Third Time Lucky For Kerry Katona?

Wedding bells are on the horizon for Kerry Katona, and the Atomic Kitten looks like the cat that got the cream.

Kerry Katona looks set to walk down the aisle for a third time after saying, "yes", to her boyfriend George Kay.

Speaking to The Sunday Mirror, Katona stated that she was, "Thrilled, but a bit overwhelmed by it all," and further stated that, "There were roses and champagne and George got down on one knee. It was the most romantic thing in the world. I am so happy." As with great lovers the world over, Kay popped the question at the most romantic location he could think of, which just happened to be—strange to say—The Blackpool Tower.

The ex-rugby leaguer, who was previously employed as Katona's bodyguard, arranged for the tower to be cleared of guests before he got down on one knee,  but  Katona's four children were there to witness the occasion.

It is believed that the loved-up pair have been dating for about 8 months, but the romance was kept under wraps until they went public last December.

Justin Bieber v Lady Gaga: Twitter Battle Continues

When Justin Bieber knocked Lady Gaga from the twitter top spot, and was ordained the new King of Twitter, tweeting Bieber fans the world over were delighted.  Now his reign as king may be cut short thanks to a new report that suggest half the singer's twitter followers could be fake.

The report was prepared by the social media statistics company SocialBakers and their investigation suggests that a massive 16.7 million of Bieber's 37 million Twitter fan base consisted of empty Twitter accounts. A further 2.6 million accounts were inactive—shocking news indeed and news that may get people in a tweet over the singer for all the wrong reasons.

If SocialBaker's finding prove to be correct the ousted Queen of Gaga will retake her throne and Bieber will fall back to second place. There is no shame in being second, especially to a lady like Gaga, but nobody would blame Bieber if he got into a Twitter Tantrum over it because the lad has been having a hard time of it lately. A month ago he arrived at London's O2 Arena two hours late and was booed the moment he set foot on stage. The star's relationship with the press has also taken a turn for the worse recently and, as if that isn’t bad enough, he fell foul of the German authorities last week, when he arrived in the country without the correct paperwork and customs officers were forced to confiscate his monkey.  These days it seems to be all bad news for the Beebster, but he never stops smiling, and you have got to admire him for that.

It's Not a Fair Cop

These days it seems that people are prepared to sue at the drop of a hat, as garage owner Steve Jones discovered in August of last year, when a police officer turned up to investigate a break-in and put in a claim for compensation instead.

PC Kelly Jones (no relation) tripped on a kerb, while investigating a dimly lit area behind the garage. The matter is now in the hands of her solicitors, who claim that Mr Jones failed to ensure that the officer was 'reasonably safe', and are assisting the PC with her injuries—she hurt her left leg, her right wrist, and missed six weeks of duty.

This is not the first time the compensation culture cop has put in a claim either, earlier in the year she sued her own constabulary. On this occasion she was a passenger in a police car that was involved in a high speed chase and was hurt when the car left the road.

The Strange Tale of the British Cuppa

The history of the British cuppa is rather a strange tale to tell. When it was first imported it was sold for its supposed medicinal values and the price of a pound of tea was well beyond the means of the average worker, so it became a rich person's brew. Then when the price of tea finally did come down the amount of tax payable on it went up and the tea smuggling industry was born: A Nation of Tea Drinkers.

Social Networks: How they Could Save Your Life

Social Networks like Facebook and Twitter began as a way of keeping in touch with friends and loved ones and soon became a part of everyday life. Since then the social networks have been exploited for other uses, such as internet marketing; now, thanks to a new bracelet, they may even save lives.

Designed for aid workers—who often work in dangerous areas—the Natalia Project Bracelet is an anti-kidnap device that can send out potentialy life-saving tweets, or contact Facebook, if the wearer finds themself in a hostage situation.
 
The bracelet is designed so that the wearer can activate it manually, should the need arise, but it is also capable of activating itself if someone tries to remove it by force.  Once the bracelet is activated mobile phone technology, incorporated into the design, transmits a message to any nearby contacts and also to the headquarters of the Civil Rights Defenders, where the attack can then be verified and another message sent out via the social networking sites.

This is all very clever stuff, but before anyone can rush to rescue they need to establish the location of the hostage and, here again, the Natalia Bracelet comes into its own because it also transmits the wearer's real-time GPS location.

The bracelet has little to offer in the way of looks, but looks are not everything and what the bracelet lacks in aesthetics it more than makes up for in function and it is nice to see the social networks being utilized for such a positive use.

Write Articles Get Paid: Dead and Gone

I used to write the occasional article for WriteArticlesGetPaid.com, and they always paid me when they said they would, but the earnings were pretty poor so I haven't visited the site for quite a while. Today I became curious about whether the site was still in business, so I clicked through to see: dead and gone. Another online writing gig bites the dust. I can't say that it will make much difference to me, but I am sure that there are plenty of writers who will miss the site; especially writers who live in third world countries, where $1 goes a lot further than here in the west.

Dirty Money: Oxford University Boffins Come Clean

Those clever scientific people at Oxford University have spilled the beans and admitted all: they have been running tests on the coins and notes of the realm and the results do not look good. Yes indeed, the great British Coin has a dirty secret, and with up to 26, 000 bacteria on a single note, paper money is even worse.

Bearing in mind some of the places people hide their money, and the way it is passed about from hand to hand, it isn't really surprising that the filthy lucre lives up to its name. But this is not the first time that the pound has been put to the test and found to be a currency that is lacking in currency cleanliness. Earlier tests found bank notes that were harbouring a dodgy bacteria, called Klebsiella, that can cause reparatory infections and mess up your waterworks, which is not good at all because, with the National Health Service being the way it is, nobody want to spend ten or more hours sitting cross legged in accident and emergencies, gasping for breath and praying to God they remembered to lock the lid on their cash box.

Enterobacter is another money-loving bacteria that can cause a list of diseases as long as your arm, some of which may require rectal screening—and nobody wants that!

If you are shocked at the secret life that the British Pound has teeming all over it, you may be relieved to hear that it is not, by any means, the worst offender.  The Swiss Franc harbours close to double the amount of bacteria of the British Pound, but the Danish Krone tops the list with a massive 40, 266 bacteria.

According to the old saying 'A fool and his money are soon parted', but with statistics like these, maybe the fool had the right idea all along. So next time you put your hand in your purse, or open your wallet, just remember a few more old sayings: 'Health is better than wealth' and 'Money is the root of all evil'; so 'Neither a lender, nor a borrower be' because 'Where there's muck there's brass' and 'You can't take it with you when you die'.