Friday, December 30, 2022

Spoiler Alert answers to Proverb Quiz 8

Proverbs 8


1) In the poem who was "put in a pot and boiled 'til he was done"?

a) Prince Andrew b) Boris Johnson c) Don't Care


2) What is the mother of invention?

a) Money b) necessity c) genius


3) If something is rare it is once in a

a) blue moon b) while c) week


4) Where might a bolt come from?

a) the shed door b) a rifle c) the blue


5) Cockneys are said to be born within the sound of

a) Eastenders b) Coronation Street c) bow bells


6) What might you bring home?

a) the TV licence b) the bacon c) the whole hog


7) If it ain't broke

a) get another one b) don't fix it c) look after it


8) President Harry S. Truman had a sign over his desk saying who or what stops here?

a) my secretary b) the president c) the buck


9) What might you find in the ointment?

a) vanilla b) lavender c) a fly


10) What cannot stand?

a) my aunt fanny b) a drunken man c) a house divided against itself


11) What might you find in sheep's clothing?

a) ticks b) a lamb c) a wolf


12) What should you do unto others?

a) as little as possible b) as you would have them do unto you c) before they do unto you?


13) There is no WHAT for the wicked?

a) rest b) money c) forgiveness


14) What should you not put before the horse?

a) the cart b) the nosebag c) the manger


15) What should you beware?

a) the first of March b) the ides of March c) the thirty first of March.


(15th of March - traditional day for settling debts or assassinating Caesar)


16) What is the food of love?

a) peanut butter b) music c) chocolate


17) You are innocent until

a) proven guilty b) arrested c) you can afford a lawyer


18) When is a hare proverbially mad?

a) February b) March c) April


19) What should you do while the sun shines?

a) make hay b) sunbathe c) go on holiday.


20 Where will you find big ears?

a) little pitchers b) Noddy c) big heads

 


 



Proverb quiz 8

The good news is that all my quizzes are going to be published this year in "The Evil Quizmaster"
Amazon are funny (in fact they are hilarious) about anything in a book being published on a blog so I have removed any quizzes which will be in the upcoming book from this blog. The one which remains will not be in the book.
The Evil Quizmaster
 

 

Friday, December 09, 2022

A Deadly Web

This latest book from Jeanne M Dams is excellent. It is hardly a spoiler to say there is a murder and it is solved by Dorothy Martin with the aid of Alan and his police contacts.

It is the everyday human interaction of Dorothy Martin with her family and friends which brings this book to life. The characters are more realistic. Many famous detectives are brilliant at solving crimes but they don't seem to eat, drink or sleep and certainly do not have mischievous pets.

The imaginary city of Sherebury is remarkably like Arundel -  a village which has a Cathedral at its midst. Everything in Arundel is within walking distance and I can just imagine Alan and Dorothy in Arundel Cathedral.

The unfolding of the "whodunnit" is very satisfactory and the local colour adds to the story. Jeanne M Dams is an American and perhaps an honorary Brit because her stories are set in the UK for the most part.

Read it and enjoy it.


A lesson from History

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes. The Tories are planning new anti-union laws and union-bashing rhetoric. They have forgotten their own history.

The Heath government recklessly imprisoned five dockers in 1972. It sparked a strike wave of unprecedented proportions and the government had to produce the "official solicitor" like a rabbit out of a hat to say the five dockers (Con Clancy, Tony Merrick, Bernie Steer, Vic Turner, and Derek Watkins) had apparently purged their contempt so they were released and there was no need for a general strike.

The pressure from rank-and-file trade unionists spurred the TUC into action against the wishes of the right-wingers in the leadership.

The Tories looked ridiculous and the working-class movement was triumphant.




Thursday, December 01, 2022

Bookworm words


Bookworm words

These are some of the more unusual words which can be used in the online game Bookworm. It is a game which I thoroughly recommend to your pupils



Why not set it for homework? They will love it.

 



DELF

Alt spelling of “Delft” referring to pottery

DIS

Could be slang for “disrespect” (alt diss) or the capital of Hell

DOPY

Alt spelling of “dopey”

DORY

A flat-bottomed boat

DUP

to open” and not the abbreviation for the Democratic Unionist Party

DURE

Hard or severe

FANE

A temple

FRIZ

Alt spelling of “Frizz” meaning to make hair into short curls

GEES

Third person present tense of to gee – as in gee up a horse

GOY

Anyone who is not Jewish

GREE

Mastery or victory

HAED

Had (Scots)

HIN

Ancient hebrew measure of liquid

JIN

Alt spelling of “Jinn” - a mythological spirit which may be good or evil

MARRER

Alt spelling of “marrow” meaning a mate or friend

NADIR

Lowest point

PATE

Head Рalthough Google thought I meant P̢t̩

PITA

Alt spelling of Pitta as in Pitta bread

QUIRED

Alt spelling of “quire” meaning 24 sheets of paper

TASS

A cup (Scots) cf tasse (French)

TIDED

Past tense of verb “to tide” meaning to move with the tide

TIPPY

Liable to tip over but a word I hadn’t heard before

TITI

A South American monkey

TOTER

One who carries something, e.g. a gun-toting cowboy.

