But, politicians being politicians, they cannot even have a mock war like a Cold War without the stench of hypocrisy attached to it.
For example, the United States blames Russia for interfering in the internal affairs of Ukraine, as indeed it is currently doing. But at the same time it attaches no blame to itself for also interfering in the Ukraine’s internal affairs, which it also did – in the process helping to create the mess we now see on our TV screens.
Now, not content with that, America has been coercing Europe to go along with it in imposing economic sanctions on Russia. And by and large Europe has meekly and unthinkingly followed the US lead.
It started with foodstuffs and freezing bank accounts and assets, which Putin has managed to shrug off without too much trouble.
Now they’ve upped the ante and imposed sanctions on Russia’s supply of energy which is it’s big wealth earner and which given time will no doubt hurt a bit. I say “a bit” because any long term shortfall in energy revenue from Europe will be more than made up for by energy hungry customers like China, India and the rest of Asia. China, for example, recently closed a $400 billion natural gas deal with the Russians.
As a matter of fact, with winter approaching, the sanction game may well end up hurting Europe a lot more that it does Russia.
You see, the thing is, the energy sanctions imposed by the US and Europe are on the sale of oil and gas. These are the things that Europe desperately needs, but are things on which America does not rely on Russia for at all.
Wait a minute, there’s that smell again.
Worse than that, the US did not invoke sanctions on the sale of Russian nuclear fuel, which America does rely on Russia for, since it just happens to power 10% of all American homes.
Now do you smell it?
At the moment it looks like this Cold War is going to get very cold in Europe and very expensive as the cost of heating increases with the shortfall in supplies.
First of all congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks who won their first Super Bowl by crushing the Denver Broncos 43-8, in a rather one-sided game yesterday.
Today it’s the super quiz and this won’t be so easy.
Yes, another random selection of questions, a lot of which will set you a challenge I think.
As usual if you get stuck the answers can be found waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!
Enjoy and good luck.
.
.
Q. 1: Who won a best actor Oscar for his portrayal of an anthropophagus?
.
.
Q. 2: The Komodo dragon takes its name from as island in which country?
.
.
Q. 3: Which car company built the classic ‘1962 250 GT Berlinetta Boxer’ automobile?
.
.
Q. 4: Name the country from which the soup ‘Gazpacho’ originated?
.
.
Q. 5: Name the fictional detective associated with ‘Miss Felicity Lemon’?
.
.
Q. 6: In which famous movie would you find a robot called ‘Marvin’?
.
.
Q. 7: ‘Winter’, ‘Secret’, ‘Dirty’, ‘Pastry’, ‘Cola’, ‘Pig’, ‘Honey’, ‘Football’, ‘Rif’ and ‘Cod’ are all examples of what?
.
.
Q. 8: What sauce is made from the plant ‘Armorica rusticana’?
.
.
Q. 9: Which of these is a comic character who appears in three plays by Shakespeare?
a) Rifle b) Musket c) Pistol
.
.
Q. 10: Rather appropriately for this month, the following line ‘February made me shiver‘ is found in which song?
.
.
Q. 11: Contestants from which South American country have won the most Miss Universe titles?
.
.
Q. 12: Which of these actors has won the most Best Actor Oscars?
a) Tom Hanks b) Kevin Spacey c) Daniel Day Lewis d) Jeff Bridges
.
.
Q. 13: John James Audubon is famous for his paintings of what?
.
.
Q. 14: Which large sea in the south-western Pacific Ocean is named after a German?
.
.
Q. 15: ‘Monique Delacroix’ was the mother of which debonair hero?
.
.
Q. 16: What is the name and the color of Jim Henson’s most famous creation?
.
.
Q. 17: This word is the name for a magnificent palace, a variety of apple and a person or thing without equal, what is it?
.
.
Q. 18: Name the movie in which Michael Caine plays ‘Lt Gonville Bromhead’?
.
.
Q. 19: What does a woman raise and hold up in a ‘Pabana’?
.
