Reality Show Bites Contestants

I can’t count the number of people I’ve driven to reality show auditions but none of them turned out this badly. Nine female “contestants” in Turkey were held for two months in a villa in Istanbul. After they were freed by military police, the nine said they were not sexually abused but they were required to fight each other and dance in bikinis while being filmed for the internet. There were arrests made but the ringleader got away. Meanwhile, the women are demanding to know which contestant won.

Pigeon Outruns High Speed

Pigeons are useful birds when they’re not raining down on the old windshield. Take Winston, a South African pigeon. He is faster than the country’s internet broad band. He carried a a 4GB memory stick 60 miles in two hours. In the same time, the country’s ADSL broadband system sent just a fraction of one GB. Microsoft would like to use the pigeon in its advertising but sources close to the bird say Winston is a Mac.

Japanese Space Freighter Set to Park

Japan has sent a space freighter into orbit. The 16.5-tonne unmanned H-II Transfer Vehicle is on a mission to resupply the space station if it can safely dock with the station. Designers say that won’t be a problem, adding that the parking system was taken from a Lexus.

Bused Into Traffic

I drive on the wrong side of the road occasionally but imagine being forced to switch sides forever. Samoans used to drive on the right, like Americans, but this week they switched to driving on the left, like Brits. The only problem is with buses which now discharge their passengers out into traffic. Until the buses can come up with the money to have their buses converted, the government is considering a number of short-term solutions: Make passengers walk; give passengers a helmet and orange vest and hope for the best; or, way down the list of possibilities, pay to have the buses converted immediately.