Thought for the day :"Common Sense is not a gift it is a punishment - You have to deal with everyone who doesn’t have it!"
I blame Bob Williams for this one ...
"One of the greatest kings of England ruled between 871 and 899. He was named Alfred, and later became known as Alfred the Great.Alfred fought many battles against the Vikings, and was victorious in most of them, but on one occasion in 878, he was forced to flee. Passing through the woods, he came across a hut with smoke rising from the chimney, so the good king, who was exceptionally tired by this time, knocked on the door.An old lady stood there, surprised to see the tall handsome figure of the 30-year-old monarch standing in his brass armour on her doorstep.She had no idea that this man was her king of course, he didn’t look a lot like his picture on the coins, but he did look weary, so she took pity on him, and invited him in, and prepared bread, cheese and beer.Alfred for his part decided that he had to make himself as comfortable as he could, so he removed as much of his brass armour as he could without the help of a page who knew how things went together. The result was, although the breastplate came off, his legs were still firmly enclosed in brass plates.After he had eaten his modest meal, he settled down in the only chair to doze in front of the fire. The good dame took this opportunity to go out to look for firewood, and asked Alfred to watch the scones that she was cooking at the fireside. Alfred of course agreed readily.When he woke from his doze, Alfred was mortified to see that the fire had almost gone out, and the scones were still uncooked. However, he saw a pair of bellows hanging by the fire, and he had seen his servants use such things, therefore he had a good idea of how they worked, so he set to, to get the fire burning bright again.But, worse was to come. Alfred’s brass trousers were not designed for such work, and they locked solidly, so the king was stuck in crouched position, and was extremely uncomfortable. Alfred didn’t notice that as he struggled to stand up his arms were working the bellows furiously, and of course, the fire reacted, and flared high, burning the scones in the process.
Every British schoolchild will tell you that Alfred was famous for burning the cakes, but not many will know that the incident gave rise to an expression in the English language that lasts until this very day and age. “People in brass trousers shouldn’t blow scones”. "
In other news.....
Donald Trump mounted an overnight Twitter blitz demanding to jail his political enemies and call out allies he says are failing to arrest his rivals swiftly enough.
Trump twice amplified supporters’ criticisms of Attorney General William Barr, including one featuring a meme calling on him to “arrest somebody!” He wondered aloud why his rivals, like President Barack Obama, Democratic nominee Joe Biden and former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton hadn’t been imprisoned for launching a “coup” against his administration.
By early afternoon, Trump was letting loose his frustrations in an all-caps missive that seemed aimed at nobody in particular.
“DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS, THE BIGGEST OF ALL POLITICAL SCANDALS (IN HISTORY)!!! BIDEN, OBAMA AND CROOKED HILLARY LED THIS TREASONOUS PLOT!!! BIDEN SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO RUN - GOT CAUGHT!!!” Trump tweeted.
It was suggested that the White House has more active cases of Covid than Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and Vietnam put together - a sobering thought.
The day-long run of tweets and retweets marked the most frantic stretch of Trump’s public activity since he left the presidential suite at Walter Reed Medical Center and returned to treatment at the White House. They also underscored the degree to which Trump remains fixated on his grievances over the Russia probe, and often on obscure aspects of that investigation that are unintelligible to all but its most careful followers.
Since late Tuesday, Trump has vowed to declassify all documents he claims will show improper activity by Obama and his intelligence advisers — before quickly reversing himself and suggesting he had already done so “long ago” — and repeatedly cited Russian intelligence services’ claims that Clinton “stirred up” the Trump-Russia collusion scandal that has dogged his presidency.
The Trump administration has never held a firm position on whether the president’s tweets constitute direct orders; various tell-all books have described how top officials learned which of his instructions — lawful or otherwise — to ignore and which to accommodate. Courts have at times treated Trump’s tweets at official statements. But on other occasions they’ve been brushed off as political banter that lacks the force of law.
Trump’s Twitter feed tends to be a realtime barometer of his offline moods and whims, however — and themes he hits on repeatedly over 280 characters tend to surface in conversations he holds in private.
Since late Tuesday, Trump has vowed to declassify all documents he claims will show improper activity by Obama and his intelligence advisers — before quickly reversing himself and suggesting he had already done so “long ago” — and repeatedly cited Russian intelligence services’ claims that Clinton “stirred up” the Trump-Russia collusion scandal that has dogged his presidency.
The Trump administration has never held a firm position on whether the president’s tweets constitute direct orders; various tell-all books have described how top officials learned which of his instructions — lawful or otherwise — to ignore and which to accommodate. Courts have at times treated Trump’s tweets at official statements. But on other occasions they’ve been brushed off as political banter that lacks the force of law.
Trump’s Twitter feed tends to be a realtime barometer of his offline moods and whims, however — and themes he hits on repeatedly over 280 characters tend to surface in conversations he holds in private.
Grandiloquent word of the day - (from Scotland)
Good thing he has a modern phone - it would be harder with this - the first mobile phone ...
In other news - a trip around the garden to see the colours of Autumn changing the nature of the gardens...
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