Natino; David Shulman

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Greetings from Darjeeling. The internet connection here really sucks. India is getting computer outsourcing? When I can't even get a line to send a single e-mail?

OT: BHUTAN--I found it a disappointment. Long drives on winding roads the entire day. Miserable cuisine of white rice and bad noodles. Almost nothing to see besides a few dzongs, which you get tired of like you do with the churches. If you've been to Nepal or Tibet or Burma, then Bhutan adds just a little...The country prides itself that it has no lawyers...I haven't seen a traffic light on the trip yet!

OT: DARJEELING--The Indian food at the Mayfair Resort here has to be some of the best Indian food I've ever tasted...Visited a tea garden today...Also visited a Tibetan refugee center. There's a hunger strike going on today because China killed a Tibetan monk.

NATINO/NOTINO--Jon Stewart's THE DAILY SHOW (available on CNN International) had John Kerry and George Bush's Spanish sound bites. Stewart then called them Natinos or Notinos--Not Latinos. Does this have any currency?

DARJEELING FEELING--Not used for diarrhea. "Delhi belly" is used here.

DRESSED CHICKEN--Seen all over. No "fried" chicken here? No "naked" chicken, either?

OUT MEAL AVAILABLE--Seen on a sign. I guess that's takeout.

FOODING AVAILABLE HERE--Another sign.

MAY (YOU) CLIMB FROM PEAK TO PEAK--Motto of Himalayan Mountaineering Institute here. I don't know if Fred Shapiro is interested in collecting this.

BHUTANESE GOLF--Archery.

HIMALAYAN RECIPES
INNER WHEEL CLUB OF DARJEELING
The only local book available for sale here. I'll go through it when I return.

DAVID SHULMAN--Before he died, he told me that he has a safety deposit box that has some rare coins. Perhaps Sam Clements can value tham.

Before I left, he had a new pacemaker put in. I told him to take it slowly until I return. I knew that he was weak, but I didn't expect him to die on me.

David Shulman's contributions are many. He debunked OED's 1909 citation for "jazz." (That citation is from 1919.) He found "hot dog" from 1896, which was the best anyone had found. He did some work on the Great White Way and the Big Apple that I also used.

Shulman's donation of his entire collection of cryptography books to the New York Public Library was way too generous. He did a lot for the NYPL--showed up almost every day for fifty years--and got little in return. He noted that Eric Partridge was honored by a chair somewhere in the British National Library. The NYPL should honor Shulman somewhere--if it cares about the people who use its resources at all. There's a space on www.nypl.org where you can "Tell your library story." If anyone wants to honor Dave, mention his name here.

He wanted to do a book on daredevil Brooklyn Bridge jumper Steve Brodie. I was approached by a book agent at the party for the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. The agent specializes in NYC books. Perhaps I'll finish the book inhis memory.