Fly sex change nonsense

Not content with our already vast levels of knowledge of Drosophila, a group of scientists have now discovered how to program female flies to behave like male flies during courtship rituals. Not only is this 'fascinating' and 'exciting' but I'm sure very useful. I can think of at least.....hm.....no uses for such an insight into the lives of fruit flies.

Might I suggest that if the researchers want to learn more about human behaviour, they stop wasting money on fruit flies and go to an average town centre club on a saturday night. It's already apparent what triggers female homo sapiens to behave like males during courtship rituals - the combination of lambrini, archers, vodka chasers and cheesy pop music provides an immediate trigger for hormone fueled tomfoolery.

Does God read the Independent?

An advert appeared in The Independent yesterday, reportedly from God, speaking directly to George Bush! For the full text go to http://www.forgodssake.org/, and for an amusing comment check out Ekklesia.

PG wodehouse

For some unknown reason, every time the festive season begins to loom, I always dig out my favorite books - my collection of PG Wodehouse. I can't imagine a better way to spend some time off than with one of his novels or anthologies. For me, Blandings Castle has to be his ultimate creation, closely followed by Jeeves, however, I can be equally entertained by Mulliner, Psmith and the like.

For the uninitiated, Wodehouse was an unparalleled comedy writer, who excelled at creating brilliantly convoluted plots with thoroughly lovable characters, all delivered in beautifully constructed prose. These stories are such excellent escapism, both the Kaiser and one of recent Nigerian Presidents were reputed to take to their beds to read Wodehouse when the tide turned against them! There are thousands of biographies about Wodehouse on the net - try the Wikipedia one for starters. For a taste of his writing, try What Ho! An anthology containing a selection of his best stories.

Town in a stew over a vegetable

Inspiring stuff...

TOKYO (Reuters) - A giant white radish that won the hearts of a Japanese town by valiantly growing through the urban asphalt was in intensive care at a town hall in western Japan on Thursday after being slashed by an unknown assailant. The "daikon" radish, shaped like a giant carrot, first made the news months ago when it was noticed poking up through asphalt along a roadside in the town of Aioi, population 33,289.

This week local residents, who had nicknamed the vegetable "Gutsy Radish", were shocked -- and in some cases moved to tears -- when they found it had been decapitated.

TV talk shows seized on the attempted murder of the popular vegetable and a day later, the top half of the radish was found near the site where it had been growing.

A town official said on Thursday the top of the severed radish had been placed in water to try to keep it alive and possibly get it to flower. Asked why the radish -- more often found on Japanese dinner tables as a garnish, pickle or in "oden" stew -- had so many fans, town spokesman Jiro Matsuo said: "People discouraged by tough times were cheered by its tenacity and strong will to live."

Reuters

Lets just hope the radish can pull through...