Everything You Thought You Knew About Coffee Is Wrong

So you think you know what coffee does to the brain/body? Chances are that you're probably completely wrong! Read this excellent article to get the full story about coffee's effect on humans.

Food for Thought

In light of the ongoing debate about refugee's (and the usual "dog whistle" reactions from the media, politicians and the uninformed) here's some food for thought from a chap called Chiune Sugihara. Oh, incidentally this chap managed to single-handedly save about 7500 Jewish refugees (or: "illegal emigrants") from certain death in Nazi concentration camps. He did this against the direct orders of his superiors at the beginning of the Second World War. Did I mention he was Japanese?

"You want to know about my motivation, don't you? Well. It is the kind of sentiments anyone would have when he actually sees refugees face to face, begging with tears in their eyes. He just cannot help but sympathize with them. Among the refugees were the elderly and women. They were so desperate that they went so far as to kiss my shoes, Yes, I actually witnessed such scenes with my own eyes. Also, I felt at that time, that the Japanese government did not have any uniform opinion in Tokyo. Some Japanese military leaders were just scared because of the pressure from the Nazis; while other officials in the Home Ministry were simply ambivalent.

People in Tokyo were not united. I felt it silly to deal with them. So, I made up my mind not to wait for their reply. I knew that somebody would surely complain about me in the future. But, I myself thought this would be the right thing to do. There is nothing wrong in saving many people's lives....The spirit of humanity, philanthropy...neighborly friendship...with this spirit, I ventured to do what I did, confronting this most difficult situation---and because of this reason, I went ahead with redoubled courage."

The IT Basement 360° Panorama

The wonderful folks over at Channel 4 have helpfully supplied us with a 360° panorama of the "IT Crowd" set. Enjoy.

What is a Criminal

An oldie (I'm guessing early 70's) but a goodie, especially in light of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and the Afghan war. As a side note many states in the U.S.A. are now looking to legalise Cannabis use to increase their tax base.
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Australia's Dirty Little Water Secret

How much water does the average household use? More importantly what percentage of the total consumption of water in Australia (22186 Gigalitres) is used in Cities and towns? 70%? 50%? 30%?

How about: less than 20%? Depending on the figures available (and no, they're not easy to find) the amount of water used in Australian households is between 8% and 16% (about 3500 Gigalitres) of the total used in Australia. Those figures are from 1996-7 so the true figure would probably come in under that since there has been such a concerted effort to reduce domestic consumption due to the recent crippling drought in Eastern Australia.

So where's the water being used? Primarily in Agriculture (70%). Most of that is being used to irrigate crops such as rice and cotton. Why isn't this wasteful use of water bigger news?

Surface area required to power the whole world by solar power

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Struwwelpeter (WTF)

I remember reading this book when I was a small kid. Scared the bejesus out of me! Here it is in all it's web glory c/w the English translation. Let the bad dreams begin...

How bad is the European Crisis anyhow?

How bad is the European Crisis you ask? This article has eight charts that layout the issues with the ongoing European Crisis and indicate that the worst is yet to come. Brace yourself.