I have rather thick uncontrollable hair so was interested to read about a new product which will be available soon. Called No Frizz It has been invented by a chemical engineer called Robert Langer and he claims that it will keep hair silky and straight whatever the weather. It is available in a spray or a cream and can be used after washing and before drying to shield the hair from droplets of moisture which cause it to frizz. It works by using a man made water repellent to coat the hair, this encases each strand of hair and prevents water from entering leaving it frizz free. The product is currently only available in the US but should be available to purchase in the UK next year. I will certainly be looking out for it, so watch this space and when I have some I will post a review.

If this article is to be believed, then white wines could actually be worse for your teeth than red. Scientists have found that white wines such as Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio wear away tooth enamel more quickly than reds like Merlot and claret. Researchers have found that prolonged contact with white wine can erode the protective layer of enamel making teeth more sensitive to cold, hot and sweet food.

A team looked at the effects of eight red and white wines on the enamel of teeth removed from people between the age of 40 and 65. The teeth were soaked in the wine for up to 24 hours and then analysed to see how much damage had occurred. The teeth that had been soaked in the white wine had more damage than those soaked in the red. White wine has also been found to cause staining to teeth because the acids cause spots and groove in the enamel leaving them vulnerable to stains from tea and coffee. The good news, however, is that calcium rich food can offset some of the damage to teeth helping to prevent dental erosion. Next time I have a glass of wine, I will make sure I have a nice piece of cheese with it.

These cute little guys have been born at West Midland Safari Park in Worcestershire. They have been named Portia, Phoebe and Pandora. White lions are quite rare and it is thought there are only 130 of them worldwide so these ones are really quite special.

I will start this post by stating that I in no way agree with any view expressed by the BNP or support them in any way. I was, however, interested to watch last weeks Question Time, in which the leader of the BNP Nick Griffin appeared. Whilst I don’t watch Question Time every week, from time to time I am interested to see what issues are being debated and usually find it a fairly impartial programme.

From my past experience of this I watched last weeks programme hoping to gain an insight into the BNP’s policies and their views on topical issues. I was surprised, then to find that the whole programme was simply about the BNP and instead of questions about other issues, it was simply an excuse for everyone to stand up and show how much they hate the party. By the end of the programme I was left wondering how the BBC can call itself impartial when they clearly invited Nick Griffin onto the programme simply to attack him rather than to have an informed debate.

It appears from this article that the BNP will be invited back in the future, I wonder whether the next programme might be a little more objective and allow us to hear the views of a BNP member. Whilst I don’t agree with these views the BNP have been elected in some areas to represent the people and should be able to take part in an informed impartial debate as the other political parties can. If they are allowed to do this then I am sure that most people will see that their policies are unacceptable and not compatible with our multicultural society. It would also give others a chance to showed how flawed the views are using sensible arguments. Personally I think we should be asking ourselves what is wrong with the country when people choose to elect a representative with such extreme views but none the less elected he is and as such should be able to enter into political debate without a public witch hunt. What did you think of the programme? Leave a comment and let me know.

According to this article Twitter and other social networking sites are costing UK businesses £1.38bn every year. A survey carried out on 1,460 office workers by IT services group Morse found that half of those surveyed used social networking for personal use whilst at work. On average people spent around 40 minutes a week using the sites. Although many companies have banned the use of Facebook at work many have not issued the same guidelines for Twitter and with both sites being available as mobile applications I wonder how many firms would be able to enforce a complete ban. How much of your working day is spent on social networking sites?

This is interesting its a new zombie movie called Colin which cost just £45 to make. The film was created by Marc Price who works for a courier company. He used an old camcorder to shoot it and used family, friends and people off the street as cast members. The crew used golden syrup and red food dye to create blood effects, instant coffee granules for burns and mincemeat and stockings as intestines. I will be interested to see the movie when it comes out to see what its like.

It seems that business is booming at McDonald’s despite the recession. According to this article many McDonald’s drive through outlets are struggling to cope with increasing demand as the recession fuels a boom in fast food sales and a move towards more expensive meals. In order to deal with the increase in business the company will be installing an extra lane to many of its drive through restaurants. This will enable two drivers to order their food at the same time thus increasing capacity. The two lane system will be trialled at outlets in Telford, Shropshire, Kent and Edinburgh, and if successful will later be rolled out across the country.

According to this article some parts of the UK could soon see an invasion of ladybirds. Numbers of the non native Harlequin ladybird have dramatically increased over the past few years. At this time of the year when the weather starts to get colder the ladybirds looks for cracks in walls to hide in and often find ways into the house in an effort to stay warm. Unfortunately whilst the ladybirds are fairly harmless the rapid expansion of the non native species is bad news for our native ladybirds which compete for the same food. Scientists have launched the UK Ladybird Survey to track the spread of the harlequins which are larger and have more spots than the native seven spot ladybird. If you see any you can email your pictures to the Harlequin Ladybird Survey website or text LADYBIRD to 83040 to receive a link to upload your photos from your mobile.

