Jedi Knights seek Human Rights

Two self-styled Jedi Knights are stepping up an intergalactic campaign for formal recognition. Umada and Yunyun, also known as John Wilkinson and Charlotte Law, want the UN to acknowledge "The Force" is worthy of being called a religion. The couple claim to be part of the UK's fourth largest religious group, after 400,000 people recorded their faith as "Jedi" in the 2001 Census.

They say that as a religion, they deserve tolerance and respect. November the 16th is the annual International Day for Tolerance.

And as part of a global battle worthy of Luke Skywalker's efforts against the Empire, the band of self-styled Jedis want the UN to re-name the day as Interstellar Day of Tolerance.



More people claim their religion to be Jedi in England and Wales than those who follow Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism. And the cause has global support.

There are also 70,000 Jedi knights in Australia, 53,000 in New Zealand, and 20,000 in Canada.

You can see a video of self-proclaimed Jedis ‘Umada’ and ‘Yunyun’, joined by hairy wookie Chewbacca, calling for official acceptance of their ‘religion’ at London’s UN headquarters here.

Thanks Annemarie!

Stuck

When cats attack

Be afraid.

Be very afraid.

God's Gonna Cut You Down

The late Johnny Cash's new video.

This video tribute, using one of his last ever recordings was conceived by controversial British film director Tony Kaye, Justin Timberlake who also puts in an appearance, Rick Rubin and Mark Romanek.



The full cast list in order are: Iggy Pop, Kanye West, Chris Martin, Kris Kristofferson, Patti Smith, Terrence Howard, Flea, Q-Tip, Adam Levine, Chris Rock, Justin Timberlake, Kate Moss, Sir Peter Blake, Sheryl Crow, Dennis Hopper, Woody Harrelson, Amy Lee, Tommy Lee, The Dixie Chicks, Mick Jones, Sharon Stone, Bono, Shelby Lynne, Anthony Kiedis, Travis Barker, Lisa Marie Presley, Kid Rock, Jay Z, Keith Richards, Billy Gibbons, Corinne Bailey Rae, Johnny Depp, Graham Nash, Brian Wilson, Rick Rubin and Owen Wilson.

Blink and you'll miss someone!

Top 10 data disasters revealed

Ontrack Data Recovery has unveiled its annual Top Ten list of remarkable data loss disasters in 2006. Taken from a global poll of Ontrack data recovery experts, this year’s list of data disasters is even more incredible when you consider that in every case cited, Ontrack successfully recovered the data.

And the number one most remarkable data disaster of 2006 was when the customer shipped his drive to Ontrack in a pair of dirty socks.

Indian baby born with eight limbs

Villagers in Diuri in Gaya district in Bihar are flocking to offer prayers to a congenitally disordered child - with eight limbs, four hands and four legs.



Wrapped in a red cloth with fresh flowers and money being showered on her, the child is unaware of her condition though her parents are worried about her future.

Labourers by profession, They say they cannot afford a medical treatment though like every parent they want to raise their child well.

There's an embedded video that starts automatically. Scroll down the page.

Four seasons in one day hit Australia

Snow, wind and fire hit Australia yesterday as an unseasonable icy blast moved across the continent and lightning strikes ignited the explosively dry inland.

Unusual late spring snows fell in Tasmania and the nation's capital, Canberra, while fire fighters battled to contain bush fires west of Sydney, driven towards small towns by high winds.

Further north, in Queensland, the skies turned dark green and hailstones the size of cricket balls smashed property, cars and injured farm animals.

The wild weather across Australia came as church leaders issued a combined appeal for people to join a national a day of prayer for rain.

The Reverend Gregor Henderson, President of the Uniting Church of Australia, said Australians needed to seek God's guidance to manage their water resources.

Amateur star-spotter's spellbinding images of space

Captured in all their astonishing beauty, these pictures show that the farthest reaches of space are filled with a dazzling light show.

