11 posts tagged “england”
The classic board game Monopoly has always been serious business. Like most turn of the century board games, Monopoly was designed to build moral fiber and promote social causes - in this case, to explain a particular economic theory.
Developed in 1903 by Lizzie Magie as The Landlord's Game, it later became a teaching tool at top universities' economics departments. Various entrepreneurs, students, and for some reason the Quakers, took interest and occasionally produced and sold their own versions, each tweaked to promote their own economic or religious beliefs about land and property. Legal battles over ownership and rights to the game were fought and not resolved officially until the 1980s. The game is known throughout the world under a variety of names.
Most interesting are Monopoly's wartime exploits. During World War II the company Waddington was the licensed Monopoly distributor in England, and also involved in the producing maps for pilots printed on silk to help them navigate if shot down in enemy country. The British Secret Service in 1941 contracted with Waddington to produce special sets to be included in packages delivered by the Red Cross to Nazi POW camps. These sets were marked with a red dot in the Free Parking space. These secretly supercharged game sets included extra playing pieces such as a compass and file. It came with a hidden escape map tailored to the specific POW camp region. In addition to the standard Monopoly money, real money in the local currency was included - all of these extras were intended to help POWs escape.
Monopoly is at heart a capitalist game with inherent ideas about acquiring wealth and competition. Postwar communists did not approve. The game was banned in Cuba and the Soviet Union, although it was secretly played.
This is probably the best story I read all week!
Developed in 1903 by Lizzie Magie as The Landlord's Game, it later became a teaching tool at top universities' economics departments. Various entrepreneurs, students, and for some reason the Quakers, took interest and occasionally produced and sold their own versions, each tweaked to promote their own economic or religious beliefs about land and property. Legal battles over ownership and rights to the game were fought and not resolved officially until the 1980s. The game is known throughout the world under a variety of names.
Most interesting are Monopoly's wartime exploits. During World War II the company Waddington was the licensed Monopoly distributor in England, and also involved in the producing maps for pilots printed on silk to help them navigate if shot down in enemy country. The British Secret Service in 1941 contracted with Waddington to produce special sets to be included in packages delivered by the Red Cross to Nazi POW camps. These sets were marked with a red dot in the Free Parking space. These secretly supercharged game sets included extra playing pieces such as a compass and file. It came with a hidden escape map tailored to the specific POW camp region. In addition to the standard Monopoly money, real money in the local currency was included - all of these extras were intended to help POWs escape.
Monopoly is at heart a capitalist game with inherent ideas about acquiring wealth and competition. Postwar communists did not approve. The game was banned in Cuba and the Soviet Union, although it was secretly played.
This is probably the best story I read all week!
Bletchley Park is the British equivalent of Langley in the U.S – it’s the central command for all codebreaking and encryption.
During World War II code breaking machines were developed on both sides, the most famous being the Enigma machine (an amazing story in itself).
These machines were the bridge between simple mechanical analog devices to the modern digital computers that we have today.
Ten machines called Colossus were built by the British to decrypt German message. These programmable computers worked by using statistical and mathematical analysis of data.
Even after the war, Colossus was kept confidential, and Churchill ordered the machines broken down into “pieces no bigger than a man’s hand”.
Now, Tony Sale of the National Museum of Computing has completed at 14 year long rebuild of the Colossus. When he began he only had some photographs of the machine. He tracked down still-living engineers who worked on the computer to help rebuild the machine.
Today they raced the Colossus and a virtual Colossus run on a modern PC to see which machine could decrypt a message faster. Unfortunately, the modern PC managed to crack to code first. On the other hand, your Dell or Mac probably never helped plan D-Day and win a world war.
Have you ever been sitting in one of those stretch Hummer limousines and thought - I just wish I could pay more money for less gas mileage and take up more room on the street? Your dreams have just come true.
Tanks a Lot is a real company in England that has an 8 passenger limousine available for rent (the price starts in the thousands and you also have to pay for the truck to bring the limo to your neighborhood).
They have tanks for all sorts of things: corporate events, protests, films and TV, proms, weddings, and making a fool of yourself.
Secretly, I guess it would be pretty exciting to ride in a tank. But I wouldn't ever ever pay!
Tanks a Lot is a real company in England that has an 8 passenger limousine available for rent (the price starts in the thousands and you also have to pay for the truck to bring the limo to your neighborhood).
They have tanks for all sorts of things: corporate events, protests, films and TV, proms, weddings, and making a fool of yourself.
Secretly, I guess it would be pretty exciting to ride in a tank. But I wouldn't ever ever pay!
The British sure have a knack for capturing the extremely awkward on television sitcoms. However the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb bring to life the horrors of trying to succeed in your 20s. The series Peep Show follows the humdrum but angst filled lives of two argumentative roommates: a neurotically stuffy suit and a chill but loser musician. Most of their adventures are in the pursuit of fame, money, self-confidence, and/or sex and inevitably end in an awkward disaster. Although the premise is nothing new and the situations are not that inventive, the show has honesty and sympathetic characters.
