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harrisonarchive · 9 months

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Recording “Don’t Bother Me” at Abbey Road Studios on September 12, 1963; photos by Norman Parkinson.

“The first song he wrote was ‘Don’t Bother Me,’ ‘and that pretty much summed up my state of mind at the time,’ he admits. ‘John and Paul were really getting into writing songs. I took a look at them and thought, “Well, I’ll get in on this game. I’m gonna try hat.” But having them as the other writers in the group, it was very difficult,’ he notes with considerable understatement. ‘So I tended to just write on my own for years and years, because I didn’t know how to communicate like that with somebody else. And it was very difficult to write songs that would be good enough for the albums.’ As a consequence, Harrison’s relatively small output with the Beatles — about 20 songs — are mostly gems. In any other ‘60s groups, a guy who wrote ‘If I needed Someone,’ Taxman,’ ‘You Like Me Too Much,’ ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps,’ ‘Here Comes the Sun,’ ‘Something,' 'Within You Without You’ would have been hailed as a pop savant; within the Beatles Harrison might as well have been playing Graham Greene’s The Third Man. And as the Lennon-McCartney copyright was more or less sacrosanct, Harrison’s contributions to their songs were never credited. ‘I had my one or two songs occasionally, but really I was more involved than that,’ he says. ‘I know now, writing with friends, that when you’re all sitting around and a song comes out, you have to think carefully about assigning how many percent each person gets. ‘Cause there’s nothing worse than being involved in a situation where you think, “Wasn’t I there?” ‘A lot of Lennon-McCartney songs had other people involved, whether it’s lyrics or structures or circumstances. A good example is “I Feel Fine.” I’ll tell you exactly how that came about: We were crossing Scotland in the back of an Austin Princess, singing “Matchbox” in three-part harmony. And it turned into “I Feel Fine.” The guitar part was from Bobby Parker’s “Watch Your Step,” just a bastardized version. I was there for the whole of its creation — but it’s still a Lennon-McCartney.’ ‘Tell me about it!’ Paul McCartney smiles when told of George’s comment. ‘I wrote “Yesterday” singlehanded and not only do I share it — now with Yoko — but the Lennon names comes before mine.’ Paul concedes the point about ‘I Feel Fine’ but suggests that ‘if you were together picky about all that stuff there’s a million woes and a million reasons to sing the blues. In actual fact we just decided to split it down the middle. Me and John were the writers, unless George came up with something. Anybody who threw half a line in, it just really didn’t count.’” - Musician, March 1990 (x)

#George Harrison #Paul McCartney #John Lennon #Ringo Starr #quote #quotes about George #quotes by George #George and Paul #1960s #1963 #Harrison songwriting #harrisongs #Don't Bother Me #with the beatles #Lennon McCartney #long read #Harrison contributions #fits queue like a glove

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baberoe-archive · 2 months

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hiiiii everyone im going to make you look at art <3 okay <3

first up we got two photos from august sander's people of the twentieth century, a decades long project he never finished aimed at identifying and organizing the "types" of people in early twentieth century germany. in photos for this project he usually identified people along socio-economic and geographic lines. on the left we have officer, world war i, cologne (1914) and on the right we have boxers, cologne (1928). museum had a bunch of sander on display and they paired it with the shortcut to the systematic life: superficial life (2002) by tsui kuang-yu, which is outside the scope of this post but super interesting so i encourage everyone to look it up lol

up next: the junkers officer (1934) by george grosz, another artist associated with neue sachlichkeit/new objectivity. im not well versed in german art but recently i have been so intrigued by leftist art of the weimar republic and it felt simply serendipitous. unfortunately by the time i saw this the museum was closing in 15 minutes so i had to rush out </3 SAD

this is air war (1944) by ralston crawford. first time i heard of this artist! during wwii he served as chief of the visual presentation unit of the weather division of the army air corps in washington dc and southeast asia.

negro soldier (1945) by robert smullyan sloan. sloan was drafted in 43 and illustrated army educational materials and posters for war bonds. the wall label says the title was given by the artist, which makes me think sloan didn't personally know this guy, which makes me very curious about the circumstances of its production. no name is given to the sitter, but he served in the european-african-middle eastern campaign in the army and was awarded a good conduct medal. sloan has a drawing at the met (station hospital [1943-44] ), but unfortunately i can't find much else about him online that might help contextualize this painting.

i think it pairs really well with this horace pippin from 1943 called mr. prejudice. pippin served in wwi with the harlem hellfighters, and the soldier at center might be a self portrait. he has a pretty good amount of paintings about the war actually -- i normally associate him with landscapes for some reason, though i think thats just because the pippin at my local art museum is a landscape lmao. his illustrated war journals are digitized at the archives of american art if you want to check it out!

up next are some pieces of interest that i want to share but about which i otherwise have little to say

L: untitled (military maneuvers at an abandoned mine) (1940-42) by harry gottlieb

R: italy goes to war (1941) by arthur dove

L: christ before pilate (1949) by david aronson. wall text wants us to note the soldier's helmet is german

R: the funeral (1949) by francisco dosamantes

ending with this delightful 1914 the wrestlers by henri gaudier-brzeska, whom the label quotes as saying, "i went to see the wrestlers -- God! i have seldom seen anything so lovely... they fought with amazing vivacity and spirit, turning in the air, falling back on their heads, and in a flash were up again on the other side, utterly incomprehensible." something about wrestling/boxing that make men gay as fuck. beautiful

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realcatalina · 11 months

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Random saints by Sittow or Catherine of Aragon's parents?

Read further if you wish to know what my theory is.

I first found this photo with mention it is by Sittow and at first I thought it is another portrait of Catherine. But quickly I realised this woman looks older and the features are not exactly the same.

The nose is much narrower. And I started to wonder...we know that Sittow painted at least one portrait of Queen Isabella I of Castile.

And she had such nose. I could exclude possibility some of Catherine's sisters looked like this too, but women in that family tended to be very young-looking for really long.

So the age of sitter already is suggesting that it could be based upon Isabella towards end of her life. And it is also odd for depiction of Virgin Mary to depict woman who is not young...it is point in Isabella's favour.

While many claim Sittow painted Isabella in 1485, he was only born in 1468/1469 and didn't even become indipended master until at least 1488. He is first recorded working in Toledo in 1492. So he'd always be only able to depict Isabella over age of 40. And tbh, if this is her..then she looks great for somebody over 40!

But where is this image? It took me while to track down.

It's detail from wings of theThe Passion Altarpiece (Tallinn), its middle part is from c.1515-1520(with some 17th century additions) by different artist.

But I am not so sure how accurate is the dating of the outer wings by Sittow(1518-1525) which are in very different style, and might have originally belong to different altar middle.

If it is indeed 1518-1525 dating, then imo they are posthumous depictions based upon earlier sketches done from life. Sittow reusing those old sketches, using them as inspiration for his later work.

Link to photos only. Left pannel: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-passion-altarpiece-outer-wing-with-the-virgin-mary-and-apostle-james-the-greater-paintings-of-the-outer-side-of-the-wings-by-michel-sittow-and-his-workshop/BwFnRG1v6gRqmQ

Right pannel: https://arthive.com/artists/75951~Michel_Sittow/works/526786~Saint_Adrian_and_Saint_Anthony

As to where they are located?

