If you have ever been in a dark bathroom at night struggling to find the toilet roll then this glow in the dark toilet roll might be just what you need. It looks like regular toilet roll but gives off a florescent glow when the lights are turned off. It costs £4.99 for a roll so is not cheap but could be useful if you are planning a camping trip or simply going somewhere really dark.

A 90 year old man is waiting for confirmation from Guinness Wolrd Records to see whether he is the world’s oldest paperboy. Ted Ingram has been a paperboy for 68 years and claims he has delivered more than 500,000 papers on his round in Winterborne Monkton near Dorchester. Ted has only ever missed his round twice due to snow, despite the fact that he now has a hip replacement. He continues to do the round despite the fact that he no longer makes any money from it because he now has to take the car.

A dermatologist has developed a application for the iPhone which he claims can get rid of wrinkles and acne whilst you talk on the phone. Called AcneApp The application costs $1.99 and uses blue and red light to help kill bacteria and promote collagen growth. There is some scepticism over whether the product actually works as it is yet to undergo clinical study but its an interesting idea.

This is interesting, its a machine that supposedly turns waste paper from the office into toilet roll. Called the “White Goat” the machine could not be described as portable, it is 6ft tall and weighs in at 94st. It can create a new toilet roll from 40 sheets of A4 paper in around 30 minutes. Waste paper is fed into a shredder, untangled and then dissolved in a pulper. The wet paper is then thinned out and dried before being wound into toilet paper.

This coin which was found in the village of Hallaton in Leicestershire is thought to be the oldest piece of Roman money found in Britain. The coin was found in 2000 with around 5,000 other coins, a helmet and a decorated bowl. It has since been dated to 221BC and has been put on display at the Harbrough Museum. The other coins excavated at the Iron Age shrine of the Corieltavi tribe have been dated to the first century AD. It is not known how a Roman coin might have come into the possession of the local tribe but it is thought that they might have been traded before the Roman conquest in 43AD.

This is Missy the world’s first cat to receive a knee replacement. She was close to death after being run over by a car but after receiving pioneering surgery to rebuild her limbs and being fitted with a metal joint she is now recovering nicely. To repair her leg a collagen mesh made from a pigs bladder was used to re-grow tissue and cover the bone. The bones were then placed in a device called a spider which held them in place until the bone and tissue had healed. The implant itself was custom made to fit Missy’s measurements. It was made out of stainless steel and bonded to the thigh bone and shin bone using cement. The new implant should allow Missy to walk, run and jump around as normal.

According to this article this is the world’s largest TV. Recently unveiled by Panasonic it measures 152 inches. If you want one it is likely to have a fairly hefty price tag and you will need a large living room as you need to be seated between 25ft and 38ft away from it to enjoy optimum viewing.

Weighing in at 3,682lbs this is The Field Marshall a bull who has recently been named Britain’s biggest bullock. The bull eats more than 17lbs of feed every day and at the age of  8 is only a teenager so is likely to grow bigger yet.

This is one of the country’s smallest libraries. The phone box was brought from BT for £1 under a National scheme that allows communities to adopt a phone box. Villages in the local area of Westbury-sub-Mendip can use the library, selecting books, DVDs and CDs. They simply have to leave a book they have read and take one that they would like to read. The idea was thought up by a resident when the village lost both its phone box and its mobile library in quick succession.

According to this article a whisky company is preparing an expedition to try and locate two crates of 100 years whisky. The whisky was shipped to the Antarctic by British polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton during his 1909 expedition. It is now thought to be frozen inside in the icecap. The company that now owns McKinlay and Co who made the whisky are hoping that they will be able to conduct tests on the bottles with a view to re-launching the Scotch. One thing is for sure it will certainly be nicely chilled.

According to this article thousands of microscopic worms have been sent into space. The worms which were collected from a rubbish tip in Bristol have boarded the Atlantis space shuttle for a mission to the international space station. It is hoped that studying the worms will help scientists explain how astronauts build and lose muscle as they circle the earth. The worms will be exposed to conditions in space for four days before being frozen and returned to the laboratory where they can be studied.

Our cat Oliver is notorious for being very timid, he usually hides when we get any visitors and get beaten up by our other cats. Bearing this in mind we were very surprised when a large fox wandered into the garden and approached him. Oliver and the fox regarded each other for a while before the fox rolled on the ground. It was obvious to us that the fox wanted to play but Oliver seemed to miss the point and chased him away. You can see pictures below of the encounter, click on the images for a bigger version.

These pumpkins were carved by a gardener is Essex. He has carved many different famous faces into pumpkins such as Barack Obama, Michael Jackson, Wayne Rooney, Amy Winehouse and Cheryl Cole. The carvings take around three hours to complete but only last a few days as the pumpkins start to contort after that amount of time.

