Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Blackmailing By Death Threats


 

She wants to jump - or so she says - but no, the police will have none of that

To end up dead isn't all that that unusual. Actually, that's what we are supposed to do sooner or later no matter what: At one point the planet Earth wants to shake off those living organisms that aren't young and
fertile anymore. However, some chose not to wait for that day, but hasten towards it. Knowing that is the same as knowing that those threats of suicide that some of us have experienced from friends or relatives may turn into a reality. 


Evelyn McHale leapt to her death in 1947 when she jumped from The Empire State Building

Yes, some really do seek this premature ending whether it's because they find everything in life too difficult, too burdensome or not worthwhile. Others may seek death, more or less in mock, or to blackmail someone to do something this person doesn't want to do. We may not believe that Ms
X, who threatens to kill herself once in a while, will ever do so, but on the other hand, she MIGHT and that would lead to boosts of sorrow and regrets in us that we want to elude as best we can. According to Ms X the only way to do so is to do what she wants us to do and that may not be what we ourselves want to engage in.

 

Her blackmailing - and blackmail it is - may have started out as a mock-threat, but ended up being genuine. She really kills herself and that situation is very difficult for the person who was blackmailed, especially if he or she can't check up on the blackmailer. Many thoughts and fears rush through the mind of the victim of the blackmailer. Also a certain amount of annoyance as this shouldn't happen: It's not fair and it doesn't change so very much as what has been obtained through blackmail isn't the same as what was given freely. Besides being dead the blackmailer doesn't even see how his or her exploits as a blackmailer ended up. 


Tuesday, April 14, 2026

The Helping Hand And Its Limitations

 

For some time I've had the non-pleasure of needing a hand now and then, simply because some everyday actions don't work out as they should and how they did some time ago. It's annoying because one of the very big pleasures of life is to be able to do what's needed when it's needed. Of course it's nice that most people do lend me that needed hand. Actually, it's touching, and I appreciate it, but I would prefer that it wasn't needed, and that I could just go on as usual.

However, I think that all situations - good or bad - may further a lesson, something to teach us humans something important. One lesson for me has been the realization that one shouldn't demand too much of helpful people. Actually, one should try to one's needs before they turn into DEMANDS which may happen quite soon as it's so much easier to ask someone to do something than to try doing it oneself ....

Friday, April 10, 2026

Ups And Downs In The Life of "The "Golden Boy", Andrew

 

The irony of life with its ups and downs is something most of us have to endure, but some people represent certain aspects of this system in a more obvious manner. One of these people is The former Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. He is supposed to have been the favorite son of the late queen Elizabeth II, and he is the one of her four children who resembles her the most in looks. Born in 1960 as the second son and third child of the Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, he was privileged from the very beginning of life, so he may have come to think that privileges of all kinds were his birthright that couldn't be disputed by anybody. Also, his originally good looks and charm may have given him an erroneous idea of his own importance to many different people who wooed him both as a prince and as a handsome guy.  

I seem to remember his older brother, King Charles III, saying something long ago about his younger brother being "handsome as a movie star" (which he himself never was) so maybe there was some envy at an early age? Anyway, Andrew gained a certain reputation of being an extrovert, sporty, charming and simply dashing man. He was the darling of women who fell for his charm, good looks and/or royal title. 

 

Besides, in the Falklands War (1982) he gained another kind of a positive reputation, namely as a war hero after serving as a helicopter pilot in the Navy. However, early on one of his nicknames, namely "Randy Andy", somehow was what came to sum up his life and whole being in the eye of the public. 

He dated many women, and one of his best known affairs was with the American photographer and actress Kathleen Norris "Koo" Stark. She was known for her role in "Star Wars: A New Hope" and films like "Emily" and "Electric Dreams" before she became a renowned portrait photographer. I don't know why she wasn't "wife material" like Sarah Ferguson whom he married in 1986, but that doesn't seem to have been considered by either of them. 

Both Fergie and Andrew were unfaithful - or simply led their own "swinger-life". When they were divorced they kept living together, both caring for their two daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie. As to Sarah she has been working for some cancer charities, and founded "Children in Crisis" and "Sarah's Trust". However, her odd friendship with Jeffrey Epstein lost her the trust of several charities. 

