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

Over 140 years, really. Have you ever heard the phrase "The South Shall Rise Again!"? Or the more well known "Damned Yankees"?

My pre BBC account is named for that little . Now it's available in the WW2 skin. My brother thought that was pretty funny.

Any crusaders using those maps would get lost

& .. IRL I met very few "Southerners"

... Following this (being bored while waiting for rather hi-priority e-mail) I found "The Confederate States of America
" website. Fascinating! you just gave me another excuse to sit behind my laptop pretending to be busy while reading.

Will you believe this opens a completely new world to me!

And are you "confederate" as well?? as in "The South Shall Rise Again!"? (* probably not hard core since your brother has a kilt and not a grey uniform *)

Louisiana is one of the original CSA(Confederate States of America). The same brother with a kilt, is also a Civil War re enactor.

I didn't bother much about "Dixie" other than the historical aspect. Until the Dixie Flag became a symbol of Neo Nazism. That really made me angry. So, in an effort to counteract the re writing and political correction of the South's history I've paid a bit more attention to some of those attitudes and details about this area. I don't have a Dixie flag, but I do have a small Stars and Bars(the official CSA flag. The Dixie flag was originally a battle flag of the navy.

I remember .. the Civil War Re-enactor

now I do not really understand that the neo nazist organisations are allowed to claim historic symbols that were obviously never meant to be nazi symbols. but then I cannot understand neo nazist organisations are allowed to exist at all.

interesting.. good reading.. spend a some () hours with it
http://www.civilwarhome.com
(yes, yes, yes, I know.. I could have spent my time better )

The problem is, those symbols were not copyrighted. The connection to slavery is exaggerated and all the good things associated with those symbols is forgotten.

What better way is there to spend time than reading about the Civil War? The tactics of Robert E. Lee were amazing. Stonewall Jackson is another fascinating character.

This past week the local PBS station aired the documentary Louisiana: A history. That is a very good documentary.

I just bought a Christmas present from ebay: A Celtic Dagger, guess who that is for. If everyone else were that easy to please...

good thing you polished that ... otherwise "You sound like you're from up north"
And indeed I started reading about the American Civil War.. completely ignored in Europe, sometimes an off-prime-time series on a low-budget tv channel.. So names like Stonewall, Lee, ... did raise with me untill I read the website

A Genuine Celtic Dagger.. not a Sgian Dubh ?? And don't forget the blue paint?? surely he'll want to have traditional war paint??

Every now and then I have to dust off the southern drawl, polish it and take it for a spin, just so I don't forget how to talk proper like. Gods and Generals is a great movie about the Civil War. Robert Duvall plays the part of General Lee.

The dagger is the same as this one:
http://cgi.aol.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2210233729&category=475

is that a dagger.. 15" is not really something to peel potatoes with
(* I'd be arrested when keeping something like that outside a locked safe *)

(* then on the other hand.. one night out in a pub and there they are *)

He may not be able to wear it to all of the events in which the pipe band participate. But, it wouldn't be illegal here to own such a knife. At least, I hope not, since I have kitchen knives that length.

I can carry 10 grams marijuana but I'll be arrested waving a 15"dagger

(* 15" ... ... that's enormous *)

without a license that is..

He liked the dagger. And, he hasn't been arrested yet...

Guess what's in the Science Fiction Bookclub magazine...Nanny Og's Cookbook.

How were your holidays?

Nanny Ogg !
Holidays were great! and so I wouldn't forget them I was after 1 day to Switzerland (w*rk), from there to Moscow and in four hours I'll travel home, stay there four (whole) days and then fly back to Moscow. I think I'm living in interesting times . I've eaten three meals in my own house this year

I just may have to join the bookclub. The first five books are fifty cents each.

You have certainly been busy. I would lose track of whether I was coming or going.

.. bookclub .. cheap at first, after that regular price and most members forget to cancel their membership after some time you'll end up with a stack of books on the effect of middle ear diseases on zen buddhist experiences
and the travel is not really what is seems note that I do not travel between home and work every day .. friends of mine spend three or four hours a day commuting

I'm seriously considering joining this book club. At least for a few books. Can always do a little Christmas shopping until the minimum for required purchases is met. There is no shortage of science fiction fans on my Christmas list.

science fiction! I still have several meters of sf stored.. bought them while travelling. read them all, some twice or more.
Now recently I have developped a nasty preference.. friend gave me a book on airplane disasters: very good, lots of technical details, explanations, drawings, photographs and more.. I read that in airplanes

You read that in airplanes...just to horrify the other passengers?

I used to be the Kitchen Manager at our store. One day I was talking to someone about food trivia while cooking. A few things came up about how miniscule amounts of arsenic and cyanide are contained in really innocent foods.... Can't even begin to describe the look on the face of the third person in the room...

well.. the effect on other passengers is just a side effect and minimal.. most of them ignore the book (s.e.p.)
and as for arsenic and cyanides.. that's true! but to notice the effect you'd have to eat several hundreds of pounds.. the quantity of food will kill you long before the cyanide does.

oh, and since I had a lunch in a Moscow company cantine I'm not afraid of simple poisons in food.. the effect of their food was almost as bad.. and caused me a sleepless night.. and a very busy night

Activated charcoal is the first aid suggestion for food poisoning or food related allergy attacks.

I ordered more books for our store. This week's new book topic was brain longevity. Spent a couple of days reading 20/20 Thinking, a very informative book.

I tried the activated charcoal.. only effect was the colour, I won't give more details

... brain longevity ...?? I probably need that (problems remembering names..)