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Sunday 22 March 2020

Help me Rondeau, Help Help me Rondeau

Help me Rondeau, Help Help me Rondeau

In Today's Roundabout Issue


Rondeau
Help me Rondeau, Help Help me Rondeau
Circles
Word
Random Joke


Rondeau is a short poem consisting of fifteen lines that have two rhymes throughout. The first few words or phrase from the first line are repeated twice in the poem as a refrain.

Help me Rondeau, Help Help me Rondeau
  
The sofa calls me to my rest
Like mewling babe embraced by breast
Swallowed up incased in leather
Enveloped against the weather

I have a home for that I’m blessed
It is MY sofa I’m no guest
Place for me somewhere to tether
My safety sofa.

I sink myself into headrest
Hide within when I am stressed
Place to get myself together
Stuffed with bird death their own feathers
I leave a dent, am I depressed
My safety sofa.

Circles


The simplicity of the circle — a set of points on a plane that are all the same distance from another point called the centre – has endlessly fascinated humans. Circles (from the Greek kirkos, meaning ring, from the ancient root ker, meaning “to turn”) are symbols of infinity – a line that never ends.
The Greek philosopher Empedocles (493-433BC) devised a highly eccentric personal cosmology whose god was a circle “of which the centre is everywhere and the circumference is nowhere”.
Circles are also efficient: they cover the maximum possible area for a given perimeter, or have the minimum possible perimeter for a given area. They are useful, too: a filled-in circle is a disc and gave us the wheel, perhaps the most famous of all inventions.
Divination circles
Gyromancy is a form of divination in which a person walks in circles until they fall over through dizziness. The position one falls in is then used to interpret the outcome of future events.
Walking in circles
In situations where there are no navigational clues – such as a snowstorm or thick fog – humans always end up going around in circles.
Research carried out in 2009 by the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen had volunteers set down in a particularly empty bit of the Sahara or the dense, flat Bienwald Forest in south-west Germany and tracked them using GPS. When the sun or moon was out, they were perfectly capable of walking in a straight line. When it wasn’t, they started to walk in circles, crossing their own path several times: the average diameter of the circle they walked was only 66ft (20m). It suggested that we have no instinctive sense of direction.
Ant circles
If a group of army ants gets separated from the main foraging party, they can lose the pheromone track and begin to follow one another. They form a continuously rotating circle and keep going until they die of exhaustion.
Stone circles
The most famous henge – an oval area enclosed by a bank and an internal ditch – is Avebury, in Wiltshire. The nearby ancient stone circle of Stonehenge isn’t, strictly speaking, a henge because its ditch runs outside its bank.
The word henge was given its precise modern meaning by Thomas Kendrick, Keeper of British Antiquities at the British Museum, in 1932. For centuries, any stone circle or ritual site was called a henge in imitation of Stonehenge. The word had long since lost its meaning in Old English, which was “hanging place” (either in the sense of “gallows” or “precipice”).
Kendrick used it to mark out a particular style of circular monument which occurred all over the British Isles but not in the rest of Europe. But, by defining it so precisely, he excluded Stonehenge itself.
Star circles
Zodiac comes from the Greek kyklos (circle) and zoon (animal), and so means “circle of animals”.
The identification of the constellations with animals and mythical figures was first recorded in the Sumerian civilisation of Mesopotamia, around 3,000BC, from where it spread to Egyptian and Greek cultures.
Crop circles
Mathew Williams, of Devizes in Wiltshire, is the only person to have been arrested for creating crop circles; in 2000 he was fined £100 after putting his work on the internet.
Circle of learning
The word encyclopedia literally means a “circle of learning” and was originally used to indicate a well-rounded education. It was not used as a title for books of general knowledge until the 17th century.
Word of the Day
VORFÜHREFFEKT (German) - "demonstration effect", when something doesn't work until you go to show someone the problem - and it suddenly works again.

Random Joke

I’m a member of ‘Paranoids Anonymous’. We don’t meet up in case people find out.

Bargain Book

Stuck in the house ? bored  ? Fed Up ? You can now buy my recent release, "Tales of the Unexpected" for the amazing low price of £1.99 (cheaper than a cup
of coffee) 




CHECK OUT THE 5 STAR REVIEWS -
B Silver
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great diverse short stories
28 October 2019
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Love this writer I bought his previous books and in my opinion this is the best so far. The stories are much more diverse than the others. For a book of short stories there are a lot there, great to pop in and read as and when you want to. Read mine on the train, I laughed out loud at one point making my fellow passengers jump out of their seats. Recommended read....
YOU CAN FIND IT ON AMAZON NOW !

