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One does have to be careful about the fonts used for signage (especially when they’re on flags that are blown around). Today, I was driving by a hardware shop and was wondering why they had a sign that said “Keys Out There”. Needless to say, it was supposed to be “Keys Cut Here” but it did have me puzzled for a few amusing moments.

Up way too late again, playing with a new blog. But the upside is I get to hear cool songs on Rage. They have kindly provide me with a playlist, it would be cooler still if they had links to the artists’ sites or mp3 snippets.

These were particularly good:
Get What You Want - OPERATOR PLEASE (Virgin)
Love You - LITTLE BARRIE (Creative Vibes)
Girlshapedlovedrug - GOMEZ (Shock)

And I love the video for Ruby - KAISER CHIEFS (Universal), it has these little model scale people (like the kind you find on architects’ building models), so cute. I love model people.

One of these will be the winner of the greatest medical breakthrough of the last 166 years according to voter on the BMJ site:

Anesthesia
Antibiotics
Chlorpromazine [an anti-seizure drug, perhaps better known as Thorazine]
Computers
DNA
Evidence based medicine
Germ theory
Imaging
Immunology
Oral rehydration therapy
The Pill
[The discovery of the] Risks of smoking
Sanitation
Tissue culture
Vaccines

I’d say germ theory, anaesthesia, or antibiotics. Or even sanitation… though I was reading that unsanitary habits were becoming problematic in hospitals again. Staff just don’t wash their hands any more, apparently. Gross.

Anyway, this story was via Wired BodyHack which is a great little blog of interesting science-y things. Here’s a recent selection:
Hand Sanitizer Can Make You Drunk
Inbreeding: Bad for Kings, Good for Fish
Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism
Great Moments in Research: Psychologists Are Humble
Brits: Who Needs Orthodontic Braces?
Study: Treatment Possible for Mad Cow Disease

If you still are wondering (or care) how to do the Japanese t-shirt folding featured previously. Here’s a slower version in Chinese. Suddenly, it all becomes clear…

A commenter called nabinabita had this to say:
It is an idea in Japan.
Japan imported ” the T shirt ” from the Europe and America.
Japan exported ” an idea ” to the country in the foreign country.
I am glad.
Popularize ” the idea in Japan ” more.

Cool.

I swear this chair must break the laws of physics. The big question thoush is “Is it questionable?”. Ha, I AM tired. Let’s try that sentence again… The big question though is “Is it comfortable?” I think thoush needs to become a word.

Much like this these AMAZING Fletcher Capstan Tables [via BoingBoing] and this freaky walking table:

Poor moosey…
Drunken Swedish moose drowns after fermented apple binge » Netscape.com

A moose that became inebriated after binging on fermented fallen apples in northern Sweden drowned when it fell through the ice of a frozen inlet, a Swedish tabloid has reported. “The moose appears to have eaten too many fermented apples and become confused out on the ice,” Luleaa police spokesman Erik Kummu told Aftonbladet on Thursday

[via IPKat]

(More clearing of links.) I spent some time writing in the sciences and APA (American Psychological Association) is a frequently asked for standard. I’m not a big fan of it personally, but here are some style guides and help on implementing it if the need ever arises:

• APA Style Guide - M. Plonsky, Ph.D.
• APA Style Essentials
• Write Source: APA Style
• APA Formatting and Style Guide: In-Text Citations: The Basics - The OWL at Purdue
• APA Style examples, Citing and referencing tutorial, Monash University Library
• APA Style Paper [pdf]
• Uni of Melbourne APA Style Guide [pdf]
• Uni of Qld APA Style Guide [pdf]

This is an oldie from 1999, but I’m clearing my many many links, and it’s an interesting piece of research. So it’s not only men who “naturally” stray in the cause for better genes:

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Women’s choice of men goes in cycles

Women are attracted to more masculine-looking men at the most fertile time of their menstrual cycle, psychologists have shown.

During the less fertile times, they choose men with more feminine-looking faces. These are seen as kinder and more co-operative, but less strong and healthy genetically.

A controversial implication of the new research is that, in evolutionary terms, it is natural for a woman to be unfaithful in order to secure both the best genes and the best carer for her children.

Ah, more geekiness… as if I don’t have a desk/office/house to clean, work to do, Warcrafting to play etc etc…

This is quite old, I gather, but I only saw it today. You do need to have read/seen/give two figs about the Lord of Rings to appreciate its funniness though. Windows and LOTR, together at last:

And this collection of diaries, I do remember when it did the rounds. Still worth pulling back up, lest I forget. Warning contains mild slash fiction: Lord Of The Rings - Secret Diaries - The bits you didn’t hear about!!

Here’s a choice bit:

The Very Secret Diary of Saruman the White

DAY ONE
Am bored. No cable in Isengard. Nothing to do but write rude anonymous letters to Radagast the Brown and Manfred the Slightly Ecru. Perhaps will have a look at the palantir.

DAY TWO
Have met v. nice guy via palantir. He seems to really like me for me and not just because am most powerful wizard in Middle Earth. Wonder what he looks like.

DAY THREE
Am becoming disenchanted with palantir guy. Refuses to send me photo, except of one v. large eyeball. Says he is shy but I rather suspect he is fat, or perhaps hairy. Have heard some v. bad stories about palantir relationships. Should probably cool it for a while.

Studio Daily has links to a couple of wonderful Flash animations in an interview with Darren Price from Nexus Productions (you have to scroll down the article to get the video links - sorry won’t let me legally embed!). First there is Potapych: The Bear Who Loved Vodka which is a beautifully animated and quite sad little story about a drunk who adopts a bear and teaches him how to drink. Apparently based on a true story.

And Hare in the Gate, an amazing piece of animation featuring a hare/rabbit who travels through a myriad of cinematic genres and iconic scenes. It was for a Motorola ad and is somewhat mindblowingly wonderful. Unfortunately, I don’t think the ad made it downunder.