New Year’s Day parade: Everything you need to know

January 1, 2016, 3:26 am

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January 1 2016 marks the 30th New Year’s Day parade in London.

It’s been entertaining Londoners since its inception in 1987.

The parade takes around three hours to weave its way along the 2.2 mile route, from outside The Ritz Hotel to Parliament Square.

Over 8,000 performers will take part and a mix of over 500,000 hungover, still-slightly drunk, clear-headed-and-slightly-smug Londoners, and way-too-excited-for-this-time-of-the-day tourists will watch on.

Think massive Disney-style floats, with loads of loud music, dancing, marching bands, cheerleaders, acrobats, street performers, clowns, colourful costumes and performers representing each of the 33 London Boroughs.

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14 things you’ll only know if you’re a far too honest person

January 1, 2016, 3:39 am

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Do you ever wonder why people say ‘honesty is the best policy’, yet when you tell the truth, you’re accused of being rude? 

You’ve learned to hold back when you need to – but it doesn’t come naturally. TBH, you just have a natural urge to tell it like it is.

Here are 14 things you’ll only know if you’re a far too honest person.

1. You’re always scared when a friend asks you for your honest opinion on a new item of… Read the full story

‘Amazing’ pilot holds flight so family can make it to funeral

January 1, 2016, 4:25 am

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A woman was able to make it to her husband’s funeral after a pilot did something pilots never do and delayed take-off for her.

Nicole Wibel from Phoenix, Arizona, took to Facebook to thank Delta Airlines pilots Adams and Anderson from flight DL3955 for helping her mum and the rest of the family make it to the funeral, after their connecting flight was delayed.

‘Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and may you both be blessed ten fold,’ Nicole wrote, asking people to share her post to get some recognition for the ‘amazing pilots’.

Nicole explains that her mum Marcia… Read the full story

17 reasons to be cheerful this January

January 1, 2016, 5:30 am

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The tinsel’s packed away, the last of the chocolate is long gone and the fairly lights have flashed their last.

Are you missing Christmas already? We’re not.

January is packed full of things to be happy about and reasons to be cheerful. Here are 17 of them.

1. There are bargains everywhere

Retailers didn’t have a brilliant Christmas, and while that’s bad news for their shareholders, it’s great news for us: whether you prefer the High Street or shopping online, it’s a world of sales right now.

2. It hasn’t snowed properly yet

We’ve had a bit, yes, but the real British winter tends to appear after the New Year. Rosy-cheeked snowball… Read the full story

Look at these pictures taken inside Iceland’s beautiful ice caves and clear your fuzzy head

January 1, 2016, 5:39 am

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This pub crawl started in 1984….and it’s still going

January 1, 2016, 6:46 am

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Why the incredibly annoying ‘page 1 of 365’ New Year’s trend is actually wrong

January 1, 2016, 7:26 am

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*Screams into pillow*.

Are those ‘page 1 of 365’ New Year, new me posts filling up your timeline?

Yep. Ours too.

Much like Greg Wallace, It’s every-f*cking-where.

 

In different fonts.

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The moment your mum realises that’s not your first shot of vodka

January 1, 2016, 8:03 am

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Share this video

Poor mum. 

The moment a mum realised it wasn’t her precious little girl’s first shot has made it to the first page of Reddit after it was shared by sister Chelsea Elayne a week ago.

‘We were drinking on Christmas and I recorded a Snapchat of my sister taking her “first” shot,’ writes Chelsea.

After sis downs her shot of vodka, followed by an orange juice chaser, like a pro (didn’t even flinch), the camera cuts to mum.

You can almost hear mum’s entire belief system shattering.

Read the full story

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Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, arcade machines and 20 TV screens… This retro games room is cool AF

January 1, 2016, 8:45 am

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Fans of retro gaming be prepared to be inspired.

Self-confessed gaming obsessive Heidi’s room is a shrine to retro games and it’s utterly perfect.

Playing Tetris can help to curb cravings

She’s been collecting games, consoles and gaming memorabilia since 2002 and has amassed an incredible collection.

Not only does she manage to display them so they look like art, but she sources vintage furniture from the 70s and 80s for the room, so the entire thing is a visual feast.

