Getting sweaty

I was thinking the other day - how is it that your skin is waterproof, which is obviously very ueful when you take a shower for example, but sweat can get out? Is it just me that finds that somewhat odd?

Also, how come when you open your eyes underwater your head doesn't flood from water coming in through your tear ducts? Or through your ears?

It's all very strange.

This needs some thought, and maybe some investigation on wikipedia.

My IT department are bastards

I got in to work last Friday to discover Facebook has been blocked at work.  I'm distraught.  I don't have the internet at home (long story) so I'm now restricted to using Facebook mobile, which is fine for checking who's poked you and for sending / recieving messages but that's about the limit.

 

I've just discovered they've also blocked blogger.com, which is inconvenient, although not the end of the world (the fact I'm posting this and am at work is evidence that they can't shut me up!).

 

It's so pathetic - they've made us all redundant so we're basically just working out our notice, and now we've got nothing to keep us occupied in any slack time / breaks - there's only so much enjoyment to be had from flicking rubber bands at people making coffee in the little kitchen across from my desk.

 

I can obviously understand why they do it, but that's not the point. 

 

Anyway, I need other things to do.  So far I've come up with:

 

• Sculpting things out of blu-tack, or, in the absence of blu-tack, bogies.
• Forwarding my phone to the emergency phone in the lift for shits and giggles
• Writing blog posts
• Thinking up ways to kill the IT department (I'm thinking goat poison in their tea)

Notice how none of the things to do involve work?  :o)

Toast

So, toast. I can't believe I've been doing this for nearly two years and haven't dedicated a post to toast already.

Toast is, of course, amazing. I could quite happily live on toast with peanut butter (and tea or milkshake), although I'm not sure how healthy that would be.

Most people think toast is a relatively new idea, but it has in fact been around almost as long as man. It's steeped in history is toast, and in fact has been pivotal in some of the most important moments in history to date.

Many people believe Marie Antoinette, Queen consort to Louis XVI, once said "let them eat cake" in response to news that there was no bread for the poor to eat. This is, in fact, erroneous - there was in fact a cake shortage, and the actual response was "let them eat toast".

Toast is also key in the history of Nazi Germany. "The night of the long knives" in 1934 is a somewhat misleading name for the assasination of the SA on Hitler's orders. Although it is true that around 85 people were murdered, the event should really be called "The night of the burnt toast", as it was burnt toast that enraged Hitler so much that he deemed the slaughter of Kohl's SA necessary.

I could give other examples but we'd be here all day.

Nowadays of course, toast generally appears in popular culture as opposed to mass murders (although I'm sure Harold Shipman liked the odd round of toast), generally in comedy (Red Dwarf, Peter Kay etc.). Even so it doesn't seem to get the recognition it deserves. Which is sad. Next time you're enjoying toast, remember how special that bit of warm bread is.

I'm off for some toast....

Leaving, on a jet plane

I have no problem with flying, other than the food and the lack of stuff to do on a long flight, natch. It's a perfectly safe way of travelling.

Obviously things do go wrong occasionally, and I'm sure we're all familiar with the standard crash position of head between your legs. Most people think tht the crash position is supposed to stop you coming to harm, but that's not actually the case. Apparently (and I have no reason not to believe this is true) the position is designed to protect your jaw so your body can be identified by your dental records. Which is nice. It's definitely something to talk about next time you get stuck next to a nervous flyer on a long-haul flight.