This year our Ten Things column each month is concentrating on science and scientists.
Where a group is described as “great” or “important” this is not intended to imply these necessarily the greatest or most important, but only that they are up there amongst the top flight.
Great Biologists
All opinions are subjective; that’s why they’re opinions.
Again this year we’re beginning each month with five pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. They’re not difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers, so hopefully you’ll learn something new, as well as have a bit of fun.
October Quiz Questions: Biological Science
Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.
Thirty things what happened during the month but which I didn’t write about elsewhere.
| Fri 1 | At last. The insurance has decided they’re going to cough up for Boy’s expensive vet visits. Of course, that’s all except the £140 excess. I have to admit to being surprised: we changed insurers earlier this year from PetPlan (ouchily expensive) to John Lewis (acceptably cheaper) for apparently the same cover. I thought they’d look at Boy’s history and decide what he had was a pre-existing condition and not covered; but clearly not. Now we just need the money in the bank account. |
| Sat 2 | The blue tits are back. I’ve not seen a (feathered) tit in weeks and weeks. But lunchtime today there was one pecking industriously at the peanut feeder outside the dining room window; and another flitting about. |
| Sun 3 | ‘Twas the day to retrieve the wasp traps from season 2 of Big Wasp Survey. And we have … a null result. I do wonder if this season is actually too early; wasps are still around but still seem to be hunting prey rather than sugar. Suggested to Big Wasp Survey that we maybe need to run session 2 a couple of weeks later. So, in part as a test, I put out another 2 traps for this week, which will still count for the survey. |
| Mon 4 | Why does mouthwash have to taste so vile? |
| Tue 5 | Woke up with a cracking headache having had a bad night. Why always before a busy day? So rearranged this morning’s optician’s apointment for next week. Went back to bed for a couple of hours dozing and felt much better. |
| Wed 6 | Bloody hell it’s hot. I’ve been sitting here all day, with the windows wide open, absolutely dripping wet – might as well have been in a sauna. Actually it’s not the heat that’s the problem, it’s the humidity making everything close and sticky. We need a good thunderstorm, but it doesn’t look like we’re going to get one. |
| Thu 7 | Harvested the first of this year’s chilli crop. So far just one small red scotch bonnet from the one remaining of last year’s plants. But something over a dozen yellow ones. There are a few more coming – maybe another 10 – but I don’t think we’re going to have a bumper harvest this year. Not that this matters as we still have a large bag of last year’s chillies in the freezer. |
| Fri 8 | 44 years ago today it was a lovely bright, sunny, warm late summer day; just glorious as early September usually is … and just right for our wedding at St Peter’s, Acton Green. That day was so nice we both walked the 400m round the corner to church. Today we’re melting because for the fifth day in a row the temperature has topped 30°C. How did any of that happen? We still don’t know how we got here! |
| Sat 9 | We’re melting – again! For the sixth day in a row the temperature has topped 30°C despite the fact that autumn must be here. The lovely Gleditsia tree outside our house has it’s first autumn coloured leaves. It’s always the first to change colour: to a glorious golden yellow. Within a week or two it will be completely golden. It’s amazing how it does so well as it is one of the last trees into leaf and the first to change in autumn. But well it does; it grows 30-50cm a year! |
| Sun 10 | Another disappointing null result from the wasp traps this week. There are still wasps around, but I guess it is too hot for them to be winding down yet. In fact it’s so hot one feels dopy in the head, incapable of movement and not needing much to eat. The seventh day of getting to 30°C, although it did cool a bit during the afternoon and there was a bit of drizzle. |
| Mon 11 | What’s happened? What day is it? I’ve totally lost track. I’m completely in limbo. Turning into a zombie. Totally disengaged. Completely anaesthetised. Probably a combination of stress and depression. |
