What this decision does not take into account is that Marmite isn’t used in vast quantities - it’s spread thinly.

“Ridiculous”, said Paddington.

(For those outside the UK, Marmite is a by-product of the brewing industry. Made from yeast it is a dark black gooey substance which is spread on toast. It is salty, and high in Vitamin B. Recognising that it’s a product you can’t be ambivalent about, this is used in the adverts - ‘you either love it or hate it’. They show people consuming marmite and half of them have a bad reaction…. lately, Paddington Bear is advertising Marmite.)

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Post tags: Marmite, Salt, Schools, Wales

Amanda TappingMajor Samantha Carter on Stargate SG1, stars. The show was made originally for a ‘pay per view’ audience on the web. It was made on a budget using green-screen technology to achieve professional standards. In the US, the Sci Fi channel have commissioned a second series of 13 parts. The first season (which is being transmitted tonight) was originally 8 webisodes - these have been re-shot for television, the first four webisodes make up episode one which will be transmitted tonight..

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Post tags: Amanda Tapping, ITV, Sanctuary, Stargate, Television

Of course I then had to find the Swedish bookshop scene.

Here it is in reversed glory and as it was originally included in the film.

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Post tags: Film, Swedish Bookstore, Top Secret, Video

Tina Fey does not have to do much spoofing, Palin spoofs herself. I had to grin at the ‘Due the historically low expectations….’

In the UK, ‘The News Quiz‘ has a nice take on Sarah Palin. Every time she is mentioned on the show we get a burst of ‘Halleluia!’ from Handel’s Messiah - It’s Sandi Toksvig thanking the Gods of Comedy for such a rich source of new comedic material.

Toksvig now finds herself "terribly grateful to Sarah Palin. For comedy writers, she’s just heaven."

(Source)

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Post tags: Comedy, Election, Joe Biden, News Quiz, Politics, Radio 4, Sandi Toksvig, Sarah Palin, SNL, Tina Fey, USA

The interview mentions Russia, and this was spoofed in the New Yorker recently.

Another sketch has Clinton (Hillary) and Palin jointly address the nation.

‘I can see Russia from my house!’

On the basis of these sketches, it looks like SNL have a running gag whereby ‘The Bush Doctrine’ is an ‘adult movie’. This phrase did stump the real Sarah Palin… at least until it was defined for her.

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Post tags: Comedy, Sarah Palin, SNL, Tina Fey, USA, Video

The story has been released, it’s about extreme drug resistant tuberculosis.

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Post tags: disease, drug resistant, pandemic, tuberculosis

Today is the first Home Game for London Wasps, and the opposing team is Worcester Warriors.

The build up to this game has been marred somewhat by ticketing problems at Wasps. Season Tickets were not sent out until around a week ago, and quite a few people have yet to receive their tickets. This means that before the game there will be queues and admin to do.

The anticipation of that over the week has marred the day somewhat. The best organisation on the day can only really result in a ‘Oh, that wasn’t too bad’ - and the worst case will see lots of people unable to get in.

To minimise problems when actually at the ground, I wanted to telephone to alert them that I would need to make use of this service. On friday, I was told to ring on saturday.

On saturday I was told by automated message that the office was open Monday to Friday and on matchdays.

Today, I couldn’t get a connection and had to keep trying. I was on hold for some time. The organisation of ticketing has left something to be desired recently - and at key times lines can be very congested, online booking can also be quite ‘clunky’. I am pleased to learn that we’re moving to a swipe card system this season instead of a voucher booklet. Eventually I got through; the guy said: ‘I’ll just double check the pile we have’ - my ticket is there and so that removed some concern.

There’s little many can really do except go along and cross their fingers. In our case things are looking up as I now know my ticket is waiting for me. Therefore I’m less concerned about the process of actually getting in, of admin hassles and I believe my experience will be reasonably straightforward.

I’m under no illusions that there’ll be some people whose tickets are not waiting for them, who will have a less pleasant time , I just hope that this’ll be a handful of people

The fact of the ticketing problems is a done thing, and should all be okay in the end. It has affected the start of the season, however and when combined with the lamentable performance in the London Double Header and the ELVs I find myself somewhat ambivalent about the season. This isn’t a good feeling, but it is what it is. Win or lose, I really need today to be an exciting game - just to get a bit of pep into my season.

Thinking of the double header, it was so slow that Monica actually fell asleep in second half as she was so bored. The woman on the other side of me said ‘Oh, was that a try? I’d drifted off….’. This wasn’t the team we normally see.

Returning to this week: Obviously a Home game usually favours the Home team. In addition Shaun Edwards and Ian McGeechan will have had a few words to say after the Irish game - so it should be a better spectacle. Dave Walder is due to return, following an ankle injury. This is a good thing.

On past form, we should be okay against Worcester - but I’m not yet sure how the new lineup are settling down, so things are a bit uncertain.

