The South Will Rise Again ....

[SandChigger]

Means it decided you were too big to eat but not big enough to be a threat.


(Were there peeing frogs or toads in that garden, too? )

[Eyes High]

I just Googled copperhead snakes - those are some serious snakes you guys have got out there! I found a snake in the garden once when I was a kid, it was some green thing, not very big. It didn't do much, just looked at me and slithered off.

Sounds like a garden snake. I use to catch those as a kid. My momma would get so mad at me.

From what I have Australia has the worst snakes in the world. Don't know if they have the most, just the most who are deadly. Schu? HBJ?

[Hunchback Jack]

(Where IS Schu? Haven't seen him around)

Not the most snakes, but the most deadly snakes, and most of the snakes that are deadly

As kids we lived in the 'burbs, but we still saw snakes often enough for our parents to tell us to *leave them alone*. No, really, *leave them alone*. If you stay still and give them an escape route, they'll use it. That's why most Australians I know think the Crocodile Hunter (God rest his soul), was a bloody idiot.

The brown snake's a bit different though; if you're close to it and it sees you moving, it'll come after you. They're stroppy by nature.

HBJ

[A Thing of Eternity]

I just Googled copperhead snakes - those are some serious snakes you guys have got out there! I found a snake in the garden once when I was a kid, it was some green thing, not very big. It didn't do much, just looked at me and slithered off.

Sounds like a garden snake. I use to catch those as a kid. My momma would get so mad at me.

From what I have Australia has the worst snakes in the world. Don't know if they have the most, just the most who are deadly. Schu? HBJ?

We have those here too, don't know how the hell a reptile survives winter... anyways, they're pretty neat. I never had any wildlife to worry about killing me (grew up in the country) other than MAYBE if the coyotes got very hungry, or a cougar wandered over from the mountains.

[SandChigger]

(Where IS Schu? Haven't seen him around)

Haven't noticed him active on Facebook the last few times I've logged in, either. The last I heard, he had auditioned for Caiaphas in Jesus Christ Superstar, but I don't know if he got it or not.

The brown snake's a bit different though; if you're close to it and it sees you moving, it'll come after you. They're stroppy by nature.

Oooh, sound like a snakey after me own heart!


(They hibernate, Thang, what else? )

[A Thing of Eternity]

(They hibernate, Thang, what else? )

Well yes, but I don't see how a cold blooded animal pulls that off, I would think it would be unable to maintain it's body heat just sleeping, would probably freeze solid. Maybe they tunnel down below the frost level... hmmm.

[SandChigger]

Where's that biologist fellow when you need him?

IANAB, but I think If something (plant or animal) freezes solid, the water inside its cells expands and ruptures the cell membranes, destroying them. When the whatever unfreezes, it's usually dead because of massive tissue damage. But they've discovered that some animals (frogs or toads, I think it was; don't know for snakes) synthesize a substance that acts like antifreeze and keeps the cells from rupturing. Or something like that. Saw it on Discovery.

But you're also right I think: they burrow down deep enough to be below the frost line.

[Robspierre]

Don't forget the dreaded trouser snake, the bane of parents and teenage girls world wide

Rob

[A Thing of Eternity]

Where's that biologist fellow when you need him?

IANAB, but I think If something (plant or animal) freezes solid, the water inside its cells expands and ruptures the cell membranes, destroying them. When the whatever unfreezes, it's usually dead because of massive tissue damage. But they've discovered that some animals (frogs or toads, I think it was; don't know for snakes) synthesize a substance that acts like antifreeze and keeps the cells from rupturing. Or something like that. Saw it on Discovery.

But you're also right I think: they burrow down deep enough to be below the frost line.

Yes, that is my wonder about how they survive, because those anti-freeze creatures were all frogs (or at least amphibians) IIRC, and not reptiles. So how would a snake do it? Burrowing below the frost is the only way I can think of to avoid freezing.

[SandChigger]

Burrowing below the frost is the only way I can think of to avoid freezing.

Aye, but then you're no snake, are you?


(Oh, Robbo. Put ON some trousers, laddy! )

[SandRider]

Battles for the Armory 2010
3 Day Event - October 29th, 30th and 31st - Tallassee, Alabama

This annual event is a family oriented event that you don't want to miss out on. Visit this site often for updates for the 13th Annual Battle For The Armory in October 2010.

