When I’m at the grocery store, buying perishable products, I’m always careful to check the expiry dates (aka Best Before dates.) I can’t afford to throw food out so I’m always very careful not to buy short-dated stuff.

Especially milk (aka half-and-half creamer). Gotta have some widener in my coffee, or it’s all hot and black and uncreamy. So when I buy my coffee milk, I am very careful to check the date on the carton. The 10% stuff is usually good for 6 to 8 weeks, and I usually go through it in 10 days, so it’s almost never a problem. Nonetheless, I always check the dates.

(I also have other rules, such as I never take the first one or the last one… the first one is half-exposed to the unrefrigerated air in the grocery store, and the last one is suspect by virtue of hiding at the back, so I always take one from the middle.)

Anyhow, so I recently stumbled onto a new conspiracy with these so-called best before dates. See, I brought home a carton of coffee milk, and put it in my fridge. No big deal. The following morning I took the carton out, and was surprised to find that the best before date said the milk was going to expire in a week. I know it said it was good for a month, when I bought it.

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Sometimes, insomnia works out. Waking up at 5am and being unable to get back to sleep, I found myself watching a televised lecture about climate change, given by Gwynne Dyer. It was a bit frightening, and, dare I say it, a bit dire.

I think at some level, when people hear talks about climate change, they tend to think it is alarmist, that people are making it sound worse than it is. I’m not a scientist, and I don’t know all the facts, but I suspect that by and large those who are trying to raise awareness on the issue are not being alarmist. Rather, the subject, the consequences, are themselves just straightforward alarming. Yet they are also long-term. The damage we’ve done in the past 50 years, the damage we do in the next 20 or 30 years, will likely result in some severe changes and problems for us down the road. But not this afternoon. Not tomorrow. Heck, perhaps not even in the lifetimes of many of those in a position to start doing anything about it right now.

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A. Two. One to hold the giraffe and the other to fill the bathtub with brightly coloured machine tools.

Found in the sig area of an email by Thomas Stephenson. Thanks Thomas!

If you ever get the chance, I strongly recommend you watch this 1985 TV series by science historian James Burke.

The series explores the philosophical concept that the Universe only really exists to you as you perceive it. So if you change your perception of the Universe, you are in fact changing the Universe itself.

Burke proves his point by examining various important discoveries and advances throughout the 10-episode series, highlighting how each scientific milestone brought about a fundamental change in the way western civilization perceived their world.

It is a fascinating series. Each episode is very interesting and enjoyable on its own, presenting a lot of information on a certain major discovery or advance. On the whole, however, the series really shines. It helps to illustrate how important our perception, and our preconceived ideas are, in how we view and react to the Universe around us.