Saturday, February 07, 2026
King Narai, one of the great reformers and heroes of Thai history--
I've been to his palace compound including remains of pavilion where he died in Lopburi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narai
I see, Ligor was the former name of Nakhon Si Thamarat--
Nakhon Si Thammarat - Wikipedia
Nakhon Si Thammarat is a city in southern Thailand with a rich history dating back to the Srivijaya kingdom. It was formerly known as Ligor, a major port and center of trade and culture in the region.
People also search for
And also there's a novel based on the life of Redoute who was Marie Antoinette's painter of flowers--
he survived the French Revolution and died, it is said, "Contemplating a flower."
FTD's list of flower-inspired novels--I can include Red Sorghum (not a flower, a plant) by Mo Yan
and Red Poppy by Alai, a Tibetan writing in Mandarin.
https://www.ftd.com/blog/flower-inspired-novels
The Day of the Triffids--movie--based on brilliant sci fi novel byJohn Wyndham--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4Elc86DMkA
Highly recommended.
I have the book.
Friday, February 06, 2026
There's an Indian movie on Amazon--presented as a musical--set in ricelands about a company
that tries to sell Sterile rice seeds--
It's called Basmati Blues.
Thursday, February 05, 2026
Waterworld--it's as brilliant as its legend--one of those things you wished you had written--
Where did they get the fuel to run their salvaged machinery?
It's answered about half way into the movie.
I used to know almost all of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner by heart.
"Enola" is reminiscent of the plane, the Enola Gay, which bombed Hiroshima.
The Kevin Costner character is called The Mariner.
The pirates and the fish eat fish life style is very realistic.
One scientist said with global warming --humans cannot develop gills so fast.
Then artificial gills were invented and marketed--but still not widely used on planes or ships, as far as I can tell.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterworld
There is no book to read, but maybe one can find the original screenplay or shooting script online.
The water economy with the currency of dirt is brilliant,as are the scraps of paper--which is like the sci fi--A Canticle for St. Leibovitz.
Anyway, it's a 5 out of 5 stars in my book, and it's streaming now on Amazon Prime.
The recycling of dead bodies into the ocean is also brilliant with the special prayer.
Like a wet, dripping, salty Dune.
Kyi May Kaung
2-5-2026
Wednesday, February 04, 2026
From Joseph Conrad wiki--
Adam Hochschild makes a similar point:
What gave [Conrad] such a rare ability to see the arrogance and theft at the heart of imperialism?... Much of it surely had to do with the fact that he himself, as a Pole, knew what it was like to live in conquered territory.... [F]or the first few years of his life, tens of millions of peasants in the Russian empire were the equivalent of slave laborers: serfs. Conrad's poet father, Apollo Korzeniowski, was a Polish nationalist and an opponent of serfdom... [The] boy [Konrad] grew up among exiled prison veterans, talk of serfdom, and the news of relatives killed in uprisings [and he] was ready to distrust imperial conquerors who claimed they had the right to rule other peoples.[229]
Conrad's experience in the Belgian-run Congo made him one of the fiercest critics of the "white man's mission". It was also, writes Najder, Conrad's most daring and last "attempt to become a homo socialis, a cog in the mechanism of society. By accepting the job in the trading company, he joined, for once in his life, an organized, large-scale group activity on land. [...] It is not accidental that the Congo expedition remained an isolated event in Conrad's life. Until his death he remained a recluse in the social sense and never became involved with any institution or clearly defined group of people."[230]
Maggie O'Farrell books in chronological order--
https://mostrecommendedbooks.com/series/maggie-ofarrell-books-in-order
I might read I am I am--her memoir--
The Night Manager--season 2 finale is out--but rather flat--it's ep 6.
You can look for it for yourself.
CBS pulls 60 mins segment featurng Attia--hired by Bari Weiss.
Key Points
CBS is shelving a planned re-run of a 60 Minutes segment featuring wellness influencer Peter Attia, after his name appeared over 1,700 times in the latest release of documents from the Epstein files.
Attia was named a new contributor to the network's news division by controversial new leader Bari Weiss on Jan. 27.
