(1828) Evening all. There’s some simple maths here … wise or not wise but starting at 0500 and then sledding at 0630 means the ole Higham is pegging out about now. There is much up at 932, plus I still have some to run here before crashing.
In short, I have to use the remaining waking time well, inc. a few new items.
15. Competing outlays
14. Dominion
13. Chagossians
12. Greenland
(1631)
Going to combine drops by Steve, IYE and myself here, on the US shenanigans … more after the screenshots …
From Pelosi to Obama to Milley to the Feds, plus local LEOs … this was a well coordinated series of attacks, combined with the steal itself, the dud machines, late night boxes of ballots etc.
(1150) Almost afternoon already. (1206)
10. The Woke mind virus
9. Myopic view
8. Greenland
(0952) Morning all. (1006)
7. Just the one US item … important
6. Some Brit-related news
5. News from downunder
“Extraordinary. Four years ago a crowd armed with flags and a helmet with horns was taking part in the greatest fake insurrection that never was. But today, Kamala certified Donald Trump’s win. Justin Trudeau announced his resignation as Prime Minister of Canada and Elon Musk is publicly tearing strips off the Prime Minister of the UK.
Twitter — X — is alive in a pile-on that has been building for a few days and is now breaking out into the real world. Finally, the worst depravity, the moral plague that infects the UK bureaucracy at every level, is being exposed. And even Keir Starmer is in the cross-hairs. He was director of the Crown Prosecution Service from 2008 – 2013. He secured some of these “token” prosecutions, but many cases were dropped, even with DNA evidence.
It is as if years of corruption and a fake media are starting to unravel.”
Yep. Describing Starmer, there’s a Victorian expression … a “drop kick” … Barry Humphreys would have called him a “ratbag”. I call him human flotsam.
(0534) Snow on Christmas Day … how bout that eh? (0728)
4. TDS
3. Steve and les drops at 930
Four: Christian Teacher Gets 6-Figure Last Laugh, ‘Coalition of Losers’ Fails in Austria, much more….
Three: Harris, Trump, Trudeau, Hegseth, much more….
Two: Uke sit-rep in detail, more…
One: NZ Gene Tech Bill, European collapse, much more….
2. Andy and his earworm ditty
Millibrain, if he had brains in his ears. My, what a brain he would have. | https://youtu.be/3Gbfx4MhSjY?si=0Bbb3JFs0IP42TLN | Which reminds me of this little ditty. | https://youtu.be/KMLMxpckpS4?si=ZYPsCZZjFp4AZ_tU | Yes, I is weevil and icked.😁
1. Just been out toboganning at 0630
Well you know … I looked over the snow down there and as one does … I thought hmmmm, if I can find some wood … and there might be wood or even cardboard in our yard … which I remembered slopes down a hill.
So, scurried downstairs but the binmen had taken all the cardboard cases people leave … one case where their efficiency is unwelcome.
Hmmmmm … how to sled? Only thing I could see were those plastic chairs stacked by a wall … this exact white type (courtesy Bren on X):
Aha … turn one upside down on its arms … it’s curved on the upper side. Wheeeeeee … it sledded from the wall to the bins!
So, had a good time, came upstairs and put my snowbooties on the heater to dry … Toodles had just told a tale of food trays at school in her yoof (she’s still in it) … now I do have trays here and they’d work too. Plus the road outside is steep. Hmmmmm … shelved the tray idea for now … but if it snows again!
And this morning’s prayer, y’all? Lord, please don’t let me ever grow up.
(1520) Afternoon all. (1649) Evening all.
16. Anything to this do you think?
15. Important
14. By now you know Castro is resigning
Meanwhile, DJT is being confirmed today.
13. Woodsy42 corner
12. Starmer
11. Toodles sends
JH: There was something about it being Finlandia, Sibelius, national romantic tune … also about it being used in Die Hard 2 but uncredited.
Hmmmm, I also found this:
“Finlandia became a symbol of Finnish nationalism. While Finland was still a Grand Duchy under Russia performances within the empire had to take place under the covert title of “Impromptu”. In Finland the Finlandia Hymn was not sung until Finnish words for it were written by the opera singer Wäinö Sola in 1937.”
(0639) New week, chaps and chapesses. (1132)
10. Safest way is anything Starmer says
… is the diametric opposite:
9. How’s your boiler hanging on?
8. IYE corner
Was going to run Grifty at HQ but IYE has it up at 931, plus a piece on Livelsberger military reality show.
7. Keep saying but
… living midway between three cities, only two which are visible from this hillside, and also having heard that snow is falling in Liverpool just now, not here though, different climate, then this is understandable:
Just adore winter … used to be late autumn/winter but this time now is definitely mine, ours, yours … nature is wild, does all sorts of crazy things, esp. at this time of year.
6. It’s not just the music as such
… in this, yet another look at Sultans of Swing … fear not, I’m not going to play the Alchemy concert version for the umpteenth time, though I did sixteen times yesterday. Why sixteen?
They were all reaction videos and that’s where my interest was … in the humans watching, reacting, commenting, given who each person was. I believe that each song requires a certain type of person reacting … for example, Paul Simon’s Diamonnds on the Soles …. benefits from looking at the history, inc. South Africa, 1987 … and I want to see a black bro reacting, not a Euro music presser … would it pass muster with the bro? It did.
With Sultans, universally praised by receptive rock/pop audiences for its sheer energy, the killer guitars and other instruments, the way they all fed off each other, the whole professional tone … the quality of playing.
But I wanted to know more … how different demographics would react along gender lines, generation lines, national lines, whether the listener was a professional or just Joe Public. Many reactions were from females and almost universally, whether black, white, Asian, old, young … the female simply “melted” … females are soooo responsive if the triggers are there … this is the ancient delight for the man, though a double-edged sword at the same time.
Then the boys … black, white, different generations. Overall, Gen Zee, male female, whatever ethnicity … reacted favourably, as the song, frankly, the performance, was so darned good. But I wanted to know just how good technically and so, when I saw a guitar teacher and classical guitarist reacting, methought oh ho ho, this might be interesting.
It was … the guitar teacher explained, picked up his own guitar and rattled off the chords, the notes … noting that it was not the notes played but the way they were played … the tone, the cadence. Yes, that’s what I’d wanted to see analysed … does Knopfler stand up in a harsh critical environment? He did.
The other one … the classical guitarist, was bopping away soon into it, laughing at times that Knopfler had gone classical in places.
Now all that was sweet but it does lead to two other points. How can, say, some classical music buffs not appreciate talent and elan, just because it is a different genre? At the same time, why can I not stand the auto-tuned, adenoidal guff post 1997? Swift? Sheeran? No thanks. It’s difficult to know why these things at times. Why did glam rock in the 80s leave me cold, especially in those poncy costumes?
Finally, I decided to bring it back home … to find a responder, a reactor, who actually was British, a local lad, could see the performance through “homie” eyes … with one difference … not of the era but too young to have known the era … a gruff lad from a decade and a half later … how would he take it? (Click pic to get the reaction video).
These things, to me, are a buzz … to see how other humans respond, in different cultures and eras. For example, Debbie Harry, in Heart of Glass or Rip Her To Shreds, was playing the hormonal teenage girl … so, was there a reaction vid by just such a creature … a bratty girl of the age today, not from back then? There were two … a right pain, actually … but what both said was they were amazed how high pitched Debbie was … in other words, feminine, not tough girl badass … plus how much it was their moms’ type of thing from that time. Very interesting.