No, not in this belly button.

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From the fluffy edge of scientific research I can tell you that the belly button above will be fluff repellent. Consider the following research abstract:

"Hard facts on a soft matter! ... The hypothesis presented herein says that abdominal hair is mainly responsible for the accumulation of navel lint, which, therefore, this is a typically male phenomenon.

The abdominal hair collects fibers from cotton shirts and directs them into the navel where they are compacted to a felt-like matter. The most abundant individual mass of a piece of lint was found to be between 1.20 and 1.29 mg (n=503). However, due to several much larger pieces, the average mass was 1.82 mg in this three year study. When the abdominal hair is shaved, no more lint is collected. "

From the materials and methods: "The author first observed the accumulation of navel fluff in his early 20s. Despite thorough body hygiene including a daily morning shower, the navel filled with lint over the day. The author collected 503 pieces of navel fluff since approximately March 2005 with a total weight of almost 1 g... ...In order to investigate the role of the abdominal hair, the author also shaved his belly for this study."

Med Hypotheses. 2009 Jun;72(6):623-5. Epub 2009 Feb 23.
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Why bother?

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Been getting a bit of spam happening of late so I have put on limited moderation; it cuts in once a post is over three days old. Most of my 'regulars' have commented by then so it should be little inconvenience. Hope that's the case.

But what do they hope to gain spamming in Chinese (?) to a site clearly frequented by people who can read English?

Beats me.
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Hybrid thoughts

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Chairman Bill was asking about the hybrid and whether it really saves fuel.

Hard to tell because my 'normal' cars never gave me mileage details and I was too disinterested to figure it out.

The daily run for the car is only about 10km each way to work. Abt 6miles. And I have found that that is not really enough to get full benefit as petrol engines use less fuel once they warm up. It tends to run out at 7.2 litre/100km (abt 39 miles to the imperial gallon, 32 miles to the US gallon.) On a longer freeway sort of run it is down at about 5.5 litre/100km (51/42).

It doesn't use the engine to charge the battery. When the car is coasting, down hill say, the charger hops in a little and it participates strongly when braking. Acts as a type of engine brake.

The electric motor assists during acceleration.

The wierdest thing is that the engine stops when you do. Stop at the lights and the engine turns off; when you take your foot off the brake, it restarts and is up and running before you get to the accelerator. I am assuming that it is the electric engine that powers this start up.

The engine shut down is OK at the lights. It is wierd when you are waiting to turn against on-coming traffic. There you are in the middle of the intersection, waiting to turn, and your engine turns off! An act of faith that it will start and get you oput of there!

Has so far.
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Colour co-ordinated

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My new-ish car. Five weeks old.

A jeans blue, green-ish car. The Honda Civic Hybrid.

Does it save the planet? Probably not.

But if you have to drive something, you could do worse.
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Lost for words

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Embiggen?

Have I missed the arrival of a new word in the language?
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I am here!

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Life goes on, gainfully employed and all.

It is an interesting job, getting some order into a lab. But the people above me are supportive and the people below are appreciative so it is almost as good as it gets. That's not to say taht there aren't problems but we are getting there.

I have to do a telephone conference later in the week with our French masters regarding the way forward for chemistry, which should be interesting. Much prefer to deliver it in person but a week in Paris would wreck the budget, I fear.

In the mean time:

1. Simon turned 21 and duly partied to celebrate the event. Now there are no 'children' at home. Ha!

2. The garden is in winter slumber but the bulbs are sneaking up. Spring is just a month away.
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Bipolar Bear

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A sobering thought

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I loved the space race. For all the reasons young boys love adventure. It was a great quest, brilliantly achieved.

It seems like only last week that I walk home from high school to watch the landing on TV.

WWII, on the other hand, seems long long ago.

Yet I was born closer to WWII than my boys were born to the moon landing.

I wonder how they view it?
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Recipe Malfunctions I & II

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Yeah, I know. But...

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Yeah, yeah, I know. I have been mislead by the scientists who should know better. I should not have tried to apply logic to God's great plan. I should fall to the feet of Tom and Bartek and Avus and all those wise people who say we innocents are being hoodwinked by the climate change chorus.

But you can't avoid one fact...

This has been the driest start to the year here since records started to be kept.

I keep plugging away, pointing out the succession of new records being achieved here in Melbourne, as I can't help feeling, despite the wise and venerable panel of worthy gentlemen telling me otherwise, that if we keep hitting the dusty end of the superlative spectrum over and over again then, perhaps, something is really happening.

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Hliza in hospital...

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Many of you know Hliza from her wandering the world of blogs commenting and from her own delightful blog.

I have heard today that she is in hospital after a car accident.

The last post her sister put on Facebook 3 hrs ago said "waiting for my sis at operation room.she's ok,with some injuries. My mind cant stop thinking abt her kids."

Her sister's blog is here

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Ambushed by the obvious...

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The saxophone was invented and patented over 160 years ago.

The various sources differ on the exact date but it was patented somewhere late June, 1846.

And you know what?

I had never occurred to me that the saxophone was invented by a Mr Sax.

Obvious when you know.
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Some Rural Thoughts

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Always drink upstream from the herd.

Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.

Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled.

Meanness don't jes' happen overnight.

Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads.

Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.

It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.

You cannot unsay a cruel word.

Every path has a few puddles.

When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

The best sermons are lived, not preached.

Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway.

Don't judge folks by their relatives...

Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.

Don't interfere with somethin' that ain't bothering you none.

Timing has a lot to do with the success of a rain dance.

If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.

Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.

The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every morning.

Good judgment comes from experience.. and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.

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Mixture

Nothing very exciting happening as far as this blog is concerned.

Found a few posts for the other blogs (they are all pretty tame this week, have a look) but what to say here?

Life is going along OK, work is fine, the garden is dormant (well, it IS the winter solstice here), Martin's birthday this week, I have a new car (Honda Civic Hybrid), met up with a lady I hadn't seen for 30 years yesterday, various bugs about the place but no piglet flu, pasta is cooking for dinner.

That's it.

Hugs to the lot of you.
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Opportunists Rule!

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I tend not to read spam, so I may be late noticing this.

I have been getting Viagra stuff for ages (how did they know?) but is it just in this Swine Flu infected era that the purveyors of fine pharmaceuticals have added Tamiflu to their range?
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