Half Science

As the storms hit London last night, I was reminded that mrs househusbandnot has a theory that children go mad when it is windy. She assures me this has been 'scientifically' proven. Which got me thinking about all the other half science out there: a swan can break a man's arm with its wing; drinking cider makes men's beards stop growing; sharks can swim while they are asleep; Welsh people think about sex twice as much as other people; the chemicals they use to decaff coffee are the same ones used in dry cleaning etc. All this half information/half science rattling around, 'informing' our lives.

There were two kids at the pool yesterday talking about how clever they were. "But you do understand everything in New Scientist don't you?", one of them said. "Yeah, kind of ", the other one said. I guess the bits they don't understand becomes more half science. ("No I read it in New Scientist. You really can't burp and fart at the same time. If you do, your colon comes out of your mouth.")

And there was a good story the other day about how celebrities should be more responsible in their comments about science, because people listen to them. It must be frustrating for scientific researchers to spend all their lives proving that - I don't know - gravity works or whatever, just to have Madonna mention that she had been talking to God and he told her that it doesn't exist. Apparently they are leaving leaflets in celeb hang out bars around London, telling celebs to think a little more about what they say. (Take less coke would be a useful secondary message on this particular campaign I guess.)

Mind you, I was talking to blokewhoihaventseeninages last night about the fact that I only tell half the truth in househusbandnot. 'Self-validation through half-truths' or 'Necessary economies with the truth' he called it. Which was a kind way of looking at hhn. But more halves nonetheless.

Are halves better than nothings? Half a football match? Half a grapefruit? Half a gram of coke? Half the truth in a blog? Half the newspaper? I guess we get what we deserve, or want to share, or want to believe.

According to scientists, half of the above is true. Ainsley Harriott was unavailable for comment.