#TodayILearned that the first two lines of Billy Bragg’s A New England are taken from Simon and Garfunkel’s Leaves that are Green
I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song I’m twenty-two now but I won’t be for long
Spring hasn’t yet sprung….but it’s on its way in the Shire
Call me a nerdy pedant but the football pyramid.is shaped more like the Eiffel Tower than a pyramid, imho
At best it’s a triangle rather than a pyramid ⚽

I think I might struggle to score 73 points in 48 minutes even if I was alone on the court 🏀
Doncic equals fourth-highest NBA scoring total - www.bbc.co.uk/sport/bas…
Commentator just said there’s a battle developing between Sterling and Cash
I don’t know how that works but someone should inform the Chancellor
CheAvl ⚽
Only eleven months to Christmas
I always hoped I’d get a cheque meant for poor old Matthew Perry, but sadly it never happened
Tom Hollander says he received seven-figure Avengers bonus meant for Tom Holland
As a constitution geek, I absolutely love this
“Lord Cameron, the UK foreign secretary, should take questions from MPs at the “bar” of the house – the white line on the Commons floor from behind which visitors must not pass while parliament is sitting.”
Chelsea FC are returning to Stamford Bridge North 😃⚽

Commentator just referred to cole Palmer as cole porter
Well, did you ever?
⚽
Words of the day
Before Elon Musk got his hands on twitter, I tweeted ‘my word of the day’ for the best part of a couple of years, I think. This is a list of all those words.
- myrrh
- eggnog
- swaddling
- tidings
- footfall
- ponderous
- tinsel
- mulled
- lustre
- rankle
- cusp
- rambunctious
- foible
- slumber
- guttural
- rigmarole
- Blighty
- totter
- dunk
- I just listened to a thing about Delia Derbyshire so my word of the day today is wobbulator
- staunch
- curdle
- albeit
- gravel
- dawdle
- bosky
- My word of the day today is either impinge' or ‘expunge’ I can’t quite decide
- musty
- harbinger
- piffle
- chilly
- shuck
- reverberate
- edible
- chortle
- amok as in ‘run amok’,
- russet
- divot
- ruffled
- gush
- fiddlesticks
- flange
- My word of the day is skedaddle'.. which I must admit I thought was spelt with an ‘i’
- myriad
- discombobulate
- drizzle
- mulch
- rigmarole - derived from a Kentish phrase ‘ragman roll’ apparently
- mawkish- apparently it derives from Middle English word for maggot
- skullduggery
- ramshackle
- muffle
- glitch
- jovial
- outwith
- hue
- stockade
- chuffed
- grizzled
- hillock
- nincompoop
- paradiddle
- commensurate
- sombre
- tumultuous
- jettison
- daub
- malleable
- snout
- dazzling
- filibuster
- parish
- behest
- valve
- skint
- gabardine
- grinning
- desultory
- blossom
- fricative
- shiplap
- codger
- batten
- hunkering
- mulch
- resin
- tustle
- speckled
- truckle
- nebulous
- frothy
- pithy
- sprinkle
- rife
- sanguine
- thistle
- stirrup
- antiquity
- chipper
- raucous
- follicle
- foist
- ceramic
- wrinkle
- swarthy
- machinate
- griddle
- styptic
- chrysalis
- febrile
- crumple
- twill
- diffident
- tomfoolery
- mishmash
- mooch
- rickety
- spruce
- tabernacle
- epitome
- middling
- scrimmage
- ditto
- trickle
- skew
- schism
- stroll
- satsuma
- sprout
- hocus-pocus
- gesticulate,
- creosote
- wreak
- mumble
- exuberant
- chirpy
- growl
- mollusc
- gist
- mariner
- dunk
- kindling
- tinsel
- plangent
- bubble
- hush
- strum
- slouching
- crackle
- purloin
- frost
- adamant
- scamper
- capacious
- jostle
- wanton
- askance
- stubble
- cattle
- balustrade
- ado
- rummage
- smudge
- guttering
- embroiled
- scruffy
- digit
- crepuscular
- turmoil
- autumnal
- heft
- jot
- scrawny
- corroborate
- palaver
- cribbage
- mirage
- rubble
- expunge
- muffle
- dozen
- melody
- lucid
- knuckles
- fume
- scurry
- crinkle
- jaded
- trickle
- fisticuffs
- bedraggled
- glottal
- fricative
- splendid
- furtive
- dithering
- purport
- warble
- ponder
- rigmarole
- dollop
- hard-scrabble
- treacle
- puppet
- thunderer
- waddle
- autumnal
- ribbon
- gladden
- abundant
- cherub
- sinew
- scatter
- crumple
- prattle
- baffled
- happenstance
- sprightly
- brunt
- conkers
- flutter