Much of the series is shot from a first-person point of view which is unusual in most sitcoms, but is very effective here. The rest tends to rely heavily on handheld, almost documentary-style.
Basically, the Office, although extremely awesome is really speaking to 30 year olds preparing for a midlife crisis. This show is for 20 year olds who are just as scared and just as emotionally incompetent.
Note: you know those Mac v PC commercials? These guys are the stars of the UK version.
Much of the series is shot from a first-person point of view which is unusual in most sitcoms, but is very effective here. The rest tends to rely heavily on handheld, almost documentary-style.
Basically, the Office, although extremely awesome is really speaking to 30 year olds preparing for a midlife crisis. This show is for 20 year olds who are just as scared and just as emotionally incompetent.
Note: you know those Mac v PC commercials? These guys are the stars of the UK version.
If you ran your own country would it be a better place?
New countries are created fairly often, especially in the past twenty years with the dissolution of the former Soviet states.
However, one of the most interesting new nations is Sealand, which is not formally recognized by any nation on earth. Still, by some important measures, Sealand is a real state, although a very small and very unusual one. The typical population is about 10 people although many more than that hold passports.
The "land" of Sealand is an abandoned English defense tower dating from WWII off the southwest coast of England. Although Britain used to claim that it owned Sealand's tower, it is technically within international waters. Being that Sealand has negotiated with other states like Germany and England, Sealand claims to have tacit diplomatic recognition. England considers business in Sealand to be "overseas" rather than domestic, and the two nations have had legal, criminal, and even military run-ins.
Sealand was founded in 1967 by Roy and Joan Bates who styled themselves sovereigns of the island. Originally it was used a pirate radio base. However, none of the royal family (nor any Sealand citizen) renounced their British citizenship. Sealand has a constitution, national anthem, legal apparatus, passports, and departments to handle postage, state affairs, and diplomacy, although they do not do very much. Although Sealand issues its own postage, it is not officially recognized by any country or any postal organization, although it often gets through anyway. Currency is mostly collectible, but is tied to the US dollar.
Christo is planning to wrap the whole country in 2008. The famous and oft-beleagued Swedish file sharing site piratebay.org once tried to raise money to purchase the principality. Sealand is actually up for sale now for the cost of US$998 million. Technically it can't be sold as it is a principality, but control of the nation is for sale.
Although small, Sealand has had its own wars.
Other micronations of note are the Republic of Rose Island built on a platform near Italy. It was blown up by the Italian Navy. Lovely was created during a BBC show "How to Start Your Own Country" and is mostly internet based. It is ruled by King Danny Wallace.
The Conch Republic in Key West, Florida "seceded" from the United States in 1982 due to a Coast Guard blockade. All retain dual citizenship with America. Once they crashed the Summit of the Americas. The nation is mostly maintained for its humorous aspects as opposed to continued enmity. There are unofficial consulates on the mainland US and abroad. The motto is "we seceded where others failed".
New countries are created fairly often, especially in the past twenty years with the dissolution of the former Soviet states.
However, one of the most interesting new nations is Sealand, which is not formally recognized by any nation on earth. Still, by some important measures, Sealand is a real state, although a very small and very unusual one. The typical population is about 10 people although many more than that hold passports.
The "land" of Sealand is an abandoned English defense tower dating from WWII off the southwest coast of England. Although Britain used to claim that it owned Sealand's tower, it is technically within international waters. Being that Sealand has negotiated with other states like Germany and England, Sealand claims to have tacit diplomatic recognition. England considers business in Sealand to be "overseas" rather than domestic, and the two nations have had legal, criminal, and even military run-ins.
Sealand was founded in 1967 by Roy and Joan Bates who styled themselves sovereigns of the island. Originally it was used a pirate radio base. However, none of the royal family (nor any Sealand citizen) renounced their British citizenship. Sealand has a constitution, national anthem, legal apparatus, passports, and departments to handle postage, state affairs, and diplomacy, although they do not do very much. Although Sealand issues its own postage, it is not officially recognized by any country or any postal organization, although it often gets through anyway. Currency is mostly collectible, but is tied to the US dollar.
Christo is planning to wrap the whole country in 2008. The famous and oft-beleagued Swedish file sharing site piratebay.org once tried to raise money to purchase the principality. Sealand is actually up for sale now for the cost of US$998 million. Technically it can't be sold as it is a principality, but control of the nation is for sale.
Although small, Sealand has had its own wars.
- In 1968 the British Royal Navy entered Sealand's waters to do some maintenance on the piers and were fired upon by one of the Bates. As a British citizen, Bates had to go to court for firing on the military, but the court found that Sealand was not in UK jurisdiction.
- In 1978, the Sealand Prime Minister staged a coup, kidnapping one of the princes. He was released a few days later. Bates invaded Sealand militarily to retake his own country and took the rebels prisoner including a German citizen. Germany sent a representative to Sealand to negotiate for their countryman's release. There is even a "government in exile" in Germany that claims sovereignty in Sealand.
