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Nazis, Bombs, and the World's Fair too!
May. 13th, 2004 05:19 amMy reading about the NY World's Fair has turned this up, from 1940 - Nazi saboteurs (apparently) planted a bomb at the World's Fair:
http://www.queenscourier.com/archives/2000/lead062900b.htm
*****
For most of my life, Japanese race drivers have figured primarily as a reliable source of low humour. David Hobbes' characterization of Hiro Matsushita as 'the moving chicane' about summed it up. Now suddenly there's three good ones, all at once: Tora Takagi, Takuma Sato and Kosuke Matsuura. Sato especially seems to be showing signs of greatness. Why does stuff like this happen in clusters? Was there some (now changed) underlying factor in Japanese society that militated against producing capable race drivers? If so, what was it? Did the nature of racing itself change to favour the Japanese?
*****
Saturday I stopped off at the Baptist church rummage sale near here. Rummage sales have traditionally been a major source of temptation for me, so I resolved in advance that I was only going to spend one dollar or less. They had a big table of Christmas stuff (which was what I'd been hoping for - that or slot cars) and sitting prominently on top was a Shiny-Brite plastic star tree topper. We had one of these when I was little - they're a fairly cheap and plain decoration from the late 50s, but surprisingly hard to find these days, I think mainly because you have to disassemble the whole thing to change the light bulb, and it's fragile.
I got a mint one from another Christmas light collector a year or so ago, but it had the green base. This one had the off-white base, just like the long-lost one of my childhood, so I snatched that up. No price tag on it though. At the bottom of a box of undistinguished ornaments, I found a solitary C6 bulb, one of the nice Westinghouse medium blues. I kicked myself for not coming earlier - they must have sold a C6 string, and this came detached. Still, I took that too. Also no price tag.
Now I'm standing there with two unpriced items. I'm estimating less than a dollar for the two of them, but I've really got no way to know. Suddenly der Rummage Fuehrer announced that everything was now free - they didn't want to have to take anything home, so grab what you liked! Woot! I got a set of graduated embroidery hoops, a new pack of C7 bulbs with an unusual light yellow coloured one, and a kit to make some crewel-work Mouse ornaments. Free stuff is always good, but it does interfere with my efforts to divest myself of excess stuff :P
*****
I also got a library card this weekend. One of the advantages of living in a city is the library. It's been eight years or so since I've had a serious interest in the library - the internet replaced that. Google is exactly what I wanted the library to be in my childhood - more information than I could ever digest, all right there for the asking. Still, I was feeling libraryish, so I went and got a card.
The first difference is that I grew up in a town with one library, the size of a large house. My local branch here is as big as the entire Huntingburg library. I poked around in there for a bit, and then hied myself downtown, to the impressive Main Library. It's vast. I can see myself spending weekends in there easily. It's surprising how easily one falls back into the comforts of the library. I ended up with a social history of the Victorian age and a collection of MR James ghost stories. I'm vaguely disappointed, in that they had literally more Stephen King books than I could have carried, but only a single volume of James.
My tastes are out of step with those of the modern audience, I fear. The times I've read King (my mother loves him, so I inherit those for the asking) I've found his 'horror' to be by turns silly, overwrought and now and again disgusting, but seldom frightening. Now that being said, the man did write 'It' and 'The Shining', both of which stand out like diamonds in the dung heap. A hundred years from now, when the rest of King's corpus is forgotten, those're going to stand as masterpieces of the form.
*****
Another ass-rocket debacle, and again the newspaper headlines it as a 'firecracker' accident. http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040511-103240-2081r.htm Just exactly what is the deal here? This is a minor issue, but it annoys me all the same. Motorcycles aren't headlined as automobiles, and helicopters aren't headlined as aeroplanes, so why are all fireworks 'firecrackers'?
