#columbia | ruler

[sethshead]

When you actually listen to the student protestors' vision, you find that it is substantively identical to that of the even more radical, violent protestors outside. To define Ashkenazim as inherently the oppressors of brown people is both bigoted and historically ignorant. To call Zionists "Babylon swine" is a slur against all Jews. To permit Jews into your encampment and allow them to celebrate Passover (a holiday about our return to the homeland of Eretz Yisrael, which ends with the words "Next year in Jerusalem") is not indicative of seeing us as equals when you also call to strip Jews as a people of the right to self-determination and self-defense. If you would see the seven million Jews of Israel expelled or fall into the clutches of a Hamas that has promised to slaughter or enslave every Jew they get their hands on, then you will ill upon the Jews. If you wish to see Jews as a vulnerable minority throughout the world, with no dedicated safe haven, in living memory of the Holocaust and the ethnic cleansing of a million Jews from the Arab world, then you wish ill upon the Jews. If you do not care what happens to the Jews of Israel if Israel is suddenly no more, then your callousness makes clear that you are no friend to the Jews. If you cannot understand why the Jews (and many non-Jews) of Israel will fight to the very last (a nuclear-tipped last, I should add) to defend Jewish self-determination in Eretz Yisrael and think a few more Oct. 7s, a few more rockets, more dead on both sides, more rejection of a sovereign Palestine within a two-state paradigm will bring about the fall of Israel, then you don't much care about the Palestinians, either.

In light of this, the Jews in that encampment look less like welcome guests than like dhimam, tolerated only so long as they accept their subject, subordinate status and praise the rulers who have power over them. Don't forget: even after accepting subjugation and onerous taxation as the price of dhimitude, the Jews of Khaibar were still expelled by their Muslim overlords. No Jew is safe depending on the beneficence of others for the simple right to live.

I appreciate Powell's article: unlike anything you read in the New York Times, where concerned Jews at Columbia are balanced by anti-Zionist Jews on a one-to-one basis, this article at least implies, meekly, that the Jews allied with the encampment are a distinct minority, and that the mainstream Jewish student body is very much on edge among their anti-Zionist peers and professors. That is a situation that should never have been allowed to happen.

[saturniandevil]

April 2024 Important Dates

AKA my notes on The Astrology Podcast's April forecast, hosted by Chris Brennan and Diana Rose Harper (Austin is away on paternity leave). This is one of the most astrologically active months in the year. In addition to planetary movements, there's a comet that will be visible soon in the night sky and a nova.

We're going into the month right off the tail of a Libra lunar eclipse on March 25th. We're in "eclipse season," the time between eclipses, with much activity to report. Starting off, Baltimore's Key Bridge collapsed after a container ship crashed into it, which Austin called last forecast when he said that Mars's entry into Pisces (approaching a conjunction to Saturn) would involve a sudden halt in maritime trade. Astrologically it's quite on the nose, with a Libra (associated with trade/commerce) moon conjunct the South Node (symbolizing lack and decrease). We even have a chart for the opening of this bridge: it was an exact Mars return for this bridge, as well as its Uranus opposition and nodal opposition. Also on the Libra eclipse was the UN Security Council's vote for a ceasefire in Gaza. The April 8th eclipse will show us whether this resolution is successful, and a final Libra eclipse in October will tie these events together.

In celebrity news, we had obviously doctored photos of Kate Middleton prompting increasingly wild speculation on what the British royal family was hiding, culminating in Kate announcing her cancer diagnosis & chemotherapy plans on the March 22nd Venus(women, exalted in Pisces = royalty)-Saturn (slow illnesses) conjunction. She was also born on a lunar eclipse & announced this right before one. Just 3 days after the eclipse, on March 28th, Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX was sentenced to 25 years in prison, the newest development in a story that began on an eclipse when BitCoin crashed and revealed his role in one of the biggest instances of financial fraud in US history.

In smaller news, a nova in the T Coronae Borealis system will be visible as a new star in the night sky this year. This nova is visible every 76 years or so (the last time was 1946), and has been observed as far back as the Middle Ages. Add this to the eclipses and the comet, and Chris hasn't seen such an astrological buildup since forecasting 2020. As the eclipse hit his 3rd house Donald Trump published a book combining the Bible and the US Constitution, while in other news an orca was stranded in British Columbia, another dolphin & orca-related development in the (Mars-)Saturn in Pisces in cycle and Arizona announced Pluto as their state planet.

April Overview: with significant activity in Pisces, Aries, and Taurus simultaneously, we'll be getting hard aspects to every modality (and trines to every element)--everyone will be getting hit with some kind of change (but will have opportunities for growth as well). Chris makes a distinction between the challenging first half of the month, and a second half which will see more clarity.

April 1st - Mercury stations retrograde By time of posting this retrograde is in full swing: disruptions in communication, plans, travel and technology. Diana describes this as especially frustrating in Aries, trying to go one way but some huge miscommunication gets in the way. We may have to walk back on words spoken in anger and renegotiate situations where we identified the wrong target as our enemy. With the eclipse's ruler Mars conjoining Saturn on the 10th, anyone who travels for the eclipse and hangs around for a few days may run into blockages, likely due to rain and floods. Other general Mercury retrograde significations: people come back into your life, unfinished projects become relevant again, and situations from the past resurface. For example, Sagittarius risings often see the "duderang" effect where male lovers come back into their lives, as Mercury rules their Gemini 7th house. Mercury rx also brings delays and slowdowns, and is generally a good time for introspection and "emotional alchemy."

April 3rd - Venus conjoins Neptune This occurs right as she leaves the sign of Pisces. Venus-Neptune keywords: dreamy, fantastical, imaginative (especially with art), compassionate, and opportunities to find new avenues of enjoyment and pleasure. Saturn's copresence in Pisces can bring us some grounding and reality. This can also bring unclear boundaries, uncertain relationships, and idealizing one's lover--like using the soft lens. In events, AI images and videos and toxic synthetic dyes also fall under Venus-Neptune. Is the siren's call too good to be true?

April 4th - Venus enters Aries Chris hopes that Venus's copresence to the eclipse will mitigate some of its effects, but on the flipside this means she's left Mars and Saturn alone with each other in the Pisces chart of our house.

April 8th - Total Solar Eclipse in Aries This eclipse will be visible over much of the (particularly eastern) continental US:

Diana calls it a chiron eclipse, so here's the chart with chiron:

The Moon will eclipse the Sun at 19 Aries, which is where Chiron will be as well. Mythologically, Hercules brings back the head (North Node, Aries) of the hydra to Chiron, whose poison causes him incredible pain because he is immortal and cannot die from it. He eventually trades his immortality for Prometheus and Zeus puts him in the heavens as a constellation. Narratively, eclipses invert what we expect: it becomes dark in the middle of the day! Prominent people fall suddenly from grace and new rulers skyrocket to power during eclipses. Because the eclipse occurs in the sign of the Sun's exaltation, leaders and heads of state/organization/etc will be especially affected. A similar Chiron-influenced Aries solar eclipse occurred in 1968 when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Nelson Mandela was sent to jail under an eclipse, but was also freed under another eclipse and elected to office under yet another eclipse.

For individuals, make note of what house this occurs in for you; this will be the end of one chapter and the opening of a new one in this area of life. Anything close to 19° of Aries will definitely feel it, as will any placements at that degree of Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn (hard aspects to the cardinal signs), while 19 Leo and Sagittarius (trine to fire signs) may feel some support. Generally, this series of events in Aries-Libra began a year ago, and will have its final eclipse on this axis in March of 2025.

This eclipse is ruled by a Mars (♓) who's just about conjunct with Saturn (♓), grinding things to a halt. Whatever's happening in the Aries and Pisces place is going to take some extra time. Other keywords: the end of a life cycle, matters of great importance & turning points in world history, major disasters as well as scientific discoveries. Eclipses highlight just how much is out of our control, like being on a teacup ride that's going too fast and being unable to stop unless something hits you. 6 months later, we'll get an eclipse that connects to some of these events:

Diana also points out that there will be an influx of tourists to rural areas of the US, advising travelers to stay courteous and noting that many local municipalities advise residents to stock up on basic supplies so they won't be lacking when a small area is flooded with new people & their needs. Generally, the eclipse will be a very creepy experience, with the Sun going completely dark, colors becoming muted, and stars may even be visible--some cultures have warnings against going outside during eclipses. Back to metaphors, Chris points out that the small seeds of much larger events are often planted during eclipses. Sometimes you don't know until later just how important this obscured implantation is because, like the Sun, our vision is occulted. Take notes, even of subtle things.

