Ice A Lowest Levels - We're All Gonna Die!

The amount of ice in the Arctic Ocean has dropped to its second lowest level since satellite scanning began, it was revealed yesterday.

Anyone think all that satellite scanning could be to blame?

In fact every time you hear that something is the warmest since records began, I think, "Maybe all this record keeping is causing global warming. Quick, burn all the records. Hang on, no, don't burn them..."

The big meltdown has gone on despite a relatively cool summer in the region.

You know what that'll be, the council gritting again.

US scientists in Anchorage, Alaska, said losing so much ice was an “alarming” alert on global warming and was further destroying the habitat of polar bears.

Meanwhile Amy Winehouse is worried. A shortage of ice could really screw her up. What would she put in her drinks then?

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Languages

If you stop to think about it, isn't it odd that there are so many languages on the planet? We're humans, nearly everything we have done and achieved has been the result of communication, yet we speak so many different languages.

That's why I think translation is the business to be in. As the world gets smaller in the future more people will need translation.

If you need some translation services now have a look at the PROMT Automatic Translation Solutions at www.promt.com.

Promt provide automated translation software, and they cover 7 different languages. And they are English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Russian. So communication could be flowing a lot better for you very soon. Because it is automated the wait time is minimal. And if a communication is important I guess there's someone who doesn't want to be kept waiting. That someone might even be you.

It's not just for business users either. The Promt system can be useful for the home users. If you need to contact someone abroad, for example you're booking hotels a lot, something like this could make your emails get a lot further.

But it clearly does have some very important business applications. If you can translate you can do business with far more people.

Konnie Huq Dresses Men

Konnie Huq is offering all fed-up girlfriends advice on how to style their men. She's going to be doing a show called "Thread".

I'm always weary of people trying to improve their partners. Don't you worry that you'll meet someone, think they have potential but need work, you help them out, make them more attractive, and then they'll leave you because they can do better now?

She'll be taking to the streets of London to quiz men about their clothes, and then she'll help them pick the most flattering outfits for their shape.

Don't do it in London, that's where the stylish people already are. Go to some local village were they only have electricity and see what you can do there.

The men will still look as bad, but the scarecrow will be well dapper.

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3GP Anyone?

When it comes to file extensions I thought I was the daddy. I could spot an exe miles off. I knew my mp3s from my m4as and I always have the option in Windows set to show you the file extensions on the known file types, because I'm like that.

But what about the file extension 3gp? I drew a blank. But I found out that it is for multimedia files in general (video files specifically).

It's a new one, so I don't feel so bad about not really knowing it. If you want to read what I read about it have a look at http://3gp.file-extension-library.com/

World's Biggest Food Fight

I can't believe I missed it. The Tomatina festival was held a few days ago. That's where thousands of people from all over the world gathered in Bunol, Spain, for the annual food fight.

It's like the end of that Carry On film, only with fewer jokes about boobs.

They hurled an incredible 115,000kg of tomatoes in just an hour. And tomatoes are good for you, they're full of antioxidants. Of course, getting one thrown into your nads might not be the best way to get the health benefits from it.

You look at the pictures and you think, "It's a bit of a waste of time, and the cost of food is on the increase, so it's a waste" but you have to remember this is Spain. Anything that keeps them so busy they don't have time to kill some bulls or throw a goat from a tower, has to be a good thing.

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Go To Beds

We get work experience people here from time to time, and when they are school people it's rubbish, but when it's university people, they're really good.

The last one was from the University of Bedfordshire (just up the road from us). And as we are in the clearing process you should check out to see what courses they have.

To read about University of Bedfordshire -Clearing 2008 have a look at www.beds.ac.uk.

It's ongoing till the middle of September, but better do it sooner rather than later, because you don't want the course that you want to get full without you.

Get cracking right now, call them on 0800 013 0925. And if you fancy work experience later, give us a call too.

Olympic Winner

Olympic winner Rebecca Adlington returned to Mansfield where 15,000 people turned up to congratulate her, and they bought her some gold high-heel shoes worth £450. Brilliant!

