STICKY POST
Saturday, 15. March 2008, 10:56:36
Pat Maginess, sea turtles, private-eye novels, private detective
"Somewhere between belief and knowledge,
there's guessing."
— Pat Maginess in Years and Shadows.
This blog is best viewed with Opera Web Browser 9.5Opera MEMBER OF THE WEEK 26 January 2007
"I would never shoot a cat. Unless they really had it coming to 'em."
-- "All My Todays"
It was a long, dark, quiet drive back to Los Angeles.
-- from That Killer SmileSHORT STORIES:
"Those Songs We Sing to Ourselves" -- NEW!
"Remember Me"
"Hello, Robert"
"All My Todays"
"The Salesman"
"It's a Dog's Life"NOVELS:
That Killer Smile (Complete Novella).Click on the book cover to go to the novel.HISTORICAL:
Nick Carter: The Crime of the French Cafe (Anon/Piercy)
COVER ART MINI-STORIES:
As a service to my readers who might only have about two minutes
between Point A and Point B, I decided to post humorous bits using
the covers of old pulp magazines. Here's the link.
The Complete Cover Art Mini-StoriesREVIEWS:
Hollywood Confidential (Movie Review) -- NEW!
Margin for Murder (Movie Review)
The Proposal (Movie Review)
Best Detective Movies Kiss Me, Deadly (Movie Review)
Attack of the Sabretooth (Movie Review)
Savior (Movie Review).
Bare Trap by Frank Kane (Book Review).
I, the Jury by Mickey Spillane (Review-Essay).
DaVinci's Inquest (TV Series Review).
The Snarl of the Beast by Carroll John Daly (Book Review).
Poisons Unknown by Frank Kane (Book Review).
V. I. Warshawski (Movie Review).
MISCELLANEOUS:
CSI: NoirSurvivor China Episode 2 (Parody)
The Jungle Book Revisited (Parody)
The Black Dahlia Revisted (Parody)
The Nazi Bastard DiariesEinstein On Lunch (Tiny Tale #1)
Robespierre's Doll (Tiny Tale #2)
The White Book (Tiny Tale #3)
Curse of the Body Snatchers (Tiny Tale #4) -- NEW!
Barbershop Quartet #1Barbershop Quartet #2Barbershop Quartet #3Barbershop Quartet #4Green Car Buying Guide (Link) -- Check it out, it's really cool!
AutoBlog Green (Link) -- Excellent!
Check out what you've missed in the
Archive.
My thanks to Glen Pierce of Topsail Productions for being so gracious as
to give me a link in their Blog Spot links. You can view that one
here.
JULY UPDATE:
Due to June being a very sad month for me, I will
not be doing the normal update this month. Have a
happy 4th of July.
"When life gives you flippers you make waves, right?" -- Karen SotaWell the only thing that could possibly be better than private-eye fiction
are sea turtles. Humans have been around about 6 million years. Turtles
have been around for 200 million years. Unfortunately, they're having kind
of a tough go at it lately due to human civilization and a new virus out
there that's affecting them. Here's a quick link to several turtle hospitals.
Just click on the images and you'll get there. If you are a turtle hospital
or a turtle rescue organization, I will gladly post your link on this blog,
so just let me know.
Plus: Turtle Live Cam! (North Carolina (UTC -5) daylight hours)
Best wishes to all,
Edward Piercy
That I have made all transformations
According to the dictates of my heart
In all places that have desired my ka
STICKY POST
Tuesday, 20. June 2006, 01:54:38
Music
To play the music, click on George or Glenn's picture.
(Please be patient. It will take a minute to connect with your media player.)
George Friedrich Handel
Suite in d-minor HWV 447
Courante
Artist: Keith Jarrett
Format (MP3) / Timing (02:31)
Light and dark combined.
J.S. Bach
Partita in G Major BWV 829
Praeambulum
Artist: Glenn Gould
Format (MP3) / Timing (01:47)
Now playing in a galaxy near you...Didn't know where to put this map, so I'm putting it here.
Thursday, 24. July 2008, 19:09:40
Culture
(Just click on the pic to play the video.)
Recently, an Israeli human rights organization
gave 100 video cameras to Palestinians in the
West Bank. The idea was for the people to use
the cameras to protect themselves against violence
and to have a record of abuse.
I wouldn't in any way be in favor of a type of
1984-type situation where people were filmed
24 hours a day. But there is no doubt that
cameras, in recording injustice and violence,
can have a positive impact on fighting it.
People in Israel should of course have cameras
also, to show what violence does to their lives.
