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Praetorium Honoris

Friday, March 11, 2022

When the Levee Breaks

(Source)
If it keeps on raining, levee's going to break

Yeah, about that ...

I'm taking a pause from the book, let the Muse catch her breath for a day or two. Truth be told, I gotta stop blaming the Muse, it's me that's bloody exhausted. Too many late nights, too many "toss and turn" nights over the past fortnight. Quite honestly, there's too much going on in my head right now to actually try and sleep.

While I can't make it stop raining, I can cut back on one or two of my creative activities, just to catch my breath, so to speak. Never thought that writing would be such hard work.

I hope you all like Paweł's reports from Poland on what's going on in Ukraine from a European perspective. When he sends me another, it will go to the top of the queue. He keeps writing, I'll keep publishing. The only thing I do to Paweł's posts is correct typos, he uses the English spelling of words, which occasionally differs from the American spelling, I leave those as is. Paweł's English is pretty darned good, far better than my Polish (or German for that matter).

The war in Ukraine concerns me, I had thought that we'd gotten past that sort of behavior. No matter Mad Vlad's take on history, he's got his own version, most big shots do, here's how I see things -

Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks
Ilya Repin

Ukrainian soldiers, writing a letter to Putin.
(Source)

Ukrainian deputies writing a letter to Putin
(Source)
Yup, I side with Ukraine, they didn't invade Russia, Russia invaded them. I never side with a bully.


Now as for the post title, it goes with my over-tiredness, the situation in Ukraine, and it's a pretty damned fine song. I first heard it done by Led Zeppelin, way back in the day. (1972 it was.) Great song, awesome drums by John Bonham. 

My mother was never a big fan of the song, primarily because of this line -

Crying won't help you, praying won't do you no good

(It was the latter half of the phrase she didn't like.) I've always loved that song. But, and I say this with some reluctance, I think I've heard a version I like even more than Zeppelin's. First heard it over at Diogenes' Middle Finger, this one -


That's some toe-tappin', foot stompin' music right there, done by a bunch of very talented musicians from around the world.

Good stuff.

See you on the morrow.




42 comments:

  1. " Take a knee, face outboard and drink water" Sarge. I can empathize in many respects.
    We'll be here when you're ready. Thanks for all of the good "free ice cream" up to this time. Writing anything decent is very hard work indeed.
    Boat Guy

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  2. Tied with "How Many More Times," "When The Levee Breaks" are my favorite Led Zeppelin songs. Seeing it performed this way by multiple artists and musical styles reminds me of the album Encomium, which is also one of my favorites.

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    1. Wow, I'd never heard of that project, I'll give it a listen. Thanks!

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    1. Who invaded who? That's what I'm looking at.

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    3. I have yet to see proof of "US Biolabs."

      Equating this to a spat in school trivializes the fact that hundreds are dying.

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  4. That was quite the letter those Cossacks sent to the Sultan. I'll bet the present generation managed apt wording as well to Vlad. Hope to hear more from our correspondent on the ground in Poland......:) Take what time you need Sarge; overnight sleep gets less regular at our age let alone a creative project providing more angst. Don't hurry on our account sir.

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  5. What's your take on US bioweapon labs in Ukraine? First I've heard of that was this week. First Wuhan, then this. If true (undersecretary Nuland said it was under oath as I understand), should there be another Nuremburg type trial? I'm tracking more with Boron this go 'round...

    STxAR

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    1. If there are US bioweapon labs in Ukraine, everyone involved should be imprisoned, or worse. Can't say how accurate it is, but hey, we apparently helped the CHICOMS develop the WuFlu, so nothing would surprise me at this point.

      Definitely a "crime against humanity."

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  6. I've always thought that was a darn fine song & this version is great!
    The Ukraine invasion, nothing good there and from what I can see it's not a one sided affair. It's hard to tell through all the propaganda and with Putin being such an ass anyway but I know how I'd feel if Russia was pushing for Mexico to join the Warsaw Pact or the CCP had biolabs in Canada.
    Hell the last election was stolen, there is a huge drive on to cut us off from traditional energy, a bad flu made trillions for corporations and pushed our liberties into the ground and the MSM is doing a great job of selling all this as 'someone else's fault'.