I’m hoping for a win, of course, but I’m nowhere near as confident as I was when we faced Worcester at home last year (when we won 49-12 - my worry there was that a string of wins were needed for a good premiership finish and any slip would have been the end of it).

On the topic of the new season, I’m not overly enamoured with the ELVs. The one about pulling down the maul is positively dangerous and in the lineout we can see people held up in the air ready to catch the ball - which to me negates some of the opportunities in the lineout. I’m reasonably happy with the referee able to use the touch judges (or assistant refs as they’re called now) in any way he sees fit, and the quick throw in rule. I do hope that the ELVs are just that, Experimental, and they get a good review - not just a rubber stamp.

The match starts at 3pm. Audio streaming is available for free. It’s also on Sky, and highlights will be on ITV4 at 6:30pm.

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Post tags: Guinness Premiership, London Wasps, Rugby Union, Worcester Warriors

“I have to train on the road daily. It’s crucial for endurance work. But the abuse I get from drivers … ‘Get of the effing road’, and ‘Buy an effing car’, are typical. I’m usually dressed in the Team GB kit, but drivers take no notice of that.”

[...]

“It does my head in that people have no regard for my safety. If someone cuts me up, I will sometimes catch up and have a go at them. It’s not like their journeys are so important. They’re usually off to the shops to waste some more money. Honestly, what’s a few seconds in their pointless life for the sake of not killing me?”

(Via Quickrelease)

I think every cyclist has experienced this. I’ve had people overtake dangerously in order to slam on the anchors and take a left turn forcing me to brake hard (in UK, we drive on the left). I’ve had people slowing down to catcall when I’ve done nothing but be on a bicycle.

I’ve had people overtaking dangerously for the honour of sitting in a traffic queue which was perfectly visible when they decided to squeeze past.

The difference is that nobody could mistake me for an Olympic cyclist!

It does help to cycle defensively. This means, for example, that if a car could not overtake safely (e.g. due to a narrow lane, or due to a central bollard) then I’ll take the lane so that can’t overtake at all, and pull over once it’s safe to pass.

As I said earlier, I hoped that the cyclists would use their Olympic success to promote everyday cycling. I’m glad to see this has started - and I hope it’ll continue.

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Post tags: Cycling, Victoria Pendleton

It looks like he’ll be in the Astana team. However, this may be problematic as Astana were not allowed to compete in the 2008 tour due to doping offences under its previous management. Christian Prudhomme from the Tour de France says "if he is in a team that we will choose for the Tour, L.A. (Lance Armstrong) will be at the start of the 2009’s Tour de France in Monaco the 4th of July"

Prudhomme also talks of doping regulations: Lance Armstrong… pourra participer au prochain Tour de France s’il respecte les règles concernant notamment la lutte antidopage - Lance Armstrong… may participate in the upcoming Tour de France if he respects the rules concerning the fight against doping.

I’ve only really been watching cycling for a little over a year - and there’s still a lot I don’t know. I don’t know the history - or anything about the doping allegations against Armstrong. I barely know the major rider and teams (they change names so often!) - however, I know this. Lance Armstrong is a name that I knew before I got interested. In this respect he’s the Lawrence Dallaglio of Cycling - and as such, it’s a good thing to get the chance to see him ride again.

(Additional: Today has been a good day for Cycling. The Tour of Britain had a nail-biting stage finish today, with the yellow jersey puncturing, and the pelaton making good ground on the lead riders for a nail biting finish. In addition, Team GB have been storming the Paralympics in the velodrome… a good day. However, I drove to work, so my cycling record isn’t too hot).

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Post tags: Cycling, Lance Armstrong, Sport, Tour de France

The LHC will collide Hadrons (obviously) at high speeds. Hadrons are particles which contain quarks. Everyday examples are Protons and Neutrons. The LHC can only accelerate charged particles and so it’ll collide protons. The high energy collisions will produce new and interesting particles - and the hope if to find the predicted Higgs Boson. Though if it’s not found, that’ll also be interesting….

There has been idle chat that it could create miniature black holes that’ll destroy the Earth. This will not happen. It probably won’t create black holes. But if it does create black holes they’ll be moving so fast that they’ll leave the Earth. Even if they don’t they’ll evaporate due to Hawking radiation as they’re so small… and in the unlikely event that it does create a black hole that hangs around to destroy the planet - there’ll be nobody to contradict me.

Seriously: cosmic rays have collided with the Earth with huge energies since time immemorial - a particle accelerator experiment in the upper atmosphere. We’re still here.

As Wil Wheaton said on Twitter: "Stupid people at table next to me are convinced LHC will destroy the world tomorrow. Resisting urge to tell them how stupid they are. "

(P.S. I post as someone with a damned good Physics degree. Irrelevantly, I’ve visited LEP, the Large Electon Positron Collider and LHC’s predecessor. Sadly, I took time out of my first USA trip to go to Fermilab. I’ve been to RAL in the UK many times.)

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Post tags: CERN, LHC, Physics, Science, Synchrotron