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-Unexpected-Neville-Raper/dp/1687345600/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1S5K676ODI5T3&keywords=neville+raper&qid=1584902969&sprefix=neville+r%2Caps%2C239&sr=8-1

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Wednesday 11 March 2020

International Alfred Hitchcock Day

International Alfred Hitchcock Day

In Today's Thrilling Issue



International Alfred Hitchcock Day
Alfred's To Blame
Hitchcock
That's Amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing
Random Joke


March 12 is National Alfred Hitchcock Day, a day to celebrate the life, times, and work of master filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock.

A Long Career
Alfred Hitchcock's prolific film-making career spanned half a decade - he began making movies in 1921 and made his last film, Family Plot, in 1976. His unique cinematic style in the genre of psychological thrillers and suspense movies earned him the title of Master of Suspense.
In addition to making movies, Hitchcock created and hosted a television series called Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

How to Celebrate

  • Gather your friends and do a Hitchcock movie marathon. Some of his more famous movies include PsychoVertigo, and The Birds.
  • One of the unique things about Hitchcock's movies is that he played a cameo role in most of them. So, while watching doing a Hitchcock movie marathon, play the spot-Hitchcock’s-cameo game. Whoever spots the most cameos wins.
  • Host an Alfred Hitchcock-themed party. Decorate your venue with birds related props. Serve your guests pecan pie (from Marnie), Moroccan tagine (from The Man Who Knew Too Much), and Chicken (from Notorious). Screen Murder Party, an episode from Alfred Hitchcock Presents for your guests.

Did You Know…

…that Alfred Hitchcock never won an Oscar in the Best Director category?



Alfred’s to blame
When I run for my life
If I catch the glint
Of a large Kitchen Knife

I won't take a shower
I’ll stay with my bath
Dail M for Murder?
You’re having a laugh

He’s given me a fear
Of birds and heights
Of mummified mothers
Denied their last rights

I don’t have a rear window
I won't have a peep
Nightmares of falling
Disturbing my sleep

He directed them well
He knew how to shock
That cigar smoking devil
Alfred Hitchcock


He had a life-long fear of the police.


Is he afraid of the police? Guess we need to go back, around the age of 5, Hitchcock was sent by his father to the local police station with a note asking the officer to lock him away for five minutes as punishment for misbehaving. That’s the reason why his fear of police attracted him and are frequently found in his films.

He was afraid of his own movies.

Alfred Hitchcock said in an interview in 1963, “I’m frightened of my movies. I never go to see them. I don’t know how people can bear to watch my movies.”

He loved to pull cruel practical jokes.

Hitchcock is not serious all the time. He spares some time to play some interesting jokes with cast and crew. He’ll mostly find out about somebody’s phobias, such as mice or spiders, and in turn sent them a box full of them.

He tried to buy every copy of the book based on ‘Psycho’ so no one would know how it ended.

LOL, more than awesome? Even I didn’t believe it at first, I read this on Guardian, “The director bought up all copies of the original novel, which he had optioned for a paltry $9,000 so that hardly anyone would know how the story ended. He also filmed on a closed set and forced cast and crew to sign an agreement promising not to mention the ending to anyone. There were no advance screenings.”

Walt Disney refused to allow him to film at Disneyland.

Walt Disney, the cartoon king, refused Alfred Hitchcock to shoot films at Disneyland in the early 1960s. The reason was that Hitchcock had made “that disgusting movie Psycho.”

He was afraid of Eggs.

Alfred Hitchcock once said, “I’m frightened of eggs, worse than frightened, they revolt me. That white round thing without any holes … have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid? Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow, revolting. I’ve never tasted it.”

He refused to accept a top British Award.


Considered to be one of the top honors, Alfred Hitchcock turned down “Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)” Award in 1962.
That's Amaaaaazing !
Hitchcock avoided meeting his greatest fan Steven Spielberg. According to actor Bruce
 Dern’s autobiography, he attempted to convince Hitch: "I said, 'You're his idol. He just
 [wants] to sit at your feet for five minutes and chat with you'," but Hitchcock refused.
 "He said, 'Isn't that the boy who made the fish movie?... I could never sit down and talk
 to him... because I look at him and feel like such a whore.'" Pressing him further Dern
 asked, “'Why do you feel Spielberg makes you a whore?' Hitch said, 'Because I'm the
voice of the Jaws ride [at the Universal Studios theme park]. They paid me $1 million
dollars. And I took it and I did it. I'm such a whore. I can't sit down and talk to the
 boy who did the fish movie... I couldn't even touch his hand."
Random Joke of the Day
I always go the extra mile at work. That's why I'm a terrible taxi driver.
Bargain Book
Did you get a kindle or e-book reader for Xmas? Then as a New Years gift from me you can now buy
my recent release, "Tales of the Unexpected" for the amazing low price of £1.99 (cheaper than a cup
of coffee) 




