The host of the Shadiversity channel on YouTube gives us the lowdown on nunchaku.
He has a lot more to say about nunchaku in a series of videos. Click over there to enjoy them all. His entire channel is worth a look, if you like your weapons lore with a heavy side of snark and satire, as is his Shadlands channel on how to build your own medieval castle.
Peter
Amid all the protests against Israel for its punitive action in Gaza, it's worth remembering why that action is taking place. The Judean is publishing a series of articles with videos of what happened in Israel on October 7, showing in graphic detail what Hamas terrorists perpetrated on that day.
WARNING: THIS SERIES IS BRUTAL, BLOODY AND GRAPHIC IN THE EXTREME.
IT'S NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART.
YOU SHOULD NOT WATCH IT IF YOU'RE SQUEAMISH.
The series page runs from the latest video to the earliest, so if you want to watch them in sequence, scroll down to the earliest entry and watch them from that starting point.
If you have any doubts about why Israel is doing what it's doing in Gaza, these videos will remove all doubt from your mind. They also serve as a counterweight to the anti-Israeli propaganda that's being blasted from so many "woke" sources. For that reason, I think it's worth clicking over to The Judean and watching the series . . . if you can stomach it. I saw the same thing in Africa, many times over many years; but even so, parts of the videos made me feel sick. Be warned.
Peter
I'm obliged to reader M. L. S. for sending me the link to a speech by Christopher Rufo at Hillsdale College in September this year. We've met Mr. Rufo in these pages several times before. He's a meticulous investigator and authoritative journalist, who isn't afraid to tackle the real issues of the day and expose them. In his speech, he did just that for the rise of transgenderism and its social acceptance. Here are a few excerpts.
The sudden and pervasive rise of this movement provokes two questions: where did it come from, and how has it proved so successful? The story goes deeper than most Americans know.
In the late 1980s, a group of academics, including Judith Butler, Gayle Rubin, Sandy Stone, and Susan Stryker, established the disciplines of “queer theory” and “transgender studies.” These academics believed gender to be a “social construct” used to oppress racial and sexual minorities, and they denounced the traditional categories of man and woman as a false binary that was conceived to support the system of “heteronormativity”—i.e., the white, male, heterosexual power structure. This system, they argued, had to be ruthlessly deconstructed. And the best way to achieve this, they argued further, was to promote transgenderism. If men can become women, and women men, they believed, the natural structure of Creation could be toppled.
. . .
Some trans activists even view their movement as the future of Marxism. In a collection of essays titled Transgender Marxism, activist writer Rosa Lee argues that trans people can serve as the new vanguard of the proletariat, promising to abolish heteronormativity in the same way that orthodox Marxism promised to abolish capitalism ... This is the great project of the transgender movement: to abolish the distinctions of man and woman, to transcend the limitations established by God and nature, and to connect the personal struggle of trans individuals to the political struggle to transform society in a radical way.
. . .
According to survey data, up to 80 percent of trans individuals suffer from serious psychopathologies and one-quarter of black trans youth attempt suicide each year. “Gender-affirming care” largely fails to solve these problems, yet the doctors use these failures to justify even more extreme interventions up to the final one: genital reconstruction.
. . .
A less common but more symbolically apt surgery ... is known as “nullification,” in which a smooth, continuous skin covering from the abdomen to the groin is created following a castration or vaginectomy. In other words, the genitalia are replaced by nothing. Nullification surgery is the perfect symbol for the ideology behind the trans movement: the pursuit of the Latin nullum, meaning “nothing”; or the related nihil, the root of the English word “nihilism.” Trans ideology is animated by a profound nihilism that denies human nature and enables barbarism in the name of progress.
There's much more at the link. Highly recommended reading.
Mr. Rufo hit another one out of the park in his speech, IMHO. I think it's essential reading if we're to understand what drives the transgender movement in society today.
Peter
Gathered from around the Internet over the past week. Click any image for a larger view.
