Robert's News & Journalism Blog

Do you Feelgood because the Dr does?

2010-11-21T05:34:00.001-08:00

Canvey Island, the home of Dr Feelgood, a band that have had fifteen members and as their current line-up has played over 1000 gigs. On the 19^th November 2010 they played in Newcastle’s The Clunny. Although a small location The Clunny is a good venue for them. They played some of their most famous songs including Great balls of fire, Milk and Alcohol and Riot in Cell block No.9. Even when the lead singer Robert Kane accidently unscrewed his microphone he managed to improvise by using the guitarists. Dr Feelgood is currently on a tour round the UK, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden and Holland although in that tour still managed to go back to where they started in the 1960s.

The band did have a set song list although even when they had finished due to the crowd wanting several encores they did at least another four songs which took about another twenty minutes. By this time I was still enjoying it but I would have been happy with what they did on the original list. Although most of the night the band stayed in their roles for one song guitarist, Steve Walwyn took Robert’s place as lead vocals. This was good as it let the audience experience a variation of talents from the band.

Overall the night was good entertainment and the only objection I have is that we had to wait about an hour and a half for them to come on. If you live anywhere near where the band might be performing in the future then why not check out their website http://www.drfeelgood.org/ which has all their tour dates on. I hope you will enjoy them if you go as I did.

UK Big freeze expected to continue

2010-01-06T04:40:00.001-08:00

Across the UK snow and ice continues to cause chaos for hundreds of schools and transport. The Met Office have issued emergency weather warnings for central and southern England. Although for other parts of the UK it doesn’t necessarily mean that the snow is over. The forecast for the UK says that from Friday onwards it starts to dry up.

On the Monday coming it is forecast to be cold but dry. An Article from The Times newspaper says that more than 1,500 schools are closed. Many are trying to get them back open but a few schools are asking pupils to do the work set from home.

Although for a lot of people the problem is transport when trying to get to work and workers are trying to grit as many roads as possible. Lets hope the weather gets better soon. I will keep try to keep people up to date with the weather so keep checking back!

We say goodbye to David Tennant as the doctor

2010-01-02T03:23:00.001-08:00

Last night we saw David Tennant in his last ever Doctor Who and what an episode to go out on! The first of the two episodes received ten million viewers. Matt Smith who will be the eleventh doctor will start next series so we will have to wait to see what he’s like! David was the Doctor from 2005 to 2010 which puts him just behind Tom Baker in how long each actor played the role.

A new doctor also means a new assistant, she’s called Amy Pond who is played by Karen Gillan. The Two of them will return in the spring but for now we are going to have to wait, The only sneak preview we have is the new trailer for the series. Here it is.

It looks as though it will be a good one and we see the return of some old enemies and other aliens we have seen before as well. These include the Weeping Angels seen in Blink and the Doctors long time enemy the Daleks. As always please feel free to comment!!!

The Race for Christmas No.1 is on!

2009-12-19T13:40:00.001-08:00

The race for Christmas number one is on! The main favourites for the top spot are Rage against the machine with their track called Killing in the name and Joe Mcelderry with his single called The Climb. It’s been a pattern every year since the X Factor started in 2004 that the winner gets Christmas number one. Rage against the Machine have released there song to prevent it happening for the sixth year.

Currently at number one is Lady Gaga with Bad Romance. If this stays the same for the next week neither Joe nor Rage against the Machine will be number one. R.A.T.M fans have been told not to go out and buy the single until Sunday when the competition for the top spot begins. According to anorak.co.uk Olly Murs who was a fellow contestant and second place to Joe Mcelderry despite being friends with Joe bought the Rage against the Machine single. R.A.T.M is currently nine thousand copies ahead of Joe. Come on people buy Joe’s single. I will hopefully be reporting on the result of this fight for number one when the charts are released so keep watching.

Climate change activists criticize Danish Police

2009-12-13T03:54:00.001-08:00

Climate change groups have criticized Danish police for using heavy-handed tactics. This is because they detained nearly one-thousand people at a rally not far away from the climate change summit happening in Copenhagen. Mel Evans from climate justice action told the BBC that protesters were being kept for hours in freezing conditions without medical attention, water or toilets. Most of the protesters have now been released but some of them would be charged. Tens of thousands marched to pressure COP15 to make decisions about what they do about climate change faster.

Documents have been prepared saying that developed countries need to cut greenhouse gas emissions by between 25% and 45% of what the levels were in 1990 by 2020. Yesterday the EU joined the US in critizing a draft agreement that says that developing countries would only cut emissions if they received financial help. The EU has offered developing countries £6.5 billion three year deal. The target for limiting temperature rise isn’t clear. The UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC) wants to keep the rise below 2 Celsius.

