Magic Roundabout

Well done Simon Yates for a fantastic win @ the Giro d'Italia 2025. A reversal of his fortunes in 2018, where he lost a 3 1/2 min lead on the same mountain. A real "Boy's Own" win.

More from Trumpton

 

So now Trumplestiltskin (who spins base materials into false gold) is planning a great big bash for his 79th Birthday. So much for reducing government spending. What's $45 million between friends? Oh, & I guess that America needs to show off it's military might, as someone may have missed it.

By the way, It's nice to be able to post stuff like this without having to worry about borderforce, or whatever crazy name the yanks have come up with, detaining me on the way to the place of Disney

From The Grauniad:-

We’re minimizing the horror of Trump’s military birthday parade | Judith Levine | The Guardian

or for a US spin:-

Trump’s Birthday Parade to Cost Eyewatering Amount—and Could Get Worse | The New Republic

I like the way that sounds like a star wars thing. The New Republic. 

Cram me with eels

Well, Caviar actually. Hat-Tip kastathecrafter

for this tidbit:-

All I know is:-

Caviar comes from the virgin sturgeon,

The virgin sturgeon's a very fine fish,

The virgin sturgeon needs no 'urgin,

That's why caviar is my dish.

I gave caviar to my girl friend,

She was a virgin tried and true,

Ever since she had that caviar,

There 'aint nothing she won't do,

I gave caviar to my grandpa,

Grandpa's age is ninety three,

The very next time I saw my grandpa,

He'd chased grandma up a tree.

My father was a lighthouse keeper,

He had caviar for his tea,

He had three children by a mermaid,

Two were kippers, one was me.

I gave caviar to my bow-wow, all the others looked agog,

He had what those bitches wanted,

Wasn't he a lucky dog.

The female clam is optimistic, shoots her eggs out in the sea,

She hopes her suitor as a shooter,

Hits the selfsame spot as she.

Oysters are prolific bi-valves,

Rear their young ones in their shell,

How they piddle is a riddle, but they do so what the hell.

I gather Swans also belong to the Regent, but not, Swansea.

Trumpton

They say truth is stranger than fiction, so all that has been written about the Narcissistic Orange Baby's 'Memecoin' must be true. It seems that there are enough suckers out there to enrich him by an estimated $1.6 billion.

That's just the tip of the article. Read more here:- $TRUMP

Again, I'm speechless. 

A load of old shite

We may try The poop rule.

The house seems to get more & more cluttered every year, and I think we are now full. 

One rule I've heard about in the past is the "one in, one out" method, whereby whenever you add one possession, you have to recycle one. I have failed miserably at this. It seems that there is always time to acquire new stuff, but never time to sort & eliminate old stuff. Funny, eh?

What has been weighing on my mind recently is what happened to Mum & Dad's possessions. 98% of which we gave away/recycled/dumped or went as house clearance items. "You can't take it with you" was certainly apparent.

All that I've managed so far is a minor book cull. I've sorted our collection into "brilliant & might read again", "not read yet but probably will", "not read and make me feel meh" and everything else. The last 2 categories I've donated to charity, or Martin's let. The next question is can I do that to our DVD, CD, & even vinyl collections? Now that all this media is available instantly online, why not ditch the lot? Perhaps because my bottom twitches with the thought of passing up these old friends. Maybe ill just keep a list, & get rid of the physical copies? Mmmmm twitch again.

Then there's clothes......

Again, some old friends with memories attached, hung on to with the belief that one day I'll be skinny enough to re-wear them and that they will also come back into fashion. Who am I kidding?

OMG, then there is the loft. And the garage. And the shed. And the kitchen cupboards. And the linen cupboard.

Perhaps I'll just go & walk the dog......

Or move house....

Holy Hair, Batman!

Why cant religions make their mind up about hair? I'm assuming that they all believe that their God/Gods created humans with hair, so how can it be bad? Why do so many insist in hiding it? I've heard an argument that visible female hair can inflame men with lust, but its never had that effect on me. Big hairy women? I think not.

Breaking it down:-

Protestant Christianity; men hats off in church, ladies hats on, the bigger & frillier the better. 

Catholicism; men hats off, unless you are a child molester, then some very funny hats for varying degrees of holiness. Popes max hattage, bishops full chess piece hats, priests various?

Monks, tonsures! Just one zone of hair is bad, obviously. Nuns varying degrees of dishcloth craziness - the crazier the better 

(Nb, some Christians who criticize Muslim hair hiding seem to be ok with nuns....)

Greek orthodox; crazy hats, full-on hermit beards, ladies shawls a-plenty.

