Wednesday, 18 November 2009

World Hunger and World "Leaders"


Well, the G8 leaders have bottled it once again. Ban Ki-Moon and Jaques Diouf of the UN have been addressing the World food summit and of all people, only Silvio Berlusconi of the G8 leaders have actually turned up to see what was going on. Do you suppose he got lost? Well, that's rather unfair, actually; the man has actually done something commendable for a change.

The former UN head, Kofi Annan criticised the G8 leaders most vociferously. And Ban Ki-Moon and Diouf actually took part in a Even the Pope got involved. Incidentally, that website is called "TOTALCATHOLIC.COM" - surely the next step in Action Movies? 'His name was Tony. He had a mission. He was a TOTAL CATHOLIC.'

What can we, as poor, simple folk do? Well, in the west we could try switching to a vegetarian diet, after all the production of cattle, fowl and other meaty products is actually really inefficient way of getting food down our necks. We could try to switch off the odd light here and there to reduce energy consumption (and indirectly reduce climate change). That's all a matter of personal choice, of course, and I would hate to be the one to force anyone to make that choice. While I am vegetarian, I do forget to switch the odd thing off (if you do read this, you might argue that I should have switched my computer off. Ha bleedin' ha.) What we can all do though is to visit http://www.1billionhungry.org/ and give it a click. Listen to what Diouf has to say in his video. Sign the petition. Perhaps something will be done.

Monday, 9 November 2009

Super!

Sorry it's been so long. I've been busy writing a review about smoking and the myocardium which may or may not get accepted some time next year. Plus the wonky shoulder and codeine have ganged up on me and caused me to dribble like a baby for various reasons. However, I'm doing a little better now and feel up to ranting for a bit here.

And what a rant it is, too, even if I say so myself. First of all came the Trafigura / Carter-Ruck thing, which really got my goat. In case you've been living under a rock, this was where Paul Farrelly MP asked a question in the House Of Commons, Trafigura found out about it and called in Carter-Ruck to take out a super-injunction against the press to prevent even a mention of a question being asked.

Needless to say, once the general public got wind of this (through Private Eye and Wikileaks, among others) Carter-Ruck and Trafigura quietly withdrew their injunction and denied any attempt to prevent freedom of speech.

But then another story in the Eye caught my attention. Now, I've linked to the Simon Singh affair before in this blog but briefly, said protagonist suggested that the Chiropractic Association's claim that chiropractor's practices were little more than quackery (my words). Specifically, Singh suggested that they promoted "bogus" treatments. The response was a slap from Justice Eady and a libel award in favour of the CA. Lord Justice Laws has since allowed Singh to appeal, but such is the WHOLLY BLOODY STUPID nature of the UK's libel laws that even if Singh appeals he will be tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket.

In a similar case, one Dr Peter Wilmshurst has also been given a legal kicking regarding his gentle query as to NMT's cardiac procedure (thanks, Dr Aubrey Blumsohn).Yet more cases seem to be popping up daily.

Now that David Nutt has been given the chop by the UK government for stating a few well-researched points about legal and illegal recreational drugs one can't help but feel that science is being stifled in the UK. No longer can we trust to fact: should a statement of fact be disputed purely as a matter of opinion as seems to be the case with many of these legal wranglings, how long before we revert to the dark ages and place our faith with priests, imams and witchdoctors? A tad extreme, perhaps? I'm not so sure these days.

Friday, 16 October 2009

Codeine and crunchy shoulder

Yet another tumble on the bike. Wouldn't you know it...

This is my affliction, and I've been given a bucket full of painkillers to help me rest it.

As a result typing is a very long and laborious process - it's my right shoulder, see? - so it's taken me, oh, 6 hours to write this.

Also in the news: Wikileaks helps give Carter Ruck and Trafigura a bit of a media beating. Nobody likes to see that.

Wednesday, 7 October 2009

"I pinch..."

Another well-worn path, featuring a delicious crustacean.

This one's a 50-year old lobster, weighing 3.7kg and 75cm long. Holy crap, you wouldn't want to mess with one of these without help. Or rubber bands.

And the picture? It's not the Big Lobster in New Zealand I don't think. I've seen the real one, and had a photo taken of me with it, but I can't find the pic. Yeah, yeah. I know, pics or STFU.

"We were just talking about that..."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/oct/07/saturn-ring-nasa

So where the hell did THAT one come from? How did we not see it before? I mean, it's blimmin' massive!

Thursday, 1 October 2009

WTF is that? Part 2

Lunch is a jolly affair normally... plenty of banter with colleagues, the odd food fight, complaints about the canteen... But usually pretty harmless.

So today I was asked to peel an orange by one colleague (the duty normally falls to someone else but he's away in Manchester today, obviously 'avin' it large) and I grudgingly acquiesced. Taking the aforementioned fruit I dug my well-bitten nails in and got peeling.

I noted that it was a bit squishy, had it been lying around for a while? Yes indeed, for a couple of weeks, no less. OK, sayeth I, just be aware that it might not be all that nice.
I became aware that the little ball of citrussy delight was coming apart in my hands. I looked down and saw...

WTF is that?????? SERIOUSLY?


I'm guessing it's a kind of tumour. There were no signs of any insects or anything, although a fungal infection could be possible. I don't have access to microbial culture facilities but whatever it is, it's VERRRYY INNNTERRRESSSSTING!!!!

WTF is that? Part 1

I meant to post this rather interesting thing about geckos and the incredible detaching tail some time ago but never got around to it. Reminded me of snakes, in that if you decapitate one the head retains a biting reflex for a while, and the main body can still lunge. A former colleague of mine and I used to joke about getting hit by a bloody stump... Instead, today my attention was drawn to this rather jolly article on Wikipedia: WTF is that? Seriously?

Seems like the sort of thing you'd find from the stories of HP Lovecraft. If you find a match with any of those creatures, let me know!