Monday, November 04, 2024
We're doomed
"NBC on Sunday filed notice that the broadcast network
had provided Donald Trump equal time
to Kamala Harris’s surprise appearance
on Saturday Night Live, by providing him a chance
to directly address voters
following a Klan race in potato sacks"
"after a comedian at a Trump rally in New York made a joke about Puerto Rico being a “floating island of garbage” that was widely deemed racist.
Trump disavowed the comedian but did not apologize.
On a video call to Latino voters, Joe Biden appeared to call Trump supporters garbage.
The White House later denied he had
and released a transcript with “supporters” altered to “supporter’s”,
changing the gaffe.
White House stenographers appealed against the alteration.
“The American people want to stop the chaos,”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/04/election-snl-nbc-harris-trump
"Like hell they do" edited the Oligarch Cabal.
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Puerto Rico called The Beltway.....
"The discoveries, which included industrial-sized agricultural fields and irrigation canals, were announced in 2018 by an alliance of US, European and Guatemalan archaeologists working with Guatemala’s Maya Heritage and Nature Foundation.
The study estimated that
10 million people may have lived within the Maya lowlands,
meaning that huge-scale food production may have been needed."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/29/lost-maya-city-valeriana-mexico-temple-pyramids-plazas
______
"Witches’ marks were traditionally made to turn away evil, providing protection to buildings and those who lived or worked within them against demons, witches or the evil eye."
"Gainsborough Old Hall in Lincolnshire a clear contender for the spookiest site of them all.
The charity has uncovered a “staggering array” of witches’ marks and rare curses carved into the walls of the Tudor property, once visited by Henry VIII and his fifth Queen, Catherine Howard."
"Berry discovered a particular concentration of marks in the Old Hall’s servants’ wing, including
flowers with six petals carved within a simple circle
– known as daisy wheels and hexafoils – that were believed to trap demons.
the Hickmans, who resided there until around 1730.
"It is believed the curse inscriptions were made around the time that the merchant William Hickman owned the property, owing to his notorious unpopularity. In one inscription, Hickman’s name is written upside down (the practice of defaming a name was thought to curse the named person)."
apotropaic marks
____
"in Atlanta, Georgia, Donald Trump railed against being compared to Hitler, telling voters that he was the
“opposite of a Nazi” in response to Democratic opponents, who likened him to the Nazi dictator"
"Sanders also released a video addressing voter concerns over the Biden-Harris administration’s record on Gaza, saying: “After Kamala wins, we will together do everything that we can to change US policy towards Netanyahu.” "
Trump called Puerto Rico an “island of floating garbage.”
Trump called Puerto Rico an “island of floating garbage.”
Trump called Puerto Rico an “island of floating garbage.”
Trump called Puerto Rico an “island of floating garbage.”
Trump called Puerto Rico an “island of floating garbage.”
Trump called Puerto Rico an “island of floating garbage.”
Trump called Puerto Rico an “island of floating garbage.”
Puerto Rico called The Beltway an “island of floating garbage.”
Monday, October 28, 2024
Scar sic Scare "quote"
'The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland attended a “surreal” rally in Pittsburgh last weekend at which Pennsylvania voter Kristine Fishell was unveiled as an early winner."
_____
"Oliver" puts "the twist" on "syntax"
Makes "one" laugh like " the Dickens."
____
"some style guides and publishers recommend against using single quotation marks for 'emphasis. '
Instead, you can use italics or bold to emphasize words.
The American Psychological Association (APA) recommends using italics to introduce a word or phrase that you want to draw attention to. "
___
Scare Quotes
scare quotes; noun: scare quote; plural noun: scarequotes
quotation marks used around a word or phrase when they are not required, thereby eliciting attention or doubts.
"putting the term “global warming” in scare quotes serves
to subtly cast doubt
on the reality of such a phenomenon"
I.E.
Anti subtle manipulation in the"wrong" hands.
____
"We recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility. That is inevitable,” Lewis wrote.
“We don’t spin it that way.
We see it as consistent with the values the Post has always stood for and what we hope for in a leader: character paralysis and fealty in service to the kleptocratic ethic, veneration for the rule of Money, and respect for the bloody ruble in all its talons.”
"Soon-Shiong’s daughter, Nika Soon-Shiong, 31, made a surprise suggestion on social media that the choice to refrain from endorsing a candidate had been made by the whole family
due in part to the Biden-Harris
administration’s policies
concerning Israel and Gaza."
