Sunday, March 22, 2026
Saturday, March 21, 2026
I never do high risk things, never follow the crowd, never (try not to) follow the advice of jealous people--
fortunately all the women who wanted to get in my husband's pants are all gone--
1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
The earliest died around 1965, the latest about 2016.
By now their bodies are dust.
So so jealous.
People was just ships passing in the night.
I'm more jolted by Robert Mueller dying than any of the above 5.
One had the same name as my son's St.Bernard/Collie mix doggie.
Two was a mee yat pain,mee yat chauk--menopausal thin driedup woman:)
Three and four and five were his brothers'wives.
What a toxic hive.
Therefore in my fiction I always invent heroes like Yang Yang playing Song Yan in Fireworks of My Heart.
Right, sorry, not "Fireflies of my Heart," :)
who never even ever think of cheating on their wives.
And if they do they should be dumped pronto pronto
Cut your losses early.
kmk.
3-21-2026
Photo--broken heart coconut blanc mange--KM Kaung
CDs, High Yield Savings and Money Market accounts comparison--
Of course look at the interest rate and other things, such as penalties for early withdrawal.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/10000-cd-high-yield-savings-money-market-account-earn-most-interest-2026/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Also watch what the Fed does and if accts are FDIC insured.
How risk averse or not are you?
I myself would rather be safe than sorry.
Denmark and Greenland--from NYT.
Denmark Was Ready to Blow Up Airfields to Stop a U.S. Invasion of Greenland
The Danes brought blood supplies, explosives and live ammunition to Greenland as part of contingency plans in case President Trump acted on his threats to seize the island.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/world/europe/denmark-blow-up-greenland-runways-us-invasion.html
Down down Dow--market indicators--
19 hours ago
By Margaret Attridge
Dow Jones
-0.96%
45,577.47
S&P 500
-1.51%
6,506.48
Nasdaq
-2.01%
21,647.61
Russell
-2.26% 2,438.45 23 hours ago Disclaimer More from Google Finance
Friday, March 20, 2026
Partial closure--Fireworks series--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bQHrsEYo34
Realistic post-earthquake setting, great lighting,photography, tonal "Chinese" sound track,sounds a bit like Tang Dun, Symphony 97,
color palette, details (like her bob hairstyle in high school) lighter etc
Characeter development--just perfect--even secondary and tertiary characters.
Song Yan
Dr. Xu
Pi Pi
Jan Yiang
The one who had to retire --earlier
Old army buddy.
Each character gets a highlight as in Tale of Two Cities or a jazz concert.
Wish to give it 5 out of 5 stars.
Kyi May Kaung
3-19-2026.
Thursday, March 19, 2026
Salman Rushdie--Imaginary Homelands--esp. worth re-reading--Inside the Whale, Attenborough's Gandhi etc.
Also other Rushdie publications in different languages, Rushdie related commentaries, Knife etc.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=salman+rushdie+imaginary+homelands&adgrpid=1343603775626028&hvadid=83975474890936&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=51771&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-83975585501409%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=10055_13485428&mcid=4c6944b7d8fd303b861b42127318d041&msclkid=a383dbbc5df01810316bb200dadd018e&tag=mh0b-20&ref=pd_sl_8fbw7d45og_e
I use Amazon and Google to find and buy books.
I don't have Amazon or Google stock.
My books on Amazon make cents.
Kaung
3-19-2026
So brilliant--like a meteor--my absolute favorite, Fiber Spider--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SZoiMct2Yw&t=32s
he hasn't done it yet and neither have I,but youcan adapt this as a longyi/sarong wrap by measuring 3/4 of your existing longi width without the fold.
You should stick to Virus pattern at either the L or R edge of your longyi--or sarong, depending on how you wrap your sarong--
generally both sides of this pattern are about the same but there is always the better side.
OR--along the bottom edge of your wrap sarong.
Both will be too busy.
Make a scarf/scarves or saron depending on which you will use more.
Sarong version with matching top can be for a special occasion, like a wedding dress for say 1 second marriage like Jackie.
I suggest pale colors or pale to medium colors to wear over dark clothing--(after the wedding, or the divorce)
Not too bulky yarn.
Kyi May Kaung.