Following Friday's and Saturday's adventures with domestic flooding, and faced with a few days yet of drying out the house before repairs can begin, what else can I do but "celebrate" with some water music? Handel's three suites of Water Music, to be precise, here gathered together in a single album from the Consort of London conducted by Robert Haydon Clark. The movements, and the start time of each of them on the video below, are:
0:00 "Water" Suite No.1 in F Major, HMV 348: I. Overture
5:37 "Water" Suite No.1 in F Major, HMV 348: II. Andante e staccato
7:20 "Water" Suite No.1 in F Major, HMV 348: III. Allegro
14:34 "Water" Suite No.1 in F Major, HMV 348: IV. Presto
18:31 "Water" Suite No.1 in F Major, HMV 348: V. Air
21:30 "Water" Suite No.1 in F Major, HMV 348: VI. Minuet
24:31 "Water" Suite No.1 in F Major, HMV 348: VII. Bourree
26:45 "Water" Suite No.1 in F Major, HMV 348: VIII. Hornpipe
29:17 "Water" Suite No.1 in F Major, HMV 348: IX. Andante
32:03 "Water" Suite No.2 in D Major, HMV 349: I. Overture
36:29 "Water" Suite No.2 in D Major, HMV 349: II. Alla hornpipe
41:06 "Water" Suite No.2 in D Major, HMV 349: III. Minuet
43:30 "Water" Suite No.2 in D Major, HMV 349: IV. Presto
46:03 "Water" Suite No.2 in D Major, HMV 349: V. Minuet
47:05 "Water" Suite No.2 in D Major, HMV 349: VI. Bourre
49:13 "Water" Suite No.2 in D Major, HMV 349: VII. Country Dance
50:54 "Water" Suite No.3 in G Major, HMV 350: I. Allegro
53:05 "Water" Suite No.3 in G Major, HMV 350: II. Alla hornpipe
57:27 "Water" Suite No.3 in G Major, HMV 350: III. Minuet
59:52 "Water" Suite No.3 in G Major, HMV 350: IV. Lentement
1:01:02 "Water" Suite No.3 in G Major, HMV 350: V. Air
Sadly, I don't think I can play that to Servicemaster's technicians as they complete the drying-out process in our home. They wouldn't be able to hear it over the noise of their fans and dehumidifiers!
Peter
If you stopped by yesterday, you'll know that we had a plumbing emergency on Thursday evening. Thankfully, our insurer (USAA) was on the ball, and authorized an immediate visit by Servicemaster. Their technicians were here within an hour of our lodging our claim, and stayed all day, measuring water contamination, removing baseboards, drilling holes in drywall and cutting away certain parts of it, getting rid of wet insulation, and preparing the house for dehumidifying. Their machines are roaring away right now, and will be for a few days yet, drying everything and making sure no mold or other problems will remain. (I must admit, I had no idea how much work is involved in drying out after a leak like this. In my country of origin, South Africa, most houses are brick-built with plastered walls. There are very few framed houses with drywall, like most homes in the USA. In the former water can't get inside the walls, and cleanup mostly involves drying things, replastering if necessary [it's usually not], and repainting. Simpler all round.)
After everything's dry, it'll be at least a couple of weeks worth of remediation. The techs ripped up a couple of hundred square feet of laminate flooring, and part of the tiled floor in the kitchen will need repair and/or replacement; and there's new drywall to fix the parts taken out, plus patching and repainting. I'm grateful our insurance policy is a good one; without it, we'd be stuck with tens of thousands of dollars in remediation and repair costs. As it is, we pay our deductible of $1,000 (which our emergency reserve fund will cover - yet more proof that taking the time and trouble to build up such a reserve is worthwhile), and the rest is not our problem. USAA's premiums may be higher than some of their rivals', but dealing with them has always been straightforward on the few occasions we've had to make a claim, and in our experience they're very quick to respond. Peace of mind is worth the cost, IMHO!
Insurance doesn't cover the cost of repairing or replacing our dishwasher, so we'll be looking at options over the next few days. I'm sure we can repair the one we've got, but it's a very basic unit that came with the house. It looks to be 15-20 years old, and its internal trays are showing the passage of time - some rust, a few missing posts and brackets, and so on. We'll look at new and used alternatives, and see what's available in our area. I know new machines are hobbled by the never-to-be-sufficiently-damned EPA regulations, but I understand there are a few makes and models that get around them to be pretty efficient (and we can always add boosters to the detergent to make them more so). If any readers have recommendations for current-model dishwashers, please let us know in Comments and provide a link if possible. If we learn anything interesting during our search, I'll put up a blog article about it.
