Hydrogen Peroxide Therapy

Along with the Warrior / Fast 5 Diet I am also exploring Hydrogen Peroxide, or H2O2. Using food grade 35% H2O2 diluted in distilled water or in freshly squeezed juice.

Yesterday my friend arrived with a bottle decanted from her supply of 35% for me to try. As I squeezed just one drop into a glass of distilled water to try I noticed it was odourless, colourless and tasteless at that dilution. Yet with the small spray bottle of 3% she had made up with distilled water it had fizzed on a tiny cut that she had. Overnight I was wondering if the 35% was just water by mistake. Remembering a youtube video I had watched with a guy demonstrating the effects of 35% H2O2 on the palm of his hand, this morning I squeezed a couple of drops onto the palm with no effect. Hmm I thought. As I did not have any cuts to try it on as H2O2 fizzes on blood I retrieved a bit of the orange skin flesh and squeezed some drops on there to see the effect. At last I started to see some slight fizz.

Somehow though, in the process I had managed to let some H2O2 fall on to the side of my hand near the base of my thumb, or perhaps that is where I opened the bottle.Which I did not realise until I had stood for some seconds peering at the fizzing orange and felt the burning sensation. Oh my word, my skin was turning white and it hurt a bit and I was more than a bit scared. However a couple of minutes under the tap and now twenty minutes later there is nothing to show for the drama.

I had to know and I am glad that happened as a very practical sign of the care one must take with H2O2. Today is my first day taking 3 drops diluted three times a day. Tomorrow it goes up to 4 drops and so forth until day 23 when one gets up to 25 drops and then one comes down again until back at 3 drops for the maintenance dose. I may not get to the top dose as I will follow my instinct but who knows. The purpose is to oxygenate the whole body system from the inside. It is said to cure illnesses and ailments. I am using it as part of my MOT in preparation for my 50th birthday and the next stage of my life.

Feminine Genius

When I am good I am smokin'! First thing today I set to and sorted our mystery cupboard. If we lived in an old house it would be the cupboard under the stairs, the one where the vacuum and the cleaning materials are alongside the re-usable shopping bags and the carrier bags. The duplicate cleaning materials and the multitude of washing up sponges yet there are never any when you want them. The singular solid builder's glove has been thrown along with the debris of four years of living here leaving order and virtually a little grocery store of supplies neatly stored. The dustpan and brush were never handy and then I realised I should just shift the hook and bingo, maybe our lives may become tidier simply because the cleaning materials are more accessible.

The real genius began when I turned my attention to our cooker. We live in rented accommodation so the landlords are responsible for such things working. When it broke down again for the umpteenth time a year ago they decided to replace it. The engineer did so but the door never quite fitted. It would creak and not shut properly so when cooking the heat would escape out of the sides of the door wreaking the surrounding fascias of the cupboards. Mr Doris tried fixing it, I tried tweaking it, we told the landlord of the damage but they did nothing. Today I took the door apart. Four tiny little screws were all that held the door together. As well as a good scrub to all sides of the glass panels I studied the mechanism.

Poked.

Looked.

Tweaked.

Considered.

Pondered.

Dabbled.

Experimented.

Wiggled.

And then it became blindingly obvious that this flappy piece of metal was not incidental. That it was there for a reason. Suddenly things began to clunk and click into place. A few minutes later the door assembled and everything reasonably horizontal and opening and shutting like a dream. Looking shiny and clean. And fixed. Oh yes, when I am good and I am very good! Leaving me pondering that when the cooker was installed it was not installed properly.

Meaningful Spaghetti

On the floor, between our desks is a worrying pile of cables. Coming out of back-up power blocks or regular power blocks. Black cables, white cables and grey cables. Loose ends and USB ends twisting and winding from one tower to another. Into the scanner and out of the printer and seemingly all points in between. Then there are the junction blocks and cables so that one piece of hardware works for at least two computers. In the darkness of the night with all the machines off, the little snake eyes of the LEDs glow as if ready to pounce.

This morning I am trying to back up my telephone prior to sending it back to have it finally fixed or replaced whilst it is still in warranty. And I need a cable. Just the one. That goes from the phone to the USB junction box. But I have extracted three such cables in the spaghetti that would have fitted my old phone but not this one. I feel sure that there was a time a year ago when I needed that cable but could not find even one. Oh joys.

Minus one

There are three temperature gadgets on my computer desktop. The first is for my own corner of England's green and pleasant land which reads -1 C. It is November 9th and still we have not had to put the heating on for which I am very grateful. Dear Mr Doris likes our home to be warm and I am more a "throw open the window" sort of person. So far we seem to be finding a happy medium as we live in a new build that seems to have been properly designed and keeps in the heat as it is insulated by the flats above and below.

The second temperature gadget is for a town in Germany where a girlfriend lives. They have been having unusually lower temperatures these last couple of months, and certainly significantly lower than ours but not today as they have a reading of 4 C with rain.

And then there is the third temperature gadget for a city in Australia where my cousin lives. They are heading into summer and already reading stonking temperatures, currently 34 C.

As I sit at my desk I can imagine I am in these other places with people I also love, deciding what clothes I need to wear for the weather, embracing the day and what it has to offer.

Thanking the world for our amazing planet.

Wanna be adored?

Jay of The Depp Effect is playing around with words which is a meme she found elsewhere on the blog trail, originally from Booking Through Thursday. This meme might be a tad old, but it is Thursday today!

The idea is to ‘pick up the nearest book and turn to page 123′. Write down the first and last sentences on that page and connect them together with some new writing.

