Sunday, June 9
Jun. 10th, 2024 01:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
Nice weather. A little cool, but nice. Not as windy as it has been.
My Sweetie and I worked on installing the shower door (curved glass doors in a frame) today, and got THAT done, at least. The bathroom is not "done" yet, in that I have to do some paint touch ups, and we have to put in the towel bar and mirror over the vanity, but we could now use the shower.
I did work with Dandy for a little while, and in one direction he was more sensitive, and would go to the outside of the ring. Hard to explain. After some time, he realized that I was not sending him out and stayed with me.
I am enjoying the round pen, there's pretty much no other way I could do this work with Dandy.
Then we went to the riding barn.
It had rained yesterday, so the outdoor arena was still wet, and I had to be respectful of the surface by not cantering.
I did work on our freestyle, putting the elements together.
River did well, he was willing to go through the pool noodle "gate" even though he bumped it last time.
My Sweetie came with me to the barn, but brought his bike. He actually knows a guy who lives close to the barn, and they met up and rode their bikes while I worked with River.
It's good that my husband is getting some bike time in.
We watched the first episode of "Justified" when we got home. I'm not sure that it's THAT great, but we'll see. I've been reading reviews that the first season is slow, but the second season really takes off.
I'm finding Equatorial Guinea a little confusing. There is the Island component "The insular region consists of the islands of Bioko (formerly Fernando Pó) in the Gulf of Guinea and Annobón, a small volcanic island which is the only part of the country south of the equator. Bioko Island is the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea and is the site of the country's capital, Malabo. The Portuguese-speaking island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe is located between Bioko and Annobón."
Then there is the mainland, a fairly small region with coastline along the Gulf of Guinea, and also has a capital city, which is still under construction (?) called Ciudad de la Paz.
In antiquity, pygmy tribes would have lived over most of this region but only exist in tiny pockets in the mountains. They were likely driven out when the Bantu people arrived and settled the region around 2000 B.C.
Today about 85% of the roughly 1.7 million people are Fang, a Bantu tribe.
Spain half-heartedly colonized the region ((1778), using the islands just off the coast for staging areas for the slave trade, then later used for a base AGAINST the slave trade "the Spanish leased a base at Malabo on Bioko to the United Kingdom which it had sought as part of its efforts to suppress the transatlantic slave trade.[31] Without Spanish permission, the British moved the headquarters of the Mixed Commission for the Suppression of Slave Traffic to Fernando Pó in 1827, before moving it back to Sierra Leone under an agreement with Spain in 1843. Spain's decision to abolish slavery in 1817 at British insistence damaged the colony's perceived value to the authorities and so leasing naval bases was an effective revenue earner from an otherwise unprofitable possession.[30] An agreement by Spain to sell its African colony to the British was cancelled in 1841 due to metropolitan public opinion and opposition by Spanish Congress.[32]"
The plantations were struggling to find workers, though many were still "conscripted" from other regions and brought to Equatorial Guinea and the islands.
"Politically, post-war colonial history has three fairly distinct phases: up to 1959, when its status was raised from "colonial" to "provincial", following the approach of the Portuguese Empire; between 1960 and 1968, when Madrid attempted a partial decolonisation aimed at keeping the territory as part of the Spanish system; and from 1968 on, after the territory became an independent republic."
The country has had a lot of turmoil since then, and is still not Democratic. The current government is totalitarian, and the idea of voting is a joke. "During the four decades of his rule, Obiang has shown little tolerance for opposition. While the country is nominally a multiparty democracy, its elections have generally been considered a sham. According to Human Rights Watch, the dictatorship of President Obiang used an oil boom to entrench and enrich itself further at the expense of the country's people.[69] Since August 1979 some 12 real and perceived unsuccessful coup attempts have occurred.[70]"
Human rights is very bad, considered "among the very worst in the world". Yikes.
The climate is tropical, lots of rain, and geographically has a lot of forest, coastal mangrove swamps, and estuaries. There is a wide variety of wildlife, such as gorillas, chimpanzees, various monkeys, leopards, buffalo, antelope, elephants, hippopotamuses, crocodiles, snakes, the full jungle experience.
Exports include coffee, cocoa, and timber. There are oil reserves which has brought a lot of wealth to the country, but in spite of that, there are many very poor people (we know how that works).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_Guinea#Demographics
https://youtu.be/j4nPVzyj1sM?si=vq2Zm7Aiw2DlSynY
Nice weather. A little cool, but nice. Not as windy as it has been.
