OK, so I guess you'll all know what the link is between addled acid-heads and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's nest, but with so much talk of literary gubbins on the list at the minute, and with the eminent surfacing of L.L.L.L. (Laura Llew's Literary List), I thought I'd stick my heavily unwanted oar in. The author of One Flew etc., etc., Ken Kesey, was a pivotal point in the rise of acid in the sixties (Hopkins, shut yer eyes, man. This is about hippies). Along with his group of Merry Pranksters, they formed the part of the acid movement that took Leary's educational drugs study ethic and turned it completely on it's head. These people existed to get completely corked off their respective gourds and be as up-front and loud about it as they could. They eventually formed what would go on as a profit-making venture way after the prankster movement started to dissolve; Acid Tests. Large gatherings of people who turned up at certain locations and got utterly f***ed on L.S.D. whilst listening to the Grateful Dead and watching trippy light shows. In short, it was a bit like my house on a Saturday night.* Which brings me to my literary point, and yes, if you were starting to wonder, I have got one. If you are at all interested in the above, (Ken Kesey and the pranksters, that is, not my house on a saturday night), then I would recommend that you buy and read "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" by Tom Wolfe. It's a quite riveting, often enlightening read about Kesey and the Pranksters and the feelings and experiences they went through. It's also written like Wolfe himself was on acid when he authored it - styles therein have been nicked more than once, most notably by Irvine Welsh. Anyway, onto matters bee and essy. Hurrah. I left the house this morning whistling Expectations in a manner that, well, frankly only I can, and noticed that there was a huge bird sat on the chimney of a house across the road that seemed to be cawing roughly in time with my disastrous whistles. Anyway, in a bid to test the theory that our feathered friends are partial to a bit of Belle and Sebastian now and again, I stopped whistling. I am nigh on delerious to report that it stopped as well. When I started again, so did the bird. After shitting myself rigid for a couple of minutes thinking that this was the Poetry Parrot, and I would have to recite the entirety of "Macavity the Mystery Cat" to the list, I realised that parrots are brightly coloured and this 'ere bird was black. All over. I reckon it was a crow. Well, either that or the Pottery Pterodactyl. Anyway, I think I have proved conclusively that either: a) Birds love B&S, or b) my whistling sounds like the mating call of your common-or-garden crow. Unfortunately, I know which my money is on. To finish up, Claire said:

To the man whose name means c***, do not worry this term was highly acceptable in the 14th century as a term for the fanny. In 1811 however it was a nasty name for a nasty thing. Sorry.

On this side of the pond, it still is a highly acceptable term for the fanny. Or it is round my neck of the woods, anyhow. Hasta la fister, lol p xx. *This is a lie. My house on a saturday night is totally empty. I'm always down the pub. -- -----------------------------*||*-------------------------------- "Edgar Malroy said, 'A supermarket trolley that believes in God,' and then burst out laughing. He laughed like this: Ahhhh-ooo Ahhhh-ooo. I told him I wasn't the only one." Bo Fowler - "Scepticism Inc." Pete Ramsdale - Unix Systems Administration, Warburg Dillon Read Phone: 0171 568 3836 -----------------------------*||*-------------------------------- This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required please request a hard-copy version. This message is provided for informational purposes and should not be construed as a solicitation or offer to buy or sell any securities or related financial instruments. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+