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2005-06-24 17:50
(via the Beeb):
If anyone, it is Slovenia which understands Britain and its stubborn
insistence on the rebate for as long as the common purse is an
infusion catheter for keeping the Franco-German zombie alive in the
form of overly large and uncompetitive agricultural sector... One must
not overlook the fact that Britain's successful economy is raising
serious doubts in France and Germany about the efficiency of
subsidies. All these dilemmas are uncovering the real, though hidden,
black sheep of the EU: French President Jacques Chirac.
Slovenia's Dnevnik, commentary by Dejan Kovac
Infusion catheters for Franco-German zombies! Now that's what we call
political discourse!
[Permalink]
2005-06-24 10:44
But yesterday we, like Belgium (man) were having a hittegolf,
for sure. But do you know, Varied Reader, what the official Belgian
definition of a hittegolf is? Well:
Donderdag omstreeks 15.00 uur noteerde het KMI in Ukkel een
maximumtemperatuur van 30,3� C. Dat betekent dat er meteorologisch
gezien officieel sprake is van een hittegolf. Als er vijf
opeenvolgende dagen maximumtemperaturen worden opgetekend van boven de
25� C, waarbij het drie dagen warmer is dan 30� C, dan is er sprake
van een hittegolf.
Around 15.00 Donderdag the KMI in Ukkel observed a maximum
temperature of 30.3� C. That is the sign in official meteorological
terms of a hittegolf. If the maximumtemperature becomes for
five (5) successive days more than 25�C, of which three (3) days are
hotter than 30�C, then is speech of a hittegolf.
You can't say you never learn anything at this 'bladet! You can,
however, probably say that you never learn anything remotely useful,
but we are inclined to blame instead the uses that it is you have for
things.
[Permalink]
2005-06-23 15:40
�1. Finns lose their cool
Then again, Berlusconi
could provoke an outbreak of tact from a deaf Trappist monk, isn't it?
Finl�ndarna har inte varit sena med att reagera p� den italienske
premi�rministern Silvio Berlusconis h�nfulla kommentarer om finl�ndsk
mat.
[...]
Riksdagsledamot Sirkka-Liisa Anttila (c) kommer i sin tur ih�g d�
hon tvingades �ta soppa p� komage, Lombardiets regionala
delikatess.
- Soppan stank av piss, den var verkligen hemsk. Jag t�nkte n�stan
spy, s�ger Anttila.
Finnishes weren't sl� to react to the Italian bossissimo Silvio
Berlusconi's scornful comments of Finnish food.
[...]
Parliamentleader Sirkka-Liisa Anttila (c) recalled in turn the time
she ate soup � la komage, Lombardy's local delicacy.
"The soup stank of piss, it was really vile. I thought I was going to
vomit", said Anttila.
Manners, Sirkka-Liisa! Eat up your nice localdelicacy or you'll have
it cold for breakfast...
�2. Last call for the Brussels Gravy Express!
An' I hate to
hear that mournful whistle blow:
The European Parliament has voted to reform MEPs' salaries and
expenses in a drive to banish the Brussels "gravy train" image.
About time too on this one, though, much as we love gravy.
�3. The one about the Swiss trains
You did hear, right?
Switzerland's entire rail network ground to a halt on Wednesday,
stranding an estimated 100,000 people for three hours.
The link's vanished, but the Switzyland's own Le Temps said:
Pratiquement plus aucun train ne circule sur le r�seau CFF. Un
probl�me de tension �lectrique est � l'origine de la panne survenue
vers 18h. Les CFF ignorent pour l'heure la cause du probl�me, a
indiqu� un porte-parole, Jean-Philippe Schmidt.
Barely a single train is working on the network CFF. A problem with
tense electricity is at the cause of the breakdown that happened
towards 1800 hours. The CFF doesn't know what has caused the problem,
according to a spokesperson Jean-Philippe Schmidt.
I think we can now officially declare the End Times to have begun,
isn't it?
