4 September: National Macadamia Nut Day

Today is National Macadamia Nut Day. Here are 10 things you may not know about macadamia nuts.

1. The nuts get their name from John Macadam, a Scottish doctor and chemist, who promoted their cultivation.
2. He didn't discover them, though. The plant was discovered in 1928, by the botanist Allan Cunningham. That said, Australian Aborigines were probably eating them for centuries before that - they referred to the nuts as "bauple", "gyndi", "jindilli" and "boombera".
3. In English, they are sometimes called Queensland nuts, bush nuts, maroochi nuts, bauple nuts or Hawaii nuts.
4. They are native to Australia, but South Africa is the world's biggest producer as of 2018.
5. The plant was introduced to Hawaii in 1882 as a windbreak for sugar cane, but in 1921 the first commercial orchards were planted.
6. In Australia, meanwhile, people were already growing commercial orchards - the first one there was planted in 1888. As early as the 1860s, Aborigines were trading them with the settlers.
7. The nuts are not picked from the tree. Instead, harvesters wait until they ripen and fall and then pick them up off the ground.
8. They have the hardest shell of any nut. It takes 300lbs of pressure per square inch to crack one. Aside from humans, who use tools, few animals can crack them, but one animal which can is the hyacinth macaw, so macadamia nuts are often fed to these birds in captivity.
9. A macadamia tree can produce 65lbs of nuts a year once it reaches seven years of age.
10. In 2014, macadamia nuts were responsible for delaying a flight in an incident which later became known as "the nut rage incident" or "nutgate". Although it wasn't the nuts so much as a privileged rich woman throwing a tantrum. The woman, Heather Cho, was the vice president of the airline, Korean Air, and was travelling first class. She took objection to the way the cabin crew served the nuts - in their packaging rather than on a plate. The airline procedures dictated that the nuts be served in a closed bag, but Cho lost her rag and not only fired the flight attendant but allegedly assaulted him and demanded that the plane return to the gate so he could be removed from the plane. However when the news got out, Cho ended up having to resign from her job, serve five months in prison and apologise to the steward (who did, in due course, get his job back).

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Obsidian's Ark

Teenage years bring no end of problems. Daniel Moran's include getting hold of computer games his parents don't think he should have; a full blown crush on the beautiful Suki from Zorostan; maintaining his status as a prefect and getting his homework done. He must also keep from his parents and sister the fact that he is a superhero with a sword from another world.

Trish wonders how to get science whizz Tom to notice her; how to persuade him that the best way to stand up to the school bully is to fight back. She doesn't want her friends, especially not Tom, to know she is a genetic variant with superpowers. Little does she know that Tom has secrets of his own.

Suki struggles to make friends at school when she cannot understand everyday cultural references, and they all suspect her of being a terrorist. She, too, has a secret, but is it what her classmates assume?

When Daniel stumbles upon a plot by an alliance of supervillains to plunge the world into war, he tries to alert the established superheroes, but none of them believe him. When the Prime Minister's only daughter, Yasmin Miller, is abducted, Daniel knows the villains' plan is underway. It seems humanity's only hope may be Daniel and the ragtag bunch of teenage superheroes he recruits. Can he pull together, not only his own team, but the older heroes as well, in a bid to save the Earth from a devastating war?

Themes: 

Superheroes; Coming of age; Leadership; Kidnap and rescue; Aliens; Friendship and rivalry; Terrorism; Secrets.

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