13 October 2009

Daily Chat 13/10/09



Nero became emperor of Rome in 54.  French astronomer Charles Messier discovered the Whirlpool Galaxy in 1773.  Ankara replaced Istanbul as the capital of Turkey in 1923.  And in 1962, the Pacific Northwest was slammed with a cyclone with wind speeds as high as 288 km/hr.  Forty-six people were killed and damage came to about $230 million (1962 value).

Born today:  Lillie Langtry (1853-1929), Yves Montand (1921-1991), The Wicked Witch of the North (1925), Nana Mouskouri (1934), Paul Simon (1941), Cruella deVil (1946), Sacha Baron Cohen (1971), Ian Thorpe (1982) and Gabriel Agbonlahor (1986).

In the Roman Catholic Church, it is the feast day of Edward the Confessor.

76 comments:

  1. Oh, okay. It's actually Thatcher & Edwina Currie's birthday today, not the WWotN and Cruella deVil.

    And, I came very close to subjecting you all to this as today's image, but decided not everyone would like it as much as I do.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bidisha alert!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey all .. thanks for the kind words about my comment on The BNP part 242.

    I'll confess to losing my rag a touch after having three or four comments removed without trace because they'd quoted comments that were later deleted. Sometimes you get to the point where you decide a well constructed rebuttal is pointless if it's just going to be removed so why not call a racist fuckwit out for being just that. The comment will be removed (as it has been) but so what, it probably would have been anyway.

    So, what's Bidisha up to now? Let's find out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just in case this brilliant comment gets deleted:

    PhilippaB

    13 Oct 09, 9:36am (27 minutes ago)

    sigh

    I...

    sigh

    Bidisha may not see a conspiracy here, but I do. My theory is that Bidisha is in the pay of teh menz, charged with spouting this kind of thing not with the aim of furthering feminism, but destroying it. By pissing off the vast majority of women who would describe themselves as feminists, such that we give up and leave the gender theory field to the outlying wackos.

    I think she sits in a hollowed-out volcano, waited on by slaves who stoke the fire with with copies of the Female Eunuch, snickering away as yet another thread degenerates into statements like

    (by which I mean feminists, not women in general)

    seeming completely reasonable (sorry for picking you out YaBasta, but this is just an example) when what is actually true is "certain feminists, not feminists in general".

    Plus, at least the Guerrilla Girls are funny.

    Plus,

    I've spent the last six weeks making documentaries that involved interviewing several prominent male artists.

    Did you have to? Even you couldn't find a female artist to interview?

    Truly, part of the problem not part of the solution...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yeah, Bidisha's article has a good chance of being considered the comeback of the month. She (probably, I'm not that familiar with the art world) has some valid points, but they are enclosed in hysterical (I know, the word is sexist) bullshit.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bidisha filled with ice cold rage...

    Why does this make me a bit horny ?

    ReplyDelete
  7. BW - may I suggest you see the doctor about that?

    ReplyDelete
  8. hysterical (I know, the word is sexist)

    Nah, automatically applying it to women is sexist. But I think it's appropriate here.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You really think the mods might delete Philippa's comment?

    "They durst not do 't;
    They could not, would not do 't;"

    Oh my god, I just copy and pasted here! It never worked before!

    ReplyDelete
  10. thauma
    I'd rather see bidisha. In a nurses outfit... cor..

    ReplyDelete
  11. Blimey, BW, first the Abba confession, now this!

    ReplyDelete
  12. thauma, I'm afraid that BW may have combined his last comment and elementary's, and no longer be with us if you know what I mean.........

    ReplyDelete
  13. Christ, Montana, that Ian Thorpe picture you nearly linked to wouldn't have looked out of place in Signal around 1942. All it needs is "Der Sieg wird unser sein" or something underneath...

    "Triumph of the Will", anyone?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yup, PhillipaB got deleted, glad I saved it here!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Dotterel - thank you for your foresight, as I really wasn't expecting that. The only reason I can think of is the 'outlying wackos' gibe, which as I have explained to the mods, was a pop at who would be left in the ring, not at Bidisha in general.

