dazey's New Writeupshttp://everything2.com/?node=New%20Writeups%20Atom%20Feed&foruser=dazey2001-02-26T11:03:47Zaccumulator (thing)http://m.everything2.com/user/dazey/writeups/accumulatordazeyhttp://m.everything2.com/user/dazey2001-02-26T11:03:47Z2001-02-26T11:03:47Z<p>A type of <a href="/title/bet">bet</a> in which winning the whole bet depends upon winning a <a href="/title/series">series</a> of individual bets. The <a href="/title/winings">winings</a> (if any) from the first bet are the <a href="/title/stake">stake</a> for the next, <a href="/title/conceptually">conceptually</a>, however, the <a href="/title/realistic">realistic</a> way to calculate your potential winnings is to multiply the <a href="/title/odds">odds</a> of each bet together. You risk more, you might win more.</p>Shrove Tuesday (thing)http://m.everything2.com/user/dazey/writeups/Shrove+Tuesdaydazeyhttp://m.everything2.com/user/dazey2001-02-14T12:49:46Z2001-02-14T12:49:46ZThe day before <a href="/title/Ash+Wednesday">Ash Wednesday</a>, the first day of <a href="/title/Lent">Lent</a>. In <a href="/title/Britain">Britain</a>, traditionally the day on which people attended <a href="/title/church">church</a> to be <a href="/title/shriven">shriven</a>, or cleansed of their <a href="/title/sins">sins</a> following <a href="/title/confession">confession</a>. Shriving is <a href="/title/symbolise">symbolise</a>d by a thumb-mark in <a href="/title/ash">ash</a> on the <a href="/title/forehead">forehead</a> of the <a href="/title/confessor">confessor</a>, put there by the <a href="/title/minister">minister</a> or <a href="/title/priest">priest</a>. I don't know of this happening much within the <a href="/title/Church+of+England">Church of England</a> any more, but the children from the <a href="/title/Catholic">Catholic</a> school at the end of my street (<a href="/title/St+Mary%2527s+Primary">St Mary's Primary</a> in <a href="/title/Edinburgh">Edinburgh</a>) can be seen parading back from the <a href="/title/cathedral">cathedral</a> every Shrove Tuesday with ash on their <a href="/title/brow">brow</a>s.
<p>Also known as <a href="/title/Pancake+Day">Pancake Day</a>, because of the tradition of eating <a href="/title/pancakes">pancakes</a>, which arises from the <a href="/title/traditional">traditional</a> <a href="/title/Lenten">Lenten</a> <a href="/title/fast">fast</a>, in which <a href="/title/fat">fat</a>, <a href="/title/eggs">eggs</a> and <a href="/title/milk">milk</a> can't be eaten. Conveniently, along with <a href="/title/flour">flour</a>, these <a href="/title/ingredients">ingredients</a> make pancakes, and so pancakes were made to use up the left-over <a href="/title/forbidden">forbidden</a> foods before the fast started on <a href="/title/Ash+Wednesday">Ash Wednesday</a>. The pancake pig-out persists, though the fast for the<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…both a lesbian and a woman (idea)http://m.everything2.com/user/dazey/writeups/both+a+lesbian+and+a+womandazeyhttp://m.everything2.com/user/dazey2001-02-14T11:05:21Z2001-02-14T11:05:21Z<p>One of the ways which <a href="/title/straight">straight</a> <a href="/title/male">male</a> friends and <a href="/title/relatives">relatives</a> responded to my <a href="/title/coming+out">coming out</a> as a <a href="/title/lesbian">lesbian</a> was to include me in their talk about women they were <a href="/title/attracted+to">attracted to</a>. <a href="/title/You+know">You know</a>, along the lines of 'she's a <a href="/title/bit+of+all+right">bit of all right</a> isn't she?' '<a href="/title/Get+a+load+of">Get a load of</a> that', and the <a href="/title/untranscribable">untranscribable</a> noises.</p>
<p>I never really liked this stuff. It took me ages to work it out, <a href="/title/theorising">theorising</a> that it had to do with being a <a href="/title/feminist">feminist</a>, with being <a href="/title/uncomfortable">uncomfortable</a> around men (actually, I don't think I am), but also feeling that I should be glad to get this kind of <a href="/title/acceptance">acceptance</a> and <a href="/title/inclusion">inclusion</a> from people.</p>
<p>Actually, I think it's just because there's a big difference between me and a straight man: I'm a woman. And if that's their <a href="/title/attitude">attitude</a> to other women, then in some sense, at some level, that's their attitude to me. And I don't like it when I'm walking down the street and <a href="/title/some+guy">some guy</a> yells '<a href="/title/hey%252C+nice+tits">hey, nice tits</a>', or whatever. I feel <a href="/title/scared">scared</a> and <a href="/title/annoyed">annoyed</a>. It's not even so much that I want to<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Sitting thirteen at a table (idea)http://m.everything2.com/user/dazey/writeups/Sitting+thirteen+at+a+tabledazeyhttp://m.everything2.com/user/dazey2001-02-09T14:56:25Z2001-02-09T14:56:25ZIt's supposed to be <a href="/title/bad+luck">bad luck</a> to sit at a table at which there are exactly <a href="/title/thirteen">thirteen</a> people. The result is either general bad luck, or the specific <a href="/title/prediction">prediction</a> that one of the thirteen will die within a year, or even more specifically that the first to leave the table will be the first to die.
