caroljane

protest - you jr high school jokes are usually not that dumb. Most posters here know what they have to do and don't - it depends on them.

A cemetery lot? Maybe there's a double sense and the 'crying' could refer both to the crying at an auction and to the crying at a grave. Daunce, I'm thrilled that you are going to start Lot 49 too! I'm glad the book is under 200 pages; I'm no fast reader, and also tend to deliberately linger with a book for a long time, especially if I like it. Some books I liked so much that I wished my mind could "stay" in the story forever, and I put off getting to the end. There are cemetery lots and cemetary plots. The speculation thickens. I feel exactly the same way when reading books I love. The whole 3 volumes of A Suitable Girl I never could believe actually ended. I don't have to believe it if I don't want to.

I wish Wilder's "Our Town" were on your list, but maybe you aren't doing plays. It is so full of the bittersweet beauty of life.

A Sumerian, a Jew and a Hittite walked into a cave.... Which one had the beautiful daughter and which one had the ugly wife? I think it's fair to say Abraham's wife wasn't looking too good at the time. Even before that, how would anybody look if they had a baby at age 90? Damn good with the Lord's help! The Lord would have to, a 100 year old husband sure couldn't.

A Sumerian, a Jew and a Hittite walked into a cave.... Which one had the beautiful daughter and which one had the ugly wife? I think it's fair to say Abraham's wife wasn't looking too good at the time. Even before that, how would anybody look if they had a baby at age 90?

I won't, I won't! Now I don't dare ask you what the symbol is. It sort of looks like the Sacred Igloo one except it slants to the right and ours slants to the left.

A Sumerian, a Jew and a Hittite walked into a cave....

I am also going to start Lot 49. The title immediately makes me think of "Lot in Life" or an auction lot. Are those clues? Darkness before Noon? Is that the Koestler? I thought it was Darkness At.I agree it should be on the list, also Middlemarch instead of Mill although it is longer. In Middlemarch there is a Hank/Lillian couple with a compelling storyline.

Looks like this is a must-read. I googled a bit and virtually all comments about the book were enthusiastic. Thanks for the tip, Daunce! Great, I'll look forward to how you like it. I have read it three times. In Vida you will find a complete human character and a real hero. Her work is her life, and her work is advancing her beliefs under constant duress and threat. Her beliefs are wrong, but she gives her life to them because they are her self, which she cannot betray. This is also for Phil if you are reading this! Dump Betty friedan if you can -- Vida will not depress you or bore you, I guarantee. And it has the added value of a full portrait of the turbulent Youth Movement, antiwar protest, early feminist years.

For some reason, Ms. Xray's use of the word in her post and her being a non-native English speaker made me wonder where the hell such a word came into being. "We do know that the term originated in America, showing up in publications around the early 19th century. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest definition of the word appeared in the May 13, 1806, edition of Balance and Columbian Repository, a federalist newspaper[George will love this part of the mythology] in Hudson, New York, where the editor printed an answer to the question “What is a cocktail?” To which he answered: “A cock-tail, then, is a stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind—sugar, water, and bitters—it is vulgarly called a bittered sling and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion, inasmuch as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head. It is said, also to be of great use to a Democratic candidate: because, a person having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow anything else.” There’s a lot of speculation about the actual etymology of the word cocktail, but none of the theories have been verified. Of all the ones Mencken researched, he thought this to be the most likely: During the Colonial period, tavern keepers stored their spirits in casks. When the casks got near empty, the dregs, or tailings, would be mixed together into one barrel and sold at a reduced price—poured from the spigot, which was referred to as the cock. Patrons wanting this cheaper alcohol would come in asking for “cock tailings.” <<<<This one seems to have some validity. Another popular story comes from New Orleans, where an apothecary by the name of Peychaud (of bitters fame) served a mixed brandy drink in a French eggcup. Eventually the drink was named coquetier, the French term for an eggcup. Peychaud’s guests shortened the name to “cocktay,” and eventually it became “cocktail.” "In 2005, Dr, David Wondrich stated that the earliest use of the word in print of the word “cocktail” was from “The Farmer’s Cabinet.” Published in 1803, “The Farmer’s Cabinet” made mention of the cocktail as being a drink of choise. The second earliest use of the word “cocktail” in print was from the 1806 edition of “The Balance and Columbian Repository.” Many believe that the term “cockail” was first coined in the village of Elmsford in New York. It is said that a local bar ran out of stirrers and began to use cock’s tail feathers to stir drinks. The first printing of a bartender’s guide that included recipes for cocktails was printed in 1862 by Prof. Jerry Thomas. The book included several recipes for cocktails and noted that the use of bitters to make cocktails was the thing that differentiated cocktails from other drinks. Bitters are not generally used in modern cocktail-making. Cocktails were set aflame when they contained a trace amount of high-proof alcohol which was set aflame by the bartender prior to its being served. In the years of Prohibition in the United States which lasted from 1919-1933, cocktails were prepared in speakeasies with far less care because the quality of good alcohol available was limited. This is because alcohol was illegal in the United States during prohibition." Finally, the weirdest one is ... My favorite theory is that "cocktail" was derived from the 16th century drink "cock-ale," which had as an ingredient--I kid you not--a dead rooster. A recipe from the 1500s: Take 10 gallons of ale and a large cock, the older the better; parboil the cock, flay him, and stamp him in a stone mortar until his bones are broken (you must gut him when you flaw him). Then, put the cock into two quarts of sack, and put to it five pounds of raisins of the sun-stoned; some blades of mace, and a few cloves. Put all these into a canvas bag, and a little before you find the ale has been working, put the bag and ale together in vessel. In a week or nine days bottle it up, fill the bottle just above the neck and give it the same time to ripen as other ale. Lest you think that was just an example of The Funny Stuff People Did A Long Time Ago, people actually still make this stuff. Boston Beer Co. recently whipped up some cock-ale from a recipe from Compleat Housewife (a British cookbook from 1736), out of 12 gallons of beer, "one large and elderly cockerel," raisins, mace and cloves. According to Koch, the founder of Boston Beer Co., the beer was a great success. "People loved the idea (after they got over a little shock) and were surprised at how tasty it was," he claimed. I'm sure. Given the coffee-, maple-, and hazelnut-flavored beers that crowd our shelves, can poultry-flavored beer be far behind? There were some really undocumented items going back to Roman history which did not seem credible to any of the researchers. How fascinating words and language can be. Adam Adam, Thank you so much ! I love this stuff. the prosaic theory about the barrels is indeed probably the real derivation but the political embroidery is hilarious. I am glad to see that poultry are only peripherally involved.I am still nervous about larger, flocking type animals (you know [/i]what I mean) Carol Granddaughter of Stillman no mystery there

