Could I move to Scotland?!

On Sat, 6 May 2006 06:15:47 -0500, "jmcquown"
wrote:


Okay, so (without getting too technical or descriptive here) males don't
have seeds. So I don't know what you call sperm, but I call it seed while
the females (at least of the human species) have eggs.

Pollen is the plant version of sperm and flowers carry their eggs
(called ovules) buried deep inside the flower. Seeds are embryos,
formed when a pollen grain germinates on the stigma of a flower and
grow down to meet the egg inside the flower; from this union a seed is
formed. Plant reproduction is complicated and I don't know very much
about it. I'm sure there is a botanist or two in the group who can
explain it much better than I can.

In many crops, fruit size is determined by the number of successfully
fertilized ovules which, in turn, is determined by being adequately
pollinated by visiting insects who carry pollen from neighbouring
flowers. Custard apples are an example of this; poorly pollinated
custard apples are small and mis-shapen, whilst well-pollinated
custard apples are large and luscious and attract much better market
prices.

Many plants will not set fruit at all unless visited by an insect -
many pome fruit (apples, plumbs, apricots, peaches, nectarines) are
like this and the loss of honeybees in north America has been
devastating to orchardists because it is damaging their livelihood.

It is nothing to do with a slang term for animal (or human) semen.

Dang, sorry about the lecture. I'll shut up now. I get het up about
pollinators.

Tish

On Sat, 6 May 2006 00:33:54 +0000 (UTC), Cheryl Perkins
yodeled:

Christina Websell wrote:

snip

I cannot think why I even suggested that Scotland was cold as it's obviously
proved otherwise by those who've never been there.

'Cold' is both objective, as in measured by a thermometer, and
subjective, as in experienced by people. Some people find -10 C icy,
others find it quite moderate. I generally find my home area, often
compared to the more rugged parts of Scotland as to climate, quite
comfortable, but when I returned in midsummer after several years in a
much hotter climate I nearly froze until I re-adjusted, or at least it
felt like I was freezing. I find southern Ontario and Quebec winter
temperatures far too icy - many people find ours far worse although by the
thermometer readings here are generally higher than in Ontario. In the
winter, that is. The extreme dampness and high winds gets to people and
makes them feel colder if they aren't used to it.

So it is perfectly possible for Scotland to be cold, and not to be cold at
the same time! I'd probably find most areas quite pleasant. Someone from a
milder climate or a downright tropical one would probably find it too
cold.


Well, I swear, I was there twice and felt cold all the time. Maybe
the temperature seems moderate, but it feels cold. I'm not from a
tropical climate. It is also dark and damp many days out of the year,
which makes it seem colder-- not a lot of sunshine, overall. Finally,
until fairly recently, people in the British Isles simply did not have
the same notions about heating their dwellings as Americans do, so it
was cold indoors, too. Not, of course, if you wore a sweater (or
two), but who wants to wear a sweater all the time?


Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com

Make Levees, Not War

On 2006-05-06 11:49:24 -0500, Kreisleriana said:

On Sat, 6 May 2006 00:33:54 +0000 (UTC), Cheryl Perkins
yodeled:

Christina Websell wrote:

snip

I cannot think why I even suggested that Scotland was cold as it's
obviously proved otherwise by those who've never been there.

'Cold' is both objective, as in measured by a thermometer, and
subjective, as in experienced by people. Some people find -10 C icy,
others find it quite moderate. I generally find my home area, often
compared to the more rugged parts of Scotland as to climate, quite
comfortable, but when I returned in midsummer after several years in a
much hotter climate I nearly froze until I re-adjusted, or at least it
felt like I was freezing. I find southern Ontario and Quebec winter
temperatures far too icy - many people find ours far worse although by
the thermometer readings here are generally higher than in Ontario. In
the winter, that is. The extreme dampness and high winds gets to people
and makes them feel colder if they aren't used to it.

So it is perfectly possible for Scotland to be cold, and not to be cold
at the same time! I'd probably find most areas quite pleasant. Someone
from a milder climate or a downright tropical one would probably find
it too cold.


Well, I swear, I was there twice and felt cold all the time. Maybe
the temperature seems moderate, but it feels cold. I'm not from a
tropical climate. It is also dark and damp many days out of the year,
which makes it seem colder-- not a lot of sunshine, overall. Finally,
until fairly recently, people in the British Isles simply did not have
the same notions about heating their dwellings as Americans do, so it
was cold indoors, too. Not, of course, if you wore a sweater (or
two), but who wants to wear a sweater all the time?

That would be me. I LOOOOOOVE wearing sweaters.

I also have SAD, seasonal affective disorder, and get depressed
promptly as we turn the clock back in the fall. I hate darkness and
short days.

Nancy also suffers from that, but I'm the opposite. I really, really like
my dark hours. I get really bummed when the time change means that it's
still light when I get of work and get home.

Adrian A wrote:

But strawberries are not a fruit, does the world still make sense?

What are they, then?

Joyce

Tish Silberbauer wrote:

Many plants will not set fruit at all unless visited by an insect -
many pome fruit (apples, plumbs, apricots, peaches, nectarines) are
like this and the loss of honeybees in north America has been
devastating to orchardists because it is damaging their livelihood.

I've heard this before, but I don't know why we have lost honeybees.

Dang, sorry about the lecture. I'll shut up now.

Oh, please don't! That was interesting reading! I don't know much about
botany myself, but I find the subject interesting.

Joyce

I googled it and this is what I found:

"The strawberry is not a multiple fruit but rather an aggregate fruit
with accessory tissue. A multiple fruit is derived from multiple
flowers (e.g. pineapple, mulberry), whereas an aggregate fruit is
derived from a single flower. A strawberry develops from a single
flower with numerous ovaries and accessory receptacular tissue."
Robert Kiger
Director, Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation

So ... it appears that strawberries *are* fruit, since he calls them
"fruit" several times in that excerpt.

To be honest, I find it hard to care about the precise definition -
botanically or culinary, of fruit and vegetables and I'm sure plants
don't care much either!

Tish


On 07 May 2006 02:33:11 GMT, wrote:

Adrian A wrote:

But strawberries are not a fruit, does the world still make sense?

What are they, then?

Joyce

On 07 May 2006 02:37:01 GMT, wrote:

I've heard this before, but I don't know why we have lost honeybees.

Bee mites.

On Sat, 06 May 2006 21:55:19 -0500, William Hamblen
wrote:

On 07 May 2006 02:37:01 GMT, wrote:

I've heard this before, but I don't know why we have lost honeybees.

Bee mites.

and pesticides being used unwisely

and people destroying hives out of fear of Africanized honeybees (in
some parts of the USA)

But mostly, as Bill said, bee mites (varroa)

Tish

"Tish Silberbauer" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 06 May 2006 21:55:19 -0500, William Hamblen
wrote:

On 07 May 2006 02:37:01 GMT, wrote:

I've heard this before, but I don't know why we have lost honeybees.

Bee mites.

and pesticides being used unwisely

and people destroying hives out of fear of Africanized honeybees (in
some parts of the USA)

But mostly, as Bill said, bee mites (varroa)

Tish

A lot of the bees that are shipped around the country are raised around
here. Bee Keepers are very careful to keep their hives isolated from wild
bees. There is a fantastic market for enough bees to start a hive. I used
to run into the bee guy at the post office all the time sending his little
packages off.

Jo