Lies, Damn Lies

paper

paper is excellent. Originally it was called papyrus, but it wasn't really paper then, being made from the skin of ancient egyptian kings. Or reeds or something, I was never clear on that. But mummification was probably involved. Nowadays you can get many kinds of paper, from sugar paper to rice paper, to, you know, normal paper. Or the really shiny paper that you can print your photos on. Recycled paper is a must for the modern person, as less trees die that way. The most exciting thing about paper is it can come in very big sizes. Ben, as he is doing a degree in architecture, gets access to these gigantic sizes, such as A2, A1, and even, the ultimate, A0. The architecture department is far more fun than the maths department, as there are lots of models and stuff, while in the mathematics department there are lots of... well... offices.

Trees in general are pretty cool actually. They look nice, they help us keep breathing oxygen (although of course we actually have plankton to thank for that), and, as mentioned, they can be turned into paper. Oh, and you can climb them, and hide behind them, and build tree houses in them. Endless fun, endless fun. Not that I have ever done any of that. Well, I have hidden behind trees, which is less effective than one might hope, as I normally pick trees that are less thick than I am. I once cowered behind a tree in a game of paintball, and, upon leaping out to fire on the enemy, discovered that my gun had an effective range of a meter. I then resumed hiding behind the tree until shot. I used to climb trees a little when I was younger, but physical ineptitude combined with a fear of heights meant I rarely got very far in this process. As for building tree houses, I never did that, although I have been in a friends tree house. It was much less fun than I had imagined- like being in a house, but with much less stuff.

Egyptians survived an insane amount of time as a people considering most of their economy must have been devoted to building those pyramids- the man power and amount of stone needed to get one into place must have been immense, clearly the pharohs needed something to amuse themselves with. It would be fun to be an Egyptian as long as you were the Pharoh. Otherwise your life would consist of heavy lifting, and heavy lifting is rarely fun, unless you are lifting a large quantity of money to take it to the bank. Even if you have back problems, you can afford to get them fixed.

Mmmm.... Going away for a few days, to lovely York, so you shall probably not hear from me during that period, much to your chagrin. Meh.

posted by Mr K @ 1:25 pm