So, who ought to be the next Doctor Who? It's up to YOU...
Poll Vote now and we'll start ramping up pressure on the Beeb
Right, you lovely people: we've trawled through your suggestions as to who should step into Matt Smith's shoes as the 12th incarnation of Doctor Who, and it's time to put it to the public vote.
It's a mixed bag, to be sure, with some top talent in there more than suited to pocketing the keys to the Tardis. So without further ado …
Reg readers tumesce as they get their tongues round 'podule'
'Podule, podule, podule. Oooh, now I feel dirty'
Our recent coverage of Brit adventurer Nick Hancock's thwarted attempt to land on the Atlantic islet of Rockall has demonstrated a growing reader penchant for the word "podule".
Hancock had intended to spend 60 days atop the remote granite outcrop in a survival podule, and the mere mention of this splendid term prompted one …
Gourmet chemists sniff out ultimate cheese on toast
Recipes needed for the perfect Brit grilled snack
The splendidly monikered British Cheese Board has launched a search for the "perfect cheese on toast formula" - a quest that will nicely complement our own efforts to nail the ultimate bacon sarnie and pinnacle of cha perfection.
The board is seeking submissions from Brits, who have the chance to win "a top-of-the-range toasted …
Brit adventurer Nick Hancock postpones Rockall holiday to 2014
Maybe El Reg can offer some tips?
Brit adventurer Nick Hancock has postponed his attempt to occupy Rockall until next year after the cruel sea ended his attempt to land on the Atlantic granite outcrop last Friday.
Hancock had intended to spend 60 days atop the the sacred islet - some 480km west of Scotland - in aid of Help for Heroes, in the process breaking …
Reg readers: So, who will be Who? It's over to you...
Nominations needed for next Time Lord
The news that Matt Smith will walk away from the Tardis at the end of this year has provoked a veritable Gallifrey of speculation as to just who will become the 12th Doctor.
As we noted earlier this week, bookies William Hill favour Harry Potter star Rupert Grint and Russell Tovey from BBC Three's Being Human, naming them joint …
Germans purge selves of indigestible 63-letter word
'Bulp. Blorp. RkReUAUG! RkReUAUG! Phew, that feels better'
A change in EU law has allowed the Germans to bin their longest word: the 63-letter monster Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz.
According to the Telegraph, the monstrosity was spawned back in 1999 in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and translates as "law delegating beef label monitoring", in bite- …
LOHAN team regroups for second pop at SPEARS
English Channel not invited to ballocket control board balloon mission
Fans of the Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) spaceplane project should mark Saturday 13 July in their diaries, because that's when our elite team will once again assemble in Blighty's Baikonur* for the second test flight of the Special Project Electronic Altitude Release System (SPEARS) board.
Click here for a bigger …
Doctor Who? 12th incarnation sought after Matt Smith quits
'Spectacular exit' promised for Time Lord
Matt Smith has announced he'll be handing over the keys to the Tardis at the end of this year, leaving Doctor Who fans plenty of time to speculate over just who will step into the Time Lord's shoes.
Smith will bow out in a "spectacular" 2013 Christmas special, after four years as the 11th Doctor.
He said: "Doctor Who has been …
Sacred islet Rockall defeats Brit adventurer
Back to Scotland for Nick Hancock and his survival podule
Brit adventurer Nick Hancock is returning to western Scotland after inclement weather thwarted his attempt to land on the sacred islet of Rockall.
Hancock had intended to spend 60 days in a survival podule atop the Atlantic granite outcrop – some 480km off the west coast of Scotland – in aid of Help for Heroes. Speaking recently …
Sacred islet Rockall repels Brit adventurer's first assault
Attempt to land life podule for lengthy stay thwarted
Heavy seas have thwarted Brit adventurer Nick Hancock's first attempt to land on the sacred islet of Rockall, and he's beaten a retreat to St Kilda ahead of a second pop tomorrow.
