Monthly Archives: October 2009

7 things I did not know before watching Life

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Last night I watched the first two episodes of the BBC series Life and learnt that:

  1. Cheetas are mush smaller than ostriches.
  2. Some fish can fly – well, glide actually but it's impressive nonetheless.
  3. The sensors on a Venus fly trap must be touched twice within twenty seconds for the blades to shut.
  4. The Brazilian pygmy gecko is unsyncable.
  5. Komodo dragons can kill a much larger water buffalo with a single poisonous bite – and then wait for up to several weeks next to the buffalo waiting for it to die so that they can feast on it.
  6. Brown basilisk lizards can walk on water and are therefore nicknamed 'Jesus' or 'Jesus Christ' lizards.
  7. Dolphins are even more intelligent than I thought they were. A small group of dolphins in Florida make a circle of murky water by swimming rapidly, and then wait outside the circle to catch panicked fish jumping out straight into their open mouths.
Life is a beautiful series and totally worth the licence fee. You can still catch it on iPlayer (UK only I think, and until the 21st of December). Watch it in HD on a big screen if you can, it's stunning!

7 things I did not know last week

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  1. In 1994 the Estonian Royalist Party offered Prince Edward the (non-existent) position of King of Estonia.
  2. Actor Stephen Moyer (vampire Bill Compton in True Blood) is British. Essex boy, actually (not that you'd guess it from his Southern US drawl in the series). Oh, and he turns forty tomorrow.
  3. Caffeine is a bug killer.
  4. David Bowie's Loving the Alien is a 'vivid depiction of Bowie's famous dislike for organized religion'. Pretty obvious from the lyrics I guess, but I think the last time I listened to it I did not speak English.
  5. You cannot create a Gmail label named 'todo' – possibly because it's a reserved internal name.
  6. Jonas Altberg (Basshunter) has been diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome. Hear him talk about it at BBC Chartblog.
  7. More than half of all Argentines are descended from Italian immigrants.

Should I get braces?

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Dental braces, with a powerchain, removed afte...

Image via Wikipedia

I woke up in the middle of the night because I was laying on something hard – my mouth guard, which I had manage to remove while sleeping (no small feat). But let's go back a bit.

A couple of years ago my dentist referred me to a periodontologist i.e. a gum (and other tooth-supporting structures) specialist. When I found out his address (just off very expensive Harley Street) I shivered, then after enquiring how much my treatment would cost, I nearly fainted.

I failed to find cheaper alternatives, so I submitted myself to (look away now if sensitive to yuckiness) regular scraping of the deep pockets inside my gums (a result of two decades of heavy smoking and fizzy drinks), and learned how to maintain them clean at home.

I was also given a custom-made protective guard to wear around my upper teeth at night, to keep them in place and prevent damage caused by grinding.

When I went for a checkup a few months after finishing my treatment, I was told that there had been visible progress. Well, you'd think he'd say that after what I paid him, but I must say I am indeed pleased. Nobody noticed, but this improvement means that I will hopefully be able to bite into an apple with my own teeth for another few years.

So now all I need is to pay alternate visits to my regular hygienist and the periodontologist's hygienist every three months to keep everything in order.

Although… There is something he mentioned, and I have been thinking about it for several months now: because of gum disease, my front teeth have grown apart, and it could be possible to rectify this with orthodontic care. Which basically means I might be wearing braces at the tender age of 42.

So you lot, stop smoking now, kick the diet coke habit, see a dentist regularly and brush your teeth. I was not so careful and I am (literally) paying now.

7 things I did not know last week

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  1. There are two Madonna songs entitled 'Forbidden Love' – one in Confessions on a Dancefloor (2005), another in Bedtime Stories (1994). Found in my own iTunes library.
  2. Popping corn is not dried sweetcorn, but a particular variety (Zea mays var. everta) that pops when heated (not all do).
  3. Actor Ralph Fiennes' first name is pronounced 'rafe'. Heard on a Film24 promo voiced by my mate Mike.
  4. The word Vigorish ('The Vig' – the amount charged by a bookmaker) is Yiddish slang originating from the Russian word for winnings, vyigrysh.
  5. More than half the babies born now in wealthy countries will live past 100.
  6. The Muppets' Mah Na Mah Na was originally composed by Piero Umiliani for the Italian movie 'Svezia, inferno e paradiso'. Posted on an old schoolmate's Facebook wall.
  7. Firefox can be easily tweaked to earch Google from the Address Bar à la Chrome.

Why can’t I stay logged on to Twitter?

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I'm running Firefox 3.5.3 and every time I start a new browser session Twitter asks me to log on. Not only that, I am also required to type my username every time, regardless of having checked the 'remember me' option.

I don't think I am doing anything wrong, and I have not enabled the 'Clear history when Firefox closes'. Any ideas?