I’ve been seeing lots of bad news about China, which, from these different developments, seems to have the possibility of disintegrating.
There is the whole slew of bad effects from China’s former one child policy–general demographic decline, and a surplus of many millions of young males (the prime trouble making demographic)–never a good thing.
Lots of young career women who don’t want to get married, coupled with lots of older “leftover women” who have no marriage prospects.
Many young people who don’t want to get married or to have children, and disastrously low numbers of new births.
A trend among many young people to just “lie flat” i.e. to have little ambition, do the minimum, or even just not work at all, while at the same time hordes of ill educated people–essentially peasants–pouring into the cities from the countryside who cannot find jobs, and who are sleeping in the streets.
Bleak job prospects and cuts in entry salaries reported for new college graduates.
Lots of bad economic news–production down, companies closing, many hundreds of foreign firms packing up shop and leaving.
Exports falling and ports clogged with empty shipping containers and idle trucks.
Some supposedly new Chinese high tech innovations are apparently phony–CGI images and/or mock ups of items which are never going to actually be put into production.
Major companies in the property construction and management sector–reportedly 30–40% of the economy–defaulting, as are banks.
Tofu-dreg i.e. shoddy construction, and buildings starting to crumble or actually collapsing.
Tremendous flooding.
Recent public anti-COVID lockdown and other protests followed by arrests of anyone involved, or even someone who was curious and got close to the protests (sound familiar?).
Tourism by foreigners down a reported 99% . This quarter pre-COVID was 3.5 million, this quarter now 59,000.
Now reports of a new campaign of suspicion, to regard all foreigners as potential “spies.”
Sounds like a recipe for all sorts of “social unrest”, and even possibly rebellion.
Can Do! for the memory of “Z.”
Beautiful picture. Nessie’s cousin just breaking surface in foreground is a nice touch ; )
I guess that’d be a gaff rigged schooner?
Snow on Pine: My feeling is that things will still need to get much worse in China before open rebellion occurs. But I also think that things are extremely likely to get far worse in China in the coming months and years. And I don’t believe the current leadership has the tools, desire, or even the wherewithal to properly address these issues. Heck, they’re the cause of most of these issues. Maybe the demographic crisis can’t be fairly laid at the feet of Xi Jingping and his clique since the policy that caused it predates them. But they can’t solve such a crisis. As much as the communists wish it were so, you can’t mandate prosperity.
My most recent post: RetroMusical Goodness—great songs that were once popular but aren’t listened to much anymore:
P.S.—The new campaign of suspicion funny given that the hundreds of thousands of Chinese “students” who attend our universities are often functioning as spies for the PRC, as they gather bits of information for the Chinese intelligence agencies “grains of sand” approach to intelligence gathering.
Re ‘China’. Didn’t I read about thousands of Chinese arriving at our border and being welcomed in? Wonder how they manage ‘travel documents, etc’ to leave China.
“However, I don’t think much of polls at this point, and I also think Trump will be the nominee.”
A) DeSantis is the Republican version of Carter or Dukakis – men who could handle the state executive office (Governor), but were not suitable for the US executive office (President).
B) DeSantis also had advantages neither Carter or Dukakis had – including:
• A significant portion of the party base wanted DeSantis to be part of the US executive branch (i.e., Trump VP).
• As VP DeSantis would have had the opportunity to gain the support of the dominant party base (e.g., Reagan & Bush).
• As VP DeSantis would have had the time to gain 4 years of US executive branch experience, and still be younger than Carter (52) and Dukakis (55) when they ran.
C) DeSantis – despite his poor decision making & management ^^ – still has a chance to be the Republican nominee in 2024, for the simple reason that there are no longer enough adults-in-the-room to support previous adult standards (i.e., the Boomers & Gen X generations are failing).
• Another variation of “It is who counts the votes that matters most” – is “It is who makes the rules that matters most”.
• DeSantis needs the support of the “local/ state/ national Party” people who make the rules, more than the support of the “non-Party” people who vote (e.g., Trump base).
• see “Why does DeSantis want these headlines?”
*****
^^ = “DeSantis swears he is going to be so good at hiring and operationally effective in management as president, that he’s now on the 4th reboot, [has laid off a 3rd of his staff], switched to a 2nd campaign manager, [and has declined to single digits in some polls – for a campaign] that started just three months ago today” — Twitter Aug 26
Snow on Pine, very interesting. I’m wondering how the “leftover women” phenomenon could possibly have come about — after all, I thought China had an excess of males, due to (a) the former one-child policy; (b) a preference for sons among Chinese parents; and (3) easy access to abortion at any time.
Do you have any more info on this?
Love the big sailing yachts. Though I’ve never been on anything bigger than 30 ft. personally.
The Janice of Wyoming was parked at my community’s harbor once and I had a chance to take a look up close. Unlike neo’s boat, she’s an entirely modern yacht:
I know the Chinese very well, having worked with them for 9 years on a railroad project in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. We enjoyed many wonderful dinners together with the CCP political snitch always present. I needled him relentlessly – being the irreverent bastard that I am – to the
amusement and appreciation of my hosts. I cannot predict the outcome of the Chinese future but I do know there is sizable disgruntlement among the troops.
Xylourgos…”I needled him relentlessly”…I wonder if that would be possible in today’s political climate there, or if the snitch would just have the westerner thrown out, regardless of the implications for project schedule and success?
Well, considering prostitution is legal in Germany… this is probably just a ‘job prep’ endeavor.
Speaking of sailing vessels…there a company called Star Clippers which operates a fleet of sailing cruise ships. We spent a week on one of them, a cruise in the Mediterranean from Turkey to Greece with stops at several Islands.
…highly recommended. The ships are square rigged but with sails that furl like a window shade, controlled from the deck, so no need for crew to go aloft in normal circumstances.
Our captain was a German guy who said he’d always wanted to become captain of a square-rigged ship and found one of the few jobs in the world where that was possible.
David, It was not a problem for me. I was in the cat birds seat. As Chief Engineer for the project I enjoyed excellent relations with the Client and with the Chinese Contractor. I was responsible for approval of the Chinese designs, payment requests and final approval of the works – so there was not much they could do to retaliate. Besides, the Chinese management I worked with had less liking for the snitch than I had. They rather enjoyed having me put him on the BBQ and turn him slowly on the fire….an old Greek tradition.
RE: China
According to current Chinese law, you can be picked up, arrested, (is there an actual trial?) and jailed for up to 5 years for the crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a charge so vague that it can cover virtually anything.
See any emerging parallels here in the U.S.?
RE: “Tofu dreg” construction in China–“the land of shortcuts and facades”
Here is an example, the story of a school gymnasium, reportedly built in 1997, whose supposedly “reinforced concrete” roof collapsed, crushing and killing a women’s volleyball team.*
Snow on pine,
That first article about the Pope didn’t really say what specifically he was opposed to. The second one was wanting some kind of agreement on cookies, so I didn’t open it.
Do you know what exactly the pope is upset about with some of the American Catholics ?
And maybe it is lost in translation, but it always seems to me that popes talk in non specifics a lot and fail to get to the point.
that guy:
There was another governor who was a conservative, Ronald Reagan. Funny you have ignored him. Not to quibble, but how many people did President Trump hire, fire, or have leave during his term, and what does it mean?
Your analysis of DeSantis and extrapolation to Carter and Dukakis is quaint. Time will tell.
Re China– it looks like Brandon wants to bring back the jab and other reminders of the Chinese gift that keeps on giving:
First, as John Tierney notes, “. . . the maskaholics are back. In response to an uptick in Covid cases, they’ve begun reinstating mask mandates. So far, it’s just a few places—a college in Atlanta, a Hollywood studio, two hospitals in Syracuse—but the mainstream media and their favorite “experts” are working hard to scare the rest of us into masking up yet again.”
As for the clot shot, Hunter’s loving dad “has plans to roll out a new COVID-19 vaccine this fall, requiring Americans to get another jab. Despite declaring earlier this year that COVID is no longer a threat, President [sic] Joe Biden said his administration will ‘likely’ recommend that all Americans receive the updated booster, including children.”
