Funny Friday

My friend Graham had a hip replaced last Monday so today’s Funny Friday is dedicated to him. Get well soon, amigo.

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I was at a cash machine when an old lady came up to me and asked to check her balance.

So I pushed her over.

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We call our grandad "Spiderman". 

He hasn't got any super powers - he just finds it difficult to get out of the bath.

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A boy asks his granny, "Have you seen my pills, they were labelled 'LSD'?"

His granny replies, "Fuck the pills, have you seen the dragon in the kitchen?!"

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Corn Corner:

Is it true that an apple a day keeps the doctor away...

or is it just one of Granny's myths?

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Winter Pics

Byter Sue sent me a pic of a dog standing on a mass of frozen herring with the commentary that it was a photo taken on the small Norwegian island of Lovund when a cold wind swept over and froze solid the herring, which were swimming too close to the surface. This happened in mid January this year. Ingolf Kristiansen, the man who took the photo, told the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation that he's never seen this happen before. According to him, the fish currently remain frozen, the mirror image of Icarus.

Some other pics of the same event . . .

. . . and some other photos of frozen scenes, including snap freezing similar to the above:

A frozen fox

Frozen boat

Flash freezing of water in a forest

Frozen lighthouse, Michigan

Block of ice looking like a dripping cloud

Frozen toilet water

Frozen methane bubbles, Antartica

Frozen stop sign, Russia

Frozen ocean and one brave horse and rider

Frozen geyser

Frozen statue

(Looks like former PM Malcolm Fraser, don't you think?)

Awwwww...

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David Thorne's Spider

The recent Funny Friday used as an introductory pic a drawing of a spider. That drawing is by David Thorne, who is pictured below, and there is a funny exchange of emails that goes with it.

David Thorne (1972 - ) is an Australian humourist, satirist, and Internet personality who became wider known when, in 2008, an email exchange in which he sought to pay a bill with a drawing of a spider went viral. Since then he has appeared on shows of Letterman, Ellen DGeneres and Conan O’Brien, as well as on the BBC. He has also written a book and published essays. His website is at www.27bslash6.com, the website address being a reference to George Orwell having lived in Apartment 27b on Level 6 while writing 1984.

Here is the email exchange:

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From: Jane Gilles

Date: Wednesday 8 Oct 2008 12.19pm

To: David Thorne

Subject: Overdue account

Dear David,

Our records indicate that your account is overdue by the amount of $233.95. If you have already made this payment please contact us within the next 7 days to confirm payment has been applied to your account and is no longer outstanding.

Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles

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From: David Thorne

Date: Wednesday 8 Oct 2008 12.37pm

To: Jane Gilles

Subject: Re: Overdue account

Dear Jane,

I do not have any money so am sending you this drawing I did of a spider instead. I value the drawing at $233.95 so trust that this settles the matter.

Regards, David.

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From: Jane Gilles

Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 10.07am

To: David Thorne

Subject: Overdue account

Dear David,

Thank you for contacting us. Unfortunately we are unable to accept drawings as payment and your account remains in arrears of $233.95. Please contact us within the next 7 days to confirm payment has been applied to your account and is no longer outstanding.

Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles

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From: David Thorne

Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 10.32am

To: Jane Gilles

Subject: Re: Overdue account

Dear Jane,

Can I have my drawing of a spider back then please.

Regards, David.

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From: Jane Gilles

Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 11.42am

To: David Thorne

Subject: Re: Re: Overdue account

Dear David,

You emailed the drawing to me. Do you want me to email it back to you?

Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles

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From: David Thorne

Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 11.56am

To: Jane Gilles

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Overdue account

Dear Jane,

Yes please.

Regards, David.

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From: Jane Gilles

Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 12.14pm

To: David Thorne

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Overdue account

Attached

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From: David Thorne

Date: Friday 10 Oct 2008 09.22am

To: Jane Gilles

Subject: Whose spider is that?

Dear Jane,

Are you sure this drawing of a spider is the one I sent you? This spider only has seven legs and I do not feel I would have made such an elementary mistake when I drew it.

Regards, David.

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From: Jane Gilles

Date: Friday 10 Oct 2008 11.03am

To: David Thorne

Subject: Re: Whose spider is that?

Dear David,

Yes it is the same drawing. I copied and pasted it from the email you sent me on the 8th. David your account is still overdue by the amount of $233.95.

Please make this payment as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles

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From: David Thorne

Date: Friday 10 Oct 2008 11.05am

To: Jane Gilles

Subject: Automated Out of Office Response

Thank you for contacting me.

