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Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

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There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Happy Diwali!

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Happy Diwali!

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The annual Hindu festival of lights is set on a lunar schedule, so it only occasionally coincides with Halloween. But I would assume that more lights, sweets, and fireworks are always welcome at this time of year…

Millions of Indians began celebrating the annual Hindu festival of lights, Diwali, by symbolically lighting a record 2.51 million clay oil lamps at dusk on Wednesday on the banks of the river Saryu in a northern Indian city they believe to be the birthplace of the deity Lord Ram.

Diwali is the most important festival of the year in India, particularly for the Hindu majority. It is celebrated by socializing and exchanging gifts with loved ones. Many light candles and oil lamps made from clay. Fireworks are set off. In the evening, a special prayer is dedicated to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, who is believed to bring luck and prosperity.

A Guinness World Records team presented a certificate to Uttar Pradesh state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath acknowledging the unprecedented number of oil lamps, exceeding last year’s 2.2 million. Drone cameras closely monitored the event…

“More than 30,000 volunteers, primarily college students, worked meticulously to maintain the systematic pattern of burning lamps for the prescribed time,” said Dr. Pratibha Goyal, vice chancellor of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University, who coordinated the massive effort.

The lamps lit along 55 riverfront steps of the river Saryu created a captivating display along 1.5 kilometers (one mile). As the lamps remained lit for over five minutes, government spokesperson Shishir Singh said Ayodhya achieved its seventh consecutive world record for the largest display…

The event transformed Ayodhya into a city of lights amid devotional bhajan singing. A laser show depicting scenes from the epic Ramayana added to the experience, and an eco-friendly fireworks show lit the skyline. Traditional decorations, including elaborate arches and grand gateways along the main highways, captured the festive atmosphere as folk cultural performances drew pilgrims to the streets.

The festival also featured a praying ceremony performed by 1,100 priests along riverbanks…

Diwali’s main celebrations are held across the country on Thursday.


Reader Interactions

161Comments

  2. 2.

    satby

    Happy Diwali! I lit a candle, not an oil lamp, to mark the day.

    And tonight and tomorrow ¡Feliz Día de los Muertos!

  6. 6.

    Another Scott

    Happy Diwali!

    Here’s hoping that LEDs and similar things replace burning and blowing up stuff soon…

    ☹️

    DW.com

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  13. 13.

    Hildebrand

    Happy Diwali!

    Its also Reformation Day – the day Martin Luther is said to have nailed the 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg (this is purely apocryphal, of course – but he did send it to all the religious and secular authorities, he knew how to stir the pot).

  15. 15.

    Layer8Problem

    In these parts we celebrate Diwali in the traditional local manner, by suspending alternate side street parking.  Just like all the other holidays.

  18. 18.

    Jeffg166

    I wonder when this will become a thing in the USA. We tend to adopt holidays from other cultures. This can be added to the binge drinking events.

  20. 20.

    Layer8Problem

    @Hildebrand:  ” . . . the day Martin Luther is said to have nailed the 95 Theses to the Castle Church door . . . ”

    I certainly hope he was dressed appropriately for Halloween, say as Wednesday Addams or Shrek or their period equivalents.

  26. 26.

    Eural Joiner

    I know I’ve preached this before, but an excellent podcast is “The Rest is History” which now has a full series running on “1968” and it is absolutely amazing. Each episode takes on a different person/moment from the year in extreme detail. LBJ and the decision not to run/MLK’s assassination/RFK’s assassintation and I’m currently on George Wallace. Really, really good.

    Also, George Wallace was a horrible, horrible, human being and Trump is literally just a copy/paste for 2024.

  28. 28.

    Layer8Problem

    @NotMax:  “Jeez, Luther, 95 theses?  Obsess much?  Look, cut them down to, say, ‘My Top 10 Theses’ and we’ll talk.  And throw in ‘Number 8 will shock you!’, those really attract the kids.”

  33. 33.

