All The News

The Wall Street Journal under the ownership of the Rupert Murdoch media juggernaut is a vastly different paper than it once was. There is a sports section and there are paparazzi photos of gala attendees. There is even now a 'Greater New York' section that puts in one's hands a paper that is a cross-pollination of The New York Post and The Daily News. Police blotter news, featuring homicides, now get the light of day in the Journal.

Aside from featuring those freshly killed, the Journal also has an obituary feature that provides a fresh news story of a notable's death. Inside this 'Remembrances' feature is where Stephen Miller is given a few column inches to apply his craft.

Russell Baker in his last piece described his column efforts as trying to create a ballet in a phone booth. He certainly succeeded, but the metaphor has become dated. Stephen Miler, with not much more space than you'd have while holding a pole on the No. 4 train headed to Yankee Stadium before a game, manages to impart knowledge nuggets that start the thoughts spinning.

Start with the legendary moonshiner Marvin 'Popcorn' Sutton, who committed suicide rather than start a federal sentence for producing untaxed whiskey. He was found in his Ford Fairlane, likely having succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning. It was his "Three Jug Car" because his wife claimed he bought it for three jugs of moonshine. You suspect it was a "used" Ford Fairlane.

Then there's Oswalso Lopez Arellano, a Honduran general, military coup leader and two time president who seemed more durable than granite. He passed away at the age of 89. Military Strongman indeed.

But he was also once the recipient of a small moon rock presented to him by President Nixon in 1973. Ownership of the rock seems to have shifted over the years and it became the subject of a court case that was able to return its possession to the country of Honduras. The case was titled: United States of America v. One Lucite Ball Containing Lunar Material (One Moon Rock) and One Ten Inch by Fourteen Inch Wooden Plaque.

Always wondering about authenticity, one wonders whether the real rock is what was eventually returned.

And just yesterday comes the story of the death of the Scottish man, John Shepherd-Barron, 84, who is undeniably credited with inventing the ATM machine. ATMs are described as being so omnipresent world-wide there is even one in Antarctica.

A cash machine in Antarctica!? What do those scientists do down there with a cash machine, use it for buying poker chips for the 6 month Texas hold-em card game?

One wonders.
Keep reading obituaries.

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