BITS & PIECES

Openers:  My Lord Dunwilliam wa not, to say the least, in a good mood.  The interior of the coach was cold, the road, if the snow-coverd track could be so designated, was rough, and his lordship was tossed upwards, then flung from side to side, and the coachman, who was steadily freezing high up on his elevated seat, trembles as Dunwilliam gave vent to his rage.

"Blind, blockheaded cretin, drive round the bloody holes, not in them!"

Had he been given the gift of free speech, Coggins, for such was the coachm,an's name, might well have pointed out that in a blinding snowstorm it was a miricle that he had so far kept the coach on four wheels, but not being so gifted he did his best to guide the team of four horses on what he devoutly trusted was the centre of the road.  His trust was misplaced.

The coach reeled over, then slid into what appeared to be a deep ditch; the horses screamed as they were pulled backwards, and Coggins fell from his perch and landed in a deep pile of snow.  He clambered to his feet and hastened to aid his employer, whose scarlet face was glaring at him from the remains of the near-side window.

"You bloated, addle-brained imbecile."  His lordship was impelled to desist while he made the perilous descent from tilted coach to snow-coated road, then he took a deep breath and continued.  "You wall-eyed son of Jezebel, you maggor-ridden ball of excreta, by what devil and all his angles do you think you're doing?"

"Snow, me Lord."  Coggins spoke quickly, knowing he had little time before the next outburst.  "Ditch, me Lord, couldn't see it, me Lord."

Lord Dunwilliam is arrogant, imperious, and very quick to anger, sure of his position well above lesser mortals.  He had been traveling to Bala for an important appointment regarding an estate he had inherited.  Determined to make the appointment, he ordered Coggins to saddle on of the horses, and despite the coachman's fervant pleas, set off for the eight or so miles left to Bala.  The road was dark and the storm remained fierce and Dunwilliam soon lost his way.  Still he pushed on, with the fierce determination that made the world bow to him.  He might have perished in the storm had he not spied a lighted window a little before him.  Dunwilliam banged at the door and barged into the small farmhouse, which belonged to a widowed farmer, Evan ap Evans, and his daughter, eightee-year-old Silah.  Evans was as imjpoerious as Dunwilliam, but his preternaturally calm daughter displayed a quiet demeanor and had "the slim grace of a gazelle."  Dunwilliam, used to getting his own way, determined to have the girl one way or the other.  He and Evans spent much of the time arguing when there was the sound of a horn from the storm, as well as the baying of hounds.  This, Dunwilliam was told was the phantom figutre Arawn and his Cnw Annwn -- the Dogs of Hell.  Arawn had taken Silah as his lover and his cold demonic nature spelled doom for any who would thwart him.  Dunwilliam felt this was poppycock and that some local lout was playing on Evans's supernatural nature.  As Dunwilliam steals the girl and rides off into the storm, the Cnw Annwn follow.  And as they rend his flesh appart, Dunwilliam is soon to learn that an even more terrible fate awaits him...

-- "Lord Dunwilliam and the Cwn Annwn" by R. chetwynd-Hayes (first published in Welsh Tales of Terror [1973], edited by Chetwynd-Hayes; reprinted in his short story collection Terror by Night [1974])

Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes (1919-2001) was a British writer and anthologist of ghost and horror stories, with thirteen novels, twenty-seven short story collections, and twenty-six anthologies to his credit.  He edited twelve volumes of the Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories following the death of Robert Aickman, the original editor; he also edited five volumes in Fontana's Tales of Terror anthologies.   Chetwynd-Hayes received the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Fantasy Society.  He was portayed by John Carradine in the 1981 film The Monster Club.

Incoming:

