Another week, another set of random observations…
1. Sod’s law dictates that your bank holiday weekend will be crap, while the following day will have glorious sunshine. We had summer. It was on Tuesday…
2. Did you know that New Zealand has baby name police? As the owner of a name where I’ve spent my life saying ‘no, that’s not how you say it’ and ‘no, that’s not how you spell it’, (Katy isn’t the full horror, and no, I’m not sharing!) I can kind of get on board with that, although perhaps if I’d been brought up in the Outer Hebrides it might not have been so bad. I should probably be grateful that I’m not one of Beverley Turner and James Cracknell’s kids either, although it might have improved my rowing career outside Scotland ;o)
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| ps, I love that the NHS uses Pearl Bracelets as their photo backdrop! |
3. Are windows a big threat to birds? It turns out that figures that have been quoted for over 20 years of 100 million to a billion deaths in the US annually were the result of a massive multiplication that actually had no basis in fact, just a back of a match book calculation based on how many windows there were in the US, and the fact that 1-10 birds would die on each one every year. The RSPB says most species of birds aren’t that stupid in general, and they don’t always die, but still, one should never let facts get in the way of a good story ;o)
4. Apparently though, assuming their owners have not splatted themselves on your windows, birdsong can encourage you to do all sorts of things, from relaxing in an airport to feeling better about having injections to opening a bank account. Personally, rather than relaxing me, I just want to wring their little necks as they tweet away outside my bedroom window at 3am in the summer months!
5. Did you know that there are people out there that try and make it impossible to google them? There’s even a band called -isq, deliberately so, as the ‘-‘ is hard to handle in search engines. The band wants people to work to find their music. I suspect that there’s not that many people that have bothered…
Linking up to our random co-ordinator…
That's like cake with no icing–not sharing the 'full horror.' How bad could it be? 🙂
Yes, come on… spill!
My parents gave me two names but called me by my second name – it's given me nothing but problems my whole life particularly when the school register was being called and now when I go for a medical appointment or anything legal-based. At least they didn't call me Croyde! What were those two thinking of was he conceived in Croydon? … just had to look it up and turns out he's named after the village of Croyde where Cracknell proposed. Another excellent week's round up Katy! 🙂
Oh you cynic you (re the band) 😉 Well as you once shared the story of your naming, I know your name and it's lovely! Your dad did well 🙂
A little testy are we today?
Hugs
You are the random queen.
I agree with S, you may just have found your USP, being random. :o)
How random!!!
As usual, a bright spot of my week. Do I really have to go through all your archives to see if the story of your naming is lurking in there somewhat? Oh, please share. I think you owe it to all of us.
hmmmm how many hours will i have in the car to get the "full horror" out of you? lol
Siobhan? Is that your name? I'm thinking of hard to spell Irish names. The rest is random at it's best.
Go on, spill 🙂
Given the examples, I'm glad NZ has baby name police. I completely agree with not burdening your child with something as embarassing as Talulah Does The Hulu From Hawaii! Did they really not like their kid?!
Sorry about your Monday. Sod's law didn't rule here 🙂
No Sod's Law here – I would love to be a Name Policewoman, No 16 Bus Shelter!!!
The man told me the NZ story a couple of days ago, too funny. Brilliantly random as ever :o)
You're middle name isn't Saoirse is it? Or Eilidh? 😉 It's GOT to be a gaelic name… I MUST know now.
France also has an approved baby name list that you have to select from. I think it's a good idea- my friend is a teacher and the kids in her name have stupid names, like Decka and Lucifer. Not exaggerating, actual examples.
I have to admit that Random Thursdays are the highlight of my dreary week.
Norway used to only accept classical or biblical names – my aunt (also Benta) was the first Benta, her parents having convinced the bishop it was from Benedicta! (and Benta is a shortened and phonetic version of what now only mother at aunt and the tax man think of as my name, I feel your pain)
If you’ve finished with Summer over there can you send it back our way please? Im not thrilled with the idea of you hiding it somewhere until November.
As someone who works with kids I have to say there are some very unusual names out there and either people who cant spell or think its cute to spell their kids names in some funky way that nobody will ever get right. My sister has a name like that. Some people should be blamed from naming their kids. Frank Zappa springs to mind !