Circle of cool

Ta da! Yes, after months of intensive research, I have finally devised the ultimate aid for navigating the treacherous topography of cooldom. I have called it the circle of cool, and filled it with ice cold hues of grey and cyan. The circle of cool is an indispensable tool for working out whether yours or anyone else’s tastes are cool. In the example below I have used the case of music, but the circle of cool can be applied to any aspect of life with equally incredible results. As one might observe, a single genre can be both ‘so cool’ and ‘so not cool’ simultaneously, making user interpretation key. Below is a fictional list of interests as one might observe on a Facebook or Myspace page. Practice using the circle of cool to classify this persons interests… Are they cool?

Music: Katy Perry, Merzbow, No Age, Elton John

Film: 200 ISO

Books: Harry Potter, Thus Spake Zarathustra

Other: Ironing

Spooky Science

I realise this is cheating a tad, but in order to bulk up this rather sparse slab of web ether I shall be uploading some articles from days gone by. Here is a seasonal slice of 'wisdom' from the inimitable Professor Science... Enjoy!

Oh, and for those of you not 'in the know', Professor Science is an eminent scientist Diplodocus that I stole wholesale (with permission) from here. Check it out for much mirth.

Dear Professor 'Spooky' Science

If a person decided to indulge in a spot of vampirism, would they be able to survive on a diet consisting entirely of blood?

Dear Reader

Strangely, I was unable to find any rigorous experimental evidence regarding the pros and cons of vampirism and, unfortunately being a 100% vegan diplodocus ruled out the possibility of self experimentation, nonetheless, I have endeavoured to create a well Wikipedia’d answer as to the viability of this least balanced of diets!

Because blood transports all of the products of digestion around the body it is about as perfectly nutritious as a foodstuff could be and various hunter gatherer tribes including the Masai regularly drink cattle or goats blood, sometimes mixed with milk. The main nutritional problem associated with blood consumption is the lack of certain essential vitamins and minerals. Vitamins which dissolve in fat are not transported in the blood, as such the blood diet lacks vitamins A, D, E, and K and restricting your diet to thusly would lead to associated deficient maladies such as bone softening in the case of vitamin D.

A more pressing issue than that of vitamin deficiency would be dehydration. Because blood has high concentrations of salts and the products of protein breakdown, the would-be vampire’s body would have to use more water than the blood would supply in expelling these excesses. As such, a diet of just blood would lead to rapid dehydration and the vampire would presumably suffer from a permanent hangover. It is because of this that drinking blood is often associated with a gag reflex and many people who drink blood often vomit soon afterwards. Presumably the taboos associated with blood consumption add to this tendency, and would require vampires to have masterful self control in order to stomach the rich salty brew.

So, to summarise, to subsist on a diet of blood, ensure you drink plenty of water and take regular vitamin supplements and you should be fine. Presumably this means that a sure way to spot Nosferatu is to look for copious amounts of bottled water and chewable multivitamins scattered throughout his or her tomb!


Yours Scientifically


The Prof