By msnbc.com staff and wire

After years of enduring sexist jokes and taunts from their male counterparts, women drivers can finally take heart — a new study suggests they’re actually better at parking than men.

Covert surveillance of car parks across the United Kingdom shows that, while women may take longer to park, they are more adept than men at maneuvering into a parking space, and when they park they are more likely to leave their vehicles in the middle of a parking bay.

Strange Random Parking Quote:

You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen, it said ‘Parking Fine’. – Tommy Cooper

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Thorpe Park ordered experts to redesign its £20m new rollercoaster – after dummies lost limbs during tests.

A life-sized church housing The Swarm ride was remodelled following dry runs that saw legs smashed off at least two dummies.

The theme park issued a statement revealing other dummies were scratched during the tests, prompting “drastic measures” ahead of the ride’s launch on March 15.

Bosses said technicians spent a week resolving problems with the “winged” rollercoaster – which is designed to give riders the impression they are about [to] crash into the surrounding landscape.

Mike Vallis, divisional director at Thorpe Park, said he was now 100% satisfied the ride met safety standards.

“We have been planning for The Swarm for almost two years now, and we’ve pushed the boundaries to the absolute limit because ‘extreme’ is what our thrill-seeking customers demand,” he said.

via Thorpe Park Rollercoaster The Swarm Redesigned After Dummies Lose Limbs In Tests Of Theme Park Ride | Strange News | Sky News.

Strange Random Amusement Park Quote:

“Looking at yourself through the media is like looking at one of those rippled mirrors in an amusement park.” – Edmund S. Muskie

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The billionaire investor rings in the Chinese New Year with a song.

Strange Random New Year Quote:

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice.” – T.S. Eliot (American born English Editor, Playwright, Poet and Critic, 1888-1965)

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NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope has found 11 new planetary systems, including one with five planets all orbiting closer to their parent star than Mercury circles the Sun, scientists say.

The discoveries boost the list of confirmed extra-solar planets to 729, including 60 credited to the Kepler team. The telescope, launched in space in March 2009, can detect slight but regular dips in the amount of light coming from stars. Scientists can then determine if the changes are caused by orbiting planets passing by, relative to Kepler’s view.

Kepler scientists have another 2,300 candidate planets awaiting additional confirmation.

None of the newly discovered planetary systems are like our solar system, though Kepler-33, a star that is older and bigger than the Sun, comes close in terms of sheer numbers. It has five planets, compared to our solar system’s eight, but the quintet all fly closer to their parent star than Mercury orbits the Sun.

The planets range in size from about 1.5 times the diameter of Earth to five times Earth’s diameter. Scientists have not yet determined if any are solid rocky bodies like Earth, Venus, Mars and Mercury or if they are filled with gas like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

via Kepler telescope team finds 11 new solar systems | TECHNOLOGY News.

Strange Random Planet Quuote:

“The Sun, with all the planets revolving around it, and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the Universe to do.” – Galileo Galilei

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Russian police don’t take kindly to opposition protesters – even if they’re 5cm high and made of plastic.

Police in the Siberian city of Barnaul have asked prosecutors to investigate the legality of a recent protest that saw dozens of small dolls – teddy bears, Lego men, South Park figurines – arranged to mimic a protest, complete with signs reading: “I’m for clean elections” and “A thief should sit in jail, not in the Kremlin“.

“Political opposition forces are using new technologies to carry out public events – using toys with placards at mini-protests,” Andrei Mulintsev, the city’s deputy police chief, said at a press conference this week, according to local media. “In our opinion, this is still an unsanctioned public event.”

Activists set up the display after authorities repeatedly rejected their request to hold a sanctioned demonstration of the kind held in Moscow to protest disputed parliamentary elections results and Vladimir Putin‘s expected return to the presidency in a March vote.

Passersby admired the display with giggles, but police took it more seriously, examining its details and writing down each placard.

“The authorities’ attempt to limit citizens’ rights to express their position has become absurd,” said Lyudmila Alexandrova, a 26-year-old graduate student and protest organiser. “We wanted to hyperbolise this attempt and show the absurdity and farce of officials’ struggle with their own people.”

They are not the first. Russia‘s Blue Buckets group, formed to protest officials’ wanton flouting of traffic rules, have run across government cars while wearing buckets on their heads, drawing the state’s ire.

via Doll ‘protesters’ present small problem for Russian police | World news | guardian.co.uk.

