søndag den 13. juli 2025

Weird or Embarrasing Parents

 

 

Well, some parents are not just weird, but proud of being very, very strange. Also, they have a way of embarrassing their children, especially when they are with friends. As to the one above, I'm not sure that she did what she said. Actually, it's such a dumb ruse that I don't believe her - but still, it may have happened .... 

What are kids for? Right, they may come handy ....

Some poor children really have a hard time dealing with weird parents. Many stay weird even when moving to another country:  

Quora-question: "How can I deal with my parents being weird and strict? Honestly, they are so weird that they embarrass me in front of my friends. What can I do? By the way, my parents were both immigrants to the U.S. 20 years ago, but they still act Asian."

That's tough, as the only way to put an end to that situation will be to disown the Asian parents and start looking for some American ones. Hopefully, the frustrated Asian kid doesn't end up with someone like this:

In her opinion, a strangled baby may be better than no baby

Good times were once many years ago, and, sadly enough, many forget that they had such fun with a loving parent. They may even feel that they had an awful childhood.


Yup, the back of most grown-ups are built for piggy rides

 

Unfortunately, living in a patriarchy, some (mostly male) parents don't feel the same happiness at the birth of a daughter than of a son. For instance, king Henry VIII of England was very, very disappointed at the birth of his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. Only Edward (VI) made him rejoice, as he needed a male heir to save the Tudor-dynasty. Actually, his daughters were of much more historical value ....

 

OK, I admit it's somewhat weird, but so what when it's also very, very loving?


A happy moment to remember when the time of old age comes for the big one, and adulthood for the small one, but, alas, many forget that it happened 

As long as we can't shop parents - or kids - we shall have to come to terms with "weirdness" while rejecting cruelty, abuse or murder. 

  

https://www.parents.com/ 

 

Wikipedia


lørdag den 12. juli 2025

Gender Role Playings And Spying

The Chinese soprano, Shi Pei Pu (1938–30 June 2009) was 70 years old when he/she died at the nursing home where he/she had lived for quite some time. He/She had been a librettist and soprano for the Beijing Opera and besides that he/she taught Chinese to foreign diplomat families.The fact that he/she, who was born a male, had been engaged in one of the craziest love affairs of the century makes him/her an early LGBT-individual, but not solely by choice. No, his/her female roles at the Beijing Opera gave him/her a false identity as a woman and the young French diplomat Bernard Boursicot became obsessed with him/her. He was convinced that the illustrious opera diva, Shi Pei Pu, really was a biological woman. 

The beautiful voice and studied female beauty of Shi Pei Pu enthralled Boursicot when he encountered the famous opera singer in 1964. Being very inexperienced he didn't expect foul play when his Chinese lover proclaimed that their love making - always in total darkness - had led to a pregnancy. In reality this Muslim boy had been bought from his poor mother by Shi Pei Pu.

Bernard Boursicot with his so-called "son" by his Chinese lover

The ability to pull off this stunt is a tribute to the talent of the opera singer and performer, but why did Shi Pei Pu commit this fraud? Well, he/she was not only a star at the Beijing scene, but also a dedicated Chinese spy who wanted to extract as much information from his/her French lover as possible.

The former lovers, Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu, in the French court where they were sentenced for espionage 

In 1983 both Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu were arrested on charges of espionage and in 1986 they were convicted and sentenced to six years in prison. By then it was revealed how the young Frenchman had been deluded by the Chinese spy and opera singer. However, Shi Pei Pu refused to say that he had deluded anyone about his true gender, because, as he said: "I never stated it." This strange love affair was turned into a Broadway production, "M. Butterfly" by David Henry Hwang which later also was to be filmed by David Cronenberg.

What I find extremely interesting in this "love affair" is the ability of Shi Pei Pu to play act as the opposite sex, to know how to engage in sexual acts of the opposite sex while hiding his own.

