About Mary Beckman

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• Comment on Mary Beckman's answer…

  0 0 That's the order the box came in! Mary Beckman commented about 1 year ago

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  What is the best Christmas gift you've ever gotten?

  2 0 A boxed set of CS Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia when I was 12. 6th grade. Maybe 1978? I came from a big family, near the bottom, so we hardly had anything we could "own" as individuals -- it usually got used up too fast or broken or lost. And we had one bookcase in the house for the encyclopedias and the Reader's Digest Condensed Books. I think I'd read maybe the first book of the series, knowing there were seven. I remember telling my mom that's what I wanted. And I knew what the boxy gift was, all wrapped up under the tree. Only heightened my joy at unwrapping it and knowing all seven books were there for me to read and read again and protect from my godawful siblings. I loved them so much -- even though I knew when I read them that they were subversive (that kid that gets the bye because he served an evil god? Yeah, that's not happening in real Christendom. If jesus ain't your way, you got no way). What I loved even more for the story was CS Lewis's Space Trilogy, which I acquired sometime later. Introduced me to science fiction, which I've always loved more than fantasy. Except for that boxed set. Anyway, my mom died a Christmas and a half later. I always associate those books with her, because I'm sure I had other things on the list and somehow she knew they would be the things that stuck. And when the collector's edition came out ten-twenty years back or so, I discovered that my set was not the way the author intended, but in chronological order of the events in the books. Ever since then, you pick up a box set and the order's all screwed up. The movie's ain't bad, but they're not the worn out boxed set that's been on my shelves ever since that Christmas. Mary Beckman answered in Whatever about 1 year ago Answer, comment & read 14 more answers »

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  Will the x-ray machines at the airport phuck up high-speed film that's already developed?

  2 0 Already developed? What's to fuck up? Mary Beckman answered in Science & Technology about 1 year ago Answer, comment & read 3 more answers »

• Comment on Mark Sexauer's answer…

  0 0 I'm okay with this easy recipe: http://www.alcademics.com/2008/09/homemade-tonic-actually-easy.html The G&T gets more bitter as you sip on it, but I still don't really taste the quinine. Mary Beckman commented about 1 year ago

• Comment on Geni's answer…

  0 0 There's some evidence that sweet receptors line your whole gut, do drinking something sweet even though it doesn't come from sugar still gets your body to sock away calories. Besides, I hate the taste of fake sweeteners. Mary Beckman commented about 1 year ago

• Comment on DCista's answer…

  0 0 Don't have a Whole Foods nearby (I live in Richland). Mary Beckman commented about 1 year ago

• Comment on Mark Sexauer's answer…

  0 0 I've tried extracting cinchona bark with 95% ethanol -- not impressed. Can't get that quinine taste that comes so clearly through in store-bought tonic water. The tonic water recipe you mention uses "dashes of bitters" -- makes me think that's where the bitter taste might be coming from and makes me wonder if you leave out the bark altogether if it would taste the same. Mary Beckman commented about 1 year ago

• Comment on GinMonkey's answer…

  0 0 What does "quinine cordial" mean exactly? Mary Beckman commented about 1 year ago

• Follow Following 1 Can you buy "quinine bitters" so I can make a non-high fructose corn syrup with less than half the sugar homemade tonic for my gin? Mary Beckman asked in Cocktail Q&A about 1 year ago 6 Answers by Mark Sexauer, DCista , GinMonkey…

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  Can anyone recommend some good science fiction? Emphasis on science.

  0 0 Wow -- no one's mentioned Firefly? Watch the series before the movie Serenity. It's like the wild west in space but better than that sounds, and deals with everything we deal with everyday. And it might be set in the far future, but near enough that Chinese and English are the two dominant cultures. Oh, and there aren't any pesky alien type creatures, b/c we havent' found any out there. It's brilliant. Our problems aren't just going to go away with some fancy technology. Mary Beckman answered in Books & Writing over 2 years ago Answer, comment & read 38 more answers »

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