Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee, historic 70 year reign

[sear]

... there are a hell of a lot of "nice ladies " about and I see nothing that singles her out, she doesnt have the power to do anything really bad and if she did it wouldnt be reported

mm #19
Thou dost protest too much. Even if all your misgivings are valid, what is the consequence? Your position is she's a figurehead. Think the U.K. could find a better one?

It's a very imperfect analogy, but some may think the U.S. president is the best the U.S. has to offer.
Not so.
The very best are an exceedingly small subset of our ~300+ Million population. Our presidents are culled from a different subset, those foolish enough, or bored enough to accept the burdens of the most onerous office in the solar system.

And while I'm not trying to flick the hair-encrusted booger of accusation your way I do sense your tenacious but here to fore substance-deficient criticism is backhanded compliment fishing. Either way the old broad's gone Platinum. H U R R A H H !!

W #20
Yup

 

[mark mywords]

It's a very imperfect analogy, but some may think the U.S. president is the best the U.S. has to offer.

I was going to say that at least the US president is elected by the people rather than inheriting the position by accident of birth but as we know the US president isnt elected by the people.

In an ideal world were I designing a country from scratch there would be no monarch and none of the trappings of majesty but we are where we are and England has always been a monarchy (aside from a few years in the 1600s) the vast majority of the monarchs of the modern era have been harmless (not sure that the same could be said for US presidents) and I would not like to go down the scurrilous road previously gone down by the British Labour Party when they unceremoniously sacked all of the hereditary peers largely for reasons of class envy. I am also mindful of the previous dalliance with republicanism which ended in a monarchy in all but name with a despotic tyrant on the throne

 

[sear]

I'm not endorsing it, but I understand royal nepotism. There may be a shade of sense to it, particularly in pre-literate, subsistence, agricultural peasant cultures. The king might have been among the very few with the resources to tutor the succession lineage.

It seems marriage for love is a modern notion, that among royalty marriages were to solidify alliances and expand or enhance kingdoms.

I'm not compulsive about it but I generally prefer tidy to messy. The democratic process is a glaring exception. However tidy absolute despotism may be, count me out.

It seems the queen wasn't quite feeling her oats, but handled it wisely. Instead of scheduling an appearance and risk disappointing with a last moment cancellation no appearance was scheduled, so she got credit for her "surprise appearance".

I also saw vid of a Gold horse-drawn coach with a video hologram of Elizabeth decades younger, waving out the coach window.

 

[mark mywords]

she is on record as saying that she hates the gold carriage,saying that it is very uncomfortable and is too hard on the horses

 

[sear]

gold carriage ... very uncomfortable

Royalty!
I doubt Oliver Twist would have complained about a gold carriage. It does summon to mind the story of The Princess and the Pea.

Have London bookies laid odds on who will die first? Liz or Chaz?

 

[mark mywords]

solid iron clad wheels with no suspension I imagine that it is very rough on your dental work.

Betty is missing appearances she has not previously missed so I imagine that she is in decline, I just wonder if should she reach 100 will she sent herself a congratulatory telegram (centenarians in the UK get a "telegram" from the queen- actually it is no longer a telegram sine the post ofice stopped telegrams 40 years ago)

God save the queen
She ain't no human being
There is no future
In England's dreaming

Don't be told what you want
Don't be told what you need
There's no future, no future,
No future for you

God save the queen
'Cause tourists are money
And our figurehead
Is not what she seems


Oh God save history
God save your mad parade
Oh Lord God have mercy
All crimes are paid


When there's no future
How can there be sin
We're the flowers in the dustbin
We're the poison in your human machine

We're the future, your future
God save the queen
We mean it man
We love our queen
God saves
Lydon

 

[sear]

Any chance she could trade it in on a Yugo? Borrow the Pope-mobile? Borrow Chaz' Aston Marvin? [I just love being an American]
On the telegram deal, nothing less than a singing telegram would be fit for a queen.

