It's been a good week for ... laundry
Scientists have been doing a bit of sole-searching. Bored with splitting atoms and unlocking the secrets of the universe, they have turned their attention to one of life's more mystifying enigmas. Why all the odd socks?
It seems no matter how careful you are with the laundry inventory, those most wayward items of hosiery manage to make a break for freedom. The result is a drawer in every household full of forlorn single socks pining for their fickle partners.
Now, psychologist Dr Simon Moore and statistician Dr Geoff Ellis have solved the mystery. Commissioned by washing machine producer Samsung, they've come up with a complicated sum designed to predict the likelihood of any given sock disappearing. It involves variables such as volume of laundry, the number of dark and white socks in the load and the care and attention paid by the person filling the machine.
It's [L (p x f) + C (t x s)] - [P x A] in case you're wondering.
Sadly, the scientists did not come up with a formula for finding the lost socks – though they did discover which gender is the sloppiest at doing the washing (men) and where the errant footwear is most likely to end up (behind radiators and under furniture).
They also gave us good reason to be thankful for the invention of tights.
It's been a bad week for ... noisy appliances
In a world where even socks are subjected to scientific analysis it seems fitting that the humble hairdryer should be elevated the heights of an engineering masterpiece.
James Dyson, not content with sucking, has taken to blowing in his bid to be master of the air we breathe. For a snip (well, £299), you can now purchase the state-of-the art ultra quiet to pamper your locks without battering your eardrums.
I won't be investing. I still have my trusty Braun, which dates back to 1983 and successfully endured many hours of teenage tendril taming. Bouffed, spiked, feathered and flicked, that 1980s hair tested the trusty Braun to its limits.
That it still works is testament to engineering of supreme fortitude. I suspect, however, that it's only being held together thanks to its layer of several decades worth of Country Born setting gel.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here