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You couldn't make this stuff up....

federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
edited September 2016 in General Banter
This discussion was created from comments split from: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!.

All submissions have to be verifiable, true and real, with an enormous sense of irony thrown in. Game on....

Comments

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    The SpyMaster who founded the organisation that was to become MI6, discovered that semen could be used as invisible ink.
    His name was Mansfield Cumming.
    You couldn't make this up.....

    Cinorjerherberto
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    There is a cow in New Zealand that has been found to have a specific gene that actually enables her to produce semi-skimmed milk.
    Her name is Marge.
    You couldn't make this up.

    Cinorjer
  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    edited September 2016

    @federica said:
    The SpyMaster who founded the organisation that was to become MI6, discovered that semen could be used as invisible ink.
    His name was Mansfield Cumming.
    You couldn't make this up.....

    Maybe you know this already. But there is a word for someone who's name matches their profession, aptronym. For example William Wordsworth, poet and advocate for British copyright law. Or Jules Angst, a psychiatrist focusing on anxiety.

    The inverse is an inaptronym, like Larry Playfair a hockey player known for fighting.

    ShoshinBexM
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    The head of the Dutch pilot's association a few years ago was a Mr. Brick (Baksteen in Dutch), which is not quite an inaptronym as the name is only linked to the profession through a proverb :)

  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran

    @karasti said:
    The CEO for the non-profit Food for the Poor is Robin Mahfood.

    You really can't make that one up.

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    I suppose it's marginally better than being called Richard Head...

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    Mona Lott ....No doubt somewhere in the world there's a Mona Lott who works in the complaints department :)

    DairyLama
  • Michigan state representative Peter Pettalia voted to repeal the motorcycle safety law that requires helmet use. He died yesterday in a motorcycle crash.

    federica
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    @Shoshin said:
    Mona Lott ....No doubt somewhere in the world there's a Mona Lott who works in the complaints department :)

    Then find one. That's what this thread is about. Real-life ironies.
    Ironies that could all have the post-script - "you couldn't make it up".

    ;)

  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    I once worked with a school teacher called Mr. Bore.

    BunksCinorjer
  • @Steve_B said:
    Michigan state representative Peter Pettalia voted to repeal the motorcycle safety law that requires helmet use. He died yesterday in a motorcycle crash.

    He was wearing a helmet though.

  • @Bunks said:
    There is a recently retired Australian politician called Richard Face.

    In the Atheism Plus movement there was a dude named Richard Carrier.

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    edited September 2016

    @federica said:

    That's kind of like the pot calling the kettle black isn't it?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conflicts_involving_the_United_Kingdom

    Not to mention

    http://listverse.com/2014/02/04/10-evil-crimes-of-the-british-empire/

    Maybe we could have a back and forth between who's worse?

  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    English gentlemen invented lots of useful things though, cricket, wellingtons and cucumber sandwiches for example.

    lobster
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited September 2016

    @person said:

    @federica said:

    That's kind of like the pot calling the kettle black isn't it?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conflicts_involving_the_United_Kingdom

    Not to mention

    http://listverse.com/2014/02/04/10-evil-crimes-of-the-british-empire/

    Maybe we could have a back and forth between who's worse?

    I didn't post it to indicate America was any worse or better than the British. The original Americans were mainly ex-colonial Brits anyway...Right? And if I could have found a meme or illustration that pulled the UK up in the same way, I would have posted it. It just shocked me to think this was so.

    It's not a pissing contest, @person.

    And now, for regular viewers, back to topic.

  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    @federica said:

    @person said:

    @federica said:

    That's kind of like the pot calling the kettle black isn't it?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conflicts_involving_the_United_Kingdom

    Not to mention

    http://listverse.com/2014/02/04/10-evil-crimes-of-the-british-empire/

    Maybe we could have a back and forth between who's worse?

    I didn't post it to indicate America was any worse or better than the British. The original Americans were mainly ex-colonial Brits anyway...Right? And if I could have found a meme or illustration that pulled the UK up in the same way, I would have posted it. It just shocked me to think this was so.

    It's not a pissing contest, @person.

    And now, for regular viewers, back to topic.

