Everyone always thinks of the tallest and the highest. But I was curious about what the deepest thing? Like the deepest mine, the deepest basement, the deepest bunker, the deepest building that the human have created. How about those? If you know can you tell it?

The deepest mine, Western Deep Levels Mine in South Africa. It goes 3.5 km under the surface. By comparison, the Taipei 101 skyscraper is the first to reach the half-kilometer point, so imagine 7 Taipei 101's underground.

The Kola Superdeep Borehole (KSDB) was the result of a scientific drilling project of the former USSR. The project attempted to drill as deep as possible into the Earth's crust. Drilling began on May 24, 1970 on the Kola Peninsula, using an "Uralmash- 4E" and later an "Uralmash-15000" drilling device. A number of boreholes were drilled by branching from a central hole. The deepest, SG-3, was completed in 1989, creating a hole 12,262 metres (7.6 mi) deep [1], the deepest hole ever made by humans.
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The deepest oil wells that which is known are drilled to about 6km, say 20,000ft. Most normal oil wells are drilled to about 3000 to 5000 metres -10,000 to 16,000 ft.

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Canada is more than 2km underground. Its not the deepest structure mentioned here but the website http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/public/sno2.html has some good stuff on how it was constructed and how to build deep underground etc - you have to scroll down a bit to find the construction details. The laboratory is used to search for dark matter.

Can you beat these examples - please email me using the link at the bottom of this newletter.

Fathers will be allowed to take six months' paid paternity leave instead of mothers under new Government proposals. The law will not come into effect until maternity cover is extended to 12 months, which will happen in April 2009 at the earliest.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has opened a consultation on its plans to extend maternity leave and to make it more flexible.

"We know that people want greater flexibility to better juggle their work and family life and that fathers increasingly want to play a bigger part in the upbringing of their children," said Jim Fitzpatrick, Employment Relations Minister at the DTI.

Maternity leave was extended in April from six to nine months, and the Government has said that it wants to extend that to 12 months by the end of the current parliamentary term. Once that happens, the second six month period will be made available to either parent to take as leave.

"If a mother wants to return to work before her child's first birthday, the father will be able to take some, or all, of the second half of the child's first year as paid paternity leave," said Fitzpatrick. "For the first time ever, this will give parents the flexibility to divide a period of paid leave between them. Parents will be able to decide how to best balance work and family commitments."

The consultation process will ask employers and other interested parties whether or not parents should be able to self-certify as eligible for the leave, or whether business and Government should operate a certification scheme.

The DTI document says that self certification "would keep the process straightforward for businesses," but that "checklists and new official forms would provide employers with the confidence to administer the scheme effectively and employees to participate in it".

Fathers will be able to take up to 26 weeks of paternity leave as long as the first 26 weeks were taken by the mother of a child and as long as the mother has returned to work.

The DTI said that though it uses the term 'fathers', it intended the proposals to apply to partners of a child's mother, civil partners of mothers and adopting couples.

The DTI wants to introduce the fathers' rights to leave at the same time as it extends leave to 12 months, it said. Though the earliest date that this could happen is April 2009, it said that this was not a deadline or a firm proposal for a start date for the changes

As recruiters, and on behalf of our clients, we are extremly aware of the changing aspirations and motivations of our more senior candidates as their life and job priorities begin to change.

According to research by Norwich Union, look out for an increase in the number of resignations by British workers in their 40's as they chase fulfilment. It has found that 66% of people are "unfulfilled", "miserable" or "drifting" in their jobs, and 52% claim they would happily earn less money in a role that made them feel better about themselves, with the North East, the North West and Scotland having the highest proportion of dissatisfied workers.

It says that people start planning for their second careers typically around the age of 36 and found that financial commitments (66%), lack of training/qualifications (34%) and also fear of failure (25%) restricts workers from moving into compassionate careers now. Animal welfare worker, counsellor, yoga teacher, gardener, artist and politician feature on the list of compassionate careers being planned.

William Nelson, of trend analysts, The Future Foundation, says: "Rising affluence and high employment levels mean most of us now feel pretty secure in providing for our basic needs, especially once we are established in careers and the housing market. The ethical and spiritual dimensions of work therefore are more of a priority, and people want to believe their careers contribute towards a better future - not just for themselves but for society as a whole."

The survey found the trend, being labelled "Zenployment", has led to 28% of people to call on their current employers to provide them with the opportunity to do unrelated charity, or pro bono work in their field.

osteoblast: (noun) A cell from which bone develops

Synonyms: bone-forming cell

Usage: The science fiction novel told of a scientist who grew an entire skeleton out of osteoblasts.

www.mysuper market.co.uk - If you haven't time to get out and do your weekly shop you can do it online - and make sure you get the best prices.

www.freecycle.org - A wonderful example of how the web works for communities. In this one you exchange your unwanted goods for free.

BBC Sport - this site keeps me up to date with sports news - we also have a Sports feed on our website click here

"If you have a talent, use it in every which way possible. Don't hoard it. Don't dole it out like a miser. Spend it lavishly like a millionaire intent on going broke."

Bernard Francis (b.1931)