- Sealand fired on the UK navy again in 1990.
Other micronations of note are the Republic of Rose Island built on a platform near Italy. It was blown up by the Italian Navy. Lovely was created during a BBC show "How to Start Your Own Country" and is mostly internet based. It is ruled by King Danny Wallace.
The Conch Republic in Key West, Florida "seceded" from the United States in 1982 due to a Coast Guard blockade. All retain dual citizenship with America. Once they crashed the Summit of the Americas. The nation is mostly maintained for its humorous aspects as opposed to continued enmity. There are unofficial consulates on the mainland US and abroad. The motto is "we seceded where others failed".
Is there a website dedicated to grotesquely oversized treats or homemade versions of store bought junk? Yes! Thanks to Pimp That Snack, you can make your own Gummy Worm of Death, an enormous DIY Twix bar, or your own giant Cadbury-style creme egg.
Beware! Mysterious British treats and ingredients abound, and the recipes use a curious base 10 calculation system styled "metric". There is also an unhealthy obsession with jelly/jello based confections. I believe this is characteristic of the British though. They'll jelly anything much the same way that Scots and Americans will deep fry anything.
If you are moved to pimp your own snack, document it properly and post it to the site so the world can admire your culinary chops.
If you like action movies, comedy, gratuitous violence, and English people then you will enjoy the cinematic achievement that is Hot Fuzz. Brought to you by the Shaun of the Dead team, it celebrates the 1990s American action canon in a thoroughly British manner.
The main character is a London cop who is too competent and is making the rest of the department look bad. His superiors transfer him to a sleepy country town. It seems idyllic, but bodies soon start piling up. Friends are made, the self is discovered, arrests are made, and eventually the bullets start flying - and they don't stop.
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost star. There are also great roles and cameos by some awesome people like Timothy Dalton, Bill Nighy, Steve Coogan, Martin Freeman, Steve Merchant, Cate Blanchett, and Bill Bailey.
The main character is a London cop who is too competent and is making the rest of the department look bad. His superiors transfer him to a sleepy country town. It seems idyllic, but bodies soon start piling up. Friends are made, the self is discovered, arrests are made, and eventually the bullets start flying - and they don't stop.
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost star. There are also great roles and cameos by some awesome people like Timothy Dalton, Bill Nighy, Steve Coogan, Martin Freeman, Steve Merchant, Cate Blanchett, and Bill Bailey.
They say England and America are two countries separated by a common language.
One case where this is true is the eponym used to describe ridiculously complicated mechanical contraptions to perform simple tasks. Brits call them Heath Robinson devices, and Americans say Rube Goldberg devices. Both men, surprisingly were cartoonists and illustrators and lived roughly in the same time (Robinson 1872-1944; Goldberg 1883-1970). The Brits named one of their code-breaking machines after Robinson.
In the US there are annual competitions to build the best Rube Goldberg device. Robinson would have been disappointed to have been remembered for his contraptions as he was also a serious illustrator.
That these two far apart men became renowned for their whimsical machines says something about the early 20th century. World War I was a catalyst that placed technology front and center in the public mind, from these men's cartoons and Charlie Chaplin, to the emerging automobile and airplane cultures; from the continuing rise of the industrial city to the obsession with progress that characterized the Modern age.
One case where this is true is the eponym used to describe ridiculously complicated mechanical contraptions to perform simple tasks. Brits call them Heath Robinson devices, and Americans say Rube Goldberg devices. Both men, surprisingly were cartoonists and illustrators and lived roughly in the same time (Robinson 1872-1944; Goldberg 1883-1970). The Brits named one of their code-breaking machines after Robinson.
In the US there are annual competitions to build the best Rube Goldberg device. Robinson would have been disappointed to have been remembered for his contraptions as he was also a serious illustrator.
That these two far apart men became renowned for their whimsical machines says something about the early 20th century. World War I was a catalyst that placed technology front and center in the public mind, from these men's cartoons and Charlie Chaplin, to the emerging automobile and airplane cultures; from the continuing rise of the industrial city to the obsession with progress that characterized the Modern age.
QI (or Quite Interesting) is a BBC quiz show that is as much about getting the right answer as making lewd jokes. Hosted by the inimitable Stephen Fry who is abnormally intelligent, the show asks ridiculously hard trivia questions - you think you know the answer but you probably don't. There's a rotating list of great British comedians, except for the constant contestant Alan Davies who tends to lose magnificently.
Too smart for American TV and very much dependent on its great personalities, this is my new youtubular obsession.
If you like knowing things and cheeky British humor, you just might fall in love too.
Too smart for American TV and very much dependent on its great personalities, this is my new youtubular obsession.
If you like knowing things and cheeky British humor, you just might fall in love too.
It looks like a CAD drawing of a car, but it's a 1:1 wire sculpture of a Subaru Impreza by Benedict Radcliffe in England. It was "parked" on the curb for a few days as part of his gallery showing.
It received a couple of parking tickets. Someone can't take a joke.
It received a couple of parking tickets. Someone can't take a joke.
