In a way you could call it eco-friendly as what this artist uses as his canvas, is something people literally spit out and throw away, right on the street – chewing gum!

Artist Ben Wilson is the creator of these clever works of art on the street, transforming what was once unsightly blobs, into whimsical, funny and interesting miniature paintings on a unique canvas. A native of London’s Muswell Hill, Wilson’s work has been featured repeatedly by the British press and two short films have been made.

Ben Wilson at work

Ben was actually a pavement artist (something I’ve always enjoyed looking at ever since I saw that scene in Mary Poppins age 6), and when he realised it was illegal to paint on the pavement, he resourcefully thought to paint directly on the gum, which is obviously ok. He’s caught a lot of attention doing it, and now Ben is a known as a local hero in his suburban neighborhood. How I wish he’s do that to all the gum around!

Ok, so this isn’t exactly what you’d call news, but I just had to share this amusing article written in 1961.

Some things slightly ring true, the bit where kids learn from TV (not entirely, but which parent hasn’t bought and educational DVD, CD rom or system like Leapfrog?), indoor swimming pools and tv telephones, juice powders (Tang), tablets for energy and overall healthier people (the eco-friendly organic craze worldwide).

But largely, the article proves to me that scientists really can’t predict the future after all, or we would have floating roofs on our houses by now!

The article was the the July 22 issue of Weekend Magazine (printed where? I have no idea, I doubt it still exists) found on the web in the Pixelmatic website.

Will Life Be Worth Living in 2000 AD?

What sort of life will you be living 39 years from now? Scientists have looked into the future and they can tell you.

It looks as if everything will be so easy that people will probably die from sheer boredom.

You will be whisked around in monorail vehicles at 200 miles an hour and you will think nothing of taking a fortnight’s holiday in outer space.

Your house will probably have air walls, and a floating roof, adjustable to the angle of the sun.

Doors will open automatically, and clothing will be put away by remote control. The heating and cooling systems will be built into the furniture and rugs.

You’ll have a home control room – an electronics centre, where messages will be recorded when you’re away from home. This will play back when you return, and also give you up-to-the minute world news, and transcribe your latest mail.

You’ll have wall-to-wall global TV, an indoor swimming pool, TV-telephones and room-to-room TV. Press a button and you can change the décor of a room.

The status symbol of the year 2000 will be the home computer help, which will help mother tend the children, cook the meals and issue reminders of appointments.

Cooking will be in solar ovens with microwave controls. Garbage will be refrigerated, and pressed into fertiliser pellets.

Food won’t be very different from 1961, but there will be a few new dishes – instant bread, sugar made from sawdust, foodless foods (minus nutritional properties), juice powders and synthetic tea and cocoa. Energy will come in tablet form.

At work, Dad will operate on a 24 hour week. The office will be air-conditioned with stimulating scents and extra oxygen – to give a physical and psychological lift.

Mail and newspapers will be reproduced instantly anywhere in the world by facsimile.

There will be machines doing the work of clerks, shorthand writers and translators. Machines will “talk” to each other.

It will be the age of press-button transportation. Rocket belts will increase a man’s stride to 30 feet, and bus-type helicopters will travel along crowded air skyways. There will be moving plastic-covered pavements, individual hoppicopters, and 200 m.p.h. monorail trains operating in all large cities.

The family car will be soundless, vibrationless and self-propelled thermostatically. The engine will be smaller than a typewriter. Cars will travel overland on an 18 inch air cushion.

Railways will have one central dispatcher, who will control a whole nation’s traffic. Jet trains will be guided by electronic brains.

In commercial transportation, there will be travel at 1000 m.p.h. at a penny a mile. Hypersonic passenger planes, using solid fuels, will reach any part of the world in an hour.

By the year 2020, five per cent of the world’s population will have emigrated into space. Many will have visited the moon and beyond.

Our children will learn from TV, recorders and teaching machines. They will get pills to make them learn faster. We shall be healthier, too. There will be no common colds, cancer, tooth decay or mental illness.

Medically induced growth of amputated limbs will be possible. Rejuvenation will be in the middle stages of research, and people will live, healthily, to 85 or 100.

There’s a lot more besides to make H.G. Wells and George Orwell sound like they’re getting left behind.

And this isn’t science fiction. It’s science fact – futuristic ideas, conceived by imaginative young men, whose crazy-sounding schemes have got the nod from the scientists.

It’s the way they think the world will live in the next century – if there’s any world left!

It has been routine to find the morning paper at the doorsteps and bring it in to the house while breakfast meals are being prepared. First thing that people would check out is of course the front page, usually focusing on current events locally and the world. It is important for people to know what is going on in the world today mainly because it affects everyone today. The impact that published news provide is really something that will surely gather various reactions and opinions for current events and issues.

The relevance of such issues does have quite an impact today. News is not something that people can simply shed away and not be aware off. Regardless if they are students, businessmen or house people, the impact is sure to affect each person in their daily manner of living. All matters ranging from politics to economy have a bearing in today�s way of living.

