ChrisR

Twins come in regiments? Like a pod of whales and an exultation of larks?

Wow, G.W. - the Australians are right on top of your announcement! In today's online news (http://www.news.com.au/) they have a story on their homepage entitled: THIS Broadway theatregoer became a part of the show following their dramatic reaction to hunky actor Russell Tovey disrobing. Sure enough, open the story and it goes on to say: BROADWAY show A View From the Bridge was briefly halted Saturday night when a male audience member, in the onstage seating section at New York’s Lyceum Theatre, fainted at the sight of actor Russell Tovey as he took off his shirt. Evidently the view from the audience was pretty good too! (emphases added)

Did a bit of research on your names. As several folks have mentioned, there is a cultural phenomenon among some communities to come up with unique name spellings, so some of your names may be in that category. Or just plain nicknames or, as suggested, short for a family name. But as far as the >2000 male given names in the 1990 US Census, here's what I can find: Kedon - no match. Could be variation on Kendall? Tarell - no match. Could be variation on Tyrell (1,019th most common US given name) Rock - no match. Could be variation on Rocky (530), Brock (701) Mason - A MATCH! 632nd most common US given name Rand - no match. Could be variation on Brandon (68), Randy (78), Randall (139), Randolph (366), Randal (577), Branden (751), Randell (825) Eriko - no match. Could be variation on Erik (231), Erick (443), Federico (731), Erich (808)

Always disturbing that "they" can tell you anything but if you lie to them you're screwed. Well written tale.

Let us all rip, rip, rip out the offending chapters from our schools' linguistic references and be joyful. That such an august body has ruled on this critical matter should make one and all thankful. After all, their membership requirement states quite clearly that: Anyone can join the society! Now if they could but standardize the pronunciation of "ough" and repeal the verdammt "i before e" rule I would be ever grateful. Or is it greatful?

A great book on the subject of US nuclear weapon "whoopsies" is Command and Control by Eric Schlosser. Tedious at times with all the detail, but for the same reason a fascinating reference for just how dangerous it has been. And it doesn't even go into accidents the other teams have had!

Seems that things have just about come full circle now: Heterosexual couple lose civil partnership court challenge http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35436845

Tsk tsk, Colin. Talking about the horse-faced girl next door like that!

But if a young man puts on his vest to become vested, why does it mean the opposite when he gets pantsed?

Agreed. With the requirement to put it near water and away from civilization, I suggest Manhattan.

The absolute best review of America's nuclear arsenal (including the NC 'oops') was presented by John Oliver a couple of years back. It doesn't get clearer than this! https://youtu.be/1Y1ya-yF35g

Geesh - most of you guys are still kids! (Well, except for the rep from down under.) We had music from the greats before they were great. Tower of Power and Carlos Santana both played for our dances when I was in high school. And oddly enough, Tower of Power recently announced they're losing their lead singer to Santana. And Woodstock looked like a good time, but Woodstock West (at Altamont) defintely was.

Thanks Chris. I'll have to check on a couple of your book suggestions. Your points are all valid. I agree the western allies didn't want to behave like the SS, not to mention there was still a war going on on the other side of the globe. The Russians were far more thorough, however. They thought nothing of machine gunning German captives or letting them die in the snow. Just check the numbers from the 6th Army. About 108,000 were captured in Stalingrad of which some 6,000 came home after the war.

Thank you for the reminder, Nigel. Do you know of any good book which focuses on this aspect of the holocaust? I've never seen much more than, effectively, footnotes and addenda that detail it at all.

Just finished this one. What a GREAT story! My dad and I used to have NHL season tickets, but I think I learned more about the game from your tale than from 3 years of the Seals, Not to mention a wonderfully interwoven storyline off the ice. Beautifully done.

This is indeed good news. Now comes the challenge of how different states will follow through with it, either stacking parole boards or coming up with new charges later on. A young acquaintance of mine had what I found to be a good compromise. A life sentence is limited to the number of years old the person was at the time of commission. Twelve years old? No more than 12 years. Give a person a chance.

Fundamentalist religions, hell. Mosquitoes ARE the work of Satan. And a lot of arachnids. No way did Noah take them along for the cruise.

Shkreli, now criminally indicted for fraud (unrelated to the whole pharma scandal) was scheduled to testify before Congress on Tuesday of this week, but I suspect DC won't quite be back to normal so it likely won't happen. Oddly enough, since the testimony is about drug company prices and NOT the fraud indictment, he might be restricted from using the self-incrimination excuse to refuse. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say, whenever he gets around to saying it. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/21/business/dealbook/congress-subpoenas-martin-shkreli-over-drug-prices.html?_r=0

I've just spent a wonderful and exhausting day with Duck Duck Goose, one of the finest stories I've ever read. Thank you, Cole, for this tale of true love with all its twists and turns and discoveries. Magnificent.

Let's combine "ominous" and "omen" and call it "omenous"!

*** SPOILER ALERT *** Rutabaga - Here's my interpretation of things. Might be right or wrong!

Question on this. Columbus Day is the anniversary of Christopher Columbus "discovering" the new world. Over the past 20 years or so it has diminished significantly in the US in popularity as native Americans have struggled to get a fair say. Does a similar situation exist in Australia and/or New Zealand?

Sexist.

If history books in school were written more like this, I suspect that there would be much less ignorance of history in our world. This is truly masterful telling of an incredible story reduced to a level of intimacy that people can understand and feel a part of. Thank you, Mihangel, for your beautiful craft.

I just stumbled onto this thread and did a search for "Four boys charged in the rape of an 8-year-old girl". It brought up more than 10 pages of hits with this and similar crimes all across the nation and around the world. I gave up after 3 pages, but for the record the oldest boy in this case received probation, the others were charged as juveniles. One of the 9-year-olds was being 'educated' on American justice so he would be competent for trial. What's shocking is not just this case but how many similar cases are out there. And not limited to the US. I frankly don't see a solution beyond the blah blah of "teach them respect" stuff. Tell me all about how well that's working so far.