    M31

    @Baud: lol there was an old Nat. Lampoon or maybe MAD magazine cartoon, full page, full color, of “Martin Luther nails the 95 feces to the church door”

    somehow I’ve never forgotten it, though I wish I could have

  34. 34.

    lowtechcyclist

    White House also celebrated Diwali 🪔 as Democrats woo Indian Americans with a week left before US elections

    Whether we’re wooing Indian-Americans or not, our message is: if you took the trouble to move here from some other part of the world, you fucking belong. Period. End of story.

    Apparently we have a little disagreement with the other party about this. But we’re right, and they’re wrong. Again, end of story. But that’s one big reason why we’ve got to keep on beating these guys.

    Neil Diamond, “Coming to America”

  37. 37.

    AWOL

    @Baud: Yes, because what this irrational, superstitionist, Calvinistic LooneyTunes shooting bin of a splintered nation needs is more religion and superstitionism to help clarify collective emptiness with emptiness.

  40. 40.

    clay

    Guys, I’ve been thinking about it, but I’m afraid my conclusion is unavoidable.  Biden’s “garbage” remarks are beyond troublesome.  I will not be casting my vote for Joe Biden in this election.

  44. 44.

    Betty Cracker

    At the vet office with Badger. Poor fellow is still sick, and they’re running some tests to try to figure out what ails him. 😔

  45. 45.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Eural Joiner:

    I know I’ve preached this before, but an excellent podcast is “The Rest is History” which now has a full series running on “1968” and it is absolutely amazing.

    I just discovered those guys. I’ve been listening on my daily rehab walks, mostly the English history episodes.

    1968 is a perhaps under discussed pivotal year in the history of our great nation. Years ago, Harry Reasoner did a TV documentary on it. I think it needs a multi episode revisit, but not from Ken Burns.

  47. 47.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: Also, Diwali is not just a one day celebration it is 4 day affair in my part of the world

    And this blog post is echoing BJP version of Diwali. There is a great diversity in how Diwali is celebrated across India. And its not just a Hindu festival because Sikhs and Jains celebrate it as well

  50. 50.

    billcoop4

    @Hildebrand: Its also Reformation Day – the day Martin Luther is said to have nailed the 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg (this is purely apocryphal, of course – but he did send it to all the religious and secular authorities, he knew how to stir the pot).

    Luther would have made a great shitposter.

     

    BC

  51. 51.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Baud:

    The tweet makes it sound like it’s something Biden did just for the election.

    Political media are required to put a negative spin on every story about a Democrat. Or maybe it just seems that way.

     

  54. 54.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Eural Joiner:

    I know I’ve preached this before, but an excellent podcast is “The Rest is History” which now has a full series running on “1968” and it is absolutely amazing.

    Thanks for the tip, it’s a great podcast.

    Since the great disruptor, yet another in a long line of war accelerants, Martin Luther, was referenced above, The Rest is History did a series on him too that was…not going to, not, okay, enlightening.

  56. 56.

    Layer8Problem

    @Baud:  Ahh, the jitters.  My partner here is worrying over whatever valueless tripe the Times said today.  I remain quietly but firmly optimistic, hopeful, etc., etc., which I think somehow irritates the Partner.

  57. 57.

    Shakti

     

    Happy Deepavali!  This is the only time in my lifetime the main day of Deepavali has been on Halloween.  My cousin in Edison’s kid is probably thrilled because she has a school holiday.

    The next time Deepavali  occur on Halloween is  2062 & 2081. In the 20th century Deepavali fell on Halloween in 1929, 1948, 1959 & 1978.

     

    Deepavali has been on Mischief/Devil’s Night/October 30th in 1902, 1910, 1940, 1951, 1997 and 2016. Nobody has ever TP’ed or egged our house on Deepavali.

    Deepavali has been on All Saints (November 1) in 1910, 1986,  2005 and also 1967.

  58. 58.

    lowtechcyclist

    @TBone:

    Meme: Gadsden flag but with a full garbage bag.

    “Take Me Out On Tuesday.”

    If the top of TFG’s head is sticking out the top of the garbage bag, that would make it perfect.

  59. 59.

    Kosh III

    Thanks for the reminder, I just messaged two good friends who are Indian. One here, one in Bangalore.

  60. 60.

