Quotulatiousness

February 8, 2019

History Summarized: The Portuguese Empire

Filed under: Americas, Europe, History, Humour, India — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Overly Sarcastic Productions
Published on 9 Nov 2018

Play World of Warships for free: http://bit.ly/2zyT191. New players will receive 1 MILLION free credits, the historical premium ship HMS Campbeltown and more by using my code PLAYWARSHIPS2018

What happens when you spend a few decades casually getting really good at seafaring, only to find that there’s suddenly a whole new world that’s only accessible to societies with exceptional sailing prowess? — You get fabulously rich, that’s what. Watch along and learn all about the surprising success of Portugal!

PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/OSP

From the comments:

BenficaHaze 1904
1 month ago
Portugal didn’t follow Spain. Portugal started the discoveries 60-70 years before Spain

Pietro SF
1 month ago
The video already starts badly by suggesting Portugal only entered the Discoveries as a response to the Spaniards, when in reality the Portuguese pioneered the Age of Discovery, starting it half a century before Columbus’ Voyage.

Daniel Ghan
1 month ago
Nice video, but 2 significant errors:
1) Columbus didn’t motivate Portugal’s exploration as the video implies; rather, it was the other way around. The Portuguese began searching for a way to India around Africa after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Columbus, who was Italian, asked the Portuguese king to finance his expedition but was refused, and only then went to Spain.
2) Magellan (Magalhães) was Portuguese but his expedition was sponsored by Spain and he had a Spanish crew. So the expedition would not have returned to Lisbon.

Metriximor
1 month ago
Alright, Portuguese here, just wanna say overall you did a great job but I wanna clear a few misconceptions.

Portugal didn’t just spring up into action because of Columbus, in fact, he even asked the Portuguese Crown for funding before he asked the Spanish Crown. Portuguese discoveries began in 1418 with Madeira, 1427 we found Açores, then in 1434 Gil Eanes goes around Cape Bojador, 1472 we found Newfoundland, but most importantly, in 1487 Bartolomeu Dias goes around the Cape of Storms, and looking out at the huge possibilities of his accomplishment he declares it to be the Cape of Good Hope.

This was all before Columbus even thought of sailing the Atlantic(1488) or contacting the Spanish(1489), so saying Portugal just began exploring because of him is downplaying it a lot.

Otherwise, fantastic work, love your channel and content keep it up 😀
PORTUGAL CARALHO

February 6, 2019

“The haggis croquette is the most London-thing ever done in London”

Filed under: Britain, Economics, Humour — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

At the IEA, Andy Mayer reports on the first attempted Burns Night Supper in the City of London:

Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish made with sheep’s heart, liver and lungs, and stomach (or sausage casing); onion, oatmeal, suet, and spices. It’s either a local delicacy or an elaborate joke played on the English (take your pick).
Photo by “Lordvolom1” via Wikimedia Commons.

Last week the City of London held their first attempt at a Burns night supper, with the First Minister and representatives of the Scottish Government as guests of honour.

It is a difficult tradition to get wrong. Largely it requires steaming piles of Scotland’s revenge on the sausage, poetry that the English politely pretend to understand while feeling vaguely threatened, and bonhomie to overcome it, enabled through litres of distillate infused with the flavour of an entire peat bog.

The City served haggis croquettes, with wine.

There’s possibly a Glaswegian satirist somewhere who’s just given up. “Ach I canne compete. The sassenach dough-monkeys just served wee Nicola a haggis croquette, on Rabbie Burns night! I’m breaking-me pen.”

Meanwhile in Shoreditch two Millenials have just set up the Haggis Croquette Cafe, serving Organic Iron-Bru made from recycled plastic girders. The haggis croquette is the most London-thing ever done in London.

I spent much of the evening talking to trade officials. Their job is to sell Scottish opportunity around the world and open up its markets.

This was interesting – how would descendants of Adam Smith visiting the birthplace of trade economist David Ricardo define their comparative advantage? What can Scotland do better than anyone else? What might they do well enough that they can carve out positions, despite larger rivals, better off leaving such things to Scotland? Fundamentally, how are they going to compete?

