Threadjacking!

[The Doctor Alt 8]

 

Love it. I'm sharing....

[Modern Panther]

As a voluntary "track and trace" app is made available, it's sort of cute the sudden appearance of social media conspiracy theorists, who seem entirely unaware that the government can track their phones already.

[Funt Solo]

I've been catching up on my 1979 comic reading with a little Tornado, which has this amazing, giant, collectible poster, center-spread series by Carlos Ezquerra:

[JayzusB.Christ]

That's a thing of beauty.  I always thought it was amazing how what someone - possibly John Wagner - described as Carlos's 'sunbaked, Spanish style' could still perfectly render the most Northern European of subjects, like the Scotsman and the Viking there in their natural habitats.

[von Boom]

Suitable for framing is what comes to mind when I see that poster.

[von Boom]

If you ever enjoyed Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlett, Stingray, et. al. then you need to check out Nebula-75. Filmed in Supermarionation and Superisolation.

[Modern Panther]

What kind of person thinks "stay alert" is a clear message? 

The same kind of person who thinks "Brexit means Brexit" explains everything. 

[TordelBack]

It's fucking evil genius is what it is. Everyone has their own idea of what it means, it's completely fact-proof ("But I was alert! I did control the virus! Prove that I didn't!"), and the Govt can blame and define the inevitable covid-traitors in any way they feel suits them.

Compare with "Stay at Home". Clear advice, easily assessed: did you follow it and stay at home, or not?

[Modern Panther]

As someone who writes instructions and explains things to people for a living, I have to say, that was a complete fucking shambles.

So there's an R number, and it has to be less than 1, but it's somewhere between 0.5 and 0.9, and we have a rating system that goes from level 5 to level 1, and that's at 4, and we'll work on getting it to 3 by trying to meet 5 tests so we stay below 1, and as the rating goes from 4 to 3 we'll move from stage 1 to stages 2 and 3.  At Stage 1 you should work at home of you can, but go to work if you can, unless your place of work is closed, and you shouldn't use public transport, unless you need to, and you can go out if you like becuase some things are open now, but don't go anywhere that there are other people because if you do you might be fined. At stage 2, when we're at Level 3, things will be diferent.  It's almost time to start quaranteen for people who arrive in the country by plane, but just planes, and just by getting them to stay at home,to save lives

"we're shining the light of science on an invisible foe".  This guy was an editor.

[Funt Solo]

Sometimes elements of 2000 AD sneak into the math questions I write. Here's one:

Slaine's sidekick, Ukko, is probably the least powerful warrior in the land.  In fact, he's not a warrior: he's a charlatan and a thief.  He has an 85% chance of talking his way out of trouble.  What are the chances that he can talk his way out trouble six times in a row, but then on the seventh occasion he's too clever for his own good (and so fails).

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Sometimes elements of 2000 AD sneak into the math questions I write. Here's one:

Slaine's sidekick, Ukko, is probably the least powerful warrior in the land.  In fact, he's not a warrior: he's a charlatan and a thief.  He has an 85% chance of talking his way out of trouble.  What are the chances that he can talk his way out trouble six times in a row, but then on the seventh occasion he's too clever for his own good (and so fails).

Is it (0.85)^6 * 0.15 ~6%?

[Funt Solo]

Sometimes elements of 2000 AD sneak into the math questions I write. Here's one:

Slaine's sidekick, Ukko, is probably the least powerful warrior in the land.  In fact, he's not a warrior: he's a charlatan and a thief.  He has an 85% chance of talking his way out of trouble.  What are the chances that he can talk his way out trouble six times in a row, but then on the seventh occasion he's too clever for his own good (and so fails).

Is it (0.85)^6 * 0.15 ~6%?

Correct: so far you have scored 100%!

[JayzusB.Christ]

Isolation and the internet has led me to start listening to a favourite of my parents', Steeleye Span. The same factors have led me to discover that their song Black Jack Davey ( played on the record player ad nauseum in my childhood) is actually, give or take some Chinese whispers, the same song as The Waterboys' Raggle Taggle Gypsy-o.  Bob Dylan also has a version, and they all sound completely different.

Now I really want to know how the original folk version sounded.  Obviously I'd prefer to go to the pub, but...

[Dandontdare]

Isolation and the internet has led me to start listening to a favourite of my parents', Steeleye Span. The same factors have led me to discover that their song Black Jack Davey ( played on the record player ad nauseum in my childhood) is actually, give or take some Chinese whispers, the same song as The Waterboys' Raggle Taggle Gypsy-o.  Bob Dylan also has a version, and they all sound completely different.

Now I really want to know how the original folk version sounded.  Obviously I'd prefer to go to the pub, but...

There are many, many versions of this song, it's a folk standard, almost as ubiquitous as the soldier/sailor outside a girl''s window. This is the fantastic song Sick Old Man by The Imagined Village (a kind of folk supergroup, vocals on this one are by Eliza Carthy) - it imagines the story of what happened to the neglectful husband whose wife ran away with the gypsies, a tale of bitterness and self-pity with a nice topical reference to Yarl's Wood.

Can't recommend Imagined Village enough - they do a modern updating of Tam Lyn with Benjamin Zephaniah, Paul Weller sings John Barleycorn, and there's more folk royalty involved than you can shake a stick at.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Thanks for the recommendation! I always get a bit folk-y in May, and something to feed my Wicker-Man-addled imagination is always appreciated.

EDIT - just listened; it's good stuff.  I did kind of wonder what happened to the poor old aristocrat left to bring up a child on his own.  Wonder if any of this song's influenced seeped into Wuthering Heights at all - Heathcliff and Black Jack Davey seem like spiritual brothers at least.