Sun 19 Nov 2006
This week:
* Michael Flatley (Lord of the Dance).
* Letting the stingray of love pierce your heart.
* Jana tallies up the replacement value of her handbag.
Sorry there were some technical difficulties with this recording. If Zan’s audio interface needs to be replaced again, future shows will have to be cancelled following his suicide.
November 20th, 2006 at 1:09 am
That intro/promo took me by surprise but I was rockin to the music. I thought it was going to be a heavier version of the byu theme. Best of luck with the podcast.
November 20th, 2006 at 4:46 am
I was thinking the same thing about the theme song. Sounded like BYU.
Lately, whenever I’m listening to BYU here in the cold northeastern U.S., I get jealous hearing all those birds in the background. The only ones we have left this time of year are Canadian geese, and they leave shit everywhere.
November 20th, 2006 at 5:21 am
Also, I think Jana must be thinking of a different movie or a different version of All Quiet on the Western Front starring Ron Howard, since this one was made in the 30’s.
November 20th, 2006 at 10:47 pm
Hey Zan, now that the visual players are gone from the main page, my CPU usage there is practically nil! Nice catch!
-Vibeeen
November 21st, 2006 at 8:09 pm
Ireland opted into the euro, Britain is staying out for the foreseeable future, but one day I guess it must join up with the euro. It would certainly make travelling and business in Europe easier.
As for the the name euro, it was originally going to be the ‘ecu’ (European Currency Unit) but the Germans protested that that sounded too much like ‘kuh’, or cow in their language. After considering every possible option including dollar, ‘euro’ was the lowest choice on the list but it was only one everyone agreed on.
It was then pointed out that the word euro is very similar to ‘urine’ in Greek. This is when British officials offered their expertise. Prior to decimalisation, the shorthand for UK currency was £ s d: The £ pound from ‘livre’, meaning a pound weight in French, s for shilling and d penny from dinarius, the most common Roman coin. After decimalisation the units became the £, pound and p, pence. The penny being named p and pronounced ‘pee’ had had no noticeable ill-effects on the population and so, they reasoned, it was perfectly OK that euro also sounded like urine in Greek. The Euro was then adopted.
As for the dollar, that’s named after the German word taler, short for Joachimstaler, a town in the current northwest Czech Republic where coins were once minted.
Talking of Roman coins, the Romans, ever practical, produced a series of coins with different sexual acts illustrated on the back, the act depending on the denomination of the currency. These coins were used by Roman soldiers to pay for the sex acts illustrated on the coins, so there would be no arguing with prostitutes who didn’t speak Latin about the value of the service demanded:
http://www.davidnicholson.com/www/sex04.htm
November 21st, 2006 at 10:06 pm
As far as favorite war movies go, I have to second the recommendation for the original 1930 “All Quiet on the Western Front” with Lew Ayres. I don’t know what they did with it later, but you really can’t improve on the original.
“Favorite” is subjective, though. If I want realism, I’ll go for “Saving Private Ryan” or “Band of Brothers,” tho the latter doesn’t show much gore.
For American nationalism (yeah, like we need more of THAT), the WWII films of the 1960s & 70s (”A Bridge Too Far,” “Midway,” “Kelly’s Heroes”) can’t be beat.
Zebulon, isn’t it amazing how far we’ve come? Now, we don’t have to use pictures on coins — we can just show pictures we got on the Internet!
KevDiver
November 22nd, 2006 at 6:10 am
“As for the the name euro, it was originally going to be the ‘ecu’ (European Currency Unit) but the Germans protested that that sounded too much like ‘kuh’, or cow in their language.”
And that’s nothing compared to what it sounds like in Portuguese!
Also, the Romans were not entirely unique. Check out these early American whorehouse tokens.
November 22nd, 2006 at 8:59 am
I like it that one of the establishments named on the coins is the ‘Poke of Gold Saloon’.
November 22nd, 2006 at 9:00 am
[Ecu sounds like ‘bottom’ in Portuguese.] Ha! I’d never heard that. Duly noted; thanks Tvindy.
Those American whorehouse tokens look a real collector’s bargain at that price. I’d love to take them onto The Antiques Roadshow, a popular TV programme watched by millions, to see the experts blush as they try to explain what they are looking at.
November 22nd, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Knowing those Antiques Roadshow appraisers, they’ve probably used those tokens!
Cheap joke, I know.
November 29th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
6mins 4secs Jana “I’m not a big fan of watching classical ballet either, which is also another kind of dance where they tend to keep their bodies very stiff, although their is some movement”
Ana says “I think Janas baby brain has kicked in and she might need to take a classical ballet class because in 20 years I don’t remember a class where my whole body wasn’t involved or where I was required to be ’stiff’”
Just sayin’
xx
November 29th, 2006 at 10:15 pm
Ps Aww a hippy birthing class (when did the hippies start charging $400 for anything)I hope it went well and that you didn’t learn anything too scary AHH did you close your eyes Zan?
Pss I am halfway through this show…just wanted to say I am surprised Jana doesn’t carry an umbrella living in Melb…four seasons in one day
Goodnight Ana xx