[millwall] who'd expect any different

Return of the yob

[google ads] ominous or wide of the mark?

You know how Google ads usually follow the posts which appear on our sites?

This ad to the left appeared today after a certain post in the night. Do you think Google might know something I don't? You don't think she could just be toying with my heart, do you?

Oh, the agony and the ecstasy.

[first blog in the morning] just to clear the cobwebs

This is the sort of blog which could well be your first port of call in the morning [or your late evening reading]. This is my late evening reading, with a nightcap!

[vale] ted kennedy, famous for one day

Isn't it scandalous how one small incident in a man's whole life comes back to haunt him and never give him rest, when his achievements were many?


May he now find what he deserves, innocent or guilty, wherever he finds himself now ...

[late evening listening] saxophone from dearieme

Stan Getz [from Dearieme]:



Sonny Rollins [from me]:

[venezuela] the debate still rages

Some posts just refuse to lie over and die. One such post is Venezuela, in which the debate is still going strong. Check it out.

From the "That's Cool" Department

This is a guespost by Matt, of Buckeye Thoughts, my American friend and correspondent, in the category "Old Head on Young Shoulders". There's not much that Matt misses over there. This post is originally published at Matt's blog, here:


It turns out the British in London can now get their ATMs in cockney slang. For those that don't know what it is, remember this Austin Powers scene?

Now, I think Cockney Rhyming is too cool; a slang that you can't decipher if you're not British. VA has blogged on several posts about American dialects and accents that seem to be disappearing. Since I rarely ever get outside of the Midwest, I don't know if this is true or not. I do know though that despite having lived in this area almost my entire life (two states, in particular, as the blog's title and description say), I do not have an accent. I wish I did have one :-)

Here's the article reproduced below

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 11 mins ago
LONDON (AP — You'd better get ready to use your loaf if you want to get your hands on some bread. Over the next three months a cluster of East London ATMs will be offering customers the chance to withdraw cash using written prompts in Cockney rhyming slang, the area's colorful and often impenetrable dialect.

ATMs run by a company called Bank Machine offer a language option allowing customers to enter their "Huckleberry Finn" instead of their PIN, and rather worryingly informs them that the machine is reading their "bladder of lard" at a prompt about examining their card.

The origins of Cockney rhyming slang are obscure. It is thought to have been used by market traders who needed a way of communicating without tipping off their customers.
It works by replacing a word with a short rhyming phrase. For example: "Money" becomes "bread and honey," which in turn is shortened to "bread." Similarly, "head" becomes "loaf of bread," and then just simply "loaf."

Few use the slang with any regularity now although most Britons know a few common phrases, such as "trouble and strife" for wife and "apples and pears" for stairs.

Gabriella Alexander, who made a withdrawal from an ATM, near Spitalfields Market, said the stunt was fun. But she added that that withdrawing "sausage and mash" — or cash — "made me a little uneasy."

Slaney Wright, a 32-year-old charity worker, attempted to withdraw money from the ATM but visibly tensed up when she realized the machine was talking to her in Cockney slang. She immediately canceled the transaction and ripped the card out of the machine.
"It looks like someone's been messing with it," she said.

Post script question for NourishingObscurity readers: To you all, especially those that live in the British Isles, how is cockney rhyming viewed? Is it a lower class characteristic? Do people think it's humorous and not really part of English?

[toxic celebrities] don't go near this girl

Security technology company McAfee Inc. on Tuesday reported that searches for the 27-year-old Jessica Biel are more likely to lead to online threats such as spyware and viruses than searches for any other celebrity.

Following Biel in the report, in order, were Beyonce, Jennifer Aniston, Tom Brady and Jessica Simpson. McAfee noted President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are curiously safe searches, ranking no. 34 and no. 39, respectively.

[fear] crossing the bridge to courage

The Talking Bear has a piece today on overcoming fear:

There seems to be a troubling barrier between our weakness and our strength, our fortitude and our feebleness. How do we cross such a fearful obstacle hidden deep within the darkness of our souls? This battle between "I can" and " I can't" seems to rage day in and day out no matter what victories we possessed yesterday. I have learned to embrace that sick feeling that often rises up inside me, but as a father I find it very hard to teach my children to embrace such a matter.

Just for those who don't know, this man is an abseiling motorbike rider and all round daredevil, with a day job in some upper echelons of the legislature, as far as I can gather. So when he speaks of fear ... then I listen.

Some other quotes I like:

Cheri Huber: Every time we choose safety, we reinforce fear.

Dorothy Thompson: There is nothing to fear except the persistent refusal to find out the truth, the persistent refusal to analyze the causes of happenings.

Eleanor Roosevelt: You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.

Isn't it interesting, looking back at this, that I've quoted three women? I think women have the added complication of facing lack of confidence as well [or building themselves up], whereas many men seem to have arrogance or confidence or both in abundance. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe the new woman is of the Brave New World. Maybe the New Man is a Snag or a Metro.

There is no shame in fear

Fear gives us our parameters and then it is a case of backing ourselves, our upbringing, our training, that which we keep inside and then confronting the bogeyman. It helps to have supernatural assistance in the struggle. I'm not brave but neither am I a coward - just somewhere on that bridge in the fog. My role in rugby was sometimes open-side flanker, the role I enjoyed most though I was too light to make it my own. From that came a basic rule I've always followed:

Moderation under threat is imbecility. Deflect attacks, conserve your energy, choose your own target, on your own terms and when you do attack, attack to kill, nothing lacking. 99% will only get you hurt.

Teach your children well

How do you teach your children courage, as the Talking Bear asks? I replied at his place that they learn it from your example, by them being beside you and brushing up against it. They feel your fear but also feel you overcome it.

Addendum

We were discussing this today and the points were made that fear is the unknown and courage can be weighing up the risks and deciding they're acceptable. It might not always be anything more intrinsic than that.

[cctv] the efficacy of surveillance

Charon QC:

Only one crime was solved by each 1,000 CCTV cameras in London last year, a report into the city’s surveillance network has claimed.

Read it at the end of the link.