This is the biggest strawberry I have ever seen! It was in a pack from Lidl which had a lot of large strawberries in it. It’s almost as big as my mobile phone (as you can see). And no, I didn’t do any photoshopping, this is unedited Ripley’s believe it or not stuff here.

Amazed? I was - tasted nice too

Not as big as the biggest strawberry ever. That honour goes to a strawberry grown by a Mr. Anderson in Folkestone, Kent in England. His strawberry weighed 8.17 ounces and was grown in 1983. It’s a record breaker.

“Dedication, dedication
Dedication, that’s what you need
If you wanna be the best
If you wanna beat the rest
Oh-oh dedication’s what you need;
If you wanna be a record break-er, Oooooh.”

Couldn’t find a clip of Roy Castle singing that. Loved Record Breakers as a kid.

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Fraud prevention company boss gets his comeuppance. Can’t say I’m surprised.

Sex change operations for kids? This is just wrong in a world where so many kids die from easily preventable diseases.

Parrot gets lost but eventually is returned to owners. I’m sure you can guess how he was reunited. There’s a clever parrot.

I love America, I really do. But when I read stories like this I have to shake my head in despair.

 FDA issues an alert on Mommy’s Bliss Nipple Cream. I’d have thought any type of product on nipples wouldn’t be a good idea for breastfeeding mothers?

I think I need help. I can’t stop buying books and I seriously don’t have the time to read them all. Actually, I probably do have the time but my eyes get tired too easily + that quote from Einstein about reading keeps haunting me:

Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.

He doesn’t indicate what the certain age is though. Is it 20, 30, 40, 50, 60? He doesn’t say if women suffer from the same fate as men, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some study that says reading makes women more intelligent and men less so. I keep saying to myself that he doesn’t mean my age and anyway, what would a fuzzy haired, left brained genius know about creativity?

The little stack above shows a selection of current and upcoming reading material. I’m just about finished ‘The Last Lecture’ by Randy Pausch. I bought America Unchained, The World wihout us and Quirkology during the week. Was down at the recycyling yesterday and picked up Modern Ireland and One Hit Wonder off the “take a book” shelf.

Proof of my book problem is that I’d never have bought either of those 2 books. One is a school book and the other is chick lit. My greed for books just meant I had to take them off the shelf. I didn’t suffer any buyer remorse, which was great for me as I do suffer from that particular condition quite often. Although I had no symptoms of the big BM, I still had to justify my taking them home by saying that maybe my nephews or nieces will need the Modern Ireland book and my sister would like the chick lit book.

It’s a terrible and unrecognised condition. Anyone that ventured to set up a 12 step programme for book addicts would surely be hampered by the fact they couldn’t hand out any reading material to help the addicts find their higher god. To do so would be like passing around a spliff at an NA meeting or bringing cream buns to weight watchers.

The first step of any programme is to admit you have a problem, and so I have. Maybe this is the beginning of a whole new journey for me. A world without books? Somehow I can’t see it happening and I really think Einstein was wrong in his assessment of reading after a certain age. Any thoughts on this?

Very good news from Simon Berry about the campaign for Coca Cola to use their phenomenal distribution capability to deliver life saving rehydration salts.

Coca Cola have responded to the idea and are happy to talk to Simon more about it. This is just wonderful news. He has also been on Radio 4 and you can hear the full interview on his site also.

About 4 min 50 seconds into the interview Simon recounts attending a council meeting in north east of Zambia. Waiting for the meeting to start he picked up a newspaper with a mother holding her dead child. The headline read:

“When 1 in 5 children doesn’t die from dehydration, then we’ll take some notice of the aids epidemic.”

For me, this really does highlight how much life saving potential could come from Simon’s efforts.

Once again – the link for the Facebook campaign is here so you can show your support. It has been growing very strongly but needs more support so please do all you can.

The Brooklyn Bridge opened on this day in 1883 after 13 years construction. It was the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time. Although no proper records were kept, 27 people officially lost their lives during its construction, with a good number of those being Irish. This website documents those lives lost and those who were injured.

If you have ever been to New York you will no doubt have seen the bridge at a distance or maybe made a point of crossing over it. The one and only time I visited New York was 8 years ago to attend a stock trading seminar. I didn’t get a chance to do all the things I wanted to do, but I do remember passing close by the bridge in a taxi and marvelled at how beautiful it is. From the architects that design to the construction workers that labour, my hat goes off to all those people that build things.

New York is a wonderful city to visit and I hope to go back again some day and make sure I have time to see the Brooklyn Bridge at closer range and take a walk across it.