April 10th - Mars conjunct Saturn in Pisces We expect the two malefics to bring us challenges: their conjunctions in late Capricorn & early Aquarius heralded the first COVID lockdowns, and other hard aspects brought new variants and similar pandemic news. In 2022 a Mars-Saturn conjunction occurred with an epidemic of ebola. However, note that these are all airborne viruses, and these movements occurred with Saturn in the air sign of Aquarius. What will this look like in Pisces, a water sign? Chris predicts that existing Saturn-Pisces issues with water pollution and maritime trade/travel will have destructive moments as Mars comes in, while Diana thinks about water as a vector of disease, such as cholera & sewage treatment. Now that deep permafrost is melting due to climate change, we may also see new pathogens or substances released, as well as complications from farm water runoff. We'll definitely see the effects of this Baltimore bridge collapse, and, with the outbreak of dengue fever in Latin America, may see developments around diseases borne of insect bites. We may also hear about the ill effects of microplastics, lead, and asbestos as a result of this conjunction. More generally: pollution, ocean, liquids, extremes of hot and cold, feelings of constraint (and literal constraint), and spiritual or emotional burnout. Pisces is a sign of inescapable enmeshment with each other, so we'll likely deal with compassion fatigue and emotional isolation (especially involving social media). Questions of whether or not something is "real" remain relevant as ever.

On the positive side, Mars-Saturn brings discipline and self-control. Sometimes Mars and Saturn can temper each other to give us self-sustaining focus. We can combine hard-won wisdom with the drive we need to achieve it, like a martial arts training montage. Do we have the belief and conviction to achieve mastery? With determination we can reach heights we once only imagined. There's also stamina, resilience, and rigidity. Overlapping with the Mercury retrograde, we can also see delays and obstructions. If there are boundaries you've been meaning to enact, now is the time. We can see potential pitfalls, but beware of pessimism and not believing in yourself. Resentment and pent-up anger can also come into play as Mars's impulse butts up against Saturn's inaction, but incremental progress adds up.

April 11th - Sun conjunct retrograde Mercury (Cazimi) This marks a turning point in the retrograde. Diana uses a spelunking metaphor: during the retrograde we're diving into the cave, and at the cazimi we've found our treasure...but we still have to make our way back out. Our personal eclipse stories may become clearer during this time as well.

April 19th - Sun enters Taurus, Retrograde Mercury conjunct Venus Venus will help sweeten communications during the last week of Mercury's regression.

April 20th - Jupiter conjunct Uranus This brings freedom, liberation, and sudden rapid growth--completely different from the Mars-Saturn activity earlier this month. This may also set us up for the Jupiter-Mars conjunction later this summer. The Uranus in Taurus story has brought labor organizing and unions to prominence, so expect those stories to intensify during this conjunction. General keywords: technological breakthroughs and scientific discoveries, sudden revelations and growth, revolutions, rupture, and unexpected shifts. This conjunction takes place every 14 years, so Chris expects new discoveries, optimism and "quantum leaps" or new precedents in some fields. In Taurus this is related to food and agriculture--in addition to new technologies we'll likely see further developments with the farmer's protests in India and Europe. Finance and money is another Taurus signification, so disruptions in banks & questions about decentralizing currency may arise. Freedom, rebellion, and general eccentricity become important. We'll feel like anything is possible, but in disregarding the rules and refusing to compromise we may make rash decisions.

The comet Pons-Brooks may also start to become visible during this time. It comes by about every 80 years and is named for its 18th century discoverers. Ancient literature on comets is similar to that of eclipse: an ominous phenomenon heralding the deaths of rulers and falls of kingdoms. However, they note the color and appearance as indicating some positive effects when associated with Jupiter, and the planets whose path it crosses are relevant as well. Pons-Brooks passes closely by the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, putting an exclamation point on the planetary significations.

April 23rd - Scorpio Full Moon

We're finally out of eclipse season, so things are starting to calm down. However, this lunation (04♏) squares Pluto (02♒), bringing some conflict in. It'll be stabilizing, but not necessarily comforting. Acceptance is bittersweet medicine. The full moon illuminates the deep transformative experiences Pluto brings to the early degrees of fixed signs in our charts. We're really getting to the bedrock of things. When Venus enters Taurus she'll square Pluto, and Mars will trine Pluto when he enters Aries. With those personal planets in domicile, it'll feel like coming home, but home is a little different. Pluto will retrograde soon and Chris predicts this station will bring major events in AI and related technologies. Mars is also quickly nearing his conjunction with Neptune, bringing the weaponization of these technologies.

April 25th - Mercury stations direct

April 28th - Mars conjunct Neptune (typo in image) Aside from weaponization of AI and social media, Mars-Neptune also connotes the manipulation of reality for political purposes. Revealing that a shocking news story was actually false wont necessarily diffuse the feelings it arose. Even if it didn't happen, you may still hold resentment towards the wrong target. Think the "fog of war" or shadowboxing. Other keywords include conflicts in or about water, idealism & ideologically-charged conflicts, confusion, acid, corrosion, lethargy, sapped vitality, and unnecessary martyrdom.

April 29th - Venus enters Taurus She immediately squares Pluto. Venus in domicile brings us to the election for the month:

April 29th - Selected auspicious election (not pictured)

Set the chart for about 12:55PM local time, which gets you Leo rising with the Ascendant ruler Sun in the 10th whole sign house in Taurus, where it's copresent with Jupiter, Uranus, and Venus. This chart is good for 10th house matters like career, reputation, social standing, overall life direction and accomplishing goals. The Moon is in Capricorn, applying to a trine with Jupiter, bringing support. Mercury has stationed direct, bringing us away from some of the delays and issues we experienced earlier. Even the Mars-Saturn conjunction is about as far away as we can get, and a day chart Jupiter conjunct Uranus brings creativity to our efforts. Diana associates the 10th house with the gestating parent and thus recommends doing something nice for your mom now.

April 30th - Mars enters Aries Entering firey and decisive Aries, Mars is no longer encumbered by slow Saturn and diffuse Neptune. This complete chapter change comes with a sextile to Pluto--the tone shift will feel like getting our oxygen back. This opens us up for a lot of quick movements through Aries and Gemini in May.

[waheelawhisperer]

Pick a new collab for arknights and outline the plotblurb for the event.

I considered Bloodborne but we kinda already have that with the Abyssal Hunters

I considered RWBY but I sorta already did that in a prior post

Let's go with a crossover with professional basketball in a Space Jam-esque goofy event where the Rhodes Island Defenders have to save the world from whatever the fuck necessitated the construction of the false sky that Kirsten broke by defeating them in an exhibition match. The players train with NBA Hall-of-Famers at their respective positions, while Coach Doctor learns strategy and tactics from the legendary Gregg Popovich. The roster is as follows:

Point Guard: Nearl (trainer: Steph Curry)

Shooting Guard: Horn (trainer: Dwyane Wade)

Small Forward: Saria (trainer: Kevin Durant )

Power Forward: Eunectes (trainer: Dirk Nowitzki)

Center: Hoshiguma (trainer: Shaquille O'Neal)

The players on the roster all get basketball skins, as does Amiya, who gets a lore-relevant Defender Alter as one of the team's substitutes and the one who scores the game-winning buzzer-beater. She later uses her newfound skills to dunk on Theresis and take her place as the King of Fiends, ruler of the Royal Court.

Blemishine, Bagpipe, new 6-star event operator Kirsten Wright, Gavial, and Ch'en all get cheerleader skins. Amiya's associated cheerleader is Kal'tsit, but she threatened Closure to keep the skin from showing up in the shop, thus forever depriving us of the ability to deploy Mon3tr with a skirt and pom-poms.

The event starts with the Galleria Stellaria crashing down through the hole in the sky it initially ascended through and landing near the border between Columbia and Sami. Saria, recieving Kirsten's distress call and fearing what the Columbian government will do to her after her actions in Lone Trail (because her first thought is still to protect her), asks Rhodes Island to recover her from the wreckage before either the DOD or Maylander can arrive. Upon receiving medical treatment, Kirsten reveals the existence of invaders from beyond the stars and warns that Terra has limited time to prepare. As Rhodes Island's operators clash with DOD/Maylander strike teams, Kirsten informs the Doctor that the combined military might of Terra's sovereign nations is insufficient to repel the impending attack, but mentions that the files she stole and decrypted from one of the enemy ships implies that they can be convinced to retreat by defeating their mightiest warriors in a form of ritualistic combat known only as... "basketball".

Saria arrives at Rhodes Island to check on Kirsten and they have many Yuri Moments together while everyone else in the room stands there coughing uncomfortably. Kal'tsit contacts the Maylander Foundation and the Tin Man arrives shortly after, bearing a missive from President Mark Max on behalf of the Columbian government. The Tin Man provides all the data Columbia's archives have on this mysterious "basket ball", warning the assembled members of Rhine Lab/Rhodes Island that everything he has shared is highly classified and that the President expects their discretion. Most of the data is useless, but a report from a Columbian research station in Sami indicates that more information about "basketball" can be found by traversing one of the many dimensional rifts in the northern icefields. Rhodes Island calls in every ally it can find, assembles a team of its hardiest operators, and sets out for the frozen north.

After fighting its way through hordes of icefield demons, Rhodes Island and its allies manage to locate a likely portal and send forth communications and scouting drones in hopes of locating information about "basketball". What they find is a nation similar in many respects to the Columbian Union, though its advanced technology is in many respects very different from what they're used to seeing on Terra. Fending off attacks from the icefield demons, our heroes are about to lose hope when one of the communications drones picks up a reference to a place known as... Madison Square Garden. Video and audio footage of that night's Knicks vs. Spurs game is sufficient to convince Kal'tsit and the Tin Man that they have found the "basketball" they seek. The rules of the sport are not overly complicated, but developing the skills and strategies in the time they have available is not considered feasible, so Rhodes Island sends Operator Hellagur, at great risk, to make contact with the winning coach in hopes of securing his assistance. A bargain is struck - Pop will tutor the players in basketball basics and teach the Doctor how to coach the team, while a group of the best players to ever touch the game will help Rhodes Island's roster refine its techniques. In exchange, Rhine Labs will help the "National Basketball Association" adapt its broadcasts for a Terran audience.

