Rum Doings Episode 95: Winky And Fluffbox
by John Walker on Jan.06, 2012, under Rum Doings, The Rest
In episode 95 of Rum Doings, we’re re-joined by regular guest Judge Coxcombe. Who receives a rich welcome.
There are Latin grammar lessons, book recommendations for Nick, and words for winkies. John argues against word gender, Martin talks Dick, and the loveliness of quantum mechanics. There are more book reviews, the contentious early versions of the Gospel of Mark, and how John De Lancie wrote the Bible. And are Nick and John… the same person?
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[audio: http://rumdoings.jellycast.com/files/audio/rumdoings_e95.mp3]
January 6th, 2012 on 16:41
The best sketch comedy at the moment is probably Burnistoun by Rab Florence who you might know Jon. It is a proper sketch show as well, not one of these modern ones where every episode has the same joke and sketch. There is a few that return but its not that often. Plus its really surreal.
January 6th, 2012 on 18:50
Dear Sirs,
You should try Diplomatico Exclusiva Reserva neat/on ice with a small 1×1 inch bit of orange peel in it [JUST the peel, absolutely none of the white stuff, a potato peeler works great] Its about £36-£40 so not breaking the bank between 3 or 4 people and its my fav sipping rum so tell me what you think!
Regards,
Squire
January 6th, 2012 on 19:15
“You can draw me a mitochondrium”
The singular form of mitochondria is mitochondrion.
January 6th, 2012 on 20:20
Related to Nick’s comments on Martin at the start of the podcast, I tried to get my brother to start listening but he was offended by Martin’s (entirely justified) distaste for Miranda Hart and thought he was ‘trying too hard to be posh’. Said brother now ‘can’t be bothered’ to listen to any Martin-less episodes, so Mr Coxcombe has effectively lost you a listener.
Also, I was sat in a park, eating some KFC when you started talking about it. Their sweetcorn is incredibly awkward to get at.
January 7th, 2012 on 01:04
Yay! Martin! Thanks Rum Doings!
January 7th, 2012 on 18:14
So happy to hear a mention of Mortal Engines. They are fantastic books – I have the second and third ones by my bed right now, ready to be re-read. Apparently Peter Jackson is making a film, so read them now before they’re embarassed a la Northern It’s Not Golden or a Bloody Compass Lights.
If you’re unsure, you need only read the first, because it ends wonderfully and you can stop there if you want to.
“You’re a twat with a very good argument” is a terrific line that I will have to steal.
January 8th, 2012 on 02:47
KFC! I know a bit about that; I did my national service there. I finished almost thirteen years ago – urgh – so memories will be hazy and details might’ve changed. Because anyone cares about the details of fried chicken? No, but anyway.
The coating was mostly flour (at least a ten kilo sack to a batch, probably more), mixed with about a kilo of salt and a similar amount of the pre-mixed seasoning. The chicken was dunked in water then chucked into it to coat.
It was pressure-fried in shortening at 365°F (I don’t know the pressure) for 15 minutes, for four head of chicken; two head or the various quantities of fillets were prepared and cooked the same way, but for different times, temperatures and pressures.
The pressure-fryers* have a filter and pump built in, and after every batch the oil’s dropped into the filter, the fryer’s scraped down, and then the oil’s pumped back up to start again. The detritus stuck to the filter, being just deep-fried, seasoned flour, was stored when the machines were cleaned out at night, and used to make the gravy.
For a while the chicken was injection marinaded. I forget whether they kept it up or if it was just a trial.
I quite liked the cooking; I burnt and impaled myself on bones regularly, but it meant I didn’t have to deal with customers. I’m sure many of them were decent enough, but you only ever remember the fuckwits. One guy came in demanding I lend him the giant chicken-chopping knife. Even if we’d had such a thing (the chicken’s pre-cut, obviously), how much of an idiot would you have to be to hand out a dangerous weapon to total strangers?
Anyhow, I enjoyed the podcast, and was glad to hear Mr. Coxall return.
* Ours were Henny Pennys, much like the PFG-600 whose specifications you can download here. COMPUTRON 8000™!
January 8th, 2012 on 04:55
iTunes is clearly a machination of THE DEVV’L and therefore should be proscribed. If this podcast doesn’t remain patently sovereign, it too should suffer proscription merely for recommending use of a DEVV’L-wrought device.
