Acquittal

The big problem for the prosecution, from the beginning, was that Zimmerman's self-defense story seemed plausible. From a study of the facts, such as they were, it was going to be hard for a jury to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Eric Zorn, a Chicago Tribune columnist who leans liberal, wrote:

Perhaps the jurors agreed with my basic outline of the story, that Zimmerman wrongly felt Martin was up to no good, got out of his truck to follow (not chase) Martin so he could lead police to him when they arrived, was ambushed by an angry Martin, was getting his butt beaten and panicked and shot him, then embellished his story in order to bolster what was already a legitimate claim of self-defense under Florida law.

Of course, it would have been nice if the whole incident were on tape, an issue which came up during the trial:

One of the officers who questioned Zimmerman, lead investigator Chris Serino, testified that he tried to bluff Zimmerman into thinking the clash had been recorded to convince him that he would be in more trouble if he lied.

“I believe his words were, ‘Thank God, I was hoping somebody would videotape it,’” Serino said.

In the future, perhaps our cell phones will be legally required to record everything that happens around us, so we will all have a complete record of our lives. Of course, we won't have time to listen to it all. And our right to privacy would be gone. But jurors' jobs would be easier.

A courtroom highlight reel
could really keep it real.

Bon Jovi at Soldier Field

I ended up last night standing on the field at Soldier Field, watching a Bon Jovi concert.

I had just intended to attend a sort of casting / read-through for my new play. But when I got to the theater, my director, Anna Menekseoglu, told me her father had tickets for the concert, which had fallen into his lap at the last minute.

Here's Anna taking a selfie with husband Jeremy and yours truly at the concert:


Here's the view forward:


Big crowd.
Unbelievably loud.

The concert should have come with a warning,
that I'd need to see an audiologist in the morning.

Crime in Italy!

Domenico Codispoti, a man of definite convictions, is roughing it in Milan:

After going in and out of jail, he was sentenced to house arrest in 2006, despite the minor detail of being homeless.

The judge gave him an assigned spot... outside.

His lack of a house, shack, or cave meant
he was sentenced to sleep on the pavement.

Fountain of the Great Lakes vs. Lilly Langtree

This is from the 5-figure fountain sculpture outside the Art Institute. I gather that the 5 women are the 5 lakes, but I'm not sure if the individual figures have all been identified.

The sculptor is Lorado Taft. His neoclassical figures run toward the somber and thoughtful, even in the midst of physical activity. Some people at the time reportedly complained that his women were too sturdy, or perhaps too stout of waist. As Wikipedia delicately puts it:

After one got past the symbolism of the ladies as lakes, complaints existed about the lack of recognition of the contemporary form of female representation in art and literature which had gone from the Lillian Russell-type to the Gibson Girl to the Lillie Langtry image while Taft had apparently chosen "packing house ladies" as his female form.

Here's what Langtry looked like:



As you can see her waist is rather... corseted I should think.

Corsets, perhaps, make passions seethe...
but tell me - can the poor girl breathe?

Auditions Went Well

I was very pleased with auditions for the new full-length play I've written. We had loads of talented people show up. The director still has some decisions to make. For us, it's the kind of problem you would rather have: multiple strong contenders.

As I was sitting there tonight, listening to actors read my lines, it occurred to me that this was the first time I was hearing them read - that I had been so confident about this play that I had skipped the step of having actors read it aloud, which one does as a way to evaluate whether the play "works".

My first full-length play was initially developed while I was taking play-writing classes. It was read in class, by fellow writers and by actors, with classroom feedback. I also made various changes based on formal evaluations by experienced theater people. Then I had it read in 2 different organized readings by actors with outside audience members, and I made various modifications based on comments I received. I even changed the sex of one character. There was a big gap, 8 years, between when I started writing the play, and when it received a full production.

