I just heard today, some sad news…

“AFTER three years of hectic full-time work on Neighbours, Caitlin Stasey is to be a “normal 18-year-old” again.

The Ramsay St darling has made the life-changing decision to finish her contract early so she can return to school and complete year 12.

She will film her last scene as Rachel Kinski next month, after three years on the show.”

It’s not gonna be the same without her in the show, I’m glad I went to Melbourne when I did, and got a wee wave from her…

So the place in the photo below is opening on Saturday… I’m sure some of you will recognise it from this photo…

for those of you who dont have a baldy what I am talking about, its the Apple Store, in Victoria Square, Belfast. It’s Northern Ireland’s first Apple Store, and there will be the chance on Saturday to win a new Macbook, and an iPod nano… I know some people who will probably be there, supersimbo? phil? alan?

Anyone else gonna be there?

I know pretty much everyone who is reading this will be aware of the soaring cost of living, with food costs going up, the price of fuel going through the roof. I heard on the news tonight that the average UK family’s food bills have risen by nearly 40% since this time last year. Its not just the UK that is suffering either, it’s a worldwide issue.

For the most of us this is merely an inconvenience, it means we have to spend more on food, and less on the little luxuries we like, but as with all problems of this nature its always the same, the poor are hit the hardest.

There a loads of people in the world who are living on about $1 a day, that’s 50p, that’s how much I spend on a can of Coca Cola. These people are being forced to spend 80% of that on food. Nearly all the families that Compassion International works with in Bangladesh are being affected by this, and as the crisis continues it grip gets tighter and tighter, on places like Haiti, where all the children that are involved with Compassion projects have been affected.

The crisis is being caused mainly by the soaring fuels costs, this combined with natural disasters destroying crops, and the higher demand for food from countries like India and China

You might be wondering why I am blogging about this, well I guess to help raise awareness of the issue on behalf of Compassion International, and to suggest a couple of things that we can do to help.

First of all, something that we all can do, Fast and Pray. Compassion have designated June 25th 2008, that’s next Wednesday, a day of prayer and fasting for those most adversely affected by the crisis. So please, whether it be praying for half an hour instead of heading to Subway for lunch, or fasting for a full day, please get on board with this. I fully intend to spend some time in prayer on June 25th, and will give up a least one meal to pray for those struggling.

For those of you with a little more expendable income, consider donating to Compassion’s Global Food Crisis Fund, your money will go to provide food vouchers for families, as well as seeds and farming tools, and nutritional services provide at Compassion centres worldwide, donate HERE

For some more reading…
http://www.compassion.com/sponsordonor/global-food-crisis/default.htm
http://blog.compassion.com/tag/global-food-crisis/

Ally just wrote a post about caffeine and claims made by Robbie Williams…  

Ally said in his post that apparently if you drink more than 6 cups of coffee a day it will reduce you risk of skin cancer. I also read this article yesterday, 

Apparently coffee reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease, and now it has been revealed that a daily dose of caffeine also cuts the risk of Dementia by protecting the Blood/Brain barrier from becoming leaky due to high cholesterol… fair enough the test was carried out on rabbits, but still… I like coffee and with these added benefits it seem like a good thing to be drinking….