#donald morris

[blackswaneuroparedux]

There was joyful chaos in the regimental mess rooms. None of the units was ready for overseas duty; there were families to resettle, debts to pay, equipment to purchase, and ranks to fill. Few of the junior officers had been on active service before, and the military outfitters did a thriving business on a cash basis. "When gentlemen are going out as you are, sir, it is always a case of ready money," said one tailor; and a bootmaker shook his head over Isandhlwana with: "Sad business, sir, very sad. We lost three customers by it." White's in Aldershot was filled with piles of freshly purchased buckets, pillows, canteens, valises, collapsible tubs, water filter bags, tables, chairs and bedsteads, all to be painted with the owner's name, rank and regiment and most of it perfectly useless on campaign.

- Donald R. Morris, The Washing of the Spears; The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation, 1965

The pith helmets of the Coldstream Guards, Grenadier Guards, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Fusiliers,  Royal Horse Guards, and the Indian Lancers.

These pith helmets belonging to these British Army regiments saw action in Sudan, Egypt, The Boer War, and British India.

[saintmalosunsets]

Scott Grimes and Eion Bailey in 'ER' (Ep: 11x15)

[realnormanosborn]

[sher-ee]

Story here ⬆️

[gyarucoded]

Loki s2 Ep 5 Review

this will be short but SPOILERS AHEAD

ok so this is basically the umbrella academy season 2 in one episode except nobody remembers shit (loki = five ?)

O.B IS SO PRECIOUS HELLO

casey being a fawking criminal on the time line is not what i was expecting, but what especially caught me off guard is that he is based on a real person 😭😭 helppp

b-15...just b-15 🥹

ofc mobius' son would want a snake, i can smell future scene of loki conjuring him one or something. also love how the other boy seems to be mischivious?? they are adorableee

btw yall i wouldn't really bother worrying if mobius is donald blake cuz let's not forget that in the sacred time line he was a scientist who used to date jane. thor merely used it as an alias, mobius is NOT thor alright

not loki getting nervous then checking if he looks good before approaching mobius 😭 my dude

was that a...confession? hmm

o.b is actually impressive

yess go off sylvie, call him out ! 💀

sylvie's arms 😵‍💫 good day to be a lesbian

what's up with the tension between o.b and casey..? this series is full of homosexuals /j

here we go with the parallels again, loki talking about why he wants the tva back (his friends/mobius) is highkey giving me deja vu about how mobius was dodging loki's questions about why he wouldn't leave the tva (i'm delusional)

not casey catching strays 😭 leave him alone damn

oh we are all getting infinity war flashbacks right.

ok this may be biased but why does it feel like loki is the current "main character" of the mcu? he's like the tony stark of phase 4-5. like, that power moment ???

and again, the soundtrack ‼️ we freakin love you natalie holt 🫶

[kzele]

TSSM What If. . .Ock Triggered The Bomb Earlier?

Summary: For once, Peter Parker is in crosshairs and is forced to become the hero. Naturally, this puts him back in the crosshairs by reminding him just WHY he has two separate IDs.

Peter was used to being dismissed by adults. They took one look at his face and saw his age instead of him as a person. So when Mr. Osborn politely told him to get lost, he would've normally taken it stride. If it had been about normal business stuff, that is. Norman had practically superglued himself to Peter's side whenever they were in the same room for just about everything else he forced the teenager into. Be it brain-frying corporate meetings or neat trips and lab experiments.

Heck, considering he had been essentially browbeaten into accepting this "apprenticeship," Peter might've been ecstatic to get away and, you know, RELAX AROUND CHRISTMAS. But, noooo. Not with Norman Osborn. Because Norman Osborn doesn't have fun. He has money.

Alright, maybe that was a bit unfair to think about the senior Osborn like that, because he was and has always been MUCH nicer to Peter than apparently everyone on the planet. (Which brings up its own problems where Harry is concerned.)

But that's not the point here.

The real point is that Norman's assistant/flunky Donald Menken, who either doesn't like Peter or ignores everybody with an income below 250k as standard procedure, was going to say something about Toomes aka Big Bird's goth grandpa.

Ever since the guy escaped from prison along with his buddies, he's been laying low for some time. Which is quite an accomplishment if we're taking into account all his very public past murder attempts. The first of which he literally screamed at his target before attacking. Despite his flight suit being almost completely silent in use. And having the element of surprise already. It sucks to know that his villains were learning subtlety. Or just learning in general.

