In Scandinavia, singing together is part of civic life. A choir is an interestingly democratic activity: nobody has to be a virtuoso, but everybody has to listen to everybody else. Elder G:In places like Iceland, Sweden, and Norway, choral singing isn’t just a hobby; it’s a cornerstone of civic life and cultural identity. The long, […]
Category: Europe
“You say Tomato, I say Tomato” – Elder JimZim Two items of interest to our WLBOTT agricultural committee occurred recently. First… Elder JimZim and Grønk I had a good time gleaning. There were eight volunteers, 250 lbs in 1.5 hours. Many varieties of small tomatoes- different colors, etc. The farmer worked along side us. It […]
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Grønk
[ed. note: Big thanks to Elder JimZim for introducing us to Grønk. Elder JimZim (on the advice of his attorneys) is interested in establishing plausible deniability, but his fingerprints are all over Grønk (figuratively). WLBOTT stands on the shoulders of giants, and Elder JimZim has asked up, politely but firmly, to not wear spiked heels […]
Why Do We Put Up With This? (part 1 of 999) I first heard the term “Savior Syndrome” from Gaslit Nation, a podcast by Andrea Chulupa and Sarah Kendzior. Gaslit Nation a no-nonsense discussion of the nightmare we’ve descended into since peoDolf took office in 2016. It was first used in the context of the […]
Every great city keeps its bones in the basement.Madrid keeps some of them in a horse.– Elder KM [ed. note: Big thanks to Elder KM for today’s BLOTT! As Elder G says: “This is vintage Elder KM. It starts with a curious observation, wanders into history, and then quietly opens a trapdoor beneath the reader.”] […]
Elder KM’s First-Person Field Guide to theMacabre, the Impossible, and the Ornithologically Tragic We travel not to escape life, but so that life does not escape us. Also, for the jamon. – Elder Claude [ed. note: Big thanks to Elder KM for today’s BLOTT!] I love Ukraine with all my heart; but there’s a close […]
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Wildberries: Where’s My Stuff?
Things are not going well in russia. Multi-kilometer long gas lines. Empty grocery shelves. No diesel to irrigate, harvest or transport the fall harvest. Burning oil refineries. And now – an enormous Wildberries (the russian Amazon) facility has burned to the ground. The facility is listed as 188,000 m2, or about 46.46 acres acres. Wildberries […]
Yesterday, I plopped down on the official WLBOTT couch. On the TV was the Wimbledon Men’s Final. Recovering from the exhausting demands of my WLBOTT managerial duties, I had neither the will nor the energy to reach for the remote. But this led me to think: what sports would not be possible without modern material […]
I remember as a kid, sitting in our apartment on an Air Force base in Germany, listening to the radio. As I recall, we had one English language radio station, run by the military. There was a daily classical music program that I’d sometimes listen to, a refreshing window in an otherwise dark and empty […]
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Filie Regum
[Thanks to Elder JimZim for today’s exploration.] Elder G2 (Gemini) Analysis Currently on display in the home of Elder JimZim. Tours available for groups of 5 or more. Contact him directly for more information. And AI says this is Dominican monks singing this “exact chant”. – Elder JimZim. We Explore GregoBase GregoBase: a must for […]