If you’re ever out in the woods and feel the need for a toothbrush:
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Open thread 1/14/22 — 63 Comments
Yesterday, while we were praising Sinema for her passionate defense of hallowed Senate tradition and minority rights, the House hollowed out the NASA Enhanced Use Leasing Extension Act, which has already passed by the Senate and cannot be filibustered. It is now the “Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act.” Sinema promised to support it yesterday while she was “defending the filibuster” and Republicans were praising her. The provisions of HR 1 can now be enacted into law by 50 votes plus Kamala. Yay for the filibuster and yay for Sinema.
I’m so relieved the filibuster stayed in place. Because it would have been terrible if all the voting laws could have been changed by 50 D votes (including Sinema) plus Kamala.
I’d like to think at some point we’d start to figure out how this works. Because Obamacare was enacted by a similar ruse. I mean how many more times is this going to happen before we catch on?
The rules are not the rules. The only rule is does a majority of both Houses want something. All else is distraction. Let’s learn the lesson so we can make effective changes.
Interesting, but the obvious question is what happened to the state of English dental hygiene between the Medieval period and the 20th century?
One thing that struck me in the documentary “They Shall not Grow Old”, is the appalling state of many of the very young soldiers teeth. Perhaps this was due to the greater availability of sweets compared to Medieval times.
@Gregory Harper:Perhaps this was due to the greater availability of sweets compared to Medieval times.
The sweetest thing they had readily available was parsnips, so could be something to this. (Honey could only be got by killing a hive of bees, it wasn’t until the 19th century that bee behavior was understood well enough to get honey without killing the hive.)
Now they did mostly eat bread but unless you were rich that bread flour was not very refined and probably not mostly wheat, so not so much food for caries bacteria.
The idea of a tooth brush seems, at least, rather obvious; and although the first ones mass produced appear to have originated in China prior to the European high middle ages, and to have arrived in Europe before then in some undefined quantities, one would think that some inspired people would have had local versions made up on an ad hoc basis.
Any small handled bristle brush used for other purposes should have sparked the idea. Though inertia and marginal advantage would come into play as well.
Perhaps producing them in economical/ practical quantities as they would have to be thrown away relatively soon, was not seen as preferable to a disposeable linen strip and salt, and a vinegar or wine rinse.
Not sure how many times you could safely use an organic material tooth brush even if you had a couple to rotate and a perpetually dry and sunny place to hang them.
I read a series of Murder Mysteries set in the Middle Ages England. The “hero” is a traveling salesman of goods such as needles, and other household items he carries in a knapsack. He uses Willow Bark to clean his teeth. Willow bark has natural aspirin in it I believe.
Frederick, I keep reading news sites for some indication of whether the Senate could actually pass an “amended” bill from the House, containing nothing in the original bill which the Senate amended, without filibuster protection. It’s not a budget bill. Is this what Schumer says the Senate will vote on after the storm, on Tuesday?
Another open-thread, off-topic comment that has nothing to do with medieval teeth.
Terry Teachout (1956-2022) died yesterday. Here’s a link to an obituary, written by Teachout’s favorite blogger: https://tinyurl.com/2p8kara7
Teachout is best known as a theater critic, but he wrote essays and books on a wide variety of cultural topics. I was introduced to him via his books on jazz, which Neo will want to ignore, but Teachout also wrote a book about ballet, so maybe that’s one she’d like.
Terry Teachout was a sharp observer with a writing style that was clear, casual, and happily ordinary. He was a pleasure to read, and I was very sorry to learn of his passing.
@Kate: Is this what Schumer says the Senate will vote on after the storm, on Tuesday?
Yes, this is what’s scheduled for Tuesday. Senate rule XX allows any rule to be suspended by simple majority vote. Alternatively, they can pass a special law that suspends the filibuster one time only (our Republican Senate leaders did this last month to help the Dems with the debt ceiling). Or they can do what they are doing now similar to what they did with Obamacare. Or they will think of something else.
You are not protected. The rules are fake and the media is lying to you about the narrative as usual. Sinema knew all this while she was speaking.
Following Leader remarks, the Senate will begin consideration of the House Message to accompany H.R.5746, which is the Legislative Vehicle for the Voting Rights legislation.
On Tuesday after the message is laid down, Senator Schumer is expected to make a motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R.5746, with an amendment; and file cloture on the motion.
We expect the voting rights cloture vote to occur during Wednesday’s session of the Senate.
The dodge is that this “amended bill” gets them to the Senate floor without the extra step of a vote to proceed. However, according to those commenters, it will still need 60 votes to pass, which is unlikely. I hope this analysis is correct.
On bad teeth: It seems that the arrival of sugar in the western diet does correspond to rotting teeth, diabetes, and other serious health problems not previously common.
Frederick:
You write: “The rules are not the rules. The only rule is does a majority of both Houses want something. All else is distraction. Let’s learn the lesson so we can make effective changes.”
I fail to see why you think you’re telling us something we don’t already know. I don’t read every comment here in great detail, although I try to skim them all, but I’ve not seen anyone indicating they think these rules are sacred in some way and cannot be changed if a majority wants to do it. It seems to me that it’s acknowledged that a majority can change the rule if it so desires.
The issues are whether such changes will be made, when, by whom, in what manner, why, and what the result will be. For a long time the rules remained, some of the reasons for that were that (1) both parties recognized when they were in power that they might need to respect the rule because soon they might be out of power (2) both parties wanted some sort of bipartisanship on major transformative legislation, or at least the approval of a strong majority of the public (and if that party already held over 60 Senate seats and therefore was filibuster-proof, then it was understood that a large majority of the public was on their side).
What it really boiled down to was that both parties felt vulnerable to voters’ opinions for the next election, and therefore didn’t want to rile too many voters with extremely partisan transformative legislation and risk their seats next time There are other factors, too – for example, the parties really used to be somewhat less polarized in their goals.
HR1 is the entire ball of wax for the Democrats, and that’s what makes it different. That’s what makes them more even more determined than usual (and they usually are very determined) to pass it, because they believe it will give them permanent power. Permanent power includes the power to do more things that will solidify that power, including making new states out of DC and Puerto Rico. Then they would never have to worry about the likes of Sinema and Manchin.
Whether anything will stop them is anyone’s guess. But they will not stop trying any way they can. That’s why the new approach to passing HR1 surprises me not in the least, and it should surprise no one. If that approach fails, they will try another.
Cornflour on January 14, 2022 at 1:19 pm said:
Another open-thread, off-topic comment that has nothing to do with medieval teeth.
Terry Teachout (1956-2022) died yesterday. Here’s a link to an obituary, written by Teachout’s favorite blogger: https://tinyurl.com/2p8kara7
Hubert mentioned him yesterday.
I had never heard of him; but knowing a little about Hubert’s judgment, I figured he must have been a personality and intellect whose opinions were worth considering.
@neo:I fail to see why you think you’re telling us something we don’t already know.
Because everyone keeps saying the Dems need 60 votes unless they “nuke the filibuster” and then they need 50+ Kamala. It is not true. All they need, all they ever have needed, is 50+Kamala at any time. (And to repeal Obamacare Republicans only needed 50+Pence, which they had, but all this creativity was missing then, it was all hallowed tradition this and maverick that and we’re not Democrats so nothing we can do.)
Suppose there was a rule that Senators weren’t allowed to smoke, but they could suspend the rule at any time in order to have a cigarette. And let’s say someone proposed to abolish that rule. Wouldn’t it be ridiculous to get worked up about “allowing smoking in the Senate”? Wouldn’t impassioned speeches on it be a little fake and theatrical? Especially when Sinema gives that speech just after stubbing out the one she lit up five minutes before?
One of the commenters on Patrick Kurp’s blog mentioned Teachout’s love and support for local theater. I can attest to that. I sent an e-mail to his WSJ address out of the blue back in 2004, suggesting that he add the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery to his regional theater itinerary. He did, and wrote a fine review of one of their productions. We corresponded for a few years after that, but I let the connection lapse when he shifted from e-mail to Twitter. A great loss. Like many these past few years.
