BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Memories of VE Day - "[On A Bridge Too Far] ‘Written in America, for the American audience. And when Richard Attenborough took me on, he said, John, there's a script. You can't change it, nor can I, we had to film it, practically word for word. Typical sort of American version. All the Americans are gung ho, the Brits are laid back.’
‘You still sound frustrated by that today,’
‘I suppose a bit annoyed. You know when I see it sometimes, it appears on television, you see headlines, military advisor Colonel Waddy. I think, oh, God, they’ll think that I wrote the script’
‘Because you think he gave a misleading impression?’
‘Yes, yes. It wasn't historical. When I objected, Richard Attenborough, the American producer said tell the Colonel I make movies for money, not for history’"
BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Monday's business with Dominic O'Connell - "‘I wouldn't want to be in Elon’s PR team because every time he brings out his phone, they must be very nervous and he recently tweeted that he thought the price of his stock was too high and knocking off $14 billion off the value of the shares’…
‘Argentina might default on its debt today. I think it'll be the eighth time since it got independence from Spain in 1816.’
‘Yeah, it's Groundhog Day again, isn't it with Argentina? And I know you've mentioned it on this program before, but just think of those investors who lent them money on 100 years, back in 2017. They must be pretty distressed at the moment’"
BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Friday's business with Rob Young - "[On paying customers to use electricity] ‘So where do you get the money from then to then pass on to your customers?’
‘So the way the electricity system works is National Grid need to make sure at all times that they're generating the same amount that customers using. Traditionally, when they're generating too much they turn generators off. And that costs money. So instead of paying generators to turn off and the cost of that, we can pay customers to use those green electrons when they're available. The great news is that means that they’ll be using fewer brown electrons, and therefore the overall impact is to make a greener grid, it’s cheaper for customers, and it'll let us move to renewable electricity system faster and cheaper.’
‘So when there is, in a sense, excess electricity on the grid, you are being paid by the grid to take that electricity off the grid’s hands.’"
The elephants in the room - how do you cover base load with 'green' energy, and as 'renewables' account for a bigger and bigger share of the electricity supply, since they cannot be so easily turned off, when will the supposed cost advantages of green electricity disappear?
BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Wednesday's business with Dominic O'Connell - "‘I think the general idea of boosting pay across the board is not the most sensible thing to do in the current situation where, you know, within two or three months, we could have 10% of the workforce unemployed. And the way to get them back into work is not to make it much more expensive to employ them. Some of the groups which fall into this category of I think the Resolution Foundation, say 4.2 million, about 3/5 of those are part time workers anyway. 20% of them are full time students. I think we need to be much more selective. Certainly we need to look at the the pay of social care workers. But that is a completely different question from an across the board pay increase.’
‘Whose job then is it for the key workers you have identified? Whose job is it to make sure they get a living wage?’...
‘I don't think it's anybody's job really. Quite honestly, as I say, if you disaggregate these figures, then three fifths of these workers are part time. The idea of a living wage is the idea for somebody who's working full time. And I understand that but it's a different issue for the people who want to work part time. And the overwhelming majority of these people who want to work part time actually want to work part time, they don't want to work full time. Many of them also do not want the fixed hours. Another thing that Resolution Foundation asks for of course is virtually an end to zero hours contracts. That would mean that some groups of workers who can't commit to full time or regular hours would be out of the frame here.’...
‘[Zoom’s] sales went up in the three months to the end of April by 170%, 169%. It’s just astonishing how quickly people have turned to this.’
‘Yes, it's it's been a real success story of the Coronavirus. And I think the simplicity of the system, and it doesn't require integration with any other software product, has really made it a standout product for many people to have. The question will be, can this continue? And will competition start ramping up? They've had a few issues with security and safety. But yes, an astounding set of results from Zoom’
‘Some other little snippets from their results. Before the Coronavirus, they were doing it, they had about a maximum of 10 million people a day using the service. Now it's 300 million people a day. And their stock market value of Zoom, which is a pretty, actually quite a small company, quite small revenues. It's now more highly valued than the stock market, than the world's seven biggest airlines put together.’
