Spinning ice disc phenomenon seen in British river for first time

A rare phenomenon normally associated with Scandinavia has been recorded on the River Otter in Devon for what could be the first time.
It was of perfect circle of spinning ice spotted in River Otter in Devon.
The giant spinning disc of ice was spotted near Honiton by Roy Jefferies who was out walking his dog along the riverbank on Wednesday, January 7.
The slowly rotating ten foot wide and perfectly circular phenomenon which was stationary in the current and about six foot from the bank near where a stream joined the river. Mr Jefferies immediately called his friend, Graham Blissett, who lives nearby and has an interest in phenomena of this kind.
Mr Blissett said such discs were "very, very rare" and he had never heard of one forming in England before.
"I couldn't believe it when he told me," Mr Blissett said.
He grabbed his camera and raced to the river, where he captured photographs of the slowly turning disc of ice.
"I saw the most perfect circle of ice about two metres from the edge of the bank," said Mr Blissett.
"It was about three metres in diameter and, on timing it, we discovered it was completing a revolution in four minutes and ten seconds.
"The air temperature at the time was sub-zero and the weather had been bitterly cold for the past week."
After returning home, Mr Blissett carried out some research.
"Ice discs can vary in diameter from under a meter up to an astonishing 200 metres seen in the River Ljusnan in Sweden," he said.
"It is thought that they are formed when a slow moving river current creates a slow turning eddy in which a rotating disc of ice grinds out its edges forming a gap between it and the surrounding ice."
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PET Project: Coke's Big Recycling Plant

Roughly 75 percent of plastic soda and water bottles end up in landfills, by some estimates. What a waste. We could argue about whether to blame lazy consumers, governments that fail to promote recycling, or the beverage industry. We could debate whether bottle bills will solve the problem. (They won't, by themselves.) We could try to persuade people to give up bottled water. (They won't.) Or we could look for market-based solutions, and see if they have the potential to scale.
That's what the The Coca-Cola Co. is doing. This week, Coke stages a grand opening for the world's largest bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in Spartanburg, S.C. (The plant's been running at less than full capacity for months.) The facility is a $60 million joint venture of Coke and the United Resource Recovery Corp. (URRC), which calls itself the world leader in transforming waste bottles into new ones. URRC has a patented process for recyling food and beverage containers made of polyethylene terephthalate, or PET.
The plant will have the capacity, when fully operational, to produce 100 million pounds of recycled PET plastic chips—enough to produce 2 billion 20-ounce bottles of Coke or Dasani or whatever.

Long way to retirement

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Most Americans said....

I rather you not post my personal financial statements on the Internet,

even if they are a big joke.

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How it's made - hard candy

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Naming Babies

Billy Bob’s pregnant sister was in a terrible car accident and went into a deep coma. After being in the coma for nearly six months, she wakes up and sees that she is no longer pregnant. Frantically, she asks the doctor about her baby.
The doctor replies, "Ma’am, you had twins! A boy and a girl. The babies are fine and your brother came in and named them."
The woman thinks to herself, "Oh no, not my brother… he’s an idiot!" Expecting the worst, she asks the doctor, "Well, what’s the girl’s name?"
"Denise," says the doctor.
The new mother says, "Wow, that’s a beautiful name! I guess I was wrong about my brother. I like Denise." Then she asks, "What’s the boy’s name?"
"Denephew."

British man runs 2557 miles across Australia...

