Monday 6 January 2014

Entertainment stuff from the week 30/12/13 - 5/1/14

Hi new-year alcoholics,


Tesco supermarket seems committed to encourage healthy behaviours, by selling...

'Everyday Value Vodka 70Cl'
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=260987390

That's right. Just shove some in your spag bol, pour it over your cornflakes, and spice up your cup 'o tea. Squirt some "everyday" vodka in it!

Tesco, in line with other supermarkets, thereby demonstrates that there is zero necessity to be better at regulating the food and drink industry, and certainly zero cause to be better at regulating supermarkets.

After all, like your friendly GP says:

"A pint of vodka a day keeps the doctor away... if you throw it at them"

...or maybe Tesco's just shit at marketing, and this is an honest mistake?

Nah - only joking - with the amount of money they pour into marketing, this is highly unlikely to be an accident.

But let's go back to that expression:

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away"

Dr Steven Novella has written an article refuting quacks who condemn Skeptical Rationalists, such as himself, as Big Pharma shills, despite the obvious (except to themselves) irony - the Quackery industry is massively profitable, and Rationalists rarely profit by their adherence to evidence!
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/an-apple-a-day/

As an example, he compared statins to, quite literally, the practice of eating an apple a day. What would happen if everyone over 50 were offered a statin / ate an apple every day, for vascular ill-health, and 70% actually took it?

The evidence showed that taking a statin would save ~9400 (7000 to 12500) lives per year from vascular illness, and eating an apple would save ~8500 (6200 to 10800) lives per year from vascular illness.

That means eating an apple a day saves an equivalent number of lives from vascular illness, compared to taking a statin... but with much less serious side-effects.

In fact, the only noteable side-effects of eating an apple are tooth decay (from the acidic juices; solved by being assertive with tooth brushing, with toothpaste) and weight-gain through the high-calorie content of the sugars that are in fruit (go for another walk).

Yet again, the general advice for healthy living is this:

- Eat a well-rounded healthy diet
- Exercise regularly
- Get enough sleep
- Don’t smoke
- Use alcohol in moderation

And that advice hasn't changed for decades.

BTW, a vodka every day is not "moderation", Tesco PLC!


A spoiler alert now!

In the new Sherlock series - Sherlock undies :-P

So now you know...

Due to the plot of that episode, the BBC's Magazine Monitor has done an article about abandoned London Underground stations:

'The allure of abandoned Tube stations'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/72316040659/ghost-stations-of-the-london-underground-due-to

At least half a million people don't know how he didn't not die, however:
http://goldspandexleggings.tumblr.com/post/72136118113

You gotta watch it to the end, guys :-D


------------------------------------------------------ contemporary stuff

'ADAM BUXTON - YOUTUBE 2013 SONG (DIRECTOR'S CUT)'
Forget the YouTube Rewind video - this is the one you ought to watch :-D
http://youtu.be/6KUNFGF7mfM

Verification of the Benedict Cumberbatch neutron story. LOL
http://goldspandexleggings.tumblr.com/post/72265188914
Simon Pegg talked about this on Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre podcast. That's where i first heard it:
https://soundcloud.com/britishcomedyguide/richard-herring-lst-podcast-32-simon-pegg

'Levitación de objetos mediante intersección de ondas sonoras'
Want to see what acoustic tweezers can do? Yeah - pretty impressive stuff :)
http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/72263428747/levitacion-acustica

Only three items? Yeah - it's January - everyone in the Far Northisphere's hibernating :-D

Have some rhymes, instead:

While wanderin' through Sherwood Forest,
i bumped into one Friar Tuck;
said "i heard your name's a spoonerism".
that he used to be called Triar F... actually, let's try another one.

There once was a man dressed in orange,
Who went by the name of Stan Collins;
He was unfortunately built,
I mean, under his kilt;
His member was shaped like a syringe.

Simple Simon wore an iPod,
going to the fair;
said simple Simon to the pieman:
"what?"

In a house, on a hill, lives a hobbit,
least i think that's what he said he was to me;
he had spent all his time on a rocket,
and left me to work out the trajectory!

While pondering my favourite Science,
i thought "well, it's got to be Physics";
with Newton, and Einstein, and Krauss,
and the latter's penchant for Politics;
but i've got to consider Biology,
and the squidgy bits in all those animals;
and then there's my interest in Chemistry,
which comes between each in the annals...
of Science's great records of wonder and might,
of evidence and empiricism;
'scientility''s the name for truth-born delight,
and like Science, this poem'll take criticism...
i expect.

Well, you make a poem with the word 'empiricism' in it! :-P

While writing some of these, i got writer's block, and couldn't think of the right word for two weeks. Then i remembered it - 'fortnight'.

