caesar novus

Here is a Russian movie that our guides were surprised was popular in US university towns. P.S. my first visit to Italy had police or militia everywhere carrying submachine guns at the ready, due to urgent terrorism crackdown. They did not keep barrels pointed away from people and seemed in late teens with fingers on the trigger. Maybe Russia was in some crackdown mode when I visited. My long walks find stuff not featured in news, like a smoking blown up bank in Athens not that long ago.

AeroTrainer is less twitchy and more multipurpose than an exercise ball A big solid firm memory foam pillow is lasting forever for me, and stopped the endless cycle of replacing flattened conventional pillows. I keep many pillowcases on it to avoid a plastic sensation. Today I thought I lost it because it wouldn't recover from a pretzel crunch position, but like a CPR operation I beat the reluctant thing into semblance of original shape where it slowly reverted to like new. It came compressed quite small, unlike regular pillows that may fill a whole shopping cart as a pair.

Out of all the 3rd world police states and commie countries I visited, old Russia was unique. Police were intimidating everyone like foxes watching a henhouse. Explicit sinister behavior did not endear folks to the Marxism they enforced, which was the original point. For US case, you should read Heather Mac Donald's book or articles on the war on cops in the US. Statistics show the opposite of your anecdote based impressions. White cops are hesitating and being massacred by trying to halt black on black crime. Rather it is black cops who are tough with black perps. Everything is around the ratio of 10, like what are the chances of cops being shot rather than killing someone. Social media ruins all by fake narratives, and doesn't report the usual situation of juries declaring cops not guilty. Now the progressive response is to axe cop numbers and historic dropping crime trends are exploding upward in these places.

Looking back on say the Andropov era when I visited Russia, we expected little enthusiasm for the regime but much in the way of nationalism. Sure enough, old WW2 vets toddling down the streets wearing a square foot of medals were met with warm adulation by passersby. Regimist policemen had everyone intimidated; in an underground street crossing folks would look around and if seeing no police there would suddenly have relaxed postures and smiles. I wore some slightly elastic jeans which caused a sensation by passersby wanting a similar western look. We understood Russia as having an extreme regime due to confronting an extreme Czarist stalemate. The pity was various chances for evolutionary reform were intentionally sabotaged even by reformists, to whom a utopian end justified barbaric means. It was a strategy by calculating elites, not consensus of the masses. Now I think elements in the US also consider progressive ends justifying previously unacceptable means. Anyway, I am concerned by reports of Russian whitewash of the barbaric history of Stalin. He didn't kill as many fellow countrymen as Mao, but about matched internally what Hitler wreaked externally. I enjoyed meeting Maxim Shostakovitch, historically known for the regime forcing his fake denunciation of his world famous father. Back to books, I would say Hitler wrote incomprehensible gibberish except possibly in "Table Talk" which is more about tame civic issues brought up in "polite company" dinner chit chat. I think Zhuangzi is a more digestible book of philosophic Taoism rather than the enigmatic "Way" or whatever it's called. For a really good alternative to "The Prince" do a search on "the art of worldly wisdom pdf free download" by Gracian 300 years ago. Choose from many pdf versions ranging from messy to overly slick.

https://youtu.be/tZnNPH_A_nY (removed thumbnail of less interesting vid)

We are just now seeing a return to low tech mid rise insulae style apt buildings in US:

Here I attempt to cue up 35:33 at a chapter of a Volterra video called Roman Theater and Baths. It's not spectacular; more of a consolation prize for being on the losing side of a civil war. But see how these chapters work for Roman cherrypicking in similar general videos. You can detect chapter names by sliding down the time bar, and for instance skip the Etruscan crap . On my TV this is especially well supported by arrow up letting you jump to named chapters. In this case the cameraman briefly wanders offsite to re-enter at lower level, so don't prematurely think it's over:

For once I am hatching new year resolutions to tackle these stressful years. Perhaps to fight like Rome did against Hannibal; don't lose hope or accept defeat, but grind onward towards eventual success. Pace myself sustainably but maintain purpose. For example preserve health by pushing away food and drink that's bad for me, except for a bit needed to preserve sanity. Push away toxic relationships, whether they be medical, financial, or social except for those needing more time to replace. Avoid idleness or mediocre entertainment while seeking worthier pursuits.