The glorious colours of our cosmos, the swirling spirals of the great galaxies, the wispy filaments of giant gas and dust clouds called nebulae...surely these pictures must be the result of gargantuan machines like the Hubble Space Telescope, which orbits Earth, or perhaps one of the giant observatories atop mountains in Chile and Hawaii.



Not so. In fact, these beautiful, often surreal, images come courtesy of an amateur photographer based in a shed in his New Forest back garden who has spent less than £10,000 on his equipment.

Greg Parker, a professor of electronics at Southampton University, has spent thousands of hours studying space from a portable observatory, and photographing the wonders he can see.

There are more photos here.

Frost opens with Blair in al-Jazeera English launch

Sir David Frost has revealed how he investigated al-Jazeera's credentials with his own high-level contacts in Whitehall and Washington before agreeing to sign up to its long-delayed English language channel, which launched yesterday.

Sir David, who is scheduled to welcome Tony Blair as the first guest to his show on Friday, said he initially had qualms about signing for the broadcaster after trenchant criticism from the American right.



Al-Jazeera English launched at midday and will be accessible in the UK to anyone with a satellite dish and via its broadband internet site. Yesterday it was revealed that the US cable network Comcast had pulled out of talks to carry the channel, citing lack of capacity.

It hopes to offer a new, Middle Eastern perspective on world events as an alternative to CNN and BBC World. But it will not be available in America via either EchoStar, Comcast or Rupert Murdoch's DirecTV at launch, although US viewers will be able to tune in via the GlobeCast satellite.

Jamie Oliver takes aim at 'fattest nation in the world'

Jamie Oliver, the outspoken celebrity chef and scourge of every school cook in Britain, has taken his healthy-eating message to the United States. And true to form, he is not mincing his words when it comes to American children and their particular battle with obesity.

"A fat person in England isn't the same as a fat person in America", Oliver gamely asserted yesterday, taking time off from a packed schedule in New York promoting his two latest ventures - a book and a television series about cooking in Italy.

Apparently unconcerned with the sensibilities of his American hosts, Oliver ploughed forth suggesting that the US should follow the example of Britain, which, on his urging, has recently banned Turkey Twizzlers and other fatty delights from school cafeterias, replacing them with healthier options.

"England is the most unhealthy country in Europe and America is the most unhealthy country in the world," Oliver told a Reuters reporter. He nonetheless acknowledged that he did not expect to repeat his British campaign for healthier school food in America, noting that as an "English boy in America, they might not appreciate my honesty".

Bon appetite for tycoon who paid £85k for white truffle

It might resemble a pile of poop, but in fact it is worth is weight in gold several times over.



The world's expensive truffle, it commanded a record-breaking £85,000, making it ounce for ounce, five times as expensive as gold.

Snapped up by a Hong Kong tycoon bidding at a charity auction, the white truffle's monster price tag easily beat the previous record of £63,000.

Made up of three palm-sized sections and weighing 3.3 pounds in total, the pricey fungus was unearthed by trained dogs in the forests of Piedmont in north-western Italy.

Taking athlete's foot to a new level

The collector does not want his identity revealed, for reasons that will become obvious. He prefers to go by his Internet handle: Witesock. He is a 41-year-old engineer. Married, no children. He lives in suburban Toronto. He's an ordinary fellow, but for his secret hobby. He collects and wears used athletic socks.

In 15 years, Witesock has acquired about 800 pairs of sports socks. Soccer, football, rugby, hockey, and so on. About half have graced the sweaty feet of professional athletes: former Toronto Maple Leaf Eric Lindros, for example, and Olindo Mare, the Miami Dolphins kicker.

Witesock's collection includes socks from the entire 1996 New York Jets lineup. And 70 game-worn pairs from the defunct Ottawa Renegades. All that's left of that miserable CFL franchise are the used socks, stuffed in a box in Witesock's basement. He digs them out from time to time.

His wife has no idea, astonishingly. His friends and colleagues? Clueless. Witesock has managed to outwit them all. He has built, on the sly, what can only be described as the world's most impressive collection of used sports socks. But how? More pressing, why?

