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Pope Sylvester II died on this day 1020 years ago, aged 57. - Sylvester's birth name was Gerbertus, and he was born in France. - In 967, Sylvester began to study mathematics and astronomy at a Catalan monastery, where he would read the works of Muslim scholars. He devised an abacus (with zero being represented by an empty space) that led to the tool being used much more in the 1000s. He also reintroduced the armillary sphere by observing said Moors. - Sylvester would become a tutor for the future Emperor Otto II of Germany in 969. - In 999, Sylvester was elected pope to succeed Pope Gregory V. - There are several legends regarding Sylvester. One of these involves him inventing a robotic head capable of answering "yes" or "no" answers (a medieval AI, if you will). - Another legend involves him befriending a succubus after he was rejected by a crush in his youth, and that she helped him achieve the papacy. Her name was Meridiana (a logical explanation for this would be that she was simply his imaginary friend). - A third legend about him states that when he was reading the Mass in Jerusalem, the Devil attacked him (he was warned about this by either his robot or Meridiana) and gouged out his eyes for demons to play with. In order to repent, he cut off his tongue and one of his hands. Another version of this has him read it at the Holy Cross of Jerusalem church in Rome, and he became sick and died- before he did, he ordered his cardinals to dismember his body and scatter it around the city: - Sylvester died after a four-year papacy and was succeeded by Pope John XVII.

Bollocks. It’s only as fucking shit as 98% of their other songs.

For me personally, this and the last round are the most boring and worst KoS rounds that we have had so far. I'll be glad when they're over. It can only get better!!!

General Sir Richard Lawson Times Obit: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/general-sir-richard-lawson-obituary-xlk733255

11 May - Ranking the Picks I've had this in the back of my mind for a while. It started with the of Carter's hospice choice and the fact no one jokered him. What follows is my (subjective) thoughts on picks, with a look at the picks for overlapping picks, uniques, jokers. Number of Picks and Historical DL Hits I've taken the past 11 years of DL stats for two reasons. First, all are double digit scores. Second, with 11 data sets, a few stat tests show the average, median, mean, outliers, etc. And the Committee of 2010 isn't the same of 2023 for many reasons - experience, (de)composition, and so forth. Year Hits 2022 14 2021 12 2020 20 2019 13 2018 12 2017 17 2016 12 2015 14 2014 10 2013 13 2012 12 Average ~14 The take home message? Those of you who banked on 12 - 17 hits, I'm certain one of you will be the winner. And the current number of hits will soon make a difference. As I write, there are 5. At 7, the bonus range will begin to be applied for anyone who picked 12 hits. With a range of 12-22 hits at 17, everyone has some stage of the bonuses. The next two hits, especially if they are on your roster, will begin to separate the players before the hit bonus ranges come into play. Onto the picks themselves. The Big One # picks # jokers Rolf Harris 28 11 The most picks (tie w/Starmer-Smith), the most jokers (11/30, just over a third) - he's the bookie's favourite. The fact he's so widely picked means nearly everyone benefits, some more than others with the bookie's bonus. If he isn't a hit, those who jokered Sakamoto will probably have the winner in their ranks. Top Tier # picks # jokers Nigel Starmer-Smith 28 2 Jimmy Carter 27 0 Ryuichi Sakamoto 26 9 Henry Kissinger 25 1 Sonny Rollins 25 0 Joanne Woodward 24 2 Andy Taylor 24 0 Bob Barker 21 1 With Sakamoto already a hit (9/30 jokers), and Rolf with the lion's share (11/30), this group has the bulk of the remaining jokers (6/30, a fifth). Any hit here always helps out over 2/3rds of the players, with sparse joker distribution. It is very likely if you picked Sakamoto, you have say Carter (except gcreptile, wannamaker or Hell). Overlapping picks in the Top Tier is frequent, even the two least picked of Taylor and Barker share 16 players who picked both of them. Middle of the Road # picks # jokers Jacques Delors 18 0 Milan Kundera 16 0 Pervez Musharraf 16 0 Norman Tebbit 15 1 Harry Belafonte 13 0 Sir Bobby Charlton 13 0 Jean-Marie Le Pen 13 0 Norman Lear 13 0 Linda Nolan 13 0 Yoko Ono 12 0 Tony Bennett 11 1 Rosalynn Carter 11 0 Dennis Skinner 11 0 Stanley Baxter 10 0 Joss Ackland 10 1 Nigel Lawson 10 0 3 of the 4 remaining jokers are in this set. So far, a majority (3/5) of the hits have come from this set too. Key picks in this set will aid your score. Wheat vs Chaff # picks # jokers Pete Murray 9 0 Shane MacGowan 9 1 Robert Wagner 7 0 Burt Bacharach 7 0 Mohamed Al-Fayed 7 0 Alan Greenspan 6 0 Dick van Dyke 5 0 Mel Brooks 5 0 Imelda Marcos 5 0 Sandy Gall 4 0 Ethel Kennedy 4 0 Cleo Laine 4 0 Marianne Faithfull 3 0 Dick Cheney 2 0 Prunella Scales 2 0 Willy Nelson 2 0 Only one joker in this set. However, this is where I think the game will be won. There is so little overlap, or none in the case of Laine & Faithfull, or one player with both Wagner & Greenspan. Hits here favour few people, so making the correct call here might be the difference between a podium finish and a participation ribbon. Uniques # picks # jokers Alan Alda 1 0 Ali Khamenei 1 0 Bob Newhart 1 0 Hal Linden 1 0 Tina Turner 1 0 None are jokers and they only favour 4 players (chilean way has two uniques, Alda and Khamenei). The extra hit is less likely to penalize all players due to the high range (12 -22) of picks, but a correct call is a minimum of 2 points. Survivors (TBD) # picks # jokers Desmond Morris 0 0 Angie Dickinson 0 0 Robert Duvall 0 0 Michael Parkinson 0 0 With no picks, if they are a hit, they'll add to the total hits. Depending of if that happens and when, it could shift the players with a high number of picks into the hit bonus range.