This is Heidi. She says she has always loved gaming but wasn’t allowed to own any as a child – so she’s making up for it now.

 

She’s got a total of 20 TV screens in the room.

 

She’s been collecting since 2002 and now has 4,600 of games

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11 people who have already broken their New Year’s resolution

January 1, 2016, 8:45 am

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It’s inevitable that, eventually, somewhere along the line, the New Year’s resolution that we so adamantly assured everyone we’d stick by throughout the year would eventually be broken. 

And, really, it doesn’t matter, does it? A little cheat day here and there isn’t going to hurt anyone. At least you tried.

Well, you’d think people would at least try anyway.

But it seems that for some people, their New Year’s resolution was just too hard to stick to. And they’ve somehow already managed to break it.

Yep, not we’re even a day into the new year.

1. Well, getting up early on New Year’s Day was going to be a hard resolution… Read the full story

Baby boy left blind in one eye by rare ‘golden glow’ gets new prosthetic eye

January 1, 2016, 9:26 am

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On Christmas Eve a baby boy was given the gift of a life time. 

Nine-month-old Mason Page, who was left blind in one eye, will soon be given his first prosthetic eye, something his mother Sarah Bowers called a ‘Christmas miracle’.

Sarah first noticed something was wrong when photos she had taken of Mason revealed a ‘golden glow’ in his left eye.

She remembered a story she had read while pregnant about a mother who had noticed the same glow in her son’s eye – and it had turned out to be a rare… Read the full story

Butcher sells tofu turkey and soy sausages but no meat… because he is a vegan

January 1, 2016, 9:27 am

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The first ever vegan butcher shop is opening in January. 

It might seem unlikely but the proven concept is set to open up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after a successful Kickstarter campaign.

The so-called Herbivorous Butcher sells a wide variety of plant-based meats and cheeses.

But instead of bits of animal they’re made from ingredients like chick peas and tapioca powder.

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Uncle transforms Barbie jeep into miniature version of his own for nephew

January 1, 2016, 10:09 am

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We’ve only just begun 2016 but one uncle should already be given the Uncle of the year award after coming up with this amazing little present for his nephew.

Reddit user Bored_at_work15 shared a picture of his own, full-sized Jeep alongside an identical version in miniature.

Apparently, his nephew had loved his uncle’s Jeep so much so that his uncle decided to give him his own, child-sized one.

But, instead of buying one from a store, he decided to make his own.

He found a small pink Barbie Jeep which he spray-painted and customised to look just like his own.

And, apart from the obviously massive size difference, we have to say the resemblance is uncanny.

All in all, the handmade jeep cost $50 (£33) for the entire project – including $4 (£2.70) for a can of spray paint.

The inventive gift has had 2.5m views on imgur and sparked great discussion, as well as the… Read the full story

The best high-protein vegan meat alternatives in the supermarket

January 1, 2016, 11:00 pm

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Whether you’ve gone vegan for January or for life, you’ll want to know what you can swap for flesh in your sandwiches, curries and salads.

Instead of meat and fish you’ll want to opt for decent high-protein alternatives in your weekly supermarket shop.

From tofu to vegan burgers, vegan sausages, and Quorn’s new vegan pieces, there are plenty of meat alternatives around.

Or if you’re going for an unprocessed or raw approach, you’ll want to stock up on specific beans, grains and pulses.

We’ve compiled a list of high-protein foods with the help of Veganuary to help you on your way.

Vegan ‘meats’ and substitutes

Fry’s Traditional Burgers, £3.15, Ocado

15.8g protein per 100g.

Linda McCartney sausages, £1.95 for six, Tesco or Sainsbury’s

22.5g protein per 100g – that’s more than chicken breast which has 20g.

Quorn Frozen Vegan Pieces, £2.49, Ocado

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The best vegan dairy you can find in your local supermarket

January 1, 2016, 11:00 pm

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Whether you’re going vegan for January or for life, you’ll need to know what to swap for dairy in your weekly shop.

There are tonnes of plant-based alternatives to cow’s cheese, milk, yoghurt and butter.

