I spotted this in Waitrose a couple of weeks ago.
What I can’t conceive is how you actually smoke flour without burning it. And why you would want to!
Weird!
A Special Day
Today is special. It is a red letter day. Well … no … actually it’s a blue moon! So anything could happen — allegedly.
The mostly used definition of a blue moon is where there are two full moons in a calendar month. But that it appears is a more modern definition, the older one being applied where there were four full moons in a season. Various older belief systems give each of the three normal full moons in a season a name. Where there are four full moons the third of the four is called a blue moon so that the last may keep it’s “correct” name and rightful place in the season.
Which might suggest to you that blue moons aren’t that rare. And you’d be right. They occur every 2-3 years (actually 7 times in the moon’s 19-year Metonic cycle), because of the mismatch between the 28 day lunar cycle and months of 30 or 31 days in our solar calendar.
Curiously it seems no-one really knows why it is called a blue moon, but it almost certainly isn’t because the moon suddenly becomes Smurf-coloured for the day. Smurf-coloured moons can happen but only as a result of significant atmospheric pollution, like the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883.
One theory for the name is that “blue” in this context is derived from the Old English word belewe meaning “betray” which was used to describe “false” moons entering the calendar. Well I suppose that’s possible, but given that the earliest known English reference dates from only 1524 it is perhaps unlikely.
Well, anyway, enjoy the last day of summer. In London it is bright and sunny but Autumnally cool, which is actually rather nice in what in the UK has been the wettest summer for 100 years. And if the sky is clear this evening go and bathe in the light of the blue moon! Sadly you’ll have to provide your own Blue Moon Cocktail.
You can find more on Blue Moons at:
Wikipedia : Blue Moon
Wikipedia : Full Moon Names
Wikipedia : Metonic Cycle
Jodrell Bank : Night Sky in August
And in various news stories, eg. here
Time for a cartoon …
I suspect everyone who is owned by a cat will identify with this from Simon’s Cat:
Buggered Britain 13
Another instalment in my occasional series documenting some of the underbelly of Britain. Britain which we wouldn’t like visitors to see and which we wish wasn’t there. The trash, abused, decaying, destitute and otherwise buggered parts of our environment. Those parts which symbolise the current economic malaise; parts which, were the country flourishing, wouldn’t be there, would be better cared for, or made less inconvenient.
This garage area is at the back of one of the houses near us and opens onto the main road. Here it is just before last Christmas.
And this is the same area around Easter time.
Now I know I’m not the tidiest and most organised person in the world, but at least the rubbish at the bottom of my garden isn’t visible to the whole world.
Brazilians
No, not waxing, not even lyrical waxing! Nor another of Brizil’s other exports: parrots. Although “poly” certainly come into it …
Apparently a Public Notary in Brazil has agreed a civil union between a man and two women, which could (my guess) be the first officially endorsed polyamory relationship in the world.
The BBC News site, amongst others, ran the story yesterday.
Apparently the Public Notary, who goes by the wonderful name of Claudia do Nascimento Domingues, says that there is nothing in law to prevent this union and that the threesome should be entitled to family rights.
Needless to say the (mostly American) Christian press are having a field day.
More power to Senhora Domingues for breaking the mould, say I. We need more lateral thinking like this.
Gallery : Movies
Well I thought I was going to pass on Tara’s Gallery this week as the theme is Movies. And as we all know I don’t do movies. But then I remembered I had this …
Jaws!
It was actually part of the fish counter display in our local supermarket a few weeks ago.
Silly Fools Day
Yeah, I know it’s the silly season. Everyone is on holiday and the media is being run by caretaker journos who don’t know one end of a biro from the other. But really, you’d think it was All Fool’s Day!
In the last couple of days we’ve had not one but two, yes, two, patently stupid stories blown up out of all proportion.
Today there appeared this superb notice at Farringdon Station on the London Underground.
Yes, it got seriously reported this morning. Until it became apparent to even the least intelligent that it was a most excellent hoax. So how do we know it’s a hoax? Do all ladies wear trousers and socks? Does no-one wear shorts? A real H&S concern would have covered these, wouldn’t it; and probably closed the station? Whoever perpetrated it should be really pleased for they did an excellent job of conning the unwary.
I just hope that if the perpetrator was a London Underground employee his (or her) bosses see the funny side of the prank: they certainly should do.
But that was just an amusing diversion compared with my second case: a lion on the loose in Essex.
Now look, good burghers of Essex, we know you have the reputation for not being the sharpest knives around, but … A lion? In St Osyth? Really!?!?!?
I’m quite prepared to believe that there’s the odd puma, even leopard, jaguar or lynx, prowling around the English countryside. But lions and tigers — oh my, no! They are just too large, and too hungry, to hide for long.
Yeah precisely, it didn’t hide. There were newspaper photos. Yes they were all of a male lion. And what was reported? A lioness. Yes, those photos are known to be fakes, made up by the press, for the press because they had nothing else to go on.