On the poetry / mm #26:

Original lyrics​

The lyrics as published in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1745 ran:

God save great George our king,
Long live our noble king,
God save the king.
Send him victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the king![14][15]

God Save the Queen - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I'm guessing '60's or '70's vintage pop / rock. I can't narrow it down more than that with what little I know about the culture.

BUT:
apropos R #1

ABC-TV News ran a brief video segment of her majesty seated at a small square table taking tea with a well dressed (well animated) fox.
Quite racy. The fox drinks from the spout of the tea pot. Her majesty takes it in stride. I assume the origin of the vid was within her kingdom.

 

[mark mywords]

Charles'Aston Martin is 52 years old he has owned it from new (it was a birthday gift from Betty) and runs on "wine and cheese" (actually just alcohol) Betty drives a Range Rover (as did Phillip). By all accounts Betty lives a strange yet meagre life with rooms heated by radiant bar electric heaters and food stored in Tupper ware containers whilst employing a woman to walk the corridors of Buck house wearing her new shoes lest they chafe her royal toes.

ABC-TV News ran a brief video segment of her majesty seated at a small square table taking tea with a well dressed (well animated) fox.
Quite racy. The fox drinks from the spout of the tea pot. Her majesty takes it in stride. I assume the origin of the vid was within her kingdom.

Oh dear Oh dear! that was a bear (Paddington bear to be exact) Paddington is an erudite Peruvian bear who subsists on a diet of marmalade sandwiches and gives pithy kernels of wisdom to children ("when you are kind and polite the world will be right")

 

[mark mywords]

Notice the really cheap radiant bar electric heater!

 

[mark mywords]

 

[sear]

mm #28,
I realize I'm already over-drawn on my dim-wit American account (Aston Marvin). I've never been in an Aston Martin, though I did enjoy Sean Connery's Dr No. If I was to buy one I'd prefer one with the machine gun option.
Might be like a comparison between lightning, & the lightning bug, but I did get a ride in either a Triumph TR3, or something like it. What impressed (astounded!) me about it was how well it cornered. When I was teen the rage was wide car tires, the notion being the wider the tire the better the performance. But whatever that car was, it cornered with higher G-force than any other car I've been in, without noticeable tire squeal.

mm #29
Looks very much like what in the U.S. are called "Quartz" heaters. I had the misfortune to break one. It's a coil of metal with a ceramic (glass?) tube around it. Problem is they're horrid on the eyes, should not be stared at while luminous. I use them, but because of the eye thing hope to find a replacement.
I got the impression her majesty preferred to avoid shaking hands, and often wore gloves ...

mm #30

View attachment 26

POW !

I've never met them, but they seem like very likeable people to me, though their furniture would look a little ostentatious in my house. Not sure why Chaz' hand is at the hilt. Just a suggestion Charles, don't do it while the guy with the camera is there.

 

[mark mywords]

the electric heater is an older (cheaper) version of a quartz heater being just a length of resistive wire coiled around a ceramic former. A quartz element is very similar but encased within a "quartz" tube (allowing it to operate at a higher temperature). I dont believe that the "quartz" is any such thing I thick that it is just some form of fused silica glass

 

[sear]

quartz (kwôrts) n. A very hard mineral composed of silica, SiO2, found worldwide in many different types of rocks, including sandstone and granite. Varieties of quartz include agate, chalcedony, chert, flint, opal, and rock crystal. [German Quarz, from Middle High German quarc, of Slavic origin.] quartzose′ (kwôrtsōs′) adj. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. The American Heritage Dictionary entry: quartz The American Heritage Dictionary entry: quartz ahdictionary.com

---

Not sure if there's any UK vs US English mismatch here. No worries. Either way, one of the few things I have in common w/ her majesty.
What a gal !

mm #32
One must be cautious around heaters. A single drop of ice water on a hot glass surface can be trouble. Imagine if a chunk of ice came off her after she shoveled snow from her driveway.
You know most things expand when heated, Boyle's Law etc.
Tom & Ray / Car Talk said rubber shrinks when heated.

