Sherlock Showcases Squandered Stash

Every year thousands of items are lost on buses, trains, tubes and in taxis, unsurprising in London, a metropolis with over 8 million inhabitants.

That new smartphone that you were proudly displaying to your companions; the umbrella left under a seat and promptly remembered once back outside under the rain clouds; the hat that was too hot to wear once inside and sheltered from the cold; the teddy that the crying child just realised went all the way to the end of the line.

All these sorts of items turn up to the Lost Property Office in their thousands, and most have a banal or explainable story behind them. For others, however, this certainly is not the case.

I'm always at a loss to understand how people can leave behind certain pieces of clothing. Do they remove their trousers on the tube and walk home in their underwear, or was it 'Bring a spare pair to work' Day and they just happened to slip out of a bag.

How about prosthetic limbs? A wedding dress? A lollipop man's sign? If you can come up with the reasoning for any of these then I'd love to hear it.

All of this is in light of the lost property office in Baker Street opening its doors for its 80th anniversary and showcasing some of the weird and wonderful belongings that have been forgotten on the network. The computer system used to deal with the treasure trove is very fittingly named Sherlock after this street's most famous occupant.

The good news is that a surprisingly large percentage of items are returned to their rightful owners, and the ones that don't find their way home are recycled or donated to charity whenever possible. So, be comforted by knowing that one chappy has been made happy by the tearful toddler's loss.

For more information and some interesting pictures follow this link.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-30213457

Che Guevara Hugo Chavez and Cologne

The release of perfume rarely hits the front pages, even if Posh Spice or George Clooney are endorsing it.

However, two rather unlikely male models have been posthumously promoting a Cuban perfumery's latest scents to much discontent, and even a ban, in the country.

Whilst many think that these revolutionary symbols are almost divine and that this act is a form of political blasphemy, others have seen the lighter side.

I have to admit that I'm not sure who would be enticed into buying colognes honouring a rather overweight, middle-aged statesman and a guerilla leader who spent 9 months travelling and smelling of motorbikes.

The Che Guevara eau de cologne was woodsy with tangs of refreshing citric odours and talcum powder, whilst the Venezuelan leader's displayed fruitier scents.

All in all a rather bizarre set of creations, blown way out of proportion by the prohibiting of these perfumes and the call from some quarters to prosecute the apparent 'offenders'.


Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-29396873

Royal Birth Announced - Kate expects second child

It was announced today that The Duchess of Cambridge is pregnant and expecting her second child.

Whilst it is not going to be the groundbreaking event like last year that caused more than just a flurry in the media, no doubt much attention will be garnered as the weeks and months progress.

In a similar vein to her first child, the pregnancy has had to be revealed early due to Catherine's bouts of violent morning sickness that have caused royal officials to cancel some of her obligations.

Another royal birth signals the increasing distance between Prince Harry and the throne; when the child is born he will demoted another place to fifth in line, behind his father Prince Charles, his brother William, and William's son George and the next arrival.

Premier League, transfers and Suarez

With the new Premier League season just around the corner, in fact even closer than that - just 4 days away - pundits and fans alike have been commenting on the upcoming footballing marathon and trying to predict results based on the summer transfer window's deals.

The biggest transfer of the summer was Luis Suarez's £75m move from Liverpool to Barcelona in the wake of his third biting scandal. Liverpool's successful 2013/14 season led to Champions League qualification for the first time since 2009, mainly thanks to Suarez's scintillating form and goal tally of 31.

Liverpool have dipped, or rather plunged, into the market over the past few months, buying a number of players in an attempt to counteract Suarez's departure and manager Brendan Rogers has signalled his intent to attract a few more names before the transfer window closes.

How will they cope with extra midweek games without their star performer and with an ageing captain who clearly won't play every match? Only time will tell, but the pressure will be on the likes of Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Stirling to up their game, and the need for the newbies to fit in quickly is evident.

Tottenham had a similar situation with Gareth Bale at the start of last season. 7 new big names couldn't help Tottenham last season, as they scored fewer goals than Bale did in 2012/13. Liverpool must get it right where Spurs got it wrong or the recent success might be undone all thanks to one massive transfer.

On a separate note, Barcelona's strike force of Messi, Neymar and Suarez looks unmatchable. With the big names at Real Madrid too, the Premier League's recent domination of European football and its tag as the most exciting league in the world might well be lost to the Spanish upsurge.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/28421516

Overworking managers, underpaid workers?

It was announced this week that 90% of managers continue their duties outside office hours with up to 13% racking up a whole two days' worth of work per week, which of course is unpaid.

The rapid rise of technology not only means that emails and phone calls can be dealt with at home or on the move, but also a whole host of other tasks, such as research, planning or simply anything computer-based, can be performed whenever necessary. This includes at 10pm on a Tuesday evening, or on a supposedly lazy Sunday afternoon. Even worse whilst on holiday.

This isn't to say that it's only managers who are affected. Many workers will do overtime, pass up lunch breaks or see their weekends vanish before them in an attempt not just to meet deadlines and keep clients happy but also to go above and beyond what's expected in order to impress their seniors.

