Laughter is the best medicine

Up yours, world, seems to be the message from Swami Ramdev (he of the 20m viewership for his daily TV programme in India) as he turned the tiny Scottish isle of Little Cumbrae into an international yoga retreat ('Peace Island') yesterday. Times Online has an article on how the Indian yoga 'guru' came to Scotland to promote his very own brand of mumbo-jumbo. I simply don't believe in giving people false hope, promoting quackery or any other such claims to cure cancer et al. The Scots (Daily Record article) don't seem to be bowled over by the orange-robed one.

Laughter is the best medicine... here's my favourite Indian guru with long hair:

Video from the edge of Space

Balloon Experiments with Amateur Radio (BEAR). Watch Hi-Def video here from a camera suspended below a balloon disappear to the edge of Space and back down to Earth. Watch the story on Discovery Channel Daily Planet.

UK Newspaper cover price hike history

You can't argue with the facts:

The average (UK newspaper) cover price rose 28.2% from 51p in 2001 to 71p for the first seven months of 2009. At the same time, the total annual circulation of the 10 dailies fell 19.11%. That’s a perverse correlation, but papers have little choice in the face of falling evaporating custom and falling ad sales

We're going to be asked to subsidise the papers soon enough. 

News ain't gonna be free no more online...

Source: Paid Content, Paywalls & Cover prices.

The Wire - Series 2

Finally made it to the end of The Wire Series 2. Awesome entertainment - thoroughly deserving of all the plaudits, but can't watch it piecemeal. Simply have to watch it episode by episode with the least time between watching them. Never been so captivated by a TV series. If anybody can tell me what the hell went on in Series 2 let me know - actually, I'm only joking, but you gotta keep your attention fixed or you'll miss half of the clever writing. Normally, I haven't got the patience to watch things twice, but this deserves re-watching. Great soundtrack. 


* More info here.
* Just love the way IMDB rates it at 9.7/10!