Most of our books are still in boxes for "the big move" when that finally happens which leaves only a selection of more eclectic non-fiction books on the shelves. Therefore, doing the first book that came to hand was not an option as I need to be impassioned and not bored to tears by the whole idea. So here goes, a completely different re-write as there is no way I can really read what happens between these two sentences from page 123 of "The Science of High Explosives" by Melvin A Cook, 1963. Not to be confused with the likes of Practical Bomb Making found online by day to day terrorists.

Nonideal detonation is associated in general with a finite reaction-zone length a or a finite reaction time r. He loved it when his wife spoke dirty to him. Using interesting and complicated words linked together with a reasonable amount of logic. But tonight she was on to a corker talking about high explosives as their bodies melded together and moved to a passionate rhythm. The moment was electric and took what had become a perfunctory activity done so many times before into the realms of, well, high explosives!

He adored his wife with her wide knowledge of life and the universe and her way with words. He would do anything for her, and often did. Making sure she was the happiest she could be by remembering all those small daily details such as replenishing the chocolate supply in the car door for all her driving, making her frothy coffee and warmed croissants each morning, or touching her in the right way to make sure that her body and mind felt fulfilled. Yes, he knew he was the luckiest man around as the words continued to gently bubble from her lips with a delicious musicality massaging his aural receptors. As she uttered the final line, her voice slowed to an allagando pace with each syllable hitting a nerve desiring more, releasing the final equation through the rippling after shocks as his hot sweaty body clung to hers with gratitude, immense love and honour: Then, using an expression for the ideal detonation velocity D*, he obtained the equation (D*/D)² = 1 + 2.25 ((r₁)⁴ - 1)

;-)

P.S. (D*/D)² = 1 + 2.25 ((r₁)⁴ - 1) reads "D star over D all squared equals 1 plus 2.25 multiplied by r1 to the power of 4 take away 1"

Let me know if you do this meme and I'll come read!

Allsorts

Note to self: do not take overseas phone calls at quarter to eight in the morning because I am likely to have some person earnestly trying to sell me their project to match up with my project and telling me how I can be earning more money but what they have is just advertising rubbish. And he got frustrated with me because I don't have dollar signs in my eyes!

Yesterday: walking home through the park a squirrel stood to attention just ahead of me and held that proud and majestic position until I drew up next to it, then it bounded off. It looked a magnificent creature.

This week: daughter is seventeen and very happy. I feel a sense of achievement and gratefulness that she seems reasonably balanced and hasn't felt the need to run away from home like I had when I was 16.

This weekend: I'm off to stay with a very good friend for a few days down sowf.

Just now: I'm plugged into NASA TV watching preparations for the return to earth of the shuttle with Anousheh Ansari (the first female space tourist) onboard. Anousheh has now written her first blog from space!

NB. I must be completely off my rocker..... Anousheh has only just returned to earth and I was confused as she didn't come back on the Shuttle but instead stayed on the ISS. And I've been reading her blog, well, bits of it, and thought that these were reports written whilst she was up in space but only being logged now. I shall scuttle off now. 29 Sep 2006



Original Comments:

Atyllah said...

Congratulations on raising a well-balanced daughter - no mean feat in this crazy world.
Re squirrels - I couldn't pass on some of mine to you, could I. They've moved into the family room where the nutstash is kept and have made themselves at home. I'm not sure whose house this is anymore - mine or theirs. It is, however, quite definitely a nuthouse!

Thursday, September 21, 2006 9:43:00 AM

Stegbeetle said...

Had I $20 million to spare, I'd try the "space tourist" thing. What a cool trip!

Thursday, September 21, 2006 10:07:00 AM

cheryl said...

Wow - thanks for the link to Anousheh - what a brilliant post she did.

Happy birthday to daughter!

Thursday, September 21, 2006 10:36:00 AM

Anji said...

Happy birthday to your daughter; mine will be 18 in six weeks and certainly seems more capable and well balaced than i was at that age. We had squirrells in our woods but after the hurricane of 1999 they seem to have gone into hiding, aren't they lovely?

have a lovely weekend

Thursday, September 21, 2006 2:14:00 PM

Minx said...

I've had no foreign phone calls, no squirrel nutkins but 'Space blogger', how cool is that?

Thursday, September 21, 2006 10:16:00 PM

Gerald Ford said...

walking home through the park a squirrel stood to attention just ahead of me and held that proud and majestic position until I drew up next to it, then it bounded off. It looked a magnificent creature.

One time, I was walking through a park with a freshly toasted, shredded chicken sandwich, and I suddenly realized I was surrounded.

I am not joking, but six squirrels had appeared out of nowhere, and had surrounded me!

The stood there, quietly sniffing the air, and I carefully walked past them, in case they tried something...

True story. My wife was there.

Friday, September 22, 2006 5:23:00 AM

Doris said...

I can imagine that Gerald Ford and I can imagine it was quite intimidating!

Minx I'd be happy to share "my" Space Blogger with you! ;-)

Anji Congrats to you too then for that time 18 years ago when you did the deed. I can't say that my daughter is more capable than me at this age but at least she is much happier. We live next to a park and so have squirrels walking along our wall all the time. Strange to think that your local population just died off or disappeared.

Cheryl Thanks! :-)

Steggie I think it is a great way for the incredibly wealthy to spend their money - helping to fund the space programme. Now to earn the first $20 mill!

Atyllah Thank you re daughter. Wow - squirrels actually in the house? Now is this the real house or the house of the alien chicken.... I get confused at times ;-) But either way I quite believe it is a nuthouse! ROFL

Friday, September 22, 2006 8:25:00 AM

Britmum said...

Great post Doris. I liked how you set it up too.

Take care xx

Monday, September 25, 2006 6:14:00 AM

Child of the museums

I was twelve years old when I was put on a plane and flew across the world on my own to the UK. It was a strike for freedom for me even though I was heading into the unknown with relatives I didn't know. School took a month or so to get sorted and as the adults in my life were out working I was left to my own devices.

