in
his spare time, bush is a standup comedian -
the auroran sunset
For a few decades, the White House Correspondents’
Association has held an annual dinner. The sitting President is invited to
that dinner and expected to give a short speech. Their speech is supposed
to be amusing and without serious content, or at least without direct political
comment on the events of the day.
Last year, Bush let his wife Laura take over. This year,
he hired an impersonator to ‘translate’. Bush talked like Bush,
although with some twists in the content, while the clone explained what George
really wants to say. There was also mockery of Bush’s rhetorical and
pronunciation problems.
A
video of the full 15 minute routine is available
for free download at CSPAN. Here are my favourite parts:
Bush: “And I've continued to spread our agenda globally and around
the world, as well as internationally. ”
Clone: “Yes my fellow Americans, in the words of Sigmund Freud, ‘I
have a dream.’”
Bush: And one of those dreams is to eliminate barriers and I saw a wonderful
opportunity to do that when I was in China. Out on tour in the Chinese countryside
with the Chinese premier, When-He-Elbow, I looked him straight in the eye
and I said, ‘Mr.President, TEAR. DOWN. THIS. WALL.’”
related material
George and Laura in
2005
the web address for the item above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fun0604.php#standup_bush_070506
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a
society where tony bliar’s ‘aptitude’ would be valued
- the auroran sunset
“Their rigid adherence to the truth was apparently not enjoined on
them by a god, as is usually the case, but appeared to have a genetic base.
The average Zoon could no more tell a lie than breathe underwater and, in
fact, the very concept was enough to upset them considerably; telling a
Lie meant no less than totally altering the universe.
“This was something of a drawback to a trading race and so, over
the millennia, the elders of the Zoon studied this strange power that everyone
else had in such abundance and decided that they should possess it too.
“Young men who showed faint signs of having such a talent were encouraged,
on special ceremonial occasions, to bend the Truth ever further on a competitive
basis. The first recorded Zoon proto-lie was: 'Actually, my grandfather
is quite tall,' but eventually they got the hang of it and the office of
tribal Liar was instituted.
“It must be understood that while the majority of Zoon cannot lie
they have great respect for any Zoon who can say that the world is other
than it is, and the Liar holds a position of considerable eminence. He represents
his tribe in all his dealings with the outside world, which the average
Zoon long ago gave up trying to understand. Zoon tribes are very proud of
their Liars.
“Other races get very annoyed about all this. They feel that the
Zoon ought to have adopted more suitable titles, like 'diplomat' or 'public
relations officer'. They feel they are poking fun at the whole thing.”
p.123 [1987 edition, 0552131059]
Terry Pratchett has written a large number of comedies
set in an absurd magical medieval land called “Diskworld”, of
which Equal Rites is the third. He has a rare gift with the absurd
twisting of word-usage to paint unexpected pictures, in a typical example
from the quoted book he calls someone “as self-centred as a tornado”.
On occasion, he uses this twisting to make sharp satirical comment on aspects
of current society, often with a libertarian slant. Most of his humour, however,
revolves around ignorant people and the strange way they (don’t) think.
He can get somewhat samey and he is far from consistent, but I tend to snigger
my way through his books pretty quickly so they can’t be all bad.
| 
|
Equal Rites
by Terry Pratchett
2004 reprint, Corgi Adult, 0552152609 £6.99
[amazon.co.uk] {advert} |
 |
| 2005 reprint, Harper Paperbacks, 0060855908, $10.74
[amazon.com] {advert} |
the web address for the item above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fun0604.php#politicians_lie_220406
|
| miro
à la google, for his birth date
doodle
by Google - Miro
Suggested by Topher.
It is said that an artist is a colllector wh cannot afford the auction price.
Here is another homage to Miro, this time by abelard:
I have a tendency to tidy up and extract the essentials
from the work of artists who attract my attention.
Miró has his roots in Dada-ism, with its interest
in automatic writing. This painting is produced by those methods, with
specific reference to his Constellations series (approximately
1940).
Having no interest in symbolism, I ignored those aspects
of Miró’s painting.
Some
images from Miró’s constellation series.
Joan Miró [1993 - 1983] was born in Barcelona. Between 1939 and 1941
he did the Constellation series, expressing his horror of the second World
War. There is a Miró museum in Barcelona.
related material
Barcelona and St George
the web address for the item above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fun0604.php#miro_200406 |
rune
and script alphabets
“Runes are the characters of ancient alphabets: Teutonic (24 letters),
Anglo-Saxon (32 letters), and Scandinavian (16 letters). Runic characters
are similar to Latin letters, except that they tend to have few curves and
consist mostly of straight lines, suitable for carving with knives. Runic
letters were used for over one thousand years. For most people, the runic
alphabet died out sometime between the 13th and 16th centuries.” [Quoted
from skepdic.com]
Non-alphabetic
writing, with eleven original downloadable TrueType fonts of ‘magical’
alphabets from various areas and times. There are apparently at least fourteen
alphabets to come. The site has very pretty pictures of the fonts. The creator
appears to take this sort of thing seriously, which leads to some surreal
labels:
“Hagalaz (the ice-egg) drawn in its solid form is a hexagonal matrix
of triangles. This is the mother rune that contains the patterns of all
the other runes.”
Daggers script. Image credit: Fuzzypeg
Pictish swirl script. Image credit: Fuzzypeg.
For those aware of the Cirth runes developed by J.R.R Tolkien, Omniglot
has a short resumé.
Sample of Cirth runes developed by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Image credit: Omniglot
the web address for the item above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fun0604.php#runes_200406 |
i’m
not buying one - i’m not that adventurous/dumb!
 |
|
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“[...] the Gen H-4 personal helicopter. Sporting
four engines and eight cylinders, redundancy is the theme of the Gen
H-4. It can fly with one engine out, and can land safely with two engines
out. If luck runs out, the design includes an "I quit" handle:
A BRS ballistic parachute is included. It's powered by four 125cc two-cylinder
two-stroke engines that require a 30:1 oil/gas mix, and have a small
carburetor [sic] on each cylinder, with a total of 40 hp.”
Genh-4 one-man helicopter. Image credits: Jon Plummer
and Ace Craft USA |
Frequently
asked questions | Specifications
| More
photos
the web address for the item above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fun0604.php#genh4_140406 |
on
the efficacy of prayer
“In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that having
people pray for heart bypass surgery patients had no effect on their recovery.
In fact, patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher
rate of complications.
“The work, which followed about 1,800 patients at six medical centers,
was financed by the Templeton Foundation, which supports research into science
and religion. It will appear in the American Heart Journal.
“Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School and other scientists
tested the effect of having three Christian groups pray for particular patients,
starting the night before surgery and continuing for two weeks. The volunteers
prayed for "a successful surgery with a quick, healthy recovery and
no complications" for specific patients, for whom they were given the
first name and first initial of the last name.”
related material:
Statistical inquiries into
the efficacy of prayer - Francis Galton
the web address for the item above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fun0604.php#prayer_120406 |
