Did you know that every time a post isn't linked to a fairy dies? Well you may not care, but I'm going to do my bit. Here come some links, you know what to do.
There's some lovely pictures out there, and it's not like you ever get any from me, so I hope you like these. Here are some beautiful libraries, and some wonderfully grotesque preying mantises. And if real insects don't do it for you, here's some paper ones.
And there's good news from the solar energy people. They've been making progress with solar planes, and now they're going to beam solar energy down from space.
It was my idea, you know. The diagram on the energy link is essentially the same as the one I drew in my Physics exercise book in 1975. The teacher said it was impossible, so who gets the last laugh? Not him, I think.
Actually, now I think about it, they kept our exercise books. I bet he sold them to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and they're working on all my ideas right now. If they come out with jetpack British Bulldog I'm suing.
In another defeat for natural justice, the EU has given up on making Britain go metric. I blame all of you. I don't care if you live in Tulsa, you could have done your bit.
The metric system is clearly and obviously better. Not only does it work in multiples of ten, the units fit together. Here's an example.
Draw a line from the equator to the North Pole, passing through Paris. It's ten million metres long, because that's how the French defined a metre. That's ten thousand kilometres, of course. Try converting yards to miles, and you have to divide by 1760. Unless you're American, in which case it's some other equally stupid number.
A hundredth of a metre? That's a centimetre. Obviously. And simply. Now, a gram is defined as the mass of a cubic centimetre of water, also known as a millilitre (1000 grams, or one kilogram, is the weight of a litre). One degree centigrade, meanwhile, is one hundredth of the temperature difference between the freezing point and boiling point of water.
And a calorie? That's the amount of heat energy required to heat one millilitre of water by one degree centigrade. It all fits together. Now do that with feet, ounces and Fahrenheit.
But no, we have to have the Imperial system, it's traditional, and British. What they don't realise is that if the French had won the Battle of Trafalgar, the traditional British way would be the metric system. Tradition is just a bunch of stuff which happened, it doesn't actually mean anything.
It's no use telling them that though. If Eurocrats can't make them, I've got no chance. In Britain it's the greengrocers who rule the roost, and there's no reasoning with them. Give them a cubit, and they'll take a furlong.
And to round off, you know how liberals and conservatives don't get on? It's because their brains work differently. That would account for the Imperial system. I bet it makes perfect sense to people whose brains are wonky.