Living in south London I think it was the number 74 bus I could get that would take me all the way into town for a mere 4 pence. One of those old red double decker buses with a conductor who would still break off a ticket from the block strung around their waist. Even then, 4 pence was very little and was exceptional value. I'd delight in planning my days which almost always centred around visiting the museums. Little tiny me and I had the delicious freedom of London.

Day after day I'd visit the museums and spend hours peering into glass cases, walking in wonderment around exhibits drenched in gold and jewels, or in awe of the tremendous age of some of the exhibits. In the V & A I'd stare at the intricate religious icons with their macabre bloody scenes and adore the jewelled goblets. In the Science Museum I'd explore the rockets; play on the magnificent 1970s computer that churned away to produce simple binary; and use the telephone exchange and watch all the gears clicking into action. (Years later that telephone exchange is still there with its old fashioned dial telephones which my own kids did not recognise as phones!)

The Geological museum was fabulous for the earthquake simulator which, in those days, was a simple metal platform which I'd often stand on. I am really not sure but I think it used to be a separate museum but is now part of the Natural History museum which never really appealed to me back then. Goodness knows why not because I'd have loved those dinosaurs!

And then there was the British Museum. There was only ever one reason for a kid to visit and that was for all the Egyptian mummies. Room after room of mummies. You could even see the wrinkled bodies and broken bones through the wraps. Mummified cats and other creatures all held fascination. I'd try and work out the patterns of the bandaging and admired the perfection of the handiwork. I was also taken with the library and its illuminated manuscripts.

Each of these museums are in wonderful Victorian buildings with great stone edifices and steps that I'd imagined many an excited researcher had climbed over the decades. Each time I'd approach and enter these buildings I'd be filled with a rush of excitement and anticipation. A feeling that is still with me now when I visit.

I ended up knowing my way round each of the museums. I'd know the back stairs and how to dart from here to there and where each of the rooms were. That was back in the days when they didn't make museums child friendly. They were special, elusive and desirable.

And then there were the canteens. In those days they were not Restaurants or Cafeterias but rather more basic canteens where you could get a cup of tea and nice fresh ham or cheese roll for an extremely modest amount. For me they were as much an attraction as the exhibits and I knew which were the best value items in each as I was always on a budget.

Those were a glorious few months when I had my freedom and the London museums were free to enter. They are free again now but I fear they may have lost a generation or two in the interim decades when high entry charges were made.

Jo at Inner Girl inspired me with her post about a recent visit to the British Museum. She raised some important feelings about how these artefacts came to be in our museums in the UK.


Original Posts:

Britmum said...

That was a great post and such great memories for you.

I started to take the boys to a couple before we left the U.K. but it was the cost of the train up there that put us off. It was great that it was free to get in. I loved the Science museum.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006 9:08:00 PM

Cheryl said...

You make me feel like I was such a chicken at that age.
I am in awe

:-)

Wednesday, May 31, 2006 10:58:00 PM

doris said...

Britmum They are great museums and it was great that you managed to take your boys there. I do think though that the museums need more than a few visits to begin to feel familiar and less of a stranger. Life is just so much busier now. And being across the world is a bit of a stumbling block!

Cheryl But you were probably in with the "In" crowd and one of the girls I'd have admired. I was a bit nerdy and just because I did manage to get out and about for a little while I would never have done anything outrageous or naughty! What was really scary was coping with a London Secondary school with over 2,000 students which was about the population figure for the town I had come from. On reflection I didn't cope with that very well. Travelling round London was a piece of cake in comparison.

Thursday, June 01, 2006 2:38:00 AM

Pookie65 said...

As a child I had the opportunity to visit many museums and travel to many historic places. Thank God I have my memories of them because at the time I was far too interested in getting out of there as fast as I could than absorbing the wonders right in front of my face.

At some point I'd love to retrace my steps and visit many of the places I'd visited as a silly child. This time I'll promise to fully embrace all of the history and the honor of being allowed to glimpse into the past.

I really was a foolish child.

What a wonderful post!

Huggers!

Pookie

Thursday, June 01, 2006 1:29:00 PM

Milt Bogs said...

"Those glorious 1970s didn't come along until I was in my mid twenties," he sobbed.

Saturday, June 03, 2006 8:18:00 PM

Jo said...

Ah nostalgia....School trips, bagsing the back seat on the coach, having to complete that ruddy 'question sheet' as you went round the museum so teacher could tell you were paying attention.

The Earthquake simulator in the Geological museum is still a crowd puller and my kids love it. Though as it's all dressed up to 'simulate' the Kobe earthquake, I'm not quite sure whether it's in very good taste or not?

The dullest museum I ever visted at this stage of my life was the Fox Talbot Museum in Lacock in Wiltshire, charting the very beginnings of photography. Wrist slittingly boring for a pile of adolescent boys who had been crammed onto a smelly old bus for hours. We did have a rather entertaining hard boiled egg fight in the coach park using the contents of our packed lunches I seem to recall though...

Oh yes, and Slimbridge wildfowl sanctuary, from which my school got banned after a bit of an 'incident' in one of the Observation towers, but that's another story :-)

Sunday, June 04, 2006 12:00:00 AM

Rain said...

aw, great memories you have described, I love museums too.

Sunday, June 04, 2006 4:35:00 AM

Anji said...

You were so lucky! I wonder how many other 12 year olds would have used their time so well. I was taken to a museum in Birmingham at about the same age. We were whizzed round by an adult who wasn't really interested. The only thing I remember about that visit was that she was asked to take off her high heeled shoes because the floor was wooden and it would dent!

