History is littered with famous last words. Here are a few:
Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.
Oscar Wilde, writer, November 30, 1900
Go on, get out. Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough!
Karl Marx, revolutionary socialist, March 14, 1883
Damn it . . . Don’t you dare ask God to help me.
To her housekeeper, who had begun to pray aloud.
Joan Crawford, actress, d. May 10, 1977
I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis.
Humphrey Bogart, actor, January 14, 1957
Waiting are they? Waiting are they? Well–let ’em wait.
In response to an attending doctor who attempted to comfort him by saying, ‘General, I fear the angels are waiting for you.’
Ethan Allen, American Revolutionary general, 1789
Yep, stretch then pop and luckily saved by Mum, before the crush
To recap on the thought experiment of ‘What happens when you enter a black hole, click here to view a prior post
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s…
And at present this is the last Andy cartoon (for now), so here’s an extra special surprise fact about the man I bet you didn’t know.
From the 1950s through to the 70s Andy created mini time capsule boxes which he kept by his desk and filled with bits and bobs which took his fancy. He managed to assemble over 600 boxes! When full, he would tape it closed, number it and put it in storage. Check out the website Time capsule 21 which has electronically assembled the contents of one of these boxes.
Well, I’m a bit surprised and bit not – ‘Selfie’ originates from Australia!
According to the Oxford dictionary, which has now put its definition onto their online website (“A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to social media website”), the first documented version of a selfie appeared in an online ABC forum.
A drunk (must be Australian clue #1) wrote
“Um, drunk at a mates 21st, I tripped ofer [sic] and landed lip first (with front teeth coming a very close second) on a set of steps. I had a hole about 1cm long right through my bottom lip. And sorry about the focus, it was a selfie.”
The fact that it ends in ‘ie’ rather than ‘y’ is a second clue lending towards an Australian origin. Apparently we like to end words in ‘ie’ to make things more endearing and in this case, turning a possible narcassitic action into something cute and fun.
And final supporting argument, even our former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd helped to promote the expression, by sharing selfie pictures of himself while shmoozing the public.