 

https://china-underground.com/2022/05/02/the-incredible-story-of-the-chinese-spy-shi-pei-pu/ 

 

https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1946375_1946448_1948269,00.html 

 

Wikipedia 

 

torsdag den 10. juli 2025

When One's STOLEN IDENTITY Commits Crimes


From this total baby cuteness to this not so cute??? 


Well, havoc of all kinds may also bring extreme changes into the life and looks of cute child actors like e.g. Brian Bonsall, but this special case is more weird than a case of "what may happen in the life of somebody": The grown-up man in the above photo simply stole the name and fame of the former child star, calling himself "Brian Bonsall", but in reality being the serial rapist Nathan Loebe. When brought to court, he was sentenced to 274 years in prison, which means that he shall never be released, no matter what. 

The rapist "borrowed" the name of the former child actor to make an impact on his female victims, and it seemed to work, because Brian Bonsall had been extremely popular when a child.

I suppose he is best known for his childhood role in the sitcom "Family Ties", but he also had success in grown-up roles, e.g. as Alexander Rozhenko in "Star Trek". 

 

He has made all right as a rock musician, singer and guitarist, but he may still be best remembered as the cute child actor. However, some may also know him as the drunken hooligan who was indicted over partner violence and the use of narcotics. Actually, that happened several times, and that's when he met Nathan Loebe, who decided to steal his identity. Brian Bonsall has told reporters that he quite often met people who asked him whether he was the "real Bonsall" or not, which was a question he found very weird, as he was whom he had always been, namely the former child actor who had made an impact on many fans when he was very young. Not until the arrest of Nathan Loebe did he understand that he had been played by an ID-thief who committed crimes, (mis-)using his name. 

 

https://6abc.com/serial-rapist-sentenced-to-274-years-tiscon-arizona-nathan-loebe/5311220/ 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14548533/family-ties-brian-bonsall-rapist-stole-identity-attack-women-jail.html 

 

https://moviedelic.com/nathan-loebe/ 

 

https://6abc.com/post/man-gets-274-years-in-prison-for-raping-7-women/5311220/ 

 

https://www.denverpost.com/2010/04/08/former-child-star-bonsall-pleads-guilty-in-assault-probation-violation/ 

 

 Wikipedia

 

tirsdag den 8. juli 2025

The Handsome Corpse


This is the extremely well-preserved corpse of an old Dane who died from hanging before being dumped into a bog, and that burial place did a lot to keep his serene looks from The Iron Age to the present day. In my opinion, he is beautiful because of that serenity. Being found in Tollund he is a Dane, but these bog bodies also appeared somewhere else in Europe: Germany, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Sweden, Poland, and Ireland. As to the Tollund Man then it's still possible to discern fingerprints, beard stubbles, as well as amazing facial features and expression. Actually, that's what makes him so stunning.

Was he sacrificed to a god or goddess from the time of his death? That's likely, but there is no indication of his position in the society he lived in. Was he a king or a thrall? Nobody knows for sure, but whoever he was, he must have been brave, as there is no indication that he fought his harsh destiny. Some of the other bog people do exhibit marks of fightings, but those may have been misunderstood, as the sheer pressure of the bogs could injure a corpse. 
 

The Grauballe Man had his throat cut, and he has not kept his looks like the Tollund Man, even though he is considered to be the very best preserved bog corpse in the world. Well, all I can say is that he doesn't have that touching capacity that I find in the Tollund Man. 

This is how the Grauballe Man looked when found, and this is how he is going to look forever, as nobody wants to change that. However, someone made a sculpture from the measurements of his face to reconstruct his looks when alive: 

He looks like someone whom one might see in the streets of the present day Denmark. Not bad for an old guy who have been dead for a very long time. The Tollund Man is supposed to have died 500 B.C., but the Grauballe Man is a bit younger and may have died around 200-300 B.C.. 

The Huldremose Woman also is considered quite well-preserved, and she must have had some kind of status in her society, as she wore a suit of skin and woven wool, which can't have been cheap. Anyway, a rope around her neck indicates that she too was hanged or strangled, although some see it as a kind of necklace. Also, she had severe injuries, especially to an arm, but they seem to stem from before her death.