Sunday, June 04, 2006 8:35:00 AM

Badaunt said...

I love this post. I wish there had been decent museums near where I grew up.

When I was in London last year I visited the British Museum three times, and I was only there for a few days. Partly this was because it was around the corner from where I was staying, but also because... well, one visit was not enough.

I wish I'd known about the earthquake simulator at the Geological Museum when I was there. I could have tested it for verisimilitude! If it was well done, they would have been able to tell because of the woman curled up in a fetal ball, whimpering.

Sunday, June 04, 2006 1:04:00 PM

Ally said...

I love the British Museum; both for itself and because of E Nesbitt's 'Five Children and It' and the 'Phoenix and the Carpet' when they always seem to be visiting.

Sunday, June 04, 2006 2:33:00 PM

Annie said...

Oh gosh, that sounds like absolute bliss (except the mummies). I adore museums. My parents took me and my brother to London for our first stay there in 1981 when I was 16. I remember going to a museum which had some of the cells of Newgate prison as part of it, but have never been able to remember which one it was.

Thursday, June 08, 2006 8:48:00 AM

What am I?

Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter. When they separate, man is no more.

I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.

War cannot be avoided until the physical cause for its recurrence is removed and this, in the last analysis, is the vast extent of the planet on which we live. Only through annihilation of distance in every respect, as the conveyance of intelligence, transport of passengers and supplies and transmission of energy will conditions be brought about some day, insuring permanency of friendly relations. What we now want is closer contact and better understanding between individuals and communities all over the earth, and the elimination of egoism and pride which is always prone to plunge the world into primeval barbarism and strife... Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightenment...

The spread of civilisation may be likened to a fire; First, a feeble spark, next a flickering flame, then a mighty blaze, ever increasing in speed and power.

Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.

The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of a planter -- for the future. His duty is to lay foundation of those who are to come and point the way.

Science is but a perversion of itself unless it has as its ultimate goal the betterment of humanity.

All quotes by Nikola Tesla

All photos by Doris

Original Comments:

Cheryl said...

I like this Mr Tesla fella!

I love that you made the pictures work as spiritual interludes between thoughts, similar to how Bart uses them, then got to the bottom to turn what seemed to be a paragraph of continuous thought into snippets (separate quotes) yet to finally give the pictures their other meaning and bring it all together.

Very well done!

Saturday, May 27, 2006 6:32:00 PM

Orikinla Osinachi. said...

That was a perfect post for everyone. Even the Pope would have loved it.

The atheists should find it quite enlightening.

The abstract surrealism was very appropriate for the illustrations.

God bless.

Saturday, May 27, 2006 8:58:00 PM

Britmum said...

A really lovely post Doris.

Sunday, May 28, 2006 12:19:00 AM

Badaunt said...

Tesla was a fascinating person. I read a biography of him years ago and remember thinking he was ahead of his time. Why is he not more famous, I wonder?

(Also, he liked pigeons. :-)

Sunday, May 28, 2006 4:11:00 AM

doris said...

Cheryl What an amazing and lovely and sensitive comment Cheryl. You bring real thought and analysis to what were a bunch of pictures I took yesterday thrown together with some quotes. I do not deserve your response - however, I really like the way the photos landed with each quote (almost by accident) and yet mean so much.

About Mr Tesla - he could be quite a revolting man and difficult. On the other hand, he was pretty amazing and sidelined out of history.

Orikinla Osinachi Gosh.

Britmum Thanks!

Badaunt From the biog of him that I read he seems to have been extremely famous in his time even though bit by bit he was robbed or diddled out of his "inventions". Since then, well you know how "we" like to re-write history and I suppose those that had the "power" didn't want their conniving to be known and so better to re-write history and minimise his role.

LOL I forgot about his like of pigeons! Seems there are a few of us around! ;-)

Sunday, May 28, 2006 8:01:00 AM

Jo said...

Ok catch me up...Tesla was the real discoverer of electricity etc, right? Not Faraday et al? Romanian? (Jo scratches head for any other buried 'Tesla knowledge'...er...no, that's it!)

Beautiful pictures Doris. How did you do them?

And the words...

"Only through annihilation of distance in every respect, as the conveyance of intelligence, transport of passengers and supplies and transmission of energy will conditions be brought about some day, insuring permanency of friendly relations. What we now want is closer contact and better understanding between individuals and communities all over the earth, and the elimination of egoism and pride"

This is a decsription of the net. With it's capacity to connect, to elevate, to break barriers and to make us all greater than ourselves and more than the sum of our parts.

Sunday, May 28, 2006 12:42:00 PM

doris said...

Jo Depends on politcal geography - two biographies say Croatia.

As for the photos. We had a nerdy day out yesterday and I just took pics (with a tripod). A room full of tesla coils and plasma flashing all over the place. Very scary. Wonderful. Loud. Exciting and inspiring. All home-made instruments in a potentially lethal hobby. Some of those pics are a portion of a flash up to six foot in length. We just had to stand back and hope for the best! I'm sure though that "they" knew what they were doing. At least I hoped so!

And I too couldn't help thinking the parralel to the internet in that quote.

Sunday, May 28, 2006 1:00:00 PM

Anonymous said...

Jo, I believe that electricity was discovered long before Tesla, see for example the overview on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity

But Tesla did indeed invent certain pieces of electrical equipment that are responsible for homes carrying alternating current (AC) rather than direct current (DC).

Sunday, May 28, 2006 11:35:00 PM

zandperl said...

Here in the US, we usually credit Ben Franklin (1706-1790) as the discoverer of electricity via his kite and key experiment. Michael Faraday (1791-1867) studied capacitors and some electromagnetism (how electricity and magnetism interact). And Nikolai Tesla (1856-1943) came up with the AC system, which is the basis of modern home electricity delivery. Tesla also did a lot of work on electromagnetism, and this work has been the target of various alternate history sci-fi works.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006 12:32:00 AM

jane said...