Can we tell what it is yet??

Deborah Hadley, a former Principal Dancer at the Pacific Northwest Ballet, has died. She was 71. https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/dance/deborah-hadley-former-pnb-star-dancer-dies-at-71/

I like all the Beatles eras. Definitely specific songs that I noped out of, but all eras are good.

Fri 12 May 38 Elvis Presley – Rock-A-Hula Baby/Can´t Help Falling In Love 35 Elvis Presley – Return To Sender 35 The Tornados – Telstar 32 B. Bumble & The Stingers – Nut Rocker 31 The Beatles – I Want To Hold Your Hand 28 The Beatles – From Me To You -6 26 Cliff Richard & The Shadows – The Young Ones 24 Gerry & The Pacemakers – How Do You Do It 24 Elvis Presley – She´s Not You 23 The Shadows – Foot Tapper 21 The Shadows – Wonderful Land 21 Elvis Presley – (You're The) Devil In Disguise 21 Cliff Richard & The Shadows – The Next Time/Bachelor Boy 20 Ray Charles – I Can´t Stop Loving You 20 Cliff Richard & The Shadows – Summer Holiday 19 The Shadows – Dance On 15 Frank Ifield – I Remember You +4 15 Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas – Bad To Me 14 The Searchers – Sweets For My Sweet 13 The Beatles – She Loves You 11 Elvis Presley – Good Luck Charm

I'm on holiday in London with my girlfriend for the next couple of days, having arrived this evening and leaving sunday afternoon. We haven't planned much as of yet (besides Hamilton the musical, gf is a big fan and I appreciate most of the songs as well), but with the crowning done (with loads of crowds) and Eurovision fans off to Liverpool I guess, it might actually be a great time to be here!

