Heavy Rain - the Video Game

Released in 2010 for the PlayStation 3, Heavy Rain is a ground-breaking computer game combing elements of film and video gaming. The game is really more of an 'interactive drama' and, as such, forms the spiritual sequel to 2005's similarly themed Fahrenheit. It combines truly open-ended gameplay with the film noir model, creating a playable movie in which the ending is altered by the player's actions. The game received much praise from critics, who seemed to particularly enjoy the game's gritty atmosphere and successful mixing of genres. The game follows the attempts of four playable characters to catch the Origami Killer and find his latest victim before time runs out.

Please note that this Entry contains some spoilers.

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is a condition of the inner ear, and causes a form of dizziness known as vertigo. To break it up into its constituent parts:

• Benign means it isn't a progressive disease.
• Paroxysmal means it comes and goes.
• Positional means it is triggered by certain positions.
• Vertigo means it causes the room to spin – the sufferer feels as if they are moving when they are not.

The Gomboc

The Gömböc (pronounced 'goemboets', from the Hungarian for dumpling¹) is a convex, homogeneous mono-monostatic object. In other words, it's a funny-looking curved object that will right itself regardless of which side you put it on. This Entry will try to explain what a Gömböc is, how it came to be and why such a thing should exist.

Pre-eclampsia and Eclampsia

Pre-eclampsia is a condition that only occurs in women who are at least 20 weeks pregnant, though it may occur a short while after childbirth. It is thought that some form of pre-eclampsia will occur in as many as 10% of all pregnancies, though severe pre-eclampsia affects only 0.5%. The condition is characterised by high blood pressure and protein in the urine, and is due to a reduction of maternal blood supply to the placenta¹. Other symptoms, ranging from excessive blood clotting to kidney or liver damage, may occur in the mother if the placenta is damaged by the lack of blood supply. Eclampsia is the name given to a state of convulsions, altered consciousness and eventually coma that may occur following pre-eclampsia, or in some cases entirely out of the blue². Severe pre-eclampsia and eclampsia are potentially life-threatening, and the only cure is to deliver the foetus and placenta.

Accident and Emergency Departments

The Accident and Emergency (A+E) department¹ is a common fixture in large hospitals and deals with acutely unwell individuals and those who have suffered trauma. Smaller hospitals and those that deal only with outpatients may not have an A+E, but this will be clearly indicated on signs at the hospital entrance. Also, road signs for hospitals with an A+E are red, whereas signs pointing to those without are blue. A+E departments generally operate continuously (24 hours per day throughout the year), though the staff do change on a regular basis.

Do Not Leave Unattended Luggage

Imagine you're travelling via British Rail to reach some sunny destination¹. You've left your suitcase/holdall/internal frame backpack in the luggage rack at the end of the carriage where you would imagine it to be safe – that is, until you hear an 'important announcement':

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a condition affecting women that causes various symptoms including obesity, male pattern hair growth, a lack of periods and infertility. It is thought that a high level of insulin leads to the persistence of immature egg follicles¹ in the ovaries, leading to excess production of male hormones. It is these multiple follicles that give the disease its name – 'polycystic'² is, in a sense, a misnomer. The condition occurs in 5-10% of women in their reproductive years, though it does not always cause symptoms. Furthermore, one in five women who menstruate normally will have large numbers of follicles in their ovaries, but two thirds of these women will not have PCOS. Treatment depends on the individual case: some women have little in the way of symptoms whereas others are severely affected, and some seek to become pregnant and thus have treatment to increase their fertility.

Endometrial Cancer

Cancer of the endometrium (the inner lining of the uterus) is a common cancer affecting the female reproductive tract, and is diagnosed in around 6,000 women each year in the UK. The disease most commonly affects women between the ages of 55 and 65, and typically causes vaginal bleeding or a bloody discharge. More than three quarters of cases are diagnosed early, and the standard treatment is the removal of the uterus and both ovaries.

Stress Incontinence

Stress incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine upon coughing and sneezing, laughing, exercising or any other activity that puts stress on the bladder. The condition is also known as urethral sphincter incontinence, as it is due to an inability of this sphincter to match the pressure inside the bladder and thus prevent voiding of urine. While men may suffer from the condition, it affects half of all women at some time in their lives, especially in those who have given birth, and though it tends to occur in older women, around a quarter of sufferers are under the age of 30. A number of possible treatments exist, ranging from lifestyle changes and medication to surgical techniques.

Meningitis

Meningitis is the inflammation of the meninges¹, most commonly due to infection with a bacterium or virus – bacterial meningitis tends to be potentially life-threatening, whereas viral meningitis is usually relatively benign. The classic triad of symptoms seen in meningitis is headache, neck stiffness and photophobia², with other symptoms depending upon the microbe involved and the severity of the disease. Meningitis may also occur together with encephalitis³ – this is known as meningo-encephalitis. Meningitis is a notifiable disease in the UK, meaning that public health authorities are notified of all cases.

Urge Incontinence

Urge incontinence is the urgent need to pass urine due to untimely contractions of the bladder muscle (detrusor). This occurs day and night, often leading to the passing of urine before the sufferer can reach a toilet. The condition affects women more often than men, and though urge incontinence is less common than stress incontinence, a number of older women suffer from both forms. Treatment ranges from retraining the bladder to medication to relax the bladder muscle and, in severe cases, surgery to increase the bladder's size.

The Human Herpes Viruses

The viruses of the family Herpesviridae are responsible for much woe among humans, chickens and certain species of monkey. This Entry makes the assumption that the latter two groups cannot read, and therefore only covers those viruses affecting humans – the 'human herpes viruses'. They number eight in total, and are as such rather unimaginatively numbered one to eight:

Ill-Fitting Bras - A Medical Perspective

The ill-fitting bra is thought to affect at least 70% of women regardless of their size, though the one in four who require a D cup or above are worst off. Assuming that the measurements are right – definitely not a given – the array of different sizes, designs, shapes and brands available creates plenty of room for confusion. A bad fit can lead to a painful back, neck and shoulders, red marks and irritation over the shoulder and on the chest, and unsightly bulging out from the top or sides, to the extent that some women eventually seek a surgical reduction in size. Ill-fitting sports bras can be even more of a problem, considering that a lack of tight fit completely negates their purpose.

