I came across this story about a two headed kitten that has been born in Australia. The kitten can meow from both mouths at once although it can only eat through one of its mouths. Unfortunately the kitten is not likely to live very long.

Fred the parrot was so traumatised when his owner died that he was prescribed an animal friendly version of the drug Prozac. When his owner died Fred bit off all of his tail feathers before being prescribed the drug which he takes twice a day. After his owner George died, Fred was unable to understand the sudden disappearance and sat on his perch all day bobbing his head up and down. Animal experts believe that the parrot went into a deep depression after the unexplained loss of his owner and was unable to cope with the loss. Poor parrot.

Its getting to that time of year when Christmas music is playing everywhere we go. What better time than to take a look at the top 10 most played Christmas tracks. Surprisingly Wham's Last Christmas tops the list as the most played, that according to The Performing Right Society which collects royalties for composers and musicians. Next comes Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas. The Pogues come third with Fairytale of New York. Mariah Carey is Fourth with All I Want for Christmas Is You. This is followed by Santa Claus Is Coming To Town by Bruce Springsteen in fifth place, Stop the Cavalry by Jona Lewie in sixth, I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday by Wizzard in seventh, Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade at eight, Mud's Lonely This Christmas in ninth and at number ten White Christmas by Bing Crosby.

According to this article this is the first ever digital camera with a built in printer. The camera is the new Xiao digital camera made by Polaroid. Users can take pictures and then print them using the thermal printing technology. The device has a five megapixel camera and can print a two by three inch picture in around 45 seconds. It can also receive and print images from other digital cameras and mobile phones. It costs £239 for the device and £6 for 20 sheets of paper but is not yet available outside of Japan.

This is interesting, it suggests that bras for men are becoming very popular in Japan. A Japanese retailer has launched a range of underwear for cross dressing men and in just two weeks have already sold 300 men's bras. The bras retail at 2,800 yen that's around £20 each. They are available in black, pink and white and appear to to be the must have for Japans cross dressing man, I wonder whether this might become popular elsewhere?

This article suggests that the number of sparrows in Britain has fallen by as much as 68% in the past three decades. The decline has been put down to the fact that many people pave over their gardens and remove trees causing a decline in the the insects that the birds eat. The article suggests that sparrows have disappeared from cities such as London, Bristol and Edinburgh. The problem is that many chicks are starving to death in the nest because they are not getting enough food to become strong enough to fly. Chick survival was found to be higher in areas where there were more insects such as aphids. There are things you can do to encourage sparrows such as growing honeysuckle, wild roses, hawthorn and fruit trees and leaving some untidy areas in your garden to encourage more insects. I have noticed that we don't have a lot of sparrows in our area, but they do seem to like the berries in our hedge and this time of year we tend to have a small community that take advantage of the seasonal food. After reading this article I don't think I will trim the hedge until the birds have had chance to take full advantage of all the berries, it might look a little untidy but I'm sure the sparrows will appreciate the extra food this winter.

I have come across a couple of articles over the past few days relating to treating irritable syndrome or IBS. The first from the BBC discusses how older treatments for the condition are often overlooked in favour of more modern and often expensive drugs. The article suggests that fibre, anti-spasmodic drugs and peppermint oil are all effective in treating the condition and that guidelines that deal with the treatment of IBS should be updated to reflect these findings. Personally I agree with this I have never resorted to prescription drugs preferring to eat less of my trigger foods (red meat, cheese and dairy products) and use natural remedies when I do have a problem.

The second article looks at the effectiveness of peppermint oil when treating the condition and suggests that it is the most effective treatment. According to the article 40% of sufferers experienced an improvement in their symptoms after using peppermint oil as opposed to only 20% taking drugs. Reading the comments on the bottom of the article is it apparent that a lot of people are interested in trying peppermint oil as a treatment but are unsure how to take it. I make either home made peppermint tea with mint from the garden or for bad attacks I take peppermint oil capsules available from Woods Health. They are designed to dissolve slowly once you have swallowed them and are best taken overnight. Even with the worst bloated tummy (beach ball size) I find three of these capsules taken before bedtime and a hot bath with a few drops of lavender oil added to it will leave me able to fit into my normal trousers the next morning.

It came to my attention quite a while ago that supermarkets have started putting electronic tags on joints of meat. I discovered it when I set the store alarm off when leaving Tesco only to find that a joint of meat I had purchased from the reduced section had an electronic tag still attached to it. It appears from this article that as prices go up more supermarkets are putting tags on meat because they are starting to have an increased problem with theft. In some cases it appears that people are stealing joint of meat and large packs of bacon to order but there is also evidence that there is an increase in people stealing food to eat themselves.