[Permalink]
2005-06-23 12:22
And oh
so tasty:
A Japanese hamburger chain will on Thursday start
selling whale-meat burgers, hours after the International Whaling
Commission condemned Tokyo's plans to double the number of whales it
kills during so-called research hunts. Despite condemnation, Japan has
recently stepped up its campaign to promote whalemeat consumption.
Now that is tact!
[Permalink]
2005-06-23 09:49
�1. Is this tact?
It's about Bulgaria, but it's in
Foreign :
Europa ist gut. Alle wollen Europa. Das ganze Volk liebt Br�ssel,
Verfassung und B�rokratie inbegriffen. Europa ist sein
Gl�cksversprechen.
Europe is good. Everyone wants Europe. The whole folk love
Brussels. Verfassung and Bureaucracy inbegriffen.
Europe is its happinessversprechen.
Is this satire or sarcasm? We have reason to believe we are about the
EU citizen who still feels this way...
�2. Pregnantprinsess, with bonnet
Not fased by the queens hatdropping antics, the Upsidedownians
(including Anna Louise prinsessspotter by appointment to the Imperial
Court) keep
their eye on the prinsess:
Princess [sic] Mary showed off her royal bump to delighted
well-wishers and the world's awaiting media on a trip to Denmark's
Faroe Islands.
At 22 weeks pregnant, the Crown Princess cut a slim and stylish figure
as she stepped out to greet excited locals wearing a cream silk coat.
Excited locals wearing a cream silk coat are our very favourite kind!
�3. Increasingly global world!
I've started the globalisation ("g11n", from now on) block of my OU
course. On page 10 of the book they use the phrase "increasingly
global world" with a straight face. Bless.
They also claim that news media are overwhelmingly produced and
consumed within nation-states, which is so bafflingly at odds with the
universe we, for one, inhabit that we have upgraded ourself from
merely cosmopolitan to a diaspora of one.
[Permalink]
2005-06-22 15:01
It is the Gazetta
dello Sport ("Sportbladet"):
Un urlo solo nella notte. Una A lunga lunga, come le onde che
martellano il porto. Genova � tornata a essere una Genova che pu�
guardarsi attorno a testa alta. Con la promozione dei rossoblu, si
ricompone in serie A uno dei derby pi� affascinanti d'Italia.
Un urlo lunga lunga solo nelle notte? We must know more of
this urlo and its lungitude, for sure. Help us out
please, Mr Fish:
Urlo alone in the night. One To long long, like the waves that hammer
the port. Genoa is returned to be a Genoa that can be watched around
high head. With the promotion of the rossoblu, it is recomposed in
series To one of derby the more fascinating of Italy.
Right-o. Tidying up, and re-A-ing the "To"s, we have:
A single cry across the night. A long, long "A", like waves hammering
the port. Genoa is once more a Genoa that can be watched with head
held high. With the promotion of the rossoblu one of the most
fascinating derbies in Italy returns to Seria A.
Sampdoria? Bah! We hate, loathe and detest Sampdoria, all of a
sudden. (We like, admire and defend, of course, as we always have,
machine translation.)
[Permalink]
2005-06-22 11:39
Having arrived in Genoa ("Genova") on the night that Genoa ("Genoa")
Cricket and Foopball club secured promotion back to Seria A, we have
of course become a life-long fan of said Cricket and Foopball Club.
And like any fan of a cricket and foopball club, we need or at least
covet a replica team shirt. These turn out to be splorktastically
hard to Google for, having been squeezed out by a motley assortment of
chancers and no-hopers; a situation exarcerbated by the fact that the
Market - Hayek's beloved efficient information exchange - hasn't yet
twigged that my particular beloved cricket and foopball club is back
in the big time and started giving their products the respect and
especially shelf-space they deserve. Get a clue, Market!
But we don't thwart that easily, and we've found a
source. (65 EUR isn't a problem; the address part of the
e-commerce back end is, but a temporary one since it at least has a
country field. Well done Italy!)
[Permalink]
2005-06-22 10:08
The odds are against it, given that he's dead, but Sartre is 100 years
old yesterday or thereabouts!
Omkring 50 000 v�nner, l�sare och nyfikna f�ljde den r�tt sv�ra
filosofen till graven.