Question for physicsguy– what are the latest stats on COVID, and are they anywhere near reliable?
@ om
“There was another governor who was a conservative, Ronald Reagan. Funny you have ignored him.”
• Thank you for the input.
• 100% agree that I did not compare Reagan to Carter or Dukakis – “…men who could handle the state executive office (Governor), but were not suitable for the US executive office (President).” – for the simple reason that Reagan was not like them.
• 100% agree that my point was not ALL state executive office (Governor) candidates are not suitable for the US executive office (President) – for the simple reason that during my voting lifetime I have preferred candidates who had state executive office experience over candidates that only had US Congress experience.
• 100% agree that both DeSantis and Trump faced managerial challenges – which is why citizens notice when DeSantis’ actions do not match his words (i.e., maybe it is not as easy as DeSantis claims it is).
• Again, thank you for the input. Truth-be-told, this was not the pushback I was hoping for.
that guy:
The Republican equivalent of Dukakis and Carter – an oxymoron.
The Republican equivalent of Carter is Reagan or Coolidge. Or nobody. Strange game you’re playing. But the vast majority of anti-DeSantis propaganda is very strange, illogical, and ahistorical.
Used to be everyone knew that governorship was a good preparation for the presidency, considered the best.
Also, when last I checked, Dukakis never got to be president, so there’s no way to say what kind of president he would have made in terms of whatever the goals of the Democrats were at the time. The only thing one can say is that he wasn’t an especially good candidate and almost certainly would have been a typical liberal-left Democrat in office.
“But the vast majority of anti-DeSantis propaganda is very strange, illogical, and ahistorical.”
Amen, Sister!
Snow on Pine: thanks for the info! Very interesting. It seems that there really are many more men than women of marriageable age in China; and nevertheless, not all women are able to find a husband they deem suitable. This is different from the phenomenon of Gissing’s “The Odd Women,” where the population imbalance went in the other direction, or, similarly, the situation in England after WWI left the country with many more young women than men.
I got some close ups of the Lady Washington when she was in Port Townsend for a refit. The boatyard in PT usually has some pretty big boats under repair.
https://portofpt.com/port-townsend-boatyard/
if you scroll down to the oblique view, you can see the old Milwaukee Road car dock. Railcars would load and unload from here with the connecting dock in Seattle near where the stadia are. In 1980, the whole boatyard area was the Milwaukee Road yard with the wye for turning the locomotive about where the building with the red stripe on the roof is. The old engine house is the building with the four windows facing the camera in about the middle foreground of the picture.
David Foster sounds interesting but where is the adventure if you don’t have to go unfurl the top sail after reading 18 Patrick O’Brian books?
@ Neo
• Thank you for the input.
A) “The Republican equivalent of Carter is Reagan or Coolidge. Or nobody. ”
1) Why do you believe Reagan is the Republican equivalent of Carter?
• This is not a “gotcha” question, genuinely interested in the compare (and individuals we both observed in our lifetimes).
2) Who is the Republican equivalent of Dukakis?
• This is not a “gotcha” question, just completing the logic loop.
B) “But the vast majority of anti-DeSantis propaganda is very strange, illogical, and ahistorical.”
3) Do you have any analysis examples of DeSantis – that is not favorable to DeSantis – that is not “propaganda…very strange, illogical, and ahistorical.”?
• This is not a “gotcha” question, genuinely interested in the compare.
C) “Used to be everyone knew that governorship was a good preparation for the presidency, considered the best.”
4) Are all candidates that have been governors, the best/ good candidates for the Presidency?
• Again, thank you for the input. Truth-be-told, this was not the pushback I was hoping for.
As neo noted, you did not compare DeSantis to Reagan. Category error. Either in their records of policy or administrative performance as state executives.
@ om
• Thank you for the input.
“As neo noted, you did not compare DeSantis to Reagan. Category error. Either in their records of policy or administrative performance as state executives.”
• 100% agree that Reagan “could handle the state executive office (Governor)”.
• 100% agree that DeSantis, Carter and Dukakis “could handle the state executive office (Governor)”.
• 100% agree that I did not attempt to make a compare of state executive “records of policy or administrative performance” for DeSantis, Carter and Dukakis – or Reagan.
• However, I would be happy to review any compares that you make.
• Again, thank you for the input. Truth-be-told, this was not the pushback I was hoping for.
that guy:
Duuuh – Reagan and DeSantis have both been successful and popular governors in their home states.
I have written scads of posts on DeSantis that appear on this blog. Do a search and you will easily find them. I’m not wasting more time writing the equivalent of a new post for your edification.
I don’t know how long you’ve been reading this blog, but when I research your comments it seems you began commenting a little less than a month ago, on July 30, 2023. You’ve written on a number of topics, but by far the most common topic of conversation for you is bashing DeSantis. I’m not sure why this seems to be a big focus of yours, but it most definitely is.
By the way, of course not all governors make good presidents. It’s mixed. The idea that governors don’t make good presidents seems to be a new one, though, usually stated as an argument against DeSantis. DeSantis has clearly been a good governor, and there is no reason to think he wouldn’t be a good president, and bringing up Carter and Dukakis – who share with DeSantis a history of being governors but little else – is not much of an argument.
@ skip; David– Agreed. The “roller sails” seem to take the sport out of it… I just finished with Richard Dana’s “Two Years Before the Mast”* as a topper for the Patrick O’Brian series. The ups and downs in the rigging, furling and unfurling sails, etc in all kinds of weather seem to be the defining aspects of the wind-powered shipping era. Wooden-ships-and-iron-men kind of thing.
*Should have read it 60+years ago in freshman English, but opted for the “Classic Comics” version instead. Reading the original was a multi-faceted adventure.
llana,
I’ve had a few conversations with male and female 30 somethings in China on the subject of family, marriage, children… I was surprised how openly they were willing to discuss this, especially since some of what they said made them, and their culture, look superficial and they understood how it came across.
Many in the educated class obeyed the one child policy; which means a generation of only children. As you know there is a lot of importance on family and generational respect in China. So, a lot of spoiled kids being doted on by two parents and four grandparents who are now middle-aged and spoiled and get financial help from two parents and four grandparents. The women are educated and make good money. Being married doesn’t offer them a lot, especially if they intend to keep working, and it’s just one more person to split grandma and grandpa and grandma and grandpas’ inheritance with.
The women and men both told me the women are materialistic and entitled. The women and men also told me the men lack ambition.
The cost of living is high; similar to New York or San Francisco, and the culture places a lot of emphasis on external displays of wealth. Not a good recipe for self sacrifice, marrying and having children.
Generally the only valid criticisms of DeSantis that I have seen coming from the Right are around things such as perhaps his age (at 44 he’s fairly young in political terms) and that perhaps he’s a bit too wonkey/nerdy and can sometime appear to be lacking in obvious humor or warmth and therefore not as charismatic as he may need to be. Other than those, most of the criticisms of him I’ve seen seem to be based on lies or distortions of things he’s said taken out of context, or things that or irrelevant or even pluses (like the culture war stuff).
I don’t doubt that there’s more valid criticisms one could level at him. Nobody’s perfect, least of all any fool who’s stupid or insane enough to run for president.
PA+Cat,
I stopped tracking the data this past late spring….after all the Prez said is was over…LOL…
Anyway the link below is to worldometers US data, Hit the show graph option to see the daily new cases. You can scroll along the graph to get the numbers. So Aug 18 there were about 17k “cases”, while in June there were so few cases they don’t even show up….so yeah, cases going up. So what? From I’ve read the symptoms aren’t much different or more severe that a summer cold/flu. How anyone can look at those graphs and get concerned, especially in light of the data from even just a year ago, I don’t understand. WoM combines their data from state reporting. Part of the reason I stopped (besides not caring anymore) is that many of the states I was tracking were dropping their reporting all together or just every few weeks.
Thanks so much for the link. I had suspected that tracking was dropping off because the COVID stats disappeared from the local weather report (!) some months back, but it’s good to have further proof. It’ll be interesting to see what happens if JoJo starts wearing a mask again . . .
Rufus T. Firefly–With so much invested in only children as security for their parent’s and grandparent’s old age, you can see how this would be a motive for all of the under reported kindergarten knife attacks in China.
