Hallelujah moment in Sainsburys car park...

The building in the photo I took below is actually the local firestation. I know what you're thinking, it's either (somewhat ironically) on fire, or the second coming is occurring right behind it. Actually it is just a regular old sunset. Sorry to disappoint!

Tasty Olives!

My friend went to Borough Market, SE1 recently and brought back some of the best olives I have EVER tasted.

Green olives stuffed with garlic cloves and chilli.  AMAZING!

Get them from the Borough Olives stall.

Be sure to pay them a visit on your next trip to SE1.  Oh and here's a tip, buy more than one pot full!

REVEALED - The Capitalist Network that runs the World

"AS PROTESTS against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have confirmed the protesters' worst fears. An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy.

The study's assumptions have attracted some criticism, but complex systems analysts contacted by New Scientist say it is a unique effort to untangle control in the global economy. Pushing the analysis further, they say, could help to identify ways of making global capitalism more stable.

The idea that a few bankers control a large chunk of the global economy might not seem like news to New York's Occupy Wall Street movement and protesters elsewhere. But the study, by a trio of complex systems theorists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, is the first to go beyond ideology to empirically identify such a network of power. It combines the mathematics long used to model natural systems with comprehensive corporate data to map ownership among the world's transnational corporations (TNCs).

"Reality is so complex, we must move away from dogma, whether it's conspiracy theories or free-market," says James Glattfelder. "Our analysis is reality-based."

Previous studies have found that a few TNCs own large chunks of the world's economy, but they included only a limited number of companies and omitted indirect ownerships, so could not say how this affected the global economy - whether it made it more or less stable, for instance.

The Zurich team can. From Orbis 2007, a database listing 37 million companies and investors worldwide, they pulled out all 43,060 TNCs and the share ownerships linking them. Then they constructed a model of which companies controlled others through shareholding networks, coupled with each company's operating revenues, to map the structure of economic power.

The work, to be published in PLoS One, revealed a core of 1318 companies with interlocking ownerships (see image). Each of the 1318 had ties to two or more other companies, and on average they were connected to 20. What's more, although they represented 20 per cent of global operating revenues, the 1318 appeared to collectively own through their shares the majority of the world's large blue chip and manufacturing firms - the "real" economy - representing a further 60 per cent of global revenues.

When the team further untangled the web of ownership, it found much of it tracked back to a "super-entity" of 147 even more tightly knit companies - all of their ownership was held by other members of the super-entity - that controlled 40 per cent of the total wealth in the network. "In effect, less than 1 per cent of the companies were able to control 40 per cent of the entire network," says Glattfelder. Most were financial institutions. The top 20 included Barclays Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and The Goldman Sachs Group."

The top 50 of the 147 superconnected companies

1. Barclays plc
2. Capital Group Companies Inc
3. FMR Corporation
4. AXA
5. State Street Corporation
6. JP Morgan Chase & Co
7. Legal & General Group plc
8. Vanguard Group Inc
9. UBS AG
10. Merrill Lynch & Co Inc
11. Wellington Management Co LLP
12. Deutsche Bank AG
13. Franklin Resources Inc
14. Credit Suisse Group
15. Walton Enterprises LLC
16. Bank of New York Mellon Corp
17. Natixis
18. Goldman Sachs Group Inc
19. T Rowe Price Group Inc
20. Legg Mason Inc
21. Morgan Stanley
22. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc
23. Northern Trust Corporation
24. Société Générale
25. Bank of America Corporation
26. Lloyds TSB Group plc
27. Invesco plc
28. Allianz SE 29. TIAA
30. Old Mutual Public Limited Company
31. Aviva plc
32. Schroders plc
33. Dodge & Cox
34. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc*
35. Sun Life Financial Inc
36. Standard Life plc
37. CNCE
38. Nomura Holdings Inc
39. The Depository Trust Company
40. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance
41. ING Groep NV
42. Brandes Investment Partners LP
43. Unicredito Italiano SPA
44. Deposit Insurance Corporation of Japan
45. Vereniging Aegon
46. BNP Paribas
47. Affiliated Managers Group Inc
48. Resona Holdings Inc
49. Capital Group International Inc
50. China Petrochemical Group Company

* Lehman still existed in the 2007 dataset used

To read the article in full click the link in the title.

Malaria caught on camera breaking and entering cell - New Scientist

"The video above captures the moment when a malaria parasite invades a human red blood cell - the first time the event has been caught in high resolution.

The Plasmodium parasite responsible for malaria is transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes, and is thought to kill almost 1 million people worldwide each year.

Jake Baum at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues used transmission electron microscopy, immuno-fluorescence and 3D super-resolution microscopy to record thousands of high-definition images of separate invasion events, a process that takes less than 30 seconds."

Follow the link in the title to read the rest of the article.

Some movies I've seen recently... and a confession

I've seen quite a few movies recently (don't ask me where I've found the time!) and I thought I'd let you know what I thought of them so you can either watch them yourself knowing you're not wasting 90-110 minutes of your life, or not!

Crazy Stupid Love - 118 minutes - 3.5 stars from me

An okay romcom.  I've seen A LOT of films from this genre and this one isn't all bad.  Ryan Gosling is pretty buff in it, so as a girl it's worth watching for the scene where he takes his shirt off alone ;o)
I doubt this would be one for the guys, unless you happen to be a huge Steve Carell fan or you're in love with Emma Stone (I won't judge!).