Later insertion to post below: I see Mary has 6 hours of sober sounding lectures forming a basis for the book starting at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8p9o7xYsUE which I will sample and maybe change my concerns in original blather below: --------------------------------------------- (deleted by me)

Oh, I spelled it wrong; just drop my O and see if your library offers access. I saw a notice Ancestry is shutting down free US access nationwide by new years, so you may just have time to line up local library access and ram a few family names thru the system. I used free win app "my family tree"" to put results in standard .ged format for storage and display. I found a hundred in my direct parenting line (not counting siblings/cousins) over 671 years. The tool is hit and miss in finding info even when it is there - just keep at it from different angles. Rely on maiden names at least for first attempts. Wow, I see lifespans often around 90 even hundreds of years ago, and late starting families around 40 yrs back then. The shorter lifespan theory must be warped by child mortality (and birthing mothers).

I like the subdued colors, which would be easier to live with than Pompeiian red etc. Does anyone have photos from a tour of Nero's golden house? It was opened with such little publicity that I must have missed it twice.

What youtube channels repeatedly come up with excellence, at least a couple of times? I mean a level above the fray, with insight, gravitas, or serendipity. I will post my candidates either linking to a channel menu or else specific notable vids, and assume anyone interested can further seek by clicking on channel name and then click on videos category. Epic screwball comedy movie with massive classic cast from 60 years ago is avail free in youtube's sample movie channel. A series on engineering integrity, especially in concrete, and more recently the top forensic communicator about pancaked buildings such as in Miami. I post an example of his rundown of unethical steps that led to that huge loss of life, although earlier vids on specific construction faults are gripping too. I think this story is why my similarly built apartment is rising a brutal 4X in insurance fees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk2hmytlDg8 Amazing and generally unknown feats of aviation recalled by retired pilots, generally in secret cold war operations. They are about hour long lectures that seem almost too short. The series has been on a pandemic pause, but has a rich backlog. https://www.youtube.com/user/PeninsulaSrsVideos/videos Ancient Roman and Greek misc channel, whose best value to me is willingness of author to answer questions in the comments. https://www.youtube.com/c/toldinstone/videos Air accident review channel (among other things), with admirable restraint, gravitas, and cautionary lessons. In the example I post he explains a particular illusion problem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk7fi7P0i3s but I wish he talked about another one attributed to crashes for which I will post a provocative short paper https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330415156_The_somatogravic_illusion_during_centrifugation_sex_differences. Researchers find women pilots generally aren't subject to this illusion, which you can only find near the end of paper because they only dared put weasel words where it belonged in the top abstract. They are torn by pol-incorrectness of declaring genders different even if the "correct" one looks better. I found evidence it's due to the illusion not being in pilots mind, but the inner ear is tilted slightly different between the sexes - something you may see me bring up in comments there. One of the highest quality sail cruising vlog channels https://www.youtube.com/c/RANSailing/videos Youtube audiobook channel for which I will post an example in two parts because they are almost 2 books. Rolling stone Keith Richards gives a memoir of an earnest struggling band key to the youth culture wave of the 1960s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l03GQCDCBPg followed by bouts of epic self indulgence of a half-billionaire in the drug culture of 1970s+ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q4bIn_wFtY. It keeps finding unexpected ways to amaze me on the bohemian lifestyle, like frequent use of gunfire to shoo folks away which so far in the book led to no visits from police or hotel security. He does seem to have a responsible heart, but may be not be telling the full story behind various times he escaped burndowns of hotel rooms or rented homes due to "electrical problems".