I am currently away on leave, travelling through time and will be returning last week.

Regards, David.

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From: David Thorne

Date: Friday 10 Oct 2008 11.08am

To: Jane Gilles

Subject: Re: Re: Whose spider is that?

Hello, I am back and have read through your emails and accept that despite missing a leg, that drawing of a spider may indeed be the one I sent you. I realise with hindsight that it is possible you rejected the drawing of a spider due to this obvious limb omission but did not point it out in an effort to avoid hurting my feelings. As such, I am sending you a revised drawing with the correct number of legs as full payment for any amount outstanding. I trust this will bring the matter to a conclusion.

Regards, David.

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From: Jane Gilles

Date: Monday 13 Oct 2008 2.51pm

To: David Thorne

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Whose spider is that?

Dear David,

As I have stated, we do not accept drawings in lei of money for accounts outstanding. We accept cheque, bank cheque, money order or cash. Please make a payment this week to avoid incurring any additional fees.

Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles

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From: David Thorne

Date: Monday 13 Oct 2008 3.17pm

To: Jane Gilles

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Whose spider is that?

I understand and will definitely make a payment this week if I remember. As you have not accepted my second drawing as payment, please return the drawing to me as soon as possible. It was silly of me to assume I could provide you with something of completely no value whatsoever, waste your time and then attach such a large amount to it.

Regards, David.

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From: Jane Gilles

Date: Tuesday 14 Oct 2008 11.18am

To: David Thorne

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Whose spider is that?

Attached

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Some butterfly quotes

(You didn't think that I would miss that last one, did you?)

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Monday Miscellany

 

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From Nando in relation to the Britannia post:

Hello Otto 

That was a great bytes today. Brittania always reminds me of the Marx Bros movie Duck Soup, where they go to war with "Freedonia”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mEsXz-Bpog 

Kind regards 

Nando

Thanks Nando.

Some comments:

Duck Soup was released in 1933 and was the last of 5 films the Marx Brothers did for Paramount.

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Also the last MB film to include Zeppo Marx.

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It received a lukewarm reception at the time but today is regarded as a classic and their best film.

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Storyline:

The mythical country of Freedonia is broke and on the verge of revolution. Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont), Freedonia's principal benefactress, will lend the country 20 million dollars if the president withdraws and places the government in the hands of the fearless, progressive Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx). At his inauguration, Firefly shows up late, insults everyone in sight, and sings a song about how he intends to abuse his power. Firefly declares war on Sylvania in a large musical number titled “All God’s Chillun Got Guns”, assisted by Chico and Harpo.

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According to The Marx Brothers' biographer, Joe Adamson, the elaborate "All God's Chillun Got Guns" musical number was mostly improvised on the set, as there is no reference to it in the movie's final script. It's likely Groucho was referring to the old Negro spiritual "I got Shoes", which repeats the line "All of God's children got..." filling "a song", "a robe", "a harp", etc. Groucho just added "Guns".

They got guns,

We got guns,

All God's chillun got guns!

I'm gonna walk all over the battlefield,

'Cause all God's chillun got guns!

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Digression:

That reference brings to mind the opening lines of the wonderfully evocative but puzzling song Twist In My Sobriety by Tanita Tikaram:

All God's children need travelling shoes

Drive your problems from here

If anyone knows what the song is about, drop me a line.

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The Duck Soup musical production number attempts to ridicule war by comparing nationalism to a minstrel show. It was reportedly considered for deletion for the film's current DVD release for fear of offending African Americans. 

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From Nadia in respect of the Cottee’s Cordial ad post

Hi Otto, 

Wasn't the Cottee's factory just off Marion St, Haberfied side? Family friends used to live in Hawthorne St - ( dead end St) off Forster St, and as kids we used to access the factory on the weekend from that entrance, by scaling the wire fence. I can remember wandering around amongst the pallets, hoping for a freebie cordial! Never scored though. 

Thanks for the Byte. It brought back memories of a carefree childhood. You know, those days when you could go out and explore all day and come back when you were hungry. 

Kind Regards, 

Nadia

Certainly do. 

The rule for my brothers and I was simply “Be home before it gets dark.” Apart from that, on school holidays, weekends etc we were free to take off when we wanted and spend the day with friends, exploring and playing in the bush, fishing in the creek and so on.   

Old sign formerly on the side of a building in Katoomba

Women working in the Leichhardt factory, 1972.

The women are possibly working under the new award rates – in 1972 equal pay for work of equal value was granted to men and women; in order to determine equal value of work, benchmarks were established; the benchmark for a jam-jar-filling machine was set at a machine capacity of 600 jars per minute, so that any man or woman working a jar-filling machine at 600 jars per minute was to be paid the same wage.

