response 321 of 480:

Nov 24 16:58 UTC 2003

Yes the bowsprit is in front.  The sail on it must be the spritsail.
What is a gaffer, if a gaff is a spar at the top of a sail?

The Polynesians had sailing ships up to 100 feet long, with a platform resting
on two dugout canoes.  I think they had only one sail.  In the 1830s a lot
of the sailors were natives of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii).  They were very
good swimmers.  Sailing ships included merchant ships, military ships,
privateers (pirates), slavers, and whalers  The author said that the whalers
were very good at rowing but not very good at working with sails, and that
they did not wear the usual matching outfits (white cotton in summer, blue
wool pants in winter) but dressed like farmers or fishermen in all colors of
pants, with suspenders.  The crews amused themselves at times by having rowing
or sailing races, they sang while hoisting up the anchor, fiddled, and told
tall tales.  They also traded books between ships and read a lot.
The author got a packet brought to him by another ship containing cloth to
make a new Sunday best outfit, and one year old letters, and one year old
Boston newspapers.  He read every word including the auction sales.

response 323 of 480:

Nov 24 20:11 UTC 2003

What is an Aubrey-Maturin novel?  I don't think I need an Atlas to understand
the book I am reading right now, just some detailed drawings of ships.

Jim went over and made two attempts to provide our guest with a working
washing machine.  The replacement control (switch) worked worse than the old
one and the backup machine no longer works (after sitting about 10 years in
the basement it does not even fill).  Our grateful guest sent back her
equivalent of chicken soup for a cold (it has large chunks of ginger in it)
and some boiled peanuts with anise, and a type of pudding made probably out
of sticky rice flour (it is nearly as sticky as taffy) and dried chestnuts
and jujubes.

I have just been offered more translation work.  I had to explain that I might
be about to get an awful cold (with no immunity - but Jim has been sick for
a few days and I am still okay) followed by three days of headache, and I
wanted to have the option of returning it a couple of days late.  

We might be going to a potluck Thursday on the organic farm if we are all
well.  I cannot plan life very far ahead yet.

response 325 of 480:

Nov 24 23:38 UTC 2003

Sindi, Jack Aubrey is the captain in _Master_and_Commander_; Stephen Maturin
is his ship's surgeon.  The books about their adventures were written by
Patrick O'Brian.

A friend pointed out that Hornblower was a 20th-century man placed in the 
early 19th century.  Aubrey and company seem much more to be men of their 
times.

In what context was 'gaffer" used?

response 327 of 480:

Nov 25 01:34 UTC 2003

Then a gaffer is  a lighting electrician on a motion-picture or television
set.

response 329 of 480:

Nov 25 15:06 UTC 2003

(The current issue of _Smithsonian_ has an article on the Aubrey books & their
author, FWIW.)

response 331 of 480:

Nov 25 21:12 UTC 2003

Yup. From the web: "To be 'three sheets to the wind' is to be drunk. The
sheet is the line that controls the sails on a ship. If the line is not
secured, the sail flops in the wind, and the ship loses headway and
control. If all three sails are loose, the ship is out of control." 

I would only add that only some boats have three sails (and sheets), so
you can also be out of control with one or two - and more - "sheets to

response 333 of 480:

Nov 25 22:30 UTC 2003

"Gaffer" usually means "boss"; Sam Gamgee's father and
predecessor as Bag End's gardener in Lord of the Rigns was
known as Gaffer Gamgee, on account of his being an
authority on all things gossipy, probably.

response 335 of 480:

Nov 26 06:05 UTC 2003

The definition of gaffer I gave in #327 was #4 copy/pasted from the
Merriam-Webster online dictionary. At least they have caught up with the
"times".

response 337 of 480:

Nov 26 13:25 UTC 2003

I have also come across 'gammer'.  Jim says the electricians are the ones who
are in charge at construction projects because they are there throughout most
of the job.  He was once an apprentice electrician for a year.  This year he
might get around to switching from fuse box to circuit breaker panel.  The
insurance company says that can cut the rates 30%.  It will also cut our
heating costs by 2/3 if he finishes the wiring.

response 339 of 480:

Nov 27 01:37 UTC 2003

Today I read an Agatha Christie novel whose blurb starts off:

For thousands of years the ancient city of Baghdad had been the scene of every
kind of evil known to mankind.

The book continues with something about a secret organization stockpiling
nuclear weapons somewhere in the mountains in some place like
Baluchistan.....There is a band of men, mostly young men, so evil in their
hearts and aims that the truth would hardly be believed....Antichrist!....
There must be total war--total destruction.  The small chosen band of higher
beings...when destruction had run its course, they would step in and take
over.

Apparently the current paranoia is not recent.  

Today my legs are still so wobbly that I did not go for a walk.  It feels as
if I would pull a muscle in my calves if I tried, or my knees would bend the
wrong direction.  This seems to be getting worse each cycle.  I was warned
the side effects could be cumulative.  Some people do eight cycles somehow.
But I am much better than in July-September.  They told me things would
average out between getting generally stronger and the side effects getting
worse in some ways.  Hands are shakier than last time.

response 341 of 480:

Nov 27 03:30 UTC 2003

This group was supposedly trying to set the Americans against the Russians
(in 1951, McCarthy era) so that they could take over the world after both
sides lost.  Agatha was still writing novels in 1973 and died in 1976.  The
Baghdad novel was slightly autobiographical in that she really did go to
Baghdad and she also met and married an archeologist there, as did the
heroine.  There was reference to avoiding charming and lovely men - her first
husband must have been both, and he fell in love with someone else after they
married and moved out.  She wrote a 1973 Hercules Poirot novel in which the
main character is an elderly lady with a servant who writes murder mysteries
and is friends with Poirot and hates to give speeches.  
The heroine of the Baghdad novel likes to invent stories about herself.

response 343 of 480:

Nov 27 15:02 UTC 2003

As predicted, got swollen glands in my throat and a headache yesterday evening
but they went away overnight and with luck will not come back.
I want to thank whoever entered invisible-to-me responses in the last ten
items for treating this one seriously.  I plan to post it at my site after
I am done with therapy for other patients to read.  Which is why I continue
to discuss side effects even though it must be dull for grexers.

My tongue is working better than last cycle and I plan to enjoy our Chinese
Thanksgiving dinner today.