No such thing as too soon

On social media, the tributes to Joan Rivers are still rolling in. People are posting favourite jokes from her (or in what they perceive to be her style) and relating anecdotes from her long and successful career. Here is the one her passing brought to my mind:

To illustrate her point she tells a story about Del Close and Joan Rivers at Second City in the early 60s. The two took the stage for a scene, and Rivers said, "I want a divorce!"

"But honey," Close said, "what about the kids?"

"We don't have any kids!" Rivers replied, and the audience roared.

[Charna] Halpern shakes her head. "Joan Rivers got a big laugh," she says, "but Del was left looking like an idiot. What was he supposed to do? What kind of husband doesn't know he doesn't have any kids?"

And when it comes to jokes, who could forget her wry observations on the conflict in Gaza earlier this year?

"When you declare war, you declare war. They started it. We now don’t count who’s dead. You’re dead, you deserve to be dead....At least the ones who were killed, were the ones with very low IQs."

Hilarious!

There are some things I did admire her for, like her tremendous work ethic. And she did open doors for women in comedy and help keep them open. But in general, I found her mean and unfunny. I literally can't think of a single thing she said in the last twenty years that made me even consider laughing. As Stewart Lee says, "The hard thing when you're a comedian is to stay alive....steadily decreasing the quality of your own obituary."

How to *really* celebrate Von Steuben Day

Capt. Peter S. Duponceau, aide-de-camp to Baron von Steuben:

Once, with the Baron's permission, his aids invited a number of young officers to dine at our quarters, on condition that none should be admitted that had on a whole pair of breeches. This was, of course, understood as pars pro toto; but torn clothes were an indispensable requirement for admission[.]...Instead of wine, we had some kind of spirits, with which we made 'salamanders'; that is to say, after filling our glasses, we set the liquor on fire and drank it up, flame and all.