According to this article makeup for men is becoming more popular with Superdrug stocking a new range of makeup for men called Taxi Man. The makeup is aimed at men who want to enhance their features. It will include eyeliner for men which is thicker than normal eyeliner to make it easier for men to grip. Later this summer the range will also include a concealer and a lip balm. I wonder how popular it will be, I can't see my husband liking the idea very much.

Unagi Nobori is a rather strange drink made from eels. It has been launched in Japan with the translation of the name meaning "surging eel". The drink is a yellow liquid which contains eel extract and vitamins that are found in the fish. It has been launched to coincide with the start of Japan's annual eel eating season which starts on the 5th of August. Its main ingredients include extracts from the head and bones of eels, and five vitamins – A, B1, B2, D and E.  Apparently it tastes similar to broiled eels, an acquired taste perhaps?

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?

I buy a lot of things online but I also like to be able to send things back if I don't like them. That's where I think La Redoute have the right idea. Although they charge £3.99 post and packing you can do what is called a replacement order. Basically how this works is you receive your parcel, try everything on and then decide what to send back (with me there is always something). Then you decide which other items you want to order to try instead. Once you have the catalogue numbers of the items you want to try, then you give them call. Simply say you want to place a replacement order, let them know what is going back and what you want instead. Then they arrange a courier to pick up the items that are going back and you get a new parcel of goodies to try without having to pay another £3.99 postage. The best part is you can do this as many times as you want, so can quite happily work your way through the catalogue without worrying about being stuck with an item you don't like and can't return. The only way they could improve this service is if they let me do my replacement order online. I wonder whether they might consider adding this option to their website.

I notice that spam seems to come in waves. You seem to get one email followed in the next few days and weeks by thousands of similar ones. The latest wave seems to be these emails that try to convince you there is a parcel waiting for you at customs, such as the email below. I'm currently receiving around a hundred of these every day. I can't help wondering whether anyone actually believes that they do have a parcel to collect and responds to the email.

Dear Sirs,

We have received a parcel for you, sent from France on July 9. Please fill out the customs declaration attached to this message and send it to us by mail or fax. The address and the fax number are at the bottom of the declaration form.

Kind regards,

Your Customs Service

I was surprised and rather shocked to come across this article about a seven year old boy that wrecked the family car after going for a joy ride. The child had sneaked out in the night for a ride in his mothers car. He managed to roll the car onto its roof narrowly missing several parked cars. The car then came to stop when it hit a concrete post. The child said afterwards 'I wanted to drive the car but I tipped it over and hit the fence." I just wonder how this child is going to turn out if he is joy riding at the age of seven. It really doesn't bode well for the future.

I usually do my supermarket shopping online because I find that I spend less money and am more likely to stick to my budget. Like most people I buy similar things most times I shop and these items appear in my favourite list. I have noticed, however, that items have started appearing in this list which I have never brought. As I have the only nectar card in our household I know that it is not my husband making purchases and have simply put the matter down to bugs in the system. For one couple, however, a similar incident nearly caused them to split up. Lynn Newby has logged into her Tesco account to do some shopping and noticed a packet of Mates condoms in her favourites list. Knowing that she hadn't brought them she assumed they must have been purchased by her boyfriend who shared the account with her. She then accused him of having an affair but he had no idea what she was talking about. It later emerged that the error was caused by Tesco and they sent the couple £100 along with a letter of apology.

This article suggests that customers are more likely to buy something when the price ends in 99. It is based on a study where French researchers demonstrated how lowering the price of a pizza from 8.00 euros to 7.99 euros boosted sale by 15%. The team of researchers studied more than 1,200 customers in a pizzeria. The menu included five pizzas alongside other meat and fish dishes. In the first week of the experiment the pizzas were all priced at 8.00 euros. In the second week the Pizza Valencia was dropped to 7.99 euros with the others remaining at the original price and in the last week all the pizzas were reduced to 7.99 euros. When the prices were identical 35% of customers opted for the Pizza Valencia but this increased to nearly half of customers when the price was dropped. In the final stage of the test there was no difference in sales between the five pizzas. Researchers also found that the 99 effect appears to work when customers are choosing between similar items and often pay less attention to the end of the price.

