Worldly weirdness

Four-legged fowl

2007-02-20T09:36:00.000-08:00

If there was a duck Olympics, I'd be putting money on the UK's very own Stumpy from the New Forest to blow the competition away in 2012.

Stumpy has hatched with four legs thanks to a rare mutation that will probably have creationists spitting feathers.

Nicky Janaway, owner of the farm where Stumpy currently resides, showed a quickness of mind belying his rural station: "I was thinking 'he's got too many legs' and I kept counting 'one, two, three, four,'".

Genius!

In other news, the Australians have stunned the world by announcing anti-global warming measures. Having previously taken a stance slightly to the right of George Bush on the whole issue, the Aussie government have decided that they're going to phase out power-sapping incandescent lightbulbs by 2010 in favour of the more fuel-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs.

Unlike traditional bulbs, the compact fluorescent bulbs don't produce much heat which drastically reduces the amount of energy they require.

"If the whole world switches to these bulbs today, we would reduce our consumption of electricity by an amount equal to five times Australia's annual consumption of electricity," said Australian Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

However, when you take into account that Australia's entire energy consumption consists of running a single communal fridge/freezer for stubbies, steak, shrimp and other barbecue-related produce, the claim isn't quite so impressive.

Still, it's more than Blair's doing. Even if he just stopped talking so much guff we'd probably be able to cut the UK's carbon emissions by half.

The birth of a new religion?

2007-02-16T11:32:00.000-08:00

Japan produces too much milk. Way too much. Last March the island of Hokkaido alone dumped 900 tonnes of the stuff down the drain. For one man, this was all too much wastage.

In true entrepreneurial style, Chitoshi Nakahara, looked at what resources he had in abundance (milk) and what the public really wanted (beer). One swift bout of beverage-alchemy later and Nakahara was producing the goods.

Brewed in a similar fashion to normal beer, using yeast and hops, the mixture initially resembles milky tea whilst hot, but cools down to look just like the real thing, dubbed bilk. According to Hokkaido locals, it doesn't taste too shabby either.

Now call me an old cynic, but Jesus got a whole load of plaudits for turning water into wine. Surely this fellow has gone one better by turning milk to tea to beer.

And what's spooky about this is that, also a bit like Jesus, the birth of bilk has been accompanied by a celestial light show of magnificent proportions. NGC 2440 is a yellow star much like our own sun, or at least is was. It is now an exploded mass of stellar debris and pretty colours. However, it's probably not a wise idea to try and follow it, it's 4000 light-years away.

This is what the Hubble telescope picked up. Ain't it pretty!

Exam Genius

2007-02-08T09:42:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I often get purported 'crazy' exam answers sent to us - most of which have obviously been written by a bunch of teachers with too much time and a serious grudge. However, these I couldn't let pass by. Click on the thumbnails to reveal all.

Thanks to Mike Milnes for sending these to me. Click here for more random stuff.

The Carbon Condom

2007-01-26T11:57:00.000-08:00

Usually the only time that the anti-everything jokers at Greenpeace make me laugh is when another of their highly-principled, media-hungry supporters gets stuck in some sort of heavy machinery. However, showing a sense of humour hitherto unseen from the self-proclaimed gurus of green, I was delighted delighted to find this little gem.

The Carbon Condom

I'm sure there should be some sort of nod to Monty Python's Terry Gilliam, but let's not spoil the party. Let's hope that Greenpeace's new image carries on to a brighter, and far less po-faced, future.

Noah talks to God. I fall off my chair.

2007-01-23T12:02:00.000-08:00

I'd forgotten all about this sketch. Back in the early 60s Bill Cosby was just making his name. Here's why. You don't really need to watch the video, just listen to the audio. It's priceless. (It might take a little time to load.)

You can still buy the fantastic Bill Cosby is a very funny man... Right! CD. It hasn't dated at all and is really very funny.