Saturday, April 4, 2015

The Idler, Monday, April 6, 2015

Berea bear trap

SUCH excitement at the Street Shelter for the Over-Forties on 

Maundy Thursday – that giant sinkhole was right outside.

What happened was that one of the pipes to the draught pumps 

sprang a leak, scouring out the road's underfill and creating a huge 

underground lake of beer.

Two hefty wenches were crossing at the intersection to attend the 

Thursday evening quiz competition.

Then – collapso! – the ground gave way under them, the sinkhole 

yawned and the two wenches were "treading water" in beer. They 

emerged after swallowing about a gallon apiece and were in fine 

form for the quiz, though their answers didn't quite tally with the 

quizmaster's.

In fact some of their answers were so studded with exotic 

language, they had to be asked to tone down or leave.

The breweries folk fixed the leak and all we were left with was the 

sinkhole. And of course a large gaping hole outside a place like the 

Street Shelter is like a bear trap. All kinds of citizens were found at 

the bottom next morning – including the proprietor, I'm told. Tsk, 

tsk!

Life is eventful these days. If it's not power cuts, it's sinkholes.


BE CAREFUL when choosing your company signage on the 

internet. Beau Lintner sends in some examples of where things 

were not quite thought through:

• Who Represents is where you can find the name of the 

agent who represents any celebrity. Their website is: 


• Experts Exchange is a knowledge base where 

programmers can exchange advice and views at: 


• Looking for a great pen? Look no further than Pen 

Island. It can be found at: www.penisland.net

• Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at: 


• Then there's the Italian Power Generator company. 

Check it out at: www.powergenitalia.com

• IP Computer Software? Try: www.ipanywhere.com

• And the designers at Speed of Art await you at their 


 

Contradiction

INVESTMENT analyst Dr James Greener spots a stunning 

contradiction in recent statements by President JZ.

In his latest grumpy newsletter he says the president said too 

many people were reliant on state hand-outs. Then, almost in the 

same breath, he promised that about a billion rands would be set 

aside for low interest loans for businessmen selected by race.

"Without dwelling on the likely unconstitutionality of that policy, the 

contradiction is stunning and is a perfect example of the lack of 

understanding of how economies work. 

"Any business that survives only because of taxpayer subsidies 

is not adding any value. The president also complained that this 

step was necessary because commercial lenders were refusing 

to supply cash to these applicants, but failed to spot that this 

was most likely because the banks saw a low probability that the 

businesses would be able to repay the loan.

"Governments of course have no such qualms."

Why indeed?

THE scenes of jubilation among the Aussies after winning the 

Cricket World Cup final in Melbourne remind Michael Green 

– retired editor of our sister newspaper, the Daily News – of 

something he read years ago in the now-defunct Boys' Own 

Paper.

"An innocent little schoolboy was quoted as writing in an 

essay: 'Why do footballers kiss each other when they've scored? 

They're not married, they're not even engaged'."

A very good question.

Statues struggle

IAN Gibson, poet laureate of Hillcrest, pens some lines on the 

current controversy over statues.

Don't you wish you were a struggle hero

Instead of colonial white and quite a zero;

To stride the high ground

With morals true and sound?

But no! Jan Van Riebeeck won't let go!

Tailpiece

THEY'VE finally tied the knot after living together for years. One 

evening he's cleaning his golf shoes.

She says: "Honey, now that we're married isn't it time you quit 

golfing? Maybe you should sell your golf clubs."

He looks at her in total horror.

"Darling, what's wrong?"

"For a moment there you were sounding like my ex-wife."

"Ex-wife?" she screams, "I didn't know you were married before!"

"I wasn't."

Last word

The only thing that scares me more than space aliens is the idea that there 

aren't any space aliens. We can't be the best that creation has to offer. I pray 

we're not all there is. If so, we're in big trouble. 

Ellen DeGeneres

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