The Police said that an estimated 30,000 people took part in yesterday’s demonstration in Copenhagen, although organizers say it was about 100,000. People chanted and carried banners that said things like “Demand climate justice”, “The world wants a real deal” and “There is no Planet B”. Protests were mainly peaceful but some people threw bricks and smashed windows in the city centre. A person said that the actions of the police were appalling. People were very scared and they were held for about four hours on the ground. They weren’t able to have any medical attention, any water, and weren’t allowed to have any toilet facilities” she told BBC Five Live.

In a statement, Copenhagen police said a large group of protesters had organized themselves in a so-called “black bloc”, in which they put on masks which is an illegal action at a demonstration in Denmark. The officers then decided to “seal off” the group from the march. The force said the large number of arrests had “produced a huge amount of pressure” on officers responsible for transporting, receiving and registering detainees.

Over all it was a bit of chaos but they got there in the end. The police are now trying to work out a better system.

COP15 emission cuts close to what is needed

2009-12-07T09:59:00.001-08:00

New from COP15 is that the emissions cuts are close to what is needed. A study revealed that the countries taking part have said that they will cut emissions but scientists have called for just that little bit more. Some people have claimed that COP15 will fail but even though it needs a bit more work they are nearly there. The UNEP director Archim Steiner said that “For those who claim a deal in Copenhagen is impossible, they are simply wrong”.

The warnings were only based on pledges from industrial countries. UNEP said all the countries together should emit no more than 44 billion tons of carbon dioxide by 2020 to avoid the worst consequences. “We are within a few gigatons of having a deal, the gap has narrowed significantly.” Steiner said. So on the first day of the summit they are nearly at their target. What will they do for the rest of the summit?

Under a day till the Copenhagen Conference begins

2009-12-06T09:02:00.001-08:00

There's under twenty-four hours left until representatives from 192 countries around the world meet to discuss what they can do to reduce there carbon footprint. The summit will go on till December 18th. The Danish government is already educating kids at school about climate change and how it will affect them. It was announced yesterday that President Obama will be joining the summit. For the duration of the eleven days that the conference goes on all meetings and press conferences will be available live on Webcasts. It has been said that by 2020 emissions will be cut down by thirty percent from 1990 levels.

To make sure that these emissions are cut countries will sing a treaty. All EU countries will cut there emissions by twenty percent or thirty percent if other countries follow suit. This treaty should be completed by half way through 2010 and should take effect three years later. The Asian Development Bank will put seven-hundred million dollars into helping member countries combat climate change. The money will help fund technologies such as wind, solar, hydro and geothermal power as alternative powers sources. I will be keeping you up to date on all the news from Copenhagen though the summit so keep checking back!

US military hacker to be tried in the US

2009-11-27T02:56:00.001-08:00

UK computer hacker Gary McKinnon will be tried in the United States after requests to block extradition were refused. Gary’s family has been told that the Home Office couldn’t block the move because of his medical condition. Gary is accused of hacking into networks owned by NASA, the US Army, US Navy. Department of Defence and the US Air force.

A US prosecutor claims the hack is the “biggest military computer hack of all time.” Gary said he was looking for UFO evidence. If he is convicted he will face 60 years in prison. Gary admits hacking into 97 US government computers which include NASA’s and Pentagon’s, during 2001 and 2002.

His mother Janis Sharp told the BBC she was “devastates” by the news and her son had reacted “very badly”. “To force a peaceful, vulnerable, misguided UFO fanatic like Gary thousands of miles away from his much-needed support network is barbaric”.

In my opinion although he has Asperser's syndrome he should still get a prison sentence but nothing else. We will have to see how it all comes out in the end.

Pirate Bay shuts down it’s tracker

2009-11-19T08:59:00.001-08:00

The Pirate bay has shut down its tracker after BitTorent explained that there was no longer a need for such a tracking service. Although The Pirate Bay has continued to host files but are less directly involved in the download process. They have said that they don’t need to rely on a single server like BitTorrent that stores and distributes files. The move could be an attempt to get round legal threats on October 29^th.

These threats mean that if they still have to do what the court says The Pirate Bay will have to pay 73,000 dollars to the court if the site wasn’t closed. Four of the co-founders are appealing for a prison sentence but that has been postponed till next year. Former spokesman for The Pirate Bay posted on his Twitter “To make it totally clear, [the Pirate Bay] is not closing. (The Pirate Bay) closed the tracker because new technology has evolved to not need it. Less problems!”. The tracker has only been closed because it is no longer needed so we will have to wait to see what the court think!

