From The Black Death

   "usury and all commercial ventures were suspect because they assumed control over the future, a mortgage of time which was reserved for God."

"One of the most cogent comments about time was made by the humanist Leon Battista Alberti in his dialogue on family life:

Gianozzo: There are three things which man may say properly belong to him; his fortune, his body, ...

Lionardo: And what may the third be?

Gianozzo: Ah! A very precious thing indeed! Even these hands and these eyes are not so much my own.

Lionardo: Incredible! What is it?

Gianozzo: Time, my dear Lionardo."

Robert S. Gottfried

  I had picked up this book at Apple Fest at Joanna Furnace a couple of years ago. I think I've already blogged about it, and I seldom reiterate unless warranted. It was two dollars. Having read all of the plague books except for the latest omnibus that The Great Courses, that I completed, is based upon, I figured it would be samey and nearly passed it up for a bean cookbook, Jack. Kelly's The Great Mortality is my favorite, and I love Follett's novel World Without End. About the first plague book, from 1983, (I thought it was earlier), I mistook that I wouldn't get anything new from it. Wrong! Not only are all of the latter books obviously based upon this relatively short book, but I believe it is more concise. Nowadays everything is fake, phony, made-up, hearsay, and opinionated nonsense. History is "reimagined", but it was always a white man's game. Facts and evidence are scrapped. This book not only thoroughly looks into the origin of the plague, Africa, and Asia, it also calls a spade, a spade. It has no false claims. It calls theories, theories and nonsense, nonsense. It cites sources from the time. I'd call it a Ron Paul among books. It's not to be missed. Will I read the latest gigantic omnibus? Probably, I'm obsessed and always have been. I'll find the time. 🕛

Baby New Year

  When we were at the William Penn there was a big K & R baby as a prize which made me want an antique baby doll. I have a lot of German antique dolls, but they are all either girls or ladies, no babies. I do have some contemporary babies including a huge Rustie that Mummy brought me back from Florida while visiting a mutual friend and a Christening baby, but Kitty is my first antique. She's the same big chunky size as the flirty eyed one I'd seen at the doll club event, but she's older and prettier, more baby-like. She's an ABG, and I might have one of their chinaheads but none other. She had a bit of crazing to one leg and was missing some fingers all of which I remedied. Skinny dip satin spray paint and a buff fixes old doll bodies right up. I mended Mummy's Ideal bride doll this way, and I had thought I'd have to paint her green and start over, she was that bad. Polymer fingers can be painted with it too and glued right in place, so you'll really have to look to find the mend. She was naked, but now she wears my old baby dress and shoes. The cap and coat were Ron's mother's from the twenties. Ron and his brothers wore them too. Frankie and I are up to episode fourteen of forty-eight of The Great Courses, Ancient Egypt. The professor is from Long Island, and we are really enjoying it. We only have through Sunday to finish them, so I'll chat later, but I had to share Kitty. 

 

The Haunted Aquarium

  Oh, boy, it's a new year. I couldn't sleep last night and was super crabby this morning. Maybe it was the Jihadi in New Orleans, don't know. I'm sensitive like that. I was messing with Dame Darcy as usual over the Yellow Snow. I was really thankful for Isabelle Red Riding Hood, I can tell you. Anyway, I've been really into cleaning and exercising lately. Ron is ruining it with pizza, but you'll have that. Don't know why all I want to do is write. Free Great Courses this week which I love. Watched prehistoric Ireland and the southern American colonies, both were good, but I can't watch television. After finishing Fanging with Claude that was totally a happy accident, I'm supposed to be working on my Gettysburg game, dressing a Helen Kish doll as a Native American to sell, and painting What We Do in the Shadows paper dolls. All of these were put off due to Fanging with Claude. I'm so moody. The Haunted Aquarium, a childrens' book, is likely to beat them all. I've been drawing and painting birds and fish since I was a kid, I'm a natural. The Haunted Aquarium is going to be about Julius moving into Vishnu's haunted aquarium. I bet Frankie will have a part. So, Happy New Year! That's what's up. Nosferatu was my last Christmas gift from Ron. The acting is superb. Beware the Yellow Snow. Mummy wanted to name me Snow, but Daddy said I'd grow up to be a drug dealing stripper. I was stalked by an owner of a strip club in New Orleans who obviosly had syphilis in the family. No fooling me. Ron took me back to Ephrata Cloister the other night. I got a cd of American music (1586-1998): The Songs of the Turtle Dove, a turtle dove enamel pin, and a bird fraktur talking about love. No wonder the vampire LeSnot was made there. ☮, no, Really. 

Fanging with Claude

 

OVER MY DEAD BODY: Unearthing the Hidden Histories of America’s Cemeteri...

