Mouse Farts in a Wind Tunnel

February 22, 2003

Sex master figure gets 25 years: Had contract with girl, 15, to be his slave

I thought it was just another crime story in the Dayton Daily News. Except, whoops!! I went to high school with this guy.

posted by el goose on 2/22/2003 03:23:29 PM | link

Here's a link to a cached copy from the Columbus Dispatch:

Reynoldsburg man receives 25 years in sex-slave case

It feels extremely odd to come across this story completely unwarned. I am revolted. And puzzled. People never fail to amaze me.

posted by el goose on 2/22/2003 03:35:56 PM | link

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February 21, 2003

Crispy Hot Dish

Makes me homesick for Minnesota, where they serve hot dish instead of casserole. You see, it's not "crispy, hot dish" with "dish" as the noun, but rather "crispy hot-dish" with "hot dish" as the noun. Never mind.

Recipe from the Iowa Association of Electrical Cooperatives. Home of all good things to eat.

posted by el goose on 2/21/2003 01:45:44 PM | link

How long will it keep?

Useful guidelines for food that hasn't obviously started slam dancing in the vegetable crisper.

posted by el goose on 2/21/2003 01:50:49 PM | link

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February 19, 2003

Visiting the Dayton Daily News site again:

Dayton's Code Breakers

Thank God they finally got this link fixed. These stories are among the most interesting I've ever read in the DDN. I realize that isn't saying all that much, but still...

The breaking of Germany's World War II 'Enigma' code is widely known today. But there's an untold story: How NCR engineers in Dayton, led by Oakwood resident Joe Desch, worked in secret to develop the machines that helped break the code.

I particularly like Part 6: WAVES roll in to work on top-secret project.

Other Dayton news:

Virginia Kettering 1907-2003: Community benefactor and steward of legendary inventor's legacy dies at 95

Continuing with an unusually Dayton-positive post is this link to Mrs. Kettering's obituary. The headline and photograph took up most of the front page of the paper today. The lede is unfortunate and tacky, referring to Mrs. Kettering "giving of her money and herself," but I think it is fair to say that just about anything of any interest in Dayton had Mrs. Kettering's fingerprints on them. The problem is that there is just so little of interest.

The obligatory "yay for the armed forces" article: Local Guard unit to deploy today: Sergeant might get chance to see Kuwait again

Since Dayton is home to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, we have what seems to me to be an unusual amount of military-boosting stories in the paper. This one had a couple of the conventional elements: the sergeant has seen active duty before (including a colorful story about it) and his church is mentioned by name, serving as an important signal the those of us who understand that it means he is a godly man. There are no real details about family, usually heavily featured, especially when there are cute tots for cute photos. The worrisome bit of real information is this:

The 371st's mission is to provide logistical support at the Army corps level, near the top of the organizational chart. Members said the group's mobilization — its first since World War II, when it was the headquarters battery for an artillery division — is a sign of just how massive the military buildup is becoming.
"When they call us up, you know it's big," said Capt. Eric Mansfield of Akron. "We're really corporate America. We manage other units on the battlefield."

Hey, and just like the DDN, planted relevant information last!

posted by el goose on 2/19/2003 11:16:09 AM | link

Speaking in Tongues

A nice analysis of the rhetorical tricks played to eradicate the significance of the anti-war protests that took place around the world this past weekend. Be sure to read the whole thing.

posted by el goose on 2/19/2003 11:39:30 AM | link

Mr. Blotchy got turkey with giblets

posted by el goose on 2/19/2003 12:28:24 PM | link

Real Live Preacher: A Look at the Bible & Homosexuality

The virtual Christian.

posted by el goose on 2/19/2003 01:03:11 PM | link

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February 17, 2003

I have decided that I just do not like the taste of lamb. I have been trying to add unfamiliar foods to my diet since I've been cooking more. We never had lamb that often when I was growing up because my mom doesn't like it either, so maybe it's a genetic tastebud thing. I just tried to force down some leftover stew that contained lamb. There was a point where I just went YUK, fed the dogs the last of the potatoes and threw the rest away. I just had an orange to get that taste out of the back of my throat. Citrus covers many sins, even when you get that white rindy stuff from the peel stuck under your nails. Thus endeth the lamb obsession and any attempt to finish a meal that cost $1.50 or so to make in the first place (neck bones are inexpensive).

One of the problems about having parents who lived through the Great Depression is that I cannot throw perfectly good food away very easily. Must... clean... plate...

garf

posted by el goose on 2/17/2003 04:24:37 PM | link

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February 16, 2003

Artistic Sign Language: Signs of the Coming Bush Fall

Eloquently makes some of the points I was stumbling around in the convoluted Guernica post.

One problem with authoritarianism -- whatever brand comes along: Stalin's communism, or Hitler's fascism, or Islamic Talibanism, or whatever we're moving into in America right now -- is that it makes art more delicious and tempting. The public is not dumb and eventually comes to figure out that the "truth" being propounded by the frightened rulers does not match the world most citizens actually live in. And so they begin to seek out and support art and artists and, most of all, comedians -- those sly artisans, those holy fools, that can shake the foundations of power with a well- aimed dart.

...

The more lies authoritarian governments tell their citizens, the more a sub rosa consciousness bubbles up from the culture's artists and then from its ordinary citizens. It's a slow-growing and, at times, dangerous movement -- which is why the forces of reaction try so hard to stomp on it -- but it is an amazingly strong and vital and resilient force.

The other point I clumsily thrashed around in is this: To the extent that art is perceived by the ordinary citizen as irrelevant -- whether art is "of the elite", "of the satanic" or some combination of the two -- the authoritarian grip tightens even further. The hungers that art satisfies are then stuffed with either consumerism or fundamentalism, but neither nourishes. So the ordinary citizen continues to starve, not for bread, but for vision. I believe that life lived too long without art of some sort becomes permanently stunted and empty. Good examples of people living this emptiness are found leading America into war and authoritarian repression.

Pick up some crayons today and draw pictures of the world you want to live in. Resist!

posted by el goose on 2/16/2003 10:41:40 AM | link

January 19 anti-war demonstration at McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

Pictures from demonstrations around the world on February 15 and 16. Estimates from indymedia are putting number at 11 million worldwide involved. For every person protesting, how many more weren't there but who agree wholeheartedly?

Looking at the photos one after another is overwhelming. So many people in so many places.

posted by el goose on 2/16/2003 05:05:20 PM | link

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