More than 31,000 scientists across the U.S. – including more than 9,000 Ph.D.s in fields such as atmospheric science, climatology, Earth science, environment and dozens of other specialties – have signed a petition rejecting "global warming," the assumption that the human production of greenhouse gases is damaging Earth's climate.

"There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate," the petition states. "Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth."

The Petition Project actually was launched nearly 10 years ago, when the first few thousand signatures were assembled. Then, between 1999 and 2007, the list of signatures grew gradually without any special effort or campaign.

But now, a new effort has been conducted because of an "escalation of the claims of 'consensus,' release of the movie 'An Inconvenient Truth' by Mr. Al Gore, and related events," according to officials with the project.

"Mr. Gore's movie, asserting a 'consensus' and 'settled science' in agreement about human-caused global warming, conveyed the claims about human-caused global warming to ordinary movie goers and to public school children, to whom the film was widely distributed. Unfortunately, Mr. Gore's movie contains many very serious incorrect claims which no informed, honest scientist could endorse," said project spokesman and founder Art Robinson.

WND submitted a request to Gore's office for comment but did not get a response.

Robinson said the dire warnings about "global warming" have gone far beyond semantics or scientific discussion now to the point they are actually endangering people.

"The campaign to severely ration hydrocarbon energy technology has now been markedly expanded," he said. "In the course of this campaign, many scientifically invalid claims about impending climate emergencies are being made. Simultaneously, proposed political actions to severely reduce hydrocarbon use now threaten the prosperity of Americans and the very existence of hundreds of millions of people in poorer countries," he said.

In just the past few weeks, there have been various allegations that both shark attacks and typhoons have been sparked by "global warming."

The late Professor Frederick Seitz, the past president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and winner of the National Medal of Science, wrote in a letter promoting the petition, "The United States is very close to adopting an international agreement that would ration the use of energy and of technologies that depend upon coal, oil, and natural gas and some other organic compounds."

"This treaty is, in our opinion, based upon flawed ideas. Research data on climate change do not show that human use of hydrocarbons is harmful. To the contrary, there is good evidence that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is environmentally helpful," he wrote.

Accompanying the letter sent to scientists was a 12-page summary and review of research on "global warming," officials said.

"The proposed agreement would have very negative effects upon the technology of nations throughout the world, especially those that are currently attempting to lift from poverty and provide opportunities to the over 4 billion people in technologically underdeveloped countries," Seitz wrote.

Robinson said the project targets scientists because, "It is especially important for America to hear from its citizens who have the training necessary to evaluate the relevant data and offer sound advice."

He said the "global warming agreement," written in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, and other plans "would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind."

"Yet," he said, "the United Nations and other vocal political interests say the U.S. must enact new laws that will sharply reduce domestic energy production and raise energy prices even higher.

"The inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness include the right of access to life-giving and life-enhancing technology. This is especially true of access to the most basic of all technologies: energy. These human rights have been extensively and wrongly abridged," he continued. "During the past two generations in the U.S., a system of high taxation, extensive regulation, and ubiquitous litigation has arisen that prevents the accumulation of sufficient capital and the exercise of sufficient freedom to build and preserve needed modern technology.

"These unfavorable political trends have severely damaged our energy production, where lack of industrial progress has left our country dependent upon foreign sources for 30 percent of the energy required to maintain our current level of prosperity," he said. "Moreover, the transfer of other U.S. industries abroad as a result of these same trends has left U.S. citizens with too few goods and services to trade for the energy that they do not produce. A huge and unsustainable trade deficit and rapidly rising energy prices have been the result.

"The necessary hydrocarbon and nuclear energy production technologies have been available to U.S. engineers for many decades. We can develop these resources without harm to people or the environment. There is absolutely no technical, resource, or environmental reason for the U.S. to be a net importer of energy. The U.S. should, in fact, be a net exporter of energy," he said.

He told WND he believes the issue has nothing to do with energy itself, but everything to do with power, control and money, which the United Nations is seeking. He accused the U.N. of violating human rights in its campaign to ban much energy research, exploration and development.

"In order to alleviate the current energy emergency and prevent future emergencies, we need to remove the governmental restrictions that have caused this problem. Fundamental human rights require that U.S. citizens and their industries be free to produce and use the low cost, abundant energy that they need. As the 31,000 signatories of this petition emphasize, environmental science supports this freedom," he said.

The Petition Project website today said there are 31,072 scientists who have signed up, and Robinson said more names continue to come in.

In terms of Ph.D. scientists alone, it already has 15 times more scientists than are seriously involved in the U.N.'s campaign to "vilify hydrocarbons," officials told WND.

"The very large number of petition signers demonstrates that, if there is a consensus among American scientists, it is in opposition to the human-caused global warming hypothesis rather than in favor of it," the organization noted.

The project was set up by a team of physicists and physical chemists who do research at several American institutions and collects signatures when donations provide the resources to mail out more letters.