3-19-2026
OMG I don't like her ugly hands and awful nails--but this is an easy scarf pattern--adaptable many ways.
You can find rectangular scarves like this on Olga Poltava--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SAlSz1Uhpo&list=PLzNyjvEWDKLTvvrQO49Mu1ohXB-t5JWIE&index=46
From Gilbert Murray (the translator's) forward to Oedipus at Colonus--very interesting, as they say--
Greek tradition tells us that the play was produced by the poet's grandson, Sophocles the younger, four [Pg 6] years after the author's death at the age of ninety. This is confirmed by the metrical and linguistic tests, which clearly prove the Colonêüs to be among the last of the poet's writings; indeed it would almost seem that some parts of the play required a fourth actor, unless we escape that startling conclusion by the somewhat evasive hypothesis of a supernumerary persona muta who was not always entirely mute.[2] The play certainly leaves the impression of coming from one who has largely left the turmoil of life behind him and looks back upon it with deepened understanding and mature mastery of language and poetry.
Some modern readers have seen signs of old age in a certain lengthiness and lack of concentration in the drama. It is, as Aristotle would say, "episodic," and each episode involves some dissipation of interest. The ancient critics, however, seem to have singled out the "oeconomia"—the construction or management—of the play for particular admiration. Aristophanes of Byzantium considered that in this respect it had no equal. He might have pointed out that it contains many characters, none of them mere vessels of rhetoric but each with his own ethos and his own purposes and a good reason for entering when he does. And it is true that each episode serves its purpose in showing the gradual sanctification or "heroization" of Oedipus. A hero was by no means necessarily a lovable character; he had to be firstly, uncanny and different from common men, and secondly formidable, with powers to injure[Pg 7] or to bless, connected always with a taboo grave. So far he is like a mediaeval saint; but he need not be saintly in character. Aegisthus and Salmoneus, famous for their sins, were "heroes." An extreme case is that of the athlete Cleomêdês, who, after killing his opponent, went mad and destroyed a school with sixty children in it; naturally people were afraid of such a being and felt it desirable to "appease" his tomb. The terrific cursing of Polynices by his father, which was heart-breaking to Antigone, seems to us a very strange prelude to the scene of something like sanctification which immediately follows, but of course heroization is not the same thing as sanctification. The curse showed how truly formidable the inmate of that mysterious tomb was to be; and we must always remember that in an insecure and unpoliced society, like those of antiquity in general, the punishment of the wicked was a keenly felt social necessity. Was the wrong-doer to go scot-free, and the cry of the "wronged ones in the darkness" to be left unheard? A true hero must curse as well as bless.
https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/murraysophocles-oedipusatcolonus/murraysophocles-oedipusatcolonus-00-h.html
Sophocles--from wiki--
Sophocles (/ˈsɒfəkliːz/;[1] Ancient Greek: Σοφοκλῆς, pronounced [so.pʰo.klɛ̂ːs], Sophoklễs; c. 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)[2] was an ancient Greek tragedian, one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those of Aeschylus and earlier than, or contemporary with, those of Euripides. Sophocles wrote more than 120 plays,[3] but only seven have survived in a complete form: Ajax, Antigone, Women of Trachis, Oedipus Rex, Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus.[4] For almost 50 years, Sophocles was the most celebrated playwright in the dramatic competitions of the city-state of Athens, which took place during the religious festivals of the Lenaea and the Dionysia. He competed in 30 competitions, won 24, and was never judged lower than second place. Aeschylus won 13 competitions and was sometimes beaten by Sophocles; Euripides won four.[5]
Starred Post--Corner to Corner wrap around shawl--by Fiber Spider--ingenious design.
The corner to corner design can be perhaps replicated in more complex units --as in Expressions Fber Arts which does not show as thoroughly as Fiber Spider.
Never the mind, :) we shall work it out, as Fiber Spider might say.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIH38eE2qdU&list=PLzNyjvEWDKLTvvrQO49Mu1ohXB-t5JWIE&index=70
"Turn your work" here means twist or flip your work.
This design is denser but you have to flip or twist at beginning of each row.
Quite metaphorical,flip at beginning of each row.
Also advisable to use same size yarn he does, as design is more dense, less lacey, but then it is warmer and would be too dense and a yarn hog if made in size 4 worsted weight.
