Shrinking Toilet Paper and other Stories

Outside the sun is shining but there is an icy Northerly gale-force wind.  I am trying to psych myself up to go for a walk on the beach.  In the meantime though I have been popping in and out of websites to see how the world is doing away from the headlines.
I am indebted to BBC's magazine website bbc.com and to MessyNessChic link here for some out of the way stuff.

First of all there was the article on shrinking toilet paper.  Have you noticed that a roll doesn't go as far as it used?  Apparently quite a few people have and they have been writing to various newspapers/websites about it.  For a full report on this see link below.  It will set your mind at rest - someone in your household is not doing something strange with toilet tissue after all.

Washington Post article on shrinking toilet paper

How many times does your baby smile?  Seem like a good enough subject for a study to be done on it?
Eurekalert website writes that a new study examining temperamental differences between U.S. and Dutch babies found infants born in the Netherlands are more likely to be happy and easier to soothe in the latter half of their first year. U.S. infants, on the other hand, were typically more active and vocal, said study co-author Maria Gartstein, a Washington State University associate professor of psychology.
I have to ask:  why compare Dutch babies with American ones?  What's the connection and why not a study of babies from all countries?   Why is it important?  Are we going to have a baby smile competition at some point in the future and what happens if baby has colic/is teething on that day, how on earth are we going to get him/her to smile on the crucial day?  As if parents don't have enough worries trying to keep up with the - er?? - Jones' ?? Netherlands????
You can read all about it here Link

Thought I'd end on a nice note.  If you're a cat lover you're going to go awwwww when you see these photos of a cat bistrot in Rome called Romeow.  Go on, indulge....
Cool cats in Rome

Tennis Twirling and other Thoughts

I love reading the BBC's magazine on its website, especially I like the feature "Ten Things we didn't know last week".  I came across this gem - some old and hopefully obsolete laws in the USA.  Here's the link and it's well worth reading: Slater's look at obsolete US laws
My favourite has to be in Ohio it's "illegal to disrobe in front of a man's portrait."  I seem to remember that somewhere there's a law against hanging out men and women's underwear together on the line. 

We've come a long way since then.  We are now in the age of women having the same rights as men and no one turns a hair or raises a quizzical eyebrow.  Or have I got that wrong?
Yes, folks, we have Twirlgate - Eugenie Bouchard wore a stunning tennis outfit recently at the Australian  Open in Melbourne and was surprised when a reporter asked her to "twirl" to show it off.  She duly obliged amid a huge cheer from the crowd.  She said she didn't mind being asked but would prefer if people concentrated on her tennis.  Twirlgate upset a lot of feminists.  I must admit that I wasn't impressed either.  If you're on the red carpet for a movie award then fair enough but if you have put in all the training and hard work required to win a high level tennis match, then I think the focus should be on how you played and not on your outfit.

So how far have we come, exactly?  Has anyone asked Nadal or Federer to show off their tennis shorts or shoes or just give us a blast of those muscular legs?  Certainly the female tennis players are an attractive bunch as indeed are the males.  Should it make a difference, how you look?  Do you have to be super-sexy to get to the top of the corporation? I wouldn't like to take any bets on it.

But are women partly to blame?  In the UK there was a kerfuffle recently because one of the tabloids decided not to publish its Page 3 topless model pics.  Apparently a lot of male readers felt cheated.  And there was me, thinking people bought newspapers for the news they contain and not for a pin-up photo of a bare-breasted young woman lol.  A commentator on a French news channel said that "here in France you can see topless women on TV any time of the day and no one thinks anything of it."  One model said it was "just a job" and didn't know what the fuss was about.  Confusing, isn't it? 

Should we rely on our brains and professionalism instead of on our feminine abilities to wow the male sex?  Perhaps we're looking at this all wrong and we should be proud of flaunting our boobs and other attributes in order to get what we want.  Of course it's kind of hard for those of us who don't have much to flaunt.  And then there's that saying about the way to a man's heart being through his stomach.   Someone somewhere said if women thought this they were aiming too high.

Leaving home - what's the one thing you'd take with you?

Currently reading:   The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop and enjoying it.

Happy New Year everyone!

The New Year started off favourably for me.  I received my Irish driving licence a few days ago and was absolutely delighted.  The photo even looks like me!  I didn't expect to get it so fast but everyone in Germany was most helpful and all went without a hitch.  I think I may take off for a few days exploring this summer and hire a car now that I've got an up-to-date permit.  Connemara in the west of Ireland would be an idea.  Mountains and valleys stretching away in the distance and not much traffic except for the sheep placidly grazing the slopes.  Lovely!  But first there is my trip to Berlin in April with two friends.  I have seen Berlin when it was divided, have stood at Checkpoint Charlie and looked over the wall.  At that time the other side looked like a foreign country.  I've been back since then for the briefest of visits.This time will be different as I am acting as guide (of sorts).  Should be fun.

 This trip reminds me how important it is to have something to look forward to.  I've given up making Resolutions, yes I need to get rid of those pounds I put on over Christmas with all those mince pies and cake and yes, I will get rid of them but at my own pace and not under any pressure to do so within a given period of time.

I read an interesting article on the BBC's website today about people who had to leave home in a hurry and what they decided to take with them.  Most of them had little time to decide.  Their stories are poignant - here's the link:  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-30655404 - and although they reminded me of my own choices when I had to pack up to move here, I realise just how lucky I am. Even so, I had to agonise over what could be transported and what I would have to leave behind.  I guess we all do that especially when we leave home as young adults.  Trouble is, over the years most of us accumulate a pile of stuff that holds a lot of memories.  I packed the paperback editions of my favourite novels but had to leave lots of hardbacks behind including The Oxford Dictionary or Quotations which I love dipping into at odd moments (yes, I've got a paperback version now) and loads of kitchen stuff which I sadly miss!  To me it's a revelation what you actually need and what you think you can't do without.  Anyway, I manage very well on my reduced household, if I'm honest.  I'm not at all sure what one item I would take with me if I now had to flee.  It most likely wouldn't be my books.  But what?  More than likely a blanket, I think. That would be practical, I could curl up in it at night, it would keep me warm if necessary or act as a sunshade.  

What would you take with you if you had to leave home for good in a hurry? I'd be interested to hear any comments.