A Curates Egg

A few more garden photos

2012-01-15T17:05:00.000+11:00

In the 'Aztec' bed, the beans find the corn to be a supportive friend...

...while, down below, the pumpkins (Anna Swartz) enjoy the mottled light.

I was a little underwhelmed by the insipid colour of the rhubarb (although it is a vigorous grower), so what to do with a lime green stewed fruit?

Add elderberries. That worked.
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Random garden photos

2012-01-10T13:00:00.000+11:00

The remnants of the Flanders Poppies that self-seed in the back yard.

A rose of some sort - I call it the petticoat rose but that will not be its true name.

Salvias - they always remind me of the dog in Garfield cartoons.

The tamarillo is promising a good crop.

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No thanks, I'll have a Coke.

2012-01-09T15:00:00.000+11:00

Anyone who has seen Japanese games shows on TV knows that they are part of a different world.

But vending machines that doll out used (!) school girl's knickers?

A colleague at work said that he had seen them in Tokyo. I took him at his word but, when I told Margaret, she demanded proof.

It wasn't hard to find and, for the sceptics, Snopes confirms it to be true too.

It is a different world out there.
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Up, down, whatever.

2012-01-08T13:21:00.001+11:00

Last year a a friend gave us a begonia in a plastic hanging basket. Not having anywhere to hang it I put it in a tall pot on a ledge.

After a worrying dormant winter, where there was no sign of the plant in the pot at all, it reappeared and is growing beautifully on our front verandah.

Half wants to grow upwards and half wants to hang down.

But it is pretty even if directionally challenged.
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2011 - Sweet & Sour

2012-01-01T11:03:00.002+11:00

Well, farewell 2011. We saw it out with a sweet & sour sauced pork dish.

Seemed appropriate for a year of many highs and a few lows. (No, not everything gets to blogs or Facebook.)

Looking forward to 2012.

Day one is bright, sunny, expected to be 35°C. Fed the birds, watered the pot plants. Some home-brew is in the fridge. Off to a good start.

Ah, the clock chimes 11am - New Year in the UK.

Best wishes to all of you who wander past this blog. I must confess I have not felt particularly bloggy for some time so full marks for persistence, if you are really there!
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Cracker of a joke.

2011-12-26T12:50:00.003+11:00

Just being an atheist isn't enough to guarantee a better class of joke in the Christmas cracker.
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Christmas Wreath, Australian Style.

2011-12-24T11:45:00.001+11:00

I hope the Christmas season is a happy one for you all, whatever your beliefs.

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Vegetable Garden Update

2011-12-04T16:37:00.001+11:00

Haven't been blogging much but the garden has been growing in my absence. Basil in the metal pot (had our first fresh pasta with pesto for the year last week). The closest raised bed is an Aztec mix - corn, pumpkins and climbing beans. A salad bed (lettuce, coriander, spring onions, parsley and others) behind that and raspberries along the fence.

My Granny always liked to have ripe tomatoes by Christmas - I may make it. Time will tell. Another salad bed in front of the tomatoes, a tamarillo in the background. The green bins have climbing beans in one and rhubarb in the other. Various things in pots - sage, New Zealand spinach, normal chives, garlic chives, tarragon, savoury, chillies, perennial leeks, rocket, strawberries. Front beds have zucchini and parsley, bush beans.

The worms in the farm seem happy.
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Some taxi!

2011-11-22T19:44:00.001+11:00

My mum, 78 year old, uses public transport extensively.

The other day she wanted to get to a particular plant nursery and walked down to her nearby bus-stop. A bus was there already and she asked the driver if he went past the nursery.

"Yes" he replied. He then looked at his watch and said "Look, I don't start my next run for 20 min. Hop in, I've got time, I'll take you there now."

And he did.

There are some wonderful people out there.
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The need for a new word.

2011-11-19T11:58:00.001+11:00

I love the English language but there is one word missing that it needs:

A word to describe the emotion that you feel when you get up in the morning, look in the mirror, and realise that you have been given a sh*t haircut.

Massacre at the tree of Mulberries

2011-11-06T11:51:00.004+11:00

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Our mulberry tree is in full fruit at present.

The reason why you wont see them in the shops is that they are very delicate and difficult to pick without bruising and, consequently, getting a very red-purple stain on your hands.

But you had probably guessed that already, hadn't you?

But they were ideal fodder for the saucy part of our 'traditional' Halloween dessert of 'Mud, blood & poached brains'.

For the prosaic, this is dumplings with red berry sauce and chocolate ice-cream.

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The tree overhangs the footpath and we happily let people pick what they want, if they want. Some even come to the door and ask if they can.

Saddest question: Are they strawberries?
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Keep your head still!

2011-11-04T09:49:00.002+11:00

I have watched the doves on our powerlines and their heads don't move when the line (and their body) does but I was fascinated by the extent of 'head-stillness' shown by this chook.
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Disconnect to Connect - Commercial

2011-11-02T22:21:00.000+11:00

Wholly smoke!

2011-10-24T12:17:00.003+11:00

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Hong Kong airport, 5pm last Friday.

Surreal lighting, sunlight through smog.

No wonder Chinese people are amazed at the colour of the sky when they come to Melbourne.

Yes, it is meant to be blue.
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A Taste of Prague

2011-10-21T15:38:00.007+11:00

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A beautiful city, this is just a taste of what we saw and did.

I knew Alphonse Mucha (pronounced 'moo-car') did art nouveau posters, this is a section of a church window in St Vitus Church.

Lots of Trams.

Um...some cafe.

For some reason, St George has a big following in Prague. Lots of statues to him. Certainly seems to have wiped out all the dragons.

Segway tourism.

St Vitus Church.

Lots of Art Nouveau decor about the place.

The astronomical clock - very pretty but couldn't figure out how to tell the time on it.

Lots of shops selling puppets.

Spit roast ham in one of the main squares.

Another doorway.

Bridges on the River Vltava.
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Off again...

2011-10-09T10:00:00.003+11:00

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Off travelling tomorrow. Only for about a week and a half this time.

