Old Interesting Things

27 July 2007
Well it's going to have to be this isn't it. For God's sake, ducks, seabirds, whatever, I ask you............

12th June 2007
Sometimes shepards use a numerical system in base eight (Ah yes, ie 1 sheep, 2 sheep, .........7, sheep, one8 sheep, eleven sheep, twelve sheep........seventeen sheep, two8sheep, 21 sheep, etc)to count their flocks, a bit of desultory Googling™ has failed to indicate why. An article in Wiki suggests that the origin of a base eight system may have come from people using the spaces between their fingers to count. Even if the last bit does sound like complete tosh this is a quite an interesting article if you’re into a bit of light recreational maths. The codex to this would be here.


1st May 2007
Again apparently, (I've got to start checking out the stuff I hear in pubs) the street where Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu grew up in South Africa is the only street to have produced two Nobel Prize winners.

11th April 2007
Spike is apparently an accepted and common diminutive for Terence. Like Jack for John. Why?

2nd April 2007
Ritalin is the brand name of a drug that is often given to children who have been diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit and Hyperativity Disorder). It is unknown why a drug that induces heightened activity in adults produces the opposite effect in children. It is recommended to be given to children no younger than six but it is not unusual to find it perscribed for children as young as two. The generic name for this drug is methylphenidate, it is part of that family of drugs known as amphetamines. The street name for these is Speed. Presumably, as a society, we are all going to go to hell.

March 2007
Brian May is not only an extraordinarily talented musician, (I'm sorry but his guitar solos are just the best that have ever been) genuine, all round great person and the owner of fantastic hair, but also nearly finished a PhD in astrophysics and has just co-written a book on the topic. Naturally I found this out from Daithi's blog. Someday I'll have picked this stuff up somewhere else but today is not that day. Update: Some random commenter on said post says he did finish the PhD, I don't know. Might Google it later though.