It's official! I'm an idle sod

Greed:	Medium
Gluttony:	Medium
Wrath:	Medium
Sloth:	High
Envy:	Very Low
Lust:	Low
Pride:	Low

Take the Seven Deadly Sins Quiz

I knew I was bone idle this seems to prove it. I thought I would score higher on lust though!

h/t to Paulie for this quiz

Lazare Ponticelli – the last poilu

French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the death today of Lazare Ponticelli France's last surviving World War One veteran. "Today, I express the nation's deep emotion and infinite sadness," he said.

Mr Ponticelli was born on 7 December 1897 in Emilia Romagna, northern Italy. He made his way, at the age of nine, to France to join his two brothers, and worked in Paris as a chimney sweep and paper boy. In August 1914 he lied about his age in order to join the French Foreign Legion. He was 16 at the time.

Mr Sarkozy said there would be a national day of remembrance for France's war dead in the coming days as he marked Mr Ponticelli's death. "I salute the Italian boy who came to Paris to earn his living and chose to become French, first in August 1914 when he lied about his age to sign up at 16 for the Foreign Legion to defend his adopted homeland. Then a second time in 1921, when he decided to remain here for good."

Mr Ponticelli, who lived with his daughter in a southern suburb of Paris, had initially refused a government offer of a state funeral, the AFP news agency reported. But he later decided to accept "in the name of all those who died, men and women", during WWI.

There are now just 13 WWI veterans left

Richard Thompson - Beeswing

I was nineteen when I came to town, they called it the Summer of Love
They were burning babies, burning flags. The hawks against the doves
I took a job in the steamie down on Cauldrum Street
And I fell in love with a laundry girl who was working next to me

Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
She was a lost child, oh she was running wild
She said "As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay.
And you wouldn't want me any other way"

Brown hair zig-zag around her face and a look of half-surprise
Like a fox caught in the headlights, there was animal in her eyes
She said "Young man, oh can't you see I'm not the factory kind
If you don't take me out of here I'll surely lose my mind"

Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing
So fine that I might crush her where she lay
She was a lost child, she was running wild
She said "As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay.
And you wouldn't want me any other way"

We busked around the market towns and picked fruit down in Kent
And we could tinker lamps and pots and knives wherever we went
And I said that we might settle down, get a few acres dug
Fire burning in the hearth and babies on the rug
She said "Oh man, you foolish man, it surely sounds like hell.
You might be lord of half the world, you'll not own me as well"

Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
She was a lost child, oh she was running wild
She said "As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay.
And you wouldn't want me any other way"

We was camping down the Gower one time, the work was pretty good
She thought we shouldn't wait for the frost and I thought maybe we should
We was drinking more in those days and tempers reached a pitch
And like a fool I let her run with the rambling itch

Oh the last I heard she's sleeping rough back on the Derby beat
White Horse in her hip pocket and a wolfhound at her feet
And they say she even married once, a man named Romany Brown
But even a gypsy caravan was too much settling down
And they say her flower is faded now, hard weather and hard booze
But maybe that's just the price you pay for the chains you refuse

Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing
And I miss her more than ever words could say
If I could just taste all of her wildness now
If I could hold her in my arms today
Well I wouldn't want her any other way

Richard Thompson - Cooksferry Queen

WW - Gravestone

This week's entry for the Tuesday and Wednesday edition of Wordless Wednesday.

Mugabe finally admits food shortages but blames Britain

Robert Mugabe has finally admitted that Zimbabwe faces a grave food crisis amid the collapse of the country's agriculture. But he blamed it on "racist" Britain trying to oust him at this month's presidential election. Responding to pleas at a campaign rally from local officials of the ruling Zanu-PF party "to ensure the speedy distribution of food in the province as people were running out of supplies", Mugabe accepted there was a crisis.

The World Food Programme says 45% of Zimbabweans are suffering chronic malnourishment because of "poor agricultural policies and a declining economy". The WFP feeds about 2.5 million people and other agencies are providing food to about 1 million. But large numbers of people are surviving on far fewer calories than they need, leaving them vulnerable to illnesses, particularly the large proportion of the population with HIV at risk of developing full-blown Aids.

The government had promised "the mother of all agricultural seasons" this year after repeated crop failures. But agriculture has again been hit by the weather, compounded by a fall in production since the redistribution of white-owned farms to black farmers. The situation has been worsened by a shortage of fertilisers because of a lack of currency for imports, and frequent power cuts that have hit irrigation. Overall food production has fallen by about 70%. Mugabe has, until now, ridiculed claims of a food crisis as "western propaganda". Now he says it is a foreign conspiracy led by Britain to return the land to white farmers.

At a separate rally to hand out 500 tractors, 50,000 ox-drawn ploughs and combine harvesters to small-scale farmers, Mugabe blamed food shortages on western sanctions, which Britain says are aimed only against senior political figures and their families, but which the Harare government alleges are also blocking international loans. "When government embarked on the land reform programme, the dark forces of imperialism sought to strangle our agro-based economy through the spiteful closure of financial loans and grants to us. They tell us that the sanctions are targeted - lies!" Mugabe said ."This hate programme by Britain and her fellow racists imposed unjustified sanctions on Zimbabwe in futile attempts to frighten us off our land. They should remember that we are not that easily scared away. Indeed, they should also remember that we cannot desecrate the sacrifices that we paid for this country, not today, never, never, ever."

