MinnyMix

Satan's Ghostwriter

Twin Cities writer Lily Coyle got angry when she heard Pat Robertson claim that Haitians brought the earthquake on themselves by making a pact with the devil.

"I couldn't sleep all night I was so mad," Coyle said. "How insensitive, to kick people when they're down."

Instead of muttering to herself, Coyle chose to channel Satan himself. On Thursday, even before she'd had her morning coffee, she banged out a hilarious open letter to the televangelist -- and fired off her missive to the Star Tribune.

The Strib featured the letter as one of its "Letters of the Day" -- and it wasn't long before the online version took off.

Coyle's letter began:

"Dear Pat Robertson, I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action.

But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished. Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth -- glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle."

Satan then stuck the dagger in by warning Robertson to shut up or maybe the Devil would "renegotiate your own contract."

Lots of folks have been sharing the link on Twitter. David Brauer at MinnPost did an item. A Daily Kos diarist did a post,  as did The Cucking Stool.

With all the attention today, Coyle couldn't resist Googling "Lily Coyle and Satan."

"I don't know how I feel about being Satan's mouthpiece," Coyle said.

Coyle is a freelance writer and playwright whose work includes "The Princess and the Pee," an unlikely children's play about bedwetting. Her husband, Patrick Coyle, is a filmmaker whose recent work includes "Into Temptation," a movie about a trouble priest who aims to save a mysterious young woman.

"I"ve got a children's book I'm hoping to get published," Coyle said. "I hope this whole Satan thing doesn't hurt my chances."

Homage to My PC

 

My PC just turned 7 years old and it's still going strong. Just a short post here to say "Thanks, PC."

There have been ups and downs, of course. A hard drive crash or two. Some crazy software situations. A Windows re-install. But we've worked through those problems ... and now, as a couple, we're stronger than ever.

Those knobs and jacks you see ... that's the front-panel of my sound card. A Terratec that I bought at the same time as the computer. There is a 1/4-inch mic input, with a knob for controlling the input level. A headphones jack. There's a L/R RCA input for anything you want (tape, CD, VCR, etc.), plus a phono input, hilariously enough. You're also seeing MIDI in and out, as well as digital in and out. The sound card's been a trooper. I've recorded plenty of original music on this PC ... using Home Studio XL. And I've converted some R.E.M and Beatles vinyl records to digital.

I've made some hardware upgrades over the years. More RAM. A DVD burner. New hard drives. The motherboard and the processor have been solid. I had no issues building Newsbobber on this PC and have edited plenty of home videos, too.

Check out that old 3.5-inch floppy drive!

The case is a stainless steel  an aluminum Lian-Li. Still looks good, and it's been a breeze to get inside.

Hats of to Puget Custom Computers, which built the PC. They're out in Seattle and shipped my PC to New York City, where I was living when I bought it.

So, thanks, PC. Thanks Asus for the motherboard. Thanks Intel for the processor. And, grudgingly, a kudos to Windows XP. Headaches for sure, but it's still ticking, which is something.

Original specs:

Motherboard    Asus P4PE-RL    

CPU    Intel Pentium4 (478) 533 FSB 2.4 GHz    
Ram    Samsung PC2700 512mb     
Video Card    ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 64MB     
Hard Drive    Western Digital ATA100 80.0GB WD800JB   
Floppy Drive    3.5inch 1.44 Floppy Drive (Beige)    
CD / DVD    Teac 40/12/48 CDRW    
Case    Lian-Li PC50 Mini-Tower    
OS    Windows XP Home OEM SP3   
Software: Multimedia    Nero Burning ROM Express Ver.     
Networking    Diamond Supra 56K v.92 Voice/Fax Modem     

The Etiquette of Ditching

While out walking the dog, I salvaged a tiny tidbit of aviation history. Someone had put cardboard boxes of old books and folders out by the street. An old airline pamphlet caught my eye ... and I soon discovered a folder of information that American Airlines obviously handed out to passengers on transatlantic flights. From the style of the drawings and the airplane, it looks like the material is from the 1950s.

I especially like the "Etiquette of Ditching" handout. Sure looks like fun to crash land a commercial airliner into the water!

All the talk about getting wi-fi on flights these days ... and here they already had "radiograms" back in the day.

All in all, a good score on Hague Avenue in St. Paul. (Kicking myself over a book of Keats poetry that I left behind ... It was gone when I went back hours later.)

This is scary!

Oct. 10 and St. Paul had snow on the ground this morning. And it stuck around for awhile because it didn't warm up past freezing until after noon. The jack-o-lantern on our front porch kept smiling through the whole ordeal.

This thing bit me

I caught a fish like this in Big Eagle Lake in Big Lake, Minn., on Saturday. It put up a good fight and I was hoping it was big bass. But no, turns out it's a bowfin. (I had to look that up)

It swallowed the hook and when I reached in with the pliers, the fish chomped my finger and drew blood. Yes, I screamed.

We tossed the fish into our fish trap. The plan was to bury it for fertilizer. But the next day when the kids were trying to get a look at it, the monster escaped. Bowfin 1, Bob 0.

Early bird gets the sunrise

Here's the good side of waking up crazy early at the cabin. This is about 5 a.m. Sunday, June 21, on Big Eagle Lake near Big Lake, Minn.

Click the image for a larger version.

Now that's not very nice!

Sign spotted on Hamline Avenue just south of Grand Avenue in St. Paul.

Things You Find In An Old House, Part II

Check out this old receipt from the St. Paul Daily News.This crumbling piece of paper fell out from behind a trim board that I had removed to install a door bell.

It's interesting in a number of ways. First of all, it's old. There is no specific year listed, but the receipt form says "191__." So unless the paper carrier was using a really outdated pad, this receipt is probably from the 1910s.

I also like the reference to "the boy." No chance a girl would be delivering the paper, I guess. And the prices! Get the paper for $.07 per week or $3.50 a year. Adjusted for inflation using this calculator, that's about $75 per year today.

The St. Paul Daily News is long gone, of course. The St. Paul Public Library informs me here that three publications used the name St. Paul Daily News, but only one was printed during the time indicated on this receipt. That Daily News lived from 1900 to 1938. My house was built in 1903.

Here's a copy of my house's building permit. The Ramsey County Historical Society maintains an archive of permits issued from 1883 to 1975. You can get a copy of a permit for a small fee. Info on the process here.

Things You Find In An Old House

I just got around to fixing some pocket doors, those big old heavy wooden doors that separate the dining room and living room in Victorian houses. I found this old ad in the dusty area of one of the pockets.

It's on card stock, so maybe it came in the mail or got handed out somewhere. Who knows how old it is. When did suits cost $25? A quick Google search reveals that the Menter Clothing Company was a Midwest chain.

Here's the back. It's interesting to see that the ad gimmicks of yesteryear (fake check that you "cash" when you buy something at the store) are still common today. And it's effective ... when I peered into the pocket with a flashlight, all I could make out was "Pay to the order of." I had visions of finding a long-lost cashier's check for $1,000.