Category: Techo stuff

Hard court shoes?

Oliver Pritchett writes in the DT:

“I was fascinated to learn that the Queen has someone to wear-in her new shoes, to avoid that uncomfortable blistery phase. Does this person have a job title, like Lady-in-Broad-Fitting or Mistress of the Instep?

And how does one get selected for the post? Foot size is obviously important; my guess is that the successful applicant would have to take a half-size bigger than the Queen’s, which would help when the salesman says: “It will stretch with wear, Your Majesty.” There would be rigorous tests of foot hygiene, of course, and evidence would be needed to prove that the person chosen had a clean record as far as scuffing is concerned. Continue reading “Hard court shoes?”

City slicker

They won’t let me embed this clip here, I like the picture so I’m leaving it. Members who wish to refresh their memory of this funny scene will unfortunately have to watch it on youtube, please do, it sort of sets the scene for my post.

We have a PVR satellite receiver, it’s one of those clever machines which allows a family to watch 2 different channels and record a third. Continue reading “City slicker”

Panaceas and placebos are not PC

British patriots among us will recall that Lady Sarah Ferguson boasted of using royal jelly (by mouth) to facilitate conception, while even today a North Korean mother of triplets sings the praises of honey potions prescribed for her by the late, lamented Kim Jong-Il – akshully very ill by all acccounts.

But unmoved by these historically reliable accounts of the power of patent medicines, canny Chinese bosses plan to ban all such products from being promoted as ‘miraculous’. In fact China’s State Food and Drug Administration will outlaw words it classes as “vulgar or linked with superstition, such as: sex, God, immortal,” from the names of health products”.

Which strikes me as a bit harsh. I mean the Chinese seem to believe in the power of feng shui, tai chi and i ching, not to mention the application of needles in unmentionable places – so what’s so dangerous about ginseng, horny goat weed and a few enchanted pills from the local quack?

Remember, Confucius he say, “A little bit of what you fancy always does you good, innit?”

More pseudo-science

As far as I know (but there again I only have four children and eight grandchildren) children sometimes sleep ‘badly’, snore and report bad dreams. Believe it or not, it’s because they are human and respond in the same way as adults to what life serves up. They get scared, worried, confused, excited, even impatient – and then sleep just doesn’t happen as it ‘should’.

But now we are informed that such short-term difficulties are potentially dangerous, harmful to the brain! They might lead to the elusive ADHD – which not surprisingly means that after a bad night’s sleep it’s hard to concentrate. Wow, that’s terrifying. Quick, get a shrink, pick up a prescription, talk to your child about the dangers of snoring.

Or alternatively, ignore it and get a life!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17237576

Call me Charlton Heston

A hysterical female voice was on the end of the telephone line that, because of her high-pitched alarmed tone, I couldn’t make out who it was. I passed the receiver over to my wife to see if she could decipher the caller’s problem.

I miss the old original phones. The ones with the huge round dialling face. It was an effort trying to ring an 8 or a 9 number on one of those cumbersome machines. Your pointer would trail round the track with a NASCAR’s differential until it reached the end of the line. Then you let go and the wheel spun back. Pure bliss. Continue reading “Call me Charlton Heston”