These realistic looking creatures are made by origami expert Sipho Mabona. Despite the intricate designs surprisingly they are each made from just a single sheet of paper. Each piece takes around 20 hours to fold and can take more than six months to design so it doesn’t come as a surprise to find that they sell for around £1,500 each. The preying mantis and stag beetle are just two of his many designs with others including grasshoppers, tigers and fish.

These gargoyles are made out of toilet roll tubes. French artist Junior Fritz Jacquet makes the faces by moulding the toilet roll tube to create the sculpture. He starts off by constructing the eyes and then creates the nose, mouth and the rest of the face. When finished the face is coated in different coloured pigments and fitted to a metal stalk so it can be displayed.

I have come across many cool hedge shapes in the past such as the hedge whale, the hedge sea monster and the hedge elephants but this is the first time I have seen a hedge car. The 11ft car is made up of six plants and there are also some 6ft high mechanics which are made from two plants each. The plants have been carefully trained over a wire frame to create the shape and are then trimmed.

This is interesting its a watch that contains a satellite positioning system which can locate the wearer to within ten feet. Aimed at parents who want to keep an eye on their children, the brightly coloured watch costs £149.99. Parents will be able to see their child’s location on Google maps by texting a special number. They will also be able to set up safe zones in which the children can play and receive an alert when the children go outside the area. The device is made by a company called Lok8u. I’m not sure how practical it is for children as they would soon learn to take it off but I would be interested in getting one of these for cats. Having emailed the company that makes these I have found out that a cat version is due to be released in the new year.

This is interesting its a man who makes famous landmarks from toothpicks. He has spent six years building the structures and in that time has used over six million toothpicks and more than 170 million litres of glue. The picture to the left shows him working on a structure of the Cambodian temple of Angkor Wat  and the second picture shows his version of the Taj Mahal.

This is interesting its some pictures taken by a man in Surrey of bats flying over his garden pond. To get the pictures he rigged up this rather elaborate set up using a digital camera that listens for ultrasonic squeaks and an infrared beam to trigger flash  lamps when a bat flew near the water. The first picture shows how he set up his equipment and the second is one of the pictures that he took.

I have read a few articles about silent disco in the past but was surprised to learn that it appears to be becoming very popular. According to this article it is becoming popular at weddings and private parties. Silent discos work much the same as regular discos except people dance to music played through personal headphones rather than through speakers. There are several different channels to choose from so people at the same party can choose their own type of music. The article highlights one example where a couple had a silent disco at their wedding reception and chose to have Motown on one channel for older guests and current hits on another for the younger ones. It’s an interesting idea and has the advantage that you can party all night without upsetting the neighbours.

These interesting looking sandwiches were created by Mark Northeast in an attempt to get his son Oscar to eat his vegetables. Fed up of his son not eating his meals Mark started to make them a little more interesting. His creation include a caterpillar and a crocodile (pictured) as well as Spongebob Squarepants and a piano. They are certainly more exciting than most sandwiches I have seen.

If you are scared of spiders you might have an excuse if you are a girl. According to this article girls could have a natural fear of spiders. Researchers came to the conclusion after conducting an experiment on a group of children. They showed pictures of spiders to 20 children, 10 girls and 10 boys who were 11 months old. The boys didn’t seem bothered by the pictures but the girls already associated spiders with being afraid. Based on the findings it is thought that girls are genetically more susceptible to fearing potentially dangerous animals.

Staff at a computer company in South Africa are using pigeons to transfer data between offices because it it quicker than broadband. They say that it takes six hours to transfer four gigabytes of encrypted data from Durban to their call centre 50 miles away. In contrast it takes a pigeon with a memory card attached to its leg, just an hour to make the journey. The pigeons do face some problems, however, such as getting eaten by predators on route.

This is unusual, its 3D sculptures carved out of old phone books. They are made by Alex Queral an artist from Philadelphia. He produces two new pieces a month and has been working in this way for 14  years. He starts off by sketching a picture and then places it over the phonebook to use as template before using a scalpel to cut away at the pages to create the finished sculpture. You can see a work in progress above and a finished image of Obama to the right.

This giant Lego house is being built in Dorking in Surrey. So far it contains over two million Lego bricks. It comes complete with a Lego toilet, bath and bed. Once it is finished Top Gear presenter James May intends to stay in it for several days or until it falls down.

This is unusual its a newt that is able to push its ribs through its skin to use them as weapons. The Spanish ribbed newt is able to force its bones through its skin when it is threatened. Surprisingly this does not appear to cause the newt any harm but it is quite an extreme method of protection.

This is unusual, its artwork created on dirty cars. The work is done by artist Scott Wade who creates these impressive pictures simply out of the dirt on car windows. They range from more traditional pieces based on famous works of art like this Mona Lisa he created in the back of a mini to more unusual works like the one below of a family inside a car.

This scary looking plant has recently been discovered in the Philippines. The plant which has been named after Sir David Attenborough grows more than 4ft long. It is able to eat prey such as mice and rats which it traps by secreting nectar. Once close enough the animals fall into a large pitcher within the plant. Unable to get out they then drown and acids in the fluid break down the remains.