.
Q. 20: Which very famous soothing English song uses the melody from Mozart’s ‘Ah! Vous dirai-je, Maman’?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
ANSWERS
.
Q. 1: Who won a best actor Oscar for his portrayal of an anthropophagus?
A. 1: Anthony Hopkins in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, an anthropophagus is a cannibal.
.
.
Q. 2: The Komodo dragon takes its name from as island in which country?
A. 2: Indonesia. (Probably because of the name a lot of people guess Japan.)
.
.
Q. 3: Which car company built the classic ‘1962 250 GT Berlinetta Boxer’ automobile?
A. 3: Ferrari.
.
.
Q. 4: Name the country from which the soup ‘Gazpacho’ originated?
A. 4: Spain. (You also get a point if you said Portugal.)
.
.
Q. 5: Name the fictional detective associated with ‘Miss Felicity Lemon’?
A. 5: Hercule Poirot.
.
.
Q. 6: In which famous movie would you find a robot called ‘Marvin’?
A. 6: ‘A Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy’.
.
.
Q. 7: ‘Winter’, ‘Secret’, ‘Dirty’, ‘Pastry’, ‘Cola’, ‘Pig’, ‘Honey’, ‘Football’, ‘Rif’ and ‘Cod’ are all examples of what?
A. 7: They are all names of different wars.
.
.
Q. 8: What sauce is made from the plant ‘Armorica rusticana’?
A. 8: Horseradish.
.
.
Q. 9: Which of these is a comic character who appears in three plays by Shakespeare?
a) Rifle b) Musket c) Pistol
A. 9: c) Pistol. (Pistol (fict) is a follower of Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 2 and The Merry Wives of Windsor. He is married to Mistress Quickly, and is a soldier in conflict with Fluellen, in Henry V.)
.
.
Q. 10: Rather appropriately for this month, the following line ‘February made me shiver‘ is found in which song?
A. 10: American Pie (Don McLean).
.
.
Q. 11: Contestants from which South American country have won the most Miss Universe titles?
A. 11: Venezuela (6, in 1979, 1981, 1986, 1996, 2008 and 2009).
.
.
Q. 12: Which of these actors has won the most Best Actor Oscars?
a) Tom Hanks b) Kevin Spacey c) Daniel Day Lewis d) Jeff Bridges
A. 12: c) Daniel Day Lewis
.
.
Q. 13: John James Audubon is famous for his paintings of what?
A. 13: Birds. (An original copy of his book ‘Birds of America’ sold in London at Sotheby’s for a record £7,321,250 (approximately $11.5 million) on 6 December 2010.)
.
.
Q. 14: Which large sea in the south-western Pacific Ocean is named after a German?
A. 14: The Bismarck Sea.
.
.
Q. 15: ‘Monique Delacroix’ was the mother of which debonair hero?
A. 15: James Bond.
.
.
Q. 16: What is the name and the color of Jim Henson’s most famous creation?
A. 16: Kermit the Frog and he is green.
.
.
Q. 17: This word is the name for a magnificent palace, a variety of apple and a person or thing without equal, what is it?
A. 17: Nonsuch.
.
.
Q. 18: Name the movie in which Michael Caine plays ‘Lt Gonville Bromhead’?
A. 18: Zulu.
.
.
Q. 19: What does a woman raise and hold up in a ‘Pabana’?
A. 19: Her skirt. The Pabana (or Peacock dance) is a solemn and stately Spanish dance.
.
.
Q. 20: Which very famous soothing English song uses the melody from Mozart’s ‘Ah! Vous dirai-je, Maman’?
Back at the end of July in a previous Sunday Sermon I wrote that:
“Troops are being sent to Syria and soon we’ll get bogged down in another mess that’s none of our business and will probably take many years and many lives to get us disentangled from – leaving behind chaos and confusion and a worse situation than the one we tried to fix.”
