FLASHBACK FRIDAY — “THIS IS YOUR LIFE”
June 15, 1961. It was quite a shock to me when I was the surprise guest on Ralph Edwards’ famous television show. My “Life” at age 17? How could that be? The show’s producers were intrigued by a recent Life Magazine story of my swimming the Hellespont as did Leander in Greek mythology (December 12, 1960 issue) that also had photos of me on top of the Matterhorn and with a Jivaro headhunter.
Without my knowing, they flew my guide for the Hellespont swim, Huseyin Uluarslan, from Turkey to LA, the same for my guide on the Matterhorn, Alfons Franzen, from Switzerland, to be on the show. Most amazing of all, they got the Chief Prefect of Police for Ecuador, Jaime Duran, to pick up Tangamashi (the Jivaro who adopted me) and his brother Naita by helicopter from their Amazon encampment, then fly them from Quito to LA.
I was dumbfounded. So there we are in the photo, left to right: Ralph Edwards, Jaime Duran, Tangamashi, Naita, a very young yours truly, and Ralph Ferguson, son of medical researcher Dr. Wilburn Ferguson who translated for Tangamashi. Quite a moment for a 17 year-old boy – and no doubt for Tangamashi! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #10)
FJB!
HALF-FULL REPORT 10/29/21
This Halloween has a different feel than years past. My smaller city celebrates Halloween with enthusiasm. Hundreds of children are usually on the prowl and the neighborhoods are decorated with lights and spider webs and all types of creepy things.
Well almost all, you see the millennials now buying into the area turn their porch lights off and hover around their computer screens. They don’t want to be bothered and they don’t see the kid’s costumes as anything out of the ordinary.
To these folks, everyday is Halloween.
Welcome to the Halloween HFR, Come on over.
THE YEZIDI BLACK SNAKE SACRED SPRING
At the Temple of the Peacock Angel in the Yezidi holy city of Lalish, you find this entrance to a Sacred Spring with a carved black snake, revered by Yezidis as they believe a black snake stuck itself into a hole in Noah’s Ark and saved humanity.
The Yezidis are among the most ancient of all peoples in the Middle East. Their heartland is in what is now Northern Iraq, or Iraqi Kurdistan. You may know of them through the horrific butchery perpetrated upon them by the medieval terrorists of ISIS which gained worldwide notoriety.
They are a fascinating people whose syncretic beliefs are a mélange of Zoroastrianism, Syriac Christianity, Sufi Islam spiced with their own interpretation of all three. In other words, they are their own people, no one else like them – peaceful, at ease with themselves, and immensely likeable.
Their protectors are the Kurds – an extraordinary people in their own right. We’ll be visiting Iraqi Kurdistan and the Yezidis once more next year. ((Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #89 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 10/28/21
Back in the USSR:
Xiden's nominee to regulate banking is a Soviet Communist (yes, for real: her graduating thesis at the Soviet Union’s Moscow University in 1989 was Karl Marx’s Economic Analysis and the Theory of Revolution in Das Kapital) who wants to require that all bank deposits be transferred to the Federal Reserve - really!:
Biden's Bank Regulator Nominee Would End Community Banking
What if the supply chain collapse isn't due to incompetence, but is purposely driven by lockdowns, vaccine mandates, paying people more not to work than to work, zero interest rates, and so very much more?
THE FRIGHTENED CLASS
They’re all around us, especially those of us who live in relatively prosperous metropolitan neighborhoods in the US or Western Europe. Despite being—at least in material terms—among the most fortunate people who have ever walked the earth, they are very scared.
And they want you to be very frightened too.
Indeed, many of them see your refusal to be as frightened as they are about life’s inevitable risks as a grave problem which entitles them and their often powerful and influential fellow travelers to recur to all manner of authoritarian practices to ensure that you adhere to their increasingly neurotic view of reality.
Why?
THE SUPERTREE GARDEN
The world’s most spectacular nature park is the 130-acre Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. In the gigantic greenhouse of the Flower Dome, virtually every rare flower on earth flourishes in abundance, while the Cloud Forest is a wonderland of tropical waterfalls seemingly falling out of the sky high above.
Dominating the park are the 160-foot high Supertrees, towering vertical gardens covered in orchids, ferns, vines, and exotic plants. There are elevated canopies and walkways between them. Exploring the astonishing display of hi-tech botanical artistry and genius that is Gardens by the Bay is absolutely awe-inspiring.
TTPer Cassowary was kind enough to guide me through the park as Singapore is his home. Perhaps he’ll tell us more about it on the Forum. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #102 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HEALTH CARE WORKERS EXPLAIN WHY THEY WOULD RATHER LOSE THEIR JOBS THAN GET VAXXED
Despite the COVID-19 vaccines having been promoted as safe and effective by legacy media, many health care workers are refusing to take them, and those who openly speak out about their concerns get censored by Big Tech companies or kicked off their platforms.
Some nurses and doctors are refusing vaccine mandates even if their refusal will cost them their jobs. I recently interviewed a number of them to learn why. I believe they are representative of many thousands of health care professionals all over America who refuse to bow down to vax mandates. This is what they told me in their own words.
RUSSIA GOING SOUR ON CHINA?
Professor Alexander Lukin’s book “China and Russia: The New Rapprochement” discussed the promise of Sino-Russian cooperation. That was in 2018.
In contrast, Lukin now frankly admits that “any possible changes in U.S. policy will probably prove less of a deterrent to further Russian-Chinese rapprochement than will Russian concerns over China’s growing assertiveness.” He argues that “the peak of Russian-Chinese rapprochement has probably passed.”
There’s an old saying that best friends can make the worst enemies. Is that happening between Russia and China?
THE ARK OF BUKHARA
The ”Ark” was the palace-fortress of Bukhara rulers since 500 BC. The ancient Silk Road oasis has a history of 5,000 years. Today Bukhara is in Uzbekistan, one the Five Stans of Central Asia. Each of the five – Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrghizstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan – are uniquely enchanting. Together they comprise one of the most culturally, historically, and scenically spectacular, yet mysterious and unknown, regions on our Earth. Let me know if you’d like to experience all five with me this coming May 2022. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #36 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)