This is interesting its a piece of artwork created by sand artist Andres Amador. He creates these patterns in the sand some of which span over 500 feet. The work involves raking the sand into intricate patterns. Andres first works on the designs in his notebook before working with the sand. The work has to be completed quickly before the sea washes the design away so the effect is only temporary. After all his hard work the artist is left with just a snapshot of each piece of work. Still its fairly impressive stuff.

This seems like a really good job. Its a position for a witch at Wookey Hole caves in Somerset. The job which pays £50,000 a year includes accommodation as the witch is expected to live in the caves. The applicant must be able to teach witchcraft and magic. Other than that they must live in the cave and simply do the things that witches do. Both men and women can apply, although it is a requirement that they must be able to cackle and cannot be allergic to cats. The job is open because the previous witch has retired.

If you are unemployed and are able to leave the country for a while then this job might be for you. Described as a Globe Trotter it is the opportunity to travel around the world for a year and have it all paid for. The job is being offered by lastminute.com and all of the £20,000 travel expenses will be covered. The successful applicant needs no specific qualifications but they will need to write reviews on the hotels, restaurants and attractions that they visit. They will not receive a salary but the entire cost of the trip will be covered. If you want to apply you have until the 15th of July and need to send a photo of yourself having a good time on holiday and a 200 word review describing your experience.

This is interesting its an idea for laser guided cars that do all the driving for you. The cars would allow the driver to do something else whilst still being behind the wheel meaning you could sleep, read or perhaps catch up on some work. They would work using sensors and wireless technology which would lock the cars together in a convoy with each vehicle following the one ahead. The car at the very front would be manned by a professional driver and all the other cars would simply follow. Drivers would pay a subscription for the service and would need to book ahead in order to secure a place in the convoy. They would then join the end of the convoy at the allotted time via a slip road and when they choose to leave their car would be guided off onto their chosen slip road. I’m not sure I fancy it, it seems to bring back memories off getting stuck behind a tractor for some strange reason.

This is interesting its one woman's project to wear the same dress for a year. Its a year long fundraising project devised by Akanksha Foundation to raise money for uniforms and other expenses for slum children in India. For a year Akanksha will wear the same dress but will reinvent it every day by adding different accessories. She actually has 7 of the same dress, I guess having just the one would make keeping it clean rather difficult but it is still an interesting project. So far she is two months into the project and has come up with lots of different combinations. I’m not sure I could be so imaginative, I would probably run out of ideas after the first few days.

This is probably one of the most unusual hotel rooms I have come across. It is made to look like a crashed airliner and is situated in the jungle in Costa Rica (pictured left). Whilst it looks like a plane in fact the inside is every bit as nice as a luxury hotel room and it is being marketed as the most exclusive hotel suite in Costa Rica.

The two bedroom suite is inside the fuselage of a 1965 Boeing 727. It includes two  wood panelled bedrooms (pictured right), a kitchenette, dining room (pictured below), living area and two bathrooms. It also has the advantage of offering spectacular views of the jungle from the balcony on the planes right wing. Apparently it is the perfect height to observe wildlife such as sloths, toucans and monkeys.

It certainly an interesting idea. If you fancy staying there it costs between £200 and £250 per night.

This is an interesting idea its a machine that can  print any book out for you in minutes. It has been launched by Blackwell who are hoping it will remove the need to order a hard to find or out of print book. The idea is that you will be able to browse a catalogue of available books. Select the one you want and choose print book. The machine which can print around 105 pages minute will then print and bind your chose book. The books are likely to cost about the same you would expect to pay for a regular book. It will also be possible for authors to take in a CD of their work and have a professionally printed book produced in just minutes. There are currently 400,000 books available but it is hoped that one million will be available by the summer. I  remember being at university and having to wait for copies of a book to become available or searching old bookshops in the hope to find an obscure out of print title. If this machine works as it says, then it could put an end to this, although knowing my luck the book I wanted wouldn’t be available.

This is interesting its a Tweeting cat door (pictured left) that has been made by a programmer to track his cats. The cats each have a RFID tag attached to their collars. When they go near the cat door the RFID reader reads the tag and if the cat is authorised a servo unlocks the cat door. Each time there is a cat door event a Twitter message is sent as well as a picture of the cat that has activated the flap. You can check out the updates at the following link.

This is interesting its some pictures that have been taken by artist Alan Sailer of everyday objects being hit by pellets. He used an air rifle, a camera and a home made flash to create the shots which are quite amazing. He took them by using a laser to trigger the Nikon D40’s shutter and used a special flash to film the action in slow motion. To pinpoint the exact moment to take the perfect shot must have taken ages which makes the results all the more spectacular. Some of the picture are shown below.