Annnd since the Vulture is nowhere to be found, any information about the jerk is necessary. Unfortunately, arguing the point with Norman isn't going to get anywhere. Not unless you can count ticking him off as "getting somewhere." And Peter would rather not do that. . .Especially when he could just sneak back in and eavesdrop, regardless of his marching orders. Lots of pillars to hide behind plus his enhanced hearing will hopefully equal one enlightened spider.

Peter produced the expected agreement and made it about two steps before-

His brain was on fire. Spider sense!

"Nonononono, countdown activated! Thirty seconds to implosion!"

The teen whipped his around to see Morris the demolition guy frantically inputting what could only be the deactivation codes.

Norman was firm, "Shut. It. Down."

The timer didn't even slow.

Well, crap.

He basically teleported himself next to the panicking blond right at that moment.

Okay, focus and then think. It didn't seem likely that this was an accident but even if this was supreme bad luck, the codes were shown to not work. Bomb squad would be clean up by that point. Revealing himself as Spidey and saving everyone would endanger his loved ones regardless of whether he survives this or not. But Peter couldn't do this. He couldn't save everyone in time as just plain, old Peter Parker. He couldn't. . .

Wait. In time?

Of course. The timer.

Peter was done thinking in seconds and relayed his thoughts, "Mr. Bench! Can you reset the timer?!"

"I'll-I'll try," the frazzled man nodded as he worked.

But the machine was only on the new time for moment before it reverted back to half a minute. Somehow, it felt almost mocking in its false hope.

"It-it wo-won't-"

"Is there a manual way to disable the timer so it can't revert back," Peter asked in a voice calmer than he felt.

Morris' voice was almost inaudible, "Blue wire at the bottom right of the screen. Pull that when I go again."

And then there was waiting. . .

Waiting. . .

. . .

. . .

Now!

"NOW!"

And then there was silence.

29:59. . .29:58. . .29:57

He would've collapsed onto the old and dirty tenement floor right then like Morris. (And Menken, too, if the gasping sounds from behind were an indication.) But his adrenaline hadn't worn off and the danger was still present the longer they stayed here if the muted buzzing in his cranium meant anything.

"Well done, son."

Norman Osborn's approving smile followed Peter the rest of the way out of the building.

End of Part I

Next Time (possibly) : Ock Goes WTF happened and Peter Receives the Credit for All The Things. Also, Stalking Ensues.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Ben Cohen

As Morris explains it, the dilemma for Israel revolves around how to withdraw from the West Bank without turning it into a Hamas stronghold. Israel has been able to weather two decades of rocket and missile attacks from Gaza, but similar salvos from Ramallah, which is just a short drive from Tel Aviv, would amount to an “existential threat,” Morris said. “In the West Bank, there is no way of assuring the benign nature of a Palestinian state,” he said. “They want all of Palestine. That’s the essence of the problem.” Additionally, Morris has little faith in international guarantees, citing Hezbollah’s refusal to move its armed forces north of Lebanon’s Litani River, as part of a broader disarmament process envisioned by UN Security Council Resolution 1701 of Aug. 2006, as an example of the difficulty of implementing compromises that are not enforced.

“The sense among Israelis is that, along with the rapes of Oct. 7, Israel itself was raped,” Morris said. “The world didn’t seem to care about that, and there was an instant rise in antisemitic abuse and anti-Israel rhetoric even before the military response.” The political context is also changing, he observed. “The further away the western world gets from the Holocaust, particularly the younger generations, the less they know and care about World War II,” he said. At the same time, “Islam contains a large antisemitic element” that stems from the bombastic accounts in the Qur’an of the battles in the seventh century between the Jewish tribes of Hijaz and the prophet Muhammad and his followers. “There’s this inherent anti-Jewish element that’s been reinforced by Israel’s existence in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries,” Morris said. “Israel is an innovation in that sense  — a Jewish state projecting power at the Muslims. That was not the situation for 1400 years since the rise of Islam.”

Israel’s future moves in this environment will be largely determined by its government. Morris does not believe that elections, which are not due for another three years, will be called early, blaming that on the “combination of crooks and cowards supporting Netanyahu.”