Actually, cremation was in use at this time period, so the bog corpses must have held special qualities - bad or good - to end up in the bogs. Ideas and suggestions have flourished, but still, there is no real solution to the question: What led to the special burial practice of the bog people?


https://academic.oup.com/book/40283/chapter-abstract/346768615?redirectedFrom=fulltext


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CQE4c8UJkM&feature=player_embedded 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZHPYmfwUxA


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bog_bodies 


https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/europe-bog-bodies-reveal-secrets-180962770/ 


Wikipedia 

 

Poem By Else Cederborg: "A Bear In My Kitchen"


 

A Bear In My Kitchen 

 

A bear in my kitchen?! Wow!!!!

Calls himself Paul, loves coffee

writes daggert-like articles in newspapers

still, a bear he is

 

Actually, a big Teddy Bear with a demonic beard 

determined both to have his cookies and eat them

I'm impressed, few men know the skill of consuming while keeping 

 

But what else do bears eat, but cookies?

Honey? Oh yes, that's his favorite food

 

I love his big paws and sensitive snout

Wanting to make snuggling an art

I'm intending to wrap myself in this live bear-carpet

Practicing all the time 

 

© Copyright 2025 Else Cederborg - All rights reserved 

 

 

 



 

 


mandag den 7. juli 2025

The One-Night-Stand-REVENGE

Apparently Wayne Robinson, 24 years old, is considered extremely handsome, yes, a ditch and thus a magnet with an irresistible power over women. Well, that may be as it is, but one thing is for sure, now he has met someone who didn't bow down in admiration and awe just to let him go unscathed. 

Pretty, 22 years old, Dominique Fisher decided to "do something" about his bloated ego as the perpetual Don Juan he considered himself to be, but what she did isn't recommendable: When he woke up after what he saw as a one-night-stand, he found himself covered in blood from numerous wounds. Dominique had carved her name into his arm and also left a lot of slash marks on his arms and shoulders.


No doubt about, Dominique branded him, like some farmers brand live stock

To me, it's quite weird that Wayne didn't wake up when Dominique slashed him savagely, leaving many wounds. The reason for this was that he was drunk and maybe more. Did he take drugs? Yes, Valium, but maybe not anything stronger than that. Anyway, strangely enough, he didn't wake up from an ordeal that might have awoken a corpse.

Stunned by this sight, he didn't wake Dominique up as she lay sleeping by his side, but at once he went straight to the police and told them what had happened. He said that he had drunk vodka and taken Valium so that he wasn't awake during this incident and had no idea of why and how it had happened. Well, I may tell Mr. Very Handsome that he may have been too obvious in his wishes for a one-night-stand and nothing but that. What would he feel if he was told that he - handsome, otherwise well-mannered, nice, popular and bright as he is - was nothing but e.g. a "scratching stick" to Pretty Dominique? Most probably that would offend him no matter what he felt for her. He - being a man - wouldn't like being used the way he obviously wanted to use her.


I don't think Dominique was right in doing what she did, no, on the contrary, but I take it that he was too obvious in his turning her into some kind of an inanimate sex-doll. Needless to say, one isn't allowed to carve up one's faithless lovers - even though one may be tempted now and then as some smug ones really seem to need it - just as one isn't allowed to mistreat them in other ways. However, new rules for love also makes the new rules for behavior so, unless one wants to learn it the hard way: Don't insult or offend each other.
 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1136287/One-night-stand-man-wakes-lover-carved-arm.html 

 

https://www.jezebel.com/carving-your-name-on-someones-skin-while-they-sleep-a-5176982 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1163483/Woman-carved-lovers-arm-drug-fuelled-fling-walks-free-court.html

 

https://www.oneindia.com/2009/02/05/brit-woman-slashes-lovers-arm-with-her-name-after-one-night.html 