These apparently frequent, but covered up, attacks primarily carried out by men by who have not done well in life–losers who are out for revenge; you strike a blow against society, which you believe has wronged you, weakening it’s social stability, and also against the futures of well to do families who have made it, and who could afford to send their kids to what appear to be pricey private kindergartens.
Adding it all up, it appears that there is all sorts of distortions and societal pathology in China.
Could most of these pathologies and distortions be the results of the ruthlessness with which the CCP governs, constrains, and manipulates the Chinese people?
remember in serenity, the alliance had created a means of social control, that backfired, creating the ravenous reavers as well as the dead colonists on miranda,
Rare moment of truth from Biden trade official to China.
A good book on sailing in the Olden Days is Melville’s ‘White Jacket’, his partly-fictionalized recollection of his time as a seaman on an American sailing warship.
When climbing the rigging in snow and severe cold which sailing around the Horn, it was not allowed to wear gloves, because they were thought to reduce your grip.
RE: China
Perhaps the traditional Chinese dynastic cycle (some past dynasties short-lived, some of them hundreds of years long) isn’t dead after all, and what we are witnessing–the multiple bad “omens”–are actually the signs of that dynastic cycle at work, presaging the end of the CCP’s cycle, and the approach of a new dynasty, whatever and whoever that might be.
@ TommyJay
“Love the big sailing yachts. Though I’ve never been on anything bigger than 30 ft. personally.”
• Same here – great pics – sent me on the hunt for more.
• And most of my sailing has been in the 30 ft. range +/- too. – although, I have never owned a sailboat.
• I’m not good for much more than Beer & Human Ballast – and the occasional joke – but it is so much fun.
• Do you own a boat?
• What is my favorite sailboat: The one owned by my buddy.
• Lastly, I did have a chance to sail for a week on a 100 ft sailboat (not as nice as JW) around the Whitsunday Islands – gorgeous water, islands & marine life, 34 miles off the Queensland coast – unbelievable amount of space, and a great, great time.
• Thanks for sharing.
@ David Foster
“Speaking of sailing vessels…there a company called Star Clippers which operates a fleet of sailing cruise ships. We spent a week on one of them, a cruise in the Mediterranean from Turkey to Greece with stops at several Islands.”
• That looks great, and I am a little envious.
• Any tips?
• My partner and I have done a few 2-week cruises – admit that we were surprised that we enjoyed the first one enough to do another – and one of the best parts is dinner.
– We like to let the hostess just seat us at a random table with others – versus assigned seating or only us.
– Enjoy meeting others, and feel like most people have a few good stories in them and can be good company for at least one meal – good times.
• How does it work with Star Clipper?
• Another thing we liked is the entertainment after dinner – theatre, comics, etc. – followed by dancing.
• How does it work with Star Clipper?
• Thank you in advance for any info you can share.
BTW – my GF will be so impressed that I corresponded with David Foster.
@ physicsguy
“Question for physicsguy– what are the latest stats on COVID, and are they anywhere near reliable?”
• One of your COVID comments from a while back made me wonder if you ever used the CDC Wonder database.
• If you did, do you know if it is possible to still search the database by defining query parameters of interest to the user?
• Was trying to do so the other day, and could only find “canned” Wonder reports – not access to the actual database.
• Thank you in advance for any info you can share.
I postulate that the grouping of DeSantis with Carter and Dukakis is an intentional effort to tie a non-Trump conservative governor to two liberal Democrats, one who was the second or third worst president in US history and the other most famous for his photo op in a M1 Abrams and a disastorous sound bite concerning the hypothetical rape of his wife.
A ploy to damage DeSantis by creating a false association with those two Democrats. How a lie is created.
AesopFan enjoys foreign language idioms. Here’s one which may have graduated to become part of the French language.
First, we have the easy-peasy French-English cognate:
________________________
lézard — lizard
________________________
But lo, the wily French go a step further by creating a verb form:
________________________
lézarder — to bask; to lounge; to laze around
________________________
Of course, nothing stops us English speakers from explaining our lazing around as lizarding.
om:
Agreed.
yes, that is a patently ridiculous comparison, omg the dukester and adultery of the heart, both who in retrospect were not as malicious as shambling
Eugene V Debs ran for President of the United State as a member of the Socialist Party of America from prison in 1920.
During the Great War, he opposed the US entry, favouring neutrality instead. After speaking out about the War in Canton, Ohio, by June of 1918, he was convicted of violating the very elastic Sedition Act.
My buddy David Beito has done archival research on Debs, focusing on the question if the Insurrection clause of the Constitution (14th Amendment) was raised then, which it surely should have if the clause was relevant to stopping Debs from running the fifth and final time, outrageously running for highest office from prison.
It wasn’t. Beito says he can find no mention of it. Anywhere.
Yet, today, pace Harvard Law Prof Lawrence Tribe, another Lawrence but one surnamed Kaplan has filed with the Court in Miami against Trump, claiming that the Reichstag Capital riot was really an insurrection and that Trump instigated it, and in fact was scheming to overthrow the US Constitution and replace it to his personal liking. It is self executing, he claims.
RIIIIGHT! (Austin Powers sarcasm invoked here.)
If only one judge gives this effort by Tribe and Kaplan wing and approves it thesis, then we can expect similar efforts everywhere,
Debs received his highest vote total ever in 1920, 3.5% of the Presidential vote.
“I’ve been seeing lots of bad news about China, …” “But I also think that things are extremely likely to get far worse in China in the coming months and years. ”
• 100% agree with both observations.
A) This has been a key topic for me and my friends, and we lean towards the belief that a “committed” Communist country will not react in the same way as Western nations. That may seem obvious, but I am not sure many Westerns can conceive that Communism is still a distinction with a difference.
• And China will not need to react in the same way as Western nations due to the control they have over their citizens – see the Citizen Credit Score monitoring system they have implemented – they can pinpoint the When, Where, What AND Who.
• The Ruling Class will just ride it out – China has been mostly poor before – however long that takes, and still enjoy a life most of their citizens do not enjoy today.
• However, that does mean it is ‘just a China’ economic problem- and that is what worries me and my friends.
B) I’ll add that we have been discussing if that would make war ‘More likely or Less Likely’.
• Taiwan is the obvious “foe” ^^ to draw significant & obvious military action.
• China’ military may be large, but they have had their hats handed to them by far smaller militaries – in admittedly small “skirmishes”.
• Years ago, we discussed if China would use their large population of single, military aged males – preference over female child created significant imbalance – to back an attack on Taiwan (see Korea and waves of troops).
• Obviously that did not happen, and I am pretty sure that block of Chinese single males has aged out of the prime military demographic – plus there is/ was the loss of the only child factor – which may still factor into a Taiwan conflict equation.
^^ = Taiwan gets the most Western attention, followed by maybe the India/ China Himalayan region border dispute or the South China Sea – but China is a bad actor throughout that region – see Tibet or India NE Maoist insurgency activity (pretty sure most folks think that far NE India is part of Myanmar, Bangladesh, or Bhutan, when they look at a map, and the folks in those states look more “Asian” than “Indian” which also confuses Westerners).
C) We also kicked around a comment/ topic that @ JJ made a few weeks ago: “We could see they’ve come a long way and recognize their work ethic and competitiveness. But with the size of their population, the investment and enterprises they need to continue to raise everyone’s standard of living is an ongoing problem.”
• One of the most common “mistakes” I witness when folks are comparing USA versus XYZ “solutions” is not taking geographic size or population size into account. They also often miss Historical context too (see Health Care).
• Nations with a billion+ citizens have significant challenges that other nations do not have – and sometimes you have to see it to understand (see JJ comment).
• However, I do think India was dealt a “better hand” than China due to their history of being a British colony.
• Not advocating colonialism, but I am noting that the British left behind the English language ^^ – which is the language of business around the world. Plus, an understanding of Western behavior, customs, etc.
^^ = India has 20+ official languages, and other very significant demographic differences that we do not experience/ deal with – same for China.
• Again, thank you for sharing.
