Random

Amidst the bedlam that was a return to work after almost three weeks away, I completely forgot the small matter of having passed the second-year anniversary of my starting at my current job. The lads at HR though were not exactly keen to let me forget ; and I was suitably reminded via a letter in my home post box advising me of my eligibility to enrol on the company enhanced pension plan. Bar a few moments of drudgery, it has never really felt like I have been stuck out here for the past two years, even though I’ve twice come close to leaving; once to Nigeria, and the other time to our biggest competitor across town. ...

Quick reads…. On-the-job relationships come back into the limelight - one Police Unit seems to have fallen apart over the Team Leader’s dalliance with a female team member. On paywalls, one of the more rational arguments I’ve read. (HT - The Daily Dish) Artificial leaves currently in development may one day power an entire house by electrolysing water and providing hydrogen for fuel cells. Robotic bird flying becomes a wee bit more realistic. The genetic basis for loving working out. Sounding a note of caution for using GPS-aware apps indiscriminately. Color gets another (light) bashing. Slick sleaze, or ill advised expenditure? A short history of the bomb-zapper that never was. Google aims to turn phones into credit cards. App of the Week? Social Media meets shopping for dresses - an app for your friends to help you select a dress. The boobs have it. Apparently, there is a connection between length of time spent breast feeding and brain size. However there is no guarantee that breast milk is all that, especially when the mother isn’t eating well herself after all.

The Queen advertises for a dish washer to come on staff… My local MSP wonders if they’ve not heard of a dish washing machine. The WHO drills down into the alcohol stats.. Apparently alcohol killed more people than AIDS or TB in 2010.. Sobering.. Understanding the story.. Thirteen perspectives…. Brain chemicals and dating.. A primer. Teju Cole’s ‘Open City’ hits the shelves… The New Yorker, The Daily Beast and The Apostrophe weigh in with reviews. The kid named Facebook..Ostensibly its a testament to the impact FB had on the Egypt Revolution.. Hopefully, the kid doesn’t get a lot of stick for the name though.. There’s an app for that… Tracking relationship changes on Facebook gets the Web2.0 makeover….. SMH.. Web mourning? Help for the blokes - wristbands that warn of potentially PMSing partners. Bringing faiths together by cuisine.. The Faith and The Hot Dog show..

Hilarious video…. Littered with double meanings… Totally loved it..

If clocking in at 9am is the final act that seals my very own Faustian exchange, 3.00pm heralds the first faint sniffs of a coming salvation. Each day, a Bloke must lay the gifts of his time and skill on the altar of Mammon slaving away to earn his sustenance. Cups of coffee, endless trips to the loo, inane spreadsheets, chats with the intern and the occasional hard shift are all tools in the Bloke’s arsenal as he strives to make time pass quickly to justify the day’s pay. If the Bloke is lucky, make that uncommonly lucky, he finds his daily grind slightly more than remotely interesting. If he is like the rest of us, sometimes work is a long drawn out struggle with boredom. ...

Personality tests go a notch up - this site offers personality tests based on your blog. Automating war? Danger room reports that one in fifty ‘combatants’ in Afghanistan is a robot. The key to snagging the dream girl appears to be acting uninterested. @JangleLegJones thinks differently, sadly I couldn’t convince her to write a 4000 word essay deconstructing the research. Tim Challies offers the chance to pre-order his new book, and get a signed copy. Apparently, even sex is a matter for IQ these day s.. Sigh.. There’s an app for that. Confessionals go electronic. Sleepwalking may be in the DNA after all. A kiss too far? Much ado about farting Potentially crappy valentine weekend coming up? Try these books to get you laid..

I suspect that the truest measure of how sensibly one has aged is how well one is able to take a long hard look at choices - and their potential long term effects - before acting. Time, that most elusive of customers, respects no one. From the day that we are born, our share - ladled without so much as an explanation lobbed in our direction - ineluctably runs out like sand in an hour glass. Each passing second once spent is lost, left to float in the seething morass that is the conflation of opportunities missed, acts of omission and of omission and perhaps on the odd occasion windows of opportunity fully utilised. ...

The science of attraction. Perhaps it’s all in the mind after all. Another reason to google your name. You might be wanted for murder… Necessity is the mother of invention - the husband who rigged up a taser device to keep his wife faithful.. The ‘completely irresponsible’ call reporting a stolen snowman The case for eating insects.. Mathematical immortality - buy a theorem and name it after yourself. The smart wallet that could help you spend within your means.. Bacteria that could recycle iron.. The gene for aggression. DNA testing of babies - whilst in the womb..

Feeding the poor with iPads: How FareShare is blending technology and social responsibility.. The game that ‘makes’ you a genetic scientist… The radiation debate flares up again - are radio waves frying our brains? Facebook breakups are the real deal.. The right twitter handle can make you famous.. The girl who suddenly became famous thanks to the ashes down under.. Skye Jethani’s 30 day Twitter experiment…

More reason to be careful about your twitter activity - The twitter ‘joke’ that’s been blown out of proportion.. iPhone apps that could save your marriage? The mean gene.: apparently one in four people have this gene.. Taking email (and the internet too seriously)… Laptops and male fertility.. Interesting piece over at Wired Science… Another take on the Yahoo vs Gmail argument…Gmail appears to be inherently ‘safer’.. (HT Trae Days) Interesting take on the Marine Corps, Appearance and Tradition over at The Art of Manliness.. Ribadu is interviewed on the Economist’s Africa blog. Amazon briefly lists the inappropriately named ‘The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: a Child-lover’s Code of Conduct’ before bowing to pressure and taking it down.. Skype wedding? The possibilities are endless… (HT The Daily Dish)