A garden centre in Lancashire have spent thousands of pounds on these rather interesting designer urinals. They were designed by American artist Clark Sorensen and cost £3,250. So far they have received good feedback with the managing director of the garden centre saying "In fact, our only complaint in the first few weeks of opening was that the men couldn't get into the gents' because it was full of ladies looking at the urinals!".

Selfridges have launched a very expensive teddy bear that costs £43,000. The bear has eyes made of emeralds and diamonds, its nose is made of of 24 caret gold and its fur is entwined with gold leaf. It also comes with an ink pot filled liquid gold. The bear is part of the stores first ever toy collection and is a limited edition. If you want one it is made to order and is available from August this year. I think its quite ugly.

Sat Nav devices can be useful but only if they are used in conjunction with road signs and a little common sense. Without this they can also be a disaster. One driver who was meant to be delivering cars from Turkey to Gibraltar ended up in a lane in Skegness after his sat nav device directed him towards a nature reserve called Gibraltar point. Of course the blame cannot be put solely on the sat nav device, presumably the driver is at fault for programming completely the wrong destination into it in the first place. And just for fun, here is a map showing the distance between the two destinations.

Devon fishermen have caught a lobster which could be 100 years old. The lobster was so heavy that it broke the winch on their fishing boat. It weighs 12.9lbs and is 81cm long. The lobster has been saved from ending up on a dinner plate and will now live at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth, Devon.

If you have a bit of spare cash to spend then you might be able to afford a box of £5,000 chocolates from Harrods. The chocolates are made by the Lebanese chocolatier Patchi. The box itself is made from the finest materials, wrapped with leather and handmade silk. It contains 49 individually wrapped chocolates which sit on suede separated by gold and platinum lining. The chocolates are made from organically grown cocoa and decorated with gold and a Swarowski crystal flower or a hand made silk rose. A little too expensive for me, I'm afraid.

I came across this unusual article that shows pictures of a leopard attacking a crocodile. Apparently this sort of behaviour has never been captured on camera before. The leopard filmed in the Kruger National Park, stalked the crocodile before dragging it out of the water. Although the crocodile fought back the leopard managed to get the crocodile by the throat before suffocating it. Surprising, my money would have been on the crocodile.

I have heard of firefighters rescuing cats from trees but this story was a little more unusual. Firefighters in Northampton were called out to rescue a bird from a tree. The crow had managed to get itself tangled in the branches and was stuck. The firefighters soon pulled him free and the crow is now recovering at the Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital.

According to this article you might have a long wait for PS3 movie downloads if you live in the UK. Although the service has just been launched in North America the European market is unlikely to get it until sometime next year. Apparently the issue is that Sony needs to sort out its country specific content before they launch it in Europe. The exact dates for specific European countries will be announced later this year.

According to this article drinking two cups of tea a day can halve your risk of dementia. It is thought that chemicals in the tea called flavonoids help protect the brain although researchers do not yet know why tea protects against damage. Other studies have shown that tea can also help prevent the development of cancerous tumours and prevent against heart disease and stroke as well as strengthening teeth. All very good news, I drink lots of tea.

The transport secretary Ruth Kelly has set out plans for pay as you go lanes on motorways. Under the scheme motorists would pay around £5 a time to use the lanes which would allow them to bypass motorway jams. On some motorways widening schemes would be put in place to create an extra lane but others would make use of the existing hard shoulder. Whilst the idea is interesting I'm not entirely sure using the hard shoulder is a good idea. Personally I thought that it was kept clear to allow breakdown and rescue services to quickly reach an accident, and to give motorists somewhere to stop if in trouble. A few years back I had a problem with my car when driving in the fast lane of the motorway. My car suddenly lost all power and I had to pull across all three lanes of traffic onto the hard shoulder where the car ground to a halt. Needless to say I was shaken but very relieved that the motorway was not busy and that there was somewhere for me to stop. I wonder what would have happened if that option was not available.

