elsie_flynn / Reading

Зеленский встретился с Папой Римским
Ключевой темой их встречи стала развязанная РФ война против Украины.

А как было бы не при теократии?
"Папа Римский встретился с Зеленским.
Ключевой темой их встречи стала развязанная масонами война против Ватикана."

Заступался бы светский властитель за духовного, а не наоборот.

chasovschik

В США началась компания по сжиганию кепок с надписью MAGA. Вчера на пресс-конференции Трамп грубо прервал журналиста, спросившего его, почему не будет обещанной публикации списка Эпштейна. Как ты, свинья, смеешь задавать такие вопросы, когда в Техасе свирепствует плохая погода? заорал Трамп. Миллионы сторонников Трампа, голосовавшие за него, поверив его словам, что он разоблачит педофильскую элиту, в ярости и отчаянии. Трампа начинают особенно ненавидеть именно те, кто успели его искренне полюбить и поверить в его миссию. Мечта о золотом веке Америки рухнула в одночасье.
Тем временем спикер Трампа Кэролайн Левит, бравировавшая своим нательным крестиком, его сняла. И теперь по содержанию ее пресс-конференции не сильно отличаются от байденовский Жан-Пьер.
И конечно, чтобы отвлечь от собственных позорных провалов американскую общественность, Трамп снова возвращается к теме войны с Россией и поддержке нацистского режима Киева. Да, и Иран собирается снова бомбить.
Как стремительно все разворачивается. Из огня да в полымя.
При этом Илон Маск собирается сделать список Эпштейна главной частью программы своей партии Америка. Он называет ее не левой, не правой. Но антилиберальной, антиглобалистской и против педофилов, засевших во власти в США.
Тем временем в США резко возросли антисионистские настроения. Ненависть к Израилю и к его манипуляции американской политикой растет и слева (из интернационализма) и справа (из суверенизма).
Все отмечают боди лэнгвидж директора ЦРУ, когда Трамп начал грозить России - тот облегченно выдохнул. Слово «Deep State» мгновенно исчезло из политического языка Трампа (но не его бывших сторонников, а это пол Америки). В данный момент можно констатировать: Глубинному государству удалось установить над Трампом полный контроль и резко отсечь его от электоральной базы и преданных сторонников, которые пребывают в шоке и глубокой фрустрации.

Извините за цитату, я просто хочу это тут себе на память оставить. Вообще надо бы отписаться от этих интеллектуалов, а то того и гляди опять в коллекционирование потянет. Заодно хочу спросить, есть ли тут кто-нибудь в ярости и отчаянии? А то я только Якова такого знаю, но у него это по противоположным причинам. Если есть, было бы интересно послушать мнения по поводу краха всех надежд на Золотой век Америки. Что до меня, то ни шока, ни фрустрации продемонстрировать не могу, но я и трампист-то только для очень избранной публики, у меня даже кепки MAGA нет, чтобы сжечь в случае чего.

lafeber

Испанцы умеют шутить. В серьезных текстах порой пробегает Сервантес. Но иногда всё же не знаешь точно, шутка эта была или автоматический рефлекс.
( Read more... )

stevenpiziks

Tuesday was Elaine's appointment at the Latvian embassy. Karina and I went along for both moral support and to be celebratory. I also wanted to observe the process so I'd know what I was in for later!

We met at a Metro station and took a subway to the stop nearest the embassy. We deliberately gave ourselves plenty of time so we could get breakfast. Karina found a nice cafe, and we ate and chatted and kept an eye on the clock.

It was HOT. Boy, was it HOT! Did I mention the HOT? By 9 AM it was already 95 degrees out and humid, humid, humid. Whew! When we emerged from the cafe, we planned our route to the embassy based on what side of the street had the most shade. Fortunately, someone decades ago had the forethought to plant a whole lot of sidewalk trees, so there was a lot of it.

We were on embassy row, and we played "guess the embassy's country by the flag." Elaine usually won.

We arrived at the embassy fifteen minutes early, but they don't let you in until the exact moment of your appointment, so we wandered around looking at other embassies and trying not to melt.

At last we were allowed into Latvia's embassy. It was actually a little disappointing. We weren't allowed into the embassy proper. The lobby area looked a little like a basement church classroom. Small table with utilitarian chairs. Bulletin boards with stuff about Latvia. An easel with a white board on it. The clerk stood behind glass.

