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- Other Aspects of Quality. Other aspects determining the quality of rice include the amount of chalky grain, the texture of cooked rice, the temperature that the rice gelatinises on cooking and the taste. Cooked rice texture is determined in an instrument called RVA (Rapid Visco-Analyser).
- Grain Cleaning. Once decisions are made about the seed to sow in the next generation, the paddy rice must be cleaned in preparation for sowing. This is done using a range of machinery – depending on the amount of seed available.
- Seed Preparation. Once the seed is cleaned, it is counted into lots of 1000 seeds for planting.
- Field Analysis. Trials are sown in the field over a number of sites using a cone seeder, and harvested for yield testing with a special harvester that completely cleans itself between samples.
- Outside Testing. Specialised tests are conducted by other groups. These include chemical tests of amylose content, gelatinization temperature and, particularly, special molecular markers to indicate characteristics such as grain quality, cold tolerance, resistance to water stress and disease resistance.
There was much discussion following the inspections and this was followed by pizza. Thank you to Dr. Proud, Kylie, Esther and Carmel for an informative visit (and Matt for the pizzas). 
****************************** Brain Teaser What is 3/7 chicken, 2/3 cat and 2/4 goat? ******************************* Market Day 
It was a cold and somewhat blustery day on Saturday for the Market Day. Despite the weather, there was plenty of support from Rotarians. There were a steady supply of customers on the day, although stall and visitor numbers were down. 
******************************* Seattle Orchestra A number of years ago, the Seattle Symphony was doing Beethoven's Ninth under the baton of Milton Katims. At this point, you must understand two things: - There's a long segment in this symphony where the bass violins don't have a thing to do. Not a single note for page after page.
- There used to be a tavern called Dez's 400, right across the street from the Seattle Opera House, rather favoured by local musicians.
It had been decided that during this performance, after the bass players had played their parts in the opening of the Ninth, they were to quietly lay down their instruments and leave the stage rather than sit on their stools looking and feeling dumb for twenty minutes. Once they got backstage, someone suggested that they trot across the street and quaff a few brews. After they had downed the first couple rounds, one said, "Shouldn't we be getting back? It'd be awfully embarrassing if we were late." Another, presumably the one who suggested this excursion in the first place, replied, "Oh, I anticipated we could use a little more time, so I tied a string around the last pages of the conductor's score. When he gets down to there, Milton's going to have to slow the tempo way down while he waves the baton with one hand and fumbles with the string with the other." So they had another round and finally returned to the Opera House, a little tipsy by now. However, as they came back on stage, one look at their conductor's face told them they were in serious trouble. Katims was furious! And why not? After all... It was the bottom of the Ninth, the score was tied, and the basses were loaded. ******************************** Editor’s Note I apologise for last week’s brain teaser. If you remember it was: “Add me to myself and multiply by 4.
Divide me by 8 and you will have me once more.
What number am I?” I either copied it wrong or it is a red herring because it works for any number (thanks Bruer and Len): i.e. n+ n = 2n then: 2n * 4 /8 =n The answer this week is Chicago (I hope)
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