Mind you, we can’t really blame you Essex girlies for taking it all seriously, when the local plod’s reaction is totally OTT. As usual Heresy Corner does the demolition job. The Essex Constabulary were found wanting in the intelligence stakes.
Still I suppose it’s more fun than the pranks of assorted government ministers, City bankers and press barons. Oh, hang on. Isn’t that where we came in?
So if anyone can genuinely find, with 30 days, killer mice within 5 miles of St Osyth or an unclaimed lioness on the loose at Farringdon Station, I’ll eat my hat — as long as it’s a chocolate hat, that is!
Five Questions, Series 2
Following up on my earlier thread where I posed five quite difficult questions, I’ve found some more in a similar vein.
As before they are five apparently simple looking questions but which turn out to be quite hard when you actually have to answer them. That’s because they aren’t designed just so you get to know a bit more about me. They’re intended to make us think — yes that’s you and me — about who we are and what we believe. So I’m hoping some of you will join in and answer them too. Either in the comments here or on your own blog — in the latter case just leave a link in the comments so I can read yours too.
OK so here are the Five Questions, Series 2:
- What happened at the beginning of the universe?
- If you had to diagnosis yourself with any mental illness which would it be?
- If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
- What are your top 5 personal values?
- What places would you have pierced on your body and which parts would you never have pierced?
Again, like series one, I think they’re going to be deceptively tricky. I certainly don’t know in advance how I’m going to answer them all, though I have a few clues.
Anyway I’ll answer them one at a time over the coming weeks. The first in a couple of days.
Oh, and if anyone has any more good questions, then please send them to me, I’d like to do this two or three times a year. Just to keep us all on our mental toes.
Watch this space!
What You May have Missed — Science Edition
Here’s a science-y edition of our occasional collections of links to articles you may have missed. They’re mostly not deep science, so they shouldn’t tax the brains of you arty types! In no particular order …
It can’t be so people can make pathetic jokes about their intelligence, so just why is it that so many women go blonde? Ah, of course, it’s all to make Miley Cyrus look so much sexier! 😉
An English major turned science writer is amongst those defending the teaching of algebra in school. It’s part of our cultural heritage.
Does your cat pester for food? If so it might need a psychologist. It would be beastly to deny the creature such a pleasure.
Oooo-eeerrr missus! Insect sting fetishes?! I don’t think so, thanks.
So is (human) virgin birth a reality? Despite lots of looking it seems the answer is still probably not. Some interesting stories though.
Here are two aspects, both from Scientific American, of some recent work on consciouslness. First of all the question of whether self-awareness requires a complex brain. And secondly, scientists are suggesting that octopi are conscious, by which they seem to mean they’re able to think.
And finally one for the medievalists out there … A guy called Rob Colautti has created an evolutionary history of dragons. Definitely gets my vote for cool link of the week!
Reasons to be Grateful: 41
Experiment, week 41.
What a strange week. Apart from going to Norfolk to visit my aged mother on Monday it has been a fairly uneventful week, so I’m not quite sure why it’s been quite so strange.
But anyway the experiment continues … so here are five things which have made me happy or for which I’m grateful this week.
- Shipdham. On the way back from visiting my mother we detoured via the Norfolk village of Shipdham with its rather interesting church. As I wrote about it here, I’ll say no more now.
- Feeling Human. Somewhere around Thursday I suddenly came to the realisation that I was beginning to feel human, almost normal, rather than my usual morose, grumpy and depressive self. I have no clue where it came from, or why. It was a most strange feeling. It hasn’t entirely gone away, but it isn’t entirely here now either. I’d be quite happy if it came back, though.
- Plums. It’s the season for decent English plums. I love good plums and especially Victorias. On Monday we bought some large plums in Roy’s (again see here) of a variety called Jubilee. They looked and tasted like large Victorias. On Friday we bought some actual Victorias in Waitrose. Both were excellent, although to be honest the Jubilee were maybe the better if only for being more succulent.
Click the images for larger views on Flickr
- Hollyhocks. Also on Monday there were some wonderful hollyhocks in the village of Bawburgh where we had lunch. I’ve noticed this glorious show before, many growing not in the gardens but on the verges. The photos above are just a couple of a whole range of colours from pure white to deep maroon.
- Home-Grown Chillies. As I have for the last several years I’m growing my own chillies again on the study windowsill. Up to now I’ve always grown 3 or 4 different varieties. The large Scotch Bonnet type never seem to do well for me — I have just a couple of fruit ripening — they probably need it consistently hotter and brighter. But I have a tiny purple-turning-red variety called “Explosive Ember” which is prolific. They are hot and I usually dry them for winter use. But my favourite is “Hot Lemon” (the ones in the photo above are from my 2010 crop). They are 2-3 inches long and when ripe a bright lemon yellow. They too are hot with, when fresh, a delightful succulent, almost citrus-y taste as well. They go well in salads, and they look just stunning. Today I picked the second flush — only seven fruit, but there are already at least as many more to come and the plants are still flowering. It’s a travesty not to eat these fresh, but next year I might succumb and plant only these — they are that good.