Historic Gibson's View Plantation provides expansive open fields well suited to cavalry, with camping areas that have piped water and shower facilities. Modern camping available with water, but no hook-ups. If the Lord provides water, we will provide hay for cavalry horses. We will make every effort to have hay available if possible. As always firewood will be plentiful and there will be ample powder rations to the first 10 full-scale guns registered before Oct.10th.


Battles for the Armory is sponsored by the "Tallassee Armory Guards" SCV Camp 1921 and is hosted by the 53rd Alabama Cavalry. Proceeds from this event go towards various WBTS historic preservation projects with our main emphasis on the Confederate Armory Project here in Tallassee, last standing Confederate Armory in the South.

http://www.tallasseearmoryguards.org/re ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've just firmed up plans for this one - figgered that over the next four years, with all the National
Sesquicentennial events, I might as well get used to traveling for encampments again ...

I've mentioned before that my second great-grandfather was in the 53rd Alabama Cavalry (Partisan Rangers),
and I've been an "honorary" member of the 53rd Re-enacted since the late 80s - these boys have always
been "hardcore", and I did some events with them a long time ago, but I had stopped doing the serious
"hardcore" events about the time they started this event, so I've never been ...

but I haven't made a pilgrimage to Alabama in a long time, and this year I'll have all the time I want -
do the event, go stomp around the old family places in Pike and Lowndes counties, spend as much time
as I want digging in the old county courthouse records and the archives in Montgomery, see my old
buddy Bob McClendon and his museum .... (Bob literally "wrote the book" on the 53rd)

in fact, that's how I came to decide to do this event - I'm going up to a family reunion in Arkansas this
coming week, and going to the cemetery where my Veteran is buried - I'd already contacted the SCV
group in the area, and have a small color guard coming and a few rifles for a salute; I've got a carved
mesquite marker I've been working on and off on for several years now .... it's done and this will be the
opportunity to get a lot of the descendants there, a lot of the young ones who haven't really been
properly educated in their family history and heritage because their parents turned out to be stupid ....

anyway, I emailed Bob to tell him about it, and he directed me to the site about the October event;
said he'd been doing it since they started, and while there is a huge "hardcore" element, they'd let
old guys like me (with a direct descendancy from a 53rd cavalryman) slide on a lot of the sillier
rules ...



and Freak, don't take Tom's prices at face value; he can be talked down and traded out of just
about anything - his son, not so much - but as with all clothing & equipment, use the net
as a guide to what's available, what the price ranges can be; your first stuff should be a gift
from friends who want to suck you into "the hobby" - after that, the best stuff is used items
that you trade other folks for at encampments - the sutler's tents at event should be used for
"window shopping", putting your hands on items you might want to get in the future ....
things should only be purchased from sutlers at events if:

1) they have something you have to have for the event right now, something you forgot or broke
2) they have a specialty or hard-to-find item (not likely)
3) they are your personal friends and you want to give them some gas money ...

UN08 - Regimental Sack Coat Unlined ( No Trim ) ( 7 Button Front )
( Your Choice of Buttons ) Military Collar Inside Pocket, Also Available with Lay Down Collar, and Brass Dome, Pewter or Wood Buttons, 5,6,7,or 8 Hole Pattern, Also Shoulder, Cuff and Collar Trim.
Colors: Mixed Gray, Tuscaloosa Gray, Cadet Gray, Butternut, Richmond Gray
* Sizes 36 thru 54 - $ 79.00
* Sizes 56 thru 60 - $ 107.00


UN09 - Basic Shell Jacket Unlined ( 7 Button Front) Military Collar, Inside Pocket ( No Trim - Your Choice of Buttons )

* Sizes 36 thru 54 - $ 79.00
* Sizes 56 thru 58 - $ 107.00

ADDITIONS TO BASIC SHELL JACKET OR SACK COAT

* UN10 - Cotton Muslin or Lining - Add $25.00
* UN11 - Set of Belt Loops - Add $15.00
* UN11A - Set of Shoulder Tabs - Add $15.00
* UN12 - Front Color Piping - Add $8.00
* UN13 - Extra Jacket Length ( 9 Buttons ) Richmond Depot - Add $15.00
* UN14 - Colored Collar and Cuffs - Add $8.00


http://mercurysutler.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Mercury Supply Company Sutler
101 Lee Street
Livingston, TX 77351
Phone: (936) 327-3707
Fax: (936) 327-3791

Tom & Thelma Barry (Proprietors)

The more time I spend around "hardcore re-enactors", the more they remind me of supermodels ...
always bitchin' about their hair and braggin' 'bout how much weight they done lost since the last event.
~ "Bear Claw" Smith

[Freakzilla]

That's only a three hour drive from my house...

