Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

47 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Almonds have been cultivated in the middle east, specifically in Iran (where it is native) for thousands of years. That part of the world is not noted for its superabundant rainfall, so I wonder how they traditionally manage almond irrigation

The first domesticated almonds appeared about 3000 BC. I know very little about almonds as a food stuff, as I rarely use them except as decoration for a Dundee  Cake*

I wondered who is considered to produce the finest almonds. A quick Google turned up this: https://www.kashmironlinestore.com/blogs/almonds/mamra-almonds-badam-worlds-most-healthiest-costest-almonds so Iran, Afghanistan, Kashmir.
Directly importing them from that shop in Kashmir would set you back £23/kg.

 

*Now that I think about, I’ll make a Dundee Cake for Mrs iD’s return from the Holiday Hovel…

As your a fan of Jacob Bronowski's 'The  Ascent of Man' surely you remember the episode about agriculture starting in the Middle East in Iran and Iraq centred on rivers such as the Euphrates which flooded annually due to the Monsoon. 

[PhilJ W]

 

2 hours ago, The Lurker said:

Not just Christianity either- the Romans did it too, and some strands of Islam too. And I am sure there are other examples too.

 They adopted the British pagan goddess Sulis and built the city of Aqua Sulis about her shrine. That city we now call Bath. There were two faiths that didn't want to be incorporated into the Roman  pantheon. In Britannia it was the Druids who they wiped out and in the Levant it was the Jewish faith which survived by going underground but it split into the Judean faith, Christianity and Islam. 

Edited April 1 by PhilJ W

[monkeysarefun]

14 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

 

As your a fan of Jacob Bronowski's 'The  Ascent of Man' surely you remember the episode about agriculture starting in the Middle East in Iran and Iraq centred on rivers such as the Euphrates which flooded annually due to the Monsoon. 

 

 

And they don't harvest  1.3 million tons  of them like California in 2022 for instance. 

Edited April 1 by monkeysarefun

[Grizz]

39 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Shame Shame, know your name.....

 

Stealin' poor Yogi's din dins - you can nip down Tesco's.  Yogi can't (ok, he can - but they get the right 'ump when he does....)

Mmmmmmmmmmm….one of several old sayings goes something like…..don’t poke the big bear!

That would include nicking his din dins (to use the terminology of a northern cousin)…..otherwise the woods may not be the only place that bears sh*t in….once he has removed the head and exposed the neck. 🤣

[New Haven Neil]

23 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

Shrinking, from left to right?

 

 

Nope - L to R by cc, 660 Triumph triple, 125 Honda single scooter, 350 & 350 Royal Enfield singles.

 

We were out early doors so no morning post, went on the train to Port Erin (all that way south) with friend Jayne for brunch, then trial by garden centre.

 

I tried to photograph an interesting tree but this got in the way.

 

 

 

[Hroth]

 

Should have done this earlier, but belated best wishes for Dave Hunt!

 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The arthritis is grumbling so I'm going to take a couple of pills and have a soak in the bath. be back later.

[Winslow Boy]

4 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Best wishes to DH for tomorrow. 

 

There is also a severe environmentaldisaster caused by the monoculture  with so many almonds.there isn't enough variety to suppirt many bird and insect species Inc, uding the bees that are needed for pollination. 

 

Jamie

 

 

I believe that they ship in bee hives to ensure that the trees get fertilized.

[DaveF]

3 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

One of my choices has already turned up in the top 30.

 

24: Cello concerto. Elgar ✔️

 

Waiting for the other two, they'll be in the top 15...

 

Into the top 10 and they still haven't shown up.

 

Top 3 must be the same, with no shuffling.

 

3: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. RVW ✔️

2: The Lark Ascending. RVW ✔️

So that means

1: Piano concerto no. 2. Rachmaninov. Boo!

 

 

To be honest I always have problems deciding on my favourite pieces at the moment they are probably:

 

First is usually Schubert's Trout Quintet this year at No. 181

 

Then Satie Trois Gymnopodies this year at No. 148

 

Third comes Beethoven's  Für Elise this year at No.  142 

 

I also like almost anything by Shostakovich, the Strauss family and many many more.  I tend not to like most film music though.

 

David

Edited April 1 by DaveF

[Winslow Boy]

3 hours ago, pH said:

In my first year in Canada, I got the “statutory” holidays as paid time off - Christmas, New Year etc. - but no annual leave. Annual leave was ‘earned’ a year in advance.

In local government annual leave is 'earned' on the amount of time you serve through out the leave year. So for example if you start your job in July and your leave leave started in April you loose those three months.

[BoD]

Will have absolutely everything crossed for @Dave Hunt tomorrow.

[Coombe Barton]

... April Fools include a twenty foot high straw squirrel for a local craft business ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/04/01/covid-by-age-and-region-domestically-micro-sorting-the-good-april-fools/

[monkeysarefun]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I rarely use them except as decoration for a Dundee  Cake

 

 

They are the bribe of choice of the Feathered Standover Merchants who bang on the windows and peer in at me  until I give in.

 

I've tried other nuts, even Aussie Macadamias that you'd think they'd go for but no. I go through about a700g bag in about a month just feeding them.