The question that has to be asked revolves around whether this is fair or not. Seemingly the traditional 9-5 job no longer exists - just ask a teacher how much marking, planning and preparation they are required to do once the school day ends. Should employees and managers alike be filling in timesheets to note every minute of work out of office, or would this just take up more time unnecessarily? Should smartphones be switched off and laptops be shut down at 5:30pm sharp, and remain so until 9am the next working day? Or, on the other hand, should workers continue how they currently are, but then they be entitled to extra days of holiday each year?

These are valid points that companies will need to address at some point in the future. Happy and healthy staff are invariably more motivated, positive and efficient; overworked people less so, and are more prone to stress problems and work-life balance issues.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28220312

Suarez - dentally unstable!

Can football forgive Luis Suarez for the third time?

In case you missed it, the mischievous Uruguayan striker took a bite out of Giorgio Chiellini's shoulder. And he has history: once for Ajax in November 2010, again in April 2013 when playing for Liverpool and then once more today.

Let me state that I am a Liverpool fan and a huge admirer of Suarez. I think, like many others, that he is a hugely talented player, one of the best in the world, and who is capable of propelling a side to Champions League qualification and almost to winning the Premier League.

Many footballers have issues, and often the best ones are the most scrutinised which certainly doesn't help. Take, for example, Paul Gascoigne, John Terry, Joey Barton. The list could go on. The footballing world is shocked by their behaviour both on and off the field, yet they have all had differing misdemeanours pardoned.

Suarez's problem is the simple fact that he hasn't learnt from his mistakes and has repeated his offense.

So where does he go from here?

Well, to start with a huge ban will be facing him. Some have called for him never to play international football again but this seems exaggerated. And Fifa couldn't impose a ban that would affect his club career - that would unjustly punish Liverpool who have had no hand in this. A large fine won't solve much considering he earns a six-figure salary each week! A rehabilitation programme might. Potential moves to Barcelona or Real Madrid may now have been scuppered, with these top sides not wanting their brands tarnished by his murky past.

What will be harder to put right is the inevitable lack of respect for him that will ensue. No longer will on-field actions suffice to earn fans' and other players' appreciation and reverence.

After his 10 match ban which spanned the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, Suarez won the PFA Player's Player of the Year award. Even if he nets 40 goals and Liverpool win the title, I can't see that being repeated after this evening's incident.

Maybe he should have his teeth taken out, and get a sturdy set of dentures for use only off the pitch!

Fifa World Cup - Superstars, Messi, Ronaldo and last minute wonders

This fascinating World Cup just keeps on giving and giving and giving!

With big upsets, close encounters, heavy thrashings and underdog stories, what more could you ask for?

Recent games have shown two things: the old adage that giving 110% really does make a difference and take you far, however you can't underestimate the value of having a world-beating superstar in your lineup.

Let's look at the Argentina v Iran and USA v Portugal games.

Argentina's glittering side of match winners, millionaires and household names was expected to crush the hardworking but less talented Iran team. The Middle Eastern side fought until the end, but faced with three-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi, they could not stop a final moment of brilliance from him in added time.

Pundits were predicting a more evenly matched tie between the States and Portugal. It's fair to say, though, that few thought that the Americans would be winning with 90 seconds of additional time left on the clock. The USA in this situation did not bargain for last gasp heroics from the world's second most expensive player. Cometh the hour (or rather the 94th minute) cometh the man. An ineffectual and demonstrably unfit Ronaldo stepped up to deliver a wonderful, pinpoint cross which Silvestre Varela duly converted to keep his country alive in the group.

USA gave everything and produced a fabulous display that rightly made manager Jurgen Klinsmann proud, but their immense effort and togetherness was undone at the end by their naivety in possession and inspiration from the genius right boot of Portugal's number 7.

Maybe a superstar is what England lack, despite their strong squad of players, and would have made a difference between 2-1 losses and progressing further in Brazil.

Dirty Olympics?

Today the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro announced that the bay where sailing will take place in the 2016 Summer Olympics will not be cleaned as once promised. Guanabara Bay, one of the world's most iconic expanses of water, suffers from a serious pollution problem despite its paradisiacal appearance on holiday brochures and tourism websites.

A cleaner area of the bay will play host to the races in just over two years, and Mr Paes has reassured athletes that they will face no risk in competing there. Beautiful beaches surround the bay, yet people are warned against bathing in the water because of the high levels of pollution. Search for Guanabara Bay in Google images and the engine kindly offers 'Guanabara Bay pollution' as a related search.

The bay is often compared to a sewer, and the Brazilian government's failure to completely clean it up will appall foreigners but will come as no surprise to the 10 million inhabitants of the metropolis.

It begs the questions of where the government's priorities lie. With the World Cup starting in Brazil in a matter of days, the pressure has been on to build stadiums and infrastructure as well as dealing with nationwide social issues. The tidying up and clearing out of dirt and crime ridden favelas has garnered much attention, maybe to the detriment of the environment. The International Olympic Committee does have a history of this; the situation brings back memories of Beijing 2008 and the controversy around the city's terrible smog problem.

