Enough to warm the heart. Wonderful stuff. I think he's known as Nyango Star and is a drummer of cats and apples.
Ogden Nash: A Word To Husbands. To keep your marriage brimming With love in the loving cup, Whenever you’re wrong, admit it; Whenever you’re right, shut up.
Steven Crane: Fast Rode The Knight. Fast rode the knight With spurs, hot and reeking, Ever waving an eager sword, "To save my lady!" Fast rode the knight, And leaped from saddle to war. Men of steel flickered and gleamed Like riot of silver lights, And the gold of the knight's good banner Still waved on a castle wall. . . . . . A horse, Blowing, staggering, bloody thing, Forgotten at foot of castle wall. A horse Dead at foot of castle wall.
Jimmy Cliff is a living legend in the world of reggae, but before that, he was one of the original super stars of ska. Preceding ska though, he burst onto the scene at just 14 with Hurricane Hatty.
But when Ska arrived, Cliff at age 16 appeared as a representative of Jamaica at the New York World's Fair of 1964. The film below shows him in action on a program titled "This is Ska."
It must have been one hell of a night. One of the great voices of reggae, Toots Hibbert, fronted with Henry Gordon and Nat Mathias to give New York a taste of Toots and the Maytals. They've banned this so I've substituted one of my favourites.
A couple of weeks ago, Clickhole posted the following. Please be aware that Clickhole is a satirical site. .................................................................................................................................................................................. THE POWER OF TEAMWORK: This Incredible Group Of 5-Year-Olds Came Together To Kill A Horse. Wow! What a truly remarkable feat! When kindergartners from Hoover Elementary School arrived at a local petting zoo for a field trip earlier today, they quickly took to harassing the animals in the way that small children often do: yelling at the sheep, poking the pigs, and chasing around chickens with unbounded energy. It just seemed like kids being kids at first, but then something truly extraordinary happened. Six-year-old Evan Dunwell, noticing an old mare minding its own business over in the corner, suddenly shouted, “Let’s kill that horse!”—a proposition that all the other children were unanimously on board with, prompting them to immediately spring into action. With some of them working together to topple the horse, others tying a jump rope around its neck, and still more beating it with their lunch boxes, the amazing kids swiftly coordinated to incapacitate the half-ton animal. Although the horse certainly put up a valiant fight—bucking and shrieking and kicking any child that came near its hooves—the kids ultimately triumphed over the beast after about 20 minutes of battle, with the horse drawing its final breath as the kids wildly stabbed it over and over with the colored pencils their teacher had given them to draw in their workbooks. Incredible! And the teamwork didn’t end there. After the kids succeeded in killing the horse, they excitedly celebrated their achievement, jumping up and down on the dead animal’s enormous rib cage and chanting, “We killed the horse! We killed the horse!” They then decided to muster their collective strength and drag the horse down to a nearby creek to see if they could get it to float downstream, remaining unified and focused even as their teacher screamed for them to stop and threatened to give them frowny-face stickers on the Behavior Board back in their classroom. Just phenomenal. If these kids can already do something as difficult and ambitious as killing a horse and dragging it to a creek while they’re still in kindergarten, then there’s really no limit on what they’ll be able to accomplish in the future. It just goes to show that if you work together and believe in yourselves, literally nothing is impossible. R
Secondhand Smoke Linked To Secondhand Coolness. WINSTON, NC—Americans have known for years that smoking is a direct cause of coolness. But a recent study funded by R.J. Reynolds, Philip Morris and several other cigarette conglomerates proves conclusively that the cool effects of smoking are not limited to the smoker. According to the study, secondhand smoke is a leading cause of coolness, and is only slightly less cool than actual smoking. As a result of the study, cigarette companies are encouraging non-smokers to frequent smoky bars and make friends with smokers. The companies are also speaking out against laws that mandate separate non-smoking areas in public places. "We are only acting in the interests of the public at large," R.J. Reynolds spokesperson Ron Gronfeld said. "We're not saying non-smokers are going to die as a result of their actions, but we do want to make sure they know they're not as cool as they could be." Gronfeld referred to a "three-level progression" of coolness that non-smokers experienced in the study. Level one could be observed as soon as the non-smoker sat down at a barstool near a person enjoying a delicious cigarette. "Even the nerdiest subject we could find somehow appeared cool when interacting with his smoking partner," Gronfeld said. "Just the fact that the subject was brave enough to breathe deadly secondhand smoke established him as a hip, freethinking individual, the kind of person who might one day run with the bulls in Pamplona." Level two begins after a non-smoker has been in a smoke-filled environment for at least an hour. At this point, the non-smoker's clothes begin to stink of smoke, and he develops a dry, hacking cough. Bronchial fits are directly proportional to mucus overproduction, respiratory cyanosis and coolness. The smelly clothing leads to coolness because the nonsmoker smells to others as if he smokes two or more packs a day, which is a very cool thing to do. Level three occurs once the non-smoker admits to himself that smoking is cool, and then starts smoking himself. "Even if a former non-smoker only smokes in bars or social situations, we feel as if we have scored a victory," Gronfeld said. Smokers across the country feel vindicated by the study, claiming it proves what they have believed all along. "It's an exciting time to be a smoker," University of Virginia freshman Gina Pongres said. "It made me look grown- up in high school, and now that I'm older, it just makes me look cool." Her boyfriend, sophomore Tom Willard, agrees. "She always looks sexy smoking at the bars," he said. "I myself don't smoke, but I sure feel cool when I'm with Gina." David Prochnow, president of United Smokers of America, says there has never been such a good time to seek out the friendship of smokers. "Cigarette companies need our help," he said. "They want to get Third World countries addicted to American cigarettes, but that's going to take money. Now that this study has been released, I'm confident that even nonsmokers will make donations to cigarette companies, thanking them for the gift of coolness." Prochnow went on to praise the tobacco companies for adding freon, nicotine and dozens of other poisonous substances to tobacco.
I found a really brutal piece on the meat industry Oddy, but I'm not sure it should be posted on a forum such as this.
A totally disgusting industry Cyc. Here in Germany, there was a law passed in 2013 (5 years ago, just to stress the fact) which stated that from January 2019 male piglets have to be anesthetised during castration (they are castrated young to prevent the meat developing a "piggy" taste). Current practice is to just lop them off without so much as an aspirin. Anyways, a couple of months ago, after having 5 years to prepare for this, the German farmers lobby declared that they must have an extension because implementing the law would be "too expensive". Last I heard the extension had been granted. It really is sickening.
