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Content Catnip @[email protected] · 2026-04-25 · 18:40 UTC

10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet 179

Let me carry your voice: famous actors read testimonies of Palestinians enduring Israeli torture
The “Let Me Carry Your Voice” is a series of testimonies of the torture endured by Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory as a result of Israel’s genocide, decades-long occupation, and apartheid. In this edition, Annie Lennox, Javier Bardem, Guy Pearce and Laura Morante read the real stories of Palestinians.
Injustice is not abstract. It is engraved in people’s skin, bones, minds. It tears through everyday life, exposing the depths of human cruelty.
Justice is not abstract either. It begins with each of us. It demands courage, sacrifice, discomfort, change. It requires us to speak up, to demand accountability. To ensure that no story is pushed into the darkness. They want to silence Palestine. We will not let them.
https://youtu.be/XuDA-l2cQ6k?si=UG9lb6lMdo98PvKC

Green Summer Ride in Nagano, Japan
https://youtu.be/vFH2lGROUI8?si=S2kuHWABOqmIh3QO

Thaithong’s fairy lantern, a type of plant native to southeast Asia. Photo Chatree Lertsintanakorn

Jim Carey’s speech to university graduates about choosing a great path through life
https://youtu.be/RrOGQD4Z9A4?si=O2k0qrMd0n1OgBtp

Crispy Chinese Eggplant by Nagi
This is the end-game for sticky hot fried finger food people…the END GAME!
https://youtu.be/Hq3fRxXi8JY?si=UlG_CDMzF-PUmFk6

Jamie MacDougall Art and Music
This drawing really captures a beautiful and joyful moment between two species!
A pencil drawing of a woman and a baby gorilla by Jamie MacDougall Art and Music
20 Japanese Words for Rain by Miya Ando
Turning picture and prose into a poignant meditation on nature’s impermanence.
Via MIT Press Reader
“Sanbaine (A Sudden Evening Storm That Occurs So Quickly, One Has No Time To Make Even Three Bundles Of Rice)” by Miya Ando
In Western culture, there has always been a tendency to seek stability and permanence. Plato envisioned eternal truths in his theory of forms; Newton described a physical world governed by immutable laws; America’s Founding Fathers drafted a Constitution designed to endure the ages. Beneath all of this lies a discomfort with the notion that nothing lasts forever.
Miya 美夜 Ando has spent the past two decades confronting that impermanence in her artistic practice. Guided by the Japanese aphorism mono no aware — a recognition of reality’s fundamental transience — the Japanese and American visual artist often focuses on fleeting natural phenomena, such as clouds, lunar phases, and shooting stars.
This article is adapted from Miya Ando’s “Water of the Sky: A Dictionary of 2,000 Japanese Rain Words.”
This focus animates her latest work, “Water of the Sky.” The book is a stunning bilingual compendium of 2,000 Japanese words for rain along with their English interpretations, all of which capture “the breadth and diversity of rain’s many expressions,” Ando writes: “When it falls, how it falls, and how its observer might be transformed physically or emotionally by its presence.” Accompanying the text are 100 of her indigo drawings — rendered in pencil and micronized pure silver — each offering a visual display of rain’s varied forms.
Below, you’ll find five drawings and 20 words from Ando’s visual dictionary. The text ranges from “prosaic to esoteric, extending from the meteorological to the mystical and from the minute to the vast,” she writes. “My visual interpretations of these terms are not so much illustrations as evocations, attempts to embody or imagine that particular rain’s precise and essential quality.”
— The Editors

Taikan Jiu: Mercy-from-drought rain
Kabashira Tateba, Ame: See a swarm of mosquitoes, signal of rain
Uki: Praying for rain
Onibi: Will-o’-the-wisp seen on rainy nights
Tokidoki Niwaka Ame: Sometimes light snow and rain showers
Tokidoki Niwaka Yuki: Sometimes snow or sometimes light snow or rain
Giu: False rain
Ama ga Nukeru: The skies open up, it rains like cats and dogs
Shinotsukuame: Intense rain that falls heavily, is very fine and strong like the Bamboo Grove at Shinotake
Uryū Ensa: Describes the appearance of a fisherman working in the rain
Hitome: One rain
Sau: Rain that falls on the river shoal
Amadoi: Sliding red beans to resemble the sound of rain
Nakidashisōna Soramoyō: The sky appears as though it is about to start crying
Kōu: Rain that comes exactly when you were waiting for it
Amagaeru Fukō: A boy who was punished and turned into a frog that cries before it rains for his misdeeds against his father
Sanbaine: A sudden evening storm that occurs so quickly, one has no time to make even three bundles of rice
Zubunure: Soaked by rain all the way through one’s clothing
Amaguri Higaki: In years of rain, chestnuts produce well; in years of sunshine, persimmons produce well
Kitsune no Yomeiri: The day that foxes have their wedding ceremony
“Shinotsukuame (Intense Rain That Falls Heavily, Is Very Fine And Strong Like The Bamboo Grove At Shinotake)” by Miya Ando “Sau (Rain That Falls On The River Shoal)” by Miya Ando“Kitsune no Yomeiri (The Day That Foxes Have Their Wedding Ceremony)” by Miya Ando“Uryū Ensa (Describes the Appearance of a Fisherman Working in the Rain)” by Miya Ando“Uki (Praying For Rain)” by Miya Ando
Autistic communication bingo
I can relate to a fair few of these and a lot of the people who I associate with have these traits also. Found via BlueSky

Seagrass comes alive in the ebb and flow of the ocean
A mystical dance of amazement
https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFuckingLit/comments/1offrgj/the_seagrass_comes_alive_with_the_ebb_and_flow_of/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

My perfect dream home
This gilded Middle Eastern salon adorned with intricate frescoes to romantic floral patterns and warm colours is my perfect dream home.

Djuma Soundsystem – Les Djinns (Trentemøller Remix)
I don’t know Djuma Soundsystem I am so glad that now I do. The combination of dark electro and middle eastern influence is a match made in heaven. Trentemøller has an amazing and extensive back catalogue of dark electro and techno to explore and enjoy as well.
https://youtu.be/SHfqI7PntCc?si=m3KUg0uKmOD0VZQR

The enchanting Ottoman maps of ancient cities by Matrakçı Nasuh
The Bosnian-born polymath Matrakçı Nasuh earned his nickname from an unlikely source, inventing a military lawn game involving cudgels called “matrak”. But this 16th-century scholar’s legacy lays mainly in his exquisite miniature paintings documenting the Ottoman Empire’s landscapes and cities.
His most significant work, Fetihname-i Karabuğdan, chronicles Suleiman the Magnificent’s 1532–1555 Safavid campaign. The manuscript traces the Ottoman army’s route from Istanbul through Baghdad and Tabriz, then back through Halab and Eskisehir. Each city appears rendered with meticulous and charming detail.
Matrakçı’s precision and artful execution became so influential that it spawned a new genre of art! the “Matrakçı style.” via Public Domain Review

Did you enjoy this collection? let me know what you think of it below. Thank you for reading my dear friends!

Content Catnip
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Andy Arthur - Threadinburgh @[email protected] · 2023-03-04 · 16:43 UTC

The First Inuit in Scotland: the thread about John Sakeouse; Hunter, Explorer, Artist, Interpreter, Kayaker, Friend of Leith and

The registers of the Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh record that on 17th Feb 1819 a man was interred there, having died 3 days previously from fever. They say he was 22 years old, although nobody was exactly sure. What they do not say is that he was far from the land of his birth and that he was a truly remarkable man. He was John Sakeouse and this is his story.
John Sakeouse, a portrait by Amelia Anderson, engraved by W. & D. Lizars. CC-by-NC National Galleries Scotland
John was well known in Edinburgh and Leith, infact it was fair to say he was something of a celebrity, for he was a unique character in the city; he was a Kalaaleq , an Inuk from West Greenland, and was the first of his people to travel to Scotland. He was born around 1797 in Disko Bay on the west coast of Greenland at a latitude of 69° North. We do not know his name in his native language, but he grew up in an area where Danish missionaries were active and from them he took the biblical names Johannes Zakaeus; John Zacchaeus (also Anglicised to Sackhouse, Saccheuse, but he signed himself Sakeouse so we shall go with that.) From the missionaries he learned about the bible and had a knowledge of and interest in Christianity. He also learned of the world beyond his horizon and picked up a little English.
Icebergs Disko Bay. Cc-by-SA 3.0 Algkalv
John had wanted to satisfy a curiosity as to what was over the horizon and beyond the land of his birth, and he wanted to learn about art. He may have been further motivated by being unlucky in love and rejected by the mother of a potential bride. But his reasons were his own and using his own initiative and ingenuity in May or June of 1816 he took to his kayak and paddled out to a whaling ship that was getting ready to depart the Davis Strait. Using his basic English, he managed to convince the crew to help him stow away and the seamen took pity and smuggled not just John but also his kayak aboard. Once he was safely over the horizon he announced his presence to the master of the ship; who either offered or threatened to turn around and put him ashore, but John was obviously a persuasive communicator and the master, John Newton, was convinced to take him home with him. That ship was the Thomas and Ann, it was owned by Peter Wood and Company of Leith, and that port was its destination. That is how on the 15th August 1816, John Sakeouse came to Scotland “with 11 fish“, as a very special passenger.
The Leith Greenland whaler “Raith”, also owned by the Woods and a contemporary of the “Thomas and Ann”. A model in the collection of Trinity House, Leith.
On the long journey back to Leith, he earned his passage by assisting the seamen in their duties and occupied himself in improving his English.Standing between 5 foot 6 and 8 inches tall, with a head of thick black hair, he was of stocky build and impressed his hosts with his great physical strength, his dexterity and also his gentle nature and eagerness to learn. When the Thomas and Ann finally arrived back in Leith, news of his presence seemed to spread like wildfire and large crowds assembled wanting to catch a glimpse of this unusual visitor. The crowds prevented Master Newton from unloading his precious cargo of whale, so he had Sakeouse taken ashore and lodged in his house in the Timber Bush area. The crowds simply followed and gathered outside Newton’s house instead.
But although John had never seen this many people in his life, he hadn’t come to Scotland to hide himself away. So he took himself and his kayak down to the new Wet Docks, lowered himself into them and with great showmanship put on an hour long display of his proficiency and dexterity in it. He thrilled the crowds by being able to roll his boat over at will, paddle it while inverted and roll it back upright again “in the twinkling of an eye… and scuds off as if nothing had happened“. A ship’s biscuit was floated on the water and from 30 yards he would hit it – and split it – with his harpoon.
John Sakeouse in his kayak, from an illustration by Amelia Anderson, engraved by W. & D. Lizars, CC-by-NC National Galleries Scotland
His show was an instant hit, and it was put on each day for the crowds. Handbills were printed and money was collected. On Thursday 5th September, a grand race was organised; John against the best whaling boat and six of the best crew that Leith had to offer. “A vast assemblage of persons of all ranks were collected at Leith. The piers, windows and roofs of houses and the decks and rigging of the vessels, were crowded with spectators; and the water from the harbour to near the Martello Tower was covered with boats, filled with Ladies and Gentlemen.” They set off from the end of the pier, the course being around the Martello Tower and back again; John was the clear winner, taking just 16 minutes.
An exhibition of some of his artefacts was put on in a dockside warehouse, described as “two sea unicorn’s horns, the skulls of a sea horse and bear, the ear of a whale and the preserved skin of a black eagle“. The money these ventures raised helped support him financially; to provide him with the food and clothes that he needed to get through the winter in Scotland until he could return home the following season when the whalers went north again. By the end of August news of him had spread the length of the country; with newspapers not just in Scotland and London, but all across England, in Belfast and in Dublin relating the story of “the Esquimaux* now at Leith“.
* = the French term which was in written use at the time in the press for Inuit. The Scottish whalers used the term “Yackie”, in some contemporary accounts he refers to himself as “Yakee”, a term he undoubtedly picked up from the whalers.
Lodging with Newton and his family, when John was not putting on his displays he attended to studying English in “which he made considerable progress“; he learned to play the flute a little and to dance. He told his hosts that he had received some schooling in his childhood, had some basic knowledge of the wider world and historical facts and had heard of an elephant – but never having seen one was “much delighted” when shown a picture. He had not, however, seen or heard of a cow and on first encountering one fetched his harpoon with which to defend himself from this strange beast. He sat for portraits, was taken to the theatre, and was the toast of the evening soirées of Leith and Edinburgh, comfortably ingratiating himself with all who met him.
John Sakeouse’s handwriting, from an engraving by W. & D. Lizars, CC-by-NC National Galleries Scotland
In the spring of 1817, the Leith whalers set out again for the Davis Straits and John was with them, once more on board the Thomas and Ann. Newton was under strict orders from his employer, Peter Wood, that John was to be “treated with the greatest kindness” and returned to where he had been picked up, and not to return with him unless John explicitly desired to. On reaching his home however, John was distressed to find that his only living relative, his sister, had died over the winter. On learning that she had believed him dead and had died of a broken heart, he returned to Newton and made it known that he wished to stay with them and “revisit his country no more.” And so it was in September 1817 once again the newspapers in Edinburgh reported that the Thomas and Ann had returned to Leith and once more it had a special passenger aboard. And once again, this exciting news was reprinted from Inverness to London and from Cambridge to Belfast.
That winter, John exhibited the selfless kindness to others for which he was knows. Enjoying he snows that had fallen, and walking far beyond Leith, he came across two young children whom he observed “to be suffering from the cold“. He took off his sealskin jacket, wrapped the pair of them in in it and carried them safely home to Leith. He refused all attempts at a reward, not thinking himself having done anything remarkable. It was on another winter walk that John’s adventures took an interesting new direction, for who should he by chance bump in to but one Alexander Nasmyth; pupil of Alan Ramsay and one of Scotland’s foremost landscape and portrait painters at that time. Nasmyth recognised John by his dress, and having once drawn a set of native clothing that had been brought to Scotland he was keen to ingratiate himself. He invited John up to Edinburgh and had him sit for a portrait in return for providing him with drawing lessons. Nasmyth got his painting, now part of the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland, and John got his lessons, proving to have a natural talent and be a quick learner. He was the first Inuit to recieve formal art training, although he came from a rich artistic culture.
John Sakaeus (Sakeouse) by Alexander Nasmyth, c. 1817, CC-by-NC National Galleries Scotland
It was through the well connected Nasmyth that John’s life took its next turn; he was introduced to the naval explorer Captain Basil Hall and his father, Sir James, the President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. The Halls were aware that the Admiralty was preparing an expedition to search for a Northwestern Passage, under fellow Scot Capain John Ross (later Sir John), and were quick to realise that having a native guide who could also act as a translator could prove invaluable to the mission. The Halls wrote to Sir John Barrow, Second Secretary to the Admiralty, who agreed with them and asked for John to be sent to London if he was willing. John seems to have turned down offers of payment for his services, and was keen to join the expedition so long as it was not a ruse to send him back to the land of his birth.
In London, John ingratiated himself with his usual ease, and – having taken it with him – as usual thrilled the crowds with kayaking and harpooning displays in Deptford Docks. A trick that went down very well was to throw his harpoon, which he could do with great accuracy over 50 yards, and then follow it up with smaller “darts” with which he could hit the handle of the floating harpoon, time after time. Captain Ross and the Admiralty wasted no time in engaging John’s services, however it nearly wasn’t to be; in late March a stranger, who may have been an agent for the Aquatic Theatre, attempted to lure him away from the expedition and onto the stage, with offers of money and a considerable quantity of alcohol. The usually sober John almost succumbed to temptation, but on recovering his faculties and suffering his hangover thought better of it, apologised to Ross for his change of heart and stayed firmly on board and away from the dockside taverns thereafter. The Admiralty quietly ordered that he was to be kept on board and away from strangers thereafter.
Ross’s expedition departed London on board a small fleet of hired Hull whaling ships on 18th April 1818. Ross led on his flagship Isabella, with Captain Buchan on the Dortothea, Lieutenant Parry on the Alexander and the ill-fated Lieutenant Franklin on the Trent. Their search was for the Northwest Passage and the Bering Strait beyond, and part of the expedition intended to strike out for the North Pole. Their journey would find none of those destinations, but would take them further north than any British navigator had yet been.
“Portraits of the Vessels of the Polar Expedition of 1818”, an illustration by John Ross © Royal Museums Greenwich.
The convoy arrived off Greenland in mid-June. By the end of the month, they reached 70° North. This was Disko Bay, the land where John – or Jack as the sailors had taken to calling him – had been born 19 or 20 years before. John took take to his kayak, returning with specimens of birds for the expedition’s scientists, and also with a party of local Inuit he had contacted. Acting as a translator, he negotiated for a larger party of them to return with the gift of a dog sled for Ross. They were invited aboard for coffee and biscuits and shown around, had their portraits taken and further gifts were exchanged. An impromptu cèilidh was then held on the deck, with the Inuit dancing Scottish Reels with the seamen to the music of their fiddler. Ross describes John as acting as the “master of ceremonies”, calling out the dances. Catching the attention of a young woman in the Inuit party, “by far the best looking of the group“, John was given a lady’s shawl by one of the officers to present to her. She returned his affections with the gift of a ring, and Ross was in “no possible doubt [he] had made an impression on her heart“.
After the ball concluded with more coffee, the guests departed and John was permitted to escort them home and perhaps return with more specimens for the expedition. It was at this point however that he suffered an unfortunate accident; demonstrating a gun to some of the Inuit, he over-filled it with gunpowder under a mistaken assumption that he described himself as “plenty powder, plenty kill. Letting the weapon off, he could not handle the recoil and broke his collar bone. A search party had to be sent out to retrieve him when he did not return to the ship.
Ross’s ships (one ship is in the distance, on the right of the image) in the land of John’s birth at Disko Bay, an illustration by Andrew Skene, an officer and artist on the expedition
They did not linger here and continued north into Baffin Bay, intending on making an anti-clockwise navigation in search of the North West Passage. Ross made an illustration of his little flotilla as it moved carefully through the ice at 70°44′ North. They pressed on and at 75°25′ North they reached a bay that the Greenlanders call Qimusseriarsuaq. Although whalers had been here before, they hadn’t troubled to give it an English name, so Ross Christened it Melville Bay, after Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville, the First Lord of the Admiralty, the man who had given Ross his first commission and a son of Edinburgh (for whom Melville Street is named).
“Through the Ice, June 16 1818, Lat. 70° 44′ N.”, an illustration by Captain Ross
The were able to sail as far north as 75°55′, before becoming trapped in the ice at the start of August and could go no further. It was with a great deal of skill, hard work and luck that they were able to extricate the Isabella and the Alexander, and now headed west around the top of Baffin Bay. An illustration made by Captain Ross shows this desperate scene.
“Perilous Situation of the Isabella and the Alexander”, illustration by Captain Ross
Soon they were heading south again and on August 9th 1818, the Isabella and the Alexander came to what Ross called Prince Regent Inlet. Here, at 75°55′ North, 65°32′ West, and with the unique help of John Sakeouse, they made first contact with what Ross called the Arctic Highlanders: the native Inughuit.
It was the Inughuit who spotted them first. By the time Ross’s lookouts spotted them in return, they took these men far out on the ice to be stranded whalers, and made for them. As they approached, they realised that they were natives travelling on dog sledges. When they came within shouting distance, John attempted to call to them in his language, but the men took to their sleds and fled. Boats were sent out and some gifts left on the ice for them. Ross also had the men make up a large flag showing the image of the sun and the moon, with an outstretched hand holding a spring of a native shrub in the manner of an olive branch (this western metaphor would of course have been completely lost on them.) This was run up a pole in a prominent position on the ice, to which was also affixed a bag of gifts and a large outline of a hand pointing to the ships.
The next morning a larger party of men returned with 8 sleds, stopping on the ice a mile short of the ships. The flagpole enticed the men and their sleds closer, but they remained cautiously 300 yards distant, apparently in conversation. It was at this point that John stepped in. Taking a bag of gifts, and a white flag (another hopeless symbol for communicating with people who had never encountered white men before), John strode out on the ice. Dressed in the garb of a western sailor, they had no idea who he was, or what his act of removing his hat meant, and as he approached they pulled a knife on him, implored him to be on his way and made it clear that they could kill him if needs be. In return, the ever placid John offered them a British-made knife in his possession, tossing it to them. On examining it, the men were impressed and pulled their noses, a sign of friendship. John pulled his nose too, and a rapport was formed. John now presented them with a string of beads and showed them a chequered shirt. This was not just the first time the Inughuit had met white men, it was their first exposure to a Kalaaleq, a western Greenlander. After some initial difficulty, John recognised their dialect as one an old woman who once nursed him had spoken, and was slowly able to communicate. Using his natural talents and the tuition in Western art acquired from Alexander Nasmyth, John would paint a picture to capture this scene, presenting it to Captain Ross.
First Communication with the Natives of Prince Regent Bay, as John by John Sackheouse and Presented to Captain Ross, August10th 1818
John, wearing the blue jacket, with his arm held in a sling and wearing a beaver cap, is seen holding the chequered shirt while two Inughuit inspect the other gifts he has presented them with, one of whom may be holding up one of the mirrors with which they were presented and which caused them wonder and delight. In the foreground, Captain Ross and Lieutenant Parry offer other gifts, receiving narwhal tusks in return. Another man is arriving on his dog sled, and two others are in the distance admiring the ships and a boat which had been hauled onto the ice for repairs. The Inughuit had never before seen a ship; indeed they were not seafaring people, had never seen a kayak and had no word for it, living entirely on the land and using dog sleds for travel and hunting. So it was with some difficulty that they were eventually enticed aboard onto these winged “Islands of Wood” (they had never before seen a shrub with a trunk wider than your finger, so the ships timbers were an incredible sight for them). The men were given a tour of the ship, before being convinced to sit in chairs (something they had never seen and whose purpose they did not understand) to have their portraits taken. They were offered ships biscuit, salt beef, plum pudding and Aquavit, all of which they thoroughly disliked.
Ervick, one of the Inughuit who met the Ross Expedition in 1818, an illustration by Captain Ross
With John acting as interpreter, they were able to learn that the Inughuit did not count beyond ten, that their knives were fashioned from iron extracted from a rock in the mountains, that they lived in family units by a form of mutual agreement between the husband and wife, but had sent their women and children into the mountains to safety; the menfolk had come forth only to ask the interlopers to leave. They had a chief – Tulloowah – to whom other families gave a tribute. They had no organised religion, but each family had a “sorcerer” who could be called upon to commune with the weather or supplies of animals for food. They had no concepts of weapons or war, or of lands and people beyond their own. They assumed that the white-faced Europeans must be some sort of ghost whose ships had flown down from the air. Before leaving, the Inughuit were presented with planks of wood that they had expressed a desire in possessing.
The Inughuit returned a few days later on the 13th of August and again on the 14th. This was a different party than those they had met before, and had come forth after seeing the gifts that the first had returned with and having received assurances that the “Islands of Wood” and their ghostly residents were not an immediate threat. More gifts were exchanged, and the leader of the party helped himself to Ross’s telescope, shaving razor and a pair of scissors, which Ross was pleased to overlook. Before their final departure, Ross gave them a portrait of the Prince Regent as a present for “their king”.
They now pressed further south and west, coming to Lancaster Sound at 74°19½’ North 78°33′ west at the end of August where he took a fateful decision. Imagining that he could see distant mountains (they were actually a mirage), he was convinced that there was no way further through by sea and turned around against the wishes of his subordinate Parry. So convinved was Ross, that he named this distant range – the Croker Mountains – and made a detailed landscape illustration of them.
Lancaster Sound, as seen from HMS Isabella, 3PM, August 31st 1818. The distant range of the Croker Mountains was a mere mirage. By Captain Ross
Ross now headed south along the western edge of Baffin Bay, taking detailed meteorological and astronomical observations, collecting geological and animal specimens and otherwise occupying the expedition now with science rather than their stated goal of seeking the North West Passage. By the end of September they were at Resolution Island at 61°30′ North and well out of the Arctic Circle, and Ross decided to end operations for the season and head for home. A month later, on October 29th, they sighted Foula, the westernmost island of the Shetland Archipelago. On November 14th they dropped anchor for the last time, in Grimsby Roads, and Ross set off at once for London and their Lordships of the Admiralty with his logs, journals, charts and letters.
Ross, unfortunately, did not find the hero’s welcome that he might have imagined. Instead, his subordinate officers challenged his decision to turn around in Lancaster Sound, and Parry was vehemently and publicly sceptical of the grounds on which Ross made that decision. The Admiralty were convinced by Parry and his conspirators that Ross’s findings were not to be trusted, and they organised an expediction for the following year, led by Parry, and on which Ross was not invited. The press lampooned him, a particularly scathing satirical cartoon showing him pompously leading his crew, all mutilated by frosbite, carrying back nothing but specimens of animals and rocks. The implication was clear; Ross’s expedition had been a failure and the scientific results and objects he returned with were worthless.
Landing of the Treasures or Results of the Polar Expedition!!! By George Cruikshank © The Trustees of the British Museum
Ross publicly praised John Sakeouse as “very intelligent and willing to learn as well as being grateful to those who instruct him. A man on whom the utmost dependence may be placed“. The satirist – George Cruikshank – unfortunately did not treat him with the same respect and credit that he merited. Instead he showed him as a deeply racist stereotype, a savage called “Jack Frost”, carrying a narwhal tusk, wearing a fur skirt, and clutching an album of his drawings. The sailors to his right, on wondering “what will they do with Jack Frost“, suggest he should have his throat cut and be stuffed. This was a sad end to the important expedition, and a cruel way to dismiss the contributions of John Sakeouse, which no other man could have made.
John Sakeouse, shown as the savage “Jack Frost”.
John did not stay long in London, and asked to be returned to his friends in Leith. Parry – although contemptuous of Ross – recognised the importance of John and arranged that he should be included again in the 1819 expedition. Unfortunately this was never to be.
John took ill at the start of the year with “a violent inflammation in the chest“. John Newton, the whaling master who had first been convinced to bring John to Leith, and his family nursed John through his illness. At first he seemed to improve, and despite doctor’s orders to the contrary – soon felt well enough to venture out in the search of fish, which he brought back to his lodgings to cook for himself.
A few days later however, he had relapsed into fever. He told his companions that his late sister had come to him in a fever dream and called to him, and that he knew now that he was dying. Calling for his Catechism – in the Danish language that he had been tutored in by missionaries – he grasped it “till his strength and sight failed him, when the book dropped from his grasp, and he shortly afterwards expired“. All of Leith mourned his loss, and a respectful funeral was arranged in the Canongate Kirkyard and paid for by his friends. “He was followed to the grave by a numerous company, among whom were not only his old friends and patrons from Leith, but many gentlemen of high respectability in this city“. His final resting place is not marked, but was given as “in the area 8 feet south of Fraser’s ground and 4 feet from the north walk“.
Approximate location of the last resting place of John Sakeouse. © Self
His possessions, including his sealskin clothing, were left to Captain Ross, who donated them to the Museum of the University of Edinburgh.
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#arctic #captainross #exploration #featured #february17 #industries
Andy Arthur - Threadinburgh @[email protected] · 2022-09-16 · 00:30 UTC

The thread about John Paul Jones; the Scottish-American “pirate” who tried to capture Edinburgh and Leith but lived to tell the tale