"In a group of more than 30,000 people, there are many individuals with names similar or identical to other signatories, or to non-signatories – real or fictional. Opponents of the petition project sometimes use this statistical fact in efforts to discredit the project. For examples, Perry Mason and Michael Fox are scientists who have signed the petition – who happen also to have names identical to fictional or real non-scientists," the website said.

The petition is needed, supporters said, simply because Gore and others "have claimed that the 'science is settled' – that an overwhelming 'consensus' of scientists agrees with the hypothesis of human-caused global warming, with only a handful of skeptical scientists in disagreement."

The list of scientists includes 9,021 Ph.D.s, 6,961 at the master's level, 2,240 medical doctors and 12,850 carrying a bachelor of science or equivalent academic
degree.

(World Net Daily)

IVF TWINS CONCEIVED IN INDIA REJECTED BECASE THEY ARE GIRLS

A British couple who conceived twin girls through IVF in India before returning to England for the birth have abandoned them at hospital because they wanted boys.

The mother aged 59 and father, 72, conceived in India with fertility treatment and returned to England for the birth.

They told horrified medics they did not want the "wrong sex" babies immediately after the Caesarean section in Wolverhampton.

The husband then asked how soon it would be before his wife was fit enough to fly out again for further IVF in the hope of getting a boy to continue the family name.

An NHS insider was reported to have said: "Everyone is utterly appalled. How could any parent do this?

"This is Britain in the 21st century.

"But they just weren't prepared to raise these two beautiful girls."

Female babies are often abandoned in India for being the wrong sex – but it is the first time here. It is likely to send shockwaves of revulsion through multi-cultural Britain.

The parents were born in India but are British citizens living in Birmingham.

They had fertility treatment in India as it is illegal here at such an advanced age and the twins were delivered at the New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.

They were then transferred to a central NHS hospital in Birmingham. The parents are still believed to be in the city.

The babies have had no visitors since being born less than a fortnight ago.

The mother – one of Britain's oldest – discharged herself against the advice of doctors who told her she should stay for more than a week after her operation.

Birmingham Social Services department is said to be investigating.

(Telegraph)

P.S. LATEST: A British couple alleged to have abandoned their twin baby girls because they wanted boys are caring for them in hospital, an NHS spokesman insisted today.The parents, who conceived through IVF in India, are said by NHS West Midlands to be "attentive to their needs", despite a report that the girls were left at a Wolverhampton hospital following their birth.

Pop goes the weasel

Pawn shops still carry a Dickensian image of mother pawning father's best suit for a paltry sum - but they are thriving in 21st Century Britain.

And with banks and credit card firms becoming more choosy about whom they lend to as the credit crunch intensifies, pawnbrokers are filling the gap.

Compared with other forms of credit on offer to people on modest incomes, such as pay-day loans and doorstep lending, pawnbroking can be a ready source of cash at a lower cost.

Three million or so Britons do not have bank accounts, while many more find it hard to get credit cards and overdrafts because of poor credit ratings.

In the late 1800s, there were almost as many pawnbrokers in Britain as pubs, but this number dwindled after World War II - a time of high job security and the advent of the welfare state.

The Consumer Credit Act of 1974, which modernised the 1872 Pawnbrokers Act, paved the way for the revival of the trade during the 1980s credit boom and subsequent economic downturn in the early 1990s.

According to the National Pawnbrokers Association (NPA), there are about 800 pawnbrokers in the UK - and this number is growing at 10% a year.

"Many people don't know how it works and once they realise that a pawnbroker is not trying to keep their things and flog them, they are more willing to give it a go," says Des Milligan, head of the NPA.

"Today, most pawnbrokers only lend money against gold and diamond jewellery - electronics lose value too quickly as new brands come in."

"If you need a small amount of cash for a short time, like if your boiler breaks down, it can be a decent option," says Chris Tapp, director of debt charity Credit Action.

Pay-day loans, which are also becoming more popular as the economy slows, charge £20 to £25 on every £100 borrowed - an APR of more than 1,000%.

Rates of interest vary little across the industry, with most pawnbrokers charging 8% a month - £8 on a £100 loan. "It's less than going into an unauthorised overdraft in the short-term," Mr Milligan says.

More than 80% of customers come back to claim the items they have pawned. "We make our money on the interest charged. It's not about acquiring goods cheaply," says Mr Finch at Pickwick Pawnbrokers.

* Pawnbrokers typically lend up to 50% of an item's value

* Typical interest rate of 7-8% a month

(BBC)

STAY SLIM TO REDUCE CANCER RISK

According to a new study in Washington, excess body weight adds to the risks of cancers.

American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund involved nine independent teams of scientists from around the world, hundreds of peer reviews and 21 international experts, who analyzed more than 7,000 large-scale studies.
Diet and lack of exercise cause one third of cancers.

The report stated that cancers can be prevented with staying slim and abstain from too much fast food, red meat and preserved meat such as ham and bacon and alcohol.