We have all had those conversations in the pub where we ponder over which animal would come off better if the two had a fight. In a case of a crocodile versus a toad it should be something of an easy question. Not, however, if the toad is a poisonous cane toad. It appears that these toxic toads are responsible for halving the population of freshwater crocodiles in the Northern Territory of Australia. The toads are fatal when eaten and a recent survey shows that in just one year 77% of crocodiles have died as a result of eating them. So if you thought the crocodile would win in a fight between a crocodile and toad you might want to rethink your answer, it appears the ultimate winner could be the toad, despite the fact he gets eaten first.

This Shetland pony could be Britain's smallest horse. Lucy is just 19.5 inches tall and weighs only 100 pounds. Surprisingly Lucy is now fully grown so will always be tiny, but it is not known why she is so much smaller than other Shetland ponies which usually reach an average height of 40 inches according to the Encyclopædia Britannica.

This article suggests that scientists have created a drug that can restore white hair to its original colour. The drug known as K(D)PT was found to trigger the production of pigmentation in hair samples when it tested in a lab. It is thought that is might be possible to convert it into a shampoo as an alternative to hair dye.

If you have a bit of spare cash this Christmas then you might want to buy your man this £15,000 dressing gown. It is from the wool of a Vicuna, a Llama like creature which lives in the Peruvian highlands and is expensive because the animals can only be shown every two years. The wool is compared to a mix of cashmere and silk and is said to be very warm. If you want one of these of dressing gowns Selfridges will add a monogram for you at no extra cost. Bargain.

According to this article green tea blended with grape seed and olive leaf could help you lose weight. Research has shown that drinking three cups of Spearole Tea (a blend of green tea, spearmint, grape seed and olive leaf) a day can help keep obesity at bay and also cut blood pressure. The tea makes it easier for the body to process sugar. It is thought it works by stopping fat cells from releasing inflammatory chemicals which attract more fat causing them to grow in size. The claims are that three cups of the tea can help you stay trim even whilst continuing to eat junk food. I'm not entirely convinced but then I don't like green tea so it would take a lot to convince me to drink it.

A leading scientist has said that a skin cancer vaccine could be available with five years. Professor Ian Frazer who have already developed the first vaccine for cervical cancer are now on the verge of creating the world's first vaccine for skin cancer. Testing on animals has already shown that the vaccine works and trials are due to start on people in the new year. If successful the vaccine could save thousands of lives every year.

Council tenants at a block of flats in Gosport have been banned from having welcome mats outside their doors because they are health and safety hazard. The tenants have been ordered to remove the mats and have been threatened with court action and even eviction if they fail to comply with the demand. It appears the problem is that people could trip on the mats if they need to leave in an emergency. Council officers will be returning to the block of flats within a month to check all traces of the offending items have been removed. It strikes me that there might be more important issues for councils to worry about than a few door mats but maybe I am missing the point?

This article suggests that it is the size of your waist not your weight which is more likely to increase the likelihood of premature death. Researchers found that people were more likely to die an early death even if they were not considered to be overweight or obese. They found that people with a large waist, that's more than 120cm for man and 100cm for women had double the risk of dying prematurely compared with people who had a slim waist, less than 80cm for men and 65cm for women. According to the research excess weight is more harmful around the stomach than extra weight around the legs and hips. It appears from this I should stop worrying about my large bottom and put more effort into keeping my tummy trim.

This is a story about a cat who hitched a ride underneath freight train and travelled 100 miles before she was discovered. The cat was found underneath a freight train by a depot fitter in Carlisle when he was examining an empty train carriage which had returned from Billingham. It is believed she had climbed aboard at Teesside and travelled the rest of the journey underneath the train. The white and tortoise shell cat was shaken and dirty but unharmed and was taken to an animal refuge in Carlisle where is it hoped the high speed pussy can be reunited with her owner.

I am the first one to plead guilty to playing too many games and have frequently played right through the night crawling into bed in the early hours of the morning. I have never quite managed to play for 24 hours straight and to be honest I think it would be beyond my endurance levels to stay awake for that amount of time. This story comes from Sweden where a 15 year old boy suffered what appeared to be an epileptic seizure after playing World of Warcraft for 24 hours. The boy and his friends had played all day and all night eating meals at their computers before the fifteen year suffered a seizure. Doctors told the father than his son's bodily systems had been disrupted by a combination of sleep deprivation, lack of food and playing the computer game for a long period. The boy is expected to make a full recovery and the father has said he will limit the amount of time his son is allowed to play computer games. He also warned other parents about the dangers of extended game playing.