Our two cats are NOT. HAPPY. Their nice, peaceful domestic world has been trampled all over by strangers, parts of their floor first got wet and then went away (noisily), mommy and daddy have been so distracted that they haven't given them their usual care and attention, and they don't know what's going on. They want it all to STOP. RIGHT. NOW. One can't blame them, of course, but they're just going to have to put up with it for a few weeks. (One problem is going to be to stop Ashbutt, who was described by Bob of the FarmFamily as a "paws-on helping cat" when he gave him to us, from trying to get into all the work going on. He's intensely curious, and wants to fiddle with everything. Not a good idea when power tools, glue and paint are involved!)
You'll understand that with all that going on, I didn't have time to prepare my regular Saturday Snippet post. Please amuse yourselves with the bloggers listed in my sidebar. I'll try to have a Sunday Morning Music post as scheduled tomorrow. (Hmmm . . . water music, perhaps? Something about drying out? I don't know if there are songs about plumbing, drywall and laminate flooring, but I'll check!)
More later.
Peter
Woke up to a very wet (sodden!) kitchen floor, and an overflowing dishwasher. I don't think it's a blocked drain, or something simple like that, because when emptied, the dishwasher keeps filling up again. It'll be a plumber day, I'm afraid, and possibly a replacement dishwasher.
That being the case, and working around mopping, pumping, buckets and two curious cats who Want. To. Help., I suspect I won't have much time for blogging today. Please amuse yourselves with the bloggers in the sidebar. They write good, too!
Peter
EDITED TO ADD: 09h50 - Plumber has been and gone. Leak stopped. Now for insurance assessment of damage, and getting hold of an appliance service company to fix/replace the dishwasher. So far, so good.
Instead of dueling banjos, we have - in Chicago this week - dueling entitlements.
There was chaos at City Hall on Tuesday as protesters took over a meeting about Chicago's status as a sanctuary city ... The mostly African-American crowd jammed the City Council gallery, with hundreds more downstairs on the first floor held back by officers with bicycles. They're angry the city is spending tens of millions of dollars to shelter migrants, money they say should be going to help Chicagoans in poor neighborhoods.
. . .
Sparking the crowd's anger were efforts by Mayor Brandon Johnson's former floor leader, 35th Ward Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, to derail a special meeting last week held to discuss the sanctuary city referendum. Ramirez-Rosa tried to prevent a quorum, at one point physically blocking veteran Alderwoman Emma Mitts from entering the chamber.
Today's protesters responded by creating their own chaos, refusing to leave the council chamber until the meeting was eventually suspended.
"In all my years, I haven't seen anything like this," said 15th Ward Alderman Raymond Lopez. "But I've also never seen such a concerted effort to ignore the will of the people."
There's more at the link.
In so many words: "Iffen there's free money to give, we wuz here fust! Gimme! Don't give none to them furriners!"
I bet none of the proudly self-proclaimed "sanctuary cities" saw that coming . . . although I can't imagine why. Once people get used to being subsidized by the government, they'll naturally object to "their" subsidies being spent on someone else. Unfortunately, with the millions upon millions of illegals being imported by the Biden administration, the problem's only going to get worse, and the welfare and entitlement budgets will spiral more and more into the red.
Fifty shades of Cloward-Piven! Pass the popcorn . . .
Peter
This report made me smile.
What you see is what you get: A $995 electric Honda scooter that can go 12 miles on one charge, hit 15 mph in seven seconds, and fold into a 41-pound suitcase designed for your average trunk.
Weighing only 41 pounds, the Motocompacto is lightweight enough for almost anyone to carry it. It folds into a neat little rectangle with a sturdy Honda-branded carrying strap and a few grab points, making it easy to maneuver and package in and out of trunks and hatchbacks. It’s smaller than most electric scooters and motorcycles when folded, meaning it can fit in more places. It measures just 29.2 inches long, 3.7 inches deep, and 21.1 inches high when folded up.
All said and done, a seasoned Motocompacto veteran can fold and unfold the bike in about 30 seconds in seven steps. When it’s unfolded, it has a deep storage area where the handlebars normally stow, which has enough space for a college textbook or a 12-pack depending on your college lifestyle ... Like a true Honda, it is also front-wheel drive. There are no physical brakes for the front wheel, using just motor braking to slow the front wheel while using a drum brake for the rear ... it has no form of suspension and uses solid rubber tires.
