Early Risers.

[Coombe Barton]

Idiot problems and unusual fusion.

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/04/05/palm-sunday/

 

[Ozexpatriate]

11 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

As an aside, I often wonder how our ancestors managed to figure out what is safe to eat. Presumably primitive man observe what the animals were eating (although this is not a 100% reliable guide, as some animals can harmlessly eat toxins that will lay us flat in seconds). Given the nature of our species, I would presume that primitive societies had reasonably generous supplies of expendable elderly upon which they could test various foodstuffs for toxicity and harm.

A couple of hundred thousand years was plenty of time for trial and error but probably goes back even further to earlier primates. Given human nature, I doubt they experimented on the elderly. More likely hunger and hubris led to experiments that went bad for young males.

 

Mushrooms are confounding - some are healthy, some are toxic - varying from hallucinogenic to deadly. Plenty of historical trial and error there.

 

Of course we also see the evidence of these learnings in religious food proscriptions like Halal and Kosher, which I'd say were pretty good "bronze age food science".

 

As you noted in your earlier post, people still eat things like monkeys and bats (carriers of Ebola in Africa with catastrophic consequences), though they probably know they shouldn't. 

[Coombe Barton]

1 hour ago, AndrewC said:

Could have done with Her Majesty signing off with ‘What f*cking  part of ‘no sunbathing in the park’ do you cockwombling bunglec*nts not understand?’

Because you didn't get the job as her speechwriter, perhaps?

[brianusa]

Just watched HMTQ over here.  I have grown up and old with her and and even with  brief encounters with KGV and KGV1, have known no other monarch.  Considering her age, she still looks the part and still a holder of the a UK passport, I am proud of such a leader which in spite of the Royal frailties, she is still better at her job than a lot of other countries heads of state.  One may only hope that Charles as king, will be as good as his mother.

     Brian.  

[Ozexpatriate]

Last night the local ABC affiliate ran "The 10 Commandments" (which they dragged out to 4 hours 45 minutes with commercials). I avoided it like the <your choice of Biblical plagues here> but it cemented in my mind the idea that yesterday was Palm Sunday.

 

Normally they trot this out on Palm Sunday, but apparently American Idol will broadcast tonight. [Priorities.] Per Mosaic (and even Charlton Hestonian) law I will avoid Idolatry like the plague too.

 

So last night I was disappointed that a Sunday program did not appear, found something else to watch and turned in. This morning I woke expecting Monday programming, when, still abed, I turned on the TV to realize that it is Sunday.

 

Consistent with the worship of sol invictus is now sunny (for the first time in more than a week) and 15°C. It's time to do some light gardening. We might hit 21°C later in the week.

[The Stationmaster]

Nice variety here this evening and PhilJ W is welcome to our foxes as the bl**dy things kept waking me up last night with all their racket - clearly the noisy fox season is in full swing so no doubt a lot of little ones to come later in the year.

 

Flavio will hopefully be put to the test at the chosen venue of the next meeting of the Brains Trust, whenever that is, as the venue has something of a reputation for its pie with mash & liquor.  And I must admit to liking the sound of some of that menu from Sydney (although I don't recall that place on The Rocks from my time over there 15 years ago) having enjoyed some excellent kangaroo fillet in a place on Darling Harbour during my first time over there and another 'roo meal on my second visit.  Also some excellent goat available by mail from a supplier in NSW which made a superb stew, I intensely dislike goat's cheese but am rather partial to dishes containing cooked goat's flesh.

 

And now for something completely different - this road's support/mutual aid  group organised a game of bingo this evening;  cards duly and safely distributed then the caller, who is well over 6 feet tall, stood at the bend part way up the road and boomed out the numbers to people setting by the front gates or in chairs on the pavement outside their gate, so everybody was well and truly socially distanced.  Followed by a bit of music from a recording by some sort of popular beat combo whose name sounds like some sort of model railway thing because it involves - I'm told - S7.  This encouraged some of those listening to prance around - no doubt counting as a few minutes worth of exercise.  All quite amusing on a warm Sunday evening but we had to break off for our dinner of roast chicken.  The latter was in effect a sort of cheapskate reminder of Christmas past because, although there was no roast pork to go with it,  it was followed  a bit later by the Queen's broadcast.

