Dave's Journal / Mar2025
Alice: "The March Hare will be the most interesting, and perhaps as this is May it won't be raving mad .... at least not so mad as it was in March."
"Mad as a March hare" is a common British English phrase . . . . and appears in John Heywood's collection of proverbs published in 1546.
Sir John Tenniel's illustration (right) also shows him with straw on his head, a common way to depict madness in Victorian times.
You didn't ask, but .... here is a handy (take it with a grain of salt ! ) chart of the political bias inherent in many "news" outlets.
The tale concerns an emperor who has an obsession with fancy new clothes, and spends lavishly on them, at the expense of state matters. One day, two con-men visit the emperor's capital. Posing as weavers, they offer to supply him with magnificent clothes that are invisible to those who are either incompetent or stupid. The gullible emperor hires them, and they set up looms and pretend to go to work. A succession of officials, starting with the emperor's wise and competent minister, and then ending with the emperor himself, visit them to check their progress. Each sees that the looms are empty but pretends otherwise to avoid being thought a fool.
Finally, the weavers report that the emperor's suit is finished. They mime dressing him and he sets off in a procession before the whole city. The townsfolk uncomfortably go along with the pretense, not wanting to appear inept or stupid, until a child blurts out that the emperor is wearing nothing at all. The people then realize that they have all been fooled. The emperor is startled, but opts to continue the procession, walking more proudly than ever.
Bread to love ....
1930's drama ...
I got curious about "The Grand Duke Sergei" whom Greta Garbo mentions above. Wikipedia to the rescue.....
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia (11 May 1857 - 17 February 1905) was the fifth son and seventh child of Emperor Alexander II of Russia. He was an influential figure during the reigns of his brother Emperor Alexander III of Russia and his nephew Emperor Nicholas II, who was also his brother-in-law through Sergei's marriage to Elisabeth, the sister of Empress Alexandra.
Grand Duke Sergei's education gave him lifelong interests in culture and the arts. Like all male members of the Romanov dynasty, he followed a military career, and he fought in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, receiving the Order of St George for courage and bravery in action. In 1882, his brother, Tsar Alexander III, appointed him commander of the 1st Battalion Preobrazhensky Life Guard Regiment, a position he held until 1891. In 1889, Grand Duke Sergei was promoted to the rank of major general. In 1884, Sergei married Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
He was REAL !!!
Heating Water in Our Microwave
(Once it boils, the temperature cannot increase any more, so I show an approximate cutoff line, based on 66F water starting temperature.)
So now I can easily heat French press coffee water to any exact temperature I desire !! (Life's good.)
Saint Patrick was a 5th-century Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Much of what is known about Saint Patrick comes from the Declaration, which was allegedly written by Patrick himself. It is believed that he was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father was a Christian deacon and his grandfather a priest. According to the Declaration, at the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Gaelic Ireland. It says that he spent six years there working as a shepherd and that during this time he found God. The Declaration says that God told Patrick to flee to the coast, where a ship would be waiting to take him home. After making his way home, Patrick went on to become a priest.