AIDS HIV - Visible Features

In terms of its size, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is like a pinhead upon a pinhead, being around 1/60th the size of the white blood cells it infects. However, both its effect on infected individuals and its rapid spread throughout the world have made the virus highly visible to humankind. Furthermore, the immune suppression that HIV causes can lead to several conditions that make the HIV infection itself visible to the outside world. The majority of these are not due to HIV infection itself, but are instead a result of 'opportunistic' infection with other diseases once the individual's immune system has become compromised. This entry looks at these so-called 'stigmata' of HIV infection. Curiously, many are caused by the human herpes viruses: you'll find mentions of herpes simplex, varicella-zoster, the Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus and human herpes virus 8.

Alcohol and Substance Misuse

The use of alcohol and other recreational drugs use can lead to a variety of problems, ranging from short and long term side effects of use to syndromes of dependence and withdrawal. Drugs can also produce a variety of substance-induced disorders including amnesia, dementia, psychosis, anxiety, depression, mania, insomnia and sexual dysfunction. This entry looks at the mental health issues surrounding alcohol consumption and provides an overview of substance use problems.

Obstetric Mental Health

This section is entitled 'obstetric' for want of a catch-all phrase, and covers mental health issues related to menstruation, menopause, pregnancy and the postnatal phase. Included are Premenstrual Syndrome, postnatal blues and depression, postnatal psychosis, and the effects of pregnancy and menopause on mental health.

Somatoform Disorders

While the aim of medicine is generally seen as being the search for a biological explanation of illness, some individuals will present to their doctors with symptoms for which no medical explanation is forthcoming. When these symptoms persist despite normal investigation and treatment, it is important to consider mental health as a possible cause. This entry looks at the somatoform disorders, in which real symptoms are produced by the mind, along with factitious disorder and malingering in which the symptoms are in some way fake.

Psychotic Disorders

The psychoses are often poorly understood by lay persons, with schizophrenia and 'split personality' being confused with one another. In fact, the symptoms experienced by schizophrenics are those we usually associate with madness: hearing voices, thinking that aliens are out to get them, or believing that they are the son of God. Schizophrenia often occurs during the late teens or early twenties, and affects no less than 1% of the population. This entry looks at the unusual symptoms that psychotic individuals experience, and also covers the causes, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of schizophrenia.

Reactions to Stress and Bereavement

It is not unusual for a person to be affected by the death of a loved one or a traumatic incident involving themselves. These so-called 'life events' can precipitate a range of mental health problems ranging from depression to schizophrenia, and are recognized as being important factors in the development and course of such conditions. However, stressful events may also produce a 'reaction' that prevents the individual from functioning normally, and which may require treatment in order to help the person return to their normal way of life. This entry looks at stress, adjustment and bereavement reactions and also covers the dissociative disorders.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Child and adolescent mental health encompasses a wide range of disorders including learning disability, autism and ADHD as well as so-called 'adult' conditions that may also affect children. These disorders can have important effects on a child's development, and so their early detection is quite important. However, it is worth bearing in mind that behaviour such as tantrums and bed-wetting are normal in a two year-old and only become abnormal at an age where most children have stopped them. Children with mental health problems can present differently from adults, often having non-specific problems with their behaviour, and they may well present to a doctor after an adult notices that something is amiss. This entry covers those conditions that only occur during childhood, though some may persist for the rest of a person's life.

Eating Disorders

Most people will be familiar with the terms anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, both of which are ten times more common in females and can have a serious effect on the individual's physical health. However, disordered eating due to mental health extends beyond those conditions explicitly classified as eating disorders. This entry looks at the different causes of self-imposed starvation and overeating.

Sleep Disorders

It may seem odd to include sleep disorders in a series of entries on mental health, but sleep is both vital to mental well-being and reliant upon it. Mental illness and psychotropic medication can affect both how much and how well a person sleeps, and problems sleeping are in some cases treated with the sedatives. This entry takes a brief look at the sleep disorders, ranging from insomnia and narcolepsy to nightmares and sleepwalking.

Personality Disorders

The term 'personality disorder' describes a group of conditions in which individuals have some form of pathological abnormality of their personality. Such individuals are likely to have serious problems with their personal and social lives, stemming from a fixed approach applied to all situations. This sort of behaviour can mimic mental illnesses ranging from anxiety to schizophrenia, and so a diagnosis of personality disorder is always considered alongside other options. Though there is no age limit, it is thought that an individual's personality is not fully formed until their mid twenties, and so earlier diagnoses of personality disorder may be less useful.

Uterine Fibroids

Fibroids are overgrowths of muscular and connective tissue that commonly occur in the wall of the uterus, but may also appear in the cervix¹, Fallopian tubes² and surrounding ligaments. They are a form of benign tumour³ that affects around one in five women at some time in their lives, with around one in 20 having fibroids at any one time. The cause of fibroids is unknown, though they are thought to arise from a series of 'seedlings' scattered across the uterus, and are dependent upon the high levels of oestrogen found in women of reproductive age. Symptoms are dependent upon the location and size of the fibroids, and may include abdominal discomfort, vaginal bleeding and unusually heavy periods. Several forms of treatment are available, ranging from medical treatments to removal of either the fibroids (myomectomy) or the entire uterus (hysterectomy).

Mood Disorders

It is quite normal for a person to feel sad or elated and, though they may affect the way a person behaves, these emotions are part of the normal human experience. However, it is possible to go far beyond the normal range to a point where the emotion is not felt but instead dominates a person's life, preventing them from functioning and even making them a risk to themselves or others. Around 20% of women and 10% of men will suffer from recurrent depression at some stage in their life, and another 1% of the population will develop bipolar affective disorder. Both are most common in early adult life, though a wide range of people of all ages and from all walks of life are affected. This entry looks broadly at the mood disorders and provides links to other, more detailed entries on h2g2.

Spell Checkers - A Warning

A man occupied with public or other important business cannot, and need not, attend to spelling.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Once upon a time, a concept known as communication was born. This was considered by some to be a bad idea, coming as it did shortly before the invention of a concept known as marriage. Over the thousands of years that followed, the human race became so good¹ at this communication lark that many languages now exist, each with its own little eccentricities and irregular verb endings. The English language, in particular, is so full of illogical and peculiar words that it took until the middle of the 18th Century for someone to collect them all in two excessively large and rather expensive volumes. It comes as no surprise, then, that humans have since turned to machines to do their dirty work when it comes to such things as spelling, punctuation and grammar. Unfortunately, these machines are so logical and lacking in a good knowledge of peculiar words that they must be taught by humans exactly how to do a job that the humans themselves aren't entirely comfortable with doing. In a world where many people now use the word 'like' in order to avoid thinking of something more complicated to say, or better still avoid thinking altogether, this presents something of a problem.

