Thanks to Sandra, THOCBDC now brings you the complete Ruthless Rhymes.
Harry Graham |
Harry Graham was born in 1874. He trained for a military career at Sandhurst and joined the Coldstream Guards, after three years taking up an appointment as aide-de-camp to Lord Minto, then Governor-General of Canada. He saw active service in the Boer War and in 1904 resigned from the army to become private secretary to Lord Roseberry. Before that, while still in the army, he had written the verses in this book. Under the ingenious pseudonym Col. D. Streamer, they were first published in 1899 in Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes. From 1906 he devoted his time entirely to writing — biographies, novels, plays and the lyrics for musicals as well as verse. He was an engaging character and an excellent companion. With a fine sense of the ridiculous combined with a taste for the macabre, he wrote, in a completely deadpan manner, rhymes of the most memorable silliness. On his death in 1936 The Times paid tribute to him in a leading article entitled 'What Nonsense!' He is generally regarded as one of the best writers ever of a peculiarly English kind of nonsense. H.G. |
Today's theme is 'indifference' ... with little love for Grandmamma.
Some of these are more nonsensical than others. This second one (*) in our series is not at all ruthless.
If Andy P. is reading these new pages I'd like to hear his comments ... "Andy, have you read Harry Graham; in particular his rhymes?"
(*) From Google:
"Saint Vitus is the patron saint of dancers, young people and dogs. There is a disease named after him, Saint Vitus Dance, or Sydenham's Chorea, which can sometimes cause dancing mania."
"Sydenham's Chorea got its name from the Greco-Latin word implying the act of dancing, the word chorea was first applied by Paracelsus to the frenzied movements of religious fanatics who during the middle ages journeyed to the healing shrine of St. Vitus."
"Chorea: St. Vitus's dance, acute disturbance of the central nervous system characterized by involuntary muscular movements of the face and extremities. The disease, known also as Sydenham's chorea (not to be confused with Huntington's disease, a hereditary disease of adults that is sometimes called Huntington's chorea), is usually, but not always, a complication of rheumatic fever. Sydenham's chorea, a disease of children, especially females, usually appears between the ages of 7 and 14. Facial grimacing and jerking movements persist for 6 to 10 weeks and sometimes recur after months or even years. Eventually the symptoms disappear. Although there is no specific treatment, sedatives and tranquilizers are helpful in suppressing the involuntary movements. Technically, it is sometimes called chorea minor or juvenile chorea to distinguish it from several less common choreas, chorea also being a general term for continuous, involuntary jerking movements."
Googling "golf in Rye, England":
|
PS: Admittedly, that Rye thing you just read lacked any semblance of visual voltage. How about a real macho engine shot to make up for that wimp posting! Guys love to look under the hood.
And, maybe Paul can link the SL55 AMG's pistons to those of the Bangkok based S and SLK. I'd love to see all three engine compartments lined up together.
Cars again.
And Google comes to the rescue on hand cranking:
![]() |
Starting a Model A with the hand crank was once as common as driving one. It seems hand cranking has become nearly a lost art over the decades. Following a few basic rules, hand cranking is perfectly safe and quite simple. The hand crank should be one of the most useful tools in your toolbox!
The following list outlines the procedures for starting your Model A with the hand crank. The specifics apply to a properly tuned engine. Some variations may be required and are discussed later.
At this point there should be gas running slightly from the carburetor to the floor.
 
Other considerations: Although there is no serious risk of injury when handling the crank as shown, it's startling when a kickback occurs. Most kickbacks occur when the choke is closed. The probability varies depending on the position of the crank ratchet relative to top dead center. Leaving the switch off during the choking step almost eliminates the chance of kickbacks.
With a low battery the engine will fire more quickly by hand than with the starter because the starter isn't starving the ignition system.
Variations: The car should start similar by hand as it does with the starter. For example, using the starter I always start my cold A's with the choke pulled for exactly two compression strokes or one turn of the crankshaft. At that point I release the choke and the engine fires. I NEVER hold the choke until it fires as suggested in the "Model 'A' Instruction Book".
If your car REQUIRES the choke to be held more than two compression strokes with the starter, you may need to adjust step #6 similarly.
Experiment with a good battery so if you have difficulty starting, you can use the starter to determine if the problem is too much or too little gas. Be conservative with the choke. It is much easier to repeat the process than to hand start a flooded engine. A flooded engine is guaranteed to provide more exercize than you desire!
If your hand crank binds when inserted through the starting crank bushing and into the crank ratchet, don't crank start your car. Too much bind will prevent the crank from releasing from the ratchet. See Front Engine Support for more information.
Thanks to: Working group, European Avalanche Forecasting Services
Extent of the avalanche, classified by runout length, volume and destructive potential.
term |
runout classification |
damage potential classification |
quantitative classification | |
Size 1 |
sluff |
small snow slide that usually cannot bury a person but push over a cliff |
relatively harmless to people |
length<50 m, volume<100 m3 |
Size 2 |
small avalanche |
stops within the slope |
could bury, injure or kill a person |
length<100 m, volume<1000 m3 |
Size 3 |
medium avalanche |
runs to the bottom of the slope |
could bury and destroy a car, damage a truck, destroy a small building or break a few trees |
length<1000 m, volume<10000 m3 |
Size 4 |
large avalanche |
runs over flat areas (significantly less than 30°) of at least 50 m in length, may reach the valley bottom |
could bury and destroy trucks or trains, large buildings and forested areas |
length>1000 m, volume>10000 m3 |
THOCBDC turns to "Sparknotes" to discover the meaning of "loss of honor".
The Importance of Honor
The aborted wedding ceremony, in which Claudio rejects Hero, accusing her of infidelity and violated chastity and publicly shaming her in front of her father, is the climax of the play. In Shakespeare's time, a woman's honor was based upon her virginity and chaste behavior. For a woman to lose her honor by having sexual relations before marriage meant that she would lose all social standing, a disaster from which she could never recover. Moreover, this loss of honor would poison the woman's whole family. Thus, when Leonato rashly believes Claudio's shaming of Hero at the wedding ceremony, he tries to obliterate her entirely: "Hence from her, let her die" (IV.i.153). Furthermore, he speaks of her loss of honor as an indelible stain from which he cannot distance himself, no matter how hard he tries: "O she is fallen / Into a pit of ink, that the wide sea / Hath drops too few to wash her clean again" (IV.i.138–140). For women in that era, the loss of honor was a form of annihilation.
For men, on the other hand, honor depended on male friendship alliances and was more military in nature. Unlike a woman, a man could defend his honor, and that of his family, by fighting in a battle or a duel. Beatrice urges Benedick to avenge Hero's honor by dueling to the death with Claudio. As a woman, Hero cannot seize back her honor, but Benedick can do it for her via physical combat.
Delacroix, Eugene The Death of Sardanapalus Detail of cut throat 1827-28 Oil on canvas 392 x 496 cm Musee du Louvre, Paris |
The Death of Sardanapalus (1827, Louvre, Paris) by French painter Eugène Delacroix represents the height of romantic painting in its theatrical and emotional depiction of a massacre in a distant locale (Assyria). The tangle of bodies and vivid colors combine sensuality with violent death. The painting was based on a play by English romantic poet Lord Byron.
Famous PlumbersGabriel Byrne
Michael Caine
Russ Conway
Charles Dance
Bob Hoskins
Ronnie Laine
Matt Munro
Screaming Lord Sutch
Arthur Haynes
Albert DeSalvo
John L Sullivan
Pretty Boy Floyd
|
Next: Part III