Friday, January 26, 2018

Heritage


So, I've been reading about how my ancestors got to Ireland and Scotland. Turns out a few came from the Russian Steppes/Norway into Ireland or Scotland in the first wave of invasion. More came from Denmark/Sweden in the second wave of invasion. All of these were called "Vikings." The big surprise was finding that there was a third wave of invasion from the area of Northern Spain and Portugal called the Iberian Peninsula. I have Iberian Peninsula in my ancestry too. It turns out there were Vikings there as well. So my heritage is primarily from the three waves of invasion into Ireland and Scotland and it just might be that if you go back far enough I'm pretty much all Viking. Wow. I hope my stance on non-violence has brought a little much needed balance to my bloodline. I mean, hey, I'm a Hufflepuff. Y'know?   ~ listener

29 comments:

  1. See Wikipedia about the knarr[Click] and follow the links to other viking-era ship types.

    —Alan [A partial Scandahoovian]

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  2. Thanks, Alan! I will check that out.

    I wrote a few more notes on the last thread, but it was (happily!) getting so long that I thought it best to come here to post more.

    I'm DELIGHTED that Bernie had a meeting on Saturday about a possible 2020 candidacy! No decision yet, but he's certainly going to remain a player. God bless that man!

    I have my doubts that Mueller had no interest in Bannon prior to the book coming out. That sounds like a rumor started by the author's publicist. How would anyone actually know what Mueller's interests are? And when has something like a book coming out gotten a reaction from Mueller? He keeps it all very close to the vest.

    I think he is this century's national hero.

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    1. I seem to recall a sticker like
      except that the glasses were “2020.”[Click] But this one looks pleasantly spooky.

      —Alan

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  3. https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-25/i-ve-watched-trump-testify-under-oath-it-isn-t-pretty

    Hammered by White and her deputies, Trump ultimately had to admit 30 times that he had lied over the years about all sorts of stuff: how much of a big Manhattan real estate project he owned; the price of one of his golf club memberships; the size of the Trump Organization; his wealth; his speaking fees; how many condos he had sold; his debts, and whether he borrowed money from his family to avoid going personally bankrupt. He also lied during the deposition about his business dealings with career criminals.

    Trump's poor performance stemmed in part from the fact that he was being interrogated by shrewd attorneys wielding his own business and financial records against him. But there were lots of other things that went wrong as well.

    Trump is impatient and has never been an avid or dedicated reader. That’s OK if you’d rather play golf, but it’s not OK when you need to absorb abundant or complex details. Lawyers typically prepare binders full of documents for their clients to pore over prior to a deposition, hoping to steel them for an intense grilling. My lawyers did that prior to my own deposition in the Trump lawsuit. But Trump didn’t appear to be well prepared when we deposed him, a weakness that my lawyers exploited (and that Mueller surely would as well).

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  4. I was quite happy to read this morning that Cheetolini got soundly booed and hissed at in Davos when he started his "fake news" shtick.

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    1. So he got all the respect he deserved? Excellent! That should have done a good trip on his marked psychological need for acceptance by his betters. Honestly, he seems to have made a career of ruining the reputation the nouveau riche.

      --Alan

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    2. Excerpts from The Guardian's live feed:

      Trump takes a swipe at the journalists at Davos, saying that until he became president he didn’t realise how nasty, how mean, how vicious and how fake the media are. This prompts some boos and hisses - something I’ve not heard before.

      Steve Clemons @SCClemons
      The room boos and hisses @realDonaldTrump when he calls the press vicious, mean, and fake. Reaction from crowd instantaneous and robust. @Davos #WEF18

      US economic growth disappoints
      As Donald Trump is speaking and hailing his economic success, the latest US GDP figures have disappointed. On an annualised basis the US economy grew by 2.6% in the final quarter rather than the 3% expected, down from 3.2% in the previous three months.

      Q: What experiences in your past help you to become president?
      Trump says his business acumen - his ability to make money.
      Then he claims that “if the opposing party to me” had won - the stock market wouldn’t be up 50%, it would be down close to 50%
      People are listening in silence....
      ========================
      --Alan

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    3. Boos and hisses. YEAH! He's lucky it's a civilized gathering, or he'd have been spat upon too.

