This article suggests that smokers who regularly drink red wine could reduce their risk of developing lung cancer. Research suggests that smokers who drink at least a glass of red wine daily are 60 per cent less likely to develop lung cancer. Men who were heavy smokers, saw a greater reduction in risk with a 4 per cent lower likelihood of developing lung cancer seen for each glass of red wine consumed per month. White wine does not have the same benefits.

This article suggests that pets are good for you. Apparently owning a pet can reduce the owners chances of developing cancer by nearly a third. Studies carried out at the University of California, San Francisco and Stanford University in California have found that pets can help protect against cancer by boosting the immune system. Previous studies have also found that children that have pets take fewer days off school because they are much more resistant to infections. Based on this I should be very healthy I have lots of cats.

A married couple in Cambodia took drastic measures when they decided to separate. The couple who have been married for 40 years decided the most logical way to divide up their shared assets was simply to cut their home in half. The wife moved all of her belongings to her side of the house and her husband then sawed through the building to remove his side of the house which he plans to relocate to the other side of the village. It seems a little drastic but I suppose its one way of sorting out who owns what.

I'm not sure if anybody else finds them irritating but after recently installing Skype on a new computer, I found that it automatically adds call buttons to web pages when it thinks something is a phone number. It appears that this is a plug in that is installed for use with Firefox. It took me ages to find out where to turn it off but eventually I found it hiding in the tools menu under extensions. After disabling the Skype extension for Firefox those annoying buttons have gone and I am much happier.

I came across this article that claims the creators of the long running children's program Postman Pat are making a few changes. Traditionally Postman Pat and his cat Jess delivered mail in the Lake District but the creators of the show feel that it needs updating. Instead of delivering mail to the local people in his van, Pat will face a daily commute from Greendale into Pencaster where he will work in a new high tech sorting office. Pat will be provided with a helicopter and a stunt bike to help him complete his deliveries. I'm not entirely sure why a postman needs either a helicopter or a stunt bike, this certainly isn't Postman Pat as I remember it.

Well I won the lottery last night but unfortunately it was only £10 so I guess it won't change me. It is my first win for some time though and I guess it will pay for 10 more lottery tickets. Hopefully one of those will be a bit more lucky.

The cold summer may not have been that good for sun lovers but it has been good for sparkling wine. The summer has boosted the acidity in Cornish vineyards producing a much higher quality of sparkling wine than usual. Whilst the poor weather reduced the overall crop of grapes by around 80% the remaining grapes are perfect for making sparkling wine. The Camel Valley Vineyard will use them to make its wine called "Cornwall" which came second at the inaugural sparkling wine contest in Italy beating vineyards from Champagne but losing to Bollinger. This years bottling should produce and even better vintage that the vineyard owner believes could rival even France's best champagne. Now where do I buy some of this?

This is an interesting idea, its a parental control system for cars called MyKey. The idea is that parents will able to set limits such as adding a top speed that should not be exceeded and setting how the loud the stereo can go. Ford will introduce the controls on some US makes of car that will be go on sale in 2010. The Ford Focus will be the first car to include the MyKey system but it is likely to become a standard feature. The main feature of the system is that you can set the top speed of the car to 80mph. It also has other options such as setting a volume limit of the car stereo, making the car sound an alert if the passengers do not wear a seatbelt and setting warning tones if the car goes faster than 45, 55 or 65mph. The system is aimed at new drivers but I do wonder how many new drivers can afford a brand new car. The cars I had when I started driving struggled to go more than 80mph downhill with a following wind. In fact my current car would probably need a push.