INTERESTING: Jèrriais continued to be used as a secret language for passing messages for the rest of the war

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

The secret British language that was used to outwit the Nazis

17 July 2023
Oliver Berry Features correspondent

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Instead of taking up arms, islanders found other, subtler ways to resist. They engaged in a campaign of passive resistance, and Jèrriais became central to their efforts. With its complex vocabulary and regional variations, the language was all but impossible for outsiders – even French-speaking Germans – to follow. As such, it made the perfect secret code, and islanders increasingly used it to exchange information, make clandestine plans against their occupiers and, occasionally, even mock their them right under their noses.

“Jèrriais articles at the beginning of the occupation managed to get through resistance messages,” explained Geraint Jennings, a linguist, scholar and Jèrriais expert who works at L’Office du Jèrriais to promote the language. “Articles openly printed that it’s best to speak Jèrriais so ‘certain people’ won’t be able to understand it – IE the Germans! Of course, they soon cottoned on to that and clamped down with censorship, but Jèrriais continued to be used as a secret language for passing messages for the rest of the war.”

Ironically, despite its wartime role, the use of Jèrriais declined at an alarming rate after liberation in 1945. Like many of Britain’s minority languages, such as Manx, Gaelic, Welsh and Cornish, Jèrriais was derided as a language spoken only by the uneducated, and it had been in gradual decline since the late 19th Century – a trend that accelerated rapidly after the end of WW2.

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Fascinating stuff.  Like most of the lost languages, “We, The Sheeple” have no idea what has been lost.

Hopefully, AI and some dedicated individuals can capture and save it.

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DISCOURAGING: Pink and blue pigeons; as if balloons weren’t bad enough for the wildlife

Thursday, September 19, 2024

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1d71p2xqkgo?utm_placement=newsletter

Blue pigeon mystifies town’s residents
4 days ago   <<  2024-09Sep-06 >>
Charlotte Andrews
BBC News

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Several sightings of a blue pigeon wandering around a town’s streets have baffled residents.

The bird has been photographed by a number of people in Maidenhead, Berkshire.

Some locals insisted the bird’s unique plumage looked natural.

But wildlife experts suggested it could have been dyed for a gender-reveal party – a tradition where expectant couples learn the sex of their baby using pink or blue items.

*** and ***

Rebecca Machin, from the RSPCA’s wildlife team, warned dye could cause birds health problems, impair their ability to fly and make them more vulnerable to predators.

“Dye and paints can be toxic to birds and other animals, and they would be likely to try to clean any such substance from their coat or feathers which could result in them swallowing it,” she said.

She also said she feared social media trends could be fuelling the behaviour.

“We suspect this pigeon’s feathers have been painted – something we seem to be hearing about more and more, including – anecdotally – at events like gender reveal parties,” she said.

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Oh come on people, leave the wildlife alone.  

Balloons are bad enough for power lines, birds, and fish.  Now you have to maim some poor birds.

How about you stick to exploding blue or pink powder packs?  At least, you can only hurt yourself.

Argh!

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INTERESTING: Miss Japan? At least she’s a female

Sunday, February 4, 2024

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68078061

Ukrainian-born model winning Miss Japan re-ignites identity debate
24th January 2024, 04:25 EST
By Shaimaa Khalil, Tokyo correspondent

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Ai Wada, the organiser of the Miss Japan Grand Prix pageant told the BBC that judges had chosen Ms Shin as the winner with “full confidence”.

“She speaks and writes in beautiful and polite Japanese,” Ms Wada said. “She is more Japanese than we are.”

Ms Shiino had announced in Instagram earlier last year when she received Japanese nationality, saying that she “may not look Japanese”, but her mind had “become Japanese” because she had grown up in Japan. 

*** end quote ***

I immediately remembered: “‘Pusher’ Ross: Well, you tell ‘im. You talk better English than I do!”.

The organizer’s quote just struck me as funny.

What makes someone “Japanese”?  

