Daily Archives: October 15, 2025

Wednesday [16 till close of play]

(1500) Mid afternoon and away we go again.

 

20. Steve at 1173

  • Eric Trump: Endless Wars, Senseless Spending, And Broken Lives – My Father Said No More. He’s Brought Peace Where No One Else Could, And The World Is Celebrating
  • Bannon: America’s Biggest Issue In The Middle East Is Saudi Arabia And Iran Providing Oil And Gas To The CCP
  • Cleo Paskal: If A Hostile Foreign Power Controls The Center Of The Pacific, The US Is No Longer Safe
  • Ben Harnwell: Ukraine’s “Green Goblin” inserts himself into POTUS’s MidEast peace-triumph news-cycle

19. Steve B’s chart quiz


18. What’s this then?



17. Trains are not just for transport


16. Demonrats sneak in faux payments

Wed Mat

 

“As has been pointed out by most reviewers on IMDb, this film has all the perceived elements of cold war-period American cinema. However, what also should be considered is the influence it has had on contemporary SF movies and TV.

Hugh Marlowe, Joan Taylor and, especially, Morris Ankrum are well-known B-movie actors: they appeared in everything from Westerns to SF, with lots of stops in between. Thus, this film (complete with all the other stalwarts of ’50s and ’60s “Bs” who appear therein) can be seen as a progenitor of later low-budget productions which rely on a cheap yet capable cast.

At the time it was released (1956), Ray Harryhausen was proving his expertise with stop-motion special effects, later to be given much larger budgets in ’60s colour productions. “Gumby” and similar TV items owe much to this man, as does Aardman Productions and, possibly, Dreamworks.

It has already been indicated (by others) that “Mars Attacks” owes its saucers to this film. So, too, “ID4” has a debt, as does “Dr Who”! (Specifically the outfits worn by the aliens – that leaden ‘dome’ on top of their environment suits belongs to a famous adversary of the good doctor – check out a couple of Tom Baker serials!) Be that as it may, Fred F. Sears does an acceptable job as director; Curt Siodmak supplies a clever screenplay based on Don Keyhoe’s book (Keyhoe also wrote ‘non-fiction’ accounts of UFOs); and some of the dialogue is definitely quotable! IMDb has some ripper examples.

Watch it and enjoy it. Strip some of our contemporary SF of CGI and they really do lack substance in comparison with this entertaining and funny movie. OK. You won’t gasp and ooooh. If you have a love of ’50s B-movies however, this one is a ‘corker’!”

Wednesday [11 to 15]

(1104) Happy elevenses, all. (1138)

 

15. One side of our taproom won’t like this


14. Keep at it, Rupert and Sammy


13. This was the reference to spawn of s

… which Kai supposedly liked:


12. To add to the previous item on it today


11. Silly duffers can eventually learn

Here’s how it started:


Had there been no messages (DMs) from Elon’s mother, his son, from Katie Pavlich, Eva Vlaar, Rubio, Draino, Vivek and clog dancer Hillary, I might have been silly enough to reply to Kai. Of all the messages, Katie and Hillary did seem genuine. I do have a soft spot for Hillary.

However, checking out that Kai link, it had something like 500 followers, as against:


… with her current profile saying:


… which is far more like it. I checked out her “following” list, meaning those she follows, and they’re the ones you’d expect … father, mother, gramps, golf coach, some others:

https://twitter.com/kaitrump/following

So, all good and hope no DM arrives, hope she and gramps are enjoying their golf. Oh, why would anyone have noticed my tweet in the first place? Well 70 or so fellow Xers follow Kai on X … lads are sad … aren’t we?

Mittwoch [6 to 10]

(0750) Wonderfully dull dark grey sky, poisoned of course. Greetings, patrons and other readers. (0809)

 

10. The counterview on X


9. Oh no, not again


8. Only spurious outside causes and profligacy please


7. It’s hardly over, is it?


6. Revamped my X profile

Blurb:

Since 2009, not 2013, HQ in NW England, no DMs pls involving crypto or intim, I do respond to friends I know from timeline, more in pinned tweet.

Pinned tweet:

Xing world reportage, heritage, architecture, art, nature, sport, humour … politics strongly antiwoke, antiglobopsycho, for protection of women, girls, other vulnerable species, nondenominational Christian, warrior mentality, beef eater, single malt, ale, red wine please.

Mi-semaine [1 to 5]

(0555) Dark out in that world. (0651)

 

5. Steve at 1173

  • Democrat Strategist Stunned by Trump’s Success in the Middle East: ‘It’s Historic And He Deserves All The Credit’
  • Former Archdiocese of Detroit Superintendent of Schools Blasts Michigan Department of Education for Its Latest Ploy to Force Young Children to Learn Sick Sex Agenda Without Parental Consent
  • Ukraine’s Manpower Crisis: Systemic Failures and the Dilemma of Military Desertion
  • Flu outbreak cripples schools as cancer deaths projected to soar
  • Rassemblement National Hits Historic Membership Milestone
  • Why the “Palestinian cause” will never be satisfied with a ceasefire
  • Much more.

4. it’s just a snippet but …

… quite a significant one … it explains much happening on X:


To that can be added Dunning-Kruger ambitious, incompetent women.


In his own words, he can’t stand MAGA types, family, God etc., likes to crack down on them on X.

3. DAD at 1173

… and a longish piece (mercy buckets) on the govt turmoil:

Wednesday.

Decision day for the new French PM.

The motions of censure tabled on Monday, October 13, by La France Insoumise and the National Rally will be debated starting at 9:00 a.m. Thursday morning [today] in the National Assembly. Following the Prime Minister’s general policy speech on Tuesday [yesterday] afternoon, we know more about which groups will and will not vote for it ….. (continues at 1173)

2. Over at OoL

https://orphansofliberty.blogspot.com/2025/10/opening-salvo-in-this-digital-id-bollox.html

1. “What was that all about”

… was my response to TDS opening teaser today on finance:

“On Friday, the FT reported that one of the UK’s largest philanthropic grant makers, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) is withdrawing its support for US-based organisations. According to the pink pages, CIFF “no longer understands the US policy environment governing donations” and that it was “pausing donations until authorities clarified the applicable laws and rules related to the foreign funding of US NGOs”.

CIFF is the philanthropic vehicle of British billionaire hedge fund manage Christopher Hohn, whose firm, The Children’s Investment (TCI), has a history of reckless decisions and shareholder activism. Former Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak was once a partner of the hedge fund …”

Twas a good teaser for an article behind a paywall, which Lord Toby likes to do. And what’s in it for plebs like us, poor sods? I keep coming back to a classic Russian song in which the Refrain opening was, too literally translated … “for what for you to know”? You could translate it as “why know” but “for what” better accentuates the “is there any legit or pressing reason which would give you any useful result”?

One obvious further question is who funded the grant fund in the first place? And which values govern their grant giving?