Nelson Lowhim's Blog, page 21

If You're a Forced Birther

You're against women's rights. Pure and simple. This piece in the Times at least looks at a handful of the reasons why it's a bad idea and against women in general. Indeed, I'd go so far as to say that this is a form of control. Over women's bodies, and how they are and will be prosecuted for miscarriages as well as still born children. Of course only certain people they deem as other will be the focus of these witch hunts. And if you're a forced birther (why are you here?) gfym. 
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Aliens!

Here there everywhere. Except not. online a NASA manual on detecting such things which seems worth a read (I have not). but the article seems to point to how we cut our funding for such things (while there's always cash for useless wars)
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I know how you like the art, Johnny boy.

Great, it's out, that piece of art with Twyckenham Notes. It's a real world piece, so I'll have a print but contact me if you want info on buying the thing. Here are the print, wood, & canvas. Be safe out there!
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WC isn't right now.

Cause FIFA loves them some bribes (from everyone, but also from Qatar). So it goes. But whatever. So who do you think will win it? Current odds favor Brazil, but someone on reddit shared with me ELO ratings of previous world cups and it would seem that Brazil is almost always rated 1 or 2 and never ends up winning or getting into the final (98 they were #1 but lost). Funnily enough, they won in 2002 when they were ranked 11. I've added 2022 below:
1.Brazil21662.Argentina21393.Spain20524.France20275.Belgium2020

Here's the final top ten (among qualified countries) pre-tournament for every World Cup since the expansion to 32 teams in 1998, as well as the pre-tournament ranking of any country outside the top ten that made a run to the semifinals or further:

2018

RankCountryPre-Tournament RatingResult1Brazil2141Quarterfinal2Germany2076Group Stage3Spain2044Round of 164France1986Champions5Argentina1985Round of 166Portugal1969Round of 167England1948Fourth8Belgium1938Third9Colombia1927Round of 1610Peru1916Group Stage--------14Croatia1853Runners-Up

2014

RankCountryPre-Tournament RatingResult1Brazil2137Fourth2Spain2109Group Stage3Germany2076Champions4Argentina2018Runners-Up5Netherlands1986Third6Portugal1943Group Stage7England1931Group Stage8Colombia1922Quarterfinals9Chile1920Round of 1610Uruguay1919Round of 16

2010

RankCountryPre-Tournament RatingResult1Spain2112Champions2Brazil2109Quarterfinals3Netherlands2044Runners-Up4England2001Round of 165Germany1958Third6Italy1937Group Stage7Argentina1920Quarterfinals8Mexico1898Round of 169Chile1886Round of 1610Portugal1876Round of 16--------12Uruguay1844Fourth

2006

RankCountryPre-Tournament RatingResult1Brazil2034Quarterfinals2Netherlands1977Round of 163Czech Republic1974Group Stage4England1972Quarterfinals5France1972Runners-Up6Spain1965Round of 167Italy1943Champions8Argentina1922Quarterfinals9Portugal1915Fourth10Germany1897Third

2002

RankCountryPre-Tournament RatingResult1France2095Group Stage2Argentina2017Group Stage3Italy2008Round of 164Portugal1981Group Stage5Spain1963Quarterfinals6England1924Quarterfinals7Denmark1884Round of 168Croatia1881Group Stage9Ireland1873Round of 1610Germany1870Runners-Up--------11Brazil1866Champions21Turkey1756Third24South Korea1734Fourth

Yeah, that one was a bit crazy to go through. No idea how those rankings happened. Ireland and Denmark above Brazil???

1998

RankCountryPre-Tournament RatingResult1Brazil2090Runners-Up2Germany2040Quarterfinals3Spain2030Group Stage4France2003Champions5England1972Round of 166Italy1970Quarterfinals7Yugoslavia1970Round of 168Netherlands1961Fourth9Norway1902Round of 1610Argentina1889Quarterfinals--------13Croatia1874Thirdcontextfull comments (114)reportblock usermark unreadreply
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Welp, There's that chance at Redemption

Nice thread with some truths that many of us were screaming at the top of our lungs for the better part of a decade. Cheap money, could have solved so many of our problems, instead we gave most of it to the superrich and now look how cocky they are. Oh, and thanks GOP for messing that up for all of us, acting like the deficit was something you cared about. 

Well, part of the horrendous system we have and crap thinking by our elders in charge. So it goes. 
To that end, a good interview here by Chris Hedges with Vijay Prashad. Or until Youtube deems this too far out their Overton window and ban it. 


And there's this too:




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Another brilliant short story.

Yeah, this one is really brilliant. "Li Fan" by Alexandra Chang
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Did I share the red ogre piece?

Here it is. Here's the print. Just making sure I get the work done, so I'll be gone for now
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Uh...

Probably worse than our choice to fund Afghanistan (80s), IMO. So we don't know where our weapons are going? (in an age of air tags... wtf?). And given the far right elements that do exist in Ukraine, so in addition to the mob (or where there's overlap there), that will result in one hell of a blowback IMO. This interview has some good points (others don't seem to be backed by great links). But remember how I've been saying this is tripe proxy war shit, and besides weapons getting in the wrong hands, we have the hypocrisy of Ukraine being indebted tot he West and the west not forgiving that debt. 

"Moreover, Ukraine is accumulating huge debts to international financial institutions (such as the IMF and the World Bank). The paradox is that, because of Western rhetoric about a country that is doing well and on the verge of defeating Russia, these institutions are reluctant to cancel its debt."

Yanis has pointed this out too. Real shocker. Also on arm deliveries:

TK: How did Russia react to these arms deliveries?

JB: It should be noted that before the Western arms deliveries, the Russians did not attack the railroad network. If the goal is to totally destroy Ukraine, then you have to do exactly what the West is doing now. If that is what we want. Whether it is what the West wants or not, I don’t know. But if this is the goal, this is the way to go.

Also, it is said that Russia currently has the largest inventory of Javelin missiles in the world. I don’t know if that is true, but it suggests that a large part of the weapons supplied by the West are not getting to Ukrainian fighters.

Worrying stuff. Though this part, I need to find out if it's true or not:

"

 In addition to that, promises were made to Ukraine that it would become a member of NATO if it instigated a war that led to Russia’s defeat, as Oleksiy Arestovych explained in an interview with a Ukrainian television station in March 2019. In fact, Ukrainians were lied to, as Zelensky noted on CNN on March 21, 2022."

 

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Good Short Story

Right here. by K-Ming Chang
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Huh, Now This is Interesting

Now this is an interesting story someone just mentioned. Zarqa al-Yamama’s legend:

According to the ancient tale, Zarqa's tribe relied on her powers in detecting enemies and defending their land; as she was believed to have the ability to see riders from the distance of one week. In hopes to evade Zarqa's gaze, enemies of her tribe decided to hide behind trees which they carried. Zarqa noticed what was going on and alerted her tribe that the trees were moving towards them and that they hid soldiers behind them. To her dismay, members of her tribe thought she was going mad and choose to ignore her warning. The troops of Hassan al-Himyari eventually reached her tribe and killed every man in the camp, then they tore out Zarqa's eyes and crucified her

Some interesting things in there, to include hiding behind trees (Ala Macbeth, though this story came first) and the Cassandra-esque belief that the person spitting truths is mad. 
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