TOYER

One who toys with something

TREED

Planted with trees or indeed driven up a tree by a hunting pack

TRET

An allowance for waste

VIS

Power cf Latin “vires”

YELD

A sterile animal

ZOA

Individuals from a single egg

ZOON

Singular of zoa




Also

torse

Heraldic wreath

bine

a long, flexible stem of a climbing plant, especially the hop.

eft

newt

nelly

a silly person (informal)

voe

a small bay or creek in Orkney or Shetland.

quean

cheeky girl

quoin

an external angle of a wall or building.

cavil

make petty or unnecessary objections.

gan

a dialect of Chinese spoken by about 20 million people, mainly in Jiangxi province. (you'd think that would make it a proper noun but Bookworm accepts it)

foy

to assist a ship in distress

gie

a Scottish word for give

ret

soak with water

rax

to extend

ria

a long, narrow inlet formed by the partial submergence of a river valley.

yow

used to express excitement, joy, or surprise

bren

a lightweight quick-firing machine gun used by the Allied forces in the Second World War. (you'd think that would make it a proper noun but Bookworm accepts it)

kab

an ancient Hebrew measure equal to about two quarts.

purl

(knitting) an inverted stitch producing ribbing etc

vagi

cranial nerves

glim

candle

joe

an ordinary man “average joe” (or a cup of coffee)

loof

palm of the hand

ite

dto make ready

pinta

chronic skin disease

illy

badly

cade

lumpy or rotund

clag

sticky mud or dirt

ree

Wild; fierce; outrageous

mome

A dull or stupid person.

sau

a skewer made of losilosi wood

wale

a horizontal wooden strip fitted as strengthening to a boat's side.

pinas

Pina = a cone of silver amalgam prepared for retorting (pinas being the plural)

fiar

The price of grain in the counties of Scotland,

sura

a chapter or section of the Koran (scholars say each one can be taken seven different ways!)

soli

did you know there was a plural of solo?

oxo

the game of noughts and crosses (and those beef cubes as well!)

cuke

cucumber (informal)

kata

martial arts practice

maar

a broad, low-relief volcanic crater

macer

an official who keeps order in a law court

quate

archaic term for fortune or destiny

uta

noun. any of several iguanid lizards

lunk

a slow-witted person

puggy

having a face that resembles that of a pug dog

menad

a frenzied woman (alt spelling maenad)

pung

low box sleigh

geest

a type of landform, slightly raised above the surrounding countryside

Dexy

a tablet of Dexedrine









Spoiler Alert - answers to Proverbs 6

The good news is that all my quizzes are going to be published this year in "The Evil Quizmaster"
Amazon are funny (in fact they are hilarious) about anything in a book being published on a blog so I have removed any quizzes which will be in the upcoming book from this blog. The one which remains will not be in the book.
The Evil Quizmaster
 

 

Proverbs Quiz - just for fun

The good news is that all my quizzes are going to be published this year in "The Evil Quizmaster"
Amazon are funny (in fact they are hilarious) about anything in a book being published on a blog so I have removed any quizzes which will be in the upcoming book from this blog. The one which remains will not be in the book.
The Evil Quizmaster
 

 

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

TES downloads


Resources on the Times Education Supplement website. Free to download

Friday, November 25, 2022

233 sales for Brevity series


Ebay report 233 sales for the Brevity series.
All the feedback has been positive.
Woohoo!

Saturday, November 19, 2022

Tom Lehrer

Tom Lehrer claimed he was a victim of "nominal determinism". Lehrer means "teacher" and for many years he was a teacher of 'applications of mathematics to the social sciences" and other topics.

 
However, he had another talent, in the 1960s and 1970s he produced a number of quirky or satirical songs. Initially, he self-published but gradually won a mass audience.

His songs are a crash course in irony. This was underscored by his use of "Gilbertian" rhymes. In other words, he tortured words in order to make them fit the song whether they liked it or not.

Tom Lehrer was a white liberal rather than a Socialist but Socialists will enjoy many of his songs.

An example is his hymn to "universal bereavement".

"When you attend a funeral
It is sad to think that sooner or l-
ater those you love will do the same for you.

And you may have thought it tragic
Not to mention other adjec-
tives to think of all the weeping they will do

But don't you worry,
No more ashes
No more sackcloth
And an armband made of black cloth
will someday never more adorn a sleeve

For if the bomb that drops on you
Gets your friends and neighbours too,
There'll be nobody left behind to grieve

And we will all go together when we go
All suffused with an incandescent glow
Universal bereavement
An inspiring achievement
Yes, we all will go together when we go.

