The Appointment in Samarra story

I first became familiar with it through John O’Hara’s 1934 novel Appointment in Samarra.

Somerset Maugham used it in his 1933 play Sheppey which is where O’Hara got it from. It’s an old Mesopotamian tale.

Appointment in Samarra
~ By W. Somerset Maugham pic.twitter.com/JX7OFy8RSR
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) May 22, 2021

Boris Karloff 'Targets' (1968) – Orlok's story (Appointment in Samarra)……….. listen to the master! pic.twitter.com/VwfJHvMhSN
— Hammer Horror Films (@HorrorHammer1) August 21, 2022

Nipper statues in Baltimore, Albany and Bristol (England)

Nipper was a dog that was in a painting that was used by record labels. There are still a few statues left including one here in Baltimore. This Instagram post is why I posted about them.

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A post shared by Rolando Pujol (@rolandopujol)

We all need someone who looks at us they way Nipper the RCA dog looks at his gramophone.

Born in 1884, Nipper earned his name due to his naughty tendency to "nip" the legs of his owners' visitors.

See too, the giant statue of Nipper in Baltimore! #museumfromhome @RCAbrand pic.twitter.com/1Q5d3eL7SZ
— The Sarnoff Collection (@TCNJSarnoff) October 25, 2020

Albany summer street exhibit features Nipper statues

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History unveiled a cool landmark object, a 14-foot stained-glass window, one of four that originally graced the tower of the Victor Company’s headquarters in Camden, New Jersey. “Nipper” the dog listens to his master’s recorded voice. pic.twitter.com/lnoxsnYPl3
— John Hasse (@JohnHasse) October 17, 2018

“The Victor” building was completed in 1915. There are four stained glass windows in the buildings tower that depict the “Nipper” trademark.
.
.#camdennj #nipperbuilding #victortalkingmachine #nipperdog #stainedglass #camden #rcavictor #audiorecording #hismastersvoice pic.twitter.com/bHmur23TWM
— Vintage.NewJersey (@VintageNJ1) April 29, 2020

Nipper, the RCA Dog Statue
Baltimore, Maryland

Nipper, the RCA Dog, Hears His Song

More tweets on the Trump mob

Lock them up!

“Hey HB groyper here I just got back from the capitol!! I got inside!!”

A racist NASA employee busted for going inside U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, feds say. pic.twitter.com/LpcKKPdl90
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) August 26, 2022

In case you missed it: The FBI searched the home of a former GOP congressional candidate and arrested five members of his “B SQUAD” militia for their actions on Jan. 6: https://t.co/0lzS9KDUZF
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) August 25, 2022

Weston Sobotka was turned in by a co-worker. Arrested in Ashburn, Virginia. pic.twitter.com/eNgCVHwRxm
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) August 24, 2022

Spoke to a Jan. 6 rioter who still thinks the election is stolen and encouraged me to watch 2000 Mules and said they couldn’t watch Tucker because it got them too worked up. https://t.co/DcPn28C7L4
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) June 20, 2022

In case you missed this @NBCNews exclusive: D.C. chiropractor David Walls-Kaufman has been arrested in connection with the Capitol attack. He’ll be making a court appearance this afternoon. https://t.co/lhGGLVBRTb
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) June 9, 2022

More tweets on Long Covid

Where have all the workers gone? 16 million Americans between ages 18 to 65 are experiencing Covid symptoms long after infection. ➡️New report estimates **2 million to 4 million** of those people are currently out of work due to #LongCovid.#CovidIsNotOver https://t.co/0U33gHPL3x
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) August 27, 2022

A new report found some 16 million Americans of working age have long COVID and about 2 to 4 million are not working as they struggle with their symptoms. https://t.co/aBObe6615w
— MarketWatch (@MarketWatch) August 27, 2022

A prospective study of #LongCovid in young (median age=21), healthy, males (93%), with controls: "new evidence that even infections in young adults can lead to sequelae that persist several months"https://t.co/379fy4HmMW pic.twitter.com/mp8METJrE6
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) August 26, 2022

In Opinion

“Long Covid sufferers who caught the virus early have entered their third year with the condition,” Zeynep Tufekci writes. “They’re running out of savings, treatment options and hope.”https://t.co/VAO8zArREB
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 26, 2022

