Expensive Water

Some of the butter substitutes, usually called 'spreads, are advertised as having reduced fat content. Scrutiny of the list of contents reveals that fat has been replaced by water, though the dilution of the important ingredients is not reflected in a conspicuously lower price.

I doubt whether use of such spreads reduces our fat intake because I find that they seem to soak into bread so that one uses more to cover the same surface area. They also make toast soggy!

Counting a Cat's Laps

I mean the lapping operations of her tongue when Senior Cat drinks her cat milk.

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that cats take in about 0.05 ml of liquid with each flick of the tongue. That doesn't seem much so I've taken to watching Senior cat when she's drinking. Her lap speed is around three flicks per second so at 0.05 ml a time she might be imbibing about 9 ml per minute. I'm trying to decide if that is a plausible quantity. Look forward to further revelations!

A Change in my Reading Habits

When I moved into the present house, nearly three years ago, I unpacked whatever box of books was  most accessible, and put the contents on the nearest free bookshelf. I ended up with reference books, History, Biography, Cooking and Gardening downstairs, and Maths, Science, Philosophy and Literature in the second floor attic. Religion, Folk Lore, Psychology, Parapsychology, Economics and Politics, all of which I loosely classify as 'superstition' are in my bedroom.

That worked quite well, except that I found  myself making frequent ascents to the attic to find books on Maths and Science, but very rarely consulted the History and Biography books downstairs, so I realised my reading habits have changed, and sent an energetic few days swapping History for Maths and Science.

My journeys to the attic are now less frequent, and usually for Philosophy, hardly ever for literature. Thirty or forty years ago I often dipped into poetry books, but that form of expression now seems empty and pointless.

Without the house move it might have taken me longer to realise how my interests have changed over the years.

Distracted by 'Life'

I've just realised that we reached the second half of October without my posting anything here.

I've been distracted by a program for John Conway's game of Life.

Download a copy here, and share my distraction.