Unable to get digital TV to catch up with Life On Mars - oh, the irony

[alexsarll]

Edit: wrt tonight's episode, we all know that in various Eastern philosophies 'Maya' = the veil of illusion, right? Also: Yay for Gene, he's on top form tonight.

Well, as against the last refurb (when we lost the deli counter), first impressions of this Tesco refit are positive - and installing the only free cashpoint between Finny P station and Crouch End was exactly the sort of idea which makes it so hard for me to give any time to the 'Tescopoly' doomsayers.
Although...since it reopened, my Freeview has gone on the fritz, and now my web signal's playing up. That probably has more to do with the weather, though; it's lovely light, but already verging on too hot.

I am briefly visible in this pop video, though clearly my contribution bears no comparison either to Scarlet Blonde's or alexdecampi's.

I've not really been paying much attention to the troubles at Waterstone's; apart from anything else, if I want to find something they don't have, and I've not planned far enough ahead to order it online, there's always Borders. Except now it seems that Borders are pulling out of Britain. Belatedly, I begin to fear for the future of high street bookselling. Not that it's the essential service it was even a decade ago, but a half-decent bookshop is still something I find obscurely soothing; it would be a terrible shame to see them all gone.

Two sperm can fertilise a single egg - how did I not know this? It's the sort of thing I would have expected Armand Marie Leroi's Mutants to cover, but either he missed it or I passed it by in the sheer overload of that genetic freakshow. Which still seems unlikely, because I've suspected for a long time that reproductive biology found what it was looking for; our modern understanding is a recognisable descendant of the 'homunculus' theory which ran from Greece through to the Renaissance - as against, say, certain South American tribes who consider every man the mother sleeps with during the early stages of pregnancy to have some contribution to the child. And this article doesn't mention it, but presumably either some deliberately irresponsible IVF behaviour, or just a particularly interesting weekend, could at the very least lead to twins with different fathers. To the category 'Things One Knew But Is Still Surprised To See Offically Admitted', I can now add "A lot of what we know about fertilisation is deductive, because we can't observe these events in humans."

Comments

[tiny-tear.livejournal.com]

I heard the Borders story earlier this week... For me all I consider it is Divine retribution... If they had kept the proper book buyers, the staff that loves books and had a proper marketing team with a passion for books things could be better. I knew when I left things were going from bad to worse.

Books are not baked beans and you can't have people selling books as if they are baked beans...

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Agreed, but Waterstone's seemed to fall victim to exactly the same category error. Even Amazon et al. started concentrating resources on marketers rather than editors. And I suppose now everyone has their own filters, but still.

[tiny-tear.livejournal.com]

I know it's not a problem just with Borders, that is the experience I have...
And the thing is from all the people I knew when i worked there nearly all have left unhappy with the situation...

I am price conscious still and honestly the 3 for 2 and whatevers have been really bad in both borders and waterstones...

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Though that said, the demise of the Net Book Agreement has been nothing like the catastrophe which many expected. Myself included, alas.

[tiny-tear.livejournal.com]

just had to read about it... that was before my time, i think i had heard vaguely about it.

yes, if they had to keep a certain price they would have to be more imaginative to try and attract clients with selection, variety, and other promotions (3 for 2 would still work)

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that even 3 for 2 was out of bounds, you know. Obviously books were a lot cheaper then to start with, but I couldn't say how that compared to other products.

[darkmarcpi.livejournal.com]

There's still Daunt in Marylebone, which is quite a wonderful place to browse.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, London has a few, and likely always will, but I feel a little sorry for the provincials.

[perfectlyvague.livejournal.com]

Well...there's a reason not to go back to Bristol - when a Wagamamas opened up opposite a Borders that had one of the best stocked drama sections in the country I almost never left.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

That reminds me, I've not been to Waga in an age.

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

It is very unusual, but you can have twins (fraternal) with different fathers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfecundation Identical would be trickier, though, but I suppose with this thing you mention it's at least possible.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

AWESOME.

I don't think you could have identical twins with different fathers, because they wouldn't be identical. Unless, of course, both the fathers were twins...

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

Yes, no, they couldn't be identical and have different fathers I suppose, but what I meant is you could have two sperms fertilise the same egg and then it splits (which would be the thing that results in identical twins with only one sperm involved)... I suppose that actually they would end up being identical twins who would both have two dads? Hrm.

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

(as opposed to fraternal twins which are the result of two eggs being fertilised)

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

So long as neither dad is Greg Evigan, obv. Man, what if both dads were Evigan clones? WORST MAD SCIENCE EVER.

But I still *think* that if both dads were twins you could have identical twins (in effect) with different fathers. I accept it's an outside possibility, but the mere possibility intrigues me. I may have the gene-maths all wrong, though.

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

Right, have read the actual article now, didn't realise that it was actually about twins. Hmm. Well, yes, I suppose you could, although you wouldn't really be able to prove that the sperm came from different men, unless it was done in a lab with injecting one sperm from each man and that...

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

And where's the fun in that, eh?

[shewho.livejournal.com]

dude, there are SO MANY freaky things that cfan happen in pregnancy. this is probably half the reason i have never wanted babies.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Believe me, there's plenty of that in the Leroi book - 'Disorganisation Syndrome' is a particular stinker, and it's not just a tendency to forget where you put stuff. Which is why the absence of this classic material surprised me!

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

Almost too hot?? I'm still wearing a jumper and the winter coat! I admit I left the scarf at home but that does NOT count as TOO HOT! It's not even WARM yet! Are you mad!

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Exactly! Any hotter than this and the winter coat will definitely be out, and even in a lighter jacket I will start getting sweaty whenever I go into eg a moderately crowded shop. In other words - TOO HOT.
At the moment I can sit on a bench and read without needing to wrap my coat about me. Thus, it is warm.