The above addressed recent attempts to make stay-at-home incarceration a little more bearable; now I cover earlier buys to make up for gym and recreation closures. Pardon me if I have mentioned these before but I seem to be losing the ability to remember to whom I have or haven't mentioned things. All devices were quite affordable although took much searching to find free (air) shipment of their heavy weight, and are surviving outside weather surprisingly well on a balcony Favorite #4: Inversion chair (not the more usual table). You know how you can never get on some gym machines because they somehow encourage folks to veg out and check their phone all day? This is the ultimate home example with plush seating and interesting external recliner framework. Actual inversion is probably a crock health treatment or even risky, but you can get some gliding arm exercise in modest tipping up and back down. It was shipped from a club warehouse source in a thousand pieces and was incredibly challenging to assemble properly. UNfavorate #4: Maxiclimb machine. Only way for me to get free shipment was to buy refurbished version from the mfr source. Turned out to be simply damaged, not fixed. So I improvised some fixes, altho the latest internal grinding problem seems inaccessible. This was so disappointing because the machine has a small efficient footprint. It exercises both arms and legs well in a sort of pseudo wall climb and is the only model that has actual resistance cylinders. Favorite #5: The classic infomercial total gym. Normal sources are expensive to fund their massive marketing, but they leak out a slightly simpler version quite cheaply thru club warehouses. This folds up easily, altho I leave it set up in sun and rain with only a little greasing of seat bearings and rust spots. I don't do the reconfiguration of umpteen options, but pick one setup that allows a reasonable variety, Their half hour promo is constantly playing on obscure cableTV channels, and is about the last commercial not revamped into today's bizarre and patronizing social engineering effort where 80% of actors must sport dreadlocks or huge afros.

More historical organized pirates of east Asia:

You will be highly rewarded by checking out one more home made documentary by the above channel. It is an absolute bombshell that may be removed by youtube at any time. He has gotten interviews with the children of the most famous mystery hijacker (two time actually) who had been silent to protect their now dead mother from prosecution. It is more polished than above but super long and marred by personal attacks in the first hour that seem gratuitous until later account of botched investigation. I will try to ease your way into it with links that cue up at the summation in last 12 minutes (2:36:36 or 9396 seconds) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UuRpW8wdVA&t=9396s Next backing up to re-enactment of first parachute with money and transition into second hijacking (1:09:51 or 4191 seconds) https://youtu.be/7UuRpW8wdVA?t=4191 Below is the whole thing. He normally does wonderful short punchy muck raking videos but struggles in longer subjects. He lashed out at my critique of his flying Tarzan video, but seems to have improved a bit anyway. The blundering FBI he depicts was at the tail end of J. E. Hoover's directorship and I wonder if he was steering the investigations while losing mental sharpness near end of life. P.S. you may have to cue this last one back to time zero manually.

What is your favorite (or least fav) consumer item gotten recently by gift or online or whatever. Not big ticket items or mail order spouses; I am thinking of more modest things we all might brainstorm as something to acquire or stay away from. Favorite #1 at $19: Sheet tangle preventor for wash and dry cycles https://wadfree.com/ . It makes the whole load orderly and thoroughly cleaned, not bunched, twisted, or wet wrapping other items. Possibly could do it yourself with a zip tie bringing corners together, or? UNfavorite #1 at $78: Proprietary "mixpresso" machine. Compact and elegant but very limited compatible coffee pods. Amazon own brand was affordable but accurately described in comments as wet ashtray flavor, and their thin foil bursts with air shipment pressure changes. UNfavorite #2 & #3: 15 and 16 inch laptops from Dell and Apple. The Dell touchpad intermittently fails even after being replaced twice, so added a refurbished Macbook which also carried an open box discount. Forgot that Apple refurbs tend to be years old (mine 2019) and the open box came from shock that this generation alone lacked all but a few ports. It has taken ages to personalize the two machines to at least half work, together making one functional unit. Favorite #2 & #3: Same high res laptops now offer good redundancy and surprisingly the Apple pro can now read Win format portable hard drives. The Dell has a pen that has makes quick work of pdf paperwork I have to annotate and sign. I got adapters cheap to work with Mac ports and maybe I will request another free touchpad when Dell warrantee about to expire.

Above sailboat is now at west end of La Palma chain, so should have something to say about conditions in future videos released every friday. I will attempt to post a dynamic map showing where they are, but first wanted to show the sight of floating hot lava. Beware of roiling clouds of lung-scalding steam near spots where lava drops into water: https://www.vesselfinder.com/?mmsi=265781780

Really nice decorative elements from classy to whimsical. Where is the traveler on this forum who used to comprehensively post exhibit pictures; maybe still on flickr? Location seems to be out of the tourism mainstream except for Unesco fortress Carcassonne. Closest tourist hub appears to be Barcelona.

Nice, my library has a downloadable copy. But it does spread itself thin to encompass the traditions and religion instead of just philosophy, so I will have to consider other Tao e-texts.