There's more at the link.
I can see this being a perfectly practical runabout for a city dweller who lives in close proximity to work, shopping, entertainment and the like. They could even carry it on the train or bus with them. It wouldn't be much use to those who, like me, live in small town America and have to drive a ways to get to a larger city to do most of our shopping. Nevertheless, it looks like a lot of fun. I imagine the engineers who designed it had fun, too.
I won't get one, because it simply won't be practical where we live (or, on our budget, affordable). Nevertheless, it amused me to see it. Kudos to Honda for a useful, innovative little project that brings a smile to peoples' faces.
Hmmm . . . I wonder . . . if I towed one of those tiny Honda generators behind it, could I recharge it as I drove, and get close to perpetual motion?
Peter
This report is a couple of years old, but I only just came across it. It made me smile.
The pup was soon adopted, and (along with his unicorn) was sent for further training to ease his transition into family life.
Before Sisu and his unicorn left the shelter for their training at the rescue ranch, the pair made an important stop.
"We took him back to the Dollar General so he could see the employees there," explains Joe Newburn, a supervisor at Duplin County Animal Services.
. . .
"He actually had to go through the whole store to get to that unicorn. It was in the Easter section he went to that same unicorn and kept pulling it out, and finally, he had done it so much the store called us," Newburn explains of how Sisu came under the shelter's care.
. . .
After visiting his friends at Dollar General, Sisu moved to Lab Rescue LRCP to receive training to address his behavioral issues. Newburn says Sisu currently has trouble interacting with other dogs, likely due to his time as a stray, so the shelter wanted to provide him with training before sending the pooch to his new home. Lab Rescue LRCP's Sterrie Weaver will work with Sisu over the next few weeks to help the dog feel more comfortable around other canines and ready him for life in a home.
There's more at the link.
That's just too cute! Kudos to the animal control officer who bought him the unicorn. I guess we know why she chose her job.
Peter
OK, this threw me. Accuweather reports:
Head into any gym, and you may find someone walking backward on a treadmill or pedaling in reverse on an elliptical machine. While some may be employing reverse motion as part of a physical therapy regimen, others may be doing so to boost their physical fitness and overall health.
“I think it’s amazing to add in some backwards motion to your day,” said Grayson Wickham, a physical therapist at Lux Physical Therapy and Functional Medicine in New York City. “People are sitting way too much today, plus they lack varied movement.”
. . .
Why is backward motion so helpful? “When you’re propelling yourself forward, that’s a hamstring-dominant movement,” said Landry Estes, a certified strength and conditioning specialist in College Station, Texas. “If you’re walking backwards, it’s a role reversal, where your quads are firing and you’re doing knee extensions.”
As a result, you’re working different muscles, which is always beneficial, plus gaining strength. “Strength overcomes a lot of deficiencies,” Estes said.
You’re also moving your body in an atypical way. Most people spend their days living and moving in the sagittal plane (forward and backward motion), and almost exclusively in the forward sagittal plane, Wickham said.
“The body adapts to the positions and movements and postures you do most often,” Wickham said. “That can lead to tight muscles and joints, which leads to joint compensation, which leads to joint wear and tear, then pain and injury. The more we can add in varied movement into our day-to-day activities or in the gym, it’s so much more beneficial for the body.”
There's more at the link.
(Checks article byline and calendar . . . no, the report isn't dated April 1st . . . )
That took me by surprise. I've never heard of it anywhere else. Have any of my readers tried walking backwards? Did it do anything for your fitness and/or health (apart from tripping over everything and everyone you can't see)? If so, please let us know.
It's not a new idea, of course, as The Goon Show demonstrated back in the 1950's.
As our friend Lawdog would say, <Gigglesnort!>
Peter
Shamelessly stolen from Kim du Toit, because it made me laugh out loud:
When a fly falls into a cup of coffee:
- Italian – throws the cup, breaks it, and walks away in a fit of rage.
- German – tosses out the coffee, carefully washes the cup, sterilizes it and makes a new cup of coffee.
