#historical maribal

[boldlyanxious]

Duke and Dash

Accidental Cinderella au

Masterlist

"This is a terrible idea, Alya. We are going to be caught,” Marinette whispered urgently.

Alya turned and looked at her, reaching out she lifted Marinette so her back was straight and lifted her head from under her chin.

“No one will notice the difference. I have to be here if I am to keep up my paper. Everyone who reads me wants to know everything that is happening at the masquerade.”

“But what if we are discovered? What will happen to our parents or to Nino?” Marinette fretted. “How did you even convince him to sneak us in? He just got the job as the minstrel. Surely he will be suspected first.”

Alya’s eyes danced as she responded, “I was able to persuade him.”

“I’m sure you were. I bet there would be a scandal if anyone knew how persuasive you were.”

They silenced their voices as there was a commotion across the room. The crowd was entering and everyone was clamoring for a chance to mingle. This was their opportunity to sneak in without anyone seeing them. Moving quickly, they joined the crowd and no one even noticed them. The crowd was packed too tight for them to see much beyond those near them, but they were not particularly concerned. They were just here so Alya could continue writing about what happened at the ball. The reactions of others were far more important and they would do well to stay away from the guests who wanted attention. There would be too much scrutiny for their ruse to survive.

The conversation was exhausting, if she were honest. She would be content to sit back and admire all the clothing of the rich and powerful people here. She could embellish her dresses as much as she wanted but she could never hope to afford such luxurious fabrics. The fact that she had managed to get ahold of the fabric for this dress was a fluke. Lady Kagami was supposed to go but she was using the opportunity to sneak away. It was why she had commissioned Marinette to make the dress and she had put in a good word for Nino to join the minstrels. She wanted to become a knight but her mother was pushing for her to get married into a good family. The rumor was that the Duke would be returning to find a wife so Lady Tsurugi was determined for her daughter to meet him.

Even with the mask, Marinette felt fully exposed every time someone raised an eyebrow at her response. She didn’t know enough about what she was supposed to say to know what she was even doing wrong. All the conversation to her felt forced but it seemed to be so easy for everyone else. She felt like everyone was watching her because her bright red gown was out of place while the other ladies were all in muted colors that fit nicely with the deep colors the men wore. She stuck out by her attire and her behavior so she moved towards a hallway to escape notice. There was a garden with a paved path and flowers all around. The candles lit a pathway and she followed it, breathing in the fragrant aroma. She had always wanted to visit this garden but it was off limits to her.

She was alone for several minutes before a voice interrupted her thoughts. She turned suddenly, panicking at the intrusion. She had heard no footsteps but before her was a man all in black. His mask stuck out from his face bringing his eyes into focus but surrounded by sharp points like the wings of a bat. It was so different from her soft mask that laid against her face. The red of the mask matched her dress and the black lace pattern on the edge matched the lace that formed the ladybug spots across the dress. The delicate gauzy material that formed split cape wings from her shoulders was also used to make a hair piece that formed antennae above her head. The look was finished with long black gloves that nearly touched the loose off the shoulder sleeves.

“I didn’t expect to find anyone else out here,” his voice was soft and deep.

“Oh,” she said, stepping back. She hadn’t expected him to be so tall. “I could leave. I just needed a moment alone and it was so lovely.”

“It seems that a ladybug is in the natural spot surrounded by flowers.”

“I suppose that is true, but the night gives way for the right of bats to have territory.”

“That is also true. If we both have the right then I suppose we both may stay here.”

She stepped away and sat on a nearby bench.

“I appreciate that. I enjoy the quiet here.”

It could have been awkward. Maybe even should have been but it was nice. Marinette slipped out her design book and started drawing based on what she could remember of the clothing she had seen. She rarely had the opportunity to see such fine attire. She may see regular day clothes for the nobility but tonight they were in their finery to outdo each other and it was magnificent. She continued for quite some time, forgetting that she wasn’t alone until the batman spoke again.

“You have some skill with that. You must have had a good teacher to learn drawing so well.”

He was watching her closely. She wondered how long he had been watching her. She didn’t know if he was sincere. Insincerity as a slight was second nature to many of the nobility but his eyes didn’t seem to hold contempt as she was accustomed to.

“I was not trained to draw. I just found I enjoy doing it,” she said.

He sat on the bench next to her and reached out his hand, silently requesting to see what she had drawn. She passed it over and he flipped through the pages for a few minutes before handing it back to her. She tried not to suck in her breath as their fingers brushed together.

“I was trained for many years and that is a far better skill than I ever managed.”

They went silent again for a few moments. She didn’t know if it was considered rude to remain silent. Perhaps she was expected to present a conversation topic for them but she had no thoughts on it. She enjoyed sitting in silence without having to work to think of the right thing to say. She may have outed herself by saying nothing though because after their brief pause, he cleared his throat. She looked over apprehensively, expecting him to get angry and have her dragged out of the party for masquerading as a noble.

“It grows late,” he said, “I find myself in danger of breaking a promise.”

“Please, don’t let me hold you up. I am fine here on my own.”

“I prefer being here. I also found the party a little too much for me. But I made a promise to dance tonight and there is only one young lady I wish to dance with.”

Marinette stood and faced him, leaving her small book on the bench.

“If you remember anything about her, I could try to locate her for you,” she was definitely showing her deference here at trying to meet the needs of a noble.

“I would like that very much,” he said. He stood as well. “She was the most beautiful woman at the party but I don’t think you will find her in there anymore.”

He took a step towards her, bringing an arm up to her elbow. She could feel the heat from his fingertips through her long gloves. His thumb brushed against the lace at the top.

“Everyone in the room noticed her beauty and they were buzzing with envy. Her smile was sweet and her eyes were bright blue.”

“I will look around. It is good you were able to see the eyes since everyone was in a mask. Do you remember any other details about her or her clothing?”

