Happy Halloween! I just noticed that my ancestor Deliverance Hazeltine became, upon marriage to Nathaniel Dane, the infamous Deliverance Dane. She confessed to witchcraft but escaped execution and lived another 40+ years. And, more recently was the subject of a best-seller!


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Congratulations to my daughter -- she is a direct descendant of Ann Foster of the Salem witch trials (13th generation). Ann was sentenced to be executed, but as she was in her seventies, she died in prison instead. Below is an image of the last paragraph of Ann's confession, and her mark.


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What a banner week for me predicting things ( Read more... )

Hi! It's been a while since I posted anything here, but I didn't have anything weird that I needed to share with the group...until now ( Read more... )

My favorite musette band, the Baguette Quartette, called it quits recently after 21 years of concerts around the Bay Area. The final show was a sold-out exit in grand style. So long, Odile, thanks for all the concerts ( Read more... )

The crime was crazy enough (two lawyers plant drugs on a school volunteer ALLEGEDLY), but the bios of the ALLEGED crime couple make this stranger than fiction. Sorry -- the ALLEGED bios. This couple looks so perfect from the outside that they could be the image they put in photo frames at the factory.

From LinkedIn, we have the ALLEGED bio of Kent ( Read more... )

Greetings, potential citoyennes! Today's New York Times Op-Ed page ponders what makes someone French. Apparently they've been having trouble because their Muslims don't feel included, even if they were born and raised in France. Some in the country feel that you have to know "French stuff" to be French, and even provided a list of essential tidbits ( Read more... )

THE SCENE: College. America. You read some Nietzsche. Your mind is blown! Then, if you are Nathan Leopold or Richard Loeb, you go and kill somebody. If you are enforcing the Hays Code in Hollywood, you cut a scene showing "Will to Power" from a Barbara Stanwyck movie. If you are what people call an "asshole," you memorize some passages and spout ( Read more... )

The New York Times has been on a literary roll lately so I just want to give them some recognition!

BEST ESSAY PUT ON THE BOOK REVIEW COVER FOR NO PARTICULAR REASON:
"The Book of Books: What Literature Owes the Bible" by Marilynne Robinson, 12/25/11Robinson is one of the greatest writers alive and no one else could have written this piece ( Read more... )

Today's Sunday New York Times has a special page on "ART" -- this is true! The purpose appears to be slagging Frans Hals, not sure why, but the vehicle used for the Hals-bashing is his painting "Merrymakers at Shrovetide ( Read more... )