Strange Random Doll Quote:

“You know you’ve made it when you’ve been moulded in miniature plastic. But you know what children do with Barbie dolls – it’s a bit scary, actually.” – Cate Blanchett (Australian Actress. b.1969 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)

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The euro collapsed last night in Berlin. To be precise, it simply exploded offstage after eating too much confit de canard and snails.

So goes the finale of a fun musical fairy tale that is touring Berlin, Frankfurt and London on a shoestring. Euro boffins will enjoy some of its wackier creations, like a European currency snake whose body is completely out of kilter. She yelps as the Italian lira slips out of place in her spine during the course of the evening.

“EuroCrash! The Musical” transposes the single-currency story to a deep dark forest. Mark and Gilda can’t find their way out. They are lured into the gingerbread Euroland house, where Papa Kohl and Madame Mitterrand run a school of fiscal discipline attended by some wayward pupils — personified nation states like Callum of Ireland and Stavros of Greece.

The show’s numbers include a chorus praising the virtues of the Bundesbank and former U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont singing “Our currency’s gone down the plughole” in the shower. There are jokes about the Bundesbank’s “steady hand” policy and allusions to Jean-Claude Trichet’s “vigilance” at the European Central Bank, as well as throwaway references to former central bankers like Karl Otto Poehl.

The bad guys in the black cowboy hats are the credit-rating companies. “I’m Standard, he’s Poor’s/ For a dollar we’re yours” and “I’m Moody’s, he’s Fitch, It don’t matter which.”

via Euro Binges on Snails, Pound Drops Down Plughole in Wacky Currency Musical – Bloomberg.

Strange Random Euro Quote:

“European citizens can be assured that the future of the euro is that of a strong currency, based on price stability and the strength of the European economy,” – Wim Duisenberg

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It’s a fresh take on Sherlock Holmes which will transplant the sleuth to a modern-day setting. But it doesn’t take Baker Street’s finest to deduce the source material for a major new drama announced by American network CBS.

The producers of the BBC’s acclaimed Sherlock series, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, are prepared to take legal action against the US network over a rival Holmes series which appears to tread on familiar ground.

The BBC version is already a cult hit in America, where it is screened on the PBS network. The show’s contemporary reinvention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, allied to slick production values, impressed network executives at CBS – so when an offer to remake the BBC’s Sherlock for US viewers came to nothing, they decided to go ahead and make their own.

In a move which has caused concern at Hartswood Films, the BBC show’s producers, CBS has commissioned Elementary, described as a new Sherlock Holmes adaptation set in modern-day New York.

Sue Vertue, Sherlock Executive Producer at Hartswood Films, said: “We understand that CBS are doing their own version of an updated Sherlock Holmes. It’s interesting, as they approached us a while back about remaking our show. At the time, they made great assurances about their integrity, so we have to assume that their modernised Sherlock Holmes doesn’t resemble ours in any way, as that would be extremely worrying.” She added: “We are very proud of our show and like any proud parent, will protect the interest and wellbeing of our offspring.”

via Legal thriller looms as Sherlock takes his caseload to New York – News – TV & Radio – The Independent.

Strange Random Sherlock Holmes Quote:

I never make exceptions. An exception disproves the rule. – The Sign of the Four (1890)

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The next time you stop in for a morning latte or head out for a restaurant lunch, take a look around – and don’t be surprised if you see a lot of young men standing in line.

A new survey of workers finds that men spend significantly more on coffee and lunch than women.

The survey, from staffing firm Accounting Principals, also found that younger workers spend more than older workers on lunch and coffee during the workday.

Overall, those lunches out and coffee breaks are costing workers a bundle. American workers who buy coffee and lunch spend an average of $1,000 a year on coffee and $2,000 a year on lunch, based on the survey of 1,000 workers.

About two-thirds of workers buy lunch and half buy coffee during the week.

via Life Inc. – It’s guys, not ladies, who splurge on lunch.

Strange Random Lunch Quote:

“The Dalai Lama visited the White House and told the President that he could teach him to find a higher state of consciousness. Then after talking to Bush for a few minutes, he said, “You know what? Let’s just grab lunch.”” – Bill Maher (American Comedian, Actor, Writer and Producer. b.1956)

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