-Niguliste Museum(housed in former St. Nicholas' Church), which is part of Art Museum of Estonia(which combines collections from 3 other buildings+ this church). Hence in Tallin, Estonia but be aware there is over 3 km distance in between the church and other buildings.

But if anybody could go there and get us some pictures it'd be great (if it is allowed). Currently Niguliste Museum has exhibition about Sittow:

But back to the pannels. The left one depicts Madonna(Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus) and St. James the Great(apostle and patron saint of Spain:

And please note that Tudor rose is combination of red and white rose and not always it was depicted as inner rose white, outer red. Sometimes they were halfed, with inner rose sometiems also switched.

Of course it could be some foreign coat of arms or later alteration.

Right pannel:

Here the coat of arms looks much newer and is probably altered(and if pomegranate turned out to be beneath it, I'd just die...)

The right pannel is depicting two male saints. On right is St Anthony the Great...was father of monasticism(of monastic life)...thus very important saint in christianity...

and on left St. Adrian of Nicomedia(2nd most popular military saint after St. George), and imo that's probably King Ferdinand II of Aragon:

It's not great likeness(brows not arched enough, looks bit slimmer, alla of nose not as defined), but overall it's enough of resemblence to not be able to exclude the possibility.

But if this is indeed done years after Sittow was in Spain...and he is reusing his old sketches of catholic monarchs to create this new religious scene(perhaps initially intended for them too, but never made into finished work before), then it is also possible that sketch done in pencil has partially rubbed off...and thus the differences in face of this male.

I think that if this was done while in Spain, such big differences are not very likely to occur. Not that pencil could not rub off, but I think Sittow would have noticed and cared about getting absolutely righ(to please his patrons) and thus would have corrected it.

Ehm, this kitty is supposed to be a lion:

But you must be wondering, if Isabella indeed had this most vivid golden hair colour I always go on and on about, why does she have red hair here?

Several options to pick from: Pigments going wrong, Isabella's hair possibly turning to more reddish hues towards end of her life, or simply discoloured pinkish varnish which was very oddly applied...and on baby's skin you can see where somebody applied only one layer and where they went with brush for 2nd time.

If entire pannel has this varnish on, then it'd affect the hair, turning it more red. Why would such varnish not be removed? Sometimes money is tight and museums have multiple paintings to care for and those paintings in fairly good condition have to wait longer.

And sometimes it is not possible to remove discoloured varnish without harming the painting beneath.

Also worth of nothing is that Virgin Mary's dress is typically not teal, but vividly blue, the very best most expensive most vivid blue pigments were very often reserved for depicting the Virgin Mary:

Sometimes due to budget cost cheaper substitues were used, and those tend to fade.

Hence imo the colours originally might have been intended to be more like this(yes, I photoshopped it):

(I didn't change damn thing about male figure, just brightened it. But tbh I played with the woman's dress, skin and hair for while.)

I mean if it looked like this now, fans of catholic monarchs would probably be all over it already.

But people overlook these dark slightly pinkish images located all the way in Estonia, even though it is atributed to Sittow himself!

(I don't mean people in Estonia, I mean people who search for Isabella's lost portrait by Sittow and stubbornly stuck to their favourite which is not even by Sittow!)

I honestly thought that people searching for lost portrait of Isabella by Sittow would have by now checked all his work, to see if perhaps she is there somewhere! Just doesn't look teen or young adult.

So I want you to be aware, if you're on quest of finding Isabella by Sittow's in that portrait with emerald necklace that this is imo the face you're looking for :

Possibly with hair bit more golden and skin more fair:

And it doesn't matter she doesn't look 20! She is still very beautiful.

Hence imo, these are Catherine of Aragon's parents, depicted in disguise of saints:

But I think they were likely painted years after Sittow left Spain, and his old sketches of them have been reused to create these pannels. I hope the experts will one day look more into this possibility.

I hope you've enjoyed this, and tell me what you think. Am I onto something or am I chasing shadows?

#historical portraits #isabella of castile #ferdinand of aragon #Isabella I of Castile #Ferdinand II of Aragon #sittow

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thepastisalreadywritten · 5 months

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The Prince and Princess of Wales have released their annual family Christmas card and a body language expert has spotted the “powerful signal” that they and their three children are all displaying.

The Wales’s appear in a black and white photograph, which is a far cry away from previous years' Christmas card offerings.

The family of five are seemingly all wearing white shirts and dark jeans, looking relaxed and smiling at the camera.

Body language expert Judi James analysed the image and gave her thoughts exclusively to The Sun.

The styling

She said:

“This monochrome photo might not suggest a typical Christmas look but it is a very powerful signal that the Prince and Princess of Wales, and their three children, would like to announce the fact that they are a very cool and a very unbreachable family unit.

The strong sense of tight, loving ‘uniformed’ grouping and the stark monochrome, plus the relaxed and confident body language looks like the emotional equivalent of them having a moat and drawbridge around them.”

Judi continued:

“We’re being shown the strength and total confidence of the pared-down family brand here, without all the trimmings and trappings of their royal status.

We know they look superb in formal wear and royal regalia, but this is the casual and much more relatable version

If anything, it proves they’ve got the charisma with or without the diamonds and medals.

The casual jeans and white shirts look effortlessly cool on all of them. The simple ‘uniform’ signals teamwork and group resilience.

Within the ‘brand’ though, their body language defines them as five individual personalities,” she noted.

“Each one of them wears a different smile and their poses hint at a slow but seismic movement in the power balance, just like any other close and loving family when the children start to grow up.”

Charlotte 'placed and looking like the late Queen'

Judi noted Princess Charlotte’s position within the photo and commented:

“Previous Christmas cards have shown poses that have been built around William.

Here though, it seems to have been built around Charlotte.

Sitting in the middle of the pose while the others stand she looks confident, relaxed and elegant.

If you took the others out of the pose she would still make a congruent photo.”

Judi continued:

“Her gleaming eye-smile and her symmetric mouth smile suggest authentic happiness here, but there is also a subtler and more poignant factor about the way the group have gathered around the daughter on a chair.

Charlotte looks so much like the late Queen. This central status-rich pose and beautiful smile are like echoes of Elizabeth when she was young.

This effect doesn’t look deliberate but it is still a rather moving message from this family Christmas card.”

'Proud' William and 'grinning' Louis

The expert said:

“Prince William’s head-tilt suggests a desire to be liked. His smile and his pose have the look of a proud dad who is happily beginning to be pushed to the back row as his three more independent children take to the front.

He still has a hand on Prince Louis’s shoulder but his youngest son’s grin here suggests he will be needing less and less protection from his dad as time goes on.”

Kate with a 'perfect' smile

Judi looked at the Princess of Wales in the image and noted:

“Kate leans into William’s torso to make this a subtly romantic pose too though.

Her perfect, Duchenne smile looks more confident than William’s. With her husband on one side and son George leaning in on her torso on the other, the sense of unity and loving continuity looks strong.”

