The first abolitionist society in North America was formed by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush in 1775. They gave it the snappy name, The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage. Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre in 1865. The Titanic hit an iceberg in 1912, resulting in 1517 deaths. A 1999 hailstorm in Sydney cause A$2.3 billion in damage -- the costliest natural disaster in Australian history.
Born today: John Gielgud (1904-2000), Rod Steiger (1925-2002), Loretta Lynn (1935), Julie Christie (1941), Ritchie Blackmore (1945), Robert Carlyle (1961).
It is the Day of Mologa in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia and New Year's Day in several South & SE Asian cultures.
Hi Montana
ReplyDeleteThe picture Pic
returns a 403 - Forbidden error
'morning people!
ReplyDelete'Capitalism a Love Story' is well worth a watch even if just for seeing MM wrap 'crime scene'tape around banks. Lots of the usual flunkies refusing him entry with the corners of their mouths twitching! The Roosevelt clip was a real eye opener as was the catalogue of low down tricks being pulled by the financial world.
All in all good agit prop! went home feeling suitably angry!
Paul - good to see you posting - hope you got the fried egg sandwich!
morning. Won't be around much today, very busy.
ReplyDeleteToo nice a day as well.
Morning annetan,
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the US,you may enjoy these three photos, two taken at a recent tea party rallies (although I think Montana will enjoy them even more):
Speak English boy
At a Rick Perry rally
No exceptions
Morning all! Great photos, your grace...
ReplyDeleteMorning Philippa,
ReplyDeleteI think this is my favourite
At least he didn't want them to get a Brian....
ReplyDeleteAnd the anti-election UT challenge for today is:
ReplyDeleteWhat's the best footballer/rugby player/sportsperson's name (with evidence) you can find. I'm going to raise the bar to unprecedented levels with the mighty
Danger Fourpence
the Zimbabwean International. Anyone care to beat that?
Shit, I've just beaten myself. Ladies and Gents, I give you Brazilian striker
ReplyDeleteCreedence Clearwater Couto
You can see the commentary- "And it's a bad moon rising here for Creedence as the referee brandishes a red card. Looking at the action replay he clearly tackles the player up around the bend and he's no fortunate son as he trudges disconsolately off the field."
You'll all be delighted and relieved to know I have work to do now.
13thDukeofWybourne
ReplyDeleteI don't have a sportsperson, but do have a musician: a legendary West-Coast sax player with (among others) Steely Dan:
Cornelius Bumpus
Alright...
That Fiberglass chappie's name always makes me laugh.
ReplyDeleteI always liked nominative determinism....
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism#Examples
Morning all
ReplyDeleteBitterweed - 'Steely Dan' is a real band? I seem to recall it was Robert Lindsay / 'Ben's favourite band in 'My Family'!
*splutters at lavartis*
ReplyDeleteYes, they're a real band. Gave us the best ever sample-spin-off when SFA used a quote from 'Show Biz Kids' to give us this
Not work safe...
Anyone else think the video still of Greater Crested Milibandi on John Harris' election tour looks like an advert for a chat-line targetting the affluent city-working gay?
ReplyDeleteDanny Invincible is the stupidest name ever. Footballer.
ReplyDeleteLavartis
ReplyDeleteYes, they were named after a giant steam powered dildo in a William Boroughs novel. Steely Dan were quite simply the coolest band to come out of LA in the seventies. Damn I feel old.
How about Portuguese goalkeeper "Quim" ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quim
Your grace LOL! (though perhaps I shouldn't laugh at people with a basic skills deficit?).
ReplyDeleteRe the third one is it a missing 'r' before the 2nd 'e' or a missing 'p' after it do you think?
steel dildo? Portugese goalkeepers? Too surreal.
ReplyDelete/I'll get me coat
sorry steam-powered dildo, whatever
ReplyDeleteDot - I used to have a student called Brian who used to spell his name 'Brain'.
ReplyDeleteAgain shouldn't laugh as he didn't have much of one - bless :)
But it was very hard not to!
Gregor FučkaBasketball player ; )
ReplyDeleteJazz pianist called Charlie Kuntz?