That was beautiful, both in words & graphics. I especially liked this sentence, "Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightenment." So very true.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006 11:43:00 PM

Gerald Ford said...

and the elimination of egoism and pride which is always prone to plunge the world into primeval barbarism and strife... Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightenment...

Tesla sounds like a Buddhist. :) I always said he was a smart man. Ha ha ha.

Really cool pictures by the way.

I read somewhere how Tesla managed to create an electrical arc 30ft high, and managed to sink so much electricy in the ground that it blew out the city generator miles away.

Pretty revolutionary he was.

Friday, June 02, 2006 5:39:00 AM

rashbre said...

You have an amazing hobby, if thats what it is. I was awestruck with your Tesla flashes. The versions I've seen involve fishbowls and argon gas, not 2 meter arcs across a room.

I happened to be refilling the washers on my car a few days ago and noticed the headlamps had a little sticker about danger 25000 volts, so maybe there's a further source for this type of high frequency madness.

Excellent.

Saturday, June 10, 2006 6:16:00 PM

Mouse Dust?

Does "Mouse Dust" sound appealing? As a colour scheme? For your kitchen worktops? I just don't understand what was in the designer's mind when they designated that colour. It is actually not a bad colour and is about the cheapest worktop you can buy - which is sort of what I wanted for our new science/experimenting lab area in the rear of the kitchen. This is what mouse dust looks like:


Last year we put in one unit and worktop in this part of the kitchen which is our breakfast room. We are developing a sort of diner style and even had a pinball machine in there but as it has needed too much maintenance and basically didn't work anymore we have sold it and I'm putting in the new "lab area" instead. Anyway, the worktop (steel style and looked quite good) on the existing unit is no longer sold - and we only put it in last year! Drats, drats and double drats. Which made me less amenable to this mouse droppings worktop but c'est la vie.



Original Comments:

Pookie65 said...

This reminds me of the names given to paint swatches in color books. I'd love to be the one who "names" the patterns & designs. Here are a few paint swatches that come to mind:

Doris Morning - a warm, sunny yellow

Pookie Sorbet - brown with a hint of plum

Teddy Bear - soft tan with a warm undertone

Fresh Lawn - bright green with a smidgeon of sage

Autumn - Reddish burnt orange

Spring - blue with just enough green to look like the sea

Winter - wintery white

Love - deep red

Wednesday, August 24, 2005 6:55:00 PM

doris said...

I love the sound of Doris Morning! That would be me :-) Is there really a Pookie Sorebt - is that why you chose your blog name? I just did a google for Pookie and found an interesting site of Pookie's erotic fiction but somehow I don't think it is your cup of tea!!! ;-)

Wednesday, August 24, 2005 7:42:00 PM

Mama Mouse said...

Mouse Dust? ..... UGH! I am having mouse problems of my own ... one little errant mousey is going to bite the dust SOON I hope! I HATE finding HIS 'mouse dust' all over! Gives me the creeps and sends me on far too many cleaning binges lately!

Now something nice like 'soft mouse fur' would be nice as I DO have very SOFT fur!!

Thursday, August 25, 2005 12:26:00 AM

jane said...

you're putting a science/experimenting lab INSIDE your house? i hope you aren't going to us chemicals.
mice don't leave dust! they leave mouse droppings. fairy dust would've been a cute name. but i think it would have had to have some pink in it. maybe fly dust? no, that doesn't make any sense either.
mouse dust...hmmmm....odd name

Thursday, August 25, 2005 12:37:00 AM

doris said...

Oh yes, definitely going to use chemicals! LOL Gotta have a bit of danger and I don't mind if the worktop gets burned away with acid - as long as it is all pretty contained to that part of the house :-)

Hubby has a chemistry degree but better than that, he grew up experimenting with chemicals: in his bedroom! I don't think he should have all the fun :-)

Mrs Mouse! We had a mouse, or rather two, the other day. We caught them in those humane mouse traps and let them go in the park. They were the tiniest and sweetest looking mice I have ever seen!

Thursday, August 25, 2005 6:58:00 AM

DaFFy said...

It's all a wicked conspiracy to make you spend more money - nasty colour designers

Thursday, August 25, 2005 1:32:00 PM

MattyD said...

Hahahaha!

That's superb! Those designers must be so random! :) Which company was offering the "mouse dust"?

I'd better send my CV to them, because I can come up with far more whack things!! ;)

Thursday, August 25, 2005 8:15:00 PM

/T/ said...

I love experimenting. When I grew up I did quite a bit of chemical experimenting in my bedroom. There was a drugstore that sold every chemical you could wish for without checking my age. I financed it with my home made smoke bombs that I sold at school. And come to think of it.. after you burned those smoke bombs the left overs looked surprisingly a lot like mouse dust :)

Friday, August 26, 2005 3:25:00 AM

tim said...

i love the color. as for the pinball machine in the kitchen it sounds cool. You must have an interesting home.

Friday, August 26, 2005 4:14:00 AM

Hannah said...

I'm rather a fan of names of the paints in the National Trust range - Dead Salmon is my favourite.

Friday, August 26, 2005 10:24:00 AM

doris said...

Dead Salmon!!!! OMG!

Tim - some people think we have an interesting house with some kids thinking we even have a drinks machine in our bathroom!

Friday, August 26, 2005 2:19:00 PM

brewsmith said...

Guess it could be worse.. . mouse dropping gray or something. ..

Friday, August 26, 2005 8:09:00 PM

zandperl said...

