Tweets on 2009-02-16

  • @markpack not sure I could I take three hours of “Lloyd George Knew My Father” #
  • @jamesgraham re obesity “doubling” risk of death – following my talk page query, Wikipedia now says mortality rate is doubled. #
  • @joswinson Nottingham Playhouse’s panto had a magnificent Torvill and Dean parody in it this year 🙂 #

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Twice as likely to die

Amusing Twitter banter on the subject of obesity set me into a brief spell of reading the detailed page on the subject on Wikipedia.

It’s interesting and scary stuff, and it teaches me that I am Class I Obese, which, in the words of the page when I read earlier in the week, means:

“A BMI of over 32 is associated with a doubling of risk of death”

Good lord, really? I’m twice as likely to die? Doubly certain?

I was pretty sure that what was said was not what was meant, so queried it on the talk page, and it was clarified the following morning as a doubling in the mortality rate. That’s better – twice as many people per 1,000 population die who are obese as compared to the normal weight population. It’s still not a particularly useful statistic for judging personal risk.

The other really fascinating thing on the page was this picture of two abdominal CT scans, showing the difference on a slice of person that the extra weight makes.

Tweets on 2009-02-15

  • @ArcUk http://twitpic.com/1hf7n – Worrying-looking commotion down there. #
  • @willhowells putting Belgian bun back on plate mid-mouthful. #
  • @willhowells our post-burglary Wii no is 4208 8927 0883 9234 but we don’t exactly turn it on every week any more. #
  • @willhowells Reading WP “Obesity” page. Apparently risk of death doubles for people with BMI of 32. #
  • Five hours to change a lightbulb. Had exactly the same prob myself. http://tr.im/gavs #

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Solar Panel performance 08

I nearly forgot to report back with the first full year’s worth of performance from the array of solar evacuated tubes on the roof that feed our hotwater system.

Fortunately the basic datalogger I have access to still gives the basic ’08 readout, and it tells me the system ran for approx 1100 hours during the year and generated a staggering 3498 kWh.

Annual solar output

Nottingham Energy Partnership’s comparison cost table suggests that might have cost me around £100-£150 if I’d had to pay for it in gas.

Although I didn’t watch the system too carefully throughout the year, I don’t think there was a single day on which all our hot water came from the sun.

It was an unusual year with a pretty lousy summer and the highest energy costs for gas and electricity we’ve ever seen, so there’s maybe chance for a better financial return in future. But at this rate, my payback period is 28-42 years.

It’s still one of the better gadgets I own, and second in cost only to my car. I like the readout that always tells me exactly how hot my hot water is – I know that for a good long hot shower I need the tank to be over 60deg, and I can check before going in if necessary.

Other posts about my solar panel:

Wretched 25 things meme

There’s a meme doing the rounds on Facebook where you have to write 25 things about yourself, then tag 25 people to do the same.

Several people have been kind enough to tag me, and I have lost track a bit of who. I am also not at all on top of who’s already done this and who hasn’t.

1 When I was going to the gym briefly four years ago, I discovered I actually quite like running.

2 Although music is really important to me, and I consider myself a singer, I almost never listen to music. No concerts, no music radio, rarely any CDs in the car. It’s Radio 4 and speech podcasts all the way.

3 I think I know roughly what I will be doing with my life until approx 2015, but I have no idea after that at all.

4 In the words of Acorn Antiques: “I go bellringing on Wednesday nights.” Actually, I go Fridays and some Tuesdays. I have been ringing since 1989 but haven’t actually got any better since about 1993.

5 I am not remotely interested in any sort of sport. Following it, doing it, nope, just don’t care. Cricket, rugby, football, meh, whatever.

6 There used to be a sign with my family name on a street corner in my hometown. My forebears on that side of the family were preachers and corn merchants and a distant relative was once mayor.

7 I really don’t want to be an MP, although everyone assumes I do when they hear I am a councillor at the tender age of 30.

8 I like camping – and I like it all the more now that I take two duvets and can stay toasty warm all night.

9 I can cook tasty food but it always looks a bit odd.

10 I’m too clumsy for arts and crafts.

11 I can’t draw or paint despite years of art lessons in my formative years. I can’t play tennis either. I think my parents just wanted us out of the house on Saturday mornings.

12 I used to think that beer and Radio 4 were the only things keeping me in England, but now I’m not so sure.

13 I regret not insuring my cats.

14 I love bonfires.

15 I am clinically obese. My diet is atrocious and I take next to no exercise but I don’t seem to be getting any fatter.

16 I played tuba, euphonium, trombone at school and I still occasionally get out my recorders from sopranino to tenor, but my fingers never stretched far enough to play bass recorder.

17 I can’t read bass clef without counting the lines and working it out by analogy to treble clef.

18 I went to three different secondary schools.

19 I have recurring nightmares about taking final exams for French/German literature I haven’t read, and about standing in the wings about to go on stage to deliver lines I haven’t learnt. I’ve sort of done both of those things in real life.

20 I can play the following guitar chords: E Em G C A D Am D7, which is enough to play well known songs like Hallelujah, Jolene, Ghostriders in the Sky, and quite a lot of the songs off the Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs album.

21 GFA BASIC on the Atari ST taught me some of the fundamentals of computer programming but I don’t know any computer languages that are commonly used today.

22 IRC taught me to type at 60wpm but these days if I do that too much my wrists and hands hurt.

23 I live in chaos and squalor and half think that owning a copy of “Getting Things Done” by David Allen will help me get on top of things.

24 I love reading, but mostly just read trashy crime novels. When I was doing my A Levels, I worked for a library alternate Saturdays, and borrowed as many books as I could. These days when I borrow books from the library I can rarely read them fast enough to get them back before the due date.

25 I would not be where I am today if it hadn’t been for Nick Clegg.

Tweets on 2009-02-11

  • Smirking over a typo in someone’s 25 things: Guf Stream. Ho ho ho. #
  • @rfenwick you don’t get “Maximum mailbox reached, please clear down your saved messages” yet? #
  • EARS, how I love thee. Let me count the ways. Current error message “BAD BIRTH!! = J!!” #
  • Kittehs can count. An accidental extra meal yesterday has led to unrealistic expectations of food today. #
  • Eek, they’re going to talk about Twitter on You & Your Whinge, R4. #

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