12 quirky emails on Hillary Clinton's server

After an email update from retiring Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski - who wrote, among other things, that the "Supreme ct...just screwed us" - Clinton responded, "Oh Barb, we got trouble w/ a capital "T" in the River City. I miss you too and will try to call soon. Keep going, as your and my "home girl" Harriet Tubman wpuld say!"

Troubles with the White House operator

Clinton said she wanted to call former Rep. Diane Watson when she announced her retirement.

"But right now I'm fighting w the WH operator who doesn't believe I am who I say and wants my direct office line even tho I'm not there and I just have him my home # and the State Dept # and I told him I had no idea what my direct office # was since I didn't call myself and I just hung up and am calling thru Ops like a proper and properly dependent Secretary of State--no independent dialing allowed."

NPR SOS

"Can you find out for me what the NPR stations I can hear on Long Island are? I lost the WNYC signal half way down the island and can't figure out from Google what the next stations are," Clinton wrote to a handful of State Department staffers in August 2010. When no one had responded in three hours, she wrote, "Did any of you get this?"

Competitive secretaries of state?

After reading a news story - which Clinton rated "quite good," she had one additional question.

"What I can't figure out is which countries Madeleine and Condi went to that I didn't? Will you pls enlighten me?" she wrote, a reference to former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice.

"Fox-generated media storm"

"Who made the decision that State will not use the terms "Mother and father" and instead substitute "parent one and two"? I'm not defending that decision, which I disagree w and knew nothing about, in front of this Congress. I could live w letting people in nontraditional families choose another descriptor so long as we retained the presumption of mother and father. We need to address this today or we will be facing a huge Fox-generated media storm led by Palin et al.

"Obama's Unsung Tech Hero"

Mills forwarded Clinton an email with an article from the Huffington Post, which declared her "Obama's Unsung Tech Hero." "FYI," Mills wrote.

"I love Sabra hummus"

A friend forwarded Clinton what appears to be an op-ed warning DePaul University students to "consider carefully before you vote to ban Sabra brand hummus from your campus."

"I love Sabra hummus--whatever that means!" Clinton replied.

Antiquated State Department email

"I'm sure you've thought of this, but it would be a great time for someone inside or outside to make a statement/write an op-ed that points out that State's technology is so antiquated that NO ONE uses a State-issued laptop and even high officials routinely end up suing their home email accounts to be able to get their work done quickly and effectively," wrote Anne-Marie Slaughter, who had recently left the State Department as Clinton's Director of Policy Planning.

"AM--I think this makes good sense," Clinton replied. "How should we follow up?"

Her chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, wrote back that it was probably an easier point ot make as a former employee. Plus, she wrote, "as someone who attempted to be hacked (yes I was one), I am not sure we want to telegraph how much folks do or don't do off state mail b/c it may encourage others who are out there."

"The one who beat the witch"

A lawyer named Nelson Cunningham wrote to Clinton's chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, about a recent dinner he had with Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware.

"He also mentioned that at a recent event with a group of Senators, he was the only one whom HRC didn't recognize and greet by name. (He reminded her that he was "the one who beat the witch.") Chris is not a big-ego, high-maintenance guy, but he seemed a big miffed as he described this," Cunningham wrote.

In 2010, Coons beat a candidate named Christine O'Donnell, who released a campaign ad explaining, "I'm not a witch," after it was revealed that she once told television host Bill Maher that she "dabbled in witchcraft."

"Do you have my shawl?"

Clinton aide Huma Abedin forwarded her a news story about a strong earthquake in northeastern Japan.

"Do you have my shawl?" Clinton replied.

"Must be the Chinese!"

Clinton had a brief back-and-forth with Nora Toiv, the special assistant to the chief of staff, about her State email and Gmail accounts. "Even weirder--I just checked and I do have your state but not your gmail--so how did that happen. Must be the Chinese!" Clinton wrote.

Circumcised bin Laden

"Did Bill tell you that on the receiving line of his second speech yesterday, he had the weirdest exchange ever when a woman loudly announced that her father 'circumcised bin Laden!' What a claim to fame," Clinton wrote to longtime friend Betsy Ebeling.