In that connection:
I’ve been meaning to send a card to Carol Sloane, one of the last surviving girl singers from the golden age of jazz singing:
Timely trivia: Peter Bogdanovich wrote the liner notes.
Sloane was a great singer. She’s also a good writer, or was before suffering a stroke in 2020. She’s at a rehab facility in Massachusetts. Time to send that card.
Hubert:
Sorry, I missed your comment yesterday. Good story about local theater, one of Teachout’s enthusiasms. Thanks for that.
Suppose there was a rule that Senators weren’t allowed to smoke, but they could suspend the rule at any time in order to have a cigarette. And let’s say someone proposed to abolish that rule. Wouldn’t it be ridiculous to get worked up about “allowing smoking in the Senate”? Wouldn’t impassioned speeches on it be a little fake and theatrical?”
That’s damn good, Fredrick. Whether one agrees or not, that’s damn good.
I have the feeling that all sorts of events are converging, and that we are reaching some sort of “tipping point.”
If you are interested in the phenomena of UFOs and consider them to be of great or even of critical importance at this moment, or—even, and especially, if you consider the phenomenon of UFOs to be illusory, and of no real importance at all–it is time very well spent to watch the very well done 2020 documentary I have just finished watching, “The Phenomenon.”
This is a one hour 41 minute presentation of the key and best evidence, featuring extremely credible witnesses, which takes the position that the government is, indeed, and has been from the start at Roswell in 1947, very systematically covering up the evidence for this phenomena being very real, indeed, and of great concern to the government.
This is the best and most comprehensive overview of this phenomena and attempts to understand it (or to cover it up) that I have seen to date.
It can be seen for free on ROKU or TUBI.
}}} Now they did mostly eat bread but unless you were rich that bread flour was not very refined and probably not mostly wheat, so not so much food for caries bacteria.
Ummmm… one thing most people don’t think about is grindstones. Which are presumably sandstone or other similar hard stones, but not **polished** and certainly not fired in such a way to make them truly immune to the grinding action itself.
The net result was a moderately high **sand** content in many breads, the cheaper the quality of the wheat, the longer it had to be ground, and… yes, the higher percentage of SAND in the flour.
You may be able to guess what a few decades of eating sandy bread can do to your tooth enamel. Enamel is hard, but not as hard as silicates.
This is a common reason for caries prior to modern milling AND dentistry. Your teeth lost their enamel as you grew older.
Back to teeth? Or the nub to gnaw on from wickedmedia:
It appears that of all places, India, Africa, and the Middle East as well as Europe were using twigs to clean teeth in those old timey times, aka, way back before the Boomers. Those practices may not even have originated in China, inconceivable!
Orville was new to the Big City. He went to look for a job. Not having much luck, having no Big City contacts, and no real work history to speak of, and not much of any experience to draw on, he, not unsurprisingly, gets quite despondent. Finally, he sees a sign: “BE A BIG MAN IN SALES!! Make Lots of Money!!”
So he goes in and applies. The new employer, (“Acme”, or course) is a toothbrush company. Orville is given samples, and sent out to sell Acme toothbrushes on a nearby street corner.
Orville comes back at the end of the day. “How many did you sell?” his boss asks. “A dozen.” Orville replies. “Not good enough, Orville, you need to sell at least 20 times that each day.”. Orville goes home for the day, and comes back early the next morning.
After a long day on the street corner, Orville comes back, and, again, “How many?”. Orville’s despondent reply is “Two dozen.” His boss, once more, intones, “You have to do much better, Orville. Come up with a hook. Go home, and think of a way to sell more toothbrushes to people.” So Orville does, and he thinks long and hard about how to sell toothbrushes.
Orville gets a bright idea, and heads out to the street corner to try it out. When he comes back to the sales manager at the end of the day, he is smiling. His boss goes, “Looks like today went well for you? How many?” “One Thousand three hundred and forty two.” His boss’s eyebrows raise, and, wide-eyed, “Impressive! How the heck did you manage that? It’s a sales record!”
“I offered people a piece of chocolate.” he said. “They spat it out, saying ‘That tastes like SHIT!!!’. I said, ‘It is. Want to buy a toothbrush?”
😀
OBloddy Hell:
Could be worse, could be bone meal bread:
Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he alive, or be he dead
I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.[1]
Not sure how that bread rates on the abrasiveness scale, quartz + calcium phosphate flour. Did giants have good teeth?
Gee you mean that once again Hollywood gets it completely wrong? Presumably, wheat was ground in the 18th and 19th centuries just as it was in medieval times, if so the decline in dental health almost certainly was due to the Caribbean sugar trade.
Frederick,
It took a bit for me to get my head around what you’ve explained. It’s a real eye opener. I didn’t think it possible but Congress is an even fouler cesspit than I’d realized. What really pisses me off is I can’t recall even one member of congress explaining this to the American public. You’d think that at least one of them, after announcing their retirement would spill the beans. Almost all of them are millionaires and get a full pension, so it’s not like they need extra income after retirement.
Snow on Pine,
“I have the feeling that all sorts of events are converging, and that we are reaching some sort of “tipping point.”
I share that feeling. What can’t go on… won’t go on.
Given the inumerable reports of UFOs by reputable observers, I suspect we have long been observed, as in the “Prime Directive”. The substantial increase in sightings is, I suspect to prepare humanity for first contact. Giving us time to get used to the idea.
OBloody Hell,
Thank you, that made me LOL.
@Geoffrey Britain:It took a bit for me to get my head around what you’ve explained.
Orwell did it better in Animal Farm:
Squealer, who happened to be passing at this moment, attended by two or three dogs, was able to put the whole matter in its proper perspective.
“You have heard then, comrades,” he said, “that we pigs now sleep in the beds of the farmhouse? And why not? You did not suppose, surely, that there was ever a ruling against beds? A bed merely means a place to sleep in. A pile of straw in a stall is a bed, properly regarded. The rule was against sheets, which are a human invention. We have removed the sheets from the farmhouse beds, and sleep between blankets. And very comfortable beds they are too…
As I recall reading “Anna Karenina” years ago, one scene describes Levin, a main character of AK, taking stock of his life as his brother is dying and noting that his back teeth are starting to go bad.
Levin was 32.
______________________________
“But I am alive still. Now what’s to be done? what’s to be done?” [Levin] said in despair. He lighted a candle, got up cautiously and went to the looking-glass, and began looking at his face and hair. Yes, there were gray hairs about his temples. He opened his mouth. His back teeth were beginning to decay.
I can’t think of another book, not unless about dentists anyway, which mentions teeth as often as AK does. Especially Count Vronsky (Anna’s lover) and his strong, even, dazzling white teeth.
Tolstoy was a brilliant writer. I never got to the bottom of his technique, but his descriptive details were always carefully selected. Even though AK is a long and complex book, it’s not that hard to keep track because Tolstoy’s presentation is so well-organized.
Cornflour: no worries. I have a bad habit of posting to stale threads. Glad to see you posted about Teachout on this one.
DNW: thanks. I used to read Teachout’s reviews and blog posts, but he also wrote books on the arts (including one on dancer and choreographer George Balanchine), plays, and did podcasts. Here’s a sample of his blog style, from 2019. It’s about visiting his boyhood home in Missouri after his parents had died:
The embedded color photo of the beautifully dressed young black woman and her daughter standing in front of the “Colored Entrance” to a department store was taken by Gordon Parks in Mobile, Alabama in 1956:
Fluoridization of drinking water; dose makes the poison, makes a big difference for teeth anyway. Don’t know about its effects on “precious bodily fluids.” Maybe DARPA knows? 🙂
@Hubert:
Just fired up Live at 30th Street in Roon/Tidal. Not bad!
Didn’t know anything about her and had to look her up. Seems Carol Sloane had an unusual career. Got off to a good start, somehow things didn’t work out and she worked as a legal secretary, then after 20 years became Big in Japan.
The introductory non-canonical hook into the tale has doubtless been done before like this… but it works.
@Frederick:
Pigs in Blankets. What’s not to like?
