18 November: Quince

In the French Revolutionary Calendar today is the Day of Quince. 10 things you might not know about quince:

1. The scientific name for quince is Cydonia oblonga, and it is the only member of the genus Cydonia. The genus is part of the rose family, meaning quince is closely related to Apples and Pears.

2. Quinces are native to the Caucasus and Western and Central Asia. Wild trees grow in Azerbaijan, Iran, southwestern Russia and Turkmenistan.

3. The flowers of the quince tree are a pretty pale Pink, so the trees are sometimes planted in gardens for ornamental reasons.

4. The fruit is golden yellow and resembles a cross between an apple and a pear. It emits a sweet and floral scent rather like a combination of apples, pears, and citrus.

5. It is a good source of dietary fibre, vitamins C and E, potassium, and antioxidants.

6. The biggest quince producers are Turkey and China accounting for 43% of the world total in 2021.

7. In Turkey, the expression "to eat the quince" means an unpleasant situation because of the rather bitter aftertaste of a quince fruit inside the mouth. In Greek mythology, it represents love and fertility, while in other places, it represents happiness and prosperity.

8. One popular use for quince is to make a sweet and tangy paste known as “membrillo.” This paste is served with Cheese or used as a filling in pastries.

9. Marmalade was originally a word used for quince preserves. The Portuguese word for the fruit is marmelo, from the Ancient Greek melimelon, or “honey-apple.”

10. Quince was once used as a natural source of pectin, a thickening agent for jams, jellies and other confections, before gelatin was widely available.

NEW!!

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

17 November: Roentgenium

On 17 November 2006, a ceremony was held in Darmstadt, Germany, to celebrate the naming of the element Roentgenium. 10 facts about it:

1. Roentgenium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Rg and atomic number 111.

2. Not much is known about it. It’s a bit difficult to study as the most stable of its isotopes only has a half life of 130 seconds. Only a few atoms of the stuff have ever been made.

3. However, scientists predict that if ever enough is made to study it properly, it will turn out to be a dense noble metal which will be solid at room temperature, and a pale silvery colour.

4. Roentgenium has seven isotopes whose half-lives are known. There are more which haven’t been confirmed yet, including one, roentgenium-286, which could have a half life of as much as 10.7 minutes.

5. Roentgenium was first synthesised by an international team led by Sigurd Hofmann in 1994 at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research near Darmstadt, Germany.

6. The team that discovered it bombarded atoms of bismuth with ions of nickel in a linear accelerator.

7. Before it was assigned the name Roentgenium, it was given a temporary name, unununium, with a provisional chemical symbol of Uuu.

8. It is named after the physicist Wilhelm Röntgen (also spelled Roentgen), who discovered X Rays.

9. It is 272 times heavier than hydrogen.

10. Roentgenium does not occur at all in nature and has no uses apart from scientific study.

NEW!!

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

16 November: Gertrude Name Day

In Poland, today is the name day for people called Gertrude.

Gertrude is a feminine given name derived from Germanic roots meaning "spear" and "strength". 10 famous Gertrudes:

Gertrude Stein

1. Gertrude the Great: German Benedictine nun and mystic from the monastery of Helfta. Her feast day is November 16

2. Gertrude Jekyll: British horticulturist, garden designer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens and wrote over 1000 articles for magazines such as Country Life.

3. Gertrude Stein: American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector.

4. Gertrude: In William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, she is Hamlet's mother and Queen of Denmark.

5. Gertrude Bell: English writer, traveller and archaeologist. She spent much of her life exploring and mapping the Middle East, and was highly influential to British imperial policy-making due to her knowledge and contacts.

6. Gertrude Lawrence: English actress, singer, dancer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End of London and on Broadway in New York.

7. Gertrude Chataway: child-friend of the author Lewis Carroll. It was Gertrude who inspired The Hunting of the Snark.

8. Gertrude Ederle: American Olympic swimmer, who, on August 6, 1926, became the first woman to swim across the English Channel.

9. Gertrude Rachel Levy: British author and cultural historian writing about comparative mythology, matriarchy, epic poetry and archaeology.

10. Gertrude of Nivelles: seventh-century abbess who, with her mother Itta, founded the Abbey of Nivelles, now in Belgium. Her feast day is 17 March.

NEW!!

