If this article is to be believed eating junk food does not only cause you to gain weight, it can also make you less intelligent. Research was carried out at Oxford University on a group of rats. The rats were fed a high fat diet over ten days. It was found that the rodents short term memory was damaged and that they were less mentally alert. The high fat diet also decreased the rats ability to exercise in turn making them more likely to gain weight.

I feed the birds everyday but have never considered that the bees also might need some food. According to this article gardeners are being urged to leave out energy drinks for tired bees to try and help the declining bee population. The RSPB has been inundated with calls reporting bees lying on the ground unable to fly. They recommend leaving out an egg cup filled with two tablespoons of sugar and a tablespoon of water so that tired bees can boost their energy levels.

Back in November 2007 my bank account was compromised causing me all sorts of problems and meaning I had to cancel all my cards and have new ones issued. On that occasion I was alerted when I noticed some Paypal transactions which didn’t appear on my Paypal account but which had been debited from bank account. These were eventually refunded and once my news cards were issued everything was back to normal, until now.

I now find myself in the same situation, although the circumstances are slightly different. This time I was alerted to suspect transactions by a message left on my mobile phone by my bank and the fact that my card had been declined when I tried to use it. Being wary of the phone message I contacted my bank directly to find that they were investigating a case of fraudulent transactions made on my card and as part of this they had suspended my debit card. It appears someone used my card to make several small transactions, followed by a larger transaction to top up a mobile phone. Once again it appears the only solution is for the bank to issue new cards which will take up to seven days to arrive. In the meantime I am left wondering how this happened again. I was over cautious before when using my card online but since the last case of fraud have become somewhat paranoid. I can only assume that a website I use regularly has been compromised and is unaware that they have a security issue. I am now contemplating getting a pre-paid card for ordering online rather than risk compromising my bank account.

According to this article the average British family throw away £610 of food every year. The figure is based on a household with children and amounts to 6.5 million tonnes of rubbish. Based on this ministers want supermarkets to replace buy one get one free offers in favour of half price deals as well as introducing a larger range of pack sizes. They also want supermarkets to use clearer labels so that customers are sure of the difference between the use by date and the best before date. The article made me wonder how much of our household waste is food waste. I am certainly getting better at reducing the amount of rubbish we produce and try to make as much use of leftovers as possible mainly to try and save a bit of money but we still seem to have several sacks of rubbish every week.

If you are looking for a new furry friend then you might want to contact Battersea Dogs Home. Whilst it might not be the first place you would expect to find cats, they do in fact also re-home other animals as well. At the moment they simply have too many cats with 143 of their 145 cat pens being full and 174 cats waiting for a place at the home. The shelter has blamed the recession for the 20% rise in the number of animals being dumped but there are also 10% fewer people who are taking on cats leading to the huge backlog. Some of the cats have been waiting for a new home for as long as a year. Unfortunately I already have fours cats so don’t have room for anymore but if you have room for another kitty in your life then you might want to contact them, you can see some the furries here.

It appears its all change for the Oxo cube as the traditional cube gets a new shape. Rather than being a simple cube it will now have grooves cut into it making it into a X shape. The reason for the change is that the new shape is supposed to be easier to crumble than the traditional cube alternative.

Alton Towers has recently taken the decision to ban speedos and other small swimwear from its water park. The decision has been taken in a bid to keep the parks family friendly and will include a ban on the tight fitting swimming trunks in favour of swimming shorts. The ban does not apply to just men, women bathers are also banned from wearing thongs.

A range of ice cream has been launched which is aimed at dogs. The ice cream comes in three flavours including Panting Peanut Mutter, Oaty Pawfection and Chase Your Tail Cheesecake. If you want to get your paws on some it is available from Frost and Hound desserts who are based in North Yorkshire. It is currently still in the development stage but its creators hope to launch it in the shop in time for next summer.

This is interesting, its a scheme being offered by a farmer that will allow people to grow vegetables above their dead relatives. Under the scheme people will be able to buy a plot for their relative to be buried in and will then be able to farm the land above to grow their own veg. The plots will be available at Richard Sibley’s farm in North Somerset. It will cost £1,400 to bury someone there and £13 a month to continue farming the land.

Several major shoe brands have demanded a moratorium on the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Clark, Adidas, Nike and Timberland are among the brands that are putting pressure on suppliers to make changes. According to this article around 65 to 75% of deforestation is linked to the growth of ranching. As well as the moratorium on leather from newly deforested areas the footwear makers want suppliers to bring in a traceability system which will guarantee the source of all leather. Currently some Brazilian companies linked to rainforest destruction export products to blue chip companies across the world. The three major processors Bertin, JBS and Marfrig have now agreed to reject cattle from illegally deforested land. The footwear companies will also refuse to buy leather which is sourced from farms on both legally and illegally deforested land.