This thread was originally written and published in December 2019.
It was on a day like this, 240 years ago, with a west wind howling up the Firth of Forth, rattling the window panes and lifting the roof tiles, that Edinburgh and Leith were saved from sacking by the fledgling United States Navy. The year was 1779 and it was the middle of the War of Independence when a squadron of American ships of war appeared in the Firth. Their objective; to disrupt shipping, spread panic and “raise a contribution” to the American war effort of two hundred thousand pounds from the wallets of the good folk of Edinburgh and Leith. These ships were the 36-gun Bon Homme Richard, the 32-gun Pallas and the 12-gun Vengeance and in command was one John Paul Jones. To the Americans a great hero, a father to their naval service:
John Paul Jones by Charles Wilson Peale
To the British, a common pirate. Of course, they would say that, because he beat them at their own game, rattled the establishment to its core and made the mighty Royal Navy look rather impotent.
“Paul Jones the Pirate”, a contemporary British caricature
So who was John Paul Jones? For a start, he wasn’t born as John Paul Jones or an American, he was actually from Kirkcudbrightshire. He was born in 1747 as plain John Paul to John Paul (senior), a gardener and Jean Mcduff. In 1760, John junior was apprenticed to a sea captain in Whitehaven and took to the seven seas on the merchant ship Friendship. He sailed the Atlantic trade route, mainly between Britain and the colony of Virginia where his older brother was settled.
The cottage in which John Paul was born in 1747, now the John Paul Jones Cottage Museum. Pic © johnpauljonesmuseum.com
For quite a few years John kept this up, working his way up the ranks to First Mate by 1768. At this point fate begins to intervene and steer his life on a new course. In Jamaica, he decides to abandon his ship and work his passage back to Scotland. Once home, he finds a new ship – the appropriately named John – and is taken on as lower mate. When the master and leading mates unexpectedly die of fever, he takes command and brings the ship and her cargo safely home. In gratitude, the owners raise him to master. So at the tender age of 23, John finds himself a ship’s master with 10 years experience under his belt; life has worked out well for him. But then some things start to go wrong. On only his seconnd voyage as master he has someone flogged for insubordination. This was a very common and non-noteworthy act for the time, sailors were kept in check with fairly equal proportions of corporal punishment, alcohol and the promise of the occasional pay packet.
But the flogged man has connections back in Scotland and when he died (from Yellow Fever), the blame for his death is laid at the feet of John. As a young captain from a humble family he has little influence himself over matters once he’s off his ship and finds himself thrown in the Tolbooth of Kirkcudbright to await his fate. But clearly he is not without any friends as he is bailed and given some quiet advice to get far away from Kirkcudbright before the law has its way. This was sensible advice, which was followed.
“The Old Tolbooth, Kirkcudbright” by Charles Oppenheimer © Manchester Art Gallery
As a result he quickly leaves Scotland for England and finds a new ship, the Betsy, and spends 18 successful months toing and froing in the Caribbean, before once again clashing with a subordinate crewmember. This time, he allegedly runs the man through with a sword in an argument over pay. He would claim this was self defence, but having fled from the law before he must have realised that he couldn’t go back and face any more music the music and so headed north to the Virginia colony in about 1772. He finds that his brother has died and so takes takes over his affairs there.
John Paul Jones. Quick, perhaps too quick, with his sword.
Perhaps it is to cover his tracks that in Virginia he changes his name to John Paul Jones, with American folk legend suggesting that it was in honour of statesman Willie Jones. JPJ takes to his new home and when war breaks out with Britian he signs up to fight for his adopted homeland against that of his birth. Whether this was opportunism or patriotism is not clear but in 1775 he is part of the newly formed Continental Navy. As an experienced sailor and officer, JPJ’s potential is recognised by founding father Richard Henry Lee and he is appointed First Lieutenant of the frigate Alfred. Like most US ships of this time it’s a converted merchantman, but the line between smaller naval and civilian ships at this time was rather blurry so it was not that uncommon.
“Continental Ship Alfred“, W. Nowland Van Powell, 1974
It is apparently JPJ who had the honour of hoisting the Grand Union Flag – the first national flag of the United States, on a US ship, for the first time. He and the Alfred sail to the Caribbean and raid Nassau, but after this this point he takes a demotion to a smaller ship, the sloop Providence, as a step on the ladder to commanding a frigate of his own.
Providence, flying the Grand Old Union Flag. W. Nowland Van Powell, 1974
Long story short, JPJ rapidly impresses his superiors with a combination of skill, aggression and good luck. By 1778 he is in charge of the new frigate Ranger. On February 14th, on the Ranger, he took a salute from a French naval squadron under La Motte Picquet in the Robuste at Quiberon Bay, the first official recognition of the young American state by a foreign government.
“First Recognition of the American Flag by a Foreign Government”, Edward Moran, 1898
He is now sent to take the war to the British on the other side of the Atlantic but finds that his crew – and in particular his officers – are completely lacking, unwilling to take risks or to follow his orders. A raid on the sloop HMS Drake fails due to poor seamanship. A raid on Whitehaven, his old home port, fails due to a combination of poor weather and an uncooperative crew who decided to visit the pub instead of set fire to the shipping in the harbour.
“Launching of the White Haven Raid” by Charles Waterhouse © National Museum of the Marine Corps
JPJ next hatches a plot to kidnap the Earl of Selkirk for ransom from St. Mary’s Isle, but this scheme is foiled as the Earl is away; the Americans are instead cordially entertained by the Earl’s wife before leaving after helping themselves to some silverwear. (JPJ would later buy the loot back, at his own expense, and return it to the Selkirks).
“John Paul Jones seizing the silver plate of Lady Selkirk”, his crew depicted as pirates. A print from 1903.
The effect on British morale and general public alarm was much significant. Here were American rebels acting with impunity, not just in British waters but also on the land! It was a national scandal. But the reality was that his raiding around the Solway proved fruitless and resulted in a crew who were restless from the lack of prize money. And so JPJ sails the Ranger back across the Irish Sea and finally catches up with his previous quarry, the sloop HMS Drake, off of Carrickfergus. A roughly equal fight on paper, he deploys a ruse to get the initial jump on Drake before bettering her with skilful gunnery. Five of the British crew, including their captain and the first lieutenant, were killed in the fight and after an hour the Drake surrendered. This was another national scandal for the Royal Navy in home waters at the hands of the young man from Kirkcudbright.
The surrender of the Drake, from “The Boys of 1812 and Other Heroes” by James Soley, 1887.
JPJ has Drake sailed to Brest to be sold to the French as a prize. This was finally a great victory for him and the Continental Navy, but there was much acrimony between captain, second in command Lt. Simpson (who he tries and fails to have court-martialled) and the crew. In France, JPJ is given a bigger ship, the merchantman Duc de Duras, which has been gifted to the US Navy by a sympathiser. On conversion to a 40-gun warship he has her named Bonhomme Richard after Ben Franklin, who used the pseudonym “Poor Richard” to publish his almanac in Paris
Bonne Homme Richard in 1779 by F. Muller
JPJ assembles a little fleet and prepares for war in Lorient in June 1779 but is forced back from his initial cruise by bad weather and in need of repairs. A second attempt is made in August; Bonhomme Richard, Pallas and Vengeance are accompanied by the French naval cutter Le Cerf and two privateers, Monsieur and Granville. Monsieur falls out with JPJ only days out of port and leaves the fleet – falling out with his subordinates is quickly becoming something of a hallmark for JPJ’s expeditions. But this time the Royal Navy are better prepared and locate and attempt to chase the Americans. He is able to lead them on a merry dance around the north of Scotland before shaking the pursuers off. On his way, despite ongoing squabbles with other officers, he is able to take 16 merchant ships as prizes.
And so it was on the 16th September 1779 that there is great alarm on both banks of the Forth when John Paul Jones and his three remaining ships (the others had returned to France by this time with the prizes), appeared in the Forth intent on sailing up it and doing as they pleased.
Looking down the Forth towards Inchkeith in the distance in 1791, by David Allan.
A panic spreads through Edinburgh and Leith. The moneyed classes secure their goods and flee the city for their estates. The banks are locked up, the garrison barricade themselves in Edinburgh Castle, the church bells are rung and “neither a carriage nor a horse [was] to be seen“. Leith’s fortifications, the great Marian walls and the Cromwellian citadel are decrepit, having been partially slighted and then left to the elements and those intent on pilfering the masonry for building material. A more fundamental problem is that they were never designed to offer defence from seaward, but from landward. But the enterprising folk of Leith try to mount a defence of sorts as best they can. Three spare old cannon were retrieved from the Naval Victualling Yard on Constitution Street and manhandled along to the walls of the Citadel.
The remains of the citadel do at least provide something of a raised firing platform to cover the mouth of the harbour, but this battery was “extremely perilous to those who worked it“. Edinburgh sent down a couple more old cannon and gunners from the castle and these were posted near Newhaven with small arms were handed out to the Incorporated Trades of Leith. With this meagre defence, the town battened down the hatches and awaited its fate.
But the folk of Kirkcaldy, on the opposite shore of the Forth, take an alternative approach to defence. They follow their minister, the Reverend Robert Shirra, down to the sea and begin to pray for almighty intervention.
The Reverend Robert Shirra by George Watson. © Kirkcaldy Galleries
Now deer Lord, dinna ye think it a shame for ye to send this vile piret to rob our folk o Kirkcaldy; for ye ken they’re puir enow already, and hae naething to spaire
Shirra’s sermon against John Paul Jones (translated, “Now dear Lord, don’t you think it a shame for you to send this vile pirate to rob our folk of Kirkcaldy; for you know they are poor enough already and have nothing to spare”)
And would you know the almighty happened to be listening? For no sooner had Kirkcaldy prayed for salvation than, in the words of John Paul Jones, “a very severe gale of wind came on, and being directly contrary obliged me to bear away after having in vain endeavoured for some time to withstand its violence“.
“Inchkeith on the Forth in a Fresh Gale”. Ships in Leith Roads would shelter in the lee of the island from a gale. John Gabriel Stedman, 1781. CC-by-SA National Galleries Scotland
As the wind blew up, JPJ’s ships were not yet in the shelter of Leith Roads in the lee of Inchkeith island where they could ride out the storm, so despite being “in a cannon’s shot of the town” they were obliged to follow the wind back out to sea. In the process, the ship Friendship they had taken in prize was lost. The little fleet was blown straight out of the Firth and down the east coast. Edinburgh, Leith and Kirkcaldy have been saved!
A week later the Royal Navy finally encounters JPJ off Flamborough Head when he runs into a convoy of merchant ships under their protection and a somewhat scrappy and confused battle takes place. In the course of the action, the Bonhomme Richard is damaged so heavily that she will sink the next day, but JPJ in return manages to capture the British flagship HMS Serapis and takes her instead.
The Battle of Flamborough Head by Richard Paton, 1780. HMS Serapis is in the foreground with “Bonhomme Richard” behind.
The outcome of the battle is still hotly debated; JPJ and the Americans can claim another embarrassing Royal Navy scalp, in sight of British soil and once again they have failed to stop JPJ. But the merchant convoy – the real prize – has slipped away unharmed. However that is a somewhat hollow strategic victory for the Royal Navy. Once Again, the Americans press have their hero and the British their villain.
John Paul Jones the Hero.John Paul Jones the CorsairHeroes and Villains; Two different portraits of John Paul Jones at Flamborough Head.
After the battle, JPJ wants to head for France, but his subordinates insist they follow orders and head for the neutral Dutch island of Texel in the United Provinces. A tricky diplomatic incident ensues as they have lost the Continental Navy’s flags when Bonhomme Richard went down, and couldn’t fly the Royal Navy’s ensigns from the Serapis and so were technically operating under no flag. This allowes the British to claim that they were pirates. So, based on only a written description, (“colors should be white, red, and blue alternately to thirteen… [with a] blue field with thirteen stars… in the canton“) JPJ had his men run up a new – and rather unconventional – Continental Navy flag. The Dutch dutifully checked that the flag matched the description (they were very unlikely to know what the flag of an American warship should look like as they’d probably never seen one) and entered it with a sketch in their records to make it official.
The “John Paul Jones” or “Serapis” Flag.
With its 8-pointed stars and irregular groupings of red/white/blue tricolour stripes, the “Serapis flag” is unique, the true work of a sailor handy with needle and thread and not someone versed in the rigid conventions of vexilology. John Paul Jones’ wacky flag was enough to save him from international charges of piracy and now takes pride of place on the coat of arms of the US warships that have taken his name.
Coat of Arms of the US Navy Destroyer John Paul Jones, featuring the “Serapis Flag” on the left and a likeness of JPJ
Back in Leith, plans were immediately drawn up for a new artillery fort to protect the port and the city of Edinburgh behind from the sea. These were drawn up by local celebrated architect James Craig – who laid out Edinburgh first New Town – despite him having no background in military engineering. The fort and the land on which it was built were provided “at the expense of the citizens of Edinburgh and Leith“. It was a fairly straightforward defensive structure, a half-moon battery of cannon facing out to sea, protected by a perimeter ditch, low masonry wall and a large earthen glacis heaped up infront of it to seeward. To the landward there is were a pair of blockhouse corner bastions to protect it from rear assaults. The Fort’s battery of guns covered the navigable channel of the approach to the Port of Leith.
One of Craig’s original drawings. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland
So there you have it, the tale of the lad from Kirkcudbrightshire that the Royal Navy couldn’t sink, who tried to capture the Earl of Selkirk, who put the willies up the good folk of Edinburgh and Leith, who rocked the vexilogical world but who could not overcome a Kirk minister and the weather. Oh, and how this modern street on the site of Leith Fort got its name:
John Paul Jones View, Leith Fort council housing. © Self
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#Lochend #Logan #Restalrig #StMargaret

#firthofforth #fortifications #leith #military #naval #royalnavy
guide2museums.com @[email protected] · 2026-04-23 · 18:20 UTC
Legendary Stories of Fort Totten, North Dakota Historic Site

Fort Totten, North Dakota, is an historic site with a diverse history. Its well-preserved buildings, authentic artifacts, and documented stories make it one of the state’s must-see historic sites. Indeed, Fort Totten is a lot more than a quick stop on a holiday itinerary!
Saddle & uniform in front of large photo of historic Fort Totten. Photo by Linda Aksomitis.
Linda’s Pick of the Exhibits
My favorite exhibit at Fort Totten was the gardening section. Perhaps it was the season or my return to gardening myself!
At any rate, according to Mandan history, one of the tribe’s founders was Yellow Corn Maiden. The legend goes that she saved the first corn crop from Sun Man’s burning rays and taught him that the corn should be forever safe from his attacks.
Historic buildings at Fort Totten. Photo by Linda Aksomitis.
Interestingly, the Hidatsa people had a very precise method of planting their gardens. First, in early April, they planted the perimeter of the garden with sunflowers. Next came the most important crop–the corn. If the plants were touched by frost or bugs, the corn was replanted until the middle of May. Finally, they planted beans, squash, and pumpkins.
The Carrying the Corn dance was performed in the early spring. Its purpose? To sanctify the planting season and find blessing from the Great One Above to make the fields thrive.
Gardens were also important to the inhabitants of the Fort!
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Fast Fact: During the fall of 1868 and the winter of 1868-69, after the supply of vegetables from the garden was exhausted, the following articles of food...were found effectual in preventing scurvy...Per 100 rations, ten pounds of dried fruit and five gallons of krout or curried cabbage twice a week; one gallon of molasses, twenty-five pounds of corn meal, and two and one-half gallons of pickles once a week.
~ Assistant Surgeon J.P. Kimball, Fort Buford, 1870 [Fort Totten display quote]
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What’s at Fort Totten Historical Site?
The Fort Totten Historical Site consists of around 10 acres of land located within the boundaries of the Fort Totten Indian Reservation. It’s on the southeastern edge of the town of Fort Totten.
Collection of Indigenous artifacts. Photo by Linda Aksomitis.
So, where does the site’s name come from? It’s from the Totten Trail, which was an overland route from southern Minnesota to the goldfields of Western Montana.
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Fast Fact: Fort Totten became a state historic site in 1960. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. 
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Fort Totten had three distinct periods of usage before becoming an historic site. My favorite was the first, its frontier history. It’s one of the best preserved of the nearly 150 forts constructed on the western frontier.
What are the main periods in Fort Totten’s history?
The three time periods include:
- Frontier Military Post – 1867 to 1890
- Decommissioned and transferred to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in January of 1891 for use as an Indian school
- The Industrial boarding school operated until 1935. Between 1935 and 1939, the site was a tuberculosis preventorium run by the Federal Government. The preventorium provided a boarding school for children at high risk of contracting TB. It returned to being a day and boarding school until 1959.
Established in 1867, the post’s main function was to serve American Indian Policy. Soldiers enforced the peace among settlers near Devils Lake and the Dakota people living on the reservation around it.
How did Devils Lake get its name? It comes from the Dakota phrase Mni Wakan, which means Spirit Water or sacred water. Early Europeans to the area, however, didn’t get the translation quite right. They interpreted the name to be something like a bad spirit. Eventually, that turned into the name Devils Lake.
Pin me!
Of course, the main feature of the Fort’s frontier era is the 16 original buildings. They’ve all been well preserved and maintained, initially by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Then, in 1959, the school was gifted to the state.
The original buildings, of course, served different purposes over the 93 years before Fort Totten became a state historic site.
My favorite buildings? The Captain/1st Lieutenant Quarters with their historical furnishings.
Some of the artifacts I found interesting included:
- Officer’s dress sabre belt (circa 1860s)
- 7th Cavalry horse blanket and saddle (circa 1880s)
- Wood canteen (circa 1860s)
- 7th Cavalry helmet with horse hair plume (circa 1880s)
A self-guided tour takes visitors through the site with access to many of the buildings and window exhibit panels in others. Historic photos are used to bring the stories, especially of the lives of children who lived in the Industrial schools, to life.
On the tour, visitors can choose to follow a soldier, a young female Chippewa student, a teacher, or a teenage male Dakota student. The stories are based on oral histories collected from Spirit Lake tribal members and other accounts.
Student Life at Fort Totten
Display covering the school at Fort Totten. Photo by Linda Aksomitis.
The reservation had been assigned to the Catholic Church by the Board of Commissioners of Indian Affairs. So religious education was part of daily life.

Life, as shown in the exhibits, was militant. Children wore uniforms to ensure uniformity and were required to speak English. To accomplish this, children from various tribes were often grouped together to restrict their use of their first language and birth customs.
Punishments for speaking their own language could be severe, as assimilation into the greater population was a main educational goal.
Many of the artifacts on display are from local Indigenous people.
They include such fascinating items as a deer hoof ceremonial necklace (circa 1920) and a Sioux quilled horse hair ornament.
Pin me!
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Fast Fact: After Fort Totten became a school, the powder magazine floor was lowered and used for storing flour. Why? About 400 pounds of flour were used daily! That's a lot of flour -- roughly 1 pound of flour daily for the 400 residents.
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Pioneer Daughters of the Lake Region Museum
Sign and entrance for the Pioneer Daughters of the Lake Region Museum. Photo by Linda Aksomitis.
Fort Totten is also home to the Lake Region Pioneer Daughters Museum. It’s situated in the fort’s old hospital/school cafeteria building (Building 7). While the museum isn’t very large, it’s packed with interesting artifacts.
The Pioneer Daughters museum does an excellent job of displaying the collection. All of the pioneer-era household objects are identified and labelled with the names of the people who donated them. Artifacts range from the Minnie H steamboat’s anchor to silver dinnerware service to children’s toys.
Toys in the Lake Region Pioneer Daughters Museum. Photo by Linda Aksomitis.
There’s also an on-site Totten Trail Historic Inn. Each room has a distinctive personality and historic furnishings that let you immerse yourself in history.
Linda’s Road Trip Tips
We visited Fort Totten on a weekend getaway in Devils Lake, North Dakota. While we’d passed through the small city on many trips, we’d always been interested in learning more about both the city and the lake.
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Devils Lake deserves a quick stop, even if you’re just driving through North Dakota on U.S. Highway 2.
Its Downtown Devils Lake Commercial District has 47 properties built between 1885 and 1937.
Most are brick, but there are a wide variety of architectural styles.
We enjoyed the Lake Region Heritage Center, which is housed in the historic U.S. Post Office building.
The regional history was very interesting. As well, the Sheriff’s House Museum was a great stop!

Our favorite dining spot? The Old Main Street Cafe. Prices were good and the taste was great. David enjoyed a steak dinner while I ordered the Rolette chicken fillet served on wild rice. If you don’t have time for a full meal, take a coffee break to get a peek at the pictures on the wall illustrating area history.
Who Should Visit the Fort Totten Historic Site?
Fort Totten is a great family destination for travelers. There’s lots of space for the kids to run around the lawn in the shade of aged trees.

From an historical perspective, the glance into American Indian boarding schools is particularly interesting for the whole family.
The experience can provide an opportunity for families to consider what it was like for children to grow up in an institution focused on making them forget the culture they were born into.
Since the exhibits are in various historic buildings, seeing everything may be challenging for visitors who have mobility issues.
The grounds are generally flat and walkable, with more accessible options at the on-site Pioneer Daughters Museum area.
Restrooms are generally accessible.
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We spent about an hour and a half going through the displays and enjoying the grounds.
How Do You Visit Fort Totten?
Fort Totten is located on a peninsula on the southeastern edge of Devils Lake, about 12 miles south of the city of Devils Lake, North Dakota.
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Parking: There's lots of free parking available at the site. 
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Street Address: 417 Cavalry Circle, Fort Totten, North Dakota
The museum is open seasonally to the general public, with the option to arrange a visit at other times of the year. Check the website for details.
Keep up to date with what’s happening on the Fort Totten State Historic Facebook page.
Learn more with this YouTube video, Forgotten Fort Totten, North Dakota -[Old West Forts] from American Old West Tales.
Plan your visit with Google maps.
Find More Museum Reviews for North Dakota
Check out more reviews of museum attractions in North Dakota on guide2museums.com.
Discover More Historic Sites
#history #lifestyles #NorthDakota #oldWest #pioneers #travel #US
#history #lifestyles #northdakota #oldwest #pioneers #travel
getmisch @[email protected] · 2026-03-24 · 17:54 UTC

This can only be grown in zones 7-9 so it's not in my future. But can I tell you how much I want to point to this in my yard and brag that it's named "Jazz Hands Variegated Loropetalum!"
#FiveSixSevenEight #JazzHands #Variegated #Loropetalum #bush #plant #jazz #dance #class #yard #garden #grow #weed #trim #cut #fertilize #water #tend #landscape #architect #yard #backyard #bench #agriculture #harvest #pick #fruit #trees
https://www.provenwinners.com/plants/loropetalum/jazz-hands-variegated-chinese-fringe-flower-loropetalum-chinense

#fivesixseveneight #jazzhands #variegated #loropetalum #bush #plant
getmisch @[email protected] · 2026-03-24 · 17:54 UTC

This can only be grown in zones 7-9 so it's not in my future. But can I tell you how much I want to point to this in my yard and brag that it's named "Jazz Hands Variegated Loropetalum!"
#FiveSixSevenEight #JazzHands #Variegated #Loropetalum #bush #plant #jazz #dance #class #yard #garden #grow #weed #trim #cut #fertilize #water #tend #landscape #architect #yard #backyard #bench #agriculture #harvest #pick #fruit #trees
https://www.provenwinners.com/plants/loropetalum/jazz-hands-variegated-chinese-fringe-flower-loropetalum-chinense

#fivesixseveneight #jazzhands #variegated #loropetalum #bush #plant
getmisch @[email protected] · 2026-03-24 · 17:54 UTC

This can only be grown in zones 7-9 so it's not in my future. But can I tell you how much I want to point to this in my yard and brag that it's named "Jazz Hands Variegated Loropetalum!"
#FiveSixSevenEight #JazzHands #Variegated #Loropetalum #bush #plant #jazz #dance #class #yard #garden #grow #weed #trim #cut #fertilize #water #tend #landscape #architect #yard #backyard #bench #agriculture #harvest #pick #fruit #trees
https://www.provenwinners.com/plants/loropetalum/jazz-hands-variegated-chinese-fringe-flower-loropetalum-chinense

#trees #fruit #pick #harvest #agriculture #bench
getmisch @[email protected] · 2026-03-24 · 17:54 UTC

This can only be grown in zones 7-9 so it's not in my future. But can I tell you how much I want to point to this in my yard and brag that it's named "Jazz Hands Variegated Loropetalum!"
#FiveSixSevenEight #JazzHands #Variegated #Loropetalum #bush #plant #jazz #dance #class #yard #garden #grow #weed #trim #cut #fertilize #water #tend #landscape #architect #yard #backyard #bench #agriculture #harvest #pick #fruit #trees
https://www.provenwinners.com/plants/loropetalum/jazz-hands-variegated-chinese-fringe-flower-loropetalum-chinense

#fivesixseveneight #jazzhands #variegated #loropetalum #bush #plant
NaraMoore ⛩️👻八尺様👻⛩️ at Fedi @[email protected] · 2026-05-14 · 15:00 UTC

#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch
Okiku (Airisu POV): Post 37
#Wss366 Yellow #TimeTravelAuthors Whatever
I hadn’t been able to get her to give up the plan of rescuing Okiku-san, but I convinced her to stay away from Lookback Ridge and the presence there. Instead, she drew a magic circle and the required runes in her garden.
On the chosen night, the full moon shone brightly over the neat rows of herbs in her yard. The plants gave off a faint purplish light that I associated with magical energy. The faint scent of shiso, rosemary, and mugwort hung in the air.
As the hour of the ox arrived, Sumika cast yarrow stalks, said the time was favorable, and stepped out into the moonlight. She began chanting and slowly danced backward, widdershins around the chalked lines. I perched on her shoulder, remaining quiet. Now wasn’t the time for me to be clever.
Gradually, a fog arose, first hiding the garden plants, then the stars, and lastly the house. Only the moon remained, casting a diffuse, silvery light. While all this was happening, the circle began to sparkle, giving off a violet radiance. The mist sang back to us in a woman’s voice. As the singing grew louder, a #yellow flickering glow, like a fire, appeared off to one side.
The voice abruptly ceased singing and spoke. “So he has sent someone after all. Welcome, sister. Join me by my fire where it is warm. We have much to discuss, and my time is short.”
#TootFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy #Serial #SlowBurn #Yuri #Folklore #NMFic #TimeTravel

#airisu #wss366 #timetravelauthors #yellow #tootfic #crows
NaraMoore ⛩️👻八尺様👻⛩️ at Fedi @[email protected] · 2026-05-14 · 15:00 UTC

#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch
Okiku (Airisu POV): Post 37
#Wss366 Yellow #TimeTravelAuthors Whatever
I hadn’t been able to get her to give up the plan of rescuing Okiku-san, but I convinced her to stay away from Lookback Ridge and the presence there. Instead, she drew a magic circle and the required runes in her garden.
On the chosen night, the full moon shone brightly over the neat rows of herbs in her yard. The plants gave off a faint purplish light that I associated with magical energy. The faint scent of shiso, rosemary, and mugwort hung in the air.
As the hour of the ox arrived, Sumika cast yarrow stalks, said the time was favorable, and stepped out into the moonlight. She began chanting and slowly danced backward, widdershins around the chalked lines. I perched on her shoulder, remaining quiet. Now wasn’t the time for me to be clever.
Gradually, a fog arose, first hiding the garden plants, then the stars, and lastly the house. Only the moon remained, casting a diffuse, silvery light. While all this was happening, the circle began to sparkle, giving off a violet radiance. The mist sang back to us in a woman’s voice. As the singing grew louder, a #yellow flickering glow, like a fire, appeared off to one side.
The voice abruptly ceased singing and spoke. “So he has sent someone after all. Welcome, sister. Join me by my fire where it is warm. We have much to discuss, and my time is short.”
#TootFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy #Serial #SlowBurn #Yuri #Folklore #NMFic #TimeTravel

#timetravel #nmfic #folklore #yuri #slowburn #serial
Ms. Que Banh @[email protected] · 2026-05-10 · 18:16 UTC

Happy Mother's Day to all Moms.
Happy Mother's Day to Moms who raised savage daughters ❤️🙌❤️
Savage Daughter is a cover recorded by Sarah Hester Ross of “I Am My Mothers Savage Daughter” written by Karen L Unrein/Wyndreth Berginsdottir c. 1990.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4_1HJqaOwOM&pp=iggCQAE%3D
#Lyrics :
I am my mother's savage daughter
The one who runs barefoot
Cursing sharp stones
I am my mother's savage daughter
I will not cut my hair
I will not lower my voice
My mother's child is a savage
She looks for her omens in the colors of stones
In the faces of cats, in the falling of feathers
In the dancing of fire
In the curve of old bones
I am my mother's savage daughter
The one who runs barefoot
Cursing sharp stones
I am my mother's savage daughter
I will not cut my hair
I will not lower my voice
My mother's child dances in darkness
She sings heathen songs
By the light of the moon
And watches the stars and renames the planets
And dreams she can reach them
With a song and a broom
I am my mother's savage daughter
The one who runs barefoot
Cursing sharp stones
I am my mother's savage daughter
I will not cut my hair
I will not lower my voice
We are all brought forth out of darkness
Into this world, through blood and through pain
And deep in our bones, the old songs are waking
So sing them with voices of thunder and rain
We are our mother's savage daughters
The ones who run barefoot
Cursing sharp stones
We are our mother's savage daughters
We will not cut our hair
We will not lower our voice
We are our mother's savage daughters
The ones who run barefoot
Cursing sharp stones
We are our mother's savage daughters
We will not cut our hair
We will not lower our voice
We are our mother's savage daughters
The ones who run barefoot
Cursing sharp stones
We are our mother's savage daughters
We will not cut our hair
We will not lower our voice.
#MothersDay #SavageDaughter #Music #MusicVideo #NowPlaying #MusicTherapy #MothersAndDaughters

#lyrics #mothersday #savagedaughter #music #musicvideo #nowplaying
Elizabeth Tai @[email protected] · 2020-05-30 · 09:47 UTC

Lockdown diaries, May 2020
🌱 If you’re following my website via RSS or subscription, please note that this is just a “seedling” or a post where it is a work in progress.

