11/09/2006

Thank-you for all the Birthday Greetings.
At primary school, the whole class would sing you a birthday song, not 'Happy Birthday to you' but,
'We wish you many happy returns of the day...' which then went into a prescription of how you should behave on your birthday, 'thoughtful and kind all the day, swift to do right, slow to do wrong...' I'll try my best.
I'm going to set myself some new year's resolutions, get myself ready for my half a century, should I be fortunate enough to make it to next year.

Condiment Rice seems to have been exiled to Canada for my birthday, I think she should treat this as a bit of a wrist-slapping. Newfoundlanders need to think of themselves as martyrs for having Condo visit.

It seems as though the eleventh of September is the first day of the year in the Coptic and Ethiopian calendars. No, me neither, no idea whatsoever.
In 1973, a Coup d'Etat in Chile means that the 11th of September is referred to as 'el once' or 'el once de Septiembre', which in fact is what it would have been called anyway, even had there not been a coup. So there you go.

In 1297, William Wallace, or Mel Gibson if you like, defeated the English, in 1609, Henry Hudson landed on Manhattan Island, in 1777, the Battle of Brandywine took place, no idea if or why this was important, but I liked the name, in 1962 the Beatles recorded their debut single, 'Love me do' and so arguably modern pop and rock music started on my fifth birthday, and last year, Israel declared its intentions to leave the Gaza strip.

I share my birthday with Harry Connick junior - deep joy - Moby, B'elanna Torres from Voyager (the actress not the half Klingon) and more interestingly, DH Lawrence.

Canadian actor Lorne Greene died on my birthday in 1987, as did Jessica Tandy in 1994 and in 2003, John Ritter. Apparently the beheading of St. John the Baptist is remembered on this day too.

An article in today's Guardian looks at claims by a South African scientist that dolphins are not really intelligent as has always been claimed. It's quite an interesting read and looks at both sides of the argument. The author also makes some pertinent comments about the science involved - we are not allowed to experiment on dolphins in the same way as we are on rats. I guess one way of looking at this is that as a race, we are more ethical than those small grey aliens who are always abducting humans and experimenting on us. (I know this to be true because I saw it in South Park).

In health news, netdoctor today reports a study that shows eating mandarin oranges reduces risk of liver cancer, heart attack and stroke, on further reading however, it reduces them in people who already have serious conditions anyway.
The best health news though, is that drinking cocoa is seriously good for you.

"Chang Young Lee, professor of food chemistry at Cornell University, found that the antioxidant content of two tablespoons of pure cocoa powder is "almost two times stronger than red wine, two to three times stronger than green tea and four to five times stronger than that of black tea." The antioxidants in hot cocoa protect brain cells from oxidative stress that can lead to Alzheimer's and other disorders."

That's what I'm looking for, not so much the things that keep you alive longer, more the things that keep you ALIVE longer especially when they contain chocolate. Well done Chang Young Lee, just what I was looking for on my birthday.