ReplyDeleteGreat pics your Grace
ReplyDeleteHarry Haddock always cheered people up - great Clyde fullback & one of my Dad;'s heroes, was turned inside out by Stanley Matthews in a Scot/Eng international - and never fouled the great Stan once.
Philibee, I'm sure there's been some Kuntz playing for Germany. And then there's the Bolton player, Danny, who's Shittu.
ReplyDeleteSome great fitba names here -
ReplyDeletehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/funny_old_game/1750902.stm
Jermaine McSporran I love!
There's a player with a wonderful name, who gave Eurosport hacks the chance to claim headline immortality - story here.
ReplyDeleteOh what a fine read this morning's UT has provided.
ReplyDeleteAn absolute delight thank you all - you had me in stitches.
Does anyone know the real name of contributor 'littlevigilante'? A young, petite woman.
ReplyDeleteShe has just hit the roof on the Schaffauser thread:
This is one of the worst-constructed pieces of writing I've seen on this site lately. Not to mention the disgusting co-option of bell hooks, who, by the way, insisted that her taken authorial name not be capitalised - it should be written 'bell hooks'. (Cif eds, can you please change this?)
Lavartis - littlevigilante is the rather odd Laurie Penny.
ReplyDeleteBNP wonk being interviewed on W@1 - haven't heard somebody's rationale break down that quickly since the last time I spent time with friend's toddler.
ReplyDeleteIts Laurie Penny yeah, no actual argument to offer so stamped her feet instead.
ReplyDeleteBell Hooks - what sort of pretentious twat insists on no capitalisation in their name? Its a rule of grammar, not a personal choice. Numpty.
Jay: I am that sort of pretentious twat. I have been signing my name in personal letters and all emails without capitals for about twenty years.
ReplyDeleteBNP "wonk" ???
ReplyDeleteThat made me look up. Mind, you should have heard the UKIP guy last night, explaining on R5 why a 30% flat tax would work for everyone and boost the economy in the UK because it did in Singapore... talk about bat-shit desperate.
Can't wait for Thursday night. not.
it's a good article, Jay - am beginning to think that Thierry S, an amateur writing in a foreign language, is significantly better organised in his thinking than many of the professionals... debate seems to be a bit A v B, though, but that is perhaps to be expected...
ReplyDeleteFrom the Guardian, is this a hastily conceived nom de plume?:
ReplyDeleteRoy Mayall: If the agreement between Royal Mail and the CWU is accepted it will be another weapon in the armoury of bad-natured managers
Am listening to Caroline Lucas on 'election call', wishing I'd had enough credit on my phone to ring in and ask how they reconcile their pro-EU stance with some of their economic policies...which are mutually exclusive...ah well.
ReplyDeletebell hooks ?
ReplyDeleteNot to be confused with Bill Hicks, who also discussed race, class and gender. Agreed: in different terms.
Morning all....
ReplyDeleteSome funny sport star names, eh!?
Well, I was going to use quim....
We've got Juri Zhirkov at Chelsea.
bitterweed - bill hicks definitely my preferred commentator, heheh.
ReplyDeleteAnd now here's Tim with the weather.
"Here's Tim with the Weather" indeed.
ReplyDeleteRoll on "Arizona Bay"...
GloriaMachinTruc coming up with some lovely lines on the Thierry S thread.
ReplyDeleteDot - Roy Mayall's written quite a few articles on Cif and yes, it is a pseudonym. I have no idea how long he spent concocting it, though. Probably not long, as you suggest.
Also, I seem to remember some guy in a libertadores game named Juan Carlos, who just went with the more informal 'juanca' on his shirt.
ReplyDeleteThat made me laugh. For about a week!!
medve
ReplyDeleteSigning your own name how you like is one thing, judging from recent comments made about Bell Hooks this is slightly different, she insisted on others doing likewise when referring to her.
pardon my ignorance, who or what is bell hooks?
ReplyDeleteI have a mate down south who is an expert on the lower leagues of English football. He swears there was a journeyman professional doing the rounds called Barry Wardrobe. I've tried finding him on the internet but to no avail.
