Chronology part 11

Chronology of these short stories, while Watson still lives in Paddington.

• DYIN - a Saturday in Nov 1889, "in the second year of my married life." Also, this makes it less uncomfortably close to Holmes faking his death in FINA.
• BLUE - Dec 27, 1889
• IDEN - The wedding was on Friday the 14th. Mary Sutherland visited Holmes maybe on Monday February 17, 1890; this would make the Friday wedding on Valentine's day. I originally placed this case in June 1889, but I moved it because Holmes hasn't seen Watson for "some weeks."
• CARD - August 1890 (Mrs. Watson gone visiting again)

DYIN was published very late in 1913, but the case clearly takes place decades ago, "in the second year of [Watson's] married life." Though I theorize that he married in late 1887, it would be very late, then they'd go on honeymoon the rest of the year; so I think Watson would count 1888 and then 1889 as the first and second year of his married life. Also, notice how he doesn't qualify the phrase as "the 2nd year of my 1st marriage" or "2nd year of my 2nd marriage," as if he means there's only one marriage at all. Watson starts out just talking about Mrs. Hudson as a long-suffering landlady and says that Holmes paid her "princely" sums for rent to make up for his terrible habits. (When Watson moved out, Holmes would need to pay for Watson's missing rent, but it sounds like he's paying way more than that, because he's "the very worst tenant in London.") Despite this, Mrs. Hudson is in awe of Holmes and doesn't interfere with him, which explains why she did not call a doctor for three days, even though she was very worried about his health.

There are also some very puzzling things going on about time. When Mrs. Hudson tells Watson that Holmes is deathly ill, she says "this morning" is when she finally insisted on getting a doctor "this very hour." Holmes lets her fetch Watson, and she urges Watson to rush to Baker Street before it's too late. Soon they drive back together and Mrs. Hudson explains that Holmes has not eaten since Wednesday afternoon; so today is Saturday. Watson describes it as a foggy November day, and Holmes's bedroom is dim when he enters; he's told to turn the gaslight on half-way. Holmes goes through the whole deception, even insulting Watson's medical qualifications to keep him from getting too close. Watson is fooled, even when Holmes jumps up from bed to lock Watson in. It seems like they were only arguing for a few minutes, yet Holmes says that it's 4 PM now, and Watson needs to wait until 6 PM to get Culverton Smith. What happened to the whole day? Has Watson omitted something that happened since this morning? Maybe Watson realized that Holmes wasn't dying, if he could spring out of bed like that, so Holmes had to explain the truth and argue with him at length until he agreed to Holmes's plan. And yet Watson writes the story as if he still thinks that Holmes is dying.

What's Going On

I saw the new Masters of the Universe movie, despite Jared Leto. It's very good nostalgia for He-Man fans, with easter eggs from the show and the previous movie. The only character that I didn't recognize was the woman named Dion or Dian; a youtube video says that she's a deep cut from a minicomic or newspaper. The movie is funny and campy, including Skeletor's usual jokes. It also features 4 Non Blondes's "What's Up" song in a fight scene. Apparently there was a meme in 2005 featuring Adam singing that song, and I must have missed it at the time. It's popular enough that the filmmakers are leaning into it. I do wish they didn't undercut all dramatic moments with jokes, though; a hero march set to a Queen song should have been kept serious. Besides that, it was satisfying. There are some end-credits scenes, including a tease that they might do She-Ra next, if this movie is theatrically successful. If not, people have suggested that Amazon would at least make a film for streaming.

Incidentally, I've now learned how to use the "delete" and "insert" HTML tags to show revisions. Huzzah! I might go back and revise various old posts as needed, including my Revised Outline of DIM.

Ordinary People

Do you know the actor Tony Robinson who played Baldrick in Black Adder in the 1980s? Well he has apparently appeared on British TV in several history specials over the years, and I just discovered Tony Robinson's History of Britain show on free streaming. They only had season 2 available, but after searching, I found the season 1 episodes as well. Instead of kings or wars, Tony's show presents ordinary people from lower classes such as Roman slaves, Tudor-age cooks, and coal miners. These aren't merely composite characters made up from general research. They are based on historical records or artifacts that refer to these particular people. For example, they found an elegant metal bowl used for Bacchanalia rituals in Roman Britain, and there was an inscription with the name of the metal worker who made it, so Tony speaks to experts about what that metal worker's life would have been like. They also found an artifact with the name of an actress and a gladiator, so the show discusses Roman theatre and gladiator battles in Britannia.

I kind of like this version of history, even though we do have to speculate on what happened to these people after there's no more historical record of them. Tony does want to imagine happy endings for them, and he tries to find humor too when he can. It's good that he shows diversity, and how Roman soldiers did often come from Africa, so there have been Black people living in Britain for many centuries. Whitewashed history is not real; it's stupid for people to claim that diversity is anachronistic in a period-set show. Much later, there is a story of two Black brothers, Edward and Walter Tull, who were orphaned in Victorian times. Edward was adopted by the Warnocks in Scotland, while Walter remained in the orphanage, though they were able to visit sometimes. Edward eventually became a dentist like his adoptive father, but he faced racism when he tried to get hired. He became successful in the end, though, while Walter became a football star and also enlisted in the army for WWI, where he became an officer despite his race. Sadly, Walter was killed in the war, but his history and his brother's were significant firsts in Britain.

Anyway, I highly recommend Tony's history show and will have to look into what other videos I can find with him.

Intermittent Rain

I've had trouble sleeping lately. I wake up really early in the morning, get tired, and then have to go back to sleep, with the sun streaming through the curtains. I wonder if I should take my medications at a different time of day. I was also forgetful, thinking that the Sherlock Holmes play was this week, but Stage West had to reschedule those performances to next week. Silly me to not check the date on the ticket.

It rained really hard on Tuesday, flooding the streets. I had expected rain later in the week, so I was caught off guard and had to wait in a parking lot for the storm to die down. There were primary elections that night in a bunch of states. California is still counting votes, so I hope the news will be good.

I did manage to see the What's the Story, Wishbone? documentary on PBS. They aired it Monday night with pledge breaks. It was fun to recognize a lot of the adult actors, but I guess the child stars are not available. Possibly they retired from acting and don't want to have a flurry of new media interest. Oh well. I think I heard that Mattel owns the Wishbone brand now. I wish they'd release the episodes on DVD or do something else to acknowledge the show. There had been talk of a reboot a few years ago. They could do something animated I think.