Nephew's wedding in London and then home via Prague. We have heard good things about Prague - Martin & Roni and Simon have been there - but, always the scientist, I felt the need to test the experiment for reproducibility.

I'll let you know how we go.

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Some things are worth more than money.

2011-10-05T18:28:00.002+11:00

The garden is alive!

2011-09-25T12:28:00.010+10:00

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Some ornamental grape that the possums haven't found yet.

The lovely kissing flowers of the Dogwood.

Some 'Honesty' that the snails haven't found.

One of the 'democratic jungle' spots in my garden.

My brain is about to flower again.

The vaguely phallic Jasmine.

The always beautiful wisteria.

A new wisteria, in the back yard, heads up to the new trellis...
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Some vegetables...

2011-09-25T12:07:00.005+10:00

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Second crop of the purple broccoli.

Broadbeans in full flower, if not quite with pod yet. (Well, it's Melbourne...)

The last of the Tamarillos (could be a movie title.) lurks in the leaves.
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Into the blue...

2011-09-25T12:05:00.001+10:00

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This last week was the first time our solar production exceeded consumption, since week-ending April 2.

Pretty close to the equinoxes, at both ends.
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Minor pruning?

2011-09-25T12:01:00.003+10:00

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Our neighbour has trimmed his Pin Oak. About a third removed.

To the east of us so doesn't affect much, garden-wise. Be interesting to see how it goes/grows over the summer. Stay posted.
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Spring is coming.

2011-08-21T15:12:00.000+10:00

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I always love it when the magnolia flowers.
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Thirty Years

2011-08-14T09:54:00.003+10:00

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Thirtieth wedding anniversary today.

Where did that time go?

With all that is going on at present, the mood for celebration is not high. But we will have the family around for dinner tonight. My suggestion of Sticky Date Pudding for dessert was vetoed for some reason.

As was Roly-Poly Pudding.
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The Archibalds

2011-07-24T17:20:00.004+10:00

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The Archibald Prize is an annual prize for portraiture in Australia.

Every year the thirty or so finalists go on tour and I try to catch them when they are in Victoria. This year they were on display at the stunning Tarrawarra Museum (and winery) in the Yarra Valley.

The winner was a painting of Australian artist Margaret Ollie. (Above)

To put its size in perspective, here is a picture of the artist with Margaret, in front of the painting:

A fascinating cross-section of styles on display and then lunch at the winery.

Not very hard to take at all!
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Variety, being the spice of life. And cooking.

2011-07-23T17:40:00.004+10:00

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Going across numerous food barriers tonight (we have a three course candle-lit dinner every Saturday. Numbers vary depending on who is home, who is visiting, who is in town. If you are in town, drop in.).

Starter: Chickpea pancakes with spicy cauliflower, lamb and yoghurt.

Main: Curry laska.

Dessert: Lime curd puddings with apricot puree and vanilla ice cream.

Something to please everyone.

I have made a laksa from scratch a couple of times before but, today, opted to use a commercial laksa paste. I wandered into an Asian grocer and and a lady asked what I was looking for.

"If you were making a Laksa, which of these pastes would you use?" I asked. (probably she would make her own but I asked anyway.)

"Well" she replied "Caucasians usually prefer this one..."

Now, that wasn't what I asked her. If I wanted the Caucasian preferred laksa paste I could buy it from Woolworths. I wasn't sure if that was racism or not.

I eventually opted for one from Singapore - laksas are from Malaysia so they should know something about them. The other products, Caucasian preferred to boot, were from Thailand.

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Still alive. Sort of. Kind of.

2011-07-17T21:23:00.003+10:00

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Blogging enthusiasm has been at an all time low of late.

Originally this blog was started as a core family blog but few, if any, family seem to read it. One maybe. Around it were three other blogs covering sex, religion and politics. This meant I could rant and rave 'off broadway' and not startle the gentler members of my reading family. The religion and sex blogs still exist but I am not planning any posts. I think I have said all I want to on those subjects.

The active blogs are listed in the side bar on the right. A chemistry one that will get spasmodic posts, as required, and I am keeping the original political blog as there is too much disinformation out there not to point at it in amazement or dismay from time to time.

Through all of this my alter ego, Mr Newbery, has continued to write his rhyming slant on the world.

The blog no longer automatically posts to Facebook but I will manually add links as it seems appropriate.
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How do you say "I told you so" in German?

2011-06-06T19:08:00.006+10:00

Several years ago, I wrote that sprouts were the most dangerous food in the world.

You can read the original post here.

With reports out of Germany pointing the finger at bean sprouts as being the source of the current E.coli out break, and associated deaths, it seems I may have been right.
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Don't tell Sesame Street...

2011-06-03T06:26:00.003+10:00

Oh Joy, Oh Rapture!

2011-05-21T16:36:00.001+10:00

(Click to enlarge)

Yeah, I watched it...

2011-04-30T16:31:00.003+10:00

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We watched the Royal Wedding.

Champagne, Crown Roast, vegetables and Queen of Puddings. That made it worth it.

You cannot beat the British for pageantry. And that was worth it too.

But the service touched no chords - as an atheist, it made no sense at all.

And The Age, dumb as ever, had a headline this morning "And now the fairytale begins!".

Didn't anyone tell them that fairytales end when the prince marries the princess?
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A bird by any other name...

2011-04-26T21:13:00.004+10:00

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Strange bird that stalks around my front garden.

Anyone know what it is?

Rummaging in 'What Bird is That?' suggests a 'Painted Quail'.
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But what to eat?

2011-04-25T13:43:00.006+10:00

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I only recently learned that May 21st is Judgement Day.

Yeah, May 21st this year. Doesn't give me a lot of time to study.

You can get some details here.

And the End of the World is apparently pencilled in for five months later. Presumably it takes that long to do the paperwork, get the permits from council and the EPA, that sort of thing.

But, one thing at a time.

Judgement Day, May 21st, is a Saturday. I always have a three course dinner on a Saturday.

What should I cook for dinner?
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Truth in advertising?

2011-04-24T06:06:00.001+10:00

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Not only an honest description, they spelt 'dough' correctly!
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Home again, I think.

