Finestkind Clinic and fish market

losing trust in science: censorship

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 22:20:49 +0000

So should I as a physician distrust medical journals? Knowing the bias by drug companies maybe. More serious is that doctors in the US are pressured to follow recommendations based on summaries of medical journal articles, which like AI summaries could be biased because the database was biased,

A lot of this is distrust of vaccines due to minor adverse effects that are less serious than the disease itself. However, since Covid was mainly fatal for high risk types, when you read about side effects, it makes you wonder why they are insisting that young low risk folks were forced to take repeated doses

The AstroZeneca was known to cause blood clots at the time I took it, but the government limited it to those of us who were elderly or high risk.

Ironically the gov't refused to use the mRNA vaccine when first offered it by the USA because they wouldn't sign the agreement not to sue.

and once the Omicron varient hit, one priest/physician with a background in public health said no one needed the vaccine and that was all over social media here. But you know students wanting to attend school still were given a vaccine.

the distrust of vaccines here in the Philippines is due to the Dengue vaccine debacle, but most folks got the shot anyway,

Now a lot of deaths are being blamed on the vaccine years later: Mainly elderly so probably not true. But I can think of a few younger deaths that might have been blood clots from the shot, and one girl who developed transverse myelitis that might have been from the shot, but without public health investigation I don't know.

I no longer practice medicine, and have essentially been disabled since I had a complicated Dengue infection two years ago, so I can't blame the vaccine. I took the AZ, an adenovirus vaccine known to cause blood clots and strokes, and had three episodes of asthmatic bronchitis when COVID was around, but no major problem since then. But I do have evidence of immune dysfunction including maybe that atypical Dengue episode and shingles.

Or maybe I am just old.

Family news

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 03:49:50 +0000

It is still hot season but the monsoon rains have started so the extreme heat should go down a bit: From 100F to 90.

The city water is still off, and last night after a big thunderstorm, water leaked into a electric wire to our water pump, so no bath again today, not even with a bucket (thank God for hanidwipes).

the problem? The same wire kept the pump to aerate our fish pond, so this morning all the fish were at the surface trying to breathe. In the hot weather, we often lose fish from stress, so we were facing a fish die off.

We got our handiman to come and connect the wire to the fishpond pump, so now we are hoping that the fish recover.

The female dog was in heat, so the male dogs were fighting all night, so I have not had a good night's sleep for a few days. Sigh. She is now out of heat, and the neighbor's dog, who she usually mates with when we take her for a walk, came over to look for her when we opened the garage door. Luckily our male dogs were in the garden or it could have been a major fight.

We try to let her mate outside since previous puppies from her brother were beautiful but two had hip dysplasia.

The Baptist church that meets in our meeting room had an anniversary party yesterday: Yum. Filipino food. Actually we eat Filipino food all the time, but our cook is getting old so the recipes are limited, and not always well cooked. Sigh.

Lots of people sick (blood pressure and diabetes) and a few have died.

Our next door neighbor's daughter in law was buried after five days wake. The wake included music until midnight. A sad case: In her mid 40s and diabetic and died of sepsis. She was a tomboy, and lived in Manila, but no kids or family there so was buried here.

Brush up your Shakespeare

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Sat, 30 May 2026 09:37:19 +0000

in the USA, a lot of people are upsest at Trumpiebooy's insults. So I have a suggestion for him:

AI discussion duscussing the Pope's latest output.

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Fri, 29 May 2026 09:51:16 +0000

the culture wars

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Tue, 26 May 2026 19:29:09 +0000

Dante lecture

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Tue, 26 May 2026 19:09:28 +0000

the online lectures about Dante are usually boring but this one explains stuff much better and hey it's narrator is so quiet you can just put it on to put you to sleep.

excuse the typing errors. I blog at night and touch type.

the Pope tells us to give up AI

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Tue, 26 May 2026 09:11:43 +0000

,,,

...

posted to listen to later on my tablet.

one suspects this will be pushed by the SJW in the Catholic church to stop the wet from dveloping AI Guess who wins? China, who just happened to bribe millions of dollars to the Vatican so they could take ovef the Catholc church in China.

