5 December: Hibiscus

According to old almanacs, today’s plant is the Longstalked hibiscus. Here are 10 facts about hibiscus:

1. It’s a flowering plant which is the largest genus (434 species) in the mallow family. The mallow family includes cacao, cola, Cotton, okra, durian, hollyhock, mallow and the lime or linden tree.

2. They are often grown in gardens for their beautiful, colourful flowers which attract Butterflies, Bees, and Hummingbirds. You’ll need a sunny garden, though. The flowers need about 6 hours of sun a day in order to blossom.

3. Hibiscus is a national symbol of several countries: Haiti, the Solomon Islands, Niue, South Korea and Malaysia. Hibiscus brackenridgei is the state flower of Hawaii. A stylised image of the hibiscus flower was used as a logo of Air Polynésie.

4. In the Hindu religion, Hibiscus is associated with the goddess Kali and often appears in artwork featuring her. The hibiscus is used as an offering to Kali and the god Ganesha.

5. The plants are edible. The flowers have a lemony taste and are rich in Vitamin C. Common uses include chutneys, soups, salads, curries, jams and jellies. Dried hibiscus is a delicacy in Mexico. It can also be made into tea which tastes a bit like Cranberries and it has been suggested that hibiscus tea is good for lowering blood pressure.

6. In the Philippines, children use the plant to make bubbles. The flowers and leaves are crushed until the sticky juices come out, then they stick hollow stalks into the mixture to create bubbles.

7. Other parts of the plant, such as the bark, are used in Paper making and also, in Polynesia, for making rope, and Canoe floats.

8. A hibiscus flower can be used to determine the pH of a liquid. The flower turns dark Pink or Magenta in an acidic solution and Green in an alkaline one.

9. In India and Sri Lanka, it’s known as a Shoe flower, because rubbing the blooms on leather brings back its natural shine.

10. The hibiscus flower is traditionally worn by Pacific island women. It’s an easy way to tell if a woman is spoken for or not. If the flower is worn behind the left ear, she’s married or in a relationship, but if worn on the right, it means she’s single.

Christmas is coming! 

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

4 December: 338

Today is day 338 of 2025. 10 fun facts about the number 338.

1. London bus route 338 runs from Stratford City Bus Station to London Bridge Bus Station.

2. The sum of its digits is 14.

3. 338 Budrosa is a large Main belt Asteroid discovered by Auguste Charlois in 1892 in Nice.

4. Lapua .388 is a cartridge used by snipers. It can penetrate body armour at a range of 1,000m.

5. The A338 is a major road in southern England, which runs from the junction with the A35 at Poole in Dorset to the junction with the A420 at Besselsleigh in Oxfordshire, a distance of 84 miles (135 km). The A338 figures in Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure. The point where the road crests the downs before beginning the steep drop into Wantage ('Alfredston') is the spot where young Jude stands one evening and looks out for the first time on Oxford ('Christminster').

6. The year 338 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Ursus and Polemius.

7. 338Canada is an independently owned media website about politics, polling and electoral projections. It was created and is managed by Philippe J. Fournier, who teaches physics and astrophysics at Cégep de Saint-Laurent, a post-secondary institution in Montreal.

8. The Roman numeral for 338 is CCCXXXVIII.

9. Its divisors are 1, 2, 13, 26, 169, 338.

10. Studio 338 is an electronic music club in London, ranked #19 in the world by DJ Mag.

Christmas is coming! 

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

3 December: Joseph Conrad Quotes

Joseph Conrad, a Polish-born English novelist was born on this date in 1857. Many critics regard him as one of the greatest novelists in the English language – a fact that is remarkable, as he did not learn to speak English fluently until he was in his twenties. His books include Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness, Nostromo and The Secret Agent. 10 quotes:

1. The mind of man is capable of anything – because everything is in it, all the past as well as the future.

2. The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.

3. Being a woman is a terribly difficult trade since it consists principally of dealings with men.

4. My task, which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel – it is, before all, to make you see.

5. Your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.

6. You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends.

7. There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea.

8. Woe to the man whose heart has not learned while young to hope, to love – and to put its trust in life.

9. The sea has never been friendly to man. At most it has been the accomplice of human restlessness.

10. To have his path made clear for him is the aspiration of every human being in our beclouded and tempestuous existence.

Christmas is coming! 