Endometriosis and Adenomyosis

Endometrial tissue is that which lines the inside of the uterus, and which bleeds approximately once a month during menstruation. Endometriosis is a condition in which a piece of endometrial tissue has travelled out of the uterus and implanted in a place it ought not to be. Adenomyosis, on the other hand, is where the endometrial tissue spreads directly into the muscle of the uterus – the name refers to the glandular tissue of the endometrium invading the muscle. Both conditions can lead to painful menstruation and irregularly heavy or frequent periods, although some individuals will have no symptoms whatsoever. While endometriosis can be treated using hormones and by destruction of the errant tissue, adenomyosis is currently thought to only be curable by hysterectomy.

Ectopic Pregnancy

Ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilised ovum implants somewhere other than the uterus. In 99% of cases, the site of implantation is in one of the Fallopian tubes¹. This might be due to a delay in the passage of the ovum along the tube, but the underlying mechanism of ectopic pregnancy is still not properly understood. It is, however, known that women who become pregnant during oral contraceptive use or fertility treatment, or following sterilisation, have an increased risk of ectopic pregnancy. Chlamydia infection, which can scar the tubes, also increases the risk of an ectopic pregnancy. The resulting symptoms include a lack of periods, abdominal pain or tenderness, and vaginal bleeding. Around 1% of pregnancies are affected, but maternal deaths are rare in developed countries.

Noel's House Party

Ask a group of people for the worst television institution of the 1990s, and you'll get a variety of answers. Some will suggest children's programmes such as Chuckle Vision or Tots TV, while others will bemoan such entertaining nonsense as Through the Keyhole or Blind Date. However, there was one show that trounced all others, filling the UK's Saturday nights with inanity, tasteless jokes and plenty of 'gunge'. This was a show that took the definition of 'light entertainment' to its very limits, and yet was watched by over 15 million people when at its peak. Among its crimes was the creation of Mr Blobby, one of the most annoying characters in television's short history. For those living in these enlightened times, the very existence of Noel's House Party may seem utterly wrong, and so this entry aims to explain what, if any, appeal the show might have had.

Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova

In 1901, Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova was born into a powerful family that ruled the second largest empire known to man – her father was Nicholas Romanov, better known as Tsar Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias. Having lived the comfortable life of a Grand Princess, Anastasia vanished with the rest of her family 17 years later, an apparent victim of the Russian Revolution. Her story is one of a girl who could have hardly known envy, but whose life was eventually dominated by the wants of others. It is a story that altered the course of history, and which spans more than a century, taking in the last days of the Russian Empire and the rise and fall of the Soviet Republic. Most importantly, it is a story that now has an end.

Denial of Service Attacks

For as long as modern technology has been around there have been those willing to throw systems into disarray. Early computers that ran on punch cards could be upset with a 'lace card' – one which had every hole punched through and would collapse and become jammed in the card-reading apparatus. Fax machines have suffered from similar mischief, with loops of black paper being used to send endless messages and eat through an enemy's toner supplies. Now that mankind has linked a legion of computers together via the Internet, such things as viruses, worms, trojans and malware have been unleashed and most users are aware of the need to protect their vulnerable computers from attack. However, many are still unaware of the silent abuse of computers as hackers use them to bring down entire websites, and so this entry looks at the phenomenon that is the Denial of Service attack.

The Mental Health Act (1983)

Though most individuals with a mental health problem can be treated entirely outside of hospital, it is possible for mental illness to become severe to the point that an individual is vulnerable and at risk of harm. Illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and severe depression can make individuals liable to deliberate self harm or self-neglect and leave them open to physical, emotional or monetary exploitation by others. It is worth noting that while some mentally disordered individuals pose a risk to the public, they are few in number.

The UK's Misuse of Drugs Act (1971)

Mind-altering drugs have long been known to cause harm to both individuals and society, and many countries therefore have laws banning them. In the UK, the Misuse of Drugs Act breaks these drugs up into three classes and details penalties for those caught possessing them. The Act is often criticised by all and sundry, either for failing to prevent drug abuse or being too restrictive. The classification of cannabis is a source of an endless debate, and the inconsistency of having legal alcohol and tobacco is often used to show up the Act as nothing more than an historic legacy. This Entry looks at how the Act came to be, what it means, and some of the issues that surround it.

Shell Shock

No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, -
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
– 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' by Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918)

Every person has their limit. Some are stronger than others and able to adapt to trauma. Few, though, were left unaffected by the bloody, muddy mess of the so-called Great War.

Men who left the battlefield physically intact carried with them deep psychological scars. Previously well soldiers were crippled by blindness, memory loss, panic attacks and bizarre pains that mimicked the injuries they inflicted on their foes. With time, symptoms like these gained the label 'shell shock' – a syndrome now considered to be a form of post-traumatic stress disorder, but which came with all the baggage of a war that centred on the mass-destruction of human life.

'Positive Atheism'

Atheists tend to get quite a bit of bad press due to the 'negative atheism' supported by prominent figures such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. Many readers will thus be surprised to hear of another variety of non-belief: 'positive atheism'. Although a philosophy with the name was first dreamt up by an Indian atheist known as Gora, who published a book on the matter in 1972, positive atheism has since been redefined to exclude Gora's secular aspect – becoming a form of atheism that encourages peaceful cohabitation with religious individuals.

Blencathra

On stern Blencathra's perilous height
The winds are tyrannous and strong;
And flashing forth unsteady light
From stern Blencathra's skiey height,
As loud the torrents throng!
- from 'A Thought Suggested by a View of Saddleback in Cumberland' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Situated at the northern end of the Lake District National Park above the road between Keswick and Penrith, Blencathra forms an imposing 868-metre-high¹ barrier with around a dozen routes of ascent. An old favourite of fell-lover Alfred Wainwright, the fell is said to take its name from the old Cumbrian for 'Devil's Peak', having apparently been home to Afallach, Celtic god of the underworld². Three gills and a beck³ divide the broad southeastern slope into five finger-like fells, namely Blease Fell, Gategill Fell, Hall's Fell, Doddick Fell and Scales Fell. While the northwestern side is nothing special, the summit of Blencathra sweeps down and up again to reach Foule Crag to the north. Despite the many features of the mountain, including the infamously narrow Sharp Edge, it is this mild undulation of the summit, clearly visible from the east, that provides it with its alternative name: Saddleback.

'Lego Star Wars'- the Video Game

Back in 1999, the Lego Group started producing themed Star Wars kits featuring a range of vehicles and characters to be enjoyed by small children and geeks around the world. These models had their limitations, though – they required a bit of imagination to place them within the colourful Star Wars universe, and it would be hard to put a whole scene together without some serious building. Fortunately, an alternative came along in the form of a Lego Star Wars video game, allowing fans to play through the films in the form of a 3D arcade-style game. Having been released in two parts in 2005 and 2006 and across several platforms, an improved Complete Saga version of the game is available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox and Wii, recreating all six episodes in glorious Lego technicolor.

