Man used electric underpants 'to fake heart attack'

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Man used electric underpants 'to fake heart attack'
You couldn't make this up, could you? One of the best headlines I've read for years.

Eye Witness Manchester

EWM: Letter from Manchester
Further to yesterday's post about Manchester in art, this site is absolutely the best place to go for images of contemporary Manchester. Aidan O'Rourke (who also features in the Urbis centre) has done a great job of documenting the ever changing face of the city. To see how it was, take a look at the archives at the Local Image Collection It was browsing through there that I came across an image of my great uncle outside the family greengrocer's on Rochdale Road. I spent a good deal of my formative years here. All demolished now, of course.

Picture of Manchester: gallery

BBC - Manchester - In pictures - Picture of Manchester: gallery
This intrigued me, as a Mancunian. I'm not sure I'm completely won over by these paintings, but they certainly beat the inexplicably lauded Lowry, and offer a more contemporary view of Manchester than the Victorian visions of Pierre Adolphe Valette, e.g. this one

Salgado's Antarctica

Guardian Unlimited | Arts special reports | Salgado Antarctica 1
It really is an extraordinary planet (compared to what? I hear you ask) - look at these photos to prove it. The elephant seal looks disconcertingly like me in the morning.