The Hall of Fire

If Queen Victoria and John Brown were lovers, she wouldn't have been having "something on the side" since she didn't "take up" with Brown until some years after the death of Prince Albert. No one can say now whether they were lovers, or even married (a notion that makes me chortl...

There IS no easy answer. Hard questions never have easy answers. And I see your point very clearly, believe me. My view is that if drugs were decriminalized and the profit taken out, there would be no reason to create new addicts. That's one leg of the stand. As for the already addicted, part of the...

As an aside, I always think it's unfair that poor little Vicky gets blamed for "the Victorian era". She was not a prude herself, she was not a "Victorian" at all, but pretty much a child of the Regency, being born in 1819.

*sigh*

Vancouver, B. C. has a new mayor, a fellow named Sam Sullivan. He's an interesting guy in many ways. He's a quadriplegic, for one thing. He's brilliant, acerbic, outspoken, and much more besides. I don't live in Vancouver, so he's not "my" mayor. Mr. Sullivan very strongly in favour of &qu...

Thanx, halplm. Interesting post. I like this sentence: "People should not become Christians out of fear, but out of love." My, what a different world it would be, eh? When we act out of fear, we are almost always wrong. When we act out of love, we are almost always right. So those who turn...

Whistler wrote:Marvelous post, vision. I'm too impressed to say anything beyond that!

...except, perhaps, to add that this is precisely the sort of thing we had in mind for this thread.

Thank you.

Sadly, Prim, that is very much true when comes to drums, because of the drum circle/community drumming phenomenom. I will definitely be starting a thread about this in The Cottage of Lost Play in the near future. Voronwë, I'm sure you've heard teh old joke? Question: What do you call the loser who ...

Oh, Whistler, you don't need to worry about explaining anything to me. There are mysteries and puzzles in everything, and if you have found your answer, I'm glad for you!

Our points of view are so far apart we are almost at the same place, going around the other way.

What makes a thing beautiful? I want to know. When I was little, I used to love to see the rainbows in the puddles underneath the platform where my Dad changed the oil in his tractor and car. I even used to pour a little oil or gas on purpose into water to see the colours! I poured some on Mum's lit...

I think I must have failed to make my point, Whistler. And I think, by the sound of your voice, that I've offended you. That was certainly not my intention! I'm sorry for it, nonetheless. And I do trust you! I trust you to be Whistler, and I also trust my own ineptness and clumsiness to have managed...

I am SO up for this!

So, would Cerin be, like, An Austen Virgin? Like the thread on another forum, A Tolkien Virgin, a thread I thought might be interesting but never looked into?

This is going to be fun.

Oh, Ethel. I love that poem! I'd forgotten it, somehow. See, Auden knew what you can't know until you're not young any more. The second stanza, from September 1, 1939: Accurate scholarship can Unearth the whole offence From Luther until now That has driven a culture mad, Find what occurred at Linz, ...

In the new "Vanity Fair" there is an interesting article about the guy who wrote those "Left Behind" novels. The article goes into some detail about the influence of Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority on American politics, etc., and a few other things, such as the apparently co...

Sass - so you did! :oops: It was probably reading it in that thread that made me think of it! I'm trying to do too many things at once here. Got to slow down and think before I type. Vison - that sounds as if it came straight out of the drive home you were talking about in the other thread. Did you...

I take your point, Voronwë, and actually, it is my point. I think the Orcs were a terrible mistake, to be honest. And I think Gollum was, too. I think the potential for wickedness of men is sufficient, for the purpose of elucidating the power or attraction of evil. There are many times when I think ...

Athrabeth, I read "A Fine Balance" after hearing parts of it on CBC radio, too!

I loved that book. It's hard, though. I mean, it's a hard world and life and I loved every word of it. Mistry is a sw00nable writer. "Family Matters" is great, too.

Into the tunnel of greengold light, Up the winding hill. Ahead of me creeps Traffic, and each driver is tapping the wheel In impatience, craning necks to see past. I sigh and drum my fingers on the wheel, too, And think hard thoughts of the roadsweeper Whose slow progress has brought Our line of met...

Can you elaborate, vison? Do you mean ... simplified, as in reduced to the minumum. Good/evil. Light/dark. Free will/fate? Oh, I can elaborate all right! But not just now, I'm too caught up in RW stuff at the moment. However, I don't mean "simplified" as much as "curiously.......empt...

I hope people are not confused by the fact that some of us contacted some of our friends by email. That was just a courtesy, to let them know of our existence. One does not need an invitation to post here. Just a computer. ;) Jn I understand that, Jnyusa. But since I wanted to ask her, I feel in so...

Serenditpity at work, I guess. I was thinking about this yesterday whilst driving home in a bit of a blizzard. One does odd things to keep one's concentration at such times. :) I was never in that "other place" very long, so I was unaware of these threads over there. I came late to the par...