I keep getting confused who the Normans are...I get them mixed up with the French, even though they conquered France along with England, so I figured I'd do some research this morning:

English is an Anglo-Frisian language brought to Britain in the 5th Century AD by Germanic settlers from various parts of northwest Germany. The original Old English language was subsequently influenced by two successive waves of invasion. The first was by speakers of languages in the Scandinavian branch of the Germanic family, who colonised parts of Britain in the 8th and 9th centuries. The second wave was of the Normans in the 11th century, who spoke Norman (an oïl language closely related to French).

While modern scholarship considers most of the story to be legendary and politically motivated, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reported that around the year 449, Vortigern, King of the British Isles, invited the Angles to help him against the Picts. In return, the Angles were granted lands in the south-east. Further aid was sought, and in response came Saxons, Angles, and Jutes. The Chronicle talks of a subsequent influx of settlers who eventually established seven kingdoms.

These Germanic invaders dominated the original Celtic-speaking inhabitants, whose languages survived largely in Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Ireland. The dialects spoken by the invaders formed what would be called Old English, which resembled some coastal dialects in what are now north-west Germany and the Netherlands. Later, it was strongly influenced by the North Germanic language Norse, spoken by the Vikings who settled mainly in the north-east (see Jórvík).

For the 300 years following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Norman kings and the high nobility spoke only Anglo-Norman. A large number of Norman words were assimilated into Old English. The Norman influence reinforced the continual evolution of the language over the following centuries, resulting in what is now referred to as Middle English.

During the 15th century, Middle English was transformed by the Great Vowel Shift, the spread of a standardised London-based dialect in government and administration, and the standardising effect of printing. Modern English can be traced back to around the time of William Shakespeare

/going back to coffee and thinking about chocolate.

I found this great site describing Passover.  Our church is holding a Jewish Messianic Seder tonight, and I have no idea what it is so I thought I'd look it up.  This site not only describes the seder (dinner) but just about everything else involved: history, tradition, references, etc.  Like, " Probably the most significant observance related to Pesach involves the removal of chametz (leaven; sounds like "hum it's" with that Scottish ch) from our homes. This commemorates the fact that the Jews leaving Egypt were in a hurry, and did not have time to let their bread rise. It is also a symbolic way of removing the "puffiness" (arrogance, pride) from our souls," hence, unleavened bread.  I never knew that!  Also, "The grain product we eat during Pesach is called matzah. Matzah is unleavened bread, made simply from flour and water and cooked very quickly. This is the bread that the Jews made for their flight from Egypt."

"The day before Pesach is the Fast of the Firstborn, a minor fast for all firstborn males, commemorating the fact that the firstborn Jewish males in Egypt were not killed during the final plague. On the first night of Pesach (first two nights for traditional Jews outside Israel), we have a special family meal filled with ritual to remind us of the significance of the holiday. This meal is called a seder , from a Hebrew root word meaning "order," because there is a specific set of information that must be discussed in a specific order. It is the same root from which we derive the word "siddur" , (prayer book)."

A seder is simply a Seder Home ritual performed on the first two nights of Pesach, or passover.  This is pretty interesting stuff...from Wikipedia it says, "Passover (Hebrew: פסח; transliterated as Pesach or Pesah), also called חג המצות (Chag HaMatzot - Festival of Matzot) is a Jewish holiday beginning on the 15th day of Nisan, which falls in the early spring and commemorates the Exodus and freedom of the Israelites from ancient Egypt. Passover marks the "birth" of the Jewish nation, as the Jews were freed from being slaves of Pharaoh and allowed to become servants of God instead...The primary symbol of Passover is the matzo, a flat, unleavened bread which recalls the bread that the Israelites ate after their hasty departure from Egypt. According to Halakha, this bread is made from a dough of flour and water only, which has not been allowed to rise for more than 18–22 minutes. Many Jews observe the positive Torah commandment of eating matzo on the first night, as well as the Torah prohibition against eating or owning any leavened products — such as bread, cake, cookies, or pasta (anything whose dough has been mixed with a leavening agent or which has been left to rise more than 18–22 minutes) — for the duration of the holiday."

