The Off Topic Topic

[jimmy olsen]

[Sheilbh]

Politics on either side of the Atlantic:

Eric Pickles: 'I didn't spend £10,000 extra on biscuits'

Tory MP defends his department's refreshments record
ADAM WITHNALL   Wednesday 27 November 2013

The Conservative MP Eric Pickles has launched a staunch defence of his Government department after it was claimed he spent an extra £10,000 in just one year on biscuits.

Figures released at the end of last year suggested Mr Pickles' Department for Communities and Local Government had forked out £40,000 on serving custard creams, ginger nuts and digestives at meetings.

This was up from £30,000 in 2011, and led Labour minister Diane Abbot to remark: "Nobody begrudges Eric the odd digestive but he needs to cut his biscuit bill.

"Thanks to his policies councils all over the country are having to cut vital facilities like libraries."

According to local newspaper reports, the Brentwood and Ongar MP has now appeared on London's LBC Radio to defend himself, saying he isn't "playing a jammie dodger here".

Mr Pickles said the huge increase was the result of an "administrative error", and added that the biscuit budget was still lower than when Labour was in power.

He told LBC's Iain Dale: "The figure was for part of our hospitality budget.

"When we have meetings, if people come from a long distance we'll give them tea and biscuits.

"The rise comes down to one of my fine civil servants putting the wrong thing in the wrong column. It is still a 94 per cent reduction though compared to Labour's spending in the department.

"I'm not playing a jammie dodger here. I even bring in my own tea bags to work. I wouldn't accept anything from another person."

[Ideologue]

That's a lot of Goddamned biscuits.

[sbr]

Pretty funny Twitter episode.  I think both would fit in well here.

http://storify.com/EliLanger/this-man-is-hilariously-live-tweeting-his-flight-n

Some excerpts:

Our flight is delayed. A woman on here is very upset because she has Thanksgiving plans. She is the only one obviously. Praying for her
8:05 AM - 28 Nov 2013

The male flight attendant said "I understand ma'am. I'm looking forward to seeing my family too." She responded "This isn't about you"
8:12 AM - 28 Nov 2013

I sent the lady a glass of wine and a note
9:29 AM - 28 Nov 2013

[Ed Anger]

Dude was a douche.

[CountDeMoney]

Funny up to the coaster note.  Atrocious penmanship, and far too wordy.

[The Brain]

If you order biscuits and gravy for £10,000, are you insane?

[MadImmortalMan]

Fifty bucks she took the free wine.

[CountDeMoney]

And I would've drawn something pornographic on it, Mongers.  Like a turkey assfucking the woman in 7A.

[Josquius]

Ush, I'm not having a good weekend.
Amongst other things...
Guy from shop I got my washing machine comes to check it out- but low and behold it is working properly. Nonetheless he notices something wrong and is able to reproduce the standard error. So he replaces the machine. Yatta.
I put my wet clothes in the new machine for a dry cycle and all seems well for a while...until the machine starts banging like crazy, dangerously so. I quickly stop it...but now it won't do a dry cycle.
Apparently the problem was something to do with a unbalanced weight distributiion of my load. This has never been a problem for me with washing machines before.Hope I didn't break a perfectly good machine within minutes of the shop guy leaving.

[11B4V]

Breaking News!!!! 

(Newser) – Scotland may have a new, ancient celebrity to call its own, according to an amateur historian. In a new book, Adam Ardrey claims King Arthur was actually Arthur Mac Aedan, the son of a Scottish king, whose "Camelot" was not Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, but a Scottish marsh—and that he pulled Excalibur from a stone in the same area in Argyll. That's not all: Ardrey tells the Scotsman he's identified all 12 of Arthur's battle sites around Scotland, including where he died—near Falkirk, 12 miles from where his round table has supposedly been found—and the spot he was buried, on the island of Iona.

"The legendary Arthur is said to be buried in an island in the western seas—Avalon—but in the south of Britain there are no islands in the western seas," Ardrey says. "Iona fits all the criteria. It's an island where hundreds of kings were buried. Some say 128. Other members of Arthur Mac Aedan's family were buried there too." Now he wants the site dug up to look for proof, but in the meantime, "I am hoping the book provokes debate and discussion," Ardrey says. "But if I'm right, then 100 years of British history needs to be rewritten." In a previous book, Ardrey claims the "wizard" Merlin of Arthur lore was actually a politician from Glasgow, the Scottish Daily Record reports. (Meanwhile, another historical king may soon be dug up in England.)

[CountDeMoney]

I put my wet clothes in the new machine for a dry cycle and all seems well for a while...until the machine starts banging like crazy, dangerously so. I quickly stop it...but now it won't do a dry cycle.
Apparently the problem was something to do with a unbalanced weight distributiion of my load. This has never been a problem for me with washing machines before.Hope I didn't break a perfectly good machine within minutes of the shop guy leaving.

Yeah, once it starts crossing the room on its own, that's usually a sign that you've got an unbalanced load.

[lustindarkness]

Throw a brick in I'll balance it out.

[Ideologue]

unbalanced load.

Lol.

[Ideologue]

I'd like to say I'm embarrassed, but if I were billionaire the only difference would be that I'd have a servant going to Wal-Mart for me.