Friday, January 29, 2010

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Belousov–Zhabotinsky Reaction



I'm afraid that the fact I was completely unaware of this comes as no surprise to me at all. I stumbled across the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction while reading a book on Number Theory, I find it astonishing, puzzling and beautiful.
http://tinyurl.com/ybq2gga

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Friday, January 22, 2010

My Favourite Newspaper



http://global.nytimes.com/?iht

Really strong writing and not as US-centric as you might think. (As an added bonus it is often the only english text available in European newsstands - so it is my "holiday" paper too)

Quotelets

hereditary celebrity Peaches Geldof

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Quotelets

The plural of anecdote is not fact.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Quotelets

silver spoon, a paper plate

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Stolen from The Guardian


If Lambrini was being honest, its montage of people "doing the Lambrini" would consist of a group of tracksuited teenagers passing a single bottle of cherry flavour among themselves on a park bench; a young woman in a "sexy policewoman" outfit holding her friend's hair away from her face as the latter vomits chips into a bin; and a Yates's Wine Lodge rejectee grimly holding on to her bottle for dear life as she has hurried sex with a stranger behind a bottle bank while her mate tries to hail a cab.

Truly, a dance for all mankind …

Friday, January 15, 2010

I WILL NOT PAY, probably. Just you wait and see.

There is a Facebook group called "I WILL NOT PAY £3.99 A MONTH TO USE FACE BOOK FROM JULY 9TH 2010!"

I note that the name is all in upper case and carries an exclamation mark. Thus it is easier to believe that it's rooted in semi-infantile hysteria rather than sound inside information. None the less there is interesting and simple maths that can be done.

The "I WILL NOT PAY ..." group has almost half a million members - this out of 350 million Facebook users. So, a company that bought Facebook and started charging for it might expect 1 in 700 users to become upset and stop using FB. It's an addictive site though, a good many of the half million may be making empty threats, particularly people who have put loads of time into fecking Farmville.

None the less, let's assume that slightly more than 1 in 700 would leave. For the sake of convenience let's say - 359 users out of every 360 would quit - leaving a million paying users. Let's only charge them $1 a month - then we're raking in $12 million a year before even charging for advertising.

Of course I haven't the slightest idea of if or when FB might turn commercial. Contrary to popular wisdom though, there may be danger in numbers.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Mmmm. Nice.



This, if it actually exists, is surely a joke - but a very expensive one.

Unicycle, of sorts


It seems that she can actually ride it, amazing.

Quotelets

... is the last gasp of methane from the intestines of the dead cow of post-modernism.

Anatidaephobia

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Monday, January 11, 2010

60 Nm required for pedal cranks.



Oooo - what an exciting parcel to turn up. It must be something large, or very delicate.

Or - neither. It was the world's most overpacked torque wrench.



www.screwfix.com - deliver with astonishing rapidity (ordered Sunday, delivered Monday) and more than adequate packaging.

Quotelets

Look at that. "Accident Blackspot"? These aren't accidents. They're throwing themselves into the road gladly. Throwing themselves into the road to escape all this hideousness.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Attention please.

After careful investigation I have discovered that, in every aspect, Orienteering is of exactly the same merit as Line Dancing.

That will be all.


Gift from the gods.

My bikeshop gave me these two mysterious little things along with recently purchased bike:




Miraculously I didn't throw them out (I am an avid and savage anti-hoarder, living in a very small house).

I now see why I need them. The first is optional, but the second one turns out to be absolutely indispensable as my other crank puller will not fit XTR cranks.

http://www.parktool.com/repair/readcalvinscorner.asp?id=157

Replacement chainrings installed, ready for race. Woohoo!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Friday, January 8, 2010

Quotelets

" ... patients have been conditioned to be grateful for what they are about to receive."

Yep. Good for you.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Noah takes a photo of himself every day for 6 years.

A widely known work you have prob already seen. Still, just in case ...