:: Sunny Outlook ::

With this weekend's weather forecast, it should come as no surprise that I'm planning to spend some time at least in the garden. Whilst I shall be adjourning to Tigger's for burnt offerings to celebrate her flatmate's 30th, it might be time to instigate a barbecue of my own. All this in preparation for The Housewarming Party, that mythic and far-off event, when my flatmates and I hope to have cleared and clean, only to have it trashed again by our nearest and dearest. This trauma might put me in mind to settle for a Russian Roast and some Fish & Chips. Keen gardeners should be aware that natural aphid protection can now be purchased on Amazon.

One thing I shall be avoiding is the dreaded f-word. Even with this BBC online guide, I remain diffidently dispassionate about all things footie related. However, it may be worth turning up in Lisbon in a football shirt after all...

The entertainment world was hit by the death of the Godfather of Soul. Meanwhile in London, Charles and Camilla Park N' Ride demonstrated their "taste" in music by attending a gala performance of Mamma Mia. I bet they were the berks in the box rustling the Murray Mint wrappers. And Chinese man illustrate the perils of trying to emulate the stars of 60s musicals.

After fending off a proposal from my boss that I should change my working hours (10.30-18.30? I ask you!), I've concluded that I work more effectively in the mornings. I don't relish this kind of ante-meridian assignation, but fear for my ability to hold out against such powerful distractions as silly photoshoppery. palindromes and shopping for cheap CDs. "Eh? Palindromes?" you splutter. There are lots of them about - some bloke's even written a 5000-word palindromic story. It's bullshit, but I salute the pointlessness of his endeavour. Who said language teaching was boring?

One final point...
Someone has at last picked up on the media's obsession with silly pseudo-scientific formulae. Over a bank boliday or quiet news patch, a normally respectable paper will print a piece on one of life's eternal questions: Why does bread always fall butter side down? Why do dropped keys always find their way to the nearest drain? How does one make the perfect cappuccino? The answer is invariably provided by a semi-respectable bespectacled scientist, who provides an algebraic formula to illustrate the problem. This is hardly e=mc² territory. Far from being tangilble or concretely defined factors, the letters employed by aforementioned scientist always represent things like "the ordinariness of human behaviour you're explaining". How is this quantifiable? I call on my friends of a scientific bent to refute such mathmatical inanity. The ruthless pursuit of over-definition is a waste of time - particularly when, in these articles at least, the factors described must be explained in detail after the formula is given. It addition, I'm dubious of any attempt to quantify certian things which are, by their verbal definition, subjective. Is my perfect cup of tea the same as yours? More importantly, are the same factors relevant to all tea drinkers? I doubt it. Words, it seems, are better for describing some things, just as numerals are better at describing others. Who, in their right mind, has ever written the following in a maths exam: "seven thousand eight hundred and nineteen divided by thirteen equals six hundred and one point four six one five three eight recurring"?
/rant