Chris Thompson   Chris Thompson on the internet

I forget, now, how it happened, but earlier today I was eating lunch in our local pub – they do an excellent Sunday lunch, and thankfully it’s very reasonable too – but the topic turned from watching ospreys fishing, to teleportation. And it was quite an interesting discussion.

Someone thought that they thought that the very idea of teleportation was first seen in Star Trek, which, at its beginning was a very low budget science fiction show. In order to cut costs, they apparently just thought that it would be incredibly convenient to have some form of travel where you could move from one place to the next without having to do anything. It was simple, quite brilliant, and you didn’t have to spend money on anything more than a little device and a fancy sound effect.

And now, because of this, we have scientists dedicated to researching teleportation; scientists investigating it and partaking in tests to try and move molecules a certain distance across a river, and all sorts. Whether it’s true or not, it’s quite interesting to think about: it’s the notion that it’s not really science fiction, but science fact. Science fiction has created something that could potentially be very real, and might not have been were it not for its sci fi origins.

But, as I understand it (or perhaps I’m mistaking it for some form of hyper-jump space travel) isn’t teleportation merely deconstructing your body into its constituent, base parts – transferring them, and then reassembling them like lego? It rings bells. And that’s true, then even if teleportation was possible in today’s world, I’m not sure I would want to even try it. I don’t think I could trust a machine to construct me back to a fully functioning, fully working person.

I have been thinking a lot about houses recently, after a recent trip to Cambridge. It’s an area I’d like to live in, if I could. Now, though, I find myself looking at all the mortgage news I can find, even if it’s just to keep on top of it. I feel like if I can just do a little bit of research here and there, and keep up to date with the latest news and trends, I will find myself in a good position when it eventually does become a matter of getting one.

Now, when mortgage time does roll around, I don’t very much like the idea of a bad credit mortgage. And the recession is slightly worrying. But articles like this one inspire a little bit of hope, and make me feel as though there could be a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, when it comes to mortgage rates.

I must say, though, that mortgage deals aren’t the only thing that has been playing on my mind, though. I still can’t help but feel a little disappointed about the house prices in Cambridge. Especially when you consider how much people can pay for the cash for home offers that are becoming more and more frequent now.

Ah well. I suppose I should just try and forget about it for a while. Perhaps grab a beer and watch some of the NFL, or something.

I find that I have no sympathy for NFL players who hold out on their contracts. Of course, my frustration is probably nothing compared to how much it annoys the teams in question – especially in the case of first round draft picks like Michael Crabtree.

After reading this article, it’s Crabtree that I’m mostly thinking about, I suppose. He is one of the players I followed quite closely before the draft, and I was really looking forward to watching him play, when he was picked in the first round. In college, he utterly dominated, earning back to back awards for the best wide receiver in the nation. He is an explosive player with fantastic hands, and he would have made the San Fransisco 49ers an instantly entertaining offensive team. In fact, he was very probably the best player in the draft.

The trouble is that he knows that. It’s just that with an injury preventing him working out for teams, he dropped a little lower in the draft than he would have anticipated. On top of that, another receiver was picked before him, which he will probably have taken as a personal insult. Now he wants paying, and he wants paying more money that the 49ers want to give him as the 10th pick in the draft. In fact, he’s even threatening to hold out the entire season, and re-enter the draft in a years time.

That’s the sort of thing that really annoys me. I would have assumed that, after dedicating over half your life to the game of American football, and hoping and dreaming to play in the NFL, when you finally get that opportunity you would take it in a heartbeat. Should the money really matter, if you are going to make a living playing a game, and a game that you love? You don’t have to work 9-5 in an office, answering phones and sitting behind a computer screen – you are playing sport for a living. And, no matter how disappointing he found the offer, it would have still been in the millions per year.

And that just really amazes me.

I have found quite an interesting article here arguing that some animals (and dolphins, of course, are among them) show parallels with human meta-cognition. Which essentially means that some animals can think like we do: can “reflect upon, monitor or regulate their states of mind.” And that all sounds very fancy, but I’ve believed that animals share such similarities with us for a great many years, now.

