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Post by kungfuzu on Nov 29, 2019 11:33:36 GMT -8
In the tropics, dawn and dust are constant. In Singapore, dawn broke at around 7:00am and dust hit at around 7:00pm; every day. Those people in Run with a generator had about 8 hours of complete darkness, i.e. the right amount of time to sleep.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Nov 29, 2019 11:40:15 GMT -8
Good math, Mr. Kung. So they were throwing a little woe-is-me BS at us. Still, sucks, I guess, not to be Manhattan.
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Post by kungfuzu on Nov 29, 2019 11:46:51 GMT -8
I can well believe that the government of Indonesia does not provide much in the way of services to Run. Depending to whom one speaks, Indonesia has more than 10-12-15,000 islands. Can imagine trying to provide 1st rate services to all of those? Hell, Jakarta and Surabaya did not have first rate services when I regularly visited them.
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Post by timothylane on Nov 29, 2019 12:00:26 GMT -8
The map hardly showed the Banda Islands (no doubt due to their small size), much less Run. I checked the wikipedia article (whence you got your map) to find out where it was. I would estimate it at the 5th or 6th largest of the Bandas.
I think I've seen The Road to Bali, though I don't recall that particular scene. Incidentally, The Muppet Movie has a scene in which someone announces drinks on the house at a bar So the patrons all go up on the roof and wonder where the drinks are.
John Collier, in Fancies and Goodnights, had a story (I think it was titled "The Touch of Nutmeg Does It") about a meeting over a special type of drink. (It's been years since I read it.) One notes that he was accused of murdering a friend once. The evidence looked bad for him, but no one could figure out any possible motive for the murder. He then discusses the drink, and especially the importance of a little bit of nutmeg in it. He notes that some people prefer to use ginger, and is quite enraged at the thought of what that does to the drink -- and contemplating what he would like to do to such people.
Collier liked such subtle endings. That sort of ending showed up in a story that was made into an Alfred Hitchcock episode and another made into a Twilight Zone episode. (Both made explicit what was merely implicit in the original stories.)
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Nov 30, 2019 9:59:03 GMT -8
I’m 47% into Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War. It’s an interesting mix of the spies, a brief history of some of the battles, as well as the nitty-gritty of what life was like at the time. I like this description that involved Belle Boyd in prison getting involved with a Southern man in the next cell. They had been exchanging heated notes and such. The author writes: That’s an interesting custom. Interesting as well is that this woman was treated so well in prison despite the fact that she was a spy. But the head of the prison had promised her to supply her every need and he pretty much kept to that. Belle was soon involved in a mass exchange of prisoners and was sent back south, never to meet McVay again. To say that Belle was a tramp is an understatement. She seemed to be something between a spy and a prostitute. Or am I confusing here with Rose Greenhow? Or is there nothing to confuse? These were women who were taking abundant advantage of the fact that “ladies” were treated differently back then. The author writes: One particularly interesting way of encoding information was:
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Post by Brad Nelson on Nov 30, 2019 10:11:42 GMT -8
Run Island is a tiny thing, only 1.9 miles long by 0.62 miles wide. It would be fun to visit someday.
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Post by kungfuzu on Nov 30, 2019 10:29:28 GMT -8
Get ready for a long flight to Jakarta and then one internal flight of two or three hours. Finally, prepare for a boat (most likely old and small) ride of many hours.
From West to East, Indonesia is about as wide as the continental USA. It can take time to get around, but there is much to see if one has patience. I am sure things are more modern than when I used to visit the place, but it will still be very exotic. The food and customs in a place like Run will still be more traditional than in places like Jakarta or maybe even Surabaya. You will see a fair amount of poverty.
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 1, 2019 19:56:53 GMT -8
I finished Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War today. It’s definitely worth reading. I’d need another pair of eyes on this book in order to evaluate it with any merit. At the end of the day, all one can do is shrug one’s shoulders and say a lot of bad stuff happened all around and there were few angels connected with the Civil War. But, goodness gracious, I may never criticize another b-movie again because of unrealistic characters and plots. The lives of all of these four women are so bizarre and improbably that it reads like a bad movie. The man-woman who masquerades as a man and fights for the Union is probably quite a commendable character. She writes a memoir after the war which does tremendous business and she donates all the proceeds to charity. She needs two bills passed specifically for her in Congress so that she can get a pension. First, she must be recognized as a soldier. Those who knew her (him) flood her with testimonials. Then she needs to get out under the problem of being a deserter. They eventually fix that as well. But one thing that bothered me is the author noted that this man-woman lied about appearing in a a battle. It was known she was somewhere else. The author passed it off as a trifle but if she made that up, what else did she make up? And, believe me, the stories of all these women seem full of exaggeration and improbable events. But who knows? Fact is stranger than fiction and all that. Belle Boyd, for instance, is captured when her blockade-runner is stopped by the Union boats. This is while on her way back from England. Long story short, she flirts with the Union officer who takes command of the Confederate ship and they soon are married. Somehow this gets her out of trouble. Don’t ask me how. These four women were so constantly getting themselves in dire trouble, it’s hard to keep it all straight. And it leaves one wondering how many of these stories are true. I admit to being a little skeptical. But, again, what do I know? It seems a fitting end to Rose Greenhow. Her boat, too, is stopped by the Union blockade just off the shore of (I think) North Carolina. (Details don’t matter, really. It’s the same damn story again and again.) She’s carrying all kinds of equipment under her dress. She also has a necklace of gold coins strung round her neck. Long story short, she doesn’t want to go back to prison so she implores the captain to let her try to escape on the rowboat. She and others get into it and a big waves hits and topples the boat. Rose, weighted down, is a goner. Both Confederate women are poisonous train wrecks, but quite interesting ones. The one commendable character seems to be Elizabeth Van Lew. Even then, by the end of this, her ending is ultimately sad. She’s completely alienated from everyone in Virginia. Taking nothing away from the man-woman, Van Lew seemed to be a truly virtuous character. At the end, when they were evacuating Richmond, some of her enemies who had denounced her came to her home for shelter. She let them in. My impression of the South during this time was never good. This book did nothing to improve the image. Trying to apologize for and normalize slavery poisoned all society in the South.
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