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

2 December: Sinkholes

On this date in 1972 "December Giant" the largest sinkhole in the US collapsed in Alabama. 10 facts about sinkholes:

1. What is a sinkhole? Basically a hole in the ground where surface rock, usually something easily eroded, like limestone, has dissolved over time. Most sinkholes are caused by karst processes, ie the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks.

2. Sinkholes can also be caused by human activity such as abandoned mines collapsing or water main breaks.

3. They can be just several inches across, or they can be vast. The deepest and largest sinkhole in the world is the Xiaoxhai Tiankeng in China which 660m deep, with a volume of 130 million cubic metres.

4. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas are the states where sinkholes are most common. That said, the same survey puts the probability of a major sinkhole occurring in any given year at about 1 in 100.

5. In Florida, you can get insurance against sinkholes happening on your property.

6. Sometimes there is a sudden collapse with virtually no warning, but others form more gradually. It’s possible, if you live in a high risk area, to know the signs to look out for. These include fence posts or trees sagging and leaning; doors and windows not closing properly and rainfall collecting in an area where it didn’t before.

7. If a sinkhole is caught early, it’s possible to inject grout into the hole to rebuild a foundation over the degrading bedrock.

8. Sinkholes are known by other names in some parts of the world. For example, in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico they are known as cenotes. These often expose underground rivers and caves, and were used by the Mayans as places to hide treasure or for human sacrifice. If you visit a cenote, it’s the done thing to ask the protection of the Mayan gods, so there will be no further collapses while you are in there.

9. Ancient sinkholes along coastlines, which flooded as sea levels rose, are known as Blue holes. They are so called because of the deep blue colour of the water. They are like vertical caves and are home to many species of marine animal, but divers need to be extra careful because it is hard to gauge how deep you’re going.

10. Sinkholes don’t just happen on Earth. Some were found on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by the Rosetta space probe.

Christmas is coming! 

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

1 December: 335

1 December is the 335^th day of any year that’s not a leap year. 10 facts about the number 335.

1. The Roman numeral for 335 is CCCXXXV.

2. The year 335 was a common year starting on Wednesday, known at the time as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Albinus. In this year, Emperor Constantine I consecrated the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

3. In American football, the 3–3–5 defence is a defensive alignment consisting of three down linemen, three linebackers, and five defensive backs. It's sometimes referred to as the 3–3 stack or the spread defence.

4. The BMW 335 is a six-cylinder sports sedan produced by the Bavarian firm BMW between 1939 and 1941.

5. Porsche type 335, however, is not a car. It’s a belt driven winch intended for agricultural use in post-war Austria. The type 335 winch design was particularly useful as a surface winch for farmers in mountainous areas.

6. 335 Roberta is a large main belt Asteroid discovered in 1892 by German astronomer Anton Staus at Heidelberg Observatory. It was the only asteroid discovery he made. Roberta was the 12th asteroid to be discovered using photography.

7. The A335 road in England runs from Southampton to Eastleigh.

8. The Gibson ES-335 is a type of semi-acoustic Guitar introduced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES (Electric Spanish) series in 1958.

9. London bus 335 runs from Wingfield School to North Greenwich Station.

10. In Power Rangers in Space, 335 is the activation code for morphing into a space ranger.

Christmas is coming! 

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

30 November: John Bunyan

On this date in 1628 John Bunyan was baptised. He’s best known for writing The Pilgrim's Progress. 10 facts about him:

1. His exact date of birth isn’t known, but we do know that his parents were called Thomas and Margaret, and that the family lived at Bunyan's End in the parish of Elstow, Bedfordshire.

2. His father was a tinker who travelled around the area mending pots and pans. His grandfather was a small trader who had at some point owned some land, which suggests that Bunyan’s assertion that his father's house was "of that rank that is meanest and most despised in the country" wasn’t strictly true.

3. Not much is known about his childhood. He went to a local school, though it’s not known which one, and also learned his father’s trade. His father also taught him to swear. He liked to read the popular books of the time, and suffered from nightmares.

4. He served in the Parliamentary army for three years in the early stages of the civil war. When he was 16, Parliament demanded that the town of Bedford must provide 225 soldiers, and Bunyan was one of them. There are few details about his service although he did write of one incident where a fellow soldier once took his place on watch and was shot in the head, which Bunyan interpreted as evidence that God was looking out for him. He also wrote that he fully indulged in “all manner of vice and ungodliness" while serving in the army.