.jpg)
Saturday, October 26, 2024
Now Release Peltier
Biden formally apologizes for Indian boarding schools:
"a blot on US history"
"His remarks were given at the Gila Crossing community school outside of Phoenix, Arizona, and marked his first visit to Indian country as president."
"Federal Indian boarding school policy, the pain it has caused, will always be a significant mark of shame, a blot on American history,” he said. “For too long, this all happened with virtually no public attention.”
"Indian boarding schools were run with the express goal to “kill the Indian in him, and save the man”, a phrase coined by the army officer Richard Henry Pratt, who founded Carlisle Indian boarding school, the first federally run Indian boarding school.
From 1819 to 1969, in what Biden called “one of the most horrific chapters in American history”, the US government directly managed or funded Indian boarding schools in nearly 40 states."
"A US Department of the Interior report released earlier this year found that at least nearly 1,000 Indigenous children died in the schools. Sexual violence was commonplace. Dr Denise K Lajimodiere, an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and one of the founders of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, wrote that the
“boarding school era represented a deliberate policy of ethnocide and cultural genocide and human rights abuses”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/25/biden-apologizes-indian-boarding-schools
Thursday, October 24, 2024
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
"The Old Capital (古都, Koto)[a] is a novel by Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata first published in 1962.
It was one of three novels cited by the Nobel Committee in their decision to award Kawabata the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature."
"The Old Capital was first translated into English in 1987 by J. Martin Holman. A revised edition of Holman's translation was published in February 2006"
aging and decline; old culture in the commercial new Japan; the muted expression of strong yet repressed emotion; the role of accident and misunderstanding in shaping lives."
"painting by Rab-i-Rashidi dating to 1314 CE, depicting the sacred tree of Buddha"
(superficially similar, unidentified)
_____
"Cryptomeria
(literally "hidden parts")
is a monotypic genus of conifer in the cypress family Cupressaceae. It includes only one species, Cryptomeria japonica (syn. Cupressus japonica L.f.). It used to be considered by some to be endemic to Japan, where it is known as Sugi (杉).
The tree is called Japanese cedar or Japanese redwood in English. "
"Cryptomeria is a very large evergreen tree, reaching up to 70 m (230 ft) tall and 4 m (13 ft) trunk diameter, with red-brown bark which peels in vertical strips. The leaves are arranged spirally, needle-like, 0.5–1 cm (1⁄4–3⁄8 in) long; and the seed cones globular, 1–2 cm (1⁄2–3⁄4 in) diameter with about 20–40 scales.
It is superficially similar to the related giant sequoia"
"Sugi is commonly planted around temples and shrines, with many hugely impressive trees planted centuries ago. Sargent (1894;
The Forest Flora of Japan) recorded the instance of a daimyō (feudal lord) who was too poor to donate a stone lantern at the funeral of the shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616) at Nikkō Tōshō-gū, but requested instead to be allowed to plant an avenue of sugi, so that "future visitors might be protected from the heat of the sun".
The offer was accepted; the
Cedar Avenue of Nikkō,
which still exists, is over 65 km (40 mi) long, and "has not its equal in stately grandeur".
"Jōmon Sugi (縄文杉) is a large cryptomeria tree located on Yakushima, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Japan.
It is the oldest and largest among the old-growth cryptomeria trees on the island, and
is estimated to be between
2,170
and 7,200 years old."
"Cryptomeria are often described and referred to in Japanese literature. For instance, cryptomeria forests and their workers, located on the mountains north of Kyoto, are featured in Yasunari Kawabata's famous book The Old Capital."
Although it is not a single continuous road, the
"Cedar Avenue of Nikkō" was listed in the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records as the longest tree-lined avenue in the world.
It is the only cultural property designated by the Japanese Government as both a Special Historic Site and a Special Natural Monument."
The project to plant the approaches to Nikkō with cryptomeria was begun by Matsudaira Masatsuna, daimyō of Tamanawa Domain in Sagami Province, and a descendant of a cadet branch of the Matsudaira clan.
He began donating and planting seedlings brought from Kii Province around the year 1625. The cedar-lined approaches were officially dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1648, on his 33rd memorial anniversary, and Matsudaira Masatsuna died later the same year. Memorial stone markers were erected in four locations by his son, who continued the project and, together with later donations, it is estimated that
some 200,000 trees were planted.
During the Edo period, the trees were managed by the Nikkō bugyō , the magistrate in charge of the Nikkō shrines and temples. After the Meiji Restoration, the trees were endangered by neglect and logging, but an estimated
12,500 trees survive to this day"
Mongolia takhi
"The Przewalski’s — most commonly pronounced che-VAL-ski’s — is so rare that the horse, native to Mongolia, was once extinct in the wild.
