Yet again

To be contrasted with the phrase 'one up the gary' which can not only be attributed to the right person but can be dated almost to the day. Also lower case, I note.

And yet

However, the only hits for "Conspiracy to Prevent a Principal from Doing His Job" are references to Snow's book, so it's possible that someone has at some point been taking the mickey. Or is that 'taking the Mickey'?

Wikipedia:

"Take the mickey" is an abbreviated form of the Cockney rhyming slang "take the mickey bliss"[6] ("mickey" being slang for penis[7]), meaning to "take the piss [out of someone]". The phrase has been noted since the 1930s.
[edit] Alternate theories of origin

An alternate, unverified, and unlikely theory of etymology is that "mickey" is a contraction of "micturition" (i.e., piss),[8] "mickey" being a suitable alternative when in the company of those liable to be offended by "piss".

Hold it. If '"mickey" is slang for penis, why bring in Mickey Bliss?
Who nobody has managed to identify, so the rhyming slang element is purely hypothetical. The BBC has

The OED isn’t certain, but says this might be cockney rhyming slang honouring one Mike or Mickey Bliss. If we could find out anything at all about Mr Bliss, we might establish whether the Dictionary are on to something or themselves taking the Michael. Several different versions of the expression arose in the 1930s and 40s. To take the mike seems to have come first in 1935, followed by take the piss in 1945. Take the mickey doesn’t appear until 1948, unless you know better.

Still, the OED

mickey, n.1 DRAFT REVISION Dec. 2001
[< Mickey, pet-form of the male forename Michael (see MICHAEL n.). Cf. MICK n.1, MIKE n.4, -Y6.
In phrase to take the mickey at sense 7 perh. after Mickey Bliss, rhyming slang for piss. Cf. earlier MIKE n.7]

7. colloq. (chiefly Brit.). to take the mickey (out of): to behave or speak satirically or mockingly; to make fun of, satirize, or debunk (a person or thing). Cf. MIKE n.7, PISS n. 2.
1948 A. BARON From City, from Plough vi. 49 ‘Higgsy,’ said the sergeant, ‘they think I'm taking the mickey. Tell 'em.’ 1952 ‘J. HENRY’ Who lie in Gaol iv. 66 She's a terror. I expect she'll try and take the mickey out of you all right. Don't you stand for nothin'. 1957 L. P. HARTLEY Hireling 134 He had no great regard for Constance, except in so far as she sometimes took the mickey out of Hughie. 1958 Observer 28 Dec. 3/1 ‘Tonight’ is not only a tough and irreverent programme, but glib and smart and anxious to take the mickey. 1960 E. W. HILDICK Jim Starling & Colonel ix. 76 The servers must have thought that no boy would dare to take the mickey in such circumstances. 1971 B. W. ALDISS Soldier Erect 101 Geordie looked anxiously at me, in case I thought he was taking the micky too hard. 1991 Sunday Sun (Brisbane) 3 Feb. 6/5, I don't think there is any subject that is too serious to take the micky out of.

does seem to establish that it's lower case.

Dodged another bullet, then

It sure does look like our Rapture will be--
BEFORE:
October 20th 2009!
THE LORD IS AWESOME!

Does The Rapture take place when Israel NUKES Damascus - at the same time? I believe in a simultaneous rapture/sudden destruction.

Wonderful site, endlessly informative. Difficult to choose between the Miracle of the Infomercial -

If we subtract 2520 days from September 23, 2015 we come to October 29, 2008. SEE CALCULATION In Revelation 8:1 it talks about a silence in heaven for 30 minutes, and in the scripture above in Daniel 9:27, it could be read: “he shall reaffirm his campaign promises with his many followers for one week”. SEE MORE HERE As you probably remember, Obama’s 30-minute info-commercial occurred on October 29, 2008! Never before in the world’s history has anyone given a 30-minute info-commercial “confirming his campaign promises with many and that if he is elected he would change the world”. What are the odds that this event occurs exactly 2520 days from September 23, 2015? Why 30 minutes? Why not 15 minutes? Could the 30-minute silence in heaven (which only occurs this one time in the bible) be referring to Obama’s 30-minute info-commercial? You see, nothing happens by chance! God controls history!

