Here’s some really important health information - especially good at this time of the year!

Q: I’ve heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?
A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that’s it…don’t waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that’s like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving [...]

Global warming, the evidence.

Here is the ultimate, irrefutable proof of global warming.

No favour

An interesting article in The Guardian newspaper here. Just cast your mind back to the fuss over Sharon Stone’s comments, the storm in a teacup over the tea stains advert, the fiasco of the poster showing Tib@tan monks on a rollercoaster, and a few other recent ‘insults’ to the Chinese nation. In every [...]

How to . .

Here’s a useful posting, on Simpson’s Paradox, all about how to make use of a volume of The Thorn Birds . . . .

Repetitive Responses Repel Repugnent Rebels

How’s this for a bit of frivolity - click here.

Building a brave new world

It seems that China is running out of trees and the birds are looking for other places to build their homes. So what’s the answer, well what better place to start than all the artificial trees that have been put up in place of the real ones. And if that’s not good enough, [...]

The Užupis Constitution

A few years ago the district of Užupis, in the city of Vilnius, declared itself to be an independent republic. A President and bishop were appointed, four flags were designed [one for each season], and a suitable constitution was duly drawn up. The 41 rights which form the constitution are engraved on mirrors, [...]

It

Surf-boarders do it standing up,
Some people talk about it,
Campanologists do it for a change,
We set to it.

Divers do it in rubber suits,
Miners get down to it,
Card-players do it on the table,
We press on with it.

Walkers do it on the hills,
Orienteers run for it,
Policemen do it in their helmets,
We revel in it.

Pot-holers do it horizontally,
Drivers do [...]

Atmospheric Inspiration

Is this Divine Guidance/Inspiration? I was looking at the log of hits for the blog the other day and saw one or two that had arrived via Google searches. Out of curiosity I did equivalent searches using the same criteria as the original visitors, just to see what they had been looking for [...]

Tug of War

When the Chinese do something they like to do it in big numbers. I don’t know if this event would make it to the Guinness Book of Records but it is enough to impress me. Yesterday, in Changsha, Hunan Province, two teams, most of whom were students of Hunan University, competed in [...]