A 65-year-old British man has almost completed an epic 2557 mile run across Australia, while pushing a wheelbarrow.
David Baird, from Western Super Mare in Somerset, set out from Perth on September 21 and will finally reach the Pacific Ocean at Manly Beach on Saturday January 17.
When he crosses the finish line he will have run the equivalent of one hundred full marathons in just 112 days.
During the charity run well-wishers threw more than £9,145 ($20,000) into the barrow.
And Mr Baird said that while he has not suffered a single puncture, his feet have not fared so well.
He said: "All my adult life my feet have been a size ten but within three weeks my feet had spread out and I had to change to an eleven.
"Two weeks later I needed a twelve. My feet feel huge. I'm convinced my arms have got longer too".
Mr Baird has been running most of the way into a head wind and in temperatures of up to 46 degrees.
Eating mostly fruit and vegetables he has lost more than a stone (7kg) in weight.
Now he is looking forward to finishing the run and dipping his feet into The Pacific Ocean. But he will not be taking much time off.
He said: "I'll probably get up on Sunday and go for a run without the barrow which will feel fantastic I'm sure"
Mr Baird, who emigrated to Australia and spent 21 years working in a coal-mine, got his idea for the wheelbarrow run from a race held near his home in Queensland.
Organised by locals, the 18km challenge is held as a reminder of the gem prospectors who flocked to the area in Australia's early years.
"Legend has it that one prospector arrived in town with nothing other than the pick and the wheelbarrow he was pushing," Mr Baird said.
"Over the course of several years he made his fortune and then drank and gambled it all away until eventually he was seen leaving town carrying exactly all he's arrived with."
Mr Baird has been raising money for Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer charities.
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David Baird Website
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Man's best friend can only take so much

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ME

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California schools get bathrooms-in-a-box for emergencies

Staff members assembled the kits to use during long-term classroom lockdowns
They are now fixtures in every classroom in Turlock, California.
Teachers returned from winter break to find a bathroom-in-a-box on their desk, complete with toilet paper and all the accessories, marked For Lockdown Only.
Staff members assembled the kits to use during long-term lockdowns like the four hours Patterson High School students spent in their classrooms last fall when fights broke out on campus.
Shielded by their classmates, Patterson teens used trash cans as toilets until police allowed students and teachers outside.
The incident spurred school superintendents across Stanislaus county, to discuss ways to make sure history did not repeat itself.
Hence, in Turlock, the emergency toilets. Maintenance workers put together 701 of them over the winter break, enough to supply every classroom in the district that needed one. They cost $20 each, or about $14,000 total - the equivalent of nearly 200 high school textbooks.
"It's a small price to pay for personal dignity," said Patricia McGuire, a district assistant superintendent.
Most lockdowns last just minutes. But some can last hours, like the two-hour lockdown experienced by several Turlock elementary, middle and high schools last fall.
School violence is only one reason to keep students in their classrooms. Police will tell administrators to lock down a school if they are chasing a criminal suspect or making a raid nearby.
Sixth-grade teacher Melanie Chancellor still remembers what it was like three years ago to be locked inside her Crowell Elementary classroom for almost two hours.
"I had kids who needed to go," Chancellor said. "So I was like, 'We all have to hold it.' It was hard on the kids."
Chancellor eyed a spot next to her desk where she plans to set up her emergency lavatory. The toilet comes with a plastic seat, steadied by steel legs, and a plastic bag in lieu of a toilet bowl.
Last Monday, Turlock High teenagers looked quizzically at the plain cardboard box that housed their classroom commode. Their teacher had offered extra credit for whoever guessed what it contained.
A student began to read the contents: a roll of toilet paper, disposable liners, a tarp (to create privacy in the corner of a room), chemical packs, hand sanitizer wipes, disposal liners and, of course, a folding toilet.
Then came the laughter.
The students, understandably giggle and some were embarrassed about the thought of relieving themselves among their peers, claimed they could wait. Under any circumstances.
But when you gotta go.
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Australia Offers 'Best Job in World' On Paradise Island

SYDNEY — Position: Island caretaker. Duties: Lazing around Australia's Great Barrier Reef for six months. Salary: $105,000.
Unemployed, take heart — the aforementioned job ad is for real. Billing it the "Best Job in the World," the tourism department in Australia's Queensland state on Tuesday said it was seeking one lucky person to spend half a year relaxing on Hamilton Island, part of the country's Whitsunday Islands, while promoting the island on a blog.
The "island caretaker" will be expected to stroll the white sands, soak up the sun, snorkel the reef, "maybe clean the pool" — and report to a global audience via weekly blogs, photo diaries and video updates.
The winner, who will stay rent-free in a multimillion-dollar three-bedroom beach home complete with pool and golf cart, must be an excellent communicator and be able to speak and write in English.