For those who have not been following the stories, have a look on google news

For mobile phones it is simple:
1) You phone your mobile phone
2) Wait for the voicemail divert
3) Press the * key
4) Enter your PIN code

And your messages are read out as if you were accessing it from your own mobile phone.
The vast majority of users are (or until now) were unaware of this as they had no use for it and therefore would never go into their settings to change the PIN code.
Therefore, for most people the default will work – and this includes celebrities.
Clearly, you can’t initiate this plan if the person you are trying to get hold of answers the phone, so the ususal plan is to work in pairs where one person phones and if the person picks up the 2nd person immediately phones from another line and will immediately get through to voicemail. Meanwhile the original person phoning who got through to the person will give some excuse such as claim to be a sales person offering products that will be refused or that they have dialed an incorrect number opening the way for the other person who has got into the voicemail to listen through the messages saved, find out any numbers left by people who have left messages or even delete messages.

This BBC news site story has more info.
The guardian has a whole section of their website dedicated to it.

Out of curiosity I decided to try and hack my own phone having done a bit of googling to find the default pin codes.
The first problem i found was that I had actually disabled my voicemail which would explain why I hadn’t had any messages recently – not that i use it much. Next, having enabled it after 10 seconds of ringing I got through, followed the process only to find the default pins did not work, suggesting i had in fact changed the pin code at some point and have no idea what it is so good luck phone hackers getting into my voicemail!!

This week, The project hit the news as word came through that a part of the BBC had, 25 years on, managed to convert the data into a format that would be accessible to all for free on the web. The concern had come that not enough of the laser disc players existed and that the discs themselves had become corrupted because of a flaw in their design.
Several previous attempts had been made – firstly using emulation of the original BBC Master software on windows PC’s, then a version which did not require the emulation as the software had been re-written for windows PC’s. But finally, the ultimate which does not require any software be installed on the end user’s computer other than a web browser. The domesday1986 blog documents this while the Beebmaster Website shows the technology used to create/play the original discs.

The link for the successfully restored data can be found here:
Domesday reloaded

If you want to have a go yourself here’s the steps/rules:

Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing. See which of your friends can name the most songs.
Step 3: Strike out the songs when someone guesses both artist and track correctly.
Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!
Step 5: If you like the game post your own.
Step 6: Tag 20 friends to guess

Here we go – sometimes i’ve been generous and given 2-3 lines if they’re short or for no reason at all. Other times (when i don’t feel like helping) i’ve stuck to just the first line:

1. You can force it but it will not come – Radiohead “Planet Telex”
2. From the coast of gold, across the seven seas – Iron Maiden “Wasted Years”
3. *song title* all in my brain – Jimi Hendrix Experience “Purple Haze”
4. I was driving on the freeway in the fast lane
5. *song title* Be my everything
6. This is a mantra for myself
7. Fall back take a look at me and you’ll see I’m for real
8. You hide behind barricades
9. Bite the bit, scream till you’re blue the face
10. Anytime but now, Anywhere but here
11. In the unlikely event that sarcasm is an unfitting dress
12. There are no monks in my band
13. My name is *song title* and I am here to unlock the secrets of your mind
14. If it’s a bad day you try to suffocate – Placebo “You don’t care about us”
15. Back and forth, I sway with the wind
16. Care not for the men who wonder
17. Take me in your arms…. come on
18. Sometimes I need to remember just to breathe
19. Fall, white, light fell
20. Funny how I find myself in love with you
21. A grand hope a rope
22. Come down to my house, stick a stone in your mouth
23. How can we make you understand
24. You were just a work of sperm
25. Bombers rip across the screen

So there you go – try and guess what they all are and i’ll strike them off as you get them
To give you a pointer, I would say the easiest (in terms of least obscure and/or easiest to guess from the lyric) are:
1,3,4,7,12,13,14,18,20,22,23

and that therefore leaves the following as the harder ones:
2,5,6,8,9,10,11,15,16,17,19,21,24

Though clearly it would depend on whether you know the artists/tracks that came up, i can tell you if i didn’t have the answers in front of me i wouldn’t get any of the harder ones apart from number 5 and possibly number 2.

I would add that it was made so much easier by having downloaded any lyrics i had a while back into itunes as you can see them on your iPod. It meant i only had to grab 4 or 5 CDs off the shelf to double check the lyric and googled 2 or 3 that didn’t have lyrics in the sleeve.

Good luck, and if you are struggling, check out an old version of my music collection. If there are still any outstanding in a few weeks i will probably reveal the answers then (if i remember).

As an addendum – although i’ve got my facebook setup to accept the RSS feed and the post appears as a note here, the updates will only happen here as it won’t update or allow edits once it’s been imported – sorry, didn’t realise that at the time! It’s much nicer here anyway.

It’s been ages since i posted this so thought i’d post the answers in case anyone was wondering

1. Radiohead – Planet Telex
2. Iron Maiden – Wasted Years
3. Jimi Hendrix – Purple Haze
4. Weird Al Yankovic – Everything You Know Is Wrong
5. Type-O-Negative – Be My Druidess
6. My Ruin – Diavolina
7. Avril Lavigne – Nobody’s Fool
8. Trivium – To The Rats
9. Napalm Death – Diatribes
10. Fugazi – Burning Too
11. At The Drive In – 300 MHz
12. Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Funky Monks
13. Goldie Looking Chain – Professor Doppleganger
14. Placebo – Without You I’m Nothing
15. Faith No More – Falling to Pieces
16. Alice in Chains – God Smack
17. Evoke – Arms of Loren
18. Linkin Park – Don’t Stay
19. Obituary – Back from the Dead
20. Talk Talk – It’s My Life
21. Kicks Joy Darkness – American Television
22. Garbage – Supervixen
23. The Libertines – Road to Ruin
24. Slayer – I Hate You
25. Low Fidelity Allstars – Nightmare Story

England leave Kingston in tatters, shell-shocked, with new captain Andrew Strauss, and no official coach.
Changes will be in order for the 2nd Test which starts on Friday, but all is not well in the England camp.