3-19-2026.
Kash Patel admits under oath FBI is buying location data of Americans from 3rd party brokers.
Dems trying to close loophole.
Christopher Wray, former director, said under oath that FBI was not buying data at the time,but had done so in past.
Wray was fired because he said "shrapnel may have hit (Trump's) ear" at Hearing. T. was angry. "I said I was hit. He said "it might have been shrapnel'"
(Summer 2024 assassination attempt) Photos showed T's ear and cheek not torn, only blood colored liquid flowing across his cheek--some have said it was faked.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/18/kash-patel-fbi-location-data?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Trump has had a long time grudge against Comey. Comey said T. demanded his loyalty--see book A Different Kind of Loyalty.
T. has been out to get Comey since 1.0.
T. entertained Lavrov and Kislyak in Oval day after Comey fired--Comey was on a trip and only learned of it from TV screen in real time while he was giving a speech in LA.
American media learned of it only from Russian media--not from then WH --
Comey was denied use of FBI jet to get home.
--
3-19-2026
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to go to port Crete for repairs due to fire damage.
Most recently deployed to Strait of Hormuz and Venezuela.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-carrier-ford-deployed-war-with-iran-go-port-temporarily-after-fire-2026-03-17/
Naked dresses-the only one I like is the "painted dress."
https://www.aol.com/articles/cara-delevingnes-naked-dress-looks-155807527.html
Think about time to go back to dresses that cover up more or look like armor.
Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Trump said (twice) on Monday that he "spoke to a former Presdt about bombing Iran" but 4 denials suggest otherwise.
He likely just spoke to his few aides and Netanyahu--He's in serious hot water now.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/said-spoke-a-former-president-bombing-iran-four-denials-suggest-not-rcna263819?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Yes, I've seen Vin Zhang in Eternal Love and The King's Woman--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vin_Zhang
Vin Zhang--a very beautiful and senstive face--
Cast--Vin Zhang as Suo Jun is particularly good--
https://www.moviefone.com/tv-shows/fireworks-of-my-heart/45Uis5yR6MpgVu15Gjuwl3/credits/
I've seen him before, I think in a fantasy where he plays a man carrying around a dead baby.
He and the male lead look alike, but he is taller and his face is softer--which suits their roles as the Male Lead played by Yang Yang and Vin Zhang plays his side kick or deputy.
The male bonding or bromance, as these friendships are now called, is particularly well-written and played.
In episode 8, Vin Zhang as Suo Jun talks in a young girl from the ledge of a shopping mall.
In this episode which ends with Suo Jun retiring from the Firefighters, VZ does such a good job he could be "stealing the Oscar" from Yang Yang.
Of course, in real life there are many specialists who talk in
wannabe suicides from high places.
One famous one has talked in dozens from the Golden Gate Bridge, and I've even written a scene in which someone like him saves a girl? --this oddly enough in a fantasy I am still working on involving garudas and other fantastic beings including a talking skull.
I must look at this piece of speculative fiction again.
Kyi May Kaung
3-17-2026.
Episode 8 especially good--
Chinese drama Fireworks of My Heart has sparked discussions among netizens about the role of emergency workers. The drama was made by director Li Muge and scriptwriter Xu Su based on a novel called Waiting for You in a City by Jiu Yue Xi.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202307/1294187.shtml
Fireworks of My Heart tells the story of Song Yan and Xu Qin, who have been good friends since childhood. However, as they grow up, their families see the negative side of their friendship. As a result, Song and Xu are forced to go their separate ways. Ten years pass and they both work hard to realize their dreams: Song becomes a firefighter while Xu becomes a doctor in the Emergency Unit section.
The drama integrates firefighting and medical elements, and combines them with real-life cases to present emergency rescue scenes in various crisis situations such as fires, earthquakes and rainstorms. The producers worked with real firefighters and doctors to get a better sense of situations such as dealing with wreckage in a disaster area or flooded tunnels. Song and Xu meet again during a moment of crisis, allowing viewers to see the hardship of these professions.
Song Yan, who plays the lead role told the Global Times, "I hope to show the audience that every profession has a different side, and that they all silently watch over us," adding that he was attracted by Song Yan's sense of responsibility as a firefighter.