The Doctor recruits other Rhodes Island operators to serve as the Rhodes Island Defenders' practice partners while the Columbian military sets up defenses around the portal and its communications array. The team improves steadily, but it feels like something essential is missing. No one has any clue what that might be, until one day when Kirsten shows up at practice claiming to have found the missing component. She mentions that after poring over every scrap of footage she could find, she determined that what the team needs is a group of fans and well-wishers, and follows this pronouncement by unveiling official Marthe cheerleader outfits, commissioned jointly by Rhodes Island and Rhine Labs. Several operators volunteer to form the Rhodes Island cheerleading squad (Ch'en gets bullied into it), and Bibeak alters the uniforms to fit them. They practice alongside the basketball team, and the players demonstrate notable improvement with something to simulate the adoration of their fans.

The fated day arrives, and after a brief clash with the alien forces, wherein Rhodes Island and its allies just barely manage to hold the line, an avenue of communication is opened with Kirsten's help and the challenge is issued: if the Rhodes Island defenders can defeat the alien invaders in a game of basketball, they will win their world a brief reprieve. Using alien technology, the match will be broadcast all across Terra, and people from every nation on the planet send Rhodes Island and its team tokens of their support. The world comes together, sort of, in perhaps the first time in Kal'tsit's living memory, to her equal parts amazement and chagrin.

The match is epic, brutal, and violent, with things like "fouls" reserved for injuries at least as severe as broken bones. The team fights hard and gives as good as it gets, but eventually star point guard Margaret Nearl is forced to leave the court with serious injuries after she leads an epic comeback and puts her body on the line to protect her teammates. Amiya subs in for her as Saria runs the offense, and the Doctor's coaching is crucial to allowing Rhodes Island to keep the game close. At a pivotal moment, Amiya manifests Nearl's shield and swordspear, much like she did with Chi Xiao against Talulah, and strikes down the enemy's deadliest player before sinking a fadeaway jumper as the clock runs out.

All of Terra erupts into cheers. The alien invaders retreat. Rhodes Island and its operators are hailed as heroes worldwide. Many people get drunk and party. Lots of babies are born nine months later. Someone posts pictures of Kal'tsit's ass on social media. Only a few in the know worry about the eventual return of the invaders.

Kirsten Wright is the 6-star banner operator for this event. She's the first operator with the ability to switch classes outright during an operation - her base class is an offensive ranged unit whose kit focuses around manipulating the planetarium spheres from her boss fight, while her alternative class is a Bard Supporter and features her donning her cheerleader outfit to encourage her allies. The banner 5-star is Jordan, a Forte Sniper with a sick jump shot and a habit of sticking her tongue out in battle. The event welfare is S&C Coach Sideroca, a 5-star Instructor Guard who provides stat buffs and heals to Guards, Defenders, Snipers, Vanguards, and Specialists.

Skins include the aforementioned basketball outfits and cheerleader getups, as well as Coach Dobermann and Athletic Trainer Silence. General Manager Hellagur, Towel Boy Bison, and Concession Stand Worker Schwarz (she hates customer service) also make a limited-time appearance in the shop.

The final boss is actually five different units at once. As each unit is defeated, the remaining units gain buffs depending on which unit was defeated previously. When all five are defeated, they revive with greatly reduced HP and increased movement speed, becoming briefly unblockable as they mount a last-ditch drive to the basket. Take them down quickly, or all of Terra will pay the price...

[thatartiststudios]

YELL AT ME ABOUT YOUR OG NOVELS PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Well... If you say so...

The Rise of Winter is a fantasy, (totally not heavily influenced by TDP in any way) where there are four tribes of elves, all based on the four seasons, each having a corresponding Saint that they worship. The Flamebound elves have Saint Autumn, The Thornwood elves have Saint Spring, The Wavewatcher elves have Saint Summer, and The Stormblood elves have Saint Winter. At the time of the story, the land is healing from the last conflict, a horrible war waged by corrupted Necromancers, who were normally a peaceful type, helping perform proper burial rights and things like that. But the land hasn't fully healed, allowing the corruption to creep back in. And the main group of Heroes has to try to figure out how to stop the corruption, which is slowly affecting Saint Winter.

To Tame A Monster was actually heavily inspired by Snake Boi Callum and Kaz Brekker, morally gray characters like that. It's a dystopian future where there really isn't government or order anymore. Survival of the fittest, killer or be killed. The only rulers are gang leaders and mercenaries. The main character, Marc, is a famously ruthless mercenary, who's killed many people, but simultaneously hates what he does, seeing himself as a monster, no longer a man. A female operative, Lissa, has to help him on a mission, and it goes horribly wrong, forcing them to stay together for support throughout disaster after disaster.

Blood and Devotion came from my idea of writing something like Twilight or like the romanticizing of the werewolf legend, but with the Wendigo. It's set in British Columbia, in this rural town where a group of friends noticed that there's several missing persons in the area. Due to this, the local paranormal authorities come in to try to take care of the situation, only to find that they are way in over their heads. The way I bring in the romance approach to the Wendigo, is that it's a spirit rather than a being, so the one to go Spirit actually possesses several people throughout the story, one of the hosts actually ends up being the boyfriend of one of the leads.

Feel free to send me another ask for a snippet from any of these, or all of them if you like!

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.20 (before 1940)

70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots. 792 – Kardam of Bulgaria defeats Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI at the Battle of Marcellae. 911 – Rollo lays siege to Chartres. 1189 – Richard I of England officially invested as Duke of Normandy. 1225 – Treaty of San Germano is signed at San Germano between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX. A Dominican named Guala is responsible for the negotiations. 1398 – The Battle of Kellistown was fought on this day between the forces of the English led by Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March against the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles under the command of Art Óg mac Murchadha Caomhánach, the most powerful Chieftain in Leinster. 1402 – Ottoman-Timurid Wars: Battle of Ankara: Timur, ruler of Timurid Empire, defeats forces of the Ottoman Empire sultan Bayezid I. 1592 – During the first Japanese invasion of Korea, Japanese forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi captured Pyongyang, although they were ultimately unable to hold it. 1715 – Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Empire captures Nauplia, the capital of the Republic of Venice's "Kingdom of the Morea", thereby opening the way to the swift Ottoman reconquest of the Morea. 1738 – Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan. 1799 – Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first of six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia. 1807 – Nicéphore Niépce is awarded a patent by Napoleon for the Pyréolophore, the world's first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France. 1810 – Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain. 1831 – Seneca and Shawnee people agree to relinquish their land in western Ohio for 60,000 acres west of the Mississippi River. 1848 – The first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, a two-day event, concludes. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek: Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman. 1866 – Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa: The Austrian Navy, led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea. 1871 – British Columbia joins the Canadian Confederation. 1885 – The Football Association legalizes professionalism in association football under pressure from the British Football Association. 1903 – The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile. 1906 – In Finland, a new electoral law is ratified, guaranteeing the country the first and equal right to vote in the world. Finnish women are the first in Europe to receive the right to vote. 1917 – World War I: The Corfu Declaration, which leads to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia. 1920 – The Greek Army takes control of Silivri after Greece is awarded the city by the Paris Peace Conference; by 1923 Greece effectively lost control to the Turks. 1922 – The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom. 1932 – In the Preußenschlag, German President Hindenburg places Prussia directly under the rule of the national government. 1935 – Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen. 1936 – The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime. 1938 – The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards to the studio system. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948.

[dollarbin]

Dollar Bin #21:

Paul Simon's There Goes Rhymin' Simon

When I was little my mother loved to brag about how ugly I'd been as a baby.

"He looked just like a frog," she'd tell her friends while I stood about, often with my finger deep in a nostril. There was always love in her eyes when she said it, but looking back on the photos, I'd say she was putting a positive spin on things. Frogs are, after all, fairly cute.

And so, when my own children were about to be launched into existence I felt fairly excited. Would they look like aged dwarves/me or cosmic goddesses/my wife? Sadly, they all were angelic and beatific, and wound up smart and kind as well, which makes them fairly boring to write about.

So, forget about them. Let's talk instead about one of the ugliest record covers in my entire collection. There's plenty of grossness to report on...

If you want sheer trashiness, cast a terrified eye upon Neil Young's American Stars and Bars. It's ugly on a number of fronts: first, we've got a directly vertical, up from a glass floor, vantage point of Young's plastered and pressed face; work in the barmaid's ridiculous unmentionables and take note that my own 99 cent version is ripped to shreds, and you've got a contender for the ugliest record of all time.

But the vinyl inside is pristine and the album features two of the best songs of all time back to back (Like a Hurricane and Will to Love, of course), so who cares: ugly is awesome in the Dollar Bin.