By the way, one of the very strange parts of that friendship is that this American pedophile trafficker seems to have been paying her money, either as loans or wages: It isn't quite clear what their relationship was, but it's obvious that they in some respects were quite close.

In 2014 a young woman, Virginia Giuffre, accused Andrew of having abused her when she was a 17 year old sex-trafficked victim of the Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell-organisation. Andrew denied even having met Virginia and seemed much more worried about her having said that he had a "strange odor" and sweated much more than normal. In an interview he came to reveal that he found those allegations that ruined his image of being a "Prince Charming" much more alarming than what happened to the sex-trafficked Virginia. His total lack of empathy was quite unsettling and have cost him a lot of sympathy in England as well as elsewhere.

I'm not sure when this particular photo was taken, but having seen several like it - and it is from a late time period - it seems to me that he started to look unhappy and worried quite some time before his brother, King Charles III, stripped him of all of his royal titles, namely in 2025. The reason for the shift in looks may be that the infamous doings of Epstein and the names of his associates/customers were brought into focus. Not only tRump, but e.g. also Andrew were mentioned. Several unpleasant photos were published, and there were rumors of violent sex leading to murder.

However, when he was arrested in February 2026 it wasn't for pedophile misdemeanors, but for "suspicion of misconduct in public office". It seems that he may have shared sensitive government information with the criminal Jeffrey Epstein. 

When he was taken away by the police, he looked like he had had the floor removed under his feet without being prepared for the shock. It must have been a strange experience for this former darling of Brits to be treated like a common criminal and not having the Royal privileges that would make it possible for him to do something about it. He always struck me as being arrogant, and I didn't like his attitude in the interview, but this photo made me feel his situation as something "commonly felt" by humans of all kinds of social standing, and I felt sorry for him. Also, I feel sorry for his daughters, but not yet for his ex-wife, Fergie, because she did have some weird financial ties with Epstein.

The Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie with their mother, Sarah






 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Wikipedia 


Saturday, April 4, 2026

Poem by Else Cederborg: "Echoes"

 


 

Echoes


Echoes go so well with lives

with love, with fates

even with humanities

no more heavyhanded clue than an echo

shall - shall not

love - love not


Love to the drums of doom

success - failure, success - failure

all of it echoes

been there, done that

too old to un-remember former loves

those memories cost heavy duties

all of them love-killers


ALL rights reserved

© EC



 

Thursday, April 2, 2026

The Split Body

 


This picture sort of comments itself, but for those who simply don't get it, I shall make it easy: The picture is about how many women feel about their situation in a patriarchy. When I (re-)found it I came to think of tRump and his infatuation with someone not being either of his three wives. Actually, she was a fellow politician from another country, blond, pretty and charmingly "petite". When he complimented her, he obviously didn't see her as the politician, she was - i.e. his equal - but his wet dream of a woman. She certainly, wasn't one of those "nasty" ones who challenges his image of himself as the one who has a right to demand a certain behavior from the female sex. The above picture says it all when it comes to this attitude: You are a woman, and you are nothing but - or first and foremost - the embodiment of my needs which are centered upon certain of your body parts. This attitude is so old, and so integrated into the common male biased ideology that even some women may see it as "complimentary". That is, if they have fallen prey to this ideology which gives them the possibility of letting themselves be "complimented into oblivion: They are not, what they are, but what they have been told they are.

Sunday, March 29, 2026

A New Life, For Or Against?

 

Sometimes I watch a television program about some "ghost hunters" who investigate allegedly haunted places. It's very interesting both to see what they find and what they call "finds". Up till now there has definitely been more of the "what they call finds" than 100% water tight, scientifically proven finds, but still, I find it interesting, actually also to see my own reactions to these maybe-finds.

IF there are ghosts then it means that our "soul" is more than the body and mind of us, it's not even part of our physical death, but somehow lives on after we die. That will be a substantial consolation for many people who fear death, but I'm not sure this "staying alive after death" is something to wish for. To have some traumatic experiences in life that glues one to the place where they happened is not what I find worthwhile for anybody, dead or alive. Such a situation would be more like being caught and then tied down in a more or less gloomy dungeon which I don't see as the wishful scenario for my future.   