Happy Pride Month

Keep resisting, even if he keeps obsessing about his stupid birthday party and ruins the White House lawn for the UFC fight. Keep fighting for love, joy, and justice.

On BlueSky, I got recommended a fantasy book with a trans Watson-equivalent character. Going to check it out. Also going to see the Sherlock Holmes Ghost Machine play at Stage West this week next week; this is the last of the David MacGregor trilogy that they've done the past 3 years.

Chronology part 10

Chronology of these short stories

• BOSC - June 1889. June 3rd is a Monday, and Holmes was called in Thursday or Friday.
• IDEN - Monday June 17th 1889 to the next day. The wedding was on Friday the 14th. Another option would be February 1890, to have the Friday wedding on Valentine's day. Move this to 1890, between BLUE and CARD
• TWIS - July 19, 1889. (Watson says June 19th, but the July is actually on Friday.)
• ENGR - summer 1889

Holmes sends Watson a telegram at about 10:45 AM to invite him to Boscombe Valley, if he has a couple of days to spare for the mystery. For once, Watson is hesitant to neglect work, and his wife has to convince him to go. She says that Anstruther would take his medical practice for him. It is unclear if Anstruther is the same as Jackson, who was the neighbour doctor in CROO. Leaving breakfast, Watson soon packs a bag and meets Holmes at the train station at 11:15 AM. Holmes is glad to see him, and he didn't already purchase both their tickets, so I guess he didn't assume Watson would come. At least he was aware that 30 minutes is not much notice, though it is more notice than he gives Watson in other cases. They ride the train together and discuss the case.

Meanwhile

Well that stupid Graham Platner has a sexting scandal now, and people on Daily Kos are STILL defending him, saying his wife still supports him. Well, Ken Paxton's wife still supported him through his impeachment trial, but that doesn't mean he wasn't corrupt as hell, and she divorced him later. Fuck Platner. Maine, your Democratic primary is not until June 9th. You've had all this time to find a better candidate but you chose to ignore everyone else in favor of your Nazi liar. Stop behaving like a cult! And so many fuckers had the nerve to criticize Jasmine Crockett as being unelectable in Texas. Fuck you!!!

At least Senator Andy Kim has been continuing to fight the Delaney Hall detention center, and publicizing the protests and hunger strike there. 

Meanwhile, the What's the Story, Wishbone? documentary has been out since May 27th, but I still can't find it on the DFW station. I keep searching KERA's schedule, but they're only showing the stupid pledge-drive shows. It's not even on PBS Passport. What's going on?

I moved my laptop to the dining room hoping to get more work done, but I'm still not using it much. Might move it back to the bedroom. I got the staples removed, but my hysterectomy scar still itches as it heals. I'm trying to walk more, and I guess I should start using my exercise bike again.

Election Results

Well the runoffs for the primaries are done. Paxton won over Cornyn, and some MAGAhead defeated Chip Roy. The political ads have been so toxic. I hope Democrats can defeat these Trump candidates in November. On the Democratic side, it looks like Colin Allred has defeated Julie Johnson. I hope he can win despite the Republican gerrymander changing the districts.

Ranting

Have a good Memorial Day, such as it is, with the stupid warmongering liar ruining everything. It's still a holiday at least. I forgot to post, I did have my hysterectomy, and they removed my organs to do a biopsy on them. The pathologist initially says there's no cancer, but I have a followup appointment to confirm the results with my doctor.

Currently I have family staying with me during my recovery, and I let them do a lot of stuff as guests that I would normally be upset about. I think I'm being as easy going as possible, but they lecture me like, "You don't need to get upset, when things don't go your way." I'm just trying to use a stupid hand dryer which isn't working the first 3 times I try, and she acts like she's helping me, telling me how to use it. Uh, can I just say factually that it's not working at the moment? That there's a glitch, like often happens with machines? At home, when I throw away half an onion that she just left sitting on the counter all night--never wrapped or put away--and tons more onions available, I'm a food waster. In the car, I disagree with the wrong directions from the stupid Google Maps, and my sister tells me, "Calm down," but she's free to swear "Jesus Christ!" at other drivers.

We decide to have lunch at a restaurant. I say, "I don't care. Whatever's closest." She lists five or six restaurants, but I have already said, "I don't care." Then she says "Jason's Deli." So I say "Jason's Deli," but she says "I hate that place. I don't want to go there." Then why did you list it as an option? Then she asks me, "Anywhere else you want to go?" But I already told you, "I don't care." The one thing I did care about, you fucking didn't mean as a real option. Pick one then, and stop asking me, if you don't fucking care about my opinion. Ugh. Then she orders a meal to share and doesn't eat much or drink, despite ordering a refill. She's on her phone instead, and I think I have to eat everything. Ugh.

Chronology part 9

Chronology of extended visits

• FIVE - late Sept 1888 (refers to Mrs. Watson visiting her mother or aunt; let's say she visited either Mrs. Cecil Forrester or her school friend Kate Whitney from TWIS.)
• HOUN - Oct 1888 (let's say Mrs. Watson is still visiting friends, per T. S. Blakeney)

Similarly to SPEC, FIVE begins with Watson surveying his unpublished records. He says he has notes of Holmes's cases "between the years ’82 and ’90"; I can't figure out why he wouldn't include 1881. (FIVE was first published in November 1891.) But does that mean these are the "eight years" he was talking about in SPEC's introduction? No, 1882 to 1890, inclusive of both ends, is 9 years, not 8 years. Watson, how the heck do you read calendars? Thankfully, Watson then moves on to discussing the year 1887, listing many tantalizing titles and descriptions. He is also implying that this current case FIVE took place in that same year. But of course, nothing's that simple.

Chronology part 8

Chronology explanations of these stories

• GREE - June 20, 1888
• NAVA - late July, 1888
• CROO - summer 1888, maybe August
• SECO - Autumn, 1888. A weird case with 3 different descriptions

Watson first meets Sherlock's brother Mycroft in GREE, after many years of not knowing that he had any family at all. Watson only describes it as a summer evening after tea, and they go to the Diogenes Club at 6 PM. Later Mr. Melas says today is Wednesday. (Odd that we don't get a first name for Melas.) I would set the case pre-marriage, except that Brad Keefauver makes a convincing argument for 1888 based on their astronomical conversation about the obliquity of the ecliptic. He does say that 1887 would be an option too, but that interferes with Watson claiming that 3 months before SIGN was devoid of any cases, while Holmes injected cocaine and morphine 3 times a day. I guess Watson could have come to visit Holmes for an evening in 1888, then get caught up in the case, before returning home. Then Holmes could have passed on the news article to Watson months later about Latimer and Kemp dying in Budapest.