Meanwhile things are rosy in Chris Gayle’s West Indian dressing room:

The Venetians call it “Acqua Alta” or High Water as it literally translates. It comes in 2 forms really.
There is the mild flooding that comes with the tidal lagoon.
This affects a few areas more than others as the water flows up through the drains into the streets. Warning signs for tourists show which areas are most likely to be affected. It’s not a huge problem at this stage, and life goes on.
It looks like this in St Mark’s square:

What you see in the first photo though is the more dramatic where the water comes into the squares from the open water
This can only happen when the tide is high and the water level has been raised significantly either by rain or low air pressure. This leads to the dramatic flooding we see now when the water mark around St Mark’s Square hits 1.5 Metres (over 5 foot). 90% of the city is flooded. Tables have to be erected & raised to enable people to get around. Many homes (especially those on the ground floor) are flooded.

There are some plus points to acqua alta, especially if you’re a wakeboarder:

Youtube link to Wakeboarding in St Marks Square
And some pictures of the Wakeboarding

Link for those who want to view it on youtube.com

(in the next section i’ve completely copied the transcript of the interview into chunks in case the link isn’t available in the future and to highlight certain parts. DR is Dizzee Rascal, JP is Jeremy Paxman)

The highlights of the interview are:

• When asked if the UK could have a black president it went as follows:

JP: … could you see this happening in Britain?
DR: Yeah. In time.
JP: You’re rather positive!
DR: Yeah, man. Why not, man? There’s a first time for everything, isn’t there? …
if you believe you can achieve, innit?

Radio One have been mocking this final line but at the same time it almost is something the “yoof” of today could take to heart.

• When asked on political parties he acknowledged they existed but little else:

JP: Dizzee Rascal, do you believe in political parties in Britain?
DR: Yeah, they exist. I believe in ‘em … I don’t know if it makes a difference. But you know what I mean. It is what it is. Politicians … say what they say – you might get every now and again a genuine one, innit? But I think people, like, as a whole make the difference …

• When asked if he considered himself British, Paxman calls him “Mr Rascal”. Dizzee then comes out with a classic on who could run the country:

JP: Dizzee Rascal, Mr Rascal, do you feel yourself to be British?
DR: Of course I’m British, man! You know me! … what’s good. I think it don’t matter what colour you are, it matters what colour your heart is and your intentions. I think a black man, purple man, Martian man can run the country … as long as he does right by the people.

• And finally, Dizzee reckons he could run for PM and that Obama’s victory couldn’t of happened if he hadn’t embraced hip hop:

JP: Well why don’t you run for office?
DR: See, that’s a very good idea. I might have to do that one day. Dizzee Rascal for prime minister, yeah! Wassappenin’! Barack Obama embraced hip-hop, man. That’s the way he got through to kids. There was a more young vote ever. And it was through hip-hop!

Link for those not reading it from my blog and don’t get the embedded video

It is a sad day today seeing the results
The people of London have voted out the first mayor
Out goes a man who has done more for London than any before

But as you depart, Ken, we thank you for what you’ve done

It seems that 8 years is long enough for some and they have chosen a bumbling blundering buffoon in the form of Boris Johnson.

I think those that have voted for him find him funny thinking that would be a good thing, but they are forgetting that the man’s an idiot. They are also letting their political thoughts get in the way of things. Just because Gordon Brown (Labour) is making a hash of things in the government, doesn’t mean that a Labour Mayor is also making a hash of things. So there are people who think that by making a protest vote for the Mayor is going to make an impact on the government… think about it before you do something like that because if the mayor is largely doing a good job what’s the point!

Can people really be that stupid? And vote in someone who for example was quoted as saying

My friends, as I have discovered myself, there are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters”

Admittedly Ken hasn’t been without mistakes, but he’s turned things around in public transport reducing the cost of bus fares, introducing the oyster card which speeds things up, and ensured that tube strikes have been kept to a minimum by negotiating with the unions.

Can the people who voted for Boris seriously see this good work continued? I’m going to give it 6 months before we have a tube strike after Boris bumbles through a negotiation and screws it up

I just hope that things aren’t completely ruined for London, but the way it’s going we’re going to have at least 4 years of Boris and it’s looking likely that David Cameron is going to force his way into government without really doing anything, just by sitting back watching Gordon Brown make mistakes.

For those viewing this on facebook I don’t think you will get the embedded youtube videos. So, I have put the links below for you to view externally
If however this still doesn’t work you will need to view the blog from it’s source:
Demetri Martin on stonysleep.com

First up is Jokes with a guitar, a 14 minute section from a performance which cracks me up every time. I especially like the part about batteries:

Jokes with A Guitar

Next up is a shorter clip from another performance is also very amusing though doesn’t have quite the edge that Jokes with a Guitar has.

Demetri Martin’s Findings

Nearly 20 years later, they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for independent discoveries leading to the same conclusion published in November 1988 and in March 1989 respectively.
It was a discovery ahead of it’s time which probably explains the time period between discovery and the prize being awarded.

Fundamental to the phenomenon is RKKY (Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida) interaction

H represents the Hamiltonian, R_ij is the distance between the nuclei i and j, I_ij is the nuclear spin of atom i, Δk_mk_m is a term that represents the strength of the hyperfine

It’s all rather nasty quantum mechanics – but in fact this interaction discovered in the 1950′s predicted what was to become GMR