Naaahhh, I think I would prefer a totally new life which is what cats are supposed to get up till nine times. Then the question is, would I be prepared to live in a place or a situation that's not "ME" as I'm now? Naaahhh, not really .... What I would concede for is a staying "me", while being transformed into something - ehhh', somebody else - and I don't think that's what's supposed to happen when one is reincarnated. 

Then there is no real point in wanting this intolerable, evil-minded and spoilt milksop to be reincarnated as this guy:
 

The milksop will not feel or experience the hardships of the homeless guy, just as he doesn't now when he is the so-called "president" of the USA. That means that the tie of these assumed lives must remain tight for the past to make as much as a dent in the make-up of the new life. 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm ....


 

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus and the apostles taught that death is like sleep followed by a resurrection (See John 11:11-15).

 

Friday, March 27, 2026

Poem by Else Cederborg: "Masks"


Whenever the face was on it bristled with smiles

all kinds of smiles, some half, some whole

some genuine, some anything but

 

All of them were hers, earned in pain

and countless frustrations

Actually, in nature, most of them were

kicks, stabs, evil wishes and plans 

turned into facial expressions 

 

That's why she kept her face in a box

putting it on or locking it away, day in, day out

Her being held captive by unbeatable circumstances

the face got the better of her, demanding

moods and feelings that were not hers 

 

 

Tuesday, March 24, 2026

A On-Line-Love-Affair

Eh'???!!!! Yes, I definitely do have that right, and I'm going to exert it whenever I chose to! However, I have heard of people who feel owned by their own computer and certain subs they somehow got to visit all the time. I don't feel "owned" yet, but there are subs I would find it difficult to give up, and which I visit quite often. When I did some time ago, I was told a gruesome, but not all that uncommon tale of a woman who let herself get involved with a man on the Net. Before long they sort of seduced each other, and for a while they were very close indeed. The way it was told led me to think that she was a very down-to-earth-woman, but he started out as what one might call an old-fashioned, romantic gentleman-suitor - that is, before he turned unpleasant.  

 
 
Over time he somehow got the upper hand over her because nobody had told her of the dangers of webcams. All og a sudden her gentleman-suitor turned nasty: Being no better than he was, he threatened to post his takes of her on YouTube, when she decided to leave him for a more substantial lover. Suddenly, what had been a kind of love and quite fun games turned bad. As it is, she got more and more afraid that he would revenge himself on her by ruining her reputation in what might be called "the real world". 

I doubt that his photos and videos of her were very revealing or shocking, but she felt they might ruin a lot for her with her family, her colleagues, her friends, yes, everybody who knew her. Because of that, she was caught and gave up her new real-life-love to stay with her internet-lover. What a pity, in my opinion.

As she had never seen her online-lover in real life, but only knew him from photos who might be of anybody with a face and a body, she wouldn't even know him if he came to look her up. Actually, she was in a similar situation as the one of the young woman in this rather scary tale of a man's radical changes of looks and personality:


Saturday, March 21, 2026

Wagging the "Tail" of the President


I always liked Dustin Hoffman, and I remember him in the classic movies "The Graduate", "Tootsie", "Midnight Cowboy", "Papillon", "Marathon Man", "Kramer vs. Kramer", "All the President's Men", and "Rain Man". The one I remember the best is "The Graduate", and I think that's because he and Ann Bancroft are doing a great job of the story about the woman who seduces her daughter's boyfriend.

However, there is another Dustin Hoffman-movie which I, actually to my own great surprise, have forgotten totally: "Wag the Dog" (1997), which is based upon the novel by Larry Beinhart from 1993: "American Hero".


This may sound crazy, but the reason why I came to remember this movie is the tRumpian's insane Iran-war that started a few weeks ago. As it is, tRump has nothing to do with this specific movie, but part of the recent Epstein- and Iran-situation, as it's seen by most people, Americans or not, seem to mirror it. The story is about a president, played by Michael Belson, who has an urgent need of a distraction from a sex scandal that could ruin his career: He was caught making sexual advances to an underage girl in The Oval Office. 

Michael Belson

Now, what to do to save the president's career and him from criminal prosecutions? Well, Dustin Hoffman and Robert the Niro as a Hollywood producer and a spin doctor, decide that a fake war might take the heat off the guilty president, so they go about fabricating what looks like a war in Albania, but which is only a make-believe-story. 

