Category Archives: Life

You’re a star, superstar

Posted on by

In 1572 a new star blazed out in the sky, so bright it could be seen during the day. The astronomer Tycho Brahe described it in his book De Stella Nova, giving us a word we use even today to describe a crappy little Vauxhall. Apparently he caused ripples by proving it lay quite a way beyond the orbit of the moon, which wasn’t officially possible – though even he might have been surprised to know quite how far away it was.

Now, the BBC tells us, astronomers around the world are seeing it again, because light that shot off in the opposite direction is reflecting off clouds of interstellar dust particles and coming back at us.

Is this not utterly astonishing and utterly cool? What an amazing universe we live in.

The feminine side of Ben

Posted on by

… is hidden on my official homepage, apparently, at least according to Gender Analyzer. This site takes a URL entered by you, the user, and (a) applies sophisticated semantic analytical techniques to work out the likely gender of the author or (b) takes a lucky guess with remarkable consistency.

For the record:

  • my homepage – 80% likely to be a woman. To rub it in Google Ads kindly offer an ad for “Understanding Men”
  • this blog – 62% likely male. Obviously because I belch and scratch myself as I type, or possibly because I talk about subjects other than myself … Google Ad: “Beautiful Chinese ladies seek men for love and marriage. Join free!”
  • work (out of interest) – they guess man (51%), “however it’s quite gender neutral”. Which is as it should be so my manager was pleased. Google Ad: “Inside A Boyfriend’s Mind – 10 Free Secrets On Men & Commitment To Keep Relationships & Love Alive”

I then tried it on the sites of various friends and it guessed them all correctly, except one, the most feminist of them all who comes across as 65% man. Snigger.

Is thermoregulation different for teenagers?

Posted on by

Put it this way. You’re sitting having your breakfast in the living room of a clear December morning and you feel a little cold. You’re wearing just a t-shirt on top. Do you put on:

  • a) another layer?
  • b) a scarf?

If you just answered (b) then experience suggests you may be a teenager. Or at least a teenager with half-Swedish blood.