09 January 2010

09/01/10


In 1349, Jewish residents of Basel were rounded up and set on fire by residents who blamed them for the Black Death.  Lord Nelson's funeral took place on this date in 1809.  The French Academy of Sciences announced the Daguerreotype process of photography in 1839.  Russian workers marched on the Winter Palace in 1905, resulting in a massacre by tsarist troops.

Born today:  Karel Capek (1890-1938), Gracie Fields (1898-1979), Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986), Susanna York (1939), Joan Baez (1941), Jimmy Page (1944), Imelda Staunton (1956) and Joely Richardson (1965).

It is Republic Day in the vowel-deficient Republika Srpska.

221 comments:

  1. 1st: Habib, I haven't a clue what Monaco looks like. The photo was labelled 'Monaco', so I took it as such. If it was Benidorm, at least I'm not the only schmuck who didn't know. Someone at the Canadian travel agency whose website I 'borrowed' it from doesn't know, either.

    I made the mistake of reading the Jenni Russell thread about the young woman who killed herself and her baby. There are some really sick, callous bastards in this world. Princesschipchops, Alisdair & Duke: you, rednorth, nega9000 and talktotheflowers did some excellent work there. Not that it would change any of the fuckers' minds.

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  2. Montana, your pic was right and was of Monaco. The thought I had was that everything was beggining to look the same, from hawaii to dubai, it looks alike.

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  3. Loving the photo gallery!

    I have no photos of the dearly departed Minty, but actually, if you imagine a cross between MsChin's Barry and Alisdair's Billy, that was pretty much him...

    A very interesting crop of birthdays today - am now imagining a singalong featuring Gracie, Joan and Jimmy...

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  4. Morning all! Love the photo gallery too.

    Good thing we postponed the piss-up as it's snowing!

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  5. Thauma

    Just beginning to snow here - although it's still quite bright so we'll probably only get a few flurries. Must go out and see if I can get the car going - its been sitting contentedly under a deep blanket for a week and am getting a bit concerned it will resist having to move.

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  6. thauma

    The UT hound collection is making me weep with envy. Walks have never been the same since my old girl went the way of all things - especially walks in the snow, which she adored.

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  7. Weird - looking out my window, I see boue sky, but there is a veritable blizzard coming down!

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  8. Hi Sheff,

    Yes, she loves the snow! She runs madly around in it, occasionally taking bites of it without stopping.

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  9. Morning all.

    Horrible reminder of man's inhumanity to man in that Basel note. The article by Dov Katz about revisionism in the Baltic States of WW2 history and the moral equivalence of life under Staliv vs Hitler's Final Solution has been making my blood boil

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  10. Morning all,

    BB,

    it was a sobering article. Loosely related was the Lerman article on History and Memory which was a good read.

    Hank,

    checked out the Forest goal you put on last night. Quality. The best way to describe it would be Alan Partridge's football commentary from 'The Day Today':

    ''And they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating and in this case the pudding is a FOOTBALL.''

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  11. Montana,

    that Russell thread was quite something wasn't it? The sounds of certain posters crawling and sliming out the woodwork was almost audible.

    I have to say princesschipchops work was excellent and her last post on the thread was what we call in Scotland, an 'absolute stoatir'.

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  12. I haven't been back to the Jenni Russell thread. I posted on it on Thursday, took a quick look at it yesterday and it turned my stomach. I will have to check out PCC's comments.

    Yes, I was pretty pissed off that there were commentators on Lerman's article suggesting that there was no such thing as a japanese "victim" in WW2. Astounding.

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  13. This is disturbing - I live at the top of steep hills in all directions, and just found out that no buses are running up here, even using the main road. The two local shops are out of provisions of all kinds, and - worse - the local Thresher's shut down a few weeks back.

    Wish I had some skis to get down to Morrison's, although getting back up would be... interesting.

    (Here, for the curious, is the bottom of one of the hills at present.)

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  14. And this is some lunatic half way up it.

    (Not my photos, BTW.)

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  15. PeterJ

    The picture looks like the bottom of the hill at Lewes to me.

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  16. Oh, sorry. Just read the tags and see where it is now.

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  17. Morning / afternoon depending on time-zone.

    re Halting Holocaust obfuscation
    and boiling blood. Don't get me going .. otherwise ..

    Here in Hungary an enormous strengthening of nazi tendencies particularly during the past four years to the point where Hungary is now in breach of the Treaty of Paris of 1947, as the Jobbik party [3 MEPs!!] set up a kind of SA complete with ArrowCross style uniforms (sure, the present Hungarian Constitution does not allow political parties to have para-military organisations). The ArrowCross murdered a lot of jews in late 1944 by rounding them up, taking them to the banks of the Danube, making them undress and leave their shoes and then shooting them and disposing of the dead and wounded into the freezing water. A monument to this atrocity has been at one of these places consisting of bronze sculptures of loads of shoes. Recent nazi action: putting pig's feet into the shoes. Past one and a half years: at least six cases of lynchings of roma people. MO: Dark expensive suv arrives at end of gypsy "ghetto" (in practice one street) they throw a molly at the last house and fire on fleeing inhabitants with heavy gauge shotguns. One five year old boy was killed like this last year, as well as his father. The fire brigade said that the house burnt because of electrical fault. the initial reports were that the father and son had died from "smoke poisoning" first "investigating" police actually urinated over foot prints at the crime scene and i wont tell you how the surviving mother and sister were treated at the hospital, because then my blood would reallz boil dry. sorry about this rant. darent preview it

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  18. Just went to back to the Marina Hyde thread.

    If there's anyone here who knows Stud Rockman can you tell him I have a message for him regarding his post re Jerry Sadowitz and TV.

    His only foray into the medium was The Pall Bearers Revue in 1992 for the BBC which was a mix of his magic tricks and humour.

    It attracted a record amount of complaints for the BBC and the BBC have said that it will never be repeated or released on DVD.

    I saw him at the Edinburgh Fringe once and I have never left a show having laughed so much whilst at the same time having the adrenalin pumping through me due to the ferocious energy of his show.

