King of Digbeth

Va Va Vooom!

Did you know, (and if you’ve ever been over to the Royal Society of Chemistry’s website, you probably do), that

capsaicinoids are the chemicals which give rise to the heat of chillies. They are present in almost every pepper.

and that

the capsaicinoids in chilli bind to a receptor in the lining of the mouth. This is the same receptor that registers pain from heat, thus the effect is a burning feeling. This is a result of the flow of calcium ions from one cell to the next.

Now, if you think that’s interesting then you’ll be amazed to know that

Capsaicin cream is used to lower the sensation of pain in such conditions as arthritis, and other painful chronic conditions

and

chillies are high in vitamin C (about twice that of citrus fruits), dried chillies are very high in vitamin A, and red chillies are a great source of b-carotene. Chillies have antibacterial qualities, and contain bioflavinoids, anti-oxidants most common in apple juice.

If you’re getting the impression that I’m impressed by chillies, then you’re right. But my interest is as nothing when compared to Matthew Bellringer’s, a Chemistry student at Bristol University and the author of The Chemistry of Chilli Peppers website.

Yes, South America gave us the tomato, the potato aswell as the chilli and we gave them the IMF … bargain! (Which kinda begs the question – what were curries like before Columbus??)

Finger Chilli

Fresh to day

[Bull Ring Market, Birmingham]

Bars

[Digbeth, Birmingham]

Building Scales

[Debenhams Building, Birmingham]

Bella Blog

And here it is, the result of my mad gadget purchase of last week … not Bella but the picture of Bella – my beautiful, beautiful car.

Actually, it’s a bit of an anti-climax now that I come to think of it. Not worth getting all that worked up about really.

But at least there’ll be a lot more pictures here, which can only be a good thing because I’m running out of words.

(I hasten to add, not more pictures just of Bella … though it’s tempting!)

Urm… in case you’re still wondering, I’ve gone and bought a digital camera, specifically a Fujifilm Finepix A303, (I’m gonna get all anorak on ya’ll now), which I decided upon after considering the super sexy Canon IXUS v3 and the Sony Cybershot DSC-P7, (whose 5M pixels older brother is swamping the advert slots at the moment … anyway, who actually needs 5M pixels in a personal digital camera?).

In the end I settled on the Fuji, not because it is better than the others – the Canon is, by all accounts – but because it offered nearly the same quality for about a ??100 less. It also has the added ability of acting as a webcam. You know what that means don’t ya? …

Yes! coming soon to a browser near you – Live Bongo Vongo TV !!! (you lucky, lucky people)

MoD Conspiracy ?

The tragic death of Iraq WMD expert Dr. David Kelly has shocked not only the press and the government but importantly, bloggers countrywide. Gadgaholic feerozac speculates whether there’s a conspiracy behind the ’suicide’, a thought that I was about to dismiss until something started rattling in the dusty recesses of my long-term memory.

Back in the day, when I was trying to learn to program, I used to subscribe to a computer trade magazine called Computer Weekly, (yes I was that much of an anorak … whaddya mean I still am!). I remember reading reports in it about strange ’suicides’ occurring to scientists involved in MoD related software projects. I used to dismiss these as well until one day I realised that it wasn’t the same scientist’s death being reported upon, over a much extended period of time, but several scientists’ deaths. (dheh! dheh! dhehhhh!)

Maybe there’s something to this MoD-bumping-off-scientists-conspiracy malarkey after all? Here’s a well researched account into those earlier deaths or perhaps you’d prefer this KGB plot based theory. Of course, I may be maligning the innocent little MoD without any justification at all – you may take this view yourself – you may even believe this cheesy but mad theory.

Joking aside, a man died yesterday who had a family and friends –

“I have known David as a friend and fellow scientist since 1968, as have our wives. I very am distressed at this news and stunned by what has happened to him. It reflects very badly on the UK Government. Indeed I feel a mounting sense of anger at the way he seems to have been treated. Professional scientific advisors of integrity should not be treated as pawns in political games in this overt way.”

Prof Keith Harrap, UK – (from the BBC’s Website)

Gadget Boy

Well, the weather broke down so back to the blog – just finished one bit of film type work and have now started work as a Production Coordinator for ‘The Secrets of the Algerian Schoolboy’ – one of this year’s Digital Shorts. (I might tell you what a Production Coordinator does when I know)

Now, I only mention this because it’s very much a labour of love for the Director, Writer and Producer of this short film but I’m actually getting paid (wahay!) … unfortunately, I’ve already spent a chunk of that money, (in advance), on a new gadget.

I consider myself to be quite a rational, sensible sort of chap, not easily swayed by advertising or marketing and not a dedicated follower of fashion, (definately not that, if you look at the contents of my wardrobe!), yet I am helpless in the face of a clever bit of shiny electronic wizardry.

What is it about blokes and gadgets? (The gadget? … you’ll find out soon enough)

Rubber Ducks

Some funny news – although I know there’s all kinds of horrible shit going down in the world at the moment and watching the final part of the Sean Langan series, “Travels of a Gringo”, about the effects of rampant globalisation upon South America was sobering to say the least. Nevertheless we do live in a small world and I guess we have to manage the increased interconnectedness of our world with the right kind of checks and balances. Otherwise how do we ensure that an Honduran mother with her brood of young kids don’t have to work for an entire day picking 100lbs of coffee beans for the price of a single cappucino at Starbucks.

Of course, the counter argument is – how could a country like Bangladesh pull itself out of semi-dependancy without utilising it’s primary natural resource – it’s abundant manpower – in the world market of goods and services? I think my problem with globalisation is the inequity of it’s application – US/EU producers receiving huge subsidies and tarrif barriers preventing genuine competition, (which I thought was the whole point of globalisation).

I used to buy finger chillies from Tesco at Five Ways, not only ‘cos I’m partial to a bit of chilli with my food but also because they were clearly marked ‘Produce of Bangladesh’. So, I could burn my mouth out every time I bit into a bit of chilli knowing that I was doing my bit for the ‘Old Country’. However, I went to get some the other day only to find that those chillies now proudly boast that they’re the ‘Produce of Botswana’ !!!

What did that mean? I bought some anyway – well I still need my chilli fix – besides, I haven’t got anything against Botswana. I had some … they were fine … infact … they were damfine – I couldn’t fault the chilliworthiness of the fine chillies of Botswana. But what does that mean for the poor chilli growers of Bangladesh? There they were having won this great Tesco contract, they’d probably geared themselves up at immense expense to produce these chillies to Tesco’s exacting standards only to be undercut by Botswana’s chilli growers a few months later.

Great news for the consumers – even better news for Tesco’s but rubbish news for developing nations and their hard working but luckless people.

Oh! I nearly forgot that funny news – apparantly 11 years ago, a consignment of cheaply made Chinese rubber ducks fell off a container ship while on their way to the trendy coffee drinker’s nirvana, Seattle and hilariously, they’re now washing up on the shores of New England.

How I laughed.

[UPDATE: I was in Tescos again, buying chillies - Botswana has lost the contract ... to Jordan!]