@OBloodyHell:
If there’s plenty more where that comes from, pray don’t hide your light under a bushel. Between your joke and Carol Sloane informing me that Chicago is the kind of town that would make a man wish to dance with his wife I’ve done gone and got the giggles.
More please!
@Om:
Drink up!
@Nonapod:
Hadn’t looked at Ars Technica for yonks since it went woker and I went Genghis Khan.
Every now and then some atrocious offensive woke click bait from it shows up in my Apple News feed. Good to see that they still publish some useful informative stuff… like your link. And this:
I google Obat Cacing (anti-helminthic) and got a pile of results.. In that part of the world, popping a worm pill or three every month is de rigueur.
Well… that’s that itch scratched.
It’s in the water and making the frogs gay. Or not. Dose makes the poison. As the worm turns to WuFlu and the CCP, what about Ivermectin?
Compare human teeth with animal teeth to see effect of sugars. Strep mutans is the main caries-inducing bacterium. 5000 ppm sodium fluoride is an amazing inhibitor of caries, but you have to be really careful to rinse teeth after use as fluoride is toxic.
Hubert:
Thanks for calling our attention to Terry Teachout’s post entitled “A Ghost Walks” (https://tinyurl.com/2s246yxk).
This was an especially fine example of his ability to be personal, vivid, and invisible — all at the same time. He had a way of writing that I both envied and admired, and he worked hard to commit his voice to print. I’m grateful that we have that left. As they say, rest in peace.
I think we can tell approximately the contribution of sugar to caries: check out the teeth of domestic pets who have not been given much sugary food. Mostly their teeth are pretty good after 10-25 years, aren’t they? Also compare with wild mammalian teeth: perhaps a little better than pets? Grit and sand in wild animal food is rather unknown but might be astonishing.
@Huxley:
Do you remember when Taiwan had a Covid spike back in June and quickly brought it under control? Looks like they’ve got another one under way now.
I like Taiwan as an indicator of.. well… something. Not sure what it is… But any time they do manage to stomp an outbreak it’s harder for the closed-minded to shrug their shoulders and say ‘Well, it’s a totalitarian state, so…’ Having lived for so long under a repressive martial law government in the past, nobody in TW will tolerate too much top-down heavy handedness.
Whether or not Covid Zero policies make any sense or not is something else. In the case of TW it’s what the public wants.
Dnaxy:
As far as teeth in other animals, grazing animals for instance, grasses can have considerable ammounts of silica, not crystalline, but abrasive to the teeth of the grazers IIRC. Not the same as grasses, but Horsetails, aka scouring rushes, have a lot of silica in their cell walls. So don’t gnaw on Horsetails to clean your teeth!
Come to think of it, in the magnificently named Harry Sidebottom’s historical novels, there’s regular reference to ‘Slave Bread’ — i.e. the inferior gritty stuff which grinds down teeth.
Zaphod:
Well, at least it’s got subtitles. I like the idea of a mini-series, since “Anna Karenina” is a big book.
I borrowed a DVD of a Russian “Anna Karenina” from the library, brought it home and discovered it had no English subtitles. I was pretty sure my first-year college Russian wouldn’t be up to the challenge.
I’ve got a 2012 English “Anna” which I haven’t got around to either.
Rereading “Anna” is on my bucket list. Then there’s the translation question. I couldn’t get anywhere with Constance Garnett. I settled on Rosemary Edmonds in the Penguin Classics.
Written by a Goddamn Muslim Anti-Semite, too by the name of Jem Aswad. I look forward to the ADL popping up and saying ‘Well acksherllyy… About those White Men..’ and accusing him of dog-whistling.
Credit where due. Even the ADL has its uses. I hope they trash this uppity mystery meat scumbag.
@Huxley:
Be glad to know your eventual decision re translator for AK. I ended up reading the Maude’s translation when I re-read War and Peace last year. Can’t remember why I picked this one. Maybe because couldn’t decide among the newer ones. Or just lazy or it was ‘free’ ($0.76).
Saw another example of same in LA at Peter Grant’s site recently.
There’s a wonderful passage in “Anna Karenina” that I was happily able to find again. Levin, the real main character, has proposed to Kitty and been rejected. Later Kitty realizes her mistake and in a careful conversation, she confesses her love for him.
Levin returns home and is unable to sleep from the ecstasy of her acceptance. That morning the world is transformed as he awaits for noon to drive to her house and tell her parents of his intention to marry.
____________________________________
All that night and morning Levin lived perfectly unconsciously, and felt perfectly lifted out of the conditions of material life. He had eaten nothing for a whole day, he had not slept for two nights, had spent several hours undressed in the frozen air, and felt not simply fresher and stronger than ever, but felt utterly independent of his body; he moved without muscular effort, and felt as if he could do anything. He was convinced he could fly upwards or lift the corner of the house, if need be. He spent the remainder of the time in the street, incessantly looking at his watch and gazing about him.
And what he saw then, he never saw again after. The children especially going to school, the bluish doves flying down from the roofs to the pavement, and the little loaves covered with flour, thrust out by an unseen hand, touched him. Those loaves, those doves, and those two boys were not earthly creatures. It all happened at the same time: a boy ran towards a dove and glanced smiling at Levin; the dove, with a whir of her wings, darted away, flashing in the sun, amid grains of snow that quivered in the air, while from a little window there came a smell of fresh-baked bread, and the loaves were put out. All of this together was so extraordinarily nice that Levin laughed and cried with delight.
I’ve had a blessed few mornings like that, though not involving marriage, and thought it was a private secret. Tolstoy caught it perfectly.
Re: Hong Kong spike
Zaphod:
Yes, I do remember that. You won me over on that one. Though with Omicron, I’ve had my doubts again. It’s so damned fast and contagious.
Can the Chinese really manage Covid Zero? Should we try harder?
@Huxley:
“Can the Chinese really manage Covid Zero? Should we try harder?”
Always Too Early to Say! 🙂
So far they *can* — and this is as an Ethne rather than as a Polity given there are distinct differences in governance between PRC, Taiwan, and even still HK.
(For all we know, could still be some genetic advantage to being Han where Covid is concerned for reasons dreamed up according to taste.)
And the West and the Rest Can Not. Events suggest that they couldn’t even if they really wanted to. Whether or not that’s a bug or a feature is also Too Early to Say.
But these exceptions intrigue me.
@Huxley:
That’s a wonderful passage!
Dirty Old John Donne has his poem about the Sunne Rising, but there’s more joy and beauty in Crazy (*) Lev Nikolayevich’s prose.
Leaving aside the whole Before/After issue.
* Shouldn’t have shown his newly-wed wife his diary. Silly @#$%^er.
Re: Always Too Early to Say!
Zaphod:
Maybe I’ll have that carved on my tombstone…
Re: Tolstoy’s diary
I remember the story even worse. He made her write a diary too, so they could both read the other’s thoughts.
The author, Wang Xiangwei used to be the Editor of the SCMP but is a (shall we say) Mobbed Up Mainlander and is back living in Beijing these days.
Unlikely to be a member of the Pooh Faction and also not aligned with the Shanghai Mafia (guys who ruled before Pooh). Maybe there’s a Non-Woke Intelligentsia Faction in the CCP who get to speak the occasional bit of Truth to Power.
The possibility that a Non-Woke Intelligentisia exists *anywhere* is intriguing in itself.
OBloody Hell:
Excellent!
}}} Fluoridization of drinking water;
Yeah, I’d forgotten about that — yes, it’s a major reason why the generation of kids raised in the 60s had much much better teeth than the prior decades.
I had 10 cavities filled when I was 18 (I confess, did not brush much when younger).
Haven’t had a significant tooth issue (except for needing a crown about 5y ago) since — no cavities, nothing. In over 40 years. This despite having a sweet tooth for soda instead of tea or coffee, Mountain Dew has always been my caffeine source of choice.
Thank you, Mr. Fluoride!!
}}} (For all we know, could still be some genetic advantage to being Han where Covid is concerned for reasons dreamed up according to taste.)
Not at all impossible.
