Things You Can Mail

Would you believe a $20 bill? a tooth? a can of pea soup? Here are some more from the postal experiments. We sent a variety of unpackaged items to U.S. destinations, appropriately stamped for weight and size, as well as a few items packaged as noted. We sent items that loosely fit into the following general categories: valuable, sentimental, unwieldy, pointless, potentially suspicious, and disgusting. We discovered that although some items were never delivered, most of the objects of even highly unusual form did get delivered, as long as the items had a definitely ample value of stamps attached. The Postal Service appears to be amazingly tolerant of the foibles of its public and seems occasionally willing to relax specific postal regulations.

Listing All The Reasons I Love Lists

Been chatting with a reporter for the Oregonian who is doing a story on people who gather lists. Do I have any lists? Let me think -lists of places I've worked, lists of all the books in my house, lists of all my CD's, lists of people I'd invite to dinner, list of my favorite cheesy albums, work to do list, home to do lists. I also keep insane grocery lists and the average prices so I can tell when it's a really good sale. List keep me sane - or maybe less crazy. My dad keeps lists. My grandpa kept lists - when he died we found a list from 1935 of each and everything he bought to have his house build right down to the cost/number of nails in pennies!. Both he and my dad tracked gas per mile and cost of the gas per mile daily. After talking to her yesterday we even realized I work with a company that manages lists!! In the grand scheme of things, all databases are essentially lists.The earliest list I can remember making, abet a little morbid, was a list of who I wanted to be invited to my funeral. I was in 7th grade and we had been talking about living wills in our science class. It just seemed to make sense at the time and it was attached to my will and messages for all the people who were to come. I think some of my list making comes from writing in journals since I've been young. Even journalling (blogging) is a kind of list making, a list of what you've been up to. What do you keep lists of?

Another View on Frontier House

After they shot the pig last week. wow, people really get into this show.... Now son, stop crying. It has to be done. Well, it doesn't have to be done, but it will be done. We've raised JoJo-Pumpkin specifically for this purpose, so it's OK. Don't you see? She's serving her purpose, so it's fine to slaughter her. Why can't you understand that? Plus we've been out here for all this time and we haven't been allowed to kill hardly anything. Sure, a few chickens here and there, but nothing that we've needed the gun for. Why do you think we even have this gun? They wouldn't let us kill anything else very big, so JoJo-Pumpkin will have to do. But it's OK, because we're helping her to serve her purpose. Now you see, even though it's fine to kill animals - as they're serving their God-given purpose - it's not OK to kill people. Unless, of course, they deserve it. Are you beginning to understand what I'm saying now? No? Well look at it like this. If we don't kill JoJo-Pumpkin, the Clunes will win. And you don't want that now, do you? What? Frontier House doesn't have winners and losers? Don't be silly, son. That's child's talk. Of course Frontier House has winners and losers. Just like in a marriage. Boy, we sure are going to teach you a lot today. Now those visceral tears you shed, the gut feeling that tells you that this is "wrong" - you can't trust that. You're just a child, and you don't understand these things like we do. Your child's intellect is unrefined. The world is much different than you see it. You'll realize it when you're older. But this shooting will help teach you. It's a valuable lesson, son. And that lesson is that killing animals is right, just, and Godly. In the Bible they slaughter animals all the time, and you don't see them crying, do you? If the Bible says it's OK, who are we to disagree? You don't want to go against God's will, do you? I didn't think so. So the only solution is to shoot JoJo between the eyes. Understand? Now there you go crying again. Don't trust your emotions. Trust my words. Repeat after me. "It's OK to kill animals. They're just serving their purpose. They don't really have feelings, just instincts. They're not alive like you and me." When JoJo comes to play with you and likes to be scratched behind the ears, she doesn't really have affection for you. She's not really feeling that. At least not like humans. She's just a pig, nothing more. The more you accept this, the easier it will be for you when we string her up by her hind legs and carve out her innards. And there's another lesson to be learned here: you need to understand that the world's a cruel place. So to teach you a very valuable lesson about cruelty, we're going to make the world just a bit more cruel by slaughtering your pig. Now you and I know we don't need the meat for the County Fair as you've pointed out several times between sobs, but that's not important. The importance is in the lesson. Now you see, we are the people who love you the most, the ones that you can always come to, and can always trust. And, despite your tears and protestations, we're going to kill your pig for no particular reason other than we want to shoot the gun. Cruel? Yes. But a valuable lesson? Even more so. Now you may view this as a betrayal by those closest to you - the ones that you depend on for everything - but that's not the case. Not at all. This is just a lesson. Now call her over here to the gun by name. Go on, give her a nice sweet call. "JoJo-Pumpkin! JoJo-Pumpkin! Come over here and see what we have for you." BANG! Now, there, don't you feel better after learning this valuable lesson? No? Well I sure do. Now quit crying, because it's done. Look at it like this. JoJo-Pumpkin would be proud that she's serving Her Purpose. Pride, son. If she still had her brain in her skull, she'd be feeling pride. Did you see her come over to the gun when she was called? That was pride. The look in her eyes just before the bullet ripped through her skull? Pride. The reflexes kicking in after the shot, with her legs twitching about? That too was pride. Pride that she had served her Godly purpose. And in a few hours, as I cram her charred flesh in my face? Well, damn boy, that'll be JoJo's pride once again. What a fine, proud, purpose-fulfilling pig she is. Now when it's time to eat, we want you to make us proud. We want you to clean off your plate. We want you to eat every single bite of the pig you spent five months raising and playing with. Do it for JoJo-Pumpkin, son. Make her proud.

Survivor PBS-style

I've been watching Frontier House on OPB today. It's a reality show for public broadcasting where they made 3 families live in the "1860's" on 500 acres in Montana for 6 months. Here's the website and a brief summary below about the show. Three contemporary American families face 19th-century life in the Montana wilderness in this six-part 'hands-on history' series. Chosen from more than 5,000 applications, the Glenn family of Tennessee, the Clue family of California and the Brooks family of Massachusetts live for six months as 1880s homesteaders, with only the tools and technology of the period at their disposal. Throughout their historic adventure, the cameras roll, revealing the families' trials, triumphs, simple pleasures and daily rigors.