2011-04-23T16:23:00.004+10:00

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Home again but I think I passed my brain, still heading east, on the way back.

When checking in to Chicago airport, they scanned my carry-on bag. The operator and another guy look closely at the screen and then a guy with blue gloves came up and said "Is this your bag?", "Yes", "I want to inspect it, come over here".

So I collected shoes, belt and computer and followed him over there.

"Before I open it Sir, is there anything sharp in here that may cut me?"

Me thinks: You x-rayed it, Bonzo, you tell me.
Me says: No.

"Please do not touch the bag while I inspect it".

He rummages and comes up triumphant with what had caught the attention of the x-ray guy.

"And what is this?"

"It's the power cord for the computer I am holding."

(pause)

"Okay, you can go."
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Day 4.

2011-04-21T11:43:00.003+10:00

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The business side of the visit is over. Today, a visit to the local lab in the morning. The picture is of the car that took us. In Australia, we have a company pool car. In the US, the company car has a pool. And is probably bulletproof.

Speaking of which, I have been in the US three days and have seen no shoot outs and not even heard a decent burst of gunfire in the middle of the night.

The local lab was very impressive.

Yesterday was chilly. Today also chilly. My ‘ear-freeze-index’ suggests that they were comparably chilly.

Lunch was a ‘chicken sandwich’ that would have supported a small African village for a week. Didn’t even think about trying to finish it.

Some quite lovely architecture around the city – 1920s or thereabouts, I think. And some impressive modern stuff too.

The streets are very clean, even in areas that I was told are ‘bad’ areas.

At Boneman's suggestion, I visited the Institute of Art. An impressive collection of work. As always, visiting a gallery makes me itch to take up the brushes again. Usually, by the time I have found my way home again, the itch has subsided.

At dinner tonight I was offered a black serviette as I was wearing dark trousers. First time I have met a restaurant that tries to colour co-ordinate your serviette.

The restaurant had a ‘club’ you could join, earning points from each visit. They offer club members a complimentary lobster on their birthday. I have Lewis Carroll-esque visions of a lobster on my plate saying “My, you are a handsome brute!’

Accumulate 12,000 points and the owner will do a caricature of you and put it on the wall. 24,000 and he wont.

Tried some Hersey’s dark chocolate – tasted, well, like dark chocolate.

Found the secret to the coffee situation. When the waiter says “Would you like coffee?” Under no circumstances say “yes” as no further negotiations are entered into and they vanish, only to reappear with a mug of wet, brown, odourless liquid. The only sensible response to their question is a further question: “Do you have espresso?”. Then you are in with a fighting chance.

Head home tomorrow.
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Day 3.

2011-04-20T12:48:00.003+10:00

Didn't get out of the hotel today.

Weather so bad I couldn't even see out of the hotel today.

"chilliest late season readings in 71 years Tuesday" says the on-line weather.
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Day 2.

2011-04-19T12:13:00.001+10:00

Woke to find a light dusting of snow around the place. Most of it disappeared pretty quickly. Cloud around some of the buildings, esp Trump Hotel. Perhaps a symbolic nebulous hairdo.

Was reading the room service breakfast thing that you hang on your door if you want delivered breakfast (I didn’t but there was nothing on the 55 channels of TV). The “American Breakfast” included a choice of fresh eggs and protein with potatoes. Funny my textbooks said eggs were largely protein. The options of protein were bacon, sausage and ham.

Had a DIY continental breakfast down on the concourse. The principle sources of protein that were available there were sliced cold meat and cheeses.

Saw an open top double decker bus going around the place – no takers to ride upstairs.

First day of the meeting was interesting, with some folk a lot more intense and earnest than others. All terribly keen to save money.

The optimist says that the glass is half full.
The pessimist says that the glass is half empty.
The Industrial Performance bod says that the glass is too big. Downsize and reduce your cleaning staff.

Was taken on a tour of head office – for some reason I felt that, as it was arranged for us to spend an hour looking at it, it would be something special. Art deco, maybe. Or high tech perhaps. But it was an enormous cubical farm. Dilbert lives.

Evening meal at Andy’s Jazz Club. Food good without being ‘wow!’. Music likewise. Good company, nice beer and then home to try to move a few time zones closer to Chicago. Mighty cold walking home but, mercifully, no snow.
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Day 1.

2011-04-18T14:49:00.002+10:00

First leg, Melbourne to LA, was in an A380, a flying ocean liner. But everything was new and working. Staff very attentive. Had a pumpkin and gorgonzola pizza snack in the middle if the ‘night’ that was far too nice. Going to have to experiment when I get home.

I think I got about 5 hours sleep, broken into 20, 15min, blocks.

First flight in 35 years of airline safety presentations where something had changed – the seatbelts are like those in cars, with a button to push in rather than a flap to lift.

It took two and a half hours to negotiate Immigration & Customs at LA, not helped by having to claim and recheck-in my luggage. The Chicago flight was boarding when I got to it.

The American Airlines flight to Chicago was a cattle run. I think the plane was relatively new model (767) but, like the company pool car, it had seen better days and suffered from too many drivers.

Had to buy food on the AA flight - $10 for a lettuce and sliced beige stuff that may have been meat sandwich. Filled a gap, whatever it was.

Taxi driver was a lady, Gladys. Asked if she was a local – no, she replied, I come from Ghana. Ok, have you been here long? 20 years. Tough market to break into.

The town and suburbs have a distinct cream look to them – presumably the local sandstone but even the house seemed to be made of cream bricks. (Peter Bryenton: Beige!)

The hotel is nice. Swissotel, Chicago. Room on the 38th floor, so a good view. Must take a photo of the Navy Pier tomorrow – the lift lobby looks out over it. Looks a cross between Luna Park and Brighton Pier.

The lift lobbies have a keypad – you punch in the floor you want to go to and a lift arrives and takes you there. There are no buttons in the lift. Not sure what happens if you have a group with multiple floors. For future reference, if you select “G”, you will go to the garage, not ground.

