Hungover? There’s a ‘cure’ for that as detox patch goes on sale – Health News – Health & Families – The Independent

As usual it’s the comments that make most articles on news sites in my opinion and this is no exception as DJL2 highlights the irresponsible ‘journalism’ at work simply running a press release as news.

“…after nine or 10 Martinis…works great”

DLJ2 – “that’s 20 units? nearly 3 bottles of wine?
fully enough to pose probable alcohol poisoning and risk of death then. with a proposed solution of a berocca under a sticky plaster?!

It’s really irresponsible journalism to just run with a quote like that in this article and not point out the health risks. Is this even an article or just a paid-for advertisement?”

As the Indie runs the following story/press release…

Christmas revellers have been offered a helping hand with an American hangover “cure” that claims to be second only to having an “intravenous stuck in your arm”.

The Bytox Hangover Prevention Patch, invented by the US plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr Leonard Grossman, has gone on sale in the UK following its launch in New York late last year.

via Hungover? There’s a ‘cure’ for that as detox patch goes on sale – Health News – Health & Families – The Independent.

Sandy Boosts Local Online News Brands | Digital – Advertising Age

AOL-owned Patch, which operates roughly 860 sites across the country but has high penetrations in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, reported its highest-ever traffic day Monday — page views were up 88% from the previous highest day. The Daily Voice, a competing network with 53 sites in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, said traffic Monday was two times higher than normal.

via Sandy Boosts Local Online News Brands | Digital – Advertising Age.

London

Okay so I slept through most of yesterdays events. Other than waking for the odd text from far flung friends and family checking I was okay.
I watched events unfold during waking moments and was as horrified as I was in a similar situation (off work and ill) in 2001 during the awful bombings in New York.
The major difference I think is this time with more and more people having blogs and using image sharing tools like flickr and YGP there seems to be a lot of people using the event to boost their popularity. Taking screengrabs of websites and uploading them to a photo-sharing site or picture stills from TV. Yes if you were there uploading pics of the scene or how it affected you. That’s the kind of pictures I want to see, personal views of how it affected people. Like the bloggers in New York describing the events on the day and pictures out of peoples windows. That was in some ways more informative than any of the news channels. Regurgitating someone elses work and adding your name to it seems a little, well, rude.
There is now even a group pool on flickr. Not content with having 9/11 now we need to have yesterdays horrific events shortened to the brandtastic 7/7.
Screengrabs and TV stills aside there is very little shown of London and how it continued in the face of such adversity.

lovely al fresco evenings

I have been enjoying London and more specifically my flat these past few days as I have spent more and more time outdoors on the roof ‘terrace’. Saturday was very hot and sticky but the real selling point for me is dinner alfesco with a glass of wine watching life pass along the road and the commuters file out of the station like ants from an anthill. It’s amazing the view I get. I feel like a voyeur sometimes as no one glances up to see me looking and I feel like I have a one way mirror onto the world. The roof is not overlooked as all the other properties in the area have pitched rooves and mine is the only flat roof. Sometimes this means I sunbathe naked and sometimes this leads me to forget that whilst I stand at the front wall I too am visible to the top storey flats opposite. I realised this when, this evening as I glanced up to be confronted by a naked [and quite cute] man in a window opposite. I tried not to look but the voyeur in me was too strong and I watched as he slowly pulled on fresh underwear having obviously decided to change when he got home. At this point I felt embarrassed and looked away only to see directly opposite me a man stood looking out of his window down at the street whilst wearing only the skimpiest of briefs. He was rather overweight and his belly was overhanging quite a bit. Quite offputting when you are munching on salad. It reminded me of a friend in New York who has a telescope and swears that regardless of how high you are and how you think you are not overlooked there will always be someone who can see you.

Killing time

Normally I don?t mind spending time in Soho. This evening was slightly different in the fact that I spent an hour loitering around Old Compton Street waiting for people to arrive.
The scheduled arrival time was 7pm and so I dutifully arrived outside Satsuma to be greeted by an answer phone message from Dave saying he was running late and the new time was 7.30pm
Other Dave arrived and we hot footed it to Barcode to kill some time.
Eventually an hour later Dave and Twom arrived and other assorted masses joined us for the best meal I have had in ages. The Satsuma bento box is brilliant.
All the gay boyz were down one end and the str8 couples down the other. Ironic then that all the boyz ate out of boxes then 😉 [blatantly stolen from Andrew?s comment last night]. If only Wade knew half the conversations down our end of the table 😉

