Letters to the editor, December 2010This a traditional letter column. You are encouraged to write a letter of comment on anything that you find worthy of comment. It will (may) be published in this column along with my reply. As editor I reserve the right to delete material; however I will not alter the undeleted material. E-mail to me that solely references the contents of this site will be assumed to be publishable mail. All other e-mail is assumed to be private. And, of course, anything marked not for publication is not for publication. Oh yes, letters of appreciation for the scholarly resources provided by this site will be handled very discreetly. This page contains the correspondence for December 2010.
From: Peter Neilson My late Uncle Ernie lives inside my head where he polices installations of helium tanks at grocery stores. When he was a machinist at Raytheon about 40 years ago every pressurized gas cylinder was assigned to an individual employee. Cylinders were either to have the steel hood screwed on tightly or to be chained to the wall. If the cylinder were ever found to be out of configuration, its “owner” was fired on the spot. The union (IBEW?) agreed. So when I see a grocery’s helium tank just sort of standing there, I ask for the manager, and say, “You are so lucky. I’m not from OSHA or from the fire department.” Then I’ll tell them about Uncle Ernie. The late George Flynn performs, as you are well aware, a similar task. The current phrase that’s liable to take off as an uncontrolled rocket is this: “thrills from watcubg sinners burn within eternal flames.” The watcubg is the dangerous part. Put a steel cap on it. It’s been capped. I will take care of the other typos later.Return to index of contributors
From: Kathleen Pope Bingaman The Thompson turkey was a staple in my husband’s family and I have been making it for years. Unfortunately, last year I lost the recipe somewhere between finishing the turkey and eating dinner. Thank you for rescuing me!! I will not make turkey any other way. Thank you for writing. If the internet is to be a resource for all, a source of all kinds of knowledge, someone has to take care of the odd corners and byways. I am a byway kind of guy.Return to index of contributors
From: Geoffrey Bickford Ran into your recipe on the web. Don’t know if this address is still good or not. Regarding Thompson’e Turkey, you mention that the recipe has never been in print. It was indeed published in a book called “the Haphazard Gourmet” by a Richard Gehman. Out of print but well worth the search on the web for it. I grew up with the Thompson’s turkey and it truly is wonderful. At the time the page was written it was the only copy of the recipe on the web. Times change. There are now several descriptions on the web. I didn’t mean to imply that it had never been in print – obviously it had. However thanks for the reference. I will update the page.Return to index of contributors
From: Anthony R. Lewis, Phd, FN Weirder than even Philip K Dick would have imagined. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-weapon-1578808.html This explains a lot of things that I hadn’t previously understood. It’s always been my object to help people lose their grip on reality. It’s nice to know that I’m not alone.Return to index of contributors
From: Anthony R. Lewis, Phd, FN http://www.godhatesfags.com/schedule.html They don’t like Catholics, Jews, Muslims, nor Marines… Interesting. They seem particularly active in Massachusetts. At first I thought that they were out of of Westborough MA. It turns out that they are Westboro KS. Apparently they are missing a few letters in Kansas. Judging from this group that’s not all they are missing.Return to index of contributors
From: Jesse Weinstein In http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/geohist.html , the phrase: “natural processes operating during the brief nor by the postulated” seems to be missing a few words. Maybe it should be: “natural processes operating during the brief period given in Genesis nor by the postulated” adding the phrase “period given in Genesis”. Thanks for all your excellent essays and resources! Thank you for calling this to my attention. Unfortunately it is not possible at the moment to update the www.talkorigins.org text. However I will update my copy at http://richardhartersworld.com/~cri/1998/geohist.html. Unless you object I will add your name to the acknowledgements.Return to index of contributors
From: Nelle Zoe 4q5 4q2Return to index of contributors
From: Wendi Rinehart In October’s editorial…….the Presidents…….how predictable for you to have a bland comment on the current person …………now had you said…….” taught us that prompters are mandatory…….or that he & his, vacations quite nicely on your money……..or that Stalin does have a following ” …..or that US presidents apologize to 3rd world dictators”……I do believe it would have fell into place behind the witty comments of the ones prior. Your belief is off the mark. Right wing internet trash talk isn’t witty. Then again, neither is left wing internet trash talk. The trouble with political trash talk is that it only sounds witty to the choir.Nice picture of Jimmy Cat …….he’s remembered well. So he is. The world is a poorer place without him.Also……..good for Deb, to broaden your music selections to include Kyle……..he too is remembered well. Then there was that magical moment when someone asked if I minded some country music on the radio and, quite without thinking about it, I replied “No problem. If it’s not Rimsky-Korsakov it really doesn’t matter what it is.”Since your memory is paining you………forget the 1st paragraph……that way you won’t have to do a retraction :o) I don’t remember ever having to do a retraction.I have enjoyed revisiting your site…….always good for a chuckle and a smile. Tah-tah…….W Thank you for the kind words. Those are the kind of words I like.Return to index of contributors
From: Jessica Brooks
Hello,
Hold it right there, snookums. You didn’t do any such thing. There is no site as such called richardhartersworld.com. If you try to go to it you end up at earthlink. Now be a good girl and try not to snare me with your faradiddles.Return to index of contributors
From: Peter Neilson Besides washing your hands frequently and using Ubuntu Linux instead of the Creature from Redmond, there is another method for preventing putrid poubelles: Use an augmented “hosts” file that sends bad URLs to 127.0.0.1. Here are a few addresses from mine: 127.0.0.1 images-aud.sourceforge.net 127.0.0.1 images.dailydiscounts.com # "spam bugs" 127.0.0.1 images.itchydawg.com 127.0.0.1 images1.paycounter.com 127.0.0.1 imp.clickability.com 127.0.0.1 impacts.alliancehub.com # "spam bugs" 127.0.0.1 impch.tradedoubler.com 127.0.0.1 impde.tradedoubler.comThat’s just 8 out of about 16,000 entries. Where do I get this stuff? Here’s the top of the file: # This hosts file is brought to you by Dan Pollock and can be found at # http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/Where is the hosts file? Under most Unix-like systems, including Ubuntu, it’s at /etc/hosts. Dan’s hosts file contains instructions on how to find the hosts file on other systems, but my favorite method is to run cygwin, which provides a Unix-shell (bash) command structure in a Windows environment. Under cygwin the hosts file (wherever it lurks) is mapped to (ta-dah!) /etc/hosts. Where does Dan get his information? Dan has friends. LOTS of friends. Read http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/ . This looks wonderful. The name, Dan Pollock, sounds familiar but I can’t place him off hand; however he has just become my hero.Return to index of contributors
From: Kellen
Hello,
My Name is Kellen vagyok lány leszek boldog, ha tud válaszolni, mert nekem van valami megbeszéli Önnel, és azt is elküldeni a képeket neked
Hello,
It won’t work, Kellen. I don’t care if you have pictures of your baby and of you and me in a cafe in the Riga waterfront. I have the DNA results; it’s not mine.Return to index of contributors
From: Anthony R. Lewis, Phd, FN It seems odd that you were meeting Kellen in Riga as she is writing to you in Hungarian. You must get around; get a nice round. It’s not odd at all. Europeans vacation everywhere except in their home country. The Hungarian economy being what it is, Hungarians tend to vacation in the the less expensive spots.Return to index of contributors This page was last updated December 11, 2010. |