GODS OF AINU MYTHOLOGY

Ainu mapThe Ainu people of Japan suffered oppression at the hands of the Japanese which was similar to that suffered by various conquered peoples around the world at the hands of the Western World, Russia, China and the Muslim World.

The Ainu migrated south to the Japanese islands from the northern lands of the Inuit. Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog will recognize the similarities between the Ainu and Inuit belief systems and methods of worship. In addition, certain linguistic similarities will be noted between the Ainu and the Japanese. The Shinto “kami” becomes the Ainu “kamui”, to cite the most prominent example. 

As with the Inuit, exact names and aspects of the following deities can vary, with the most pronounced differences being in Saghalien. 

  • NOTE: I am still working out my entry on the Ainu bear god. If you know the Ainu then you know that that entry alone may double the size of this article. 

RUKORO – The Ainu god of the male privy. No, I’m not kidding. The powerful stench from his domain serves the useful purpose of fending off evil spirits. Because of his association with evacuation and expulsion of things unclean he is regarded as a powerful exorcist. There is no corresponding goddess of the female privy, owing to primitive taboos about menstruation.

CHUP – The sun god of the Ainu. His wife is Tombe, the moon goddess. Ainu homes orient their sacred window toward the east to greet the rising sun. Until recent decades it was customary to salute the sun upon exposure to its rays, similar to the practice of genuflecting to the center of an altar, but done without kneeling.

It was considered disrespectful to bodily cross the rays of sunlight striking the hearth through the sacred window. It was better to wait until the position of the sun changed. An inau, one of the idols or totems of the Ainu people, would be set up to honor the sun. That inau bears an incised outline of the orb of the sun and during rituals libations and praise are offered up to Chup.    Continue reading

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NCAA D2 PLAYOFF MATCHUPS

NCAA DIVISION TWO COLLEGE FOOTBALL MATCHUPS FOR SATURDAY.

D2 has a playoff field of 32 teams. Below are the matchups for this coming weekend.

The PITTSBURG (KS) STATE GORILLAS will host the CHADRON STATE EAGLES.

Kickoff is at 2:00PM Eastern Time. 

The COLORADO STATE AT PUEBLO THUNDER WOLVES will host the UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS IN THE PERMIAN BASIN FALCONS.

Kickoff is at 3:00PM Eastern Time. Continue reading

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NEWS ROUNDUP: NOVEMBER NINETEENTH

Here’s a midweek current events roundup from Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog.

U.N. PASSES PRESIDENT TRUMP’S PEACE AND REBUILDING PLAN FOR GAZA AND CALLS TRUMP THE “CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF PEACE.” More HERE.

MORE SUCCESS FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SLASHING OF INHUMANE FEDERAL TESTING ON ANIMALS

EPSTEIN FILES REVEAL THAT DEMOCRAT CONGRESSIONAL LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES SOLICITED DONATIONS AND MORE FROM JEFFREY EPSTEIN.

FURTHER REMINDERS THAT TRUMP WAS THE ONLY PROMINENT FIGURE TO CUT TIES WITH EPSTEIN AND CALL FOR INVESTIGATING HIM. Epstein’s desire to destroy Trump began then, even to the point of colluding with a Democrat Congressional figure against Trump in 2019.

LONG LIST OF DEMOCRAT SCANDALS REVEALED BY THE EPSTEIN FILES. More HERE. And HERE. And HERE. And HERE. And HERE. Trump weighs in HERE.

MARLOW OFFERS REMINDER THAT DEMOCRATS NEVER CARED ABOUT EPSTEIN’S VICTIMS WHILE JOE BIDEN WAS IN THE WHITE HOUSE. Such ugly hypocrites.

ICE JOINT OPERATION WITH FLORIDA HIGHWAY PATROL RESULTS IN ARRESTS OF OVER SIX THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED WITH SENDING NUDE PHOTOS TO A TWELVE-YEAR-OLD. Continue reading

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RYAN O’NEAL: FORGOTTEN FILMS (1969-1981)

RYAN O’NEAL – Let’s face it, Errol Flynn himself probably looked down from above with envy when it came to Ryan O’Neal’s escapades with women. And it’s a cinch that Flynn would have envied O’Neal’s acting talent, which was never spectacular but was above that of many of Hollywood’s biggest names.

In addition to the love of his life Farrah Fawcett, a partial list of the beautiful ladies who had romances with Ryan includes Joan Collins, Jacqueline Bisset, Diana Ross, Ursula Andress, Anouk Aimee and Leigh Taylor-Young. His first wife Joanna Moore praised O’Neal as “an incredible lover … totally devoted to giving a woman pleasure.” 