I'm definitely a geek, because my first thought upon reading "mouse dust" was not the squeaky animals shedding fur, but the crud that gets stuck inside the tracks of your computer mouse ball.

BTW, I've finally got my London trip photos up!

Saturday, August 27, 2005 5:38:00 AM

decrepitoldfool said...

That is precisely the pattern of the linoleum I used for the top of my computer table. Whenever it needs cleaning, I just accidentally spill some coffee on it and then wipe it off with a cloth.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 2:04:00 AM

NASA Launch

The crew are strapped in and you can watch and listen online now as they go through various procedures.

Click on your chosen media player at the middle of the page in the grey block.

Sky news have split the screen and showing a better rendition but as I don't have a Sky service, the sound for the computer does quite well. Sorry to Tony Blair....

Lift-off is scheduled for 1039 local time (1439 GMT; 1539 BST) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Discovery is due to touch down at Kennedy Space Center on 7 August at 0546 EDT (0946 GMT; 1046 BST).


Original Comments:

Neutron said...

Are they really going this time...I'll get straight over to the website. Thanks for the reminder.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005 1:47:00 PM

doris said...

Less that an hour and 20 minutes before take off!

Tuesday, July 26, 2005 2:20:00 PM

John said...

I noted that they would ignore a fault in one of the four fuel monitors if it happened again. How on earth can these state of the art instruments fail so regularly? I can't possibly see how they can launch if a vital instrument goes AWOL.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005 5:30:00 PM

s4essene said...

Hi gran, great post. I'll definitely check it out. By the way, thank you for taking the time to leave a message on my site, I do appreciate it, and I am fine and practising safe travel to work...Not going in! (Read 'third day of blinkin' bombing!')

You're right, it is hard for me not to look a bit dodgy in London - even with my clothes on - It's the bald patch that does it, what can I do?

And carrying a rucksack to Uni this afternoon on the tube even made me frightened of touching my pockets - and usually that's quite a nice feeling!

I hope you, too, are keeping well, and have seen my new links list with a recommendation for your site, 'Fabulous!'

I do love you really, I mean, really!

Take Care, and thanks again for dropping by.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005 9:29:00 PM

dog1net said...

Hello, Doris:

Seeing the Space Shuttle lift off is quite a marvel. I used to live in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and whenever they had a shuttle launch, I'd find myself amazed with the long, rumbling vibration you would experience as you stood outside on the lawn watching it go up. Car and burglar alarms would go off, dogs would bark, and people would just stop what they were doing so they could watch the shuttle traverse out over the Atlantic. Thank you visiting my site, and for taking the time to comment.
Scot

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 2:51:00 AM

DaFFy said...

Oh no! Bits have fallen off ...again. And our Aussie Andy has to check it all out. EEEK! SPace travel is exciting and all that, but freaks me out somewhat.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 3:10:00 AM

Lynda said...

Thanks for the reminder... I just turned on the news, and since I live in Houston, it's always good to hear there is NO problem :-)

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 4:00:00 AM

Cheryl said...

DOH
How could I miss something like that. Did it happen?

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 7:49:00 AM

doris said...

Daffy - it took me a minute to realise you weren't talking about "your" Andy who was wanting to find out more! LOL

Andy is one of the astronauts who is Australian and he is one of the specialists for doing the outside jobs... putting out the trash and the like (am I allowed to joke?!).

Seriously though, my life sure has changed.... normally first thing in the morning I check the BBC news website but now it is check my blog email and here I first hear the news that some of the tiles have come off, again. At least there are procedures in place to deal with them. Andy will be a hero when he's done his job!

I'll have to come back later to respond to the other comments :-)

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 9:54:00 AM

R. Edmondson said...

I am glad that the Space Shuttle lift off went smoothly. Thank you also for taking the time to review and comment on my site. I appreciate it very much, thank you!:)

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 11:13:00 PM

Shuttle Launch Scrubbed

Apparently a faulty fuel-tank sensor has delayed the launch of the Discovery shuttle. I am so pleased they have decided to err on the side of caution.

Discovery's astronauts had all been strapped into the shuttle and were preparing for blast-off when the order came through to stand down. I read on the Nasa website today that the astronauts usually have cake before they fly. Iced with the shuttle insignia on it. Cake before take off? I bet they don't actually eat it!

I wrote a bit about Discovery with some links yesterday.


Original Comments:

guest said...

Even though it was predicted that it would be scrubbed, I was still rather disappointed to read it on your blog that it was.

Once again, you provided this blogger the news before CNN!

Wednesday, July 13, 2005 10:28:00 PM

doris said...

I only knew fairly quickly as I cam back to my desk after dinner and refreshed the clockon the NASA website and it said it was aborted.

There was nothing on the BBC website but there is now. I only posted about the delay because I've been watching out for it!

They might be able to take off next Monday. I wonder if there will be a new cake?

Wednesday, July 13, 2005 11:08:00 PM

Milt Bogs said...

Just wanted to say thanks for the comment Gran.

Thursday, July 14, 2005 1:44:00 AM

Bernadette said...

My little scholars take an astronomy class and are very keen on NASA. Have you seen the movie--"October Sky"?

We wake up to the BBC news over here in Seattle!

Thursday, July 14, 2005 2:14:00 AM

Milt Bogs said...

I think a faulty fuel-tank sensor might be one of my problems. "We changed every wire, every electronics box. We thought we had a good system." Scares the pants off me.

Thursday, July 14, 2005 10:37:00 AM

Ally said...

Yes, I am pleased that they erred on the side of caution, too - much easier to cross their fingers and hope ... .

Cake before take-off sounds disasterous.

Thursday, July 14, 2005 11:14:00 AM

John said...

When they announced that a window had fallen off and damaged some of the stick-on heat-shield tiles, I could scarcely believe my ears. Wasn't that the problem last time?