 
Strawberry

 
Glass ball filled with water

 
Nut

 
Crayons

 
Christmas Decoration

 
Paintball

 
Tomato

This is cool its the Terrafugia Transition a car that flies. The car works like a conventional car but has the added bonus of being able to fly with the help of some fold away wings. It runs on unleaded petrol and can fly 400 miles on a single tank of gas. It does look a little odd and at £139,000 its certainly not cheap but I think there are times we have all wished we had a flying car.

This is an interesting idea, its a pizza vending machine. The machine called Let’s Pizza has been invented by Claudio Torghele and has recently been launched in Italy. It can make a pizza from scratch in just three minutes whipping the flour into dough, squashing in into a disc and adding the topping before cooking it and serving it in a cardboard box. The machine includes clear plastic windows so that customers can watch the ingredients being mixed and cooked. It costs 3.50 Euros, approx £3.30 for a pizza which is about half what you would expect to pay in a restaurant. The inventor hopes that in the current difficult economic times his three minute pizzas will grab a share of the takeaway market. However, traditional Italian pizza makers are far from impressed with the head of the Association of Italian Pizzerias saying "Pizza that comes out of an automatic machine has nothing to do with Italian pizza."

This is interesting, its a swimming costume that repels water meaning that it dries minutes after you leave the water. Called the Sun Dry Swimsuit, it is made from a special fabric so water passes through the fabric rather than being absorbed into it. The swimsuits also have the advantage of being chorine resistant and having a SPF 50 rating to keep out UV rays. If you want one they are made by Solestrom International and cost between £20 and £60.

This is great its an office space that comes complete with its own helter skelter slide. The feature is part of the Electric Works office complex in Sheffield which opens on Monday. The slide inside is part of one of the office suites, it is made of steel and plastic and is 87ft with a 40ft drop. The slide takes you from the third floor right down to the ground floor reception in just seven seconds so it could be a great way of getting rid of annoying clients very quickly.

This is apparently the world's tallest pancake stack. It stands 29.5 inches (75cm) high and beat the previous record by 0.4 inches. To make this amount of pancakes took 100 eggs, 17 pints of milk, 11lbs of flour and 6.6lbs of butter. The stack includes 672 pancakes and took 22 hours to build, that's a lot of pancakes.

This is interesting its some artwork from Yuken Teruya who turns everyday objects such as pizza boxes, toilet rolls and bags into art. This is one of the projects featured on the website. Its called Corner Forest and includes lots of individual toilet rolls which are hung to create a forest.

This is interesting its a project to help raise awareness about breast cancer. It called Artful Bras and the idea is that members of the Quilters of South Caroliner have created a one of a kind bra. The results will be part of a touring exhibit and when the exhibit ends in October will be auctioned off with the proceeds being donated to the Best Chance Network. Here are just a few of the designs but you can see the rest at the website here.

This is rather strange its a cardboard PC. It is made from 12 cardboard panels which are stuck together using non toxic adhesive. When the PC reaches the end of its life the cardboard body can be taken apart and recycled and the internal components are designed to be easily dismantled. I wonder how hot this thing gets, it does have a dedicated internal venting chamber but I'm not entirely sure putting a flammable material around a PC is such a good idea.

This article from the National Geographic is quite interesting, it suggests that early humans were able to crack nuts with their teeth. Unlike us the Australopithecus africanus had strong chewing apparatus which was able to handle hard foods such as nuts and seeds when other food was not available. They also had well muscled heads that could withstand high forces such as the teeth of canines. I wish I could crack nuts with my teeth.

I came across this picture of a cool hedge whale today. It was created by Nicki Leggatt who decided she wanted to do something a little different with the hedge in her front garden. I have a large hedge in my garden I wonder if my husband will let me turn it into a whale.

This is quite interesting, its an article about Professor Kenneth Libbrecht who has spent many years studying snowflakes. He has used a specially designed photo microscope to photograph snowflakes often in sub zero temperatures and has now published a book with some of his findings.  According to Libbrecht: "Each snowfall is a photographic adventure because each brings different crystals. And it's true - no two are exactly alike."

This is quite cool its actually three parts of a tree that appear to look like one big tree from outside the house. Greig Howe cut a 35ft Christmas tree into three parts and put one part in his sitting room, another in a bedroom and the last part on the roof. It took  several people two days to put the tree in place and some of the branches are so big that the windows of the house need to be kept open. The tree is decorated with 160 baubles and 2,000 lights.

The lightsabre used by Luke Skywalker in Star Wars has recently sold at auction for £133,000. The prop was sold at an auction of Hollywood props and memorabilia. Other items for sale included an original section of the Death Star which sold for £13,300 and C-3PO's helmet which fetched £66,444. My husband was love a lightsabre but I think I might have to look around for something a little cheaper.

This is strange, its a cat that glows in the dark. The cat named Mr Green Genes has been genetically modified as part of an experiment which could lead to a treatment for cystic fibrosis. He looks like any normal cat until he is exposed to ultraviolet light, then he glows. Researchers made him so they could learn whether a gene could be introduced harmlessly into the feline's genetic sequence to create what is formally known as a transgenic cat. That's all very interesting but my main thought on reading the article was "cool a glowing cat".

