My Only Contribution

My only contribution to the mass of Marathon Bombing photos is this snap of Norfolk St. today (Saturday) taken as I walked to work.  As you can see, the Somerville police left some of their barricades.  The barricades were still there when I came home.

Yesterday I stayed at home like a rule-abiding citizen.   I noticed from TV coverage that some people did come out and talk to the media people at Norfolk St.

My neighbor was out of milk, so she called up Albert who lives above his store, Albert's Market, across the street.  While Albert was taking care of her, a friend from church came in to buy lottery tickets.

Then when they lifted the shelter-at-home-order you could hear millions of dogs barking as they finally got their walks.

My Favorite Bookplate

Many zillions of years ago I checked out a book with the infamous Widener bookplate.  (It wasn't the following book; I'm just using it as an example.)

Read the second bookplate.

[from Twenty-Six Historic Ships]

I was rather shocked, because I didn't know the story behind the infamous bookplate:

"In 1931 Joel C. Williams, A.M. '09, Ed.M. '29, a former instructor at Groton and a former high-school principal, was caught with 2,504 stolen Widener books at his home in Dedham, Massachusetts. He said he was preparing himself for a college professorship. His thieving had begun eight or 10 years before, but had stopped a year and a half before he was caught when, according to a newspaper account, "extraordinary steps were taken by the Harvard authorities to prevent students 'sneaking' books out of the library without permission. A turnstile was erected at that time and suspicious bundles were ordered examined." An editorial writer in the Boston Post said that the case "suggests impaired mentality." When the books came back to Widener, librarians had an acerbic bookplate printed and affixed to each volume. It reads, "This book was stolen from Harvard College Library. It was later recovered. The thief was sentenced to two years at hard labor. 1932." A security measure of sorts."  From Harvard Magazine.  The Crimson article.

Note that, though literally true, the text of that bookplate is misleading.

Despite the security measures, the thieving continued.

[from A Source Book in American History to 1787]

Easter Parade

This Easter Sunday, Rosemary and I wanted to get an eyeful of Easter finery, so we headed out to the Anime Boston convention. (Although I don't follow anime, I respect most costume-based activities.)

We encountered these three ladies from Quebec on the Green Line.

 

People  were happy to pose for us.

Some shots were more casual.

Check out all my photos at my Picasa Web Album.

New Year's Eve Brunch

I went to Cafe Luna this morning with some of my buddies.

 Julie and Dave,

 Lynn and Sue,

 and my special friend Mr. Banana-split French Toast.

 Sue passed along another novelty candle: a teapot with a maple-leaf raised design.

It was proudly designed in San Diego, CA, USA; but made in China.

MAPS: We'd be Lost Without Them

When the Map Room mounts a display, they make reproductions of the maps they want to display.  So when they take the display down, I can take the discarded reproductions for interior decorating purposes.  I've manage to brighten up many of our boring office walls.

Here's one that takes the world's highest mountains and longest rivers out of their geological context and puts them side by side for comparison.

This map is an American product made during WWII.  It had propaganda value and was beautifully designed.

This map isn't so pretty, but it interests me.  Another American product from WWII, it is a paranoid's dream document.

You may have to click on the image to read the key.

Look how innocent New Mexico was!

But now look at Massachusetts.  Wow!

NOTE:  I fixed the links so they work now.  And I also browsed some of the other works of Joseph P. Kamp, compiler of the last map.  He was quite productive: The fifth column in Washington! By Joseph P. Kamp, It isn't safe to be an American, We must abolish the United States : the hidden facts behind the crusade for world government / Joseph P. Kamp, Behind the plot to sovietize the South, and
 many more.

Get Toasted this Weekend

i Learn iMovie

Last Friday America's most offensive church came to Harvard and had a little demonstration near the law school. I decided to take this opportunity to learn iMovie.

The Unarius Academy Missed.

It was just about one year ago that I visited Chuck 'n' Jerry. We contemplated a visit to the Unarius Academy HQ, but since we couldn't get them via phone, we feared they may have dispersed after the death of Ruth Norman. But today I found their up-to-date web site. Apparently they offer regular classes in Mexico and Nigeria. I keep wondering what happened to all of Ruth Norman's weird gowns. You can see one of them at Douglas Curran's web site. His book In Advance of the Landing: Folk Concepts of Outer Space is one of my faves. Here's another I found on the web:

Further Reading:

California space goddess : the mystagogue in a flying saucer cult. By: Kirkpatrick, R George; Tumminia, Diana. Source: Twentieth-century world religious movements in neo-Weberian perspective, p 299-311. Lewiston, NY : Edwin Mellen Pr, 1992 Publication Type: Essay

Unarius : emergent aspects of an American flying saucer group. By: Tumminia, Diana; Kirkpatrick, R George. Source: Gods have landed, p 85-104. Albany : State Univ of New York Pr, 1995 Publication Type: Essay

When the archangel died: from revelation to routinisation of charisma in Unarius By: Tumminia, Diana. Source: UFO religions, p 62-82. London ; New York : Routledge, 2003 Publication Type: Essay