'I love the smell of used books in the morning'

Richard from AbeBooks gives a primer (in a soothing and authoritative English accent) on the chemistry behind 'old book' smell, which so many bibliophiles love. There's actually a perfume shop in town that's tried to capture the scent in a perfume.

As far as the video, it's nothing that librarians don't already know, but it's a great intro for the general populace to the reasons books decay and the need to keep them dry, away from sunlight, and cool. How many people out there store books in their attics and basements, for example? And then well-meaning folks donate the boxes of mouldy, insect-ridden books to the library for allergic librarians to sift through. :) Hey, it's happened to many of us. This was shared via Cory Doctorow on Boing Boing as retweeted by Lauren Flattery. Thanks for the link!

Okay, time to shut the windows and go to bed. Good night.

Not surprised, but it's cool nonetheless

After all, we each have unique bacteria cultures on us, and that probably contributes in some way to smell....

Dogs Can Sniff Out the Differences Between Identical Twins

I've never noticed it

Stinky diabetes drug turns off patients: Medication's fishy smell may explain why many stop taking it, doctors say

The drug is metformin, also known as Glucophage and an ingredient in several combination drugs as well (I take it as Janumet, a combination of metformin and Januvia).

Of course, I don't have an extremely keen sense of smell. But there is one pill I really have trouble taking because of not just the smell of the medication itself, but how it makes me smell--guaifenesin, a drug that is used as an expectorant in such meds as Mucinex (and which was tried, at least, for fibromyalgia back in the day).

Anyway, there's this smell it has that invades all the mucous membranes of my body, and I really find it unpleasant. It also changes the smell and colour of urine. So when I take it (usually for a sinus infection) I try to keep it to a minimum. Back when my fibromyalgia pain was worse, I considered taking it regularly, but couldn't get past the smell. I'm glad I don't smell a fishy odour with metformin, though.

I do feel much better today

So maybe it was just some sort of allergy/sinus thing. I also did yoga this morning. Oh, Gods, I am so out of practice! I have nowhere near the flexibility I used to have. I don't think my weight is different; I just didn't stretch enough for far too long. So I'll have to build up to better results. I also had a lot of breathing issues, but then I've had trouble breathing normally for several days now due to the congestion in my head. The good thing is my sense of smell came back suddenly this evening at work, but the bad was that it was oversensitive. I could smell cigarette smoke even with small traces and the mustiness of the boxes I was working with.

Anyway, here's to feeling better. Cheers.