h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How weird is this? This morning I was shopping on ebay, looking for Christmas gift ideas...and there was a Nanny Ogg cookbook listed. It only had a minute to expire, so I didn't even have a chance to bid.

=> =>
Yep.. very likely there's a lot of buyers for that one.. more so if the prices are low enough
(* I still think it's a by-product of a series of -good reading- books; just that, no more: a by-product. I'm not sure I would pay the full price in a bookshop for it; it's not 'traditional' good reading, it's not a 'real' cookbook, ... *)

*afraid to admit how many real cookbooks are packed into this room*

Ebay is a great source for used and vintage books. So far all of them I have received are just as they were described. Currently waiting for a very inexpensive copy of "The Scots Cookbook" to arrive in the mail.

The Scots Cookbook ! in a few months time it'll be Burns night.. prepare and eat Haggis then !

My brother is practicing "Happy Birthday" on the bag pipes... my birthday is in a couple of weeks...

* looks outside .. calls out to the helmeted mob to go back to their respective beds, sends the local fire brigade back, and proceeds to calm down cats and other local pets... bag pipes are not common *

I'm not really sure if "Happy Birthday" is a tune for the bag pipe?? did your brother research that? isn't there a traditional Scottish tune for the occasion?

* totally unfamiliar with anything Scottish except Whiskey *

* ah, well.. and money of course *

* oh, and MacDonalds; the only world wide Scottish restaurant *

He plays the bagpipes at the store(probably at the suggestion of his housemate). The neighbors from a couple of blocks over say that he is getting better . The leader of the pipe band transcribed the music of "Happy Birthday" for the band members.

My other brother asked me "what's something Celtic we can get him for Christmas?". Only things Scottish I'm familiar with is oatmeal and ...and...nope that's it.

I'll believe he'll not play in the house

and for Christmas... ah ... All of a sudden a wild range of possibilities urges forward.... think of blue make up.. (I mean.. he should at least once show up wearing an old carpet round his hips and face&upper body painted blue), find your clan and order a kilt (or the whole costume.. (ing expensive that) Does he have a diy Scottish course yet? a "genuine Celtic sword"?? (only for very stable personalities) a "genuine Celtic tattoo" (* feed him a bottle of scotch and get him to the tattoo shop*)?? and how about the collected works of Rabbi Burns (no, not jewish.. it's actually Robert Burns A668090 I'd say that's a must have!)..

Well, he does have a kilt(official Louisiana tartan) and a sporran(sp?). No sword yet and as far as I know, doesn't own the works of Robert Burns either(hmm, maybe ebay...). I'm pretty sure there isn't enough alcohol of any sort to make him get a tattoo.

The Scots cookbook arrived. It is very nice and incredibly informative.

now the Robert Burns colelcted works are available (as far as I know) roughly in two versions.. and the version in original Scottish only (not including modern or relatively modern English) is probably not the one you want.. ... I mean .. consider "Address to a Haggis" (which would probably be in your cookbook in full!!)
===
Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the pudding-race!
Aboon them a' yet tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o'a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin was help to mend a mill
In time o'need,
While thro' your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.
===
Now I am not a native English speaker so I may miss some of the finer points in written texts or poems every now and then ... but this ...

I finally found a picture of the Louisiana Tartan: http://www.csbr.org/latartan1.htm

The history of the Haggis, full instructions of how to make one(including sewing the bag...) and the address are in the cookbook. My friends were impressed, not enough to actually make or eat a haggis.

Website with Robert Burns poems(annotated): http://www.rabbie-burns.com/the_poems/index.cfm

*still saving money for a trip to the U.K.*

well.. life here gradually becomes an almost uninterrupted series of surprises.. the Louisiana Tartan!

As for Rabbie Burns : http://www.robertburns.org/ holds (probably) the complete works.. annotation is slightly less clear.

Haggis: no, go ahead.. try it.. I ate it, knowing what's in it it's really very tasty! (and for once I'm serious)

Yesterday a friend and I went to the National D Day Museum in New Orleans. This was our third trip to that museum, but the first time we went through the new Pacific Wing. Very large museum full of interesting stories, films and exhibits.

..
one of the things that in Europe don't get much attention.. WWII pacific... (mind you Indonesia was a Dutch colony between 1600 and 1949..)

My Dad's older brother was on a ship to participate in the land invasion of Japan when the announcement was made (as he stated it) "Gentlemen, man your battlestations, reverse engines, change heading to .... THE WAR IS OVER! WE'RE GOING HOME!"

My Aunt's husband was a medic in the pacific theater. One of my mom's brothers was also in the Pacific as well.

.. the Dutch army in Indonesia was mostly Indonesians.. most of the civilians were captured and imprisoned in war camps, there's a lot of horror stories about those and they're all true..
There's very little known or discussed (outside discovery channel) about the war in the Pacific..
(apart from a sea battle during the occupation of Indonesia; ten or so English and Dutch ships against the japanese fleet)

There are a few war stories from our family that have been passed down by our relatives. Most of them are not really suitable to post here (at least not in their entirety).

My aunt's husband, the army medic, was caught behind enemy lines during a skirmish. It was dark, muddy, cold and the Japanese were moving close enough so that he could hear them talking to each other. He and the few others that were with him spent the night in ditches pretending to be dead(next to other casualties). Fortunately for him the allied lines moved fast enough that the Japanese didn't have time to relax. By morning my uncle and the others found their way back to their unit.

... Japanese were verrrry unkind to pows.. stories from the camps are worse that horror.. there's still a fairly large group that refuses to buy japanese products (because they or a close relative was in a jap camp).

I wouldn't doubt it. There is still a bit of resentment about the Civil War here, and that after 140 years.

I noticed that our history books(school textbooks) don't really cover the story of the Pacific theater very well. The chapters about WWII are mostly from Pearl Harbor to VE Day. Even at that they don't mention much detail about anything.

When I lived with my brothers, it wasn't unusual to arrive home to find one of my brothers and the dog curled up on the couch watching the History channel or discovery channnel. After we all moved, and the dog was older, the dog began demanding the history channel be left on for him while he was left home alone. He would actually whimper/pout until the channel was changed.

.. the Civil War?? up to now?? really??

And as for school textbooks on history.. . (* I found a set of Russian history books for (guess) 8~10 year olds.. I can figure out the maps and there's almost no text in between ... they are great fun.. ranging from quite inaccurate to dirty lies (verified) *)
Maps of middle age Europe show coastlines that would not be formed until 2nd half 20th century ( )