Johnny Depp soon to become Hollywood's highest paid actor

2009-11-18T08:35:00.001-08:00

Sometime soon Johnny Depp will become Hollywood’s highest paid actor for his role in the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film. He is expected to get twenty-one million for his role in the new movie. The film called On Stranger Tides will be released in 2011. He will be paid more than Tom Cruise and Will Smith when he gets the money.

His past co-stars Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom will not be staring in this film. He earned £15 million from staring in the last Pirates of the Caribbean film called Dead man’s Chest. It’s thought that from the whole series of films he will make around £50 million which will make him very rich. Although it’s not released for another two years, he will have to wait to see how much he makes and unfortunately it also means that we will have to wait. It should be good when it comes out though, if it makes as much as the other films!

Wormonauts set off on space mission

2009-11-17T10:21:00.001-08:00

Space shuttle Atlantis has set off on a mission but with some very strange space travellers on board. The shuttle set off on Monday night from Florida, it had around four-thousand of the little creatures on board. The creatures are so small that they can only be seen under a microscope. Some scientists hope that the worms will help them work out why astronauts’ muscles go weak when they are in space.

The worms will spend eleven days in space and will orbit more than 200 miles round Earth. In total they will travel more than four and a half million miles on the journey. Also on that mission is a painting of a lady which is part of a different experiment. Six astronauts will also be on the mission to make sure that some equipment is delivered to the International Space Station. It will be a strange mission but it will be interesting to see how it turns out and I will hopefully be reporting on that.

Disney fights over Winnie-the-Pooh royalties

2009-11-14T06:07:00.001-08:00

A company founded by the man who had worked with creator of Winnie-the-Pooh is taking Disney to court. This is because they want to get some apparently unpaid royalties. Stephen Slesinger who had come up with the idea of the red t-shirt for the bear had been allowed by a federal judge to sue Disney for royalties. A spokesman said that Disney owed a lot of money. Stephen had purchased the distribution rights for the US and Canada from A.A Milne in 1931. Eight years after Slessingers death in 1961 Disney got the rights that meant that they could films, TV series and toys.

Eric George who was a lawyer for Stephen said that that Disney owed his family 1.5% to 2.5% in royalties. Disney has said that the latest legal action is "baffling". Judge Florence-Marie Cooper made a decision on 25th September that rejected Slessingers company's claims. We still don't know the full outcome of this case but when we do we will hopefully be doing an update on the blog so watch out for it!

Anti-bullying Week 2009 kicks off on Monday

2009-11-14T03:35:00.001-08:00

From 16th to 20th November 2009 is Anti-Bullying week 2009. The event which happen every year aims to raise awareness of bullying of children and young people. This is mainly in schools but they have events elsewhere. This year it will focus on Cyberbullying which is increasingly becoming a problem. There slogan is 'Stay Safe in Cyberspace'.

Various TV programs will be having special programs about it. Newsround will have a program on Monday. This won't just be about cyberbullying but all sorts of types of bullying. But it's not just kids that have been bullied. In the past it has happened to celebrities as well. these include Aston Merrygold from JLS, dancer George Sampson, boxer Joe Calzaghe and CBBC presenter Gemma Hunt.

Cyberbullying can happen to almost anyone and happens online and sometimes by texts on mobiles. Online it can happen on Chat rooms, Email, Instant messaging. A Canadian study found that most of the people who said that they had been bullied by text didn't know the person who had text them. Coincidentally the event is followed the next day by Children in Need 2009 which helps children around the UK, possibly with problems due to bullying. So we will have a busy week of charity events next week. I'm looking forward to it!

First ever female Red Arrows pilot does first display

2009-11-12T11:01:00.001-08:00

The RAF has had its first ever female Red Arrows pilot. Kirsty Moor from RAF Scampton has finished her first week of training and done her first display today. She will start being in the Red Arrows team from next year. She is staying with the team until 2012. This will mean that she will only just feature in the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony.

Around forty pilots apply each year and only nine of those are sent to training in Cyprus. Around 60 out of 2,040 train pilots in the RAF are women. It’s the 45^th anniversary of the team this year so they do lots of displays. Kirsty said that she had been inspired to join the RAF by her father who was a Tornado navigator in the RAF. She joined in 1998 after studying aeronautical engineering at London’s Imperial College.

She had said that the day she was selected was one of the best days of her life. She has also completed combat missions in Iraq. The RAF said “we do have female aircrew in all our squadrons and this is a great way of getting the message across to women thinking of joining the Red Arrows,”

“She is very calm under pressure but Red Arrow pilots also have to be able to do the job on the ground as well as the flying job and she has a very calm and level-headed approach.”

She will join the other pilots who are based in Lincolnshire next year. She said it was an honour to be chosen. This will be a change for Kirsty as she has been based at RAF Marham in Norfolk before this. We’ll be watching out for her!

