memes

May Quiz Answers

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Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

General Knowledge (2)

  1. What is a grimoire? A textbook of magic, typically including instructions on creating magical objects, performing spells & divination, and summoning supernatural entities
  2. Which British coin was introduced in February 1971 and withdrawn from circulation in December 1984? Half New Penny
  3. The wood of a cricket bat is traditionally from which type of tree? Willow
  4. In the United States, who is second in presidential line of succession after the Vice President? The Speaker of the House of Representatives
  5. Which film concerns the declaration of war by Freedonia against neighbouring Sylvania? Duck Soup
  6. The Velocipede was a nineteenth-century prototype of what? The bicycle

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2024.

books, memes, quotes

This Month’s Poem

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A Fairy Song
William Shakespeare

Over hill, over dale,
  Through bush, through briar,
Over park, over pale,
  Through blood, through fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moone’s sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be:
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours:
I must go seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.
Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I’ll be gone:
Our queen and all her elves come here anon.

Find this poem online at Poetry Lover’s Page

natural history, photography

Trail Camera

I recently bought a new trail camera. A relatively expensive one (for a trail camera) as I wanted to get better images.

OS WILD 4K DS Solar Wi-Fi Trail Camera
Dual sensor trail camera with stunning night imagery and video;
a built-in solar panel; and high capacity lithium battery

Having set it up, last week was the first full week I had it running. Over the weekend I downloaded almost 2500 captures. And the quality is stunning compared with my old trail camera. Here are the best captures from the week; all have been fairly heavily cropped. For scale, the birdbath in the images is at most 2 meters from the camera and about 40cm in diameter.

[Click the thumbnail for a larger view.]
These images are many times better than the old trail camera produced.

amusements, memes

Ten Things

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This year our Ten Things column each month is alternating between composers and artists a century at a time from pre-1500 to 20th century. As always, there’s no guarantee you will have heard of them all!

Ten Composers Born in 17th Century

  1. George Frideric Handel
  2. Jean-Philippe Rameau
  3. JS Bach
  4. Jean-Baptiste Lully
  5. Dieterich Buxtehude
  6. Domenico Scarlatti
    Domingo Antonio Velasco
    Portrait of Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
  7. Pavel Josef Vejvanovský
  8. Joan Cererols
  9. Jean-François Dandrieu
  10. François Couperin
food+drink

Culinary Adventures #116: Lemony Prawn & Asparagus Stir-fry

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For a multitude of reasons I’ve not written anything foodie for a while, so to make up here is last night’s stir-fry. Yes, it’s another variant on one of my ever adaptable recipes. And this is a stir-fry with no soy sauce or the like, so it’s low salt, light and fresh – and quick.

Prawn & Asparagus Stir-fry with Lemon & Noodles

Serves: 2 for a generous main course
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes

For the Stir-fry

  • 2 nests of fine noodles
  • 2 160g packs raw king prawns (more if greedy)
  • 1 bunch of English asparagus
  • 2 banana shallots, finely sliced
  • 3cm piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped
  • 3-6 cloves of garlic (according to taste), thinly sliced
  • knob of butter
  • 3 tbsp olive oil

For the Sauce

  • 1 heaped tsp cornflour
  • juice & zest of a lemon
  • 50ml dry sherry
  • pinch chilli flakes
  • black pepper

What to do …

  1. As always with stir-fry, have everything prepared before you start cooking.
  2. Mix all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
  3. Prepare the asparagus. Break off the lower part of each spear (it’ll break where it wants to) and discard the lower woody piece. Cut the top of each spear into 5cm-ish pieces.
  4. Sauté the shallot, ginger, garlic & asparagus (yes, really!) in the olive oil & butter for about 4 minutes until the shallot is going translucent.
  5. Meanwhile cook the noodles according to the packet instructions.
  6. Add the prawns and continue cooking until they’re all pink and cooked through; about another 3 minutes.
  7. Add the sauce to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes more to thicken and coat the prawns & asparagus.
  8. Drain the noodles and divide between warmed bowls.
  9. Top each bowl of noodles with stir-fry.

Sorry, no photo – we ate it all!

memes

May Quiz Questions

Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As always, they’re designed to be difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so have a bit of fun.

General Knowledge (2)

  1. What is a grimoire?
  2. Which British coin was introduced in February 1971 and withdrawn from circulation in December 1984?
  3. The wood of a cricket bat is traditionally from which type of tree?
  4. In the United States, who is second in presidential line of succession after the Vice President?
  5. Which film concerns the declaration of war by Freedonia against neighbouring Sylvania?
  6. The velocipede was a nineteenth-century prototype of what?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

history

May 1925

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Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.

1. Cyprus became a British crown colony.

2. A US Navy seaplane set a new record by staying airborne for 28-and-a-half hours.

5. Born. Charles Chaplin, Jr, actor, in Beverly Hills, California (d.1968)

7. Died. William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, British industrialist, philanthropist and politician (b.1851)

12. Paul von Hindenburg was sworn in as president of Germany. His inaugural address emphasised the need to place unity and mutual progress ahead of political partisanship.

12. Born. Yogi Berra, baseball player, in St Louis, Missouri (d.2015)

13. The Gold Standard Act was passed in Britain, officially returning the country to the gold standard.

14. Died. H Rider Haggard, English novelist (b.1856)

16. The first modern performance of Claudio Monteverdi’s opera Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (1639/40) takes place in ParisUlysses

19. Born. Malcolm X, African-American civil rights activist (d.1965)

19. Born. Pol Pot, Cambodian Stalinist dictator and leader of the Khmer Rouge (d.1998)

22. Died. John French, 1st Earl of Ypres, British World War I field marshal (b.1852)

28. Born. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone singer and conductor, in Berlin (d.2012)