At The Helm

Captain Tom at the helm of Mistral IV, his C&C 30 Mk I, out of Larchmont, NY. Sat., May 21, 2001, 7-10 kts N, partly sunny, about 70 ° F. Staying put and leisurely cruising between Larchmont, Hempstead Harbour, and Rye Playland, we did not catch any fish this day.

Mistral IV cruise to Oyster Bay

Mistral IV, the beloved frog-green C&C 30 Mk I, is back in the waters for about three weeks now and plows through the Western Long Island Sound. Here are some impressions from a leisurely cruise from Larchmont to Oyster Bay.

Upwind...

Entering Oyster Bay, NY, on our C&C 30 Mk I on a pretty calm day. I join Rob, Tom, and John Stanback on the Long Island Sound on a day of weak winds, with no fish caught, but otherwise full of pleasure.

...and downwind - with Spinnaker!

Leaving Oyster Bay, NY, on the Long Island Sound, we head towards Stamford, CT, at weak southerly winds - barely enough to fly the spinnaker of our trusted C&C 30. Still two weeks shy from Memorial Day, there aren't too many other boats in the water yet.

Planet Lincoln Center

Planet Lincoln Center, a photo by jankor on Flickr.

 Come over for a fresh load of little planets on my flickr page...

The Wind

We know what pain is

... but that doesn't keep us from sailing. For the crew of "Mistral IV" the season starts probably next week.

Damn Computers

A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
Emo Philips

96th St Station

96th St Station, a photo by jankor on Flickr.

Uptown Blues

Steerer

Steerer, a photo by jankor on Flickr.

More New York lingo, this time crook speak!

More New York lingo, this time quoted from the peculiar Almanac for New Yorkers, 1939 (p. 123), edited by the Federal Writer's Project:

Underworld Lingo

When crooks talk out of the corners of their mouths the words issuing there from might puzzle or frighten a good citizen. For the underworld speaks a sort of code lingo of its own intended only for use by the boys in the family. The words are vigorous, highly descriptive, often contemptuous. "Cow-simple" means to be in love. A "tomato can" is a policeman's badge. However, up-and-coming criminals must learn the lingo the hard way, for crime syndicates are not known to distribute textbooks on the subject. Here are a few pointers:

Alvin: a rustic; a hick; an out-of town visitor
Boob: a jail
Booster: a shoplifter
Cannon: a pickpocket
Case the joint: to inspect the scene of a proposed crime
Chop suey: shut up
Cow-simple: girl crazy
Cush: a wallet
Ding: to beg on the main street
Dummy racket: beggar pretending that he is deaf and dumb
Finger: a pickpocket
Five specker: a five-year term in prison
Gay cat: a tramp who works occasionally
Glue: to take, steal
He's away: he's in prison
Jiggers: shut up, look out, be careful
Johnson: a tramp
Junk: dope
Lamister: fugitive, escaped convict
Mickey: a bottle
Mope: walk
Mug: cop, detective
Prowler: a house burglar
Riffler: a beggar
Roscoe: a gun
Rumbled: detected while committing a crime
Screw: a prison guard
Shiv: a knife
Slang: watch chain
Steerer: crook who introduces victims to a gang
Super: a watch
Tomato can: policeman's badge
Topped: executed via the chair or gallows
Twist: a girl
White Line: alcohol

Example: "The steerer got an alvin. We took his super and cush-some mugs rumbled us, flashed the tomato cans, and now we're in the boob with a five specker."


See also my quotes of New York lingo from the 1938 issue of the Almanac in the picture Whatchawaidinfoar?

Coney Island Blues

Coney Island Blues, a photo by jankor on Flickr.

The old features get razed, and so the history of this famous site in South Brooklyn.

Praised Language

"How to Avoid Huge Ships", "Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers", "People Who Don't Know They're Dead", or "The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories" - nothing is too far fetched to score in a competition of the oddest book title of the year. If you have a minute or two, I recommend browsing at least through the list in the Wikipedia article for the Diagram Prize (see just below) - I promise, you won't regret it.

The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, originally known as the Diagram Group Prize for the Oddest Title at the Frankfurt Book Fair, commonly known as the Diagram Prize for short, is a humorous literary award that is given annually to the book with the oddest title. Wikipedia article

The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (BLFC) is a tongue-in-cheek contest that takes place annually and is sponsored by the English Department of San José State University in San Jose, California. Entrants are invited "to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels" – that is, deliberately bad. According to the official rules, the prize for winning the contest is "a pittance", or $250.
Wikipedia article

The Lyttle Lytton Contest is a diminutive derivative of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, and was first run in the year 2001. Both are tongue-in-cheek contests that take place annually and in which entrants are invited "to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels." The Lyttle Lytton Contest varies from the Bulwer-Lytton in favouring extremely short first sentences, of 25 words or fewer. Since 2008, the maximum word count was increased to 33 words.
Wikipedia article

And to illustrate all this, here is the blog post 11 Strangest How-To Books, loaded with title pictures and Amazon links, followed by the like Yet Another 12 Insanely Titled Books and Another 10 Insanely Titled Books and 15 Most Insanely Titled Books, and...