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We ought to ask thea when she comes back:

Of the names Caspar, Balthazar, and Melchior

Balthazar comes Bal=lord or owner and X. (as in Balzebub, from Bal and Zvuv -- Lord of the Fly; or the common BalHaBait: head of or owner of the house (homeowner, head of household)). The odd thing here is the t, since there is no "th" in Hebrew. If it were BalHaHazar, it would be lord of swine--but it isn't, so the question is what is "zar" (Ha being the prefixed article (whatever that's called).)

Melchior is likely M'El Ki Or = from God as (like) light. The prefix mem (M) has a grammatical function turning a into an action upon something, as I remember.

Caspar would be "like" (C again) X.

My guess would be that the three wisemen weren't wisemen at all but an angels (M'luchim -- messengers or agents of God), that is, that they were themselves the gifts.

IP


#23490 03/28/01 07:51 PM
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McPhee also has a book. Travels with the Archdruid, which is about several trips he made with David Brower, one of the progenitors of today's environmental movement, who died last year. It's a very enjoyable book, and offers some really interesting insight into a great person.

Info on hyla andersonii : http://www.uga.edu/srel/pine_barrens_treefrog.htm - beautiful critter.

Hyla verbosii


#23491 03/28/01 11:53 PM
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Sounds like the case of the supposedly priceless coin bearing the date "252 B.C."...

Hey, I bought me three of them, from some guy called Caspar. Are you saying they're duds?


#23492 03/29/01 03:12 AM
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Info on hyla andersonii...- beautiful critter.

But surely not more beautiful than thou, Hyla verbosii.






#23493 03/29/01 10:06 AM
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<<hyla andersonii>>

A term of endearment I have used: "My little tree toad," but Hyla is so much simpler.

-Binky


#23494 03/29/01 10:28 AM
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Bridget

Have thought about it for a while and decided my favourite 'comfort' books (the ones I return to again and again) are:

The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery - for children, and everybody's read it, but hey, surely that's still allowed)

Leave it to Psmith (P G Wodehouse - where the urbanity of Psmith is the perfect foil for the madness of Blandings Castle)

Feet of clay (Terry Pratchett - funny, touching - a detective fantasy that's a plea for humanity)

Death in the afternoon (Ernest Hemingway - not fiction, and full of bllodlust, but gripping, and endlessly fascinating)

Kim (Rudyard Kipling - which I never get bored of recommending - for me the ending is like Eliot's shantih - the peace that passeth all understanding, and always makes my day happier)

cheer

the sunshine ('om shanti om') warrior


#23495 03/30/01 10:08 AM
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Kim (Rudyard Kipling - which I never get bored of recommending - for me the ending is like Eliot's shantih - the peace that passeth all understanding, and always makes my day happier)

Damn! And there was me, rooting for Sher Khan!



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#23496 03/30/01 09:59 PM
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I have just this minute finished reading Deric Longden's
_The Cat Who Came in from the Cold_, and at the risk of sounding like my teenage daughter, it is adorable! I read it straight through--wonderful!

I suppose if I had to say that any one book is my favorite, I would have to say _Daddy_, by Loup Durand. I like my books and movies with a lot of action, and this has some
heart-stopping suspense, as well as teaching me some things about WWII that I had not realized.


#23497 03/31/01 04:22 PM
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One a couple of us like and more others don't is "Do the Windows Open," by Ann[e] Hecht. It is a collection of short stories originally published in the New Yorker and published sequentially as something vaguely similar to a novel. It is , to my mind, a hilariously--and sensitive--trip through the racing thoughts of a Neurotic CT housewife.


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