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2006-02-23 14:40

Sm�rg�spost

�1. Curling!

It is Aftonbladet, where they use iso-latin-1-IPA and non-rhotic Engleesh, appearantly:

S� funkar: ['k�:liN]

How works: ['k�:liN]

The Zwedish laydees may be in the final, but you shouldn't assume that their countrypersons have much of a clue what they're up to.

�2. Foopball

It is the Foopball World Cup! In the dawn of time, the Earth lay in the heavens like a foopball, and Lord Ganesha looked upon it and found it good. And he ordered that a cup be made in its likeness, and a ball be made in its likeness also, and that the cup should be awarded to the victor of a mighty foopball competition with the ball.

He then added, by no means petulantly, foto's of teh event were sacred only to him and that their were many taboos on their distribution and you'd better respect them or there'll be trouble. And so it came to pass:

FIFA has banned publication of World Cup photos through the Internet, including on thousands of newspaper web sites, during matches and has severely limited the number that can be published, regardless of time limits. It has also introduced editorial restrictions on how photographs can be used in print publications.

�3. Top Trumps - International Statesman Edition!

It is Otto von Bismarck-Prettyhouse!

Personally, Bismarck was a brilliant entertainer who greatly appreciated funny stories and wordplay. He was fluent in several foreign languages, and a perfect diplomat of excellent manners and politeness. His friends were chosen independently of origin, creed, or political beliefs, with the exclusion of socialists and social democrats whom he despised. Bismarck loved good food and drink and had a tendency to use both excessively. His most important tool in politics was his talent to successfully plan complex international developments.

(The whole page is iffily translated from the Cherman, which makes it even more delightful than it might otherwise have been.)

In other news, did you know that the American War of Southern Incivility during a period when Queen Victoria's grief over the death of her husband and consort had made her very sanity questionable and that ministers basically neglected to mention it to her? The 19th century, Varied Reader - it is completely barking mad!

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2006-02-23 13:39

Ponsonby!

Ponsonby? Ponsonby!

The Irish people had always resented the coldness of the Royal Family towards Ireland and had complained that their sovereign had not set foot in Ireland since 1861. They quite overlooked the fact that there had been occurrences which were calculated to implant in Her Majesty's mind a distrust and even a dislike of Ireland. The first was that when the Prince Consort died the Queen presented a statue of him to the city of Dublin, but the Mayor and Corporation of the refused to accept it and sent it back. This occurred when she was in such deep grief that it completely overshadowed her life, and she is said to have reported that she would never forgive Ireland.

p.62, Recollections of three (3) reigns, Sir Frederick Ponsonby

And that's opening it at random. We have coveted this such book ever since its cameo in "Swirving" Erving Goffman's Presentation of self in everyday life and now we have a copy of our own. Thanks, Oxfam bookshop!

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2006-02-23 10:23

Sm�rg�spost

�1. �ntligen!

�ntligen!
�ntligen guld f�r Anja P�rson. - Jag k�nde hur jag nj�t innan jag kastade mig ut i andra, sade hon gl�djestr�lande.

Antlers!
Golden antlers for Anja P�rson.
"Now the other reindeers will let me join in their many reindeer games", she said, her nose aglow with joy.

�2. Belgium, man! Belgium, woman!

Hilarious consequences!

What else could you get when a right-liberal Fleming man and a left-socialist Walloon woman, both MPs, fall in lurrve?

Way back in 1912 the Socialist MP for the Francophone city of Charleroi, Jules Destree, summed up the mood when he declared: "In Belgium there are Walloons and Flems. There aren't any Belgians."

Ridiculous! Are we not all, in a sense, Belgian? We know we are!

P�criaux [the lady of the case] is equally surprised by the furore. "We are living a true love story and the child which will be born from our union is a common project," she told Lib�ration. "He is a man, I am a woman, he is Belgian, as am I. Isn't that normal?"

No, it isn't:

Barely 1% of all Belgian marriages take place between members of the two communities.

