So Sunday, the last day at Hay Festival was pretty idyllic. A sunny afternoon relaxed into a glorious evening and the final remnants of the sun-worshipping literati lay on the lawn reading or splayed out in one of the deckchairs.
Listening to Stephen Fry in the Barclays tent, a guttural bleating interrupted the proceedings and made me think “Hah. Some farmer’s phone with a comic sheep ring-tone. How apt.” Continue reading “Hay: over and out”
The working name was just “Status” for a while. It actually didn’t have a name. We were trying to name it, and mobile was a big aspect of the product early on … We liked the SMS aspect, and how you could update from anywhere and receive from anywhere.
We wanted to capture that in the name—we wanted to capture that feeling: the physical sensation that you’re buzzing your friend’s pocket. It’s like buzzing all over the world. So we did a bunch of name-storming, and we came up with the word “twitch,” because the phone kind of vibrates when it moves. But “twitch” is not a good product name because it doesn’t bring up the right imagery. So we looked in the dictionary for words around it, and we came across the word “twitter,” and it was just perfect. The definition was “a short burst of inconsequential information,” and “chirps from birds.” And that’s exactly what the product was.
Jack Dorsey
140 characters; well let’s see:
I have read, with increasing disbelief, the “appropriate language guide” put out by Lothian police, and reported on in today’s paper. It solemnly intones the following: Continue reading “A Lack of vocabulary”
“I’ve gone where the hand of man has never set foot.”
Sam Goldwyn
Goodnight everyone, sleep well.
A lady goes to her priest one day and tells him, ‘Father, I have a problem.
I have two female parrots,
But they only know how to say one thing.’
‘What do they say?’ the priest inquired.
‘They say, “Hi, we’re hookers, do you want to have some fun?”
‘That’s obscene!’ the priest exclaimed,
Then he thought for a moment and said
‘You know, I may have a solution to your problem. I have two male talking parrots,
which I have taught to pray and read the Bible..bring your two parrots over to my house and we’ll put them in the cage with Francis and Peter. My parrots can teach your parrots to praise and worship and your parrots are sure to stop saying that phrase in no time.’
Thank you,’ the woman responded, ‘this may very well be the solution to my problem.’
The next day, she brought her female parrots to the priest’s house.
As he ushered her in, she saw that his two male parrots were inside their cage holding rosary beads and praying.
Impressed, she walked over and placed her parrots in with them.
After a few minutes, the female parrots cried out in unison:
Hi, we’re hookers, do you want to have some fun?’
There was stunned silence.
Shocked, one male parrot looked over at the other male parrot and exclaimed,
‘Put the beads away, Frank, our prayers have been answered
Happy Feet – My Way
Much has been said about the use of the Vuvuzela at sporting events here in South Africa, irrespective of whether you like them or not they are here to stay.
Here a group of Blue Bulls supporters demonstrate the correct usage of the vuvuzela while enjoying themselves at a Soweto tavern after the Super 14 final.
One of the names of each of these people begins with ‘I’
Well done, everyone!
Reproductive medicine seems ever more problematic, and the latest difficulty to hit the headlines is the fact that some women who have undergone IVF, sometimes on the NHS and sometimes privately, then change their mind and have an abortion. “Data obtained from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority reveal that an average of 80 abortions are carried out in England, Wales and Scotland each year following IVF treatment.” Continue reading “Throwaway babies”
Sometimes I lie awake at night and ask why me? Then a voice answers nothing personal, your name just happened to come up.
Charles M. Schulz
Goodnight everyone, sleep well.
Boadicea's Chariot 
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