    A true artist who absolutely refuses to sell out or tame his message for anyone and the sworn enemy of banality.

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  19. @Medve - that's disgusting, and getting far too prevalent in various bits of Europe without enough to combat it from national or EU governments.

    You might know that Jobbik have recently been planning an office in London, and holding drinks parties in pubs here; if you run a search for Jobbik at www.nothingbritish.com you'll find the running story there.

    Just as disturbing, Jobbik MEP Kristina Morvai was invited to participate in a conference organised by the Palestinian Return Centre in London to share a platform with Islamists, a British MP, and Baroness Tonge of suicide bomber fame...

    Again, NothingBritish has the story.

    These people need combatting, fast.

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  20. PeterJ

    thanks, my blood pressure has gone down to survivable levels maybe -- funny that, it doesn't make sense from the pov of the physics: if pressure increases then so will the temperature of the boiling point. water and our blood will boil in a vacuum at above some 30C. in a pressure cooker it is at well over 100C.

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  21. PeterJ

    the Jobbik have a good strategy: although they are anti-semetic, they decided to concentrate their hate-speech on a much easier victim group: the Roma. With devastating success. Earlier attempts by revisionist nazis floundered, but the Jobbik have really taken off.

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  22. @Medve - not sure about my own boiling point, although there is definitely a subdued bubbling caused by wandering around online finding things like Nick Griffin's speech at a Jobbik rally in Budapest and background on the Magyar Garda...

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  23. PeterJ - that photo is pretty impressive.

    Medve - don't talk to me about Jobbik - evil bastards. They are allies of the BNP, you know the one run by that nice Mr Griffin who is not a racist at all really.

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  24. @BB I'd better not mention Wilders before anybody says how tolerant those Dutchies are. I was silly enough to do Dutch lessons for foreigners entirely in Dutch as a radio programme in the early nineties together with a friend in a pathetic effort to try to turn "the rising tide of fascism in Nederland and Europe". Fat lot of good that did.

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  25. Medve,

    Wilders was on his rise as I was leaving. Just like Griffin's appearance on 'Question Time' the Dutch media completely fall into his trap.

    He's a one trick pony. He has no other policy apart from an Anti-Islamic agenda.

    What the media in the Netherlands should do just like the media here and elsewhere should do is to ignore the anti-islam aspect and get them into discussions on their fiscal policies, social policies, 'what is your policy on refuse collection?' etc, etc- the boring, mundane policies of day to day administration.

    They'll be shown up for the complete chancers that they are.

    All the media are doing by focusing on the single issue of Islam each time the extreme right are interviewed is falling into the hands of Wilders, Griffin, le Pen et al.

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  26. Precisely, Your Grace.

    One trick ponies indeed.

    If you actually read the BNP's 2005 manifesto - the only full one out there - their policies are absolutely hilarious and bordering on Mugabean.

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  27. PeterJ, Your Grice, BB,

    thanks. visiting here is beginning to strengthen some kind of vague paradigm to comfort me.

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  28. howdy,,

    i see you have a new fan BB,,
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    EdwinMoore,,new post on cynicalsteves blog,,very positive,,thought you might like to know,,

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  29. Medve

    We're the good guys here :o)

    3p4 - do you mean Meets3456? Horns unlocked now, I think. He just spooked me with the "reveal your identity" bit, given Slim Shady's recent and relentless appearance on these pages :o)

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  30. 3p4 - do you mean Meets3456

    yeah same old same old,,very sparse archive and
    way more interest in chucking crap at you than the actual thread,,

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  31. Medve - god, that is disgusting. Slime.

    Peter - nice photos! The cyclist is a maniac.

    We are supposed to get up to a foot of snow tomorrow! Went to Sainbury's earlier to do the weekly shop and it was a madhouse: empty shelves, people fighting over the last loaf of bread, that sort of thing.

    On a happier note, I've just put a venison casserole in the oven and it smells great!

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  32. I think it ought to be part of "the good guys" paradigm that we must jealously guard the identities of untrusted refugees. Each refugee must realise that identities can be "put together like humpty-dumpty" from snippets of google searches, and info nuggets of personal details gleaned from posts about personal experiences. We have already seen the result.

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  33. will go into read only mode for about half an hour will give tupence after.. real life calling ..

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  34. @Thauma - glad I've given the supermarket idea up, then. Digging around, I find I have enough in for a big shepherd's pie and enough veg to make it worthwhile, which will keep me going for a couple of days.

    And I just remembered that there's a posh wine merchant not far away, which may have some bin-ends within my normal range - I shall investigate in a bit.

    Happy days on the hilltop...

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  35. Oh god, twat features is on the "What Women Wear" thread now. How long before he calls me Mrs Burnout and says something snarky on the thread?

    Countdown....

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  36. @Medve - true about identities - I do use my real name, although, as you might guess, searching for it online produces a needle and haystack problem...

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  37. BB - he obviously missed the post where I linked to RAWA - or perhaps he didn't...but pinched it.

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  38. Peter - I've managed to scavenge enough food to myself for at least a week! Wine supplies should hold out too, although I do hope I don't have to break into the good stash (xmas pressie).

    No bloody parsnips or brussels sprouts though. I am very upset about the sprout shortage in particular and might cry over my Sunday roast.

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  39. Two minutes from me noticing him to him posting. Hah.

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  40. brussel sprouts,

    a few years ago i saw details of a research project into brussel sprouts and their appeal or not to different pallettes,,

    now my mother and father loved brussel sprouts,,
    i thought they were the vilest thing ever placed on a plate,,

    they are vegetables,,therefore they are political as part of a childs diet (especially in the 50s)
    eat your vegtables,,you stay at the table until you eat your vegetables,,no dessert till you finish your vegetables,,

    well Mum, its actually physically immpossible for me to eat these things cos they MAKE me gag,,

    as an 8/9 yr old that arguement does not have great credibility,,regardless of its truth,,

    so the research,,it says there is a chemical in sprouts that a few people react to differently from the norm,,it confirmed that there was a objective,genetic basis for my aversion to sprouts,,and that there was others who similarly suffered,,

    so bottom line,,if you find sprouts,,please eat mine too,,cos i would rather live on bread and water,,

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  41. PeterJ: Sure, untrusted refugees can exercise their own identity as they see fit. Several of us can be tracked down quite easily. Just think it is a cool thing to try and ook after the others.