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

15 November: William Pitt the elder

This date in 1708 was the birthdate of William Pitt the Elder, First Earl of Chatham, British Prime Minister and noted orator. 10 facts about him:

1. He was born Golden Square, Westminster. His mother was Lady Harriet Villiers, daughter of Viscount Grandison, who belonged to the Anglo-Irish nobility and his father was Robert Pitt, a member of Parliament.

2. His grandfather, Thomas, was governor of the East India Company’s “factory” at Madras (now Chennai). He was known as “Diamond” Pitt and was known for his temper, and for not getting on with “that hellish confusion that is my family.” He was, however, affectionate towards the young William.

3. William Pitt attended Eton and then Trinity College, Oxford.

4. He suffered from gout from an early age, which ruled him out of many sporting activities. He read a lot, and his favourite poet was Virgil.

5. As a second son, he didn’t inherit the family estate and so had to find a career. He chose the military – a school friend called George Lyttelton, introduced him to Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham in 1731 and Pitt gained a commission in Temple’s regiment.

6. William Pitt was elected to the family pocket borough of Old Sarum in 1735. He sided with the opposition to Walpole, joining Cobham’s nephews Richard Grenville and Lyttelton as a member of the group known as ‘Cobham’s cubs’.

7. He was known for being leader during the Seven Years War, when he declared, “I am sure I can save this country, and nobody else can.”

8. He became known as the 'Great Commoner' due to his refusal to accept a title until 1766.

9. He married Lady Hester Grenville, sister of Richard Grenville in November 1754. They had five children, including William Pitt the Younger, who became prime minister in 1783.

10. He died on 11 May 1778 at the age of 69. His son William read the passage in Homer’s Iliad on Hector’s farewell to him on his death bed.

NEW!!

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

14 November: Pippi Longstocking

Born on this date in 1907 was Astrid Lindgren, Swedish children's author, best known for Pippi Longstocking. 10 facts about Pippi:

1. Pippi Longstocking’s full name is Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim's Daughter Longstocking. Pippi means "quirky" in old Swedish slang.

2. Pippi was created by Astrid Lindgren as a bedtime story for her daughter, Karin, who was ill in bed and needed entertaining. It was Karin who named the character Pippi.

3. Astrid didn’t write the stories down, however, until she was incapacitated herself with a broken ankle. She passed the time by recalling the stories she had told Karin and writing them down.

4. Lindgren wrote all of her first drafts in stenographer's shorthand.

5. She sent the manuscript to a publisher but was turned down. Astrid then submitted the stories to writing competitions and in due course won the first prize – a publishing contract.

6. Pippi lives in a house called Villa Villekulla. The house which appeared in the 1969 T.V. series still stands in the town of Vibble, Sweden.

7. Pippi is a nine year old girl with superpowers. She can lift her Horse with one hand. However, in the French version of the book, it was decided that was unrealistic, so the horse became a pony.

8. Pippi lives by herself as her mother died when she was young, and her father, a pirate captain, was lost at sea. He had planned to retire someday and had bought the house to live in with Pippi when he did. Pippi moved in by herself instead. She likes living alone because nobody orders her to go to bed or take cod liver oil.

9. She has a pet Monkey called Mr. Nilsson (a present from her father) and a horse which she bought with some of the gold coins salvaged from her father’s ship. The horse lives on the porch.

10. As of 2010, Astrid Lindgren’s books have been translated into 95 languages, from Afrikaans to Zulu, making her the most translated Swedish author.

NEW!!

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

13 November: Bay

In old almanacs, today’s plant of the day was Bay. Here are 10 facts:

1. Its common names include bay tree, bay laurel, sweet bay, true laurel, Grecian laurel, or simply laurel.

2. Bay leaves are a common ingredient in cooking, used as a herb. They are used to enhance the flavour of dishes such as stews, but should be removed after cooking as cooking doesn’t soften them and they can irritate the digestive tract.

3. You can get ground bay leaves, which can be safely consumed, and are often added to a Bloody Mary cocktail.

4. Bay leaves aren’t toxic to humans, although some plants which look similar, like mountain laurel and cherry laurel, are. Insects don’t like bay leaves, though, so they can be used as an insect repellent in pantries.

5. The laurel wreaths used in ancient Greece and Rome were made from bay leaves. A wreath of bay laurels was given as the prize at the Pythian Games because the games were in honour of Apollo, and the laurel was one of his symbols.