| Tue 12 | This morning, Tilly cat decided it was time to keep the printer in its place. Who would ever think she was 10 earlier in the summer. |
| Wed 13 | This morning happened my much delayed repeat eye test, with the head guy at my opticians. We’re both slightly puzzled but he could see some possible explanations for the aberration of the new left lens which is totally out of focus. After a very detailed test he’s tweaked my prescription, including reinstating the removed astigmatism correction, and is remaking the glasses (thankfully at their cost!). What I’d never realised before is the extent to which eyes can vary even during a test (as mine clearly were), and the possible slight variation of test results between different optometrists. The former must in part be due to the extent to which one’s eyes are watering etc.; and I guess the latter is partly down to the subjective way in which they do the tests and the dependence on the patient’s responses. Fingers crossed that it’s all OK this time. |
| Thu 14 | Trip to the hospital for an audiology appointment this morning. In and out before my appointment time. Waiting outside afterwards to be picked up, I stopped to photograph a couple of pretty flowers.  |
| Fri 15 | Feeling stressed. Too much happening. Not looking forward to tomorrow. Not my monkey but too much to go wrong. |
| Sat 16 | Bugger. We both got up feeling Meh! N worse than me and queasy. Neither of us felt up to travelling, so sadly we had to miss the unveiling of the plaque to AP on his house in Chester Gate (report here). Not pleased. And continued to feel rubbish all day; if no better tomorrow we’ll have to test for the plague. |
| Sun 17 | Rain! Right on cue at 13:30. And dear God it was dark – it could have been a December afternoon. |
| Mon 18 | Thunder and lightening, not very frightening – to paraphrase Queen. Even though it was at 01:00. Again as predicted. But it was a fitting opening to a very crap Monday, although we did get our Covid jabs booked for later in the week. |
| Tue 19 | In a few days over 6 months I’ve now passed 50 Postcrossing cards received as well as 50 sent and arrived – with another eight still travelling. In round numbers that’s two in and two out a week. The quality of the cards received and the messages on them is very variable, but that isn’t the point – it’s more about communication and enjoyment. Most cards have been to or from Germany, followed by the US – but only one sent and one received from the Southern Hemisphere (Indonesia and Australia respectively). Otherwise a spread across Europe, Asia (including China & Russia) and North America. So far complete blanks for Africa and South America. Here are cards 1-50 on our corkboard. |
| Wed 20 | Off to see the wizard … well to get a Covid jab. Bookings opened on Monday and, having been tipped off by our neighbour over the road, we were able to book our jabs (and she hers) at the same time and the same pharmacy. So we all went together in the same minicab. The other two also had their flu jabs, but I declined as it always knocks me out for a day or two and I can’t afford that this week. All very efficient and quick (which is why we chose that pharmacy a couple of miles away); we were all 3 in and out in under 20 minutes. I subsequently booked my flu jab at the doctors for next week. |
| Thu 21 | It’s an ill wind … The boiler man cometh. Oh no, the boiler man cometh not. Apparently he’s managed to hurt his head this morning so has had to cancel. Luckily all we need is the annual service. At least it took the pressure off the day. |
| Fri 22 | Another small crop of chillies today. Two small red scotch bonnets, a couple of large yellow Jalapeno-like, and three slender hot lemon. Some will be used right soon; the others will go in the freezer. Only another 3 or 4 obviously on the way, but there may be some small ones; and also not a lot of flower now. Mind the plants screen about half the study window; they’re a good curtain! |
| Sat 23 | It’s all right innit when the cat gets a 3 course meal and you only have 2 courses! All three cats had cod for their tea (an occasional treat) followed by some titbits of lamb from our roast. Tilly then had a third course of half a teaspoon of cream – she’s a grazer and eats only small amounts at a time, but wants a regular supply; the other two just eat. We had roast lamb with jacket potatoes and steamed mixed veg; followed by some nectarines. |
