And a czar, too!
Yeah. Somehow, this was funnier in my head. Oh, well.
You can go back to talking coins. I’ve been trying to disentangle copyright issues surrounding currency all day. You’d think I’d be safe putting hundred year old coins on junk, but Zazzle is an absolute pain in the ass on intellectual property issues, so I’m not using anything until I find official statements from the relevant mint first.
Anyhow, in the course of that, I found this interesting article. It claims that, per US case law, you don’t hold copyright on your photo of a coin or painting, provided it’s simply a faithful copy of the original. Huh. I did not know that.
I guess it means when I run out of coins, I can go around the internet pinching other people’s junk.
Pinching people’s junk. That did not come out right.
June 16, 2010 — 10:50 pm
Comments: 16
Nice thrup’nies
Shit. I was going to post about the “Mercury” dime tonight, but I see I’ve already done that. So how about a threepence?
It’s not as interesting, although it is Cockney rhyming slang for tits (thrup’ny bit = tit).
Thruppences were minted irregularly between about 1540 and decimalisation in 1971, in a number of metals and designs. Three pence equals a third of a shilling or an eightieth of a pound. The old British currency was sort of base twelve. Which is cool because twelve is divisible by two, three, four and six, giving lots and lots of different possible coin denominations.
This particular reverse was designed for Edward VIII before he abdicated, and was used throughout the reign of his brother, George VI. It’s nickel-brass and was produced simultaneously with the silver theepence for a while.
The flowers are thrift, also known as sea thrift or sea pinks. Thrift? Money? Get it? The designer was Frances Madge Kitchener.
Boring. Told you. So what’s with all this? I finally got around to putting some of my coin collection on merchandise today.
No, no…I’m not trying to sell more of my shit to you longsuffering bastards. Blog links make Google think my merchandise is swell (in fact, I really ought to be linking much more often to suck up to the search engines). And, frankly, I’ve been looking this stuff up all day and I’m WAY too lazy to come up with something else to blog about.
June 15, 2010 — 10:09 pm
Comments: 47
My mother smelled of what, now?
There’s an elder by our front door (and two in the drive) that is now in full flower. I wonder how long it’s been there. Elder trees were commonly planted beside English cottage doors to ward off witches (only one of many, many magical beliefs and herbal medicines associated with the elder).
More to our purposes, however, a quick-fermenting sort of champagne can be made from the flowers.
20 elderflower heads
1 kg sugar
2 lemons (juice and zest)
10 liters of water
2 tablespoons of vinegar
Sorry about the liters and kilos — it’s all I get any more, stupid Euro-measurements.
Mix it all together in a bucket. Don’t wash the elderflowers; they have a natural yeast that will begin fermentation (or not. If it’s not bubbling in 24 hours, add some yeast).
Stir occasionally for six days, and then strain it through muslin into bottles. Most recipes recommend plastic bottles, on account of the stuff keeps fermenting (like champagne) and is subject to violent explosion. Even in plastic bottles, watch for bulging and let off some gases if needed. Putting the bottles in a bathtub and covering with an old duvet is another suggestoin, to contain damage in the case of rupture.
Eight days(!) after bottling, it’s ready to drink.
What’s it like? Ask me in two weeks; I’ve just made a batch.
June 14, 2010 — 10:09 pm
Comments: 31
ROUND NINE: dropping like flies
Three short ones in a row, and steve nicks the dicks with John Wooden.
Okay, y’all know the drill:
1. Pick a celebrity. Any celebrity, though I reserve the right to nix picks I never heard of.
2. We start from scratch every time. No matter who you had last time, or who you may have called between rounds, you have to turn up on this thread and stake your claim. Poaching and other dirty tricks positively encouraged.
3. Your first choice sticks. Don’t just blurt it out this time, okay?
4. It’s up to you to search the thread and make sure your choice is unique. Popular picks go fast.
5. The pool stays open until somebody on the list dies. Feel free to jump in any time. Noobs, strangers, drive-bys and one-comment-wonders — all are welcome.
6. If you want your fabulous prize, you have to entrust me with a mailing address. If you don’t want the fabulous prize, I applaud your sophisticated taste and superior judgment. Packages go by slow boat, typically take eight to ten weeks and arrive looking sat upon.
7. The new DeadPool will begin 6pm WBT (Weasel’s Blog Time) the Friday after the previous honoree kicks the bucket.
The fabulous prize? Sweasel dot com’s unofficial sponsor, Aunty’s Spotted Dick, of course!
June 11, 2010 — 6:00 pm
Comments: 130
Field trip!
Uncle B had to go on a business trip to Essex today, so I came with. I’m not usually up in his business, but this job might require a little storyboarding or page layout or some shit. Whatever. Train ride!
Essex, Northeast of London and basically an industrial suburb of it, is famous for the “Essex Girl” (Q: What does an Essex Girl say after sex? A: “So, you all play for the same team, then?”). It was pretty Soviet and horrible.
It was the usual getting off at wrong stops and running for trains pulling out of the station and delays. But we got to ride one leg on the bullet train! I don’t know if it got up to the full 140mph, but it went pretty fucking fast!
