Chilli Lab

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Chillies are one of my [few] gardening successes. I now have both Thai and Jalapeno chillies ripening on their respective plants and they are surprisingly forgiving of my not-so-green thumb. I love the flavour and feel good zing but I did not know the active component of the chilli pepper, capsaicin, is so hot in medical circles right now! OK, so apparently it has been medically fashionable forever but it was news to me. The hotter the chilli the greater the health benefit so this winter I shall work on increasing my chilli habit...aka my tolerance level.
Below is my Thai Chilli plant doing its rainbow thing. You can check out the capsaicin levels in your chilli of choice at Greg Emerson Bocquet's interactive Scoville Scale.

my home chilli lab

Venice in a Day

This Italian Toytown on Water vid via The Presurfer makes me happy, reminiscey and starts my imaginary webbed feet itching all at the same time.

Second Best Eve

Friday really is the best day of the work week thus Friday has the best evening and eve. For people who have worked Monday to Friday for most of their working life this is no revelation. But having come late to the 9-5 (8:30, whatever) cliche, my joy of Friday has blossomed gradually over the last 18 months. The arms-reach prospect of two whole days to fill [mostly] at my will is, dare I say it - why yes I do: the expectation is better than the days themselves. Gosh darn their diminishing nature!

So yeah, yay Friday - nice of you to show up. In the mean time, Hellooooo Thursday; Friday Eve; second best eve of the week!

Move over sista, it's Thursday!

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Vested Interest

Is it wrong to own more vests than I have collared shirts? If so, it's one of those cases where it's so wrong it must be right - for three reasons:

1. None of my vests look like this:

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2. I like to think wearing a vest helps lend a degree of smart to my work wardrobe without having to go the whole corporate mile - ugh! Corporate wear can look great, particularly on gorgeous toothpicks with fab hair. I say "Ugh" because it invariably involves at least one of these:

• big bucks
• dry-cleaning
• lots of ironing
• all of the above

Which brings me to point number...

3. Sure, I have to wear shirts to work and I do iron...but only the sleeves and collars. Then I just add a knitted vest and no-one is the wiser.

Life's too short to worry about a few wrinkles that nobody will see.

Ninjas vs Zombies I

Revisiting the age old question: Ninjas vs Zombies, in a matryoshka-off, who wins?

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Ninjas vs Zombies II

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Answer: In matryoshka, ninjas have the win.

Donuts on Unicorn Horns

via George Takei

That's one seriously appreciative kid. Talk about raising the bar for showing gratitude. Fried dough served from alicorns is pretty hard to compete with. If you're wondering, you can check out the picture he drew here.

Problem Solver

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This flowchart has been popping up everywhere. I should keep small cards of this chart in my pocket. Then I could give one to everyone who mistakenly believes telling a virtual stranger the details of their problems is one of the steps on this chart.
I may appear to be a polite listener but not too polite to respond with one of these pocket pals.

Arabic in English

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Sure as Eggs is Eggs

Yep! As sure as eggs is eggs, I have tripped over this grammatically skewed expression often enough to wonder about its origin. Today I felt a slight euphoria when I stumbled upon The Art of Science Fiction because through this web detour I finally reached understanding. Sure, the cover art is a pick-me-up in itself but then there are the succinct blurbs and various publishing trivia snippets; pages of glorious procrastination. And then I came to the title of Chapter 7:

As sure as x is x.

Something righted itself in my brain as I read this. Of course!
X = X always, no matter how it is enunciated.

X - tras

Psychedelic Maze of the Letter X

little latin x

scrabble letter coaster

Research Lab

You accidentally stare at a helium-argon laser.
Lose one turn and a retina.
~Sheldon

Big Bang reruns - Season 3

- the physics is theoretical, but the fun is real!

PS. Ready your mute button and play with theoretical physics here.

The Easy Hard Nut

Pistachio nuts are most commonly sold with their clothes still on. No doubt this is because the shell is half of their charm. The pistachio reticence makes for rewarding snacking - shy enough to inspire effort but not so difficult as to make it hard work. Sure, pistachios must be shelled one by one but no skill or strength is required; they are the easy hard nut to crack.

Unlike a handful of cashews or peanuts, easily thrown down with a few chews for good measure, when I have to individually shell pistachios I slow down and
pay attention
to
every
one.
I enjoy them more than any other nut even though pistachios are technically seeds.

Ok... I also admit to happy inner-cartwheel moments
when I get to the bottom of a bowl
and discover the shell free nuts that shook loose in transit.

Green Lights

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Farewell Easter Break; back to work for me today. I was not entitled to the Bank Holiday that many were but I did benefit from said holiday's effect on Hobart's peak hour traffic - or rather our peak minutes (as the call goes for a city of only 500 000). Considering I also overslept by half an hour, I was smiling before I even got to work on time.

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The King's Speech

I admit I am easily impressed by a well verbed noun. Although Colin Firth is the main reason I finally got around to seeing The King's Speech, David Seidler's scripting ties for 1st place in the 'Aspects of the Film I Enjoyed Most' stakes.

Duke of York (Colin Firth): I've been trying to see you...
King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce): I've been terribly busy.
Duke of York: Doing what?
King Edward VIII : Kinging.

The royally verbed noun is in such witty company, this warmhearted drama gets 5 out of 5 pocket whip cracks from me - perhaps not quite the cherry on the cakeful of BAFTAs, Oscars, 5 stars and critical acclaim already sitting on its plate.

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A Jewel Among Men

MW's daily Word of the Day, loquacious (ie the politer version of, and more diplomatic term for, long winded), brings to mind a timely recollection of a man, William Safire - who worked with words as an author, columnist, lexicographer, journalist, and presidential speech writing lover of language - and his memorable compilation of grammatical guidelines; a list of writing rules to pen by; a collected fumblerules of grammar.
Specifically and in particular I refer to #46 on his classic and well loved list:

Don't be redundant;
don't use more words than necessary;
it's highly superfluous.

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Bravo Sir and Amen to that!

Morning Cuppa

Because this is one way of transforming 'morning me'

from this:

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into this:

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Although tea doesn't quite work its magic on me to this level.

My Good Friday (in frogs)

Good sleep-in

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Goodly warm weather

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Goodness; house work completed!

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Good lazy lunch

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Good walking along the river Derwent


And of course let's not forget the good day's origin

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My day lived up to its name. S'up with your Good Friday?

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Scrabble Letters

Saving the Day

F***ing Great Blades

Unexplained Absences II

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You too may wish to use the same explanation
when you next neglect your blog for an extended period.