Born today: Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512), Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962), Mickey Spillane (1918-2006), Keely Smith (1932), Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968), Juliette Binoche (1964)
It is Teachers' Day in Lebanon.
09 March 2010
09/03/10
Born today: Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512), Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962), Mickey Spillane (1918-2006), Keely Smith (1932), Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968), Juliette Binoche (1964)
It is Teachers' Day in Lebanon.
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Is that the sound of settling dust?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, few people have already said they'll get something up in the near future. And we also have the election campaign starting very soon which will give us a very easy source of UT2 material - can just take it in turns to spout our bile at the goings on of the election campaign, who we're thinking of voting for, etc.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHello, Being a full blood Lebanese I can testify they do indeed like their teachers. I liked mine in Australia so it must be DNA.
ReplyDeleteBarbie: I hated my blonde dolls: Cut their hair and called them sluts even back in the late sixties. I was a trendsetter.
Well I'm nearly up and about. Having a lazy morning thanks to being on strike.
ReplyDelete@sheffpixie Do you write in bed too like me?
ReplyDeleteYes I do Ms R - if what I post up here can be described as writing. :-))
ReplyDeleteTheres an unbelievable piece from Andrew Brown up on cif about communion wafers this morning
In the Greek Orthodox church (when I've been) we get this yummy soft bread. I will read@Sheffpixie but I know he will annoy me..it's his smug mug.
ReplyDeleteOh and theres now a piece up on diversity...tomper2 has first comment with
ReplyDeleteDiversity for the Guardian is having staff from both Oxford and Cambridge.
which I have a feeling may set the tone.
@SheffPixie I have commented on the diversity piece.It's kind of Tut 101: how to pull some stuff from of the moment books (any more Gladwell and I will chew my arms off) into an article that does sweet fuck all. I would not even pass her on this, Lebanese Teacher's Day.
ReplyDeleteJay, poor Sam he's just trying ever so hard and then you go and bop him on the head:)
ReplyDeleteJayReilly
ReplyDeleteHi mate, coincidentally am working up a piece on the main Parties' positions on PFI - and its future - running up to the election.
Although it may be largely academic subject being as the billion pound horse has already bolted on capital investment projects, I still think it will have some merit. I'll try to avoid any detailed history as this is now very, very well documented elsewhere.
Next few days hopefully.
I tend to agree with others. Let's keep sights on the big ships, no point knocking lumps out of fellow travelers.
I am actually working on setting up a pressure group to call DCFS to account for it's inhumane adoption practices. It's come out of working on a book about actual adoption for mate who was Global Head of Something at Greenpeace. We wrote to loads of people last week..and only David Cameron replied. And replied well. Ed Balls fudged it.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff, bitterweed, would definitely be intersted to read your thoughts on it. PFI is so ugly its beyond words, if i didnt live here i would find it hilarious, what mugs - what a comedy of corruption, audacity and theft...
ReplyDeleteJames Purnell has a piece up.
ReplyDeleteHe supports 6Music...
bleah
I know I said I'd take the support of any vote-hungry weasel standing up for my favourite music station, but this is pushing my f-ing tolerance...
That sounds a serious dilemma, Phillipa. I think, on balance, you have to give up on the radio station.
ReplyDeleteThe wierdest thing about Purnell is that until most of the NuLab cabinet were pushed out the idea of him as an "intellectual" would be considered genuinely insane. He was just a nobody, a run of the mill little turd pushing his career. When he is considered a "philosopher politician" you really do know your country is in very serious trouble.
Philippa,
ReplyDeleteI had a look at that. It's just like Cameron claiming to like the Smiths. Such a vapid, transparent attempt to look cool.
You know those couples that shop in Tesco and go:
''Look Darling! It's double clubcard points on the new Keane/Coldplay/Pigeon Detectives/Hard Fi/Jamie T etc CD. If we buy it we'll be able to get a free packet of mangetout!!''
That's how Purnell consumes his music. He watches Zane fucking Lowe on MTV2 and buys his CD's in Tesco to get free mangetout.
Prick.
"That's how Purnell consumes his music. He watches Zane fucking Lowe on MTV2 and buys his CD's in Tesco to get free mangetout.
ReplyDeletePrick."
Thanks for that Duke. Made me chuckle.
And cheers Jay.
"That's how Purnell consumes his music. He watches Zane fucking Lowe on MTV2 and buys his CD's in Tesco to get free mangetout."
ReplyDeletePlease post that comment on his article. It wont last long but will be worth it.
PS - ALL
ReplyDeleteI will be in Wales on the 27th. Will definitely be up for a sheffield meet up if another date chosen, if not, have a blinder.