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A couple of interesting photographs of current events:

A composite photograph showing before and after images of Independence Square, the site of the Ukrainian protests and demonstrations.

The fierce storms battering Britain have unearthed a variety of objects, including unexploded WW2 Luftwaffe bombs, concrete and metal defences and defence objects,  a near-complete ichthyosaur skeleton (unearthed in Dorset) and an unknown boat wreck in Conwall,

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Pulitzer Photographic Prizes: 1968

Between 1942 and 1967 a Pulitzer Prize for Photography was awarded for photojournalism, that is, for photographs telling a news story. 

In 1968 that award was replaced by awards in two new categories:

• the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography (photography in the nature of breaking news); and

• the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography (human interest and matters associated with new items).

From 1955 World Press Photo has awarded prizes for the best photographs in 10 categories, with an overall award for the image that "... is not only the photojournalistic encapsulation of the year, but represents an issue, situation or event of great journalistic importance, and does so in a way that demonstrates an outstanding level of visual perception and creativity".

This series looks at the Pulitzer and World Press Photo awards from inception.

 

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Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography
Year:	1968
Photographer:	Rocco Morabito
Photograph:	The Kiss of Life

The Photograph:

About the photograph:

It’s 1967 and Rocco Morabito is on his way to take photos of a railroad strike when he notices linesmen working on high. He continues his journey, takes his photographs and heads back. On the way he hears screaming from above, looks up and seesone of the linesmen, apprentice Randall Champion, hanging upside down on his safety belt after having been electrocuted. 

Morabito recounted the next sequence of events in a later interview:

“I took a picture right quick. J.D. Thompson (another lineman) was running toward the pole. I went to my car and called an ambulance. I got back to the pole and J.D. was breathing into Champion. I backed off, way off, until I hit a house and I couldn’t go any farther. I took another picture.” 

It is the photograph that wins Morabito the Pulitzer.

Thompson finally shouts down “He’s breathing.” Champion survives.

Btw: Champion died in 2002 of heart failure, Thompson is still living.

The Photographer:

Rocco Morabito (1920-1989) 

Rocco Morabito began working for the Jacksonville Journal at age 10 as a newsboy selling papers. During World War 11 he served as a ball-turret gunner on a B-17. After the war, he returned to the Jacksonville Journal and started his photography career shooting sporting events for the paper. He worked for the Journal for 42 years, 33 of them as a photographer, until retiring in 1982.

In 2000, Rocco Morabito, at the age of 79, said, ”I get requests all the time from people who teach mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and have proof that it works. I am proud of that.”

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Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography
Year:	1968
Photographer:	Toshio Sakai
Photograph:	Dreams of Better Times

The Photograph:

About the photograph:

From “Picture Coverage of the World: Pulitzer Prize Winning Photos” by By Heinz-Dietrich Fischer:

“In the previous year the Japanese photographer had crouched with the soldiers of the American B Company, about 40 miles northeast of Saigon. They were behind sandbags and mud banks, surrounded by deep jungle. It was Sakai’s first tour of Vietnam, and later he remembered: There was a commotion in the forest, then all became silent. Birds stopped chirping and insects quieted. My heart was beating fast. A tense atmosphere filled the air. Suddenly, shells exploded overhead. It was a Vietcong attack. The Americans returned the fire, then both sides stopped shooting, and sakai remembered it as a moment of peace: “I saw a black soldier lying on the bunker and taking a nap. Behind him, I saw another white soldier holding an M-16 rifle, crouching and watching. The sleeping soldier must have dreamt of better times in his homeland. I quietly released the shutter.”

From the same book, commenting on the photograph:

Photo depicts a scene from a camp of US troops in South Vietnam. The soldier in the foreground slept on a pile of sand bags while his comrade in the background was watching guard. The two troops were of the First Army Division and rested after heavy sniper and mortar fire. They were wearing ponchos to stay dry even though the Monsoon was pouring ceaselessly. The ponch was versatile: It also kept away the red ants. Another advantage was that an injured soldier in a poncho was easy to pull away from the action. The two troops were taking this rest at the Landing Zone Rufe, about 36 miles northeast of Phuc Vinh. The Monsoon was just one of the obstacles to the American troops which they were not used to and which was therefore difficult to handle. With reference to the photographer’s message, the sleeping GI was perhaps dreaming of a time without rain and without war.

The Photographer:

Toshio Sakai (1940-1999) was the third Japanese to win a Pulitzer.