Forgot the main point, silly me. I don't know where cocktail comes from either, I can only think of peacock feathers or suchlike, or the ends of cockfights which sounds really disgusting. But it would seem to derive from poultry somehow, which is weird.

Girl talk, Adam. You wouldn't be interested. Not that we're giggling talking about you or Phil, or anybody. Nice try Carol. I am serious about the etymology of that word. My father, impish person that he was, once taped a gathering of the women of the family for a baby shower. I was about twelve (12). He thought as I did that it would be amusing. Girl talk! You guys put men to shame! So spare me. Adam Adam, Your father was a bolder man than mine. On Ma's card club nights he always took me to Uncle Percy's or Aunt Charlotte's or somewhere and we visited until the cackling was over. He was also witty, and a war veteran of the type who never talked about the war, and utterly respected by everyone who knew him. But on those Wednesday nights he wore a wry resigned, baffled, defeated expression.

Phil, I think you have started a whole new topic here. It is well known that the US incarcerates more of its citizens than any other Western nation. Your last-but-one president ordered the execution of more of his fellow Texans than any other governor in the century. This issue has been taken up as a cause by a prominent British "classical liberal" intellectual, formerly a Canadian and a lock-the-scum-up-and-throw-away-the-key proponent, until his recent sojourn as a guest of the US government in Coleman Prison. Much as I despise Conrad Black, he has a point. The growth industry of private prisons, which depends on a steady supply of new prisoners, is not helping things any. When cancer researchers cure cancer, they'll still be doctors. But what will prison guards be? The private prison industry is trying to expand here so the topic is of interest to me.

Re Presentism, Columbus et al. Everyone, including the visionaries in their various fields like Columbus, accepted and lived with the norms of their times as must everyone. But in every time there have always been those who did not accept and saw further. One such was Champlain who on encountering the aboriginal peoples of the new country he came to colonize, saw them as potential allies, separate but equal. The David Fischer biography, Champlain's Dream,is a good survey of the much and the little we know of this intriguing man, the Columbus of Canada. Apologies to Leif the Lucky, John Cabot and Jacques Cartier.

MEM, Absolutely totally delightful; I am going to watch this over and over and over. Spot-on and terrific.

For me it wasn't the spike somehow, it was the whole movie,. I didn't see it when it first came out, I wasn't allowed to go to movies on school nights , and the serious or adult movies were all shown during the week in our town. On the weekends we had Cliff Richard and Hayley Mills and Jason and the Argonauts and so on, which I adored. Cliff especially. I saw the Pawnbroker later at university, and it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, it just made me see what I knew in a new different way. Hard to explain.

