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I don't know who he is but Happy Birthday!

Especially not if, as stated in the article, the lions were kept in separate pens. Shooting one may have been necessary, but why the need for the other? And has no-one there ever heard of tranquilizer guns?

I remember that the instruction manual for the first electronic calculator I bought in around 1970 said, "to check if your calculator is working correctly, multiply 12345679 by 63 to give the answer 777777777". It was at this point that my slide rule was put in the drawer never to be used again.

It's been a year of big, but not huge names so far. B+ but not A-list, so to say. Even if I'd have called Karl Lagerfeld deathlisty, I still wouldn't count him as a miss because of the suddenness of his death. The committee might have missed André Previn who was known to be ill for a while. Maybe Bruno Ganz, too, but in the UK, he was only known for the meme. So far, it's hard to see much the committee could have done better.

Pogues did well in NZ (Fairytale was 5th, GOAT album contender IISFFGWG sold buckets) but dunno about Oz-land: probably too busy listening to Stefan Dennis records or what not.

"According to Laniado's friends, the only time he forgot about his short height was when he asked his accountant to read out his bank statement, something which he did multiple times a day."

Aye right then.. billionaire died getting penis enlargement. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/billionaire-diamond-trader-dies-during-14095551

Is Fairytale of New York not played there at christmas? As if it is then Shane MacGowan surely is more well known than a few others even if it's not by name.

Their best bet is a by-election in a remain constituency.

This year I'm giving up pancakes.

Jimmy Osmond won't let his brothers visit him after he suffered a stroke at Christmastime - leaving them in the dark about his current medical condition. The performer - who rose to fame alongside his siblings as group The Osmonds - has, according to brother Merrill, requested they stay away while he recovers from the incident, having not seen any of them for two months. Merrill, 65, told the Daily Express: 'He's hurting pretty bad. He's in the States but doctors won't even let the family in on it yet. 'The severity of it - none of us know. It's the way his family wants it. SC

I remember 8th grade (so 1976?) biology teacher came in all giddy one day, He held aloft what appeared and adding machine, but you held it in your hand, and wireless (though ‘wireless’ wasn’t a word yet). He said he paid like $250 for the thing (1976 US dollars). It was cool.

His wife

I wonder who discovered 55378008.

Niall Ferguson has declared we are in Cold War 2.0: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-06/us-and-china-locked-in-cold-war-2.0-historian-says/10873254

Since you muse, here's what I sent Biblio when he asked for them. 1. Kirk -The most A listy acting veteran alive? 2. Prince Philip – Again, worldwide fame 3. Sidney Poitier – One of the most recognisable actors to ever live. 4. Gorbachev – Instantly recognisable world leader. 5. Jimmy Carter – US President 6. Dick van Dyke – Mary Poppins, World Wide Star 7. De Havilland – Again, huge name actress 8. Mugabe – Most famous living ex-dictator? 9. Tina Turner – Massive A music star 10. Doris Day – Huge name 11. Kissinger – One of those news faces 12. Tutu – Huge apartheid figure/tv regular worldwide 13. Little Richard – big music star 14. Belafonte – Big civil rights star/music legend 15. Akihito – Japanese leader, not as famous as others 16. Betty White - Big name US actress whose been on UK TV. 17. Chirac – French leader 18. Larry King – US TV guy with worldwide fame/film appearances 19. Vanessa Redgrave – Huge name in UK. 20. Barker – The US Bruce Forsyth, so famous there he gets referenced here often in the way 99% of their TV hosts don’t. 21. Gordon Banks – World Cup winner in the 60s. 22. Lynn Vera – World famous in 1940s. 23. Mubarak – Lesser known dictator 24. June Brown – A list in UK. Iconic role plus long career moves up few spots. 25. Stirling Moss – Huge sports name with older generations 26. Bob Dole – Big US Politician but mostly known for old and ill for 15 years! 27. Bob Hawke – Oz politics not as well known, but Hawke one of their most famous 28. Cardin – The label is world famous 29. Bracknell – Instantly recognisable among UK soap fans and world wide fans of UK soaps. I know that not us, but there are millions of them. 30. Nobby Stiles – World Cup winner but least famous of the “names everyone knows”. 31. Jerry Stiller – Huge in US and here (but many years ago). My mum knows who he is. 32. M Walker – A well known UK voice. Think known elsewhere in the Worldwide F1 community. 33. Blackman – 60s actress, Bond raises her up several spots. 34. Shane McGowan – Pogues singer/Fairytale of new York = world wide fame. (except in Australia) 35. Clive James – International fame, but not worldwide. 36. Greaves – More known for his TV Career, fast disappearing in the rear view window. 37. Giscard d’estaing – French leader but their most obscure 38. Walters – Famous in US circles. 39. Wouk – Really old and dry writer. Known more than read? 40. Ed Asner – Voice actor, so known but not by name. 41. Loretta Lynn – Influential but obscure. 42. McCririck – Recognisable in UK circles even to non-racing watchers. 43. Ginger Baker – 3rd most famous member of Cream 44. Prunella Scales – TV actress only known here 45. Alan Greenspan – Vaguely famous US economist 46. Harper V – US TV actress famous 30 years ago. 47. Tony Britton – One of those faces 40 years ago 48. Cleo Laine – Really obscure old figure now, sorry 49. JPDC – Even folk at the time don’t recall him. 50. Johnny Clegg – Cult figure. Important but hidden. I'd probably change some of it around, but the ball park is my gut feeling on their fame levels.