Of course it’s still being denied by Nobel Peace Prize winner Obama and his administration, but there is little doubt now that Syria is next on their war hit list and we are indeed about to be bogged down in another bloody mess.
Already naval and ground forces are being positioned, for example, the cruise missile laden USS Gravely, USS Ramage, USS Barry and USS Mahan are all in the eastern Mediterranean.
The only remaining part is to con-vince the American public, who do not want another Middle Eastern debacle, that they are wrong and that a strike on Syria is essential for their future well being.
The pretext that is going to be used this time is ‘evidence’ of the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime against the rebels. And the people that are being relied on to provide that ‘evidence’ are the very same people who provided false ‘evidence’ that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.
Everyone now knows and accepts that the WMD excuse for getting embroiled in Iraq was a deliberate deceit – otherwise known as a ‘lie’ – so the track record of the ‘evidence’ providers is neither good nor credible.
Already government apologists are making statements about how Syria had “used them [chemical weapons] before”, which is untrue. UN investigators charged the rebels, not Assad’s government’s forces, with use of chemical weapons in Syria earlier this year. Strangely (or perhaps not) Obama did not feel such a moral necessity to send a missile or two towards the rebels, instead he gave them more support.
Now add to that another good pinch of hypocrisy.
In fact make that two good pinches.
The first, because the rebellion now taking place within Syria would not have happened without the financial and military assistance of the US, along with Israel and Saudi Arabia. The hypocritical part of it all is that these three nations are in fact supporting people who, if successful, will become even more bitter enemies than the Assad regime.
And the second, because in an alleged effort to encourage ‘democracy’ in Syria, ‘democracy’ in America and Europe is being ignored.
For example, 64 percent of the French people have said they don’t want to get involved, but as in America the ‘people’ don’t have a say on the final outcome.
In Britain the Conservative Party Prime Minister David Cameron got a very embarrassing slap in the face in Parliament when he tried to emulate the lies of previous Prime Minister Tony Blair but lost a vote on military intervention in Syria. His spin doctors will be working overtime to cook up a good story for the next debate.
And it is plain that the majority of ordinary Americans do not want the President they elected on the promise of getting their troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, plunging them into another conflict which could prove to be as bloody if not bloodier. So plain in fact that until late Friday Obama had planned bypassing Congress obviously trying to avoid a similar embarrassment to that which was suffered by British PM Cameron.
Think this time it will only be a few missiles and drones and that troops won’t be involved? After all Obama has said “We’re not considering any boots on the ground approach”.
Then you need to think again.
Sure, at the outset Obama will try to fool the public by limiting attacks to missile strikes, but these alone won’t be enough. Even in today’s high-tech world you can’t wage wars without those boots on the ground. And in those boots are brave, but misled men and women, some of whom will lose their lives or be maimed as a result.
The doomsday pundits are saying that all this posturing and war mongering by Obama could spiral into something worse. Possibly even be the start of WW3. Unfortunately grandiose claims like these only serve to lessen the credibility of those who are arguing against another foreign intervention.
Putin seems to have more sense than Obama. The Russians have already made their mistake in Afghanistan and are unlikely to do it again. Even less do they want to start or become involved in, a major conflict – not at the moment anyway.
China has little interest in getting involved in a conflict in the middle east either. They will take the long view, and, as they did with Iraq, they will let the US waste billions more dollars blowing things down and building them up again and then they will step in and secure more oil supplies for themselves.
If it does get down to the nitty gritty one possibility that is more realistic is that the conflict could spread to other nations within the Middle East.
Iran for example has a mutual assistance pact with Syria. It also knows it is next on the US hit list so the longer the US is focused on Syria the longer it will postpone an attack on itself. It is not beyond imagination therefore that Iran could send arms and even troops to assist Assad.
Neither is it unreasonable to imagine that, if missile strikes on Syria result in retaliatory Syrian missile attacks on Israel, Israeli troops will also be sent into Syrian territory, with US forces backing them up shortly thereafter.
