The Goths love ’em
Our newest £2 coins. The text around the edge reads “What a piece of work is a man!” I’m not sure I’m down with scary skellingtons on my money.
In March, they’re scrapping the old £1 coin design, which was round, in favor of an octagonal one. It’s to cut down on fraud.
The Royal Mint regularly conducts surveys to estimate the level of counterfeit £1 coins in the UK. A survey undertaken in May 2015 found that the rate of counterfeit UK £1 coins in circulation at the time was 2.55%, compared to 3.03% in May 2014.
Not sure if new coins mean all the coin machines will have to be scrapped.
Oh, changing the subject, I had a conversation with a tourist today. She heard my accent and asked where I was from and I told her. I asked her where she was from and she said, “Oregon. We’re very liberal and I guess we’re going to be punished for it now.” Right off the bat, first thing.
I never liked Limbaugh’s construction that liberalism is a mental disease, but it sure do seem like it sometimes.
January 3, 2017 — 10:29 pm
Comments: 24
Atkins, rolling in his grave
This is the breadmaker Sandy Claws brought Uncle B. At least, I think it’s this one. I got the picture off the web; I’m too lazy to go into the kitchen with a camera.
Yeah, still a holiday here. Because New Year’s fell on a Sunday, we got today off.
Don’t understand, but happy to accept it at face value.
He’s made a couple of excellent loaves just with the instruction book, but we were both a bit surprised to find there didn’t seem to be any good breadmaker forums online. I guess once you get it down, there’s not much to talk about.
Anybody know anything new and interesting to do with a breadmaker? ‘Possum stew or other regional favorite?
January 2, 2017 — 9:09 pm
Comments: 21
Happy Boxing Day!
All these years in the UK, I still haven’t worked out WTF that means.
We had a lovely Christmas: tons of lovely loot, heaps of lovely food. That social butterfly of a free-range turkey was delicious, though her legs reflected a toughness born of all the exercise she got running around gossiping with her turkey friends in flowery meadows. The cats get that part.
I still haven’t recovered my stamina, though, so I won’t linger. Santa prescribes indolence and reading of books.
Hope yours was as nice as ours!
December 26, 2016 — 10:31 pm
Comments: 16
…and her name was Lorelai…
I shit you not, this is printed on the bag our Christmas turkey is in. I’m all for animal welfare, but I kind of feel bad for cutting this bird down in the prime of her life. She was having such a lovely time.
More on “high welfare” farming here.
Don’t forget — back here tomorrow 6WBT for Dead Pool Round 93!
December 22, 2016 — 10:21 pm
Comments: 15
Some slack, please
No, that’s not a charming crocheted tree ornament, it’s a 3D representation of a human rhinovirus and I got one for Christmas!
That wouldn’t be so bad, except it’s my third in a row. One after the other. I’ve never seen anything like it. I didn’t even know it was possible.
Some time in mid September, I got a sort of a sleepy flu thing — chesty cough and extreme fatigue. Lots of people around got it at the same time. After which I got a cold. After which I got a cold. After which I got a cold. I have been continuously hacking and snotting for almost four months.
How can this be? I’m amazed there are that many different rhinoviruses floating around town. Clearly, my immune system is shot to hell.
One of my neighbors turned up (briefly!) at coffee this morning with a case of the calamitous shits and if I catch that one for the holidays I swear I’m done.
I’ve tried every remedy suggested to me. My favorite so far is whisky. Or whiskey. I’m not picky.
Any other suggestions?
December 21, 2016 — 9:31 pm
Comments: 24
Heyyyy, that’s not Santa!
Noooo, it’s Geralt of Rivia cosplay. There’s a calendar. It promises to be NSFW. German dude is a full-time professional cosplayer. He’s super well suited to playing Geralt, but I think he’d struggle a little with Hello Kitty.
Oh, that star-shaped scar is on the wrong side. Funny thing to get wrong, Herr Professional. Nope, he’s right. Oops!
Did you see MTV’s vile racist “White Guy Resolutions for 2017” video today? They must’ve gotten some stick for it because they’ve taken it down already. Happily Reason magazine saved you a copy (be warned: Nick Gillespie does a bit of libertarian pearl-clutching in the accompanying article).
I also have something to say to white guys for 2017. Big, big fan of your work. Thanks for everything you do.
December 20, 2016 — 7:42 pm
Comments: 15
IT’S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!
2016 — is there nothing this year cannot do? Zsa Zsa Gabor — surely the oft most-picked pick in the Celebrity Dead Pool — has copped it at last, at the predictably enigmatic age of 99. All congrats to LesterIII for winning the most elusive dick in the game.
We will of course be back here Friday, 6WBT, for a Christmas Eve Eve Dead Pool Round 93. The 2016 Dead Pool can have one more week to astonish us all.
Don’t miss it!
I’m not officially off work until tomorrow afternoon, but I’ll post the usual low-effort fluff all week: that’s my pledge to you. Do come over for some mulled wine and a natter.
December 19, 2016 — 7:31 pm
Comments: 6
Last one, I promise
Something a little different today.
Well, I’ve had fun. I hope you’ve had fun. Bitch makes so many goofy faces, I could do this for the rest of my life.
But I won’t. I promise.
Meet you back here next week for Xmas Countdown…! Good weekend, y’all!
December 16, 2016 — 9:48 pm
Comments: 14
I call this one ‘tragicomic’
Once again, the big version required no Photoshopping at all. The picture was knicked from this article in Politico. I recommend it. It’s schadenfreudelicious!
We went to the office Christmas party tonight. Read: room full of elderly academics drinking wine and reading poetry aloud. It was a strange and wonderful thing.
December 15, 2016 — 10:58 pm
Comments: 13
Wednesday’s Hillary is full of woe
Sadly, the big color version is not very big or very sharp. The original image was soft. But I liked her face. You know…in a horrible, mocking way.
I did a little P’shop on this one. Believe it or don’t, the first two this week were not ‘shopped in any way.
She is just. That. Haggard.
December 14, 2016 — 9:12 pm
Comments: 10