Monday, March 16, 2026
I didn't win the painting award I was hoping for, but will keep painting and doing everything else/
Rare tornado warning in DC area--real one--not metaphorical--
building asks to "tie down chairs"on balconies--charge devices.
Possibly fill water bottles--
One woman filled her abthtub during 9/11, another saw the 2nd tower go down.
A trader my son knew through business died.
The uncle of 2 of my friends died also.
***
Dems refer Kristi Noem --to DOJ for criminal investigation.
Minnesota federal Judge Patrick J. Schiltz wrote in a Feb. 26 court order that ICE had violated 210 orders in 143 separate cases, describing the "continued violation" of orders as "beyond the pale."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/03/16/kristi-noem-congress-democrats-justice-department-referral/89182103007/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Durbin and Raskin noted Schiltz's determination in their letter to the Justice Department.
The two Democrats also pointed to Noem's testimony that Trump knew DHS was going to spend $220 million running television ads that featured Noem prominently.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on March 4, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Trump later said Noem's testimony about his awareness wasn't true.
"I never knew anything about it," the president told Reuters in a phone interview.
"These two statements are clearly inconsistent; one of them has to be false," the Democrats wrote in their letter.
***
Fireworks of my Heart--C-Drama--ep 6. Firefighter and Medical Doctor--this one is a long series, and a bit slow-
but very well done--shows a lot of rescue and risk situations--
To me it's emblematic of what the new China after Deng's economic reforms have become.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5qLrwMxM7c
You should of course start from Ep 1.
I could not find ep 3--but it does not matter that much.
Use the formula
Fireworks of my Heart--ep --eng sub to Google--
Don't forget the Eng Sub--it will come in Mandarin or Malay or Thai or Arabic--
It's a big industry now. KM Kaung 3-16-2026
Sling bag made from old jeans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFy-rE5v0D8
I have upcycled 2 corduroy pants into a vest.
Two cotton pants and a too-tight blouse into a summer blouse.
Starmer live at 10 Downing Street--doing things to protect British consumer--clean energy--
Windfall Tax on oil importers, 53 ms pounds to help consumers--capping oil prices for 3 months.
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cx2lr40g17kt#player
After starting this war unilaterally, DJT is now asking for help--displaced persons on streets of Beirut, Xi calls for immediate end to war--T. asks China to help escort tankers through Strait--etc.
Read BBC live updates below.
***
SET UP Google Search for yourself and check about 3 times a day--in the meanwhile keep going and inform your loved ones--
You don't follow the news at your own risk.
Sunday, March 15, 2026
Just found--on Amazon Prime--Cooking for the Crown--so far nothing to do with British Royalty.
Nicely replaces my favorite Mark Weins, who went everywhere and now joined Netflix--
but I am too poor to afford 2 streaming service monthly subscriptions.
And I won't have the time either.
Episodes 1 and 2 cover Indian Muslim and Cambodian Royal food.
On my only trip to Cambodia, I did not go to The Killing Fields nor to Tual Seng prison-
only to Angkor and since I was on a budget 3 day Bangkok Airways tour--the food was not so good--the markets also had not very much food.
However,recipes here are from royal families and look easily replicatable--
For instance you can substitute shrimp for escargot and chicken for mutton (goat).
So give it a try.
And those who are too lazy to cook, no one was born knowing how to cook.
These days it's a necessity.
Kyi May Kaung
3-15-2026
I just watched the Diana movie from 2008 on Amazon. A bit late but in 2008 I just read about it.
I know that Dr.Hasnat Khan, cardiac surgeon, was very careful what he said at the trial, and he also said she was not pregnant, that she took her contraceptive pills regularly and he also thought it was an accident. He also said that he tried to call her the night of the accident, and that his call did not go through.
He didn't seem to like the movie or himself as played by Naveen Andrews--"I never stood like that, with my hands behind my back."
But I didn't know anyone personally.
In 1997, I was newly hired at RFA (Radio Free Asia) and all those 3 years I was severely over-worked, writing, voicing and producing 5 original features a week--everyone else translated AP and other news articles directly.
In April 1997 I went to my first Conference on International Affairs in Boulder,CO. The first of several I went to each spring or Easter--the last one in 2004 which was different, about human trafficking and held in Denver.
