Moan, moan, moan----get it off your chest or have a chat

[Paul T]

Rogan,

I love stinky plants..... it gives that something extra in the garden!!    Just had Amorphophallus konjac flower here, and Arum dioscoridis was flowering as well.  Currently I have buds coming on Dracunculus vulgaris, another stinker!!  Of course not quite the scale of your Aristolochia, given they're a rather large tropical climber aren't they?

[Rogan]

Maggi, probably about 6" - 8" from the top of its 'beak' to the end of its tassel.

Paul, yes, it is a large, vigorous climber, but I keep mine confined to a metal 'obelisk' approx. 2 metres high. My wife hates it passionately and when it tries to escape from its confines and onto neighbouring shrubs she clips it off vigorously whilst muttering death threats - I'd better not let her in on this thread, she'd have planty to complain about when it comes to my bizarre gardening habits!

[Lesley Cox]

Right, I'll send off those 3 then I'm deleting it altogether, even from the Recycle bin.
Rogan, I couldn't grow your Aristolochia here but I have a friend in the far (very warm) north with a passion for the genus. I'll email you privately for a few seeds for him. I don't think he has this one.

[Rogan]

Rogan, I couldn't grow your Aristolochia here but I have a friend in the far (very warm) north with a passion for the genus. I'll email you privately for a few seeds for him. I don't think he has this one.

That would be my pleasure.

[mark smyth]

Did you see Michael Palin in Slovakia and Czech Republic on Sunday? Our workers, all Slovaks, are angry that the programme made them out to be Vodka drinking poor farmers while the Czech part of the programme showed very wealthy extravagant people

[Martin Baxendale]

Did you see Michael Palin in Slovakia and Czech Republic on Sunday? Our workers, all Slovaks, are angry that the programme made them out to be Vodka drinking poor farmers while the Czech part of the programme showed very wealthy extravagant people

My wife was furious too. All Palin did was visit one very atypical mountain village in the Tatras to see Slivovica being drunk and a pig being killed and turned into sausages, then he shot off to the Czech Republic. As Ivi said: "They must have really worked hard to find the ugliest, most backward-looking, inbred, drunken villagers they possibly could."

We thought the whole programme was very poor, not showing the Czechs very well either. Instad of showing "Our European Neighbours", in any kind of real and informative light, it was mostly a poorly concocted series of cheap ha-ha segments about local oddities and tourist attractions. A sixteen year old student could have done it. And Palin's heart didn't seem in it. I suspect he knew they were doing a botched job - one programme to cover three countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic and East Germany) ?!

We turned off before the East German segment, but I'll bet there was a tired bit about old Trabant cars being used to drive tourists around Berlin and a look at the last remaining bit of the Berlin Wall. Real in-depth stuff like that.

[Martin Baxendale]

Some of you may already have been emailed this by friends. For those who haven't, it's quite amusing re. common computer moans.....

Subject: GM and Bill Gates

For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way
computers have enhanced our lives, read on.

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the
computer industry with the auto industry and stated,

"If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would

all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release
stating:

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars

with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash........
Twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a
new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would
have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off
the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For
some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your
car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to
reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable,
five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five
percent of the roads

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be
replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning
light.

7. The air bag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and
refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle,
turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how
to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the
same manner as the old car.

10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

Please share this with your friends who love - but sometimes hate - their
computer!

[Martin Baxendale]

Just read in the paper about the pair of hen harriers reportedly witnessed shot on the Queen's Sandringham Estate while Prince Harry and a mate were out shooting (reportedly the only guns out on the estate that day).

Reliable sounding witnesses who were watching (from a nearby nature reserve) the birds in the air when they were shot.

It'll be interesting to see how lenient the penalty is if a royal is found to have done it. But what's the betting that, if it's proved the shots came from the Sandringham estate, that it's blamed on poachers or other tresspassers, or an estate flunky falls on the grenade, admitting at the last minute to having been out shooting, unknown to the royals or estate staff.

Grrrrrr!!!!   

[Martin Baxendale]

For those who don't know, or haven't seen the story, there are only about 20 breeding pairs of hen harriers in England and the species is on the red list of the UK's most endangered species.

[Maggi Young]

I'm following this story in the papers, on the radio and TV news, too.....what a coincidence that these birds should be shot exactly when the young prince and his chums are shooting... though I do not have much time for coincidences, myself 

I suppose it shows that if Harry finds himself in a position where he needs to do his soldierly duty and shoot someone, he will manage it   
I don't think that the defence of "stray " shots or poachers will work though, Martin... won't there have been umpteen personal protection officers about the place? 

[Martin Baxendale]

I don't think that the defence of "stray " shots or poachers will work though, Martin... won't there have been umpteen personal protection officers about the place? 

Ooh, hadn't thought of that. Maybe it was all down to a bored special protection unit officer with an itchy trigger!

But I'm guessing there wasn't an officer actually with them as Sandringham is pretty well guarded on the perimeters and if one was with them then the local police would have had a witness who could have immediately cleared Harry and his mate, and the Press would have been informed accordingly. But I take your point. How would poachers or other intruders get on the estate? Unless they shot from outside, of course. Ah!

 

[mark smyth]

I dont see why the royals are above the law when it comes to things like this. I bet when the cops came he said "air hair lair!"

[Maggi Young]

Or maybe there was a SPO with them and Harry and Co.  did shoot the harriers but the SPO is keeping stumm for his job's sake?


Mark, you are very good at this writing accents business! Like "Norn Iron" and such... we in Aberdeen are very amused !

[Joakim B]

So the UK princes are not above the law???
In Sweden (and) Denmark our king is above the law and he can shoot whatever and whom ever he wants.
He is a nature lover so I do not think he would shout those birds but maybe the poachers.  (Well if it was his son I do not think he would shoot but the pocket money would be lowered substansially
Kind regards from someone that is happy Portugal is a republic 
Joakim

[Lesley Cox]

Just read in the paper about the pair of hen harriers reportedly witnessed shot on the Queen's Sandringham Estate while Prince Harry and a mate were out shooting (reportedly the only guns out on the estate that day).

Reliable sounding witnesses who were watching (from a nearby nature reserve) the birds in the air when they were shot.

It'll be interesting to see how lenient the penalty is if a royal is found to have done it. But what's the betting that, if it's proved the shots came from the Sandringham estate, that it's blamed on poachers or other tresspassers, or an estate flunky falls on the grenade, admitting at the last minute to having been out shooting, unknown to the royals or estate staff.

Grrrrrr!!!!   

Any thoughts about the attractions of being a republic Martin? I see Joakim is in favour and I suspect most Aussies and NZers are too nowadays, especially the younger ones, but many or most of the ancients such as myself, as well.