Northumberland FA is introducing barriers at its junior football games after problems with over zealous parents. The barriers are designed to put a distance between the spectators and the action with the aim being to stop attacks on referees and reduce pressure on the young players. As someone whose father was the manager of a youth team for nearly ten years I don't find these measures surprisingly. Unfortunately the parents, and that's mothers as well as fathers often take the game much too seriously. I can remember several incidents where parents of opposing sides nearly came to blows and many more when they took their frustrations out of the referee. Our referees were always volunteers and after a while we ran out of people who would offer to do the job, often having to rely on one the parents themselves so that the game could go ahead. Much more common were situations were young boys ended up in tears because of abusive comments from parents who really should know better. Perhaps banning abusive parents from the games altogether might have more effect. What do you think? Have you come across bad behaviour at junior football games?

Ben Walton from Hampshire must really like ironing because he has started an attempt break a world record by ironing for 60 hours. The current record stands at 55 hours and 5 minutes. Ben is allowed a 5 minute break every hour during the attempt. It is estimated that he will iron about 1,000 garments. He will be giving any money he raises to the Winchester Royal County Hospital to help pay for an incubator.

A German football club is offering fans the chance to be buried in an area near its arena. Hamburger SV has opened a 500 plot cemetery near its Nordbank arena and is offering fans the chance to be buried in the cemetery in the club's colours. The graves are on a football pitch lawn accessed by a goal shaped entrance. The scheme is open to all fans and costs £80,000. They offer burial contracts of around £2,000 payable over 25 years and you can also buy a HSV coffin for £1,850 or and an urn for £200. The idea came about after the club received numerous requests from fans who wanted to have their ashes strewn on the pitch. A number of English clubs have also had similar requests, so watch this space you could soon buried at your favourite football club.

With costs of conventional fertiliser rising, farmers are turning to a new way to fertilise their crops. Many have now started using human waste in the form of treated human sewage. Water companies are no longer allowed to dump this into the sea but appear to have a ready market in supplying farmers. In fact Severn Trent Water have said they are struggling to keep up with demand. Human fertiliser costs farmers around a fifth of the price of the more expensive alternative but does have the disadvantage of being more smelly. However, farmer Jonathan Barrett says the smell can be reduced once it is incorporated into the soil and turned regularly. He also said it is best to take into account the wind direction when using it. Human sewage is currently allowed to be used on grassland and crops but not on salads, fruit and root crops.

If you have trouble finding a sofa that matches your living room you might want to look at a bespoke option. Sofa specialist John Alan Designs can produce a sofa to match the size, colour and style of your room. They have a catalogue of different fabrics to choose from but can also use fabrics you already have. They can also use wood to match your current furnishings. Its an interesting idea but at a cost of £2,000 per sofa, a little out of my price range. Maybe one day if I win the lottery.

It still amazes me how many people continue to use their mobile phone whilst driving and I wonder whether they are aware that if they get caught they could end up with points on their driving license. Under new rules drivers could also face two years in jail if they kill someone whilst using their mobile phone at the wheel. Those who read or send text messages whilst driving are also likely to get between four and seven years in jail. I wonder whether this will have an effect on people who routinely do this, I'm guessing for most the message won't get through until they actually kill someone.

A koala survived after being hit by a car and dragged several miles before getting stuck in the cars front grill. He was late found with his head stuck in the grill and was taken to a wildlife hospital in Queensland. He was not found to have any serious injuries and has been named Lucky.

This article suggests that children now spend so little time outdoors that they are unable to identify most of Britain's common wildlife. Apparently one in three cannot identify a magpie whilst half couldn't tell the difference between a bee and a wasp. However in contrast nine out of ten could identify the Daleks from Doctor Who. You can take the survey here. I got them all right.

Whenever a new box arrives in our house it is never long before it has a cat in it so I am always very careful to check whether there is anything inside before getting rid of boxes. However, if you don't have cats you it might not occur to you to double check. One lady in Germany managed to mail her neighbours cat 500 miles across Germany after the curious kitty crept into a box she was about to post.  The box was sent from Rottach-Egern in Bavaria to Dorsten and it was only when the box arrived at its destination that the cat was discovered and freed.

