Great view of a lunar crater

http://www.universetoday.com/92188/lro-lets-you-stand-on-the-rim-of-aristarchus-crater/

New island created overnight

http://www.universetoday.com/92163/as-seen-from-space-volcanic-eruption-creates-new-island-in-the-red-sea/

The world's first 5MB hard drive

Thanks to my wife Karen for this.

‘In September 1956 IBM launched the 305 RAMAC, the first ‘SUPER’ computer with a hard disk drive (HDD). The HDD weighed over a ton and stored 5 MB of data.’

http://www.retronaut.co/2011/12/5mb-hard-disk-drive-1956/

Suspected tornado in Potch

http://saweatherobserver.blogspot.com/search/label/Tornadoes

2 great comet photos

The first photo is of Comet Lovejoy from Canberra, the secondfrom the Space Station.

To put these pictures into perspective, there are more than one trillion comets aligned with our solar system alone, orbiting outside Pluto at a mere 200kph. Eventually they all dissipate.

Awesome waterfall pic: Yosemite, California

Thanks to Karen for drawing this to my attention.


http://t.co/Nr4HxBa2

Two black holes most massive ever found

Artist's rendition of the giant black holes.

(Thanks to David Blood for bringing this to my attention.)

http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/05/two-black-holes-most-massive-ever-found-astronomers-say/?on.cnn=1

Black holes: They're the most destructive monsters in the universe. We already knew they can be powerfully massive. Now scientists say they've found the most massive ones yet, as reported in the journal Nature.

How big?

The mass of each is about 10 billion times the mass of our sun. The previous black hole record holder, first measured in 1977, has a mass of about 6 billion suns.

And for each black hole, the "event horizon" – basically areas from which nothing can escape their gravity – is about five times the distance between our sun and Pluto.

How hot it has been

One effect of global warming

What a strange object ... we are amused

Queen Liz for 2015 flyhalf!

R8m for Lindsay to pose naked

All in a day's work: Lindsay Lohan pictured on her way to $1m Playboy shoot... as mother Dina reveals 'it went well' 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2053506/Lindsay-Lohan-pictured-way-1m-Playboy-shoot--mother-Dina-reveals-went-well.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Man with 45kg scrotum seeks money for surgery

It sat in front of him, on top of a pillow that rested on a milk crate.

He sprinkled baby powder on it -- what looked like a huge watermelon encased in a compression bandage -- but the unmistakable smell of urine couldn't be completely smothered.

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" 47-year-old Wesley Warren Jr. said in the poorly lit apartment. "It's freakish."

What sat in front of where Warren was seated in shorts -- what is actually attached to him -- was more than 100 pounds of scrotum, the protective sac of skin and muscle that contains his testicles.

http://bit.ly/pzoiNY

This is the hail that missed us and hit Roodepoort instead

Look at what is hitting Pietermaritzburg and much of KZN

Again, some people should not have children

OUT OF TUNE: People heading in to see a seven-hour pop concert in Stuttgart heard a baby screaming in the parking lot. They tracked the sound to the boot of a car, and called police. No one at the concert responded to announcements, so officers broke into the car to find an eight-month-old boy lying among dirty diapers, laundry and trash. The boy was sweating profusely, and was hospitalised. The boy's mother, 18,doesn't understand what the big deal is - after all, she says, she parked in the shade and left the windows open a crack. "I want my baby back," she demands. (RC/NewsCore)

Gate falls on boy - skull crushed

A 4-year-old boy was killed when a steel gate collapsed onto him in Potchefstroom on Friday afternoon, North West police said.

Lieutenant Colonel Lesego Metsi said the boy and his friends were apparently pushing the gate when it came off its joint and crushed the boy's skull.

A culpable homicide docket was opened.

Happy child

My wife went to visit the in-laws in Klerksdorp. As Karen says, no sleepies for our son ...

The pics that ended Demi Moore's marriage

http://thestir.cafemom.com/entertainment/126999/ashton_kutcher_hotel_party_photos

The other side of Steve Jobs

 With the complex at peak production, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week to meet the global demand for Apple phones and computers, a typical day begins with the Chinese national anthem being played over loudspeakers, with the words: 'Arise, arise, arise, millions of hearts with one mind.'

As part of this Orwellian control, the public address system constantly relays propaganda, such as how many products have been made; how a new basketball court has been built for the workers; and why workers should 'value efficiency every minute, every second'.

With other company slogans painted on workshop walls - including exhortations to 'achieve goals unless the sun no longer rises' and to 'gather all of the elite and Foxconn will get stronger and stronger' - the employees work up to 15-hour shifts.

Down narrow, prison-like corridors, they sleep in cramped rooms in triple-decked bunk beds to save space, with simple bamboo mats for mattresses.