My second full-length play was written after the first was produced. I felt more confident. But, again, I organized a public reading by actors and invited audience members - friends and family members. The reaction wasn't quite what I wanted and I realized I wasn't completely happy with the ending I had written. Extensive rewriting followed, particularly of the final scene, culminating in a wild burst one holiday weekend. I liked the new ending a lot better, it seemed to flow more logically and definitively, and the audience enjoyed it the surprise resolution.

But this third full-length was written in a hurry, it was one of those "writing itself" experiences once it got going, and I felt unusually confident about it when I was done. So I jumped ahead toward production without having a reading. And sometime tonight, the second night of auditions, I realized I had been hearing these lines, outside my head, for the first time.

This was true for the director too. She said she had been a little bit worried about the style of the writing, but that it seemed to work fine when performed. The characters, individually, plunked down in reality, speaking as they do, would seem odd. But somehow, when they are on stage together, their mode of speech seems natural enough.

As we like to say,
in the world of the play,
it comes out okay.

Undergraduate

I posted something yesterday about a "blast from my undergraduate past", and I got to thinking about that. I don't think that's proper usage, for me, since I never went to graduate school.

I think I should just say "blast from my college past".

What do you think?

I'm afraid I picked up the use of "undergraduate" from hanging about with people with more advanced degrees.

But, I cannot lie,
when it comes to college degrees,
I'm just a bachelor guy,
and that did not come with ease.

Chicago Reach For The Stars

We went to an OCON session tonight called Chicago Reach For The Stars, which seemed partly designed to introduce out-of-town conference attendees to some of the city's good points. There were 3 speakers, each with solid, lively presentations:

Shoshana Milgram spoke of Ayn Rand's stay here when she first came to America. She's working on a new biography of Rand, and has access to the estate's archives.

Stephen Siek spoke of the city's architectural development.

Jonathan Hoenig, a.k.a. "The Capitalist Pig," explained commodity trading, one of the town's major industries.

My wife and I are native Chicagoans, so in some ways we weren't the intended audience, but I wanted to hear Professor Milgram's talk, because I figured she would have interesting "new" details, and because I remembered her from years ago.

I hadn't seen Shoshana since we were undergrads, so it was a great pleasure to see her presentation and to speak with her afterwards. I also caught up with another couple of old friends that I knew from my college days.

I was kind of a blast
from my undergraduate past.

Mulberries As A Running Supplement

Mulberry trees are considered weed trees here in the Chicago area. They grow even when you don't want them to grow. And when their berries ripen, they drop and stain the concrete and street. You never hear of anyone around here baking a mulberry pie, although Wikipedia assures me the practice is common.

It may be the kind of mulberries that we have. I think it's this kind:

The fruit of the white mulberry, an east Asian species which is extensively naturalized in urban regions of eastern North America, has a different flavor, sometimes characterized as insipid.

Who would want to eat something with a flavor that's insipid?

Yes, you guessed it. Me.

Particularly today, I was out running for a couple of hours in the heat, and I would come up on some ripe mulberries hanging over my route, I was eager to partake. I mean, people, me included, sometimes pay money to carry things like Powergel packets on their runs. And what is in those gel packs? Sugar. Maybe some anti-oxidants. About the same stuff that's in mulberries! And how do you imagine those gel packs taste? Well, to me they're not even as tasty as mulberries. And the mulberries, when they're in season, are free for the picking.



But one drawback is plain.
Mulberries tend to stain.

Sides for Auditions

Tonight I've been preparing sides for auditions for my new play. What are sides, you ask?

'Sides' is a common term for small sections of scripts that actors read at auditions.

Instead of the actors coming in and reciting a prepared monologue, they come in, read something you hand them, rehearse it a bit, and then perform it, script in hand, for the auditors.

The main challenge in preparing sides, for me, was that several of my characters only appeal in big multi-character scenes. You see, for practical purposes, for making sure every actor gets a chance to audition in a reasonable time slot, it's best if the sides only involve 2 characters. So you look for a scene that is mainly a conversation between Ann and Bob, and you try to yank out remarks that come in from Carol or Dennis. Sometimes you transplant a little, maybe giving Ann a line that really belongs to Carol.