Jay - nah, I'm sticking with 6Music, on the 'stopped clock bi-quotidian rectitude basis'. I'm not going to disagree with someone who observes that grass is green just because I think they're a prick. I'll whinge about it, though...
ReplyDeleteYour grace - gorgeous.
Good old James "Power to the People - And Tag them Too" Purnell.
ReplyDeleteWithout him, no Oscar-worthy comment from SirDaphne...
I was almost persuaded by victorious yeehahs to post this on the previous thread so as not to disrupt the enthusiastic weathering of the dust storm - but then I thought: fuck it - especially after medve decided that yesterday's engagement was a waste of bandwidth. Waste of bandwidth - how beige and NIMBY is that?
ReplyDeleteI'm actually a great supporter of Hank, even though I give him shit - which he deserves. I'm also a great supporter of billp and other interesting voices that are too uncomfortably vocal that they get run out of town - billp, you'll remember, also got his pre-served mob deserts from the 'don't touch me with your disruptive yardstick' and was poked off the edge. Why can't this forum allow noisy, interesting voices?
Work around them but don't silence them.
There's room enough for parallel conversations: Angry blahs. Life in my pocket at this time. Crap on Cif and wot I juz said. Stuff to write for UT2. And the occasional run off the rails rant. Then we get to hear real people and not people trying hard to pretend otherwise because they want to join a ... what? Club or open voice thread?
It's good to have voices buzzing - they're not intimidating - unless you let them. Let's not be bland.
Btw, and on the note of meeting cool people:
Thanks Edwin from yesterday:)
3pot4 - get yer arse back on the poetry blogs:)
scherfig - olching was right - you are Col. Mustard in the Library with the Rope:)
Hello
ReplyDeletethe AB thread is now discussing crumbs which may fall from the wafers - My curiosity got the better of me - I had to ask.
Amazing the things which assume importance.
Leni,
ReplyDeleteI've just replied to you on the great wafer crumb debate thread.
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ReplyDeleteMedve:
ReplyDelete1. Confrontation is noisy and uncomfortable - so much so that often there's a preference to shut it down.
2. I've no idea what you're on about.
3.Turning your back on the noisiness of peoples' needs is tantamount to blog suburbia.
medve and Wybourne
ReplyDeleteBlimey! I have been meaning to, effectively, delete that because of a mixture of wanting to put it under the umbrella of different software and waiting for its own software to emerge into another instar.
It is only run through Google translate, but with options for hand translating.
I would be very interested to know whether you think this makes it worse for people who might want to translate text by hand or acts as a prompt for people to think, this is rubbish but there is enough there to tidy up and make a better job.
Thanks for any feedback.
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ReplyDeleteGIYUS seems to be a dog-lover! He's posting on the doggy threads as WarOnTerrier. :-D
ReplyDeleteMedve:
ReplyDelete1. You might want to check that assertion.
2. Your notion of valuable is debatable.
3. Are you a parrot?
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ReplyDeleteDuke
ReplyDeleteJust read your reply on AB thread - brilliant. One of the things you always wonder about but don/t like to ask.
thauma - I suspect I am not alone in wondering whether that is or is not our tinfoilhatted friend, or a very good riff...
ReplyDeletebut 'here Moddy Moddy' just made me laugh out loud, so I really don't care!
Is it just me, or is that diversity thread utterly vacuous? In fact, I could have written it:
ReplyDelete'Division of labour. People vary in proclivity and temperament, and a wise employer will bear this in mind.'
That'll be £100,000 per annum, please.
(correction, I mean the article itself, not the thread)
ReplyDelete@Lavartis: No you're right.
ReplyDeleteLavartis - oh yes, and her BTL 'clarifications' actually managed to make the article more vague, which I wasn't sure was actually possible...
ReplyDeleteI've been wondering why I bother to post on here too. Best I can come up with is that it's better than shouting abuse at News at Ten...releases a bit of tension sometimes..and there's a permanent record of my disapproval at various goings on and a few well aimed barbs at the useful idiots who play such a vital role; they also serve who mindlessly acquiesce etc...especially the fuckin thick ones who can't see just what vapid, inconsequential, boring shite their postings actually consist in...although I'm sure that's a big part of their appeal in certain quarters...it's not the 'quality' of their arguments that matters; it's their obsequious collusion.
ReplyDeleteMind you, having said that...especially the 'permanent record' part, I'm reminded that, of course, there isn't since 99% of my posts on CIF have been permanently wiped...how fuckin cool is that?..too hot to handle?...too abusive?..or just too inconvenient?..who knows?
Thauma, can you at least pity me?
ReplyDelete"England manager Martin Johnson has made just two changes to the starting XV for Saturday's Calcutta Cup match against Scotland at Murrayfield.