Pyloric Stenosis

Pyloric stenosis is a narrowing of the section of gut directly after the stomach, leading to obstruction of the gut and projectile vomiting. It occurs specifically in newborns between one and twelve weeks of age – most cases are between two and six weeks – and while it affects around 1 per 1,000 live newborns, it is much more common in boys than girls. The condition is not life-threatening but requires surgical treatment, following which the majority of infants are soon able to feed normally.

Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip

The term 'Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip (DDH)' is generally used to refer to a range of hip deformities and dislocations found in small children¹, the implication being that the ball of the hip is not stable in its socket and liable to dislocation. The term includes both congenital and acquired abnormalities of the hip² and is thus thought to be more suitable than the term 'Congenital Hip Dislocation'. While DDH does not perturb newborns, it requires early treatment to avoid damage to the hip joint later on. In the UK, all babies are examined for DDH, both after birth and at their six-eight week GP checks.

Atheists and Christmas

There is something magical about Christmas when there is real belief in the air - whether that is a Christian celebrating the birth of Christ or a three-year-old starry-eyed at the prospect of Santa. Other than that, I find that less tends to be more - just enough decorations, just enough rich food, just enough good company, and only if you want them.
- An atheist h2g2 Researcher

To a great many people Christmas is one of the most familiar holidays of the year, characterised by such a diverse set of symbols as chocolates, snow, holly, fir trees, a jolly old man, presents, puddings, poultry, and of course nativities. The matter of atheists and their relationship with Christmas is occasionally a source of consternation for those among the Western religions, who may accuse them of wanting to ban Christmas or being hypocritical in celebrating it. This Entry looks at a few simple questions surrounding atheists and Christmas, but does not attempt to cover the wider matter of how religious persons celebrate it.

Intussusception

Intussusception is an acute medical condition in which one section of the bowel telescopes inside another, strangling the blood supply. If left untreated for too long, it can lead to the death of that section of bowel. It is an emergency that can lead to a person's death in just two days. On the other hand, an enema may be all that is required to treat it.

The condition tends to occur in infants aged between 18 months and three years old, and is more common in boys.

The Atheist Bus Campaign

THERE'S PROBABLY NO GOD. NOW STOP WORRYING AND ENJOY YOUR LIFE.

In June 2008, writer Ariane Sherine wrote a blog for The Guardian's Comment is Free site expressing annoyance at the number of adverts for Christianity appearing on London buses. Having looked up a webpage mentioned in one of these adverts and read on it that she would probably 'spend all eternity in torment in hell', Sherine reasoned that some sort of balancing atheist campaign was in order. The resulting Atheist Bus Campaign initially aimed to raise enough money for just a few adverts with the aforementioned slogan; however, it went on to become the most rapid-growing campaign in justgiving.com's history, raising more than ten times its target amount in the first day alone.

'Atheophobia'

In 1689, a Polish nobleman had his tongue ripped from his mouth and was beheaded, following which he was burned along with the paper for which he had been condemned to death. Almost 200 years later, a politician was refused a seat in Parliament and was later arrested, fined and temporarily imprisoned despite being voted in repeatedly. Another century on and an Internet group with 35,000 members was deleted by the website's owners after complaints from other users that the subject matter was 'offensive'.

Christopher Walken

Bear costumes are funny... Bears as well.
- Christopher Walken

Having appeared in over a hundred film and television roles in a career spanning over fifty years, Christopher Walken's pale yet memorable face and deadpan expression can be found in such a wide variety of roles as Bond villain, failed conman, Vietnam veteran, headless horseman and telepathic teacher. Fond of dancing and keen to add some form of 'jig' to whatever he's doing, Walken has also appeared in several musicals and was responsible for the award-winning music video to Fatboy Slim's 'Weapon of Choice'.

Adenoids

The adenoids are lumps of lymphoid tissue found at the very back of the nose where it joins with the mouth (the nasopharynx). Together with other patches of immune tissue, the adenoids and tonsils form a defensive circle known as Waldeyer's ring around the back walls of the mouth and nose. Though the adenoids start to regress around the age of seven and are all but absent in adults, those in young children can become very swollen due to repeated infection - this is known as adenoiditis. The glands may then block both the nose and the Eustachian tubes¹, leading to a number of problems.

Deus Ex: Invisible War - the PC Game

The sequel to an acclaimed First Person Shooter / Role-Playing Game (FPS/RPG) famous for the way in which every action had consequences, Invisible War had much to live up to when it was released for Windows XP¹ and the Xbox by Eidos in 2003. Though a lot of the game's functions have been simplified and the graphics improved to a certain extent, the fact that it was developed by the same Ion Storm that produced the original Deus Ex is clear from beginning to end.

Diseases of the Tonsils

Situated on the side walls of the mouth behind the tongue, the palatine tonsils are a familiar subject for many people. Though they act as an immune barrier in much the same way as the adenoids¹, the fact that the tonsillectomy is traditionally associated with free ice-cream seems to get most people's attention. However, there is more to the tonsils than their being surgically removed, and so this Entry takes a quick look at a range of disease of the tonsils.

The Metal Gear Solid Philanthropy Movie Project

In May 2006, the creator of the Metal Gear series, Hideo Kojima, announced that the well-known video game Metal Gear Solid was going to be made into a film, the release date being in 2009. Little did he know that such a project had already been underway for several years, and that a non-profit spin-off film produced by amateurs might even pip Sony's official version at the post.

Portal - the Video Game

Released as part of the Half-Life 2 'Orange Box' for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2007, and for the PC in 2008, Portal is a puzzle-solving video game with a dark sense of humour. The player is placed inside a testing area at the aptly named Aperture Science Laboratories and must solve a series of tests by using 'portals' to achieve otherwise impossible objectives. In the process, they are constantly encouraged onwards by a psychotic but otherwise helpful computer. Produced by Valve, the game makes use of the same Source engine software as Half-Life 2, thereby providing the realistic physics required to make such an unusual game work.

How to Take an Inpatient History (UK)

It is a common perception that medical students learn by being taught. This isn't entirely true, and in some cases is merely a lie perpetuated by hospitals to ensure that the extra funding associated with teaching keeps on pouring in. In fact, medical students learn by 'clerking', a lengthy process that involves taking a detailed history from a patient and then, when they're starting to get particularly fed up, performing a rigorous examination of any body parts they're willing to let you touch. This entry deals with the history part of a full inpatient clerking.