Around 50,000 friends, readers and curious persons followed the rather
difficult philosophe to the grave.
We are very interested in funerary rites of French philosophes, for
sure: does anyone know numbers for Barthes or any of the others?
(Our own funeral will be a private affair restricted to 100,000 close
friends and admirers, for sure.)
[Permalink]
2005-06-21 16:07
�1. Cow parade goes horse!
In
Belgium:
Le lancement officiel de l'exposition en plein air
"Horse Parade", propos�e par les organisateurs d'"Art on Cows", a �t�
donn� ce mardi dans le Parc du Cinquantenaire de Bruxelles.
Inscrite dans le programme des festivit�s relatives aux 175 ans de la
Belgique, cette exposition de peintures sur 175 chevaux en fibres de
verre traversera la Belgique.
The official launch of the open air exhibition "Horse Parade", by the
organiseurs of "Art On Cows" was opened in the Parc of the 50th
Anniversary in Brussels.
Inscrit in the programme of festivities relating to the 175 years of
Belgium, this exposition of paintnings on 175 fibreglass horsies will
cross Belgium.
�2. Once!
Great! Nation!:
Culture wars raging in the United States are reaping new victims as
monster-screen Imax cinemas and top museums are dragged into the
fierce debate over the origin of life.
Pressure from ultraconservative religious groups has prompted some
theatres equipped with the high quality panoramic Imax screens to
cancel showings of several movies which refer to Charles Darwin's
theory of evolution.
We're vigourously in favour, of course: miseducating the
military-industrial complex back to the stone age strikes us as an
excellent idea.
�3. A beautiful prinsess, slightly out of shot
It is instead the Queen of Danmark, whose hat fell off, while
the lovely Kronprinsessmary managed to keep her's on:
Og ganske rigtig mistede Dronningen midt i et vindst�d sin hat, mens
Mary lige n�ede at holde sin p� hovedet.
And quite really missed the queen in a windst�d her hat, while
[kroprinsess]Mary managed to keep hers on her head.
We want prinsessbonnets, of course. Bring us prinsessbonnets, silly
'bladet!
[Tak til Birgitte for this one]
[Permalink]
2005-06-21 11:47
It is Per Wahl�� och Maj Sj�wall! Together they were och
Sj�wall/Wahl��, composite
author of among Sweden's most acclaimed and popular
detectivefiction.
Redan 1966 presenterade Wahl�� med all �nskv�rd tydlighet
m�ls�ttningen: "Grundid�n �r att i en l�ngroman p� cirka 3 000 sidor
uppdelad i tio frist�ende delar, eller om man s� vill kapitel, ge ett
l�ngdsnitt genom ett samh�lle av en viss struktur och analysera
kriminaliteten som social funktion och dess f�rh�llande till b�de
samh�llet och de moraliska livsformer av olika slag som omger
samh�llet i fr�ga."
Det �r allts� exemplarisk 68-litteratur.
As early as 1966 [the series started in 1965], Wahl�� outlined their
intentions as clearly as could be wished: "The basic idea is to give a
crosssection through a society of a certain structure and to analyse
criminality as a social function and its relation to both sociaty and
the moral lifeforms of different kinds which call society into
question in a longnovel of around 3000 pages, divided into ten (10)
freestanding parts, or chapters if you like."
It is thus exemplary 68-literature.
Oh that 68 spirit, for sure! Under the midsommar party - the
socialcriticisme!
(Can we apply for publictransportasylum in Sweden, do you think?)
[Permalink]
2005-06-21 09:45
�1. We like Italy
We like Italian, we like Italians, we like Italian food, we like Genoa, we like the
Mediterranean and we especially like Italian ice cream, which is the
only form of cake in the known universe we would actively seek out.
�2. We do not like Blighty
It took us four (4) hours to get from touchdown at Stansted to a train
at Paddington. Stansted "Express", our hairy white imperial arse.
�3. We don't really like Spain much, either
But we're off to Ma�ri� at the end of the month anyway.
[Permalink]
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