But a lot more in this discussion

Then we have this:

𝐎’𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐒𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐑 𝐎𝐍 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐀 𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐒 — 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐆𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐄𝐃𝐒 𝟗𝟎 𝐏𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐒

Kevin O'Leary isn't taking the organized blitz against American energy and data-center projects lying down.… pic.twitter.com/6YcRXiPnVA
— M.A. Rothman (@MichaelARothman) May 26, 2026

two million people will be making the Hajj

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Sun, 24 May 2026 18:45:32 +0000

A lot of trolls on youtube and other sites are ridiculing Trumpieboy for not attacking Iran and trying to make peace.

and not one of them mentioned one reason local Muslim countries wanted no attacks right now:

from Turkiye today

this week is the Hajj pilgrimage.

According to the two senior Gulf officials cited by Middle East Eye, Trump was told that attacking Iran during Hajj would leave hundreds of thousands of pilgrims stranded. The sources also said Trump was warned that striking during the holy period leading up to Eid al-Adha would further damage Washington's standing in the Muslim world. The U.S. had previously attacked Iran during Ramadan, but an attack during Hajj was described as carrying far greater logistical consequences for Saudi Arabia, which hosts around a million foreign pilgrims each year, as well as Gulf air travel hubs in Qatar and the UAE, and countries in South and East Asia from which many pilgrims depart.

Yup. We had a British lady staying here for a week when the attacks started because her flight via Qatar was cancelled. Now imagine what that would do if the Mullahs pulled a similar stunt now

May 23, 2026 Muslim pilgrims perform the tawaf ritual by circling seven times around the Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. More than a million Muslims are gathering for the hajj pilgrimage, which is taking place in the shadow of the Middle East war, as animosity smoulders across the region despite a fragile ceasefire.

Saudi Arabia: 1.5 million join Hajj pilgrimage despite war https://t.co/2HnFAWqf4i
— Inquirer (@inquirerdotnet) May 24, 2026

alas the Iranian Mullahs are busy posting on X that Muslims should recognize your urgent duty and direct all your motivation toward the real enemy of the Islamic Ummah — the Arrogant Powers.

Sigh. So why should people worry?

well, some people remember the 1987 attack on Mecca and the Mullahs have politicized the pilgrimage for years by having some of their "pilgrim" do demonstrations.

from the HouseOfSaud website:

Hajj 2026 faces unprecedented threats as Iranian missiles target Saudi Arabia. 1.8 million pilgrims, 130+ cancelled flights, and $9 billion in new air defenses.....

hygiene and vaccinations are quite sophisticated as their site emphasizes who needs which vaccines etc.

there is a headsup about MERS and contact with camels for foreigners to follow.

and they stress usual precautions to prevent heat stroke, dehydration etc.

So far, Ebola is not a concern.

so pray for the safety of the Pilgrims that they find peace in their pilgrimage.

Family news: Monsoon is here

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Fri, 22 May 2026 04:44:58 +0000

It is the end of hot season, so every day it goes up to the upper 90s F.

The good news? Monsoon season is starting: Late afternoon thunderstorms

the bad news? High humidity and heat mean my asthma is worse.

The town is busy fixing things, so still no city water and our pump is working but noisy. So I can shower at least and the maid can wash the clothes.

Since our previous live in helpers left, we have new people stsaying here but I don't know much about them: a man wife and I think their child. A
We also have two live in maids, one with a young boy, and our old secretary who is back fro working in Japan and is married and has a child. She lives at home but brings her child here while working, and there is always someone to watch the child.

I usually keep the dogs in my room but they still bark at the new help, which is frightening but not dangerous, since they don't usually bite, unlike our previous vicious dog who bit anyone who came near him and we had to keep chained up during the day.