Chronology part 7

Chronology discrepancies in these short stories

• NOBL - October, 1887
• SCAN - March 20-22, 1888
• STOC - June 1888. Watson explains how he bought his Paddington practice months earlier.

First, NOBL was published in April 1892, and Watson refers to the case as a "four-year-old drama" that has been eclipsed by other scandals. That could mean 1888, unless Watson is being approximate or disguising the date. Watson also says that the case took place a few weeks before his own marriage; I have already chosen 1887 for SIGN. Watson speaks of "high autumnal winds" making his war wound ache, though he is vague about which limb has the jezail bullet. The noble client's letter must have arrived while Holmes was out walking alone; it makes an appointment for 4 PM, and Watson says it's 3 PM after Holmes reads the letter to him. (Usually Holmes asks Watson to read to him.) Anyway, Holmes looks up Lord St. Simon in his reference book. He was born in 1846 and is 41 now, implying that the year is 1887 (unless Robert's birthday is after October).

Chronology part 6

Chronology explanations on the novel The Sign of Four, also known as The Sign of the Four

• SIGN - September 7, 1887

There are two schools of thought on Mary Morstan's case. There are people who set the story in 1888, though they may disagree on the month, and there are those who set the story in 1887. A chronologist has to be careful of this decision, because Watson will get married afterward and move out of Baker Street. Then in the short stories, he'll date many cases to "before my marriage" and "after my marriage," making this choice crucial to placing all the other cases in order.

Chronology part 5

Moving on to dating other Holmes stories:

• REIG - April 1887. The Lyons telegram is the 14th, but the Reigate case starts on the 25th.
• SILV - July 7-12, 1887

REIG has had multiple titles over the years: "Reigate Squire", "Reigate Squires", and "Reigate Puzzle." It depends on what collection or edition you have, what the title will be. This case has one of the more interesting beginnings, because Watson mentions a great international case, concerning the Netherland-Sumatra Company and the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis, which Holmes investigated in France. He was apparently there for two months, working 15 hour days, for four days at a stretch. Yet Watson was not with him, and we are given no explanation for why. It could be that Watson got a medical job and couldn't go to France for that long. (I'm thinking of locum work, filling in for other doctors, rather than a practice of his own.) Brad Keefauver thinks that Watson was romancing a new wife and that Holmes wanted to get away starting in February. But I don't subscribe to theories about Watson constantly getting married, let alone the idea that they were all fake marriages. It could be that Holmes asked Watson not to come, that he secretly planned to use cocaine to sustain that crazy pace, and he knew that Watson would object to the drug.

Chronology part 4

Chronology explanations on the novel The Valley of Fear

• VALL - January 7, 1887

Now this one is definitely complex. This novel has a well known conflict with "The Final Problem" in that Watson knows all about Moriarty in VALL, but in FINA, set a few years later, he's never heard of Moriarty. Holmes also talks about the professor so much to Scotland Yard that they think he has a bee in his bonnet about Moriarty. The novel also has a chronology problem in its American flashback featuring a Pinkerton investigating the Scowrers 20 years ago, which is not enough time for him to lose his first wife Ettie Shafter, get rich with Cecil Barker in California, and be chased by criminals out of America to England. It's really a shame that Conan Doyle keeps using this long flashback format, because he almost never gets the time periods to mesh well with the main text. Oh, also Doyle based the Vermissa Valley story on the real life Pinkerton John McParland investigating the Molly Maguires in Pennsylvania; it's an example of their union-busting deeds, and Doyle doesn't see the Pinkertons as villains at all. He thinks of them as clever, brave detectives righteously taking down an evil criminal gang, as if the Mollies were equivalent to the KKK. He even features another heroic Pinkerton in "The Red Circle" story.

Infatuation

Expanding from Watson's letter to Doyle, here's what happened later in April 1883, after the Speckled Band case. Apologies if I haven't caught all the present tense and changed it to past tense.

Fandom: Sherlock Holmes

Story: Deeper in Memory, partial chapter 16

Pairing: Holmes/Watson, Holmes/Helen Stoner

Warnings: unresolved sexual tension, G

Watson's letter to Doyle

As a break from the boring chronology posts, here's another bit from my DIM novel. Recall that there's a love triangle going on between Holmes, Watson, and Helen Stoner in the 1880s, during their bachelor days. However, Holmes has rejected Helen Stoner since Chapter 21, when he visited her in New York and briefly met Irene Adler in 1884.

Since 1886, Watson has become friends with a fellow doctor, who is also an author. In fact Conan Doyle helped write the Mormon part of A Study in Scarlet, and got the novel sold to a publisher, though they lost the copyright in the deal. The publisher is holding the novel for a year due to the glut of "cheap fiction", and will publish it in December 1887. Meanwhile, the two writers correspond and discuss which other case they should make into a novel next, because then they can keep the royalties and maybe make money. So Watson has written up "sample stories" of some cases such as the Copper Beeches to show to Doyle. As they discuss Holmes in their letters, Doyle asks a question about Holmes's drug use, and this is Watson's response. Notice that he carefully lies and suppresses the full truth about his "strange brief affair" with Holmes in 1887.

Chronology part 3

Some more reasoning on my Sherlock Holmes chronology.

• SPEC - April 1883
• COPP - early spring 1884
• BERY - Friday in February 1885
• YELL - Saturday in early spring 1886

"The Speckled Band" has long been undisputed by chronologists. Watson says it occurred in early April 1883, and there's nothing to contradict it. It was published in the Strand in February 1892, and Watson opens by discussing "my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Sherlock Holmes." Chronologists all pounce on a similar opening in "Veiled Lodger" to calculate the length of Holmes's career, yet they forget that SPEC has this reference to the past 8 years. 1892 minus 8 years only gets back to 1884. Is there something else he's not counting? 1881 plus 8 years gets us to 1889. Oh, I see. He's not counting some months in early 1881 when he didn't go with Holmes on cases, he's not counting some months in early 1887 when Holmes is away in France solving a big case without him (REIG), and he's not counting some months just after his marriage (before SCAN) when he was busy with his new practice and not visiting Holmes. So assuming those months add up to a year, we can get to from 1881 to 1890. Per "The Final Problem," Watson barely saw Holmes for 3 cases in 1890, and then didn't see Holmes early the next year. Watson only saw Holmes because of Moriarty's threat from April to May 1891 and that wasn't a case so much as an escape to continental Europe. That's why he's not counting that year. So those are the years that he considers himself Holmes's biographer. Keep that in mind for when he recalculates for us in VEIL later. Odd how it's always the early months in the year that he misses recording cases.