ReplyDeleteEdwin, great shout on Harry Haddock. He was the Clyde captain when they won the Scottish Cup twice in the 50's.
PeterJ, can't top that!
Barry Wardrobe. Ok, that wins.
ReplyDeleteBidisha on internet dating.... This should be good!
ReplyDeleteProbably an old mate of Ron Manager
ReplyDeleteBarry Wardrobe that is. Not Bidisha.
ReplyDeleteYou beauty, just found him:
ReplyDeleteYour majesties, Lords and Ladies, I present for your delectation and amusement
Barrie Wardrobe
PeterJ, I'll take that crown back thanks ;)
Dotterel: bell hooks Interestingly, due to the internal logic of the wiki the URL contains Bell_hooks
ReplyDeleteJay: Cheers. Having learned English as a foreigner, i always felt that capitalising the first person was a bit OTT. I offend often except when i start a sentence with it (also a kind of offence). In any event i will definitely be adding the tick-box "Am i being a pretentious twat?" to the reality check-list ;-) .
Your Grice:
ReplyDeleteYour majesties, Lords and Ladies, I present for your delectation and amusement
What about us common folk?
Seriously though, the notions of common (gemeen, gemeente, gemeenschappelijk) and if i dare, folk - volk (the working class even?) date back centuries and i feel that useful traces remain in the Netherlands and also in England and Scotland to greater extent than, for example, in Hungary.
cheers medve
ReplyDeleteand now Seaton's on the Bidisha thread, it's like a car crash, you can't not watch.....
Dammit, I must go soon, and you lot direct my attention to a Bidisha piece. I'll take a very small look at it, but then I'm off ...
ReplyDeleteAnd bell hooks is IIRC a rather sensible feminist writer, so no accusations of twatism, please. It also is a nom de plume, in the tradition of e. e. cummings. I say: Yay to non-conformist self-namings, nay to non-conformist bullshit spurting.
Which brings me back to Bidisha No-Last-Name-Given.
Medve,
ReplyDeleteI didnt realise english was your second language, very impressive. Whats your first?
I speak about 10 words of german, maybe 3 words of french... not great... (nicht gut...)
Jay: Dutch, French, English, Hungarian. I never admit to knowing a bit of German, even when i send Goethe poems to my son, because that enables me to answer those who address me in German in Dutch. You are right that the second language is the bottleneck. After that it gets easier, except when the language is not Indo-European (Hungarian): fecking nightmare.
ReplyDeleteI must add that the Hungarian has pushed the French into a cul de sac, but when i go to France it can come back out again.
Damnit, I made Seaton LOL!
ReplyDeletemedve,
ReplyDeleteHungarian is the hardest language in Europe to learn apparently. However as a Dutchman, I'm not surprised at your linguistic skills.
What I have noticed through my work is that whilst almost all Dutch can speak German, Germans normally can't speak Dutch despite there being a lot of similarities (sentence structure excepted).
I was chatting to a barman on Saturday night for a couple of minutes before we realised neither of us were Dutch, he was a Manc.
Ooh, what an afternoon. Anyone here work in education in Britain? Have french friend who wants to work as a language assistant, but the Brit Council and Comenius stuff eligibility requirements make no bloody sense...are going to try approaching the agencies who recruit on guardian jobs, but i have a nasty feeling all FLA places are filled by the BC/Comenius...
ReplyDeleteAnyone know different?
Jay:
ReplyDeleteMust... bite.. tongue... struggling... will be banned again... must resist...
That's what you get when you tend to express yourself very clearly in what is already a very powerful expressive language.
Your Grice:
ReplyDeleteI think these famous Dutch linguistic skills boil down to Dutchies not fearing making ridiculous mistakes in another language. They just barge in there! But of course, with practice pragmatism can pay dividends.
With Dutch friends here in Hungary we mostly speak Hungarian, to the great amusement of their Hungarian partners. We do use Dutch as a sort of in-group bonding game.
Christ, thought you were all kidding about the iddlebid piece.