Millions of Xbox Live users cut off

2009-11-11T10:57:00.001-08:00

Millions of Xbox Live users may be cut off for changing their Xbox to play pirated games. Microsoft said they had banned “a small percentage” of the twenty-million users that they have. They have said modifying the console is against the rules of the service. They haven’t yet announced how they will choose which users to ban. According to reports the ban will stop them using the Xbox Live service but not the actual games.

It has been thought that piracy of video games costs the people who make the games in the first place as much as £740 million a year. The games haven’t been downloaded from their own service but from illegal downloading sites which means that the users are breaking the law as well. In a statement from Microsoft they said “All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty, and result in a ban from Xbox Live”.

Millions of users might get a bit of a surprise when they turn their Xbox’s on soon. When the user switches the console on their user ID will be collected and they will be banned forever. It’s a bit mean but a good way to stop people from breaking the law. The problem is that people can still get pirated Xbox games if they know where to get them. This can’t be stopped just yet as it would be a pretty big operation to take on. The banning has already started so if you haven’t been banned already and use this then expect it some time soon!

Nestle in discussion with Fairtrade about making Kit Kat Fairtrade certified

2009-11-10T12:40:00.001-08:00

Kit Kat makers Nestle are in discussion with Fairtrade about making the chocolate bar Fairtrade certified. Kit Kat is already Britain’s best-selling chocolate bar which would make it the biggest single Fairtrade-certified brand if it does get the go ahead. Earlier this year Nestlé's rival company Cadbury’s made Dairy Milk Fairtrade so Nestle have come possibly a bit to late.

The two companies haven’t decided what to do yet but with Cadbury’s already selling Fairtrade products it looks likely that Nestle could become Fairtrade soon. The company has been criticized over it’s so this would be a good thing to please the people who have criticized them. Although it plans to send thirty-eight million disease resistant cocoa plants to Third World farmers over the next ten years but the plan will cost £275 million. The agreement with the Fairtrade Foundation is probably going to take a while longer to sort out so you won’t be seeing the little logo for Fairtrade on Kit Kat’s any time soon.

Campaign to ban Airbrushing in magazines launched

2009-11-10T10:46:00.001-08:00

Doctors have asked magazines to label images that have been airbrushed to make people look good in the magazines. This happens a lot and makes people worry about how they look. The magazines can make people looks thinner or give them better looking skin or whiter teeth. Instead of labelling the pictures some politicians want it banned all together. At the moment it’s still allowed but the people who monitor the adverts say that if they can get proof that this happens that will all change.

A group of experts have put together a report which they are hoping will convince the people who monitor adverts to ban or label the photos in the future.

Above is a Photo taken from gw-photography.co.uk which shows what airbrushing can do. For example the spots have been removed. The research that has been submitted to the ASA (Advertising Standards Agency) has been written up by Dr Helga Dittmar from the University of Sussex and Dr Emma Halliwell from the University of the West of England. It’s been backed by forty-two other people. The Paper has been organized by the Liberal Democrats as part of a campaign against the use of airbrushed or retouched images in advertisements. The results of this will probably be on here when they are announced. For now we will have to wait.

Berlin kicks off celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

2009-11-08T09:52:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow people around Germany and possibly around the world will celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the Berlin wall falling down. There was a performance at the MTV Europe music Awards from U2 to mark the anniversary. The wall stopped Germans emigrating from one side of Germany to the other. When it fell down about 5,000 people tried to escape over it which resulted in between one-hundred and two-hundred deaths.

Today they have had a “Festival of Freedom” which will include over 1,000 foam dominos that are over eight feet tall being stacked along the route of the wall. They will then be toppled. In the United States, the German Embassy will coordinate a public diplomacy campaign with the motto “Freedom without walls”. The campaign is focused on promoting awareness of the fall of the Berlin wall among current college students and students from over twenty universities will take part in “Freedom without walls events”.

The events will be happening over the next couple of days and I will hopefully be keeping track of any news.

Euromillions winners reveal themselves

2009-11-08T08:38:00.001-08:00

The two Euromillions winners from Friday night’s lottery draw have claimed their money. This makes them the UK’s largest ever lottery winners. One there claims have been checked and validated they will get £45.5 million each. It’s possible that with the money they win they could become as rich as Jamie Oliver, Sir Michael Caine or Kate Moss.

With the total amount of £45,570,835.50 they could buy Portsmouth football club or a 40-acre island in the British Virgin Islands. They can also get a place in The Sunday Times Rich List, the first British lottery winners to have a place on there. One thing is that they won’t have any problems with the recession. There claims won’t be validated until tomorrow when the banks open.