And for Easter: "

In most languages of Christian societies, other than English, German and some Slavic languages, the holiday's name is derived from Pesach, the Hebrew name of Passover, a Jewish holiday to which the Christian Easter is intimately linked. Easter depends on Passover not only for much of its symbolic meaning but also for its position in the calendar; the Last Supper shared by Jesus and His disciples before His crucifixion is generally thought of as a Passover seder, based on the chronology in the Synoptic Gospels. The Gospel of John has a different chronology which has Christ's death at the time of the slaughter of the Passover lambs, which may have been for theological reasons but which is regarded by some scholars as more historically likely given the surrounding events. This would put the Last Supper slightly before Passover, on 14 Nisan of the Hebrew calendar. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "In fact, the Jewish feast was taken over into the Christian Easter celebration."

The English and German names, "Easter" and "Ostern", are not etymologically derived from Pesach and are instead related to ancient names for the month of April, Eostremonat and Ostaramanoth respectively. According to the 8th century Christian monk and historian Bede, this month was dedicated to the pagan fertility goddess Eostre. The Easter Bunny is often identified as a remnant of this fertility festival, although there is no evidence of any link."

Well, if you want to know more there are plenty of links available here...I'm still reading :)

Ben and I had an incredible 10 minutes last night...I was "late", which is understandable to some degree because I'm used to24-25 day cycles, and after Glenn I'm on a 26-27 daycycle, so it's messing with my head. But it was day 27 and I was getting really curious, so I took a test in the morning and it was negative. Oook. 10pm, still nothing, so I go back to check the test again, and suddenly there's an extra line there that wasn't there in the morning.

Oook. So, I use the second test, for confirmation, and it's saying negative. So, Ben and I are walking(well, pacing) and I'm not handling this information as gracefully as I thought I might have (wailing on the couch). So, we go back to check these two conflicting reports again, and I check the instructions...and there it says "discard any information after 10 minutes." Woo! And at that moment, literally, I got my cycle. Pth :) Very emotional 10 minutes last night. Wow. So, I'm calling my doctor today and going on the stinking Pill.

The honest truth is that another child would still be wonderful.  There is nothing like a babe in your arms :)  I spent an hour sleeping with Glenn on the couch this morning, and there is absolutely nothing that can compare with how beautiful moments like those are.  But, both of the kids are still in diapers (Nova is being potty trained, but it's not a priority for her atm), and I couldn't imagine having 3 in diapers at the same time.  That would just be overwhelming.  And I just finished my second 10 pound child...I remember the last few months vividly. 

I'm very enthusiastic about having more...I would really like 4 kids.  But, a little later, when Glenn and Nova can take care of themselves (4-5).  Ben and I were both worried that if I actually was pregnant, that this child would have the story that I cried when I first found out...and that isn't something that I would want one of my kids to know.  I ran around rejoicing and calling everyone with Nova and Glenn, and I figure I'll do the same with the 3rd..just not yet :) I'm still pretty happy being "just me."

Shibboleth :

river, or an ear of corn. The tribes living on the east of Jordan, separated from their brethren on the west by the deep ravines and the rapid river, gradually came to adopt peculiar customs, and from mixing largely with the Moabites, Ishmaelites, and Ammonites to pronounce certain letters in such a manner as to distinguish them from the other tribes. Thus when the Ephraimites from the west invaded Gilead, and were defeated by the Gileadites under the leadership of Jephthah, and tried to escape by the "passages of the Jordan," the Gileadites seized the fords and would allow none to pass who could not pronounce "shibboleth" with a strong aspirate. This the fugitives were unable to do. They said "sibboleth," as the word was pronounced by the tribes on the west, and thus they were detected (Judg. 12:1-6). Forty-two thousand were thus detected, and "Without reprieve, adjudged to death, For want of well-pronouncing shibboleth."

"Today, a shibboleth is any word or phrase that can be used to distinguish members of a group from outsiders. The word is also sometimes used in a broader sense to mean specialized jargon, the proper use of which identifies speakers as members of a particular group or subculture. For example, people who regularly use words like "stfnal," "grok," "filk," and "gafiate" in conversation are likely members of science fiction fandom. Shibboleths can also be customs or practices, such as male circumcision.

Cultural touchstones and shared experience can also be shibboleths of a sort. For example, people about the same age tend to have the same memories of popular songs, television shows, and events from their formative years. Much the same is true of alumni of a particular school, veterans of military service, and other groups. Discussing such memories is a common way of bonding.

A shibboleth can also be the manner in which a word is spelled. For example, the Perl programming language is sometimes written PERL (in all capital letters, representing the backronym Practical Extraction and Report Language), which is a sign to Perl community members that the document lacks respect for the published materials, and is therefore from an outsider. This is frequently used to distinguish "good" job offers or books (ones that understand Perl culture and conventions) from "bad" ones. Likewise, writing Ada as ADA shows that the writer is unfamiliar with the Ada programming language, which was named in honor of Ada Lovelace."