CHECK OUT THE 5 STAR REVIEWS -
B Silver
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great diverse short stories
28 October 2019
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Love this writer I bought his previous books and in my opinion this is the best so far. The stories are much more diverse than the others. For a book of short stories there are a lot there, great to pop in and read as and when you want to. Read mine on the train, I laughed out loud at one point making my fellow passengers jump out of their seats. Recommended read....
YOU CAN FIND IT ON AMAZON NOW !

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Sunday 8 March 2020


International Woman's Day
Woman
Quite Interesting
That's Amaaaaaaaazing
Random Joke



International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8 every year. It is a focal point in the movement for women's rights.
While the first observance of a Women's Day was held on February 28, 1909 in New York, March 8 was suggested by the 1910 International Socialist Woman's Conference to become an "International Woman's Day." After women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917, March 8 became a national holiday there, but has lost all political context through the time, becoming simply a day to honour the women and feminine beauty. The day was then predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations.



Woman
I’m not a size ten
Never been petite
Suffered throes of passion
Or lived with conceit
In height I’m bereft
No leggy lofty form
Not even 5 foot
The UK norm
My face is not symmetrical
No make-up would repair
No artists canvass
A painter would despair
But inside this frame
An esoteric fact
No yesterday woman
No submissive artefact
There beats a heart of a lion
Someone once said
But this strength lays within
My chest, my breast, my head
Society sees me simply
A frail and withered maid
But this country was built
On my slave trade.
So when you see me
Look beyond the shell
A soldier, a builder, a mother
The stories I could tell

The UN Women Report from 2015 showed that, despite women working longer hours than men when both paid and unpaid work is taken into consideration, women still earn an average of 24 percent less than men do worldwide. This wage gap is by far the worst in South Asia, where women earn 33 percent less than men.

This probably comes as no surprise, but women still spend more time on housework and childcare than men do. The UN reports that women spend one to three hours more on housework than men, two to 10 times the amount of time caring for children and the elderly, and one to four hours less per day on economic market activities. In fact, in the European Union, 25 percent of women say this is why they're not active in the labour force, whereas only three percent of men can say the same.

Only 22 of Earth's 197 countries can say they have women serving as heads of state.

As of 2014, there were 16 million women living with HIV, meaning 50 percent of all adults with HIV are women. It's not uncommon for women living with HIV to experience violence simply because of their HIV status. The UN reports that at least 14 countries force HIV positive women into involuntary abortions and sterilizations.
According to a 2010 longitudinal study performed in South Africa, intimate partner violence increases women and girls' chances of contracting HIV by 13.9 percent, and power inequity in relationships increases the risk by 11.9 percent.
Child marriage is more likely to kill girls in the developing world than war, AIDS, tuberculosis, or any other cause of death. In fact, complications from pregnancy and childbirth is the number one killer among girls ages 15 to 19 in the developing world.e the UN's Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women back in 1993, currently, 1 in 3 women worldwide are victims of physical or sexual violence  and it's usually at the hands of an intimate partner.
While the percentage of women married before the age of 18 has dropped in North Africa and the Middle East by about 50 percent in the last 30 years, globally speaking, one in four women alive today were child brides.

That's Amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing

China's Yao Defen, the world's tallest woman as verified by Guinness World Records, has died at the age of 40. Yao, who measured 233.3 cm (7 ft 7 in) when last documented, is reported to have passed away in the house she shared with her mother in a small village in China's central Anhui Province

Random Joke of the Day

My wife says she's going to leave me because of my poker addiction.
  I think she's bluffing.

Bargain Book
Did you get a kindle or e-book reader for Xmas? Then as a New Years gift from me you can now buy
my recent release, "Tales of the Unexpected" for the amazing low price of £1.99 (cheaper than a cup
of coffee) 




CHECK OUT THE 5 STAR REVIEWS -
B Silver
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great diverse short stories
28 October 2019
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Love this writer I bought his previous books and in my opinion this is the best so far. The stories are much more diverse than the others. For a book of short stories there are a lot there, great to pop in and read as and when you want to. Read mine on the train, I laughed out loud at one point making my fellow passengers jump out of their seats. Recommended read....
YOU CAN FIND IT ON AMAZON NOW !

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