Missed Opportunity

A British soldier may have had a chance to kill Hitler in WWI. The story is interesting, and he "was always haunted by an act of decency to an indecent man."

(h/t OMG Facts)

A Taste of Fiction

Speaking with my mother about Stephenie Meyer and JK Rowling and their great success at writing, my mother said that's what I need to do. As in write a book or books and become fabulously wealthy. I told her--in all honesty--that the thing is, if I had written "Twilight", I would have thought it was too stupid to show anyone else.

The truth of it is, I write a bit of fiction, but it's for myself. I sometimes have characters living in my head, and I sometimes give in and commit part of their stories to paper or computer file. For some months now, I've had a couple characters who seem to have taken up semi-permanent residence in my head. I'm thinking I might have to set them free, but whether or not they're worth the effort of a full book, I am not the best judge. (And I can assure you, anything I would commit to book form would not be in the league of Rowling or even Meyer. This specific exercise would probably be at best an Austen homage.)

So. I need some better judges than myself to honestly critique a small sample of my writing. I am secure in my competence as a nonfiction writer, but fiction leaves me less confident. Fiction is, after all, an invitation into a world of the author's creation--much more intimidating. If you are interested in reading a few paragraphs involving my two main characters, please continue on...and please give an honest reaction in the comments. Kind words written only to make me feel good are useless if untrue. Cruel but honest words can be left anonymously. :-)

Jack Trice

Some of you may have watched Iowa State upset Oklahoma State last night. That upset took place at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa. Jack Trice Stadium is the only Division I football stadium named after an African American.

Jack Trice played just one game for Iowa State University, so why would the stadium be named for him? Because he played that game in 1923, when some colleges and universities refused to even play against an opposing team with black players.

Trice's only game was against the University of Minnesota. The night before the game, Trice had to stay in a different hotel from his teammates because of racial segregation in Minneapolis. He wrote a letter to himself that night, which would be read at his funeral 11 days later.

During the game, Trice's collarbone was broken, but he played on. Later in the game, Trice was trampled by three Minnesota players after he blocked one of their teammates. He died two days later of internal bleeding from injuries sustained during that incident. It was never resolved whether Trice's injuries were accidentally or purposely inflicted, and Iowa State refused to play the University of Minnesota again until 1989.

It should be noted that it was repeated efforts by the Iowa State students that finally got Jack Trice's name on their stadium in 1997. Students in the 70s tried to get their new stadium named for him, but the University's President named it Cyclone Stadium instead. Iowa State students got the playing field named Jack Trice Field in the 80s, and raised money for the Jack Trice statue that stands outside the gates. Their renewed efforts to change the stadium name in the 90s paid off.

Easter Island Statues' Bodies

A look at the body of one Easter Island statue, plus links to more info here.

Birthday Wishes

Happy 125th birthday to the Statue of Liberty! Lady Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886.

Say My (User)Name

If you're following my Tweets, but you don't actually have a Twitter account (weirdo), you'll need to note my username has changed to TheJenLars.

Proceed accordingly.

Limited Content

Loaded Twitter onto the right column down there a bit. But really, if you're interested in my Tweets (and you're not), you should join Twitter and follow me.

Never Good at Goodbye

I just found out that Paul, formerly of Sanity's Edge, passed away in July.

He had cancer for a long time, and I knew it wasn't looking good, but I always hoped it would turn out differently.

Love you and miss you, Paul.

His obit asked that memorial contributions be made to the American Cancer Society.

Crushing My Soul

The comment spam is just making me feel a little too stabby. I don't get it. I spent *hours* and *hours* cleaning it up and closing comments and everything, and it still infects every fricking thing and makes me not want to blog here.

Help me.

Because You Miss the Random

I can't be bothered to actually, you know, blog, but you can peek in at the sometimes deranged thoughts in my head by following my Tweets: here. Twitter username "jenlars8".

Drawing Mohammed

So, tomorrow is supposed to be Everybody Draw Mohammed Day. The Seattle artist who originally called for the day has backed way off her support for it. The Facebook page cited in that link has also backed way off its original stance.

Which is all pretty sad, in my opinion.