There appears to be a connection between The Bubonic Plague and AIDS, such that people of European descent, whose genetic stock are likely to have some level of resistance, are much much more likely to be able to resist exposure without contracting AIDS. This is one reason why it rips through Africa so horribly, but is confined mostly to fools and idiots in the West…
SCOTUS decision on Xi Den’s Covid Vaxx tyranny. At pjmedia, Victoria Taft says it’s incoherence bespeaks of RINO-turncoat Chief Justice Roberts handiwork.
Geoffrey Britain–Once you admit to the reality of UFOs you are living in a whole new world, one which now contains a new player or players of superior power, whose mere presence on the field will have to alter people’s calculations.
Players moreover able, one would think, to intervene in human affairs at will.
I say “players” because the great variety in size, shape, color, and speed of UFOs that have been spotted suggests that there may well be more than one species of aliens moving through our skies and in our oceans.
Moreover, once you admit to the reality of a phenomenon you previously ignored as non-existent, and take a hard look at the prevalence of UFO sightings, you also have to realize that such sightings have been occurring in great numbers all over the world i.e. that these UFOs are flying with impunity over every continent and virtually every nation, in the oceans of the world and–who knows–perhaps in near Earth orbit, over the Moon, Mars, and throughout our solar system.
Admit, as well, that they are a world-wide phenomenon whose numbers and visibility seem to be increasing.
The question of supreme importance then becomes, why are they here, and what do they want?
One imagines that a lot of effort, organization, and resources have gone into getting the UFOs and their masters here and, then, into enabling them to travel all over our world.
What, then, is the payoff for them?
Mineral or genetic resources? Knowledge? Land—a place to settle? Burning curiosity? Conquest? They’re bored, and just like to mess with us primitives, or to observe us and laugh? They are trying to warn us off our present technological course, preparing us for “Disclosure,” or to enter the “Galactic Federation”? They’re searching for something that is of great value and/or perhaps of critical importance to them?
P.S.–It we are faced with several different species of aliens traversing our planet, perhaps we are also faced with different agendas that might be at cross purposes to each other; some benign, some malignant.
Thus, some species of aliens trying to help us in some way, some species trying to rip us off, and quite willing to take advantage of us defenseless primitives and buy the equivalent of Manhattan island from us for the technological equivalent of a shiny string or two of worthless beads.
The ultimate illegal aliens. Do they get universal health care?
Cue John Lennon and “Imagine” although substitution of “aliens” for people doesn’t work in the lyrics. Maybe Yoko is a space alien, imagine that.
Zaphod and Huxley: interesting opening to that Russian production of Anna Karenin(a). At first I thought WTF? but then it fell into place. Kind of like the epilogue in Doctor Zhivago (the novel): a chance wartime meeting that recalls and frames events from the past.
Carol Sloane’s early career was derailed by Barbra Streisand, rock and roll, and the British Invasion. I wish I had seen her live in the 1980s-1990s or caught her radio programs. BTW: there’s some good jazz radio in New England:
And an impressive list of jazzmen from the region: Chick Corea, Paul Gonsalves, Joe Morello, Phil Woods, Ruby Braff, Max Kaminsky, Johnny Hodges, Roy Haynes, Sonny Stitt, and Rhode Island-born jazz pianist Dave McKenna, heard here in a memorial by Terry Gross on NPR:
I remember listening to that episode in a chilly motel room on Cape Cod when it aired on Thanksgiving Day 2008. I didn’t know then that McKenna had lived and played at clubs on the Cape.
@Hubert:
My thoughts exactly when first saw the introduction to this Anna K.
Good tip about McKenna thanks. Didn’t know any of them were New Englanders except for Corea who I’d read up on a bit in the past. Suppose shouldn’t be so surprised — there must have been a huge college and also club scene before the 60’s deluge shoved jazz to one side.
Just fired up the Dave McKenna Quartet featuring Zoot Sims. It’s got the head nodding and the neurons doing their own happy things.
Here’s a recommendation I’ve been listening to a lot since finding it in Tidal last week:
Heartfelt with Arne Domnérus on clarinet. It’s one of his 70s recordings in a church with pipe organ. Antiphone Blues is another of these. As well as the organist there’s a guy in there with guitar, too. Worth it just for the opening track.
@Hubert:
I clicked on the YouTube link in the sidebar of the Terry Gross link you posted above. Music aside, if you haven’t seen the comments, there’s some gold in there from people who knew or met and interacted with McKenna.
Zaphod: thanks for the recommendations. I read the comments to the Dave McKenna clip on YouTube. Good stuff. Several of the commenters made the same point Gross did, about how awful it was that McKenna had to play in clubs with people talking loudly and making noise. In fact, McKenna said that he preferred it. He called his playing “background music”. An unpretentious genius. Reminded me of this scene from “Young at Heart” (1954) with Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, and Gig Young:
Boston-born Teddi King was another excellent jazz and ballad singer from New England. While listening to the Terry Gross piece, I realized that I actually have the 1977 LP (“…This is new”, Inner City #1044) of Dave McKenna and King that has “Fun to Be Fooled”. Picked it up years ago at an estate sale for a buck. The LP was recorded in October 1977, less than a month before King’s untimely death from lupus. Here she is in the late 1950s, on Hugh Hefner’s late-night TV show:
I can’t explain southern New England’s strange prominence in jazz history. Possible factors? Urban centers and port cities (Boston, Bridgeport, Providence): check. Lively (you might even say “vibrantly diverse!”) ethnic mix: check. Rich catalytic stew of high (WASP, Brahmin) and demotic (Irish, Italian, Jewish, French Canadian, Portuguese, [freed] African American, Cap Verdean etc.) cultures: check. Strong working/middle-class economy (manufacturing and textiles) and enough people with money in their pockets to provide an audience: check. Clubs, dance halls, and above all radio were more important than college campuses, which were never very friendly venues for jazz. Oddly enough, even small and medium-sized New England cities had at least one jazz club. Here’s a link about the jazz scene in Worcester, Massachusetts–a gritty industrial city–in the 1960s and 1970s from the NEPM site:
Check out the handbills for the Kitty Kat Lounge–and those stylin’ 1970s threads!
Which brings me to politics. You have argued repeatedly on this forum that multinational, multi-racial societies can’t work over the long run. Those of us who remember this country as it was until fairly recently reject that argument. The history of jazz shows that it can and has worked, and worked brilliantly. Jazz wasn’t just a musical phenomenon; it was a social, economic, class, and racial solvent as well. There are other mundane examples of people getting along and working together that you wouldn’t know about unless you lived here. This is not South Africa–although I will concede that there are people on both sides who are working very hard to turn it into South Africa, or Lagos-on-the-Chesapeake. I’m betting they won’t succeed in the end. That said, I think we’re in for some very bad times. 1930s bad.
Finally, for people who still have vinyl, a product plug. Get a Pro-Spin acrylic turntable mat, preferably through the Amazon link on Neo’s site. I got one a few weeks ago for my 47-year-old Thorens turntable. The improvement in sound quality is astounding, even with old and beat-up LPs.
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Yesterday, while we were praising Sinema for her passionate defense of hallowed Senate tradition and minority rights, the House hollowed out the NASA Enhanced Use Leasing Extension Act, which has already passed by the Senate and cannot be filibustered. It is now the “Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act.” Sinema promised to support it yesterday while she was “defending the filibuster” and Republicans were praising her. The provisions of HR 1 can now be enacted into law by 50 votes plus Kamala. Yay for the filibuster and yay for Sinema.
I’m so relieved the filibuster stayed in place. Because it would have been terrible if all the voting laws could have been changed by 50 D votes (including Sinema) plus Kamala.
I’d like to think at some point we’d start to figure out how this works. Because Obamacare was enacted by a similar ruse. I mean how many more times is this going to happen before we catch on?
The rules are not the rules. The only rule is does a majority of both Houses want something. All else is distraction. Let’s learn the lesson so we can make effective changes.
Interesting, but the obvious question is what happened to the state of English dental hygiene between the Medieval period and the 20th century?
One thing that struck me in the documentary “They Shall not Grow Old”, is the appalling state of many of the very young soldiers teeth. Perhaps this was due to the greater availability of sweets compared to Medieval times.
@Gregory Harper:Perhaps this was due to the greater availability of sweets compared to Medieval times.
