Month: October 2003

Oranges and lemons
Say the bells of St Clements
You owe me five farthings
Say the bells of St Martins
When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey
When I grow rich
Say the bells of Shoreditch
When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney
I’m sure I don’t know
Says the great bell at Bow
Here comes a candle to light you to bed
Here comes a chopper to chop off your head

Chop chop chop chop the last man’s head!

h2g2 Researcher Mina (2002, April), ‘Oranges and Lemons’ — The Nursery Rhyme. Retrieved September 8, 2002, from www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A696125.

If a man, A, who weighs 11 stone
leaves from his home at 8:30 in the morning
in a car whose consumption is 16.25 mpg
at an average speed of 40 m.p.h.
to his office which is 12 miles away
and he stops for a coffee on the way for 15 minutes
and also puts air in one of his tyres
which has a slow puncture
letting out air at a rate of 2 lbs per square inch
per mile travelled
when the car is moving at 32 m.p.h.
and he picks up a hitch-hiker B
who weighs 14 stone plus suitcase
But hitch-hiker B who is a political activist
distributes leaflets from his suitcase
each of which weigh an ounce
at the scale of 2 leaflets per person
at every bus stop
and every vehicle on either side of them
at every red traffic light during the journey
which includes 20 bus stops
with an average of 6 people per stop
5 lorries each with a passenger
one of which exchanged a Yorkie Bar
weighing an ounce for 12 of the leaflets
and 2 coaches each containing 51 people
7 of which from one coach returned the leaflets
and 16 people from the other coach
who asked for a further leaflet
each for a member of one of their families

Assuming that man A
then had to travel a further 2.86 miles
out of his way to drop off hitch-hiker B
how late would man A be
in arriving at the office by 9:30 a.m.?
If he still had 6 miles to travel
and his watch was running 23 minutes slow
but the clock at the office was running
2 minutes faster than his
was in fact 17 minutes and 3 secs ahead
of the correct time
which was 2:30 in the morning in Caracas

If when 5 miles from the office
he telephoned his boss
to apologize for being late
but was told by his boss C
to pick up a package 2.63 miles away
from his present location
and deliver it to client D in Bristol by train,
by 4:30 that afternoon
and at the same time man D
was mistakenly told to come to London
to receive same package from man A
Now man A’s train, train 1,
left 30 mins. late
but man D’s train, train 2,
left 5 mins early
so when the trains passed each other
train 1 was travelling at 75 m.p.h.
to make up for lost time
and train 2 was travelling at 52 m.p.h.
Would man A reach Bristol earlier or later
according to his watch
which was now running 5 mins. slower
than man D’s would have been
had he not got off the train
and checked the correct time
at a station between Bristol and London
and stopped to phone A’s boss, man C
to double check A would be there to meet him
and discover his mistake
catch next train, train 3, back to Bristol
which unlike A’s train 1
which stopped at 4 stations on the way
for 6 mins each stop
was an express train

D’s train caught up with A’s train 1
4 miles from Bristol
As the trains drew alongside each other
A’s train was travelling at 12 m.p.h.
and D’s train was travelling at 13.6 m.p.h.
and man A was sat in the front

How long would it take to fill the bath?

Godley And Creme (1981), Ismism: The Problem. Retrieved August 4, 2002, from www.lyricsusa.com/Lyrics.asp?SongID=12984&SongName=%20The%20Problem.

Title style means that you capitalize every word except

• articles (a, an, the)
• coordinating conjunctions (and, or)
• prepositions of three or fewer letters, except when the preposition is part of a verb phrase, as in Starting Up the Computer.

In title style, always capitalize the first and last word, even if it is an article, a conjunction, or a preposition of three or fewer letters.

Apple Computer, Inc. (2002), Terminology. Retrieved February 8, 2002, from developer.apple.com/techpubs/…/Terminology.html.

The name of Mark gives you a very individual, reserved, serious nature. You stick stubbornly to your ideas or decisions, in spite of any appeals or advice; you are not willing to accept a compromise. You prefer to be alone with your own thoughts, rather than in the company of others. This name restricts spontaneity in association and the fluency of your verbal expression. When you are required to express yourself in personal matters requiring finesse and diplomacy, you feel awkward and embarrassed. Although you realize perfectly well what is expected of you, you are unable to find the right words, and hence you end up saying something inappropriate in a candid way. You can express your deeper thoughts and feelings best through writing. Your friendships and personal associations are rather restricted, being limited to those of a similar nature who can understand and accept your rather straightforward yet reserved manner. You are steadfast and loyal, and do not allow gossip or anything belittling to be said against those whom you accept in friendship. You find satisfaction in being outdoors or in getting out into nature, or in dealing with the products of the earth. There is originality and depth of thought contained in this name, particularly along practical and mathematical lines. This name can adversely affect the health of your respiratory organs, the heart and lungs. Also, you are prone to suffer from weaknesses centering in the head.

Society of Kabalarians of Canada (2000), Baby Names – Mark. Retrieved 2/15/02, from www.kabalarians.com/male/mark.htm.

P.S. This is freaky!

