Heard Island and McDonald Islands

Heard Island and McDonald Islands

I hear all the noise being made about Trump imposing tariffs on an uninhabited island. I didn't understand why people were making such a fuss. I suppose they were hoping to embarrass President Trump. No, that's not right, he's not going to be embarrassed by this nonsense. They (the ubiquitous 'they') are just throwing mud on his image, hoping to further inflame 'their' supporters', not that they really need any more flammable fluids. They seem to have plenty on hand.

Then I came across this meme on Midwest Chick's Place:

Heard Island

There we go - Heard Island belongs to Australia. As the map at top shows, it is a long, long way from anywhere. Wikipedia tells us that:

They are:

• 2,500 miles southwest of Australia
• 2,600 miles southeast of South Africa
• 1,010 miles north of Antarctica

The islands, which are uninhabited, can be reached only by sea, and typically require a two-week voyage from Australia to visit.

 

El Rey

1963 Chevrlet Impala Low Rider El Rey

Low riders are one more thing I don't understand. I can understand wanting to customize an older car, but the extremes that some of these guys go to is just mind boggling. Witness this video of the Las Vegas Lowrider Magazine Supershow 2024! Classic Cars  and this  one of the Las Vegas Lowrider Supershow 2021 Classic Car Show

The car is named for the builder's father-in-law's favorite song. I tried listening to it, but failed.

Jigsaw puzzle here.

P. S. Spent some time looking for what I considered a good example of a lowrider and completely missed the fact this car is not lowered. I suspect it has hydraulic suspension and that allows it to be lowered. Also missed the conflict between the description of the Arco-Sport biplane and the image. I was feeling a little low yesterday.

Punctuate

Punctuation marks hanging out
Elle Cordova

I really enjoyed the ominous undertone of hyphen's remarks.

Annabel's

Annabel's

Fancy private club in London, England. Has a page in Wikipedia.

Jigsaw puzzle here.

EAA Super Acro-Sport (N4KH)

EAA Super Acro-Sport (N4KH)

Cool pic.

The Acro Sport is a single-seat aerobatic sportsplane designed by US aviation enthusiast Paul Poberezny in the early 1970s for homebuilding. - Wikipedia

Jigsaw puzzle here.

Koh Rong

Koh Rong - Dara Keo

Koh Rong is a resort island off the coast of Cambodia. Dara Keo has a website.

Koh Rong Cambodia

Lesotho

Lesotho

Trump imposes 50% tariff on Africa’s Lesotho, the highest among nations - Aljazeera

The move deals a harsh blow to the small, impoverished state, which Trump mocked as a place ‘nobody has heard of’.

Well, I've heard of it, but where is it? I had to look it up. It's in South Africa, that's where.

Lesotho

The Kingdom of Lesotho is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. As an enclave of South Africa. It is the largest sovereign enclave in the world, and the only one outside the Italian Peninsula. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest peak in Southern Africa. It has an area of roughly 12,000 square miles and a population of about two million.

It is the only independent state in the world that lies entirely above 4,600 feet in elevation. Its lowest point is the highest low point of any country in the world.

Okay, kind of an oddball little place, landlocked, high elevation, mountainous terrain. Why do we care about import duties for this tiny country? Because Levis are made there, that's why:

Workers pack completed jeans at Afri-Expo Textiles factory in Maseru, Lesotho [File: Roberta Ciuccio/AFP]

How weird is that?