Important List! #12 - Fanta Flavours

"Fanta originated as a result of difficulties importing Coca-Cola syrup into Nazi Germany during World War II due to a trade embargo." - Wikipedia

Despite losing the war, Fanta has gone on to be popular worldwide. The flavours available vary from region to region but include;

Peach Mangosteen (Albania)
Spider Chocolate Orange (Australia, retired)
Red Cream (Bahamas)
Madness [Grape] (Bosnia Herzogovina)
Madness [Elderflower] (Bulgaria)
Green Apple & Cherry (France)
Vanilla and Lime (Germany, retired)
Herbs  (Germany, retired)
Banana (Grenada)
Moo Moo White (Japan*)
Cassis (Netherlands)
Cinnamon Rum (Romania, retired)
Toffee (Taiwan)

*There are a ridiculous number of flavours in Japan

In 2015 the 75th anniversary of Fanta in Germany was was celebrated with Classic Fanta in original design bottles, and with the great original logo.

According to TV ads this was intended to bring back "the feeling of the Good Old Times" ... of Germany circa 1940. The ad had a mixed reception.

Important List #11 - Illinois town and city nicknames

This list draws heavily (OK, entirely) on a Wikipedia entry that you should consult for a longer and more detailed list. The last one is my favourite.

• Beardstown - Watermelon Capital
• Bloomington–Normal together - Blo-No
• Buffalo Grove - The Gymnastics Capital of Illinois
• Chester - The Home of Popeye
• Chicago - The City of the Big Shoulders (For more Chicago nicknames see List of nicknames for Chicago, obviously.)

• Collinsville - Horseradish Capital of the World
• Crystal Lake - A Good Place to Live
• DeKalb - Barbed Wire Capital of the World
• Griggsville - Purple Martin Capital of the World
• Huntley - The Friendly Village with Country Charm
• Joliet - City of "Snap and Progress"
• Marion - Hub City of the Universe

Some notes on Marion, in southern Illinois. It was founded in 1839 and now has a population around 17,000. Ten people died in a tornado in 1982. It has had the same mayor since 1963. Nineteen sixty three! 

I thought perhaps it had an automotive parts industry or even bike parts - as an explanation for the 'Hub' nickname. As this doesn't seem to be the case, I can only accept that Marion is in fact, as it claims, the Hub City of The Universe.

Important List! #10 - Fictional Hares and Rabbits

I have picked this list of favourites from a longer list in Wikipedia.

Binky from Life in Hell
Bunnicula
Captain Carrot
Crusader Rabbit
Hazel from Watership Down
Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers
Glenda, the Plan 9 Bunny
Greg the Bunny
Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long
Schnuffel

Why not comment below with your own favourite imaginary lagomorphs?

Just found some more cars

Blow me down - I have just remembered I have a whole 'nother hangar out the back stacked full of redundant yet notable (non-existent) automobiles. Would you believe I have, in more or less mint condition;

• a Bishop Spong Sportswagon
• an original Stubing Superior driverless bus
• a 1956 Classic Clerihew light lorry
• a Nutley Six, cut down into a ute
• a Hokusai Scrimshaw 1200 ride-on wheelbarrow
• a Wrigley Osiris Five submersible car
• the aqua Sussex Tong forklift that appears in the opening credits of On The Buses
• an Oxbow Peril P100 fire engine
• the front half of a Munster Shark tourer welded to the back half of a Munster SuperTrout delivery van
• a Nesbitt Zanzibar hearse
• and a 1972 Lamington Ark Royal Princess armoured car (fastback)

Due to straightened circumstances I am open to any offer on these unique (yet sadly imaginary) commercial vehicles. No tyre-kickers please.

Rare Cars

I have an impressive collection of very rare and totally imaginary cars from all over the world. For the interest of any enthusiasts out there, here is an inventory.