• Robert Bernard, Death and the Chaste Apprentice.  Mystery.  "Des Capper, landlord of Saracen's Head, a splendid Elizabethan inn, has been called a bore, a snoop, and other things not fit to print.  Currently he was provoking his newest arrivals, the performers of the Ketterick Arts Festival -- as rowdy a group as ever trod the boards.  Des thought knowledge was power and was busy digging up secrets to 'get' someone good.  The brilliant conductor with the Casanova complex...the gorgeous Russian soprano with a taste for bit players,,,the theatrical couple with a marriage so open it had a revolving door...all of them -- and scads of others -- soon had the urge to kill Des.  Finally, someone did. But why would be the best-kept secret of all."  Barnard was one of our most literate and inventive mystery writers.
• Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Forbidden Tower.  A Darkover novel.  "This is the novel of four who defied the powers of the matrix guardians -- fanatics who protected those powers so that the planet of the ruddy sun might never fall beneath the influence of materialistic Terrans.  The four who found themselves fused into a terrifying untiy in that defiance were two men and two women.  The men were Damon Ridenow, a Comyn of the ruling caste, and Andrew Carr, the Earthman who had won for himself the right of clan-entry.  The women were Ellemir, betrothed of Damon, and Callista, who foreswore her vows to seek the love of the alien from the stars.  All the forces of ancient Darkover were to combine to resist this 'unnatural' alliance -- and the novel that grew out of this physical and psychic conflict displays the talent of Marion Zimmer Bradley at its finest."  Also, Ghostlight.  Fantasy.  "In the heady days of the sixties, many people sought solutions to mankind's troubles in secret religions and found that old wisdom had its place in the modern world.  Among them were followers of Thorne Blackburn, all seekers after Truth.  The group settled at Shadow's Gate, a magnificent old house in upstate New York.  During the climatic night of Blackburn's most powerful ceremony, chaos erupted.  Thorne Blackburn had vanished.  and Katherine, Thorne's life partner and the mother of one of his young children, was dead.  All that was thirty years ago, but Truth Blackburn, daughter of Thorne and Katherine, is still seeking truths -- the truth of what happend that night at Shadow's Gate, the truth about the magickal powers her father claimed to wield, the truth about her long-lost half-brother and -sister."  Early in our marriage, when Kitty was pregnant with our first child, we met Bradley at a convention; she gushed over Kitty's pregnancy.  At that next year's convention, with three-month-old Jessie in tow, the first person we saw was Bradley, who came rushing over to congratulate us and to fawn on the baby.  Years later, we and the world discovered what a truly horrible person she was.  So it goes.
• Philip Jose Farmer, The Magic Labyrinth.  The climax to the Riverworld novels.  "You are in this book.  So is everyone else who ever lived or ever will -- all humanity simulaneously reincarnated on the banks of the 10 million mile river that forms the setting for what many consider to be the crowning achievement of modern science fiction."  This was not the final Riverworld novel published, but any stories that followed this book would "fill in a tapestry now complete."
• John Faulkner, Cabin Road.  Southern comic novel, a Gold Medal original.  "In this new John Faulkner novel, the ribald, hilarious, bewildered Jones Peabody takes his lusty place with Jester Lester of Tobacco Road and the unforgettable creations of Erskine Caldwell, William Faulkner, and John Steinbeck.  You will howl with delight over the female problems of Jones Peabody, of the Government Man, of Uncle Good and his 'girls,' of ex-Senator, and a list of earthy, uninihibited males and females such as you have never met before on earth or in hesaven."  Faulkner was the younger brother of William Faulkner.  He wrote nine novels, five of them paperback originals, including Uncle Good's Girls, The Sin Shouter of Cabin Road, Ain't Gonna Rain No More, and Uncle Good's Weekend Party -- all books from a time long gone.
• "Michael Innes" (J. I. M. Stewart),  Appleby's Answer.  Mystery, the 27th novel in the John Appleby series.  "When Priscilla Pringle, a well-known writer of clerical murder mysteries (heedless of T. S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral is one of her tomes), learns that the last rector of a West Country village died under questionable circumstances, she decides to see if there's material for a new book.  Priscilla's curiosity is piqued by Captain Bulkington, a peculiar resident of the village who is seeking her advice on an ingenious murder device for a novel he may be writing.  As the manical plot twists accumulate and Miss Pringle becomes aware of a deadly reality, Sir John Appleby, retired Commissioner of Metropolitan Police, tries to help unravel the lethal puzzle.  Fast-paced, literate, and gently satirical, this suspense novel is Michael Innes at his delightfully urbane best."
• Raymond F. Jones, Renegades of Time.  Science fiction novel.  "The Algorans, masters of time travel [sic] had lost control of the time channels.  In despair, they stood helplessly by as the barbarian hordes of the devastating Bakori were unleashed on the universe.  In the little town of Midland, U.S.A., Joe Simmons worked feverishly to assemble the only device that has a chance to stop them.  He knew that success depended on a beautiful Algoran woman, Tamarina, yet he didn't even know if she would re-appear!  But he couldn't stop trying.  Thi whole disaster was his fault,"  This was the first "official" Laser Book, a short-lived paperback line produced by Harlequin Books (yeah, the romance guys) and edited by Roger Elwood.  (A previous book -- by Thomas Monteleone -- was issued as a freebie to introduce fans to the paperback line.)   Jones, the author of This Island Earth, and other classic science stories, was a popular writer in the 40s and 50s.  His work in the 60s and 70s -- including this novel -- showed a distinct diminishing of his talents.  His reputation was not helped by this and the other two novels he published with Laser Books.