6. This arose because of the myth of Apollo and Daphne. Apollo fell in love with Daphne, a priestess of Gaia, but she wasn’t interested and appealed to Gaia to stop him pursuing her. Gaia transported her to Crete, and left a bay tree in her place.

7. According to Pliny the Elder, the leaves must not be used to light fires on altars, because when the leaves burn, they crackle, which Pliny interpreted as a protest by the plant at being used so profanely.

8. In Eastern Orthodoxy, bay leaves symbolise Jesus' destruction of Hades and freeing of the dead.

9. It is the source of the words baccalaureate and poet laureate, as well as the expressions "assume the laurel" and "resting on one's laurels". In Italy, laurel wreaths are worn as a crown by graduating school students.

10. Bay leaves contain approximately 2 percent essential oil, the principal component of which is cineole.

NEW!!

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

12 November: Cabbage Patch Kids

 On this date in 1983 Cabbage Patch Dolls made their début. 10 things you might not know about Cabbage Patch Kids:

1. They were created by a 21 year old student named Xavier Roberts. Although you could argue he copied them from an artist called Martha Nelson, who had created a line of doll babies, which, like the Cabbage Patch Kids, came with an adoption certificate. Roberts modified her idea enough to get a copyright, although Nelson would eventually sue him.

2. Roberts initially dubbed his creation “Little People” but had to change it to "Cabbage Patch Kids" because Fisher-Price already owned the name "Little People".

3. Each doll is unique, despite being mass produced. Computers were used to randomise the various features so each doll was different.

4. You didn’t buy a Cabbage Patch Kid, you adopted one – for a fee, of course. Roberts would correct anyone who referred to them as “dolls,” preferring to call them “babies” or “kids.” In fact, he adopted one himself, named it Otis Lee, and took it everywhere with him, eventually making it chairman of the board.

5. The origin story was written by Roger L. Schlaifer and his wife. The kids were born in Cabbage patches (referencing the lie often told to kids about where their new baby sibling came from). The cabbages were pollinated by a creature called a bunnybee, a cross between a bee and a Rabbit. These creatures used their rabbit ears to fly and would pollinate the plants in the magical cabbage patch with magic crystals. Xavier Roberts insisted on being written into the story and appears as a boy who follows a bunnybee behind a waterfall and finds cabbages having babies in an abandoned garden. I have to wonder what kind of drugs they were all on at the time! To continue the story, it turned out that the “babies” were being abducted by villains called Lavender McDade, Cabbage Jack and Beau Weasel and sent to work in gold mines. So Roberts made it his mission to save the “babies” by finding people to adopt them.

6. Numerous companies have manufactured the cloth dolls with plastic heads, the first being Coleco Industries in 1982. Most toy manufacturers initially turned down the dolls because they were deemed too ugly to be a best seller. Coleco was a computer company with a failing product and were diversifying into the toy market. While the dolls saved the company at the time, they eventually went bankrupt anyway and so the dolls were made, at various times, by Hasbro, Mattel, Toys R Us, and JAKKS Pacific (their current manufacturer).

7. The original outlet for Cabbage Patch Kids was an old medical clinic which had been converted to a toy shop, with staff acting as doctors and nurses. It was called Babyland General Hospital and was located in in Cleveland, Georgia. In 2007, the state of Georgia declared December 1st to be Official Cabbage Patch Kids Day.

8. The most expensive Cabbage Patch Kids are a set based on 2008 US presidential/vice presidential candidates—President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Senator John McCain, and Sarah Palin—for $59,999.99 ($15,000 each) on ebay. For comparison, a Cabbage Patch Doll based on Donald Trump would set you back just $6,750.

9. Over the years there have been Cabbage Patch Kids which could talk and for a time in the 1990s, there was a line of them that could eat plastic food – Cabbage Patch Snacktime Kids. The mechanism was a pair of one-way metal rollers behind the lips. The snacks would exit the doll into a backpack on its back. However, these were withdrawn on safety grounds after real children got their fingers or hair caught in the mechanism.

10. Like any toy, Cabbage Patch Kids were sometimes damaged by real children, mauled by dogs and various other accidents. They could be returned to Coleco to be repaired, or, to keep up the pretence, sent to the doll hospital for treatment. It was said that if Coleco received a doll that was broken beyond repair they would issue its owner with a death certificate.

NEW!!

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book