Its scant bloodlines are tracked by zoos, and individual animals are part of multinational conservation efforts.
These precious few horses don’t typically knock around auctions in the western United States.
"Why had these endangered creatures been passed around and sold as cheap horseflesh?
“You think all the money and all the resources they spend to try and breed these animals so they are not extinct and no longer critically endangered, and now you’ve got people just throwing them away,” Ms. Huckabay said"
"The Przewalski's, or Takhi, was once endemic to the grasslands of Central Asia — until the herds were entirely wiped out, including by Victorian-era hunters and people seeking an exotic foal, or baby horse, as a souvenir.
Many scientists believe it is the only true wild horse, never domesticated. "
"the horses are categorically not supposed to end up where the TikTok Takhis did: in what is known as the equine slaughter pipeline, where they stood a chance of being sold and shipped to Canada and Mexico for butchering for things like dog food and glue."
"It all started in February, when Ms. Huckabay paid $1,375 for the animal she saw advertised online.
Utah agriculture officials had issued a brand inspection identifying it as a mule, which is a cross between a horse and a donkey.
But with faint zebra striping on his legs and a rough-hewed muzzle, he immediately stood out as
… something else"
"She bought Shrek from the Smith Horse Company in Peabody, Kan., a horse reseller that also puts on rodeos. Its owner, Jeff Smith, told me he didn’t know what kind of horse it was when he bought the funny-looking creature for $700"
"Rooster’s real name is Kasey Bartlett. He told me he had bought the horse at another auction in Cedar City, in south-central Utah.
A frequent customer there, he’d seen the animal pass through several times,
only to be returned every time because he could not be trained. When the price dropped to just $90, Mr. Bartlett took a risk and bid."
"Ms. Bjorklund, 32, runs the Lazy B Equine Rescue and Sanctuary, in Clinton, Utah, a nonprofit where she and her husband, Gunnar, and their three children give refuge to unwanted horses"
the woman had bought the mare from the Cedar City auction for $35.
"This animal, too, had been classified by Utah officials as a mule. (The Bjorklunds named her Fiona after they found out about Shrek.) Caroline Hargraves, a spokeswoman for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food’s Brand Inspection Board, said the inspectors rely on information the original owner provides."
“The brand inspection program does not receive training on endangered species and is
not tasked with policing activity regarding endangered species,” Ms. Hargraves said in an email.
Ms. Bjorklund noticed something about the animal right away: It had a crooked ear. A familiar one."
“They’re wilder than any mustang,” he said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/23/nyregion/rare-horses-przewalski.html#
*
"Several genetic characteristics of Przewalski's horse differ from what is seen in modern domestic horses, indicating neither is an ancestor of the other.
For example, the Przewalski's horse has 33 chromosome pairs, compared to 32 for the domestic horse.
Their ancestral lineages split from a common ancestor between 160,000 and 38,000 years ago, long before the domestication of the horse.
Przewalski's horse was long considered the only remaining truly wild horse,
in contrast with the American mustang and the Australian brumby, which are instead feral horses descended from domesticated animals. "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Przewalski%27s_horse
also called the takhi
(Mongolian:
Mongolian wild horse
or Dzungarian horse,
is a rare and endangered horse originally native to the steppes of Central Asia.
It is named after the Russian geographer and explorer Nikolay Przhevalsky"
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Emolument jello
"Noting that Trump has lately taken to describing his speaking style as “the weave”, Walz said:
“We know there’s only one weave that you know anything about, and it is not this. It is not this … He’s ducks debates, he debates ducks, but you can’t prosecute him.
When you get your ass whip that hard, you don’t come back for seconds.”
"I don't have to tell you that either.... I'm campus safety"
"Campus? Am I on campus "
"Yes, right in here"
"Why is this not harassment park. Are there any signs that say campus, school grounds, right here? "
"So we're not leaving, is that the answer that I'm getting.... "
"Am I infringing on something? "
"Yes. Yes you are. You're 500 feet by the school. "
"I'm sitting at a picnic table. "
"Which is part of the school for the kids. "
(0n radio walkie talkie. Yes I'm fine, I'm in a debate, a debate... Reply I was making sure you're ok)
"Honduran televangelist Guillermo Maltonado, founder of Miami megachurch the King Jesus International Ministry, said Trump would be re-elected because
“there’s a higher assignment for him to
finish with this nation”:
"God sets up kings. We’re praying for the will of Oligarchs to make [Trump] the 47th president."
