Pattern Recognition

Sometimes doing things backwards can help you move forwards.

Here's why.

Veisalgia, or Why The F*ck Did I Drink So Much Last Night??

Ah, so there is an official name for the punishment.

Did you know that:

"Breaking the seal" during a heavy night out is indeed a fact because

"...when alcohol is consumed, it enters the bloodstream and causes the pituitary gland in the brain to block the creation of vasopressin (also known as the antidiuretic hormone). Without this chemical, the kidneys send water directly to the bladder instead of reabsorbing it into the body. This is why drinkers have to make frequent trips to the bathroom after urinating for the first time after drinking" (source: Howstuffworks)

Now here's the REALLY scary part. We get headaches because our internal organs, dehydrated and gasping for liquid, steals water from our brain and our brain then shrinks, pulling on the membrane attached to our skull!

I'm thinking twice the next time I go on an all-night bender!! to learn more, visit HowStuffWork's fantastic resource on everything you ned to know about a hangover.

Today I learnt,
That crying is not a sign of weakness,
Or a shameful loss of control.
But that crying,
Can be cleansing too.

wOOt!!

I say it all the time. As in " wOOt! Heroes is out on DVD" or "wOOt! That reno quote has come in SO much lower than expected"! Ok, that last one was a complete fabrication.

What the hell does it MEAN? I thought it was just an onomatopoeia for a shortened woo-hoo trailing off in a whistle. But oh no....

Woot originated as a hacker term for root (or administrative) access to a computer. However, with the term as coincides with the gamer term, "w00t".

"w00t" was originally an truncated expression common among players of Dungeons and Dragons tabletop role-playing game for "Wow, loot!" Thus the term passed into the net-culture where it thrived in video game communities and lost its original meaning and is used simply as a term of excitement.

-Urban Dictionary

Doubtless some of my geekier friends (you know who you are) will be shaking their heads going "You figure this out NOW??" but hey, I thought it was just a word like YAY (You Are Yodelling?) or UM (U mean.....?) or WOW (Werewolves or Witches?).

Now I know better...

Getting the Yolk in the Middle

When making oeufs en cocotte with a soft filling underneath (like creamed spinach, leeks or duxelles etc) it is SUCH an annoyance when the yolks slip to the side instead of sitting prettily in the middle of the ramekin. It really bothers someone as anal as myself!

Here's a super neat way to get them bang in the middle everytime:

Get a little teaspoon or melon baller and make an indent in the middle of the filling. Then crack your egg over it. The yolk wiggles into the indentation everytime!

Doubtless this is an age-old trick, but I was so thrilled when I figured it out!!

Did you know that 1% of the hissy white noise you hear on the radio as you're tuning between stations is actually the echo of the Big Bang?

-Focus Magazine #178 Jul 07, pp 45

Welcome

Welcome to my latest blog, WHILT. It's a space to share all the weird, wonderful things that I learn as I hopskip through through my slappettydash little life.

It's not that I only learn just one thing a day but there is always something really awesome that I discover during my meanders through cyberspace, or randomly flipping through waiting room magazines. There's always a geeky fact that I think is SOOO cool, or a completely practical now-why-didn't-I-think-of-that trick, or a hysterical nugget of urban insight that would be WRONG not to share!!! Plus, my ridiculous short-term memory needs a space to put them all.

Whilto ergo cogito; cogito ergo sum.
I WHILT therefore I think; I think therefore I am.