9233 - Wednesday -

Midweek already! How'd that happen? No complaints, mind you, dear journal.

At just about noontime yesterday I used Shazam! as an expletive of surprise. Without irony, or mocking Cap'n Marvel / Gomer Pyle.

What's happening to my brain?

I don't know.

So I wrote a Haiku.

Shazam! I exclaimed.
I looked to my left and right.
there was no lightning.

Now, I want an animal cracker. Or better, a box of animal crackers. Higher on the food chain, the better. Except for gorillas. I'd like some gorillas.

BHK made a really yummy giant salad for supper - Chris and Larry came over, but they stuck to cheesy-toast and hot dogs. More salad for me! :D

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While throwing earworms around on Kat's journal, I had to dig with the cruellest barb to GP - Gilligan's Island Incidental Music. I did it to myself.. now I've got a mix of Gilligan and Flock of Seagulls - I Ran lodged firmly in my noggin.

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50 things I've done meme continues with #48- I...

48.'have traced my family tree a bit, here and there, and have had a great deal of footwork done for me by a Mormon cousin. It seems that I'm related to Benita Falkenhayn, also known as Baroness von Berg. I quite enjoy finding little tidbits here and there, though my father's side has a lot of pre-1920s Bavarian aristocracy and military, most understandably didn't make it when the Nazis came to power. I've got a few fun folks in there... not too many horse thieves, but a lot of men and women who married into money and power. Benita was surely one who chose a bit poorly.

A bit of history - Benita von Falkenhayn, also known as Baroness von Berg, had the distinction not only of being one of the last people to be legally beheaded by the heading axe in Germany, but also to have been the first female aristocrat to lose her head to the Nazis.

Once the lover of Polish intelligence agent Major Jerzy Sosnowski, Benita put some distance between them by marrying the Baron von Berg. However she and her husband remained on friendly terms with Sosnowski and mingled within the same social circles. Rumors of Sosnowski's activity in espionage began to surface, although charges were unable to be proven.

In February 1935, the Nazis raided a party at which the Baroness, her husband, and Sosnowski were in attendance. Over fifty people were rushed off to jail and several were released after being cleared of charges of espionage and other crimes. Though secrecy shrouded the Nazi proceedings, it eventually became known that the Baroness von Berg, along with Sosnowski's mistress Renate von Natzmer, were sentenced to death. On February 18, 1935 both women were taken to the block at Plotzensee Prison in Berlin and decapitated by the axe.

(The 'heading axe' , as it was called, was little more than a blunt, primitive chopper which crushed its way through the flesh and vertebrae of the victim as he or she, knelt over the block on which their head lay. The executioners axe did not always cut through on the first strike nor did it often hit its target accurately.)

In 1938, Adolph Hitler decreed that all future executions be done by hanging or guillotine.

Time Magazine Article (for future ref):

( Read more... )

 

Sadly, I have no known solid connection to Kaspar Hauser.

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1 year ago - losing weight, palm doodles, subway buskers, bluetooth, female health, restless sleep, clicks down, bro contact

2 years ago - fiddling with layouts, queen, cute newt on the patio pic, genographic project, wayfaring, logophile, about trees, euro tests, 3d museum, time-travelling chiro

3 years ago - no eclipse, ed-mv/st, The end of Kim Possible, Newton-cat animation, FL sheriff abuse of power

4 years ago - Frog & manatee palm doodle, city of heroes goes to 3 servers, condos, recovery

5 years ago - Babar Mourns, bro stuff, poem/hat

6 years ago - elephant armor, SOP

7 years ago - easter, usa backs out of kyoto protocol, bob ross, Gifties