This is interesting its a solar powered bicycle. The device operates like a normal pedal cycle but has a canopy lined with solar cells overhead. As the user pedals along in the sunshine the rays charge a battery that powers a small electric motor in the back wheel. The battery can then power the bike forward at speeds of up to 15mph as well as lowering the resistance in peddling so that it is easier to cycle up hills. When the sun isn't shining the bike can be charged by plugging it into the mains. It is currently still only in the concept stage but the inventor hopes to find a manufacturer and mass produce it.

This is interesting, its a firm that allows companies to produce pictures of their advertising in space. What the company called JP Aerospace does, is launch a billboard into space that contains the advertisers logo and message and then take pictures of it. They use specially constructed balloons to send the billboard 20 miles into the air. Then they take hundreds of pictures of it and return it to Earth by parachute. The result is something like the picture on the left.

For those who have always wanted to become a Jedi (lets face it, we all want to) you might want to check out this new course offered by Queen's University Belfast. The course starts in November and the organisers are hoping to attract Star Wars fans and introduce them to open learning. The course in entitled Feel the Force: How to Train in the Jedi Way and teaches the "real-life psychological techniques behind Jedi mind tricks". No prior qualifications are needed for the course but unfortunately it does not appear to include light sabre training. The course lasts one day and costs £23. It all sounded great until I read the part about no light sabres.

I came across this website today that has that has these interesting new cat toys. They are made out of cardboard and come flat packed. When assembled, however, they become cool fire engines, planes and tanks. As you can see by the pictures from the site the models have holes for the cats to crawl inside and play. They start at £15.00 each and look like they will be great fun for playful moggies. One word of caution the website does say that cats may need your help to assemble the models.

This article suggests that the effects of alcohol do make people appear more attractive. Researchers found that as little as a pint and a half of beer is enough to make everyone seem more desirable. Men are worst affected with the effect lasting as long as 24 hours after a heavy drinking session. The results were based on a study done at Bristol University where male and female volunteers were randomly allocated a drink of vodka and lime or a similar tasting soft drink. There were then asked to rate the attractiveness of 20 male and 20 female faces on a seven point scale. Those who had been drinking alcohol scored the faces 10% higher than those who had not. The following day both sexes were tested again, this time the men who had been drinking the previous day scored the picture more highly than the non drinkers. The researchers concluded: 'Alcohol consumption increases ratings of attractiveness of facial stimuli.'

If you believe this article the invisibility cloak could soon be a reality. Researchers at the University of California have developed a material that can bend light around an object making it disappear. Obviously the item doesn't actually disappear it is simply no longer visible. The effect is based upon reversing refraction and the result is that only white light behind the object can be seen giving it a cloaking effect. The team involved have said that the principle could be scaled up to make one day make a cloak large enough to hide people. Interesting. Now what would I do with an invisibility cloak?

This is an interesting idea, its a pair of shoes that are also sandals. As you can see from the picture the top part of the shoe unzips to reveal a sandal inside the sole. They are made by Nat-2 design and cost £59.99. There are currently over 20 different designs available and you can also mix and match the soles with different top part. Currently the only place to buy them in the UK is Wild Goose in Twickenham. They seem like a great idea for the unpredictable UK weather.

This is an interesting idea, a solar powered handbag. The bag uses solar panels to absorb the suns rays and turn them into electricity. The bag uses laminated solar panels made of photovoltaic film to convert sunlight into electricity. It then transmits the power to a circuit connected to two batteries in the lining of the bag and to a USB port. It can be used to charge most small devices such as mobile phones, cameras and ipods. It does, however, require two hours of full sunlight to charge a mobile phone battery. If you want one, they cost £150. 

I always loved going to the doctors surgery when I was younger because it was one of the few places around that had a rocking horse. This gadget has been described as a rocking horse for the wealthy. It is in fact a simulator which lets people ride in their own home. The virtual reality riding machine includes a mechanical horse with electronic sensors and a screen. It allows users to trot, canter and perform various dressage manoeuvres but unlike a real horse produces no mess and does not require feeding. Its an interesting concept but personally I think the real thing is much better. For me part of the joy of riding was building up a mutual relationship with my horse and of course the fact that you can never predict what a real horse will do, no matter how well you know it. Its an interesting variation on the rocking horse, though but not cheap at just under £40,000.

This luxury yacht has been designed by a company called Wally. It is big enough to include a garden and a full sized swimming pool. It can sleep up to 40 crew and 24 guests and would have a gaming room, library, cinema, gym, spa and sauna. The yacht would measure 325 foot long and is fully customisable. It is still to be built and the price tag has not been set but I'm guessing it will be very very expensive, I wonder what sort of person would be able to afford one?