ReplyDeleteam one para in and am coughing helplessly already.
Dot
ReplyDeleteDamnit, I made Seaton LOL!
Next time, try to do it while he's eating a pretzel.
Learn Dutch with Duke Lesson 2:
ReplyDeleteWord of the day whilst we were relatively on the topic. It's a complete mouthful:
voetbalverslaggever- Football Commentator
as in:
"Clive Tyldesley is een vreselijk voetbalverslaggever en een enorm harig klootzak":
"Clive Tyldesley is a terrible football commentator and an enormous hairy ballsack."
thauma: luckily i wasn't eating one when i read that, but please refrain for moment while i take sip.
ReplyDeletethanks, that's better.
Thauma
ReplyDeleteI fear it was a one off otherwise I'd be dispatching a bag of pretzels to graun towers post haste!
Your Grice:
ReplyDeletewith respect
"Clive Tyldesley is een vreselijke voetbalverslaggever en een enorme harige klootzak"
or alternatively
Clive Tyldesley is een vreselijk mens
inderdaad een vreselijke toestand die grammatica!
(can't remember how to spell that properly in Dutch old / new)
Imagine joining an internet dating service to find
ReplyDeletethe woman of your dreams.And them coming back with
Bidisha!!!Talk about having a bucket of ice cold
water chucked over your nether regions !!
Hi all
ReplyDeletePaul, that's scary. Could put one off dating for a while.
RE; sports names, there was once a player in Canadian Football named Wonderful Monds. He wasn't. Morris Titanic (NHL) comes to mind too.
Paul - it doesn't bear thinking about...can you imagine the difficulties arranging where to meet?
ReplyDelete"under the clocktower?"
"what, that womyn-hating phallic symbol? no thank you."
"by the flower stall?"
"Displaying a deeply stereotypical patriarchal approach to romance"
"in the costa coffee?"
"harks back to the gender-split of socialisation and political discourse in the 18th century"
"erm, sock shop?"
"fuck off."
Can't see it getting off the ground, meself...
Ah well. I missed a day of cif, I wnet out on the Harris hills, good views of the Hebrides, of Skye. I am too exhausted. I have glanced on Cif, but I can't be bothered posting. Got to see the scenrey again before I move away.
ReplyDeleteOf course, where I live, our customer service is famously abysmal.
Anyway, got to Watch Romeo and Juliet, as well as read it...
Also reading- The Balkans, by Misha Glenny
The rites of Peace, by Adam Zamoyski
A history book about ancient Mesopotamia
Life and Fate by Vasili Grossman
Evening all
ReplyDeleteNo cif for me tonight - even Biddi on lurve is resistable. Lovefilm have sent me two Daniel Auteuil films. Romauld et Juliete and Un Coeur en Hiver - what a feast! Think I'll watch them both tonight.
@Philippa
ReplyDelete''Can,t see it getting off the ground meself...''
Many a truth spoken in jest!Doubt even a miracle would
get that gig going.However if you ever read about a man who had a bunch of flowers shoved down his throat and got kneed in the balls for suggesting a drink at a pub called THE COCK then you know at least i gave it my best shot.
@Hi Boudican.
@Hi Sheff and NapoleonK
ReplyDeleteDidn,t see you both there!
Medve: "Dutch, French, English, Hungarian."
ReplyDeleteJesus. Even bilinguals seem impressive to me. In fact even Del Boy's handful of French impresses me. Languages not my strong point, shall we say...
Paul - that is beastly. Bidisha would be great fun. Before any sex act could commence there would be a lengthy political debate about whether said act reinforced gender roles or female subordination.
"What?", her confused partner replies, "We're both women, Biddy!!"
"Misogynist."
"Excuse me? And whats that you're holding?"
"A Fawcett produced, women friendly, 'safe place strap-on' - it is 15 inches long to reassert male inadequacy. It doesnt just vibrate, it has a sound box to encourage you with stirring political commentary as well: "Yes to Empowerment", "Dworkin knows best", "Smash the patriarchy", "Bang her for Bindel", "Misogynist beast, hear me roar!".