The success of a play audition rides

on having an ample supply of sides.

Mystery of the New Lyric

I've known for decades that one of Ayn Rand's Chicago relatives owned a movie theater. Today I read, in an article, based on archival research done by Shoshana Milgram, that this movie theater was key to Rand's getting out of Russia.

One of the Portnoys’ children, Sarah, owned a movie theatre, which made it easier to obtain Communist Party permission to study film in America, as Vladimir Lenin had designated cinema as the most important art.

And where in Chicago was the theater?

Thanks to a movie diary that young Rand kept, it’s clear that she saw many movies at Sarah’s theater, known as the New Lyric in 1926 and located on West 57th Street near South Halsted.

But I have found other evidence online, at a site devoted to old movie theaters, that the New Lyric was actually located on West 47th, not 57th.

Open since at least 1913, originally known as the Colleen Theater, this small house, first operated as a nickelodeon by Hyman Lieberthal, stood on 47th Street at Emerald Avenue in the Canaryville neighborhood.

By the early-1920’s, the theater was called the New Lyric Theater, and by the late-1940’s, had been renamed the Mid-Town Theater. The former theater most recently housed a bar, but has since been razed along with most of the block it stood on and replaced by a condominium building.

The address given at the above site, 718 W. 47th, is indeed near Halsted. And 47th is a commercial street, whereas 57th is a residential street, so it seems a lot more likely to have been on 47th.

Just to add to the confusion, however, another online compilation of movie houses puts the Midtown Theater at 718 WEST 47th, but puts the New Lyric at 718 EAST 47th.

I suppose I could go and look up property records at the County Clerk's office. Or maybe look at the movie ads in old newspapers from the time when I know Rand was in Chi-town.

Maybe the article just reflected a typo. Maybe I am way over-researching this.

I don't mean to grouse,
but where exactly was this movie house?

Ripped Off

Photographed on State Street, that great street:



The frame was locked, but due to theft,
it looks like only the frame is left.

People, lock your wheels,
for reals!

Delayed

The NY Times insinuates that the motive is partly electoral:

The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it would delay for a year, until 2015, the Affordable Care Act mandate that employers provide coverage for their workers or pay penalties, responding to business complaints and postponing the effective date beyond next year’s midterm elections.

That's the employer mandate. I guess the individual mandate (a.k.a. "tax") is still in place.

A bit of train wreck

has been delayed.

But as for the rest,

they will not be stayed!

Girl In White, Beast On Floor

My little vacation in DC is over. Most of it had been spent indoors, at the conference, until today, when we went traipsing around the city a bit, visiting the National Gallery and the Smithsonian.

Saw Whistler's Symphony in White #1, also known as Girl In White, which is kind of weird in its way:



It's a BIG painting (84.5 in × 42.5 in), and that dead beast at her feet really jumps out at you. There seems to be a question whether that's a bear or a wolf. The Wikipedia article on the painting opens with a claim that it's a wolf, and closes with a reference to it as a bear.



Is it a wolf, or is it a bear?
No, it's a rug. So there!

Judge Kozinski

I heard Alex Kozinski talk a couple of times in the last 2 days. He's a fairly prominent federal appeals judge. Today he gave a speech he has given before about Electronic Privacy and why we have so little of it. He's worried that there's just too much sharing of personal details online.

One of his theses is that contemporary people's failure to protect privacy,
leads judges to think we don't expect privacy.

Atlas 3

I heard official rumors today about the next and sort-of-final installment of the Atlas Shrugged movie series. The most intriguing one, to me, was the idea of doing a loooong miniseries AFTER the trilogy is complete.

Well, it's a very long book, with lots of subplots, so there is plenty of material for a long miniseries.