Chronology part 2

Now the next part:

• STUD - March 1881, see my notes on the Orontes troopship and the weekday.
• RESI - October 1881 based on the original Strand text, before the mind-reading scene was grafted on from CARD. Or October 1886, if Watson is fibbing to protect Trevelyan. The Worthingdon bank gang were sentenced to 15 years and got out way too early.

Written in 1886 and published in December 1887, A Study in Scarlet is the first novel in which we ever meet Holmes and Watson. It's greatly entertaining in the beginning chapters, but it has a structural flaw. Half the novel breaks off from the Brixton mystery to suddenly flashback to America to explain a motive for the murderer; he apparently wanted revenge on two Mormons, but all Mormon society in general is depicted as an evil murderous cult. This is not even framed as a flashback from Jefferson Hope's point of view; it's an omniscient 3rd person narrator describing events happening to John Ferrier and his adopted daughter Lucy, survivors of a wagon train to the West. Some readers are fine with the Mormon section while others prefer to skip over it to get back to Holmes and Watson. Whatever suits you. It's just a melodrama derivative of other anti-polygamy novels of the time period, and Doyle eventually gave an apology to Mormons. Unfortunately, the break in the London narrative allows Conan Doyle to lose the thread of his plot and forget about the dead dog in the sitting-room.

Chronology part 1

So now I'll begin explaining the reasoning behind my chronology in more detail, taking a few stories at a time. I'm not sure how many parts this will take to do all 60 stories. This is the chunk I'll try to tackle now.

• GLOR - Summer 1875 when Holmes solves the case. Maybe 1885 when Holmes tells the story to Watson "one winter's night"
• MUSG - July 1879 when Holmes solves the case. Holmes tells the case to Watson on another winter's night, after having told GLOR.

First, "The Gloria Scott" is a well known mess, almost as bad as Sign of Four with its fucked up dates. There's actually 3 different time periods in this story: 1) the "winter's night" when Sherlock Holmes decides to tell Watson the story of his first case 2) the year in college when Sherlock was friends with Victor Trevor and "solved" the "mystery" such as it was, and 3) the year that James Armitage participated in a fatal ship mutiny, a scandalous past for which Hudson blackmailed him. These 3 time periods are all fighting each other, creating a headache for any chronologist. I mean, there's even a 4th time period, if you count Watson's present narration quoting Holmes's narration of the "Gloria Scott" case. Conan Doyle for some reason likes this nested flashback device, and he gives too little time for the past flashback to take place; he doesn't care about such details if he can just tell a "ripping good yarn" of an adventure.

Sherlock Holmes Chronology

Ok here's the final timeline I've made after rereading the entire canon and making notes on dates. This does not apply to any fanfic I've written, which play by their own rules. This is just what I've worked out from the Holmes stories themselves, but attempting to make chronological sense. I will use the four-letter abbreviations by Jay Finley Christ, to save typing.

In the "Adventures" stories, Holmes and Watson keep referring between cases as if they happened in order, but I ignore those references as Watson self-promoting, just like in SIGN he keeps referring to STUD as if it was recent, rather than years ago, and pretends that the Baker Street Irregulars haven't aged. As I said before, Watson lies out of discretion. In SPEC for example, Watson specifically states that he could not publish it until after the lady (Helen Stoner) died. In other cases, the principle people have not yet died, so Watson could be changing names and dates out of discretion for the clients. That's the only way to make GLOR make sense, that Watson substituted the Crimean War from 1855 instead of a war from 1845, so that the real Victor Trevor cannot be identified. Holmes could have asked Watson to do so, for the sake of his college friend.

Even if we assumed that Watson was honest, the dates would not make sense. For example, Watson claims that SCAN occurred on March 20, 1888, then he leaves IDEN undated other than a reference to the King of Bohemia some weeks ago. But REDH refers to Mary Sutherland's case (that is, IDEN) being just "the other day" even though REDH is in autumn 1890. How can IDEN be just weeks after March 1888, yet just "the other day" before 1890? (Unless there was some second case for the King of Bohemia, in 1890, for which Holmes accepted a gaudy snuffbox for payment.) Thus these references between stories can't be relied upon. It's dramatic license pretending that Holmes is commenting as each story is published. Holmes after all faked his death in May 1891, and Watson published the short stories starting in July 1891, after the presumed death.

***

Get out the vote

Early voting has started for some municipal and school board elections, but today is a state holiday called San Jacinto Day. Apparently it's the day the white Texans defeated Santa Anna and got independence from Mexico. I mean, the fact that Texas history books pretend that this was some noble war for freedom rather than a hostile takeover because they wanted to keep slaves while Mexico outlawed slavery, is a sign of how screwed up Texas is. The white guys deliberately moved to Tejas knowing the existing laws; they intended to manifest destiny themselves into taking over the place. Nobody forced them to come here and fight at the Alamo, or anything. Fucking colonizers.

So I'll be voting tomorrow, trying my best to elect Democrats where I can. Virginia is having a special redistricting election today, so vote Yes, if you can!

Earth Day is tomorrow. I hope it's not too late to save the world despite all the US fuckery. Many other countries are still fighting climate change at least. Hungary ousted Orban at least. And the Onion is taking over Infowars, hooray! Now if only we can stop this stupid war and Israel's war crimes.

CBS Radio HOUN, SIGN, STUD, and REDH

I've listened to more CBS Radio Mystery Theater episodes. (The Sherlock Holmes episodes most often star Kevin McCarthy and Court Benson, but according to Russell's comment here they use different actors in some episodes. These adaptations are written by Murray Burnett (I think the same guy who co-wrote the play that was the basis for the movie Casablanca). Burnett makes some minor changes in each story, like changing Mrs. Barrymore to Mrs. Harrison, and cutting some other characters from Hound of the Baskervilles. That seems somewhat logical, to cut a novel-length story down, but other changes are weird, and the comments by the host E. G. Marshall are sometimes eccentric and wrong. For example, at the end of Sign of Four, Marshall claims that Doyle never killed off Watson's wife Mary. Technically he may be right that Watson never makes clear what his "bereavement" was in "Empty House", but Watson then moves back into Baker Street by the next story, so something tragic must have happened.