May 1, 2020
OMG DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I’VE WAITED FOR THIS https://t.co/DS2vGZV2k8
May 1, 2020
I am just supremely glad this is allowed now. But heck, everything else feels vague. https://t.co/PIrX0OxhQT
May 1, 2020
Feeling the pressure to be productive during #COVID19 lockdown? Here’s a daring idea: Do nothing. https://t.co/bxKlGZhdsl
May 2, 2020
The Malaysian dilemma on Monday. Some companies are already asking their workers to return to the office https://t.co/Lgd4Cr49PZ
May 2, 2020
Yes community gardens are allowed to open. Oh, finally I can visit my dear spinach https://t.co/wFhCIL5K9a
May 2, 2020
I managed to see Tuxie, the cat I rescued weeks ago. He’s doing well and (ahem) still looking for a home. PM me if you are keen. He is a sweet boy! https://t.co/j1PFvSH8d6
May 2, 2020
Don’t dick around with Ginger, pup. https://t.co/hbZYWuSisU
May 2, 2020
Er … how? https://t.co/YYDxUkCDQc
May 3, 2020
Was browsing photos in Google Photos and while it was heckin expensive, I was glad I gallavanted around Adelaide and then Melbourne with @evelyn_teo – especially since we have no idea when international travel will resume! https://t.co/3lqcku4jS7
May 3, 2020
Feel like kneading bread today. So I shall.
May 4, 2020
Throwing out your food scraps with your garbage isn’t good for the environment. So what do you do? Some tips: https://t.co/i3F5OLxzJv
May 7, 2020
Tuxie is ready to be released. I am desperately looking for someone to foster or adopt him as I live in an apartment that does not allow pets. So if you know where Tuxie can go to live safely, whether it be a foster home, shelter or better, adopted, please let me know. https://t.co/QBHTLcmVPr
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May 9, 2020
Finally could focus enough to watch something and I lucked out with While You Were Sleeping. It hit all the right notes for me Now I am on the hunt for more like this @kfangurl any suggestions? 😛 https://t.co/cH7VHtAbIK
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May 12, 2020
I don’t know about quick, but these are solid steps 👇 https://t.co/P7tc1oUKnl
May 13, 2020
I resisted #TheKingEternalMonarch for as long as I could but gave in after seeing this scene. Sure, Lee Min Hi is pretty as heck but Woo Do Hwan being able to play two completely different characters so flawlessly is way sexier. 😁 https://t.co/ym82SBuPOo
May 13, 2020
The product placements in #TheKingEternalMonarch is so obvious 😆
May 13, 2020
Made another batch of steamed buns. I feel terribly accomplished as a homemaker today. Cleaned the bathroom, mopped and swept floors and made batches of steamed buns. https://t.co/CO8WLQBK5q
May 14, 2020
I have to say I am pretty fanatical about cleaning my floors. I would sweep 2x and mop 2x. I would not stop until the floor is squeaky. I suppose that’s the least you would expect from someone who takes great pleasure in cleaning the bathroom tiles with a toothbrush 😁
May 14, 2020
Realised I don’t much like my Twitter feed, what with all the negative news. So I cleaned it up. #sorrynotsorry
May 14, 2020
This is totally a sign from above!! https://t.co/0C1w0bXZCc
May 15, 2020
Are there any Asian bloggers who write about sustainability, minimalism, permaculture, and zero waste living? Please let me know as I want to follow!
May 15, 2020
Was given this by an aunty at the community garden today. Anyone knows what it is? Apparently it’s incredibly bitter and I have to do all kinds of things to make it edible. Curious to know it’s name. https://t.co/0VE5HbNU8g
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May 16, 2020
Just when you thought that human intelligence hasn’t reached rock bottom yet https://t.co/gptY2qTxkI
May 17, 2020
Unpopular opinion: I prefer Massimo over Gardenia
May 17, 2020
I’ve been inundated with numerous free webinars & while I am grateful for them, I am concerned about the message that we should be productive during #COVID. There’s more than 1 way to make use of the time we have – how about we rest & reflect? https://t.co/bxKlGZyOjT
May 17, 2020
Preach! https://t.co/X5U5RXqFsd
May 18, 2020
Love this article by @NomadNumbers. The message: Life is short, do what you love. Or rather, live the life you love and never want to escape from. https://t.co/KGWiMtNMun
May 18, 2020
“We’re only worth something if we’re productive” – that’s the message of our times. But recovery time is key to innovation and output.
https://t.co/IGKi865pbQ
May 18, 2020
I am totally guilty for having way too many characters in my novels. For one, I give names to my spear holders. lol. But @annerallen has great tips on overcoming this problem: https://t.co/VmJAZb7AJC
May 18, 2020
YESSSS https://t.co/jPsPsDeMpQ
May 19, 2020
If you are given a million bucks today, what would you do with it? #QuestionOfTheDay
May 19, 2020
I couldn’t agree more. I cannot imagine what Americans are going through now. Prayers for all! https://t.co/LldMOLmxCs
May 19, 2020
As a budding entrepreneur, I have to say I’ve got some work to do! How about you – recognise any limiting beliefs you have? Via @TheFioneers https://t.co/QsP5EwTQtu
May 19, 2020
A few years ago, I thought I was dying. I was in constantly in pain & exhausted. Once, during dinner break, I slept in my car – I couldn’t stay upright. My condition left as mysteriously as it came. @esmewang’s story really spoke to me.
https://t.co/Iv8VvehLa7
May 19, 2020
Working hard at being financially independent is prob the best thing I’ve done for myself. But working too hard on being FI has downsides. Somehow, along the way, I lost myself.
https://t.co/ofm9esdLy6
May 19, 2020
This 👇 https://t.co/Vngm5gZtPx
May 19, 2020
“I was so vigilant to avoid unnecessary spending that whenever an opportunity came up, I would immediately shut it down.” https://t.co/IjMK3ROpmw
May 20, 2020
Ok I will never drink diet coke at 8pm ever again
May 20, 2020
Do I regret living it up the moment I received a bigger paycheck? Yes & No. What this experience taught me – I enjoyed living frugally more than lavishly. So having experienced it left me with no regrets or FOMO https://t.co/YKMPu5c2NR
May 20, 2020
Yes, ma’am! (And I am so going to use the word doomscrolling from now on.) https://t.co/GyadfHgVHN
May 20, 2020
I am gonna do something exciting today – downgrade my mobile plan. Figured that with me being home most of the time, an unlimited data plan seems pointless. But it’s annoying that @digitelco requires u to go to a specific centre to do this. 😑
May 20, 2020
With BluInc closed down, what remains of journalism in Malaysia? Variety has vanished – I grieve for the demise of long-form journalism.
May 20, 2020
I write fiction with a starship crew & keeping the cast of characters lean has been a challenge for me. @annerallen has great tips on overcoming this problem: https://t.co/VmJAZbpbBa
May 20, 2020
Am going to Sunway Pyramid and it feels like I am going to Langkawi. During a zombie apocalypse.
May 20, 2020
I’ve often wondered this. But wonder if @karenkho’s situation is more applicable in the West where they have more open attitudes about workers speaking up about work not being as rosy. Somehow I don’t picture Malaysian employers being as understanding. https://t.co/mToDQWw8sK
May 20, 2020
First @NAQureshi & now @RaviZacharias? I once had the rare opportunity to interview Ravi & he is a man of great depth & understanding of the scripture. A great loss to Christian apolagetics. So sad 😦 https://t.co/ldqjqJMllR
May 20, 2020
Anyone in Malaysia, Singapore or SEA using the @Freeletics app? Want to connect? I need motivation & accountability! Confession: I bought the coach app and have barely used it 😬
May 21, 2020
As I #StayAtHome most of the time now, an unlimited data plan feels too much. Downgraded to @digitelco Postpaid 38 plan & reduced bill from RM106 to RM42. Oddly this plan is available in certain stores & is not online. I did mine at the Digi centre in Sunway Pyramid.
May 21, 2020
This is a new word inspired by 2020 https://t.co/lEKtcWBOJV
May 21, 2020
For my biz, I use mostly online services that are based abroad. Mailing list – @MailerLite, website – @squarespace, ebook distribution – @Draft2Digital. So far I have not found local equivelants that are as good or cost effective. If you know some, do recommend me some.
May 21, 2020
Hi @jessmichaelsbks really ❤️ yr books! Was wondering if you could make more of them available on @Scribd?
May 21, 2020
Just received royalty payment from @Smashwords for my books. Moments like these give me hope that earning an income from indie publishing could be possible.
May 21, 2020
My #financialindependence goal for 2020 & beyond: to increase streams of income from 3 to 5.
May 21, 2020
Finally after weeks of trying to find a home for Tuxie, he’s been adopted. Watch his story here https://t.co/mTXkrB1gyU
May 21, 2020
Oh yes, baby YEAST. I learned how to make my own steamed mantaus thanks to the #movementcontrolorder. They are so cheap to make! I make 8 pieces from a packet of yeast & 350g of flour – about 20c a piece! I can’t buy store-bought mantao anymore cos mine’s yummier & cheaper. 😆 https://t.co/1bKfaLIVG2
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May 21, 2020
Media: Are you sure you’re a good lover? https://t.co/QHCMRxrkmA
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May 21, 2020
I was told that journalism wouldn’t fit me, I would hate it and find it boring. I spent 15 yrs in the no.1 English newspaper in Malaysia, travelled the world writing about cool stuff & interviewing big league players. Listen to yourself first. https://t.co/6Ksf9uh99d
May 22, 2020
Omg this is sci-fi level stuff @tedmahsun https://t.co/KnhIHcgNOA
May 22, 2020
I never understood @Apple mania until I bought an iPhone and MacBook Air. It’s true. They just work. By now, my android phone or Windows laptop would be crawling, riddled with bugs & viruses. If you want more long lasting tech, go apple. Ok, you can attack me now 😆
May 22, 2020
Unpopular opinion: Most Malaysian personal finance bloggers are all about making more money. Making money is great but how about frugal living, simple & debt free living? Sometimes I feel like the lone voice in the wilderness
May 22, 2020
I relate to this cat hard. https://t.co/R2eyDMvIuT
May 22, 2020
“When I came back to Malaysia after being laid off twice in Singapore. I had enough. I had enough with the Oil & Gas industry, and I had enough of being an employee.” https://t.co/ydaXkWRRiW
May 22, 2020
Malatsian #personalfinance bloggers – have you been unemployed before? How did you manage that period emotionally & financially? What did you do to emerge from it? I would ❤️ to list & share your posts. I think many people will appreciate learning from them now.
May 23, 2020
Have you been unemployed before? Either laid off or quit your job without another? How did you manage financially & emotionally? Do send me your posts so I can list them as a resource for those struggling with job loss now.
PS: you don’t have to be Malaysian!
May 23, 2020
Am I the only one that thinks – that poor cup of soda? https://t.co/HiUliR3HP8
May 23, 2020
As usual, dropped by at the community garden to do some work. Harvested sweet potato leaves & chillies. Growing your own food is one of the most empowering things you can do for yourself. Growing food as a community is extraordinary. https://t.co/DBLzEzyTSt
May 23, 2020
In the 1990s, Cuba had a huge economic crisis. People nearly starved. But they came together & changed their way of life. They planted vegetables wherever they could, changed their diets, walked & biked more.
Watch: https://t.co/bXnjkC4cQY
May 23, 2020
Watching all these documentaries on Cuban organic farming revolution made me think about one of my fav bands ever – Buena Vista Social Club https://t.co/h8jkON9loJ
May 23, 2020
God is creative. And may have watched the Species movies. https://t.co/73aAjbuzDL
May 23, 2020
I am surprised this tweet blew up 😅 But am also surprised that some are hostile to the idea of frugality & simple living. Some Malaysians seem to think frugality & minimalism = deprivation & suffering, and the only way out is to earn more. https://t.co/fyB1VM1ypA
May 23, 2020
When your mum sneaks in 6 paus into your bag because she thinks you are starving. ❤️ Mum, have a look at me. I got lots of “backup food”.
May 23, 2020
Still inspiring 🙂 https://t.co/uqWXjEY4C3
May 23, 2020
Whoa I am 20 subs away from 1000. So close! Who would have thought? Thank you guys. Somehow my weird thoughts are interesting to you guys 😆 https://t.co/Zzb7QfXZzw
GIF
May 24, 2020
She gave up the chance at a corporate career to be an urban farmer in Singapore. “Money is a tool to do things. But people often forget that it’s not the only way to live life.” https://t.co/yDDPsR3uHc
May 24, 2020
SELAMAT HARI RAYA MALAYSIANSSS https://t.co/F2Sd3G8MPy
May 25, 2020
I remember reading a local personal finance book once and the examples she used were people who were earning RM15k per month. 😅 I couldn’t relate at all
May 25, 2020
Hello personal finance people! What are your plans today?
May 25, 2020
Realised that I have been freelancing most of my life without realising it. First time when I was 20, then a few jobs here there. When I moved to Australia I managed to find clients too, so I guess I do have the freelancing spirit. Now to hone it!
May 25, 2020
So here’s a cheery question first thing in the morning! Have you prepared a will? If so why did you/did you not?
May 25, 2020
Watching my @StashAwayAPAC investments dance around the graph has been very entertaining.
May 25, 2020
I really relate to @FinancialGory. The moment I feel comfortable, I get restless. Although I spent 15 years in the Star, I changed departments/roles every 3-4 years, learning new skills along the way. At 35 I moved to Australia, & trained to be a nurse.
May 25, 2020
You can reengineer sidewalks, tiny spaces of dirt into edible land. https://t.co/e6scogrjZO
May 25, 2020
Lol say it sister https://t.co/QjApU2eG0U
May 25, 2020
Start cutescrolling instead! https://t.co/yzlZPLdUmU
May 25, 2020
Baptisms in the age of #COVID2019 can be a tad confrontational https://t.co/p076LBspNm
May 26, 2020
Yippee I crossed the 1000 subscribers mark. Thank you, friends! https://t.co/ZZVyAEiTr3
GIF
May 26, 2020
One of mymost important projects this season is to grow food for myself. I am now planting spinach, sweet potato leaves & kangkong in my parents’ house and the community garden. If all goes well, I will have a healthy supply of organic greens in 2 months (hopefully less!) https://t.co/uH7QeAByNm
May 26, 2020
This is so politically incorrect but yet I am 😂 Forgive me https://t.co/almD60VDDl
May 26, 2020
I am fortunate that, unlike some professions, I have the power to create my own projects without asking for permission. As a writer, I can write until I am in my deathbed and no one can say, “you are too old to do this” or “you need this cert to show us you know this stuff.”
May 27, 2020
Well this tweet blew up. But really, I stand by it. When healthcare workers are literally melting into a puddle of sweat every day to protect us, we can wear that dang mask to ensure we don’t spread infection to each other. https://t.co/rqDCHuCoxj
May 27, 2020
Happy to see the spinach seedlings grow around the lone ginger in this space. May I get bountiful harvest soon. https://t.co/GsMQZG1qEo
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May 27, 2020
Also started adding mulch. Was getting tired of the weeds and wanted a way to ensure they don’t go out of control and also prevent the ground from drying out too quickly. Made the mulch from tree leaves, twigs and coconut leaves. https://t.co/T7wnNAJGNA
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May 27, 2020
The American stock market is being totally weird. https://t.co/3ry9YyGlV2
May 27, 2020
Mine’s consistently 36C. But apparently there are undead in Malaysia, because I have seen those with temps of 31-33C 🤔 https://t.co/wg2asEjksT
May 27, 2020
Ok what is this Fortnite thing and why is it so awesome?
May 27, 2020
People in Malaysia are quickly forgetting the importance of this. https://t.co/5GpZaSl6hA
May 28, 2020
I am so obsessed with making steamed mantau that I may end up being called Ms Mantau one day. https://t.co/ausx3LnkoR
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May 28, 2020
Confession: I have not dared to look at my unit trust investments. Probably will only dare to look end of next year 😄😂
May 28, 2020
Went to mall. My temp is 33C today. Apparently I died and no one gave me the memo? 😂
May 28, 2020
Malaysians need to start Victory Gardens too. They are amazingly reassuring during times of crisis. Am inspired by @TreadLightly_RE https://t.co/6liHvKPKad
May 28, 2020
Ok what in the world is going on America https://t.co/A2jrIOPqUb
May 29, 2020
Warning: Cerita panjang! Recently, I come to realise tht many Msians think frugality = deprivation & that the only way to have a better life is to earn more $. Poverty is real but Frugality + Good Money Habits + Self sufficiency + Relationships = Awesome life. 1/6 https://t.co/aVXs5zDVeb
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May 29, 2020
Yeah, that ONE day I had to drive to office, it pours like it had not rained for weeks.
May 29, 2020
I’m addicted to @Refinery29’s Money Diaries where folks detail their spending habits for a week. Can we do a Malaysian version?? https://t.co/WrhVHT9tQt
May 29, 2020
OMG I DON’T THINK I CAN DO THIS.
I still have my high school journals ;D
https://t.co/I3Xea7DMsL
May 29, 2020
But why?? https://t.co/eRnRgzppXW
May 29, 2020
My commute to and from the office used to be over 2 hours a day. I am at work 9 hours a day. It all seems extremely long now.
May 30, 2020
The only things I miss from the office: free flow coffee & all-day aircond. I don’t use it most of the time at home except at night and I am a puddle of sweat every day 😵
May 30, 2020
My love for permaculture was sparked in Australia, when I met people like Yin who taught me how to grow your own food and live sustainably: https://t.co/XzPsQagKfr
May 30, 2020
So very sad 😭 Subang Parade MPH has been in the neighborhood for decades. It is my fav hang out place to chillax with books. Now…? 😭 https://t.co/tccpZpBgcy
May 30, 2020
Me reading the #MinneapolisRiot thread https://t.co/e03kNLIzK8
GIF
May 30, 2020
I made my own bubble tea 😁 https://t.co/KzL9xs0nnF
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May 30, 2020
This is so beautiful. We need this Malaysian residential streets https://t.co/ZOS0mShnAM
#coronavirus #COVID #covid19 #COVID19 #COVID2019 #financialindependence #health #mentalHealth #MinneapolisRiot #movementcontrolorder #personalfinance #QuestionOfTheDay #seedling #sorrynotsorry #StayAtHome #TheKingEternalMonarch

#covid19 #seedling #coronavirus #covid #covid2019 #financialindependence
SummerSimo Travel Troubles Notes and The Purring Page @[email protected] · 2026-02-09 · 12:05 UTC

Mint Chocolate and Shadows

Chapter 5: The Alchemy of Shadows
The hidden drawer in the hearth of the Mint Chocolate House did not contain a simple map. That would have been too pedestrian for a mind as labyrinthine as Sir Alistair Finch’s. Instead, we found a collection of translucent vellum sheets, brittle with age, covered in what appeared to be nonsense: botanical sketches of deadly nightshade overlaying architectural diagrams of Speranza’s sewer system, and chemical formulas for synthetic diamonds written in the margins of a recipe for ganache.
“It is chaos,” Anna whispered, the steam from her earlier espresso seeming to have evaporated into the cold tension of the room. “Just scrawls and madness.”
“No,” I corrected, adjusting my glasses as Toe, my black cat, jumped onto the table and placed a paw precisely on a sketch of a Datura flower. “It is not madness. It is a transparency cipher. Marisa, bring the light.”
Marisa, pale but steady, brought a heavy kerosene lamp from the counter. When we held the vellum sheets up against the flame, layering them one over the other, the chaotic lines merged. The botanical sketches faded, and the architectural lines aligned to form a perfect, three-dimensional geometry of a specific object.
It was not a building. It was a humidifier. specifically, the grand, walk-in humidor at Altea’s Cigars House.
“The gear,” I murmured, pulling the brass cog we had found in the poisoned snuff box from my pocket. “It wasn’t a piece of the Raven’s Kiss dagger. It is a key for a different lock entirely.”
Suddenly, the scent of almonds—the cyanide trace from the box—hit me with a new, terrifying realization. I grabbed the snuff box and scraped a tiny amount of the crystalline powder onto the table. “Altea, do you have any lemon juice? Or vinegar?”
“I have a lime for the cocktails,” Altea replied, confused but handing me the fruit.
I squeezed a drop onto the white powder. It hissed violently, turning a vibrant, shocking violet.
“It’s not cyanide,” I breathed, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. “It’s a reactants-based dye, used in the 19th century to mark fools’ gold. The poison was a bluff. A distraction to keep us looking for a killer while the thief walked right past us.”
“The thief?” Anna asked.
“The man in the gray coat,” I said, the realization dawning like a cold sunrise. “He didn’t have a limp because he was injured. He walked with a heavy step because he was carrying something incredibly dense in his lining. He didn’t bring the box to threaten us. He brought it to trigger us. He needed us to find the notes. He needed us to solve the puzzle he couldn’t.”
A crash echoed from the street outside—the sound of breaking glass. It came from the direction of the Cigars House.
“He’s already there,” I said, blowing out the lamp. “And he’s waiting for us to bring him the gear.”
Chapter 6: The Smoke and the Mirrors
We moved through the back alleys of Speranza, avoiding the main cobblestone streets bathed in moonlight. Ashwaganda, usually a creature of kinetic chaos, moved low to the ground, a silent orange streak leading the way. The air grew heavier as we approached Altea’s shop, thick with the scent of unlit tobacco and aged cedar.
The front door of the Cigars House was ajar, the glass pane shattered. Inside, the shop was a cavern of shadows. The moonlight caught the drifting smoke—not from cigars, but from a small canister rolling on the floor, releasing a disorienting, white fog.
“Stay close,” I whispered to my friends. “He wants the gear. He won’t strike until he sees it.”
We pushed through the fog into the back room, where the massive walk-in humidor stood. It was a masterpiece of engineering, lined with Spanish cedar and temperature-controlled dials. Standing before it, silhouetted against the faint light of the streetlamps outside, was the figure in the gray coat.
He turned. The limp was gone. In his hand, he held a heavy, silenced pistol. But it wasn’t the courier we had interrogated at the Coffee Taverna. It was Inspector Salomone.
The shock was physical, a punch to the gut. The weary, cynical policeman who had dismissed my theories for years stood there with a cold, calculating smile.
“Dr. Hopes,” Salomone said, his voice stripped of its usual fatigue. “I knew you couldn’t resist a puzzle. You and your wretched cats are better than any hound.”
“The courier…” I started.
“A hired actor,” Salomone scoffed. “Paid to tremble and deliver a prop. I needed you to find the location. Sir Alistair’s notes were too encoded for a simple policeman, but for a doctor with a penchant for history? Child’s play.” He extended his hand. “The gear, Moira. Now.”
Altea stepped forward, her eyes blazing. “You monitored us? You betrayed the village?”
“I protected this village from boredom for twenty years,” Salomone snapped. “Do you know what is inside this humidor? It is not just cigars. Sir Alistair didn’t trust banks. He trusted climate control. The ‘Star of Speranza’ isn’t a diamond, Altea. It is a seed. The last viable seed of the Silphium plant, thought extinct since Roman times. Worth more than any diamond. A botanical miracle that could rewrite history—and make its owner a billionaire.”
He raised the gun. “The gear.”
I held up the small brass cog. My mind raced, flipping through the pages of Days of your Dreams. ‘When the enemy seeks the time, give him the bell, not the clapper.’
“Catch,” I said, and tossed the gear high into the air, towards the open door of the humidor.
Salomone’s greed was a reflex. He lunged for it, his eyes tracking the glint of brass. In that split second, Toe dropped from the top of the humidor shelves. He didn’t aim for the man. He aimed for the open canister of fog Salomone had kicked aside.
With a precise swat, the black cat sent the canister spinning between Salomone’s legs. The Inspector stumbled, his shot going wild, shattering a jar of Cuban Leafs.
Chapter 7: The Sweetest Trap
“Now!” I screamed.
Marisa, fueled by adrenaline, grabbed a heavy jar of rock candy from a display shelf and hurled it. It wasn’t a precise throw, but it was effective. The jar smashed against the humidity controls, releasing a pressurized blast of water vapor designed to keep the cigars moist.
The room instantly turned into a blinding white cloud. Salomone roared, firing blindly into the mist.
“The floor!” Anna shouted, pulling a lever near the counter. It was the trapdoor to the cellar, usually used for coal deliveries.
Salomone, disoriented and blinded by the steam and fog, took a step back to steady his aim. His heel caught on the edge of the open trapdoor. There was no scream, just a surprised grunt and the heavy thud of a body hitting the coal pile twelve feet below.
Altea slammed the trapdoor shut and threw the iron bolt.
Silence returned to the Cigars House, save for the hissing of the broken humidifier.
I leaned against the counter, shaking. Ashwaganda trotted over to the brass gear, which had landed safely on a velvet chair, and sat on it, purring loudly.
“Silphium,” Altea whispered, looking at the locked humidor. “He was willing to kill for a plant?”
“For the history,” I corrected, picking up the gear. “And for the power of being the one to bring it back.”
I walked to the humidor. The brass gear didn’t fit into the keyhole. It fit into a small, decorative ventilation grate near the floor—a cat-sized opening. I placed the gear onto a hidden spindle and turned it.
The floor of the humidor didn’t open. Instead, a small panel inside the wall slid back. There was no seed. There was no diamond.
Inside sat a single, dust-covered bottle of wine, labelled simply: Speranza, Year Zero.
Next to it was a final note from Sir Alistair:
“The Silphium was a myth I invented to test the greedy. The true treasure is the soil of this village, which grows friendship deeper than any root. Enjoy the vintage, ladies. It is the only one in existence.”
I looked at my friends—Altea, Anna, Marisa—covered in soot, steam, and chocolate dust.
“A myth?” Salomone’s muffled voice shouted from the cellar. “You mean I broke my leg for a metaphor?!”
I smiled, picking up the bottle. “It seems,” I said, channeling the finality of Hitchcock’s closing shots, “that the Inspector fell for the oldest trick in the book. Never trust a treasure map written by a man who loved stories more than gold.”
We left Salomone in the cellar for the real police to find. The night air was crisp, and as we walked back towards the Coffee Taverna to finally open the bottle, the stars above Speranza seemed to wink. Or perhaps it was just the reflection in the golden eyes of the cats, who knew all along that the best twists are the ones you never see coming.
#19thCentury #alchemical #alchemy #architectural #art #bloganuary #bloganuary202401 #bloganuary202402 #bloganuary202403 #bloganuary202404 #bloganuary202405 #bloganuary202408 #bloganuary202409 #bloganuary202411 #bloganuary202416 #bloganuary202428 #bloganuary202429 #bloganuary202430 #books #botanical #castles #chemistry #cipher #cocktail #cryptography #culture #curiosity #dailyprompt #dailyprompt1804 #dailyprompt1805 #dailyprompt1806 #dailyprompt1807 #dailyprompt1808 #dailyprompt1811 #dailyprompt1812 #dailyprompt1814 #dailyprompt1819 #dailyprompt1832 #dailyprompt1839 #dailyprompt1840 #dailyprompt1851 #dailyprompt1859 #dailyprompt1860 #dailyprompt1891 #dailyprompt1975 #dailyprompt1976 #dailyprompt1978 #dailyprompt1981 #dailyprompt1982 #dailyprompt1983 #dailyprompt1984 #dailyprompt1985 #dailyprompt1987 #dailyprompt1988 #dailyprompt1990 #dailyprompt1993 #dailyprompt1994 #dailyprompt1995 #dailyprompt1997 #dailyprompt1999 #dailyprompt2007 #dailyprompt2008 #dailyprompt2010 #dailyprompt2011 #dailyprompt2012 #dailyprompt2013 #dailyprompt2014 #dailyprompt2017 #dailyprompt2089 #dailyprompt2099 #dailyprompt2112 #dailyprompt2113 #dailyprompt2115 #dailyprompt2124 #dailyprompt2125 #dailyprompt2126 #dailyprompt2127 #dailyprompt2129 #dailyprompt2132 #dailyprompt2134 #dailyprompt2137 #dailyprompt2138 #dailyprompt2145 #dailyprompt2146 #dailyprompt2152 #dailyprompt2153 #dailyprompt2159 #dailyprompt2167 #DANCESPIRITCOLOROFPEACE #distraction #DOLOMITES #drinks #dye #EmotionsFeelingsSundayPowerOfASmileMyLifeWithYouSOULCHEERFULNESSFEELINGSHOPETearsSometimesAKissIsAllYouNeedTheSilenceLifeSelfWords #Evernote #everyday #Facebook #facts #fashion #food #hiking #HISTORY #humidor #IFTTT #Instagram #Ireland #Irish #Island #Italy #kitchen #language #learning #lemon #LifeAndAGIRLINTERRUPTEDFriendshipAndPoisonBULLIEDKLDONNOneDayAtOfficeESSENTIALFORSURVIVINGTheBreathOfASoulMePastPresentFutureYesUAreIGotItSome #lime #LoveAndAdventureAreIntricatelyConnectedInASummersimoSymphony #mountains #MYCOCKTAILWORLD #mystery #noMatterHow #noMatterHowBadIsTogetherWeCanWin #photography #pictures #Pinterest #poison #RECIPE #RECIPES #snuff #social #SUMMER #SUMMERBOMB #summersimoBestTouristGuidesAreYourTasteBuds #SUMMERSIMOTHEUNDERWORLD #SUMMERSIMOCOMPASS #SUMMERSIMOSCOCKTAILS #SUMMERSIMOSCOMPASS #SUMMERSIMOSGLITTERWAR #SUMMERSIMOSRECIPES #technology #TheBestTouristGuidesAreYourTasteBuds #TheCaseOfTheSilentNightingaleAndTheEtruscanDeception #ThePurringPage #TheSoundOfSmile #thief #TOURISM #tradition #travel #TRENTINOALTOADIGE #vellum #WithASummersimoSmile

#19thcentury #alchemical #alchemy #architectural #art #bloganuary
SummerSimo Travel Troubles Notes and The Purring Page @[email protected] · 2026-02-09 · 12:05 UTC

Mint Chocolate and Shadows

Chapter 5: The Alchemy of Shadows
The hidden drawer in the hearth of the Mint Chocolate House did not contain a simple map. That would have been too pedestrian for a mind as labyrinthine as Sir Alistair Finch’s. Instead, we found a collection of translucent vellum sheets, brittle with age, covered in what appeared to be nonsense: botanical sketches of deadly nightshade overlaying architectural diagrams of Speranza’s sewer system, and chemical formulas for synthetic diamonds written in the margins of a recipe for ganache.
“It is chaos,” Anna whispered, the steam from her earlier espresso seeming to have evaporated into the cold tension of the room. “Just scrawls and madness.”
“No,” I corrected, adjusting my glasses as Toe, my black cat, jumped onto the table and placed a paw precisely on a sketch of a Datura flower. “It is not madness. It is a transparency cipher. Marisa, bring the light.”
Marisa, pale but steady, brought a heavy kerosene lamp from the counter. When we held the vellum sheets up against the flame, layering them one over the other, the chaotic lines merged. The botanical sketches faded, and the architectural lines aligned to form a perfect, three-dimensional geometry of a specific object.
It was not a building. It was a humidifier. specifically, the grand, walk-in humidor at Altea’s Cigars House.
“The gear,” I murmured, pulling the brass cog we had found in the poisoned snuff box from my pocket. “It wasn’t a piece of the Raven’s Kiss dagger. It is a key for a different lock entirely.”
Suddenly, the scent of almonds—the cyanide trace from the box—hit me with a new, terrifying realization. I grabbed the snuff box and scraped a tiny amount of the crystalline powder onto the table. “Altea, do you have any lemon juice? Or vinegar?”
“I have a lime for the cocktails,” Altea replied, confused but handing me the fruit.
I squeezed a drop onto the white powder. It hissed violently, turning a vibrant, shocking violet.
“It’s not cyanide,” I breathed, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. “It’s a reactants-based dye, used in the 19th century to mark fools’ gold. The poison was a bluff. A distraction to keep us looking for a killer while the thief walked right past us.”
“The thief?” Anna asked.
“The man in the gray coat,” I said, the realization dawning like a cold sunrise. “He didn’t have a limp because he was injured. He walked with a heavy step because he was carrying something incredibly dense in his lining. He didn’t bring the box to threaten us. He brought it to trigger us. He needed us to find the notes. He needed us to solve the puzzle he couldn’t.”
A crash echoed from the street outside—the sound of breaking glass. It came from the direction of the Cigars House.
“He’s already there,” I said, blowing out the lamp. “And he’s waiting for us to bring him the gear.”
Chapter 6: The Smoke and the Mirrors
We moved through the back alleys of Speranza, avoiding the main cobblestone streets bathed in moonlight. Ashwaganda, usually a creature of kinetic chaos, moved low to the ground, a silent orange streak leading the way. The air grew heavier as we approached Altea’s shop, thick with the scent of unlit tobacco and aged cedar.
The front door of the Cigars House was ajar, the glass pane shattered. Inside, the shop was a cavern of shadows. The moonlight caught the drifting smoke—not from cigars, but from a small canister rolling on the floor, releasing a disorienting, white fog.
“Stay close,” I whispered to my friends. “He wants the gear. He won’t strike until he sees it.”
We pushed through the fog into the back room, where the massive walk-in humidor stood. It was a masterpiece of engineering, lined with Spanish cedar and temperature-controlled dials. Standing before it, silhouetted against the faint light of the streetlamps outside, was the figure in the gray coat.
He turned. The limp was gone. In his hand, he held a heavy, silenced pistol. But it wasn’t the courier we had interrogated at the Coffee Taverna. It was Inspector Salomone.
The shock was physical, a punch to the gut. The weary, cynical policeman who had dismissed my theories for years stood there with a cold, calculating smile.
“Dr. Hopes,” Salomone said, his voice stripped of its usual fatigue. “I knew you couldn’t resist a puzzle. You and your wretched cats are better than any hound.”
“The courier…” I started.
“A hired actor,” Salomone scoffed. “Paid to tremble and deliver a prop. I needed you to find the location. Sir Alistair’s notes were too encoded for a simple policeman, but for a doctor with a penchant for history? Child’s play.” He extended his hand. “The gear, Moira. Now.”
Altea stepped forward, her eyes blazing. “You monitored us? You betrayed the village?”
“I protected this village from boredom for twenty years,” Salomone snapped. “Do you know what is inside this humidor? It is not just cigars. Sir Alistair didn’t trust banks. He trusted climate control. The ‘Star of Speranza’ isn’t a diamond, Altea. It is a seed. The last viable seed of the Silphium plant, thought extinct since Roman times. Worth more than any diamond. A botanical miracle that could rewrite history—and make its owner a billionaire.”
He raised the gun. “The gear.”
I held up the small brass cog. My mind raced, flipping through the pages of Days of your Dreams. ‘When the enemy seeks the time, give him the bell, not the clapper.’
“Catch,” I said, and tossed the gear high into the air, towards the open door of the humidor.
Salomone’s greed was a reflex. He lunged for it, his eyes tracking the glint of brass. In that split second, Toe dropped from the top of the humidor shelves. He didn’t aim for the man. He aimed for the open canister of fog Salomone had kicked aside.
With a precise swat, the black cat sent the canister spinning between Salomone’s legs. The Inspector stumbled, his shot going wild, shattering a jar of Cuban Leafs.
Chapter 7: The Sweetest Trap
“Now!” I screamed.
Marisa, fueled by adrenaline, grabbed a heavy jar of rock candy from a display shelf and hurled it. It wasn’t a precise throw, but it was effective. The jar smashed against the humidity controls, releasing a pressurized blast of water vapor designed to keep the cigars moist.
The room instantly turned into a blinding white cloud. Salomone roared, firing blindly into the mist.
“The floor!” Anna shouted, pulling a lever near the counter. It was the trapdoor to the cellar, usually used for coal deliveries.
Salomone, disoriented and blinded by the steam and fog, took a step back to steady his aim. His heel caught on the edge of the open trapdoor. There was no scream, just a surprised grunt and the heavy thud of a body hitting the coal pile twelve feet below.
Altea slammed the trapdoor shut and threw the iron bolt.
Silence returned to the Cigars House, save for the hissing of the broken humidifier.
I leaned against the counter, shaking. Ashwaganda trotted over to the brass gear, which had landed safely on a velvet chair, and sat on it, purring loudly.
“Silphium,” Altea whispered, looking at the locked humidor. “He was willing to kill for a plant?”
“For the history,” I corrected, picking up the gear. “And for the power of being the one to bring it back.”
I walked to the humidor. The brass gear didn’t fit into the keyhole. It fit into a small, decorative ventilation grate near the floor—a cat-sized opening. I placed the gear onto a hidden spindle and turned it.
The floor of the humidor didn’t open. Instead, a small panel inside the wall slid back. There was no seed. There was no diamond.
Inside sat a single, dust-covered bottle of wine, labelled simply: Speranza, Year Zero.
Next to it was a final note from Sir Alistair:
“The Silphium was a myth I invented to test the greedy. The true treasure is the soil of this village, which grows friendship deeper than any root. Enjoy the vintage, ladies. It is the only one in existence.”
I looked at my friends—Altea, Anna, Marisa—covered in soot, steam, and chocolate dust.
“A myth?” Salomone’s muffled voice shouted from the cellar. “You mean I broke my leg for a metaphor?!”
I smiled, picking up the bottle. “It seems,” I said, channeling the finality of Hitchcock’s closing shots, “that the Inspector fell for the oldest trick in the book. Never trust a treasure map written by a man who loved stories more than gold.”
We left Salomone in the cellar for the real police to find. The night air was crisp, and as we walked back towards the Coffee Taverna to finally open the bottle, the stars above Speranza seemed to wink. Or perhaps it was just the reflection in the golden eyes of the cats, who knew all along that the best twists are the ones you never see coming.
#19thCentury #alchemical #alchemy #architectural #art #bloganuary #bloganuary202401 #bloganuary202402 #bloganuary202403 #bloganuary202404 #bloganuary202405 #bloganuary202408 #bloganuary202409 #bloganuary202411 #bloganuary202416 #bloganuary202428 #bloganuary202429 #bloganuary202430 #books #botanical #castles #chemistry #cipher #cocktail #cryptography #culture #curiosity #dailyprompt #dailyprompt1804 #dailyprompt1805 #dailyprompt1806 #dailyprompt1807 #dailyprompt1808 #dailyprompt1811 #dailyprompt1812 #dailyprompt1814 #dailyprompt1819 #dailyprompt1832 #dailyprompt1839 #dailyprompt1840 #dailyprompt1851 #dailyprompt1859 #dailyprompt1860 #dailyprompt1891 #dailyprompt1975 #dailyprompt1976 #dailyprompt1978 #dailyprompt1981 #dailyprompt1982 #dailyprompt1983 #dailyprompt1984 #dailyprompt1985 #dailyprompt1987 #dailyprompt1988 #dailyprompt1990 #dailyprompt1993 #dailyprompt1994 #dailyprompt1995 #dailyprompt1997 #dailyprompt1999 #dailyprompt2007 #dailyprompt2008 #dailyprompt2010 #dailyprompt2011 #dailyprompt2012 #dailyprompt2013 #dailyprompt2014 #dailyprompt2017 #dailyprompt2089 #dailyprompt2099 #dailyprompt2112 #dailyprompt2113 #dailyprompt2115 #dailyprompt2124 #dailyprompt2125 #dailyprompt2126 #dailyprompt2127 #dailyprompt2129 #dailyprompt2132 #dailyprompt2134 #dailyprompt2137 #dailyprompt2138 #dailyprompt2145 #dailyprompt2146 #dailyprompt2152 #dailyprompt2153 #dailyprompt2159 #dailyprompt2167 #DANCESPIRITCOLOROFPEACE #distraction #DOLOMITES #drinks #dye #EmotionsFeelingsSundayPowerOfASmileMyLifeWithYouSOULCHEERFULNESSFEELINGSHOPETearsSometimesAKissIsAllYouNeedTheSilenceLifeSelfWords #Evernote #everyday #Facebook #facts #fashion #food #hiking #HISTORY #humidor #IFTTT #Instagram #Ireland #Irish #Island #Italy #kitchen #language #learning #lemon #LifeAndAGIRLINTERRUPTEDFriendshipAndPoisonBULLIEDKLDONNOneDayAtOfficeESSENTIALFORSURVIVINGTheBreathOfASoulMePastPresentFutureYesUAreIGotItSome #lime #LoveAndAdventureAreIntricatelyConnectedInASummersimoSymphony #mountains #MYCOCKTAILWORLD #mystery #noMatterHow #noMatterHowBadIsTogetherWeCanWin #photography #pictures #Pinterest #poison #RECIPE #RECIPES #snuff #social #SUMMER #SUMMERBOMB #summersimoBestTouristGuidesAreYourTasteBuds #SUMMERSIMOTHEUNDERWORLD #SUMMERSIMOCOMPASS #SUMMERSIMOSCOCKTAILS #SUMMERSIMOSCOMPASS #SUMMERSIMOSGLITTERWAR #SUMMERSIMOSRECIPES #technology #TheBestTouristGuidesAreYourTasteBuds #TheCaseOfTheSilentNightingaleAndTheEtruscanDeception #ThePurringPage #TheSoundOfSmile #thief #TOURISM #tradition #travel #TRENTINOALTOADIGE #vellum #WithASummersimoSmile

