Was it more or less important than the French Revolution?

‘While the events in Waimate this week probably don't rank with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, or the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmin Square, Tuesday night's meeting was nevertheless a watershed. The lesson: Don't mess with the people of Waimate’

- A newspaper editorial struggles to judge the scale of significance of a public meeting in the Waimate Town And Country Club (source: Timaru Herald, 10 March 2009)

[The meeting was to discuss keeping the town’s doctor by encouraging the council to sell the medical centre to the doctor]

S.O.D.O.F.F.

During the Norwegian campaign in World War 2 during April 1940, the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Echo was repeatedly attacked by Luftwaffe bombers. As anti-aircraft weapons could do little against the agressors, Echo's signalman devised his own plan to put the enemy off his work, as the ship's captain, Commander S.H.K. Spurgeon, later told Imperial War Museum chroniclers:

Echo's Yeoman of Signals was a very efficient companion on the bridge; his name was Yeoman Paul and well knew what effect this rather gruelling endurance test had on the morale of the ship's company, because there was always the chance that the next bomb might score a hit. One day Paul suggested that, whilst the aircraft was making its approach, he would like to make a signal to its pilot on the very bright ten-inch lamp, of a rude four-letter word repeatedly. This would, he said, be a useful lesson for the ship's company to polish up their Morse and, in addition, would give the pilot of the aircraft an opportunity of knowing exactly what we thought of him. Paul had a good vocabulary and, from then on, the silent suspense of the bomb drop was broken by laughter; he assured us later that the not uncommon complaint of belly ache amongst them has been cured. This then was Echo's unusual method of maintaining its high standard of morale.

Echo later sank a German U-boat and ended its days having been transferred to the Greek Navy.

- Quoted in Harry Plevy, Destroyer Actions: September 1939 to June 1940, Stroud, Gloucs., 2006

A camel's taste

'In Syria, once, at the head-waters of the Jordan, a camel took charge of my overcoat while the tents were being pitched, and examined it with a critical eye, all over, with as much interest as if he had an idea of getting one made like it; and then, after he was done figuring on it as an article of apparel, he began to contemplate it as an article of diet.

He put his foot on it, and lifted one of the sleeves out with his teeth, and chewed and chewed at it, gradually taking it in, and all the while opening and closing his eyes in a kind of religious ecstasy, as if he had never tasted anything as good as an overcoat before, in his life. Then he smacked his lips once or twice, and reached after the other sleeve.

Next he tried the velvet collar, and smiled a smile of such contentment that it was plain to see that he regarded that as the daintiest thing about an overcoat. The tails went next, along with some percussion caps and cough candy, and some fig-paste from Constantinople.

And then my newspaper correspondence dropped out, and he took a chance in that -- manuscript letters written for the home papers. But he was treading on dangerous ground, now. He began to come across solid wisdom in those documents that was rather weighty on his stomach; and occasionally he would take a joke that would shake him up till it loosened his teeth; it was getting to be perilous times with him, but he held his grip with good courage and hopefully, till at last he began to stumble on statements that not even a camel could swallow with impunity. He began to gag and gasp, and his eyes to stand out, and his forelegs to spread, and in about a quarter of a minute he fell over as stiff as a carpenter's work-bench, and died a death of indescribable agony.

I went and pulled the manuscript out of his mouth, and found that the sensitive creature had choked to death on one of the mildest and gentlest statements of fact that I ever laid before a trusting public'

- Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1880

It's perfume, Jim, but not as we know it

In a media-savvy move bound to attract plenty of attention (if not sales) a company is marketing a line of three fragrances based on the original Star Trek TV show: Tiberius, Red Shirt and Ponn Far. I guess those Starfleet cruises were quite lengthy and there was a lot of hairspray in use at the time, so things would’ve been a bit whiffy out there in the depths of space.

- Guardian, 9 March 2009

This is what you get for having 77-year-old politicians

'Key Republicans are gently (or not gently enough) trying to dissuade [Senator Roland] Bunning from seeking re-election in 2010 out of concern that his paltry fund-raising, declining approval ratings and irascible conduct have made him something between vulnerable and unelectable.

But in recent weeks, Mr. Bunning has shown no sign of stepping aside and delivered a string of incendiary pronouncements that have fed an impression that he is, to go with a baseball metaphor, a bit of a screwball.

He declared in a speech last month that the cancer-stricken Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would probably be dead in nine months. (He then apologized in a statement that twice misspelled her name.) He threatened to sue the National Republican Senatorial Committee if it backed a primary challenger. And he hinted at a Capitol Hill fund-raiser last week that he was so mad at some in his party that he might just quit and let Kentucky’s Democratic governor pick his successor.

The senator later denied saying this, but veteran Bunning-watchers said it was impossible to know exactly what he had in mind'

- New York Times, 5 March 2009

They can't do stairs but they can swim

Volunteers clearing rubbish out of a pond in Hampshire discovered a discarded Dalek of Dr Who fame cluttering up the depths. Did the Doctor ever face an amphibious assault in the TV series? These Daleks are obviously a force to be reckoned with, albeit a soggy force.

- Telegraph, 4 March 2009

[Courtesy of Matthew]

Did he just say that?

'A video of Spain's prime minister has become a viral video hit today after he accidentally uttered the F word in a news conference with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Reuters reports.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was outlining a Spanish-Russian plan to promote tourism between the two countries during Medvedev's state visit when his mouth momentarily disengaged from his brain.

"Tourism is an area of special economic importance in relations between Spain and Russia," said Zapatero, speaking in Spanish. "Therefore we have reached an agreement to stimulate, to favor, to f---."

With barely a pause, but looking down at his lectern, he quickly continued, "... to support tourism."

The Spanish word "to support" has a similar sound to the expletive uttered by Zapatero'

- Times Online, 4 March 2009

Just to avoid confusion

From the Wikipedia entry for the former US Ambassador to Austria:

Robert McCallum, Jr.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the pornographic director of the same name, see Gary Graver

Tragic movie taglines

Harlem On The Prairie (1937)
The World's First Outdoor Action Adventure With An All-Negro Cast.

Suspiria (1977)
The Only Thing More Terrifying Than The Last 12 Minutes Of This Film Are The First 92.

Silent Rage (1982)
Science Created Him. Now Chuck Norris Must Destroy Him.

Jaws: The Revenge (1987)
This Time... It's Personal.

Cocktail (1988)
When He Pours, He Reigns

The Harvest (1992)
They Stole One Of His Kidneys. Now They've Come For The Other One.

Jack Frost (1998)
Jack Frost Is Getting A Second Chance To Be The World's Coolest Dad... If He Doesn't Melt First.

Sleepwalkers (1992)
They Feast On Your Fear - And It's Dinner Time.

Caveman (1981)
Back When You Had To Beat It Before You Could Eat It...

The Unashamed (1938)
Actually Filmed In A Nudist Camp!

- Q Magazine, April 2009 edition

Malapropisms

The top ten malapropisms (mis-sayings) in Britain, according to a recent survey:

1) A damp squid (a damp squib)
2) On tender hooks (on tenter hooks)
3) Nip it in the butt (nip it in the bud)
4) Champing at the bit (chomping at the bit)
5) A mute point (a moot point)
6) One foul swoop (one fell swoop)
7) All that glitters is not gold (all that glisters is not gold)
8) Adverse to (averse to)
9) Batting down the hatches (batten down the hatches)
10) Find a penny pick it up (find a pin pick it up)

- Telegraph, 24 February 2009