A Major Quiz
G’morning… 
I have been up since about 3:30am. I don’t know why, I just woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep. Perhaps I had some stuff which is weighing on my mind, but, given how vacuous your average bull usually is, perhaps the problem was that I just had gas, I don’t know. Anyway, at about 4:30am, I gave up the struggle to fall back asleep and I dragged myself out of bed and in front of the computer. I looked around at a few blogs, but scarcely anyone has posted over the weekend. Bummer! 
I decided to go whip up a batch of coffee, and while it was perking, I grabbed up the Monday morning Cayman Net News and began to read. There is some interesting stuff in there… I was reading away for quite awhile. One of the things I read was the Major’s (Stephen Hall Jones) column, “And Another Thing“.
I thought the Major’s column to be spot on, and also, to be quite interesting reading and I will link to it so that you can go read it too if you like. Basically, the Major makes the point that children learn from their parents’ example, and he speaks about the value of christianity, as opposed to the detailed facts. He suggests that it doesn’t really matter if Jesus was married or not, or if he really died on the cross or not, or if Judas really betrayed him or if Judas’ betrayal was really a setup planned by Jesus and Judas.
He suggests that the real value of Christianity lies in the quality of its teachings, ie. love, tolerance, charity, treating others as you would wish yourself to be treated. I find that I agree with him.
The Major is a big proponent of getting children into reading and he believes in education. He is in the habit of asking questions of the readers in the form of a quiz. It seems that the quizzes are usually questions in the field of English Language and Literature, and I found today’s quiz to be quite interesting. I will post his quiz here for you all.
This week, see if you can remember from which great works of literature came the following first lines. They might be novels or poems, and in either case you must give the author or poets name and the title of the work.
1. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
2. All happy families are alike, but an unhappy family is unhappy after its own fashion.
3. Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmond, and Lucy.
4. Call me Ishmael.
5. He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf stream and he had gone 84 days without taking a fish.
How many of you can answer this question and how many of these novels have you read yourself? I will provide the answers in the comments later, but feel free to take a stab at it yourselves.
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Rass…man get ketch wid him pants down my yute!
Think I recall one o dem, but I not going shame miself.
Hope the gas problem sorted (or was that farted) itself out!
Call me Ishmael - from Moby Dick by Herman Melville
He was an old man who fished alone - from The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway
I’ve read these two
1 : 1984 ; George Orwell
2 : Don’t know
3 : Lion, Witch, Wardrobe
4 & 5 already answered… I liked Major’s column today too, but he is a bit pretentious in his use of language. I’m a well read chap too (A in A level English etc, blah, blah), but tend to speak in words of no more than three syllables in order to not risk being misunderstood… with 100+ nationalities in Cayman, even basic English can cause cultural confusion
BTW, reading Artemis Fowl right now, my 8 year old told me I must read it… and he is right, it is a fantastic book !
I haven’t read a book in ions. I’ve watch the movie though - if the sun offended my I would strike it down! But haven’t been in to the book think since high school. ask Gods Child
3. The Lion the witch and the wardrobe
4. Moby Dick
5. The old man and the sea
P.S. Maybe people weren’t posting on the weekend because of Carnival in Ja.
I knew the Chronicles of Narnia and the Old man and the sea.
I only knew the old man and the sea and the moby dick ones.
Thanks to Tom Caman and Charles, the majority of the works of fiction have been named and we were given the authors. Here is the complete list:
* “1984″ by George Orwell,
* “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy,
* “The Chronicles of Narnia”, by C. S. Lewis,
* “Moby Dick”, by Herman Melville,
* “The Old Man and the Sea”, by Ernest Hemingway.
The thing is, I only knew “The Old Man and the Sea”. I googled the rest, yeah, I know its a bit of a cheat, but now I am able to tell you all. I have read 1984 and the OldMan & the sea, not the others.
The one that no one guessed, “Anna Karenina”… the websites I went to suggested that this novel is considered by many to be the finest novel ever written, and none of us knew it! It must be a well kept secret!
I read Old Man and the Sea and 1984. Only recognized the line from Hemingway.
Funny enough, I was gonna say:
1. Tom and Jerry
2. The Simpsons
3. Family Guy..
I luuuv this sentence, no, I don’t think you’re vacuous, it’s just so good: “given how vacuous your average bull usually is, perhaps the problem was that I just had gas…” Lots of puns there.
What the Major says makes me think of that song, ‘Don’t blame it on the children.’