Strangely enough, a few weeks after the release of "Wag the Dog" the then president, Bill Clinton, had an affair with the young Monica Lewinsky that drew a lot of attention. Was it what led to the bombings in Sudan and Iraq? Also, there was the American intervention in the Kosovo War which one might suspect was related to the Clinton-Lewinsky-scandal.


https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/oct/09/wag-the-dog-where-to-watch-streaming-abc-iview-robert-de-niro-dustin-hoffman 

 

Wikipedia 


Thursday, March 19, 2026

Playing With Toxins

 

Now, what do we have here? A sick dog? Yeah, but not sick-Sick as in contamination, genetic problems, accidents or the like. This very sick dog actually is a genuine drug addict. You may ask, how a dog can be a drug addict, and the answer is that he/she loves licking some of these poisonous animals:

I would have thought it takes a fairy tale princess to kiss one of these, and then it's not a frog, but a toad. The idea of "kissing a toad" stems from the Brother Grimm's fairy tale "The Frog Prince" about an unpleasant physical contact that symbolizes endurance: "Kiss the frog who is a bewitched prince and free him from the magic that turned him into an ugly animal. By doing that you gain the true love of a true prince.

Well, part of the unpleasantness of kissing frogs - or toads - is that some of them are quite poisonous. To kiss, or even touch, such a creature may be quite dangerous and is not to be recommended, e.g. as an experiment or a dare.


The sick dog who keeps licking toads is not only "playing with toxins", but with fire, as this foul habit may cost it its life. If a dog or cat licks, bites, etc. a poisonous toad one has to bring it to the vet, but before doing that one should rinse its mouth. 

Dogs don't read fairy tales, making them want to take the chance of kissing a frog to see it turn into a handsome prince, but they may do it to get at the skin secrets of the animal. While these secrets being killers in some toads or frogs they are also very "narcotic", giving hallucinations and all sorts of sensations that some, people and animals, enjoy. I suppose they aren't tasty in the normal sense like e.g. some foods, but they do what narcotics are supposed to do. For instance The Colorado River toad also produces something that's called 5-MeO-DMT, which is a powerful psychedelic. The Cane Toad is very dangerous to animals and should be avoided.


Sunday, March 15, 2026

Weird Tale by Else Cederborg: "The Reward" (Edited, Previously Published)


The Reward


It dawned upon Yvonne that her choice wasn't the best one. No, she shouldn't have asked for "never dying" when that genie told her she had some wishes coming her way for helping his nephew out from that old flask that had kept him prisoner for ages. 

No, she should have asked for something else, like e.g. "never aging and never getting poor". She even had three wishes, but somehow she couldn't remember the other two ones.

However, this never dying-promise simply begged another wish, but she had no idea of how she would get a fourth wish. It seemed impossible, also because the genie had gone, as he went to see another one of his troublesome nephews, this one having fun as a mass murderer in some far off country. (Yeah, genies are like that, they do exactly what they want themselves, also they are sloppy and don't always get the wishes right).

The sad thing for Yvonne was that by now, she saw someone in her mirrors who didn't resemble her - who simply couldn't be her – only, confusedly enough, she is dressed like her and when she stuck out her tongue at her, she did the same at her.

Horror! This creature in the mirror has spots all over, her hair is almost gone, well, at least that on her head. On her chin it grows like weeds and is very profuse. If that lady in the mirror doesn't start doing something to get rid of it she shall end up looking like a goat or some old gent from the 18th century. At that time all of them grew beards, which Yvonne knew for a fact as she was there and watched them, but alas, they didn't notice her sitting there, decrepit, destitute and desperate. Bad "Ds", bad situation, but better now as she came into money because she let the money come to her.

Yes, even though she at that time was 208 years old she still knew how to find ways of "finding" money.

All it took was some green stuff into the cups of some hapless people who hadn't met the genie: However, they knew the art of dying and die they did ....

Yvonne often fingered the flask that had held the nephew of the genie prisoner for such a long time. When she did, she felt its narrow shape confine as a solace. Just imagine the safety of sitting in that flask. Nothing could come out, that's true, but then neither could anything get in. Yes, one would be safe in such a small confine.