A light dinner in the Palm Restaurant – don’t know why Palm. Saw lots of palms at LA but I suspect they are not native to the Great Lakes.

The meal, (Caesar salad, I wasn’t ready for anything else) came with a bread basket that had fruit bread in it. Went surprisingly well with a bottle of IPA (Goose Island) beer.

Coffee is awful. But it does occasionally get worse. The coffee on the plane (free, but with good reason) was a dark brown liquid with few redeeming or even identifying features. ‘Cream’ is invariably powdered stuff.

In the room is a contraption like the Nespresso that takes bigger (Gloria Jean) capsules and produces a weaker coffee. Some of the capsules are called “Breakfast Blend Decaf”; of all the times in my day when I don’t need decaf, breakfast is it. What are they thinking? Might give the “English Breakfast Tea” capsules a go in the morning.

Finally, in my coffee survey of middle America, I had a coffee after my meal. It came far too fast to have been made fresh. Sure enough when I was nearly finished the waiter turned up with a Thermos jug, asking if I wanted more. That’s where the breakfast coffee went.

All in all, I finished Day 1 in good but weary shape.

So far so good...

2011-04-18T08:44:00.002+10:00

Have made it to Chicago, although I think my brain is still somewhere mid-Pacific. Maybe that's why Frank sang about 'that toddlin' town'.

It seems like only 28 hours since I got up to go to the airport.

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A bit of useless trivia. Except for me.

2011-04-11T20:01:00.004+10:00

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This is a 500,000 Mark note. Deutschmark. Probably not worth much at the time.

Sometime overnight tomorrow, I will hit the 500,000 mark.

That's 500,000 hours, not 500,000 Deutschmark.

Amazing what you can do without really trying.

And it is important to me because it is a nice excuse to do some damage to a bottle of wine.
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Another passport.

2011-04-06T20:26:00.003+10:00

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Perhaps I wont use this passport but entering a travel phase - off to Sydney tomorrow to sit in on an audit and the Chicago trip approaches quickly, Sunday week.

Boneman said he liked the Institute of Art in Chicago, I see it is only a 15min walk from my hotel.

I assume it is safe to walk in Chicago?
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Seems the CSIRO attracts them...

2011-04-02T13:57:00.001+11:00

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The first and last in this list would have had an interesting time at school.
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At least two 'victims'...

2011-04-01T19:56:00.003+11:00

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Someone from IT put a sign on the photocopier saying:

"We have uploaded voice recognition software. If you want to use the photocopier just place your document on the machine and say "COPY" clearly and loudly."

Yeah. Right.

But at least two people that I know of fell for it.
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Italy - Barcelona - Chicago?

2011-03-31T19:41:00.002+11:00

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Originally it was suggested that I attend a meeting in Italy.

Then it was realised that it was actually in Barcelona.

Then it was realised that it was on issues of no relevance to me.

Then it was suggested that I attend an 'operations' meeting in Chicago in the week before Easter.

Two thoughts cross my mind:

1. They seem really keen to send me somewhere. Anywhere.

2. Where will the final destination be? Swaziland? Brazil? North Korea?
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Should you be in the Fisheries department?

2011-03-28T21:13:00.002+11:00

Some people carry a load through life.
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Earth Hour

2011-03-27T09:57:00.002+11:00

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We did it.

But then we always have a candlelit dinner on a Saturday.
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April = Travel

2011-03-25T21:05:00.004+11:00

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You saw the Nigerian's efforts at false documents a post or two back.

This was one of the passports scans I sent them in return. (When I put my fake documents on-line, I put a 'disclaimer' across them to show that they are false. In this case, in faux Hindi.)

Busy month ahead. I will be heading to Sydney in the first week of April to sit in on an audit of the lab up there and, all things being well, to Italy at an as yet unknown date, but in April, for a chemistry love-in. Better not take Rogan's passport.
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Well, that's democracy for you!

2011-03-24T20:11:00.003+11:00

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A group I belong to is holding elections at the moment.

The last place on the ballot paper reads as above.

Wish some of the regular elections gave this option too.
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Dumb & Dumber

2011-03-20T15:38:00.004+11:00

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I used to play with Nigerian scammers. See here.

I don't anymore but I still get the occasional email offering me 25 million US dollars to help them.

One came today with a swodge of supporting information, that was supposed to verify the bona fides of the scammer.

Above, you can see the earnest gentleman, a respected member of the Nigerian bar.

Now, compare his photograph to that in the following three supporting documents:

The depressing thing is that people fall for this stuff. These guys make millions upon millions of dollars from gullible people.
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The quince bites back.

2011-03-20T11:29:00.001+11:00

Quince meets Rat.

2011-03-19T12:49:00.003+11:00

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Ever wondered what it looks like when rats eat your quinces?

Of course you have!

Well, now you know.
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If it's not one thing...

2011-03-16T21:29:00.003+11:00

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I had seen that something was eating my quinces.

Went out tonight fully expecting to shoo away a possum.

Uh-uh. Rattus rattus was eating my quinces.

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Poems

2011-03-13T21:50:00.000+11:00

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Got a call from the editor of TableAus, the Australian Mensa magazine. They are going to publish one of Mr Newbery's poems in the next edition.

You can read it here.
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Pro Carbon Tax Rally - March 12th

2011-03-13T16:30:00.002+11:00

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Margaret and I are in there somewhere.
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Pushing barrows

2011-03-13T09:18:00.007+11:00

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My issues with the good Professor Grayling seem to have created some confusion, here and on Facebook.

I do not feel the need to enter into a debate on vegetarianism, as such. It was not the point of the post.

I do feel strongly that a person in a position of influence and power should not lie, and continue to lie once he has been shown his information is blatantly false, to push a personal barrow.

On any issue.

I took issue with Dr Helen Caldicott many years ago when she was campaigning against the French nuclear testing in the Pacific. I was strongly against the tests as was Dr Caldicott but, full of passion, she talked rot. Easily disproved rot. And my campaigning was weakened by association.

I rail against any politician, usually but not always the Opposition, who abandons truth in an effort to instil fear in voters.

If you can't win your case with the truth, perhaps you don't have a case.