    3p4: Another fifties story. Creche (nursery) in Amsterdam. Developed a life-long loathing of milk because I was forced to drink vile bad warm milk every day. To add insult and discomfort to injury they made us do this from plastic beakers. I developed a pavlovian reflex to vomit, preferably all over the child minder who was carrying out this torture.

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  42. 3p4 - I will eat yours and anyone else's who doesn't keep a sharp on them. My favourite veggie.

    On the other hand, organ meats (liver, kidneys, tongue) completely disgust me to the point of nausea. Ooh, and I can't stand broad beans.

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  43. Nope, I don't think meeet3456 is Bitey. The syntax and grammar are completely different.

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  44. Oh fuck - Mungo has noticed that today is the anniversary of Nelson's funeral.

    That's all I need - to be snowed in with a dog who has a continuing grudge about his Christmas present. I foolishly thought he had accepted the wandering albatross toy...in lieu of a`Nelson's dress coat, dream on deano...

    At least I have five bottles of wine left, although they were being saved for a party at the end of January, if needs must.

    Medication for Miss Diesel is showing promise, she seems much more comfortable when she is resting now.

    3p4 - Sprouts require a sharp frost to develop their finest flavour..

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  45. thauma: I am with you on the organs. Again another can of worms.

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  46. thauma,,i will happily trade you sprouts for tongue,,,
    ,
    ,
    ,
    ,
    ,
    ,

    or kidneys,,i dont really eat meat but i LOVE tongue in a rye bread sandwhich,,and kidneys in the english breakfast,,with fried bread,,oooooooowwwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ma lawd,,

    was that(space above) what they call a 'pregnant pause'? :)

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  47. 3p4 - yeuch, you are very welcome to trade!

    Deano - best get piccies of Mungo and Miss Diesel up on the photo gallery sharpish! Glad to hear the medication is working.

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  48. 3p4: Another fifties story. Creche (nursery) in Amsterdam. Developed a life-long loathing of milk

    that particular situation for me resulted in an aversion to celery,,every,,thats every as in always,,as in only,,every day we had "tea" which was celery,,and salt,,and celery,,as a vegetable
    it is,,? ,,its noisy,,

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  49. I was forced to eat 4 brussels sprouts with every roast dinner when I was a child. I love them now.

    My lad was born loving veggies and not really liking meat. As a toddler if we went to a restaurant, he would be perfectly happy with a plate of grilled mediterranean veg, but if you put a piece of meat on his plate he would scream. So I ended up forcing him to eat meat - and now I have a vegan child.

    Celery reminds me of "salad for tea" in the summer when I was a nipper. Love the middle thin white bits of celery. Mmmm. Think I will go and find some now.

    Tongue is lovely cooked the french way in a Madeira sauce, Thaum. Seriously. Delish. I really discovered the joys of offal when I moved to France. Lambs kidney in mustard sauce, liver in red wine and onions. Gorgeous.

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  50. sheff

    The MO seems to be one post based on something someone else has said, then the next post about BB, The Wicked Witch of CiF of a far more personal nature. It's quite funny to watch. Poor thing.

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  51. hey Bichoo

    check the picture

    DC Karob Parmenides At Elea

    www.salukiclub.org/

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  52. waddya is reopened,,good call to Jess BB,,

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  53. BB - stop it, or you will put me off my (nearly ready) dinner!

    A friend of mine, who is a surgeon, says that the only things she can't eat are organ meats because they're the only ones that look exactly the same when you're performing surgery!

    *shudders*

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  54. celery hearts?

    good bid Deanno

    i bid 3 No sprouts,,

    veggie bridge anyone ?

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  55. oh my god

    internet
    untrusted

    any bridge players here

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  56. hi thauma dont read this until after dinner ok

    i do draw the line at,,- head cheese,,blood pudding and sweetmeats,,

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  57. Hi All--thaum, nice pic that, looks to be concentrating on the rugby too.

    Liver, onions, sprouts and neeps--yum. Mum cooked that a lot when I was a lad.

    3p4--Played bridge for a few years, but not recently.

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  58. Blood pudding - black pudding here, fried for breakfast. Yummy. Boudin noir in France, like little sausages, fried with apples. Yummy.

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  59. Black pudding is where I draw the line. Oh and sheeps eyes - haven't managed to get those down either.

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  60. Anyone else following the despicable attack on the Togo team bus at the African Cup of Nations. Political interference and violence seems to be more pervasive in sport these days. Shocking, don't see how their players could continue.

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  61. Don't mind blood/black pudding, it's the organs I object to.

    Thanks Boudican - I think we must have been losing as she looks a bit worried. (Mind you, as I have no telly, she wasn't actually watching it.)

    The venison stew turned out fairly well, although I think more herbs are in order next time. Jamie said only salt/pepper, sage, garlic and bay leaves, but something was missing....

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  62. The pet gallery is great. So many handsome beasts on there. Gandolfo - that photo of Bichoo is gorgeous!

    Medve - Read your post about the fascists with a churning stomach - absolutely awful stuff. It really does feel like we are possibly entering a very nasty era in Europe - again.

    On a lighter note - I too have a hatred of milk. I had to drink warm milk at school and we had to take it in turns to be monitor. My mum wrote to them that I couldn't drink it - it made me gag but I still had to be monitor when it was my turn. The smell of warm milk - agh!

    Re the food and supermarket situation. Got to Morrisons today although it was dicey and it was hell on toast. It was busier than I have ever seen it - including Christmas - and the checkouts were horrendous. But to give them their due they obviously had planned for this well as there was plenty of food on the shelves. Some supermarkets in Sheffield were restricting customers to one loaf of bread the other day.