That is boots on the ground, no matter what denials you currently hear.
However it pans out, two things are certain. ‘Evidence’ or no ‘evidence’ Uncle Sam will stick his nose in once again. And if it all goes pear shaped, as it most likely will, then UP is the only way your gasoline and heating oil prices will be heading.
Fascinating facts never seem to come to an end, thank goodness.
Here is the latest selection from the fasab files. Always random, but I hope always interesting, there has to be at least one thing in here that you didn’t know.
Enjoy finding out.
.
.
The Lion King is the top grossing Disney movie of all-time
with domestic gross intake of $312 million.
.
.
The winter and summer seasons on Uranus
last the equivalent of 21 Earth years.
.
.
‘Cow’ is a Japanese brand of shaving foam.
.
.
The Nobel prizes (in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine,
Literature, and Peace) were first awarded in 1901.
.
.
The idea of Christmas cards was invented
by Englishman Henry Cole in 1843.
.
.
Before its name was changed, the ‘African’ Penguin
used be called the ‘Jackass’ Penguin
because of its donkey-like braying call.
.
.
The largest diamond that was ever found was 3106 carats.
.
.
More than $1 billion is spent each year on neck ties in the United States.
.
.
Ballroom dancing is a course at
Brigham Young University in Utah.
.
.
New York’s famous Central Park has 125 drinking fountains.
.
.
Before soccer referees started using whistles in 1878,
they used to rely on waving a handkerchief.
.
.
Jackrabbits (or Hares) can reach a speed of fifty miles per hour
and can leap as far as twenty feet.
.
.
Cheesecake was invented in Ancient Greece
and served to athletes at the very first Olympic Games.
.
.
As a rule, European carousels rotate clockwise,
while American merry-go-rounds spin counterclockwise.
.
.
In a study conducted regarding toilet paper usage,
Americans are said to use the most toilet paper per trip to the bathroom,
which was seven sheets of toilet paper per trip.
.
.
The trunk of an elephant can hold up to two gallons of water.
.
.
In the movie “Babe”, the piglet was played by
over 30 different piglets as they outgrew the part so quickly
during the production of the film.
.
.
There are more Barbie dolls in Italy
than there are Canadians in Canada.
.
.
Bird droppings are the chief export of Nauru,
an island nation in the Western Pacific.
.
.
Despite the horrific display, nearly two-thirds of those
aboard the LZ 129 Hindenburg survived its fiery crash in 1937.
Another chance to pit your wits against the fasab quiz archives with another random set of twenty questions.
Although there are one or two very easy ones, I think quite a lot of them are difficult this time, but here’s your chance to prove me wrong.
As always the answers are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below – but NO cheating.
Enjoy and good luck!
.
.
Q. 1: What does the http:// in web URLs stand for?
.
.
Q. 2: What is the hood ornament on a Rolls Royce called?
.
.
Q. 3: Which former president of the United States, in his college days, worked as a male model, and even appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan?
.
.
Q. 4: In what country would you find the strangely named lakes “Titicaca” and “Poopo”?
.
.
Q. 5: Sleeping through the winter is called “hibernation,” but what is the word that describes sleeping through hot and dry periods like summer?
.
.
Q. 6: Members of the band “ZZ Top” are famous for their beards, but what was the surname of the only member who hadn’t got one?
.
.
Q. 7: In 1918 the so-called “Spanish Flu” spread around the world killing tens of millions of people, but where did the outbreak start?
.
.
Q. 8: Who was the only U.S. president never to sign a bill into law?
.
.
Q. 9: On which continent are the 50 tallest mountains on Earth are all located? (This is easy if you think about it)
.
.
Q. 10: Which world famous company’s name means “three oceans” in Japanese because the company’s founder wanted to sell his wares across the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific oceans?
.
.
Q. 11: How old was Albert Einstein, a genius if ever there was one, when he learned how to drive?
.
.
Q. 12: What was the first ever registered domain name?
.
.
