Shame Townsend and Scott Singer

541 THC 07
Shame Townsend and Scott Singer
Fortnight ending 18th September 2009

Five for One – You read, at most, five, then you send me one reply.
All replies to 541THC@gmail.com or my facebook profile.
One-Line reply – Qualify, No reply - don’t fly.
THC – The Handkerchief Challenge – 52 flag hankys needed to complete it.
See www.thehandkerchiefchallenge.blogspot.com/ for details on the rules, under the post “The Challenge”

Major apologies, the Project Mayhem has been taking up a lotta time. Ahh, Bow-lecks! It’s the ridiculous house selling/buying game that we find ourselves in. My not wanting to jinx things by not mentioning it here in the 541 didn’t seem to work – we got gazumped! Can you believe that in this day and age? It happened.

We invested a lotta heart/thought/time into one place, the owners of which accepted our offer. We thought we had it, but NO! They had a higher offer and instead of coming back to us decided to go and accept that one. Harris!

Anyhoo, it appears I have a new nemesis – more on that in a moment.

Hey, do you have hundreds of messages in your facebook inbox? I don’t but I’ve been noticing a lotta people with high numbers next to their inbox when checking out facebook. This blows me away. I kinda thought with the lack of spam on the site that people would read their mail on a more regular basis. Saying that, I have about 80 group invitations and other requests.

So I’m round Stubb’s and a young Mr Shane Townsend was there. He doesn’t check his facebook inbox that much. So, even though the rest of us are up to date with the 541 THC, he hasn’t got a clue what it is all about!

(I know! I couldn’t believe it either! Everyone reads this don’t they? Oh wait, very few replies so far…inboxes with large numbers next to them. I’m not getting through to many am I? If you have read this I need a reply today (one line is cool) – you may not even be alive. I may not be alive! Hey yeah, that reminds me, I heard an interesting thought the other day – how can you prove to anyone you are alive and sentient? Oh, wait I can’t remember the fundamentals of this thought project. It intrigued me at the time but now I’m at a loss…ABORT! )

I tell Shane the whole concept (“I’m collecting 52 flag handkerchiefs and I’ve already got one!”) he seems kinda impressed so I use Stubb’s PC and show him www.thehandkerchiefchallenge.blogspot.com/
You know what he said?
“That’s not a Canadian flag”

Urinate on my bonfire why don’t you!

How dare he?


It hadn’t even arrived yet.



Gah! He’s right isn’t he? It isn’t a flag.

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So what! A pack of cards contains 52 as well as a coupla jokers. This one is a Joker and what a beautiful Joker it is! It arrived yesterday (17Sep) and I’ve been saving it. Even the envelope just shines with beautifulness. The Mack Daddy, White Horse Brewery – smile inducing! Oh it gives me a tingle down my spine just looking at it.
The Bergens were the first and NO-ONE, not even Shane Townsend can take that away from us can he?

He ain’t gonna read this so I can say what I like about him – Regardez - Anyone know he’s got a campervan? Have you seen it? It’s amazing!

Wait, I’ve fallen at the first hurdle there. How do I dis the guy? Oh yeah, he had a go on Spoon’s BMX (currently at Stubb’s) and tried some flatland tricks – he was remarkably good!

Gah! Someone think of a dis for him please, oh wait, I’ve got it – He has never replied to a 541! Exactly! Can there be anything more shameful?
Shame Townsend, Shame on you!

As well as having Project Mayhem going on, orders at the brewery have ramped up somewhat. We are currently brewing nine-times a week. Two double brews and five singles, yes that means weekend brewing. Kinda sucking up time at the moment – hence this 541 is a round-up of two weeks.

Hey, we have to congratulate one of our own – the New York Times best selling Author Scott Sigler won a Parsec Award! About time too, I’m sure you’ll all agree.
Woulda been nice if they had spelled his name right though – Scott Singer indeed.

Oh, his book The Rookie arrived this week – with the following handwritten note:
“Mack from the defunct 541
play hard and leave it
all on the pitch”

Defunct? Scott, do you have triple figures in the brackets next to inbox on facebook or did you write that before the 541 THC kicked in?

Who cares, the book is awesome! It is something to (be)hold. The story is amazing too – American Football, gangsters, set in the future – in space, with alien races. That’s what we all want isn’t it? The podcasted form is what turned me on to the fella in the first place. Snap up a copy in hardback at www.scottsigler.com/therookie or put his name into itunes and try before you buy. You can listen to the book on your ipod (or PC/MAC/mp3 player of choice).

Congrats to Lisa Jean. Stoked for you and Gord.

Is it just me or do you have to have your sandwich the right way up to eat it? I can’t figure it out logically, it all gets mashed up into the same pulp before it goes down your gullet so why does it matter? If I have a baguette I have to eat it with the small nobbly bits on the bottom. Conversely if I eat a burger I have to have the knobbly bits (Sesame seeds) on the top. Am I normal? Are you the same?