    Baud

    @Layer8Problem:

    Win or lose, I hope the growing recognition of the damage that the mainstream media does to our interests continues. It’s gotten so the legitimate desire to avoid living in a bubble has left too many people open to psychological warfare.

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker: oh, no!  Come on, Badger, tell them what’s wrong.

    I wonder if it could be the stress of the new temporary place.  Not just the place, but totally new routines. Everything is surely different.  Fingers crossed.

  63. 63.

    narya

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I get a calendar from Rancho Gordo every year,  with the work of a Mexican artist, I think. NEARLY EVERY DAY is a saint’s day (I want to say “every day” but I can’t verify that). Even I, indolent and slothful as I am, couldn’t manage that much rest.

  70. 70.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud: ​

    The tweet is also wrong because there is a Diwali event every year. The tweet makes it sound like it’s something Biden did just for the election.

    I pretty much assumed that. The MSM just has to make it sound like any good thing a Democrat does has some ulterior motive, like pandering to a particular group. That’s just what they reflexively do.

    Meanwhile, they’ll dress up bad shit that the other side does, like harassing people on their way into an abortion clinic, as being all about principles and deeply-held beliefs.

  71. 71.

    Soprano2

    @narya: I’ve read that most villages in Europe had saints days, and that if they have a yearly festival it’s usually on what used to be their saint day.

  75. 75.

    Layer8Problem

    @Baud:  I actually got into a mild argument yesterday about Our Valued News Media, or at least its Vichy wing, with me saying “Damned right everyone should unsubscribe from the Post”, and my partner responding “But Dana Milbank says we’ll destroy journalism if everyone did that!”  Nope, sorry, love you but disagree.  Milbank will just have to find better owners to sign his paycheck and to be more careful about who buys his newsroom next time..

  78. 78.

    Baud

    @Layer8Problem:

    Liberals keep saying they want the government not to be beholden to corporations, but libs can’t stand up to them when it comes to their own spending choices? It makes no sense.

  80. 80.

    Soprano2

    We had around 1.3″ of rain last night. Our power was out for about three hours – I woke up and immediately knew something was wrong because it was way too dark. Even with that rain, we haven’t had 2″ of rain in October! It is extremely dry here. There is rain in the forecast for the next week, so that’s good news.

  81. 81.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Shakti:This obvioiusly isn’t aimed at you, I’m just availing myself of this opportunity:

    Mischief/Devil’s Night/October 30th

    Wait, that’s what Halloween is!  That’s the whole point of celebrating ghosties and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night on All Hallow’s Eve, (Halloween’s original/full name!) the night before All Hallow’s (All Saints’) Day.

    Having a Devil’s Night on All Hallow’s Eve Eve is frickin’ redundant.​​

  84. 84.

    catclub

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I once read that in the middle ages, people got days of rest for saints days, and there were a lot of saints days. We should go back to that

    ummm, they were working 6+ day weeks back then.

    Weekend not yet invented.

  86. 86.

    lowtechcyclist

    @TBone: ​
     

    yes! I wish I were proficient in Photoshop but I am merely proficient in appropriating and sharing memes like a good commie pinko.

    You’re a terrific commie pinko, and we love you for it.

  91. 91.

    Layer8Problem

    Put another way, Milbank can’t control his owner.  He can be the bestest opiner who ever opinioned but when his owner trashes the shop’s credibility it just makes those of us out here in the world wonder how much independence Milbank, his colleagues, and his editors have to speak freely and without external influence, whether mildly and lovingly offered or actively spiked and memory-holed.  Can we trust them to inform us, or just expect them to try to direct us?

  94. 94.

    NotMax

    @catclub

    Gotta give credit to George Westinghouse for what eventually became the weekend.

    “Half day on Saturday, George? Really? Madness.”

  97. 97.

    billcoop4

    @TBone: oh noes, Mischief Night is an absolute institution in DelCo.  My childhood would’ve been diminished without it.

    Suburban NJ also.  Although my folks didn’t allow me to join in the TP tossing and doorbell-ringing-and-running until 9th grade I think.

     

    BC

  98. 98.

