Word-whore. I write 'em. I talk 'em. Information, politics, media, and the cybers. I drink. I use bad words. All publication is a political act. All communication is propaganda. All art is pornography. All business is personal. All hail Eris! Vive les poissons rouges sauvages!
This urinal in a suburban office at St Ives is completely different from the boldly-patterned tiles of the Lansdowne Hotel men’s toilet floor. Starkly simple, almost bleak.
And, I should add, slightly claustrophobic.
As I mentioned in the comments, I think I will turn this into an art project. A colleague now works for Flickr and upgraded me to a “pro” account — even though I’ve published only one single image so I could comment on ’Pong’s photos.
Oh, I should mention that Quatrefoil and quadrapop, who comment here, are two completely different women. There has been confusion in certain quarters, however.
On her personal blog, Quatrefoil tells us that “Touched” is…
… just the name someone thought to give to the style of incredibly ordinary bra I bought this evening. Honestly! I think it describes their state of mind. (Un)fortunately the other styles by the same manufacturer were not called ‘squeezed’, ‘groped’ or ‘felt up’. Who comes up with these names anyway?
To which I replied…
Bra names are set by the International Brassiere Nomenclature Union (UIBN) under the rules agreed upon by the UIBN Convention of 1885, which was held at the Palace of Versailles.
The UIBN Approvals Committee comprises representatives from the five founding nations (France, Britain, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands), the Treaty nations of 1919 (in order, Austria, Monaco, Luxembourg, Russia, Hungary, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Germany and the US), plus two rotating “guest nations”, currently Libya and South Korea.
All names must adhere to all 15 “Règles de la Nomenclature”. In this case, the name “Touched” has been selected under Rule 3, which specifies that single-word names must have an inherent “Référence à la passion érotique” without being explicit. The other words you suggest would fail that test.
You do have the right of appeal, however, to the International Court of Appeals for Brassiere Names in Geneva, provided that your petition is supported by a member of parliament from one of the UIBN Treaty nations or (since 1975) a Member of the European Parliament.
Perhaps Wikipedia needs to be updated in the light of this new-found information.
Then again, it has been said that I have too much time on my hands.
Rhys McDonald, who comments here and lives in our village a long way from our village up the coast somewhere, is apparently too shy to pimp his rather amusing cartoon of this week’s poster boy for post-natal abortion. Enjoy.
Actually, it’ll be interesting to see what sort of satire is generated by this boy. Do tell me if you see anything.
[Update 21 January 2008: For some reason I thought Rhys was a local. I was wrong.]
Maybe it’s just because I’m an Australian of A Certain Age, but I find this sign in an African grocery shop on Enmore Road rather funny. The fact that it’s “organic” is even better.
[Update 15 July 2010: There is identity confusion in this post. See my update.]
Hideki Moronuki Minoru Morimoto (pictured) is the Japanese Fisheries Agency’s chief of whaling. While I’m reasonably sure I’m not in favour of whaling, and certainly not if people are fibbing about its true purpose, you’ve got to admire his ballsy, direct language.
In a lengthy opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald last Monday, Moronuki Morimoto defends Japan’s “scientific whaling” with the observation that to commercially manage forests, fisheries and other “natural living resources” but not whales makes no sense. He dismisses as a “fallacy” that there must be one commercial activity (whale watching) to the exclusion of the other (whaling).
There are enough whales for both those that want to watch them and those who want to eat them.
I fully respect the right of Australians to oppose whaling for some “cuddly” reasons, but this does not give them the right to coerce others to end a perfectly legal and culturally significant activity that poses no threat to the species concerned.
And on Wednesday, with two of Sea Shepherd‘s unruly wankers aboard his ship, he said the pair would be given an opportunity to try whale meat while aboard the ship.
Hat-tip on that last quote to The Road to Surfdom.