Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
We loved her so much, we named a snake after her.
Today, The Boston Globe ran a story detailing Julia Child’s work in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to the CIA. Why is this news? The National Archives just declassified 35,000 pages of files on OSS operatives in WWII. (Among the names is Sterling Hayden, AKA Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper.)
Cool trivia from the Globe, or at least cool to Julia’s fans. From an extended quote within the article,
Julia then worked with the OSS Emergency Sea Rescue Equipment Section, where she helped develop shark repellent. The repellent was a critical tool during WWII, and was coated on explosives that were targeting German U-boats. Before the introduction of the shark repellent, curious sharks would sometimes set off the explosives when they bumped into them.
But this is how I prefer to remember her.
I’m having fun imagining The Young Julia Child, book or movie, with Julia’s real-life exploits outrageously augmented, a la what happens to Pee Wee Herman at the end of Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Have her test out the shark repellent firsthand! Put her behind the Iron Curtain and have her bake coded messages into hazelnut biscotti! Put her in the Bay of Pigs, distracting Castro’s forces by preparing a suckling pig for spit-roasting!
It could be a blast!
Can you tell I’m trying to cheer myself up??!!!!
The movers are loading home and office tomorrow. They’ll deliver on Saturday. Depending upon when they finish loading, Jake and I* may get out of here tomorrow, or Saturday at the latest. Since we’ll have all of our menagerie in the car, we have to do this in one big (six-hour) drive.
And I have to obey the speed laws, because I really, really don’t want to have to explain tarantulas, poison dart frogs, and worse to the CHP.
The computer gets packed tomorrow, so . . . hiatus for realsies this time.
D.
*Karen drove down today. She’ll be meeting with the property management people tomorrow for a walk-through.
And I have to obey the speed laws, because I really, really don’t want to have to explain tarantulas, poison dart frogs, and worse to the CHP.
If you get stopped, well, I guess we’ll hear all about it after you get out of Gitmo. 😉
Hey, I’d watch a biopic like that!
As Bugs Bunny would say, “Bon Voyagee”. Let us know how it goes!
Re: gitmo.
Yeah, because you contribute to Daily Kos, and we all know what THAT means.
I think that undercover Julia Child, the sekrit agent, has some potential. Maybe not as Julia Child, but a giant horse-faced French-trained chef who talks like she has marbles in her mouth… that’s fiction gold.
Yeah, because you contribute to Daily Kos, and we all know what THAT means.
Yep, he’s already on the watch list. 😉
Lemme get this straight: you can take tarantulas and poisonous frogs into California, but gerbils are verboten?
Good luck with the move! To Crazytown, but good luck anyhow …
lol
u are so wrong for this one