They might not be up to the standards of William Topaz McGonagall, but i hope they make someone smile :-)


------------------------------------------------------ of the weeks

Word Of The Week: dioecious - describing species that have distinct male and female sexes

Expression Of The Week: 'court of piepowders' -- 'piepowder' comes from french - 'pied poudreux', meaning 'dusty footed' - it referred to itinerant tradesmen, who bought and sold their wares at borough fares. the 'court of piepowders' was a borough organisation that existed to organise these fairs, settle disputes, and punish theft and violence. They had died out in the UK, by the end of the 19th century.

Etymology Of The Week: St Kilda -- an island of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The name does not come from that of a saint - there is no saint called Kilda, male or female. Leading hypotheses are that it was originally sunt kelda (sweet wellwater) or skildir (shields)

Fact Of The Week: The elements lutetium, hafnium, and holmium are named after Paris, Copenhagen, and Stockholm, respectively; the elements copper, ruthenium, thulium, and magnesium, are named after Cyprus, Russia, Norway, and the region Magnesia, in Greece, respectively.

------------------------------------------------------ non-contemporary stuff

'Roger Federer - Top 10 All-Time Tweeners (HD)'
I'm too short to play this shot. 65cm isn't enough :-(
http://youtu.be/9Le6vlSLuaM

'Andy Murray vs Roger Federer Australian Open 2013 Semi Final'
http://youtu.be/cynrv0ZgvNc


'The Fastest Tennis Shots (HD)'
http://youtu.be/F0ffr8HmkPk

'The Fastest Tennis Shots - 2nd Part (HQ)'

http://youtu.be/yk1SzTqRh7s

'The Fastest Tennis Shots in 2013 [HD]'
http://youtu.be/FLaqJdj5L4Y

'The Greatest ATP Points in Tennis [HD1080p]'
http://youtu.be/vZMl30LKFHc


'British Whale - This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us'
Here's an old favourite - and yes, that is Phil 'the power' Taylor - and yes, those two are Ron and Russell Mael, who did the original of this song :-D
http://youtu.be/Vs1nK6aiHW8

'British Whale - This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us (Making Of)'
http://youtu.be/s26EiFvColU


'Best Snookers in Snooker (Reedited)'
http://youtu.be/cZ81x-ytT3U

'Exhibition Shots'
http://youtu.be/IXZMJ4uSBu4

'Exhibition Shots 2'
http://youtu.be/U1O1TJWL-rU

'Perfect Swerve Technique'
http://youtu.be/Yuv6ne-vLuM

'Snooker Bloopers'
http://youtu.be/rO85r7nLQ9o

'Snooker Chuckles!'
http://youtu.be/ENeAVX6jvBM


'Rammstein - 03 - Rammlied (Rammin The Steins Remix by Devin Townsend)'
Loving this remix. So comic :D
http://youtu.be/x7fRsbbD6T8

'Reflections on Planet Earth'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/72216306469/reflections-on-planet-earth-image-credit

'The boy with the giant head'
http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2014/01/02/the-boy-with-the-giant-head/

'Giant Snow ‘Crop Circles’'
http://www.ripleys.com/weird/daily-dose-of-weird-wtf-blog/unusual-art-and-fashion/giant-snow-crop-circles/

A beautiful map of Earth's circulating weather systems; apparently updated every 3 hours. I'm not sure how accurate, nor useful it is, but it certainly looks nice :-)
http://earth.nullschool.net/
http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/71696563371/mapa-de-los-vientos-en-tiempo-real

'Estructura de un hormiguero revelada por aluminio líquido'
The structure of an anthill, cast in aluminium
http://youtu.be/JRBuiXfv3N4

'Giphoscope, reproductor de GIF animados analógicos'
Giphoscope - a reproduction of GIF images, in analogue form. The last one's a bit quirky :D
http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/72137729439/giphoscope

[smirks] :o)
http://goldspandexleggings.tumblr.com/post/69483956798

'Awkward moments of 2013'
http://goldspandexleggings.tumblr.com/post/70435675597

'How Canadians are hatched'
http://goldspandexleggings.tumblr.com/post/71451510062

"There's a pudding hidden in the money"
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/72316467576/privateeyenews-from-eye-1355

"I'd like to be able to move out of my parents' place"
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/72316471756/privateeyenews-from-eye-1355

'A Still From A Workplace Etiquette Video For Deer'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/72316496750/jeffjohnsonart-another-fortune-cookie-500

'Death's Psychiatrist'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/72316551592/jeffjohnsonart-i-admit-this-is-a-bit-dark-mom

'Apr
ès-ing Mantes'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/72316555607/jeffjohnsonart-another-fortune-cookie-500

'Carbon Hard Under Pressure'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/72316559487

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