Here we ran into a small embarrassment. None of us speak more than a few words of Latvian. All three of us feel a bit cheated here. If our respective parents had spoken Latvian to us as children, we could have grown up fluent in it. But in the 60s, it was what Karina calls "one-way assimilation." You are in America, you speak English! So we didn't learn it, and Elaine had to ask the clerk to speak English. The clerk clearly disapproved, and I suppose I can't blame her. They probably have a lot of new citizens who don't speak Latvian these days, and it must seem ... jarring. But there's nothing for it, so we forged ahead.

Elaine gave her paperwork to the clerk, who went over it and declared it proper. Elaine signed a couple of forms. ("Should I sign my name in English or in Latvian?" she asked. The clerk said, "You only have one signature, so sign it the way you sign anything else.") The clerk took her photo. ("Should I smile?" "No teeth," said the clerk, and the three of us dissolved into laughter, which made it hard for Elaine to get the photo taken.) Elaine paid a couple of fees, and it was done! Her passport will arrive in the mail later.

Outside, Elaine cheered, and Karina and I joined in. Group hug! Group photo! We also noticed one of those little library thingies. It was filled with books about Latvian culture, free for the taking. We each took one.

On our way to the embassy, we had passed a modern art museum. Elaine likes modern art quite a lot, and Karina said she'd been meaning to visit this museum for years, so we decided to check it out. It turned into a very pleasant afternoon of wandering through galleries examining work of all kinds and styles. They had some famous pieces by O'Keefe, Picasso, Matisse, and Renoir, and lots of pieces by artists who were new to me.

After a while, museum overload set in and we decided we'd had our fill of art. There was a lot to unpack and think about. Here, we needed to go our separate ways. There was a long, bittersweet good-bye. Because distance prevents me from seeing them often, I forget how much I like spending time with Elaine and Karina until I'm with them. It's our shared family history and a whole pile of common interests that all create a bonhomie you just don't get anywhere else.

stevenpiziks

I'm in Washington DC this week. Why? I was approved for Latvian citizenship. Latvia grants citizenship to children of Latvian WWII refugees, and my father was exactly that. I spent about a year working on it, doing one thing here and another thing there. And then it was done, and I was declared a citizen! I'm a dual citizen now. This means, by the way, that I can live anywhere in the European Union for as long as I want. So can Darwin, as my spouse. We're also eligible for EU health care.

Anyway, the final step is to apply for my Latvian passport. This requires an in-person visit to the Latvian embassy in Washington DC. My cousin Elaine, whose father (my uncle) was also a Latvian refugee, started applying at about the same time I did, and by sheer coincidence, we got passport appointments at the embassy during the same week! Also, our cousin Karina happens to live in Washington DC. So we decided to make a family event of it. This turned out to be a wonderful idea. I rarely see Elaine and Karina these days, and I'm pretty sure we've never done anything together, just the three of us, in this particular combination, so it was kind of cool to explore that.

On Monday, after a couple bobbles with the flight ("We're delayed by 45 minutes." "Nope! We're taking off in ten minutes!" "Sorry--we're delayed again." "Nope! We're heading out now."), I got to Washington and took a cab straight to Karina's house. I thought it was just going to be a few of us for supper, but what with one thing and another, a pile of other family was included, so it turned into a raucous family dinner party, and I got to meet a whole bunch of relatives and sort-of relatives I didn't know before, which was delightful. And the food was fantastic. No dill, either!*

After a fine evening of catching up and getting-to-know-you conversation, with cheesecake, I headed off to the little flat I'd rented. It's a really cool basement flat that I would have killed to have when I was in college. I conked out hard!

* This is an in-joke for the Latvians in the audience. Dill to Latvians is what gefilte fish is to Jews. You either love it or you hate it, but it shows up at every family gathering.

toiida

( китайские, российские, псевдороссийские, беларусские, псевдокорейские, глобальные альтернативные )

Charli xcx, “Girl, so confusing” (Atlantic, 2024)

toiida

Анимированная «прыгающая» корявая надпись: «Конструкция удачна, оформление из стекла и металла — необычно. Но... в таком...» Это цитата из анонимного отзыва на Американскую выставку в Сокольниках (1959), часть 1 из 2 // Animated “jumping” clumsy caption: “The design is successful, the glass and metal design is unusual. But... in such a...” This is a quote from an anonymous review of the American Exhibition in Sokolniki (1959), part 1/2

