Click Random

You can’t see it, but it’s wearing a pink tutu. ( Source ) Hang on, give me a minute to crack out my best David Attenborough impression. Here we see the Small-toothed Palm Civet in its natural habitat, the trees.  Like many other Palm Civets, the Civet of the small-toothed variety is nocturnal, they like their own company being a solitary creature, and they are arboreal, meaning that they spend almost all their time in trees and bloody difficult to observe. Damn hippies. The Small-toothed Palm Civet is monotypic, so there is only one type or species of this animal. Wrong, Wrong, Wrong! Wikipedia, get your facts right!  This article must have been written in the 1950s. Studies of their calls and molecular distribution dating back to 1989 and up to present day have considered that there are multiple species of Small-toothed Palm Civet found in Indochina and Southeast Asia. This small-toothed mammal is an omnivore. Despite its small nibbly teeth, ...

Josephine’s reaction to reading this blog. The self-deprecation continues. ( Michael Chow-USA Today Sports ) Ask anyone that knows me, they will tell you that I am the biggest football fan you will ever meet, so this one will be fun. Strikes, spares (another word for a substitute), turkeys (another word for the over-payed players), I know it all. Josephine Chukwunonye  — why does Wikipedia love giving me these complicated names? — is a Nigerian football player in the defender position. But before she became an international athlete, she was selling bananas on the busy market streets of Lagos, Nigeria. Her mother, the owner of the fruit stand and with whom Josephine lived with in a one-room shack along with six others, would allow Josephine to keep ten cents of every dollar she earned to buy her football boots. “It’s so loud you hear nothing. It smells bad — it smells like everything.” Not sure if Josephine is talking about the marketplace or the women’s locker room ...

Take her wrap, fellas. Let me set the scene for you. It’s 1926, and you’re in a speakeasy. You’re dying for a cold one, but a bit jittery that the cops could arrive any second.  Smoke from petite cigarettes and burly cigars clouds the room. You can hardly see to appreciate the stylish raccoon coats and sequined dresses. The most visible is the sheen of a polished grand piano and a set of four beaming lights projecting onto a worn, but looked after, mustard coloured velvet curtains — yes mustard, not red, what’s it to you?. You’re waiting for your drink when a croaky New York accent projects “ladies and gentlemen, George Gershwin , with That Certain Feeling”. You think, “surely not, George Gershwin is a hitmaker for Broadway. I mean, this song is from Tip-Toes the musical, the bigwigs were annoyed , but I really wanted to see it!”  You’re certain it’s not Gershwin, but you go along with it anyway because you’re a massive fangirl for jazz. The...

I ran, I ran so far away Two citizens of Qodrat Kandi. Welp, it’s back to Geography today — I might have to start vetoing articles, but I fear that in doing so I will begin to question the integrity of Click Random and my own morality. So far, the village of Qodrat Kandi  in Iran has the smallest population of any location I have written about with 164 citizens in 39 families as of 2006, and this probably includes their goats. Qodrat Kandi is found within the province of West Azerbaijan. Yes, Azerbaijan is a different country, but Iran don’t care. They’re probably hoping that this will allow them to compete in Eurovision, just like neighbours. The most recent population data I could find for Qodrat Kandi is that, as of 2016, there are 1,129,000 living in rural areas like Qodrat Kandi in West Azerbaijan. When attempting to research Qodrat Kandi, most of the talk was about the weather, so us Brits might appreciate that, or anyone that is trapped in awkward...

In Russia, we wash paintbrushes with vodka, not water like puny Americans. Wouldn’t be Russian without a strong tache. With a name like Pyotr Pertsov , it’s not surprising that this guy is Russian. Pertsov was a poet, a publisher , a literary and art critic . A person of the arts. So if you’re not into poetry, you’ve come to the wrong place. Well, actually, don’t worry too much, I couldn’t find any of his poems. I did look for them, promise. I might have found them if there was a standard way of writing his name! Petr? Pyotr? Piotr? Pete? What is it?!? Pertsov’s probably rolling in his grave as I write this post. Pertsov began his literary career by publishing his poems for Nedelya (“Week”) and Novosti (“News”). Then he contributed to magazines linked with political, social, and artistic movements including Russian Symbolism , which were influenced by irrationalism and mysticism — think God and ghouls. Spooky. It was spurred by a movement away from the aristocracy...

Royston Head . Were you expecting more? G’day. It’s another location, location, location today. I’m starting to notice a pattern here. Geography is Wikipedia’s wet dream. Royston Head is a headland (i.e. a coastal landform sticking out into the sea, often with a steep drop) found in South Australia. The headland is connected to Royston Island by a drying reef. The headland is said to be named by English navigator Matthew Flinders . Rather than taking the glory for himself, he named the headland after Lord Royston who died at sea at the age of 24 in 1808. Lord Royston even has a memoir written of his short life. Although, it might not be worth the read, as The Spectator describes Lord Royston’s life as uneventful , yet the book was pleasingly written. The headland is home to White-bellied Sea Eagles , Ospreys , and Sooty Oystercatchers , all of which are either considered rare or vulnerable in South Australia, and all of which probably sound funnier when pronounc...