This stuff: https://www.corningware.com/marketing/7731/visions-cookware?sort_by=created&sort_order=DESC
doesn't seem to do either. I've been cooking with it for decades, have even boiled it dry, and splashed cold tap water into it, no problem. Not sure how the physics works.

 

[Wolf]

I was going to say that at least the US president is elected by the people rather than inheriting the position by accident of birth. etc. Mark my words.
I totally agree with that statement , and although the present Queen has done a good job, the next in line is a total fool.
He has little or no real education as to "People" and tends to speak and then being told he should not have, behaves like a twit.
So on would to electing a new "Leader" although I doubt it will be in my life time.

 

[sear]

Alright you guys. I cyber-know you both well enough to know these errors in your logic are not purely accidental.

Your parliament and the U.S. congress are both federal legislatures. They are not identical, even if the former inspired the structure of the latter: house of commons / house of lords vs the senate and the house of representatives.

True, we hold elections for presidential candidates. Don't you vote for PM?

Perhaps it's fashionable there to hold the POW in low esteem. But I strongly believe you could do a whole lot worse. Despite his faults Chaz seems pretty good to me. You think King Charles will be worse than Hank8?

 

[mark mywords]

How some one behaves when they are not monarch isnt necessarily an indication of how they will behave as monarch.

Don't you vote for PM?

No.
The PM is an elected person (same as all of the other government officers) but he was not elected to be PM. The PM is simply the leader of the party which wins the most seats (assuming that the leader of that party actually gets elected). But Unlike in the US where the president can pick whom so ever he chooses as government officers (Secretary of state for .........) In the UK the PM can only choose from elected people

 

[sear]

Not because I think you don't know, but merely as a comparison between U.S. & U.K.
Technically U.S. citizens don't vote for president either. Electoral college.

Worse: the "grand old party" (Republicans) have not put a candidate into the white house in the new millennium by popular vote of the People. So what?
The first of the two lied the U.S. into War. Still not sure why.

The second deliberately tried to subvert the Constitution to remain in office (despite the fact that the candidate that ran against him won the vote, lost the election). There are ongoing congressional hearings on it.

"Banana Republicans"?

 

[mark mywords]

Technically U.S. citizens don't vote for president either.

there is no "technically"about it! The EC is undemocratically elected and should they choose to vote for a candid ate other than that "promised" (unfaithful voter) there is little or no penalty although they probably wouldnt get any where near the EC next time around.

In the UK (and most European ) elections it is quite possible for a party with significantly fewer than 50% of the votes cast to win because European elections unlike American elections typically have more than two viable candidates four candidates who get 40% 30% 20% and 10% candidate A wins even though 60% of the electorate voted against him. There was a referendum a few years back about introducing a system which would reduce this but it was voted down in the referendum (68% against)

 

[sear]

"there is no "technically"about it!" mm #38

I think the presidential candidate's name is written on the ballot. The names of the EC intermediaries are generally kept undisclosed. Whether that qualifies as "secret" I can't say.
Two terms come to mind: "promiscuous electors", and I think the other is "unfaithful electors". Seems to be quite rare, never decisive if I recall.

#38
I can & has happened here, but it's rare. Minnesota's Governor Jesse Ventura got a reported 37% of the votes in a 3 way race, and took the governorship.
The ticket Ventura ran on was Ross Perot's party. Problem was for a State governor to accomplish much s/he needs party allies in his legislature. And Ventura didn't.
So it never amounted to much, sort of ended in a fizzle.

VicDan advocated Condorcet voting. I never understood it. BUT !!
I understand ranked voting well enough. The voter simply votes his preference for each of the candidates in order of preference. The rest gets sorted out when the ballots are tallied.
I favor that, because I think it helps address the incumbency advantage. I've often voted for 3rd party candidates, Conservatives, Libertarians, etc. But I don't recall it ever being other than a wasted vote.

 

[mark mywords]

I think that every American knows that when they vote in a presidential election for "J Smith" their vote doesnt really count (if it did Trump would not have been elected) what counts is the votes of the "(EC) "electors"