“Her dress,” he paused, stepping even closer. She looked up at him and he was looking down at her with something in his eyes that she couldn’t place. He leaned closer before he whispered, “it was the most lovely shade of red.”

She was dazed when he whispered near her ear. She could feel her cheeks heat up at the movement of his face near her. She had never been so close to a man she wasn’t related to. She was flooded with feelings she didn’t recognize even before she registered what he had said. Her mouth froze into an oh and her eyes were wide. She was not only wearing red, but she had been the only person in attendance wearing red. His hand slid from her elbow down to take her hand in his. He positioned his feet and placed his other hand at her waist.

She moved stiffly into the formal dancing position. She had learned as a child but it was mostly play for her. She had not had actual instruction or any expectation of learning the steps. It was just for fun as the children of the servants liked to pretend they were suddenly swept away into the court. She enjoyed dancing but she had always done far more on her own than as the partner of someone who knew the steps. She didn’t even realize she was looking down at her feet to make sure she didn’t step on his until he used his hand to tilt her head up.

“Just follow me. I’ll steer you. Close your eyes if it helps.”

She closed her eyes and she could hear the music in the distance. She leaned slightly closer and followed his movement. She was lost in the feeling. He started speaking, telling her about his childhood and his hopes for the future. She felt like she was swimming or still dancing but he had stopped and was watching her. There was nothing she could say about her childhood or her plans of the future that would not give her away. Her childhood had been vastly different and her plans for the future were more modest than anything that he would expect.

“It is customary to remove the mask at some point in the evening,” he said as he reached for his own. “I hope you will be happy with the man you find behind it.”

He removed his mask before she comprehended what was happening. His blue eyes watched hers and his black hair fell down over his forehead. She was stunned. He was possibly the most attractive man she had ever seen and she knew that for a fact because she had seen him before. Her parents worked as bakers in the kitchens here. She would often help them and she knew him as he grew up. Not personally, definitely not. The baker’s daughter was only suited to be friends with the children of the chef and the maids. She would never have played with Bruce Wayne, the son of the Duke. Not the son anymore. His parents had died when he was a child leaving him with the title. He had left not long after for schooling only to return now.

She stumbled backwards, falling over in her hurry. She didn’t look back as he called out to her. She pushed herself up off the ground and ran, holding her skirts up to help her get away. He was chasing after her but she turned off onto a darker pathway and made her way to the back entrance where her parents were probably already asleep. They would probably have expected her to sleep over with Alya, knowing that they had a tendency to stay up giggling far too late for the wake time of their parents. Some days they would both have to work early with their parents but they did allow them the occasional freedom to sleep late.

She was quiet as she carefully removed the dress. She hoped that the fall had not damaged it. It had been expensive and she expected that Lady Kagami might need it returned to her one day. She put on her nightgown and crawled onto her pallet to sleep. She didn’t sleep though. She laid awake for hours thinking. The whispers around the house were that the Duke had to return to be married. He would lose his land and titles if he didn’t settle down and marry. The expectation was that all the marriageable ladies would be in attendance at the ball and he would pick one lucky lady to be his duchess.

But he had revealed himself to Marinette and she was not a lady. She fell into a fitful sleep just as the day was dawning. It was far too soon when she woke up to voices. Not just her parents' voices. She splashed water on her face and pulled her dress over her head. She could hear footsteps coming and even if her parents allowed her the day to sleep late, it would not be acceptable for anyone else to find her this way. She slid on her shoes and tucked her hair into a scarf covering her hair. The dress she tucked into the pillow so it wouldn’t be discovered by her parents. She slid her hand into the pocket to find her notebook to discover it wasn’t there.

She suddenly realized where she had left it just as the door opened. Her mother looked around and motioned for her to follow. Her parents looked serious and she immediately realized why. Sitting at their table was the butler from upstairs, sipping tea. He watched Marinette as she walked out but he continued making casual conversation with her father. Her mother was pretending everything was fine but Marinette could tell that she was nervous. She tended to love having guests. She would bring out a tray of cakes and tea and sit but now she was moving more slowly and shaking slightly.

Marinette took the tray for her and placed it on the table.

“That won’t be necessary,” Mr Pennyworth said. He was still watching her for any reaction. “We will be leaving.”

He stood and walked to the door and the three of them stayed in their places.

“If you would all follow me,” he said.

Marinette kept her face neutral as she felt her parents turn to look at her. This wasn’t fair to them. She would have to find a way to keep them out of trouble for her mistakes. Hopefully Alya and Lady Kagami had been spared any connection to her being there and her parents could convincingly say they were completely unaware and it would sound right because it was true. It took several minutes walking through the corridors and up several flights of stairs before they arrived in the library.

There was tea laid out and Mr Pennyworth motioned for them to sit. He handed out cups of tea and offered cakes that they had prepared themselves but were far fancier than they had in their own apartment. Her father was stoic and held his mug out but her mother immediately put hers on the table, unable to hold it steady. Marinette took a hesitant sip. She had just woken up and expected she would need the tea to fortify her.

“Do you perhaps recognize this?”

Mr Pennyworth took her drawing book and put it before them on the table. Of course they recognized it. They had proudly given it to her on her last birthday. It had been a very expensive gift but they wanted to encourage her in her love of the fashions as they were able. They probably regretted it now. They certainly would not be proud when they heard about what she had done.

“That belongs to my daughter,” her father said. She knew to let him speak first or risk insulting everyone by speaking out of turn. “She takes it with her everywhere. I am certain if she lost it. it was an honest mistake.”

“Oh Papa,” she said in a small voice. “I’m so sorry.”

She paused before taking a breath and looking up.

“Please, my parents would never have allowed me to go where I wasn’t allowed. They had no idea. Don’t punish them for my transgressions.”

He walked right in front of her and her parents watched her horrified as he listed them out in front of them.

“You do admit that you snuck into the masquerade ball last night,” she nodded. “You wandered into the garden where you are not allowed to be.” She nodded again. “You danced and conversed with a gentleman knowing that he had now knowledge of your lack of rank.”