Having a healthy body weight does not reduce the risk of developing cancer as much as being slender, a new study has found.

Researchers claim that people at the upper end of the healthy body weight range are still 15 per cent more likely to develop some cancers than those at the lower end.

The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) says their study shows that the key to cutting the risk of cancer is to be lean, without becoming underweight.

Scientists are increasingly pointing to obesity as a major factor in the development of many cancers. Breast and bowel cancer is predicted to significantly increase in the coming decades, because one in four Britons is now classed as clinically obese.

However, it is feared that too few people are aware that even a small weight gain can significantly raise their chances of developing the disease.

Weight groups are assessed using the Body Mass Index (BMI) — calculated as a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of their height in metres.

A healthy weight is defined as a BMI of between 20 and 25, overweight as a BMI of between 25 and 30, and clinically obese as more than 30. Even within the healthy BMI range, the heaviest people are 15 per cent more likely to develop bowel cancer than the lightest. Women also have a seven per cent higher risk of breast cancer if they have a BMI approaching 25 instead of 20.

Prof Martin Wiseman, the medical and scientific adviser for WCRF, said staying slender minimised the risks.

At least six different types of cancer — including of the oesophagus, pancreas, kidney and womb — are of a raised risk to those in the upper limits of the healthy band.

Prof Wiseman said: "The evidence is clear that even within the healthy weight range, being fatter increases risk of several types of cancer. This is why we recommend that people aim to be as close as possible to the lower end of the healthy range.

"There is convincing evidence that excess body fat is a cause of six different types of cancer, and the fatter you are, the higher your risk. This is a real cause for concern when you consider that as a nation we are becoming increasingly overweight.

"But the good news is that maintaining a healthy weight is something positive that people can do to reduce their risk of developing cancer."

After not smoking, scientists now consider lower weight one of the most important forms of cancer prevention.

(Various sources)

Not "Up, Up and Away"

TEENAGER, 16, FINED FOR LITTERING ... AFTER LETTING BALLOON GO AT CHARITY EVENT WITHOUT TYING THE END

A teenager who let off a balloon has been given a £50 fine for littering.

Max Twizell, 16, had inflated the helium-filled balloon at a charity event in Newcastle. However, a council official spotted him allowing it to spiral away without tying the end.

The youngster has been told to pay the £50 penalty or he will be hauled before magistrates.

Max Twizell was fined for littering after he released a balloon into the air during a charity event in Newcastle

His mother, Lorraine condemned the action as ‘petty and vindictive’.

But Newcastle Council said it had a zero-tolerance approach to littering.

Mrs Twizell, 47, of Heddon on the Wall, Northumberland, said: ‘There are far worse examples of littering all around us.

‘Will the council fine every charity that holds a balloon race £50 per balloon? How about toddlers in prams who accidentally release their helium balloon?

‘I want to fight this in court but my son is frightened of getting a criminal record if I lose.’

Max said: ‘I took one of the balloons to do the funny voice. I let it go and walked off with some friends but this guy came up and fined me.

‘I wasn’t given a chance to find it and pick it up. It’s a bit silly and annoying.’

Stephen Savage, director of regulatory services and public protection, said the council was expected to take firm action on littering.

He added: ‘We can confirm that we have issued a £50 fine to a teenager for dropping an item of litter in Old Eldon Square.

‘He has 28 days to pay and if not may face court action. To some people this may sound harsh but we believe that to create a cleaner, safer city we must send out a clear message that this will not be tolerated.’

He said a survey carried out last year showed 62 per cent of residents wanted to see more enforcement action on environmental issues including littering.

He said: ‘We believe pursuing action against offences like this sends out an uncompromising message that litter dropping in the city will not be tolerated.

‘Since April 1 last year, we have issued 1,042 fixed penalty notices for litter.

‘We spend £6million every year on neighbourhood response teams who spend a disproportionate amount of their time picking up almost 30tons of litter from our streets every day.’

(Daily Mail)

Police have taken a seven-month-old baby away from its parents after they offered to sell him for €1 on eBay.

The German mother said the ad on the internet auction site was only a joke.

But authorities have begun an investigation into possible child trafficking against the parents.

Police spokesman Peter Hieber says the baby has been placed in the care of youth services in the southwestern Allgaeu region.

No offers were made for the child in the two hours and 30 minutes the ad was posted.

The posting was later removed by eBay

Several people who saw the ad alerted police.

THE 10 MOST RIDICULOUS FINES OF ALL TIME

1. SAUSAGE ROLLS

A picnic in the park turned into an expensive event for Mum Sarah Davies, from Hull. While feeding her four-year-old daughter a piece of sausage roll fell to the ground. The missed-mouth incident was spotted by council wardens and Ms Davies was fined £75, even though pigeons immediately ate the evidence.

