Actually, I figured you'd either answer "None, thanks. I appreciate conveniences like toilets and clothes driers" or that you'd have a favorite author or something.

If I answered the same question honestly, I'd have to go with "None, thanks. I apprecitate conveniences like toilets and clothes driers." But take your time. :)

Matterhorn Fan - Icelandic/Norse folktales, what's the draw - what originally sparked your interest? How much Norse do you know, what's your favorite Norse phrase?

But the really cool people HAD toilets! And servants to wipe their royal posteriors! And they didn't wash their own clothes. I'll have you know I'm strictly an Eleanor of Aquitaine/Elizabeth I kind of girl. You may have noticed that I crave power. I don't want to be beheaded or live in muck or eat sops on a regular basis. I'd need lots of disposible income. And good shoes.

I think part of my problem is that there are so very many things I'd want to see and I'm weighing them in my head and trying to decide if they'd be worth the inconveniences.

But if I had to pick, it'd be the grand dame herself -- Elizabeth I.

Well, I used to wear a lot of black but I've scaled back. The exception is for gigs, where I still tend to. That pic was from a series of promo pics for our band, hence the black.

Sigh, my beloved motor boat cruise. We rode the monorail over the empty lagoon yesterday and my heart sank. I really would like to see them put something similar back into the area, rather than fill it. So yeah, definitely a bit sad.

:)

Good question, and even more difficult to answer now that it's been almost 2 years since I've read any of that stuff. From what I've read, I've come to the conclusion that I like the act of translating much more than I like the actual texts. But the texts themselves can be fun--some more than others. I remember very little Old Icelandic (Old Norse, if you're from Norway), but with a glossary I could translate just as well as before--I can't remember languages because I never speak them (English is the one exception), but they always come back pretty quickly.

My favorite OI phrase, as you know, is one that translates as "Sam was a dandy." Really it means he loved the finer things in life, but "dandy" was definition #1 for the word ("skartsmaðr") in the glossary I was using, and I got a good laugh out of it.

Jumping in here: No, we have not seen the latest Jib Jab. As a matter of fact, I don't believe I've seen any but the original (This Land is Your Land). While amusing, I've grown kinda tired of online flash animation, especially political satire. It's gotten old-hat in my mind.

scaeagles and SacTown Chronic: I'd like to know from each of you who your favorite politician is. Actually, I'd like to hear who your favorite dead politician is, and who you think best captures their agenda today.

Favorite dead politician is a no brainer for me. Ronald Reagan. He was the man who inspired my love of politics. I admired more than anything else his resolve on foreign policy issues. He had a plan to bring down the USSR, and it worked. Without Lady Thatcher he couldn't have done it, but he was the engineer. His ability to simply communicate his conservative ideals is unmatched.

He refused to back down from a strong defensive stance. When his opponents objected to Pershing II nuclear missiles going into Europe, he didn't care. He had the balls to walk out of....crud, either Reykavik or Helsinski, can't recall which....with Gorbachev because he wouldn't compromise on missile defense and convinced Gorbachev that we could and would do it. He rebuilt our military and rescued our country from the disaster of the Carter Presidency.

He is the only politician I can recall that I think really did not care what others thought of him. He was gonna do what he was gonna do and criticism be damned. All in spite of being described as everything from a war monger to frail, stupid man.

I could go on forever about Reagan, but it is those things more than anything else that make me admire him more than any other.

Sadly, there is no one today who can hold a candle to what he was or represented. Neither Bush was or is in his league. I see no Senator nor Representative nor governor who measures up. I once held high hopes for Newt Gingrich, and was a full supporter of the Contract with America, but he was not the communicator Reagan was and eventually could no longer handle the pressure and criticisms and that was the end of him. Rumor has it he'll be running for President, and that would be interesting. However, I cannot name one person who is even close to carrying the Reagan legacy forward.

If I had to name a fovorite politician now, it would be the junior senator from AZ, Jon Kyl. An honorable man, from what I can tell, and consistent in his conservative stance.

I don't really have a favorite politician, dead or otherwise. I don't like 'em, I don't respect 'em, I don't trust 'em. But if I had to choose a fav dead politician, I'd pick FDR. He had integrity and compassion. He cared about all Americans and not just the ones who could help him politically or financially. And I believe the New Deal rescued America from it's darkest hour. The politician who came the closest to being FDR was Clinton. Much like FDR, Clinton was a compassionate leader who had to follow an incompetent president and clean up a messy economy (although the economy that Clinton inherited was nowhere near as bad as what FDR had to deal with).


A special shout-out goes to Jimmy Carter. Maybe not the world's greatest politician, but you'd be hard pressed to find a better man. I just love that man and the humanitarian work he does.

Sac, wouldn't the answer be, "You're right, my favorite politician IS a dead polititian"?