Barnacle Bill the sailor

Who's that knocking at my door?
Who's that knocking at my door?
Who's that knocking at my door?
cried the young fair maiden.

It's only me from over the sea, said Barnacle Bill the sailor
I'm all lit up like a Christmas tree, said Barnacle Bill the sailor
I'll sail the sea until I croak,
I fight and swear and drink and smoke,
But I can't swim a bloody stroke, said Barnacle Bill the sailor.

.... ...

Oh, sixteen men on a dead man's chest, sang Barnacle Bill the sailor
Yo he ho and a bottle of rum, sang Barnacle Bill the sailor.
Oh high rig a jig and a jaunting car
A he a ho are you most done
Hurray my boys let the bulgine run," sang Barnacle Bill the sailor

Pictures of rock and roll singers

Bil Haley, the singer who sang the "Rock around the clock", the ultimate rock and roll song. Please note that his name is written as Haley, not Halley as it is often misspelled.

Picture of Elvis Presley, still young and charming. There must be a zillion pictures of Elvis all over the world, it would be nice to collect them together on a website so people could look at them in one place. Or the same goes for any other rock and roll singer. Or historical figure. I really think this would be a good project, someone should take the time and energy to do this.

One of the later pictures of Mick Jagger, where he is portrayed without the rest of the band.

Cliff Richard and his guitar.

And again, Elvis Presley, a bit older.

Stagger Lee aka Stagolee

I have an old recording of the song Stagger Lee about which I have not heard or read elsewhere. I understand that the story of Stagger Lee has a complex folklore, written in many different ways, including Stagolee, Stackolee, Stackerlee, Stack O'Lee, Stack-a-Lee, etc. It has been performed by Lloyd Price, Taj Mahal, Tina Turner, the Grateful Dead, etc. But I have no idea who sings on this old tape that I have, which I have recorded from the radio about 25 years ago.

What is peculiar about this particular recording is that it has a wonderful dark blues rhythm to it, there is nothing rock-and-rollish about it, not too slow, not too fast. The beat is very heavy, almost like in a hiphop song.

Then there is the lyrics. The lyrics are quite obscene so I am not going to post them here. But it starts with the words "in 1956 when times were hard..." In this version he has been left by him woman and he is "going from ho to ho." He walks into a bar where the bartender is disrespectful with him and he shoots him dead. Then when the dead man's wife walks in, he takes her upstairs... Then he shoots a policeman. Towards the end he is sentenced by a judge who says,

The judge said, Stagger Lee, you're a friend of mine,
I'll give you ninety nine years, that's your time.
Ninety nine years ain't enough to make my bed,
I'll do it in the corner, standing on my head.

Anyone knows anything about this version?

Can a dolphin kill a shark?

So here is the question: Can a dolphin really kill a shark?

One thing is clear. Sharks can kill dolphins and sometimes they do. From Janet Mann's book Cetacean Societies: Field Studies of Dolphins and Whales, for example, we learn that at least a third of the examined bottlenose dolphins near Queensland had scars from shark attacks. Dolphins near the Natal coast of South Africa also had scars from shark bites. Dolphin remains in sharks' stomach are also known to be found. But, as Mann points out, no actual cases of sharks attacking dolphins have been observed.

But what about the other way around? We know that a dolphin would not eat a shark but can it inflict injuries that would result in death? In his book The Living Sea, Jacques Cousteau writes that "sea mammals can kill a shark by ramming it at high speed, as dolphins have demonstrated in oceanarium tanks." Now I am no expert in this field so I would have to take professor Cousteau's word for this.

In other words, sharks and dolphins can both be deadly to each other. The other interesting question would be whether they can be friends...

Luxury cars at a car show

Went to a Luxury car show the other day and took a bunch of photos. Unfortunately, once at home I had no idea which car was what. Ferrari or Lamborghini, I just realized that can't tell them apart. Kind of sad, but then again, I am not going to buy any of these any time soon.

To be honest, I would much prefer making cars like this rather than owning them. I think it would be extremely satisfying to make something most others would covet. But I am not in the car business.

Filthy soap

I just came across one of my old photos I took of a pile of soap in someone's bathroom. I remember that at the time I was amazed at their quantity - there were a lot more than on the picture - and filthiness. After all, we usually associate soap with cleanness.

Having looked up the concept in Google, I came across Filthy Farmgirl Soap where the word "filthy" definitely refers to the farmgirl, not the soap.