There was an uneasy pause after these questions. And then to paraphrase, “Oh no, we don’t want to compete, we want to cooperate! With everyone! Not being threatening, that’s our advantage!”

I feel very sure that Smith, on hearing this, would have reached out, to extend the invisible hand of history across time, to give this official a mild slap. “Encouraging competition, with and from other places, and then getting out of the way, is the whole point”, he might say.

Yes, Minister – The North

Filed under: Britain, Government, Humour, Military — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Greger Tomasson
Published on 9 Oct 2012

February 2, 2019

Remy: Better Now?

Filed under: Economics, Humour, Politics — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

ReasonTV
Published on 1 Feb 2019

Promised an improved way of life, Remy does everything he can to believe in a new ideology – except the math.

Written and performed by Remy. Video produced by Austin Bragg. Music tracks and mastering by Ben Karlstrom.

Reason is the planet’s leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won’t get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.

—————-

LYRICS
Listened to those leaders so intently
Those Che Guevara shirts all seemed so trendy
Thought that things would be so good and friendly
So why’m I eating my neighbor’s dog Benji?

Twenty million killed, sure, that’s stuff I don’t like
But I could stay on Momma’s plan for the rest of my life
A guaranteed job digging ditches? Well what’s not to like?
It’s failed miserably each time so trying again seemed wise

Now I’m looting, looting, looting, looting
Grabbing wieners like I’m Kevin Spacey
Told a crowd “we need free markets instead”
Now my neck is no longer attached to my head

They promised things would all be better now, better now
If pure equality was finally found, finally found
Now we’re all grocery shopping at the pound, at the pound
Said that we’d have everything
Now we don’t have anything
Whoa…

How much plasma are they gonna take?
Before I finally have enough to trade?
For toilet paper or a rodent steak?
I keep on looking back on better days

They promised things would all be better now, better now
If free expression it was not allowed, not allowed
But I just caught my Roomba texting Mao
Said that we’d have everything
Now we don’t have anything

They promised things would all be better now, better now
If men with guns took farmers’ land and plow, land and plow
Now it’s another night of Rat Kung Pao, Rat Kung Pao
Said that we’d have everything
Now we don’t have anything

They promised things would all be better now, better now
If we just nationalized oil in the ground, in the ground
Now somehow gasoline can not be found, not be found
Said that we’d have everything
Now we don’t have anything

January 30, 2019

QotD: Political memoirs

Filed under: Books, Humour, Politics, Quotations — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 01:00

We’re told not to judge books by their covers, but faced with these two it’s hard not to. Harman’s is one of those thick, expensive tomes which, understandably, politicians write when they’ve had enough earache and, unbelievably, publishers keep buying for vast sums, despite the fact that a fortnight after publication you can pick them up cheaper than an adult colouring book in a remainder bin. The old saw that ‘all political careers end in failure’ might now better be: ‘All political careers end with a book on Amazon going for less than the price of the postage.’

Julie Burchill, “Harriet Harman and Jess Phillips: poles apart in the sisterhood”, The Spectator, 2017-02-25.

January 29, 2019

history of japan

Filed under: History, Humour, Japan, WW1, WW2 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

bill wurtz
Published on 2 Feb 2016

http://billwurtz.com

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QotD: Fanaticism

Filed under: Humour, Quotations — Nicholas @ 01:00

Esar’s Comic Dictionary (1943) contains two definitions of the word “fanatic,” often wrongly attributed (by me, among others) to Winston Churchill: First, “A person who redoubles his efforts after having forgotten his aims.” Second (my favorite), “One who can’t change his opinion and won’t change the subject.”

Kevin D. Williamson, “No Republicans Need Apply”, National Review, 2017-02-12.

