time

Elon Musk - in a further attempt to drive people off the platform formerly known as Twitter, he's now made "Lights Out" mode the default setting. Starts up in Lights out every time I restart. I hate it now more than ever.

David Wilkie for the List of the Missed; picked last in 2020. (Put here for completeness, and also because I didn't see it had already been posted in the Olympic thread)

Slipped and fell in the shower! 'kinell!

I'm assuming this is for numismatists and the like, rather than folk who just throw their excess change in a pot to save for Christmas; I have randomly 'collected' a few unusual coins over the years, such as a couple of the unimetal commemorative £2 coins, as well as a few pre-decimal coins that people have thrown in collecting tins. Nothing of any real value, but I do have a couple of the Kew Gardens 50p coins. Like a lot of things, they've been put away somewhere 'safe' and I have no idea where they are now.

Updates done for Dabney Coleman, Tony O'Reilly Chico Hamilton Frank Ifield Gerry Collins Karl-Heinz Schnellinger Bud Anderson Jan A.P. Kaczmarek which I think is all reported/qualifying celebs I missed. ( Unless, of course, you know different And (I nearly forgot) thanks to those folks keeping an eye on things while I was away.

I'm back. Have I missed anything?

Right.... Signing off for my weekend away. Nobody die!

It's a toss-up between this one and Clair which one i loathe more.

Absolutely - I think they've been done with them for a long time. I remember being polled prior to the Major election ('92) and was asked if people should view it as Major's first election or the Tories fourth; evidently people regarded it as Major's first (not sure what effect previous Kinnock rejections had as he was up against Thatcher), but I doubt Sunak will be given the same consideration. Unfortunately, despite the Tories being in an extremely vulnerable position, Starmer seems reluctant to press home the advantage. The progressive vote will once again be split three ways but hopefully (as we've seen with the council elections) tactical voting will be effected where it will be most useful.

Even Major won a General Election, so there's still hope.

A reference to this BBC investigation if anyone is wondering.

16/5/2024 36 Hawkwind - Silver Machine 35 David Bowie - Life on Mars? 33 Mott the Hoople - All The Young Dudes 31 America - A Horse With No Name 29 Suzi Quatro - 48 Crash 27 Carly Simon - You’re So Vain 27 T. Rex - 20th Century Boy 26 Python Lee Jackson - In a Broken Dream 23 David Bowie - Drive-In Saturday 22 The Drifters - At The Club/Saturday Night At The Movies 21 Limmie and the Family Cookin’ - You Can Do Magic 20 Lindisfarne - Lady Eleanor 20 Medicine Head - One and One is One 20 Mungo Jerry - Alright, Alright, Alright 18 The Shangri-Las - Leader of the Pack 16 Gilbert O’Sullivan - Alone Again (Naturally) -6 16 Peter Skellern - You’re a Lady 12 David Bowie - Sorrow +4 08 The Chi-Lites - Have You Seen Her 02 Perry Como - And I Love You So I realise its not going to happen (I'm probably a minority of 1), but I genuinely would prefer to see Perry Como survive longer than Gilbert O'Sullivan. Of the remaining tunes here, there are few I really dislike, a handful I really like, and a load of "not bothered one way or the other".

As a former milk monitor, I take great exception to this!

Finished Slow Horses S2, and enjoyed it much more than S1. I don't know why, maybe familiarity with the characters or maybe its a better/better told story than S1.

13 May '24 51 Edwin Starr — War 35 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Around The Bend +4 33 The Four Tops - A Simple Game 27 Lynn Anderson - Rose Garden -6 4 Andy Williams — Can’t Help Falling In Love

Somehow, I was unaware of the existence of this album until yesterday. Naturally I bought it, but until it arrives, utube is my friend

11/5/2024 44 Edwin Starr — War 28 Lynn Anderson - Rose Garden -6 26 Bobby Bloom - Montego Bay 25 The Four Tops - A Simple Game 23 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Around The Bend 21 Andy Williams — Can’t Help Falling In Love 21 Ashton, Gardner and Dyke - Resurrection Shuffle +4 16 Three Dog Night - Mama Told Me (Not To Come) 06 Neil Diamond - Cracklin’ Rosie

These are exactly the sort of people Jehovah's Witnesses love to engage with! (In order to convert them)

Its not a holiday as such, but I have booked a weekend away, and will be visiting what I assume to be the spiritual home of @harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy to catch up with some old friends/former colleagues.

That was my assumption, never having seen Cobra Kai either(nor Karate Kid II, in which he also appears)

Most popular names given to babies born in the USA are (for the fifth consecutive year) Olivia and Liam, followed by Emma and Noah. Izael and Chozen for boys, Kaeli and Alitzel for girls are making ground apparently. Chozen is a character in the Cobra Kai Netflix show, Kaeli is assumed to be growing on the strength of a TikTokker named Kaeli.

Well, having said Poor Things didn't appeal to me, based on it's IMDb synopsis, I have now watched and thought it was great; Emma Stone's performance definitely deserves an Oscar - I'm not saying, necessarily, it was a better performance than Lily Gladstone's in KotFM, but a different type of role that was always going to attract attention (and divide opinion).

10 May 24 32 Edwin Starr — War 31 Bobby Bloom - Montego Bay 30 Lynn Anderson - Rose Garden 27 Three Dog Night - Mama Told Me (Not To Come) 27 Ashton, Gardner and Dyke - Resurrection Shuffle +4 26 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Around The Bend 26 The Four Tops - A Simple Game 25 Andy Williams — Can’t Help Falling In Love 19 The Supremes - Stoned Love 18 Neil Diamond - Cracklin’ Rosie  15 Don Fardon - Indian Reservation -6

I finished Slow Horses (S1), yes, it did pick up from episode 3, as someone pointed out but I wasn't over-enamoured with the final episode. Still, I'll probably get around to S2 before my free trial runs out (possibly even S3 just to get my money's worth)! I've also been watching Justified (on Disney+) which is pretty enjoyable so far. It's like a Redneck soap opera/police procedural (it's set in rural Kentucky). I'm approaching the end of S2 (of 6) so lets see if it can maintain that standard throughout. A sequel set in Detroit was released last year and is also available so that's on the list. Another US programme I tried and got fed-up of is Burn Notice. It starts off OK (and has Sharon Gless in it) but before long the lead character (as well as the preposterous premise) starts to grate. I also tried Alias but didn't get on with this (strangely, as its created by JJ Abrams whose work I've previously enjoyed).