And then there's Fairport Convention's Live at L.A. Troubadour which is famously horrifying to gaze upon. The art department at Island Records either hated the band, or themselves, or the whole planet. As dedicated Dollar Binners can tell you, my own coveted copy is also slightly melted so its ugliness knows no bounds.

And no ugly cover contest is complete without mentioning Dylan, the infamous Screw You Bob! record of outtakes Columbia put out when Bob jumped ship in 73 for Asylum Records. The only thing uglier than the portrait on the cover is Dylan's cover of Big Yellow Taxi.

(But don't buy the hype that Dylan is terrible; in spite of Columbia's best efforts to end the Bobster's career, the album contains a few great tracks; but that discussion will have to wait for Dollar Bin #642, or maybe #643. That's right: I've got the next 64 years of this nonsense already planned out...).

I could go on and on (we haven't even touched on the giant weird stylus phallus on the cover of The Bunch...). My personal Dollar Bin is chock full of unsightly greatness.

But, without further adieu, let me submit for your very personal consideration what is arguably the greatest ugly record of all time: Paul Simon's There Goes Rhymin' Simon.

Behold the horrifying cover art concept: every track on the album gets its own infantile piece of pop art horror somewhere on the gatefold. Mingled in are an archival photo of teenybopper Simon with a full head of hair and another photo of daddy Simon with a full head of combed over hair.

The Dollar Bin teems with copies of this record; everyone, and their weird uncle, bought a copy of Rhymin' Simon in 73 because the music within it is awesome, but they, or their grandkids who inherited the collection, just couldn't bear to look at the insidious cover and therefore eventually pawned it off on dollar bins the world over. If you don't own a copy, get a life and go get it. Put it on your turntable but don't look at the cover; like Medusa's visage, it may turn you to stone. And I like you just the way you are: unstoney.

Indeed, I'd argue that There Goes Rhymin Simon is proof positive that most people in these troubled times are more focused on how their record collection looks on the shelf than how it sounds. You know 'em: they've got Steely Dan albums enshrined in plastic and they can't wait to show you their minty copy of The Wall. Yuck. Lend me a ruler and I'll draw you some bricks, if you really want to see some, but I won't force you to listen to Roger Waters drone on and on about his own hideous meaning of life.

I was deep in a dollar bin recently, knees aching on the floor, when two college kids came in, asking for directions to the Yes records. They very clearly did not own a record player; rather they wanted Yes to grace their dorm room walls. Indeed, that's probably the sole reason anyone on earth has ever had for owning a Yes record. I've never owned one, and I never will. I declare Hell No to Yes.

Only a masochist would mount Rhymin' Simon on their wall. Who, you ask, do we have to blame for undercutting the fourth masterpiece of Simon's career (The first three are Bookends, Bridge Over Troubled Water and Paul Simon) with such shoddy pop art? The answer is none other than Milton Glaser, the guy who foisted the following on us all:

Imagine the greatest, most recognized thing in your entire life taking you six seconds to create and being something a fourth grader could come up with. I heart NY to, but I mean Neil Young when I say so; why isn't anyone offering me a solo show at the Pompidou Center?

Glaser could have designed a plain brown paper bag to hold Simon's record, then slipped a fresh cow pie in alongside it and thereby have done Simon an immeasurably better turn in the art department.

Before you accuse me of just being ignorant about modern art let me offer the defense that I actually took a course in modern art at Cambridge for a term which led to religious experiences in front of Rothkos and Chagalls. Furthermore, Glaser has made some wonderful art in his career. Consider Dylan's psychedelic hairdo:

I'm guessing that Simon finished Rhymin' and then ordered Glaser to give him the Dylan treatment on his cover. But Glaser took one look at Simon's hair and said, "Paul we're going with ugly rather than comb over with this one," then turned out Rhymin's abomination. Simon learned his lesson: every one of his album covers since then has either featured tasteful art or a photo of Paul with a hat or hairpiece carefully in place.

It's tempting to think of Rhymin' as Simon's own version of Chrome Dreams, Neil Young's abandoned (but recently released) 70's album of masterful individual songs. Almost every track on Chrome Dreams comes from a separate recording session and every song stands on its own, seemingly unrelated to its neighboring tracks. Like the eclectic stops on Odysseus's journey home, both Rhymin' and Chrome Dreams can be experienced as a series of only vaguely related adventures. There's plenty of terror from Polyphemus cave to be witnessed on each record, just like there's a lot of lust to be had in Circe's bed.

Glaser's juvenile and segregated artistic approach on Rhymin' only strengthens this sense. What does a cheap, jaundiced Mardi Gras mask possibly have in common with equally cheap, inverted dollhouse chairs? And what's with the terrifying heart-pupiled eye? Can't we ask Odysseus to ram a spike into it or something?

But on close listen, Rhymin' finds cohesion, its greatness unfolding around us as we sail narrow straights between the Scylla of 70's pop schmaltz the Charybdis of cultural appropriation.

Let's start on the Scylla side, shall we? Simon can sound saccharine on occasion. Songs like Why Don't You Write Me and The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine sound like byproducts of a men's retreat with Stephen Stills and Paul Anka. Everyone ate whipped cream out of tubs, compared biceps and combed their chest hair with care.

The album opens in these Scylla infested waters with Kodachrome, an almost too perfect pop number which, if taken a step further, would sound like a Chicago song. But Simon adds kick to the mix, enunciates the word "crap" with aplomb, and chides his ego whilst among the ladies. And so the whole thing rolls nicely: when this number comes up on FM radio, you'll hum along.

Other moments when he dodges the six heads of schmaltz include Quincy Jones' feathered pillow arrangement on Something So Right and the overall daddyrific vibes of Saint Judy's Comet. But both of these songs are masterpieces lyrically and melodically; we lean into the schmaltz because everything about the songs is indeed so very right.

I'm pretty convinced Dylan listened to Something So Right with great care before wrestling, over and over again, with You're a Big Girl Now a year later. Simon famously told Dylan in the mid sixties that he liked the rough sketch of a song Dylan had just cut in the studio. Paul encouraged Bob to take his time and build the track up into something great. Dylan responded by saying that the single rough take would be the only take; he had bigger fish to fry. The story is cute, but not altogether accurate; after all there's about 4000 studio takes of Like a Rolling Stone. And by 74 Bob gave Simon's perfectionist approach an even more earnest try. Thank god he did.

Listen for the organ to come soaring in, landing on the fence of Dylan's soundscape like a precious bird of flight. Am I wrong to think that this glorious track is a fitting cousin to Something So Right?

Okay, that covers the schmaltz. But the awkward whirlpool of cultural appropriation has also been a hazard in Simon's career and he narrowly dodges a few Charybdis sized abysses on Rhymin'. Three years after going full karaoke on El Condor Pasa he swims his way through two slightly cringy, I Wanna Be Black, soul numbers on Rhymin': Tenderness and Loves Me Like a Rock. Both come with the full support of The Dixie Hummingbirds. I'm even whiter than Simon so I can't comment with any authority on the ethics of Simon taking the lead while these great Black artists support him.

But I can tell you that I love both songs, especially Tenderness, and that Simon did a lot more than any other white artists of his generation to promote and give credit to the artists of color he worshiped and leaned on. He took the Peruvian band responsible for El Condor Pasa, Urubamba, as well as the Jessy Dixon Singers, on tour with him after this record, and both groups are featured with prominent respect on his subsequent live album (Live Rhymin' is another Dollar Bin classic and another significant entry in the ugly cover contest).

And we all know how Simon earnestly introduced American audiences to Brazilian and African artists in the 80's. Simon's career may be built on a good deal of appropriation, but it seems to me that he always tries to do it with respect. After all, he treats Aretha Franklin's version of Bridge over Troubled Water as the song's authoritative take.

But I'm not sure that even all those qualifiers can rectify the soft reggae vibes of the Rhymin' track Was A Sunny Day. If it's okay with you, let's give Simon a pass there, as the song does feature the vinyl debut of The Roches.

Alongside these skillful schmaltz and appropriation dodges Rhymin' also features a few straight up Paul Simon classics. Take Me to the Mardi Gras, One Man's Ceiling, Learn How to Fall and America Tune: these are beautiful songs from start to finish, each of them simple and incredibly complex all at once. Simon has the uncanny ability to turn easy listening into high art and there's a dark turn to be found in each song if you lean in. Listen to the Reverend Claude Jeter sing the glowing, devout bridge on Mardi Gras; worry about who's doing what behind Simon's building in Ceiling; count the impossible number of balanced harmonizing parts in Fall; and, most of all, take a moment to appreciate the towering greatness of American Tune.

As a teenager I saw Simon twice on the Rhythm of the Saints tour. Everything was dense, earnest and slick. But when Simon came out alone, in midst of the First Gulf War, and sang American Tune I got my first real taste of true patriotism: Simon loves his country enough to criticize it through earnest, complex and open-ended metaphor. I'd say he did the same thing on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 as well:

I don't care how little hair he has, and I don't care what his albums look like. Paul Simon is a Dollar Bin genius, an old friend who's still standing with us as we watch the Statue of Liberty sail away to sea. I sure hope we can come together and reel it back in.

