Spotted in London

Personalised number plates can be quite funny, as the above shows. Taken on a recent trip to London with my Samsung Tocco phone

The Three Body Problem

This is the funniest comic strip ever and I can't believe that as a physicist I never heard this joke before.

Street Artist and Pigeon

I was walking down Grafton Street a few days ago when I saw a street artist who was impersonating a bronze statue. The best thing... a pigeon had decided to use the statue as a perch.

Now I don't know if this was staged by the artist or not, but it really doesn't matter. People were snapping photos left, right and centre, so here's mine. Took it with my camera phone and zoomed in, so please excuse the quality

Bounty bar not distinctive.

What would you say if someone showed you the following bar of chocolate?

You'd immediately say Bounty, right?

Well apparently the Bounty bar isn't distinctive enough to warrant a European community trademark. The manufacturer, Mars, applied for a trademark on the basis of its unique "three dimensional nature" which was granted in 2003, but overturned following an appeal by manufacturer Ludwig Schokolade.

The European Court also said that a survey carried out by Mars in six of the then 15 member states - United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands - did not necessarily mean the Bounty Bar's shape was regarded as a unique selling point throughout the EU.

What do you think? Can a manufacturer copyright a bar's shape - assuming that it doesn't carry a trademark or logo?

Special 1 TV Takes on the Cadbury Ad

I hate that Cadbury's ad with a passion. You know the one. The freaky kids with the even freakier eyebrows. If I didn't like the music so much, my TV would probably have a big hole in it as a result of my foot kicking those kids.

However, I was watching Special 1 TV on Setanta Sports recently and to my delight, Sven and Rooney perform the Cadbury ad, Special 1 Style. Excellent stuff.

Happy Pi Day

Where would circles or spheres or cylinders or the Laws of Electromagnetics be without the humble constant of PI ?

Breakout a pie (the filling and pastry to be of your choosing) and celebrate Pi Day. (3.14 or March 14th).

Only in Ireland - Meet Prawo Jazdy

Apparently Gardai the length and breadth of the country were reporting multiple traffic offenses against one Polish individual, namely Prawo Jazdy. Everytime he was stopped, a different address was given and over 50 different instances of the individual were created on PULSE, the Garda computer system.

Turns out that our fine men in navy blue had been mistakenly reading the Polish driving licenses and incorrectly recording the individual's name. Prawo Jazdy means nothing more than 'Driving License'.


It does amaze me that Gardai could not figure out that the really big letters at the top of the licence were just a title (hint: Permis de Conduire is written above), and that the real infomation was next to the photo. In fact, the words 'Prawo Jazdy' are currently on the front of every recently issued Irish driving license. Gardai have since been given training on how to read the driving licenses of most foreign nationals currently residing in Ireland.

Come over to the Duck Side

Come over to the Duck Side... Meet Duck Fadar, the Dark Lord of your bathtub.

I first saw the Pond Lord ducks in a little gift shop on my decent trip to Brighton. You can choose from Pontrooper, Luke Pondwalker, Princess Layer, or my personal favourite, Duck Fadar.

These little guys look super-cute, but more importantly, they feature water-activated LEDs. In other words, when you set Duck Fadar loose on the universe of your bathtub, he lights up and flashes his ambition to bring you over to the Dark Side!

Which Historical Queen Are You?

Following an extrmely accurent and scientific test on OKCupid.com, apparently I am Queen Victoria!



I can live with that, she ruled a country for a long time, in a progressive era of history, and was in love with her husband for all of her life.

You are: Victoria, Queen of England, 1819-1901. Queen Victoria's reign was the longest in English history. Called the Victorian age, it was a time when Britain was at the height of its colonial power. Victoria became a symbol of British expansionist foreign policy. She insisted on taking an active part in the decisions of the government, and forcefully backed those ministers she liked. She herself was most proud of her role as wife and mother - she had nine children. After the death of her beloved husband Prince Albert, she went into a period of deep depression, dropping out of public view for three years. Her popularity increased in her late years, particularly during time of national celebrations, like the Jubilees of 1887 and 1897.