This is quite interesting, its a revolving skyscraper. It has been created by an Italian architect who wanted to create what he calls dynamic towers. In the towers each of the floors can fully rotate up to once an hours. The rotating floors will be made from prefabricated apartments that spin around a concrete floor and owners who buy an entire floor will be able to activate the rotation with voice commands to change their view. The towers will also generate enough electricity to power themselves and other nearby buildings because they will be fitted with solar panels and wind turbines. Two of the buildings will be built in Dubai and Moscow by the end of 2010. It all sounds very interesting except that the architect has never built a skyscraper before. I wonder whether it will work.

I had a very unproductive weekend last week because I have been revisiting some of my old computer games that I have never got around to completing. The main reason for doing this is because I am feeling a little poor at the moment so rather than spending money on new movies or box office films I thought I would make use of what I have already. That said, my husband is obviously not feeling poor because another box arrived today with a Playstation 3 inside. I'm not sure where he managed to find it because its one of the 60GB versions which will also play Playstation 2 games (yes I have already tried it, even though I am meant to be working). I expect there will soon be more details on Rory's blog shortly as well as a more technical view of my new laptop. I see another unproductive weekend ahead.

It was our wedding anniversary a few days ago and I was surprised to receive a parcel from my husband. I was even more surprised to find that it contained a new laptop from Dell. Its a Dell Inspiron and it makes my old laptop look very inferior. I am currently busy installing everything, so am still mainly working on my old machine for now. So far I am very pleased with the new one, its certainly a lot faster and it has the advantage that it doesn't constantly overheat and of course its nice and new and shiny.

This is BMW's latest concept car and surprisingly it is made of cloth. The cars skin is made of an expansion resistant textile which stretches across movable metal wires controlled by hydraulics. The car is more flexible than a car with a metal skin and it is able to change shape at a touch of a button to suit the owners mood.

This is quite interesting, its an advert for Doritos that was made for just £6.50. The advert was the winner in a competition to find a "consumer generated" TV advert for the brand. It was made by two 25 years old using stop motion filming and cost just the price of two packets of Doritos, two pots of salsa and some Blu-Tack. The advert will run in a peak advertising slot during the Euro 2008 coverage on Sunday and the makers of the ad are splitting the prize money of £20,000 between them. You can see it here, it just goes to show that you don't need a huge budget to create a TV advert.

This is an interesting idea, its a greetings card that has seeds impregnated into the paper. When you have read the card instead of throwing it away, you plant it. The card should then grow and you should be rewarded with some flowers. The cards start at just £1.99 each so are about the same price as a normal greetings card. I might get my Christmas cards from here next time.

This is an interesting idea, a pair of pants that keep a check on the wearers blood pressure. The pants called "smart pants" contain sensors in the waistband that pick up information on how fast blood is flowing through the arteries, this can give vital clues about the condition of the artery walls and act as an early warning system to pick up any problems. They are still in the experimental stage but Phillips has recently applied for a patent for the idea so they might well be in the shops soon.

We always find that no matter how many times we clear out the shed it always becomes full again very quickly. I think I have finally found the answer this huge shed. It costs £13,000 and is available from Argos. The only problem is, its just a little bit too big for our garden.

This is an interesting idea, its a ceiling that recreates the effect of a sunny day indoors. Called a SkyCeiling the ceiling creates the illusion that you are underneath a sunny sky and can be used to brighten up a room even it has no windows. It works by using high resolution photographs of the sky and overhanging trees which are suspended from the ceiling to create a 3 D effect. The photos are produced on transparent tiles and are lit from behind with high powered fluorescent lights. The system can be programmed to mimic the time of the day and different seasons. It is expected to be popular with offices and hospitals where it could be used to reduce stress and boost feelings of well being.

This is a giant NES controller that has been made by an Australian gamer. It is fully functioning although it takes two people to operate it properly. It also doubles as a coffee table and a storage unit.

Naturalists have discovered that orangutans can not only swim but that they also know how to fish. The orangutans in Borneo were previously thought to be non swimmers but they have learnt how to swim across the river to get to the best fruits. They have also learnt how to use a tree branch as a spear in order to catch a fish after watching fishermen using rods. However, they have also worked out that it is less work to steal fish from unattended fishing lines rather than going to the effort of catching the fish themselves. At this rate they will quickly be overtaking some of the lesser intelligent human individuals among us.

This is an interesting idea, a suit that can be worn and washed in the shower. It is made from fast drying Australian merino wool and is designed for the Asian market. It is aimed primarily at businessmen who are required to wear a suit in the humidity of an Asian summer. At the end of the day all you need to do is hose the suit down in the shower and hang it up to dry. It regains its shape and is ready to wear again the next morning without the need for dry cleaning.

Pierre the penguin had a problem with his feathers leaving him with bald patches. Unfortunately, penguins need their waterproof fathers to keep warm whilst in the water. This meant Pierre would sit on the side of the penguin tank shivering whilst the other penguins played in the water. Pierre now has a special penguin wetsuit which is designed to keep him warm but has openings for his flippers so he can still swim. It also allows his feathers to grow back at the same time and he can play happily with the other penguins.