But it really shows how the people from Mansfield are tight. That works out at 3p each in a whip-round. How stingy is that?

You see, the thing is, Mansfield is my home town, and to see someone from the same place as me achieve so much and return home for a hero's welcome in an odd feeling.

But don't worry, when I got back I get the same welcome. I look great in those shoes too.

Get In The Game

A lot of people get their kicks from gambling on the web in an online casino. Whether it be playing blackjack or trying your hand at roulette, there's fun to be hand, and it seems like it's always someone else getting that fun.

You hear of people talking to their friends about what they were doing online in the casinos last night and you think, "I want to get in on that."

The tricky thing is, if you have never gambled on a certain game on the web you can feel you don't know where to start to get into it.

Even if you used to do it, the rate at which the world of online gambling is evolving, you can easily feel out of it.

That's why I thought I'd mention the www.gamblerhowto.com site. That site has information on issues like strategies, table games, online casino tips, and on how you can play free bingo win money. They talk about the web-based online casinos and how you go about downloading an online casino game to play on your PC.

Plus on the right-hind side of the page there's the casino news section, so there's always something when you go there that you can read.

So if you want to get back in the game, or just get in the game for the first time, go and have a look at www.gamblerhowto.com.

Stevie's Log 220808

Another day in the life of an IT fixer.

We didn't have email coming in or going out of the building. Well, day one: now outgoing mail. Day two: no incoming or outgoing mail. Day three: fixed.

Eventually we tracked it down to the IP address for the SMTP server had changed, and we weren't using the DNS for it, for some reason.

I know what you're thinking, that only explains the outgoing mail's blockage.

Well, it's amazing what you can switch off while you're trying to fix something else. Oops!

Adult Learning

At the moment on the radio station I present on we have some 'reads' to do. These are where you read out something to advertise a product or service. It's like a getting an advert, just without the production cost I guess.

One of them is about ALG, the Adult Learning Grant. I love the idea of going back to studying. In part it is because I secretly would like to think that adult education is the informative cousin of adult entertainment. But mainly I think it is because I would do better as a student these days.

You see, today, thanks to websites like custom-writing.org you can get some help in getting those good grades.

They are a professional essay writing service for students. They produce work that, after a little re-write to make the work your own, you can submit and get a good grade. The work you get from them is '100% plagiarism free', and that means you work won't be flagged up as copied from the internet (oh yes, the colleges check that these days).

It's not just essay help they off, they can also write research papers, work for your dissertation, they can do a book review, or even knock up the work into a Powerpoint Presentation for a project you have to do.

If I went back to education, I'd use that. It's like having a study partner who's really clever, but who won't steal your thunder in the lessons.

Stevie's Log 180809

There's a guy in town today who was in the shopping centre selling balloon animals. The kids were queuing up and loving it. I didn't get one because I know what I'm like.

Man: What animal do you want?
Me: Sea urchin! Good luck with that!

But really, when you think about it, what are you buying from that bloke? You're buying old man breath. Sure, there's some rubber in there but you could buy those balloons elsewhere, so you're paying a premium for the old man breath.

Still, might be handy if you're stopped by the police and given a breathalyser test. You'd be off the scale on the Wurther's Original content, but fine on the drink.

Betting Time

If you're up for some casino action you should check out Casino-on-Net.

They won so many awards back in 2007 that you are pretty much sure to have heard of them. But if you haven't got round to trying it out yet, now is a good time to do it.

At www.888.com they have recently started a new section of extra games. At the moment there are three games up there, but more will be added soon. And they have 8 progressive jackpots on the go.

Stevie's Log 040808

Back off holiday and I think I'm the only person ever who has got sunburn in the place I have it. I got it on the bottom of my shins.

So while the rest of me is lightly browned my shins are still and angry read. So now I'm back in normal work dress I look normal but the longer socks are breaking me.

I don't know what's worse, the sunburn or the people saying, "Ooooh, weren't you wearing suncream?"

I was, on every inch of me apart from the bottom of my shins. I didn't know.

So next year, to solve the problem... socks and sandals.