 

søndag den 6. juli 2025

The Woman Who Saved Lives At Sea

 


Martha Jane Hunt Coston (1826-1904)

She was a pretty woman, but what's of a more enduring value is that she also was quite brilliant as well as very, very resilient. As she had eloped with and married extremely early - she was no more than 15 or 16 - she was the mother of four children when she became a widow at 21 years of age. Her husband, Benjamin Franklin Coston, had been an inventor who sadly died from an accident when working with chemical gasses. Not an easy situation for a young woman in a bigoted and Patriarchal society. However, not succumbing to despondency, she decided to start working on the ambitious project of her late husband, namely a color-coded flare system. She had his initial notes, but only a limited knowledge of chemistry and pyrotechnics, so she had to rely on the advice of hired chemists and fireworks experts. As was to be expected, the results were mixed, and she may have become very frustrated by the experience. If so, that didn't stop her, as she worked on the development of the project for nearly ten years. 

She had what proved to be a breakthrough in 1858 when witnessing the fireworks display in New York City celebrating the completion of the transatlantic telegraph cable, she realized something very important: Her system needed a bright blue flare, to go along with the red and white she had already developed. To achieve that, she established the Coston Manufacturing Company for manufacturing the signal flares. A business relationship with a pyrotechnics developer made it possible for her to develop the blue color she needed for her project, and in 1859 she was granted U.S. Patent No. 23,536 for a pyrotechnic night signal and code system, but only as the administrator of the work of her late husband: He was named as the inventor, although she was the one who had developed the system. 

 

Advertisement for Coston flares

Not until 1871 did she obtain a patent in her own name: Patent Number 115,935 for "Improvement in Pyrotechnic Night Signals". That must have been a wonderful victory for her, but nevertheless, she had to press claims from the American government. Her estimate was that they owed her $120,000 in compensation for having to supply them for less than the cost of the flares, and I suppose she may have been cheated by them. For ten years she claimed an additional payment, but ended up only being offered $15,000. I suspect that that part of it was a question of gender, but I'm not sure-sure ....


No matter what, her maritime signal flare system revolutionized naval communication, thus saved countless lives at sea: Eventually every station of the United States Life-Saving Service had Coston flares.

 

https://www.militarytrader.com/tag/martha-coston 

 

https://www.oldbaldy.org/post/illuminating-history-celebrating-martha-coston-s-legacy-on-women-s-equality-day 

 

https://fee.org/articles/3-pioneering-women-in-american-business/ 

 

Wikipedia 

lørdag den 5. juli 2025

Mocked By Life


Some historical persons exude a deep, inner sorrow and thorough disappointment that one may feel even today. Looking at this miniature portrait of the eldest daughter of Henry VIII, the Tudor-Queen Mary I (1516–1558), from her youth makes me feel that she, all through her life, was subjected to so many intolerable sufferings and disappointments that it's almost inhuman. She had, what appears to be, a good childhood with parents who seemed to love her and each other until the day her father set eyes on another woman: Anne Boleyn.

To marry this seductive "Jezabel", he had to get rid of his first wife, the Spanish born Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), who had failed him in giving birth to the male heir that would secure the new dynasty of the Tudors. That exploit took an annulment and the institution of a new, Protestantic State religion. Also, by declaring his marriage to Catherine Null And Void, he had to change the status of his daughter, Mary, from a legit "Princess" to a mere illegitimate "Lady". Did he have any qualms of robbing his child of her Royal status? I don't think so, and he did the same to his daughter by Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth (I), after beheading her mother.

Mary I 

When I see this portrait of Mary, I sense a disappointment in her life and a deep depression that makes me sad for her. She, being a vengeful Catholic, in a new, Protestant world, that she resented both for religious and personal reasons, was nicknamed "Bloody Mary", which was well deserved by her prosecuting and burning more than 280 religious dissenters at the stake. Of course, she hated her father's new religion as well as the status of illegitimacy that he gave her when he was besotted by Anne Boleyn, but not of course that she took it out on religious dissidents. In my opinion she went too far, and it was even in vain, as England didn't comply with her wishes to become Catholic once again.