This is an interesting idea, children's shoes that can extend as the child grows. The shoes are called inchworm shoes and they can extend by as much as one full shoe size. All you need to do is adjust the shoe to fit by pressing a button and pulling the toe out to the required length as shown below. They are available in child sizes only and cost £48.

This is quite an interesting article showing images of how the world would look if human life ceased to exist. This picture shows how parts of London would rot and how flood waters would enter the city, as without power to the Thames Barrier central London would be mostly underwater. Other pictures show impressions of how Buckingham Palace and Tower Bridge would decay. The pictures are based on both scientific expertise and an understanding of history to predict what would happen. Within a few weeks the planet would be plunged into darkness and within six months areas would start to be repopulated by animals including domestic pets. Within 40 to 50 years modern buildings would start to collapse and within 100 years cars would have rotted away. The more aggressive predators would become dominant with livestock being mainly wiped out. What a cheerful article.

The lifeguards are a bit hairier than usual on Italy’s beaches this summer. Newfoundland and Labrador dogs have been drafted in to help on some of the busiest beaches. The dogs are trained to jump out of helicopters and boats to rescue struggling swimmers and have already saved several lives by towing people to safety.

Jack Kirby has made a 1965 Ford Mustang out of 5,000 Budweiser cans. How cool is that?

Farmers in Macedonia have found some cognac which dates back to the First World War. The batches of cognac were buried in trenches used by French soldiers and recently several cases have been found. They are expected to fetch around £3,360 each.

A glue has been produced that can attach equally well to both to both wet and dry surfaces. It was inspired by sticky geckos that can climb using their sticky feet. The glue is similar in structure to a gecko’s foot and also contains a polymer that mimics the glue a mussel uses. It is likely to be used for adhesive tapes and water resistant adhesives for bandages.

A seagull in Aberdeen has developed a taste for cheese Doritos. The seagull has been nicknamed Sam. He walks into the newsagents when the door is open and steals the crisps but only seems to like the cheese flavoured Doritos. Once he is outside he rips the bag open and is joined by other birds that help him eat them.

An owl shaped maze has been created into a farmer’s field to mark the lance of the latest Harry Potter book. The maze is 600ft/ 193m long. Amazing.

I read this interesting article about how Britain became an island. The evidence shows that Britain was split from France hundreds of thousand years ago by a huge flood. The evidence is based upon high resolution sonar images of the English Channel that show a deep scar in the limestone rock caused by a huge torrent of water. Its an interesting read and makes me wonder hoe different Britain would be today if it were still joined to France

A sighting of the Loch Ness monster in Wales turned out to be a float built for a festival. The “monster” was actually a raft with a head at one end and a tail at the other. Coastguards were amused by the findings.

Parts of London are to get free Wi-Fi as part of a new scheme. The scheme will cover most of London from Millbank in central London to Greenwich. To use the service for free users will need to agree to view a paid advert every 15 minutes whilst they are using it. If they don't want to view the adverts then the service will charged an an hourly rate.

The world's largest telescope in the Canary Islands is to be used to scan the sky for planets. The telescope should be able to penetrate molecular clouds and see the most distant objects in the universe, so if there are other planets like Earth out there, there are high hopes of finding them.

I found this interesting quiz on technology. Apparently it's designed to see how useful you would be if you went back in time and tried to invent some of today's technology. The questions are quite hard, but I managed a fairly respectable six out of ten.

This was the moment when the world's tallest man met the world's shortest man. Bao Xishun is 7.9 feet tall as opposed to He Pingping who is only 2.4 feet tall.

Snailwell is holding its seventh Grand Championship Snail Race today. Around 400 people are expected to attend the race. Entrants pay £5 to back a painted snail with the champion receiving a crystal snail and a bottle of wine.

Nine artists have been creating sand sculptures on a beach in Somerset. The sculptures show scenes from fairy tales including Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretal.

PC World is going to start selling mini robots. The robots can record images and sound from their surroundings, so make effective remote-controlled spying devices. They will also be able to transmit messages back to their owners over wireless broadband.

A man in Herefordshire has been building a dome in his garden made out of wine bottles. He has used 3,000 empty bottles already and needs around 2,000 more to complete the structure which stands 11ft high.

A giant mushroom has been found in a forest in Mexico. The mushroom weighs more than 40lb.

I came across this useful tip on how to quickly chill a warm beer, or any other drink for that matter, really quickly. Basically you put the beer in a pot full of ice cubes, fill the pot with water and add a couple of cups of table salt. Then put it in the freezer for about three minutes and you have cold beer. Magic.

I found this on Crooked Brains. Its a hotel made completely out of ice, how cool is that? No pun intended...

This cool cave home is literally carved out of the limestone cliffs; it has a sitting room and a front door but no water and electricity. That didn't stop it from fetching a cool £100,000 when it was auctioned a couple of days ago.

