Phlegmatic

OK, we haven’t had a Phligm Phlagm post since mid-October, and the world was a different place back then.

I’ve been busy all right? Anyway, here’s the first load of links to catch up on. Feel free to take your time over them…

Christmas Reading List 2025

The Red Dwarf theme tune has secret lyrics, and they've only just been discovered. (But they’re actually suprisingly easy to hear once you know about them!)

What would you call a mystery species of aurochs / bison known only from cave paintings? The Higgs Bison of course!

I think we can call this "corruption", don't you?

Canoes are racist now, apparently. (Or to put it another way, the University of Victoria employs a complete fuckwit as its Professor of English, apparently.)

£250,000 gold coin found in child's pirate treasure collection.

"Kid needs permission slip to read 'Fahrenheit 451', his dad's response is brilliant." Of course, both teacher and dad (as well as almost everyone else) have in fact misinterpreted what the book is about.

One of the overlooked greats of RPG art: Russ Nicholson. I love his stuff.

Dilbert creator Scott Adams on being bullied by Clinton supporters.

True story: The raven in Poe's poem was inspired by Charles Dickens's pet raven.

OK, now will leftards shut up about tax 'avoidance'?

"...where he displayed upper body strength far beyond his supposed years and also was able to completely strip a rifle at a shooting range."

You don't need this laptop either.

You don't need this laptop.

Trying to understand the EU's actions against Apple and the Republic of Ireland.

It's not shocking that professional employers judge applicants for client-facing roles partly on their appearance and their dress. What is shocking is that not only do state schools not teach this stuff, they sometimes don’t like it when employers try to do it instead.

Useful smartphone test. When I last bought a smartphone, I read lots of reviews, but one question that was never asked was “How good is it at making and receiving calls?”, that is “How good is it at actually being a phone”"?”

According to the latest Rowntree Foundation definition, someone in the top 0.32% of global incomes is now "in poverty". Muppets.

British WW2 propaganda posters.

Think you're good at Lego building? This guy is better.

If you were an American games company raising funds on Kickstarter for a new family card game "that combines speed, hilarious gestures, and your silly side for 2-6 players, ages 6+", and you weren't that familiar with politically incorrect British playground slang, what's the worst name you could come up with...?

"Nobody ever got sacked for buying IBM" …but maybe in this case, someone should have been.

When I was an auditor, this sort of clever statistical analysis was called a logic check. This is a good logic check on why American police might treat certain groups differently. (Hat tip to ford_prefect42.)

Archaeological evidence of a major bronze age battle in northern Germany c.1250 BC.

“It is now a news story that a not British firm, which did not operate in Britain and does not, which is not resident in the UK, domiciled in the UK, has no permanent establishment in the UK, did not and does not pay tax in the UK.”

I must admit to being baffled as to why this is a news story. Nobody did anything wrong or even out of the ordinary.

One thing this non-story does show is just how little offshore tax dodging there actually is.

“My daughter's political career is already over.”

But isn't it absolutely f*cking hilarious to find out who the one politician is who has broken tax laws...

The African king who works as a car mechanic in Germany. “He governs his people over Skype.”

Jane Goodall is a good sport.

Ridiculous hipster restaurants.

What would you call a rich politician who wanted to ban trade with poor people, condemning them to poverty? Evil or just moronic? Or maybe both?

Another day, another anti-semitism scandal for the Labour Party.

Police constable shows judge "how grenade works" inside courtroom, three injured.

The best business schools now recruit people with both experience of industry and teaching ability. (…and so does my university, which is how I’m there. However, since the business school is only in its second year, it might be a while before we catch up with Harvard…)

Japan is more low-tech than you might think.

...and Sony has just finished making Betamax cassettes. (I bet there are still fanboys out there arguing that the picture quality is better than VHS.)

Not for the first time, I thought we'd reached Peak Guardian, but no!

The sad tale of the man who designed the Diamond Jubilee Barge.

Visiting every Toby Carvey in Britain with a blind photographer.

7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding (Actually, they’re more things you might like to avoid than really appalling sins, but hey.)

A really nice map of Expert D&D Module X1: The Isle of Dread

'Virtue signalling' is not virtue. Good point. (And I am aware of the irony of linking to this post using social media.)

I haven’t done a Phligm Phlagm post since April. (Sorry, I’ve been really busy…) We have some catching up to do. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and / or are informed by these links:

The maths (and beauty) behind a perfect 147. Make sure you watch Ronnie O’Sullivan’s five minutes and 20 seconds 147 – one of the all time greatest accomplishments in any sport.

This is the sort of thing that should be in that Alanis Morrisette song instead of "rain on your wedding day".

Few people regularly make me as angry as this incompetent, ill-informed, hypocritical, leftard.

Great myths of British politics, number 745: "The NHS is the most efficient health system in the world". (According to the OECD, only Ireland and Greece could make greater savings from more efficient healthcare systems.)

Even among countries with similar healthcare systems, the UK's is "below average". (So can we please stop this “envy of the world” bollocks?)

"My obsession with a fictional Football Manager megastar." (I had to put this in quotation marks to make it clear that this wasn't me...)

Diane "divide and rule" Abbott tutting that the "Tories harp on about Mid-Staffs". (Yeah, cos it’s not as if 1,200 people dying because of neglect in a state-run hospital is something politicians should be concerned about…)

"We're a class project."