• "Cassandra Khaw" (Zoe Khaw Joo Ee), Nothng But Blackened Teeth.  Horror novel.  "A Heian-era mansion stands abandoned, its foundation resting on the bones of a bride and its walls packed with the remains of the girls sacrificed to keep her compnay.  It's the perfect venue for a group of thrill-seeking friends brought back together to celebrate a wedding.  A night of food, drink, and games quickly spirals into a nightmare as secrets get dragged out and relationships are tested.  But the house has secrets too.  Lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride with a black smile and a hungry heart.  And she gets lonely down there in the dirt."
• "Muray Leinster" (Will F. Jenkins), Outlaw Guns.  Western, originally published as Wanted -- Dead orAlive!; first serialized under that title in Triple-X Magazine, February, March, April, and May 1929.  "Slim Galway was wanted -- dead or alive, but preferably dead -- by the law and the lwless in Las Alkmas...They put a price on Slim's hed, and it was a stiff one!  Folks reckoned that the lean outlaw had gone loco when he showed up in the valley -- big as life, bold and brazen as Jesse James, and quicker than ever on the draw.  But Slim figured he ha  job to do there -- a little matter of reustlking, murder and mayhem to clear up -- and he aimed to stay until he finished the job.  When his work was done, the man who had ridden into ton as a hunted deperado rode out as a hero!"  I'm a big Leinster fan, and this early by-the-books western adventure is pure gold for me.
• John Lutz, Dancing with the Dead.  Suspense novel set in the world of ballroom dance ompetitions.  Mary Arlington is "a St. Louis woman with a passion for ballroom dance..  Stuck in a dull real estate job that keeps her in dance lessons and custom-made shoes, caught up in a dead-end relationship with her brutish, loutish lover, Jake, and burdened with an alcoholic mother, Mary puts her heart into her studio lessons with Mel Holt, her instructor/partner, and impromptu rehearsals in front of the bedroom mirror.  Then she learns of the nurder of two women -- one in New Orleans, one in Seattle -- women with two things in common:  a similar appearance and a preoccupation with ballroom dance.  Mary becomes uneasily aware that she bears some resemblance to the women who have been killed.  Rene Verlane, the first victim's husband, suspects that a serial killer os loose, making the ballroom dance circuit and choosing his victims from among the women who enter dance competitions.  Verlane sets out to follow the circuit himself in search of the killer.  Ballroom dancing is the one thing in Mary's life that enables her to transcend her boredom and loneliness.  She and Mel have their eye on the prestigious Ohio Star Ball in Columbus, the biggest competition of the year.  In spite of her fears, she is determined to compete -- even if it mens risking her life."  Lutz and his wife were avid ballroom dancers.
• Louise Penny, A World of Curiosities.  A Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mystery.  "It's spring and Three Pines is reemerging after a harsh winter.  Not everything buried should come alive again.  But something has.  As the villagers prepare for a special celebration, Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves increasingly worrited.  A young man and woman have reappeared in the Surete du Quebec investigators' lives after many years.  The two were children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered.  Now they've arrived in the village of Three Pines.  But to what end?  Gamache's and Beauvoir's memories of that tragic case, the one that first brought them together, come rushing back.  Did their mother's murder hurt these chilkdren beyond repair?  Are those terrible wounds, buried for decades, about to erupt?  Gamache's alarm grows when a letter written by a long-dead stonemason is discovered.  In it, the man describes his terror when bricking up sn attic room comewhere in the village, years ago.  When the room is found, the villagers decide to open it up.  As the bricks are removed, Gamache, Beauvoir, and the villagers discover a world of curiosities, and more -- puzzles within puzzles, and hidden messages warning of mayhem and revenge."
• Kwei Quartey, The Missing American.  The first Emma Djan investigation, shortlisted for an Edgar Award.  "Accra, Ghana:  When 26-yer-old Emma Djan's dreams of following in her late father's footsteps in the Ghana Police service crash around her, she barely recovers her career by way of a referral to a private detective agency.  Missing persons, theft, and infidelity cases aren't what she hoped for, but her first investigation, which involves a disappeared American widower who follwed an online connection to Accra, will lead Emma deep into a world of sakawa scams, fetish priests, and those willing to kill to protect their secrets."
• "Kenneth Robeson" (house name, this time written by J. Allan Dunn and Lester Dent), The Majii.  A Doc Savage adventure, originally published in Doc Savage Magazine, September 1935.  "In New York, Rama Tura, chosen disciple of the Majii, leads Doc Savage into a sinister world of drugs and advanced hypnotism.  Far away in Jondore, a revolt is brewing that will pit THE MAN OF BROINZE against his most devious opponent, the man who cannot die."  Pure pulp, and I love it!