Bad Teacher - 92 mins - 3 stars at most from me

This is a very average Cameron Diaz movie.  Then again most Cameron Diaz movies are very average.  Things that make this movie worth watching are:  Cameron Diaz' eyes (how are they so blue?!), her amazing figure, and the fact that Justin Timberlake is fast becoming a pretty decent actor.  Only a few LOL moments for me but wasn't all bad.

Monte Carlo - 109 mins - 2.5 stars from me

Seriously chick flicky!  Seriously American.  I don't have much to say about this movie as I think we've all seen it at least 10 times just with different actors and a different title.  It didn't make me vomit but it was incredibly predictable in the way all chick flicks are.

Friends with Benefits - 109 mins - 4 stars from me

I actually quite liked this movie.  I think it's because I'm becoming a closet fan of Justin Timberlake's acting skills (and the fact that you get to see him with few clothes on helps).  Mila Kunis isn't bad in this movie.  The only thing that slightly lets the movie down is the ending.  It's predictable (again in the way that romcoms tend to be) but also it could've been done a lot better.  There were some genuine LOL moments and it gave me a warm feeling inside, the way a decent romcom should.  I'd watch this again, so I'll probably end up buying it on DVD when it comes out and adding it to my shameful collection of romantic comedies.

No Strings Attached - 108 mins - 4.5 stars

I really am starting to like Natalie Portman and I am already so in love with Ashton Kutcher (I'd be smitten if he wasn't married to Demi Moore but hey-ho!).  This movie totally had me.  I was LOL'ing and I think there was even a tear towards the end (yes I am a complete sap when it comes to these movies). I AM definitely adding this to my DVD collection and I will probably go as far as to say, I will be watching this again in the near future.

That's it for now.  If you haven't guessed already, I am a complete closet romcom fan.  I have no idea what it is about these pathetic movies that makes me have to watch every one ever made by (or spewed out of) hollywood.  It is my guilty pleasure and I make no apologies for it.

As snow boots go, these are EPIC!

Timberland Earthkeepers Mount Holly Tall Lace Duck Boot

New design for winter

It seems like only yesterday that I was changing the layout of L&TAP for summer!  Now here we are with the new winter layout already.

Hope you like it.  I was inspired by the upcoming Guy Fawkes night on 5th November.  Remember to be safe!  Keep children away from fireworks, keep animals in the warm away from loud noises and NEVER return to a firework that appears to have gone out.  That's about all the warnings I remember from school.  Feel free to add your own.

Happy winter everyone!  Stay warm :o) xx

What's Your Number?

Ah man! They made a film about my life and I didn't get to pick who played me! Lol

Seriously though, I saw this movie at the weekend and in parts, it's scarily like my life. I haven't yet reached the stage where I'm desperately tracking down all my ex boyfriends in the hope they've changed sufficiently for me to want to spend a minute longer dating them. Is that something I should be doing?! Hopefully not, especially not in order to find a long term relationship anyway. I am all in favour of saving the planet however, so I do agree with recycling where possible/necessary ;o)

Charlie teh unicorn - Episode 2

Yeaaah Spring Break! Episode 2 and it rocks. Fact.

Llamas with Hats 4

Episode 4 and yes it's amazing. I love Llamas with Hats. It's too funny for words!

Damn you auto correct

Great website.  I love reading these auto correct messages.  Here are a few of my favs but follow the link in the title to the damnyouautocorrect site :o)

Pill helps women pick faithful mates, not sexy ones

"Women who are on the pill when they pick a mate end up with longer-lasting relationships than those who are not. The downside? Less satisfaction in the sack, apparently.

Studies show that women on the pill are attracted to different men than when they are not on the pill. One explanation is that because the pill simulates pregnancy, women tend to head for traits associated with fidelity.

Now the effects of these choices have been tested for the first time outside the lab. Craig Roberts from the University of Stirling, UK, and colleagues surveyed 1000 women who had been taking the pill when they met their partner and 1500 who were not. All of the women had at least one child with this partner.

The team measured the women's levels of sexual and general relationship satisfaction, as well as how long the relationship lasted.

Women on the pill when they met their partner were significantly less sexually satisfied, but reported higher levels of general satisfaction in the relationship, such as financial support and partner loyalty. They were also more likely to stay together.

During fertile cycle phases, women seek out traits such as masculine faces, which are associated with good genes but also infidelity. Because women on the pill don't have such hormone shifts they may be more sensitive to traits which lead to longer relationships, says Roberts."

For once I have to say, this is utter cr*p. I can count on one hand the amount of guys I have dated in 12 years of being on the pill who have remained faithful. Yes that's a sad statistic but nevertheless it is a statistic that (in my case at least) disproves this piece of "science". I am not attracted to traits associated with fidelity, clearly!

Maybe I should attempt coming off the pill in order to meet a man who isn't likely to be unfaithful?

Pill helps women pick faithful mates, not sexy ones - health - 12 October 2011 - New Scientist

Llamas with Hats 3

For your viewing pleasure.... Episode 3. Enjoy!

Flight Facilities - Crave you Feat. Giselle [Official Video]

This song featured on last nights Made in Chelsea. Here it is in full for your enjoyment....

There's something very Belleruche about it so I guess that explains why I like it :o)