Hats- At the Royal Wedding Of Someone And Someone Else

Must comment on the most posh event of the year.
What's with the hats?  They are all pasted on the foreheads these days--creating modern versions of unicorns.

Victoria stood stiff, trying to balance the hat and hide her baby bump(why, I have no idea).  She is dressed all dark and somber too--you know, dear, they are getting married, not buried.

Victoria-- Can't Bend it like Beckham

This hat in beige looks like an enormous door knocker.  Anybody home?

Princess Beatrice

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson

                         Methinks the blue hat on the right looks like a kayak.


Sigh! There was a time when hats actually sat on heads.

An old flame of William's

           Can't seem to get this out of my mind.




                                                                                                  

My all-time favorite is THIS hat :

Talk Amongst Yourselves

I've not written anything for a while which prompts me to quote Mike Myers from "Coffee Talk with Linda Richman" on Saturday Night Live.  "I'm a little verklempt.  Talk amongst yourselves.  I'll give you a topic. The chickpea is neither a chick nor a pea.  Discuss."
That ought to buy me some time...

Happy Ugadi 2011

The New Year Srikhara begins today.  Happy new year to all.

What's in a Name? Apparently Everything

You like potato and I like potahto, 
You like tomato and I like tomahto
Potato, potahto, Tomato, tomahto, 
Let's call the whole thing off.

Louis Armstrong (or was it Gershwin?) gave up too easily.  If tomato, tomahto confused him,  how would he have referred to the Libyan leader Gaddafi? (Qadafi? Khadaffy?...Never mind.)

The Library of Congress lists 72 variations of the Libyan leader Gaddafi's name and newspapers have added 40 more to that list in the last decade. Here goes:

3.bp.blogspot.com

Qaddafi, Muammar;  Al-Gathafi, Muammar;  al-Qadhafi, Muammar;  Al Qathafi,  Mu'ammar; Al Qathafi, Muammar;  El Gaddafi, Moamar;  El Kadhafi, Moammar; El Kazzafi, Moamer;   El Qathafi, Mu'Ammar;  Gadafi, Muammar;  Gaddafi, Moamar;  Gadhafi, Mo'ammar;  

Gathafi, Muammar;  Ghadafi, Muammar;  Ghaddafi, Muammar; Ghaddafy, Muammar;   Gheddafi, Muammar;  Gheddafi, Muhammar;  Kadaffi, Momar;  Kad'afi, Mu`amar al-;  Kaddafi, Muamar;
Kaddafi, Muammar;  Kadhafi, Moammar;  Kadhafi, Mouammar;   

Kazzafi, Moammar;  Khadafy, Moammar;  Khaddafi, Muammar;  Moamar al-Gaddafi;   Moamar el Gaddafi;  Moamar El Kadhafi;  Moamar Gaddafi; Moamer El Kazzafi;  Mo'ammar el-Gadhafi;  Moammar El Kadhafi; Mo'ammar Gadhafi;   Moammar Kadhafi;  Moammar Khadafy;  Moammar Qudhafi; Mu`amar al-Kad'afi;   

Mu'amar al-Kadafi;  Muamar Al-Kaddafi;  Muamar Kaddafi; Muamer Gadafi;  Muammar Al-Gathafi;  Muammar al-Khaddafi;  Mu'ammar al-Qadafi; Mu'ammar al-Qaddafi;  Muammar al-Qadhafi;  Mu'ammar al-Qadhdhafi;  Mu`ammar al-Qadhdhāfī ;  Mu'ammar Al Qathafi;  Muammar Al Qathafi;  Muammar Gadafi;  Muammar Gaddafi;  Muammar Ghadafi;  Muammar Ghaddafi;  Muammar Ghaddafy;  Muammar Gheddafi;  Muammar Kaddafi;  Muammar Khaddafi;  Mu'ammar Qadafi;  Muammar Qaddafi;  Muammar Qadhafi;  Mu'ammar Qadhdhafi;  Muammar Quathafi;

Mulazim Awwal Mu'ammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi;

Qadafi, Mu'ammar;  Qadhafi, Muammar;  Qadhdhāfī, Mu`ammar; Qathafi, Mu'Ammar el; 

Quathafi, Muammar;  Qudhafi, Moammar;  Moamar AI Kadafi; Maummar Gaddafi; 