Happy November everyone.

[sunder-the-gold]

So, what was Andoain's plan?

Let's set aside any idea that Andoain thought the pope had any power to offer Liberi and other races the choice to become Sankta. No one ever suggests that such a power exists.

With that said, Andoain has two scenarios:

The Pope Disagrees

Andoain fails to convince the pope to change his governing policies, so he murders the pope with his Guardian Gun and becomes a fallen angel.

If the pope's returning guards do not kill Andoain, the furious and panicking populace will. In the panick and outrage, the people of Laterano would probably hunt down and kill every Pathfinder they can find.

If any of the foreign guests attending the internal conference are harmed, it could become a 'cause for war' with the other nations.

At the end of it all, the Laterano people (or its government) chooses a new pope who will be anxious to avoid being assassinated, and the people (and other government officials) are going to expect tighter controls to avoid such a thing happening again.

I cannot see any other way for this scenario to play out, and certainly no way for it to achieve anything the Pathfinders want, or anything Andoain wants except spiteful satisfaction.

It's not until after learning the truth of the Law and having Fiammetta's unhealthy obsession reignite his own conviction, that Andoain finally realizes what he should have done when the pope said "No" is just LEAVE and go BUILD a new Laterano.

With blackjack and hookers Sarkaz and half-breeds!

The Pope Agrees

Andoain successfully convinces the pope that Laterano needs to do more than host international conferences to try and build peaceful connections between the competing empires and nations of the world.

But what exactly did Andoain want Laterano to do?

Did he simply want the government to devote public property and taxpayer money towards providing Temporary Emergency Relief Aid to citizens of other nations in response to natural disasters?

Did Andoain want to pay for this foreign aid by cutting budgets to the existing government agencies, or increasing the people's taxes?

Did he only want the government to inform the people of foreign crisis situations and organize donation drives, so that the people would voluntarily offer charity to the needy?

Agrees 2: The Absurd Extreme

Certainly, Andoain couldn't think that Laterano should go so far as to systematically subsidize other nations.

Before the Profound Silence ruined his Iberian village, the Iberian Empire was experiencing its Golden Age. They used the unmatched naval technology afforded to them by the Islander Aegirians to plunder the rest of the world, enriching the Iberian nobility through plunder and conquest. Iberia began the long suffering of Bolivia, kicking that nation down so that it would be an easy victim for Leithania and Columbia in the future.

After the Profound Silence, the Iberian nobility left the coastal villages to rot and starve. The Inquisition provided no aid to these people, and only executed any peasants caught stealing from 'their betters'.

Empires and feudal ruling classes, as a rule, take as much as they can from everyone else to enrich themselves. By war or by taxation. No amount of wealth is ever enough for an empire; imperial conquest is always about taking more.

Iberia, Victoria, Ursus, Leithania, Kazimierz... all of them would all gladly let Laterano spend as much as it could to help their peasants.

That just lets the rulers tax the peasants even more.

[the-technicolor-whiscash]

Ok so here are all of the lovely vintage pictures I won from that space memorabilia auction now none of them are numbered or particularly special outside of their age (bc they are all relatively contemporary to their various subject matter) and their content but regardless they’re still really cool so that’s why I bought them

These aren’t the best pictures I could’ve gotten of them all and I was also lighting it from the side with a headlamp to get better color for the camera but it’s still fairly accurate to how they look to my eyes

In order from top to bottom, left to right:

Two of the Skylab pictures, one featuring the Skylab 4 (also sometimes known as Skylab 3 due to a numbering hiccup) crew of Jerry Carr, Edward Gibson, and Bill Pogue. The other features the Skylab space station, as seen from the Apollo command module used to visit Skylab.

The other two Skylab pictures, showing a Saturn IB used to launch the Skylab crew into orbit. I find these particular pictures really cool with the red color of the photographs adding a fantastic effect that makes it eerie.

A close-up of one of the Saturn IB launch pictures. Cool stuff.

A picture of the Space Shuttle Columbia at launch complex 39A, readied for STS-1. Both of the Shuttle pictures are originally from Rockwell International, the manufacturer of the shuttle. There’s a little tag that says it in the bottom right, but that part didn’t get caught well by my camera for some reason.

A closer picture of Columbia at LC-39A for STS-1. Notice the white external fuel tank, since it’s before they stopped painting it (the paint was found to be unnecessary, and it saved a significant amount of weight)

An illustrated photo of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project astronauts, with printed signatures. Yes I knew that coming into this and bought it anyway because I wanted something to make visitors to my home think, “what is wrong with him?” I like the fact it has the full crew both US and Russian I like the colors I like that it has the rockets and even though the signatures are printed I still find them charming. Also, first and foremost, I am a sucker. The ruler I stole from an art class in college is there for you to understand the scale of this image I now have to find a spot to display in my home. With the matting it is 16 by 20. Ma we gotta take down the family portraits, Deke and company are going up.

All in all I really enjoy them. I am not proud at how much money I spent on them but as I said, I am a sucker. And they’ll look great on my wall.

[talkingpointsusa]

Charlie Kirk warns against trusting in experts - instead urges his audience to put their faith into random accounts on Twitter

In our last post, we discussed how Charlie Kirk used his coverage of the Columbia University encampment to spin baseless conspiracy theories about how the campus protests are being funded by George Soros because he noticed that the tents that the protestors were using looked kind of similar. Well, I thought that would be the end of Charlie Kirk's brilliant coverage but boy was I wrong. Charlie's May 6th episode was just pure uncut stupidity. Lets get into it.

Charlie starts by laying out the theme of this episode, no it's not who's funding the campus protestors like the episodes title promises. It's "I don't like smart people and why don't colleges just teach people what I think they should be taught".

15:30, Charlie Kirk: "The more college educated you are, the more likely you are to support Joe Biden. The more degrees you have, the more support you are (sic) of what Joe Biden is doing to this country. The more time you have spent on a university campus, the more you think Joe Biden is crushing it."

I said this in the last post but I'll say it again, colleges aren't teaching some net doctrine to students, they're teaching students what they're paying to be taught. Engineering students aren't doing dissertations on leftist political theory.

Charlie elaborates on this a bit more after the radio break.

22:51, Charlie Kirk: "Ok everyone, welcome back. So, the more time you spend on a college campus, the more degrees you have, the more trusting you are of flashy titles. When you hear a title you say 'Oooh, he must be very smart. He must know what he's talking about.' You see, this is what Plato talked about as the philosopher kings."

That's not what a philosopher king is. The term philosopher king refers to a ruler who governs utilizing both philosophy and political knowledge. Plato was actually quite for this as he believed that an ideal state could only be brought into being by a ruler who possessed philosophical knowledge so Charlie pretending that Plato viewed philosopher kings as a bad thing is kind of funny if you have even a directional idea of what that term means.

This isn't even the first time that Charlie has misused this term on this blog. The meaning that Charlie ascribes to it shifts around constantly and I'm 100% convinced that he just views it as "scary phrase that makes me sound smart".

24:13, Charlie Kirk: "Experts say, experts say, experts say. Experts have done more damage to this country than the working class ever could imagine."

This is kind of Charlie's show in a nutshell. "Yeah, don't trust the experts. Look, I used the term philosopher king incorrectly so I know what I'm talking about. Now buy my crap."

24:24, Charlie Kirk: "Doctor Fauci should be in Gitmo for what he did. The experts shut down our schools, the experts masked our kids, the experts had lunatics driving alone in their cars masked and afraid that the radio was going to emit COVID."

Still being pissed about wearing a mask in 2024 is a bold move. It's an absolutely whiny and stupid one but a bold one. I have no idea what he's talking about with the radio emitting COVID but he has zero right to talk about crazy scientific beliefs. Charlie Kirk thinks that birth control makes people Democrats and that the height of your apartment building determines your political orientation.

24:43, Charlie Kirk: "We have become so trusting of experts and thanks to social media and thanks to Elon Musk opening up X so that we can see who they really are we realize that the people who are in charge of our society, that have been given all of this power, who were never been elected, they've never run for office, they never had to answer tough questions. Not only are they morons, they're not wise, but they're incredibly confident."

Yeah, so Charlie's whole point in this segment is that you shouldn't trust the people who have merely dedicated their lives to studying certain subjects and have extremely broad knowledge of what they're talking about....no, you should trust random people on Twitter. Really, what Charlie is doing here is supporting his grift. As long as people aren't accessing actual information from experts who know what they're talking about and staying in their right-wing media bubble, Charlie Kirk makes money.

Charlie's whole definition of an expert is so vague by the way. I guess they're some sort of academic ruling class that Charlie is speculating runs the nation. But I can't really take Charlie's hatred of the "experts" all that seriously when he's also posting videos with titles like this:

"And he knows what he's talking about because he's an exper-oh-oops"

25:12, Charlie Kirk: "I get asked all the time, I say 'Charlie, why do you go to college campuses and talk to these kids?' Outside of the obvious answer that-"

Is that obvious answer that a lot of people subscribe to your YouTube channel when you post clickbaity debates with people who don't have actual interview and debate training while also selectively cutting out the ones that make you look like a complete idiot?