"I am aware of (some allegation.) We had a report of someone drinking coffee in the park attached to the school that fit your stereotype/profile/class status. It should be noted the baseball fields are technically Nike property. In situations where we have people on the learning fields we do ask people to move along, 499.999 feet"
“So we board the plane … and then the pilot comes in and says, ‘Sir, there’s a pile of oil leaking out of the back of the plane’.
Now, I do not know anything about planes, except for the fact that it should not leak oil. So we had a nice oily road trip instead, and I am glad I made it,” Obama said
"I recognize I’m going to be at the top of that list. You think he’s stopping with me? He’s talking about you. He’s talking about using the United States military to go after people who disagree with his idiotic ideas"
White male
Hoodie/raincoat
Bike and backpack
Worn clothes
"So look, Elon is on that stage, jumping around, skipping like a dipshit on these things. You know it.
Think about it … that guy is literally the richest man in the world spending millions of dollars to help Donald Trump buy an election.
Now, look, they’re saying the quiet parts out loud now, because Donald Trump has already promised that he would put Elon in charge of government regulations that oversee the businesses that Elon runs.
That’s a hell of a buy. He could spend billions to make more than $10bn on the back end.
So in other words, Donald Trump, in front of the eyes the American public, is promising corruption. That’s what he’s promising you. And you know what? I don’t believe, I don’t believe he keeps many promises, but he’ll keep that one."
"They are deploying a variety of surrogates on the campaign trail to make the case for the vice-president in the final two weeks, with
Eminem reportedly set to introduce Barack Obama
when he appears in Detroit tonight, and Bruce Springsteen to headline two concerts"
A pilot comes out
Of the front of the pile
He has a plan to save the plane
The oil goes in not out
They say the leak said
Alleging a situation
Pointing at the ground
It's a school for kid base here
Ish there ish scram
When you get your ass whip that hard, you don’t come back for emolument jello.”
"Barack Obama rapped Eminem’s signature hit Lose Yourself to a crowd in Detroit during a campaign rally for Kamala Harris.
He was preceded by Eminem himself, who told the crowd in his home city: “It’s important to use your voice, I’m encouraging everyone to get out and vote, please … I don’t think anyone wants an America where people are worried about retribution of what people will do if you make your opinion known. I think vice-president Harris supports a future for this country where these Barack Obama rapped Eminem’s signature hit Lose Yourself to a crowd in Detroit during a campaign rally for Kamala Harris.
He was preceded by Eminem himself, who told the crowd in his home city:
“It’s important to use your voice, I’m encouraging everyone to get out and vote, please … I don’t think anyone wants an America where
people are worried about retribution of what people will do if you make your opinion known.
I think vice-president Harris supports a future for this country where these freedoms and many others will be protected and upheld.” and many others will be protected and upheld.”
"I have more respect for loyal DOGS than I do for PEOPLE who don’t take care of their children,” Robinson wrote on his Facebook page in 2014. The post contained the hashtag “#haveyourdeadbeatsspayedandneutered”
"Mark Robinson, North Carolina’s embattled Republican gubernatorial candidate, suggested that people who can’t take care of their children should be sterilized, according to one of a series of incendiary and racist social media posts from 2014 through 2019.
The commentary made in reference to Black families, which used terms a white supremacist would find appropriate, predates his time as the state’s lieutenant governor, but much of it came after his rise as a public figure on the right."
having [that] running through your walls
“The Roma observe a strict separation of vujo and marime,” says Gräf, meaning clean and dirty.
“These are sacred spaces, like a church, so they shouldn’t be contaminated by toilets or dirty water.
We might be used to bathroom plumbing, but for them
it’s weird having [that]
running through your walls.”
"Two girls in matching velour tracksuits and gold jewellery race in circles on their scooters.
Their owners don’t usually live in them and, despite their immense size, they rarely contain kitchens or bathrooms
Welcome to the palaces of the Roma kings: exuberant monuments of wealth, pride and prestige, and defiant expressions of cultural identity in a country that has turned its back on the community for so long. Across Romania, similar outcrops of ostentatious mansions have sprouted in the most unlikely places "
_____
E coli legs
Walking on gold piss like jesus
In fancy poison sweatshop
Running suits,
Crapitalism has jogged its course
Past the marble stairs,
Gilded curtains and big screen fixtures
____
'The small town of Dimock saw its water become brown, undrinkable, even flammable – and its residents are still feeling the effects"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/21/fracking-dimock-pennsylvania-trump-kamala-harris
"This bipartisan embrace of fracking has stirred fury among residents of Dimock whose well water is still riddled by toxins
linked to an array of health problems and, most spectacularly, contains so much flammable methane
that people have passed out in the shower,
wells exploded,
and water running from the tap
could be set on fire by match,
according to official reports and accounts from locals."
