delete

P267

Last night we were having a quiet chat in a restaurant when a large group was shown to another table. They had spent some time beforehand in the bar – as evidenced by the loudness of their conversation – which got louder as the wine was served. A quiet chat no longer being possible, we did the only sensible thing – and ordered another few bottles of wine ourselves. If you can’t beat them, join them.

“Cocktail Party Deafness” is a common cause for medical consultation, but is not necessarily caused by deteriorating hearing with age. Alcohol has an acute effect on our hearing threshold, which was demonstrated in a 2007 study by the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital in London.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2031886/

Volunteers had their hearing tested before and after a number of alcoholic drinks. (No, the study report doesn’t say what drink was used) Volunteers kept drinking until their blood alcohol concentration was greater than 0.06%, just above the driving limit. They were excluded from the test if their coordination had become so bad that they could’t work the hearing test machine. (I wonder if they got them to play Donkey Kong to test their level of coordination – which was the standard test at my University).

The experiment demonstrated a very significant impairment of hearing after alcohol, especially in the lower thresholds responsible for speech discrimination.

Therefore, people speak louder after a few drinks because they can’t hear themselves speaking. You may notice they also stand closer to the people they are speaking with so that they can hear them. I wonder if the temporary deafness also affects musical taste. Does it explain Jimmy Barnes?

Previous studies have documented the disinhibitory effects of alcohol.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1910701/

This disinhibition means that there is an increase in quantity of what is said while under the influence, on top of the increase in volume we have described.

Perhaps we need to do another study to determine if there is a corresponding increase in quality of conversation. In vino veritas – in wine there is truth. Come round next Saturday and we’ll discuss it over a nice red.

Cheers.

What I Learnt On 14th May in other years

Add a comment
delete

P261

Did your mum tell you not to crack your knuckles as it will give you arthritis?

Researchers at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, have published a retrospective case-control study of 215 people aged 50-89.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21383216?dopt=Abstract

Their conclusion

“A history of habitual Knuckle Cracking -including the total duration and total cumulative exposure-does not seem to be a risk factor for hand Osteoarthritis.”

You should celebrate by cracking your knuckles in front of your mum.

What I Learnt On 13th May in other years

13th May 2012 500 steps.....500 steps…..
Add a comment
delete

Not renown as an early riser, I’ll be up at 5am tomorrow (ie soon) to have a look at the Morning Planet Show – Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury will be very close together in the Eastern Sky just before sunrise.

Sydney Observatory says that this alignment occurs only every 50-100 years. They are hosting a breakfast to celebrate.

This video from Nasa shows what you can expect to see tomorrow, as well as on the following few days.

This graphic from the Sydney Observatory explains why they appear to be lined up, when viewed from Earth,

Configuration-of-planets-10-may-2011

Might be a good chance to test out the amazing Star Walk app for iPad – which provides a real time ‘heads up display’ of the visible celestial objects in whatever direction you point it.

Thanks to Sue for the tip about this.

What I Learnt On 12th May in other years

12th May 2012 30000 steps.....30000 steps…..
Add a comment
delete

What is ‘the most mind blowing fact‘? This question was posted to Quora.com, and received 72 answers.

The top voted answer was –

The time difference between when Tyrannosaurus and Stegosaurus lived is greater than the time difference between Tyrannosaurus and now.

That means that this scenario:

Stegosaurus

Is less likely (temporally speaking) than this scenario:

Tyranosaurus

Quora is an online ‘knowledge market’, founded last year by former employees of Facebook. It is a ‘question and answer’ site based on the social networking model. 

As a member of Quora, you can post a question on any subject to the site, or you can answer a question put by someone else. Members can also ‘vote’ on which answer to any question is the best.

You can also follow discussions in fields that interest you.

You can try out quora at http://www.quora.com

PS To save you the trouble, I checked on Wikipedia. The mind blowing fact is correct.

Stegosuarus lived 155 to 150 million years ago, whereas the relatively baby-faced Tyranosaurus lived 67 to 65.5 million years ago.

Cavemen originated in Africa around 200,000 years ago, just a blink of an eye.

 

 

What I Learnt On 11th May in other years

11th May 2012 UluruUluru
Add a comment
delete

Invincibles

The 1948 Invincibles.

Although born in Cootamundra (1908), Don Bradman spent his school years in Bowral.

The local oval was named in his honor in 1947. Beside it stands the International Cricket Hall of Fame, opened last year, which now incorporates the Bradman museum.

Reading Bradman’s story as portrayed in the museum reminds us of how dominant he was in cricket over the 20 year from his first test in 1928 till his last as captain of the 1948 Invincibles.