In Boulder, I met a British journalist. I've forgotten his name, but I asked him what Princess Diana was like. He said,"She's just an ordinary young lady, and she was terrified (of the press). Think about it,if she's terrified (of us) how are we supposed to feel?"
But I remember the program I did on her funeral,the way I also wrote the obit when Aung San Suu Kyi's husband Dr. Michael Aris died.
The jerk who headed the Burmese section and his two female lionesses were always sabotaging my programs, but I did those obits anyway.
For the Princess Diana piece, jerk said,"That's not about Burma."
But I did it anyway. For a mild-mannered woman,I canbe quite bull-headed.
I carefully recorded the exact amount of sound bytes we were legally allowed--3 mins, copied them from NPR, and I choose the footsteps of the pall bearers to start the program. The streets were absolutely silent.
A few days before, I had seen pictures of Princess Diana at the minefields. I thought then, "Those beautiful legs, they will never be mangled by land mines."
Instead, very soon she'd be killed in a car crash.
Mother Theresa spoke of her, and died herself the next day.
The piece was broadcast and got good feedback from my audience inside Burma.
The kid with broken teeth who was jerk's sycophant--said "Sayama (Female Teacher) you acted like you sounded sad."
I said,"Of course I am sad. Don't you see how Dan Rather talks about such things."
I remember saying the front of the car was folded in like an accordion.
About this movie, I think it's one of the better bio-pics.
It's respectful of the living as well as the dead.
It doesn't assign blame on anyone.
For that you will have to read Dominic Dunne's account of the trial in the link below.
It's truly sad.
Hasnat Khan said something like, "It happened,and there's nothing I can do about it.
He married 3 times,the first 2 marriages ending in divorce, all to Pakistani women.
I don't know who wrote the screenplay.
I don't know how the movie-makers got the rights to depict living persons like the butler Paul Burrell and Dr.Khan himself.
I would give this movie 4 1/2 stars out of 5.
Kyi May Kaung
3-15-2026
Saturday, March 14, 2026
Loss of Nationality Fee reduced--
What To Know
https://www.newsweek.com/us-change-citizenship-fee-legal-pressure-11678058
The State Department has reduced the fee to formally renounce American citizenship by about 80 percent, lowering it from $2,350 to $450. The change was made through a final rule published in the Federal Register and took effect on Friday.
In the rule, the State Department said it cut the renunciation fee after years of complaints from Americans living abroad that the cost, combined with U.S. tax and reporting rules such as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, made giving up citizenship financially burdensome.
The State Department described the cut as a policy decision aimed at reducing the cost burden on people seeking a Certificate of Loss of Nationality (CLN), the document issued after renunciation is approved.
Sinema acknowledges affair with guard while in office--his wife sued her--she says "encounters"
happened on the road, not in the couple's home state.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/03/13/kyrsten-sinema-acknowledges-affair/
Princess Diana had two recorded love affairs with bodyguards.
One was killed in a motor-cycle accident that Diana told friends was an assassination ordered by her father-in-law.
The other has been alledged to be Prince Harry's biological father.
There are other rumors--eventually it will all come out.
The difference is Princess Diana was well-liked and she died.kmk
3-14-2026
Friday, March 13, 2026
The World Anti-Doping Agency is considering rewriting its rules to try barring President Donald Trump and all U.S. government officials from attending the LA Olympics in 2028 in a move that could also have implications for the World Cup being hosted by the U.S. this summer.
https://www.aol.com/articles/wada-weigh-barring-trump-us-214033170.html
Incomprehensible story line and crazy dubbing--Horrible transliterartion.
XinTong--Shin Tong--pronounced repeatedly as "Ex I N, tong"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0FKg6_vQ2Q&t=620s
This is what I found about Westerners, they never ask--they just say it any way they think--
Like an official herald shouting out--Ow oo san kee
for Aung San Suu Kyi
Bush Jr saying Aung Suu San Kyi
and even my prof saying "mau--bin" for Ma-oo bin
and Mony wa--for Mon-Ywa.
If you don't know why don't you ask.
And even Susan Sarandon said "I" for Aye--as in Aye Aye Sir.
Actually it's pronounced Eh
and means Cool as in cool water.
