December 2010
34 posts
3 tags
Put on your jumpsuits, people
In 1972 Geoffrey Hoyle wrote a children’s book titled ‘2010: Living in the Future’. In it he describes how we would all be wearing jumpsuits and work a three-day week by now.
According to the BBC, Hoyle’s book became somewhat of a hit lately and was even reprinted. They also published a list of famous prediction hits:
Arthur C Clarke: Network of geostationary...
Season's Eatings
A not very appetizing image painted by The Economist:
“Britons bought more than 7m cookbooks in 2009. They watch thousands of hours of cookery shows on television. (…) It is hard to know how much actual cooking follows. In 2009, the British also spent some $13.6 billion on chilled ready meals. The figures conjure up sad visions of a nation slumped collectively on the sofa, watching...
“You do someone a tremendous disservice if you teach them that pain in life is a...”
– Greg Lukanioff, of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, warns against the sensitivity caused by excessive political correctness in universities, which are supposed to foster debate and help kids develop a thicker skin. Read this excellent story in Spiked Online.
— From SF.
1 tag
“Talent is the desire to do something. The rest is sweat and discipline. I am...”
– Jacques Brel in a 1971 interview at Knokke.
**** En français: “Le talent, c’est l’envie de faire quelque chose. Tout le restant c’est de la sueur, c’est de la transpiration, c’est de la discipline. Je suis sûr de ça. L’art, moi je sais pas ce que...
1 tag
Dear Père Noël,
This year I’d like:
the move to do itself;
a job I love;
full legal status in the US;
the ability to fly home whenever the hell I want;
for Jason to graduate;
an African Grey parrot.
Go on. We haven’t got all day.
— From SF.
slibovitz
“It is a minor thing in a major life, but one word I will always associate with Richard Holbrooke, who died on Monday, is slivovitz. That is the name of a plum brandy, glasses of which, in press dispatches from the Balkans in the nineties, always seemed to be being slammed down on tables during contentious negotiations in field tents with war criminals.” (Amy Davidson of The New Yorker...
Yearly Physical
Nurse: multiple sex partners?
Me: no, got married this year.
Nurse: oh that's wonderful, congratulations!
Me: thank you!
Nurse: ...
Me: ...
Nurse: okay, listen, if he gets violent and starts hitting you, call us, we can help.
FBI Mole Banned by Mosque He Was Infiltrating for... →
This hilarious story in The Independent recounts how an FBI informant was given a restraining order after he freaked out the leaders of the Muslim community he’d infiltrated in Orange County, CA. They went to the police saying he was trying to get one of them to help him blow up a mall.
As you can imagine, they’ve pretty much had it with the FBI, who seems to think anything Islam is a...
It’s -1 out there and I get into the elevator at work, wrapped up in a winter coat, gloves and a scarf. As the elevator descends and reaches the second floor, I put on my hat.
The doors open and in walks a young woman wearing a mini skirt, no tights and peep toe stilettos.
Me: Wow, you are brave!
Her: Tee hee. Yes, I’m going to a christmas lunch.
(Pause)
I also just recently got a...
1 tag
A guide to modern relationships?
Nope. It’s just The Economist’s Special Report on China, but you could learn a thing or two from their diagnostic and recommendations on US-China relations:
“Coolly observe, calmly deal with things, hold your position, hide your capacities, bide your time, accomplish things where possible” (a description of China’s strategy to deal with the West in the past...
The Art of Being Social
My father in law and his partner were supposed to visit us in London this weekend. We were already really looking forward to having them here – the first time in two years.
Then, on Friday afternoon, the Spanish air traffic controllers decided to just walk out without any warning and go on strike. Flights were cancelled, misery caused and the family couldn’t come.
At a time when Spain’s economic...
WatchJohn Stewart shows up the trivialities of media frenzy over WikiLeaks, or what has been dubbed the ‘diplomatic 9-11.’ Do persist with the toilet humour and penis metaphor. There are sharp moments which eventually arrive at the beauty of ‘anarchy of information.’
— From Melbourne (via Haze and The Daily Show).
Paris Review: Michel Houellebecq, The Art of... →
“How do you have the nerve to write some of the things you do?” I asked him. “Oh, it’s easy. I just pretend that I’m already dead.”
He may not be your cup of tea though Michel Houellebecq is arguably one of the most interesting novelists of our times. He is best known for his book The Elementary Particles where he analyses the contemporary world though a sexual economy and places blame on the...
Australian PM's stance on WikiLeaks
Australia is forever trying to sleep with the US. Julia Gillard, you whore…
Julian Assange: I am an Australian citizen and I miss my country a great deal. However, during the last weeks the Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, and the attorney general, Robert McClelland, have made it clear that not only is my return is impossible but that they are actively working to assist the...
BBC to Launch Subscription-Based Global iPlayer... →
Excellent excellent excellent excellent news for iPad owners.
EXCELLENT NEWS FOR iPAD OWNERS.
— Via Wired, thanks to Saschka, from SF.
November 2010
69 posts
