Jerry Stratton's Blog

The Sanctus, in Latin, contains two words borrowed from Hebrew. Even the English translation keeps one of them, because the original is difficult to fully translate.

Many cookbooks, especially community cookbooks and often advertising pamphlets, leave off the year. Often, however, there are solid clues in the text that narrow down when the book was published, through simple online searches.

When I acquire a cookbook without a publication or copyright year, I use the advertisements and contributors to make a stab at the likely year of publication. This page provides those guesses in case it helps you date your own books.

Totemic medicine isn’t medicine at all: it’s murder. Government-run health care always requires magic.

Mel Gibson’s The Patriot is disparaged for the ruthlessness it portrays among the British. But such barbarity certainly did exist. One massacre by British troops is still remembered by the residents of Cherry Valley, New York.

Some houses were born evil: an adventure for first-level Gods & Monsters characters, designed specifically for convention games but fun for all.

Some houses are born evil. Delarosa Manor is a mashup of Hill House, Phantasm, and similar books and movies. This is an adventure for first to second level characters, and designed specifically for convention use.

It’s movie time! A friend of mine has started a new movie channel on YouTube, and it promises to be a standout.

Grandma’s “Dark” Bread, from the original Crock•Pot manual, is a wonderful graham-flour bread and very easy to make in a coffee can in your slow cooker. It’s a great choice for National Sandwich Day this November 3.

The legend of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis to Washington at Yorktown says that the band played “The World Turned Upside Down”. It probably didn’t. But we’re going to print the legend anyway.