A Greek God Family Tree

Student union backs excluding white people from 'anti-racism' events.

RIP Yeoman Rand.

PwC is going to ignore graduates' A-level results when recruiting. (This surprises me. When I was being recruited as a trainee chartered accountant, and when I was recruiting trainee chartered accountants, it was generally accepted that A-level grades were the best indication of future success in ACA exams, far more so than class of degree.)

George Digweed, the greatest British sportsman you've never heard of.

You know those really expensive very large Lego Super Star Destroyers? What if you dropped one from a great height? And filmed it. At 1000fps.

10 typographic mistakes everyone makes (and which life is far, far too short to care about.)

Headline of the month (well, last month if you're being pedantic)

...and here's the dark elf's novel! I love the top review on amazon.com.

Some really bad portrait photos.

The man killed by an automaton. Doesn't this happen in 'Horror on the Orient Express'?

Giant projects almost always overrun on cost.

France is learning all about the Laffer Curve. The hard way.

Bulgaria does the school prom differently.

Is it really the end for the greatest political party in history?

The Michael-Gove-bans-foreign-books thing turns out to be yet another leftard urban myth. Is anyone surprised? ...

Inequality is inevitable, so isn't it best that it rewards creators and producers?

Royal Albert Hall to finally get retractable roof.

Piers Morgan recruited as Liberal Democrat media advisor

Darth Vader to run in Ukrainian presidential election

The Kindle Paperscent removes one of the remaining disadvantages of eBook readers.

bathstore launches world's first selfie mirror

Dating site doesn't want lonely hearts using Firefox

NASA detects 'intelligent' alien signal

Toby Carvery brings you the Breakfast Sundae

Manchester United's new home shirt to feature Sir Alex Ferguson's face

Ant and Dec to split. Dec will reinvent himself as 'Dec'.

Government to crack down on selfies

Domino's introduces the edible pizza box.

UN draws up peacekeeping plans in event of Scottish 'yes' vote.

Mumsnet to run maternity wards

Square eggs

New Scottish pound coin to use Alex Salmond's head instead of the Queen's

An independent Scotland would drive on the right

Aspiring 'glamour' model gets £5,000 breast enlargement plus £2,500 of dentistry on the NHS.

Eight year old bodybuilder

Polly Toynbee calls for Richard Murphy to sit on the board of HMRC

The Holy Grail has been in a Spanish church for ages.

You need to eat ten portions of fruit and veg a day, not five.

"Manchester United are not underdogs" against Bayern Munich.

Goat Simulator

Hull's rival to Bitcoin: HullCoin

Unite boss calls on members to kill the rich

Vegetable are good for you

George Osborne to get everyone a fancy job.

Netflix to relaunch Firefly

CERN website to switch to Comic Sans

Finding Pokemon with Google Maps

Michael Gove to make gowns and mortarboards compulsory

Leonard Nimoy to sing end credits song for third Hobbit movie

EU to set up euro-election 'troll patrol' to tackle Eurosceptic surge.

What twitter made of that photograph of Mr Obama firing a gun.

Will the Financial Transaction Tax work?

Random conspiracy theory generator (just keep refreshing to get new theories)

Michael Gove agrees with me.

America's Most Disliked Athletes

2013 Tax Prat of the Year

A real dilemma for Guardian journalists...

Google's trendy new Tel Aviv office. (Is it just me or does the actual work area (as opposed to the comfy seating areas) look noisy and ugly?)

Azerbaijan should have a great chance in Eurovision this year...

What you think Ockham's Razor means is probably wrong.

Hasn't Lego got expensive? No. No it hasn't.

How much do you pay for car insurance? Rowan Atkinson probably pays £60,000 a year.

Some funny Amazon reviews for the Playmobil Security Check Point

Amazing photos of rice terraces in China

50 Years of the 911

What Benny's boss though of his resignation.

"Deck the Halls with Macro Follies" - "The greatest collection of economic holiday hits ever assembled!"

Client feedback to marketing agencies as posters. (Much better than it sounds.)

Sir Patrick Moore had some financial difficulties in the last few years of his life. So Brian May bought his house for him. (Please, please, please BBC, don’t give The Sky at Night to that wanker from Manchester with the bad dress sense and the creepy lips. Give it to Chris Lintott and Brian May. Queen, not D*Ream.)

Famous movie scenes in Lego. (I think The Godfather is the best.)

ESPN presenter argues that Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III isn't "really" black because he has a white fiancee and he's a Republican. (For this, he has been suspended for 30 days by ESPN. This is the same punishment they gave to a basketball commentator (whose wife is Asian-American) who asked “Is there a chink in his armour?” about a Chinese basketball player. The former behaviour seems much worse to me.)

Gerard Depardieu moves to Belgium and farts in the general direction of President Hollande.

Bradley Wiggins is, without doubt, the coolest man on the planet right now. And a random security guard might be second.

Football management - what they apparently _do_ teach you at Harvard Business School.

The Doha climate change talks failed. That doesn't matter since they would have had a trivial effect anyway. What matters far more is the Doha trade talks.

I wonder at what point the Labour Party website will remove this page...

Famous British eugenicists. (Including Marie Stopes, who disinherited her son for marrying a short-sighted woman.)

Strong contender for worst album cover of all time. On the other hand, it does feature a cat.

Spot the hidden Dalek!

If video games were realistic.