View from my perch

Apropos, Asheville

On March 10, 1948, Zelda, wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald, was left in ashes when she died in a fire at Highland Hospital, a mental hospital, in Asheville, North Carolina. 

Trivia Treasure Trove

I stumbled upon a veritable trivia treasure trove at Did You Know????????????????? from "Yahoo! Answers". Some three hundred and twenty trivia tidbits are listed. A particularly funny one is #314.

314. Attila the Hun (invader of Europe, 5th century), Felix Faure (French President; 1841-1899), Pope Leo VII (936-939), Pope John VII (955-964), Pope Leo VIII (963-965), Pope John XIII (965-972), Pope Paul II (1467-1471), Lord Palmerston (British Prime Minister, 1859-1865), Nelson Rockefeller (US Vice President, 1974-1977), and John Entwistle (The Who's bassist) all died while having sex.

Wait a minute, what are Popes doing in that list?! The only possible explanation is that these Popes were Popes before some later Pope proclaimed infallibly that priests -- presumably including Popes -- are to be celibate.

Eastland

In the course of finding out more about the great influenza epidemic that hit Chicago in 1918, I learned about the Eastland disaster there in 1915. On the morning of July 24, 1915, the lake passenger steamer Eastland cast off from the Chicago River dock at the Clark Street Bridge with 2,572 people aboard. Almost immediately, she rolled onto her port side and settled into the mud of the river, claiming the lives of 844 people. (See Chicago: 1915 Eastland Disaster from the Chicago Public library for a brief description. Much more information is available elsewhere on the Web.) I found the story so interesting that I purchased and am reading Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic, by George W. Hilton, Stanford 1995. In brief, the author argues that the boats-for-all movement which came in the wake of the sinking of Titanic led to the addition of lifeboats to Eastland which exacerbated her stability deficiency to the point of contributing markedly to the fatal accident.

Survivability

I found a lesson from history on survivability. Theodore Roosevelt somehow survived a double tragedy. On February 14, 1884, TR's mother Martha Bulloch Roosevelt died of typhoid fever. Hours later, in the same house, TR's wife Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt died from Bright's disease - a chronic kidney infection which had been masked by her pregnancy. (Two days earlier she had given birth to their daughter Alice Lee Roosevelt.)

Dead Bunn and honorifics

My Bunn died the other day too. My trusty Bunn coffee brewer, that is. Its switch with the red lamp just went out. I learned that only after my wife had bought us a new Bunn brewer, by the way. Fixing the old one is just a matter of replacing the switch. In the process of attempting to order said replacement on the web I had to fill-in a form which asked right off what "Greeting" I preferred, Mr., Mrs., Ms. or Miss. I prefer none really, but calling it a "Greeting" seemed odd and indeed wrong. What are those thing really called? Honorifics. An interesting discussion of honorifics is to be found here.

In Memoriam

I here report the recent passing of my dear mother. She was loved and is sadly missed by many family and friends. Whether or not this great loss shall be bearable remains to be seen.

FOWLER, Mary Jane (nee Witty), age 70, passed away Wednesday, November 15th, 2006 in Lancaster, CA. She was born in Munising, MI. She is survived by her husband Joseph, and two children Mark (me) (wife Patricia) Fowler of Orange, CA and Gena (husband Douglas) Fowler-Roorda of Wheatland, Iowa. Two sisters and one brother, Patricia Corriveau, and Margaret (Cookie) Stone and Jack Witty, all of Munising, MI. Three grandchildren Sean, Gretchen, Brennan and one great grandson Grant. Mary Jane was preceded in death by parents Clifford and Margaret Witty, and brother Clifford (Gene) Witty. Cremation at Halley-Olson-Murphy Memorial Chapel, Lancaster, CA.