") once more on October 7, 2005 in addition to recapping Impact!. The "Xplosion Xclusives" also aired on the now-ceased TNA Global Impact! internet show. Airing of Xplosion in the United States ceased at the end of 2006, although some of the exclusive matches can be seen on TNA Today.read more -wiki link
'I LASTED FIVE MINUTES BEFORE I FLED IN FEAR' Our reporter took a terrifying trip to house in Pontefract that was abandoned in the 1970s
SITTING on the narrow single bed as the wind howls outside, it doesn’t take a lot to imagine the terrors that led a family to run from this home, leaving almost everything behind.
Terrified visitors have called it the “bedroom of Hell” — and after visiting to see for myself how spooky it was, I lasted just FIVE MINUTES before I fled in fear.Number 30 East Drive seems like an ordinary semi-detached 1950s house on an unremarkable road.
But whatever now dwells there draws the curious to walk through its smart white front door in
Pontefract, West Yorks, and straight into what some have called “unbelievable evil”.
Jean Pritchard and her family were the last people to call this place home back in August 1966. They fled five years later.read more
Jean Pritchard and her family were the last people to call this place home back in August 1966. They fled five years later.read more
The UK's top 20 most-watched television programmes
This week marks the 80th anniversary of the first official broadcast on British television and to mark the occasion, a list of the most-watched TV programmes has been compiled.
At the top of the list is Only Fools and Horses, with more than 24 million people tuning in to watch David Jason's Del Boy finally become a millionaire on 29 December 1996. The show features three more times in the rankings, including two other shows from Christmas 1996.
In second place is a November 1979 episode of To the Manor Born, starring Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles.
Other programmes include Coronation Street and Martin Bashir's 1995 Panorama interview with Princess Diana, in which she discussed Prince Charles's extra-marital affairs.read more
Saturday, 5 November 2016
help save the African elephants
please see as this video has been blockedf so much for a good deed -http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0813xr2/saving-africas-elephants-hugh-and-the-ivory-war-episode-1-http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0822ld8/saving-africas-elephants-hugh-and-the-ivory-war-episode-2
THE STORY OF THE POPPY The inspiration behind the poppy as a symbol of Remembrance.
During the First World War (1914–1918) much of the fighting took place in Western Europe. Previously beautiful countryside was blasted, bombed and fought over, again and again. The landscape swiftly turned to fields of mud: bleak and barren scenes where little or nothing could grow.
Bright red Flanders poppies (Papaver rhoeas) however, were delicate but resilient flowers and grew in their thousands, flourishing even in the middle of chaos and destruction. In early May 1915, shortly after losing a friend in Ypres, a Canadian doctor, Lt Col John McCrae was inspired by the sight of poppies to write a now famous poem called 'In Flanders Fields'.
McCrae’s poem inspired an American academic, Moina Michael, to make and sell red silk poppies which were brought to England by a French woman, Anna Guérin. The (Royal) British Legion, formed in 1921, ordered 9 million of these poppies and sold them on 11 November that year. The poppies sold out almost immediately and that first ever 'Poppy Appeal' raised over £106,000; a considerable amount of money at the time. This was used to help WW1 veterans with employment and housing.
The following year, Major George Howson set up the Poppy Factory to employ disabled ex-Servicemen. Today, the factory and the Legion's warehouse in Aylesford produces millions of poppies each year.read more
Widnes worm Dave wriggles into record books
An earthworm named Dave has wriggled into the record books as the largest found in the UK - measuring a whopping 40cm (15.7in).
Experts at the Natural History Museum bestowed the accolade upon the annelid after it ventured above ground in a vegetable plot in Widnes, Cheshire.
The Lumbricus terrestris was studied at the museum before being killed in what staff called "the sad bit of science".
It is now in a jar and will be "kind of immortal", the museum said.-read more and see video
Tuesday, 1 November 2016
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