2. WHAT A LOAD OF RUBBISH

With photographic evidence and stab-proof vests, Cumbria council’s bin police confronted Gareth Corkhill with the terrible crime of … putting too much rubbish in his bin. The father of four was given a whopping £210 fine, plus a £15 victim surcharge and he now has a criminal record.

3. OOPS!

Litter lout Christopher Murphy dropped a single crisp packet on Irish soil and ended up in court with a 600 Euro (£480) fine. While the term litterbug is no doubt a bona fide insult, this is an example of where the fine perhaps doesn’t match the crime.

4. TRYING TO BE CREATIVE

Pretty hearts and rainbows may seem innocent enough, except if you work for north Wales police. Two teenage girls from Bangor were charged £80 for "graffiti" after drawing chalk pictures on a pavement, Mary Poppins style, which were completely washed away by the rain soon.

5. KEEPING THE KITCHEN TIDY

Nowadays using a public bin can get you into trouble. Detectives hunted down pensioner John Richards from Lincolnshire after he carefully placed some household rubbish into a bin on a lamp post. They traced Mr Richards from an addressed envelope that was in with the kitchen scraps and accused him of fly-tipping, which attracts a fixed penalty of £75.

6. PUTTING YOUR FEET UP

Getting comfy on a Chester-bound train can get you a criminal record. Babiker Fadol put his feet on a train seat and was arrested for anti-social behaviour, despite taking his feet down as soon as he was asked. After appearing at court charged under the 1889 Railway Regulations Act, he was forced to pay £50 and was given a criminal record.

7. KEEN TO HELP THE ENVIRONMENT?

You still won’t escape the wrath of Swansea’s eagle-eyed council officials. Michael Reeves made a grave mistake when he accidently left a piece of paper in a recycling bag reserved for glass. He was promptly taken to court and fined £200 and swears he’ll never recycle again.

8. A QUICK FAG

Fancy a quick ciggie in your break? Think again if you’re in the taxi trade. A lone fag cost cab driver Alan Cross £715. Mr Cross was spotted smoking a cigarette in his taxi by a Thurrock Council Enforcement Officer. The matter went to court and he was slapped with £300 of fines, £400 in costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

9. DEFROSTING THE CAR ON A WINTER MORNING

One cold winter morning Ken Hardman from Lancashire nipped outside to his car, turned the engine on to defrost the windscreen and then returned inside to wait. A local police officer charged him with "quitting" (leaving a car unattended with the engine on) and fined him £30.

10. ANSWERING A PHONE CALL SAFELY

Unlucky Nick Tubbs was fined £120 for the crime of ... speaking to his mum on the phone. He was driving in Westminster when his mother rang so he diligently pulled over to the side of the road to take the call. He spoke for one minute and 23 seconds then immediately drove away. Sadly for Mr Tubbs, Westminster council tracked him down from CCTV footage and accused him of “parking” on a single yellow line.

HE'S GOT HIGH APPLE PIE IN THE SKY HOPES

(Matt)

Questions circle in London
over Gordon Brown's survival
as PM

MUSIC GCSE EXAM PAPER HAD ANSWERS ON THE BACK

Students taking their GCSEs were given a little help in their music exam - the answers were written on the back.

A printing error meant that all the answers were given for the first part of the examination in schools in Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

While a number of students flagged up the mistake, others are thought to have carried on and completed the test either without noticing, or without letting on.

The exam board OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations) said it was trying to establish how many papers had been printed wrongly and how many students had been affected.

A spokeswoman said: “OCR regrets that a printing error may have affected a small number of marks on the GCSE music question paper.

“We are putting procedures in place to identify the effect, if any, this had on candidates and to make allowances accordingly to ensure that no candidate is disadvantaged.”

(The Telegraph)

A controversial new "right to die" card is being offered to the public that allows anyone to refuse treatment in a medical emergency.

Available in pubs, banks, libraries, GP surgeries, even some churches, the Advanced Decision to Refuse Treatment (ADRT) card sits snugly in a wallet or purse and instructs a doctor to withhold treatment should the carrier lose the capacity to make decisions, because of an accident or illness.

Dubbed the "right-to-die card", it's being seen by some as a short-cut to euthanasia.

But its backers say it is a practical way of implementing the Mental Capacity Act, which came into force in 2007.

The act allows adults to draw up "advance directives" stating what sort of treatment they don't want should they lose capacity. They build on the principle of "living wills" but, crucially, mean that doctors are legally bound to abide by a patient's wish to refuse life-sustaining treatment.

Carrying the card alerts anyone who finds it that the patient has made decisions about treatment, and there is a detailed statement to be found with named relatives or friends and, ideally, their GP.

Salford City Council, which is behind the card, says it is merely putting the information out there in public places, for people to make their own choice. It stresses advance decisions are not only about death but can also include preferences about treatment and care patients do want.

But so-called pro-life campaigners say they could be snapped up in haste by people who haven't fully understood the complexity of the issues involved.