Photo by Tzatziki and used under a Creative Commons License

I don’t like you that way Cameron, but it’s for a film about a mother who shaves her head to show solidarity with her daughter who is suffering from leukemia.

The film is based on a Jodi Picoult novel.

Hopefully Cameron will start choosing roles more in keeping with her age. She can’t keep doing the kooky rom coms forever. I’m sure she won’t want to be remembered for the classic hair gel scene in There’s something about Mary.

We’re all creatures of habit whether we realise it or not. Since I gave up driving the car to work almost a year ago, I’ve got to “know” the various people who share the luxurious confines of the Bus Eireann coach for a couple of hours each day. I’ve observed their habits and characteristics. They are familiar strangers to me.

I’m well aware of most of my habits - in the morning I invariably opt for a seat on the right hand side in the same spot. On the return journey I sit on the opposite side but “mix it up” a little and choose a random seat. I’ve no idea why, but I do.

An observer would also notice I read the newspaper for about the first 1/2 hour in the morning. Then my headphones go on and I typically doze off. I’m sure I have other little habits too, but those are the ones I am aware of.

Here’s a few habits and characteristics of my other travelling companions – those familiar strangers.

Mr. Gadgets - I like my gadgets, but this Mr. G is weighed down with them. He has a laptop, iPhone, mobile phone and heaven knows what else. Huffing and puffing onto the bus every evening, I swear a vein is going to explode in his head sometime. If ever there was a candidate to disconnect from the wired world for a couple of hours, it’s him.

Mrs. Herald - She reads it cover to cover every evening without fail. During the winter months, will also check the light above the seat to make sure it is working before she sits down. Husband picks her up when she gets off and I’ll bet they have a right old chinwag about all the days news.

Mr. Grey - If he isn’t an accountant I would be very surprised. Always has to sit in an aisle seat, and 9 times out of 10 will always select the seat next to a female even if there are plenty of empty seats available. Sleeps most of the way in the morning with his head almost in his lap. Must have a weak spine.

Lifelong workmates - Every Friday evening, two men in their early 50’s get on at one point outside a small industrial estate. I’m guessing that they leave the cars at home on Friday and have a few pints after work before getting the bus. If you want local news, just sit behind these 2 men and you will get more of it than you would reading the local rag. Every second word out of their mouth is fuck or fucking.

Pillow boy - Brings a second coat with him so he can use it as a pillow. His head hits that coat pillow within 2 or 3 minutes of boarding. Always looks very comfy and content. Snores sometimes which makes people smile. That was during the winter months - so this particular habit is seasonal with him.

Last on board - He must be over 70 and he always, always waits for everyone else to board in the evening before he boards himself. Even if you gesture for him to go ahead before you, he’ll not hear of it. Bet he has a story to tell.

Lady Penelope and Jeeves - Retired couple on the bus 2 or 3 times a week usually. He is laden down with bags following after her - only thing she carries is a handbag. She almost beats the door down to be first on to get a seat right at the back. I’ve often been tempted to ask her how come she nevers carries anything when quite often he struggles with the days shopping haul.

Smokey Rave boy - Loves his music which is great but must have really bad hearing as I can hear the throbbing beat of the house music 6 or 7 seats away. I don’t understand the need to have them so loud. Always finishing a smoke when the bus pulls up at his stop. Can’t get on until he’s had 5 or 6 really deep drags.

The Intellectuals - 2 guys always get on at the same stop. One is a college lecturer/student advisor and the other works in IT. The lecturer speaks rather loudly and strikes me as a bit of a know it all. IT guy is easily his match in the know it all stakes. It’s like listening to someone reading the Economist out loud. 2 very cerebral peas in a pod.

The Doctor – I’m guessing he’s a doctor but he had the really annoying habit of ALWAYS choosing the empty seat beside me in the morning even though plenty of other seats were free. One particular morning I got up late after little sleep – I was hungry, cold and feeling crap. He did his usual and plonked into the seat next to me. I had heaphones on and muttered “for fuck sake” a bit louder than I intended, which he obviously heard. He hasn’t sat near me since. I know, I know, that was his habit, but he was a leg spreader which annoyed me too and I don’t like touching knees or any other body part with a stranger on a bus, thank you very much.

Any familiar stranger stories yourself?

Photo in header by moriza and adapted under a Creative Commons license

So it’s an end to the tent at Galway races for Fianna Fail then. It’s not only Fianna Fail that will be affected by this. Presumably, the newspapers will have to look harder for stories to fill column inches during the silly season now.

Don’t worry Brian, if all else fails there’s always cookies isn’t there?

Photo by juverna and adapted under a creative commons license