Friday, September 17, 2004
Channel 4 gives you wings.
Hurrah, the West Wing is back.
Except since the last series I've forgotten pretty much everything that had happened, and of course, being The West Wing, it's not quite as "for the hard of thinking" as the average American television programme. This wasn't helped by me being tired and hungry, but too tired to do anything about the hunger. And being so tired that I stayed up till the end of Green Wing.
In case you haven't seen it, Green Wing is a new comedy set in a hospital. It's a little odd, but it's Channel 4. I find it quite funny, but then I'm usually tired enough to find the Mini Ha Ha adverts funny [Mini sponsors Green Wing]. There's a certain degree of painful embarrassment, and a fair bit of familiarity. And gallons of people scavenged from the world of comedy, and Coupling. Including the woman from Black Books [Tamsin Greig, 1], who apparently was Debbie in the Archers, but she doesn't look like Debbie ought to look. Most of the people in it are the type who have been in umpteen bit-parts, usually in sketch shows. Hence the overwhelming "what was she in?" disrupting the programme. I'm still waiting for the rest of the cast of The Book Group to turn up.
Looking round on the IMDB site for it, and it gets ridiculously incestuous. You'd be lucky to find 3 degrees of separation between the cast and crew members, not via the obvious link. [TVTome's equivalent site].
Oh, I've just found out that the stammering, piccolo-playing consultant was the voice for Stressed Eric - which was a brilliant cartoon [whatever happened to...? Though "Arseburgers!" is still around]. I told you it was incestuous.
[1, getting distracted: she was also in that Lenny Henry one-tube-ride-too-many thing, along with a Peter Capaldi, he of "we have an injured rabbit also" fame, which gets us to This Life (via the Crow Road), Indiana Jones (via Star Wars), and Trainspotting. What was the name of that Ewan MacGregor folding bits of paper thing?].
So before I sink completely into potential pub quiz trivia, both series are worthwhile, so go and watch. And don't drink Red Bull, as it doesn't really taste that nice, and the much-hyped magical ingredient is taurine "a conditionally essential amino acid". And the definition of "conditionally"? It means if you are not taking in other sulphurous amino acids. To do this you probably would have to be not eating.
[Looking at the structure here. Um, I thought amino acids had the generic formula NH2-CH(R)-COOH? Where's the COOH in taurine? If it hasn't got a carboxyl group, then it's not an [amino] acid. Does this mean I can sue Red Bull under the trade descriptions act?]
This a good time to point out that taurine is one the most frequently excreted molecules, via both the kidneys and the bile duct? Unless you happen to be vegetarian, you probably have a perpetual excess. So what happens when you drink the taurine in Red Bull? It might pass into your bloodstream, it might not. If it does, it'll probably go straight out of the kidneys. Oh, and of course Red Bull contains caffeine. And what is one noticeable effect caffeine? Rinse well with warm water.
The other ingredients are a stunning selection of, er, stuff you'd get from a cup of tea and Marmite or possibly Cornflakes. You could just eat some chocolate instead, and you'd get the same sugar rush.
Oh and there are some interesting things about the neuroreceptor impact of taurine, in invertebrates. So if you want to really feel the full effect of Red Bull, become a fruit fly.
All of this is about on a par with cosmetics firms selling rejuvenating cream with anti-oxidants, and skin toners, such as vitamin C. The mere fact that a concentration of vitamin C high enough to haul about proteins in the skin, would blister said skin ... well, that's a minor detail. It's the same thought process that claims that despite diluting chemicals so much that there might not be a single molecule of the chemical in any sample, the diluting fluid will retain the character of the chemical. There is an actual name for this technique, but strangely I can't recall it. [Explain it in terms of spin, or possibly string theory, and maybe I'll reconsider].
But whatever you do, don't mention the placebo effect, or the word fat to the cosmetics industry, nor sugar-rush or caffeine-rush to Red Bull GmbH.
Anyhoo,
Hurrah, the West Wing is back.
Except since the last series I've forgotten pretty much everything that had happened, and of course, being The West Wing, it's not quite as "for the hard of thinking" as the average American television programme. This wasn't helped by me being tired and hungry, but too tired to do anything about the hunger. And being so tired that I stayed up till the end of Green Wing.