And how can a window just fall off, especially on a project that's been crawled over by the safety people for months? Laurel and Hardy couldn't have slipped in under NASA's radar ... could they?

Thursday, July 14, 2005 12:28:00 PM

zandperl said...

One of my friends told me it cost more than USD$600,000 (GBP 1 million?) for the cancellation/postponement.

When'd you change the site design? I'm afraid I find the blue/orange theme a bit garish... :-P

Thursday, July 14, 2005 3:17:00 PM

doris said...

Bonnie - I don't think I know that movie and will check it out. You know, I have pondered about the BBC News website as there are always lots of comments and feedback by people outside the UK. I only sometimes look at US news sites but unless I am mistaken, they seem to be bogged down by so much advertising or requirements to sign up, so I only look at them on rare occasions.

John - It was a window cover, but yes, does make you wonder. And why are those tiles so fragile? That was so embarassing but at least they didn't try to hide it.

Zandperl - I'm with you on the colours! They are a bit urgh! I don't mean to be offensive but I just wanted to do something very different and I think I achieved that ;-) I might go for a quickie style sheet change of colours when the mood takes me.

Hiya Ally and Milt :-)

Thursday, July 14, 2005 4:38:00 PM

Eabha the Kiwi said...

I wish our "leaders" would spend money on important things like feeding the children (one dies every 3 seconds); instead of throwing it into outerspace, or spending it on weapons.

What times we live in...

(Great blog though) ;)

Saturday, July 16, 2005 4:50:00 PM

O rings, Feynman and Discovery Shuttle

When the Challenger Shuttle, the one with the teacher on board, blew up in January 1986 I wondered in the aftermath about the O rings mentioned on the news. I never could understand how these little O ring seals could cause the rocket to blow up on take off and then I read my latest Richard P Feynman book "What do you care what other people think?". (I'd already read and reviewed a previous Feynman book)

I may not have read the news or paid attention as well as I could have back then, but I'm also pretty sure it just wasn't explained clearly enough. After all, I did have pictures in my mind of these little plumbing size rubber rings so I must have thought about it a bit.

Feynman, as a Nobel Prize winning physicist was on the panel to investigate the Challenger disaster. He was supposedly key to discovering what went wrong but it is most likely that he was the pawn to reveal and explain what went wrong. A good portion of this book is dedicated to discussing his "last great adventure" which was to be involved in this important commission. As it says in the book, this section was presented in great detail because it was still relevant and it sure is. The Columbia shuttle blew up on re-entry in 2003 losing all crew. That was a completely different accident to the Discovery one.

A date of 13 July 2005, in just a few days, has been given to launch the Discovery Shuttle. There have been delays and concerns over safety. I hope it is delayed rather than cut corners.

But back to those O rings. The rockets either side of the shuttle are made of sections. These sections have joints to connect them and hold them together. In each joint are two rubber rings as a seal to stop the ignited rocket fuel inside coming out. These rings are round, about 1cm thick and about 12 foot across. They only have the tiniest of compression which means they are not that squeezed in because they rely on the intense heat of the rockets to cause the special rubber to swell and perfectly seal the gap. On the day of the launch, on a January morning in 1986, the weather was freezing. The rubber froze and did not react to the heat in time, meanwhile the rocket casing expanded and bowed outwards so the ignited fuel was able to escape out of a safety side vent which is used for testing only. It is like a glorified cork bung and was also badly sealed. *

That was it. Stupid little rubber and a course of management bungles that didn't listen to what the engineers on the ground were saying. All that technology and it comes down to glorified rubber washers.

This is another great book about Feynman's life. Not as funny, more poignant, but definitely a must-read!

And as for the Discovery Shuttle - did you know we are about to have another space launch? May it go well for these great and brave explorers of ours.

* Please note that this is my interpretation of what I have read and may not be an accurate understanding. It is worth reading for yourself.


Original Comments:

Cheryl said...

I was thinking grommets. 12 foot? Wow.

Monday, July 04, 2005 9:38:00 AM

doris said...

So it wasn't just me then!

Monday, July 04, 2005 9:43:00 AM

MrsDoF said...

It's a good thing Feynman did not start a religious cult, what with his ability to bring difficult ideas to light.
Keep on with the good reading!

Monday, July 04, 2005 1:45:00 PM

doris said...

Thanks MrsDof!

I can't believe it, but everywhere I turn now Feynman's name crops up. He was such an odd-ball character but best of all I like the way he tries to remove the waffle. He'd have been an unlikely candidate for a religious cult because of the way he really seemed to play himself down.

Monday, July 04, 2005 2:12:00 PM

Chris said...

I second your best wishes for the next scheduled launch. It's easy to forget about the Challenger accident and the explosion that happened a year or so ago. Space travel is relatively safe, but it is still entering a new frontier. It's amazing how we don't pay that close attention to it unless something bad happens.

Deliberate Chaos

Monday, July 04, 2005 7:33:00 PM

Milt Bogs said...

House party at 2,000-acre estate in Oxfordshire.

Monday, July 04, 2005 9:16:00 PM

jane said...

wow, i normally hate science & stuff like that, but you actually explained it to where i could follow it.
i think the july 15th date was put off.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005 2:35:00 AM

doris said...

Jane - that's down to the excellant explanations of Dick Feynman. He takes the mystery out of these things and just says it as it is so that it means something. His books are worth reading and have given me quite a confidence boost as a result.

Thanks for that Milt! Milt's blog explains it all.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005 9:11:00 AM

WarpedTourMom said...

I had heard "o-rings" but was always embarassed to admit I never knew what they were.

And I'd bring them up in conversation about the Shuttle too, like I knew what I was talking about "Oh yeah, well, you know, those o-rings.."

