RMS Queen Elizabeth

RMS Queen Elizabeth Engine Room

The ocean liner RMS Queen Elizabeth was launched in 1938. She entered service in March 1940 as a troopship in the WW2, and did not make her first commercial voyage as an ocean liner until October 1946. The ship was retired after her final crossing to New York, in December 1968. In 1972, while she was undergoing refurbishment in Hong Kong harbor, a fire broke out and the vessel capsized.

The Queen Elizabeth in Hong Kong harbor after the fire

The wreck inspired the idea of using it as covert headquarters for MI6 in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun.

The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) - RMS Queen Elizabeth
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Hong Kong

Hong Kong

The Densest City on Earth

A complete history of Kowloon Walled City from the beginning, through the Opium Wars up until the end in the 1990's. Plenty of things I had heard of but only in isolation. This video ties it all together.

Lost in Translation

Batwoman with Molotov cocktail

DC Comics posted this image, the Chinese Commies complained, so DC pulled it. Hey, if it tweaks the commies' noses, I'm all for it, so here it is.

Via Monday Evening

Younger son has been on vacation, so we've been working on his house, which has been consuming my time and energy, which is why I haven't been posting much lately.

Denise Ho

Denise Ho at the Adam Smith Institute in London, UK

Denise, aka HOCC, is a Hong Kong pop music start turned political activist. Brian has a few words to say about her and the situation in Hong Kong.

Very impressive.
Short summary. The protests continue, and the way for her side to win is to universalise the struggle, turning it from a merely local battle, which China is bound to win, into a global argument, which China is a lot less likely to win. Hence her presence in London (and many other spots around the world) to tell people about what’s happening in Hong Kong.
I heard another talk about Hong Kong on Monday that covered a lot of the same ground. My question then (which I thought rather than actually asked) was: What can we do to help? Answer, from Denise Ho this evening: a lot. Because “we” means everyone else in the world who wants to help.

Okay, if Brian and Denise agree, then I guess I need to step up, so here's my contribution.

Via Brian Micklethwaite's New Blog