 

 

 

Edited April 1 by monkeysarefun

[Gwiwer]

@Dave Hunt - all the best

 

Of classical music - I'm not averse to some and hold my late father's 800-strong CD collection including a very wide range across the genre and somewhat beyond.  He was quite a fan of "earlier music" too.  I am slowly listening to them but at the rate of one or two a week I might not get through the mall.  I suspect he never did either as a few have turned up still in their sealed cellophane outers.  They are catalogued but listing composers and works means nothing to me if I haven't heard them.  

 

So the 3-2-1 goes like this 

 

Also-ran: Pictures at an Exhibition (specifically the Barry Douglas piano solo version or the electronic one by Isao Tomita)

Honourable Mention in Dispatches; Carmina Burana (which dad always insisted would bring about the end of the world if everyone on the planet simultaneously hit the strident D-major in "O fortuna")

3.  Rite of Spring 

2.  "Rach 2" piano concerto

1.  Saint-Saëns "Organ" Symphony with the volume turned up above 10.  

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

The stored wood was retrieved from storage and then measurements were taken. Then cutting a schedule was drawn up to see how much more I need to buy. Other than that I’ve not done a great deal really. 

 

However, ION

 

Whilst I was at the kitchen sink at dinner time, I noticed a dunnock with nesting material in its beak, repeatedly head into the hedge, so it looks as though they’ve decided to nest there. Then, later this afternoon, I noticed a blue tit in the garden, which seemed to be showing a bit of interest in one of the nest boxes too. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Good luck with the operation Dave, I’m sure it will be a success.

Not a particularly great bank holiday weekend but a least my team won today.

Goodnight

 

[Captain Cuttle]

1 hour ago, DaveF said:

I always have problems deciding on my favourite pieces

Classic FM all day,  + The Swan of Tuonela, Scheherazade, By The River by Delius, Walking The Dog, The Road to Perdition, Ferry Cross The Mersey, Warsaw Concerto, Eric Coates, Once Upon A Time In The West, any Boogie Woogie from 1930s till now, Tuba Skinny - I Get the Blues

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[jjb1970]

I hope Dave Hunt is doing well, hoping for a most successful outcome.

[jjb1970]

I must admit to being a fan of almonds. Wasabi almonds are great, the Koreans do great hot chilli almonds.

 

On classical music my list of favourites changes every time I try and make a list. However Bruckner's 7th and 8th symphonies, Prokofiev's 1st and 6th, Beethoven's 5th and 6th and Schubert's 9th are always thereabouts. And I wouldn't part with my set of the complete Mozart symphonies recorded by Karl Bohm and the Berlin Philharmonic.

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Also the Hoover dam can no longer work to full capacity because of low water levels in its reservoirs.

The Hoover dam is not used to irrigate the San Joaquin valley (as far as I believe).

 

The Hoover dam is low because California insists on it's share of the Colorado River such that Lake Havasu (Parker Dam) remains full - to supply the aqueduct for Southern California - basically LA. There are plenty of agricultural consumers in the "inland Empire" but the almond growers are mostly up north in the San Joaquin valley - they pull artesian water out of the aquifer to irrigate their crops.

[jjb1970]

Clean, fresh water is the real ultimate resource and for much of the world more precious in the literal sense than gold, diamonds, oil etc as without it we can't live. There are large areas of the world where access to it is insufficient and personally I don't think it far fetched to think that it'll be the driver for more future wars and conflicts. It has already been a cause of great tension on some areas such as the Middle East. Some say 'what's the big deal, just build desalination plants', which is fine so far as it goes if you have access to the sea but that is energy intensive and brine accumulation rapidly becomes a problem. The most sensible thing we can do (as with energy) is to use less of it and stop wasting it, which reduces the problem and perhaps makes some of the solutions more feasible.

[Ozexpatriate]

8 hours ago, pH said:

In my first year in Canada, I got the “statutory” holidays as paid time off - Christmas, New Year etc. - but no annual leave. Annual leave was ‘earned’ a year in advance.

Similar here, though I could take a week off after the first six months. The system for that company then was progressive where you would accrue three weeks in your fifth year of employment and four weeks in your tenth. All ancient history now.

 

The unlimited "FTO" (flexible time off) lark that Ian refers to is common. Accounting laws made all accrued vacation look like a liability on corporate books so companies just eliminated the accrual for salaried employees - not specifying limits. Most companies with hourly / non-exempt employees still have accrual for their PTO. For salaried / exempt employees, it's all up to individual managers - lots of ambiguity in what is permitted, recommended or acceptable - which might be three different quantities.  I once had a VP who believed if you wanted more than two weeks off at a time he didn't need you on the payroll.

 

Obviously it's not really "unlimited". Unless managers set very clear expectations with their reports it can be a game of brinksmanship to know how much to ask for.

[Ozexpatriate]

8 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Some say 'what's the big deal, just build desalination plants', which is fine so far as it goes if you have access to the sea but that is energy intensive and brine accumulation rapidly becomes a problem.

The world's biggest per capita producers of anthropogenic CO2 are Gulf States using (essentially*) fossil fuels to run their desalinization plants.

 

* Even if there is intermediate electricity generation.

 

Using true renewable** powered desalinization makes a lot of sense, particularly solar in desert places adjacent to the ocean. 

 

** Wind or solar.