But I was trying to think of similar sorts of cases. Did they do something like that with Pride & Prejudice?

People love to get lost in Jane Austen. 

Accidentals

I committed 2 accidental rhymes today that sounded too normal.

Senator Ron Johnson
represents Wisconsin.

I'm really weak
on Ancient Greek.

They were isolated incidents, but may form part of a disturbing patter, er, pattern.

My brain may now be wired
so it rhymes when I am tired.

Fixer Upper

We're here in our nation's capital. The visual shock of the trip, for me, was seeing that they've put scaffolding around the Washington Monument. Here's a photo I found that gives you an idea:



I suppose this is well-announced public knowledge, but somehow it had escaped my attention.

The immediate impetus was earthquake damage.

The obelisk
was at risk,
and all declared
it needed to be repaired.

Invasion of the Crazy Ants

Crazy, and unfortunately far from lazy, ants from Argentina have invaded the southern U.S.

Researchers at Texas A&M believe they have already caused $146.5 million worth of weeping human eyes at the sight of destroyed gadgets.

They'll hide

inside

your phone

and munch

it for lunch

like a scone.

Innumerate Face Innumerable Difficulties

Thanks, MRB, for alerting me to this.

Americans who have trouble dividing 300 by 2 are much more likely to end up in foreclosure than consumers with average math skills, a new study has found. The research is among the first to directly link mortgage trouble and financial literacy, according to its authors.

I'm kind of amused by the way the article only ascribes this result to "Americans". Do we need to test this separately for other nations?

For some it's a bummer,
they kind of get dumber,
when sums and numbers
make their brains number.

Boom

See that bright light? That's a transformer lighting up the sky after a branch fell on it. It made noises like gunshots, pulsed and sparkled like fireworks, then all the lights went out. A friend had the presence of mind to snap the photo!

Lights are back on, and the Blackhawks took the Cup, so now we're hearing actual fireworks from all over the neighborhood.

The neighbors were afraid their garage would catch on fire, but it didn't, so then he drove to a bar so he could watch the Hawks, since our TVs were all out.

You cannot watch the game
when your power's lost to flame.

Poetry Reading at Wedding

One of the readings at my daughter's wedding was a poem of mine. I didn't originally recommend it, but then my wife said I should make sure my daughter knew about it, and my daughter and her now-husband apparently liked it a lot... so I got to read my own poem at the wedding. A lot of people afterward came up to me to say they liked it, so I guess I did okay! Anyway, here it is, I guess it falls in the oldie-but-goody category, because I wrote it around 1996. It's just called "I Do". It was actually used at someone else's wedding in Australia, years ago. I have a cassette tape of the reading, which is quite lovely.

What can it mean to say "I do" forever?
We don't live for forever — we live now
And for some time to be, but we can never
Know with certainty the twists and turns
That lie ahead — the when and why and how
Of life's surprises — and the flame that burns
Within us for each other, hot and bright,
Might flicker and go out, or be consumed
In some new love for someone else's light.
Why would I enter into such a vow
When fortune telling is a game that's doomed?

Oh — just because of all these great unknowns
I dare to take a stand and take your hand.
We are not rolling down a hill like stones,
We do not merely bounce without a clue,
But, more like ships, we steer through storms toward land,
Then take to sea again — the open blue
Attracts us with its sparkling invitation
To sights unseen — to music never heard —
And not just rehash of some old sensation
But startling new experience unplanned.
Amidst all this, I offer you my word.

To keep my vessel cruising next to yours,
Whatever winds may blow, whatever gales
Wash over us — as long as mind endures —
To keep your flags in sight. For while the wind
Is what gives all the power to our sails,
Its pushing does not point our way. Unpinned
I tack against the gusting face of chance
By dint of rudders, ropes, and careful craft.
I keep eyes fixed across that wide expanse
On my direction — until eyesight fails,
Though tempest tossed, though lost, though dazed and daft.

