London WWII-era bombproof tunnels up for sale

For sale: A labyrinth of bombproof tunnels hidden about 100 feet beneath central London. Great location, mysterious past. And the price tag? Well, that's a secret.

The Kingsway Tunnels, originally built in 1942 to protect Londoners from German air raids, are being put for sale by their current owner, telecommunications company BT Group PLC.

"We're looking for a purchaser with the imagination and stature to return the tunnels to productive use," said Elaine Hewitt, who heads BT's property division. "The site has a fantastic history and, now that we have no requirement for it for telecommunications use, it is right that we should offer it to the market. Here's hoping it has a fantastic future as well."

The tunnels, which are about a mile long, were taken over by Britain's foreign intelligence agency MI6 in 1944. The Guardian newspaper said a section of the spy agency known as the Inter Services Research Bureau used the tunnels until May 8, 1945, when it stripped them clean, leaving a question mark over the exact nature of its underground activities.

BT said the tunnels were then used by the government's Public Record Office to store some 400 tons of "highly sensitive documents." They then became property of Britain's Post Office - which at the time ran Britain's telephone network and used the site as a telephone exchange to connect long distance calls.

It was through this reinforced warren that the 1960s hot line connecting the leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union was routed. By the 1980s, when it became the property of BT, it housed secure data backup services and served closed circuit television cameras.

BT spokeswoman Gemma Thomas said Saturday that the company no longer needed the tunnel because the Internet was cutting down on the need for telephone exchanges.

She said restrictions on the tunnels' use meant they could not be converted into a cool new concept hotel, an underground office or a subterranean home. BT suggested they might be suitable for government use or for a major corporation.Thomas refused to reveal was BT was hoping to get from the tunnels' sale

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Unusual property. It will be interesting to see how this goes.

How about a Soggy Bottom?

Or at least a sing-a-long song ...

Smell like a Tarheel with new perfume

UNC Chapel Hill now has an official smell. A new collegiate perfume boasts that it captures the essence of the school. Thankfully, it doesn't smell like Woollen Gymnasium.

The $60 bottle is among a handful of fragrances targeting universities with big, loyal alumni bases. Each perfume is based largely on the university's color scheme.

What does Carolina blue smell like? Champagne, lemon, jasmine and lavender.

To contrast: the University of Alabama's color is crimson: a scent heavy in reds such as apple and pomegranate, said Katie Masich, a chemical engineer and president of the perfume company, Masik Collegiate Fragrances.

“It really is about nostalgia,” Masich said. “It's all about bringing it back to that happy time – college.”

Masich's experts even translated UNC's chief icon – The Old Well – into smell, using rose, violet and jasmine. “It's very romantic and it has Southern charm,” she said. The UNC fragrance employs 13 scents, none of which smell like construction dust or the Cave near closing time.

There is no N.C. State or Duke fragrance, but if you're a fan of Penn State, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee or Louisiana State, sniff away.

The UNC perfume can be had from the company's Web site and at a couple of Chapel Hill stores. One is Johnny T-shirt, where manager Heather Frazier said a couple of bottles have sold. “Scent does elicit memories but I never thought of it as a way to promote alumni pride,” she said.

Research has shown that the brain's olfactory pathways are closely linked to the hippocampus, the bit of tissue that records memories. That may be why a smell can dredge up long-submerged experiences.

One can only hope that those experiences smell more like blooming dogwoods than stale beer.
But knowing UNC Chapel Hill I'd vote for the stale beer.

McPain Bombs in North Carolina

McPain was in Concord, NC this morning and a pitiful 'crowd' (in more ways than poor numbers) - was maybe 500 people if that - turned up.

McPain is claiming 7000 - but his numbers are always 'inflated'.

I guess if you counted all the commuters driving by the rally site you could make a plausible claim of several thousand.

Meanwhile in St. Louis, Obama drew a crowd of over 100,000 (and it was counted by local authorities and not 'inflated' by the campaign spin doctors).

Only 500 in a 'Red' state for the 'Red' candidate!
So much for the lie that North Carolina is a 'Red' state.

The Fourteen Tenets of the repugican Party

The Fourteen Tenets of the repugican Party

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism
5. Rampant sexism
6. A controlled mass media
7. Obsession with national security
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together
9. Power of corporations protected
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts
12. Obsession with crime and punishment
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption
14. Fraudulent elections

You say those are The Fourteen Tenets of Fascism.
Oops, my bad. Well, you can see my confusion as to which is which.

Social skills predict future earnings better than cognitive skills

Ten years after graduation, high-school students who had been rated as conscientious and cooperative by their teachers were earning more than classmates who had similar test scores but fewer social skills, said a new University of Illinois study.

The study’s findings challenge the idea that racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic gaps in educational attainment and earnings can be narrowed solely by emphasizing cognitive skills, said Christy Lleras, a University of Illinois assistant professor of human and community development.

“It’s important to note that good schools do more than teach reading, writing, and math. They socialize students and provide the kinds of learning opportunities that help them to become good citizens and to be successful in the labor market,” she said.

From Science Daily

Not too sure about this study and its findings. I know of numerous people who have no social skills whatsoever that are earning more than classmates who have social skills.

Beastly buddies reported stolen from Texas zoo

A 6-foot-tall camel named Moses and his pint-size pony sidekick are missing from a Texas zoo.

Officials at Capital of Texas Zoo near Austin reported the theft of the kid-friendly creatures this week.

Zoo founder Michael Hicks says that the 3-year-old camel and the nearly quarter-century old pony, named Coco, are "best friends" and follow each other.

He says he and the staff are "heartbroken."

Hicks says he last saw both animals in a zoo pasture Tuesday night.

They were gone Wednesday morning.

He has offered a $400 reward for information leading to their safe return.