Your Grand-cestors Swore

Your Grandmothers told them to stop

What is there about a well placed curse that spices a novel or a conversation?
Perhaps it's genetic or evolutionary.

"The Jacobean dramatist Ben Jonson peppered his plays with fackings and "peremptorie Asses," and Shakespeare could hardly quill a stanza without inserting profanities of the day like "zounds" or "sblood" - offensive contractions of "God's wounds" and "God's blood" - or some wondrous sexual pun.

Even the quintessential Good Book abounds in naughty passages like the men in II Kings 18:27 who, as the comparatively tame King James translation puts it, "eat their own dung, and drink their own piss."

Almost before we spoke

Refered to by:
LanguageHat.com
The Antiquity Of Cursing




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Photo Blog

Daily shots

I don't see it mentioned very often, but Webshots.com has been expanding its offerings. They have a free screensaver/desktop background application.

They also have a spot to upload your own pictures.

Recently they started a Blog with a new shot each day.


Blog.Webshots.com

"With 7.2 Million monthly visitors and more than 520 million photos to explore, Webshots is one of the largest photo- and video-sharing sites.

Webshots provides you with a variety of ways to enjoy photos and videos:

• Free and premium memberships with tons of storage—you'll never run out!
  Webshots provides you with a variety of ways to enjoy photos and videos:
  
• Share photos, videos and slideshows on Webshots and your personal website.
  
• Download professional photos in Webshots Pro Shots.
  
• Access Webshots on the go with Webshots Mobile.
  
• Easily manage your online photos with the FREE Webshots Desktop.
  
• Order prints and make custom photos gifts that anyone will love.

And more! "

Webshots! Over 20 MILLION FREE screen saver and wallpaper photos!




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What if the Truth Teller Fibs?

Who ya gonna believe?

Snopes.com is a great source for answers about urban myths, legends and computer hoaxes.

These articles appear on the Snopes site:

TRUE: The Mississippi state legislature removed fractions and decimal points from the mathematics curriculum of public secondary schools.

FALSE: The restaurant chain formerly known as "Kentucky Fried Chicken" changed its name to KFC to eliminate the word "fried" from its title.

TRUE: At the moment the Titanic hit an iceberg in the north Atlantic, the silent version of the film The Poseidon Adventure was being screened aboard ship.

After you stop shaking your head, look at the bottom left corner of the page and click on "More information about this page."
False Authority Syndrome



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Watermelon Pickles

Actually quite good

1. Cut a watermelon into slices (for best results, use a melon that's not overly ripe).
   
   
2. Cut the rind off the pink portion and cube the flesh.
   
   
3. Soak the watermelon cubes overnight in brine made by dissolving 2 Tbsp. of pickling salt in 1 qt. water.
   
   
4. In the morning, drain the brine off the melon cubes.
   
   
5. Put a dill head and stem (or a couple of teaspoons of dill seed) in each quart jar. If you desire, also add a hot pepper (chili) and whole allspice and/or mixed pickling spice to each quart.
   
   
6. Bring to a boil 1 cup white vinegar, 2 cups water, and 1/2 to 1 cup granulated sugar (try the smaller amount first and increase the amount if you decide you like your watermelon pickles sweeter).
   
   
7. Pour the pickling solution boiling hot over the melon in the jars, filling them to 1/2 inch of the top of the jars.
   
   
8. Wipe the rims and seal the jars with sterilized lids and rings.
   
   
9. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, just long enough so the contents won't ferment. (If you process the pickles too long, they will be too soft.)

Here's the Volga Deutsch site:

 Getting in a pickle




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