Karate Belts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karate_belts
This article does not cite any references or sources.
Oh. So that’s why it reads like a second-grader wrote it. White belt in style!
Everything I tagged with symbols:
Fortune Cookie (Origin)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_cookie#Origin
“There is a common joke involving fortune cookies that involves appending “between the sheets” or “in bed” to the end of the fortune, usually creating a sexual innuendo or other bizarre messages (e.g., “Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall [in bed]”).”
Fortune cookies are about as Chinese as California rolls are Japanese (Hint: They’re not).
Blackberry User, for the record, already knew that. But then again, she’s repeatedly gotten cookies with no fortune whatsoever in them, so she’s not even really a person, right?
Authentic or not, though, they’re still fun for the whole family…
…in bed.
Wait. Never mind.
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List of Titles and Honours of Queen Elizabeth II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_titles_and_honours_of_Queen_Elizabeth_II
Blackberry User/American Citizen: *drooling in beer*
Android User/British Citizen: “Hey, check out all the titles Queen Elizabeth has.”
BU/AC: “Hmm?”
AC/BU/Former Australian Resident: “I’m still on the Brit track—she’s the head of the Commonwealth, and every country refers to her a little differently. That’s interesting, some of them list her as ‘defender of the faith…’ Whoa, both Australia and New Zealand do, too. I didn’t know that.”
BU/AC: (mumbling) “Well I guess that makes sense. If they were under British rule they all would have been Anglican in some way or something something something…”
AU/BC: “Huh?”
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I want to be Queen. Only to have the following titles and honors bestowed upon me:
- Mother of the People (British Colombia)
- Missis Queen or The Queen Lady (Jamaica)
- Admiral Elizabeth (Nebraska)
- The White Heron (New Zealand, in Maori)
- Chief Hunter of the Order of the Buffalo Hunt (Alberta, CA)
- Grand Collar of the Order of the Aztec Eagle (Mexico)
- Grand Cross in Brilliants of the Order of the Sun (Peru)
- Colonel-in-Chief of the South African Railways and Harbours Brigade (South Africa)
- Freeman in the Worshipful Company of Drapers (UK)
- Honorary Fellow in the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (UK)
Especially that last one. Or maybe “Member First Class of the Most Esteemed Royal Family Order” in Brunei. Friends with money…
And for the record, Making the Google Homepage was not listed. But probably should be… right?
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Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_British_Empire
Android User/British Citizen: “CBE. Commander of the Order of the British Empire.”
Blackberry User/American Citizen: “I know OBE is Order of the British Empire…”
AU/BC: “Commander is one step under Knight. Interesting. OBE is the next one down, and plain Member is under that.”
BU/AC: “So could Jobs get knighted?”
AU/BC: “Nope, it says Honorary knighthoods, given to individuals who are not nationals of a realm where Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is Head of State. And there’s something about other titles in the Commonwealth. Hmm. I think I get special privileges in the Commonwealth states…”
BU/AC: “Which are…?”
AU/BC: “Anything once under the British crown, I think or maybe—”
BU/AC: “That’s a lot of countries. And a lot of special privileges.”
AU/BC: “But well-deserved ones.”
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There’s a lot of complications here, a lot of ins and outs. Rules and regulations. Pomp and circumstance. Just how the British like it.
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Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sic_transit_gloria_mundi
So it goes.
The concept bridges across time and culture. See: mujō (Japanese terms for the Buddhist concept of impermanence).
Shillelagh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shillelagh_%28club%29
Irish up your next St. Patrick’s day beat-down with a little Jameson-fueled rage stick.
Like you need another excuse to get violent, ya feckin wanker.
