Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Real life meet cutes when you get tired of all the politics and trade wars, tariffs and deportations.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskWomen/comments/jy2f4a/when_did_you_have_a_meetcute_romcom_moment_tell/?rdt=44076
But nothing really beats the Reddit founder and tennis champ Serena Williams--who of course met in a very high end hotel in a glamourous city. He had never watched tennis before, and she had never heard of Reddit.
Christie Brinkly just published her own memoir of her life with Billie Joel and 3 other husbands.
UPS announces 20,000 job cuts, 73 facilities closing--due to Amazon reduction.
https://www.aol.com/ups-announces-20-000-job-130143932.html
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Now it's Trump vs Bezos--eventually, he will lose them all.
Would you stay "loyal" if you lost 30 b in less than 100 days and it looks like you will lose more?
Amazon stock has been falling too.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/29/business/white-house-calls-report-that-amazon-is-adding-a-tariff-charge-a-hostile-action/index.html
Do you think consumers don't notice how much more they are paying for certain items?
Tariffs across the board on all items depending on country where they were made is a stupid idea in the first place.
And what for? To fund tax cuts for billionaires and millionaires.
Why do they need tax cuts when others are starving,
Class action lawsuit accuses Tesla of juicing odometers, as do these drivers.
https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-lawsuit-odometer-fraud-inaccurate-mileage-warranty-void-2025-4?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Most Teslas are bought in California, wh is now world's 4th largest economy.
*
Monday, April 28, 2025
Sunday, April 27, 2025
how did Bluesky go down for one hour on Thursday--even though decentralized?
https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/wait-how-did-a-decentralized-service-like-bluesky-go-down/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLmdvb2dsZS5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHrQ9A1Lp4d267D4jwAF5T-Hsnv4aQk3USvJdMpnlpspuix2WR4910kwFfKctGsNcDv7_AyKI7bfRKVSIGwdzSX6Tvel02mhWtISO-2k_yYmyLXvTXlbSe9ERQoqu5PvDWWdtTvw6yUN6Pu9RNggjaMld1uuNpmmTpt6T-dTz0ib
In my opinion,X(formerly Twitter)owned by Musk and "truth social" owned by trump, should be avoided except by journalists tracking hellholes.
Mastodon shld not fight with Bluesky and soon to come Blacksky.
I don't know much, but Mastodon seemed unwieldly and Bluesky seemed more user-friendly.
At present all I have is this old blog.
Saturday, April 26, 2025
Friday, April 25, 2025
AI overview--Can Musk go bankrupt?--His EV market share is decreasing--below--copied and pasted.
AI Overview
Learn more
While it's highly unlikely, Elon Musk could technically go bankrupt, particularly if Tesla or his other ventures like X (formerly Twitter) face significant financial difficulties. However, his vast wealth and business interests create a high bar for bankruptcy, according to a CNN article.
Here's a more detailed look:
Factors that could lead to Musk's potential bankruptcy:
Significant debt: Elon Musk's companies, including Tesla and X, have substantial debt obligations. If they cannot service these debts, it could lead to financial distress and potentially bankruptcy, according to the BBC. Major financial losses: While Musk's net worth is substantial, a sustained period of major losses in his companies, particularly Tesla, could deplete his assets and make bankruptcy a possibility. Legal liabilities: Musk has faced legal battles and settlements, and further significant legal liabilities could strain his finances. Economic downturn: A severe economic downturn could negatively impact Tesla's sales and X's advertising revenue, potentially leading to financial problems for Musk's companies. Why bankruptcy is unlikely:
Enormous wealth: Musk's net worth is estimated to be in the hundreds of billions, according to Forbes. This gives him a significant cushion and financial resources to navigate challenges. Multiple business interests: Musk has a diversified portfolio of businesses, including Tesla, SpaceX, and X, which helps mitigate the risk of one company's failure impacting his entire net worth. Ability to raise capital:
Musk has demonstrated the ability to raise significant capital through stock sales and other means, which can help him address financial challenges. Potential for future growth: Musk's companies have the potential for significant future growth, which could help him recover from any financial setbacks. In Conclusion: While Elon Musk's personal bankruptcy is improbable due to his vast wealth and business interests, it remains a possibility if his companies face significant financial difficulties, according to a YouTube video. He has multiple avenues to address financial challenges, including raising capital and renegotiating debt, but a sustained period of major losses could eventually strain his resources. Could X go bankrupt under Elon Musk? Dec 2, 2023 BBC elon musk tesla news: 'Tesla would have gone bankrupt had I not...' Jan 15, 2025 — Musk had to pay to save Tesla from going bankrupt In the podcast, Elon Musk said that he had to pay a fine to the SEC ... The Economic Times Tesla Stock Has Tanked So Hard That It's No Longer Elon Musk's Biggest ... Mar 23, 2025 — Tesla's Stock Collapse Tesla's stock has plummeted over 50% since December, causing the company to lose $800 billion i... Yahoo Finance Generative AI is experimental.
