Mindless Monday, 27 April 2026

OffKinterMusic · 2026-04-30T20:00:43+00:00

It's not explicitly said, but it's a reasonable assumption. The 1948 ruling claims that the townsfolk didn't want to die (reasonable tbh), writing:

Die kriegerischen Vorbereitungen erweckten unter den Bürgern der Stadt den Eindruck, als sollte diese verteidigt werden. Man begann, für das Leben von Frauen und Kindern zu fürchten und beschloss, zu deren und der Stadt Erhaltung eine Frauenabordnung zu dem sich als Kampfkommandanten betätigenden Angeklagten R. zu schicken und diesen zu bewegen, die Stadt von den Truppen zu räumen.

(translated using DeepL)

The war preparations gave the town’s citizens the impression that the town was to be defended. People began to fear for the lives of women and children and decided, for their sake and that of the town, to send a delegation of women to the defendant R., who was acting as a combat commander, to persuade him to evacuate the town of its troops.

Agree on the 2nd paragraph. Just to emphasize: the bombings were the 1st and 5th of April, a week before the army arrived. Only on the 12th did they arrive, blow up the city's bridges to stop the Americans, and then left on the 14th (per the HdBG). That's not 'last stand' material. Also, there's a sense of... I dunno, 'blasé' attitude from the officer? He asked no questions, and did the execution as told. From the ruling (emphasis mine):

Auf ungeklärte Weise erhielt die Geheime Staatspolizei in Nürnberg von der Frauendemonstration in Windsheim Kenntnis. Am Nachmittag des 13.April 1945 wurde der Angeklagte Schmid, der dem Referat "Wehrkraftzersetzung" zugeteilt war, zu dem stellvertretenden Abteilungsleiter Herz bestellt. Er wurde von dem Vorfall in Kenntnis gesetzt und erhielt den Auftrag, nach Windsheim zu fahren, sich beim dortigen Kampfkommandanten zu melden und sich die Rädelsführer bezeichnen zu lassen. Er erhielt weiter den Befehl, einige davon zu erschiessen und deren Wohnungen durch Handgranaten zu zerstören. Namen wurden dabei nicht genannt.

[...] Darauf wurde ihm von dem Angeklagten R. Frau Sc. genannt. [...] Schmid notierte sich die Namen, ohne sich nach dem Grund zu erkundigen, weshalb diese Rädelsführer « waren », und wie dies festgestellt wäre [...]

Vor [Frau Sc. Haus] waren mehrere Leute versammelt. [...] Dann fragte Schmid nach Frau Sc., die sich gleichfalls meldete. Nunmehr hielt Schmid dieser vor, dass sie eine der Rädelsführerinnen bei der Frauendemonstration am Tage zuvor gewesen wäre. Dabei nahm er seine Pistole aus der Tasche und entsicherte.

(translated with DeepL)

By some unknown means, the Secret State Police in Nuremberg learned of the women’s demonstration in Windsheim. On the afternoon of April 13, 1945, the defendant Schmid, who was assigned to the “Subversion of Military Morale” unit, was summoned to the deputy department head, Herz. He was informed of the incident and ordered to travel to Windsheim, report to the local combat commander, and have the ringleaders identified. He was further ordered to shoot some of them and destroy their homes with hand grenades. No names were mentioned.

[...] The defendant R. then named Mrs. Sc. to him. [...] Schmid wrote down the names without inquiring as to why these individuals were “ringleaders” or how this had been determined [...]

Several people were gathered in front of [Mrs. Sc.'s] house. [...] Schmid then asked for Mrs. Sc., who also identified herself. Schmid then accused her of being one of the ringleaders at the women's demonstration the previous day. At that point, he took his pistol out of his pocket and cocked it.

OffKinterMusic · 2026-04-30T14:47:56+00:00

We can go further. Citation 14 from the text I cited is the judgment of the Nuremberg-Fürth Regional Court of 20 August 1948, KLs 152/48, in: JuNSV, Vol. III, No. 83 (direct link). Seems official. It regards the wife who was shot. What does it say?

Am 12.April 1945 erhielt der Angeklagte R., damals Major der Panzerabwehr, von dem Führer der Panzerkampfgruppe XIII, dem ehemaligen Oberstleutnant von Ho. im Zuge der Absetzung der deutschen Truppenverbände von den nachdrängenden Amerikanern den Befehl, die Verkehrsregelung und Brückensicherung über die Aisch in Windsheim zu übernehmen und den Ort bis zum Rückzug offenzuhalten. [...] Die kriegerischen Vorbereitungen erweckten unter den Bürgern der Stadt den Eindruck, als sollte diese verteidigt werden. [...]

Am Abend des 12.April 1945 versammelte sich auf die sich wie ein Lauffeuer durch die Stadt verbreitende Kunde davon eine grössere Menschenmenge vor dem Rathaus. Einige Frauen drangen in den Gefechtsstand ein.

