A Welsh View

Daily Links

Man Sentenced For Failed Pond Jump
The Paint That Ate Smog
Girl Suspended From School For Saying 'Hell'
3 Accused Of Putting Hairpieces On Cows
Woman Charged With Defacing Boyfriend
Foster Child Allegedly Forced To Take Meals To Corpse

Can Too Much Sleep Kill You?

The Guardian: Can too much sleep kill you?

It seems so, if the latest results of a mammoth study following the lives and deaths of 100,000 people in Japan over the past decade are anything to go by. Reporting in the journal Sleep this week, the Japanese researchers starkly state that people who snoozed for more or less than seven hours a night were more likely to die earlier - the third big project of its kind to make such a discovery. Exactly how this happens, though, is still unclear.

The finding is the latest to trash the popular myth that everyone needs at least 8 hours sleep. "I've been in this game for 22 years and I still don't know where that came from," says Neil Stanley, a sleep researcher at Surrey University.

Yeti Sports Part 2

According to the official site, Yeti Sports Part 2 is due to be released Feb 12 @ 0900CET. If you are chosen as a beta tester you will be able to play the game on Feb 11.

"Less Regulation And More Education"

A selection of comments from the BBC:

Internet porn: What can be done?

How many porn websites? Millions. How many people actually end up acting out these sick fantasies? Half a dozen a year? Lets put this into perspective before spending millions trying to combat an invisible and impossible enemy!

The Internet is no more the cause of pornography than video tape, film or paper. It is simply a communications medium. Pornography has been the driving force behind every method of communication since cavemen started painting on walls.

This kind of knee-jerk reaction won't solve the problem - there were gruesome sexually-related murders long before the internet arrived! Perhaps we could collate user data from these sites and use it to solve the psychological problems of such people before they offend.

When will people wake up and realise the world has changed? It simply isn't possible to remove a particular type of information from the Internet. We faced up to this problem when home videos first became available, and we survived. It's time for society to accept that any information is available to anyone, and to create controls over what we do - not what we read.

The internet isn't just WWW. If it was possible to ban porn sites (which it isn't), all the content would still be available via the Internet newsgroups and bulletin boards, which are even more difficult to police!

Again we look to solve problems by attacking the symptoms. Cutting the supply of such material will do nothing to hinder the demand for it. If not on the internet, it will be somewhere else. What we need is to discover why people are turning to such fetishes in the first place, and prevent people from falling down that path. Less regulation and more education.

These comments mirror my opinions. There were other comments calling for sites to be banned, regulated, etc. but views like that usually come from uninformed people who don't know just how complicated and virtually impossible it is to police the Internet.

Virtual Knee Surgery

I've just performed my first knee replacement surgery and you can too with the Virtual Knee Surgery Exhibit. The site is aimed at kids but it is still very interesting. Use the same tools as the real surgeons do complete with horrifying noises.

If you can stomach it take a look at the real knee surgery pics. The one tool in some of the pics looks just like a fork from the hospital canteen! [via Linkfilter]

Is eating live insects a bad idea?

As the third series of I'm A Celebrity - Get me Out Of Here reaches it's last few 'gripping' days, the Guardian asks, 'Is eating live insects a bad idea?'.

"Doing this on a television show it's probably not a bad idea to get them to bite the stuff in two," says Tom Turpin, an entomologist at Purdue University, Indiana. "I could imagine a big cockroach swallowed in their death throes with their claws and things could create some trauma in the stomach lining, so I suspect dead is better."

NHS trns 2 txt

The Guardian: NHS trns 2 txt

Incoming text message? It could be the hospital reminding you about your appointment, one of several ways the health service is using text messaging, according to research by industry body the Mobile Data Association. Hospitals including Homerton in east London and Addenbrooke's in Cambridge have found that text messages that remind patients a few days in advance mean they are less likely to miss appointments, which cost the health service £400m a year. Also, a few doctors are providing test results by text message, in reply to an identifying message from the patient.

If coupled with email alerts this would be an excellent service.

