She converted and like a good Catholic wife, proceeded to bear him 25 children (2 sets of triplets, three sets of twins, and 13 single births) and not only did she survive, all of them did too, to adulthood.

Holy crap. That's incredible.

I come from a very secular nuclear family. Until I was 16 or 17 I had no idea that cereals weren't kosher for Passover.

I think that was one of the things that startled the Jewish kids I went to the HS in Israel program with-- how very secular Israel was, especially since so many of them had applied to the program and gone with this idea of reconnecting with their spiritual roots. Observing from the "outside" as it were, it was fascinating to me.

Holy crap. That's incredible.

Isn't it? The other thing that just blew my mind, thinking about it, was that this grandfather, who was a sugar baron, was wealthy enough to leave his children $80K each when he died.

She converted and like a good Catholic wife, proceeded to bear him 25 children (2 sets of triplets, three sets of twins, and 13 single births) and not only did she survive, all of them did too, to adulthood.

Wow! That makes my Irish Catholic great grandparents slackers only producing a dozen or so kids each.

Why, yes, I've skipped again.

But! It's because today is Polter-Cow's birthday.

Happy birthday, Polter-Cow! With lots of wishes for a great day and a wonderful year!

Also, I'm mentioning this already because it's shabbat soon in my timezone, and the 13th (also known as "tomorrow", still) is billytea's birthday, but in his timezone it's very soon going to be this tomorrow, when I'll be deep into shabbat and not in front of a computer. So early timely timezoned wishes for him, as well!

Happy birthday, P-C!

Happy Birthday, PC!

And, as I may not be on the computer tomorrow myself, Happy Birthday to billytea as well!

Happy Polter-Cow day!

Happy birthday, P-C!

Hil, your co-worker would have me smacking him ... or something ... long ago. You might point him at Loeb's Deli (McPherson Square) - or the Royal Dragon in Rockville.

For the injured - have you tried Vitamin E oil to reduce scarring? I form keloids and it's helped me get rid of some (seemingly you have to use it after the wound's healed but before the scar gets too old).

The geneology is fascinating - I seem to be descended from people who liked to stay put. Mostly. They'd make one big move - to America - and then settle down and not move around a lot (yes, they were still alive). One great-great grandmother is reputed to have had 20 children - several sets of twins - by two husbands. Who were brothers.

Oh, thank goodness -- I finally booked my flight to Vegas for next month. I've been dithering because the prices have been bananas. Somehow a reasonably priced non-stop on USAir (where I'm a freq. flyer) just came up. The only thing is that it's the night before I was planning on going, BUT my friend will already be there for work, so I can crash in her paid-for hotel room! Phew.

Happy Birthday Polter!

I saw a good display of dickish driving this morning. We had cutting people off, going straight from turn only lanes (both left and right) which entailed more cutting people off, stopping well into the intersection at lights, and also even pulling in front of the first stopped car in an intersection.

In a good bit of Irony though, he/she never got very far from me while I just happily drove in the right lane the entire way.