One day she even pulled the cork and took it to her nose to smell the perfume it had held long ago. When she did, the room started to vibrate, the light flickered and there he was, that "good", old genie!

"Oho," he yelled, smiling benevolently at her. "Looking fine, eh'?"

"You or me?" she asked, not at all amused.

"You, Madam, you," he bristled.

"I have mirrors and I wish I didn't," she said.

"So you don't like your looks as they have developed?"

"”Developed”!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course not, I’m a woman, not a scarecrow!!!!!"

He laughed and then said, in a teasing voice: "So what's your wish now? To regain your wonderful looks?"

"I had my wish," she said, "although I know there were more than one …."

"Yes, your second wish was "Give me a beautiful dress for the ball" - and I did - you were very satisfied. As to your third wish it was quite strange because what you said was: "Up yours!""

"What!" she exclaimed in horror at the by now somewhat bashful looking genie. "What did you just say?"

"Not my fault, you did, and as you can see, I sort of ignored it so it's still hanging there. Of course, I shall fulfill your wishes, I always do when someone helps one of my nephews, but ...."

"No, no, no," she yelled, utterly appalled, "Don't overexert yourself, I asked for too much. I withdraw that wish 100% right away!"

"Hmmm," he said, "It would be nice for me, but you see, that's not the way it works. The system is built on trust and sooner or later I have to fulfill the three wishes of the clients. I don't like this one bit more than yourself, but a promise is a promise, so .... "Up yours" it is ...."

Utterly horrified she considered her situation: Her first wish had been to never die, so she would never get release, and right now she was heading "Up yours" inside a deranged genie with several utterly evil and murderous nephews whose crimes were forcing him to travel all over the planet.

"No-no," she stuttered, "I free you of your obligation. I do it freely and with all

my heart."

"Mmmm," he said, but this statement or whatever it was, turned into a singing or humming sound as she felt herself being lifted by unseen powers and shot forward towards him, at the same time being shrivelled and shrunk into the same size as the cork she had been fingering. She knew she screamed when she plunged inside a very deep and dark place that didn't exactly smell of roses, but at the same time she felt sure that nobody heard her .…



Thursday, March 12, 2026

Not Worth Dying For

When I saw the most recent interview with one of tRump's most infamous "advisors", Stephen Miller, jubilant that the USA now was killing even more Iraneans, I got mad. First of all, I haven't been able to find anything - or anybody - who proves beyond doubt that the tRumpian "feeling" of danger was based on realities. WHY then are people dying because the cheater-president of America chose to attack Iran??? As he is whom he is, I take for granted, that he is out to line his pockets by waging war, but still, he is playing with fire and should not feel safe enough to do what he did.

That I believe, but it will not work that way: By now he is just a pedophile - maybe even a murderous one - who is also a political disaster. 

As it is, I don't even believe that he won the presidency in what might be called a "fair game". I resent seeing him gloating at how he "screwed" the country and the people whom he is actually obliged to work for, not against

 

No, this particular individual and the ideologies he represents are not worth dying for, but that may happen anyway as the political situation doesn't leave much room for choices. It's very sad, and it should have been stopped long ago when he committed "High Treason" by stealing classified documents and stacking them in his private home.


 

 

Sunday, March 8, 2026

The Fate of The Body of A Dead Queen

Katherine Parr (1512-1548) was an obliging woman. Twice had she let herself get wed to elderly men who were not of her own choosing. However, when she wanted someone younger and handsomer after the demise of her second husband, Lord Latimer, the - by then - fat, sick, unappetizing and ill-tempered King Henry VIII wanted to marry her. As we know, he wasn't someone who took no for an answer, so even though she had set her eye on his brother-in-law from his marriage to Jane Seymour, namely Thomas Seymour, she married the king and became his sixth wife. When he died in 1547 she was even richer than before which most likely is what brought Thomas Seymour back as her suitor as he for quite some time had been on the look-out for a rich bride.