Rare swallow swallowed

Birdwatchers who gathered to see a rare swallow on the Angus coast were horrified when they saw it being snatched and eaten by a hungry hawk.

Twitchers headed for Lunan Bay as word spread that enthusiasts had discovered a bird so unusual that it was last seen in the area 20 years ago.



However, the red-rumped swallow, which is usually to be found in the southern Mediterranean, did not last long.

A sparrowhawk swooped and snatched the swallow from the roof of a building.

Mike Sawyer, a member of a Dundee group comprising RSPB members, said: "We were absolutely horrified. That's life I suppose."

Recycling 'offenders' ordered to phone in for a ticking-off

Householders who throw the wrong item in their recycling bin are being ordered to make a 'humiliating' phone call to a council hotline to receive a telling-off.

Recycling crews are examining every bin in Bournemouth to make sure residents are complying with the strict guidelines on what waste should be put in the green bin.



Any offending item will result in the bin not being emptied and a 'contamination sticker' being left on it, requesting the owner to call a hotline.

Those who ring the number will be told what they have done wrong and given advice on how to avoid offending in the future. They will also be sent a letter to reinforce the message.

Those who do not phone the hotline will not have their bin emptied. Repeat offenders could end up getting a 'hefty fine'.

Liverpool cycle lane is path-etic

Council chiefs last night defended their decision to build a cycle path just 18ft long.



Critics say the small stretch of black tarmac along a pavement in Liverpool takes just a few seconds to cycle, and does not appear to lead anywhere.

But councillor Peter Millea said it is part of an 80-metre cycle lane and was cheaper than digging up the pavement. He added: “It seemed logical.”

Ten years on, fears that Tony Bullimore is lost at sea again

Nearly a decade after surviving five days trapped in his capsized yacht in the freezing waters of the Southern Ocean, British sailor Tony Bullimore has sparked a fresh alert for his safety.

Fears are growing for the 67-year-old yachtsman, after he lost radio contact in the Indian Ocean eight days ago.



His support team estimate he is somewhere between the Maldives and the coast of western Australia, where he was originally expected to make landfall yesterday.

But because nobody has heard from him since his satellite communications system went down on November 7, rescue authorities have issued an all-ships alert in the hope that another vessel will spot him.

Yesterday his website Team Bullimore was playing down the situation, but today they are a lot more cautious.

Dentist shortage leads man to superglue own tooth

A man fixed his front tooth with superglue after failing to find an NHS dentist.

Gordon Cook, 55, has used the bizarre "DIY dentistry" technique on a loose crown for the last three years - with each fresh application of glue lasting around two months



The father of seven, who was erased from his original dentist's register after moving to a new home in Tranmere, Merseyside, said he turned to glue after losing hope of finding a dentist. He said: "I tried to find a new dentist but they had all gone private."

"In the end, I just decided to take matters into my own hands. I had read somewhere that super glue was invented for medical use, to bond skin, so I gave it a go."

"I tried a few different brands but the one I use now, which is just called Industrial Super Glue, is the best."

Artist lies down in city street

An artist is lying down in a busy street dressed as soldier for one week to highlight the subject of conflict.



The piece, called Dead Solider, will see Mark McGowan, 38, lie curled up on Birmingham's New Street for 10 hours each day, from 14 - 20 November.

The artist, from Peckham, south London, has gained £4,000 of public funding and has a month-long retrospective of his work at a Birmingham university.

He said the work raises questions about the horrific nature of conflict.

McGowan has previously made a name for himself by rolling a monkey nut across London with his nose to highlight student debt.

There are more photos here.

Motorhead to sponsor under-10 football team

A Lincoln boys football team have won a sponsorship coup with a difference after striking a deal with heavy metal band Motorhead.

The Greenbank under-10s B team have the internationally renowned band's name on their shirts along with the band's motif - a skull named Snaggletooth.

The North Hykeham team also run out to the band's famous Ace of Spades track.

Team manager Gary Weight said the deal came about as he used to know lead singer Lemmy.