The book I read to research this post was The Boa Constrictor Manual by Roger Klingenberg et al which is an excellent book which I bought from Amazon. An interesting thing about these snakes is their common name and scientific name is more or less the same. At one time it was thought they were one species but now they are divided into several species. They are found in Madagascar & throughout Central & South America. There are stories of massive boa constrictors in the Amazon jungle but these are probably anaconda. It's rare for a boa constrictor to exceed 14 feet. They can also live for twenty years & the record in captivity is fourty. In captivity they are generally docile especially if you have rared it from a baby. You should also get it used to being handled as you never know you may have to take it to the vets. For an adult boa constrictor the cage should about 6 feet long & this is a consideration if you live in a flat. Also most countries regard boa constrictors as a dangerous animal & you will probably have to have a lock on the cage. Statistics show you are much more likely to get bitten by a dog, cat or even a human than a boa constrictor. In captivity people have bred these snakes to be brightly coloured and many countries have restrictions on taking them out of the wild. A baby boa will probably eat pinkies or baby mice and rats. It goes without saying these should be dead before they are fed. As it gets bigger you move on to adult mice and rats & when it's fully grown you will probably feed it adult rabbits. The food shouldn't be any wider than the midgirth of the snake. You also have to give it calcium supplements. A lot of people like to set up a landscape in the cage complete with rocks and maybe a log & the snake will enjoy exploring it. Finally they are also nocturnal and they are the most commonly kept snake.

This is some of the news that appeared in today's The Times. With Kate Middleton the duchess of cambridge in hospital with acute morning sickness. 2 australian DJs phoned the hospital and posed as the queen and prince charles. They fooled the switchboard into putting them through to the duty nurse who was also fooled. The newspaper is saying they maybe in trouble and what they did was illegal. I think it's quite funny and they should see the funny side to it.

Apparently the austerity measures in britain wil be in place until at least 2018. I'm glad they've scrapped the 3p rise on fuel duty. Apparently in 2009 a miami congresswoman took a call from someone claiming to be president obama congratulating her on her reelection. She thought it was a hoax and hung up but it turned out it was really him. An interesting story was that Stansted Airport closed due snow & yet Stockholm Airport in Sweden had far more snow, 30 cms in fact yet remained open although they ran a limited service.

Finally Virgin Trains are to sign a deal that will let them continue running a train service from London to Glasgow via Manchester until at least 2014. One story I heard although it's probably old news is that some of the regional Birmingham trains had to be rerouted to Snow Hill & Moor Street because Virgin took so many slots at New Street. All 3 stations are quite close to each other but it attracted a lot of controversy.

I am reviewing the movie Flight which is an excellent film. It stars Denzel Washington as an airline pilot with a drink problem who stole and consumed a bottle of vodka during a flight. He admits falling asleep briefly during the flight & the aileron cable snapped during the flight causing the plane to go into a dive and somehow he landed it and some of the passengers survived. The fact that he was intoxicated hasn't contributed to the crash but they have blood samples from all the crew and noticed the bottle of vodka has gone missing. His girlfriend who was also an airhostess on the flight was also intoxicated and has a cocaine and heroin habit. His blood sample is declared void but they find out she was intoxicated and it looks like she will get the blame for the bottle of vodka. Not to mention she owes a lot of money owed for the drugs she's used. There's a happy ending in the sense he is starting to sort himself out. Also he has an estranged exwife and son and they patch things up. There's also a nice performance by John Goodman as a drug dealer. Denzel is great in it as well.

This is some of the news as featured in the Times newspaper. Scottish ministers have been told they must publish information on which fish farms shoot seals & how many are shot. Apparently they tried to keep it quiet.
In Midhurst, West Sussex traders are printing their own currency in an attempt to try and help the local economy. The currency can be used throughout January. Over 30 businesses have signed up.
2 pandas at Edinburgh are celebrating their first anniversary together and apparently they have had to synchronize the lights with the daylight in an attempt to try and get them to mate.
The Dandy having reached its 75th anniversary is going out of print this week. There is a last edition going out on tuesday & it will include a copy of the first edition. It will continue as an online cartoon though.

I'm going to read a newspaper every day and do a post about what was in the news. This post is yesterdays news and I live in the UK so obviously it will mostly be the news in Britain. The newspaper I read was the Sunday People. Saturday was a funny day in the Soccer Premiership with many of the top sides struggling in what should have been easy matches. Arsenal were beaten 2-0 by Swansea. Chelsea the current european champions were beaten 3-1 by West Ham. Man Utd beat Reading 4-3 but made a lot of defensive mistakes which meant they had to work for their victory.

