Custer's Genius

Just beyond the river, in the dusty flat to the right of the cottonwoods, Major Reno's command started dying. He had been ordered there to guard against Lt. Col. Custer's supreme fear that the raggedy-ass Indians would escape to the Big Horn Mountains.

Reno and other survivors of the Indian counter attack west of the Little Big Horn retreated up this ravine and occupied a shallow depression, the position of the camera in this photo. Later that day he was reinforced by Major Benteen who, himself, had been ordered on a vainglorious escape-prevention mission.

Custer Battlefield September 2009

Fun Show

We're pointing ourselves northeast, about 100 miles this morning, hoping the Mankato show will draw some dealers and hobbyists from further Up North, guys we don't see often.

We're in quest of Something Different. At an extended board of directors meeting last evening, we decided we're getting sick and tired of 200-table shows with 150 of them groaning under tons of EBRs and plastic 9mm hi-caps. Nothing particularly against them, but our souls depend on milled steel, deep rust blue, and walnut.

I'll be allowing myself absolutely frivolous spending up to $250 -- the amount the new Nobel Laureate, His Obamaness, has promised to send me. Anything over that will require thought in view of a letter from my bank, telling me one of my CDs will renew at .04 per cent next week. Yeah, four-tenths of one per cent. Must be that the new Nobel Laureate, His Obamaness, is giving the banks some free money too. Maybe even more than $250?

Publish Post

On Seeing the WalMart-Amazon Price War

My bookseller of choice is Goodwill Industries, and I'll match the personal library here with most any one's for scope, depth, and sheer numbers of quality tomes. The investment of time can be heavy, but the monetary cost averages something under fifty cents a volume, including some rather good finds. How about a first of P.H. Sheridan's memoirs, both volumes, foldout maps intact?

Of course Goodwill offers me no best sellers until long past their Fifteen Minutes. Fortunately, this is ameliorated by my personal society which is composed of people who do not care to discuss John Gresham's latest lawyer any more than they would care to discuss television programs.

Still, I'm ambiguous about seeing best-sellers -- as bad as many of them are -- selling in hardback for $9. Writing is brutally hard work. Even ordinarily competent writing may offer us joy, enlightenment, wonder. I think of that as I consider the fact that the value society places on any endeavor is measured in dollars.

Journalism Can Be Fun

But how would the dipstick who wrote this headline for the Des Moines Register know?

Chase ends in shooting; classes at Seymour schools canceled

Oh the horror of armed Americans shooting up public schools and endangering the innocent waifs being baby-sat therein.

Or, if you read the story, maybe your single question is whether this cop (a) did his duty properly or (b) over-reacted in a trigger-happy fashion.