Saturday, 23 June 2012

Too modern for me


Picture this: A guy is going out with a girl he disappointed three years ago but who still loved him enough to take him back and has supported and believed in him for the past six months.

Out of the blue, he refriends his latest ex on Facebook. It doesn't go down very well with the long suffering present girlfriend. Not content with the refriending, this guy goes on to post a comment on an old photo of himself lying with the ex on a beach like two lovebirds: "I would give the world to have this back."

Am I too old-fashioned to think that this is the behaviour of a cad? Am I out of step in thinking that Facebook is not the best place to break up with your present girlfriend in such a sneaky but very public way? Am I a lunatic to believe that a real man does it face-to-face, in a compassionate and considerate way, giving the girl a chance to say how she feels in order to achieve some closure?

I don't know if I'm finally getting too old for these newfangled social network interactions, but I'm very disappointed in somebody very near to me and I needed to vent!

Friday, 22 June 2012

May I have the pleasure of this dance?

This lovely waltz with an Italian flavour was composed in 1917 by a fifteen-year-old, Alberto Marino, son of immigrants from Calabria. Bras used to be a very Italian quarter of Sao Paulo, Brazil. I'm not sure if it has retained the same character these days, as Sao Paulo never stops growing and changing...


Thursday, 21 June 2012

Respect my authority!

This is from Mrsgunka:

A DEA officer stopped at a ranch in Texas , where he talked with an old rancher.

He told the rancher, "I need to inspect your ranch for illegally grown drugs."

The rancher said, "Okay , but don't go in that field over there," as he pointed out the location.

The DEA officer verbally exploded saying, "Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me!"

Reaching into his rear pants pocket, he removed his badge and proudly displayed it to the rancher.

"See this badge?! This badge means I am allowed to go wherever I wish.... on any land!!! No questions asked or answers given!!! Have I made myself clear??? Do you understand ???"


The rancher nodded politely, apologized, and went about his chores.

A short time later, the old rancher heard loud screams, looked up, and saw the DEA officer running for his life, being chased by the rancher's big Santa Gertrudis bull......


With every step the bull was gaining ground on the officer, and it seemed likely that he'd sure enough get gored before he reached safety. The officer was clearly terrified.

The rancher threw down his tools, ran to the fence and yelled at the top of his lungs.....

"Your badge, show him your BADGE........ !!!"

Thank you, Mrsgunka.

Wednesday, 20 June 2012

Patience...

Grammy97 sent me this lovely joke:

A woman in a supermarket is following a grandfather and his badly behaved 3 year-old grandson. It's obvious to her that he has his hands full with the child screaming for sweets in the candy aisle, cookies in the cookie aisle; and for fruit, cereal and soda in the other aisles.


Meanwhile, Grandad is working his way around, saying in a controlled voice, "Easy, William, we won't be long, easy, boy."

Another outburst, and she hears the granddad calmly say, "It's okay, William, just a couple more minutes and we'll be out of here. Hang in there, boy."

At the checkout, the little terror is throwing items out of the cart, and Grandad says again in a calm and controlled voice, "William, William, relax buddy, don't get upset. We'll be home in five minutes; stay cool, William."

Very impressed, the woman goes outside where the grandfather is loading his groceries and the boy into the car.

She said to the elderly gentleman, "It's none of my business, but you were amazing in there. I don't know how you did it. That whole time, you kept your composure, and no matter how loud and disruptive he got, you just calmly kept saying that things would be okay.”

Grandad smiled, and the woman said, “William is very lucky to have you as his grandpa."

"Thanks," said the grandfather, "but I'm William....... the little shit's name is Kevin."

Thank you, Grammy97.

Tuesday, 19 June 2012

On being serious...

Not serious in 1954...

Another year, another birthday...

After I turned 30, I had my first baby and thought: "This is it, time to grow up and get serious."

It didn't happen. Then I turned 40.

Nope.

50 came soon enough and it still didn't happen.

Now I'm one year shy of my 60th and I'm beginning to suspect that I'll never be a real grown-up or get serious.

Just older...

Monday, 18 June 2012

Miracle

Mrsgunka has an endless supply of lovely short jokes (lucky us!).

A religious farmer lost his Bible out in the field.

A few days later he went to answer a noise at his door. Standing there was a cow, with his Bible in its mouth!

The farmer raised his eyes to heaven and thanked the Lord for this miracle.

"Not really," said the cow. "Your name was written inside."

Thank you, Mrsgunka.

*****

This is a good cartoon to accompany this joke:





Sunday, 17 June 2012

La Vezere

It's a glorious day here (for a change) and we went for a walk by the river after lunch. It's nice and cool, with the lovely relaxing noise of the water going through the rocks. Here's the Vezere, where they do the kayaking competitions during the summer:











And here is a little bit with sound:



Saturday, 16 June 2012

Short and sweet

Today's laugh comes courtesy of our Mrsgunka.