(BBC News)

For centuries, this pretty Dorset village has enjoyed a special place in the Gazetteer of Britain. But now, there’s a stirring behind the hedgerows, and some of its residents are (whisper it) rebranding their community. Things may never be quite the same... in Shitterton.

"The only annoying thing is that the Shitterton sign is always being stolen. Three have gone so far this year"

I think I'm in Shitterton. But I'm not sure. Satellite navigation technology, while adept at guiding me round complex urban one-way systems, is less than helpful in locating one of the rudest place names in the country; it offered me a choice of going either to Shillington in Bedfordshire, or Shutta in Cornwall. But no sign of Shitterton.

After going back to basics and consulting a map, I head into the Dorset village of Bere Regis, emerge at the other side and arrive at a cul-de-sac with a wooden signpost bereft of its nameplate. If this is indeed Shitterton, someone either loved the name so much that they felt the need to swipe a memento, or they were so concerned about its power to corrupt innocent minds that they prised it off and slung it into a nearby hedge.

I wind down the window and call out to a passer-by: "Is this place called, er...?" My enquiry feels impertinent, mainly because I was brought up never to say "shit" to strangers. But they're clearly used to timid visitors, here. "Yes, yes, this is Shitterton," comes the boisterous reply.

Goadsby's, an estate agent, currently has a wonderful four-bedroomed barn conversion in Dorset on its books. It boasts a tranquil, rural setting, hefty beams and gorgeous communal gardens. Even prospective buyers who might be worried about the state of the property market would be keen on viewing it.

But what the particulars don't mention is the exact location. Goadsby's manager coyly admits that they don't reveal this initially, before hastily adding that they "haven't found the name an issue". Oh, but it is an issue – and one, apparently, that's being batted backwards and forwards by its residents. Is it Shitterton? Or Sitterton? Dorset's civic leaders would prefer the latter, to be sure, and elements in the village are said to be all for a spot of 21st-century rebranding. But for now, Shitterton it shall remain.

As I pass over Shitterton Bridge, I note that the stream that bisects the village – and was once presumably a cascading torrent of shit – is in fact a picturesque little waterway. The absence of any shit in the immediate vicinity is reflected in the distinctly unshitty names of the surrounding houses: Honeycomb Cottage, Rose Cottage, Sunnyside, Merrydown.

But there has been an attempt to rewrite history. There is a row of ex-council houses on a road defiantly labelled Sitterton Close; Sitterton House has eradicated any whiff of ordure by dropping that all-important "h"; and even Wessex Water's local sewage pump, situated slap bang in the middle of the village, is labelled as being located in Sitterton. Is this really a village that dare not speak its own name?

Not according to Diana Ventham, who, with her husband, owns Shitterton Farmhouse and the internet domain name shitterton.com. Until they recently wound down the business, they rented out the cottages adjoining their home to eager hordes of tourists who came to visit Monkey World (a local ape sanctuary), explore Thomas Hardy country and send postcards back to their families wishing that they, too, could have come along on an away-break to Shitterton. "The name attracted a lot of people, there's no doubt about that," Ventham says, "and we love it. My mother, who lives with us, is in her nineties; she used to tell people that she lived in Sitterton Farmhouse, but even she has come around. She's definitely a Shitterton person now."

Ventham's half of the village contrasts markedly with the prudish Sitterton Close; numerous references to Shitterton are dotted around, and there's a house that's mischievously called Pooh Corner. "There are people who call it Sitterton," she says, "but I really don't know why it bothers them. As far as I'm concerned, the only annoying thing about it is that the Shitterton sign keeps being stolen."

I point out that it wasn't there when I arrived a few minutes earlier. "Really? That's three gone this year, already. We're trying to get planning permission for one that's engraved into a huge lump of Purbeck stone. They won't be able to get that into the boot of their car."

While there is no evidence that having an address that alludes to sewage, genitals, prostitution, bottoms, murder or masturbation makes your house any less pleasant to live in, Shitterton isn't the only place in the UK where residents have turned against their addresses, in spite of having decided to move there in the first place. Ed Hurst, who co-wrote three books (including Rude Britain) that look at the origins of rude place-names, recalls visiting a street in Lincolnshire called Fanny Hands Lane and knocking on a few doors to uncover some history. "I wasn't prepared for the sheer hostility that I encountered," he says. "They were sick of having their road sign pinched, they were sick of pizza not being delivered because the restaurant thought it was a hoax call. As it turned out, it was just named after a woman called Fanny Hands."

Campaigns by residents to effect name-changes that might give the area a bit more class are, by and large, destined to fail, according to Hurst. "There's a Slutshole Lane in Norfolk that is still called Slutshole Lane, despite residents' best efforts," he recalls. "And there's a Butthole Road, which they're trying to change to – wait for it – Buttonhole Road.

"Thing is, nearly all of these names have perfectly innocent origins. Butthole Road is just named after a borehole, a water source." Not someone's arse, then? "Well, exactly."