25:19, Charlie Kirk: "That they're the future of the country and they're voters."

Oh, how silly of me.

Charlie does an ad break for the radio, does an ad for gold, and then launches back to his extremely stupid tirade against "experts".

36:50, Charlie Kirk: "The yielding to the experts is the deterioration of the sovereign citizen, you're no longer thinking for yourself. Being a sovereign citizen means I might buy silver and gold, I might not take the shot, I'm not going to just feed my kid high fructose corn syrup, I'm not going to listen to the government when it says that the people who give birth aren't women but birthing people."

It's so telling that the first thing a sovereign citizen does on the Charlie Kirk Show is buy into the gold scam he's been plugging. The birthing people thing is stupid too. There are plenty of trans males who still have the biological capacity to give birth. It just boils down yet again to the rights lack of knowledge over the difference between sex and gender.

Charlie Kirk rants about Jared Bernstein making a gaffe for a bit and then complains that people are going to protest his event in Seattle.

40:52, Charlie Kirk: "Meanwhile you got these protestors with a bunch of -- you got tent city, the ugliest laziest people that society has to offer."

Nothing screams lazy quite like....protesting? I don't even know what he's talking about anymore.

41:01, Charlie Kirk: "I don't mean ugly even from an aesthetic standpoint, I want to be very clear. I mean, you can't control your looks and you should never make fun of how somebody looks. I mean ugly from how they present themselves to society, I mean the choices of how they dress. I think that's very important."

"Yeah, I don't mean ugly from an aesthetic standpoint. I mean ugly from an AESTHETIC standpoint, get it right guys."

41:23, Charlie Kirk: "I'm talking about when you double nose pierce your nose -- pierce your nose. You've got tattoos all over the place, you haven't showered in three weeks, and you've got purple hair. You're ugly."

Some hard hitting criticism that sounds like it came from your 76 year old uncle complaining about how kids these days get all these tattoos and dye their hair and back in my day that satanic claptrap was never tolerated.

Now it's time for Charlie Kirk's analysis about the election. He somehow manages to make himself sound stupider as he goes along.

42:01, Charlie Kirk: "And it really is going to be, as Andrew put in the previous episode with Josh Hammer, the country class versus the ruling class."

I really am baffled by the cognitive dissonance required to believe that the "ruling class" aren't on the right. Charlie was literally just praising Elon Musk, a guy worth $196.9 billion dollars, for "opening up" Twitter (read: allowing the Nazi stuff that Charlie likes back on). Charlie himself lives in a $4.75 million dollar house in a gated community that charges nearly half a million dollars for a country club membership. Charlie Kirk, the people who pay him, and the people who he supports are the elites that Charlie fearmongers about so much.

42:23, Charlie Kirk: "Who is actually supporting the Democrat coalition? They have more support than ever from college educated women, college educated women have an attachment to the Democrat Party like Catholics have to the eucharist. College educated women are one of the most difficult demographics for Republicans to break. They consume NPR, New York Times, many of them think it's great that their kids are getting transed. The downfall of Colorado can be best described as the college educated female demographic so we're gonna have to navigate that."

Golly, I wonder why women are for the Democrats. Could it have something to do with the fact that the Republicans are working overtime to strip their rights and bodily autonomy away? There's just no self awareness here. Of course the Republicans are going to alienate groups that they take rights away from, it only makes sense.

Charlie doesn't seem to understand how the grotesque actions of his party have led to this consequence and instead seems to have came to the conclusion that "Oh, these women are just college educated. Yeah, that's the problem. These women really are the downfall of America. They gotta just start pumping out babies".

The next hour is Charlie interviewing Glenn Greenwald, Michael Knowles would be stunned at how leftist Glenn is here. I'm not going over any of it.

Conclusion:

Well, this episode was kind of anticlimactic. I was excited to hear Charlie's bombshell evidence about how the campus protests are secretly funded by the left and instead I got him going on misogynistic rants and complaining about "experts and the elite". Maybe he got into it in the interviews but I guess this is what I'd do too if my evidence was "Hey, look at those tents".

Original Video:

“Who Backs Campus Rioters? + Speech in Peril + Faith against the Darkness | LIVE 5.6.24.” Rumble.com, 6 May 2024.

Sources:

Study.com, 2023, study.com/academy/lesson/philosopher-king-history-examples.html.

“How Trump’s MAGA Movement Helped a 29-Year-Old Activist Become a Millionaire.” AP News, 10 Oct. 2023.

[kosmos2999]

Saturday’s Late Night Sci-Fi Cinema:

The Humanoid (1979 film)

Original Italian release poster (left) and American release poster (right)

Main cast:

Richard Kiel as Golob Corinne Clery as Doctor Barbara Gibson Leonard Mann as Nick Ivan Rassimov as Lord Graal Massimo Serato as The Great Brother Marco Yeh as Tom Tom Arthur Kennedy as Doctor Kraspin Barbara Bach as Lady Agatha

Production staff:

Directed by: Aldo Lado (as George B. Lewis) Story by: Adriano Bolzoni Screenplay by: Adriano Bolzoni, Aldo Lado and Garry Rusoff (uncredited) Produced by: Giorgio Venturini Cinematography by: Silvano Ippoliti Edited by: Mario Morra Music by: Ennio Morricone Production company: Merope Film Released by: Titanus (Italy) and Columbia Pictures (US) Original release date: April 11, 1979 (Italy) YouTube channel: Something Wild Video

In a far distant future, the planet known as Earth, Metropolis, is facing a great danger.

Lord Graal, the evil brother of the Ruler of the Peaceful Galactic Democracy, the Great Brother, has escaped from his inprisonment.

The Great Brother (above) and Lord Graal (below)

After a succesfull escape, Graal seeks refuge on the planet Noxon. A world under slavery of the wicked 200 year-old Lady Agatha, who wants to be at Graal's side on his conquest of Metropolis and the rest of the galaxy.

They will get the help of Dr. Kraspin, a malevolous scientist, and also an outcast from Metropolis. He has a hatred for Dr. Barbara Gibson for being the accuser of his lack of ethics.

Dr. Kraspin and Lady Agatha

The evil trio has a ploy to turn the citizens of Metropolis into humanoids using a rare element named Kapitron. As they stole it from the Groven Institute located on Metropolis.

They took a tall man, a soldier named Golob as a guinea pig. And then he was ordered to kill Dr. Gibson. A plan that failed thanks to Tom Tom, a kid with mystic powers.

Golob as a human

Golob with his robot dog, Kip

Golob turrned into a humanoid

Golob now joins Dr. Gibson, Tom Tom, a young soldier named Nick and a couple of mysterious warriors to fight the menace of Lord Graal and his evil allies.

From left to right: Nick, Tom Tom, Dr. Barbara Gibson and Golob

The Humanoid, (a translalation from the original title L' Umanoide) a 1979 space opera film from director Aldo Lado under the pseudonym of George B. Lewis

Fascinating facts:

This film was produced and released two years after Star Wars: Episode IV, A New Hope. Because the similarities in story, plot and character costumes, it is considered a rip off the George Lucas movie. Even more, filmmaker Aldo Lado used the pseudonym of George B. Lewis for directing it.

It was ranked 28 (of a list of 75) of the Best Space Opera Movies by the Independent Movie Database (IMDb).

The opening sequence was directed by Enzo G. Castellari. It was uncredited.

The special effects supervisor was Antonio Margheriti under the pseudonym of Anthony M. Dawson. He was the director of the film shown in this blog last weekend, War Between The Planets and the other three movies of the Gamma-One series.

Some of the scenes -- particullary the ones of the Groven Institute -- were filmed at Eliat, Israel.

The Groven Institute

In Germany, the movie was re-titled Kampf Um Die 5 Galaxis (fight for the 5th galaxy).

Comment: In my opinion, mo matter this is a Star Wars rip off, The Humanoid is a very enjoyable movie. That's why I choose to share it with you this weekend.

Thank you for your support on the third year of this blog.

I also want to share this images from Golob's starship taken from screenshots of the movie. Very nice design!

For more information and more stuff about this movie, you can access the film's official homepage:

[madamlaydebug]

Mme Abomah was known as the Amazon Giantess and the African Giantess. She was something of an international celebrity and traveled all over the world in the early 1900’s, as the tallest woman in the world: Australia, New Zealand, South America, France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, England, Scotland and Ireland. She was billed as being 7’6″ tall, but photographic evidence suggests she was more in the 6’10” – 6’11” range. A good number of photos still exist of her towering elegantly over other people.

Several sources say her real name was Ella Grigsby; a newspaper advertisement also calls her “Ella Abomah.” While still in her teens, Abomah went to work for Elihu and Harriet Williams. It is speculated that since Grigsby was the name of her parents’ slaveholder, she was reluctant to use it, and so adopted her employer’s last name. In nearly all sources, she’s known simply as “Abomah.” Abomah claimed none of her other siblings were unusually large and she had been contacted by various vaudeville and circus promoters to sign a contract and tour as a giantess, but always refused. However, while working as a cook in her native South Carolina, she agreed to be hired by Frank C. Bostock for a tour of the British Isles in 1896.