Wow, that's a hell of a lot of links, did you code them one by one or is there a shortcut? Pure luck...I just copied and pasted from the bottom of a site and all the links transferred with it - believe me, I was not sure until I made the post that it would work...lol. I wanted Carol to see that he did not do Norma Ray He could have though, seeing the other great movies he did. I'll never forget the Pawnbroker.

Girl talk, Adam. You wouldn't be interested. Not that we're giggling talking about you or Phil, or anybody.

shouldn't have had that double

LOL!! Daunce, your erudition combined with your wit is a simply irresistible cocktail! Humble thanks X, drink up. I enjoy your cheerful impertinence to the various Keepers of the Keys of Knowledge also. Probably only another teacher could appreciate the full victory of Monday morning. In my case it usually presents the bracing challenge of a class half comprised of new students. Not that they don't come in and register the rest of the week too. It is most inconsiderate of the government not to just make the immigrants all wait till September to enter the country. Friday we endured a truly stupefying workshop on Ongoing Learner Assessment; painstakingly and redundantly worked out and articulated by pedagogues who do not realize that the one and only skill of every ESL teacher is to adjust the day's lesson to the students who are present, some of whom she will never have seen before. We can assess them all right, but the only ones who are Ongoing are the teachers, and the students who actually stay in class for a whole term, let alone a whole year, could do their own assessment better than we could. We are learner-focused, after all. This is actually a proof that the system works, however. The newcomers learn the English they need to learn and get jobs, or move or start families. They can come back at any time and a great many of them do; the lessons are free-lifelong. Upside, it was a paid workshop. Prosit! Carol (that is the only German I know outside of Schiller's ode to Joy, which I can only sing, and I can't sing)

Aristocrates, When people consistently post garbage, they are trying to get attention. I merely provide a proper platform for it. Believe it or not, when I started doing it that way, it cut waaaaaaaaay down on the consistent garbage being posted. Trolls only like it when they can spoil stuff in public for productive folks. They hate it when their efforts go into a special troll corner and they can't spoil anything. Often, they just go away and seek easier targets. Here is a non-solicited piece of advice in communicating with people you say you respect. (This isn't based on your last post, except maybe to a light extent, but on several others I have seen you make.) Don't start out by telling them what they think and what they have to do. Tend more to your own thinking and acts, then trade ideas and observations on that basis. You will find that you can even disagree well that way and go into long discussions. This is, of course, if you want to gain their respect. If you don't mind being blown off, keep being gratuitously sassy and bossy. Michael I'm not on a quest for your respect. Its funny you know, you say,"Don't start by telling them what they think and what they have to do" and in the next sentence you tell me how I should handle things.... I've noticed on a few threads members calling you hypocritical. Well, where there's smoke, there's fire, MSK. Thought you were a hockey fan, Aristo. I've heard people call Sean Avery an arrogant jerk,when he came into a guy's home arena and trash-talked him and his girlfriend, and they were right. You're the one who's smouldering here.

Not only Gibbon but today's CBC opera is my value-swoon Juan Diego Flores in l'Elisir d'Amore. O real life where is thy sting, O Monday morning where is thy victory?

There's a solution, and you don't have to get off the durn computer, just click the link: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25717/25717-h/25717-h.htm Oh, oh, oh. There just isn't any chapter you can open without wanting to grab somebody and quote from it... you'll probably be sorry you gave me this link! Just visited the wilds of Tartary where "the lonesome traveller can find a sort of comfort and society in the presence of vegetable life." Reminds me a bit of remotest Randroidia.

Since you're familiar with the O'Hara, maybe you can tell me if there's any connection between Julian English and the Emperor Julian? Emperor Julian was killed near Samarra, in modern day Iraq, he was in his early thirties, and that's about it as far as similarities go. He wasn't a drunk, he didn't commit suicide, he wasn't a seducer...it all seems like a red herring to us addicts of Gibbon's Decline and Fall. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_the_apostate I'm not aware of any but that's very interesting ..I read Gore Vidal's novel about Emperor J but never thought of that possible connection . But thinking about it now,...well, O'Hara famously didn't get to go to university so was an "apostate" from both the Yale- gentleman cult he wanted to join, and to the Catholicism he rebelled against. And his fictional Julian is apostasizing from the rigid code of his father and tribe. There may well have been a connection. And the choosing of the name English says a lot about O'Hara's beginning his lifelong creative analysis of his own Irishness and its contrast with the then Anglo upper crust. I wonder if there was anything about it in the McShane bio, which I have not read. I'm a Gibbon fan too, though I haven't read him in about 25 years. Want to get back to him...if I could just get off this durn computer.

LOLOL.You're really gunning for a Best award this week! Didn't Lumet direct Norma Rae? I loved that movie. Well, I would, wouldn't I.