The Tate have recently paid £30,000 for a till receipt from a little known artist. The receipt is supposedly a piece of conceptual art. Entitles Monochrome Till Receipt (white) it is simply a receipt for £70.32 worth of grocery items all of which happen to be white. It contains 36 items all of which are white, including boil in the bag rice and Andrex toilet tissue. The artist described the work as a modern still life where objects are imagined rather than shown. The receipt also comes with a list of instructions from the artist which state that a new receipt must be used every time the work is shown because till receipts are light sensitive and fall apart. Each time a new receipt is produced it must be based upon the original which is now archived by the Tate. This certainly isn’t my idea of art.

For those who thought they had seen the end of Woolworths the good news is that is back but in an online form. The new website has recently been launched and is proving to be popular according to this article which says nearly 100,000 people logged on in the first few hours. Much loved brands such as Ladybird clothing and pic ’n’ mix sweets can still be found on the site. The new owner Shop Direct brought the brand name in February and has kept the red logo that customers will recognise from the stores. The online stores will sell much the same things that you would expect to have found in a Woolworths shop but they will also sell some larger items that were to big to sell in store.

This is interesting its an idea for laser guided cars that do all the driving for you. The cars would allow the driver to do something else whilst still being behind the wheel meaning you could sleep, read or perhaps catch up on some work. They would work using sensors and wireless technology which would lock the cars together in a convoy with each vehicle following the one ahead. The car at the very front would be manned by a professional driver and all the other cars would simply follow. Drivers would pay a subscription for the service and would need to book ahead in order to secure a place in the convoy. They would then join the end of the convoy at the allotted time via a slip road and when they choose to leave their car would be guided off onto their chosen slip road. I’m not sure I fancy it, it seems to bring back memories off getting stuck behind a tractor for some strange reason.

This is one of the more bizarre stories I have come across recently. It suggests that stoned wallabies are responsible for making crop circles in parts of  Tasmania. Apparently the wallabies have been getting into fields of poppies which are being grown for medicine. The problem is that they quickly become intoxicated by the legally grown opium which makes them run around in circles creating the crop circles in the fields. Other animals such as sheep have also been spotted acting unusually in the fields so it appears the effect is not restricted to the kangaroos.

Sainsbury’s will be the first of the major supermarkets to scrap cereal boxes on its own brands. The supermarket will stop using cereal boxes and will instead use recyclable plastic bags. Sainsbury’s have already started selling milk in polythene bags in an attempt to cut down on packaging. Scrapping cereal boxes should mean that they cut down on packaging by a third. They have already started stocking basics Rice Pops in the new packaging and eventually hope to scrap boxes for all of their own brand cereals. They have also reduced packaging on soft fruit by replacing the plastic punnet with a lid with a heat seal wrap and are looking at reducing packaging on meat.

This cute little guy is one of three baby Fennec fox cubs that have been born at a zoo in Tokyo. They are only a few months old and are being raised in human care as their parents were unable to raise them. The cubs will grow up to 75cm long when they mature. Unfortunately the article has unhelpfully compared them to the Pokemon character Pikachu, I can see there are going to be a lot of children wanting one of these but although they are meant to make good pets I think they are better off in the zoo or even better in the wild.

According to this article the English wine industry is increasing significantly with an increase of 45 per cent over the last four years. There are now 416 vineyards in England, a total of 2,732 acres on vines under cultivation. Most English grapes are currently used to make sparkling wine and it is estimated that around 5 million bottles will be made a year. In comparison to other countries such as France whose Champagne region alone produces 50 million bottles, this is still a small amount but is a huge increase from ten years ago. As English wine becomes more popular some supermarkets such as Waitrose have started planting vines. They are growing chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes at their Leckford Estate in Hampshire. Despite the claims that English wine is becoming more widely produced I don’t think I have seen any on the shelf in the supermarket yet, although I will continue to look out for it.

