One bit of family lore that I've been trying to track down for some years is whether or not my grandfather's younger brother Louis served in the British Army during World War II. A very curious matter, given that his father (my great-grandfather) was sentenced to death by the British during the Irish Civil War, and was incarcerated in an internment camp, and his eldest brother was at that point a general in the *Irish* Army.

My father tossed this bit of lore at me one lunchtime when he saw me with my nose in a book about Montgomery, and my surviving uncle says he has memories of Louis Costello telling stories about the "Western Desert" to my father and the older brothers.

Just today, I got word from the UK Ministry of Defence that they have a file on grand-uncle Louis. They're reviewing it to see if it can be released to me. It's been 115 years (as of a few months ago) since he was born, so I'm hopeful that it will be released to me.

Amusingly, to me, is the fact that the WO file category indicates that Louis was an enlisted man. A squaddie, to use the British Army term. Which means that my grand-uncle could have been quite a bit close to my fictional creation Westersloe Winterbough V.

In case anyone is curious about the reference in the last panel of Sunday, August 17, 2025's Dick Tracy:

"Wasn’t Pallas able to burn the Argive fleet, to sink it in the sea, because of the guilt and madness of one single man, Ajax, son of Oileus [i.e., Ajax the Lesser, or Ajax the Locrian]? She [Juno*] herself hurled Jupiter’s swift fire from the clouds, scattered the ships, and made the sea boil with storms: She caught him up in a water-spout, as he breathed flame from his pierced chest [i.e., pierced by lightning], and pinned him to a sharp rock"

-Virgil, The Aeneid, Book 1

In other words, Juno struck Ajax the Locrian in a chest with a bolt of lightning, thus drawing the parallel with the weapon being used by Tess LaKoyle.

*Different translations refer to Athena or Minerva, as well as Juno. W.F. Jackson Knight's translation for Penguin Books (1956) refers to Juno.

 marmelmm pointed out to me an interesting comment on today's DT, the climax of the current story arc. The comment had to do with whether or not the fatal car crash could/would be shown. (In the strip, it isn't shown, but heavily alluded to.) I was going to make a few points about the limits TCA allows, and my own personal tastes in setting things up so the reader fills in the blanks...

...and then I read a few other comments in the thread, and some other comments in general, and remembered why I don't generally read the comments. So I said _____ it, and didn't write anything.

Probably won't write conclusory notes, either, since that's just begging for someone to fire a rhetorical machine gun at my head if I poke it above the parapet. I may be dumb, but I ain't stupid.

Someone else here on FA had a birthday today. So I rang their number. When they answered, I sounded the G-E-C chimes on my Deagan 500 chime box, and then sang the worst, off-key rendition of "Happy Birthday" you can possibly imagine. And brother, with my singing chops, that's something.

They, of course, cracked up. Since they had no idea who it was.

I got the sketchbook from  rjbartrop's sister today, safe and sound. Alas! Looks like he never got a chance to do the final drawing. Oh, well. I beat the odds in getting the thing back. One hears many tales of lost sketchbooks.

 rjbartrop's sister reached out to me tonight, and indicated -- lo and behold! -- that she'd found my sketchbook among her brother's effects, and she'll get it back to me. I'm operating under the assumption that Richard wasn't able to do the drawings before he passed, but on the other paw, I get the sketchbook back, which is a break.

By great good luck, I did speak directly to Richard Bartrop's sister today.

Among other things, she was touched and gratified by all of the expressions of sorrow from the fandom as to Richard's passing. She, apparently, was a fan of his work.

She told me that in a few weeks, she's going to be going to Calgary to sort through his materials. So my sketchbook may, in fact, be found (I gave her a description). She did tell me to ask around if anyone else has materials that need to be returned. If anyone does, I can forward requests to the sister, since I have her email.

https://www.choicememorial.com/obit.....?obId=34613275

So it appears he had a sister named Cynthia. Now, to find out where she might be...

Does anyone know what, if anything, happened to Richard Bartrop's estate? Did any other family member step in that I could contact?

Apparently, a woman passenger attacked a bus driver in Madison, WI, because the driver wouldn’t make a stop. The bus crashed into a building, injuring two. Woman fled.

And of course, the building houses  rabbi-tom’s employer, because of course it does.

The man is the most uncanny weird shite magnet alive.

Sleep you black-eyed pig
Fall into a deep pit full of ghosts

This alleged 19th century Icelandic lullaby, posted on FB. I don't know if it loses something in the translation. I wonder if  karno can shed any light.