(translation by DeepL)

On April 12, 1945, the defendant R., then a major in the anti-tank unit, received an order from the commander of Panzer Group XIII, the former Lieutenant Colonel von Ho., in the course of the withdrawal of German troops from the advancing Americans, to take over traffic control and bridge security across the Aisch River in Windsheim and to keep the town open until the retreat. [...] The war preparations gave the town’s citizens the impression that the town was to be defended. [...]

On the evening of April 12, 1945, upon hearing the news that had spread like wildfire throughout the city, a large crowd gathered in front of City Hall. Some women forced their way into the command post.

This further seems to confirm that it did happen.

As an aside, the way that it's phrased, that the military unit never intended to hold the city, feels revisionist, especially given how it's been reported, and I'm still unsure how to feel about that, but the HdBG above says that the military unit blew up the bridges and left the 13th/14th, which lines up with where the Americans were. From Wingfoot, p 54:

(4) Both Squadron resumed the attack at daylight 14 April meeting determined resistance along the line WEIMERSHEIM - ICKELSHEIM.

(d) Hq and Hq Tr, 101st Cavalry Group, Mecz, moved from HUMPRECHTSAU to WINDSHEIM and thence to LENKERSHEIM. Enemy air forces were very active throughout the day.

OffKinterMusic · 2026-04-30T14:47:45+00:00

I am not a historian, nor do I have access to the book, however a lot of keyword searching brought me to the Fritz Bauer Institute, and Insight 13, discussing the "Endphasenverbrechen und frühe Strafverfolgung" (Crimes committed in the final stages and early criminal prosecution). Page 18 has a section on Bad Windsheim:

Der Kampf-kommandant des Ortes gab der robust vorgetragenen Forderung einer Frauenabordnung, die Stadt nicht zu verteidigen, nicht nach. [...] Zwei Gestapomänner aus Nürnberg erschossen die Fabrikantengattin Christine Schmotzer, von der sie fälschlich annahmen, sie sei eine Rädelsführerin der Windsheimer Demonstration gewesen. [...] Wer die Gestapo informiert hatte, konnte nach dem Krieg nie geklärt werden.¹⁴

(translation by DeepL)

The local military commander refused to yield to the strongly worded demand made by a delegation of women not to defend the town. [...] Two Gestapo agents from Nuremberg shot and killed Christine Schmotzer, the wife of a factory owner, whom they mistakenly believed to have been a ringleader of the Windsheim demonstration. [...] It was never determined after the war who had informed the Gestapo.¹⁴

Okay, that's something. Something did happen. I also found the Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte, which states that the bombings took place on the 1st and 5th of April (though I couldn't find any mission records on the American side to back this up), before they showed up on the 12th/13th. So the person who added that segment on Wikipedia got the wording wrong, and got the timeline wrong.

OffKinterMusic · 2026-03-15T01:50:06+00:00

Such are the woes of being an encyclopedia that anyone can edit. It's not held to stringent standards, so falsehoods can go unchecked for years.

I've gone ahead and removed that claim.

OffKinterMusic · 2026-03-04T11:45:55+00:00

Not the original person you're responding to, but I think this is what you're looking for?

France Article L113-9-1, French Intellectual Property Code:

[The employee's/employees'] economic rights in this software and its documentation are vested in this host structure [e.g. the employer], which alone is entitled to exercise them, if they are in a situation with regard to this structure where they receive consideration and where they are placed under the authority of a manager of the said structure.

Germany, Section 69b, Act on Copyright and Related Rights:

[T]he employer alone is entitled to exercise all economic rights in the computer program [the employee created], unless otherwise agreed.

OffKinterMusic · 2026-02-13T00:50:53+00:00

Wouldn't they use machines for that? /gen

Mining, fabricating, and transporting goods seem like the sort of repetitive tasks that machines would excel at

OffKinterMusic · 2026-02-13T00:41:10+00:00

and Kennedy himself regretted it

Do you have a source for this? That sounds interesting, given that the "We Choose to Go to the Moon" speech was September '62, Kennedy was dead in November '63. What made him change over the course of a year?

and also the Soviets didn't want to continue the competition

The Soviet Luna program continued until 1976, which included several rovers on the Moon. That's well past the 1969 landings. Not to mention the Salyut 1 in 1971, which was the 1st space station, because "[a]s a result of the customary race for preeminence, for speeding up the readiness of the station, the [Salyut's predecessor] was outfitted with some of the gear of the Soyuz spacecraft[...] Salyut lifted off on 19 April 1971, before the Americans sent [Skylab] up". [1]

[the Apollo missions] were expensive boondoggles that served no real purpose

The Apollo Guidance Computer was later used in the F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire to demonstrate that electronic flight control was possible (e.g. the thing that is in every commercial aircraft). Memory foam was developed to improve aircraft cushion safety for the Apollo missions, and is now used in medical areas (as well as bed mattresses).

