Quote: Winston Churchill

 

"What can you do with a man who looks like a female llama surprised when bathing?"

 - Winston Churchill on Charles de Gaulle, 1944

 

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874-1965) was a British politician who led Britain during World War 2.  He served as Prime Minister between 1940-1945 and 1951-1955 and is regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century. 

 

Charles Andra Joseph Marie de Gaulle (1890-1970) was a French general who led the Free French Forces during World War 2.  He served as the first President of the French Fifth Republic between 1959-1969.

 Charles de Gaulle

Llama

Charles de Gaulle

Llama

Some feelgood moments . . .

 

The email below was sent to me by my son. Thomas  It may qualify as glurge but what the hell, we can all do with uplifting moments when the news is full of wars, intolerance, bullying, crime, corruption and cyncicism.  Random moments of kindness and goodness still happen and, when they do, they have the ability to make us feel positive about ourselves, about others and about the future.  Maybe people are intrinsically good after all, not simply a mass of selfish, aggressive and hostile instincts of the id.  And when those moments happen they shine for all of us, like the sun rays coming through storm clouds.  One example:  Last week 54 year old grandfather Barry Eastwood went to his bank in Manchester and withdrew 1,000 pounds (£1,000) to pay his car insurance.  Mr Eastwood had retired from work, having sustained a number of heart attacks.  He is also suffering from bowel cancer.  As he left the bank with the money in his hand, he fell, hurting his hand and breaking his spectacles.  The money slipped from his hand and was blown away by a strong wind, leaving him with only £60.  Bystanders began clutching at the money, on the ground and in the air.  Mr Eastwood got to his feet and said to himself “That’s it, you’ve lost it all.”  Feeling saddened and depressed, he went and sat in his car.  To his surprise, people began knocking on the window and putting crumpled notes in his lap.  Most of the people were teenagers who also enquired as to his health and asked whether he was feeling okay.  He received it all back but for £20.  Mr Eastwood’s comment:  “It has given me a sense that all is not lost and that there is still some decency in this world.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2160208/Grandfather-watched-1-000-blow-away-falling-stunned-strangers-return-penny.html#ixzz1ybZ9mFXc

Here is the email that I received:

21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity

 People aren't always awful. Sometimes, they're maybe even just a little bit wonderful.

Here are 21 pictures to remind you of that fact.

1.      This picture of Chicago Christians who showed up at a gay pride parade to apologize for homophobia in the Church.

  (Michelle Gantner / Maladjusted Media)

 ... and the reaction from the parade.

(Michelle Gantner / Maladjusted Media)

Funny Friday

 

My friend Arthur and I were discussing weight loss and I said I would use that as the theme for the Funny Friday segment.

Let me qualify that by saying that I am not talking about “Yo mama...” jokes (“Yo mama's so fat, her baby pictures were taken by satellite” etc).  I believe that the humour below is amusing without being cruel.

Fat jokes are non PC and taboo these days, so much so that the TV sitcom Mike and Molly has drawn flak for its fat jokes, even though many are made by the overweight stars of the show themselves.

Funnily enough, the day after my discussion with Arthur I attended a conference in the city and was driving back.  Whilst I was stopped in traffic at Broadway in Ultimo, near the area where the old Tooths Brewery site is being redeveloped, I looked idly out of my driver’s side window to my right and was surprised to see a shop with the following signage:

Here’s another of the under awning sign:

Google “Chubby girls bunz” if you want to see some reviews of the establishment, it’s apparently an el-cheapo Asian takeaway that hasn’t been there long, which would account for my not having noticed it before.

And here is my selection of overweight humour:  Caution, there is some risque language . . .

After queuing up for almost half an hour in the chemist last week, I finally got to the counter and the woman looked at me and said, "I'm really sorry about your wait."

In a rattled state, I replied, "You're not so fucking skinny yourself, actually."

A man walks into a petrol station and says, "Can I please have a KitKat Chunky?"

The man behind the till gets him a KitKat Chunky and brings it back to him.

"No," says the man, "I wanted a normal KitKat you lard arse."

Which reminds me of a couple of moments that my wife, Kate, would probably rather forget.

#1:

About 10 years ago son Elliot was 8 years old and still with his baby fat, a fact of which he was aware and self conscious. 

Kate often used affectionate endearments when talking to Elliot and his brother Thomas, small nonsense terms that are also often used by others. within families.

In one conversation with Elliot Kate was going to call him “pumpkin”. She was also going to call him “lamb chop”.  Unfortunately her mind and tongue did the equivalent of tripping over one’s own feet and the words that came out were neither pumpkin or lamb chop but “pork chop”. 

#2:

Shortly afterwards, Kate again mixed up two of her occasional terms of endearment in conversation with Elliot.  This time the intended “chicken” and “monkey” came out as “chunky”.

In the space of two weeks Kate had accidentally called Elliot pork chop and chunky.