BBC-will Musk really leave?
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dr6k6rvl7o
Doge should be abolished too.
A real life story--how to write about love--from Vogue
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/my-boyfriend-his-best-friend-and-me-a-love-story?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Uncle wanted to see his first wife whom he left in prewar period just before WWII.
Aunty, the only aunty I knew, was angry with her daughter for fulfiling her husband's dying wish.
There was another couple--the dying man was a Christian and his wife would not give him the comfort of a Bible under his pillow.
k
4-23-2025
Thursday, April 24, 2025
Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Singapore PM Wong gives DJT a Masters' Course in World History and America's proper role.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5C5nFp-6-o
Each sentence of this speech is more meaningful than T's lifetime of hate-spout.
PM Wong said, "we will make our own destiny" and they have, when they started they were and still are " a small nation state."
Trump is going to Rome--he also said last week there will be a 100% tariff with Italy (EU)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZvnXQ3mn8E
The Vatican I am sure will treat the orange couple with due respect--but probably cooly.
As for what the vulgar couple will do, well we will see.
Remember when she wore her "I don't really care" khaki-colored cotton jacket on a trip to see migrant children?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVez5SRRS_w
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Can an American be the next Pope--I truly think it will be a good idea--and Cardinal Ferrell is
right there and well-qualified, and the American Catholic Church will "balance" orange devil.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/21/europe/cardinal-kevin-farrell-camerlengo-pope-francis-intl/index.html
Monday, April 21, 2025
I've read this one--Shoes of the Fisherman--published 1963, based on a true story.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shoes_of_the_Fisherman_(novel)
Read it in Burma in 1970s, copy belonging to a Christian family friend.
BBC--naturally occuring arsenic in rice--arsenic causes cancer and diabetes
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250417-how-climate-change-could-affect-arsenic-in-rice?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Europe, rice is the single biggest source of dietary exposure to inorganic arsenic.
Lowering the arsenic in your rice
If you want to lower your arsenic exposure from rice, there are a few things you can do.
First, some types of rice have more inorganic arsenic than others. White rice has a lower inorganic arsenic content than brown rice but has less nutritional value. Basmati rice has less inorganic arsenic than other varieties. And rice from certain areas, including east Africa, has less arsenic than rice from other areas, including parts of the US, Europe, and south-east Asia.
Researchers at the University of Sheffield in the UK also recently discovered a way of cooking rice that can remove 50% of the arsenic in brown rice and 74% from white rice. They recommend first parboiling the rice in pre-boiled water for five minutes before draining. Then add fresh water and cook it on a lower heat to absorb all the water.
The UK's Food Standard's Agency recommends rinsing your rice before cooking and then boiling it in six parts water to one part rice before draining and rinsing again.
Sunday, April 20, 2025
BBC--Thorny (Customs) Hedge of India--really fascinating--
I think I know this plum--called Hpan Thee (slightly) bitter fruit.
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-mysterious-disappearance-of-the-world-s-longest-shrubbery?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
One of my favorite books--Grendel by John Gardner, famous writer and writing teacher, who died after a motor cycle accident.
Unfortunately he died the year I arrived in America, and I had not yet caught the writing bug.
One of my favorite books--Grendel by John Gardner, famous writer and writing teacher, who died after a motor cycle accident.
Unfortunatly he died the year I arrived in America, and I had not yet caught the writing bug.
Disclaimer--I have no business connection with Amazon.
at April 20, 2025
Disclaimer--I have no business connection with Amazon.
Like the monster Grendel saying in John Gardner's novel Grendel, when his arm was torn off by Boewulf--GOP lawmaker, not related to JFK--says "it was a one off"
but still a screw up.
https://www.aol.com/wont-admit-mistake-gop-lawmaker-152956130.html
Grendel, by John Gardner.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grendel_(novel)
OMG--Alun Lewis is buried in Htaukkyan War Cemetery--near Rangoon.