Many of long covid’s medical mysteries are still to be uncovered, a reader writes in #PostLetters.https://t.co/5kskXOFcAl
— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) August 22, 2022

I wrote about where we stand with #LongCovid after a cluster of new studies https://t.co/PcV84cbRyy @latimes pic.twitter.com/jNAD5y9KNB
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) August 21, 2022

Covers: White Room

“White Room” is a song by Cream from 1968. The single version was shorter than the album version.

long version:

Covers: When You Awake

“When You Awake” is a 1969 song by the Band. Rick Danko was the lead singer on it. When they performed it on the 1974 tour with Bob Dylan, there were fewer harmony vocals.

“When you Awake” from The Band’s self-titled second album, was written by Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson. Here is Rick Danko doing an amazing solo acoustic version included on the 1997 The Band (Classic Album) DVD. I love this! https://t.co/t1OnBpuKQs pic.twitter.com/MlJSoaNtWQ
— Telegram Sam (@samclamsbisco) August 24, 2022

Boris, Natasha and Trump

Here are two cartoons making fun of Trump’s closeness with Putin and Russia. The black and white one was in the New Yorker. Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale were characters in Rocky and Bullwinkle animated TV shows.

pic.twitter.com/5nhFXNZ1Y0
— Timo (@timoartwork) August 26, 2022

https://twitter.com/yorksterbad/status/1011057522332045317?s=20

https://twitter.com/lieselotte1215/status/1026213184145956864?s=20

Muswell Hillbillies/Everybody’s In Show-Biz reissue coming in September

Muswell Hillbillies is my favorite Kinks album. Everybody’s In Show-Biz, is good, not great. I like the live disc which was a good representation of their shows around then (1972) – I saw one.

The Paranoid Style always has great posts about music.

‘Muswell Hillbillies’ is the Kinks album where Ray Davies’ small-c conservatism fully cross-pollinates with his burlesque impulses, resulting in a comedic concept album about being too paranoid to leave the house. Haggard's poetic provincialism meets The Band’s musical big tent.
— The Paranoid Style (@paranoiacs) August 25, 2022

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A post shared by The Kinks (@thekinksofficial)

Here’s The Archway Tavern in 1971 captured by the talented @rodshone for The Kinks legendary album Muswell Hillbillies. Open all day and all of the night folks, so come on down! #thekinks #rodshone #muswellhillbillies pic.twitter.com/YMsAH7XNdB
— The Archway Tavern (@archway_Tavern) August 18, 2022

This fantastic performance of Acute Schizophrenia Blues 1973 shows the evolution of The Kinks arrangements from the VGPS era up toto Muswell Hillbillies. Ray has released a brand new mix of this track for the Sept. 9 deluxe box set, check it out here: https://t.co/Bt7fwHreWm pic.twitter.com/gT2UHekssk
— The Kinks (@TheKinks) August 19, 2022

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A post shared by The Kinks (@thekinksofficial)

After the Kinks tapped into American music on 1971's 'Muswell Hillbillies,' they continued to take inspiration from across the pond on its 11th album, 'Everybody's in Show-Biz': https://t.co/azCW5ejaVp
— UltimateClassicRock (@UltClassicRock) August 26, 2022

The media chooses the headlines – I don’t blame Trump for the excessive coverage

It’s being overshadowed because, as usual, the media is giving Trump excessive coverage. Even bad news about Trump crowds out other stories. The media has been doing this since the 2016 election. https://t.co/CBgJR87AEG
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) August 21, 2022

https://t.co/ie7e1TmxGy
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) August 21, 2022

The media, not Trump, chooses the headlines.
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) August 21, 2022

Trump dominates the headlines because of the media – Trump doesn’t write the headlines, you do.
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) September 1, 2022

Pardoning Trump is a bad idea

Totally disagree. Do you think Republicans would ever pardon a Democratic president? They wanted to lock Hillary Clinton up, impeached Bill Clinton, and will inpeach Biden if they take the house. If Trump is guilty, he should pay the price.
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) August 22, 2022

Republicans don’t care about dividing the country – for example, how they handled the Garland SC nomination and the insurrection. Their Supreme Court majority didn’t care when they overturned Roe.
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) August 22, 2022