These pumpkins were carved by a gardener is Essex. He has carved many different famous faces into pumpkins such as Barack Obama, Michael Jackson, Wayne Rooney, Amy Winehouse and Cheryl Cole. The carvings take around three hours to complete but only last a few days as the pumpkins start to contort after that amount of time.

It has been nearly three months since we moved into our new home and we finally have a working shower. What seemed a simple job has taken a lot more time and money that we expected. We were really pleased when we managed to purchase a shower for £35 and a screen for just over £40, particularly as I paid for them using my Nectar points. Whilst the initial cost seemed very reasonable what we hadn’t taken into account was how difficult the shower would be to install.

As there were no plumbing or electrics in place there was a fair amount of work that needed doing. We called the plumber first who had to install the pipes needed. He found that the pipes in the house were old steel pipes and these needed to be replaced with copper pipes. The plumbing and tiling took several days due to various other problems that occurred and with labour this cost just over £350. Next we had to get power to the new shower. My husband routed the cable through to the unit which involved removing tiles and parts of the ceiling and took several weekends. Then we finally called the electrician who came to connect the power and install the new consumer unit. This cost another £100 plus £80 of materials. All in all our bargain £75 shower ended up costing just over £800. I’m really going to enjoy that first shower.

It seems that is is not just the postal strikes that are delaying mail. The post office has been dealing with a rising number of complaints caused by snails eating the letters once they are in the post box. Slugs and snails are particularly partial to paper and also like the taste of the gum used on envelopes. So much so that the slimy creatures are devouring mail inside post boxes. Some customers have made complaints after their letters arrived covered in slimy trails or half eaten. Despite putting slug pellets inside mail boxes and cleaning the boxes regularly slugs and snails still manage to get inside. It seems it might be necessary to devise some sort of snail deterrent for the opening of the box to stop the creatures from getting in.

This picture was taken last week when the Maldives government held an underwater cabinet meeting in order to highlight climate change. Politicians wore scuba gear for the meeting which took place 6 feet under water. The nation’s president fears that the archipelago will be swamped by rising sea levels unless action is taken to reduce carbon emissions. Currently 350,000 inhabitants live in the Maldives with most of the islands being only 2.1 metres above the ocean. It is feared that if measures are not taken to save the islands that what now seems a fun publicity stunt may soon be become reality as the Maldives disappears under the rising water.

The postal strikes are an inconvenience to everyone, whether you run a small business or just simply want your mail delivered in the morning. Putting myself in the first category and at one of the busiest times of the year for my business strikes are certainly the last thing that I need as they lose me money. That said, I can also sympathise with the postal workers as I have family and friends who have been postmen for many years. There is certainly a very one sided dispute view of the dispute being publicised by Royal Mail and the government and many people who I talk to do not know why postal workers are on strike or the personal cost to those workers. Postman are not paid to strike, they have mortgages and bills to pay the same as every one else but many feel they have no option but to support strike action to protect the future of the postal service. If you want a little perspective on the subject I suggest reading the following article which shows a postman’s view of the situation and highlights working practices and pressures faced daily by your postman.

This interesting looking device is a bracelet that will tell you when you are too stressed. The bracelet is supposed to feel the emotional state of the wearer by measuring the way you sweat. It then sends radio signals to the bowl which changes colour depending on the users feelings. The bowl starts off yellow but gradually turns orange and finally red when the user becomes stressed.

Fans of the Wii might be interested in this new gadget which is due to be released in 2010. Called the Cyberbike it looks like an exercise bike. It comes with a cycling sports game but will also be compatible with Mario Kart. The game that comes with the bike will feature 18 different circuits and have several options including Fitness, Story and Multiplayer. I can see that it might be more interesting than using a conventional exercise bike but I’m wondering if like my exercise bike which lies forgotten at the bake of the garage this might also be a gadget that ultimately ends up gathering dust once the initial appeal has worn off.

This is Scarlett’s Magic the new world record holder for the tallest domesticated cat. She stands 17.1 inches high from shoulder to toe making her a very large moggy. She may also be the worlds longest domestic cat although this is yet to be confirmed. Scarlett’s Magic is an 18 month old Savannah cat, a breed that is considerably larger than the average domestic cat and which seems to be becoming very popular.

Of course George the cat isn’t really a hypnotherapist but surprisingly he is registered as one. It appears the laws on becoming an accredited hypnotherapist are so lax that even George can become accredited. Not that I’m doubting his ability of course George might be particularly good at his job. Still I think the main point of the story is that George should not have been able register because he happens to be a cat. George in fact belongs to Chris Jackson a presenter of Inside Out. Chris registered George with three industry bodies and each accepted a certificate from the non existent Society of Certified Advanced Mind Therapists as prove of his credentials. From this it appears industry bodies are not running proper checks on their members.