"Sure as hell, I’m not voting for either of those two assholes,” said Ray Kemble, a bearded military veteran and former trucker,
as he puffed on a cigar in his home. Reams of documents and photos chronicling the long fight against fracking
Lay on the table next to Kemble, along with a bottle of his murky tap water, three Sherlock Holmes-style smoking pipes and a briefcase filled with handguns."
Monday, October 21, 2024
Out the box, onto safe lawns
Lanyard, safety vest, awareness of digital phone camera, *check*
What's in their pocket, a pager to HQ?
"Excuse me, but there's a helmet under your spider."
Sunday, October 20, 2024
Saturday, October 19, 2024
'In Oregon, the tree grows on the west side of the Cascade Range, primarily in the Willamette, Umpqua and Rogue River valleys, and along the Columbia River Gorge, as well as in canyons adjacent to the gorge"
It is a drought-tolerant tree. Older specimens are often affected by heart rot.
The acorns are consumed by wildlife and livestock. David Douglas recorded that bears consumed them. "
"Quercus garryana woodlands create a landscape mosaic of grassland, savanna, woodland, and closed-canopy forest. This mosaic of varied habitats, in turn, allows many more species to live in this area than would be possible in coniferous forest alone. Parks Canada states that Garry oak woodlands support more species of plants than any other terrestrial ecosystem in British Columbia.
It grows in a variety of soil types, for instance, rocky outcrops, glacial gravelly outwash, deep grassland soils, and seasonally flooded riparian areas."
" Oregon white oak woodlands in British Columbia and Washington are critical habitats for a number of species that are rare or extirpated in these areas, plant, animal, and bryophyte:
Propertius duskywing butterfly Erynnis propertius, sole larval food plant is oak
Bucculatrix zophopasta leaf-mining moth, sole larval food plant is oak
Lewis woodpecker Melanerpes lewis
Slender billed nuthatch Sitta carolinensis aculeata
Sharp tailed snake Contia tenuis
Western gray squirrel Sciurus griseus
Western tanager Piranga ludoviciana
Western wood peewee Contopus sordidulus
Western bluebird Sialia mexicana
Sessile trillium Trillium parviflorum
Banded cord-moss Entosthodon fascicularis
Apple moss Bartramia stricta
(liverwort) Riccia ciliata
Golden Paintbrush Castilleja levisecta
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_garryana
'The mildly sweet (but perhaps unpalatable) acorns are edible, ideally after leaching. The bitterness of the toxic tannic acid would likely prevent anyone from eating enough to become ill.
Native Americans ate the acorns raw and roasted, also using them to make a kind of flour."
Thursday, October 17, 2024
Strike the loud Earth breathless
'The value of graphite would soon be realised to be enormous, mainly because it could be used to line the moulds for cannonballs; the mines were taken over by the Crown and were guarded.
When sufficient stores of graphite had been accumulated, the mines were flooded to prevent theft until more was required."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pencil
"Around 1560,[19] an Italian couple named Simonio and Lyndiana Bernacotti made what are likely the first blueprints for the modern, wood-encased carpentry pencil. Their version was a flat, oval, more compact type of pencil. Their concept involved the hollowing out of a stick of juniper wood. Shortly thereafter, a superior technique was discovered: two wooden halves were carved, a graphite stick inserted, and the halves then glued together—essentially the same method in use to this day."
Graphite powder and clay
"The first attempt to manufacture graphite sticks from powdered graphite was in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1662. It used a mixture of graphite, sulphur, and antimony.
English and German pencils were not available to the French during the Napoleonic Wars; France, under naval blockade imposed by Great Britain, was unable to import the pure graphite sticks from the British Grey Knotts mines – the only known source in the world. "
.jpg)
"According to Henry Petroski, transcendentalist philosopher Henry David Thoreau discovered how to make a good pencil out of inferior graphite using clay as the binder; this invention was prompted by his father's pencil factory in Concord, which employed graphite found in New Hampshire in 1821 by Charles Dunbar."
"By the end of the nineteenth century, over 240,000 pencils were used each day in the US. The favoured timber for pencils was Red Cedar as it was aromatic and did not splinter when sharpened.
In the early twentieth century supplies of Red Cedar were dwindling so that pencil manufacturers were forced to recycle the wood from cedar fences and barns to maintain supply.
