Slow cooker

Today I learned that the slow cooker is ... slow! Don't bother unless you have a whole day. I didn't get the boeuf bourginon on until 1pm, and after 5 hours on high it wasn't close to being ready. I put half in a little casserole dish in a hot oven, and hopefully it will be edible soon. Not exactly how it is supposed to be cooked. I like my casseroles long and slow and falling apart.

Wigwam

Another nugget stolen shamelessly from QI; a wigwam is not the same as a teepee. A teepee is the upside-down icecream shaped leather tent of the American Indian, a wigwam is the home of the Eastern American Indian and looks more like a giant, squat beehive made of straw.

Mace

Apparently, mace is the ground outer casing of nutmeg. It was on Junior MasterChef masterclass today. Those kids are amazing; 8 - 12 years old and better cooks than me!

Disorientated

Today I learned that disorientated is a real word. I had always thought it was a mispronunciation of disoriented, but apparently it is a valid alternative, and even listed first in the dictionary. Fancy that.

QI: bamboo and hello

I just watched QI (Stephen Fry on the ABC), I must have learned something... Bamboo can grow up to 4 meters a day - you can actually see it grow. I think I already knew that.

The word "Hello" was invented by Edison, he thought it was a nice clear sound when he used "Haloo" (hunting call) to make his first recording. Prior to that, "Hullo" was a sound of surprise, not greeting. Hullo, what's all this then? There was something about Hello being chosen as the word you say when answering the phone.

Bitches

A good friend of mine had two rescue dogs, both female, of similar ages but she got them at separate times. The first, Jemima, was still quite young (less than a year old) when they got her, and when the second dog, Sally, came along, Jemima became the top dog even though she was a much smaller breed. Both friendly, lovely dogs, but Jemima did have a tendency to bully Sally a bit. They lived together harmoniously for a year or so. Until one day Sally snapped and nearly ripped Jemima's jugular out.

Sally was returned to the shelter and Jemima is recovering nicely. It was a big shock to the family, my friend and her 5 year old daughter saw some of the fight and it was very scary, and very hard to separate them.

Apparently, female dogs of a similar age will fight when they get old enough. And the only way my friend could separate them (the hose didn't work) was to pick up Sally's back legs and pull her away. A dangerous move.

The power of the question

This morning I walked my son to preschool, and then I had the option of walking home again (as I usually do, it's about the only exercise I get) or getting a lift with a friend. I have been down with a bad cold for the past week, and the lift seemed like a nice option. If my friend had said "Would you like a lift home?" I would have said yes. But instead, she said "Are you walking? I don't want to discourage you." So I said "Yeah, I'll walk."

It was not that I was uncomfortable asking for a lift, it is just that the way a question is worded has a big influence. Because her question was about walking, and implying it was a good thing to do, it made it easy for me to say yes to that. If she had mentioned a lift, and perhaps how cold it was today or how I was looking a bit tired/unwell, it would have been easier to say yes to that option. But I did my walk, I was fine and I quite enjoyed it and felt good about starting the day with a little exercise before getting to my desk.

I remember an episode of "Yes, Minister" (an English comedy about a politician and the civil service he has to deal with) where Sir Humphrey Abbleby (the civil service head of the department) shows an un underling how easy it is to get the answer you want. He talks about conscription: if you ask questions about duty, defending the country etc you can lead people to say they would be pro-conscription. But you can ask the same person how they feel about personal freedom to choose, and how they feel about arming teenage hooligans, and you can get them to say they are anti-conscription. It is all in the way you ask.