Q. 13: What city is America’s skyscraper capital?
.
.
Q. 14: Earlier this month the United States celebrated its birthday, but what is the only other country in the world to celebrate its birthday on July 4th?
.
.
Q. 15: Who is O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois named after?
.
.
Q. 16: The citizens of which country eat more donuts per capita than any other?
.
.
Q. 17: What European country is the world’s leading exporter of false teeth?
.
.
Q. 18: At more than 3.3 million square miles, what is the name of the world’s largest hot desert?
.
.
Q. 19: We have all seen a Snellen Chart, but what is it?
.
.
Q. 20: Possibly some of you have said “!#@%” when faced with a difficult question in this test, but what is the name for symbols such as “!#@%” that are used to indicate swearing in comic strips?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
ANSWERS
.
Q. 1: What does the http:// in web URLs stand for?
A. 1:The http:// in web URLs stands for “Hyper Text Transfer Protocol.”
.
.
Q. 2: What is the hood ornament on a Rolls Royce called?
A. 2: The Spirit of Ecstasy.
.
.
Q. 3: Which former president of the United States in his college days, worked as a male model, and even appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan?
A. 3: Former president Gerald Ford wasn’t always gray-haired and paunchy — in his college days, he worked as a male model, and even appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan.
.
.
Q. 4: In what country would you find the strangely named lakes “Titicaca” and “Poopo”?
A. 4: In Bolivia, South America.
.
.
Q. 5: Sleeping through the winter is called “hibernation,” but what is the word that describes sleeping through hot and dry periods like summer?
A. 5: Sleeping through hot and dry periods like summer is called “estivation.”
.
.
Q. 6: Members of the band “ZZ Top” are famous for their beards, but what was the surname of the only member who hadn’t got one?
A. 6: Ironically, the only member of ZZ Top without a beard has the last name Beard.
.
.
Q. 7: In 1918 the so-called “Spanish Flu” spread around the world killing tens of millions of people, but where did the outbreak start?
A. 7: The so-called “Spanish Flu” of 1918 started at a military camp in Kansas before spreading around the world and killing millions.
.
.
Q. 8: Who was the only U.S. president never to sign a bill into law?
A. 8: William Henry Harrison was the only U.S. president never to sign a bill into law — he died before having the opportunity.
.
.
Q. 9: On which continent are the 50 tallest mountains on Earth are all located? (This is easy if you think about it)
A. 9: Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth is located in the Himalayas in Asia so since it has to be one of the 50 tallest mountains on Earth, they all have to be located in Asia.
.
.
Q. 10: Which world famous company’s name means “three oceans” in Japanese because the company’s founder wanted to sell his wares across the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific oceans?
A. 10: Sanyo means “three oceans” in Japanese.
.
.
Q. 11: How old was Albert Einstein, a genius if ever there was one, when he learned how to drive?
A. 11: Albert Einstein never learned how to drive.
.
.
Q. 12: What was the first ever registered domain name?
A. 12: The first registered domain name was symbolics.com. It was registered on March 15th, 1985.
.
.
Q. 13: What city is America’s skyscraper capital?
A. 13: Chicago is America’s skyscraper capital. The city has more 1,000-foot tall buildings than any other U.S. city.
.
.
Q. 14: Earlier this month the United States celebrated its birthday, but what is the only other country in the world to celebrate its birthday on July 4th?
A. 14: The only other country in the world to celebrate the United States’ birthday, July 4th, is Denmark.
.
.
Q. 15: Who is O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois named after?
A. 15: O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois is named after Al Capone’s lawyer’s son, Lt. Cmdr. Butch O’Hare.
.
.
Q. 16: The citizens of which country eat more donuts per capita than any other?
A. 16: Canadians eat more donuts per capita than any other country.
.
.
Q. 17: What European country is the world’s leading exporter of false teeth?
A. 17: Liechtenstein is the world’s leading exporter of false teeth.
.
.
