Category Archives: amusements

amusements, history, links, science

Your Interesting Links

Our (now monthly) round-up of links to items you may have missed the first time.
Science & Medicine
First off, Compound Interest gives us the low-down on the complexity of the drug discovery business, and why drug research is so expensive.
We’re the only animals with chins. Yes really! And it seems nobody really knows why.
There’s a guy here who hasn’t had a shower for 12 years. And he still appears to have friends.


Conversations. They’re complex but there are almost universal cultural rules we obey.
What’s that strange thing floating in my vision? We all get UFOs (aka floaters) in our eyes. Here’s something about them.
Just as I suspected, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is maybe not the wonder therapy everyone (except me) thought. Trouble is it means Freud might have been right all along.
OMG, there’s been so much hoo-ha about the governments new alcohol guidelines. Mainly because they are based on misinterpretations of totally false science (see for instance here and the subsequent posts). But Simon Jenkins writing in the Guardian goes further telling the government to butt out of people’s drinking habits. And quite right too.
Sexuality
For once a good news story: masturbation actually has health benefits.
Emer O’Toole on body hair and the art of being naked.
Social Sciences & Business
Now, think very carefully before answering this. When do you really become an adult? No, not easy is it!?
Language
And now here’s something which those of us who think at all about our language already know: English is not normal. In fact it’s much odder than most languages.
So what in the world is the plural of emoji? There should be a right answer, but no-one has agreed on it yet. Personally I favour emoji.
History (mostly London-centric)
Headless Romans in London? Solving an ancient mystery.
But then again what did the Romans ever do for us? Oh, yes, they brought fleas, lice and bacterial infections with them. How kind.
Only briefly in vogue, the codpiece has left a rich legacy in art and literature. Here’s a brief history of the codpiece.
A history of the grimness and gruesomeness of pubic shaming in London; in two parts: Part 1 and Part 2.
Meanwhile there was the development of Soho into a nice little suburb.
The bra, as we know it, is a late 19th century invention. So what did women do in the 17th century?
The Blessing of the Thames — a modern revival based on an ancient custom.
Hundreds of old photographs of London pubs have been saved, having been rescued from a skip.
Finally in this section, IanVisits gives us a calendar of gun salutes in London during 2016. One day I will get to photograph one.
Food & Drink
So there’s more hoo-ha going on about diets, so we bring you a few myth-busters and the like …
I’ve never been a great breakfast eater and it seems I may have been vindicated as there is now a suggestion that breakfast may be a waste of time.
And here’s an article which claims to bust eight food myths. Who believes all these things anyway?
Next up we have a look at the science behind a number food trends.
Beware the chia seeds, my friends, just as you would the Ides of March. Cosmopolitan brings us a cynical look at seven natural foods that can totally fuck you up.
Now some fairly sensible food safety advice, and myths busted, from a scientist who should know.
Novelist and restaurant critic Jay Rayner, in the Guardian, has 12 things he really wants restaurants to stop doing this year. Me? I’ll just settle for having food on a plate, not on a piece of slate, or floorboard, or in a tin bucket.
And now here’s Rebecca Rupp, in National Geographic, on the wonders of chicken soup.
Finally in this section one for the all cookie baking linguists: cuneiform cookies.

People
On the wonder of cats and our relationships with them.
Shock, Horror, Humour
Emer O’Toole again, this time taking a (sideways?) look at how to be moderately successful. Top tip: follow the “Ah, fuck it” rule!

And finally the present for that friend who has everything: a dick in a box.

amusements

Oddity of the Week: Crazy Inventions

The Japanese are famous for their crazy inventions. Here are a couple I especially like (ie. they’re sufficiently crazy that their whackiness is excellent).
First we have the portable nose-wipe supply for when you have that streaming cold:


And then there’s this for you guys who are just too shagged out to be able to stand up to pee:

Finally girls, you can get your own back on us men over breastfeeding in public:

There are lots more on the internet, start at http://nuffy.net/cool/articles/totally-crazy-japanese-inventions.html or http://justsomething.co/23-craziest-japanese-inventions-you-never-knew-existed/.

amusements, arts

Oddity of the Week: Edo Farting

This week we return to juvenile humour [which may be NSFW].
There’s a curious scroll of images from Edo period Japan (1603-1868) of he-gassen, or a “farting competition”. The images show men and women happily expelling their gasses at cats, horses and even at each other. Apparently no one is safe!


According to the website Naruhodo “similar drawings were used to ridicule westerners towards the end of the Edo period, with images depicting the westerners blown away by Japanese farts”.
There is more over at Dangerous Minds, and you can find images of the whole scroll at the Waseda University Library.

amusements, history

Oddity of the Week: Professional Farters

This week we enter the realms of pre-adolescent male humour — and the humour of wealthy and powerful medievals. We all know that every court had one or more jesters, and it seems that some of them included farting to order amongst their repertoire. Some were even able to fart tunes (indeed from memory there is a line somewhere in Chaucer about some character “playing upon the arse trumpet”).


Note the flatulists at right

The best known of the medieval professionals is Roland the Farter. As a minstrel to King Henry II, Roland probably had many talents besides being a flatulist. In fact so good was Roland that he was rewarded with a manor house and 100 acres of land.
And even to this day there is the occasional professional farter.
There’s more such amusement at www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-true-story-of-roland-the-farter-and-how-the-internet-killed-professional-flatulence.