    I actually have a weeks supply of tins in my house. It is after the floods in 07, because the shops then around us were either flood damaged or empty and we had rolling black outs for two weeks. So now have candles and tins of basics like baked beans and corned beef. Very sad and paranoid I know but my mum - who has always laughed at the idea - admitted the other day that having a few tins of soup and beans in would have been great last week.

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  63. Tarragon! I think that would be a good addition. May chuck a bit in with the rest when I heat it up.

    Boudican, I read a few paras of the news stories. Sickening.

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  64. boudi

    the togo team utterly ignored their travel instructions and i think there was very little sport angle to this story,,

    the people who got shot were not soccer players but dumb travellers,,

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  65. princesschipchops: Argh! Commiserations. I know exactly how you feel if not more so. We have a fair size pantry, because the builder said that the planned size was not large enough to store half a pig. So we have room for staples that could feed us for a week or so if needs must.

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  66. Princess

    I've stopped going to the big supermarkets and just go down to the local shops at the top of Spital Hill. All the Kurdish, Somali, Arab etc shops are stuffed to the gunnels with everything and its only a shortish walk. Might pay you to drive over here as its not that far from you - the main roads are all clear and the shopping experience much more pleasant.

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  67. Interesting 3p4, I had not noticed that. If they did not stick to the proscribed route, then that is folly. Still disgusting though.

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  68. pcc: About the milk I meant. As for the dangerous nazi/fascist stuff, the post was really a rant ejected by boiling blood ((c)BB).

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  69. Sheesh, should be predetermined, not 'proscribed'.

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  70. feeding trolls

    time on your hands,,need a little weekend distraction,,want to see how other halfs live,,

    introducing Des Swords,,troll extraordinaire,,
    and the posters who feed him,,

    Des is a specialist,, and only posts on threads about poetry,,and the occasional literature thread,, Des has had more names and more deletions than giyus,, well maybe about the same,,

    so here is a link to this weeks thread,,poetry threads run for a week and build slowly,,usually
    active all the way through the week,,
    anyway this one ,,i thought ,,was a very entertaining bunch of posts and has particular
    slice of life quality encapsulating the saga of the last two years,,and for a group that have exchanged lots of words and thoughts about trolls it might have some entertainment value as
    just a read,,although i am sure comments would be well recieved,,good bunch of people ,,quite similar to this place,, just monothematic

    bill,,it even makes you look pretty small potatoes

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  71. MsChin

    Stocking up on tins is not paranoid.

    I used to have panic attacks when I was younger and for some reason I latched them onto the Cold War - bizarre I know, I am sure a therapist would have a field day.

    I was happy towards the end of the 80s when perestroika was happening, right up til the first Gulf War when my panic attacks started up again and I had to rationalise it by having a "plan" in case of nuclear attack.

    I was living in France at the time so had a suitable room which was a bit like a cellar although not completely underground, and every time I went shopping for a while I would buy extra tins of stuff and bottles of water. My ex bf used to take the piss out of me no end as we unpacked the groceries saying "Right is this one for us or for the War?"

    I haven't got the same anxiety problems now - one of the benefits from my Buddhist practice - but I still have a habit of picking up extra tins of things here and there and sticking them in the garage just in case... :o)

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  72. Evening all!!!
    I'm glad I've just got horrid rain, last night woken up by a mini tornado at 4am....thought it was all over...

    spoke to my sis in derbyshire and she is frozen in not a happy bunny!!

    Thaum you have a beagle...!!!brave woman! we found one in the park last summer and brought it home owner didn't answer their phone all night didn't take long to understand why...beast howled all night..got them finally at 7am and dutifully restored beagle to owner and not before time...
    all that talk of sprouts...mmmmmmm don't do organs me self...

    here no parsnips I ask you how can you live without parsnips??

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  73. Gandolpho

    No parsnips in France either! When I was living there I had to buy a packet of seeds and get the BF to grow them in the garden! What's that all about?

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  74. gandolpho

    Impossible to live without parsnips!

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  75. BB
    it's traumatic...and the swede is shit so i don't bother and what's more no uncooked beetroot I mean how can a nation survive without these essentials. Loads of tomatoes, aubergines..fine but you can't live on tommies and aubergine alone... and all the different types of greens all bitter and boiled to fuck...surprised that I haven't gone down with scurvy.......yet

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  76. shaz.....stoooooppp itttttttttttttt!

    *it's not fair*
    (said with nasal whine of 15 year old)

    hey ho
    don't wanna rub it in but this time tomorrow i'll be at the airport and my culinary nirvana will be on the horizon...yummy loads of spicey veg.....

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  77. Sheff I may indeed venture over your side of the city. Except the shops will be full of wonderful food that I cant eat. Actually though in all seriousness I think at some point I will come and check the shops out.

    BB - ''I haven't got the same anxiety problems now - one of the benefits from my Buddhist practice - but I still have a habit of picking up extra tins of things here and there and sticking them in the garage just in case... :o)''

    I am thinking of trying Buddhism and meditation - as I have panic attacks (had one in the horror that was Morrisons today) do you think it was that that stopped them. Did you go to a center to learn meditation etc or do you just practice at home?

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  78. There are all kinds of different practices, PCC - mine is based on japanese buddhism, but there is tibetan, chinese, thai, you name it.

    Best thing to do is look locally and see if there is anything locally going on that you could attend to give it a try. Some is meditation, some it chanting, but they all teach you to learn more about yourself and learn to master your own mind to a certain extent.

    If you wnat to email me at beautifulburnoutbirdchrome@gmail.com I will tell you more about it from my perspective. Not something I would want to discuss openly in front of the stalkers though :o)

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  79. @Boudican and 3p4 - re the attack on the Togo team bus...I'm still waiting for an explanation about the motives of the gunmen. It was suggested that they were members of a separatist group, but that group has now distanced itself and condemned the attack.