The Hypothalamus and the Pituitary

Hormones are chemical messengers produced by specialised cells and sent via the blood. Each hormone has a different purpose, a different effect and a different set of cells to target. This entry looks at two of the most important hormone-producing organs in the body: the hypothalamus and the pituitary.

Fistulae

A fistula (plural, fistulae or fistulas) is an abnormal connection between two linings, or epithelial layers, of the body such as the mouth, lungs, bladder, bowel and skin. To the lay person, a fistula can sound pretty scary or disgusting - a connection between two parts of their body that isn't meant to be there, allowing substances such as stools¹ to move from one part to another and cause all sorts of problems.

Heart Block

The term 'heart block' refers to a delay or stoppage at some point of the electrical pathway of the heart, and is a medical diagnosis made on the basis of an electrocardiogram (ECG). Depending on the variety, heart blocks may produce slow heart rates leading to dizziness or blackouts, or may produce no symptoms at all.

The Ill Effects of Chronic Drinking

Most adult readers will be familiar with alcohol in some way or another and will probably know a certain amount about the damage it can do in the long run. However, having read this far, most will already have the words 'liver damage' on the tip of their tongue, and so this Entry aims to point out that the effects of long-term alcohol abuse can be more far reaching than the average person would expect. While the following effects are all caused by chronic alcohol abuse, the exact degree of drinking required to precipitate a particular disease varies between individuals. Needless to say, the greater the alcohol intake, the greater the risks.

Examining the Cranial Nerves

The nerves of the human body are required for a variety of tasks, ranging from carrying sensory input to controlling various muscles throughout the body. The twelve pairs of nerves coming from the brain and brainstem are known as the cranial nerves - in other words, the cranial nerves are those which come directly from the brain instead of branching off from the spinal cord.

The cranial nerves are among the most important in the body as they accept input from the eyes, nose, ears and tongue and are responsible for skin sensation and various muscles in the face. Detailed coverage of the nerves is available in the Cranial Nerves Entry. This Entry, on the other hand, looks at the medical examination of the cranial nerves.

The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway - La'al Ratty

After a continuous struggle to survive for most of the 40 years it existed, the combination of a lack of funds and the end of passenger traffic led to the closure of Owd Ratty in April 1913. However, in 1915, a Robert P Mitchell of Narrow Gauge Railways Limited found out about the desolated line and came to pay a visit. The three-foot gauge track was all still there, but it was badly overgrown and the sleepers were starting to rot away underneath the points where the rails were attached. Despite both the state of the line and the fact that World War One was in full swing, Mitchell decided to take over the line with the help of miniature railway expert, WJ Bassett-Lowke. Just seven weeks after work began, the line had been cleared and rebuilt to a 15-inch gauge up to the first stop at Muncaster Mill, simply by moving the rails inwards and reattaching them to the sleepers. Thus La'al Ratty, the 'little narrow way', was created.

The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway - Rolling Stock

When it was originally constructed, the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway had to make do with the cheapest route available, with trains following steep gradients and sharp bends while pulling heavy loads of passengers and goods up the valley. The original miniature locomotives provided by Bassett-Lowke were around a quarter of the size of mainline steam locomotives and were thus a little too underpowered to cope with the uphill struggle. The locos provided by Sir Arthur Heywood proved a little better, although their small boilers meant that they also ran out of steam quite frequently. It was only in the 1920s that the River Esk and River Irt, a pair of one-third scale miniature locomotives that later helped inspire the creation of Thomas the Tank Engine, started to run on the line, drastically improving matters. Many others, including the matching River Mite and Northern Rock have since followed, and this Entry lists the locomotives that you might conceivably come across somewhere on the line today, starting with the most commonly seen. The Entry exists simply to cover a few facts about each locomotive - for exhaustive statistics about the line's rolling stock, you're best off consulting The R&ER Stockbook, which is published by the railway's preservation society. Locomotives are steam driven unless otherwise stated.

The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway - Route and Stations

The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway takes in a total of nine stations, the intermediate ones available only by request¹, on its seven-mile journey along the valleys and hillsides to reach Eskdale (Dalegarth) station. Despite the small size of the trains the line still takes in several steep gradients, climbing up to 200 feet above sea level at the end of the line. This Entry looks at both the route the line takes and the stations it stops at along the way.

The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway - Owd Ratty

After the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th Centuries, there was obviously great demand for iron ore to be pulled from the ground wherever it could be found. One of these places was West Cumberland, home to both the largest hills in all of England and, by the 1870s, a series of railways that had been built to exploit the various minerals that lay in various parts of those hills. The Furness Railway had opened back in 1846 at the very southern end of the county to connect the slate quarries of Kirkby-in-Furness and the iron ore deposits at Lindal with a shipping berth at Roa Island. In 1850, this small line was met by the Whitehaven and Furness Railway, a line which ran along the western coast through such towns as Sellafield, Seascale and Ravenglass to reach Whitehaven, a town which had been connected to the national network via the Whitehaven Junction Railway to Carlisle since 1847. By 1857, the Furness railway had managed to finish a link through to Lancaster, providing an easy way of transporting goods mined out of the Cumbrian countryside to the rest of the country.

Helvellyn

There is some quality about Helvellyn which endears it in the memory of most people who have stood on its breezy top; although it can be a grim place indeed on a wild night, it is, as a rule, a very friendly giant.
- Alfred Wainwright, famous writer and fellwalker.

At 950m, Helvellyn forms the greatest point of a mountain range that runs for over ten miles right through the heart of the eastern Lake District National Park. While its western side is much the same as any old ridge-bound fell - the routes from the banks of Thirlmere Reservoir are more or less an exercise in gaining altitude - the eastern approaches from Glenridding and Patterdale via a pair of ridges which form a horseshoe around Red Tarn provide beautiful panoramic views, with the walk along Striding Edge being particularly worthwhile.

The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway - Introduction

Known locally as 'La'al Ratty', the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway first opened as a single-track three-foot gauge line in 1873 to carry haematite ore mined in the Eskdale valley in Cumbria for seven miles to reach the coastal town of Ravenglass. Due to its convenient location just a couple of miles away from the largest mountains in England, the wide gauge line, referred to as 'Owd Ratty', soon attracted more tourists than it could cope with, some of whom ended up riding the line in open-top iron ore wagons. Despite its popularity, the line became bankrupt just a couple of years after opening, and in 1908 a letter of complaint to Winston Churchill - then the President of the Board of Trade - saw that the line was quickly closed to passengers. Having been in receivership for much of its life, the line failed to produce any income, closing in 1913 despite all efforts. Fortunately, the line was bought by a model railway manufacturer just two years later, re-opening in stages as a 15-inch gauge tourist attraction while continuing to serve both the mines and a granite-crushing plant along the way.

