Category Archives: personal

medical, personal, science

Hairy Mysteries

We are used to the fact that men grow hair on their heads and faces. And that some men even dare to grow hair on their chests — much to the horror, it seems, of most girls.

We also know that male hair growth is in part related to testosterone levels — or at least the testosterone level at some critical point in their development — as well as genetics.

So why is it that even the hairiest of men don’t grow hair round where their shirt collar goes? (There are a few very, very hairy men who do grow hair under their collars, but they are unusual.)

It seems unlikelky that the lack of hair is due to collar abrasion. The area is totally devoid of hair and there is no sign of hair regrowth if collars are not worn. The collar also seems not to affect hair growth in those very hairy men who do grow hair on their necks.

This really does seem to be a genuinely hairless area.

Can anyone explain why this is the case and what evolutionary advantage it might once have had?

Or perphaps to put it another way … why is facial and chest hair selected for, but neck and shoulder hair mostly isn’t?

amusements, memes, personal, photography

Listography : Gadgets

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Gotta get a gadget? OK. That’s easy ‘cos Kate’s Listography this week is all about gadgets. Our top five gadgets ever. So here goes …

Washing Machine. Now there are two types of washing machine: the clothes washer and the dish washer. Both fulfil essentially the same function on different commodities. So I’m going to cheat and choose both!

PC. Well I couldn’t do above 10% of what I currently do without one. How did anyone run a society, let alone a business, using only a pen, a typewriter and a Roneo machine?

Digital Camera. I like looking at things and trying to make pictures. But I cannot draw for toffee and anyway it takes too long. So I’m glad I learnt photography when young. And then someone invented the digital camera so I don’t have to do all that tedious darkroom work.

Spectacles. I’ve worn specs since I was about 14. That’s nearly 50 years (eeek!). They’re a part of me and I mostly don’t even know I’m wearing them — only true specs wearers will understand the surrealism of trying to wipe your eye only to find you’re still wearing your glasses. And I’d be as blind as a at without them.


Biro and Automatic Clutch Pencil. Again I’m going to lump these two together as essential writing implements. I hated the old “dip in the ink-pot pens” as I always ended up with ink everywhere. Fountain pens weren’t a lot better. I can’t abide blunt pencils but could never sharpen a pencil properly, even with a pencil sharpener and certainly not with a penknife. Good biros and good clutch pencils (I use the Sanford/Papermate PhD range which are so comfortable), while they may not have done a lot for handwriting, have made life so much more amenable. Three cheers for László Bíró and the inventors of the automatic pencil (Tokuji Hayakawa and Charles R Keeran).

So there you have it: seven gadgets for the price of five!

Oh! But wait! I’ve forgotten the most important gadget of all … a wife. 🙂

books, medical, personal, science

Reasons to be Grateful

This week I’ve been reading Richard Wiseman’s 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot. This is a self-help book but with a big difference. As the book blurb says

Welcome to the new science of rapid change. In 59 Seconds psychologist Richard Wiseman exposes modern-day mind myths promoted by the self-help industry, and outlines quick and quirky techniques that help people to achieve their aims in minutes, not months.

And from New Scientist

This is a self-help book, but with a difference: almost everything in it is underpinned by peer-reviewed and often fascinating research. It could actually help you be a little happier, perform better at interviews, procrastinate less, improve your relationships, reduce your stress levels and be a better parent

And it does exactly what it says on the tin!

In the final chapter Wiseman briefly summarises ten things which he could explain in under a minute (the challenge he set himself at the start of the book) and which could make a difference:

  1. Develop the gratitude attitude
  2. Place a picture of a baby in your wallet
  3. Hang a mirror in your kitchen
  4. Buy a pot plant for the office
  5. Touch people lightly on the upper arm
  6. Wite about your relationship
  7. Deal with potential liars by closing your eyes and asking for an email
  8. Praise children’s effort over ability
  9. Visualise your self doing, not achieving
  10. Consider your legacy

No they aren’t all inherently obvious. And I’m not going to try to explain them here — you’ll just have to splash out a few quid on the paperback.

Do they work. Well clearly Wiseman thinks they do. I don’t know, although I follow the logic behind most of them. So what I’m going to do is try a little experiment of my own here: and that’s try the first on Wiseman’s list which he summarises as:

Develop the gratitude attitude
Having people list three things that they are grateful for in life, or three events that have gone especially well over the past week, can significantly increase their level of happiness for about a month. This, in turn, can cause them to be more optimistic about the future and improve their physical health.

So each weekend I’ll write a short post about at least three (I’ll aim for five) things which have made me happy or which I’m grateful for over the last week. And I’ll aim to do this trough to at least the end of 2012. There’s no control group so it will be hard to know how well it succeeds, other than maybe my qualitative perceptions — but then that is at least half of what it’s all about. Anthony Powell attributes to his character General Conyers in Books Do Furnish a Room:

The General, speaking one felt with authority, always insisted that, if you bring off adequate preservation of your personal myth, nothing much else in life matters. It is not what happens to people that is significant, but what they think happens to them.

So here are my first five things which have made me happy/grateful over the last week:

  1. An excellent Anthony Powell Annual Lecture last evening from Prof. Vernon Bogdanor
  2. Noreen
  3. A stunning flower on our Hibiscus
  4. Sunshine
  5. Beaujolais Nouveau

memes, personal, photography

[45/52] Scouts

[45/52] Scouts
Click the image for a larger version.

Week 45 entry for 52 weeks challenge.

No time for any decent photography this week, so we’ve dug deep into the archives again.

This is from about 1964/5. I’m the urchin in the poncy white gloves leading the SE Hertfordshire District Scouts St George’s Day Parade. Although I have Patrol Leader’s stripes I can’t be more than 14 as I’m not wearing glasses.

Those were the days when shorts were mandatory, even for Scout Masters, although thank heaven we didn’t have to try to maintain those old style hats.

Photograph, probably by my father, taken at Turnford, Cheshunt, outside the then Rochford’s Sports Ground. The road is what was then the main A10 to Cambridge (it’s been bypassed now and is the A1170).

food+drink, memes, music, personal, quotes, science

Ten Things – November

Number 11 in my monthly series of “Ten Things” for 2011. Each month I list one thing from each of ten categories which will remain the same for each month of 2011. So at the end of the year you have ten lists of twelve things about me.

  1. Something I Like: Beaujolais Nouveau (This year’s is supposed to be even better than last year’s which was superb; and it’ll be here in a few days time!)
  2. Something I Won’t Do: Plumbing
  3. Something I Want To Do: Visit Norway & Sweden
  4. A Blog I Like: Cocktail Party Physics
  5. A Book I Like: Douglas Adams, Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
  6. Some Music I Like: Handel, Messiah
  7. A Food I Like: Pizza
  8. A Food or Drink I Dislike: Sweet Potatoes
  9. A Word I Like: Mendicant
  10. A Quote I Like: The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose. [JBS Haldane]
memes, personal, pleasures, topographical

[44/52] Vintage Speed

[44/52] Vintage Speed
Week 44 entry for 52 weeks challenge.

There were a a few vintage cars wandering around the Mayfair/Bayswater area of London this afternoon, presumably having been on display/parade in Regent Street ahead of tomorrow’s London to Brighton run. They’re a real challenge to photograph in amongst all the other traffic especially as many are so small they tend to hide. In the end I managed to take this from the passenger seat of our car as we overtook one on the Bayswater Road near Lancaster Gate tube station.