Lewis died on 5 March 1944 during the Burma campaign against the Imperial Japanese Army. He was found shot in the head, after shaving and washing, near the officers' latrines, with his revolver in his hand, and died from his wound six hours later. Despite it being a case of suicide, a court of inquiry charitably concluded that he had tripped and that the shooting was an accident.[8] He is buried at Taukkyan War Cemetery.[4]
His second book of poems, Ha! Ha! Among the Trumpets. Poems in Transit, was published in 1945, and his Letters from India in 1946. Several collections of his poems, letters and stories have been published subsequently.
Works
From Lafayette wiki:
Lafayette was born into a wealthy land-owning family in Chavaniac in the province of Auvergne in south-central France. He followed the family's martial tradition and was commissioned an officer at age 13. He became convinced that the American revolutionary cause was noble, and he traveled to the New World seeking glory in it. He was made a major general at age 19 but was initially not given American troops to command. He fought with the Continental Army at the Battle of Brandywine near Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, where he was wounded but managed to organize an orderly retreat, and he served with distinction in the Battle of Rhode Island. In the middle of the war, he returned home to France to lobby for an increase in French support for the American Revolution. He returned to America in 1780 and was given senior positions in the Continental Army. In 1781, troops under his command in Virginia blocked a British army led by Lord Cornwallis until other American and French forces could position themselves for the decisive siege of Yorktown.
Lafayette returned to France and was appointed to the Assembly of Notables in 1787, convened in response to the fiscal crisis. He was elected a member of the Estates General of 1789, where representatives met from the three traditional orders of French society: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. After the National Constituent Assembly was formed, he helped to write the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen with Thomas Jefferson's assistance. This document was inspired by the United States Declaration of Independence, which was authored primarily by Jefferson, and invoked natural law to establish basic principles of the democratic nation-state. He also advocated the abolition of slavery, in keeping with the philosophy of natural rights. After the storming of the Bastille, he was appointed commander-in-chief of France's National Guard and tried to steer a middle course through the years of revolution. In August 1792, radical factions ordered his arrest, and he fled to the Austrian Netherlands. He was captured by Austrian troops and spent more than five years in prison.
De Tocqueville and Democracy in America.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville
Tocqueville came from an old aristocratic Norman family, the great-grandson of the statesman Malesherbes, who was guillotined in 1793.
Tocqueville was a classical liberal who advocated parliamentary government and was sceptical of the extremes of majoritarianism.[8] During his time in parliament, he was first a member of the centre-left before moving to the centre-right,[9] and the complex and restless nature of his liberalism has led to contrasting interpretations and admirers across the political spectrum.[3][4][5][10] For example, Democracy in America was interpreted differently across national contexts. In France and the United States, Tocqueville's work was seen as liberal, whereas both progressives and conservatives in the British Isles interpreted his work as supporting their own positions.[11]
From Redoute wiki--copied and pasted:
Redouté was an official court artist of Marie Antoinette, and continued painting through the French Revolution and Reign of Terror. He survived the turbulent political upheaval to gain international recognition for his precise renderings of plants, which remain as fresh in the early 21st century as when first painted. He combined great artistic skills with a pleasing and ingratiating personality which assisted him with his influential patrons. After Queen Marie-Antoinette, his patrons included both of Napoleon's wives – Empress Joséphine and Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma – as well as Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, wife of Louis Philippe I, the last king of France.[1]
Redouté collaborated with the greatest botanists of his day and participated in nearly fifty publications depicting both the familiar flowers of the French court and plants from places as distant as Japan, America, South Africa, and Australia. He worked from live plants rather than herbarium specimens, which contributed to his fresh subtle renderings. He was painting during a period in botanical illustration (1798 – 1837) that is noted for the publication of outstanding folio editions with coloured plates. Redouté produced over 2,100 published plates depicting over 1,800 different species, many never rendered before. Of the French botanical illustrators employed in the French capital, Redouté is the one who remains in the public consciousness today.[1] He is seen as an important heir to the tradition of the Flemish and Dutch flower painters Brueghel, Ruysch, van Huysum and de Heem.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Joseph_Redout%C3%A9
Saturday, April 19, 2025
Miles Taylor "Anonymous"--excerpt copied and pasted from wikipedia
On April 9, 2025, during his second presidency, Trump signed an executive order
revoking security clearances for Taylor and close associates, including all
active security clearances for individuals at the University of Pennsylvania,
and Chris Krebs, the first Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
Security Agency, as well as ordering investigations into the work of both men
during their time in office.[70][71] At the time of the executive order, the
University of Pennsylvania did not conduct classified research and had no
security clearance.[72][73]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Taylor_(security_expert)
AP--deadly US air strike on Houthis--overnight.
https://apnews.com/article/yemen-us-airstrikes-563f61bbd96e1f2de68373fdf76c8811?utm_source=newsshowcase&utm_medium=gnews&utm_campaign=CDAQtImlo-K2i9U3GL3-yNS4-LGctwEqDwgAKgcICjCE7s4BMOH0KA&utm_content=rundown
Trump's reason may be Israel--he's very personal.
