Classic Beauty: Sylva Koscina

Born in Yugoslavia (now Croatia), Silvija Košćina moved over to Italy, where she became Sylva Koscina and an actress.  She was, at the time, Italy’s answer to France’s Brigitte Bardot, but I always thought she was a lot classier than the French totty.

I saw her in some forgettable movie long ago, and developed an insane pre-teen crush on her.  I’m happy to say that with advancing age, nothing has changed.

Here she is in black & white:

 

Like last week’s Classic, Madeline Smith, I’ll defer Sylva’s color pics to a later date.

Eyes And Ears

Longtime Reader valine76 writes:

“Lately I’ve left the romantic era and have been browsing music from the baroque period, especially Vivaldi and Handel. While there, I stumbled across a composition by Ricardo Broschi  (1698-1756), brother of Carlo Broschi, aka “Farinelli,” the foremost castrato of the era.

“It’s obvious Riccardo wrote the piece to showcase his brother’s voice, and here, the vocal is sung exquisitely by soprano Simone Kermes.

“What made this special for me is that this dreamy piece is accompanied by a series of stunning still lifes by Roman Reisinger, an artist still working. Looking at his images while listening to the music, I can smell the onions, feel the brittle leaves of the drying herbs and seed pods of the money plant, I can smell the algae in a bottle of water rooting a plant – the whole series is a feast of textures that pull me into the works.

“Go full screen, sit back, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.”

I did, and I did.

Now the rest of you can do the same.  And Val:  thankee for the email and the kind words that preceded the above recommendation.  It is absolutely no exaggeration to say that having Readers like you is what makes this all so rewarding.

Earworm

This one slides into my subconscious about oh, probably three or four times a month.

Maybe one of the best rock waltzes ever written.

And its sequel is just as wonderful… wait, is that German?  Some impossible harmonies, and all sung, not synthesized (because they didn’t have the tech back then).

Burning Down The Climate Change Thicket

Here are some very constructive ideas about how to unlock and/or break the raft of stupid eco-fascist laws and regulations.  I especially like this one:

Obama joined Paris Climate Agreement by executive action. Trump exited by the same method. And Biden rejoined, again by executive action, right on January 20, 2021.

Trump could follow the previous method and just quit again. But my preferred suggestion would be to submit the Agreement to the Senate as a treaty. There is zero chance that the Senate would ratify. That would kill this thing much more securely than the other method.

And this would be the time to submit it, while the Stupid Party controls the Senate.

I know, the Paris Climate whatever is pretty much a paper tiger and waste of time.  Don’t care about it?  Then try this one:

“Regulations” are different from mere Executive Orders and actions, in that in order to be adopted they have gone through some complex and time-consuming processes prescribed by the Administrative Procedure Act. The processes are designed to give these “regulations” some purported legitimacy and heft, to make them hard to undo, and to distract the gullible public from the fact that they have not gone through the only process that counts under the Constitution for valid legislative action, namely passage by both houses of Congress and signature by the President. The result of all the procedural rigamarole is that — if you buy the legitimacy of enactment of massive substantive regulations by administrative agencies in the first place — then the processes to eliminate the regulations are the same complex and time-consuming mess that it previously took to adopt them.

Do the Trump people really need to go through the same labyrinth to rescind these Rules? Here’s an approach I would take: First, announce that the legal opinion of the administration is that the Rules are invalid under Supreme Court precedent (i.e., the “major questions doctrine” of West Virginia v. EPA), and therefore they will not be enforced. Next, announce that permitting on power plant and other fossil fuel projects will take place as if these Rules did not exist. Finally, switch sides in the litigation, and join the red states and other plaintiffs seeking to have the Rules invalidated.

Here’s what I really, really like about this initiative:  it would also nullify, ipso facto, all the horrible regulations foisted on us by other Gummint agencies — such as the fucking ATF, for starters, and [add your favorite agency’s name here].

So when you follow the link above to see all the other Good Ideas, don’t just look at those suggestions as part of the destruction of the “climate change” myth, good as they are;  apply those principles to all areas of our life that the bureaucracy have (un-Constitutionally and illegally) affected over the years.

Roll on January 2025.

Too Old To Rock ‘N Roll

Here’s what Elon and Vivek are doing:

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by X owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, is looking for what they described as “small-government revolutionaries” ready to work on what they described as “unglamorous cost-cutting.”

You know what?  If I was five or seven years younger, I’d apply.  Having worked in both big corporations and small startups, I know exactly how to squeeze efficiency into a process and cut unnecessary processes as well as anyone.

But alas, I turn 70 next week, and while the spirit may be sorta-willing to do this, the flesh just doesn’t have the strength to swing an axe anymore.

Damn it.

Then again, I’d have to move to D.C., and… nah, it ain’t worth it.