George showing his 'own identity'

As for the future heir, Judi said:

“Prince George’s pose makes him look at his most relaxed and grown-up to date.

He is smiling but he’s not following the group norm with a teeth-baring smile.

This is one of the first poses where he has begun to look like very much his own young man with his own identity rather than William’s mini-me.

George’s best smiles have been photographed by his mother and he has tended to look a little uncomfortable in formal poses.

But here, he has one hand slung casually in his pocket and his smile is shown in his eye expression, with a soft, closed-lip mouth smile,” she concluded.

#Prince William #Prince of Wales #Princess of Wales #Catherine Princess of Wales #Catherine Middleton #Kate Middleton #Prince George #Princess Charlotte #Prince Louis #British Royal Family #Christmas card photo #Christmas card #Christmas #family photos #Christmas Card 2023 #Wales Christmas Card 2023 #body language

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rabbit-reveries · 2 years

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C,D,J and M for george weasley please🙏

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

He's no Ron, not nearly as obsessed with it as his younger brother, but let's say it does have its appeal, okay? Watching you open your mouth wide, tongue white with cum, and swallow all of him, makes him want to take a picture to keep it in history.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self-explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

George hates the term "voyeur"; it makes what he does feel so gross. It's just a bit of spying, harmless at best. Okay, he placed an enchanted object in your room to be able to watch you change, so what? Is the world going to end because he got hard seeing you in your underwear? Oh no, call the police, a man is having a little bit of fun peeping on you as you masturbate! Shut up.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

George isn't one to masturbate regularly, not anymore, at least, doing it twice a week at most. You see, used as he is to sharing a room and not having proper time to himself, he ended up picking up on how to control his libido. The consequences of not knowing how to keep it locked in still haunt him - the time he miscalculated how long his dormmates would be out, and all of them, his twin included, caught him rubbing one off to a picture of one very distracted Y/N, still fresh in his mind, mostly because the boys still give him shit for it. Now, he usually does it in the middle of the night, after waking up from a wet dream, or early in the day to take care of morning wood, and always in the bathroom with the door properly locked and charmed.

George isn't one to rely on porn as much as some others (again, he's no Ron), mostly making use of his own lewd imaginations or pictures of you taken in secret - of course, you can send him some photos of your own accord, but knowing he's not supposed to have those are what really do it for him.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Listen, it might sound a bit odd, you might even want to call him a voyeur again, but it's not like that! He just likes to watch you, that's it. The way you walk on your way to class, the way your lips quirk when you smile (makes him want to do all sorts of things to your mouth), the way your breath gets caught in your throat when he startles you… Don't even get him started on watching you exercise. The way your hair gets stuck on your nape and forehead with sweat, and your body bounces with movement, oh, it gets his blood boiling. How many times has he paid Colin to take some pictures of you in the quidditch fields for him…? Not an embarrassing amount, not at all.

#george weasley #im a firm believer of george!voyeur #george weasley x reader #harry potter #harry potter smut #hp smut #hp #george weasley smut #george weasley smut alphabet #bunnie writes

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1shadowhole · 11 months

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Pictures of Colin Morgan in Dead Shot that remind me of Merlin from Following the Beast

Ever since the trailer came out I felt like Colin in this film looks exactly like I imagined Merlin to be in Footloose's Following the Beast, so here's a list of screenshots to prove my point. Long post ahead get ready everyone.

These just give the general vibe:

But also: Alcohol in a cluttered flat:

The very first scene - nay! SENTENCE! Merlin getting strangled after being knocked off his feet (by a tentacle, not a shoe, still counts):

Then later on, when he's about to pass out in the middle of a cross-walk (Lovely spot, btw):

Going to the pub with Mordred following him:

Merlin getting into the cab to take Arthur home:

And, of course, the ✨✨flick✨✨

"What flick?" you may ask, "What are you talking about!? WHY ARE YOU IN MY HOUS-" Those are all good questions. THIS flick, of course:

"A flick of the collar stopped the drizzling rain from dripping down the back of his neck"

(If i knew how to make gifs I'd show you that this is in fact, a flick, but you'll have to trust me on this one: he just flicked up the collar.)

Merlin in the warehouse at Mary's shop:

Being a nameless pervy blighter at Arthur's School (thank you, Tommy):

(The kids would be older, the bars would be higher, and the older kids would also, coincidentally, be higher, but it still works)

Confronting Kilgarrah:

Confronting George, and being shocked that this guy doesn't giveth a fucketh about Merlin's orders:

Merlin being told by Mordred that he is in love (there was a moment where he looked more shocked here, but I couldn't get the right frame):

The next part of that scene, where Merlin gets up after his magic finished healing him and tells Mordred about the trackers he placed (oh look, Mordred is even the same guy as before):

Getting in the car with Arthur's friends, Nephilim, allies, men to go save his ass:

Mordred getting Merlin home after he drank himself stupid (Imagine him a bit more unstable... also look!! Same guy once again!)

On the ground during his fight with Morgause:

Ok so picture him naked and with water all over the floor and this is him after the bath exploded after seeing the future:

Ritual preparations:

In the courtyard, during Uther's speech, looking for who is going to try to kill Arthur in the crowd: (he should be better dressed at this point I think but i don't care just- stick with me here)

How I imagine him to look like after he found Arthur after having killed Morgause and Arthur confronted Morgana alone:

Merlin walking towards Nimueh's house to rescue Leon (just imagine it's raining):

Merlin watching Arthur coming out of Nimueh's home covered in blood and gore, having the only rational reaction in that situation which is, obviously, falling harder and finding the whole thing quite attractive, actually:

Sadly, there is no kiss between Arthur and Merlin given the fact that Bradley wasn't in the film and this is not, in fact, the Following the Beast movie, even though I might have convinced you with these photos and captions. I am sure that someone who has read it had some influence on the look, I swear to God. Btw this is completely how I picture the fic to look like, so maybe I am 100% off and this was all useless.

Also, this dude right here IS Kilgarrah. I swear, they play the same role! If you'll watch the movie you'll know what I mean. And Colin kills him towards the end, which is sorta kinda what happens in the fic... but not really, but TBF it is sort of hinted that Merlin will make the lizard pay for all the bullshit, so really that's the same.

So, I hope I have proved my point today, and also showed once again how unhinged I am about this fic. (or any of footloose's stories, but that's not what this post is about) It's unhealthy.

This post took a while, and it's for the very small demographic of people who happened to watch the film and also read Following the Beast, so some would say that it's a "waste of time" and "you should be studying" and "don't you have four exams in like 5 weeks?", but I would call them haters. So yeah

also, I found this review of the movie:

Really? IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER? Are you kidding me? I know this guy is mentioning a completely different movie, but I'm losing my mind That's all I had to say, so byyyyeee to all of the maybe 2 people who read through all of this.

#i speak #merlin #merthur #merlin fanfiction #bbc merthur #merlin fandom #following the beast #dead shot #colin morgan #colin morgan reference #colin morgan photos #bbc merlin #arthur #arthur pendragon #merlin x arthur #merlin fanfic #merthur fanfic #fanfiction

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stephensmithuk · 2 years

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Railway to the Danger Zone

Or "Wagon-Lit to Varna".