In China believe it or not there is a house in the middle of a highway. They were meant to demolish the 5 storey building but the owner refused the compensation he was offered and while it went to court chinese law forbade them from demolishing it. There has been a lot of publicity for this case in China & the owner disliked it so accepted the £25,000 he was offered.

On the front page is a story of a young lady who was drugged and raped and leud photographs were taken by her boyfriend over a 2 year period. He's been given an 8 year prison sentence. It only came to light because he bragged to a mate who told the police. He stored the photographs on his computer. He had also done the same thing to another lady. He even had the cheek to send a present to the first lady on the 4th anniversary of their relationship.

The novel I am reviewing in this post is Exposed by Liza Marklund which is an excellent book. Liza is a successful swedish author & cowrite Postcard Killers with James Patterson which is also reviewed on this site. She has also topped the book chart in every scandinavian country. This book has been translated from swedish. The plot is a stripper is found naked, strangled and murdered in a graveyard. Someone phones a newspapers hotline manned by Annika Bengtzon and she is given the remit to follow the story even though inexperienced. She discovers the suspect the police are after was no where near the murder scene when it was commited. He is covering for a government minister to avoid a scandal. There is a happy ending. Apparently Liza got the idea for the plot when she was a reporter & a minister went to a strip club & had several services all with union money. Liza won an award for her coverage of that story.

I am reviewing the movie Juno & since its on bluray I watched the commentary as well. It's an excellent movie. Ellen Page was nominated for an oscar for best actress & Jennifer Garner won the golden globe for best supporting actress. It also won the oscar for best screenplay. Page plays a young girl who becomes pregnant & agrees to let a wealthy couple have the baby when it's born. They pay her expenses but at one point the husband makes a pass at her & she becomes unsure about giving them the baby. There is a happy ending however. There is one scene where Pages boyfriend opens the mailbox and a load of tictacs fall out & they had to use a plunger to get that effect. Jason Bateman who plays Garners husband obviously is dressed by her and wears preppy clothes but as the movie progresses he becomes infatuated with Page and gradually goes for a grungy look.

I am reviewing the bluray The Sticky & Sweet Tour by Madonna which is an excellent gig. It features her in a stadium in Beanos Aires in Argentina. Madonna has a soft spot for Argentina because of course she starred in the Musical Film Evita about Evita Peron's life.  Also they were an oppresed people until fairly recently & this is her first concert there in 13 years. Apparently many people had to sleep rough in order to get tickets such was the demand. It features a powerful rendition of You Must Love Me which she wrote for the film Evita & which won the oscar for best film song. The best performance in the concert I think is the rock version of Borderline which is fantastic. Whenever Madonna does a concert she tries to reinvent herself and does unusual versions of her classic songs & of course plenty of her new material. This concert wasn't long after the release of the album Candy & features much material from that album. I think it's nice that she lets someone from the audience have a request for a song. The concert itself must have cost a fortune. Finally the concert is great to watch in a darkened room at high volume. It's just like you're there.

The book I am reviewing in this post is When the Bough Breaks by Jonathan Kellerman which is an excellent thriller which I bought from a secondhand bookstore. This is his first novel and the first in the Alex Delaware series and also it won an edgar award for best thriller. The plot is Alex is asked to come out of early retirement to become an advisor to the LAPD. He is a psychologist and trained doctor & took early retirement to enjoy life. As with a lot of this series there are two murder cases running in parallel. One is a child who was sexually abused by his father has witnessed the murder of his father and they need to try and get him to talk about it. The other is a psychologist who has long become disillusioned with his job has been murdered by one of his patients. His records are not kept in a professional manner and he writes sarcastic comments about them. It seems almost any of them could have killed him. There is a happy outcome to both cases. In the former case he is also unhappy about the conditions of the foster home the child is sent to. It also seems the child has been abused by others and his mother was involved. This is a very powerful & Kellerman is also a qualified psychologist and doctor like Delaware and has similiar experience.

The book I read to research this post is The Art of Tent Camping by Russ Steffy which is an excellent book which I downloaded for free from kindle. If you are interested in camping I would suggest reading this book as it contains a lot of information & I can only write a little bit in this post. The chap who wrote this book & the technical adviser have many years experience of camping mostly in relatively warm climates ie california, so if you live somewhere cold you have to adjust the information accordingly. One suggestion is looking at what the military use which I know occasionally they give the soldiers cheap kit but in general it's proven in the field, you just have to read reviews of the stuff as well. Most cool boxes have thin lids which allow stuff to thaw out, you can either buy an expensive one or add an insulating material to the lid. One trick is to insulate it with dried ice which is carbon dioxide cooled to -100 C and you must insulate it with newspaper as direct contact can crack the plastic. Also don't have it in a confined area as the fumes are dangerous. Don't put it next to food as it will contaminate it.