And these are the transliterations given us by the British Colonial writers/scholars.
I've taught my doctors' assistants to all say my name correctly.
And then there was that BBC Hardtalk interviewer I told before the taping started that I was "One of the exile government's advisors," and she said "The Exile Government's Advisor"
And she looked genuinely shocked when I said, "Sanctions are not on and off like a light switch. There are a whole range of different sanctions for different commodities."
"I was so angry I didn't stay downtown for the next interview,but went back home to cool off--where I at once complained on the BBC website.
My colleague ANO said, "I was so mad,I felt like jumping up and throttling them.
Even Savannah Guthrie,whose mother Nancy is still lost--pronounced John Le carre's name wrong as "Le Care"
Even I even in Burma in the 1960s with a few months of basic French knew it was John Le Carre--carr ray--as in the French word for The Square.
But Savannah apologized and pronounced the name correctly the very next day.
I do hope her mother is found safe and sound.
On the other hand, Burmese never admit they are wrong,so cocksure, and it's cocksure, not "hen sure," you know?
Kyi May Kaung
3-13-2026
Thursday, March 12, 2026
This is a different Love in the Kitchen--anyway, it's time to go to sleep--had a long day.
However, day very warm--75F. Things went relatively well. One fave restaurant closed permanently, but Trader Joes opened--easy to walk to,lots of Chinese dim sum,small portions.
Going to change my eating patterns.
Normally eat high fiber, multi-grain, but to prep for procedure have to eat low fiber foods.
Also buying in bulk from cheapie store,found could not eat so much, so some waste.
Therefore will eat like Scallion Shoot who eats small portions--like appetizers or tea time snacks. This good friend taught me a lot.
AS we grow old we need small portions of better food.
So today had 5 halves of deviled eggs and a beet salad.
With bread and the nice waiter filled up my cold coffee.
Waiters and waitresses always very kind to me.
Chinese place even makes steamed eggplant for me without the sauce, and by now they know I only eat brown rice.
Next time going to Trader Joes with shopping cart. Bottle of lemonade was very heavy.
Wow, boasting a little. Benjamina's,The Plum,Whole Foods, Starbucks, Trader Joes all within walking distance, 3 kinds of doctors--nice gardens and benches along the way. The cherry is starting to bloom--warm like summer.
https://www.iq.com/play/love-in-the-kitchen-2020-24nfjclpuxg?lang=en_us
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
From Slate:
There are many appalling things about the ongoing war in Iran, but one of the worst so far is President Donald Trump’s persistent avoidance of responsibility for the missile attack that hit a girls’ school, killing at least 175 Iranians, most of them grade-school children.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/03/iran-trump-war-school-bombing-missile-strike-tomahawk.html
Video footage clearly shows the damage was done by a Tomahawk cruise missile. In his press conference Wednesday, Trump said that the Tomahawks are “generic” weapons (untrue, they are quite distinctive) and that many countries have some, including Iran (very untrue), suggesting—even stating explicitly—that Iranians themselves might have fired the missile.
There are precedents for how to handle these sorts of incidents. During the war in Afghanistan, when U.S. troops accidentally killed a civilian (a frequent occurrence), they went to the dead person’s family, apologized, and gave them some money. In 1999, during the war in Serbia, when U.S. planes mistakenly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing three employees and injuring 20, President Bill Clinton phoned Chinese President Jiang Zemin to apologize, stressing that it was an isolated error, not a deliberate attack on China.
In other words, it is possible—under previous presidents, it has been policy—to admit to making horrific mistakes in wartime, and even to compensate for the damages. A soldier, even a president, can do so without appearing weak or suggesting doubts about the wider war. In fact,
Day 11, Malcolm Nance and Jacob Kaarsbo from Substack
Malcolm Nance and Jabob Kaarsbo--full of facts, really up to the minute, balanced, serious analysis.
Sorry, can't post the link--you have to get on Substack and look for it yourself.
Brief? fall in oil prices due to Trump remarks--
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/mar/10/oil-prices-drop-trump-iran-war?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
1000 oil tankers still stuck outside Strait of Hormuz--
Temp storage facilities limited.