This viking ship has set sail for Dublin from the Danish post of Roskilde. A team of volunteers will travel on the ship as they attempt to recreate the voyages undertaken by the early Norsemen. The ship is a replica of a viking ship and was made with 300 oak trees and 7,000 nails and rivets.

If you want a home with a difference then this could be for you. Bran Castle in Translyvania is now up for sale. Legend has it that Prince Vlad stayed at the castle and it has been used in many movies.

A student has come up with an interesting idea for lolly sticks. His Plant Me Ice Lollies have a seed at one end of the stick, so when you have eaten the lolly, you just plant the stick. The seeds he uses are different types of herbs.

I read this article about a guy who caught a blue lobster. Apparently lobsters can turn blue when they produce excessive amount of protein. If you cook them they turn red like regular lobsters though.

An interesting article here from the BBC. There are 20 short clips of people smiling, all you have to do is tell whether they are fake or real. I got 18 out of 20.

I read this article about people that have managed to grow unusual plants in their gardens. A lady in Essex managed to grow a pineapple by putting the top part of a pineapple fruit in water and then planting it when it grew roots. I'm off to Tesco next week to buy myself a pineapple to try growing one myself.

I found this interesting website where a guy has managed to attach a camera to his cat. The camera is set to take a picture every two minutes so by the end of the day he has a picture diary of what the cat has been up to during the day. Very interesting I must try this with my cats.

I came across this article about a cat that has apparently grown wings. I'm not sure how authentic the picture is but it's still quite cool.

We all get the stage when we need a bit more living space. For one man in India that should never be a problem. Mukesh Ambani India's richest man is building a 60 storey palace which will include a helipad, health club, a home theatre and six floors of car parking. The palace will house his 600 full time staff and his family.

I read this article about Odin the tiger (pictured) who has learnt to swim. It includes a video showing Odin in action as he chases lumps of meat thrown into the water.

This weekend saw the annual cheese rolling contest held at Cooper's Hill near Gloucester. Basically the contestants chase a seven pound Double Gloucester cheese down a steep hill. The winner gets to keep the cheese.

I found this odd looking pear in my fruit bowl. I named him Peter the Pear.

I found this interesting article on the BBC website about how ants work together for the common good of the colony. Apparently when out foraging ants use their own bodies to plug holes so that their fellow workers can walk across them. They even go as far as to choose which ant is the best size to fit the hole so they can plug it more effectively. The ants can stay in place for hours at a time, staying motionless until all the other ants have crossed the hole. Basically these techniques allow the ants to create faster ways of bringing their food back thus benefiting the whole colony. How cool is that.

I am writing this from a bar in Ireland after connecting to BT Openzone. You simply pick up the local wireless network and purchase a voucher from BT for the time you want to spend on the internet. A great tool for geeks everywhere.

Back in March I came across this gale proof umbrella and I decided to purchase one. Surprisingly I have managed to get through two months without having the need to use an umbrella. Today the umbrella was finally put to the test. I did use it in a fairly strong wind, although I'm not sure whether it was quite gale force 10 and the umbrella stood up quite well keeping its shape and keeping me dry, whereas my friends using conventional umbrellas ended up considerably wetter due to the fact theirs collapsed in the wind.

I found this article about a rare white alligator that lives at a zoo in Knoxville. The 12 year old alligator is kept in a special enclosure with a heat lamp, as she would burn if she went out in the sun.

I found this cool hedge monster on the BBC website. Apparently it has taken John Dobson 17 years to perfect it.

I came across this balloon game. Just hold down the mouse button and choose what direction you want the monkey to fire his arrows.

I found this interesting website. It requires you to log in but once you do, you can view the birds in the forest and move the camera around to view different areas.

Do you need your daily dose of caffeine in the morning but don't always have time to make a cup of coffee? You need this caffeinated soap. The caffeine is absorbed into the system and provides the equivalent of two cups of coffee enough to keep you awake for four hours.

I read this interesting article on The Daily Mail website. A British amateur inventor working in his garden has invented a flying saucer. The contraption is actually a cross between a helicopter and a hovercraft and although it is not large enough to carry people, it has already been brought by the US army who are considering adapting it to be used as a search and rescue device.

I found this article about a solar powered bikini. Apparently it provides enough energy to charge your mobile phone, ipod and camera and even comes with a USB drinks cooler. How Bizarre.

I found this interesting collection of cloud photos. It’s hard to tell whether they are all genuine. Still genuine or Photoshopped it’s a nice collection of photos.

This underwater restaurant is in the Maldives. I'm not sure why it makes me think of Jaws, something to do with all that glass maybe.

Do you have a spare £130,000? If the answer is yes then you could spend it on one of these cool rocket packs. Called Rocket Belts they can reach speeds of up to 60mph and can launch you as high as 300ft into the air. So, the only thing about this product that is not cool is the price tag. I think I have a bit of saving to do before I can afford one.