#19thcentury #alchemical #alchemy #architectural #art #bloganuary
SummerSimo Travel Troubles Notes and The Purring Page @[email protected] · 2026-02-09 · 12:05 UTC

Mint Chocolate and Shadows

Chapter 5: The Alchemy of Shadows
The hidden drawer in the hearth of the Mint Chocolate House did not contain a simple map. That would have been too pedestrian for a mind as labyrinthine as Sir Alistair Finch’s. Instead, we found a collection of translucent vellum sheets, brittle with age, covered in what appeared to be nonsense: botanical sketches of deadly nightshade overlaying architectural diagrams of Speranza’s sewer system, and chemical formulas for synthetic diamonds written in the margins of a recipe for ganache.
“It is chaos,” Anna whispered, the steam from her earlier espresso seeming to have evaporated into the cold tension of the room. “Just scrawls and madness.”
“No,” I corrected, adjusting my glasses as Toe, my black cat, jumped onto the table and placed a paw precisely on a sketch of a Datura flower. “It is not madness. It is a transparency cipher. Marisa, bring the light.”
Marisa, pale but steady, brought a heavy kerosene lamp from the counter. When we held the vellum sheets up against the flame, layering them one over the other, the chaotic lines merged. The botanical sketches faded, and the architectural lines aligned to form a perfect, three-dimensional geometry of a specific object.
It was not a building. It was a humidifier. specifically, the grand, walk-in humidor at Altea’s Cigars House.
“The gear,” I murmured, pulling the brass cog we had found in the poisoned snuff box from my pocket. “It wasn’t a piece of the Raven’s Kiss dagger. It is a key for a different lock entirely.”
Suddenly, the scent of almonds—the cyanide trace from the box—hit me with a new, terrifying realization. I grabbed the snuff box and scraped a tiny amount of the crystalline powder onto the table. “Altea, do you have any lemon juice? Or vinegar?”
“I have a lime for the cocktails,” Altea replied, confused but handing me the fruit.
I squeezed a drop onto the white powder. It hissed violently, turning a vibrant, shocking violet.
“It’s not cyanide,” I breathed, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. “It’s a reactants-based dye, used in the 19th century to mark fools’ gold. The poison was a bluff. A distraction to keep us looking for a killer while the thief walked right past us.”
“The thief?” Anna asked.
“The man in the gray coat,” I said, the realization dawning like a cold sunrise. “He didn’t have a limp because he was injured. He walked with a heavy step because he was carrying something incredibly dense in his lining. He didn’t bring the box to threaten us. He brought it to trigger us. He needed us to find the notes. He needed us to solve the puzzle he couldn’t.”
A crash echoed from the street outside—the sound of breaking glass. It came from the direction of the Cigars House.
“He’s already there,” I said, blowing out the lamp. “And he’s waiting for us to bring him the gear.”
Chapter 6: The Smoke and the Mirrors
We moved through the back alleys of Speranza, avoiding the main cobblestone streets bathed in moonlight. Ashwaganda, usually a creature of kinetic chaos, moved low to the ground, a silent orange streak leading the way. The air grew heavier as we approached Altea’s shop, thick with the scent of unlit tobacco and aged cedar.
The front door of the Cigars House was ajar, the glass pane shattered. Inside, the shop was a cavern of shadows. The moonlight caught the drifting smoke—not from cigars, but from a small canister rolling on the floor, releasing a disorienting, white fog.
“Stay close,” I whispered to my friends. “He wants the gear. He won’t strike until he sees it.”
We pushed through the fog into the back room, where the massive walk-in humidor stood. It was a masterpiece of engineering, lined with Spanish cedar and temperature-controlled dials. Standing before it, silhouetted against the faint light of the streetlamps outside, was the figure in the gray coat.
He turned. The limp was gone. In his hand, he held a heavy, silenced pistol. But it wasn’t the courier we had interrogated at the Coffee Taverna. It was Inspector Salomone.
The shock was physical, a punch to the gut. The weary, cynical policeman who had dismissed my theories for years stood there with a cold, calculating smile.
“Dr. Hopes,” Salomone said, his voice stripped of its usual fatigue. “I knew you couldn’t resist a puzzle. You and your wretched cats are better than any hound.”
“The courier…” I started.
“A hired actor,” Salomone scoffed. “Paid to tremble and deliver a prop. I needed you to find the location. Sir Alistair’s notes were too encoded for a simple policeman, but for a doctor with a penchant for history? Child’s play.” He extended his hand. “The gear, Moira. Now.”
Altea stepped forward, her eyes blazing. “You monitored us? You betrayed the village?”
“I protected this village from boredom for twenty years,” Salomone snapped. “Do you know what is inside this humidor? It is not just cigars. Sir Alistair didn’t trust banks. He trusted climate control. The ‘Star of Speranza’ isn’t a diamond, Altea. It is a seed. The last viable seed of the Silphium plant, thought extinct since Roman times. Worth more than any diamond. A botanical miracle that could rewrite history—and make its owner a billionaire.”
He raised the gun. “The gear.”
I held up the small brass cog. My mind raced, flipping through the pages of Days of your Dreams. ‘When the enemy seeks the time, give him the bell, not the clapper.’
“Catch,” I said, and tossed the gear high into the air, towards the open door of the humidor.
Salomone’s greed was a reflex. He lunged for it, his eyes tracking the glint of brass. In that split second, Toe dropped from the top of the humidor shelves. He didn’t aim for the man. He aimed for the open canister of fog Salomone had kicked aside.
With a precise swat, the black cat sent the canister spinning between Salomone’s legs. The Inspector stumbled, his shot going wild, shattering a jar of Cuban Leafs.
Chapter 7: The Sweetest Trap
“Now!” I screamed.
Marisa, fueled by adrenaline, grabbed a heavy jar of rock candy from a display shelf and hurled it. It wasn’t a precise throw, but it was effective. The jar smashed against the humidity controls, releasing a pressurized blast of water vapor designed to keep the cigars moist.
The room instantly turned into a blinding white cloud. Salomone roared, firing blindly into the mist.
“The floor!” Anna shouted, pulling a lever near the counter. It was the trapdoor to the cellar, usually used for coal deliveries.
Salomone, disoriented and blinded by the steam and fog, took a step back to steady his aim. His heel caught on the edge of the open trapdoor. There was no scream, just a surprised grunt and the heavy thud of a body hitting the coal pile twelve feet below.
Altea slammed the trapdoor shut and threw the iron bolt.
Silence returned to the Cigars House, save for the hissing of the broken humidifier.
I leaned against the counter, shaking. Ashwaganda trotted over to the brass gear, which had landed safely on a velvet chair, and sat on it, purring loudly.
“Silphium,” Altea whispered, looking at the locked humidor. “He was willing to kill for a plant?”
“For the history,” I corrected, picking up the gear. “And for the power of being the one to bring it back.”
I walked to the humidor. The brass gear didn’t fit into the keyhole. It fit into a small, decorative ventilation grate near the floor—a cat-sized opening. I placed the gear onto a hidden spindle and turned it.
The floor of the humidor didn’t open. Instead, a small panel inside the wall slid back. There was no seed. There was no diamond.
Inside sat a single, dust-covered bottle of wine, labelled simply: Speranza, Year Zero.
Next to it was a final note from Sir Alistair:
“The Silphium was a myth I invented to test the greedy. The true treasure is the soil of this village, which grows friendship deeper than any root. Enjoy the vintage, ladies. It is the only one in existence.”
I looked at my friends—Altea, Anna, Marisa—covered in soot, steam, and chocolate dust.
“A myth?” Salomone’s muffled voice shouted from the cellar. “You mean I broke my leg for a metaphor?!”
I smiled, picking up the bottle. “It seems,” I said, channeling the finality of Hitchcock’s closing shots, “that the Inspector fell for the oldest trick in the book. Never trust a treasure map written by a man who loved stories more than gold.”
We left Salomone in the cellar for the real police to find. The night air was crisp, and as we walked back towards the Coffee Taverna to finally open the bottle, the stars above Speranza seemed to wink. Or perhaps it was just the reflection in the golden eyes of the cats, who knew all along that the best twists are the ones you never see coming.
#19thCentury #alchemical #alchemy #architectural #art #bloganuary #bloganuary202401 #bloganuary202402 #bloganuary202403 #bloganuary202404 #bloganuary202405 #bloganuary202408 #bloganuary202409 #bloganuary202411 #bloganuary202416 #bloganuary202428 #bloganuary202429 #bloganuary202430 #books #botanical #castles #chemistry #cipher #cocktail #cryptography #culture #curiosity #dailyprompt #dailyprompt1804 #dailyprompt1805 #dailyprompt1806 #dailyprompt1807 #dailyprompt1808 #dailyprompt1811 #dailyprompt1812 #dailyprompt1814 #dailyprompt1819 #dailyprompt1832 #dailyprompt1839 #dailyprompt1840 #dailyprompt1851 #dailyprompt1859 #dailyprompt1860 #dailyprompt1891 #dailyprompt1975 #dailyprompt1976 #dailyprompt1978 #dailyprompt1981 #dailyprompt1982 #dailyprompt1983 #dailyprompt1984 #dailyprompt1985 #dailyprompt1987 #dailyprompt1988 #dailyprompt1990 #dailyprompt1993 #dailyprompt1994 #dailyprompt1995 #dailyprompt1997 #dailyprompt1999 #dailyprompt2007 #dailyprompt2008 #dailyprompt2010 #dailyprompt2011 #dailyprompt2012 #dailyprompt2013 #dailyprompt2014 #dailyprompt2017 #dailyprompt2089 #dailyprompt2099 #dailyprompt2112 #dailyprompt2113 #dailyprompt2115 #dailyprompt2124 #dailyprompt2125 #dailyprompt2126 #dailyprompt2127 #dailyprompt2129 #dailyprompt2132 #dailyprompt2134 #dailyprompt2137 #dailyprompt2138 #dailyprompt2145 #dailyprompt2146 #dailyprompt2152 #dailyprompt2153 #dailyprompt2159 #dailyprompt2167 #DANCESPIRITCOLOROFPEACE #distraction #DOLOMITES #drinks #dye #EmotionsFeelingsSundayPowerOfASmileMyLifeWithYouSOULCHEERFULNESSFEELINGSHOPETearsSometimesAKissIsAllYouNeedTheSilenceLifeSelfWords #Evernote #everyday #Facebook #facts #fashion #food #hiking #HISTORY #humidor #IFTTT #Instagram #Ireland #Irish #Island #Italy #kitchen #language #learning #lemon #LifeAndAGIRLINTERRUPTEDFriendshipAndPoisonBULLIEDKLDONNOneDayAtOfficeESSENTIALFORSURVIVINGTheBreathOfASoulMePastPresentFutureYesUAreIGotItSome #lime #LoveAndAdventureAreIntricatelyConnectedInASummersimoSymphony #mountains #MYCOCKTAILWORLD #mystery #noMatterHow #noMatterHowBadIsTogetherWeCanWin #photography #pictures #Pinterest #poison #RECIPE #RECIPES #snuff #social #SUMMER #SUMMERBOMB #summersimoBestTouristGuidesAreYourTasteBuds #SUMMERSIMOTHEUNDERWORLD #SUMMERSIMOCOMPASS #SUMMERSIMOSCOCKTAILS #SUMMERSIMOSCOMPASS #SUMMERSIMOSGLITTERWAR #SUMMERSIMOSRECIPES #technology #TheBestTouristGuidesAreYourTasteBuds #TheCaseOfTheSilentNightingaleAndTheEtruscanDeception #ThePurringPage #TheSoundOfSmile #thief #TOURISM #tradition #travel #TRENTINOALTOADIGE #vellum #WithASummersimoSmile

#withasummersimosmile #vellum #trentinoaltoadige #travel #tradition #tourism
SummerSimo Travel Troubles Notes and The Purring Page @[email protected] · 2026-02-09 · 12:05 UTC

Mint Chocolate and Shadows

Chapter 5: The Alchemy of Shadows
The hidden drawer in the hearth of the Mint Chocolate House did not contain a simple map. That would have been too pedestrian for a mind as labyrinthine as Sir Alistair Finch’s. Instead, we found a collection of translucent vellum sheets, brittle with age, covered in what appeared to be nonsense: botanical sketches of deadly nightshade overlaying architectural diagrams of Speranza’s sewer system, and chemical formulas for synthetic diamonds written in the margins of a recipe for ganache.
“It is chaos,” Anna whispered, the steam from her earlier espresso seeming to have evaporated into the cold tension of the room. “Just scrawls and madness.”
“No,” I corrected, adjusting my glasses as Toe, my black cat, jumped onto the table and placed a paw precisely on a sketch of a Datura flower. “It is not madness. It is a transparency cipher. Marisa, bring the light.”
Marisa, pale but steady, brought a heavy kerosene lamp from the counter. When we held the vellum sheets up against the flame, layering them one over the other, the chaotic lines merged. The botanical sketches faded, and the architectural lines aligned to form a perfect, three-dimensional geometry of a specific object.
It was not a building. It was a humidifier. specifically, the grand, walk-in humidor at Altea’s Cigars House.
“The gear,” I murmured, pulling the brass cog we had found in the poisoned snuff box from my pocket. “It wasn’t a piece of the Raven’s Kiss dagger. It is a key for a different lock entirely.”
Suddenly, the scent of almonds—the cyanide trace from the box—hit me with a new, terrifying realization. I grabbed the snuff box and scraped a tiny amount of the crystalline powder onto the table. “Altea, do you have any lemon juice? Or vinegar?”
“I have a lime for the cocktails,” Altea replied, confused but handing me the fruit.
I squeezed a drop onto the white powder. It hissed violently, turning a vibrant, shocking violet.
“It’s not cyanide,” I breathed, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. “It’s a reactants-based dye, used in the 19th century to mark fools’ gold. The poison was a bluff. A distraction to keep us looking for a killer while the thief walked right past us.”
“The thief?” Anna asked.
“The man in the gray coat,” I said, the realization dawning like a cold sunrise. “He didn’t have a limp because he was injured. He walked with a heavy step because he was carrying something incredibly dense in his lining. He didn’t bring the box to threaten us. He brought it to trigger us. He needed us to find the notes. He needed us to solve the puzzle he couldn’t.”
A crash echoed from the street outside—the sound of breaking glass. It came from the direction of the Cigars House.
“He’s already there,” I said, blowing out the lamp. “And he’s waiting for us to bring him the gear.”
Chapter 6: The Smoke and the Mirrors
We moved through the back alleys of Speranza, avoiding the main cobblestone streets bathed in moonlight. Ashwaganda, usually a creature of kinetic chaos, moved low to the ground, a silent orange streak leading the way. The air grew heavier as we approached Altea’s shop, thick with the scent of unlit tobacco and aged cedar.
The front door of the Cigars House was ajar, the glass pane shattered. Inside, the shop was a cavern of shadows. The moonlight caught the drifting smoke—not from cigars, but from a small canister rolling on the floor, releasing a disorienting, white fog.
“Stay close,” I whispered to my friends. “He wants the gear. He won’t strike until he sees it.”
We pushed through the fog into the back room, where the massive walk-in humidor stood. It was a masterpiece of engineering, lined with Spanish cedar and temperature-controlled dials. Standing before it, silhouetted against the faint light of the streetlamps outside, was the figure in the gray coat.
He turned. The limp was gone. In his hand, he held a heavy, silenced pistol. But it wasn’t the courier we had interrogated at the Coffee Taverna. It was Inspector Salomone.
The shock was physical, a punch to the gut. The weary, cynical policeman who had dismissed my theories for years stood there with a cold, calculating smile.
“Dr. Hopes,” Salomone said, his voice stripped of its usual fatigue. “I knew you couldn’t resist a puzzle. You and your wretched cats are better than any hound.”
“The courier…” I started.
“A hired actor,” Salomone scoffed. “Paid to tremble and deliver a prop. I needed you to find the location. Sir Alistair’s notes were too encoded for a simple policeman, but for a doctor with a penchant for history? Child’s play.” He extended his hand. “The gear, Moira. Now.”
Altea stepped forward, her eyes blazing. “You monitored us? You betrayed the village?”
“I protected this village from boredom for twenty years,” Salomone snapped. “Do you know what is inside this humidor? It is not just cigars. Sir Alistair didn’t trust banks. He trusted climate control. The ‘Star of Speranza’ isn’t a diamond, Altea. It is a seed. The last viable seed of the Silphium plant, thought extinct since Roman times. Worth more than any diamond. A botanical miracle that could rewrite history—and make its owner a billionaire.”
He raised the gun. “The gear.”
I held up the small brass cog. My mind raced, flipping through the pages of Days of your Dreams. ‘When the enemy seeks the time, give him the bell, not the clapper.’
“Catch,” I said, and tossed the gear high into the air, towards the open door of the humidor.
Salomone’s greed was a reflex. He lunged for it, his eyes tracking the glint of brass. In that split second, Toe dropped from the top of the humidor shelves. He didn’t aim for the man. He aimed for the open canister of fog Salomone had kicked aside.
With a precise swat, the black cat sent the canister spinning between Salomone’s legs. The Inspector stumbled, his shot going wild, shattering a jar of Cuban Leafs.
Chapter 7: The Sweetest Trap
“Now!” I screamed.
Marisa, fueled by adrenaline, grabbed a heavy jar of rock candy from a display shelf and hurled it. It wasn’t a precise throw, but it was effective. The jar smashed against the humidity controls, releasing a pressurized blast of water vapor designed to keep the cigars moist.
The room instantly turned into a blinding white cloud. Salomone roared, firing blindly into the mist.
“The floor!” Anna shouted, pulling a lever near the counter. It was the trapdoor to the cellar, usually used for coal deliveries.
Salomone, disoriented and blinded by the steam and fog, took a step back to steady his aim. His heel caught on the edge of the open trapdoor. There was no scream, just a surprised grunt and the heavy thud of a body hitting the coal pile twelve feet below.
Altea slammed the trapdoor shut and threw the iron bolt.
Silence returned to the Cigars House, save for the hissing of the broken humidifier.
I leaned against the counter, shaking. Ashwaganda trotted over to the brass gear, which had landed safely on a velvet chair, and sat on it, purring loudly.
“Silphium,” Altea whispered, looking at the locked humidor. “He was willing to kill for a plant?”
“For the history,” I corrected, picking up the gear. “And for the power of being the one to bring it back.”
I walked to the humidor. The brass gear didn’t fit into the keyhole. It fit into a small, decorative ventilation grate near the floor—a cat-sized opening. I placed the gear onto a hidden spindle and turned it.
The floor of the humidor didn’t open. Instead, a small panel inside the wall slid back. There was no seed. There was no diamond.
Inside sat a single, dust-covered bottle of wine, labelled simply: Speranza, Year Zero.
Next to it was a final note from Sir Alistair:
“The Silphium was a myth I invented to test the greedy. The true treasure is the soil of this village, which grows friendship deeper than any root. Enjoy the vintage, ladies. It is the only one in existence.”
I looked at my friends—Altea, Anna, Marisa—covered in soot, steam, and chocolate dust.
“A myth?” Salomone’s muffled voice shouted from the cellar. “You mean I broke my leg for a metaphor?!”
I smiled, picking up the bottle. “It seems,” I said, channeling the finality of Hitchcock’s closing shots, “that the Inspector fell for the oldest trick in the book. Never trust a treasure map written by a man who loved stories more than gold.”
We left Salomone in the cellar for the real police to find. The night air was crisp, and as we walked back towards the Coffee Taverna to finally open the bottle, the stars above Speranza seemed to wink. Or perhaps it was just the reflection in the golden eyes of the cats, who knew all along that the best twists are the ones you never see coming.
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#19thcentury #alchemical #alchemy #architectural #art #bloganuary
Sky Dancing @[email protected] · 2025-06-06 · 17:20 UTC

Finally Friday Reads: Page Not Found

“The National Divorce is a difficult time for all of us.” John Buss, repeat1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!
It seems uniquely American to be focused on the drama between two rich narcissistic men when so many things are going sideways in this country and this world. It’s embarrassing and depressing.
The current zeitgeist appears to be privileged, cis white men trying to get rid of their small penis energy by displaying a hypertoxic version of masculinity. The entire White House has a Lord of the Flies vibe about it. The press has totally gotten carried away with the narcissistic displays of abuse, seemingly jolting between adolescent bouts of testosterone overdose, middle-life crises complete with bright red Teslas, and male menopause.
Meanwhile, a coterie of women display Lady Macbeth levels of ruthlessness, ambition, and descent into madness and body dysmorphia with their clownish plastic surgery. This is a mad court worthy of a Shakespearean tragedy with policies worthy of a Sinclair Lewis novel. The level of ignorance on display is beyond description. I can’t believe the news all day yesterday was obsessed with the madness of Yam Tits and Musk. Let’s focus on the damage they’ve done and leave them to their latest reality show.
I think political cartoonists have a better take on this ordeal than any media outlet. Then there’s the silent majorities in Congress, saying nothing, and doing anything but the people’s business. Not since the Iraq war have I seen more shock and awe. They governed during Watergate. Are they all afraid of the cult that serves Yam Tits? Maybe we should flood their offices with copies of the Constitution with Sharpie instructions saying DO YOUR JOB!
I’m sitting here wondering if I should even start in on all the mainstream media articles and coverage about Musk and Trump. Way to feed two men with obvious narcissistic personality disorder and a side of antisocial personality disorder.
Right now, I’ll start with ProPublica, which has reliably searched out stories worthy of Upton Sinclair or Nellie Bly. Once again, our own government is doing wrong by our veterans. It’s quite sad. “DOGE Developed Error-Prone AI Tool to “Munch” Veterans Affairs Contracts. DOGE Developed Error-Prone AI Tool to “Munch” Veterans Affairs Contracts. We obtained records showing how a Department of Government Efficiency staffer with no medical experience used artificial intelligence to identify which VA contracts to kill. “AI is absolutely the wrong tool for this,” one expert said.” This bit of investigative journalism is by Brandon Roberts, Vernal Coleman, and Eric Umansky.
The more I know about AI, see its use, and am forced to sit in seminars to learn the Purdue way of dealing with it, the more I want to write a sci-fi book where their programs go mad. I do not trust bros with personality disorders, likely on the spectrum, to think with real human insight. It makes me long for Isaac Asimov.
As the Trump administration prepared to cancel contracts at the Department of Veteran Affairs this year, officials turned to a software engineer with no health care or government experience to guide them.
The engineer, working for the Department of Government Efficiency, quickly built an artificial intelligence tool to identify which services from private companies were not essential. He labeled those contracts “MUNCHABLE.”
The code, using outdated and inexpensive AI models, produced results with glaring mistakes. For instance, it hallucinated the size of contracts, frequently misreading them and inflating their value. It concluded more than a thousand were each worth $34 million, when in fact some were for as little as $35,000.
The DOGE AI tool flagged more than 2,000 contracts for “munching.” It’s unclear how many have been or are on track to be canceled — the Trump administration’s decisions on VA contracts have largely been a black box. The VA uses contractors for many reasons, including to support hospitals, research and other services aimed at caring for ailing veterans.
VA officials have said they’ve killed nearly 600 contracts overall. Congressional Democrats have been pressing VA leaders for specific details of what’s been canceled without success.
We identified at least two dozen on the DOGE list that have been canceled so far. Among the canceled contracts was one to maintain a gene sequencing device used to develop better cancer treatments. Another was for blood sample analysis in support of a VA research project. Another was to provide additional tools to measure and improve the care nurses provide.
ProPublica obtained the code and the contracts it flagged from a source and shared them with a half dozen AI and procurement experts. All said the script was flawed. Many criticized the concept of using AI to guide budgetary cuts at the VA, with one calling it “deeply problematic.”
Cary Coglianese, professor of law and of political science at the University of Pennsylvania who studies the governmental use and regulation of artificial intelligence, said he was troubled by the use of these general-purpose large language models, or LLMs. “I don’t think off-the-shelf LLMs have a great deal of reliability for something as complex and involved as this,” he said.
Sahil Lavingia, the programmer enlisted by DOGE, which was then run by Elon Musk, acknowledged flaws in the code.
“I think that mistakes were made,” said Lavingia, who worked at DOGE for nearly two months. “I’m sure mistakes were made. Mistakes are always made. I would never recommend someone run my code and do what it says. It’s like that ‘Office’ episode where Steve Carell drives into the lake because Google Maps says drive into the lake. Do not drive into the lake.”
Though Lavingia has talked about his time at DOGE previously, this is the first time his work has been examined in detail and the first time he’s publicly explained his process, down to specific lines of code.
Further technical information can be found in this follow-up article at ProPublica. “Inside the AI Prompts DOGE Used to “Munch” Contracts Related to Veterans’ Health.”
Sahil Lavingia, who wrote the code, told it to cancel, or in his words “munch,” anything that wasn’t “directly supporting patient care.” Unfortunately, neither Lavingia nor the model had the knowledge required to make such determinations.
“I think that mistakes were made,” said Lavingia, who worked at DOGE for nearly two months, in an interview with ProPublica. “I’m sure mistakes were made. Mistakes are always made.”
It turns out, a lot of mistakes were made as DOGE and the VA rushed to implement President Donald Trump’s February executive order mandating all of the VA’s contracts be reviewed within 30 days.
ProPublica obtained the code and prompts — the instructions given to the AI model — used to review the contracts and interviewed Lavingia and experts in both AI and government procurement. We are publishing an analysis of those prompts to help the public understand how this technology is being deployed in the federal government.
The experts found numerous and troubling flaws: the code relied on older, general-purpose models not suited for the task; the model hallucinated contract amounts, deciding around 1,100 of the agreements were each worth $34 million when they were sometimes worth thousands; and the AI did not analyze the entire text of contracts. Most experts said that, in addition to the technical issues, using off-the-shelf AI models for the task — with little context on how the VA works — should have been a nonstarter.
Lavingia, a software engineer enlisted by DOGE, acknowledged there were flaws in what he created and blamed, in part, a lack of time and proper tools. He also stressed that he knew his list of what he called “MUNCHABLE” contracts would be vetted by others before a final decision was made.
Even the word “munchable” makes these guys sound like 7th graders. I don’t even know what to say about the University of Michigan. I was a 7th grader when anti-Vietnam War protests picked up, but I don’t recall anything like this.
However, all over our institutions are in the service of racist and xenophobic Big Brother. (I really wish I could stop using references to dystopian literature, but sadly, it works.) This is from The Guardian. “University of Michigan using undercover investigators to surveil student Gaza protesters. Revealed: security trailing students on and off campus as video shows investigator faking disability when confronted.”
The University of Michigan is using private, undercover investigators to surveil pro-Palestinian campus groups, including trailing them on and off campus, furtively recording them and eavesdropping on their conversations, the Guardian has learned.
The surveillance appears to largely be an intimidation tactic, five students who have been followed, recorded or eavesdropped on said. The undercover investigators have cursed at students, threatened them and in one case drove a car at a student who had to jump out of the way, according to student accounts and video footage shared with the Guardian.
Students say they have frequently identified undercover investigators and confronted them. In two bizarre interactions captured by one student on video, a man who had been trailing the student faked disabilities, and noisily – and falsely – accused a student of attempting to rob him.
The undercover investigators appear to work for Detroit-based City Shield, a private security group, and some of their evidence was used by Michigan prosecutors to charge and jail students, according to a Guardian review of police records, university spending records and video collected in legal discovery. Most charges were later dropped. Public spending records from the U-M board of regents, the school’s governing body, show the university paid at least $800,000 between June 2023 and September 2024 to City Shield’s parent company, Ameri-Shield.
Among those who say they’re being regularly followed is Katarina Keating, part of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (Safe), a local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. Keating said the surveillance has caused her to feel “on edge”, and she often looks over her shoulder since November, when she was first followed.
“But on another level it sometimes feels comedic because it’s so insane that they have spent millions of dollars to hire some goons to follow campus activists around,” Keating added. “It’s just such a waste of money and time.”
How’s this for government efficiency? The NYPD and ICE mistakenly arrest a Chilean woman on vacation in New York City. Police left her 12-year-old daughter on the street alone. This country is no longer safe from arbitrary arrest and detention by morans in law enforcement.