Despite summer temperatures hitting 35 degrees, with 90 per cent humidity, there is no air-conditioning. Workers say some dormitories house more than 40 people and are infested with ants and cockroaches, with the noise and stench making it difficult to sleep.

http://gawker.com/5847344/what-everyone-is-too-polite-to-say-about-steve-jobs

Where our money goes ... latest in a series

This is a basic old garden-variety SABC reporter. He is driving one of the MB C280s bought by the SABC at a cost of R20m. Full credit to the amazing Mandy Wiener of 702 for this Tweet.

Don't build your house on sand, the Bible said ...

 http://bit.ly/pi4Ll6

Rugby refereeing logic

 Bryce Lawrence refereed the match between South Africa and Australia. This is is how his thinking went. Thanks to Duncan McLeod for this.

Building in Brakpan is collapsing

http://lockerz.com/s/145378108

Obama and Cheney and torture

Body left to rot in hospital storeroom

A Kagiso family was shocked when the body of a relative of theirs was left in a storeroom to rot at the Randwest Care Centre in Randfontein on the West Rand.

Sipho Jwara, 44, had been an in-patient at the psychiatric hospital for more than 20 years.

Family spokesman Mbulelo Zimba said they received a call from the hospital last Friday, informing them that Jwara had died.

"We went there but were told that we could not take the body because there was no doctor to sign the death certificate. We were told to come back on Monday," he said.

The family returned on Monday but to their surprise assistant nursing manager Trudy van der Merve could not locate the body.

"She assumed that Doves Undertakers had collected the body because the hospital had an arrangement with them," said Zimba, who is a nephew of the dead man.

On Tuesday they received another call from the hospital that the body had been found. They rushed to the hospital with their own undertaker.

The body was located in a storeroom and it was in a state of decomposition.

Another celebrity's pics surface online, this time Madonna

http://thegloss.com/beauty/unretouched-images-from-madonnas-w-cover-shoot-leak-116/

One of the greatest innovators of all time is gone

 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/steve-jobs-apple-ceo-dies/story?id=14383813

Not all dogs are dumb

Amazing footage of Ficksburg tornado about to hit

http://t.co/aDhLX9Ib

Tornado just down the road

http://bit.ly/pM3saA

This could lead to 100m deaths

If this volcano continues to erupt, it could lead to the entire side of the mountain collapsing.

This has to happen some time: today, next week, next month, next year.

When it does, it will send a tsunami across the Atlantic at 700kph and end life as we know it. New York, London, Boston, Rio, the West Indies, Washington DC, Maryland and more will simply be destroyed.

The wave will crest on hitting land at over 33m.


http://tgr.ph/pJp32b

Second tornado ... first pic

This struck just east of Johannesburg, killed one person, injured more than 100 and destroyed 1 000 homes.

Last night's storm, as shot in Pretoria

Aftermath of Ficksburg tornado

This hit Ficksburg today

Tornado destroys 1 000 homes in Ficksburg

Harking back to yesterday

Don't drive to the voting station

At last in paperback: how to understand women

Can be so hard to give up smoking

End of Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher?

Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore's marriage is reported to be in trouble after they spent their six year anniversary apart.
Amid reports of 33-year-old Ashton partying in San Diego - Demi has apparently been hinting to her Twitter followers that all is not well.
The actress tweeted a quote from Greek philosopher Epictetus on September 23, the day before her anniversary, writing: "When we are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger."
Three days later, Demi posted a picture of herself lying down with her eyes closed, unsmiling, with the caption: "I see through you."

Best coverage of the shark attack in False Bay

Michael Cohen, 42, was about 50 yards from the shore when he was attacked at lunchtime today. Witnesses said one of his legs was bitten off and the other was badly mangled.

Mr Cohen, a part-time accountant who lives in Cape Town, was dragged from the sea by friends who were with him at the city’s Fish Hoek beach. Paramedics stabilised him before he was airlifted to hospital in Constantia, where he underwent surgery. Last night, his father was at his bedside.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/8795288/British-expat-who-lost-leg-in-shark-attack-ignored-warning-signs.html

Saudi woman will not be lashed: king

And this is what she would have endured:

Saudi King Revokes Lashing Sentence for Female Driver
Saudi King Abdullah has revoked the sentence of 10 lashes imposed on a woman for driving in the conservative kingdom, a government official said.

The official didn't elaborate on Abdullah's decision, and spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

Saudi Princess Ameerah Al-Taweel, wife of billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Amira, also announced the development Wednesday on her Twitter account.