    TBone

    @billcoop4: flaming dog poo in a brown paper lunch bag on the front porch was very popular 🤭 ringing the bell and hiding to see someone come out and stomp it.  Also many eggs were thrown, maybe this is where the term “problem child” comes from.

    I remember pulling switches off of willow trees and sharpening one end. Load a rotten crabapple, swing around like a lasso, and let fly.  I dunno which of us thought that one up.  It wasn’t me!

    Is this an East coast only phenom?

  102. 102.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Salty Sam:

    What, are you tired of Peter Coyote’s narration?

    No, it’s the music. No more fiddle and banjo, no more honky tonk piano.

  104. 104.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @TBone:

    I remember pulling switches off of willow trees and sharpening one end. Load a rotten crabapple, swing around like a lasso, and let fly

    I preferred a shorter switch and not quite ripe crabapple for accuracy.

  105. 105.

    Velocifowl

    @TBone:

    Flaming pumpkins rolling down hills, bottle rocket wars, and more.  But I grew up on the East coast as well in MD.  The adults were all fine with it as long as no windows were broken or mailboxes blew up.   Which they did and then there was trouble.

  106. 106.

    Princess

    *Puts on resident blog medievalist hat (it has bells on it)*

    There were no weekends yet — that’s an invention of capitalism (or, better, of resistance to inevitable capitalism). There was also not a high level of wage labour — also an invention of capitalism. Peasants owed services but they were not constrained to a workweek or a fixed day. Sunday was a day of rest and there were many holy days and feast days which were also days of rest. BUT if you were doing agricultural labour, your animals certainly didn’t take a rest. As anyone knows who gets woken by their pet to feed them early on Saturday morning. They had periods of lots of work and periods of much less work. Nothing like our lives.

  107. 107.

    Ironcity

    @Baud: Sounds like we are a little behind here until you think that is only for England.  Wales and Scotland already had them.

  108. 108.

    snoey

    @Velocifowl: According to my centenarian mom that used to be Halloween. No trick or treat, just her brother going out the bedroom window and over the porch roof to go raise hell.

  111. 111.

    Kay

    @Layer8Problem:

    I worry about it a lot. Liberals cannot get their news exclusively from Talking Points Memo – and I happily pay for Talking Points Memo.

    We’re not immune to an echo chamber and it’s arrogant to believe we are – we need hard news from a range of sources.

    But it’s bigger than the owners. That industry has discredited itself and the people inside it refuse to really look at it and change anything. They need to change, adapt, or die.

    I feel the same way about the institutional justice system, by the way, so my own profession. Legal institutions have failed under the Trump challenge and I’ll happily accept criticism on that. I suggest reporters do the same. It is time for them to admit they have stubbornly and stupidly insisted that their approaches remain the same and in doing that they have failed their readers.

    Stop protecting the institution and start protecting THE WORK.

  112. 112.

    Geminid

    @Princess: I’m curious: as a medievalist, how would you appraise the accuracy of Ken Follet’s depiction of English medieval life in his novels Pillars of the Earth and World Without End?

  114. 114.

    JiveTurkin

    I am a glass half empty guy.  I was a financial analyst before I retired (the type who did financial analysis for a corporation, not a stock guy), and being very cautious is a plus.  Even as a pessimist, I’d feel very good about this election if it weren’t for Pennsylvania.  I don’t get good vibes from PA.  My stepdaughter lives in PA and says the jokes about Pennsyltucky are true.  I think NC and GA may be better bets for Harris to carry.  I do think late deciders will break for Harris.  And women, especially black women, might be the saviors.  I almost feel ashamed to be an older white male, but I tell myself that being Jewish most of the Trump people don’t consider me white.

  116. 116.

    Trollhattan

    In the laboratory of democracy that is North Carolina it is weirdly warm but maybe that’s normal. Holy fucking hell y’all battleground state dwellers, the campaign ads dial is set to 11. My deepest sympathies on enduring this much Trump.

    More locally, Robinson features prominently in Dem ads. Hard to guess why.

    Got here late and the nighttime dining options…fuggiddaboudit.

  117. 117.

