The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Journey to the Cross-roads
The Two Towers Edition

Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)

Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.

[JenB]

How come the Arabs got to name most of the stars, anyway? I'd like to name a star (and not those phony radio offers I hear all the time). How about the ones in Orion's belt? We could name them Narya, Nenya, and Vilya, after the Elf rings...

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

It's funny, all the ads for the Flowbee show it being used on guys or dogs. Never on a woman, hmmmmmm....

I need a haircut and a beard trim myself... but I don't like getting haircuts, so I've been putting it off.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

How come the Arabs got to name most of the stars, anyway?

You know, I don't know. Just speculating, but maybe the Arabs were the only ones making star charts during the Dark Ages, and when Europe started the Renaissance they picked up where the Arabs left off, keeping the names?

How about the ones in Orion's belt?

Arabs beat you to it... Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. I don't know what the names mean though!

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

I don't know what the names mean though!

I should have kept looking... Alnitak is "the girdle," Alnilam is "the string of pearls," and Mintaka is "the belt." Hmm... according to the site where I found the names, early Christians identified the same three stars as the Three Magi, who brought gifts to the infant Jesus. Interesting!

[JenB]

In Tolkienology, Orion is called Menelvagor (or Menelmakor, sometimes) and is identified with Turin or another great human hero who will lead the fight against Morgoth at the end of time.

[SuziQ]

Rogers' gentle manner was the butt of some comedian's jokes. Eddie Murphy parodied him on Saturday Night Live in the 80's with his Mister Robinson's Neighborhood, a routine Rogers found funny and affectionate

Makes me think even better of the man, if he could laugh at himself. I always love 'Mister Robinson's Neighborhood'! "Can you say on-ta-ma-nure"?

[Alkhin]

Have been making some adjustments to my blog, and would really like it if y'all could help me come up with a quote for a LOTR picture I have there (towards the middle)...something that would be obviously conservative in tone...I'll credit the good people here!!

Can y'all help me?????

[Corin Stormhands]

When we lived in DC friends of ours owned a company that provided author escorts, usually around to major media outlets. I drove for them some between jobs. I didn't get many big names, but I did drive a producer out to Tom Clancy's place once.

Anyway, a friend of ours sent this e-mail today. I thought you'd like to read it:

I woke up this morning to the news of Fred Rogers' passing, and it hit me like a ton of bricks: our culture has lost a truly great man. Fred Rogers was "a letter to us from Jesus," (whom he loved and served). You see, Fred was the most other-centered person I have ever met. It was my privilege to work with Fred as his host/publicist during many of his media tours of Washington and Baltimore. Through many book signings and media appearances, I watched as he looked deeply into the eyes of each person he met, and with great admiration, I observed a renaissance man who seamlessly wove his expertise of theology (he was an ordained Presbyterian minister), music and child development into a fabric which rested on people as a blanket of love and empowerment. I chuckled as he asked me if it would be okay if I rode in the back of the limousine alone so that he could ride up front with the driver and get to know him. I wept as he guided me through the discovery of my son's severe disabilities and his empowering words which built my confidence to parent this child. Yes, it is a sad day in the neighborhood, but he left our neighborhood a much better place and I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to be a recipient of this letter of love and gracious.

[JenB]

Hmmm...

"Die liberal scum" may be a little far out. "Freedom!"?

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

In Tolkienology, Orion is called Menelvagor

Wasn't he identified as the son of Tulkas, or did Tolkien change that? I've spent so much time reading the History of Middle Earth I don't know anymore which of the legends were final and which ones were early versions that got changed later.

Orion is my favorite constellation... it's so easy to identify in the sky.

[ecurbh]

I've been wondering where you were. Goodness...how many websites do you have?

Just a few. The Hobbit Hole is the only one that is really done. I am also working on one for my photography, and a general personal site, with lots of funnies and stuff.

[JenB]

The "last" version I know of has Menelvagor identified as Turin, I believe. I could be wrong.

It couldn't be the son of Tulkas because the children of the Valar didn't make the final cut in Tolkien's mythos.

I'm going to bed now. See you tomorrow night!

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

The version I was remembering was from the Book of Lost Tales, I think, so it could easily have been supplanted by later reworkings.

Have a good night!

[SuziQ]

I hate the new WTC building 'thing'.

It's better than the alternative. That one looked like two radio towers with an airplane stuck between them!

One thing I DO NOT like about the chosen design is his use of the slurry walls as part of the designs. Pardon the expression, but those walls are just butt-ugly!! Cover em up or somethin!!

I kind of like that Wedge of Light; he designed it to be in a place that receives sunlight for the longest time during the day. The other buildings kind of spiral upward, each one successively taller. Our son said he heard on the news that the tallest stucture was designed to go up to 1776 feet in honor of the year we declared ourselves independent of Great Britain! That's cool.

[HairOfTheDog]

We could all hope to have such a Eulogy!

I am tired.... not enough sleeping last night. I tried to go play video games, but I am too slow... I was just a target. How irritating!

Good night!

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Me? I can't even come up with a decent tagline for myself!

Hmm... I keep thinking of some of the rallying cries that have been popular on FR over the years, like "Get out of Cheney's house!" during the election fiasco, or "I want my muffler!" during the tax-cut debate.

Hope that helps!

[SuziQ]

We're going to watch Spiderman!

We got that from Netflix yesterday and our kids just loved it! I plan to watch it Sunday afternoon.

[Corin Stormhands]

G'nite all. This was a frustrating day.

I'm turning in. Now that I've finished the antibiotic for the sinus infection (that had me deaf in one ear), I'm fighting off a cold and a sore throat...

I may play hooky tomorrow. (hookey? hookie?... HOKIE, I can spell!)

[SuziQ]

Oh, Corin, that just brought me to tears. We spent many a day in Mr. Roger's Neighborhood when the kids were little. I loved it because it was such a peaceful alternative to the frenetic pace of Sesame Street. He was the best for addressing kids' fears and helping them through tough times; the puppets in the Neighborhood of Make Believe had some very sophisticated problems which could be addressed in a non-stressful and very kid-centered way.

He will be missed.

[SuziQ]

Oh, Corin, that just brought me to tears. We spent many a day in Mr. Roger's Neighborhood when the kids were little. I loved it because it was such a peaceful alternative to the frenetic pace of Sesame Street. He was the best for addressing kids' fears and helping them through tough times; the puppets in the Neighborhood of Make Believe had some very sophisticated problems which could be addressed in a non-stressful and very kid-centered way.

He will be missed.