abqtommy
abqtommy's JournalGood News Network: The first modern motorcycle patented on August 29, 1885
136 years ago today, the world’s first motorcycle to use an internal combustion engine was patented by Gottlieb Daimler, who is often called “the father of the motorcycle” for this invention.
Eclipsing the steam-powered two-wheelers that came before it, the Petroleum Reitwagen (‘riding car’) became the forerunner of all vehicles—land, sea and air—that became destined to use this overwhelmingly popular engine type.
photo but no more text at link
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/events060829/
Scam Alert! So I picked up a piece of mail today that contained a T-2 form.
It was addressed to my son and had a return address in Kennesaw, Georgia.
The headline on this "form" read "2022 Benefit Information for New Mexico Citizens
Only". On the original envelope the words "Second Notification, Time Sensitive" were
printed in red above the addressee window, even though this is the first time we've seen this.
The information requested was name/age, spouse name/age, street address
(we received this mail at our PO Box) and a phone number. This doesn't pass my
smell test so I'm gonna ignore it. Paranoid cynics unite to stamp out scams!
So I looked up "T-2 Form" and it's a bona-fide scam! Now I can report it to my local
police online scam reporting website.
https://buylifeinsuranceforburial.com/t2-benefit-information-form/
From The BBC: Your pictures of Scotland: 20 - 27 August (2021)
Here it is, another Friday and another great collection of Scotland photos!
I remember that the word "haar" used in the caption of one of the pics refers to a
thick, wet, fog found along the seacoast. Enjoy!
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-58309713
The Guardian: Malaria trial shows 'striking' 70% reduction in severe illness in children
This is indeed good news. Note that chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine
phosphate are not mentioned as being used or recommended for use to treat
malaria at this time. Even in early 2020 when I began keeping information on
covid-19 treatments they were considered "old" treatments for malaria even if there was some misinformation that they could be successfully used to treat covid-19. My, how times change! Now on to this new and positive information on treating malaria here in 2021.
"A trial combining vaccinations and prevention drugs has substantially lowered the number of children dying of malaria in two African countries, according to researchers.
The results of the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, have been hailed as “very striking”, especially at a time when decades-long progress on combating malaria has stalled in some countries.
Led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), the trial showed a 70% reduction in hospitalisation or death when young children were given both seasonal vaccinations and antimalarial drugs compared to using just one intervention.
Researchers believe the approach could prevent some of the 400,000 deaths from the mosquito-borne disease every year, most of them children. In 2019, more than 90% of the estimated 230m cases of malaria occurred in Africa."
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/aug/26/malaria-trial-shows-striking-70-reduction-in-severe-illness-in-children
There's a lot more text and a photo at the link. This effective treatment consists of
using the first vaccine ever developed for malaria with two anti-malaria drugs.
Vaccines work and medications work. I just hope that the cultists who are now
using animal de-wormer to treat covid-19 won't find out the names of these new anti-malaria medications.
From The BBC and The Guardian: Charlie Watts: The life of a Rolling Stone in pictures(.)
The focus here may be on Charlie but it's also a trip down memory lane with vintage photos of the Stones then and now. RIP Charlie. 
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-58323305
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2021/aug/24/charlie-watts-a-life-in-pictures
I added the Guardian link since it's too good to ignore.
From the first time that I saw a photo of Joe Biden, even before I voted for him as
Vice President and then later as President, I felt that I knew him even though we've never met. This didn't bother me too much but recently I finally figured it out. Joe has the same eyes as another person I've known from a distance since childhood, Leonard Franklin Slye who is better known as Roy Rogers. Having figured this out I opened up the following web sites to compare and you're welcome to do the same.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rogers
How could I/we not trust Joe with this connection? By the way, Roy was born half Choctaw on his Mother's side and as far as I know Joe is all Irish. The wonders of DNA are something to behold! I'll also accept a very happy coincidence.
