Author Archives: Spuggy

Recipe: Broccoli and Stilton Soup

Posted on 7 September 2018 by Spuggy

It’s been a while since we put a recipe up, but I managed to bring back a block of stilton cheese to Germany and this soup turned out too good not to share. Ingredients 1 large head or 2 medium … Continue reading →

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How one cancelled train can ruin the whole system

Posted on 22 May 2018 by Spuggy

After my blog post about how maths means trains seem more frequent than they are, here’s another even more irritating rail-based maths problem. From Germany, I’ve been feeling quietly smug watching the chaos on the UK Northern and Thameslink lines … Continue reading →

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Recipe: Korean-style bitter orange and lime tea

Posted on 20 May 2018 by Spuggy

No photos for this recipe, because I couldn’t find a way to make boiled citrus fruits photogenics. This is based on the Korean yuja-cha (also known by its Japanese name yuzucha), and it’s effectively a marmalade you put in a … Continue reading →

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Sparrow Songs: Metal that’s not about death

Posted on 28 April 2018 by Spuggy

It’s been a while since I did one of these posts! So, one image that people have of metal music is “Oh, it’s all screaming about death and Satan and so on”. But this is not true! So, in this … Continue reading →

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A map of every town in It’s Grim Up North

Posted on 12 April 2018 by Spuggy

Where does the North begin? This debate has been raging on the Wikipedia talk page for Northern England for over a decade. Well, luckily the answer has already been given to us by… the KLF. In 1991, the band – … Continue reading →

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Urban birdwatching in Frankfurt — Urbane Vogelbeobachtung in Frankfurt-am-Main

Posted on 25 March 2018 by Spuggy

If you follow me on social media, I’ve probably been driving you mad recently with lots of bird pictures. Lots and lots of bird pictures. In order to have them all in the same place – and not just have … Continue reading →

Posted in Birds, Germany | 4 Comments

What is the top-heaviest country?

Posted on 15 March 2018 by Spuggy

This post is based on an interesting Twitter thread about country populations! In particular, this pair of tweets from Josh Fruhlinger: https://twitter.com/jfruh/status/974194917273563136 It’s an interesting thing – how top-heavy is a country or federation? In other words, how much of … Continue reading →

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The periodic table of tastes, and how to cook with them

Posted on 21 February 2018 by Spuggy

One of the more confusing bits of childhood science education is learning that there are only four or five tastes (textbooks have been slow to add the fifth taste, commonly called umami or savouriness, even thought it was discovered over … Continue reading →

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A short Star Trek thing

Posted on 13 February 2018 by Spuggy

Normally I’d just complain about this on Facebook or wherever, but since it’s also a spoiler for the season finale of Star Trek Discovery, I decided to put it here on the blog. Spoilers after the jump!

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Sneaky Thoughts: I, Tonya

Posted on 6 February 2018 by Spuggy

Someone suggested today that I should make a habit of writing little reviews of the films we get at Sneak Preview. So, why not? Tonight’s film was I, Tonya, a biopic of Tonya Harding, the ice skater who became globally … Continue reading →

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