Category: General

Today the German regions of Rheinland-Pfalz (my home Bundesland) and Baden-Wuerttemberg (my grandmother’s home Bundesland, a place where I spent a great deal of time in my youth) had regional elections. For the uninitiated, the upper house of Germany’s parliament is composed of members appointed by regional parliaments in proportion to the population of the regions so this has national ramifications. Rheinland-Pfalz tends to be fairly centrist and independent. It has produced a number of centre-right Minister Presidents as well as centre-left, even when national politics were in favour of Merkel’s centre-right coalition. That in today’s climate it chose to retain its Social Democrat/Green coalition is no surprise. The shock came from Baden-Wuerttemberg where, for the first time, the Greens will have a Minister President and form a coalition with the Social Democrats. For those in the UK think of the Greens becoming the dominant party in Oxfordshire and forming a government with Labour. For those in the USA think of the Greens governing with Democrat allies in Utah.

http://articles.ocregister.com/2011-03-25/news/29193259_1_military-action-gadhafi-arab-league

Mark Steyn usually has a take on politics which very much is in accord with my own – why else would I enjoy his writing, I suppose you could ask…
Continue reading “Mark Steyn: Do-gooders in a land with no good guys”

The NSW spoke the other day for some forgotten reason about, and I quote, ‘the Four Horsemen of the Acropolis’. “Whaaaaaat?”, she declaimed to the corpsing wreck on the floor.

A Zangada was also famous for gems such as “muslim nets”, “mongolia paint” and her best ever to our daughter-in-law, “Jane, he’s got a cough.  Give him a spoonful of Cuprinol” (Cuprinol is a wood preservative.  Calpol is the children’s cough medicine).

It’s Sunday.  Feel free to indulge.

OZ

“The Nuese River is another large body of water that can be as bad or even worse than Albermarle Sound in a blow”.

Thus spake the cruising guide, and today it was blowing hard and cold (the high was about 45F (7C)) not bad if you are in the backyard, but standing on a pitching boat, not fun. We made about 60 miles altogether across several other open stretches that were not photogenic. Just as soon as we ducked into a narrow man made channel around lunchtime we came up on a tug towing a whole menagerie, a dredge and seven barges followed by about a mile of bundled dredge pipe. A polite request to “Squeeze past on your port side” was answered with “Sure, come on up captain, there’s lots of room for both of us”
Lots is a bit of an exaggeration.

But we pushed past at our top speed (a blistering 10 knots).
Continue reading “Freezing on the Nuese River”

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Mission Complete – Thanks Everyone!

This quiz was inspired by my daughter, who claimed that murderers were far more interesting than comedians! Just to make it a little harder, I decided to limit my murderers (or accused murderers) to women.

It was  was quite difficult to find ten women, especially as I wanted their ‘cases’ to be ‘different’.  There are two American, one Australian and seven British women – and that’s the only clue that I’m giving for now!

Verbatim from The Wall Street Journal March 24, 2911

TURTLE BAY, March 18 — The United Nations Security Council, now on a roll, voted unanimously late Thursday for a resolution condemning the Hunnic Empire and putting Attila on notice about his behavior in Gaul.
Effective Oct. 1, the resolution unambiguously condemns any further use Attila might make of lethal projectiles, rolling siege towers, hate speech or bullying after midnight, Sept. 30. The resolution, which declares zero tolerance for the Huns’ increasingly apparent aggression, provides for an Order of Immediate Contemplation to take effect automatically should they engage in the proscribed behavior on or after the resolution’s effective date.

Such an Order allows the Council to vote again, almost instantly, to put a national government on notice that it is in breach of an earlier resolution, even if the Council’s members have not had time to gather formally and, if humanitarian exigencies demand, before the croissants have fully risen. With 4G videolinks and other advanced technology of today, an Order of Immediate Contemplation can result in unprecedented and devastating contumely.

If a government in breach of such an Order does not desist from the breach forthwith, the Order can ultimately lead, in due course, with the unanimous support of the Council and after a psychodynamic exploration of each member’s feelings, to actual acts, in the Hegelian sense, especially once the U.S. makes up its mind.

Separately but in the same session, the Security Council voted to kill King Claudius of Denmark, approving, with the Danish government’s consent, the use of an unmanned aerial drone to strike at the usurping monarch and avenge our sweet father’s murther with the native hue of resolution. China and Russia abstained. Venezuela and Cuba called for further study.

In a third resolution, the Council agreed to have replied, “And what did YOU get them, a pewter gravy boat?” and really shut your insufferable cousin up when it had the chance at your sister’s wedding in 1997 but it just didn’t think of that then and before you knew it he had moved on to the burrito station and it was too late. U.N. Resolution 598 (the “Esprit d’Escalier Resolution”) resolves that it is 1997 again, for just a minute, so we can see the look on his face.

Finally, the Council, at 3 a.m. and with absolutely nothing on TV, resolved to lock the barn doors after the horses have bolted and to stuff the genie back in the bottle. China and Russia abstained. Libya, currently revolving president of the Commission on Humane Treatment of Animals, raised a point of order on behalf of horses and genies.

Dear  fellow Charioteers,

Apologies for the absence this past week, especially for Bearsy’s birthday post, but I have been somewhat preoccupied.

Continue reading “‘Splain yourself”

Three members of France’s chess team, including the captain, have been suspended for five years after being caught cheating in the 39th Chess Olympiad in Russia.  The method had been carefully worked out between the three of them.   While player one was actually competing, player two was using a piece of chess software on his computer elsewhere to find out the best possible moves.  He then texted player three, who was in the room where the game was being played.  Various positions had already been agreed between them, so if player three went and stood beside a particular table, that signified a particular square on the board.  Luckily it was the vice-president of the French Chess Federation who read a message on player three’s phone saying “Hurry up with the next move!” and blew the whistle.

I’m not a chess player and it all seems very complicated.  Wouldn’t it have been simpler just to play the game? The whole thing certainly conjures up an amusing picture of a hyperactive Frenchman skipping gaily round the room from one piece of furniture to another.