That Guy…it was about 20 years ago, so don’t remember everything all that well. Much smaller ship than most cruises, don’t think I”d like the ones w/thousands of people. IIRC, it was easy to meet & interact with people, more Europeans than Americans on the cruise. Don’t remember any dancing, which people’s feet probably appreciate in my case.
Wondering which David Foster your GF thinks I might be?
@ huxley > “lézarder — to bask; to lounge; to laze around”
I fear that I do far too much lizarding after the day’s work is done.
Or can one only lizard when one is supposed to be working?
Always the overachievers, Americans combined the idiom definition and to get “lounge lizard” — but none of the (admittedly few) sources I looked at explains why lizards get the rap for lounging, rather than lions or llamas.
Possibly there was an association with the French that has escaped notice, or else it just struck someone that lizards and loungers behaved a lot alike.
@ jon baker > the Politico post opened fine for me. It was very short:
Pope Francis has come under fire after he encouraged Russian youths not to give up their “legacy” as heirs of a “great, enlightened Russian empire.”
“Never give up this legacy, you are the heirs of the great Mother Russia, go forward with it,” Pope Francis told young Russians gathered for the All-Russian Meeting of Catholic Youth in St. Petersburg on Friday.
During the speech, a clip of which was posted online, the pope also invoked former Russian emperors Peter I and Catherine II, two rulers who played key roles in expanding Russia’s conquests in Europe, and who are known as symbols of Russian imperialism.
“You are the heirs of the great Russia: the great Russia of saints, of kings, the great Russia of Peter the Great, of Catherine II, of that great, enlightened Russian empire, of great culture and great humanity,” he said.
The comments have sparked outrage online, with many criticizing the pope’s decision to praise Russia’s imperialist past, especially considering the Kremlin’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
However, in the rest of his speech, posted online by the Vatican, the pope tells Russian youth to be “artisans of peace” and to “sow seeds of reconciliations.”
Pope Francis has repeatedly criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling for an end to the conflict. But has also made some controversial remarks, seemingly blaming NATO for the conflict, and has refused to denounce Putin by name.
@ David Foster > “great songs that were once popular but aren’t listened to much anymore”
The only one I know from your list is “Where e’er You Walk,” which was in the repertoire used by my voice teacher in the 1960s (so were works by Herbert and Burns, just not those particular ones, and Nelson Eddy was still well-known), and my opinion agrees with your father’s — it is a lovely song. However, I don’t expect to see any pop covers of it any time soon!
I’m working my way through the others — it’s a rather eclectic gathering. That they were liked by someone enough to record (either recently or in the “distant” past), and by someone else to find and post on YouTube, shows they haven’t been totally forgotten.
There are a lot of those of every genre, just the same as with books and now movies.
I’ve never figured out why really good instances of any of those get lost, but it happens.
There is general agreement that JS Bach’s oeuvre would have eventually languished into relative obscurity except for Felix Mendelssohn, whose family had a connection with the composer. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200156436/
Pachelbel’s “Canon” was rescued by “a 1968 arrangement and recording of it by the Jean-François Paillard chamber orchestra” (Wikipedia, which notes that “Johann Christoph Bach, the oldest brother of Johann Sebastian Bach, was a pupil of Pachelbel.”).
Most of the time, the ones that drop out of public favor deserve to.
Two anecdotes, remembered from years past so no guarantee of verity:
(1) A director for a summer repertory theater decided to do something different from the usual fare, and produced a series of “The Little Known Plays of William Shakespeare.” When the season was over, with less than adequate box-office receipts, he admitted that he now knew WHY they were little known.
(2) Someone (IIRC Dorothy Sayers) was curious about why Jane Austen was the only really well-known writer of her era; during a long illness, she decided to read through all the works of Jane’s contemporaries in the nearby university library. Her conclusion: there were good reasons that only Austen was still read.
A personal anecdote, related to music:
A friend of mine had inherited her piano teacher’s library of mostly religious sheet music, and some time later passed it along to me (as our ward music chairman & choir director). During an unusual spell of free time, I played through every piece, with a box on one side of the piano bench for Keepers, and a trash can on the other. The only criteria for division was whether or not I liked the tune or arrangement, and also the lyrics.
Often there was a song that I knew already and still liked, but sometimes a familiar one IMO didn’t measure up to its reputation (keep & trash respectively).
There were a lot (A LOT) of pieces that I had never heard of (no slur in itself), and after playing just the first page it was easy to understand why: the music was insipid, or derivative, or boring, or bombastic, or just not very musically interesting. Or the lyrics were ditto ditto ditto. Usually both. At some time some publisher made enough sales to print them, but none of them had made it into any of my collections, even from that particular era, or had lasted in popular usage.
The trash can won.
Same goes for my omnibuses of secular pop music from the past (“Favorite Songs of the Gay Nineties”; “Popular Hits of the Sixties!”), as late as the 1990s: some are still played and recorded and published, and many, many more are not. Even very popular artists or composers are “represented” in the current popular playlists by a fraction of their total output.
But everybody has their favorites, and it’s fun to share them here.
I’ve encountered a lot of music I would never otherwise have enjoyed.
• Thank you for the input – and you might be overthinking this one.
“I postulate that the grouping of DeSantis with Carter and Dukakis is an intentional effort to tie a non-Trump conservative governor to two liberal Democrats, …”
• In my lifetime there have only been 6 Governors that were the Democrat or Republican candidate for President: Carter, Dukakis, Clinton, Reagan, GWB, and Romney.
• 100% agree that all 6 “could handle the state executive office (Governor)”.
• 100% believe that Clinton, Reagan, GWB and Romney were “suitable for the US executive office (President)”; which leaves just two for a compare of candidates that were “not suitable for the US executive office (President)”. Both Democrats.
• 100% agree that others may disagree with the “suitable” evaluation of DeSantis – but the fact is there have been candidates that were not suitable for the office, despite their previous successes (see Republican debate). Those candidates usually fail to win the Primary, or fail to win the General Election.
• Again, thank you for the input. Truth-be-told, this was not the pushback I was hoping for.
“WHY DO WE GROW FEEBLE WITH AGING, later in life?”
This strikes me as a vital topic to much of the audience here.
Whether getting an answer we like or not is another matter.
…why lizards get the rap for lounging, rather than lions or llamas.
AesopFan:
I assumed it was the lizard habit of basking on warm flat rocks in the sunshine, making the best of being cold-blooded.
@ David Foster
• Thank you for the reply.
• My GF likes the singers David Foster and Katharine McPhee.
• I now have both Star Clippers and Windstar on my options list.
• “Thousands of people”, that was one of the many reasons why we had avoided cruises – and it is still not our first choice, but it is no longer on the “No Go” list – we are glad we gave it a shot.
• I’ll add that we like the multi-days at sea that a 2-week cruise can offer – and it is not that hard to avoid the crowds on board (e.g., go the stern instead of the mid-deck pool, eat at 07:00 not 05:00, etc.).
• Lastly, we had fun – especially on our first cruise when we did not know the proverbial ropes. First night we were walking hand-in-hand on the top deck, headed for the bow. Then a huge gust knocked us both backwards, and we unclasped our hands. Shriek. My GF’ A-line dress had been instantly turned inside out as it was being “pushed” up over her head. Her dress now looked like one of those inflatable ‘tube man’ air puppets, and the only thing keeping it from floating away was her arms sticking out sideways. I grabbed the hem and pulled it back down over her head – she could not see a thing – and we both fought to get her dress back down. Now that was harder than it sounds because the wind was incredible, and we were both laughing so hard. It was not quite MM meets The Full Monty, but it was close. We learned our lesson.
• OK, enough of this – thanks for the tip..
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I’ve been seeing lots of bad news about China, which, from these different developments, seems to have the possibility of disintegrating.
There is the whole slew of bad effects from China’s former one child policy–general demographic decline, and a surplus of many millions of young males (the prime trouble making demographic)–never a good thing.
Lots of young career women who don’t want to get married, coupled with lots of older “leftover women” who have no marriage prospects.
Many young people who don’t want to get married or to have children, and disastrously low numbers of new births.
A trend among many young people to just “lie flat” i.e. to have little ambition, do the minimum, or even just not work at all, while at the same time hordes of ill educated people–essentially peasants–pouring into the cities from the countryside who cannot find jobs, and who are sleeping in the streets.