One effect of this was that "during World War II rotary pencil sharpeners were outlawed in Britain
because they wasted so much scarce lead and wood, and pencils had to be sharpened in the more conservative manner – with knives."
*
"The pen is mightier than the sword"
is an expression indicating that the written word is more effective than violence as a means of social or political change.
This sentiment has been expressed with metaphorical contrasts of writing implements and weapons for thousands of years.
The specific wording that "the pen is mightier than the sword" was first used by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_pen_is_mightier_than_the_sword
"Beneath the rule of men entirely great
The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold
The arch-enchanters wand!— itself a nothing!—
But taking sorcery from the master-hand
To paralyse the Cæsars—and to strike
The loud earth breathless!—Take away the sword—
States can be saved without it!"
*
Earliest sources
edit
Assyrian sage Ahiqar, who reputedly lived during the early 7th century BCE, coined the first known version of this phrase. One copy of the Teachings of Ahiqar, dating to about 500 BCE, states,
"The word is mightier than the sword."
According to the website Trivia Library, the book The People's Almanac provides another very early example from Greek playwright Euripides, who died c. 406 BCE. He is supposed to have written:
"The tongue is mightier than the blade."
"The Islamic prophet Muhammad is quoted, in a saying narrated by 'Abdullah ibn Amr:
"There will be a tribulation that will wipe out the Arabs in which those killed on both sides are in the Hellfire.
In that time the spoken word will be stronger than the sword"
In contrast, Abu Tammam's Ode on the Conquest of Amorium poem intro:
"The sword is the truest news . In its sharpness, the boundary between seriousness and play"
The analogy would appear in again in 1582, in George Whetstone's An Heptameron of Civil Discourses:
"The dashe of a Pen, is more greeuous than the counterbuse of a Launce."
(be merely a spurious
quotation/munition)
William Shakespeare in 1600, in his play Hamlet Act 2, scene II, wrote:
"... many wearing rapiers are afraid of goosequills."
Robert Burton, in 1621, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, stated:
"It is an old saying, '
A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword':
and many men are as much galled with a calumny, a scurrilous and bitter jest,
a libel, a pasquil, satire, apologue,
epigram, stage-play or the like,.
as with any misfortune whatsoever."
After listing several historical examples he concludes: "Hinc quam sit calamus saevior ense patet",which translates as
"From this it is clear how much more cruel the pen may be than the sword."
"The French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821), known to history for his military conquests, also left this oft-quoted remark:
"Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets."
He also said:
"There are only two powers in the world,
saber and mind;
at the end,
saber is always defeated by mind."
*
"The motto appears in the school room illustration on page 168 of the first edition of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).
The words "pen" and "is" are suspiciously close together leading some scholars to speculate that the illustrator, True Williams, deliberately chose the narrow spacing as a subtle obscene prank."
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Hmmm
"Ron Dermer (Hebrew: רון דרמר, born April 16, 1971)
is an American-born Israeli political consultant
and diplomat serving as the Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs since 2022.
He served as the Israeli Ambassador to the United States from 2013 to 2021."
"At a 2014 Wharton School alumni dinner, Dermer said in a speech that
he chose to attend the school after reading
Donald J. Trump's book The Art of the Deal. "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Dermer
"Sharansky recommended that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then planning a political comeback, meet with Dermer.
Dermer has been advising Netanyahu ever since and is one of his closest confidantes"
"Dermer helped negotiate a 38 billion dollar military aid package with the US, the largest military aid deal of its kind ever."
"December 2016 Dermer was criticized for accepting an award from the Center for Security Policy, a conservative think tank led by Frank Gaffney, which was designated as a hate group by the Southern Policy Law Center.
The SPLC encouraged Dermer to decline the award because it "not only further legitimizes this organization, but could be read as an endorsement of anti-Muslim hate by the Israeli government."
"In 1996 he moved to Israel, and in 1997, he began the process of becoming an Israeli citizen.
On August 9, 1998, Dermer married artist Adi Blumberg, the daughter of the chairman of the Bank of Jerusalem, who had grown up in the Old City of Jerusalem. The wedding was presided over by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz.
Adi Blumberg died in February 2000."
'Dermer visited the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio and helped organize, alongside New England Patriots owner
Robert Kraft, an NFL Hall of Fame trip to Israel (2015),"
First Time Trepidation
"It is the first time Harris has publicly endorsed using the word fascist to describe Trump
and his plan for governance,
although it has been raised repeatedly by some observers as his campaign rhetoric and threats to jail his political opponents have grown more ominous."