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Back to the Professor, briefly:

He claims meat is full of bacteria. And defecating bacteria to boot. Oh, poo!

But we humans are made of meat.

And if we get a cut that permits bacteria to enter our flesh it gets red, sore and pussy.

So, is our flesh, or any animal's flesh, full of bacteria? No, it is not. Our bodies react badly to the presence of bacteria.

I am not making a case for or against meat eating.

I am making a case for the use of truth.
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Extended dining room.

2011-03-07T19:40:00.004+11:00

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Here was my bird feeder. I used to put seed for the doves and lorikeets here and put meat for the magpies on another dish on the ground. The children just would not play nicely together. Especially the lorikeets.

But on Sunday I found a cat eating from the magpie meat.

Time to extend the feeder.

...and how you say it.

2011-03-06T12:49:00.003+11:00

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Wit a remarkable lack of presentation, the professor replied:

Dear Lee Kennedy
Thank you for your email and the accompanying letter. And for the nice things you say about some of my writings. We disagree about meat: you have a desire for logic and rational thought and yet you are 'saddened' and upset because of what I say about meat, and impute this to being saddened and upset because, by your lights, I fail in logic and factuality in talking of meat. Your points, however, simply won't do. For a start the fact that someone is 'saddened' that someone holds a different point of view does not wash with me; disagreement is the motor of clarification and debate, and sometimes disagreements are a datum that have to remain. I am not stopping you from being a graveyard for parts of deceased farm animals, I am telling you my take, and you are very free to think otherwise. As to facts and logic: Consult your dictionary for 'defecate', for example; and for 'carrion'; check with a microbiologist whether the contemporaneous existence of bacteria and antibiotics is possible; ask yourself whether it can really possibly, conceivably be true that deceased animal flesh can be bacteria free; read up a bit on factory farming and the use of growth hormones and antibiotics in cattle destined for the slaughter-house; read up on the effects of human over-exposure to antibiotics and their consequent reduced efficacy. I leave you to look up and verify the economics of meat versus cereal production and how many people can be fed by each method; I would especially look at the square mileage of rain forest being felled annually for running beef cattle in the Amazon basin as an indicator, and also at the staggering percentage of climate change carbon output from the meat industry. And you fail to accept that having raised the health and economic points, my own chief reason for being a vegetarian is a personal ethical one. You have made a different ethical decision: that doesn't sadden and upset me: my emotional responses are confined to the animals in the slaughter house. Good wishes - Anthony Grayling

◊◊◊

Dear Professor Grayling,

Thank you for your most interesting response.

My principle concern is the nonsense about defecating bacteria. They don't. If this strange assertion were true the same must apply to other foods that contain bacteria: Does that mean you don’t eat yoghurt because of the billions of bacteria ‘defecating’ in it? Or cheese. Or coffee? Or Cocoa? Or vinegar? Or sourdough bread? Or soy sauce? Or vitamins B2 and B12?

Nor are they swarming on meat the way you claim. If they were, those strange people who eat Steak Tartare and Beef Carpaccio would have died from food poisoning long ago.

Being an Approved Analyst under the Food Act here in Victoria I am not totally ignorant of the compositional and health aspects of food.

But I feel that you are misusing a position of trust by perpetrating quite bizarre notions about meat in a high-voltage, high emotion diatribe.

That is not to say I am anti-vegetarian; nor does it mean I am pro-meat. It just means I prefer calm and factual discourse.

Sincerely,

Lee Kennedy.

◊◊◊

No reply, so I assume that is the end of the correspondence. Calm or otherwise.
...

Can a vegetarian talk tripe?

2011-02-27T20:58:00.004+11:00

.

This is Professor A. C. Grayling, philosopher, atheist and prolific writer.

He is also a vegetarian.

I have no problem with that, many of my favourite meals contain no meat:

Fresh pasta with pesto sauce, Margarita pizza, rhubarb crumble.

But I read one of his articles today and, when it comes to vegetarianism, the guy is as fanatical and as irrational as the worst religious fundamentalists he argues against.

Some examples:

"What butchers call 'fresh meat' is nothing of the sort, but is in fact carrion, because meat is only soft enough to cut, cook and eat when it has begun to decay. "

Comment: All meat carcasses are carrion, by definition. The hanging process has nothing to do with bacteria, indeed meat is kept cool (1-3 deg C) to prevent bacterial growth. The softening of the meat tissues during hanging is an enzymatic process, not bacterial.

◊◊

"Rotting is effected by millions of bacteria swarming in the meat; their task is to pre-digest it for us by eating it first; the gamey smell of hung venison comes from the excrement of the microbes smeared all over it - everything that eats must excrete, and the meat is both dining room and toilet for the microbes. "

Comment: Lots of emotive words, little fact. Game is not common fare and the cooking process kills all bacteria.

"Their task"? Sounds awfully like Intelligent Design, professor!

"Everything that eats must excrete" is true enough but bacteria don't eat. Not in the sense of a digestive system with a mouth, intestines and anus.

You do seem to have it in for bacteria. Does that mean you don’t eat yoghurt because of the billions of bacteria ‘defecating’ in it? Or cheese. Or coffee? Or Cocoa? Or vinegar? Or sourdough bread? Or soy sauce? Or vitamins B2 and B12?

◊◊◊

"Perhaps you like filling your mouth with rotting flesh full of injected hormones and vaccines, pullulating with microbes and covered in microbe diarrhoea."

Comment: Even if the food was 'pullulating' with microbes, which it isn’t, all bacteria are killed by cooking. If meat was so tainted, why can people eat raw meat safely? OK, not chicken, but many other meats are eaten raw or rare with nary a blink from the health authorities. Is this dereliction of their duties or is possibly because there no risk?

I must pull you up on diarrhoea. Yes, it is a nice emotive word but it is factually quite wrong. Diarrhoea is often a bacterial infection in animals. There is no evidence of bacteria having bacterial infections. They do not even have a digestive system that would support such a process.

◊◊◊

That will do. I can't help wondering how the good Professor would mark a student's paper if they wrote in such a bizarre manner and illogical manner.