There appears to be a bit of a correction of the DOGE overreach in the Federal Government. This is reported in the Washington Post by Hannah Natanson, Adam Taylor, Meryl Kornfield, Rachel Siegel, and Scott Dance. That’s a lot of reporters for a lot of agencies. “Trump administration races to fix a big mistake: DOGE fired too many people. Across the government, officials are rehiring federal workers who were forced out or encouraged to resign.” Do you suppose all the Trump/Musk drama is just a distraction from the kind of news that’s falling off the front pages but should be screamed in front-page headlines? They fucked up folks! Let’s bury the lede!
Across the government, the Trump administration is scrambling to rehire many federal employees dismissed under DOGE’s staff-slashing initiatives after wiping out entire offices, in some cases imperiling key services such as weather forecasting and the drug approval process.
Since Musk left the White House last week, he and Trump have fallen out bitterly, sniping at each other in public over the cost of Trump’s sweeping tax legislation and government subsidies for Musk’s businesses. But even before that, the administration was working to undo some of DOGE’s highest-profile actions.
Trump officials are trying to recover not only people who were fired, but also thousands of experienced senior staffers who are opting for a voluntary exit as the administration rolls out a second resignation offer. Thousands more staff are returning in fits and starts as a conflicting patchwork of court decisions overturn some of Trump’s large-scale firings, especially his Valentine’s Day dismissal of all probationary workers, those with one or two years of government service and fewer job protections. A federal judge in April ordered the president to reinstate probationary workers dismissed from 20 federal agencies, although a few days later the Supreme Court — in a different case — halted another judge’s order to reinstate a smaller group.
Some fired federal employees, especially those at retirement age or who have since secured jobs in the private sector, are proving reluctant to return. So the administration is seeking work-arounds and stopgaps, including asking remaining staff to serve in new roles, work overtime or volunteer to fill vacancies, according to interviews with 18 federal workers across eight agencies and messages obtained by The Washington Post. A Post review found recent messy re-hirings at agencies including the Food and Drug Administration, the IRS, the State Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In some cases, the government is posting new online job listings very similar to positions it recently vacated, a Post review of USAJobs found
The ever-shifting personnel changes are yet another strain on a workforce already weary of Trump-induced uncertainty, said current and former employees, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
“They wanted to show they were gutting the government, but there was no thought about what parts might be worth keeping,” said one FDA staffer who was fired and rehired. “Now it feels like it was all just a game to them.”
Notice they just had to point out the Trump/Musk WWE event just to distract you for even a moment. It seems we no longer have caped crusaders but black-robed ones. This is from The Harvard Crimson. “Judge Blocks Trump Proclamation Banning International Students From Entering U.S. on Harvard Visas.” I’m just seeing Trump failures everywhere. No wonder they needed a new reality show season.
A federal judge granted Harvard’s request for a temporary restraining order hours after the University asked her to block the Trump administration’s Wednesday proclamation banning international students from entering the United States on Harvard-sponsored visas.
The order was issued just four hours after Harvard filed an amended complaint accusing the Trump administration of retaliating against the University by preventing incoming international students from entering the U.S. to attend Harvard.
U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs also announced that the court would extend the TRO first granted to Harvard on May 23 — one day after the DHS revoked Harvard’s eligibility to host international students — until June 20, the date requested by the University. Burroughs had already agreed to extend the TRO once before, following a May 29 hearing.
Thursday’s TRO will reinstate international students’ ability to enter the country to attend Harvard until a June 16 hearing scheduled by Burroughs — but the University will need to file for a preliminary injunction to extend its ability to host international students until the court determines its legality in court.
In the amended complaint, Harvard wrote that Trump’s proclamation was “a transparent attempt to circumvent the temporary restraining order this Court already entered against the summary revocation of Harvard’s SEVP certification.”
It argued that — without urgent action — the proclamation would have dramatic costs for admitted students attempting to enter the U.S. and subject current students to fear they would be arbitrarily deported.
Burroughs, in an order published well after working hours Thursday night, deemed that Harvard had made a “sufficient showing” that it would sustain “immediate and irreparable harm” unless a TRO was granted.
But both the TRO — and a future preliminary injunction, if Harvard seeks one and Burroughs rules favorably — are only provisional protections.
CBS shows that the Yam Tits Administration still thinks getting every little thing to the Supreme Court will solve all of its problems. Melissa Quinn reports that “Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow mass layoffs at Education Department.
President Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to clear the way for it to continue with its efforts to dismantle the Department of Education and lay off more than 1,300 employees while a legal fight over the future of the department moves forward.
The Justice Department is seeking the high court’s intervention in a pair of disputes brought by a group of 20 states, school districts and teachers unions, which challenge Mr. Trump’s plans to unwind the Department of Education. The president signed an executive order in March directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to facilitate the department’s closure to the maximum extent allowed under the law.
As part of Mr. Trump’s pledge to get rid of the department, the administration canceled a host of grants and executed a reduction in force, or a layoff, that impacted 1,378 employees — roughly a third of the department’s workforce. Affected workers were placed on administrative leave and were to receive full pay and benefits until June 9.
Mr. Trump also announced that the Small Business Administration would take over the Education Department’s student-loan portfolio, and the Department of Health and Human Services would handle special education, nutrition and other related services.
In response to the lawsuits challenging Mr. Trump’s actions, a federal judge in Massachusetts blocked the administration from carrying out its layoffs, finding that the reduction-in-force was a unilateral effort to close the department, which would violate the separation of powers.

Okay, this is an update, and I just had to put it up

Oh, speaking of those delightful Republican Congress Critters, here’s a headline for you from The Guardian. “Republican senator employs aide fired by DeSantis over neo-Nazi imagery. Nate Hochman, staffer for Eric Schmitt, also peddled far-right conspiracy theories as experts decry rise in extremism.” Gosh, another Cis White Male Christian Nationalist for Adolf! What a surprise!
A staffer for Missouri Republican senator Eric Schmitt was previously fired from Ron DeSantis’s unsuccessful presidential campaign after making a video containing neo-Nazi imagery, and later peddled far-right conspiracy theories in a Marco Rubio-linked thinktank.
Nate Hochman’s job in the hard-right senator’s office, along with earlier Trump appointments to executive agencies, suggest to some experts there are few barriers to far-right activists making a career in Republican party politics.
The Guardian contacted Eric Schmitt’s office for comment.
Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, told the Guardian: “Hochman’s position shows once again that there are no guardrails against extremists in the GOP nowadays.”
She added: “Racism, antisemitism and other abhorrent beliefs don’t seem to stop extremists from appointments with far-right politicians, including in the highest office of the presidency.”
Hochman, 26, has worked for Schmitt since February, according to congressional information website LegiStorm, a development that was first noted on political newsletter Liberal Currents.
He has also posted dozens of times to X to publicize Schmitt’s initiatives, media appearances, and speeches.
The Guardian reported last September on Hochman’s previous job at America 2100, an organization founded in 2023 as a thinktank. The organization was founded by Mike Needham, who served as Marco Rubio’s chief of staff from 2018 to 2023 when Rubio was a senator and who is once again his chief of staff at the state department.
In that and subsequent reporting, it was revealed that Hochman’s work for America 2100 was focused on producing videos, some of which targeted Haitian migrants in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, and others that rehearsed conspiracy theories about LGBTQ people and human rights organizations.
This was the latest in a string of scandals in the young operative’s political career.
In July 2023 he was fired from the presidential campaign of Florida governor Ron DeSantis after retweeting a pro-DeSantis, anti-Trump video.
As the Guardian reported, the video portrayed a “‘Wojak’ meme, a sad-looking man popular on the right, against headlines about Trump policy failures before showing the meme cheering up to headlines about DeSantis and images of the governor at work”, all to the tune of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill.
Finally, it superimposed DeSantis on to ranks of marching soldiers and a Sonnenrad – a Norse symbol frequently appropriated by neo-Nazis.
As Hochman departed the campaign, Axios reported he had made the video but endeavored to make it “appear as if it was produced externally”.
The New York Times has a Guest Op-Ed up from two law professors about how the Trump administration is giving a loyalty test to anyone looking for a job within the Federal Government. How unconstitutional is that? “How to Stack the Federal Work Force With ‘Patriotic Americans’ Who Agree With Trump.”
The White House took a step last week that significantly undercuts the idea that federal employment should be nonpartisan. A May 29 memo from the Office of Personnel Management may seem technical, but the policy that it outlines has grave implications for how the government functions and creates an unconstitutional political test for federal hiring.
At heart, the new policy is about viewpoint discrimination: People applying for federal jobs whose views the Trump administration does not like will not be hired. This is the most recent of the administration’s actions to undermine the nonpartisan Civil Service and consolidate control over almost all federal employees in the White House.
In a densely worded, 12-page memo, Vince Haley, an assistant to the president for domestic policy, and Charles Ezell, the acting O.P.M. director, make fealty to the president’s agenda a criterion for hiring for most federal positions. Imposing such a litmus test for nonpolitical positions runs afoul of the nearly 150-year-old federal Civil Service law, the 1939 Hatch Act and the First Amendment.
Under federal law, about 4,000 federal jobs are filled by political appointees. These positions allow the president to appoint those who share his views and to remove those who do not support his policy priorities. Most remaining federal jobs are hired based on nonpartisan and objective assessments of merit, and the hiring criteria are tied to the job duties.
The recent memo would, in effect, dramatically expand that exception for political appointees to include everyone at what’s known as level GS-5 or above — a group that includes clerical positions, technicians for soil conservation and firefighters. The ideologies and views of these individuals should play no role in their potential hiring.
The policy announced in the memo requires every person applying for a position level GS-5 or above to submit four essays. One requires that the applicant address: “How would you help advance the president’s executive orders and policy priorities in this role? Identify one or two relevant executive orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you, and explain how you would help implement them if hired.” Another prompt: “How has your commitment to the Constitution and the founding principles of the United States inspired you to pursue this role within the federal government? Provide a concrete example from professional, academic or personal experience.”
Imagine that someone applying to be a secretary or a soil technician or a firefighter were to answer with: I believe the founding principles of this country were racist and I do not adhere to them. Or: I will perform my job to the best of my abilities and will follow federal law, but I do not see my position as political in any way.
It’s hard to imagine that those people would be hired. And yet, the Civil Service was created in the 19th century precisely to avoid such politically based hiring. The prohibition on political considerations in hiring was strengthened by the Hatch Act, which was enacted at the behest of conservatives who worried that too many Democrats had been hired to staff New Deal agencies.
One more Op-Ed from Dana Milbank at the Washington Post before I close. “They are not good at this. Nearly five months into Trump’s new reign of error, his administration’s mistakes are multiplying.
On May 29, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem released a “comprehensive list of sanctuary jurisdictions.” She was “exposing these sanctuary politicians” because they are “endangering Americans and our law enforcement in order to protect violent criminal illegal aliens.”
But it immediately became clear that the list of more than 500 states, counties and cities was riddled with errors: misspellings, cities and counties mistaken for each other, and places that don’t exist. Cincinnati became “Cincinnatti,” Campbell County (Kentucky) became “Cambell” County, Greeley County (Nebraska) became “Greenley” County, Takoma Park (Maryland) became “Tacoma” Park, while “Martinsville County” (Virginia) was invented. And so on.
Worse, scores of the “sanctuary politicians” she called out turned out to be leaders of MAGA counties and towns with no sanctuary policies on their books. Complaints poured in from Trump allies across the country. “You don’t have that many mistakes on such an important federal document,” said Pat Burns, the Trump-backing mayor of the right-wing stronghold of Huntington Beach, California, mislabeled as a sanctuary city. He told the Associated Press that “somebody’s got to answer” for this “negligent” behavior.
Good luck with that. The only answer was to disappear the list this week, leaving behind a “Page Not Found” error.

Such a massive screwup hadn’t happened since … well, the previous week, when Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went to the White House and released his ballyhooed “Make America Healthy Again” report full of citations of studies that don’t exist, the product of AI hallucinations.
This, in turn, was reminiscent of President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff rollout, which targeted an island full of penguins and other unpopulated or sparsely populated corners of the globe — and raised taxes on most of the world based on a math error.
And these, of course, were on top of the “mistakes” that led Trump officials to share war plans with a journalist, to deport people protected by court order, to launch a destructive fight with Harvard University, to fire and then attempt to rehire thousands of crucial federal workers, to cancel and then reinstate various vital government functions, and to misstate, often by orders of magnitude, the alleged savings from its cost-cutting attempts.
Trying to make sense of any of this? Page Not Found.

It’s obvious Trump is not interested in the best and brightest. They give him facts and truth over what he wants to hear and do, and that’s not what his massive need for attention and ego-stroking requires. Oh, up to 4000 words, and I still have managed to do something other than cover the two biggest jerks in the world jousting for air and social media time.
As you know, my Dad bombed NAZIs. I’d like to think I’d be capable of doing something brave if I were called to duty. He made it back. Many others did not. I’d just like to close with a remembrance of D-Day. There are still some D-Day vets out there who returned to the field. This is from the AP. “D-Day veterans return to Normandy to mark 81st anniversary of landings.” I remember growing up in absolute awe of all the men and women I met in my life who helped free the world of Fascists. I do not understand why the country is failing to do that now.
COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France (AP) — Veterans gathered Friday in Normandy to mark the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings — a pivotal moment of World War II that eventually led to the collapse of Adolf Hitler’s regime.
Along the coastline and near the D-Day landing beaches, tens of thousands of onlookers attended the commemorations, which included parachute jumps, flyovers, remembrance ceremonies, parades, and historical reenactments.
Many were there to cheer the ever-dwindling number of surviving veterans in their late 90s and older. All remembered the thousands who died.
Harold Terens, a 101-year-old U.S. veteran who last year married his 96-year-old sweetheart near the D-Day beaches, was back in Normandy.
“Freedom is everything,” he said. “I pray for freedom for the whole world. For the war to end in Ukraine, and Russia, and Sudan and Gaza. I think war is disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.”
Terens enlisted in 1942 and shipped to Great Britain the following year, attached to a four-pilot P-47 Thunderbolt fighter squadron as their radio repair technician. On D-Day, Terens helped repair planes returning from France so they could rejoin the battle.
Let us forever be thankful for their service and sacrifice. May we also remember that we were not alone in these battles. We have allies. At least at this moment. This song by the Dropkick Murphys is about World War 1, but the sentiment is the same.
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

#JohnbussBskySocialJohnBuss #DDay #ICEKidnappings #JudgesRuleAgainstTrump #TrumpAdministrationScrewUpsAndCrimes #TurningBackTheDogeDisasters

#johnbussbskysocialjohnbuss #dday #icekidnappings #judgesruleagainsttrump #trumpadministrationscrewupsandcrimes #turningbackthedogedisasters
Don Curren 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @[email protected] · 2025-05-27 · 23:54 UTC

“Still, whenever I’d hear Plant’s voice in my headphones, I was like #DrStrangelove when he can’t stop doing the Nazi salute, my foot twitching towards the #fuzzbox.” www.theguardian.com/music/2025/m... #MarcRibot #guitar #guitarists #music

‘I wanted to make people dance...

#drstrangelove #fuzzbox #marcribot #guitar #guitarists #music
Don Curren 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @[email protected] · 2025-05-27 · 23:54 UTC

“Still, whenever I’d hear Plant’s voice in my headphones, I was like #DrStrangelove when he can’t stop doing the Nazi salute, my foot twitching towards the #fuzzbox.” www.theguardian.com/music/2025/m... #MarcRibot #guitar #guitarists #music

‘I wanted to make people dance...

#drstrangelove #fuzzbox #marcribot #guitar #guitarists #music
Don Curren 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @[email protected] · 2025-05-27 · 23:54 UTC

“Still, whenever I’d hear Plant’s voice in my headphones, I was like #DrStrangelove when he can’t stop doing the Nazi salute, my foot twitching towards the #fuzzbox.” www.theguardian.com/music/2025/m... #MarcRibot #guitar #guitarists #music

‘I wanted to make people dance...

#drstrangelove #fuzzbox #marcribot #guitar #guitarists #music
Sky Dancing @[email protected] · 2026-02-16 · 18:39 UTC

Mostly Monday Reads: Presidents Day in a Lost Country

“The latest cabinet meetings aren’t televised for a reason. Fear not, our de facto leader is in control as the ethnic cleansing of the country formerly known as the United States roars ahead unabated. The must-see TV drama not being broadcast is Whose Turn Is It to Change the Old Guy’s Diaper?” John Buss, @repeat 1968

Good Day Sky Dancers!
As we stare down the 250th anniversary of the day our country started its journey from monarchy to democracy, we have to take a look at where we’ve landed today and utter some word of disappointment. The headlines today are filled with references to autocracy, and it’s not difficult to see how the MAGA/Trump overreach is playing out.
Politico sums up the current situation like this. “Trump’s second year: Whiplash. Even proposals that don’t ultimately move forward have consequences.” I’d just like a few more adjectives like weird, cruel, and inexplicably unnecessary.
President Donald Trump’s first year back in office was defined by sweeping upheaval that was largely plotted out during his four-year Florida exile. But the president has somehow intensified the volatility in year two with a succession of whiplash-inducing policy swings, several of which have almost immediately withered in the face of Republican opposition and public outcry.
The administration this week finally withdrew the thousands of federal law enforcement officers from Minneapolis, after violent and at times deadly clashes with protesters turned the tide of public opinion against the president’s immigration crackdown.
It came after Trump threatened to decertify Canadian aircraft, a move deemed “unjustified and dangerous” by a Washington-based aerospace trade union that the president soon dropped. Trump said in early January that he’d cap credit card rates at 10 percent, a move that would have upended the banking industry, only to change his mind and ask Congress for legislation.
Also last month, Trump’s administration paused millions in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding for state public health infrastructure — only to reverse course roughly 24 hours later.
“The whiplash has real implications,” said Chrissie Juliano, executive director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, a forum of the leaders of metropolitan health departments. “It’s incredibly disruptive, even if you can get back to continuing the work, you know, two days later.”
The unpredictability of a presidency that prioritizes posting over process and often leaves friends and foes alike guessing whether pronouncements should be taken seriously, literally, or both, remains a feature, not a bug of Trump’s approach to governance. In many matters, especially negotiations with other countries, his mercurial opacity is often an attempt to gain leverage, but his threats seemingly lead just as often to backtracking as blowing things up, be they Iranian missile depots, Venezuelan drug boats or the transatlantic alliance.
The same often holds true for domestic policy. The president has made numerous pronouncements with emphatic declarations on social media, sometimes even suggesting he is governing by fiat in cases where legislation is required. But he has quickly moved on from many of them: a cap on credit card interest rates, 50-year mortgages and, according to a new Financial Times report, possibly even the sweeping tariffs on aluminum and steel that have led to higher costs.
We’re just beginning to explore the depths of depravity that Trump and his buddies will go to just feel powerful and get richer. This is from Robert Reich’s SubStack. “The Squalor of the Epstein Class. Happy Presidents Day!”
Here’s how Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie responded on Sunday, during ABC’s “This Week,” to a question about the Trump regime’s handling of the Epstein files:
“This is about the Epstein class …. They’re billionaires who were friends with these people, and that’s what I’m up against in Washington, D.C. Donald Trump told us that even though he had dinner with these kinds of people, in New York City and West Palm Beach, that he would be transparent. But he’s not. He’s still in with the Epstein class. This is the Epstein administration. And they’re attacking me for trying to get these files released.”
The Epstein Class. Not just the people who cavorted with Jeffrey Epstein or the subset who abused young girls. It’s an interconnected world of hugely rich, prominent, entitled, smug, powerful, self-important (mostly) men. Trump is honorary chairman.
Trump is still sitting on two and a half million files that he and Pam Bondi won’t release. Why? Because they implicate Trump and even more of the Epstein class. The files that have been released so far don’t paint a pretty picture.
Trump appears 1,433 times in the Epstein files so far. His billionaire backers are also members. Elon Musk appears 1,122 times. Howard Lutnick is there. So is Trump-backer Peter Thiel (2,710 times), and Leslie Wexner (565 times). As is Steven Witkoff, now Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, and Steve Bannon, Trump’s consigliere (1,855 times).
The Epstein Class isn’t limited to Trump donors. Bill Clinton is a member (1,192 times), as is Larry Summers (5,621 times). So are LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman (3,769 times), Prince Andrew (1,821 times), Bill Gates (6,385 times), and Steve Tisch, co-owner of the New York Giants (429 times).
If not politics, then what connects the members of the Epstein Class? It’s not just riches. Some members are not particularly wealthy, but they’re richly connected. They trade on their prominence, on whom they know and who will return their phone calls.
They exchange inside tips on stocks, on the movements of currencies, on IPOs, on new tax-avoidance mechanisms. On getting into exclusive clubs, reservations at chic restaurants, lush hotels, exotic travel.
Most members of the Epstein Class have seceded into their own small, self-contained world, disconnected from the rest of society. They fly in one other’s private jets. They entertain at one other’s guest houses and villas. Some exchange tips on how to procure certain drugs or kinky sex or valuable works of art. And, of course, how to accumulate more wealth.
Many don’t particularly believe in democracy; Peter Thiel (recall, he appears 2,710 times in the Epstein files) has said he “no longer believes that freedom and democracy are compatible.” Many are putting their fortunes into electing people who will do their bidding. Hence, they are politically dangerous.
The Epstein Class is the by-product of an economy that emerged over the last two decades, from which this new elite has siphoned off vast amounts of wealth.
It’s an economy that bears almost no resemblance to that of mid-20th-century America. The most valuable companies in this new economy have few workers because they don’t make stuff. They design it. They create ideas. They sell concepts. They move money.
I’ve always argued here and in classes that the biggest economic policies of the Reagan and Bush years were tax cuts that made it more profitable to gamble on financial assets rather than to actually produce goods and services. The changes in tax policies that cut upper brackets, then treated capital gains as a tax slash, and other ridiculous policies mean that money never lands where it can actually do good. It also creates a lot of idle hands and minds.
China is beginning to look more modern, more concerned about actual economic outcomes, and the planet. The U.S. continues to race back to the Gilded Age with hints of the Great Depression years. This is from The Guardian. “The Guardian view on Donald Trump and the climate crisis: the US is in reverse while China ploughs ahead. Editorial. The president’s destructive policies enrich fossil fuel billionaires, while Beijing has bet big on the green transition.”
Devastating wildfires, flooding and winter storms were among the 23 extreme weather and climate-related disasters in the US which cost more than a billion dollars last year – at an estimated total loss of $115bn. The last three years have shattered previous records for such events. Last Wednesday, scientists said that we are closer than ever to the point after which global heating cannot be stopped.
Just one day later, Donald Trump and Lee Zeldin, the head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, announced the elimination of the Obama-era endangerment finding which underpins federal climate regulations. Scrapping it is just one part of Mr Trump’s assault on environmental controls and promotion of fossil fuels. But it may be his most consequential. Any fragment of hope may lie in the fact that a president who has called global heating a “hoax” framed this primarily as about deregulation – perhaps because the science is now so widely accepted even in the US.
The administration claimed, without evidence, that Americans would save $1.3tn. Never mind insurance or healthcare costs; a recent report found that US earnings would be 12% higher without the climate crisis. The Democratic senator Sheldon Whitehouse called the decision “corruption, plain and simple”. In 2024, Mr Trump reportedly urged 20 fossil fuel tycoons to stump up $1bn for his presidential campaign – while vowing to remove controls on the industry.
In the same week as this reckless and destructive US decision, it emerged that China had recorded its 21st month of flat or slightly falling carbon emissions. As Washington tears up environmental regulations, Beijing is extending carbon reporting requirements. China remains the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, though its per capita and cumulative historical emissions are still far behind those of the US. But clean energy drove more than 90% of its investment growth last year.
The Carbon Brief website, which published the emissions analysis, says the numbers suggest that the decline in China’s carbon intensity – emissions per unit of GDP – was below the target set in the last five-year plan, making it hard to meet its commitments under the Paris agreement. The shift in emissions may not prove enduring. There is fear that China’s focus may change; the next five-year plan, due in March, will be key. Some subsidies for renewable power have already been withdrawn. The installation of huge quantities of renewable energy infrastructure has been accompanied by a surge in constructing coal-fired power plants, though the hope is that these are intended primarily as a fallback.
We continue to disregard the actual civilized nations and cavort with the worst of the worst. This is from France24. “Rubio tells Orban ‘your success is our success’ during Hungary visit ahead of elections. During a visit to Budapest Monday, just weeks before Hungary’s parliamentary elections, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban that the nationalist leader’s “success” was a success for the US. An ally of President Donald Trump, who has also maintained ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Orban lags behind the main opposition candidate in opinion polls.” The entire Trump cabinet is feckless, shameless, and incompetent. They are also enabling a backslide in democracy.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hailed Viktor Orban‘s leadership during a visit to Budapest on Monday, ahead of elections threatening the nationalist prime minister’s hold on power.
Rubio’s visit is the final stage of a whirlwind trip to Europe that also saw him address the Munich Security Conference and visit another right-wing ally, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico.
US President Donald Trump has made no secret of his high regard for Orban, saying in a social media post on Friday that the prime minister had produced “phenomenal” results in Hungary.
But Orban, 62, has a fight on his hands for the April 12 legislative elections in Hungary. Polls suggest his Fidesz party is trailing opposition leader Peter Magyar’s TISZA.
“I can say to you with confidence that President Trump is deeply committed to your success because your success is our success,” Rubio said during a joint press conference with Orban after their meeting.
“The president has an extraordinarily close relationship to the prime minister, he does, and it has had tangible benefits,” he said.
Europe’s nations have read the writing on the wall, according to CNN’s Kasie Hunt. “Trump’s damage is done. Democrats – and Europe – are struggling to define what’s next.”
Many of the Democrats who came to the Munich Security Conference this weekend want to be president. But even if one of them can win the White House in 2028, they may find they can no longer claim the title every American president since the 1940s has borne: leader of the free world.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom went on stage to insist his state is more permanent than President Donald Trump. But he acknowledged in an interview with CNN that the leaders he met with believe the damage to the transatlantic alliance is irrevocable.
Progressive star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York came to pitch a left-wing populist foreign policy but made headlines for a massive stumble instead.
A number of Democratic senators hoping to burnish their foreign policy credentials ahead of possible presidential bids found themselves in a painfully awkward moment with the Danish prime minister, as some Democrats tried to smooth over pugnacious remarks Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham made at the start of the meeting that suggested Trump has not given up his designs on Greenland – a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.
And most members of the House of Representatives who planned to attend didn’t come at all after Republican Speaker Mike Johnson pulled the plug on the congressional delegation.
European thought leaders were reduced to offering a brief standing ovation to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose speech was far more conciliatory than the one Vice President JD Vance delivered at the same gathering last year. But Rubio had kicked off his trip telling American reporters: “The old world is gone.” He also left the conference to fly onward to Slovakia and Hungary, two countries led by strongmen sympathetic to Trump.
The conference’s opening remarks from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz crystallized Europe’s new reality in what seems to be rapidly becoming a post-American century.
“A divide has opened up between Europe and the United States,” Merz said Friday. “The United States’ claim to leadership has been challenged, and possibly lost.”
It’s more than just words. Merz has said he held “confidential talks” with France on European nuclear deterrence. It’s a stunning admission there’s no longer unconditional trust that the US will do what needs to be done for its transatlantic allies.
“What I’m hearing now is, even if we are able to repair these relationships, it’s going to take generations before they feel comfortable,” said Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, of Arizona, a possible presidential hopeful who traveled to Munich not long after learning the Trump administration had tried and failed to indict him over a video he made telling troops not to obey illegal orders.
If this continues, the momentum and direction of the world’s political entanglements will change. Who knows what this will mean? This Op Ed piece from MS Now by Anthony L. Fisher discusses Trump and his attempts at an Imperial Presidency. “Libertarians warned about the ‘imperial presidency.’ Too few actually warned about Trump. A recent New York Times op-ed showed the blind spot many libertarians still have for President Donald Trump.”
When I saw the headline “Libertarians Tried to Warn You About Trump” atop a New York Times op-ed last Monday, I thought, “Hmmm, that’s not quite how I remember it.” Adorned with the striking image of the Gadsden flag’s “Don’t Tread on Me” snake about to get curb-stomped by an enormous black jackboot, the piece was written by Katherine Mangu-Ward, editor in chief of the libertarian magazine and website Reason — where I worked as a journalist for roughly six years. (I left shortly after President Donald Trump’s first inauguration.)
Sure enough, upon reading the column, I discovered the headline didn’t accurately reflect Mangu-Ward’s argument. She primarily made the case that libertarians have warned for years — under presidents in both major parties — about the dangers of ever-expanding executive authority, what’s been aptly coined the “Imperial Presidency.” Rather than claiming to have specifically warned “about Trump,” the writer boasted that libertarians had long sounded the alarm over the consolidation of such power — power now being used for nefarious purposes by a president who just happens to be Donald Trump. (The Times later that day amended the headline to the less specific but more honest, “Libertarians: We Told You So.”)
I can’t argue with that. To the extent most self-identified professional libertarians warned about Trump, they warned about the awesome powers that could be abused by a generic authoritarian president from either party.
But Trump is not a hypothetical. He always told us who he was. And there are far fewer of us who took (and continue to hold) the comparatively unpopular view among libertarians and other right-of-center fellow travelers that Trump presented as a uniquely authoritarian, vindictive, racist, corrupt and lawless demagogue — of which there isn’t remotely an analog on the other side of the aisle.
The problem is that, even now that Trump has proven us skeptics right on every one of those counts, too many libertarians continue to position themselves safely in a “pox on both your houses” perch — much too nuanced and enlightened to be dragged into partisan rancor. This position is how your movement ends up conflating the tyranny of overbearing, temporary Covid policies in Democratic-run areas as equal to (or worse than) the tyranny of a secret police force acting without due process for everyone when attempting to arrest suspected illegal immigrants, summarily executing Americans in the street and branding them “domestic terrorists” while their bodies are still warm.
All of these thoughts lead to one logical conclusion. The Midterm elections need to depose him and remove the spineless and the true believers, or whatever this is, from Congress.
Just to let you know, we’re having the most unkind Mardi Gras Celebration that even the police have seen. We seem to have been overrun by spontaneous groups of young men that are behaving a lot like the droogies in A Clockwork Orange. I may write about it on Friday; however, I’m busy listening to my friends’ experiences uptown and around the Quarter right now.
Peace, Love, and Understanding to you all!
What’s on your Reading, Action, and Blogging Lists today?
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Itgqc-8sF8?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en&autohide=2&wmode=transparent&w=590&h=332]

