during World War II, MREs still came with water-and-flour crackers in them?

Except that they were called K-rations, not MREs.

The hell, Michigan? Signed by the Democratic governor, no less.

I guess now was not the time to mention it, then.

I changed face washes over the weekend. It feels supremely weird. But not necessarily bad.

Goths grow up to be dentists and PR people

This Guardian article, written by a former goth, makes the case that goths disproportionately grow up to be high-earning professionals -- and includes a 10-point quiz to help you figure out if your boss is a closet/reformed goth.

Visitors to the Archangel dental surgery in west London are confronted by a goth dentist, Didier Goalard, who says: "I've got goth friends who are doing quite well. There's a dentist in Lyon, a couple of solicitors, a Church of England priest."

"Goths are like masons," I have been told. "They're everywhere." But rather than blaming some sinister conspiracy, let us look at the reasons people become goths in the first place. According to Choque Hosein, formerly of goth band Salvation but now running a record label, "Goths tend to be the weirdo intellectual kids who have started to view the world differently." Cathi Unsworth is now a successful author, but she remembers that her own dark gothic past gave her an outlet for alienation. "I loved the bands, especially Siouxsie and the Banshees, but it wasn't a pose - I felt authentically depressed," she says. Unsworth was a teenager in Great Yarmouth, where she felt that "people didn't like me. It got to a point where I wanted to stop fighting against being different and embrace it."

Guardian article: [link]

I have seen the future - and it's goth

We mocked their make-up and giggled over their gloom. But the goths are taking over the country.

...

"Most youth subcultures encourage people to drop out of school and do illegal things," she says. "Most goths are well educated, however. They hardly ever drop out and are often the best pupils. The subculture encourages interest in classical education, especially the arts. I'd say goths are more likely to make careers in web design, computer programming ... even journalism."

Jessica, re: 24, I am sure that you are right that Audrey is being set up.

Heh, tommyrot. Mostly nifty article, except for the bit at the end with an ex-Goth opining that you have to give it up eventually because if you're still dressing like that at age 30 "you look like a twat." But other than that ninny, very cool.

Indeed, there is a certain dry humour about goth that is often overlooked amid tales of black-clad youths worshipping Satan and, in one case, carrying out the Columbine massacre. "That wasn't goths," insists Brill. "The guys who did it always wore black trench coats but they listened to Marilyn Manson. There's an academic article: Why Marilyn Manson Isn't Goth."

IIRC, Jilli already wrote that article.

Brill insists that goth is a non-violent subculture. "They're like hippies. I don't know any goths who are into graveyard destruction or cat slaughtering. They like their graveyards and they love their cats."

Hee!

Apropos of nothing, there was what appeared to be a band tour bus parked outside one of the hotels this morning. I won't google to find out. Why? Because emblazoned on the side of the bus was what I presume was the name: Swollen Members.

City workers were conducting a regular structural inspection of the bridge last Wednesday when they came across the cold-war-era hoard of water drums, medical supplies, paper blankets, drugs and calorie-packed crackers — an estimated 352,000 of them, sealed in dozens of watertight metal canisters and, it seems, still edible.

Makes me wonder if there are forgotten stashes like that in New Orleans. Could have come in handy.

Swollen Members.

Do they love their cats?

Re: 24 -- I'm not sure that Audrey is being set up, since everything that has happened seems to be designed to take away everything Jack has: Kim, his friends, the people who supported him at CTU and CTU itself. Audrey's being a traitor would be the icing on the cake. Perhaps Jack is headed for the dark side.