Category Archives: amusements

amusements, beliefs

May Quiz Questions

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.

May Quiz Questions: Mythology & Religion

  1. In Greek mythology who or what guards the gates of the Underworld?
  2. Theravada and Mahayana are branches of which major world religion?
  3. Which group of traditionalist Christians of Swiss German Anabaptist origins was founded by Jakob Ammann?
  4. According to Norse legend, what animals pulled Thor’s chariot across the sky?
  5. What three words begin the Book of Genesis?

Answers will be posted in 3 weeks time.

amusements, personal

Unblogged April

Fri 1 Cold, with wintry showers. Sorry, this is not an April Fool.
Sat 2 Why do my fingers smell of curry? Because earlier this afternoon I was immersing 3 poussins (which I’d spatchcocked) in a curry marinade, ready for tomorrow.
Sun 3 My stupid chilli plants. Pruned a month ago, they’ve grown at most 6 inches, and already have flower buds.
Mon 4 Last week was one of “those” weeks. It’s only Monday and this week has already qualified to join it.
Tue 5 Had to bite the bullet and order Mrs M a new PC having failed to satisfactorily wrangle the current one back to working well. I don’t know what she does to them. Still she’s paying! Now looking at upgrading mine too – it’s only money!
Wed 6 Pigeons pecking peacefully at discarded seeds. Suddenly a flash of tabby & white from nowhere (ie. behind the hedge). Pigeons scatter airward. Tabby & white already back in lair. So fast I couldn’t even see if the cat got pigeon for lunch.
Thu 7 Body clearly making up for two short nights sleep. Awake at 7 this morning; next I know it’s 11. Been behind all day as a result.
Fri 8 Having ordered Mrs M a new PC, I’m now seriously looking at one for me. Can’t get something beefy enough off the shelf; don’t want to DIY it; but custom builds take at least 6 weeks (why?).
Sat 9 I’d given up on them. Special offer wisteria plants ordered early in the year should have arrived a couple of weeks ago. But they arrived today, and look good, if small. Now to find good pots for them.
Sun 10 Still playing hunt the PC. Have found a possible (well reviewed) supplier who will custom build in under 2 weeks and is UK-based. I feel an order coming on this week.
Mon 11 Another wasted day … waiting for the delivery of Mrs M’s new PC. But UPS didn’t.
Tue 12 The lawn hasn’t been cut for almost a year but surprisingly is only half way up our cats. This week it’s growing a brilliant crop of cheery bright yellow dandelions. I’m torn between leaving them, picking the petals to make wine, picking the leaves for salad or digging up the roots and roasting them for coffee.
Wed 13 And yes, Spring really is a-coming in. The cherry tree and crab apple are in flower, the other apples are well on the way, and in the last couple of days the first butterflies: brimstone and holly blue.
Thu 14 Two punnets of raspberries in the supermarket delivery; and different varieties. “Malling Bella”, grown in Spain: large, dark red, luscious berries (almost like good loganberries); superb fragrance and flavour. “Kwanza”, grown in Portugal: lighter red and smaller berries, perfectly nice raspberries but definitely less flavour and rather more tart. Eaten for pudding with flaked chocolate and double cream. Yum!
Fri 15 Spent most of the day setting up N’s new PC. Actually Windows 11 isn’t as bad as most people make out. Yes, it’s different, but if you use the setup options carefully it isn’t that different. One good thing is that the machine came with Windows 11 Home, but there’s an instant upgrade to Windows 11 Pro (for a fee, of course) – and I mean it is instant!
Sat 16 The bluebells are out and the lilac is not far behind. It’s also been a good couple of days for butterflies: as well as the brimstone and holly blue of a few days ago, today a beautiful new speckled wood dancing in the sunshine.
Sun 17 So we have a lovely sunny long weekend, and what am I doing? Sitting indoors “jellivating” because I just can’t make myself do anything. Bah! Depression!
Mon 18 An afternoon spend fiddling about with family history; trying to see if anything pops up on any of the problem areas. No, nothing.
Tue 19 You can tell Spring is here. I’ve just spent the last three days (and of course nights) without a stitch of clothing. OK, I’ve not been parading around the garden showing off to the neighbours, but I have been 3-4 metres outside the back door.
Wed 20 Phew! At last I’ve finished fettling N’s new PC, having been waiting on a backup drive and then testing. Now all I have to do is install it on her desk. By which time my new PC will have arrived (assuming DPD play properly).
Thu 21 Today feels like a day spent marking time. Still, N’s PC is installed on her desk. Meanwhile my PC has arrived in 2 large boxes, which will be investigated tomorrow.
Fri 22 Restaurant quality food this evening. N did an old favourite of hers: Pork in mushroom & cream sauce. Very yum!
Sat 23 Hmmm … fresh pineapple with coffee ice cream doesn’t quite work. But it was an interesting experiment!
Sun 24 They tell me today was Sunday.
Mon 25 Two full days slog has got my new PC to the stage where it can get it installed tomorrow for the final conversion.
Tue 26 Phew! Finally the new PC is in place. Just a couple of glitches still to settle, plus setting up automatic backups.
Wed 27 After several nice warm days, it’s a typical English Spring – back to being dull, grey and not very warm. And good grief, the birds have emptied the nut feeder again, in about 4 days; mind you, they’ve likely been helped by the local squirrel.
Thu 28 It’s all computing at the moment. Decided to clear out all our old computer junk. Started with the 2 crates worth under my desk. Found a laptop which hasn’t been touched in over 3 years; it still boots into Windows 10 with the correct date & time too!
Fri 29 Very early this morning (like 06:30-ish) saw two pairs of birds high up; one pair appearing to pass something between them. They looked very like Hirundines of some form: I don’t think swifts as the flight wasn’t quite right; more likely house martins; possibly swallows. Only in view for a few seconds, so hard to be certain.
Sat 30 You stand in the kitchen putting together some salad, and the cats drive you demented. Tilly and Rosie are in and out, crashing through the catdoor, as if on elastic. Scarcely a minute goes by but one or other is going one way or the other! I’ve never before known cats like these two.
amusements, words

