I’m in Whyalla and I’m thinking about Neandertals. There’s a joke there somewhere if you’re a South Australian, but it isn’t actually a very fair one, or a very good one for that matter. So far, my day in Whyalla has been chock full of bright friendly people and even good food. That being said, [...]
Archive for the ‘Science’ Category
Just tell ‘em I’ve got some of those St. James Infirmary blues
I am sick. Meaning that the end of the world is nigh and the the air around me is filled with expelled virus and the soft moaning and whining of a man with the common cold.
I felt it coming on Wednesday evening and in the interest of being prepared and minimising loss of work time, [...]
Soda and His Million Piece Band "St. James Infirmary Blues" [3:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadAnd if I weren’t a civil servant, I’d have a place in the colonies
Often, what inspires me to write is some song or the other playing in the background while I’m doing something else. Last night, for example, I was cooking our Pancake Tuesday dinner and this track from 80’s greats Camper van Beethoven came on the old iPod.
…And if I weren’t a civil servant, I’d have a [...]
King Solomon, he never lived round here
It is time for this vaccination/autism nonsense to stop.
Last week, British medical journal “The Lancet” retracted a 1998 paper by Andrew Wakefield and colleagues that initiated that panic over a purported link between MMR vaccines and autism. This followed a censure of Wakefield issued by the UK’s General Medical Council for unethical behavior. The Lancet’s editor says [...]
I bide my time kicking up the sand
There is a possibility that I am becoming obsessed about food. My guest post for The Greenists is about food. Again. Still, I think it is pretty good so you should go and check it out.
The research for this one freaked me out a little bit. I try to trudge through life looking pretty much right [...]
Who mistook the steak for chicken?
A couple of weeks ago I was cooking dinner, as I do most nights. We were having some sort of chicken dish and the recipe called for 250g (~1/2 lb) of chicken breast. I wandered over to the refrigerator, pulled out the twin pack of chicken breasts that Dr. O’C had picked up at the [...]
He’s usually really wired on that cheap trucker speed
Back in my late teens and early twenties I had a particular fondness for White Crosses, the little bronchodilater pills that one could by legally at gas stations all over the country. They were ephedrine tablets, designed for folks with asthma but used with great gusto by dieters and for recreational purposed. And also by long [...]
When I was younger I thought I knew everything. Now I’m older I know I know everything.
I’m over the rebranded Allie’s Answers today, filling my role a as resident science guy. I’m looking at the contentious science surrounding plastic shopping bags today. Head on over and have a look and check out the rest of The Greenists as well.
One of the reasons that the science on this one is a bit [...]
Wide eyed and new money with faded beauty queens
God, I hate the news media sometimes.
A story caught Dr. O’C’s eye in our local Murdoch owned fishwrapper the other day, the juicy lead of which was:
MODERN men have got it so good. According to scientific research, women are gradually becoming more attractive in an evolutionary ‘beauty race’.
Without reading either the article or the ’scientific research’, I issued [...]
Will you rise and meet your savior in the air?
If you’ve noticed that the science posts have been pretty sparse around here lately then, well then I’m a bit worried about how much attention you’re paying to me. Are you some kind of cyber stalker or something? Huh?
Right, science posts. The thing about science posts is that they’re a lot of work. I have [...]















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