Tue., 3/3 Mike Buckley

[magus]

THEME:   Sherlockiana
   
GOOD ONES:    
Noah's flood insurance  ARK [much better than that of the Sandy victims]   
   
BTW:   
In interesting coincidence:  both JUDE LAW and LUCY LIU (Watsons) are of equal length;  DOCTOR and WATSON are also, as is CONAN and DOYLE.   
   
RATING:   
Three grins = Loved it; Two grins = Enjoyed it; One grin = A bit bland for my taste; One teardrop = Not much fun   

[Thomps2525]

YREKA was the answer to "Town in northern California that once had a palindromic bakery." Yes, there really was a Yreka Bakery. I have a copy of California Place Names, a 1969 book by Erwin G. Gudde---no relation to "Johnny B. Goode"---and he notes that when Siskiyou County was established in 1852, the one-year-old town of Shasta Butte City became the county seat and was renamed Yreka (pronounced "Y-reeka") after Wy-e-kah, the Shasta Indians' name for Mount Shasta ("north mountain"). I don't understand how Wy-e-kah could become Yreka, though. Farther south, the town of Eureka had been established in 1850. Perhaps the name of Yreka was meant to mimic Eureka.

Mark Twain wrote a story about Bret Harte seeing an upside down canvas sign that said BAKERY. With the B covered up, the sign said YREKA. Thanks to that story, many people have mistakenly believed that the town of Yreka was named after a bakery. People can be so gullible. Darn you, Mark Twain! The old Yreka Bakery is referenced on a page of palindromes:

http://jeff560.tripod.com/words5.html

[Thomps2525]

Yesterday I mentioned a 1940 Mickey Mouse comic strip in which Mickey answered a quiz question asking where the emu is found: "In crossword puzzles." EMU is indeed one of the ten most common words appearing in crosswords, and that was true at least as far back as 1940. So what do I see in today's crossword? EMU. *Sigh* I also see three other overused words, ELK, LEI and SIT, along with IIII ("Four, on some sundials"). As for IIII, all I can say is "Ai-yi-yi-yi!"