LONDON (Reuters) – His booming voice fell silent for tube travelers, but London Mayor Boris Johnson was clinging on in the limelight on Wednesday as he got stuck on a zip wire at an Olympic party.

The portly, helmeted mayor was pictured in his trademark black suit and shoes, holding two Union Jack flags and calling for a ladder in the drizzle as he dangled from the high-wire attraction favored by school children in London’s Victoria Park, where the Games are being shown on big screens.

LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) – His booming voice fell silent for
tube travellers, but London Mayor Boris Johnson was clinging on
in the limelight on Wednesday as he got stuck on a zip wire at
an Olympic party.

The portly, helmeted mayor was pictured in his trademark
black suit and shoes, holding two Union Jack flags and calling
for a ladder in the drizzle as he dangled from the high-wire
attraction favoured by school children in London’s Victoria
Park, where the Games are being shown on big screens.

EXETER, England (Reuters) – He sits in a dimly lit office at a desk like any other, a spider plant at his shoulder, facing a pair of computer screens. Trim in navy tie, the sandy-haired Englishman has a contained air as he assesses chances that could make or break sporting careers.

Studying his screen, he smiles briefly. “High pressure coming.”

Andy Page has the English gift of understatement. The lead weather forecaster for the London Olympics, he’s the man in charge of predicting conditions for key events from the 100 metres to the archery.

EXETER, England (Reuters) – He sits in a dimly lit office at a desk like any other, a spider plant at his shoulder, facing a pair of computer screens. Trim in navy tie, the sandy-haired Englishman has a contained air as he assesses chances that could make or break sporting careers.

Studying his screen, he smiles briefly. “High pressure coming.”

Andy Page has the English gift of understatement. The lead weather forecaster for the London Olympics, he’s the man in charge of predicting conditions for key events from the 100 meters to the archery.

EXETER, England, July 25 (Reuters) – He sits in a dimly lit
office at a desk like any other, a spider plant at his shoulder,
facing a pair of computer screens. Trim in navy tie, the
sandy-haired Englishman has a contained air as he assesses
chances that could make or break sporting careers.

Studying his screen, he smiles briefly. “High pressure
coming.”

Andy Page has the English gift of understatement. The lead
weather forecaster for the London Olympics, he’s the man in
charge of predicting conditions for key events from the 100
metres to the archery.

LONDON (Reuters) – As economics teachers struggle to make sense of a post-crisis world, they may have an unlikely army of helpers: ants.

In September 2008, the same month that Lehman Brothers collapsed, the Argentinian ants became the unwitting stars of a German television show that set out to illustrate collective efficiency. To the frustration of the show’s producers, the insects ended up showing how easily rational expectations can go awry.

LONDON (Reuters) – As economics teachers struggle to make sense of a post-crisis world, they may have an unlikely army of helpers: ants.

In September 2008, the same month that Lehman Brothers collapsed, the Argentinian ants became the unwitting stars of a German television show that set out to illustrate collective efficiency. To the frustration of the show’s producers, the insects ended up showing how easily rational expectations can go awry.

LONDON (Reuters) – Not far from the Olympic Park, a pub called The Grapes leans over the River Thames like “a faint-hearted diver who has paused so long on the brink that he will never go in at all.”

It is hardly the image of sporting prowess but the place, conjured by Charles Dickens, underpins important historical context for the 2012 Games and a reality that endures.

LONDON, May 29 (Reuters) – Not far from the Olympic Park, a
pub called The Grapes leans over the River Thames like “a
faint-hearted diver who has paused so long on the brink that he
will never go in at all.”

It is hardly the image of sporting prowess but the place,
conjured by Charles Dickens, underpins important historical
context for the 2012 Games and a reality that endures.

LONDON (Reuters) – At the start of the 20th century, inventors Thomas Alva Edison and Nikola Tesla clashed in the “war of the currents.” To highlight the dangers of his rival’s system, Edison even electrocuted an elephant. The animal died in vain; it was Tesla’s system and not Edison’s that took off. But today, helped by technological advances and the need to conserve energy, Edison may finally get his revenge.

The American inventor, who made the incandescent light bulb viable for the mass market, also built the world’s first electrical distribution system, in New York, using “direct current” electricity. DC’s disadvantage was that it couldn’t carry power beyond a few blocks. His Serbian-born rival Tesla, who at one stage worked with Edison, figured out how to send “alternating current” through transformers to enable it to step up the voltage for transmission over longer distances.