Around 50% of the population may already know this. But for the other 50% here is a weird fact I just learnt.

Women using Fleur sanitary pads get Christmas crackers every month. You see, not only do you get a feminine hygiene product when you open a Libra Fleur pad. You also get a list of amazing facts, called Odd Spots.

I wonder if they stand with baited breath each month while attending to women’s business, waiting to see what amazing facts they will learn?

Do you think they hope to start early when they run out of things to mention during small talk?

Though, I think they may be being short changed on miscellaneous trivia. As can be seen, both Odd Spot #221 and #146 both state “Research indicates that mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently eaters bananas“.

Not to mention the marketing genius involved in the packaging. Let’s see, it has to do with blood, we’ll make it pink with different coloured red spots. Just in case they find it in their handbag and can’t remember what it’s for.

It seems I’m a bit behind the times in noticing this though: Some people noticed it way back in 2004 [1,2]; though others seem just as surprised as me; and some think the Odd Spots are just a load of crap.

If you want anymore impressions you can go trawl Google blog search on the topic.

Although I have learnt two important things from this list: You shouldn’t talk about your mother around ferns; And don’t lick finger print recognition devices.

Watching tennis this week I think I’ve had enough of the serve by Sam Kekovich. All that lambenting about Australia Day.

In past years vegetarians and Cronulla rioters copped the flank. This year Sam racked up some more insulted parties, including the New Zealand PM.

As always there is the call for an Australia Week. Though the petition “will not be formally lodged with parliament, but Sam will seek to present this to the PM“.

While I can see that the MLA thinks the campaign still has a leg to stand on. I think it is wearing a little thin and should be given the chop.

One must understand that this cause and effect relationship is speculation…

After dinner last night I got wavy lines in my vision, my vision then went very blurry on one side, and later on me head felt filled with cotton balls with a slight pain down the other side. Like the symptoms of a migraine without the splitting headache. What had caused this…

Another person, with a working brain, drew me to the Black Bean sauce that I had used to make dinner. Consulting the labelling I found no mention of MSG, the only unknowns in the ingredients being food additives 627 & 631.

Searching Google I found Food Standards Australia New Zealand has lists of Food Additives, jumping straight to the list by number version we can see that they are: “Disodium 5’-guanylate (flavour enhancer)” (627) and “Disodium 5’-inosinate (flavour enhancer)” (631). So no Monosodium glutamate (MSG), its number is 621.

Another interesting result was the All additives page on the Food Intolerance Network site. It lists 627 and 631 as things to avoid. And says the following about these additives:

“The adverse effects of MSG (621) are well documented. We have also received many reports of skin rashes associated with new additive 635 which is a combination of 627 and 631. Yeast extract, hydrolysed vegetable protein (HVP) and hydrolysed plant protein (HPP) are ways that manufacturers include MSG without having to declare it on the label.“

So it looks to contain a MSG substitute.

Thought, the Australian Glutamate Information Service site, www.msg.org.au, explains there is no link between MSG and migraines.

“a 1990 critical review of the literature on food-triggered headaches (Food triggered migraine: a critical review. Annuls of Behavioural Medicine, 12:51-651, 1990) concluded that the relationship is controversial. The review states that there is no evidence to support an association between MSG and migraine headaches.“

So, I suppose there is nothing to it, and I’ll have to look for another cause.

But who is Australian Glutamate Information Service? It appears that AGIS is an industry body set up to “restore the reputation of monosodium glutamate (MSG)“.

And a Happy New Year to everyone.

Being +1100 GMT we get a head start on most people here in Sydney.

References FYI:

• White Rabbit - Has info about the saying

Went to a social event at Gourmet Pizza Kitchen in Chatswood tonight. And it definitely has fancy pizzas.

I wasn’t involved in the ordering process, so I don’t know all the names of the pizzas, but with 10 people there an nice selection. From the prawn pizza with sweat chilli sauce to the beef pizza with yoghurt, they were all very nice. Enticing you to eat more.

And that is before you get to desert.

I forgot to take a photo of the pizzas at GPK, but here is a shot of the chocolate cake I got for desert. Moist and not too dense, with a moat of raspberry sauce.

My only gripe is the sound level in the restaurant. For a social venue it was hard to hear people not sitting next to you. Like the current trend in restaurants, too many hard surfaces and high ceilings.

Overall I think GPK was a nice restaurant. There was even a colouring book and pencils for the child at the table. Just have to remember to eat in moderation next time.

Why hasn’t anybody come up with this as a slogan yet?