From Cameron
I saved Chrissy’s life this week.
Wednesday night, about 9pm, I’d just got home from kung fu. Sitting on the lounge, eating some dinner, Chrissy was in the kitchen, making her lunch for Thursday. I’m telling a story about something that happened at training, when, suddenly, she starts making a strange noise and waving her hands in the air, pointing at her throat. I leap up and she comes towards me, pointing at her back and making “hit me!” hand gestures. I hit her. Again. Again. She mimes the Heimlich. I perform it. Poorly. She still can’t breathe. I keep at it. Thump her back. Squeeze her stomach. Over and over. Twenty seconds go past. Thirty. I’m thinking “is she going to die because I never took a first aid course!? “
Finally – she gasps. She can breathe. The small piece of raw cauliflower she had been munching on had been dislodged.
The second time in her life she nearly choked on something. The first time, her mother saved her life. This time, it was my turn.
That puts the world’s drama into perspective.
She’d just put Fox to bed and he’d said what he always says: “Stay Safe, Don’t Die”.
We haven’t told him how close she came. Don’t want to add to his anxieties.
My Thought For The Day
“Words had to change their ordinary meaning and to take that which was now given them. Reckless audacity came to be considered the courage of a loyal supporter; prudent [became] hesitation, specious [became] cowardice … ability to see all sides of a question [an] incapacity to act on any … The advocate of extreme measures was always trustworthy; his opponent a man to be suspected … until even blood became a weaker tie than party … and the confidence of their members in each other rested less on any religious sanction than upon complicity in crime.”
— Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War
Our TikTok of the Week
@tpnhistory Cuba and Oil part 2 – It’s early 1960. The USSR offers to sell Cuba cheap crude oil. But there are only three refineries in Cuba who can refine it – owned by Texaco, Esso and Shell. cuba castro oil Trump coldwar
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This Week’s Episodes
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Life of Caesar · Published 26 August 2026 The Landlord of Judaea – Vespasian #26Bassus is mopping up the last Jewish holdouts in Judaea, and things go about as well as you’d expect for everyone who isn’t a Roman. The defenders of Machaerus negotiate a deal to walk free…. turns out the Gentiles living below the fortress weren’t included in that deal. Then Vespasian, ever the pragmatist, declares all of Judaea his personal property and slaps a permanent tax on Jews everywhere in the empire. Not governing Judaea. Owning it. The post The Landlord… |
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Cold War · Published 31 August 2026 Cold War 315: Like an Iron Filing to a MagnetCastro expropriated every American-owned asset in Cuba, got kicked out of his New York hotel for looking like a credit risk, and ended up hosting Malcolm X in a rundown place in Harlem…. which Khrushchev immediately recognised as the greatest PR move he’d ever seen. Meanwhile, Castro’s sister was collaborating with the CIA, his brother was furious about the farm, and Trujillo tried to smuggle weapons to Cuban double agents who were, of course, working for Castro the whole time. |
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Renaissance · Published 27 August 2026 Head on a Platter – The Renaissance #245We’ve been building up to witches for a while now, and this episode we take a detour back to the second century CE…. because of course we do. Before Christians started accusing Jews of ritual murder, cannibalism, and orgies, Romans were accusing Christians of exactly the same thing. The stories just get recycled. Then we get into women flying at night with the goddess Diana, Herodias engineering the head of John the Baptist on a platter, and how 1,500 years… |
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The Bullshit Filter · Published 4 September 2026 The Grand Chessboard Part 2: America’s Playbook for World Domination – BS Filter #150Today we continue to pick apart Zbigniew Brzezinski’s 1997 geopolitical playbook – The Grand Chessboard – and how America’s blueprint for world domination is currently falling apart in real time. If you would like to listen to the full episode, sign up and become a supporter of the show! It’s less than the cost of a single coffee a week. The post The Grand Chessboard Part 2: America’s Playbook for World Domination – BS Filter #150 appeared first on The… |
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QAV Australia · Published 9 September 2026 The Gas Under Your Feet: Amplitude Energy and the Case for Boring Domestic Supply: QAV AU #946 |
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QAV America · Published 11 September 2026 The Only Hospital in Town: Ardent Health (ARDT) QAV America #69 |