CAT WASH…..OMG!!!!

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Harry Potter Horses Around

Harry Potter is officially a man.

Daniel Radcliffe, the 17-year-old actor from the “Harry Potter” films, bares his skin to show he’s all grown up in the publicity photos for the play he’ll star in on London’s West End next month.

In Peter Shaffer’s “Equus,” Radcliffe gets to romp around naked with actress Joanna Christie. But for the publicity stills he’s shown sans shirt in her equally bare embrace.

Other photos, taken by celebrity snapper Uli Weber, show the young Brit horsing around with a white stallion.

In “Equus,” Radcliffe plays a stable hand named Alan Strang. The play opens at the Gielgud Theatre on Feb. 27 in London.

“Daniel does not want to step away from Harry Potter but he does want to show he is a rounded actor capable of very different and diverse roles,” his publicist Vanessa Davies told the London Daily Mail Tuesday. “He has tremendous support from Harry Potter fans.”

Happy Hump Day

Fat-fighting POT drug

GW Pharmaceuticals says it has a cannabis-derived treatment to suppress hunger; company plans to start human trials.

Britain’s GW Pharmaceuticals Plc said Tuesday it plans to start human trials of an experimental treatment for obesity derived from cannabis.

Cannabis is commonly associated with stimulating hunger. Several other companies, including Sanofi-Aventis with Acomplia, are working on new drugs that try to switch off the brain circuits that make people hungry when they smoke it.
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GW Pharma, however, says it has derived a treatment from cannabis itself that could help suppress hunger.
Big Pharma’s drug wish list for 2007

“The cannabis plant has 70 different cannabinoids in it, and each has a different effect on the body,” GW Managing Director Justin Gover told Reuters.

“Some can stimulate your appetite, and some in the same plant can suppress your appetite. It is amazing both scientifically and commercially,” he said in a telephone interview.

GW said it plans to start clinical trials of the new drug in the second half of this year. Medicines have to pass three stages of tests in humans before being assessed by regulators in a process that takes many years.

Sanofi-Aventis’ (Charts) Acomplia, which it believes can achieve $3 billion in annual sales, is already on sale in Europe and it is waiting for a U.S. regulatory decision in April.

Several other big drug companies also have similar products to Acomplia already in clinical trials.

GW is best known for developing Sativex, a treatment derived from cannabis that fights spasticity in multiple sclerosis patients. Sativex, an under-the-tongue spray, has been approved in Canada, but has hit delays with regulators in Britain.

GW, which competes with rivals such as AstraZeneca (Charts), submitted Sativex for assessment by several European regulators in September, and hopes to secure approval for the UK, Denmark, Spain and the Netherlands in the second half of this year at the earliest, the company said Tuesday.

GW said revenue for the year ended Sept. 30 was slightly ahead of expectations at £1.98 million, £1.35 million of which came from Sativex.

The firm posted a pre-tax loss of £13.9 million, in line with forecasts. According to a poll of analysts by Reuters Estimates, the loss in 2007 will be £13.5 million.

GW’s marijuana plants are grown indoors in a secret location in Southern England.

“With a U.S. partnering deal and a European approval both expected this year, we remain very comfortable with our Buy recommendation,” Investec analyst Ibraheem Mahmood said.

GW shares were up almost 5.5 percent, valuing the company at £92.5 million.

Hospice helped dying man lose his virginity

Hospice helped Nick Wallis lose his virginity

A young disabled man who receives care for his life-limiting illness at a hospice run by a nun spoke yesterday of his decision to use a prostitute to experience sex before he dies.

Sister Frances Dominica gave her support to 22-year-old Nick Wallis, who was born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Sufferers usually die by their thirties.

Mr Wallis told staff at the Douglas House hospice in Oxford that he wanted to experience sexual intercourse. He explained that he had hoped to form an intimate and loving relationship with a woman, but his disability had acted as a barrier.

He told The Daily Telegraph: “It was a decision two years in the making and I discussed it with my carers and my parents. Telling my mother and father was the hardest part, but in the end they gave me their support.
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“There are many aspects of life that an able-bodied person takes for granted but from which I am excluded.

“I had hoped to form a relationship when I went to university, but it didn’t happen. I had to recognise that if was to experience sex I would have to pay for it out of my savings. My mind was made up before I discussed it with anyone else.”

The hospice staff, after taking advice from a solicitor, the clergy and health care professionals, decided to help him.

“I found an advert from a sex worker in a magazine for the disabled,” said Mr Wallis. “The initial contact was by email and then by phone.”

It was arranged for the prostitute to visit his home in Northampton. “My parents went out,” he said.

“It was not emotionally fulfilling, but the lady was very pleasant and very understanding. I do not know whether I would do it again. I would much rather find a girlfriend, but I have to be realistic.”

Mr Wallis has decided to talk in public about his decision as part of the BBC documentary series about life inside Douglas House and its associated hospice for children, Helen House.

“I have done so in order that people may understand the issues that face people in my situation. I suppose some people may be judgmental.”

He said he did not discuss his decision directly with Sister Frances, who founded the two hospices. “But I know she gave me her support.”

Sister Frances described Mr Wallis as “delightful, intelligent and aware young man”.

“I know that some people will say ‘You are a Christian foundation. What are you thinking about?’. But we are here for all faiths and none,” she said.

“It is not our job to make moral decisions for our guests. We came to the conclusion that it was our duty of care to support Nick emotionally and to help ensure his physical safety.”

Mr Wallis’s story can be seen on The Children of Helen House, BBC2, 10pm Tuesday.

Bubzac

The Burkini

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Penny worth a Nickel

Talk about pennies from heaven.

A potential shortage of coins in the United States could mean all those pennies in your piggy bank could be worth five times their current value soon, says an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Sharply rising prices of metals such as copper and nickel have meant the face value of pennies and nickels are worth less than the material that they are made of, increasing the risk that speculators could melt the coins and sell them for a profit.

Such a risk spurred the U.S. Mint last month to issue regulations limiting melting and exporting of the coins.

But Francois Velde, senior economist at the Chicago Fed, argued in a recent research note that prohibitions by the Mint would unlikely deter serious speculators who already have piled up the coinage.

The best solution, Velde said, would be to “rebase” the penny by making it worth five cents rather than one cent. Doing so would increase the amount of five-cent coins in circulation and do away with the almost worthless one cent coin.

“History shows that when coins are worth melting, they disappear,” Velde wrote.

“Rebasing the penny would … debase the five-cent piece and put it safely away from its melting point,” he added.

Raw material prices in general have skyrocketed in the last five years, sending copper prices to record highs of $4.16 a pound in May. Copper pennies number 154 to a pound. Prices have since come down from that peak but could still trek higher, Velde said.

Since 1982, the Mint began making copper-coated zinc pennies to prevent metals speculators from taking advantage of lofty base metal prices. Though the penny is losing its importance — it is worth only four seconds of the average American’s work time, assuming a 40-hour workweek — the Mint is making more and more pennies.

Velde said that since 1982 the Mint has produced 910 pennies for every American. Last year there were 8.23 billion pennies in circulation, according to the Mint.

“These factors suggest that, sooner or later, the penny will join the farthing (one-quarter of a penny) and the hapenny (one-half of a penny) in coin museums,” he said.

Moment of Zen…

“They’re blaming the losses on the launch of their unpopular economy car, the Ford Federline. I guess there was a problem with them getting a whole bunch of Mini Coopers pregnant.” — Jimmy Kimmel on Ford Motors’ $12.7 billion in losses in 2006.

Lovely Addition to your Truck

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