So why is it so awful to depict an image of Islam's most revered Prophet?

Back in The Day, during the infancy of Islam, many Muslims failed to adhere "properly" to that Commandment about not worshiping false idols (or any God but the one true God). After the Prophet died, some Islamic factions began worshiping Mohammed much like Christians before them worshiped Jesus. (We won't get into the But Jesus is the Son of God! argument here.) Temples, monuments, statuary, and the like were created to honor Mohammed.

Other Muslims decided this sort of thing had to be nipped in the bud, and it was declared that any image of the Prophet was blasphemy. Factions fought one another. Temples, monuments, statuary, and the like were forcibly destroyed. Having even a picture of the Prophet in one's home was a possibly fatal offense. The no-worshiping-Mohammed group won out over the worshiping-Mohammed group, and the Mohammed imagery taboo became dogma. Mohammed himself had been pretty firm on the no false idols thing--he accused Christians of being polytheistic with their Jesus-worshiping ways.

As these things happen, the original intent of the Mohammed taboo was obscured by the rule itself. It was just plain blasphemous to depict the Prophet, regardless of reason or religion or whatever. So today we have fundamentalists who think it's okay to threaten to kill my beloved Matt Stone (and, you know, Trey Parker, too) for portraying Mohammed in a bear suit.

Some people think those of us who are not Muslim should be more culturally sensitive and respect the wishes of Muslims who believe depictions of their Prophet to be blasphemous. I'm all for cultural sensitivity. To a point. The line is drawn when one group of people tells another group of people that they are bound to the laws of a religion they don't participate in.

I am not bound to Islam anymore than I am bound to Catholicism. I don't ask priests to absolve my sins, and I don't ask anyone to approve of my doodles. I do not happen to live in a country run by religious rulers, and no one can force me to accept any belief system (or at least act like I accept it) other than my own. It's religious freedom, freedom of speech, and all that good stuff I enjoy as the citizen of a democratic nation.

It would be kind of a lame thing to die for--drawing a picture of some guy who has been dead for nearly 1500 years--but it is important to take a stand when one group tries to force their religious beliefs on another. No matter how crazy or small that group might be.

Slippery Slope

I'm becoming a little too obsessed with "Deadliest Catch", and should probably get a grip.

But there is a marathon Memorial Day weekend.

So I won't.

(Get a grip.)

Is it real??

These guys have FAR too much free time

Is there anyone out there still reading here?

Another one that is REALLY wrong

This music video is a piece of work. On one level it is so wrong but it does sound good. Thanks to William over at Two-Four

I found Jen!!!

Jen has been spotted tooling around Iowa in this little jem

WW2 history

Anyone who is a WW2 history buff knows about operation Market Garden. Michael Yon has lots of excellent pictures from a remembrance of it in Holland. It is really something to see how thankful an entire country is to the service men who liberated them so many years ago. It is a long article but well worth the time. Also hit his tip jar if you can. He is 100% reader supported.

so wrong, yet so right

The shoebox from hallmark has a blog. Truly it is a beautiful thing and the links are even better.

There I fixed it

Rube Goldberg would be proud.

It will bring tears to your eyes

Birthday

Yes, it is the anniversary of the birth of my parents' original child.

She is mostly interested in gifts of cash and/or adult beverages.

She is also fine with pretending this day is any other day.

(Note: Facebook has made her accustomed to speaking of herself in third person.)

Out of the hospital

A big thanks to all for the prayers and thoughts. I have been out of the hospital since last Thursday. My ribs and shoulder are still hurting at times but nothing major. Hopefully I'll be back at 100% before too long. I was talking from a guy who was on the ride today and it seems that when they first got to me I wasn't breathing so I am unbelievably lucky to be posting this.

Excuse #934

Ah, the excuses for not blogging bit...let's see...umm. Hmm. Well, I've just been using my brain power and time for other things.

I have not forgotten you, I have not forsaken you.

I have not forgotten that I need to post something about divination this week. Necromancy is on deck, and it will happen tomorrow or Friday.

"Necromancer" is an awesome word, no?

