Tuesday 6th January

On Tuesday, 6th January 1929...

"Mother Teresa arrived in Calcutta to begin her humanitarian work"

Oh, Daily Desk calendar.... why so loose with the 'facts'?? Yes, Mother Teresa arrived in Calcutta (that's Kolkota to you, buster) on the 6th January 1929... she then went to Darjeeling in the north, near the Himalayas "to become a Loreto beginner" (kind of like nun training, I suppose). After that she returned to Kolkota to teach, only then moving into the charity work which made her such hot stuff in the charitable-doing world. And all this despite her obvious shortcomings in the height department:

Mother Teresa, who took a vow of poverty, pictured with her spiritual equal

Today's Quote:

"Advice is like the snow - the more softly it falls, the better it takes hold"

Crap quote attack: all the quotation sources available to me show this as "Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into, the mind" and was first spoken by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the English poet and critic.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, complete with mullet hairdo

I'm not sure about this one, to be honest. Sure, advice is best given delicately and not forcefully, but snow? Had Samuel Taylor Coleridge ever been in a blizzard? The US National Weather Service defines blizzards as "storms which contain large amounts of snow or blowing snow, with winds in excess of 35 mph and visibilities of less than 1/4 mile for at least three hours" The opposite of 'softly falling' snow, then. And the the thing is with blizzards... the snow, it sticks around! In massive bloody snowdrifts! Look at this video of the "Great Blizzard of 1977":



Compare that to, say, the snow falling in London yesterday. It fell softly, for sure. In fact, it barely fell at all. And how long did it stick around? til about 9:15am, I'd reckon.

So, think of London as a bit warm, a bit slow to take on subtleties... or 'soft snow'. London, by this twist of the definition, is an idiot. Don't expect tact, or gentle advice, to work. Give it hell and it might finally take your point.