[lit-ideas] Re: Twitter/ A Ripping Tip


On Apr 30, 2007, at 11:58 AM, Robert Paul wrote:


Not much to do around Portland right now.


Well today, perhaps.  But yesterday evening, by contrast...
Today involved some follow up. The local postmaster called to confirm that he had asked all the mail carriers if they could remember the package that the post office tracked to their mail sorting room and which then, somehow went AWOL. And, goodness, none of them could. So that was his investigation into the loss duly completed. I asked what my next remedy was. He said he'd send me some forms to fill out in triplicate. 
"To what purpose?"
"They might decide to reimburse you."
I filled out the forms, looked for information about where to send them. The forms said that a stamped, self-addressed envelope was "enclosed." In reality there was none. Today I finally took the forms to the post office, lined up, handed them over. 
"And what will happen to them?"
"I'll see the right person gets them."
"And then what will happen?  Should I expect a call?"
He looked embarrassed.
"Actually, usually nothing happens. They do an investigation and if they determine that the package is lost, they do nothing." 

I guess the lesson is, always buy the insurance.

Then, at least, you get to fill out different forms!
On Saturday daughter number one returned from a final scouting trip to Smith. She thoroughly enjoyed the visit, but was a little wide-eyed. She attended a Queer Studies class and wanted to know from us what two kinds of sex were. I wish I could recall the terms. My wife looked at me--art school habitue--I looked at her--gynecologist; neither of us had a clue. Maybe if I remember I'll get the terms and then ask a student in my thesis class, one who is something of an expert on Queer Theory.
Yesterday evening's dinner guests at our friends' house were people they know from Aspen, Colorado. We, of course, talked about Hunter Thomson. It became clear that these two guests were not immediately pro-H. T. What did they do for a living? The woman was a hair cutter who made house calls. She was very happy to say that she once made a $150 tip on a $100 haircut and full body wax. A ripping tip, I suppose you'd call it.
He, by contrast, had spent his life figuring out what shape best suits pieces of nuclear material in a bomb--should they be round, oblong, bunny-shaped or what? He was able to reveal, without compromising our security, that at Los Alamos the lumps were round.
He did clear one thing up. When people talk of "tactical" nuclear weapons what they mean, in the western world at least, is weapons made of nuclear material that decays comparatively quickly. 

No, dullness is not in residence at this corner.

David Ritchie,
Portland, Oregon


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