I have lost count of the number of times that I have walked out of the supermarket only to set off all the alarms. This is usually followed by having to stand outside the store, unpacking all of your carefully packed shopping whilst the security guard looks for the offending item. To be fair, 95% of the the times this has happened I have been buying alcohol which I would expect to be tagged. However, on a recent shop, during which I purchased a number of low value groceries I was baffled as to what could have triggered the store alarm. It was, however, my rather ordinary looking lamb joint. It appears that supermarkets have now started to put security tags on meat. This article highlights one Sainsbury's store in Eastbourne which now tags all its chickens because they have been experiencing a rise in people shoplifting them. Whilst I am not against supermarkets putting these electronic tags on items, if they are going to start putting them on everyday items, I would appreciate it if they removed them when customers do actually pay for their shopping.

This interesting looking slug has been found in a gardens in Cardiff and Caerphilly. It is thought to be a new species but is similar to slugs found in Turkey and Georgia. The difference with this slug is that it is carnivorous and eats mainly worms. It also lives underground and only comes out to hunt at night.

A lady has passed her driving test after 27 years of tuition. Teresa Clarke started learning to drive in 1981. Since then she has spent £15,000 on 450 hours of tuition with 20 different driving instructors and has failed 12 tests. She eventually passed after taking a two week intensive course. I thought my husband had been learning to drive for a long time, so far he has been learning for 10 years. Perhaps this article will make him try a little harder.

The artists who decided to try painting in zero gravity managed to produce several pictures. British painter Nasser Azam managed to complete six pictures whilst on the flight. He also managed to complete the journey without getting sick. You can the video here. I must say the pictures are rather abstract but then what do I know? I'm no art critic.

KFC is often jokingly referred to as "Can't find the Chicken" well in this case the name could be justified. KFC Canada has introduced a vegan alternative that contains no chicken. Known as unchicken it is soy based and it is completely meat free. It is currently only available in a handful of outlets but it will be interesting to see if it becomes more widespread.

A patient has undergone a knee operation without any anaesthetic and using self hypnosis as her only pain relief. Bernadine Coady insisted that she would rather use self hypnosis than drug to numb the pain during a one hour knee operation. It obviously worked because the operation was a success and surprisingly this is the third time she has used this technique. Personally I would rather have the drugs.

In an experiment to find out whether octopuses have a preferred arm out of the eight they use scientists have given them a Rubik's Cube. 25 octopuses have all been given one of the toys and the scientists will record their behaviour to see whether the creatures use a specific limb to pick up the toy. I have never managed to solve a Rubik's Cube, I wonder how long it will the octopuses to figure it out.

Five artists are going to fly 23,000 feet into the air to create art inspired by the feeling of weightlessness. The flight will take place a specially modified plane which will take a series of climbs and dives allowing the team of artists to experience bursts of zero gravity whilst creating a work of art. It will be interesting to see what the end results are.

This article suggests that metal earrings and tooth filling could cause chronic back pain. Apparently the body reacts when it is pierced by pieces of metal and the nervous system tries to remove the offending object leading to the skin surrounding them becoming uncomfortable. This seems to be a fairly new theory but it is becoming more widely believed amongst professional chiropractors.  Personally I'm not convinced about the fact that jewellery can cause back pain but I have read other articles in the past that suggest people have been cured after having their metal fillings removed.

Sometimes I come across something really strange, well how about bacon chocolate chip cookies? I found the recipe on this blog and they look truly awful (this is no reflection on the authors cooking or pictures, rather the bacon and chocolate combination itself). I'm not sure whether I am brave enough to try the recipe myself but apparently they are delicious.

This article suggests that smaller dogs are more likely to be aggressive than bigger ones. A study on animal behaviour published in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science found that smaller dogs were more likely to show aggressive behaviour. Dachshunds topped the list followed by the Chihuahua and the Jack Russell Terrier with a large dog the Akita only making number four in the list. I guess what the smaller dogs lack in size they make up for in attitude.