    It's a hell of a shame for Africa, especially as some are now suggesting that the whole continent is a basket case and that the World Cup should be switched from South Africa.

    "Impossible to live without parsnips."

    Given the choice, I'd take fine words and butter any day, sheff.

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  80. Scherfig

    juniper berries

    Aren't those poisonous?!

    Gandolfo - she is not a beagle, but a treeing walker coonhound . At least twice a beagle's size. She's got a howl on her when she chooses, though. Luckily she doesn't choose toooo much.

    To whoever recommended Girl with a Dragon Tattoo to me (scherf?): cheers! Am reading it now.

    Like this para:

    The job of the financial journalist was to examine the sharks who created interest crises and speculated away the savings of small investors, to scrutinize company boards with the same merciless zeal with which political reporters pursue the tiniest steps out of line of ministers and members of parliament. He could not for the life of him understand why so many infuential financial reporters treated mediocre financial whelps like rock stars.

    Hmm. Sounds like 90% of the Guardian's political reporters trained as financial reporters then.

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  81. Aren't those poisonous?

    Yeah, course they are, thauma. I'm trying to do an internet murder, so that I can get a Cif gig writing about it.

    info

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  82. Was it scherf? I know MF has mentioned "Dragon Tattoo"...I'm reading it at the moment as well. About 150 pages in, thauma, which could easily have been 50 pages with a decent editor, but it's engaging enough.

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  83. juniper berries are what gin is made out of!

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  84. Scherf, brilliant idea! Agatha Christie would have done wonders with the internet.

    Looked at the site and next time I will try some if I can find the bloody things! (They're probably growing on some bush in a field near me, but I probably would pick something poisonous by mistake.)

    Hank, it may well have been MF. I'm only on page 62 and agree that a bit of editor's input would be good, if only to remind the author to touch down once in a while and remind us of who is speaking to whom.

    Still, it's taken a turn for the better since the Girl has shown up - an intriguing character. Liked the prologue too.

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  85. Someone here brought up the novels (MF?) and I mentioned that there was a trilogy of Swedish films made from them. I think two of them are on DVD and the third is as yet unreleased. There was a Cif article on Stieg Larsson a while back.
    (btw, the stalker revealed himself as a big fan, and quoted long bizarre passages from them on Cif in a very psychotic way.)

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  86. "I'm trying to do an internet murder, so that I can get a Cif gig writing about it."

    Good luck with that, scherf. Be sure to call yourself Juniper Myerson.

    ReplyDelete
  87. thaum
    many raccoons round your way?!?!? beagle or not nice dawg!

    junipers...now didn't they feature in The Life of Brian???

    ReplyDelete
  88. Ah. Have just done a quick google and it looks like juniper berries are poisonous to dogs.

    ReplyDelete
  89. Many thanks, gandolfo - not many raccoons, but loadsa foxes, which are even better in her opinion!

    Juniper Myerson
    *snort*

    ReplyDelete
  90. Who's posted "Eddie and Frenchie" on the photo blog?

    ReplyDelete
  91. Thaum
    no junipers here one less thing for hound to meddle with...

    "Who's posted "Eddie and Frenchie" on the photo blog?"
    odds on sheff??? but dunno...

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  92. thaum--Could it be RapidEddie? Doesn't look too rapid in the snap though.

    Btw--We have large numbers of raccoons here. Once made the mistake a few years ago of leaving the dog's food outside the kitchen door (on a covered deck) the noise was cacophonous when they were discovered.

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  93. This is a nasty nasty turn of events in Italy, I reckon its gonna get worse as well
    now they are transporting migrants out of the area......seems like deportation tactics of the Musso era.....wouldn't put it past them.....

    ReplyDelete
  94. For Duke, Boudican, mschin, Montana and all fans of the beautiful game, the sequel to last night's youtube link, a different kinda goal but equally exquisite..

    myboys

    And the sheepfiddlers lost 4-1 at home to Scunny.

    Sorry for all non-footie fans but I'm still all warm and fuzzy (-:

    Just to stay on topic, excellent one-liner on Waddya from "ifitsasix" about self-aggrandisement. Made me larf!

    ReplyDelete
  95. Hank--Very good buildup using width and speed.Could you post one a day please?

    ReplyDelete
  96. boudican...that sounds a bit saucy!!!!

    hank wotcha! stay warm and fuzzy you never know how long it will last enjoy...

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  97. "You are not crap at this xx"

    Hmm, maybe if she actually said something of substance once in a while, BB, she might be "misunderstood" less. She's a vain, frivolous attention-seeker who does more than the BNP trolls to bring Cif into disrepute given her obsession with being first poster on very thread with vacuous one-liners which plead "recommend me".

    Her and the other vain, frivolous attention-seeker nominated for Ciffer of the Year piss me off something chronic.

    ReplyDelete
  98. Takes all sorts to make a world go round, Hank. And I like Hermione. She will often come up with a funny one-liner that deflates some of the silly buggers.

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  99. True dat, BB. Although I'm a bit on the fence, because I see Hank's point too. I just take it post by post.

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  100. "Takes all sorts" Not on Cif it doesn't, BB. Angry lefties with something to say are conspicuous by their absence.

    As for funny one-liners that deflate some of the silly buggers, yeh, she can do that occasionally. It's not comment as such though. I've never learned anything from reading her posts.

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  101. thauma

    Eddie & Frenchie - 'twas me. The sleeping bloke is my daughters partner.

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  102. That article is disturbing, Gandolpho. And what with what Medve was saying earlier too. Shudder.

    Why is it that every time something goes wrong people seek out The Other to blame and vilify and persecute? Just in today's title piece, as I said earlier, with Jews and the black death.

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  103. Sheff - nice socks he has! ;-) Lovely cats too.

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  104. What it really worrying is that it seems that history is repeating itself.
    In fact about a year ago I went to the museum of liberation here in rome, it's housed in an ex ss prison near to where I live and the documentation and newspaper of that era are similar to what you see and hear today. In the current government coalition there is Lega Nord nasty bunch of northern federalists that are basically rascist bigots and they spout their venon all over the place: they hold the balance of power so whatever they want they get re immigration...fuckers

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  105. @Hank - that great Cohen goal led me to dig around and find one of the most joyful compilations from my own team's recent history.

