Fertile ground
NOMINATIVE determinism has been posited exhaustively on these pages, to the point that on more than one occasion we have declared the subject forbidden, off-limits, no more.
Yet Feedback is powerless to ignore the news that one in eight employees at the UK鈥檚 Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) have a name associated with green fingers.
Advertisement
An announcement preceding this year鈥檚 National Gardening Week, 30 April to 6 May, reveals that the organisation鈥檚 900 staff include 鈥渇our Heathers, three Berrys and another three called Moss鈥�. Visitors to RHS gardens may be served by a Gardiner, Marsh or Shears, a Garlick, Greenfield, Moore, Shaw or Goodacre among others.
Whether nature-themed monikers are significantly more common at the RHS than among the general UK population is still an open question. Yet Feedback feels that one groundskeeper working at Garden Hyde Hall in Essex deserves a special mention: step forward, Heather Cutmore.
鈥淭he antimicrobial lining in Ian Moseley鈥檚 new shoes promises to keep them 鈥渃lean and tidy鈥�. Sadly he reports that the shoes 鈥渞emain wherever I have kicked them off鈥濃��
Marching chowder
PREVIOUSLY, Feedback heard from Richard Machin on the topic of 鈥�puros鈥� in Colombia: the distance covered on horseback in the time it takes to smoke one puro, a cigar (10 March). 鈥淲hen I was climbing in the Andes in Peru in 1962, the distance up the access valley, 17 kilometres, was said to be seven 鈥�cocadas鈥�,鈥� says Charles Sawyer.
鈥淎 cocada was a wad of coca leaves and lime placed between the back teeth and chewed, causing all fatigue and exhaustion to vanish. When this no longer happened, it was time for a new cocada.鈥�
As the trail climbed some 1250 metres into the mountains, progress in the upward direction was 鈥渘ot quite one cocada per hour鈥�. But he says, since the cocada was based on human effort rather than absolute distance, the downhill return was half the cocadas of the uphill trek.
Village markets along the way kept barrels of coca leaves for weary travellers, although Charles doesn鈥檛 mention if he stopped in for this particular local delicacy.
Units of distanc
MEANWHILE, Gloucester resident Keith Waldon is reminded of an encounter with a Canadian while on holiday in Mexico. The man described himself as being from just outside Toronto, 鈥渁bout five beers away鈥�. This, Keith learned, equated to a distance of a few hundred kilometres. 鈥淲hen he asked where I was from, I replied 鈥榡ust outside Paris'鈥�.
From Tae to Z
FINALLY, Noel Cramer reports that in the early 1930s, his father was chief engineer for the construction of the transit road linking the Turkish Black Sea town of Trebizond to the Eastern Anatolian town of Erzurum.
鈥淲hile reconnoitring the land, my father had sometimes to ask local people for the way and distance to given villages,鈥� says Noel. The answer was always a gesture in the direction with an outstretched arm, accompanied by Taeeeee鈥�, 鈥渢he length of which gave the distance.鈥�
Somehow, Noel鈥檚 father was able to make use of this information, although Noel says 鈥淚 no longer recollect how the relation between that utterance and distance was calibrated.鈥�
Long in the tooth
MORE theories out of the mouths of babes: Tony Green writes 鈥淎s a young child, I noticed that my parents were taller than I was. I also noticed that my gran was shorter than my parents. I came to the obvious conclusion: people start out small, grow, then later in life they start shrinking again. It all made perfect sense!鈥� Perhaps then a daily spell on the rack could increase one鈥檚, er, lifespan?
Star drops
ALSO pondering the big questions was a young Paul Hargreaves, who writes: 鈥淥ne night when I was a young boy, I was riding in the family car down a rural road. Leaning out of the open window and watching the canopy of stars overhead, I exclaimed to my parents 鈥楽o that鈥檚 how it works鈥�.鈥�
Apparently used to these gnostic outbursts, his family readied themselves to receive young Paul鈥檚 latest wisdom. 鈥淲hen it rains,鈥� he told them, 鈥渢he water must fall through all those little holes in the sky.鈥�
No half measures
BOOKING a place at the upcoming Royal College of Psychiatrists Congress, Adrian Leathart notes a banner on their website proclaiming 鈥�50% of 0 users rate our live chat as 鈥榝antastic'鈥�. Adrian says 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure if they are exaggerating or being too modest.鈥�
Element of doubt
BRYN GLOVER writes: 鈥淚 have just returned from my local Morrisons supermarket, where they now sell edible gold leaf. This gold is described as 23 carat, and the packet has helpful instructions on how to lay it on one鈥檚 food.鈥�
So far, so nouvelle cuisine. Yet one detail has Bryn scratching his head 鈥� the packet also carries a best-before date, recommending he use up his gold leaf before November 2019.
鈥淚 think it is absolutely fantastic how they have managed to catch this batch of gold, manufactured perhaps 10 billion years ago in an early universe supernova, just a few months before its usability expires,鈥� says Bryn. 鈥淗ow do they manage that?鈥�
You can send stories to Feedback by email at feedback@newscientist.com. Please include your home address. This week鈥檚 and past Feedbacks can be seen on our website.