Why are the two (2) parts of Belgium still together? Well, there's the monarchy - as Holy Roman Emperor we know a bit about the role of monarchies as symbol of unity in an ethnically inhomogeneous kingdom, and don't think we don't - and there's Bruxxels. Bruxxels is the capital of the Universe, or at least Yoorp, and its nominally bilingual status does nothing to hide the fact it is actually a Francophone enclave in Flanders and nobody can face the custody battles.

�3. Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel investigates!

And when Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel investigates something it stays investigated, for sure!

This week: Of Bards and Busts.

A bust of Shakespeare has been promoted from an act of posthumous randomness to a true likeness:

Forensic imaging techniques and medical studies comparing the so-called Davenant bust in the Garrick Club with a 17th-century death mask of the writer has convinced a German professor, Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel, that the bust was made in the early 17th century, when the playwright was still alive, and not the 18th.

Hoorah for Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel!

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2006-02-22 16:22

Globalize me harder!

We hear from time to time rumours, which we are disinclined to altogether discount, that Blighty is a more hospitable land than many in Yoorp for not-especially-white-skinned immigrants. We also hear, in more particular, that some Somalians have come to Blighty after unproductive stints in Nederland.

What we know for sure is that the kebapshop next door but one (the other side of the pub) has a A4 home-printed notice on the wall saying "Please do not ask for credit as refusel [sic] often offends". The "refusel" used to say "refused" and has been corrected in biro. Also written on the notice in biro are the Frenchy-French "Pas de credit, SVP" and the Dutchy-Dutch "Geen lening, alstublieft".

The staff and clientale (except us) look slightly Somalian to our admittedly inexpert eye, and they sell a Somalian something dish whose name we forget, and the cans of nasty fizz have Arabic labels and old-fashioned pull-off ring-pulls.

And the kebaps are very delicious.

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2006-02-22 14:11

Speechless

It is - quite literally - the usual story:

Britons and the Irish are bottom of the European league for speaking a second language, a new EC survey says. Sixty-six percent of respondents from Ireland and 62% from the UK admitted not knowing any language other than their mother tongue. This compared with 42% across the EU and 1% in top-scoring Luxembourg.

The thing about this, is we thought we remembered a story not very long ago that had the Hungroonians bottom. So we followed the Beeboid's link and we found that it was just so. In the classice report "EB63.4 Europeans and languages" (09/05) it is cheerfully asserted that:

Half of the citizens of the Member States assert that they can speak at least one other language than their mother tongue at the level of being able to have a conversation.

and the list of shame is:

IE 41%
ES 36%
PT 36%
UK 30%
HU 29%

While the new report, the future classic "EB64.3 Europeans and their languages" (02/06) (our emphasis) gives for as far as we can see exactly the same question the shamings of the following namings:

ES 44%
HU 42%
PT 42%
IT 41%
UK 38%
IE 34%

From which we, for one, conclude that the sampling is pretty FUBAR and can we have some error-bars next time please?

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2006-02-22 09:49

Of hens' teeth, their rareness

Chick chick chick chick chicken,
Grow a little tooth for me!
Chick chick chick chick chicken,
Grow teeth like snakes and me!
I haven't had a bite since Tuesday
And now it's half-past three,
SO
Chick chick chick chick chicken,
Grow a little tooth for me!

It is Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hillaire, founder of comparative anatomy!

In the early 19th century, Saint-Hillaire observed that developing parrots have tiny bumps on their beaks that resemble teeth, something he ascribed to modern animals deriving from more basic primitive forms. But due to his developing battles with Georges Cuvier over evolution, the finding was forgotten until Harris, a graduate student, re-discovered it nearly 200 years later.

Who Harris you ask or enquire? Matthew Harris!

Working late in the developmental biology lab one night, Matthew Harris of the University of Wisconsin noticed that the beak of a mutant chicken embryo he was examining had fallen off. Upon closer examination, he found that the snubbed beak of the mutant chicken had tiny bumps and protuberances along the edge of its beak that looked like teeth, alligator teeth to be specific. The accidental discovery revealed that chickens retain the ability to grow teeth, even though birds lost this feature long ago.

The back of the evolutionary sofa, the things you find down it!