| Sun 24 | I still do not understand why things are so knackering. Spent a good chunk of the day sitting at the desk doing mailing etc. for the literary society. And a couple of hours writing blog material, plus keeping an eye on the gardener, and trying to catch up on things which weren’t done during the week and should have been because more urgent stuff intervened. Exhausted by dinner time. |
| Mon 25 | Collected my new glasses, and they’re fine. Everything is just that little bit sharper, and I’d adjusted to them even before I left the opticians. Result – at last. Outside the opticians there’s this crazy 2 foot length of double yellow lines.  |
| Tue 26 | Today in 1969 (when I was just about to go to university) saw the release of one of the great albums of all time: The Beatles, Abbey Road. The studios and “that zebra crossing” in Abbey Road, NW1 still draw crowds of tourists despite being nothing special. |
| Wed 27 | Flu jab day. Lovely nurse at the doctors as efficient as ever. Why do they put a silly little round plasters over the injection site? There and back in under 30 minutes. I await the after effects. |
| Thu 28 | Not a lot got done today ‘cos I felt “meh” and out of sorts yesterday afternoon and today; beginning to clear a bit by teatime. Probably the effect of the flu jab, which has otherwise just given me a slightly sore arm. Hopeful that with a decent night’s sleep I’ll be OK tomorrow. |
| Fri 29 | Oh FFS! It’s the depression again! Unable to do anything useful, let alone think. It’s well past time for a new head and a new body. |
| Sat 30 | Cometh the gardener, and it’s apple picking day. Just a dozen from the small Falstaff tree but nothing from Pinova – although we’ve already had a couple from each. So only a small crop, but worthwhile nonetheless. |
Here we go again with this month’s collection of links to items which interested me and which you maybe didn’t want to miss.
Science, Technology, Natural World
On the colours of the stars. [££££]
There are some small “earthquakes” on the moon, and the cause is somewhat surprising.
They’re still hunting for the missing flight MH370, and now there is hope of finding it using divination by barnacles.
Scientists have found a huge, remote, Fijian cave, and it’s full of tiny endangered bats. [££££]
Scientists are looking at dreaming and REM sleep across the animal kingdom.
So just how old is the oldest aquarium fish? We know koi carp can live to 80, but Methuselah is even older.
Health, Medicine
Explaining both the neuroscience and physiology of fear and anxiety.
More screening for cancers sounds like it could be good for many of us, but there are serious questions over whether the NHS could cope with it.
Girls, your vagina has it’s own microbiome (just as our guts and skin do), so here are a few pointers on how to look after it.
Yes, it turns out the so-called “male menopause” is a thing for at least some men. [££££]
So is pee sterile?
The medicinal leech has a long history, and is still used today.
Most of us suffer from delusions of some form, however mildly. Here are the five most common.
We all have childhood memories – some of us more than others – but how reliable are they?
It seems that some people whose brains flatline but survive can recall lucid “experiences of death“.
Sexuality
Just what were the rules around masturbation in Ancient Greece? As if one can put rules round such a thing! [££££]
Here are some things most of us don’t know, but probably should, about emergency contraception.
Environment
A recent report says that Britain’s ocean fish populations are in a quite some trouble.
Art, Literature, Language, Music
Seemingly the speed at which someone talks has no relationship to intelligence.
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
Researchers have calculated that the species which were to become Homo sapiens suffered a population bottleneck, and could have gone extinct, almost a million years ago.
Meanwhile researchers in southern Africa have discovered some ½million year old timbers which appear to have been woodworked.
5000-7000 years ago there was a culture in what’s now Eastern Europe which burned its houses down every couple of generations – but we don’t know why.
On the age of, and reasons for, the Egyptian pyramids.
Along with Greek rules around masturbation (see above) the ancient world had various rules about with female beauty. [££££]
Two rare Roman cavalry swords from around 200AD have been found in the Cotswolds.
On a similar note, an early medieval warrior buried with his weapons has been found in Germany.
In around 900AD there was a very powerful woman who ruled over that Papacy.
