News

[Scheherazade]

Showering may be bad for your health, say US scientists, who have shown that dirty shower heads can deliver a face full of harmful bacteria.

Tests revealed nearly a third of devices harbour significant levels of a bug that causes lung disease.

Levels of Mycobacterium avium were 100 times higher than those found in typical household water supplies.

M. avium forms a biofilm that clings to the inside of the shower head, reports the National Academy of Science.

In the Proceedings journal, the study authors say their findings might explain why there have been more cases of these lung infections in recent years, linked with people tending to take more showers and fewer baths.

Water spurting from shower heads can distribute bacteria-filled droplets that suspend themselves in the air and can easily be inhaled into the deepest parts of the lungs, say the scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8254206.stm

[Nightshade]

OOOOh does this mean theyve changes their tune and its bring back baths?!

[Virgil]

Showering may be bad for your health, say US scientists, who have shown that dirty shower heads can deliver a face full of harmful bacteria.

Tests revealed nearly a third of devices harbour significant levels of a bug that causes lung disease.

Levels of Mycobacterium avium were 100 times higher than those found in typical household water supplies.

M. avium forms a biofilm that clings to the inside of the shower head, reports the National Academy of Science.

In the Proceedings journal, the study authors say their findings might explain why there have been more cases of these lung infections in recent years, linked with people tending to take more showers and fewer baths.

Water spurting from shower heads can distribute bacteria-filled droplets that suspend themselves in the air and can easily be inhaled into the deepest parts of the lungs, say the scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8254206.stm

Ooh, I heard this on the radio going to work this morning. I've got to go and clean that spray nozzle.

[Niamh]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/a...ngerprint.html

Check it out.

[Emil Miller]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/a...ngerprint.html

Check it out.

An interesting news item but take a look at the 'Mona Lisa curse' in the associated items box. Dealing with a forthcoming TV programme it shows how art has been cunningly manipulated by dealers and PR people over the past half-century in order that they can cash in on a ready made market by selling all kinds of rubbish to gullible collectors. I think many people instinctively realise this but, lacking technical expertise, often refrain from mentioning it.
I am irresistably reminded of the advertisement where a man in a gallery is looking at some squiggles of paint on a couple of canvases and he says to an incredulous bystander "They're Jackson Pollocks." To which comes the reply, "My sentiments entirely."

[Gladys]

Da Vinci or otherwise, it's impressive!

[Lynne50]

I think I like this painting better than the Mona Lisa. Even in profile, the girl seems to have more of a personality.

[Niamh]

yeah i really like it too. I love the roses in her cheek. brings out her youthfulness.

[Emil Miller]

yeah i really like it too. I love the roses in her cheek. brings out her youthfulness.

I agree about the roses in her cheek but perhaps it's... " because she's worth it!"

[Virgil]

Da Vinci or otherwise, it's impressive!

I thought the same. Da Vinci is fabulous!

[Gladys]

For me, Da Vinci portrays intractable petulance in her lips and frosty savagery in her eyes. Magnificent but unflattering.

[DanielBenoit]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/a...ngerprint.html

Check it out.

No way!!!

For me, Da Vinci portrays intractable petulance in her lips and frosty savagery in her eyes. Magnificent but unflattering.

Yeah, I agree. It's quite a subtle painting.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

For me, Da Vinci portrays intractable petulance in her lips and frosty savagery in her eyes. Magnificent but unflattering.

Note how the painter uses a bas relief or embossed technique, utilizing subtle shading around the profile of the face and neck to "pop it out", while the remainder of the image remains flat or two dimensional. The technique accomplishes two goals; one is to seperate the light color of flesh from the light color of the background and more importantly, it draws focus on to the face.

[Gladys]

Here's the Da Vinci in higher resolution:

[The Atheist]

Here's the Da Vinci in higher resolution:

Definitely better looking than that Lisa chick.