Random things make a post

[nineveh_uk]

* The downside of going on holiday in September is that it clashes with the season for Marjorie seedling plums and, even more critically, Discovery apples. I love Discoveries, and as they don't keep and have a very short season; once they're gone, they're gone. But there is a kilo in my fruitbowl, so I will at least have some this year.

* Some genuinely good news (well, apart from the fact it was needed in the first place...): Mozambique has been declared free of mines. Also see the BBC for a picture of a trained mine-detecting rat in a little harness.

* The 2015 Ig Nobel Prizes have been announced. Apparently, if it doesn't hurt when your ambulance goes over speed bumps, you don't have appendicitis.

* New Doctor Who tomorrow! This is a much nicer welcome to autumn than Wednesday's horrible rain.

Comments

[antisoppist]

One of my children ate three of my Discoveries (only available from local deli) before accusing me of buying horrible apples that are revolting. I am looking forward to the Russets turning up because they don't touch those.

[nineveh_uk]

Because they had to be really, really sure that the apples were revolting?

[antisoppist]

Apparently. Or that I was cruelly hiding the revolting ones amid the nice ones in a bowl of evil apple roulette. How can you not tell the difference? Have failed as parent.

[nineveh_uk]

I feel that they are probably old enough to be responsible for dealing with their own apple preferences by now.

I have just discovered that although I washed two apples before leaving the house this morning, I failed to put them in my bag and I am apple-less. This is most annoying.

[antisoppist]

*Two* apples? What is this decadence?

[nineveh_uk]

They don't keep, it is perfectly sensible to eat them while they are at their best. Indeed, positively spartan.

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

I'm not hugely excited about Doctor Who. The last series didn't really grip me. However, it is set to record, and if I am back from the Rammy Festival at a reasonable hour I shall watch.

Wonderful news about Mozambique. What a tribute to the mine clearance teams.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I found myself enjoying last series more than the preceding one - Clara grew on me with a new Doctor.

The work in Mozambique sounds hugely impressive. I also liked that the workers were being funded to do training now that their jobs were coming to an end.

[mobile-alh.livejournal.com]

Hooray for Mozambique..also short season apples, which tend to be extra good, somehow.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I don't know if short season apples are good just because they're particularly fresh, but they are certainly extra good.

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

And there are figs and Cox apples in the shops again! Autumn fruit is great.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I like Coxes, but will hold off until I have run out of other kinds, since they are available for longer. I have bought figs, though (oh, the figs of Greece!).

[sonetka.livejournal.com]

Elisabeth Oberzaucher and Karl Grammer (University of Vienna, Austria) for trying to use mathematical techniques to determine whether and how Moulay Ismael the Bloodthirsty, the Sharifian Emperor of Morocco, managed, during the years from 1697 through 1727, to father 888 children.

This sounds weirdly fascinating, though a quick Google shows that other mathematicians are disputing the methods they used. Though you'd think the "how" would be pretty obvious :). (And I can't imagine many women of the era would really want to see what happened if they rejected a suitor called "the Bloodthirsty", either).

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

He certainly seems to have been busy!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I keep being convinced I have commented on this, but all the evidence points against this; and now I have forgotten what the original comment(s) would have been.

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

Today I saw Discovery apples in the supermarket and tried to buy some, only to discover that they weren't listed in the self-checkout system anywhere (not listed as a variety under Apples, and putting in the code from the stickers just brought up an error message). It stumped two members of staff; they eventually just rung them up as Golden Delicious. ("Which ones are cheap? Golden Delicious, that'll do.") I had thought I was going to have to leave empty-handed.