This is the time of year when things start moving more quickly. Blink your eyes and you miss something.
A wizard planted a lotus seed in a corner of the pond that supplied the king's kitchen with fish. Every day, the plant that sprouted from the seed doubled in size. After ten days, the lotus plant only covered one-millionth of the pond's surface and the Royal Advisors laughed at the wizard's demands for gold. After twenty days, the lotus plant covered only one-thousandth of the pond. Still, the Royal Advisors scoffed at the wizards threats of dire hunger if they did not pay him tribute.
On what day does the lotus plant cover half of the pond? On what day does it cover all of the pond and smother all of the fish?
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| The 2026 garden |
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| A broccoli plant, two weeks from seeding |
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| A Stupice tomato plant also two weeks from seeding. Stupice is a "potato leaf" variety which makes it easy to keep track of. |
My Lovage seedlings don't look that hot. I think they are very sensitive to how deeply that were transplanted. I planted two more seeds in each cell where the plant was struggling. Lovage seems to have a form much like peonies or asparagus. That is, they throw up shoots from underground crowns.
I also planted another "flight" of broccoli seeds.
In family news, one of my brothers told me that he would gladly take six tomato plants if I had extras. Well, of COURSE I have extras!!!
My sister informed me that she LOVES duck eggs for baking, so I have an outlet for those, too. That same sister wants to plant some rhubarb plants but is pinned down for time. They had a massive remodel done on their house and the building permit expires at the end of this month. I suggested that she put out feelers at the small, country church they are now attending. Rhubarb self-seeds like crazy if you don't keep weeding your patch and there is probably some 80 year-old lady who would be delighted to let her dig up as many seedlings as they wanted.
never good at math, but I'd guess 29 day to 50 %, 30 days to 100%. How quickly the fish die is a different matter.
ReplyDeleteJerry
The king refused to pay for a service to the crown in gold as agreed. The scholar asked for the total of a grain of wheat doubled each day on the squares of a chessboard. The king ran through a few weeks in his head and agreed. Through the power of exponential growth, the 64th day amounts to 18 quintillion grains of wheat, enough to bankrupt the kingdom. In the story, the king either repents or is forced from power. As an adult, the most likely outcome is the king has the scholar killed.
ReplyDeleteThe Winter 2026 issue of the Coolidge Review has an excellent assessment of the Roaring '20s which should be a companion to any reading of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby':
ReplyDelete'The Roaring Twenties: Myth and Reality'
By Wilfred M. McClay - April 3, 2026
"Mass media perpetuated the idea that the 1920s brought a “revolution in manners and morals”
Wilfred M. McClay holds the Victor Davis Hanson Chair in Classical History and Western Civilization at Hillsdale College.