UPDATE: Okay, Wednesday 9/9 is definitely the day. Unless Thursday is the day.

UPDATE: Okay, this week isn't good for me. Next week looks promising. You know how I do.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

It took Rachel Lucas several weeks to steel herself to write this post, and it took me nearly a week to steel myself to read it.

It's been sitting, saved, in my feedreader since Monday. This early morning, in the absolute quiet, I was finally ready to read it. If you haven't already, you should too. Reminders are good for all of us.

I'll Give You a Topic...

...food weirdness. (Inspired by a FB thread.)

I will not eat leftovers that are more than 24 hours old. And in general, will avoid leftovers like the plague unless it's something really, really good. Like pizza.

I have to have all meat well done. And by that, I mean "nearly burnt". If I am a guest at someone's house, I can choke down a (very) slightly pink steak if I don't think about it too much. I would rather eat a black hamburger than a pink one.

If I find a colored vein in my chicken, I completely lose my appetite. For about a week. There was a vein in my BK chicken sandwich once, and I didn't have another one for two years. And I love the BK chicken sandwiches. But the offending sandwich was immediately spit out and thrown away. Meal over.

So what are your food quirks?

Defining Moments

Ted Kennedy has passed away, and despite his many years of service to this country, many people will remember him most for his role in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne.

Kennedy made several bad judgments that night, and no one really knows exactly what happened. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident causing injury, and pled guilty. He was given a two-month suspended sentence. Many people found this penalty extremely light given the fact that a woman died in an accident with so many unanswered questions.

At the very least, Kennedy should have immediately reported the incident to the authorities. If he had done so, he may have been remembered more for the good things he did for health care, civil rights, and education. Instead, Chappaquiddick will be mentioned alongside Kennedy's achievements in every obituary written about him today, and that moment from 40 years ago will cast a shadow over everything he accomplished since.

Ask Jen: Foolish Edition

Cam writes: "I've heard the quote about not [fooling] all the people all the time attributed to Abe Lincoln and PT Barnum. Which is it?"

The full quote is "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

Unfortunately, there is no documentary proof linking the quote to either man, but it is most often attributed to Lincoln, who supposedly said it during his Senate campaign against Stephen Douglas. The problem is, the quote was attributed well after the fact and can not be found in newspaper coverage from the time.

Do you have a question for me? You can e-mail it. If I know the answer, I'll answer it. If I don't, I might make something up.

A Quote for Jim and Paul

...in the most superficial way possible...

"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast."
-Author Unknown

And here's one for yesterday and probably later today...

"No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap."
-Carrie Snow

Divination: Scrying/Crystalomancy

From dictionary.com:

scry
intr.v. scried, scry-ing, scries.
To see or predict the future by means of a crystal ball.

We're all familiar with the image of a fortune-teller gazing into their crystal ball, but scrying goes further back than sideshow acts and shady back rooms.

Staring into any clear or reflective surface (including water) in the hopes of inspiring a vision goes back to ancient Egypt, Persia, and Greece. Celtic Druids used crystals, and may have been the first to use them exclusively.

In all these cultures, the seers were not watching for visions to occur in the surface--everyone knew and acknowledged that any prophecies originated in the mind of the seer. The object of their gaze was merely helpful in producing a meditative or trance-like state that encouraged the prophetic visions to form in the gazer's mind.

The Romans were among the first known to prefer gazing upon polished quartz crystals, and the ubiquitous "crystal ball" made its first appearance in Medieval Europe.

Today, the High Lamas of Tibet spend time gazing at their holy lake of Lhamo Latso in order to divine the location of the current incarnation of the Dalai Lama. And of course, less spiritually-minded "seers" can be hired in major western cities for a fee.

Blogless Pete--UPDATED

Pete--who posts here more than I do--"had a nasty nasty accident on Saturday...had broken ribs, collar bone and ruptured spleen and really bad head injury! Please pray for him...Dores(wife)".

(Dores posted that on Facebook.)

Pete has a good heart and he's a great friend. If you pray, please do!

Tuesday morning UPDATE: Up and walking on his own, having some short term memory issues, but doing well!