- Frenchman – takes out the fly, and drinks the coffee.
- Chinese – eats the fly and throws away the coffee.
- Russian – drinks the coffee with the fly, since it was extra with no charge.
- Israeli – sells the coffee to the Frenchman, sells the fly to the Chinese, sells the cup to the Italian, drinks a cup of tea, and uses the extra money to invent a device that prevents flies from falling into coffee.
- Hamas Terrorist – blames the Israeli for the fly falling into his coffee, protests the act of aggression to the UN, takes a loan from the European Union to buy a new cup of coffee, uses the money to purchase explosives and then blows up the coffee house where the Italian, the Frenchman, the Chinese, the German and the Russian are all trying to explain to the Israeli that he should give away his cup of coffee to the Palestinians so there will be peace.
Peter
With all the political chaos in this country, and waves of illegal aliens pouring across our southern border, and "woke" policies screwing up our institutions and corporations, and education a joke, and world affairs drowning in blood, a lot of people get to the point of despair. They ask themselves, "Why bother? If things are going to hell in a handbasket, I can't stop them, and can't alter their course, so why not just give up and reach for the nearest bottle to drown my sorrows?"
Wrong approach, big-time.
It's hard to accept that we can't affect the "big picture" . . . but we can't. It's as simple as that. Nothing I as an individual can do will influence a corporation, or a government, or a nation to do something different. So, I simply must accept that. Why beat my head against a brick wall?
On the other hand, there's a lot I can do to affect myself, and my family, and my immediate environment. If I help get all those things right, then my family and those around us will live happier lives. If families around us live happier and more successful lives, we'll spread the message by example. If enough of us do that, we can change a suburb, or a town, or even a region. We can't affect things from the top down - so why not affect them one life at a time, from the ground up?
That's why I've persevered with this blog for all these years. I can't persuade everyone, and my voice isn't anywhere near loud enough to be heard above the blather from the bully pulpits of this world. Nevertheless, I still have a pastor's heart, after all my years doing that for real. I still have a voice. If I can use my voice to reach one, or two, or three people every day, I can help them. If they, in turn, use their voices to reach one, or two, or three other people every day, that spreads. Sure, it'll never be noticed in the "big picture" - but enough of us doing that can change the "big picture". If we can do that in the right way, in the right direction, the world can still be a better place because we're in it. We may not be able to change every place, but we can help to change the place we're in; and if enough of us do that, our combined influence can reach a surprising distance.
So . . . in the midst of all the sturm und drang going on all around us . . . what can each and every one of us do, to make a practical difference?
Let's go further.
Trite? Possibly . . . but it's the only way I know to deal with life. Let's get the basics right, one step at a time, one day at a time. I doubt that any of us have got all of them right, all of the time. We could all stand to do better. If enough of us try to do that, I think we may be surprised at what a difference we can make (with God's help, for those who believe as I do) to the world we live in, and those we love, and the people around us. For those who don't believe as I do . . . try it anyway. You might be surprised!
Peter
In a recent article, retired US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor warned that the situation in Gaza could escalate out of national or regional control.
Technologies have altered the conduct of warfare, but more importantly, the societies and states of the Islamic world have also changed. Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Iran, and Turkey are different in character from what they were in the 1970s. None of the states bordering Israel will tolerate population shifts that introduce large numbers of Palestinian Arabs into their societies. Europeans want them even less.
Iran’s national leaders have already called on Islamic and Arab countries to form a united front against Israel, but Iran’s influence in these matters is more limited than most Americans realize. Iranian military power is largely restricted to Iran’s use of proxy militias like Hezbollah and their cooperation with the Pasdaran, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran is simply incapable of adding high-end conventional military forces to such a front. Tehran’s government also knows that the use of Iran’s formidable theater ballistic missile force against Israel risks almost certain Israeli nuclear retaliation.
The governments of Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and Lebanon are very probably opposed to a general war against Israel, but their enraged populations could easily trap them into doing so. Scenes of celebration across the Middle East showing people waving Palestinian and Hamas flags, dancing, and singing in the streets are being shared on social media.
Turkey’s President Erdogan has offered to mediate between Hamas and Israel, but Erdoğan himself has warned that the war won’t just stop “in a week or two.” However, Turkey, a nation of more than 80 million, is the one actor in the region with the societal cohesion, martial culture, and military power to lead the Sunni Arab states in a confrontation with Israel.