The sweetest thing they had readily available was parsnips, so could be something to this. (Honey could only be got by killing a hive of bees, it wasn’t until the 19th century that bee behavior was understood well enough to get honey without killing the hive.)
Now they did mostly eat bread but unless you were rich that bread flour was not very refined and probably not mostly wheat, so not so much food for caries bacteria.
The idea of a tooth brush seems, at least, rather obvious; and although the first ones mass produced appear to have originated in China prior to the European high middle ages, and to have arrived in Europe before then in some undefined quantities, one would think that some inspired people would have had local versions made up on an ad hoc basis.
Any small handled bristle brush used for other purposes should have sparked the idea. Though inertia and marginal advantage would come into play as well.
Perhaps producing them in economical/ practical quantities as they would have to be thrown away relatively soon, was not seen as preferable to a disposeable linen strip and salt, and a vinegar or wine rinse.
Not sure how many times you could safely use an organic material tooth brush even if you had a couple to rotate and a perpetually dry and sunny place to hang them.
I read a series of Murder Mysteries set in the Middle Ages England. The “hero” is a traveling salesman of goods such as needles, and other household items he carries in a knapsack. He uses Willow Bark to clean his teeth. Willow bark has natural aspirin in it I believe.
Frederick, I keep reading news sites for some indication of whether the Senate could actually pass an “amended” bill from the House, containing nothing in the original bill which the Senate amended, without filibuster protection. It’s not a budget bill. Is this what Schumer says the Senate will vote on after the storm, on Tuesday?
Another open-thread, off-topic comment that has nothing to do with medieval teeth.
Terry Teachout (1956-2022) died yesterday. Here’s a link to an obituary, written by Teachout’s favorite blogger: https://tinyurl.com/2p8kara7
Teachout is best known as a theater critic, but he wrote essays and books on a wide variety of cultural topics. I was introduced to him via his books on jazz, which Neo will want to ignore, but Teachout also wrote a book about ballet, so maybe that’s one she’d like.
Terry Teachout was a sharp observer with a writing style that was clear, casual, and happily ordinary. He was a pleasure to read, and I was very sorry to learn of his passing.
@Kate: Is this what Schumer says the Senate will vote on after the storm, on Tuesday?
Yes, this is what’s scheduled for Tuesday. Senate rule XX allows any rule to be suspended by simple majority vote. Alternatively, they can pass a special law that suspends the filibuster one time only (our Republican Senate leaders did this last month to help the Dems with the debt ceiling). Or they can do what they are doing now similar to what they did with Obamacare. Or they will think of something else.
Kos had the news two days ago. The fix is in. We all missed it because we spend our time believing everything we read.
You are not protected. The rules are fake and the media is lying to you about the narrative as usual. Sinema knew all this while she was speaking.
Following Leader remarks, the Senate will begin consideration of the House Message to accompany H.R.5746, which is the Legislative Vehicle for the Voting Rights legislation.
On Tuesday after the message is laid down, Senator Schumer is expected to make a motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R.5746, with an amendment; and file cloture on the motion.
We expect the voting rights cloture vote to occur during Wednesday’s session of the Senate.
Frederick, that’s consistent with what commenters say on this thread:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/01/democrats-devise-trojan-horse-to-advance-voting-reform-bill/
The dodge is that this “amended bill” gets them to the Senate floor without the extra step of a vote to proceed. However, according to those commenters, it will still need 60 votes to pass, which is unlikely. I hope this analysis is correct.
On bad teeth: It seems that the arrival of sugar in the western diet does correspond to rotting teeth, diabetes, and other serious health problems not previously common.
Frederick:
You write: “The rules are not the rules. The only rule is does a majority of both Houses want something. All else is distraction. Let’s learn the lesson so we can make effective changes.”
I fail to see why you think you’re telling us something we don’t already know. I don’t read every comment here in great detail, although I try to skim them all, but I’ve not seen anyone indicating they think these rules are sacred in some way and cannot be changed if a majority wants to do it. It seems to me that it’s acknowledged that a majority can change the rule if it so desires.
The issues are whether such changes will be made, when, by whom, in what manner, why, and what the result will be. For a long time the rules remained, some of the reasons for that were that (1) both parties recognized when they were in power that they might need to respect the rule because soon they might be out of power (2) both parties wanted some sort of bipartisanship on major transformative legislation, or at least the approval of a strong majority of the public (and if that party already held over 60 Senate seats and therefore was filibuster-proof, then it was understood that a large majority of the public was on their side).
What it really boiled down to was that both parties felt vulnerable to voters’ opinions for the next election, and therefore didn’t want to rile too many voters with extremely partisan transformative legislation and risk their seats next time There are other factors, too – for example, the parties really used to be somewhat less polarized in their goals.
HR1 is the entire ball of wax for the Democrats, and that’s what makes it different. That’s what makes them more even more determined than usual (and they usually are very determined) to pass it, because they believe it will give them permanent power. Permanent power includes the power to do more things that will solidify that power, including making new states out of DC and Puerto Rico. Then they would never have to worry about the likes of Sinema and Manchin.
Whether anything will stop them is anyone’s guess. But they will not stop trying any way they can. That’s why the new approach to passing HR1 surprises me not in the least, and it should surprise no one. If that approach fails, they will try another.
Cornflour on January 14, 2022 at 1:19 pm said:
Hubert mentioned him yesterday.
I had never heard of him; but knowing a little about Hubert’s judgment, I figured he must have been a personality and intellect whose opinions were worth considering.
@neo:I fail to see why you think you’re telling us something we don’t already know.
Because everyone keeps saying the Dems need 60 votes unless they “nuke the filibuster” and then they need 50+ Kamala. It is not true. All they need, all they ever have needed, is 50+Kamala at any time. (And to repeal Obamacare Republicans only needed 50+Pence, which they had, but all this creativity was missing then, it was all hallowed tradition this and maverick that and we’re not Democrats so nothing we can do.)
Suppose there was a rule that Senators weren’t allowed to smoke, but they could suspend the rule at any time in order to have a cigarette. And let’s say someone proposed to abolish that rule. Wouldn’t it be ridiculous to get worked up about “allowing smoking in the Senate”? Wouldn’t impassioned speeches on it be a little fake and theatrical? Especially when Sinema gives that speech just after stubbing out the one she lit up five minutes before?
Cornflour: thanks for noting Terry Teachout’s death. You said it better than I could (https://www.thenewneo.com/2022/01/13/open-thread-1-13-22/#comment-2601343). In truth, I couldn’t find the words. And it was late. I thought attention should be paid on the day of his death.
One of the commenters on Patrick Kurp’s blog mentioned Teachout’s love and support for local theater. I can attest to that. I sent an e-mail to his WSJ address out of the blue back in 2004, suggesting that he add the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery to his regional theater itinerary. He did, and wrote a fine review of one of their productions. We corresponded for a few years after that, but I let the connection lapse when he shifted from e-mail to Twitter. A great loss. Like many these past few years.
In that connection:
I’ve been meaning to send a card to Carol Sloane, one of the last surviving girl singers from the golden age of jazz singing:
https://carolsloane.com/
Her 1962 album, “Live At 30th Street”:
https://tinyurl.com/2c3uevh2
Timely trivia: Peter Bogdanovich wrote the liner notes.
Sloane was a great singer. She’s also a good writer, or was before suffering a stroke in 2020. She’s at a rehab facility in Massachusetts. Time to send that card.
Hubert:
Sorry, I missed your comment yesterday. Good story about local theater, one of Teachout’s enthusiasms. Thanks for that.
That’s damn good, Fredrick. Whether one agrees or not, that’s damn good.
Evidently the Epstein–Barr virus (the virus that causes Mono) has been fairly strongly linked to the development of multiple sclerosis in some recent studies.
I have the feeling that all sorts of events are converging, and that we are reaching some sort of “tipping point.”
If you are interested in the phenomena of UFOs and consider them to be of great or even of critical importance at this moment, or—even, and especially, if you consider the phenomenon of UFOs to be illusory, and of no real importance at all–it is time very well spent to watch the very well done 2020 documentary I have just finished watching, “The Phenomenon.”