Metaphysical Isms

Ah, beliefs. Every single human has them, although due to some hideous mistake, perhaps related to us all coming down out of the trees in the first place, we are all very bad at distinguishing between our own personal beliefs and the indisputable truth. Nietzsche once described this particular dilemma quite succinctly:

You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.

STALKER - the PC Game

First released in March 2007 by publishers THQ, after many years of development by the Kiev-based Ukrainian company GSC Game World, STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl (СТАЛКЕР: Тень Чернобыля) is a first-person shooter based around a post-apocalyptic Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant whose 'Zone of Alienation'¹ has become filled with strange anomalies and inhabited by mutant creatures. However, scientific interest in the artefacts produced by 'the Zone' has led to so-called 'stalkers' raiding it for profit, and the Zone has developed into a complicated world in which factions fight for control of the area while others seek to make as much money from it as possible. It is in this world that the player must learn to survive, make a living and eventually reach one of the game's several endings.

Please note that this Entry contains lots of spoilers.

Devonport Leat, Devon, UK

Constructed during the 1790s to channel drinking water from three rivers in Dartmoor to the busy port of Devonport, near Plymouth, the Devonport Leat has since been shortened so that it supplies the Burrator Reservoir, which was built in 1898 to help supply the surrounding area's growing population. However, the upper section of the leat still remains completely intact, snaking around the hillsides of Dartmoor to carry the water of the West Dart, Cowsic and Blackbrook Rivers over 12 miles while dropping just 200 metres.

Except for a tunnel and a waterfall, the leat remains more or less level throughout and is easy to follow, thus making it a good place for a walk. The leat has a path alongside it but meets several paths and roads along its route, and so there are many ways in which it can be incorporated into walks. Although the weather can often be quite inclement, the moors surrounding the leat provide a picturesque background, which is added to by the presence of various wildlife, including the sheep and Dartmoor ponies which come to drink from the leat.

Microsoft Bob

Seemingly aimed at a six year-old with a geography degree and finances to manage, Microsoft Bob represents possibly the most bizarre software flop of all time. Released in 1995, Bob was a graphical shell that ran on top of Windows 3.1 and Windows 95, and was designed to make computers more accessible for people who simply didn't understand Microsoft computers. The main result was in fact the revelation that Microsoft simply didn't understand people.

How to Help Windows XP Keep Up With Vista

Hailed by Microsoft as an operating system revolution when it was released in January 2007, Windows Vista contains many features which most users will consider to be quite groundbreaking. However, there are those who are quite happy just to keep on running XP or do not have a system that is advanced enough to handle Vista - while many computers could theoretically run Vista, on older systems most of the time would be spent waiting for the computer to transfer the right bit of data into its memory. This Entry therefore aims to help them get the best out of their existing software.

How to Make a Text-Based Adventure: Commands and Parser

Ever woken up one morning to find that one of your arms has gone dead? The feeling has practically gone, you can hardly move it and it just feels like a weight attached to your shoulder. This is what a bad text-based adventure can end up being like if the parser (ie, the part of your game which understands what the player has typed) is no good. The same goes for adventures where everything around you is of no interest and cannot have anything done to it without the writer's express permission. If a player can't control their character due to communication problems or they find are surrounded by boring objects and backdrops, they can't get on with playing the game and having fun, and may just give up and do something else instead.

Mission: Impossible - the N64 Game

Mission: Impossible is a third-person shooter game for the N64 developed by Ocean Software and published by Infogrames Entertainment, and was first released in 1996. The game is loosely based upon the film and TV series of the same name, and follows the exploits of Ethan Hunt as he undertakes various missions with the help of a wide range of gadgets. Though similar in certain ways to the Bond game GoldenEye 007, Mission: Impossible stands out due to the stealth and subterfuge required to complete some of the levels.

Please note that this Entry contains spoilers.

Crossrail, London, UK

Crossrail is the name for a plan to build several underground railways through Central London, thus linking the mainline railways which surround the capital. This would allow services similar to the existing Thameslink system to run straight through the heart of London, stopping at a handful of stations on the way. The first line to be built will be Crossrail 1, which will run east-west via Paddington and Liverpool Street and is scheduled to open no sooner than 2015. The project is run by Cross London Rail Links Ltd, a company owned by Transport for London and the Department for Transport.

The Cheese Grater - The Magazine

First published in March 2004, The Cheese Grater¹ is a magazine produced by the students of University College London (UCL) Union with the aims of providing plenty of humorous material while also exposing any misanthropic acts on the part of UCL, its Union along with the Sabbatical officers which run it, and many others. The magazine also makes a point of criticising Pi Magazine, UCL Union's mainstream publication, due to its failure both to take a critical view of university and union affairs and to spell words correctly. The Cheese Grater is thus quite similar in nature to Private Eye magazine, with the exceptions that the latter is in full colour, has staples and is sometimes exchanged for actual money. The magazine's name is a reference to Jeremy Bentham, a philosopher whose ideas helped shape UCL and whose preserved head is still kept in the UCL vaults.

Pop-Tarts

Invented during the 1960s, the humble Pop-Tart consists of a thin rectangular slab of pastry a little bit smaller than a slice of bread, thus allowing students¹ to warm them up in a toaster. Each Pop-Tart contains a sickly-sweet filling such as chocolate, strawberry, blueberry or s'mores (marshmallow and chocolate), and many are also covered with a sugary frosting of a matching flavour. Pop-Tarts are formed by rolling pastry dough into two sheets, with the filling being added in between the two. The pastry is then sliced into rectangles, which are baked as they slowly pass through a large oven. The frosting and sprinkles are then added, following which the Pop-Tarts are cooled and packaged. Pop-Tarts are usually sold in boxes similar to cereal packets, with pairs of the pastry snack being sealed together in air-tight foil wrappers.

Travelling by Bus in London

Travelling in London isn't easy. Places can be far apart, the tube is expensive and overcrowded during the rush hours, and the roads are full of people using their cars to drive everywhere despite the congestion charge. Thankfully, bus lanes are still going strong in many parts of London, and although the old Routemaster bus has been confined to a single tourist run in central London, a fleet of red vehicles of various shapes and sizes still continue to crawl along the many roads of the capital in an attempt to move people from one place to another.