There are some good edits, like dropping the Mormon plot from A Study in Scarlet, changing Enoch Drebber and Joseph Stangerson to members of a gambling club. Burnett also cuts out mentions of the Baker Street Irregulars from both STUD and SIGN, and he cuts Jonathan Small's confession from SIGN. The description of Tonga is made to be a little less racist, though he's still called a savage. At the end, Holmes even comes to tell Watson that Small dumped the Agra treasure in the Thames, and he actively encourages Watson to propose to Mary Morstan. But in the "Red-Headed League," there's a strange subplot added about Jabez Wilson falling in love with a woman, and also being told by letter that he must go to Surrey for the League to debate whether to ban him because he's not married. These might be interesting, but the story ends abruptly with no resolution to whether the woman was in on John Clay's plot.

These are overall very quirky adaptations, just like the "Speckled Band" one I listened to before.

Hard Times

My monthly trash/water bills have usually been about $50 for a long time but now they're $70. Damn, is everything getting more expensive, even if it's not oil-related?  Fuck this shitty war and this crap economy because fucking Trump knows nothing and installs incompetents who only know how to grift! How am I supposed to afford to live, and go on medical leave too? (Soon I will have to get a hysterectomy and go on short-term disability while I recover. And I have to hope that my ovaries aren't cancerous, and if they are, that it's not spreading to other organs.)

But I don't mean to be so bleak. I guess I could spend my recovery time working more on my writing and publishing. Finishing my Holmes chronology. We'll see.

Meanwhile, I did enjoy seeing Ryan Gosling's movie Project Hail Mary, though I hear that the author of the book has bad takes about remaining politics-free. Whatever, dude. The movie was a fun diversion, much like Young Sherlock. As for real space, I haven't had time to follow Artemis II news, though I've seen many comments on social media about how people are inspired by the astronauts. So congrats to them for completing their mission and splashing down safely.

Concerning

I had a biopsy today. I may have a benign fibroid, or a cancerous growth. They also took some blood to do a lab test on my hormone levels, but I hadn't eaten breakfast before, so I felt faint afterward. I had to sit down quickly and hold my head for a little while. When I faint or almost faint, I get nauseous and have a hot flash. I recovered enough to go get some food, my favorite comfort food chao (rice porridge). But I am still achy and tired.

In other news, I read this Wonkette article about tradwives and the manosphere. There's an interesting passage about two types of sexism:

For those of you who don’t remember your women’s studies classes, Ambivalent Sexism Theory is the idea that there are two primary forms of sexism — hostile sexism, which the study defines as being “characterized by overtly negative feelings and attributions toward women as well as beliefs that women seek to humiliate men and undermine men’s power by using sexuality” and benevolent sexism, which the study explained “is a more subtle and patronizing form of sexism that expresses adoration, paternalism, and reverence toward women who conform to gender-role norms.” There are three main facets of benevolent sexism — protective paternalism (men have to take care of women because we are delicate flowers), complementary gender differentiation (belief in distinct gender roles), and heterosexual intimacy (the idea that a man is incomplete without a romantic relationship with a woman).

So yeah, that's definitely the kind of benevolent sexism that Victorian men like Watson have. Holmes feels similarly, though he does not feel incomplete without a woman himself. He'll sometimes make some comments like "if I had ever loved" or "if I had been murdered, I would want my wife to insist on seeing my body" but these remain hypotheticals. Holmes does distrust women, but is capable of respecting them like Irene Adler and Violet Hunter. Also he does look approvingly on couples in love, like Mary Fraser and her sailor from "Abbey Grange". So, no I don't think he's really that hostile.

Meanwhile, I also have been adding to my Grand Gift of Silence fic again. The world is terrible, but you gotta find joy in life.

Orontes found

Ok I think found the answer to my chronology conundrum. I found that it was D. Martin Dakin's Sherlockian book where I had read about the October date for the Orontes troopship in A Study in Scarlet. Strange that the New Annotated Sherlock Holmes didn't make a note about it at all, though it quotes from Dakin about other stuff. Dakin describes the previous research on the ship by Percy Metcalfe, and he cited a "Sherlock Holmes Journal" article as the source. But of course, that was from decades ago and I despaired of being able to buy an obscure SHJ article anywhere online. They do sometimes show up on Ebay, but the "Baker Street Journal" issues are far more widely available.

Just when I was despairing of ever locating it, I found a 2 volume book called The Grand Game: a celebration of Sherlockian Scholarship edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie Klinger. It basically gathers together lots of different Sherlockian essays from several decades, and I was able to see Metcalfe's article listed in the table of contents. The 2011 book was published by the Baker Street Irregulars, but their website listed it as sold out. I searched some rare bookshop sites trying to find a secondhand copy to buy, but it was nowhere. I began to despair again, until I found the book on OpenLibrary, where I could create an account and "borrow" the book so I could read the digital copy. Hooray!

***

Discombobulated

I'm all aflutter and disoriented. I guess it's good that I didn't post a final canon chronology yet, because I was dithering about format. Now everything's upset and awry. But at least I know now where people are coming from with their various chronologies pushing Study in Scarlet to 1882, 1883, and even 1884. The old accepted 1881 date clashes with real life history, and now I'm muttering about the Orontes and Malabar in a daze.

It all began when I was reading STUD again, the first chapter where Watson says he returned to England on the "troopship Orontes" but does not give us any dates. I thought I remembered reading somewhere an October-November date for the Orontes in Klinger's Annotated Sherlock Holmes, but no, it's not in that book. It must be in one of the other Sherlockian books I've read. I at least know that I didn't hallucinate the date, because Trumbull's chronology gives a very precise date of Sunday, October 31 – Friday, November 26, 1880 on his timeline. Unfortunately, when I try to search online for a primary source about that ship, Wikipedia says that the HMS Orontes (1862) doesn't go to India at all. It sails to South Africa and the West Indies instead. What the hell? Do Sherlockians just have different references offline that online references do not?

