h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"Free range" chickens ...and eggs.

This is beginning to appear in labeling of eggs in the supermarkets.

I personally don't see anything appealing or romantic about eggs that have been laid haphazardly in the open, exposed to the elements for an unknown time, by chickens that have been browsing earwigs and centipedes along with other wild trash and doubt the chickens do either.

Also, these supposed 'organic' 'farmers' are painting the eggs with something that gives the water an unnatural milky hue when they are boiled.

An ongoing PH which isn't really that petty: my hot desking colleagues who leave the work station untidy, missing items (usually taken by someone at another station because someone had taken theirs etc), rubbish left lying around as well as information governance stuff. Never used to be like this, it's in the last 5 years or so as the department has expanded dramatically & many more different people using it.
Three weeks ago I checked that all equipment was in place - already it's disappearing.

"And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were merry... But then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll, I'll, I'll set the building on fire..."



Milton Waddams knows your pain.

Because cramming chickens into cages so crowded that they can't even move and force-feeding them bland, tasteless pellets their whole lives is cruel and inhumane. And I'm not inhuman.

You don't like it, don't buy 'em.

Eggs are not supposed to be washed or coated before marketing, as it destroys a natural anti-bacterial coating on the egg deposited in the process of laying.

Washing accounts for the half-spoiled character of egg by the time it reaches the supermarket.

Not least, the membrane about the yolk is not supposed to burst when the egg is cracked.

Artificial coatings on the shell need to be officially approved and labeled and are not 'organic'.

Ah, yes. The great, transatlantic, egg argument. To wash, or not to wash, that is the question.


In the US, eggs MUST be washed. In Europe, they MUST NOT be washed. Both methods are effective for minimizing the risk of salmonella.


As explained, breathlessly, in this helpful video.

http://youtu.be/Xbqv1SuQJ0s




There is a point in this video that I actually giggled. See if you can spot it.

I always bring this one up around this time of year, I think. When I am wrapped up warm enough to cycle to work, with my scarf round my nose, the breath from my nose makes my glasses steam up and I can't see. If I don't cover my face with my scarf, the coldest bit of me is my sinuses.

It's probably good for the sinuses to be beaten and battered and chilled through by this Beast from the East- I certainly haven't had a cold yet! - but it's not a pleasant feeling.

Inconsiderate / arrogant snow parking.

'I can't SEE the yellow lines / parking bay marks so they can't be there.' There are signs on posts wherever there are yellow lines so that really doesn't wash. And in car parks where the bay lines can't be seen, it really is possible to make a reasonable guess rather than stick out in what is obviously the bits of the car park that are supposed to be left for people driving round.

PP.

Self-service tills in supermarkets. Especially ones that preach at you ('What do points make?') or snatch money when you offer it.

PP.

A while ago I complained about ads in apps. I'd like to add a related PH: ads that still have a winter/Christmas theme in March. I know we've had a lot of snow here in the UK, but it's a bit much to have Santa wishing Happy Holidays when Easter is just a few weeks away!

PH – the media going on about clothes at awards ceremonies.
The people who attend awards ceremonies always wear the type of clothes that people who attend ceremonies always wear. How is 'Film star wears posh frock at the Oscars' news? They've all been doing it for decades.

<BB<

Reporters are a species that exhibits a variety of odd instinctual behaviors. When placed near a red carpet, they reflexively respond with calls of "Hooaryuwareen, hooaryuwareen". When inclement weather occurs, they will find the largest puddle and wade into it. And when sat at a desk facing cameras they invariably make inappropriate puns.

Arsonists burning your local (to where I work) bookshop: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-43300828

<BB<

An arson attack on a bookshop isn't a petty hate. It's an offence that deserves the severest punishment allowed.

Today's petty hate is wood burning stoves. More accurately, it's people cutting up wood for the stoves. The man next door has had his chainsaw going for at least an hour. I'm getting a headache because of it. Still, I suppose it's better than when he used to chop the wood. That shook the house, which was worse in some ways.

That makes me wonder what the net energy saving is, if you use a chainsaw to chop up wood that small for a burner. It must be more efficient to get an oil burner for the house rather than burn it up in the chainsaw to make wood chips.

Reminds me of when shredders were very popular. Awful noise.

Yesterday I mentioned that the man next door sometimes chopped wood for his wood burner. Guess what he's doing right now!

And he took delivery of another load of wood this morning, so the chainsaw is out again. I think he uses the chainsaw on large logs and chops smaller pieces. I could be wrong. The noise of the chainsaw is bad enough indoors. I have no intention of experiencing it outdoors, especially as I don't have any ear defenders. I'm fairly sure that it's aggravating my tinnitus.

Actually, that's a good point. If I measured the noise level indoors, would it be at a high enough level to require protection? Can you hire noise meters?

It's very difficult measuring noise levels with accuracy. You can get phone apps which do it (I've tried it for office building work), but the variance was huge depending on where the phone was positioned and how it was orientated, etc. And different apps gave very different results. And the decibels they measured always seemed to be low in comparison to the perceived annoyance of the noise.

Yeah, phone app decibel meters are not only inaccurate and inconsistent, they typically max out well before they levels you'd be concerned about. The microphone in your mobile device just isn't designed to handle dB levels of about about 80-90.

I don't know where you might be able to hire one or borrow one. In the US, there's a motorcycle rights organization that gives them to motorcycle clubs for determining exhaust noise. I'm sure some DJs own them if they have to contend with noise ordinances. There might be some source online to rent them. Photographers can rent cameras and lenses, maybe sound folks have equipment rentals as well.