• "James Rollins" (James Czajkowski) - The Devil Colony.  A Sigma Force thriller.  "The gruesome discovery of mummified bodies deep in the Rocky Mountains -- along with strange artifacts inscribed with an unfathomable script -- stirs controversy and foments unrest.  And when a riot at the dig site results results in the horrible death of an anthropologist captured by television cameras, the government focuses its attention on an escaped teenage agitator -- the firebrand niece of Sigma Force director Painter Crowe.  To protect her, Crowe will ignite a war across the nation's most powerful intelligence agencies.  But the dark events have set in motion a frightening chain reaction:  a geological meltdown that threatens the entire western half of the U.S.  And the unearthed truth could topple governments, as Painter Crowe joins forces with Commander Gray Pierce to penetrate the shadowy heart of a sinister cabal that has been manipulating American history since the founding of the thirteen colonies."  This is the seventh (of, thus far, sixteen) novels in the Sigma Force series.  The author also writes as "James Clements."
• Harry Turtledove, The House of Daniel.   A fantasy novel with baseball.  "When the Big Bubble busted back in '29, seemed like it took half of the magic and work in the world with it...And life in the United States hasn't been the same since.  Hotshot wizards will tell you nothing's really changed, but then again, hotshot wizards aren't looking for honest work in Enid, Oklahoma.  No paying jobs at the mill, because zombies will work for nothing.  The diner on Main Street is seeing hard times as well, because a lot fewer folks can afford to fly carpets in from miles away.  Sober, penniless desperation can push a man like Jack Spivey to do funny things.  Violent things.  So when Big Stu, the guy who calls the shots in Enid, requests that he rough up a rival thug with the promise of a hundred-dollar payoff, Jack's conscience spreads its wings and flies off into the Oklahoma sunset.  That is, until he sees the person he's supposed to 'deal with' is a beautiful young woman.  Unfotinately for Jack, Big Stu isn't the type of man to let defiance go unpunished.  Against the odds, Jack finds a means of escape by securing a spot on the House of Daniel -- a brash band of barnstromers who'll take on any team, and whose antics never fail to entertain.  Now they're off to tour an America that's as shot through with magic as it is dead broke."
• Harry Turtledove & Martin H. Greenberg, editors, The Best Military Science Fiction of the 20th Century.  Doorstop anthology with thirteen stories and novelettes.  Authors are Poul Anderson, Philip K. Dick, Joe W. Haldeman, Arthur C. Clarke, Orson Scott Card, David Drake, Harry Turtledove, Corwainer Smith, George R. R. Martin, Gregory Benford, Walter Jon Williams, C. J. Cherryh, and Anne McCaffrey.  Impressive lineup.  Impressive stories.
• Donald E. Westlake, Thieves' Dozen.  Collection of eleven Dortmunder stories -- actually, ten Dortmunder stories and one related story.  (There was one further Dortmunder story after this book was published:  "Walking Around Money," a novella in Ed McBain's anthology Transgressions.)  Dortmunder, May, Andy Kelp, Rollo the bartender, Arnie Alrbright the fence, and the regulars at OJ's Bar are here in full form.  I haven't checked all the stories, but I think Tiny Bulcher, Stan Murch, and Murch's Mom are missing from this collection -- which is a shame.
• Charles Willeford, Cockfighter.  Gritty novel of the world of -- you guessed it -- cockfighting.  "Frank Mansfield is the COCKFIGHTER.  Relentless, enigmatic, possessed of a gut instinct for survival and a powerful obsession with winning in a flourishing but illegal sport which sophisticated people never discuss...for it is unspeakably cruel, unthinkably bloody -- and incredibly exciting.  COCKFIGHTER is the stunning novel of a single-minded man whose pursuit of the Cockfighter of the Year medal takes him into the seamy underbelly of rural Southern life...into the hot, dusty small towns where hoarse, sweating men crouch around a cockpit, cheering as two gamecocks with steel spurs tear at each other...and where beautiful, willing women administer their own special brand of succor to winner and loser alike."  Like many of Willeford's novels, this is not an easy book to read.
• Don Winslow, The Dawn Patrol.  Crime novel, the first Boone Daniels book.  "It's dawn in Pacific Beach California as Boone Danils, a laid-back private investigator in board shorts and with sleuthing skills to burn, straddles his long board, ut on the line.  With him are his Dawn Pareol buddies -- High Tide, a seriously big Samoan, Dave the Life Guard -- aka Dave the Love God -- and Johnny Banzai, a San Diego homicide detective when he's not in the water.  Then there's Sunny -- tall, blond, a real California girl.  She's also the best surfer of the lot, and has, well, history with Boone.  A huge Pacific storm is coming, bringing with it onc-in-a-lifetime waves -- Sunny's last chance to be snapped riding one big wave and make pro.  So when Boone takes a case involving one dead and one missing stripper with the help -- or hindrance, Boone thinks -- of uptight lawyer Petra Hall, he's determined to wrap it up in time for the epic surf.  But all sorts of trouble follows with Hawaiian gangs and trafficked Mexican girls, as the case turns dark and personal, raising ghosts from Boone's troubled past and dragging in Sunny and the rest of the Dawn Patrol.  The currents turn treacherous on land and at sea as the big swell makes landfall and Boone has to fight just to keep his head aove water..."  This one was a finalist for both the Barry and the Dilys Awards.

