Math-&-crochet book wins odd title award
March 26, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
A book charting the frontier between handicrafts and geometry on Friday won Britain’s quirkiest literary award, the Diagram Prize for year’s oddest book title.
‘Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes’ by mathematician Daina Taimina beat runners-up ‘What Kind of Bean is This Chihuahua?’ and ‘Collectible Spoons of the Third Reich.’ Read more
UK trade deficit widens to biggest in 17 months
March 9, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
The UK’s trade gap in goods and services widened to £3.8bn, compared with £2.6bn in December.
“There is no doubt that the sharpest fall in the value of sterling since the war happened at a bad time for exporters to make the most of it,” she said
The trade gap in physical goods widened to £7.99bn, well above the £7bn economists had forecast.
Meanwhile, December’s figure was revised down to £7bn from its original £7.3bn.
Former British spy arrested for selling secrets
March 3, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
A former MI6 spy stole top secret files on intelligence gathering techniques and offered to sell them for 2 million pounds (USD 2.9 million) to an unspecified foreign government, a prosecutor said today.
Prosecutor Piers Arnold told a London court that Daniel Houghton, 25, is alleged to have attempted to sell the highly classified documents, but was arrested Monday after British intelligence posed as the potential buyer.
Houghton was not asked to enter a plea during a brief hearing.
Arnold said Houghton, who is a dual Dutch and British national, is accused of copying top secret files from the domestic agency MI5 to CD and DVDs while working for the MI6 overseas intelligence service between September 2007 and May 2009.
He did not specify what job Houghton had with MI6, but said the alleged attempted sale came after he left the agency.
Support Disaster Relief in Chile
March 3, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
On February 27, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck Chile. Join recovery efforts mobilizing around the world to assist earthquake victims. Your donation will help disaster victims rebuild their lives and their communities.
The following organizations are accepting SMS donations in the US only:
- SMS text “CHILE” to 25383 to donate $10 to Habitat for Humanity
- SMS text “CHILE” to 20222 to donate $10 to World Vision
- SMS text “REBUILD” to 50555 to donate $10 to Operation USA
- SMS text “YOUTH” to 20222 to donate $10 to UNICEF