    It's a bit long, but magical - watch out for the very last forty seconds or so if you skip some of the rest.

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  106. MF, you cantankerous bastard: are you coming to the piss-up in a fortnight's time?

    Dunno about the comment box - that one hasn't happened to me, although I usually have to press the post button several times to make it work, and then sometimes it makes me sign in again.

    The Stud seems to me a very reasonable and balanced poster compared to many.

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  107. re the original "Nesrine" WDYWTTA comment cited here I think it could well have been in response to the Jenni Russell thread where an "untrusted" actually challenged her on what she had written and when she responded didn't answer...touch of pseudo victimisation syndrome me thinks

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  108. BB: Why is it that every time something goes wrong people seek out The Other to blame and vilify and persecute? Just in today's title piece, as I said earlier, with Jews and the black death.

    I think you've touched the sore spot that must addressed. Could this just be an extension on a massive scale of simple playground behaviour? A kind of innate urge to belong to a gang or a clan? And to exclude and de-humanise "others"?

    ??

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  109. ??

    It is said that in Romania, where there is a "Greater Romania Movement", that the most active and virulent nationalists of that movement are in very many cases not "proper" Romanians and thus accentuate how Romanian they are.

    Some of the most aggressive gay-bashers eventually come out as gay.

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  110. Or perhaps, Medve, it's the manipulation and sometimes, even creation of fears by those in charge to distract eyes away from their shortcomings.

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  111. ta habib!!! one of the few words I know in hindi is *pagal* and you are that!!! love ya really! could you act as my on line translator? you said you knew punjabi a few days ago...but i guess there is quite a bit of cross over.....am i right?
    what does "dil ta pagal he" mean?

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  112. "it's the manipulation and sometimes, even creation of fears by those in charge to distract eyes away from their shortcomings"
    such is the case in Italy, well put Habib...

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  113. heyhabib

    You are certainly right that there are ruthless politicians willing to exploit this for electoral gain. Precisely this has happened in Hungary over the past eight years, allowing the Jobbik to gain a bridgehead.

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  114. Gandolfo, My heart is a fool/he is a fool to his heart. (pidgeon punjabi only, I'm afraid. Hmm interesting dish.)

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  115. thauma

    in the port of amsterdam is a classic, but then i am biased.

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  116. Hank -- must've been a helluva match.

    And I agree with gandolfo that the Jenni Russell thread was a bit illuminating. Her reaction to being challenged struck me as like when a kid sticks his fingers in his ears and makes noise so that he doesn't have to hear something unpleasant. Then, all of a sudden, it was, "Gosh, no. That's not what I meant." Even though it was clearly what she'd said.

    MF: what's been going on when you've been unable to comment? Is there really no comment box at all or is it filled with an error message? I've had the latter happen to me on a couple of occasions. I find that, if I refresh the page several times, it will go away.

    Anyone who has problems commenting:

    E-mail me to tell me what's happening, so that I can check with blogger's tech support. Otherwise, I just assume you're busy or away.

    Thanks!

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  117. "Why is it that every time something goes wrong people seek out The Other to blame and vilify and persecute?"

    Well, hell, I dunno, BB. Maybe it's because the level of political debate has been degraded to the point at which sardonic one-liners elevate fluffy spacewasters to the Cif Pantheon.

    Maybe it's because very few people are politically aware or astute, and the ruling class will always have a vested interest in creating The Other as a scapegoat, a sideshow, and, above all, a nightmare justifying more taxes and fewer freedoms.

    I'm not picking on you, BB, but you can't defend the beige, the banal and the boring who dominate Cif by sheer weight of posts on the one hand, and then complain about right-wing extremists on the other. Especially not when the beige tendency were so heavily backed by the Cif editors in the Poster of the Year poll.

    It's frankly embarrassing to read some of the political threads on here now when any right-winger with a passing acquaintance with the English language and a knowledge of history goes head to head with Imogen, posting in between doing her nails and dishing out security passes.

    The Cif editors want a forum which encourages as much traffic as possible, and the angry lefties who might actually confront the right-wing extremists with intelligent arguments and justified anger used to divert that traffic. So the angry lefties went. And the bland played on.

    It's commonplace to say that Cif isn't what it was. Just as pop music hasn't been the same since Elvis joined the army. But it's nevertheless true.

    FWIW, I'd close Waddya down tomorrow if I was given the job of Cif editor. It's a nauseating parade of backslappers, backbiters and bores who put more thought into their avatars than they ever did into any post.

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  118. Hank

    And the bland played on.

    :-) Nice turn of phrase.

    I think it's *always* been the case that the Other is blamed in bad times, however. Or, in other words, your second paragraph.

    ReplyDelete
  119. thaum great........

    habib let's not go there with pigeon aloo thanks for the trans you've past the test i'll be on ya back to get me out of tight situations....this is hound's fave song (his name in title!)

    monkey fish goal hanger great!!! made me larf!!

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  120. @PeterJ - nice one. Always had a soft spot for Citeh, and Kinkladze was a wonderful player. I'd forgive Citeh a helluva lot, even the crass sacking of Sparky, for the fact that they named one of their Ends after Colin Bell (-;

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  121. thaum

    Doubt it...bit far I was going to the North East version but it got snowed off...unless you want to split the difference and hold it in between?

    Montana

    There was nothing there at all.

    ReplyDelete
  122. Gandolfo - seriously weird, but I like it!! What does 'bichoo' mean?

    ReplyDelete
  123. Shame MF - I looked into the NE one but it's far too far by far....

    ReplyDelete
  124. scorpion...his tail is curled at the end...amazing amount of fantasy went into that name ;)

    ReplyDelete
  125. Damn. That makes figuring out the problem a bit tricky. I'll try to find out what I can.