The Great Molasses Flood:  Molasses is a thick, viscuous substance obtained from the refining of sugarcane or sguar beet juice into sugar.  It differs according to the the amount of sugar, the method of extraction, and the age of the plant.  It is used in cooking and i the making of brown sugar.  It was popular in America before and into the beginning of the 20th century.  It is one of the main ingredients used to distill rum, and had been used as an ingredient in making beer during the colonial days -- George Washington had a recipe for molasses beer in one of his notebooks. It can also be used as a minor component of mortar for brickwork.  Molasses can be used to make ethanol and can be a key component in munitions.  It is a very versatile substance.

I liken its consistency to that of the resins which trapped insects millions of years ago in amber.

In 1919 Boston, the Purity Distilling Company's storage facility on Commerce Street was used to store off-loaded molasses from ships prior to beoing sent to its ethanol plant in Canbridge via pipeline.  The m olasses tank was fifty feet tall and 90 feet in diameter; it could hold as much as 2,3 million gallons of the stuff.  Wednesday, January 15, was considerably warmer than the days previous and the temperture climbed to 40 degrees Farenheit.  A fresh load of warm molasses was delivered the day before.  It is possible that the older, cooler mollases in the tank began to expand.  In any event, around 12:30 pm, the tank burst open and collapsed, likely due to sylinder stress failure.  The ground shook, there was a deep roaring as a thiunderclap, and rivets shot out of the tank like automatic fire.  A wave of molasses 25 feet high moved through that part of the city at 35 miles an hour.  Nearby buildings were swept off their foundations and crushed.  A streetcar momentarily tipped on the city's elevated railway ad the panels of the tank slammed against the girders of the elevated.  Waist deep molasses covered the street.  Horses "died like so many flies on sticky fly-paper."  People were picked up and tossed by a rush of air.  A truck was hurled into Boston Harbor.  Twenty-one people died and over 150 were injured, eityher by the flood itself or by flying debris.  Victims included two ten-year-old children, a homemake, and a number of workers in the area.

Salt water from a fireboat was used to wash the molasses away, along with sand to absorb it.  Boston 

harbor was brown with molasses until summer.  It took weeks to clean the immediate area and much longer to clean up the city.  Rescue workers, clean-up crews, and sight seers tracked molasses everywhere and "Everything that a Bostonian touched was sticky."

A small plaque titled "Boston Molasses Flood" now marks the site.  It reads:  "On January 15, 1919, a molasses tank at 529 Commercial Street exploded under pressure, killing 21 people.  A 40-foot wave of molasses buckled the elevated railroad tracks, crushed buildings and inundated the neighborhood.  Structural defects in the tank combined with unseasonably warm tempertaures contributed to the disaster."

Here's the story, as presented by Puppet History:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAZlPuL3Qhw

Some Molasses Songs:

• "Molasses" by Schooner Fare:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6GlajMzVf0
• "I Like Molasses" by Hank Penny and His Radio Cowboys  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYkdVvi7eMw
• "Molasses to Rum," from the musical 1776  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeuaTpH6Ck0
• "Black Strap Molasses" nu Danny Kaye, Jimmy Durante, Jane Wyman, and Groucho Marx  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5OGcLluydc
• "Molasses.Molasses (It's Icky Sticky Goo)" by Teresa Brewer  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuM5dQP9VGs
• "Marmelade Molasses and Honey" by Andy Williams  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DnZzDFR6Vc 

A Science Joke AND A Molasses Joke All-In-One:  What do you call 6.02*10^23 butts?  Molasses.

