One Year Shy of a Century

And it doesn't seem that much has changed.

No one wanted to pay life insurance on the band members aboard the Titanic.

White Star said they were private passengers, because they were contracted out through the talent agency C.W. & F.N. Black, which had a monopoly on entertainment the British Atlantic steamships at the time. Although each band member was given a 2nd-class ticket, they were housed in crew's quarters.

The Blacks routinely took out insurance policies on their talent, and told the families to contact their insurance agent.

The insurance agent refused to pay out, and got a judgment in its favor. The families were finally beneficiaries of a public charity -- The Titanic Relief Fund.

This is a runaround all too familiar today. One is tempted to draw reference to dead peasants' insurance, the practice of large companies to pay life insurance policies on their employees with the companies as beneficiaries, except it seems that the Black talent agency didn't get a payout, either.

The Great Controversy

The missionary came back again today. And again, I had no money. What a shame. I could have purchased a large-format paperback book (we're talking 8 1/2 by 11 inches) entitled The Great Controversy, which traces the conflict of good vs. evil from the beginning of time to the modern era and has a spiffy cover illo of the Statue of Liberty in front of a wavy American flag.

Since she left without leaving me a copy of the book, I can't get into it very much. I don't think this is the same one*. But she opened it up and flipped through a bit explaining what it was about. The "beginning of history" seemed to be described in the chapter on the French Reformation, and the thirty-second tour ended up on a full-page illustration of Liberty Enlightening the World with a ghostly Jesus standing by.

So, how could I possibly refuse?

*I like the first couple sentences in the first review of that book. "Remember when you were 8 years old and you found out Santa Claus didn't exist? Well don't worry, this book isn't about Santa Claus!" Wow. Now that's exciting. A whole book that isn't about Kris Kringle! I must ... no, I will possess it!

Where'd They Come From?

A young woman just came by the office and offered to sell me a Christian cookbook. She's putting herself through Christian college by selling these cookbooks, which are pretty much just like any other cookbook except they've got Christian glurge artfully arrayed between the recipes, little inspirational sayings like Jesus Christ was horribly tortured and died an intensely painful and prolonged death just to give you a get-out-of-hell-free card and the like.

I had to refuse. Then she tried to hit me up for a buck. "That's not too much to ask?" Well, it is when I'm not carrying any cash. Sorry, lady.

I'm not too worried. I'm sure there are plenty of other folks here in the Valley who'll buy one or more books, probably because they feel obliged to ("I don't need it, but it's a Christian cookbook! What else could I have done?") and a single sawbuck wouldn't have bought her much except maybe heart disease from McDonald's.

Still, that's two missionaries from out-of-country who've tried to hit me up in the month of February. What's up with that?

Tornadoes

The tornadoes that tore up parts of Western Tennessee had become merely strong thunderstorms by the time they hit the Valley and swept up the eastern leg of our particular rebel river. They woke the Falconer household up about 4:30 or so with thunder and intense rain. The winds weren't even that strong; we'd opened up the house to enjoy the warm February evening, and the only window I had to close was behind the television and above a powerstrip (a puddle of water carrying electric current would be a horrible morning greeting).

I didn't even realize at the time that this storm had already killed people.

Via Digby, I see that Monkeyfister is all over this. My readership is nil, at this point, but Monkey asked Blogphalia at large to give this some love. How could I not, when tornadoes terrify me as much as they do Monkeyfister?

I got $5 for the Red Cross. I see that you can specify that your gift goes to the southern tornadoes on Feb. 5-6. Please give at least once

United Way of the Mid-South accepts donations via telephone. I haven't given to them yet, but I will.

$5 from one person isn't very much, but if thousands of people pitch in it mounts up. And I'm not going to give just once, but at least once a month from now on.

I'm glad to support Monkeyfister and my fellow Southrons in this.