Tepid Corporate shivering
In the face of unbridled totalitarian sleet
Handlers of handlers of handlers
Dividends drool gutter
Let's not get nasty as we bomb and starve children,
Buy billions in failing Boeing
As they fall apart over supine suburbs
Lace the lakes in toxins
Stalk women seeking control over their bodies
Threaten to disappear millions of immigrants, migrants, refugees
Harris immediately replied: “Yes, we can say that.”
Go ahead then
Sponsored by funding so dark it emanates a black hole accretion
Si se puede
"Trump had also advocated using the military against opponents
he accused of plotting “chaos” on election day,
although – as an opposition candidate –
he has no power to do so."
Neither does the Vice President,
Lunatic Fascist Felon Trump GOP
____
" Republicans are very much a party of clean air, clean water."
And Education.
'I felt like the Republican party was more in alignment with freedom, more in alignment with business, more in alignment with marriage, more in alignment with life in the womb."
Don't forget Rape, dude.
'I was the only gay guy and the only pro-Bush guy in fourth grade.
To me, conservatism is about actual individuality and autonomy and the understanding that the only real authority that we should appreciate and look towards is God"
9 year old gay voters for....
"He met with antisemite narcissist Kanye to see what could be done to remedy the injustice of more Black people being in prison – reducing the incarceration problem"
It seems like political violence is becoming more normalized in our society, which makes Trump much more unstable as things get close to election day.
Baryeh is a financial analyst. He lives in the Bronx and is a board member of the NYYRC Catholic caucus"
Monday, October 14, 2024
Revolves around performance (pumpkin on vine)
Clueless, standing in the entrance for twenty minutes, dog on a fully extended leash that nearly reaches me as I perform.
Finally I ask, "can you move to the side? "
"To the side? "
Nice, but clueless, and if you appreciate the music while basking, tip.
Produce, produce, produce.
Volunteer a tip after enjoying Music for 4 hours.
(Clueless.)
Sunday, October 13, 2024
The flip side of shit is shit
"Catholics believe the wafers used for the sacrament of communion .
literally transform into the body of the crucified Jesus Christ,
adding: “It is not just distasteful or ‘strange’; it is an all-too-familiar example of an elected official mocking religious persons and their practices.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/13/gretchen-whitmer-doritos-chip
'the stunt in question – captured on video with popular TikTok content creator Liz Plank – was meant to promote legislation signed by president Joe Biden in 2022 that is colloquially known as
the Chips Act and provided $280 Billion$
to research as well as manufacture semiconductors"
____
280, 000, 000, 000 dollars
Poor starving Tech Oligarchs,
Poor Catholic Hierarchy Men,
Transformed Literally
Into Politicians
The flip side of shit is shit
So is the middle, shit
____
"Whitmer... has been a prominent supporter of Harris and recently made headlines by calling Donald Trump “just deranged”
after the Republican nominee boasted that
women would no longer be thinking about abortion
if voters gave him a second presidency on 5 November."
___
"Gelvana Aparecida Rodrigues da Silva, 37, lost her son Thiago on 5 November 2015 when the Fundão dam, near Mariana in eastern Brazil, collapsed, releasing about
50 million cubic metres of toxic waste.
The avalanche of water reached the small community of Bento Rodrigues within minutes, killing 19 people, including Thiago, who had been staying with his grandmother at the time.
"He called for Jesus to save him. But they got ripped apart.”
"The iron ore waste stored in the dam rapidly moved down various watercourses, spilling over their banks and into the neighbouring municipalities of Mariana, Barra Longa, Rio Doce and Santa Cruz do Escalvado.
It destroyed bridges, roads, houses, factories and other commercial premises, as well as farmland, wildlife and historic churches containing priceless shit artefacts."
"About 620,000 individuals, 46 Brazilian municipalities, 2,000 businesses and 65 faith-based institutions are to claim damages from the Anglo-Australian mining company BHP at a high court trial in London scheduled to be heard over 12 weeks, from 21 October. "
"Thiago’s father, who died two years ago,
received a small payment
for compensation after the disaster"
____
"A Guardian report from 2020 described people in Corbett, Oregon, being stopped at armed civilian checkpoints and asked to identify themselves during wildfires, sparking a debate about vigilante activity and
how law enforcement should respond."
How about enforcing Law
And stopping intimidation
And armed vigilantes? Nah.
____
"I can’t sleep at night knowing that it’s going on,” one US official told the Guardian. “It’s another form of psychological torture to make someone work there.”
