A Rare Bird..............

BlueStreak · #1 07-04-2013, 07:54 AM

Last night I went to......Walmart. (Yeah, yeah, I know, but the local Walmart is the only place I know of that carries the Orange flavored suet cakes my Gold Finches and Tufted Titmice love.

And, they are Made in the U.S.A., actually.

)

Anyways, I get to the register and there stands a tall, slender, young light-skinned black woman. She speaks to me and her accent throws me off. I'm trying to figure out what it is, when I notice there is a medallion on her necklace that says, "Russia" on it. I asked her if she's ever been there.

"Yes, I was born there. St. Petersburg. You didn't know Russia has black people, did you? I am here as exchange student at Old Dominion University."

So, when I got home, I looked it up;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-Russian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f317flab1E

I didn't know that. Interesting bit of history.

Dave

BlueStreak · #2 07-04-2013, 08:50 AM

Of particular interest is the migration of American Blacks to Russia during COMINTERN in the 1920s and '30s.

They left America to escape racism here, only to find themselves not much better off, deeply isolated and struggling to survive in Soviet Russia.

Dave

icenine · #3 07-04-2013, 09:22 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Russia

There is a guy at my part time job from Uzbekistan.....confirms this....

Oerets · #4 07-04-2013, 10:20 AM

I have away been interested in accents. Trying to guess where someone is from. Having lived in just about every area of this country and working with people from around the world. Pretty good at it most of the time. Might of been stumped by that one!

Barney

Combwork · #5 07-06-2013, 03:52 PM

Bird-spotters in the UK, some who drove for days because they were ecstatic about the first UK sighting of the rare white-throated needletail since 1991 got something extra: they watched it fly into a wind turbine.

BlueStreak · #6 07-06-2013, 04:06 PM

Gee, I hope that young woman doesn't fly into any wind turbines..............

Dave

Charles · #7 07-06-2013, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Combwork

Bird-spotters in the UK, some who drove for days because they were ecstatic about the first UK sighting of the rare white-throated needletail since 1991 got something extra: they watched it fly into a wind turbine.

Our long lost brutish cousin from across the pond, who engages in drunken fisticuffs with children of half his age!!!

Tell me, my friend, in your estimation, is it worse to destroy a species or the planet? Or perhaps, should that be to destroy a species in order to save the planet?

Then again, have we simply destroyed a species in some sort of vain, antithetical Don Quixote response to saving the planet by erecting windmills of dubious value?

Being the spoor of long displaced Irishmen, any insight from the keen wit of a current member of the British Isles will be given the up most gravity.

Chas

Combwork · #8 07-07-2013, 08:03 AM

[QUOTE=Charles;163221]
Our long lost brutish cousin from across the pond, who engages in drunken fisticuffs with children of half his age!!!

Sorry Charles you've lost me; must be mistaking me for someone who gives a shit about the ramblings of a distressed mind.

Having said that, I have to agree with the stupidity of building windfarms. Take into account the raw materials, processing of same, limited life span (especially those planted offshore), maintenance costs, cost of replacement etc the maths doesn't add up.

Being the spoor of long displaced Irishmen, any insight from the keen wit of a current member of the British Isles will be given the up most gravity.

Interesting. My wife's mother's into genealogy; apparently I've Scottish blood, English blood and god help me Irish blood in my veins. I guess two out of three's OK.................... Anyway come the revolution we can all watch an independent Scotland sinking slowly beneath the waves.

Charles · #9 07-07-2013, 08:41 AM

[QUOTE=Combwork;163250]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charles

Our long lost brutish cousin from across the pond, who engages in drunken fisticuffs with children of half his age!!!

Sorry Charles you've lost me; must be mistaking me for someone who gives a shit about the ramblings of a distressed mind.

Having said that, I have to agree with the stupidity of building windfarms. Take into account the raw materials, processing of same, limited life span (especially those planted offshore), maintenance costs, cost of replacement etc the maths doesn't add up.

Being the spoor of long displaced Irishmen, any insight from the keen wit of a current member of the British Isles will be given the up most gravity.

Interesting. My wife's mother's into genealogy; apparently I've Scottish blood, English blood and god help me Irish blood in my veins. I guess two out of three's OK.................... Anyway come the revolution we can all watch an independent Scotland sinking slowly beneath the waves.

I thought you told a story about an altercation you had in a pub with someone half of your age, and how we was shocked that the old fellow, being yourself, took him to task. I saw a certain amount of humor in it at the time, and still do.

My apologies if I've confused you with someone else...I was just having some fun.

If nothing else, we're on the same page on the wind farms. IMHO, the only way they will pay for themselves is to increase the cost of electricity to the point that no one can afford it in the first place.

They also kill lots of birds over here as well, noticeably the Bald Eagle, our treasured national bird.

We should have taken Ben Franklin's advice and made the wild turkey the national bird, as we're fast becoming a nation of skittish, bug eyed turkey necks with the attention span of...well, a damned turkey.

BTW, are hard feeling once again festering between the British, the Scots, and the Irish in particular? I was of the assumption that everyone had taken to getting along. At least, I haven't heard much about the IRA for some time.

Take care, I need to get busy and do some work.

Chas

merrylander · #10 07-07-2013, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Combwork

Interesting. My wife's mother's into genealogy; apparently I've Scottish blood, English blood and god help me Irish blood in my veins. I guess two out of three's OK.................... Anyway come the revolution we can all watch an independent Scotland sinking slowly beneath the waves.

Warning don't take up genealogy as a hobby because it will rapidly become an obsession. Take my word for it. Plus when you get back to 1700 the only thing available in most cases are the Bishops Records, so you practically have to visit the parish church, and Lincolnshire is a fair piece from Maryland.

Then there is a family in my background name of Auger (pronounced mostl like the drilll tool) but I imagine is actually French. I did find a goodly number of cousins though. And links into Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire