Riding a horse home when drunk IS legal...

Riding a horse while drunk IS legal, police confirm after ad campaign

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 1:43 PM on 17th January 2011

When transport chiefs wanted pub goers to get a 'sober friend' to give them a lift home they jokingly used a horse in their advert - not expecting anyone to take it literally.

But some drinkers in Montana, U.S., have started returning from bars on horseback - and police have confirmed it is legal to ride the animal while drunk.

The Department of Transportation were concerned that people were putting themselves at risk by not planning in advance how they were getting home.

Legal: Horses are not classified as 'vehicles' under Montana state law so there is nothing to prevent drinkers riding them home

Yet after the advert was produced, Helena Police Chief Troy McGee has revealed he has been inundated with calls from people wanting to know if they can ride home under the influence.

The Montana State law definition of a 'vehicle' excludes anything that runs under animal power - so police are powerless to stop drunks going home on horseback.

Bicycles and wheelchairs are also excluded, so these too could be used for getting back.

He said they had received no reports of drinkers riding home on horseback - but it wouldn't be reported anyway.

Carriage awaits: The 'sober friend' horse waits outside a bar to collect the drinker

Cheers: The Montana Department for Transportation insist the advertising campaign has been a success

'We’ve never been called as far as I am aware of someone drinking and riding a horse,' he told the Independent Record.

'They probably wouldn’t call us and you’d just find the horse tied up outside the bar.'

The 30-second advert, filmed in Hamilton, Montana, shows the horse slowly making its own way to the pub and stopping for red traffic lights on the way.

Department of Transportation director Jim Lynch said the advert had been a success and the message they wanted to get across was getting through.

'They absorbed the message. They got it,' he said.

The law in Montana defines a vehicle as 'device in, upon, or by which any person or property may be transported or drawn upon a public highway, except devices moved by animal power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.'

Luke Berger, deputy Helena city attorney, said it is not a good idea to get a horse home drunk.

'I wouldn’t recommend that anyone does that. But as the law says, you can ride your horse after drinking,' he said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1347928/Horse-pub-lift-ad-sparks-row-Sober-Friend-video-hit.html#ixzz1BIux5A4H

Boffins to rebuild 1949 computer... is 50,000 times slower than todays.

Got a story? We pay £££ Call: 0207 782 4100 | Email: talkback@the-sun.co.uk

Memory space ... device needed own room

By RYAN SABEY

Published: 15 Jan 2011

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BOFFINS will rebuild the "great-grandad" of computers - a 6ft 6in British whopper 50,000 times slower than today's PCs.

The original 1949 machine could handle a revolutionary 650 commands a second.

Modern personal computers process around 30 million in the same time. But the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator solved maths problems 1,500 times faster than a desk-top calculator of the time and saved weeks of data entry. National Museum of Computing Director Kevin Murrell said: "This was Adam as far as modern computers are concerned - it was their great-grandfather.

"Most things in modern computers come from designs like EDSAC."

It occupied 215sq ft of floor space and used 3,000 valves - equivalent to one transistor. Modern laptops contain hundreds of millions of transistors.

But Stephen Fleming, of the Computer Conservation Society, said: "By performing 650 commands a second, EDSAC revolutionised computing."

It was created by a team led by Cambridge University Prof Sir Maurice Wilkes and first used on May 6, 1949, It was dismantled after nine years to make space for the much faster EDSAC 2. The £250,000 replica will take up to four years to build at the museum in Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire.

The marmalade fight back with Paddington.

Paddington Bear tours to re-ignite marmalade passion

Marmalade lover Paddington Bear is spreading the word on the benefits of starting each day with a healthy breakfast.

Marmalade lover Paddington Bear has been hired to reignite Britain's passion for the orange fruit preserve Photo: PA

4:15PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Despite it being the most important meal of the day, half of Britain does not have time for a decent breakfast, jam and marmalade maker Robertson's says.

With marmalade sales reportedly in decline, Robertson's has hired duffle-coated Paddington Bear to reignite Britain's passion for the orange fruit preserve.

Suitcase in tow, Paddington left the station he was named after yesterday.

He will stop off at Liverpool station on Saturday January 22 to collect homemade jars of marmalade from members of the public that will be judged at the Marmalade Festival in Cumbria on February 13.

Cardiff marmalade makers wishing to enter the competition, along with anyone else in the city wishing to meet Paddington, will get a chance to do so at the main station on January 29.

The bear will arrive at Edinburgh station on February 5.

While Britain's penchant for marmalade and toast for breakfast is on the wane, people are not necessarily skipping the most important meal of the day altogether- but it is increasingly not being eaten at home, life coach Christine Webber said.

She said: ''Far too many people nowadays grab a quick, expensive and often unhealthy snack on the go while juggling phone calls, their twitter account, and trying to negotiate public transport.

''This is madness and adds to our stress levels, whereas allocating time before leaving the house to eat a swift, healthy breakfast such as toast, porridge, yoghurt or fruit provides us with a calm and nutritious start to the long day ahead.''

Ms Webber estimates Brits spend an average £8.6 million on ''breakfast on the go'' each day of the working week.

Reading residents are the worst culprits when it comes to skimping on making time for breakfast, followed by those living in Swindon, Sheffield, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Created by Michael Bond in 1958, Paddington turns 53 this year, despite not looking a day older than he did when he was found all those years ago, sitting on a suitcase at Paddington Station with a note around his neck ''Please look after this bear.''

Organic milk is less fatty and more healthy.

Organic milk is less fatty than 'ordinary' milk

Milk from organic cattle that eat a fresh grass diet is consistently better for your health, a new study claims.

Organic supermarket milk showed higher levels of nutritionally beneficial fatty acids Photo: ALAMY

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent 7:00PM GMT 16 Jan 2011

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Researchers have found that organic milk generally contained less saturated fat and more good fatty acids than milk produced at intensive commercial dairy farms.

Its health giving properties were also much less likely to be affected by changes in the weather.

Scientists at the University of Newcastle found non-organic milk collected during a particularly poor UK summer and the following winter had significantly higher saturated fat content and far less beneficial fatty acids than in a more "normal" year.

But they also discovered that switching to organic milk could help overcome these problems.

Organic supermarket milk showed higher levels of nutritionally beneficial fatty acids compared with "ordinary" milk regardless of the time of year or weather conditions.

Gillian Butler, who led the study, puts the differences down to a lower reliance on grazing and fertiliser suppressing clover on conventional farms.

"The results suggest greater uniformity of feeding practice on farms supplying organic milk since there were no brands which differed consistently in fat composition," she said.

"This implies a fairly uniform approach to feeding practised across these suppliers."

Organic dairying standards prescribe a reliance on forage, especially grazing, and, in the absence of nitrogen fertiliser, tend to encourage swards of red and white clover, which have been shown to alter the fatty acid intake and composition of milk.

While protein, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and some mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids in milk are considered beneficial, saturated fatty acids are believed to have a negative effect on human health.

"We're always being told to cut down on the saturated fat we consume and switching to organic milk and dairy products provides a natural way to increase our intake of nutritionally desirable fatty acids, vitamins and antioxidants without increasing our intake of less desirable fatty acids," said Mrs Butler.

"By choosing organic milk you can cut saturated fats by 30-50 per cent and still get the same intake of beneficial fatty acids, as the omega-3 levels are higher but omega-6 is not, which helps to improve the crucial ratio between the two."

While undertaking their research into the differences between organic and conventional milk, the researchers discovered the surprising link between milk quality and our changing climate.

Their results suggest that if we continue to have wetter, cooler summers then farmers may have to rethink their current dairy practices.

There was a considerable difference between the milk bought in the first sampling period (July 2006 and January 2007) and corresponding times a year later.

The second set of samples, following a particularly wet summer in 2007, was higher in saturated fat and lower in beneficial fatty acids.

The researchers, who are part of the University's Nafferton Ecological Farming Group and its Human Nutrition Centre, looked at the quality of 88 different milks in supermarkets across North East England at varying times of year over a two-year period.

They concluded that organic brands of milk available in supermarkets are higher in beneficial fatty acids and omega-3 fatty acids in summer and winter.

Emma Hockridge, head of policy at the Soil Association, said: "This groundbreaking research proves for the first time that people buying organic milk will be benefiting from the higher levels of beneficial fatty acids in organic milk through the whole year."

The study was published in the Journal of Dairy Science.

