#1. Some scientists have been researching the “beer goggle” effect … where ugly people become attractive to others who have had enough (or is that too much?) to drink. Far from being a simple matter of how much you have to drink, the researchers have devised a complex formula which takes into account the level of light in the pub or club, the drinkers’ own eyesight, the smokiness of the room and the distance between two people.

The fact that people would spend time and effort (and presumably government funding of some sort) to do this research smacks of too much time on their hands …I wonder if they dreamed up the research prooposal standing around in a pub thinking “I wonder how much she’d need to drink before I might stand a chance?”. The whole thing brings to mind something out of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and one of those scientists’ (or physicists?) parties that Douglas Adams writes about in it.

#2. What is it about people, such as those who got to Schoolies week at places like the Gold Coast, get pissed, pick fights, smash windows etc? If you can’t drink and behave at least in a vaguely civilised manner, its simple, don’t drink! I managed to get through my teenage years and twenties getting pissed fairly regularly and never feeling the urge to get into fights or smash things up (brings back memories of those days - started out at 15 on camping weekends with flagon wine, cheap spumante, Brandivino, Cinzano, Stone’s Green Ginger wine and the like, before graduating to beer and spirits when we finally got jobs and money).

(I’ve never seen green ginger wine served like this …in fact I would never have known what it looks like as I’ve only ever drunk it straight from the bottle.)