Something Interesting
In September 1950, the United States Navy deliberately released two types of bacteria over the San Francisco Bay in a secret experiment to determine U.S. cities’ vulnerability to chemical weapons. Data from monitoring stations around the city would reveal that approximately 800,000 residents of San Francisco were exposed to dosages that would have been lethal had they released anthrax instead of what they believed to be harmless bacteria.
In the weeks following the experiment, 11 people were admitted to Stanford Hospital with severe urinary tract infections. One patient, who had had recent prostate surgery, later died from a heart valve infection. The unusual concentration of infections in one hospital caused doctors to document the occurrence in a medical journal. Had those infections been spread evenly around the city, it’s likely nobody would have even noticed. Some 27 years later, the existence of the experiment was revealed to the public, but officials blamed the infections on an unrelated contamination at the hospital. It was a coincidence, they insisted.
Sometimes certain random events stick in my head as a reminder of the sort of world we live in. Events that I suspect are quickly forgotten by most other people.
I remember back in June 2021, the Los Angeles Police Department seized a large quantity of illegal fireworks. For reasons that could be attributed to either malice or incompetence, the LAPD Bomb Squad situated their disposal unit in a densely populated neighborhood unrelated to the seizure and improperly detonated the fireworks. The resulting explosion injured 17 people and damaged 22 residences, 13 businesses and 37 vehicles.
Initial news reports made no mention of the LAPD’s involvement in the blast.
I also remember in October 2025 when the United States Marine Corps. staged a demonstration that included firing live ammunition over a very-busy interstate in Southern California. Despite protests by the USMC that the demonstration was safe, the governor closed the freeway as a precaution. During the demonstration, a shell was misfired and the resulting shrapnel landed on the motorcade of the vice president, who was in town for the spectacle.
Had he been injured or killed by the shrapnel, what would they have told us?
Something Beautiful
I’ve never really been exposed to sculpture in a way that would allow me to have a full appreciation of the art form. In fact I was decades out of art school before I became aware of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Years later, I still remember the awe I felt when I first saw a close up of one of his sculptures, where one subject’s fingers pressed into the flesh of another’s.
This is a close-up of his “Rape of Proserpina,” which may or may not have been the photo that moved me several years ago. It’s hard to believe this is marble.
I recently came across his version of David and, if I may be so heretical, I think it’s better than Michelangelo. The decision to portray David a dynamic pose is so obviously a better choice. It makes Michelangelo’s version look like a mere pin-up.
Something I Worked On
This week I finally finished my “Her Life’s Work” project, which I’ve posted on my website and my Patreon. It didn’t turn out exactly as I had intended, particularly because I originally intended it to have a ‘picture book’ format, but I’ve definitely figured some things out in getting the damn thing done. I look forward to starting the next one.