    Please excuse the possibly odd name that will appear on this - haven't used the thread before, so am a bit puzzled. How do I get my username and avatar up?

    Anyway, this is PhilippaB - bowing out for now from CIF until I get an explanation from the Mod team.

    May have to set up a 'PhilippaB - random musings and art' thread. Hmmm....

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Philippa, welcome, glad to see you here! I've put your comment back, not that it'll last long but hey!

    I don't care if they pre mod me: I'm off for two weeks anyway and may not bother with CIF when I get back.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Bless you, Dotty, but until they come back to me with an explanation, I think it should be left alone.

    I will spend the interim period trying to work out the rules over here (IT numpty meets new interface, result, chaos - heh heh)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Welcome Philippa - you've sorted the username; to get your avatar, you'll have to edit your profile.

    Nice post, that.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Strange goings on at the taxpayers alliance thread. Someone posted about a gagging order on the Guardian which several people commented on.
    He was modded and others just disappeared.

    Nice to see PhilippaB on here BTW.

    ReplyDelete
  20. hey, colin! Lots of familiar faces here. and thank you thaumaturge, seem to have obtained avatar almost by accident.

    can I hide here for a bit? am grumpy...

    ReplyDelete
  21. 'Course you can - excellent place to get a strop on.

    Colin, the gagging order was on the front page of the paper today. They're no doubt going to be rather sensitive to comments about it.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Ooooooh

    LATEST: Guardian can reveal that parliamentary question from Paul Farrelly MP subjected to reporting ban was related to Trafigura toxic waste scandal.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Morning all - well, afternoon all.

    Bidisha. Gaaaah!!!

    Welcome Philippa!

    I have just done something really greedy. I have just eaten a whole pack of M&S scallops - 16 of them all to myself, cooked in butter with a bit of seasoning and some lemon juice and brown bread and butter. Bloody delicious though.

    Read the link Cath posted yesterday from the Ministry of Truth. When are the likes of Carter-Ruck going to learn that in some cases it would be far better to actually ignore these things and hope no-one notices much because they are too busy watching the footeh than to make a song and dance about it, because it will soon flood the intarwebz.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hi there Philippa! Really a shame your comment was modded, that's one recommendation I did in vain. Well, as soon as dotterel's copy of your post is deleted, I'll post it, too.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Am very touched by all the support over on the thread (thank you also elementary!) but am worried that repostings might bring down the wrath of the mods on posts also including other points...if there was something 'wrong' with it (which I can't see but it's difficult to see it in your own stuff) then maybe best not...

    have cree-d mon propre blog, it's all terribly exciting. going for a walk now, everybody have a lovely afternoon.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Ok Philippa, I'll leave well alone, but only cos you asked!

    On the other hand my reposting has lasted......

    ...oh no, just checked, it's gone, I might try another post just to see if I'm in pre-mod, I actually quite want to be, I feel such a fraud hanging out with you lot when I've never been......... ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  27. Oh, I see from reading the end of yesterday's thread that I'm miles behind everyone else on the Trafigura thing.

    Story of my life.

    ReplyDelete
  28. PhilippaB

    Not another UT soldier? - I had you posted as non partisan


    Waaah! your depondently, parallax

    ReplyDelete
  29. So, I'll not repost it, either. Only because you asked, Philippa.

    ReplyDelete
  30. thauma: Trafigu-what?

    You may be miles behind, but I don't even know a race is being run.

    ReplyDelete
  31. When are the likes of Carter-Ruck going to learn that in some cases it would be far better to actually ignore these things ...

    They know. But as they can't charge you a million in legal fees for saying "you know, it's really not worth it" they're not ever likely to.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Watson: Graun had a gag order on parliamentary reporting.... Can't wait to find out what it's really all about as the stories had already been published.

