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Gerald Berg has posted 413 annotations/comments since 4 March 2013.

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Second Reading

About Wednesday 1 January 1667/68

Gerald Berg  •  Link

Averaged over time luck doesn't exist. So said the only professional gambler I know. Craps is the only casino game with odds evened out against the house but only "behind the line odds". This works much like a 'put' in the stock market:

Don't pass odds
If a player is playing don't pass instead of pass, they may also lay odds by placing chips behind the don't pass line. If a 7 comes before the point is rolled, the odds pay at true odds of 1-to-2 if 4 or 10 is the point, 2-to-3 if 5 or 9 is the point, or 5-to-6 if 6 or 8 is the point.

About Wednesday 25 December 1667

Gerald Berg  •  Link

RE: Ghosts

Apparently Kubrick when trying to sell Nicholson on The Shining told him it was sort of a good news story.

Happy New Year everyone -- may your new year be less isolating!

About Sunday 22 December 1667

Gerald Berg  •  Link

I knew a Newfoundland woman who dropped whole cloves into her cavitied molars to relieve the pain. This was in the late 70's. Back in Pepys time I imagine cloves to be too expensive.

So did barber-surgeons ply their trade with pliers?

My my L.H. (terrific nom de plum) can be grumpy.

About Saturday 14 December 1667

Gerald Berg  •  Link

It has been awhile since Sam gloated over how much money he has saved. Maybe since the Medway bury my gold panic and its various comedic outcomes? Anyways, upward of 5000£ I believe was the tally. 200£ seems small change for keeping a family of aristocrats happy. How about a tithe to ailing Liz while at it?

About Friday 29 November 1667

Gerald Berg  •  Link

Amazing to think that Don Quixote has already entered the European (or was it only the British) imagination as modelling for the ridiculous. Even more amazing that it remains so today!

About Tuesday 5 November 1667

Gerald Berg  •  Link

Yes SDS the preferred way to not hear from anybody again is to have them owe you money. Works mostly, I can attest. The reverse? Never.

About Monday 28 October 1667

Gerald Berg  •  Link

"as they come into my mind now, I shall set down without order"

So in the never ending discussion on the reasons Pepy's keeps his diary; himself or public. Does this phrase indicate a record setting event for others to read?

About Thursday 24 October 1667

Gerald Berg  •  Link

Maybe compass is range but I feel more likely to do with pitch. Brass instruments of the time could only play one harmonic series (key) at any one time. To change keys required changing crooks. Not so with string instruments. Hence compass. Brass will always have a limited range compared to strings. Then as now.

About Sunday 29 September 1667

Gerald Berg  •  Link

A wink is good as a nod to a blind bat. The domestic bliss is more like the quiet before a storm.

After fantasizing about 17 yo Deb Willet for 2 days Pepys is sated from anticipation. Deb is the staked goat and two different predators are stalking two different sorts of meals.

About Friday 13 September 1667

Gerald Berg  •  Link

Does Mrs. Lowther’s bloodied nose have a play in this affair? Pepys is made uncomfortable:

“which made me I could not look upon her with any pleasure”

That the coachman cursed implies brotherly collusion with the boss. ie habitual.

As for the cauldrons- how much money we talking? Didn’t sound like much to me.
And why the:

“for I believe we shall be glad to sell them for less“

Sam happy with less?

About Tuesday 27 August 1667

Gerald Berg  •  Link

Paul C brings up a good point. Writing in plain English may induce circumspection rather than candour. Perhaps shorthand allowed Pepys a little more freedom? A bit like Beckett writing in French.

Speaking of candour, I was always wondering whether Pepys pidgin Latin/French/Spanish liaison tidbits were written in full or, shorthand?