Shitterton probably started a slow metamorphosis towards Sitterton during the Victorian era, at the same time as towns and villages on the river Piddle were being renamed to Tolpuddle, Affpuddle and Puddletown – presumably in order not to cause embarrassment to travellers asking for directions.

****

John Hyde, who is 90 years old next month and has lived nearly all his life in Shitterton, certainly remembers what he called the place as a child. "Shitterton," he says, emphatically. "Definitely Shitterton."

There's something about the Dorset accent that makes the word "Shitterton" sound particularly rich and unctuous, and Hyde certainly makes the most of it. "As an infant, I went to Shitterton Girls School – that's Shitterton – before going to the boys school down the road," he says. "But when they built these houses in the 1930s for people who worked on the local watercress fields, they named the road Sitterton Close. It's strange."

As our discussion continues, Hyde starts diplomatically to refer to the village as "Shitterton-or-Sitterton" – a name that could be a compromise to suit all parties. "But the strange thing is," he continues, "that those 1930s houses aren't even in Shitterton-or-Sitterton. When I was a boy, if I was meeting someone round there, I'd say, 'See you up Podges.'" Podges? "Yes. But I've no idea why," he laughs.

Despite the notion of a vicious rivalry between residents who rejoice in living in Shitterton and those who'd rather die than admit living there, I'm having trouble finding any staunch Sitterton supporters (which is a great tongue-twister, if you're ever on the lookout for one). A couple who identify themselves as "the Butterfields" are taking the shopping out of their car; neither has the slightest problem with Shitterton. "It is what it is. We don't really take any notice of it," they say. Down the road, however, Marianne Turner displays an almost romantic fervour for the old name. "It's just so precious, isn't it?" she says. "But I am always queried about it when I give my address on the phone, and I still receive mail sent to Sitterton.

"I even ordered some notepaper from a local printer, carefully spelled out the name of the village as Shitterton – and it all came back with Sitterton on it. I'm glad the Ordnance Survey have changed it back to Shitterton on their maps, though." Maybe, after few letters to the major satnav companies, the whole cartography industry will finally be sitting on the Shitterton side of the fence.

Just when I thought I would never get to hear the other side of the story, and that this supposed crusade against Shitterton had been cooked up by Dorset Council to get people to visit Monkey World, I approached a woman walking her dog at the bottom of Sitterton Close. By this point, everyone had been so proud of their village's name that my opening gambit, I must confess, had become a little over-friendly, some might say downright rude.

"Hello – I just wanted to ask you, are you a Sitter, or a Shitter?" A cold, steely glance. "I'm walking my dog, thank you very much," came the reply. Hmm. I reckon she's a Sitter, no question.

It seemed wrong that Shitterton should be deprived of its identity by puerile thieves, so I nipped into the nearest store in Bere Regis, bought some paper, crayons and drawing pins, and sat down to create a temporary sign. According to Diana Ventham, the council's replacements have been getting flimsier and flimsier as more and more of them have disappeared into the ether; and nothing could be flimsier than the scrawled SHITT I now attached to the wooden signpost. But at least the village now proudly announced itself to anyone leaving Bere Regis.

(Abridged from an article in the Independent)

WHEN SOOTY THE CAT PASSED AWAY HIS DOTING OWNER CONSOLED HERSELF BY HAVING HIM TURNED INTO A UNIQUE BLACK DIAMOND

Owner Sue Rogers then had the rock set in a gold ring so she can wear her beloved pet on her finger all the time.

Black cat Sooty is now a third-of-a-carat and is thought to be the only black diamond in the world created from a pile of ashes.

The diamond was created by a US firm that turns dead people and animals into everlasting gems.

Experts at Chicago-based LifeGem made it by extracting two grams of carbon from 100 grams of Sooty's ashes.

The carbon was then placed in a diamond press, exposed to temperatures of 3,000 degrees celsius and placed under one million pounds of pressure for two weeks.

Sue, 45, from Ilfracombe, Devon, wanted the diamond to match Sooty's jet black colour so the company had to create a new technique to accomplish it.

Once it had grown the gem was placed under electrons for 24 hours which gradually changed the colour from clear to black.

The result was a stunning orb which has been cut and polished and set in a gold band surrounded by white diamonds to look like a flower. It cost more than £2,000.

Sue said: "When Sooty died I was shocked because she was only 11-years-old and hadn't been ill or anything. It just happened very suddenly.

"One day I got home from work and she was finding it hard to breathe so I rushed her to the vet but she died. She was a wonderful cat who never went outside and was a genuine scaredy-cat.

"I asked the company if they did black diamonds and they said they had never done one before. But thankfully they were able to and now Sooty is a black diamond.

"They use ashes, but not all of them, so it is still possible to scatter some ashes in the traditional way as well."

David Hampson, chief executive for LifeGem UK, said: "This is the first black diamond in the world that has been created from ashes in this way."