Anatomy Of A Virus

In an article for the Guardian, David McCandless charts the progress of the MyDoom virus.

...within just a few hours, MyDoom numbers started to rise: to 40,000, then to 80,000, then 100,000. "We were on the phone to everyone," says Shipp. "'Drop everything. Get your anti-virus signatures out as soon as possible.'"

It was too late. At 9pm GMT, after eight hours, MyDoom spiked. Millions of copies poured across the internet and all hell broke loose.

Teen Leaps From 20th Floor Window After Losing Computer Game, Survives

Herald Sun: Teen survives 20-storey jump

A 15-year-old boy miraculously survived after leaping 20 storeys to escape taunts by his older brother for losing in a computer game.

The boy was taken to hospital pale but unscathed after landing on the awning of a shop on the ground floor of the Kowloon district residential block where he lives, Sing Tao newspaper reported today.
A fire brigade spokesman described the incident as a "miracle and lucky escape".

The article didn't say what game he was playing.

I Never Knew 'The Internet' Could Kill Someone

For my views on headlines such as this one read yesterday's post.

Homing Pigeon Secrets Revealed

Scientists have discovered how homing pigeons navigate so well — they just follow main roads.
Researchers tracked them over ten years and found they copied AA-suggested routes.

The lazy pigeons only relied on their own inbuilt “compass” on their first flights or when they flew over the sea.

Professor Tim Guilford of Oxford University said: “It has knocked our research team sideways to discover the pigeons are using the road systems.

“Our interpretation is that they do this simply because it is easier for them. The pigeons remember the roads to simplify things.

“So, as strange as it sounds, pigeons really do end up following routes suggested by the AA.”

[via The Sun]

Turn Your Blog Into A Book

Blogbinders is a company that can turn your blog into a printed book.

Blogbinders.com helps you turn your blog into a bound book - great as a gift, an archive, or even to sell to your readers!

[via J-Walk]

Pilfering Hotel Guests Revealed

BBC: Pilfering hotel guests revealed

Toilet seats and brushes, a medieval sword and a door hinge, are among items stolen from hotel rooms, a survey says.

A hotel owner's dog, a four foot high wooden bear, and a spy hole from a hotel room door are among others.

But guests can also leave surprising items behind, such as false teeth, false eyeballs, wigs and toupees.

As many as 6% reported people having left their family member behind before checking out.

Four per cent of those questioned had found artificial arms and legs.

A third of hoteliers said towels were the most commonly stolen items from their rooms, with one in five reporting bathrobes stolen as well.

More than 10% of staff reported toilet rolls as the items most often taken and 1% said penny-pinching guests would even steal the light bulbs from their rooms.

The Springfield Paradox

So this explains why nobody knows where the Simpsons really live.

N.B. This is from the Flat Earth Society site so I'd take it with a pinch of salt.

Can You See The Baby In This Picture?

[via Squizzle]

Police Dog Suspended For Potential Racism

Salon: Police dog suspended for potential racism

This can't be true!

A police dog has been suspended while investigators try to determine whether the animal has something against black children.

The dog, a German shepherd named Dolpho, was cleared two years ago of attacking a child because he was black. But Dolpho was removed from duty on Monday after biting another black child.

Dolpho attacked a 14-year-old black girl on Jan. 28 during a crime-prevention demonstration at a school but did not break the youngster's skin. The girl's parents said a white student petted the dog without incident before he attacked their daughter.

Dolpho attacked a 14-year-old black girl on Jan. 28 during a crime-prevention demonstration at a school but did not break the youngster's skin. The girl's parents said a white student petted the dog without incident before he attacked their daughter.

In 2002, town officials ordered a two-month investigation to determine if Dolpho was singling out blacks while on patrol after the dog escaped from police vehicle and bit a 9-year-old black boy playing nearby. The dog was taken off duty, retrained for two months and returned to the force.

City Councilwoman Wanda Jones Dixon, who is black, complained about the dog in 2002 and renewed her request that the animal be retired from the police force or put to sleep.

Has the whole world gone mad?