Friday, April 18, 2025
Sell off of $$$
https://www.aol.com/strange-sell-off-dollar-raises-232505306.html
Misleading title--not strange at all--would you likes some Burmese kyats,now at 3000 kyats to the $.
Breaking--(of America)--nearly 300 scientists apply for French program due to trump cuts.
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/18/nx-s1-5368132/us-researchers-scientists-apply-french-university-program
This is like intellectuals, incld Hannah Arendt, Werner von Braun, Sigmund Frued fleeing Hitler's Germany.
Sad--beginning of the fall.
FL State Univ shooting victims include--
FL State Univ. shooting victims include--son of Cuban Exile turned CIA operative--
https://www.aol.com/fsu-shooting-victims-school-employee-183843571.html
There are of course many Cuban exiles and former refugees in FL--
the most famous being Gloria Estafan and her husband Emilio Estafan----
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Estefan
*
Thursday, April 17, 2025
Thailand's fragile democracy--
https://theconversation.com/thailands-fragile-democracy-takes-another-hit-with-arrest-of-us-academic-254706
Paul Chambers has been released on bail.
Fruit trees--
https://www.realsimple.com/fast-growing-fruit-trees-11714087?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Trump admin stops DOJ political appointies like Bondi from social media posts.
https://www.aol.com/us-justice-dept-policy-cracks-153823225.html
Essentially they were aping dear leader and posting lies in same vein.
Monday, April 14, 2025
Sad Burmese New Year--Maybe we can drink our tears and urine--
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-quake-victims-mark-new-year-camped-in-ruins.html
While Mrs. mah clutches her one of several Vuitton bags.
Dump your Vuitton stuff too.
Sunday, April 13, 2025
Eastern hemisphere--1200 AD--map
The best historical fiction of the Mongols from Genghis to Kublai Khan with events in all these places is still the Genghis Series by Conn Iggulden. I started with Bones of the Hills.
The Mongols had the largest empire in history--Pretty amazing.
Present would-be "conqueror" can't even sit a horse, was never in army,let alone in combat.
The most impressive campaign took place after Genghis had died, when his star general--Tsubodai, orchestrated battles of 3 different divisions arriving in Kievan Rus and Hungary on the same days--
before airplanes- before wireless, radio, Signal, before anything but horses.
Now that's impressive.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/East-Hem_1200ad.jpg
You should also read Secret History of the Mongols--a contemporaneaous document in poetry, written in Uigher Turk, and transcribed in Mandarin--
which would be like me writing Burmese--say Nay Pyi Taw --in Roman script like this.
I go back and read the Secret History very often--
The horse culture, the steppe culture is very vivid here, all the different colors of horses, horses can't bet too thin, their bellies must be down to the grass,
How Yesugai, Genghi's father abducted his mother, how she cried--and so on--
It's all as vivid as the family history your story-telling grandmother never told you.
Kyi May Kaung
4-13-2025
Terminally lovely, imminently readable and eternally memorable--GaryJenning's
Aztec,
Journeyer
and Raptor--spell-binding.
Wow--Chinese -Jingye owned steel plant (blast furnace) in UK making virgin steel may have to be closed due to Trump tariffs.
This is a long thread--scroll up and down. Blast furnaces require very high temperatures and like glass furnaces, can't be closed. My engineer-relative trained in Champaign Urbana told me about a horrific Burmese glass factory, located wrongly in the Irrawaddy Delta. I'll tell you this story some other time.
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cwy7gw88nq9t
This illustrates the truth of Milton Friendman's Pencil--
There are bilateral trade agreements everywhere--
So Trump's "reciprocal tariiffs" non-theory--is completely BS.
Faulty understanding of how things work.
If the components of a simple seeming thing like a pencil come from somany difft places,think of more complex items??
And it's true all of T's so-called policies are ah yoo chee pan,Burmese-term for rock music--"mad man pooping all over the place."
