Scribal Terror

Piaf!

Mummified fairy found in Derbyshire

This (via Neatorama) is the sort of thing that happens when people don't read the Times. Flagrant fairy endangerment was reported as far back as November of 2005:

Marcus Salter, head of Genesis Properties, estimates that the small colony of fairies believed to live beneath a rock in St Fillans, Perthshire, has cost him £15,000. His first notice of the residential sensibilities of the netherworld came as his diggers moved on to a site on the outskirts of the village, which crowns the easterly shore of Loch Earn.

He said: “A neighbour came over shouting, ‘Don’t move that rock. You’ll kill the fairies’.”

The entire project had to be redesigned to accommodate the fairies' living arrangements and the unwillingness of the local populace to disturb large rocks or standing stones. Clearly, though, too little too late. 

Sure you were, but now you're not

Lisa at Exploding Aardvark has a "this day in history feature," and I particularly savored her phrasing here:

1596 A woman gives birth to René Descartes, therefore he is

However, the assertion flies in the face of evidence to the contrary in "The Philosopher's Drinking Song":

Rene Descartes was a drunken fart:
I drink, therefore I am."

Good news in the blogosphere

The wife of Ed Morrissey (Captain's Quarters) is now recovering from a kidney transplant. She and the donor are doing well.

They tried a little piracy

The Times reports on the bald-faced duplicity of the Iranians in the apparently premeditated seizure of British sailors:

The Ministry of Defence released the coordinates of the searched vessel yesterday to prove that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards made an unprovoked and improper attack in Iraqi waters.

The Iranians also blundered in diplomatic talks by giving the British their own compass reference for the place where they said the 14 men and one woman had been seized. When Britain plotted these on a map and pointed out that the spot was in Iraq’s maritime area, the Iranians came up with a new set of coordinates, putting the seizure in their own waters.

The speed and cunning shown by the Revolutionary Guards has raised suspicions that their action was premeditated. A senior military officer described it as “deliberate”.

Afghan-NATO success in Nad Ali

The Telegraph reports:

Complete success is being claimed for the largest Afghan-led operation yet against the Taliban.

Afghan army forces and police have now purged the Nad Ali district of Helmand of 400 Taliban fighters, following a series of chaotic battles. . . .

The operation, which began last week during the Persian new year celebrations of Nawruz, involved 400 Afghan security personnel, the biggest Afghan-led sweep yet in the Nato offensive in Helmand.

Crucially, it was also backed by local militias, whose commanders had sworn to remove the Taliban from their land.

The success means that much needed-reconstruction projects, postponed for months due to the Taliban presence, can now begin as planned.

This follows a good old-fashioned pulpit-thumpination by Karzai:

Afghan president Hamed Karzai gave a blistering tongue-lashing to the residents of Helmand on 29 March, accusing them of perpetuating the violence and insurgency in their province.

"I am not blaming Pakistan and other countries - I blame you, the local people," he thundered, addressing approximately 2,000 hand-picked representatives in the central mosque of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah.

"You are making problems. You do not want security in your province."

No reports on whether the stern talk resulted in more cooperation, but more cooperation has apparently been forthcoming. Ht Major John

The door is open . . .

Come on in and talk.  Or drop off one of your random bursts of verbal energy -- poem, limerick, story, top ten list, clerihew, essay, alliterative poem, rant, Surrealist or Dadaist poem, parody, cento, dirty joke, amusing syllepsis, dirty syllepsis, haiku, dirty haiku . . . to share.

Meet the Sciopods

These peculiar characters are nicely described in Field Guide to Monsters of the World:

First described in AD 77 by the elder Pliny in his masterpiece, Historia Naturalis, their name is Latin for ‘shade-foot.’ Also known as Monoscelans or “monopods,” these humanoids featured in stories told by Medieval writers such as Thomas de Mandeville, and they regularly appeared in illustrated religious texts, bestiaries and maps of the world. Their native region is often stated as Ethiopia, though they’ve been reported as far off as Libya, and they’re known for their habit of reclining at midday and using their single huge foot as a parasol against the blazing sun. As they keep cool in the shade, the sun bakes their soles into hard, black leather.

Tough soles aren't a drawback, though, as the Sciopods' feet are subject to a lot of punishment as they hop around the countryside. Being one-footed doesn’t slow them down, either. A Sciopod's leg is enormously powerful, and the long hops it makes can propel it faster than a horse and rider, and almost as fast as gazelles. That strong leg and hardened foot is useful in combat, too; a Sciopod’s kick can kill an armored man or break through a brick wall.

Travelers don’t have to worry about being chased down and kicked to death by these people, though; unlike some of the more savage humanoids, the Sciopods are entirely non-violent except as a last resort in self-defense. Not only are they vegetarian, but they don’t even kill plants. Instead, the Sciopods get all their nourishment from the aroma of the living fruit-plants they all carry. Should a Sciopod’s plant die or be taken from him, the powerful but delicate one-legged man will perish soon after.

Coffee break

There's nothing particularly interesting on the internet today. I'm at a loss to find good posting material. That's what's on my mind. What's on yours?

Why McCain was pranked

Apparently McCain's  Myspace site was stealing bandwidth from the person who recently pranked him by putting up a statement in favor of gay marriage.  TechCrunch reports via Aardvark:

Someone on Presidential hopeful John McCain’s staff is going to be in trouble today. They used a well known template to create his Myspace page. The template was designed by Newsvine Founder and CEO Mike Davidson (original template is here). Davidson gave the template code away to anyone who wanted to use it, but asked that he be given credit when it was used, and told users to host their own image files.

McCain’s staff used his template, but didn’t give Davidson credit. Worse, he says, they use images that are on his server, meaning he has to pay for the bandwidth used from page views on McCain’s site.