Not only are The Great Courses free this week, (watching Medieval Cities: York, Wool & Prayer), but so is Curiosity University. I watched Unsolved History with a lady from Stanford. Unlike The Great Courses these are so far only an hour long. I'm watching this now with a teacher from The Naval Academy. Love it already. 

Secrets of the Occult | Wondrium Trailers

The Real History of Dracula was fangtastic, and I'm really enjoying these lectures too. This is the last free day of The Great Courses for now, so I'm going to have to squeeze them all in. I must've completed seven of them now including: 1066, The Celtic World, The Black Death, How to Publish Your Book, and more... 

This is How You Stop a Vampire! | The History of Dracula

After finishing all twenty-four episodes of The Black Death I've started The Real History of Dracula on free The Great Courses. It is very good! 

Dreams 7/3

 Dreamed I was at the gas station. After filling up my tank I pulled my car over to the right-hand-side of the building and washed it. There was an extension cord on the ground and a wand with a soft pad on the end for washing. I went over the windows with the brush last. 

I fell asleep watching The Great Courses The Black Death. I'm up to episode seventeen of twenty-four. I'm glad I went back to it. Goes to show: don't let CONVID stop you. Vishnu wishes you a Happy Fourth of July! 🎆 Down with The Kid Smellin' Demonrats and The New World Order! Let The Quaker Oats Guy go! 

The Black Death & The Great Courses II

 Still at The Great Courses, The Black Death. Made it to episode seven. It's getting better. Was it the wine or the corn chowder? No. Now, she's going city by city. They're showing pictures instead of just the teacher: buildings, coins... She is giving first hand accounts. Of course, she is saying that the first hand accounts aren't factual or literal as if I'd trust some interpretation seven hundred years later more. But, hey, it's picking up, and I try to stay positive. 💖💀💖

Plague & The Great Courses

 Free Great Courses again this week. Glad to have gotten a break from all the proud 💩, I'm not proud. Last time we had this channel for free I'd shut off The Black Death after the first episode in a rage because the woman continuously compared it to CONVID. No comparison, did not buy it. Anyways, I was very down today so picked up with episode two. I'm now on episode four, I think; and so far she has not mentioned CONVID again, but has said some other strange things that has a common sense Plague scholar like myself thinking, (which hasn't been outlawed yet, or has it?) Anyways, first, she questioned what the "P" mark in medieval manuscripts referring to plague deaths meant. She talked about pimples and particulars, but according to Kelly in The Great Mortality, by far my favorite book on the subject, and again in Ken Follett's awesome epic World Without End, they never actually mentioned "plague" until hundreds of years later. The people of The Middle Ages referred to it as The Pestilence, so I'd think P stood for that. She was getting ridiculous again, but she's only an English teacher, like me, not an expert like Fauci, (🤣Arrest Fauci🤣), but she said they thought AIDS came from people eating monkeys. It was monkey business, alright, how about some horse sense that you won't hear about? She wondered about the fleas and rats because the outbreaks were much worse in the summer then would die out in winter, where if the fleas and rats were responsible, then it should have had the opposite effect. I won't knock anybody's sense of wonder, but it makes sense that other insects like mosquitoes and ticks were also responsible for carrying the disease as well as fleas, a lot more sense than the gerbils, (I can't make this stuff up), that she was talking about when I shut her off again. 😂💀😂

Finishing off The Great Courses

 I did quite a good job with the free week of The Great Courses last week. After, flipping-out over the CONVIDIAN commie rubbish of the second course of The Black Death, where I watched all but two lessons before giving up expecting to learn anything, I loved The Celtic World and How to Publish Your Book. Finished both of those, then went on to watch all of 1066 about The Norman Conquest. Like The Celtic World that was also Jennifer Paxton and very informative. I've had a few teachers of her cailbre but not many. I still had a few hours to spare last night so, like The Paleolithic and Indus Valley, I caught a few lessons from different courses that seemed interesting: The Secret Societies, The Ancient Mystery Cults and Aleister Crowley, and Mythologies: Celtic. The Secret Societies covered Robert Sepehr's 1666 about The New World Order baby eating commies. I didn't know Crowley was a spy. I've never been a fan. He also discussed Madame Blavatsky, only not in a very good light. He made her out to be a commie, too. These lessons were alright. The Celtic Mythology lesson was okay, but I didn't really learn anything. I suppose there just aren't a lot of records since The Druids memorized everything. Suppose I've got to tap into my secret subconscious if I want to discover anything new about the ancient Celts. 

Great Courses

 After my illegitimate start with The Great Courses convidian approach to The Black Death I might've quit but went on to thoroughly enjoy The Celtic World and How to Publish Your Book after stumbling through a fictitious Paleolithic and lacking Indus Valley. I'm finishing off the free week with 1066, and I'm glad for it, as once again, it's Dr. Paxton who is a whole lot of fun. Tried watching some Skill Set, but it was too woke ass and lame, at least what I saw of it. Maybe I'm wrong. That rarely happens. 