Monday, March 09, 2026
This is a good one, but almost like JoJo Moyes' bestselling, Me before You, except here the man is less disabled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n7sCDVWG44
However, Maintenance will come in to install mandatory fire alarms, mandated by the state--not the nation state, the state state.
And I hate it but I always have to move my boxes of books and my "trays" of works in progress.
Watch the movie online (Me before You)--the lovers are super cute, but the ending is sad.
Moyes's 3 novels are a trilogy.
Maybe I should watch the movie again, but I can't bear it when someone dies.
It was just too much for "Will Traynor."
I guess movie-makers can make these look alike movies if they change things around a lot.
Another (depressing) memoir I am reading is Karl Ove Knausgard's My Struggles, which was published in 2000.
I bought it around then, and now 26? years later, I am reading the 2nd half.
His father, an alcoholic, dies, and he goes to his grandmother's to find the house full of junk--excrement, urine, empty liquor bottles.
The detail is incredible.
It makes me think I can write the painful parts after my father died.
"Granular detai" as Rachel Maddow always says.
After all, I remember it all.
Must try not to die like that. In Knausgard "Kah-nausgard"
the grandmother's dementia is very well depicted--she says the same sentence like "IGN brought her baby into the classroom," every 5 minutes.
I don't have dementia but if I don't take B12 and D3 regularly, I have to struggle more to remember--
Kyi May Kaung
3-9-2026.
Iceland crochet scarf--my own design. Kaung.
Sunday, March 08, 2026
Colonial wars of aggression and expansion--based on Peter Shaffer's famous play--Royal Hunt for the Sun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qguC_ZlESEc
Now that Hegseth is giving another reason for the US-Israel attack on Iran, this time a religious war.
Saturday, March 07, 2026
Peter, Paul and Mary--Blowing in the Wind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RlnYC7skbI&list=RDbRe648clNjg&index=3
As saw them live in Colonial Williamsburg when we Fulbright Scholars were invited.
They included my late friend "Yasmine" --a Japanese man, a Sri Lankan Monk and Nelson Mandela's daughter.
We were treated to a great lunch in a tent, which included a lobster salad, a fireworks show and a fife and drum band.
Friday, March 06, 2026
Correction--the entire family was in a Japanese concentration camp. Empire of the Sun is fiction
but obviously informed by what he experienced in the camp.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._G._Ballard
It might be disturbing for some--war scenes--fall of Shanghai to the Japanese--as a boy
J D Ballard was separated from his parents--this is his true story.
Republican Rep Gonzales drops out of TX race after admitting affair with aide--this seems o be a thing these days.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tony-gonzales-drops-out-of-house-runoff-race-after-admitting-affair-with-aide/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
From Axios -Senate GOP cheers Noem's firing.Looks like MAGA split is accelerating. War in Mid East can only widen.
Mullin is "pretty well vetted around here, so hopefully we can get the process going because I think that's a position that's going to need to be filled quickly," Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said.
utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-u
https://www.axios.com/2026/03/05/senate-gop-cheers-trumps-decision-to-dump-noem?s
State of play: Democrats, while declaring good riddance to Noem, insisted that a change at the top would not unlock funding for DHS, which has been shut down since Feb. 14.
"No one person can straighten this up until the president changes the whole agency," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). "This is not an issue of personnel. This is an issue of policy."
"I'm not going to vote for $1 more for that agency as long as they are body-slamming American citizens, barging into American homes without warrants or murdering Americans," Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said.
Still, Booker acknowledged that Mullin's confirmation is likely a foregone conclusion.
"If it's a 50-vote threshold, I would imagine he will be confirmed," Booker told Axios. Cabinet nominations require only a simple majority.
The intrigue: There's a serious beef between Mullen and Sen. Ran Paul (R-Ky.), the chair of the Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, which will handle Mullin's nomination.
"Rand Paul's a freaking snake," Mullin told a group at home in Tulsa last month. "And I understand completely why his neighbor did what he did," he said, apparently referring to a 2017 assault on Paul that left him with five fractured ribs.
"And I told him that to his face," Mullin said.
Thursday, March 05, 2026
Dubbing--double u aitch what? for "wh-what?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnX3GTp6zwQ
How can anyone be this stupid?
Who are going to-bring the wrongly deported people back??? How are they and their families to be compensated?