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2006-02-21 17:02

POD me harder

We were looking for a cheap edition of Bagehot (pronounced "Badge-ot", boobytrap fans!) and there's only the Oxford Classics, which isn't cheap enough.

Would someone kindly found a Cheapskate's Political Libry along the lines of the Wordsworth Classics range and whack 'em out for less than a pint of delicious Engleesh beer each, puh-lease?

Thanks very!

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2006-02-21 14:38

How says a Yoorp?

It is polyglotty, an obscure condition affecting the vocal tract, an it is spreading like wildfire!

Les Europ�ens sont de plus en plus polyglottes, selon le dernier sondage Eurobarom�tres qui atteste que 56% d'entre eux peuvent tenir une conversation dans une autre langue que leur langue maternelle, un pourcentage en hausse de 9 points en cinq ans.

The Europeans are increasingly polyglottes, according to a survey Eurobarom�tres which attests that 56% of them can hold a conversation in another langwidge other than their native tongue, a rise of 9% in five (5) years.

Blockade the ports! Ground the planes! If we don't act fast and act decisively this bizarre form of so-called "throat flu" could soon sweep Blighty and then where would we be, eh?

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2006-02-21 11:13

Cake!

It is delicious semla buns, the traditional Zwedish pre-Lent treat, and their season is upon us, for some values of "us"!

We are marrying into a carnival-free branch of Dutchness so indulgence in seasonal patissery is set to remain the highlight of our late-winter hijinks, but frankly we think we'll stick with delicious pancakes since they are very delicious and we don't need a recipe for them.

What do they do where you are or come from, Varied Reader, to mark the Gras of passing Mardis?

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2006-02-20 16:52

Why we are so very behind

We're doing two (2) courses, one of which involves pretending to know Cherman, which we don't, and the other of which involves posting an essay on Wednesday (to be sure of arriving Friday) which involves writing and printing it by Tuesday night, which is tomorrow.

Oh dear oh dear.

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2006-02-20 14:42

Why we have such an excellent birthday wishlist

It is Erwan Lec�ur, directeur scientifique de l'Observatoire du d�bat public!

Vous analysez, au sein de l'Observatoire du d�bat public, les repr�sentations sociales des Fran�ais. Quelle est celle qui domine ces cinq derni�res ann�es ?

You analyse in the bosom of the Observatory of Public D�bate, the social repr�sentations of the French. What is it which dominates the last five (5) years?

We want for our birthday an Observatory of Public D�bate, which will be a Laboratory in the Imperial University (Faculty of Stuff). In fact, we might even appoint ourself to be its directeur scientific as well as its patron.

Unrelatedly, which is the funnier 19th-century state, Prussia or Austria/Austria-Hungary? We currently lean towards Prussia, ourself.

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2006-02-20 10:39

Sm�rg�slympicks

�1. H�las!

We are certainly very devastated that Janne "The Manne" Ahonen wasn't even on the podium in the men's longhillhoppning. We missed it all, though, on account of being vair vair delayed on our way back from an Open University Cherman tutorial in Taunton. (There's only one (1) Cherman group for the whole south-west of Eng-ger-lnd from Swindon to Cheltenham to Cornwall, so there were many Epic Journeys made that day. We shudder to think what happens at level 2, which this isn't.)

�2. Seen from abroad

It is the wimmins's 1000m Ice Woosh, as reported in Bildbladet!

Anni Friesingers (29) Gold-Traum �ber die 1000 Meter ist geplatzt. Bronze auf ihrer Spezialstrecke, �ber die sie in dieser Saison noch kein Rennen verloren hatte. Gold ging an die Holl�nderin Marianne Timmer, Silber an Cindy Klassen aus Kanada.

Anni Friesinger's (29) Gold-Dream for the 1000 metres is geplatz. Bronze auf her Specialstrecke over which she was previously undefeated this season. Gold went to the Dutchwimmin Marianne Timmer, silver to Cindy Klassen of Kanananada.

(Cf the dutch coverage)

�3. Technically not 'Lympicks, but

A very fat cat.

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