Recently the news has been full of details about the case of Baby P who died after sustaining shocking injuries inflicted upon him by his parents over a long period of time. In the case of this child, he was seen by social workers more than 60 times and also examined by a doctor just days before he died and no one picked up the extent of his injuries or felt that the child should be taken into care. A postmortem examination showed he had a broken back, eight fractured ribs, missing fingernails and toenails, multiple bruises and an injury to the inside of his mouth. He had also swallowed one of his own teeth. This is clearly a shocking case and one where social services have failed to protect a vulnerable child. I do think, however, that shocking as the case is that cases of extreme child abuse such as this are in the minority and that this should be taken into account.

The majority of parents would not consider causing harm to their child and are perfectly capable of raising happy well adjusted children. Whilst I can understand the strength of public feeling regarding this case, I do feel that the backlash from this case will mean that the majority of good parents will now be under more intense and often unnecessary scrutiny. These cases often lead to unnecessary measures such as the call to ban smacking which apparently "infringes children's rights to dignity". There have already been cases of parents being taken to court for simply smacking their children. Smacking, however, is not child abuse and should not be compared in the same light, after all children are children not adults, they do need discipline but within reason and only when necessary.

I can't help thinking that the many inquiries that follow this case will not help to protect the minority of children that are really at risk but will simply lead to more cases where parents have their children taken into care simply because the authorities have unsubstantiated suspicions. In my opinion the inquiries into the case of Baby P should concentrate upon the failings directly related to this case, such as why his injuries went unnoticed for so long and why social workers did not notice the physical signs of abuse. Perhaps the focus should be on better training for those who have to determine whether a child is at risk and not introducing new rules and regulations that could penalise the majority of good parents.

Like many other people I have often thought about satisfying it would be to spend time tracking down spammers and killing them but have also wondered how much effect it would actually have. This article gave me new hope. According to the article after one company was closed down email spam dropped by 75%. The company McColo.com is believed to host some of the largest spam operations and has been turning a blind eye to a number of criminal organisation. Two major internet providers cut off internet access to the company last week in what has been called an unprecedented move. It is estimated that spam rates fell by up to 75% shortly after the company's servers were disconnected. Unfortunately the levels of spam have since picked up again as other spammers fill the void. This goes to show that my plan to track down spammers and kill them, could in theory be effective, now where can I buy a ninja outfit?

This is Tinks and he could be Britain's fattest cat. Along with seven dogs he will be competing to win the title of the UK's biggest animal slimmer. Tinks weighs over 11kg and as a result suffers from heart problems and spends most of his time sleeping. This is one seriously fat pet that really needs to go on a diet and exercise program to lose some of that extra fat. Lets hope the 100 day fitness program will help him to do this. He makes my cats look thin in comparison.

This is interesting, it suggests that Microsoft dismissed an employee over a photo he took of Apple Macs being delivered to the Microsoft loading dock. The photo which was taken at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond a shipment of G5's arriving at the Microsoft loading bay. It was accompanied by the headline "Even Microsoft wants G5s". Microsoft maintains that the employee was sacked because he had committed a security violation but some people think its simply because they were shown to be receiving Apple computers although I'm not sure why that would a be an issue, Microsoft do produce a lot of software for use on Macs, they must have to test it on something.

The Royal Society of Chemistry has issued a recipe for the perfect Yorkshire pudding. Apparently the puddings should be at least 10cm high and based on the following formula carbohydrate + H2O + protein + NaCl + lipids. The full recipe is below

The Royal Society of Chemistry Yorkshire Pudding

Ingredients

Tablespoon and a half of plain flour.
1 egg.
Half milk, half water to make a thin batter.
Half a teaspoon of salt.

Method

Put flour in a bowl, make a well in the middle, add the egg, stir until the two are combined then start gradually adding the milk and water combining as you go.

Add the liquid until the batter is a smooth and thin consistency.

Stir in half teaspoon of salt and leave to stand for 10 minutes.

Put beef dripping into Yorkshire pudding tins or into one large tin but don't use too much fat.

Put into hot oven until the fat starts to smoke.

Give the batter a final stir and pour into the tin or tins.

Place in hot oven until well risen - should take 10 to 15 minutes.

