En Passant

15/10.2024 86 The Sisters of Mercy ft. Ofra Haza - Temple of Love (1992) +4 53 Annie Lennox - Little Bird/Love Song for a Vampire 34 Spin Doctors - Two Princes 34 Billy Joel - The River of Dreams 11 Faith No More - I’m Easy/Be Aggressive 4 Mr. Big - To Be With You -6

Heh. I suppose it's a hazard with any joke that some will miss it or even simply don't think it's funny (which is perfectly fine, humour is after all subjective). Having said that with this particular stab at humour you need to know Smokie's most famous track and crucially the send-ups associated with it otherwise it's not a joke at all. But as with most jokes having to explain it defeats the purpose. I even removed everything bar the band name from the quotes so it scans properly. One can but try - and sometimes miss. Ah well.

Mon 14 Oct 78 The Sisters of Mercy ft. Ofra Haza - Temple of Love (1992) +4 45 Annie Lennox - Little Bird/Love Song for a Vampire 36 Spin Doctors - Two Princes 34 Billy Joel - The River of Dreams -6 21 Faith No More - I’m Easy/Be Aggressive 11 Michael Jackson - Remember the Time 11 Mr. Big - To Be With You  06 SWV - Right Here ( Human Nature Remix)

The Jimmy Carter thread is starting to look sensible right now.

I take no pride in this, but to those posting facepalms? Look again - it's a damn joke. I know who smokie are and what's more, I appear to know their tracks (especially that famous one and critically variations thereof) well enough...

Oh don't I know it. But I'm a tightwad and afaik it's the only 'broadsheet' you don't have to pay for - have you seen the cost of the FT? The Torygraph? No thanks, and The Times is owned by..... well. And they're not free either.

Speaking of which a follow up article links the original source - Enjoy.

Who the fuck are smokie?

Me too. In the context of this thread the only part I was really interested in was the lack of verifiablity of the ages over 110. It's aposite in a thread where extreme ages are often quoted. All the other stuff about Bryan Johnson and the woulda/coulda/shoulda arguments for longevity don't really relate to this thread and were peripheral but I needed to include the source. Oh for sure I agree with this too, however saying you found 80% of the entire worlds population that could be checked does seem rather precise and presumably could itself be checked. This is an article in a newspaper I suppose, not a peer reviewed scientific paper and as such its scope was broader (as above) and I'd imagine most normal readers would metaphorically turn the page once it became as boring as most scientific papers are to those with only a passing interest.

Perhaps unsurprisingly it appears a large percentage of extreme age claimants are downright fibbers. Source.

How the heck do you do a crossword on the radio?

Sun 13 Oct 82 The Sisters of Mercy ft. Ofra Haza - Temple of Love (1992 ) +4 40 Annie Lennox - Little Bird/Love Song for a Vampire 31 Spin Doctors - Two Princes 22 Billy Joel - The River of Dreams -6 22 Faith No More - I’m Easy/Be Aggressive 22 Dina Carroll - Don’t Be a Stranger 21 Mr. Big - To Be With You 17 SWV - Right Here ( Hum an Nature Remix) 11 Michael Jackson - Remember the Ti me 07 Madonna - Erotica

How many statisticians were in the sample that decided which were the good ones?

12/10/2024 70 The Sisters of Mercy ft. Ofra Haza - Temple of Love (1992) +4 38 Annie Lennox - Little Bird/Love Song for a Vampire 34 Billy Joel - The River of Dreams -6 33 Spin Doctors - Two Princes 23 SWV - Right Here (Human Nature Remix) 22 Dina Carroll - Don’t Be a Stranger 21 Mr. Big - To Be With You  18 Faith No More - I’m Easy/Be Aggressive 11 Michael Jackson - Remember the Time 10 Madonna - Erotica 09 Sub Sub ft. Melanie Williams - Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use)

Fri 11 Oct 64 The Sisters of Mercy ft. Ofra Haza - Temple of Love (1992) +4 35 Spin Doctors - Two Princes -6 28 SWV - Right Here (Human Nature Remix) 26 Billy Joel - The River of Shit 24 Annie Lennox - Little Bird/Love Song for a Vampire 24 Dina Carroll - Don’t Be a Stranger 22 Faith No More - I’m Easy/Be Aggressive 21 Mr. Big - To Be With You  18 Whitney Houston - I Have Nothing 17 Sub Sub ft. Melanie Williams - Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use) 11 Madonna - Erotica 11 Michael Jackson - Remember the Time 08 Richard Marx - Hazard 06 Vanessa Williams - Save The Best For Last  06 Bizarre Inc ft. Angie Brown - I’m Gonna Get You

I admit I didn't actually look that closely. *I didn't want to crash - boom boom tisch...

10/10/2024 52 The Sisters of Mercy ft. Ofra Haza - Temple of Love (1992) +4 43 Spin Doctors - Two Princes -6 32 Billy Joel - The River of Dreams 25 Faith No More - I’m Easy/Be Aggressive 24 Dina Carroll - Don’t Be a Stranger 24 SWV - Right Here (Human Nature Remix) 21 Mr. Big - To Be With You  20 Sub Sub ft. Melanie Williams - Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use)  20 Annie Lennox - Little Bird/Love Song for a Vampire 14 Whitney Houston - I Have Nothing 14 Richard Marx - Hazard 12 Bizarre Inc ft. Angie Brown - I’m Gonna Get You 12 Vanessa Williams - Save The Best For Last  11 Madonna - Erotica  11 Michael Jackson - Remember the Time

I don't know about #1 inclusion on the Main DL, but it would absolutely make #1 on any Ironic Deaths List.

Apart from dishonestly and falsely masquerading as a member of parliament you mean?

Seems harsh, have you met him then? Oh wait, pick, my error, as you were.

09 Oct 52 The Sisters of Mercy ft. Ofra Haza - Temple of Love (1992) +4 43 Spin Doctors - Two Princes 32 Billy Joel - The River of Dreams 24 Annie Lennox - Little Bird/Love Song for a Vampire 24 Faith No More - I’m Easy/Be Aggressive 22 Dina Carroll - Don’t Be a Stranger 22 SWV - Right Here (Human Nature Remix) 21 Richard Marx - Hazard -6 21 Mr. Big - To Be With You  20 Sub Sub ft. Melanie Williams - Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use)  18 Whitney Houston - I Have Nothing 17 Bizarre Inc ft. Angie Brown - I’m Gonna Get You 14 Michael Jackson - Remember the Time  12 Vanessa Williams - Save The Best For Last  11 Madonna - Erotica  06 Curiosity - Hang On in There Baby Fixed

BTL grauniad comment.

This is the second time in as many weeks my sarcasm-ometer has blown a fuse.

Fixed on mine as the immediately preceding one.