• The Watling Whelk
• The Uranus Clotheshorse
• The Limpid 6
• The Nguyen Wallace Ant-Bear
• The Trumpet Whetstone
• The Blaine Nodule 383
• The de Botton Pyramidé Deux
• The Curlewis Ampersand
• The Nevsky Nyet
• The Spofforth Spiral GLE
• The Motopolonia Tim 5000
• The Chesterfield Squab
• The Hyderabad Mopoke X
• The Cumberland Aitch
• The Iberia ¿Quando?
• The Nanking Most Opulent Baron 9
• The Giles-Zeitung Havoc
• The Free Car of the Heroic Workers of Minsk

Some, such as the Nodule and the Ampersand, were made in limited numbers in the 1940s and 50s by small family coachworks in Britain. Others such as the unusual Tim 5000 were turned out in their thousands behind the Iron Curtain, but were so badly made that very few were ever seen in the West. People often ask which is my favourite - how could I possibly answer? But of course, with a rueful wag of the head I will usually admit that after a tough day I like nothing better than hitting the open road in my Clotheshorse Roadster with the top down and the magnetophone on full, disappearing into the twilight.

Important list! #09 - kinds of duck

1. dabbling ducks
   
2. freshwater diving ducks
3. saltwater diving ducks
   
4. wood ducks
5. eider ducks
6. ruddy ducks
7. tree ducks
8. domestic ducks

My favourite kind of duck is the Wandering Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna arcuata).

There are three subspecies associated with this bird. D. arcuata arcuata (Indonesian Wandering Whistling Duck), D. arcuata australis (Australian Wandering Whistling Duck), and D. arcuata pygmaea (New Britain Wandering Whistling Duck).

Important list! #08 - Things that ladies used to do on TV

1. When a man said something that might be suggestive (usually by accident), slap him and exclaim "Fresh!"
2. Jump on a chair at any suggestion of mouse activity
3. Come through the door with a lot of hatboxes and sing "Honey, I'm ho-ome"

I am not suggesting that ladies ever did these things in real life. But if they ever did, they don't anymore. I say bring them back. Someone start a Facebook group.

I name your netball team

I once discussed "netball team names" on the blog. Ever since, this has featured very high in my Google search hits. I just Googled it myself and the Diary is currently 26th in line. Still pulling in a lot of visitors though. many of the top hits are discussing a team from New Zealand that was forced to change it's name when someone objected to The Master Baiters.

Obviously there's a relentless worldwide (or at least Commonwealth-wide) search for good, non-smutty, "different" names. Netball is of course played by womens', mens', and mixed teams. A good list of names will need to appeal broadly. I give you then a list of 25 names I (as a popularly elected netball team name expert) think will equally bemuse people of both sexes and all ages. Of course you can also take these to use for your rock band or racehorse.

Please drop a note in the comments if you are adopting a name for any reason. Oh - I'll even throw in a free logo.

Barcode Barney
Captain Spout
Cold Whelk
Float Spokes
Easy Wizard
Ink Suds
King Edwards
Little Whigs
Mouse Listeners
Norman Mayday
Normal 9
Princess Parsley
Sack of Rome
Shark Padres
Spool Whippets
Soda Doubles
Teacup Pigs
Thought Balloons
Tooth Dentists
Towel Tigers
Valve Magnet
Weddell Seals
Windscreen Gypsy
Yurt Demon
Zebra Cheese

Important list! #07

Some of the inventions of The Muppet Show's Dr Bunsen Honeydew. All tested with unpredictable but always painful results, by Honeydew's faithful assistant Beaker.

• Edible paper clips
• Gorilla detector
• Hair-growing tonic
• Banana sharpener
• Robot politician
• Electric nose warmer
• A device that turned gold into cottage cheese

Important List! #06 - More viruses

• channel catfish virus
• duck hepatitis B virus
• friend virus
• helper virus
• human foamy virus
• Johnson grass mosaic virus
• mad itch virus
• mouse minute virus
• maize chlorotic dwarf virus
• maize rough dwarf virus
• nipple neck virus
• sword bean distortion mosaic virus
• strawberry crinkle virus
• spring beauty latent virus
• ukelelefish stunt virus
• velvet tobacco mottle virus
• watermelon curly mottle virus

Are you concerned about Tin Whiskers?

The internet is really het up about it. Some things I Googled;

• Many companies are haunted with worry about tin whiskers.


• Tin whiskers arise from stresses in the plating.


• Tin whiskers don't have to be airborne to damage equipment.


• To address the threat of tin whiskers, a review of mitigation strategies is presented.


• Tin whiskers have been identified or are highly suspected in the costly failure in a number of electronic systems.