    Ah yes, I recently got involved in a futile argument with a friend of my wife's on Farcebook about whether Kiwis or Aussies were more racist than each other. A right royal waste of time!

    federica
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    I know: Fartbook - you couldn't make it up!!

  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    edited September 2016

    Farcebook, the spawn of the devil! :p

  • lobsterlobster Veteran
    edited September 2016

    This new book seems to offer insight into why Nazis were so crazy. Cocaine chewing gum ... ?
    [lobster faints] Ay Caramba!

    http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/25/blitzed-norman-ohler-adolf-hitler-nazi-drug-abuse-interview

    Dicks - could not make it up ...
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-IX

    ... wonder what Trump is on ... :lol:

    Bunks
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    The course of World History, and the fate of countless millions of people, lay in the hands of what can only be described as squalid, depraved drug addicts.

    Thereby hangs a sombre lesson.....

  • essemessem Explorer

    John Goodenough, whose work led to the lithium-ion battery

    15 October 2016 Last updated at 12:13 BST

    Professor John Goodenough's work led to the
    invention of the rechargeable lithium-ion battery,
    which is part of almost every portable electronic
    device.

    Now 94-years-old and professor of engineering
    at the University of Texas at Austin, Goodenough
    talks to the Today programme's John Humphrys
    about Samsung's problems with batteries
    catching fire, why he has never won a Nobel
    Prize and why he dislikes the mobile phone.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37666626

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    You couldn't make this stuff up....

    Donald Trump running for President of the United States of America ...
    and Boris Johnson becoming Britain's foreign secretary....

    Oh well...As they say "A change is as good as a holocaust holiday "

    :)

    lobster
  • lobsterlobster Veteran
    edited October 2016

    Just watched 'hypernormalisation' on BBC Iplayer. Reality is made up, is the central message [lobster faints].
    https://www.list.co.uk/article/85421-tv-review-hypernormalisation-by-adam-curtis-bbc-iplayer/

    It is long, nearly three hours BUT being on iplayer, you can watch in bits. [Fair warning: It is compelling. Your brain may melt. In my case that is fine, never use it much anyway ... ;) ]

    When I heard that 30% of Americans did not believe that they had landed on the moon - it was all fake ... Que? I decided to take the most ridiculous proposition I could find and argue its reality. Did I mention that the Eiffel Tower does not really exist ...
    http://web.archive.org/web/20060715191705/http://pages.britishlibrary.net/lobster/et/

    It was an interesting process. I released the page just after the NY twin tower plane bombs. In order to create convincing propaganda, you have to believe it to some degree. Very dangerous process/place, very near to the edge of sanity ...

    Could you make this stuff up? ... plan b, stay in the moment ... it might be more 'real' ...

  • @SpinyNorman said:
    English gentlemen invented lots of useful things though, cricket, wellingtons and cucumber sandwiches for example.

    Ken Burns has said that after the American Empire falls, it will be remembered for its only two contributions to world culture. Baseball and Jazz.

    Jeroen
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    And baseball is derived from a game called rounders which was invented...In England, and was originally called... Baseball.

    Kundo
  • Wonder Woman is no longer a UN ambassador. Maybe real woman are more appropriate ...

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    America doesn't seem to have any 'appropriate women' other than the wife of the bloke who just quit the White house... oh and that marvellously witty blonde gay comedienne who has her own great show, now....

    (Oprah is over-done, by the way. And Dr Ruth definitely doesn't count....)

  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    @lobster said:
    Wonder Woman is no longer a UN ambassador. Maybe real woman are more appropriate ...

    You would have thought they choose Harley Quinn, given the size of the furore. And I can kind of see Wonder Woman is not so appropriate, after all she is a supernatural being. Why not choose someone like Ms. Marvel, who at least has a human background? That is, if it has to be a comic book hero...

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia...

    Is 'the fear of long words'.

    Stammer and stutter are difficult words to speak, for those with a stammer or a stutter.
    Dyslexia is difficult to spell and
    Rhotacism is the inability to properly pronounce the letter 'r'. (it comes out more as a 'w'.)

    BunksTigger
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