Occasional Reader 10/17/2023 5:29:59 AM

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“ Asked why he moved to Kfar Aza — a kibbutz so poor in the 1960s that when the food wagon arrived each evening, he had to choose between half a boiled egg or a slice of cheese — 67-year-old Shai Hermesh answered proudly with a single word. “Zionism,” he said. For the next six decades, his life traced the contours of the Zionist enterprise in Israel, both idyllic and martial. He fought as a paratrooper in the 1967 and 1973 wars…”

https://www.ft.com/content/03d20d90-97ca-472e-a9d2-0a64369133db

He was a paratrooper who fought in combat at age 11? Dayum!

/journalism, ladies and gentlemen

vxbush 10/17/2023 5:38:24 AM

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vxbush 10/17/2023 5:46:43 AM

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The number of children and families who were treated like crap by these so-called "child abuse pediatricians" grows: Over 70 Families Say They Lost Their Children to False Munchausen by Proxy Allegations Levied by One Doctor

This field is looking more and more like seriously crappy medicine.

vxbush 10/17/2023 5:54:45 AM

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vxbush 10/17/2023 6:19:15 AM

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vxbush 10/17/2023 6:26:20 AM

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My BS meter is pinging. I read a story this morning about Fairfax County freshman Heman Bekele being named "America's Top Young Scientist" for inventing a soap that aims to treat skin cancer. 

First off, notice the DEI language in his statement: “I wanted to try to find a way for the entire world to be able to have an equitable and accessible form of skin cancer treatment.” Too overloaded. 

I had to go to a different article to learn that Bekele was born Ethiopia--and this article is written completely differently than all the other wire service-related articles, to the point of calling the soap with a different acronym. In this article, nothing is mentioned about DEI stuff (except in one word choice) but instead it's all about him leading a team of professionals to solve problems. 

Why am I reminded so much of our engineering student who built a bomb out of a clock? 

vxbush 10/17/2023 6:41:49 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 6:

I did find one other article with his name in it, indicating he was a top team member of a MATHCOUNTS chapter competition, from February 10. 

I hope I'm totally wrong about my BS meter. 

JCM 10/17/2023 6:54:48 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 5:

I saw that earlier, amazing stuff. Part AI but equal parts imaging technology.

JCM 10/17/2023 6:57:32 AM

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Israel’s hunt for Hamas terror group leader Yahya Sinwar: 'Dead man walking'

'We will get to him, however long it takes,' IDF spokesman

His bunker is under the day care center for a Children's Hospital's employees.

JCM 10/17/2023 7:04:34 AM

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Reap what you sow column.

'This is what we have to deal with': Children crawl to safety as gunfire erupts near Seattle day care center

Occasional Reader 10/17/2023 7:26:04 AM

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In #6 vxbush said: our engineering student who built a bomb out of a clock? 

That wasn't the story (unless you're referring to a completely different one I don't know about).

Ahmed Mohammed was (at the time) a 14 year-old HS student who brought a partially disassembled-and-reassembled digital clock to his school in Irving, Texas. 

vxbush 10/17/2023 7:27:01 AM

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In #11 Occasional Reader said: That wasn't the story (unless you're referring to a completely different one I don't know about).

I remember there being bomb concerns, so maybe it's this story, maybe a different one. But today's story just seems to be just enough over the top to make me wonder. 

Occasional Reader 10/17/2023 7:27:56 AM

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In #9 JCM said: His bunker is under the day care center for a Children's Hospital's employees.

Really?

Occasional Reader 10/17/2023 7:32:34 AM

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In #12 vxbush said: I remember there being bomb concerns

The thing did, IMHO, kind of look like a bomb (see photo in the Wiki link).  

Occasional Reader 10/17/2023 7:37:22 AM

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In #14 Occasional Reader said: kind of look like a bomb

... or at least like a movie-inspired idea of what a time bomb would look like.

I think the school officials and police likely overreacted (unless the kid made some sort of declaration of it being a bomb, which does not seem to be the case).

At the same time, the fawning praise heaped on the kid by the Prog establishment went way, way over the top, including the repeated claims that he had "built a digital clock", as if he did it from scratch as some child-prodigy engineer, as opposed to just taking apart an existing digital clock and reassembling it, which is what he actually did. 

Occasional Reader 10/17/2023 8:21:24 AM

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JCM 10/17/2023 8:30:24 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 13:

That was sarcasm, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

Occasional Reader 10/17/2023 8:53:03 AM

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Reply to JCM in 17:

Yes, it was believable, hence my (non-sarcastic) question. 

buzzsawmonkey 10/17/2023 9:16:44 AM

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So, even though the messages from Insty claim I'm not on a "banned list," it appears nobody can read my comments over there.  Wierd, but probably a good thing to wean myself from wasting time there.

Meanwhile, something fun this morning; went by an "estate sale" in an apartment in the neighborhood.  Miserably organized/displayed, if I may say so---BUT I found what I would call a "kiddush cup" (a cup used to make the blessing over wine) in hammered silver, which was priced by the rubes running the sale at one dollar.  

I grabbed it.  I wasn't sure, in the poorly-lit space, whether the tarnished vessel was silver or merely silver-plate, but for a buck? Why not?  Got it back home and took out the magnifying glass; it was marked "900," i.e., just shy of sterling.  There was a slight dent in the base which I was able to smooth out with my thumbs, silver being soft.