'All Your Base Are Belong To Us'

In 1991, a run-of-the-mill scrolling space shooter known as Zero Wing was adapted for the Sega Mega Drive¹. Though the game's plot was unremarkable, the subtitles which appeared during the introductory animation at the start of the game were quite the opposite. Considered to be possibly the worst ever translation between Japanese and English to find its way into the world of video gaming, the words 'all your base are belong to us' went on to be the basis of an online phenomenon and are now commonly used on the Internet in various humorous ways, as well as being used to denote a victory in the world of online gaming.

Operation Able Archer

In November 1983, the USA and NATO ran an exercise which simulated a coordinated nuclear strike against the USSR, resulting in the biggest nuclear scare since the Cuban Missile Crisis 21 years earlier. Tensions between the superpowers meant that some Soviets actually believed the USA was secretly trying to cover a real nuclear first strike, causing them to ready their own nuclear forces while putting forces in East Germany on high alert. Luckily, the whole situation ended when the ten-day exercise ended, thus allowing the USSR to eventually destroy itself instead. But let's start at the beginning.

The Boy or Girl Paradox

• If a family has two children and the older one is a boy, what is the probability that the younger child is a girl?
• If a family has two children and at least one of them is a boy, what is the probability that the family also contains a girl?

These questions both look quite innocent, and most people will quickly reply that since the probability of a child being a girl is ½, the answer to both the above questions is ½. We could easily leap to this conclusion too, but we would, of course, be wrong. Though they may seem to be asking the same thing, these questions actually lead to different answers and are the basis of a mildly confusing problem known as the Boy or Girl Paradox.

The London Necropolis Railway

From 1854 up until 1941, the London Necropolis Railway ran trains between a station next to London Waterloo and the Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey. Making use of the line between London and Southampton, the railway existed solely to carry the dead, along with their mourners, to one of two stops inside the cemetery, which had been built by the London Necropolis Company to counter the increase in population that was causing London's cemeteries to overflow.

Conditional Statements and Loops in Programming

Conditional statements and loops are really quite an important aspect of many programming languages; without them, blocks of code would have to be copied and pasted many times over, and programs would be unable to react to any changes whatsoever. Along with commands such as 'continue' and 'return', conditional statements and loops allow the programmer to control the flow of a program, making it possible for small sections of code to perform quite powerful operations. This Entry looks at some common statements found in many third and fourth generation programming languages¹. Despite sharing the same structures the languages are all slightly different, and so this Entry will present examples in a meaningless yet easily-understood generic language. Some languages may differ through having brackets in various places, while others may lack the 'end' statements used in these examples, and some may have loops that take up just a single line of code and look very nasty indeed.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster

I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; one third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence.
- Bobby Henderson in his letter to the Kansas Board of Education.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster, or FSM, is a fictional deity which forms the basis of a religion founded in 2005 by Bobby Henderson, a graduate from Oregon State University, in order to protest against the inclusion of Intelligent Design in the Kansas School Board's curriculum. The FSM is thus a parody of Intelligent Design written to satirise rather than support the Creationist movement. The idea has since caught on and now has an official church, members of which are also known as Pastafarians. However, there are also those who refuse to be 'touched by His noodly appendage', and Henderson has received plenty of hate mail for his trouble.

The Invisible Pink Unicorn

If you feel it is the duty of others to refute the claim, and not of yourself to support it, then how about refuting the existence of invisible pink unicorns?
- earliest mention of the Invisible Pink Unicorn on the alt.atheism Usenet newsgroup.

First 'revealed' to the world in the early 1990s, the Invisible Pink Unicorn, or IPU, is a fictional deity invented by atheists and exists¹ as an illustration of the problem faced by atheists when asked to disprove the existence of a god by those of a religious persuasion. Due to her invisibility, the existence of the IPU is impossible to disprove, and this is doubly so due to the fact that, according to some, only her believers can see her. The IPU has since gained some degree of fame, partially thanks to the Internet, and now has a number of 'followers' who have deliberately expanded the idea so that it more strongly satirises the 'real' religions. Those who 'believe' in her do so either humorously, satirically or both, and have so far written many detailed and contrasting accounts based upon various subjects including her love of pineapple and ham pizza, her dislike of those who use the word 'an' in conjunction with the word 'history', and the fact that she 'raptures' socks, thus explaining the phenomenon of missing socks.

MATLAB - the Programming Language

MATLAB, short for Matrix Laboratory, is a fourth generation programming language¹ that specialises in mathematical computing but can also be expanded to include functions that allow image processing, distributed and parallel computing and various other applications. Its main use is the manipulation of matrices² in a great many ways, with the underlying language of MATLAB being fine-tuned for this purpose. The first version was written in Fortran by Cleve Moler at the University of New Mexico, but was rewritten in the programming language 'C' after this language gained acceptance in various fields of applied mathematics. Together with Jack Little and Steve Bangert, Moler founded the MathWorks in 1984, with MATLAB having since become widely used in teaching and research as well as in commercial areas. MATLAB is now available for Windows, Unix, Linux and Mac OS X.

The Quintinshill Rail Crash, May 1915

At around 6.50am on the morning of 22 May, 1915, the worst train crash ever to occur in the UK took place at Quintinshill in Scotland, a short way north of Carlisle on the Caledonian Railway. The accident involved a special troop train carrying a Royal Scots battalion, two goods trains, a local train and an express from London Euston via Carlisle, with the death toll having reached 227 after two collisions and a fire left little but burning wreckage on the line. Despite the horrific nature of the accident - or, more pertinently, due to it - the crash was kept a secret until after the end of World War I.

The Squirrel Proposition Refuted

A photographer arrives in a forest, looking for a squirrel to pose for a photograph for a nature magazine. However, he soon realises that not only do squirrels not pose, but also they actively try to stay out of sight, making it impossible to get a good shot. Seeing a squirrel on the side of a thick-trunked redwood, he tries to sneak round to take a snap, but the squirrel simply darts round to cling to the opposite side of the trunk to that which the photographer is facing. Being the typical furry sadist, the squirrel stays at the same level on the tree trunk but moves at the same time as the photographer, keeping exactly opposite him as he circles the tree trying to catch up. Naturally, the photographer never catches up with the squirrel no matter what he does, but the motion of the two characters is much more interesting. The actual puzzle has nothing to do with the photographer's wish to take a picture of the squirrel, but is actually this - does the photographer circle the squirrel as they move round the tree?

London Underground Disasters and Other Unfortunate Events

Despite having been put together mostly from old tunnels and buildings dating back to the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, the London Underground has had surprisingly few mishaps in what could be considered to be modern times. Compared to the amount of use the system has had over the years, only a few major incidents have ever occurred, most of which have led to immediate changes to improve the safety of the tube. This Entry looks at the more infamous of the incidents that have taken place on the Underground, along with some other notable occurrences.