Molasses Recipes:  My mother grew up in the Depression when molasses was a common ingrediant in cooking -- something she brought to her marriage.  When I was a kid, we'd make molasses milk just as often as we would chocolate milk, and Indian pudding was a staple.  I don't think Kitty ever touched molasses and I know my girls never had it at home -- sometimes I think of the things they missed that were common in my childhood.

Anyway, here are some neat recipes using molasses:

https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/amazing-molasses-recipes/

Birthdays Galore:  Today, of course, is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.  The slain civil rights leader was born in 1929 as Michael King, Jr.; the name was changed in 1934, as was that of his father, another noted civil rights leader.  Martin Luther King, Jr., was 39 years old when he was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

Other Capricorns sharing today's birth date include Alonso V of Portugal, known as "The African" because of miltary conquests in Northern Africa (b. 1432); Japanese general Maeda Toshiie, on of the leading generals of the Sengoku period in the latter half of the 16th centry, and whose weapon of choice was the yari -- a Japanese blade resembling a straight-headed spear (b. 1538); French playwright Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (a.k.a. Moliere), one of the world's literary greats (Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, The School for Wives) (b. 1658); British doctor John Aikin, whose literary pursuits overtook his medical career, producing biographical and critical works (his Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose, 1773, written with his sister, includes a number gruesome stories reprinted in gothis and horror anthologies (b. 1747); Colonel Richard Martinb, the co-founder of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and who was nicknamed "Humanity Dick" by George IV (b. 1754); Franz Gillparzer, the Austrian dramatist who wrote the oration for Beethoven's funeral (Austria has a pastry named in his honor -- the Gillparzer torte -- and asteroid 30933 bears his name, -- he has been called the national poet of Austria (b. 1791); Norwegian folklorist Peter Christian Asbjornsen, whose fairy tale and folk collections written with Jorgen Engebretsen Moe, remain classics to this day (b. 1812); Josef Breuer, the Austrian physician who helped develop the "talking cure" method used by his protege Sigmund Freud (b. 1842); Mary MacKillop (Mary of the Cross), Australian nun (and later saint) who the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart (the Josephites) (b. 1842); Leonard Darwin, English politician, economist, and eugenicist, the son of Charles (b. 1850); Sofia Kovalevskeya, pioneering female mathetician, "the greatest known woman scientist before the twentieth century" (b. 1850); Nathan Soderblom, winner of the 1930 Nobel Peace Prize,  the Church of Sweden's Archibishop of Uppsala and primate of Sweden, and a leader in the ecumenical movement (b.  1866); Thomas Burke Gold Medal Olympian in the 100 and 400 meter sprints in 1896 (b. 1875); Maza de la Roche, the author of the 16 Jalna novels (b. 1879); Grover Cleveland "Slim" Lowdermilk, major league pitcher for the Cardinals, Cubs, Browns, Tigers, Indians, and White Sox from 1909 and 1920 (b. 1885); Ivo Novello, one of the most popular British entertainers in the first half of the 20th century, he had the title role in Hitchcock's The Lodger (1927), and wrote the dialogue for Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932) (b. 1893); and actress Marjorie Bennett, who had a bit roles in Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949), Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953), and Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955). and appeared in ten episodes of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis as Blossom Kenney (b. 1896).