Ryan tried his hand at boxing, then started his film career as a stuntman before gravitating to acting. At one time he was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, but his legendary partying and volatile behavior ultimately led to him being passed over for roles that might have cemented him as an upper tier thespian in Hollywood.

In this blog post I won’t be covering Ryan O’Neal’s well-known movies like Love Story, Paper Moon, What’s Up, Doc?, Barry Lyndon, The Driver, The Main Event and others. Nor will I cover his ensemble cast flicks like A Bridge Too Far.   

GREEN ICE (1981) – Sadly, by 1981 the age of classic heist films like Rififi was long over and that may have contributed to the less than stellar box office results for this project. Ryan O’Neal starred as Joseph Wiley, a former engineer turned adventuring globe-trotter.

In Mexico, Wiley meets Anne Archer playing Lillian Holbrook, a diamond heiress running away from the life led by her stuffy family. Omar Sharif is Meno Argenti, Holbrook’s co-conspirator in a network of Colombian emerald smugglers. (Emeralds are the “green ice” of the title.)

An attempt on his life drives Wiley closer to Lillian and Argenti, but after intrigues and double-crosses involving Colombian rebels, Lillian’s missing sister and clashes with the corrupt Colombian government, Argenti emerges as the main villain.   

Meno has hoarded emeralds that were originally intended to finance the rebels and stores them in his high-tech, supposedly impregnable vault in his penthouse atop a Colombian skyscraper. Joe Wiley and Lillian Holbrook recruit Miguel (Domingo Ambriz) and Claude (THE John Larroquette) in a heist involving one-man hot-air balloons and assorted technology to steal the emeralds from Argenti’s vault. Continue reading

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ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: THE ULTIMATE INHERITORS (1914)

Giant spiderTHE ULTIMATE INHERITORS (1914) – Written by Berg Bellair. This is a very entertaining work of vintage or “ancient” science fiction and is especially noteworthy for the way it anticipates the many “big bug” movies of the 1950s and later.  

In the California desert, where the Golden State borders Arizona and Mexico, a pair of investment miners named Big Ike Pemberton and Joe Kinzie save an older man from dying of exposure. The man turns out to be Doctor Bauer, a scientist who was investigating uranium deposits in the vicinity.  

Dr Bauer is the sole survivor of an expedition whose exploratory blasting work accidentally freed dozens of giant, horse-sized spiders from subterranean caverns. Bauer has photographic proof of this claim and theorizes that radiation from the uranium deposits mutated the spiders into their current enormous state. Continue reading

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NAIA COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF MATCHUPS

NAIA PLAYOFF MATCHUPS FOR SATURDAY

The NAIA playoffs feature 20 teams, with the top 12 seeds having a 1st Round Bye.

The WILLIAM PENN UNIVERSITY STATESMEN will host the TEXAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY RAMS.

Kickoff is at 1:00PM Eastern Time on Nov 22nd. Continue reading

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FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: MRS. COLUMBO (1979-1980)

MRS. COLUMBO (1979-1980) – During its brief 13-episode run of hour-long episodes, this detective series – produced by Fred Silverman – was also titled Kate the Detective, Kate Callahan and Kate Loves a Mystery. Much Ado About Nothing might have been a more fitting title given all the energy expended trying to make this Kate Mulgrew program a success, but for so little return.

For readers who weren’t fans of the Columbo series starring Peter Falk, let me point out that his police detective character frequently mentioned his wife, who was never seen in any of the episodes. By 1979, Columbo was off the air (though it would be revived in the late 1980s), so Fred Silverman launched Mrs. Columbo, starring the detective’s never-seen wife nosing her way into murder mysteries and solving them herself. 

Silverman launched this series over the objections of Columbo‘s producers Richard Levinson and William Link but had to credit them as “creators” of the concept of Columbo’s wife. Peter Falk had no connection to Mrs. Columbo, either so his character never even made a guest appearance or cameo. Falk referred to the show as “Disgraceful.” Continue reading

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NOVEMBER SEVENTEENTH NEWS ROUNDUP

Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog serves up a current events roundup.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP CALLS FOR THE HOUSE TO RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES SO THE COUNTRY CAN FINALLY “MOVE ON FROM THIS DEMOCRAT HOAX.” But we all know that unless the information in those files is damning to Trump his deranged haters will just cry coverup, etc.   Remember their unhinged push to have Trump release years’ worth of tax returns and the returns proved he did nothing wrong? Yet they haven’t called for any other elected figure to have to release their returns.