But it is fascinating to see a normally logical and reasoned writer struggle with a topic quite obviously close to his heart. Rationale thought seems to have deserted him.

If I was a Creationist, which I'm not, and I was on the other side of a debate with Professor Grayling, which I am unlikely to be, I would have to slip in something like "God meant us to eat meat" and then watch him haemorrhage.
....

I knew she'd say that.

2011-02-20T10:05:00.003+11:00

.

I have found myself on a fortune-teller-cum-astrologer-cum-scammer's email list.

That's what happens when you poke fun at these people.

Every so often I get a 'I have been thinking about you and I have some good news for you' email that has the following as it's last line:

If for whatever reason you no longer wish to receive any emails from me
please click here to remove your email address.

You would think she wouldn't need to ask, wouldn't you?
...

Syd-en-ney!

2011-02-16T10:22:00.002+11:00

.

Off to Sydney for a few days.
...

That was the weekend that was...

2011-02-13T17:48:00.003+11:00

.

Seemed to get a lot done this weekend:

We have a hard rubbish collection tomorrow so trimmed trees, some savagely, and general chuck out of useless stuff. I know it was useless as every the people who trawl the streets looking for stuff to take took nothing.

In the process we found some long forgotten wines from a time a few years back when I went on a wine making kick. The Elderberry Wine was unremarkable, the Damson Plum Port disgusting and the Date Sherry absolutely scrumptious! If you have ever had Spanish Pedro Ximinez sherry, it was very much like that.

Coincidentally, Mr Newbery wrote about wine labels this weekend but mine gave nothing away.

That set the scene for our regular Saturday night candle-lit dinner (even in Summer we have candles) - Fresh pineapple with a yoghurt/coconut/garlic sauce (more of a paste), individual Moussakas with salad; Rice pudding with Medjool dates and Date Sherry.

During the week we noticed that the second bathroom's toilet was slow draining. It got worse and, on Saturday morning, we noticed a flood when Simon had a shower. P00. (In all senses of the word.) Weekend plumbers are pricey but it had to happen. The plumber came and the good news was that the blockage wasn't on our property but on the length of piping belonging to the water company, so they pay for the plumber. Woohoo!

I have had a project on my to-do list for a while to make a Tiffany lamp to replace a Bank Lamp that has a crack in the glass. On Saturday the two things coalesced into a single project to replace the shade on the bank lamp with a Tiffany style shade. Watch this space.
...

You said what?

2011-02-10T20:11:00.002+11:00

.
Driving to work this morning I was following a truck that had the above slogan painted on its back.

Somehow it doesn't sit right.

A lot of meat has Salmonella on it, chicken especially, but the meat doesn't know or care. Doesn't seem to harm the meat itself. It is also found in lots of other places, other than meat. Salmonella is very easily killed by cooking.

I assume that they mean that television poisons the brain, but it could mean that it gives it diarrhoea. Why do politicians and journalists spring to mind when I think of mental diarrhoea?

What would have been a better analogy?

Television is to the brain as...

...Novocaine is to a toothache? (tries hard, can do better.)
...tomato ketchup is to any food? (OK, but dull).
...headlights are to a rabbit?

Suggestions?

....

All that glitters....

2011-02-09T20:25:00.002+11:00

Yesterday, after I had checked for mail (the real stuff that the Postie delivers), I found a leaf stuck to my trousers. I thought nothing of it and put it into the waste paper bin.

Next morning, when I went into the study, the leaf was suspended in mid-air in the middle of the room.

Yes, that's right, it had a spider living inside it.

I put it out in the garden.

I do love the time of year when the leaf-curl spiders are about. I have a salt shaker full of glitter and I go out into the garden and decorate their webs for them.

Looks magical. All sparkly.

But it is gone the next morning. I have visions of the spiders cursing and swearing, running their fingers down each strand of their web to take off the glitter.

Can't really begrudge one setting up home in my study.
...

And they want me to pay for web access!

2011-02-07T20:41:00.005+11:00

.
You will have picked up on my absolute dismay at the moronic articles written in the media nowadays.

The above picture came with the heading:

"Teen's 'Solar Death Ray' can melt concrete".

This is just a bigger version of small boys tormenting ants with a magnifying glass.

Yes, if you use 5800 small mirrors to focus the sun, you will get a pretty hot spot at the focal point. But not a ray, as we know it Toto.

Here is a bigger version, build in France in 1970:

And here's a cute little cooker that you can take on your next camp:

It they expect me to pay for news on line, they will have to research things a little better than just calling a parabolic mirror a 'death-ray'.
...

Well, the tanks are full!

2011-02-04T19:44:00.002+11:00

.

The slipstream of cyclone wassname brought a little rain.

Found ourselves under two inches of water.

No, not a lot by recent standards around Australia but still a novelty when you live on top of a hill.

But the tanks are full.
...

Well, that's pretty good!

2011-02-04T19:26:00.002+11:00

We are collecting Simon from the airport tonight, rain permitting.

The first row refers to tonight, the second to tomorrow.

Pretty flash, adjusting a 16hr flight by 2 minutes 4hrs before it arrives.
..

And another thing...

2011-02-03T20:44:00.002+11:00

.

Well, the same thing really, different outlet.

Colourful pic but things look black.

2011-02-02T11:37:00.002+11:00

.

Nah, couldn't be climate change.

Just a natural variation that has a longer cycle than the news archives, I guess.
...

Wow, that was lucky!

2011-02-01T20:23:00.002+11:00

.

Cyclone Yasi heads towards Queensland (you remember, that place that had the floods).

The biggest one on record but then record falling is so passé nowadays.

It is a good thing that climate change is a myth, one could start to worry.
...

It's a jungle out there...

2011-01-31T20:46:00.000+11:00

.

Climbing beans and sweet corn vie for the sky!
...

Nice dog. Anyone seen the possum?

2011-01-30T09:04:00.002+11:00

Sunday Age, 30/1/2011.
...

Cop that!

2011-01-28T20:19:00.004+11:00

.

A clip from The Age on-line. Had police attacked an elderly woman?

