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.

Three good things that Obama is doing in his last days as President.

What's the opposite of 'Grimdark' fantasy? Noblebright fantasy.

The Thoughts and Prayers App

A reasonable stab at classifying various types of leftists.

Interesting story about the man who was the janitor at the US Air Force Academy in the 1970s.

Jeremy Paxman reveals that University Challenge is edited to make the contestants look cleverer.

A rally good visualisation of where the two American political parties got their support from 1920 to 2012.

We're right to be worried about Theresa May.

Deciphering the Text Foundations of Traveller

A useful summary of how many types of people disapprove of Pokemon Go. (Christians, muslims, moral guardians, leftards, gaming purists, conspiracy theorists, nanny-statists, more leftards, SJWs, puritans…)

Remember when the Democratic National Convention used a photo of Russian warships by mistake? No? That's because it got very little coverage over here.

I love these Game of Thrones posters that HBO did. One per episode (almost)!

The plot of all three major Tolkien works in a single haiku.

Pretty much how I feel about both babies and cats.

The IMF was wrong and I was right. (I feel smug.)

Some clever statistical analysis of the EU referendum.

"How did the language of politics get so toxic?"

Considering the impact of cheaper Sterling.

Clare Short is responsible for a lot of the bad things that have happened in Zimbabwe.

Prescription drug or Tolkien elf? Take the quiz! (What, you mean there isn’t a prescription tinnitus remedy called ‘Tinfang Warble’…?)

The American fake hate crimes epidemic.

The Game of Thrones theme played by a (very good) jazz band.

Millions of Americans are _not_ living on $2 a day.

Wrexham's new central defender has the best footballer name ever.

The Worldbuilding forums on Stack Exchange are a nice way for GMs to pass the time. (Thanks eledonecirrhosa.)

H.P. Lovecraft Lego.

This is how I imagine that beer tastes like.

The only way an independent Scotland could meet the EU's entry requirements would be to implement massive public expenditure cuts and / or tax rises. That might be fun to watch.

Who would have guessed that two men who campaigned for the right to bugger small boys would turn out to be paedophiles...? (This is the same organisation that had links with former Labour ministers Patricia Hewitt and Harriet Harman.)

The Untold Story Behind Saudi Arabia's 41-Year U.S. Debt Secret

Have we reached peak Waitrose?

Guide to Figuring Out the Age of an Undated World Map

Street Fighter and Philosophy

The unexpected treasure found on an abandoned liner on the North Wales coast

...and more on that story.

How to predict the Referendum result

Man almost goes into Games Workshop

Clever SEO.

Republican Stockholm Syndrome

Here's a clever way to make interstellar travel real.

"Around 50% 'hold authoritarian views'". Sounds shocking. What’s more shocking is the ignorance of the researchers (three politics professors no less, albeit from second rate universities) as to what constitutes “authoritarian”. Authoritarians would presumably favour powerful state control, right? You know, like Stalin or Hitler or Mao. Not according to these three clowns. Apparently “ideological sympathy for… rolling back the state” is an authoritarian point of view. Incredible.

Thankfully I wasn't the only person to spot this.

Did you own a copy of Buckaroo or MouseTrap when you were a kid? There's a good chance it was assembled by Irish slaves. Seriously.

The new president of the National Union of Students sounds like a lovely girl.

The Game of Thrones Mock Draft.

The Stevland Angus Appreciation Society

Brave socio-political commentary in 'My Little Pony'. Yes, really.

The man who put 50p on Leicester City to win the Premier League at 5000/1 and cashed it out for 45p after one match (which they won 4-2).

Richard 'fuckwit' Murphy had to publically apologise to Lord Ashcroft and make a donation to his charity for being wrong. I wish the legal system could force him to make an apology every other time he’s been wrong.

Paramount is trying to claim copyright over the Klingon Language. The Language Creation Society's legal reply is wonderful.

Why are we so understanding towards the crimes of Communism? A suggestion I’ve seen elsewhere is that International Labour Day should be replaced with a day of remembrance for the victims of communism and socialism. Good idea.

Gerry Adams apologises for tweeting the word "nigger". I’m amazed at the fuss about this. Might it not have occurred to the twitter commentariat that heading a terrorist organisation responsible for the deaths of 1,800 people is ever so slightly worse than typing a naughty word into social media?

10 things the bookies thought were more likely to happen than Leicester City winning the Premier League.

When the US Navy had flying aircraft carriers.

Sorry – bit overdue…

Not an item we have in stock at The Shop on the Borderlands. Shame really.

If Facebook was designed by its users

It's an odd legal system where a muslim judge gets to decide which parts of the Bible should be illegal. And this didn't happen in Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. It happened in Somerset.

How to talk about Star Wars with your ignorant, Rebellion-backing uncle.

The Appendix N Blog. (Appendix N of the AD&D 1st edition Dungeon Master’s Guide was where Gary Gygax listed all of the literature that influenced him.)

The secret network exposing fake military veterans.

One third of people living in London were born in other countries.

Who the f**k is my D&D character?

FA Cup tie held up after cat wanders onto pitch.

My grandparents used to live in Bridgnorth. Their house wasn't like this.

The Russian Navy is a LOT smaller than the Soviet Navy.

Someone asked me the other day if we had any "politically incorrect" board games in stock in the Shop. I had to admit that we didn't. I'm all for tweaking the sensibilities of the terminally politically correct, but I think even I would draw the line well before this point.

Bill Gates's philanthropy will achieve more than Mark Zuckerberg's. Why? Because while Zuckerberg is just giving money away, Gates is using his skills and his contacts to get things done.

"We are all Jews here." The US soldier who led a revolt against German prison guards.

Fitness advice: How to Lose Fat.

Reports of 'Giant Rats' in London leads to increased sales of Chainmail and +1 Longswords.

What does the galaxy need most after the destruction of the Second Death Star? A Central Bank. (I would actually love it if this is the plot for Episode VII, but then I liked all the stuff about taxation of trade routes in Episode I…)

McLaren's idea of what F1 cars might look like in the future.

The genius of Tusk. (And isn’t Christine’s hair truly tragic in that photo?)

The Stop the War Coalition's Greatest Hits.