Sunday, May 08, 2005

SOME NOTABLE AND NOTORIOUS BRINKLEYS


The Abbot

John de Brinkele was the Abbot of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds from 16 November 1361 until 31 December 1379. He had the 'Brinkley Luck' in that he survived the Black Death of 1347 and he missed the Peasants' revolt of 1381!

The Monk

Richard Brinkley was the head of the Franciscan Order of Monks in England from 1518 to 1526. His official title was Provincial Minister.

The Bishop

John Brinkley was baptised in Woodbridge Suffolk in 1767. He became the first Astronomer Royal for Ireland. He took Holy Orders and became Bishop of Cloyne in Cork, Ireland. He held this post from 1826 until his death in 1835. He was the only Brinkley to be granted a Coat of Arms, granted in 1827.

The Japanese Expert

Francis Brinkley (known as Captain Frank Brinkley) was the grandson of the above Bishop. He served in the Royal Artillery and went out to Japan as Military Attache. He was born in 1841 in Ireland and he died in 1912 in Japan. He married a Japanese lady, became an expert on the Japanese Language and wrote one of the first English&emdash;Japanese dictionaries. He also wrote some scholarly works on Japanese history and culture. At one time he was the Times correspondent for Japan. His descendants are the only present day Brinkleys who are entitled to use the Brinkley Coat of Arms.

The Poisoner

Richard Brinkley was born in the town of Eye near Peterborough in 1855. On 31/8/1907 he was hanged in Wandsworth prison for poisoning. His case was reported at length in the Times. He was one of the first people to be convicted of murder by means of forensic evidence. Richard Brinkley was a carpenter who met a lady called Maria Blume in 1907 and formed a plan to acquire her property. He drew up a will leaving himself all her money and secured her signtauure by telling her he was collecting names for a trip to the seaside. He obtained the signature of two witnesses in the same way. Then he slipped cyanide into her drink. A doctor certified that her death was from natural causes. But the relatives became suspicious on seeing the will and when it became obvious that the witnesses would be questioned, Richard B decided that they would have to die as well! He went to call on the first witness, a man called Parker, on the pretext of buying a dog and presented him with a bottle of poisoned stout. Parker left it on the kitchen table while they went to inspect the dog. While they were away, Parker's landlord, a man named Beck, came in with his wife and saw the bottle on the table. He poured himself and his wife a drink after which they both collapsed and diedwithin minutes.

The Pirate

James Brinkley was hanged for Piracy on 19 July 1723 at Newport, Rhode Island in America. He gave his age as 28 and said that he was born in Suffolk. We have not yet found the exact date of his baptism.

Oxford English Dictionary Connection

Stephen Brinckley is quoted in the Oxford English Dictionary. In his will of 1546 he leaves his 'tossle gentle' to the local vicar. This is the only spelling that they could find of tercel-gentle which is a male peregrine falcon. Stephen lived in Calais but came from Boston in Lincolnshire. This is not the same Stephen Brinkley who was tortured in the Tower of London in 1581 for distributing Catholic Literature. We think that he also came from Lincolnshire.

The Missionary

Sterling Gardner Brinkley was born in Georgia, USA in 1884. He was both and Educationalist and a Missionary. He taught at Soochow University in China for nine years and he often preached in Chinese.

The One Armed Boatman

Charlie Brinkley was the ferryman across the River Deben in Suffolk until his death in 1963. His grandchildren still live in Felixstowe and his grand-daugheter Anne is married to the current boatman, John White. Everyone in this part of Suffolk knew Charlie because he had only one arm and used a hook to hold the second oar. Nearby is the RAF base at Bawdsey which was an important radar base during The Second World War. A crucial piece of equipment used there at that time was named the Brinkley Hook, in honour of Charlie.

The Goat Gland Doctor

John R Brinkley (b 1885 d 1942) achieved notoriety in the States in the 1920s and 1930s. He is best remembered for his goat gland operation which he performed on men with low libido: he transplanted goat testicles into no less than 16000 men's scrotums. He was also a pioneer of radio advertising. There is a web page dedicated to his extraordinary career. In fact there are lots of items about him on the web. Type John R Brinkley into a good search engine such as google.com and it will come up with a lot of relevant hits.

The Model

Christie Brinkley is undoubtedly the best known Brinkley of the modern era. Born in 1953, she is famous as a super model and was once married to the singer Billy Joel who wrote the song Uptown Girl about her. She lives on Long Island near New York and there are many web pages devoted to her. In fact if you search anywhere on the web with the name Brinkley, it is usually Christie Brinkley web pages which will turn up on top of the pile. Christie was in fact not born a Brinkley. Brinkley is the name of her step father which she took when her mother remarried when she was still a young girl.


Monday, May 02, 2005

I found this and thought it was vindicating... or something...

Why Geeks and Nerds Are Worth It...