A neighbor down the street died: A middle age man, no news of what he died from, but the cook will visit and take a gift to the family to help with the expenses and come back with the news.

Usually people here are laid out in their homes, and there is often a tent like covering outside the home where the men can sit and play cards while watching most of the day and night, while inside the coffin is laid ou and there are seats for the visitors, who are given soft drinks and small snacks.

A lot of people have relatives overseas, so it could be a week until the burial.

In the meanwhile, I will stay indoors most of the time.

But the electricity is off, probably because they are fixing the lines. Luckily the generator is working so we have internet and lights, although the airconditioner is weaker than normal so it's not very cool in the room.

Ah the wonderfulness of living in a tropical paradise.

the AI center fight is about the future and the Philippines is part of the plan

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Thu, 21 May 2026 08:39:33 +0000

I am not up on what is going on in the USA except that the left hates anything Trump is doing, and now is busy pushing outrage against AI Centers in the USA.... which of course would let China become the lead for the AI Future.

From Instapundit:

I’ve been lurking in anti-AI, anti-data center activist facebook groups just to understand what their arguments are

Guys it’s really not a good sign that they are borrowing the same tactic of framing non-violent things as violence. During the woke cultural revolution, innocuous… pic.twitter.com/EDb3CwKUoy
— Melissa Chen (@MsMelChen) May 19, 2026

.....

I had no idea about this until I read @amuse https://t.co/feIVBBrMIx
— Melissa Chen (@MsMelChen) May 20, 2026

,,,,,,,,

so what does this have to do with the Philippines?

Cue up to the Pax Silica plan to industrialize the Philippines.

.. ..Pax Silica is the US outreach to other countries including the Philippines.

This historic declaration hails a new economic security consensus ensuring aligned partners build the AI ecosystem of tomorrow—from energy and critical minerals to high-end manufacturing and models.,,,

We recognize that the technological revolution in AI is accelerating, increasingly reorganizing the world economy, and reshaping global supply chains. We believe that economic value and growth will flow through and across all levels of the global AI supply chain, driving historic opportunity and demand for energy, critical minerals, manufacturing, technological hardware, infrastructure, and new markets not yet invented.

...

so yes the Philippines is pushing this plan:

We have the resources of our workers, who right now are forced to migrate to other countries to find work. This will allow this talent to stay here and find jobs.

Under this framework, the country is advancing the proposed AI-Native Industrial Acceleration Hub in New Clark City, a flagship project that brings together AI, infrastructure, and high-value industries.

Yup. Clark city, where there was a US base until politics asked the US to close it and Mt Pinatubo covered it with ash.

Our lovely ex president Gloria comes from that area and has been investing in roads, and infrastructure for years.

Clark industrial zone, was created, roads and rail connected it to other areas, and an alternative airport was opened there in Pampanga, which was traditionally a very poor area of the Philippines.

so what about our area?

well, we grow rice, and thanks to land reform small farmers now own their fields.

The problem? They remain poor but educated their kids, and the kids don't want to be small farmers.

So to work our fields we imported workers from Joy's area in the Visayas.

But for several years even though we are organic, profit is small because of the high price of fertilizer (after 2022, the prices went up because of the Ukraine war, and potash comes from the Ukraine) and now things are worse, with oil prices up, meaning the price for fertilizer going up, and diesel for farm machinery also going up, and unlike 25 years ago when I first came here, we no longer have farmers willing to plow with water buffalo (they are used for milk now) or harvest by hand (we rent a harvester thresher to bring in the crop).

Allowing people to own large amounts of land and mechanize it using modern seeds and machines would be the answer, but the Govt policy is to encourage small farmers to grow organic rice, which can be sold at a higher profit than traditional rice, which is in competition with other countries that have lower wages for farms.

this preserves the culture and is better for the land of course, so Joy is involved in this outreach in nearby Bulacan.

