A Change Of Pace


Mullet Over
Have you ever heard of skirret?

By James K. White | November 12, 2008

The famed eighteenth century writer and philosopher Voltaire was a shrewd man in several fashions. The Candide author would pretend to be very ill and near death as he loaned out money at high interest rates. Several people borrowed believing that Monsieur Voltaire would never live long enough to collect. He lived well into his eighties and collected on the “bad” loans.

The area on which New York City is located is one of the world’s largest and finest natural harbors. This geographical advantage led to early development and attracted multitudes of people. Between 1892 and 1954, the immigration center on Ellis Island processed more than 16,000,000 newcomers to America. It is estimated that over 30 percent of all Americans today have at least one ancestor who entered the country through Ellis Island.
The normal ostrich egg will require a 42 day incubation period. You will have to a bit more patient should you be waiting on tortoise eggs to hatch. Turtle watchers claim that a 105 day wait is needed for Mrs. Tortoise’s brood to hatch.
Have you ever heard of skirret? It is not what happens when you yell “boo” at a cat. Skirret is an edible root and a member of the parsley family. Some recipes in Europe and Asia include the tuberous vegetable and a number of skirret eaters claim the thing is tasty and nutritious.
It was in 1513 that Juan Ponce de Leon first saw the coast of what was to become Florida. In fact, it was he that named the place Pascu florida, which means “flowery Easter.” Mr. Ponce was amazed at the multitudes of fragrant flowers that he encountered. He went ashore and began to search for the legendary fountain of youth. It was near this landing site that America’s oldest European permanent settlement was founded in 1565 by Pedro Menendez de Aviles. Today Florida is known by the nicknames The Peninsula State, The Sunshine State and (after recent hurricanes) as The Plywood State.
The largest antique ever sold was the famous London Bridge which now arches in Arizona. When the purchaser bought the structure, it was rumored that he thought that he was buying the Tower Bridge. Most people close to the situation say that the bridge mix-up stories are totally fabricated with no basis in fact, kind of like my college romances.
More than 3,000,000 people visit the Empire State Building each year.
If you say “bar” to an attorney, the term will have a totally different meaning that it would to some of my kin. However, if you said “B-A-R” to military people who served after 1918, most would think of the Browning Automatic Rifle. It was considered to be a magnificent weapon with high field reliability and accurate up to 600 yards while firing as many as 550 rounds per minute. The rifle made a distinctive sound when fired and was prized by armies for more than 50 years after its introduction.
Well, be careful when purchasing large bridges and do have a pleasant week.

GBA

Some thoughtful quotes on government


The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
-Winston Churchill

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-G. Gordon Liddy

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
-Voltaire (1764)

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin
-Mark Twain

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
-Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)
I don't make jokes ... I just watch the government and report the facts.
-Will Rogers

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
-Edward Langley, Artist
(1928 - 1995)

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
-Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
-Thomas Jefferson