X Factor

I saw this article on the bbc site about beer goggles. It explains the phenomenon where less attractive people are transformed into beauties via the medium of alcohol. Very helpfully they include the following formula that some pointed headed boffins have come with:

An = number of units of alcohol consumed
S = smokiness of the room (graded from 0-10, where 0 clear air; 10 extremely smoky)
L = luminance of 'person of interest' (candelas per square metre; typically 1 pitch black; 150 as seen in normal room lighting)
Vo = Snellen visual acuity (6/6 normal; 6/12 just meets driving standard)
d = distance from 'person of interest' (metres; 0.5 to 3 metres)

Strikes me, they've missed the bleedin obvious here, the x factor where X = time since last bunk up.

So here we have the official fatskier beer goggle formula:

posted by stu 2:19 PM | +

13.11.05

Dog leg

One of the benefits of being laid up with a bad knee has been, of course, quality time with the family. er, in front of the telly. Watching blimmin cbeebies. Can't say I enjoy much of it, apart from the excellent charlie and lola. But someone at the BBC is trying to educate the youngsters, imagine my surpise when I recognised the music in the ad for Clifford the Big Red Dog. Only using Grandaddy's AM 180 as the theme tune. Rockin.

posted by stu 2:42 PM | +

7.11.05

Wounded Knee

All activities carry inherent risk, but I'll admit I didn't think there was a huge risk of tearing my cartilage right out my knee and completely tearing my cruciate ligament while kicking a ball around on a Wednesday evening.

However that risk managed to manifest itself and after one operation to suture the cartilage back in place, I'm now looking forward to knee reconstruction. As the joke goes, any surgical procedure is 'major' if it's done on you. 'Minor' procedures are only done on someone else.

So my Gazza injury requires reconstruction that will restore stability to my knee, and make it reliable and stable.

For the uninitiated, here's a quick guide through knee anatomy.

You've basically got four ligaments that stabilise your knee. The ones on the sides of the joint are the medial collateral ligament (MCL) and the lateral collateral ligament (LCL) which serve as stabilisers for the side-to-side stability of the joint.

In the knee is the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) which is the one I've managed to get 'flapping in the wind' to quote my consultant. This ligament is very important for stabilising the femur on the tibia and serves to prevent the tibia from rotating and sliding forward. Directly behind the ACL is it's opposite, the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL).

So as my mate said 'can't you get a second opinion?' when I explained the reconstruction process. Er no. The ACL rarely heals on it's own. The alternative is to live with the disability. Not for me, and I'm due back under the knife early December.

posted by stu 2:07 PM | +