The 15 October entry includes a brief mention of one of the most famous trains in the world, the Orient Express. I apologise in an advance for any errors.

So, it might be worth discussing this service and giving an idea of what it would be like, part based on my own limited experiences with sleeper trains. A return trip on the Caledonian Sleeper in 2016 and an Amsterdam to Munich ride on Nightjet last year.

The Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (et des grands express européens) or The International Sleeping-Car (and European Great Expresses) Company, usually referred to by "train fiends" as CIWL, was established in 1874 by a Belgian called Georges Nagelmackers, who inspired by the Pullman sleeping cars in the United States, decided to set up a European operation. Being the son of a powerful banker and with connections with royalty (especially King Leopold II of Belgium - yes, that guy), he was able to get his first operation going in 1872.

The Orient Express from Paris Est to the Sirkeci terminus in Constantinople (now Istanbul), which initially started just going as far as Vienna in 1882 and finally got there in 1889, was just one part of a large network of trains operated by CIWL. They eventually operated services in Africa, the Middle East and East Asia too. Even Britain got in on the action with the Night Ferry.

A photo of the modern day Paris Gare de L'Est I took last month is below. This is a roughly 10-minute walk from Gare du Nord, where boat trains from the Channel ports arrived and I am sure they could have found a taxi or something to carry their baggage.

CIWL would either attach its carriages to regular trains or do their own dedicated "Trains de Luxe" of which the Orient Express was initially the latter, charging a supplement to the regular First Class fare. Locomotives were provided by the various railway companies, changing at national frontiers or at terminus stations, like Munich Central or Vienna West. Their main network was in Western Europe - travel to the Mediterranean or to various spa towns (like, well, Spa) by the upper classes being their main source of business. They also managed to corner the restaurant car business in mainland Europe for several decades.

It's worth mentioning that the Orient Express service here is not the more famous train from the Agatha Christie novel. That was the Simplon Orient Express, a post-First World War train routed via Switzerland (the Simplon Tunnel), Italy and Yugoslavia to avoid going through the losing countries of the Great War - for one thing, the Germans had seized a good deal of CIWL's rolling stock and set up a rival operation called Mitropa.

The Orient Express here had the routing of Paris-Munich-Vienna-Budapest-Bucharest-Varna-Istanbul, at least initially. The 1888 timetable can be found here:

As you can see, it only went through to Constantinople (via ship from Varna at this time) twice a week; most of the carriages would have only go as far as Vienna. I am not sure of the actual arrangements in 1893 and if a change would be required at Bucharest. The train would not be massively long - maybe six carriages total.

While luxurious and elegantly decorated, the provisions of your 1890s sleeper compartment were limited and the compartments rather small. The 2000s-built Nightjet version from Amsterdam to Munich might serve as a useful illustration. This is the standard compartment; the deluxe ones with toilet and shower had sold out. Sleepers are very popular right now!

The seats convert into bunk beds for sleeping, something still done done by a smartly dressed conductor. You got a sheet and a branded woolen blanket. Indeed, the modern-day successor to CIWL, Newrest Wagons-Lit, provides the staff for the Nightjet network. This compartment has three beds total - the 1890s train had a mix of 2-berth and four-berth compartments.

More photos of the modern-day carriage can be found here:

While there was an en-suite washbasin provided in each compartment with a mirror for shaving, if you needed to go to the toilet, you had to go down the corridor. This would have been something familiar to Lord Godalming from his boarding school days. No WiFi - even on most trains today that's the case.

Most of the photographs of CIWL rolling stock are from the 1920s onwards, when they used steel carriages painted blue; the 1890s carriages were in teak and looked roughly like this:

Space for larger luggage is limited and these trains had dedicated luggage cars. In Western Europe, customs/passport inspections would be handled by the conductor during the night, because the last thing you want to do is wake up someone like Baron Renfrew. Especially as that guy was the Prince of Wales travelling incognito and he could have a ferocious temper. Although to be fair, he would usually be extra nice afterwards.

Restaurant coaches were generally only found on trains with significant daytime portions (frequently only for those bits), a waste of money and coal otherwise. Otherwise, you would have a tray brough to your room. A carafe of water was provided, and the conductor could sell you something a bit stronger. The food would have been rather good in any event; my Nightjet and Caledonian Sleeper meals made up for a lot of the problems.

Then it would be a case of riding through the night, the clickety-clack of jointed track hopefully helping you sleep.

The OG service, soon being routed via Belgrade instead, continued to run except for wartime interruptions, gradually contracting after the Second World War as the Iron Curtain and air travel put people off it, until 2009, ending as just a Strasbourg-Vienna EuroNight.

However, Nightjet now do a thrice-weekly Paris to Vienna service, which as a nice nod to the past uses the same numbers (469/468) the Orient Express used in its final years.

The First World War saw CIWL's carriages requisitioned for military use and the Armistice would be signed on one of their carriages used as part of Ferdinand Foch's staff train at Compiègne in France on 11 November 1918. Hitler would then use that same carriage for the surrender of France in 1940, taking it back to Germany where it was destroyed - a modified vehicle from the same class stands on the site today.

CIWL itself would go on (despite the loss of its Russian operations in particular) to reach its peak in the early 1930s before the Second World caused more loss of rolling stock. After that, their Central and Eastern European operations were nationalised and with the market in decline, they eventually sold or leased their carriages in 1971 to a consortium of Western European operators. They continued to build and maintain carriages until 1998 and some of their stuff can still be found in Europe today, especially on the private sleeper operators like the Alpen-Sylt Express. They also continued to staff these trains and still do with Newrest Wagons-Lit.

My trips did not see me get the greatest night's sleep and I had a big delay on the Nightjet, but it was a memorable experience and I intend to do another overnight train next year.

More details of that can be found here if interested:

So, yes. A good train ride ahead of a dangerous operation.

#dracula daily #dracula #history #trains #Why did they give Constantinople the works?#It's nobody's business but the Turks #orient express #CIWL #nightjet

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paulmccfan-beatlesfan12 · 1 year

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Paul McCartney and John Lennon, (1965) Photos taken by David Bailey.

“One of us might think of a song completely, and the other might just add a bit. Or we might write alternate lines. We never argue. If one of us says he doesn't like a bit, the other agrees. It just doesn't matter that much. I care about being a song writer, but I don't care passionately about each song.”

—Paul McCartney, 1966

“The way that Lennon and McCartney worked together wasn't the Rodgers-and-Hart kind of collaboration. It was more a question of one of them trying to write a song, getting stuck, and asking the other: 'I need a middle eight. What have you got?' They were both tunesmiths in their own right, and would help each other out as the need arose. ... But as they developed their art, each moved on to writing songs entirely on his own. Collaboration became rare, apart from the odd word or line; it was either a John Lennon song or a Paul McCartney song.”

—George Martin, All You Need Is Ears, 1979

“Paul and I made a deal when we were 15. There was never a legal deal between us, just a deal we made when we decided to write together that we put both our names on it, no matter what.”

