Some Killer Weed

June 1, 2006 – 11:29 pm

I don’t spend a lot of time in the recording studio these days; one of the reasons that I took up software development after twenty-odd years of making records for a living was that the long and irregular hours were beginning to get to me. It was not a big deal, really, to do multiple consecutive sixteen-hour sessions when I was in my twenties; I’d just collapse for a day after the project ended, and I’d be fine. But as I got older it got harder to bounce back, and I’d spend days in a fog after such marathons. Now I’m 50 (50!), and I have to say that after putting in 32 hours in two days on Tuesday and Wednesday over at Right Track I feel about as focused and articulate as Ozzy Osborne on a fistful of ‘ludes. So instead of the usual piercing analysis and trenchant commentary on the passing scene, I’ll just have to leave you today with something else to worry about: Giant Hogweed. It’s big, it’s phototoxic, it looks like a cow parsley on steroids, and it’s coming your way. Learn more here, and here.

Posted by Malcolm on at 11:29 pm, filed under Music and Recording, Shameless Filler. RSS feed for this post. Trackbacks are closed, but you can post a comment.

4 Comments

  1. Eugene Y. Jen says

    As a guy to help on shameless filler and a wonder in biology. I think you probably forget to mention the giant sea weed in this article http://www.ibiza-spotlight.com/news/2006/monster_plant_280506_i.htm

    — begin of citation —

    Scientists have discovered a monster of the deep off the southern coast of Ibiza. Bathers and boaters shouldn’t worry though, as the monster is neither a giant man-eating crocodile nor a boat-eating octopus the size of Leeds. It is in fact a plant, Posidonia Oceanica, which covers the seabed all round the island.

    The boffins have found a strand of Posidonia which measures an incredible 8 kilometres and has been growing for at least 100,000 years. This makes it the biggest and oldest living organism in the world today.

    As a footnote, the Posidonia grows only in the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas and performs several vitally important environmental functions. It consumes CO2 and generates oxygen and it also helps to revitalise and replace the sands on the beaches of the area. Because of the proliferation of this plant around Ibiza and Formentera the islands are noted for their beautiful beaches and the clarity and colour of their waters – the clearest and bluest in the western Med, just ask any scuba diver!

    As it’s so important it is part of the Patrimonio de Humanidad (World Heritage status) bestowed on Ibiza, and rightly so.

    — end of citation —

    I am glad beside sex, drug and euro trance, there is some thing deep around Ibiza.

    Posted June 2, 2006 at 12:39 am | Permalink
  2. Gus says

    Does this spell the end of western civilization as we know it? Is there no one who can save us from the killer Giant Hogweed?

    Posted June 2, 2006 at 8:58 am | Permalink
  3. Malcolm says

    Hi Gus,

    Yes, I think that about sums it up. It’s a pity, really.

    Posted June 2, 2006 at 11:22 am | Permalink
  4. Malcolm says

    Hi Eugene,

    An interesting item, as always. And wow – the Posidonia actually consumes CO2 and “generates” oxygen??

    Oh wait – come to think of it, all plants do that. Still, it sounds like quite a specimen.

    Posted June 2, 2006 at 11:26 am | Permalink

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