I propose you use these Burmese terms get into at least American English, like the Hispanic "cohones."
My father would say saik hway zii--goats' balls.
kmk
Burmese New Year--4-13-2025
Knee surgery so young, found a handsome surgeon--together only about a year?
Too sad, the shortness of celeb relationships.
https://people.com/who-is-justin-saliman-sofia-vergara-8662888
Colonial-type bullying--US demands control of key Ukraine pipeline carrying Russian gas--
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/12/us-demands-control-from-ukraine-of-key-pipeline-carrying-russian-gas
This guy is almost certainly a Russian asset--pity.
*
Art--David Hockney paintings at Louis Vuitton Foundation--
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/artists/david-hockney-exhibition-fondation-louis-vuitton-paris-1234738437/
I saw some computer and iPad paintings and immersive video--seasonal,along a lane, made by Hockney through 4 seasons along the same country lane, with a video cam on his car--
at the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
I liked all of it a lot, but did not go into the Banksy Museum close by.
I went for the Tulip Festival at Keukenhof Gardens.
I like Amsterdam, it's small and manageable--but the 6 hour flight tired me and was disorienting.
Now, I don't want to travel anywhere.
I travel on my laptop, and in books and movies--or on short rides to see my doctors and the flowers.
I've learned to maximize my time and don't waste time blah blahing with a lot of inquisitive, jealous people.
I feel it's a waste of my precious time on earth to deal with innuendos, snipes and sarcastic remarks.
I once said to someone visiting from Burma, "It's better to grow old in America, but you do need money,"
And this person, said,"You mean you have money?"
Of course, it's nice to have money, a soft cushion to fall back on,but it can disappear in minutes, think of the recent stock crash. Think of the 7.7 earthquake in Myanmar.
I asked a friend from Beirut why she left, she said, "A bomb fell on my house."
And yet my mother thought I was the most aquisitive of us 3 siblings.
Go figure.
Tiresome to keep explaining oneself, when one has never done anyone wrong.
All my battles and all my wars are defensive ones.
I never plot against others, all I want is to be left alone.
Enough for today.
K. M. Kaung,
4-13-2025
People taunting Dante on the street.
Saturday, April 12, 2025
This is corruption and meddling with people's personal data and lives--
Washington Post: Trump admin over rode staff to declare living people dead.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/12/trump-immigrants-dead-social-security/
So they're the ones who listed living people as dead and then screamed Social Sec. was being given to dead people.
Not to mention wrongly-listed people losing benefits, having to drive miles and stand in line to prove they are still alive
while DOGE or DODGE is firing staff so there are not enough people to answer phones and do the work.
This is all unbelievable--but it's good T and M are at each other's throats.
Stay tuned and WOKE--
WOKE or AwAKE is not a bad thing.
It's a Good Thing.
It's Awareness. Buddhist Awareness.
Heard on Substack a few days ago: Interviewer asks former Republican, "So what did the Kool Aid taste like?"
Like one woman asking another, "What did Brad Pitt smell like?"
Apologies to Brad Pitt--wrong analogy.
k
4-12-2025
HA! It's Burmese New Year--Water Festival--and people have not been in a festive mood since 2021.
Manuscript page of Dante's The Divine Comedy. He wrote in a vernacular of 2 local dialects which became Italian.
David Scott Mathieson--Capitalizing on Calamity and Chaos in Myanmar
https://www.irrawaddy.com/opinion/guest-column/capitalizing-on-calamity-and-chaos-in-myanmar.html
Mathieson should have said, "Since the Cyclone USAID aid of 1970s," junta has taken supplies itself immediately--e.g. Ne Win's "historian" 3rd and 5th wife Ni Ni Myint--and the token divorce.
Inside sources say Stanford Chain,Karen/Kayin scholar wrote all of NNM's papers in which she helped her husband re-write Burmese history.
end
A must see --from Lawrence O'Donnell--Trump vs Musk--and Milton Friedman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyI8OZVmgbc
Besides the two inflated egos,bruising against each other that make conflict inevitable,
in this case Musk is right--it's the free market and free movement of labor that leads to high GDP and a high standard of living, but labor needs to have its rights too--and there can be tariffs on things like liquor and cigarettes which are not good for people to consume
and someone in the WH just can't say whatever he wants and shake up the world on the basis of pride, misguided and wrong ideas and whatever he feels like.
"Tongues don't have bones."
When these two titans clash, as we say in Burmese, when two water buffalo tussle,
the grass gets trampled.
