Thats going to be cold

Top five happiest/unhappy professions

The five most happy professions*

Hairdressers (40%)
Clergy (24%)
Chefs/cooks (23%)
Beauticians (22%)
Plumbers (20%)
*% who rated their level of happiness as 10 out of 10 in brackets

and the five most unhappy professions*

Social Workers (2%)
Architects (2%)
Civil Servants (3%)
Estate Agents (4%)
Secretaries (5%)
*% who rated their level of happiness as 10 out of 10 in brackets

According to examiner City & Guilds

Banner change

I have changed the size of the poverty banner because it was interfering with hyper links in the latest entries and also the first few archives, no more sinister reason than that.

Don't play the drop-shot!!!

In preparation for the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open, tennis legend, Andre Agassi and the world No. 1, Roger Federer, couldn’t resist the temptation to have a friendly knock about on the world’s highest tennis court, the helipad of Burj Al Arab, the world’s most luxurious hotel.

I like this a lot

not one of mine, but very nice.

nice work if you can get it

Jason Kottke of kottke.org (see blogs of note) has announced that he is giving up his full time paid job to become a full time blogger. To enable him to do achieve this he is asking readers of his blog to donate money...

'I'm asking the regular readers of kottke.org (that's you!) to become micropatrons of kottke.org by contributing a moderate sum of money to help enable me to edit/write/design/code the site for one year on a full-time basis. If you find kottke.org valuable in any way, please consider giving whatever you feel is appropriate.'

I am in two minds about ths idea, if it works and he can support his blogging then what a great idea, if not then ...................

Day two of kottke.org full-time

The whole world is going mad

Smarties set to lose their tube

Nestle Rowntree is to replace the beloved 68-year-old cylindrical design with a hexagonal or six-sided pack.

The removable plastic lid on the current design will also go in favour of a cardboard flip-top.

Nestle Rowntree said the revamp was needed to ensure the brand remained "fresh and interesting" to youngsters.

I,I,I, I Don't get Ikea

'Indeed, if you bump into a Briton under the age of 50 who has never visited Ikea, it is not unlikely that they are either from the Hebrides, or a member of the aristocracy.'

This must be me then, never having visited one (yet!)

Taken from The pleasure and pain of Ikea

2005 is the year of the white band

By wearing it you’ll be part of Make Poverty History, a unique worldwide effort to end extreme poverty - for good.

Over the next year a series of landmark meetings are taking place where world leaders can finally stop 30,000 children dying needlessly every day, just because they’re poor.

The first of these meetings is taking place on the weekend of the 5th February when the G7 Ministers, hosted by Gordon Brown, meet in London.

Nelson Mandela is coming to the UK to throw his weight behind the campaign and ask these 7 men to Make Poverty History.

We are asking you to email Gordon Brown and to join Nelson Mandela in Trafalgar Square on the 3rd February. Together we can help make 2005 an extraordinary year.