Mr Majeika - Everyone's favourite wizard

I found this Mr Majeika book the other day

and I was surprised by the tagline "Everyone's favourite wizard". This edition was published in 2004. By then, five of the Harry Potter books had been published and two of the films had been released. Lord of the Rings had been published for 50 years, and the latest trilogy of films had been released. I'm sure that Mr Majeika has his fans, but to claim that he's everyone's favourite seems a little ambitious to me.

Oddly specific

The University of York are arranging two York Researchers' Nights, one in September 2014 and one in September 2015. The idea is that on a Friday night, researchers will organise events in the centre of York.

I'm not sure that this is a terrific plan, as whenever I've been in York on a Friday night, discussions about philosophy or physics seem to be the last things on the minds of those who are out and about. There may be philosophical implications of their conversations, in the way that alcohol does tend to induce puzzlement at the meaning and purpose of one's existence. There may be issues of physics to be considered, in the trajectory of objects thrown through the air. But I'm not sure this is the time and place to discuss them.

That is not the concern of this post, however. No, this is about something more trivial. They are advertising for a York Researchers' Night Co-ordinator to help with organising the events. What interested me was this additional duty that will form part of the job.

0.2% of the role is supporting the York Festival of Ideas. Over a 13-month, full-time contract, I reckon that's about 4 hours, or one afternoon. Either that afternoon is so important that it needs a specific mention in the advert, or somebody should suggest organising a short seminar from the maths department. (Although perhaps not on a Friday night.)

V4 POO - Sh*t numberplate

For a while, I have been wanting to do an occasional series on personalised number plates. I wouldn't go so far as to say that you should never trust someone with a personalised number plate, but it's close. It's also long been a source of bafflement to me as to what some personalised number plates are supposed to mean.

What finally prompted me into action was a big black Maserati that pulled out in front of me the other day. A shiny, expensive sportscar, its engine roared throatily (I think that's how you are supposed to describe it). Yet on the car was the numberplate V4 POO. That just struck me as, well, silly. Maybe the driver's name is Vapoo. There was a Maserati V4, but in the 1930s, and if you do a search for POO, well, you get information on whether or not bird poo spoils the car's paint. Perhaps the driver has some sort of scatological interest. I don't want to speculate too much about his private life. But, really, why would you buy an expensive car and then put POO on it?

Acid

I do like a good self-help quote. OK, I'm lying, I can't stand self-help quotes, but I was enjoying reading an article on rebuilding your life, and generally being awesome, when I came across this sentence:

Look how beautiful Mark Twain talks about this: “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”

Firstly it alerted my "dubious quote" senses. I'm always doubtful that these internet quotes have the correct attribution. So I scuttled off to worry about that. I can't find a reliable source pinning it down to Mark Twain, and elsewhere it is credited to Seneca.

But perhaps more importantly, it's rubbish. If you're storing acid in a glass bottle then the bottle is fine. It's pretty much unconcerned about being full of acid, and can stay that way for years. If you take that bottle of acid and pour it over, let's say, your hand*, then it will do considerable harm.** So the inspiring quote makes no sense at all. If I'm going to rebuild my life then I would like to base it on somewhat firmer foundations than quotes like these.

*WARNING: Do not do this.

**The extent of the harm will depend on the strength of the acid. You're probably OK with citric acid, but stay away from hydrochloric.

The golden brick

York is definitely a golden brick hospitality destination these days

says the estate agent who sold a York hotel. I had not heard of the phrase "golden brick hospitality destination" but assumed it was a piece of colourful property jargon, like greenfield or brownfield. Having done a Google search, I'm now convinced he either

1. made it up (in which case let's see how far it spreads); or
2. the journalist misheard him, and it was a different phrase, but I can't work out what.