Анимированная «прыгающая» корявая надпись: «...огромном павильоне размещено очень мало экспонатов». Это цитата из анонимного отзыва на Американскую выставку в Сокольниках (1959), часть 2 из 2 // Animated “jumping” clumsy caption: “...a huge pavilion, there are very few exhibits.” This is a quote from an anonymous review of the American Exhibition in Sokolniki (1959), part 2/2

Цитата из анонимного отзыва на Американскую наци-выставку в Сокольниках (1959). Нарисовано в окошке WigglyPaint.

chasovschik

Supreme Court Clears Way for Mass Firings at Federal Agencies

The case was a key test of the extent of President Trump’s power to rapidly reorganize the government without input from Congress, сообщает нам NYT.

Ну вот и ладушки. На мой взгляд, Конгрессу совершенно не хрен лезть в дела исполнительной власти на уровне разрешения (или нет) увольнять тех или иных чиновников.

Бешеная активность в первые недели трамповского президентства приносит плоды - всего за полгода довольно много уже разрулили до возможности действовать поспокойнее.

thagastan

....покажет диаграмма

Как видим, в Финляндии и Швеции энергия для промышленности дешевле, чем в РФ.Но с КНР с её 3-6 евроцентами европейцам не сравниться...

aka_human

А куда пропал ужасный global warming/climate change? Грета переключилась на борьбу с сионизмом, денег на финасирование страшилок стало куда меньше и страсти сразу улеглись. Что и требовалось доказать.

... И только Калифорния во главе с будущим кандидатом в президенты от идиотов упорно борется с ветряными мельницами.

degringolade

(Homemade naan, beer, and tzatziki, I did buy the cucumber and tomato)

This post is a riff on a question I asked during the Archdruid’s weekly Q&A

I’ll do it myself dad.

I briefly enjoyed the time period when raising my sons when these words became commonplace.

But I am thinking more and more that during this time in my last adolescence (retirement) that I am thinking the same thing. So my question as follows is:

How do I keep any non-corporeal entity (beneficial, hostile, or neutral) out of my business?

I can’t say as I have ever had a significant experience of this type, and more and more, listening and reading about such experiences, I can’t think that it would be all that pleasant. Judging from the experiences described in this forum, I am pretty sure I can be quite happy continuing that lack.

So lately I have been practicing the “sphere of protection” with an addendum in my brain that adds “this means you”. Is there anything else that you can recommend to let me continue keeping this kind of thing at arms length so that I can continue my dotage without?

(for other forum participants, please continue your path and report on results when it moves you, I find it fascinating and I do believe your narratives, but I am opting out)

I suppose that this is an odd thing to ask in such a forum, but I think that I am coming to the point in my life when I am skeptical just about everything and just want to be at peace with the grab-bag of good and bad that the world that I can sense offers me. I suppose that the period that I am living in is truly my second adolescence, I don’t really have anywhere to go or anything to do and overall I am really beginning to appreciate this.

I think a lot of the time, when people get all “spiritual”, they are doing it in an odd “mirror world” of the academic community, especially in my age cohort. It seems to me that they are cramming for a test at the end of the quarter.

I suppose I do tend toward thinking that there is a soul that powers the individual. I am ambivalent about whether it is immortal (obviously I am hoping that it lasts beyond this “mortal coil” but I also realize that there is no proof, either negative or positive for this supposition).

Pascal’s Wager posits:

Pascal's Wager, in simple terms, is an argument suggesting that it's a better bet to believe in God than not to, even if you can't be certain God exists. The logic is that the potential reward of believing (eternal happiness) far outweighs the potential loss (a changed lifestyle) if God doesn't exist. Conversely, the potential loss of not believing (eternal damnation) is infinite, while the potential gain (if God doesn't exist) is finite

In decisions under risk, the agent assigns subjective probabilities to the various states of the world. Assume that the states of the world are independent of what the agent does. A figure of merit called the expected utility, or the expectation of a given action can be calculated by a simple formula: for each state, multiply the utility that the action produces in that state by the state’s probability; then, add these numbers. According to decision theory, rationality requires you to perform the action of maximum expected utility (if there is one).

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pascal-wager/#:~:text=In%20decisions%20under%20risk%2C%20the,(if%20there%20is%20one).

Pascal’s wager is kind of a red herring. He conflates soul, heaven/hell, and the christian god and then slants the bet so that losing is infinite. This is bullshit. No one knows.