The National lottery will have its fifteenth birthday this month on 19^th November. Since then they have created 2,300 millionaires. The winning numbers in Friday’s Euromillions were 11, 19, 34, 43 and 45. The lucky star numbers were five and nine. Once the wins are confirmed the new millionaires will be directed to a “winners’ adviser” who will help them negotiate with private bankers and financial advisers.

In August a former nurse had told an Edinburgh court how he had lost three or four million to a fraudulent business partnership. Another winner was investigated for benefit fraud after winning £77 million. She was forced to go into hiding after receiving death and abduction threats. She eventually bought a mansion and had state-of-the-art security and hiring separate post vans to deliver requests for money. The two recent winners are in the safe hands of experts so shouldn’t have problems. We will just have to wait and see.

Norwegian ISP won't be blocking Pirate bay

2009-11-07T03:58:00.001-08:00

A court in Norway has ruled that although The Pirate Bay is blocked by some ISP’s in six countries already it won’t be blocked by Norwegian ISP Telenor. The entertainment industry has been trying to get Telenor to block the site since February. The court has ruled that it’s better to leave the Norwegian authorities to decide whether ISP’s have to block the site.

The authorities will have to do an evaluation on whether to shut the site down or not. This is normally done by the ISP’s but they don’t have the control. Last year the judges in Denmark were convinced to force ISP Tele 2 to block access to The Pirate Bay but they refused.

The site has been ordered to remove some of its links to material but they say they can’t do this since selling the site in 2006 to a Seychelles-based company called Reservella. So The Pirate Bay is having a hard time at the moment. What bad thing will hit them next?

Argleton makes people Google eyed on Google Earth

2009-11-03T10:32:00.001-08:00

Recently people have been going on to Google Maps and Google Earth and finding a town just off the A59 called Argleton. People have been to the place where Google say it is and finding a field. Argleton doesn’t exist and the place name is strangely an anagram of “Not Real G”. But people have found businesses that apparently run there. The person who first noticed this mistake, Mike Nolan said "I grew up in the area and spotted on the map one day that it said 'Argleton'," he says. "But it's just a farmer's field close to the village hall and playing fields. I think a footpath goes across the field, but that's all. The name 'Argleton' is similar to 'Aughton'. Maybe someone made a mistake when keying in the name?".

This was noticed more than a year ago but it has only been noticed by lots of people now. The name Aughton was what Mike thought might be what they had replaced it with but you can still find Aughton on Google Earth and Maps. This remains a mystery to many people but we will have to wait and see what happens next.

Fireworks mark 1000 Days till the Olympics in London

2009-11-01T06:21:00.001-08:00

Last night at the BT tower there was a fireworks display to mark one-thousand days till the London 2012 Olympics. They have also had an electronic information band installed that will countdown the opening ceremony. The enormous band is round the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh floors. BT is a sponsor for the games and the event was shown on BBC One’s The National Lottery Draw Show. Dame Kelly Holmes had the job of pressing the button to set off the whole display.

Sebastian Coe, the chairman of London 2012 said: “Reaching 1,000 days to go gives us an opportunity to celebrate.” In the last couple of days there has also been the launch of the first Corgi London 2012 toy and a badge to mark the occasion which are both on sale a Hamley’s toy store. The launch of the BT Road to 2012 Project was on Friday. The project is some portraits of the people who play a role in London 2012 that will be going on display at the National Portrait Gallery. The Next event like this will be on December 3^rd which will be one-thousand days till the Paralympic Games. I will hopefully be reporting on that.

Police car turned spooky for Halloween

2009-10-31T12:36:00.001-07:00

A Police car owned by Surrey Police has been re-decorated especially for Halloween and Bonfire Night. The patrol car was changed from its normal colours of blue and white to pumpkin orange. This is all part of an effort to stop anti-social behaviour on Halloween and Bonfire night. The car is decorated with ghosts and will be going round the county for the next fortnight.

Superintendent Colin Green is coordinating the operation on behalf of police, fire and trading standards. Shops that have been selling fireworks have also been reminded not to sell them to anyone under the age of eighteen. They have also been asked not to sell large amounts of flour or eggs to people who they think may use them to damage property. Will the plan to stop this bad behaviour work? We will hopefully be seeing how the plan works over the Next two weeks.

Jedward May not perform on X Factor

2009-10-31T07:22:00.001-07:00

The two X Factor twins (John and Edward) have had to go to a clinic on Harley Street in London for sore throats and have now had treatment for them and might still be performing on tonight’s live show. This is because the doctor has said for them not to talk. They are planning to perform Queen’s We will rock you. Doctors say it isn’t swine flu. Fans have been turning up outside the X Factor house to see the two twins.