If he can get atop the remote granite outcrop - which lies 480km off the west coast of Scotland - Hancock plans to spend 60 days there in support of …
CRUNCH: 'Drunk' chap cuffed in high-speed car nookie prang rumpus
Nude lady takes a toss, shoeless chap in cactus - cops
An Albuquerque man found himself on the wrong end of a cuffing on Monday after cops claimed he had been engaged in drunken rumpy-pumpy behind the wheel. Local police said he had jumped a red light, ploughed into another vehicle and then attempted to evade justice by hiding in a cactus bush.
Police mugshot of Luis Briones …
Kettle 'which looks like HITLER' brews up sturm in a teacup
US retailer overrun by Führer Wasserkocher blitzkrieg
US retailer JC Penney is doing a brisk trade in a designer kettle after someone noticed it bore a certain resemblance to Adolf Hitler.
Over the weekend, a snap of a billboard ad for the "Michael Graves Design Bells and Whistles Stainless Steel Tea Kettle" popped up on Reddit.
The offending kettle and Adolf Hitler Spot the …
Going under the knife? Avoid Fridays. Trust us, we asked a doctor
Fewer docs in hospital at weekend, greater risk of death, study finds
British readers who have an appointment with the sawbones are directed to this illuminating report in the British Medical Journal, which concludes that you're substantially more at risk of popping your clogs as a result of surgery if they open you up on a Friday or a weekend.
That's the conclusion of a team led by Dr Paul Aylin …
My, my Pi, did it spy ya? Bye, bye Pi, did it go higher?
Pictures Stratospheric raspberry-shaped ARM PC in proto-cam test
High Altitude Ballooning (HAB) head honcho and Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) team member Dave Akerman has grabbed some spectacular images of Blighty from the stratosphere, using a Raspberry Pi eye in the sky.
Devon and Cornwall from an altitude of 38.9km. Pic: Dave Akerman Devon and Cornwall from an altitude of 38 …
Paul Allen buys lovingly restored vintage V-2 Nazi ballistic missile
First space rocket of humanity, used to bomb London
Ex-Microsoft gazillionaire Paul Allen has acquired a V2 rocket for his Flying Heritage Collection.
First human artifact into outer space ... en route to London or Antwerp with a one-tonne warhead
The Microsoft co-founder stumped an undisclosed amount for the Mittelwerk GmbH Vergeltungswaffe 2, having found himself with a few …
LOHAN is GO! Reg spaceplane BLASTS OFF on 14 September
Pocket ballocket to go ballistic - but where?
We're absolutely delighted to announce that our Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) spaceplane mission is cleared for blastoff on 14 September.
Click here for a bigger version of the LOHAN graphic Yes indeed, ballocket fans, the time is almost nigh to dispatch the Vulture 2 heavenwards towards its date with aeronautical …
Space dogs and Dragons: A brief history of reentry tech
How a flying Frenchman paved the way for space exploration
In August 1960, Soviet dogs Belka and Strelka1 - accompanied by several mice - became the first animals to travel into space and return alive.
Belka and Strelka seen inside the Vostok capsule Belka and Strelka seen inside the Vostok capsule
Packed into their Vostok spacecraft, the space canines relied on some venerable …
Hello, Goodbye ... to $408,000: John Lennon axe under the hammer
Not much Vox for an awful lot of bucks
A guitar played by both John Lennon and George Harrison has sold at auction for a cool $408k.
The custom Vox. Pic: Julien's Auctions One Vox, yours for $408k
The custom Vox was build for Lennon in 1966 by Mike Bennett and Dick Denney, who handled the instrument's mahogany body and electronics, respectively. In September 1967 …
Rolls-Royce climbs aboard Bloodhound SUPERSONIC car
Cash and tech support for mighty motor's mighty motor
Rolls-Royce has announced it will back the Bloodhound SuperSonic Car (SSC), despite the company's "pretty robust policy about using our power plants in applications for which they were not designed".
Bloodhound will be partially powered by a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine, normally found giving the Eurofighter-Typhoon a powerful …
Astronaut Chris Hadfield's Space Oddity ends in Kazakhstan
Crooning Canadian 'naut returns to terra firma
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is back on Earth following a 144-day stay aboard the International Space Station, which ended on a high note when the crooning spaceman released an impressive high-altitude version of David Bowie's Space Oddity.
