Chastity Timer; Big Apple--Top of the Barrel

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

CHASTITY TIMER

     From the NEW YORK POST, 29 August 2000, "High-tech chastity belt: It's
about 'time,'" pg. 5, col. 1:

     The electronic device--attached to the elastic of a regular pair of
men's or women's underpants--records the frequency and length of time an
undergarment (Col. 2--ed.) is removed, London's Guardian newspaper reported.
(...)
     The device, called a "chastity timer," would have an exact record of the
period of time during which a person might have been cheating.

     What'll they think of next?
     How did we ever live without this?

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BIG APPLE--TOP OF THE BARREL

     Gerald Cohen surely doesn't want all this.
     From the MAIL AND EXPRESS (NY), 26 September 1885, pg. 5, col. 4:

     (Big Apple drawing--ed.)
     This is an apple, large and round.
     At the top of the barrel always found.
     (Small Apple drawing--ed.)
     This is an apple, small and mean.
     Always at the bottom seen.
--_Bridgewater Independent_.

     This item also made several other papers.  I have similar observations
to this in later years.  "Big Apples" are "top of the barrel."
     According to Christine Ammer's AHDOI, "top of the barrel" and "(scrape
the) bottom of the barrel" didn't come around until the early 1900s.  I have
no idea what Fred Shapiro has.
     "King Apple" was a 1923 article I recently found in AMERICAN COOKERY.
The history of apples was given.  There was a paragraph about apples in New
York City restaurants.  No "Big Apple."
     The NEW YORK HOTEL RECORD (together with the RESTAURANT WORLD)
specifically covered New York City restaurants and hotels.  "Peet Tells the
Apple Pack Story," 23 November 1923, pg. 5+, was a nice, long article about
upstate New York apple growing and New York City apple eating.  No "Big
Apple."
    Again:  Two months ago, the New York Times's official position was that
John J. Fitz Gerald "AT MOST, popularized the phrase."  I was told that
"NYC=Big Apple" was widely known since 1909.  I was told that I deserved no
apology whatsoever.
    Will that change in about two weeks?