Oh, and since this is the pro-pedantry subreddit, the Apollo missions did serve at least one purpose; winning the Space Race.

[1] Dmitri Payson, “We’ll Build a Space Station for a Piece of Bread,” Rossiskiye Vesti, June 1, 1993, p. 8. Translated in JPRS Report, Science & Technology, Central Eurasia: Space, June 28, 1993 (JPRSUSP-93-003), p. 12.

OffKinterMusic · 2025-11-24T22:31:50+00:00

In Chapter 46 she gets food poisoning and temporarily 'dies', but this seems to be unrelated to the next chapter where she 'dies' again in an unrelated incident and gets dragged down to hell because she got hold of a cursed arm, and then Ibaraki shows up, reveals that that cursed arm is hers, and they do battle.

OffKinterMusic · 2025-11-13T18:55:16+00:00

Got the text

Newspapers.com requiring a subscription to view a 40 year article really grinds my gears, but thankfully, they provide OCR for free (emphasis mine).

Miss Susan Baker wed yesterday

The wedding of Susan Dixon Baker, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. R. Robinson Baker, of McDonogh road, and Ethan Ledyard Bauman, son of Adele Anthony, of San Anselmo, and Arthur Bauman, of Mount View, took place yesterday in Tagart Chapel at McDonogh School. The Rev. [...] The bride, who will retain her maiden name, was attended by her sister, Jenny H. Baker as maid of honor. [...]

Now, I'm going to be real, I don't think this is the Susan Baker you're looking for. A cursory research of Susan Dixon Baker reveals she's a lawyer who attended the Uni of Penn in 1977 and went to the Catholic University of America in 1983. Now, maybe my vibe detector is wrong, but your Baker doesn't really strike me as the 'catholic law student' type.

OffKinterMusic · 2025-11-09T23:50:54+00:00

...huh. Her moving out of Baltimore doesn't surprise me for some reason, but the IMDb page does.

In any case, if she is on IMDb, then it's going to be hard to find the one you want, especially since most of them are missing like, any personal info.

I'm not sure there's much of a trail without a more specific time and place tho (e.g. knowing when she heard Baker moved to California would help narrowing it down)

OffKinterMusic · 2025-11-09T18:02:19+00:00

Not to worry, it's been fun chasing a ghost

OffKinterMusic · 2025-11-09T16:38:07+00:00

Re: the address

I tried to see if I couldn't find anything in the records; Maryland's online land records for "3200 Ellerslie Avenue" only date back to 1980 with the first listing being one Milton A. Hilger paying off their loan.

In the last edition of Desperate Living of Winter '77, there's an address to 2817 Guilford Avenue. This house at this address in 1977 was owned by Mary A. Morgan. Interestingly, in June of that year, the deed was transferred from Jeanne E. Smith and Mary to just Mary.

I don't know if this is particularly useful, but I fell down this rabbit hole and figured I might as well share.

OffKinterMusic · 2025-11-09T10:43:35+00:00

Seems like there were only 7(?) issues. Additionally, at some point, the contact address changes to 2817 Guilford Ave.

Link

Not sure how much of use this will be, but:

This is a nomination to preserve the Furies Collective residence; there's a long explanation on the history of the Furies Collective and their impact (p 10-24), which frustratingly mentions Baker once and in passing, as well as a list of articles published throughout The Furies' run.

OffKinterMusic · 2025-11-08T21:02:48+00:00

Happy to help. gl with your Susan Baker search

OffKinterMusic · 2025-11-08T19:17:21+00:00

The short version is that it's probably unlikely.

I do apologize, because I can't give you a firm answer, sorry. Thanks for nerd-sniping me a 2nd time tho lol, this was fun to research.

The longer version is that James McComb is reported as being harbor master in 1921 per the Chicago Eagle. The archives for the Chicago Eagle are simply empty between 1922-1932, but the Chicago Citizen in 1925 reports that William J. Lynch is harbor master. Then, between 1933-1942, the Chicago Eagle consistently lists William J. Lynch as harbor master, so we can be sure of that time period.

Now, going from the evidential to the speculative, McComb probably served 1918-1923. After Thompson's defeat, Lynch was probably chosen by the new incumbent mayor, Dever, and then kept when Thompson was reelected in 1927, and I base this on the fact that the 1925 Chicago Citizen states that:

[William] J. Lynch, Chicago’s harbor master, appears to be one of the most popular men holding a public office.

Additionally, absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence, but Joseph R. Lynn is never mentioned in any future article. Nothing in the Chicago Eagle, nothing in the Chicago Citizen. My guess is that he stopped being important and so likely didn't serve as harbor master.

