Apr 242012
 
Electric Car Drivers 'More Thoughtful'

This is a guest post by Robert Taylor.   Researchers at Newcastle University say electric vehicle drivers report feeling less stressed, calmer and more in control of their electric car. In addition, electric vehicles were found to emit less than half of the carbon dioxide produced by conventional combustion engine cars and grid energy is increasingly being generated by greener renewable sources. Walking slowly helps reaching the destination Despite the environmental benefits of electric vehicles however, their take-up remains slow. The government has an incentive package – the plug-in car grant – which gives customers up to £5,000 towards the

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Apr 132012
 
 April 13, 2012  Posted by at 09:52 All psychology is amateur Tagged with: , , ,  No Responses »
Happy Friday 13th! Here's What Happened Last Time...

OK, as I’m writing this, tomorrow will be Friday the 13th of April. By the time you read it, that’ll be today. I Don’t Believe In It I normally mock the whole Friday 13th superstition, mainly because there’s not much proof of it existing before the nineteenth century (and I’m pretty sure if it was really unlucky, people would have noticed before then). It all has an edge of obsessive-compulsive disorder that I don’t feel any need to engage in. And the Friday The 13th films haven’t helped it either. To be a snob about it, I think it was the

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Apr 012012
 
 April 1, 2012  Posted by at 11:00 The Picture of Machiavelli Id Tagged with: , , ,  No Responses »
Image of the Week: Risk Factory by kyz

What needs to be said about this one? It’s not the photography itself that impressed me, I admit; it’s just the concept of a Risk Factory. Is that where they make the board game? Is it the name of a nightclub I’m not cool enough to be allowed into? [In fact, it turns out to be a safety centre. Oh well.] I also thought it was particularly appropriate for posting here on April Fool’s Day. You can find more of kyz‘s work on Flickr. Want to Win Image of the Week? Send me the URL to your image, or email me

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Mar 162012
 
Depressed Scots Told to Talk to their Computer

This is a guest post by Anthony on behalf of Janet Stones Counselling.  In a confrontational move, thousands of people suffering from anxiety and depression are being moved from the therapy couch and placed in front of their own keyboards. After facing cuts in the NHS budget and high levels of stress and depression in the population, Ministers in Scotland are considering different ways to reduce the amount of scheduled appointment times. In order to reduce NHS expenditure and waiting times, patients who visit their GP with moderate symptoms may be referred to a new website. The online service will

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Jan 292012
 
Parents Who Hid Child's Gender for Five Years Now Face Backlash

This is one of the daftest things I’ve ever heard. As if having a yellow bedroom and wearing what you like could somehow psychologically damage a kid! In fact, the yellow bedroom was probably the most traumatic thing about it. Essentially, a somewhat eccentric  British couple had a baby, named him Sasha, and kept his gender a secret from most people. When he started primary school, they thought it’d be best to tell people his gender. Everyone made a big fuss about it, not really clear why. All I can say is that sex and gender aren’t quite the same

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Jan 262012
 
Unnecessary Redundancy

One of my pet hates is redundant language; I reserve the right to “really truly” for emphasis if I want to, but all that “05-hundred AM in the morning” stuff is for cock jockeys. Here’s a little visual celebration of redundancy in action:

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Jan 202012
 
Image of the Week: Win A Dream Holiday

My mate posted this on Facebook. I thought this was ironic due to the fact this paper came out only a couple of days after the Costa Concordia tragedy happened (on Friday 13th January, woo00ooo), and just above the photo of the sinking cruise ship they’ve got a big red headline offering to win a dream holiday. Mmm, I think not. I wonder if they got in trouble for this ? ***** 4nim4l ***** Want to Win Image of the Week? Send me the URL to your image, or email me the file as an attachment if you must.  I’m

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Jan 092012
 
Gun sales banned for Xbox Live Avatars

I’ve just found out on OXM online that the Gears of War Lancer and Hammerburst avatar items are no longer available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.  Apparently a new policy came into effect for all gun-like avatar accessories on the Xbox Live Marketplace from January 1, 2012. If you’ve already bought guns for your avatar, you should still have those, but it looks like you won’t be getting any more. What a load of bollocks! I am an adult Xbox 360 gamer and I don’t see the point of this ban. They put age limits on these gun games so why

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