Islam; men hats on in mosques, beards, no moustaches. How does that work? Are moustaches evil per se? Have monk's tonsures been misunderstood, or just moved south? ladies from full body covering, no hair showing, to no coverings at all. Moustaches allowed. Ladies:- 

Judaism; men little hats on at all times, big hats for special occasions, or more extreme forms, ladies scarves? Also I must mention men dancing.

Sikhism; don't cut that hair! Damn you! Wrap it in a sheet. 

Buddhism; loving the bald look with a tiny ponytail 

Fascism; MAGA baseball hats made in China

Some imponderables:-

Why do Greek men have thick bushy moustaches? To remind them of their mothers

Secondary concern, men wearing dresses.

Doppelganger

 

Its amazing to me that more people dont look the same. How many variations of characteristics can there be?

Recent research is being done which suggests that people with similar faces share similar DNA. I guess that makes sense.

Smithsonian magazine

We are Lottery Winners!

 

Looks like we are off to see "Lottery Winners" twice. I've been reliably informed that the problem lies with the knob on the end of the keyboard. Ho hum.

It's purgatory

 

Apparently purgatory is not mentioned in the bible. Even, as you know, the things that are liable to be found in the bible ain't necessarily so. 

It seems to have been thought up by clerics to extract tributes from the masses to enrich themselves, to hold Masses or say prayers for souls departed to ease their passage from purgatory into God's Good Kingdom. 

Amen

When Casio ruled the world

 

Can you name another calculator manufacturer apart from Casio?

It used to be any colour you like as long as its black, but now available in blue, & pink iirc?

Fx-86 today? I still have my fx-85v from my uni days! In a hard case, too!

(Yup, that's "Mint sauce" the sheep cartoon from MBUK)

I remember calculators making their first appearance @ school. Some flash rich kids turning up with things the size of bricks, that could do all 4 functions! 

& Later with scientific functions:-

I wonder what happened to Texas Instruments? That.

If you want to get ahead, get a hat

Some people collect fridge magnets, some mugs, some even used to collect teaspoons with location tags on. I have developed a hankering for hats.

Of course, there was also a time when everyone wore a hat.

Below is the latest addition to my collection, a Glock pistol beaut, purchased from the shooting range in Orlando. I couldn't resist. It was a bargain!  And as I have now crossed off shooting a Glock from my bucket list, essential. Just like I couldn't resist a Nasa hat, or even a Wild Willies airboat tour camo version. 2 weeks, 3 hats. Is this excessive hattage?

My first hat? Timberland, 2007, the earliest documented evidence of me wearing baseball hat. I have a suspicion that I found this, or it was was left in Chateau Howell by a Rob. This was taken on the ferry to Île de Ré, just off Royan. Enigmatic, eh?

I think I collect hats because I hate my lardyarse body, but quite like my head & Fine head of Howell Hair. Hopefully when my MasterPlan to lose several stone over the next year comes to fruition, I might be able to switch to T-shirts, shorts, or even trou. Shoes? I don't think so.

How I managed to swell to my current massive bulk is a long story, suffice to say that part of this is not being able to see the change, & having a distorted image of myself. The curtains have now fallen from my eyes, & I have to make a change. Again, a long story. Maybe i'll share it here one day.

Fun with Lightsabres

Q:-

How much fun can be had with 6 Lightsabres?

A;- 

it seems like quite a lot!

Team Howell/Clarke/Platt/Parry signed up for "Savi's workshop" make your own Lightsabre @ Galaxy's Edge in Disney. This turned out to be 30 mins of great fun & Jedi cosplay, Selecting, assembling & eventually powering up your own unique Lightsabre. The team then proceeded to strike various Jedi poses, helped by the fact that both of Tatooine's twin suns had set by the time we left the workshop.

The whole Galaxy's Edge experience was brilliant - meeting several characters in costume, seeing many of the star wars iconic craft; 

& even having a drink in Oga's Cantina.

Oh! & not forgetting the rides;- 

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. 

 

 

Bloods

I like to B positive 😁

However, Kim is A negative 😂

Go figure 

Brangwyn Hall

 I'd forgotten what an amazing place the Brangwyn Hall is.

I've seen "racing cars", Max Boyce, Ken Dodd, Frank Turner, Swansea Real ale & cider festival, Bishopston school Christmas concerts, Dunvant Male voice choir, My graduation and Kim's graduation, all in this amazing place, with Frank Brangwyn's epic panels staring down on all.

Apparently, they were destined for the houses of parliament back in the 30's, but even then they were considered too racist or perhaps patronising for that place, depicting as they do scenes from the great British empire. The flora & fauna that the sun never set upon. Was Swansea more enlightened or less fussy?

You be the judge. I see different things in the panels every time I look. I think they are more faded than I remember, but almost a century of exposure to all of the above, plus sunlight, probably cigarette smoke, & not even glass to protect them must take its toll.