She looked at her parents' faces to see the horror and disappointment at her behavior.

“It is all true,” she said. “I did everything you said and all without my parent’s knowing. If they had known, they would have done whatever it took to stop me, including turning me in for my own protection.”

“You believe she is the same one, sir?”

The butler had turned to address the Duke as he entered the library as silently as he had the garden last night.

“I am certain it is her,” he said.

The room was still for a beat until Mr Pennyworth turned back and addressed her parents.

“I am sure you know that this is very serious,” he paused as they nodded. Marinette looked down and tried to keep the hot tears from slipping down her face. “The Duke has returned as many have likely speculated to seek a marriage. This has become complicated because after last night he says he will marry no one,” he paused dramatically and fixed his eyes on them and then pointed at Marinette, “except her.”

Her parents both tried to talk at once but Marinette couldn’t get over her shock until the Duke came over to her and knelt down.

“I know we just met, but I felt more comfortable with you in a few hours than I have with anyone in my life. Would you do me the honor of marrying me?”

“I am not a noble, what business would I have marrying a Duke?”

“If you want to say no, say that but if you want to say yes, I swear to you I will make it happen.”

“I want to say yes,” she looked beside her at her parents and they were nodding in agreement.

“Then, we shall be married.”

He pulled her up to stand in front of him and lightly kissed her cheek. Then he pulled a ring out of his jacket.

“This was my mother’s.”

She looked down at it. There were glittering stones set in it, but all she noticed was the engraved ladybug design.

[regexkind]

Do-Mi-Do Binge (Guest Article)

In 1953, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T was released to American audiences. They did not want it, and that reflects poorly on them. If released today, I'm confident that it would electrify the soft, sad freaks on this unprofitable website.

Near the conclusion of the film, our villain, Dr. Terwilliker, sings a number where he implores his tailors to dress him up for his glorious triumph:

It's an...incredible song. My wife Lal is stepping in as a guest writer here and has shared her thoughts:

The outfit Dr. Terwilliker has planned for his villainous denouement is probably composed of the goofiest sounding phrases Dr. Seuss could come up with. After all, most kids would have no idea what half this stuff was! But let’s take the song seriously and see where it leads us:

Dress me in my silver garters, dress me in my diamond studs.

We’re starting off reasonable here. Garters hold your socks up, studs keep your collar down, and diamond and silver are perfectly normal fancy materials.

Cause I'm going do-mi-do-ing in my do-mi-do duds! I want my undulating undies with the maribou frills!

And here we’re already taking a turn. We are not going to discuss the “undulating” part, but maribou- you see that on old-timey rich widow robes. Those are those sheer robes with feather trim- so Dr. T’s underwear are probably boxer-brief sheer mesh with matching rows of feathers, at minimum at the waist and legs, but as this is a Dr. Seuss movie, probably continuing in stripes over the whole surface of the underwear. Not practical.

I want my beautiful bolero with the porcupine quills!

A bolero is a short jacket, originally associated with bullfighting, but later an article of women’s clothing. Surprisingly, Dr. T is quite hip and with it! Five Thousand Fingers came out in ‘53, and boleros only came on scene in 1950, apparently with the arrival of strapless dresses (via The Gundron, 1954). As you can see from this picture from ‘56, the historical bolero is longer and looser than its modern equivalent, but still, the porcupine quills pose… a problem.

We have also embarked on a theme we will be hearing a lot of in Do Mi Do Duds: women’s clothing!

I want my purple nylon girdle with the orange blossom buds

A girdle is the modern version of the corset, and while occasionally worn by men, is mostly associated with women. Nylon would have been rather a new fabric at the time, so very modern! The orange blossom buds could pose their own complication. Unless they are a print, they would prevent the outer clothing from lying smoothly. But as we will see, Dr. T. intends to wear so many layers that the point is probably moot.

Note that orange blossoms, as in the blossoms of orange trees, are white, so the color combination is not as garish as one might expect, but don’t worry, we’ll more than make up for it later.

Cause I'm going do-mi-do-ing in my do-mi-do duds!

Yes, we know.

Come on and dress me! dress me! dress me! In my peek-a-boo blouse With the lovely inter-lining made of Chesapeake mouse!

“Peek-a-boo blouse” is one of those terms that means different things to different people. It can refer to a great many cuts and styles, but in general, a peek-a-boo blouse is either made of a sheer fabric or has flirty little cut-outs. We’re going to go with the second option, because “sheer” doesn’t work well with “mouse fur lining.”

So… Cleavage windows. Dr. Terwilliker wants cleavage windows.

Let’s back up to that mouse for a minute. Fur was a lot less controversial in the fifties than today, but think about how many mice it would take to line a blouse, even one with cleavage windows, and the kind of casual cruelty involved in suggesting such a thing. Also, Chesapeake mouse isn’t a real thing. It doesn’t refer to any variety or species, it’s just mice. From the Chesapeake region.

I want my polka-dotted dickey with the crinoline fringe For I'm going do-mi-do-ing on a do-mi-do binge!

Everyone laughs at this part, but it’s a real thing, I swear! You may have seen a dickey, particularly in an old movie or cartoon, and not known what it was. It’s a false shirt front, generally fabric and occasionally plastic- God knows which Dr. T wants- worn with a tuxedo or formal suit, neither of which Terwilliker at any point asks for. Possibly he intends to wear it under the peek-a-boo blouse.

Dickeys are traditionally mens' clothing, but once again Terwilliker is queering the binary because crinolines are women’s clothing- fluffy tulle underskirts to make your dress stick out all nice. Dickeys also made a foray into women’s fashion about ten years before Five Thousand Fingers was produced. I blame WWII fabric rationing.

So, does Dr. T. want a man’s or a woman’s shirt front? I don’t know, and neither do his tailors, and that’s why they’re ignoring him! Either way, it‘s going to be hideous, with polka dots and tulle ruffles sticking out from the sides, looking worse than an eighties prom tux and making it obvious just how fake this whole thing is.

