Europe Had a Terrible Year, and It’s Probably Going to Get Worse
-
The continent’s parlous economy and ascendant far right foretell a grim
future.
3 hours ago
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Mercedes 600
I would love to have one of these someday, an absolute marvel of overwrought
German OCD Engineering...The power windows, doors and trunk were powered by a
hydraulic system. Featured in black on the TV Series "Friday the 13th"
Talk About Random
This song came into my head a few days ago unbidden and I made a mental note to look it up on tEh Internetz. I Subsequently forgot all about it only to remember and forget three more times
(No Lie). So here is is for your consideration from 1979...which BTW makes this as old for our kids as the 1951 hit "Sixty Minute Man" was for us in 1979. For another 1970's treat try Warren Zevon's "Poor Poor Pitiful me"
Too Funny
 | Wm. Shakespeare's Five and Twenty Random Things Abovt Me The meme is older than anyone guessed! Here it is, something I just dug up at the library: the First Folio edition of... Wm. Shakespeare's Five and Twenty Random Things Abovt Me 1 Sometimes I Feele so trapp’d by iambic pentameter... Does that make me a Freake? 2 I haue been Knowne to cry at Bear-baiting. 3 I am not uery ticklish. I am Not. So prithee, do not euen try. Waste. Of. Time. 4 I cannot keep Lice, and know not why. 5 Sometimes I thinke plays are all Talke, Talke Talke, and wish for a cart-chase scene. I tried one in The Merry Wives, but it looked like Shitte, so I cut it. The men playing the horses were so Pissed at me. 6 I once threw vp on a man's head, from a high Windowe. I was so fvcking Sicke that Daye. 7 I hate to wear a Ruff, for I haue such a pleasing Necke. 8 As a player, I am painful-slow to learn my part. Once whilst playing Edward I, I used the prompter so ouermuch that a groundling yell’d ~Stop interrupting, Will! And it was my Dadde. (Kydding!) 9 Sometimes when I am Stvck for a rhyme, I new-mint a Worde because I jvst want to get the Damned script ovt the fvcking doore. 10 I play the Flute yet poorly, but I can make any crumhorn beg for Mercy. 11 When I am happy I call Anne my Kicky-wicky. When I am cross I call her “Olde Fun Killer Hag-Ass.” 12 I keepe my Stashe hidden in our seconde best bedde. Shhh. Don’t tell the Fyve-Oh. 13 The people that loue my Wordes the best are always the most disappointed vpon meeting me. Is thisse List ouer yet? 14 On the topic of dating, my daughter Susanna loues to remind me: ~Jvliet was only thirteen! And I remind her that i) she was Italian, an impulsive race ii), she was actually played by a middle-aged Eunuch named Ned, and iii) she died. That always shvts her right vp. 15 I deteste it when the Low-Comedians improuise the scenes I writ them… becavse they always make them so mvch fvnnier. 16 I haue, on occasion, thovght abovt hiring a Boy to fixe my Latin. 17 When I was sixe, my Goode-Friend Charles brovght to Schoole a wood-cut of his mother, qvite naked. After that we called him Charles Nudie-Mummy, whiche did make him Crye. 18 I take my eggs ouer-medium. If I get them O’er-Easily, I tell my Porter, ~You may thinke this is what I ordered, but it’s snot. I thinke that one is a real Slap-A-Th’Knee. 19 I work ovt my calues thrice weekly, usvally three pyramid sets of Calf-Rises whilst holding a flagon of Meade. I knowe I should stretch afterwards, but it Bores me so I do it not. 20 As a boy in my Bed, I would shriek i’the night that Witches wovld come to eat me. My Mother (bless her) wovld smooth my Hair and whispr ~ Be not afear’d, the Witches onlie eat the Jews. 21 Whitsuntide has become so commercial. 22 Nobody euer forgets where they were the moment they heard that Thomas Kyd died. I was shopping for codpieces in West Cheape. I came ovt of the Change-room and the proprietress was i’tears. I said ~What is it, now? and she replied ~Kyd is dead. There was a melancholy qviet, and then she said~And that Piece is a mite too small on ye. 23 Euery time we do the Taming of the Shrew, some pvnter wants his Money backe, because we don’t actually show a shrew getting tamed. 24 I do not vnderstand all the Fvss over Currants. Sure, they are both sweet and Small, but must they bee added to EUERY FVCKING MEAL these days? Yestermonth, found I currants in a Tarte of Spinnedge. I meane come on, People. Seriovsly. 25 When I am feeling Melancholic, I console myselfe with the Knowledge that, aboue all else, I will be remembered for my Musick.  Wm. Shakespeare's Five and Twenty Random Things Abovt Me by Mike McPhaden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License. |
Rosenfeld's Bagels
This unassuming joint in a Newton Center basement makes what I and many others consider
the best bagels in the world - Period/Full Stop/EOS.
Friday, February 20, 2009
The Knotty Pine - Newton, MA
This Place in Auburndale is a Favorite of ours for breakfast
Fast, Awesome Service, Good and Cheap ! Great Hashbrowns
Family owned, picture of the Parthenon
What's not to like !
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The Dudley Chateau Wayland, MA
On the way back from meeting Martha for lunch, I decided to see
A) If I could find it
and
B) if "The Chat" was still there.
Low and Behold it is still on the shore of Dudley Pond and seems unchanged,
I did not go in as I had the girls with me but it looks the same. I have not set
foot in that place since the early 90's, I will have to check it out. Here are
some pix and an article I scammed off the web.