PROFESSIONAL THERAPIST SAYS SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT OF HIS PATIENTS HAVE TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME. Not at all surprising. We see it in action every day. More HERE. And HERE. Some excerpts: “Psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert says that 75% of the patients he sees have a deep hatred for Trump and are ‘hyper fixated’ on him.” They hate him, but he is, after all, president of the United States, and they can’t bear to stop following politics closely enough to regain some perspective and serenity.       

Typical anti-Trump fundamentalist

They can’t sleep,” Alpert said, because “they feel traumatized by Mr. Trump.” … “I had one patient who said she couldn’t enjoy a vacation because anytime she saw Trump in the news or on her device, she felt triggered…. So this is a profound pathology, and I would even go so far as to call it the defining pathology of our time.” 

NOTE: I’ve been saying for years that people will someday look back on the slobbering psychopaths’ reaction to President Trump the same way we look back on the “Satanic Panic” in the 1980s. I even used it for the title of a blog post long ago.

PRESIDENT TRUMP PAUSES WORK TO VISIT WITH CHILDREN IN THE OVAL OFFICE

ICE IS TRYING TO SAVE FOUR HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND CHILDREN THAT THE BIDEN REGIME PLACED WITH UNVETTED SPONSORS.

EPSTEIN EMAILS REVEAL CLOSE TIES WITH OBAMA’S WHITE HOUSE LEGAL COUNSEL.

THE LATEST REMINDER ABOUT ASHLEY BIDEN’S DIARY IN WHICH SHE WROTE ABOUT HER FATHER JOE TAKING “INAPPROPRIATE” SHOWERS WITH HER WHEN SHE WAS A CHILD. And how she was “probably” molested. Can you imagine the uproar from hypocritical Trump-haters if such diary entries were found from HIS children?

EPSTEIN FILES ON PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON’S TREASURY SECRETARY LARRY SUMMERS. Continue reading

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CCCAA PLAYOFF AND BOWL MATCHUPS

CCCAA PLAYOFFS FOR 2025

The Nor-Cal and So-Cal’s top two teams each get a Bye in Round One. Here are this Saturday’s First Round matchups.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

The 4th seeded CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO RAMS will host the 5 seeds – the FRESNO CITY COLLEGE RAMS.

Kickoff is at 3:00PM Eastern Time.

The 3rd seeded DIABLO VALLEY COLLEGE VIKINGS will host the 6 seeds – the BUTTE COLLEGE ROADRUNNERS.

Kickoff is at 4:00PM Eastern Time.

The (1) College of San Mateo Bulldogs and the (2) Modesto College Pirates have a Bye. Continue reading

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FLASHBACK: CALIFORNIA WOMAN SAYS “FELLOW LIBERALS, I’M TIRED OF YOU.”

FROM DECEMBER 23rd, 2016, amid the unhinged Democrat overreaction to Trump’s election for his first term. If anything, they’ve grown even worse and certainly more violent.

DEMOCRAT PARTY

Here is ANOTHER former Democrat like me expressing their disgust with what clueless, uninformed Democrats have fundamentally transformed Liberalism into. The link to the whole item is below, but here are some excerpts from her piece:  

” … I want to share with you, from the liberal bastion of Northern California, that I am officially tired of the type of people who have surrounded me my entire life. In the wake of Trump’s election, I am experiencing ‘tribe fatigue.’ I’m not tired of The Other, Detestable Tribe. I’m tired of my own.

“I was raised a secular liberal. My college professors were secular liberals. During my journalism phase, my newspaper colleagues were secular liberals. My law school professors and peers were – in the vast majority – secular liberals. Almost everyone at my corporate law firm was a secular liberal. My California neighbors and friends are secular liberals, as are my colleagues. My mother, siblings, and their spouses are all secular liberals.

By all rights, I should be a member in good standing of their tribe, ‘liking’ their Facebook posts and joining their candlelight vigils against the evil Trump Administration. But November 8 and its aftermath revealed to me that I am just so tired of these people. I can’t be like them, and I don’t want my kids turning into them.

“I am tired of their undisguised contempt for tens of millions of Americans, with no effort to temper their response to the election with humility or empathy.

“I am tired of their unexamined snobbery and condescension.

“I am tired of their name-calling and virtue-signaling as signs of supposedly high intelligence.

“I am tired of their trendiness, jumping on every left-liberal bandwagon that comes along (transgender activism, anyone?) and then acting like anyone not on board is an idiot/hater.

“I am tired of being bored and exasperated by everybody. I feel like I have read this book a thousand times, and there are no surprises in it. Down with Trump! Trans Lives Matter! Climate deniers are destroying the planet! No cake, we’re gluten-free! Continue reading

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