#JohnbussBskySocialJohnBuss #DemocracyBacksliding #TrumpianWhiplash #USEuropeRelations #VictorOrban

#johnbussbskysocialjohnbuss #democracybacksliding #trumpianwhiplash #useuroperelations #victororban
Sky Dancing @[email protected] · 2025-10-03 · 21:46 UTC
Finally Friday Reads: Project 2025 Plan to Destroy America is Offical

“I’m pretty sure all the Military Brass are impressed that the Secretary of War had his own personal makeup room built in the Pentagon. John Buss, @repeat1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!
Most of us knew that Project 2025 would be the basis of policy. Republicans have wanted an Imperial Presidency for some time. Republicans have elected at least 3 useful idiots as President with the goal of destroying American democracy in mind. It’s why we have a huge deficit, and spending has been concentrated on the rich who can pay-to-play to get massive tax cuts and huge government subsidies.
There are examples in every state they control. Here in Louisiana, the damage from oil extraction and affiliated chemical industries has created massive damage, and just at the precise time that the EPA has been fully filleted. Not only has nothing real been done to abate the chemical spill that happened earlier this summer after a poorly managed plant that exploded in Roseland, a primarily black community, but it has not been fully abated. The actions behind the removal of LSU’s premier Lake Maurapas researcher have become clearer. Today, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health released this important research. “Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ Is More Deadly Than Previously Imagined. New research shows that the industrial pollution—and the risk to human health—on Louisiana’s Cancer Alley have been significantly underestimated.
On an 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, communities exist alongside some 200 fossil fuel and petrochemical production plants. Since the 1980s, the area has been known as Cancer Alley.
These plants process about 25% of the U.S.’s petrochemical products, Peter DeCarlo, PhD, associate professor in Environmental Health and Engineering, said in the July 2 episode of Public Health On Call—with many of the byproducts and emissions winding up in nearby communities’ air, water, and soil.
Residents of these communities suffer the effects of extreme air pollution, including increased rates and risks of maternal, reproductive, and newborn health harms; respiratory illnesses; and cancer. One area has the highest risk of cancer from industrial air pollution in the U.S.—more than seven times the national average.
But new research from DeCarlo, Keeve Nachman, PhD ’06, MHS ’01, professor in Environmental Health and Engineering, and their teams shows that the pollution—and the risk to human health—has been significantly underestimated.
In this Q&A, adapted from that podcast episode, DeCarlo and Nachman discuss their work measuring levels of pollutants in Louisiana and explain what these conclusions mean for how the U.S. should regulate carcinogens.
We may be drowning in toxic chemicals, but other states and cities are experiencing ICE Raids that resemble SS maneuvers. Additionally, we have new threats. Since the reality on the ground has embarrassed the Trump plan to send the military to “wartorn” Portland to defuse his imagined war on the ground, he’s come up with an alternative plan. This is from ABC News. “Leavitt says Trump exploring cutting aid to Portland.”White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump is exploring plans to cut federal funding to Portland due to what she said was a rise in “Antifa” related incidents.”
“We will not fund states that allow anarchy,” she told reporters.
Antifa is not a group, but rather a political philosophy or movement. The term comes from the longer “anti-fascist” and is used as a catchall for groups that oppose the concept of authoritarianism, neo-Nazism and white supremacy.
If you want to sum it up, try this hypothesis for size. Republicans are willing to let all of us starve and die as long as they can get paid for enabling modern-day Robber Barons.
About six months into this reign of terror, murder, and destruction, I’m still not certain the legacy media is getting the bigger picture. However, yesterday, an announcement by Trump made them perk their ears once more. Will it be enough? This is from the AP. “Trump no longer distancing himself from Project 2025 as he uses the shutdown to further pursue its goals.”
President Donald Trump is openly embracing the conservative blueprint he desperately tried to distance himself from during the 2024 campaign, as one of its architects works to use the government shutdown to accelerate his goals of slashing the size of the federal workforce and punishing Democratic states.
In a post on his Truth Social site Thursday morning, Trump announced he would be meeting with his budget chief, “Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.”
The comments represented a dramatic about-face for Trump, who spent much of last year denouncing Project 2025, The Heritage Foundation’s massive proposed overhaul of the federal government, which was drafted by many of his longtime allies and current and former administration officials.
You may recall that the implication of this document was central to the Democratic Party campaign. Kamala Harris made it a focal point of the convention and other speeches.
Top Trump campaign leaders spent much of 2024 livid at The Heritage Foundation for publishing a book full of unpopular proposals that Democrats tried to pin on the campaign to warn a second Trump term would be too extreme.
While many of the policies outlined in its 900-plus pages aligned closely with the agenda that Trump was proposing — particularly on curbing immigration and dismantling certain federal agencies — others called for action Trump had never discussed, like banning pornography, or Trump’s team was actively trying to avoid, like withdrawing approval for abortion medication.
Trump repeatedly insisted he knew nothing about the group or who was behind it, despite his close ties with many of its authors. They included John McEntee, his former director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, and Paul Dans, former chief of staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
“I know nothing about Project 2025,” Trump insisted in July 2024. “I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”
Trump’s campaign chiefs were equally critical.
“President Trump’s campaign has been very clear for over a year that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign, did not speak for the campaign, and should not be associated with the campaign or the President in any way,” wrote Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita in a campaign memo. They added, “Reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed and should serve as notice to anyone or any group trying to misrepresent their influence with President Trump and his campaign — it will not end well for you.”
Trump has since gone on to stock his second administration with its authors, including Vought, “border czar” Tom Homan, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller and Brendan Carr, who wrote Project 2025’s chapter on the Federal Communications Commission and now chairs the panel.
Heritage did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. But Dans, the project’s former director, said it’s been “exciting” to see so much of what was laid out in the book put into action.
“It’s gratifying. We’re very proud of the work that was done for this express purpose: to have a doer like President Trump ready to roll on Day One,” said Dans, who is currently running for Senate against Lindsey Graham in South Carolina.
It was frequently averred that Stephen Miller was central to all plans for the project’s implementation. Only a few public intellectuals continued to warn of the plan and steps taken, while Yam Tit still shrugged off any implication that he was following the plan’s blueprint during the first six months. Well, that curtain has dropped.
AXIOS sums this evolution up neatly. “Trump charts path to total control amid government shutdown.’ This is reported by Zachary Basu.
President Trump is seizing on the government shutdown as an “unprecedented opportunity” to consolidate control in the Oval Office, accelerating a trend toward unchecked power.
Why it matters: Many Democrats see the shutdown as a necessary evil to halt — or at least slow — Trump’s steamrolling of democratic norms and independent institutions. So far, the standoff is only emboldening the White House.

Zoom in: Trump said he met Thursday with White House budget chief Russ Vought to discuss what “Democrat agencies” should get cuts, casting the shutdown as a chance to shrink a federal workforce Trump has long viewed as hostile.
- Goading Democrats, Trump flaunted Vought’s role in Project 2025 (“he of PROJECT 2025 Fame”) — the hard-right blueprint for expanding executive power that Trump disavowed on the campaign trail after it became a political liability.
- For Vought, the shutdown offers a unique opening: a live test of theories he has spent years refining on how to weaken Congress, purge the bureaucracy and concentrate power in the presidency.
Already, Vought has announced the termination of nearly $8 billion in funding for clean-energy projects in 16 states, all of which voted for Kamala Harris in 2024 and have Democratic senators.
- He also has frozen $18 billion in New York City infrastructure projects, a thinly veiled shot at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
- Legal challenges are inevitable: Congress controls the power of the purse, and federal officials privately have warned that Vought’s plans for mass firings during the shutdown may violate appropriations law.
The big picture: As Axios has documented, the shutdown is only one front in Trump’s broader campaign of consolidation.
- Military: In an unprecedented partisan address this week, Trump told more than 800 generals and admirals to prepare for a “war” against domestic “enemies,” urging them to treat America’s cities as “training grounds.”
- Academia: The administration is asking universities to sign a 10-point “compact” that would grant preferential access to federal funding if schools agree to freeze tuition, protect conservative speech, apply strict definitions of gender, limit international students and other Trump priorities.
- Rule of law: Days after Trump publicly pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to charge his political enemies, the Justice Department indicted former FBI director James Comey. Other Trump foes, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), are under investigation.
- Civil society: FBI director Kash Patel severed ties with the Anti-Defamation League on Thursday, accusing the Jewish civil rights group of “functioning like a terrorist organization” after MAGA activists discovered that Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA was listed in its now-removed “Glossary of Extremism and Hate.” Trump also has urged the Justice Department to investigate Democratic megadonor George Soros’ Open Society Foundations as part of a crackdown on liberal groups following Kirk’s assassination.
- Corporate America: Trump demanded last week that Microsoft fire its head of global affairs, Lisa Monaco, because she served in the Biden administration — a reminder that even corporate giants aren’t immune from political retaliation. Trump had previously called on Intel’s CEO to resign over alleged ties to China, but backed off after the U.S. government took a 10% equity stake in the chip-maker.
More at the link.
MSNBC’s Maddow Blog has this analysis. As usual, Steve Benen has the led. “Trump picks a convenient time to change his tune about the Project 2025 agenda. Remember last year when Trump feigned ignorance about the right-wing governing blueprint? A year later, the president no longer bothers with the pretense.”
As the second full day of the latest government shutdown got underway, Donald Trump published an odd message to his social media platform, which raised plenty of eyebrows throughout the political world.
“I have a meeting today with [White House Budget Director] Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat [sic] Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” the president wrote.
We don’t yet know what transpired at that meeting, but Trump’s weird phrasing was itself notable. For example, there are no federal departments or offices that should be called “Democrat Agencies.” There are only American agencies, which do work on behalf of the American people and which are currently led, at least in part, by Trump’s own appointees.
Similarly, the idea that federal agencies deserve to be condemned as “a political SCAM” is every bit as bizarre as it sounds. We’re talking about offices, some of which have been around for many years, that were created by Congress. Their existence is reinforced in federal law, which the president is required to enforce.
As for the possibility that Trump and the far-right head of his Office of Management and Budget might “permanently” weaken departments that the White House no longer likes, it’s worth keeping in mind that such efforts might very well be illegal.
But let’s also not brush past that other phrase: Vought, the president wrote, is “of PROJECT 2025 Fame.” As The Associated Press summarized:

President Donald Trump is openly embracing the conservative blueprint he desperately tried to distance himself from during the 2024 campaign, as one of its architects works to use the government shutdown to accelerate his goals of slashing the size of the federal workforce and punishing Democratic states.

For those who might benefit from a refresher, throughout the 2024 campaign, Trump realized that the Project 2025 agenda was so radical and unpopular that he treated is as radioactive. “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it,” the Republican said over the summer about the blueprint largely written by members of his own team. He added, “I have nothing to do with them.”
Here’s some analysis from Time Magazine‘s Editorial Fellow Connor Greene. “Trump Is No Longer Denying Support for Project 2025: What to Know.”
President Donald Trump has changed his tune on the conservative policy plan Project 2025 after actively distancing himself from it for months during his reelection campaign.
Trump announced on Thursday that he would be meeting with Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, “he of PROJECT 2025 Fame,” to decide which “Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.”
The post marks a significant shift from the President’s past disavowals of the unpopular right-wing policy blueprint, which was created by conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation ahead of the 2024 election. “I have nothing to do with Project 2025. I haven’t read it. I don’t want to read it, purposely. I’m not going to read it,” Trump said in a debate last year with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Despite Trump’s repeated insistence that he didn’t know anything about Project 2025, however, he had close ties with a number of its authors, several of whom have served in his Administrations—including Vought. And since he returned to the White House in January his second Administration has taken steps to implement a number of the proposals detailed in the over 900-page document.
Now, amid the government shutdown, Trump is moving to further fulfill Project 2025’s goals of reducing the federal workforce and extending his executive powers—and, it appears, openly embracing the plan.
The big question sis what does this mean for the shutdown and the country?
Despite his criticisms of Project 2025, many of the Trump Administration’s actions since he returned to office have mirrored aspects of the blueprint. An analysis by TIME in January found that nearly two-thirds of Trump’s early executive actions reflected—in whole or in part—proposals in Project 2025.
Among the parts of the plan that Trump has carried out is its recommendation to aggressively reduce the size and scope of the federal government.
Trump and hisDepartment of Government Efficiency moved quickly to cut more than 200,000 federal employees, though some of the layoffs have since been held up in the courts after being challenged by lawsuits. His Administration has also looked to slash federal funding through various freezes, clawbacks, cuts, and recissions.
Trump has announced plans to execute still more cuts amid the government shutdown. In the leadup to the deadline to fund the government this week, the White House directed agencies to prepare for mass firings in the event that Congress couldn’t reach a deal, rather than furloughing those not deemed essential as in past shutdowns.
The Administration has additionally used the shutdown to cancel $8 billion in green energy projects in Democratic-led states, withhold $18 billion in transportation projects in New York City, and pause $2.1 billion in infrastructure projects in Chicago.
Here’s a just a bit of the latest information on Russell Voight. This startling headline is from Politico. “Thune warns Democrats about Russ Vought: ‘We don’t control what he’s going to do’ The Senate majority leader spoke out as some Republicans express qualms about the White House slash-and-burn campaign.” The reporter for this piece is Jourdain Carney.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune isn’t endorsing the slash-and-burn campaign White House budget director Russ Vought has planned for the federal government during the pending shutdown.
But he says Democrats have no one to blame for it but themselves.
“This is the risk of shutting down the government and handing the keys to Russ Vought,” the Senate majority leader said in an exclusive interview Wednesday in the Capitol, adding that “there should have been an expectation” among Democrats that Vought’s Office of Management and Budget could broadly target government workers and programs in a shutdown.
Thune spoke on the same day that several Republicans aired discomfort with Vought’s moves after the shutdown went into effect. Rep. Mike Lawler of New York spoke out against his decision to hold up major transportation projects in his state, while Reps. Blake Moore of Utah and Brian Babin of Texas spoke up on a private House GOP call with Vought raising qualms about potential mass layoffs.
Vought’s actions also risk being a distraction for Republicans, who have sought to stick to a simple message putting the onus on Democrats to reopen the government. Pressed on whether Vought was muddying the waters, Thune said, “The only thing I would say about that is yes, and we don’t control what he’s going to do.”
The White House has made no secret that its strategy is to inflict maximum political pressure on Democrats to try to get them to reopen the government. Vought warned ahead of the start of the shutdown that OMB would take aggressive steps beyond typical furloughs, where employees are brought back to work after the government reopens.
The budget office directed agencies in a memo first reported by POLITICO last week to put together plans for reductions-in-force — or firings — of federal employees. Vought himself told House Republicans during the Wednesday call that those firings would start in a “day or two.”
“I can’t control that,” Thune said about decisions made by OMB. “But the Democrats ought to think long and hard about keeping this thing going for a long time, because it won’t be without consequence, I’m sure.”
This final suggested read is from Mother Jones. “Russ Vought Is Trump’s Shutdown Hero. His Neighbors Think His Work Is “Abhorrent.” The people living near Trump’s “grim reaper” of government cuts have put up signs letting him know they stand with federal workers.” This is reported by Isabela Dias.
On Thursday night, President Donald Trump shared a music video on Truth Social. In it, an AI-generated Russ Vought—Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget and a Project 2025 mastermind—is the grim reaper, carrying a scythe along a hallway lined with portraits of Democratic leaders. Vought, the video’s soundtrack explains, “wields the pen, the funds, and the brain” to enforce the president’s plans to axe federal workers.
“Everyone still remembers when he said he wanted to cause maximum trauma to federal workers,” the neighbor said. “And that’s hard to forget.”
Most of Vought’s neighbors I talked to for this article declined to speak on the record or asked to remain anonymous. Some said they didn’t want to create a rift in an otherwise cordial neighborhood, while others worried about retribution or negative repercussions from their employers.
“I just wish he would have gotten to know us,” Hunter said. “We consider ourselves good Americans, we have good values. And I don’t think he’s been interested in getting to know any of us, in hearing if we might have a difference of opinion.”
Last week, Vought sent around a memo blaming Democrats’ “insane demands” for the imminent lapse in funding and instructing agency heads to start making plans to cut non-mandatory programs “not consistent with the President’s priorities” and “use this opportunity to consider Reduction in Force.” Appearing on Fox Business, Vought claimed an “authority to make permanent change to the bureaucracy here in government” during the shutdown.
He has since announced pauses to funding for infrastructure projects in New York—home state of House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York), who called Vought a “malignant political hack”—and slowdowns in clean energy projects in several blue states.
Vought, Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said on Fox News, “has been dreaming about and preparing for his moment since puberty.”
AsIwrote in a profile of Vought from 2024, the bespectacled official spent years as a Washington insider and government bureaucrat before becoming the architect of a supersized second Trump presidency.
An avowed Christian nationalist and dedicated America First warrior, he once described the job of OMB director as the “keeper of ‘commander’s intent” and criticized the federal bureaucracy for standing in the way of the president’s agenda. During Trump’s first term, Vought tried to implement an executive order that would have made it easier for political appointees to fire career civil servants and replace them with MAGA loyalists. Now, he’s getting to realize his vision while earning points with the president.
See what’s in the cards for us? Read them and weep. The Voight cartoons are from The Nation. They have a primar on Vought that you really should read. “Project 2025: Vought’s Your Problem? Not too bad to be true.” Steve Brodner is the artist and his cartoons have descriptions of their design. Go see the rest!
I’ve been a little late today, I’m sorry. I woke up late last night in a lot of pain and took some acetaminophen for relief. In my mind I was seeing it as some sort of ritual to defang Trump’s war on Health Care. I also got a call from youngest with my first grandson. Aiden, like his mémé is quite verbal. I really worked on this piece because I wanted to get as many sources as I could on this abomination and put my time in it than usual. I was researching stuff like the researcher I am. I am vorasciously reading up on this and I suggest you do too.
What’s on your Reading, Action, and Blogging list today?

#Repeat1968 #DestructionOfFederalAgencies #governmentShutdown2025m #JohnBuss #LousianaSCancerAlley #PeoplePower #Project25 #RussVought #StevenBrodner
#repeat1968 #destructionoffederalagencies #governmentshutdown2025m #johnbuss #lousianascanceralley #peoplepower
Spanish Garden @[email protected] · 2026-04-28 · 11:27 UTC
Tidy your garden – but not too much and the chickens take dance lessons

We are just about to leave Spring and rush into Summer. This means you have to tidy your spring plants to make room for your new summer growth and seedlings. By now all the early bulbs should have gone over and all you are left with is dying foliage and seed heads. Don’t make the mistake of grubbing everything out too early and failing to let growth and goodness go back into the soil and plants.
Whilst I have been busy readying the garden for Summer Cruella (my wife) has insisted her girls should get dancing lessons in case they are invited to Summer Balls. More of this nonsense later, on with the gardening.
28th April 2026. Things I have been doing lately:
- Deadheading and tidying early flowerers
- Preparing my Chilli’s for summer
- Dealing with dancing chicken damage
Deaheading and tidying early flowerers. By now all the early Spring plants have gone over and it’s time to tidy up plants such as Daffodils, Iris, Ice plants and even Mother in Laws Tongues.
Starting with Daffodils. By now you should have completely cut off all the seed heads and your plants will be looking like the ones in the photos below.
The key to success for next year’s bulbs is to let the foliage die completely back and go brown. Do not cut it off and definitely do not tie it in a knot. By doing this you are allowing the plant to transfer the goodness from its foliage back down into the bulb.
With Iris both Spanish and Dutch should now be fully spent and you need to deadhead them to stop them spending their energy making seed. With Iris you need to cut off the spent flower at the point in the stem where you can see a distinct narrowing. In addition to cutting off the seed head, do not be tempted to cut back the mass of foliage. See photos below.
Look for the narrowingDo not cut this off yet
By now your Ice Plants (Aizoaceae) will have flowered freely for two or three months. With Ice Plants it is best not to deadhead individual stems as it will just take too long. Instead wait till they have all flowered and then get out your shears and just shear off all the flowers. Try not to cut too far into the green foliage and with a bit of luck you should get another full flowering this autumn and sometimes before. The photos below show my Ice Plants ready for their annual trim and the final trim back.
Another in the tidying up stakes is Mother in Laws Tongue (Dracaena trifasciata) which is usually ready for a tidy up this time of year. This plant is popular in Spain as it is unfussy and will happily spread through underground runners. The only problem with it is if left to its own it can begin to look a bit scruffy. The photo below shows my plant looking a bit of a scruff.
The first thing to do when clearing this plant is to trying pulling at all the dry brown stems and many will come away easily. For those that don’t you will need to get a good sharp gardening knife and go down to the base of each stem to where it’s attaches to the runner and cut these off at ground level. The photos below show my trusty old gardening knife (over 30 years old), followed by where to cut and finally the cleared plant.
Finally climbing roses need as much dead wood cut out as possible. I find it is almost impossible to find deadwood on climbing roses over winter. I get fed up scraping branch after branch to discover if there is green beneath. Instead, I find it is better to wait until the plant begins to leaf up and blossom and then it is easy to identify the dead branches and these can be cut out. The photos below show the untangling and cutting out of dead branches. Make sure you wear gloves as blood will be spilled.
Preparing Chillis for summer. For those of you who took my advice and cutback and repotted last years Chilli plants, now is the time to repot them to larger pots for their summer growth. All of my Chillis apart from one successfully overwintered and are now read y to burst into life. The photo below shows the healthy survivors in their winter pots.
Like many plants Chillis do not like their roots to be disturbed too much so it is better to use the in-pot filling method shown in the photos below. This approach minimises any root disturbance and shock and ensure the plants will produce fruit more quickly.
The photo below shows my Chillis just a couple of weeks later. As you can see they are already flowering and soon I will be harvesting Chillis.
Dealing with dancing chicken damage. Cruella (my wife) has decided that her girls could have a career in show business, but not in what she calls the “common” shows like Britains Got Talent, but more in the Royal Command Performance type of thing. To this end she has declared that they are forming a dance troupe – I keep spelling it troop and she gets really mad.
To this end they have been having dancing lessons in the garden for the past few weeks. This mainly involves them holding on to a tree or low wall and doing strange knee bending moves by slowly lowering their bums to the ground, then striking out dramatically with one foot. Cruella assures me this is their “barre” exercises and that the knee bending is their Pliès followed by Frappès.
The upshot of all this dancing is that they are digging up the membrane under my gravelled areas as they perform their barre exercises. Some of the damage can be seen in the photos below followed by a typical dance class in action.
I have spent hours wandering round with a rake pulling gravel back into position, but no matter how hard I work the garden is beginning to look like the Somme battlefield. I finally convinced Cruella (my wife) that a classier option would be to teach her girls traditional dancing. Such as dancing round the Maypole etc. I am pleased to say that they now spend their time spinning around in circles under my trees attached to bits of string. The photos below show a typical rehearsal.
#seeds #Gardening #pruning #garden #trees #horticulture #composting #flowers #plants
#seeds #gardening #pruning #garden #trees #horticulture
Pagan Essentials @[email protected] · 2025-03-14 · 18:07 UTC

Blooming into Balance: Celebrating Ostara 2025
The air is changing. A gentle warmth replaces the winter’s chill, and the world awakens with a vibrant burst of life. Ostara, the Spring Equinox, is upon us! This Pagan Sabbat marks the moment when day and night are of equal length, a perfect balance before the sun’s power begins to dominate. In 2025, we’ll be celebrating Ostara on Thursday, March 20th.
Ostara is a time of renewal, rebirth, and growth. It’s a celebration of the Goddess Ostara (or Eostre), associated with dawn, spring, and fertility, and a welcoming of the returning sun. Let’s delve into how you can celebrate this vibrant Sabbat, whether you’re a solitary practitioner or part of a coven.
💫 Correspondences of Ostara
💫 Deities:
Ostara/Eostre, Persephone, Flora, Green Man, any deities associated with spring, dawn, and fertility.
💫 Colors:
Pastel shades of green, yellow, pink, white, and light blue.
💫 Symbols:
Eggs, rabbits, hares, flowers (especially daffodils, tulips, and crocuses), seeds, budding trees, lambs, butterflies.
💫 Herbs and Flowers:
Daffodils, tulips, crocuses, violets, honeysuckle, sage, and anything new and green.
💫 Stones:
Rose quartz, aquamarine, moonstone, and any light-colored crystals.
💫 Incense/Oils:
Floral scents like jasmine, rose, and violet, as well as light, fresh scents like lemon and sandalwood.
💫 Foods:
Eggs (decorated and plain), leafy greens, spring vegetables, seeds, honey cakes, and fruit.
_______________________________
✨ Altar Setup
Your Ostara altar should reflect the vibrancy & colors of spring and can be in or outdoors.
Consider:
✨ A white or pastel-colored altar cloth.
✨ Fresh flowers in a vase.
✨ Decorated eggs or a nest of eggs.
✨ Images or figurines of rabbits or hares.
✨ Seeds or small potted plants.
✨ Candles in Ostara colors.
✨ Crystals that resonate with the season.
✨ A bowl of spring water.
✨ A representation of your chosen deities.
_______________________________
🌛Rituals for Ostara
🌛 Planting Ritual:
Plant seeds or seedlings to symbolize new beginnings and growth. As you plant, speak your intentions aloud.
🌛 Equinox Meditation:
Find a quiet space and meditate on the balance of light and dark, the renewal of nature, and your own personal growth.
🌛 Journaling:
Reflect on your goals and intentions for the coming season. Write about what you want to grow and cultivate in your life.
🌛 Offering Ritual:
Make offerings to Ostara or your chosen deities, such as flowers, seeds, or honey cakes.
🌛 Spring Cleansing Ritual:
Cleanse your home and sacred space, both physically and energetically, to make way for new energy. Use sage, palo santo, or spring-scented essential oils.
_______________________________
Solitary Practitioner Activities
🌟 Nature Walk:
Spend time in nature, observing the signs of spring. Gather flowers, leaves, or stones to add to your altar.
🌟 Crafting:
Create Ostara-themed crafts, such as egg decorations, flower crowns, or nature mandalas.
🌟 Baking:
Bake spring-themed treats, such as honey cakes or egg-rich pastries.
🌟 Dawn Meditation:
Wake up early and greet the sunrise, welcoming the return of the light.
_______________________________
Coven Activities
🌟 Plant a communal garden or tree, symbolizing the coven’s shared growth and intentions.
🌟 Egg Hunt:
Organize an egg hunt with hidden blessings or messages inside the eggs.
🌟 Circle Casting:
Perform a group ritual to honor Ostara, invoking the energies of spring and balance.
🌟 Potluck Feast:
Share a meal of spring-inspired dishes, celebrating the abundance of the season.
🌟 Storytelling and Singing:
Share stories and songs related to Ostara and the spring season.
🌟 Maypole Dancing (If appropriate):
Maypoles are often associated with Beltane, but as the spring energies rise, a smaller maypole dance could be incorporated to celebrate the returning fertility of the earth.
______________________________
Ostara whispers of fresh starts and the quiet strength of budding life. It’s a time to turn inward, to examine the seeds of your own dreams, and gently coax them into bloom. Whether you find solace in solitary reflection or joy in shared celebration, take this moment to truly connect with the earth’s awakening. Listen to the birdsong, feel the sun’s gentle warmth, and let the promise of spring fill your heart. Plant your intentions with care, nurture them with kindness, and watch as your own unique potential unfolds. May your Ostara be filled with personal growth, renewed hope, and the blossoming of your truest self. Happy Ostara!
____________________________
🌈 Ostara Ritual for Renewal
The Seed of Potential: An Ostara Ritual for Renewal
Choose a space where you feel connected to nature, whether it’s outdoors or a designated sacred space indoors.
Welcome, fellow seekers, to the vibrant dawn of Ostara. As the Earth awakens from its winter slumber, we too are called to embrace renewal and growth. This ritual is designed to honor the Spring Equinox, the moment of perfect balance, and to plant the seeds of our own potential.
__________________________
Preparation
🌈 Timing:
Perform this ritual on the Spring Equinox, ideally at dawn or during the day when the sun is high.
🌈 Location:
Choose a space where you feel connected to nature, whether it’s outdoors or a designated sacred space indoors
🌈 Altar:
Set up your Ostara altar with the correspondences mentioned in the previous blog. Include a small pot of soil, seeds (representing your intentions), and a bowl of fresh spring water.
🌈 Tools:
You will need candles (pastel colors), incense (floral or fresh scents), and a representation of the Goddess Ostara (or your chosen spring deity).
____________________________
⭐ The Ritual ⭐
🌈 Casting the Circle:
If you typically cast a circle, do so now, invoking the elements and guardians.
🌈 Invocation:
Light your candles and incense. Stand before your altar and say:
   “Ostara, Goddess of Dawn and Spring, we welcome your light. The Earth awakens, and so do we. We gather here, at the point of perfect balance, to honor the return of life and the blooming of potential.”
🌈 Honoring the Equinox:
Take a moment to feel the balance of light and dark. Close your eyes and visualize the sun rising, bringing warmth and vitality to the Earth. Say:
   “Day and night are equal, a moment of perfect harmony. We honor the balance within and without, the dance of light and shadow, and the promise of growth.”
🌈 Planting the Seeds of Intention:
Take the pot of soil and the seeds. As you hold the seeds, visualize your intentions for the coming season. What do you wish to cultivate in your life? Speak your intentions aloud, infusing the seeds with your energy.
“These seeds represent the potential within me. I plant them with intention, nurturing my dreams and aspirations. May they grow strong and vibrant, bringing forth the fruits of my labor.”
   Plant the seeds in the soil.
🌈 Blessing the Seeds and Water:
Hold the bowl of spring water over the planted seeds. Say:
   “Water of life, nourish these seeds of intention. May they be blessed with growth, vitality, and abundance.”
   Sprinkle the water over the soil.
🌈 Meditation and Visualization:
Sit or stand comfortably. Close your eyes and visualize your intentions taking root and flourishing. See them growing into vibrant manifestations of your desires. Feel the warmth of the sun and the gentle breeze of spring.
🌈 Offering to Ostara:
Offer a small gift to Ostara, such as flowers, a decorated egg, or a poem. Say:
“Ostara, we thank you for the gifts of spring. We offer our gratitude and respect, and we celebrate the renewal of life.”
🌈 Grounding:
Take a few deep breaths, grounding yourself in the present moment. Feel the connection to the Earth and the energy of spring.
🌈 Releasing the Circle:
If you cast a circle, release it now, thanking the elements and guardians.
🌈 Closing:
Extinguish the candles and incense. Place the pot of seeds in a sunny location and water them regularly, nurturing your intentions as they grow.
🌈 Reflection:
After the ritual, take some time to journal about your experience. Reflect on your intentions and how you plan to nurture them throughout the spring and summer. This ritual is a powerful way to connect with the energies of Ostara and to embrace the potential for growth within yourself. May your spring be filled with joy, abundance, and renewal.
Blessed Be!
#Abundance #Astrology #CastingACircle #Celebrations #Cleansing #ColorCorrespondence #Correspondence #Crystals #Eostara #EssentialOils #Flowers #Gemstone #Grounding #Herbs #KitchenWitchcraft #Magic #Magick #Maypole #Meditation #Ostara #Pagan #Rites #Ritual #Rituals #Sabbat #SpringEquinox #Wiccan #Witch #WitchPowers #WitchTools #Witchcraft

#abundance #astrology #castingacircle #celebrations #cleansing #colorcorrespondence
Mathematician Records @[email protected] · 2026-05-08 · 23:24 UTC

It's been a bad spring drought in Florida. Lots of wildfires and dead plants happening. I did my rain dance....somewhere over the rain, bro. Chances of rain went up every afternoon going ahead. Thanks, bro. youtu.be/T0lvA7hBS9E?... #experimental #music #acid #punk #noise #grind

When the Mountains Turn Blue |...

