Venus and Earth, as seen from Mars, 26 June 2009

all previous posts about lindsey baum, here.

NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN
1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)
McCleary Police Department (Washington) 1-360-533-8765

Family Website with many useful links: LindseyBaum

Lindsey Baum, missing since 26 June 2009, weighs on my mind. Despite the probability that the 11 year old is dead, the occasional news item detailing the miraculous discovery of a longtime missing child -- alive -- is an effective chastisement.

In the beginning of her saga as a missing child, I checked the news daily, often several times. It just seemed impossible to me that anyone could disappear as she apparently did, somewhere between her friend's home and her own, in the space of a few blocks, in as small and quiet a place as McCleary, Washington.

As newsless week piled upon newsless week, I dedicated an hour on Fridays to rereading the same information, regurgitated, in its mess of cross-references.

There is a whole missing child online subculture out there, made up of people who consider themselves sleuthes. This includes those who believe their psychic powers can be brought to bear on any mystery, so long as there are innocent people to scapegoat -- from youth ministers to Melissa, Lindsey's mother.

In the off chance that someone had information about that evening but needed a moral nudge as incentive, a reward was offered. It grew, and recently was doubled to $20,000.

A self-styled witch living in Japan decided to pretend he had the answers.

People magazine featured the dear child on a triptych bit of cover art.

Oprah gave her a minute's bit of airtime.

Nightline showcased the FBI's efforts, and, it looks like, exaggerated the sense of progress, declaring the existence of several "persons of interest" in the area.

A dedicated Search Center organized frequent efforts along local roads, woods, in areas of overgrowth and underbrush. A nearby military base contributed the time and talents of young soldiers -- Lindsey's father was deployed to Iraq.

A divorced Mom with other children, and the object of fierce rumors, Melissa Baum moved away from McCleary.

The 26th day of June in 2009 fell on a Friday.



On June 26, 1284, the Pied Piper of Hamelin led 130 children out of the German town, ensnaring them with music, so that they walked, walked, walked to their deaths, forfeited because the town's adults would not pay the exterminator's tab.

In linguistics pied-piping is the common, informal name for the ability of question words and relative pronouns to drag other words along with them when brought to the front, as part of the phenomenon called Wh-movement. For example, in "For whom are the pictures?", the word "for" is pied-piped by "whom" away from its declarative position ("The pictures are for me"), and in "The mayor, pictures of whom adorn his office walls" both words "pictures of" are pied-piped in front of the relative pronoun, which normally starts the relative clause.

Some researchers believe that the tale has inspired the common English phrase "pay the piper", although others disagree. To "pay the piper" means to face the inevitable consequences of one's actions, possibly alluding to the story where the villagers broke their promise to pay the Piper for his assistance in ridding the town of the rats. The phrase sometimes refers to a financial transaction but often does not.

Also, some experts on pedophilia, such as Ken Lanning, in writing about the seduction of children by some pedophiles, have used the term the "Pied Piper effect" to describe a "unique ability to identify with children."

Richard III of England, king for a whole whopping two years, was the last king to die in battle -- an unfortunate thing, as I think battling kings and world leaders ought to be de rigueur, taking the place of conscripted subjects dying a meaningless death in inexplicable and indefensible wars. Richard III took the throne on June 26 in 1483. In August, he killed his two nephews, Edward V and his brother Richard, threats to his primacy.

(below) King Edward V, unfortunate nephew of Richard III

The Cyclone, that monstrous wooden roller coaster on Coney Island, thrilled its first riders on June 26, 1927.

Proof positive of our inclination to track any and every thing, the Universal Product Code was scanned for the very first time from a pack of Wrigley's gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio on 26 June 1974.

Peter William Sutcliffe (now Coonan), dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper, murdered 16 year old Jayne MacDonald on June 26, 1977, a death considered notable due to the fact that the victim was not a prostitute... expanding the realm of acceptable fear and concern.

Shirley Jackson's chilling short story, The Lottery, appeared on June 26, 1948 in The New Yorker and announces its beginning as the next day: The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.

Folks as wonderfully various as Salvador Allende, Pearl Buck, Aimé Césaire, Patty Smyth, Greg LeMond, and Derek Jeter have celebrated birthdays on 26 June. Liz Claiborne, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, and Strom Thurmond, on the other hand, took their leave that day.

Holidays and observances that land on June 26:

The Christian Feast Days of Anthelm of Belley, Hermogius, John and Paul, Josemaría Escrivá (founder of Opus Dei), Mar Abhai (of the Syriac Orthodox Church), and Vigilius of Trent

Flag Day in Romania

Independence Day, celebrating Madagascar's freedom from France (1960)

International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

International Day in Support of Torture Victims: "This is a day on which we pay our respects to those who have endured the unimaginable. This is an occasion for the world to speak up against the unspeakable." -- Kofi Annan

Sunthorn Phu Day, celebrating the birthday of the Thai poet. This verse forms part of a Lamentation:

Oh, how everything was against me then

Even white ants made their way to my bedroom.

They ate the mat and destroyed all my books.

It was distressing to think of those books

And the yellow robes I used to wear

Had holes in them like my weeping eyes.


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Venus and Earth, as seen from Mars, 26 June 2009:

The "Spirit" rover (Mars Exploration Rover A or MER-2) is one of the two rovers launched to Mars in mid-2003. The rovers arrived at Mars in January of 2004.

How vast those Orbs must be, and how inconsiderable this Earth, the Theatre upon which all our mighty Designs, all our Navigations, and all our Wars are transacted, is when compared to them. A very fit consideration, and matter of Reflection, for those Kings and Princes who sacrifice the Lives of so many People, only to flatter their Ambition in being Masters of some pitiful corner of this small Spot.

— Christiaan Huygens, The Immense Distance Between the Sun and the Planets, 1698