A Linguistic Amusement

I happened across this the other day (on Facebook, I think). It is too good not to share.

Click the image for a larger view

We should, of course, add:

  • Stalactites and Stalagmites
  • Unicycles (perhaps my favourite!)

I’m sure you can think of others. Enjoy!

amusements, science

April Quiz Answers

OK, so here are the answers to this month’s quiz questions. All should be able to be easily verified online.

April Quiz Questions: Physical Science

  1. How much water is there on Earth per human being? Roughly 175 trillion litres ± 15%
  2. What was the name of the first, Russian, man-made satellite? Sputnik I
  3. How many internal reflections of light take place in the formation of a primary rainbow? Two
  4. Roughly how long does it take for the sun’s light to reach Earth? Eight minutes
  5. Which Russian chemist published the first widely recognised Periodic Table? Dmitri Mendeleev

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2021.

amusements, science

April Quiz Questions

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.

April Quiz Questions: Physical Science

  1. How much water is there on Earth per human being?
  2. What was the name of the first, Russian, man-made satellite?
  3. How many internal reflections of light take place in the formation of a primary rainbow?
  4. Roughly how long does it take for the sun’s light to reach Earth?
  5. Which Russian chemist published the first widely recognised Periodic Table?

Answers will be posted in 3 weeks time.