Bleak job prospects and cuts in entry salaries reported for new college graduates.
Lots of bad economic news–production down, companies closing, many hundreds of foreign firms packing up shop and leaving.
Exports falling and ports clogged with empty shipping containers and idle trucks.
Some supposedly new Chinese high tech innovations are apparently phony–CGI images and/or mock ups of items which are never going to actually be put into production.
Major companies in the property construction and management sector–reportedly 30–40% of the economy–defaulting, as are banks.
Tofu-dreg i.e. shoddy construction, and buildings starting to crumble or actually collapsing.
Tremendous flooding.
Recent public anti-COVID lockdown and other protests followed by arrests of anyone involved, or even someone who was curious and got close to the protests (sound familiar?).
Tourism by foreigners down a reported 99% . This quarter pre-COVID was 3.5 million, this quarter now 59,000.
Now reports of a new campaign of suspicion, to regard all foreigners as potential “spies.”
Sounds like a recipe for all sorts of “social unrest”, and even possibly rebellion.
Can Do! for the memory of “Z.”
Beautiful picture. Nessie’s cousin just breaking surface in foreground is a nice touch ; )
I guess that’d be a gaff rigged schooner?
Snow on Pine: My feeling is that things will still need to get much worse in China before open rebellion occurs. But I also think that things are extremely likely to get far worse in China in the coming months and years. And I don’t believe the current leadership has the tools, desire, or even the wherewithal to properly address these issues. Heck, they’re the cause of most of these issues. Maybe the demographic crisis can’t be fairly laid at the feet of Xi Jingping and his clique since the policy that caused it predates them. But they can’t solve such a crisis. As much as the communists wish it were so, you can’t mandate prosperity.
My most recent post: RetroMusical Goodness—great songs that were once popular but aren’t listened to much anymore:
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/69936.html
P.S.—The new campaign of suspicion funny given that the hundreds of thousands of Chinese “students” who attend our universities are often functioning as spies for the PRC, as they gather bits of information for the Chinese intelligence agencies “grains of sand” approach to intelligence gathering.
Re ‘China’. Didn’t I read about thousands of Chinese arriving at our border and being welcomed in? Wonder how they manage ‘travel documents, etc’ to leave China.
Speaking of ‘communism’:
Big Government Has Come for This Small-Town Amish Farmer. Here’s How He’s Fighting Back.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/miacathell/2023/08/18/golden-valley-farms-n2627121
“However, I don’t think much of polls at this point, and I also think Trump will be the nominee.”
A) DeSantis is the Republican version of Carter or Dukakis – men who could handle the state executive office (Governor), but were not suitable for the US executive office (President).
B) DeSantis also had advantages neither Carter or Dukakis had – including:
• A significant portion of the party base wanted DeSantis to be part of the US executive branch (i.e., Trump VP).
• As VP DeSantis would have had the opportunity to gain the support of the dominant party base (e.g., Reagan & Bush).
• As VP DeSantis would have had the time to gain 4 years of US executive branch experience, and still be younger than Carter (52) and Dukakis (55) when they ran.
C) DeSantis – despite his poor decision making & management ^^ – still has a chance to be the Republican nominee in 2024, for the simple reason that there are no longer enough adults-in-the-room to support previous adult standards (i.e., the Boomers & Gen X generations are failing).
• Another variation of “It is who counts the votes that matters most” – is “It is who makes the rules that matters most”.
• DeSantis needs the support of the “local/ state/ national Party” people who make the rules, more than the support of the “non-Party” people who vote (e.g., Trump base).
• see “Why does DeSantis want these headlines?”
*****
^^ = “DeSantis swears he is going to be so good at hiring and operationally effective in management as president, that he’s now on the 4th reboot, [has laid off a 3rd of his staff], switched to a 2nd campaign manager, [and has declined to single digits in some polls – for a campaign] that started just three months ago today” — Twitter Aug 26
Snow on Pine, very interesting. I’m wondering how the “leftover women” phenomenon could possibly have come about — after all, I thought China had an excess of males, due to (a) the former one-child policy; (b) a preference for sons among Chinese parents; and (3) easy access to abortion at any time.
Do you have any more info on this?
Love the big sailing yachts. Though I’ve never been on anything bigger than 30 ft. personally.
The Janice of Wyoming was parked at my community’s harbor once and I had a chance to take a look up close. Unlike neo’s boat, she’s an entirely modern yacht:
https://www.charterworld.com/images/cwnews/2012/07/Superyacht-Janice-of-Wyoming-in-the-foreground.jpg
https://image.yachtcharterfleet.com/w1200/h779/qh/ca/k819f94e4/vessel/resource/5348/charter-janice-of-wyoming-yacht-2.jpg
How cool is that. Just got promoted from ‘Deplorable’ to ‘Inexorable’:
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/benbartee/2023/08/27/climate-change-high-priest-john-kerry-declares-virtual-war-on-deniers-calls-them-inexorable-threat-n1722487
llana, re ‘leftover women’:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheng_nu
I know the Chinese very well, having worked with them for 9 years on a railroad project in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. We enjoyed many wonderful dinners together with the CCP political snitch always present. I needled him relentlessly – being the irreverent bastard that I am – to the
amusement and appreciation of my hosts. I cannot predict the outcome of the Chinese future but I do know there is sizable disgruntlement among the troops.
Xylourgos…”I needled him relentlessly”…I wonder if that would be possible in today’s political climate there, or if the snitch would just have the westerner thrown out, regardless of the implications for project schedule and success?
Well, considering prostitution is legal in Germany… this is probably just a ‘job prep’ endeavor.
https://rmx.news/germany/german-kindergartens-promote-sexual-exploration-rooms-where-children-are-encouraged-to-masturbate-and-touch-each-other/
Speaking of sailing vessels…there a company called Star Clippers which operates a fleet of sailing cruise ships. We spent a week on one of them, a cruise in the Mediterranean from Turkey to Greece with stops at several Islands.
https://www.starclippers.com/us-dom/our-fleet/tall-ships/star-clipper.html
…highly recommended. The ships are square rigged but with sails that furl like a window shade, controlled from the deck, so no need for crew to go aloft in normal circumstances.
Our captain was a German guy who said he’d always wanted to become captain of a square-rigged ship and found one of the few jobs in the world where that was possible.
And elsewhere–
What the hell is wrong with this “Pope”?
See https://www.nationalreview.com/news/pope-francis-says-reactionary-u-s-catholic-church-has-replaced-faith-with-ideology/
and see also https://www.politico.eu/article/pope-francis-russia-youth-legacy-empire/
David, It was not a problem for me. I was in the cat birds seat. As Chief Engineer for the project I enjoyed excellent relations with the Client and with the Chinese Contractor. I was responsible for approval of the Chinese designs, payment requests and final approval of the works – so there was not much they could do to retaliate. Besides, the Chinese management I worked with had less liking for the snitch than I had. They rather enjoyed having me put him on the BBQ and turn him slowly on the fire….an old Greek tradition.
RE: China
According to current Chinese law, you can be picked up, arrested, (is there an actual trial?) and jailed for up to 5 years for the crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a charge so vague that it can cover virtually anything.
See any emerging parallels here in the U.S.?
RE: “Tofu dreg” construction in China–“the land of shortcuts and facades”
Here is an example, the story of a school gymnasium, reportedly built in 1997, whose supposedly “reinforced concrete” roof collapsed, crushing and killing a women’s volleyball team.*
* See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjLkAR2_6h8
Snow on pine,
That first article about the Pope didn’t really say what specifically he was opposed to. The second one was wanting some kind of agreement on cookies, so I didn’t open it.
Do you know what exactly the pope is upset about with some of the American Catholics ?
And maybe it is lost in translation, but it always seems to me that popes talk in non specifics a lot and fail to get to the point.
that guy:
There was another governor who was a conservative, Ronald Reagan. Funny you have ignored him. Not to quibble, but how many people did President Trump hire, fire, or have leave during his term, and what does it mean?
Your analysis of DeSantis and extrapolation to Carter and Dukakis is quaint. Time will tell.
