Bible stories #1

Here's some more from the man who brought you the George Washington song. Brad Neely takes on the old testament and retells the story of Soddom and Gomorrah:

Great stuff, though definitely not very safe for work.

- Mr. Ed

Meanwhile, back at the Daily Planet

Another setback* in the war on drugs. Still you have to admit, if Clark Kent lived in Hove, he'd certainly perch his mild mannered buttocks in the offices of the Argus by day....
"Oh, gee-whilikers, that's headline-writing, Lois..."
"I know Clark, but your swoop-away PonyClub's spotted it before!"

-Bluecupboard, Beigey, and Peggysus


*Of course it is entirely possible that this could refer to actual, real cracking in brickwork, concrete, or even, dare I say it, masonry. Still, an easy and salacious story is what your gallop-about P-Club has always been about. Even as I type this, I'm trying to think of ways to get exotic dancers, the mayor, and a gold-plated elephant bought with taxpayers money, oh the shame of it all into one world exclusive shokka...

Counting: old vs. new

Via Matt Yglesias, here's Feist on Sesame Street:



Not bad, but it's not a patch on the classic:




- Mr. Ed

Quatorze Julliet!

Otherwise known as Bastille Day, to you and me, my pony friends, and in keeping with the P-Club's recent National Holidays Series (see 4th of July- free binder with Part 1) it seems appropriate to roll out that movie moment that can even make us horses wish they were French (and between you and me, that's not without its complications)...



Yes indeed, Rick's bar in ol' Casablanca, and one of the finest moments cinema has to offer...

-l'armoire bleu...

wrong, wrong, wrong,

I think we've all had that experience when the contents of pre-packaged food fail to live up to the golden images presented on the outside of the box, can or carton in the shimmering "serving suggestion". Oh yes, many's the time that your dear correspondant has literally kicked the stable walls with rage after finding that the prepackaged food I had been duped into purchasing failed utterly to come up to the standard of that which was promised on the tin. But no more my dear ponies- now a German website has provided the joy of direct comparison- and frankly my dears many of these things don't look like what they claim... A few things come off all right, but frankly, this ain't right, which ever way you slice it.*

by way of The Guardian

-Bluecupboard

*This may well be the first documented examle of the "Herring Cup", which was something I thought I'd invented, but apparently someone has give the Salmon Cup an even more nautical angle. As I've said before, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong with vinegar on it...

The Fourth!

Looking back through the archives, I see that the 4th went unremarked at the P Club last year. While the double post the previous year (here and here) goes some way to filling our PPQ (Patriotic Post Quotient) it seems apropos to seize this opportunity to celebrate the good old US of A. To that end, why not read the Declaration of Independence - surely one of the most eloquently written invitations to have a war you'll ever read - or at the very least consider the irony of this little snippet:

"A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."

My first 4th of July in the US (that I remember, anyway) was wayback in 1998. I went to the Esplanade in on the banks of the Charles River to see the Boston Pops. It was a little like the video below, except we were half a mile away from the stage, and they have definitely upped the fireworks/confetti budget since then.



Today, I'm off to West Trashley to grill out ('have a barbie' to all you Limeys) by the pool. So, to wrap up this post, here are some some suitably All-American photos I took at Liberty State Park, during my recent visit to Jersey City/NYC.







DONT TREAD ON ME,

- Mr. Ed

Meebox

Well it's currently minute 47 and Spain are a goal up. I hope you are reading this in a world where they have deservedly finally won a major competition and Germany didn't once again undeservedly win. Oh dear, is Kloser hurt?

Whatever the result I recommend you check out this show. Its where the Songs Of Praise with subtitles clip came from and features Famous Guy & Baddad gives us his take on the Punk Rock revolution. It's by Adam from Adam & Joe (who's podcast I have been enjoying) and is called Meebox.

- Scout

I take it all back...

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama appeared together yesterday in Unity, New Hampshire:



In other news - Come on Spain!


- Mr. Ed

Effing Italy

Honestly, I can't put into words the visceral loathing I have for the Italian football team. It makes me want to hit an italian, very hard, in the face - with a hammer. I know this is irrational; I love Italy, I'm friends with many italians, and it's when I think of hitting them in the face (with a hammer) that I realise how absurd my feelings about their football team are. Nonetheless, all it takes is watching la forza azzurra - in all their greasy-haired, diving ignominy - for half an hour and I'm ready to pull an Atilla the Hun Alaric the Visigoth.