Q. 18: At more than 3.3 million square miles, what is the name of the world’s largest hot desert?
A. 18: At more than 3.3 million square miles, the Sahara Desert is as large as the world’s next 20 largest hot deserts combined.
.
.
Q. 19: We have all seen a Snellen Chart, but what is it?
A. 19: The eye test chart with the big ‘E’ on top is known as the Snellen Chart.
.
.
Q. 20: Possibly some of you have said “!#@%” when faced with a difficult question in this test, but what is the name for symbols such as “!#@%” that are used to indicate swearing in comic strips?
A. 20: Symbols such as “!#@%” that are used to indicate swearing in comic strips are called grawlix.
My father, who I loved and respected deeply, passed quite suddenly many years ago one August 12th. Now don’t worry, tissues not required, this isn’t going to be one of those sentimental posts as you will see in a moment, just setting a principle.
You see ever since that day I always know that when August 12th comes round that is the anniversary of his passing. Not that I do much to commemorate it or anything, but every year – same date – that’s it.
So why am I talking about something that happened in mid August now at the end of March?
Well, because they tell me this weekend is Easter and that always messes with my logic circuits.
Easter is a day that is honored by nearly all of contemporary Christianity to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which took place on the third day after his crucifixion at Calvary.
So here’s a simple question.
If someone we know dies on a certain day of a certain month that date remains constant, it does not change, the anniversary is the same every year.
So why do we celebrate the Resurrection (death plus three days) of Jesus on such wildly varying dates?
For example in 2011 it was April 24th, last year it was April 8th, this year it is March 31st and next year it will be April 20th.
The only way that makes sense, is if the date we are told to celebrate has as little to do with the Resurrection and Christianity as have eggs, bunnies or candy.
It doesn’t seem to matter any more in America and many other western countries because the powers that be are intent on abandoning their Christian ethos for fear of offending those who refuse to abandon their religious beliefs. They are quite happy with the confusion.
It is, however, fairly clear if you do even a little bit of research on the subject, (and I encourage you to do your own research and not take my word for it), that most of the things people now commonly associate with Easter have in fact pagan, rather than Christian, origins.
And the pagan roots of Easter lie in the worship of pagan gods and in celebrating the spring equinox, which marks the end of winter and beginning of spring. Biologically and culturally, it represents for northern climates the end of a “dead” season and the rebirth of life, as well as the importance of fertility and reproduction.
References to a similar holiday have been found as far back as 2400 BC (that’s ‘B’ as in ‘before’ ‘C’ Christ) when, for example, the city of Ur apparently had a celebration dedicated to the moon and the spring equinox which was held some time during our months of March or April.“Ishtar”, which is pronounced “Easter” was a day that commemorated the resurrection of a pagan ‘god’ called “Tammuz”, who was believed to be the only begotten son of the moon-goddess and the sun-god. In other cultures he acquired different names, including “Osiris”, “Orpheus”, and “Dionysus”.
The Phrygian fertility goddess “Cybele”, was one of the most popular of these pagan gods, and worship of “Cybele” started in Rome around 200 BC. Ironically, a cult dedicated to her was even located on what is today Vatican Hill.
Even today modern Wiccans and neo-pagans celebrate “Ostara,” or “Eostre” which are derived from the Anglo-Saxon lunar goddess, “Eostre”.“Eostre’s” feast day is held on the first full moon following the vernal equinox – a similar calculation as is used for Easter among Western Christians. On this date the goddess “Eostre” is believed by her followers to mate with the solar god, conceiving a child who would be born nine months later on Yule, the winter solstice which falls on December 21st.
Two of “Eostre’s” most important symbols are the hare (both because of its fertility and because ancient people saw a hare in the full moon) and the egg, which symbolized the growing possibility of new life. Each of these symbols continues to play an important role in modern celebrations of Easter.
So Easter, like many other things the establishment encourages us to believe, is not quite what it purports to be.
I’ll leave the last word to someone smarter than me,
fasab 