[SandRider]

send me your measurements -

chest, arms from pits to wrist,
waist & inseam, shoe size ....

if I don't have enough extra stuff lying around,
I can get it borrowed .... take a look at the
regs for the event on the site ....

lie to your wife ...

tell her you're going to Vegas with two strippers and a midget ...

[Bijaz]

send me your measurements -

lie to your wife ...

tell her you're going to Vegas with two strippers and a midget ...

Whooppee! Freak's taken me to Vegas

[SandChigger]

Actually, traveling with a sexually ambiguous midget can be quite... interesting.



Did I type that out loud?

[merkin muffley]

I'm from Gettysburg, the High Water Mark. I grew up a five minute dictahike from Pickett's Charge, on the Confederate line.

[Freakzilla]

I'm from Gettysburg, the High Water Mark. I grew up a five minute dictahike from Pickett's Charge, on the Confederate line.

So, a Yankee.

[D Pope]

1st St. Louis Artillery, Conferate. I miss re-enacting, did you ever make it to Pilot Knob here in Missouri?

[Bijaz]

So, a yankee.

A spankee! whooppee!
Viva las vergas!

[merkin muffley]

So, a yankee.

A spankee! whooppee!
Viva las vergas!

I'm a Yankee stripper serving under Fighting Joe Hooker

[SandRider]

hooker
"prostitute," often traced to the disreputable morals of the Army of the Potomac (American Civil War) under the tenure of Gen. "Fighting Joe" Hooker (1863), and the word probably was popularized by this association at that time. But it is said to have been in use in North Carolina c.1845 ("If he comes by way of Norfolk he will find any number of pretty Hookers in the Brick row not far from French's hotel."). One theory traces it to Corlear's Hook, a disreputable section of New York City. Perhaps related to hooker "thief, pickpocket" (1567), but most likely an allusion to prostitutes hooking or snaring clients. Hook in the figurative sense of "that by which anyone is attracted or caught" is recorded from 1430; and hook (v.) in the figurative sense of "catch hold of and draw in" is attested from 1577; in reference to "fishing" for a husband or a wife, it was in common use from c.1800. All of which makes the modern sense seem a natural step. The family name Hooker (attested from c.975 C.E.) would mean "maker of hooks," or else refer to an agricultural laborer who used a hook (cf. O.E. weodhoc "weed-hook").
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Q From Vince Baughan, UK: In a biography of General U S Grant, there was mention of a charismatic American Civil War general called ‘Fighting Joe’ Hooker, and his female camp followers, known as Hooker’s women, or Hookers, for short. Do you know, is this the origin of the word Hooker for a lady of negotiable affections, or is it folk etymology?



General ‘Fighting Joe’ Hooker.
It wasn’t him, honest.


A This is a persistent story in the USA, but it’s untrue.
General Hooker was a real person, though one who wasn’t universally popular — one biographer calls him “a conniver and carouser” — because he was quarrelsome, deeply disrespectful of his superiors, a womaniser, a drunkard, and (worst of all) an unsuccessful soldier. Hooker’s headquarters were described as a combination of bar and brothel into which no decent woman could go. It is also said that his men were an undisciplined lot who often frequented prostitutes (a red-light area of Washington is supposed to have briefly been called Hooker’s division for this reason). So it’s not surprising that hooker is often assumed to derive from his short-lived command.

However, there’s a fatal flaw: the word is recorded several times before the Civil War. It’s listed in the second edition of John Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms of 1859 and another example is known from North Carolina in 1845. An even earlier instance was turned up by George Thompson of New York University in The New York Transcript of 25 September 1835, which contains a whimsical report of a police court hearing in which a woman of no reputation at all is called a hooker because she “hangs around the hook”.

This obscure reference is to Corlear’s Hook, an area of New York. Bartlett suggests the same origin for the term, based on “the number of houses of ill-fame frequented by sailors” in the area. Though this origin sounds plausible, it may well be that John Bartlett and others who made this connection were falling victim to an earlier version of folk etymology.

There is some evidence to suggest that it really comes from a much older British low slang term for a specialist thief who snatches items using a hook. In 1592, in a book on low-life called The Art of Conny Catching (conny or cony, the old word for a rabbit, was then a cant term for a mark or sucker), Robert Greene says that such thieves, “pull out of a window any loose linen cloth, apparel, or else any other household stuff”. The implication is that the hooker catches her clients by similar, albeit less tangible, methods.



