October 2011
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By strict definition, a replacement child is one who is conceived because an older sibling has died. According to the theory, such a child is at psychological risk, especially if the dead child has not been adequately mourned. Because he was an oldest son, Edward Gibbon, the greatest of all modern historians and the most…
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Ain't it shocking that Gene Chandler's excellent song is now almost half a century old? Seems like just yesterday. This be the verse in its full splendor. Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke,…
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Yesterday's post was disrespectful of slugs. I'm chagrined to have been so benighted and bigoted. After all, slugs have mothers too. In a comment, Mrs. KKP –formerly Miss KKH — (a food safety specialist) reports that many people happily eat slugs, which are a great source of protein and surely taste just like chicken when…
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Reason A. Because slugs are hideous and disgusting. Reason B: Because slugs eat rat droppings which can carry a lungworm parasite — a nematode called Angiostrongylus cantonensis — which causes fatal brain swelling. According to the NYTimes, a 27-year-old Australian man "has been hospitalized for more than a month after eating the slugs on…
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I borrowed About Schmidt from our local library because I had seen and enjoyed the Alexander Payne movie, even though it starred Jack Nicholson, who was once again — yet once more — still another time — reprising J. J. Gittes Redux. There was however only the most marginal connection between novel and film. In…
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What are those beads with which half of the players now accesorize? Why, they're magic titanium necklaces. "The necklaces… work by stabilizing the electric flow that nerves use to communicate actions to the body. All of the messages in your body travel through electricity, so if you’re tired or just pitched nine innings, the electricity isn’t…
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It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife, or at least a mistress, especially if he does not wish to indulge with ladies of easy virtue, of which the neighborhood enjoyed an ample stock. However little known the feelings or views…
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Megachurch Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress, an enthusiast for Governor Rick Perry (the Texax governor for people who think that George Bush was way too bookish) has labelled Mitt Romney's church (Latter-Day Saints) a "cult." Jeffress made the charge while addressing a convention of right-wing "value voters." (The particular value which Jefress himself exemplifies is "smugness.") According to Jeffress, Perry's…