Just a few on my September diary.

• Brainteaser solution.  You were challenged to find the first odd number in a hypothetical dictionary. The answer is either 8,018,018,885 or 8,808,808,885, depending on precise definitions. See here.  

• Melanoma.  Many thanks to all who emailed in with advice, commiserations, and personal anecdotes concerning melanoma. I am still not bothered about the thing because (a) there is nothing to see, (b) there is no pain at all, and (c) I feel perfectly fine. My date with Dr. Chen is October 13th; we'll see what he comes up with.

And while not aware of any botherment, my unconscious mind may be churning. I keep having vague imaginings of myself as a 21st-century Tycho Brahe, with a prosthetic nose made of (according to the latest scholarly consensus) brass. If matters do indeed come to that, I shall try to keep it well-polished. 

• Rebecca at the well.  A reader thanked me for the reference to Rebecca at the well and reminds me that the KJV translation "has the greatest line in all of cigarette advertising in it": 

And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. (Gen. 24:64.)

As my reader notes: "They hadn’t even consummated yet."

That goes together with the automotive verses in Isaiah, noted in my June 2019 diary.