“When 12, Bradman played for Bowral School against Mittagong, scoring 115 not out and taking 8 wickets. After the game, Bradman’s uncle George Whiteman invited him to act as scorer for the Bowral team. One Saturday, the team was one short and Bradman went in 9th wicket down. A very young Bradman saved the match for his side by scoring 31 not out and 29 not out in the second innings.”

Bradman also excelled at tennis, which he concentrated on for some years after that! When he returned to the cricket team, Bowral won the Berrima competition – Bradman averaging 94.14, including a knock of 234 in 134 minutes against Bill O’Reillys Wingello side. He also took 31 wickets at an average of 7.8, and took 26 catches.

On the basis of this first season, he was asked to try out for the state team, and played the next season for St George, catching the train to Sydney each Saturday. He scored 110 in his first game.

He was still eligible to play for Bowral in the final, in which he scored 320!

It is said that he honed his skills in the backyard by throwing a golf ball against the base of a water tank, and then hitting it with a stump. If it hit the back door behind him, he was out. This is re-created in the museum. In this video, we see Sir Don demonstrating the technique and then Oliver showing him how it should be done.

 

 

Add a comment
delete

Abbottabad_view

According to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, “Vogons, though not actually evil, are throughly vile. Officious, bad-tempered, callous, rude, unpleasant.”

“Vogon poetry is of course the third worst in the Universe.”

“The second worst is that of the Azgoths of Kria. During a recitation by their Poet Master Grunthos the Flatulent of his poem “Ode To A Small Lump of Green Putty I Found In My Armpit One Midsummer Morning” four of his audience died of internal haemorrhaging, and the President of the Mid-Galactic Arts Nobbling Council survived by gnawing one of his own legs off.”

And the worst poet ever (as judged by the Guardian Newspaper) was General Sir James Abbott (1807-1896)

General_sir_james_abbott

Abbott dressed as an Indian prince.

Abbott, poet and British Army Officer, served as an administrator of northern Pakistan under the British Raj. In 1853 he founded a new capital for the region and generously gave it his own name –  Abbottabad. 

According to The Lonely Planet, (surely the modern day Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), Abbottabad is located in the cool, pine clad forests a few hours north of the capital Islamabad, and has a population of 900,000. 899.996. The city is now more of a pit stop for travellers along the famous Karokoram Highway (‘The High Road to China’) rather than a destination in itself. “Most come to get some money, some chicken chapati or Hazara embroidery at the local bazar”.

Back in 1853, General Abbott was so sad at having to leave his beautiful city and return to England that he penned the epic poem ‘Abbottabad’ – which earned his place in poetry history next to the Vogons. It may be the only poem in the world where ‘heart’ rhymes with ‘thwart’. It is available on Wikipedia and we also reproduce it below – read at your own risk.

Abbotabad, by James Abbot (1853)

I remember the day when I first came here
And smelt the sweet Abbottabad air

The trees and ground covered with snow
Gave us indeed a brilliant show

To me the place seemed like a dream
And far ran a lonesome stream

The wind hissed as if welcoming us
The pine swayed creating a lot of fuss

And the tiny cuckoo sang it away
A song very melodious and gay

I adored the place from the first sight
And was happy that my coming here was right

And eight good years here passed very soon
And we leave you perhaps on a sunny noon

Oh Abbottabad we are leaving you now
To your natural beauty do I bow

Perhaps your winds sound will never reach my ear
My gift for you is a few sad tears

I bid you farewell with a heavy heart
Never from my mind will your memories thwart

 

The afore mentioned Vogons were fond of reciting poetry to their prisoners. After a few minutes, even the most hardened crim would divulge any secrets or confess to any crime –  “just stop!”.

I wonder if this was part of Osama’s masterplan when he chose Abbottabad as his headquarters. Was he planning a poem of mass destruction?

 

 

 

 

Add a comment
delete

P244P246P248P250

Morning mist.
Frosty fields.
Autumn leaves.
Bacon and eggs.
Chocolate and candles.
Laughs and songs —
All before rugby at 8am!

What I Learnt On 8th May in other years

Add a comment
delete

“The future is already here, it is just poorly distributed” – William Gibson

Today, the first in the WILT trend hunting series-

The His N’ Hers Double iPad Stand – For that romantic dining occasion. Spotted at breakfast this morning.

P231

You heard it here first.

Add a comment
.

Subscribe To WILT

Sign up to our mailing list and receive a once daily dose of What I Learnt Today in your email inbox.

This is the best way to keep up with WILT.

Cheers,

Tony Lembke

You have successfully subscribed to WILT. Thanks.