. . .
In Ukraine, Washington underestimated Russian resolve and military power. Washington should not repeat this mistake by underestimating the potential for a regional Muslim alliance that could threaten Israel’s existence. The possibility that Israel could end up like Ukraine should not be discounted.
There's more at the link.
In a more recent interview, the Colonel went into more detail about how the current situation in the Middle East could slide out of control and embroil the world in a new, much wider conflict whose end cannot easily be predicted. I'd like to say up front that I endorse Col. Macgregor's warnings in this video; from my reading of geopolitics, based on my own years of experience in the Third World and miscellaneous military meanderings, he's spot on. Also, a tip o' the hat to Harry S. for sending me the link to this video clip. Thanks, Harry!
If that doesn't scare you, it should. I think we're perilously close to this thing exploding in all our faces.
Peter
Steven Crowder yesterday leaked images of three pages from the alleged manifesto of the Nashville school shooter. His posts have been scrubbed from social media, but the images may be seen on his Web site. I highly recommend clicking over there to read them.
It turns out the shooter, named Audrey Elizabeth Hale at birth but claiming to be a trans male, was an out-and-out racist and fanatically anti-white "true believer". So much for official insinuations that she "snapped" because she experienced rejection due to her trans status. That appears to have had little or nothing to do with her actions.
Well over half a year after the shooting, the authorities have yet to release her manifesto, and are refusing to even talk about the video she mentions in the portion released by Crowder yesterday. How much more do they know that they aren't telling us? The official silence is so deafening that one must needs assume that they're trying to lie to us yet again, this time by omission more than commission.
I think we owe Steven Crowder a debt of gratitude for doing what the authorities should have done a long time ago. I hope he has more of the manifesto, and will release it soon. And, to all those in authority who refused to do so . . . thanks for nothing!
Peter
We've spoken in the past about emergency power generation, usually through gasoline or propane generators, and recently by using so-called "power stations", effectively large batteries that deliver "clean" electrical power but tend to be more expensive than generators (sometimes much more). Popular brands in power stations include (but are not limited to) Bluetti, Ecoflow and Jackery. I own products from both of the latter companies, largely because I was able to catch a price break on them when I needed one.
New battery technology is making its way into such power stations, making it worthwhile to consider upgrading to newer models. For example, the battery of the old-model Ecoflow River Pro power station (one of which I use) was rated for up to 800 charge/discharge cycles. The new River 2 Pro model uses improved battery technology that's rated for up to 3,000 cycles, or up to 10 years of regular use, and charges faster and more efficiently to boot. It's also smaller and lighter, and therefore more easily portable, than its predecessor. Other models, and other manufacturers, are offering similar advances.
These power stations are of particular importance if you rely on electrically-powered medical equipment such as a CPAP machine, an oxygen generator, or the like. Power failures can last long enough to pose a serious health risk to those dependent on such tools. I haven't forgotten our big power crisis in Texas a couple of years ago, when some areas of the state lost power for a week or more. Folks who had generators were OK for a few days, but many of them made the mistake of buying generators big enough to run most of their household appliances. That's all very well, but they use a lot of fuel to do so. By the third or fourth day, people were running out of fuel - and without power, the gas stations couldn't pump any, or process credit card payments. (That's why I've chosen a smaller generator that produces less power, but also uses much less fuel. We can do without most appliances until the power is reconnected.) A power station like those mentioned above can provide all-night power to a medical appliance, and be recharged during the day using a generator, a solar panel, even a car's cigarette lighter socket. If you have to use the unit 24/7/365, get two power stations, so that while one's in use, the other can be recharged. That can be a literal life-saver.
Most of the companies offering power stations also offer solar panels to recharge them when the power's out, or you can use third-party solar recharging equipment (provided it's plug- and power-compatible with your equipment). You can get adapters to connect one type of solar power plug to another type of socket. It's a bit fiddly, and I wish they'd settle on a common standard so that we could all use the same thing without worrying, but I guess that's not likely to happen in the short term. For now, you pays your money and takes your choice, and hope it works. (Test it thoroughly before you really need it, just in case!)
