We’re off on our holidays, but (groan) we are stuck in the airport because our plane has been delayed – again!
Perhaps it’s the jet lag setting in; maybe it’s the boredom – but my wife and I have decided that airport security questions such as “Have you packed these bags yourself, sir?” are pretty pointless and should be replaced with some far more interesting alternatives… Read more
Have you ever felt like you could be an undiscovered genius? Well scientists have now come up with ingenious ways of you using your brain to push back the boundaries of science... by playing video games! So if you'd like the chance to see if you're the next Einstein (without the hair) just put down that Sudoku, stop playing Angry Birds and take a look at these computer games! You never know, by playing them you just might help discover the cure for cancer...
We all have our personal weaknesses. A quick survey in the office told me that chocolate or cigarette addictions are common frailties. My wife’s Achilles heel is buying handbags. My weak spot? Eating ice cream.
Light, creamy and sweet… Ice cream is perhaps the ultimate in feel-good foods. Having a bad day? An ice cream is the answer! (although your waist-line might not thank you too much)
Twice I have tried to make ice cream at home, but both times were a complete disaster: My best attempt resembled a rock-solid lump of green milky ice! So despite having abandoned an alternative career as an ice cream entrepreneur, I still wonder how those ice cream makers (such as Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen Daz) get their ice cream to taste SO good? Welcome to the secrets and the science behind the worlds most under appreciated frozen dessert…
(and if you don’t like the science bits you can laugh at a video of people trying to eat ice cream on a rollercoaster) Read more
I don’t like big numbers. There are nine billion people in the world, but how many of us can honestly imagine of more than a couple thousand people? When you look at the moon on a clear night, it looks pretty close. But it’s actually over 240 thousand miles away! I think Norwich is a long way – If I try to think of more than about a thousand miles, my brain melts…
Today’s blog is all about ingenious ways of making mind-boggling concepts and huge numbers understandable to mere mortals like you and I… Read more
Writing, just who does that anymore?
In our house, important bits of paper also have a habit of getting lost. This would be a typical conversation:
“Where’s that important letter dear?”
“Where did you last see it?”
“On the coffee table, I think!”
“Have you checked the pile of important letters?!” (points to large box of unfiled papers)
Which is all a shame really, because there’s something special about writing by hand: It’s completely different to typing words on a screen, you recognise your handwriting, and those words BELONG to you.
So there’s good news for all the quill-lovers out there because the humble pen has finally come of age! If you think writing is dead, think again: the ‘SmartPen’ is a pen for grown-ups. Loaded with microchips and clever technology, it will even meet the whims of the iPad generation (and it’s a darned sight smaller)… Read more
Should you cut the red wire or the blue wire? Quick! Time is running out! Red digits are already counting down from 10 seconds. With wire-cutters tentatively poised, a snip of the red wire and then…
Wait! Is bomb disposal really anything like what we see in the movies?
A few days ago, I wrote about the Trowbridge bomb scare. It was a pretty exciting event for us simple Wiltshire-folk. The centre of town was ‘locked-down’: All pedestrians and cars were diverted away by anxious-looking police officers. Meanwhile ambulances, fire engines and a bomb disposal team swarmed around The Shires Shopping Centre.
Clearly, my high quality reporting of the event did not go unnoticed: Rikki, a Bomb Disposal Engineer from the Royal Logistics Corps who was there that fateful day had read my blog post and decided to get in touch. Not wanting to let the opportunity pass by to get the low-down on real-life bomb disposal, Rikki was kind enough to answer some of my questions:
How do you deal with the pressure?
What is modern-day bomb disposal all about?
How does it feel to have helped save both Trowbridge’s ‘Poundland’ and ‘Greggs’!?… Read more
I bet that you own at least one loyalty or ‘reward’ card. They sound like a great idea – You get money and points for just doing your normal grocery shop! Well, if you think you’re getting something for nothing, then you’re wrong…
I like the place, but a lot of people don’t. It’s the official county town of Wiltshire, a beautiful and historic region, yet Charles Moore from The Spectator described Trowbridge as a town lacking any “sign of talent, originality, workmanship, beauty or local pride”. He said the locals are “tattooed people shuffling round”. Even former front man of The Stranglers wrote a disparaging (but rather amusing) song “Don’t put me on a slow boat to Trowbridge”.
So it was with some surprise that yesterday, my afternoon shuffle to Asda was rudely interrupted by a police cordon and bomb disposal squad… Read more
How’s your driving at the moment? Ice can be a treacherous thing: I once drove a brand new car into a lamppost on an icy, un-gritted road; resulting in £1,000 worth of damage and a severely dented ego!
In Britain, we don’t handle the cold weather very well; a flurry of snow or an icy day seizes our roads, railways and airports to a standstill. Every winter road-gritters work hard to keep us moving by spraying our roads with grit and salt. They’ve been doing it for over 50 years, but isn’t it a little strange that they’re still just using plain old salt? It damages cars , pollutes the environment and only really works down to about -5 degrees C! Surely science must have come up with something better than the stuff you put on your fish and chips?
Read on and never slip-slide away again…! Read more
Have you decided what to buy for Christmas yet? In the UK, we spent over £2 billion on video games most households have at least one games console. Chances are that someone you love will want a video game for Christmas this year. Oh how things have changed….
But should we be worried? By getting video games for kids are we stopping them developing social skills? Do action games make us more violent people?
Today’s blog will explain how the ‘Xbox Kinect’: the new console that can apparently spy on you and will try to get some truth about the nation’s new favourite hobby… Read more