Otherwise the idea of filthy soap is not a very dominant one in cyberspace. But in reality soap is made of animal fat so that must be some disgusting process that turns cows peacefully grazing in the sun into that white and fragrant product on the side of your sink. If you have ever driven on highway 5 past Bakersfield and smelled the stench of cows being cooked into glue or something, you know what I am talking about. Or whetever they do there...

Way of the Rock Star: Keith Richars on his way to fame

Keith Richards in the early days of the Rolling Stones, young and full of promise.


A bit later but still pretty normal.



By now one of the most successful guitarists in rock history.

A Keith Richards profile.

A naked torso snapshot for the magazine.

On the 1872 Rolling Stones album Exile on Main Street the song "Happy" was written and sung by Keith Richards. In there he sings the following lines:

"Never wanted to be like papa,

working for the boss every night and day."

Well, his relationship to his papa just got a whole lot different when he snorted up the ashes of his recently deceased father. This is a not a joke, he really did this. Perhaps this is a sign of affection, or whatever. What's even more weird is that this story made it to the public. How? Why? If you do something like this you might want to keep it private, don't you?

The screaming rock and roll singer

Munch's famous scream. Did you know that this figure was actually singing?

Little Richard with his high-pitch screams. He did not actually need a microphone.

Mick Jagger, whose trademark is his wide-open screaming mouth.

It's the singer not the song -- says Mick Jagger in an old song. There are a lot of songs and a lot of singers but people really mostly remember the stars. There are only a handful of well-known songs we cannot associate with a name but there are tons of singers we know relatively well.

And when it comes to rock and roll, the singers tend to project the image of screaming. Just like sugar and salt in junk food, screaming and crying makes the music more appealing. On a very non-intellectual level but still...

Grace Kelly and Gary Cooper

One of the unforgettable performances by Grace Kelly and Gary Cooper was when they played together in the movie High Noone, Kelly playing the role of Amy Fowler Kane and Cooper that of Sheriff Will Kane.


Grace Kelly and Gary Cooper in times of crisis


Worried and arguing

The Sheriff doing the walk

The Sin Eater

Sin eaters and sin eating

In some part of Wales a very extraordinary rite was observed. "When a person died, the friends sent for the sin-eater of the district, who on his arrival places a piece of salt on the breast of the defunct, and upon the salt a piece of bread. He then muttered an incantation over the bread, which he finally ate; thereby eating up all the sins of the deceased. This done, he received the fee of two shillings and sixpence, and vanished as quickly as possible from the general gaze; for as it was believed that he really appropriated to his own use and behoof the sins of all those over whom he performed the above ceremony, he was utterly detested in the neighbourhood -- regarded as a mere Pariah -- as one irremediably lost."

Fifteen men on a deadman's chest

1. Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
The mate was fixed by the bosun's pike
The bosun brained with a marlinspike
And cookey's throat was marked belike
It had been gripped by fingers ten;
And there they lay, all good dead men
Like break o'day in a boozing ken
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

2. Fifteen men of the whole ship's list
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Dead and be damned and the rest gone whist!
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
The skipper lay with his nob in gore
Where the scullion's axe his cheek had shore
And the scullion he was stabbed times four
And there they lay, and the soggy skies
Dripped down in up-staring eyes
In murk sunset and foul sunrise
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

3. Fifteen men of 'em stiff and stark
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Ten of the crew had the murder mark!
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
Or a yawing hole in a battered head
And the scuppers' glut with a rotting red
And there they lay, aye, damn my eyes
Looking up at paradise
All souls bound just contrawise
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

4. Fifteen men of 'em good and true
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Ev'ry man jack could ha' sailed with Old Pew,
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
There was chest on chest of Spanish gold
With a ton of plate in the middle hold
And the cabins riot of stuff untold,
And they lay there that took the plum
With sightless glare and their lips struck dumb
While we shared all by the rule of thumb,
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

5. More was seen through a sternlight screen
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Chartings undoubt where a woman had been
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
'Twas a flimsy shift on a bunker cot
With a dirk slit sheer through the bosom spot
And the lace stiff dry in a purplish blot
Oh was she wench or some shudderin' maid
That dared the knife and took the blade
By God! she had stuff for a plucky jade
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

6. Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
We wrapped 'em all in a mains'l tight
With twice ten turns of a hawser's bight
And we heaved 'em over and out of sight,
With a Yo-Heave-Ho! and a fare-you-well
And a sudden plunge in the sullen swell
Ten fathoms deep on the road to hell,
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

Whatever happened to the riots

Was just driving by the Parliament last night and saw a few people crammed together, holding national flags and looking very serious. Apparently, this was the small group of demonstrators who did not give up standing outside the Parliament. Remember, a month or so ago there was a lot more people swearing that they would die there rather than go home, unless Ferenc Gyurcsany, the Hungarian Prime Minister, resigns. Where were those people last night? Watching Desperate Housewives on TV2, I reckon.

