The Great Book Of British Smiles

It's a well-known "fact" that us Brits apparently possess some of the worst sets of nashers in the the world, one perpetuated by 17th century sailors suffering from scurvy. Apparently for near four-hundred years our dental practices haven't advanced much either, until now! Prepare for this stereotype to be overturned! Can't say much for Poland though...

Nuclear Weapons On Planet Earth

click to enlarge

Frightening.

The Illusion of Choice Pt.II

So bellow you can see you don't really have much of a choice when it comes to brands, but what about that fourth estate we prize so much in the Western world? Surprise surprise, not much difference here either. Granted the above graph is very American-centric, but then here in the UK we've probably got just about as much choice with:

1. BBC
2. Channel 4
3. Rupert Murdoch (BSkyB plus The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times)
4. ITV (which BSkyB has 5% stake in)
5. Daily Mail and General Trust (The Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Ireland on Sunday, Metro as well as a large portion of regional media in addition to large shares in ITN)
6. Richard Desmond (Channel 5, OK Magazine, Daily Express, Daily Star)
7. Alexander Lebedev (The ex-KGB agent come Russian 'businessman' owns The Independent and Evening Standard)

Indeed, it's not a huge difference, really.

Rap News

On face value, this 'Kony 2012' shebang seems like a good cause, highlighting the plight of African child soldiers. But is it really just that? Or does the movement have other implications, as commentators have been pointing out over the last week? Perhaps this issue is more complex than it seems...

Hai Yoo!

North Korea's happiness index rank: China top, US bottom

May 28, 2011 02:07 AM EDT

A Chinese media, Chaoxian.com.cn, reported on Thursday that North Korea's Chosun Central TV recently released the survey result of a 'Happiness Index (Gross National Happiness) of each nation,' which was conducted in North Korea.

According to the index, the happiest country in the world is China and North Korea is ranked no. 2. Interestingly, South Korea is ranked No.152 and the U.S. ranks last at No.203.

Chaoxian.com.cn sarcastically commented that "North Korea gladly gave the no. 1 spot to China and North Korea itself ranked no. 2. North Korea must be the happiest country in the universe."

China scored 100 points and was selected as the country where the happiest people live in and North Korea with 98 points, ranked at no. 2.

The top five rankings include Cuba (no. 3, 93 points), Iran (no.4, 88 points), and Venezuela (no.5, 85 points). South Korea, with 18 points, was placed at no.152 and the U.S. ranked no. 203 with its score not marked.

Free North Korea Broadcast, a South Korea based broadcast, commented that the North Koreans who are completely brainwashed, repeatedly proclaim "We are the happiest people in the world. I will trust ‘the General’ and always follow him only."

Some readers said the ranking is wrong as it seems to survey only those people who do not know the world. Therefore, precisely speaking, the happiness index of North Korea should be not no. 2 but no. 1 in their survey. Some even commented that the those who voted were not the common people but those who held power and authority in the government of North Korea.

Many Chinese have voiced their comments on the survey. Some of them include:

This happiness index refers to the government officials' happiness index in every country. - Leshanman

I seriously doubt on the authenticity of this rank and the IQ of the North Korean people. - taiyangfan

It's a good joke! - zengfugui

(China）is the first? Maybe it means the last? Why USA ranks 203? - bond99

Hehe, Talk sheer nonsense ... - xiaoxia

There is a minus before the rank number. It's actually - 100. - yueselansha

Kim Jong Il is a real sycophant today. - baimaojin

Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/153551/20110528/north-korea-happiness-index-rank-china-top-us-bottom-photos.htm#ixzz1OSJfADPC


LULZ!

Every Nuclear Explosion, 1945 -1998

A hypnotic and mesmerising video by artist Isao Hashimoto charting every nuclear explosion between 1945 to 1998. It's an eerie spectacle and even with the numbers displayed on the screen a difficult concept to grasp. Have we really exploded that much nuclear ordnance in our atmosphere? As Mark Wilson from Gizmodo says, "As more and more countries gain nuclear technologies, the map becomes a terrifying game of Simon. By the end, it feels remarkable that we never encountered a game over...as of yet".

Chavs 1 - 1 Yanks

England kicked off their World Cup campaign to our neighbours across the pond this evening, culminating in a one-all draw (or a "tie") if you're American. Gerrard got England off to the perfect start, slotting home a lovely through ball from Heskey inside four-minutes. However, just before half time Clint Dempsey's speculative effort was fumbled by Robert Green as the ball trickled over the line.

It's never good for one's health to watch England play. Always tense, it literally shreds your nerves to smithereens and is rarely an enjoyable experience. They started off brightly enough, but Milner, having picked up a yellow card within the first 25minutes was promptly, if not surprisingly subbed with only half an hour played for Shaun Wright-Phillips. Whether this was due to worries of his continually aggressive challenges or due to the fact he was unfit having been struck down with a virus this week is unknown. To be honest, I'm not sure if Wright-Phillips was the right man to bring on. I can understand it to a certain extent; Cherundolo and Donovan were causing problems with their speed down the right and whilst Wright-Phillips was quick enough to keep pace with them, I can't help thinking that Joe Cole might have had a more considerable impact on the game. Ledley King, suffering a groin injury, was taken off at half-time as Jamie Carragher replaced him. England looked to push forward as Heskey latched on to a through ball from Lennon only to fire straight at Tim Howard. For everything else Heskey contributed to the match, this further illustrated his lack of confidence in front of goal. Rooney then played Wright-Phillips in who also blasted straight into the hands of Howard. Green did sort of, kinda, make amends for his earlier screw-up as Carragher was embarrassed by Altidore who raced past him to see his shot pushed onto the post by Green. This exposed yet another weakness in the lack of pace in the English central defence. With no Rio Ferdinand at the back it is worryingly conceivable to see fast players zipping past Terry and his partner with ease.

To be fair, the Americans are a good side and certainly no pushovers. Ever the pessimist, I was actually half expecting a major upset this evening, so a draw isn't the worst result in the world. There were some plus points. England started to look like a good side in the second half, far more imaginative but alas when the gears really started to change into place and Rooney looked a bit more lively, it was already seventy-minutes. My shock man of the match was that great big lummox Emile Heskey. He managed to win the majority of balls hoofed up to him and hold onto them particularly well. Seems his biggest contribution to England's campaign won't be his World Cup ruining fall onto team-mate Rio Ferdinand after all.

All in all I'm not too disappointed by the result. Let's remember that the USA dumped European Champions Spain out of last year's Confederations Cup after 34 games unbeaten and also lead Brazil two-nil in the final, only to succumb three-two in the end. What is a concern now though is if England can win the group. I expect them to beat Slovenia and Algeria comfortably, but I also expect the States to do the same. This will leave both teams on seven points in the group, with the winner being decided on goal difference. So if we score less than the Yanks, a Round-16 play-off against Germany looks highly likely. And we all know what happens when England play ze Germans.

So I leave you in anticipation of tomorrow's headlines in the Sun. If the last few about the game with America are anything to go by, we should be in for a treat. Perhaps not as much as if we had won though...

 Ho ho ho!