Things I Learned This Week
1. "Father Dougal" of Craggy Island, Ireland, is a 1000 to 1 long-shot to be the new Pope. Who is Father Dougal? He was one of the characters in the television sitcom "Father Ted". He's not real. But bookmakers in the U.S. didn't seem to realise it! Father Dougal was played by Ardal O'Hanlon (on the right in the photo), who now plays an alien/superhero in "My Hero". He's a great comedian, but hardly Pope material! (Source: Reuters, Photos from this site)
2. People are actually trying to sell their votes in the U.K. general election on the 5th of May on ebay. So far the high bid seems to be £5. (Source: BBCNews.com)
3. The tea towels for the Royal Wedding have the wrong date on them now. Charles and Camilla have changed the date because of Pope John Paul II's funeral on Friday. All those souvenir manufacturers are stuck with memorabilia with the 8th of April on them ... or are they? Souvenir hunters are "panic buying" them in the expectation that the ones with the wrong date will become collectors items in the future, but chances of that are slim. (Source: BBCNews.com)
4. "No MP can die in the Houses of Parliament. Death certificates always have St Thomas' Hospital (directly across the Thames) as the place of death. " Is this like no Formula One driver ever dies at the track? Then the track can claim a 100% safety record. I wonder if it's the same kind of deal in the U.S. Congress. It might explain why Strom Thurmond lasted as long as he did. (MP fact source: BBCNews.com)
5. There are rules that say you can't take pictures of a dying Pope, but no rules that say you can't take pictures of a dead one. How many people do you think have pics on their mobiles now? (Source: BBCNews.com)
6. One of Britain's worst (if not THE worst) serial killers was recently cremated in Sheffield. Harold Shipman was cremated near where my university is a few weeks ago, though the media was only told today. Very creepy. He's only been dead more than a year. (Source: SkyNews.com)
7. Watch out when you wash your face in a stream. One woman sloshed a leech up her nostril, where it clogged up her sinuses for four weeks. I kid you not. (Source: SkyNews.com)
8. You can find strange things in blogs. Well, I knew this. I'm a blogger myself. ABC News in the U.S. seemed a bit intrigued with the idea though. They were most amused by the blog depicting different types of graffiti in public toilets. I prefer "Stand By Your Statue" myself. (Source: ABCNews.com)
9. The BBC requested an interview with Bob Marley. That's about as easy as getting an interview with the Pope, and for the same reasons, only Marley's been dead more than two decades!
10. If you live in Peru, you better learn to drive. A study has shown that 40% of the bus and taxi drivers in that country have psychopathic tendencies, including expressing claiming they would have no guilt over running over a pedestrian. (Source: ABC News in Australia)
11. Sometimes I wish I could throw my computer out the window. I'm including this number 11 because last night I typed up all ten of my newly learned things, only to have Blogger go down and erase the lot! Okay, not the computer's fault, but it was the closest thing to hand, and it took a lot of will power not to chuck it across the room. I couldn't find a couple of the articles I quoted, so I lost one good quote about Prince Phillip. Grrrrr ....
2. People are actually trying to sell their votes in the U.K. general election on the 5th of May on ebay. So far the high bid seems to be £5. (Source: BBCNews.com)
3. The tea towels for the Royal Wedding have the wrong date on them now. Charles and Camilla have changed the date because of Pope John Paul II's funeral on Friday. All those souvenir manufacturers are stuck with memorabilia with the 8th of April on them ... or are they? Souvenir hunters are "panic buying" them in the expectation that the ones with the wrong date will become collectors items in the future, but chances of that are slim. (Source: BBCNews.com)
4. "No MP can die in the Houses of Parliament. Death certificates always have St Thomas' Hospital (directly across the Thames) as the place of death. " Is this like no Formula One driver ever dies at the track? Then the track can claim a 100% safety record. I wonder if it's the same kind of deal in the U.S. Congress. It might explain why Strom Thurmond lasted as long as he did. (MP fact source: BBCNews.com)
5. There are rules that say you can't take pictures of a dying Pope, but no rules that say you can't take pictures of a dead one. How many people do you think have pics on their mobiles now? (Source: BBCNews.com)
6. One of Britain's worst (if not THE worst) serial killers was recently cremated in Sheffield. Harold Shipman was cremated near where my university is a few weeks ago, though the media was only told today. Very creepy. He's only been dead more than a year. (Source: SkyNews.com)
7. Watch out when you wash your face in a stream. One woman sloshed a leech up her nostril, where it clogged up her sinuses for four weeks. I kid you not. (Source: SkyNews.com)
8. You can find strange things in blogs. Well, I knew this. I'm a blogger myself. ABC News in the U.S. seemed a bit intrigued with the idea though. They were most amused by the blog depicting different types of graffiti in public toilets. I prefer "Stand By Your Statue" myself. (Source: ABCNews.com)
9. The BBC requested an interview with Bob Marley. That's about as easy as getting an interview with the Pope, and for the same reasons, only Marley's been dead more than two decades!
10. If you live in Peru, you better learn to drive. A study has shown that 40% of the bus and taxi drivers in that country have psychopathic tendencies, including expressing claiming they would have no guilt over running over a pedestrian. (Source: ABC News in Australia)
11. Sometimes I wish I could throw my computer out the window. I'm including this number 11 because last night I typed up all ten of my newly learned things, only to have Blogger go down and erase the lot! Okay, not the computer's fault, but it was the closest thing to hand, and it took a lot of will power not to chuck it across the room. I couldn't find a couple of the articles I quoted, so I lost one good quote about Prince Phillip. Grrrrr ....
posted by Melinda at 4/08/2005 06:52:00 pm
2 Comments:
I wish I was one of those Catholic Cardinals - Father Dougal gets my vots - hands down !
I can't decide, really. Do I really want Ultraman to be Pope? Then again, I'm Methodist, not Catholic! LOL
Post a Comment
<< Home