Richard's jottings

I'm betting it's on the compost heap!

2012-02-25T00:55:28.048Z

I'm betting it's on the compost heap!

Yes, I've noticed this kind of thing on severa...

2012-02-10T08:53:57.723Z

Yes, I've noticed this kind of thing on several different vegetables, notably apples and potatoes. The absolute worst seems to be onions though: a small pack of three onions will cost over a pound in a supermarket, whereas my local market will happily sell me a bag with about 30 large onions in it for about two pounds.

I seem to remember that, when I was young, I was p...

2012-01-24T18:51:29.192Z

I seem to remember that, when I was young, I was pleased to find any excuse (or even none) for a party. My guess is that spirit is what lies behind the New Year celebrations following so soon after Christmas.

I'm on very shaky ground here, not having a si...

2012-01-23T20:00:35.229Z

I'm on very shaky ground here, not having a single religious cell in my body, but I rather think that those who believe in God also believe that one must have FAITH without asking for proofs.

Seems to me a bit of a cop-out, but MRDA.

What is a light pen?

2012-01-15T21:13:50.881Z

What is a light pen?

I found that as I passed 40 holes in socks got mor...

2011-12-04T18:02:29.845Z

I found that as I passed 40 holes in socks got more frequent, but looking at my toenails told me why! What had been thin, almost transparent nails on my big toes seemed to have turned almost overnight into thick, only semi-translucent claws, which were basically tearing holes into my socks.

I don't think it's a fungal infection, as the nails are not loose or flaking or wet or

It may render those children asthmatic, so produci...

2011-11-25T10:23:08.276Z

It may render those children asthmatic, so producing fewer grandchildren perhaps. Sins of the fathers', etc.

Though by no means a follower of football, I have ...

2011-10-16T00:20:38.372+01:00

Though by no means a follower of football, I have had occasion to watch Wayne Rooney on the field and can testify that his mastery of the game displays not only physical grace and athleticism, but also, in his ability to mislead and wrong-foot other players, sending them careening in the wrong direction while opening up opportunities for himself and his team, real quickness of thought and

I notice that the neutrinos are produced in France...

2011-09-25T11:52:09.488+01:00

I notice that the neutrinos are produced in France and observed in Italy. A similar pair of facilities also exists in the USA. Perhaps the scientists involved in these studies might get better accuracy if they swap their observation facilities around.

Virtual particle pairs that spontaneously pop into existence do so with a tiny spatial separation; at least, that's a conclusion I

Here's a video explaining the true consequence...

2011-06-19T17:22:29.675+01:00

Here's a video explaining the true consequences of minimum wage legislation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LaPGIIAyk4&feature=player_embedded

I'm guessing your web server is running on win...

2011-05-08T23:33:13.217+01:00

I'm guessing your web server is running on windows. While it's standard practice for dns to allow you to capitalise *host names* in any way you wish, and it will return the single host that corresponds to all of them, whether a *page* corresponding to a *file* is returned in response to a particular request depends on the underlying file system. In this case, it's Windows' case

I'm with you. Burning books has a very nasty ...

2011-04-15T21:53:45.268+01:00

I'm with you. Burning books has a very nasty historical resonance, and it is to my mind a lot more offensive than burning a national flag.

Mind you, I too would have thought twice about leaving intact a copy of Ayn Rand's pernicious ravings.

So how is the watery slimming going, Richard? Any...

2011-04-15T21:51:15.722+01:00

So how is the watery slimming going, Richard? Anything to report?

If I were trying to lose weight, I think I'd leave out the cheese rather than the biscuit.

Chillies seem to dry very well in my kitchen; I ca...

2011-04-06T05:38:54.878+01:00

Chillies seem to dry very well in my kitchen; I can never eat the number that they sell you in a single bag in anything less than a couple of months. I've had less luck when keeping them in the fridge, they tend to stay moist and end up going bad.

I'd be very interested to see if you could replicate the odd texture displayed by the dried strawberry fragments that you find in

That page could do with a little formatting to mak...

2011-02-22T13:40:59.783Z

That page could do with a little formatting to make the text readable: at the moment it's giant letters (though I have my text permanently set big, so part of that may just be me), underlined, and centred -- very difficult to read!

I've never understood the problem some people ...

2011-02-22T13:37:36.553Z

I've never understood the problem some people claim to have with footnotes either. I suspect it may have arisen as an echo of the problems that *printers* may have had with them, and then taken on a life of its own.

Whereas the foot of the page seems to me a rather natural place to put short notes (the eye can flip there and back without much trouble, and you can always ignore them

The BBC is notorious for only reporting news that ...

2011-02-07T08:17:12.124Z

The BBC is notorious for only reporting news that fits in with its world-view, or that can be spun to do so. Often with articles on the BBC news site, what they leave out can be as revealing as what they put in.

Why bother with sport?

2011-01-18T17:37:15.098Z

Why bother with sport?

Doesn't it lift the heart? We went for a walk...

2011-01-17T17:07:01.278Z

Doesn't it lift the heart? We went for a walk in the communal gardens of the street parallel with ours, and there were masses of tiny magenta cyclamens interspersed with the first snowdrops.

On close inspection, some of the apparently bare twigs of bushes and trees were actually beginning to show buds.

The standard of English used by BBC reporters and ...

2010-12-09T17:25:12.293Z

The standard of English used by BBC reporters and commentators is falling lamentably. It's all part of this country's flight from education. We will all pay the price.

Well said! We spend an inordinate proportion of o...

2010-12-09T17:23:27.250Z

Well said! We spend an inordinate proportion of our dwindling budget on sending soldiers to be killed in Afghanistan at the behest of the Americans. Time to call in the debt!

It's very sad. The same thing is happening he...

2010-11-27T22:22:41.925Z

It's very sad. The same thing is happening here in Bristol. Our longest-established bookshop has now shrunk by two-thirds, the bulk of the space currently being converted into yet another restaurant.

This city is absolutely bursting at the seams with eateries, but has a lamentably reduced supply of food for the mind.

I'd like to hear him predict the past.

2010-11-10T16:32:34.590Z

I'd like to hear him predict the past.

I hove a deep sigh when I read this entry in your ...

2010-10-31T14:28:47.958Z

I hove a deep sigh when I read this entry in your blog. 'Casket' in place of the perfectly serviceable 'coffin', comes to us from America, the world capital of mealy-mouthed euphemism.

I find that if one resists the urge to dust or hoo...

2010-10-31T14:26:43.014Z

I find that if one resists the urge to dust or hoover around the leads, they all gradually acquire an attractive, fluffy grey coating. All wires look the same in the dust.