AdamSmith

Happy New Year.

Excellent! Although one can't but wonder just how different the real faces might be from those pictured on the booths. Not that it matters.

Moments before he goes on-air to resign as President of the United States, Richard Nixon is calm and collected, joking with staff as they set up the pool feed. Not a parody -- the real thing, from sound check etc. through the actual resignation speech.

Want this.

Welsh village ditches plan to change name to Y FartegVarteg in Torfaen considered changing name as there is no letter V in Welsh, but locals feared they would be butt of jokes Press Association The Guardian, Tuesday 31 December 2013 11.16 EST Councillors have ditched plans to change the spelling of a Welsh village's name so that it would have sounded like "err fart egg". A consultation was held over proposals to change name of Varteg in Torfaen to Y Farteg because there is no letter V in the Welsh language, but it faced opposition from locals who feared it would make them the butt of jokes. Richard Clark, a Torfaen councillor, reportedly said the authority had listened to residents' views and decided to stick with the current spelling. He told BBC Wales: "While we in Wales understand the pronunciation, outsiders will say it 'Err fart egg' and that will bring the area into disrepute and the residents with it. The overwhelming response was against and I have listened to that." Mr Clark, who is Torfaen's cabinet member for health, social care, wellbeing and equalities, said he had put the matter out to consultation after residents raised concerns. Many road signs in Wales show placenames in both Welsh and English: for example, Cardiff and Caerdydd. However, some Welsh-sounding places have had their names anglicised; some have reverted to their more traditional spelling. That move has been supported by some Welsh speakers - including tThe Welsh language commissioner's guidelines for standardising placenames says that if the difference between the Welsh and English forms is only one or two letters then a single form should be used, with preference given to the Welsh form. Giles Davies, a councillor whose Abersychan ward includes Varteg, said the decision to drop the name change was the right one. "Common sense has prevailed. And I'm chuffed to bits," he said. http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/31/welsh-village-name-y-farteg

He was saying all this in a talk at TED. So what did you expect?

Pretty good reconsideration of the TED phenomenon: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/30/we-need-to-talk-about-ted

Literally!

Scientists tell their favorite jokes http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/29/scientists-favourite-jokes

http://thebarkpost.com/dog-butt-sniffers/

Mind your kinfolk, MsGuy! Fart Joke Leads to Bomb Scare as 11 Agencies Swoop Down on Mississippi School http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099883/Fart-joke-leads-bomb-scare-11-agencies-swoop-Mississippi-school.html