Dr. Seuss and The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T

Wow, Dr Seuss never fails to amaze me. I had no idea that there was a movie, made in the 1950's and years before he became internationally famous, called "The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T". Great page about it here. The author also suggests that it was the basis of the Simpsons, you be the judge.

Fruit is a lie.

OK, so you probably know that a tomato is, in reality, a fruit not a vegetable but did you know that hardly any of the "fruit" we eat is technically fruit? The Schrodingerskitten Blog has an interesting article on the issue.

The Mighty Hillman Hunter

Ah the memories come flooding back - this was our family car in the '70's. Couple of links to a Brochure for the Hillman Hunter Safari: Page 1 and Page 2. Check out the the cool dude in the Safari Suit on page one and then feast your eyes on the specs on page two:

• Glove box
• Windshield Washers
• Heater with Blower
• Child-proof rear door locks
• Reversing lights
• Seat Belts (front only)
• and (wait for it) Rear view mirror

Whew, talk about luxury!

The shocking truth behind drug company profits

The UK's Independent has a shocking article on how the drug company's manipulate the system to produce overpriced drugs and prevent poor countries from benefiting from advances in medications. Key points:

• Only 14% of Drug companies budgets is spent on research
• Most of the work carried out by scientists is done in government-funded university labs (paid for by your taxes)
• Drug company's spend more to develop "me too" drugs that are essentially the same as their existing patents rather than develop new drugs
• The drug companies spent more than $3bn on lobbyists and political "contributions" over the past decade in the US alone
• Virtually nothing is spent on diseases, like malaria, because the victims are poor, so there's hardly any profit

All of this is not new. John le Carré wrote a magnificent book "The Constant Gardener" about the international drug companies - it's well worth the read.

Comparison of music sales by media

The New York Times has an amazing graphic that compares music sales by media. It also shows the point when sales were at maximum and in what year. Essentially, CD's are toast but digital media downloads are beginning to explode.