amusements, personal

Unblogged March

Tue 1 It’s daffy-dilly day – and no surprise they are in this wet weather! Next up will be the sham-rocks followed by the bleeding-roses. Three in close succession like London buses.
Wed 2 We’ve had so much rain in the last few days that today there was standing water in the garden – despite the affected area having been raised about 3 inches a couple of years ago.
Thu 3 Dizzy, dizzy, dizzy. Definitely very unstable in the head, with headache and general flu-y feeling. Negative LFT. Retired back to bed and slept.
Fri 4 Definitely not well, but less dizzy than yesterday. LFT still negative.
Sat 5 Much as yesterday, but slowly improving. LFT still negative. Feeling better enough to try to do the crossword.
Sun 6 Rinse and repeat – but managed to stay upright most of the day.
Mon 7 It’s that time of year when you start sorting household finances and it goes on, and on and on … because you realise you need to set up next year’s tax files, get upsides of billing & payments which change in April …
Tue 8 What a lovely sunny day, although chilly in the breeze. Lots of small daffodils now out in the garden, and the deeper mauve crocuses are still going strong. The magenta hellebore is almost finished as are the snowdrops.
Wed 9 Tied to my desk all day becase of another of those “It’s that time of year” jobs: subscription reminders for the AP Soc. Even so I didn’t manage to finish it as everything always needs rewriting.
Thu 10 Awoken at 06:00 by 5kg of cat landing on the solar plexus. So up at 07:00 and a huge amount of work shifted before my meeting at 10:00. In fact large amounts shifted right through to 19:00.
Fri 11 Nice delivery of half a case of Champagne. Two are a retirement present for a friend.
Sat 12 Was intending to (re)frame some pictures this afternoon, but not a chance. Spent the time instead cooking fruit and then duck and pepper stir-fry with noodles for dinner.
Sun 13 Why is it that some days everything conspires to get in the way: not serious buggeration but just enough awkward to make everything more difficult. Still I did manage to cook steak & chips for dinner, washed down with bottle of Champagne. Remember Hester Browne’s words: Always keep a bottle of Champagne in the fridge for special occasions. Sometimes the special occasion is that you’ve got a bottle of Champagne in the fridge.
Mon 14 For once, a day of doing almost nothing apart from fiddling about. It wasn’t really “play” more like wasting time.
Tue 15 This morning there were some lovely mackerel cirrus clouds – photographed badly through the window.
Wed 16 A really strange yellowy/peachy light in late morning, dissipating by the end of lunch (possibly with the rain). Seems like it was Saharan dust dragged northwards by a storm over Spain.
Thu 17 It’s been very quiet round here for Sham-Rock Day!
Fri 18 Gorgeous silvery full moon, especially enchanting seen through the trees this evening.
Sat 19 Last night’s moon turned into an equally lovely moon set around dawn, followed by a warm(er) sunny Spring day.
Sun 20 Why is sex at 6am always such a failure? To compensate the afternoon was spent photographing vases of daffodils and tulips.
Mon 21 Afternoon spent trying to untangle another knot in my family history, back in mid-18th century … and failing. Either there are lots of records missing from some Kent parishes, people are telling porkies, or they really do parachute in from nowhere.
Tue 22 A rare treat: home cooked curry eaten in front of the TV. So decadent.
Wed 23 Another literary society talk hosted on Zoom. We’re getting good audiences; over 50 again tonight.
Thu 24 The first queen wasp of the season let itself in the study window this afternoon; and was eventually ushered out again.
Disappointed I didn’t catch it and ID it. I was beginning to think there were none this year as they had a poor year last summer.
Fri 25 Why is it that by the time we get to Friday lunchtime I’m convinced it’s Saturday? And continue to think it’s Saturday all day however much I remind myself it isn’t.
Sat 26 Up betimes so lots done before hosting a lunchtime Zoom call, only to undo the good work by falling asleep for a large chunk of the afternoon. Well it is Sunday, isn’t it?!
Sun 27 Horrible day! (1) Bloody changing the clocks again, for no useful reason. (2) The general nausea of Mother’s Day. (3) Banks getting in the way of business for no reason apart from their profit. (4) A borked literary society website. “Life. Don’t talk to me about life!”
Mon 28 Used the Royal Mail facility to come and collect your parcel to go – for a small fee (48p to me). Haven’t used this before, but on this one showing it seems a good scheme. And I managed to fix the borked website.
Tue 29 What happened at the coalface today? I have no clue!
Wed 30 How many times does one get woken at some uncivilised hour by 5kg of cat landing unannounced on the solar plexus? And then they snuggle down and look cute. But try shutting them out the bedroom and there’s a riot.
Thu 31 It snowed. This morning. Big healthy lumps of snow. For 2 minutes. Long interlude. Repeat Scene 1 at teatime. Fin.
amusements

March Quiz Answers

OK, so here are the answers to this month’s quiz questions. All should be able to be easily verified online.

March Quiz Questions: General Knowledge

  1. Fielding and Chavannes, the inventors of bubble wrap, were originally trying to create what? 3D plastic wallpaper
  2. Who or what are Rouge Croix, Rouge Dragon, Portcullis and Bluemantle? Four Pursuivants (junior heralds) of the College of Arms
  3. Three private (ie. non-state owned) companies in the world each employ over 1 million people. Name one of them. Walmart (2.2m), China National Petroleum (1.34m), Amazon (1.3m)
  4. How is the clock in the Elizabeth Tower (aka Big Ben) of the Houses of Parliament regulated? By adding or removing old pennies to the pendulum
  5. Who patented the first automobile? Karl Benz in 1886

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2021

amusements

March Quiz Questions

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.

March Quiz Questions: General Knowledge

  1. Fielding and Chavannes, the inventors of bubble wrap, were originally trying to create what?
  2. Who or what are Rouge Croix, Rouge Dragon, Portcullis and Bluemantle?
  3. Three private (ie. non-state owned) companies in the world each employ over 1 million people. Name one of them.
  4. How is the clock in the Elizabeth Tower (aka Big Ben) of the Houses of Parliament regulated?
  5. Who patented the first automobile?

Answers will be posted in 3 weeks time.