[brightman] one of our own for a change

[caption time] what are they saying

[yeha noha] wishes of happiness and prosperity

Nice.

[weekend poll] rate your sexiest

Sometimes it's necessary to raise the tone of the blog and so Nourishing Obscurity is running a weekend poll on which politicians are the sexiest. Many were left out but these ten will do for starters. On Monday, there'll be a more serious poll on which British public figures are sexiest. I can hardly wait. So, go to it, people ...

1 Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has been the president of Argentina.

2 Segolene Royal ran for President of France.

3 Sitrida Geagea of Lebanon leads the Lebanon Forces Party.

4 Mara Carfagna holds the position of Minister of Equal Opportunities in Italy.

5 Julia Bonk was only 18 when she took a seat in Parliament in Saxony, Germany.

6 Christine Kelly, France's Minister of Overseas Territories

7 Caroline Flint, UK Minister of State for Europe

8 The almost Vice-President Governer of Alaska Sarah Palin.


9 Vera Lischka belongs to the Social Democratic Party of Austria.


10 Tania Derveaux of Belgium

Free Web poll for your Web site - freepolls.com

I deliberately left out the Eastern Europeans. All complaints can be sent to my previous Russian address. By the way, thank you, Robot Nine and Actionnooz.

[village idiot] more than a radio game

Of a Friday, I usually cycle the few kilometres to a nearby town and sell my soul to McDonalds, just to take in the local atmosphere.

Today, the girl got everything wrong and apologized, ‘Hang-over, yer know, luv.’

Oh well, that makes it all right then. Don’t give it another thought, dearest. Over the tannoy came the sounds of a local radio show – Village Idiot. Why anyone would wish to go on such a show or be labelled an idiot beats me. Perhaps I am an idiot, I’m too stupid to know but I wouldn’t go on a show to prove I was. I’d open a blog instead.

No matter.

‘Now, Pam, can you tell us what was the name of the book about a society gone wrong, by George Orwell?’

Silence.

The host continued. ‘It was the name of a year and not all that long ago.’

‘Er … 1964?’

‘Let’s go over to David. Any idea?’

‘Er … 1981?’

‘No, it was, in fact, Nineteen Eighty Four. Right. Ken Dodd. What was …’ A question followed about the worthy Dodd, Pam getting the answer straight off.

‘Right,’ said our host, ‘it all comes down to one last question. What followed was something about an East Enders character which, with unerring accuracy, David got right.

It’s a rash generalization to blame the dumbing down of education and I do take the point that a person can’t know everything. Why, there are things on the topic of This Blog I couldn’t answer. ‘In what month did Higham post an article on …?’

‘Er … no idea.’

I suppose East Enders is the most important topic in everyone’s mind, apart from Beckam and Brangelina. I suppose such people live happy and fulfilling lives, free from the vicissitudes of General Knowledge cluttering up the recesses of their already cluttered minds.

Yet am I wrong in thinking that a certain knowledge of the world is a good thing and perhaps should be taught in schools? Am I wrong in thinking that you should reasonably be expected to know at least two of the Seven Wonders of the World?

Don’t get me wrong – I run quizzes on this blog which I couldn’t expect more than 10% of the populace to know, so don’t judge yourself by that. Judge yourself by this:

Here’s a quiz which I’d expect any school leaver to get 5/5 on. I’d expect a street sweeper to get 3/5:

1. Excluding Antarctica, Australia and Greenland and counting the huge land mass from Portugal to China as two separate continents [which we won’t argue about for now] and excluding sub-continents, how many continents are there?

2. Which female Australian-expat harpie, from the 60s, wrote The Female Eunuch?

3. How many millimetres are there in a decametre [can also be spelt [or spelled] with a ‘k’]?

4. Which is the longest river complex in northern America?

5. In the 1800s, what was the object of the mass movement of people to the Yukon, to Ballarat in Australia and to other places? What was being sought?

Let’s not get pernickety about the questions. The broad answers are what are required.

Answers

5, Germaine Greer, 10 000, Mississippi/Missouri, gold

[wes madiko] out of africa

This is the best of the three videos of Wes Madiko:



... although I personally like the chorus in the following track best. May I suggest you skip the first two minutes and then it gets going and the last minute is quite evocative.

Awa Awa is also a nice track.

If you have the patience and are in a relaxed mood, give these a try.