Happy New Year
from all of us at PM and iPM.
It is relatively quiet this morning. You can't find a coffee shop open for love nor money. Tonight's editor, Jeremy, is thumbing through the London Review of Books, and producers on the World at One are bellowing into phones trying to raise guests in far flung parts of the world. There are one or two persistent coughs guaranteeing we'll all be ill before Burns' Night.
Yesterday we almost got an interview with the Kenyan high commissioner to London - His excellency Joseph Muchemi. Indeed we spoke to him many times. Each time we started recording the interview (he was on a mobile phone in Kenya) the line went Dalek-like. Then we'd stop, and he'd say "is this any better?" and it was. So we'd start again, and then it would get worse. We spent quite a long time trying and he was very patient, but in the end we were beaten by the technology. Maybe today.
But do you know what? We have a song in our hearts and are excited about the year ahead. And to keep us cheery here are some random photos from the archive.
I was wondering what 2007 meant to you?
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Listen to PM
10:21am, SB1, Attempt 1
Happy New Year everyone!
And a Happy New Year to you too, Eddie! I hope you weren't up too late partying last night.....
Happy New Year to one and all - lets hope that 2008 brings us all better blogging ;o)
Me at 3 - Well indeed it has! Comments are whizzing through this morning. Thank you to the folk who are cranking up the machine.
G (3 & 4); Don't jinx it! Plus we have to think that things are all change on the 7th....
So, New Year's day and no coffee. Mmmm...
Oh well, let's try anyway
1. What do you put in a toaster?
Answer: "bread." If you said "toast," then give up now and go do something else. Try not to hurt yourself
If you said, "bread," go to Question 2
2. Say "silk" five times. Now spell "silk." What do cows drink?
Answer: Cows drink water. If you said "milk," PLEASE do not attempt the next question. Your brain is obviously over stressed and may even overheat.
It may be that you need to content yourself with reading something more appropriate, such as the 2008 "Rupert Annual"
If you said "water," proceed to question 3
3. If a red house is made from red bricks, and a blue house is made from blue bricks, and a pink house is made from pink bricks and a black house is made from black bricks, what is a green house made from?
Answer: Greenhouses are made from glass. If you said, "green bricks," what the devil are you still doing reading these questions?
If you said "glass," then go on to Question 4
4. Twenty-five years ago, a plane was flying at 20,000 feet over Germany. If you recall, Germany at the time was politically divided into West Germany and East Germany.
Anyway, during the flight, TWO of the engines failed. The pilot, realizing that the last remaining engine was also failing, decides on a crash landing procedure. Unfortunately the third engine fails before he has time to attempt an emergency landing, and the plane crashes smack in the middle of "no man's land" between East Germany and West Germany.
Where would you bury the survivors?
. . . in East Germany or West Germany or in "no man's land"?
Answer: You don't, of course, bury survivors. If you said ANYTHING else, you are a real dunce and you must NEVER try to rescue anyone from a plane
crash. Your efforts would not be appreciated.
If you said, "Don't bury the survivors," proceed to the next question
5. If the hour hand on a clock moves 1/60 of a degree every minute how many degrees will the hour hand move in one hour?
Answer: One degree. If you said, "360 degrees" or anything other than "one degree," you are to be congratulated on getting this far, but you are
obviously now out of your league. Turn in your pencil, and exit the room.
Everyone else proceed to the final question.
6. Without using a calculator -- You are driving a bus from London to Milford Haven in Wales. In London, 17 people get on the bus. In Reading, six people get off the bus, and nine people get on. In Swindon, two people get off and four get on. In Cardiff, 11 people get off and 16 people get on. In Swansea, three people get off and five people get on. In Carmathen,
six people get off and three get on. You then arrive at Milford Haven.
What was the name of the bus driver?
Answer: Oh, for crying out loud! Don't you remember? It was YOU!!
Charlie it is impossibly too early in 2008 to undertake such complicated reasoning. Go back to bed
Just got your daily e-mail, and you are looking back over 2008, incredible !, the year has wizzed by, please can you repeat the winning lottery numbers for me.
And a very happy and prosperous 2009 ;O)
Mark @ 07
Zzzzzz... Zzzzzz...
Sorry, Charlie, but the real answer to question 5 would be 30 degrees, as there are 360 degrees in one complete revolution of the clock, and 12 hours on the face (assuming it's not a fancy NATO-style 24 -hours on the face type), so 360 / 12 gives us the answer 30.
charlie
thanks for that!
I had to hand in my pencil at Q1, but carried on in the vain assurance I;d get one right soon...
you write "how many degrees will the hour hand move in one hour" and i think i must have the wrong kind of clock...!!
n-n
xx
(sniggers)
Happy New Year, everyone. I hope you all have the 2008 you desire and deserve.
Happy New Year to you all!!!
May 2008 bring you health, wealth and happiness!!
charlie (6)
thanks for that!
I had to hand in my pencil at Q1, but carried on in the vain assurance I;d get one right soon...
you write "how many degrees will the hour hand move in one hour" and i think i must have the wrong kind of clock...!!
n-n
xx
(sniggers)
Charlie (6) and Fearless (10)
A real clock hour hand moves 1/2 degree every minute ( x 60 = 30 degrees). BUT Charlie's clock moved 1/60th degree (a 15 day clock face?).
Fearless @ 10 & n-n @ 13
The answer to Question five is, I have to say correct
Like many of the questions, it's deliberately misleading - misleading you to concentrate on time...
fair enough, Charlie!!!
as i say, I ought to have stopped before i started!!!
n-n
[wonder how i got that through twice?!!!]
Happy New Year everyone.
Best wishes
Otter
And a happy hangover to you all from Fifi and Mister Fifi!
Fifi xxxx
Charlie, that was completely fiendish! I've handed in a whole case of pencils. And I can't even blame a hangover. Do antibiotics give you fuzzy heads? Actually mine is full enough of viruses to help Eddie's colleagues cough until the Selkirk Common Riding (18th June, as we all know).
2007 - not a good year, but a year that laid the foundations for a better 2008.
Frances O - my feelings are that 2008 is going to be a good one :o)
Pleasing precision, Charlie @6, 5. I sort-of did know to beware of any question that states a premiss ('if X is the case, then what is Y') and never relate that premiss to reality. Being able to do it hungover, on the other hand, is A and B the C of D.
('If the hour hand on a clock moves 1/60 of a penguin every minute how many penguins will the hour hand move in one hour?' is *much* sillier, even so.)
Serious question: apart from being the dead spit of one of the tutors in the English department at Bristol University, who *is* the bloke in the black-and-white photo that's number four above?
Chris G @ 21
You've hit the nail right on the head...
The gentleman in the photo you refer to is the GREAT American singer/artist (his paintings are superb and worth a King's ransom...) Tony Bennett
I did "Post" earlier asking if "anyone" happened to know who tailored his Jackets and Shirts but I guess my "Post" didn't make it
Anyway, I've been lucky enough to attend two live performances of Tony Bennett's in the US and all I can say is I was very, very privileged
He does occasionally appear on British TV. VERY occasionally and not nearly frequently enough...