No point banning The Golden Arches as we'd only have to suffer other brands of burger instead i.e. the flame-grilled one or... something not too vigorous.

...furthermore, I am having a busy day.

Herring: Munchies or Nibblies?

The Olympic Bid started off at £2.35B - why didn't someone get this price fixed either through contracts, insurance or some more bizarre mechanism such as spread betting.

Now we are told the total is £9B. OK, so it's still only chickenfeed for the Mutli-Billionaires of this world, but for mere mortals and/or the UK it's quite a big deal.

Someone has screwed up bigtime here, and my guess is that they currently reside at either 10 or 11 Downing Street.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6393501.stm

But what was it? One question + one guess allowed.

but it hasn't got me for the next few hours. Time to sleep with the fishes.

There are some daft blog writers around and I've been checking them out as I am at a loose end for half an hour before I crash.

I had some ants browsing in my kitchen this week. 24 hours after I noticed them, I left a dubious white powder for them to stick their noses in. Result, a distinct lack of ants today.

Macrocosm and microcosm is an ancient Greek schema of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of the cosmos. It may have begun with Democritus in the 5th century B.C. or with Pythagoras and is a philosophical conception that runs through Socrates, and Plato and through to the Renaissance. With Pythagoras, the discovery of the golden ratio and its philosophical conception called the Golden mean, the Greeks saw that this golden ratio is repeated in all parts of the ordered universe both large and small. The Greeks were very concerned with a rational explanation of everything and saw this repetition of the golden mean as a pattern that was reproduced throughout reality. It is a product of the ancient Greek mentality of seeing reality as a whole and noticing patterns that are repeated throughout all the levels of reality. In short, it is the recognition that the same traits appear in entities of many different sizes, from one man to the entire human population.

Ripped off from Wikipedia, the half-brained self-written verbiage of semi-educated unemployed people.

Link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrocosm_and_microcosm

Where can I get a charger for my iPod? I know it's trendy to charge up via your PC, but a) I am going to be away for 2 weeks soon with no visible connection to the planet and b) I often prefer to charge up off-computer.

How did this oxymoronic phrase ever become so popular? I can only think of one person that it actually applies to - John Lennon.

Deputy prime minister John Prescott has spent £645 on a new door sign, it has emerged.

Mr Prescott changed the sign at his Whitehall office from Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) to Deputy Prime Minister's Office.

The ODPM was dissolved in a Cabinet re-organisation in May 2006. Its responsibilities were passed to the Department for Communities and Local Government.

But Mr Prescott's office still has a staff of 18, who spent £746 on business cards for the new department.

Shadow constitutional affairs spokesman Oliver Heald requested the figures in a parliamentary question.

Mr Heald said: "The Whitehall farce is continuing with taxpayers' money being wasted on a pointless new sign for a pointless new department that faces the chop when Tony Blair finally leaves Downing Street."

Mr Prescott's spokesman responded: "It cost us £140 to answer this question."

If so, what were they?

Just found this helpful link!

http://www.bellybytes.com/articles/29foods.shtml

My first move in all future business transactions is to resist the temptation to purchase anything. My second idea is to reduce tax to a minimum (with help from a qualified accountant). Thirdly I would boost my income to the absolute maximum by putting my fees up to an extortionate level. Finally, I would get myself an occasional little treat like a candy bar or fancy hat.

I thought you all might like to have 24 hours notice!

'Could do better. Must try harder.'

That's what it said on my school report for every subject year-in, year-out. (Mind you, that's Haberdashers for you!)

Anyone else out there use colour-coding for flagging messages? It's quite a good system for messages you want to save for short to medium term.

No colour - have to save msg but probably rather unimportant
Yellow - low priority
Orange - slightly higher priority
Green - Messages from David
Blue - Messages concerning money
Purple - Otherwise unclassifiable
Red - dangerous/spoof/spam/lottery wins etc.

This is probably going to be the start of ten-and-a-half months of heatwave.

Let's hope it's not a pig of a year.

I believe they are several hundreds of pounds, but why?

Anyone else? If it's such a drag having me as a blogging friend please get it off your chest right now and Phyre me - OK?

Blackadder used them all the time.

i.e.

