I tried this Dreamtime Bath Melt from the Lush the other day. Although it's not the most exciting of products lacking the usual colour, fizz and glitter that you would expect from Lush, I really liked it. Although it is small the bar melted slowly creating a creamy coloured bath that left my skin very soft and silky. The fragrance also gets the thumbs up, the mixture of jasmine, lavender and sandalwood is not overpowering and is a perfect mix for an evening when you want a good nights sleep. After enjoying this bath I went to bed and was asleep almost instantly. I will be getting this again.

This is interesting its an idea created by visionary architects which they say could help combat global warming. Put in simple terms the idea is to build a skyscraper that includes 400 trees in an effort to absorb dangerous pollutants and convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. The devices would be built near factories or other major sources of pollution in order to clean the air. Evergreen trees would be mounted on the 400ft tall structure along a series of floors so that they could filter air hundreds of feet above the ground. To the right is a diagram showing how the system could work. Looking at the comments at the bottom the article it seems most people object to the fact that the structure is rather ugly, I certainly wouldn't want outside my house. What do you think?

A property tycoon has built America's first "green" mansion. Costing £15 million the mansion includes enough solar panels to cover a basketball court and can generate enough energy to power two or three average sized homes (or 1 giant mansion presumably). It also has a water system that collects enough run off water to fill an average sized swimming pool every 14 days and includes environmentally conscious lighting which reduces electricity consumption by 70 per cent. All of these things mean that it is the first home of its size to be certified as "green" by Florida's rigorous environmental standards committees.

Cat owners in Leicestershire have been urged to sign their pets up to a blood donor scheme. Currently only four cats are signed up to the Loughborough based Pet Blood Bank UK (PBBuk)  which stores and collects dog and cat blood for use in transfusions. Under the scheme the PBBuk will go to the cats home in order to reduce any stress to the donors. It's an interesting idea but unfortunately I think my cats are more likely to take blood rather than give it.

This is Ugly Bat Boy and he has been given the dubious unofficial title as the most hideous cat ever. The cat who is eight years old was born without fur except for one shaggy part around his neck giving him an interesting appearance to say the least. He certainly is odd looking. Do you have a cat that is uglier than Ugly Bat Boy?

I have seen a lot of really odd courses being offered at degree level but this has got to be one of the strangest yet. It's a MA in The Beatles, Popular Music and Society. The course which is composed of four 12 week modules and a dissertation looks at the postwar music industry and the importance of authenticity and locality according to this article. Quite why you want to spend your time doing such a course, I'm not sure, I'm also unsure what benefit the resulting qualification would have and how seriously a prospective employer would take it. Perhaps I'm missing the point? The Guardian have a quiz here entitled Would you pass the Beatles MA? I only scored 6 out 10, so apparently not.

I came across this article today about a Swarovski crystal encrusted cat flap. It is billed as the latest must have pet accessory and costs £1,000. It comes in a number of standard designs including a roman arch style and a stable door style but can also be customised to include details such as your cat's name. I love my cats but I don't really see why someone would spend this much money on a cat flap, I guess some people have more money than sense.

As someone who is rather fond of red wine, I do find myself cleaning up rather a lot of spillages, so a stain remover is an important product to have in the cupboard.  I found this article quite interesting, it looks at a test carried out by the consumer watchdog Which? They tested various stain removers to see which ones performed best. 17 different stain removers were tested on red wine, coffee, blood, Ribena and chocolate. What is interesting, however, is that budget washing up liquid was used as a comparison alongside the products. Surprisingly the washing up liquid was better than half of the branded cleaners, so it appears you might be wasting your money buying an expensive stain remover. The product that performed best overall was Sainsbury's carpet and upholstery cleaner which costs £2.43.

This article suggests that eating an egg a day could actually help lower your blood pressure. It is based on research that has found eggs produce proteins that mimic the action of drugs that lower pressure such as Ace inhibitors. These drugs lower blood pressure by stopping the hormone angiotensin narrowing the body's blood vessels and it appears that eggs can do the same thing when they come into contact with stomach enzymes. The study was, however, funded by the poultry industry so whilst I find it interesting I can't help feeling a little skeptical.