Guess what we were supposed to do with the overstock.

Tear off the front cover and toss 'em.

Hundreds and hundreds and maybe even thousands of brand new books. It was kind of depressing.

Yeah, it's always sad when we have to strip books. (I work at a Barnes & Noble.) If I see something I like, I grab it so it doesn't go to waste. Unfortunately, most paperbacks are stripped instead of being sent back to the publisher.

ita, Roots are making "Roots Jamaica", and "Roots Kingston" t-shirts and sweats. I don't know why. The Roots store here has a huge Jamaica clothing display.

Truly recalcitrant jars get the awl treatment from me -- pierce the jar top, break the vacuum, and the jar opens easily. (Then put tape on the hole.)

Am I the only person who read Scholastic Book's Biography of Louis Braille as a young child? I don't even like to read the word awl.

I can't open jars for shit. My palms are both soft and tender -- so I have to exert a lot of force to obtain traction, and often end up slicing the skin (especially on plastic ridged caps). It's very pathetic.

For jars, I'm telling ya, tip that jar upside-down and whack it three times on the floor (a wooden threshhold is great).

Signed,
Wimpy McSoftpaw

"Three shall the count be. Not two, unless thou proceedest directly to three. Four shalt thee not count. Five is right out."

Hee. Is that from something, or did you just make it up?

For plastic ribbed caps, you use your shirt. t /ghetto Heloise

And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.'

For jars, I'm telling ya, tip that jar upside-down and whack it three times on the floor (a wooden threshhold is great).

Even easier - just whap it on the counter top or counter edge. Or, use the back of a knife to rap at the corner of the lid in a few places. Breaks up the hardened whatever stuck in the threads.

My aunt uses these textured pieces of rubber she refers to as 'rubber husbands' for jars or anything like that. I had never heard the term (and had no knowlege of the product) at 16, so boy did my head snap around in confusion and a fair bit of horror when she asks me one day "Sara, can you get me a rubber husband?"

And shrift corrects my half-assed memory.

It's the instructions for using the Holy Hand Grenade in "Monty Python's Holy Grail."

"Right! One! Two! Four!"

"Three, sir!"

Five is right out.

who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.

And it's Palin's delivery that really sells it.

Also, I'm amused to learn of ita's achilles tendon. I just need to poke her in the soft fleshy palms.