I love studying the laws of probability, in other words what are the odds of some event happening.

the Parable of the Happy Camper -

Ok, once Rosh Hashanah passed by last year, everyone knew that the beginning of the 7-Year Tribulation had to be 2520 days from September 23, 2015 or October 29, 2008. That date came and went and there was still not a start to the 7-Year Tribulation! The final Jewish feast on the 2015 Jewish calendar was Hanukkah, December 7, 2015. This look like a great candidate, for it is the date that Jesus is anointed King of Kings in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem after his return. So when you subtract the 2520 days from this date, you come to January 11, 2009 or 1/11. This was even better, everyone knew that this could be the day, especially since many people (including myself) were seeing “111” on a digital clock. When this date passed, I was not a happy camper; I want to go home to Heaven to be with Jesus!

or the Miracle of the Real Math

or the whole mind-of-god thing

In my calculations, I am assuming that God does not recognize Daylight Savings Time.

or the sermon on the mount -

After listening to the following MP3 and watching the videos on the following web page, I got “real” with Jesus. My perspective shifted from the things of this world to eternity and my prayer to The Lord was for Him to maximize the time left on this earth to lead the most number of souls to Jesus for salvation as possible. I also told The Lord that I wanted the maximum amount of treasure in Heaven (with the biggest mansion) as possible.

But you should really go to the site and read the whole very very long thing...

Unprincipled

From Deadly Cults, by Robert Snow;

On June 5, 1998, it took the jury less than three hours to convict Luke Woodham of the murder of his mother. Several weeks later, in another trial, a court convicted Luke of murdering two students and wounding seven others during his shooting rampage at Pearl High School. Luke recieved three consecutive sentences of life imprisonment for the murders, plus 140 years for the seven shootings. On February 13, 2000, Grant Boyette, who prosecutors had called the 'mastermind' of the cult, pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Prevent a Principal from Doing His Job. A judge sentenced Boyette to Regimented Inmate Discipline, a boot camp program, followed by five years of supervised probation.

Just fancy.

Vermilion!

Thanks, Adelaide.

Though - and here we have one of the many glitches of a reader's life (motto: "Many people say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading." Logan Pearsall Smith) - I've only encountered vermilion in text form: I don't actually knows what it looks like. To the Googlemobile, Robin!



Similarly, I have read over and over without question descriptions of the beautiful song of the lark; not living in Europe, I I've never heard it. A few months ago, the issue having somehow come up in conversation, I went to Google and found it here - or, as someone else puts it, rapid buzzes, whistles, and trills, not musical, not melodic, and utterly mystifying as to its chokehold on the romantic poets.
Unless it's just me.

Is Logan Wolverine's first name or his last?

The Weekday of Wrath

Mind you, the big challenge for the coming bushfire season is to pick an unlisted day.
We've already had
* Black Saturday
* Red Tuesday (1898)
* Ash Wednesday
* Black Thursday (1851)
* Black Friday (1939)

I think Sunday and Monday are going to be particularly dangerous days.

And, given the predominance of Goth, we need an unlisted colour.... Scarlet? Orange?

The Breaker

It is now apparently claimed that if Breaker Morant's trial for murdering civilians had been properly conducted he would have got off on a technicality and thus should now be retrospectively pardoned. Well, yes, but one would hope that after winning his appeal he would then have been retried and, seeing as he had in fact killed the people concerned, found guilty. As it's a little late to run the retrial, we should probably skip the pardon. Given our recent problems in Afghanistan, do we really want to encourage our soldiers to believe that if they do decide to thin out a few suspicious-looking bystanders they'll have the thanks of a grateful posterity?



As a gesture of compromise, though, I'd be quite prepared to have Lord Kitchener retrospectively declared to be a Class A war criminal.