The new model power stations often have a higher sticker price than older models, but frequently this is offset by coupons or discounts, particularly at store level. For example, I've just replaced an old power station with a new Ecoflow River 2 Max model. Buying direct from Ecoflow, the price was listed as $469.00; buying from Amazon, it was $399.00; and from Sams Club, taking advantage of a short-duration "Doorbuster" sale and ordering online, it was $279.00. You can guess which one I bought! I've also noticed older models being sold at a discount. The latest technology and bells and whistles are all very well, but sometimes they're unaffordable, so keep an eye out for such sales. Shop around, compare prices, and don't be afraid to ask for discounts. Given the poor economy right now, shops are probably going to be willing to cut a deal now and then.
Peter
Today's award goes to a woman in Indianapolis who screwed up her own hate crime.
IMPD officers arrested a woman, who they labeled a “terrorist,” after she drove her car into a building that she thought was a Jewish school.
. . .
Ruba Almaghtheh, 34, was arrested on a preliminary charge of criminal recklessness.
According to a police report obtained by FOX59/CBS4, police were called to the building around 11:30 Friday night to investigate a hate crime. Officers said Almaghtheh backed her car into the building while several adults and children were inside.
Almaghtheh told officers she was watching news coverage of the Israel-Hamas war on television and decided to plan an attack on the building because she was offended by the “Hebrew Israelite” symbol on the front of the building.
Police said Almaghtheh passed by the building a couple times and called it the “Israel school.”
IMPD said she made reference to “her people back in Palestine” and told officers, “Yes. I did it on purpose.”
However, the Anti-Defamation League defines the Israelite School of Universal and Practical Knowledge as an “extreme and antisemitic” sect of the Black Hebrew Israelites. The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the Black Hebrew Israelites as a hate group.
There's more at the link.
According to Wikipedia, "In 2017, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) listed the Black Hebrew Israelites as one of the 'black nationalist groups of concern', along with the Nation of Islam and others. The SPLC has also described the Black Hebrew Israelites as a hate group which supports racial segregation, Holocaust denial, homophobia, and promotes a race war, and as of December 2019, it 'lists 144 Black Hebrew Israelite organizations as black separatist hate groups because of their antisemitic and anti-white beliefs'."
A few days ago, a Jewish journalist posted video of a violent clash between Black Hebrew Israelite and pro-Hamas demonstrators, noting that "BHI believe they are the real Jews, and Jews like me are fake Khazarians. Did not have this on my 2023 bingo card." The BHI demonstrators weren't attacking the others to defend Israel, but because they regarded themselves as true Israelites and Israeli Jews as imposters and false believers. It gets complicated.
Anyway, to get back to the original report, Ms. Almaghtheh apparently attacked the BHI building because she thought it was a Jewish property marked with a Jewish symbol. In fact, she attacked an anti-semitic, racist, extremist group that appears to want to hurt Israel and Jews as much as she does. Talk about a jihadi own goal!
Peter
Gathered from around the Internet over the past week. Click any image for a larger view.
The legendary British rock and progressive rock band, The Moody Blues, was formed in 1964. A couple of years later, in 1966, two of the founding members left and two replacements were recruited, including Justin Hayward, who became the lead vocalist for the group until it was disbanded (after the death of the last original member) in 2018.
Hayward also had a long-standing solo career, releasing his first album in 1965 and continuing to perform alone and with others since then. He's continued to tour under his own name, not using the Moody Blues label because he's not in favor of "rip-off tribute bands", as he's called imitators before. This has included several tours of the USA, most recently this year. Even at the age of 77, he's still performing and entertaining audiences. I have to doff my cap in tribute to his longevity and ongoing enthusiasm for music.
I've picked five of his live performances on US tours, from 2019 to a couple of weeks ago. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. In several of them, he takes the time to introduce the song concerned and describe how it was composed and/or named.
From the Moody Blues' 1981 album "Long Distance Voyager", here's "The Voice".
Here's "Are You Sitting Comfortably?" from the group's fourth studio album, "On The Threshold Of A Dream", released in 1969.
"Question" was originally released as a single, but was later used as the lead track for the Moody Blues' sixth studio album released in 1970, "A Question Of Balance".
