Apart from in June and July, it would seem that New Year is celebrated somewhere in every month of the year.
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Archive for the ‘Trivia’ Category
Many New Year celebrations left in 2019
January 1, 2019Devolution of democracy
December 28, 2018A modern politician’s priorities:
- Me
- The party
- The party’s leadership
- My voters
- My party’s voters
- The country
- My constituency
Other parties’ voters do not enter the picture.
Where matter and energy came from
December 23, 2018
How big is the universe?
December 23, 2018
“Girls were made to love and kiss” – and who are we to interfere with this
December 19, 2018Fertility drops when you can’t tell the boys from the girls.
This is now as politically incorrect as it is possible to be.
Still true though.
“Flirting is jolly, it’s folly, but fun”
I must have first heard this in the 1960s and it was probably the Richard Tauber version I heard on radio. It is still as enjoyable now as it was then. (The second verse has not quite the meaning it once had).
GIRLS WERE MADE TO LOVE AND KISS
From the Operetta “Paganini” (1925) (Franz Lehár)
(Original libretto by Paul Knepler & Béla Jenbach)
(English adaptations by A.P. Herbert & Harry Dexter (1937),
and by David Kram & Dennis Olsen)
As recorded by Richard Tauber:
Girls were made to love and kiss
And who am I to interfere with this?
Is it well? Who can tell?
But I know the good Lord made it so
Am I ashamed to follow nature’s way?
Shall I be blamed if God has made me gay?
Does it pay? Who can say?
I’m a man and kiss her when I can
Yet I have suffered in love’s great deeps
I know the passion that never sleeps
I know the longing and wronging of hearts
The hope that flatters and shatters and smarts
I suffer still but I sleep at nights
Man cannot always be on the heights
And when our aching and breaking is done
Flirting is jolly, it’s folly, but fun
Girls were made to love and kiss
And who am I to interfere with this?
Does it pay? Who can say?
I’m a man and kiss her when I can
Best optical illusion of 2018
December 2, 2018Follow the circles around.
None intersect.
I have not come across this before and it is the best optical illusion I have come across this year.
(from The Science Scoop)
from The Science Scoop
Could the Democrats win California without the illegal voters?
October 20, 2018Saturday trivia.
It is utterly inexplicable that the US must be the only country where in an election, open only to citizens, voters are not required to have proof of eligibility to vote (citizenship). However it is perfectly understandable that the Democrats who are the primary beneficiaries of illegal votes are against the idea of any voter having to have any proof of identity or citizenship.
I reckon that in the 2016 election the Democrats (Hillary Clinton) had the benefit of about 3 million illegal votes by non-citizens (mainly in California and New York).
Elizabeth Warren is probably more Neanderthal than she is Native American
October 15, 2018UPDATE!!
The analysis of Warren’s DNA was done by Carlos D. Bustamante, a Stanford University professor, but when he studied Sen Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) DNA sample, he did not actually use samples of Native American DNA.
“To make up for the dearth of Native American DNA, Bustamante used samples from Mexico, Peru, and Colombia to stand in for Native American.” So all the test proved is that Warren might be 1/64 to 1/1024 Mexican, Peruvian, or Colombian — which again makes her no different than the average white American.
Regardless, all this DNA test proved is that Warren has no more claim to Indian heritage than the average white American.
Either flies have communication or they have reincarnation
August 9, 2018
Over the last few weeks with temperatures above 25ºC our windows have been open more than usual. The influx of house flies has been correspondingly high. It has not quite been an inundation but we have fly-swats in most rooms.
On average over the last few weeks I have probably swatted 20 flies per day (more than 15, less than 30). In my defense I have not been on an extermination splurge and have only swatted a fly when it has been particularly irritating.
The flies are in no danger of extermination as a species and biodiversity is not threatened.
My empirical observations are as follows:
- Once a fly has found warm skin to prey upon, it has some mechanism to “lock on” to its target.
- A fly can read my mind and knows when I am thinking about picking up the fly swat.
- Once a fly has identified me as a target, other flies stay away from its hunting territory.
- Even flies need to rest and frantic twitching and waving of limbs does lead them to fly away from the target occasionally and rest on nearby surfaces.
- A light swat merely stuns the fly and it quickly recovers to continue its murderous attacks.
- A heavy swat mashes the fly leaving a gooey mess.
- With skill and practice just the right level of swat force can be applied to kill the fly without creating a mess.
- Within about 2 minutes of my swatting a fly dead, another fly appears and acquires me as a target.
- The “hero” or “rescue fly” is always singular and never a swarm of flies.
- Another swatting leads to another hero fly appearing.
- The longest sequence of dead fly/ hero fly observed has been six.
These observations lead me to the following conclusions:
- Flies have an unknown mechanism (probably an infra-red sensor) by which they can identify and lock on to prey.
- Flies are somewhat territorial and can communicate their reserved territories to other flies.
- Flies emit some kind of death radiation which is picked up by other flies but just a single “hero” or “rescue fly” is then sent to seek retribution.
- Flies do not have a collective memory since hero flies only appear singly and continue appearing even if each gets successively swatted.
Or, flies are reincarnated. Empirical observation suggests that if this the case, the reincarnations are not endless and number less than the eight reincarnations and nine lives of cats. It would seem that they have more than two reincarnations but less than five.
The top 1%
July 12, 2018Number games.