Finally we wandered [and in some cases waddled] over to Retro Bar for Pop Quiz. Joined by many more assorted bloggers [Meg, Simon, Jonathan, Dave, Tom, Ian, Luke, Catherine, and Michael.] and losing our str8 contingent along the way.
Jonathan took photo?s and has them posted so go and have a look!
So it?s off to New York and then San Francisco for Dave and I?m missing out on the New York leg of the trip and meeting him in SF just in time for Pride

okay well I am back

okay well I am back in London now after the two 8 hour flights yesterday. Melatonin is a fantastic invention. Woke up sleepy [thanks scally for that call] and took Jack out for a walk – he was very happy to see me. I was very happy to see him. Pets they are fab no expectations and they are always happy to see you!
Well I arrived back to the flat like a sauna Elric had managed to leave the heating on manually full for the past 3 weeks so all my plants are a little dead or brown around the edges. The food that I left him in the Fridge before I left was unfortunately still in the fridge [and growing some new life forms] and anything that had been used up was lying around empty. So no coffee or washing powder then :o(
Luckily Andrew had brought me home with Jack and got an indian takeaway so at least we had something to eat!

I am not sure if I am missing Singapore [the company especially] or Sydney [the place and the atmosphere] more. All I know is it has strengthened my resolve to leave the UK for a while. I am going to be asking for that job in Oz with AOL and see what happens. It would only be an eight hour flight to my brother in Singapore then too. Unfortunately Naz will have moved to NY by then – not to worry I’ll be likely visiting Ny more frequently now that hotel expenses have vanished I do like wandering around manhattan. Not sure if I could live there though it’sa ll a bit too hectic like London. Sydney had a much more relaxed pace. Yes I know I was on holiday but you know what I mean.
Met up with Naz a couple more times before I left Singapore and he met the in laws he joined us for dinner on Thursday night. So all in all it was a very relaxing extra couple of days and I’m so glad I did not try and do all the trip in one day. Yesterday was bad enough. We sat and discussed last night how it was like flying to the states and sitting in the airport for a couple of hours and then flying home again . And it felt like it too. The first trip Singapore to Bahrain was made bearable by meeting a lovely boy Mahmoud from Beirut. He had the most piercing blue eyes and was generally a really nice – but a bit str8.
The trip from Bahrain to London had the little screens and games and films so that was alright. Shame I had managed to buy more in Bahrain Duty Free!

So I had better go and do some washing and buy some food and act generally depressed :o(

*LONG UPDATE ALERT* (from Sydney)

*LONG UPDATE ALERT*
My eyes started to feel much better by Tuesday night so I put my glasses on and went into Oxford St to meet Brad and the gang at The Albury to watch Pam Ann. Unfortunately the rest of sydney’s gay population seem to have had the same idea so there was already a line at 9pm and they where not letting anyone else in. So Brad and I decided to go for drinks in the bar next door – soon it too was packed and we went for a wander with the others in search of pizza.
Brad gave me a lift back to Redfern where I am staying which was nice – he really is much better off now he has moved back to Oz than he ever was in London.
Wednesday was mostly a shopping day – with an outfit to find for the Mardi Gras float we trolled up and down Oxford Street. We had already seen some trousers in Daily Male which are a bit sparkly [and very silver] but had to go check out the competition. An awful lot of the shops look like all they seel is outfits for Mardi Gras – either that or the Sydney scene is normally much camper than the London scene
After all that shopping we ended up at Cafe Comity for a well earned rest and drink – this country is so civilised – not quite so much as Singapore but…
In order that we did not spend the entire day shopping I dragged scally up the AMP Centrepoint Tower for some tourist sight seeing – he is too wuss to do the harbour bridge walk with me :o( something about being scared of heights. So as part of our centrepoint ticket – bearing in mind all we anted to do was go up and have a look at Sydney we got a ‘skytour’ thrown in. Talk about tourist trap aghhhhh. Okay so how many little films can you watch about australian history before you become tempted to throw yourself off the tower – should you ever make it up there.
We wandered around this ‘guided’ tour for what seemed like hours before we finally made it up the tower itself. The views though where well worth it – and I recommend anyone visiting makes a trip up. Sort of like the twin trade towers or the empire state in New York really.
Wednesday night was Barbeque night *lol* no really though Bettina, Linda and Margy had the barbie all fired up and raring to go – the steak was fantastic and the beers went down a treat too. Ice Poles for desert and hey presto I could have been a local [except when I went to the bottle shop for beers he automatically handed me Fosters]
Thursday was one of those mornings – well actually it stretched into the afternoon but in general we all sat and watched trashy daytime TV [which is as bad in Oz as anywhere else] and then watched the channel seven daytime movie – really trashy one about a ranger searching for some lost kid with the woman from terminator showing as little acting skill as possible yet again. Scarily it had the same terminatoresque voice overs too.
Okay so then we spray painted the $13 trainers silver to match the sparkly trousers and went off to do some more touristy stuff! I dragged scally to the Opera House which was looking a bit jaded actually. Looks fantastic from afar but when you get up close it reminds me of the Civic Centre where I grew up in Crosby. You know the sort of thing a concrete communal space with a concert hal and library with unfinished concrete walls and stairwells and dark wooden finishings here and there for effect. Allegedly the Opera House is due for a refurbishment which will be good. I never realised though that the entire thing is tiled!
So a bit more shopping followed this tourist extravaganza and we picked up a sparkly black shirt to go with the sparkly silver trousers. Oh and lots of body glitter and a couple of stetsons. In for a penny and al that! Oh and then suprise suprise it was time for yet another party. Thursday night being the Arrivals Party – a good excuse to get all the foreigners in one place. We met up at the Oxford first and then went to flag a taxi to Fox studios [seems to be the place to have all your Lesbian & Gay events] were we met Daniel a rather nice American whom we chatted to for most of the evening. The music was pants but that didn’t stop me having fun and it was after 4am before I knew it – so staggered back home around 5am this morning.
Off now into town to go and see if I can change my flights and stop over in Singapore for a couple of days on my way back – my neice is missing me already!
Also caught up with a few people today – chatted with Adam a friend of Spencer’s whom I am meeting tonight for a meal with his partner and also Jo my friend who moved out here recently and chatted to Andre who works for AOL out here – I realy want a job out here [No Sheena I am not joking]. So erm the next update will no doubt be after the parade and party so Happy Mardi Gras 2001 and look out for the Albion Street Centre 2001 a safe sex oddessey float and the two sparkly english boys handing out packs of condoms and lube 😉
*/LONG UPDATE ALERT*