Some more random musings on relative fame and coverage of death: 1. Yesterday, Luke Perry, the star of a half-forgotten soap opera from 20 years ago, received a lot more coverage in the Australian mainstream media than that satanic-looking tosser from Prodigy (so Hollywood promotional power counts). Neither came near the levels of fawning over the homegrown icon that was Mike Willesee though. 2.In terms of fame relative to audience age, Carrie Fisher is best known to my generation as Princess Leia and was a huge star in her own right, irrespective of any actual acting skills she may have possessed. To my mum's generation though, she is really just Debbie Reynold's daughter. Carrie's death received a lot more coverage than Debbie's though in the "double event" death. Debbie was basically portrayed in the media as just Carrie's mother and the star of some old forgotten films(!) Kirk Douglas is of course a superstar but I am wondering how many younger people today would know Michael better and think of him more in terms of being Michael's dad without having seen his films. 3. Likewise, Robin Williams received a lot more coverage than Lauren Bacall the following day who ended up just being a footnote on the news. So even Hollywood stardom fades with the decades. Does make me wonder what would happen if, say, Olivia's death happens at the same time as that of a younger, bigger star. 4. I ranked Prunella Scales higher on the list higher than Ed Asner or Valerie Harper because the ABC repeats her old shows frequently whereas, to my knowledge, Mary Tyler Moore has never been repeated. They were probably bigger stars at the time, so, yes, UK stars can be more famous than American ones in certain circumstances. Basically, in Australia, commercial television stations buy Yank shows and the ABC buys Pommie shows so we have a dose of each (SBS buys foreign language shows which is good for my knowledge on the Foreign Stars thread.) 5. To answer your question, yes, Vera Lynn is super-famous outside the UK. She is seen as the epitome of Englishness, for better or worse. 6. Not sure about Olivia versus Doris in the fame stakes either. I put Olivia slightly higher because she was in more classics, including the iconic Robin Hood with "our" Errol but it was a tough one. 7. Emperor Akihito is moderately well known as the head of state of a major trading partner but with so many Japanese-Australian citizens now perhaps I have shown Anglo bias ranking him so low. 8. Moss versus Walker was also tough. Moss was a superstar in his day bit you never hear of him in Australia now. I wouldn't have a vlue what he has done post-racing whereas Walker is the media face of the sport as the chief comentator so possibly more well known to young people. 9. Since soccer isn't as popular as AFL or Rugby League in terms of media coverage in Australia (though things are gradually changing) Banks and Greaves suffer badly. Anywhere else in the world, they'd probably be ranked a lot higher but they are not known here at all by the general public.

It truly costs not a cent to be kind. Check this out.

I said Team Wean when I sent the wean's team in....so if we could change it to that, that would be great. Actually a mandate from the boss....

A hearty congratulations to @YoungWillz for becoming the 3rd member of the exclusive (dare I say not for very long) 10000 Post Club!

I was thinking yesterday of the song fire starter and how some people have it played at their cremations

According to the headlines, he has gone from "really,really bad health" in July 2018, to "very poor health" now. Sounds like he is getting better to me, but not much is actually being said.

What do you call a three legged donkey? A wonkey. ^ Funnier post, imo.

Well, can't find an actual birthday thread so might as well put it in here! Turned 18 yesterday (12th of Feb), 18+ only concerts and paying bills here I come!

A female elephant known as the “saddest in the world” has died after living alone in a zoo for 43 years. The Asian elephant, named Flavia, died at Cordoba Zoo in southern Spain last week, where she had lived since she was three years old. Her physical health was said to have deteriorated during the last six months before her death. She was also reported to suffer from depression. Goddamn saddest story in the world. Now saddest on DL SC