Moamar Gadhafi; Moamer Gaddafi;  Moamer Kadhafi;  Moamma Gaddafi;  Moammar Gaddafi;  Moammar Gadhafi;  Moammar Ghadafi;  Moammar Khadaffy;  Moammar Khaddafi; 

Moammar el Gadhafi;  Moammer Gaddafi; Mouammer al Gaddafi;  Muamar Gaddafi;  

Muammar Al Ghaddafi;  Muammar Al Qaddafi;  Muammar Al Qaddafi;  Muammar El Qaddafi;  Muammar Gadaffi; Muammar Gadafy;  Muammar Gaddhafi;  Muammar Gadhafi;  

Muammar Ghadaffi; Muammar Qadthafi;  Muammar al Gaddafi;  Muammar el Gaddafy;

Muammar el Gaddafi;  Muammar el Qaddafi;  Muammer Gadaffi,  Muammer Gaddafi;

Mummar Gaddafi,  Omar Al Qathafi,  Omar Mouammer Al Gaddafi;  Omar Muammar

Al Ghaddafi;  Omar Muammar Al Qaddafi;  Omar Muammar Al Qathafi;

Omar Muammar Gaddafi;  Omar Muammar Ghaddafi; Omar al Ghaddafi.


(courtesy blogs.abcnews.com)

Says The Straight Dope's Cecil Adams  (June 1986), "In most cases where there is doubt about how to spell somebody's name, the usual journalistic practice is to accept the preference of the namee. For many years, however, the Mummer was too busy promoting global chaos to devote much time to the niceties of orthography."  C.A. has a couple of suggestions too. "I say we just call him Duckbreath. It's short, it's easy to spell, and Lord knows it satisfies the soul" and "My personal feeling is to chuck all the preceding and just call him Poohead, which is easier to remember and has an undeniable evocative power as well. But to each his own."

Japan's Double Whammy--Earthquake and Tsunami

economywatch.com

Cannot bear to look at the pictures of devastation in Japan.  I hope Japan gets the help it needs.  Please donate generously to Red Cross and other relief organizations.

bh-news.com

Each day thousands of new pictures are posted on the internet of the destruction in Japan.  What a tragedy!  And now these folks have to battle the effects of radiation too?

Doing the Math

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority admits it lost $439,000 in 2009 because of human error and theft. And last year toll collectors' cash drawers came up short another $359,000. 

The turnpike authority says many drivers were also overcharged, which overall probably kept the turnpike's losses a lot lower.

(Toll collectors have also been accused of intimidating drivers.  One collector told a woman using a wrong lane that she would be strip searched.)

The Turnpike Authority is accepting proposals from private vendors to take over toll collection, one of the conditions being that the vendor will have to make up for any shortages.  Happily, 75% of the toll collection is now electronic so more accurate and will gradually phase out manual collection.  When that happens, I'll miss those sometimes friendly, sometimes surly men and women  because they are, at least, oases on lonely, dark winter morning commutes. Remember the sitcom "Dear John", and Ralph the toll-collector? "These civilians",  he would contemptuously say of car drivers -- sitting aloof from them and the traffic, cocooned in his little booth.

A Bizarro Robin Hood

Teachers should take cuts, pay more for health benefits and pensions while the rich should get tax breaks.  Hmm.  Governor Walker of Wisconsin has now donned the role of a bizarro Robin Hood!!  Or is he using the deficit as an excuse to hurt public sector unions? 

...even as he proclaims that Wisconsin faces a terrible fiscal crisis, he has been pushing through tax cuts that make the deficit worse. Mainly, however, he has made it clear that rather than bargaining with workers, he wants to end workers’ ability to bargain.

Paul Krugman, "Wisconsin Power Play" (Feb 20, 2011)

The Senate Democrats in the State of Wisconsin went into hiding because at least one Democrat needs to be present to vote on the bill to ban collective bargaining rights of public employees in the State.  

 Teachers protest

It must be catching---the fleeing bit, I mean --because the Democrats in the State of Indiana are also AWOL, battling the same issue. 

At this rate, the people of Wisconsin might as well try and become like Belgium which has managed without a government for 255 days, longer than Iraq.   An absence of a government in Belgium does not worry its people although the unemployment rate there is 8 %.  A "nonexistent national government is unable to spend any money, which has proved an economical policy". 

No pay for Governors and Senators and Wisconsin can still keep the unions.  An answer to its prayers!