No, but, at a casual glace, you would be forgiven for thinking so.

But the Age is becoming tabloid; we know that. They offered me a deal today "Upgrade your subscription and receive access to the new digital edition wherever you are, 24 hours a day." Well, if this is an example of their on-line journalism, I am not enticed by the offer.

But what is our beloved Australian Broadcasting Corporation, bastion of fine journalism, doing with the same story?

Pigs! As in pig's bum.
...

The Gift of the Haggi.

2011-01-25T20:03:00.002+11:00

Robert Burns addresses the haggis:

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin'-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak yer place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o' a grace
As lang's my airm.

Yes, it is Burn's Night, 2011.

In the absence of a haggis (a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours)...

...we had chicken liver paté on oatcakes.

True, Robbie may not have recognised it as his chieftain of the pudding race, but it was quite tasty, none the less.
...

That sinking feeling.

2011-01-24T06:21:00.002+11:00

.

I hate to sat "I told you so" but...*

The Dubai world islands are sinking and the channels are silting up. It had to be a dumb idea from day one. But they have sold some. So the people who buy these things must be even dumber. They sold one to David Beckham, I believe, so my theory remains unchallenged.

At least if you had bought Atlantis you would feel that you were getting your money's worth.

◊◊◊

* No, everyone loves saying I told you so. Me too. The 'but' just rubs it in.
...

Hell! I've reconsidered!

2011-01-23T20:48:00.003+11:00

.

Simon's overseas at the moment and Margaret got the itching to repaint his room. Sure, go for it, say I. Then it blossomed into the laundry and boy's bathroom and hallway as well.

Then Margaret got sick. (Nasty sort of cold going around.)

We were supposed to be going to a bbq with friends today, sipping ales and solving sundry world problems, but had to pull out as Margaret was not well. That then meant that I got dragged into the painting detail as Simon will be home in a fortnight.

Poo.

No good deed goes unpunished.

I wrote some weeks back that, if there were a Hell, it would be filled with an infinite number of fruit trees requiring bird netting to be put on and taken off.

I have reconsidered.

Painting sash windows will be in there as well.

Would have much preferred the bbq.

◊◊◊

But also for the weekend:

I made blood-plum jam
I made chicken liver paté
I made ravioli from scratch (spinach & ricotta, served with burnt butter and sage leaves.)
I made dried blood plums (Like dried apricots only much darker and tangier))
I taught myself to splice loops into 3-strand rope and used that skill to put up a shade cloth.
I tamed bits of the garden, mowed other bits and watered it all.
I found two monster zucchini (zucchini pancakes to dinner soon)
I officially christened all my worms Linda-Wayne; they are hermaphrodites so I needed a hyphenated name.
I sat in the shade and drank some light lager, home brew.

And I semi-painted two sash windows. A few nights to go yet until they are finished.

Amongst other things.
...

Oh, super!

2011-01-23T14:28:00.002+11:00

.

OK, I know it is a low ball to pick on the balding guys with pony tails who run advertising and marketing departments but can anyone tell what what "Very Premium" means?
...

Perhaps I should post this next week...

2011-01-21T21:08:00.006+11:00

.

I am approaching the Curate's 1200th post and perhaps I should have held onto this for then but I had nothing else to post so impatience won the day.

Above is a screen shot from Wikipedia's entry on wedding anniversaries.

The three columns are "Traditional (US)", "Traditional (UK)" and "Modern (US)".

It was the oak and granite that caught my eye.

"Happy anniversary dear, I bought you a granite headstone!"

[Whack!] "Ow!"
...

Maybe I'd prefer second prize...

2011-01-18T18:45:00.001+11:00

.

Be wary of lotteries out of Queensland that offer "Waterfront Lifestyle"!

◊◊◊

(Yeah, I know it is for a good cause, it just amuses me.)
...

The smell of trellis in the morning.

2011-01-17T19:53:00.002+11:00

.

The wisteria smells the freedom of the wide open trellis and is making a rapid run for it.
...

The Flood & Fruit.

2011-01-16T11:34:00.004+11:00

.

The Sunday Age had an article on the likelihood of increasing fruit and vegetable prices after the floods in Queensland.

Above is a watermelon that they used to illustrate before and after prices.

Looks like the seeds have been floating around a bit too.

That's not a Tweet. THIS is a Tweet

2011-01-14T21:49:00.001+11:00

.

Tracy McCormick,
Unites States Department of Justice.

Dear Tracy,

I see that you have filed with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandra Division) to learn, from Twitter, my name, my mail, residential and business addresses and my email addresses.

To save you time I have included my address at the bottom of this email. You will, with limited IT stress, be able to ascertain my email address from this email in the normal manner.

Your request for session times and durations is more puzzling as generally twitter posts seems to arrive with the minimum of time or duration. Is ‘negligible’ an acceptable response? Please advise.

The length of service and types of service request is also a puzzle. My first ever ‘tweet’ was April 14th 2010 where I shook my fist at the media for their misuse of the word ‘heroes’. My Wikileaks subscription will have been after that but it is hard to tell exactly when. Does it matter? Actually all my tweets have been poking fun (or disgust) at The Age newspaper and have been sent from my computer, not my phone. Does this make you feel any better?

My telephone numbers are at the bottom of this email. Should you assign an agent to record messages in and out I would appreciate any hint you may pick up that my wife is having an affair with the milkman. I have my suspicions, you understand, and as you will be monitoring the home phone it would be a service to me to find out if he is servicing her; if you get my drift.

Payment is a strange question as I believe Twitter is free. Well, free-ish, I do need internet connection to use it. Would the details of my Optusnet account help? Please advise.

Finally, should I be deemed a worthy case for extraordinary rendition, I travel to work down Middleborough Road (Blue Honda Civic Hybrid) and come home down Elgar Road. Should I leave the windows open? I do have some lovely stained glass in my front doors. Could I request that the agents knock rather than use the oh-so-cliched sledge-hammers. They are so 1960, so Soviet-bloc. Finally can I say that the orange of your jumpsuits is just not me. Can I request powder blue?