I find the subject of animal consciousness is an interesting one. People are generally quite quick to assume that animals don’t think like we do, don’t think things through. Although dolphins have always had this shadow of intelligence hanging over them, not many other animals get respect in the brains department.

Mostly I’m interested in it, because every day, my dog shows me something that not only demonstrates her intelligence, but demonstrates it in a way that proves she can reflect upon her state of mind, and even attempt to regulate it. She is ruled by her stomach; she eats non-stop, and would probably eat herself to death if given half a chance. But she does try, in a grumbling, groaning, disgruntled sort of way, to think of other things, when you tell her it’s not time for dinner yet. Perhaps she’s thinking of some sort of dog holiday, out in the sun, or perhaps it’s something else, but she tries to do something to forget about her hunger.

Similarly, she communicates everything to you. She uses her eyes, she tries to speak to you. She’s a very communicative dog. And certainly when she’s feeling ill, she will come and tell you so. She walks around, uncomfortable, whinging quietly, and when she tries to settle, you can see by her facial expressions that she’s not very happy at all. Is this not reflecting on her state of mind? I think it is.

Dolphins are not the only intelligent animals out there.

Susan Boyle, who wasn’t even the winner of Britain’s Got Talent, seems to be enjoying more success than the group that did win it. She sang for the first time on American television the other day, performing on the final of the American version of the show.

It’s interesting … the winners of such shows have long since disappeared – or, at least, the majority of them have. Even when you count things like X-Factor, which is even bigger here than the talent show. On top of the performance, apparently she has an album coming out soon, so she has certainly done a lot better than some of her peers.

She first shot to fame last year, and it was a sort of hyper-fame, not just a shooting star sort of fame that dies a week or so afterwards. It sounds rude, but a lot of the other contestants were forgettable – she, on the other hand, will probably still be hailed in the street. Indeed, it appears as though there were over a thousand people waiting for her when her plane landed in the USA.

It certainly seems to be the case that she’s more famous across the pond than she is here in the UK. I’m not sure quite why … although I wouldn’t be surprised to find out it was something to do with the power of Twitter. Ashton Kutcher was quick to get join her bandwagon, and he has about five galfrillion followers on there who would have been wowed by her initial performance.

And let’s be honest, it was pretty special.

Last weekend proved to be an entertaining start to the 2009 NFL season, and already there have been a lot of surprises.

Most incredibly, in my opinion, was this game-winning catch by Brandon Stokley. Mostly because the Broncos were supposed to be utterly dreadful this year. They were down 7-6 with the whole field in front of them, and only 28 seconds on the clock, the Denver Broncos – who many suspected to be an absolute disaster this year – threw an 80 yard pass to win the game. The magic of it: it was not intended for Stokley at all … he was just in the right place at the right time, and plucked the ball from the air, before taking it all the way for the score.

Of course, the excitement continued past the weekend. Because on Monday night, in the first of a double-header on the nationally televises Monday Night Football, the Patriots played the Bills in a match that at first looked set to be a blowout. For years, the Patriots have been the team to beat in the NFL, and the Bills haven’t made the playoffs in something like 10 years. But it was an epic confrontation – indeed, the Bills could have, and should have won it. Regardless, it provided tension and excitement right to the final whistle, which is a lot more than anyone was expecting.

On top of all that, there were quite a few rookies who put in good showings, which is quite rare to see. Mark Sanchez, in particular, had a good game; and Percy Harvin showed flashes of the explosiveness that is going to make him one to watch as the season progresses.

The defending champions looked stagnant at times, and struggled for much of their game, and the second place Cardinals lost their opener – in true NFL fashion, the season is up in the air, and it looks set to be a good one.

There is an article here about rabbits, but they are rabbits of a very unusual kind. Particularly, it is their character: they are actively seeking out snakes, and killing them – or so it appears. Now, the speed rabbits breed at is well documented. They are everywhere. So the thought that some of them are rabid and determined and skilled enough to kill snakes is both interesting and somewhat scary.

