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March 14th (3/14) is Pi Day, and  Neatorama are marking the occasion by offering a Mmm … Pi t-shirt for the princely sum of $9.95. You, too, can look like a nerd … oops, mathematician.

Disclosure: As I’ve mentioned before, I have a serious allergy to cigarette smoke that can result in anaphylactic shock. For this reason, I may be a little more sensitive than most people to health care warnings about nicotine.

Scientists in Berkeley, California have recently published results of a study warning of further dangers from cigarette smoking.

The dangers of mainstream and secondhand tobacco smoke have been well documented as a cause of cancer, cardiovascular disease and stroke, pulmonary disease and birth defects. Only recently, however, has the general public been made aware of the threats posed by third-hand smoke.

Hugo Destaillats of the Indoor Environment Department at Berkeley Lab says, The burning of tobacco releases nicotine in the form of a vapor that adsorbs strongly onto indoor surfaces, such as walls, floors, carpeting, drapes and furniture. Nicotine can persist on those materials for days, weeks and even months. Our study shows that when this residual nicotine reacts with ambient nitrous acid it forms carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines or TSNAs. TSNAs are among the most broadly acting and potent carcinogens present in unburned tobacco and tobacco smoke.

Basically smoker’s clothes and skin become coated with nicotine, which will then react with nitrous acid floating inside a building and produce a coating of hazardous TSNA.

Lara Gundel of the Berkeley Lab says,

Smoking outside is better than smoking indoors but nicotine residues will stick to a smoker’s skin and clothing. Those residues follow a smoker back inside and get spread everywhere. The biggest risk is to young children. Dermal uptake of the nicotine through a child’s skin is likely to occur when the smoker returns and if nitrous acid is in the air, which it usually is, then TSNAs will be formed.

The authors of the paper suggest that only 100 percent smoke free environments in public places can be acceptably healthy. In the case of buildings where substantial smoking has occurred in the past, they recommend that the carpets, walls, furniture and ceilings be replaced.

Read the full Press Release here.

Amy had her best ever game yesterday at the Special Olympics 5 pin bowling in Owen Sound.

Four strikes in a row, a “four-pack”, contributed to a record score of 184. All the lanes came to a complete stop as she was inundated with cheers & high fives, a donut, a chocolate bar, chips (crisps), and even cash by the staff, parents and her team-mates. Sadly, I’d gone home to bed after dropping her at the bowling alley (nursing a cold) and missed the whole thing. B*ggeration.

I’ve ordered a commemorative mug from Zazzle with the above image to celebrate the event.

Fresh on the heels of the Toyota recall for millions of cars that may suffer from sudden acceleration - caused by carpets, sticky gas pedals, software glitches, or whatever - comes news of Honda recalling a huge number of their cars because of a problem with the driver side window motor - which can react badly to moisture and may short or even catch on fire.

This reinforces my distrust of modern cars - the more safety and convenience electronic options that are added, the greater the chance of a serious problem while driving.  All we really need in a car is a Morris Minor.

I’ve had another excellent idea (!) and launched yet another WordPress blog. This one is called Grey Brits and is a celebration of British connections in Grey County, Ontario, Canada.

I’ll be posting stuff under the broad headings of food, drink, motoring, music, and sports, with anything not covered in those headings being classed as The Cultural Glue that binds everything together.

I know, I’ve always preached against the whole verbal diarrhoea aspect of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, but I have to confess to signing up for both as a marketing tool for Jam Jar News. Have I no integrity?

You can follow on         or    

I’ll no longer be posting Jaguar and other Car related news to this Blog.

All future postings about Classic British Cars will be posted on my new website Jam Jar News.

You can find Jaguar only posts at this link.

 CAR magazine has a bumper Jaguar issue for September - with coverage of the proposed Jaguar XE roadster and coupe leading the way. Read about it online, then run out and buy a copy!

It was only a week that I wrote about the announcement of the re-launch of the Jaguar Heritage Museum. Today’s Coventry Telegraph reports that council has approved the development plan of the former Jaguar Brown’s Lane site. They mention, almost in passing, that:

Under the plans, the Jaguar Heritage Museum, which only officially reopened last week, will be moved to a city centre location, believed to be the Transport Museum.

Doesn’t this suggest a huge waste of money in the recent activity at the present site?

The famous Jaguar museum in Coventry has been re-launched. This follows the renaming of the Trust that owns it and the reopening of the famous gates on Browns Lane to the public.

The Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust (”JDHT”), founded in 1983 as an independent educational charity, has been restructured and renamed Jaguar Heritage. The museum holds a small but unique and valuable display of cars from the Jaguar collection. This collection boasts more than 100 vehicles.

The display of famous cars from the Jaguar Heritage collection, together with improvements in the museum’s facilities, is the reason for the re-launch of the museum. It will now be open to the public five days a week, and the last Sunday of every month, so that many more people will be able to admire the collection.

The link between Jaguar Cars, the Trust and the activities that it carries out around the world are an important part of the future of the company.

Mike O’Driscoll, the Chairman of the Trust and the Managing Director of Jaguar Cars, who re-opened the Museum, said:

The collection is an important part of Jaguar’s heritage and allows members of the public and Jaguar enthusiasts from around the world to view the famous cars. The structure of the museum has been re-designed so that visitors will gain a greater understanding of the fantastic racing history of our brand. There will be closer links with Jaguar Cars, which is important for the company’s future.

It is important that we maintain the link to our heritage and the famous vehicles that have gone before like the C-type and D-type. They are not only part of the history but also part of the sporting pedigree that is Jaguar.

He added:

Jaguar is becoming a sports car company again
and we have exciting plans for the future.

The provenance of the famous museum is its unique collection of Jaguar cars, which tell the story of the company. These range from the Swallow sidecar, with which the founder of Jaguar, Sir William Lyons, began his career. Other cars include:

• the first Jaguar badged car, a 1937 SS Saloon;
• NUB 120, the famous Appleyard rally car, which was campaigned in the 1950s;
• the penultimate D-type ‘Long Nose’ built in 1956, which won the Reims 12 hour race that year;
• The 1966 XJ13 built to compete at Le Mans and one of the most beautiful racing cars ever designed, but which never took part in the famous race;
• the last E-type S.3 V12 open two-seater; and
• some of the company’s most important concept cars.

These are just a cross-section of the collection that attracts enthusiasts from around the world.

The museum’s gallery contains a bronze sculpture by Dame Elizabeth Frink, paintings by Peter Blake and Roy Nockolds, trophies from the 1950s and 1980s, and original posters.

The day to day running of the museum has been taken over by founding Trustee Peter Mitchell, OBE. Peter has carried out a review of the collection of vehicles as the first stage in the plan to improve and develop the public display facilities at Browns Lane.

Press release & image: Jaguar Heritage