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Not so fast, rocket man
Another year, another jet pack story.
It seems that a new company, the suitably exciting-sounding Thunderbolt Aerosystems Inc of California, is attempting to usher in the next chapter of our rocket-fuelled future.
Emission you already
Petrolheads might remember Vauxhall’s Calibra coupe with some fondness. Quick and sleek, it was a huge success for the company in the early 1990s, until discontinued in the face of newer competition in 1997.
Wood: that it were
There were dire warnings against taking wood from the Ice Prince away from the south coast beaches where it washed up, but if Brighton and Hove is anything to judge by the coastguard needn’t have worried.
Monty’s Cuban revolution
Despite the warm winter, it still feels like a long slog to spring. But Monty Don might persuade us into the garden over the next few weeks.
Last night saw the first installment of his news series Around the World in 80 Gardens and the Cuban interlude was particularly rousing.
Out in the greenwash
Unless you’ve been living on Mars for the past couple of years, you will have seen an explosion of advertising designed to appeal to our burgeoning sense of environmental awareness.
Whether it’s lower temperatures while washing clothes or the promise of money for good causes, green is big news.
Biofuel – a double whammy for Brazil’s rainforest?
Back in August 2007, Brazil’s government announced what appeared to be pretty good news for the environment: the rate at which the country’s huge rainforest was being chopped down had fallen by 25%.
Life on Mars?
Plenty of cultures across the world have a legendary ape-like creature such as bigfoot or the yeti. Reported sightings have ranged from North America, mainland China, Tibet and even as far as Australia, but until now they have at least been confined to one planet.
Car tax tricks
Ok, hands up anyone who’s not quite managed to renew their car tax on time.
Went on holiday? Couldn’t get hold of the right documents? Queue at the Post Office too long perhaps?
Timber!
There’s a certain mystique to the flotsam and jetsam that washes up on beaches, and occasionally there’s more than a little excitement. Last January, when the MSC Napoli was beached in Lyme Bay, containers making landfall around Branscombe contained anything from nappies or BMW motorbikes, through to one poor woman’s belongings.
Free-range chicken campaign: battered but unbowed
The free-range chicken debate rolls on, like a long egg dropped on a steep hill.
In recent days we’ve seen some feathers fly - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was accused of allowing birds to be “treated more cruelly” than standard poultry farms during his intensive farming experiment (rebutted in detail on the Chicken Out! website).