      The very thought of Trump at Davos is laughable.

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  5. Currently stopping over at San Francisco on my way back to Fresno; a beautiful day here. Flying out of Eureka I could see why it was so chilly--there was snow on the higher parts of the Coast Range, which surrounds the city. Passing by The Geysers (geothermal field long used for electrical generation) I could see the steam rising in columns from the power plants; the conditions seemed just perfect for the steam to condense, cloud-like. I had never seen that before. And flying past San Francisco proper, I notice a huge skyscraper I had never before been aware of; The Transamerica Pyramid, long the highest building in the financial district, looked small alongside it.

    --Alan

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  6. Alan, I hope, upon sober (and more rested) reflection, my enthusiasm on the last thread was not extreme and that you're not disappointed by the Beowulf book. Sometimes I get a bit carried away.

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    1. Ha! You call that enthusiasm? Ha! I say. That sounds interesting, accessible, and like it would fill a gap in my general education. Like studying Latin an Marx. I didn't get as deep into the latter as I intended, but may well remedy that in time, and I learned enough to be able to discuss it reasonably. Of course I know something about Beowulf (Bee-wolf, = poetic for Bear) I don't know enough to discuss it intelligently.

      --Alan

      Alan

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  7. Read something a couple days ago that mentioned Bernie's meeting and that he's keeping his options open with regard to a 2020 run. The prospect of possibly being able to vote for him again lifted my spirits immensely. I'm glad to hear the meeting went well.

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    1. Will says he wouldn't mind a ticket with both Bernie and Biden on it, and he doesn't even care who's on first.
      Bernie is the shaker and mover and Joe is homey and diplomatic. I imagine the DNC will be putting forth another woman, but I'm not sure whom. Oprah has opted out. Elizabeth Warren? Others?

      I'd still like Bernie to run as an Independent.

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    2. Personally, I would be pleased to vote for Warren. I think, though, my mother is right that it would be, shall we say, foolish to run another woman. OTOH the DNC has proven itself lacking in savvy.

      Bernie did very well last go round. I would like to think (fantasize? *sigh*) that if in '20 the party establishment anointed a candidate, whoever he or she might be, as obviously untenable as HRC, the Democratic Wing of the party is now - or will be by that time - strong enough to nominate our own candidate anyway. This would back the party establishment into a corner, forcing them either to support the nominee chosen by the people or to drop the mask at last and work against "their own" nominee. It would be interesting to see who did what in such a scenario.

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    3. Forgot to say, I've gathered sentiment is growing for Biden. I'd have no objection except that my sense is this is another "He deserves it" movement. Though he may well be better qualified and might well make a better candidate than HRC, I'm leery of another candidate we're expected to vote for because it's his time and he deserves it. Been there, done that.

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    4. Joe Biden has character in spades; he is too far right on foreign affairs to suit me, and like Bernie and so many others he is old to be taking on a job that is a real killer if done right. That is one of the reasons I like Raul Grijalva as VP--he's younger. And he has the experience of coping--effectively--with right-wing Anglos in his home state. He would profit from the experience of being VP, methinks, and be ready when the time comes. A Bernie/Biden team is two elderly men; not enough backup IMO. But seventy is the new fifty. The Dems really need to get some younger top-drawer candidates; it's time for a generational change.

      --Alan

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  8. The Nutella riots report is distressing. It is sobering indeed how quickly humans revert not just to mob mentality but to jungle instincts... Speaking of being evolved. *sigh*

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  9. Just now read Raúl Grijalva's op-ed. Thanks, Alan. Raúl has been a favorite of mine for some time now. I'm hesitant to suggest him for a VP run, since his voice is needed in the House. If the cat wranglers pull it off and we retake the House and/or Senate,* maybe, preparatory to a presidential run in '24? If Bernie doesn't in fact run in '20, I'd vote for Raúl enthusiastically, with perhaps Barbara Lee as his running mate, or Maxine Waters?

    *Of course, if we don't retake both houses this year, it will be pretty pointless to run any presidential candidate in 2020. :(

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    1. I'm not sure I understand this last paragraph. Not retaking both houses this year says nothing about 2020. And the presidency is a bully pulpit regardless of who controls Congress.

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    2. That is, if we can't regain the majority in Congress in the midterms, there's little chance of our taking the White House two years on.