This, only worse.

I want my lavender spats and in addition to them I want my honey-colored gusset with the herringbone hem

The lavender spats are about the only thing in the song we actually see Terwilliker wearing! Spats are just decorative shoe covers. You’d see them towards the end of the dickey era, maybe late nineteenth century to the early forties. 

A gusset… You can’t wear a gusset. Like, it’s a part of clothing, but you wouldn’t ask to wear a bell bottom cuff, would you? (Well, if you were Dr. T. you would.) A gusset is a feature of a garment designed to improve fit, like a dart- one of those little tuck-and-release jobbies especially common to well-made women’s clothing because ladies have curves. 

Herringbone is a very fine, detailed pattern you see on nice suits and business clothes. Theoretically, you could cut and fold some herringbone fabric to make a border for a gusset, but why would you? They’re supposed to be invisible, to blend in! Once again, Dr. T.’s tailors are (wisely) ignoring him.

This little rhombodial-diamond thing in the armpit is a gusset. Useful if your expensive blouse has gotten just a bit too tight!

I want my softest little jacket made of watermelon suede

This is two jackets at once. And a fur-lined shirt. Where is that giant piano, the Arctic?

I am just going to assume watermelon refers to the color. I don’t even want to think about how you make suede from a melon rind.

And my long persimmon placket with the platinum braid

A placket is like a gusset in that you can’t just wear one! It’s part of something else, for God’s sake! And you have to specify where you want it! A placket is a slit. Just a slit. Generally at the neckline, in a sleeve or in the top of trousers or a skirt. Whatever Terwilliker is paying his tailors, it’s not enough. Especially since it’s in pastoolas.

We’ll assume the platinum braid is a trim. It has an eighteenth century military vibe. Persimmon has to refer to the color. This whole outfit is tending kind of pastel, and, dare I say, it, pretty fruity.

I want my leg of mutton sleeves and in addition to those

What are the sleeves attached to, Terwilliker? Do you care to share that? Or do you just want them flapping around?

Leg of mutton sleeves are, again, very nineteenth century and very femme. They’re these things, named because they have the same shape as a cooked sheep leg:

(Not always this big, but since when does Dr. T. do subtle?)

I want my cutie chamois booties with the leopard skin bows

They’re booties, so they’re short, and they’re booties, so they’re femme. 

And again with the casual slaughter of endangered animals! We’re going to have to be careful to put the bows low on the toes to avoid getting in the way of the spats.

I want my pink brocaded bodice with the floofy fuzzy ruffs

Finally, something we can attach those sleeves to. It goes well with them: it’s ornate, old fashioned and extremely feminine. Granted, I tend to think Baroque rather than Victorian when it comes to brocade, and furniture or waistcoats rather than dresses, but we’re queering the gender binary, so why not the timeline too?

Close up of brocade from Wikipedia. Gold brocade is the most familiar, but sure, let’s go with a pink ground. 

And my gorgeous bright blue bloomers

Essentially, Terwilliker is asking for two pairs of underwear. What does he think is going to happen today? 

With the monkey feather cuffs

I have no idea what this is.

I want my organdy snood and in addition to that

A snood is a fancy, old-timey hair net. Organdy is a stiff, sheer fabric; you could do worse. 

Dr. T. has short hair. Why does he want a snood? What is he going to do with it?

I want my chiffon Mother Hubbard lined with Hudson Bay rat

Bag. It’s a bag. More specifically, a Mother Hubbard is another nineteenth century creation, this time long and shapeless and designed for house cleaning. Chiffon is a fancy, light party dress fabric. It would be like Dr. Terwilliker asking for his “silky satin sweatpants.” It just makes no sense.

Again: imaginary East Coast rodents. With all these layers and furs, he’s got to be roasting. We keep seeing Dr. Terwilliker asking for fancy things in ways that make absolutely no sense, and along with the “poison ivy walls” in Victorious it seems like he’s reaching for the trappings of wealth and prestige without really understanding what makes them fit together.

Dahling, you are so new money.

Dress me up from top to bottom, dress me up from tip to toe

Yeah, uh-huh, we get the picture.

Dress me up in silk and spinach for today is do-mi-do day!

Now you’re just being silly. Stop being silly.

DO-MI-DO DAY! So come and dress me in the blossoms of a million pink trees!

I’ve never seen a pink tree, and now I know why. (Note: the trees are pink. What color are the blossoms? Who knows.)  That’s a whole generation of seeds that simply won’t exist. And you thought the Onceler was bad!

Also, a million bottle caps is enough to fill half a school gym. If each blossom has three times the volume of a bottle cap and cannot be compressed for fear of damaging it, and if each tree has three or four hundred flowers… We’re gonna need a bigger piano room.

Come on and dress me up in liverwurst! and camembert cheese!

Liverwurst is a soft, disgusting sausage. It might be wearable in links, as a sash or garland. Camembert cheese is similar to Brie. How Terwilliker intends to wear it I don’t know.

Come on and dress me up in pretzels, 

If they’re large, soft pretzels (those are the good kind anyways), we could maybe hang them off Terwilliker’s ears like earrings or Bronze Age ear ornaments?

dress me up in bock beer suds

No. Just no. Absolutely not. The foam will dissolve and soak all the other clothes and ruin everything and stink something awful.

Cause I'm gooooo-ing-- do-mi-dooooooooo-ing-- in my do-mi-do duds! 