This is interesting its one woman's project to wear the same dress for a year. Its a year long fundraising project devised by Akanksha Foundation to raise money for uniforms and other expenses for slum children in India. For a year Akanksha will wear the same dress but will reinvent it every day by adding different accessories. She actually has 7 of the same dress, I guess having just the one would make keeping it clean rather difficult but it is still an interesting project. So far she is two months into the project and has come up with lots of different combinations. I’m not sure I could be so imaginative, I would probably run out of ideas after the first few days.

According to this article a 2,500 bird’s nest has been found on a cliff in Greenland. The nesting site is used by gyrfalcons and includes three other nests all of which are more than 1,000 years old. Ornithologists discovered how old the nests were when they were trying to find out long the birds return to the same site. They used carbon to date the bird droppings and debris left behind and were surprised to find out how the nests actually were. One of the nests also contains feathers from a bird which would have lived more than 600 years ago.

Shoppers in Germany will soon be able to buy something a little more high end from vending machines as machines selling precious metals are introduced across the country. The machines are being introduced by TG Gold Super Mart at 500 locations across Germany including train stations and airports. The aim is to tap into increasing interest in the buying of gold and the prices will be updated every few minutes, although they will be around 30 per cent higher than the current market prices. The prototype machine offered the choice of purchasing a 1g wafer of gold for 30 Euros, a 10g bar for 245 Euros and gold coins. It appears the aim is to take advantage of people that want an investment they can put in their pocket rather than something that is invested in markets you can’t see. It will be interesting to see if the machines prove to be popular.

One lady got a shock when she opened a jar of tikka masala sauce from her local Asda and found that it contained something extra. Along with the curry sauce she found a dead mouse which it seems had fallen into the jar before it was sealed. The jar of sauce has since been sent away for analysis in order to establish where it came from.

Sir Paul McCartney has launched a campaign to try and get people to eat less meat. He has urged people to give up meat for just one day a week, hence why it has been called meat free Mondays. The campaign has been launched after a United Nations report said that meat production is responsible for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. In comparison transport is responsible for 13 per cent of emissions. Personally I have been cutting down on the meat that we eat, but more for financial reasons rather than environmental considerations. The aim has been to try and have two days a week where we do not eat meat in order to save a little more money during what is proving to be an expensive house move. So far it is going quite well and the shopping budget has definitely got a lot more manageable. I do miss eating meat every day but just look forward to the other days when we still have it.

This is interesting, its an idea that is being tried by Sainsbury's to make their stores greener. Under the scheme the checkout would be powered by energy which is created by the shoppers. Kinetic road plates will be installed at a new branch in Gloucester. The plates will generate energy when customers drive over them when entering and leaving the car park. The device will then convert enough energy to power the tills inside the store reducing the amount of energy taken from the National Grid. The devices are already being tried at distribution warehouses but this will be the first time they will be used at a supermarket. If the scheme is successful in Gloucester it could soon be put into place at more stores across the country.

Well its not really a giant parrot, but it is a new type of dinosaur that looks a bit like one. It has been discovered in Mongolia and has been called Psittacosaurus gobiensis which means parrot lizard. The dinosaur is thought to have lived around 110 million years ago and is one of the latest finds in the Gobi Desert. When alive the creature would have had, strong jaw muscles and a powerful bill for crushing and biting, similar to parrots that live today. It would have been much bigger, however, measuring about three feet long. It is thought it would have mainly eaten a high fibre diet such as nuts and seeds and that it was a good runner.

A woman has called off her wedding after learning that her future husband was a porn star. The couple had been together for a year and were due to marry in a church wedding. However, when searching online for a male stripper for the hen night a friend of the bride came across a porn movie with a man who looked suspiciously like the groom. After further research she found out that it was him and the bride later called the vicar to cancel the wedding. It seems she had a lucky escape a large part of a relationship is trust so a marriage where one partner is not honest with the other is doomed to failure in my opinion. Then again, I suppose it must be hard to drop into a conversation “there's something I need to tell you before the wedding, I’m a porn star”.

I came across this article about these adorable little panthers. They have been born in a zoo in the Tierpark Zoo in Berlin on the 26th of April and seem to be creating something of a sensation. They are certainly very cute.