The good news is that the Philippines is wise enough to promote policies that benefit the small farmer while pushing modernization.

But things are changing.

Since farmers can't make much of a profit due to the high price of diesel and fertilizer, some are not planting, especially for the winter dry season harvest where you have to pay for irrigation fees.

so what is going on here is that a lot of local farmers were digging and panning for gold in the unused fields rather than lose money planting winter rice... whether or not they will plant for the main harvest is a big question: We will plant our low lying fields that don't use irrigation, but probably let the higher fields lie fallow. Sigh.

which brings up another economic change in our area.

The large solar farm is being built on fields here. And yes, what this commercial says is true: many of our farmers and local folk are busy working for this project.

so lots of optimistic propaganda out there looking for investments:

The main problem is corruption of course, but one can only hope workers used to honest work (e.g. working overseas or belonging to Evangelical churches that stress honesty and hard work) will be able to support their families.

everyone has a different point of view, but the truth is real

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Mon, 18 May 2026 11:47:25 +0000

Dilbert/Scott adams said that in today's world, everyone views the news in their own bubble: Interpreting what is going on in the world not as it is actually happening but as reinterpreted by our brain based on our own culture, biases, and preconceived opinions

Traditionally, great books (and nowadays Great films) are the way that teaches us these lessons.

One of my favorite films is Rashomon: And this film analysis explains why

the four stories:

The robber sexually assaults the woman and in his mind he is so sexually wonderful that she begs him to take her along with him. And that is why he had to kill her husband.

The husband sees the woman as immoral and has a need to justify her being evil so he can so rejects her...so he claims she kills him.

The wife? She also says she killed her husband when he rejected her.

But the one relating the court to the priest notes that the police say his wounds are that of a sword fight, not being killed with a woman's small dagger.

But the woodcutter saw it from the distance and has another story of what really happened

Essentially both men reject her: The bandit because he just wanted to get his pleasure and had no need of her, and her husband, it was because he saw her are tarnished and so he neither wanted her nor would fight for her.

and then comes what makes this a feminist drama: The woman accuses both of them of hypocracy.

the woman gets angry and tells them: You want a beautiful doll, not a woman, a full woman, a woman of passion: a woman that is worth fighting for. And goads them into the fight that kills her husband.

That is why her story and that of her husband is that she killed her husband (which the court rejects because the wounds are that of combat, not the wounds of a woman's small daggar).

and this is what I as a feminist take from the movie: not the question of what is truth, but the importance of those who are helpless. The woman was being thrown away by the men but fights back, and then because in Confucian society she is not allowed full personhood, she essentially accuses herself of murder out of guilt.

and the modern world uses the term the Rashomon effect to insist there is no truth.

Ah, but the film shows there is truth, as revealed by the woodcutter's story. Each person interprets it differently through the eyes of their own needs, but the story is real and is true.

And the ending?

The frame of the story is three people at the temple listening to the story of the crime. plus an abandoned baby.

The first man leaves afterward, stealing the money left with the abandoned baby, saying we need to put ourselves first....

and the priest is so demoralized at the story that he doesn't stop him.

but it is the third, a passing woodcutter who revealed the true story to them, who takes pity on the abandoned child and takes him home to raise.

and that small act of compassion not only saves the baby's life but gives hope to the priest and the demoralized audience.

Can you speak Whale?

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Sat, 16 May 2026 07:24:41 +0000

Some good news.

