This lunchtime the conversation mostly revolved around three topics.

Is the universe expanding? Nasa think so and boldly go so far as to try and put a figure on it. Nasa are running with the seemingly incredibly popular Hubble Constant which ironically enough isn't a constant at all. They integrate this into the The Einstein-deSitter Universe in which (oddly) large measurements of the Hubble Constant can result in an age of the Universe being younger than the objects we know are in it, an obvious impossibility. To fix this, they simply change the value of the Hubble Constant. Apparently this is called science, not cheating. Most agencies seem to believe that the universe is expanding. Except this bloke who may be very intelligent, or a nutcase, or both.

The conversation then moved on to the rumoured existance of a car made entirely from, and running on bananas. Built by ingenious mexican students I couldn't find any confirmation of this feat of brillance on the internet. Still interested in banana cars? Here is a placebo

Finally things got around to an island, that may or may not be off the coast of Indonesia, that has a trade embargo on it, that uses coconut oil instead of diesel. The internet was again remarkably short of information about this (lots about alternative fuels though, coconut diesel undeniably exists), and this guy has probably seen the same documentary, and that's good enough for me.