From The Guardian: Hundreds clash in Portland as Proud Boys rally descends into violence(.)
Who knew that The Guardian has a reporter in Portland, Oregon?
"Running street battle ends in gunfight after ‘Summer of love’ protest in a parking lot of a former Kmart store(.)
A rightwing protest in Portland on Sunday has culminated in a gunfight, when antifascist demonstrators returned fire at a man who shot at them with a handgun in a downtown street.
The firefight took place in the heart of downtown Portland, soon after 6pm. As antifascists followed a man at a distance who they were trying to eject from the area, he took cover behind an electrical substation box, produced a handgun and opened fire. He fired at least two shots before an antifascist returned fire with their own handgun. At least seven shots were fired.
Portland police bureau confirmed that a man had been arrested over the shooting but did not have any information on any injuries."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/23/portland-oregon-clashes-protests-proud-boys-antifascist
There's lots more text and photos at the link. My alternate headline is "Proud Boys don't get a pass
since anti-fa shows up to kick their ass".
From The CBC*: Fried eel and oxtail: How Black ingenuity shaped North American (food) dishes
* Canadian Brodcasting Corporation
West Africans had a huge impact on North American cuisine, says food historian(.)
For Haligonian Wendie L. Wilson, the taste of home is eels fried up in a cast iron pan, served with cucumber, boiled potato, butter, salt and pepper.
"My father cooked up eels every once in a while as a special treat," said Wilson. "I got older and realized that most people weren't frying up eels, but that was something that we ate readily because it was usually free and they were plentiful and they were absolutely delicious."
Wilson is African Nova Scotian, a descendant of the waves of Black pioneers who arrived in the province from the mid-18th century into the early 1900s. Waves arrived after the American revolution as loyalists to the British Crown, as American refugees after the war of 1812, and from the Caribbean to work in the steel mills in Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/fried-eel-and-oxtail-how-black-ingenuity-shaped-north-american-dishes-1.6144422
There's a lot more text and some photos at the link to this article which is indeed food for thought
and just the type of article I enjoy in my quest for perspective and balance.
From The Guardian: Jihadist Infighting or ISIS still calls the Taliban "Jihadist Lite".
That 's my own title. The actual Guardian title of this is "Why not all Islamist extremists are buoyed by the Taliban’s victory"
from article: Analysis: deep faultlines, especially with Isis, may counter Afghanistan’s propaganda advantage for jihadists(.)
Few doubt that the Taliban victory in Afghanistan will give violent Islamist extremists across the world a historic boost, encouraging them in their campaigns to overthrow and replace local regimes – but it has also revealed the deep faultlines that have weakened the jihadist movement in the past decade.
Sunni militants in the Middle East and beyond have already made clear they believe the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan vindicates their own strategies and ideology. Coming just weeks before the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the events in Kabul have a powerful resonance. Many statements have been jubilant.
But there has been one notable exception among jihadist groups: the Islamic State (Isis), which considers the Taliban “apostates” because of their willingness to negotiate with the US, their apparent pragmatism and their failure to apply Islamic law with sufficient rigour.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/20/why-not-all-islamist-extremists-buoyed-by-taliban-victory-afghanistan
There's a lot more text and photos at the link to this long and worthwhile read. That's my opinion,
of course and I'll be happy to get back to posting photos of Scotland.
From The BBC: Africa's jihadists: What Taliban takeover of Afghanistan means(.)
As Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, Islamist groups waging insurgencies in Africa were quick to celebrate.
"God is great," a media outlet linked to Somalia's al-Shabab wrote in response to the takeover.
Elsewhere, the leader of al-Qaeda affiliate Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) used his first public message since 2019 to congratulate the Taliban.
"We are winning," Iyad Ag Ghaly said, drawing comparisons between the withdrawal of foreign troops in Afghanistan and France's decision to reduce its military presence in West Africa's Sahel region.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58279439
There's a lot more text and some photos at the link. This is a long and worthwhile read, in my
opinion.
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