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Watching the World Turn
Civil War in Ethopia
The Ethiopian federal government has largely won in its battle with the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the party that served until now as government of the country's Tigray state, and that once dominated politics nationwide. The federal government and allies have recaptured the state capital and major...
Lots of Space in Space
Captioned Photo: Messier 66 Close Up
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing & Copyright: Leo Shatz
Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy Messier 66 lies 35 million light-years away. It is similar in size to the Milky Way. This reprocessed Hubble Space Telescope close-up view spans a region about 30,000 light-years wide ar...
Good-Bye, Cruel World
A Fond Good Morning, World!
Hat tip to HMCS Cormorant
HMCS Cormorant, a retired Canadian Navy ship, has been listing in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, for over a decade, and now we're talking about it on Virtual Mirage. Some of this blog's Canadian visitors have been complaining that I haven't posted much ab...
Random Thoughts
White Wolves need Love too
A Point of Clarification
A Rare Picture of Beans (blog reader and contributor)
New Plague to Hit Washington DC (and Eastern States)
After spending 17 years underground, trillions of ‘Brood X’ Cicadas will soon appear in 15 States
Scott Olson/Ge...
The Debt & Maps
Debt
(source: ZeroHedge - I normally don't quote these articles in their entirety but thought I'd make an exception in this case.)
In the last 20 years, our country’s national debt has exploded. In 2001, when George W. Bush took office, the national debt was $5.8 trillion. It took around 225 years -- booms, busts, depressions, wars,...
Pictures
The Neighbors
Calzones
Yes, I realize that it's just sort of pizza folded over, but they don't taste like that, do they? I add ricotta to a calzone to make them a little creamier, and sweet Italian sausage. Don't judge me.
Get that Eagle out of the Snow!
Creative
June 1945, 401s...
Fun with Maps
Seafood consumption in Asia per capita per year. This map is for Mike W, an Australian, living in Thailand, sending me e-mail about the delicious Thai food that he's eating. I do like Thai food, but I can't eat it as hot as the Thais do. It's not so much going down as it is suffering through the passage to the exit.
P...
Mamluks vs Mongols
This blog piece discusses the first loss of the Khan's Mongol armies, which was in itself, a multi-national, combined arms force - not only the light horse archers of Genghis Khan's steppe cavalry. I hope that you enjoy the perspective.
At the time of Genghis Khan’s birth, the Mongols were but one of a number of nomadic t...
The Coup in Myanmar
Many international observers were caught by surprise when the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s military, began hinting at a coup in the country last week, foreshadowing their seizure of power on February 1.
In the recent federal election in which Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won by a landslide, might have given the pro-democracy forces in...
History
The Warwolf and the Siege of Stirling Castle
After the final defeat of William Wallace at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298, English King Edward I led an army across Scotland to quell the various uprisings across the country, which would take some time as Scotland was not so much a united kingdom, but a collection of Scottish clans...
The Thin Blue Line
University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Chief Kristen Roman recently banned the thin blue line flag and imagery on everything from coffee mugs, notebooks, decals, flags and a wide array of other items. Her decision comes after the agency was criticized after some in the community saw a thin blue line flag in the background of a photo the agency di...
Fun with Maps
The Distribution of lighthouses in Europe.
The Population down Under
Map of Italian ancestry in Brazil. In all 15% of the Brazilian population is Italian. Brazil has the largest Italian descent outside Italy. Yes, Claudio, the Italians sure do get around...
Need Another Sermonette?
I'm hanging out, watching the world go past. What are you doing on this fine Sunday?
President Trump is sitting in the Office of the Former President.
Do Americans Love Biden?
He's creepy, cranky and kooky. In Rasmussen Reports’ first Presidential Daily Tracking Poll of likely voters, the new Democratic president starts...
Thoughts
Time and Place
It's important to be able to know when to hold 'em and to know when to fold 'em.
British grenadiers - plus possibly Tarleton himself - engaging French and Continental Army infantry at one of the Yorktown re-enactments. The British would have been better off marching back into the Carolinas,...
Sunday Sermonette
I'm not sure where this is, but I thought that it was a simple and yet cool picture of a church.
How Many Universes?
I don't know. How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? But...is space being recycled? There is this: Ghost Black Holes
"We are not living in the first universe. There were other universes, in...
Biden vs SpaceX?
The T-Shirts are finished
I don't have a profit stake in the shirts -- but imagine the positive impression you'll make when you arrive in the boxcar with your shirt on. WSF, you need a shirt and some sort of doggy shirt for Banner. You'll get the bunk by the stove for sure if you have a shirt.
Plutonian Syste...
Make No Mistake: It’s a War
Caption: The Shrine of the Book, a wing of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, is built to symbolize the scroll. The shrine is built as a white dome symbolizing the Sons of Light, and a black basalt wall symbolizing the Sons of Darkness.
You can call this a pre-sermonette if you wish.
The War of the Sons of Light Against t...
Today in History
January 30, 1944, At the Anzio Beachhead
The 75th Infantry Regiment suffered a defeat at Cisterna.
Trained and equipped to raid behind enemy lines, "Darby's" US Army Ranger battalions were misused as spearhead units for an American effort to breakout of the Anzio beachhead.
Moving under cover of darkness to seize the town of Cisterna...
The Reserve Currency
The World's Reserve Currency
I know, I know, the oligarchs have a plan - a big plan - and I should have faith that their plan will work out for me. Except that there are a lot of things they don't care about and one is the older half of the aging population and the other is people who retain a sense of patriotism to the outdated notion...
A Day in History & Maps
Their Kind of Place
Soviet soldiers attend the opening of the first McDonald's in the Soviet Union on January 31st, 1990. The opening of the first McDonald's in Moscow was hailed as a symbol of thawing Cold War relations. Over 30,000 Muscovites queued for hours to taste their first Big Mac.
Identify the Aircraft
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