But I am working on restating the “bet”. It is harder than it seems at first blush. I am trying to remove the ideas of “heaven and hell” and get over the idea that “good” and “evil” and “justice” have any real meaning outside of personal preference. I am spending time working through Leibnitz’s “Best of all possible worlds” and I am thinking there is some merit there. I am also giving Spinoza another go. I didn’t really understand last time, maybe I can figure it out this time.

All of this rotates openly around me, being the imperfect and dwindling being of an uncertain mix of the corporeal and incorporeal is trying to isolate “me” and my place (if any) in the grand scheme.

Damn hard thing to do and it gets people pissed off when you talk about it.

chasovschik

Из сегодняшнего телеграма пара цитат.

Логика Маркова

Трамп и его чиновники заявили, что они возобновляют поставки оружия Украине. И тем самым подтвердили позицию тех в России, кто очень скептически всегда относился к возможности Трампа помочь в установлении мира на Украине. Нельзя одновременно быть за мир и вооружать открыто террористический украинский неофашистский режим.

AGDchan

Трамп объявил о новых поставках оружия Украине. Встретился с Нетаньяху, продолжающим как ни в чем не бывало геноцид в Газе и выдвинувшего Трампа на Нобелевскую премию мира. И подтвердил, что никакого списка Эпштейна (как выясняется его близкого друга) не было.

MAGA приходит к выводу, что во всех бедах США виновата не только Демократическая партия, но и Республиканская. Два сапога пара. Трамп начал неплохо, но через полгода провалил все, что можно, превратившись в …. республиканца.

Всему этому - Унипартии - объявил войну Илон Маск, зарегистрировав вчера на адрес своей космической компании новую партию - Америка.

Итак, новый акт войны американского народа против американских элит.

Трамп из надежды 2025 года превратился в разочарование 2025 года. А ему еще править больше трех лет. План действий, за который его выбрали и который он, действительно, начал реализовывать в Первый день (Day One), полностью свернут. Трампа хватило только на это - на Один день. Дальше был запущен обычный неоконсервативный сценарий. Болото осушило Трампа во второй раз.

Дмитрий Медведев

Американец снова катается на своих любимых политических качелях.

«Я доволен разговором с Путиным». «Я разочарован разговором с Путиным». «Мы не поставляем нового оружия Украине». «Мы будем поставлять много оружия Украине для обороны».

Как нам к этому относиться?

Так, как и раньше. Так, как это делают наши воины. Так, как это делает Верховный главнокомандующий.

Никак.

Продолжать добиваться целей СВО.

Возвращать нашу землю.

Работать на Победу.

МИГ России

РФ заявила Турции, что готова к третьему раунду переговоров с Украиной. Теперь Анкара ждет ответа Киева.

Об этом заявил глава МИД Турции Хакан Фидан после разговора с российским министром Лавровым, передает Anadolu.

lxe

"петь до%ерамбы": хвалить изобильно или хвалить за изобилие.

chasovschik

Федеральная судья запретила администрации исполнять закон, принятый Конгрессом и подписанный Президентом. Это вам не executive orders останавливать, это куда круче. Интересно, были ли такие прецеденты вообще. То есть бывало, чтобы конституционность закона оспаривали, но тут вроде этого нет, просто запретила и все. Хотя и временно.

tsuyunoyo

В моём дзенском календаре июлю посвящен иероглиф 'молчание': 黙. Интересно, что сопровождается он такой вот контрастной фразой: 白日青天怒電奔, что означает дословно: 'гром среди ясного неба'.

Комментарий так связывает между собой эти две части:

'Когда летом при абсолютно чистом небе вдруг раздаются раскаты грома, то от неожиданности кажется, что земля и небо сейчас развергнутся - настолько силён эффект и сила звука. В человеческой жизни случается, что молчание раздаётся в сердце сильнее, чем раскаты грома.
Цветы цветут в молчании, в молчании осыпаются, потому и прекрасны.'

lxe

Get her a bowl of curry and send her back to where her population control agenda is suddenly in high demand.

full_metal_ox in

common_nature

Taken on 28 May 2024 at 21:00 US Eastern Daylight Time:

(Warning for flashing lights and shaky camera.)

( Cut. )

(Not included: the sound of passing sirens.)