Mary wasn't ugly, and she may have had good chances of getting married into another foreign, royal house. After all, originally her mother was a high status Princess out of Spain which should have secured her daughter a fine royal position somewhere out of England, but somehow that never happened. Her father also let her down on that "career move", but after inheriting the throne she decided to marry someone from her maternal family, the only legitimate son of the Emperor Charles V, Philip (1527–1598). 

It seems that Mary had romantic feelings for her husband, which he presumably didn't have for her, but married they were, and the marriage must have been consummated as she more than once thought that she was pregnant. Alas, she didn't even have that much wished for child that, sort of, might have been the bonus that brought some of the missing parts of her life together. No, her dynastic frustrations stayed with her, and when she died in 1558 it, most likely, was from a tumor of the womb that had cheated her into thinking that she was pregnant. Everything in her life seemed to mock her, and although I don't like that about the c. 280 dissidents being burned at the stake, I feel sorry for her. To me, it seems that poor Mary never had the life as a grown-up that she - and everybody else - expected her to have when she was her beloved, but discarded, mother's only surviving child.  

 
Wikipedia 
 
 
Britannica
 
 
 
 

fredag den 4. juli 2025

Poem by Else Cederborg: "Befriending Assassins"


  

 

Befriending Assassins  

 

Assassins, also called words

all ready to kill

some dressed in black

most of them in red, like blood

even dripping with it

 

Those creatures I let in

even let them roam my home

I, the hostess, feel their power

victimized by myself

stupid me, all too trusting

when befriending assassins

 

All Rigths Reserved © Copyright by Else Cederborg

 

torsdag den 3. juli 2025

Fault And Faultlessness

Recently I heard of a woman of 82 who was robbed by someone who went for her handbag in broad daylight. It's her opinion that the reason why she was targeted was that she walks with a cane, which of course indicates that she shall not be able to put up much of a fight to defend herself or her belongings. Somehow, that fact makes her feel humiliated, not only by the robber, but also by her own disability. 

Of course, this robbery is neither the first nor the last time something like that is happening, but in this case, the robber was a (maybe illegal???) visitor or immigrant from an East European country, which wasn't the first time one of those guys did something like this. Unfortunately, by now they have a reputation of being criminal and often violent, yes, by now, with incidents like this one, people almost take for granted that the criminal is either from East Europe or the Middle East. Something, which is not quite fair, but that's the situation now after numerous robberies, burglaries and even murders to obtain what these people lack: Money and luxury items. We, the legit citizens, try to get rid of them, but in several cases it has proven impossible as they simply return at will. They may be evicted over and over, but here they are, back again, ready for "business"!

 

These years have seen many deeply disturbing criminal cases, as both everybody and nobody seems to be the true criminals because those who commit the crimes take excuse in their social situations, e.g. as formerly abused children or the like. One of the worst cases of this kind of crimes, is the one in which an old woman, 85 years old, who never bothered anyone, was victimized by a 15-year-old boy. She had been a nice and decent person, actually, a model citizen, all her life. Also, she was a woman who had made an effort to get by on her meager pension as best she could. Being both old and poor, she should have been left alone by criminals, but as we only know too well, fairness isn't always to be had.

Guilty as charged: I love this story of granny-bravery, but that's not the most common outcome of a fight with a robber 

 

One day when the 85 years old woman was walking home after shopping the most necessary groceries for her household, she met her murderer: For some reason best known to himself a young man of 15 followed in her footsteps, unbeknown to her and without having any knowledge of whom,  and what she was. When she opened her door and stepped into "the safety of" her home, he was right behind her and forced his way in. She told him to leave, which made him furious. He hit her in the face and then even raped her. When she told him that he was an evil, bad boy and that she was calling the police on him, he got so enraged that he decided to kill her for his own protection. A decision which he then set out to do in such a way that when her son found her dead body the next day, her head was almost cut loose from her neck. Also, she has a lot of deep cuts and bruises all over her body and face.

