what my rotting bones will sing

Side note: polonium-210 is a very dangerous isotope, however it "does not pose a radiation hazard when kept outside the body", as the alpha particle it emits have very little penetration power and cannot pierce even the outer layers of dead skin. It has still killed countless people, though, not because of children's rings, but because of tobacco. Polonium latches onto and concentrates in tobacco leaves, leading to heavy smokers being exposed to more radiation than survivors of the Chernobyl disaster.

The documentary includes a brief clip of a 1954 televised newscast about the rise of homosexuality. The host of the program interviewed psychologists, a police officer, and one “known homosexual”. The “known homosexual” is 22 years old. He identifies himself as Curtis White, which is a pseudonym; his name is actually Dale Olson.

So I tracked down the newscast. According to what I can find, Dale Olson may have been the first gay man to appear openly on television and defend his sexual orientation. He explains that there’s nothing wrong with him mentally and he’s never been arrested. When asked whether he’d take a cure if it existed, he says no. When asked whether his family knows he’s gay, he says that they didn’t up until tonight, but he guesses they’re going to find out, and he’ll probably be fired from his job as well. So of course the host is like …why are you doing this interview then? and Dale Olson, cool as cucumber pie, says “I think that this way I can be a little useful to someone besides myself.”

1954. 22 years old. Balls of pure titanium.

Despite the pseudonym, Dale’s boss did indeed recognize him from the TV program, and he was promptly fired the next day. He wrote into ONE magazine six months later to reassure readers that he had gotten a new job at a higher salary.

Curious about what became of him, I looked into his life a little further. It turns out that he ultimately became a very successful publicity agent. He promoted the Rocky movies and Superman. Not only that, but get this: Dale represented Rock Hudson, and he was the person who convinced him to disclose that he had AIDS! He wrote the statement Rock read. And as we know, Rock Hudson’s disclosure had a very significant effect on the national conversation about AIDS in the U.S.

Do you have some Time To Kill?

cast & crew wages: $1,200 + uber eats

fake blood (assuming generous discount on bulk purchase): $2,000,000 i am so not kidding i did the math this is nuts

the sigils are a bit wonky but i tried my best

borrowing stick tape without asking

playing a song that contains the word "tractor" more than three times

not saying "I love you" back to Cap

talking about comic books, grill specs, or your dog for more than three minutes unless somebody asks a follow-up question

leaving dirty socks in your cubby

being the reason the whole team has to listen to a speech about "how the organisation wants to present itself to the public"

jokes about gay people unless one of the gay people laughs. even if you are one of the gay people.

not saluting when somebody uses "major [noun]" ("There will need to be some major changes in the line-up" — "🫡 Major Changes")

showing up more than ten minutes late for official team business

mentioning a cute animal you saw without providing a photo or artistic rendition of said animal (artistic rendition does not have to be good)

disagreeing with Hollander about hockey stats unless you are proven correct

uttering the phrase "we're going to win the Cup" within a hundred meters of a rink

spilling an energy drink or eating fish in an enclosed shared space

directly or indirectly causing Hollander and Cap to make a bet about anything

calling Haasy German