January 22, 2019

Rowan Atkinson Live – Headmaster kills student

Filed under: Britain, Education, Humour — Tags: — Nicholas @ 02:00

Rowan Atkinson Live
Published on 24 Jan 2014

One of the most loved clips from Rowan’s vast back catalogue, a hilarious sketch where the angry teacher played by Rowan invites a father in to talk about the trouble with son…

Whether mesmerising us with the sheer visual mastery of Mr. Bean, beguiling us with the acerbic wit of Edmund Blackadder, or simply entertaining us as the suave, but rather hapless British Secret Agent Johnny English, you surely won’t have escaped the comic genius that is Rowan Atkinson.

In Rowan Atkinson Live, co-written with Richard Curtis (4 Weddings & a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually) and Ben Elton, Atkinson runs the whole gamut of his remarkably versatile 30 year career, with sketches, mimes and monologues that are guaranteed to have you shedding tears of laughter. Performing live on stage alongside ‘straight man’ Angus Deayton, the show features a number of original and familiar routines, including sketches that appeared in the original Mr. Bean series.

I first heard this sketch many years ago (pre-internet days when we knapped our own flint) on an audio tape of clips from the Dr. Demento radio show, put together by my friend William. He didn’t know the performer, so he titled it “Fatal beatings”.

January 21, 2019

Responding to “Konmari”‘s book de-cluttering advice

Filed under: Books, Humour — Tags: — Nicholas @ 03:00

I haven’t read any of her work, but based on David Warren’s response to it, I doubt I’d find it interesting or enjoyable:

Among the proposals of this “Konmari,” as she is called by her followers, is to jettison all books that have not been read. Too, all those which have been read already. The one you are reading may be kept, but only till it is finished, lest it create a temptation to re-reading. I would certainly apply this principle to self-help books.

But every book I have retained, sparks joy; and their spines alone may trigger an imaginative recollection of the contents, and the times and spaces among which it was once read. As Coleridge said, books are corporeal, living things; at any moment their wings may re-open, for another flight into one’s soul.

A correspondent in western Massachusetts was recently married. She moved in with her new husband, together with fifty cartons of books — an amount he may have deemed excessive. My advice: any number of cartons that can be counted, is too few.

“Have you read all these books?” I have been asked by visitors, so many times, that I have run out of clever replies. Among them: “Are you insinuating that this is all I’ve ever read?” … Or, “Dear me, yes, good point. All my other flats are like this, too.” … Or: “No, I can’t read, but I hired a highly literate interior decorator.”

The other day I was asked this by a policeman. He was gathering information on a burglar who had happened to pass my way. I hope he doesn’t report me for hoarding. Apparently there are now laws against that; Twisted Nanny State never sleeps.

When my son has a new acquaintance over to our place, one of the almost inevitable first comments from the new visitor is about “all the books”, and they rarely get to see the actual library…

QotD: Argument

Filed under: Humour, Politics, Quotations — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 01:00

Let a certain note be struck, let this or that corn be trodden on — and it may be corn whose very existence has been unsuspected hitherto — and the most fair-minded and sweet-tempered person may suddenly be transformed into a vicious partisan, anxious only to ‘score’ over his adversary and indifferent as to how many lies he tells or how many logical errors he commits in doing so.

George Orwell, “Notes on Nationalism”, Polemic, 1945-05.

January 16, 2019

A Tourism Video For Australia (Made By A New Zealander)

Filed under: Australia, Humour — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 02:00

chrisdrabble
Published on 3 Dec 2018

“A Tourism Video For Australia (Made By A New Zealander)” is my mock tourism video advertising North Queensland, Australia.

“Fancy a swim in a tropical paradise? You can’t do that here because there’s crocodiles.”

So come and explore Australia’s vast range of animals that want you dead, including ‘salties’, ‘stingers’, snakes, spiders, and cassowaries.

Please LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and turn on NOTIFICATIONS for more mock tourism videos as I set my sights on promoting Australia’s other states, as well my home country, New Zealand.

January 9, 2019

“I felt resolved to write this article in order to defend my generation”

Filed under: Humour, Politics — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 03:00

Godfrey Elfwick refuses to accept the abuse heaped on his generation by “dinosaurs” like Louis C.K.

