Martin World News

 

I'm hoping to put a decent Martin World News together here.  The American sources- with one exception, for the closer- were fruitless, so let's give it a whirl...

Moscow Times- That's the way you do it

I've got to say this is one of the more clever scams I have heard of.  In a Moscow suburb lies Patriot Park, a WWII memorial military museum.  Now, so I can avoid having to type out these tongue twisters... 

Vyacheslav Akhmedov, the former director of Patriot Park, and Vladimir Shesterov, a former senior Defense Ministry official, were arrested last year on fraud charges linked to the park’s operations. Former Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov was arrested weeks later on similar charges.

Now that we have the characters, the scam.  Popov wanted a palace for himself on the national dime.  So he selected one of the luxury villas at Patriot Park, "a fully furnished two-story home and garage, a guest house and a bath house", and had it built on a property off-park that he owned- and billed it as if it was being built for and at Patriot Park!  His two little buddies arranged it for him; for their troubles, their new homes for the next 5 and 6 years, respectively, will be prison.  Plus a free change in careers.  Popov is still awaiting his fate, though one would expect he will also be trading his "palace" in for whatever the modern Russian prison cell comes with.

BBC World- our week for odd sports

A few weeks back, I described the misadventures of my son and I that included watching a professional pillow-fighting match.  Then Saturday, I saw a clip of the German push-your-shopping-cart-into-the-cart-corral championships.  Today, I have discovered "Le Mow"...

A lawn mower race in Wisbourough Green, West Sussex, in which 3-driver teams run the circuit from 7PM to 7 AM, most laps made wins.  I wonder if Tim Taylor and Bob Vila know about this...

DW (Germany)- Barbie's sordid past

This falls under the category of "History you didn't know".  Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel, was in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1956 when she met the popular Lillie doll.  She took the idea home, named it after her daughter Barbara, and the most successful child's toy of all time, more or less, was born.

But, Lillie wasn't a "child's toy".

Needing to fill some space in the first issue of Germany's Bild tabloid newspaper in 1952, comic artist Reinhard Beuthien came up with Lilli, a sensual character designed to attract male readers.

Lilli's titillating comic strip adventures were like scenes from an erotic film. In one scene she talks about a long-distance truck driver who "helped out" when her car broke down, leaving her dress covered in oily handprints.

Another time she teases a policeman on a beach where two-piece swimsuits are banned, asking him: "Which part should I take off?"

The "strip" became so popular that Lillie was turned into a plastic "party favor" for men's gatherings, etc.  In turn, the doll sold 150,000 in the next ten years.

Whether secretary or sex worker, one thing is certain: Lilli was not intended as a children's toy. With her scantily clad curves, high blonde ponytail and high heels, Lilli's aesthetic was more akin to that of a pinup girl.

Makes you wonder what Ken was doing before he met Barbie...

Mirror UK- blame it on the Old Spice ads...

A lesbian couple in Preston, UK, had a nasty breakup reminiscent of the ads where the guy whines about his girl using his body spray- only a lot nastier.  Partner #2 was upset over partner #1 using her hair conditioner.  In revenge, #2 dumped out half the conditioner and added Veet hair removal cream, actually bragging about it on social media.  #2 will be serving a year in jail, held off for 18 months because she is currently working in a COVID unit.  I'll bet that makes the COVID patients thrilled.  "OMG, was I given chemo by mistake??"  250 hours of that work will be unpaid, the next  £1,500 will go to #1 for compensation, and also #2 gets 20 hours of "Rehabilitation", which I assume is the UK version of 'anger management' or 'sensitivity training'.

Finally, from our local news about a week ago...

WANE-15- Out on a limb...

Meet Michael Baker, of Cromwell Indiana.  Michael had apparently a beef with a neighbor.  He tried to settle it by a)threatening him with an axe, b) stealing his truck, c) ramming it into another vehicle, then running off into the woods.

That's where the wheels on Michaels little crime spree came off.

Around 11 p.m., ISP troopers followed tracks into the woods and traced them to the stolen truck, but Baker was nowhere to be found. After about half an hour of troopers and a K9 searching for Baker, they heard yells for help deeper in the woods.

Investigators called out to Baker but didn’t hear back, and it wasn’t until just after 12:15 a.m. that Baker was found — 20 feet up in a tree, according to the release.

As described by ISP, Baker had tied his T-shirt around his neck, securing it to the tree so he wouldn’t fall. Officers talked him into coming down, but he got stuck in some branches about 10 feet from the ground.

At what point do you become so scared of being up the tree do you come up with the idea of attaching your neck to a limb in case you fall?  At any rate, he eventually did fall from the tree and was apprehended.

Pics

 Well we only got up one pic-walk this weekend, Friday morning.... Saturday and Sunday were hot and humid- even Misty was good with a short trip to the bark park Saturday (of course, she knew she had a ride to the vets later), and Sunday we made a miserable, muggy, half-hearted attempt that, while the rabbits were all over, nothing else was.