Wasps' Joe Worsley replaces Lewis Moody at open-side flanker, while Leicester lock Louis Deacon comes in for the injured Simon Shaw."
Worsley and that monstrous mediocrity Deacon - he is the most medicore, plain player i have ever seen in any international anywhere, in any sport, ever. This is the wisdom of Johnson - we have been so impressively shit that we better stick with the level of shitness we have maintained so far, just in case changes make us any more shit.
Evening Untrusties
ReplyDeleteBusy day. Brain dead. Fash to fight. Back in a bit. x
Jay - you do indeed have my sympathy. I'm not familiar with this Deacon chappie, but it seems to me that Moody is about the only English player with a little verve and imagination.
ReplyDeleteOur starting team unchanged for the match against Wales. The banter kicked up a notch this evening at pub.
Thaum - you wont ever be familiar with Deacon, you'll never even know if he's on the pitch or not. He's that type.
ReplyDeleteNot surprised you're not making changes, to be honest, my money would be on an Ireland win, 2nd place overall.
Jay - yes, hope Wales don't make one of their second-half turnarounds. I think we will win, but there's always a doubt.
ReplyDeleteCan't see us winning the title with the points as they stand unless France get taken apart by England and/or Scotland, and we also put some cricket scores up - frankly that all seems unlikely.
France will probably have the slam, damn their Gallic eyes.
No, wait! That would be *taken apart by England and/or Italy*, which is even more unlikely!
ReplyDeleteMontana, can I just mention that I hate the Barbie pic and can't wait for tomorrow and a new one? ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'm off before I have to reload again....
I can see the French winning i>, the way things are going. Pah.
ReplyDeleteOh now that was a clever bit of bog-standard basic coding that I managed to fuxx0r there. Was supposed to say "Le Grand Chelem" in italics in there. Won't try it again as I screwed it up the first time :P
ReplyDeleteEvening all.Back tomorrow. Got to shout abuse into the unthinking never-ending void.
ReplyDelete"...and Barbie was unleashed on the world in 1959."
ReplyDeleteI had a Barbie as girl, but I don't think it molded my self image or that of my gal friends. Even as a child, in between dismembering her body and cutting out frayed clothes for her from cloth laying around, I had a distinct feeling her body was unnatural and fictitious as much as My little pony.
However that body morph has been adopted mainly by women in industries that cater to men e.g. lad mags models or topless bar models. In fact the creator of the Barbie, recently died, was a sex addict of sorts and was concocting in the Barbie his perfect woman.
Mchica:
ReplyDeleteIn fact the creator of the Barbie, recently died, was a sex addict of sorts and was concocting in the Barbie his perfect woman.
Sad sod.
Medve "Sad sod" No doubt!
ReplyDeleteHowever He didn't die recently but in 1991. Here is the link and an excerpt from it;
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/barbie-creator-was-a-sex-addict-1297581.html
""When Jack talked about creating Barbie, it was like listening to somebody talk about a sexual episode," Mr Ryan's former friend, Stephen Gnass, reveals. "It was almost like listening to a sexual pervert."
I think maybe there some girls who developed Dysmorphic syndrome, whilst playing with Barbies. Even though I am not really for frivolous lawsuits, I can't say I'll be too sad if Matel gets sued by them. Unleashing a perverts fantasy onto little girls calls for it.
Mchica:
ReplyDeleteLuckily i've never been involved with any woman affected by that. Talk about objectifying people; *shudder*.
As a boy, (yes, i'm older than Barbie) i thought they were weird as well.
ReplyDeleteI remember my first box of Lego (aged two). Great stuff. Don't think it gave me any sexual hang-ups though, rather a sort of anal-retentive desire to calculate things. Ended up with maths-phys dip.
ReplyDeleteMedve
ReplyDeleteI loved lego too, I think my mom was more keen on dolls then me really. Though my favorite was my science lab set, surprisingly as I sucked at it in school, it came with a microscope and slides. Amazingly several years back I went to several toy stores to get one for my niece, and couldn't find one!
I have great idea for a play/act; collect other girls (and boys) experiences with the Barbie and mesh it togather with Mr Ryans bio.
Mchica: That play is a good idea (not for me to write it though). As for getting kids micro/telescopes electronics or science kits, only good if they are interested. My spoilt brats are developing their own interests bless their souls.
ReplyDeleteMedve you're so correct. I see a pattern here. mom buying me dolls 'cos she liked them and me buying lab sets 'cos I enjoyed them....best stick to gift cards I guess.
ReplyDeletewell nite nite, it's time for me to turn into a pumpkin.
Good night, my boys are just off to school.
ReplyDelete