If you believe this article then we could all live on floating cities in the future. That's according to an architect who believes that floating cites could be the answer to rising sea levels. In theory each city could house 50,000 inhabitants in a self sustainable home which would have a lake at its centre. It would also have artificial marinas and mountains and would be powered by wind turbines and solar power. The architect has not yet estimated a cost for his design but believes it could be a solution to provide housing for refugees from islands that have been overtaken by the sea. It all looks very interesting, a bit like a massive lily pad.

I am used to checking my email and finding an inbox full of spam but it really only occurred to me how many I actually receive when I didn't read my email for a day at the weekend. I was shocked to find that in just that one day I had over 2,000 spam messages. The majority of them had been sent to junk mail folder but I still find I have to wade through in case my spam filter has been overzealous and picked up messages that I do want to read. My main problem at the moment appears to be undeliverable emails that are being returned to my inbox because my email address is listed as the sender. Obviously I didn't send the emails in the first place but because my email address has been entered as the sender by some unscrupulous spammer I get the pleasure of an inbox full of spam. What I would really like to do is track these people down and kill them.

According to this article it is going to be a good year for mosquitoes and midges. Apparently the mild winter and the wet spring have provided the ideal breeding conditions for the little critters. I have nearly recovered from my insect bites that I got last week but it looks like there could be many more to come this summer. I hate midges.

Police in Wales who were called out to investigate an unidentified flying object quickly found that it was not an alien invasion but was simply the moon. It appeared the man who called them out was unable to identify the large glowing object in the sky as the moon. The conversation with the control room (below) makes interesting reading.

Control Room: 'South Wales Police, what's your emergency?'
Caller: 'It's not really. I just need to inform you that across the mountain there's a bright stationary object.'
Control room: 'Right.'
Caller: 'If you've got a couple of minutes, perhaps you could find out what it is? It's been there at least half an hour and it's still there.'
Control: 'It's been there for half an hour. Right. Is it actually on the mountain or in the sky?'
Caller: 'It's in the air.'
Control: 'I will send someone up there now to check it out.'
Caller: 'OK.' The mystery was soon solved, as the exchange between control and an officer sent to the scene makes clear.
Control: 'Alpha Zulu 20, this object in the sky, did anyone have a look at it?'
Officer: 'Yes, it's the Moon. Over.'

A Japanese company has teamed up with the American aerospace firm Rocketplane to offer the first "space weddings". The voyages will start in 2011 and the weddings will take place 100km above the earth. They cost £1.1 million so are not cheap. For that you can invite two guests and a priest. The cost includes a four day training period, a wedding dress and a party at the spaceport. It also includes a live broadcast so that family and friends can watch the ceremony.

A vaccine that could cure cat allergies is undergoing clinical trials. The research suggests that after the vaccine can make patients can develop a tolerance to cat allergens such as fur after just four treatments. The article doesn't say whether the effects of the vaccine are permanent or if it needs to be taken as an ongoing treatment. Perhaps this will be clearer after the clinical trials.

According to this article the demand for used fuel efficient cars is up as people in the US try to cut their fuel costs. Apparently prices of used hybrids and fuel efficient small cars have risen considerably within the last six months with cars that were cheaper last year no selling at a premium. The most fuel efficient vehicle currently on the market is the 2007 Toyota Prius hybrid and because Toyota have capped production of the 2008 model you would expect to pay 9% more or an extra for one of these. I wonder whether we will see something similar happening in the UK. I have been considering upgrading my very old G Reg (1990) Fiesta but when I realised just how many miles it does on one tank of fuel I thought I would hang onto it for a bit longer. 

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.

Insects really like to bite me and every time they do I seem to suffers quite bad reactions. I don't know when they got to me this time but today I have at least three insect bites on my thigh. The combination of the three bites has meant that my entire upper leg has swollen to about twice its normal size, and it really is painful and itchy but also numb in places. In fact I think this might be my worst insect bite so far, it looks so hideous that I'm not going to post a picture this time but if you check out the last time I got bitten and imagine this but much redder and four times as big, then you are nearly there. Needless to say I am in a really bad mood today.