#experimental #music #acid #punk #noise #grind
Palm Oil Detectives @[email protected] · 2022-02-19 · 15:00 UTC

Bonobos can inspire us to make our democracies more peaceful

#Bonobos, sometimes called the “forgotten #ape” due to their recent discovery and small numbers, titillate the democrat’s imagination. Before the 1970s, certain primatologists thought bonobos were strange #chimpanzees because females govern in this primate society.Frans de Waal, the primatologist and popular writer, has done much to explain the fascinating lives of these “peace-loving #apes” and how they are changing the story of human evolution. Bonobos are unique among apes for how they settle day-to-day conflicts. Personalities and social standing are evident in their society. Squabbles are frequent within or between groups. Bonobos defuse the potentially violent tension in these conflicts through quick bursts of sex, mutual grooming, hugs and kisses, and mimicking the sounds each other makes. Help these remarkable intelligent beings survive when you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife

Blissful #bonobos resolve conflict in (mostly) peaceful ways. Maybe they can inspire #human #democracies to be fairer, kinder and more just? Help these remarkable beings to survive #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🔥🩸🚜❌ #Boycott4Wildlife #apes #primates @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/02/20/bonobos-can-inspire-us-to-make-our-democracies-more-peaceful/
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We can see reflections of ourselves – the good, the bad and the ugly – in bonobos, and in other apes too.
https://youtu.be/gDCBovxoEDk
The trick is to use intimate, gentle, genuine techniques to find common ground with one’s opponent. It’s the bonobos’ way to say “it’s alright” and to repair any emotional sores from the dispute. It doesn’t always happen this way, especially between rival groups, but violence is the exception to the rule.
Inspirations
We value peace today, so the discovery of the bonobo gives us hope that Homo sapiens aren’t naturally sadistic terrors kept in check only by the power of authority or the divine, the fear of the afterlife.
Bonobo mother and baby
Gorillas, another close relative, offer inspiration too. While a very large male protects most small groups, he’s more bodyguard than despot. Gorillas reach decisions through co-operation between the sexes.
Baboons also offer a counter view to our supposed nasty and brutish inner nature. In a troop of hamadryas or olive baboons you’d soon be able to spot the stronger individuals. And you might assume they simply call the shots: only they don’t.
Baboons have a more delicate form of collective decision-making. This involves sitting in the right place and waiting to see where a majority develops. In this way, more than a few individuals share leadership.
Now we come to chimpanzees, the species that has been most influential in how we picture the earliest human behaviour. They are patriarchal, hierarchical, constantly scheming to get ahead in rank and sometimes shockingly violent. Yet, if the times are good (food’s abundant), they can be consensual, mellow and peaceful.
Like the bonobos, chimps try to repair emotional damage after a fight because the group has to work or else everyone’s survival is at risk.
Zoologist Dr George McGavin joking with a bonobo while filming Monkey Planet for the BBC
That said, bonobos, gorillas, baboons and chimpanzees aren’t a reflection of our past. As Frans de Waal and science journalist Virginia Morell observe, these species have been evolving alongside us since we all split from our common ancestor. Looking at them isn’t the same as looking back.
However, we can relate to the behaviours in these species – we can see ourselves in them. Perhaps, we wonder, we’ve always had the capacity for peace and violence; we’ve always lived in the political spectrum between violent autocracy and peaceful democracy.
Our species is certainly trying to strengthen the latter now. Perhaps the bonobos, or the other apes, can help us do better by inspiring us to think differently.
Imagine if we could stop being violent to one another. The violence that democrats living in democracies commit online or in person, often in public among strangers, limits if not wastes our capacity to be peaceful in our everyday lives.
Let’s say a fight starts over a parking space. You saw it first, had your blinker on to “claim it”, when that omfg no-you-didn’t creature of a moron steals it. I’ve reason to believe that, when slighted in this way, most of us want to punch this stranger in the face or trash their car.
Trying to find common ground with them then and there seems bizarre. Stranger still is to entertain the thought that maybe you and the spot-thief might then give each other a hug or a smooch, mount each other for a while, run your fingers through one another’s hair and say: “You know what, it’s all right, have a nice day”.
I play to the absurd here because I’m not arguing that we should try to perfectly replicate the way bonobos avoid violence. Echoing a point that Laurence Whitehead once made, we shouldn’t confuse inspiration with replication.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9BFjr_x0vU
We should rather try to draw inspiration from the bonobos to enrich our own practices, to enhance today’s human democracies. We might do equally well to dream about rhesus monkeys and their aversion to inequality, or spider monkeys and their patient if not wondrously just lives.
These primates place emphasis on avoiding violence and inequality because peace keeps them working together. It helps them survive.
And that’s important for us: peace and social cohesion are the legs our democracies strive to stand on.
The opposite, violence and social division, beckons to the Beetlejuice of regimes: benevolent authoritarianism, that hated but necessary stabiliser of states when times are bad.
It’s crucial to remember that avoiding violence builds trust and confidence in the group and between groups. It’s what the bonobos do so well. Yet in our societies we’re still struggling to use words and care instead of fists, guns, mines and bombs.
Political theorist John Keane once alluded: the future if not quality of democracy depends on our ability to exchange violence for peace. For the sake of our democracies, we need to be able to make this exchange, from those everyday moments in the carpark to those times in the lives of nations when diplomacy gives way to conflict.
Lessons
It’s not simply the normative visions of a democracy changed that the examples of non-human life offer. We can learn from the down-to-earth, concrete and special techniques that non-humans use to make decisions.
The process of evolution creates replicating systems – ones that work. It happens simply through the genes that survive millions of years of trial and error. As a result, the lives of many non-humans may offer more than a few masterclasses in social success.
In Honeybee Democracy, Thomas Seeley explains how bees decide as a group on the best site for a new hive. Princeton University Press
Take the European honeybee, for example. In his book, Honeybee Democracy, Thomas Seeley explains how bees make the life-or-death decision on where to build their next hive.
Once a hive reaches capacity – no room is left for making more bees or honey – the existing queen and most of the bees move out. They must start a new hive.
It’s down to the oldest forager bees, which usually account for 3% to 5% of the worker bees (talk about representation), to get more than half their family – potentially upwards of 30,000 individuals – out of the hive. Once this massive swarm is out, the elder bees direct it to cluster somewhere around the queen until they find a suitable site for the new hive.
At this point, the 1000 or so elder bees, who’ve swapped from food foragers to house scouts, travel several kilometres in all directions. They’re looking for that perfect site.
Bees are choosy. The hive site must satisfy several criteria. These include the location and diameter of the entrance (it’s important no rain can get in and that there is only one entrance); whether it faces the sun (this keeps the hive warmer in winter); the height above the ground (the higher the better to deter predators); if it’s in a tree (trees are preferred); and the available space. If it’s too big, the bees will freeze in winter. Too small, and they won’t have enough food to last through the cold months.
Choosing the wrong hive site might mean the human equivalent of a small town dying.
Honeybees evolved decision-making techniques because so much is riding on the decision elder bees make on behalf of the whole. Seeley thinks we should be studying and learning from these techniques.
Christian List and Thomas Seeley believe studying how honeybees make decisions together can help us make better decisions. flickr/US Department of Agriculture, CC BY-NC
When a scout bee returns to the swarm after finding a site that ticks all the boxes she lets the freak out in her waggle dance. Her dance tells other scout bees she’s on to something good.
However, rather than accepting the force of her presentation (charisma you might say), each scout flies off to the site that got the scout dancing with excitement to independently verify her claim.
If it really is the promised land, each scout returns to replicate the dance of the first. If not, the scouts will see who else is dancing, independently verify their claim, and potentially follow their dance.
Once around 70% of the scouts are broadcasting the same site, the other scouts stop advertising alternatives and join the majority.
So the decision’s made. It’s time to rouse the 30,000 into the air and for the scouts to direct the swarm to the agreed site.
The independent verification bees use to make high-quality decisions speaks directly to the problems we face in democratic assemblies. The ability of charismatic speech to sway others without proving the evidence in the speaker’s argument, the entrenchment of factions around shared values and not evidence, the capitulation of younger or less knowledgeable individuals confronted by older experts, and so on, all point to our difficulties in using evidence-based decision-making. https://www.youtube.com/embed/JnnjY823e-w?wmode=transparent&start=0 Tom Seeley explains how swarming honeybees choose a new home.
Obviously we’re not bees. We’re value-laden and sometimes irrational primates with our own host of problems specific to our species.
Even if we perfectly executed the bees’ independent verification technique, a person could very well say: “No, regardless of the evidence I’ve just verified which is contrary to my original position, I will maintain that wind mills sour cow’s milk, or that my kids don’t need vaccinating, or that climate change isn’t a threat.”
In fact, majority decision-making is, out of all the available democratic decision-making systems, the least preferable for many of us. People like reaching consensus and they like proportionality because it’s fair. And a lot of the decisions assemblies make aren’t questions of life or death, so we don’t really feel like there’s that much at stake.
That said, seeking to learn from bees, and to reflect on what they do so well and what we don’t do that well, generates space for tinkering with the “how”. It creates an opportunity to alter our democratic procedures for the better. We could do this, for example, by establishing a standard practice of independent verification – one that works for us – before an assembly makes a decision.
“Enrolling in nature’s masterclasses”, provided free to us by evolution, doesn’t put our human democracies to question. Rather, it gives us the chance to strengthen them, refine them, make them better.
Analogies
Lastly, by drawing comparisons between non-human and human life we can make analogies about democracy’s issues.
Look, for instance, to the parasites found in nature. There are blood-suckers of blood-suckers (a midge that drinks the blood from a mosquito that just drank it from you), wasps that inject their eggs into other insects, body-snatching fungi, mind-altering protozoans and murderously dishonest amoebas. They might remind democrats of the perils of individuals who manipulate and use democracy for their own ends.
The strangleweed, Cuscuta pentagona, is a parasitic plant. From the moment its seed has sprouted, the seedling “feels” around for a different plant. It’s going to live off this plant.
Once in range, the strangleweed takes a gentle hold of its victim and pierces the host’s stem with a haustorium (effectively a pointy green syringe). It does this not only to drink the host’s sugars but also to swap genetic information (RNA) with it.
Researchers think that C. pentagona reads the host’s genetic information to gain an understanding of its victim’s condition. But the strangleweed also sends its own genetic information to the host, like a Trojan horse designed to keep the victim from realising it’s being used.
Remind you of anyone? The parasitic Cuscuta pentagona, or strangleweed (light green), in action. Phys.org
Since at least the times of usurious monarchs or the entrenchment of transnational capital, democrats have made the point about parasitic elites.
The transnational capitalist class roam this world looking for the best hosts to do their business with. They find their way past barriers to take information from sovereign states, send reassurances to them, and then begin the process of extracting wealth from them to maintain their status as this world’s first global oligarchs.
I think here in particular of the dealings between mining companies and small cash-poor states. Like the strangleweed’s initial wandering tentacle, the company sends its agents to find where it can get a grip on the host.
The company uses charm offensives, lobbyists and sometimes bribes to transfuse information between it and the host. The two become a hybridised one. The company releases public relations information to keep the host satiated if not to massage it into accepting that the company is here to stay – that is, until the sugars run out.
The relationship between a multinational company and a sovereign state can be, like the relationship between the strangleweed and its victim, asymmetrical. On both sides of the analogy the parasite lives at the expense of the host, which is left almost powerless to defend itself.
Now, we should recognise that this baldly polemical interpretation of multinational companies and their governors doesn’t mean they’re no different from a parasitic plant, nor do they function for the same reason as the strangleweed, whose aim is reproduction.
What we get from this analogy is, instead, a reflection from reality’s broken mirror. Looking at the strangleweed and then to the transnational capitalist class creates a snapshot perception, an imperfect but still handy image, for the democrat to use.
Extinction, the death of possibilities
As writer Elizabeth Kolbert says in her own way: with each extinction of a non-human species we see ourselves further ruined.
Earth is home to at least one million species, and likely more. Many species make collective decisions, solve problems together and survive as a group. Losing a living species to extinction also means, from a selfishly human perspective, losing a potential opportunity to improve today’s democracies by the inspirations, lessons and analogies that only the evolution of other life forms can impart to us.
Non-humans evolved their own techniques and behaviours – which we can make sense of using words from the vocabulary of democracy – because they work for them. It’s 100% pragmatic. Nature’s tool chest, you might say.
Admittedly, these tools may not be fit for our purposes. After all, we aren’t bonobos, bees or parasitic plants. But it’s also fair to say that we’d be rash not to try to find help in them, especially if enriching our democratic practices in this way could help solve some of the problems confronting us.
Here we can say that our destruction of non-humans is destroying a part of ourselves, of our democracies’ hope of reaching their fuller potential. Perhaps, out of respect for their existence and our own, it’s time to include non-humans in that all-too-human affair we call democracy.

You can read parts one and two of the essay here.
Jean-Paul Gagnon, Assistant Professor in Politics, University of Canberra
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
#animalBehaviour #AnimalBiodiversityNews #animalCommunication #animalExtinction #animalIntelligence #animalRights #Ape #apes #bonobo #Bonobos #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #Chimpanzees #democracies #democracy #human #Mammal #Primate #primates #Primatologist #primatology #sentience

#animalbehaviour #animalbiodiversitynews #animalcommunication #animalextinction #animalintelligence #animalrights
Baltimore @[email protected] · 2025-09-01 · 20:37 UTC

Los giros de guion se han convertido en rutina. El problema de la consolidación del plot twist es que ingerir tantos nos produce efecto rebote: pierden eficacia, por acumulación o por adivinación, porque sentimos llegar el siguiente y el otro y el otro.
El equipo de la Carpenter lo sabe. Ahí queda el estreno polémico de la portada de Man's Best Friend.
Luego está el contenido del disco, un sobrado contrapeso a cualquier interpretación sumisa que se haga de la imagen. ¿Era esta necesaria entonces? Para agitar las redes en tanto salía el disco y luego darle un giro con las canciones sí.
Manchild, tan sobrevalorada, lo apuntalaba. Sabrina sabe escribir letras donde tiene las riendas, y escritas de un modo fresco y directo que envidio. La muestra es el medio tiempo We Almost, tan bonita.
En ninguna composición se arrodillaría para que un tío le jale del cabello (excepto si hay consenso previo). En My man se subraya a sí misma para bien. Esta y la final resumen el largo.
El disco (un estilo de enorme futuro) Tears vuelve a la idea con un video de muerte gratuita y horrores cuirs con un Colman Domingo guapísima, de preguntarle a qué hora es el cruising de los viernes. ¿La canción? Soberbia aunque demasiado preparada para el éxito, algo que se nota tela cuando anuncia el dance break, por ejemplo.
Sabrina es casi todo marketing, al menos en esta era. Y lo digo sin encontrar canción mala, aunque suenan planas Go Go y Don't Worry, y plana la noventas House Tour. En tanto que solo interesante la kyliera When Did. A Nobody's en cambio, da pena que le falte ese gratinao que la haga plato gourmet.
Pese a concentrar lo mejor al inicio, la final Goodbye es fabulosa. Un rico track de querencia country, setentas europeo, de teclado y arreglos de quasicampanitas enormes. ¿El nuevo Please?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV-w3fyWTuM&list=RDuV-w3fyWTuM&start_radio=1
#popazo #music #musica #nowplaying #pop #album #sabrinacarpenter #mansbestfriend #disco #diva #single #singles #sencillo #song #songs #tears #discomusic #manchild

#popazo #music #musica #nowplaying #pop #album
Sky Dancing @[email protected] · 2024-08-26 · 18:51 UTC

“I know they wanted JFK Jr, but RFK Jr is a nice addition to the trump campaign.” John Buss, @repeat1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!
The Trumplican Party continues to devolve. I doubt my father would even recognize it if he were alive. The latest example is the addition of RFK Jr., a conspiracy nut with habits that the word eccentric can’t even begin to describe. This headline from The Wrap, written by Stephanie Kaloi, is something regular folks can’t wrap their head around. “RFK Jr.’s Daughter Says Dad Cut Off a Whale’s Head, Drove It 5 Hours Home. When they would accelerate, “whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet,” Kick Kennedy explained to Town & Country Magazine.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s daughter Kick Kennedy may or may not be spending time with Jennifer Lopez’s estranged husband Ben Affleck (as reported by Page Six), but she certainly spent time with Town & Country Magazine for a profile that has been resurfaced and made waves on social media, in which she shared an anecdote about her father and a dead whale that still checks out with what we know about the odd politician — especially when it comes to his love for dead animals.
When she was 6, her dad chopped off the head of a whale that washed up on Squaw Island in Hyannis Port. Due to RFK Jr.’s love of studying animal skulls and skeletons, they then strapped the dead whale’s head to the car and spent five hours driving it to their home.
“Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet,” Kennedy said. “We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day-to-day stuff for us.”
RFK Jr. made headlines earlier this month when he shared the story of taking a dead bear that he found as roadkill, intent on saving it to eat, before ultimately dumping it in a bizarre prank in New York City’s Central Park. On Friday, the independent candidate dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Donald Trump.
RFK Jr. approached the Harris/Walz campaign, but they didn’t answer his calls. That’s just some American common sense with nothing to do with political savvy. What possible benefit could his addition add to a campaign? But he’s just another (yawn) Maga Sideshow full of weirdos who generally wind up in trouble with the law, one way or another. His J6 “gala” next month will undoubtedly highlight the number of criminals that actually might actually violate his terms of release. Also, Rudy Guilliani will be there. He is definitely on the Trumplican weirdo and felon list. This information popped up on Alternet, and I just had to share it. “Trump’s ‘gala’ honoring ‘courage and sacrifice’ of J6 rioters may violate his terms of release” is written by Carl Gibson and answers my call out to all the parole officers in charge of these folks.
Convicted felon and 45th President of the United States Donald Trump is planning on hosting a gathering of other convicted felons next month. One legal expert is pointing out that the event may frustrate his efforts to remain a free man.
According to NJ.com, the ex-president is hosting a “J6 awards gala” at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club next month. Progressive group MeidasTouch reported that on September 5, Trump will be joined by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and MAGA influencer Anthony Raimondi at the event, where he is expected to personally address participants in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
…
However, if Trump follows through with the gala, it may complicate his own legal situation. According to attorney Tristan Snell – who prosecuted the former president over his sham Trump University while at the New York Attorney General’s office — New York state law would prohibit such an event given the expected guest list.
“Someone should alert Trump’s probation officer — because convicted felons are legally prohibited from associating with other felons,” he tweeted.
While Trump has been convicted by a jury on 34 class E felony counts, he won’t be sentenced until September 18. At that point, assuming the former president isn’t ordered to serve time behind bars (Judge Juan Merchan has the ability to sentence him to as much as 20 years in prison), he will then be issued a probation officer, who he will be required to check in with on a regular basis. This means the September 5 event will be legal, though it likely won’t help his case when he appears before Merchan less than two weeks later.
The former president narrowly dodged the ire of prosecutors at last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade pointed out that some of the convention’s attendees included indicted “fake electors,” and that Trump seen associating with them may have resulted in Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith and/or Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis petitioning the court to incarcerate Trump prior to his trial for consorting with criminal defendants.
DonOld is facing new lawsuits from musicians who don’t want their music to be associated with MAGA craziness. The first to take action was the son of Issa Hayes. This is reported in the Daily Beast by Clay Walker. “Isaac Hayes Estate Marks Victory in Suit Against Trump.” The candidate and the campaign continue to act like laws don’t matter.
The estate of the late soul singer Isaac Hayes is moving forward in their lawsuit against Donald Trump for using a song co-written by the artist. “The Federal Court has granted our request for an Emergency Hearing to secure injunctive relief,” the late singer’s son, Isaac Hayes III, wrote on X Friday. According to Hayes III, Trump himself will have to appear in court in September. The lawsuit was originally filed earlier this month and sought $3 million for the former president’s campaign’s unauthorized use of “Hold On, I’m Coming,” a 1960s song originally performed by duo Sam & Dave, more than 100 times. Prior to the filing, the Trump campaign was asked to discontinue the use of the song, but things came to a head on August 10, the anniversary of the singer’s 2008 death, when Trump used it again at a Montana rally. “Donald Trump represents the worst in integrity and class with his disrespect and sexual abuse of Women and racist rhetoric. We will now deal with this very swiftly,” Hayes III wrote on X.
Next up in court is the band Foo Fighters. This is from The Hill. “Trump campaign disputes Foo Fighters claim song use was unauthorized.” Laura Sforza writes on the Foo Fight.
A spokesperson for the Foo Fighters said in a statement to The Hill late Sunday the band did not give permission to the Trump campaign to use the song at a Friday campaign rally in Arizona. The spokesperson said any royalties the band earns off the song would be donated to Vice President Harris’s campaign.“Foo Fighters were not asked permission, and if they were they would not have granted it,” the spokesperson said.
However, the Trump campaign said it had permission to play the song.
“We have a license to play the song,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said in an email to The Hill.
He also took to the social platform X to dispute the claim.
“It’s Times Like These facts matter, don’t be a Pretender. @foofighters,” he wrote, referring to two other songs by the band.
“My Hero” could be heard playing at Trump’s rally in Glendale on Friday as the former president introduced former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his campaign earlier in the day and threw his support behind Trump.
And there’s more in the Weirdos and Felons news. We have this from the LGBTQ Nation. Seriously, we’ve gone way past the deplorable basket at this point. “MAGA ex-GOP party chair calls gay lawmaker a “f*g” on social media. She called Pete Buttigieg a “weak little girl” in 2022, before she got indicted.” This is written by Alex Bollinger.
A former high-ranking state Republican official who has been indicted in an alleged conspiracy to steal the 2020 election used an anti-gay slur to describe a gay Democratic lawmaker.
Meshawn Maddock used to be the head of the Michigan Republican Party until shortly after she was charged in connection to a scheme to make Michigan’s votes go to Donald Trump in 2020 instead of President Joe Biden, who won the state. Now she is now using slurs on social media.
She was responding to a post on X from Michigan state Rep. Jason Morgan (D), who is an out gay lawmaker and the vice chair of the state’s Democratic Party. Morgan posted a picture of the Michigan congressional delegation at the DNC last Friday, where they were smiling and holding American flags.
“F*gs and hags,” Maddock responded. X responded by reducing the visibility of her post due to a potential violation of the platform’s Hateful Conduct policy. However, the post has not been deleted by the platform.
Stay Classy you god-fearing Christians you! I have to agree with this Op-Ed headline at The Hill. “The right’s killjoy politics only fuel Harris’s momentum.” It’s written by Svante Myrick.
It’s been a couple of days since I flew home after attending the Democratic National Convention. And at the risk of sounding corny, I think I could have done it without the plane. To attend that convention was to experience a sense of joy so powerful that it made you feel like you had wings.
My organization, People for the American Way, was very excited to bring to the convention posters designed especially for us by the artist Victoria Cassinova, which we felt represented the pride and hopefulness of this campaign.
The posters featured a portrait of Harris with the single word: “Freedom.”
We had fun posting them all over the city. We were thrilled to see lots of residents and convention-goers admiring them and taking pictures and selfies. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) shared hers on Instagram.
Then, on the third night of the convention, something sad happened. A group calling itself Artists for Kennedy and Trump defaced a wall of these Harris portraits.
Capturing themselves on video, the vandals spray-painted crimson streaks across the images, focusing on the portrait’s face and eyes. They used words like “war” to describe what they were doing.
It was an ugly but galvanizing reminder of what we’re up against in this race.
I — we — have had enough of creepy authoritarians trying to censor art, ban books and steal our joy.
Because while art does give joy, it also gives strength. It has always been a tool to challenge injustice and enforced conformity, to resist oppression and authoritarianism. That’s why dictators down through history have suppressed and banned art and even murdered artists.
It’s why artists and creators face an enormous threat today, not just from vandals roaming the streets of Chicago but from the deadly serious, powerful operatives behind Project 2025, who are intent on stigmatizing and suppressing vast numbers of artworks by calling them “pornography.”
I remember being shocked and stunned by Trump stalking Hillary on the debate stage and the lack of response to it by the debate’s moderators. Now I think we know exactly how low they go, and as far as I can tell, there is no bottom. If they stage an insurrection and try to nullify votes, they’ll do anything, and we should all be prepared. So, the Harris/DonOld debate with ABC is now in jeopardy. I bet we all had this on our bingo card. This is from Marianne Levine, who is writing for the Washington Post. “Trump suggests he might skip ABC debate with Harris. The Sept. 10 debate with ABC is the only one both campaigns have agreed to.”
Former president Donald Trump suggested Sunday evening that he might skip a Sept. 10 ABC News debate with Vice President Kamala Harris (D), after agreeing earlier this month to participate.
“I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carl’s (K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” Trump asked in a social media post Sunday evening.
During a campaign stop Monday after visiting Arlington National Cemetery, Trump reiterated his criticism of ABC News, calling it “the single worst network for unfairness” and saying that ABC “really should be shut out.”
The Sept. 10 debate is the only one that both campaigns have officially committed to. Trump’s renewed questioning of the ABC News debate comes as Harris has increased her lead in national polls and is gaining ground in key swing states. As of Sunday, The Washington Post polling average has the vice president leading in Wisconsin by three percentage points, in Pennsylvania by two points and in Michigan by less than one point. Trump continues to lead in four Sun Belt swing states, but Harris has significantly narrowed the gap.
The latest rift between the campaigns is about the terms and conditions about how the debate would work. Brian Fallon, the Harris campaign’s senior adviser for communications, said in a statement that the campaign has told ABC and other networks that “both candidates’ microphones should be live throughout the full broadcast.”
“Our understanding is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own,” Fallon said.
When asked by a reporter Monday about whether he wanted his microphone muted, Trump replied, “Doesn’t matter to me, I’d rather have it probably on.”
Jason Miller, senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said the campaign agreed to the “the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate,” referring to a June 27 debate between Trump and President Joe Biden, before Biden ended his reelection campaign.
Oh, I officially quit the New York Times a while ago. I would like to say that seeing the headline on a guest’s op-ed today reinforced my excellent decision. Here’s a brief statement: I agree with her. I can’t say
more because I refuse to read it. Rich Lowry can bite his crank for writing “Trump Can Win on Character.” RIFF NYT. Rest in Fuckery and Failure.
Now, back to the normal news. This is from Salon’s Charles R. Davis. As the Vice President said, she’s been a prosecutor and knows his type. “”He’s now terrified of debating her”: Trump’s debate flip-flop is a sign Harris has him figured out. The former president suggested Sunday that he would not attend his scheduled Sept. 10 debate with Kamala Harris.”
Donald Trump is not feeling great. This year alone he’s been found liable by a jury for sexual assault, convicted by another jury on 34 felony counts of fraud, and shot at by a young registered Republican at a campaign rally, the one previously safe space where the president could comfortably rant and complain to certain applause. Then he had to spend a week at home watching Democrats pull off their convention without a hitch, just a month after an unprecedented switch at the top of the ticket.
The former president’s own campaign is publicly predicting that Vice President Kamala Harris will now surge in the polls (after already leading, nationally, by an average of about 3.6%). In a similar situation, the current president and his team decided it was time to debate, saying a televised contest would “reset” the race; the subsequent performance cost Joe Biden the Democratic nomination.
Perhaps that’s why Trump himself is doubting his own commitments.
“Why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” Trump posted on social media Sunday night, complaining about an ABC News interview with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and panel discussion earlier that day, saying the former was “biased” and the latter full of “Trump Haters.” The Republican nominee filled the rest of his post with tedious name calling — “Crooked,” “Marxist” — and attacks on the insufficiently fawning journalists of ABC.
“They’ve got a lot o questions to answer!!!” Trump posted just after 10 p.m. Eastern. “Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!!”
The former president already agreed to debate Harris on Sept. 10, which was originally slated to be the second of two televised confrontations with Biden. He did so after previously trying to pull out of the event when Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee, initially claiming the debate was off because Biden was out of the race and then trying to move it to the friendlier waters of Fox News, a media platform that was forced to pay out $787 million after admitting that it cynically aired what its knew to be MAGA lies about the 2020 election.
This last read is from the New Republic‘s Michael Tomasky. “Finally, the Democrats Have Found Trump’s Achilles’ Heel: Ridicule Him. Kamala Harris gets it. Yes, we should fear Trump—but we should also mock him mercilessly because it drives him nuts.”
Donald Trump is in free fall. Read this description from Sunday’s Washington Post of how the GOP nominee spent last week: “[A]ides did not want a situation where he was watching the convention every night, getting angry, and then just golfing all day and stewing, according to people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private interactions. Trump also had grown annoyed with the news coverage that depicted him as not working as hard as his opponent, one person who talked to him said.”
If you didn’t know that the article was about Trump and you just read it cold without knowledge of the context, you might think it was a description of parents trying to figure out how to handle an ungovernable four-year-old. So they convinced Trump to get out of Bedminster and hit the road, trading suck-ups with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In the past, Trump has called Kennedy the “dumbest member” of the Kennedy family and a “radical left lunatic.” Kennedy has called Trump a “terrible human being” and “probably a sociopath.”
Will RFK’s endorsement get Trump a few votes? It might. But these two unprincipled freakos deserve each other, and if it ever looks like RFK might matter, all Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have to do is say something like that.
Harris’s campaign so far has been a work of genius on several levels, but maybe the most ingenious stroke of all has been the decision to mock Trump—to present him not only as someone to fear but also to ridicule. Harris perfectly encapsulated this two-pronged attack in these memorable lines from her acceptance speech: “In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences—but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.… Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.”
But the emphasis has been on ridicule (Tim Walz’s “weird” comment, Maryland Governor Wes Moore’s jab at Trump’s bone spurs, Barack Obama’s hilarious hand gesture when he was talking about Trump’s obsession with crowd size). It’s great on three levels. The first is that it must drive Trump nuts, and when he goes nuts, he says especially nutty things. Second, it’s arguably more persuasive to swing voters than calling Trump a fascist. Trump is a fascist, make no mistake. But he’s also ridiculous. Mocking him over his Hannibal Lecter obsession will stick in apolitical people’s minds far more strongly than warning about his plans to wreck the Justice Department, and in its way, it’s just as disqualifying. Do we really want a president who thinks an eater of human flesh, however fictional, was misunderstood?
And third and most of all: Sustained ridicule has the potential to reinforce the downward spiral Trump is now in. He probably likes it when we call him a fascist or authoritarian, because it expresses fear of him, and he aches to be feared. It acknowledges his power. This motivates him and makes him stronger.
Ridicule makes him weaker. Ridicule makes him small. Ridicule makes him desperate. He’ll try to respond with ridicule of his own, but he is not a clever man. He’s a stupid man. He has no wit. He has no sense of mischief. He doesn’t read. He doesn’t think beyond first reactions. These nicknames of his, which the press has made such a big deal of over the years—they’re nothing. They’re dick contests put into words. Little Marco, Sleepy Joe. There’s nothing remotely clever about any of them.
And now he reportedly thinks he’s come up with a great one in “Communist Kamala.” Well, it’s alliterative, I’ll give him that. But I doubt very much that it’ll play beyond the base. First of all, people under 40 barely know what a communist was. Even for older people who do know, is communism the specter it once was?
Brilliant! When he goes low, we make fun of him and call him weird. He becomes lethargic and fussy. He says weird things and makes weird decisions. That’s a daily event in Day Cares everywhere and evidently in not-so-posh Jersey Golf Clubs with Galas for Criminals. This is getting fun.
Embrace the JOY!!!!
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

https://skydancingblog.com/2024/08/26/mostly-monday-reads-the-weirdo-trifecta/
#2024ABCPresidentialDebate #2024PresidentialCampaign #Repeat1968 #DonOldWeirdo #J6FelonsGala #JDVanceWeirdo #JohnBuss #KamalaHarrisForThePeople #RFKJrWeirdo

#2024abcpresidentialdebate #2024presidentialcampaign #repeat1968 #donoldweirdo #j6felonsgala #jdvanceweirdo
Sky Dancing @[email protected] · 2024-07-05 · 17:23 UTC

Friday Reads: Twilight’s Last Gleaming

““No Mortal Man is Above the Law,” sayeth the Supremes. Enjoy your Independence Day; if the Conflicted Convicted Felon is elected, it’ll be our last.” John Buss, Repeat 1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!
Independence Day has always been my favorite holiday, and it’s my youngest daughter’s too. When we lived in the Quarter, we would always walk our 2 blonde labs to the Mississippi River Bank and watch the left and east bank boats launch a huge fireworks display. Down here in the Bywater, it’s still the same short walk to the riverbank, but the Poland Avenue Wharf or the newest Crescent Park are the favorite places to go. Cars always turn to our local NPR station for patriotic music and blast it loud. You can tell when it’s time for the display because all the bars and houses empty into the streets and head south to the banks of the Mississippi River. I have always wondered what past celebrations were like, but that’s a rabbit hole for another day.
I spent the pre-show hours with friends listening to his industrial band livestream their efforts while sitting in their driveway patio. It seemed like a normal fourth. While everyone headed to the river, I headed home to Temple to let her dig a burrow under me to hide from the noise. No displays for me in the last 10 years. Just time at home in bed comforting Temple. The weird thing this year was the fireworks didn’t seem to bother her, and she spent most of the time spooning me. Maybe she sensed that my fear was far greater than hers today. It’s a thought.