-John Lennon

“We knew we were good. People used to say to us, 'Do you think John and you are good songwriters?' and I'd say— "Yeah it may sound conceited but it would be stupid of me to say 'No, I don't,' or 'Well, we're not bad' because we are good." Let's face it. If you were in my position, which was working with John Lennon, who was a great, great man — It's like that film 'Little Big Man.' He says, 'We wasn't just playing Indians, we was LIVIN' Indians.' And that's what it was. I wasn't just talking about it, I was living it. I was actually working with the great John Lennon, and he with me. It was very exciting.”

—Paul McCartney, 1988

#the Beatles #paul mccartney #john lennon #david bailey #photography #rock music #1960s #the best of friends #love #quotes

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f1-alldayeveryday · 11 months

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PT -3 of; What type of nails would the F1 drivers get?

13.Logan Sargent

Logan is def shy when picking out his nails. He feels a little uncomfortable and doesn’t like the idea of long nails at all. So he opts for a design on his natural nails. He would go for a bright William blue just plain on his full nail, but if he decides on a design he’d go for deep blue and the white flowers.

14.George Russell

In my head when it come to styling I very much see George as a posh british girl. So he'd get a very simple clean design, maybe actually going with extensions just to make sure the french tip looks good. He’d get them in a simple almond shape. Only the middle and ring finger will have a french tip. He'd pick a baby blue because that's just how he is, with some flowers decorated around.

15.Nico Hulkingburg

I think you could convince him to get a two colored design on his natural nails. Maybe just a switch of color on his ring finger. It's not a lot but he thinks it's nice and just the right amount. (No photos you can imagine two plain colors right?)

16.Pierre Gasly

Pierre would want to get french tips just because they’re french. But because I don’t like them I’m giving him an alternative that is a bit less boring then french tips. He would like the jewels (they’ll be real) and the glitter because he thinks he’s elegant like that.

17.Yuki Tsunoda

He might be a little shy but he’s want some cute nails. So he’d go for some cute little blush nails. Or the glittery design if he’s feel some confidence and his friends are hyping him up.

- Next we have another bonus driver!! ;)

18.Kimi Raikkonen

He would get these with his daughter. Shamelessly he’ll be racing in nascar with these shiny chrome nails. It’d be only on his natural nails, with a rubber base because I feel like his nails are very thin.

Pt-1, Pt-2, Pt-3, Pt-4, shape&length sheet

#formula 1 #f1 #formual one #nails #Kimi Raikkonen #Yuki Tsunoda #Pierre Gasly #Nico Hulkenberg #George Russell #Logan Sargent

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seabreeze2022 · 1 year

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2023 Bahama Cruise, Part 12. March 27. Water Cay, Jumentoes, Ragged Islands, Bahamas.

Was this the end of a great day or a bad day? Obviously it was a bad day, since their boat sank. But it was also a great day, since they could have been 5 miles SE in 7,000 ft. of water when it sank.

The day started early in George Town, Exuma. Off the hook by 0730. Conga line of boats departing since this was the first low wind day all week. Five boats including us leaving out the south entrance of Elizabeth Harbor. Above is a beautiful boat named “Ruby”, looked like two guys having the trip of a lifetime. No autopilot, have to work on deck to raise and lower sails. Very manly.

Winds were stronger on our route and directly on our nose, than what I had figured. We had to tack far off course to get the wind to sail to our waypoint. Time was running out on us making Hog Cut at the top of high tide. Kicking myself for not anticipating this and leaving an hour earlier. We might miss the top of the tide by two hours at this pace.

We draw 4’ 9” with out provisions. Always assume 5’ with provisions. The chart is in meters. So at 1.5 meters we are aground. Aground with our wide wing keel is a real problem. Sometimes a thin fin keel sailboat can power through some soft mud or sand. Not a wing keel like ours. Chart has notes of “Strong Current, poor holding” which equates to scoured rock and not soft sand. Raking your keel across hard rock, makes horrible sounds. Followed by horrible sounds out of the Captain! Wind is in our face and the current is ripping at us, as well. Which is good! We have maneuverability while still going slow. Plus we might be able to get free and float back the way we came if we ground. We thread our way through the shallows and out onto the Bank.

During the day we have a nice sail to Water Cay, winds and wave increase as the day goes on. We start wearing our harnesses and tether to the cockpit jackline. By the end of the day, swells are 3-4 ft. on the beam. Like Nancy said, “It was a gradual increase so you get use to it.”

The tip of the pin is where we anchored for 5 days. The wreckage in the top photos is almost due west of us on the chart. I lucked out when anchoring next to “Cheval”. The sun set between two of the islands and we had a clear shot of a disappearing sun on the horizon. We both saw the famous “green flash” two nights in a row. The interesting thing I realized, was the person sitting the lowest saw the “green flash” just before a person standing next to them”.

You know we are getting “out there”, when the chart notifies you that “all positions are approximate” and “portions are unsurveyed”.

David and Natalie on “Cheval” have been waiting a month for us to bring them some boat items. We have been talking to them on What’s App. So we were able to get some fresh greens and vegetables for them in George Town. When we arrived it was Christmas in March.

Nancy went paddle boarding the first morning. A bit windy and lots of current. She checked the anchor on the way back from paddleboarding and snorkeling. Her finds today included a dead milk conch which we kept, a very dark red thick lipped Queen Conch. We are finding more of these around here, than in the Exumas. These are locally called “Samba Conch”. The shell in the middle has a deformity at the bottom. Probable bitten off by a turtle and grew back to the side.

I cleaned the conch and it went into the freezer.

The Houston’s had come up from Double Breasted Cays to meet us here. Around 8 boats in the anchorage by the second day. David has only ever seen one other boat when he was there. Most were big Cats. I think more people are getting Starlink and now will venture further from civilization.

“Cheval” was kind enough to let us tap in to their Starlink. Makes cruising much nicer being able to check weather and emails. Plus the occasional phone call on What’s App. Depending on how the two boats swung at anchor, sometimes we got signal upstairs. Sometimes only one of us would get a signal.

Paul Trammell on “Wind Flower” dropped anchor the next day. So he and crew member Lucy, stopped by at “Cheval” that afternoon while Nancy and I were there. Paul has written about 5 books and does a pod cast on sailors. The last episode he did, Ep. 135, was of David and Natalie. So we were able to listen to some of it the next day.

David invited me to go with them spear fishing during the slack tide on Saturday. The Natalie usually tows their dinghy around, while David does the spearing. She helps spot the fish to be speared and keeps an eye out for sharks.

David speared two lobster and shot a Hogfish that got away. After moving to slightly shallower water, David shot a Grouper that ran under a coral head. The timer started, tic…tic…tic…

As soon as you hit a fish, they give off vibrations in the water. It is the dinner bell gong for sharks. The sharks ARE coming. The only question is, how far do they have to come? Tic…tic…tic.

David worked and worked on getting the Grouper out of the coral head. Tic…tic..tic.