--very sad--that Congress is so spinelss and maga is so clueless and self-serving--
but it seems to me a great revolution is brewing.
Believe it or not, when the 2021 coup took place, peaceful resistance lasted only a few days--then 2 young women were shot by government snipers, and the people rose up--first with 1776-style muskets that the British had allowed the Chin, on the border with India, to
have.
Then they copied these muskets at home by hand.
Now they have drones and 3 D printers.
Remember when, Zelensky was asking for a no fly zone and to join NATO.
Yesterday, Western European countries announced billions for Ukraine--
World War III is already upon us--and this time USA is not strong, it's in fact weak.
China will not knuckle under--why should it? It's the 2nd largest economy in the world.
Japan and China too have started selling the US Treasury Bills they have been holding--Of course they will--yields have been going up which means prices are down, and why wouldn't these countries sell the bonds of a country that is failing and flailing and will decline more in future?
DJT likes to say he has "common sense" but he doesn't, nor does he understand--"how a pencil is made."
Wow--my two to five or six favorite mentors are now dead too--but wouldn't they be sad to see this.
As they are gone already, I will list them here in order of their appearance in my academic life.
Dr.Aye Hlaing--Economic historian--The Growth of the Burmese economy during the colonial period.
Dr.Ronald E.Findlay--International Trade Theory.
Dr. Hla Myint, co-founder with Arthur Lewis of Development Ecos. (I wasn't his student as I was a year too young, and Ne Win deported him back to UK)
Dr. Khin Maung Kyi--(I was never in his class either, as he was in the Commerce Department--but he wrote about centralized bureaucracies)
At the Univ of Pensylvania.
Dissertation chair--Dr Henry Teune--political scientist, systems.
Prof.Herbert Levine, Disstn Committee Chair-Economist, specialist on Russia and China.
My external examiner, whom I first went to see in 1984.
Dr. Josef Silverstein, Political Scientist,Burma expert.
He actually knew my father U Kaung, but he didn't tell me till long after I had gotten my degree. He had a business card he gave me--on which my father apologized for not being able to see him--My father died from injuries after a car accident in Calcutta. I should be better at keeping these things.
Your true mentors are those who have a lasting influence on you, and "taught you how to think.
I should also add my mother was one of the earliest economics graduates in Burma and she persuaded me to study economics, and of course I don't regret it, but between us, my true love is writing--and "making things."
Kyi May Kaung.
4-12-2025.
Kaung--oil on canvas--Crawling to Democracy.
Friday, April 11, 2025
From Prince Sakhumband Paribatra wiki
Political career
Sukhumbhand started his political career in the short-lived Nam Thai Party of which he was a founding member in 1994. He soon switched over to the Democrat Party. He was elected member of parliament for Bangkok in 1996 and 2001.
In 1999, when he was deputy foreign minister, he volunteered with a couple other Thai officials to take the place of 82 hostages taken at the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok by armed gunmen from the "Virulent Burmese Student Warriors". All of the hostages were released unhurt because Sukhumbhand went in the helicopter with the gunmen so they would release all the hostages.[4]
2 prominant Thai princes exiled in 1930s-
AI Overview
Learn more
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Prince_Damrong_Rajanubhab.jpg/220px-Prince_Damrong_Rajanubhab.jpg
Two prominent Thai princes were exiled in the 1930s: Damrong Rajanubhab and Paribatra Sukhumbandhu. Damrong was exiled to Penang in 1932 after the revolution that established a constitutional monarchy. Paribatra was exiled to Bandung in 1932 as well, due to his influence in the old government.
US--foods to stock up due to tariffs--
https://www.aol.com/lifestyle/12-foods-editors-stocking-tariffs-190000845.html
The writer of this is in the white and or upper income bracket--but bc I ran out of tumeric, I bought a large bag yesterday--spices mostly imported from India and maybe Indonesia.
Another Trump sycophant--Rudy Guiliani--AI overview--
Disbarment. In June 2021, Giuliani had his license to practice law suspended in the state of New York, pending an investigation related to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. On July 2, 2024, he was disbarred in the state of New York.
Rudy Giuliani - Wikipedia
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Rudy_Giuliani
Thursday, April 10, 2025
American Eagle near accident--Reagan National--DC-
https://www.aol.com/hydrogen-fuel-cell-trucks-hit-100059588.html
Notoriously shoddy airline--never fly on it.