From abundant varieties of milk (soy, oat, rice, hemp, almond, coconut) to different brands of yoghurt, spreads and tasty, meltable cheese, there are plenty of options on sale.

Oh, and don’t think we’ve forgotten about ice-cream either.

Cheese

Vegusto No-Moo mild aromatic cheddar, £4.99 Vegusto, £5.50 Planet Organic

Free From Violife block cheese, £2.30 Tesco or Waitrose

Bute Island smoked cheddar Sheese, £2.62 from Goodness Direct and stores nationwide

Milk

Alpro organic longlife unsweetened wholebean soya milk, £1.40, Ocado and Waitrose

Rice Dream milk drink,… Read the full story

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Women’s magazine promises to ban the phrases ‘bikini body’ and ‘drop two sizes’ in 2016

January 1, 2016, 11:49 pm

≫ Next: Artists finally give us the one thing the Star Wars universe has been missing: Cats

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2015 was a good year for boy body positivity.

People fought back against Protein World’s body-shaming adverts on the tube. Plus size models saw more success than ever. Women took to the streets in their underwear to promote body love.

But for one magazine, 2016 is going to be even better.

Women’s Health has vowed that in the year ahead, they will drop two of the phrases that have popped up on their covers for years: ‘bikini body’ and ‘drop two sizes’.

In a blog post announcing the ban, editor Amy… Read the full story

Artists finally give us the one thing the Star Wars universe has been missing: Cats

January 2, 2016, 12:14 am

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Look, the Star Wars universe is pretty wonderful. Ewoks are cute. BB-8 is adorable. But there’s always been one thing the cuteness factor has been missing: cats.

Seriously, where the heck are the cats? Darth Vader needed that spinning round in a chair stroking a white cat moment. Han and Chewbacca would have loved a kitten aboard the Millennium Falcon. And Yoda, living all alone until Luke comes to visit? Perfect candidate for an elderly cat in need of a home.

It could have been so magical.

We’re not suggesting cats should be added into any of the new movies, obviously.… Read the full story

11 of the best modern sci-fi authors to read this Science Fiction Day

January 2, 2016, 1:00 am

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Science fiction is having a moment.

Posters for Amazon’s serialisation of Philip K Dick’s Man In The High Castle have shocked and confused public transport users worldwide, while the hype around Ben Wheatley’s highly-anticipated adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise, out in March, is reaching fever pitch.

There’s a battered copy of A Clockwork Orange littering every teenage boy’s bedroom, and Aldous Huxley and Kurt Vonnegut are just a few of many iconic names to have reached literary classic status.

But science fiction didn’t die with H.G. Wells. If you don’t know your Brandon Sanderson from your Brian Staveley, here are 11 authors you might be missing out on.

1. Lauren Beukes

Beukes’ award winning 2010 novel Zoo City was critically acclaimed, and the South African author didn’t disappoint with last year’s follow up Broken Monsters. In a city that represents the death of the American dream, a killer is on the loose.

It’s well worth a read, but if you don’t believe us, listen to Stephen… Read the full story

How people type laughter around the world

January 2, 2016, 1:00 am

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Laughter is universal, right?

Not so much.

While humour and sharing a laugh is something that can be experienced across cultures, distance, and language, the way we express laughter around the world is actually pretty different.

That’s right, not everyone has to face the ‘lol’ versus ‘hahaha’ debate (hahaha will always win, just saying).

Instead, those in Spain comment jajaja on their friend’s ridiculous profile picture, while in Thailand a good joke will be rewarded with a 55555. Here’s how people type laughter around the world, with information from Latinos Post.

UK and America:… Read the full story

25 ‘health’ foods ranked from tolerable to terrible

January 2, 2016, 2:00 am

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It’s the time of year when our thoughts turn to cutting down on sweets and carbs, trying new diets and attempting to lose weight.

Which usually means edging away from comforting favourites and trying things that are usually harder to chew and look and taste like something you scraped out from the guttering on your house.

Some of these horrors are worse than others.

Here’s 25 ‘health’ foods (the quote marks because no food is healthy per se, only as part of a balanced diet) ranked from tolerable to terrible.

25. Avocado

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