She was promised Frank Sinatra, but she got a cheap Groucho Marx. We have a film, ladies and gentlemen! Click Random’s first film.  High Society Limited . No, it’s not a sequel to High Society where Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Frank Sinatra start a jazz magazine company named High Society Ltd , get high on crack (say nope to dope, kids), and get wrapped up in a money laundering scheme headed by the mafia. No, this is a West German comedy from 1982 starring Elisabeth Bergner, Lilli Palmer, and Hardy Krüger. I’ll just awkwardly nod and say that I know exactly who these actors are, just like when someone that studied film for a year is talking to me about this moving Azerbaijani film they’ve watched for the tenth time. What’s that? Did someone say philistine? I had hoped to watch this film and provide a bit of a review for my one loyal reader — thanks mum. Sadly, it seems that the film reels for the English subtitled version might have been lost or damaged af...

Car crash or Click Random. Which one is worse? Today we take a look at the fun and exciting world of insurance.  Beazley Group or Beazley PLC is a specialist insurance company founded in the UK in 1986 by Andrew Beazley and Nicholas Furlonge. The group is also one of the largest insurers for Lloyd’s of London.  So, who insures the insurance company? And who insures the insurer of the insurance company? And who insures them?!? Andrew Beazley served as CEO of the company for 22 years, and is credited for having confidence in and bolstering Lloyd’s of London reputation even in the company’s time of loss in the 90s. Beazley Group offers an array of insurance products, including marine, environmental liability , and data breach insurance, which was of particular note during the recent ransomware attacks.  They also have coverage for terror related attacks including nuclear incidents. I’m gonna need that insurance money in a nuclear winter, jus...

Two plus Two is Four, Two plus Two is Four. 5318008 Mr. Dunkl , that’s Professor Emeritus (i.e. retired, but has retained his title) to you, is a mathematician who worked at The University of Virginia since 1970. He graduated from The University of Toronto with a First Class BSc in Physics and Mathematics as well as an MA in Mathematics. He then completed a PhD in Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1965. That’s more information than you would get on Wikipedia. Along with writing several articles and books that can cost over £100 or $130 or 75,382 Somali Shillings, Dunkl introduced the Dunkl Operator, which represents a meaningful generalization of partial derivatives.  Dunkl Operator  aka gobbledygook to me. No? Me neither. This is practically a foreign language to me. It’ll take me more than a day to research and understand this one. If anyone cares to explain like I’m five or translate like I’m an alien in the comments, go a...

*Twin Peaks Theme Song* Wikipedia loves their towns, don’t they? Yes, another town, although slightly larger than Castel Rigone with a slightly better website  —  Windemere Township even provide minutes of their town meetings , and it looks like illegal parking is a big issue. They also seem concerned with “ nightmares in the making ” Aquatic Invasive Species in their lakes, some of my favourites include the Rusty Crayfish, Water Chestnut, and Chinese Mystery Snail. Wikipedia records a population of 1,489 seventeen years ago. The citizens of Windemere Township are less like rabbits and more like pandas, as the population has increased to 1,512 as of 2015 , which was down from 1,711 in 2010. Is there something wrong with the place? Probably not, just urbanisation, or it could be those pesky invasive species, who knows? And now for some history . The township was established or organised on January 30th 1882 , the same year that the first US ski club formed, Ameri...

Not quite the burning wagon I was thinking of. Chanaranges , of course not to be mistaken with the Persian word for “general”, was Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire military officer notably serving under Emperor Justinian the First whose reign lasted from 527AD to 565AD. This is quite appropriate, as I briefly wrote about Ostrogoth king and rival to the Eastern Roman Empire, Totila, who reigned at a similar time. Chanaranges’ actions were mostly documented by Greek poet and historian Agathias . Chanaranges’, an Armenian native, was first mentioned in late 554, serving general Narses . Chanaranges took part in a campaign against the Franks (another set of Germanic people, although I like to imagine an evil and calculating army of Frank Underwoods from House of Cards) near Casilinus . Their intention was to prevent casual pillaging by the Franks and enabling movement by removing the Franks from a nearby bridge. The campaign was a resounding success — I’m sure an...

DBAA — Don’t be an “ask hole”. This is a leader, right? Our first Click Random list , so for this I will give some descriptions of the books and the author without going into too much detail about John C. Maxwell or a particular book — who knows, these might be random articles in and of themselves. Okay, so, John C. Maxwell is a pastor, leadership coach, or what some might call a motivational speaker. He looks like your friendly, approachable boss who could blind you with his teeth, but has suspicious ties to the mafia and could leave you sleeping with the fishes in San Benito River . Maxwell has sold over 20 million books and has appeared on the New York Times Best Seller List with his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership . Although, this listing is slightly controversial, as marketing company ResultSource fiddled the books to make it look like the book had been purchased by thousands when in reality the company just bought a bulk order. Reminds me of that ep...

"Everyday be listening to 90s music!" Could this BE any more nineties? (Credit to  Gina Ekiss ) Ah 90s Music, the soundtrack of my childhood and school discos. Spice Girls, Nirvana, Oasis, Britney Spears, Radiohead. The list goes on. This could be a one hundred part blog post, so hold onto your hat or frosted tips. Hai Si Ja, Hold Tight ! Oh, wait, this is a single by New Zealand artist, Kimbra, released in 2014. My bad. You might also know Kimbra through her featured performance on Gotye’s “ Somebody That I Used to Know ”. This seems like quite a jump from a rather melancholic song to a much more jarring, and frankly incoherent song in “90s Music”. With this incoherence — or described by some as “ eclectic ”, “ eccentric ”, even “ demented ” — it might be good to find out what Kimbra was thinking when she co-wrote this song. “Nostalgia is a common theme for me. I have a strong connection to my teenage years so I wanted to capture that boistero...