Hobo Signs

Found this key to understanding hobo signs while surfing around the Internet. Here's another page dedicated to hobo signs here. Not being a hobo myself, I can't vouch for the accuracy of this list, but I thought it was pretty neat. My favorite is "Kind Lady Lives Here" because the symbol is a cat. I know quite a few kind ladies with cats.

King Philip's War Boardgame - Seriously? What the....?

Image from MultiManPublishing.

The year from 1675 to 1676 presented one of the darkest periods in New England, and American, history - a episode that set the precedent for European colonial conquest of North America in the coming centuries. After years of tenuous relations, sustained largely through the efforts of the Wampanoag Sachem, Massasoit, the Native Americans were running low on trade goods and the British colonies were growing more established and entrenched. Finally, Massasoit's son, Metacom (a.k.a. "King Philip"), saw the writing on the wall and decided to take a stand for his people against the expanding colonies. What ensued was an all-out war between a confederacy of Native American tribes, led by Metacom, against the New England colonists and their Native American allies, including the Pequot (who had been their enemies a generation before) and the Mohawks.

The Native Americans won some early victories, but they were surrounded and outnumbered. They were weakened by years of introduced European diseases. They were at a technological disadvantage. The war ended when the colonists, aided by sympathetic Native Americans, tracked Metacom to Assowamset Swamp, shot him. His body was drawn and quartered and beheaded. His head went on display in Plymouth.

The War remains in the popular conscious throughout New England. Markers call our attention to battles, such as the burning of Mendon, and various natural landmarks are named after Metacom, such as King Philip's Rock in Mendon and Lookout Rock in Uxbridge. Perhaps nothing has carried the conflict into our current moment so much as Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative. That is, until now...

A Maryland company is set to release a board game called King Philip's War. Designed by a Maryland teacher, the two player game pits colonists against Native Americans in a battle game that appears to resemble Risk.

Some Native Americans are unhappy with the game, which they feel trivializes the conflict. It seems likely to me that Euro-American victor-consciousness will make the colonists the good guys and the Native Americans the villains to most players. There have been WWII games in which some players can opt to be German, but that doesn't level the moral/historical playing field; history is written by the winners and it's awfully hard for others to re-write it. The Native Americans who oppose the game are upset by this trivializing of a brutal colonial massacre, and also upset that they were not consulted in the game's creation. Some who are protesting the game are asking (I think rather magnanimously) that they be allowed to give their input in hopes of making it a valuable teaching tool. I don't believe that a game that is essentially whites vs Indians has any place in education or popular culture, but what do I know? Curt Schilling, the Red Sox pitcher who owns part of Multiman, thinks it's just fine. This AP article quotes him as saying,

"...historical events should not be whitewashed for fear of offending someone. King Philip's War helped forge early American identity, even if it "clearly exposed the horrible side of humans in some cases"
...and...
"If everyone intent on keeping historical events stopped at content that might seem offensive, we'd lose sight of the horrific mistakes this nation, the world and the human race are capable of, and that would be a horrific thing."

While these might be true statements about a book, or a film, or an exhibit, this doesn't extend to a board game.  There is something inherently trivial about games and Schilling's decision to ignore the genre clearly demonstrates either his ignorance about, or financial interest in, this situation. Historians have spent years trying to come to terms with the our colonial past and our conquest of native people. A major part of our identity, indeed, our nationhood, is unjustifiable; we stole our land by force from its legitimate owners because their military technology was less advanced. So, Schilling is saying the right things, just about the wrong subject. We do need to examine the darker parts of our history, but not by playing fun games based on bloody colonial conquest. In fact, it's pop culture trivializations of history, such as this game, that keep the true nature of history safely tucked behind a veil of years and that inoculates modern Americans against the stress, harm, and pain of having to critically examine who we are and where we came from.

Rogue Taxidermy

 

       In my Junior Ranger days I learned the basics of taxidermy by stuffing a roadkill chipmunk. I learned how to skin a dead animal, remove the insides, preserve the skin, stuff it, and set the legs in position. My chipmunk sat a bit awkwardly on his log and I didn't quite get his left eye in, but the basics were there. A few years a later, a grouse flew into a friend's picture window and died. My second and final attempt at taxidermy went much like my first, though the bird's thin skin was tricky and the plastic eyes looked in different directions.

       Even now I find taxidermy fascinating. It's certainly an odd interest for a vegan (one which my wife stalwartly refuses to share), but stuffing and mounting animals gives you a chance to study, understand, and preserve an animal. It's a close connection to the animal you're working on. I don't advocate killing animals for sport and I will never, never go hunting, but when I'm driving my truck and I see a dead coyote, I frequently wonder how long it's been dead and whether or not I could stuff it.

       If you share my interest in taxidermy, you'll want to check out M.A.R.T. M.A.R.T., the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists, creates some wild stuff. M.A.R.T. has many more members than you would expect in a guild of artists working in the medium of dead animals, but the three primary members are Scott Bibus, Robert Marbury, and Sarina Brewer. Each of the three has a very distinct style. Bibus's creations are very well-done, but clearly the goriest of the three. Marbury's stray furthest from the physiology of known animals. The "Nardog" below is Marbury's. The antlered squirrel above is a tame example of Brewer's work; she also creates fantasy creatures like griffins, capricorns, and chimeras. You can also buy a jar of dried squirrel head from her website.

Creative as they may be, there's something a little disturbing about these creations. Perhaps that's part of the charm. Their raw materials come from salvaged roadkill, farm casualties, and animals that have died of natural causes. M.A.R.T. stresses that no animals die to produce the art. According to his bio, Robert Marbury is vegan. Brewer's motto on her website - "I call it art, you can call it whatever you want" - is a clever acknowledgment that rogue taxidermy pushes the boundaries of artistic mediums and what many people feel comfortable seeing as art. Whatever you call it, I hope rogue taxidermy will be the most interesting thing you'll see online today.

Lonely this Valentines Day?

It's Valentines Day and I know there are some people out there without that special someone. You're tired of the bar and club scene and internet dating services just aren't you. So what's a lonely heart to do?

What you need is a sinister robot to do your romantic bidding. Meet Roofy! He's a robot mascot that stands in front of a roofing company in Tucson, AZ....or so it seems.

Roofy is a droid programmed to identify targets, drug their drinks, and lug them back to you. He's sort of like the Terminator, but instead of destroying his target, he incapacitates them and lures them into unwanted sexual encounters.

O.K. - I'm breaking the joke here...who the hell thought it was a good idea to name this robot "Roofy"???? Surely someone at the roofing company has heard of Rohypnol or roofies or the date-rape drug. Jeez Louise!