Blood 'n' Grease

Once again university work has me behaving like a hermit. These days I am lucky if I leave my desk. So I am always in the mood for a little light relief. While reading the review section of the paper I stumbled across a little snippet of trivia about films thereby combining two of my favourite things: useless information and films. Turns out that the producers of the first Rambo film wanted John Travolta in the starring role. Granted I have never seen Rambo but somehow I don't think that John Travolta would have been overly convincing.

Is it a bird? Is it an easyJet plane?

Way back in November while browsing the Northern Ireland section of the BBC website (I like to keep up to date with what is happening in the home province - nothing usually), when I read about the Orange Order's latest scheme. The Order planned to introduce a superhero to win over a new generation of members. The Order promptly ran a competition to come up with a name for this superhero and yesterday they announced the results (I only found out today, though). They had received many entries ranging from Sash Gordon, Sashman, and the Boyne Wonder, but they picked Diamond Dan. This name was thought up by a schoolboy from Lisburn (my hometown - I say that neutrally, I didn't choose to live there). Apparently this name has historical resonance as the Orange Order was founded at the Diamond, Loughall and one of its founder members was a man called Dan Winter.



Unfortunately as a child who was raised reading the Dandy I cannot help but fear I will confuse Diamond Dan with Desperate Dan....

Tickets and passes please!

While waiting for a bus this morning I noticed two middle-aged men dressed in matching fluorescent jackets waiting for the bus also. When the bus came along they let me on first. I bought my ticket and headed upstairs (it was a double decker bus) to the sound of the men asking to see the passengers' tickets and passes. It turns out that these men were bus inspectors. However I noticed that on their jackets their official job title was "Revenue Protection Officer".



Talk about calling a spade a dirt removal plate.

Fat and resistant to drugs

If you pay attention to health articles in the news, you may be aware that tuberculosis is becoming increasingly drug-resistant. As it is TB requires a six-month long course of anti-biotics but the bacterium is mutating to neutralise current treatments. However, researchers (this time doing something useful) have discovered that many tuberculosis bacteria shield themselves in a protective layer of fat when passing from person to person. The researchers discovered this by analysing bacterium found in the sputum of infected patients. In addition it was discovered that the bacterium shielded by this layer of fat tended to be in an inert state, leading one of the researchers to call them 'fat and lazy'. But very, very infectious.

Toot and calm down

I can remember a time when power steering and electric windows were extras on cars. It never fails to amaze me with the new gadgetry that car manufacturers come up with and seem to feel is essential to have in your car. Those charming Germans at BMW have invented a car horn, called the Toot and Calm Horn, which soothes rather than aggravates other drivers. In addition, taking advantage of modern cars GPS systems a BMW owner can synchronise their car with home appliances so that a meal can be cooked (heated up I would imagine) by the time you arrive home. In addition this year they have also developed technology to prevent dogs from urinating on your BMW. Any dog who does so will receive a small electric shock.



Unfortunately BMW is a tad out of my price range but I can still admire the brochure as can you by clicking here.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

I am not now, nor have I ever been, the world's tidiest person. Or cleanest. I mean I am not filthy by a long shot but I have been admonished on more than one occasion with the title of this post. Although, I hasten to add, it has been many years since it was flung in my direction, whether this is due to my increased cleanliness of the fact that I no longer participate in organised religion is not entirely clear, but it is relevant for today's fascinating tidbit of information. Christianity is the only major religion with no ritual bathing rules. Hindus, Muslims and Jews all have ritual bathing rules. Christians do not, you could point to baptism but seeing as how that is a one off and in most cases is not exactly a bath, I doubt it counts. In fact for many early Christian saints dirtiness became a badge of holiness. Several saints, including St Jerome, St Agnes and St Godric never washed. This was probably due to the debauchery which went on in the Roman baths. Unsurprisingly early Christians banned the Roman baths.



And equally unsurprisingly St Thomas Aquinas approved the use of incense in churches, probably to help mask the stench of the filthy faithful.

Hanging by a thread

The other day while reading the paper I came across an article about global warming. This article mentioned that in the Antarctic there is an ice sheet the size of Northern Ireland that is now only connected to the continent of Antarctica by a narrow beam of ice. This ice sheet is known as the Wilkins Ice Shelf. It is approximately 14, 000 square kilometres (5, 400 square miles) which when compared to Northern Ireland, which is 13, 843 square kilometres (5, 345 square miles), seems fairly accurate.



I also think there is something apt about the hanging by a thread analogy, but this is analogy also works for me on a personal level.