This is a one hour 41 minute presentation of the key and best evidence, featuring extremely credible witnesses, which takes the position that the government is, indeed, and has been from the start at Roswell in 1947, very systematically covering up the evidence for this phenomena being very real, indeed, and of great concern to the government.
This is the best and most comprehensive overview of this phenomena and attempts to understand it (or to cover it up) that I have seen to date.
It can be seen for free on ROKU or TUBI.
}}} Now they did mostly eat bread but unless you were rich that bread flour was not very refined and probably not mostly wheat, so not so much food for caries bacteria.
Ummmm… one thing most people don’t think about is grindstones. Which are presumably sandstone or other similar hard stones, but not **polished** and certainly not fired in such a way to make them truly immune to the grinding action itself.
The net result was a moderately high **sand** content in many breads, the cheaper the quality of the wheat, the longer it had to be ground, and… yes, the higher percentage of SAND in the flour.
You may be able to guess what a few decades of eating sandy bread can do to your tooth enamel. Enamel is hard, but not as hard as silicates.
This is a common reason for caries prior to modern milling AND dentistry. Your teeth lost their enamel as you grew older.
Back to teeth? Or the nub to gnaw on from wickedmedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teeth-cleaning_twig
It appears that of all places, India, Africa, and the Middle East as well as Europe were using twigs to clean teeth in those old timey times, aka, way back before the Boomers. Those practices may not even have originated in China, inconceivable!
Orville was new to the Big City. He went to look for a job. Not having much luck, having no Big City contacts, and no real work history to speak of, and not much of any experience to draw on, he, not unsurprisingly, gets quite despondent. Finally, he sees a sign: “BE A BIG MAN IN SALES!! Make Lots of Money!!”
So he goes in and applies. The new employer, (“Acme”, or course) is a toothbrush company. Orville is given samples, and sent out to sell Acme toothbrushes on a nearby street corner.
Orville comes back at the end of the day. “How many did you sell?” his boss asks. “A dozen.” Orville replies. “Not good enough, Orville, you need to sell at least 20 times that each day.”. Orville goes home for the day, and comes back early the next morning.
After a long day on the street corner, Orville comes back, and, again, “How many?”. Orville’s despondent reply is “Two dozen.” His boss, once more, intones, “You have to do much better, Orville. Come up with a hook. Go home, and think of a way to sell more toothbrushes to people.” So Orville does, and he thinks long and hard about how to sell toothbrushes.
Orville gets a bright idea, and heads out to the street corner to try it out. When he comes back to the sales manager at the end of the day, he is smiling. His boss goes, “Looks like today went well for you? How many?” “One Thousand three hundred and forty two.” His boss’s eyebrows raise, and, wide-eyed, “Impressive! How the heck did you manage that? It’s a sales record!”
“I offered people a piece of chocolate.” he said. “They spat it out, saying ‘That tastes like SHIT!!!’. I said, ‘It is. Want to buy a toothbrush?”
😀
OBloddy Hell:
Could be worse, could be bone meal bread:
Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he alive, or be he dead
I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fee-fi-fo-fum
Not sure how that bread rates on the abrasiveness scale, quartz + calcium phosphate flour. Did giants have good teeth?
Gee you mean that once again Hollywood gets it completely wrong? Presumably, wheat was ground in the 18th and 19th centuries just as it was in medieval times, if so the decline in dental health almost certainly was due to the Caribbean sugar trade.
Frederick,
It took a bit for me to get my head around what you’ve explained. It’s a real eye opener. I didn’t think it possible but Congress is an even fouler cesspit than I’d realized. What really pisses me off is I can’t recall even one member of congress explaining this to the American public. You’d think that at least one of them, after announcing their retirement would spill the beans. Almost all of them are millionaires and get a full pension, so it’s not like they need extra income after retirement.
Snow on Pine,
“I have the feeling that all sorts of events are converging, and that we are reaching some sort of “tipping point.”
I share that feeling. What can’t go on… won’t go on.
Given the inumerable reports of UFOs by reputable observers, I suspect we have long been observed, as in the “Prime Directive”. The substantial increase in sightings is, I suspect to prepare humanity for first contact. Giving us time to get used to the idea.
OBloody Hell,
Thank you, that made me LOL.
@Geoffrey Britain:It took a bit for me to get my head around what you’ve explained.
Orwell did it better in Animal Farm:
Squealer, who happened to be passing at this moment, attended by two or three dogs, was able to put the whole matter in its proper perspective.
“You have heard then, comrades,” he said, “that we pigs now sleep in the beds of the farmhouse? And why not? You did not suppose, surely, that there was ever a ruling against beds? A bed merely means a place to sleep in. A pile of straw in a stall is a bed, properly regarded. The rule was against sheets, which are a human invention. We have removed the sheets from the farmhouse beds, and sleep between blankets. And very comfortable beds they are too…
As I recall reading “Anna Karenina” years ago, one scene describes Levin, a main character of AK, taking stock of his life as his brother is dying and noting that his back teeth are starting to go bad.
Levin was 32.
______________________________
“But I am alive still. Now what’s to be done? what’s to be done?” [Levin] said in despair. He lighted a candle, got up cautiously and went to the looking-glass, and began looking at his face and hair. Yes, there were gray hairs about his temples. He opened his mouth. His back teeth were beginning to decay.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1399/1399-h/1399-h.htm
______________________________
I can’t think of another book, not unless about dentists anyway, which mentions teeth as often as AK does. Especially Count Vronsky (Anna’s lover) and his strong, even, dazzling white teeth.
Tolstoy was a brilliant writer. I never got to the bottom of his technique, but his descriptive details were always carefully selected. Even though AK is a long and complex book, it’s not that hard to keep track because Tolstoy’s presentation is so well-organized.
Cornflour: no worries. I have a bad habit of posting to stale threads. Glad to see you posted about Teachout on this one.
DNW: thanks. I used to read Teachout’s reviews and blog posts, but he also wrote books on the arts (including one on dancer and choreographer George Balanchine), plays, and did podcasts. Here’s a sample of his blog style, from 2019. It’s about visiting his boyhood home in Missouri after his parents had died:
https://www.artsjournal.com/aboutlastnight/2019/07/a-ghost-walks.html
The embedded color photo of the beautifully dressed young black woman and her daughter standing in front of the “Colored Entrance” to a department store was taken by Gordon Parks in Mobile, Alabama in 1956:
https://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/exhibitions/museum-exhibitions/gordon-parks-segregation-story-in-mobile-1956
Looks like Gayfer’s.
On another thread, you said that what this country needs is a good $500 self-winding watch. I give you: Vostok!
https://vostokamphibia.com/
Russian watch. Strong like tank.
Fluoridization of drinking water; dose makes the poison, makes a big difference for teeth anyway. Don’t know about its effects on “precious bodily fluids.” Maybe DARPA knows? 🙂
@Hubert:
Just fired up Live at 30th Street in Roon/Tidal. Not bad!
Didn’t know anything about her and had to look her up. Seems Carol Sloane had an unusual career. Got off to a good start, somehow things didn’t work out and she worked as a legal secretary, then after 20 years became Big in Japan.
@Huxley:
You might (or might not) enjoy this:
FULL MOVIE | Anna Karenina | FIRST EPISODE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVs6tzE4I8o
The introductory non-canonical hook into the tale has doubtless been done before like this… but it works.
@Frederick:
Pigs in Blankets. What’s not to like?
@OBloodyHell:
If there’s plenty more where that comes from, pray don’t hide your light under a bushel. Between your joke and Carol Sloane informing me that Chicago is the kind of town that would make a man wish to dance with his wife I’ve done gone and got the giggles.
More please!
@Om:
Drink up!
@Nonapod:
Hadn’t looked at Ars Technica for yonks since it went woker and I went Genghis Khan.
Every now and then some atrocious offensive woke click bait from it shows up in my Apple News feed. Good to see that they still publish some useful informative stuff… like your link. And this:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/01/intestinal-parasites-plagued-jerusalems-wealthy-elite-toilet-excavation-reveals/
Who woulda thunk?