    Cif has been frustrating to me lately. There seem to be invasions of people who either wilfully misinterpret what the article has said or are just too stupid to understand.

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  126. MF "Doubt it...bit far"

    You're a scouser, FFS. Travelling's in your genes. Me and BW will be there. Get up off your arse and make the effort. Bru will be peeved if you're not there to enjoy the case of champagne she's sending.

    @Thauma - I'm going through a bit of a Bowie revival atm. Not a massive fan, so didn't click on any of your links, but I've got a "Best of" on atm. This one's an obvious crowd-pleaser but, even so, great song, and always gets me out of my comfy chair...

    welookdivine

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  127. Thaum i quite liked the scorpion themed bling and outfits....next years black???

    ReplyDelete
  128. Ah, that makes sense in context of the video too!

    Will have to bid you all goodnight ... am taking the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to bed!

    ReplyDelete
  129. Know which one you mean, Hank, even the links haven't worked! It's the long fade-out I like, after the verse-chorus bit has ended.

    OK, zzz....

    ReplyDelete
  130. Wtf is going on with the linky things, Montana? Is it me?

    welookdivine

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  131. Hank

    er hang on...

    "when any right-winger with a passing acquaintance with the English language and a knowledge of history goes head to head with Imogen, posting in between doing her nails and dishing out security passes."

    How come you can do this?..every time I have a pop at her I get accused of all sorts

    To be fair...she did offer something reasonably novel to CIF... a kinda self-promoting idiot's stream of consciousness guide to the zeitgeist...although I reckon it's wearing a bit thin by now...she's still funny as hell when she's wound up though and it's so easy to wind her up. That she was taken so seriously and that so many considered her posts so balanced and sensible kinda demonstrates the depths to which the place has sunk. I get the feeling even some of the better right wing posters are embarrassed by the standards these days. Evil Tory's lost a bit of spark and WheatfromChaff doesn't seem to bother at all.

    You should consider a return incidentally...I think they've got the message..the level of debate is so poor that they'd probably have you back with open arms. I've been quite stunned with what I have got away with this week..particularly the stuff aimed at ATL writers.

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  132. "Bru will be peeved if you're not there to enjoy the case of champagne she's sending."

    Yeah..but she'll be delighted I pre-ordered her new novel from Amazon. I believe it's the harrowing tale of a real man forced to choose between his love of opera and a mysterious tea lady who works in the EU office of interminable bullshit. "A real page turner" as the Brussels Weekly Shopper and Argus described it.

    ReplyDelete
  133. Ah fuggit, a wee whiskey never hurt anyone on a Saturday night.

    Hank, great video, haven't seen it before. That song follows directly after the first link in my post above that you haven't listened to. ;-) If you think back to when radio DJs were actually putting stylus to vinyl, sometimes you heard the cacophonous bit at the end of ST(R) just before the Rebel Rebel riff started.

    ReplyDelete
  134. And MF -- stop trying to kill the Stud. I've grown rather fond of him.

    ReplyDelete
  135. "Cif has been frustrating to me lately. There seem to be invasions of people who either wilfully misinterpret what the article has said or are just too stupid to understand."

    Lately, Montana? Have you been paying attention?

    I liked the piece by Jess yesterday about going to Quaker meetings - "So what was I doing sitting in silent worship?"

    I loved the idea of Jess being compelled to keep her mouth shut. Must have been a real penance for her. Disappointed though that she didn't ref banned Ciffers who have no choice now but to engage in silent worship of her and Our Lady of Rusbridger.

    ReplyDelete
  136. parade of backslappers, backbiters and bores who put more thought into their avatars than they ever did into any post.'''

    i guess if the shoe fits i might be wearing it,,
    specially as i made a tut tut about the comment you then came and praised here,,straighten me out hank,,

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  137. MF
    think you've riled the sprout on WDYWTTA...! so i doubt the champers will arrive folks....but you could still be in for a chance of a signed copy of the tasteful, page turning, and let's not forget captivating roman érotique that's if you play your cards right!!!

    ReplyDelete
  138. I've actually been hanging out on Cif Belief mostly this week. The debates seem to be well thought out yet civil. Of course, the subject has been hobbits so perhaps it's not the best example (and Andrew Brown still annoys me to a degree that I cannot comprehend).

    ReplyDelete
  139. Nice one, Scherf.

    Knowledge comes with death's release

    I'd like to believe that, but I don't think it's true.

    ReplyDelete
  140. "Knowledge comes with death's release"

    I'd like to believe that, but I don't think it's true.

    I read that pessimistically and negatively, thauma, rather than anything mystical. It's certainly true of 90% of Cif posters. :0)

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  141. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  142. I know -- inappropriate adverb selection. One of the reasons it wasn't frustrating me much for awhile was that I wasn't reading much. Marina, VC and Brooker were about it.

    Political threads just too damned depressing.

    ReplyDelete
  143. Thauma, enjoying your Bowie selections.

    'Cos hope, boys, is a cheap thing, cheap thing
    Only fish heads and tails
    Falls wanking to the floor
    It's not the side-effects of the cocaine ... I'm thinking that it must be love
    Don't look at the carpet
    Search through their one-inch thoughts then decide it couldn't be done
    Very sane, he seemed

    I've just e-mailed that (possibly inadvertent) poem to a friend for whom that is a typical night out.

    ReplyDelete
  144. gandolfo

    She's gonna love my latest

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  145. Habib - that's brilliant? Do you think I have a career as a Graun sub-writer?

    Sherf - well, Bowie is (or was) a lovely cynical bastard, but he's been through a few phases. I have the feeling he was doing a bit of flirting with Zen Buddhism at the time. Although the preceding lines should be a mantra for posting on Cif:

    Don't believe in yourself
    Don't deceive with belief


    For the rest of it, his cynicism luckily overcomes any Zenny tendencies. (Sorry BB!)

    ReplyDelete
  146. that's brilliant! - the punctuation I *meant* to use....

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  147. MF
    think you've blown it for the signed copy...but maybe you still have a chance with an invite to the book launch....
    pedant you were but essential for a budding novelist maybe you could offer your services...