*****
I keep looking at the pictures of those Iraqi clowns stacked on top of one another in the prison, and all I can think of is:
"Oh, please, Br'er Guard - put me on the rack, or use the thumbscrews, or beat me, but whatever you do, PUH-LEASE don't throw me into that pile of naked, sweaty, writhing men!" :D
*****
Nikoonie's Small World - so fitting...
http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/
http://www.queenscourier.com/archives/2000/lead062900b.htm
*****
For most of my life, Japanese race drivers have figured primarily as a reliable source of low humour. David Hobbes' characterization of Hiro Matsushita as 'the moving chicane' about summed it up. Now suddenly there's three good ones, all at once: Tora Takagi, Takuma Sato and Kosuke Matsuura. Sato especially seems to be showing signs of greatness. Why does stuff like this happen in clusters? Was there some (now changed) underlying factor in Japanese society that militated against producing capable race drivers? If so, what was it? Did the nature of racing itself change to favour the Japanese?
*****
Saturday I stopped off at the Baptist church rummage sale near here. Rummage sales have traditionally been a major source of temptation for me, so I resolved in advance that I was only going to spend one dollar or less. They had a big table of Christmas stuff (which was what I'd been hoping for - that or slot cars) and sitting prominently on top was a Shiny-Brite plastic star tree topper. We had one of these when I was little - they're a fairly cheap and plain decoration from the late 50s, but surprisingly hard to find these days, I think mainly because you have to disassemble the whole thing to change the light bulb, and it's fragile.
I got a mint one from another Christmas light collector a year or so ago, but it had the green base. This one had the off-white base, just like the long-lost one of my childhood, so I snatched that up. No price tag on it though. At the bottom of a box of undistinguished ornaments, I found a solitary C6 bulb, one of the nice Westinghouse medium blues. I kicked myself for not coming earlier - they must have sold a C6 string, and this came detached. Still, I took that too. Also no price tag.
Now I'm standing there with two unpriced items. I'm estimating less than a dollar for the two of them, but I've really got no way to know. Suddenly der Rummage Fuehrer announced that everything was now free - they didn't want to have to take anything home, so grab what you liked! Woot! I got a set of graduated embroidery hoops, a new pack of C7 bulbs with an unusual light yellow coloured one, and a kit to make some crewel-work Mouse ornaments. Free stuff is always good, but it does interfere with my efforts to divest myself of excess stuff :P
*****
I also got a library card this weekend. One of the advantages of living in a city is the library. It's been eight years or so since I've had a serious interest in the library - the internet replaced that. Google is exactly what I wanted the library to be in my childhood - more information than I could ever digest, all right there for the asking. Still, I was feeling libraryish, so I went and got a card.
The first difference is that I grew up in a town with one library, the size of a large house. My local branch here is as big as the entire Huntingburg library. I poked around in there for a bit, and then hied myself downtown, to the impressive Main Library. It's vast. I can see myself spending weekends in there easily. It's surprising how easily one falls back into the comforts of the library. I ended up with a social history of the Victorian age and a collection of MR James ghost stories. I'm vaguely disappointed, in that they had literally more Stephen King books than I could have carried, but only a single volume of James.
My tastes are out of step with those of the modern audience, I fear. The times I've read King (my mother loves him, so I inherit those for the asking) I've found his 'horror' to be by turns silly, overwrought and now and again disgusting, but seldom frightening. Now that being said, the man did write 'It' and 'The Shining', both of which stand out like diamonds in the dung heap. A hundred years from now, when the rest of King's corpus is forgotten, those're going to stand as masterpieces of the form.
*****
Another ass-rocket debacle, and again the newspaper headlines it as a 'firecracker' accident. http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040511-103240-2081r.htm Just exactly what is the deal here? This is a minor issue, but it annoys me all the same. Motorcycles aren't headlined as automobiles, and helicopters aren't headlined as aeroplanes, so why are all fireworks 'firecrackers'?
*****
I keep looking at the pictures of those Iraqi clowns stacked on top of one another in the prison, and all I can think of is:
"Oh, please, Br'er Guard - put me on the rack, or use the thumbscrews, or beat me, but whatever you do, PUH-LEASE don't throw me into that pile of naked, sweaty, writhing men!" :D
*****
Nikoonie's Small World - so fitting...
http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/