<p>This is part of a whole series of <a href="/title/superstition">superstition</a>s about the number 13 (see also: <a href="/title/triskaidekaphobia">triskaidekaphobia</a>), but has a couple of specific possible origins.
<p><a href="/title/Norse+mythology">Norse mythology</a> has it that there was a <a href="/title/banquet">banquet</a> held at <a href="/title/Valhalla">Valhalla</a>, to which twelve gods were invited. <a href="/title/Loki">Loki</a>, the god of <a href="/title/strife">strife</a>, <a href="/title/chaos">chaos</a> or <a href="/title/deceit">deceit</a>, arrived, and killed <a href="/title/Balder">Balder</a>, the god of light and beauty.
<p>The <a href="/title/Christianised">Christianised</a> explanation is that 13 is unlucky because there were 13 people at <a href="/title/The+Last+Supper">The Last Supper</a>, and the 13th was either <a href="/title/Judas">Judas</a>, who betrayed <a href="/title/Jesus">Jesus</a>, or <a href="/title/Jesus">Jesus</a> himself, who was betrayed shortly afterwards. It's also Judas who was said to be first to leave the Last Supper, which is an <a href="/title/illogical">illogical</a> relationship to the 'first to<!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Val McDermid (person)http://m.everything2.com/user/dazey/writeups/Val+McDermiddazeyhttp://m.everything2.com/user/dazey2001-02-09T14:24:51Z2001-02-09T14:24:51ZBritish <a href="/title/crime">crime</a> <a href="/title/writer">writer</a>, born in <a href="/title/Scotland">Scotland</a>, grew up in a <a href="/title/mining">mining</a> community, went to <a href="/title/Oxford+University">Oxford University</a> to study English, then spent 16 years as a <a href="/title/reporter">reporter</a> for a <a href="/title/tabloid">tabloid</a> <a href="/title/newspaper">newspaper</a> before quitting in 1991 to write full time. She now lives in <a href="/title/Derbyshire">Derbyshire</a>, and is a well-known figure on the <a href="/title/literary+festival">literary festival</a>s circuit, where she pops up both to give <a href="/title/reading">reading</a>s of her work, and on panels discussing various topics. Usually in an <a href="/title/articulate">articulate</a> and <a href="/title/combative">combative</a> fashion. She's been heard, more than once, <a href="/title/slagging+off">slagging off</a> <a href="/title/Patricia+Cornwell">Patricia Cornwell</a> for her <a href="/title/right-wing">right-wing</a> politics and the degenerating quality of her writing. Val McDermid is one of my <a href="/title/heroine">heroine</a>s.
<p>She's written <a href="/title/crime+novels">crime novels</a> in three <a href="/title/series">series</a>, as well as one-off <a href="/title/nove">nove</a>ls and <a href="/title/non-fiction">non-fiction</a>. The series, in order of commencement, are:
<p>The <b><a href="/title/Lindsay+Gordon">Lindsay Gordon</a></b> series, featuring a <a href="/title/lesbian">lesbian</a> <a href="/title/journalist">journalist</a> in a variety of <a href="/title/japes">japes</a>. It seems to me that, like lots of first <a href="/title/central+characters">central characters</a>, Lindsay Gordon is the closest to McDermid herself, being<!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…throwing salt over your left shoulder (idea)http://m.everything2.com/user/dazey/writeups/throwing+salt+over+your+left+shoulderdazeyhttp://m.everything2.com/user/dazey2001-02-09T11:50:42Z2001-02-09T11:50:42ZLots of <a href="/title/superstitious">superstitious</a> people, when they spill salt, will take a pinch of it in their right hand and throw it backwards over their left shoulder. My <a href="/title/grandma">grandma</a> does it. I do it too, but not out of <a href="/title/superstition">superstition</a>, more out of lack of any other meaningful <a href="/title/culture">culture</a>.
<p><a href="/title/Superstition">Superstition</a> has it that, at all times, a <a href="/title/devil">devil</a> (or perhaps <a href="/title/the+devil">the devil</a>) waits over your left shoulder, and also that spilling <a href="/title/salt">salt</a> is <a href="/title/bad+luck">bad luck</a> (perhaps because it used to be rare and precious). Hence, you can <a href="/title/mitigate">mitigate</a> your bad luck by throwing salt into the eyes of the devil. There's also a belief that your <a href="/title/guardian+angel">guardian angel</a> (who can be found over your right shoulder) spills salt to warn you of <a href="/title/evil">evil</a> nearby. Either you throw the salt to hurt the devil or, as salt was <a href="/title/valuable">valuable</a>, as an <a href="/title/offering">offering</a> to <a href="/title/placate">placate</a> him.
<p>Like lots of other superstitions in a <a href="/title/Christianised">Christianised</a> culture, it has a Christianised explanation: spilling salt is bad luck, because <a href="/title/Judas">Judas</a> spilled salt at <a href="/title/the+Last+Supper">the Last Supper</a>. This is somewhat equivalent to the<!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…