IMPORTANT NOTE! MFM has been bounced from the Whispering Woods Conference Center, because someone (I guess) bribed WWCC to take over the whole hotel. The con has been moved to a brand-new hotel, the Memphis Vitality Hotel. Check MFM's Facebook page for more details

Does anyone know? I have a blank sketchbook I sent to him about a month before he passed on, and if he did any work in it, it's obviously something I'd like to have, so I'd like to reach out to whoever is in charge.

I was shocked to see the news, posted here in FA, that Richard Bartrop had suddenly passed away, apparently in connection with a bad infection he'd had. I'd had a few pleasant dealings with him -- in fact, I had a (mercifully blank) sketchbook out with him for some Red and Melonny work.

I liked his artwork style and his humour very much, and I'm greatly saddened by the news.

Normally  rabbi-tom's turf, but I read today that there are approximately 16 living survivors (out of the ca. 87,000 servicemen present) of the Pearl Harbor attack, which was 83 years ago today. Think of that: the low end of the survivors would have to be 101.

Leave the gun. Take the anole.

I got up at 5.45, showered, and headed over to the polling station in my neighborhood, a nearby school's gym. There was a line of, I'd say, about 20 folks waiting for the polls to open at 6.00, which they did, promptly. I was, I think, the first at my particular district's table, and I voted. I did my traditional thing and wrote my name in for each of the judgeship slots open. The optical scanner took my ballot after a little gentle coaxing. No stickers on offer this year, though I got to keep my pen.

In other news, Dixville Notch, NH was tied 3-3, which is a swing to Trump, who lost 0-5 to Biden in 2020 and 2-4 to Clinton in 2016. The GOP hasn't carried the hamlet since 2004; the population of the hamlet has declined over the last number of years, to the point where it had only 4 residents in the 2020 census, and nearly lost its polling place, until a nearby resident moved in to preserve it. Hart's Landing, nearby, apparently did not do the midnight voting thing this time around.

This past week saw the debut of my third long-form Dick Tracy story, and sixth story overall, "The Big Clock." A recap of the story is here: https://www.facebook.com/eocostello.....21053131270929

You can also go to GoComics.com/dicktracy , though I myself am not doing that, owing to the toxic nature of the comments section. The Daily Cartoonist website, at least, made an intelligent observation regarding my use of iconic Chicago buildings in the second strip.

Art by Charles Ettinger, and it's art I like.

Missed the post-season.
Sorrows drowned in lobster roll.
Fuck the damn Yankees.

Today marked the closing of one Dick Tracy story arc (by Mike Curtis, the regular writer). A Minit Mystery is due to start tomorrow, leading to heartburn among some, though others (I don't know how) say the "Mr. Mirror" Minit Mystery is going to be interesting. Then followed some snarky comments directed at yours truly. I "loved" the one about "can't do it all."

Just wanted to circle with you. Nothing particularly Earth-shattering, but if you're following along here, want to chit-chat.

I just re-entered the MinkAbode after being away for just short of two weeks in the wilds of Northwest Arkansas and Olive Branch, Mississippi. Herewith, the report!

Like Caesar's Gaul, the trip was in three parts: about a week in Springdale, Arkansas, five days (inclusive of two days of travel) at MFM, and then two days back in Springdale. The logistics were made possible by  walt46 (hereinafter, "Mutte"). Because your humble servant does not have a driver's permit, and hasn't been behind the wheel of a car in probably 35 years (though he did pass a written test some years ago), and because  marmelmm (hereinafter, "Bear") has recently had a medical procedure that makes driving not possible, Mutte did a great deal of heavy lifting (inclusive of 16 hours of interstate travel) to make Things Happen. (Mutte also did a job on some followup medical attention that aroused the compliments of a professional, later.)

The first part of the venture had, as a principal goal, the bucking up of the morale of Bear by Mutte and Mink. In some part, this included helping organize and tidy up Chez Bear, the more so after things got in slight disarray owing to the need to set things up for Bear after he got out of hospital/rehab. In no small part, this also included taking the Bear around for assorted meals. These included: (1) Monte Ne Inn in Rogers, where the Mutte now realizes precisely why the Mink is always whining and carrying on about the need to eat their fried chicken; (2) Doe's Eat Place in Fayetteville, home of delicious steak (the Bear had a large one, a chunk of which was taken home, and Mutte and Mink each had a tasty filet, the Mutte's accompanied by a wine that met with such satisfaction he researched where he could get it back home; (3) Pasta Grille in Van Buren (an hour's drive away, to test Bear's ability to handle long trips) for French Dip, and (4) Neal's, a very nice diner in Springdale itself. The look of pleasure upon the phiz of Bear upon eating both fried chicken and steak was worth the price of admission. Bookstore raids, as per tradition, were also had, though I had a large batch of books awaiting me (as well as  steamfox and a friend/boss of Mitch's). I did, later, have to send home three boxes via USPS so as not to arouse the wrath of Delta Air Lines. The Bear even made a cameo appearance at his heritage railroad, much to the pleasure of the personnel there (including the boss, who got her aforementioned books and a few other things).