In conclusion, Dr. Terwilliker’s proposed outfit contains 23 elements, all but two of which are roundly disregarded by his tailors. He lists them off in no discernible order, but when they are sorted:

11 are articles of women’s clothing or components thereof

5 are at least a decade out of fashion, and often from the last century

6 aren’t even clothing and 5 of those are actually food

If Terwilliker’s instructions were followed, he would wind up wearing:

A fancy hair net

Two blouses

A third, fake blouse

Two jackets

A dress

Two layers of rodent fur

A corset lite (™)

Two pairs of underwear

No pants

A weird charcuterie board

A bunch of flowers

Boots with boot protectors

Every single element of this mess is *fancy*! Fur! Feathers! Flowers! Silver! Chiffon!All the luxury of wealth with none of the discretion! A complete lack of practicality! Do-Mi-Do Day is meant to be a triumph, not just over piano-hating little boys, but because it forces the world to recognize Terwilliker as Elite and his Academy as an Institution!

[tongoamedia]

In the midst of solemn news regarding the untimely passing of Kevin Kiptum which we discussed on the latest Sports Corner episode,, the sports world is still reeling from the loss. However, amidst this, a flurry of events has unfolded across Kenya this week. Let’s dive into the highlights:Headlights– Illicit Brew Tragedy Claims 20 Lives in Kirinyaga County– Forgery Scandal Exposes Corruption in Government Parastatals– Kenya’s Economy Sees Shilling Surge Against Dollar– Legal Updates: Rita Waeni Case and Jacque Maribe Appeal– Raila Odinga Declares Candidacy for AU Commission Chairmanship– President Ruto Receives Historic White House Invitation

[anapaualar]

Historical Events of Water Conservation

plays in sustaining life and supporting civilizations. Here are some significant historical events related to water conservation:

Indus Valley Civilization (circa 3300-1300 BCE): One of the earliest recorded instances of water management and conservation was seen in the Indus Valley. The civilization featured a well-planned city layout with a sophisticated system of canals and reservoirs for water storage and distribution.

Ancient Rome (c. 753 BC - 476 AD): The Romans were renowned for their aqueducts and extensive water supply systems. These innovations not only provided water for public baths and fountains but also ensured efficient distribution and conservation of water resources.

The Marib Dam (8th century BC - 5th century AD): In what is now Yemen, the Marib Dam was one of the oldest known dams in the world. This dam helped control the flow of the Wadi Dhahr river, conserving water for irrigation and supporting agriculture.

The Anasazi in the American Southwest (circa 700-1300 AD): Native American tribes like the Anasazi developed ingenious systems for water conservation in arid regions. They built check dams and terraced fields to capture and manage rainfall.

The Karez System in Persia (c. 500 BC - 2nd century AD): The Karez system is an underground aqueduct that was used for water conservation and distribution in arid regions of Iran. It involves digging tunnels to capture groundwater and transport it for various uses.

The California Water Wars (late 19th-early 20th century): Water scarcity and disputes over water rights led to conflicts like the California Water Wars. Efforts to regulate water use and conserve resources emerged from these disputes.

The Green Revolution (mid-20th century): The Green Revolution, which began in the mid-20th century, involved the development of high-yield crop varieties and modern agricultural practices. These advancements were aimed at improving food production while reducing water usage, contributing to water conservation.

These historical events and examples illustrate the long-standing human concern for water conservation and the development of techniques and policies aimed at addressing water-related challenges. Water conservation remains a vital issue in modern times, as the world grapples with a growing population and increasing water stress.

[gement]

Bruce Wayne: any religion you want, really

So for Reasons, I had to figure out Bruce Wayne’s religious affiliations or lack thereof. The resulting tangle was impressive, and mostly left me going, “Comics authors sure fail to think through the implications of their backstory decisions a lot!” I meant to do a full fancy post with a dozen citations. I have misplaced all of those citations and the hour has come, so I’m going to wing it and tell you what I’ve got with no evidence whatsoever. Anyone who wants to throw them on in replies (either “here’s the issue where” or “here’s a good clearinghouse article”) is obviously welcome.

1) The Waynes (historically) are definitely Episcopalian, both by the general religious affiliations of their location/race/class and the crosses in most depictions of his parents’ graves.

2) Frank Miller made him Catholic. But Frank Miller makes a lot of people Catholic. Most people who make him Catholic do so via his mother, and let Thomas Wayne stay Episcopalian.

3) Kate Kane is Jewish. Kate Kane, his cousin via his mother’s brother, is practicing Jewish with Jewish parents and had a Bat Mitzvah and everything. Kate Kane is almost definitely Jewish via a family tree that makes Bruce Wayne matrilineally Jewish, and the nature of that inheritance is he doesn’t have to claim it if he doesn’t want to, but yeah, he is as Jewish as he says he is. Even if he wakes up tomorrow feeling Jewish and has never said it before in his life.

4) Bruce Wayne claimed in a 2018 comic to have ditched faith when his parents died, so he can also be as atheist as you want him to be.

5) Bruce Wayne did the whole world-tour weeks-of-silent-meditation thing, so if you want him to have latched onto Zen philosophy, it’s entirely defensible; it doesn’t require belief in any new gods and the principle of Right Action is very large in his life whether or not he formally subscribes to it.

---

None of these things have to conflict except possibly “which one he subscribes to at this exact moment,” and even then several of them can stack. The stickiest possible point is his mother’s faith, and this is the very easy path that makes all of these things true, courtesy of my nerdy Canadian first reader, Maribou:

In Montreal in particular, and many other cities in general, there are both large Catholic and large Jewish populations, which were crammed close together by societal prejudice for a long time and which had multiple wealthy and powerful families of their own even under that stress, such as the Bronfmans. There were a lot of intermarriages, and a common result was children being encouraged to choose a religious path after a thorough education in their parents’ options. (Basically, “It’s time to schedule either your Confirmation or your Bat Mitzvah, which venue should we book?”)

So a Bronfman woman and a Kane man could easily have married and had a bunch of kids including Martha Kane and Jacob Kane. Martha may (or may not!) have picked a Confirmation. Jacob definitely picked a Bar Mitzvah. All of these things can be true.

When I was discussing this with a Jewish person, she said she knew of a relative of exactly Martha Wayne’s (original) generation who was practicing Jewish until her marriage to a Protestant and then just... never talked about it again. If she practiced, she practiced privately. It disappeared utterly from her public life. That was a not-uncommon occurrence in that era.