    Kay

    @Layer8Problem:

    Journalists remind me of lawyers who bemoan that the Supreme Court is no longer respected or considered legitimate by the public. Glory Days.

    Legitimacy and credibility is not a right. It’s earned. Like media, the legal system pissed it away like it was guaranteed forever. It’s not.

    So I’m glad that all those people cancelled their WaPo subscriptions. If the media industry doesn’t respond to this 4 alarm fire that’s on all of them.

    But God I hope Twitter doesn’t become our only news source. Good God. Worst possible result.

  118. 118.

    ArchTeryx

    And of course, one of the primary symbols of Diwali is the Hindu swastika, as in the OG one, before it was appropriated (like so many other harmless symbols) by the Nazis. And now that they’re letting their freak flags fly again – literally – the Diwali organizers in the U.S. anfd Europe have had to alter the design a bit and put out a bunch of notices that the Hindu and Nazi swastikas are not the same – in fact, they couldn’t be more opposite in meaning.

    ( And visually, they really are opposite. The arms of the Hindu swastika are turned the opposite direction of the hate symbol, with small serifs at the tips. )

    AFAIAC, we need a whole lot more Diwali swastikas and a whole lot fewer hate symbols.

  120. 120.

    Kay

    Media to me also fails as a market because it’s not legitimately competitive. There should be al least one major outlet who resist dumb, transparently bad faith “stories” like Joe Biden’s garbage gaffe. But there never is. They operate more like a cartel. They need to strip the whole thing down to the studs and rebuild. It didn’t hold up.

  121. 121.

    Nelle

    @Kay: The rot is in the journalism schools.  When my daughter was getting her MA in journalism at a highly ranked school, she was asked, by a prof who had been a practicing journalist, to go get someone to say something needed for the narrative.  I was shocked.  (My daughter is out of journalism for now, maybe for good.  She was good at developing sources (BBC and Pro Publica came to her), but not at marketing and branding herself).  Gotta hustle for the $$, not the story.

  126. 126.

    TBone

    On my way to Walmart in all black with my pinko & black Childless Cat Ladies for Kamala t-shirt, ears & whiskers.  I’ll let you know if hubby and I need Pennsyltucky bail money after this is over 😆🩷🖤

    Two shirts, bottom shirt black long sleeves in case of handcuffs.

  127. 127.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Melancholy Jaques: I was 10, turning 11 in November. Not very politically aware, but even so the events of that year penetrated and made me feel like the world was ending.

    I had a lot of weird feelings when I heard the Dem convention was going to be in Chicago. It’s not 1968, I kept telling myself.

    I think the unadulterated joy of the 2024 convention pretty much banished those ghosts.

  129. 129.

    Betty Cracker

    @JiveTurkin:

    I almost feel ashamed to be an older white male…

    Glad to hear that’s an “almost” rather than a fully realized impulse. There’s no need for demographic-based shame since you’re not a Trump-voting asshole.

    I think assigning collective guilt based on race and/or gender sucks no matter who is making the unfounded assumptions. I hope we can all get past that bullshit. The world would be a better place if we did.

  131. 131.

    Princess

    @Geminid: Some would no doubt disagree with me, but I think that Follett did a pretty good job, all things considered. I liked the first more than I liked the second — possibly because I knew more when I read the second. But I think reading them will give you some kind of a feel for the rhythms of life and the different pressures people faced.

  133. 133.

    Hildebrand

    @Princess: No longer a university professor, but I was also a medievalist by specialty (11th century reform movements were my research field) – though I taught everything from the beginning of civilization to the French Revolution .  Always nice to ‘meet’ other medievalists in the wild.

  135. 135.

    Princess

    @Geminid: My favourite Stonehenge novel is Cecelia Holland’s Pillar of the Sky. I’ll have to check out the Follett one. If you like Follett, you would probably like Holland. Her Great Maria is an excellent picture of medieval life, and I love her Until the Sun Falls, about the Mongol empire.

  136. 136.

    Geminid

    @TBone: Last year I reread Theodore White’s The Making of a President: 1968. I learned a lot about that campaign I did not know before

  137. 137.