Sic transit gloria mundi. This whole thing demonstrates that it really takes a lot of dedication and will power to stand by the things you believe in for more than a week. Still, the demonstrators last night gave me the impression of simply being fanatics, rather than devoted patriots. But who knows, perhaps all revolutionaries are like that from up close and only distance in time makes them look graceful and brave.

Growing cactus - Why and how?

Growing cactus

"Cacti are a group of plants that are not only easy to grow, but offer a variety of shapes, color and form. They can be grown in any sunny, well-drained area. They require little maintenance. They make excellent houseplants and many hardy varieties may be grown outside.

"If you want small specimens (less than one inch above the ground), you will want to grow lithops, which is Greek for "living rocks". Other cacti which mimic the appearance of rocks include titanopsis, lapidaria, penestraria and gibbaeum.

"Some cactus and succulent types can be used as pot plants. These include Aloe Vera, crassulas, Echeverias, peperomias and kalanchoe.

"Larger-growing cactus and succulent plants make dramatic floor plants with heights from 3 to 10 feet or more. These include Cereus peruvianus, Yucca elephantipes, Euphorbias, ponytail palm or bottle palm."

The Gyurcsany speech that has angered the nation

The Gyurcsany speech that has angered the nation

Here is a partial translation of Ferenc Gyurcsany's speech which caused such a sensation. This is only a paragraph and half but the best part.

"We don't have much choice. We don't because we f*cked up. Not just a little bit -- big time. No other country in Europe has done such a stupid thing before. We could try to explain it. Obviously, we have lied our way through the past couple of years. It was evident that the things we were saying were not true. We have gone way beyond our possibilities; we could not have imagined in the past that a joint government of the Hungarian Socialist Party and the liberals would ever end up here. Meanwhile, we have not done a thing in four years. Nothing. I cannot name any significant government decision we could be proud of, except the fact that we were able to get the governance out of the sh*t. Not a thing. If we were held accountable before the nation for our actions over the past four years, what would we say? Obviously, the whole thing is not being done in a nice, calm and meticulous manner. No, no. Everything is being done in a terrible rush because for a while we could not do anything, lest the people find out. And now we are in such a tight spot that we are about do die. And then we fall. Because we cannot keep a faster pace. This is where we are. Meanwhile we still have to come to an understanding with the liberal democrats, there are still ministerial issues -- you know.

"Look, the fact is that we do not have a choice in the short run. Janos Veres is right. We can still fuss around a bit but not for too long. The moment of truth is coming. Divine providence, the overflow of cash in the world economy, hundreds of tricks you obviously need not to know about, all these things helped us to survive so far. But this is the end of it. We cannot go any further. Of course, we can discuss this endlessly, prepare a huge f*cking number of analyses to see which social group will end up with what. This is what I can tell you. We cannot analyze things for weeks, folks, we cannot."

Practical Midwifery

Practical Midwifery

It is the author's intention, in the succeeding pages, to present to the Student of Midwifery, in a condensed form, those rules which are particularly applicable to the practical department of the science.

The frequent inquiries amongst his own pupils for a book of this kind will, he trusts, be a sufficient apology for the present undertaking; which is intended as a remembrancer in the lying-in room, and consequently will by no means supersede the necessity of consulting the more voluminous treatises on this interesting and important department of medical science.

To the gentlemen attending the author's lectures it cannot fail to be acceptable, as it will form a Syllabus of that part of the Course in which the varieties of parturition are described; and, should the sphere of its usefulness extend no further, he will be amply rewarded for the time he has devoted in thus condensing and revising, for their instruction, the practical rules of the art and science of Midwifery.