okay so I am seriously

okay so I am seriously relaxed now and the days are merging into one big relaxed coffee shop/cafe experience. I am struggling to remember what I did on Monday and it is only Wednesday morning. This could in part be to do with the fact I visited the Night Safari last night with Nazir though. I have no real way of describing the experience but I’ll try.
First off my brother’s 10 minute walk to the MRT [tube] station was a bit off – more like 20 minutes. You can tell he drives everywhere. I was lucky in that Pasir Ris is at the end of the line so I could only go west so no chance of getting lost . Changed at City Hall onto the Line North and ended up at Ang Mo Kio. Now luckily while I was making these arrangements with Naz earlier he mentioned N9. So Singapore is great for another reason. Since the names may be difficult to get to grips with if you are a foreigner they also have letters and numbers to designate where they are so Pasir Ris where Alec and Linda live is E12 – the 12th station East of the city and Ang Mo Kio is the 9th station North of the city – come on London Underground sort it out for the lost tourists in London. I was amazed by how clean the MRT is – a bit like Washington DC’s Metro no food or drink is allowed so the trains are very clean. Also the MRT is part of the reason no chewing gum is allowed in Singapore. Anti-social elements were leaving gum deposits on the floor allegedly so hey let’s just ban it completely!
Okay so then I met up with Naz [after a quick call since I had no idea what he looked like and oh yeah suprise suprise I was late]. We hopped on a bus and chatted about his move to New York – lucky devil – I think he will really enjoy is as he seems to be trying to break out of Singapore. He has visited before so he knows what he is getting into. We arrived at the Night Safari and paid our dues to get in and then the adventure started. We initially took the bus tour all around and saw all the big animals and went through a bit of the rainforest there too. Anna our guide took it upon herself to mention that as this was night time the only animals in the Night Safari are nocturnal – like hello. Also if we were wondering why we hadn’t encountered any primates this was because they are diurnal. Okay so I hadn’t been wondering but now I know.
At the end we went on a few walks around the safari – and it is a big big place – it was hard to imagine all of that space inside the city. The zoo here has an open policy so the animals are not caged they use non intrusive barriers like moats and natural cliffs etc. The whole effect was fantastic and the company was great too. My favourite – well okay hard choice between the mouse deer – so cute and small, the sloe loris [I would have taken one home if I thought it would survive in Streatham] and the bats. We wandered through the mangrove bat enclosure. This was such an excellent experience. I have no idea what I expected but it was amazing. I can see where horror stories of bats come from as we watched a few hanging from the netting above and as they flapped their wings it could have been a scene out of vampire bats come to kill you [if a film of that name exists…] Naz pointed out a bat resting not more than 12 inches away from us – so close if we wanted too we could have touched it – probably not a good move though. Totally mind blowing.
Then we wandered over the bridge of suspense – okay wandered is a relative term as we actually loitered for a good half hour chatting filming etc. Smack bang in the middle of a rainforest with no other people around it was very very hard to remember you where not lost miles from anywhere but actually within the Night Safari. If I ever become a millionairre [any suggestions?] I would love to have a hut in the middle of that. Yeah I know it defeats the object but you know what I mean.

Before I go I have to mention the toilets too. Walk in the door and you are still in forest. Very well done the Night Safari Team and thanks to all the rangers who help make it happen. I can well see why Naz goes so frequently.
So tonight hopefully drinks on the [allegedly small] Singapore scene. So I’ll keep you posted. Oha and the whole HDB thing… Yeah I’ll mention that later I think this post is quite long enough already.