My Sweetie and I worked on installing the shower door (curved glass doors in a frame) today, and got THAT done, at least. The bathroom is not "done" yet, in that I have to do some paint touch ups, and we have to put in the towel bar and mirror over the vanity, but we could now use the shower.
I did work with Dandy for a little while, and in one direction he was more sensitive, and would go to the outside of the ring. Hard to explain. After some time, he realized that I was not sending him out and stayed with me.
I am enjoying the round pen, there's pretty much no other way I could do this work with Dandy.
Then we went to the riding barn.
It had rained yesterday, so the outdoor arena was still wet, and I had to be respectful of the surface by not cantering.
I did work on our freestyle, putting the elements together.
River did well, he was willing to go through the pool noodle "gate" even though he bumped it last time.
My Sweetie came with me to the barn, but brought his bike. He actually knows a guy who lives close to the barn, and they met up and rode their bikes while I worked with River.
It's good that my husband is getting some bike time in.
We watched the first episode of "Justified" when we got home. I'm not sure that it's THAT great, but we'll see. I've been reading reviews that the first season is slow, but the second season really takes off.
I'm finding Equatorial Guinea a little confusing. There is the Island component "The insular region consists of the islands of Bioko (formerly Fernando Pó) in the Gulf of Guinea and Annobón, a small volcanic island which is the only part of the country south of the equator. Bioko Island is the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea and is the site of the country's capital, Malabo. The Portuguese-speaking island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe is located between Bioko and Annobón."
Then there is the mainland, a fairly small region with coastline along the Gulf of Guinea, and also has a capital city, which is still under construction (?) called Ciudad de la Paz.
In antiquity, pygmy tribes would have lived over most of this region but only exist in tiny pockets in the mountains. They were likely driven out when the Bantu people arrived and settled the region around 2000 B.C.
Today about 85% of the roughly 1.7 million people are Fang, a Bantu tribe.
Spain half-heartedly colonized the region ((1778), using the islands just off the coast for staging areas for the slave trade, then later used for a base AGAINST the slave trade "the Spanish leased a base at Malabo on Bioko to the United Kingdom which it had sought as part of its efforts to suppress the transatlantic slave trade.[31] Without Spanish permission, the British moved the headquarters of the Mixed Commission for the Suppression of Slave Traffic to Fernando Pó in 1827, before moving it back to Sierra Leone under an agreement with Spain in 1843. Spain's decision to abolish slavery in 1817 at British insistence damaged the colony's perceived value to the authorities and so leasing naval bases was an effective revenue earner from an otherwise unprofitable possession.[30] An agreement by Spain to sell its African colony to the British was cancelled in 1841 due to metropolitan public opinion and opposition by Spanish Congress.[32]"
The plantations were struggling to find workers, though many were still "conscripted" from other regions and brought to Equatorial Guinea and the islands.
"Politically, post-war colonial history has three fairly distinct phases: up to 1959, when its status was raised from "colonial" to "provincial", following the approach of the Portuguese Empire; between 1960 and 1968, when Madrid attempted a partial decolonisation aimed at keeping the territory as part of the Spanish system; and from 1968 on, after the territory became an independent republic."
The country has had a lot of turmoil since then, and is still not Democratic. The current government is totalitarian, and the idea of voting is a joke. "During the four decades of his rule, Obiang has shown little tolerance for opposition. While the country is nominally a multiparty democracy, its elections have generally been considered a sham. According to Human Rights Watch, the dictatorship of President Obiang used an oil boom to entrench and enrich itself further at the expense of the country's people.[69] Since August 1979 some 12 real and perceived unsuccessful coup attempts have occurred.[70]"
Human rights is very bad, considered "among the very worst in the world". Yikes.
The climate is tropical, lots of rain, and geographically has a lot of forest, coastal mangrove swamps, and estuaries. There is a wide variety of wildlife, such as gorillas, chimpanzees, various monkeys, leopards, buffalo, antelope, elephants, hippopotamuses, crocodiles, snakes, the full jungle experience.
Exports include coffee, cocoa, and timber. There are oil reserves which has brought a lot of wealth to the country, but in spite of that, there are many very poor people (we know how that works).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_Guinea#Demographics
https://youtu.be/j4nPVzyj1sM?si=vq2Zm7Aiw2DlSynY
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Date: 2024-06-11 03:44 am (UTC)