He followed this up with "So long mom, I'm off to drop the bomb" and a song about Werner Von Braun, the Nazi employed by American imperialism to develop nuclear missiles. 

Another song is about America's number one instrument of diplomacy


When someone makes a move
Of which we don't approve
Who is it who always intervenes?
UN and OAS
They have their place I guess
But first
Send the Marines
For might makes right
Until they've seen the light
They've got to be protected
All their rights respected
Till somebody we like can be elected!


His song about vivisection, based on a true story, "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" was released as a popular single in the UK and the flip side was a parody of the passionate or fiery variety of  love song "The Masochism Tango".

He never claimed that his songs would change minds about the bomb or cruelty to animals but they bolstered the beliefs of those who were already opposed. 

And they were great fun, albeit the humour was rather dark as I have attempted to show. 




Spoiler Alert, answers to the old money quiz

What follows is the answers to the old money quiz.

These are my answers anyway.

They might all be wrong!

 

 

1) Sun moon and a star are three far things = 3/4d

2) A gorilla's leg joint would be an ape knee 1/2d

3) Penny 1d

4) A penny farthing 1 1/4 d

5) A baby kangaroo and a three penny bit were both called a Joey 3d

6) The largest Maundy coin is a fourpenny bit 4d

7) Dutch money is a Euro now but used to be a florin 2/-

8) Bob 1/-

9 A tanner 6d

10) A tiara could be a crown but Glenda suggested half a crown 2/6

11) A dollar was 5 shillings 5/-

12) A snow leopard is called an ounce (it just is) so eight would be half a pound 10/-

13) Guinea £1 1s

14) Oh dear this is the worst. Sick squid £6

15) Tenor £10 




Old money quiz

I was given this at Quiz Club today. I do not know all the answers yet. However they are all amounts of old money: pounds, shillings and pence and of course farthings.


1) Sun, moon and a star.

2) A gorilla's leg joint

3) A girl's name.

4) A bicycle

5) A baby kangaroo

6) The largest Maundy coin

7) Dutch money

8) A boy's name

9) A leather worker

10) A tiara

11) A dollar

12) Eight snow leopards

13) A pig

14) A poorly sea creature

15) Male singer



Saturday, November 12, 2022

Fiction Books

 Total fiction books = 12

The latest is the audiobook "Brev"


 

 
The most recent Durrington Detective Agency book is Darkness in Durrington

The best thing about this series is that people who buy one, tend to buy them all.



My fiction books are as follows:

The Mirror of Eternity Series

The Mirror of Eternity

Salt Wars 

The Miranda Revolution

Defending the Sangreal

Domain of Dreams

https://www.amazon.com/Derek-McMillan/e/B009FUXHWY

Space Dog Alfred Series

Space Dog Alfred

Planet of the Dogs

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0180Q6CJI

Durrington Detective Agency series

Durrington Detective Agency

Death in Durrington

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071CKT1ZZ


And a collection of short stories

Pot Pourri


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077WCH2PQ

Proverb Quiz

The good news is that all my quizzes are going to be published this year in "The Evil Quizmaster"
Amazon are funny (in fact they are hilarious) about anything in a book being published on a blog so I have removed any quizzes which will be in the upcoming book from this blog. The one which remains will not be in the book.
The Evil Quizmaster
 

 

Monday, November 07, 2022

Word Quiz

The good news is that all my quizzes are going to be published this year in "The Evil Quizmaster"
Amazon are funny (in fact they are hilarious) about anything in a book being published on a blog so I have removed any quizzes which will be in the upcoming book from this blog. The one which remains will not be in the book.
The Evil Quizmaster
 

 

Thursday, October 20, 2022

Ingenu/e

Ingenu/e magazine published this and even sent me a free copy. Ingenu/e is sympathetic to #worthingflash and the magazine is a great place to publish flash fiction in print.

Proverbs



Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Malala - Muslims against the Taliban

The first and main victims of the Taliban were Muslims. This is the story of the muslims who fought back against them told through the words of Malala Yousafzai.

Thousands of girls of Malala's age are rebelling against the dictatorship in Iran as I write this,  The slanders against the rebels - that they are in the pay of America - are exactly the same as the slanders against Malala.

The facts belie the propaganda. Malala's story focuses on education. Her father's dream was to run a school and he made personal sacrifices to do so. When the Pakistan branch of the Taliban started burning down schools and threatening his school, he spoke out against it and Malala supported him.

The Taliban seek to keep women and girls subservient and it is for that reason that they oppose education for any female citizens. This is based on what Malala sees as a false interpretation of religion. Certainly it is more about social control than religious dogma.

Malala's enthusiasm for education is boundless. Not all students feel the same. Not all students have armed thugs trying to prevent them being educated.

