I Found A Peanut

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Actors Ask: Did Shakespeare Write Shakespeare

Here we go again--another round of "Shakespeare couldn't have written Shakespeare." This time, Sir Derek Jacobi and other actors are launching their attack on the Bard.

One thing I found a bit infuriating: Jacobi and his cohorts are making class judgments by saying the Shakespeare didn't come from the right kind of family in order to write what he did. In addition, they're trying to impose a 2lst Century idea of copyright, accounting, and ownership on a system that did not operate that way.

There's no record of what kind of gifts, vs. modern-day pay, Shakespeare could have gotten from Queen Elizabeth, other royals, or other wealthy patrons. They're also overlooking the fact that many of the plays are based on older legends, stories, histories or earlier plays, so a souind base was there for the more "modern" writer: Shakespeare.

It seems that the idea that Shakespeare could have been, well, Shakespeare, coming from a not-so-lofty background, is a point of debate for many.

Actors including Sir Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance have launched a debate over who really wrote the works of William Shakespeare.

Almost 300 people have signed a "declaration of reasonable doubt", which they hope will prompt further research into the issue.

"I subscribe to the group theory. I don't think anybody could do it on their own," Sir Derek said.

The group says there are no records of Shakespeare being paid for his work.

While documents do exist for Shakespeare, who was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564, all are non-literary.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

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Tags: Derek Jacobi | Literature | Mystery | Shakespeare | Stratford-on-Avon

NJ Contractor Admits Making Substandard Tank Air Filters

Shades of All My Sons!

The Arthur Miller play, based on true events, focused on the personal culpability and tragedies when a manufacturer knowingly ships cracked cylinder heads to World War II pilots, causing many deaths. Now a New Jersey defense contractor has re-created "All My Sons", this time by knowinly making substandard air filters for battle tanks.

This time, however, the conspirators were caught, and the filters, as far as is known, never made it to the battlefields. Among those caught in this fraud: a Defense Department quality assurance representative, who joined the plot and created false documents.

Given that, it's a good guess that bribery may have formed part of this case. The company landed a $1 million contract and decided to risk troops' lives by shaving off costs and processing substandard filters. Now the fines, let alone lawyers and court costs, could cost $1 million or more--and jail time.

But no matter what their costs, the conspirators still won't pay the price that troops who trusted those filters could have paid in combat.

A defense contractor has admitted manufacturing thousands of substandard air filters for the Army’s main battle tank, putting soldiers and Marines at risk, federal authorities said Friday.

The guilty plea by Parmatic Filter Corp., entered Thursday in U.S. District Court in Newark, was the fifth in the case. Two employees, a former employee and a former Defense Department worker have also pleaded guilty. Charges against the company’s president are pending.

The filters for the M-1 Abrams tank were to protect occupants from nuclear, biological and chemical contaminants.

Source: militarytimes.com

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The Peanut Man

The morning is cool, a mist rising off the land. Just past dawn, still sleepy. But you're moving on down the road anyway.

There, under the trees, steam rising from the boiling pot, blending into the wisps of fog. The peanut man.

With the sun still barely tipping over the rounded earth, and the early morning cries of birds, the crossroads up ahead, you think: what did Robert Johnson first see when he met up with the devil? The fire glows hot as the peanut man smiles, chanting "hot boiled peanuts, fresh, sack 'em up. Hot boiled peanuts."

He hands you the sack, wet, hot, tempting with the fullness of hot boiled peanuts. You both smile, changing your money, fragile slip of paper, for what he has to offer: heat, a crunch, a taste like no other, the peanut, extraordinary food.

You hop back in your car. If you're smart, you find plenty of towels, paper or otherwise. Peanut bag goes in your lap, warming you.

Scoop out a hot boiled peanut. Here's where the juice begins, for real. If you know hot boiled peanuts, you don't crack open the peanut and transfer the meat to your mouth.

No, put the peanut in your mouth. Bite down. The warm, salty water, rich with the taste of peanut rushes across your tongue.

Lap your tongue around the peanut and shell. Suck. This is what life tastes like, meaty, salty, and warm, rich.

Remove peanut and shell, extract peanut. Toss shell somewhere. Return peanut, bare, naked, to your mouth. Taste it fully as you chew, the earthy taste of the simple peanut. Packed with protein, served with panache in that cradling shell, the peanut is about as good as it gets in the simple goodness of life.

If you've found a peanut, a whole bag of hot boiled peanuts, you've found food, warmth, sustenance, an entire culture, and something to muse about as you journey on.

Not to mention peanut shells to throw at your brother or buddy. Doesn't matter. The essence is the peanut, rich, rolling in the currents of history, from the Delta to the dawn of a new techno-millenium.

Brother Peanut is going along for the ride. And the peanut man, he'll always be out there, somewhere. No matter how long or hard the trip, suddenly, you round a curve, and there he is, smiling over his pot.

I Found A Peanut

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Actors Ask: Did Shakespeare Write Shakespeare

NJ Contractor Admits Making Substandard Tank Air Filters

The Peanut Man

Think I'm doing a good job? I'd love some fresh tea, thanks!

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