Simon Cowell said he will get the fastest plane out to the UK if the twins get the top spot. At the moment he is busy trying to defend Danyl Johnson after he was called a bully. Danyl was accused of picking on Stacey for leaving her son at home. She was called a bad mother. We aren’t sure whether the twins will perform but if they do it will be fun.

Pirate Bay faces possible shut down

2009-10-31T04:43:00.001-07:00

A court in Stockholm in Sweden has ordered The Pirate Bay to pay fine or shut down. This is because of illegal file sharing on The Pirate Bay website. The website if they will have to pay 71,500 dollars. But the owners have left the country and are claiming that they are no longer in charge of the site. They have challenged the lawyers to prove that they are wrong. The owners had apparently previously considered leaving the country and setting up a shop in Argentina or Russia.

Pirate Bay admin claim that they don’t actually own the website. The website is apparently in the hands of a company called Reservella which is a company that no one knows who owns it. The Pirate Bay says that they sold off the company to reduce their legal risk. The site is already blocked by ISP’s in Denmark, Italy, Ireland, the UK, Mainland China and The Netherlands. So what will happen to the site? We will be keeping track of anything to do with this and will keep you updated when news comes in.

World’s Largest rubber band ball goes on display

2009-10-31T01:45:00.001-07:00

The world’s largest rubber band ball goes on display soon and has been transported from it’s home to a museum in Florida where it will be displayed. The ball is 118kg and it has taken six years to complete the 2.1 meter tall ball. The owner of the ball said “It’s the world’s largest and the world record is going to be hard to break”. He was glad that it was going on display for everyone to see. He also said it was sad to see it go but it will be seen by lots of people.

The ball is made up of more than 300,000 bands and he plans on adding 2000 more. The ball will be on show at Ripley’s Believe it or not museum who are based in Orlando who are a museum that deals in bizarre events and items that are so strange that people have questioned whether they are real.

The former record holder was Steve Milton who lived in Eugene, Oregon. He created a 4,600 lb ball using 175,000 rubber bands. The ball of bands is now going to be on show at the museum but it will still be near enough for him to go and see it. Also it will now be seen by lots of other people which will maybe show that what some people think isn’t real can be possible!

School boy ordered to take his TV aerial down

2009-10-29T10:23:00.001-07:00

Nicky Chamberlain who lives in London had a knock on his door from Government official asking him to take down his TV aerial. This is because his aerial is a booster aerial with a stronger signal. They explained it wasn’t a danger but for safety reasons they had to take it down. Nicky said he was frustrated because a man he hadn’t met before can tell him whether he can watch TV. He said he was quite annoyed when he found out. it was shocking to him as they have had that aerial a long time and it suddenly it causes problems for such giant things.

Ofcom (Office of Communications) said “This isn’t a common problem, but it does happen occasionally. The aerials are sometimes quite cheap or badly constructed and sometimes go wrong.”

According to Ofcom, pilots coming into land at the airport kept losing contact with the control tower because his aerial was transmitting on the same frequency as the cockpit radios. Pilots had to change the frequency quick to gain back communication with the control tower. The problem was first noticed on October 6^th when a plane’s flight path went over Nicky’s house and it lost contact while flying over the house. Nicky said he was upset but it was better than causing a plane to crash. Ofcom ordered them to dispose of the aerial in the bin.

This will leave Nicky having to try to get the remote from his brothers and sisters downstairs now. Hard luck Nicky.

John and Edward still in X Factor

2009-10-26T11:46:00.001-07:00

Despite X Factor group John and Edward being unpopular with some people they are still in the competition and are the last remaining group. Some explanations for why people have voted for them are that they enjoy watching their fun performances, while others think people vote for them to keep them in so the judges get angry. On Saturday they performed She Bangs by Ricky Martin, The Judges said it was some performance and they are the luckiest brothers ever. They were also called two of the nicest kids Cheryl has ever met, she also said that they are becoming her guilty pleasure. Simon said he didn’t think he could do it anymore but gave them credit for putting on a show but when he thought of the competition being for singing he called it appalling. Though Louis said it was their best performance yet.

Ex-Busted singer James Bourne has said he wants to work with John and Edward after the X Factor has finished. He wrote on his twitter “I wanna write a smash for Jedward.” He then said “if you read this come and write with me!” He also said that if they did a song it would go to No.1. James had worked with X Factor contestant Eoghan Quigg on his song 28,000 Friends for his album. Worldwide that sold over 30,000.