(as published in the Age letters Tuesday October 20, 2009)

Age bin

In discussing proposed changes to the superannuation system Eric Johnston says "This could bring on tax concessions for low-income earners ... though some fear it could lead to additional taxes for high-income earners."
Surely 'some fear' is a misprint for 'most pray'?

Boanerges Bronson

What is it about scandals and pretentious names? First Utegate and Godwin Grech and now a slush fund rumpus involving Nimrod Nyols.

Nobbled

Peace Is At Hand
Obama Wins 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

At Least 80 Killed as US Drones Attack South Waziristan Funeral Procession

In other news, the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to a man who set fire to a library and then promised to write a book about it.

The sensible thing, of course,

would be to fly him to Vietnam and measure him there.

Lend me your ears

From Miss Cellania:

The Navy found they had too many officers and non coms and decided to offer an early retirement bonus. They promised any officer who volunteered for retirement a bonus of $1,000 for every inch measured in a straight line between any two points in his body. The officer got to choose what those two points would be.

The first officer who accepted asked that he be measured from the top of his head to the tip of his toes. He was measured at six feet and walked out with a bonus of $72,000.

The second officer who accepted was a little smarter and asked to be measured from the tip of his outstretched hands to his toes. He walked out with $96,000.

The third one was a non commissioned officer, a grizzly old Chief who, when asked where he would like to be measured replied, "From the tip of my weenie to my testicles." It was suggested by the pension man that he might want to reconsider, explaining about the nice big checks the previous two officers had received. But the old Chief insisted and they decided to go along with him providing the measurement was taken by a medical officer. The medical officer arrived and instructed the Chief to "drop 'em," which he did. The medical officer placed the tape measure on the tip of the Chief's weenie and began to work back. Dear Lord!" he suddenly exclaimed, "Where are your testicles?"

The old Chief calmly replied, "Vietnam."

My, my. Now, I'm not saying that this is an old joke, but consulting the Apothegms of Lord Bacon (him who wasn't Shaxper) one does find

A witty rogue coming into a lace-shop, said he had occasion for some lace ; choice whereof being shewed him, he at last pitched on one pattern, and asked them how much they would have for as much as would reach from ear to ear, for so much he had occasion of. They told him, for so much: so some few words passing between them, he at last agreed, and told his money down for it, and began to measure on his own head, thus saying: "One ear is here, and the other is nailed to the pillory in Bristol, and I fear you will not have so much of this lace by you at present as would perfect my bargain; therefore this bolt of lace shall suffice at present in part of payment, and provide the rest with all expedition.

I think I've actually seem an earlier example, but that will do for the nonce.

The changes are interesting; the militarisation of America, even dirty jokes being required to carry patriotic baggage?

Brown Stains II

The immensely rich villain plots:

A single bell chimed on Mal’akh’s grandfather clock, and he looked up. Six thirty P.M. Leaving his tools, he wrapped the Kiryu silk robe around his naked, six-foot-three body and strode down the hall. The air inside this sprawling mansion was heavy with the pungent fragrance of his skin dyes and smoke from the beeswax candles he used to sterilize his needles. The towering young man moved down the corridor past priceless Italian antiques—a Piranesi etching, a Savonarola chair, a silver Bugarini oil lamp.

Wow, antiques. Though - hold it, Piranesi etchings

aren't priceless; they're multiples, and they go for about twenty thousand quid from Sothebys. A Bugarini lamp would be even less, eight thousand USD. A Savonarola chair is a style, not a maker, but Sothebys hasn't sold one of any age recently at over 2,500 euros. I could buy the lot myself, and I'm not even six foot.
It's Brown's word association method of composing coming out again: "antiques" just comes to his mind already a phrase, "priceless antiques".

Just for laughs, let's try that another way:

A bell chimed on Mal’akh’s clock, and he looked up. Six thirty P.M. Leaving his tools, he wrapped the robe around his body and strode down the hall. The air inside this mansion was heavy with the fragrance of his skin dyes and smoke from the candles he used to sterilize his needles. The man moved down the corridor past a Piranesi etching, a Savonarola chair, and a Bugarini oil lamp.

Practically Hemingwayesque.