She is dead, but the young murderer wasn't arrested until several months later. Then it appears that in reality he is a tragic figure who has had a terrible childhood with alcoholic parents, abuse, etc., etc.. That's awful, but what has that got to do with this poor, old and dead woman? Did he target her because she resembled someone who had been evil to him, and if so, how could that be the fault of this particular old woman who didn't know him until they met? No, it was not in any way her fault, it was a coincidence or fate itself. Also, it was especially unfair to someone who had been a decent person all her life - just as life had been unfair to the small child who had grown into a 15 years old murderer. 

However, in my opinion, the misuse of the fact of his miserable childhood as an excuse for his bloody deed doesn't hold water because the one he targeted had nothing to do with his past. Had he targeted someone who had abused him or just been cruel to him when a child I might have accepted it as a kind of excuse, but still, only up to a point. I do find it hard always to condone revenge, but still, I understand it - at least up to a point.


onsdag den 2. juli 2025

The Boy Who Was Turned Into A Sex-Doll

  


The Roman Empress Poppaea 

Not everybody loved Poppaea Augusta Sabina (31-65), but the Roman emperor, Nero, was totally besotted by her. His infatuation was one major reason for him to have his mother, Agrippina, killed when she resented his plans of marrying Poppaea who was his mistress, although married to one of his friends. At that time he himself was married to the stepdaughter of Agrippina from her marriage to emperor Claudius, namely Octavia

Nero was just as brutal as he looks, and one of the many people he had killed was the son of Poppaea, Rufius Crispinus, whom he considered a rival to the throne. No matter whom, and no matter what he saw as endangering the Empirical power, his mother had worked tirelessly to obtain for him was accepted in his life: He was relentless: Both Agrippina, Octavia and her then husband were killed when he set his will at marrying Poppaea. When he married her, she was pregnant with his daughter, Claudia, but the baby only lived for a couple of months. Some time later, Poppaea got pregnant once again, but that didn't protect her from the cruelty of her new husband, Nero. In a heated argument, Nero kicked her in the stomach, which led to her premature death.
 

In his looks, Nero reminds me of Mussolini: Both of them looks like what might be called "human buffaloes" 

Well, Nero, who really was totally besotted by Poppaea mourned her death - and the lack of her body. That's why he had her embalmed in fragrant oils and spices before putting her to rest in the mausoleum of Emperor Augustus. Still mourning, he started to look for a substitute of his wife, and his eye fell upon a woman who resembled her in her looks. Being a man of wants and demands that weren't fit to be subdued, he sent for this woman and kept her for a while. However, even though she may have resembled Poppaea in her looks, he found out that she wasn't like her and thus not what he was looking for, so he let his wandering eye go on another search. Unluckily for the one it fell upon, he did find someone who presumably was the spitting image of the dead Poppaea, namely a slave by the name of Sporus (died 69).

A slave becoming an empress, that would be something, but that was not what happened. Sporus wasn't a woman, but an adolescent boy, whom Nero had married, before or after he had him castrated to keep his uncanny likeness to his dead wife. When they appeared in public, Sporus wore the clothes and regalia of the Empress, and Nero called him by her name. One might say, that the boy Sporus lost his real life in order to please the emperor as best he could. 

“This Sporus, decked out with the finery of the empresses and riding in a litter, he took with him to the assizes and marts of Greece, and later at Rome through the Street of the Images, fondly kissing him from time to time.“ (Suetonius

However, Sporus didn't survive the downfall of Nero in 68. When he learnt that he was to be raped in public as some kind of extra humiliation of the by then dead Nero, he committed suicide. All in all a grusome tale of all kinds of cruelty and abuse!  
 


https://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/nero.html


https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-emperor-nero/

 

Wikipedia