nourishing obscurity

All right, you can call me a Luddite if you like but this has me reaching for a paper bag: Researchers are sure that they can put lab-grown meat on the menu — if they can just get cultured muscle cells to bulk up.  Mark Post has never been tempted to taste the ‘fake’ pork [...]

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Filed under: Society & human issues

The Wrong Kind of Snow [or why the 6.15 Great Western Service from Bristol to London Arrives Over an Hour Late] I’ve been trying to track down the author and in which publication it first appeared but have had no luck.  It might be now a trifle outdated in detail but the sentiments are as [...]

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Filed under: Diversions, Leisure, travel & sport, Society & human issues

Rossa‘s made it to the big Two-Zero-Zero and that’s not something to be sneezed at. Anyone who can munch on a bacon butty, then later – florentines, profiteroles, chocolate and chestnut roulade, apple croustade, banana and raisin strudel, rum and raisin icecream can’t be all bad, not that she is, of course [he hastily adds]. [...]

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Filed under: Blogging

Doug Noland at Asia Times: The Fed may not be running the currency printing press around the clock, but Fed policies have certainly been instrumental to the unending expansion of Treasury borrowings. And, clearly, any meaningful definition of contemporary “money” must include government debt instruments. Indeed, with bank (and, more generally, private-sector) credit suffering from [...]

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Filed under: Politics & economics

H/T Chuckles, with thanks.

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Filed under: Diversions, Leisure, travel & sport

We appear to have a Hindenburg: We got a second official confirmed Hindenburg Omen observation Wednesday, December 15th, 2010 after getting a first observation Tuesday, December 14th, 2010, meaning we are now on the clock watching for a stock market crash, and at the very least a significant decline. There is a much higher than [...]

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Filed under: Politics & economics

Xmas medley Mud – Lonely this Christmas – 1974

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Filed under: Politics & economics

Hey, at last: Objects large enough to be seen with the naked eye have been swept under an ‘invisibility carpet’ for the first time. Invisibility cloaks were proposed in 2006, and prototypes that can shield objects for certain wavelengths of light have since been built. However, until now, physicists have been unable to fabricate a [...]

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Filed under: Diversions, Technology & ideas

There was a withdrawal of internet service in the wee hours of this morning, for hours and it was to do with BT. So once more, if it’s ever down for any length of time, there are almost always some scheduled posts and it would not become immediately apparent – there’s currently some scheduling up [...]

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Filed under: Blogging

Mars ice cap in winter?  The Antarctic?  Nope, it’s from Bob G in the backyard of his Mom’s place in Utah.  In his spare time, he’s popped over here 200 times now [on the new blog], which is pretty good going and Bob’s shrewd observations are always welcome.  This is his literary style:

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Filed under: Blogging

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Filed under: Leisure, travel & sport, Technology & ideas

In response to Rossa‘s request. 

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Filed under: Diversions, Leisure, travel & sport, Technology & ideas

Those interested will already know about the space probe breaking down for an hour, right at the vital time when it was to enter orbit around Venus:

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Filed under: Technology & ideas

I liked Diserio’s definition of betrayal: Betrayal is the vindictive violation of trust. It is the disregard of the innocence of the heart.

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Filed under: Society & human issues

OK – look at the one below, a teaser.  By tracing along the lines from any starting point, not lifting the pen or finger and not backtracking at any point, can you cover all lines once only? For the solution, highlight after this     No .

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Filed under: Diversions