h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

so???????

the pope was in the hitler youth

Emperor Caligula wasn't

same salute, but snazier uniforms

And the Vatican used to be Nero's garden.
Where he allowed the survivors of the great fire to camp out
while explaining to them that it was them crazy Xtians what started it
and not a necessary first step in his urban renewal scheme.

*BTW anhaga - thanks again for suggesting I try reading Edward Gibbon.
It's amazingly well written. And full of facts such as that above.*


~jwf~

a) Taff: no. the Roman uniforms were far more interesting. Lots of muscular leg and leather verses drab brown shirts? Seriously.

b) ~jwf~: thanks again for the thanks again. Gibbon is something, in so many ways, one comes across rarely . The challenge is well worth the effort. If some evil trans-dimensional being were to place me in the position of choosing which of two author's works should be eliminated from the Universe of Time and Space -- the prose of Gibbon and, for example, the exquisite poetry of Milton -- yea, verily, including the unparalleled 'Lycidas' -- there would be no question.




But I'd try to keep a copy of 'Lycidas' in my memory.

dont forget the lorica, dead comfy that

actually, I'd try to kill the trans-dimensional being rather than be forced to make the choice.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6964050.ece

Thou SHALT steal!

A vicar in York tells those less fortunate than others to shoplift!

Man gets house arrest for spanking son

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1158885.html

'Man gets house arrest for spanking son'

'so hard the youngster couldn’t sit down the next day'

Sounds like a beating to me. If he'd hit the kid on any other part of his body, there'd be fractures. Looks like an appropriate -- or perhaps light sentence.

Another beating, but on a much lighter note: Depardieu has admitted smashing up a car parked outside a nightclub near his Paris home

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/6866452/Gerard-Depardieu-admits-attacking-car.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/6864180/100-customers-and-staff-stranded-by-snow-sleep-in-John-Lewis-store.html

I was stuck in this gridlock for about 3.5 hours and I wa slucky not to be on any of the main roads involved. Those customers were definitely the lucky ones!

just out of curiosity, how heavy in absolute terms was the snowfall? Like, in inches or centimeters.

We had about 4 inches in a couple of hours. Yeah yeah, your country which is used to snow and probably has snow ploughs, gritters etc, and you probably all have snow chains on your tyres and would just laugh at this snow shower, but here it turned the hills into skating rinks for which our cars are not prepared. Two accidents at strategic spots on the major roads round here can cause gridlock even without the snow so hundreds of cars sliding down hills was always going to end badly.

The bbc failed to predict anything other than sleet for this area so it took a lot of us by surprise. It took me 3.5 hours to do the 4 miles home from nursery and I am lucky I left as early as I did to get them. Other parents didn't get there until the middle of the night and some got there and couldn't get home again so spent the night there.

No, Kelli, I'm not going to say anything snide about our winters. Four inches in a couple of hours is a heap of snow no matter how prepared the place is. We had a morning rush hour a few weeks ago that had a similar snowfall. Despite the fact that such snowfalls are routine here, there was chaos. One case I heard of was a bus that normally took about fifteen minutes to get from a suburb to downtown ended up taking four hours.

I'm glad you got home safely.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8427415.stm

A man urged his 16 year old son to "marry" and rape his 12 year old cousin.

There has been much (far too much) hype about the Tiger Woods scandal.

But it raises the question, would either of these following two stories about tigers (real tigers) have been reported if that name was not currently in the news. Search engines and all that.

Or, if you like to think deeply about the cosmos and the nature of co-inky-dinks and memes, would these stories have even happened if the Tiger was not a thought preying on every modern mind.

Warning: Both stories are sad and involve dead tigers (real tigers)

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/091222/odds/odd_us_tiger

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8426884.stm

peace
jwf

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8427487.stm

" Auschwitz sign theft 'ordered from abroad'"

I told you they were only following orders!!!!

Latest rumour: Swedish collector behind Auschwitz theft
http://www.thelocal.se/24000/20091222/

Amusing story of an NZ policewoman with common sense!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8427624.stm

Two young men caught cycling with no clothes on have escaped charges of offensive behaviour, but received a warning to wear protective headgear.

Purple headgear?