The reactionary views of the Taliban thrive on poverty and ignorance and every voice raised against them gives hope for a future where girls have rights and poverty is a thing of the past.

 


Wednesday, September 28, 2022

See How They Run

Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan are the stars of this film.

In the role of Constable Stalker, Saoirse Ronan produces innumerable red herrings which move the plot forward. The murder victim is hit in the face with a pair of skis from the performance of "The Mousetrap" and as she says it is "all downhill from there".

I will not give any spoilers about Sam Rockwell.

Although it is a comedy, it does reference some of the serious issues of the time in which it is set.

It is set in a period of history when female officers had a struggle against the institutional sexism of the met. A struggle which is not over today. 

Her very name suggests the Stalker Inquiry which was an investigation into the shootings of suspected members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1983.

Overall it is a very satisfying "whodunnit" in the Agatha Christie tradition and a very good comedy to boot.

 

 

Saturday, September 24, 2022

Though Cowards Flinch and Traitors Sneer

Keir Starmer wants the Labour Conference to sing "God Save the King". It will be drowned out by the sound of Keir Hardie turning in his grave! 


 

Thursday, September 15, 2022

Fiction

Once upon a time, the People's Friend described itself as a magazine for women. Now it has gone unisex.

It has rules for fiction contributions which are here

  • In brief save your story as a Word document. (You do not need to spend a fortune on "word" because Open Office can save in Word format and Open Office is free.
  •  Put the number of words in the title. 
  • Use the title as the header for your email.
  • email to friendfiction@dctmedia.co.uk

They also recommend reading their magazine but they would say that wouldn't they.


101words.org accept stories of, you guessed it, 101 words. They are never closed for submissions.

And of course never forget #worthingflash




Saturday, August 13, 2022

Brevity 3

There are stories about the Twittens of Durrington, a surly shop assistant, a teacher who gets in a bit of a pickle, robbers, horoscopes, the future, a project to help the homeless, ghosts and a clairvoyant trickster. There is also a longer story which is a revised version of "The Mirror of Eternity" which deals with time travel.

 


 

Sunday, August 07, 2022

Fat cats and hosepipe bans

The water companies have had decades to prepare for the drought. In fact the money which could have created the infrastructure to cope with the demand has been siphoned off to shareholders in record profits. In all over 60 billion pounds have been paid to shareholders since 1991.

Hosepipe bans are a stupid knee-jerk response to the crisis which the water companies caused. They are blaming and punishing the victims. Consumers do not waste water on the same scale as water companies. Imagine our hosepipes wasting 3,000 million litres of water! Leakages peaked five years after the privatisation of the water companies.

If you are finding it difficult to water the garden, you probably have a fat cat sitting on the hosepipe!


 

Thursday, July 21, 2022

Letter to My MP


Dear Sir Peter Bottomley,

I am aware that in China, the population either votes Communist or else.

Would you like to explain the present prime ministerial election in which only paid-up Conservatives are allowed to vote? Is this the shape of things to come? Can you possibly defend this?

Yours sincerely,

Derek McMillan

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Kevin Courtney at the Retired Member's conference

These are my notes from the conference.

The importance the union attaches to retired members is shown by the fact Kevin came to address the conference.

NEU Priority Campaigns for 2022


Cost of Living


The costs of living crisis  is bearing down on those least able to cope. Relative poverty is a disgrace but we are getting stories of hungry children. It is also bearing down on support staff colleagues and pensioners.

Nobody is saying 8% is too ambitious for the pay claim now.

There will be a ballot over strike action in October.

Co-ordination of NEU with the unions for support staff will be important in any proposed strike action.

Right now there  has to be a political pressure on the government for a windfall tax on the rich to help those most affected by cost of living.

We are mobilising for the TUC demonstration on 18 June.

We are not used to organising, we have got out of the habit. We are getting back into it!



Workload

This job used to be different.

Teachers and support staff have to fight against a bureaucracy which does not trust them. The joy in teaching is something teachers have to fight for.

Recruitment is at an all-time low.

Other jobs can work from home. The government will have to pay for this lack of flexibility in teaching.

We are seeking to motivate action at school level. There have been successes in having work/life balance policies in individual schools and academy trusts .


The disgrace of the Schools Bill being put to parliament.

It should be dealing with all the problems -

mental health problems post lockdown

recruitment and retention

Schools being turned into exam factories


The central issue in the Bill is structural. They want more Academies. At the present rate it would take forty years to academise every school.


The government data is flawed. The national statistical authority has taken this on board and expressed concern to the government.


There is no evidence that multi academy trusts improve school performance.

One reason schools oppose joining is that they cannot leave.


We can put grit in the wheels.


Legal challenges and strike action have both been effective.

A letter is going out to schools to promote this.

 

Kevin is the one on the right.