Edited April 5, 2020 by The Stationmaster

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

Baz

[brianusa]

50 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Last night the local ABC affiliate ran "The 10 Commandments" (which they dragged out to 4 hours 45 minutes with commercials). I avoided it like the <your choice of Biblical plagues here> but it cemented in my mind the idea that yesterday was Palm Sunday.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

 

Edited April 5, 2020 by brianusa

[brianusa]

I will no watch a feature film on network TV due to the number of commercials.  It will be on Turner or similar soon enough!

 Brian.

[newbryford]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

At primary school in the early 70's we used have something called "Swiss Egg", which was basically hard boiled egg in cheese sauce.  Absolutely fantastic.  However, though my mum tried endless attempts at getting the same taste they all proved futile - still good though.  I wish I knew what the secret ingredient or technique was.

 

The secret was they didn't use egg or cheese....................

[newbryford]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I want to start some modelling but can I find my paint stash, no I can't. No doubt they will reappear at some time having been right under my nose all the time.

 

They will reappear just after you've pressed "Paid" for your online replacements,

[newbryford]

1 hour ago, brianusa said:

Just watched HMTQ over here.  I have grown up and old with her and and even with  brief encounters with KGV and KGV1, have known no other monarch.  Considering her age, she still looks the part and still a holder of the a UK passport,

 

I should hope that HM has a UK passport...................

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Duly noted (and added)

I wonder, however, how we (as a species) can/could differentiate between “we can eat it and it’s safe to eat” and “we can eat it, but it’s not safe to eat” I think it might at times be difficult to either tell or decide (domestic food animals also can carry diseases that can jump species).

Becoming a vegetarian is no guarantee of food safety - most of the most potent toxins in the world are plant alkaloids. Other plant foodstuffs, like candlenuts, are toxic unless prepared properly and cooked well.

As an aside, I often wonder how our ancestors managed to figure out what is safe to eat. Presumably primitive man observe what the animals were eating (although this is not a 100% reliable guide, as some animals can harmlessly eat toxins that will lay us flat in seconds). Given the nature of our species, I would presume that primitive societies had reasonably generous supplies of expendable elderly upon which they could test various foodstuffs for toxicity and harm.

And all that provocative and cheery note, I bid you all a good night.

iD

 

Australian aboriginals were often bemused by british explorers and settlers starving to death in what to them was a vast supermarket of food.

 

lIt  has  always amazed me that they were able to develop ways to pre-treat the poisonous roots and so on  and render them edible -  for instance the Cunjevoi which is like a kind of lily has stems which if eaten cause swelling of the throat and mouth - often fatal. The aborigines would pound and roast them which would remove the toxins.

The  Burawang fern has huge fruits which are also poisonous. They were soaked for  up to three weeks in running water, which would render them safe.

How did they work all this out and how many other unsuccessful methods did they first have to try? 

 

 Personally, if I was them and was  following your 'test it on the oldies" method  i'd have given them away as a hopeless case after about the 4th old person had fallen off the twig.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Searching through the cupboards I came upon a jar marked 'pear conserve'. The date on it was 2014 but when I opened the lid there was the reassuring sound of vacumn being released. So I tried some spread on a slice of bread, delicous. It has the appearance of marmalade with chunks of pear instead of orange peel. I'm going to stir some into my breakfast porridge tomorrow instead of honey.

Edited April 6, 2020 by PhilJ W

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

The sun has shine for most of the day, but it wasn’t as warm as they said it would be, but having said that, it wasn’t really cold, well I didn’t think it was, Sheila on the other hand wasn’t so sure. 

 

Much tinkering in the workshop today, mainly altering the multi-way rotary switch I'm going to use on the turntable, it had a couple of stops in it, these have now been removed and the switch will now turn a 360 degrees. I then played about with the items I intended to use as stop switches, namely Hall effect sensors, they worked well but I think they might be a little too sensitive as the operating range was about 5mm, which I think is a little too much side play when lining up the rails of the bridge and the exit roads, but to be fair, I was only holding the magnet in my hand. So I think a little more experimentation may be the order of the day there. 

 

The evening was rounded off with a nice bottle of shiraz. 

 

Goodnight all 

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

 And I must admit to liking the sound of some of that menu from Sydney (although I don't recall that place on The Rocks from my time over there 15 years ago)

 

Its up the back of The Rocks, wedged against the embankment of the  Cahill Expressway (The road over the Harbour Bridge) and a short drunken downhill stagger to Circular Quay station.

[AndyID]

27 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

I should hope that HM has a UK passport...................

 

I suspect she doesn't actually have one.

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[J. S. Bach]

Good night owl from the Piedmont.