Oh, and we had a stop at Stratford Station, where they were busy building the 2012 Olympic Village. It looked really crap!
Anyhow, I’m wiped. Want food! Want drink!
Remember, Dead Pool tomorrow, 6pm WBT. If you’ve been chiming in on the previous DP thread, you gots to show up tomorrow and pick for real on the official thread. M’kay?
June 10, 2010 — 10:02 pm
Comments: 25
Important chicken update
Umm…they’re fine.
Click the picture to be whisked away to YouTube for a short video verifying the complete fineness of my chickens.
June 9, 2010 — 7:57 pm
Comments: 35
President Urkel vows to kick SEVERAL KINDS of honky ass
Oh, who does this bozo think he’s kidding? Didn’t his mama tell him when you pretend to be something you’re not, you just look a fool?
Whose ass to kick. Pah!
It’s like, “Mister President, people think you’re disconnected, aloof and don’t really give a shit about them.”
Oh, very well then, “grrr! Grrr! Me so angry!”
June 8, 2010 — 1:09 pm
Comments: 19
Ding dong
Helen Thomas, nasty old leftist hag, retired today after inexcusably saying something she really meant: that Israelis should get the hell out of Palestine and “go home” to Germany and Poland.
I’m puzzled by those, particularly those on the right, who think this is just Crazy Aunt Helen being crazy and that firing her wouldn’t be necessary. Blurting out that Israelis should get out of Israel and go home is crazy auntie stuff, on a nuttiness level with “blacks should go home to Africa.”
Specifying they go back to Germany and Poland, where they were murdered in their millions, knocks it right off the nut-O-meter. It’s where “crazy auntie” meets “nursing home.” It’s “whisk you away with a butterfly net” time, right down there with old dudes who won’t stop playing with themselves in public.
And you’d better BELIEVE the left had to purge her fast, lest we wonder how many of them agree with her.
Anyway — goodbye, Helen, you hideous old leftist hobgoblin. Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya — which, from the look of things, was your face.
June 7, 2010 — 5:29 pm
Comments: 28
ROUND EIGHT: okay, you can slow down now
Well! Tawny won the last one in, like, an hour and a half with Gary Coleman. Just as well. We crossed Dennis Hopper and Rue McClanahan off the list waiting for Friday. That one was destined to be a short round.
Okay, here we go!
1. Pick a celebrity. Any celebrity, though I reserve the right to nix picks I never heard of.
2. We start from scratch every time. No matter who you had last time, or who you may have called between rounds, you have to turn up on this thread and stake your claim. Poaching and other dirty tricks positively encouraged.
3. Your first choice sticks. Don’t just blurt it out this time, okay?
4. It’s up to you to search the thread and make sure your choice is unique. Popular picks go fast.
5. The pool is open until somebody on the list dies. Feel free to jump in any time. Noobs, strangers, drive-bys and one-comment-wonders — all are welcome.
6. If you want your fabulous prize, you have to entrust me with a mailing address. If you don’t want the fabulous prize, I applaud your sophisticated taste and superior temperament. Packages go by slow boat, typically take eight to ten weeks and arrive looking rode hard and put away wet.
7. The new DeadPool will begin 6pm WBT (Weasel’s Blog Time) the Friday after the honoree kicks the bucket.
The fabulous prize? Sweasel’s unofficial sponsor, Aunty’s Spotted Dick, of course!
DING-DING-DING-DING! Another short round: steve wins it with John Wooden. See you all back here next Friday, 6pm WBT.
June 4, 2010 — 6:00 pm
Comments: 121
Civilization versus Islam
You know that famous satellite shot of the Korean Peninsula, where South Korea is lit up like a Chlistmas Tree, and North Korea is pitch brack? The difference between communism and capitalism — oh, how we laughed!
Well, I Googled up a night shot of the Middle East, looking for the same dealio (the lines and the land masses don’t exactly match because one is a satellite photo — earth curvature and all — and the other is a map I superimposed). And there it is. There are pools of light around a few cities in the Middle East, but the only place lit up end to end, like a proper Western nation, is Israel.
Behold the difference between Islam and anyplace you might want to be.
What got me thinking was Doc Zero’s excellent piece today on anti-Civilization. Read it; it’s good. His conclusion is something I have been thinking for a while.
I used to believe if Iran or somebody lobbed a nuke at Israel, then the lefties would be sorry. I don’t think that any more. I bet the reaction would be something more like, “oh, it’s horrible — horrible! What a tragedy. But, really — putting a Jewish nation there was never going to work, was it? And I hate to speak ill of the dead, what with the smoke still rising out of Tel Aviv Crater, but the way Israel behaved. I wouldn’t dare say they brought it on themselves, but…”
Makes me feel sick.
Remember, Dead Pool tomorrow. When the timestamp on this blog says 6pm, which is GMT I think, but if I screw that up again, steve will probably come to my house and beat me to death with my own spotted dick.
June 3, 2010 — 10:14 pm
Comments: 29