X Factor contestants record new charity single

2009-10-26T00:07:00.001-07:00

The X Factor Final 12 will release a cover of Michael Jackson’s You are not alone for sick children. The money will go to Great Ormond Street Hospital. Although some acts have gone out already they will still be in it. The song will be performed on the results show on Sunday 15^th November and is released the next day. The song went to number one in 1995 and will hopefully get number one again.

Last years charity single was a cover of Mariah Carey’s Hero raised more than one million pounds for Help for Heroes and we hope it will do just as well this year. Louis Walsh said “I implore everyone to go out and buy it to help such a worthy cause.”

Above is a picture of them recording the single at Abbey Road Studios which was established in 1931 by the record company EMI. Artists such as Oasis, XTC and Green Day have recorded there but not just groups. Solo artists that have recorded there include Cliff Richard, Gnarls Barkley and Colbie Caillat and now X Factor contestants.

Heroes was also the fastest selling charity record in a decade so let’s see if this year we can break anymore records and by that I don’t mean the CDs with the song on. Keep checking back for more X Factor News and updates on the charity single!

UK Singles Sales at Record High

2009-10-24T11:08:00.001-07:00

2009 has been a very good year for singles sales. So far this year around 117 million singles have been sold in shops all around the UK. Artists such as Lady Gaga, Black Eyes Peas and La Roux have been amongst the top five artists for singles sales. Not only has the record been broken (and I don’t mean CDs by Records), the number is still increasing with ten weeks left till Christmas. The big question is who will get the Christmas No.1? The way we get music in the last couple of years has changed as more and more people are buying music digitally online. 98 in every 100 CDs or songs are downloads. When I Gotta Feeling came out it went to No.1 in almost every country.

Most of the top five have had number ones in lots of countries but In for the kill by La Roux had massive single sales but didn’t get anywhere past 11 in the charts in other countries. Although it did come in at Number 2 in the UK charts.

Some singles have sold well but some haven’t but in the end for Artists who have released singles have come together and made up this brilliant achievement.

Chris Hoy wins Sprint Title after injury

2009-10-24T06:37:00.001-07:00

Triple gold Olympic medallist Sir Chris Hoy has made a phenomenal return to competitive cycling. He has won his first British Sprint title. He has returned to cycling after having a hip injury from a crash. He beat defending champion Matt Crampton in the 200 metres final. He also set a new track record time of 9.99 seconds. He said he was really pleased with it. They have had the world championships there three times and no one has gone that fast. They had the championships at the Manchester Velodrome three times now and this is the first time someone has gone that fast.

He was in the competition with some of the cyclists that competed with in the Beijing Olympics such as the three brothers Jason, Kenny and Ross Edgar but beat them.

Mcfly Played up high in the sky

2009-10-22T11:10:00.001-07:00

Some NASA astronauts got the chance to listen to some Mcfly music while they orbited earth. It was played a wake up song for the people in the National Space station. This is after fans of the band kept asking NASA on their Twitter page. Thirty-five of the fans were given the chance to speak to the astronauts but they just wanted the song to be played. Danny Jones said on his Twitter that it was “a dream come true”. In later tweets to NASA they sent a thank you saying “Thank you for playing our song in space. It’s definitely one of the coolest things that’s happened since being in a band… Amazing.”

Here is the Video

The song went straight to No.1 in 2006 but this is much more of an achievement to have your song played in space.

Martin Stanyer Pulls a cracker for ASBAH

2009-10-22T09:07:00.001-07:00

Martin Stanyer from Naked Sunday is raising money for ASBAH (Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus) by releasing his new CD called Pull my cracker. He wrote the song in 2008 and it will be released soon. It will be selling for two pounds and has two other songs on it. One with a very strange name but I won’t reveal what it is and you will have to buy the CD to find out. It’s available to download on MEmusic for 79p. You can also support him on the Facebook group called Christmas song pull my cracker by Martin Stanyer. You can also preview it on that site. If you search pull my cracker on YouTube you should be able to find the video of him performing it.

This is a picture of him Performing his song that has come from his video on YouTube. I asked him why he had done the single and he answered saying “yes the reason i have done the song is because i had a sister who had Spina Bifida and died at 6 weeks, and so 30 years on i thought it was time to raise some awareness and make some money for the charity.”

He is only selling the CDs in Stafford but you can download it online and the information for that is earlier in the article. I hope the CD does well and I will be keeping you up to date with the latest on his new song as it comes so keep a look out!!

Blue Peter Kicks off it’s appeal

2009-10-21T11:38:00.001-07:00

CBBC show Blue Peter are launching their new appeal which will help children in India born with a cleft which is a gap in their lip or the roof of their mouth. Although they are very common they are also easy to cure but that’s where Blue peter will help. The appeal asks for people to send in old clothes. The old clothes can be made into gowns for the children to wear while being treated. This will save money that can be spent so more kids can be treated.

