Entertainment stuff from the week 2-8/12/13

 
Hi humans,

So, Nelson Mandela has died, at the age of 95 years. He did so much to change the world for the better, but there is much work to do - the necessary pace of these changes requires longer than a single lifetime. Who will lift the baton? Maybe you. Everyone plays a part in the direction a society takes. Playing a constructive part is what's difficult.

'Nelson Mandela, human rights leader'
http://youtu.be/UxHrSU1-zJo

'Queen - Invincible Hope / The Call - feat Brian May / The Show Must Go On'
"The Show Must Go On feat Treana Morris, Zoe Nicholas and Chris Thompson. Taken from '46664 The Event - Nelson Mandela's AIDS Day Concert' DVD of 2004"
(FYI: 46664 was the number tattooed onto Nelson Mandela when he was imprisoned)
http://youtu.be/g0rtq-8PQXw

There is so much work to do, even in places like the UK, where bigots retain much power. The UK's current prime minister - David Cameron - was associated with a pro-apartheid, anti-sanction campaign, and visited South Africa to wine and dine, while Nelson Mandela was in prison.

He now sits in a Conservative Party cabinet, surrounded by people who wore "Hang Nelson Mandela" badges at the time of Mandela's release from prison. The Conservative Party's leader, at that time, was Margaret Thatcher, who described Mandela as a terrorist!

Remember this when he says he was inspired by Nelson Mandela! Who is he fighting - his own Party?

This is what the world faces, today. We must continue to work hard, wherever we are, to prevent our cultures from slouching back into a bog of avarice and superstition.


'A 15-Year-Old Ad About Racism Is A Great Reminder Of The Power We All Have To Promote Justice'
http://www.upworthy.com/a-15-year-old-ad-about-racism-is-a-great-reminder-of-the-power-we-all-have-to-promote-justice?

Here's a quick opportunity to make a mark:

PETITION: 'Ban gender segregation in British universities'
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/david-cameron-ban-gender-segregation-in-british-universities?


As if to mock the 'forces of evil' here are some stories of extreme, conservative lunacy. Laugh or cry? Laugh or cry? ...laugh! ...and then get angry, and change it.


A fatwa from the 'Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis' has declared that women mustn't touch cucumbers or bananas, because they're phallic :-D
https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/408183959332220928

They have also said that women must not go swimming because the word for 'water' is masculine in gender, and if that masculine water touches their genitals, she will be an adulteress!

"Another fatwa orders that girls as young as 10-years-old be married "to prevent them from deviating from the right path"."

And there's more. Just follow the link.

But why does anyone take any of this horrendous perversion seriously? Well, that's just how religion works. You sign up, to get told what to do by experts in idiocy.


Richard Dawkins on Twitter. Yay :-D

"Miraculous scientific accuracy of Qur'an from 1400 years ago. Ants can talk! http://bit.ly/18REPpA  That settles it. I'm converted."
https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/407080997226696704


In other news, Spain has banned the playing of football in the streets, due to its danger to the public.

The Pamplona Running Of The Bulls, however, is still legal, and the baiting of bulls for pleasure, in 'the ring' is also judged 'bueno'.

I'm not saying the spanish are crazy... because that would be a rash statement about an entire population, when in reality laws are made better by rational people, and worse by irrational ones :-P


Also, Russian bigots have shown a clip of a Swedish kids' TV programme, as anti-EU propaganda, on the premise that the main characters' names (meaning 'wee-wee' and 'poo-poo') were a sign of 'western decadence'!

I'm waiting for UKIP to try this! Though i doubt they have the intellectual vigour to understand the central material :-D


This week in history:

The 4th of December marked the 52nd anniversary of the female oral contraceptive pill becoming available on the UK's NHS. Work, in recent years, has been on producing an equivalent one, that works in men.

The 4th also marked the 184th anniversary of the prohibition of 'suttee' - the ritual burning of a wife with her dead husband, according to Hindu superstition in India. Mass indoctrination into a cult that instructs the scapegoating of an immortal deity, in order to live forever in moral impunity, by ritualistically consuming its flesh and blood, was seen as a good thing, by the British; but the obscure and rarely-practiced self-uxoricide of the suttee ritual was barbaric and had to be banned!

The 5th of December marked the 80th anniversary of the end of alcohol prohibition in the USA. Governments in the most-developed cultures, to this day, still insist on prohibition of other addictive drugs, however, which doesn't work, but does inhibit development of medical applications... and permit dangerous black markets.

The 6th of December marked the 126th anniversary of Thomas Edison's recitation of 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' onto a wax cylinder. The oldest known recording of a human voice dates back further, to the 9th of April 1860, but this was unable to be replayed, until competent technnology came along, a few years ago.


------------------------------------------------------ contemporary stuff

'Caro Emerald - The Bullet (Lyric video)'
http://youtu.be/Stdgfwv_SP4
'Caro 007 - Caro Emerald for next James Bond theme'
She would be great. if you agree, have a go at pushing the rolling ball :)
https://www.facebook.com/CaroEmerald007

'10:10 in Watch Advertisements - Numberphile'
Why do they do this? Do the manufacturers think it looks like a smile? Is it just a convenient standard that doesn't hide the extra dials?
http://youtu.be/kOClr_bew38

'Frictionless Ferrofluid Bearings'
http://youtu.be/B99JfNghE-0

'Engineer floats on boat made of mushrooms'
A life raft you can munch on your way home?
http://youtu.be/aNwwkelMdBk

'3D game lets you see through an animal's eyes'
Fascinating. But i imagine rats, cats and dogs don't run straight backwards quite as much, in real life :-D
http://youtu.be/rT3Iz5VA2eQ