Hadfield and fellow Expedition 35 'nauts Tom Marshburn and Roman Romanenko touched …
Ground control to major strum: ISS's Hadfield sings Space Oddity
Vid Crooner Chris in high-altitude homage to Bowie
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has marked the end of his stay on the International Space Station by releasing his high-altitude version on David Bowie's Space Oddity.
Cmdr Hadfield has been aboard the orbital outpost since December last year, and commander of Expedition 35 since March. He handed over control of the station …
Lego fan constructs Bletchley Park Colossus
Miniature homage to codebreaking giant
It's a tip of the hat today to Lego fan James Pegrum, who's created a splendid miniature representation of Bletchley Park's famous Colossus Mark 2:
James Pegrum's Lego Colossus. Pic: James Pegrum James Pegrum's not-so-colossal Colossus Mark 2
Working from an original photo of the Colossus, Adult Friend Of Lego (AFOL) James …
Builder-in-a-hole outrage sparks Special Projects Bureau safety probe
Well-digging Portuguese chap gets some serious protection
Last year, I uncovered the perfect antidote to the internet in an entertaining dig-a-well project, which went down, well, well with those who subscribe to the tenet "man cannot live by IT alone".
However, one aspect of the project did cause a bit of a health and safety furore among our beloved commentards: the moment when …
Brit adventurer all set to assault ex-Reg haunt Rockall
Plans 60 days atop sacred North Atlantic islet - for charity
A Brit adventurer is poised to occupy the North Atlantic granite outcrop of Rockall - once described as "the most isolated speck of rock, surrounded by water, on the surface of the earth".1
Nick Hancock plans to spend 60 days atop the sacred islet - which lies some 480km off the west coast of Scotland - during his Rockall Solo …
Colombian plods cuff jailbreaker despite on-the-run gender bend
Hefty Bulgarian airbags fail to distract Barranquilla fuzz
A fugitive Colombian criminal is back behind bars a year after escaping from custody. Local cops are happy that they've got the man they were after, though in fact she is now a bounteously endowed lady.
Giovanni Rebolledo was slapped with a 60-year prison sentence last year in Bogotá, for a raft of offences including manufacture …
Quid-a-day nosh challenge hack enters the final furlong
Tibetan blackbird not yet landed, but the end is in sight
My "Live Below the Line" quid-a-day nosh challenge has entered its final stretch, and as I wait for the Tibetan blackbird* to spread its mighty brown wings over the great white telephone, I've got time - and just enough remaining energy - to ponder what purpose the last week has served.
Before I do that, though, I'd like to …
Impoverished net user slams 'disgusting' quid-a-day hack
FoTW 'You insult those living in poverty'
Since Monday, this hack has been subsisting on just £1 a day for food, in support of the charity Malaria No More UK.
The "Live Below the Line" challenge is an imperfect exercise, to be sure, but is nobly intended as "an innovative awareness and fundraising campaign that's making a huge difference in the fight against extreme …
Peeping Tom suspects cuffed after 'falling through women's toilet ceiling'
Boys in Blue brought after bang heard from the bogs
Two suspected peeping Toms earned themselves a cuffing last weekend after apparently crashing through the ceiling of the women's toilet in a Georgia cinema, having failed to correctly assess the structure's load-bearing capacity.
According to cops, Eduard Petrovich Kovynev, 26, and Eduard Alexander Kovynev, 27, allegedly climbed …
Weary quid-a-day nosh hack fears colonal mass ejection
Storm brewing after three days of chickpeas and eggs
It's day four of my "Live Below the Line" challenge to survive for five days on just a fiver for nosh, and while things are going well overall, I fear a storm is brewing.
Since Monday I've been subsisting on a diet comprising pretty much just fried egg butties, chickpea stew, rice and tea - livened up with the results of some …
Quid-a-day nosh challenge hack forms foraging party
Can Mother Nature supplement meagre diet?
It's been a tough winter here in the mountains of central Spain, so Mother Nature isn't lending much of a hand as I attempt to sustain myself spending just £1 a day for nosh in the "Live Below the Line" challenge.