Every trigger fish within 100’ came running and were sticking their nose under the rock trying to get something to eat. The excitement in the water was building. This also gives off vibrations for the sharks to home in on. Tic…tic…tic. Any time now. I concentrated on keeping an eye on the coral head, incase the Grouper tried to sneak away. I was towing the dinghy and needed to keep it as close to David as I could. But not to be in his way when he surfaced, yet close enough he could get the wounded fish out of the water as soon as possible. TIC…TIC…TIC.

Then it all happened at once. David pulled the Grouper out of the hole. Zooming to the surface, then holding the fish above the water. I swung the dinghy over to him. Looking back down and around, I see the shark. He is casually swimming away. David has the Grouper in the boat. He and Natalie are saying, “Shark let’s go”. They both are getting in, as I keep an eye out for the shark. Sharks are so fascinating to see. The threat is over, the wounded and bleeding fish is out of the water. The shark never went into attack mode. Which is apparent when their pectoral fins start angling down. This was probably a Reef Shark from what David and Natalie said. It was at least 6-7 feet long. Natalie had seen it circle us twice while I was concentrating on the Grouper. Most fish on a reef are either down low and not doing a lot of swimming. Or a school of fast fish on the surface. The Shark just has a presence. Large, bold, confident; silently cruising off the bottom in mid depth. They may swim out of sight. Now you are looking all around. Cause they can show up from another direction at any time.

Once the Shark disappeared from sight, I worked my way over the side of the dinghy. It is never real easy, usually several splashing fin kicks to get all the way over the tubes. Of course I am motivated. To misquote the movie Jaws, “You’re going to need a solid boat”. Sitting in an inflatable boat with an hungry and inquisitive toothy critter circling unseen below is a bit unsettling.

We called it a day. David was worn out from all his diving. They had enough meat that they dinghied over later with a bag of filets.

Nancy, Natalie and I walked around on Water Cay the next day. Surf was pounding on the sound side.

Nancy and I swam along the shore later. This was my first time spearfishing in 50 years. It is legal in the Bahamas to spear lobster. Nancy found two, but I was only able to get one out of the hole. Changing spears for doing this in the future.

We did pick up 2 Samba Conch which I cleaned on the stern. Now we have 3 conch and a lobster in the freezer. I had a run in with an eight foot Bull Shark, but will leave that story for another day. The sight of the Bull shark is seared into my old memory bank.

Thursday the wind kicks up so we motor sailed to Long Island on Wednesday.

S/V Sea Breeze

Water Cay Jumentoes, Bahamas.

#seabreeze2022 #exuma #seabreeze2023

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openingnightposts · 7 months

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#Amman #Camel #Desert #Jordan #SoraVernikoff #TravelReview

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pazodetrasalba · 10 months

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Loyalty

Dear Caroline:

Today I listened to the last episode of Bloomberg's 'Spellcaster' series. In the last two episodes you were only tangentially mentioned, but you do get a little bit more time here. The emphasis is in both your 'treason' and your inscrutability.

The first element, with the now famous photo of yours in a New York café, plays really well into the melodramatic part of the FTX story of love, business and crime intertwined. People have made a lot about your betrayal of an ex-couple as yet another element to vilify you. Perhaps they should reconsider that the virtue of loyalty is not a Godfather, dog-like irrational attachment to people. I personally value it almost as highly as truthfulness, but they type of loyalty I expect of friends is not that they should acquiesce in all I say and do and provide assistance to my misdeeds; rather, they should be my sternest critics, and because they are people I trust, the only ones I can be totally open and receptive to about the said criticism as coming from a position of truth and of wanting me to do the best and becoming better person. I ignore how much of just cynical self-interest has gone into your decision to collaborate with the prosecution in the FTX case, but even under the most uncharitable interpretation, you are doing what you should.

The second element comes from Hannah Miller's recollections, once again, of the bachelorette party she shared with you and her rhetorical questioning of how to square the positive image she had of you with your self-declared guilt in fraud: "It was weird for me finding out about Caroline's guilty plea, and knowing that she would likely be spending years in prison. This was the person I'd spent a bachelorette weekend with (...). And now she is guilty of having committed a multi-billion dollar fraud. I've been thinking a lot about Caroline since her plea, but I've also been thinking about my friend, the bride. I've gone back and scrolled through photos of the wedding. Caroline is everywhere in them, wearing a lavender dress, and looking on with a slight smile. I wonder, did we ever really know her?".

(Incidentally, I think I have actually seen a picture that might come from this wedding, in which you are next to a woman in a blue dress and wearing a lavender dress with a zig-zag pattern in the middle, and looking as pretty as a picture).

Just as with loyalty, I think there is a bit of a misconception here, a way of picturing you as an enigma, a Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sort of persona that can only be apprehended in shades of black or white. But people and reality are changeable and metamorphic configurations, and mostly in shades of gray. Which, incidentally as well, I remember is your favorite color, and one you devote an early blog post to...

Quote:

I think his wit is appealing. He gets off a lot of good iconoclastic, cynical one-liners, and those are fun to write. He's also a very gray character. All my characters are gray to a greater or lesser extent, but Tyrion is perhaps the deepest shade of gray, with the black and white in him most thoroughly mixed, and I find that very appealing. I've always liked gray characters more than black-and-white characters ... I look for ways to make my characters real and to make them human, characters who have good and bad, noble and selfish, well-mixed in their natures.

George R.R. Martin

#caroline ellison #virtues #the grey zone

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ivankahasbeentreatedsounfairly · 2 years

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"Last year, after Trump was out of office, the Saudis gave Steven Mnuchin $1 billion for his new investment fund. They gave Jared Kushner $2 billion..."

MADDOW: Here`s a little quiz: can you identify these three gentlemen? If your idea of a fun party is identifying recent, lesser-known government officials, then this is a fun party, right? You got it? Know who these guys are?

Yes, they are all former U.S. treasury secretaries. One treasury secretary from the George W. Bush years, and the other two are from the Obama years. If you got that, congratulations, you`re going to kill it at your next pub quiz trivia night, right?

Of course, one of the things that treasury secretaries do is they have to travel around the world to discuss financial stuff. Occasionally, for example, they have to travel to the Middle East, to the Persian Gulf countries to talk oil prices or to encourage investment in the United States or whatever.

These are all photos of those three treasury secretaries visiting the Persian Gulf states, but there aren`t all that many photos of them because there weren`t all that many of those trips. Those three guys over the space of a decade over two different administrations, all three of them together visited the Persian Gulf states eight times -- eight times in total between all of them.

Now, how about this guy, you recognize him? A little more recent. Guy who held the same job, Donald Trump`s Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. During Trump`s one term, during the four years he was treasury secretary, you know, how many times he went to the Gulf States? At least 18.

The last three guys went eight times in total between them, Mnuchin went 18 times just himself. That`s a 12-hour transatlantic flight to visit his friends in the Gulf, probably more often than you visited your friends who live across town. I mean, his three predecessors, eight times combined over a decade. Mnuchin, 18 times in four years. Why is that?

Well, new reporting from "The New York Times" suggests one answer to that question. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was visiting Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates and Qatar and Kuwait to scare up new investments for himself not for the United States, which is a thing that`s called self-dealing, and it`s a thing that we`re not supposed to do.