Somewhere in the last two weeks I had to be the only White Horse Brewery representative for a Meet The Brewer at The William Morris pub in Cowley, Oxford. It was a pretty good gathering and I had many questions from the assembled crowd (hey, if three’s a crowd, this was more than three (12) so that counts doesn’t it?). I mainly just rambled on about brewing, our brewery, and sent around samples of malted barley “Please eat if you like” and hops “I’d only smell these, if I were you”

I did have one guy take me to task over our spelling of Wayland’s Smithy (an ancient burial mound near our brewery but also the name of one of our beers). We have spelled it wrong in the past (Wayland Smithy) but to be honest the two are interchangeable, aren’t they?

Just googled Wayland Smithy and found this:
http://www.wccsg.com/LatestCircles/May2009/WaylandSmithy/tabid/872/language/en-GB/Default.aspx
I think that jellyfish was on its way to our place for a large tank of Wayland’s Smithy.

By doing the Meet the Brewer I missed a lecture I had been invited to at the Oxford University Physics entitled “Can Beer be made in Space?”. I did get there after it had finished and chatted to the guy who did the lecture, a very interesting Aussie/former brewer.

(that sounds like I’m implying Australians and former brewers aren’t ordinarily interesting, take my friend Bill, he’s Australian and swears with such panache it is a credit to the English language)

So apparently nearly all the chemicals found in beer can be found in space (if spread out a little). Ethanol can be found in space! Something to bear in mind if you are heading out there.

All this led to me to carrying out the latest delivery I have ever made. I rocked up at the Bird in Hand pub at Henley-on-Thames at 10.10pm. Graham, the nicest landlord you could ever meet, was quite gracious and, would you believe it, grateful? He had a beer festival that weekend and reasoned the extra 13 hours would be good for the beer to settle. Oh yeah, I would like to state for the record, I did ring him before-hand to let him know I was going to be late.

Julianna, pointing to the ripened tomatoes in the garden:
“Too matey’s ready”

Julianna talking about Eeyore: “He was in a sad conition”

And finally, after eating a slightly under-ripe blueberry in the garden:
“It made my mouth pecker”
(pucker)

Props (To all who reply)

Bill may swear sometimes but there isn’t even a hint of it here:
“A typewriter is indeed a most evocative sound: it's reminiscent of newsrooms I've only seen in films, sagacious authors such as Dirk Bogarde, replete with cigarette ash on the keyboard (I'm told smoking was allowed in a bygone era), careful correspondents from an era when handwritten applications were preferred, the days when clerks had to be productive and, yes, I dimly remember them as an observer I hastily add. Not that I'd mind being considered a clerk, it's just that I can't imagine anyone would believe it if they thought it was I who was productive.”

Mark Thomas:
“The kids doing back flips off swings blows me away, a generation of Le Parkour is just around the corner, scaring old people.”
True, true

Andrew Bruce asks:
“what is the definition of a handkerchief as opposed to a bandana and what are the size requirment, as I'm guessing flag bandana would be easier to come by?”

David Oakwood answers:
“The origin of the word‘handkerchief’ is straightforward when you divide it into its two parts,‘hand’ and‘kerchief,’ both of which, of course, are distinct words themselves.

‘Kerchief’ descends from the Middle English word‘courchef,’ which in turn comes from the Old French word‘cuevrechief.’ Broken down further,‘cuevrechief’ is from the Old French‘covrir,’ meaning‘to cover,’ plus the Old French‘chief,’ which means ‘head.’

Originally‘kerchief’ meant exactly what you would expect,‘a covering for the head,’ and that is still its primary meaning today, referring specifically to the often decorative squares of cloth worn by women throughout the world as head coverings.

The kerchief has proved to be a versatile article of clothing over the years. As any former Cub Scout or Boy Scout can tell you, a kerchief can be worn around the neck, in which use it is sometimes known specifically as a‘neckerchief.’ Likewise, to differentiate between the square of cloth worn on the head and the square of cloth held in the hand for such tasks as face-wiping and nose-blowing, ‘hand’ was long ago simply added to‘kerchief’ to form ‘handkerchief,’ a word that was first recorded in the 16th century.

So there you go. Origins of your beloved handkerchiefs. But what i want to know is when or why women began taking them off there heads to blow there snotty noses on? Seems to me more of a male trait. But i also think this helps you in your quest for national flag hankies.... as surely neckerchiefs are the same thing (and so therefore are bandanaa... it is just that they have slightly different names incase anyone should accidentally blow snot into their head/neck gear. But iut is your call as to whether you will accept bandanas etc. your rules.”

No No, it’s OUR rules. We rule! I’m still trying to clarify this bandana/handkerchief debacle, need more of a consensus – more replies on this subject please.

Oh and wish the Oakstar luck on his forthcoming Spoken Word Competition in October.


52 to go,

Have a great week

The Mack Daddy

NB – Some of this was written on the 17Sep the rest was finished on 23Sep (Julianna’s three today – happy birthday my beautiful daughter)