Also - Hagrid's not Ms Goodall! shakes head. He is clearly and most definitely the Wizarding World's answer to Steve Irwin. His love for all bitey poisonous critters is a deep and tender love, and he regards their vicious and blood-thirsty snappings and thrashings as nothing more than evidence that they're 'A grumpy little fella'

OMG - Fay this is it! Exactly. No wonder ita cannot stand him. He only needs to marry Rita Skeeter and have her publicize his adventures with magical creatures with some sort of tv show. (On a Wizarding Channel, of course.)

Coincidentally I started Krakatoa on the bus this morning. He is quite the digresser, isn't he! It's a vast change in pace from Seabiscuit, which raced along. This is a meander.

This may be a stretch, but what about Klinger in MASH? He isn't very good at his job, he's eccentric, he doesn't fit in, he's less educated than the people around him, and the "good" people accept him as he is.

Aside from the funny but disconcerting picture this brings up, I think this might fit with early Klinger. Later in the series, Klinger developed into a more three-dimensional character. He became smart, effective, and, of course, wore a uniform.

He is quite the digresser, isn't he!

It's like reading an episode of Connections, except we don't always end up back in the same place.

Can someone with a better Brust-memory remind me -- what is the cycle of the Teckla supposed to be like?

Poor, nasty, brutish, and short?

Are Teckla nasty and brutish? They seem meek and self-effacing. And the cycles are of various lengths? It's been so long since I read the more modern ones. I forget they mythology.

As I recall, it usually starts out as some sort of peasant commonwealth created by a revolt against the despotic Orca, and ends up getting bought out by the Jhegaala. Yes, the individual cycles do vary, but there are minimum and maximum lengths. Not sure what they are, but I think the shortest length is 289 years and the longest is 4913 years. Multiples of 17 and all that.

I get the impression that Teckla reigns are on the short side.

Oh, so the transitions are determined by the nature of the houses too. So much I have forgotten. I'm reading Lord Of Castle Black right now, and it seems a little naïve of Kana to think he can force the cycle to turn by having a Phoenix say "tag! you're it!" Does that represent a lack of knowledge on his part, on the society's part on how they turn?