My Hands are bananas

My Hands are bananas

Lipotes vexillifer

So, farewell then
Lipotes vexillifer
you managed
200 million years
up the yangtsee

It took us 2000 years
to make you extinct

keith's mum
says
you are really
up the yangtsee now

is that why

you look so sad

(after) E. J. Thribb (17½)

Jewish Holocaust Deniers?

A very interesting story from the Beeb today:-

Why are Jews attending a conference on the Holocaust in Tehran at which star guests include deniers of the genocide? Clue: they also want an end to the Israeli state.

A handful of Orthodox Jews have attended Iran's controversial conference questioning the Nazi genocide of the Jews - not because they deny the Holocaust but because they object to using it as justification for the existence of Israel.

With their distinctive hats, beards and side locks, these men may, to the untrained eye, look like any other Orthodox believers in Jerusalem or New York. But the Jews who went to Tehran are different.

Some of them belong to Neturei Karta (Guardians of the City), a group of a few thousand people which views Zionism - the movement to establish a Jewish national home or state in what was Palestine - as a "poison" threatening "true Jews".

A representative, UK-based Rabbi Aharon Cohen, told the conference he prayed "that the underlying cause of strife and bloodshed in the Middle East, namely the state known as Israel, be totally and peacefully dissolved".

In its place, Rabbi Cohen said, should be "a regime fully in accordance with the aspirations of the Palestinians when Arab and Jew will be able to live peacefully together as they did for centuries".

Neturei Karta believes the very idea of an Israeli state goes against the Jewish religion.
The book of Jewish law or Talmud, they say, teaches that believers may not use human force to create a Jewish state before the coming of the Messiah.

A naive view? Or one with a much greater chance of achieving peace in the middle east?
The more I find out about Israel, the more I agree with the latter.

Any Money?

Dylan had been quiet, recently. When I went to investigate, I found him with a plastic board, with a piece of paper sellotaped to the front, reading "Any Money?". Alongside him was a Tesco's carrier bag containing various PlayStation games (not his favorites), DVDs, some chocolate, a key ring, some pencils etc.

I asked him what he was doing, and he replied that he was opening a shop. His plan was to camp next to the wall at the front of our house, and harangue passers by, with the question "any money". the proceeds from these sales, He informed me, would be used to buy cakes.

The mind of a 5 year old is a wonderful thing

Sung any good books lately?

Ever wondered what Art Garfunkel has been up to recently? Well, it seems he has been reading a bit. you can find out what, Here

El Groupo Libros

After a fantastic meeting at Nick's (of A Welsh Born Icon fame) the other weekend, we are starting to gather our thoughts on the set books for our little coterie's next meet.

You can read the lists of our initial top books, and all the books set so far Here

David has submitted:

This thing of Darkness by Harry Thomson

I've come over all pretentious (come over, I hear you say?), and plumped for:

The Unquiet Grave by Palinurus (Cyril Connolly)

remember the Python sketch? Eric the half a bee - "I love him Cyril Connolly" ?

Rob recommends

A Country Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov


Nick's is, of course,

freakonomics

and perhaps post these to A Welsh Born Icon so that he gets a cut when we order them?
(spooky - I've just noticed that nick has already done it!)

Fat, drunk and stupid

After several years, I have finally realised where Rob M harvested two of his catch phrases:-

Dean Vernon Wormer: Mr. Kroger: two C's, two D's and an F. That's a 1.2 grade average. Congratulations, Kroger. You're at the top of the Delta pledge class. Mr. Dorfman?
Flounder: Hello!
Dean Vernon Wormer: Zero point two... Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son. Mr. Hoover, president of Delta house? One point six; four C's and an F. A fine example you set! Daniel Simpson Day... HAS no grade point average. All courses incomplete. Mr. Blu - MR. BLUTARSKY... ZERO POINT ZERO.

and:-

Chip: [being spanked as part of Omega's initiation] Thank you, sir! May I have another?

Playing on Film 4 @ 9.00pm tonight


Amongst the other quotes from the IMDb ls the Bluto quote:-

D-Day: War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.
Bluto: Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.
Bluto: And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough... [thinks hard]
Bluto: the tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go! [runs out, alone; then returns]
Bluto: What the **** happened to the Delta I used to know? Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh? "Ooh, we're afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble." Well just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I'm not gonna take this. Wormer, he's a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer...
Otter: Dead! Bluto's right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part.
Bluto: We're just the guys to do it.
D-Day: Let's do it.
Bluto: LET'S DO IT!


I can just see Belushi delivering it now....