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A Wildly Inaccurate Statement

Topic : Rant
Posted : 27th September 2006 9:01 am

"If you eat a piece of burnt toast you might as well smoke a packet of cigarettes."

To my mind that sort of makes sense but I have absolutely no idea if it's true.

A Picture of Burnt Toast

Is that true? Link to definition of benzopyrene which is found in both cigarette smoke and burnt toast.

I Fly At Duxford Airshow

Topic : Misc
Posted : 19th September 2006 1:35 am

Oh yes. Up, up and away. What an impressive title for a blog entry. Me, flying at an airshow. Truth is never, ever, as exciting as fiction and what I actually did was got myself, my Mum and Father in-law up in a little Dragon Rapide. The plane's over 60 years old and is still in pretty good nick. It’s made of wood and fabric and the bloke who took my money spent ages telling me that I shouldn’t worry, if anything went wrong there was an escape hatch. He wasn’t sure that anyone could actually fit through it mind, but then again no one had tried yet. Then we had to wait for a bit while the pilot took it out for a test run because something wasn’t sounding quite right.

Once up it was excellent, and the tense banter only added to the experience. Not at all as rickety as you might image. You too could have a go in one if you're in the Cambridge area. More info here.

I took some pics (of course).

I'm sorry, did you just say I'll never fit through the escape hatch? My Father in-law has a word.

That's the fella, a Dragon Rapide in blue. They had a silver one too but the blue one's better, I'm sure of it. Blue things are always better than silver things.

This plane's made of wood and fabric that's held together with human spit laid down over 60 years ago. Spot the escape hatch; it's made to be slightly smaller than a child.

Babies Are Better That Cats (But I Still Love Cats)

Topic : Misc
Posted : 19th September 2006 1:22 am

So I've been a Dad for two weeks now. It's every bit as amazing as everyone promised it would be (even the people who blatantly didn't know).

I like cats quite a lot and I must confess that I had wondered whether I'd take to a baby like I did a cat. Now, with a tiny slice of fatherhood behind my belt I can definitely say that babies are better than cats. I still love my cat mind, but if push came to shove the moggy would be the first against the wall.

3 Random Things

Topic : Misc
Posted : 2nd September 2006 8:41 am

I now own a butter dish and practically all of my crockery matches. To me this is more of a sign of being a proper, paid up, grown up than owning a house or being married (which I do and I am).

On a totally unreated note, Paul McCartney's Yesterday is apparantly the most covered song ever. There are over three thousand versions of the song. Related Wikipedia entry.

This is not me.

And finally, International Bed Jumping deserves much respect.

End of 3 Random Things.

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The Pirates! In an Adventure with Whaling

The Pirate Captain and all his crew are back again, playing out a little story in my head that stops every time I put the book down, and then restarts when I take up reading again... books are amazing (and this particular one is a very good one indeed).

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists

Oh I love this little book to bits. It's by Gideon Defoe and is really, really nice to read. There's the proper balance of silliness and laugh-out-loud funniness to keep your eyes pointed at the pages. The fact that it's nice and short works for me too. I'm now planning to invest in The Pirates! In an Adventure with Whaling.

Is It Just Me Or Is Everything Shit?

Got this for my birthday. I suspect that the people who bought it for me were making a point about my attitude to some things. It's very cynical and dry, pretty amusing too. I didn't watch Grumpy Old Men when it was on TV but I suspect that if you liked that you'd love this.

War Time Memories

Perhaps not a traditional read. I’m about halfway through a book that documents the memories of people who experienced World War Two. It’s by Michael Bentinck and my parents bought me this book after seeing him talk. Some stories are hard to tell and many people who lived through the war chose to document theirs in letters or diaries that are found later, after their deaths (often leaving relatives surprised by the amazing life their quiet little 90 year old Grandad seems to have had). This book covers some really interesting, harrowing and touching stories. It also conveys some remarkable attitudes and opinions of people who lived the most active and exciting part of their lives under exceptional circumstances.

Haynes Baby Manual

Haynes do manuals for everything, even babies (and Scalextrics!). I’m a father to be. Like all fathers to be I’m desperately searching for the book that explains the whole pregnancy, birth and fatherhood thing in a way that relates to me and my absolutely huge list of fears. Well this might well be it. Donated by a friend of the misses, it’s much appreciated.

Life of Pi

I read this book while I was on honeymoon. I'd say it's now my favourite book. I admit that it faced minimal competition in the form of Lord of the Rings and The Da Vinci Code. It shocked me, gripped me and really did make me think about non honeymoon related stuff (no mean feet). And all in a kind of easy reading way. But don't take my word for it, Life of Pi has become the favourite book of people I know that are actually well read.