    Velocifowl

    @cain:

    To anyone that’s worked in retail or at a restaurant the real war on Christmas is Mariah Carey.  I was a server/bartender at a steak house and I still have PTSD when I hear that.

  139. 139.

    mappy!

    It’s a product. You can pick it up, turn it around, look it over and if you decide you don’t want to buy, you put it back. You walk away. You walk away. You walk away.

  140. 140.

    Barbara

    @Nelle: This practice so obviously pervades political coverage that nearly all political stories are just opinion masquerading as fact.  I stopped reading political coverage a long time ago — calling it “narrative” is just a completely self-deluded term for opinion.  Whatever it is, it isn’t the truth about facts.  What drives them crazy, of course, is that they can’t really know.  Some journalists are worse than others — the worst are those that give quotes from people who 30 seconds of research allows you to identify as the chairperson of some local Republican committee.  Those people aren’t even trying to put a veneer of facts on their spin.

  142. 142.

    Geminid

    @Princess: Thanks for the tip. I would like to know more about the Mongol Empire. I’m trying to find out more about the Turkic peoples, and they seem to have partnered with their fellow nomadic warriors, the Mongols.

    I’ve read that there has been a revival of interest among Turks in Tengrism, the ancient Turkic religion that is still practiced by a few hundred people in Mongolia. Similarly, there has been new interest in Zorastrianism among Iranians. This is due in part to increasing resentment towards Islam on the part of some Turks and Iranians.

  143. 143.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: This is one reason why I still listen to Morning Edition. Sometimes the things they say drive me crazy, but I believe it’s the best source for news. We need to know what other people are thinking and saying, and understand that others have different viewpoints that may seem crazy to us.

  145. 145.

    Quiltingfool

    @Soprano2: I was so happy it rained here last night, too!  (Lake of the Ozarks). No rain all month, my yard is crispy brown.

    I’m a weather geek, I listen to my weather radio whenever I do stuff in the kitchen and read in depth forecasts on NWS website.  Lately I haven’t bothered because the forecast was the same – warm and dry.

    I’m looking forward to rain possibilities next week.  When I see “east winds” mentioned, I am more encouraged we will get rain!

  149. 149.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Actuslly, some Turks and Iranians do not resent Islam so much as the political Islamists who in Turkiye’s case run the current government.

    In Iran’s case, Islamists dominate the entire political sphere. Their enemies accuse the mullahs of imposing on Iranians a religious ideology that came out of the Arabian Penisula, not the Persian heartland where Zoroastrianism came from.

  150. 150.

    gvg

    @Princess: Weird as a Floridian reading that. I am a native. My view of our elections is more about fixing things in the state and making things here better. I don’t even see what he does. I am sure he is right but focused on different things. I barely notice that so many people aren’t from here. It’s always been that way. We still have to fund the schools and roads. And there are a lot of other people who have been here for generations. Come to think of it, those are often the ones you get referred to when you have a question or problem.

  153. 153.

    KrackenJack

    @Shakti: ​
     This blog remains an endless fount of information. If I went to bars and made bets, I’d be tipsy. Occasionally.

    Thank you Shakti!

  157. 157.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kosh III: ​
     

    Don’t you mean dirty long-haired commie pinko hippie?

    Nah, having never met TBone, I can only speculate about her cleanliness and the length of her hair. Besides, ‘long-haired’ was only a pejorative with respect to men, and TBone identifies as female in this space.

    And sorry, but ‘hippie’ is so late 1960s. ;-D

  158. 158.

    sab

    @Hildebrand: I just reread Dorothy Dunnet’s ” The King Hereafter” about Thorfinn the Mighty ( Jarl of Orkney and Shetland and the Western Hebrides) who she thinks was also MacBeth. He was deeply concerned about 11th century Church Reform, but trying to meld three Christian Church traditions (Celtic, Chaldean, Roman Catholic) in one small frequently invaded country. Historical fiction, so fiction, but still imteresting.

    I always thought of Scotland as isolated at the top of the World, but not so much. Short boat trip to Scandanavia and Germany, and Ireland and Iceland, and not to far from Russia. And of course the English (Angles and Saxons) , and Normans who used to be Norse.) The North was a busy place.

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