Isolated Blurt Thread

[Handley_Page]

It wasn't too bad. I only had to bite my tongue half a dozen times, and that was over politics. She's very nice in some ways.

A film I saw many years ago and who's impact is still felt is "In the Heat of the Night" (Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger).

Virgil Tibbs walks into the cafe, the Chief follows.
"Ain't servin' Him" says the server.

Is such narrow-minder junk still a problem?

 

[Dianthus]

A film I saw many years ago and who's impact is still felt is "In the Heat of the Night" (Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger).

Virgil Tibbs walks into the cafe, the Chief follows.
"Ain't servin' Him" says the server.

Is such narrow-minder junk still a problem?

Isn't it still a problem in the UK? Wasn't that the basis for a lot of dissatisfaction during the Brexit debate?

 

[MagicaPractica]

A film I saw many years ago and who's impact is still felt is "In the Heat of the Night" (Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger).

Virgil Tibbs walks into the cafe, the Chief follows.
"Ain't servin' Him" says the server.

Is such narrow-minder junk still a problem?

It's generally a little more subtle, so that the speaker can say "Oh, but I'm not racist."

 

[Handley_Page]

Isn't it still a problem in the UK? Wasn't that the basis for a lot of dissatisfaction during the Brexit debate?

Not as far as I could see, although what went on in the darker dungeons of the Big City was./is a matter unknown. However, the problem about "migration" was confused (still is, to some extent) but a distinct lack of clarity.
There's the EU member-state folks who want to come and study, or find work 'unavailable' in their country (East EUropean builders, plumbers and sparkies are an example).
Then there's the real 'migrants' who just want to leave their benighted land and come to the UK and receive all the financial benefits without making a real contribution to the economy (add to those those with more than one wife).

It's generally a little more subtle, so that the speaker can say "Oh, but I'm not racist."

Oh, really ?
<snigger>

 

[oggbashan]

Isn't it still a problem in the UK? Wasn't that the basis for a lot of dissatisfaction during the Brexit debate?

Brexit? For many it was the problem that we couldn't say 'No' to anyone from within the EU even if that person had a violent criminal record and might be being actively sought by his own country's police. We had to accept anybody and everybody with no control over numbers and no knowledge about whom we were accepting.

There were some Brexiteers who wanted 'No bloody foreigners at all' and thought 'foreigners are taking our jobs, and houses and overwhelming our schools and hospitals' but for more it was the total absence of choice. We had to take anyone.

Discrimination because of colour and religion? It still happens but is more subtle because being obvious about it is illegal. Abuse of women for wearing the 'wrong' clothing? Yes - abuse of Muslim women because of their headscarves and veils; and abuse of women by a few Muslim men for wearing 'provocative' or revealing clothing. The abuse of women, Muslim or not, is usually by assholes who need no excuses to be assholes.

 

[OliviaM]

Random... stayed up last night and watched a Fellini movie. I think this is probably a bad idea late at night anyway, because surreal + sleep dep = feelin super weird. This one was so depressing, though. Juliet of the Spirits / Giulietta degli spiriti. I think I agree with Roger Ebert's review.
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-juliet-of-the-spirits-1965

 

[trysail]

Has the Tate family (of the eponymous Tate Gallery and the Tate Modern) ever admitted that the fortune was largely built on the residue of slavery ?


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[Tio_Narratore]

Has the Tate family (of the eponymous Tate Gallery and the Tate Modern) ever admitted that the fortune was largely built on the residue of slavery ?


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And how many others have admitted the same? Georgetown University just did, but I haven't heard any of the "great" families coming forward.

 

[trysail]

Why isn't the New York Times being prosecuted for breaking the law respecting publication of a tax return ?

"It shall be unlawful for any person to whom any return or return information (as defined in section 6103(b)) is disclosed in a manner unauthorized by this title thereafter willfully to print or publish in any manner not provided by law any such return or return information."

26 U.S. Code § 7213 - Unauthorized disclosure of information​

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[Handley_Page]

Why isn't the New York Times being prosecuted for breaking the law respecting publication of a tax return ?

"It shall be unlawful for any person to whom any return or return information (as defined in section 6103(b)) is disclosed in a manner unauthorized by this title thereafter willfully to print or publish in any manner not provided by law any such return or return information."

26 U.S. Code § 7213 - Unauthorized disclosure of information​

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And to think I used to love this kind of language. . .

 

[oggbashan]

Blurt - Local Politicians mess up again!

Over a decade ago I and many organisations in our town started a local Summer Festival. We were supported by our local Council who provided some of the finance and facilities.

After the third successful Festival the Councillors decided that it was too popular and they weren't getting enough credit for their support so they took over the Festival and appointed Council Officers to organise it although the volunteer effort was still massive.

Four years ago they decided it was too expensive to use highly paid Council Officers so they asked for tenders for commercial Arts organisations to manage the Festival. It has been run by two successive commercial operators for the last three years at more expense than if the Council Officers had done it.

Last week the Councillors, the local politicians who are still the same political party and largely the same people involved from the beginning, decided that it was too expensive to have a commercial operator and have decided to hand the operation back to the community who started it in the first place.

The volunteers, like me, who started the Festival are now much older. We need new blood but those who might have wanted to get involved have been deterred and positively discouraged by the Councillors' attitude to the volunteers who had been providing the major effort for each Festival.

The paperwork for organising an event since the Council took over has grown massively. Each small event requires 28 pages of Risk Assessment and expensive insurance for up to five million pounds of public liability.