And then the videos should be shared. The Palestinians
should have an intimate record of what goes on in Israel,
and the Israelis should see up-close-and-personal what
happens in the West Bank and Gaza.
Evil loves darkness. It loves to hide.
It doesn't like the blinding light of day.
Wednesday, 23. July 2008, 03:36:14
Music
(Just clic on the pic to play the vid on youTube.)
Though the song came out in 1991, there is
something about Tom Petty's "Learning to Fly"
that reminds me of so much that has happened
in the world since 2001.
So I decided to put up a link and the lyrics.
"Learning To Fly"
by
Tom Petty
Well I started out
down a dirty road
Started out
all alone
And the sun went down
as I crossed the hill
The town lit up
and the world got still
I'm learning to fly
but I ain't got wings
Comin down
is the hardest thing
Well the good old days
may not return
And the rocks might melt
and the sea may burn
I'm learning to fly
but I ain't got wings
Comin down
is the hardest thing
Well some say life
will beat you down
Break your heart
steal your crown
So I started out
for God knows where
But I guess I'll know
when I get there
I'm learning to fly
around the clouds
But what goes up
must come down
I'm learning to fly
but I ain't got wings
Comin down
is the hardest thing
I'm learning to fly
around the clouds
But what goes up
must come down
Tuesday, 22. July 2008, 21:54:23
Orlando, Jennifer Kesse, Missing Person, Florida
The surveillance video from the
Jennifer Kesse case.
A few weeks ago I watched an episode of CBS's 48 Hours Mystery.
The show featured information concerning the disappearances of two
women. The first case was a missing teacher. The second a missing
financial analyst from Orlando, Florida -- Jennifer Kesse.
It was the second case that interested me. Simply because as I listened
to the information they gave I had a few ideas.
I can't go into the story in detail here; there would simply be too much
information to present. But if you read the case on the CBS web site,
you will get some background for my ideas on it.
The main thing that caused the "little red light" to go off in my head
(as Pat Maginess sometimes says) was the surveillance video. The video
shows a person of slight build, almost what you may call frail, wearing
a set of painter's coveralls and a hat. The subject's neck looks quite
slender. The hair on the neck could be in the male "tapered" style; or,
it could be that the hair is pulled up off of the neck and put under the
hat. Police estimate that the size of the person in the video, who they
are looking at as Jennifer's abductor, was between 5'3" and 5'6" tall.
That would be short for most European heritage males. Then there is the
slight build. And the thin neck.
Jennifer Kesse is 5'3" tall.
I think this is a case where investigators let their preconceptions get
in the way of working their case. In the case of an attractive young
woman who has gone missing, they took the assumption that there
naturally would have been foul play at work, that she had been
abducted.
Jennifer Kesse.
But there is, I am afraid, another explanation. She could have gone
through a schizophrenic break. Many schizophrenics lead relatively
normal lives before they go into full psychosis. At age 24, Jennifer
would be the right age for those kind of symptoms to develop. Then
too there is her obsession with her cell phone. Evidently, Jennifer
talked on the phone each time she walked from a building to her car,
or from her car to a building. This has generally been interpreted
as a young woman concerned for her safety. And it could have been
that. Or, it could have been symptoms of paranoia developing.
Then there are the painter's overalls. There had been a rather long
construction-remodeling project going on at the condos where Jennifer
lived. Noticing the painter's overalls in the video, police immediately
questioned the workers, thinking that one of them might have abducted
Jennifer. But it could have been that Jennifer, paranoid and wanting to
assume some sort of disguise, took the overalls and hat from the
construction project.
My theory is that Jennifer Kesse underwent a full schizophrenic break
from reality, most likely precipitated by her recent week-long vacation
with her boyfriend in the Caribbean and perhaps also by finding a left-
behind cell phone in her apartment when she returned from the vacation.
Fearful of the phantoms in her mind, she grabbed the painter's overalls
and a hat. She turned off her cell phone -- though she still kept it
with her.
I think that Jennifer hasn't been found because she doesn't want to be
found. But I think that she will be found eventually. It isn't easy for
full-blown schizophrenics to make their way in the world. She may be
able to get by on some of her financial resources for a while. She was
in the finance field. She could have credit cards that nobody knows
about -- cards that she might not receive a statement for at her home.
She could have a mailing box somewhere for the statements.
She could possibly find some sort of a job in another city. Or, like
many schizophrenics, she could end up homeless.
Unfortunately, investigators wasted so much time in the early days of
this case with their abduction line of inquiry that it will be difficult
to get good information on the flight theory. For example, I doubt that
any ticket agent at the train station or Greyhound bus station would
remember her after so much time. They would need to check the used
car lots, too, looking for a woman who possibly paid cash for a very
cheap car. There actually might be some sort of records for that.