- Mr. Ed

Release the hounds.............

So that you can catch 'Fleet Foxes'. They make beautiful pony music (However they have a little to learn about videos)



Colin

Euro Drama

Game over I thought as I once again flicked the channel back to get an update on the state of play in the Czech Republic Vs Turkey decider. With 15 minutes left on the clock and the Czechs clearly dominating at 2-0 I almost gave up even half watching it. If I was a betting man (truth be told if Sweden get to the final I'll win £35, not my choice of team, it's one of those pointless sweep stake things) then I would wager that the Czechs would be in the 1/4's - no doubt!

As it stood it was highly unlikely that Turkey could score 2 goals in the last 15 mins to take it to a penalty shoot out, let alone 3 to win a place in the quarter finals. In a historic last quarter of the game they somehow managed to do exactly that. The second was largely down to Peter 'Whoops Butterfingers' Cech but the killer goal was awesome. So well done.

That said, I don't actually care but it made for an entertaining Sunday evening.

You can view said goal and the rest of the drama here.

- Scout

Ahhh summer...

(Click image to enlarge)
- Mr. Ed

I'm such a fan

of the Dutch. I mean, I've always been fond of our low-lying cousins to the East - chiefly for their artists, their progressive government, and their predilection for words with more vowels than consonants - but now I have another reason, they trounced Italy and France in Euro 2008. So, the stage is set for an Italy-France death-match, next Tuesday. More's the pity they can't both loose really.*

- Mr. Ed


Image from the BBC/Getty images: Super-subs Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben celebrate the second Dutch goal against France.

* Of course if Romania were to somehow miraculously beat Holland, that would send both Italy and France out of the competition but that's probably a little too much to hope for.

Some Geek Humour

Worst/best science joke I've heard in a while:

From an Activity Book, included in a complimentary tote-bag, NeilAh got from the ACA meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee.

A neutron goes into a cafe, sits down, and orders a coke. The waiter brings it out, and the Neutron asks, "How much is that?"
The waiter replies, "For you... no charge."

And here are a few of my favourites from Graphjam, the latest meme spin-off by the ICHC peeps. Overall, just like ICHC, the hit to miss ratio is pretty poor, but every once in a while they nail it:












more graph humor and song chart memes

- Mr. Ed

I see your news, and raise you...

a news...



-Bluecupboard

No news is good news

Absolutely nothing happened in the world today and as a result there was no news. News readers were literally lost for words. Here are some examples.



- Scout

Pie for Maureen, round her shed

Smug, self righteous, dull, middle class England. That's right I'm talking about Songs Of Praise. I prefer this version....



- Scout

Memevolution

From this:


To this:


Via this:


To this:


- Mr. Ed

Le Capsule Espace

I just watched a great documentary all about the moon landings. The Shadow Of The Moon only features the astronauts who went (including those that only orbited such as Michael Collins, a real dude).

Anyway, that and a recent event reminded me of a book I read whilst visiting Mr Ed's stables by a Brit who wanted to break the record for the highest ever free fall and parachute jump. A tragic story really as he ended up going mad and never got round to it. However, it is the record set by Capt Joe Kittinger in 1960 that still stands despite an attempt by the French last week. More on that fantastic effort shortly but in the mean time enjoy this clip of the 1960 leap of faith.





I like this track by Boards Of Canada but I'm not too sure that Kittinger surfed in after making the jump....I mean, where would he have put the board?

Here is Frenchman Michael Fournier's attempt

He was aiming to break 4 world records:

1. Highest parachute jump
2. Highest manned balloon flight
3. Longest free fall
4. Fastest man without a vehicle

As it is, what he will have to make do with is:

1. Single most pointless waste of 6,000,000 quid
2. Largest balloon ever lost
3. Most pissed off Frenchman not working as a waiter

Joke courtesy of last weeks news quiz.

Look I did links and everything.

- Scout

Too Early?

Well, it seems that Hillary's campaign over. Just what I would say/do/feel at this point has been on my mind for a while. While there are a range of thoughts and emotions I could express, I have to say, nothing is more satisfying than turning to my most base emotions:



Revelling in the Hil-bot pain,

Mr. Ed