The piece shows the lovely, fluffy, cute little animals in a more vicious light: the dead snakes are strewn all over the place, with bite marks all over their bodies. And snakes are pretty quick; it would take some fast thinking and dextrous moves to take one down. Are rabbits even fast enough to protect themselves, if the snakes retaliated?

After reading the initial article, I decided to see if I could find any more on it. And behold! It turns out that a video has emerged that shows one of the attacks taking place. Somehow, it’s not quite as vicious as I expected – I had a sort of zombie rabbit image in my head, something like 28 days later but with rabbits – but the video is more like a ninja rabbit: it hops all over the place to avoid being bitten.

I suppose that answers the question. Yes, they are fast enough to avoid snakes. Now I’m curious as to why they’re attacking them. Perhaps they have something to protect? But then – it did seem that the rabbit was very much the aggressor. Perhaps more information will be made available as the story develops…

Over the last few days, investment and savings, and that sort of thing, have been the topic of choice. But now, after reading a few morbid articles in the news, it occurs to me that life insurance is the best kind of investment … I’ve just never really thought about it before, I suppose.

The other day I linked to a news story about a man who was killed by an altar falling on him at church, which proved that you can never be prepared for what can happen to you. And here is another story that could have ended tragically as well: a girl had to take the wheel of the car after her mother, on drugs, lost control. This case could have ended in something a lot worse than whiplash.

Thankfully it was all okay, but it could have been fatal – more than a niggling injury, more by far. And that’s the worrying thing.

When these things happen – and they happen a lot, really – and increasingly more often, it seems, it’s more than enough to get you thinking about term assurance and life cover. As if you needed a reason to do so.

Product placement – the very same advertising technique that is so prevalent in films and things, will soon be made legal on regular television shows – just not on the BBC, evidently. But this is unusual, to me. For a start, I didn’t realise it was even illegal, you see it so much everywhere. In fact, I saw some just yesterday … on the BBC, no less. On Football Focus, we were treated to a look inside the locker room of a team (I can’t remember if it was Manchester City or Arsenal), and everywhere we looked there were Lucozade bottles. Inside the fridge, on the locker room bench, out on the field – everywhere.

I would have assumed that this would have counted as product placement. Even if they were not placed there directly, specifically for us to see them, we still saw them; we still associate the success of Man City with Lucozade. If they drink it, maybe we should too. What’s the difference between voluntary and involuntary product placement?

Regardless, I’m not sure I’m sold on the benefits of product placement in the first place. It’s a similar thing to sponsorship. I’m not going to buy a television just because I see it across the shirts of my local football team. Will I buy Nescafe coffee because I see Simon Cowell drinking it on X Factor?

I don’t know, obviously it must have some success, or there wouldn’t be people queuing up to offer these services. There wouldn’t be predictions of £100m a year profits for the television networks in question.

It’s certainly an interesting one.

After watching the NFL opener on Thursday, I spent yesterday relaxing and lounging. As quite often happens when I spent a bit of time doing not very much, I discovered a couple of unusual news stories. One of them is funny, in a drunken and slightly unusual sort of way, and the second of them has a horrific irony about it, and both of them are curious and interesting, so I thought I would share them.

Yesterday in America – Madeira Beach, to be precise – a man was drunkenly stumbling around the beach, and started to pretend he was drowning. Apparently, he was doing it to lure teenagers close to him, before – wait for it – hurling jellyfish at them. I don’t know if he had any real plan of action, clearly and lucidly deciding that, yes, jellyfish would be the perfect throwing weapon to use on pesky kids, or if he just saw them and decided to lob them anyway. It must have been quite a painful choice of weapon, unless it was thought through and he had brought some form of protection, or knew how to pick the poor things up without getting hurt.

Regardless, it must have been quite a surprise to see them flying through the air at you when you try and save someone from drowning.

The next story is a sad one, and my thoughts are with the family and friends, but it is horribly ironic. A man was trapped in a lift, and he obviously prayed for help and safety, and he managed to escape. Then, deciding that he would immediately go to church and give thanks, an altar fell and killed him instantly.