So, here's Friday:

Skies were glorious

New to the neighborhood

That gardening at "formerly Sable's house" has been done

Bunny #1 runs off

Kitty hunting down the way

Hawk in the tree

River was flat clam

Black squirrels were the only thing moving by then

Friday follies

 Let me start this off by telling you, music wise, my top 3 did not change.  However, there is an odd statistical anomaly going on I'll let you in on in a bit.  But first, let me set up "the follies".

I have my first appointment with my new doc next week .  Thus, I realized yesterday, I need to get my blood work done.  (Results are just now coming in; if I can, I'll let you know at the end of the post).  Before that, though, last week we had the car finally paid off, and were left with the daunting task of going to the BMV to get the lien taken off the title.  I decided I could kill two birds with one stone there.

Between them, I got two letters from my eye doc's.  One was a bill for the amount I had ALREADY paid at my appointment last month; the other was for the very same things, but $20 MORE.  And there was another little thing hanging over our heads too, which I had hoped to get done this weekend (BTW: Not gonna happen.).  Our renter's insurance renewed, and as per usual, the complex didn't get the memo that we renewed.  So they said, "Well, we'll e-mail you a link so that you can send a digital copy of your new policy to this e-verify site."  Problem #1: we had never bothered to set up an online account.  Easy enough.  #2: download the new policy. Check.  #3: click the link.

Blank page.

Let them know.  Send a new link.

Blank page.

After throwing everything I could think of at it with no results, I wondered if the problem was the browser.  So I tried the back up browser.  There we go!  Asks for "the e-mail associated with your rental agreement".  Sent.

"We cannot find a document associated with this e-mail.  Please use the E-mail account associated with your rental agreement."  I do.  Several times.

I get out, try to figure out what to do next.  Think, how about we try the other e-mail? Shouldn't have anything to do with our lease, but what the hey.  I click the link on the second browser.

Blank page.

Upshot is, sometimes I can bring it up on the second browser, sometimes not.  But it NEVER takes our e-mail.  Sigh.

Next week's problem.

So now before we get to the Friday end of our show, here's that statistical anomaly on the M10.  Three weeks ago, I had a song debut at #5.  Two weeks ago, another one debuted at 5- some kind of coinky-dink!  Last week (keeping in mind I actually write down a top 15), I had a song go from 15 to 6.  This week- you guessed it- I had another song go from 15 to 6!  You might think this is artificial, but here's how I do my list- I listen to the songs on the playlist, writing them down where I think they should go, BUT not numbering them until I write them in my M10 book- all without ever looking at the last week's  chart!  Anyway you slice it, not an easy thing to just set up.  That new debut?

**********************************************************

Fudge.  A1C up to 7.7.  So much for getting new doc to cancel some meds....

Anyhow, just throw that into the rest of the folly side of the story, which I shall relate now.

- Talked to eye doc's office.  Why the bills were sent, we don't know.  The difference? That was because when I paid the stupid thing in the first place, I got a discount on something.  Some how they decided to send me bills for each- one with the discount, one without.  In the end, I got a new receipt with paid in full on it.

-Went to BMV, and when she asked to see my driver's license, found out that it had BEEN EXPIRED SINCE MAY... so now, I am waiting for our cleared title, AND my new driver's license, to come in the mail.

-Went to get the aforementioned blood work.  Lobby: 11 people and two very restless kids already there.  Check in kiosk tells me "There are 3 people in front of you in line."  So the lady that calls people for the lab brings in 3 people.  And a fourth.  AND a fifth.  Finally calls me.  Have to re-up my info for the new doc, fill out the HIPA thingee.  

"May I scan your driver's license?"

"Funny you should mention that..."

Three people called ahead of me for labs are sitting there with me.  Somehow, I got called second.

Then we go out to eat.  Got off to an early start destroying my next A1C reading by having root beer glazed wings.  We turned in 2 ten-dollar rewards from our rewards card.

Get the bill.  Server forgot to take the $20 off.

"Oh, that's on me, I even told you I would do it, and I forgot.  Sorry, my friends."

(She ended every sentence with "my friend/s".)

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Now that this is done, I am about to sally my expired butt to go get tonight's beer.  Hopefully, the follies are done, but you never know.

Wednesday Bible Study: Lying to myself, part three

 

One thing we are learning looking through lies, is that there doesn't ever seem to be a single motive.  In our first chapter, Satan sinned through pride, the desire to be "like the Most High"- but also to hold up a self-image that truth could not maintain.  Eve sinned through curiosity- but also in not seeking God's will.

So the next big set of liars I thought of were Abraham and Sarah.  Abraham lied about Sarah being his sister- not once, but twice.  And maybe you didn't catch Sarah's lie:

Gen 18:13  The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 

Gen 18:14  Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 

Gen 18:15  But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.” 