    ReplyDelete
  33. MAM on the Michael White thread:
    "The common thread running through all this is the stature of our politicians. Can you imagine this in the Eighteenth Century? The fact is we have handed our Parliament over to the morally challenged."
    Fair points at beginning and end, but are they really sandwiching a suggestion that the C18th parliaments were less corrupt? Has he heard of rotten boroughs?

    Oh, and did anyone see Michael White get into a slap fest with Andrew thingy off the Telegraph on Sky last night? Fucking hilarious. Very bad tempered, ended with:
    MW: blaah blah blah Andy
    Andy thing: It's Andrew to you, actually, Michael.
    MW: I'll stick with Andy, if you don't mind. grr grr grr

    How unlike the home life of our own dear Bidisha.

    ReplyDelete
  34. And by 'fair points', I mean you could argue them, not that I agree.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Have been reinstated!

    heh heh.

    Not all the responses have come back yet, though...

    ReplyDelete
  36. Philippa,
    Good for you. Did you know that you can post pictures on your untrusted blog? I'd like to see more of your work.
    I have managed to do it so it should be a doddle for you.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Colin - yes, have kind of managed a few with my first few witterings. I think you can get through to it by clicking on my name and then on the link to my blog 'PhilippaB Witters On'. I am going to try putting a piccy on each witter. This is going to be fun...

    ReplyDelete
  38. Congrats on being one of the few and the proud, Philippa! Will check your blog out laters....

    ReplyDelete
  39. Anyone know where I can buy a toilet bowl with Denis MacShane's face at the bottom of it and laxatives at wholesale prices?

    ReplyDelete
  40. Apropos of nothing.

    I've just finished series 2 of Flight Of The Conchords This song is hilarious ...

    Petrov, Yelyena And Me

    ReplyDelete
  41. LordS - no doubt someone, somewhere on teh interwebs is selling customised bogs. Got to be.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Seems it's a lot easier to find custom bog roll or seats than toilet bowls.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Oh dear, Philippa, you couldn't help it. Reproducing here for posterity:

    Mr MacShane - invoking the spirit of John Smith, in particular, is f-ing beneath you. Or would be, if there was any space underneath.

    Lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  44. heh heh

    Well, the earlier arsings around had made me rather cross, and wanting to have a go at someone, and lo! there he was, a government minister, like a ripe plum, just begging for a squishing.

    Will attempt to restore normal equilibrium tomorrow.

    ...and relax...

    ReplyDelete
  45. Nice one by Phillipa there. And yours too, LordS.

    ReplyDelete
  46. I see you guys have had a busy day .. I'll trundler over to CiF next, to catch up.

    And welcome to PhillipaB!

    ReplyDelete
  47. Hank,
    Just read your tax haven article - chilling stuff. Totally shocking crime on a massive scale. But BB - your comment on Tracey Emin made my day - she is a talentless idiot alright.

    LordS - I love the Concords -they are hilarious. I love Murray!

    Hi Phillipa - I will check your blog out.

    Really behind the times re the whole disappearing Guardian article and the Trif..thing - will go away and do some reading.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Oof, Rowan Williams pontificating on a past that never was.

    I'm starting to like my avatar, because I get that hand-on-hips, let-me-tell-you-something-matey feeling on most of the Cif articles. If I were actually speaking to the ATLers, I'd probably be in exactly the same pose.

    Opinionated cow that I am.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Evening all
    Thanks for the post, princess. How you doing?

    Can't believe they wheeled out McShane to talk about Trafigura so that he can completely miss the point. Was less surprised to see Seaton pop up BTL. Are the McShane-Smiths part of the cosy dinner party set that encompasses the Seatons and the Myersons?

    ReplyDelete
  50. Does anyone else think that McShane's head looks like a big thumb?

    ReplyDelete
  51. Hank - bloody MacShane is getting a weekly spot now. It's all a plot to raise our blood pressure.

    Seaton also popped up on Bidisha's thread today to translate.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Colin - I'd say he looks like a bloodhound, except I like bloodhounds, and that'd be a fucking insult.

