DazeBlog

Radiation exposure levels compared. Click image for graphic As radiation exposure around the Fukushima nuclear power plant reach levels of 400mSv per hour (although they've since gone down), we thought it was time to put the figures into perspective. Radiation is all around us, all the time. But what level does it have to get to before it becomes really dangerous? The World Nuclear Association (which represents the 'global nuclear profession') does have a guide. [Read More]

Rap This article is more than 1 month oldRapper YNW Melly’s lyrics could be used against him in double murder retrialThis article is more than 1 month oldJamell Demons, known as YNW Melly, to go on trial next year in Florida for allegedly killing two fellow rappers five years ago Jamell Demons, known to millions of rap fans as YNW Melly, will go on trial early next year in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for a double murder he allegedly committed five years ago. [Read More]

England This article is more than 10 months oldRugby player paralysed after ‘reckless’ tackle wins case against opposing playerThis article is more than 10 months oldJudge finds Natasha King liable for unintentional injuries suffered by Dani Czernuszka in amateur game A rugby player who was paralysed from the waist down after a “reckless” tackle has won her high court claim against the opposing player who made the “red mist” challenge. [Read More]

Antony SherObituarySir Antony Sher obituaryCelebrated stage actor who gave extraordinary performances in a long career with the Royal Shakespeare CompanyAs breakthrough performances go, Antony Sher’s as Richard III at Stratford-upon-Avon in June 1984 was beyond astounding. He gatecrashed this play’s performance history and threw down an audacious gauntlet to the hallowed shades of Edmund Kean, Henry Irving, Laurence Olivier and, on that same Stratford stage, Ian Holm. Just as Irving’s bells stopped ringing on “the lascivious pleasing of a lute” in the opening soliloquy, so did Sher’s background music, and he instantly produced, with an obscene flourish, a pair of black medical crutches, resuming the speech with two swinging, ape-like hops to the front of the stage, an unforgettable creepy arachnoid. [Read More]

Top 10sFictionThese moments of precious fresh awareness can be found in authors from Oliver Sacks to Ottessa Moshfegh and Franz Kafka In Salvador Salvador Dalí’s painting Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening, a floating woman lies beneath a bayonet-wielding tiger who, along with its friend, has recently pounced from the mouth of a fish, which has itself just emerged from an exploding pomegranate. [Read More]

Richard Stokes, the first black guardsman in the British army, at his passing-out parade in Pirbright, Surrey, in 1988. Photograph: David Levenson/AlamyRichard Stokes, the first black guardsman in the British army, at his passing-out parade in Pirbright, Surrey, in 1988. Photograph: David Levenson/AlamyOpinionRace This article is more than 2 years oldWhen I guarded the royal palaces I never realised there’d been a ban on black staffThis article is more than 2 years oldRichard StokesAs Britain’s first black guardsman I endured years of abuse. [Read More]

Nils Pratley on financeCryptocurrencies This article is more than 1 year oldBitcoin has rallied. What are crypto’s true believers still smoking?This article is more than 1 year oldNils PratleyFTX’s filing for bankruptcy was an existential event – and may signal the moment when grown-up thinking re-entered the room As fraud and conspiracy charges were laid against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried in the US on Tuesday, a funny thing happened to the price of bitcoin: it went up. [Read More]

Pass notesGardensSales of the feathery plant have plummeted – are innocent gardeners getting wise to its hidden meaning? Name: Pampas grass. Also known as: Cortaderia selloana. Appearance: Big tufts of tough green grass with white feathery flowers protruding on huge stalks. Location: The grasslands of southern South America, and suburban gardens all over the world. Yes, I think I’ve seen it. Massive stuff. That’s right. It can grow up to three metres tall. [Read More]

Libraries This article is more than 7 years oldRansomware attack paralyses St Louis libraries as hackers demand bitcoinsThis article is more than 7 years oldBorrowers are unable to return or borrow books, or use computer facilities, in any of the city’s 16 branches Libraries in St Louis have been bought to a standstill after computers in all the city’s libraries were infected with ransomware, a particularly virulent form of computer virus used to extort money from victims. [Read More]

CaliforniaSecond world war-era practice bomb found on California beachRecent storms wash up rusted device along coast of Pajaro dunes in Santa Cruz county A practice bomb from the second world war era washed up on a California beach after rising tides and larger waves hit much of the area over the holiday weekend. The punch that ‘burst the bubble’: residents of Hitler’s alpine home rise up against neo-Nazi visitorsRead moreThe rusted device was found on New Year’s Eve along the coast of the Pajaro dunes in Santa Cruz county, about 22 miles (35km) south of Santa Cruz. [Read More]