This cute little item is probably about 100 years old; hammered-silver and hammered-copper were part of the "Mission/Arts & Crafts" movement, which dominated the first decades of the 20th century and predated Art Deco and Art Moderne.  

Tarnish---if you can see through it---is your friend at a flea market or estate sale.  Finding a hundred-year-old cup for a dollar is a great way to start the day.

Occasional Reader 10/17/2023 9:31:13 AM

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In #19 buzzsawmonkey said: which was priced by the rubes running the sale at one dollar.  

I do hope you employed the correct Great Literature quote. 

vxbush 10/17/2023 9:32:35 AM

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In #19 buzzsawmonkey said: Tarnish---if you can see through it---is your friend at a flea market or estate sale.  Finding a hundred-year-old cup for a dollar is a great way to start the day.

Well done! 

lucius septimius 10/17/2023 10:28:06 AM

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Occasional Reader 10/17/2023 11:34:23 AM

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In #22 lucius septimius said: Biggest problem I have right now is what to do with my old piano - having a hard time finding any takers.

First, check to be sure there are no Letters of Transit hidden in the thing. 

buzzsawmonkey 10/17/2023 11:52:43 AM

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In #23 Occasional Reader said: First, check to be sure there are no Letters of Transit hidden in the thing. 

One of the great Concealed Homosexual References in early cinema.  

When Renault asks Rick, "When we searched the place, where were they?"  Rick says, "In Sam's piano."  Renault, whose appetite for women has been a running joke throughout the film, says, "Serves me right for not being musical."  "Musical" was a then-current slang term, in British slang, for being homosexual; it is referenced in Evelyn Waugh's "Sword of Honor" trilogy, and in Christopher Isherwood's book "Christopher and His Kind."  Thus, Renault's line (uttered by thoroughly-British actor Claude Raines) "Serves me right for not being musical (i.e., homosexual)" is very much an intended play on words.

Occasional Reader 10/17/2023 12:27:07 PM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 24:

Yep, I recall you mentioning this in the past.

On the same (more or less) topic; I recently saw a claim that the apparently nonsensical reference in the movie by Ugarte to the Letters of Transit being signed "by General De Gaulle", is actually a mishearing of the line.  The reference is actually to "General Weygand", which would have been correct (a Vichy official, instead of the head of the Resistance government).  I just re-watched the clip, and yep, it checks out  So there ya go.  

buzzsawmonkey 10/17/2023 12:35:42 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 25:

THANK YOU for clearing that up; I always wondered about it.

Occasional Reader 10/17/2023 12:42:15 PM

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Happiness is: Finding out you've got about fifty thousand dollars more than you thought you did.  

(long story)

Occasional Reader 10/17/2023 12:43:50 PM

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In #26 buzzsawmonkey said: THANK YOU for clearing that up; I always wondered about it.

Yeah, it seemed like such a crass error, and one that most audiences would have instantly noticed at the time. 

buzzsawmonkey 10/17/2023 12:45:38 PM

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In #28 Occasional Reader said: Yeah, it seemed like such a crass error, and one that most audiences would have instantly noticed at the time. 

It could even start Vichy-ouss rumors...

Occasional Reader 10/17/2023 12:47:37 PM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 26:

Of course, the idea that the letters "cannot be questioned" is still ridiculous.  Of course they can be - everyone knows they're stolen - and ultimately Major Strasser isn't exactly persuaded by them; what gets Victor and Ilsa on the plane isn't the letters, but rather Rick's  Colt .32. 

buzzsawmonkey 10/17/2023 12:52:41 PM

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In #30 Occasional Reader said: Rick's  Colt .32

Which prompts me to mention that I watched "Intruder in the Dust" (based on the Faulkner novel) for the first time last night.  Absolutely excellent.  Without giving away too much of the plot, the death of a white Southern man being blamed on an "uppity" black man hinges on the size and nature of the bullet, in light of the slain man NOT being shot by a .32 revolver.  

The film is absolutely recommended; it predates "To Kill a Mockingbird" by a couple of decades and makes it pale by comparison.

Occasional Reader 10/17/2023 1:19:55 PM

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In #31 buzzsawmonkey said: in light of the slain man NOT being shot by a .32 revolver.

The Jim Crow-era south certainly considered white people and black people to be of different calibers. 

lucius septimius 10/17/2023 1:54:04 PM

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In #30 Occasional Reader said: hat gets Victor and Ilsa on the plane isn't the letters, but rather Rick's  Colt .32. 

Absolutely.  The letters themselves are a MacGuffin. As for the "Weygand/De Gaulle" thing, I listended to it several times and, yeah, he is saying Weygand.  Which makes some more sense given that Weygand was at the time the main Vichy offiicial in North Africa.  

buzzsawmonkey 10/17/2023 4:04:41 PM

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In #33 lucius septimius said: a MacGuffin

I'm imagining the Alfred Hitchcock McDonald's offering an Egg MacGuffin....

Occasional Reader 10/17/2023 4:25:30 PM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 34:

I've said for years that the simply atrocious, McDonald's sponsored E.T. ripoff  Mac and Me, which featured the cute little alien being tempted by McDonald's fries (instead of E.T.'s Reeses Pieces, IIRC) should have instead used something from the breakfast menu; so that cineastes could chat knowledgably about the "MacMuffin" the drives the plot. 

Kosh's Shadow 10/17/2023 7:03:06 PM

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