Also, Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saud of Saudi Arabia, king of Saudi Arabia from 1953 to 1964, and the second son of the nation's founder (b. 1902); Edward Teller, the "father of the hydrogen bomb" (1908); Gene Krupa, noted drummer, whose solo on Benny Goodman's "Sing, Sing, Sing" elevated the role of the drummer in the Big Band Era (b. 1909); Sea Hunt and Airplane! actor Lloyd nolan, father of Beau and Jeff (b. 1913); Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko, Soviet naval officer and captain of the submarine which sank the German transport ship Wilhelm Gustloff in 1945, killing more than 9300 of the more than 10,000 passengers and crew, incuding many civilians, women, and children being evacuated from Prussia -- he eventually became a Hero of the Soviet Union (b. 1913); Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egyptian strongman and president of that country from 1956 until his death in 1970, he nationalized the Suez Canal Company, helped create the United Arab Republic, made movements toward social justice and supported an Egyptian cultural boom, while he was also noted for his authoritarianism and human rights violations, while establishing a dictatorial rule in Egypt (b. 1918); Cardinal John O'Connor, Archbishop of New York from 1984-2000, he did a lot of good work but vehemently opposed gays rights, as well as the use of condoms to prevent AIDS (b. 1920); George Lowe, New Zealand mountaineer and the last surviving member of the 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition, which saw Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reach the top of that peak (b. 1924); Phyllis Coates, actress who played Lois Lane in Superman and the Mole Men and in the first season of television's Adventures of Superman (b. 1927); Earl Zebedee Hooker, Chicago blues slide guitarist, none better (b. 1930); author Ernest J. Gaines (The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, A Gathering of Old Men, A Lesson Before Dying) (b. 1933); former child star Margaret O'Brien (she played opposite Judy in Meet Me in St. Louis), her 1945 juvenile Oscar was stolen in 1954 while her mother was slowly dying and was not recovered until 40 years later when it was spotted in an auction catalog by fans (b. 1937); musician Captain Beefheart, for whom the 60s and 70s were very good, a close on-again/off-again friend of Frank Zappa since high school, Beefheart occasionally played with The Mothers of Invention (b. 1941); Jenny Nimmo, children's author of the Charlie Bone fantasies (b. 1944); Vince Foster, deputy White House counsel, whose 1993 murder spawned conspracy theories from anti-Clinton nutjobs (b. 1945); Princess Michael of Kent, when she married Prince Michael, he was 15th in line to the throne, but lost his rights to succession because she was a Catholic (b. 1945); Charles Brown, the stage actor, not Snoopy's owner (b. 1946); Andrea Martin, comedian and actress, known for Second City, Hedwig and the Angry Itch, Wag the Dog, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding (b. 1947); Lynyrd Skynyrd's Ronnie Van Zant (b. 1948); actor and director Mario van Peebles, son of Melvin (b. 1957); actor Chad Lowe (ER, Melrose Place, Pretty Little Liars), younger brother of Rob (b. 1968); Eddie Cahill, who played Don Flack on CSI:  New York and Sam Verdeaux in the final two seasons of Under the Dome, and he played the character who killed Special Agent Chris Lasalle in CSI:  New Orleans (b. 1978); Drew Brees, 20-year veteran quarterback in the NFL for the Chargers and, most notably, the Saints (b. 1979); Rapper Pitbull, who did no one any favors by claiming the COVID-19 was a conspiracy (a "scamdemic, plandemic"), nontheless his work has received 143 nominations and 46 wins (b. 1981); and Grace VanderWaal, singer, ukelele player, and America's Got Talent winner, who also stars in Disney's Stargirl and Hollywood Stargirl (b. 2004).

(I love doing these birthday tributes because it allows me to do a deeper dive into the lives of many people about whom I previously knew little.)

Florida Man:

• Florida Man Troy Dean Stuart, 35, was arrested by Cape Coral police for prowling around a back yard with underwear around his neck.  Police found him lyng on his stoimach between a hedge and brush by a seawall.  He told police that he was just on a run around the canal and the underwear was to keep jhiom warm.  A neighbor reported that two bonsai trees were stolen from his home; plice said they found the bonsai trees at Stuart's home, but they were not the stolen items.  I have questions.
• Vanity may have been the undoing of an unnamed 43-year-old Florida Man.  The man allegedly stole a cash register from a Flagler Cunty Walmart store.  Surveillance footage was taken of the crime and police ran it through a facial reconition program, identifying the man with an extensive criminal record.  He was traced to north Carolina but police were unable to dfind a definite location for him to make an arrest.  Then  the fool posted a picture of himself on social media wearing the same outfit used in the robbery.  Police were then able to  tracked him to Central Florida where they made the arrest.  He is now charged with unarmed burglary and grand theft.
• An unnamed Florida Man let tiredness get the best of him as he fell asleep at a stop sign in Brevard County with his right hand still on the gear shift.  Police arrested the m,an after they found cocaine, a Four Loco, and meth inside the car.  He was charged with possession of a controlled substance wihout a prescription, possession of drug paraphenalia, and driving while under the influence.
• Florida Bigot Alexandet Lightner, 26, has been arrested by federal agents for making online threats about commiting a racially motivated mass shooting and for possession of an unregistered firearm.  The posts were made on December 29 and threatened action in 2024.  Agents found multiple firearms, ammunition, a silencer, and whiote supremicist literature in Lightner's home.  Lightner admitted to making the posts, but said he was drun at the time.
• In a cautionary tale, Florida Man Austin Powers (yes, that's his real name), 26, was arrested for using Snapchat to meet and abuse a 14-year-old girl in Largo.  Power was a registered sexual offnder who had been charged with a similar crime in 2016.  Officials noted that Snapchat is a haven for sexual predators and a major toll in their attempts to meet and abuse children.