Trolls are amazing things.  I wish to explore the delicate nature that is the troll, due to the amazing proliferation of their existance:

"A troll is a fearsome member of a mythical anthropomorph race from Scandinavian folklore. Their role ranges from fiendish giants – similar to the ogres of English fairy tales – to a devious, more human-like folk of the wilderness, living underground in hills or mounds, inclined to thieving and the abduction of humans which, in the case of infant abductees, was substituted with a changeling. They could also be known as hill-folk or mound-folk. In Shetland and Orkney tales, trolls are called trowe...

In literature

In J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth, trolls are very large (around 9 feet tall) and immensely strong humanoids of poor intellect..."

Trolls are generally considered to be large, intimidating, powerful creatures of dull intelligence.  Their power resides in their intimidating personalities and overwhelming stature.  This brings us to the newest troll creation:

"Internet troll: troll is someone who comes into an established community such as an online discussion forum, and posts inflammatory, rude or offensive messages designed to annoy and antagonize the existing members or disrupt the flow of discussion...For many people, the characterising feature of trolling is the perception of intent to disrupt a community in some way. Inflammatory, sarcastic, disruptive or humorous content is posted, meant to draw other users into engaging the troll in a fruitless confrontation. The greater the reaction from the community the more likely the user is to troll again, as the person develops beliefs that certain actions achieve his/her goal to cause chaos. This gives rise to the often repeated protocol in Internet culture: 'Do not feed the trolls.'"

According to Wikipedia, there are a few different types of trolls: one-shot trolls, disruptive trolls, attention-seeking trolls, along with a few other subcategories involving specific trolling patterns, such as attacking specific religions, countries, ideas, etc.  Motivating factors to professional trolling include (but are not limited to) playing the devil's advocate for the purpose of creating interesting conversation, amusement, personal demons/issues, inferiority issues, or, I believe, the inablility to put into practice common etiquette they learned when they were children and the unwillingness to consider outside ideas as feasible, as well as the blatant disrespect for any authorities due to their own (the trolls) overwhelming sense of self-importance.

This is an interesting character to befriend in this day and age.  I suggest anyone find one and discover trolling on a first-hand basis!  It's exhilarating!

I have been up to my eyeballs in projects this past week, and I think I just finished the last one (woo!).  I made a quilt between Thursday night and Saturday morning for a woman who has been living here since her house was destroyed in NewOrleans, read a poem during the Palm Sunday service (which was awesome, except that I was shaking like crazy), a few odds and ends that I can't remember but I'm sure I have written down on an index card around here somewhere, and I just finished editing the second edition of a poetry journal.  So, I thought I'd take a break and read the news:

"WINDHOEK (Reuters) - Pregnant Hollywood siren Angelina Jolie and boyfriend Brad Pitt have taken refuge in a remote Namibian game lodge where wild lions will help protect them from the media, a Namibian newspaper said on Monday."

Well, what else are you going to do when you have more money than half the nations in the world?  Guard dogs in Beverly Hills?  Noo...  Private Security service?  Nay, my friend.  African Lions?  Ding!  We have a winner!

It's absolutely astounding how much money actors have.  I didn't watch the recent Acadamy Awards show, because I have no idea who most of the people are.  We haven't been going to see movies since a ticket reached $10, since the quality of movies had been killed, and since we had Nova.  It's just not really worth it anymore.  And plus I have this thing about germs, and I just hate being in the theatre where hundreds of people have been, and it's not been cleaned.  But that's another issue...

What my point about the Awards ceremony is: Wolfgang Puck was the chef, and he made a celery broth soup with gold flakes in it.  This reminded me of the times in England where the rich were so rich, that they would swallow diamonds just to prove how rich they were.  That diamond could have fed innumerous families, but to the aristocrat, it meant very little; and that is what the soup reminded me of.  And Ms. Jolie, who is being protected by African Lions, but giving birth in France to honor her French mother: it is so freakishly extravagant, it just boggles my mind.

I will very happily point out that despite my personal grievances with these seemingly unrestrained expenses, most of these bazillionaires are also devoting a good chunk of their income for very good humanitarian causes.  So, I am not giving an ignorant opinion of the situation: I am grateful for their charities into causes that are greater than my ability to assist.  But, still....African Lions.....wow.