Re China– it looks like Brandon wants to bring back the jab and other reminders of the Chinese gift that keeps on giving:
First, as John Tierney notes, “. . . the maskaholics are back. In response to an uptick in Covid cases, they’ve begun reinstating mask mandates. So far, it’s just a few places—a college in Atlanta, a Hollywood studio, two hospitals in Syracuse—but the mainstream media and their favorite “experts” are working hard to scare the rest of us into masking up yet again.”
https://www.city-journal.org/article/no-masks-please-were-rational
As for the clot shot, Hunter’s loving dad “has plans to roll out a new COVID-19 vaccine this fall, requiring Americans to get another jab. Despite declaring earlier this year that COVID is no longer a threat, President [sic] Joe Biden said his administration will ‘likely’ recommend that all Americans receive the updated booster, including children.”
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2023/08/27/biden-suggests-he-will-mandate-a-covid-booster-for-all-americans-n2627591
Question for physicsguy– what are the latest stats on COVID, and are they anywhere near reliable?
@ om
“There was another governor who was a conservative, Ronald Reagan. Funny you have ignored him.”
• Thank you for the input.
• 100% agree that I did not compare Reagan to Carter or Dukakis – “…men who could handle the state executive office (Governor), but were not suitable for the US executive office (President).” – for the simple reason that Reagan was not like them.
• 100% agree that my point was not ALL state executive office (Governor) candidates are not suitable for the US executive office (President) – for the simple reason that during my voting lifetime I have preferred candidates who had state executive office experience over candidates that only had US Congress experience.
• 100% agree that both DeSantis and Trump faced managerial challenges – which is why citizens notice when DeSantis’ actions do not match his words (i.e., maybe it is not as easy as DeSantis claims it is).
• Again, thank you for the input. Truth-be-told, this was not the pushback I was hoping for.
that guy:
The Republican equivalent of Dukakis and Carter – an oxymoron.
The Republican equivalent of Carter is Reagan or Coolidge. Or nobody. Strange game you’re playing. But the vast majority of anti-DeSantis propaganda is very strange, illogical, and ahistorical.
Used to be everyone knew that governorship was a good preparation for the presidency, considered the best.
Also, when last I checked, Dukakis never got to be president, so there’s no way to say what kind of president he would have made in terms of whatever the goals of the Democrats were at the time. The only thing one can say is that he wasn’t an especially good candidate and almost certainly would have been a typical liberal-left Democrat in office.
“But the vast majority of anti-DeSantis propaganda is very strange, illogical, and ahistorical.”
Amen, Sister!
Snow on Pine: thanks for the info! Very interesting. It seems that there really are many more men than women of marriageable age in China; and nevertheless, not all women are able to find a husband they deem suitable. This is different from the phenomenon of Gissing’s “The Odd Women,” where the population imbalance went in the other direction, or, similarly, the situation in England after WWI left the country with many more young women than men.
I got some close ups of the Lady Washington when she was in Port Townsend for a refit. The boatyard in PT usually has some pretty big boats under repair.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Washington
https://portofpt.com/port-townsend-boatyard/
if you scroll down to the oblique view, you can see the old Milwaukee Road car dock. Railcars would load and unload from here with the connecting dock in Seattle near where the stadia are. In 1980, the whole boatyard area was the Milwaukee Road yard with the wye for turning the locomotive about where the building with the red stripe on the roof is. The old engine house is the building with the four windows facing the camera in about the middle foreground of the picture.
David Foster sounds interesting but where is the adventure if you don’t have to go unfurl the top sail after reading 18 Patrick O’Brian books?
@ Neo
• Thank you for the input.
A) “The Republican equivalent of Carter is Reagan or Coolidge. Or nobody. ”
1) Why do you believe Reagan is the Republican equivalent of Carter?
• This is not a “gotcha” question, genuinely interested in the compare (and individuals we both observed in our lifetimes).
2) Who is the Republican equivalent of Dukakis?
• This is not a “gotcha” question, just completing the logic loop.
B) “But the vast majority of anti-DeSantis propaganda is very strange, illogical, and ahistorical.”
3) Do you have any analysis examples of DeSantis – that is not favorable to DeSantis – that is not “propaganda…very strange, illogical, and ahistorical.”?
• This is not a “gotcha” question, genuinely interested in the compare.
C) “Used to be everyone knew that governorship was a good preparation for the presidency, considered the best.”
4) Are all candidates that have been governors, the best/ good candidates for the Presidency?
• Again, thank you for the input. Truth-be-told, this was not the pushback I was hoping for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEO6gYCFbr0
that guy:
As neo noted, you did not compare DeSantis to Reagan. Category error. Either in their records of policy or administrative performance as state executives.
@ om
• Thank you for the input.
“As neo noted, you did not compare DeSantis to Reagan. Category error. Either in their records of policy or administrative performance as state executives.”
• 100% agree that Reagan “could handle the state executive office (Governor)”.
• 100% agree that DeSantis, Carter and Dukakis “could handle the state executive office (Governor)”.
• 100% agree that I did not attempt to make a compare of state executive “records of policy or administrative performance” for DeSantis, Carter and Dukakis – or Reagan.
• However, I would be happy to review any compares that you make.
• Again, thank you for the input. Truth-be-told, this was not the pushback I was hoping for.
that guy:
Duuuh – Reagan and DeSantis have both been successful and popular governors in their home states.
I have written scads of posts on DeSantis that appear on this blog. Do a search and you will easily find them. I’m not wasting more time writing the equivalent of a new post for your edification.
I don’t know how long you’ve been reading this blog, but when I research your comments it seems you began commenting a little less than a month ago, on July 30, 2023. You’ve written on a number of topics, but by far the most common topic of conversation for you is bashing DeSantis. I’m not sure why this seems to be a big focus of yours, but it most definitely is.
By the way, of course not all governors make good presidents. It’s mixed. The idea that governors don’t make good presidents seems to be a new one, though, usually stated as an argument against DeSantis. DeSantis has clearly been a good governor, and there is no reason to think he wouldn’t be a good president, and bringing up Carter and Dukakis – who share with DeSantis a history of being governors but little else – is not much of an argument.
@ skip; David– Agreed. The “roller sails” seem to take the sport out of it… I just finished with Richard Dana’s “Two Years Before the Mast”* as a topper for the Patrick O’Brian series. The ups and downs in the rigging, furling and unfurling sails, etc in all kinds of weather seem to be the defining aspects of the wind-powered shipping era. Wooden-ships-and-iron-men kind of thing.
*Should have read it 60+years ago in freshman English, but opted for the “Classic Comics” version instead. Reading the original was a multi-faceted adventure.
llana,
I’ve had a few conversations with male and female 30 somethings in China on the subject of family, marriage, children… I was surprised how openly they were willing to discuss this, especially since some of what they said made them, and their culture, look superficial and they understood how it came across.
Many in the educated class obeyed the one child policy; which means a generation of only children. As you know there is a lot of importance on family and generational respect in China. So, a lot of spoiled kids being doted on by two parents and four grandparents who are now middle-aged and spoiled and get financial help from two parents and four grandparents. The women are educated and make good money. Being married doesn’t offer them a lot, especially if they intend to keep working, and it’s just one more person to split grandma and grandpa and grandma and grandpas’ inheritance with.
The women and men both told me the women are materialistic and entitled. The women and men also told me the men lack ambition.
The cost of living is high; similar to New York or San Francisco, and the culture places a lot of emphasis on external displays of wealth. Not a good recipe for self sacrifice, marrying and having children.
Generally the only valid criticisms of DeSantis that I have seen coming from the Right are around things such as perhaps his age (at 44 he’s fairly young in political terms) and that perhaps he’s a bit too wonkey/nerdy and can sometime appear to be lacking in obvious humor or warmth and therefore not as charismatic as he may need to be. Other than those, most of the criticisms of him I’ve seen seem to be based on lies or distortions of things he’s said taken out of context, or things that or irrelevant or even pluses (like the culture war stuff).
I don’t doubt that there’s more valid criticisms one could level at him. Nobody’s perfect, least of all any fool who’s stupid or insane enough to run for president.