Or an “American” for that matter.  I’d like to believe that it’s a desire for freedom and liberty to “be all that you can be”.  Some how that ethic has been lost on many native born Americans.  As demonstrated by those from China and India that arrive with little or nothing and within a few decades they are “prosperous”.  But those born here with the same opportunities or even more never can rise from a self-inflicted poverty.

I’m sure that the Gooferment “welfare”  — handouts that are enough to starve  — blunts any ambition.

So sad that one has to be “Japanese” to win a beauty contest in Japan but not “ambitious” to be an “American”.

Argh!  Makes me sad!

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PHILOSOPHY: Is it moral to torture intelligent animals for food?

Friday, March 24, 2023

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-64814781?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter

World’s first octopus farm proposals alarm scientists
Published << 2023-03Mar-16>>
By Claire Marshall
BBC Environment & Rural Affairs Correspondent

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A plan to build the world’s first octopus farm has raised deep concerns among scientists over the welfare of the famously intelligent creatures.

The farm in Spain’s Canary Islands would raise about a million octopuses annually for food, according to confidential documents seen by the BBC.

They have never been intensively farmed and some scientists call the proposed icy water slaughtering method “cruel.”

*** and ***

Prof. Peter Tse, a cognitive neuroscientist at Dartmouth University, told the BBC that “to kill them with ice would be a slow death … it would be very cruel and should not be allowed.”

Adding that they were “as intelligent as cats” he suggested that a more humane way would be to kill them as many fishermen do, by clubbing them over the head.

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Having seen how intelligent these animals are and how unique they are making them “food” is hard to justify.  Torturing them is just unacceptable.

Sigh!

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HEALTH: If children can spoof the Covid test, then how valuable can it be?

Thursday, December 8, 2022

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210705-how-children-are-spoofing-covid-19-tests-with-soft-drinks

How children are spoofing Covid-19 tests with soft drinks
By Mark Lorch
5th July 2021
From The Conversation

  • Some children have found a devious method to get out of school – using cola to create false positive Covid tests. How does it work?

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Is there then a way to spot a fake positive test? The antibodies (like most proteins) are capable of refolding and regaining their function when they are returned to more favourable conditions. So I tried washing a test that had been dripped with cola with buffer solution, and sure enough the immobilised antibodies at the T-line regained normal function and released the gold particles, revealing the true negative result on the test.

Children, I applaud your ingenuity, but now that I’ve found a way to uncover your trickery I suggest you use your cunning to devise a set of experiments and test my hypothesis. Then we can publish your results in a peer-reviewed journal.

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I find that a test so easy fooled MUST be considered unreliable.

Argh!

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SECURITY: BBC reporter creates fake Americans.

Thursday, November 10, 2022

https://apnews.com/article/us-elections-misinformation-social-media-BBC-americast-6749e362c3b3a5c8db7b3276a8a5bd91?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email

BBC tries to understand politics by creating fake Americans
By DAVID BAUDER — November 1, 2022

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NEW YORK (AP) — Larry, a 71-year-old retired insurance broker and Donald Trump fan from Alabama, wouldn’t be likely to run into the liberal Emma, a 25-year-old graphic designer from New York City, on social media — even if they were both real.

Each is a figment of BBC reporter Marianna Spring’s imagination. She created five fake Americans and opened social media accounts for them, part of an attempt to illustrate how disinformation spreads on sites like Facebook, Twitter and TikTok despite efforts to stop it, and how that impacts American politics.

That’s also left Spring and the BBC vulnerable to charges that the project is ethically suspect in using false information to uncover false information.

“We’re doing it with very good intentions because it’s important to understand what is going on,” Spring said. In the world of disinformation, “the U.S. is the key battleground,” she said.

*** end quote ***

This is easily prevented by requiring a credit card and charging for access.  Elon’s 8$/month will do more to eliminate, or down grade bots, than can be imagined.

The fee would eliminate fakes PDQ.  Surprising that no one mentions it in the article.

Of course, there’s no way to comment on the site, because they are just interested in attracting eyeballs.

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