If this article is correct then these extra large shoulder pads are the thing to be wearing at the moment. Victoria Beckham who keeps up with the latest trends has been spotted wearing them as have various other celebrities. Personally I think it looks like they forgot to take the hanger out of the jacket before putting it on. Not a trend I will be following.

This is interesting its a chandelier made from gummy bears. It measures four feet high by two feet wide and is made up of orange, yellow and green sweets. Designer Ya Ya Chou made the sculpture as part of a series where she explored the relationship between food consumption and class

According to this article Marks and Spencer are now selling more British cheeses than they are French cheeses. They are now selling two British cheeses for every French one with sales of British cheese increasing by 30%. The figures were considerably different five years ago with French cheese being much more popular. It appears the rise in popularity may be down to the fact that during the recession consumers are more inclined to buy British to support British businesses and farmers. However, British cheeses such as cheddar and stilton are also becoming more popular abroad with Neal’s Yard Dairy now exporting about 35 tons of cheese every year to France.

According to this article 65% of supermarket chickens contains a bug called campylobacter. The bacteria causes around 55,000 people a year to fall ill every year and causes symptoms such as diarrhoea, cramping and stomach pain which usually last for about a week. People with weakened immune symptoms can be at risk of the bacteria spreading to the bloodstream and causing a life threatening infection. The illness can however, be prevented by properly cooking food. Surprisingly Free range and organic chicken are actually more likely to carry the bug than battery birds.

According to this article sales of quality beers are on the rise and it is claimed that beer could be the new wine. It appears that sales of quality bottled beer are up as is keg and cask beer. One brewery Hepworth and Co has seen an 18% rise in sales on last year. If the article is to believed beer especially the quality varieties is also becoming more popular with women. If this is the case and beer is experiencing something of a revival I wonder why so many pubs are closing down. Personally I like beer but prefer to sample real ales rather than drinking lager which is many peoples first impression of beer and perhaps what puts them off trying others.

Scientists are studying an outbreak of squirrel pox in the hope that it might provide information to help stop the red squirrel  from dying out. Whilst an epidemic of the squirrel pox virus may be bad news for red squirrels in Liverpool it is hoped that studying how the virus is spread and what makes the red squirrels particularly vulnerable to it may help to save the species and ensure its long term survival. The virus is carried by both red and grey squirrels but the greys seem to unaffected by it whilst it is lethal to red squirrels. In 2007 there was a major outbreak of the disease in Formby in Lancashire which caused a 90% fall in the number of red squirrels in the area and is still affecting the population today. Scientists from the University of Liverpool will monitor the squirrels as part of a four year project. They hope to find out how the squirrels became infected and whether the surviving squirrels have developed any immunity to it. They should then be able to determine how the infection progresses and look at how to halt the spread.

I am well aware that many schools do not receive enough funding but things must be bad when pupils are instructed to bring their toilet rolls to school. That’s what pupils at St John’s school in County Cork have been told. Parents with children at the school received the request last week. It is part of a cost cutting exercise caused by a black hole in the country’s public finances.

These realistic looking creatures are made by origami expert Sipho Mabona. Despite the intricate designs surprisingly they are each made from just a single sheet of paper. Each piece takes around 20 hours to fold and can take more than six months to design so it doesn’t come as a surprise to find that they sell for around £1,500 each. The preying mantis and stag beetle are just two of his many designs with others including grasshoppers, tigers and fish.

This giant bread and butter pudding has been made by the bakers at Hovis to celebrate British Food Fortnight. It weighed an impressive 3,300lb that’s as much as two baby elephants and measures 7ft by 5ft. It took 49 hours to make and included more than a thousand slices of bread, 70 apples and 56 eggs.

On a recent trip to my local Co-op I was surprised to find that all of the ingestion remedies and the majority of the cold and flu ones have all sold out. Judging from this I can only assume there is an evil bug going affecting the part of Sevenoaks where I live.

This interesting looking snack is called the Craz-E Burger. It contains a bacon cheeseburger with a buttered grilled and glazed doughnut instead of a bun and has 1,500 calories.  It has recently become a huge hit at a major fair in Massachusetts where visitors brought 1,000 of them on each day on the 17 day event.