In case you haven't seen it, Green Wing is a new comedy set in a hospital. It's a little odd, but it's Channel 4. I find it quite funny, but then I'm usually tired enough to find the Mini Ha Ha adverts funny [Mini sponsors Green Wing]. There's a certain degree of painful embarrassment, and a fair bit of familiarity. And gallons of people scavenged from the world of comedy, and Coupling. Including the woman from Black Books [Tamsin Greig, 1], who apparently was Debbie in the Archers, but she doesn't look like Debbie ought to look. Most of the people in it are the type who have been in umpteen bit-parts, usually in sketch shows. Hence the overwhelming "what was she in?" disrupting the programme. I'm still waiting for the rest of the cast of The Book Group to turn up.
Looking round on the IMDB site for it, and it gets ridiculously incestuous. You'd be lucky to find 3 degrees of separation between the cast and crew members, not via the obvious link. [TVTome's equivalent site].
Oh, I've just found out that the stammering, piccolo-playing consultant was the voice for Stressed Eric - which was a brilliant cartoon [whatever happened to...? Though "Arseburgers!" is still around]. I told you it was incestuous.
[1, getting distracted: she was also in that Lenny Henry one-tube-ride-too-many thing, along with a Peter Capaldi, he of "we have an injured rabbit also" fame, which gets us to This Life (via the Crow Road), Indiana Jones (via Star Wars), and Trainspotting. What was the name of that Ewan MacGregor folding bits of paper thing?].
So before I sink completely into potential pub quiz trivia, both series are worthwhile, so go and watch. And don't drink Red Bull, as it doesn't really taste that nice, and the much-hyped magical ingredient is taurine "a conditionally essential amino acid". And the definition of "conditionally"? It means if you are not taking in other sulphurous amino acids. To do this you probably would have to be not eating.
[Looking at the structure here. Um, I thought amino acids had the generic formula NH2-CH(R)-COOH? Where's the COOH in taurine? If it hasn't got a carboxyl group, then it's not an [amino] acid. Does this mean I can sue Red Bull under the trade descriptions act?]
This a good time to point out that taurine is one the most frequently excreted molecules, via both the kidneys and the bile duct? Unless you happen to be vegetarian, you probably have a perpetual excess. So what happens when you drink the taurine in Red Bull? It might pass into your bloodstream, it might not. If it does, it'll probably go straight out of the kidneys. Oh, and of course Red Bull contains caffeine. And what is one noticeable effect caffeine? Rinse well with warm water.
The other ingredients are a stunning selection of, er, stuff you'd get from a cup of tea and Marmite or possibly Cornflakes. You could just eat some chocolate instead, and you'd get the same sugar rush.
Oh and there are some interesting things about the neuroreceptor impact of taurine, in invertebrates. So if you want to really feel the full effect of Red Bull, become a fruit fly.
All of this is about on a par with cosmetics firms selling rejuvenating cream with anti-oxidants, and skin toners, such as vitamin C. The mere fact that a concentration of vitamin C high enough to haul about proteins in the skin, would blister said skin ... well, that's a minor detail. It's the same thought process that claims that despite diluting chemicals so much that there might not be a single molecule of the chemical in any sample, the diluting fluid will retain the character of the chemical. There is an actual name for this technique, but strangely I can't recall it. [Explain it in terms of spin, or possibly string theory, and maybe I'll reconsider].
But whatever you do, don't mention the placebo effect, or the word fat to the cosmetics industry, nor sugar-rush or caffeine-rush to Red Bull GmbH.
Anyhoo,
Sadly we happy few living in Germany have yet to witness the glory of the West Wing. I have managed to acquire, thanks to girlfried, a visit to Croydon and a large media retailing outlet, the Sopranos DVD box set, which is a start I suppose and as far as the West Wing is concerned, Santa has been informed.
And your sciencey stuff - one can get away with taurine being an amino acid if you move away from the generic schoolbook description and count the fact that you have an amino group and an acidic SO3- group, the claims of proponents of taurine as a dietary supplement in adult humans are contentious, to say the least though. Not as contentious as those of Jacques Benveniste, the guy who ran the group that published the "memory of water" "effect" in Nature in 1988. "Human basophil degranulation triggered by very dilute antiserum against IgE" Davenas et al, Nature 333, p816 - 818 (30 Jun 1988) though.
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And your sciencey stuff - one can get away with taurine being an amino acid if you move away from the generic schoolbook description and count the fact that you have an amino group and an acidic SO3- group, the claims of proponents of taurine as a dietary supplement in adult humans are contentious, to say the least though. Not as contentious as those of Jacques Benveniste, the guy who ran the group that published the "memory of water" "effect" in Nature in 1988. "Human basophil degranulation triggered by very dilute antiserum against IgE" Davenas et al, Nature 333, p816 - 818 (30 Jun 1988) though.
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