American TV journalist Mika Brzezinski is my new hero for refusing to lead with a Paris Hilton story: check it out on YouTube.

Thanks to Faye, I can now bring you the most amazing story ever, Latawnya, the Naughty Horse, learns to say “No” to drugs.

BBC: India rattled by vibrating condom. And I had no idea sex toys were banned. Maybe they need that vibrating Harry Potter broom…
More seriously, “UK tourist visas are often denied to would-be visitors because they “plan a holiday for no particular purpose other than sightseeing”, a report says.” (BBC)

Apparently I look like a grown-up, but you wouldn’t think so if you’d just seen me barely able to breathe for laughing at pictures of a knitted squid attacking a cat.
What’s that? Why, yes, I am procrastinating when I’m meant to be doing something proper and grown up.

I think squidsquid is the most charming site I’ve seen in a while. You can find out your squid name (mia the salty ocean-dweller!), find out if you are part squid and various other things.

This BBC article, ‘I love my new C cup breasts‘, which reads like a PR piece about a site that ‘makes the UK’s top plastic surgeons available at prices women like unemployed Lucy can afford’ really disturbs me. The article doesn’t question why women who can’t even afford to pay full price for it should want invasive surgery, and although one of the final paragraphs says:

“She certainly looked much more self confident, she had changed her hair style and her previous stoop and round shoulderedness had been replaced with a more confident upright appearance.”

there’s no discussion of whether there are non-surgical ways to make someone feel more self-confident that should be considered before surgery.
Perhaps ironically, this article was also on the BBC site today: Breast implant website condemned

A website where women can raise cash for breast implants using personal photos is unsafe and degrading, say UK cosmetic surgeons.
The implants are paid for by male “benefactors” who, for a fee, can access the women’s personal profiles, pictures and contact details.
…
Adam Searle, consultant plastic surgeon and former president of the BAAPS, said: “This is really quite shocking. The invitation for women to post suggestive photos, sell personal items and chat with strangers over the Internet in exchange for a breast augmentation is just plain degrading.”

I find it shocking, and really horrible, but then I also find a cut-price charity boob job website shocking.
(I managed not to make any jokes about BAAPS)

From the BBC: guide to getting lucky:

Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for.
My research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principles.
They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.
…
Here are Professor Wiseman’s four top tips for becoming lucky:

• Listen to your gut instincts – they are normally right
• Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine
• Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well
• Visualise yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call. Luck is very often a self-fulfilling prophecy

Ok, so the mystery of what on earth haw flakes are made from hasn’t been that mysterious for a while now, but now that I’ve got a photo showing the ingredients of haw flakes as ‘hawthorn’, I just have to do this.

It’s worth noting that this brand are a very pale colour and possibly not as addictive as the brand with the red, green and yellow packaging. I also found fancy triangular layered haw the other day – red layered with a darker, jammier layer of haw. Mmm, hot haw action.

“I have a PhD in computing.”
The quote is right at the end but it’s worth reading the whole thing.