What punishment will Noem face ???
Trump fires Kristi Noem--it wasn't a rumor--it's true--Partial copy and paste.
At the start of her second year on the job, Noem faced bipartisan criticism over her leadership of an immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis, where she deployed 3,000 officers and where two U.S. citizens were killed. Some of the loudest voices on the right for her resignation came from Sens. Thom Tillis, N.C., who is not running for reelection, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
https://www.npr.org/2026/03/05/nx-s1-5667546/kristi-noem-homeland-security-fired?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Other Republicans denounced Noem after she referred to 37-year-old Alex Pretti, who was shot by two Border Patrol agents, as a "domestic terrorist" before any investigation had begun. Following the event, Congress, amid opposition from Democrats, failed to pass a budget to fund DHS and attempted to negotiate immigration enforcement reforms.
Noem was asked to testify before the Senate and House judiciary committees in early March — as her agency was in the third week of a shutdown. She said 100,000 employees were furloughed, including those who work in cybersecurity and disaster relief.
Noem was the face of the mass deportation agenda
During Noem's time helming the 250,000-person agency, DHS was at the center of an ambitious effort to arrest, detain and deport 1 million people without legal status per year. DHS data released in the fall shows the department deported 605,000 people and has a historic high number of people in immigration detention.
As secretary, Noem oversaw the start of a hiring surge to bring on thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and the proliferation of Border Patrol agents as enforcers throughout the country.
Record prices--David Hockney's English Garden--
David Hockney’s ‘English Garden’ Could Net Its Consignor a 700 Percent Return
The 1965 painting, considered the artist's first English landscape, returns to the block at up to 30 times its 1997 price.
A David Hockney landscape that last sold at auction for £89,500 ($149,116) in 1997 is returning to auction with a £2.5 million–£3.5 million ($3.4 million to $4.7 million) estimate at Sotheby’s London, marking a dramatic leap in value for the 1965 canvas.
Titled English Garden, the lush green-hued work was made while Hockney was briefly teaching at the University of Colorado, Boulder, shortly after he left the Royal College of Art in London. It’s considered the artist’s first English landscape.
https://news.artnet.com/market/work-of-the-week-david-hockney-english-garden-2748979
Ex-prince Andrew surrenders lease on another royal residence--
https://www.aol.com/articles/ex-prince-andrew-surrenders-lease-162629682.html
Been on the gravy train too long--since birth, actually.
Wednesday, March 04, 2026
Irish Crochet tutorial--work on mat with pins--I would use easier worsted weight yarn and
recylcled cardboard mat and pins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW0ZYeWz48s
Handling Hybrid work etc on Apartment Therapy. DIY.
https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/block-scheduling-less-overwhelmed-37245848
Many well paid jobs are hybrid or remote now--suits me fine.
As for clothes, handbags--I only use one handbag--a canvas tote, till it falls apart--I only have a couple of summer sandals, I gave away all high heels ages ago--
I have Fall and Spring shoes, 2 pairs--
Some winter shoes and 1 pair of L. L. Bean rain boots--from my full-time work days.
Several wool coats,1 puffy long coat.
The rest are basic T shirts, solid colors and fleece pants or jeans.
I upcyled all my longyis (sarongs) into light jackets--have sold some.
My hobbies use recyled items as much as possible.
I buy cookware like baking trays,loaf pans mostly at yard sales--collectible items like my blue and white milk jug also at yard sales--
Fine tablecloths at yard sales also,I recycle into summer tops and pillow cases.
I buy groceries at "Middling Supermart" and have it all delivered.
I'm conditioned by life in Socialist Burma and cook and eat almost all my meals at home except one or two--in local restaurants on days when doctors' visits conk me out. But I'm not as bad as another friend who grew up during Great Depression and kept walnut sized pieces of food wrapped in aluminum foil in her freezer. Her Burmese husband however threw things out pretty fast--He threw out a bottle of pickled bean sprouts I just made for her.
I have a friend who had second-hand stuff coming out of her ceilings, ditto another friend who was very rich.
There is no one way to live. James Baldwin said,"Live the only life you have, otherwise you will end up living no life at all."
I'm making my Will.
Kyi May Kaung
3-4-2026
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