Businessman makes £6k a MONTH launching firm which sends POTATOES in the post

His girlfriend called it "the stupidest idea" she'd ever heard of, but this young Texas entrepreneur claims demand is soaring for potatoes scribbled on.

The Grannies Who Had Never Seen The Sea

By Alison Gee

BBC News Magazine
A group of elderly women from a village in the Italian Alps have returned home after their first holiday - which for most of them was the first time they had seen the sea, let alone put a toe in it.

Many of the women, as the Magazine reportedearlier this month, had never left the valley surrounding their village, Daone, until they set off on the 12-hour coach trip to the Croatian island of Ugljan.

"They were like little kids in a way, they were very emotional. They sang during all the trip," says Davide Valentini, who went along as part of a team making a documentary about the women.

"They played in the water and some of them, the most brave, literally jumped in the sea so it was a pretty intense emotion."

"As I saw the sea, the first thing I wanted to do was to put my foot in the water," says Iolanda Pellizzari, who at 73 was one of the youngest on the trip. "I'm not able to swim, but I felt a great sense of liberation."

"Despite the infirmities of age, swollen legs and the great heat, we will never forget the thrill of getting all together in the sea, holding hands," says Armida Brisaghella.

But what made the biggest impression on the women was a procession to celebrate the Madonna of the Snow.

The group chose Ugljan as a destination because the island has the Madonna of the Snow as its patron saint, just like their own village of Daone. On 5 August the islanders decorated a statue of the Madonna and took it by boat from one church to another.

"Taking part in the procession of the Madonna of the Snow and singing our hymn on the boat has been the strongest emotion I've ever experienced, after giving birth. I will never forget it," says Erminia Losa.

But although the funne, as they call themselves - the word for women in their local dialect - were treated like celebrities, not everything went smoothly.

"Sometimes they had issues with the food because they are not used to fish," says Valentini. "The Croatians wanted them to try all their beautiful fish so we had some problems."

Fortunately the women were prepared. "They had some polenta in their bags," Valentini reveals.

Many of the women had dreamed about a trip to the sea for years, but had never been able to afford it. An attempt to raise money by posing for a calendar came to nothing. In the end they resorted to crowd-funding - but were determined to send postcards to all their sponsors.

"It took us almost one entire day to personally write all the postcards," says Armida Brisaghella. "But every one of them deserved that. They made our dream possible and we are all extremely touched by the reaction of people." They sent nearly 200 postcards in all.

"One special postcard is the one they sent to the Pope," says Valentini. "When the whole crowd-funding thing happened they were called by Vatican Radio and they promised to send a postcard, so the very first one they wrote is the one to Pope Francis."

If they get invited to the Vatican next, the film will be called Funne 2, he jokes.

Reaction to the women in the world's media has been overwhelmingly positive, Valentini says, and a great help to the women in answering critics at home.

"People saw a story of hope and strength but what happened in their small village is the opposite, because these women are considered rebels so they needed to have the accomplishment of their mission to be recognised."

Katia Bernardi's documentaryFunne - sea dreaming girlswill be released at the start of 2016.

Incredible Photo Captures The 'Dark Side' Of The Moon

It's a regular celestial event witnessed from an entirely different perspective, and it sure is mesmerizing. 

Last month, the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) captured a series of test photos with its Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera. From its lofty perch 1 million miles from Earth, EPIC looked on as the moon transited our planet: 

In a Wednesday release accompanying the image, NASA notes that humans had never seen the far side of the moon (often called the "dark side," though it gets plenty of sunlight) until 1959, when the Soviet Luna 3 captured the first-ever images.

Eagle-eyed readers might notice a faint green outline on the right side of the moon above, which NASA explains has to do with the way EPIC processes photos:

EPIC takes a series of 10 images using different narrowband spectral filters -- from ultraviolet to near infrared -- to produce a variety of science products. The red, green and blue channel images are used in these color images.

Combining three images taken about 30 seconds apart as the moon moves produces a slight but noticeable camera artifact on the right side of the moon. Because the moon has moved in relation to the Earth between the time the first (red) and last (green) exposures were made, a thin green offset appears on the right side of the moon when the three exposures are combined. This natural lunar movement also produces a slight red and blue offset on the left side of the moon in these unaltered images.

The space agency also produced this gif of the event, which EPIC will be capturing twice a year:

DSCOVR's primary mission is to monitor solar winds in real time, though instruments onboard are also capturing data from Earth to be used in measuring ozone and aerosol levels, cloud height, vegetation properties and the ultraviolet reflectivity of the planet.

"This first DSCOVR image of our planet demonstrates the unique and important benefits of Earth observation from space," NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said in the release.

"As a former astronaut who's been privileged to view the Earth from orbit," Bolden said, "I want everyone to be able to see and appreciate our planet as an integrated, interacting system. DSCOVR's observations of Earth, as well as its measurements and early warnings of space weather events caused by the sun, will help every person to monitor the ever-changing Earth, and to understand how our planet fits into its neighborhood in the solar system."

MH370: Reunion debris is from missing plane, says Najib

Part of the aircraft wing found on Reunion Island is from the missing MH370 plane, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has confirmed.

Mr Najib said experts examining the debris in France had "conclusively confirmed" it was from the aircraft.

But the investigators have stopped short of confirming the link, saying only that it is highly likely.

The Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 239 people veered off course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014.

The debris was found on the remote French Indian Ocean island a week ago and was taken to Toulouse for testing.

The plane is long believed to have crashed into the southern Indian Ocean after veering off course - though no evidence had been found despite a massive search operation