How to Publish Your Book

 I'm up to lesson fourteen of twenty-four of The Great Courses: How To Publish Your Book. Although with a MFA in English I've had all sorts of writing courses, this deals only with the business end of things, where most artists are sorely lacking, so I find it very informative. I'm going to watch all of the lessons before the free week runs out. The teacher is not at all uppity and doesn't stray from the topic with nonsense like CONVID and climate change. I'd tried two other lessons with a couple of men, one on The Paleolithic and the other on The Indus Valley Civilization. I think the Paleolithic guy might have been an Aussie and was just making stuff up. The other guy looked like a monkeyball player from Green Bay. He was alright, but not like his other lectures captured my attention. They seemed like same stuff different day to a documentary buff like me. 

The Celtic World

 Finished all twenty-four lessons of Dr. Jennifer Paxton's The Celtic World on The Great Courses. She teaches at American Catholic University. It is wonderful. I love it. I'm going to see if there are any other courses I have to watch. Also have free Skills TV though too this week; and I know, I really enjoyed the week of free Craftsy, although I have yet to get to my knitting or punch needle. Working on it... 🍀

Backyard Post

Up to lesson seventeen of Jennifer Paxton's fascinating The Celtic World, Great Course. Here's a time-out from the backyard. I believe this morning glory is only purple thanks to Bob's bonsai mix, as the seeds were common blue on the packet. We always have loads of mushrooms, all types, as this house vanishes into a fog every evening. What has Jennifer taught me? Northern Italians are fair due to their Celtic origins, The Irish had slaves, and the Manx cat is a relative to the Spanish wildcat. 

 

The Celtic Redemption

 Since my angry run-in with The Great Courses this afternoon, pleased to report that thanks to Jennifer Paxton's The Celtic World they've been redeemed. There are twenty-four episodes, and I'm looking forward to every one of them. I'm up to episode three concerning Celtic art. Dr. Paxton has that certain sense of wonder I find so lacking these days. She's informative, sticks to the evidence, while questioning it all the time, and doesn't seem to have a hidden agenda. Really excited about the Druidic episode on religion, Can't wait. 

Angry, Now

 After quitting The Commie Plague on The Great Courses, I thought, King Arthur, twenty-four episodes? That's a course for me. I've read the entire Malory, (he was a political prisoner much like Harrison Floyd, who obviously doesn't matter as he's not into assaulting pregnant women like George), Tennyson, not to mention Mary Stewart's great Merlin trilogy. Excalibur is a favorite since childhood, know that by heart, including the bunk Charm of Making. But, seems the same communist is the only teacher The Great Courses can afford. She will likely say Arthur was Chinese, caught the CONVID, and died from global warming. Pass. Not touching the Jesus one, sure that one will get me a first class ticket into Hell. 

Excaliwitch

It's Not The Plague

 Yeah, going to have to skip the last two God awful lectures as this commie has already disclosed that they don't concern The Plague, but CONVID. Spare me the communist New World Order brainwashing BS. Obvious to me she is on Pfizer's and China's payroll. She really sucks. On to the next Great Course. Not holding my breath. How insulting. 

Great

 Zero views on my last tagged the hell out of post, but one-hundred-and-thirteen welcoming my ghost shrimp: imagine that. Halfway through the fifth episode of seven of The Great Courses: The Black Death. And, like Daddy always said, you might learn something from anybody, even if it's what not to do. Although this English teacher persists with her commie Convidian nonsense throughout like how deer carry Convid, and it started with bats when it has been proven to have been intentionally released from Fauci's labs in China, I have learned something. Now, with evidence, she is discussing how it was primarily introduced through the grain trade, not via The Silk Road as was presumed before. Not buying her, it did not come from China crap, because she says it came from the Volga River with zero evidence backing that up. She just states it in her common English teaching BS way. I've always heard the rats were upearthed from an earthquake. She obviously has her stupid commie New World Order climate change Robo Gore Leo BS to push along. That's very obvious, as is how boring this lecture is. Should be a Great Course in brainwashing. 

Miseria

Suspect More BS as Usual

Got very excited to see free The Great Courses this week on the television. It got better when the first thing to pop up was The Black Death, seven episodes from 2022. Then, the teacher is not a doctor of communicable diseases, just a common old English teacher like me. Some expert, so I was already thinking this was not going to be great from the get-go. I've been obsessed with The Plague since childhood, and as far as I'd known, read all but two of the English books written on it, Kelly's, The Great Mortality, being by far my favorite. During the first episode I was put-off by her constant references to CONVID. Talk about a mixed metaphor. But, when she brought up the bats and climate change I was thinking she was trying to sell me some more commie toilet paper. By episode two she was still talking CONVID, I wanted to HURL, but instead just fell asleep. The Great Courses? So far it puts the YAWN in The Black Death. Spare me.  

The Great Mortality