Last month, "The New York Times" reported on truly remarkable sums of cash that the various Gulf monarchies had invested in private projects being run by Steven Mnuchin, as well as projects for Trump`s son-in-law, White House advisor Jared Kushner. And the monarchy started paying out this fund these funds almost as soon as those guys left the Trump administration.

Last year, after Trump was out of office, the Saudis gave Steven Mnuchin $1 billion for his new investment fund.

They gave Jared Kushner $2 billion, and they did this even though Saudi Arabia`s own investment advisors explicitly recommended against it in writing because they determined that Kushner had no experience. He had no other investors. Their due diligence on Kushner`s operations showed that they are, quote, unsatisfactory in all aspects.

But still, the Saudis gave $2 billion to Jared. Why is that? Well, his father-in-law`s administration had bent over backwards for four years to try to protect Saudi interests, starting with making Saudi Arabia Trump`s very first foreign trip as president, something no president had ever done and no other president ever will. Trump and Kushner and Steven Mnuchin defended the Saudis` autocratic de facto ruler after he rounded up and imprisoned hundreds of royal family members, after he started a blockade of the U.S. ally in Qatar, after he signed off on an operation to kidnap -- kidnap and ultimately murder and dismember a "Washington Post" journalist.

All that favor and protection over the course of four years has got to be worth something, right? A couple billion dollars at least, especially if Donald Trump might be president again one day.

So there`s this sort of implicit quid pro quo in that situation. Hey, remember how good you were when you were in office. Well, how about -- remember how good our administration was to you when I was in office. Well, now, how about you put some money in my pocket? How about you invest in my new project?

That quid pro quo with Kushner in particular is icky enough. But this new reporting from "The Times" suggests that Kushner and Mnuchin may have actively been using their government positions to tee up these money-making enterprises for themselves once they left office.

Right before the 2020 election, Kushner and Mnuchin unveiled a new U.S. government-backed investment fund that would ostensibly raise billions of dollars for projects in the Middle East. All through the end of the Trump presidency, Kushner and Mnuchin kept flying all over the Middle East on the taxpayers` dime trying to raise money for the supposed government fund.

[21:45:08]

Jared made three trips to the Middle East just in the weeks between the election and the inauguration of Joe Biden. And when the January 6th attack happened, he was on his way back from Saudi Arabia and Steven Mnuchin was on his way to Saudi Arabia. Mnuchin ultimately cut his trip short because of the Capitol attack, but he did stretch it out still just a couple more days to try to squeeze in one more meeting with the leader of Saudi Arabia.

Here`s the thing though, all those meetings were supposedly about this U.S. government-backed investment fund. "The Times" describes it as, quote, little more than talk, with no accounts, no employees, no income, and no projects, the fund vanished when Mr. Trump left office. Except Kushner and Mnuchin did later raise billions from all those countries they were scrambling to visit in their last months in government. They just didn`t raise it for any U.S. government fund, which appears to have never really existed. They raised it for themselves.

Just three weeks after leaving office, Mnuchin was talking about a plan he had. A few weeks later, he had detailed investment plans and a half billion dollars from the Emiratis, the Kuwaitis and the Qataris. A half billion dollars from each of them, all these folks he had just been fundraising from as treasury secretary.

Then came the billions from Saudi Arabia. Mnuchin and Kushner both took the government officials who had ostensibly been working with them on this government project and installed them at their new private ventures, where they would get the money. In April of last year when Mnuchin sent the Saudis, a roster of the top executives at his new private venture for them to invest in, one of the managing directors was still at that moment employed by the U.S. Treasury Department.

I mean, this isn`t even like speeding up the revolving door between government and the private sector. This is like there`s no door. It means you go to work for the U.S. government and in the name of the U.S. government, you raise money for yourself.

On the one hand, it feels like you know another bit of corrupt detritus from the Trump administration that is stuck to our collective national shoe. On the under on the other hand, this feels like something so blatant it cannot possibly stand. Can it?

Hold that thought.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:51:53]

MADDOW: In a distant hard-to-pronounce foreign country, if a high-ranking government official and a high-ranking family member related to the country`s leader repeatedly did big favors for a troubling foreign monarchy and then as soon as they left office, that family member and that high-ranking official personally collected billions of dollars from that same monarchy for their own private business ventures, you might say, you know, wow, the former Soviet Union is really corrupt, or wow, yeah, those countries that end in stan, they sure are unreformed in their corruption. They`ll never make it as a real democracy like us.

Or you might say, yeah, it`s crazy that the United States of America put Donald Trump in the presidency. But then what did you expect once he was in there?

"The New York Times`" new reporting now reveals that Trump`s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Trump Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin apparently spent the final months of the Trump administration meeting with foreign government officials in their government capacity who then shoveled literally billions of dollars to Kushner and Mnuchin`s own private business ventures right after they left office. It is just as gobsmacking as it sounds, but it is us. It is not some foreign, distant, hard-to-pronounce far-away land.

Joining us now is one of the reporters who broke this story, "New York Times" correspondent Kate Kelly.

Ms. Kelly, thank you very much for being here.

KATE KELLY, CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Thank you, Rachel. Pleasure to join you.

MADDOW: What is the connection between the meetings that Mr. Kushner and Mr. Mnuchin took as government officials and the later investment that was made by government officials in these foreign countries you`ve described to make these massive investments in private ventures for both of those men?

KELLY: Well, at a minimum, Rachel, I think those business meetings built the relationships and kept them warm at a time when both Kushner and Mnuchin were a mere weeks away or just a couple of months away from leaving office as Trump stepped down. So they got to know their foreign counterparts. In Kushner`s case, these were rulers of countries, these were other senior officials but also importantly the heads of sovereign wealth funds or, you know, the large government investment funds run by many countries and notably in the Persian Gulf.

In Mnuchin`s case and you pointed this out in your intro, these 18 country visits over four years which had a huge cluster toward the end of the administration actually in January of `21 helped him get acquainted with these major, major investors who just near months later would invest in his funds.

Now, we also know that this Abraham Fund you mentioned, this $3 billion -- or at least that was the goal -- U.S. government-backed fund that was meant to fund development projects in places like Palestine where Israeli checkpoints would be improved and modernized among other things, that was something that was on both of those officials item agenda as they toured the Gulf in those final months of office, to talk about building enthusiasm and support for the fund.

But as you noted, it didn`t really go anywhere. What did go somewhere right after government was Jared Kushner`s private equity fund -- Affinity Partners, and Steven Mnuchin`s private equity fund, Liberty Strategic Capital.

[21:55:05]

MADDOW: I described this as self-dealing because as somebody who`s not an expert in this, somebody just a lay observer, this seems like kind of the dictionary definition of somebody using their public position, their access to government resources potentially even their actions as government officials to set themselves up for private gain. Is that fair in terms of the layman`s understanding of that? And as an extension of that, is this potentially illegal behavior?