    My world has changed in the last couple of years (the last couple of weeks!... I can't afford to drive my RV from WA down to Santa Cruz to see the grandkids), I can see on paper where the numbers do not add up but no one else seems to care (or notice) if I go by what my wife sees on all the NBC she watches..

    Sorry about that... I do enjoy your stories and I know you'll get back to it when you're ready...

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    1. Hard to figure out what's going on in Ukraine, but I know who invaded who. Putin is the bad guy here, regardless of his rationale.

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    2. "True enough" says the guy who watched the US invade Iraq on the tube.

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    3. We botched everything after 9/11. We should've finished Saddam the first time. in '91, Colin Powell said no. I still don't agree with him. As to Afghanistan, what the Hell were we thinking?

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    4. Hey Old AFSarge;

      Sorry for commenting late, I agree with your assertion, I didn't agree with the premature end, I was over there, I knew that we would be back, and it would be harder the next time. I knew that Colin Powell was a 4 Star, but he was also political, there was politics involved, President Bush was catching a lot of hell because of the "Highway Of Death" footage on TV and it was making congress really squeamish. I remember being really pissed off when we got the word for the cease fire. I knew it was a mistake, the Iraqi's were defeated, but not beaten. There is a difference.

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    5. Bingo, we let the damned media influence the war. Again. When will we learn?

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  7. I dunno if I don'ts know! My nickel sez the two parties are analogous to "devil and deep blue-sea". In the meantime, walk slow and drnk plenty of water. MAybe even regroup on what Spring is bringing. We's ainna gawn nowhurz!

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    1. I wouldn't let either party set up their tents on my land.

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  8. Sarge - The creative process is indeed hard work, much harder than anyone actually thinks. For writing, I have come to admire people that can do things like daily postings or columns - the amount of effort to consistently come up with material, let alone engaging material (as you do) can be overwhelming, especially when it is well written (as yours is).

    Those re-creations are really inspired and frankly (to my historical mind) pretty darn funny.

    From my perspective, no matter how right or righteous one can argue the cause could be, the initiating invading party is almost always in the wrong if for no other reason than the unprovoked use of violence to kill people and capture territory is always wrong. I am struggling in my historical memory to think of a single time that an invading party was "in the right"; I fear I am coming up a bit dry - or perhaps said differently, every invasion I can think of no matter what its professed reasons was effectively a power and or territory grab.

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    1. I'm sure there are instances where the invading party was actually on the side of the angels. After all, history is replete with things very few are aware of, but in this instance, Putin = bad guy.

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  9. Never forget the Ukraine "elections" in 2014. CIA was neck deep in that, making sure the votes in east Ukraine and Crimea did not count. But then what else would you expect from pResident Obammy???

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    1. Ah, so that justifies the Russian invasion. Good to know. AYK?

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  10. Is any country, in this day and age, lily white? That having been said, invading another country, especially one smaller and less strong than you, clearly identifies you as the "Bad Guy". Of course, my feelings towards Russia have been molded by the first 60 or so years of my existence where Russia WAS the "Bad Guy". I had brief moments of hope when the Soviet Union collapsed, but "Commies gotta commie!" True then, True Now.

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    1. Amen, thus endeth the lesson.

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    3. Congratulations Mark, you have graduated from minor annoyance to pain in my ass. You make blogging not fun.

      You're a whisker away from being categorized as spam.

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  11. I've only found two drivers of creativity: danger, and being well-rested. Breaks are good for the soul, too.

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    1. (Don McCollor)...When mentally tired, productivity drops off and extra effort does not accomplish much. Better to rest and contemplate. My few humble scribblings for the local historical society (no comparison to your writing) are a result of days of mulling what I want to say and how to say it one page. After that the writing is easy...

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    2. Thanks Don, you've been there, done that.

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  12. Putin has stepped into a hornet's nest... And good music!

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  13. I've always loved that picture by Repin. The longer you look, the more you see little things he put in.
    --Tennessee Budd

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    1. It's an outstanding painting, filled with lots of interesting things, as you say.

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    2. It is a very fun picture. One can almost hear the sounds and laughter as they write away.

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    3. Feels like you're standing there as well.

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  14. I know you asked me for assistance but their was really a great void. I would have to say 61 hit me really really hard. In a couple of weeks I should be back in battery. right now, not so much

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    1. No worries Cap'n. I sensed that you'd hit a rough patch, whenever you're ready.

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Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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