This article suggests that sleeping for less than seven and a half hours a night can raise the risk of heart disease by up to fours time. On average people in Britain get about seven hours of hours by a third of people in Britain only have five hours of sleep or less. Scientists have blamed the trend towards shorter nights' sleep for increasing the risk of suffering from a heart attack or stroke. The research was based upon studying 1,255 patients with high blood pressure over a period of 23 months. 1,007 people slept for more than 7.5 hours a night and 248 slept for less time. Getting less sleep was associated with a 27% increase in the risk of heart attacks or strokes. Based on this, I think I need more sleep.

This is an interesting idea from Lancashire police. They are distributing cat bells for elderly people to attach to valuable items. The idea is that when someone tries to steal a handbag or purse that has bells attached, it will ring as an alarm alerting the owner. The use of cat bells in this way has already proved to be a success in other areas.

This is quite interesting, its a new scheme being offered by Sainsbury's that will allow staff to gain a qualification through on the job training. They will offer a qualification in shelf stacking and stock taking and a GCSE in literacy and numeracy. They will also give staff on the job training which will count towards an NVQ. The company currently has around 150,000 employees and hopes that about 25% of its work force will get one of the qualifications in the next five years. Investing in your staff can only be a good idea.

If your cat has been giving you evil looks recently, then it might be planning to kill you. This useful checklist will help you find out whether your cat is plotting your demise. It includes useful tips such as when the cat pummels you with its paws, it is not a sign of affection, they are actually checking your internal organs for signs of weakness and digging in the litter box is practice for burying bodies.

You don't see much odd shaped veg in the the supermarket but that could be about to change. Current EU regulations mean that there are strict guidelines as to what fruit and veg can be actually be sold. Cucumbers for example cannot be sold is they are crooked or if they have blemishes and apples under 50mm in diameter cannot be sold. The regulations are now due to be relaxed because every year tonnes of perfectly edible produce is discarded because it does not meet the guidelines. Personally I am not too bothered whether my carrots are a little bit crooked or potatoes misshapen, as long as the veg tastes good I am happy to buy it.

According to this article owners of fat pets could be fined or jailed under new government rules. The rules set out a pet code of conduct and owners could be penalised with a fine of up to £20,000 if they fail to follow it. The rules are designed to protect animals from cruelty but many of them are just common sense. They include providing mental stimulation for pets, giving animals somewhere suitable to live and to go to the toilet and making sure upstairs windows are cat proofed. It all seems a little simplistic and in my opinion any responsible pet owner will already know they need to take these measures.

This article suggests that obesity could be contagious. Apparently its all down to how fat you feel compared to other people around you. Two leading economists have said that in a society where there are a growing number of overweight people, you are less bothered about staying slim. It seems that as obesity becomes more common the perception of what is counted as obese changes or as the article puts it "When my neighbour gets a little fatter, I ...become a little fatter since it is now not necessary to be so slim in order to compete." Judging by this if we want to be thin, we should make sure we have thin neighbours.

A man who built a home made Lamborghini in his basement had to perform substantial work on his house to get it out of the basement. He had built the car over a total of seven years but it appears that it not occurred to him how he was going to get it out of the basement which did not have a door. He ended up hiring an excavator to gouge out a slope in his garden and then dig into the foundations of his house. The car was then hooked up to the excavator and pulled out. The basement was later rebuilt and Mr Imhoff has no regrets about the drastic measures needed to get the car out into the open.

This is interesting, it suggests that ants are far better at managing traffic congestion than humans. They are able to move around their colony very efficiently and never get caught up in queues. In a study an "ant motorway" was set up with two routes of different widths. The ants used the routes to get from the nest to some sugar syrup. After a while the narrow route started to get congested. Researchers found that if an ant returning along a congested route collided with another ant just starting out it would push the new ant onto another less congested path. However, if the ant had experienced a trouble free journey it would not redirect the new ant and would carry on as normal. The result was that before the shortest route to the syrup became clogged the ants were diverted to a new rout meaning traffic jams never formed. Interesting, now how to do this with cars.

I cam across this article about a man in Grimsby that filled his house with rubbish. According to the article the house was so full of rubbish that it was not possible to walk through the front door. The man was housed in a hotel whilst his house was cleared. An amazing 100 tonnes of rubbish was taken away in a clean up operation which took three weeks. Suddenly my house seems really really clean.