"as happy as a Frenchman who’s invented a pair of self-removing trousers"

"Not while Pitt the Elder's Prime Minister they aren't. He's about as effective as a catflap in an elephant house."

"I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel."

and many, many more.

Earlier today I read a posting which had this quote in it:

"...as professional as your average fast food outlet." [Emsbabee]

Just wondered if anyone else can come up with anything equally cynical for this one...

"As professional as..."

Yogi Berra

Yogi Bear

An Indian Yogi

What I am eating right now.

What is the nearest item to you that is coloured orange and how far away from you is it?

A friend just sent me this L.O.L. hysterical email.

Proof of what can happen if a wife or girlfriend drags her husband or
boyfriend along shopping…

This letter was (allegedly) sent by Tesco's Head Office recently, to a customer in Oxford:

Dear Mrs. Murray,

While we thank you for your valued custom and use of the Tesco
Loyalty Card, the Manager of our store in Banbury is considering
banning you and your family from shopping with us, unless your
husband stops his antics.

Below is a list of offences over the past few months all verified by
our surveillance cameras:

1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in
people's trolleys when they weren't looking.

2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at
5-minute intervals.

3. July 7: Made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to
feminine products aisle.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official
tone, "Code 3" in housewares..... and watched what happened.

5. August 14: Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.

6. September 15: Set up a tent in the outdoor clothing department and told shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring sausages and a Calor gas stove.

7. September 23: When the Deputy Manager asked if she could help him, he began to cry and asked, "Why can't you people just leave me
alone?"

8. October 4: Looked right into the security camera; used it as a
mirror, picked his nose, and ate it.

9. November 10: While appearing to be choosing kitchen knives in the
Housewares aisle asked an assistant if he knew where the
antidepressants were.

10. December 3: Darted around the store suspiciously, loudly humming
the "Mission Impossible" theme.

11. December 6: In the kitchenware aisle, practised the "Madonna
look" using different size funnels.

12. December 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed,
yelled "PICK ME!" "PICK ME!"

13. December 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker,
assumed the foetal position and screamed "NO! NO! It's those voices
again."

And; last, but not least:

14. December 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited a
while; then yelled, very loudly, "There is no toilet paper in here."

Yours sincerely,

Cedric Smythe
Store Manager

Loosely, is a PVR the same as Sky+?

I told my lodger today (the one who leaves every job half done - "a job half done is a job left incomplete") that I had "relocated his peas" after he had decided to hog the large saucepan.

Who said of whom:

"I like him. I can do business with him. He wears a sharp suit."

Got home from a bridge match 2 a.m. last night. Fell asleep c.4.15 a.m. - Tonight, meeting with Classical Music colleague starts 9.45 p.m. - finish c. 1 a.m. and then drop into Asda, Colindale on the way home to pick up a few groceries. Winding up here once again at two-ish. Incidentally, we won the bridge match and the green pointed tally is moving in a positive direction.

Mine is passing by fairly uneventfully thus far.

I realised quite a few things today. Most of these things were to do with relatively obscure subjects i.e. Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony (problems with structure), certain bidding/card-play sequences in the card game bridge, the odd insight into the stockmarket and 'regular' gambling. I am also trying to work out a number of other things that are going on either actively or as 'background noise' lifewise. This posting is probably very murky to most readers, that is probably because I reveal as little as possible about myself while occupying reams of cyberspace. nothing new there, then. I am wide awake and it is 2 a.m.

Watched Notting Hill for about the fifth time this evening. This line of Hugh Grant's was particularly poignant:

"It's as if I've taken love heroin, and now I can't ever have it again."

The man sure can write A1 feelgood factor love stories!

A Naughty Strawberry.

(lifted from Urban Dictionary)

A polite way of telling someone you haven't heard a word they said. Commonly used on long conference calls, when the speaker is monotonous, boring, or couldn't make a point if one were drawn for them.

Joe: "Blah, blah corporate office blah, blah, [leverage] [proactive]ly blah, blah [human capital] and grade-A [synergy], blah, blah. Do you agree, Jim?"

Jim: "I'm sorry, Joe, I was multitasking, can you repeat that?"

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=multitasking

Dom Jolly - v funny prog set in India.