Frances Garfield (Brown)

Thanks so much for my birthday card. Have a great holiday and enjoy the new ear!!! Thanks again---Fran Brown

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Scott Mermel

Jack -- I remember reading Walden Pond (or most of it) in Senior English class.  Not long after, I found myself in Boston as a freshman, so I rented a car and made a sojourn to the actual pond about 15 miles outside the city.  I spent an hour or so there in the wilderness and could appreciate Thoreau's writing in a way not even close to the classroom experience.  I even brought back a vial of pond water that I presented to Ms. Zelznick (my English teacher) when I returned to visit Niles West during my first Christmas break!

Stewart Myrent

Janis, in explication of Jack's post about the toilets in Australia.  I believe he gave you some mildly incorrect information.  The toilets in the Northern hemisphere drain in a clockwise direction, not counterclockwise as Jack mentioned, & the toilets in Australia (& the entire southern hemisphere) drain in a counterclockwise direction, at least that's how I've always understood it.  He also mentioned that at the Equator, the toilets drain straight down.  I have no idea about that; I have never heard that, but I do believe that is probably correct.  But, I don't really care how toilets drain in the Northern hemisphere, or the Southern hemisphere, or at the Equator (there are so few countries that lie ON the Equator, so who cares?), & all I really care about is that the toilet I'm using flushes when I pull the little handle.  Thought this topic needed a little clarification, but if you want to believe that in the Northern hemisphere, the toilets drain in a counterclockwise direction (& opposite in the Southern hemisphere), I don't think that it will affect your toilet habits. 

Stewart Myrent

Well, Carol, I wouldn't want you to think that I hadn't given the subject a decent amount of thought.  And when I did, those were the thoughts I came up with.  But, tell the truth, wouldn't you have been surprised (& a little disappointed) if I hadn't expounded so thoroughly?  My real point is, if you got even one laugh out of it, it was worth the thought to me!

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Boris Johnson is elected prime minister of the U.K. 

He may be prime minister for a long time, but he may be the last prime minister of a united kingdom.  Scots are nationalists too, so are citizens of Northern Ireland.

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Forum to Jack, Forum to Jack - everything OK? you stopped on the cusp... "Now about St Nik... "  

"So there are lots of things out there that don't make sense at first, but are absolutely true."  "And that's the truth."  We can't lose our sense about what is "right" and "wrong".  Doing the right thing can be hard.

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Good to know. 👍

Scott Mermel

When I was in Ecuador years ago to visit my daughter on her semester abroad, we visited the equator at a natioanl park located along the line (Ecuador, in fact, was named for the equator which bisects the country.).  There are street vendors who have the water and bowls that drain (like commodes) and for a buck or two, you can test the direction standing just one foot on either side of the equator.  The direction of the swirl does change when you move only a step or two.  Right on the equator it actually depends on whether you are just north or south of the line -- it's impossible to be right over the equator as  (this gets geeky) it's a plane coming out of the earth and has no dimension.  Hope that settles this controversy!

Stewart Myrent

Scott, I aappreciated the story about Ecuador & the Equator.  I have not experienced anything like that, but it must have been totally freaky!

Beverlee Ann Arpan (Marshall)

Jack,  Toilets and time zones.  I would not have thought to associate the two, but your stories are a hoot.  I look forward to more of them. Thanks for sharing.  Bev

Beverlee Ann Arpan (Marshall)

As usual, I agree with you, Carol.  I enjoy Scott’s stories too; also, Paul’s.   I’m not a voracious reader, so find Stewart’s book reports a good series of “Cliff Notes”  on his selections.  Thank you all for sharing.   Would also like to hear  from our professional story teller, Doug Lipman.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Today is Friday, the 13th.

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

👍   
G'day, mate.  What time is it down under?

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Jack, please translate into Aussie lingo:
This girl has game.  Knock me down, I'll get back up.

Beverlee Ann Arpan (Marshall)

All this talk about time reminds me of the words to a song the Kingston Trio used to sing:

“I started on a journey about a year ago, to a little town called Morrow, in the state of Ohio.  

I’d never been much of a traveler, and I really didn’t know, that Morrow was the hardest place I’d ever try to go.  So I went down to the station for my ticket and applied, disregarding Morrow not expecting to be guyed.

Said I, ‘my friend, I’d like to go to Morrow and return, no later than tomorrow for I haven’t time to burn.’

Said he to me, ‘now let me see, if I have heard you right.  You’d like to go to Morrow and return tomorrow night. You should have gone to Morrow yesterday and back today, for the train today to Morrow is a mile upon its way.

If you had gone to Morrow yesterday, now don’t you see, you could have gone to Morrow and returned today at 3:00, for the train today to Morrow, if the schedule is right, will go today to Morrow and return tomorrow night.’  

I was so disappointed, I was mad enough to swear.  The train had gone to Morrow and had left me standing there.  The man was right in telling me that I was a howling jay.  I could not go to Morrow, so I guess in town I’ll stay.”

(There are a few more verses in there somewhere which I don’t remember.)