Lost in translation but found in laughter.
Memorable passages from your favourite books II
1. "If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier until it gets so ugly you can hardly bear to look at it. A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely." (Roald Dahl, The Twits)
2. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were coming or I'd have cleaned up a little more. My life, I mean, not just the apartment." (Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife)
3. "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilisation, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar", every "supreme leader", every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam." (Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot)
Bringing home the bacon
There are many stories about animals who were honoured in war - usually dogs, horses or homing pigeons. You don't often hear about other animals like Tirpitz, a pig that was carried on the German warship Dresden in 1914 as a food source. The Dresden was sunk by the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Glasgow off the coast of South America during the Battle of Mas a Tierra. Tirpitz managed to escape the sinking ship and swam towards the Glasgow. The crew brought him aboard and adopted him as a mascot, named him after German admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, and awarded him the Iron Cross for bravery. (Source: Mental Floss)
Monster muck-up
David writes: "In response to yesterday's Frankenstein flowerpot. Anyone who has read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein will know that the doctor who created the monster is named Frankenstein. The monster's actual name is Adam (thanks QI!). So, next time you dress up as Frankenstein, just find a doctor's coat."
Politics of the flag: These Australians think our flag re-birth is a bit of a joke (and they'd be right)...
...And if that's all too parochial for you, here's a proposal for a flag for planet earth, for when we invade Mars...
Picture this: Thank God: Finally there is a fireplace for private jets... "Having a private jet is largely about having it all, so limitations are not welcome. That makes the safety regulations that ban working fireplaces on aircraft a real problem. Thankfully, Lufthansa Technik has created a "Fireless Fireplace" to make business jets feel as cozy as a living room on the ground..." Read all about it here...
Video:
Object at Rest
is a remarkable little film which follows the life of a stone as it travels over the course of millennia, facing nature's greatest obstacle: human civilisation...
Herald app users
Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz