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

"We moved one lady from the ground floor who was injured, we moved people from the top floor using ladders and the back door on the bus."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25465221

It's 'lower deck' and 'upper deck'

"We welcome people here but you have to think like we do."

Those words were spoken by Republican Jerry Patterson who is currently Texas Land Commissioner, and who is running for Lieutenant Governor's office.

Some people really don't engage their brain before flapping their gums Will there be thought police knocking on the doors of those who don't think the same way? Attitude adjustment camps? Perhaps deportation to somewhere less authoritarian... which could be just about anywhere.

Compare that to this statement from another prominent Texas politician.

"Trying to push Americans into a relatively small box and say, 'here is how you all are going to perform and act and function' is not a productive or positive way to lead this country," he said. "We're just too diverse -- geographically, ethnically, characteristically ... Trying to make one size fits all for health care, or education or transportation policies -- I just don't think Americans are wired that way."


Can you believe that came from (p)Rick Perry?
Granted he was trying to make some point about small government being good for diversity, which is quite at odds with most republicans angst regarding "multiculturalism"... Still. That thing Patterson said won't hurt him in this state sadly. It's all dog whistle politics here anymore.

Well, Bob knows there's nothing more important going on in the world than this http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-26463947

http://www.npr.org/2014/03/10/287311237/kentucky-southern-baptists-draw-crowds-with-gun-giveaways

I don't have words

This is a perfect example of how 24 hour news means that pixels (and airtime) have to be filled with... anything and everything, no matter how trivial and non-newsworthy

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-26883336

I mean, I know I like to have a moan about things, but this woman has taken the art to a new low
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-26997212

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-27126160
Are gardeners wrong to put 'crocks' in plant pots?

Some people obviously have far too much time on their hands, and the news media have far too many pixels to fill

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27188915
The return of the dimpled pint glass

Oh good grief Bloody hipsters. I've always associated that glass with middle class, little Englander pubs, the kind that are managed by 'mine host' and have a yard of ale glass on hooks above the bar as well as good supply of horse brasses. Even though they're in a town that hasn't seen a horse on the streets in living memory. The kind that Martin Brice from Ever Decreasing Circles drank in. So, perfect for the hipsters.

but the half pint ones are worse...

Yes they are.

I like them for personal nostalgia from my trip to Blighty in 1985.

It was exotic to me. I went looking for them in stores but could never find them. (I didn't know they were going away and out of manufacture.)

Instead I picked up a couple of Scandinavian Krouvi mugs, one of which now hangs as my personal mug at my local pub.

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/iittala-krouvi-20-oz.-beer-mug/s510907

It has no personal connection for me, but it's rather unique around these parts and gets the odd compliment and comment. (Plus, it gets me a few bonus ounces of beer. )

A handled beer glass I *do* like and would love to see sitting in my sideboard (if I had a sideboard) is the 12-sided fluted glass that you don't see any more. This sort of thing http://zythophile.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/10-sided-glass1.jpg

Oh, there are glasses around that look like that, but they're almost, but not quite, entirely unlike it. I've got a couple. They're far too thick and heavy to hold comfortably, and the flutes go all the way to the top. That's not the case with the one in the picture. Plus, they're not a genuine 20oz pint with an etched marking to say so.

Sorry, 10-sided, not 12. And that's a nice-looking glass of yours, BG

Let's not forget too, that one place you'll always see a dimpled mug is right here Does that make us all hipsters?

Have to start a campaign for a straight pint smiley.
Can't have us confused with Hipsters

Goes off muttering "Oi Pastey"

and , even all come in straight or tulip glasses. We should have one for beer too.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-27238503
Amesbury in Wiltshire confirmed as oldest UK settlement

I really don't know where to begin with this one

"David Jacques, from the University of Buckingham, said:"
Right, he's from a university, so we can assume he's an academic, and therefore clever.

"The site blows the lid off the Neolithic Revolution in a number of ways."
Okay, the 'Neolithic Revolution'. Now, I know this is a relatively short piece, but a bit of explanation there would have been nice. I'm going to assume that means the point, about 6,000 years go, when humans started to farm the land and settle down, signalling the start of the Neolithic (new stone age) period, when we stopped being hunter-gatherers and started growing barley so we could make more beer (a facetious point, please don't bother to unexplain it).

"It provides evidence for people staying put, clearing land, building, and presumably worshipping, monuments."
No argument from me about that, but as far as I'm aware (and I'll freely admit that I've got most of my knowledge about the subject from TV documentaries presented by people like Neil Oliver and Francis Pryor) that's nothing that wasn't known before.

"The area was clearly a hub point for people to come to from many miles away, and in many ways was a forerunner for what later went on at Stonehenge itself."
What the bloody hell's a "hub point". It's a hub or it's a point - either will suffice. I won't delve into the second part of that, about it being a forerunner for activities at Stonehenge, because my knowledge is a bit hazy on the exact dates for Stonehenge's development and construction, but it seems like a superfluous statement because what exactly it is that's the 'forerunner' hasn't been explained.

"The first monuments at Stonehenge were built by these people. For years people have been asking why is Stonehenge where it is, now at last, we have found the answers."
Stonehenge wasn't built where it was just because there were people living in the vicinity, so that makes no sense. Perhaps there were people living there because the area was one of spiritual importance to the early Britons (after all, the whole region is stiff with barrows, cursuses, avenues etc) and that's where Stonehenge was built, but that's the opposite of what the statement says.

"Mr Jacques said the River Avon, which runs through the area, would have been like an A road with people travelling along it."
True, although not telling the full story: it's though the river was part of a processional route to and from Stonehenge as well a transport route.

"They may have had the equivalent of local guides and there would have been feasting," he added."
Almost certainly true, but nothing new, although I'm not sure what he means by 'local guides' The place wasn't exactly a Neolithic tourist destination. It was, however, possibly the most important spiritual and religious part of Britain, and I believe there's evidence that there are strong links between Stonehenge and the surrounding area, and the people who built the ancient monuments in the far north, such as the Ring of Brodgar, the Stones of Stenness and Maes Howe.

"Previously, Thatcham in Berkshire, 40 miles from Amesbury, held the record for the longest continuous settlement in the country."
It would have been nice to know what the precious record was.

Mr Jacques said our ancestors were eating a "Heston Blumenthal-style menu".
Ohhh... No they weren't, if that even means anything. Why do apparently intellectual people come out with such childish bilge?

"The dig was filmed and made into a documentary by the BBC, Smithsonian, CBC and others to be screened later in the summer."
I'll look forward to that, although if Mr Jacques has any part in it and keeps coming out with such hogwash, I'll probably be thinking about punching him in his Aubrey Holes.

Spelling error on his part
It isn't hub site it's pub site

And from the Bar menu I'll have Roast Rock Dove in oats with docks and garlic.
And a pint of the usual please.

One pint of foaming samphire shandy coming right up, Sir.