[jimothy-hopkins]

Instead of crying on Christmas Eve I’m choosing a more positive route.

[saintmalosunsets]

Scott Grimes sings ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’

[realnormanosborn]

[onebadpunspoilsabunch]

well that escalated

[art--me]

Evening Walk. 20 Years After the End of the Nuclear War. Digital Painting. HD Prints

[strazcenter]

It’s a Time-Honored, Familiar Classic. Use It Everywhere!

One year ago in this very blog, we nominated “Nut Rocker” as a candidate to join the batch of holiday songs with which we’re currently being bombarded. We contended that this lively, rock and rolling interpretation of The Nutcracker would give all of us a two-minute respite from Mariah and George and Elvis and Bing and everyone else on that too-tight playlist of songs you are legally required to…

[art-4-sale]

Simple Art - Posters & Canvas Prints

[xtruss]

Behind Maui Wildfires: US is Never a Positive Agent in Climate Change Fight

— Anthony Moretti | August 16, 2023

Illustration: Xia Qing/Global Times

Maui, one of the most awe-inspiring places on Earth, has been devastated. Horrible fires - exacerbated by increasing temperatures and drought associated with climate change - have turned this paradise into something resembling a war zone. The pictures do not lie.

Fair or not, because climate change showed up in such a brutal way on Maui, a place the rich (and perhaps not so rich) consider one of their playgrounds, the challenge to re-create paradise will be carefully watched. Much like the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, damaged by fire more than four years ago, it has to be repaired perfectly - because global audiences are demanding it - Maui will have to be made perfect, or as close to it, because global eyes are watching.

This is the short-term problem: Make Maui great again. And compared to the long-term problem, it will be the easier one to handle. The more vexing, time-consuming and difficult challenge is combating climate change, and there is legitimate worry across the globe that the US is not committed to addressing it.

Unfortunately, President Joe Biden and his administration are not doing enough to be a force for good as burning wildfires and intense heat continue to define the summer of 2023. Yes, his administration has committed $370 billion to clean energy and other climate-supporting projects, which have also spurred job growth. On top of that, one of the more symbolic, but important, steps the White House recently took was sending climate envoy John Kerry to China. There, he examined with Chinese officials a variety of ways the two countries can ensure a safer climate for decades to come.

Yet, Biden has not used his so-called Bully Pulpit, the power that comes with being president and therefore framing the narrative on specific issues, to spur oil companies to do the right thing. A recent New York Times editorial called out big oil for "prioritizing dividends, share buybacks and continued fossil fuel production over increasing their clean energy investments" as this fact "suggests they are unable or unwilling to power the transition forward." Audiences must ask if those words "unable or unwilling" also apply to the president: Why is he not saying forcefully and often that oil companies must champion newer and cleaner energies? If he will not demand more, then who will? And if he will not do it now, then what will the ramifications be in the years to come?

And remember that there are darker clouds on the horizon. On the one hand, results from a recent Pew Research Center poll indicate Americans are aware of the problems associated with climate change and the opportunities the US could take to address it. However, almost one-in-three respondents still wanted the US to continue investing in what can be described in 20th century energy sources such as oil and coal.

Let's take these somewhat sanitary data and summarize them this way: Should Republicans are given the majority in the House of Representatives and Senate in 2024, the US will not be at the epicenter in the fight for a healthier, greener and sustainable planet.

With Republicans running Washington, the aforementioned climate envoy John Kerry will be sent into retirement. The global community, including organizations such as the United Nations, will be laughed at when it calls on the US to engage in meaningful conversations about the climate.

Not possible? It is definitely possible. Forget for a moment whether Donald Trump is the Republican presidential nominee in 2024. Keep in mind that he maintains a vise-like hold on the party; even if someone else is chosen to challenge President Biden in the general election, no Republican who hopes to maintain his or her political power can stray from Trump's beliefs. And one of those beliefs is that climate change is nonsense.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that climate change is real and is causing havoc across the globe and despite America clinging to an outdated idea that it is a place of "exceptionalism," there is no promise that political elites will lead on the issue. Closely related to this, there is no certainty that the public will rally to the cause. If the world's current No.1 economy draws a conclusion that it can remain in that spot by ignoring climate change, then the world can forget about the US being a positive agent in the fight against climate change.

— The author is an Associate Professor at the Department of Communication and Organizational Leadership at Robert Morris University.