flies

I did a review of The Dissident, the 2020 documentary that provides an insider’s look at the targeting and death of Jamal Khoshoggi. The review is titled “MBS: Lord of the Flies,” because, according to director Brian Fogle, that is what MBS sets up — a dark room full of dishdashed men spend all their hours attacking a target online, unleashing insults and promising death. Khashoggi, who had crossed the line from being a columnist at WaPo, to a dissident (illegal in the Kingdom, according to Saudi sources in the film), was targeted by these so-called Flies, who swarmed him before he was “taken” at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul. Check it out.

-- John Kendall Hawkins

lord of the flies

1.6 miles

Lets go Map Crazy! What would a 1.6 mile walk, or there near-abouts, look like in Amsterdam? What would it look like in your town?

Click the appropriate link to compare your location to Amsterdam!

AMSTERDAM CENTRUM
https://indd.adobe.com/view/7c5030e5-6718-4bd5-8217-1b9ee608aa7d 

STARKVILLE
https://indd.adobe.com/view/efebf203-b104-4a6b-86ec-566395993a06 

BATAVIA 
https://indd.adobe.com/view/8bec2a71-e495-47cc-97df-994c1e5d2632

No to Followers

eurogeezer, the blog that does nothing and asks nothing

no money down 

no advertising 

no income 

no followers 

no advertising 

no store 

just taking up bandwidth 

perfect

our theme

5 Guys

A prominent demographic in Amsterdam is Five Guys. If one undertook a comprehensive survey of the central city, patterns of this unique group would begin to emerge.

Five Guys are, obviously, 5 individual guys, but for the purposes of this critical analysis they will primarily be considered in the collective while individual traits and character will be secondary. Initial observations from random encounters with Five Guys reveal the following:

• They are typically young EU white guys (Note: groups of 3, or 4 guys can sometimes be mistaken for Five Guys if one is observing in fast moving crowds). There are also other types of groups with 5 members (such as the 5 guys on rental bikes, below) but these are easily distinguishable from Five Guys 

• Five Guys are most often observed on busy streets (such as Haarlemmerstraat, or in the Red Light district)  
• They steadfastly remain a cohesive unit in crowded, chaotic conditions.
• They are focused and seemingly on a mission. They can be observed vectoring in on a red lit storefront window, or abruptly changing direction when upwind in the vicinity of a coffeeshop such as Barney's Farm on Haarlemmerstraat.

 

• It is difficult to determine their mission, but once obtained, the unit breaks down. It is unclear if Five Guys re-constitutes itself for another mission.

 

bye bye Amsterdam

What? We left Amsterdam 6, 7 weeks ago? gaaaaaaaaaaa!
Here are some final views from the continent:
 

Last days- Leiden

A last trip to Leiden and a visit to the Hortus Botanicus, the oldest botanical garden in the Netherlands, dating back to 1590.
hortus botanicus

Last days- Kröller-Müller Museum

The Kröller-Müller Museum is an art museum and sculpture garden, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park near Arnhem (Its in the middle of a forest). The museum was founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller and opened in 1938. It has the second-largest collection of paintings in the world by Vincent van Gogh. 

krollermuller

Alcazaba

In Malaga, June 18......climbed the big hill to the top of the Alcazaba which is a palatial fortification in Málaga. It was built by the Hammudid dynasty in the early 11th century. This is the best-preserved alcazaba (from the Arabic al-qasbah, meaning "citadel") in Spain. Adjacent to the entrance of the Alcazaba are remnants of a Roman theater dating to the 1st century BC, which are undergoing restoration. Some of the Roman-era materials were reused in the Moorish construction of the Alcazaba.

Alhambra

The Alhambra takes its name from the Arabic al-qala’a al-hamra (the Red Castle, the Red One, the Red Fortress, etc.). Its on my tee-shirt!

The first palace on the site was built by Samuel Ha-Nagid, the Jewish grand vizier of one of Granada’s 11th-century Zirid sultans. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the Nasrid emirs turned the area into a fortress-palace complex, adjoined by a village of which only ruins remain. Completed towards the end of Muslim rule of Spain by Yusuf I (1333–1353) and Muhammed V, Sultan of Granada (1353–1391), the Alhambra is a reflection of the culture of the last centuries of the Moorish rule of Al Andalus (Muslim Spain), reduced to the Nasrid Emirate of Granada. It is a place where artists and intellectuals had taken refuge as the Reconquista by Spanish Christians won victories over Al Andalus.

After the Reconquista, the Alhambra’s mosque was replaced with a church, and the Convento de San Francisco (now the Parador de Granada) was built. Carlos I (also known as the Habsburg emperor Charles V), grandson of the Catholic Monarchs, had a wing of the palaces destroyed to make space for his huge Renaissance work, the Palacio de Carlos V. During the Napoleonic occupation, the Alhambra was used as a barracks and nearly blown up. What you see today has been heavily but respectfully restored.