Myanmar junta orders quake-smashed "govt" offices to open while housed in infernally hot tents.
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-junta-orders-ministries-to-reopen-in-quake-smashed-naypyitaw.html
NPT is known for its high heat index--
called Nay Poo Taw--Infernally hot royal place by Burmese.
It's directly over the Sagaing Fault and in the heartland Dry Zone.
*
Billionaire Space X customer flies into DC on private jet to head NASA.
https://futurism.com/jared-isaacman-flies-dc-head-nasa
Space is a billionaire plaything at taxpayer expense.
Junta airstrikes continue despite earthquake--70 aftershocks, 92 attacks--NUG data. Everywhere except Yangon (Rangoon).
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-junta-airstrikes-continue-despite-quake.html
And the 2021 coup perpetrator is setting up elections.
One was the Nargis (Cyclone) referendum in the recent past.
Wednesday, April 09, 2025
AI overview of Great Depression--copied and pasted.
The Great Depression, a severe global economic downturn, began in the United States with the stock market crash of October 1929, often referred to as "Black Thursday," and quickly spread worldwide, marked by bank failures, high unemployment, and a decline in global trade.
Here's a more detailed explanation:
Stock Market Crash (October 1929):
The rapid expansion of the stock market during the 1920s, fueled by speculation and buying on margin (borrowing money to invest), led to an unsustainable bubble. When the bubble burst, stock prices plummeted, wiping out billions of dollars in investments and triggering a wave of panic.
Banking Panics:
The stock market crash exposed weaknesses in the financial system, leading to banking panics as people rushed to withdraw their money from banks.
Global Economic Contraction:
The US was the largest economy in the world at the time, and its economic downturn had a ripple effect on other countries, particularly those reliant on US trade and loans.
Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (1930):
This act, which imposed high tariffs on imported goods, further exacerbated the global economic crisis by hindering international trade.
Gold Standard:
The adherence to the gold standard, where currencies were pegged to gold, meant that countries had to raise interest rates to maintain their currency's value, further depressing economic activity.
Other Factors:
Other factors that contributed to the Great Depression included overproduction in agriculture, mounting consumer debt, and decreased industrial production.
Great Depression - Wikipedia
The economic contagion began in 1929 in the United States, the largest economy in the world, with the devastating Wall Street stoc...
Wikipedia
The Great Depression - Federal Reserve History
The Great Depression began in August 1929, when the economic expansion of the Roaring Twenties came to an end. A series of financi...
Federal Reserve History
Great Depression Facts - FDR Presidential Library & Museum
The beginning ofAmerica's "Great Depression" is often cited as the dramatic crash of the stock market on "Black Thursday," October...
FDR Presidential Library & Museum
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Generative AI is experimental.
The Burmese version of "Gulf of America"--don't call it Sagaing Earthquake--
How about calling it NPT Quake--NPT or Kings' Royal City is junta capital in the quake prone heartland and quake also means quake with fear.
Fiery Girdle--Ring of Fire from US Geologcal Survey
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/dont-call-it-the-sagaing-quake-warns-superstitious-myanmar-junta.html
But this article is a bit off--as regards the linguistics.
San kyarzan are rice noodles
san=rice
kyarsan=vermicelli or noodles.
What junta is doing by "please donate san kyarzar to monasteries" is based on superstitious practice or yadaya or magic charms to negate bad things.
san kyar zan is a pun for kyar kyar san=reign long.
junta wants to be kings.
So--got it now?
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/dont-call-it-the-sagaing-quake-warns-superstitious-myanmar-junta.html
So reign long among the ruins
while it rains cats and dogs
making rescue operations difficult
while it's doubtful Russia and China
will help rebuild Myanamar and
NaypyiTaw.
It's amazing how trump is so like
the myanmar generals.
kmk
4-9-2025
Trump has just upped the ante from 34%
by slapping 104% tariffs on imports from China.
I'm pretty sure Trump and his family
and his golf courses and Mar a Lago
are using a lot of Chinese products
"Chinese" according to Trumpies including Taiwan.
Meanwhile, we all need to eat and
a lot of food and consumer durables
not to say raw materials come from
Southeast and South India,including India,
China, Taiwan, Vietnam, even poor Myanmar. And Mexico.
Boo hoo hoo
Trump is wrecking the US and World Economy.
It's very different from the post WW II
Marshal Plan.
More later.
Tuesday, April 08, 2025
Private American field hospital sets up in NPT, tourist visas suspended, Resistance victories etc.