Where everybody knows your name: Dudley Chateau looks to renovate
By Susan L. Wagner
Wed Nov 26, 2008, 10:02 AM EST
WAYLAND - Like any number of ladies of "a certain age," the Dudley Chateau could use a little cosmetic improvement. And like some others, she’s had a colorful past.
"The Chat" (pronounced "Shat"), as it’s commonly known among its regulars, has been standing on the eastern shore of Dudley Pond since the early 1920s. According to Arlene Gatto, who is currently the bar and restaurant manager, it was originally a private fishing lodge. During Prohibition, it became a speakeasy, complete with a little peek hole in the door. After that, it was a men’s drinking club (both Ted Williams, who was an avid sports fisherman, and Babe Ruth are reported to have been regulars). Then, it became "The Chat," featuring good food and drink and spectacular sunset views across the pond.
HDR Photography
You should check out this photostream by stuckincustoms @ flikr very cool and licensed under creative commons for non commercial use. He also has a blog with techniques and tutorials a few of these are Smithsonian award winners.
The Photo Stream
The Blog
3000 cars abandoned in Dubai Airport
SOURCE : N. RAGHU RAMAN - DNA
Indians flee Dubai as dreams crash
Mumbai/DUBAI - JAN 14: It's the great escape by Indians who've hit the dead-end in Dubai.
Local police have found at least 3,000 automobiles -- sedans, SUVs, regulars -- abandoned outside Dubai International Airport in the last four months. Police say most of the vehicles had keys in the ignition, a clear sign they were left behind by owners in a hurry to take flight.
The global economic crisis has brought Dubai's economic progress, mirrored by its soaring towers and luxurious resorts, to a stuttering halt. Several people have been laid off in the past months after the realty boom started unraveling.
On the night of December 31, 2008 alone more than 80 vehicles were found at the airport. "Sixty cars were seized on the first day of this year," director general of Airport Security, Mohammed Bin Thani, told DNA over the phone. On the same day, deputy director of traffic, colonel Saif Mohair Al Mazroui, said they seized 22 cars abandoned at a prohibited area in the airport.
Faced with a cash crunch and a bleak future ahead, there were no goodbyes for the migrants -- overwhelmingly South Asians, mostly Indians - just a quiet abandoning of the family car at the airport and other places.
While 2,500 vehicles have been found dumped in the past four months outside Terminal III, which caters to all global airlines, Terminal II, which is only used by Emirates Airlines, had 160 cars during the same period.
"The construction and real estate industry has been hit following the global slowdown and the direct fallout is that professionals working in the realty industry are rapidly losing their jobs," said a senior media professional, in-charge of a realty supplement in Dubai. "In fact, my weekly real estate supplement usually had 60% advertisement and ran into 300-odd pages. In the last seven weeks, it's down to 80 pages and with fewer advertisments," he added.
Mumbai resident D Nair (name changed) had been living in a plush highrise in Sharjah for the past four years. However, the script went horribly wrong when his contract was terminated. Nair used all his credit cards to their maximum limit, shopping for people back home. He then discarded his Honda Accord before returning to India for good. Nair, who stays in a rented apartment in Navi Mumbai today, has a Rs15 lakh loan with a Dubai bank.
Another such victim of the meltdown said he bid goodbye to his car in a small bylane near the airport and hailed a cab. "I was scared because a number of us were doing the same and did not want to be questioned by the police. There was no way I could afford to pay the EMI of 1100 Dhirams for my Ford Focus," he told DNA on condition of anonymity.
When contacted, the dealer for Asgar Ali cars in Sharjah said, "We are helpless and do not know how to tackle this issue. A large number of such owners are from Indian, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and other South Asian countries."
Heading home
3.62 million expatriates in Dubai
864,000 nationals
8% population decline predicted this year, as expatriates leave
1,500 visas cancelled every day in Dubai
62% of homes occupied by expatriates 60% fall in property values predicted
50% slump in the price of luxury apartments on Palm Jumeirah
25% reduction in luxury spending among UAE expatriates
Lamborghini LM002
Yes the Italian supercar manufacturer made a 4x4 - with a v12 engine no less.
It was originally built to try to get the contract for what would become the Hummv-Hummer.
Let's see "go-anywhere" capability coupled with 1980's Italian reliability what's not
Trivia of the day
The Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver in .455 and .38 Cal
Featured in the movie "Zardoz" as Sean Connery's Revolver and also the gun which killed
Sam Spade's partner Miles Archer in "The Maltese Falcon" (for extra credit the gun in the
movie is incorrectly identified by Bogie as an 8 shot .45 cal automatic. The .455 model in reality
had a six shot cylinder - though the .38 cal does have an 8 shot capacity). The terms automatic
and revolver are usually mutually exclusive, but Webley is an exception because of it's unique
mechanism. Essentially, the weapon is cocked by pulling back on the hammer which slides the
entire top half of the revolver - barrel, cylinder and hammer rearward and then releasing it.
When the pistol is fired the recoil force drives the barrel, cylinder, hammer assembly rearward
again. During the fore and back motion, a stud in the lower section which rides in the grooves in
the cylinder rotates the cylinder to the next round ready to fire again. Aside from rapid firing
one benefit of the unusual design is improved accuracy versus a normal revolver. To make
things a bit more odd, the revolver also uses a "break top" reloading scheme (see the last image).
Production ceased in 1918 and fewer than 5k were made.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
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