For like a compass pointing to the north,
The arrow in my heart points tried and true,
And by its pain I know when, back or forth,
My way has strayed from where I want to be.
All this is what I mean by my "I do."
Oh, darling, will you say the same for me?
I cannot ask for more than that you try
To keep me in your sights while yet you can.
I know that even true loves sometimes die,
But while it lives I offer mine to you:
Be my woman, and I'll be your man.

Wedding Day

My daughter Felicia is getting married today. In several hours I will walk her down the aisle. It's a joyful occasion. She is taking vows with a fine young man who makes her happy.

People, well, actually... women in particular keep asking me if I'm going to cry at the ceremony.

Will I cry?
And if so, why?

I don't know, maybe,
because she's our baby,
and it's great to see her grown
with a husband of her own,
but I do sort of miss, and fondly recall
the days when she was just small.

"What Makes People Snap"

Tyler Cowen, re: the Greek economic/political mess, offers a more general observation:

Many deconversions from religion, or from fandom, or even from marriage, work the same way. Big lies are told and those lies inflict some damage. The institution in question soldiers on. A bit later, an apparently smaller slight or problem brings the whole thing crashing to the ground, precisely when things appeared to be getting better.

That seems right to me. I mean, not always. But often.

The straw that breaks the camel's back
may not occur with its heaviest pack.

Droning On

The head of the FBI said today that domestic drone use is minimal.

I feel oddly un-reassured.

I think we should use drones more actually. I would feel a lot safer if I had a few assigned to me at all times.

I want them to hover, 
like a jealous lover, 
trailing me around, 
like a sniffing hound.

Scandalmania

Many a ship has been wrecked
from cumulative effect.

Mine This

It's funny how data-mining 
means my data isn't mine. 

There must be a silver lining, 
but it's somewhere down the line.

Bird Mystery Solved

I was bicycling today, in a former golf course, which is being remodeled as a park, when I came across this bird, who was making a ruckus at me, fanning out his tail feathers, peeping a loud song, and, eventually, running away from me along the ground, which I caught on film:





I thought that it had a hurt wing and was unable to fly. I rode away feeling kind of bad for the poor little thing.

I had no idea what kind of bird it was, but one friend said it was a Killdeer, and another a friend who is a very accomplished birdwatcher said:

Definitely a Killdeer and one doing a 'broken wing' display that they are probably best known for. This bird likely had a nest or fledglings around and it was pretending to have a broken wing in order to distract you (a predator) away from them.

So I was feeling sorry for it... but it was fine!

Yes, that's what occurred:
I was suckered by a bird.

Not A Lawyer But

You frequently read, nowadays, even in government publications, here and there, that it is illegal to ask a certain question in a certain situation.

As: it is illegal to ask what disability a person has, when they want to bring a service dog into a restaurant.

Or: it is illegal to ask someone, on a job interview, if they have ever been arrested.

Now, there may be legal reasons why it is best to avoid asking these questions. But I don't think it's correct that you are breaking the law merely by asking the questions. You may be opening the business up for some kind of discrimination lawsuit or penalty, but that's only if your reason for asking the question was for a forbidden discriminatory purpose.

I've noticed it's not usually lawyers who declare that a question is illegal. It's usually a worker with some basic training in how to keep their employer out of trouble.

Speech remains free, but can be evidence of intent,
and you may find yourself explaining what you meant.

Compressed Air to the Rescue

My iPhone malfunctioned yesterday. It seemed like the little socket, where you stick the charging cord, wasn't working.


I tried another cable. I tried another power supply.

I blew in the little socket.

But I apparently I didn't blow hard enough. Because at the Apple Store today they blasted some canned air into the hole, and it all started working again.

If you carry your phone in your pocket,
beware of lint in your socket!

Headspinning

It's hard to keep a handle 
on any given scandal 
when it seems like every day 
brings another one my way

Blue Genes

Supremes rule that we can't patent pre-existing genetic material.