A fisherman had a surprise when he caught a live missile in the Gulf of Mexico. The missile was caught 50 miles off the coast of Panama City in an area that the US Air Force and Navy use for weapons training. Bearing this is mind, it might not be as surprising as it first seemed. What is surprising, however, is that the fisherman kept the missile aboard his boat for ten days before returning to port. Once this boat docked the bomb squad was called in to dismantle it. They described it as being in a live and unstable state.

According to this article wine sales in Britain have fallen for the first time in ten years. Figures show that the average British household does still drink more than a bottle of wine a week, however, it appears that people are cutting back. 1.16 billion litres of wine were sold in Britain in 2008, a two per cent fall on the previous year and the first time there has been an annual fall since 1995. One factor that might be behind the fall is the increase in wine duty last year which means a duty of £1.61 on a standard bottle. It might also be that people are spending their money more wisely in the current economic climate. What do you think? Are you buying less wine?

This is interesting, its what has been dubbed the anti stab knife. The knife is designed so that it works as normal in the kitchen but it has a rounded tip which makes it harder to stab someone. The rounded edge will snag on clothing or skin and should make it almost impossible to use it to stab someone to death as well as cutting down the risk of accidental injuries. It has been invented by industrial designer John Cornock and is likely to cost between £40 and £50 when it goes on sale. 

An Israeli woman has been frantically trying to recover an old mattress she has thrown out after finding it contains $1 million in savings. She has brought a new mattress for her mother as a surprise and taken the old one to the local dump. It was only when her mother returned home and told her the mattress contained her life savings that she learnt about the money. She has searched three landfill sites since for the mattress which had been taken away along with another 3,000 tonnes of rubbish. So far she has been unable to find it.

A dog called Toby has survived despite swallowing 12 fishing hooks. The dog ate the hooks which were loaded with bait whilst his owner was out. He was later rushed to the vet and the x-ray pictured left clearly shows the hooks which had passed through into his stomach. Toby was kept at the vet until the hooks passed safely though his system and appears to have felt no long lasting effects.

Pret a Manger has taken the decision to switch to a sustainable type of tuna after the founder watched a documentary about intensive fishing methods. They will start using skipjack tuna later this year which is more common than the yellowfin and bluefin tuna that they currently use. As well as being more common skipjack tuna is caught using smaller fishing boats using a pole and line approach rather than an intensive fishing method which often leads to other sea creatures being caught in the nets. Although the pole and line technique is more labour intensive and therefore most expensive Pret have promised that the increased cost will not be passed onto the customer. Waitrose and Marks & Spencer have also stopped selling bluefin tuna, swordfish and skate and Tesco does not sell bluefin tuna.

Sony have released two new phones that are made from recycled plastic. The phone are made from old CD cases and water bottles and have been launched as an eco friendly option for customers. The GreenHeart C901 and Naite both feature a camera, video streaming, bluetooth and WAP and work as a conventional phone would. The only difference is that the casing is made from 50 per cent recycled plastic. Both phones also include a low power charger and an in phone e-manual which reduces paper usage by 90 per cent. They also include an application that allows you to work out how much greenhouse gas emissions you can save by choosing to walk somewhere rather than using your car.

According to this article online fraud is at its highest ever level with seven out of ten internet users regularly seeing so called e-scams in their inboxes over the last twelve months. Around 80 per cent of users have received fake banking emails or fake online shopping emails. 70 per cent have been targeted by fake requests for money and 67 per cent have been told they have won a competition only to find out it is a scam. Personally I get so many of all of these types of emails that I automatically assume they are all fraudulent. If I ever did receive a genuine email from my bank or informing me I had won something it would be deleted along with the rest.

One man got an added extra with his loaf of bread when he found a dead mouse embedded in the bottom of the loaf. He had purchased the loaf from a supermarket in Ballymoney and found the mouse when he unwrapped the bread. The company who made the loaf have since been fined £1,000 for putting unsafe goods on the market.

Robots can do many useful things, now it appears that there is one that can cook pancakes. The robot which has been invented in Japan stirs the ingredients before pouring the batter onto a heated cooking pan and then flipping them using its spatulas before serving. Very useful but what I am waiting for is a house cleaning robot.