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Sat, 16 May 2026 07:21:55 +0000

“Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield. Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS…” -… pic.twitter.com/KF8MYet9CB
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 16, 2026

The western press tends to ignore such deaths because the victims are CHristians and moderate Muslims, and it is not just the radical Islamic types trying to impose a radical Islamic govt but some of the atrocities are tribal feuds between Islamic herders and local farmers, and these tribes are now embracing Islamic extremism to recruit and justify their aggression.

from EWTN:

56,000 killed in Nigeria’s ethnic and religious violence; Christians disproportionately affected 56,000 killed in Nigeria’s ethnic and religious violence; Christians disproportionately affected

and that article is in 2024

the Independent Sentinal has a more recent article:

As of August, 2025, 185,000 have been slaughtered by radical Islamists. It includes 125,000 Christians and 60,000 ‘liberal’ Muslims. Those are the tolerant, peace-loving Muslims.

and more die because they fled and are refugees, and those who stay often can't plant food because they fear being kidnapped.

no water now brownouts

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Thu, 14 May 2026 04:53:06 +0000

The city is fixing the water supply so no city water.

Our water pump is working weakly but last night we had a brownout for 3 hours and it was so hot I couldn't sleep

The maid was in the ER with the same bronchitis I had last week and she is diabetic and they added another medicine to try to control her sugar.

She is too sick to work

so my room isn't being cleaned. I can do a light dusting etc but she will send her sister to do the wash tomorrow if there is enough water

It is still hot season so I stay in my air conditioned room with the dogs

update

the maid came in to say she is out of the hospital (She had IV for dehydration) and to get money to buy her new medicines.

She also said five nearby houses burnt down from using candles. No one hurt but the families are now homeless.

Today they fixed the pump so I could shower, but then I went outside and found water cascading from the third floor. We thought it was a leak in the water storage tank, but apparently someone was watering the plants and after they ran out of water, didn't recognize that they hadn't turned off the water.

another fake epidemic caused by not following simple rules

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Tue, 12 May 2026 00:36:00 +0000

quarantine has been used for hundreds of years to stop the spread of disease.\

But someone left a lot of infectious people off of the Hanta virus ship to go home and spread it to other countries.

UKGuardian says:

The complex operation to repatriate passengers and crew of the hantavirus-hit cruise ship, the MV Hondius, is almost complete. Up to 150 people have started flying home aboard military and government planes from Spain’s Canary Islands, and the World Health Organization has recommended, but not mandated, a 42-day quarantine once they have landed.

Why

using quarantine to stop the spread of an infectious disease has been around for hundreds of years, but instead of using this policy, someone decided it's okay to let them go home and now we have a lot of hysteria on line.

Theory one: These passengers are rich

Two: it allows the WHO to complain that Trump cut their funding and if the epidemic spreads, blame him, not the fact that basic public health policy was ignored.

Three: Vaccines already are in the pipeline to be made.

Four: Expensive medicines will be pushes to treat it.

(will Ivermectin work? Some sites say maybe. And ivermectin has few side effects. So why not treat before symptoms start?)

CDC says they will let people self monitor their health. WTF?

they are insisting there is no risk, but this policy is based on the US version that does not spread person to person.

WTF?

Hey RFK Jr, maybe tell the CDC to check on the reality that unlike the Hanta virus we had in New Mexico etc a few years back, this one spreads person to person so they need to update their rules.

update

stories below the fold: Conspiracy theories again

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Mon, 11 May 2026 02:53:00 +0000

the Catholic church is imploding but the press loves Pope Leo for being obedient to the fads of the global elite.

Global warming for example.

Here in the Philippines for example, the church is backing no investment in fossil fuels at a time when people are hurting from the high price of Diesel and they now found a natural gas field that could help the Philippines.

But the bishops are pushing solar panels all over the place.

I haven't heard if they have approved of the valuable rice land in our area being diverted into solar farms to supply electricity to Manila ... And of course no one wants to ask what will happen when a typhoon hits (they will just blame it on global warming of course).

but the main problem is the synodality scam is the blurring of the importance of chastity. Pope Leo already has said he wants to decrease the emphasis on sexual sin (never mind that the sexual revolution has led to the breakdown of families with the resulting drug use, depression and abortion).

So how will he do this? Quote scripture? Stay true to the traditional teachings of two millenia?