Band Name Origins: T - U

Take That	After rejecting the name Kick It, the band settled on Take That, although member Gary Barlow has described that name as the "worst of a bad bunch.”  Taken from a magazine with Madonna on the cover with the words "Madonna: Take That & Party".  The band’s first album was named  "Take That & Party".
Talking Heads	Probably from the video jargon for a camera shot showing only the head & shoulders of a person. Another story says they were inspired by a military experiment involving talking mannequin heads.
10cc	Reputedly as being 1cc more than  the average amount of ejaculate from a healthy male, which is supposedly 9cc.  Wrong on all counts.  The band was named by Jonathan King, who signed them to UK Records, who had a dream the night before of the group being No 1 in England and the US and that their name was 10cc.  This has been confirmed by King and band member Eric Stewart. Plus the average male ejaculate is 3cc.
Thin Lizzy	When original quitarist Eric Bell saw Eric Clapton reading a copy of the BEANO comic on a John Mayall album cover he bought a copy. One of the characters in the comic was Tin Lizzy. Phil Lynott thought that was a horrible name for a band and suggested Thin Lizzy instead.
Three Dog Night	The official commentary included in the CD set Celebrate: The Three Dog Night Story, 1965-1975states that vocalist Danny Hutton’s then-girlfriend June Fairchild suggested the name after reading a magazine article about indigenous Australians, in which it was explained that on cold nights they would customarily sleep in a hole in the ground whilst embracing a dingo, a native species of wild dog. On colder nights they would sleep with two dogs and if the night was freezing, it was a "three dog night". Plus the band had 3 lead singers.
Toto	Drummer Jeff Porcaro wrote the word “Toto” on their initial demo tapes an identifying mark, after watching The Wizard of Oz on TV.  They did not have a name at that stage.  Subsequently it was decided to adopt that as the band’s name, not after the dog but because in Latin the word meant “all encompassing” which suited the fact that they played a mixture of different styles.  Also the name was easy to pronounce and remember.
The Turtles	Originally the Crossfires, but changed their name to the Tyrtles as an unveiled homage to the Byrds, but soon amended the spelling.
U2	Three possibilities: 1.      A type of spy plane used by the United States in the 1960's - made famous when Gary Powers' U2 plane was shot down over Russia and he was taken as a prisoner during the Cold War.   2.      U2 as in "you too" referring to the audience and its role in the musical experience. (Bono once said that the band’s name came from the interaction with the audience, hence the “you too”). 3.     A U2 is an unemployment form in Ireland (see UB40)
UB40	Code number of a form people in Britain have to fill out to receive public assistance or welfare. Known in the UK as a signing-off form when you get a job.  Hence the title of their first album Signing Off.

Chicken Wire

 

Some time ago Byter Steve started a segment in Bytes called “Ask Otto”.  Without wanting to sound egotistical, it is a segment in which Byters send me requests for origins, explanations etc, leaving me to look into it.  Steve is a frequent asker and his contribution today is:   

A couple of weeks ago I was doing a bit of fencing around the place and began to wonder who invented what we know as “chicken wire”.  It’s now in your court, if you’ll pardon the pun!

Steve

Well Steve, chicken wire was invented in 1844 by British ironmonger Charles Barnard.  He developed it for his father, a farmer, the manufacturing process being based on cloth-weaving machines.  Apparently the town of Norwich, where Barnard Junior had his business, had a plentiful supply of cloth weaving machines.  The idea took off with Barnard Junior and Barnard Senior setting up Barnard, Bishop & Barnard, a company which later produced and sold chain-link fencing and various types of wire fencing internationally.

What’s of more interest is the uses to which the product has been put, apart from keeping in chickens and keeping out bottles.

One such use is sculpture.  It’s hard to believe that the following items have been made out of chicken wire . . .

The following pics are of sculptures by Australian Ian Lovatt, who uses only chicken wire to make his depictions of famous people.  Each sculpture takes up to a month or longer, is on average 1.5 times life size but can be up to 4-5 metres.

 Albert Einstein

Sir Edmund Hillary

Michael Jackson

John Lennon

. . . and Australia's Dame Edna Everage.

Does that inspire you to try some, Steve?

Crescent and Moon Inspired Buildiing Designs - Part 1

 

 

My daughter advised me that the above pic that I posted last week of a crescent shaped building in Dubai, where she lives, was not an actual building but a design.  Oops, sorry.

The Crescent Moon Tower, intended for Dubai Park Zaabil, was designed by US company Transparent House.  According to the designers, it combines the symbolic and traditional form of the Muslim world with modern technology and construction methods, as well as reflecting the unity of the main characteristics of Dubai – the historical roots of the city and its level of development today.

 Following are some other designs for crescent and moon inspired buildings.

Apart from the above crescent shaped design for a building in Dubai, there is also the proposed New Moon building.

According to one commentary thereon:

Despite Dubai’s current financial troubles, the centrepiece of one of Dubai's biggest projects is forging ahead. New Moon, designed by Varabyeu Partners, is specially designed for an international design competition, and will be the centre piece of Zabeel Park, a new landscape park in the City of Dubai. The crescent-shaped construction, considered a symbol of power and energy in the Orient, aims ‘to accentuate prosperity of the present-day United Arab Emirates’.

Inside, the building provides for five levels with an observatory on every level, to symbolise the Five Pillars of Islam: faith (Shahadah), prayer (Salat), charity (Zakaat), lent (Sawm) and pilgrimage (Hajj). The design provides space for conferences and other group activities, a café, a children’s library and a help desk.

Decorated with Arab calligraphy, the outward siding of the building is a steel frame with elements of varying transparency. An architectural solution like that makes it possible to regulate the level of illumination and air temperatures at the different levels of the New Moon, protect the interiors from direct sunlight and ensure free circulation of air flows. These and other means of passive protection recreate inside the building areas with a special microclimate, and reduce the burden on the power supply systems.

Korean Heerim Architects has tried to reinvent the skyscraper with their two projects in central Asian republic of Azerbaijan. The two skyscrapers will be built in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan with a view on the Caspian Sea . One building is called Full Moon Bay the other is Crescent and Caspian Plus. The two are going to be built on both side of the bay, acting as gateway markers.