Dan Germain

my new knee

A while ago my knee had all of its cartilage in the right place. But then I knelt down, scooped my two year old out of the bath, pushed upwards using my right knee, in order to return to a standing position, and heard/felt a strange popping noise.

After conversations with some doctors, it was decided that I had torn my cartilage and the only cure (apart from leeches and some rebalancing of the biles) would be to have some of it snipped off.

And that's why I didn't run for almost 8 months. Seeing as running is the only form of exercise I really enjoy (now that my days as a footballer are gone), this was a bit of a pain. As well as the obvious benefits (cardiovascular fitness, looking good in Lycra), running is a form of head clearing and meditation for me. It helps me think. I have ideas when I run, and seemingly important things can be put into perspective.

So imagine my delight when, during my recent stay in the USA, I started running again. Wisely, I chose one of the world's hilliest cities in which to make my comeback. Packing an extra few pounds, the inhabitants of San Francisco (which also seems to be one of the world's healthiest cities) couldn't have failed to have been impressed by a man of my stature crawling up the world famous [insert name] Street - you know, the one with the trams going up it.

It felt good, and the knee is holding up. Long may it run.

trust the beard, trust the man

 

I think we all knew this anyway, but men with beards are more trustworthy. It is now a scientific fact.

in ancient days, men looked at stars

Ben finds lots of stuff but never gets round to starting a blog where he can put it all. So I'm nicking the best things he finds and passing them off as my own.

We begin with the speech that Nixon's speechwriter William Safire had up his sleeve, just in case Armstrong and Aldrin never came back from the Moon. Read it here.

Thank you Ben.

2009 - the international year of astronomy

I was talking to my wife the other day, having that conversation where you discuss what you would most like to do in the world; what would you do if you could go back to being a teenager and choose some sort of dream career path for yourself?

For me it's fairly simple. I would be an astronomer. I would like to sit on a hilltop in Hawaii staring into deep space using a very powerful telescope. I would like to discover a new galaxy. I would like to understand quantum physics a little better.

So the news that this year is the International Year of Astronomy has bitten me quite hard. It's 400 years since Galileo Galilei first had a good look at the Moon through his monocular instrument. And still I dither.

But it's time to face up to it – if I am still to become the world's best astronomer, I had better get cracking.

So this year I will buy a telescope. I now live somewhere where the nights are dark enough for me to see interesting things in the sky. The telescope will get used. Perhaps it will be housed in the 'studio'.

If anyone knows anything about telescopes, please advise me as to what kind/make/type I should get. I've got a lot to learn and I will need help. But with your support I shall become a great astronomer.

Thank you.

go chuck

I may have posted this once before, but I sure liked seeing it again.

smack me on the head with a shovel

paint to save the planet

Very clever.

the problem at the top of my throat

I've got a bifid epiglottis. It's like an upside down heart that lives at the back of my mouth, doing the clever job of stopping food going into my lungs. A bifid epiglottis is very similar to a normal epiglottis, except that it's got a split in it, hence the upside down heart shape. But I can live with it. Like Freddy Nietzsche said, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."*

However, there are rare occasions when the bifid chap is a pain. Usually happens when I get a throat infection. One half of the epiglottis swells up so much that it just sits on the back of your tongue, constantly making you gag, and making it really difficult to eat or drink.

Annoyingly, it is happening again right now. The epiglottis is engorged and I haven't eaten properly for three days. And I've got a fever to go with it, so I can't concentrate on anything - reading is tricky, telly has to be in bite-sized chunks, and I can't play with Ruby because I don't want her to catch the lurgy.

I went to see the doctor, who gave me some pills and told me to lie down for a bit, and it was he who revealed the proper name for my epiglottal condition.

Does anyone else have a hereditary condition that they'd like to share with the group?

* I had to look that up. I don't know Nietzsche quotes off by heart.

mouse brain holds the key to the universe

This is a computer simulation of how the Universe evolved, showing a network of stars, galaxies and dark matter.

And this is a picture of three neurons and their network of connections, taken from a stained slice of mouse brain tissue.

So, either the Universe is just a giant brain, or perhaps inside each mouse's head there lies an unexplored universe. I will figure out the answer later this week if I have time.

Pics from Adbusters mag Jan-Feb 2007

where do plants come from?

On Saturday morning I woke up with a question on my mind - how did plants get here?

As I understand it, the Earth used to be all rocks and lava and minerals. But at what point did plants begin? Did they evolve from lichen? If so, where did lichen come from?

I know that it might sound like a daft question but it's had me thinking for a couple of days. If anyone has a reasonable answer or can point me towards some wisdom I'd be very grateful.