I need a paint that is black gloss and is at least able to take
1400 degrees. Anyone have any suggestions of where I could find some?
Barbecue paint is the usual suggestion for manifolds and other high-
temperature surfaces; it's readily available in hardware stores (I've
seen it at Orchard Supply Hardware). You might also check muffler
shops and other places for auto-specific recommendations.
And if it doesn't work, at least your car will have that smoky
southwestern mesquite-grilled aroma as the paint flakes off... :-)
BTW, it will either thrill or appall you collectively to learn that
I've received what is fast becoming my favorite book, Brewer's Dictionary
of Phrase and Fable. Compiled in 1870 by one of the original contributors
to the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language, Ebenezer Cobham Brewer,
this dictionary is mainly concerned not so much with the derivation of
words (their etymology, history, and use throughout literature, as in
the OED), but with phrases, cliches, allusions, and historical references.
Needless to say, references to Shakespeare, Milton and the Bible account
for about two-thirds of the contents. It's the perfect read-yourself-to-
sleep book, at least if you're a dotty old pedant with a pathological
need to know where stuff comes from.
However, I learned a fascinating thing that pertains to this list. It
turns out that the typical vessel used for containing burnt offerings
in classical Greek religious practice has a ritual shape, a sort of
cauldron or bowl on three legs. Almost exactly like my mini-Weber
kettle that I take camping with me, I noted; the one that I once
joked about at the Historic Auto Races when I went in the Dagenham
Dustbin by commenting that while there may have been many cars at the
track with three Webers, I'll bet mine was the only one with two in
the engine bay and one in the trunk.
The punch line I didn't know was that the name of this traditional
ritual, sacrificial vessel is... Cortina.
If nothing else, I think it explains a lot about Larry.
--Scott "Why yes, I *have* burned the bones and the fat, thank you" Fisher
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