Despite some past reservations about him, I was glad Mr. Coxall joined Messrs. Mailer and Walker for this Doingsy talk-a-bit. The physics-chat was nice.
/me executes a stately golf clap in front of the monitor
/me might have had a bit of the Kraken rum whilst listening and illustrating
/me wonders how one might buy the Rum Doings fellows some Kraken rum because it’s bottled in my state and is an alright sipper
January 8th, 2012 on 04:58
Also, Colthor, your comment was great.
January 8th, 2012 on 07:04
I enjoyed your guest you should have him round more often. Fantasy books and quantum. Cool.
January 8th, 2012 on 09:26
I assume one can’t leave more than one review on itunes? I also think you are a little incorrect on quantum mechanics. In that- light is always a particle, but will act like a wave in aggregate, unless observed individually. I think if you look at the maths it seems less spooky. I am almost certain that observation is less significant than you make out. That said, its been a loooong time since I’ve done any kind of quantum mechanics, doing a bit at A-level and reading Feynman’s excellent, if challenging QED.
January 8th, 2012 on 20:33
My suspicions were confirmed. The best episodes are those with Judge Coxcombe in them!
Also, regarding Latin, ‘rēs’ is pronounced with /s/ like in ‘sex’, not /z/ like in ‘Zeno’.
January 9th, 2012 on 15:25
@ Jambe:
Thanks!
January 9th, 2012 on 15:55
Should an early death befall either of you, John and Nick, I implore the other one to continue with Rum Doings with Judge Coxcombe replacing the deceased party.
January 9th, 2012 on 17:18
I must say I’m not a Coxall fan – if he blew his nose and used his inhaler before podcasting I might find him less annoying.
I do like it when Nick is corrected on something though so he nearly makes up for it.
January 10th, 2012 on 05:01
I don’t really do the Twitter thing, but I recommend finding a copy of the first book of the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson. Americans are apparently constitutionally incapable of reading long books, so the trilogy has been re-released here (in the US) as an 8-book series. Hopefully, that is not the case in the UK/Canada and you can still find the original first volume. Cuz’ if you’re going to read the whole thing anyways (and you will! So good!), it’s just way easier to have three books than eight.
I don’t know how fast you read or how long your trip is; you might want to bring the whole trilogy along. They are my favorite thing written by a still-living author, as far as fiction goes.
January 11th, 2012 on 01:13
I wonder what Nick finds so objectionable about the presence of dragons in a work of fiction?
January 11th, 2012 on 10:38
It’s probably the notion that dragons = dungeons & dragons = po faced fantasy that takes itself very seriously like Lord of the Rings.
ASOIAF is actually quite funny, and I think he would enjoy characters like Tyrion, but the prejudice won’t allow him to.
January 11th, 2012 on 11:35
Agreed. The first book only has dragons in the very last scene, and some faux-zombies in the prologue. Otherwise it’s a mediaeval political thriller basically, with no fantasy elements to speak of.
January 11th, 2012 on 19:39
If Nick doesn’t want to read Rendezvous with Rama, he should check out Eon, by Greg Bear, which also features a strange object from deep space that our plucky heroes are sent to investigate. Things get a bit strange when they realise the object is identical in makeup to an asteroid from our own system…
I also recommend Kiln People by David Brin whenever somebody asks for a science fiction book to read. It’s about the societal impact of low-priced clay golems!
January 12th, 2012 on 10:18
My go-to recommendation for snooty people who want to read a good science fiction book is John Brunner’s “Stand on Zanzibar,” followed closely by its sort-of companion piece “The Sheep Look Up.” They’re both real-worldy enough to not put off people who don’t care for spaceships and aliens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_on_zanzibar (funny)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sheep_Look_Up (gloomy)
January 12th, 2012 on 20:41
@ Jambe
I ‘live’ in Southampton and there’s a shop that sells imported American goods, including the fine Kraken Rum. I too enjoy sipping it, though only occasionally as even small amounts of rum (and, it seems, only rum) give me a fair hangover.
As far as recommending Nick a sci-fi book goes, I’d suggest The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. It’s a sort-of Count of Monte Cristo in space, but not really. If something more dark is what you seek, then Peter Watts’s Blindsight is an excellent read. He’s a biologist (not a proper scientist) so the descriptions of aliens are interesting – not simply blue humanoids or cat people.