Like most people our mortgage is by far our biggest outgoing with most of our income going towards it before we have paid any other bills. Bearing this is mind we are always looking of ways to reduce the loan and try to overpay when we have any spare money. We do find, however, that we are able to do this very rarely as most months expenses come up that we are not expecting. I found this article interesting because it suggests that if you save just £2.50 a day then you could save £13,500 from the cost of your mortgage over the life of the loan. It seems like such small amount that you wouldn't expect it to make much of a difference. Most people can probably afford to save what amounts to slightly less than £80 a month but like me don’t consider it will make a great deal of difference, I guess it does all add up, perhaps I should start putting this small amount aside every month.

This in interesting, its a plant that has the ability to water itself. The desert rhubarb which is found in Israel has specially developed leaves that collect water and then channel it down to the plants roots. This means that the plant can collect 16 times more water than other plants in the same region with a typical plant collecting about 4.2 litres of water a year and a large plant collecting as much as 43.8 litres. That's not bad especially when you consider that only 75mm of rain falls in the region each year.

This is an interesting idea, its a mini microwave from Heinz that is designed to be used at your desk. The microwave can be charged from your laptop and is large enough to heat a small pot of food or a mug or soup. It has been made for Heinz snap pots and is just 7.4 inches tall by 6.2 inches wide. At around £100 its not cheap but I can see that it would be quite a useful gadget to have at work.

This article suggests that many people now consider broadband to be an essential service and that many regard it as important as electricity or water. The findings are based on information collected from 16 focus groups and surveys of 2,000 people across the UK. Based on this a report will recommend that the government provides universal broadband at a speed of 2Mbps by 2012 so that everyone has access to it. Personally my broadband is an essential service as I would be unable to carry out my day to day work without it but I can see that electricity and water are more important. What do you think, can you manage without your broadband?

If like many other people you are thinking of getting an allotment to grow your own vegetables, it appears you might be in for a long wait. According to this article in some areas the waiting lists for an allotment are so long that you might have to wait up to 40 years before you get one. In Camden for example there are 883 people waiting for an allotment and in Islington, Burnley, Fylde, Wirrel and Kingston upon Hull waiting list are all longer than 10 years. Although every council has to provide 20 allotments per every 1,000 residents it seems demand is simply to high. Whether its the effects of recession or simply a renewed interest is not clear but it appears growing your own is the thing to do.

This article suggests that a natural supplement made from tomatoes could help to prevent heart disease and strokes. The supplement in the form of a pill contains lycopene and ingredient which blocks bad cholesterol that can block the arteries. The pill called Ateronon is being launched as a dietary supplement for sale on the high street. In tests it has been shown to reduce the oxidation of harmful fats in the blood to almost nothing within an eight week period and it is thought it might even more effective than statins that are currently used by doctors to treat high cholesterol. I wonder how many tomatoes you would need to get the same effect naturally.

Royal Mail has launched a tamper proof stamp which should stop people pealing off old stamps and reusing them. The problem whilst it might seem minor costs Royal Mail tens of thousands of pounds every year. Although stamps are franked when they go through the sorting office, the markings on them are not always noticeable and often stamps with little markings on them are peeled off and used again. The new stamps, however, should make it impossible to reuse them. They have two oblong strips on either side of the stamp so that when the stamp is peeled off the strips are left behind. This leaves a useless stamp with two holes in it which should now be unusable.

This article claims that some chocolate bars have shrunk whilst the prices remain the same. Apparently the size of Mars and Snickers bars have shrunk by more than 7 per cent as the company tries to reduce costs. The chocolate bars which previously weighed 62.5g now weigh just 58g. The change happened in the second half of last year and the smaller version are now on sale in the shops. The price of the smaller bar remains the same at 37p for a Mars bar and 41p for a Snickers, so it appears customers are getting a little less for their money. Mars at first claimed the move was to help tackle the nation’s obesity problem but later admitted that it was as a result of rising costs.