'Sde Teiman was set up as a temporary holding facility for detainees from Gaza after last year’s 7 October attack and the ensuing war. Human rights groups and released detainees say the thousands of of Palestinians who have been through the facility have been subjected to severe abuse and torture."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/14/usaid-gasa-aid-meetings-sde-teiman
"The situation there is more horrific than anything we’ve heard about Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo,” Khaled Mahajneh, a lawyer who visited Sde Teiman, told +972 Magazine."
Friday, October 11, 2024
Republicans and Worse Republicans
"A series of falsehoods and threats have swirled in the two weeks since Hurricane Helene tore through six states causing
several hundred deaths,
followed by Milton
crashing into Florida
on Wednesday."
"Katie Nickolaou, a Michigan-based meteorologist, said that she and her colleagues have borne the brunt of much of these conspiracies, having received messages claiming
there are category 6 hurricanes (there aren’t),
that meteorologists or the government are creating and directing hurricanes (they aren’t)
and even that scientists should be killed
and radar equipment be demolished. "
(Wrong.)
'several of Trump’s closest allies have baselessly asserted that the federal government is somehow controlling hurricanes.
“Hurricane Helene was an ATTACK caused by Weather Manipulation,” claimed a video shared by
Michael Flynn, a former national security advisor to Trump.
“Yes they can control the weather,”
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right congresswoman"
(And They Control far right Lunatics)
"Gloninger said that meteorologists are “going to reach a point of burnout.
What other profession are people targeted for simply doing their job?
All we are trying to do is protect life and property during extreme weather.”
____
Soldiers.
Politicians.
Science professionals, academics, anyone opposed to Fascism, Corporatism, Environmentalism, etc etc.
____
Helene killed Hundreds of people.
What's the death toll.
Is "Several hundred" precise, accurate?
If "a few hundred" is more accurate, just write Hundreds of people.
___
Flynn deserved court martial, prosecution, foreign agent status, years ago Years ago .
____
"More than 230 people have been killed from Hurricane Helene, .
which unleashed devastation across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.
Helene, which made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region as a massive Category 4 hurricane, has become
the deadliest mainland hurricane since
Katrina in 2005."
https://abcnews.go.com/US/live-updates/hurricane-helene/?id=113931821
How'd Republicans handle Katrina?
How'd FEMA perform under Bush and Katrina?
How many died from Katrina, Republicans?
____
Zettajoule
"Human annual world energy consumption is approximately 0.5 ZJ.
The energy to raise the temperature of Earth's atmosphere 1 °C is approximately 2.2 ZJ.
Yottajoule
The yottajoule (YJ) is equal to one septillion (1024) joules.
This is approximately the amount of energy required to heat all the water on Earth by 1 °C.
The thermal output of the Sun is approximately 400 YJ per second."
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Sunday, October 06, 2024
Saturday, October 05, 2024
William Grant Still
Suite for Violin and Piano
William Grant Still
____
Often referred to as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers," Still was the first American composer to have an opera produced by the New York City Opera.
He is known primarily for his first symphony, Afro-American Symphony (1930), which was, until 1950, the most widely performed symphony composed by an American.
Still was able to become a leading figure in the field of American classical music as the first African-American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra, have a symphony performed by a leading orchestra, have an opera performed by a major opera company, and have an opera performed on national television.
*
Still started violin lessons in Little Rock at the age of 15. He taught himself to play the clarinet, saxophone, oboe, double bass, cello and viola, and showed a great interest in music.
On February 8, 1939, he married pianist Verna Arvey, driving to Tijuana for the ceremony because interracial marriage was illegal in California.
For the 1939 New York World's Fair, Still composed Song of a City for the exhibit "Democracity," which played continuously during the fair's run.
Despite writing music for the fair, he was unable to attend the fair without police protection except on "Negro Day" .
algorithmically curated
"what he – and we – underestimated was the speed and comprehensiveness that tech corporations such as Google and Facebook
would enclose that public sphere with their own walled gardens
in which “free speech” could be algorithmically curated
while the speakers were intensively surveilled
and their data mined for advertising purposes."
___
search The Guardian using the term
"Gaza Starvation"
This is what we find:
"Israel minister condemned for saying starvation of millions in Gaza might be ‘justified and moral’
EU, UK and France urge Israel’s government to distance itself from comments by its finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich"
Wed 7 Aug 2024 20.57 EDT
So no News, no Starvation, nothing not a crumb....for almost a month
Specious to say the least.
Bombs missiles exploding pagers,
away
Complicity.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)