In her own words Mme. Abomah says “I was born near Cross Hill in Laurens county. None of my sisters or brothers are unusually large. For years every time a show man saw me he would want me to sign a contract, but I never could make up my mind to leave Columbia. Finally in the fall of 1896 while I was cooking for a prominent family in Columbia, Manager F.C. Bostock got me to sign up for a tour.” (1915)

Bostock was known as “The Animal King”; he specialized in presenting menageries of African wildlife. He renamed Ella, making her into Mme. Abomah (Abomey being the then-capital of Dahomey, now known as Benin), giving her out to be an African warrior princess. She was billed as a Dahomey Amazon, a real life caste of female bodyguards who protected the ruler.

[galerymod]

Yang Hengjun turned his back on the Communist Party and became an Australian - now China has sentenced him to death

There is great excitement in Australia. What did the naturalised author do to deserve the capital punishment in the eyes of China's rulers?

Patrick Zoll, Taipei 05.02.2024, NZZ

Australian Yang Hengjun, who was sentenced to death in China, in an undated photo with his wife Yuan Xiaoliang.

Australian Yang Hengjun, who was sentenced to death in China, in an undated photo with his wife Yuan Xiaoliang.

After five years in isolation in pre-trial detention, Australian author Yang Hengjun has been sentenced to death in China. The sentence will be commuted to "life imprisonment" if Yang does not commit any offences for a further two years. As Yang's health has recently deteriorated massively in prison, according to Australian reports, he will probably die in prison.

The Chinese judiciary has never announced in detail what it is accusing Yang of, nor has it provided any evidence. On Monday, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing said, according to the Reuters news agency, that Yang had been convicted of espionage. All necessary procedures had been followed and "the Australian side" had attended the sentencing. What exactly this means remains unclear - Australian diplomats have repeatedly complained that they have hardly any access to Yang.

From Chinese functionary to democracy blogger

Yang emigrated to Australia in 1999. He had previously worked for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and State Security. He studied in Sydney, wrote a doctoral thesis on the influence of bloggers on a possible democratisation of China and became a blogger himself. "Yang gave up his career as a communist cadre member to work for freedom and democracy," the Australian newspaper "Sydney Morning Herald" quoted Feng Chongyi, Yang's doctoral supervisor, as saying. Yang obtained Australian citizenship in 2002.

In 2019, Yang was arrested at Guangzhou airport when he travelled from the USA with his wife. At the time, he also held an academic position at Columbia University and was involved in the import-export business between China and the USA.

In captivity, Yang is said to have been repeatedly tortured and held incommunicado. He was tried behind closed doors in 2021.

There is a lot of excitement in Australia following the harsh judgement for Yang. Foreign Minister Penny Wong wrote that her government was outraged. All Australians wanted Yang to be reunited with his family. They will continue to stand up for him. However, Wong is probably aware that she has little room for manoeuvre.

The judgement comes at a delicate time in Australian-Chinese relations. These have only slowly begun to ease in recent months after years of ice age. The close trading partners found themselves in a serious diplomatic crisis. Australia accused China of interfering in and influencing Australian politics. During the coronavirus pandemic, Australia then demanded an investigation into the cause of the outbreak, which angered China's rulers so much that they imposed several punitive measures against Australian products.

The communist regime severely punishes "treason"

In November, Anthony Albanese became the first Australian Prime Minister in seven years to visit Beijing. Shortly before this, the Chinese government released the Australian journalist Cheng Lei. Like Yang, she was born Chinese and later obtained Australian citizenship. Cheng worked for the Chinese state broadcaster CGTN and was arrested, allegedly because she had ignored an embargo period. She was held for more than two years, but was never convicted.

Hopes at the time that Yang would soon be released did not materialise. On the contrary: the conditional death sentence exceeded the fears of most of his supporters. The 57-year-old's real "crime" was probably that he had turned his back on China and the Communist Party as a former member of the party cadre. In the eyes of those in power, this is treason and should be severely punished.

In Australia, Yang's harsh punishment is also seen in a political light. The director of the think tank Australia Strategic Policy Institute, Justin Bassi, described the judgement to the Sydney Morning Herald as hostage diplomacy. Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham told the public broadcaster ABC that the death sentence was a warning of the differences between Australia's and China's legal systems and the risks involved in doing business and maintaining contacts with China.

The West should finally understand that XI will not tolerate any resistance or criticism from the Chinese Communist Party, and if they do not retaliate today, they will retaliate at some point, without mercy or humanity.

The West must take advantage of China's weaknesses and exploit its dependence on China and the ultimate prosperity of the Chinese people.

In order to live in peace with China, the following must be realised.

China's business enterprises (mostly dependent on the CKP) cannot acquire shares in systemically relevant companies and infrastructure in Europe, nor in agricultural enterprises. Without exception, not even in the form of straw companies.

China's weakness is its size and the fact that ultimately China's land cannot feed the Chinese people sufficiently, which in turn means that the CP, which always emphasises that it and the people are one, must provide the people with food and quality of life. For better or worse! China has a large area, but this area is not exactly fertile.

Europe has the ability to supply China with the food China needs, but it should always understand that this is exactly the trump card to stop China.

Europe must also secure its supply routes and not be intimidated by China's behaviour in terms of exerting influence. Europe is China's sales market and if we get the sniffles, China is sick!

Mark Aurel more or less

According to the motto divide and conquer, keep a watchful eye on China because everything China does is part of a plan. They punish to negotiate, they smile to negotiate but always in the interest of the CKP and thus XI's plans.

No blogger is safe from dictatorships! Only democracy and freedom guarantee freedom of expression and thus participation in an open society. Someone should be persecuted because of their thoughts, opinions, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

A nation in which everyone is equal agrees on common rules of coexistence for the benefit of all.

Freedom is non-negotiable, human rights are non-negotiable.

Justice is when everyone is treated equally, publicly and transparently.

Everything else is injustice, there is no right in wrong!

[paganimagevault]

Qing dynasty painting of Epang Palace by Yuan Jiang 1722-1735

"The First Emperor felt that, in view of the large population of Xianyang, the palace of the former kings of Qin was too small. “I have heard,” he said, “that King Wen of the Zhou had his capital at Feng, and King Wu had his at Hao. The area between Feng and Hao is fit for the capital of an emperor or a king.” He accordingly began construction of a state palace in the Shanglin Park south of the Wei River. First he built a front hall at Epang which measured 500 bu from east to west and fifty zhang from north to south. The upper part could seat 10,000 persons, and in the lower part flag poles five zhang high could be erected. It was surrounded by covered walks which then led from the hall directly south to the Southern Mountains. The summit of the Southern Mountains was designated to be the gate of the palace. An elevated walk extended from Epang north across the Wei River to connect the palace with Xianyang,

The palace at Epang had not been completed at this time. The emperor intended to select some appropriate name for it when it was completed, but meanwhile, since it was being built at a place called Epang, everyone referred to it as the Epang Palace. Over 700,000 persons condemned to castration and convict labourers were called up, part of them being put to work building the Epang Palace and part assigned to Mt. Li.90 Stone was quarried from the northern hills and timber transported from the regions of Shu and Jing, all being brought to the site. In the area within the passes there were a total of 300 palaces, while beyond the passes there were more than 400. The emperor had a stone set up at Qujie on the eastern sea, declaring that it was the eastern gate of Qin. He had 30,000 households transported to the town at Mt. Li, and 50,000 households to Yunyang, exempting them all from taxes and corvée labour for a period of ten years.

Master Lu said to the First Emperor, “I and the others have searched for zhi fungus, rare herbs, and the immortals, but we can never seem to encounter them. There would appear to be some entity that is blocking us. The magic arts teach that the ruler of men should at times move about in secret so as to avoid evil spirits. If evil spirits are avoided, one can reach the status of True Man. If the whereabouts of the ruler of men are known to his ministers, this hinders his spiritual power. A True Man can enter water without getting wet, enter fire without getting burned, soar over the clouds and air, and endure as long as heaven and earth. But now Your Majesty, though ruling the whole world, has not yet been able to attain calm and quietude. When you are in the palace, do not let others know where you are. Once that is done, I believe that the herbs of immortality can be obtained.”

The emperor said, “I long to become a True Man. From now on I will refer to myself as True Man and will not call myself zhen.” He then had elevated walks and walled roads built to connect all the 270 palaces and scenic towers situated within the 200 li environs of Xianyang. He filled the palaces with curtains and hangings, bells and drums, and beautiful women, each assigned to a particular post and forbidden to move about. Anyone revealing where the emperor was visiting at any particular moment was put to death."

-Sima, Qian. Records of the Grand Historian: Han Dynasty II (p. 57). Columbia University Press. Kindle Edition.

[toki-macross]

This was another Christmas' present for my nephew. They were visiting, and at night, I worked on this to eventually give to him. (Actually later inspired him to ask for his own Faux Stainglass making stuff.) Click below for the crazy process to get it made.

Now... I was in my families guest bedroom, since my bedroom was larger and better for my brother's family to be in. Previously in this room, was our collection of weapons. Because my family appreciates the astetic and well, also the use in some regards. Though mainly machetes and hatches, for outdoor yard work. A bunch are just wall hangers. Though some are sharp, and some are heavy.

