Travel

Egyptian Quiz

January 13, 2021 by Rick Kinnaird 1 Comment

1. What were the kings of Egypt called?

A. Kings

B. Regents

C. Pharaohs

D. Baronnets

2. What were the queens of Egypt called?

A. Queens

B. Regents

C. Pharaohs

D. There were none

3. Egypt is a?

A. Continent

B. Country

C. Region

D. Desert

4. Egypt is located in?

A. The Middle East

B. Europe

C. Asia

D. Africa

5. Egyptian rulers were?

A. African

B. Greek

C. Egyptian

D. All of the above

6. What religion has a longer time span?

A. Christian

B. Muslim

C. Jewish

D. Egyptian cult of the bull

7. What river runs through the middle of Egypt?

A. Rhine

B. Amazon

C. Nile

D. Mississippi

8. In which direction does that river flow?

A. Up

B. North

C. South

D. Down

9. How many kingdoms make up ancient Egypt?

A. 1

B. 2

C. 3

D. 25

10. Upper Egypt is located to the _____ of Lower Egypt?

A. East

B. North

C. South

D. West

11. Uncle Rick is the best uncle ever?

A. True

B. Yes

C. Definitely

D. All of the above

Day 1315 – Maine Field Report #2

August 25, 2020 by Rick Kinnaird Leave a Comment

Tuesday August 25, 2020

68 Days until the election on November 3^rd

148 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

I wasn’t going to write today as I was achy and had nuthin’ to say, then I learned my services were not needed at the moment and thought it wise to catch you-all up on the proceedings.

The painting continues apace. We got the ocean (south) side done, including the fascia boards. Only the little slivers between the big windows remain. Note, the clever masking.

The west side is done high up except for one strip of second coat. The lower part needs to be masked. The east side is power washed and awaiting masking. The backside (garage) is being power washed as I write.

There is some concern over my safety by those not here, and I sure you that all is well. I hold the hose!

Scott lent us set up equipment, which included the green fiberglass ladder. He told me he liked it because it was so light. Either he was kidding or he’s strong like ox. I’m not sure which. Trying to move that beast when the ladder was extended, because it has no pull rope, is the closest we’ve come to Keystone Cops. However, all the high work is nearly done. Just the one strip left. Ever onward!

In other news, the police shot a black man in the back seven times because they feared for their lives.

A man who thought Covid was a hoax and therefore didn’t abide by any of the safety guidelines just lost his wife to the virus. He guesses he should have listened more. This reported by the BBC’s disinformation correspondent.

Katie Porter question the new Postmaster General who demonstrated a severe lack of even the most basic of information about the post office. What I found astounding about his testimony was how he could straight up lie to people. Maybe it’s not lying if you don’t know? That’s about the best defense he could mount. Interestingly he says that the “reforms” he put in place were not his but from previous studies and people, yet he didn’t know whom those people or studies were.

The Republican Convention was kicked off the other night. Well, there was the Trump Convention and the other Republican convention. Highlights includes Donald Trump Jr. high as a kite (or so I am told by people more expert in these behaviors than me.) And Trump giving his “I don’t know much about the organization, but they like me” comment about the Qanon folks. However, I can understand after hanging out with Jeff Epstein that the idea of pedophiles running the world makes some sense. The cannibalism? That’s a little harder to understand. Maybe, Jeff was doing even more than suspected? It seems that the rich are not only different than you and me, but they are pretty weird too.

68 Days until the election on November 3^rd

148 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS The fascia board masking, the high triangle set up, and “Look Ma, one foot!” (“Oh Lordie, I don’t know what I’m going to do with that boy”) photo.

Day 1289 – Two Little Things

July 30, 2020 by Rick Kinnaird 1 Comment

Thursday July 30, 2020

94 Days until the election on November 3^rd

174 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

I feel like Alistair Cooke, sitting in a giant wing chair looking at the camera, “We are now at day one thousand two hundred and eighty nine since that cocksplat, Donald Trump took office and began with the help of the Republican Party and conspiracy theorists to ruin the country call The United States of America.”

Ah yes. Well let’s give The Donald the benefit of the doubt shall we? Let’s suppose that the intel never reached his desk that the Russians were paying to have American soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Let us further suppose that Donald is a very good reader, which he claims to be. The only paper that he subscribes to is The New York Times. They broke the story of the Russians paying to have our soldiers killed. Seems odd that he missed that article, or its reporting or the numerous reports that were put into his daily briefing if he was such good reader, or if he was watching TV. Seems odd.

But here’s one of those little things that is also odd. The top soldier in Afghanistan reported that Afghan soldiers fighting with them brought them weapons that they said they seized from the Taliban and that they were given to the Taliban by the Russians. In fact, they can trace a particular weapon back to the person and order placed within the GRU to obtain this weapon. That was two years ago. Yet, the president says it never reached his desk.

In fact, he called the whole Russian thing fake news and a hoax. I have a fantasy, that Chuck Schumer asks for that weapon to be sent to him and he brings it to the White House and squeezes off a clip in the Oval Office and tells the president not to worry because it’s fake.