***

Discovery

I improvised another chicken thigh recipe in my slow cooker, using leftover wine and sauce. My crockpot indeed cooks the chicken so well that it falls off the bone, but it also makes the skin soft, so I wonder why recipes still insist that I should brown the skin in a pan first, if the skin isn't going to stay crunchy.

Meanwhile, I heard that some AI video service called Sora shut down and Disney backed out of its huge AI deal. (I heard it was because the Supreme Court ruled that AI products can't be copyrighted; of course Disney always wants to own everything it can.) Disney still wants to buy AI stuff, so I hope the bubble will burst soon so all AI stuff gets shut down. Then maybe I could resume my Disney+ subscription if they do decide to renew the Muppet Show. Why does it take so long to announce a TV renewal? Wasn't it a hit? I had also heard that Sherlock & Daughter was a hit for the CW, and yet no announcements still. It's puzzling.

Last night on Youtube I discovered a 1940 Mr. Wong mystery starring Keye Luke as the detective. It always bothered me that the old Charlie Chan movies had a yellowface actor and contributed to stereotypes about Chinese immigrants. Luke plays the Jimmy Wong character without that kind of tomfoolery, though he interacts with other Chinese characters who have thick accents and pidgin dialogue. There's also an Asian female lead played by Lotus Long. The actress was actually of Japanese descent but she adopted a Chinese stage name to avoid the Japanese internment camps during WWII. How sad. It's a shame also that the Wong film series didn't continue with more starring Luke.

Hopes and Pleas

Well, the equinox was on the 20th and it's officially Spring now. Bluebonnets are blooming along the highways. I don't have any Spring Break from work, but maybe I'll try to schedule some vacation time this summer.

I binged all the Young Sherlock episodes, and most of my non-spoilery reactions were already posted to Bluesky. I enjoyed the strong women characters and how they worked in the Married Women's Property Act and institutions into the plot. I didn't mind the steampunky anachronisms, and the costumes were quite lovely too. Their Moriarty is charming and roguish, but I found out he's not even in the Andrew Lane books at all, so basically they just made up the entire plot; the Lane books featured 14 year old Sherlock, not this 19 year old at Oxford. As long as they're not following any book, can they please just write young Watson into it next season? Please let me have young John meeting Sherlock and having, I don't know, drama about his alcoholic brother. Make it a homoerotic love triangle even. Just stop the queerbaiting please and actually make the gayness text.

Or else Guy Ritchie can finally give us a third movie with Downey and Law.

Meanwhile I've been getting into old-time radio shows, such as the 1952 BBC series starring Carleton Hobbs and Norman Shelley. I still haven't finished the CBS Radio Mystery Theater shows from 1977-1982, starring Kevin McCarthy and Court Benson. It's going to take a while to get through all episodes of both.

I wish some TV show would try adapting all 60 stories again. Nobody's tried to since Granada failed. I think they're afraid of comparisons to Jeremy Brett, but it's been decades now. Remember that Granada's last few episodes were not faithful and were largely rewritten due to Brett's health problems. There's scope to redo those stories accurately. David Suchet's Poirot hasn't stopped people trying to do Agatha Christie adaptations lately. Please someone try, or at least do a new episodic TV show like the 1954 Ronald Howard series with a mix of canon stories and original plots. Something like that.

Going Crazy

Apparently the Oscars are tonight. I don't care unless somebody makes a political statement. This is also the Ides of March, for those who know Roman history. I've mentioned it several times before, but am sure I'll be disappointed again like in 2024 when I hoped that someone would stop Israel's war crimes. The Senate is going to vote on the awful SAVE act to suppress voting, and I'm worried.

More locally, the city council runoff election to replace Junior Ezenou was yesterday and the unofficial results (all I could find) seem to indicate that the MAGA candidate won. (It's technically a non-partisan race, but I was told he's MAGA.) So disappointing.

Meanwhile, my smoke alarm has been beeping for several days, and I've replaced many batteries in various alarms, but it still keeps beeping! It seems to be coming from the hallway, but the smoke alarm there is WIRED; it has no replaceable battery. So what am I supposed to do? Last time I tried to buy a new alarm it was discontinued and had a weird adapter cable not available in regular stores.

I also tried a new recipe lately, sort of a tuna mac & cheese in a pot rather than a casserole. It turned out pretty good, though the pasta stuck to the bottom of the pot.

Political shakeups

Well the Texas primaries are over and we have a result in some races, while other races are going to runoff. Ok fine I'll vote for Talarico in the general, but I sure hope we get a bigger blue wave than we did for Beto's senate run. We've tried charismatic white guys reaching out to independents before. I guess Jasmine will have time to ponder what she'll do after her House term ends. I'm glad we still have her to fight for us for now. A stupid, evil war on top of eveything else...

Meanwhile, Junior Ezenou surprised once again by unseating Chris Turner in District 101. There was nothing wrong with Chris in my opinion, and I wish I could have voted for him, but the GOP redrew districts to screw everybody. When Ezenou quit his Grand Prairie job to run, he left a vacant position on the City Council that still hasn't been filled. There was an election to replace him, but it went to a runoff, and early voting has started I believe. I hope voters don't get confused with all these elections taking place, to think "I already voted on that."

Also the thunderstorms caused a power blackout and I came home to find my Tivo Bolt OTA flashing lights as if its hard drive is fried. I tried to reboot it and search online forums for a fix, but nothing helps. And now since Tivo went to software only and is not selling hardware, I can't find any support articles other than this troubleshooting page that tells me to Chat with them if it's still not working. But the chat is AI-powered and just points back to the article on flashing lights. So I guess it's fucked for good. I tried unplugging the Bolt and going back to antenna TV, but my Tivo Stream 4K dongle asked for the Bolt to be plugged back in. Maybe I can move another Tivo Bolt from a different room to there? I don't know. I gotta figure this out, but like, this is stuff I don't have time to deal with on a weekday!

Early voting

I finally got the chance to early vote for the Democratic Primary. Unfortunately, due the GOP's stupid redistricting, they must have changed which district represents me. So none of my usual candidates were on the ballot. They must be competing in another district. So I had to blindly pick new people. But as it's a primary, everyone is a Democrat, so I guess any candidate's fine.

