Naomi's retirement party

Among dad's things I found numerous photos, including this one. I also found a china plate with a pattern matching the one in front of me. Here's what I can say about this.

Location: The Pantry Restaurant, 718 Garden Street, Park Ridge, Illinois
Date: maybe 1966?
Occasion: Naomi's retirement party

The location was originally the house of artist Walter Clute. The web indicates that it is no longer in operation as a restaurant.
I note that it is barely 3 blocks from the ancestral house.

I'm pretty sure my brother was at home with a babysitter. I don't know if any of the other cousins were present. I don't know if this restaurant was special in some way, or why it was chosen, or anything else about who was there.

I appeal to our patriarch's memory for other particulars of this occasion.

staking claim for my name

My name is the result of a woman whose firstborn son would be named Steven marrying a man whose surname is Allen. Alas for me, the month before that union took place a guy with that name became internationally famous for hosting NBC's Tonight show.

Today I am reminded that I can't even maintain the association with my initials. Ever since I was in junior high school the initials SLA have been in the news.

Symbionese Liberation Army member Sarah Jane Olson is released from prison

Sri Lanka Army soldiers shoot civilians

the smell of money

Today Gillian brought home a token from the Nik-o-lok corporation -- a restroom token, for a pay toilet. That corporation should be getting ready to celebrate its centennial, except that about a generation ago most localities outlawed pay toilets. I could ruminate about the reappearance of upscale pay toilets (there must be salesmen for them, for they keep cropping up in news reports of city council meetings), but I'll refrain.

Instead I look back, way back, still thinking of the economy, the state of the world, or something.

When Rome finally settled down after Nero, Vespasian was emperor. According to Suetonius he instituted a tax on urinals, but his son Titus complained. (Titus, who had sacked Jerusalem, burned Herod's temple, and would later become emperor.) With one of the tax coins in hand Titus admitted that it did not smell bad. In Latin classes this remains a teachable moment, for Vespasian concluded "Atqui, e lotio est" -- "yet it comes from urine."

From urine, from slavery, from just printing more, from whatever, the politicians seem more concerned with other issues than the origin of the cash flow.

what does he eat?

In today's news we see reaction to the stem cell policy change from Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama

My basic tenet here is I don't think we should create life to enhance life and to do research and so forth.

I love reductio ad absurdum, and it seems to me that this statement requires regressing to the hunter/gatherer stage of civilization. After all, even broadcasting seeds to attempt a bigger harvest is creating life, isn't it?

the economy

There's ongoing drama in followups to January's vampire post. If only to emphasize that I quote from a classic fairy tale:

"If you believe," he shouted to them, "clap your hands; don't let Tink die."

Do you believe in dollars?