I have been trying out some more of the new Lush products from the limited edition Christmas range. The first one I tried was Chocolate Santa which smells really nice before you put in the bath. I was slightly disappointed in this product, however, when I dropped it into the bath it fizzed for a couple of minutes before disappearing. The water changed a rather murky yellow colour and the scent also disappeared. I like to team bath ballistics with a bubble bar, so to liven things up a little bit, I used Christmas Kisses. The combination of the two products made the bath bright orange. The scent of  cinnamon from the Christmas Kisses bubble bar reminded me a little of mulled wine. The Chocolate Santa bath ballistic gave a slight undertone of chocolate and also a nice skin softening effect. Whilst I wouldn't use Chocolate Santa on its own, the combination was really good. I probably won't buy any more Chocolate Santa's but will be stocking up the Christmas Kisses bubble bar before it disappears. If I get enough they just might last me until the product reappears next Christmas.

Scientists have filmed a shrimp on a treadmill as part of an experiment to see how far the crustaceans travel for food. The treadmill was built into a tank of water and enabled researchers to measure the shrimps activity levels. They found the shrimp can move at speeds of 66ft per minutes and that it can run for three hours before needing a rest. The shrimp in the film doesn't look too impressed. 

This is quite strange, its a short news story about a jogger who ran for a mile with a rabid fox attached to her arm. The fox bit her foot whilst she was running along a trail, so she grabbed it by the neck and it bit her arm. She wanted to get the fox tested for rabies so ran a mile to her car with the fox still on her arm. She then pried it off and tossed it into the trunk of the car. The fox was later tested and was found to have rabies. It also bit an animal control officer. The woman and the animal control officer were given rabies vaccinations.

Its Guy Fawkes Night tonight and as usual there are many fireworks. My cats have all gone to ground tonight because of the bangs. They started a couple of hours ago and shortly after there were no cats to be seen in my house, which is very unusual. Oscar is currently hiding under the stairs, Lucy is hiding upstairs under some boxes of envelopes and Oliver is hiding behind the sofa. Only Willow is brave enough to sit on the sofa as usual. She doesn't seem bothered by the bangs, she is more curious about the interesting flashing lights. The other cats really really hate fireworks.

If you have a bit of spare cash and want a new car, then you might want to check out this special offer. Some car dealers are offering buy one get one free in order to try and make a sale. This article highlights on example where you can purchase a Dodge Avenger for £20,000 and get a second car free. I do need a new car but unfortunately don't have £20,000 to spend on it.

I tried another bath ballistic from the Lush Christmas range the other day. If you order from Lush on a regular basis then you will know that they offer a limited edition range over Christmas. The Magic bath ballistic in my opinion doesn't smell too great before you put it in the bath. However, once it hits the water the scent of peppermint and undertones of rose absolute really come through. The bath bomb also changes as if by magic from the blue colour pictured left to purple. The water ended up a dark blue/purple colour once it has all dissolved. I found this quite a relaxing bath and it also seems to clear my head, I think that might be down to the peppermint. I really like this product and will be stocking up before it sells out.

This is quite interesting, its a world record attempt for the most people performing the dance to Michael Jackson's Thriller. The attempt which took place in Nottingham was successful with 1,227 dancing zombies breaking the previous record by 199. Unfortunately I have been unable to find a video of this but if anyone else has, then let me know, I would be interested to see all those zombies in action.

We seem to be spending an awful lot of out time at Homebase at the moment. Last weekend we went four times and so far this weekend we have managed three visits. Each time my husband promises he won't have to go back again and each time he forgets something. As the only driver in our household, I get the job of driving him there and sitting in the car park waiting for him. With any luck he now has everything he needs and can get on with the job of finishing the laminate flooring, but knowing Rory there is some essential piece of kit we will need to go back for.

It was my Dads birthday last night so we decided to book at a table at Villa Rosa in Egham. I have been a regular visitor to this restaurant for the past nine years and and am yet to have a bad experience. As always the food was cooked to perfection and the wine although a little on the expensive side was very good. At around £30 a head for a three course meal, including wine it also doesn't break the bank. As always the highlight of the evening has to be the dessert trolley. If you are planning on visiting Villa Rosa, I would recommend booking on a Friday and Saturday night because all the tables are usually taken, perhaps an indication of how good it is.

A chef in Devon has started offering squirrel in his restaurant in a bid to save the native red squirrels. Whilst red squirrels are very rare in the UK the grey squirrels are all too common and carry a virus that can be lethal to the endangered red squirrels. Chef Ed Chester has started offering squirrel kebabs on his menu as well as squirrel pates and squirrel fricassees. He believes ones of the best ways to control the population of grey squirrels in the UK is simply to eat them. Its not a bad idea and I heard that squirrel tastes a lot like chicken.