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As I've mentioned before in these diaries, right now I'm on my annual pilgrimage to the Western Michigan University International Congress on Medieval Studies, known affectionately among medievalists as K'zoo. This is quite simply the largest and most prestigious gathering of medievalists in North America, with over 3,000 scholars and graduate students presenting and listening to thousands of papers, workshops, musical performances, and material culture demonstrations. The book room alone is worth the price of admission, as 20-30 of the best academic publishers and used book dealers display their wares, often at very deep discounts, and when I say that it would be shockingly easy to drop the equivalent of a mortgage payment in about five minutes, I speak from personal experience.
I've presented twice as part of DISTAFF, Robin Netherton's coterie of medieval textile specialists, and hope to present next year or the year after as well. All my work for Robin has been serious, well researched, and (God willing) of lasting merit, and I am honored to call myself part of DISTAFF even though I am a lousy spinner.
Tonight, though...is a bit different.
Last night I presented as part of the annual Saturday night session sponsored by the Societas Fontibus Historiae Medii Aevi Inveniendis, vulgo dicta, "The Pseudo Society." This exclusive coterie of insane dedicated jokesters scholars presents papers on such amazing discoveries as Geoffrey Chaucer being reincarnated as Bruce Springsteen, the sad death of St. Guthlac thanks to evil mortgage brokers and a real estate bubble, or the discovery of an Anglo-Saxon poem about Beowabbit (relative of Crusader Rabbit, who was alas killed and eaten by pious Muslims during the First Crusade), and I am honored to join their ranks this year.
Only a few hundred people can cram into Fetzer Auditorium at WMU to hear me live, but since you have all become like family to me over the past year or so, I'm going to share my paper with you, my loyal readers. Even better, I've included links to the images I've created to illustrate my paper! Please click to see what I'm talking about, and enjoy!
Journalist expelled from China reflects on experience
Melissa Chan of Walnut is the first accredited foreign correspondent to be barred from China in 14 years. She is not sure what prompted her expulsion.
By Rosanna Xia, Los Angeles Times
After filing 400 stories from China, reporter Melissa Chan never thought she'd wind up in the headlines herself.
Chan returned to Southern California last week as the first accredited foreign correspondent to be expelled from China in 14 years, an act that sparked a flurry of news reports and expressions of solidarity from fellow journalists.
Chan, who was the sole Al Jazeera English correspondent in China, said she knew she was on shaky ground for most of this year.
Well after a longer than expected hiatus, Sunday Bread is once more out there in the world! I had been feeling burnt-out about the whole blogging thing in general and decided that I'd take some time off until I felt like I really wanted to do it again, that time has come.
But enough of that! This week we are going to bake a new recipe, one that took longer than I thought to put together, Blueberry Scones.
Now, we've made scones before but they were always with dried fruit, never with fresh blueberries. At the start I knew that I did not want to use the very small wild blueberries, they are really expensive (as if blueberries are not) and not that easy to put your hands to any time you want a batch of scones, so there were out from the start.
Then there was the issue of making sure that the bread of the scone was the right texture to hold the berries, as well as provide a slightly sweet counterpoint to the tartness of fresh blueberries. The following recipe is the result of those requirements, and if I do say so myself, I think you're going to love them and love serving them to your friends and family.
U.S. May Scrap Costly Efforts to Train Iraqi Police
By TIM ARANGO
Published: May 13, 2012
BAGHDAD - In the face of spiraling costs and Iraqi officials who say they never wanted it in the first place, the State Department has slashed - and may jettison entirely by the end of the year - a multibillion-dollar police training program that was to have been the centerpiece of a hugely expanded civilian mission here.
What was originally envisioned as a training cadre of about 350 American law enforcement officers was quickly scaled back to 190 and then to 100. The latest restructuring calls for 50 advisers, but most experts and even some State Department officials say even they may be withdrawn by the end of this year.
The training effort, which began in October and has already cost $500 million, was conceived of as the largest component of a mission billed as the most ambitious American aid effort since the Marshall Plan.
And for some reason Friday evening seems to have turned into nap night. Maybe I need some firefly wake up tea, 'cause regular tea's not keeping me awake. Katie didn't get me up at 10 for piggy meds. She waited until I woke up at 12:30 and we medicated them then. Then I went back to bed and she got me up at 3:15am to feed them. I got back to bed about 4. These Friday night naps are just throwing everything off.
This is a long show. Four episodes of PBS's Frontline. I'm still watching episode One.
You Must Watch This. Want to know why/how the economy crashed four years ago? I always thought I had a pretty good handle on it. I DID have a pretty good handle on it. But this show makes everything clear.
From the "Only in Japan" file: A column in The Japan Times mentioned that many pet groomers in this country now offer "claw decoration," i.e., having your dog's nails done. One "dog beauty artist" in Tokyo charges between ¥3,000 and ¥5,000 for all four paws. Apparently, a common request is for dog and owner to get matching nail art.
Good news for cat lovers. Cat cafés, where customers can "mingle freely with felines in a relaxed atmosphere," might not have to abide by new Ministry of Environment regulations that limit the hours pets can be displayed (8am-8pm). It's all part of a plan to reduce the stress level of animals at pet shops.
And a bit of good news for bald mice, as well. Researchers from the Tokyo University of Science have reportedly been successful in efforts to grow hair on hairless rodents. It's tough enough to find a mate when you're at the bottom of the vermin totem pole, but when you're bald, too...
Another group of some ten protesters went on a hunger strike in front of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to show their displeasure over the government's plan to restart nuclear reactors at the Oi power plant in Fukui Prefecture.
A Yokohama court gave a "spiritual salon" manager a suspended sentence after finding her guilty of fraud. The 48-year-old woman committed a "clever and malicious crime that took advantage of people's worries about health and work to scam them out of money."
Police were investigating the case of a severed wire in a wing of a Boeing 787 produced at a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plant in Nagoya. The cut appears to have been intentional and is similar to other cases in 2002 and 2009.
Afghan commanders show new defiance in dealings with Americans
By Kevin Sieff
Afghan commanders have refused more than a dozen times within the past two months to act on U.S. intelligence regarding high-level insurgents, arguing that night-time operations to target the men would result in civilian casualties, Afghan officials say.
The defiance highlights the shift underway in Afghanistan as Afghan commanders make use of their newfound power to veto operations proposed by their NATO counterparts.
For much of the past decade, NATO commanders have dictated most aspects of the allied war strategy, with Afghan military officers playing a far more marginal role. But with the signing of an agreement last month, Afghans have now inherited responsibility for so-called night raids - a crucial feature of the war effort.
