They missed the tip that’s been making winter warmer for lactose-intolerant me. Stir up your own hot cocoa mix with 3/4 cup cocoa powder mixed with 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice optional. You can reduce the sugar a bit to taste. 2 1/2 tablespoons of this stirred into a cup of hot lactose free…

I used to do home brew projects with an ex years ago. We never had a beer bottle blow up, but lost nearly an entire batch of ginger beer.

I really enjoy the Retraction Watch blog. The bloggers carry on regardless of whining, complaints and outright threats from the people whose misdeeds and blunders they cover.

I recently read The Bone Clocks and really wished someone had persuaded Mitchell to take out the unpleasant subplot about literary feuds that blights a good third of the book. I enjoyed the fantasy/sf plots, but could have done without titles like Dessicated Embryos and people ruining one another’s lives to score…

You mention a link, but I don’t see it.

Those do sound good, and are minus the migraine-producing nitrates of meat dogs.

I couldn’t possibly afford enough booze to make it through that lineup.

“Tea that doesn’t taste like fermented tar”? So he’s not going to use the hyper-tannic oversteeped cheap Indian tea with too many spoons of sugar that George Orwell thought was a “proper cup of tea”?

Indeed, but being British doesn’t give the author license to rephrase quotes to make them conform to British usage. It’s as if she quoted an American menopause expert’s article and stuck in an extraneous o in every “estrogen “.

I find myself dubious of the quoted passages of “jokes”, which purport to be American, but use British phrasing. Americans say “menopause ” not “the menopause”, and “hot flash” not “hot flush “.

I have a galvanized tin coal scuttle sort of thing that has survived three winters with no rust. Most of my plastic pots do well, but the little strap things on hanging baskets tend to perish, so when I turf out the pansies that bloomed from August to May for summer blooms, I often need a new basket.

It’s a shame you didn't publish this during apple picking season.

A friend of mine and I once wrote a script for a mystery theater game in which the victim’s Campari was poisoned and he never noticed because of the strong taste of the aperitif. I would rather not drink something so bitter it makes me shudder. It reminds me of childhood experiences with quite nasty medicines.

I always feel as if the persons texting me care MORE when they use proper spelling, grammar, punctuation and properly formatted links.

Pratchett apparently has no grave, which seems appropriate for a humanist. However, if he did, I ‘vd thought the best epitaph for him would have been “Where the falling angel meets the rising ape.”

Carrying back?

Abomitable?

I like Squid brand. Cheap, tasty and available at most international groceries! It’s today's garum—indispensable for recreating ancient Roman recipes.

Thanks for writing ISIL instead of ISIS. If only we could convince the news media to do the same.

Now that I wouldn't spit out. I find the smell and taste of bourbon nauseating.