"Thank God, the lashing of Sheima is cancelled," the posting read. "Thanks to our beloved King. I'm sure all Saudi women will be so happy, I know I am."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/09/28/saudi-king-reportedly-revokes-lashing-sentence-for-female-driver/#ixzz1ZImMLrgo

Damn, Justin Bieber survives

This is his Ferrari. The oke hardly has pubic hair.

Religion

 Thanks to friend Duncan McLeod for this.

Petrol price set to soar

Oil Market Report 28th September 2011

(Thanks to David Blood for this)


Consumers are in for a stormy ride as the price of petrol could increase by as much as 55 cents next month. It has come to light that Transnet has applied for an 83% pipeline tariff hike.

The hike applied for by Transnet could cause the price of fuel, already climbing to new record high levels, to rocket. A steadily weakening rand, currently rising to above the R8 mark, offsets gains of a lower oil price. With the local economy shrinking, the price of petrol looks set to increase by around 39 cents a litre next week.

If the National Energy Regulator of South Africa approves an application by fuel retailers to increase profit margins by 15 cents a litre, the hike could top 55 cents a litre. The likely hike will push the petrol price to a new record high.

  The looming hike has left motorists fuming

According to Econometrix economist Tony Twine, should the proposed increase be effected, it surely will take the country’s petrol price to record highs. With a possible 83% pipeline tariff increase for Transnet next year, motorists and consumers could find things getting harder in months to come.

Serious shark attack at Clovelly

Unfolding story: I think people are so shocked they are confusing beaches.

But utterly terrifying:

An eyewitness to a shark attack at Muizenberg Beach said a man was bitten while swimming near Clovelly Corner on Wednesday afternoon.

Cape Town city officials said this apparently happened while a section of the beach was closed to the public.

The man is believed to be in a critical condition.

Cathy Ryan saw the drama unfold.

“He wasn’t too far in and then a really big great white shark just came and bit him. I think it tossed him around. One of his legs was bitten off,” she said.




http://www.ewn.co.za/Story.aspx?Id=74847

Saudi woman to get 10 lashes for driving

Damned good thing! Next thing, women will be demanding equal pay!

Cairo - Saudi activists say a court has sentenced a Saudi woman with 10 lashes for defying the kingdom's ban on women driving.

Activist Samar Badawi says Shaima Ghassaniya was found guilty on Tuesday of driving without the government's permission.

No laws prohibit women from driving, but conservative religious edicts have banned it.

The ruling comes just two days after Saudi King Abdullah announced that, for the first time, women have the right to vote and run in the country's 2015 local elections.

Najalaa Harriri, who is also facing court for driving, told The Associated Press she needed to drive to take better care of her children.

Tuesday's verdict is the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia. Other women were detained for several days, but had not been sentenced by a court.


http://www.news24.com/World/News/Saudi-woman-to-get-10-lashes-for-driving-20110927?utm_source=news24-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletters

Eating spanspek can be fatal!

 Thirteen people have died and another 72 are ill across 18 states after eating cantaloupe (spanspek) contaminated with listeria, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported which makes this the deadliest outbreak in the USA in a decade. Three additional deaths may be added to the tally once officials have examined evidence. Most of the victims are elderly – the average age of the dead is 78. The source of the infections has been traced back to a farm, but the cause of the diseased fruit is yet to be established.

NY Times, LA Times

Astonishing development at 702

“F*** racism, f**** the pigs who killed Andries Tatane, f**** the AWB, f**** racism. We are all wild animals here, meant to live free. F*** capitalism, f**** fascism. F*** this f****ing wage slavery shit. F*** domestication, f**** Julius Malema, f**** the state. F*** the petrol economic growth on a finite planet.”

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2011/09/27/talk-radio-702-fires-esterhuysen

Darned passwords

Good analysis of speed of light issue

In the time it takes you to read this, billions of neutrinos will have passed through you. There are 100 million neutrinos for every atom in the universe.

About 65 billion (6.5×10¹⁰) solar neutrinos per second pass through every square centimetre perpendicular to the direction of the Sun in the region of the Earth

Wall Street Journal analyses the implications of the fact that the speed of light has been exceeded.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903703604576588662498620624.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

And this recalls a song from 1977 by Canadian group Klaatu, "Little Neutrino".


http://www.metrolyrics.com/little-neutrino-lyrics-klaatu.html

They can vote but they can't drive

Saudi Arabia: A Trial for Woman Who Drove
A Saudi lawyer and human rights advocates said that the authorities would bring a Saudi activist to trial for defying the kingdom’s ban on women driving. The lawyer, Waleed Aboul Khair, said that the activist, Najalaa Harrir, had been summoned for questioning by the prosecutor general in the city of Jidda on Sunday, the same day that King Abdullah said women would be permitted to vote and to run in local elections in four years.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-a-trial-for-woman-who-drove.html