• CALCE Consortium has posted an alert, warning manufacturers of electronic hardware that tin whiskers represent a current failure risk, that must be addressed [TIN WHISKER ALERT, 2002]


• In high-voltage, high-current circuits, any shorts caused by tin whiskers are quickly burnt out.


• The phenomenon of tin whiskers is something you've likely heard discussed, maybe in scared whispered tones.


• One group of theorists has estimated that tin whiskers have caused losses of billions of dollars to date.


• This two day symposium will bring together international experts, in the field of tin whiskers.


• In a perverse kind of way, tin whiskers are good for the consumer market.

I think the first thing you should do when you get home is just do a quick room-to-room check for any of those tin whiskers. I'll do the same. Then I'll call you. OK?

Recent google searches that found me

footballers with cheese names
eel whisperer hodgman
condom machines for sale
cheese zebras
are toothaches punishment
portable pigeon bathing apparatus
ocobo domination
sinus toothache when walking

Currently sitting pretty: Iran and Tinker Bell

Just did a quick Google search to check who is currently "sitting pretty". According to the Internet;

'Ugly Betty' is sitting pretty
Delaware is sitting pretty compared to property tax elsewhere
Alonzo Mourning is sitting pretty
Furniture manufacturer is sitting pretty on its water savings
Hot and sexy Danielle Bux is sitting pretty
Prity Bhutani is sitting pretty
Buckeyes sitting pretty after West Virginia, Missouri losses
Cailin Alainn is sitting pretty for Fairyhouse
Sichuan's ancient Buddha is sitting pretty
The Australian end of the (Chrysler) operation is sitting pretty
Jelimo is sitting pretty for gold in Beijing
Moen bath sink faucet is sitting pretty
Tinker Bell is sitting pretty on a little flower
Iran is sitting pretty in Central Asia at the moment
Sky Blue Vicar is sitting pretty
Suzanne Kasler is sitting pretty with her new line of chairs
Sri Lanka is sitting pretty after 20 years of test cricket
Felicity Huffman is sitting pretty
Rovers Cruz is sitting pretty - but he's not just a pin-up
TV is sitting pretty with quiz mania
Forgotten man Alex is sitting pretty in pink
George Strait's 38th album is sitting pretty on top of both the country and all-genre album charts today

X is the new Y

Quotes, titles of articles, books, songs and albums, 2001-2009.

Big is the new small
Quiet Is the New Loud
Gay is the new black
Twelve is the new eleven
Random is the new order
Economizing is the new black
Awake Is the New Sleep
Gay cowboys are now the new penguins
Black is the new green
Black is the new white
This Is The New That
Down Is the New Up
Humans are the new dinosaurs
Hogs are the new deer - (Field & Stream magazine article)
Saving is the new spending

Obsolete Scottish Units Of Measurement

This is my new favourite wikipedia page.

Oxgang
Ploughgate
Daugh
Chalder
Boll
Fubdy
Firlot
Lippie
Stane
Joog
Forpet
Mutchkin
Poon

Spot the made up one.

Types of snow

Wikipedia list the following "types of snow on the ground". If you really must you can look up what they all mean here. I made up one of them. In fact, bearing in mind that it's Wikipedia, maybe all of them are made up.

Artificial snow
Blowing snow
Chopped powder
Corn
Cornice
Crud
Crust
Depth hoar
Finger Drift
Heavy crud
Ice
Firn
Packed Powder
Packing snow
Penitentes
Pillow Drift
Powder
Quinsy
Slush
Snirt (not to be confused with snert)
Snowdrift
Surface Hoar
Watermelon snow
Wind slab

Important List! #05

Drongos. As requested by M.D. Lean of Surrey Hills, Vic, I have made one up. Spot it - if you DARE! Note - some drongos have been omitted from this list as a) I'm not sure that they really belong to the drongo family, taxonomically speaking and b)their names are not fun enough.

