Povey Prattle

Of course they only taught us of the glories of the British Empire.  Clive of India Cecil Rhodes and others were the heroes;  the British were utterly pure in the so-called Boer War, etc., etc., etc.  Oh the wonders of all that pink on world maps.   It was all very seductive:  "Land of hope and glory, mother of the free .... God who made thee mighty, make the mightier yet". "Mother of the free?"  - says who?  In truth the Empire was nothing short of disastrous for the indigenous peoples of North America, Africa, South Asia and Australia. (Yes, yes, I know that the Ottoman, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, French and Belgian Empires were horrid. But we English school children were led to believe that our Empire, unlike the others,  was unimpeachably just, fair and enlightened ) Today (26th January 2019) happens to be AUSTRALIA DAY, a national holiday for some Australians, a celebration of the English "discovery" and colonisation of the cont...

Which European City has the largest Muslim population. London? Paris? Berlin? What is your guess? It's none of the above. There you have it.  MOSCOW  with more than one million Muslims. SOURCE Mr. S. Enders Wimbush at a Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning (SILL)  in Sarasota today (24th Jan 2019) https://www.sillsarasota.org/bio_Wimbush.htm

British Empire at its peak I was born in 1944 and began my formal schooling in 1949.  My first years concentrated on the three R's, at which I was very good. I entered what Americans would call "High School" in 1955 and entered into the wider world of history, geography, English language and literature, Latin and French, and the sciences. The prevailing message in the arts courses was that the British Empire was   the greatest and most  beneficent  in human history. The greatest?  In territorial terms the Empire was at its peak at the end of WWI when Tanganyika was ceded by Germany as a colony, and Namibia as a protectorate (under the thumb of the then Union of South Africa). In 1948 the "Jewel of  the Crown"  of India became an independent nation. Thus the territorial greatness of Empire endured for about 30 years.  Set that along the Roman and Ottoman Empires and it is puny indeed. The greatest in terms of mun...

Oh wow!  I received this check/cheque from MEDICARE today. I had evidently overpaid them in 2018. I seek your advice 1)  Should I splurge and purchase half a candy bar? 2) Should I save this for a rainy day? 3) Should I tear this cheque/check up and add sixty nine cents to the Medicare Trust Fund?

The sad: Yet another stray dog, this time wandering around Glen Oaks Manor here in Sarasota. He was a handsome beast maybe a Boxer mix Stock photo' who seemed to be in good health.  He was friendly enough, so Zion and he were able to greet each other.  But he did not have a collar, so I could not grab him, and I was not carrying my mobile 'phone. Meanwhile,  one dumb person grabbed a stick to beat him if he drew near.  Another called out "should I call Animal Services?"   My snarky side wanted to say "No, call Macy's Departmental Store"  but I resisted the temptation.  This lovely stray then ran off.  Nearer to my home a neighbour stopped as she was driving by, to say Hi. I told her about the stray and she told me that she had just seen him on (North) Beneva Ave.  Oh no!  That's a very busy road. I get very sentimental about strays.  That's certainly because the ever wonderful ZION was a stray w...

Via Manny F