Comments for FinermanWorks

Comment on To Heir is Human by Hal Gordon

Hal Gordon — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:11:10 +0000

And it does give a lovely light. Thanks for the illuminating commentary.

Comment on To Heir is Human by Hal Gordon

Hal Gordon — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:09:39 +0000

“I burn my scandal at both ends…”

Comment on Questionable Birth Announcements by Hal Gordon

Hal Gordon — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:28:37 +0000

Eugene — Disraeli would have agreed with you. When Albert died in 1861, he observed, “We are burying our sovereign.”

Hal

Comment on The Tenuous Tudors by MARY ANN JUNG

MARY ANN JUNG — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:11:51 +0000

But it all turned out just swell since the corpse-climbing trait was genetic and heartily endorsed by his descendants. Apparently it’s true that mutts can be stronger than purebreds!

Comment on On This Day in 636 by Bob Kincaid

Bob Kincaid — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:06:27 +0000

Ah, Eugene, this is where you shine.

Literally “for want of a nail . . ” or, in this case, a spine, the kingdom was lost.

I wonder about that Arab cavalry. Did they have the stirrup? The Romans never did.

The stirrup, seemingly simple, transformed the cavalry from mounted infantry to a force able to fight from horseback. If the Caliph’s boys had stirrups, it would explain a lot. Well, that and the sandstorm.

It’s amazing that the Byzantine Empire held on for another 800 years.

Comment on The First Tax Lawyers by Eugene Finerman

Eugene Finerman — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:24:25 +0000

Dear Mary Ann,

Robin was not a physical dud. Had his looks matched his mind, he would have been cleaning the stables–and botching that job, too.

And there are still Dudleys and they are still good-looking. One of Edward VII’s mistresses was a Dudley-Ward. (The Ward side of the family had money–which the Dudleys always needed.) For a more recent example of the family’s pulchritude, there is the Earl of Dudley’s granddaughter Rachel Dudley-Ward. She dropped the Dudley when she went into modeling and acting; she probably dropped her social standing when she married Bryan Brown. “Ra, luv, can ya get me ‘nother beer.” (But they have been together for more than 20 years!)

Comment on The First Tax Lawyers by MARY ANN JUNG

MARY ANN JUNG — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:10:20 +0000

Morton’s two-sided economic policy was called “Morton’s” Fork” since you were forked either way! When I met my husband 20 years ago he was playing Robert Dudley and I was his secret wife, Lady Lettice Knollys-”That She-Wolf” as Queen Bess liked to call her. So I’m a little less harsh on Dudley’s abilities. At least he wasn’t a Spanish spy as the Elizbeth movie depicted. And anything that kept Lizzy in good temper meant less heads rolling around the floor!

Comment on The Auntie Christ by Peggles

Peggles — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:50:03 +0000

Oy! (LOL)

Comment on Beat Your Children Well by Eugene Finerman

Eugene Finerman — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:24:43 +0000

And once Frederick was on the throne, he disbanded his father’s regiment of giants. These men, many of whom were simple-minded, were left wandering the roads.

Comment on Beat Your Children Well by Hal Gordon

Hal Gordon — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:15:28 +0000

Actually, if you wanted to please Frederick William I on his birthday, you might have presented him with a giant or two. He adored tall guardsmen, and even resorted to kidnapping tall men from neighboring kingdoms. The man was a “crowned ogre” and an oddball — but he laid the foundations for his son’s greatness by creating an efficient bureaucracy and an even more efficient army.