Page 123 meme

[daibhidc]

Got from capri0mni

Grab the nearest book, open to page 123, find the fifth sentence. Then post the next three sentences. Then post a comment.



"Here much muttered conversation ensued, and the Mole only heard bits of it, such as - "Fresh mind! - no, a pound of that will do - see you get Buggin's, for I won't have any other - no, only the best - if you can't get it there, try somewhere else - yes, of course home-made, no tinned stuff - well then, do the best you can!" Finally there was a chink of coin passing from paw to paw, the field-mouse was provided with an ample basket for his purchases, and off he hurried, he and his lantern.

The rest of the field-mice, perched in a row on the settle, their small legs swinging, gave themselves up to enjoyment of the fire, and toasted their chilblains till they tingled; while the Mole, failing to draw them into easy conversation, plunged into family history and made each of them recite the names of his numerous brothers who were too young, it appeared, to go out a-carolling this year, but looked forward very shortly ro winning the parental consent."

Whew! Kenneth Grahame would have been brilliant at Cheddar Gorge. The number of times I thought those sentences must be drawing to a close...

Anyway, it's Wind In The Willows, near the end of the chapter I thought was called "Mole's Christmas", but is actually "Dulce Domum". It's on the computer table because I'm working on a sort of pastiche.

Comments

[cat63.livejournal.com]

The number of times I thought those sentences must be drawing to a close...

If you think that's bad, try Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde. That man could write sentences that go on for pages! :-)

And I think he did it deliberately too, because Treasure Island wasn't the same at all as I recall.

[flesh-eating dragon (from livejournal.com)]

The nearest book to the computer comes from the shelf of computing-related books, and is probably The Oxford Dictionary of Computing. Assuming we're supposed to start from the fifth complete sentence on page 123 (that is, counting the sentence that contains the page break as number zero) then here we go:

data file A *file containing data, such as a file created within an applications program; for example, it may be a word-processing document, a spreadsheet, a database file, or a chart. Data files are normally organised as sets of *records with one or more associated *access methods.

dataflow 1. A form of program analysis that examines the relationship between a source of data and the repository or user of that data.

This would be a more interesting meme if there was a more random way of selecting a book, rather than "the nearest one". Like maybe, the nth book from the left on the mth shelf of your main bookshelf or something like that.

[mrslant]

"By PD 7, para. 2.2, the value of a claim is determined in accordance with the High Court and County Courts Jurisdiction Order 1991, art. 9. This simply cross-refers to CPR, r. 16.3(6). Thus, the following must all be disregarded:
(a) interest;
(b) costs;
(c) any reduction for contributory negligence against the claimant;
(d) the value of any counterclaim or set-off; and
(e) the recoupment of benefits under the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997."

Blackstone's Civil Practice, 2003 edition, sitting on my desk. Fascinating, eh?

[shriker-tam.livejournal.com]

Ooh, look at that, I'm not the only one whose closest book happened to be about law :o)

I posted mine as a post of my own though, because it got way too long to be a comment...

[ssirienna.livejournal.com]

"A lot of my old eitquette books make a big thing about this (Modes of Address) and it really boils down to a few simple rules.

When you are dealin' with armed men, or peopke who 'employ' armed men, there is no time to wonder if you are dealing with the second son of a viscount or whatever. No."

A useful piece of advice as ever from the doyenne of good manners.

Nanny Ogg's Cookbook (as if you all couldn't recognise the genius that is Nanny ;-)