Silence as a Mark of Respect

For almost a century, periods of silence have been considered in many countries to be the utmost mark of respect and remembrance following a tragic event or death of a public figure. Usually lasting between one and three minutes, they range from silences observed locally by small groups to those partaken nationally or internationally to mark events of great note. During silences it is also known for public transport to grind to a halt, and national silences can now also involve the cessation of all activity, even in the workplace and at school.

The two minute silence should not be confused with a 'moment of silence', a part of the school day included by some schools in the USA to bypass the decision made in the 1960s that it was unconstitutional to allow institutionalised prayer in schools.

The Bears of the McNeil River Sanctuary, Alaska

Originating in the glaciers and alpine lakes of the Aleutian Mountains, the McNeil River runs for 35 miles along the northeast end of the Alaskan Peninsula before reaching the sea. On the way, the river passes through an area teeming with all sorts of wildlife including arctic ground squirrels and red foxes, but one occupant stands out from the rest. Every summer, the area is inundated with brown bears, also referred to as either Ursus arctos or 'grizzlies', hunting for the many salmon that live in the area's rivers. Fortunately, the McNeil River area was made a wildlife sanctuary in 1967, and the 200 square miles still support over a hundred hungry bears today.

The Parkland Walk, London, UK

The Parkland Walk runs for four miles from Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace, following the path of a disused railway line that passed from Finsbury Park to Highgate and had a branch off towards the palace. Though some parts of the line have since been swallowed up by building works and developments, much of the original route is still walkable, providing a mixture of both surprisingly leafy cuttings and a long viaduct with panoramic views of London. Although the walk is mostly flat between Finsbury Park and Highgate, the closure of both the tunnels at Highgate and some of the path between there and Alexandra Palace means that some sections involve uphill and downhill slopes, along with a detour away from the original route which can be confusing without proper directions. One final point before we begin - the path is not lit except by mild amounts of sunshine or moonlight, and it is not advisable to walk it alone or at night.

The Nottingham Express Transit, Nottinghamshire, UK

The Nottingham Express Transit is a tram system which runs from a stop by Nottingham station through Nottingham city centre to reach Hucknall to the north. Having opened in 2004 after 16 years of planning and development, the system now offers cheap, disabled-friendly transport across a modest network of 8.5 miles (14km), though high demand means that the network is likely to be expanded in the near future to provide other routes through the busy city centre.

The 'London Overground' Network

On 11 November, 2007, Transport for London began to take over operation of several suburban rail services around the periphery of central London, turning them into a unified North London Railway. Once connected with an extended East London Railway from 2011 onwards, the network will provide better services through the city's suburbs, including the vague possibility of something resembling an Orbirail service encircling the capital. This Entry looks at the history of each of the constituents of the London Overground network, and goes into the details of the new system, planned to be mostly completed in time for the 2012 London Olympics. To allow work on the first phase to be completed by 2010, the East London Line will be closed for three years, starting from December 2007.

London Underground - Metropolitan Line: East of Harrow

The London Underground's first trains began to run in 1863 when the Metropolitan Railway (MetR) opened between Farringdon Street and Paddington Bishop's Road, the latter now forming the Hammersmith & City line stop at Paddington. In 1865 the line was extended to the east, with Farringdon Street being closed as the line called at nearby Farringdon on the way to Moorgate. A year later, the first parts of the widened lines were opened, with mainline tracks running parallel with the tube lines to Moorgate. However, the next extension of the MetR came in 1868, with the line from Edgware Road being extended round to the south, calling at Paddington Praed Street on the way to Gloucester Road, a section which now forms part of the Circle line.

Weebl and Bob - Cartoon Characters

Lo Bob! You have pie?

In 2002, Jonti Picking¹ created two egg-shaped fellows with moderately foul mouths and a lust for pie. Since then, the duo have appeared in over a hundred short Flash² cartoons alongside an ever-growing supporting cast, with each new episode receiving at least 200,000 viewings. Weebl and Bob have since appeared under the guise of Wobbl³ and Bob on MTV and in their very own DVD, which includes a documentary narrated by Brian Blessed. Weebl and Bob are probably really only suitable for adults, and so many of their favourite sayings can't be covered in this Entry.

X-Ray Grids

X-Ray grids consist of a series of lead strips placed in front of the X-Ray film, and are used in some diagnostic techniques to improve image quality by stopping scatter radiation from reaching the X-Ray film. The grid was invented by Dr Gustave Bucky in 1913, and is still used in X-Ray machines today. X-Ray grids are produced by X-Ray supplies manufacturers, but are put in place by a technician, and so a choice of using one of several grids or just no grid at all is usually available. There are very few applications where no grid is used, and these include mammography, dental imaging and bone density measurements. Grids are even used when an image intensifier is used instead of X-Ray film.

Advent Calendars

To some, advent calendars may seem like either an excuse to eat chocolate or just another thing that companies can sell to us in the run-up to Christmas. However, the humble advent calendar has a long history and was in fact invented by the same people who brought us Christmas cookies and the practice of decorating our Christmas trees¹.

The Blue Screen of Death

Windows NT crashed
I am the Blue Screen of Death
No-one hears your screams
— Peter Rothman

Ever since Microsoft began making software, many computers using it have crashed for various reasons, most of which seem to depend upon either how much stress the system is under or how long ago your warranty expired. If unfortunate things happen to your Windows computer, which in all probability they will, then you will get to join the millions of others who are now familiar with the plain blue screen covered in text that has brought so much sorrow to so many.

Surlingham Broad, Norfolk, UK

Surlingham Broad is the name given to a series of shallow waterways, both large and small, hidden a little way off the River Yare in Norfolk. While those who have hired boats in the area may be familiar with a large open stretch of water known as the Bargate, most visitors to the broad leave with no idea of its true scale. Most see just the remainder of a hand-crafted artificial lake, the true nature of which has almost been lost in the mists of time.

King Tupou IV of Tonga

Born on 4 July, 1918, Tāufa'āhau Tupou was the son of Queen Salote Tupou III¹, who had succeeded the throne of the Kingdom of Tonga from her father King George Tupou II earlier that year. The fourth ruler in a monarchy covering the entire country, King Tupou IV's mother died in 1965 and he was crowned in 1967 after a protracted period of mourning. He reigned for over forty years before passing away at the age of 88 on 10 September, 2006, leaving the throne to his eldest son, King George Tupou V. During his life he had absolute power over 170 islands, and he received several awards as well as an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. At his most obese, King Tupou IV weighed over 200 kilograms, making him officially the heaviest monarch in the world.