- mulch
- happen
- amok
- pundit
- hankering
- moreish
- sprinkle
- oblivious
- skirmish
- swelter
- ochre
- groove
- syllable
- star-crossed
- marmalize
- convivial
- shimmer
- gleam
- jittery
- miscreant
- mitigate
- reverberate
- kelp
- dream
- skittish
- bungalow
- shoestring
- strides
- implode
- floundering
- curdle
- ethereal
- drizzle
- halcyon
- perch
- turnbuckle
- glimmer
- resurgence
- ragwort
- mumble
- musket
- slobber
- merriment
- willow
- dappled"
- reckon
- crumble
- quandary
- munch
- perspicacious
- gabardine
- jibber-jabber
- roughage
- stucco
- rumbustious
- plinth
- declamatory
- tad
- dusk
- antelope
- dainty
- pebble
- mischief
- muffle
- startle
- vanquish
- parish
- gusty
- giggle
- flannel
- snooze
- chivvy
- gander
- twelve
- mishmash
- vestibule
- poodle
- ineffable
- nuzzle
- quench
- skittle
- chaff
- manky
- wistful
- rascal
- hirsute
- lurk
- tantamount
- gazelle
- curtsey
- precipitate
- wry
- stooge
- mellifluous
- tumble
- flummox
- miscreant
- stipple
- pernickety
- finagle
- burst
- glee
- defenestration
- promenade
- fizzle
- curdle
- lagoon
- tinge
- froth
- brisk
- flounce
- agog
- linnet
- trundle
- jaunty
- glisten
- kettle
- froth
- batten
- dromedary
- waif
- heft
- buddy
- skiff
- garnish
- amalgamate
- patter
- qualm
- warble
- scant
- smattering
- fricative
- sizzle
- hankering
- paraphernalia
- nobbled
- raddled
- lunge
- reverie
- parsnip
- slake
- squirm
- furlong
- ping
- nostrils
- tousled
- minion
- hustings
- gloop
- quandary
- shudder
- griddle
- drench
- triumph
- frisson
- ocelot
- sniff
- engrossed
- chirpy
- machination
- damp
- pith
- rowdy
- bliss
- blustery
- meander
- surge
- maritime
- lilting
- ponder
- rabble
- gumption
- wrought
- merge
- snigger
- chevron
- liniment
- dumpling
- miscreant
- modicum
- gusty
- griddle
- gargle
- sparrow
- balustrade
- amicable
- rigmarole
- truckle
- grapple
- tamp
- frazzled
- gesticulate
- crepuscular
- tingle
- razzmatazz
- husky
- sinister
- wallop
- giggle
- befuddled
- bustle
- dimple
- slumber
- tardy
- besmirch
- scruple
- scamper
- toggle
- gratitude
- schmuck
- gormless
- swelter
- beleaguered
- hoik
- banjaxed
- natterjack
- collywobbles
- perambulate
- raddled
- resplendent
- resonate
- festoon
- squabble
- machinate
- spud
- befuddled
- shtick
- squat
- wondrous
- combustion
- stymied
- saunter
- scrofulous
- rancid
- pestle
- tryst
- hubbub
- scramble
- extrusion
- flummox
- flounce
- absurd
- scrimp
- cleft
- stanchion
- cadge
- mull
- tardy
- vacillate
- hankering
- shimmering
- truffle
- bramble
- genial
- divulge
- ruffian
- luminous
- aghast
- loiter
- drowsy
- glitch
- scamper
- tryst
- vestibule
- hugger-mugger
- skulduggery
- musty
- smidgen
- saunter
- caper
- bickering
- tatterdemalion - I’ve seen the word twice in 24 hours…although I’m not entirely sure what it means
- peregrine
- incorrigible
- shtick
- temper
- stove
- tingle
- calypso
- fickle
- gantry
- bangle
- stickler
- gizzard
- haunch
- manifest
- behest
- clavicle
- simmer
- laggards
- higgledy-piggledy - Which might be two words I suppose,
- trot
- ‘the vig’
- yonder
- effervescent
- jettison
⌨
In which David Owen refers to the Department of Health and Social Security as ‘the Department of Stealth and Total Obscurity’ :)
I’m easily pleased
🎙️
News Agents - the Dangers of 2024 and how to avoid them - with Britain’s oldest foreign secretary
This is good, from Austin Kleon’s newsletter:
On the asshole who lives in our brains: “Were we to meet this figure socially, this accusatory character, this internal critic, this unrelenting fault-finder, we would think there was something wrong with him. He would just be boring and cruel. We might think that something terrible had happened to him, that he was living in the aftermath, in the fallout, of some catastrophe. And we would be right.” That’s Adam Phillips in his wonderful essay, Adam Phillips · Against Self-Criticism 💬
There’s a book of the punk rock fanzine that was local to where I live. Something to ask Father Christmas for in a few months

Finished my run tonight and discovered I’d forgotten to press ‘Start’ in Strava.