There’s a very comprehensive museum of intestinal parasites in Tokyo. Eating sushi will do that for you.
And for all you Bahasa Indonesia aficionados out there:
https://hellosehat.com/infeksi/infeksi-melalui-makanan/obat-cacing-dewasa/
I google Obat Cacing (anti-helminthic) and got a pile of results.. In that part of the world, popping a worm pill or three every month is de rigueur.
Well… that’s that itch scratched.
It’s in the water and making the frogs gay. Or not. Dose makes the poison. As the worm turns to WuFlu and the CCP, what about Ivermectin?
Compare human teeth with animal teeth to see effect of sugars. Strep mutans is the main caries-inducing bacterium. 5000 ppm sodium fluoride is an amazing inhibitor of caries, but you have to be really careful to rinse teeth after use as fluoride is toxic.
Hubert:
Thanks for calling our attention to Terry Teachout’s post entitled “A Ghost Walks” (https://tinyurl.com/2s246yxk).
This was an especially fine example of his ability to be personal, vivid, and invisible — all at the same time. He had a way of writing that I both envied and admired, and he worked hard to commit his voice to print. I’m grateful that we have that left. As they say, rest in peace.
I think we can tell approximately the contribution of sugar to caries: check out the teeth of domestic pets who have not been given much sugary food. Mostly their teeth are pretty good after 10-25 years, aren’t they? Also compare with wild mammalian teeth: perhaps a little better than pets? Grit and sand in wild animal food is rather unknown but might be astonishing.
@Huxley:
Do you remember when Taiwan had a Covid spike back in June and quickly brought it under control? Looks like they’ve got another one under way now.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/taiwan/
I like Taiwan as an indicator of.. well… something. Not sure what it is… But any time they do manage to stomp an outbreak it’s harder for the closed-minded to shrug their shoulders and say ‘Well, it’s a totalitarian state, so…’ Having lived for so long under a repressive martial law government in the past, nobody in TW will tolerate too much top-down heavy handedness.
Whether or not Covid Zero policies make any sense or not is something else. In the case of TW it’s what the public wants.
Dnaxy:
As far as teeth in other animals, grazing animals for instance, grasses can have considerable ammounts of silica, not crystalline, but abrasive to the teeth of the grazers IIRC. Not the same as grasses, but Horsetails, aka scouring rushes, have a lot of silica in their cell walls. So don’t gnaw on Horsetails to clean your teeth!
Come to think of it, in the magnificently named Harry Sidebottom’s historical novels, there’s regular reference to ‘Slave Bread’ — i.e. the inferior gritty stuff which grinds down teeth.
Zaphod:
Well, at least it’s got subtitles. I like the idea of a mini-series, since “Anna Karenina” is a big book.
I borrowed a DVD of a Russian “Anna Karenina” from the library, brought it home and discovered it had no English subtitles. I was pretty sure my first-year college Russian wouldn’t be up to the challenge.
I’ve got a 2012 English “Anna” which I haven’t got around to either.
Rereading “Anna” is on my bucket list. Then there’s the translation question. I couldn’t get anywhere with Constance Garnett. I settled on Rosemary Edmonds in the Penguin Classics.
Some hilarity here:
https://vdare.com/posts/variety-it-s-a-sad-reflection-of-the-state-of-the-world-that-white-men-composed-so-many-songs-people-like
Written by a Goddamn Muslim Anti-Semite, too by the name of Jem Aswad. I look forward to the ADL popping up and saying ‘Well acksherllyy… About those White Men..’ and accusing him of dog-whistling.
Credit where due. Even the ADL has its uses. I hope they trash this uppity mystery meat scumbag.
@Huxley:
Be glad to know your eventual decision re translator for AK. I ended up reading the Maude’s translation when I re-read War and Peace last year. Can’t remember why I picked this one. Maybe because couldn’t decide among the newer ones. Or just lazy or it was ‘free’ ($0.76).
Re Calling Chicago that Other Naughty Word:
Goods Train being looted in broad daylight:
https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/095/806/204/original/9dab07da033252f6.mp4
Not being burgled. Looted.
Saw another example of same in LA at Peter Grant’s site recently.
There’s a wonderful passage in “Anna Karenina” that I was happily able to find again. Levin, the real main character, has proposed to Kitty and been rejected. Later Kitty realizes her mistake and in a careful conversation, she confesses her love for him.
Levin returns home and is unable to sleep from the ecstasy of her acceptance. That morning the world is transformed as he awaits for noon to drive to her house and tell her parents of his intention to marry.
____________________________________
All that night and morning Levin lived perfectly unconsciously, and felt perfectly lifted out of the conditions of material life. He had eaten nothing for a whole day, he had not slept for two nights, had spent several hours undressed in the frozen air, and felt not simply fresher and stronger than ever, but felt utterly independent of his body; he moved without muscular effort, and felt as if he could do anything. He was convinced he could fly upwards or lift the corner of the house, if need be. He spent the remainder of the time in the street, incessantly looking at his watch and gazing about him.
And what he saw then, he never saw again after. The children especially going to school, the bluish doves flying down from the roofs to the pavement, and the little loaves covered with flour, thrust out by an unseen hand, touched him. Those loaves, those doves, and those two boys were not earthly creatures. It all happened at the same time: a boy ran towards a dove and glanced smiling at Levin; the dove, with a whir of her wings, darted away, flashing in the sun, amid grains of snow that quivered in the air, while from a little window there came a smell of fresh-baked bread, and the loaves were put out. All of this together was so extraordinarily nice that Levin laughed and cried with delight.
–“Anna Karenina, Part 4, Chapter 15” (trans. Constance Garnett)
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1399/1399-h/1399-h.htm
____________________________________
I’ve had a blessed few mornings like that, though not involving marriage, and thought it was a private secret. Tolstoy caught it perfectly.
Re: Hong Kong spike
Zaphod:
Yes, I do remember that. You won me over on that one. Though with Omicron, I’ve had my doubts again. It’s so damned fast and contagious.
Can the Chinese really manage Covid Zero? Should we try harder?
@Huxley:
“Can the Chinese really manage Covid Zero? Should we try harder?”
Always Too Early to Say! 🙂
So far they *can* — and this is as an Ethne rather than as a Polity given there are distinct differences in governance between PRC, Taiwan, and even still HK.
(For all we know, could still be some genetic advantage to being Han where Covid is concerned for reasons dreamed up according to taste.)
And the West and the Rest Can Not. Events suggest that they couldn’t even if they really wanted to. Whether or not that’s a bug or a feature is also Too Early to Say.
But these exceptions intrigue me.
@Huxley:
That’s a wonderful passage!
Dirty Old John Donne has his poem about the Sunne Rising, but there’s more joy and beauty in Crazy (*) Lev Nikolayevich’s prose.
Leaving aside the whole Before/After issue.
* Shouldn’t have shown his newly-wed wife his diary. Silly @#$%^er.
Re: Always Too Early to Say!
Zaphod:
Maybe I’ll have that carved on my tombstone…
Re: Tolstoy’s diary
I remember the story even worse. He made her write a diary too, so they could both read the other’s thoughts.
@Huxley:
Hardly a recipe for marital bliss.
Thought you’d enjoy this, if you hadn’t seen it.
The Turn
When I saw the left give up everything I believe in, I changed politically. You can, too.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-turn-liel-leibovitz
@Huxley:
From the Fair and Balanced Department.
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3163443/xians-covid-19-chaos-exposes-dark-side-chinas-top-down-governing
The author, Wang Xiangwei used to be the Editor of the SCMP but is a (shall we say) Mobbed Up Mainlander and is back living in Beijing these days.
Unlikely to be a member of the Pooh Faction and also not aligned with the Shanghai Mafia (guys who ruled before Pooh). Maybe there’s a Non-Woke Intelligentsia Faction in the CCP who get to speak the occasional bit of Truth to Power.
The possibility that a Non-Woke Intelligentisia exists *anywhere* is intriguing in itself.
OBloody Hell:
Excellent!
}}} Fluoridization of drinking water;
Yeah, I’d forgotten about that — yes, it’s a major reason why the generation of kids raised in the 60s had much much better teeth than the prior decades.