I'll Give You a Topic...

Thin mints are far and away the best Girl Scout cookie.

Discuss.

Ask Jen: Jen Edition

Jack writes: "What's been up for you? How's school? How's life? What are you reading? What are you studying? Where are you living? How's things?"

Thank you for the questions, Jack. I finished school last summer after studying history and anthropology, and I am now living in the Des Moines area once more. I am re-reading (at a very slow pace) New Moon, which is the 2nd book in the Twilight series. Those who follow me on Facebook (profile name: JenLars) know I already read the Twilight books earlier this summer. Now I am re-reading them to see what I missed. I am also reading The Secret History of the Rulers of the World by Philippe Gigantes.

As for what I am studying now, I am not taking formal classes, but I am moving through an Art Appreciation textbook at about a chapter a day. I love college textbooks, and pick them up at garage sales and the Half Price bookstore for cheap (the clearance section especially rocks). Next: Human Sexuality.

Do you have a question for me? You can e-mail it. If I know the answer, I'll answer it. If I don't, I might make something up.

Quote for Any Day

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

-Albert Einstein

Call for Questions

As most of you reading this know by now, I tend to get bored and wander off without positive reinforcement (i.e. comment-love and emails).

So, send me your "Ask Jen" questions and I will feel slightly more compelled to blog than normal.

Tack så mycket.

Divination

Throughout recorded history, individuals and governments have tried to hedge their bets against the unknown through divination. Every culture has used divination in one form or another.

We know that over 4000 years ago in Mesopotamia, priests were using astrology to predict events. Other forms of divination in that ancient culture included the interpretation of omens and the studying of shapes that formed when oil was poured into water.

The ancient Chinese were also interested in omens, and emperors had scores of scribes keeping track of possible omens such as strange births and weather patterns. Some seers would study cracked eggshells for clues about future events. Reading tea leaves, or tasseomancy, originated in China around the 6th century C.E., and moved on to Europe in the 1750s.

The Romans had official bird watchers to keep track of birds' movements. The thought behind this practice was that birds were the closest (in proximity) living things to the gods, and their behavior could help clue the humans in to the gods' happiness or lack thereof. Romans also studied the livers of sacrificed animals to look for signs about the future.

Whether it was ancient Egyptians looking over human entrails for clues, or Celts watching sacred white horses' movements, humans have had no shortage of ways to "see" the future.

About once a week, I'll be posting more information on some common methods of divination and their histories. You can't wait!

Save the Date

Semi-regular blogging to resume on Monday, August 17.

Blogging Strike

Okay, peeps. I am not blogging again until Pete meets his fundraising goals.

Well, not really...but it would sure be nice if you could dig deep and help a good cause. I know how tough it is right now, but any help would be most appreciated.

Here's the deal: Pete is participating in the Tri-State Trek, a 270-mile bicycle ride from Boston to New York to raise money for ALS research. His fundraising page is here, and his goal this year is to raise at least $1800.

I'll love you forever.

Fund Raising time

Ok everybody we are getting close to the time for the Tri State Trek again. It a 270 bicycle ride from Boston to NY to raise money for ALS research. My fund raising page is here. My goal this year is to raise at least $1800. I appreciate everything that all of you did last year to help out. I know that times are tough for a lot of us but I hope that you can find something to give to this charity. Thanks

I'll Give You a Topic...

Is it too much to ask to get, say, a 2-hour window for delivery/installation/service whatever times? Rather than a 4-hour window or larger? I understand delays and problems causing delays and whatnot, but it seems like a 2-hour window would be sufficient to work within.

(Oh, and btw, 6 year blogiversary this month, yadda yadda bleh.)

Celebrity-time-travel

Cool results of a competition to answer the question "What if celebrities had lived in different time periods?"

See the slide show here.

see more here.

*Ask Jen: Dogs are Gross Edition

Victor writes, "Why do dogs like to eat poop? You figure an animal with that developed a sense of smell could tell that poop smells really bad."

First of all, Victor, what is with your ongoing campaign to point out how gross dogs are? We can't all be rat people.

As mentioned previously, dogs smell things differently than you and I. What we think smells gross may be fantastic to the canine nose. So there's that.