I could be wrong about all of this, of course. But given that the whole
abduction theory has gone nowhere from the get-go, I think it would be
worth pursuing.
Tuesday, 22. July 2008, 03:24:06
Strange Dolls
It's been a long while since I did a Strange Dolls post.
Which is too bad, because for some reason I thought
it was an interesting topic.
Luckily (although I'm not sure that is the right word),
Mattel recently came out with a new line of Barbies.
A few of which caught my attention.
Kinky Slut Barbie.
I think this is supposed to be based on a comic
book character. But pretty much nobody is seeing
it that way. This Barbie looks as if she was designed
by a guy who got drunk and spent the night surfing
for porn (not that there's anything wrong with
that, mind you).
Medusa Barbie.
Nobody has talked much about this new Barbie yet.
But to me, this one is even more whacked than
Kinky Slut Barbie. This one is just plain creepy.
Tippi Hedren Barbie.
This one isn't from Mattel's new Fall line, I
just found it on the internet a few months back
and somehow knew it would turn out to be relevant.
It shows Tippi Hedren getting attacked by birds
in the famous Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds. So
if you want your child to spend the rest of their
life afraid of having their eyes poked out by birds,
this is definitely the right Christmas gift.
Monday, 21. July 2008, 23:42:53
The Republic of Bullshit
Well I've finally come to the conclusion that if I wanted to take a nice
trip the old-fashioned way like Humphrey Bogart in the movies and take
my time and have my own bottle of booze in my suitcase and smoke during
the trip, that I would have to take some rusty old freighter from Seattle
to Kowloon. Because none of the modern, up-scale ways to travel allow
that kind of shit anymore.
I don't even know where Kowloon is. I think it's in China. But as long
as it's a nice trip and I don't get food poisoning and can relax in my
cabin and smoke and drink, that would be all right with me.
Of course the trip would be a lot better if I
could meet someone like Lauren Bacall on board.
Monday, 21. July 2008, 19:53:47
Culture, Cultural Ecology
Before there were Europeans in North America...
Before there were Indians in North America...
...there were bears.
Last night I saw an episode of Nature on PBS dealing with the Grizzly
bear population in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. On the
endangered species list at one point, the Grizzly has now come back up
to a stable population and is in fact now listed as protected but not
endangered. Which is good news of course -- though it does make Park
Rangers a little nervous when large numbers of Grizzlies start
interacting with large numbers of human visitors to Yellowstone.
For someone living in Spokane like I do, Yellowstone isn't some distant
exotic place. Driving down into Idaho and across the State you can be at
Yellowstone in about 3 hours. Which, given the wide open spaces here in
the American West, is actually very close by. And in fact I have a friend
who used to work as a tour guide at Yellowstone. He told me all sorts of
stories from there. Talking about Grizzlies, he was basically of the opinion
that you should stay the hell away from them. I made a mental note to do
just that if I ever got to Yellowstone.
But of course bears aren't the only creatures who have been in North
America for a long time. There are also other predators like mountain
lions, large birds of prey such as eagles, and wolves. Over the last
decade an effort was made to return the native Grey Wolf population to
Yellowstone Park. And efforts have been pretty successful.
The most interesting portion of the Nature program showed a group of
Grey Wolves who had come upon a Grizzly who had landed some game, an
elk. The wolves are no match for the Grizzly in terms of size and power.
And the wolves knew that. Working together, the wolves went at the
Grizzly in quick succession, nipping at him. The Grizzly lashed out, but
the wolves would back quickly away when he would do so. After a while of
harassing the Grizzly, the wolves managed to lure him forty feet or so
off of the game -- giving them the opportunity to eat some of the carcass.
They didn't show whether the Grizzly returned to reassert his dominance and
take back the meat. But I would guess that if he did, that the wolves would
simply do the same thing all over again.
It is almost certain that early humans, observing animal behavior,
learned by watching things like this. The wolves are the weaker species.
But by banding together and using their heads, they are able to get
food away from a dangerous competitor. In terms of natural biological
attributes, humans are not really that impressive. We're not very fast,
we're not strong, and our eyesight and hearing aren't as good as other
animal species. But like the wolves we do have pretty good brains. And
we can be amazingly inventive when we work together.
Watching the wolves take on the Grizzly, I could very well imagine a
father in the Pleistocene, 50 000 years ago, whispering to his son,
"See, boy, look how the wolves take on the bear..."
And that isn't biological. That is cultural.
This is exactly the type of thing that
happens when you don't work together.
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