Allowing a company to tie up the building blocks of nature "would be at odds with the very point of patents, which exist to promote creation," Justice Thomas wrote.

I patented my genes, in the happy hope,
that I could charge my kids, but the court said nope!

Comedy Writing, Revisited

I should reread that play
and try to puzzle out
why it's built that way
and what it was about.

There was no planning staff,
no schedule to decrypt.
But if it made me laugh,
I kept it in the script.

That only half explains,
since what makes something funny
frequently remains
the bee sting in the honey.

And in our human fashion,
some deeply buried thorn
of agonizing passion...
as humor is reborn.

Overwhelmed

It's hard to keep a handle 
on any given scandal 
when it seems like every day 
brings another one my way.

Comedy Writing

I should reread that play

and try to puzzle out

why it's built that way

and what it's all about.

There was no planning staff.

No schedule to decrypt.

Whatever made me laugh,

I kept it in the script.

He Used His Head

Oops:

German bank employee naps on keyboard, transfers millions

It was supposed to be 62.40 Euros, but he dozed off and his face rested on the keyboard and the 2-key went crazy and he transferred 222,222,222.22 Euros instead.

At least, that's his story and he's sticking to it - like his nose stuck to the 2-key.

Nodding off is funny
when it transfers tons of money.

I want him working on my account
and moving in a like amount.

History Keeps Changing

History, as we know it, keeps changing, because we keep digging new stuff up. Case in point:

The government has recovered 400 pages from the long-lost diary of Alfred Rosenberg, a confidant of Adolf Hitler who played a central role in the extermination of millions of Jews and others during World War Two.

Where was it recovered? Buffalo!

Historians simply love to find
further insights into Hitler's
frightening insane mind.

On Stage In Madison

The actresses pictured, left to right, are Zechariah Ruffin, Celia Lohr, and Lauren Rusch. We drove up to Madison, WI, yesterday to see them doing my short play, "Playing With Matches" as part of the Queer Shorts 8 festival. I was delighted to have my play accepted for the festival, and I was extremely pleased with the performance, which was directed by Karl Reinhardt.

The play is supposed to be funny in quite a few places, and it did get laughs in those places, which provided instant gratification to me.

We combined the trip to Madison with a visit to some old friends from Chicago who retired to the Madison area. They accompanied us to the evening's entertainment and enjoyed it very much. They haven't attended much theater in Madison, and so they were worried the acting might be of low quality, but they needn't have worried. The acting was generally strong.

I enjoyed the other plays, too. Since this is the rhyme-of-the-day blog, I have to make a special mention of Arlecchino's Last Prank, by Andrew Black, since it was written completely in rhyme.

My play did not rhyme. But did include some "talking like a pirate".

I know, it's true, I'm kind of straight,
but being in Queer Shorts was great.

Who, Us?

Carefully worded denials from tech companies, as if -
they have a good idea just how the government did sniff.

On Second Thought

I take back every online joke 
I made about the NSA. 
Trust me, really, I misspoke. 
I'm right behind you all the way!

Drama On Two Levels

I mean my title literally. Dream Theatre is running a double feature of 2 one-hour plays. The first runs in the basement theatre space, the second runs in the main theatre space. I went to see them tonight.



The Ballad Of Little Duck is a one-man show about a broken man. The basement space has been convincingly transformed into an outdoor spot in a railroad yard, complete with steadily dripping water. It's a tale of a man driven mad, told in an apparently rambling stream-of-consciousness style, but with a clear story that is revealed bit by bit until the chilling conclusion is reached. It's got a bit of that Southern Gothic quality of a gritty based-in-reality horror tale. Jeremy Menekseoglu always compels attention, riding a roller coaster of emotion, funny and then pitiable, stupid and then cunning. He has created a character that stays with you. Rachel Martindale directed, evidently with a sure touch, because I felt no false notes.



