Post something you've learnt today

[souphound]

There is a Cheesequake State Park in New Jersey.

Looking through Google Images for this (I often do this, just for kicks), I see that Cheese Quake is also a strand of weed, especially popular in Colorado.

[Minnie the Minx]

Geoffrey Palmer died !!

[Flower]

I was sending a letter of condolence to a friend's family and had to look up their home address, since I never heard of the street where they lived, I looked it up on Google Maps and saw that not only did they live near Cleveland Place where other friends used to live but that both streets were connected by Flower Drive.

[Samoan]

dp

[Samoan]

My friend B has met Joe Biden and he told us all about it on FaceBook today -

Right then. By popular demand! A tale entitled “The day I met Joe Biden (and how it doesn’t bode well for Britain)”.

" October 2008. In my job as Head of IT for (Name withheld) UK, I was visiting (Name withheld) US in Westport, Connecticut and then had to go to their offices in Washington DC. Though flights from NYC took an hour, with the connections at each end it actually worked out that taking a train would be about the same time and a lot less stress. So, after sharing a taxi from Westport to Stamford with a Norwegian who couldn’t convince the driver that gasoline cost six times as much where he came from, I settled into my 5 hour trip down through the North East, in a nice window seat with decent padding and good legroom.

New England in the Fall is stunning. So many different types of trees and colours I’d never seen in Old England. The train, originating in Boston, worked it’s way down into New York and under Manhattan, then onto Philadelphia and down through Delaware, Baltimore and finally to DC.

About an hour before the train was due to arrive in Washington, and after we’d stopped at Wilmington, my (previously quiet) carriage started to fill up at the far end and people started to get excited – you know, as Americans do.
The newspapers I had were full of stories about the live event on TV that night, where Joe Biden was in the Vice-Presidential debate with Sarah Palin. What I didn’t know then was that Joe’s nickname was “Amtrack Joe”, because he used to commute to work that way. And as the crowd of photographers and the grey-haired guy got closer, I realised that Amtrack Joe was coming my way.
The train wasn’t packed but he was greeting people as he passed them, some getting longer than others. The guy in the row in front of me was very excited and I watched at close quarters as he got his camera out (phone cams then were less common) and Joe happily posed for what we would now call a “selfie”.

Joe then turned and spoke to the person across from selfie guy and then turned back to me.
I’d been seated until then but I’m not rude so I went to get up and said “Hello, I’m English”. Joe, who by now was offering his hand outstretched and beaming his very expensive teeth in my direction, immediately withdrew his hand, spun 180 degrees and started glad handing the person across from me.

Now you might have thought that I’d be offended by that, but I wasn’t. Amtrack Joe is a seasoned politician and that day was on the hunt for votes. I didn’t have a vote. Therefore I was useless to him. However, since I knew a bit about him anyway, and the fact that he takes his Irish heritage very seriously (and of course, the English haven’t treated the Irish well), perhaps if I’d have said “I’m Scottish”, he might have shaken my hand. And most Americans haven’t got a clue about accents anyway because they ALWAYS think I’m Australian. I cannot help but think though that when Boris offers his hand, Joe will take much the same approach to him as he did with me.

So there you have it. The day I have been able to say since when I was snubbed by the Vice President of the United States. Now I can upgrade that to “Snubbed by the President Elect”. It was a fabulous train ride too, Portillo would love it. The only dampener was that when we got to DC, they held everyone on the train for 15 minutes while Joe’s security detail cleared the station. And when I got there, I hated the place I was staying and came home a day early."

[Minnie the Minx]

The word ‘smog’ comes from a mash up of ‘smoke’ and ‘fog’ !

[Charlie O.]

The word "decompensate." Thanks, kath!

[jimboo]

dp

Personally or on the internet ?

[Six String]

Canada grows 90% of the world’s mustard.

[rorebhoy]

Probably known already by many here, but the actress Maya Rudolph is Minnie Riperton's daughter

[kath]

The word "decompensate." Thanks, kath!

yer welcome.

what's really funny: i started out in college majoring in biology and psychology cuz i was aiming for pre-med. i wanted to be... yes, watch out... a psychiatrist. ohhh. the hilarity.

then on the encouragement of one prof i absolutely adored in an elective class, i switched to... yes... fucquin english. ohhh. the hilarity.

what i learned today:

1. maya rudolph is minnie riperton's daughter

and

3. a newscast on MSNBC will actually devote 20 minutes to talkin about messenger RNA. ooof.

[Minnie the Minx]

I think Brian Eno has grown a beard!

[BARON CORNY DOG]

Bergman's "The Virgin Spring" was censored in Fort Worth, and there's a published case on the books about it (though not in depth or particularly meaningful).

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case ... s_sdt=6,44

[Charlie O.]

Probably known already by many here, but the actress Maya Rudolph is Minnie Riperton's daughter

On a not-dissimilar note, I learnt last night that Shelton Brooks, who had written "Some Of These Days" and "Darktown Strutters' Ball" in the second decade of the twentieth century, was a cousin of '60s soul chanteuse Barbara Lewis ("Hello Stranger", "Baby I'm Yours").

[Flower]

Princess of Asturias Awards

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_ ... ias_Awards

The Princess of Asturias Awards (Spanish: Premios Princesa de Asturias, Asturian: Premios Princesa d'Asturies), formerly the Prince of Asturias Awards from 1981 to 2014 (Spanish: Premios Príncipe de Asturias), are a series of annual prizes awarded in Spain by the Princess of Asturias Foundation (previously the Prince of Asturias Foundation) to individuals, entities or organizations from around the world who make notable achievements in the sciences, humanities, and public affairs.

I was reading something about Fred Vargas and read that ... In 2018 Vargas won the Princess of Asturias Prize for letters. I've not heard of these awards before today.

[Minnie the Minx]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.thegua ... key-christ

An interesting approach to art restoration!

[Charlie O.]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/10/spanish-statue-bodge-up-is-a-new-rival-to-borjas-monkey-christ

An interesting approach to art restoration!

[Diamond Dog]

The origin of the word bugbear:

Bugbear sounds like some kind of grotesque hybrid creature from fable or folklore, and that very well may be what the word's creator was trying to evoke. When the word entered English in the 16th century, it referred to any kind of creature made up to frighten someone; in 1592, Thomas Nashe wrote of "Meere bugge-beares to scare boyes." The word's first element refers not to the familiar creatures one encounters in the garden, but to a different bug entirely: since the 15th century, bug (from Middle English bugge, meaning "hobgoblin"—that is, a mischievous goblin) has referred to a ghost or goblin. The bear in bugbear is the one still feared today, and suggests what such made-up creatures were perhaps described as resembling.

[harvey k-tel]

You should never irk a gurkha.

[Flower]

Despite the angst surrounding the growing number of coronavirus cases nationwide and the ongoing upheaval over President Trump's refusal to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden, there will still be a turkey pardon at the White House next week.