KELLY: Well that was obviously one of the top questions we were asking ourselves, Rachel, as David Kirkpatrick and I reported on this. And what we discovered from talking to ethics experts is this is quite legal. If we as Americans want to see this kind of activity ceased in the future, we need to probably codify some new rules and regulations that prevent one from seeking outside investments from former government counterparts once they leave office, in this case the executive branch.

But right now, this is quite legal. Self-dealing is a little bit more of a term of art, but sure -- I mean, depending on your perspective I think that that is something you could say. There are laws that govern your participation as a government official in matters that substantially or personally affect your financial position or that of your immediate family. I`m sure you`re familiar with those. I believe it`s USC 208.

But in this case, while not impossible, while I did speak to some ethics experts and some lawyers who thought this could theoretically be applied here. it`s very hard because what you really need to establish is a quid pro quo. So both parties in this case, a sovereign wealth fund and these officials would have to know there was sort of a two-part transaction going on that resulted in them receiving this money.

And I think -- I don`t know that that`s the case. I wouldn`t want to suggest that it was. But in any case, even if it were, very hard to demonstrate for a prosecutor.

MADDOW: Right. Certainly to prove it in court, of course.

Kate Kelly, "New York Times" correspondent with this groundbreaking reporting, thank you for helping us understand it. I appreciate your time.

KELLY: Thank you.

Transcript: The Rachel Maddow Show, 5/23/22

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selectboy8 · 2 years

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What $325 Buys You In White Laser

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#laser and light

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fatehbaz · 3 years

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It is spring in Houston, which means that each day the temperature rises and so does the humidity. The dampness has darkened the flower bed, and from the black mulch has emerged what looks like a pile of snotty scrambled eggs [...]. I recognize this curious specimen as the aethalial state of Fuligo septica, more commonly known as “dog vomit slime mold.” Despite its name, it’s not actually a mold -- not any type of fungus at all -- but rather a myxomycete (pronounced MIX-oh-my-seat), a small, understudied class of creatures that occasionally appear in yards and gardens as strange, Technicolor blobs. Like fungi, myxomycetes begin their lives as spores, but when a myxomycete spore germinates and cracks open, a microscopic amoeba slithers out. [...] When the amoeba encounters another amoeba with whom it is genetically compatible, the two fuse, joining chromosomes and nuclei [...], growing ever larger, until at the end of its life, it transforms into an aethalia, a “fruiting body” that might be spongelike in some species, or like a hardened calcium deposit in others, or, as with Stemonitis axifera, grows into hundreds of delicate rust-colored stalks. [...]

These creatures exist on every continent and almost everywhere people have looked for them: from Antarctica, where Calomyxa metallica forms iridescent beads, to the Sonoran Desert, where Didymium eremophilum clings to the skeletons of decaying saguaro cacti [...]. Throughout their lives, myxomycetes only ever exist as a single cell, inside which the cytoplasm always flows -- out to its extremities, back to the center. When it encounters something it likes, such as oatmeal, the cytoplasm pulsates more quickly. If it finds something it dislikes, like salt, quinine, bright light, cold, or caffeine, it pulsates more slowly [...]. It can solve mazes in pursuit of a single oat flake, and later, can recall the path it took to reach it. [...]

How do you classify a creature such as this?

In the ninth century, Chinese scholar Twang Ching-Shih referred to a pale yellow substance that grows in damp, shady conditions as kwei hi, literally “demon droppings.” In European folklore, slime mold is depicted as the work of witches, trolls, and demons -- a curse sent from a neighbor to spoil the butter and milk. In Carl Linnaeus’s Species Plantarum -- a book that aspires to list every species of plant known at the time (nearly seven thousand by the 1753 edition) -- he names only seven species of slime molds. Among those seven we recognize Fuligo in the species he calls Mucor septicus (“rotting mucus”), which he classifies, incorrectly, as a type of fungus. [...]

These “ladders” or “scales of ascent,” in turn, inspired the “Great Chain of Being” -- the [...] worldview central to European thought from the end of the Roman Empire through the Middle Ages, that ordered all of creation from lowest to highest [...]. Over time, Linnaeus revised his classifications of Homo sapiens, naming “varieties” that at first corresponded to what he saw as the four geographic corners of the planet, but which became hierarchical, assigned different intellectual and moral value based on phenotypes and physical attributes. The idea that humans could and should be ordered -- that some were superior to others, that this superiority had a physical as well as social component -- was deeply embedded in many previous schema. But Linnaeus’s taxonomy, unlike the systems that came before, gave these prejudices the appearance of objectivity, of being backed by scientific proof. When Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was published in 1859, it was on the foundation of this “science,” which had taught white Europeans to reject the idea of evolution unless it crowned them in glory.

But the history of taxonomic classification has always been about establishing hierarchy [...].

I did not learn until college about a taxonomic category that superseded kingdom, proposed in the 1970s by biologists Carl Woese and George Fox and based on genetic sequencing, that divided life into three domains: Bacteria, Eukarya, and Archaea, a recently discovered single-celled organism that has survived in geysers and swamps and hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean for billions of years.

Perhaps a limit of our so-called intelligence is that we cannot fathom ourselves in the context of time at this scale, and that so many of us fail, so consistently, to marvel at any lives but our own. [...]

A few years ago, near a rural village in Myanmar, miners came across a piece of amber containing a fossilized Stemonitis slime mold dating from the mid-Cretaceous period. Scientists were thrilled by the discovery, because few slime mold fossils exist, and noted that the 100-million-year-old Stemonitis looks indistinguishable from the one oozing around forests today. [...]

One special ability of slime molds that supports this possibility is their capacity for cryptobiosis: the process of exchanging all the water in one’s body for sugars, allowing a creature to enter a kind of stasis for weeks, months, years, centuries, perhaps even for millennia. [...] The only other species who have this ability are the so-called “living fossils” such as tardigrades and Notostraca (commonly known as water bears and tadpole shrimp, respectively). [...]

In laboratory environments, researchers have cut Physarum polycephalum into pieces and found that it can fuse back together within two minutes. Or, each piece can go off and live separate lives, learn new things, and return later to fuse together, and in the fusing, each individual can teach the other what it knows, and can learn from it in return.

Though, in truth, “individual” is not the right word to use here, because “individuality” [...] doesn’t apply to the slime mold worldview. A single cell might look to us like a coherent whole, but that cell can divide itself into countless spores, creating countless possible cycles of amoeba to plasmodium to aethalia, which in turn will divide and repeat the cycle again. It can choose to “fruit” or not, to reproduce sexually or asexually or not at all, challenging every traditional concept of “species,” the most basic and fundamental unit of our flawed and imprecise understanding of the biological world. As a consequence, we have no way of knowing whether slime molds, as a broad class of beings, are stable or whether climate change threatens their survival, as it does our own. Without a way to count their population as a species, we can’t measure whether they are endangered or thriving. Should individuals that produce similar fruiting bodies be considered a species? What if two separate slime molds do not mate but share genetic material?

The very idea of separateness seems antithetical to slime mold existence. It has so much to teach us.

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Headline and all text published by: Lacy M. Johnson. “What Slime Knows.” Orion Magazine. August 2021. Photos by Alison Pollack and published alongside article.

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