‘That maybe tells you more about airlines’"
Everything You Wanted To Know About The Tudors: A Podcast With Tracy Borman - HistoryExtra - "‘Why are the Tudors so popular?’...
‘I think I'm asked this more than any other thing. And I probably change my answer each time. So the answer I'm going to give today is that I think really, when it comes to the Tudors, you can't make it up. You've got everything. You've got the drama, the color of the age, a King who marries six times, a virgin queen. It's a very self confident age where, you know, we're expanding overseas, the Shakespeare, flowering of culture. And I think, you know, we tend to look back, this was the kind of Glory Age. Of course, there was a darker side to it as well. But I think really, for me, it's all about the drama...
I think [Edward VI] had the makings of a greater tyrant than his father, Henry the Eighth. He was a terrible young man really, and in his youth he once flew into such a rage that he grabbed one of his falcons from its perch and tore it to pieces in order to get revenge on one of his tutors for trying to tell him what to do...
Why didn't Elizabeth marry. I think she had learned from the examples of her past. Her mother was executed. She saw her stepmother Catherine Howard executed. She saw the miserable marital life of her sister, half sister, Mary. And so she'd learned that really, it's a really tough gig to get married as a queen and do it well. And also she knew she couldn't marry somebody from abroad because her sister had done that. It was a disaster. If she married one of her own subjects, it would be deeply divisive. So I think she just thought: I will have but one mistress here as she famously said, and no master. And I have to say I don't blame her'...
‘Did the Tudors smell?’...
‘Very brief terms. I would say if you're rich then no. If you're poor, probably. The rich didn't smell. It's a real myth everybody stank to high heaven. They didn't bathe very often. Elizabeth famously said: I would take a bath once a month whether I need it or not. And she was considered a very regular bather. What they did though, I mentioned the linen kind of underwear, so to speak. They have their linen underwear changed two or three times a day. Now, this was better than washing because linen is actually really good at drawing out smells, dirt, toxins from the skin. So effectively you wash your linen instead of your skin. Now, Ruth Goodman, that fantastic historian, has tried this. She lived like a Tudor for about three months, just washing her linens, not her skin, and she said she was still sweet smelling by the end of those three months. Of course, if you're poor, you can't afford to do that…
[On Hampton Court] they did like perfume and lavender was a very strong smell. It was a kind of all pervading smell really because people liked to keep lavender on their person. Ladies would would kind of keep it in their bodies so that they smell nice. It also was thought to have kind of medicinal properties. If you inhaled the right scents it would help to ward off disease. Lavender was also thrown on to rushes to help the rooms of the palace smell sweet. Rosemary was also very popular. So I think the first impression would have been actually a very fragrant one. If you could get past the smell of the roasting meat from the enormous kitchens... Henry the Eighth. Somebody who met him in private, he described him as the most timid man you could hope to meet. Now that is not a description we often associate with England's most famous King.'"
One-Parent Families in Denmark - "In spite of a sharp increase in the number and proportion of births outside marriage as well as divorces the number and proportion of genuine oneparent families in Denmark does seem rather stable. This fact is explained by the large number of couples cohabiting without a marriage certificate"
i.e. Most 'single parent' families in Denmark aren't really single parent
Not the Cat’s Meow? The Impact of Posing with Cats on Female Perceptions of Male Dateability - "People use dating sites to look for both long-term and short-term potential partners. Previous research suggests that the presence of a pet may add to women’s perceptions of male attractiveness and dateability. This study sought to understand to what degree, if any, the presence of a cat has on women’s perceptions of men. Women responded to an online survey and rated photos of men alone and men holding cats on measures of masculinity and personality. Men holding cats were viewed as less masculine; more neurotic, agreeable, and open; and less dateable. These results varied slightly depending whether the women self-identified as a “dog person” or a “cat person.” This study suggests that a closer look at the effects of different companion species on perceived masculinity and dateability is warranted"
How to cook the perfect steak - "Beef purists may prefer to take in the unadulterated rich flavour of a quality steak by adding nothing other than a sprinkling of salt and a generous twist of pepper. Contrary to popular belief, seasoning your steak with salt ahead of time doesn't draw out the moisture but actually gives the steak time to absorb the salt and become more evenly seasoned throughout. Feel free to salt your steak for 2 hrs before for every 1cm of thickness. For a classic steak au poivre (peppered steak), sprinkle lots of cracked black pepper and sea salt on to a plate, then press the meat into the seasoning moments before placing it into the pan."
