Buckle up, kids! Daddy's puttin' the hammer down.

Spike ,'Touched'


Natter 63: Life after PuppyCam  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Strega - Mar 31, 2009 7:20:22 pm PDT #13296 of 30000

Anyone know what the racial demographics were for London in Dickens' time? I'm seeing some people arguing that there's no reason that Nancy couldn't be black, and I'm wondering about the stats.

Behold my google-fu:

As the 18th century drew to a close, Britain's Black population was well established, breaking free from slavery - but usually very poor, sometimes destitute. The first-generation immigrants were overwhelmingly male, supplemented by arrivals of Black sailors, plus 4,000 Black refugees who had fought for George III against the American Revolution. Black people integrated and intermarried into poor white urban populations, and entered the nineteenth century sharing in the misery and historical anonymity of the British poor.

[link]

That mentions a contemporary estimate of over 20,000 blacks just in London. I found another source which used official records & extrapolated to figure the population in the early 1800s was between 10K and 18K.

And now I've learned things and can go to bed. Whee!


§ ita § - Mar 31, 2009 7:43:45 pm PDT #13297 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Simon Baker's American accent is a bit wobbly tonight. And I suck at accents.


Burrell - Mar 31, 2009 7:44:50 pm PDT #13298 of 30000
Why did Darth Vader cross the road? To get to the Dark Side!

Ugh ita.

I don't think I've eaten anything terribly exotic, although lord knows definitions of exotic can vary. I don't think of goat or rabbit as exotic. Snake's getting there, sarameg, but I haven't had snake. Does eel qualify as exotic? I've had eel. Buffalo. Ostrich. I've had ostrich, if that qualifies. I had the opportunity to try crickets but didn't.


§ ita § - Mar 31, 2009 7:53:53 pm PDT #13299 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

I can't believe I've let my sister stress me out this much. But I hate how much they'd rather rely on me than thinking.

Crickets are probably the most exotic thing I've eaten, Maybe I had ants too--it was at Typhoon restaurant at the Santa Monica airport. But definitely crickets.

I don't think eel counts as exotic anymore, with the popularisation of sushi.


Burrell - Mar 31, 2009 7:59:16 pm PDT #13300 of 30000
Why did Darth Vader cross the road? To get to the Dark Side!

I don't think eel counts as exotic anymore, with the popularisation of sushi.

That was my thinking too, but then I wondered if maybe I was just defining exotic as "things Burrell hasn't eaten."

Hmm. I just found some of Franny's hair in the bathroom. It seems that while I was washing up after dinner, she went and gave herself bangs. I somehow didn't notice? But I just went and checked her wee sweaty, sleepy head and yep, bangs.


§ ita § - Mar 31, 2009 8:10:15 pm PDT #13301 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

That's so cute! My childhood foray into haircutting went less...well, it was more obvious.

But it wasn't my head.

90210 other spoiler: Silver is manic/depressive. I hope they diagnose and treat her very soon. Because I'm following, like, two people right now.


aurelia - Mar 31, 2009 8:44:13 pm PDT #13302 of 30000
All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story. Tell me a story.

But it wasn't my head.

I did that too. My Ernie (of Sesame Street) hand puppet got a flattop and my brother got a more unique cut.


bon bon - Mar 31, 2009 10:19:56 pm PDT #13303 of 30000
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.

Your 2009 google April Fool: [link]


Steph L. - Apr 01, 2009 2:27:37 am PDT #13304 of 30000
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine

Your 2009 google April Fool:

Including this for Gmail: [link] (Which I'd LOVE to have for the political spam my family sends me.)


Theodosia - Apr 01, 2009 2:48:22 am PDT #13305 of 30000
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"

As usual, Google raises the bar for April Fools. The Republican Budget is going to have to work hard to equal the awesomeness.