.Right so! I'm back in the saddle, here's something light to ease in.
Some facts about the 1500s:
Most people got married in June because they took their
yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were
starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide
the body odour. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when
getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man
of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the
other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the
babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in
it. Hence the saying, 'Don't throw the baby out with the bath water.'
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no
wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all
the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When
it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and
fall off the roof. Hence the saying 'It's raining cats and dogs.'
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the
house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings
could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a
sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came
into existence. The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other
than dirt. Hence the saying 'dirt poor.' The wealthy had slate floors that
would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on
the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they
added more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping
outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the
saying a 'thresh hold.'
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big
kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and
added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much
meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot
to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew
had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme,
'Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.' Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite
special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon
to show it off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could 'bring home the
bacon.' They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high
acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing
lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for
the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt
bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or
'upper crust.'
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination
would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone
walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for
burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the
family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they
would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a 'wake.'
England is old and small and the local folks started running
out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take
the bones to a 'bone-house' and reuse the grave. When reopening these
coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on
the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So
they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the
coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to
sit out in the graveyard all night (the 'graveyard shift') to listen for
the bell; thus, someone could be 'saved by the bell' or was considered a 'dead ringer.'
And that's the truth.
"Join the Army and we will send you probably poorly equipped into situations where people will try to shoot or kill you because you are occupying other people's countries.
Cheese
I think you just hate men.
How was life for you and your family under Saddam? Well taken care of?
15/3/08 9:43 PM
greg,
I was referring to the detainees that were raped and castrated by your brave boys...
Have you never seen the pictures?
15/3/08 11:45 PM
It is an abomination that you make the US military out to be a bunch of Abu Ghraib rapists. Wherever you go, there are criminals - the criminals from Abu Ghraib are traitors, and are rotting in jail - at least some of them. There will never be a justice that can stand up to this crime, but what you are saying in your blog is not only inaccurate, it invites more aggregate suffering. The US Soldier is one of the most disciplined, professional soldiers in the world. In Iraq, the US Soldier is more trusted than the Iraqi government. For every criminal you find, there are ten soldiers that personally take it upon themselves to help a sick Iraqi child, or visit with and comfort a suffering Iraqi family. US Soldiers put their lives on the line every day to protect Iraqis.
My friend asked me once why we don't just nuke Iraq. I tried to explain to him that we are trying to turn the Middle East around. We want to win hearts and minds and switch the ME to democracy, or at least one country, so that some day our children will no longer have to worry about animals who fly planes into buildings. I don't think he really gets the connection. He simply hates the terrorists. You hate everyone. Is that true? The cycle of hate goes on.
You never answered my question - I suppose you were better off under Saddam. Wife of a military man? Did he die in a fight with the Americans?
BTW, (this is a serious question) why don't they show the pictures of the thousands of Iraqis tortured by Al Qaeda?
16/3/08 12:11 AM
I read your other blogs. I guess I wasted my time. You are just another typical ME conspiracy theorist. Is that right? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theory
If 100,000 tons of gold were discovered in a tunnel in Baghdad, and every Iraqi was suddenly rich, you would find a way to squander it or give it up and then blame it on "the Man" - the Americans in this case. Oh, wait - that already happened. You are sitting on top of enough oil to make everyone rich, you have a new, free constitution, and all sides have suffered immeasurably. The last time anything like this happened was the birth of the USA.
Bush is not a vampire, Americans deserve peace as much as you do, let go of your hate - stop being a stooge for the America haters. Put your brilliant mind to some good use.
16/3/08 1:27 AM
Greg you are for lack of a better suited word at the moment, a complete
moron. First, because you actually believe that Bush and Co. don't have some ulterior motive for US OCCUPATION of Iraq. HA. If you knew anything about the role that US has played throughout the world as a democracy-restoring nation, you would think twice about the things you say. I was born in Chile, under the dictatorship of Agusto Pinochet,put in place by the lovely American CIA. They savagely ripped out the heart of my country by stripping it of its former president Allende and posting yet another puppet. My mother lost many family members under Pinochet's regime, and this is all because of America's filthy "benevolent" intentions. I live in the US, and even with all the media bullshit coverup of Iraq and ME, I am still aware of what is happening, and the shit US is causing over there. One day you will remove your head out of your ass (or the President's) and understand what we are fucking up. Layla is fully entitled to think and feel in the matter she bests sees fit, because she has lived through this torture. You have not. So go back to your la-Z-boy and drink your red bull.