When it was community run, there was one Risk Assessment for the whole two week Festival, and one public liability insurance policy that covered the whole two weeks whatever events took place. Now every little event has to complete the Risk Assessment and pay the insurance for that event. Even though the Festival was Council or Contractor-run the individuals organising the free events were personally liable for any accident or damage.

When the community ran the Festival it was 16 days long, covered three weekends and was scheduled to fit around other events in nearby towns. Now, after a decade or being under Council control it is eight days long and on the wrong dates. Many of the smaller events have died because people weren't prepared to endure all the hassle to provide a free event with their own time.

So - we're back with our own resources, with less money, with sponsors that have been disgusted with the way the Council and Contractors treated them, and with little time to rectify the mistakes before next year's Festival.

When the community ran it we had detailed plans for next year's Festival before this year's started, and outline arrangements for the following year. Now we have six months to start again from scratch and we only know we have six months because the local media told us. Did the Councillors' consult the 'community' before making the decision? No. They are going to do it NOW - after they have made the decision. They might change the decision if the consultation produces fierce opposition. We won't know the result of the consultation until late January and the Councillors will make their decision final late February - leaving us four months to organise an event we used to plan for 18 months.

I don't think next year's Festival is going to be very good if it happens at all.

 

[trysail]

"One could be forgiven for thinking that the reason climatology was invented was to make astrology appear respectable."




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[MagicaPractica]

Fuck. I'm not perfect but I'm no Mrs. Robinson.


I think I need a break. Be well everyone.

 

[Handley_Page]

Fuck. I'm not perfect but I'm no Mrs. Robinson.


I think I need a break. Be well everyone.

Forgive me, please.
Mrs Who ?

 

[oggbashan]

Forgive me, please.
Mrs Who ?

From the movie The Graduate. Anne Bancroft as the older woman.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/0e/25/29/0e25295f898e48b1f8e23fda2a29fcf4.jpg

We don't want to resurrect Mrs Mary Whitehouse. She would have hated Literotica.

 

[Handley_Page]

Oh; This one?
Could she be described as the original MILF ?
Oh, that stocking-clad leg. . . . . .

 

[trysail]

Did anybody else hear or see this report by NPR ?

Has anybody seen this story?


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[trysail]

Nobel Academy Member Calls Bob Dylan's Silence "Arrogant"

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A member of the Swedish Academy that awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature to Bob Dylan says the U.S. singer-songwriter's silence since receiving the honor is "impolite and arrogant."

Per Wastberg said Dylan's lack of reaction was predictable but disrespectful nonetheless. He was quoted telling the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter in Saturday's edition: "One can say that it is impolite and arrogant. He is who he is."

Wastberg said the academy still hopes to communicate with the 75-year-old artist, whose award credits him with creating "new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."

The academy says it has failed to reach Dylan since the award announcement Oct. 13. It was mentioned on Dylan's official Twitter and Facebook accounts.​

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[Handley_Page]

So here it is. A cold Saturday night and just the right stuff for a hot drink.
Guess what ?
Our mains water has stopped.

Pass the Brandy, please

 

[trysail]

Wolf Hall will be rebroadcast this evening.

'twill be my third or fourth viewing.

It's that good.

"Men are wolves to men."

- Walter Van Tilburg Clark
The Ox-Bow Incident​

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[Handley_Page]

Brexit? For many it was the problem that we couldn't say 'No' to anyone from within the EU even if that person had a violent criminal record and might be being actively sought by his own country's police. We had to accept anybody and everybody with no control over numbers and no knowledge about whom we were accepting.

With all the fuss about the age of those "children" admitted in the UK to join their families, I noticed that one had managed it regardless; He's been refused entry before AND he's a condemned criminal.

PS. Our mains water was back on in a commendably short time last night. I managed to flush the loo before retiring for the night !

 

[trysail]

Christopher Marlowe Credited As Co-Author of Three Shakespeare Plays by Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press has announced that its new edition of the complete works of William Shakespeare will credit Christopher Marlowe as a co-author on the three Henry VI plays.

Despite years of controversy about the authorship of some of Shakespeare's work, this is the first time a major publishing house has formally named Marlowe as a co-author.

Christopher Marlowe is a 16th century British poet and playwright. The extent of his possible influence on (or even collaboration with) William Shakespeare is the subject of much academic scholarship, as NPR has reported, but for many years, mainstream academics had mostly derided efforts of independent scholars who challenged the authorship of plays attributed to Shakespeare...




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[oggbashan]

Today I took my older Volvo to our local East European hand car wash. One of the staff pointed out to me, using signs, that a tyre was underinflated.

I drove the car slowly to our local tyre fitting company. They found a screw in that tyre, a defective valve on another tyre, and a worn tyre on a third wheel.

The tyre with the screw was repaired, the defective valve was replaced, and the worn tyre was replaced by a new one. Total cost £75 but all three tyres could have caused real problems if I had driven fast.

I went back to the cash wash and gave them a cash tip. I had problems explaining, even to their best English speaker, WHY I was giving them more money. But money speaks all languages.

They eventually understood why I wanted to thank them.

I have been using the car wash for a decade. As soon as the staff learn reasonable English they move on to other local work. They are all EU nationals working legally in the UK. But if they become competent in English they can get better jobs with more pay, and even earn more when/if they return to their home countries.

The tyre company I have been using for over 30 years. My wife taught some of them when she was a teacher covering maternity leave at our local secondary school.

But whether East European cash wash staff or locally born and bred tyre fitters - they are all competent in what they do.

 

[sweetnpetite]

You know what to do. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, GO!

Amazing this thread is still going! Now I have a way to track down my old friends from back in 2001.

 

[sweetnpetite]

I'm different now and people expect me to be the same.