There is also the practice of animals occasionally eating their own fecal matter in order to get a second chance at the nutritional value contained therein. There is also the practice of "Bear" Grylls eating bear poo in order to get at the nutritional value contained therein, but that is just disgusting.

Do you have a question for me? You can e-mail it. If I know the answer, I'll answer it. If I don't, I might make something up.

Round, Round, Get Around

Pete forwarded this article to me. Basically, it says (Oxford) history majors are the school tramps.

My knee-jerk reaction was to, of course, disagree. But then I considered the history majors who are not me...the ones I knew/know well enough to be familiar with their sex lives. And I’m going to have to say, they weren’t all that big on fidelity. You would think it’d be those hippies in anthropology getting all free-love on it, but the history majors I knew were more promiscuous.

Why would this be true? Perhaps historians have a better realization that those before them spent an inordinate amount of time focusing on carnal pleasures—especially if those before them were trying to deny other people the right to do so. Maybe historians are more likely to subscribe to the theory that life is short, so they want to enjoy it while they can. Or maybe historians are just more likely to meet strangers and get those strangers to talk about themselves, thus appearing more attractive to said strangers.

Any thoughts? Are the history majors simply revisionists? Do we need to re-poll the theater majors?

The Woodsy Type

So I decided to go commune with nature over the weekend...and some of nature decided to commune with me.

Normally I go camping in northern Wisconsin when the rest of the fam is around. There are either extended family members also camping out, or I have a niece and nephew with me. This weekend I was flying solo in the campgrounds. Me and my tent. My dad was with, but staying across the street in the cabin.

So within the hour of arrival, a porcupine was checking things out. He was rummaging about until I came to take his picture, and then he went up a tree...

(It was dusk, btw.)

He must have decided I was harmless, because he only went up a few feet before returning to the ground and continuing on his way...

I snapped his picture and finished setting up camp. There was some visiting with the locals (people), and then it was bedtime. I probably fell asleep about 10:00 p.m.

At midnight, I was awakened. I didn't know what woke me at first, so I just rolled over and snuggled back into my sleeping bag. Then I heard what sounded like someone climbing into the bed of my dad's truck and getting on the ATV. Did I mention the truck was 10 feet from my tent?

So it seemed odd that my dad would have waited until midnight and the pitch dark to unload his ATV. Hmm. Either a person or a bear would be sounding that heavy in the back of the truck.

"Hello?" I said in my sternest, you better not be trying to steal my dad's ATV voice. The noise stopped. Absolute silence. I decided we had a bear on our hands, people. I made a loud clapping noise, and it was off like a shot. Definitely a bear--too fast to be a person. Awesome. In the morning, there were definitely paw marks on the truck...from the rear wheel well along the bed to the roof (including the top of the roof). Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of them. It rained before I thought of it.

So it turned out Dad had left his dinner wrapper plus most of our groceries in the truck...with the driver's side window cracked open. I mostly blame the chili cheese dog wrapper, though. When I opened the truck to see what was up, it *stank* of chili cheese dog.

Anyway, after the excitement of the bear, you can only go downhill, right? So here is a picture of a woodpecker that hung out with me all weekend...

He didn't actually let me get closer than 15 feet at any given time, though.

There were many deer, some chipmunks, a turtle, and the usual flock of whippoorwills and loons in the distance. No more bears that I know of, but there was something walking around the campgrounds Saturday night. I pulled the covers over my ear, couldn't hear it anymore, and promptly fell asleep.
:-)

5/29 Lyrical Pursuit Lyrics

I was trying to find something truly awful for today's back of the box and I think I have succeeded. This one is guaranteed to stick in your head for days.

(See rules/intro here.)

it's a world of laughter, a world or tears

its a world of hopes, its a world of fear

No E ticket rides for cheaters.
Keith wins!

It's a Small World by those wonderfully life like puppets at Disney

May totals: Stephen 21, Keith 10, Victor 6, Nic 5, Spork 1

Stephen wins May with 21 points.

I would like to thank everybody for playing and hopefully we will be able to do something like this again.