I sat down on my futon the other night to enjoy a nourishing but humble bowl of organic vegan noodles with wakame seaweed and steamed honey-gilded pak choi. As I sat cross-legged at my chabudai and browsed the Wot’s Woke blogosphere on my iPad, the enjoyment of my simple peasant’s dish was severely marred as I came across a story about Louis C.K.

The article contained the link to a clip of a ‘so-called’ ‘stand up’ ‘comedy’ ‘routine’ in which ‘Louis’ ‘C.K.’ stood in front of his ‘audience’ and ‘delivered’ what can only be described as a torrent of hatred, the like of which I have not experienced since Ricky Gervais refused to call Caitlyn Jenner stunning and brave. He was accusing my generation of being weak and overemotional. Disrespecting the genuine need for nonbinary pronouns. My shoulders began to shake. Blind rage took over as I hurled my bowl of artisan noodles across the room, where they rained down like the tentacles of a tiny sea monster onto my priceless collection of Thelonius Monk original vinyl recordings.

As I sat there on my zabuton cushion, watching pieces of pak choi slide nonchalantly down the face of the greatest improvisational jazz pianist who ever lived, I felt hot angry tears drip down onto my cheeks. I rolled onto my back and wailed like a newborn babe. I let the sound of my screams cleanse and renew me. I did not hold back. After a while, maybe an hour or so, I curled my body into the fetal position where I slowly drifted off into an exhausted sleep.

I awoke around 4 a.m., the spiteful words of that vile white cisgender ogre still ringing in my ears. I had no more tears to give, I was spent. Instead, I felt resolved to write this article in order to defend my generation. To combat the hatred of old white cisgender men who accuse nonbinary people of being ‘attention seekers’ who only obsess over their fashionably made-up pronouns because they have a need to constantly feed their victimhood fetish… I mean, as if that could even be true! I felt resolved to confront this detestable bigotry head on. To fight the oppression with my fists a-flailing (metaphorically). To resist the prejudice (literally). To rise up to the challenge of our rival. To fight for the will to survive.

January 4, 2019

SplashData’s Top 100 Worst Passwords of 2018

Filed under: Humour, Technology — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

SplashData's Top 100 Worst Passwords of 2018 from John Hall on Vimeo.

December 26, 2018

QotD: Solipsistic self-esteem

Filed under: Health, Humour, Quotations — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 01:00

Once you even begin to consider the question of your self-esteem, you are a lost soul; you have entered a Hampton Court maze of self-absorption, with very little chance of emergence from it, and with no hope of learning anything useful from it. To change the metaphor, the search for self-esteem is a swamp, a quicksand; or to change it yet again, it is to the soul what Émile Coué’s method, with its mantra that every day in every way you were getting better and better, was to the body. Every day, in every way, I am growing more and more conceited.

Theodore Dalrymple, “Lose Yourself”, Taki’s Magazine, 2018-11-10.

December 25, 2018

QotD repost: Sir Humphrey’s bureaucratic holiday wishes

Filed under: Britain, Bureaucracy, Government, Humour, Quotations — Tags: — Nicholas @ 01:00

Sir Humphrey: I wonder if I might crave your momentary indulgence in order to discharge a by no means disagreeable obligation which has, over the years, become more or less established practice in government service as we approach the terminal period of the year — calendar, of course, not financial — in fact, not to put too fine a point on it, Week Fifty-One — and submit to you, with all appropriate deference, for your consideration at a convenient juncture, a sincere and sanguine expectation — indeed confidence — indeed one might go so far as to say hope — that the aforementioned period may be, at the end of the day, when all relevant factors have been taken into consideration, susceptible to being deemed to be such as to merit a final verdict of having been by no means unsatisfactory in its overall outcome and, in the final analysis, to give grounds for being judged, on mature reflection, to have been conducive to generating a degree of gratification which will be seen in retrospect to have been significantly higher than the general average.

Jim Hacker: Are you trying to say “Happy Christmas,” Humphrey?

Sir Humphrey: Yes, Minister.

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