This cute little guy was spotted by a dog walker who found him on a nature reserve. Faye Sweeney picked him up to move him off of the path and realising the toad had an extra leg took a few photos of it. According to the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust who are mentioned in the article toads with extra limbs are not common and this is the first example they have heard of.

According to this article a solar powered plane has completed a 26 hour flight. The plane which is an experimental solar powered aircraft flew through the night using solar cells and batteries to stay in the air after the sun has set. It was piloted by former jet pilot Andre Borschberg and the 26 hour flight is currently the longest and highest recorded by a solar powered plane. The team behind it now hope to build a more advanced model of the plane and aim to circumnavigate the globe by 2013.

If you have a bit of spare cash to spend then you might be interested in this bath tub. Made out of white crystal it is certainly not any ordinary bath tub and neither is the price tag of £530,000. It has been carved out of a single block of pure white rock crystal which was mined in Brazil. Places have been left rough to maintain the natural beauty of the rock. The tub is 7ft long by 3ft deep. It certainly would make an unusual bathroom centrepiece. The bath tub will be on show at Harrods until the end of July.

According to this article last years Bordeaux is already selling for £1,000 a bottle. The vintage which is yet to be bottled is thought to be one of the best in recent years due to the perfect conditions of last years wet spring and hot summer. Despite this there is some surprise that it is fetching such high prices. It seems the price isn’t putting people off though with investors and wine lovers willing to pay to get their hands on a bottle. Unfortunately its a little out of my price range.

Jesus tends to appear in some unusual places, he has been spotted on Marmite lids  and frying pans in the past. Now he has made an appearance on Google Earth as you can see if you look at the picture to the left, or perhaps not… Personally I remain unconvinced so I will leave you to make up your own mind as to whether this is a divine image.

This is an interesting idea, it’s a wine vending machine which has recently been introduced in Pennsylvania making it America’s first. The machine allows customers to select a bottle of wine from the screen. They then need to swipe their drivers licence, look into the camera and blow into a breathalyser to be able to purchase the wine. The machine is one of two on trial but if successful up to 100 of them could be rolled out across the state.

This is an interesting idea, it’s a village where the residents have to be over the age of 45 to be able to live there. The village of Firhall is on the outskirts of Nairn in the highlands and requires it’s residents to abide by certain rules. To be able to own a house here residents much be over 45 and have no resident children. Grandchildren and the children of friends are allowed to visit but there are limits on how often this happens and how long they can stay. Residents are not allowed to keep ducks, rabbits, pigeons or bees but each household is allowed to have one dog. The village has attracted some rather negative media reactions which have branded the residents as child haters but I can see why older people who perhaps don’t want children would like to live in a child free haven. It looks like a lovely area and I bet it’s really peaceful.

If you have been tempted to push up the prices of your own items on eBay this article should serve as a warning to you. A UK seller who did just that has recently been fined a total of £5,000 and ordered to do 250 hours of community service. The Judge Peter Benson said he would have given Paul Barrett a tougher sentence and perhaps jailed him if he had any previous convictions. Barrett pleaded guilty to using two account to drive up the price of items including vehicles, mobile phones and a camera. He was investigated by Trading Standards after a buyer complained he had been sold a clocked minibus. It was later found that he was using two different accounts to inflate prices, both of which had the same contact details and were created using the same IP address.

It would probably take me about 10 minutes to eat just one hot dog so I was amazed to come across this article about a man called Joey Chestnut. He is apparently the world’s greatest professional eater and has recently won America’s most prestigious hot dog eating contest for the fourth consecutive time. In order to take this years title he managed to eat 54 hot dogs in just 10 minutes with his nearest rival managing only 45 in the same time. He was, however, disappointed at the result as he hopes to break his personal best of 68 and claim a new world record. I guess he will have to try again next year.

In their latest attempt at world domination Amazon have recently launched an online grocery store. In a move that could be direct competition for retailers such as Sainsbury's and Tesco Amazon are now offering food and household products. They will stock around 22,000 brands including Walkers, Kraft and Pampers and offer customers deals for buying in bulk. They also offer a few more unusual products that are harder to find elsewhere such as a whole lamb for £119.95. Looking around the selection the prices are not really any cheaper than other online retailers. There is also less fresh food on offer. I think it would probably suit people looking to do a bulk shop for cupboard staples but for me it won’t be replacing Sainsbury’s as my online retailer of choice. This is mainly due to the ease of shopping and the fact I can easily find what I need, for example accessing “my usuals” list rather than searching for each products. I may, however, use Amazon if I want to bulk buy an item and save a few pennies.

A two headed calf has recently been born in Egypt. The calf which is normal in every other way has been hailed as a divine miracle. Its two heads are divided centrally meaning that it has two complete sets of eyes and two mouths. The calf is in a stable conditions and is expected to survive but due to the weight of its heads is currently unable to stand.

If you feel you have been getting less strawberries than usual for the same money then you may be right. According to this article many of the supermarkets have shrunk the size of strawberry punnets whilst keeping the price the same. Last year Asda sold a 454g box of strawberries for £1.98. This year they are charging the same price for a 400g box. Sainsbury’s did sell a 400g box for £3.99 last year. This is no longer available and has now been replaced by a 300g box for the same price. Tesco have also introduced a smaller box but the article does not mention whether their prices have also changed. The retailers excuse is that the larger punnets were too big and led to strawberries getting crushed.

According to new research the Cockney accent is likely to disappear from London within 30 years. It seems the accent is being replaced by a more multicultural mix including Cockney, Bangladeshi and West Indian accents. The traditional Cockney accent appears to be moving further East as traditional Cockneys move into surrounding areas such as Essex and Hertfordshire. The study carried out by the Economic and Social Research Council says the accent is being replaced by a new hybrid language, dubbed by some as Jafaican. With London being home mainly to those who have learnt English as a second language the traditional Cockney appears to be a dying breed at least in the Capital. 

According to this article performing Shakespeare plays to cows can help them to produce more milk. Researchers have found that Shakespeare’s plays help to relax a dairy herd and boost milk production by as much as 4%. Cows also produce more like when they are played slow music as this has the similar effect of alleviating stress. In an experiment actors from a theatre group entertained cows at the Pleasant Farm near Maidstone. They found that the plays helped to relax the cows although they stick to light hearted comedies rather than tragedies which could have the opposite effect.

If you like me have arrived home from a day in London to find when you blow your nose it is full of dirt, then you might wonder whether it has any long term effects. According to this article it does, and it could be responsible for 4,267 early deaths. A study commissioned by the Mayor Boris Johnson has looked at pollution levels and air quality in London. It found that Bryanston and Dorset Square were the most polluted, followed by Marylebone High Street and the City of London. It also found that outer London had the most early deaths linked to pollution due its higher population. The figures amount to five or six deaths a year in central London (due to their low population)  and around 12 people a year in areas like Penge, Bromley and Beckenham.