other stuff | writing notes

Getting off the floor

If you are sitting down and reading this then be happy! This Christmas I received an unusual and unwanted present in the form of a herniated disk – put basically the softer gooey stuff between the bones of your spine peeks out and gets squished and presses on a nerve. This causes a painful condition that sends pain down my right leg and the sole my right foot feels like it is asleep.

The worst thing is the inability to sit and work, thankfully going to yoga has helped but most of the time the only way I could work was by lying on the floor with my laptop in front of me. After half an hour in this position (which is not great for writing) my neck is killing me. Anyway, I have ended up being massively delayed (even by my standards) which in turn has knocked me metaphorically to the floor.

So when I today thankfully got sent away the second of my two major texts I was working with and feel like I can get of the floor for a while. My back is still not good but sitting is possible and only a bit painful and I am now looking ahead at the projects I had planned to start in 2009.

Also I am returning (slowly) to the running which I have not done since Christmas. In 101 days I will be running the local half marathod – let the countdown begin

Posted on February 3, 2009 by mklang

Losing the apostrophe

Birmingham (England’s second-largest city) has decided to drop apostrophes from all its street signs, saying they’re confusing and old-fashioned.

Naturally, not everyone is happy with these changes Yahoo News reports that Marie Clair of the Plain English Society says about the apostrophe “They are such sweet-looking things that play a crucial role in the English language … It’s always worth taking the effort to understand them, instead of ignoring them.” In the same article Lynne Truss the author of the brilliant and funny book “Eats, Shoots and Leaves,” is quoted as saying “Those spineless types who talk about abolishing the apostrophe are missing the point, and the pun is very much intended,” (but this was not about the council decision in Birmingham)

The BBC reports that John Richards, the founder and chairman of the Apostrophe Protection Society, said: “It seems retrograde, dumbing down really.”

Ah, the importance of little things…

Posted on February 1, 2009 by mklang

Scientific Humor: Cello Scrotum

In 1974 Elaine Murphy reported the condition that came to be known as “Cello Scrotum” to the British Medical Journal. The condition was supposed to be occur among cellists and was a painful complaint caused by their instrument repeatedly rubbing against their body. Well over 30 years later the originator admits that the condition was a just a hoax. BBC writes:

“Anyone who has ever watched a cello being played would realise the physical impossibility of our claim. “Somewhat to our astonishment, the letter was published.”

Baroness Murphy, formerly a professor at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London, did not sign the 1974 letter herself, fearing that she might get into trouble. Her husband John, now chairman of a Suffolk brewery, signed it instead.

The reason for coming clean according to the Baroness was when the hoax was included again in the 2008 Christmas edition of the BMJ. Even though making up science is serious I just can’t stop smiling at this which feels more like a prank than the scientific fraud it is. It also goes to show that even well established journals are not to be trusted.

Rubbing the cello against the body causes “cello scrotum”? It makes you wonder how the editors of the BMJ thought the cello was played – or did they think it was something that cellists did after hours?

Cellist by St Stev (CC by-nc-nd)

Posted on January 29, 2009 by mklang

From the public relations department

Dear World:

We, the United States of America, your top quality supplier of ideals of democracy, would like to apologize for our 2001-2008 interruption in service. The technical fault that led to this eight-year service outage has been located, and the software responsible was replaced November 4. Early tests of the newly installed program indicate that we are now operating correctly, and we expect it to be fully functional on January 20. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the outage. We look forward to resuming full service and hope to improve in years to come. We thank you for your patience and understanding,

Sincerely,
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(via Art Threat)

Posted on January 22, 2009 by mklang

Big Currency

Zimbabwe’s central bank has introduced a new 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar note. That’s one note for one hundred million million or 100 000 000 000 000 which is about 300 US dollars (ZimOnline). The level of inflation is mind boggling – how do you keep up in situations such as these?

Inflation in Zimbabwe is officially estimated at 231 million percent as of last July but which independent analysts say could be anything in the trillions.

Posted on January 16, 2009 by mklang

Was Tintin gay?

What causes controversy? Well I was surprised to find out that Matthew Parris’ article Of course Tintin’s gay. Ask Snowy in The Times has caused a bit of a stir. Perry begins his article

A callow, androgynous blonde-quiffed youth in funny trousers and a scarf moving into the country mansion of his best friend, a middle-aged sailor? A sweet-faced lad devoted to a fluffy white toy terrier, whose other closest pals are an inseparable couple of detectives in bowler hats, and whose only serious female friend is an opera diva…

. . . And you’re telling me Tintin isn’t gay?

The wonderful part is that this has actually upset some people! A spokesperson for the Studio Herge is quoted in The Sun: “Just because there is an absence of women does not mean that Tintin was gay. “When the comic strip was created, women rarely featured in any stories of that time in the 40s and 50s. “Tintin is not at all gay – he was very macho in fact. He has many friends who are boys but they are not boyfriends.”

In the comments section of the Times article there are lots of people who seem genuinely upset over the thought of this sexual orientation in a cartoon character. The real response should be: Who cares! but I must admit I did enjoy reading the annoyed responses to the article. It’s amazing what people have the energy to get worked up about. Tintin is fiction, daubs of ink, enjoyable reading no matter what his sexuality.

Posted on January 13, 2009 by mklang

Pass the pills

So a couple of days ago I complained about having a cold but just to make sure that I know how lucky I was I now get to complain about a real problem. I have developed sciatic nerv pain. I cannot walk, sit, lie down or do almost anything without feeling pain.

photo: pills by rover.- (CC by-nc-sa)

The good news is that I have dropped all my earlier principles towards medications and taken a nice little coctail of drugs to ease the pain. It’s not gone but at least it is manageable. Don’t feel up to working, just lieing down in different painful positions.

Posted on January 3, 2009 by mklang

Farting cows and poisonous concrete

The hole in the ozone is blamed upon lots of factors, my favourite is blaming it on cow farts! Lots of long explanations about how methane gas from cows causes greenhouse gases seems to make us forget that we are the ones responsible for the massive cow population so therefore damage caused by cow farts is our fault.

What I did not know, and the Guardian made me aware of, was the fact that concrete is very hazardous to the ozone: “Making the 2bn tonnes of cement used globally every year pumps out 5% of the world’s CO2 emissions – more than the entire aviation industry.”

Engineers have now devised a concrete which reverses the process. The Guardian:

Novacem’s cement, based on magnesium silicates, not only requires much less heating, it also absorbs large amounts of CO2 as it hardens, making it carbon negative.

Very cool stuff. But what are the negative effects of this evolutionary step in concrete?

Posted on January 2, 2009 by mklang

Err wait, that can't be right

Media Culpa reports a fantastic blooper from Swedish Radio (SR) when they reported the death of Nobel Prize laureate Harold Pinter on Christmas Day. The reporter managed to confuse the name Harold Pinter and turn it into Harry Potter.

“The British writer and dramatist Harry Potter is dead, it was announced today. Potter received the Nobel Prize in literature in 2005. He wrote about 30 plays and more than 20 screenplays. He was 78 years old.”

Listen to the news item during the 00.00 broadcast, Dec 26 (at the very bottom of the page). Download in mp3 format also available. The piece about Pinter/Potter starts at 1.26 minutes.

Posted on December 31, 2008 by mklang