    ReplyDelete
  148. Graun sub editor? Pah! Aim higher - get a guitar and start strummin' on the subway, baby!

    ReplyDelete
  149. She warmed her bejewelled hands on a steaming mug of herbal bio-tea and her fingers unfroze sufficiently to caress her expensive hand-made truffles. She heard a loud knock at the door. 'Who is it?' her refined tremulant voice stammered cosmopolitanly.

    A gruff voice from outside rasped gutturally, ' Need any fish, luv?'

    Her almond-shaped doe-like eye sparkled in the candle-light, and she lifted her artificial leg (which she had lost in the De Beers concentration camp) gently from the velvet pouffe on which it rested. She gasped a little, and whispered to herself, 'Monkey! At last, a real man!'

    The door flew off its hinges and ......

    (to be continued when I've paid my publisher what I owe him.)

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  150. "she's gonna love my latest"

    Hmm, I'd be more inclined to ask whether she thinks it's fair of her to cling on to her Jewish boyfriend, who lost relatives in the Holocaust. Hasn't he suffered enough already?

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  151. The door flew off its hinges and a rough yet handsome (in a lower-class sort of way) man shimmered in the doorway.

    "What do you want with me?" she gasped, clutching her bejewelled hands to her heaving bosom.

    He spoke in a guttural yet deeply sexy voice.

    "Your money or your life."

    "My money!" she said, and fainted dead away....

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  152. she awoke....
    it was all fuzzy just the same as the dizzy sensation that one gets after a night of oysters and champagne...

    slowly all came into focus...

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  153. She screamed. Where was her lovely apartment with its embroidered curtains and matching doillies? She was lying on a dirty mattress on a linoleum-covered floor. A naked 25-watt bulb faintly illuminated three flying ducks on aroughly plastered wall and an old Everton poster. Her agile mind raced, and then the full horror of the situation struck her. She screamed again. It just wasn't possible. The shame! She was in a council flat!

    ReplyDelete
  154. Thauma, ever read Haruki Murakami

    Highly recommended. Also, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, even better.

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  155. No, scherf, I have't, but now I'm going to have to do some serious amending to my planned next post!

    ReplyDelete
  156. she came to her senses...she thought to herself
    "pull yourself together gal, if you can deal with Brussels eurocrats and holocaust survivors you can deal with this..."
    she had a gulp of beer, albeit flat and quite vile, out of the tennants can left on the soiled floor...now action was needed.....
    "It wasn't all in vain" she thought as she recalled her meetings with expert/s of survival...thankgod I was a high class socialite...

    ReplyDelete
  157. Damn you, StudRockman! I wanted to be 1st on BE's thread...

    ReplyDelete
  158. A council flat! The shame of it! What if her friends in the diplomatic service heard of it?

    Slowly she turned her head. The room swam in a blaze of neon from the flashing light outside the window. No, it really did flash putrid colours: the 1965 Chateau Lafite Rothschild from last night was not to blame, although the Möet might have had a word in.

    Clutching her breast, she discovered that her adorable pendant (bought at a simply delightful bijou jeweller's in Antwerp) still encircled her throat. Her rings still graced her slender fingers.

    Where, oh where, was she? Where had *he* gone? What enormities might he have committed against her person? Had he found the means to dip into her trust fund?

    And most of all: what did he *want*?

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  159. All right, matchsticks aren't working any more ... night all!

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  160. Just opened up the WDY thread to get up to speed. MChica -- what on earth were you saying that was incurring the wrath of the mods??

    ReplyDelete
  161. Still here, Montana - the posh wine shop turned out to be an Aladdin's cave and have a bit left in the lamp.

    I was interested in the MChica deletions too...

    ReplyDelete
  162. There were so many and she's not normally someone whose comments would merit deletion. The mods do work in mysterious ways...

    ReplyDelete
  163. Montana, there's a very funny bus picture up in the gallery, don't know if you put it there, but here's a song for the idea...
    (it's not very good, but I like it.)

    ReplyDelete
  164. PeterJ. You got 31 questions right on University Challenge? 'struth how much I don't know is a lot. Best score 18 so far.

    ReplyDelete
  165. @Habib - yeah, I managed that, although the previous week it was 23 I think, and I didn't post the result. Those are being fair, too, and not giving myself dodgy ones and simultaneous answers, honest. Only got about three starters, though.

    Another round tomorrow?

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  166. PeterJ
    As one who knows when one is beaten, hell yes!
    :-)

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  167. PeterJ- glad to read the posh wineshop will be worth raiding when the revolution calls.

    Night comrades.

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  168. Annoying songs for the duration,
    go on click on them to see how much they annoy you. I'll offer a hint and see if you can guess the song.
    Condiment.

    ReplyDelete
  169. I haven't clicked on that 1st one yet, but it better not be the effing Macarena.

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  170. Don't give me ideas, Montana, curiosity is a potent force, isn't it? Explains why people keep reading Job's comments.
    Ha ha ha! If you can endure this for 8mins 26secs, there's something wrong with you.

    ReplyDelete
  171. Getting your spanish shlock mixed up is no great sin - it's what Shirley Valentine went to Greece for.

    This one's gonna hurt your head - it's like the Saviour is doing "The old great whistle test."

    ReplyDelete
  172. Haha I wrote nothing exceptionally radical, just asked why the pix I submitted was rejected? Mind you after the first deletion I did follow up other qs which also got deleted.
    The mod needs some Midol for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  173. Nah, you see , that's not annoyin, it's lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  174. Oh, now I'm just sick enough to love Da Da Da...

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  175. HeyHabib
    Kumbaya My Lord is one of my fav hymns but not that version.

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  176. Look, I'm trying to be annoying here, I seem to have succeeded in only annoying myself - the old GREY whistle test is what I meant.

    Here, have this!

    Now that ought to do it.

    ReplyDelete
  177. ya that was annoying...had to stop after 30 secs

    ReplyDelete