As many readers have pointed out, I should be able to venture forth into the countryside in search of free …
Quid-a-day nosh challenge hack in bullet-hard chickpea drama
Obstinate legume resists force of steaming cauldron
Day two of my "Live Below the Line" challenge has kicked off with another two fried egg sarnies and a couple of cuppas, following a long, hungry cooking slog yesterday thanks to some particularly obstinate chickpeas.
To recap, I'm subsisting until for five days on just £1 a day for nosh as part of "an innovative awareness and …
Fried-egg sarnies kick off Reg man's quid-a-day nosh challenge
An egg-shell-ent start - but bacon, booze is off the menu
Coffee, bacon and black pudding were strictly off the menu this morning as this hack kicked off his "Live Below the Line" challenge with a couple of fried-egg sarnies and a mug of builders' tea.
Until Friday, I have to subsist on just £1 a day for food as I participate in "an innovative awareness and fundraising campaign that's …
Texan stitches stratosphere into stunning panoramas
One mighty orb and six vid cameras for fully spherical imagery
Take one mighty hydrogen-filled orb, six panoramic vid cameras, hours of image-stitching jiggery-pokery and you too can produce fully spherical panoramic imagery from the stratosphere...
Panoramic view at 29,000m The 360 degree view at 29,000m
...or capture a 360 degree movie of your balloon burst at a breathtaking 29,378m ( …
Reg hack to starve on £1 a day FOR SCIENCE
Signs up for 'Live Below the Line' charity subsistence challenge
As of next Monday, this hack will live for five days with just £1 a day to spend on food, having rather recklessly signed up for the "Live Below the Line" challenge.
Inspired by the news that Ben Affleck will starve himself for charity - and also we presume in penance for his part in cinematic outrage Pearl Harbor - I decided …
Outsourced space trucks battle for US middleweight lifting title
Comment Antares and Falcon on a hike to nowhere?
There was much popping of champagne corks and back-slapping last Sunday when Orbital Sciences Corporation's Antares rocket finally blasted off from the launch pad at NASA's new Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Antares launch on 21 April. Pic: NASA Antares soars heavenwards on 21 April
Following a launch abort on 17 April …
It's official! Register hack is an alcohol-flushed cave dweller
Budget DNA test reveals our man's genome secrets
It's official: this Reg hack is 2.7 per cent Neanderthal, belongs to the J1c3b haplogroup, is at increased risk of coronary heart disease and Restless Legs Syndrome, has wet ear wax, and slightly decreased odds of suffering male pattern baldness.
That's according to the enlightening results of a personal genome test by 23andMe, …
Readers, we need you... for LOHAN ignition failsafe brainwaves
Last call for back-up rocket-sparking designs
The Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) team is inviting experts among our super readers to submit final proposals for a back-up ignition system for our Vulture 2 spaceplane's mighty rocket motor.
Click here for a bigger version of the LOHAN graphic As SPB ballocket regulars know, the primary system designed to light …
Raspberry Pi space jaunt ends in dramatic mountain rescue
Slovakian team tracks stunning globes to snow-capped peak
Blighty's two-pronged High Altitude Ballooning (HAB) assault on Europe over the weekend ended dramatically with the rescue of one payload from the slopes of a snow-capped Austrian mountain, while the other is officially AWOL somewhere in France.
Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) team members Dave Akerman and Anthony …
Space elevators, vacuum chutes: What next for big rocket tech?
Pic special How boffins hope to escape long shadow of the V2
We recently suggested that even the most advanced rocket currently slipping the surly bonds of Earth is nothing more than glorified V2, over 70 years since Hitler's Vergeltungswaffe 2 first lifted off the pad at Peenemünde.
Today, we'll have a look at some technologies that may one day allow us to escape V2 designer Wernher von …
LOHAN chap to launch Raspberry Pi eye in the sky
Live stratoimages promised as minicam invades European airspace
High Altitude Ballooning (HAB) geezer Dave Akerman will tomorrow dispatch a Raspberry Pi camera into the stratosphere, promising live images from altitude as the diminutive snapper drifts from Blighty into European skies.