Twilight’s last gleaming from last night at my neighbor’s driveway patio.

The swiftboating of the democratic candidate season has begun. My friend who owns the bar on the corner told me she’s hearing from others besides me who are looking for places to become expats. Given the Le Pen elections, I’m researching the south of France right now, although they may soon have their counter-revolution. Russia is happy about that one. I’m sure they have high hopes for us.
If you haven’t seen this little speech, you really should. “Leader of the pro-Trump Project 2025 suggests there will be a new American Revolution. Kevin Roberts said the revolution will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.” This is from the AP but sourced at Politico.
The leader of a conservative think tank orchestrating plans for a massive overhaul of the federal government in the event of a Republican presidential win said that the country is in the midst of a “second American Revolution” that will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.”
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts made the comments Tuesday on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, adding that Republicans are “in the process of taking this country back.”
Democrats are “apoplectic right now” because the right is winning, Roberts told former U.S. Rep. Dave Brat, one of the podcast’s guest hosts as Bannon is serving a four-month prison term. “And so I come full circle on this response and just want to encourage you with some substance that we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”
Roberts’ remarks shed light on how a group that promises to have significant influence over a possible second term for former President Donald Trump is thinking about this moment in American politics. The Heritage Foundation is spearheading Project 2025, a sweeping road map for a new GOP administration that includes plans for dismantling aspects of the federal government and ousting thousands of civil servants in favor of Trump loyalists who will carry out a hard-right agenda without complaint.
His call for revolution and vague reference to violence also unnerved some Democrats who interpreted it as threatening.
“This is chilling,” former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson wrote on the social platform X. “Their idea of a second American Revolution is to undo the first one.”
James Singer, a spokesperson for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, pointed to this week’s Fourth of July holiday in an emailed statement.
“248 years ago tomorrow America declared independence from a tyrannical king, and now Donald Trump and his allies want to make him one at our expense,” Singer said, adding that Trump and his allies are ”dreaming of a violent revolution to destroy the very idea of America.”
Roberts, whose name Bannon recently floated to The New York Times as a potential chief of staff option for Trump, also said on the podcast that Republicans should be encouraged by the Supreme Court’s recent immunity ruling.
Bannon is in jail right now, serving time for contempt of Congress. The New Republic‘s Parker Malloy has a good point here. “Why Does the Media Insist on Helping Steve Bannon Act the Martyr? NBC and ABC snagged pre-prison interviews with the far-right globalist. But to what end? They became tools in his propaganda machine.” The press just falls right in line by normalizing this behavior.
NBC News’s Vaughn Hillyard and ABC News’s Jonathan Karl recently made a journalistic misstep by interviewing Steve Bannon right before he reported to prison. This move, which might seem innocuous at first glance, actually elevates Bannon’s “political prisoner” narrative, a misleading storyline that does little but bolster the War Room host’s victim complex.
By interviewing Bannon just before he heads to prison, both NBC and ABC are essentially giving him a platform to paint himself as a martyr.
It allows Bannon to control the narrative. This plays directly into the hands of Bannon and his supporters, who are eager to cast any legal action against them as part of a broader conspiracy to silence dissent. It’s a classic tactic: position yourself as a victim to garner sympathy and rally support.
But Bannon is not going to prison for his political beliefs or his support for Donald Trump. He’s going to prison because he defied a congressional subpoena. By allowing Bannon to put some focus on his claims of political persecution, these interviews shift attention away from his actual misconduct and the legal consequences of that misconduct. This undermines the rule of law and gives credence to the idea that powerful individuals can evade accountability by crying foul.
Beyond that, it normalizes extremist rhetoric. In his interview with Karl, Bannon doubled down on his inflammatory language, discussing “retribution” and the need for investigations and potential imprisonments of political figures. Bannon listed former FBI Director James Comey, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and former Attorney General Bill Barr as people who should be “very worried” about prosecution under a second Trump administration. Bannon defended his use of the slogan “Victory or Death!” at the recent Turning Point Action convention and rolled his eyes at Karl for even asking him about his 2020 comments about beheading Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Also, from TNR is this headline about the black man running for governor on the insanity platform. “MAGA Gov Candidate’s Ugly, Hateful Rant: “Some Folks Need Killing!” Mark Robinson, the GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, has a long history of incendiary comments. But he may have topped himself this time.”
Mark Robinson, the extremist GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, appeared to endorse political violence in a bizarre and extended rant he delivered on June 30 in a small-town church.
“Some folks need killing!” Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor, shouted during a roughly half-hour-long speech in Lake Church in the tiny town of White Lake, in the southeast corner of the state. “It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity!”

Robinson’s call for the “killing” of “some folks” came during an extended diatribe in which he attacked an extraordinary assortment of enemies. These ranged from “people who have evil intent” to “wicked people” to those doing things like “torturing and murdering and raping” to socialists and Communists. He also invoked those supposedly undermining America’s founding ideals and leftists allegedly persecuting conservatives by canceling them and doxxing them online.
In all this, Robinson appeared to endorse lethal violence against these unnamed enemies, particularly on the left, though he wasn’t exactly clear on which “folks” are the ones who “need killing.”
Robinson, a self-described “MAGA Republican,” has a long history of wildly radical and unhinged moments. He has linked homosexuality to pedophilia, called for the arrest of trans women, pushed hallucinogenic antisemitic conspiracy theories, endorsed the vile “birther” conspiracy about Barack Obama, described Michelle Obama as a man, hinted at the need to violently oppose federal law enforcement and the government, and posted memes mocking and denying the brutal, violent assault on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, among many other things.

My belief is he said the quiet part out loud. My governor isn’t calling for the death penalty for anyone who doesn’t fit the White Christian Nationalist mold or stays quiet, afraid, and hidden, but I do believe he’d do it if any other MAGA governor started the trend. As JJ says, fear for people you love. As to the swiftboating of Biden for a cold, let’s show you this oldie but goodie of just a smidgen of the swiftboating of Hillary. “Remember when Hillary Clinton had pneumonia and showed up anyway at a 9/11 memorial & media ripped her for that?” (via @joannebamberg with Karolic Kuns and me in the amen corner.)
Even New York Magazine is in on it. “The Conspiracy of Silence to Protect Joe Biden. The president’s mental decline was like a dark family secret for many elite supporters.” Biden, meanwhile, is on a prove-them all full of a shit tour of duty. Here’s another ‘nattering nabob of negatism’ NBC News. (With no apologies to rotten apple dead Spiro Agnew.)
President Joe Biden will hold a rally Friday in Wisconsin and then sit for his first televised interview since his disastrous debate performance last week, events could be crucial in determining whether he can salvage his embattled candidacy.
The interview with anchor George Stephanopoulos of ABC News is shaping up to be one of the most high-stakes moments for a president or a candidate in many years. Democratic elected officials, donors and voters will be closely watching to see whether he can still deliver in an adversarial setting and turn in a performance worthy of being the party’s nominee to defeat Donald Trump this fall.
The interview will “air in its entirety as a primetime special” at 8 p.m. ET Friday, ABC s aid, adding that a “transcript of the unedited interview will be made available the same day.”
Before that, Biden is expected to speak this afternoon at a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin. At the rally, Biden will “underscore the stakes of this election for our democracy, our rights and freedoms, and our economy,” a campaign official said. Also speaking will be Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, and Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., among others.
The White House said the interview team from ABC “will be with us all day in Wisconsin” and able to cover the rally event and to observe the president as he participates in his schedule, and said it has “some flexibility” around the length of the sit-down but “no exact estimate” of the duration of the conversation.
Read the next paragraph, which I will not print here, and try not to bang your head against your desk, wall, or coffee table. Law Professor Richard W. Painter is floating a Constitutional Amendment on X.
Const. Amend. 28: “The President and the judges of the United States courts including the Supreme Court, shall be bound by the criminal laws of the United States and also by financial disclosure and conflict of interest laws enacted by Congress.” So who votes against?
If you want a real shock, go see The Economist Cover Picture today with the heading “No way to Run a Country.” The attached story is “Biden Must Withdraw.” This is from a country where the General Election just kicked the Conservative PM (a hedge fund manager) and replaced him with a Human Rights Lawyer and member of the Labour Party. Fourteen years of Conservative Rule has just been tossed for something different. Of course, CNN has joined the swiftboating effort. This is from Dr. Sanjay Gupta at CNN. “It’s time for President Biden to undergo detailed cognitive and neurological testing and share his results.”
So, I have to share this one from the New York Times even though I’m about to cancel my subscription. “Biden Tells Governors He Needs More Sleep and Less Work at Night. The president’s opening remark to a group of key Democratic leaders — that he was in the race to stay — chilled any talk of his withdrawal, participants said.” The usual suspects, Reid J. Epstein and Maggie Haberman, reported it.
President Biden told a gathering of Democratic governors that he needs to get more sleep and work fewer hours, including curtailing events after 8 p.m., according to two people who participated in the meeting and several others briefed on his comments.
The remarks on Wednesday were a stark acknowledgment of fatigue from the 81-year-old president during a meeting intended to reassure more than two dozen of his most important supporters that he is still in command of his job and capable of mounting a robust campaign against former President Donald J. Trump.
Mr. Biden’s comments about needing more rest came shortly after The New York Times reported that current and former officials have noticed that the president’s lapses over the past few months have become more frequent and more pronounced.
But Mr. Biden told the governors, some of whom were at the White House while others participated virtually, that he was staying in the race.
He described his extensive foreign travel in the weeks before the debate, something that the White House and his allies have in recent days cited as the reason for his halting performance during the debate. Initially, Mr. Biden’s campaign blamed a cold, putting out word about midway through the debate amid a series of social media posts questioning why Mr. Biden was struggling.
Mr. Biden said that he told his staff he needed to get more sleep, multiple people familiar with what took place in the meeting said. He repeatedly referenced pushing too hard and not listening to his team about his schedule, and said he needed to work fewer hours and avoid events scheduled after 8 p.m., according to one of the people familiar with what took place at the meeting.
After Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii, a physician, asked Mr. Biden questions about the status of his health, Mr. Biden replied that his health was fine. “It’s just my brain,” he added, according to three people familiar with what took place — a remark that some in the room took as a joke, including Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, according to a person close to her. But at least one governor did not, and was puzzled by it.
Jen O’Malley Dillon, Mr. Biden’s campaign chair, who attended the meeting, said in a statement that he had said, “All kidding aside,” a recollection confirmed by another person briefed on the meeting. Ms. O’Malley Dillon added: “He was clearly making a joke.”
So, I fully admit to being depressed and worried. I know that BB stopped her NYT subscription. I hope John Buss doesn’t mind. I shared this bit he posted to his FaceBook about canceling his. I seriously worry about him in North Carolina, too. None of us in the old Confederate States are safe right now.
This is from a poll taken in April and reported by the AP on May 1. “Half of US adults mistrust media coverage of 2024 elections, a poll finds. About half of Americans say they are extremely or very concerned that news organizations will report inaccuracies or misinformation during the election. According to a poll, 42% express worry that news outlets will use generative artificial intelligence to create stories. (AP Video: Serkan Gurbuz)”
I think it’s likely that if they redid that this month, they’d find a statistically significant increase in the number of people saying that. However, I admit that I live in the Southern City that promptly surrendered when Captain David Farragut of the Union Navy bombed two forts and arrived at the port. We are a haven for the GLBT community. We also have a strong Jewish presence and are well known for being a place of refuge for many diasporas. Our new governor hates us and wants to take away our city charter, which is the legal means by which we don’t become the rest of the state. You have to wonder how many cities like ours will come under direct attack if MAGA either gets its way or doesn’t.
The only way out of this is to VOTE and get everyone you know to VOTE because our lives depend on it.
I really hope you got to enjoy a little celebration on Independence Day. I’m still on board with ensuring liberty and justice for all. I am also standing by the Biden/Harris ticket. Again, you realize that I have had a lot of gripes in the past about Biden and what happened to Anita Hill. It is somewhat karmic that what is going on now is somewhat built in by the bad decision he, Teddy Kennedy, and John Kerry made about Clarence Thomas. Forty-eight percent of the Senate was against his confirmation. He should’ve been Borked. That, unfortunately, is toxic water under the bridge of democracy, but we have what we have now, and it is what it is. Remember the words of Benjamin Franklin and fight for it. The Roberts Supreme Court just took down the republic.
“A republic, if you can keep it.”
–Benjamin Franklin’s response to Elizabeth Willing Powel’s question: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

I’m sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can’t stand the scene
And I’m neither left or right
I’m just staying home tonight
Getting lost in that hopeless little screen
But I’m stubborn as those garbage bags
That time cannot decay
I’m junk but I’m still holding up
This little wild bouquet
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A
#Repeat1968 #aRepublicIfYouCanKeepIt #CoupAttempt #democracy #IndependenceDay #insurrection #JohnBuss #LeonardCohen #MediaAndSwiftboating #Project2025 #Swiftboating

#repeat1968 #arepublicifyoucankeepit #coupattempt #democracy #independenceday #insurrection
Andy Arthur - Threadinburgh @[email protected] · 2023-12-11 · 15:02 UTC

South Bridge Public School; the thread about the ups, downs and uncertain future of an inner-city educational establishment

It was in the news this weekend that there is the potential forced loss of accommodation for long-sitting community groups and public services from Edinburgh’s South Bridge Resource Centre to make way for a new multi-million pound home for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society means that it’s a good time for a thread on the history of what is the former South Bridge Public School itself. This gives us a useful case study of 150 years of inner city social and economic change in the city’s Old Town.
Scotsman, 9th December 2023.
South Bridge Public School was opened by Edinburgh School Board on 2nd November 1886, with the Right Hon. Arthur J. Balfour, then the Secretary of State for Scotland, formally cutting the ribbon. It was designed by the Board’s architect, Robert Wilson, in the Collegiate Gothic style then favoured and cost £7,942 to build, with the total cost of the project including land purchase, staffing etc. being £14,500, which was borrowed from the Scotch Education Department. It had an opening roll of 1,170 children (although not all attended at once); at this time the ESB was falling over itself at this time to build schools to meet the demands of the 1872 act which made Education in Scotland compulsory (but not free!) and a booming inner-city population. It was the first Board school to consist solely of classrooms; prior to this a mixture of school rooms and class rooms had been employed, with various innovative systems of partitions to subdivide spaces as required into smaller teaching spaces. Three infant rooms on the ground floor which could be opened together with partitions, with older children on the first floor.
South Bridge Public School, very much in the collegiate gothic style of the 1870s, but with a modern arrangement of rooms (for 1885) inside
The Head master was Mr Paterson, who transferred from North Canongate School, the head mistress being Miss Brander (also of that establishment), the first assistant Mr Johnston (Canongate too) and the singing-master, Mr Sneddon. The Board also provided evening classes here under Mr Robert Williamson MA, for those seeking personal advancement but also children who could not attend during the day as they were working. As well as a core curriculum, subjects such as shorthand, drawing, bookkeeping etc. were offered to “young men and lads“. Education at this time was segregated (with separate boys and girls classes, playgrounds and school entrances. If you’ve ever been in one of these old Board schools, you’ll know that there’s a curious double arrangement of internal stairs – this was to keep boys and girls separated when moving around the school). Women and girls were offered similar evening classes at this time at Bruntsfield and Torphicen Street schools, and could also take dressmaking, fancy and plain needlework and cookery.
As well as keeping boys and girls apart, the architect struggled to accommodate such a large school on a confined site. This had been bought by the ESB off of the Town Council from the site of the town’s Fever Hospital, which was the original Royal Infirmary building and as well as being constrained by space it was north facing (poor for natural lighting) and hemmed in on all sides which was poor for ventilation.
Comparison (drag the slider) of the 1876 and 1893 OS Town Plans of Edinburgh showing the location of South Bridge School and Infirmaty Street Baths.Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland
The school was co-located with the Infirmary Street Public Baths, built at the same time, which were the first such public facility in the city (and the only Victorian public bath in Edinburgh not to survive – its empty shell was later re-purposed as the Dovecot Studios). When the school opened, it was ESB‘s first organised purely on the classroom basis. Prior to this, they had used the schoolroom layout, with a small number of large teaching rooms and classes (more like lecture theatres) overseen by a single teacher with help from assistant teachers and “pupil assistants” drawn from the most able of the older students, with smaller rooms off this large space for separated tuition. But just to be sure, the partitions between the classrooms at South Bridge were sliding to allow the spaces to be combined together for this more traditional style of education.
The school was built to relieve overcrowding at the new Bristo (Marshall Street), St. Leonards (Forbes Street) and Causewayside public schools. Milton House and Castlehill schools would also be built in the Old Town in the next decade, allowing most of the older, smaller Heriot Trust schools that the Board had inherited to be closed and sold off. An exception was Davie Street which served the Pleasance district that was retained and expanded as a Board school.
Former Davie Street School, in the distinctive Jacobean style favoured by the Heriot Trust.
The first Headmaster at South Bridge was Mr Paterson, who transferred from North Canongate school, the headmistress Miss Brander (also of that establishment), the first assistant Mr Johnston (Canongate too) and the singing-master, Mr Sneddon (not from Canongate). The school could not keep up with demand and was enlarged in 1892. In 1905-6 an entirely new school was built next door on Drummond Street. for the infant department, with junior schooling staying at South Bridge. The Board’s architect, John Carfrae, used a Renaissance style as favoured in London and exploited the difference in height between Drummond Street and Infirmary Street to make ita full 3 storeys, for reasons of economy.
The close proximity of South Bridge (left) and Drummond Street (right) schools and Infirmary Street Baths between them (now the Dovecot Studios).
In 1907, James Buchanan Tait – aged 13 – received a medal and award for 8 years of perfect attendance at the shool. His older brother William had made it to 9½ years previously and had also received a medal. His sister Marion (11), Robert (9), Christian (7) and Sophia (6) also had perfect attendance at this time. In 1913, his mother recoeved a gold brooch from Dr Shoolbread of the School Board in honour of her eight children’s 60 years total perfect attendance (regarded by the Edinburgh Evening News as a world record). They had also set perfect attendance record at Sunday School and the Good Templar Juvenile lodge. For this, educational publisher George Newnes & Sons of London had presented the family with a crystal clock.
James Buchanan Tait.
The need for education continued to grow in the Old Town and Southside, peaking around 1911 when there were 13 primary schools in the district with a total roll of around 10,000 children (for context, now there are 2 – Royal Mile and Preston Street with a combined roll of 430).
The children of South Bridge came from poor households but were generous. In 1915, they gave concerts raising £27 to sponsor 2 hospital beds in Rouen in France. In 1930 they contributed £20 to the construction of the Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion at the Royal Infirmary. In 1943 they contributed £410 for a Wings for Victory wartime savings drive (for reference, a production Spitfire aircraft cost between £9-9,500 at this time). When headmaster Robert H. Tait (no relation to the children with perfect attendance) retired in 1932 after 10 years in charge (and 43 in total teaching), his pupils bought him a walnut writing bureau!. (The teachers presented him with an armchair and the cleaners a smoker’s cabinet).
The retiral of Robert H. Tait in the school playground, 1932
At this time, the combined South Bridge / Drummond Street school was the largest primary school in the city, with 1,271 children on the roll and an annual budget of £12,850. The infant head mistress Catherine M. Watson retired in 1936 after 40 years service, 35 at South Bridge / Drummond Street; Miss Margaret Bliss from Leith Links school replaced her. Tait was replaced by William J. S. Little, vice president of the EIS education union in Scotland. He oversaw the institution of a “Continuation School” at South Bridge, where children leaving Primary education but not destined for Secondary or Higher education could take up classes to prepare them for whatever their futures held.
School leavers at South Bridge School, 1933.
The school celebrated its 50 year jubilee in 1938, the school installed a wireless set to mark the occasion and collected £20 towards the cost of buying a cinema projector. Headmaster Little was very aware of the socio-economic circumstances faced by the pupils at his school and how they impacted their education and life outcomes. He raised this the Justice of the Peace Court in 1938 when it was discussing the approaches to dealing with delinquency. During WW2, the socio-economic conditions faced by pupils became very apparent. In response a welfare committee – the South Bridge School Care Committee – was established in 1941 by Miss Handasyde of the Edinburgh University Settlement. This was modeled on successful schemes in London to look after problems faced by children in the district such as absenteeism, delinquency and nutrition. It is what we might now call a multi-agency partnership, with education, medical and public health professionals working together in an attempt to take the place of the dreaded Attendance Officers.
August 1939, issuing and fitting gas masks to children at South Bridge Primary School.
After the war, despite not having a pitch (or any grass at all!) of their own, the South Bridge School team won the 1949-50 School Board Trophy. Tommy Millar, front right, would go on to played 209 caps at fullback for Dundee United. His brother Jimmy (not shown) scored 91 goals in 197 games for Rangers. Another famous former pupil is the ballet dancer Roddie Patrizio (b. 1969).
1949-50 South Bridge School football team. Back row L-R, Ian Irvine, Davie Williamson, Jimmy Higgins, Alan Mcleod, Bill Robertson, Billy Budge, Ian Christie. Middle row L-R Franny Ferguson, George Brett, Alan Gay, Ernie Lee, Billy Thomson. Front Row L-R Willie Gleming, Tommy Millar (later Dundee United fullback). Teachers L-R are Mr Alexander, Mr Munro, Mr Ross, Mr Stewart.
But the world was changing fast in the Old Town at this time (indeed, it had been since the first big wave of 1920s slum clearances, which had seen five Board primary schools close as they were no longer neccessary, see the table at the bottom of the page for details). In 1951 it was the turn of Castle Hill Primary School to close, becoming a central school of catering and bakery. Most of its pupils displaced to South Bridge, where depopulation already meant that there was surplus capacity there to completely accommodate the roll of the closing school.
Castle Hill Public School, also by Robert Wilson.
In 1952, South Bridge school took part in the first ever Fulbright Scholarship teacher exchange. Elementary school teacher Retta W. Dillon from Noyes, Washington DC, swapped places with Miss Margaret Brownlee from South Bridge. An unusual evening class began to be offered in 1954, when the Edinburgh and District Referees Association opened a school of refereeing!
The school was modernised in 1959 to keep it open – new regulations about toilets meant they now could no longer be outside and all had to be flushing and have hot water for hand washing. This saw some other city schools closed or rebuilt at the time, e.g. Fort Street in Leith. But not even new toilets could stop the forces of urban demographic change. as the inner city continued to be forcably cleared. When South Bridge’s headmaster retired in 1961 he lamented the loss of the “personal touch” of such schools, as communities were dispersed out to the new housing schemes at The Inch and Gracemount. South Bridge, he said, had a reputation as “the Friendly School“.
Clearance at Dumbiedykes in 1959. Within a few years, everything in this photo would be gone. Photo by Adam H. Malcolm, © Edinburgh City Libraries
By 1970 the Drummond Street building was surplus to requirements, so St. Patricks RC school was moved there from St. John’s Hill to allow that district to be cleared. It would close itself just 11 years later (see table at bottom of the page for details).
Drummond Street Infant School, heavily London-influenced inside and out. Even the crowsteps on the gables don’t look Scottish.
During the 1970s, South Bridge School found a new lease of life in the summers when it began to increasingly be used for staging productions at the Festival Fringe – pertinent to the current discussion around its future. When Head Teacher May Beattie left what was now called South Bridge Primary to move to Stockbridge Primary in December 1982, the writing was already on the wall. Not just for her former school, but all of the city’s three remaining Old Town and Southside schools – Lothian Regional Council wanted to shut the lot. Inner city depopulation had proceeded faster than council projections and each school by this point was down to just three composite classes, with fewer than 500 children in schools built with a capacity of over 3,000.
The council’s favoured plan was to shut South Bridge, Milton House and Preston Street and open a “new” school in the old James Clark Technical School (“Jimmy’s“) at St. Leonard’s Hill, saving £80,000 a year. An alternatice scheme offering a lesser reduction of £64,000 could be achieved by merging South Bridge and Milton House and disposing of the James Clark building. This was favoured by the Council’s Labour group and a particularly vociferous campaign against the closure of Preston Street from the parents at that school. It had been intended to close Milton House and move pupils there to South Bridge, but it was recognised that the former school was better located to serve the main centre of population at Dumbiedykes and had a more favourable site in general, so the opposite happened. Statutory notices to this effect were published in November 1982.
November 1982, Statutory Notice announcing Lothian Regional Council’s intent to merge South Bridge and Milton House Schools
And so it was that South Bridge Primary School closed in 1983 and its pupils moved to Milton House on the Canongate. Also a school by Wilson, it was in a red sandstone Scottish Baronial Revival style. The combined new school was renamed to Royal Mile Primary School.
Milton House Public School, now Royal Mile Primary, by Robert Wilson
The last day at Infirmary Street came in May 1983. Pupil Murray Ramsay ceremonially rang the school’s hand bell for the last time. Six year old Sally Atta was overcome at the occasion and had to be comforted by Headteacher Mrs Sturgeon.
Last day at South Bridge Primary School, resale samples from National World
But while it closed as a school, that was not the end of education at South Bridge – Lothian Regional Council reopened it as the South Bridge Resource Centre to serve various outreach services, adult education, youth groups and more. The Old Town Oral History and Old Town Community Development projects moved in, as did the Canongate Youth Project, which has been there since 1984 and is the primary occupant of the building. Various other community and educational projects have come and gone, but the City of Edinburgh Council’s Adult education service are still run from here.
Amendments were put forward by the council’s Green group (and I believe, approved) to make any such changes contingent on first securing the position of the sitting organisations, but news this last week suggests this has not happened (see first paragraph!) But one thing certainly has a precedent – once such buildings are lost from community and education use, they don’t go back to it. The table below shows the fate of all the Old Town and South Side schools since 1911. You can make up your own mind whether or not you think agreeing to such handovers behind closed doors before publicly consulting on the future of resident organisations and coming up with a plan or any money to facilitate that is the right way to do things.
SchoolRoll (1911)Closure as Primary SchoolFate of building after closurePreston Street863––St Leonard’s (Forbes Street)10421932Became James Clark School annexe. Demolished after 1972 closure of latterDavie Street6451918Became James Clark School annexe then Theatre Arts Centre, then converted to flatsBristo (Marshall Street)7921934Became Technical School, then part of Heriot Watt College. Later demolishedCausewaysidec. 7201940Became St. Columba’s R.C. 1925, later School Meals Centre, demolished 1965Drummond Street7001981Became St. Patrick’s R.C. 1970. Converted to flats after 1981South Bridge9491983Education / community useSt. Patrick’s R.C. for boys² (St. John’s Hill)4551970DemolishedSt. Ann’s R.C. for girls² (Cowgate)9091956Education / community useCastlehill700*1951Became Central School Of Bakery and Catering, closed 1970. Later Scotch Whisky CentreMilton House (renamed Royal Mile, 1983)1100*––North Canongate (Infants, Cranston Street)700*1938DemolishedNew Street (Juniors, New Street)730*1938“Venchy” community use, now Brewdog HotelMoray House Demonstration School4791968Thomson’s Land, Part of Moray House School of Education* = these are capacities, rather than actual rolls.
² = note that at this time, Roman Catholic schools were not part of the School Board system
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