"I'm sorry, Biddy, this is all getting too much. First you ask me to 'black up' to promote racial diversity, then you ask me to sing Take That songs while you spank me to avenge Mark Owen's crimes against the sisterhood, this is just the final straw.."
More names for your consideration.
ReplyDeleteBaseball; Johnny Dickshot
Urban Shocker
Van Lingle Mungo
NFL Craphonso Thorpe
NBA God Shammgod (Not kidding)
World B. Free
Napolean K--Sounds like good reading.
Out with the dog, back later.
Paul, Jay - have just scared flatmate to death with the shouts of laughter. please warn me if going to do that again...
ReplyDeleteOh God, ag prov troll has just turned up on the austen ivereigh thread...this is going to be ugly...
ReplyDeleteJay - inspired. Respect. Even the dog was LOLing.
ReplyDeleteGlad to please, Thaum. I dont know why but an old post of Beatonthedonis just popped into my head and i havent been able to stop laughing.
ReplyDeleteI dont know if anyone remembers it, on Joe Harkers absurd piece about the lack of mothers day cards with black faces (his mother is actually white it turned out), it got deleted quickly but luckily someone on the interwebz saved it for posterity.
Beatonthedonis:
Joe: Here you go mum, happy mother's day!
Ma Harker: Thanks son. What a lovely card. Who's this on the front?
Joe: It's supposed to represent you mum.
Ma Harker: But she's... black?
Joe: And so are you mum.
Ma Harker: Um, no, Joe, I'm white. Your father is black.
Joe: Sorry mum, but I'm a black man, and you're my mum, so therefore you must be black.
Ma Harker: Um, okay Joe... you got me a present as well!
Joe: Sure did. Afro hair products.
Ma Harker: Oh for fu...
"Bang her for Bindel"
ReplyDeleteSlogan of the day right there.
Boudican, there's some absolute beauties there. Johnny Dickshot. Are you sure he's a baseballer and not a porn star?
And in dutch, Baseball is Honkbal.
@Jay LoL-whoever said the age of romance is dead?
ReplyDeleteThrow in a dvd of BEACHES and prove that you are
word perfect in quotes from 'The Female Eunoch'
and i reackon you,ll be bringing out the' babe in
biddy'.Doubt it would work on Campbell mind but one
step at a time eh!
Judging from her previous comments I dont think she's my biggest fan, Paul, but love works in mysterious ways, there's always hope!
ReplyDeleteEvening wonderful UTers!
ReplyDeleteHaven't looked at CiF yet but it sounds like a doozie tonight! :o)
Re BNP - was this about the electoral commission investigating their accounts? The shit is really going to hit the fan very soon indeed.
Hehhehehehehe. :o)
Duke--He may have been both but he played in the 30s. Film would be tough to get!
ReplyDeleteJay, that is an inspirational classic. Saving for future chuckles. Did you post it on Biddy's thread?
Fun thread today all. The verdant pastures are calling, so must be away. Bye for now.
Congolese international and German league journeyman Bongo Christ.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Bongo
Boudican,
ReplyDeleteI didnt post it on BIddys thread, i think there's a good chance it would see me disciplined in some way, look what happend to poor old LordS - Biddy is protected from on high by the prince of darkness.
Jay - it's no use languishing after Bidisha - it's a bit like languising after having an English team in the Heineken Cup semi-finals.
ReplyDeleteA low blow, Thaum, pure malice. Who cares about the Heineken cup anyway, none of the clubs even play in London so i cant go and see any, nearest is bloody Wycombe i think. I quite like Northampton and London Irish though, some good players.
ReplyDeleteHave-A-Look Dube - plays for Njube Sundowns in Zimbabwe...
ReplyDeleteWho cares about the Heineken cup anyway
ReplyDeleteWell, anyone who cares about watching rugby rather than aerial ping-pong.
Bloody London? You need to get out more.
Get to a proper centre of civilisation like Cork or Limerick.
Munster 33 - 19 Northampton. (And Northampton obviously the best of the English clubs.)
