Happy New Years

[Galfon]

Will this help the economy, do you think ?
Wasps become angry at this time of year apparently due to reduced sugar rewards back at the ranch, once the Queen stops churning out grubs and starts thinking about making more Queens.

[rowan]

Actually most of Istanbul's population has migrated to the Mediterranean for the week. They hire somebody to do the killing these days then donate the carcass to the poor without ever seeing it. As for wasps, never seen one in this city, while the only Queens to be found are down the back streets of Beyoglu - so they say

[Galfon]

Usual mixed-bag expected for the Bank Holiday weekend - introduced 150 yrs. ago to give workers a last chance to enjoy summer..'workers' in that sense hardly exist now,
and 'Indian Summers' seem more frequent but so what -
Public Hols are great. (Sco has retained the original first Mon of Aug, elsewhere it is now the last Mon)
Jollies include..Notting Hill Carnival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Arundel Festival in West Sussex and the Robin Hood Festival in Nottingham, mostly carcass free which in the heat will be a good thing.

[rowan]

Meanwhile in Turkey, a goat falls on a man, a bull tramples some boys and a group of butchers stab each other after a fight breaks out during the Sacrifice holiday. & the road toll's approaching treble figures as the 9-day break reaches its halfway point. & my internet disappeared for 24 hours, inexplicably, which also meant I couldn't watch TV, as the amazing new flatscreen variety requires an internet hook-up

[rowan]

Internet has been down more often that its been up this holiday week, and the way it's set up in Turkey if you don't have internet you don't have TV either (unless you're lucky enough to still have a functioning tube model from the previous century).

[Buggaluggs]

Oh No. You won't be able to paste as many irrelevant articles. What will we all do?

[rowan]

So is it like this everywhere; that you have to hook up your TV through the internet and pay for the word document program on your laptop and if you don't top up your telephone Simcard for 2 months it gets canceled? Or is it just the technology companies here that are operating like a mafia syndicate and extorting more and more money out of us at every turn?

[Galfon]

It seems that your current residence location is severely cramping your style and limiting interaction using technologies of choice -- if you truck back to Spain, US or NZ you can just wiggle your thumb on a wafery device whilst multi-tasking other business and live a stress-free life...wherever next ??

[rowan]

It seems that your current residence location is severely cramping your style and limiting interaction using technologies of choice -- if you truck back to Spain, US or NZ you can just wiggle your thumb on a wafery device whilst multi-tasking other business and live a stress-free life...wherever next ??

Tempting. But I have a great stress-free job here, good salary (by local standards) and a centrally located apartment which is perfectly affordable. Not sure I'd want to exchange all that for wafery devices back in Spain or elsewhere. So I guess I should stop whining about my first world problems and just grin and bear it . . .

[rowan]

Another 24 hours without internet - TV, etc. Nice.

Hey, the Pumas won! Just found out

[rowan]

Another day without internet, TV, civilization, etc...

So bored I came to work early

[Galfon]

To Catalan Dragons, on winning the RL Challenge Cup at Wembley and becoming the first non-Anglo team to do so.Also Gigot first Frenchman to win the coveted Lance Todd trophy for his motm showing.
Perpignan leads the way! - though not sure the station is the 'center of the Universe' as Dali proclaimed, or the 'centre du Monde' as the sign above the entrance informs - presumably from the same source.
Could be though - what do we know...maybe David Icke can confirm

**note..any connection to 'fine art' or 'leaping frogs' in this post is unintentional.

[rowan]

Perpignan's a nice little city. I was there during the first half of the 1999 World Cup.

[Galfon]

I thought NZ were based in Angleterre for their Pool matches ? ( same group as Eng ).
A mostly dull WC due to the kick-fest - de Beer DG'd Eng out the competition in Paris, but St.Jonny wasn't established as the main man yet...

[rowan]

Wasn't there for the rugby. & only saw the 3rd place playoff live - in Cardiff. I was in a bar full of Frenchmen for Les Bleus' clash with the Canucks, and anyone would've thought it was the grand finale the way they carried on . . .

[rowan]

Internet back as you can see, Mashallah!

Still no TV though. Looks like these prize idiots disconnected us somehow

[rowan]

& TV is back after a 2 week absence (although I have been watching it on one of my old computers since internet returned last week)

[rowan]

September already. 3 weeks till Autumn. But no sign of any let up from the heat over the coming few days, according to the forecast.

[Galfon]

Unfortunately, meteorologists have opted for Gregorian calendar months for marking out the 4 seasons in 3 monthly segments, so for NH we're now Autumn & SH we're Spring.
It does match the actual climate & natural cycles closer, that have a built in lag, but I have always gone with the conventional solar position...this recurring debate got an airing at our orifice today.
We've all had the "Dad, why do they say it's the beginning of summer on Mid-Summer's day when days are getting shorter ?"..

[rowan]

Wow, September 2 already. Just 3 weeks till Autumn. This year is just flying by!

[Galfon]

Meanwhile, the Anglo-Saxon slant for September:
Ha:ligmo:nath - holy month (later: Hærfestmo:nath, harvest month.)
earlier Old Saxon: Gerstmo:math ("barley month"),
Getting that Barley in when it was ready, for the beer.
That's the main thing.

[rowan]

Yes, Gregory I was a 16th century Catholic pope accused of plotting against the Protestants, so I think I'll stick with the (universally recognized) dates calculated by astronomy and science of a more recent epoch. Meanwhile, if the longest day (June 21) were considered mid-summer, then that season would start in early may and end in early August

[Galfon]

It does if you follow the pre-Christian Gaelic Calendar:
Summer ("Samhradh") - May, June, July (Bealtaine, Meitheamh, Iúil)
For cultures in the far north living off the land, it clearly had more relevance, and the Astronomical stuff was dealt with separately.
Their choice really.

[rowan]

Did you realize the average human being will consume hundreds of thousands of ants and other tiny insects during their life-times. Not intentionally, of course - unless you live in South East Asia, where they are considered a delicacy

[Galfon]

Cyclists / Motorcyclists probably more than most.
Certainly a useful protein supplement if that way inclined - do they taste like small pieces of chicken ?