'What Happened to ISON?; Water in Exoplanet Atmospheres; The Planet That Shouldn't Be There: SFN #121'
http://youtu.be/tUksMBEjtek

'Unbelievable Faces'
2D or not 2D?
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/69368138002/art-of-face-image-credit-alexander-khokhlov

'Doctor Who Supercut - The Bum Invasion' Via a friend. You know who you are ;-)
http://youtu.be/vUtH_CuEWuo
There's more of this silliness, on the same channel :-D
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU2L9w6FyVKBu21EaYTtsrQ/videos

'Derek had a Double Dose - Swede Mason'
Derek had a... oh, what was it? It's slipped from my gaaaaaaaaping mind........................................ :D
http://youtu.be/Vw6K9UULzP4

------------------------------------------------------ of the weeks

Word Of The Week: bilewhit -- an old english word (9th century CE) meaning simple, gentle, innocent, sincere

Facebook Quote Of The Week: ""OMG! Tom Daley's boyfriend is 20 years older than him!" Shrieks newspaper owned by a man currently divorcing a woman 37 years his junior." LOL

Quote Of The Week: "Fortune favours the prepared mind" - Louis Pasteur

Anagram Of The Week: CAPTCHA - 'Completely Automated Public Turing Test to tell Computers and Humans Apart'

Pointless Product Of The Week: 'The Gentleman's Cleaning Brush'

{In case you're left slightly nonplussed: 'The Gentleman's Cleaning Brush' is a brush (still following me?) that is used to wipe smegma off men's bell-ends. And i don't mean it's a campinological tool! I really can't see why anyone would need this?! Can't they just use their hands? It's not like they should feel creeped out by touching it - they're already touching it - with their 'little man'! P.S. 'gentleman' is a euphemism for... 'chap'... 'John Thomas'... 'todger'... 'wang'... 'pork sword'... 'one-eyed trouser snake'... I think i've made myself quite clear :-P }

(Where i heard of it:http://www.comedy.co.uk/podcasts/richard_herring_lst_podcast/episode_16_russell_howard/)

------------------------------------------------------ non-contemporary stuff

Physics is phun!
http://linknovate.tumblr.com/post/68731451686/science-is-phun

This is the 500-year-old mummy of a 15 year old Incan girl, nicknamed “La doncella”. According to historians, she was a human sacrifice, chosen to go and live with the gods, and was found frozen in 1999 near Llullaillaco’s 6739 meter summit. Her body is so well preserved that it is as if she died only weeks ago. IMO, she could have been depressed.
http://linknovate.tumblr.com/post/68630766975/spectacularuniverse-this-is-the-500-year-old


'Jay Foreman - Stealing Food'
http://youtu.be/xebSF8vRvZI

'The Smiths - I Haven't Got Any Legs (by Jay Foreman)'
http://youtu.be/cPnTFdMpVs8

'Jay Foreman - What Else Has Dick Van Dyke Been In?'
http://youtu.be/Q0UOYY_tgL0

'Jay Foreman - Slightly Imperfect Girl'
http://youtu.be/RpcQrwQgXsY

'Jay Foreman - The Sooty Show'
http://youtu.be/gtiDi5bU5e0

'Jay Foreman - Syllables (Do-Re-Mi and Beatles)'
http://youtu.be/0IgCXI-43b8

'Jay Foreman - No More Colours'
Actually, there aren't infinite colours, due to limited ability to distinguish one wavelength from another. But there are a huge number of combinations that we can perceive!
http://youtu.be/qO3fMFR1ITs

'Jay Foreman - Every Tube Station Song'
http://youtu.be/8jPyg2pK11M


'Kuwait Union for New Teachers (Dubai/Saudi branch)'
If you know why it's funny, you're mature enough to read it :-P
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=269837

These organisations were never real, but the Cambridge University National Trust Society almost was!


'Tim Minchin - The Song For Phil Daoust'
http://youtu.be/3Onjdw_FXyw

As mentioned in the first episode of this podcast - RHLSTP (RHLSTP):
http://www.comedy.co.uk/podcasts/richard_herring_lst_podcast/

'Tim Minchin: Peace Anthem For Palestine'
All around the world, religious people are finding it difficult to get along. It's almost as if the possession of mutually exclusive superstitious beliefs is causing irrational and unresolvable conflict. Nah, that can't be it - just keep on praying to Captain Dinosaur, and i'm sure it'll all wash over :-P
http://youtu.be/T6qA-4PWdsg

'Tim Minchin: Some People Have It Worse..'
http://youtu.be/0GCyMtNl8T8

'Tim Minchin: Happy Little Africuns'
http://youtu.be/b5DJVYRiZv0

'Tim Minchin - 5 Poofs and 2 Piano's - (HD) OFFICIAL'
http://youtu.be/YIm8WgwkTeI


Adam Buxton has also been interviewed on RHLSTP (RHLSTP) which is where i heard of this first song:

'ADAM BUXTON - COUNTING SONG (BUG TV)'
This is fantastic. Cyriak FTW :-D
http://youtu.be/WXvsl8xgRxc

'NO NEWS'
http://youtu.be/Q4pY3QtiGyo

'SONGS OF PRAISE (WITH SUBTITLES)'
More entertaining. Less horrifically zealous. What's not to like? :-P
http://youtu.be/7-ZnPE3G_YY

'MOBY SONG (DIRECTOR'S CUT)'
http://youtu.be/LDHMjO7UbMo

'ADAM BUXTON - COMING BACK FROM HOLIDAY BLUES (BUG TV)'
http://youtu.be/LdoPKtqNhLo

'ADAM BUXTON - AMAZING MUSIC VIDEO (BUG TV)'
http://youtu.be/M3OkPYkzDNc

.