The physician and podcaster shared a lengthy apology on social media on Monday.
https://www.aol.com/lifestyle/cbs-pulls-60-minutes-episode-235231222.html
Tuesday, February 03, 2026
From wiki--just read this--excellent--Maggie O'Farrell--
In 2022, she published The Marriage Portrait, a novel based on the short life of Lucrezia de' Medici, who may or may not have been poisoned by her husband, Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara. O'Farrell has said that she got the idea for the novel after seeing Lucrezia's portrait, attributed to Agnolo Bronzino, and from reading Robert Browning's poem "My Last Duchess", in which Lucrezia makes a brief, silent and unnamed appearance. The novel was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction.[14]i
Monday, February 02, 2026
Demands of Kronstadt Sailors' Revolution--1917.
In view of the fact that the present Soviets do not express the will of the workers and peasants, immediately to hold new elections by secret ballot, the pre-election campaign to have full freedom of agitation among the workers and peasants;
To establish freedom of speech and press for workers and peasants, for Anarchists and left Socialist parties;
To secure freedom of assembly for labor unions and peasant organizations;
To call a nonpartisan Conference of the workers, Red Army soldiers and sailors of Petrograd, Kronstadt, and of Petrograd Province, no later than March 10, 1921;
To liberate all political prisoners of Socialist parties, as well as all workers, peasants, soldiers, and sailors imprisoned in connection with the labor and peasant movements;
To elect a Commission to review the cases of those held in prisons and concentration camps;
To abolish all politotdeli (political bureaus) because no party should be given special privileges in the propagation of its ideas or receive the financial support of the Government for such purposes. Instead there should be established educational and cultural commissions, locally elected and financed by the Government;
To abolish immediately all zagryaditelniye otryadi (Bolshevik units armed to suppress traffic and confiscate foodstuffs);
To equalize the rations of all who work, with the exception of those employed in trades detrimental to health;
To abolish the Bolshevik fighting detachments in all branches of the Army, as well as the Bolshevik guards kept on duty in mills and factories. Should such guards or military detachments be found necessary, they are to be appointed in the Army from the ranks, and in the factories according to the judgment of the workers;
To give the peasants full freedom of action in regard to their land, and also the right to keep cattle, on condition that the peasants manage with their own means; that is, without employing hired labor;
To request all branches of the Army, as well as our comrades the military kursanti, to concur in our resolutions;
To demand that the press give the fullest publicity to our resolutions;
To appoint a Traveling Commission of Control; To permit free kustarnoye (individual small scale) production by one's own efforts.[74] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronstadt_rebellion#
Meaning--Kyrie--
text
Kýrie, eléison (Κύριε, ἐλέησον)
'Lord, have mercy'
Christe, eléison (Χριστέ, ἐλέησον)
'Christ, have mercy'
Sunday, February 01, 2026
Place names I came across in reading DGE Hall--Mainly a history of the rivalry between the French, the British and the Dutch in S and SE Asia from the 16th century onwards.
I'm only reading the reigns of Naresuan,his brother Ekathasarot and his great grandson Narai--
Narai was very progressive and sent the first mission to the W--Court of the Sun King, way before Burmese King Mindon--
However, as often happens, liberals are often followed by regressives--I saw the remains of the room where he died--or was killed, in Lopburi.
Hall is a useful book as it shows the whole region--not isolated by "nations" which did not exist then.
Read up on Toungoo Dynasty, Pegu/Bago/Hanthawaddy, Naresuan, Maha Thamaracha,
Ekathatsarot, Narai and the elephant keeper who succeeded him.
Also Arakan chapters in Hall--including exile of Shah Shuja by Aurangzeb--
the bad son of Shah Jahan--and the killer of his brother Dara Shikoh.
Also check out Philipe de Brito,Natshinnaung,Yaza Datu Kalya.
It's good to know world history.
Don't be the frog in the well.
KM Kaung
2-1-2026
I have a copy of the Hall book--it's a very thick paperback-so--hard to read in one sitting and I prefer print books.
I have an almost identically thick compendium of writings in Ceylon/Sri Lanka--called The Sri Lanka Reader.
I read a bit at a time as I need to.
It's worth it like all reading.
kmk
2-1-2026
2 Important papers--DNA of Tibeto-Burmans--+ migration period of Ancient Burma (wiki)
https://genomicatlas.org/2022/01/01/tibeto-burman-expansions-high-altitude-adaptation-and-paleolithic-legacy-in-the-tibetan-plateau/
We all came out of Africa in spite of Burmese/Myanmar ingrained prejudice about "kala"--black people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migration_period_of_ancient_Burma
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)