Ken Gargett

a friend sent this through... The History of the Middle Finger: Well, now......here's something I never knew before, and now that I know it, I feel compelled to send it on to my more intelligent friends in the hope that they, too, will feel edified..... Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore they would be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous English longbow was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as 'plucking the yew' (or 'pluck yew'). Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset and they began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying, See, we can still pluck yew! Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodentalfricative 'F', and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute! It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as 'giving the bird.' And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing. Didn't yew!!

you really need to have a specialist have a look at it. i have had a dud knee for years. apparently no cartilage where there should be cartilage. pain varies a lot. not so bad last few years but there were times when i could hardly move it without screaming. told years ago to have a replacement (not by an expert) but still going. mine from years gone past - hockey goalie but even worse, a wicketkeeper. not sure that there is anything in sport worse for knees. i am fortunate in that my uncle is a senior orthopod and quite a few mates are also orthopods so they can keep a bit of an eye on it (but they do insist on x-rays), but in the end, it will need replacing. while it is not too bad, i'm okay with it. my days of marathons are long gone.

you should try it!!! it was good fun. i will say that it may be a very long while before we go down the lambrusco road but the way to cover that would be a sparkling red one.

is that what the call Jurassic lake? monster trout.

john, no question a great achievement by sinner and his opponent but now think of the achievements of heather mackay, going years without losing a set.

i have a question. do i get a mute button?

i have thrown myself on the dirt at your feet with the most humble apologies. i misread but now i have it cleared. however, there was no apology for the first one. that was entirely you. allow me that remaining tiny shred of dignity

well, hasn't this just put the cherry on top of today. the most humble apologies. i did indeed say that. i misread yours and thought it was the 9th. specsavers, here i come. fortunately, i have now cleared the 7th in any event. i will be spending the rest of today feeling mortifyingly contrite. consider it locked in.

happy birthday Di!! hope it is your real birthday and it was not changed to suit others without any consultation.

i am hoping to be available. but as per the other thread, it helps when someone tells me the new date. i need to rejig stuff and can't confirm till later today but i think it will be good.

I've just noticed the new dates. were we not pushing it to aussie time, Monday 9th? if we are changing dates, may i impertinently request that someone at least mention the changes to me. i need to rejig something. pretty sure it will be okay but i won't know now till later today (had i not noticed the post, you realise i would have been clocking in on Monday week).

In the Early 1900s, the United States Postal Service Would Let You Mail a Child A postal carrier with a special delivery. | Smithsonian Institution, The United States Postal Service has a proud tradition of transporting letters and packages in a timely and efficient manner. Parcels were a later addition; the USPS was granted the ability to deliver items greater than 4 pounds as of January 1, 1913. Like any new service, there were attempts to game the system. In this case, it involved parents attempting to mail their children. According to the Smithsonian, it was not unheard of for enterprising—and some might say grossly incompetent—parents to exploit the new Parcel Post service for the transport of tykes. One such example occurred in Ohio, when Jesse and Mathilda Beagle mailed their son, 8-month-old James, to his grandmother a few miles away, paying just 15 cents for the service. (Had the postal carrier lost him, there was recourse: the Beagles insured James for $50.) Such stories appeared periodically in the media, with parents effectively using the Postal Service as a courier for their child. In 1914, 4-year-old Charlotte May Pierstorff traveled 73 miles by train in Idaho to her grandparents’ house. Her mother’s cousin worked for the railway mail service and accompanied her. Pierstorff’s legend eventually grew to the point where she was said to have been mailed under the “chicken rate” for livestock, but this is apparently incorrect, as no such rate existed until 1918. She did, however, reportedly have postage stamps stuck to her coat. While such stories are true, they typically happened in rural areas, where postal carriers were sometimes the only reliable method of transport and were viewed by households as trustworthy. Despite that hearty endorsement, the Postal Service quickly made it known that carriers were not to accept children and the practice soon fell out of favor. All told, as many as seven children may have been sent along mail routes, with one traveling 720 miles, before the post office insisted that bees and bugs were the only live things acceptable.

just found this thread. good lord, i hope you have been drinking heavily. an influencer? did i offend you somehow?