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The Gentle Giant has passed. Farewell Don Williams, thanks for everything.

And shortly after his passing was the passing in a helicopter accident of Troy Gentry.

And the original Darth Vader actor, David Prowse has announced he will no longer be hitting the convention circuit due to hill health.

In happier news, a 60-ish year old woman was caught stealing groceries. The Williston, VT cop who arrived to process her told her that he would have to charge her, which he did, but he then paid for the groceries she tried to steal because she apparently was out of money and was desperate.

Has South Yorkshire schoolgirl found King Arthur's legendary Excalibur sword? wrote:

Matilda Jones, from Norton, Doncaster, with the sword

A Doncaster schoolgirl will have quite a story to tell when she returns to the classroom - after discovering a sword in the same lake King Arthur's legendary Excalibur was thrown.
Matilda Jones, aged seven, from Norton, Doncaster, found the sword when she was paddling in Dozmary Pool, in Cornwall with her dad, Paul.

Matilda and dad Paul with the sword

Paul, aged 51, had told Matilda and her sister Lois, four, about the legend of King Arthur on their journey to the lake.

He said: "It was a blistering hot day and Matilda asked if we could go for a paddle.

"She was only waist deep when she said she could see a sword.

"I told her not to be silly and it was probably a bit of fencing, but when I looked down I realised it was a sword. It was just there laying flat on the bottom of the lake."

The sword discovered in Dozmary Pool, Cornwall

Folklore has it that Dozmary Pool is said to be where Excalibur was thrown by Sir Bedivere after the Battle of Camlann and Arthur’s death.

According to local tradition after three attempts to relinquish the sword, Sir Bedivere finally managed to comply with King Arthur's wish and threw it into the lake, an arm rose from the surface, caught the sword and vanished back into the water.

It is also the home of the Lady of the Lake and is where a young Arthur rowed out to claim the mighty Excalibur.The lake is also said

After arriving Paul and Matilda went for a paddle in the lake and the Norton Junior School pupil made the discovery on Tuesday, August 29.

"The sword is 4ft long - exactly Matilda's height," added Paul. "I don't think it's particularly old about 20 or 30 years old. It's probably an old film prop."

At the end of their six-day holiday the family brought the sword home and Matilda and Lois are enjoying telling all her family and friends about her discovery.

so, if i understand the british system correctly, little matilda now needs to raise an army and besiege buckingham palace until the reigning monarch agrees to face her in single combat. but if she fails, elizabeth will devour her young soul, and live for another thousand years.

anyway, here's some more pictures i found around

Heh. And I'm just back from watching Guy Ritchie's "King Arthur"!

Unfortunately for her, that isn't a c. 5th century Roman or Celtic sword, but closer to a Scots claymore from c. 1300 and is pretty much not Excalibur.

Though, it is a nice find. It's also probably a replica given that the leather bindings would have rotted away a long time ago.

With the bit about her dad telling the story just on the way down there, I'm half suspicious that he arranged it to be chucked in for her to find.

I heard about this. There was some speculation that it's an abandoned movie prop.
But still, this is going to be an awesome story for her, growing up.

Looking at the pictures, I sincerely hope she'll one day become someone's absolutely awesome dream girlfriend!!!

And in a bit of good news, all fifty-four of Hemingway's kitties are safe and sound after Irma. >^.^<

And back to Entropy. Today we say farewell to Harry Dean Stanton.

German elections today!!

Angela Merkel is likely to win again. The biggest race will be for #3. There are four parties that could make it, with the worst result (and it is the one indicated by the polls so far...) being the right-wing "Alternative for Germany"... That would likely imply a government made up of the two large parties CDU/CSU (Merkel's party - the Christian democrats) and SPD (Social Democrats), e.g., a continuation of what we have now. It might also be possible if the FDP (esentially the Libertarians) or the Greens get enough votes that they will form a coalition with CDU/CSU. If The Left gets #3, we're seeing a "Grand Coalition" again.

The big problem with the AfD getting third place is that would mean they become the opposition leader - but everyone hates them...

So it might become rather complicated.

Well, that's whatcha get for becoming a democracy.

I still say it's better to have multiple political parties.

Well I hope it goes better than the elections here have.

So, pretty much as expected. I guess the biggest winners are the pollsters, the end result looks very similar to the forecasts.

Good news, at least from my personal vantage point:

- Merkel gets her fourth term.
- The Liberals/Libertarians make a strong comeback, doubling their result of four years ago.

Bad news for pretty much everyone: The right-wing AfD got 13-fucking-%!!! Germany, I AM DISAPPOINT.

Some stats:

- Worst result for the CDU/CSU since 1949.
- Worst result for the SPD EVER.
- First right-wing party in parliament since the early 1950s (hm, CNN says early 60s - anyway, a long time ago).
- First six-party parliament since that time as well.

Back in 2013, neither FDP nor AfD made it into the parliament, both failing to exceed the "5% hurdle". The AfD increased their result by nearly a factor 3, FDP by more than a factor 2. Green and The Left both exhibited slight gains as well. All this at the cost of votes to the two "main" parties.

Now, the most interesting part is that right after the polls closed, SPD chancellor candidate Martin Schulz declared the SPD would NOT be open to a Grand Coalition again, and that he wants the SPD to be in the opposition. This is essentially good news, as it means the SPD and not the AfD would be the opposition leader. On the other hand, it essentially forces the CDU to go into a coalition not only with the FDP ("Black-Yellow" is a rather common coalition, such as from 2009-2013), but also with the Greens (who usually form coalitions with the SPD), a so-called "Jamaica coalition" (Black, Yellow, Green, the colors of Jamaica's flag). And the FDP and the Greens were totally at each other's throats during the election campaign. On the other hand, I daresay, IF these three cantankerous parties get along, they might produce some really effective politics, combining the best of all worlds. IF!