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/lives-updates-quake-death-toll-rises-to-3600-junta-suspends-tourist-visa-after-quake-private-us-field-hospital-in-naypyitaw-and-more.html
NPT is junta stronghold--earlier reports that rescuers had to follow junta orders.
Tourist visas stopped bc they don't want reporters coming in.
Famous quote--First they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up--
The Quote
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-first-they-came-for-the-socialists
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
—Martin Niemöller
This quote is attributed to the prominent German pastor Martin Niemöller. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a poem.
Majdanek, Poland--I visited in 1968-9.
Michigan auto industry and Michigan State fist victims of Trump trade wars
https://www.wsj.com/economy/the-first-victim-of-trumps-trade-war-michigans-economy-ea6ff8b2?mod=trending_now_news_2
This article says 20% of Michigan's economy is the automotive industry.
Nobel Economist Paul Krugman just said to Mehdi Hassan on Substack--
"there are no truly US made cars" (from scratch)--parts are imported.
March 30, 2025--"The Day I got Kash Patel's phone number from the President"
She found it in the National Archives--The way they treat sensitive information is incredible.
https://sashaingber.substack.com/p/that-time-i-got-fbi-director-kash
Monday, April 07, 2025
One Act of Kindness a Day-List.
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/rewind-and-be-kind-what-happens-if-you-do-one-act-of-kindness-every-day?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
My partial list:
1. As they had the farewell party for me as I was leaving on a scholarship, the then rector of the Ecos Inst in Rangoon said,"Let her go. Don't obstruct her, you will get your chance too."
It turned out he was wrong--bc the door closed, again after opening a crack, as in Wole Soyinka's play, Death and the King's Horseman, but it changed my life.
2.I was walking slowly around NY city behind my "student"who had not actually been my student, MT, but was the age of a student and of course younger and taller.
As he whizzed ahead, he took me and a HS student to the Frick Collection, he said, "You know Sayama (Female Teacher), it's getting very racist in Burma. They have a law now that you have to prove your ancestors were in Burma bf 1886 to prove you are native.
When I was mulling to stay or return after the 1988 clampdown by the junta on the nationwide pro-democracy movement in Burma, my professor and life mentor said to me on the phone, "Which way are you inclining?"
He once wrote on my exam paper "A superb performance." I kept the paper, but I don't know what happened to it.
He wrote 2 job recommendations for me and one asylum recommendation, which my lawyer and the personel in the places I was working and intending to work,told me about later.
A Transportation Ecos. professor told me how to move laterally to Pol.Sci while still on my Fulbright at Penn--and how to find a Pol.Sci, professor to be my dissertation chair.
The foreign student advisor helped me and my late friend continue to live in student housing, when our grants were stopped, "but the bills will keep coming."
The disstn chair looked at my topic with one click of his mouse, and said, "It hasn't been done before. It will be a best seller--do it."
and many more, as to how to live in NE DC "where, the subway swings from Connecticutt Av to Wisconsin."
--
On a bus trip to Keukenhof Gardens in Amsterdam in 2019, the "spare" or bus conductor smiled at me--and on the way out, an Arab woman in a head scarf, gestured to me at the colorful lines of tulips in bloom.
I showed someone an orchid hidden under a leaf at Ars Botanica.
Someone paid for my subway ticket in New York City.
A couple let me take the only taxi left a 2 AM in DC Union Station.
A young man with earphones on called a Lyft for me when my app did not work at Ars Botanica, and I came out on the wrong side of the road.
Daniel, then at American Univ, maybe this will find you. I gave him the 10 $$.
Thank you.
Kyi May Kaung
4-7-2025
Kaung--My crochet and wearable art --Lakeside Shawl--made to Fiber Spider design. 1922.
Sunday, April 06, 2025
Saturday, April 05, 2025
Burmese saying--It hurts when it touches my flesh (and blood.)
Ah thar htii hma
nar te.
istock royalty free image.
OMG--Instead of helping, Trump fires three US Aid workers on the ground in Myanmar helping rescue efforts.
They were fired while they were helping earthquake victims on the ground, Aaron Parnas reports.
Please follow Aaron Parnas, The Parnas Perspective on Substack.
https://aaronparnas.substack.com/
Trump has crossed the line.
He's also firing many workers at IRS--Internal Revenue Service.
Right now, Parnas is at the Washington Monument live.
I highly recommend Parnas--who's even better than Democracy Now. And that's saying something.
Donate to Parnas. Almost hourly updates.
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