I no longer fear smashing the microwave plate

Or need worry about cleaning hardened cheese that has melted onto it as a result of a re-heating explosion. Why? Because our kitchen now proudly displays a flatbed (or plate-less) microwave.

According to the guy in the store, they are the next big thing in microwave technology. 

Soon the machines with the turntable plate will be to the flatbeds as the discman is to the MP3 player.

The muscular tongue

The tongue is made up of eight muscles (I won't bother listing here what each of them are called because they're long, complicated words that won't stick in my memory so therefore can't be counted as something I've learnt).

But something else I found out is that the average length of a person's tongue is 10cm when measured from oropharynx - the place in the back of the throat where the tongue begins - to the tip.

That seems pretty darn long to me but I reckon Gene Simmons' tongue is even longer!

The current world record holder for the longest tongue is a guy in California, whose tongue measures 10.1cm from its tip to the middle of his top lip (so, not including all the tongue inside his mouth back to the oropharynx. Crazy.

That's him on the right.

Better than the shoe-phone

If I was a secret agent (a la Maxwell Smart) and had electronic documents I didn't want anyone to find, I'd hide them on this handy USB.

Seriously? Who the hell thought up USB that looks like a tampon? And thought people would want to pay money for it? I can only imagine the reception this entrepreneur would have received on The Shark Tank.

It's not a funny shaped, bald bee after all

I've been watching The Hive on ABC Kids with my young son. It's kind of cute, in a everybody-does-the-right-thing-all-the-time way.

But I'd noticed one of the little bees looked different to the others. He didn't look fuzzy and rather than being nicely spherical he looked kid of pushed out of shape. That's him, second from the right.

His name's Jasper.

I figured it must be the producers attempt at showing physical variety. You know, we all look different, not everyone is the same, and all that.

But today I learned he looks different because he isn't meant to be a bee. He's a wasp!

What are those glasses in my kitchen?

I've got a bunch of random wine glasses in my cupboard. Some look really small and some look really large. I don't seem to have any "normal"sized wine glasses. To tell the truth, I'm not even sure what type of glasses I've got; for all I know, I've been serving white wine in a red wine glass.

So I decided to educate myself. I'm not much a drinker but there's no need to advertise it through this ignorance at dinner parties. Judging from the table below, I reckon I've got some Large Bordeaux and some Standard Sweet glasses. Hmmm...not too impressive.

What's IT called?

The fear of clowns is called coulrophobia. Apparently people find clowns scary because they wear masks and don't show any real emotion (smiles painted on and whatnot).

 

 

Superheroes wear masks and don't tend to show emotion (take Batman's monotone voice as testament) but people don't seem to be afraid of them.

 

Of course not! I hear you say. Superheroes help people. Aren't clowns supposed to entertain people, make them laugh? How is it one good intention can be accepted while another cannot?

Another Google search reveals maskophobia is the fear of masks while metamfiezomaiophobia is the name given to the broader fear of mimes, clowns and people in disguise. I supposed that would include superheroes?
 



James and the Giant Perve?

I was reading the Roald Dahl classic aloud to my little one today when I heard myself describing the scene where James meets the mysterious little man who gives him what turns out to be the seed that grows the giant peach.

As I was reading it, it dawned on me how creepy the scenario sounded: James, a sad little 10 year old boy is sitting in alone in some bushes when a weird looking old man appears from nowhere.

In the bushes, remember.

As if that wasn't enough, he then invites James to "Come closer to me, little boy... come right up close to me and I will show you something wonderful."

Is it just me or is every parent in the world screaming inside their head at James to run! Run away!

Don't go anywhere near this disgusting weirdo in the bushes who's wanting you to get close to him so he can show you something you've never seen before?

That my first thought when reading this was the man was a weirdo pervert rather than a good natured old fellow with harmless magical fruit may be a disturbing indictment of society but I wonder, if submitted for publication today, would editors re-write this part of the story? I mean, doesn't it teach kids that yes, it's ok to approach a strange weirdo and accept whatever surprises they have hiding in their coat?