 

Thomas Seymour 

In the meantime he had tried his best to woe her stepdaughters, the princesses Mary and Elizabeth. Both of them were close to her, but especially Elizabeth. Anyway, Thomas Seymour had to back off from pursuing the princesses so he married Katherine. While she was deeply in love with him, he may have contended with marrying her in lack of better opportunities. Nonetheless, she got pregnant with her first and only child, Mary Seymour, who was born in 1548

Mary Seymour

Neither one of the parents showed much interest in the child, and when her mother, Katherine, died shortly after giving birth, she hadn't left her anything: All her money and belongings went to her grifting husband, Thomas Seymour. As to her hapless daughter then she was neglected by everyone, including her foster mother, even though she had been a very close friend of Katherine. The reason for this was that it was costly to have a foster daughter like Mary as she didn't get the State allowances that she was entitled to. The situation of this motherless child can't have been easy as she, being the daughter of a former queen, was entitled to certain proceedings, but not being rich something like that made her a burden on those who were to see to her well-being.

One feels that Katherine was cheated out of the love and respect she ought to have had in her fourth and final marriage. Thomas Seymour didn't show her much love, if any, and when she died, her dead body had a very strange fate, nothing like was common with women who had been queens. Presumably her body was embalmed as was the fashion at the time: All her internal organs were removed, and the cavity was stuffed with herbs and spices. Also, her body was rubbed with salves before it was wrapped up in several layers of waxed cloth and sealed with lead as the corpse was put into a wooden coffin in the chapel of Sudeley Castle. However, strangely enough she was buried uncommonly quickly for a former queen, maybe even as early as the day after she died. 

King Edward VI

As to her widower, Thomas Seymour, then he obviously was too busy wooing the princess Elizabeth to mourn his dead wife or take care of their infant daughter. Also, he was extremely busy trying to make the half-brother of Elizabeth, who as the son of his dead sister, Jane Seymour, was his nephew, King Edward VI, do his bidding. Something that turned into an insane attempt at what looks like a sort of kidnapping. All the problems he gave rise to ended in Thomas Seymour being jailed and executed. The man whom Katherine had loved was gone, and so was their daughter, who presumably died at the tender age of 3, but whom some historians think lived to adulthood, only sort of forgotten by everybody.

After her burial the corpse of Katherine experienced some very strange events. The once so impressive Sudeley Castle was deteriorating for 200 years and lost its royal status as it had many new and negligent owners until it was bought by two rich brothers, the glove makers John and William Dent. Over the years it had been plundered several times, for instance of its lead roofs that had protected it against the often rough, English weather. I suppose the grave of Katherine was forgotten so big was the surprise when her coffin and quite well-preserved dead body was found and retrieved by an employee of the owner in 1782, namely Lord Rivers. The man who was said to have found her was John Lucas who poked around in the ruins of the chapel, presumably looking for lead. Lead he found, but in another form than he expected, as it was the sole prime protection of Katherine's dead body after her wood coffin had decayed away. 


There are several stories of what happened next to the body, but it's understandable that poor John Lucas got surprised to find more than bones of the dead queen. Actually, it seems that her body was quite well-preserved, presumably mostly because of the many layers of waxed cloth and the lead casing. Anyway, John Lucas reburied the dead queen, but then some time later she was refound once more when some tourists also went poking the ground of the chapel. When they saw the face of Katherine, they somehow came to the strange decision to rebury her without even telling anybody about their find. Unfortunately they didn't put the protective waxed cloth back over her face. When a friend of the owner of Sudeley Castle, Lord Rivers, came to see the dead queen for herself she found it fetid and quite smelly because of the removal of the waxed cloth by the tourists. 

 

Next time the dead Katherine was made to leave her grave was when some gross individuals took her body out of the casing and danced with it before leaving it on a refuse heap. That event made the local vicar see to it that it was properly re-interred, but not for long as it underwent an archaeological examination by the Reverend T. Nash two years later. He wanted this, the first Protestant queen of England, to be buried in a more honorable manner, but what happened next wasn't short of utter horrors of its own: Poor Katherine was abused by some drunken men who were hired to bury her in a safer manner. According to legend they ripped off her arms, knocked out her teeth before decapitating her with a shovel, and then they went on to bury her corpse upside down.

When the wealthy glove makers, the Dent-brothers, bought Sudeley Castle, they decided to restore the chapel and some parts of the castle. At long last the former queen of Henry VIII, Katherine, had her own beautiful tomb where she is able to rest in peace. 


 
 
 
Wikipedia