World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion, 1996–2010. All rights reserved. See the copyright page for notes about linking to and reusing this page. For help in viewing the site, see the technical FAQ. Your comments, corrections and suggestions are always welcome.

[/quote]
Ted Faber writes:

While reading Shelby Foote's _The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume II_, I came upon the delightful assertion that we get our slang term "hooker," meaning prostitute, from General "Fighting Joe" Hooker who apparently kept quite the lively headquarters. I've checked a couple more scholarly sources for this etymology and had no luck confirming it. Can you confirm or deny?

The slang term hooker 'a prostitute, esp. a streetwalker' does not stem from the name of Maj. Gen. Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker (1814-79).

General Hooker was certainly known for his eccentricity; Ulysses S. Grant described him as "a dangerous man...not subordinate to his superiors." He was also known for the poor character of his men, who got into trouble for abuses of liquor on a fairly frequent basis. Popular stories attribute the word hooker to the general Hooker in several different ways; sometimes it is said that his men were especially desirous of prostitutes when on leave, and sometimes one hears that Hooker actually let his men keep prostitutes in the barracks.

However, Hooker is not responsible for the word hooker, simply because the word predates the Civil War by a good margin. The earliest known example of the word is found in 1845, in North Carolina: "If he comes by way of Norfolk he will find any number of pretty Hookers in the Brick row not far from French's hotel."

Another pre-Civil War example is found in the second edition of John Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms in 1859; Bartlett defines hooker as "A resident of the Hook, i.e. a strumpet, a sailor's trull." He goes on to make the unlikely speculation that the word is "So called from the number of houses of ill-fame frequented by sailors at the Hook (i.e., Corlear's Hook) in the city of New York."

Some historians have suggested that hooker was, if not coined, at least popularized during the Civil War, and that our general was indeed the cause of this popularization.

The true origin of hooker seems to be the earlier verb hook meaning 'to entice; swindle', and the agent suffix -er, with hooker thus meaning literally 'a person that entices; a swindler'.

Maven's Word of the Day
randomhouse.com[/quote]



.... in case any of you were wondering; however, despite the fact that I have known this tidbit of
etymological history for quite some time, it has never deterred me from propagating the story at
living history events and re-enactments for, lo, these past 20 years ... feel free to do the same
at any and every opportunity, and also take a quick search of the details of the Battle at Chancellorsville,
where "Fighting" Joe Hooker lost his nickname, and soon after, command of the Army of the Potomac ...

and I'll leave y'all with that, I'm going to Arkansas for a family reunion; I'll be back next week, or I'll be in the
Jefferson County jail ....

[merkin muffley]

Interesting stuff. Doubleday didn't really "invent" baseball either. Hooker definitely got his ass handed to him at Chancellorsville. I just took somebody to Cemetery Ridge in Gettysburg today and explained, from Culp's Hill, how different things would've played out if Jackson hadn't been shot.

I also talked about the Michael Shaara book, "The Killer Angels", and how that was one of my favorite books growing up, and what a shame it was that the prequels/sequels written by his son were such a terrible letdown, and how a very similar thing happened to another one of my favorite books around the same time...

[Hunchback Jack]

Not really on topic, but anyhoo ...

http://xkcd.com/787/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

HBJ

[D Pope]

The one with the wind turbines was great!

[Spicelon]

Interesting topic, as the wife and I just watched Ken Burns Civil War documentary. First time I watched since it originally aired. We went to the Wilson's Creek National Park just outside of Springfield last year. Fascinating stuff!

I drift back and forth on the issue of slavery as a factor in the Civil War. Well, of course it was a factor and such, but the documentary was quite illuminating as to the North's "rationalization" for the war. The North was very adamant that Lincoln NOT make slavery the central issue.

I also am a Missourian, living in Lawrence, KS. If anybody knows anything at all about "bleeding Kansas" then you'll appreciate the irony of my living situation. People here still get their panties in a bunch whenever the subject comes up, like I am somehow still being held accountable for something that happened 160 years ago. Anyway, Missouri was a fucked up place to be then (and some might argue still is). As split as this state was, we still sent four soldiers to the Union for every soldier who fought for the Confederacy. Kansans hate that when I bring it up after they call me a "slaver".