Nope. Let the synods do it and then claim that they are the voice of the people and therefore the voice of God.

Synodality is of course a scam.

Supposedly the parishes met with people who were asked what they wanted the church to do:

but this ignored that such meetings tended to be hijacked by those who have time to be involved political activism, which results in normal folks being silenced or just not coming to the meetings.

This remind me of the encounter groups we were forced to attend in medical school: at the start of the first session we were always asked personal questions supposedly to enhance trust but in reality they would remember what we said and would bring it up later. In other words, it was not helping us to communicate as much as to intimidate those of us who tended to be disagreeable and of course it was a warning to the quiet to remain silent.

Me? I always arranged to get an emergency call from the nurses during the meeting so I could leave.

But once my roommate's group met in our apartment, and when she objected they all attacked her.

Although it was not my group, I came over and pointed out they had their facts wrong and since unlike my group, who could use the embarrassing information we gave at the start of the meeting, they didn't have any way to destroy me and of course they didn't use things like facts to disagree with me, so voila, they then shut down the meeting.

But you can see how easily such meetings can be manipulated.

To make things worse:

quiet believers and those busy with their families and those like me who are essentially home bound were not involved,

hence the data base they are using is not an accurate survey, so the reports will not represent the actual opinion of the average practicing Catholic.

In other words, the reports of these synods are:

GIGO: Garbage in, garbage out.

Father Murray, best known from the Prayerful posse with Raymone Arroyo, has several essays pointing out some of the other problems: they are being used to destroy the sexual ethics in the church.

His latest from the Catholic thing:

The latest imposition of the Synod is the recently published full-fledged endorsement of the homosexual lifestyle in the Final Report of Study Group Number 9 “Theological Criteria and Synodal Methodologies for Shared Discernment of Emerging Doctrinal, Pastoral, and Ethical Issues.”

This report attempts to dismiss Catholic teaching on the inherent immorality of homosexual acts – and the disordered nature of the homosexual inclination – by stigmatizing that teaching as the expression of an obsolete “paradigm” that no longer can be relied upon to communicate God’s will to His people. Even worse, Report Number 9 considers all Catholic teaching as subject to change...

The Synod has become the Holy See’s officially sponsored agent of destruction of Catholic doctrine, which is disparaged and dismissed.........

He then gives this example:

The Synod office has decided to publish the claim of a lobbyist for the homosexual lifestyle that, “I know of many priests who have been attacked because of their support for LGBTQ folks. . . .they get hit by the hateful arrows of homophobia.’

Then Father dares to sardonically point out

Is this claim an example of the “sense of faith of the faithful”? Or a repudiation of the Faith of Christ on behalf of immorality?

He summarizes that this won't stop with this report:

This Vatican-sponsored destructive subversion must come to an end now. Souls are endangered by the scandalous false teachings being propagated by the Synod. Pope Leo needs to strengthen the brethren in the Faith by putting an end to this poisonous betrayal of God’s truth.

........................

sigh.

happy mother's day

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Sun, 10 May 2026 09:39:00 +0000

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

,,,,,,

family news

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Fri, 08 May 2026 04:38:00 +0000

Update: Our pump is working: Slow but working. So we have running water. Good. I can take a shower.

Kuya is busy panning for gold in the fields, and also preparing other fields to plant rice.

It is still hot season: Hitting 100 degrees F every day. But we are starting thunderstorm warning for the late afternoon, meaning that the monsoon is starting.

The secretary and her husband who helped at the farm etc. have left for another job after eight years here. So we have several women coming to do various jobs around the place, and have just hired another live in couple so that there is a man here at night for security purposes.

My asthmatic bronchitis is better, but U tend to stay in the airconditioned bedroom during the day because of the heat.

hot season: So turn off the city water

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Wed, 06 May 2026 17:01:00 +0000

it is the end of the hot season (monsoon and typhoons should be starting any time). So there is the normal water shortage, which the press is crying global warming but it is actully normal this time of year.