The amount of dirt flinging in the high profile races like Crockett vs. Talarico or Johnson vs Allred has been depressing. Just pick your personal preference. Don't try to triangulate about "electability" and imagine what other voters will do. Do what you want. I even saw comments on Daily Kos saying "we need Crockett in the House" instead of the Senate. Of course we need her there, but we won't get her there regardless of the Senate election. The GOP redrew districts so she couldn't win her House seat. That's why she went for the Senate, changing her mind from a year before; the earlier decision was based on the old districts. She didn't "betray" a promise she made; the circumstances changed. The fucking ignorance is astounding. And Kos bloggers are supposed to be the more politically engaged, high information voters. But apparently they spout off opinions without researching.

Meanwhile, Jesse Jackson died, and fucking Mike Johnson refused to let him lie in state at the Capitol, in the middle of Black History Month! He claimed it was not political, that it should be for presidents and politicians only, but they've made exceptions before such as for Billy Graham and Rosa Parks.

Happy Lunar New Year

Technically, New Year is on Feb 17th, but people have been celebrating early this weekend. Heck, the local Asian mall started as early as Feb 6th. I had to work this weekend though, so will have to see my family next week. It's President's Day too, but I don't have the money to go shopping today. Bills are wiping me out.

There was a sale on chicken thighs, so I made a sort-of chicken stroganoff to use up my mushrooms and sour cream. However, I always misjudge how long it takes to cook the chicken; it will look like it's done outside, but still be pink inside. I cooked it in the pan trying to make crispy skin and also have some fond to make sauce with, but I can never get the skin crisp enough. Oh well. Maybe I should just stick to using my crockpot to cook chicken.

Meanwhile I found a free software program called Krita which seems to be free of AI and is somewhat like Photoshop. (At least the lite version of Photoshop Elements that I liked before they made it subscription.) I'll try once again to make a new book cover for Prelude, so I can try to sell it as an ebook. I wish I was better at design or had inspiration to draw something. Maybe I need to reread it again to think of a specific scene to highlight, or maybe I just need to repurpose a Sidney Paget drawing. (Of course Paget just did the short stories, not A Study in Scarlet. It looks like Richard Gutschmidt did the novel in 1902.) Ooh I also found this interesting article on Bluesky about a Henry Paget, apparently no relation to Sidney or Walter Paget. But he did ask Doyle to help him after a jewel robbery.

Blech

I tried. I really tried to watch Wonder Man because I like Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery. Reviewers said it was a good show, suggesting it was as good as Wandavision, so I gave it a shot. But no, I can't stand stories about the acting industry, and I hate that Hollywood is so in love with itself that it keeps making movies and TV shows about itself, year after year. Fuck you. I don't want to see cringey moments of actors struggling to get work and being pathetic in a jaded world. I tried two separate episodes but had to bail every time they went into onset stuff and audition stuff. If that's the price of seeing Trevor Slattery again, no thanks. I had enough inside jokes about acting in Arrested Development's awful season 4-5 plotlines about Ron Howard and Rebel Alley.

Instead I kept watching the Muppet Show to try to increase its streaming popularity. My Disney+ subscription will end in a couple of days, so I'm trying to make the most of the time I have left. At least the TV ratings seem to be good as well. Please let it not be just one special. Please make more.

I also tried rewatching the old David Suchet Poirots lately, but I remember whodunit right away, so the mystery part isn't fun anymore. It's not like me rereading the Holmes stories over and over, despite knowing the solutions. Holmes and Watson have a certain charm and banter that's compelling beyond the mere mystery. With Poirot's episodes, I do find Hastings and Miss Lemon charming, but there's not enough, and after a few seasons, those characters are completely dropped. Plus I'm noticing more of the racist orientalism like in "Murder in the Mews" with that nightclub singer singing "Hindustan" in a horrible costume. So that's not fun. I wish they had done the Labours of Hercules short stories earlier, before all the shows became dark, moody movies. I wish we could have had faithful Labours instead of the weird mashup they did at the end.

Muppets and more

Happy Black History Month! I was distracted by the elections and the general chaos of the world. I'm old so I don't know a lot of singers on the recent Grammys, but I'm glad to hear a lot of artists spoke out against ICE and spoke up for immigrants. Through cultural osmosis I do know of some stars like Bad Bunny, Shaboozey, Chappell Roan, and Sabrina Carpenter. And I do know that Bad Bunny will sing at the Superbowl, and that rightwingers have been freaking out over him. I don't care about the Superbowl, not even for the commercials, but I don't complain like the fascist weirdos fighting culture wars. Just don't watch it if it offends you.

I did see Sabrina on the new Muppet Show special, and I loved her songs. She interacts with Miss Piggy well, and I was glad to see that they were just competing over showbusiness stuff rather than for Kermit. For example, Miss Piggy was insecure about her age, because of youth-obsessed Hollywood, and she claimed to be a young ingenue. However she enjoyed her icon status and still threatened Sabrina with a lawsuit for copying her style. I was pleasantly surprised by the other songs and skits too. Very good show.

Meanwhile I am trying to get rid of AI, but it keeps getting forced on me in Windows and apps and such. Disney is going big for AI too, which was why I cancelled Disney Plus. If they renew the Muppet Show, I hope they keep airing it on ABC too, which I can get. Otherwise, a dilemma.

Signs of Hope

Hooray, Taylor Rehmet won his election. This is a state office, rather than a federal office, but good. We still have our March primary for the federal Senate seat. Meanwhile, in Harris County, Christian Menefee won his election for a federal House seat.

According to the local PBS station, students walked out of schools on Friday to protest ICE. Tarrant County is Republican-controlled, so I hope this bodes well for these students voting blue when they come of age.

In Congress I understand that the Senate made some deal to remove the ICE budget from the bill. The House has to vote on that change (when they get back) and there may be a partial shutdown. I hear the Democrats have 2 weeks to negotiate more on ICE and force them to change tactics. As much as we want to abolish ICE, the Republicans won't go that far.

Well, anyway, it's a cautious start to February. I'm looking forward to the Muppets Show on February 4th, which will air on TV as well. (I have canceled my Disney+ account.) Soon we'll have Lunar New Year on the 17th.

Snow Day

Another day when I can't leave home. It wouldn't annoy me if I could get out to the store and run errands, but I can't. And I'm certainly not going to ask some driver on an app to go risk their life for me on the icy roads. At least I still have power and internet. So naturally with nothing to do, I obsess over Holmes again as a relief from the grim world. As I said on Bluesky, I found the old Russian Holmes series with English subtitles on a playlist. (I have the series already on DVD, but wanted to publicize the show for other people to discover.) Rewatching it is quite lovely, though I don't like their Hound of the Baskervilles, and it's a slog getting past their awful Sir Henry.