PA+Cat,
I stopped tracking the data this past late spring….after all the Prez said is was over…LOL…
Anyway the link below is to worldometers US data, Hit the show graph option to see the daily new cases. You can scroll along the graph to get the numbers. So Aug 18 there were about 17k “cases”, while in June there were so few cases they don’t even show up….so yeah, cases going up. So what? From I’ve read the symptoms aren’t much different or more severe that a summer cold/flu. How anyone can look at those graphs and get concerned, especially in light of the data from even just a year ago, I don’t understand. WoM combines their data from state reporting. Part of the reason I stopped (besides not caring anymore) is that many of the states I was tracking were dropping their reporting all together or just every few weeks.
To me, obvious political motivations.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/#graph-cases-daily
physicsguy–
Thanks so much for the link. I had suspected that tracking was dropping off because the COVID stats disappeared from the local weather report (!) some months back, but it’s good to have further proof. It’ll be interesting to see what happens if JoJo starts wearing a mask again . . .
Rufus T. Firefly–With so much invested in only children as security for their parent’s and grandparent’s old age, you can see how this would be a motive for all of the under reported kindergarten knife attacks in China.
These apparently frequent, but covered up, attacks primarily carried out by men by who have not done well in life–losers who are out for revenge; you strike a blow against society, which you believe has wronged you, weakening it’s social stability, and also against the futures of well to do families who have made it, and who could afford to send their kids to what appear to be pricey private kindergartens.
Adding it all up, it appears that there is all sorts of distortions and societal pathology in China.
Could most of these pathologies and distortions be the results of the ruthlessness with which the CCP governs, constrains, and manipulates the Chinese people?
remember in serenity, the alliance had created a means of social control, that backfired, creating the ravenous reavers as well as the dead colonists on miranda,
Rare moment of truth from Biden trade official to China.
https://twitter.com/ProdigalThe3rd/status/1695990074750443608
A good book on sailing in the Olden Days is Melville’s ‘White Jacket’, his partly-fictionalized recollection of his time as a seaman on an American sailing warship.
When climbing the rigging in snow and severe cold which sailing around the Horn, it was not allowed to wear gloves, because they were thought to reduce your grip.
RE: China
Perhaps the traditional Chinese dynastic cycle (some past dynasties short-lived, some of them hundreds of years long) isn’t dead after all, and what we are witnessing–the multiple bad “omens”–are actually the signs of that dynastic cycle at work, presaging the end of the CCP’s cycle, and the approach of a new dynasty, whatever and whoever that might be.
@ TommyJay
“Love the big sailing yachts. Though I’ve never been on anything bigger than 30 ft. personally.”
• Same here – great pics – sent me on the hunt for more.
• And most of my sailing has been in the 30 ft. range +/- too. – although, I have never owned a sailboat.
• I’m not good for much more than Beer & Human Ballast – and the occasional joke – but it is so much fun.
• Do you own a boat?
• What is my favorite sailboat: The one owned by my buddy.
• Lastly, I did have a chance to sail for a week on a 100 ft sailboat (not as nice as JW) around the Whitsunday Islands – gorgeous water, islands & marine life, 34 miles off the Queensland coast – unbelievable amount of space, and a great, great time.
• Thanks for sharing.
@ David Foster
“Speaking of sailing vessels…there a company called Star Clippers which operates a fleet of sailing cruise ships. We spent a week on one of them, a cruise in the Mediterranean from Turkey to Greece with stops at several Islands.”
• That looks great, and I am a little envious.
• Any tips?
• My partner and I have done a few 2-week cruises – admit that we were surprised that we enjoyed the first one enough to do another – and one of the best parts is dinner.
– We like to let the hostess just seat us at a random table with others – versus assigned seating or only us.
– Enjoy meeting others, and feel like most people have a few good stories in them and can be good company for at least one meal – good times.
• How does it work with Star Clipper?
• Another thing we liked is the entertainment after dinner – theatre, comics, etc. – followed by dancing.
• How does it work with Star Clipper?
• Thank you in advance for any info you can share.
BTW – my GF will be so impressed that I corresponded with David Foster.
@ physicsguy
“Question for physicsguy– what are the latest stats on COVID, and are they anywhere near reliable?”
• One of your COVID comments from a while back made me wonder if you ever used the CDC Wonder database.
• If you did, do you know if it is possible to still search the database by defining query parameters of interest to the user?
• Was trying to do so the other day, and could only find “canned” Wonder reports – not access to the actual database.
• Thank you in advance for any info you can share.
I postulate that the grouping of DeSantis with Carter and Dukakis is an intentional effort to tie a non-Trump conservative governor to two liberal Democrats, one who was the second or third worst president in US history and the other most famous for his photo op in a M1 Abrams and a disastorous sound bite concerning the hypothetical rape of his wife.
A ploy to damage DeSantis by creating a false association with those two Democrats. How a lie is created.
AesopFan enjoys foreign language idioms. Here’s one which may have graduated to become part of the French language.
First, we have the easy-peasy French-English cognate:
________________________
lézard — lizard
________________________
But lo, the wily French go a step further by creating a verb form:
________________________
lézarder — to bask; to lounge; to laze around
________________________
Of course, nothing stops us English speakers from explaining our lazing around as lizarding.
om:
Agreed.
yes, that is a patently ridiculous comparison, omg the dukester and adultery of the heart, both who in retrospect were not as malicious as shambling
Eugene V Debs ran for President of the United State as a member of the Socialist Party of America from prison in 1920.
During the Great War, he opposed the US entry, favouring neutrality instead. After speaking out about the War in Canton, Ohio, by June of 1918, he was convicted of violating the very elastic Sedition Act.
My buddy David Beito has done archival research on Debs, focusing on the question if the Insurrection clause of the Constitution (14th Amendment) was raised then, which it surely should have if the clause was relevant to stopping Debs from running the fifth and final time, outrageously running for highest office from prison.
It wasn’t. Beito says he can find no mention of it. Anywhere.
Yet, today, pace Harvard Law Prof Lawrence Tribe, another Lawrence but one surnamed Kaplan has filed with the Court in Miami against Trump, claiming that the Reichstag Capital riot was really an insurrection and that Trump instigated it, and in fact was scheming to overthrow the US Constitution and replace it to his personal liking. It is self executing, he claims.
RIIIIGHT! (Austin Powers sarcasm invoked here.)
If only one judge gives this effort by Tribe and Kaplan wing and approves it thesis, then we can expect similar efforts everywhere,
Debs received his highest vote total ever in 1920, 3.5% of the Presidential vote.
A short account of Debs trial, Smithsonian Magazine
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/fiery-socialist-challenged-nations-role-wwi-180969386/
@ Snow on Pine, Nonapod
• Thank you for sharing.
“I’ve been seeing lots of bad news about China, …” “But I also think that things are extremely likely to get far worse in China in the coming months and years. ”
• 100% agree with both observations.
A) This has been a key topic for me and my friends, and we lean towards the belief that a “committed” Communist country will not react in the same way as Western nations. That may seem obvious, but I am not sure many Westerns can conceive that Communism is still a distinction with a difference.
• And China will not need to react in the same way as Western nations due to the control they have over their citizens – see the Citizen Credit Score monitoring system they have implemented – they can pinpoint the When, Where, What AND Who.
• The Ruling Class will just ride it out – China has been mostly poor before – however long that takes, and still enjoy a life most of their citizens do not enjoy today.
• However, that does mean it is ‘just a China’ economic problem- and that is what worries me and my friends.
B) I’ll add that we have been discussing if that would make war ‘More likely or Less Likely’.
• Taiwan is the obvious “foe” ^^ to draw significant & obvious military action.
• China’ military may be large, but they have had their hats handed to them by far smaller militaries – in admittedly small “skirmishes”.
• Years ago, we discussed if China would use their large population of single, military aged males – preference over female child created significant imbalance – to back an attack on Taiwan (see Korea and waves of troops).
• Obviously that did not happen, and I am pretty sure that block of Chinese single males has aged out of the prime military demographic – plus there is/ was the loss of the only child factor – which may still factor into a Taiwan conflict equation.