MFM, for me, tends to be about a few different things. One was "Dinner with the Dons" at Coletta's (see Bear's post on his pizza), which involves Don Sueme (i.e., Mink) acting as bag man for the tip. The tip comprises a wrapped stack of 100 $1 bills for the very nice and funny waitress that has been waiting on the Dons for years. She gave us a brief twerk by way of thanks, to the amusement of all. (My shrimp and mushrooms with alfredo sauce was excellent.) There was also the closing dinner at Osaka (no need for Mutte to raise voice, even though we didn't get the grille this year because the restaurant did odd things about taking reservations), and exchanging loot with  rabbi-tom. I pranked him at Osaka with plum wine (they've not had it some years at Osaka, though they did this year), plus a White Castle "sippy cup" (which made him laugh), a plushie AR-15, and a "Chummy Book of Little Ships," which provoked the Lil' Rabbi act I thought the plushie would! I also got a few drawings out of Jim, which I will post, soon, and I'm waiting on a few others. One writer's panel (not hugely worth it), a metal souvenir tag (two, actually, owing to a mistake by the maker) for charity, and that was about it. More support for Bear.

The second Springdale venture did result in improvements to the living room, workroom, and clothes-space (we got a small set of plastic drawers for his closet), with clothes organized. I'd also gotten some tool bags at Lowe's to use as a document bag and as a doctor's bag. We also set up (earlier) a shower chair, which worked fine. One more meal wish-fulfillment for the Bear, which was at Napoli's in Rogers, where veal parmesan was had by Bear and Mink, and veal marsala (I think) by Mutte.

Overall, we left the Bear this morning in a good frame of mind. Which was the point of the drill.

In today's Dick Tracy (the 9th episode in this tango Minit Mystery), a police technician reports regarding the prints found on the gun. Tracy, in his turn, requests that the dead tango dancer's partner be found for questioning. In the second panel, Tracy is looking for something...and doesn't appear to find it.

Art by Leo Batic

https://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2024/08/19

In thinking over the  dragoneer GoFundMe a bit more, I think I've got a punchlist of questions regarding the expenses that the GFM is supposed to address. I think if these questions could be answered or otherwise addressed, it might bring a good deal of clarity to the situation. The more so, since it may become clear that certain expenses need to be prioritized (such as clearing any defaults or liens).

+ $32,000 note (assuming it is documented)

To whom was this note given? A bank? A finance company? An individual?
What is the date of the note (i.e., recent or a while)?
When is the note due?
What is the interest rate on the note?
Is the note secured by any assets (i.e., home, FA, other assets)?
Is the note in default (i.e., interest and/or principal not paid)?
Did the death of Dragoneer trigger an acceleration of the note?

+ $38,400 unpaid services

When were these services provided (i.e., recently, or going back a few years)?
Are these to a few people, or many service providers?
What were the services provided?
Have these service providers filed any liens or other legal actions?
Were these services documented by contracts?
Are these services documented by invoices?
Are any of the invoices overdue, and generating penalty interest or other fees?

+ Medical examiner fees

What is the breakdown of the medical examiner fees, since they're lumped with cremation expenses?

+ Taxes

With respect to 2022 Federal (IRS) taxes, are any penalties involved?
Are these Dragoneer's personal taxes, or taxes related to the FA business, or both?
Has the IRS filed any tax liens?
Are there any state or local taxes from 2022 unpaid?
If so, has the state filed any liens?
Same questions, only tied to 2023 taxes (and the part of 2024 before the estate)

+ IMVU

Did Dragoneer's death trigger any acceleration in the payments to IMVU?
Are the payments to IMVU in default?
Are the obligations to IMVU secured by any of FA's assets?

+ Dragoneer's House/Mortgage

Are the mortgage payments currently up to date (i.e., any threat of default or foreclosure)?

+ Public/private celebrations + cremation

Is there a more specific breakdown of the $11,000 in public and private celebration costs, plus whatever part of $9,500 is covered by cremation as opposed to ME fees?