My subtitle for this blog is “Musings of a physicist, a witch, and a gamer.” I’ve posted on wicca and gaming, but I’ve never said much about physics until now.
I have been reticent to talk about physics because what I physically do is sit in front of a computer terminal and type (and occasionally think) all day. But evidently someone thinks that the work I do is interesting:
This. It's why I've been post those game reviews, and why I struggle to schedule Argothald every month, and why I played World of Warcraft, and why I played in two LARPs for 14 years.
It has come to our attention that the community of barbers and purveyors of leeches have grasped upon the noble name of Karl Friedrich Hieronymus, Freiherr von Münchhausen to describe a mental condition. Such actions merely reveal their own ignorance, not only of medicine, but of the behavior of gentlemen such as the good Baron. Therefore, if any member of the lower classes, those infused with a ill-conceived notion of their cleverness, or a Norwegian is heard to mutter the despicable phrase “Munchausen by proxy,” he shall be visited by Baron Münchhausen himself. That worthy shan’t bother with the formality of a duel, since clearly no challenge is needed when insulted in such a dastardly manner. Rather he shall use his remarkable display of swordsmanship (as complimented by none other than Empress Catherine the Great, whose offer of marriage the Baron once had the honor of declining) to enact such a skillful display of vengeance that the justly-chastised victim will be forced to spend two weeks looking for his trouser buttons.
Where was I? Oh yes. I am reviewing a game: The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen, “A Game of Wagers, Wine, and Competitive Lying.”
I just realized that I've been working on Isaac Bonewits's biography for over a year. Holy excrement! I've got nine gigabytes of scanned files, hours of interviews, 65 pages of notes and links. And it feels like I've barely started. I haven't seriously spoken with anyone from ADF yet. Or his mother. Or his sisters. Or... I'm…
I'm prepping for a second interview with Selene Vega. Following a suggestion from about resources, I'm skimming through the calendars for the years she was with Isaac Bonewits, if for no other reason than to ask, "What does this funny-looking squiggle mean?" I find that my collection of Isaac's calendars is not as complete as I thought…
I had my first “calendar party” today. Its purpose was to get a group of people to start working through Isaac’s calendars and enter the information in a common computer database. Isaac kept all of his calendars from 1973 through 2010; it’s a wealth of information for any biographer.
Deborah Lipp was kind enough to point me to a 1974 Tom Snyder interview with Isaac Bonewits, Ed Fitch, Fred Adams, and "Poke" Runyon. I've already tweeted about how young Isaac looks. Then I came to later section of the interview. Tom Snyder asks about pagan beliefs in life after death. The other three agree with some…
I've just taken a very big risk that might affect someone else's life. Fingers crossed that I've made the right decision.
I don’t have an outline for Isaac Bonewits’ biography yet. Since I don’t know enough about Isaac’s life, creating an outline now will predispose me to a particular narrative. First I learn about Isaac, then I’ll decide how to tell his story.