I can understand a supermarket refusing to sell someone alcohol but this is slightly unusual. Its an incident where a member of staff at a branch of Sainsbury's refused to sell cheese to a woman because she was pregnant. Supermarket bosses have since admitted that the member of staff got it wrong and the the woman should not have been questioned regarding the cheese, which she was eventually allowed to purchase providing she promised to eat not to eat it. I find it interesting that a member of supermarket staff feels it is within their power to prevent someone buying a harmless product. What is further amusing is that the advice given was flawed, as the offending cheese was a piece of cheddar, and is considered perfectly safe to eat when pregnant, in fact the advice is not to eat soft unripened cheese. I wonder if this is the start of a growing trend with individuals trying to impose their views on others or simply a one off incident. Pregnant or not the lady in question should be able to choose what she wants to buy.

According to this article it could soon be legal to shoot parakeets. The birds have become very common in some parts of the country and there were certainly flocks of them in Egham when we used to live there. The problem is that the non native species eats much the same things as our native bird species and in some places have become so common that the native species are beginning to suffer. The birds have also been blamed for destroying crops with one vineyard owner losing enough grapes to make 3,000 bottles of wine in just a day. The London wildlife trust has criticised the proposed change because they say other birds such as green woodpeckers could be mistaken for parrots and might be shot in error. If the law is changed parakeets will join crows, gulls and magpies on the list of birds that it is legal to shoot if they have caused damage. Based on the fact that there are thought to be around 40,000 parakeets in the South East alone and some colonies have as many as 7,000 birds I think its time to go parrot shooting.

If this article is correct then consumers will soon have less choice when they choose a credit card. Natwest and HSBC have recently decided to offer credit cards to existing customers only. To qualify for a credit card with them you will now need to also have a current account with the bank. The move obviously cuts down on the risk to the bank but if other banks start to follow suit then it looks as though people are going to be quite restricted when choosing a credit card in the future.

We all know pizza is bad for you but according to this article some pizzas from High Street chains contain as much as 76% of your daily saturated fat allowance. The findings are based upon a basic cheese and tomato pizza. The highest total fat content was found in a Pizza Hut Pizza which contained 28.99g of total fat with Prezzo coming a close second. Pizza Express fared slightly better with 19.6g, the lowest total fat content of the chains surveyed. The same pizzas also contained more than 3g of salt, half the recommended daily amount.

I hate spiders so was disturbed to read that we are likely to see a lot more of them this year. According to this article the warm dry summer has created the ideal conditions for spiders and crane flies. This is good news for the environment as it means more food for those creatures that like to snack on them. It is not, however, good news for those of us that are scared of spiders. I can see I will making use of my favourite spider catching technique of sucking them up the vacuum cleaner fairly often this winter.

This is the Super Scooby burger which is on sale at The Jolly Fryer takeaway in Bristol. Weighing 1.5kg it includes four beefburgers, eight rashers of bacon, eight slices of cheese, 12 onion rings, salad and three sauces. With a massive 2,645 calories it is thought this is Britain’s largest and most fattening burger and it contains 145 more than the recommended daily calorie limit for men. It costs £10 and if you can eat it all in one sitting you get a free Diet Coke.

Those of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook will have noticed the problems my cats are currently having with a neighbouring moggy who we have nicknamed MEGACAT. This cat whilst huge is simply a normal domestic moggy who uses his extra large size to terrorise those smaller than himself. If this article is to be believed, MEGACAT himself might soon have problems of own. It appears that some people are now breeding a type of super cat called a savannah cat. These are creatures that are a cross between a serval and a domestic moggie. The resulting cat is much larger that a normal domestic cat, more athletic and potentially more dangerous as it is likely to retain the characteristics related to its wildcat ancestry. I’m not sure I would be getting one, I have enough trouble trying to get my small cats in the cat carrier without losing a finger.

According to this article taking a shower could be bad for you due to germs that build up inside the shower head. Apparently nearly a third of shower heads contain dangerous bacteria. The bacteria is found in the slime that builds up inside the shower head. The slime protects the germs from the chlorine in the water which is supposed to kill them and when the shower is turned on you get a nice dose of Mycobacterium. This can be easily inhaled into the lungs and can cause problems in people with weakened immune systems. The article recommends switching to a shower head that contains a filter and replacing this regularly, choosing a metal shower head over a plastic one and stepping outside of the room for a few minutes when first turning the shower on as measures to prevent inhaling the germs.

These gargoyles are made out of toilet roll tubes. French artist Junior Fritz Jacquet makes the faces by moulding the toilet roll tube to create the sculpture. He starts off by constructing the eyes and then creates the nose, mouth and the rest of the face. When finished the face is coated in different coloured pigments and fitted to a metal stalk so it can be displayed.

According to this article the Jaffa Cake could be changing shape. For the first time is also available in an oblong shape rather than the traditional round one. The makers claim that the new shape is better because of its edge to edge filling. The new shape is on sale alongside the round ones so its up to you which you prefer. Personally I can’t bring myself to eat Jaffa Cakes after an incident when I ate too many and was very sick.