^^ = Taiwan gets the most Western attention, followed by maybe the India/ China Himalayan region border dispute or the South China Sea – but China is a bad actor throughout that region – see Tibet or India NE Maoist insurgency activity (pretty sure most folks think that far NE India is part of Myanmar, Bangladesh, or Bhutan, when they look at a map, and the folks in those states look more “Asian” than “Indian” which also confuses Westerners).
C) We also kicked around a comment/ topic that @ JJ made a few weeks ago: “We could see they’ve come a long way and recognize their work ethic and competitiveness. But with the size of their population, the investment and enterprises they need to continue to raise everyone’s standard of living is an ongoing problem.”
• One of the most common “mistakes” I witness when folks are comparing USA versus XYZ “solutions” is not taking geographic size or population size into account. They also often miss Historical context too (see Health Care).
• Nations with a billion+ citizens have significant challenges that other nations do not have – and sometimes you have to see it to understand (see JJ comment).
• However, I do think India was dealt a “better hand” than China due to their history of being a British colony.
• Not advocating colonialism, but I am noting that the British left behind the English language ^^ – which is the language of business around the world. Plus, an understanding of Western behavior, customs, etc.
^^ = India has 20+ official languages, and other very significant demographic differences that we do not experience/ deal with – same for China.
• Again, thank you for sharing.
That Guy…it was about 20 years ago, so don’t remember everything all that well. Much smaller ship than most cruises, don’t think I”d like the ones w/thousands of people. IIRC, it was easy to meet & interact with people, more Europeans than Americans on the cruise. Don’t remember any dancing, which people’s feet probably appreciate in my case.
Wondering which David Foster your GF thinks I might be?
@ huxley > “lézarder — to bask; to lounge; to laze around”
I fear that I do far too much lizarding after the day’s work is done.
Or can one only lizard when one is supposed to be working?
Always the overachievers, Americans combined the idiom definition and to get “lounge lizard” — but none of the (admittedly few) sources I looked at explains why lizards get the rap for lounging, rather than lions or llamas.
Possibly there was an association with the French that has escaped notice, or else it just struck someone that lizards and loungers behaved a lot alike.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lounge%20lizard
https://www.etymonline.com/word/lounge
Just for fun:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/anthropomorphic-animal-names-for-humans
@ jon baker > the Politico post opened fine for me. It was very short:
@ David Foster > “great songs that were once popular but aren’t listened to much anymore”
The only one I know from your list is “Where e’er You Walk,” which was in the repertoire used by my voice teacher in the 1960s (so were works by Herbert and Burns, just not those particular ones, and Nelson Eddy was still well-known), and my opinion agrees with your father’s — it is a lovely song. However, I don’t expect to see any pop covers of it any time soon!
I’m working my way through the others — it’s a rather eclectic gathering. That they were liked by someone enough to record (either recently or in the “distant” past), and by someone else to find and post on YouTube, shows they haven’t been totally forgotten.
There are a lot of those of every genre, just the same as with books and now movies.
I’ve never figured out why really good instances of any of those get lost, but it happens.
There is general agreement that JS Bach’s oeuvre would have eventually languished into relative obscurity except for Felix Mendelssohn, whose family had a connection with the composer.
https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200156436/
Pachelbel’s “Canon” was rescued by “a 1968 arrangement and recording of it by the Jean-François Paillard chamber orchestra” (Wikipedia, which notes that “Johann Christoph Bach, the oldest brother of Johann Sebastian Bach, was a pupil of Pachelbel.”).
Most of the time, the ones that drop out of public favor deserve to.
Two anecdotes, remembered from years past so no guarantee of verity:
(1) A director for a summer repertory theater decided to do something different from the usual fare, and produced a series of “The Little Known Plays of William Shakespeare.” When the season was over, with less than adequate box-office receipts, he admitted that he now knew WHY they were little known.
(2) Someone (IIRC Dorothy Sayers) was curious about why Jane Austen was the only really well-known writer of her era; during a long illness, she decided to read through all the works of Jane’s contemporaries in the nearby university library. Her conclusion: there were good reasons that only Austen was still read.
A personal anecdote, related to music:
A friend of mine had inherited her piano teacher’s library of mostly religious sheet music, and some time later passed it along to me (as our ward music chairman & choir director). During an unusual spell of free time, I played through every piece, with a box on one side of the piano bench for Keepers, and a trash can on the other. The only criteria for division was whether or not I liked the tune or arrangement, and also the lyrics.
Often there was a song that I knew already and still liked, but sometimes a familiar one IMO didn’t measure up to its reputation (keep & trash respectively).
There were a lot (A LOT) of pieces that I had never heard of (no slur in itself), and after playing just the first page it was easy to understand why: the music was insipid, or derivative, or boring, or bombastic, or just not very musically interesting. Or the lyrics were ditto ditto ditto. Usually both. At some time some publisher made enough sales to print them, but none of them had made it into any of my collections, even from that particular era, or had lasted in popular usage.
The trash can won.
Same goes for my omnibuses of secular pop music from the past (“Favorite Songs of the Gay Nineties”; “Popular Hits of the Sixties!”), as late as the 1990s: some are still played and recorded and published, and many, many more are not. Even very popular artists or composers are “represented” in the current popular playlists by a fraction of their total output.
But everybody has their favorites, and it’s fun to share them here.
I’ve encountered a lot of music I would never otherwise have enjoyed.
Open thread.
What’s worse than an ear worm? Ask Ozzie Man?
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/28/live-worm-living-womans-brain-australia-depression-forgetfulness?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
@ om
• Thank you for the input – and you might be overthinking this one.
“I postulate that the grouping of DeSantis with Carter and Dukakis is an intentional effort to tie a non-Trump conservative governor to two liberal Democrats, …”
• In my lifetime there have only been 6 Governors that were the Democrat or Republican candidate for President: Carter, Dukakis, Clinton, Reagan, GWB, and Romney.
• 100% agree that all 6 “could handle the state executive office (Governor)”.
• 100% believe that Clinton, Reagan, GWB and Romney were “suitable for the US executive office (President)”; which leaves just two for a compare of candidates that were “not suitable for the US executive office (President)”. Both Democrats.
• 100% agree that others may disagree with the “suitable” evaluation of DeSantis – but the fact is there have been candidates that were not suitable for the office, despite their previous successes (see Republican debate). Those candidates usually fail to win the Primary, or fail to win the General Election.
• Again, thank you for the input. Truth-be-told, this was not the pushback I was hoping for.
“WHY DO WE GROW FEEBLE WITH AGING, later in life?”
This strikes me as a vital topic to much of the audience here.
Whether getting an answer we like or not is another matter.
Two evolutionary biologists answer this question at length.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGiDKwioT_U
…why lizards get the rap for lounging, rather than lions or llamas.
AesopFan:
I assumed it was the lizard habit of basking on warm flat rocks in the sunshine, making the best of being cold-blooded.
@ David Foster
• Thank you for the reply.
• My GF likes the singers David Foster and Katharine McPhee.
• I now have both Star Clippers and Windstar on my options list.
• “Thousands of people”, that was one of the many reasons why we had avoided cruises – and it is still not our first choice, but it is no longer on the “No Go” list – we are glad we gave it a shot.
• I’ll add that we like the multi-days at sea that a 2-week cruise can offer – and it is not that hard to avoid the crowds on board (e.g., go the stern instead of the mid-deck pool, eat at 07:00 not 05:00, etc.).
• Lastly, we had fun – especially on our first cruise when we did not know the proverbial ropes. First night we were walking hand-in-hand on the top deck, headed for the bow. Then a huge gust knocked us both backwards, and we unclasped our hands. Shriek. My GF’ A-line dress had been instantly turned inside out as it was being “pushed” up over her head. Her dress now looked like one of those inflatable ‘tube man’ air puppets, and the only thing keeping it from floating away was her arms sticking out sideways. I grabbed the hem and pulled it back down over her head – she could not see a thing – and we both fought to get her dress back down. Now that was harder than it sounds because the wind was incredible, and we were both laughing so hard. It was not quite MM meets The Full Monty, but it was close. We learned our lesson.
• OK, enough of this – thanks for the tip..