I had 10 cavities filled when I was 18 (I confess, did not brush much when younger).
Haven’t had a significant tooth issue (except for needing a crown about 5y ago) since — no cavities, nothing. In over 40 years. This despite having a sweet tooth for soda instead of tea or coffee, Mountain Dew has always been my caffeine source of choice.
Thank you, Mr. Fluoride!!
}}} (For all we know, could still be some genetic advantage to being Han where Covid is concerned for reasons dreamed up according to taste.)
Not at all impossible.
There appears to be a connection between The Bubonic Plague and AIDS, such that people of European descent, whose genetic stock are likely to have some level of resistance, are much much more likely to be able to resist exposure without contracting AIDS. This is one reason why it rips through Africa so horribly, but is confined mostly to fools and idiots in the West…
SCOTUS decision on Xi Den’s Covid Vaxx tyranny. At pjmedia, Victoria Taft says it’s incoherence bespeaks of RINO-turncoat Chief Justice Roberts handiwork.
I believe she’s correct. Anyone care to dispute this?
https://pjmedia.com/columns/victoria-taft/2022/01/14/the-supreme-courts-incoherent-covid-mandate-rulings-n1549426
Geoffrey Britain–Once you admit to the reality of UFOs you are living in a whole new world, one which now contains a new player or players of superior power, whose mere presence on the field will have to alter people’s calculations.
Players moreover able, one would think, to intervene in human affairs at will.
I say “players” because the great variety in size, shape, color, and speed of UFOs that have been spotted suggests that there may well be more than one species of aliens moving through our skies and in our oceans.
Moreover, once you admit to the reality of a phenomenon you previously ignored as non-existent, and take a hard look at the prevalence of UFO sightings, you also have to realize that such sightings have been occurring in great numbers all over the world i.e. that these UFOs are flying with impunity over every continent and virtually every nation, in the oceans of the world and–who knows–perhaps in near Earth orbit, over the Moon, Mars, and throughout our solar system.
Admit, as well, that they are a world-wide phenomenon whose numbers and visibility seem to be increasing.
The question of supreme importance then becomes, why are they here, and what do they want?
One imagines that a lot of effort, organization, and resources have gone into getting the UFOs and their masters here and, then, into enabling them to travel all over our world.
What, then, is the payoff for them?
Mineral or genetic resources? Knowledge? Land—a place to settle? Burning curiosity? Conquest? They’re bored, and just like to mess with us primitives, or to observe us and laugh? They are trying to warn us off our present technological course, preparing us for “Disclosure,” or to enter the “Galactic Federation”? They’re searching for something that is of great value and/or perhaps of critical importance to them?
P.S.–It we are faced with several different species of aliens traversing our planet, perhaps we are also faced with different agendas that might be at cross purposes to each other; some benign, some malignant.
Thus, some species of aliens trying to help us in some way, some species trying to rip us off, and quite willing to take advantage of us defenseless primitives and buy the equivalent of Manhattan island from us for the technological equivalent of a shiny string or two of worthless beads.
The ultimate illegal aliens. Do they get universal health care?
Cue John Lennon and “Imagine” although substitution of “aliens” for people doesn’t work in the lyrics. Maybe Yoko is a space alien, imagine that.
Zaphod and Huxley: interesting opening to that Russian production of Anna Karenin(a). At first I thought WTF? but then it fell into place. Kind of like the epilogue in Doctor Zhivago (the novel): a chance wartime meeting that recalls and frames events from the past.
Carol Sloane’s early career was derailed by Barbra Streisand, rock and roll, and the British Invasion. I wish I had seen her live in the 1980s-1990s or caught her radio programs. BTW: there’s some good jazz radio in New England:
https://www.nepm.org/show/jazz-a-la-mode
And an impressive list of jazzmen from the region: Chick Corea, Paul Gonsalves, Joe Morello, Phil Woods, Ruby Braff, Max Kaminsky, Johnny Hodges, Roy Haynes, Sonny Stitt, and Rhode Island-born jazz pianist Dave McKenna, heard here in a memorial by Terry Gross on NPR:
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97485041
I remember listening to that episode in a chilly motel room on Cape Cod when it aired on Thanksgiving Day 2008. I didn’t know then that McKenna had lived and played at clubs on the Cape.
@Hubert:
My thoughts exactly when first saw the introduction to this Anna K.
Good tip about McKenna thanks. Didn’t know any of them were New Englanders except for Corea who I’d read up on a bit in the past. Suppose shouldn’t be so surprised — there must have been a huge college and also club scene before the 60’s deluge shoved jazz to one side.
Just fired up the Dave McKenna Quartet featuring Zoot Sims. It’s got the head nodding and the neurons doing their own happy things.
Here’s a recommendation I’ve been listening to a lot since finding it in Tidal last week:
Heartfelt with Arne Domnérus on clarinet. It’s one of his 70s recordings in a church with pipe organ. Antiphone Blues is another of these. As well as the organist there’s a guy in there with guitar, too. Worth it just for the opening track.
@Hubert:
I clicked on the YouTube link in the sidebar of the Terry Gross link you posted above. Music aside, if you haven’t seen the comments, there’s some gold in there from people who knew or met and interacted with McKenna.
Zaphod: thanks for the recommendations. I read the comments to the Dave McKenna clip on YouTube. Good stuff. Several of the commenters made the same point Gross did, about how awful it was that McKenna had to play in clubs with people talking loudly and making noise. In fact, McKenna said that he preferred it. He called his playing “background music”. An unpretentious genius. Reminded me of this scene from “Young at Heart” (1954) with Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, and Gig Young:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-OVgbD0yko
“Don’t worry about Barney, he’s used to it.”
Boston-born Teddi King was another excellent jazz and ballad singer from New England. While listening to the Terry Gross piece, I realized that I actually have the 1977 LP (“…This is new”, Inner City #1044) of Dave McKenna and King that has “Fun to Be Fooled”. Picked it up years ago at an estate sale for a buck. The LP was recorded in October 1977, less than a month before King’s untimely death from lupus. Here she is in the late 1950s, on Hugh Hefner’s late-night TV show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFb_JV0gkM0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqAMA076bD4
I can’t explain southern New England’s strange prominence in jazz history. Possible factors? Urban centers and port cities (Boston, Bridgeport, Providence): check. Lively (you might even say “vibrantly diverse!”) ethnic mix: check. Rich catalytic stew of high (WASP, Brahmin) and demotic (Irish, Italian, Jewish, French Canadian, Portuguese, [freed] African American, Cap Verdean etc.) cultures: check. Strong working/middle-class economy (manufacturing and textiles) and enough people with money in their pockets to provide an audience: check. Clubs, dance halls, and above all radio were more important than college campuses, which were never very friendly venues for jazz. Oddly enough, even small and medium-sized New England cities had at least one jazz club. Here’s a link about the jazz scene in Worcester, Massachusetts–a gritty industrial city–in the 1960s and 1970s from the NEPM site:
https://www.nepm.org/jazz-world/2019-03-12/memories-of-worcesters-jazz-royalty
Check out the handbills for the Kitty Kat Lounge–and those stylin’ 1970s threads!
Which brings me to politics. You have argued repeatedly on this forum that multinational, multi-racial societies can’t work over the long run. Those of us who remember this country as it was until fairly recently reject that argument. The history of jazz shows that it can and has worked, and worked brilliantly. Jazz wasn’t just a musical phenomenon; it was a social, economic, class, and racial solvent as well. There are other mundane examples of people getting along and working together that you wouldn’t know about unless you lived here. This is not South Africa–although I will concede that there are people on both sides who are working very hard to turn it into South Africa, or Lagos-on-the-Chesapeake. I’m betting they won’t succeed in the end. That said, I think we’re in for some very bad times. 1930s bad.
Finally, for people who still have vinyl, a product plug. Get a Pro-Spin acrylic turntable mat, preferably through the Amazon link on Neo’s site. I got one a few weeks ago for my 47-year-old Thorens turntable. The improvement in sound quality is astounding, even with old and beat-up LPs.