Dave, who's head hydrogen handling honcho for our Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) mission, …
Hard luck lads, todger size DOES matter: Official
NSFWish Being tall and masculine also helps, says stiff stiff
Boffins bearing tape measures appear to have confirmed that in the trouser department, size really does matter.
But it's not the only thing prospective mates are eyeing when they give chaps the once-over.
In fact, todger size "interacts with body shape and height to determine male sexual attractiveness", so that a "greater …
Pyongyang to unleash NUKULAR horsemen of the Norkocalypse?
Just how real is North Korea's missile threat?
Last week, UK prime minister David Cameron raised a few eyebrows when he insisted North Korea has the capability to launch a missile strike against the the US and the UK.
Just like Blighty was once warned of Saddam Hussein's terrifying Weapons of Mass Destruction, the PM forewarned: “North Korea does now have missile technology …
Norkoshop: How Pyongyang well and truly forked Adobe
El Reg exclusively reveals Kim Jong-Un's photo propaganda tool
The recent news that North Korea had been caught red-handed indulging in some not-so-light hovercraft cloning, led our beloved Reg commenters to ponder just what software Pyongyang uses to big up its military capabilities.
One initial suggestion was that the communist state's Illustrious Father and Leader, Kim Jong-Un, had …
LOHAN must suck juice while mounted on rigid rod - but HOW?
Possible hot coupling for Vulture 2
Over the past couple of weeks, the Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) team has been chewing the fat with readers over just how to hook up the Vulture 2 spaceplane's rocket motor heater.
Click here for a bigger version of the LOHAN graphic
There's more on the current state of play with the heater right here, and a …
Rocket boffinry in pictures: Gulp the Devil's venom and light a match
Feature How scientists sup from Wernher von Braun's cup
It's been more than 70 years since the first successful test flight of the German Vergeltungswaffe 2 (V2) - the weapon that paved the way for subsequent rocket-based efforts to escape Earth's surly bonds.
On 3 October 1942, a team headed by Wernher von Braun watched its creation rise from the launchpad at Peenemünde, little …
Lost CASSiE search moves up a gear
Choppers rise after swelling twin orbs leave 'nauty knitwear adrift
Elite teams of Warwick University quadcopter operatives will take to the skies this weekend in search of CASSiE the Cosmic Hedgehog, missing since a high-altitude ballooning (HAB) mission went off the radar somewhere over Oxfordshire or Warwickshire.
CASSiE the Cosmic Hedgehog Missing: CASSiE the cosmic hedgehog
Following a …
Pyongyang Photoshop tomfoolery shows wet Norks, skirts blown up
Virtual hover armada storms beach in propaganda pic
North Korea's official press agency has been caught with its hands in the Photoshop copy-and-paste jar, in a hopelessly bodged attempt to big up the amphibious-landing capability of the country's hovercraft.
A couple of days ago, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a snap showing operations by the KPA (Korean People's …
Watch the skies: SPACE HEDGEHOG plunges to Earth in Oxfordshire
Public asked to help find knitwear-clad 'naut
Reg readers in the Leamington Spa area are asked to keep an eye out for a knitted hedgehog which may have fallen from the skies thereabouts, and is currently the focus of a frantic search and rescue operation.
CASSiE (Cosmic Ambassador for Space Science and Engineering), aka the Cosmic Hedgehog, was sent aloft last Friday on a …
Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop hailed oddest book title
Anti-fairy guide wins prestigious literary award
The splendidly titled Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop has won The Bookseller's Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year.
Reginald Bakeley's winning tome, which also offers "Other Practical Advice In Our Campaign Against The Fairy Kingdom", took 38 per cent of an online public vote. Loani Prior's How Tea Cosies Changed …
LOHAN fans drawn to magnetic coupling
Neodymium solution for spaceplane heater disconnect?
Earlier this week, we published results of some tests on the proposed heater for our Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) rocket motor heater, designed to keep the Vulture 2 spaceplane's powerplant toasty at altitude.
Click here for a bigger version of the LOHAN graphic We also invited our tech-savvy ballocket mission …