According to this article a bustard has bred in the wild in Britain for the first time in 200 years. In fact three chicks have hatched at two sites on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. The exact spots are being kept secret in order to protect the bird but the news is the first sign that an reintroduction programme might be working. In 2004 forty chicks were brought to Britain from Russia to their new home on Salisbury Plain. Bustards, however, are slow to mature and the first known nest in 2007 produced infertile eggs. The presence of chicks is encouraging and there are hopes that the population will now be able to become self sustaining.

An unemployed mortgage advisor has put himself up for auction on eBay. Andy Palmer was made redundant from Northern Rock in August and having had no luck finding a new job has decided to take the unusual step of offering his services in an auction. He has given himself a minimum price of £1,000 and for this he will work for a month. He will also give 25% of the winning bid to charity.

Weather forecasters are predicting that the UK will have a hot summer this year. Whilst this is good news cancer experts are predicting that this could lead to a rise in people suffering from skin conditions. They have issued a warning to sunbathers which they hope will make them act more sensibly when it comes to enjoying the sun. It never fails to amaze me the amount of people that don’t take the simple precaution of wearing sun block and staying out of the sun at the hottest times. It seems that people in the UK think that the sun in Britain is not strong enough to do any damage. Already I have seen several people who have the lobster effect and I’m guessing I will see many more, it seems the message from the cancer experts just doesn’t get through.

Most people would be more than a little wary about buying a see through swim suit. It isn’t, however, quite as daunting as you would think. The swimsuit is made up of a chicken wire type fabric which when held up to the light is completely transparent. However, abstract patterns confuse the naked eye so that it appears to be a solid fabric. The microscopic holes in the suit allow 80 per of sunlight to penetrate through to the skin so if you are wanting to get an all over tan this summer then it might be the thing to buy. Personally the concept of holes in a swimsuit doesn’t quite grab me, I think I will stick to solid fabrics.

Beavers have been released into the wild in Scotland for the first time in 400 years. The 11 beavers have been released in Knapdale Forest, Argyll. They are part of a reintroduction production that could soon see beavers becoming a more common sight in the UK. The beavers have been fitted with tracking devices and their progress will be closely monitored. The programme has gone ahead despite some concerns that the beavers will have a adverse affect on fish stocks. It will be interesting to revisit this in a few months and see how they are getting on.

When the governments scrappage scheme was launched I was sceptical about how successful it would be. Whilst it has not persuaded me to purchase a new car it does appear to have met with some success. The scheme gives motorists £2,000 towards a new car if they trade in a vehicle over ten years old. According to this article more than 35,000 new cars have been ordered through the scheme since it was launched in April. However, only around 7,000 of these vehicles are likely to have been brought in British factories so its hard to gauge whether the scheme has had the intended impact. The rapid take up of the scheme does also mean that more than a tenth of the total £300m subsidy has already been used up, so if you want to trade in your old banger you better be quick, it is estimated all the funds will have been allocated by the end of the year.

According to this article Sky has struck a deal with Microsoft that will see their content offered through the Xbox. Under the deal live football, TV and films will be available through the Xbox. It is likely to be available in the autumn although no details have been released on how much it will cost. There is likely to be some deals available for people who already subscribe to Sky offering them content at a reduced cost but once again no specifics have yet been released.

This is an interesting idea that appears to be quite popular in Japan. It’s a cat cafe. That’s not a place where you eat cats but more a place where you go to drink tea and play with the cats. Customers wanting to spend some time with a cat can stroke and play with with one of the 20 resident cats at a cost of around $9 for an hour. It is aimed at people who want a pet but who have busy lifestyles or work long hours so can’t have one. I wonder if this would work over in the UK, I have four cats that can I rent out for a few hours and I’m sure they would love the attention.

If you are thinking of robbing a convenience store you would think that the first thing you need is a good disguise. One man, however, appears to think differently. He robbed a store using an ingenious beer box disguise which he had obviously made himself. Despite his unusual choice of headwear the man managed to get away with $50 of cigarettes.