5. His mother died in 1644, and during his military service, his father remarried and started a new family, so Bunyan moved from the family home to a cottage of his own where he took up his father’s trade again.

6. Soon after that, Bunyan got married. The date of his wedding isn’t known, and neither is his wife’s name. Bunyan’s writings only tell us that she was a pious woman and they weren’t well off: "not having so much household-stuff as a Dish or a Spoon betwixt us both". They did, however, own two books, which the new Mrs Bunyan had inherited from her father. These were Practice of Piety by Lewis Bayly and Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven by Arthur Dent (yes, really – there was a Puritan minister and writer called Arthur Dent who died in 1607. There is no information on whether Douglas Adams named his character after this guy though). The couple had four children. The eldest, Mary, was blind, and the others were called Elizabeth, Thomas and John.

7. One Sunday he listened to a sermon about the Sabbath and the consequences of breaking it. Later, he was on the village green playing a game involving hitting a ball with a stick, when he heard God speak to him, telling him that he was sinful and going to hell. He struggled for a time with his sinful state and even developed a fear of bell ringing, a hobby he’d once enjoyed. Now he feared if he so much as entered the bell tower the bell would fall on him or the steeple collapse. He joined a nonconformist church as a result of hearing people talking about it during his travels working as a tinker. It was here that he began preaching and wrote his first book.

8. When the monarchy was restored in 1660, Bunyan was no longer free to preach and practice the nonconformist religion. It was now an offence to attend a religious meeting outside of the parish church with more than five people you weren’t related to. Not that it stopped him. He was preaching one day at a farm when he was arrested and sentenced to three months in prison which was extended to 12 years because he refused to promise to give up preaching outside the established church. During this time he made a little money to send home by making Shoelaces and writing tracts. His first wife had died, and he was now married to a woman called Elizabeth. He was occasionally allowed time out of prison which allowed him to continue preaching and father two children with Elizabeth. While he was in prison, he wrote a book called Grace Abounding and began work on Pilgrim’s Progress.

9. In 1672 the king issued a declaration of indulgence which suspended laws against nonconformists, and Bunyan was released. He was able to preach again and became a travelling preacher and earning the nickname “Bishop Bunyan”. There was a bit of a scandal though, when he allowed a member of his congregation, a young woman called Agnes Beaumont, to ride behind him on his horse. People, including the girl’s father, believed they were having an affair. Soon after her father died and Agnes was accused of poisoning him, but the coroner’s verdict was natural causes.

10. The Pilgrim’s Progress has been made into an Opera. The opera was written by Ralph Vaughan Williams and first performed at the Royal Opera House in 1951. It was revived in 2012 by the English National Opera.

Christmas is coming! 

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

29 November: San José

California’s oldest civilian settlement, San José, was founded on this date in 1777. 10 things you might not know about San José.

1. San José is Northern California’s largest city by population and the third largest city in California.

2. San José boasts the highest median household income in the nation.

3. In 1849, San José was made the state capital of California and was the first city of the state. The Capitol was a two-story adobe hotel, with the Assembly on the upper floor and the Senate on the lower. Unfortunately, a Fire destroyed the building in 1853.

4. The original name of the city was El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe.

5. San José laws limit the number of animals owners can have, which is five licensed animals total with no more than three Dogs.

6. It was once an agricultural community. The area has a mild climate and fertile soil, ideal for growing things. In the past, crops produced here included Wheat, Barley, Apples, Plums, Apricots and Peaches. Today it’s better known for the technology industry. It’s the birthplace of the floppy disc and eBay.

7. San José has eight sister cities: Dublin, Ireland, Guadalajara, Mexico, Okayama Japan, San José, Costa Rica, Pune, India, Tainan, Taiwan, Veracruz, Mexico, and Yekaterinburg, Russia.

8. The city’s airport was once closed for three days while Bill Murray and an Elephant named Mineta filmed scenes for a film called Larger than Life.

9. The San José Flea Market is mentioned in the bestselling novel The Kite Runner. The author, Khaled Hosseini, went to school in the city.

10. It is home to the world’s largest Monopoly board. The board is 930 square feet in size and it’s possible to rent it out and play with life sized game pieces.

Christmas is coming! 

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle