Call me a geek, but when I saw the draw for the Quarter-Finals of the Champions League my eye was instantly drawn to the one, key, glaring fact: that the long-named teams were drawn to play each other, and ditto for the short-named teams. So, Manchester United (16 letters) are playing Bayern Munich (12 letters). [What's that? You say teams have ( Read more... )

Today's tune of choice has been Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim. It came on my MP3 player when I was leaving the office to buy my lunch. As it came to the end, I skipped it back to the start ... and did it again ... and again ... until I decided to just set it to repeat non-stop. I've been groovin' it up ever since. I'm no Christopher Walken, of ( Read more... )

Apparently experiments on mice have shown that scarring is all in the genes [link]. To quote from the article:

Biologists believe that a gene called p21 may hold the key to spontaneous healing, which could allow limited regeneration of the human body, as witnessed in newts, flatworms and the hydra. [Yes, at first I thought they meant the Lernaean ( Read more... )

Why do I always forget to copy and paste long, important posts to Notepad before clicking Post and watching them get swallowed up by the useless LJ system? Gah.

I fell asleep last night in the early hours of the morning, having whiled away some time on Omegle (like Chatroulette but with no videos and consequently fewer perverts). It was late and I was exhausted, but I couldn't rest - until, that is, I did. To my delight, I woke at around eleven, having had a full eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. Giddy ( Read more... )

On getting back this afternoon from a delicious Colombian brunch with emilyfaerie, I decided, since I have a year-long travelcard, to take the bus for the two stops down Holloway Road from the station to my front door. I was about to cross the side road to get to the bus stop, when a thought occurred to me. I had never, ever seen anyone wait at that crossing ( Read more... )

The viral Facebook meme about bra colours is - as well as being way too much information! - interesting, for two main reasons ( Read more... )

I have been rather ill these past few days, spending most of the duration with my head on a pillow and my nose in a tissue. The family Christmas has been nice, but dampened, for me, by this virus. Tonight, though, is proving to be far more pleasant. Having watched two suitably trashy movies (Bedazzled and John Tucker Must Die), both of which I'd ( Read more... )

So, you're asthmatic?
Yep - not as badly as I used to be, though.
Okay. Do you smoke?
No. [smiles] I don't smoke anything.
[raises eyebrow] Not even crack?
Well, sometimes.
It causes wars in Afghanistan, you know.
No, that's heroin. Crack and cocaine cause wars in Colombia.
Oh. Smart git. I prefer snowballs, anyway.
[sniggers]
You know, a mixture ( Read more... )

I fell late last night into a fitful sleep, as has been common of late. I drifted awake with a nightmare that I had again missed my doctor's appointment, and was being, again, excoriated for it by my suddenly implacable doctor. I looked at my clock, but couldn't make out what it said. My eyes must be woozy; I wandered over and poked it for a bit ( Read more... )