All posts by Keith
Word: Tarantism
Tarantism
1. A hysterical malady, characterized by an extreme impulse to dance, which prevailed in parts of Italy from the 15th to the 17th century, popularly attributed to the bite of the tarantula. The dancing was sometimes held to be a symptom or consequence of the malady, sometimes practised to cure it.
2. Overcoming melancholy by dancing; the uncontrollable urge to dance.
First used in English around 1640, according to the OED the word is derived from the modern Latin tarantismus, Italian tarantismo and French tarentisme which in turn derive from the Italian town of Taranto. However it was popularly associated with Tarantola, the tarantula spider.
Oddity of the Week: Chimerism
One person outside but two people inside. That’s the gist of the chimera, a human being who carries the DNA (and sometimes the body parts) for two. It sounds crazy, but it happens. In fact, doctors think it probably happens more often than we realize. Unless there were some reason to test the DNA from cells in different parts of your body, you could easily be a chimera and never know it.
A chimera is a single organism composed of genetically distinct cells. This can result in male and female organs, two different blood types, or subtle variations in form. Animal chimeras are produced by the merger of multiple fertilized eggs.
Tetragametic chimerism occurs through the fertilization of two separate ova by two sperm, followed by aggregation of the two at the blastocyst or zygote stages. This results in the development of an organism with intermingled cell lines. Put another way, the chimera is formed from the merging of two non-identical twins. As such, they can be male, female, or have mixed intersex characteristics.
This can produce an organism with totally different characteristics on each side of the body: different genders or different colouring — as in the budgie above. Or it can cause mozaicism where the organism contains patches of the different cell types, something most easily spotted in coat colouring — as in the human above — or eye colour.
But very often the mosaicism is there; we just don’t know it.
Weekly Photograph
Meteorologically, at least for the UK, yesterday (1 March) was the first day of Spring. Which means Summer must surely be not far behind. This week’s photograph is another from the archive to remind us what Summer is like and what we have to look forward to.
Hollyhock
Pinner; July 2011
Something for the Weekend
Oddity of the Week: Bats
Bats roost in big groups in caves. Wrong! If you’re a Hardwicke’s woolly bat, you prefer to sleep in a more luxurious — and private — place.
Kerivoula hardwickii roosts inside tropical pitcher plants. These carnivorous plants usually attract insects, but Nepenthes hemsleyana lacks the scents that others have, so few bugs are lured in. Instead, it benefits from the faeces of this tiny bat, which provides more than a third of its nitrogen and may be crucial to the plant’s survival.
These bats found a niche that no-one else was occupying; they are the only bat species known to roost in pitcher plants.
To take [the image above, and others] Merlin Tuttle waded through tropical forest peat swamps on Borneo. Once he had found an occupied plant, he would spend a few hours taming a bat before snapping it from his portable studio, which provided protection from heavy rains. “It only takes a small fraction of a second for a bat to either enter or emerge, so capturing the action at just the right moment is a real challenge,” says Tuttle.
Within a few days, the bats had learned to bump against his nose when they wanted him to give them some mealworms. “We were quite amazed at the intelligence of such tiny animals,” Tuttle says. “Contrary to common misconceptions, bats in general are gentle, highly intelligent and trainable.”
It is the fact that wild bats are so easily trainable that really struck me!
From New Scientist, 21 February 2015 and at www.newscientist.com/article/mg22530090.100-tiny-bat-makes-home-in-a-carnivorous-plant.htm.
Weekly Photograph
This week a self-portrait from several years ago. Taken, with a fisheye lens, in our hotel room when away for the weekend — I was actually going to a school reunion.
Self-Portrait with Chair
Cheshunt; June 2008
Something for the Weekend
Word: Bascule
Bascule
A device operating like a balance or see-saw, especially an arrangement of a movable bridge, by which the rising floor or section is counterbalanced by a weight.
A bridge with a movable section hinged about a horizontal axis and counterbalanced by a weight.
London’s Tower Bridge has two bascules …
From the French bascule, formerly bacule, a see-saw; from battre to beat, to bump, or bas low, down + cul the posterior.
The word appears to have been first used in English in 1678.
M&S "Southwold" Beers
For quite some while — probably 2-3 years; maybe more — Marks & Spencer have been selling a range of “Southwold” beers, which we know are brewed for them by Adnams of Southwold.
Over the years I have tried probably most of them and found them at least acceptable and often quite pleasant. But then, as regular readers will know, I am partial to the odd pint of Adnams — with the exception of Broadside which I find too heavy. I especially like Adnams “Ghost Ship” and their current very hoppy lager.
Herself was shopping in a local M&S this afternoon and noticed two “Southwold” beers she’d not seen before: “Southwold Hibiscus Wheat Beer” and “Southwold Spruce IPA” in small (330ml) bottles. Being thoughtful that way, Comrade Wife bought me a couple of bottles of each to try. And I have done so.
The result? Let’s say they are not to my taste, for as the names imply they are slightly flavoured with the non-traditional ingredients.
The “Southwold Hibiscus Wheat Beer” (4.3%) is described on the bottle as “an infusion of Southwold Wheat Beer and hibiscus flowers”. It has a very slight red tinge to the otherwise mid-brown colour; and it has a fruity/flowery bouquet and slightly sweet taste.
The “Southwold Spruce IPA” (6.5%) is described in similar terms as “an infusion of hops with the fragrant, pine filled aroma of Norway spruce trees”. It is a rich brown with a slight pine bouquet.
The underlying beers would be perfectly acceptable, but I’m not a fan of what’s they’ve been turned into. I don’t much like fruit flavoured beers (which is essentially what the hibiscus one is) and I decidedly do not want my beer smelling or tasting of bathroom disinfectant.
Sorry guys, you might just as well not have bothered!
Southwold Hibiscus Wheat Beer, Overall Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Southwold Spruce IPA, Overall Rating: ★☆☆☆☆