    ReplyDelete
  53. I believe that some people took exception to pro Guardianistas turning up on here at one time.
    May I suggest that they be welcomed and occasionally modded for no fucking reason what so ever? Just so they know what it feels like.

    ReplyDelete
  54. How d'ya think I feel, thauma? At least you get to let off steam by giving him some abuse. My blood pressure's through the roof. Too much rageahol.

    Where's jay and scherfig btw. Have they gone visiting absent friends in Finland?

    ReplyDelete
  55. I noticed someone called Breeze who sounds a lot like ultima.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Stoaty

    "May I suggest that they be welcomed and occasionally modded for no fucking reason what so ever? Just so they know what it feels like."

    That made my drink go up my nose!

    Haven't seen Jay or Sherfig about for a while now.

    Quitters!

    ReplyDelete
  57. Hank - indeed! Have a spliff or something.

    Jay and Scherfig, dunno! Haven't been keeping up very well myself. Remember Jay coming back from holiday a couple of weeks ago but haven't seen him around for a few days. Scherfig may be on holiday now too, perhaps?

    Colin - haven't checked profile, but I think I've seen BREEZE around before. But my memory's sieve-like, so you never know.

    ReplyDelete
  58. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/sep/21/global-fly-tipping-toxic-waste?showallcomments=true


    for any that missed it ,, this is the original Trafigura thread

    ReplyDelete
  59. Fuck me, just looking at the comments on the thread by that goon from the Taxpayers Alliance. He claimed that it wasn't a Tory front, Sunder Katwala nailed him, and then camdencarrot sealed the deal.

    But the zombie right-wingers are back out to play now, led by OhHoHoHo, who I hadn't seen around for a while and presumed had died of hypocrisy. He always used to spout the most appalling crap about how he'd been a lifelong Labour voter and it was with a heavy heart etc.

    He's now claiming that left wing politics is based on "Hate.Envy. Prejudice...Nasty and getting nastier by the day."

    I'm sure I owe him for one of my spells in pre-mod. Boneheaded fucking troll.

    Looks like I picked the wrong night to give up spliffs, eh thauma?!

    ReplyDelete
  60. Sounds like it, Hank.

    And they've closed comments on the MacShane thread.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Ah cool 3p4

    I was looking for that earlier then got dist...ooh look, a bird!

    ReplyDelete
  62. Ah yes, I did read it at the time. Johann Hari did a really good piece about Somali pirates a few months ago in that vein.

    I was looking for a link between Barclays and Trafigura, given the fact that they were linked in the parliamentary question. I don't think Monbiot is saying that the hedge fund run by Trafigura has anything to do with Barclays is he?

    ReplyDelete
  63. Hank

    Zombie right-wingers is right. We are infested with them.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Now wallowing in disgust having read Seaton's (and Butselaar's last) comments on the MacShane thread. Off to bed before I do myself an injury.

    ReplyDelete
  65. It comes to something when two of the Graun staff have to come btl to say "No, really, we don't support the bad bits of New Labour - it is just our columnists - honest!"

    They had closed the thread for the night by the time I read those.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Hi everyone ... just wondering if anyone and help me out with around twenty CiF posts I appear to have mislaid. The last time I saw them was on the Denis MacShane thread, but I put them down, turned my back and would't you know it - some thieving bastard has walked off with them.

    ReplyDelete
  67. LordS

    Have you reported it to the CiF Police? :p

    ReplyDelete
  68. OK possums

    Up the wooden hill for me - I have to drive to Brum tomorrow. Joy.

    Night night x

    ReplyDelete
  69. I did. But they told me I was partly to blame for making such provocative comments.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Bedtime for me too.

    But I've just caught the newly reformed Magazine on Jools Holland so I had to step back in time a few years for this ...

    The Light Pours Out Of Me

    ReplyDelete
  71. LordS
    Happy days, eh? Me mate went out with the drummer for a while.

    ReplyDelete