Good News:

• Hockey fans hurl 75,000 teddy bears onto ice for charity, breaking record        https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/annual-hockey-charity-teddy-bear-toss-breaks-record/
• A new non-invasive test dould make it easier for doctors to predict success in IVF treatments      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/new-non-invasive-test-could-make-it-easier-for-doctors-to-predict-success-for-women-undergoing-ivf/
• In a complete turnaround, East Palo Alto went from a "murder capital" to zero homicides in thirty years         https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/in-30-years-east-palo-alto-went-from-murder-capital-of-the-us-to-zero-homicides-in-2023-a-complete-turnaround/
• People rspoinded in droves when a dog shelete made a plea for tempoary homes as temperatures plummited     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/hundreds-answer-the-call-of-polish-dog-shelters-appeal-for-temporary-homes-as-temperatures-plummet/
• Montreal teens save couple from drownig in Barbados      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/montreal-teens-hailed-as-heroes-for-saving-couple-from-drowning-in-barbados/
• Dog that would not stop digging saves entire neighborhood as hidden underground gas leak is disxovered      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/dog-that-wont-stop-digging-saves-entire-neighborhood-after-they-find-dangerous-gas-leak-underground/
• Small mouse tidies man's workbench while he sleeps -- video      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/you-wont-believe-your-eyes-watching-this-mouse-tidy-up-a-mans-garden-shed-workbench/

Today's Poem:

On a Highway East of Selma, Alabama

1965

As the sheriff remarked:  I had no business being there.  He was right, but for the wrong reasons.  

Among that odd crew of volunteers from the North, I was by far the most inept and least effective.  I couldn't have inspired or assisted a woodchuck to vote.

In fact, when the sheriff's buddies nabbed me on the highway east of Selma, I'd just been released from ten days in jail in Mississippi.  I was fed up and terrified; I was actually fleeing north and glad to go.

-

In Jackson, they'd been ready for the demonstration.  After the peaceful arrests, after the street cameras recorded us being quietly ushered into trucks, the doors were closed and we headed for the county fairgrounds.

Once we passed its gates, it was a different story; the truck doors opened on a crowd of statetroopers waiting to greet us with their nightsticks out.  Smiles beneath mirrored sunglasses and blue riot helmets; smiles above badges taped so numbers didn't show.

For the next twenty minutes, they clubbed us, and it kept up at intervals, more or less at random, all that afternoon and into the evening.

Next morning we woke to new guards who did not need to conceal their names or faces.  A little later, the fbi arrived to ask if anyone had specific complaints about how they'd been treated and by whoim.

By late that first night, as we sat bolt upright in rows on the concrete floor of the cattle barn waitng for matresses to arrive, one last precise event.  A guard stopped in front of the ten-year-old black kid next to me.  He pulled a freedom now pin from the kid's shirt, made him put it inhis mouth, then ordered him to swallow.

That stakeout at dusk on Route 80 east of Selma was intended for someone else, some imaginary organizer rumored to be headed toward their dismal, godforsaken town.  Why did they stop me?  

The New York plates, perhaps, and that little bit of stupidity:  the straw hat I wore, a souvenir of Mississippi.

Siren-wail from an unmarked car behind me  -- why should I think they were cops?  I hesitated, then pulled to the shoulder.  The two who jumped out waved pistols, but wore no uniform or badges.  By the, my doors were locked, my windows rolled.  Absurd sound of a pistol barrel rapping the glassthree inches from my face:  "Get out, you son of a bitch, or we'll blow your head off!"

When they found pamphlets on the back seat, they were sure they'd got tthe right guy.  The fat one started poking my stomach with his gun, saying, "Boy,we're going to dump you in the swamp."

It was a long ride through the dark, a ride full of believable threats, before they arrived at that hamlet with its cinderblock jail.

He was very glad to see it, that adolescent I was twenty years ago.  For eight days he cowered in his solitary cell, stinking of dirt and fer.  He's cowering there still, waiting for me to come back and release hiom by turning his terror into art.  But consciously or not, he's made his choice and he's caught in history.

And if I reach back now, it's only to hug him and tell him to be brave, to remember that black kid who sat beside him in the mississippi darkness.  And to remember that silence shared by guards and prisoners alike as they watched in disbelief the darkness deepening around the small shape of his mouth, the taste of metal, the feel of the pin against his tongue.

It's too dark for it to matter what's printed on the pin; it's too dark for anythingbut the brute fact that someone wants him to choke to death on its hard shape.

And still he refuses to swallow,

-- Gregory Orr

Let us take this day to remember the courage we must all have to stand against injustice.