Now, you might be saying, "We just came through that whole big series on Abraham, what more is there to learn?"  And you might be saying, "They both lied from fear- Abraham was afraid of being killed, and Sarah was afraid because the Lord caught her laughing."  And you'd be right, so far as it goes.

But I want to dig a little deeper.  Why would Abraham be afraid he'd be killed over Sarah?  Better yet, why does Pharaoh, leader of the mightiest nation on the planet, snap her, the woman of a migrant family, up so fast?  For me, that was the question.

Let's play a little logic game.  The one thing any king of that era needed most? a son to carry on the line.  What does a king need to make a son?  A woman.  And why would a king look to the woman of a migrant family?  He was royalty; while incest was frowned on for the people, a king could marry whoever he wished.  Was there no woman of royal blood available? He couldn't go to the common people- the gods wouldn't approve that, either.  So, he puts out the word- he's looking.

Just like in the story of Esther, everybody is going to be looking for a suitably beautiful candidate, in hopes of a rich reward.  All it would take to bring fear to Abraham's heart is for someone on his way to Egypt to tell him, "You better be careful down there.  Pharaoh is looking for a consort, and a woman as beautiful as your wife would bring top dollar."

What could he do?  Behind him was famine, ahead was Pharaoh.  So yeah, he lied out of fear.  BUT... he also knew he had a "hole card", just in case.  And while he doesn't mention it in this story, he does when he repeated the sin with Abimelech...

Gen 20:11  Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ 

Gen 20:12  Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 

"See?  I didn't REALLY lie..."

So he had a false security that he WASN'T lying, and thus could get out innocent.  At the same time he was lying to Pharaoh, he was lying to himself.

And what about Sarah?  One thing we learned about Abraham in that past series, every failure had its affect by influence on someone else.  Lot learned compromise from him; Hagar learned impudence.  And Sarah, she learned how to lie to herself.  Go back to the lie Sarah told above. Sure, she lied because she got caught being overheard.  Come on, we've all done that.  BUT... consider the why of her laugh.  Yes, she was 90 and all, which might not have meant the same thing then as it does to us, but was enough to make her having a child miraculous.  But she had seen miracles aplenty! She knew it was the Lord Himself- or at least an Angel- talking to them.  But she had been hearing this promise of a child now for THIRTY-FOUR years.  At a certain point, you say to yourself, "I cannot afford this hope.  It's expecting too much."  So yes, she lied to the Lord- but she LAUGHED to protect herself from the heartbreak of a broken promise.

Boiling it down, they lied outside themselves from fear- but they lied INSIDE themselves because they didn't trust the Lord to, keep his promises.  And I have to ask myself: do I use the "hole card" of my salvation to excuse my sin?  Do I refuse to change because I don't trust the Lord to, change me?  This is why I journey down the rabbit hole of studying lying in the first place.

Job 34:31 (BSB)  Suppose someone says to God, ‘I have endured my punishment; I will offend no more. 

Job 34:32  Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do it again.’ 

Pictures!

 I can't say there's anything amazing on this list, but I will venture to make it entertaining.  Start with one week ago today...

You know the drill by now- hot, humid

This is where doggie Sable and his Mom used to live.  She was a Parkview nurse, which means low pay and not long tenured, as the hospital chooses to maintain a palace instead of a staff.  Next tenant will have some 'gardening' to do.

Quite the crowd at the landing...

"Not gonna stop me from cooling off!"

Must have been an extended family deal- at least a dozen people

My favorite little fall flowers have appeared- but in the woods, where I've never seen them!

Insert hot/humid/work/tired and skip to yesterday...

Maybe throw in, "hazy", too...

Our usual big ol' mushrooms starting to pop up...

(Of course, they all got decapitated by the mowing crew later in the day)

Piss ant rave...

...and another....

...and another!  Must be an ant national holiday....

Ah, there's one bush of my flowers in the canal

Misty was more interested in sniffing than river-ing...

...at first

The "Summit City Summer Festival" rolls on.

Our one bunny of the day...

And a black squirrel

Bringing us to this morning- with both heat and humid dramatically higher...

Not good breathing weather

Bunny #1

#2 was spotted dashing into the canal

Missed the hummingbird, but got the goldfinch...

...and again, just barely

They were having a good time playing

As were these good ol' country boy discers.  When we met them this first time, their music (being played at a respectful volume, a rarity among discers) was Whiskey Meyers' Broken Window Serenade (currently #8 on the M10); the second time, they were singing along to Hank Jr and Family Tradition.

Afterwards we met up briefly with Misty's new friend, a little old guy named Hoosier.  As the two of them watched a third doggie go by, I told Hoosier's dad that this was a day you really need a doggie like Misty who drags you along- Lord knows I was fading in the woods!