by Grania
Jerry has been laid low by a surfeit of fine comestibles. He is currently in recovery mode and will join us when he can later on today. We can conclude that Jerry exemplifies the epitome of human civilisation; for did not the Great Sage Douglas Adams once say:
“The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why, and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question ‘How can we eat?’ the second by the question ‘Why do we eat?’ and the third by the question ‘Where shall we have lunch?”
In 28 BC a sunspot was observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China. 1933 in Germany, the Nazis staged public book burnings. In 1954 Bill Haley & His Comets released “Rock Around the Clock”, and eventually reached number one on the Billboard charts. In 1994 Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president.
It’s the birthday of Sid Vicious 1957 (Sex Pistols) and Bono 1960 (U2), so we get to listen to these tracks today.
Random stuff from Twitter today:
Batgirl!
https://twitter.com/41Strange/status/994387863805415424
Some timely advice. I have a stomach ache just looking at it.
I'm all over this shit pic.twitter.com/z5E5WFVlEP
— 70s Dinner Party (@70s_party) May 9, 2018
I did say they were random.
Harbor seal that made mostly wrong Super Bowl picks dies https://t.co/4peWMBw53j pic.twitter.com/5u68OyHy4r
— New York Post (@nypost) May 9, 2018
When you lie on your CV
https://twitter.com/StefanodocSM/status/994124942441664513
I never get tired of watching these kinds of videos.
https://twitter.com/invisibleman_17/status/993749960788267008
On to the felids! Hili has been reading too many puzzle books. Here she contemplates the Vistula.
Hili: We have to take a boat and go to the other side of the river.
A: What for?
Hili: To return to our side.
In Polish:
Hili: Musimy wsiąść do łodzi i popłynąć na drugą stronę rzeki.
Ja: Po co?
Hili: Żeby wrócić na naszą stronę.
And Leon is tetchy today.
Leon: Not now, I’m very hard-pressed.
The Sid Vicious video is not available in my country, the U, S, and A. That may be a good thing.
Yes, I got that too. Of course, the song is available on YouTube in many versions. For example: https://youtu.be/02D2T3wGCYg
That is unfortunate! 😉
Not really. God Save The Queen is a classic punk rock anthem.
When it first came out the BBC banned it thus ensuring it went to number one in the British charts. I think it’s an early example of the Streisand Effect.
Certain the Streisand Effect must predate Streisand even. A true “early example” would be from prehistoric times. Of course you could hardly give that as an example, by definition. 😉
Sad. 😉
Just because you don’t like a piece of music doesn’t mean it has no merit.
Oh yes it does.
Is your computer not showing emoticons?
My visual cortex filters them out as being irrelevant,, like banner ads.
Good way to miss the point.
Maybe if the writing was better 🙂
If I recall correctly, the solution to the puzzle involves not leaving Hili alone in the boat with the roast chicken.
I believe that deserves a “+1”, if I’m using that internetism correctly.
Love that Joshua Tree album. My first exposure to U2.
As Jerry will know, being in France, he is undoubtedly suffering from a crise de foie (crisis of the liver), but almost certainly not from a crise de foi (crisis of faith).
Indeed! I did overeat rich food and am paying the price, but I’m already almost back to normal. Tomorrow the eating continues! (And a visit to Pere Lachaise Cemetery to see the dead notables, including of course Jim Morrison.)
Toujours la foie🤢. Seem to remember the Italians having the same thing with fegato…
Sorry to be pedantic, but the gender of the French liver is unashamedly masculine – le foie (as is the Italian fegato).
Is life worth living? It depends on the liver.
Interesting that you chose to quote Douglas Adams – tomorrow, 11 May, is the 17th anniversary of his death in 2001.
A fun coincidence that this past Saturday night (Sunday morning actually) I was hanging out at the (in)famous Churchill’s Pub in Miami on a night dedicated to Post Punk / Gothic / 1st wave. Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure and Sisters of Mercy were well represented. Nearly all of which were inspired to form after seeing early Sex Pistol gigs, often with audiences of only dozens.
One of the bands was pretty good. I’m not sure my ears have recovered yet. Should have worn ear plugs.
No Bauhaus? Surprising to me if not, since they were at the forefront of the Gothic scene. Great live band too.
Oh yes, Bauhaus was in the mix.
What first came to mind when seeing the Sex Pistols video above was Joy Division. Legend has it that the founding members of the band were at an early Sex Pistols show with an audience of less than 50 people and were inspired by the experience to start a band. The story is that Sumner, a founding member, said something to the effect that they weren’t very good musicians but they were loud and obnoxious and he thought, heck I can do that!
Bauhaus didn’t come along until a few years later. So many subgenres came out of the post-punk era, it’s hard to keep it straight. Bauhaus pretty much defined Gothic I think. Joy Division isn’t quite Gothic, though they are often considered to be particularly these days. Not sure Gothic was even coined yet, though they are only a few years prior to Bauhaus. Bauhaus claims Joy Division as one of their influences.
The dog who gets the sheep to follow him deserves a raise, not firing! Goes to show leadership by example beats leadership by fear.
I missed this yesterday – something about that eggnog makes me think that it is really runny hummus.