Bronzed Drongo, Dicrurus aeneus
Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo, Dicrurus remifer
Pygmy Drongo, Chaetorhynchus papuensis
Splendid Drongo, Dicrurus splendidus
Square-tailed Drongo, Dicrurus ludwigii
Shining Drongo, Dicrurus atripennis
Fork-tailed Drongo, Dicrurus adsimilis
Black Drongo, Dicrurus macrocercus
Ashy Drongo, Dicrurus leucophaeus
White-bellied Drongo, Dicrurus caerulescens
Crow-billed Drongo, Dicrurus annectans
Hair-crested Drongo, Dicrurus hottentottus
Sulawesi Drongo, Dicrurus montanus
Sumatran Drongo, Dicrurus sumatranus
Wallacean Drongo, Dicrurus densus
Ribbon-tailed Drongo, Dicrurus megarhynchus
Spangled Drongo, Dicrurus bracteatus
Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Dicrurus paradiseus

Join us at the crossroads

I have done a quick Google search to establish who is currently "at the crossroads". According to the Internet;

America is at the crossroads.
The American dream is at the crossroads.
The future of the media in Turkey is at the crossroads.
Global capitalism is at the crossroads.
California is at the crossroads of globalization.
Open-source licensing is at the crossroads.
The Liberal Party in Victoria is at the crossroads.
Rural health research in Canada is at the crossroads.
Cornell's laboratory is at the crossroads.
The use of sampled evidence in mass tort cases is at the crossroads.
Cuban society is at the crossroads.
Ca2+ influx by SOCs and Icrac is at the crossroads of the receptor-evoked Ca2+ signal.
China is at the crossroads.
Malta is at the crossroads.
Kashmir is at the crossroads.
eRulemaking is at the crossroads.
The nuclear pore complex is at the crossroads of macromolecular traffic across the nuclear envelope.
Cameroon is at the crossroads of development.
Agriculture in the US, as in other industrialized countries, is at the crossroads.
Kant is at the crossroads of modernity.
Engineering education is at the crossroads, say experts
Larry Johnson's career with Kansas City is at the crossroads.
Russia is at the crossroads.
Samoan contemporary art is at the crossroads.

Next week - who is "between a rock and hard place"?

Important List! #04

It takes a certain sort of person to be elected Governor of one of the United States. You might think I mean persistence, wealth or possibly a big forehead. No, I just mean a good governory name. If your name is Michael D. Peterson or Andrew Walker, you have no chance.

From the list of Florida governors, here are five in a row.

Dave Sholtz
Fred P. Cone
Spessard L. Holland
Millard F. Caldwell
Fuller Warren

Somewhat earlier were Ossian B. Hart, Marcellus L. Stearns and Mr Park Trammel.

I have done a quick flick through Louisiana and some of the states that start with M, and would like to bolster my argument with the following:

P.B.S. Pinchback
Oramel H. Simpson
Lot M. Morrill
Sumner Sewall
John Eager Howard
William Pinkney White
Spiro T. Agnew
Increase Sumner
Leverett Saltonstall
Foster Furcolo
Endicott Peabody
Theodore G. Bilbo
Lilburn W. Boggs
Meredith M. Marmaduke
Trusten Polk

and possibly the best of all, Harry W. Nice (Republican, Maryland, 1935-39).

Important List! #03

This one is a bit parochial. Sorry Norway and Turkey, think of it as Australian cultural studies.

In 1980 someone had the brilliant idea to get one player from each VFL team to sing a song, and then released it as an LP, titled Footy Favourites. The cover suggests "Hear your players sing their favourite hits". So - bearing in mind that each of these guys is supposedly singing his own favourite hit, here is the track list.

1. Imagine - Mark Maclure (Carlton)
2. Danny Boy - Ray Shaw (Collingwood)
3. Hard Rock Cafe - Laurie Serafini (Fitzroy)
4. Who's Sorry Now - Kelvin Templeton (Footscray)
5. I Go To Rio - Michael Turner (Geelong)
6. Don't Stand So Close To Me - Michael Moncrieff (Hawthorn)
7. Macho Man - Robbie Flower (Melbourne)
8. 20 Miles - Wayne Schimmelbusch (North Melbourne)
9. The Letter - David Cloke (Richmond)
10. I Can See Clearly Now - Trevor Barker (St Kilda)
11. Ruby (Don't Take Your Love to Town) - Tim Watson (Essendon)
12. Little Jeannie - Barry Round (South Melbourne)

How did any of these big boofy blokes (Robbie Flower and Michael Turner particularly) live this down?