Today I learned...

That ROI business in the small print really sucks.

Frankly, I don't blame them with the roads here being the state they are!

that Ask Jeeves search engine is named after a character named Jeeves in a bunch of P.G. Wodehouse books. I saw the title and wondered about that!

that Ask Jeeves search engine is named after a character named Jeeves in a bunch of P.G. Wodehouse books. I saw the title and wondered about that!

If you like the books, try watching the old TV show! It's great! Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie!

How it's entirely possible to feel hungover without having touched a drop when you're baby was up most of the night for the heat and your 3-year-old was up at 5 because hey, the sun's out.

I hate heat!

today i learned that i only have 12.5 more working days of my current duties, before handing everything over and beginning 'project work'  until my official leaving date.

That most fruit is technically cloned. I was specifically told about grapes, cherries, avocados, peaches, and apples.

That most fruit is technically cloned. I was specifically told about grapes, cherries, avocados, peaches, and apples.

I think that it might be a issue of definition here.  Most fruit trees are grafted (a rootstock of one plant is surgically attached to the scion of another plant - a form of ASEXUAL propagation like cloning) but if it's got seeds, it's got to be SEXUAL.

Cloning is taking a bit of tissue and growing out a plant.  It costs a ton of money and it's not the fruit that's cloned, but instead the green parts.  It takes a egg and a sperm to make a fruit, same as it is does make a baby. 

I'm a Ag teacher, and unless I've missed major strides in Agriculture in the last year, I think you've been misinformed 

Maybe grafted is what the person meant, then. I know part of the discussion was about seedless watermelon and grapes and how those are made and continue to be made, but she mentioned the other fruits as well.

For clarity (and to double check that I wasn't telling false truths)  

http://science.howstuffworks.com/fruits/question349.htm

Apparently the seedless fruit is a genetic mutation, which is then propagated by stem, leaf etc cuttings or grafting.  

The new plant has the same genetic code as the 'parent' plant - and is offically a clone rather than a unique individual.

The fruit however is still produced from the union of the egg and sperm - however because no viable seed is produced, there can be no futher sexual reproduction of the plant.

So - technically cloned is right.  Just not in a lab, like Dolly the sheep.  I guess I reacted to the word clone and went from there.  Sorry, Belita!
 

That my poor deluded colleagues and customers still expect me to be enthusiastic and engaged with my job when I'm being made redundant in a few weeks time!

Ha!

Thanks, Hollyberry!

I agree that's ridiculous, Q-G.

The term redneck comes from coal miners trying to unionize. The workers in the union tied red bandanas around their necks.

The term redneck comes from coal miners trying to unionize. The workers in the union tied red bandanas around their necks.

Did you by any chance watch the Appalachia PBS special (can't remember the name of it) to learn this? I just saw it recently and it was really very interesting!

The term redneck comes from coal miners trying to unionize. The workers in the union tied red bandanas around their necks.

That is interesting....I didn't know that, I thought it meant people who worked outdoors (farmers/trades men, etc) in the US who got a sunburn in the summer.

Kind of like Chicago being called the windy city, and it's not about the wind/weather, rather the politicians in the old days....blowing smoke/playing "under the table" politics.

Did you by any chance watch the Appalachia PBS special (can't remember the name of it) to learn this? I just saw it recently and it was really very interesting!

I watched it on the History Channel, it was hosted by Billy Ray Cyrus.

That is interesting....I didn't know that, I thought it meant people who worked outdoors (farmers/trades men, etc) in the US who got a sunburn in the summer.

Kind of like Chicago being called the windy city, and it's not about the wind/weather, rather the politicians in the old days....blowing smoke/playing "under the table" politics.

I thought it was something like that as well. I didn't know that about Chicago. I learned something else new!