Unsubscribe: The $0-budget movie that ‘topped the US box office’ - "In normal times, blockbuster movies usually dominate the box office charts.The big-budget productions, directed by the likes of James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and Ridley Scott, regularly draw the biggest crowds at cinemas across the US and beyond.But on 10 June, one box office-topping movie was watched by just two people, in one cinema.Unsubscribe, a 29-minute horror movie shot entirely on video-conferencing app Zoom, generated $25,488 (£20,510) in ticket sales on that day."
Google takes down Indian app that removed Chinese ones - "Google has taken down an Indian mobile application from its app store that allowed users to remove other Chinese apps from their phones as it violated certain company policies, a spokesman said on Wednesday.The app, called Remove China Apps, had become the top trending free app on Google's mobile app store in India with more than 5 million downloads since late May. Its popularity rose amid calls for a boycott of Chinese mobile apps in India during a Himalayan border dispute between the two nations... Remove China Apps scanned users' phones for apps such as ByteDance's TikTok and Alibaba's UC Browser. Once deleted, a message popped up saying "You are awesome, no China app found."... Many Indians and a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party have used the hash tag #BoycottChineseProducts on social media, calling for deletion of popular Chinese apps"
Mr Pritam Singh supports Alfian Sa’at - "There are many Singaporeans who criticise Singapore out of patriotism and genuine care, including opposition leaders like Mr Chiam See Tong and Mr Low Thia Khiang.But Alfian Sa’at is no ‘loving critic’.For nearly a decade, Alfian has consistently praised Malaysia to illustrate his disdain for Singapore... In 2013, Alfian said he was “so drawn to Dr Mahathir”. And in 2018, Alfian praised a “new Malaysia” under Dr Mahathir and wished Singapore can be more like Malaysia . Dr Mahathir, who has talked about bombing Singapore, and cutting off our water supply.Alfian’s view is that Dr Mahathir’s style of democracy, and Malaysian style governance, should be brought to Singapore.Contrast this with what Alfian wrote about Mr Lee Kuan Yew, on the eve of our 2012 National Day. He posted his poem “Death of a Tyrant”... Alfian likes the Malaysian Bumiputera policies. He says Singaporean Chinese are being selfish, in not wanting merger with Malaysia... His preference for Malaysia over Singapore is obvious.And if anyone has any doubts where his loyalties lie, here is the answer... In his interview with Today newspaper in March 2012, he wholeheartedly said that “I would love to become a Malaysian”."
Family of 4 allegedly drives to Sembawang with fishing nets & abducts 20 wild chickens in 3 days
[HDB @ Anchorvale Link] JNAUnlocked 13 | A Scholar's Home - YouTube - "A Home that fulfills your future generation’s dreams. This is the perfect homely environment that will breed futures scholars, contributors of society, leaders of companies and more."
Germany′s first ′porn karaoke′ bar opens in Hamburg - "visitors are invited to go on stage and moan along to clips from pornography films from the 1970s and 1980s as they soundlessly play on screens in the background. Currently, visitors can choose from nearly 30 retro clips."
Pratik Jadhav on Twitter - "art museums will literally be like "this room is dedicated to one specific artist in one specific french village and only his paintings done with this one brush" "and this room is All of Asia" #artmuseum""
The same people who crow over this denounce Western museums with non-Western art. And are (wilfully?) ignorant of how Asian museums almost all have no non-Asian art, and mostly have no foreign art