Two blondes were sipping their Starbucks when a truck went past loaded up with rolls of sod.


"I'm going to do that when I win the lottery," announced the first blonde.


"Do what?" asked her friend.


"Send my lawn out to be mowed."


Thank you, Mrsgunka.

Friday, 15 June 2012

Friday!

Here are some cool pictures to start the weekend on a nice note...















Thursday, 14 June 2012

Agent Murphy

Mrsgunka sent me this joke. For some reason, she thought of Irishgirl and Pallottine... ha ha!

A secret agent was sent to Ireland to pick up some very sensitive information from an agent called Murphy. His instructions were to walk around town using a code phrase until he met his fellow agent. He found himself on an isolated country road and finally ran into a farmer.


"Hello, said the agent, "I'm looking for a man called Murphy."

"Well you're in luck," said the farmer. "As it happens, there's a village right over the hill where a butcher is called Murphy, the baker is named Murphy, and three widows are called Murphy. In fact, my name is Murphy."

"Aha," thought the agent, "here's my man." So he whispered the secret code: "The sun is shining ... the grass is growing ... the cows are ready for milking."

"Oh," said the farmer, "you're looking for Murphy the spy. He's in the village over the other direction."


Cheers, Mrsgunka!

Wednesday, 13 June 2012

Oh, to be young and supple!

View_From_Here sent me this video. It does make aged backs hurt!



Thank you, View.

Monday, 11 June 2012

Did you lose a cat?

Mrsgunka sent me some photos of animals and this one was among them. Hey Sleuth, it made me think of you!


Sunday, 10 June 2012

Modern times

I can't remember if I've posted this before, but I found it in one of my folders and I think it's funny.




Friday, 8 June 2012

Contradictions


I find it amazing that in the country that gave us so many inventions and made so many discoveries there exists a political party that despises the intellectual elites and seems hellbent on dismantling the public school system.

The GOP presidential candidates pandered to religious extremist groups which encourage teaching creationism as science and repudiate the theory of evolution. They're suspicious of science and scientists.


Ironically, they like to remind us of American exceptionalism, but not for the countless remarkable achievements over the past few centuries. No, it seems that to them, America is exceptional in the sense of shoving "democracy" down people's throats, invading and manipulating other countries.

Ignorance and vulgarity are glorified. Television is full of inane programs that show people at their worst. Political pundits spout idiocies every single day. Dumbing down is rapidly accelerating.

Where would we be without the things on the following list, all invented or discovered by Americans? The people who dedicated their lives to make our lives better are now despised as belonging to some mythical, evil elite, as if being curious and innovative were cardinals sins.

There's so much to make any American proud, yet the GOP chooses to massage the egos of people who are proud to proclaim that the only book they've ever read is the bible.

Here's a very short list of American achievements and I would like to thank and pay tribute to the truly exceptional people who made all these things part of our everyday lives.

Morse code
Combine harvester
Circuit breaker
Medical glove
Safety razor
Hearing aid
Windshield wiper (invented by a woman)
Pop-up toaster
Band-aid
Iron lung
ATM
Microwave oven
Carbon dating
Correction fluid ( a woman again)
Air bags
Heart-lung machine
WD-40
CPR
Video tape
Laser
Integrated circuit
GPS
LED
Personal computer
Computer mouse
CD/DVD
Pocket calculators
MRI
Cellphone
Heimlich manoeuvre
Barcode
Digital camera
Lunar module
Space shuttle
Wheeled luggage
Nicotine patch
Vitamins A, B, E and many others
Several life-saving antibiotics
DNA structure
Heparin
Warfarin
Polio Vaccine

And many, many other things we take for granted.

Thursday, 7 June 2012

Wednesday, 6 June 2012

Something to make you smile

MD sent me a nice collection of photos, some cute, some funny and a couple of moving ones. Thank you, MD.









Tuesday, 5 June 2012

Mission accomplished

Our ceiling fan is installed and works beautifully. Our friends Keith and Hilary arrived at 11 am, we had coffee, then Keith and Peter got on with it while the girls caught up with the latest gossip and prepared lunch. The whole thing was up by the time we sat down to eat, all that was left to be done was connecting the cables, which Keith did in five minutes.

Now we have to wait for the next heatwave...

*****

Mrsgunka sent me a nice, short joke:

An old married couple was at home watching TV.

The husband had the remote and was switching back and forth between a fishing channel and the porn channel.


The wife became more and more annoyed and finally said,


"For god's sake! Leave it on the porn channel. You already know how to fish!"


Thank you, Mrsgunka.