Some people have never experienced that feeling
🏃
I meant to post this while it was actually a hit….but Kylie Minogue’s Padam Padam always reminded me of the bit in the Buzzcocks song Boredom when, I think, Pete Shelley goes ‘b-dum, b-dum’ 🎵
it’s at 1 minute 23
Haiku is terse verse
if the beatles used adele's naming system for their albums...
Adele has so far used her age as the title of her LPs. So, her LPs have been called:
- 19
- 21
- 25
Using Paul’s age for the album title, I think the Beatles albums would have been as follows:
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 22 (again)
- 23
- 23 (again)
- 24
- 24 (again)
- 26
- 26 (again)
- 27
- 27 (again)
Release date | Paul's age | Album name | Adele-system Album name |
---|---|---|---|
22/03/63 | 20.7 | Please Please Me (Mono) | 20 |
22/11/63 | 21.4 | With the Beatles | 21 |
10/07/64 | 22.0 | A Hard Day's Night | 22 |
4/12/64 | 22.4 | Beatles For Sale | 22 |
6/08/65 | 23.1 | Help ! | 23 |
3/12/65 | 23.4 | Rubber Soul | 23 |
5/08/66 | 24.1 | Revolver | 24 |
1/06/67 | 24.9 | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | 24 |
22/11/68 | 26.4 | The White Album | 26 |
17/01/69 | 26.6 | Yellow Submarine | 26 |
26/09/69 | 27.2 | Abbey Road | 27 |
8/05/70 | 27.9 | Let It Be | 27 |
Paul’s date of birth was 18 June 1942
The release dates are taken from The Beatles Albums (by Date)
Pic: By The_Fabs.JPG: United Press International (UPI Telephoto)Cropping and retouching: User:Indopug and User:Misterweissderivative work: Zakke (The_Fabs.JPG) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
This was originally published back in 2015…I’ve bumped the publish date a) because I like it and b) I was trying to work out something with micro.blog 🎵
I can only ever remember git add, commit, diff, rm and push...and I couldn't be bothered to rtfm (Confessions of a powershell numpty, #1)
I don’t use git much, and I’m far too lazy to consult the docco so to find a command I’d probably used before I did this:
hhh git | where-object line -notmatch 'diff|add|push|commit| rm '
….where hhh is an alias to a crappy little function I wrote:
function get-MTPSavePAthHistory {
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Search through history
#>
[CmdletBinding()]
Param ($Pattern = "*",
$Tail = 50)
[string]$HistoryFile = $(Get-PSReadLineOption).HistorySavePAth
if ($Pattern -eq "*") {
get-content -tail $Tail
}
else {
Select-string "$Pattern" $HistoryFile | select-object line
}
}
Set-Alias -Name hhh -Value get-MTPSavePAthHistory
What I really did
It gets worse
Because I am a numpty, and I couldn’t remember whether whether -notmatch would work in this context, what I really did was this:
hhh git | ? line -notlike "*add*" | ? line -notlike "*diff*" | ? line -notlike "*commit*"| ? line -notlike "*push*"
20 House Points to whoever it was at Record Collector magazine who came up with the headline for their Abba feature:
‘That Was The Bleak That Was’ 🎵