Mugabe said the government had ordered 530,000 tonnes of maize but only 5% of that had been delivered because of "logistical problems" caused by Zambian railway workers "taking their time" to load goods wagons "as they did not understand the severity of the problem in Zimbabwe". The country needs 2m tons of maize each year to feed its population.

Hmm, I find it grimly amusing to see Mugabe trying to foist the blame for the rank incompetence of his regime on to external conspirators. The truth is that he is the architect of Zimbabwe’s misfortune and nobody else. Zimbabweans go to the polls on 29 March but it is unlikely that he will be defeated. Despots like Mugabe will do everything they can to cling to power. I only hope it does not end in civil war.

Leon Greenman. RIP

Leon Greenman , the only English Jew to be sent to Auschwitz has died aged 97. He devoted many years of his life to life testifying about Nazism. I wish I had heard him speak.

Rest in Peace, Leon

My first Sea Cucumber Haiku

Holothurian
Will eviscerate itself
if you tread on it

Hmm perhaps a bit lame. I will try better next time

British humour is in the genes? Shurely shome joke?

It would appear that the British have a talent for caustic satire and painful put-downs may in fact have a hereditary basis: A survey of more than 4,000 twins suggests that humour regarded as typically British – sarcasm and self-deprecation – is linked to genes found in British men and women, but not shared, for instance, by Americans (surely they jest?).

While telling jokes and looking on the bright side of life – which researchers dubbed positive humour – is common to both sides of the Atlantic, only in the UK did they discover genetic links with negative humour – biting sarcasm and teasing. Experts admit that the results have left them baffled. "It is possible that differences exist between these nations in their sense of humour and that these may be the result of different genetic and environmental influences," said Dr Rod Martin, one of the researchers.

He highlighted the difference between Ricky Gervais's dreadful character David Brent and his much less embarrassing US counterpart played by Steve Carell. "The British may have a greater tolerance for a wide range of expressions of humour, including what many Americans might consider aggressively sarcastic or denigrating: like Fawlty Towers and Blackadder. In the North American version of The Office the lead character is much less insensitive and intolerant than in the original UK version," he added.

The study looked at genetic and environmental contributions to humour in nearly 2,000 pairs of UK twins. A second US study examined the humour of 500 sets of North American twins. The results revealed that positive humour – saying funny things, telling jokes, a humorous outlook on life – was linked to genes and was shared by twins in the UK and US. However, negative humour – teasing and ridicule – appeared to be genetically linked only in Britain.

Dr Martin, from the University of Western Ontario, said the aim was to find out whether humour has a genetic basis. "In North American families, there was a genetic basis to positive humour, but negative humour seems to be entirely learned. Growing up in a family where negative humour was practised was important in the development of that sense of humour. "In the UK, both positive and negative styles had a genetic basis in the sample. The genetic basis to negative humour in the UK was close to 50 per cent. Certainly in the UK, TV humour is more biting, whereas in North America it tends to be blander. One theory is that these styles of humour are associated with other personality traits that probably have a genetic basis. Self-defeating humour tends to be highly correlated with neuroticism. People who tend to be more negative, depressed and anxious tend to use that kind of humour."

A genetic link to humour? Is the scientist having a laugh? Is the “My dog has no nose” joke hard wired into our DNA? Do we have a primal urge when two or more are gathered to recite the Parrot sketch? Or should he have stuck to the Biochemists’ song book? (I can assure everyone that I never purchased a copy of this book when a Physiology and Biochemistry undergraduate way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth)

Edible Antifreeze

An Edible antifreeze (as opposed to normal antifreeze which may be sweet tasting but certainly won’t put hairs on your chest, although it may put an inscription on a headstone) has been developed by a US researcher which could keep ice cream tasty and smooth, and prevent other frozen foods from being ruined. It contains protein similar to those which help "snow flea" insects survive winter without freezing solid

The taste of good ice cream depends on a blend of flavour, temperature, and texture. The formation of tiny ice crystals, each around 15 to 20 microns wide, is crucial to making smooth ice cream. But if ice cream is subjected to sudden temperature fluctuation these crystals can grow and can ruin the texture of good ice cream. Gum-like carbohydrates are used by manufacturers to restrict the movement of water molecules and prevent big ice crystals from forming in ice cream. However, as anyone who has tasted crunchy ice cream will know, these carbohydrates do not work perfectly.

Srinivasan Damodaran at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is experimenting with edible antifreezes made from gelatine, which is much more effective at preventing ice crystals from ruining ice cream, he says. Damodaran's antifreeze is made by partly digesting gelatine with papain. The most effective antifreeze is "strikingly similar" to that of natural antifreeze found in snow fleas which remains active throughout winter. Others are also developing edible antifreeze. The European food company Unilever has patented yeast genetically modified to produce antifreeze from Arctic fish blood. Meanwhile, Canadian researchers are testing one made from winter wheat.

"But using gelatine as a source has the advantage of being easy to supply because it is a by-product of the meat and leather industries," said Andrew Wilbey an ice-cream expert at Reading University, UK. (Reading University has a large food science department).

Hmm Since the not wife is vegan we eat Tofutti, Swedish Glace and sometimes Rakusen’s (kosher food is a boon to vegans) rather than Ben and Jerry’s et al...It will be a cold day in hell before gelatine is used in any of those products!