(Dad has taken them down, so he can build a better, safer case to put them in. So smol children can't get grabby.) Trying to get the piece done in time. I realized that it was late, and I needed a good straightedge. Now, I grew up in a family, that had many sharp things about the house. With my father being a woodcarver. I was taught at an early age, to appreciate and respect sharp things. For being useful, and also dangerous. As an adult, I think I own... (counts) um... ALOT of sharp and pointys in my bedroom. But my bedroom also doubles as my workshop, so it makes sense. Though, I do have some collection stuff in here. But mostly functional blades, like my exactos, box cutters and the like for crafting/building.

And the reason I tell this story, is because it was second nature, to just do this...

Reached back, (since I couldn't go to my room to possibly grab the Jill Ruler) And took out the collection's oldest resident. My father's Machete he brought to America from his birthplace in Columbia. It's older then me by a long shot, probably 50-55 years old, and beloved as a main staple when it comes to outdoor wood chopping. It is certainly a first reach when needing to do things, and using it as a straight edge was normal for me... But as I was working on it, forgot that this isn't normal and had a chuckle about it. And sent pictures to friends who know me, and they were amused. Note: it is sharp, and can be dangerous. Treat any sharp object with respect and care. Don't just grab things willy nilly. So, with a straight edge secure, I started working on the design.

The process of making Faux Stainglass, usually takes me 3-4 days. Sketching and doing the lines, is day one. Because the liquid leading needs to ideally, cure overnight. I tend to sketch out the design, then overlay it with Sharpie. Since the general thickness of a basic sharpie, is about what the lines are in Liquid leading. (Though a properly skilled person, probably could make the lines how ever they want. I am still learning)

As you can tell from my Wobbly lines. It also doesn't help that often these projects were at minimum, a year apart. If not several. So any good lineart skill I gained, might have been downgraded as I worked on a new project. Day 2 is color, which then needs to cure overnight as well.

And this is what it looked like, before drying. So, there is some color change as it becomes more transparent. Day 3-4 is letting it cure fully. In case various sections might have had too thick of paint, and it taking longer to cure. Mainly a choice I make to make sure that the piece is finished, before being presented as a present.

[newwayastrology]

SUN/MOON MIDPOINT & MEAGAN GOOD

Any soul that is born and inhabits a body does so to learn lessons. We can see these lessons in a horoscope. Meagan Good is a lovely actress with an impressive resume. However, her relationship life has aways been way less fulfilling than her career.

If Venus has hard aspcts from outer planets, or the ruler of or planet in the 7th has hard aspects from Mars or an outer planet, or if Mars or an outer planet are at one's Sun/Moon midpoint, relationships will be one of the ways that a person learns about themselves. Meagan's 7th House ruler, Neptune, squares Venus. Too much idealism in relationships will cause problems in relationships that teach her lessons she couldn't learn otherwise. Punctuating it mightily is Saturn at her Sun/Moon midpoint!!!!! I should add that even when Sun/Moon is not occupied natally, hard transits and arcs to it are often just like when Venus receives a conjunction, square, or opposition from Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, or Mars.

In 2011, Meagan started dating Devon Franklin. He was a Columbia Pictures Exec and a preacher. You can see in the measurements listing that her 2011 started with both Jupiter and Pluto transiting Sun/Moon. They were joined in 2012 by Uranus and Meagan and Franklin were married in 2012. They divorced in December, 2021.

Meagan's next relationship was with actor, Jonathan Majors in early 2023 with transiting Jupiter at her Sun/Moon. Today, Majors was convicted of assaulting his former girlfriend!!!!!

Ya think she has some lessons to learn about what goes through her head when choosing a partner for a relationship?!

She has Venus in Virgo. Cerebral matters can take things over when it comes to romance and romantic feelings. Understanding emotions often displaces feeling them. Venus here has the ability to express emotion without feeling it. As an actress she can be very good at this.

I hope the lesson has been learned.

[xtruss]

How Old Are The Egyptian Pyramids? And Why Did The Ancient Egyptians Build Pyramids In The First Place?

— By Owen Jarus | August 30th, 2023

The Pyramids of Giza, seen here with the Milky Way in the background, are not Egypt's oldest Pyramids. Image Credit: Getty Images

Pyramids are iconic symbols of the ancient pharaohs' power and technological prowess that still dominate the Egyptian skyline. But when were pyramids first built? And why were they constructed in the first place?

The first pyramid in Egypt was built by the pharaoh Djoser, who reigned nearly 4,700 years ago. More than a millennium later, ancient Egypt's last pyramid built for a pharaoh was constructed for Ahmose I around 3,500 years ago. After that, Egyptian rulers were buried in underground tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

Put another way, the ancient Egyptian pyramids were built between about roughly 2700 B.C. and 1500 B.C. This makes the earliest pyramids about the same age as Stonehenge, which was initially built between 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. But the pyramids are much older than other ancient structures, including the Parthenon (447 B.C.), the Great Wall of China (220 B.C.) and the Colosseum (A.D. 80). The Neolithic temple Gobekli Tepe in Turkey, however, is older from 11,000 to 12,000 years ago.

Egypt's First Pyramid

Djoser's pyramid is made up of six layers and was originally built as a type of rectangular tomb known today as a mastaba (an Arabic word meaning "bench") before being expanded into a step pyramid.

Ancient inscriptions indicate that a man named Imhotep directed the step pyramid's construction. "Imhotep is usually regarded as the first architect in Egypt to build in stone and is credited with the building of Djoser's step pyramid complex" Marc Van De Mieroop, a professor of history at Columbia University, told Live Science in an email. "There's an inscription with his name combined with that of Djoser in which he is called chief of sculptors. In later ancient Egypt he was considered a sage," Van De Mieroop added.

The Step Pyramid of Djoser is the oldest Pyramid in Egypt. Image Credit: Anton Petrus / Getty Images

Why Did The Egyptians Build Pyramids?

Researchers are still unsure exactly why pharaohs chose to use pyramids for their burials.

One reason may have been to provide added protection against tomb robbers. In earlier times robbers plundered pharaohs' low-rising mastaba tombs by burrowing in from the top, Egyptologist Reg Clark wrote in his book "Securing Eternity: Ancient Egyptian Tomb Protection from Prehistory to the Pyramids" (American University in Cairo Press, 2019). The step pyramid, with its six layers on top of each other, would have offered protection from this method, Clark wrote. "Many Egyptologists have suggested that the step pyramid formed a kind of 'stairway' for the king to ascend to the sky, but I suggest that [it was built] because it is the most efficient and economical way to create a virtual 'hemisphere' of protection over the underlying substructure," Clark told Live Science in an email.

Another important innovation was that stone was used to build the step pyramid, whereas the mastabas used by previous pharaoh were made of mudbrick; this was important as stone is harder to infiltrate, Clark noted.

Religious reasons may also have been an important factor. Miroslav Verner, a professor emeritus of Egyptology at Charles University in the Czech Republic, told Live Science in an email that "probably religious reasons were behind" the idea to build pyramids.

When Djoser came to power, the influence of the sun cult and the sun god Ra (also spelled Re) was increasing, Verner wrote in his book "The Pyramids: The Archaeology and History of Egypt's Iconic Monuments" (American University in Cairo Press, 2021). The sun cult's growing influence may have led to a desire to build structures that reached higher into the sky. Verner noted that a passage from a text dating back around 4,400 years said "may the sky make the sunlight strong for you, may you rise up to the sky as the Eye of Re" (Translation by Raymond Faulkner).

One question is whether a growing interest in the sun cult brought about the construction of the step pyramid, or whether the construction of the step pyramid brought about an increasing interest in the sun cult. "What came first, the egg or the chicken?" Massimiliano Nuzzolo, a researcher at the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, told Live Science in an email.

Nuzzolo thinks that interest in the solar cult grew after the construction of the step pyramid. "This incredible architectural enterprise may have also affected and somehow even pushed for a change in the religious ideology, eventually reflected on a major emphasis on the solar aspects of the kingship," Nuzzolo said.

The Bent Pyramid, built under ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Sneferu, is named for its unique angles. Image Credit: Getty Images

Built For A Millennium

Whatever the reasons for building pyramids, Egyptian pharaohs constructed them for more than a millennium. The pharaoh Sneferu (reign circa 2575 to 2551 B.C.) built the first true pyramids (pyramids with flat sides) at Dahshur. These consisted of the Bent Pyramid (so named because of its unusual angle) and the Red Pyramid (named after its color). The Great Pyramid at Giza, the only one of the seven ancient wonders of the world that still stands, was built by Khufu (reign circa 2551 to 2528 B.C.) while Khafre (reign circa 2520 to 2494 B.C.) built another large pyramid, along with the Great Sphinx, at Giza.

It's not clear why Egyptian pharaohs stopped building pyramids, but security concerns may have been part of it. Despite likely being harder to loot than mastabas, Egyptian pyramids were plundered in ancient times, and pharaohs may have hoped that building their tombs in the Valley of the Kings would make them harder to ransack. Additionally, the topography of the valley has a peak that today is called el-Qurn (sometimes spelled Gurn), which looks a bit like a natural pyramid.