As custodian of the keys to the home of the brave and the land of the free, I hope and trust that you are appreciative of my efforts to make your position and actions be seen as exactly as what they are.

Yours in disbelief,

Lee Kennedy.
...

US Department of Justice (?) is after me!

2011-01-14T18:56:00.003+11:00

(Click to enlarge.)

Above is part of the US Department of Justice's subpoena to Twitter requesting (?) all details of all people who subscribe to Wikileaks.

Yes, I do. Proudly.

What do they hope to prove? Heaven only knows.
...

Headlines that never made the presses*

2011-01-13T18:15:00.002+11:00

.

* An occasional series.

Queensland Chic

2011-01-13T17:48:00.002+11:00

Queensland floods: Stay out of Laidley!

2011-01-11T18:38:00.001+11:00

(Click to enlarge)

Fair Dinkum! No Sh*t!

2011-01-08T21:28:00.003+11:00

.

There is a bit of a 'weep & gnash" campaign going at the moment with a number of our big retailers bemoaning the fact that people are buying stuff on-line rather than through their stores.

How could we be so unpatriotic?

These same retailers where the first to gallop overseas to buy cheap Chinese goods, at the expense of local jobs, and to then sell them at inflated prices.

Now that we can go straight to the cheap Chinese merchants and buy direct, they are crying 'foul'.

Tough.

◊◊◊

This morning I was in a local department store and saw a rack of kids t-shirts with the slogan "Fair dinkum! True Aussie" and a picture of a cartoon koala.

The label at the neck of the garments did not give a country of origin. Neither of the two tags hanging from the garment gave a country of origin. Inside the garment, hidden away, a third of the way up the side seam I found a tag.

"Made in China".

...

Chin up boys, it's only a game!

2011-01-07T20:24:00.003+11:00

.

England beat Australia in the "Ashes' test series.

From the media reports you would think something important had happened.
...

The advantage of home gardens...

2011-01-05T21:15:00.003+11:00

.

One of the advantages of having your own garden is that you can grow things that you wont see in the shops. Above is a Cape Gooseberry.

The lovely papery lantern holds a lovely little berry with a tangy tropical taste.
...

The deck, finally in use.

2011-01-05T21:14:00.000+11:00

The Venerable Sage (Liqueur).

2011-01-03T18:15:00.004+11:00

.

I joked that I was given a box of worms and a bottle of vodka for Xmas.

I was.

But the vodka was to make a sage liqueur (label above).

...

Resolutions. Again.

2011-01-02T10:47:00.001+11:00

(This is a repost of a something I posted a few years back.)

It is that time of year again, when the world is littered with the lists of good intentions…

New Year Resolutions.

But it seems to me that people are doing it all wrong. Digging in the wrong place.

Every year people sit down with basically the same list of last year's failures, rework them, resolve that THIS year things will be different.

Here's an idea for you to ponder:

What if, instead of listing all the things that have eluded you every year before, what if you made a list of the things that you already can do…

And resolve to do them better?
...

Where did THAT come from?

2010-12-31T21:33:00.003+11:00

.
December has been quite pleasant: a little rain, gentle temperatures (average = 24degC).

But come New Year's Eve: Wham! A 41 degree day.

Colour me limp.
...

Invention of the devil!

2010-12-28T15:46:00.004+11:00

.

Now, I'm an atheist so it is a bit academic but I reckon whoever wrote the bible description of hell got it horribly wrong.

Sure fire and brimstone is unpleasant and an eternity of it would pall after a while but if you really want to drive someone mad give them the job of putting bird-netting on a fruit tree.

While wearing a shirt with lots of buttons.

Man, that stuff snags on everything. It goes looking for things to snag on. Snags come to it.

Give me the brimstone any day.
...

I've got worms!

2010-12-27T20:03:00.003+11:00

.

Not only that, I got them from my son!

Now, with all the responsibility of a foster parent, I am carer and guardian of a thousand or so hungry mouths to feed. Just don't ask me to identify which end is which.

The high-rise hostel for these worms is called a "Worm Cafe" (above).

Who thinks of these names?

I have visions of a focus group (think short, fat, balding men with pony-tails and paisley shirts) sitting around, drinking lattés and wondering what to call the new worm farm design. One looks at his coffee and a small light glimmers and the "Worm Cafe" is born.

And they vote.

The focus group, not the worms.
...

Hang on. I'm confused...

2010-12-27T07:16:00.000+11:00

.

One of the 'novelty' gifts I got for Xmas was a measuring cup, just like my Mum and my Granny used to use. Ah, memories!

But, on the outside, was the following sticker:

It seems that they don't make things like they used to!
...

Sheepish admission...

2010-12-26T07:18:00.000+11:00

.

Mmmm...what to do? I ran out of marzipan before I ran out of cake.

Create a sheep pen, obviously!

Plus I got to eat the hollow out bits too!
...

Christmas Lorikeets.

2010-12-25T15:50:00.000+11:00

.

Rainbow Lorikeets enjoy their Christmas dinner.
...

Peace to all.

2010-12-25T07:00:00.000+11:00

.

I hope you Christmas is a good one.

Peace. Joy. Happiness.

The Christmas Keyboard

2010-12-24T20:46:00.002+11:00

.

Did you hear about the Christmas keyboard?

No L.

...

Trust you because you are a doctor? I don't think so.

2010-12-20T21:04:00.005+11:00

With my mother having had a fall last weekend I have found myself in a couple of doctors surgeries with her over the week. Largely due to her concern that she had not had a bowel movement in six days - a legacy of codeine based pain killers.

Two quite bizarre statements from two doctors.

1. Food takes fourteen days to pass through the intestines.

The guy has obviously never eaten sweet corn. Or figs.

2. Bananas have no fibre in them. You are better off eating an apple.

Both are good but, weight for weight, a banana has more fibre than an apple.

Really makes you worry about their medical advice but then it is not uncommon to see people who are quite talented in one area being interviewed as experts in another. And being believed in the second for no reason other than they are capable in the first.

But it is still depressing in this case. I would expect doctors to know better.