Gruts

🦆

John Thaw

John Thaw's
No more, s(o)
dot-dash-dot, dot-dot,
dot-dash-dash-dot,
Inspector Morse.

BBC: The Weakest Link US Celebrity Special

Anne Robinson: "Which W is the capital of Poland?"
Unrecognised US Celebrity: "Worcestershire."

Cat clone

BBC: First pet clone is a cat

As if we didn't have enough of the evil, obnoxious creatures already; now they're cloning the bastards! (I'm not a cat person.)

Sleep study

Reuters: People Who Sleep Less Live Longer, Study Finds
[T]he study shows that longer sleep is a risk factor for cancer as well as heart disease and stroke

But correlation does not show causation: perhaps, for example, people who are unwell are more likely to sleep longer.

Darwin Day

Today is Charles Darwin's 193rd birthday. Happy Darwin Day!

Sex

I've just sent a letter to New Scientist about sex, which they published:

Sir, Douglas Fox marvels at what he describes as one of the great mysteries of the human condition: why do humans spend so much time having sex without resultant pregnancy ("Gentle Persuasion", 9th February, 2002). The answer, it seems, is that it allows the woman's immune system to become accustomed to the man's proteins, thereby decreasing the chances of rejection of her foetus's proteins, when she eventually becomes pregnant.

If such reasoning is correct, it still fails to explain the great mystery of why this strategy is only adopted by humans (and a few other animals). If there really was such a clear-cut evolutionary advantage in frequent sex, wouldn't all animals be at it like rabbits (and, indeed, humans)?

Surely there is a far simpler reason why we humans have so much sex: because it's so enjoyable.

Richard Carter

Princess Margaret

BBC: Princess Margaret dies
Speaking from Sierra Leone, [UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair] said: "I know the whole country will be deeply saddened by Princess Margaret's death."

I think the Observer captured the mood of the nation far more accurately:

The death of the 71-year-old Princess Margaret Rose, Countess of Snowdon, one-time second in line to the throne, who grew old disgracefully and spent her last years in miserable ill-health, was yesterday being mourned by family and friends - but not, necessarily, by Britain. We did not grieve.