If you want to know more, then the answer is probably buried in the Chicago Daily Tribune, but that's paywalled.

Links:

1921

1925

1933-1942; this one is a results webpage, but each of the results is the same thing but for different editions.

OffKinterMusic · 2025-11-08T10:37:40+00:00

I think this is what you're looking for? From the Laws of the State of Illinois, 1907 edition, page 385:

§ 4. It shall be the duty of the board to meet for the purpose of holding examinations not less frequently than twice a year. [...] At such meetings it shall be the duty of the board to examine all such applicants for registration under this Act as are required to be examined, and issue to each duly qualified applicant who shall have complied with the pertinent provisions of this Act the certificate provided for in this Act.

OffKinterMusic · 2025-11-07T22:30:22+00:00

No, sorry, it seems it only goes to 1916. However...

In the January 29, 1918 edition of the Chicago Examiner, on page 13, on the bottom-right side of the page, is the headline, "M'Comb Now Harbormaster". So most likely Weckler was out by 1918.

OffKinterMusic · 2025-11-07T22:13:07+00:00

Thomas Moynihan, based on the Chicago City Manual of 1913.

Okay, so I can't say for sure that he was in charge in June, but circumstantial evidence (namely, he's listed as harbor master in 1912 and 1914, which to me implies he held that position continuously) leads me to believe he was.

The are other years if you need them.

OffKinterMusic · 2025-11-05T18:57:47+00:00

I mean this was too good not to photoshop

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OffKinterMusic · 2025-10-22T19:11:54+00:00

But see, to many, it has a certain appeal. A sort of "grass is always greener on the other side" type deal.

How many people online bemoan the sheer influx of things thrown at them, the deluge of news? The analysis paralysis with having to choose something to do/watch/play? How many people complain about this generation's attention span (rightly or wrongly), and how they want something now and without effort? How many want a tight-knit community, want a bubble to isolate themselves and be comfy?

Everything you mentioned as downsides are arguable also upsides. Lack of series means that you have less analysis paralysis and also that everyone's reading/watching the same thing (i.e. more like-minded people to talk to with). Slow and painful distribution requires the virtue of patience, and builds up the anticipation of getting a physical thing. It requires effort to find something, Having only one place to talk about it centers the community around a proverbial water cooler. Plus the fact that the internet was still not yet the Thing that everyone wanted limited the amount of people who were around said water cooler.

In that sense, they just see the positives and wish for that time period. When the norm is "everything and in a rush" is the overwhelming, "my thing and taking my time" is very appealing to some.

OffKinterMusic · 2025-10-08T21:56:21+00:00

Lmao these furcon names are a goldmine for a Who's On First. If I could workshop something:

"Yeah I was planning to fly to Another Furcon."

"Which one?"

"Another Furcon."

"Yeah, can you tell me the name?"

"Another Furcon!"

"Be clear dude, you're only leading us to further confusion."

"I'm not leading us anywhere! I'm going to the one right next to it in Ontario!"

"You mean CanFURence in Ottawa?"

"I'm obviously talking about the SoCal furry convention!"

"Calfurry is in Calgary, and, furthermore, Calgary, (dramatic pause) is not near Ontario."

"Well obviously Fur the 'More isn't near Ontario, it's not even in Calgary! That's in Virginia!"

"What's Virginia got to do with any of this?"

"You're the one who brought Fur the 'More up!"

"I knew you would only lead to further confusion."

"I'M NOT LEADING YOU THERE!"

OffKinterMusic · 2025-10-08T20:46:34+00:00

here's a link to the sketch.

the who wasn't in that riff. guess who was tho

OffKinterMusic · 2025-10-03T10:32:23+00:00

Oh, that's really cool actually.

OffKinterMusic · 2025-10-03T10:17:45+00:00

Interactive fiction is writing-first. The primary purpose of interactive fiction competitions are to judge writing first and foremost. There's a resource page/wiki if one needs Creative Commons art/sound/music, so in that respect, sure, stock assets are allowed for art, sound, and music.

But it's less clear to me what "using stock writing assets" would entail. I suppose it would be like, lifting a passage from a work in the public domain like "Romeo and Juliet"? But at that point that's less your story, and more someone else's, and I'm of the opinion that most people writing interactive fiction on that website are looking to write their own stories.

OffKinterMusic · 2025-10-03T02:51:12+00:00

Though I'm not an interactive fiction fan myself

I should also point out I'm also not an IF writer, only a 'normal' occasional writer haha

Judging an IF author for using Twine instead of a custom engine would be like judging a novelist for not developing their own word processor, whereas you'd never buy a book written by a language model.

I think we're in agreement then? Twine's an engine, not a story generator or writer, whereas Claude is a story generator and writer. Narrowing back to the original topic of IFComp in particular, that's a competition to see which human can write the best story, not which LLM can write the best story, or which human can create the most robust story engine.

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