In 1965, Sakai joined the Tokyo bureau of United Press International and was sent to cover the Vietnam War. He won the first Pulitzer Prize in the feature photo category for the picture above. In 1986, Sakai joined the Tokyo bureau of Agence France-Presse as photo director and became a freelance in 1989. He set up a video film planning firm in 1994. Sakai died in 1999 of a heart attack.

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National Icons: Britannia

Having already looked at John Bull, Uncle Sam and Columbia, let’s have a squizz at Britannia:

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Britannia is an ancient term for Roman Britain.  

It is also the female personification of the island

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The Greek explorer and geographer Pytheas named the group of islands off the coast of North-Western Europe “Brettania”.  The islands also had individual names including “Albion”. 

When the Romans became involved they retained the name, calling it “Insulae Britannicae”, which consisted of the islands of Albion (Great Britain), Hibernia (Ireland), Thule (Iceland) and others. 

Over a period of time Britannica became the name for Albion only. 

Julius Caesar invaded in 55BC, with the Roman Conquest beginning in 43AD and ending in 410AD. The Roman province established was known as Britanica. The locals were known as Britaani or Britons.

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From the 1st century AD Britannia became depicted as a goddess, the female symbol of Britain and was depicted on Roman coins. 

Early portraits show her as a beautiful young woman wearing the helmet of a Roman centurion, wrapped in a white garment with her right breast exposed. She is usually shown seated on a rock, holding a spear, and with a spiked shield propped beside her. Sometimes she holds a standard and leans on the shield. On another range of coinage, she is seated on a globe above waves: Britain at the edge of the (known) world. 

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Britannia first appeared on coins struck by Hadrian (117-38) in about the year 119. The coin was copper and was known as an "as" (plural "asses") (diameter 25mm). 

Roman coin with Britannia from the reign of Antoninus Pius AD 138-160 

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The name Britannica remained even after the Romans left. 

From the Renaissance, especially during the reign of Elizabeth 1, Britannia came to be viewed as the personification of Britain. This continued into the reign of James 1, who became the king of England, Scotland and Ireland. Under Charles 11 Britannia made her first appearance on English coins in 1672:

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By the time of Queen Victoria the image of Britannia had altered. Still depicted as a young woman with brown or golden hair, she kept her helmet and her white robes, but now held Poseidon’s trident. She often sat or stood before the ocean and tall-masted ships, representing British naval power. She also usually held or stood beside a Greek shield, which sported the British Union Flag. The British Lion was often at her feet, an animal found on the arms of England, Scotland and the Prince of Wales.

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Britannia has remained the female personification of Britain, just as Columbia is the personification of America and Marianne is the personification of France. In times of war the image of Britannia is especially utilised.

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Some pics and depictions:

Britannia from a 19th-century engraving, unknown source

In James Gillray’s Britannia between Scylla and Cherybidis (1793), Britannia is shown without the weapons which would invariably characterise her in the 19th century

1914 Russian poster depicting the Triple Entente – Britannia (right) and Marianne (left) in the company of Mother Russia. In this depiction, Britannia's association with the sea is provided by her holding an anchor, an attribute usually represented by Poseidon's Trident. Is anyone else surprised at how hot the personifications look for 1914?

Some wartime posters:

1939 poster

. . . and a modern day depiction for an advertisement.

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Human "statue - see item below

One final item:

The following article is from Britain's Daily Mail of 30 July 2013:

One in four British adults do not recognise Britannia, the face of the British people since Roman times. 

Research by The Royal Mint has found that the nation has lost touch with one of its most iconic figures and is campaigning to create greater awareness of who Britannia is and what she has stood for through the ages. 

The figure, who has been on Britain’s coins consistently since 1672 and is currently on the 50p piece, is mistaken for Boadicea by more than one in ten people (12 per cent), one in 20 (five per cent) mistake her for Queen Victoria in her early years and a similar proportion for the Roman goddess Athena (four per cent). 

Perhaps even more worrying, two per cent of British adults (about one million people) thought that the image of Britannia was in fact that of Joan of Arc, and one per cent mistook her for Queen Elizabeth I.Some respondents even think that she is a likeness of Margaret Thatcher. 

The Royal Mint has now created a campaign to revive the Britannia story. The organisation has recruited ‘human statues’ across UK cities to pose as the figure of Britannia as she appears on the Mint’s new commemorative Britannia gold coin. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2381622/British-adults-fail-spot-Britannia-coins-confusing-Margaret-Thatcher-Queen-Victoria.html

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