Tuesday, July 05, 2005 12:14:00 PM

Bernadette said...

My husband and I love to read Feynman!

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 6:07:00 AM

Elvis Blanco said...

Sorry for omitting to sign - I posted the above.

Sunday, December 11, 2005 5:04:00 PM

Experimenting in the shed

When you look at this magazine cover what's the first thing you think?

This is a monthly publication, costing 25 cents and ran from 1924 to about 1926. It has a picture of an ordinary bloke (he's ordinary because he is not wearing a white coat) with some home-made gadgetry doing something rather scary but exciting looking. The magazine says "the Experimenter" and is marketed to the masses. This particular edition promises to show you how to make a Tesla Coil. How many of us know what a Tesla coil is? I don't really, just that it is something to do with electricity.

My first thought when I saw this was "why don't we do experiments like that now?" It looks scary and dangerous and tantalising and exciting. We are scared our kids might hurt themselves. If we want a monthly magazine now it has some little gizmo to collect and to slot into the right slot, or complete the model or to tell us what to do. (Not that there is anything wrong with that.)

I think we've been struck down by whitecoatitus. We no longer experiment or play around to find out about things. Maybe there are old geezers out there with their sheds for experiments but they are a dying breed and maybe from the generation that bought this magazine and grew up experimenting.

These days we generally just accept what the science books tell us. We don't get to really understand what it is all about and what really makes things work. I get the impression that even the scientists don't really experiment these days and spend a lot of time on theories. And why has experimentation been left to the scientists anyway?

It just takes a fresh mind to look at things and maybe find a better way. A fresh mind carrying out experiments in their garden shed is as worthy as a top-notch scientist in his study! Maybe more-so?

[The Experimenter covers can be found on the excellent MagazineArt.org database. More info on Tesla.]


Original Comments:

MrsDoF said...

I sent a link for this post to my middle son, a student at U of I /Urbana because I think he might get a kick out of it. Any Info about Tesla is 'alright' sez the kid.
I like how you made the connection for the guy in the garden shed making a discovery.

Sunday, June 19, 2005 11:44:00 PM

doris said...

Gosh - thanks for the comment! And I'm so glad your son is aware of Tesla but if Feynman is required reading in your household I'm not surprised :-)

Sunday, June 19, 2005 11:47:00 PM

Manny Festo said...

I always liked to dress for lab work too.

Monday, June 20, 2005 7:37:00 AM

doris said...

LOL

Monday, June 20, 2005 8:32:00 AM

Cheryl said...

Hehe Feynman really got to you huh?
I am going to HAVE to buy that book!

Monday, June 20, 2005 10:19:00 AM

doris said...

LOL It is not a self-help book but that is exactly what it has done for me :-)

I think we have another good read on the shelf, this time from (or about) Tesla! That is also supposed to be funny... I like humour and what a great way to absorb information and clarify our thoughts.

Monday, June 20, 2005 10:32:00 AM

The Complimenting Commenter said...

I like your ideas about experimenting. The days of making radios and playing with electrodes seem over. Great observation and post.

Monday, June 20, 2005 6:01:00 PM

Minerva said...

I love your observations, and especially the breadth of them...the old religion vs science debate right here! *grinning*

Seriously Doris, I love the way you write.

Minerva

Monday, June 20, 2005 8:50:00 PM

Minerva said...

Doris,
Re your comment on my blog..you MUST...simply MUST respond to those stirrings....

GO GIRL....

Minerva

Monday, June 20, 2005 8:55:00 PM

doris said...

Hee-hee, yes I will Minerva. I have been aware for years that I have not written prose, not since before I had children, and I knew I wanted to get into it again. But I really do have those stirrings within and it is hard to describe. It's a bit like it is there but just out of reach. It is now closer but still just a little too far. I am finding this blog writing really beneficial and am enjoying it so much. I am finding I have so much to say (no kidding!!!) and am enjoying putting it in writing. In a way I might be more scared to show any poetry because those are my old demons about not being good enough, not being intellectual enough. Silly really. Thanks for your encouragement.

Monday, June 20, 2005 9:25:00 PM

zandperl said...

I'm a college physics teacher, and I occasionally work with pre- and in-service K-12 teachers. I'm constantly encouraging them to let their students make their own experiments rather than following a "cookbook chemistry" lab.

And to Manny Festo: my advisor had an ad on his door that was a woman standing by a telescope saying "When I observe for hours on end, I make sure I wear X Brand Shoes - they're so comfortable!" It was hilarious. Of course, in reality professional astronomers spend hours in front of a computer, not a telescope. :)

Monday, June 20, 2005 10:50:00 PM

doris said...

Zandperl - there is some hope whilst the teachers are being taught like this. It is great to hear. On the other hand, would they have enough time and space to be able to allow their students to develop their own ideas? It must be quite frustrating.

As a result of all this, I am thinking we must get on and get our own home experimental lab going. Mr Doris still has his original Chemistry and Chemical Magic "Playbook of Science" dated 1912 that he used to use for ideas for his experimentations as a youth. It suggests all sorts of lethal chemicals, that Mr Doris used to be able to source even in the 1960s. One of the best bits (not that I have read the book) is at the end of the preface:

In conclusion, if a word of advice may be addressed directly to the boy reader, it is this: Never be content merely to read about an experiment ; that is, to see it only through the mind of the writer and the artist. Always perform it yourself, even if at first in a manner more or less crude : that is to see it with your own mind - the only real way to see it all ; you have made it your experiment and your knowledge. No man can take it from you ; it is yours for all time.

*****************************

That was the era when only boys were referred to in such instances!

Tuesday, June 21, 2005 1:05:00 AM