Females, Façades and Fireflies
Man walks into a bar in France. Yes, this is funny though not a joke.
"Stick 'em up and put all your cash into this holdall!" (I 'translate' as my schoolgirl French definitely isn't up to this level of dialogue.)
A woman holding a baby pushes past him, goes behind something, puts the baby somewhere safe. Then returns, tells him off and proceeds to attack the (armed) robber, snatching away his holdall then grabbing his gun and hitting him repeatedly with the holdall. At which point a male bystander joins in, hitting the would-be robber with a chair. The 'robber' decides all this is too much like hard work and legs it. Perhaps they then called les Gendarmes? Truly, as Kipling* has it, "the female of the species is more deadly than the male". Particularly if she has young!
While on the subject of the female of the species - a woman is to appear on the front of new American $20 note, in 2020 at the earliest. Harriet Tubman - a black ex-slave who fled from her slavery in Maryland to freedom in Philadelphia. She later became responsible for guiding many more black slaves to freedom, usually in Canada, where their 'owners' had no legal claim to them. She also acted as a spy for the Union army during the American Civil War. Then she went on to donate part of her land to the Church and a home for elderly people was built there, where she ended her life.
I dare say there will be a certain amount of hoo-ha about this. There always is when changes are made, and this change swaps a past president for a black woman! (President Andrew Jackson, a slave owner, will be moved to the back of the $20 note.) A black woman who achieved much in her lifetime then, as is the fate of so many women (and, presumably, black people) got forgotten by History. Go Google her, Dear Reader, you should find something as History, at least hers, is currently being re-written. Seems to me that she's more than worth the accolade.
Meanwhile Donald Trump, having made a vigorous comeback from his major defeat in Wisconsin(?) has promised to change his image. Dur? It's not his image that's the real problem. It's what he's planning to do, how he thinks, what he says, what he believes - specially as a lot of that is wrong. That's what's got him winning the American Presidential election listed as one of the Ten Worst Things That Could Happen to the World. And if he doesn't realise that, then he's an eejit. If he does realise it, then this is merely a cynical ploy to deceive voters. But then, Trump is a would-be politician, and we know how many of them are 'economical with the truth'!
And Finally - a picture selected as the best image in the Open category of the Sony Photography Awards 2016. The winning and shortlisted images are being exhibited at Somerset House, London, until 8th May. Looks like it could be well worth a visit, Dear Reader.
Enchanted Bamboo Forest by Kei Nomiyama. Shot in the mountains of Shikoku Island, it captures the Luciola parvula firefly at the beginning of the rainy season. It puts me in mind of Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night.
Whatever you're doing, Dear Reader, have a good weekend. We'll be off to visit the family - time for sock knitting and catching up with everyone.
*That's Rudyard Kipling, Victorian/Edwardian author and poet, lover of the British Empire and, consequently, somewhat out of favour these politically correct days. Not the Mr Kipling who makes "exceedingly good cakes".
"Stick 'em up and put all your cash into this holdall!" (I 'translate' as my schoolgirl French definitely isn't up to this level of dialogue.)
A woman holding a baby pushes past him, goes behind something, puts the baby somewhere safe. Then returns, tells him off and proceeds to attack the (armed) robber, snatching away his holdall then grabbing his gun and hitting him repeatedly with the holdall. At which point a male bystander joins in, hitting the would-be robber with a chair. The 'robber' decides all this is too much like hard work and legs it. Perhaps they then called les Gendarmes? Truly, as Kipling* has it, "the female of the species is more deadly than the male". Particularly if she has young!
While on the subject of the female of the species - a woman is to appear on the front of new American $20 note, in 2020 at the earliest. Harriet Tubman - a black ex-slave who fled from her slavery in Maryland to freedom in Philadelphia. She later became responsible for guiding many more black slaves to freedom, usually in Canada, where their 'owners' had no legal claim to them. She also acted as a spy for the Union army during the American Civil War. Then she went on to donate part of her land to the Church and a home for elderly people was built there, where she ended her life.
I dare say there will be a certain amount of hoo-ha about this. There always is when changes are made, and this change swaps a past president for a black woman! (President Andrew Jackson, a slave owner, will be moved to the back of the $20 note.) A black woman who achieved much in her lifetime then, as is the fate of so many women (and, presumably, black people) got forgotten by History. Go Google her, Dear Reader, you should find something as History, at least hers, is currently being re-written. Seems to me that she's more than worth the accolade.
Meanwhile Donald Trump, having made a vigorous comeback from his major defeat in Wisconsin(?) has promised to change his image. Dur? It's not his image that's the real problem. It's what he's planning to do, how he thinks, what he says, what he believes - specially as a lot of that is wrong. That's what's got him winning the American Presidential election listed as one of the Ten Worst Things That Could Happen to the World. And if he doesn't realise that, then he's an eejit. If he does realise it, then this is merely a cynical ploy to deceive voters. But then, Trump is a would-be politician, and we know how many of them are 'economical with the truth'!
And Finally - a picture selected as the best image in the Open category of the Sony Photography Awards 2016. The winning and shortlisted images are being exhibited at Somerset House, London, until 8th May. Looks like it could be well worth a visit, Dear Reader.
Enchanted Bamboo Forest by Kei Nomiyama. Shot in the mountains of Shikoku Island, it captures the Luciola parvula firefly at the beginning of the rainy season. It puts me in mind of Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night.
Whatever you're doing, Dear Reader, have a good weekend. We'll be off to visit the family - time for sock knitting and catching up with everyone.
*That's Rudyard Kipling, Victorian/Edwardian author and poet, lover of the British Empire and, consequently, somewhat out of favour these politically correct days. Not the Mr Kipling who makes "exceedingly good cakes".