Hello, all:
I learned something a while back in the course of listening to an audiobook about nuclear accidents: in the late 1890s to the 1930s, Americans used to go out into the country and make a thing of watching train engineers smash locomotives into each other at full speed. In one notable instance, the Crash at Crush, something like 40,000 people attended a staged train wreck in Texas. Evidently this stopped being a trend around the Great Depression when people realized that maybe smashing trains into each other wasn’t the best idea in the world, and also wasteful in bad times, but even so1. For a minute there it was a going concern.
I mention this anecdote about staged train wrecks for no particular reason, you understand. Entirely apropos of nothing, if you follow me.
Anyway. Moving right along.
Writing Update
This past week we saw a return of the Scarlet Shapeshifter in Illusion, last seen in the first Edison City serial featuring Captain Happily Married!2 We also continued the Goblin Road Trip, adding to prior episodes Road Trip and Diner Time with Stuck! I’ve been trying stock photos with this one to add a bit of ambience: I’d be interested to know your thoughts on that, my loyal readers, as I haven’t typically done illustrations.
My current novel, Excuse Me, Have You Seen a Human progresses. When I started I’d thought of getting it done by my birthday, but now I’m aiming for end of year since my birthday is actually the day after tomorrow. Incidentally, in some states (Indiana, for instance) this is also the start of the new fiscal year and when new laws go into effect. For example, in Indiana we are repealing a 40-some year ban on “happy hour” effective July 1.
On behalf of my fellow Hoosiers, you’re welcome.
Closing Time
Last Sunday, I was wandering about YouTube as I am sometimes wont to do, and I found a video I’d seen before by a musical group called The Longest Johns singing the Wellerman along with lots and lots of other people as part of a community video singing project. Intrigued, I began looking to see what other songs they’d done.
This, my friends, led to my discovery of a song that’s become an earworm in our family in this past week. I was so amused and elated that I looked up the origin and found that it originated as a fun little ditty on Minecraft, then was turned into an animated song and uploaded on YouTube, and then sung by a metal power band and now by the Longest Johns and so it continues to spread, and yes, of course, I’m talking about Diggy Diggy Hole.
OH YES.
My next podcast may just feature us singing our own version of Diggy Diggy Hole. You’ve been warned.
Until next time,
Michael
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/staged-train-wrecks