Hayward was invited to contribute to Jeff Wayne's 1978 musical based on H. G. Wells' novel "The War of the Worlds". The novel became a classic, and has never been out of print since its first publication in the last years of the 19th Century; and the musical has enjoyed similar enduring success, selling over 15 million copies to date and still being popular. Here's Hayward singing "Forever Autumn" from that musical, a song that became a major hit for him.
And finally, here's his solo rendition of his own composition, the classic Moody Blues number "Nights In White Satin", from their second album "Days Of Future Passed".
Lots of musical memories there . . .
Peter
Alfred, Lord Tennyson was Poet Laureate of Great Britain for over 40 years. He wrote many poems that have become well-known, even famous, and have long outlived him.
This morning, I'd like to share with you one of my personal favorites of his early works: The Lady of Shallot. It's set in the legend of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table, and reflects the romanticism of the period. Tennyson published three versions of the poem during his lifetime; this is the second, from 1842, today regarded as the definitive text.
Part I
On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro' the field the road runs by
To many-tower'd Camelot;
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.
Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Thro' the wave that runs for ever
By the island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot.
Four gray walls, and four gray towers,
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle imbowers
The Lady of Shalott.
By the margin, willow veil'd,
Slide the heavy barges trail'd
By slow horses; and unhail'd
The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd
Skimming down to Camelot:
But who hath seen her wave her hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?
Or is she known in all the land,
The Lady of Shalott?
Only reapers, reaping early
In among the bearded barley,
Hear a song that echoes cheerly
From the river winding clearly,
Down to tower'd Camelot:
And by the moon the reaper weary,
Piling sheaves in uplands airy,
Listening, whispers " 'Tis the fairy
Lady of Shalott."
Part II
There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott.
And moving thro' a mirror clear
That hangs before her all the year,
Shadows of the world appear.
There she sees the highway near
Winding down to Camelot:
There the river eddy whirls,
And there the surly village-churls,
And the red cloaks of market girls,
Pass onward from Shalott.
Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,
An abbot on an ambling pad,
Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad,
Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad,
Goes by to tower'd Camelot;
And sometimes thro' the mirror blue
The knights come riding two and two:
She hath no loyal knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott.
But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
For often thro' the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights
And music, went to Camelot:
Or when the moon was overhead,
Came two young lovers lately wed:
"I am half sick of shadows," said
The Lady of Shalott.
Part IIIA bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley-sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves,
And flamed upon the brazen greaves
Of bold Sir Lancelot.
A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
Beside remote Shalott.
The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The bridle bells rang merrily
As he rode down to Camelot:
And from his blazon'd baldric slung
A mighty silver bugle hung,
And as he rode his armour rung,
Beside remote Shalott.
All in the blue unclouded weather
Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather,
The helmet and the helmet-feather
Burn'd like one burning flame together,
As he rode down to Camelot.
As often thro' the purple night,
Below the starry clusters bright,
Some bearded meteor, trailing light,
Moves over still Shalott.
His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;
On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow'd
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down to Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flash'd into the crystal mirror,
"Tirra lirra," by the river
Sang Sir Lancelot.
She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces thro' the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.
Part IVIn the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks complaining,
Heavily the low sky raining
Over tower'd Camelot;
Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And round about the prow she wrote
The Lady of Shalott.
And down the river's dim expanse
Like some bold seër in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance—
With a glassy countenance
Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shalott.
Lying, robed in snowy white
That loosely flew to left and right—
The leaves upon her falling light—
Thro' the noises of the night
She floated down to Camelot:
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady of Shalott.
Heard a carol, mournful, holy,
Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Till her blood was frozen slowly,
And her eyes were darken'd wholly,
Turn'd to tower'd Camelot.
For ere she reach'd upon the tide
The first house by the water-side,
Singing in her song she died,
The Lady of Shalott.
Under tower and balcony,
By garden-wall and gallery,
A gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead-pale between the houses high,
Silent into Camelot.
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and burgher, lord and dame,
And round the prow they read her name,
The Lady of Shalott.
Who is this? and what is here?
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
And they cross'd themselves for fear,
All the knights at Camelot:
But Lancelot mused a little space;
He said, "She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott."
If you'd like to read the original, 1832 version, you'll find it here. There are a number of differences, particularly in the last verse.
Peter