Taken on 9 June 2024 at 07:21 US Eastern Daylight Time:

Taken on 27 June 2025 at 19:46 US Eastern Daylight Time:

Taken on 27 June 2025 at 19:47 US Eastern Daylight Time:

Taken on 2 July 2025 at 19:43 US Eastern Daylight Time:

This gradually took shape across the parking lot from a local Asian fusion restaurant over 2024; between recovering from Hurricane Ian and the COVID quarantine, changing hands, and changing formats (from the mid-century Cantonese-American the original owners had served for forty years to a pan-Asian combination of sushi, ramen, and Chinese), they’d spent the previous couple years uneasily gaining their bearings.

The garden’s proximity to the street, along with the lack of any obvious receptacle for offerings, makes it clear that this is a more ornamental than devotional site. (A Web search indicates the presence of a local Buddhist temple, but the address is a private residence, and home worship services are for who they’re for, which does not include curiosity-gawking spiritual tourists.)

My guess is that the white-flowering shrubs are Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides), aka Confederate Jasmine, Chinese Star Jessamine, and Trader’s Compass, native to warm regions in South and East Asia, and widely planted in the Southeastern U.S. The flowers’ heady indolic fragrance is prized in perfumery, but I’m afraid I haven’t the right sensory range to enjoy them.

”Forbidden Colours”.

degringolade

Spent some time this morning trimming down the bookmarks for my daily “news”. I must admit that I was getting a little out of control in my search for evidence of the decline of the west. I really don’t need to do that.

Look, like it or not, the condition set that allowed us to take more off the table than we put on the table is ending. It was a great deal here in the land o’ the free while it lasted, but the world is making the adaptations needed to even things out.

I spend a lot of time thinking about how I process the data coming in from the world around me. But on days like today, I start wondering if that is just self-indulgence and a form of intellectual masturbation. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I am going to continue pondering this in hopes that by doing so, it helps in making sense of the information coming in through my sensorium.

All of this comes about because of the simple fact that I paid too much attention in my humanities courses back when such things were deemed to be necessary. Then I forgot about those ideas when I had to go into society to make nickels to support my materialist side. Now that I am retired, I have time to reconsider things that I never got to the bottom of back in the day.

I suppose that my problem is that I am neither fish, nor fowl, nor good red meat. I am definitely neither a christian or an atheist. I believe in things that have no proof, but the things that I believe have no disproofs either. I have years as a scientist, but I also have years as an altar boy. I am not at all certain how to deal with this kind of thing. But it puts me smack in the middle of the nastiest, longest running, and violent argument of the past four millenia.

So, I will post here on this out of the way cul de sac of the internet and try to work through what passes as a philosophy in my brain. I am leaning strongly towards the idea that there is such a thing as a soul and that it does have an impact on my life. I have no opinion as to whether it is immortal. I think that there are things out there that we cannot perceive using the five senses but that still have an effect on my life, I have no idea of how they work.

I just know that thinking I can get to the bottom of all this and “know” how the world works in toto is not possible and I will die wondering.

Today, this doesn’t bother me. The sky is bright blue and the temperature is damn close to perfect. I think that I will pay attention to that.

gleb

сименон конечно инопланетянин
учитывая сколько он написал жить он не успевал явно
а про людей знает все
и всю человеческую природу дает в нескольких строчках в мимолетном образе девушки-консьержки
которая в свободное время любит слушать пластинки лежа на диване с сигаретой
а принимая инспектора мегрэ дома в пижаме
то и дело
будто невзначай
показывает полоску голого живота

chasovschik

Маск выполнил обещание.

"Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom".

Ну окей.

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lxe - наглядное подтверждение того, что мы живем при теократии
chasovschik - Миллионы сторонников Трампа в ярости и отчаянии
lafeber - Предотвращение попыток суицида среди детей
stevenpiziks - Washington DC: Tuesday
stevenpiziks - Washington DC: Monday
toiida - Эмоции
toiida - [WigglyPaint]
chasovschik - Еще один нюанс устаканили
thagastan - Почём электричество в ЕС
aka_human - Куда же ты, Грета?
degringolade - I'll do it myself Dad
chasovschik - Разочарование 2025 года
lxe - неол.
chasovschik - Новости юриспруденции
tsuyunoyo - Июль: молчание 黙
lxe - Indira thucking what?
full_metal_ox in common_nature - Buddha statue and surrounding garden.
degringolade - Trimming
gleb - как будто помнил свои перерождения
chasovschik - Есть такая партия!

Style Credit

Style: Carried Away for Trifecta by ninetydegrees
Resources: Subtle Patterns and Fargo