Speaking of fakes – Louie Gohmert, that lovable nut, refused to wear a mask, made all his staff not wear masks while attending meetings, which he insisted on holding in his office, has tested positive for the corona virus. He was trying to get on Air Force One when they tested him. If only they hadn’t tested him then we wouldn’t have had another case to count.

Apparently, Congress has no mechanism to deal with this sort of thing. (Ie general precautionary measures to insure the safety of the people in the building, etc.) I wonder what is going to happen if someone in Gohmert’s staff tests positive and dies? Do the relatives get to sue over unsafe working conditions?

It’s not only Gohmert, but many Republicans who are refusing to wear masks. Seems the Republicans should change their name to The No Common Sense Party. Maybe No Sense Party? Maybe Nonsense Party.

Then there’s Ivanka Trump. For some reason I got to …

INTERUPTION – NASA lift off of PERSERVERANCE to Mars.

ATLAS 5 rocket liftoff with 2 million pounds of thrust left the launch pad in 5 seconds. Launch was early. OMG! Yeah, 10ms early! Thank God we still have something we can do right. Every 26 months or so we can get to Mars within the least amount of energy. We’ll be to Mars in seven months.

Stay tuned.

Where was I? Oh yeah, Ivanka. She told people out of work to “find something else to do.” Good idea, Ivanka! Look at you. After letting your dad paw you while you were 13 you transitioned into the family business of lying about their real estate deals. She then started a fashion business, selling clothes, shoes, and jewelry. She then helped dad get elected. Published a book, which was mainly plagiarized. Then got out to the fashion business because no one was buying her shit. She and her milk toast looking husband then moved into helping daddy run the country into the ground, all the while she and her husband were busy taking money from foreign rulers and businesses. So she certainly knows transition!

But that’s not the other little fact I wanted to mention. It’s solar! Solar in Afghanistan! Yeah baby. Turns out that the heroin farmers have been drilling wells, installing pumps powered by solar panels, which has allowed them to produce lots more acreage to grow opium poppies. They’ve manage to pretty much double the land they can grow opium poppies! Cool, huh? They can also grow tomatoes as a second crop. Maybe, even get a third crop!

So look for the price of heroin to drop as the market gets flooded.

94 Days until the election on November 3^rd

174 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS The Launch and the Helicopter

PPS This mission is to determine if there was or is life on Mars.

PPPS Mark your calendars February 18, 2021 for Perserverence landing on Mars.

El Baúl

July 5, 2020 by Rick Kinnaird 3 Comments

Due to popular demand (one person sort of asked) I present to you the site of El Baúl. Home of the famous “Rocket Man” stela. Well, that’s what I call it.

What is going on here? As far as I know, no one knows. This stela is unique. It is part of an array of sculptures found at this site. The site was destroyed in 1997 to make way for sugar cane fields. They kept plowing up stuff and decided to preserve the bits and pieces in an open air covered walkway arrangement.

To get there you have to enter through this guarded gate. I don’t know how you’d know it is there. Fortunately, I had a guide.

**Part of the old sugar cane processing plant**

The walk way leads to a set of walkways, arranged in a square. There are individual sculpted heads and pieces of ornamentation. There is also one walkway that has large stones with faces or figures carved on the stones.

We were curious about the thorny sticks atop the sculptures. Obviously, they had some religious significance. Images of Christ and his crown of thorns, perhaps? When we asked the guard said, “Oh no, that’s to keep the birds off.”

So much for religion.

**Before I left I had to sign the book**

Paperwork is important. Here Ivania, my guide, and one of the staff are looking for the next entry. Notice the thorny stick on top of the sculpture to keep the birds off.

I get to sign just below Jerry Miller. He was here in September of 2013. The date on my photograph is March of 2017. Maybe, they just had an extra line at the bottom and there might be a few more pages beyond this. However, you can see that the book is not very much used and the pages go back at least five years. Not many people come here.

In the nearby town of La Democracia are these wonderful stone heads and figures. There were some at El Baul too, (See Below).

These heads actually come from a nearby site called Monte Alto. What’s interesting is they are displayed in the town square where people find shade under their protective coverings. Mothers sit nursing their babies and small children climb on them, using them for a jungle gym.

This is a sculpted rock from El Baul. Pretty scary fellow. Once again I have to ask myself, “What is going on here?”

After visiting the town square we went to the local market for lunch.

But that’s another adventure.

Museum Outside Escudo Jaguar

April 23, 2020 by Rick Kinnaird Leave a Comment

Okay Gang,

We may not be able to get to the Escudo Jaguar but here’s a little tidbit that we didn’t get to see the last time we were there.

Rick

As you leave the Escudo Jaguar Eco Lodge there is a restaurant across the street as you make the left turn. Also, in that area is a large Mayan hut that serves as a museum. In that museum is this stela as well as displays of scorpions and spiders (Yum!)