Police are hunting the killers of a businessman who is believed to have crossed the Calabrian Mafia and then suffered the terrifying consequences. 

Angelo Cottarelli, 56, was still alive when he was found, but with his throat cut almost to the point of decapitation, in the basement of his home in Brescia, northern Italy, on Monday. Police also found the bodies of his wife, 41, and his son, 17, who had been shot twice in the head as well as having their throats cut.  Signor Cottarelli died soon after being found. He managed to say “I know who did it”, but those were his last words.

Now, those are some great last words, arent they? Just like something out of a crime drama when the next episode reveals all. Okay, so it is a fairly nasty situation, but how often do you suppose such things are uttered before expiry? Look on the bright side..he still had his head. He could have lost it couldnt he, and then what would he have said? I wonder then, what my last words will be? 

Mad buggers driving like mentalists on the way home tonight. My new commute is 60 miles and there is a stretch of road approximately 15 miles consisting of twists and bends.  This road, though pleseant enough, is a race track to the powerful commuter in his powerful car and the overtaking left me thinking that I WILL see a death on this road at some point. Anyway…bugger the lot of em! Otherwise, my day has been okay. Here is some of what I read today:

US must act to prevent insurgent war

Microsoft tackles anti-copy hole

Uk readers blocked from reading a NY Times report

And this which I think is a good idea if it means I don’t have to spend money!! BUT…I dont live in the places where it is on offer, so again I luck out. If the government has a say in this coming to the UK then I can guarantee it won’t be free.

Superb news from the Guardian today. This article about information collated through search engines is funny, but equally a little unnerving. However, it would be naive to assume any real privacy from these engines wouldnt it? Good read though. The part about the Florida man falling asleep was great.

Sample: 

“On April 4, for instance, user 14162375, the melancholy Portuguese-American in Florida, seems to have passed out on the keyboard at 6.20pm, when he asked, suddenly, “llllfkkgjnnvjjfokrb” then “vvvvbmkmjk” and “vvglhkitopppfoppr”. An hour later he had recovered enough to search for variations on his wife’s name - he thought she might have moved to New England. On the evening of April 16, matters came to a head. “My cheating wife,” he typed; and then, five times, “I want to kill myself,” and then “I want to make my wife suffer,” followed quickly by “Kill my wifes mistress,” “My wifes ass,” “A cheating wife”. Two days after that he was back looking for audio surveillance and bugging equipment and four weeks later he seemed to have cheered up and was looking for motorcycle insurance.”

A tool I use to browse the online news, as desired by my taste in reporting, is to use RSS (”Really Simple Syndication” or “Rich Site Summary,” depending on whom you ask).  Basically, using a tool not unlike http://www.sharpreader.net/ (which is a free RSS reader), you subscribe your desired sites using the RSS feed specific to the URL and this means all your news is delievered to you as it might look in a normal email inbox.

Now, I can’t say that all news sites use RSS feeds, but if you look at most you will find a link to their RSS feed url, which you paste into the RSS reader address bar. Repeat the step for each of your chosen News sites and “Hey presto”, all the news in one place from a variety of sites.

Should you wish to try this and are experiancing problems then please ask and I will help where possible.

I don’t know very much about gardening. I don’t suppose I have green fingers to be fair, but having moved into this new house, I am now the proud owner of a big, green, garden. Over the past few weeks it has grown on me and I sit happily, reading and looking at the apple tree whilst my youngest finds things to smack his head off and perhaps the odd insect or two to eat. And herein lies the problem. Im getting older and enjoying this alot more than I used too. Ive even gone as far as getting a book from the library about the subject of composting! And now I have designs on “planting” things, which is equally distressing. Ask the wife and she will tell you of the long hours I used to spend stripping and swearing at the motorcycles I kept and if its not broken, you can guarantee I’d break it. And thats what I have done of late. Remember I mentioned that I got a new bike to wang up the country lanes? Well, last saturday I decided to throw it into bushes at 60 mph, and I must say I very much enjoyed sliding down the road and bouncing my head off the asphalt. I also ended up in the bushes and now I have a bike sitting in my garage which is going to cost the earth for me to make “cosmetically” perfect, although I will most probably “rat” the beast so it is legal, working, but uglier than a lard bucket full of armpits. However, the point is….I would rather sit in my garden and contemplate my perennials than faff about with the bike. I (and this is very strange) have mused over selling the bike and purchasing a small car for my second mode of transport and perhaps spend anything left on a petrol mower! Help.

I take an active interest in what the States chooses not to report (for it reports alot of crap you don’t need to know…excluding that which you might like to hear, and thats not me being biased, just a view built up over years of searching the same stories elsewhere), and I also like the opinions formed in ones own country.  That includes hopping into foreign newsites, but obviously, an english written version does not always exist and so I spend time listening to the radio, mostly between 4-6 pm UK time (tune into BBC Radio 4 for PM with Eddie Mair or listen later by going to http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/pm/ ) and from it I get a satisfying meal of what is going on around this crazy planet of ours. So…I was wondering where you get your news from and I can promise you that I will spend time reading and/or listening.  I ask because I am interested and have never asked before. Indulge me.

According to those boffins that spend their hard earned brainpower eyeballing space, Pluto is no longer to be regarded as a planet, due to its inability to meet certain “must have or go screw ya’self” criteria. According to these so called “scientists”, a celestial body (not unlike myself naked) must qualify as:

Well. Skinny bags to that lot. Pluto is a dog. Yes, believe it folks. There is no cause for alarm or panic as I have seen a dog before and Pluto looks like:

He is neither eliptical or orbiting the sun. So, I say forget this planet nonsense and get on with the real business of wondering why Aliens (although bloody intelligent cos they can fly through space and have massive heads….then place probes up our butts and have weird wimpy bodies which you just know wouldnt stand a good punch) have skipped past earth and not discovered pizza. Apparently “they walk among us”. So do tramps.

Prepare for invasion. Leave the dogs alone!

### Happy Birthday Ginger ###
Happy Birthday to you and to you a happy birthday. weeee. break open a paper mache ball full of paper mache for me!