The odds are that Bruce was raised moderately-disinterested Episcopalian, by the matching crosses. But he is arguably an Episcopally baptized, matrilineally Jewish atheist who subscribes to Zen and has inherited a bone-deep taste for Catholic passion plays. All of these things can be true without even cancelling each other out.

In the words of Frank Miller (who I agree with for once), “He’s kind of like a diamond. You can throw him against the wall and you can pound him with a hammer, but you can’t break him. Every interpretation seems to work. [...] You can do it badly, but you can’t really do it wrong.”

[woffke]

Hear their story #maribel #maribal #artist #march #podcast #feminism #feminist #women #womyn #womxn #womenshistorymonth #maribalsisters #podcasting #ladypodsquad #history #mystery #historical #conspiracy #domincanrepublic🇩🇴 #latinamerica #latinamericanhistory #latinamericanhistory365 #domincanrepublic #latin #latinhistory #latinamericaregional #feministaf #feministmovement #feministpride #womensupportingwomen (at Dominican Republic) https://www.instagram.com/talesof2citiespodcast/p/Bu3y0guBsWx/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1sshrp7clgexc

[riyadhvision]

KSRelief entertains children, orphans’ families in Yemen

KSRelief entertains children, orphans’ families in Yemen

The children expressed their happiness to be briefed about their country’s culture.

:: King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) has organized an entertainment trip for 26 children formerly recruited by the terrorist Houthi militias. The will be taken to see touristic and historical landmarks in Marib governorate, as part of the center’s rehabilitation program to rehabilitate 80…

[newspress-fan]

Archaeologists fear biblical artifacts, monuments won't survive Yemen war

Archaeologists fear biblical artifacts, monuments won't survive Yemen war

[ad_1]

MARIB, Yemen –  After years of internal conflict and ISIS insurgency across Iraq and Syria destroyed much of what was left of the Middle East’s pre-Islamic history, experts now fear the protracted civil war in neighboring Yemen will quietly erase its own rich biblical roots.

“The historical sites are of great importance to Yemen and are part of Yemeni history and identity,” Iris Gerlach,…

[usviraltrends-blog]

New Post has been published on https://usviraltrends.com/war-savages-ancient-sites-in-yemen-and-iraq-destroying-archaeological-record-science/

War savages ancient sites in Yemen and Iraq, destroying archaeological record | Science

Some Yemenis suggest that the 2800-year-old Marib Dam, one of the country’s best known ancient sites (shown before it was bombed), was deliberately targeted.

imageBROKER/Alamy Stock Photo

By Andrew LawlerApr. 10, 2018 , 5:35 PM

A new front has opened in the destruction of archaeological heritage in the Middle East. Across northern Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State (IS) group devastated antiquities during its reign of terror starting in 2014, pulverizing classical statues such as those of Palmyra in Syria and bulldozing a 3000-year-old ziggurat at Iraq’s Nimrud. The IS group has now been routed by Iraqi and Syrian forces, curbing the destruction but giving archaeologists a firsthand look at an aftermath that is grimmer than many had expected. Meanwhile, the assault on antiquity has extended to Yemen, 2000 kilometers to the south, another archaeological treasure house riven by conflict.

“Our immortal history has been wasted by wars,” lamented Mohanad Ahmad al-Sayani, chair of Yemen’s General Organization of Antiquities and Museums in Sana’a.

In Yemen, the cultural losses have gone largely unnoticed by the wider world but are keenly felt by archaeologists. Although the country has been far less studied than Mesopotamia, it played a critical role in the rise of empires and economies in the region starting around 1000 B.C.E., researchers said at a meeting here last week of the International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East.

By 1200 B.C.E., the kingdom of Saba in what is now central Yemen controlled the export of frankincense, derived from a tree that grew only along the country’s southern coast. The prized resin was burned for a millennium and a half in temples from Persia to Rome. The vast wealth of Saba—home to the biblical Queen of Sheba—funded impressive temples, cities, and engineering marvels. Among them was the Marib Dam, built on Wadi Adhanah in the eighth century B.C.E. to help expand agriculture in this arid region; some claim it is the world’s oldest dam.

Today, Yemen is racked by civil war and Islamic extremists who, in a campaign against heresy, have destroyed ancient mosques in the port city of Aden, and a multidomed shrine in the Hadhramaut region.

Yemen’s cultural heritage damaged in war

Bombs dropped by a Saudi-led coalition have damaged the ancient Marib Dam, a museum in Dhamar, and medieval castles in Aden and Sana’a. 

A. Cuadra/Science

Bombs dropped by the Saudi-led coalition have wreaked the most damage, Al-Sayani said. The Marib Dam, in an unpopulated area far from the capital, was struck in 2015, leaving a deep gash in the well-preserved northern sluice gate. The regional museum of Dhamar in the southwest, which contained thousands of artifacts from the Himyarite Kingdom, was completely destroyed. The Himyarites conquered Saba in 280 C.E., took over the frankincense monopoly, and became key players in the expanding Indian Ocean trade between the Roman Empire and India until Ethiopian forces overthrew them in 525 C.E.

Al-Sayani showed images from a dozen flattened or severely damaged sites, including medieval castles such Aden’s Sira Fortress, and the centuries-old al-Qassimi neighborhood in Sana’a. More than 60 sites have been destroyed or severely damaged since the conflict began in 2015, Al-Sayani said, chiefly from Saudi bombings. Although some were strategic targets, he charged that the Saudi attacks were a conscious campaign to wreck Yemen’s heritage and demoralize its citizens. “After 3 years of assessing the damage, I believe the bombing is being done with a purpose, since many of these sites are not suitable or useful for military use,” he says.

