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

oh... that s way too complicated!! <laugh... oddly... some of the herbal teas I drink seem more addictive than the regular cafinated Indian teas I druink

Kola nut, or gotu kola, and yerba mate are also Caffeine sources.

The amount of caffeine in gotu kola is about five times that, weight for weight of coffee.

I don't know what the figure is for yerba mate.




All of these have their own spectrum of synergistic co-factors.




The question on stereoisomerism is an important one.

Penicillin, for example contains a dextro- amino acid.

Replace it with the equivalent levo- amino acid @nd it is ineffective.




Stereoisomerism is important in a number of other ways, for example, the tendency of chemicals of one stereoisomerism to spontaneusly shift over to the opposite stereoisomerism over time, called 'racination', provides a means of dating organic materials too old to date by means of carbon 14 dating.

In xenobiology, its an even money chance on a life bearing world which stereoisomerism will dominate, the levo- amino acids and dextro- sugars and nucleic acids of Terrestrial biology or the reverse.

For example, the Viking lander experiments on Mars rule out the Terrestrial stereoisomerism, at least for the locations where they were made, but not the reverse.

'racination' should have been 'racemization'.

Levo = left
dextro= right

I'm not so sure my tea addiction is driven by cafine, in the same way my coffee addiction was/is tea is... dunno.... there's just soemthing about tea. and, I'm addicted to all teas; even non cafianted herbal ones I probably drink an unhealthy volume of luqid liquid each day... err, like half a litre of coffee, maybe 7 or 8 cups ordinary Indian tea, and perhaps another 7 or 8 cups herbal teas, so... err, like 1.5 litres tea I tguess, hmm... some days posibly twice that much

I like vegetable broths myself and teas almost always have folic acid flvonoids and vitamin C as well as other nutrients.

With coffee, the main part of the flavor and color is supplied by caramel.

If you like the flavor of coffee, there's no need to feel embarrassed about drinking it. Coffee has a lot of antioxidants, and is said to be good for some medical conditions.

My sense of taste (and smell too I think), has changed so much, over this year, I'm just less fond of coffee than I once was (I was a seirous addict, no many months back!), though I still tend to have a small amount of coffee, earlier in the day, and sometimes a cup/mug of coffee whilst out, I mainly stick ot Indian teas, during the day, then herbal (cafine free), at the evening/night.... Just... well, changing sense of taste I guess

My favorite afternoon snack is a cherry Danish with coffee and milk or cream. Cherries are supposed to be good for gout, but the *real* reason why I eat them is because I love them.

glad to hear all went well take care as i would i hope lol jim

Yes, we look forward to having 2legs around for some time to come, maybe we'll eventually figure him out.

Nope. That ain't going to happen. 2legs is not a static life form. As soon as we begin to get a grasp on what 2legs is about, 2legs morphs into something even more puzzling.

The only costant about 2legs is 2legs' culpability.

so so so true sadly... - if you think its confusing, try being me!? just as soon as I seem to get a vague hang on myself... I metamorphacise into something differnt - Occasionally I think, 'that must be it', as 'there's no where else left to go', yet, somehow, and always, I'm proven wrong, and an as yet, un-thought of, un-drempt of, un-realised possibility is suddenly made visable, if not understandible, by my switching to it

Mind.

Just think... my poor poor doctors and nurses at the hospital... I turned up there, what... in like January... and now, as the years progressed, they've had the confusing time of gradually, noticing me, slowely changing gender before their eyes I'm not even sure what gender I am anymore

Gender is overrated.

Ratings themselves are overrated .

Agreed I think... or not... of course... either way innit

Well, what's the point of rating something you had no choice about? Gender, your height, the color of various body parts, etc.

Exactly

I think we agree.

Undoubtidly so

I think I'm in unfamiliar territory.