Pop band The Saturdays have got involved too. You can decorate the gowns as each gown costs £3 and an operation costs £150. There are places round the country to drop them off, for example in your local PC world store. For every fifty gowns sent in, one more child can be treated. There will be events happening around the UK for you to come to decorate and customize the Clothes although it’s mainly T-shirts that they want.

Blue Peter have teamed up with Operation Smile who are a non-profit medical service organization based in Norfolk, Virginia in the US but still help people with cleft lips and palates. So far they have performed surgery to get rid of clefts on over 100,000 children and young adults in 30 different countries. So they are a very good thing to raise money for.

The Simpsons celebrate their 20th Birthday

2009-10-20T11:16:00.001-07:00

The Simpsons is celebrating its twentieth birthday this week. In those twenty years it has achieved a lot. It’s America’s longest running sitcom, animation and prime – time series. Although Matt Groening always thought the show would be a success he said it felt weird. He felt it was strange but happy about it.

Fans in America are getting the chance to create a new character that will appear in early 2010. If you look at what the Simpsons were like when they first came on our screens in 1989 they look a lot better.

Then Now

Since 2000 they have had their own star on the Hollywood walk of fame. The show has won twenty-five Primetime Emmy Awards, twenty-six Annie Awards and a Peabody Award. It has also been named the 20^th century’s best television series. Homer has also been voted No.1 in The 100 Greatest TV characters. It’s had lots of good comments but none of them as good the greatest TV show of all time by Empire Magazine.

Over the years it’s had its criticisms and Awards but it’s still one of my favourite TV shows. Is it your favourite?

Postal Strike due on Thursday

2009-10-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

If you’re expecting any post in the next couple of days you might be a bit disappointed when you here that post men and women around the UK will be going on strike as from 22 October. This is because of workers are unhappy about how much they are paid. Its left nine million letters and parcels stuck in the sorting offices. The strike is because the Royal Mail has had to change some things because less Letters and parcels are being sent because of more people using the internet to stay in touch.

Although this is a problem the bosses and workers don’t agree on how to solve the problem. There have already been smaller regional strikes. Apparently the strikes will be over 48 hours so this isn’t too bad but if it’s longer than that it could cause problems. What do you think of the strike?

Postal strike for Post men and women in the UK

2009-10-19T23:55:00.001-07:00

Although this is a problem the bosses and workers don’t agree on how to solve the problem. There have already been smaller regional strikes. Apparently the strikes will be over 48 hours so this isn’t to bad but if it’s longer than that it could cause problems. What do you think of the strike?

Tommy Cooper's face found on a pie

2009-10-19T09:50:00.001-07:00

A pie sold in a chip shop in Caerphilly in Wales had a symbol of the comedian Tommy Cooper. Tommy was in fact born in the town it was sold. Mr. Jones who bought the pie had phoned the pies makers Peters Pies so that they could record his strange pie.

He said he was about to eat his pie with chips and peas and noticed the symbol on the bottom of the pie. He got his daughter to check and had got a picture just in case no one believed him. Tommy was famous for having a red fez and always getting tricks wrong on purpose.

This is a picture of the pie which I had to rotate to make out the face but you don’t have to because I’ve done it for you. It’s quite hard to make out but there is actually a face there with the fez. Can you?

Windows 7: Is it as good as it looks?

2009-10-19T09:45:00.001-07:00

Windows 7 may be the new operating system but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be brilliant, For example some of the features in Windows Vista that I like they have removed and it has taken several beta versions for them to actually release it. Plus the system requirements for the graphics card are very specific and could cause problems for people. I will be looking at the good and bad bits of this new OS. It will be released on disc on October 22, 2009. This is the final version and not the simple versions that were available to download online but it’s not all bad. There are several really useful features. If you have too many windows you can simply grab and shake the top of the windows and it will minimize. You can also snap windows into place so that you can view one on each side of the screen. They have also brought back compatibility for some XP applications.

The new feature for playing music will now let you preview before you play in a smaller window. You can now stream music directly to other computers. This will also let you listen to music in larger not connected speakers. If you have a touch screen enabled screen you can use it to navigate round your computer now.

Although so far Windows 7 hasn’t had many problems it looks as though XP users trying to upgrade will have problems. To upgrade users using XP will have to back up all their files and programs and swipes the hard drive first. Also the new system isn’t cheap. It will cost you around $200 just to but the upgrade.

It has to compete with Apple Macs new operating System though. The new Mac OS X Snow Leopard was released earlier but a new version of it was release this month. In my opinion I’m sticking with Vista for a while because they have taken some things off that I liked about Vista and it’s also expensive and I can wait until the price has gone down.