The destruction seems deliberate, agrees archaeologist Sarah Japp of Berlin’s German Archaeological Institute. “The Saudis were given information on important cultural heritage sites, including exact coordinates,” by UNESCO, said Japp, who was based in Sana’a before the war. UNESCO intended to protect the sites, but she fears that the data may instead have been used for targeting. “There is no reason to say all of these [bombings] are just accidents.” The Saudi embassy in Berlin and officials in Riyadh did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Meanwhile, 2000 kilometers to the north in Syria and Iraq, the damage wrought by years of IS group control is only now coming into focus. “It is nothing short of a catastrophe,” said Michel al-Maqdissi, former head of excavations in Syria’s antiquities department in Damascus, who now works at the Louvre in Paris and maintains contacts in Syria.

Some of the worst reports come from Mari, a 60-hectare site on the banks of the Euphrates River that 4000 years ago was one of the world’s largest cities. Just north of Sumer and the Akkadian Empire, Mari served as a key trading center for Mesopotamian goods and Anatolian metals and stone, and once boasted the best preserved early palace in the Middle East.

But no longer. Archaeologist Pascal Butterlin of Pantheon-Sorbonne University in Paris, who worked at Mari for years and has gathered information from Syrian sources, displayed an image of the palace from the ground that shows near total destruction of Mari’s central area. The site’s ancient statues were removed to museums long ago, so the reasons behind the destruction remain murky, although the IS group’s desire to profit from antiquities is well-known. A nearby large mound called Tell Medkouk was bulldozed completely to unearth objects for looting. From satellite data on the center of Mari, Butterlin estimates that looters dug some 1500 pits, many of them more than 5 meters deep and 6 meters wide. The vehicle tracks “make it look like they had traffic jams there,” he said. He suspects that thousands of looted cuneiform tablets, small figurines, and bronze objects won’t show up on the art market for years, as sellers wait for international outrage to cool.

The situation is even worse at Dura-Europos, which until recently was a remarkably well-preserved city upstream of Mari. From the first century B.C.E., this city lay on the frontier of the Roman and Persian empires, which took turns controlling it, and once held both one of the world’s oldest Jewish synagogues and oldest Christian churches. “The scale of the disaster there is profound,” said Chekmous Ali, a Syrian archaeologist now at the University of Strasbourg in France. “There are innumerable pits—some 9500—and the necropolis is gone.”

Across the border in Iraq, the old city of Mosul once boasted a host of Islamic and Christian monuments, many destroyed or damaged during the IS group’s 3 years of control. But the worst devastation came last summer, when more than 30,000 bombs and missiles hit historic buildings during the battle for the city, said Karel Nováček of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Czech Republic. “The old city was annihilated,” he said at the meeting. He charges that the destruction continues, as Iraqi construction crews clear the wreckage without trying to preserve what’s left or tally the damage.

“The heritage management is nonexistent,” he said. “We need careful removal of the rubble, but that is not happening.” His team is assembling what data they can from old reports and photographs that could provide some basis for reconstructing historic sites. He plans to lead an on-the-ground assessment in June, in hopes of providing Iraqis a chance to mend what they can of their battered cultural heritage.

[washnews-blog1]

Ancient temple left neglected as Yemen war threatens history

Ancient temple left neglected as Yemen war threatens history MARIB, Yemen –  Yemen's culture and historical sites have been affected by the http://2uwash.com/2018/02/07/ancient-temple-left-neglected-as-yemen-war-threatens-history/

[newstfionline]

Having devastated Yemen, Saudi Arabia pledges $1.5 billion in humanitarian aid

By Ann M. Simmons, Los Angeles Times, Jan 22, 2018

In a gesture inspiring both praise and scorn, Saudi Arabia announced Monday that it would donate $1.5 billion in new humanitarian aid to Yemen, where almost three years of war has devastated the country’s infrastructure, tanked the economy and caused widespread hunger and disease.

The money will be donated to the United Nations, and represents half of the U.N.’s $2.96 billion humanitarian appeal. That is the largest consolidated humanitarian appeal ever launched for Yemen, which is enduring what the U.N. has described as “the worst man-made humanitarian crisis of our time.”

The conflict pits pro-government forces, backed by a nine-member Saudi-led Arab coalition, against Shiite Muslim Houthi rebels. The war has killed an estimated 10,000 people and displaced 2 million.

According to a statement from the coalition, the assistance package is intended to address the needs of Yemenis in all regions by enhancing the flow and delivery of humanitarian aid, including food, medical supplies and commercial goods.

The $1.5 billion would be distributed across U.N. agencies and international relief organizations. The coalition also pledged to run multiple daily flights of cargo planes carrying aid from Jizan in Saudi Arabia to Yemen’s coalition-controlled Marib province, and establish 17 “safe passage corridors … to ensure safe overland transportation of aid to nongovernmental organizations operating in the interior of Yemen,” the statement said.

The U.N. estimates that more than 22 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and of those, as many as 8 million are near starvation. About 1.8 million children under the age of 5 are acutely malnourished, and cholera is rampant.

But some analysts and human rights experts questioned the motives behind the kingdom’s gesture. Some called it a PR stunt, while others said it was an attempt to quell criticism of the coalition’s conduct during the war and change the narrative surrounding the conflict in their favor.

The coalition has been accused of killing civilians in indiscriminate bombings that have devastated Yemen’s infrastructure, including roads, water treatment facilities, factories, schools and hospitals. Human rights monitors have accused the coalition of blocking and confiscating aid. Joining Saudi Arabia in the coalition are Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Sudan, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. (The U.S., which is not part of the coalition, has been criticized for selling arms to Saudi Arabia.)

Kristine Beckerle, Yemen researcher for Human Rights Watch, said it was important that the coalition’s wrongdoings not be downplayed as a result of the kingdom’s donation.

“Throughout the conflict you’ve seen members of the coalition, particularly Saudi Arabia, use their financial clout in various efforts to try and paper over the very serious and the very real violations that are ongoing by the coalition in Yemen,” Beckerle said. “My major concern is that this grand gesture, while it will be important to help the humanitarian response, is not an actual showing of goodwill that there’s going to be a change of heart in terms of the way in which the Saudis are operating in Yemen.”

