Way away in Chattooga County, Georgia, USA the 82 year old woman who was born Carolyn Marjorie Ann Clay, has filed to change her name. Currently known as Serpentfoot Serpentfoot (according to her driving licence) this wouldn’t be the first time she’s changed her name — or done other weird and outrageous things including stripping nude at a Rome City Commission meeting in protest against them praying at the beginning of meetings.
Unsurprisingly her name change has already been rejected by a judge in Floyd County — despite her claim that it would be shortened to Nofoot Allfoot Serpentfoot. So she has moved to Chattooga County, revised her new name and submitted a new application to the courts there.
And what is that new name? …
Nofoot Allfoot-69-mouth-tail-solids-liquids-gases-animals-vegetable-mineral-all-predators-and-prey-that-consume-and-move-with-feet-fins-wings-wheels-canes-roots-limbs-vines-landslides-dust-wind-water-fire-ice-gravity-vacuums-black-holes-going-over-under-around-and-through-Our-Greater-Self-our-habitat-the-cosmos-of-which-we-are-but-part-and-where-all-life-feeds-upon-other-life-from-the-smallest-atoms-or-bacteria-to-the-great-black-holes-and-dog-eat-dog-and-“Last-Suppers”-where-we-are-what-we-eat-or-consume-and-each-lives-on-in-the-other…∞ Serpentfoot
Read more of this bizarreness in Chattanooga Times Free Press
All posts by Keith
Ten Things #23
This month I thought we would return to the humorous for our Ten Things …
Ten Exciting New Paint Shades
- Pregnancy Test
- Haddock
- Vampire
- Goblin
- Surgical Appliance
- Apoplexy
- Raw Prawn
- Old Troll
- Maxwell
- Golly
Weekly Photograph
This week it’s time for more pussy porn, so here’s Tilly the Cat again. She hates my printers; they have to be watched ans supervised:
“I must watch this rotten printer. I don’t trust it. It makes funny noises. I’m worried it’s turning into a hoover!”
On Printer Watch
Greenford; November 2015
Thinking Thursday #2 Answer
This week’s Thinking Thursday post asked you to make sense of
11 was a racehorse
12 was 12
1111 race
12112
Well it’s all down to how you read it. How about:
Eleven was a racehorse,
Twelve was one too.
Eleven won one race,
Twelve won one too.
Hat-tip Marcus du Sautoy who provided this in his book Finding Moonshine.
Word: Trailbaston
Trailbaston
Originally a class of violent evil-doers in the reign of Edward I, who, as brigands or hired ruffians, bludgeoned, maltreated, and robbed the king’s lieges, during his absence or absorption in foreign wars.
It was also applied to their system of violence, for the suppression of which special justices were instituted in 1304–5. And thence the term was applied to the ordinances issued against said brigands, and to the inquisitions, trials, courts, and justices appointed for their suppression.
So trailbaston was a special type of itinerant judicial commission first created during the reign of Edward I and used many times thereafter during the reigns of Edward II and Edward III, primarily to punish felonies and trespass at the king’s suit.
The declared intention of the trailbaston commissions was to combat increasing levels of violence and public disorder, but an added bonus for the crown was the revenues brought by forfeiture, which was the punishment for conspiracy.
The first trailbaston commissions date back to 1305, when Edward I directed several teams of justices to visit each English county and seek presentments for felonies and certain trespasses. This was extended in late 1305 and revamped and it’s scope widened considerably in 1307.
The term was in living use from 1304 to about 1390 and has survived only as an often misunderstood historical expression.
Trailbaston ultimately derives from the Old French traille, to trail + baston, a stick, club or cudgel; so literally “one who trails or carries a club or cudgel”.
Something for the Weekend
Thinking Thursday #2
Hot on the heels of our first Thinking Thursday post, here’s the second puzzle in this irregular series.
Make sense of the following:
11 was a racehorse
12 was 12
1111 race
12112
As before there’s no prize for correct answers other than the fun of taking part, but I would love it if you put your answer in the comments.
As before, I’ll post the answer on Sunday evening.
Oddity of the Week: Carrots
The claim that carrots can help your vision would seem to have some pretty solid scientific grounding. Retinal is essential for vision, and the beta-carotene in carrots offers a compound from which our body can produce the retinal our eyes require. However, eating carrots will only improve your eyesight if you are vitamin A deficient.
It turns out that the idea that carrots can improve your eyesight has its roots in a bit of British propaganda from World War II. After successfully using a new radar system to locate and shoot down German bombers, the British forces came up with the entirely false campaign stating that their pilots were eating carrots to improve their night vision in order to hide the existence of the radar system from the Germans. This campaign of disinformation was so successful that it took root and persists today.
From Can carrots help you see in the dark?
Weekly Photograph
This week another photograph from the archives. And this is a very old one, dating as it does from April 2001 when the Anthony Powell Society held its first ever conference in the Farrar Theatre at Eton College. This piano was resting quietly in the theatre foyer.
Piano
Eton College; April 2001
Click the image for larger views on Flickr
Thinking Thursday #1 Answer
So in our first Thinking Thursday post I asked the question:
And the answer, as you will all have worked out, is something quite common and which most of us will have in our homes: a 4-character digital clock.
For the benefit of this who still don’t get it, here’s the logic.
0123 hrs is in the middle of the night
1234 hrs is lunchtime
2345 hrs is bedtime
And because we have a 24 hour clock 3456 hrs cannot exist — unless of course your clock is broken (and broken clocks don’t count).
Watch out for the next Thinking Thursday puzzle.