(Telegraph)

Ministers will today launch a new series of advertisements designed to educate the public on how many alcoholic units are in each drink.

It will be aimed at the over 25s, particularly middle class wine drinkers who drink at home in the evening.

Official figures show that more than 500 people a day were admitted to hospitals in England after drinking too much last year.

The Government recommends that women should consume no more than two or three units a day and men no more then three or four.

The new campaign is designed to inform women that they can reach that limit with just one large glass of 12 per cent strength wine. Two pints of strong beer would push men over the limit.

Three-quarters of drinkers do not know a typical glass of wine contains THREE units of alcohol.

An internet survey found half those questioned drank alcohol at least two or three times a week. And although 82% said they knew what a unit of alcohol was, 77% did not know how many units were in a typical class of wine.

More than half (55%) thought a large glass of wine would contain two units, when it actually contains three.

Joe Korner, from The Stroke Association, said the organisation fully supports efforts to make people aware of the health risks associated with excessive drinking.

"There are around 1,100 haemorrhagic stroke deaths every year associated with alcohol and statistics show that women who drink over double their recommended limits are more than four times likely to suffer a stroke, and men almost twice as likely," he said.

(BBC/Telegraph)

GIRL (9) CARRIED TWIN'S FOETUS IN HER STOMACH

A nine-year-old girl who was taken to hospital suffering stomach pains was found to be carrying the foetus of her undeveloped twin, doctors said.

Surgeons in the Greek city of Larissa discovered the six-centimetre (two inch) foetus when the young girl was brought to hospital, complaining of a stomach ache.

"They could see on the right side that her belly was swollen, but they couldn't suspect that this tumour would hide an embryo," said Iakovos Brouskelis, the hospital's director.

Surgeons removed the "tumour", which was a foetus with a head, hair and eyes, but no brain or umbilical cord, and the girl has made a full recovery.

Foetus in foetu, a rare disorder of embryonic development in which one twin is absorbed by the other in the womb, living off it as a parasite, occurs in one of 500,000 live births.

In 2003, doctors in Kazakhstan treated seven-year-old Alamjan Nematilaev, who complained that he felt something moving inside of him. When surgeons operated, they found his "twin", which had a head, hair, genitals and a partially-formed face.

In 2006, a Chilean boy was born in the southern city of Temuco with a four-in-long-foetus inside his abdomen.

Doctors remain unsure as to what causes the condition.

(Telegraph)

Tracking antenna box

WHICH SHOPS DID YOU USE - AND HOW LONG DID YOU STAY IN THE TOILET?

New technology can tell when people enter a shopping centre, what stores they visit, how long they remain there, and what route they take as they walked around.

Signals given off by mobile phones allow shopping centres to monitor how long people stay and which stores they visit.

Even when the owner is not using it, a mobile phone makes contact with the network every couple of minutes, which is enough for the receivers to get a reading on its position.

Phone networks have long been capable of gauging the rough location of a handset using three phone masts, but the margin of error can be as great as 2km. The process is also less efficient when the phone is indoors.

The new tecnology by Path Intelligence can tell where a phone is to "within a couple of metres."

Before you panic - the device cannot access personal details about a person’s identity or contacts. However, privacy campaigners have expressed concern about potential intrusion should the data fall into the wrong hands.

The surveillance mechanism works by monitoring the signals produced by mobile handsets and then locating the phone by triangulation – measuring the phone’s distance from three receivers.

It has already been installed in two shopping centres, including Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, and three more centres will begin using it next month.

The company that makes the dishes, which measure 30cm (12 inches) square and are placed on walls around the centre, said that they were useful to centres that wanted to learn more about the way their customers used the store.

A shopping mall could, for example, find out that 10,000 people were still in the store at 6pm, helping to make a case for longer opening hours, or that a majority of customers who visited Gap also went to Next, which could useful for marketing purposes.

In the case of Gunwharf Quays, managers were surprised to discover that an unusually high percentage of visitors were German - the receivers can tell in which country each phone is registered - which led to the management translating the instructions in the car park.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) expressed cautious approval of the technology, which does not identify the owner of the phone but rather the handset's IMEI code - a unique number given to every device so that the network can recognise it.

But an ICO spokesman said, "we would be very worried if this technology was used in connection with other systems that contain personal information, if the intention was to provide more detailed profiles about identifiable individuals and their shopping habits.”

Only the phone network can match a handset's IMEI number to the personal details of a customer.

Path Intelligence, the Portsmouth-based company which developed the technology, said its equipment was just a tool for market research. "There's absolutely no way we can link the information we gather back to the individual,” a spokeswoman said. “There's nothing personal in the data."

Sharon Biggar, the company's chief operating officer, said that one of the stores which had already deployed the receivers did not want its name revealed for fear of alarming its customers.

Liberty, the campaign group, said that although the data do not meet the legal definition of ‘personal information’, it "had the potential" to identify particular individuals' shopping habits by referencing information held by the phone networks.