On the involvement of the Templars in the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170.
A bit further on … a 14th-century cannon has been found off Swedish coast.
Cannibalism in human history has rarely been just about eating to survive.
An Ode to the Rag-and-Bone Man.
Food, Drink
Notable Sandwiches #68: Francesinha e Francesinha Poveira.
Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
Do opposites attract? Apparently not as research is suggesting that couples are more likely to be similar than different.
Another for the girls … Attractive though it may be, in more ways than one, apparently going braless does come at a cost. However if you’re going to wear a bra, then find your correct size, ‘cos it probably isn’t what you think.
So what is it about school nicknames? Harry Mount suggests that while they can be fantastically rude, the ruder they are, the more affectionate.
Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!
Finally, this year’s Ig Nobel Prize winners have been revealed.
Once more unto the quotation mines, my friends …
Nudists don’t take their clothes off, we get dressed when we have to!
Well, today my neighbours spoke to me. So I did what I had to do. I strapped a monitor on my ankle, went outside with my shirt on inside out, and argued with a pine tree. That should hold them off for a while.
Imagine yourself alone in the midst of nothingness, and then try to tell me how large you are.
[Arthur Eddington, The Nature of the Physical World (1928)]
We need leader not in love with money but in love with justice. Not in love with publicity but in love with humanity.
[Martin Luther King]
Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important.
[TS Eliot]
No society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of a lack of means.
[Aneurin Bevan (1897–1960)]
You don’t need religion to have morals. If you can’t determine right from wrong, you lack empathy not religion.
“You sound a very educated man for a barbarian,” said Rincewind.
“I didn’t start out a barbarian. I used to be a school teacher. But I decided to give it all up and make a living by the sword.”
“After being a teacher all your life?”
“It did mean a change of perspective, yes.”
“But … well … Surely … the privation, the terrible hazards, the daily risk of death …”
Mr Saveloy brightened up. “Oh, you’ve been a teacher, have you?”
[Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times]
What I have found to be true for me in my … periods of derangement is that all the ‘shoulds’ line up and march about skreeking at me in a never ending loop of recrimination that don’t help a damn bit. I might be mental but I’m not fucking stupid … I know what I ‘should’ do, but one of the quirks of my poor mental health is I find it almost impossible to do the things I ‘should’ do because I am not very well. I have found that reminding myself of all the ‘shoulds’ that I can’t do generally tends to make me feel about a thousand times worse until they eventually paralyse me completely. I do not subscribe to ‘shoulds’. I subscribe to whatever gets me through the day.
[Katy Wheatley at https://katywheatley.substack.com/p/lessons-from-the-school-of-me]
Don’t let anyone else ruin your day. It’s your day. Ruin it yourself.
As the alert will have spotted by now, I’m catching up on a backlog of the recipes I’ve tried out over the summer. So here’s another.
Fried Rice
Serves: 2
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes
Ingredients
What to do …
Notes
Here are the answers to this month’s five quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.
September Quiz Questions: Famous Quotations
Who said …
Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2022.
OK so here’s another stirfry I’ve been playing with in recent weeks.
Just for a change, we bought a pack of turkey breast strips. We had no great hopes for them as our previous encounters with bits of turkey haven’t been encouraging. However this was good and tender.
Turkey Stirfry with Lime & Coconut
Serves: 2 for a generous main course
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes
For the Stirfry
For the Sauce
What to do …
Notes
Oh my word, we’ve not had a culinary adventure for nearly 3 months. That’s inexcusable!
Anyway last Friday was our 44th wedding anniversary. No, we don’t know how it happened either! So I did something a bit different, largely my own invention!
Scallops with Lime & Ginger Stirfry and Noodles
Serves: 2
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes
Main Ingredients
For the Stirfry
For the Sauce
What to do …
You need to concentrate on the timing as the scallops don’t want to be overdone; so have everything prepared in advance of cooking.
And it was good! There were no leftovers.
Notes