Personally I’m not quite sure why you would want to visit Starbucks but that’s my opinion. Some people obviously do like the brand but other people like this man might be bordering on the obsessive. He has made it his mission to visit every Starbucks around the world. He has managed an impressive 9,100 and is now in England to visit the 400 outlets over here. After the UK he will move onto a tour of Europe, visiting Spain, Portugal, Germany and Romania. At every outlet he orders a regular cup of coffee and takes a picture and puts it on his website. So far he has spent around $100,000 on his project over a course of 12 years. He estimates that he still has 3,000 outlets worldwide still to visit.

Designer Paul Smith has created these rubbish bins in the shape of giant rabbits to try and reduce London’s litter. The bins have flashing ears which light up when rubbish is put into them. They will be tested for four months to see if they encourage more people to put their rubbish in the bin. The bins have been unveiled in Covent Garden, central London and Holland Park.

According to this article there is an increasing demand for squirrel pie. Apparently a pest controller who has been supplying top chefs with grey squirrels is finding it difficult to meet demand. He has culled around 22,000 grey squirrels in the North East but now has plans to work with landowners in the south of England in order to maintain supplies of squirrels and meet the increasing demand for squirrel meat. It seems the squirrels are so popular that as soon as he kills them they are sold. I haven't tried squirrel pie but it sounds as though I might be missing out.

I watched the program Big Chef Little Chef with interest when it was screened. For those who haven't seen it, it was a documentary about the efforts to revive the failing Little Chef brand. The managing director Ian Pegler had called in celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal to try and revamp the failing chain. They started by looking at one branch in Popham and overhauled the dated decoration and uninspiring menu. However, Heston’s changes failed to make a profit in the opening launch and it was unclear whether they would rolled out across the entire Little Chef brand. Ian Pegler, did, however, agree to trial the new menu in the Popham branch with the possibility of extending it across the chain if it proved successful. According to this article customers have been making dedicated trips to visit the Popham Little Chef and are using it as a dining experience rather than just a convenient stop off on their journey. Mr Pegler has now announced that the menu will be trialled in other parts of the country but will be eventually be rolled out across the entire brand. Unfortunately I do not have a Little Chef near me, but I would be interested to sample the new menu in comparison to the rather bland and uninspiring food I remember from my last Little Chef experience.

According to this article the cuckoo has featured of Britain’s list of endangered birds for the first time. The latest assessment of Britain’s native birds puts the cuckoo as one of 52 species which are now considered to be at risk. Numbers of the bird have fallen by as much as 37% in the last 15 years. Other birds on the list include the lapwing, tree pipit, wood warbler and yellow wagtail. Once common species such as the song thrush, house sparrow and starling have also seen a drastic decline mainly caused by loss of habitat.

Stinking Bishop has been voted Britain’s smelliest cheese. The cheese which is made by Charles Martell and Son in Gloucestershire has been described as smelling like a rugby club changing room. It was voted as the winner at the Britain’s Smelliest Cheese Championships beating Driftwood by Whitelake Cheeses which came second and St Oswald by Gorsehill Abbey which took third place. I haven't tried Stinking Bishop but I might have to get some to see what its like. Watch this space for the review.

This article is interesting it suggests that eating soup can help you lose weight. Apparently if you were to eat a meal of chicken of vegetables with a glass of water you would only feel full for a couple of hours but if you have the same meal blending the water with the food to make soup it fills you up for much longer. According to the article this is down to the fact that after you have eaten a meal the pyloric sphincter in your stomach holds back food so that digestive juices can work. Water passed through the sphincter to your intestines and therefore does not fill you up. However, when the water is mixed with food the mixture stays in the stomach making you feel fuller for longer. I quite like soup but I also like bread to dip in it which I think adds any extra calories that you might save by not snacking.

According to this article the recession has seen the number of millionaires in Britain halve. The decline has been put down to a number of factors but mainly the collapse in the property market, the fall in the value of shares and cuts in city bonuses. The number of millionaires in 2007 was estimated at 489,000 but this has now fallen to around 242,000. The rise in the number of millionaires from 2003 to 2007 was mainly attributed to a rise in house prices during that period. With property prices starting to level out I’m sure there will be people waiting to cash in and make their millions once the market improves.