The Samaritan Syndrome is more of a surrealistic exploration of a twisted version of the psychology of wanting to save yourself by first saving someone else. The setting of the play is a mental hospital that turns into a brothel at night. To this place of despair comes a man who is looking to help a particular woman, a woman he has been searching for, to save her. Directed by Anna Menekseoglu, this play is full of haunting emotional exchanges, but moves briskly along. Adam M. Overberg is engaging and sympathetic as our protagonist, the man in a suit. Anna Menekseoglu is awesome as the girl he has been looking for. The other actors, Megan Merrill, Hasket Morris, Kristi Parker-Barnhart, Ophelia Thorne, and Hisako Sugeta all turned in what I thought were very strong performances.

Remember: If someone wants to save you from the grave, they may need you exactly there. So beware.

Mirren's Tempest

That's Helen Mirren in The Tempest, a movie adaptation of Shakespeare's play.

Her character, a sorceress, was male in Shakespeare's version.

They also turned Ariel from a female magical spirit into a male... who sometimes sprouts feminine breasts via anatomical special effects.

It came out to mixed reviews, but I liked it. I'm not in love with the original play, it always seemed slow-moving to me, somewhat lacking in true dramatic tension, but they kept the pace flowing pretty well, and kept the key poetic passages.

It has a happy ending,
albeit bitter sweet,
and lots of lovely verbiage,
to charm you off your feet.

Issues of Our Times

Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina:

"Who is a journalist is a question we need to ask ourselves," he said. "Is any blogger out there saying anything—do they deserve First Amendment protection? These are the issues of our times."

You know, "any blogger saying anything"... would still be "saying" something, wouldn't they?

So maybe some other part of that amendment - like the "free speech" clause - would be applicable and afford some "First Amendment Protection".

Just a thought.

And I hope that that thought is still protected
by one of the clauses the founders selected.

Tough U.S. Model

Our standards are so tough:

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned on Tuesday that failure to win the battle against youth unemployment could tear Europe apart, and dropping the continent's welfare model in favor of tougher U.S. standards would spark a revolution.

So apparently they are thinking about our model for some reason, but fear disaster.

If U.S. welfare standards were introduced in Europe, "we would have revolution, not tomorrow, but on the very same day," Schaeuble told a conference in Paris.

But, you know, the Swedes are already experiencing young people setting things on fire at night.

Maybe the Swedes should review our model and try it.
They're already dealing with arson and riot.
Maybe our way would bring some quiet.

Tranquilized, Tatooed, Relocated

Bear in Montclair, New Jersey roams free,
unsure where home's supposed to be.

The IRS scandal is unreeling unevenly, as crimes and scandals do. The "few" IRS agents involved are reportedly pointing their fingers upward, saying they were only following orders, but the Treasury department inspector general is having trouble getting them to finger someone in particular:

“We did pose that question, and no one would acknowledge who, if anyone, provided that direction.”

Enquiring minds want to know! Well, I expect it will come out.

Nowadays, the unkillable email trail
causes the average cover-up to fail.

Early Anti-Nazi Film

I found this fascinating:

Rediscovered: The First American Anti-Nazi Film, Banned by U.S. Censors and Forgotten for 80 Years

The name of the film was Hitler's Reign of Terror. The year was 1933. The journalist behind the film was Cornelius Vanderbilt IV, a direct descendant of the railroad tycoon.

I loved this quote from Vanderbilt about Hitler:

Unquestionably he is a man of real ability, of force. But the way I sized him up after interviewing him is that he is a strange combination of Huey Long, Billy Sunday, and Al Capone.

In retrospect, it is regrettable that he was a man of such ability and force.

If he had been less skilled,
there would have been fewer killed.

Water

I was talking to a tradesman who does drains today. He said he only does dirty water. Clean water is for plumbers, who get to sell the stylish faucets. But as long as plumbers are selling faucets, he'll have work too.

Water comes in, but can't remain. That is why you need a drain.