A youtube Johnlock compilation video featured a kiss from a 1986 genderbent Russian movie called My Dearly Beloved Detective, and I found it posted on Reddit. I used to think that "Johnlock" only applied to BBC Sherlock shippers, but now I see it being used in general for Holmes/Watson in every universe. I suppose that's okay, though the Johnlock conspiracy gave them a bad reputation.

Lately I also found the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, which featured sixteen Holmes episodes, starring Kevin McCarthy as Holmes and Court Benson as Watson. I listened to the Speckled Band first, and found that Watson is somehow married in this despite the fact that Holmes woke him up that morning as if he was living in Baker Street. Watson later sends Helen Stoner to hide out with Mrs. Watson a while, and then Helen's fiance Peter Armitage wants to stop her from going back to Stoke Moran. The writers also expanded the plot by having Holmes talk to the Romany people encamped on Roylott's grounds (similar to the BBC Douglas Wilmer version). Very nice that they used the term Romany and had the guy say that Roylott is not their friend; they just do odd jobs for him. Holmes soon rules them out as suspects. I wonder if they made any interesting changes to other stories. I want to listen to everything and watch everything on Youtube too.

Bitter Cold

It's been cold, sleeting and icy in North Texas, but so far I haven't lost power this weekend, so at least that's better than in 2021 when I suffered a blackout. I know other people in other states have it worse. Borowitz's satire is funny, but I do hope people stay safe.

Of course, in Minnesota they are still suffering the ICE invasion and another murder. This latest outrage apparently got Schumer to finally say that Senators would block the funding bill. The government may shutdown on 1/30/26, which I would be glad for. We didn't win any real concessions on the last shutdown. I hope they hold out this time. It's way past time for them to fight harder.

Meanwhile, I did manage to early vote in my local election before the icy weather started, but I was the only voter there. I hope it was just an odd time of day, and not because nobody's bothering to vote.

Mary Darling

I've been reading The Adventures of Mary Darling, a novel combining Peter Pan characters with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. It's narrated by a Darling descendant who wishes to combat J. M. Barrie's tale by revealing what really happened when Wendy, John, and Michael disappeared one night. Mary is apparently the daughter of Watson's older brother Henry, who married and moved to Australia for the gold rush. (In chapter 5 of The Sign of Four, Watson did mention seeing gold prospecting in Ballarat, so perhaps he visited his brother or received photographs from his brother's family.)

Anyway, Mary Watson grew up in Australia with her brother Tom. Their mother Alice painted fairies and mermaids often, and she spoke like she's had experiences in Neverland. (Mermaids are malicious and not friendly.) Perpetually victimizing this family, Peter Pan takes Mary and Tom away to Neverland, and by the time the kids return, their mother has died, drowned in what could have been a suicide. So Henry Watson sadly decides to take his family to England, though they get separated from Tom and Sam, who is a friend of the family. (Actually Sam is one of the Lost Boys, and he helped them escape Neverland.) When the alcoholic Henry Watson dies, John Watson has to take care of his niece, with some help from Mrs. Hudson, a boarding school, and eventually his own wife Mary Morstan.

SPOILERS BELOW 

Election Woes

Early voting has started for a local special election in January. It's very hard to find out information about the candidates. The one website I found has information on a candidate's issues, and I don't agree with her policies. The others I know nothing about. I just don't want to accidentally vote for a MAGA person or someone against affordable housing, mass transit, etc.

I'll probably run into the same issues with runoff elections in the spring, and the midterms later. Right now, Tarrant County is embroiled in a fight over candidates on the ballot. The GOP chair wanted to disqualify all the Democratic candidates, so the Dems responded by targeting Republicans.

It's just fucked up in general that we have to use this Republican redistricting map anyway.

Scary Times

It's been freezing cold in the mornings lately, which makes it hard to get out of bed in the mornings, especially with the frightening, hellish news lately.

Apparently the Golden Globes awards were on Sunday, with Sean Hayes, Will Arnett and Jason Bateman on as presenters. I'll have to look later to see if they had any amusing jokes. I've only listened to a couple of their Smartless podcasts before losing interest. So many times they start to tell a funny story, then interrupt each other and derail it.

Applause to the host Nikki Glaser for taking a jab at CBS on the show, and to Wanda Sykes for supporting the trans community.

Anyway, I hope no more invasions, kidnappings, and murders happen. Stay safe.

Mixed Emotions

Happy Epiphany to those who celebrate. Sherlockians also traditionally celebrate January 6th as Holmes's birthday, but it's based on silly reasoning; they claim that Holmes and Watson have hangovers on January 7th in Valley of Fear because they apparently got drunk the day before. But why couldn't they have got drunk over celebrating Epiphany aka Twelfth Night that Holmes loves to quote from? Maybe Holmes just loves that Shakespeare play because of all the cross dressing disguises, or because he acted it on stage once. It doesn't have to be his birthday. Sherlockians make such strange leaps of logic. But I don't want to be a nitpicky killjoy, so I let Sherlock fans online celebrate as they wish.

Of course today is also the anniversary of the January 6th attacks on the Capitol. And they still haven't put up the plaque commemorating it. Plus Trump has attacked Venezuela and is claiming that we'll run the country to steal its oil. It's all madness, and to probably distract from the Epstein files again. I can't stand that political blogs like Daily Kos are sitting around arguing over whether we're at war or not. Technicalities don't matter. We need some idea of what we can do, other than wishing that Canada or somebody decide to intervene in the US to stop the madness.

Anyway, yesterday I went to see Song Sung Blue starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. I understood that it was not an biopic of Neil Diamond himself, but of a married couple who had a Neil Diamond tribute act for years. I enjoyed the many songs, and they did find obsure songs that I had never heard of before. I was shocked by the traumatic things that kept happening to Claire Sardina; the film deals with her sudden injury and her post-amputation depression. Ella Anderson is interesting as Claire's daughter Rachel dealing with the blended family and her own pregnancy. The movie compresses all the drama happening over only 3 years or so, when in real life this stuff happened over two decades. That's Hollywood for you, trying to make things more heightened and tense. Overall an enjoyable movie if you need a distraction from the madness of the world.