What's more, the IOC's seemingly benevolent motives for bringing the Olympic Games to Rio are now even being called into question...

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-27752499

The Existential Question of Hand Drying

In life there are some pretty important questions: why are we here? Is there a god? How did the earth start?

Well, new evidence was recently discovered to support the Big Bang Theory which, although far from conclusive, may lead to the further unraveling of this conundrum.

However, I'd like to focus on an issue much closer to our hearts, minds and more precisely hands. In an attempt to protect the environment and stop the poor polar bears from being stranded on their ever smaller blocks of ice, sanitary companies have invented high-powered super-efficient hand dryers. "Fantastic!" I hear you say. Not only do they vastly reduce paper waste, they also dry your hands more quickly. They are great, and save us the need to sprinkle the floor with drips and then finish off the drying process on our jeans.

Phoebe the Polar Bear's future has therefore been safeguarded. But hold on. Why is there a blue LED light shining on my hands? Do I not know they are there? Can I not feel the hot air on my hands, and perceive when they are dry already? I do not need a 'visible indication of the drying zone' as one manufacturer kindly points out, to undertake this exercise satisfactorily.

Admittedly LEDs use very little energy, but why not go the whole hog and remove them, potentially saving a huge quantity of watts?

Even more radically, do away with hand dryers completely and we can all revert to wiping our paws on our jeans to protect Phoebe. Although, dry cleaners' ecological footprints (and revenue) might rocket up...



Image from http://www.jetdryer.com.au/jetlite-jet-dryer/

Why We Love Losing

The intriguing thing about sport is not the winning, nor the taking part, but rather the witnessing of teams rise and fall and fight back to the top again. There are copious examples over the years in all types of sport, whether it be individual, team, man and machine or even man and beast.

I mention this in the light of the North West football derby over the weekend. Manchester United's comprehensive defeat to Liverpool yesterday is a case in point. Since their Premiership title win last May, the descent of one of the world's most famous clubs has been more rapid and surprising than even the most pessimistic of pundits could have predicted. And yet it's nothing new. Liverpool themselves went into decline in the 90s after repeatedly trouncing teams across Europe for two decades previously. The odd purple patch did occur thereafter, (the so-called 'mickey-mouse' treble in 2001, the 2005 Champion's League victory and a closely fought second place finish in the league in 2009 - and we all know who came first that year!)

Whilst I'm not saying that United fans should anticipate 20 years of intermittent results, the reversal in fortunes of these two teams couldn't be more stark, albeit that Liverpool are yet to win anything this season. Only time will tell how the future of these two great rivals will pan out, but it is these sorts of ups and downs that fascinate football followers across the globe.

What's more, the phenomenon is not only limited to this one sport. Take Formula One for example, where for years Michael Schumacher dominated proceedings, and then Sebastian Vettel, who almost paralleled his countryman's feat of dominance more recently. Thankfully for this sport these great competitors were or will be overthrown  - the booing of Vettel last year tells you all you need to know about how fans don't like to see one individual or team dictate results season after season.

It might be a bitter pill for United fans to swallow at present, but the real, lifelong, hardy supporters will stick by their team and manager until fortunes change. And that's the thrilling thing about sport, it's what make people turn up to stadiums and switch on their TVs week after week.

It is often said that losing is a bigger test of character than winning, not just for the players and club staff, but also for the supporters. Periods of drought are what separate the true, loyal devotees from the champagne sipping, prawn sandwich eating ones.

Liverpool fans will be hoping that United undergo a lot of character building in the near future. But they should be wary, United will bounce back.

Flight MH370 - The mystery of all mysteries

Human beings tend to love mysteries. There is something in our curious nature that is aroused by riddles and conundrums. In a world where information can be found at the touch of the button and where disputes in the pub over who scored the most goals in the 1999 season exist no more thanks to Google, the disappearance of a commercial airliner is thrilling for many.

First and foremost we cannot ignore the tragic loss of the 239 people aboard flight MH370 and the plight of their friends and families. Losing someone is one thing, not knowing their fate is wholly unimaginable.

It beggars belief that in 2014, when we live in states of hyper-surveillance, where in nipping out to the local convenience stores you can be caught on camera a dozen times, an aeroplane can simply vanish. Granted there are fewer CCTV cameras at sea, but complex systems of radar, satellites, GPS and radio communication systems do exist to track planes. Even if a plane manually turns of its electronic systems, surely radar on the ground would still be able to locate a jet in the air. That was after all the aim of tracking systems developed during the war, to spot planes that did not want to be spotted. It remains a mystery to us all for the time being, and agony upon agony is heaped on those who wait tirelessly for a slither of information about their loved ones.

When Air France Flight 447 crashed off the coast of Brazil in 2009 it took almost two years to find the black box and start to piece together the fateful events. However, bodies and wreckage were discovered within five days of the accident, allowing those affected some closure on the event from an earlier stage.

Presumably over the course of the next few days, weeks and months the story behind the mystifying events will slowly unravel itself, starting with the discovery of the fuselage and followed by that of the black box. Yet one can only imagine how such a thing can come to pass in this day and age.