Sikh's to go through TSA turban search in USA-India

Special screening of turbans in US Published: Friday, Jan 14, 2011, 22:44 IST Place: Washington, DC | Agency: PTI

Already peeved by security pat downs, Sikhs in the US have been warned that they could now face 100% screening of their turbans at American airports as the new imaging technology cannot see through their pagris. In a mass email alert to the community members, Sikh Coalition, an advocacy group, told them that they should be ready for additional screening at all the airports. “Sikhs should now expect to be secondarily screened 100% of the time at American airports, even after passing through so-called Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) machines,” it said. Although the Transport and Security Administration (TSA) publicly asserts on its website that its newest machines can see through “layers of clothing,” the TSA has made clear in both word and practice that such machines are not powerful enough to see through Sikh turbans. “This means that, for Sikhs, the new machines will lead to more — not less — screening of turbans,” Sikh Coalition said. The Sikh Coalition rejects the TSA’s policy as unfair and unsafe, and is working with key lawmakers to change it, the group said. “Because the machine cannot see through your turban, your turban must first go through a pat-down (either self-administered or administered by a TSA screener) to scan for non-metallic threat items. After this procedure is finished, your turban will now also be subjected to a hand-held metal detector wand search to scan for metallic threat items,” says the revised travel guideline issued by Sikh Coalition. “Please keep in mind that you can always pat-down your own turban. Your turban should also not be ordered removed unless a screener detects something dangerous in your turban either at the pat-down or metal-detecting stage. To avoid false alarms, we recommend that you wash your hands before entering the screening area,” it said. According to the TSA, if a person’s turban or hands trigger an alarm during explosive trace detection sampling, the person will be required to undergo private screening and remove the turban to resolve the concern, Sikh Coalition said in its guidelines. Amid concerns voiced by Sikhs in the US over their enhanced screening at airports because of their turbans, four key lawmakers asked authorities to quickly address the issue to avoid undue inconvenience to the community members. In a letter to TSA head John S Pistole, the four US lawmakers urged him to not only address the concerns of the Sikh community about the additional screening they have been facing because of their pagri or head gear, but also the “bulky” clothing, which was cited as a reason for the pat down of Meera Shankar, Indian ambassador to the US, last year.

Farmer invents electric shoes-China

Farmer invents electric shoes

A Chinese farmer has invented a pair of 'electric shoes' which he claims enable wearers to run more than 100 miles a day.

The shoes are effectively battery-powered roller skates which feature headlights, indicators, brakes and brake lights.

The wearer presses a button on the handle to be propelled forward at speeds of up to 15mph, explained inventor Zhao Xueqin, of Wugang, Henan province.

He was inspired to invent the shoes for children in rural areas in China who often have to travel many miles to go to school.

"My hometown is a mountainous village. The nearest school is more than 20km away from our village, and kids have to get up each morning at 3am, walking three to four hours to arrive at school," said Zhao.

"I was thinking that it would be great if I could invent a pair of shoes which could do the running for the kids."

Zhao says it has cost him the equivalent of £10,000 over the last four years to create and patent his electric shoes.

"The shoes can run continuously for three hours. For long distances, the rider can carry spare batteries with them," he added.

"The design is actually very simple. It's just a pair of trainers, a pair of 12V batteries and two skates.

"It's quite easy to master. You have to lean your body forward but once you are moving you just have to keep your balance and direction."

Snow plough disappears into snow-hidden hole..

Mind the gap: Truck disappears into giant hole hidden underneath pile of snow

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 12:40 PM on 16th January 2011

Someone clearly forgot to tell the driver of this snow plow about the gaping hole on the top floor of a multi-storey car park.

The truck, loaded with two tons of gravel, was clearing snow from the top deck of the car park in Calhoun, Georgia, when it suddenly disappeared down the hole.

Unbeknownst to the driver, the pile of accumulated snow was covering a sizeable gap in the concrete, causing the truck to fall on to its side before slipping backwards into the hole.

Scroll down for video

Oops: The maintenance truck disappears down a deep hole hidden by snow on the top floor of a multi-storey car park in Calhoun, Georgia

All's quiet: The truck begins ploughing snow on the car park with a handful of cars left behind by drivers

The driver was not hurt in the accident, but the truck had to be pulled clear from the hole using a crane.

No one else was on the top floor of the car park at the time, but a motorist does rush to the truck after it fell through the gap.

Gordon County administrator Randy Dowling said the county received a report last month that the car park, which was built in the mid-1980s, was structurally sound and that the support beams did not collapse during the incident.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1347633/Truck-disappears-giant-hole-hidden-underneath-pile-snow-Georgia.html#ixzz1BCkjPG6y