Since the Finnish have been in the spotlight due to their taking the reigns in the European Union’s presidency, a startling passion of the Finns has been revealed to the world – a penchant for Latin.

Latin is far from dead in Finland apparently, where even Elvis songs have been translated into the language and gets played, translated, in public places like hotel bars. Dr.Jukka Ammondt, an academic who translated and sings some of the ing’s hits, like “Can’t Help Falling In Love” – or “Non adamare non possum” explained:

“The legend of Elvis Presley lives for ever, and it’s of course very important to sing Elvis Presley’s songs in the Latin language, because Latin is the eternal language”

In Finland, the passion for Latin also extends to the news, where national broadcasts are also made in Latin. Apparently, its gets quite a good audience of around 75,000 listeners, which is more than some radio shows on the BBC.

We all know that in this world, infidelity would usually be instigated by husbands. But coming across this article where a wife would cheat and decide to go with another man, would the hubby give her a second chance despite moving on?

Women are always given the benefit of the doubt of being categorized under being battered but cheating on their part and then suddenly wanting to get back to their old lives is like walking on a thin line. In most cases, husbands would close the door and would rather carry on what is left. Focusing on career and the children is what mature men would normally do, not leaving any room for reconciliation between them?

It is in these cases where a man would decide. Should he choose his heart or just leave it to God�s Will. Whatever the decision would be, the final one made would be for the best of everyone. Lost trust is something that cannot be easily rebuilt and mature men know this all too well.

Newspapers are not all news and trends that a country may find in. For the business-minded people, these are the factors due for consideration in line with their work or business. Such external factors would affect the market they are catering to and the need for possible adjustment is a necessity.

On the lighter side, housewives would check on probable sales and discount coupons offered by their favorite department store and supermarket. Coupons can be cut out and used to save on cost for certain items such as food and basic necessities of living in the household.

Ideally, coupons help a lot for people to sustain their manner of living considering that financial savings goes a long way in today�s economy. While some may care less, all coupons added together may reflect a large sum of savings if compiled. All it takes is a simple turn of the page and such coupons and offered discounts will help a lot for the people who want savings on their purchases anywhere.

The thing about newspapers is that they need to make catchy headlines about current events to solicit the attention of the people who look towards the paper as a means of information on current events today anywhere. Politics, the economy and current situation of the country are among the top attention-catching headlines that papers would normally get.

The level of attention that people would get from most would largely depend on the area of interest a potential reader would look for. This is not to point towards these current events as stimulating points of interest. Rather it should be considered as a person�s need to be aware of what is going on around him.

In some cases, they are contributing factors as well in decision-making in both personal and professional aspects necessary to ensure the convenient mindset that a person should always be up to date with. People are just to cautious since nothing around them should be taken for granted, especially if it concerns them as a whole.

A lot of criticism has been made with the use of computer graphical enhancements in most movies that we see today, but people are still at awe on how such technology has magnificently complemented movies in the manner to which they have been seen today. Such has been the critics review for the expected movie release of the movie 300. The movie �300� dates back towards the time of Greece�s medieval times. With the setting based on the early rule of swords, arrows, spears and shields, such excitement has been in the works, especially for people who love a good historical adventure story.

While there have been feedbacks of too much graphical imagery for the movie, the response on the expected release of the movie is still at an all time high. The trailers have been wonderfully done and this is something that has caused excitement to most people, especially the followers from earlier flicks such as �Gladiator� and �Lord of the Rings�.

Again and again, people call it global warming. Change in weather, the weird set of climates from the usually normal warm and cold day shifts have totally been amazing and strange to people since clearly, adjustments to the obvious movement of the usual seasons have been a necessity.

As it stands right now, summer, spring or winter have been moved out of the usual months where they are expected to fall. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) showed records that January showed the warmest winter experienced to date. 10 warmest winters have occurred since 1995 and the second warmest was experienced in 2004 based on the records of NOAA.

A lot of the change in climate has been pointed towards the ever growing issue of pollution, notably the rise in greenhouse gas emissions. Many are expecting the El Nino phenomenon to take place and from all indications, the warm climate that most parts of the world is experiencing is just a glimpse of warmer days to come.

Survivor, Amazing Race and other reality TV shows have obviously become the new resort for most networks to be able to jack up their ratings today. No longer is it a world where the usual TV sitcoms and movie re-runs would be what viewers would look forward to. It has all boiled down to finding something more interesting and catchy for people to be able to enjoy home entertainment without having to know what the actual plot and twist would be.

The twists are different. Having their own way of making the storylines to be indifferent from the usual expected output of these reality shows has really been something that has made TV network ratings skyrocket above the charts. With this new trend, all producers and network bigwigs have tried to make do and create a new concept to help bring their ratings above their competing networks. Just like in business, the key is to be able to find new innovative strategies to make it to the top. Most TV networks have obviously been resorting to it today.