Beckerle said that in the past, the Saudis have used threats of withholding funding to the U.N. and other states in an effort to avoid scrutiny.

Last year, for example, it was widely reported that the U.N. secretary general removed the Saudi coalition from the world body’s “list of shame” for violations against Yemeni children, after the kingdom threatened to withdraw millions of dollars in funding to various humanitarian programs.

“I think you can celebrate the humanitarian funding while making it very, very clear that [it’s] not a free pass to carry out violations that exacerbate the exact humanitarian crisis that that funding is meant to respond to,” Beckerle said.

Katherine Zimmerman, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based public policy think tank, said the Saudis were trying to “shape the delivery of assistance on the ground.”

For example, the kingdom wanted to make Jizan the primary aid hub in order to have full oversight over incoming supplies.

“The idea is that if all humanitarian assistance is coming in through Saudi Arabia to other distribution sites, then the coalition can blockade other ports in Yemen and not be criticized for preventing humanitarian access,” Zimmerman said.

In Yemen, the new Saudi plan moves the primary hub from Hodeidah port--through which most food imports have historically traversed and which the Houthis continue to control--to Marib city, which is under the control of the coalition and “less central as a distribution hub,” Zimmerman said.

That’s “going to further politicize aid in Yemen,” Zimmerman said, because the Saudis were shifting the aid distribution centers to places where they have patronage networks.

“The Saudis are buying local and international support by leveraging the disastrous humanitarian situation that they played a hand in creating.”

[fashionshoesworlds]

Is Topshop Unique The Future of (Fast) Fashion?

Topshop Unique has always been a ‘yoof’ label but, the collection that showed today in London exuded a more grown-up glamor. Although the theme harked back to the Soho of the 90s, the footwear star of the Sir Philip Green show had a more historic edge to it. The high tongued mules which stomped the runway had a courtly look to them and recalled the sort of shoe worn by footmen in days of yore, though admittedly without that vertiginous heel. However, the height at the front lent balance to the overall effect, preventing it from appearing too spindly and insubstantial. Hailey Baldiwn walking for Topshop spring ’18. Best in show was a mustard shade but the satin style fabrication of all gave looks a glossy, polished vibe whether these involved a mini or a more contemporary trackpant. Elsewhere, kitten heels came teamed with fishnet ankle socks, which, alongside flashes of maribou, riffed off the notion of the Soho showgirl but the overall effect was elegant over trashy. Topshop spring ’18.c This girl will slide effortlessly into the back of a taxi at the end of the night and no, she won’t stop for a kebab on the way home. Notably, the see-now-buy-now collection, available to

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[katherinelbone]

From the times of antiquity until the 1970’s hats were an integral part of a person’s wardrobe. While they originated with the utilitarian purpose of protecting the person from the elements, hats soon evolved into a fashion statement and an indicator of a person’s social status.I have always loved hats and mourn their passing from modern fashion. For my fellow hat lovers, here is a visual overview of the history of hats!

  GREEK AND ROMAN HEADWEAR

    MEDIEVAL HEADWEAR

  HATS IN THE RENAISSANCE THRU 17TH CENTURY

    THE 18TH CENTURY – Women’s hats grow to epic proportions!

    THE REGENCY ERA

  VICTORIAN AND EDWARDIAN HATS

    HISTORICAL HAT TRIVIA

THE STRAW HAT – ~ 3200 BC – One of the first pictorial depictions of a hat appears in a Thebes tomb. A painting on the wall shows a man wearing a coolie straw hat.

THE FIRST FELT HAT – 818 AD – When St. Clement filled his sandals with carded wool to protect his feet, moisture and pressure from walking compressed the fibers into a crude yet comfortable felt that came to be used for hats. Hatters in Ireland celebrate him as the Patron Saint of Felt Hat Makers.

THE FIRST MILLINER – 1529 AD – The word milliner, meaning a maker of hats, was first recorded in reference to the products for which Milan and the Northern Italian regions were well known (i.e. ribbons, gloves and straws). The haberdashers who imported these highly popular straws were called ‘Millaners’.

THE FIRST TOP HAT – 1797  – John Hetherington stirs a riot in the streets and earns himself a £500 fine for wearing a top hat whose great height and shine incited terror and panic.

THE FIRST COWBOY HAT – 1865 – John B. Stetson begins selling his “Boss of the Plains” hat, the same style he originally fashioned around a campfire while on a trip out West.

THE FIRST DERBY HAT – 1875 AD – The first annual Kentucky Derby marks the largest hat fashion event in America.

  My Own Millinery Adventures!

I have recently begun making hats to go with my historical costumes, here are some of my own creations to date! (if you enjoy my historical costuming, you can follow my creations at https://www.facebook.com/Renaissance2Regency/ )

Ruffled Edwardian picture hat

Ruffled Edwardian picture hat

Regency bonnet

Regency bonnet

Maribou trimmed Edwardian picture hat

Maribou trimmed Edwardian picture hat

Silk mob cap

Silk mob cap

Cotton mob cap

Cotton mob cap

18th century bergere

18th century bergere

18th century bergere

Feather and ribbon trimmed Edwardian Picture hat

Feather and ribbon trimmed Edwardian Picture hat

What is your favorite historical hat style?

For the Love of hats by Victoria Vane From the times of antiquity until the 1970's hats were an integral part of a person's wardrobe.

[riyadhvision]

Yemeni national army orders movement of seven brigades from Marib towards Sanaa

Army soldiers man a checkpoint in the historical town of Baraqish in Yemen’s al-Jawf province after it was taken over by pro-government forces from Houthi fighters April 6, 2016.

:: The Yemeni national army has issued an order to transport seven brigades from Marib to gain control of Khawlan front then head towards Sanna, according to Al Arabiya and Al Hadath sources.

The sources said that the…