:-p
Oh, and I should mention that ROG showed those whippersnapper up-and-coming out-halves how to direct a proper game of rugby.
ReplyDeletethaumaturge - at least none of our clubs look like
ReplyDeletethis...
Shaz - very good point. As a woman, I would be very embarrassed to be seen in kit like that.
ReplyDeleteLuckily Stade haven't made it through either, so our eyes won't be assaulted by that kind of ridiculous get-up.
A Lurker has asked me to post this as a birthday tribute.
The Lurker rightly wishes to be known as "He Who Has Just Cooked a Fantastic Piece of Salmon". Not to be confused with Umberto Eco's "How to Travel with a Salmon".
ReplyDeleteSounds good, thauma.
ReplyDeleteThankyou very much, He Who Has Just Cooked a Fantastic Piece of Salmon - 1) for the guitar solo, 2) for reminding me to buy Jon Lord's Before I Forget. €18.50 inc p&p later...
ReplyDeleteTime for some more guitar heroics here - with a bonus game of guess who's playing when...
ReplyDeleteLaughed till i cried at some of the sportsmen thanx guys!
ReplyDeleteCame third in the last Yetholm pub quiz of the season. NN all. p xx
@medve:
ReplyDeleteThe picture error thing was truly bizarre. I saw the first few posts of the day this morning as I was getting ready for work. The picture was there for me and clicking on it took me to the photo. Same just awhile ago. Then I refreshed the page once I'd read all the posts to see if any more had been added while I was reading. No more photo. ???
@Duke:
The photos are both funny and scary for me. Remember -- I have to live amongst these fuckwits. And they're getting bolder and dumber all the time. I'll probably have more on this as the first comment on tomorrow's thread.
@Thauma:
Took me quite awhile to figure out who you meant by the fiberglass chappie. In my defence, I'd like to point out that:
A) I'm not an Arsenal fan.
B) At least I know that Steely Dan was a real band.
Oh. And my entries in the name game:
ReplyDeleteFrom the exciting world of Tennessee real estate. (Second one down)
From the exciting world of NASCAR.
From the Electra (Texas) High School Class of '93. (fifth one down in the right-hand column)
And, you'll just have to take my word for this, but there used to be a woman in Cowpat Junction named Dimple Hunter.
Montana - I actually just remembered something about the name game, which I'd forgotten until now. If you look at the link I posted about dear Argelico, and check out the dateline, you'll see it was a significant date and time; I recall reading that story live as it was posted, following the link to the original site (now gone) and then getting a newsflash from the TV screens in reception next door...
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's why I remember it so well. Odd.
Hi Montana. I suppose the server http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/86493/img_0067.jpg has some policy which does not like my IP and was a bit more forgiving for yours. I see the present pic is on a blogspot server. Is it the same picture? And what does it depict?
ReplyDeleteMedve - I was guessing it was Yaroslavl? Looks vaguely Russian-ish.
ReplyDeletePeter: It looks like you could well be right. Back to work again.
ReplyDeleteMedve -- It is what is left of the village/town of Mologa, in Yaroslavl Oblast. It was flooded (in the 40s, if I remember correctly from what I read last night) when a river was dammed. It's on a Blogspot server now because I downloaded it to my desktop and then uploaded it to Blogspot.
ReplyDeletePeter -- yes, very odd.
Lurked, out of touch, bye
ReplyDeleteMontana: Indeed. Mologa (Russian: Моло́га) was a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, formerly situated at the confluence of Mologa and Volga Rivers, but now submerged under the waters of the Rybinsk Reservoir. Thanks.
ReplyDeletecolinthestoat: Long time no see. Are you well?
Montana: For today's / tomorrow's birthdays may i suggest:
ReplyDeleteProf. Em. Thomas S. Szasz born April 15th 1920, Budapest, living and working(!) in up-state New York.
Interesting case of moderated astrosurfing on Climate Science Editorial. I noticed that two out of the first dozen comments were by brand new accounts and so i posted:
ReplyDeleteA warm welcome to the new posters on CiF (the server knows who you are!).
My comment was memory-holed.