Reply to: anon-66795671@craigslist.org
Date: Sun Apr 03 21:30:08 2005


In the wide world of dating, there are many options. Do you go for the flashy guy with the smooth smile, or the dude in the corner typing away on his laptop? The following are reasons why I think my fellow females should pay more attention to the quiet geeks and nerds, and less attention to the flashy boys.

1.) While geeks and nerds may be awkward, they’re well-meaning 9 out of 10 times. That smooth dude with the sly grin and the spider hands? Wonder what HIS intentions are... plus, I’ve never had a geek guy not call me when he said he would. Score major points THERE.

2.) They’re useful. In this tech-savvy world, it’s great to have a b/f who can make your laptop, desktop, and just about anything else that plugs into a wall behave itself.

3.) They’re more romantic than they’re given credit for. Ok true, their idea of romance might be to make up a spiffy web-page with all the reasons why they love you, with links to pics of you and sonnets and such... but hey. It lasts longer than flowers, plus you can show your friends.

4.) Due to their neglected status, there are plenty to choose from. You like ‘em tall and slender? There are plenty of geeks/nerds who are. You like ‘em smaller with more meat on their bones? Got that too.

5.) They’ve got brains. Come on now, how can intelligence be a bad thing?

6.) Most are quite good at remembering dates. Like birthdates and such, especially if they know it’ll make you happy. Due again to their neglected status, they’re more attentive than guys who “have more options”. Plus, with all that down time without a steady girlfriend, they’ll likely have mental lists of all the things they’d love to do once they GOT a girlfriend.

7.) Sex. Yep. Sex. I’m not really familiar with this myself, but I’ve friends who’ve been intimate with geek guys and it’s raves all around. They say a virgin wrote the Kama Sutra... all that time thinking about sex, imagining sex, dreaming about sex, (they are male after all) coupled with a desire to make you happy? Use your imagination.

8.) They’re relatively low-maintenance. Most can be fueled on pizza, Twinkies and Mt Dew. No complicated dinners needed here, so if you’re not the best cook, eh. Can you order a pizza?

9.) Most frequent bars as often as slugs frequent salt mines. You won’t have to worry much about your geek guy getting his “groove” on with club hotties because, frankly, he’ll be too busy rooting around under his computer wondering where that spare cable went. You won’t have to worry about him flirting with other women because, 9 out of 10 times, he’ll zip right by them in a perfect b-line towards the nearest electronics store. I’ve seen this happen.
Me: “Eww. Victoria Secret’s Models... They’re so skinny. How is that feminine? You can see her ribs!”
Geek Guy: “ooooooo...”
Me: “Hey!” *notices he is staring lustfully towards the computer store*
Geek Guy: “What?”
Me: “Never mind...”

10.) Although he may not want to go to every outing with you, you can arrange swaps, as in, you’ll go to his Gamer Con dressed as an elf princess if he’ll take you to the ballet. Plus, if he doesn’t want to go someplace with you, you won’t have to worry much about what he’s up to. You’ll probably come home to find him asleep on his keyboard in a sea of Mt. Dew cans with code blinking from the screen. It’s ok. He’s used to this. Just toss a blanket over him and turn out the light.

11.) His friends aren’t jerks. I can’t stress this enough. You’ll more likely get “Omg! A GIRL!! Can I see?!” than “Hey hot stuff back that ass up here and let me get some grub on...” They’re awkward geeks too and will, 9 times out of 10, treat you with the utmost respect and, more than likely, a note of awe. A cute girl picked one of their clan to date? It could happen to them! Hope! Drag some of your single girlfriends over, open up a pack of Mt. Dew, crack open the DnD set and get working. Nothing impresses geek guys more than a girl who can hack-n-slash (well ok maybe if she can code... a geek can dream).

12.) They’re rarely if ever possessive. They trust you, so you can be yourself around them. You like to walk around the house in a ratty t-shirt for comfort? He won’t care. He does too! They won’t get pissy if you don’t wear make-up or don’t want to bother primping your hair. If you gain a few pounds, they won’t try their best to make you feel like crap.

13.) They’re usually very well educated. Physics majors and the like. See #5. You won’t have to listen to him blathering on about his car (ok maybe a little), he’ll have loads of other interesting things to talk about. Politics, world events, how much the chicken burgers down at the local place rock, so long as you douse them in hot sauce...

14.) You’ll almost never have to hear, “Yaw dawg whazzap!!” plop out of their mouths. Unless it’s in jest. They spell properly, use correct punctuation, and are able to tell the difference between the toilet and the floor. They almost never get “wasted”, so you won’t have to worry about coming home to find him and his friends passed out on the floor amidst a pile of beer bottles. Mt. Dew cans, perhaps...

15.) And the final reason why geeks and nerds make great boyfriends: They actually give a damn about you. Not how you look (though that’s a plus), not how skinny you are, not how much make-up you primp yourself up with, but they like you for you. That kind of thing lasts longer than “DaMN baby you got a fine ass!!!” Believe me.