      Then again, by that time the citizenry will have had two more years of Trump, which might make them more receptive to a Democrat... Guess I'm just discouraged. I want to be optimistic; it's just that we've had such recent and disastrous experience with chicken counting that my optimism index is pretty low.

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    3. Would that be the op-ed in The Hill, Cat? Encouraging Ryan to bring up a clean DREAM Act bill? Barbara Lee speaks for me, but that seems too much to hope for. I hope that the Dems don't make the mistake Republicans did in 2016 of running too many candidates.

      Alan

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  10. Sis told me about this earlier in the evening. She found it particularly amusing because, as she pointed out, the curator involved in the exchange would have had to get the go-ahead from the museum's director who is, as it happens, her former boss at the Carnegie in Pittsburgh. She was chortling over a colleague and indeed friend of hers sticking it to the Donald.

    The White House Asked For A Van Gogh, The Guggenheim Offered A Golden Toilet - Click

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  11. Somebody remind me why we're not supposed to like Tammy Duckworth? She seems very admirable to me. Her remarks with regard to Trump's draft dodging etc. had me reaching for my hanky. Naturally, I'm predisposed to view favorably a double amputee veteran who is a Democrat. But it's in my mind that the last time I expressed admiration for her a few years ago, someone - don't remember who - said she wasn't our sort or words to that effect. However that may be, she certainly let Trump have it.

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  12. While up in Eureka, I was talking with two different men--an attorney of my acquaintance, over dinner last night, and an investigator working for the attorney who called me to testify, while driving back to the airport this morning. The increase in women running for office came up, and all three of us agreed it was a good thing.

    Oh, and the TSA agents (or whatever they are called) at the airport in Eureka were downright friendly, sociable and helpful. Yep, northern California, says this old guy from thereabouts. But I don't miss the condensate running down the insides of the windows, or the mildewed shoes in the closets one bit. (You learned to put leather shoes up on the shelf at the top of the closet, and a dehumidifier in the house helped with the windows. Sometimes condensate would even collect and run down the inside walls.) Hmmmm...come to think of it, I don't miss heating with fuel oil, either.

    --Alan

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  13. This is probably as close to world famous for fifteen minutes as I am likely to get. [Click] I considered demanding that the newspaper print a retraction of their statement that I am a pathologist, but it isn't worth the fuss. This homicide took place only about fifteen miles from where I originally come from; I remember the family going over there to harvest mushrooms (like huge field mushrooms, but with gray instead of pink gills). That would be about 65-67 years ago.

    --Alan

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    1. Wow, Alan! You got quite a chunk of the article.

      Let's see if I understand. The victim, the one with the meth in his systim, attacked a truck with a weed wacker, after which the defendant, the one in the truck, committed vehicular homicide? That is, if the prosicution's contention is correct. (Apart from what you said, the article wasn't all that easy to follow.) So what, exactly, were you testifying to? If the victim was suffering from diminished mental capacity at the time he attacked the truck and its occupant, well, what has that to do with whether the occupant murdered him? I'm confused.

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  14. While "Why Are Women Still Choosing the Lowest-Paying Jobs?" makes a valid point, it seems to me a better question is, "Why is 'women's work' still so much lower paid than 'men's work?'" The article notes, for instance:

    The median salary for male cosmetologists is $39,100, according to the Georgetown center; for women, it’s $24,700.

    Is a man, by virtue of being a man, a better hair stylist than a woman and thus deserving of a substantially higher salary than a woman? Or is the difference due to the lamentable fact that no matter what his line of work a man, by virtue of being a man, is assumed to be of higher intrinsic worth than a woman and thus deserving of a higher salary? Me thinks the latter.

    It seems to me, then, that rather than pushing female students into hier paying, traditionally male fields they may not want to enter, a more logical and more equitable solution to the problem of female wage/salary lag would be to boost pay in traditionally female fields. Interacting and caring occupations such as teaching, child care, nursing and cosmetology have at least as much value as construction and repair type occupations such as those repeatedly mentioned in the article, welding and auto body repair.

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  15. I just remembered another railwayundercrossing, prettier than the one I linked before; here it is
    from the south [Click] and
    from the north [Click]

    --Alan

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