Good night owl from the Piedmont.

Why twice? Because I could not log onto RMWeb last night; apparently I was not the only one!

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[The Stationmaster]

50 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

Its up the back of The Rocks, wedged against the embankment of the  Cahill Expressway (The road over the Harbour Bridge) and a short drunken downhill stagger to Circular Quay station.

Not far from here then -

 

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

Australian aboriginals were often bemused by british explorers and settlers starving to death in what to them was a vast supermarket of food.

Many English colonies in North America nearly came (or did come) to grief through starvation. It is presumed that this happened to Roanoke. Many of them survived through help by their native neighbours (New Plymouth, Jamestown, etc). 

 

This is curious when you think of what they did eat - salt pork, salt beef and hard tack.

 

When Lewis and Clark crossed the Bitterroot Mountains in 1805 they were out of supplies. The Nez Perce had offered them "bread" made from Camas root. While they ate it readily and enjoyed it, the "Corps of Discovery" were not used to it and it made them quite ill.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

Not far from here then -

 

 

 

The Rocks markets I assume ...  head up through Argyle St, through the cut, turn left at Cumberland St.  ( If you did that 2 hundred years ago you'd probably hve been stabbed or press ganged!)

[iL Dottore]

5 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

A couple of hundred thousand years was plenty of time for trial and error but probably goes back even further to earlier primates. Given human nature, I doubt they experimented on the elderly. More likely hunger and hubris led to experiments that went bad for young males....

Morning All,

Good point, O. Certainly hunger would have made proto-humans eat whatever was immediately to hand and damn the consequences/hope for the best. But I also like the thought of testosterone laden young males egging each other on as to who can eat what (“Urg, whatever happened to Ug?” “Y’know how he boasted he could catch and eat anything?” “Yeah” “Well he said that a Sabre-Toothed Tiger would make an amazing kebab. It didn’t”.). Nonetheless, I still reckon that the elderly were a useful test group (there are still some societies around where the elderly and infirm either take off on their own or are left behind so that the tribe can move on and survive - the unspoken assumption being that they will die quickly once removed from the safety of the tribe)

4 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

...Flavio will hopefully be put to the test at the chosen venue of the next meeting of the Brains Trust, whenever that is, as the venue has something of a reputation for its pie with mash & liquor...

I’ll be looking forward to it. Despite having spent a number of years “down the East End” during my misspent youth, I never got to taste pie and mash, saveloys and pease pudding usually grabbing my attention first..

3 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Australian aboriginals were often bemused by british explorers and settlers starving to death in what to them was a vast supermarket of food...

 

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Many English colonies in North America nearly came (or did come) to grief through starvation.

It does seem a peculiarly Western European/US sort of thing, that when abroad <you don’t eat “that foreign muck” the natives eat> The British and Americans being particularly notorious in this regard (e.g. the Brits on the Costa del Sol wanting their “soss and chips”, Americans in Paris searching for a McDonalds - popular media and memes are full of such tales [there is/was even a website dedicated to chronicling the mishaps of the “ugly American” abroad]). This may not quite hold true any longer, given the burgeoning food culture in the UK - with London being considered by more than a few as the best place for food in Europe - outshining even Paris (although Gordon Ramsay contends that outside of London and a few other metropolitan areas, restaurant food in the UK remains pretty much carp). Maybe so, but it wasn’t that long ago in the UK that olive oil was only available from the chemist and the height of culinary sophistication was a Vesta Boil-in-the-Bag curry. And anything other than meat & two veg was deeply distrusted. 
My English grandmother, for example, had a distrust of anything “foreign” for as long as she lived. And if accompanying us grandchildren to an Italian or Chinese restaurant would always order omelette and chips (does anyone else remember the days when all “foreign food” restaurants had a menu section dedicated to “British” dishes: omelette, chips, chicken, etc.? Does this still go on?)

For what it’s worth, my experience in Tunisia underlined my contention that when abroad one should eat like/with the natives. We had taken a last minute full board “luxury” holiday in Tunisia and during the stay we both suffered from low grade abdominal “problems” and the only time we didn’t have this low grade discomfort was during the 2 days after we had eaten in a small cafe in the local village (when the cafe’s food was working its way through our GI tract). Also, for what it’s worth, I’ve had food poisoning only twice in my life: once after eating out in Texas and once after eating out in Basel but absolutely no problems after eating street food in Asia - go figure. 
Time for anothamuggacoffee. Have a great start to the week.

Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, Stay Sane,

iD