About a century ago, a revival of dueling in Russia ended with a this duel by

Nikolay Gumilyov and Maximilian Voloshin. “The offense seems cliché at first,” Nick Moran writes. “Gumilyov had—like many of his peers—become enamored with the female poet Cherubina de Gabriak, and Voloshin stood in his way. It was soon discovered, however, that de Gabriak did not actually exist in corpus, and was instead a pseudonym manufactured by Voloshin and a then-unknown schoolteacher named Elisaveta Dmitrievna. The two had concocted the exotic alias in order to get two dozen poems published. Gumilyov, publisher of some of these poems, wound up penning amorous letters to de Gabriak, and he began receiving equally amorous responses. The offense could not go unpunished. This time, both duelists survived unscathed.”

Nick describes this period and the literature that sprang up with it on The Millions.

The first day went well. Crowds were good (not great, but first day is generally light). My impression is that people in Minot may not have homes, but they tend to have money to spend.

Flood damage is particularly evident in the area around the fairgrounds, where the festival is held. Lots of houses with dirty water lines on the outside walls, ruined household junk piled outside. Some have FEMA trailers parked in the yards, but most are abandoned for the moment.

A restaurant we always used to patronize is boarded up and dead. Some traffic lights are out, and others no longer have left turn signals working, for some reason.

But the festival soldiers on. One thing I appreciate particularly is that a new group has joined the rotation at the Copenhagen Hall stage, around the corner from our Viking World. It’s a very impressive family band (seven kids) that actually does some music I like. I didn’t think such a phenomenon existed in the world anymore.

Can’t make the WiFi work from the Viking camp at the moment, but I’m making this quick post from a booth sponsored by SRT Communications (credit where credit’s due, and all that).

If you’re looking for work, I might suggest Minot. Jobs are going begging around here. There are three caveats to that statement of fact, however:

1. Once you get here, you’ll find out there are better paying jobs further west, where the oil boom is booming in a booming way. Which is one reason so many jobs are unfilled here.

2. Housing is very limited, due to flood damage.

3. North Dakota winters.

Nevertheless, for those looking for jobs and a decent community to live in, you could do a lot worse than Minot, North Dakota.

It’s about time for Hostfest to begin, so I’ll sign off for now.

Well, not violence per se. Theater professor James Miller of the University of Wisconsin–Stout put a picture of Nathan Fillion with a quote from Firefly on his office door, and the chief of campus police, a woman, took issue with it. Read the details and see the office door poster from FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. “Colleges and universities are supposed to foster brave and bold environments of freewheeling intellectual inquiry and expression. If a quote from a network science fiction show is a bridge too far, something has gone seriously wrong,” FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said.