So the city has announced that they are turning off the water for a week.

Probably checking for broken pipes etc.

But very inconvenient.

Lolo put in a water pump, but it needs fixing and although Kuya is fixing a lot of stuff right now, the pump is not a priority.

I had our main handiman fix it but it may or may not be pumping enough. Kuya filled the overhead tank but we empties it to do the wash today.We usually do it on Saturday, but decided to do it early.

So now there is the question if the old water pump can supply us water, or will we have to get containers and fill it at the farm where we have another pump for clean water

Spit baths for the next week.

Oh the joys of living in a tropical paradise.

The hidden woman behind the dictionary man

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Mon, 04 May 2026 09:58:00 +0000

I knew nothing about Dr Johnson before hearing this podcast, and it is fascinating

But what interested me more than this intellectual is his relationship with Mrs Thrale, the wife of Mr Thrale who took in Johnson as a houseguest.

But what caught my eye is Mrs Thrale: an arranged marriage, an unfaithful husband, and constantly pregnant, and losing many of her children, including her beloved sons.

But once she and her husband had invited the chronically ill Dr. Johnson to supper, he became friends with both of them, and when he had a nervous breakdown, they invited him into their home, where he loved the food, the suppers with his literary friends the care by Mrs Thrale, the friendship of her husband, and the fact her kids would play with him.

But what was interesting: After the husband died, she closed up his business and the house, essentially leaving Johnson on nis own, and he died soon afterward, so maybe she is to blame, but then why should she spend her time and money on a house guest that she essentially cared for in the same way she cared for her children, as a nanny not a lover, making sure he was comortable and fed and entertained.

He did have other friends and he was the one who broke the friendship.

A more serious charge is that she also left her children behind, although the older girls who were teenagers in school also condemned her marriage (but one book notes she took the youngest one with her to live).

after she turned him down for a year, she was into a deep depression and the doctor told her oldest bossy daughter she would die if this continued, so the daughter gave her permission. So she married an Italian musician (who was condemned as marrying her for her money, but actually he was from a good family and independently wealthy).

So a woman who for 20 years obeyed her husband and spent her time running his home and having guests and having children, once free, she married for love, and happy.

and Johnson? Died of dropsy without her loving care for him. Would her care have lengthened his life? Maybe not (a rich diet similar to what he ate at her house would have made his dropsy worse at an earlier date)

There are lots of books about Johnson on line, and ironically her books are also on line for example Thraliana, a book of anecdotes. The Book Dr Johnson and Mrs Thrale is on line, and gives the back story of the dictionary man and the woman whose hospitality kept him comfortable for nearly 20 years. LINK

longer version here.

another day another volcano

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Sun, 03 May 2026 07:14:00 +0000

south of Manila, not near us. But hard for people in the area. https://t.co/Lf7ydvSs7b
— tioedong (@tioedong) May 3, 2026

King Charles attends a pot luck

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Fri, 01 May 2026 09:57:00 +0000

The @RoyalFamily decision to celebrate Appalachia & placing it equal in importance with visiting New York City tells you how much our culture has shifted towards the middle of the country. And let's be honest few things are as American as a potluck dinner during a block party🇺🇸 https://t.co/349XPWRP1G
— ZitoSalena (@ZitoSalena) April 30, 2026

so how do you make coronation quiche?

well it could be worse.

FDR served the King hot dogs:

civility or sarcasm: we haz that

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 23:49:00 +0000

I just got another notice that one of my tweets was asking for violence so would be limited.(but not removed) WTF?

What happened is that someone said Iran was the good guy, and I commented that Iran should just nuke Tel Aviv. This was sarcasm of course. I should have written the thought more clear: That it looks like they thought it would be fine if Iran nuked Tel Aviv.

but I forgot to add the sarcasm to it so the computers tagged it as I was suggesting violence instead of that I was being sarcastic in telling someone that their tweet was approving of a regime that would do such things if allowed to continue to process uranium etc.

