Sensible girls! “Managing money and safe-sex practices are among the main topics in which British Girl Guides aged 14 to 26 want more instruction, a Girlguiding UK survey of more than 1000 guides has found.” From the Age OddSpot.
Also a good article “Archaeologists locate possible Aztec tombs” in Mexico.
Author Archives
I’m back in London
I know, I was naughty, no posts here while I was away. So in retropsect, it was very hot, dusty. And while a commute that takes in the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya is lovely, any journey that takes 30 hours is a bit horrendous by the end.
The story is absurd enough, but why a baseball cap in your emergency kit?
I’m off for two weeks
I’ll be out in Turkey, leaving very, very early this morning, and back August 3rd.
I hope I’m not tempting fate by saying I shouldn’t be anywhere near bits that might have bombs around the election (July 22) – we’re so far from anything that I can’t imagine anyone bothering, and I’m only passing through Istanbul.
Things you probably didn’t know about medieval lesbians
But there was a medical condition recognized by medieval authorities that might cause normally heterosexual women to become lesbians. It was called ragadiae. According to Carolyn Dinshaw, who is your go-to scholar for weird medieval sexuality, William of Saliceto’s 1285 Summa conservationis et curationis or “Bumper Book of Treatments and Cures” defines ragadiae as fleshy growths, often in the shape of a penis, caused by difficult childbirth, other abscesses of the womb, or sometimes friction from excessive sexual intercourse. Women who found themselves in possession of these growths would sometimes subsequently develop a desire to use them to have sex with other women.
http://gotmedieval.blogspot.com/2007/07/if-medieval-lesbians-dont-get-you-back.html
Why the UK should never have an ID Card or joined-up databases
“The roll call of banks, retailers, government departments, public bodies and other organisations which have admitted serious security lapses is frankly horrifying,” said Mr Thomas.
I really like mental_floss, but they post so often it tends to build up in my RSS reader. Here are some random posts that might explain why I like it: Russian books for naughty children, Summer Solstice Celebrations (great photos of celebrations around the world) and Russian stamps depict the darndest things.
Good things
I had a really good Sunday (kayaking then a few blissed out hours in the sun (! actual sun!) in the beer garden of the local lezza bar), then a crap Monday morning – visa hassles for Turkey, my porridge exploded, I forgot my Oyster card, the bus was diverted, blah blah blah. So this story in The Age about the power of learning and the benefits of the internet has helped renew my happy Sunday mood.
Armed only with his intelligence, a book on electricity, some plastic piping and found objects, Kamkwamba built his first windmill, which generated enough power to run a light in his room.
His second, larger windmill uses a bicycle to increase efficiency and was able to generate power for his parents’ house and charge car batteries or mobile phones for people in his village.
Hopefully he won’t end up wasting his life on social networking sites like the rest of us.
Petitions do work!
I got an email from 10 Downing Street about a petition, Roads4bikes, I’d signed. And the petition worked!
This is so far beyond wrong that I can’t even start to describe it: The World’s Most Photographed Squirrel.