(Abridged from an article in the Times)

An obese couple with a combined weight of 42 stone are to undergo 'his and hers' gastric bypass operations on the NHS - at a cost of £24,000.

Roy and Kate Glencross have seen their weight balloon after spending years eating fried food, cakes and biscuits.

Roy, 60, now tips the scales at 24 stone and is virtually housebound because his knees need replacing due to the constant strain of his weight.
Kate, 59, carries 18st 6lbs on her 5ft 3ins frame and her blood pressure is so high she needs 13 pills a day to keep it under control.

After years of failed dieting the pair have persuaded their local NHS trust to pay £12,000 each so they can both undergo drastic surgery to shrink their stomachs.

Mr Glencross, a former fireman, said: "I want my life back. I want to play with my grandchildren and walk on the beach.

"What's more, I want to see my grandchildren grow up and get married.

"But to do it without my wife at my side would not be the same. Doing it together will give us the strength to get through it."

The couple, who have both been divorced, got married in 1979 when housewife Kate weighed 8st 6lb and Roy 14st.

Their weight has slowly increased over the years and the surgery has been offered as a last resort as their health deteriorates and other techniques fail.

Mr Glencross said: "We were comfortable with each other. We were happy. So, we gave up caring about weight.

"In hindsight it was madness. We used to eat truckloads of all the wrong stuff."

In an average day Roy would have a full English fry-up for breakfast, followed by a coke and a Mars bar mid-morning.

Lunch would be fish and chips washed down with more coke. He would tuck into a couple of packets of crisps to stave-off the hunger before home time.

Once home, Roy would eat cake or crisps, followed by a full meal - usually fried food.

Late evening, in front of the television, Roy would snack on cakes or biscuits.

The surgery involves reducing the size of the stomach by creating a pouch in the upper stomach using surgical staples then removing part of the small intestine.

This way the person can only eat small meals and the food eaten will not be absorbed so well, reducing calorie intake.

To qualify for the surgery patients must have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 40 or more - unless there are additional health reasons such as diabetes or a heart condition in which case the cut-off point is a BMI of 35.

The couple easily qualify because Mr Glencross has a BMI of 46 and his wife has one of 47.

(Abridged from the Daily Mail)

As well as the cost of NHS surgery, think of all the money this couple could have saved by eating less.

(Click on the image to make her bigger - if you dare!)

LUCIAN FREUD PAINTING SELLS FOR RECORD £17m

A life-size Lucian Freud painting of a naked Jobcentre supervisor sleeping broke the world auction record for a work by a living artist when it sold for more than £17m at Christie's.

The masterpiece, which was sold by a private European collector, fetched $33.6 million (£17.2 million) in the sale at New York's Rockefeller Centre.

Benefits Supervisor Sleeping beat the previous world auction record for a work by a living artist, held by Jeff Koons' Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold), which fetched 23.5 million dollars (£11.3 million) last year.

The 1995 Freud painting depicts rotund London benefits supervisor Sue Tilley, now 51, sleeping on a dilapidated sofa.

Ms Tilley, now a Jobcentre manager, said: "I'm thrilled. I still can't believe such a bizarre thing has happened to me. It hasn't sunk in properly."

Asked how she felt about posing nude, she said: "At first, I was a little bit embarrassed but after a while I just got used to it and it became a completely normal thing to do, like going to the doctor."

She also said reports claiming that she had weighed 20st when she posed for the painting were inaccurate and said she did not know how much she weighed today.

"I never weigh myself because I can't be bothered," she said.

Asked if she would ever sit for another artist, Ms Tilley said it was "hard to know where to go" as she had "started with the very best".

(Extract from a Daily Telegraph article)

This pictures shows what happened when a speedboat went out of control, flew through the air and landed in the bunker of a golf course.

'The Final Fling' speedboat in the bunker

Golfers on the course at Loch Lomond, Dunbartonshire were lucky not to be hit when the boat hit the ground.

The skipper of the boat, which was called The Final Fling, was forced to abandon ship and jump into the water after it was sent off course by waves from another vessel.

It hit rocks and flew into the air, landing on the golf course.

Golfers who saw the boat coming towards the course ran for cover.

Among others enjoying a round of golf in the fine weather were Claude Bieth and Catherine Guillet from France.

"The boat seemed to go in slow motion and came to a halt in the bunker. The motor kept going but it was stuck fast," Mr Bieth told the Daily Record newspaper.

Following his jump from his vessel, the skipper of The Final Fling was found a short time later after Clyde Coastguard launched an extensive search operation.

A military helicopter and a lifeboat were both involved in the search and all ships in the area received a request for help

The incident was a first for Clyde Coastguard.

Their watch manager, Calum Murray, said: "We do deal with a number of beached vessels, but I don't think that we have ever had one which landed in a golf course bunker."

Loch Lomond is one of Scotland’s most exclusive golf clubs and is to host the Scottish open in July this year.

(Telegraph)