Practical Midwifery

The Pelvis

Diameters Of The Pelvis

Presentation And Situation

Labour

Natural Labour

Passage Of The Child During Labour

Duties Of The Accoucheur

Management Of The Placenta

Causes Which Impede Labour

Preternatural Labour

Labours With Plurality Of Children

Instrumental Labour

Labour With Hemorrhage From The Uterus

Hemorrhage Before The Birth Of The Child

Hemorrhage After The Birth Of The Child

Caterpillar: The Larval Stage of a Butterfly

Caterpillar: The Larval Stage of a Butterfly

"A caterpillar is the larval stage of butterflies and moths. The caterpillar hatches from a tiny egg and will eventually pupate and turn into an adult butterfly or moth.
This larval stage usually lasts from two weeks to about a month. This is the main feeding stage of the butterfly. Caterpillars eat almost constantly and grow very quickly, at an astonishing rate.

...

When the caterpillar has reached the right size, it is time for it to pupate. It finds a suitable place to attach itself (a twig, a leaf, undergroud, or another place). It attaches itself with a silken girdle around its middle and a silken pad and cremaster (at the end of the abdomen). It then splits open and loses its exoskeleton and pupates (becomes a pupa)."

Who is the Hoochie Coochie Man?

Who is the Hoochie Coochie Man?

"Back in the late 19th century, hoochie coochie was a muscle dance which became very popular after the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, where it was introduced to the public. A decade later, the hoochie coochie shows were immensely popular and, judging from contemporary accounts, these were clearly not something approved by law enforcement and the high society. At the same time, the dance seemed to have been one of the high points of the Chicago World's Fair.

One news report from 1903, for example, talks of J.S. Starr who "proceeded to organize a crusade against the carnival selecting, out of the whole unlawful bunch of things, the hoochie coochie and gambling devices." Or elsewhere they talk about going "into the disreputable hoochie coochie shows to see what vile things were on exhibition; some of them went themselves and some of them became so interested in the vile shows that they went several times, perhaps to refresh their memories."

HYDRA LERNAIA

HYDRA LERNAIA

"HYDRA LERNAIA was a gigantic, nine-headed water-serpent, which haunted the swamps of Lerna. Herakles was sent to destroy her as one of his twelve labours, but for each of her heads that he decapitated, two more sprang forth. So with the help of Iolaos, he applied burning brands to the severed stumps, cauterizing the wounds and preventing regeneration. In the battle he also crushed a giant crab beneath his heel which had come to assist Hydra.The Hydra and her crab ally were placed amongst the stars as the Constellations Hydra and Cancer."

Kyoto Imperial Palace

Kyoto Imperial Palace

Kyoto Imperial Palace (Kyoto Gosho) used to be the residence of Japan's Imperial Family until 1868, when the emperor and capital were moved from Kyoto to Tokyo. It is located in the spacious Kyoto Imperial Park.

The palace burnt down and was moved around the city several times over the centuries. The present reconstruction dates from 1855. The palace complex is enclosed by a long wall and consists of several gates, halls and gardens. The enthronement ceremonies of Emperors Taisho and Showa were still held in the palace's main hall, but the present Emperor's ceremony took place at the Tokyo Imperial Palace.

Fa-hien (Fa Xian, Faxian, Fa Hsien)

Fa-hien, also commonly written as Fa Xian, Faxian, Fa Hsien, was the first Chinese Buddhist pilgrim to leave an account of his travels to Central Asia, India, and Sri Lanka. The name of this monk may correctly be pronounced as Faxian but is also written as Fa-hsien. A native of Shanxi (Shansi), he left home at the tender age of three to join the Buddhist Sangha. After his novitiate, Fa-hien wanted to go to India to search for the treatises of the Vinaya Pitaka, the monastic rules of buddhism. He was perhaps sixty-four when, in 399 AD, he departed for India.

Travelling through Central Asia and Northwest India, Fa-hien reached northern India and then visited the holy Buddhist sites located in the Ganges valley: Kapilavastu, the birthplace of Buddha; Bodhgaya, the site of Buddha's enlightenment; Sarnath, where Buddha preached his first sermon, and Kushinagara, the place of Buddha's nirvana. He spent much of his time visiting and describing mid-India or Magadha. Fa-hien did not visit peninsular India, and left India by sea to return to China after visiting Sri Lanka. His is the only firsthand account of that island from a Chinese Buddhist pilgrim. Fa-hien returned to China in 414 AD after enduring many hardships at sea.

It took Fa-hien six years to reach Central India from Changan (then the capital of China); his itinerary there extended over another six years; and on his return it took him three years to reach Qingzhou (Ch'ingchou) in modern Shandong, a coastal province in east China.