Waco 2018

Those of my age and older, even those who live outside America, can probably recall the happenings  in Waco, Texas in 1993 being discussed on the TV (that's where we used to get our info on what's going on in the world before the internet).

I can dimly remember my parents watching the evening news and Branch Davidians being mentioned, though at that age I was much more interested in other things so it all hardly registered in my brain. In the past several months, some of the twitter accounts I read kept mentioning it and when I learned that there is a miniseries about Waco siege, I was naturally thrilled to watch it.

As far as I could understand, the series is based on two books, one written by a survivor, the other by an FBI agent. It starts with showing the events at Ruby Ridge, which happened 9 months before. The tempo is quite slow in the beginning, as we make acquaintance with some of the Davidians, with most of the focus on their leader David Koresh and his right hand Steve Schneider, and, of course,  David's wives and children.

As the story progresses, there is more tension built and after the first shots are fired in Part 3 you realise that you can't take your eyes away from the screen (we actually watched all of it in only 2 days). The fact that you know beforehand just exactly HOW it will all end, makes it even more dramatic. The final episode is like witnessing the last hours of a person sentenced to death (and the most horrific death at that). In fact, I have watched many gruesome movies, but Waco is just about the most horrible thing I've ever seen.

The acting is superb, and in general, the series produces a powerful emotional impact. Despite all the weirdness of the main character, it's difficult not to sympathise with him. There is a scene in the movie, when he makes a recording for the FBI saying: "This is my family, may be it's not like your family. But you can't point guns in the direction of my wives and my kids. I will meet you at the door any time." While Koresh is shown as an egoist and, to some degree, a megalomaniac, the other side is depicted as positively evil (with some exceptions).

It made me understand why so many Americans distrust the federal government. After watching the series, you'll be left with basically one question: what exactly have these people done to deserve to be treated in that manner.

Don't watch it if you have weak nerves.

Here is the official trailer.

Tradwife Stuff

Last several days it was like 30+ *C outside. I made some ginger beer. I think technically it's more like ginger ale, because beer has to be fermented, doesn't it? Anyway, I was visiting a local health store on Tuesday when I found this:

A mix to make ginger beer. My husband and I both like it, but the supermarket brands have lots of sugar and other unsavoury things added, so naturally, I was quite excited to try making my own.

I added water to it (1.5 lt) and then I had to cook it until reduced in half:

After this, it needed to be strained:

and sugar had to be added, too. I tried to reduce the suggested amount (150g), but believe me, you'll need all of it to make it taste more or less decent.

After sugar got dissolved, I let it cool off a bit, added some lemon juice and poured it into the same bottle. You need to add (sparkling) water to taste, to serve it. The instruction says to dilute it 1 to 1, but we all found it too strong, so it's more like 1 part syrup, 7 parts water:

It still has a very strong taste, but is great for a hot summer day! Have you tried some new project this summer? Feel free to share!

Personal Update

It's been quite warm around here, and my husband had some time off, so we were enjoying a mini-vacation, hence the lack of posts. I'll update tomorrow or Sunday. Hope you all are doing fine!

2 Income Families Have it Difficult

this year. A nearby school just closed because of several corona cases till the end of the school year.

Life still goes on, the weather is fine again, and most reasonable people are quite enjoying themselves. We decided to join them and visited a couple of zoos. It was a lot of fun. Here are some pics I took on Sunday:

Another YouTube Channel Bites The Dust

The purge continues. They got Pastor Anderson as well:



I guess as long as it's not the government, it must be fine. Conservatives should by all means continue shilling for big business and woke corporations because muh free market. It has worked brilliantly so far...

C.S. Lewis And Socialism

He tried to warn us:

It (The Bible)  tells us that there are to be no passengers or parasites: if man does not work, he ought not to eat. Every one is to work with his own hands, and what is more, every one's work is to produce something good: there will be no manufacture of silly luxuries and then of sillier advertisements to persuade us to buy them. And there is to be no "swank" or "side," no putting on airs. To that extent a Christian society would be what we now call Leftist. On the other hand, it is always insisting on obedience-obedience (and outward marks of respect) from all of us to properly appointed magistrates, from children to parents, and (I am afraid this is going to be very unpopular) from wives to husbands...

If there were such a society in existence and you or I visited it, I think we should come away with a curious impression. We should feel that its economic life was very socialistic and, in that sense, "advanced," but that its family life and its code of manners were rather old-fashioned-perhaps even ceremonious and aristocratic...

Now another point. There is one bit of advice given to us by the ancient heathen Greeks, and by the Jews in the Old Testament, and by the great Christian teachers of the Middle Ages, which the modern economic system has completely disobeyed. All these people told us not to lend money at interest: and lending money at interest-what we call investment-is the basis of our whole system. 

Quoted from Mere Christianity: 3. Social Morality.  

Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone 2001

A movie review. So I did it, I went and watched the 1st Harry Potter movie till the end. Here are my thoughts. It's fairly all right as far as modern movies go. Some things are probably different from how it was in the book, but honestly, I read it like 8 years ago and have only a vague idea of details. The language isn't ideal overall, but not really shocking, either. Didn't care for the "toilet humour" (troll snot), but it there wasn't a lot of it.

Probably less feminist than Narnia adaptations. Harry Potter is clearly the hero who saves the day. Quidditch was much more fun to actually watch than to read the rather boring descriptions of it in the book. The topic "it's soo British and slightly Victorian" is covered very extensively. Harry's cousin is shown as a stereotypical fat overweight brat (is it even allowed in the current year?) There is less focus on actual spells than in the original stories and it's feels more like a fairy tale than a witchcraft manual.

That all said. The phrase that kept popping up in my mind was "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live". I know that we have our Christian freedom, but a part of me thinks that we misused it profoundly during the last years or so and that's probably behind some of the unpleasantness we have been experiencing lately.

Personally I wouldn't let my young children watch it. After a certain age? May be, if it were still a thing. Kids always want to fit in, and it's not really that bad an example of popular culture. In the end, it's something which every parent will decide for him/herself, but I have come to the conclusion that my initial opinion of Harry Potter hasn't changed. So that's it.