The tweet was limited and since I don't know how to remove it or change it I guess I will have to let things go. But that shows that I really really shouldn't tweet early in the morning before my second cup of coffee.

But accidental sarcasm is not the problem:

The paranoid media narrative is out there, but it is being pushed not just by the fringe types but by the media, and by those who are leaders in the Democratic party, which is my party.

How bad is it?

It is so bad the Barney Frank, who represented an area that included Brookline where I used to live, is now in hospice, and is publishing a book saying the Democratic party lost it's way:

From Politico

The former Massachusetts lawmaker says progressives in his party have “embraced an agenda that goes beyond what’s politically acceptable.”...

He’s hoping “to use my reputation and my record of being on the left to give courage to many of my colleagues who I know agree with me but are inhibited from saying so.”

this is good: Someone is able to push back on the radicals because he is dying.

He insists some of their policies against the police etc are not popular so should not be pushed because it is not a good policy and might lose them votes. But what he doesn't say is that some of what the party is pushing is venomous.

Frank knows about such venom since he was a target of aa lot of criticism when he came out as gay years ago. But that criticism was a lot less than what I read every day from his party.

And until the dehumanization stops, the spiral into violence will not be stopped.

Here is the Body Language guy who brings it up:

I think this might have been inspired by people mocking her because when she evacuated the meeting that was attacked, that she looked upset.

WTF?

She should look upset. So why are they mocking her?

Not my party, but the personal attacks on her seem almost diabolical. Why?

The murder of Charlie Kirk is similarly being distorted far beyond a criticism of his opinions. Again diabolical.

what was his sin? That he dared to bring conservative opinions to college campuses, openly debating those who disagreed with him.

and beyond politics: He dared to promote Christianity and emphasized the need to take responsibility, and emphasized the importance of marriage.

One wishes a couple of the PC bishops would do such things, which they won't (with one or two exceptions).

You know what would happen:

Jordan Peterson's talks were openly attacked by mobs trying to shut him down, and nearly every day one reads about other conservative voices who discuss traditional values who are openly attacked by mobs, and no one says anything.

Mocking and dehumanization.

the social media makes these voices louder, and this goes beyond politics.

My sister in law refused to let her daughter from using facebook because she was on a skating team and was getting people mocking her for being fat posted on her facebook page (she wasn't fat: She was wearing a back brace for her scoliosis).

I stopped Facebook because nearly every day I received posts on my page mocking Christians and Christianity.

And that was 15 years ago: I understand things are now worse.

Twitter is in danger of becoming another pest hole full of people tweeting talking points that are lies or distortions.

Sigh.

One is reminded of Yeat's poem:

Come let us mock at the great

That had such burdens on the mind

And toiled so hard and late

To leave some monument behind,

Nor thought of the levelling wind.

Come let us mock at the wise;

With all those calendars whereon

They fixed old aching eyes,

They never saw how seasons run,

And now but gape at the sun.

Come let us mock at the good

That fancied goodness might be gay,

And sick of solitude

Might proclaim a holiday:

Wind shrieked—and where are they?

Mock mockers after that

That would not lift a hand maybe

To help good, wise or great

To bar that foul storm out, for we

Traffic in mockery.

musical interlude of the day

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 08:49:00 +0000

Family news

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 08:38:00 +0000

We all have a nasty cough, probably a virus.. Not too sick and a low fever so not influenza. But it has exacerbated my asthma so the medicines make my mind too fuzzy to do much.

this weekend is that City fiesta: the city's patron is Mama Maray, the holy shepherdess (in Spanish La Divina Pastora). May 1 is the feast day, but the parade is the day before.

Lots of people return home for the fiesta, so the relatives will probably visit, and lots of parties.