Compulsory Bad Taste Michael Jackson Joke

Coroners who have examined Michael Jackson's remains have said that, on average, he was 45.27 years old at the time of death.

Late caption entry

And now Miss Finland wearing her national dress.

Horses for courses?

L'Oreal has been found guilty of racial discimination in France

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article6570856.ece

Apparently they wanted all-white teams to sell their Fructis shampoo.

But what about when they are selling suntanning products? Will there be reverse discrimination?

Caption Competition Results

1st: Peter who ,with a fine disregard for matters piscatory, had Greta saying "Your plaice or mine?"

2nd: Anon with the fish saying "Gottle o geer! Gottle o geer!"

3rd: J with her Irish pun


PS Following a tip-off from your blogger, Private Eye have covered the topic of fish censoring on Page 11 of the current issue (the cheque is in the post apparently)

Today's Typo's*

The Grauniad used to be much much more fun in the days before it got a SpellCheck. Now only the odd typo sneaks through. My favourite was "Mr Majorcan" instead of "Mr Major can".

As I typed "Robin Mason's funeral toady", I realised that I am not immune to this particular error- the perfectly-spelled typo.

Have any readers succumbed to such blunders? Did laughter ensue?

* Should that have been "Typos" or "Typoes" perhaps?

That pesky fly

Obama swatting a fly has had a major impact and not only for the fly.

1. A Utube version at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sV3_LUBGTU

2. John O'Dwyer, a colleague in the OU library, got a letter in the Guradian on the subject http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jun/19/guardian-letters

3. Radio 4 wheeled in Simon Blackburn, philosophy professor at Cambridge, to discuss the moral issues involved

How Green Was My University

Not very in the case of the Open University. We dropped from 75th to 101st out of 126 institutions acccording to the Times Higher today. What went wrong?

1. We could gain points if HR added some "responsibility for environmental management" to everybody's job spec.
2. Apparently we consume too much water. I suggest that we wash less and drink more beer.
3. We could score more if we had an "Ethical Investment Policy". I will ask our partners Raytheon (cruise missiles) what they think.
4. Two points are available for a "Fair-trade policy". If we got rid of the Nestle water coolers it might help.

Caption Competition No2

This was the version in the Guardian. It had been rejected by the Telegraph (see previous)who sent out for a slightly bigger cod.

Coming soon, Jordan's save the sardine campaign!

Entries so far

"‘tis the piece of cod that surpasseth all understanding" (Robin)

"She'd give anything for a coddle." (Angus)

And an Irish pun!:

"Cad ba mhaith leat?" (Jose)

Pronounced "cod buh woh latt" and means "What would you like?"

Caption competition

"Nice codpiece Greta"

All roads lead to Milton Keynes?

From our Egyptian Correspondent

Thanks to Peter Barnes who spotted this (last bullet point)

Feeling a little ho(a)rse?

"Just cut my finger nails and polish the hooves ,please"

Why no Labour Grandees?

The articles on the expenses scandal always refer to "Tory Grandees"

Wikipedia says:

Grandee is a word used either to render in English the Iberic high aristocratic title Grande, used by the Spanish, Portuguese and Brazilian peerage, or by analogy to refer to other people of a somewhat comparable, exalted position, roughly synonymous with magnate, and in particular by analogy to a formal upper level of the nobility, such as peerage (especially if granted parliamentary seats). By extension the term can refer informally to any important person of high status, particularly a wealthy, landed long-time resident in an area.

So it looks as thogh you need a title and land to be a grandee. Is Tony Benn a lapsed grandee?

Truck of the Day

DAILY EXPRESS TO EUROPE


Why? Haven't they suffered enough?

I Spy- Tarmac

This is the bit of tarmac that I stared at for about an hour on the M1 this morning. (Many more available on Flickr)