A young man asked an old rich man how he made his money. The old guy fingered his worsted wool vest and said, “Well, son, it was 1932. The depth of the Great Depression. I was down to my last nickel. I invested that nickel in an apple. I spent the entire day polishing the apple and, at the end of the day, I sold the apple for ten cents. The next morning, I invested those ten cents in two apples. I spent the entire day polishing them and sold them at 5 pm for 20 cents. I continued this system for a month, by the end of which I’d accumulated a fortune of $1.37. Then my wife’s father died and left us two million dollars.”

Greenspun, P. (1998), How to Become As Rich As Bill Gates. Retrieved February 20, 2002, from philip.greenspun.com/bg/.

If caveman A is strong, swift, and accurate with a spear, and caveman B is weak and slow, but patient, this distribution of talent can be most efficiently used if A hunts and B fishes.

McConnell, Campbell R. and Brue, Stanley L. Microeconomics. 13th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1996.

It is unwise to stray far from the obvious and simple, lest untoward effects result elsewhere.

Baker, F. &ldquo;Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers.&rdquo; June 1995. <a href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1812.txt" title="Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers">&lt;http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1812.txt&gt;</a> (15 October 2003).

Potato Leek Soup Recipe

• 3 Tablespoons Butter
• 3 Cups Sliced Leeks
• 3 Tablespoons Flour
• 6 Cups Chicken Broth
• 1 Tablespoon Salt and Pepper to taste
• 4 Cups Peeled, Roughly Chopped Potatoes
• 1 Pint Half & Half (In the dairy counter with the milk, and such)

Directions

Leeks usually come priced per leek — 79¢ or something like that. You use only the white part so you want leeks with the most white you can find — maybe 6 or 8 depending on their size. You cut off the green part and slit the other end so you can peel back the layers to wash out any accumulated dirt. Otherwise, you get a gritty soup. It is not hard to do.

Melt the 3 tablespoons of butter in the bottom of a big pan — add the sliced leeks — and cover to steam the leeks on a low to medium heat for about 5 minutes. You want to soften but not brown them.

Then add the 3 tablespoons of flour, still on medium heat, and stir the leek, flour, and butter mixture for 2 or 3 minutes to cook but not brown the flour.

Then add your chicken broth — a cup or so at first and stir well to get up all the flour and butter and dissolve it. Then add the rest of the broth. I use Campbell’s canned chicken broth — you will find it with the rest of Campbell’s soups. A cup is 8 ounces but a can of soup is about 10 ounces — so I usually use five cans of soup or a little less.

Now peel and chop your potatoes and add them to the soup. Add the salt. Bring it to a boil and simmer (low boil) for about 40 minutes.

Then I mash the vegetables into small pieces — you do not want the vegetables too smooth.

Add the Half & Half just before serving and check to see if it needs a little more reheating.

It sounds complicated but the first part only takes 20 minutes or so and then it does not need much care. Just be sure it simmers enough to cook the vegetables but does not boil so hard they burn.

Good luck.

This will make about eight cups of soup.

It freezes well.

A good French bread and a mixed green salad go well.

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,

That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,

And spills the upper boulders in the sun;

And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

The work of hunters is another thing:

I have come after them and made repair

Where they have left not one stone on a stone,

But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,

To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,

No one has seen them made or heard them made,

But at spring mending-time we find them there.

I let my neighbour know beyond the hill;

And on a day we meet to walk the line

And set the wall between us once again.

We keep the wall between us as we go.

To each the boulders that have fallen to each.

And some are loaves and some so nearly balls

We have to use a spell to make them balance:

“Stay where you are until our backs are turned!”

We wear our fingers rough with handling them.

Oh, just another kind of out-door game,

One on a side. It comes to little more:

There where it is we do not need the wall:

He is all pine and I am apple orchard.

My apple trees will never get across

And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.

He only says, “Good fences make good neighbours.”

Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder

If I could put a notion in his head:

“Why do they make good neighbours? Isn’t it

Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.

Before I built a wall I’d ask to know

What I was walling in or walling out,

And to whom I was like to give offence.

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,

That wants it down.” I could say “Elves” to him,

But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather

He said it for himself. I see him there

Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top

In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.

He moves in darkness as it seems to me,

Not of woods only and the shade of trees.

He will not go behind his father’s saying,

And he likes having thought of it so well

He says again, “Good fences make good neighbours.”

Frost, Robert. &ldquo;Mending Wall.&rdquo; <i>North of Boston</i>. 1915. <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/118/2.html" title="2. Mending Wall. Frost, Robert. 1915. North of Boston">&lt;http://www.bartleby.com/118/2.html&gt;</a> (15 October 2003).

Breakfast was a bowl of cereal and two of Gretchen's jam bars.



<ins datetime="2003-10-15T13:10:00-05:00">I walked downtown to Rinaldi&rsquo;s on Allen Street to get my hair cut today. I would guess it is about three miles round trip. Since I was downtown anyway, I went to McLanahan&rsquo;s Downtown Market and got myself a <a href="http://68.9.143.167:84/yocrunch/granolainfo.html" title="YoCrunch">YoCrunch Raspberry Mild Lowfat Yogurt with Granola</a> (220 Calories &mdash; 15 from fat).</ins>



<ins datetime="2003-10-16T08:18:00-05:00">Dinner was a &ldquo;Big Salad&rdquo; (no beer).</ins>