Secondly, you suggesting that under occupation, the
population of Iraq could magically rise above their oppression and take charge of the most valuable resource on earth. I hope you are alive in 20 years when China takes over this whole damned country and strips us of our rights to create a livable existence out of the natural resources we have. Oh wait, that's right, everything we need we can find at our friendly neighborhood wal-mart.
16/3/08 2:25 AM
Acknowledged, the US looks out for its own interests first. I look out for my family first. The fact that Germany and Japan were completely rebuilt and successful democracies, while the CIA ruined your country was due to the chance. Sorry about that. Ill bet your hero Hugo will foul things up before it is all over - central planning is iffy at best. Our military never occupied your country...
Other than Taiwan, China isn't going to take over anything. For better or worse, it is in Japans interest to check Chinas power.
BTW, its not a la-Z-boy, it is a glider-rocker and diet Pepsi. After all, I need my exercise.
16/3/08 2:48 AM
response to Greg from US
Go do some reading. Even your own US countryman, William Blum, former US State Department, in his excellently referenced and detailed book “Killing Hope “ has listed the US military's covert and overt operations in 56 countries of the world, since the end of world war 2. (1945-2003)
Blum thoroughly details and references the US military's/CIA dirty rotten heinous crimes carried out against people of these countries; of which the US bombed 25 of them, and caused the end of life for several million people.
So just for starters you have at least the majority of people from 56 Countries around the world that hate the US's guts. That excludes the US's puppet well-fed elite in these countries of course. In 2008 you can now add a few million more onto this number.
One can honour soldiers defending their own sovereign country. But one does not honour the US's barbaric marauding invaders of bullies cum pillagers, destroyers, ransackers, torturers, rapists, assassins, chemical poisoners, and murderers. This is what the majority of the worlds' people see the US and its military as. Bearing in mind not one of these 56 countries were a threat to the US.
And while your US airmen/women brag about the precision of their bombs of death. You disgusting cowards have the audacity, when you fire on civilian targets to tell us it was a mistake.
The issue that stands out here, is the glaring fact that the US never takes on anybody their own size. Like most bully boys it picks on those who have little defense to no defense. And then its excuse-for-soldiers kid themselves they are heroes.
In view of all this, of course you are a hateful country, which millions of people around the world healthily, and quite justifiably hate.
16/3/08 12:34 PM
bluegum,
Whatever - I don't care if the rest of the world hates us - they read or listen to what they want to hear - William Blum, Saddam Hussein, whoever gives them an easy answer for their problems. If you think blind hatred gets you somewhere, you are sooo sadly wrong. If bigots in Al Qaeda attack the US again - worse than 911 - it will turn all of our la-Z-boy cowboys into a raging bunch of killers - not the guys that are treating our enemies with "kid gloves" now.
Iraqis are much better off working with us to clear out Al Qaeda, then we will go home and you can run your own affairs, less Saddam, with the only democratic system in the ME other than Israel. The US should/will only meddle when it feels it is threatened. (By the way, any threat to the oil supply is definitely a life threat to millions here - we have these wild lefties over here that have blocked us from building enough nuclear plants to cut our oil dependence. They would rather we meddle in your affairs than take any risk of an accident) Finally, America and the rest of the world are joined. If the USA falls into chaos, your satisfaction will be tempered by the knowledge that we will probably drag everyone down with us.
As for the atrocities, I didn't commit them so I can't apologize for them. WHY DONT YOU WALK DOWN TO YOUR NEIGHBORS HOUSE, the one who scared off, tortured or murdered half the sunnis or shia in town and ask him to apologize first?
We are the good guys, no matter what William Blum or Kim Jong Ill or anyone else says. I would show your people a lot more mercy than you would show mine. And that goes for my family, my town, my state, etc., so I can confidently project that thinking onto the majority of US soldiers. I can be angry with this blog or posts without lusting to see your skin peeled off - can you say the same?
"You disgusting cowards have the audacity, when you fire on civilian targets to tell us it was a mistake." Yep, it was a mistake. We don't target civilians.
"the US never takes on anybody their own size" The last time we did that, 50 million people died in WWII. Is that what you lust for?
If YOU killed my family, I would hunt YOU. I would hunt YOU down and kill YOU. That is the only way I would be a slave to my hate. But then if I captured my enemy I would have the discipline not to torture them. Unless you have information that can save lives, there is no reason to do it. I know when the devil speaks to me. Is there a devil in Islam? Or is it G-d telling you to blowtorch holes in people's feet?
16/3/08 5:53 PM