Over the years I’ve heard of people, and known some people with really stupid names.

Superman works in a hotel in Sri Lanka, and is a really nice guy.

In Brazil there are triplets named Xerox, Authenticada and Photocopia; also there’s a girl named airline and my personal favorite was a kid who’s name translated into English as “the last passion of mr & mrs Desilva”.

In china they have tried naming kids . and @. Thankfully the authorities put a stop to that one.

In UK we have someone named playstation who was in the paper a few years back, and someone who’s named after all 13 players in Man United.

I once worked with a Richard Head – it’s not just a myth – take a look at this name in 192.com – some parents are right bastards. In 192.com there are also two named Mary Hinge.

There’s a Jonny Cash song about a guy named Sue. I can only assume that people who name their children in such fashion dont raise them in places like my hometown. I had enough trouble with my middle name Duncan which they shortened to dunky (slang for condom). We had one or two lively debates about that, during one of them a schoolmate became so animated he fell over and broke his nose. Poor fella.

If a guy named Richard Head went to my school his life expectancy would be shorter than that of the Vaasa ( a ship in Sweden that sank 12 minutes after it launched – apparently weight distribution is important. I wouldn’t want to be an engineer on that project)

The photo is of a random Richard Head I found in google.

If i was a yes man today I would have done the following:

1. Screwed myself over by taking on too much responsibility tonight.
2. I would have planned to have gone out for beers with someone I shouldn’t go for beers with, and then not turned up
3. I would have purchased a new domain.
4. I would have brought Steven Kings Mile 81.
5. I would have not gone back to the office after lunch, and would currently be in hospital with alcohol poisoning (missing the “date”)
6. I would have seen a lot of porn.

Instead I am sat comfortably and happily at home with some coffee, smiling to myself, because I am not a yes man – I am a why man.

Incidentally the movie Yes Man, is pretty cool, tho I once put the DVD on when I had family visiting, having completely forgot the bit where he had to accept a blow job from an old woman. That was an uncomfortable moment.

It’s silly but often in life and in movies the real hero of any given story isn’t actually the character everyone focuses on. Take lord of the rings – it’s all about Frodo, and the burden of being the ring bearer – and on the film they make everyone empathize with Frodo because it’s so difficult having such a responsibility. Nobody gives a second thought for Sam Gamgee, who at one point carries the ring, saves Frodo then at the end of the movie carries not only the ring but also Frodo up the side of mount Doom,

Incidentally on the net there are several alternate endings for Lord of the rings – taking one of those eagles and just dropping the ring in the fires of mount doom would have been soo much easier. As Frodo’s limp body was scooped up but the eagle at the end of the film – he must have been thinking “doh”?

Bored of the rings, the adventure game on the BBC micro just popped into my head. It was fun!

Ok in the name of science we are looking at how we can improve on the grape in a microwave plasma generating experience.

Glen and myself have agreed we will pay 50% of the costs each and try a number of different things.

1. Firstly if you can generate plasma with a grape- what other fruits have the high electrolyte content that could be used to generate plasma? How much power do we need to make this effective?
2. Secondly what would happen if we run the grape in a glass for a full minute.

Now we are going to try to be safe here, and shoot this from a distance behind something solid, outside at night time (to minimise the poison gas / shrapnel side of things.

On the same evening we will probably also do the jam jar rocket and post the videos here; this may take a while to organise as i have a fairly busy schedule.

In the meanwhile i am open to suggestions for things to try here – just post a comment – its been suggested i try a box of wine, and a marshmallow. I won’t promise i will do them all but will probably give the ones that aren’t likely to kill a person a go.