American religious figure Louis Farrakhan, who is the leader of the Nation of Islam since 1978, is 90 today. Photo Credit: Tasnim News Agency per Creative Commons license

I would say his wife is safe, she’s probably 80 years less than him anyway.

11.05.23 35 Elvis Presley – Return to Sender +2 33 Elvis Presley – Rock-A-Hula Baby/Can´t Help Falling In Love 30 The Tornados – Telstar 30 B. Bumble & The Stingers – Nut Rocker 26 The Beatles — From me to you 26 The Beatles – I Want To Hold Your Hand 24 Gerry & The Pacemakers – How Do You Do It 24 The Beatles – She Loves You 23 Elvis Presley – She´s Not You 22 Frank Ifield – I Remember You -6 21 The Shadows – Wonderful Land +2 21 Elvis Presley – (You're The) Devil In Disguise 21 Cliff Richard & The Shadows – The Next Time/Bachelor Boy 20 Ray Charles – I Can´t Stop Loving You 20 The Searchers – Sweets For My Sweet 20 Cliff Richard & The Shadows – Summer Holiday 19 The Shadows – Dance On 19 The Shadows – Foot Tapper 18 Cliff Richard & The Shadows – The Young Ones 17 Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas – Bad To Me 12 Elvis Presley – Good Luck Charm 11 Gerry & The Pacemakers – I Like It 08 Mike Sarne & Wendy Richards – Come Outside 08 Jet Harris & Tony Meehan – Diamonds

Guido Gorgatti dead at 103.

When are you planning on posting something funny?

Grace Bumbry Telegraph Obit already: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2023/05/08/grace-bumbry-opera-black-obituary-death-singer-soprano/

Council went bust last year. Lots of criticism of financial mismanagement. Very much a local issue, rather than a national picture. Same as the tree-killing Tories getting hammered in Plymouth.

@Phantom would like this. At the charity shop I found the Webb Pierce album (see awesome album cover below) that had ‘Alla My Love’ (reached #5) on it (along with I’m in the Jailhouse Now) but didn’t buy it. Instead the guy next to me did, and I got to hear a story about him parking Tennessee Ernie Ford’s car for him and singing at a local Hawaii pub with him.

It has been in a constant state of unrest since 2018-19. That is if we are generous with the timeline. For once I agree 100% with you. Similar to how I feel of people traveling to North Korea or Russia. Own up to your stupidity.

A few years ago when I was working on an EU Technical Barriers to Trade project the activity was split between Sudan and Ethiopia. My employer did not allow me to go to Sudan but the other consultant (who was self employed) decided to go. He checked with his bank before he left that he would be able to use his cards there and they told him he could but they didn't really check. He came to the end of his stay and tried to pay for his hotel and they would not accept his credit card and he had no cash. He was faced with the prospect of being arrested fortunately one of the companies he had been visiting paid his bill for him and he was allowed to leave. When he got back he demanded significant compensation from his bank for their poor advice. So glad our our companies insurers

Edit: sorry, posted in the wrong year.

Former deputy PM & renowned pugilist John Prescott is 84 today.

Another thread with one person banging a drum to their own beat and absolutely everyone else banging their heads on a desk. It's a simple enough, as @RoverAndOut has already pointed out about as concisely as possible. It's a symbiotic relationship, the very thing that makes you a celebrity is having an audience that appreciates what you do. You can't be a celebrity without an audience of 'fans'. It's an unequal relationship to be sure, but without one you cannot have the other. What the hell skittles has to do with all this I have no idea, it's an awful analogy if that was the intention.

I don't agree with everything you say but what you do is tell a real story which needs to be listened to. The world is complicated and solutions difficult so it's all too easy not to bother or let someone else sort it out. But that doesn't mean we should stop telling our stories.

Graham Moore, 1959 BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year and former Charlton, Chelsea and Man Utd midfielder, dead at 74. Also played for the mighty Cobblers in their only top-flight season to date.